Petrovision - Adventure Idea

[shamgar001]

This is an idea for a quest I had, which I thought I'd share, as well as some things I could use suggestions on.

One of my players had specifically requested the eventual appearance of a basilisk, and this is the idea that I had. The villain (whom I'll refer to as Bob for now) is the head of a moderately large trading firm. His competitor (we'll call him Joe) was about to make a massive trade deal with another firm which would give him a huge advantage over Bob, so Bob decided to kill him.

Being clever enough to know that he'd need to be stealthy about it, he hires a team of arcane casters from the Saroyan Company (a massive wizard's guild with a sketchy reputation) to help him. Together they work out a plan to capture a basilisk that had been sighted in the area and use its eyes to create a magic item that would let him petrify people. They do so, and then one of the casters discovered that when his research found that the eyes had to be "cut from a living basilisk", it meant that the basilisk had to be currently living for its eyes to have the magical properties needed. No big deal, though, since they could summon/mail-order a new one and keep alive. They cast a ritual on the corpse of the first basilisk to prevent it from decaying.

When they successfully create the item (We'll call it the Stone Eye Staff), they begin to slowly start petrifying townspeople who wander out at night to create the rumors that the creature had become more aggressive. After a few weeks of this, they catch Joe out and turn him to stone.

When news gets out that Joe is now a statue, Bob goes into town and makes sure that everyone knows that he is OUTRAGED that security has gotten so lax that such a worthy competitor was taken so tragically, so he claims that he has hired the Saroyan team to kill the beast responsible. They go into the wild and later drag back the still-enchanted corpse of the first basilisk, and everyone is satisfied that justice has been done.

By this time the adventurers have shown up, and all they'll know is that another adventuring group killed a basilisk that petrified a businessman. If they examine the situation, though, they'll notice problems with the story:


An arcana check will find that there's some kind of magical effect on the corpse; dispelling it will cause it to decay rapidly to where it should be (a heal check will determine how long)
A nature check will remember that basilisks are generally shy and avoid humans and civilized areas unless they've been trained (in this way they are a little different in my world)
An insight check will reveal that Bob's remorse is dishonest (in case that wasn't obvious enough), and a streetwise check or just asking around will reveal that they were actually bitter rivals.
Some other things that I'll work out eventually.


The heroes will eventually have the opportunities to break into the hotel rooms of Bob or his hired team and fight Bob's homonculi body guards. The incriminating letters they'll find (such as the employment contract with Saroyan that began a month before the killing) will lead them to confront Bob in his mansion and fight him, though he'll have his Stone Eye Staff (they can render it useless by killing the blind basilisk first).

One problem I can see as I'm typing this is that rituals that remove petrification are only 8th level, so I'll need to work out a reason no one is hiring a cleric to cure the victims.

Any other problems that anyone can see? Suggestions or questions? I'd love to get some feedback on this. Thanks!

[Badgerish]

Seems fine, but there is one big flaw... why does the party care?

Yes, people have died/been petrified, but the threat is over. Justice is done and no one is paying the PCs to do something. If the party are wandering do-gooders who get up in other people's business uninvited that's one thing, but otherwise what is their motivation?


minor flaw: why doesn't Bob cast dispel magic on the dead basilisk so it rots naturally? or have the corpse skinned for leather-working/taxidermy?

edit: also, Warpriests can slap the petrification off people 1/day at 6th level and ritual scolls can be used at any level. Maybe the petrified statues are being broken afterwards?

[Ashdate]

Badgerish is right; I don't exactly see the PC motivation here. Also, that method of killing "Joe" is pretty dang convoluted, not to mention that it hinges on a group of renegade wizards to not spill the beans. Why not simplify things?

The PCs come into the scene with Joe murdered. I mean murder-murdered. The town has found the broken, stoney rubble of his body, the first true victim of the basilisk attacks that have been plaguing the town.

See, the town resides next to one of the oldest concentration of MacGuffin Oak trees that have been found, and nobles in far off counties like goods (such as furniture) made from these trees, not to mention those that can afford to use it as building material. It's lightweight, sturdy, and is even provides a small measure of insulation to keep out the cold. Joe had recently moved into to this (formerly) quiet village and was setting up to cut down the trees to ship elsewhere. He would pay the villagers handsomely for this right, so they all supported his plans.

Then the attacks started happening. At first, a whole team of lumberjacks was found petrified in the woods. The villagers managed to bring them back, and luckily for them a local shaman named Bob was able to depetrify them. This relieved the villagers and workers, but Bob warned them that a Basilisk's Jaws can eat through solid stone; they were lucky that when it attacked the lumberjacks, it apparently wasn't hungry. Keep at it tho, and certainly deaths -- true deaths -- will follow, that Bob would be unable to cure.

There have been several more attacks as Joe managed to either convince townsfolk, or import labour, to try and cut down some of these trees. They were later all found petrified, but Bob was able to cure them (at which point they would not volunteer a second time).

With Joe dead, the plans to strip the forest has stopped, but now the town is torn between the amount of money they're sitting next to, and the danger of the Basilisk getting too close to where they live.

This is where the adventurers come in. The town representative has tasked them with hunting this Basilisk, "for the good of the town". When asked, he will mention that they're afraid of the Basilisk getting "too close", but when pressed he will admit there is an economic reason they want the creature gone as well; with the threat removed, there are a few merchants who, like Joe, want these trees, and the town stands to profit from it.

The trick (as you might have guessed) is that Bob is actually a Druid, and the Basilisk is his "animal companion". Bob has been ordering the Basilisk to petrify those that enter the woods to fell trees, but not to otherwise harm them (something that might come up if the Adventurer's ask, "why aren't the rescue parties getting turned to stone?).

Investigation will also reveal that Joe was found killed in a part of the forest that doesn't have any of these trees, which will invite questions on whether this was an accident... or a murder.

As the Basilisk is Bob's animal companion, they share a bond that prevents the Basilisk from being destroyed unless Bob is killed. The Adventurers can fight the Basilisk, but the attacks will begin a new the day after on anyone who enters the forest. Until they solve the problem, the Adventurers can expect not to be paid.

[shamgar001]

Seems fine, but there is one big flaw... why does the party care?
Two ideas come to mind. The direct rout is to have a friend of Joe pay my PCs to investigate his death, since the town sheriff is satisfied that everything has been taken care of. Maybe they were going to see Joe to get some important information, and his friend could tell them if only they would do him a favor.


minor flaw: why doesn't Bob cast dispel magic on the dead basilisk so it rots naturally? or have the corpse skinned for leather-working/taxidermy?
My original thought was that the enchantment was needed so people wouldn't wonder why a recently killed corpse would appear two-weeks decayed, and that the magic included the apparently-natural decay on command; if the magic were dispelled, the natural rotting that would have occurred happens all at once.

I guess there's no reason that Joe couldn't have been broken afterward. In fact, it's better that way, since then none of the victims could be revived to tell who really killed them.

Ashdate: The hilarious thing that is that I already have a story about a druid killing humans trying to cut down his forest. There are a few reasons I worked the story the way I did. I actually miswrote part of my original post. The Saroyan Company is highly respected in the public eye; one of my players knows that they have at least evil elements. That's one of the reason I brought them into this. Plus, I liked the idea of my group having to fight an evil adventuring group. In this case, Bob knows they won't spill the beans because people of less than virtuous means know that tSC is very strict about keeping its client's accounts private.