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mbocek
2013-06-13, 04:22 PM
I'm having one of those times when the players had a much better idea for the campaign than I did. Fortunately, I have a little time to catch up with them and write a better story based on their ideas, but I could use some help.

Background: 6 person party, level 3, playing Next (not that the system matters).

I'm running the Caves of Chaos (included in the Next DL packet), but I'm adding a lot of specificity and some hooks for future adventures. The cultists are cultists of Vecna who are summoning aberrations (specifically mimics) into the world in exchange for service. Now, rather than hanging out in dungeons, the mimics have some expert coaching for how to hide among people in taverns, temples, and throne rooms. In return, they share the secrets they learn with the cultists when they report back.

In one part of the adventure, the PCs encounter a merchant who was captured by hobgoblins (the goblins work for the cultists). The merchant thanks the PCs for their help, but will not tell them what he trades in or why he is here. This is because the merchant is selling fine silks-- a trade good very inappropriate to the (Northern European setting). He got them from a Portal that he knows about nearby. The portal leads to another part of the world (somewhere tropical) or another world (maybe Feywild?) where silk can be got cheaply, and he stands to make a fortune by importing them through the portal instead of over sea.

Later the PCs can go have adventures in that part of the world (I want to get my yuan-ti on). One of the PCs belongs to a merchant family, and could take over this arbitrage, or respect the original finder's claim. In the near term, some of the merchant's goods (the wooden spindles the cloth is carried on) have already been replaced by the mimic-spies. If the PCs let the merchant go on his way, the mimics go out into the world and into the homes of nobles. If they keep the silks, *they* have to deal with the mimics.

The opportunity:

The PCs have interpreted the merchant's shiftiness as his "goods" being something magical and dangerous... something that they really don't want the cultists to get a hold of. I'm pretty committed to the silk thing, but I think that reveal will be disappointing now. Maybe we can punch it up by having him know about or carry something else that is dangerous and evil.

1. The portal requires a key that is also an item of power (or evil).
2. The portal could be reset to a different location, maybe the Far Realm, where cultists could get something a lot more dangerous than mimics.
3. Something the merchant saw on the other side of the portal is dangerous. Maybe it opens into an abandoned evil temple or wizard's laboratory.

I know that is a lot of disparate elements to juggle, but they aren't all hard restrictions. A lot of the background could shift around (via Schrondinger's gun) so just throw out whatever you think is cool and we'll see what sticks. Thanks in advance.

DMMike
2013-06-13, 05:42 PM
The portal leads to the personal oasis of a genie. The merchant knows what times are best to use it, and steal the genie's personal silks, but PCs or cultists using the portal could wind up between a lantern and a hard place.

Another_Poet
2013-06-13, 06:02 PM
I would stay with the innocent, harmless silks; but the creatures who sell them on the other side of the portal are both wicked and dangerous.

edit: Bonus points if said creatures double-cross and kill the merchant, whom they were using as a pawn in a greater plan.

Kazemi
2013-06-14, 11:55 AM
I try to make it a point to keep with what I came up with initially. However, I would play the silks up by having them include "exotic and mysterious symbols woven into them". When they Detect Magic, feel free to have them make a Spellcaster roll and then roll a D20 behind the screen. Tell them "You don't detect anything". This is because there is nothing to detect, although the PCs may think it's because there's a Conceal Magic sort of effect on them. When it becomes clear that they're not magical, remind them that they're still beautifully woven and probably worth quite a lot in this part of the world.

Also, they should find a map when they search him, among other ordinary things that you would expect to find (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/YUMiX2JPVjHIJ6h5VlD.html). The map should not obviously pointing to a portal, but it should have a few locations marked. Things like a safe pass through the area back to town (a small tunnel or something), the goblin base (that he wants to avoid, he can remember which dot was that one) and the portal. A few dud marks as well, where there is nothing actually in the area. These duds are meant to slow whoever gets the map from finding the portal, so he has time to hire adventurers or close/block the portal (if he can?). I would make all the marks on the map the same. If there's less than a dozen, he knows which is which.

They won't be disappointed that they found no evil item, but they will be very interested in that magic portal that it eventually leads to. Especially if he's not the only one using it. People of the far East may have found it as well. Also, you should decide if language should be an issue (it won't be much of one, given Speak Language, but it'll be enough for a bit of flavor). Personally, I'd have it be unrelated to these particular cultists.

Xeratos
2013-06-14, 01:05 PM
Tie it in to what the merchant was doing when the hobgoblins caught him. If they were working for the cultists, and they caught him, maybe he was doing something that would either work in opposition to them, or working on something they wanted to take to further their own ends. That could be simply the knowledge of the portal, or he might own something (maybe the mimic in his study saw it and reported it back) that the cultists want.