Hey all,
the players in my campaign are members of a group of monster hunters (tracking down undead, thwarting would be demon summoners etc)
and they came across a Succubus. There's a war going on in her homeworld and she fled, claiming 'refugee asylum'. She posed herself as a cleric of the deity of lust and love and in fact even shacked up with one of the pc's and gotten pregnant by him.
9 months later, there's a baby. The PC has an NPC keeping an eye on things when he's off adventuring but now the head of the order has arrived at their castle, and the succubus (whom recently had gotten a demonic promotion as a bunch of Succubi demons got killed on her home realm, as such, she moved up on the ranks.) fears being persecuted or locked up by the head honcho, and convinces the PC to leave together towards a small town, and start a life there.
Now, the pc's have returned and found out that earlier that day, the succubus and her baby have left the castle. At the evening meal there's a bunch of grouchy faces stating how it's irresponsible and that any innocent blood will be on them.
The head honcho is in favor of tracking her down and putting her to the sword. However, if the PC's really want to give the Succubus a chance, he wants them to take responsibility for her actions, and he wants them to test her. It's one thing of 'playing nice' being around wary monster hunters while pregnant for 9 months long and 'not doing anything nasty'... moving to a farmer town community with low level townsfolk is of course a whole different ball game.
Any ideas on how to spicen up this plot? (already got a bunch of npc's part of the order intent on killing her anyway, regardless of orders, or if they can, framing her into making it -seem- the Succubus was behind it)
Tips? Suggestions? Red herrings?
Thanks
^Just watch the news for a bit on our world.
Anyone else with something with more substance please? :-)
Have an angry mob blame the PCs and try to run them out of town.
Have the baby start killing livestock or other small children.
Have the succubus start seducing more party members and have more children which in turn continues the cycle.
Have the succubus kidnap her lover and take him to the Abyss where he will have to be rescued by the other players.
Have the PC find out that the baby belongs to someone else, be it a Lord, a criminal mastermind or just some other demon.
Have some angels/archons show up with intentions on killing the succubus and possibly the PC that impregnated her.
That's about all the spice I have at the moment.
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The child is an agent of fate, but the prophecy is vague and no one knows for sure whether it will right wrongs or compound them. It's too open to interpretation. It could be about the war on the mother's home, or have to do with refugees from it immigrating to the material plane.
Each side has it's own take, and will become fanatic about it.
The mother protects her child, and although she displays a great deal of affection for the child and it's father, no one is sure whether it's out of love or duty.
Decide which way things will go, and play it so no one is sure, and decide how the players actions affect the outcome.
Profit.
@Kryzbyn>> "The mother protects her child, and although she displays a great deal of affection for the child and it's father, no one is sure whether it's out of love or duty."
---> That's pretty much her angle and stake in this so far on in. She's neutral evil, not Chaotic Evil, and she's viewing the PC's actions as a springboard that caused her to rise in ranks quickly (something that might have taken her centuries otherwise) ; the pc's were responsible for closing the gate/portal to her homeworld, cutting off the retreat path of a bunch of demons there that got massacred by the invading party's armies at the time. (hence the quick promotion in rank, positions opened up quickly).
She's got a couple of drawbacks though. She can't teleport away with her child. (Teleport is self only). Which makes her reluctant in wanting to betray the PC's. The way she sees it, she escaped death at the hands of the invaders and so far, in her mindset, this is a good deal for her.
Of course, the head of their order is right that putting such a powerful creature among a bunch of low level townsfolk is going to be a temptation that'll be difficult to resist for her not to try and exploit, especially when they're not always around.
Their order however, wants the situation dealt with, without any innocent townsfolk getting hurt as well.
I like the idea about the twist of the baby perhaps attacking livestock or other small children (maybe cannibalism)
Keep em coming folks, good stuff so far :) Thanks for that.
In terms of power level wise, the Succubus got promoted from a normal Succubus to a Lilitu.
