My players please keep out!
In a nutshell, I have a prelude to my campaign (I am about to run a modified Carrion Crown and am very excited to get to the first chapter) but wanted to run a few sessions where the players interact with the Professor.
Through pouring through numerous maps the professor deducted (correctly) that there was an area that was shunned (and thus left un mapped) that was home to one of Baba Yaga 's many daughters. He recruited his cadre of students (the PCs) to explore the area knowing that said daughter has not been seen or heard from for a few decades.
After a week of active searching they find a locale where the very trees seem to try to pull themselves free of the ground as to uproot themselves to leave the area. In the center of this they find a hut. After many trials and attempts the players find a means to get themselves into the hut (something I did not actually prepare for, I wanted them to try and fail to even set foot into the hut but because of a well played plot twist card they managed to get in).
This is not THE HUT mind you, just one of many belonging to the many daughters and grand daughters of Baba Yaga I would surmise. I ended the session with the players discovering that the hut could open doorways to far off lands and locales.
Now one of the players (after a contest of wills with the hut) commanded it to open up the door to "Treasure". End scene.
So come next game day, I am left with what to do and where to drop the players.
Naturally because this was but a simple side quest I don't want them walking home with boatloads of treasure, here is where I am asking for advice. When a PC says treasure, what would a magical hut, or even it's creator interpret as treasure? Where would that open door lead to?
These are all 1st and 2nd level players mind you, I Do Not want to kill them, I just want to scare them!!!
Here are a few possibilities I came up with:
1. This daughter of Baba Yaga has either fled or been put to use elsewhere by her mother, thus this hut is no longer of importance or immediate use. The 'treasure area' has been moved, the players will find dead carcasses of what were rust monsters, who were thrown in there to make sure nothing of value would remain, then died after their food source went dry.
2. The players find an army of giants toiling in labour in mines and huge armories, it looks like these creatures are menacing but they will quickly be revealed to be slaves. Slaves loyal to the Witch Queen. Surely low level pcs will know not to go up against giants! Oh wait ... They will, and get themselves killed fir their troubles.
3. The players find a single pendant. In the pendant is the soul of one of the pcs ancestors. How did get here? Did Baba Yaga foretell that this day would come? Is the means of releasing the ancestor making the PC give up his own soul to take his place?
4. What would an eternal witch value above all else? The players find themselves transported to a land where after a long search find yet another clearing, here they encounter dozens of females, all related to one another. It won't take long before they realize these are all defendants of Baba Yaga; surely their lives are forfeit. They know too much at this point.
I am in need of more ideas, again I do not want to kill any of the low level PCs - just scare them - a lot! Thanks and looking forward to your thoughts!
My first thought would be to have the hut open onto a treasure-laden galleon...a sunken galleon that is.
Having fought to keep from opening the door, now the Hut now fights to keep it open, washing the PC's out of the hut.
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Blue roses. They end up in a field of blue roses. According to some legends Baba Yaga ages a year every time she's asked a question, but this can be reversed by a special tea made from blue roses.
I absolutely dig Indagare's suggestion.
You might want to award them something for their trouble, like a random love level magic item. Perhaps the corpse of an adventurer is within, and he has some equipment on him.
Seconded, but to give them something they might recognize make the "roses" either sun orchids or an ingredient in the Sun Orchid Elixir. That way, if the PC's are smart enough to realize what they have they get treasure, further adventure hooks, and a bunch of enemies at the same time.
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I absolutely dig Indagare's suggestion.
You might want to award them something for their trouble, like a random love level magic item. Perhaps the corpse of an adventurer is within, and he has some equipment on him.
Seconded, but to give them something they might recognize make the "roses" either sun orchids or an ingredient in the Sun Orchid Elixir. That way, if the PC's are smart enough to realize what they have they get treasure, further adventure hooks, and a bunch of enemies at the same time.
Actually, awesome as this idea is, I wouldn't use it for Kate's specific problem. giving them a bunch of adventure hooks half a world away will either be highly disruptive as the PCs hare off to follow them, or be really irritating that they can't follow them through.
Actually, awesome as this idea is, I wouldn't use it for Kate's specific problem. giving them a bunch of adventure hooks half a world away will either be highly disruptive as the PCs hare off to follow them, or be really irritating that they can't follow them through.
Thanks guys! One thing I forgot is that Kate C also wanted to scare her players. Not much is very scary about a field of flowers. On the other hand, whoever heard of an unguarded treasure?
The field could be enchanted with magical traps that require a certain password/ritual/item to disarm (or a lot higher-level disarm traps than the characters have - especially since they don't have dispel magic).
Spells that are like an arcane Wall of Thorns or Entangle could try and trap the characters. There could also be something warding against magical (and regular) fire. Other spells that could be in place might include:
Unprepared Combatant, Haunting Mists, Hold Person, Scare, Cackling Skull, Deep Slumber, Excruciating Deformation, Glyph of Warding, Hostile Levitation, Howling Agony, Rain of Frogs, Sands of Time, Fear, and Touch of Slime
Having a couple assassin vines, giant wasps, or wasp swarms around could also scare the characters fairly effectively without killing them (at least, not unless try try to stick around and fight them all).
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I am not familiar with Carrion Crown but here are my thoughts.
First, did they not specify what or how much treasure? Because you could then have the door open to location near the first encounter of carrion crown and it has a modest treasure. Maybe even a couple items specifically suited to the AP. They go through and you have them in the right location. Maybe give them a little hint that they should go through.
If they ask for "more treasure". You could start with a treasure guarded by an ancient dragon. Literally a mound of treasure with a dragon sleeping on it. If a PC steps through the door the dragon opens his eye and says "go away". If they don't go away then the dragon starts getting up. You can describe all the coins and gems falling out of his scales. Then he inhales loud and long. If they have not run by now...
"More treasure less dragons" Devils, then demons.
"No monsters just treasure," Go back to the first one.