Hey,
I'm writing an adventure for 1st level PCs in a city falling to demonic invasion. In case the PCs are too heroic to desert the city's innocent or their defenders to horrid doom willingly, I was thinking they could be tasked with smuggling something/someone important out of the city before it falls into the invaders' claws.
The trick is that "X" should be important enough to excuse the PCs from defense of the city, but something that could reasonably be entrusted to the relatively novice PCs.
Ideas for X?
The mayor's hot daughter.
A random magical artifact could work, too. If you're afraid that the novice NPCs wouldn't normally be trusted, just put them in a situation where they're the only choice.
Perhaps they get hired by a church to take a minor relic to safety. Of course, the really important relics are being handled by the church's heroes and/or more powerful adventuring parties, but someone needs to get the minor stuff to safety. Enter the PCs.
Ideas for X?
An orphaned infant, prophesized to eventually become a powerful paladin and liberator of the soon-to-be-fallen city.
What if the X that needs to be smuggled out is never fully explained, but the party is assured that, for whatever reason, the X is very, very important. Not only does this give the PCs plenty of room to speculate amongst themselves about what the X is, which is always fun, but it also gives you some leeway if it turns out the the X being something else might work out better given how the campaign has progressed, if it goes a direction you weren't planning.
That keeps the X still important, and continues the feeling of campaign continuity when you actually had to change gears.
A secret.
Big guy (say Paladin) dies from nasty poison/cursy/special demon ability.
You have to bring this information (wizard will open gate X/Demons want relic Y/ ...) to his trusted Paladin order.
He also suspects some of the cities leaders are in league with the Demons, hence they cannot tell anyone.
Advancement;
Reach Monastery/Castle
'Traitor' finds out they spoke with him just before he died, sends some baddies after them.
Demon ridden lands give some extra encounters.
Passageway is blocked, need to go through ‘Mountains/Caves’ (maybe to Moria)
Add in a few families who need protection for some fun.
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Two movies come to mind: Ronin & Pulp Fiction.
Have you ever seen either of those movies? Preferably you've seen both. If not, I sincerely suggest you rent/buy/whatever and watch them.
Now, work with me for a second here, this could (who am I kidding, this WILL) get lengthy.
Have X be an item. Something about the size of a jewelry box, or better yet, have it be a scroll/map case. Never, ever tell the players what is in the box. Have it locked with a masterwork lock - or sealed by magic - or a draconic codeword. Maybe all three. Maybe something else, but it needs to be impervious to any overly-curious players' efforts for several levels.
The item needs to be brought somewhere, or to someone/something
What's in the box is entirely up to you, but, I would make it something directly connected to the invasion.
For example and argument's sake:
- X is a large jewelry box of obviously masterwork craftsmanship, designed to look like a miniature treasure chest, it is made of rare woods from another continent (maybe ironwood? darkwood?) and inlaid with jewels and precious metals, its framework is cold iron and it is sealed by a complex adamatine lock with two keyholes, the keys are nowhere to be found. Detect magic reveals an overwhelmingly evil aura. For being small enough to be carried under one's arm, the box weighs upwards of twelve pounds, and the mass seems solid, if shaken, nothing can be heard moving about within. Why is it important/whats its connection to the invasion? The box contains the heart of the Demon Prince Demogorgon, and is the entire focus of the demonic incursion - they will reclaim it at any cost, and it needs to be brought to (as suggested above) some monastery/holy place (incidentally, the very place the keys are held) to be destroyed/exorcised/sealed away lest it fall into the wrong hands and Demogorgon rise again.
- X appears as a simple scroll/map case that refuses to open no matter what is done to it, presumably it is indestructible. Detect magic reveals several protective spells and an overall sense of powerful, if not indiscernible magic. The case contains a single scroll, on the scroll is an incredibly potent Elven high magic (think a Mythal, from the Forgotten Realms), a spell strong enough to not only banish the raging demon hordes, but destroy it outright. The case needs to be delivered to an Elven magister of considerable age and power, but she has not been seen/heard of in generations, not even by her own people.
Once more, I'll suggest that you watch the above-mentioned movies, as they offer some interesting ways to hook, and subsequently keep the players interested in the story; taking a page from Ronin - the PCs meet a city official, and a group of 3-4 other capable-looking individuals, task them with the retrieval of the item, during the briefing, have one of the people they meet be "outed" as a demon cultist/fraud/mercenary and have him summarily executed - it should create some tension and stress the importance of the mission. Then, of the remaining 2-3, one attempts to steal the item when the party gets ahold of it (what a tweest!), with some sort of note or missive on their body revealing they set up the poor bastard at the meeting - effectively creating even more tension, and very likely a sincere sense of urgency - as if a horde of cultists, demons, thieves, and mercenaries nipping at your PCs heels wouldn't make the situation urgent enough.
More or less, you've got tons of potential for a very literal epic quest.
Thanks for the great ideas, everyone!