PDA

View Full Version : DM Help The Efreeti bounty hunter



MonkeySage
2015-05-14, 05:06 PM
I had an idea about a scenario I plan to run sometime in the future of my campaign; the players stumble upon a village, check into the inn and notice some strange behavior on the part of the villagers. The villagers seem almost too welcoming to the players, and they exhibit other strange characteristics too. Subtle things like slit pupils, sharp teeth, etc.

They eventually learn that the villagers are all imposters; a rakshasa pack that butchered the previous residents, ate them, and took their place.

If they make it through the scenario, and kill the leader, the rest will scatter. The players will then be approached by a man, who reveals that there was a bounty on the rakshasa leader's head. The man tells the group that they saved him a bunch of trouble, and informs them that he is an efreeti. And he's willing to grant one request for each of the party members. He gives them the necessary tool to summon him, and then parts ways.

I was hoping to get some help developing this scenario. How might that encounter with the genie play out?

HerbertWest
2015-05-14, 05:51 PM
One approach I've always enjoyed when it comes to two parties working towards the same goal, without the other party's knowledge, is guarded suspicion. Perhaps the Efreeti comes to the town after the party has already cleaned up the Rakshasa problem. He finds the party there, perhaps licking their wounds and resting after the deed is done, and wonders whether or not they themselves are Rakshasa, and this is an elaborate ploy to lure him out into the open. The Efreet either engages the party in combat, or approaches them in a different form, and finally discovers through inquiry or combat that the party are not, in fact, Rakshasa.

In this way, it also adds the element of player choice and consequence. If the Efreeti yields after doing combat with them, do the PCs listen? Or do they unbeknowingly jeapordize their potential reward by striking him down?

Darth Ultron
2015-05-14, 11:56 PM
How about:

Signs of Battle Damage The PC's notice things like broken windows, doors and such. And they are oddly not fixed and just seem to be left alone. Make some really odd like the main window of the in is smashed and glass covers like a third of the floor and several tables...and the inn staff is just ignoring it and not cleaning it up. Though if asked, any rakshasa in disguise will just say ''oh, that was storm damage from last night''.

Out of Place People This is where the rakshasa don't exactly understand the way humans look. A good one is all the disguises are very attractive. You can make a note that everyone in town looks great. Make some really odd one like a ''Brad Pitt'' looking farmer milking some cows, perfectly clean and not even breaking a sweat. You can also have the rakasta mix up ages, have like some old ''school boys'' and have some ''boy'' shop keepers.

And if your really into such detail, have the rakshasa be another race of humans. Like if the village was in England, but all the rakshasa's look like ''middle eastern'' humans, not pale Englishmen.

Out of Water This is where the rakshasa don't understand human culture. They might serve raw food at the inn for example, so the 'rare' stake is 'uncooked'. Or they put apples and oranges in a beef stew. Or they wear the wrong clothing, like a woman working on a farm in high heeled dress shoes.

One of Us Pick some creepy line, that oddly every single village always says in a very odd way at odd times, all the time. Like ''traveler you look tired, you should go to the inn and rest'' or ''may the bird of paradise fly up your nose'' or ''may an elephant caresses you with his toes''.

Pleasentville Everyone is just too nice. And you can go crazy far like ''the dwarf blacksmith wants his daughter to date the elf guy'' and says something crazy like ''you kids have fun, I don't want to see you come home until the sun comes up''.

You can play the bounty hunter a couple ways:

1. He is a Clueless Visitor in town too. He lost the trail a couple miles back and can't find it. So now he is just wandering, hoping to find a sign or clue or trail. He has no idea the town has been taken.

2. Wounded. He got into a big fight with the rakshasa BBEG, and now both are wounded. He is hiding in a cave or barn or such. Maybe with a wound like ''a curse'' or such. You can add the nice twist of the bounty hunter saying ''I got his left eye and ripped it out''......and, amazingly Mayor McFreindly is missing his left eye....

3. Mysteriously Helpful. He meets the PC's and puts on the whole vague mystery act. He says things like ''you folks don't want to be around here'' and ''run for the hills'', but very annoyingly never says why other then vague things like ''bad things will happen soon".