The Show must go on

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! I am DMing a campaign where the party, once done with the current arc, may be traveling to an undead heavy area of the world.

The road is long and, although they may try using teleport, none have been there, so using said spell is tricky.

In the event they choose to travel down the road, I was planning on some usual bandit encounters- nothing too spectacular.

However, there is a side quest I'd like to introduce as the party nears their destination.

They will come across a series of circus wagons. The circus owner, as well as some of his crew are distraught about the loss of their prize performers: fantastic beasts that they show at different towns and cities. The creatures have broken free because something scared them (presumably, the undead heavy area the party is headed to).

The ring leader will hire the PCs, if they show interest to bring back the creatures.

The catch- they must not be harmed in any way. No cuts, burn marks or anything. That would just ruin the "merchandise".

I was thinking of 5-6 creatures. A mix of magical beasts and maybe even plant creatures. Not sentient enough for the party to accuse the ring leader of slavery, but cunning enough to hide and use their special attacks against those that would try and capture them.

The beasts will have split, heading in different directions, which will make the party split as well. The area shouldn't be too large- A cave, an abandoned barn, a well, an orchard, simple places for the creatures to hide, but relatively close to one another.

The party is 7 strong, ECL 9, maybe 10 or 11 by the time they come across this sidequest.

My question is: Anyone has any good ideas for the animals? I was thinking a mix of magical beasts, like a Gravorg (MM2) or a Greenvise (also MM2).

Any ideas are more than appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Jake]

A dinosaur is a must. A triceratops is awesome at CR 9, and easily advanceable if need be.

[AlanBruce]

A dinosaur is a must. A triceratops is awesome at CR 9, and easily advanceable if need be.

Thank you! I had completely forgotten about dinosaurs. A triceratops would be a great addition and fun encounter.

[John Longarrow]

Dire Bear... with the gelatinous template. (Savage Species)

Gotta love having the party go after a gummi bear!!!

[GilesTheCleric]

A troupe of opera singers. Maybe they cross-dress as queens, just to rub it in?

[AlanBruce]

A troupe of opera singers. Maybe they cross-dress as queens, just to rub it in?

Maybe I'll have one named Priscilla and have this be a desert.

The gelatinous dire bear is a great idea. As is the dinosaur.

I was thinking of the gravorg because, well, it's a cute lemur-like creature that sends people flying. Naturally, the circus will have a handler to control that in crowds, but in the open road and scared...that's a different matter.

[Beleron]

A flumph.

Vesti la giubba...

[Azoth]

Could always advance or template up the Gravbeast as it is only CR6 it gives some customization room.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20040627a

[almightycoma]

The evil shadow squirrels from MM4 could be cool. They shadow jump around and would be a pain to catch nonviolently.
Also how about a dire boar with the winged template. That way, your group has to chase flying pigs.

[AlanBruce]

Thank you so much!

So far, we have the following:

Gelatinous Dire Bear (make it candy scented and colored)

A pack of Skiurids (the shadow squirrels)

An advanced Gravbeast

The Flumph because, frankly, it's about time it got some attention. Wonder if there is a 3.5 conversion for it?

A dino, most likely a triceratops. Try wrangling that guy in without cutting it down.

A dire boar with wings...priceless.

I suppose I can waive the alignment issue here, since the party has 2 paladins who would detect and smite immediately in the case of the skiurids and gravbeast.

And that's a great wrap! Ideally, the party will split, since focusing the entire group on one beast, allows the others to flee further. Time being an essence here.

[nedz]

After they have done you could have the Circus try the following stunt.
"Oh, after you had gone the snipe escaped also. Could you find that for us please ?"
Whilst they are looking for this, the Circus moves on without paying them.
There is no snipe, of course.

Obviously using the word snipe might give this away, so you need to substitute some other critter.

[Azoth]

Just thought of another fun one...an advanced Cheshire Cat. Chasing down one of those would be a headache and a half to say the least.

[AlanBruce]

After they have done you could have the Circus try the following stunt.
"Oh, after you had gone the snipe escaped also. Could you find that for us please ?"
Whilst they are looking for this, the Circus moves on without paying them.
There is no snipe, of course.

Obviously using the word snipe might give this away, so you need to substitute some other critter.

Oddly enough, I was considering that idea after the beasts were rounded up and caged.

I built the circus owner as a marshal/bard with maxed bluff and diplomacy, so sending them to catch "that 7th critter that slipped away while you were hunting the first six", should be a viable option.

[AlanBruce]

Just thought of another fun one...an advanced Cheshire Cat. Chasing down one of those would be a headache and a half to say the least.

I like that. And none in the party have True Seeing or See Invisibility, so it's just a matter of chasing a floating smile.

Is there a 3.5 version for the Cheshire Cat?

[nedz]

Yes (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c), though it was in an April Fools article.

[Souhiro]

What about the Infernal Croaches?

Also, put them "One of those elephants of antient times" (A Mamooth, just a plain ond mamooth without anything else) But they find him with the Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant

[Hamste]

Do they not have a druid? A good druid should be able to trivialize a couple of these encounters atleast. Also they can pretty much damage the animals as much as they want...they just need to give up healing resources do so and be careful not to kill them (and figure out someway to wash the blood off). Just suggesting some ways they may deal with this in a way you might not be totally expecting.

[Feilith]

An Asperi from MMII would be pretty funny, the party thinks its a regular horse then it flies away :smallbiggrin:, especially if they don't have a flyer in that particular part of the group.

[Segev]

Since circuses also like to thrill with grotesqueries... Otyugh?

[John Longarrow]

Flumps are both intelligent and Lawful Good. Be kinda hard to convince a paladin to try and capture one.

For the snipe, why not use a snipe? They are tiny birds with natural camoflage. Really hard to find/catch, hence where the term Sniper actually comes from.

Course give it some odd quirk, like giving it the shadow template (Talk about hard to find). Toss is the thing has one hit point and the party needs to be really careful in trying to catch it.

[AlanBruce]

The party make up is as follows. Mind you they are ecl 9 now. May be ecl 10 or 11 by the time they have this side quest.

human prestige paladin/cleric/inquisitor

grey elf beguiler

grey elf conjurer

human necromancer

human dragon shaman

drow lolth touched wiz/paladin of freedom

petal bard 7

The party is mostly good, with the shaman and beguiler being neutral, but there are no druids.

I have considered the creatures getting cut and healed, but the flumph, for instance, has, I believe 9 hp and these guys are doing anywhere in the vicinity of 20+ damage at their weakest.

The only one I can think of to be able to subdue the creatures without any harm is the beguiler with whelm or mass whelm, assuming he rolls really high and the animals do not pass the save.

The problem I see here is that the party will know what they are hunting, since nobody would accept a job without getting all the info first. They will most likely ask the circus owner or the animal handler and they will tell the party what the escaped critters are, or at least give a very accurate description, since they are their animals and have been with them for years.