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Aroka
2010-07-15, 08:18 PM
I'm writing up a transplantable faerie encounter for Artesia: Adventures in the Known World, but I'm a bit lost on the real meat of the encounter: who does what and why? This mostly isn't system-specific - I need general ideas for how to use an evil faerie.

Ton of background info on A:AKW spirits, faeries, and this faerie in particular:

Faeries
Faeries are spirits; they exist in the invisible and incorporeal Spiritworld which mortals can only perceive or enter through magic or unusual gifts or locations. They can manifest in the physical world (at varying strength; they can be visible but intangible, they can be translucent or appear solid, and they can even take on a solid form, but the cost is great and these forms can't be maintained for more than minutes at most), and indeed have to manifest at least an insubstantial "shadow form" in order to interact with the world at all (such as by speaking). Spirits can only be harmed by other spirits, magicians who have left their bodies, spells (mainly Exorcism rituals), and magic weapons.

The faerie I have in mind is of the Court of the Sable Wood - wicked faeries who hate mortals and other faeries. I'm seeing a faerie that takes a female shape, with ash-grey skin, sooty hair, and black eyes, and is cruel, vengeful, manipulative, and enjoys playing wicked tricks on mortals for no real reason.

This Faerie
This faerie is capable of causing Dread with its voice and appearance (either requires manifesting at least a shadowy form, although it could then hide in darkness while whispering to its victims). Dread causes a penalty to resist most of the faerie's powers, but gives a bonus to actions taken to obey her. She is also unusually capable of deception and seduction.

She can also use magic (relatively very powerful compared to PCs) to give simple orders ("Take this!" "Drop that!" "Go there!"), perceive spells and enchantments (including wards against spirits, if she suspects their presence), inflict temporary Bindings (Bindings are negative traits like Greed, Ambition, Lust, Shame, Fear, disease, blindness, feebleness, etc.), inflict hexes (temporary penalties to skills, and to abilities like strength) or curses (permanent penalties or Bindings), create wards (to protect against spells or weapons), tap into the ambient magic power of special locations (like graveyards, hilltops, groves, etc.) to use for her spells.


This faerie is obviously a very powerful opponent; her magic is both broader (more options) and stronger (more likely to work) than the PCs will have. And just as obviously, simple physical combat won't cut it - not only would that be boring, it wouldn't make sense. If faced with magical weapons, the faerie can just disappear and flee, and it has no interest in initiating combat - it wants to play cruel tricks, and cause misery and calamity rather than death and violence.

So how does a powerful faerie do those things, and why or how do the PCs get involved?

I'm thinking that the PCs might get dragged in because someone (perhaps a child) has disappeared, and following the tracks brings them to where the faerie is idly tormenting the child with dread whispers, perhaps hoping to wring a promise from the child to perform some minor evil deed that would have long-reaching or subtle consequences that lead to more impressive calamity.

This could also be a long-run encounter - the PCs manage to offend the faerie (perhaps by rescuing the child), and find their efforts plagued by a petty, vengeful spirit. I could absolutely see her using her magic to force a PC or a NPC close to them to commit some treachery or evil deed, like murder ("Take that knife" - "Go into that room" - "Stab that man").

What I'm really lacking is ideas to make this interesting to play. I'm quite comfortable with putting the PCs in a situation that is initially unwinnable, and making them find a way to combat the spirit - some way to learn new magic or acquire wards, an ally who can provide a spell to use as the lynchpin of a plot, or a magic item that can protect them, a more benevolent spirit... the thing about A:AKW is that here's always magic to counter magic. (In fact, it can be as easy as enchanting a rooster's body and burying it under a building to ward the whole structure against spirits, or casting a warding on a place, or inscribing a rune over a door... provided they've got the right skills and knowledge.)

But for all this, I need a clear idea of what sort of conflict there will be. Situations, scenarios, encounters, dynamics...

So, who has ideas for evil faerie plots and interactions?


Edit:
Dear wordfilter,
It's a male chicken. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooster)