Side plot help - dead uncle's wishes

[Chadlington]

I'm stuck for creativity today and need some help with a side adventure.

I recently started DMing a game in which the players started with no equipment (they were slave labourers, which made for a great way to get them all together and cooperating). So to 'give' them the needed starting gp I gave one of the player's a secret note saying his recently deceased uncle left him a decent inheritence and he must go to the region's capital city to collect (once they escaped capitivity). Then it stuck me that this could make for a decent side adventure, with the uncle leaving a message about something interesting, but I'm fresh out of ideas. The uncle was a well off merchant living in the region's capital city, and the game is 3.5 if that makes any difference to anyone. The nephew (player with the note) is a Wizard, and the group will be level 3 by the time they reach the city. I'm looking for something more interesting than a dungeon crawl, maybe to do with a rare item the uncle was looking for, or maybe political intrigued in the city.

Please help?

[Kelb_Panthera]

Am I to understand that you're going to make a wizard go through levels 1 and 2 without a spellbook?

[Chadlington]

No I had to make a bit of an exception there, saying that their captors kept some of their small/personal possessions at their slave camp, including the wizard's spellbook, and they looted enough basic equipment and adventuring gear to get them to the nearest town, where they got some petty jobs to see them to the capital.

I'm not that evil

[Sutremaine]

Does a wizard really need a spellbook spellbook though? They start out with 19 cantrips (fewer for specialists), not all of which will be relevant, and 3 1st-level spells. A sheet of parchment is 2sp, and the same material as a page in a spellbook.

[Kadzar]

Onto the actually question at hand: do you have any thoughts or ideas about what sort of person this uncle is? Because that could certainly help you and us come up with ideas.

Regardless, the most likely candidates for plot hooks in this case that I can think of would be ones that involve unfinished business, the circumstances surrounding his death, or possessions that are passed on as part of the inheritance, which may tie in with one and/or two or be it's own thing.

And this is where knowing what sort of person this uncle was could help, since, for example, if he was a wizard, for example, you might come across notes that indicate that he was in the middle or near completion of a wondrous new spell. Or, if he was an explorer, he might have maps that point to an undiscovered civilization. Or, if he was a widower with children, your wizard might have to look after or find a home for a younger cousin or cousins. You can actually go pretty much anywhere you want with this.

[Chadlington]

Onto the actually question at hand: do you have any thoughts or ideas about what sort of person this uncle is? Because that could certainly help you and us come up with ideas.

The uncle was a good bloke, who did well as a merchant, but I haven't written any other details about his past or anything, so there's not much to limit us there. One thing to consider: the nephew (PC wizard) was sent off to a magical academy at a young age when he started showing signs of magical powers, purely because his parents were suspicious of magic. His uncle (and other extended family) thought that was a cruel thing to do and thought poorly of the parents for doing so.

And yeah, you're right on track with that whole unfinished business idea, I'm just struggling for ideas today. I spent most of yesterday writing out the main plot and I'm a little drained. So feel free to be as detailed as you want, it would save me the trouble :P
Some ideas that have popped in to my head: uncle's business partner was up to no good/making a not-so-legal attempt to take over the business; uncle was searching for some rare magical item and was getting really close (I don't really know what the item could be, since it has to be pretty cool, but no so powerful that it turns a group of lvl 3 adventurers into unstoppable juganaughts.)

Thanks for the help so far!

[Chadlington]

One thing I did come up with (with some helpful prodding) and would like to include, is that when the nephew goes to collect his inheritence he gets some gp and a mysterious stone. If he figures it out, rubbing the stone on the (hand delivered) will document that he has would reveal the information about this side quest for the uncle.

[Chadlington]

Right, so with some outside help I came up with this:

The nephew collects a stone with his inheritence, and when rubbed on the note he was sent (regarding his uncle's death) it reveals a secret message. The uncle was getting very close to finding a 'portable hole' (DMG 261) and has narrowed it down to one of 3 locations in the city that were known bases of an age old (and extinct) smugglers group. The group must then search the 3 locations looking for it. The locations will all be different, with one being in the basement of an inhabited mansion in the city, another being in the sewers and a third maybe outside of town, underneath a farmhouse or something.

I think that works, and it creates a varied mission.

[Chadlington]

Not sure if a portable hole will give them power above their level, but I figured I would make the actual inheritence (in gp) will be next to nothing, so they have to choose whether to try as sell the portable hole (and be relatively rich if they find a buyer) or keep it and be poor (but still have a portable hole). Thoughts? I've never used one before as either player or DM.

[JustPlayItLoud]

A thought I had was to have the inheritance include a loupe. In addition to it being minor treasure (masterwork item for +2 appraise), it reveals additional writing on the original note. The item is magically keyed to a special ink that the uncle acquired, although there isn't much left now. If they find the special ink, it isn't good for writing much, but the loupe still functions normally otherwise.

[Chadlington]

A thought I had was to have the inheritance include a loupe. In addition to it being minor treasure (masterwork item for +2 appraise), it reveals additional writing on the original note. The item is magically keyed to a special ink that the uncle acquired, although there isn't much left now. If they find the special ink, it isn't good for writing much, but the loupe still functions normally otherwise.

That's perfect! I have been reading up on portable holes and decided that I really don't want to give them one, but special ink with a magic loupe is novelty enough to be worthwhile, but not game changingly powerful. Cheers!

[Kadzar]

Another thing to consider is that you can effectively chain quests and, since this is a side plot, have new quests come up at a later date. For example, the magical writing on the note might point to an organization of some sort that the uncle knew that hires the PCs to track down some journal or very minor artifact. When the PCs bring it back, the people who hired them thank them and say they need some time to study it. The PCs go on their merry way, then later, when they're higher level, they get word from that organization that they've made some discovery and their help is required once again.

[blackspeeker]

For some reason this leads me to a (popular?) staple of tv dramas/comedies where a relative dies and he makes people compete for his inheritance by staying in his haunted house for a weekend, if I was playing I would enjoy the interaction with the other NPCs competing for said treasure.

when I say popular I know it happened on scooby doo, and I think futurama alluded to it once, I don't remember.

In my search it also appeared to be a premise for a reality show (minus the haunted house part)