Soon my group will finish the first chapter of their campaign and will need to travel east to cross the sea towards the next chapter. Along the way they will camp in a fairy ring and get transported to the realm of the Fey, where a Fey queen loosely based on Desna will require the party cleric (who is one of her priestesses) to do a service before allowing them to go back to their own realm.
I will readily admit to hitting writers block and am hoping the forum can point me to some adventures that would help.
The setup in game is that 'Desna' is having a snit with the 'The Lost Prince', Desna being Light Fey and the Lost prince being dark (in this home brew world) so a simple one shot would be prefect. Desna pulls in the party as they camp in a fairy ring since her priestess is with them and she needs 'outsiders' to deal with the issue for 'political reasons' (also because she finds it amusing).
Any recommendations? Open to story idea's as well? I will take all the help I can get.
Maybe she needs them to help her break a curse/retrieve a relic/etc? You could pull from "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The prince's advisor/jester/servant went too far and now she has the form of a beast or lost the Light of Io or the Five Red Furies are loose upon her lands?
If you could provide a little more info about the setting or the tone you're going for, I'd be able to offer more. I don't want to go too far down a path if it's not going to mesh with what you've got so far.
If you could provide a little more info about the setting or the tone you're going for, I'd be able to offer more. I don't want to go too far down a path if it's not going to mesh with what you've got so far.
What I have so far:
The setting will mostly be Paizo's first world as the realm of the fey. Two Empyrial Lords will be the primary focus (the aforementioned 'Desna' who is a generic Seelie Fey queen and 'The Lost Prince' who will be the morose Unseelie Fey king.
The Lost Prince (or one of his minions) has done something that has upset Desna and due to 'The Concord of Eternity' they and their fey agents cannot act directly against each other until the change or the seasons.
But Desna is annoyed and petulant and wants satisfaction and fall has only JUST started, so when the party stumbles into a fairy circle she takes the opportunity to bring a NON fey agent (the PC Cleric who is human) and their party in to act as free agents and do an end around the rules.
The world I am running is loosely based on Blizzard's Sanctuary from the Diablo series so there are no non human PC races, so many different human cultures but no elves, dwarves, halflings, etc in the world they come from. But since they are going to be pulled into the first world that does not matter and elves, dwarves, gnomes, sprites, brownies, etc will all be there but, fey versions (as opposed to standard fantasy/Tolkein types). That said pretty much everything else from the Pathfinder bestiary is a go.
I am looking for what the reason is that Desna has been offended, what the players need to do, etc. I like the idea that they need to retrieve some sort of relic but what would it be and why?
The 2 Empyrial lords will not directly interfere no matter what, neither will any of their lieutenants, the compact is to stict in regards to those powers, but rank and file fey are free to try to oppose the PC's in their task.
In an ideal world, the cause for all of this should be suitably petty, inane and blown out of proportion in the PC eyes, to reinforce the concept that the fey are fleeting and fickle.
A few causes off the cuff:
- someone cursed one of Desna's mortal captives/paramours, who now has the head of a slug.
- Desna's favorite singing fish was stolen out of her private pond.
- a single flower was cut from Desna's garden.
- the Lost Prince is having a magnificent, lavish galla. Desna did not receive one of the golden pears that served as the invitations.
- the Lost Prince is spending entirely too much time doting on his younger brother, who had been held captive and ensorcelled these past 3,000 years.
A few solutions:
- Desna needs a leaf from the Razor Tree that nests atop a mountain crawling with fell beasts, wandering spirits and malicious storms.
- the singing fish has been seen along a stretch of lonely, dark river. The fish has grown so massive and hungry that it swallowed up the moon's reflection on the water.
- only the tears of a giant's ghost can make the flower bloom again.
- the pears can be plucked from a tree in a remote and sacred garden. Beware the monster that dwells in it's branches.
- there is only one thing to do. Kill the Prince's brother. Or at least find another curse to hold him for another 3,000 years.
Note: The Vault of Thorns is great, but it's also notoriously lethal. Those that survive may be permanently crippled, too.