Help! Need a theme for next week!

[GreyBlack]

Okay, so I'm DMing a small (3 player) campaign/dungeon crawl, currently level 4 Summoner, Alchemist, Bloodrager. I've sent them in search of a MacGuffin with the ability to rewrite time in a sufficiently powerful mage's hands and a villain who wants to undo the outcome of the last Great War (an antipaladin killing the death god and throwing the entire world into chaos). So far, my run has been met with some really wild success so far.

Game 1 saw them getting into a bar brawl, fighting terrorists, and searching for traps in a dungeon, along with negotiations with the town mayor for supplies to go fetch the MacGuffin.

Game 2 led to my players triggering a rolling boulder trap, fighting cultists summoning demons, and freeing a prisoner who isn't all he seemed when he turned out to be a werewolf in game 3.

Game 3 found the first sub-boss of the dungeon, a goblin tinkerer/gunslinger building clockworks culminating in a heated match involving a moveable cannon, clockwork servants loading said cannons, clockwork spies dropping down on the PCs with a sizeable stash of loot for them.

So I'm coming up on game 4, and unsure what to do with them this time, so I'm asking for the Playground to help me out. What should I make them fight this time? I'm going to build into a Lovecraftian horror story (the MacGuffin is going to unleash holy hell on the world), so what ideas does everyone have for this week?

[Karl Aegis]

Abnormally large, docile, flightless birds are always eerie. Especially in an ancient temple that has no record of ever existing.

[GreyBlack]

Giant penguins? .... I'm down.

[goto124]

But what happens if someone tries to keep a killer penguin as a pet!

'Aww, look at its fluffy feathers!'
'SQUAWK!'

[Karl Aegis]

Eh, you could always make them blind and deaf penguins. Their complete unresponsiveness in what is supposed to be a terrifying place is what makes them scary.

[razorback]

Eh, you could always make them blind and deaf penguins. Their complete unresponsiveness in what is supposed to be a terrifying place is what makes them scary.

Use them as a set up for round 5. After round 4 they think they are just window dressing. In round 5, they sprout tentacles, etc and reek (un)holy hell on the group.


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http://media.giphy.com/media/HsHtezWjmMoSc/giphy.gif


Since last session was clockwork (lawful/organized), you can either take the next step towards chaos/disorganization or go full on.
I'd go full tilt the other direction. 4th level... through some otyugh's/something level appropriate.
Since you're playing PF by the looks of it, check out their list of aberrations (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations).

[GreyBlack]

But what happens if someone tries to keep a killer penguin as a pet!

'Aww, look at its fluffy feathers!'
'SQUAWK!'

.... if one of my players decided to try this, I may allow it. Another option I've been considering is dinosaurs. Mad druid controlling a cult underground with dinosaurs. In all, I'm just looking for an interesting hook to serve as the penultimate chapter in the dungeon.

[Karl Aegis]

Use them as a set up for round 5. After round 4 they think they are just window dressing. In round 5, they sprout tentacles, etc and reek (un)holy hell on the group.


http://media.giphy.com/media/tAGm2qBLCxArK/giphy.gif

http://media.giphy.com/media/HsHtezWjmMoSc/giphy.gif


Since last session was clockwork (lawful/organized), you can either take the next step towards chaos/disorganization or go full on.
I'd go full tilt the other direction. 4th level... through some otyugh's/something level appropriate.
Since you're playing PF by the looks of it, check out their list of aberrations (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations).

Juxtaposing eldritch abominations next to docile animals normally has more impact than the animals themselves being super scary. Imagine, if you will, being attacked by a Gray Ooze that, for some reason or another, has six-pack abs while being surrounded by penguins that do not care about the ooze at all.

[goto124]

The abs ooze with penguins is less scary and more surrealistic or 'DM is being wierd'.

[Karl Aegis]

Lovecraftian Horrors tend to be weird. For example, there is a mindless bubble with organs floating in it and a mass of arms that surges towards people while screaming, "Tekeli-li, Tekeli-li!" until they can decapitate them with a splorching sound. They were used as pack animals by squid-faced plant men dubbed Elder Things until they rebelled against the Elder Things.

[GreyBlack]

The abs ooze with penguins is less scary and more surrealistic or 'DM is being wierd'.

Agreed and disagreed. Imagine, for a moment, having just finished fighting that goblin I described, walking out the next door into a large, underground cavern adorned with penguins, surrounding a massive, crumbling temple. Arcane energies swirl around it, and streams of light shoot from the temple windows at irregular intervals, with the seal of the Dead God inscribed upon the walls of the temple. You wade through the penguins, whom are unperturbed by your entrance, when suddenly......

EDIT: Thanks Playground! I have my hook.

[Lightlawbliss]

YOU SHOULD — let them figure something out and work from there.

[GreyBlack]

YOU SHOULD — let them figure something out and work from there.

My group tends to be confused when not presented with an immediate goal and a healthy helping of railroading. I do allow some great leeway, however. Bar brawl night 1? The result of the alchemist being a **** and insulting everyone in sight and then throwing a bomb. While being buck naked. Because we are also in pursuit of the villain, it isn't organic to not have a hook planned. After this segment, it's End Boss time, which I have planned as a fight and a half.