The PC party consists of 6 players (all 16th level)
@Mark>> I know but I asked for specific fluff elements for this particular story seed to spice things up a bit and to then just answer with one big blanket statement as 'look to the world for inspiration' isn't helping. It just diverts attention and focus from the threads original intent. Thanks for your two suggestions. That's contributing :)
^I was thinking more in terms of news about things with really serious influences on many people's lives . . . Kryzbyn gets it.
Hint: Keyword: Refugees.
This works best in a scenario in which someone with official authority way up on the totem pole is taking an active interest in policies that affect the PCs affairs(*), as in Hell's Rebels (even from the start).
(*)And I do mean affairs.
Anyone else anything to suggest? (Game is tomorrow. :-) )
@Scrapper>> Nice one... thanks.
My first thought would be to figure out why she disappeared. After persuading the PCs to flee with her, she is not going to go off on her own without something happening; so was she kidnapped? Was the Baby taken and she forced to pursue? Is the Baby being held ransom and she being forced to do something she doesn't want to? Is there a specific threat that suddenly makes her flee with the Baby?
Once you've figured out what happened, you can figure out who, what complications there are, etc.
Personally, I'd go with the Baby being taken and the Lilitu forced to perform some onerous task, it splits them up and makes a simple task (find Mother & Child) more complicated (Find Mother, then Find child).
Fleshing it out, who might want her to do something they cannot do themselves? what might they want her to do? How did they get the Baby?
Perhaps they want her to use her husk ability to infiltrate an organisation and assassinate someone - like, say, the king. Perhaps they are next in line to the throne and see her as a good opportunity; even if she gets caught no one will believe that she was coerced.
But what about the Lilitu? She has resources of her own. Perhaps she has already started her own husk collection. Perhaps she has turned a number of prominent citizens into her own "church" by offering them a wish; she will be going along with things until she can figure out where her Baby is being held, meanwhile her loyal servants will be trying to find the Baby.
So now we have a trail of servants who are trying to find the Baby that the PCs can come across; perhaps they spot one of the servants doing something suspicious.
There is also a bunch of loyal retainers to the guy in line for the throne (let's call him Duke Doofus). Perhaps they start doing something strange to try and keep the Baby hidden. Maybe the Baby escaped - or attacked them - and they have to hunt it down and recapture it.
Finally, there's the kings guard. Maybe they are aware of Duke Doofus' ambitions and have been watching him. Perhaps they are just giving him enough rope to hang himself - you don't arrest a Duke of royal lineage without solid evidence - and don't welcome the pcs interference.
If you really want to spice things up, you can have a Militant Branch of the Order wanting to track down and eliminate the blasphemous creature, with both Duke Doofus' and the Lilitu's servants trying to stop them, and the kings guard watching over it all.
Maybe a local Wizard has created a sweet spell powered by Demon's blood, but his previous source has died. He hears about a local Succubus that could be an acceptable substitute...
Ok, so from my understanding the Succubus/Lilitu is still evil, Neutral Evil but evil all the same. But is behaving because for the time being it suits her. The question is what is the end game for the Succubus?
Is she on the path towards redemption? She has already shifted from CE TO NE, one more shift and she would not be evil anymore. Or is she simply buying her time until the situation changes enough for her to make her move?
WHY did she allow herself to get pregnant? Unlike mortal creatures (which have a lot of complicated biology) outsiders do not get pregnant accidentally. So did she just want a child to make the PC feel protective of her, is she hoping the child will become a very loyal minion? Or maybe she actually DOES have romantic feelings for the PC in question and having a child together seemed like the thing to do?
Figuring out the motivations of the Succubus will determine her actions. Which will help determine the actions of those around her. If she is on the path towards redemption than it is a matter of defending her from enemies. If she is simply laying low, than it is a matter of how long she can keep up the act until she is found out.
Someone else suggested the idea the the baby is a child of prophecy, which would get a LOT of people involved. I love this idea! This could get a lot of different factions involved. Those who are for the prophecy and those against the prophecy, those who want to use the prophecy for their own ends.