Reward/Surprise/Treasure/Fun in location that wasn't intended for it

[90sMusic]

So to keep things short and simple, I basically have a player who has been undergoing some changes and part of that process was flashbacks given to him from the creature that began his transformation. He absorbed some of it's memories and saw glimpses of it's memories in his dreams including the location of it's old lair.

Now in the story, the lair is empty. It has been abandoned for about a thousand years at this point and there was never really meant to be anything in there except maybe the act of finding it being a fun little easter egg type deal.

But the player has taken these visions as something that is intended to "guide" him and he is utterly convinced that there is something he is intended to find down in that cave. I've tried to sort of subtlety hint that there really isn't anything there, but he doesn't pick up on it and I don't want to just metagame it out and tell the guy there isn't anything there and his heart is so set on finding this place and exploring it.

So now i'm in a pickle because I have no idea what to put in there for him to find! I thought i'd have more time to puzzle this out and come up with something, but i've been doing so many gigs lately that I haven't had much opportunity to put a lot of brainpower into it.

I was kind of leaning towards maybe giving him another vision directing him somewhere else, but the problem is he is a fairly dominant personality in his party and I feel that if he had another "objective", he would just go straight to it and drag the rest of the party with him. The world they're playing in is rather open ended and they currently aren't involved in anything particularly time sensitive that they are aware of. I was going to wait until a certain level threshold to give him another vision with another objective. But I can't think of anything to put in that lair. =/

Random looters wouldn't have been a problem, even after all this time, because it's location makes it not only extremely inaccessible but you wouldn't even realize it is there without either already knowing where it was or just doing a lot of underwater exploration. So it's possible there may be something left in there that the original owner didn't take, I just can't decide on what.

I really don't want it to contain a power-increasing magical item. So i'm not really sure what to put there... I'd hate for him to make that journey all the way there to find a big empty cave, ya know?

[denthor]

What type of creature was in the cave that your player transformation started as?

2nd did the previous monster have a passion for treasure?

3rd if not did the previous monster that became the pc just sit there waiting for adventures. Did they find the cave before transformation happen?

4th. What does the party need? If nothing and the above is no. let there be uncut gems, 2,000 copper pieces and a magic mouth spell." I was told to remind you spent your treasure to become what you are now"

DO not feel bad you hinted not to go there

[90sMusic]

What type of creature was in the cave that your player transformation started as?

2nd did the previous monster have a passion for treasure?

3rd if not did the previous monster that became the pc just sit there waiting for adventures. Did they find the cave before transformation happen?

4th. What does the party need? If nothing and the above is no. let there be uncut gems, 2,000 copper pieces and a magic mouth spell." I was told to remind you spent your treasure to become what you are now"

DO not feel bad you hinted not to go there

I guess I wasn't entirely clear with my explanation. The player wasn't the creature, the creature just began a transformation within the player which will ultimately make the player take on some of it's strengths and perks over time.

The cave was originally inhabited by a dragon. The player is a dragonborn, but he is for story-reasons undergoing a very slow change into picking up more dragon-like characteristics. Mechanically, this is just his subclass so he unlocks these perks as he levels. They have a bond with that dragon which is why they are getting glimpses of it's memories and personality every now and then. There is still a big secret related to the main story that relates to that dragon but they're still a long ways off from figuring it all out, they're just getting small clues once in a while through him and his connection to it.

The creature did hoard treasure and magical items among other things, but the dragon left that lair and moved to a new location a very long time ago and took presumably everything with it. The lair was intended to be empty when and if it was found.

[Jaelommiss]

So we've got a lair that once housed a dragon. The dragon moved there in the first place for a reason. If that reason was anything other than an immediate need to hide from someone or something, then this location is in some way superior for a dragon than at least some other locations. This could be because it is a defensible location, has great hunting nearby, has a nice view, is on some magical or historic site, or just about anything else. The point is, there are reasons to want to live here if you're a dragon, and the biggest reason not to live there (the previous inhabitant) has moved out...

[Mutazoia]

So let him get there, and find a few loose copper pieces that the dragon missed when it moved its horde to newer, larger accommodations....and then let him remember moving out when the place got too small for a growing dragon to live in. If you want to be kind, maybe let there be a bunch of old scales laying around...maybe just enough to make a shield out of if he can find the right person, and scrape up enough money to do so. This way he gets a kinda-sorta special item that really is only really useful in a very specific, rare circumstance, so it really won't be OP...just kind of cool...and then move on with the campaign.

[redwizard007]

Option 1: put another dragon in there. You could go with the patron's offspring or a rival color wyrm. We are probably going with a juvenile or young adult, but adjust as needed. As the PC enters the cave, give him another vision overlaying the reality to point out a few changes (a new defensive trench or guard animal, perhaps wall art, and obviously the new inhabitant.) The new owner would probably not take kindly to an intrusion, but might drop a "you smell of grandfather," that could turn this from a combat encounter to a RP opportunity.

Option 2: the cave has remained unoccupied. Visions flash through the PCs mind as he walks the cavern. Images of the hoard, of a beloved mate, of hatchlings listening to their mother singing...

There may be a few pieces of egg shell in a corner, and some broken pottery, perhaps a faded mural on the wall, but the cavern remains empty. The only thing to be found were emotions that leave the PC with a smile and tears running down his cheeks.

[RazorChain]

It is simple. The player is invested, use this to your advantage. Put out a hook for an adventure there or a hidden item that ties to the story arc or whatever.

You could give him a large flashback that leads him somewhere else.


This is not a drawback, this is an opportunity. Now go and harness your players enthusiasm and use it to your advantage