Help me to connect the dots

[Godrednu]

So as with most games, my PCs make up most of the story and I, as DM, am just here to write it out and create the world for them. Something has come up and I would like some ideas connecting two characters. I'm going to give as much as I can without making this too terribly long so that you'll know what's going on.

Main plot:
There is a mage in town that has taken over a leadership role since the king's disappearance, and the mage is more or less the reason for the king's disappearance. The mage made a contraption (that the player's do no know about yet) that turns anyone born in town into a lizard folk if they do not possess some sort of magical ability so that when the townsfolk see this, the mage can use their fear as a reason to banish anyone without magical abilities to 'purify' the town. When this started happening, chaos ensued and the king, fearing for his life, hid until he could come up with some sort of answer. Every time a lizard baby is born, it is exiled, and the shunned lizard folk in the surrounding forest raise it. The lizard folk were persuaded by a green dragon to, under it's guidance, reoccupy the city and hold it hostage. The party killed the green dragon. Again, chaos ensued in town. A lot of lizard folk were killed. A lot of townspeople were killed.

Side mission:
So I ran this one shot one time because not everyone could come and made this NPC known as farmer John. Well, the PCs fell in love with him so I have incorporated him into the game. He is a monk that has traveled the lands for many years, but fell in love with a woman from the city and settled down on a farm just on the outskirts of the city. No one knows who he is or where he came from. He claims to have lived in the city all along. Well, the one shot was a green hag mimicking his wife (who is still alive) by transforming into her, setting up shop in a cave under the house, and reeking havoc on his farm through means of evil magical energies and whatnot. The party does not know what happened to the hag. After the fight, the wife, who the party thought was still the hag until she proved otherwise, came out from a cavern that the hag went in, and the party turned their attention to the wife, letting the hag go.

Combining stories:
The party wants to go after the mage, so I am going to have him being impersonated by the same green hag that was impersonating farmer John's wife for a more climatic battle sequence.

So here's my question. How can I combine all of this? I was thinking the mage might know or have suspicions about farmer John because of something in their joined past so the mage sent the hag in as a recon type of thing, but that's about as far as I've gotten with that idea. I am, by no means, set on doing that or anything else. I am just looking for awesome suggestions. Thanks in advance!!!

[bluthunda]

Why not have the mage save the hag from the party as her escape route from the PC's when she got away for the express purpose of having someone to impersonate him as a means of protection.
Unless you're really set on having John and the mage being connected in which case secret brother is easy especially in old times where records aren't really kept.

[malachi]

Let me summarize, so I can make sure that I'm not misinterpreting what you're saying.

The mage is interfering with normal births to foment confusion and take political control. Then there was an unrelated dragon / lizardfolk attack, which the party thwarted, allowing the mage to take back political control.
Farmer John has a wife, who was kidnapped and replaced by a hag doing weird things under the house and screwing with the farm. The party managed to rescue the wife, but let the hag escape.

Assuming that those two summaries are valid, I can see a couple of options in addition to what you said.

A) The mage was using the hag in order to make his contraption work, and she had escaped to the farm. The mage was able to track her to the farm, and is now going to get on Farmer John's wrong side.

B) The mage hears stories about how the party bested a hag, and tracks her down in an attempt to use her magic / essence to improve the contraption and allow it to start converting children (and maybe animals?) in the area into lizardfolk as well. The party runs across the mage's minions after Farmer John convinces them to hunt down and slay the hag.

C) Farmer John used to work for a sacred order alongside the mage to protect some powerful artifact. When the order realized that Farmer John was being corrupted by the artifact, they kicked him out - he settled down to try to avoid anything that might trigger the corruption inside of him. The mage's corruption wasn't discovered until it had progressed much further, and his current plot is an attempt to gain enough power to conquer the order and take control of the artifact. The mage discovers Farmer John after the hag incident, and tries to convince him to join (possibly succeeding, but with the possibility for the party to convince him to turn back on the corruption in a future encounter). The hag itself could have escaped from the mage (and was held captive to power the contraption), have been released by the mage to spread further chaos (with the plans that the mage would come in and 'save the day'), or have just been entirely unrelated.

D) Like (C), but the mage sent the hag in an attempt to further Farmer John's corruption (and the hag is somehow related to the artifact; possibly someone who had been fully corrupted, but who was much weaker than the mage and Farmer John, so her form changed).

Does the party know that the mage is evil (or that he even exists)?

[Godrednu]

Why not have the mage save the hag from the party as her escape route from the PC's when she got away for the express purpose of having someone to impersonate him as a means of protection.
Unless you're really set on having John and the mage being connected in which case secret brother is easy especially in old times where records aren't really kept.

This is good. I hadn't thought about just connecting the hag and mage. I'll definitely think about this one just for its simplicity.

[Godrednu]

Let me summarize, so I can make sure that I'm not misinterpreting what you're saying.

