Need Help with a Setting


Advice


I'll be running a one-off adventure in the near future, and I have an idea I really like as the main villain - a 10th level Mesmerist, who's a circus ring-leader. For this, I figure the party should be about level 6 or 7. A traveling circus arrives, hijinks ensue, etc. I'm getting caught up on the setting, though. I don't see a party of level 6-7 adventurers having nothing better to do than going to a circus - that seems like a level 1-3 adventure (I AM reading through Murder's Mark for reference).

I'd really prefer to not go "OK, the circus is in town, and you decide to go - trust me". I'd prefer some sort of hook, which would necessitate a better idea of why the PC's are such a high level while also grounded in a town/city that has a circus arrive.

So I'm looking for a setting like a frontier or military post that would logically have some high-ish level PC's sitting around. My problem with a frontier or military post is these aren't typically smart stops for a traveling circus to make. Does anyone have any ideas?


Some alternate ideas for getting the party to the circus:

A) Grandmaster of a Trading House in the city the circus is about to visit suspects rival merchant house of using Circus as method for smuggling goods in without paying tariffs, thus allowing the rival house to undercut her House's prices, and wants the characters to investigate.
If the investigations show this to be true any of the following may apply depending upon the alignment and personality of the Grandmaster and the laws and overall nature of the city (as assigned by you):
Quietly stop the smuggling (discourage those responsible)
Brutally stop the smuggling (flagrantly eliminate those responsible)
Gather proof of the operation (blackmail rival house with info)
Gather proof of the operation (expose rival house to authorities)
Eliminate rival house members involved (allows takeover of operation)
Confiscate smuggled goods (turn in to authorities)
Appropriate / steal smuggled goods (turn in to her house)

B) Young member of local noble house missing, suspected to have run off to join circus but search of circus revealed nothing. Top advisor to noble house convinced missing individual is there but has no legal method to investigate further. Secretly meets with party (while disguised to avoid involving house), pays them to use whatever means needed to kidnap missing person without harming them and return them). Pays generously if successfull, hires assassin to eliminate party if not.

C) Adventurers Relatives (Parents, Siblings, Aunts & Uncles) are buried with work (ruling/farming/whatever) and need the Adventurers to take their kids (the Adventurers siblings / nephews & neices / cousins / etc.) to the circus. When they do, one of the kids sneaks away, sees something they shouldn't, and ends up missing.
OR: Adventurer's Relative frantically needs their help after one of their kids ends up missing (parent may or may not know the kid snuck off to see the circus). Police will not assist without any evidence of foul play, Adventurers have to investigate or kid is Gone.


All of the above assume a setting such as you describe is LARGE enough to count as a small city, so the military post would be at a major intersection of caravan routes or a choke point (mountain pass, only bridge over major river, etc.) to invaders / mistrusted neighboring kingdom. In such cases a military installation / fort often allows family to stay at the post and from there a settlement springs up (families need housing, extra food, entertainment, luxury items, etc.).


D) The circus is in town, and after a few days, the party starts noticing townsfolk who had just been to the circus have been acting strangely.

"It was good. It was much better than Cats. I will see it again and again."


Why not have the circus inside the outer wall of a city? There could be high level knights of the city's keep, maybe bodyguards for nobles that wish to indulge in a trip to "the greatest show on earth".
That could be part of the mesmerists plan afterall, overthrow the city with evil mind magics, or torture the nobles with their own guards. Maybe that part isnt part of the plan, and he does it anyway for fun just so you can illustrate that he deserves to be slain.

As far as how to get the players there, he's an evil dude. maybe theres been a string of murders in the streets, peasants with no apparent motive being caught red handed (hint they were mind controlled). Maybe the players are paid by one of the victim's or murderer's family members to find out why person A killed person B, and they follow the BBEG's trail of breadcrums, learning that the murders are all linked to the circus thats coming to town. (Thus not calling the guards, because they dont know which member of the circus and dont yet have proof, this prompts a big "IT TWAS I ALL ALONG!" moment) By the time they get there, maybe the circus is in full swing, and the fun can begin.

It could be that the people killed all worked in government and werent able to be bribed by the mesmerist when it came to granting permission and permits to host an unliscenced circus within the city ground, so he had them removed as to not interfere with his master plan of luring all the influential people to one place. Whether his plan when the fat cats get there is to control them, or outright murder them, well, i'll leave that to you.

Anything sound good?


Great, thanks for all the suggestions! I'll explore them further when I have time (I'll be out for the rest of the night), they all sounds like legit hooks :)


Cuup wrote:
Great, thanks for all the suggestions! I'll explore them further when I have time (I'll be out for the rest of the night), they all sounds like legit hooks :)

Anytime citizen.

PS: Make him a grippli that screams "ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD" and you win all the internets.


SillyString wrote:
Cuup wrote:
Great, thanks for all the suggestions! I'll explore them further when I have time (I'll be out for the rest of the night), they all sounds like legit hooks :)

Anytime citizen.

PS: Make him a grippli that screams "ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD" and you win all the internets.

Haha Grippli would be pretty fun, but I think I'll just stick with...............THE HYPNOTOAD.


Grippli - believe it or not?

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