Hey there, I'm looking for a quick hand filling in some details for my campaign this evening if anyone is willing.
The setup... lumber colony in a remote coastal location. This is the 2nd colony started by the consortium. The first colony's inhabitants all disappeared without a trace.The pcs have been out on an adventure for the past week and a half. Having returned to town they have found people in the beginnings of a panic. Over the last 6-8 days 18 people have vanished. Considering the past history the colonists are getting scared and now one of the lumber camps out in the woods have stopped responding. The party will be asked to investigate since they have made a bit of a name for themselves. (just reached 2nd level)
at the camp they will find dead lumberjacks and fend off a group of wolves feeding. while investigating the camp i plan on them finding one of the attackers dead in the brush. It's one of the colonists but his hands have transformed into scaly claws and he has gills.
This is where i need a hand. I need to get from this point in the story to the next part where they pcs track down the transforming colonists (both new and the old that are fully transformed into Skum). The fish cult is operating out of an unused cabin off in the woods from the previous colony. from there I have the story fleshed out. But I'm having trouble figuring out how to link them from the body at the lumber camp to tracking to the cabin. I want to stretch it out a bit and not just have a direct path in the story. I'm thinking an encounter at the mans house with another half transformed family member. But that's where I get stuck.
Soo any takers? :)
Is there anyone in the party with tracking capability, or well-trained in Survival? That would get them in the right direction. Other ideas:
- As they search the camp, they find a tattered and bloodstained notebook, the foreman's log. It details pervasive mechanical errors out at the pumps on the dockside cabin (where you want the PCs to go)
- Arrows fired all point in the same general direction (toward the cabin)
- As they search the silent work-camp, they hear a chilling scream from one of the smaller cabins. Investigating, they find the situation you described.
thanks for the help Kilbourne :)
I thought about the log concept and to be honest that's my fall back. That or a diary of the transforming colonist(klaus).
The cabin they will eventually go to is actually not near the lumber camp. It's unrelated and off in the woods.
I'm fleshing out the home of klaus which is back in town and I think getting them there from the camp will be easy enough. (Hey this guy is dead and looks weird and has a weapon near him that matches the wounds on the lumberjacks. lets go check out his house in town.)
If not the local administrators will suggest it.
But from this house in town to the cabin in the woods where the fishmen gather is the step i'm debating on. I could do the log/diary/map type thing but I was trying to see if there was a "cooler" more elaborate less blunt way of doing it. I kinda wanted to build up a little suspense/mystery
oh and they do have a ranger. Party is Ranger/Pally/Oracle/Sorcerer
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I'd start leaving clues and (excuse the pun) "red herrings" to lead them into the woods.
- Perhaps a group of fey decided to recently play a trick on the lumber camp. The PCs can find mostly harmless traps, and proof of the fey, leading them close to the things they thought caused the attack.
Doesn't even have to be fey: Could be detailed that there's a band of druids or werewolves or bandits who have been harassing the lumber camp lately in one of the lost person's journals. Once they meet up with the "group", they talk of crazy creatures that have attacked.
- At the same time, allow for odd trails to show up on their trip (slime, discarded transformed parts, etc) that seem to dot the area. Perhaps ripped apart wolves or other livestock to really confuse the players.
- You could even make it seem like a red herring and lead to something else: The old owner of the cabin was a cultist of Norgorber (assassin sect) and was killed to use the cabin. Reports of murders from a few months ago could point to the cabin, as he was hired by the Consortium
Edit: Just read your reply. Feel free to ignore point 3
Hmm okay so have them stumble upon the cabin rather then go there with intent. I'll have to ponder that angle.
Now the odd trails of slime and discarded body parts.. this I like alot. I'll have to work that in.
That could tie in with other missing colonists nicely. Maybe after the house of Klaus's (rhyme unintentional) another person in town will come forward with such evidence.
If I have Klaus's wife hiding in their house half transformed and the pcs slay her a crowd could gather and another colonist with a missing family member could tell the pcs they found evidence of slime and scales.. etc..
hmmmm.... that would be a good clue that it's not an isolated incident.
as an aside i'm going to have a small shrine in klaus's house to the creature behind the transformations. That's going to tie in later but will add to the pcs information to ponder.
I've also replaced klaus and his wife's bed with a large tub filled with slimy water.
thank you Modera
Okay so after they talk to this second colonist with clues of slime and discarded body parts...
I could do the diary thing to lead them to the cabin in the woods where the fishmen meet... or what else would be more subtle...
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I could do the diary thing to lead them to the cabin in the woods where the fishmen meet... or what else would be more subtle...
See, I think the subtle way is to introduce another potential enemy at this point. The players find the wife, fight her, find the shrine and then someone mentions that the husband had words with another local group, or even someone at the Consortium. When they go to talk to this person, that person leads them to the cabin.
Even more subtle would be a book of drawings of the area around the cabin. The players have to search the area, and perhaps are attacked by other evil creatures (kobolds, mites, goblins, lizardfolk, etc) who think they are working with the new awful skum in the area and point out where it is. This can lead them to another tribe, who then has proof of the cabin.
I like that idea.. crabmen.. they would be nice and level appropriate. Klaus was a fisherman, I could make it so that a few of the other colonists that disappeared were as well. And who would they have a beef with.. the crabmen.
Thanks again Modera. :)