The mage is interfering with normal births to foment confusion and take political control. Then there was an unrelated dragon / lizardfolk attack, which the party thwarted, allowing the mage to take back political control.
Farmer John has a wife, who was kidnapped and replaced by a hag doing weird things under the house and screwing with the farm. The party managed to rescue the wife, but let the hag escape.

Assuming that those two summaries are valid, I can see a couple of options in addition to what you said.

A) The mage was using the hag in order to make his contraption work, and she had escaped to the farm. The mage was able to track her to the farm, and is now going to get on Farmer John's wrong side.

B) The mage hears stories about how the party bested a hag, and tracks her down in an attempt to use her magic / essence to improve the contraption and allow it to start converting children (and maybe animals?) in the area into lizardfolk as well. The party runs across the mage's minions after Farmer John convinces them to hunt down and slay the hag.

C) Farmer John used to work for a sacred order alongside the mage to protect some powerful artifact. When the order realized that Farmer John was being corrupted by the artifact, they kicked him out - he settled down to try to avoid anything that might trigger the corruption inside of him. The mage's corruption wasn't discovered until it had progressed much further, and his current plot is an attempt to gain enough power to conquer the order and take control of the artifact. The mage discovers Farmer John after the hag incident, and tries to convince him to join (possibly succeeding, but with the possibility for the party to convince him to turn back on the corruption in a future encounter). The hag itself could have escaped from the mage (and was held captive to power the contraption), have been released by the mage to spread further chaos (with the plans that the mage would come in and 'save the day'), or have just been entirely unrelated.

D) Like (C), but the mage sent the hag in an attempt to further Farmer John's corruption (and the hag is somehow related to the artifact; possibly someone who had been fully corrupted, but who was much weaker than the mage and Farmer John, so her form changed).

Does the party know that the mage is evil (or that he even exists)?

Not necessarily unrelated lizardfolk attack. The lizardfolk that attacked were comprised of the townspeople that turned to lizardfolk from the mage's contraption. The green dragon saw an opportunity to take advantage of these people's anger and grasped it to try to take over the town.

All of these ideas are good. The party is aware that the mage is not a nice guy. Not necessarily that he is evil, but they have a good idea.

[Chugger]

"(that the player's do no know about yet)" <-- unless they read GitP! :smallwink:

The hag could somehow be the mage's mother, and the mage isn't really what he seems to be. And who is the mage's father? Well, besides Darth Vader?

[Armored Walrus]

The hag and the mage could be completely unrelated, but maybe the mage skipped town for awhile, and the hag, knowing that the mage holds political sway here, decides to impersonate him for her own gain. This happens to be when the PCs decide to attack/confront the mage, not knowing it's actually the hag. Once they resolve that, the real mage shows up and s*&( goes down.

[Puh Laden]

Maybe make it so the mage and the hag were the same person all along? Name them after Norman Osborn for extra points. Has the party already met the mage or have they met him and it's just the contraption they don't know about?

[Godrednu]

The hag and the mage could be completely unrelated, but maybe the mage skipped town for awhile, and the hag, knowing that the mage holds political sway here, decides to impersonate him for her own gain. This happens to be when the PCs decide to attack/confront the mage, not knowing it's actually the hag. Once they resolve that, the real mage shows up and s*&( goes down.

I like this. I May not use it here, but I have another way to include it. Thanks.

[Godrednu]

Maybe make it so the mage and the hag were the same person all along? Name them after Norman Osborn for extra points. Has the party already met the mage or have they met him and it's just the contraption they don't know about?

They have met him and it's the contraption they don't know about.

[Godrednu]

"(that the player's do no know about yet)" <-- unless they read GitP! :smallwink:

I thought about this. My players are so new though, I don't think they know about this site. If they do, let's just hope they don't see this thread. 😊

[lunaticfringe]

John was part of a shadowy organization that protects Civilized Lands from all manner of Supernatural What-Nots. The Mage is aware and sent the Hag to try and find out what he knew, or, if John was sent after him as some sort of advance agent. John really doesn't know anything. He was kind of a grunt or the Organization relies on Magic Items for Detecting What-Nots that John turned in when he left. The Hag went off mission just for funzies after learning John was just a farmer now.

This opens up story threads later. John could intro the Party to the Organization who then sends them on the occasional Scooby Doo X-Files Side Quests if they ever beat the Mage (and his Hag minion).

Just an idea.

[Godrednu]

John was part of a shadowy organization that protects Civilized Lands from all manner of Supernatural What-Nots. The Mage is aware and sent the Hag to try and find out what he knew, or, if John was sent after him as some sort of advance agent. John really doesn't know anything. He was kind of a grunt or the Organization relies on Magic Items for Detecting What-Nots that John turned in when he left. The Hag went off mission just for funzies after learning John was just a farmer now.

This opens up story threads later. John could intro the Party to the Organization who then sends them on the occasional Scooby Doo X-Files Side Quests if they ever beat the Mage (and his Hag minion).

Just an idea.

This it's a good idea as well. I would like to find a way to connect farmer John with the mage out possible.