I have about half the party playing tonight, and I'd like to keep them around the town for story reasons. Does anyone have some good short encounters that make sense for low level players that will keep them engaged, but essentially be little side quests? This is a little time sensitive so I appreciate any replies a lot.
The town is a fishing villiage. They don't necessarily need to be combat encounters by the way, just something to keep them busy and having a good time.
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lmao nevermind they got in a inter-party bar brawl that lasted two hours so problem solved.
Should this matter, here are some suggestions:
* helping rescue people from a shipwreck or other disaster at sea (and recovering any valuables that happen to float by)
* a fisherman has pulled up something in his net, such as:
--- an Aboleth artefact that's turning people into Skum.
--- a piece of treasure suggesting there's more below.
--- a diabolical relic. Undead will come out of the sea to get it back.
--- a mutant two-headed fish. What does it mean?
* Sahuagin attack
* Pirates! Are they hostile or just sheltering from the storm?
* Smugglers and Excise Men. Who will the PCs help, if anyone?
I wish I'd seen this in time. Two-hour encounters in general are hard to write up, though, aren't they? I mean, an evil artifact is going to spawn days of gaming, and require maps & NPCs & all kinds of things you apparently weren't looking to invent. But bar encounters in general are good for groups that like RP. You can quickly have an NPC hit on a PC -- does the PC go for it, or try to dodge it? Someone picks a fight and a brawl breaks out, sure.
I love Mudfoot's idea of obvious pirates walking into a bar simply looking for a drink. You can do something with that fairly easily, if you're willing to grab generic stat-blocks in case a fight breaks out. And the RP can be as memorable as a plot-type encounter.
I do hope my players still remember "Daisy," the HUGE mastiff familiar for a very slight elven wizard that they met in one bar. The pair certainly sparked a golden evening of RP.
Oh, and then there was the innkeeper at another town who wouldn't serve Kellids or Ulfens (Golarian human ethnicities). Problem: one of the PCs has Ulfen genes. Worse problem: I put a very pregnant Kellid woman in the entryway, with two small children, who was getting refused the chance to stay there because she "smelled." The PCs were strangers in town, just passing through; what would they do? (They found a druid who would take the PC, and the woman & her children, in for the night.)
I realize that my stories are a bit late to help you, but maybe they'll help someone else.