Post by StoryTeller on Apr 11, 2006 7:22:07 GMT
This plot is good for fantasy RPGs (designed for AD&D, approx. 6 characters of 6th-8th level)
A small farming community several miles from where the characters are based has made an appeal to the mayor of the village to put an end to what are described as "dragon raids". The mayor, who is coming up for
re-election, has heard of the fame of the heroes and comes to them for help in slaying the dragon that has terrorized his constituents.
What the heroes are told:
Recently (in the last few weeks), a dragon with green skin has shambled up out of the nearby marsh and carried off livestock in its mouth. The farmers are upset at this loss of their resources. A group of the farmers held a meeting and sent two volunteers out into the swamp, but they have not been heard from since.
What the heroes will find, upon investigation:
Large, muddy footprints on the grounds of the farmers whose livestock have been stolen--mostly those living right next to the marsh to take advantage of the fertile ground--ostensibly "dragon tracks". If they ask questions of the right people, they will find someone who swears he saw the dragon change into a dragon-man and walk off into the swamp. The rest of the town thinks this old guy is nuts. The dragon has not been spotted any farther away from the swamp than about 30 yards. None of the townsfolk remember seeing any wings on the creature.
Some information the heroes *might* be able to discover:
Green dragons do not, by habit, live in marshland areas. They prefer the serenity and relative abundance of game supplied by verdant forests. Green dragons also delight in deceiving and controlling human operations.
A green dragon without wings is an oddity, to be sure.
In fact, the kind of dragons who DO live in the swamp are black dragons.
None of this information should be available without sage consultation.
What is actually going on:
A little ways into the marsh is a small settlement of lizard men. These are not the ordinary warlike race, but rather a pacifistic offshoot... deadly when necessary, but downright friendly otherwise. They are, in fact, farmers themselves, cultivating nutritious plants and fungi, and keeping their own herd animals: giant lizards.
The harvest has been bad this year, and feeding the giant lizards has become second priority. So the lizards, starving, wandered off towards the human village in search of food...and found it.
The human farmers wouldn't know a dragon from an oversized water snake, so they naturally panicked. No farmer in his right mind would go dragon hunting in a swamp, nohow. And the story grew a little more fantastic with each telling....
Once, the lizard men followed one of the lizards toward the human farms. It was near dusk, and visibility was poor, so it was an easy mistake to say that the "dragon" had changed into a "dragon-man". But overall, the lizard men have avoided the humans for fear of prejudice and misunderstanding. If approached peacefully, and the situation is explained, the humanoids will be willing to pay restitution for the animals. They are also willing to open a trade avenue with the humans, if such an idea is acceptable, but that is up to the farmers.
Other goings-on:
Elsewhere, *deeper* in the swamp, lairs an old black dragon. He sleeps, unaware of the turmoil occurring in the nearby village. In fact, the last time his sleep was disturbed was a couple of weeks back, when two lanky humans intruded rudely upon his nap. Fortunately for the dragon, he happened to be mildly hungry at the time.
A noble requests the party to investigate a spook house he rents in a town. They are to locate, identify, and banish the source of the odd sounds, sights, smells, or whatever. For this, they will be paid handsomely, since the noble likes the apartment's location as a perfect "incognito" kind of place.
The house with the apartment lies in a middle-class part of the town, the buildings are not very crowded, but old. The building is registered in the name of one Raushof Gollenbacher, but any attempt to find out who this person is, will fail; nobody knows. The proprietor is an old gnome called Muschfyths, who don't like people.
Muschfyths -is- Raushof. Raushof was a name he used when he bought the house years ago. He got fake ID papers from a human forger he knew at the time - the forger later died in a traffic "accident" (these things happen, you know...).
If the party checks for the names of previous renters of the building, the list will mysteriously have been destroyed in a recent fire, and Muschfyths will have a bad memory. If the investigators insist on sleeping in the apartment at night, nothing will happen - the "ghost" will only be present on nights the investigators are off the premises.
If the rental contract is checked, any lawyer type person will see, under close scrutiny, that it contains a clause denying the renter any rights of having his/her money back, and a demand of three months advance rent.
The house is FULL of secret doors. These doors lead into other rooms. Depending on the basis of the effects:
1) There _is_ indeed a ghost, or spectre, that creates the sounds, and this ghost has been enslaved by Muschfyths, and kept on a magical jar when not needed. The other rooms of the house will contain chains of
meta-steel (steel able to exist in both the ethereal and material planes), jars of iron sulphate (substitute Stinking Cloud, any AD&D'ers out there) and related "spooky"/scary things. These are applied by the ghost when trying to scare the occupants. The ghost can be banished if:
a) Muschfyths is killed. This will free the ghost/spectre from its obligations to him.
b) The jar is broken. The ghost no longer has a prison in this world. If Muschfyths is still alive, the ghost is still enslaved, but can not be "turned off" until Muschfyths can find another suitable prison.
c) The ghost can be banished by a cleric of a God of The Dead or a God of Healing (in Warhammer terms, Morr or Shallya). If Muschfyths is still alive, the chance of banishing is lowered.
2) The sounds etc. are produced by mechanical devices built by Muschfyths. These devices will rely on technical knowledge far beyond the understanding of any non-gnome player, and even to gnomes, they appear strange. Treat the machinery as "traps", and feel free to include steam engines, "perpetuum mobile"s etc. to your heart's content. The characters will perceive the devices as magic unless they can detect they are not. (You might even want to make some of the devices magic...)
The devices are placed in the rooms surrounding the apartment. Muschfyths is the only person that knows how the things work. It's VERY dangerous to try and operate the devices without proper training - and if the party finds the devices, Muschfyths will have disappeared...perhaps.
Data on Muschfyths:
Race: Gnome
Age: Above middle age (for gnomes, very old for humans)
Physical: Not very strong, somewhat agile
Mental: Very bright, VERY talented in either technical areas or magic relating to beings of a spectral nature (depending on the "source", see above)
Psyche: Greedy, selfish, paranoid coward. Can be considered being of an evil alignment.
Abilities: Depending on the "source" (see above):
1) Identify Ethereal Undead, Ritual: Enslave Etereal Undead, Ritual: Imprison Ethereal Undead.
2) (TL stands for Technology Level) Ritual: Make/Unmake Strange Device (TL +1), Operate Device (TL +1), Identify Device (TL +0).
Also: Weapon Use: Knives and Daggers, Hiding: Urban, Culture:
Gnome.