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View Full Version : DM Help A sad Elf NPC - wat do?



HoboKnight
2020-12-08, 08:35 AM
Say, you are an ancient elf village elder. You are in charge of village of about 200 souls, all elves, living in a forest. Competence is ... given in your world. You have in your village a high-level druid, wizard and sorcerer, as well a group of rangers, who make sure, nothing bad approaches the village and harms the villagers, especially the children. All villagers are given best possible training ... archers are trained by elven Robin Hood, anyone interested in cuisine is tutored by elven Gordon Ramsay, young casters get tutelage from elven Dumbledore, etc.

A strange canundrum happens. One of the children in the village got sad and depressed. Her emotional state is caused by the death of her parents, which were, decades ago, kidnapped and sacrificed by an evil cult. Given, this individual is very attuned to Feywild, she caught an eye of feywild creatures, specifically Boggles, which are created in Feywild, connected to sadness. You are wise and you know that just killing the cult will not emotionally heal the elf. And problem is, boggles are popping into existence around her even on Material plane, and want to drag her to Swamp of Sadness, where they will enjoy her sweet, sweet brokeness.

You in fact know, that this proces will, with years, attract ever stronger Fey creatures from Feywild and just teleporting to Feywild and nuking a bunch of boggles, is not a solution.

How would you solve the problem of this precious elven child?

Vahnavoi
2020-12-08, 09:23 AM
Get them a puppy dog. Maybe a magical puppy dog that radiates joy and happiness and eats those damn boggles for breakfast, but yeah, a puppy dog is a good start. Cute fluffy creatures demonstrably alleviate stress and depression. If that's not enough, you ask one of the druids where they keep the Happy Shrooms.

Batcathat
2020-12-08, 09:32 AM
Get them a puppy dog. Maybe a magical puppy dog that radiates joy and happiness and eats those damn boggles for breakfast, but yeah, a puppy dog is a good start. Cute fluffy creatures demonstrably alleviate stress and depression. If that's not enough, you ask one of the druids where they keep the Happy Shrooms.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2XJx3mpDU8&feature=youtu.be&t=10

Xervous
2020-12-08, 10:06 AM
Provide a warding device that blocks planar travel if feasible.

Allow time and effort for improvement up until the spontaneous arrivals become a problem. Assuming the elf is willing this could extend to mind affecting magic.

Ship the elf out to a place where there isn’t a thin planar barrier as the final measure. I’ve got a whole bunch of people to look after, risking their safety for one individual past a point is simply irresponsible.


Worst case I’ll pull the trolley lever. But fortunately this isn’t warhammer so I don’t think it will go that far.

Lord Torath
2020-12-08, 10:19 AM
Since we've got hyper-competent archery, magic, cuisine, and everything-else instructors in this tribe, I would assume there is a correspondingly-competent grief counselor available. Put this girl in counseling. Even people who don't lose their parents to an evil cult still need therapy to help deal with hard things. There's no shame in talking to a therapist.

WanderingMist
2020-12-08, 03:55 PM
Say, you are an ancient elf village elder. You are in charge of village of about 200 souls, all elves, living in a forest. Competence is...given in your world. You have in your village a high-level druid, wizard and sorcerer, as well a group of rangers, who make sure, nothing bad approaches the village and harms the villagers, especially the children. All villagers are given best possible training ... archers are trained by elven Robin Hood, anyone interested in cuisine is tutored by elven Gordon Ramsay, young casters get tutelage from elven Dumbledore, etc.

A strange conundrum happens. One of the children in the village got sad and depressed. Her emotional state is caused by the death of her parents, which were, decades ago, kidnapped and sacrificed by an evil cult. Given, this individual is very attuned to Feywild, she caught an eye of Feywild creatures, specifically Boggles, which are created in Feywild, connected to sadness. You are wise and you know that just killing the cult will not emotionally heal the elf. And problem is, boggles are popping into existence around her even on Material plane, and want to drag her to Swamp of Sadness, where they will enjoy her sweet, sweet brokeness.

You in fact know, that this process will, with years, attract ever stronger Fey creatures from Feywild and just teleporting to Feywild and nuking a bunch of boggles, is not a solution.

How would you solve the problem of this precious elven child?
In human terms, how old would the child be? What does she actually do when she's sad? What about the times when she's not sad, however brief they may be? If you can answer these, I would be able to define some options.

HoboKnight
2020-12-09, 08:01 AM
In human terms, how old would the child be? What does she actually do when she's sad? What about the times when she's not sad, however brief they may be? If you can answer these, I would be able to define some options.

In human terms, child is 16. She gets cathatonic, when she is sad, drowns her sorrwes in liquer too. When she is not sad, she is sort of ... disinterested in material plane. That is a major reason, Fey creatures find her so attractive.

Satinavian
2020-12-09, 08:45 AM
The by far most reaspnably but also most boring solution would indeed be therapy. People have developed mundane methods to cope with grief for millenia.

The next option are anti-depressiva or magical equivalents. IRL many forms of depression get medicated and it works reasonably well.

The third option would be memory altering magic.

Cicciograna
2020-12-09, 08:47 AM
Well, it seems to me that it's time for the village to have its first Archfey Warlock.

WanderingMist
2020-12-09, 04:17 PM
In human terms, child is 16. She gets catatonic, when she is sad, drowns her sorrows in liquor too. When she is not sad, she is sort of...disinterested in material plane. That is a major reason, Fey creatures find her so attractive.

Two solutions come to mind:

Solution 1: Round up a group of adventurers and have her tag along on a few non-dangerous quests. Bonus if any of the adventurers have also lost both their parents and can empathize with her situation.

Solution 2: Convince her to throw herself into something creative, like painting, gardening, music, etc.

DigestPantheon
2020-12-09, 04:33 PM
Perhaps go searching for a specific ritual that could keep the creatures from appearing. Like a warding spell. That would help with those, if it exists, but doesn't help with the depression.

As for how to fix depression, that's a real world problem without an easy answer. I've seen some headlines about psychedelic mushrooms being helpful, so maybe in this fantasy setting there are some natural remedies that could be of use.

Palanan
2020-12-09, 11:49 PM
Heart's Ease is a third-level cleric spell from BoED which, according to the description, "cures emotional wounds in the same way that Heal wipes away physical ones." It's specifically intended to remove the effects of emotional trauma, leaving the recipient "feeling refreshed and at peace."

This may seem a little pat for the circumstances, and it's highly source- and edition-specific, but in a 3.X game which allows BoED this spell should suffice.

.

Xervous
2020-12-10, 07:56 AM
Could we get a timetable on the progression of fae incursions?