So here is the basic premis. A party has rescued a girl. The girl carries a curse. When she arrives just outside a town, a percentage of the population dies. So the first town they arrive to, the townsfolk blame the witch in the swamp and so the party goes there to kill the witch. The players will think nothing of there being any connection to the girl at this point. The 2nd town, they arrive to blames an old myth of the town being built on ancient ruins of basically a cemetery. This leads the party to the catacombs underneath to find a necromancer. So each one could kind of be blamed for the deaths of the towns folk. but there will be a little evidence to show it was not the necromancer.
I need a gap filler on what can happen at the next town. What foe/enemy/monster can be blamed for such a thing and be some what believable. To keep the party guessing. So in the mean time. There are all kinds of people looking for this girl. So the party will be under chase to a degree.
I do not want to use a Dragon or Aboleth yet. I will have one of those be the cause of the curse. And the final show down. Thanks in advance for any suggestions
PS I can have an Efreeti involved he is tormenting a character who is a Air genesai and a bastard son of an djinni he hates. He has changed the memory of the charater's mother to think she was raped, but it was a brief romance.
Seems like you already did a witch (Feywild?) and necromancer (undead).....so maybe it is time to get a demon on the books? A Bulezau or two along with some low level monsters like Abyssal Chickens, etc. would be a good distracting encounter.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
One thing to think about is HOW did these people die? Did they have symptoms? Did they just drop dead? There is a reasonable chance that the players will ask especially since most witches or necromancers won't have a way to cause a large number of folks to suddenly die. If they do have such a way then there would likely be signs of a ritual or plot or some other sort of explanation. However, in this case, the characters may go after the witch or necromancer who might be surprised to see them and have no idea what the characters are talking about when they start talking about them killing 10% of the towns folk. Keep in mind that the witch or necromancer might want to talk first since they likely have no idea what is going on OR if they are aware the town blamed them for the deaths then they might quite honestly try to deny any involvement which the party can likely verify with spells like Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts.
Are the deaths caused by this "girl" voluntary? Do they choose to use an ability that kills people or is it something happening that she is unaware of? Does the ability have a 10% chance of killing any humanoid within a certain distance (except perhaps someone the girl has decided might be a friend?). Or does it extend to all mammals, or all creatures?
If the girl is a source of a "plague" then perhaps the villagers start to die sometime after the girl first comes within range but on a short enough time scale that the party is usually still in town and available to investigate?
Anyway, just some suggestions on some pieces to fill in so that you can run it more seamlessly.
P.S. If you are looking for others to blame ..
- a local despised noble
- a vampire or mad experimenter with a lair in the hills
- the local alchemist
- some random citizen that no one likes or trusts
- the Raven Queen from the Shadowfell
- the local cleric of the god of death
- a devil stealing souls to be fodder for the never ending blood war with demons
- a curse (attribute to who ever - perhaps the town is cursed and they blame someone in a neighbouring town)
I'd suggest that the people don't drop dead as soon as the party enters the town since the timing of that will likely still be suspicious for the characters, or at least anyone paying attention.
Off-topic a bit, but is this really what you're doing? With every event, you have a nice neat in-game reason for it, and there's also the meta-reason that wherever the party goes, adventure shows up. I think a lot of groups would have zero questions about this sequence of events.
I'd throw in some other things. When the party forages for food, they find a few dead animals just outside the camp. Maybe even while they're traveling down the road, a bird falls dead out of the sky. Dead fish float by in a stream. Bad omens. Nightmares. Give them a reason to suspect that more is going on if you really want to keep them guessing.
If you give them a clear reason for all these events, when you reveal that those reasons were false it just teaches the party to not trust you. You need to have missing pieces so that the big reveal can fill them in. And you also need to be prepared for the possibility that they might figure it out on their own. If they never have a chance to do that - or never even know they were supposed to be doing that - then the story is just kind of happening around them rather than them actually feeling like they're a part of it.
I agree with scatterbrain - my suggestion would be that the next town is basically a tiny little paradise, with no problems and no monsters to blame. That way the party KNOWS that something is happening, even if they don't know what.
Otherwise, just like scatterbrain said, the party will just assume that each town they go to has an adventure waiting for them. It seems to me like you're throwing them TOO much off the scent of the cursed girl.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
As DM i like to create link spmehow and would probably put an emphasis on the death with particular characteristic that can eventually be associated to the girl, perhaps they appear dead of natural cause but their veins appears darken, or colored, which match the girl's eyes when angry or crying.
Perhaps the dead bodies have a distinct smell like a hyacinth flower or gingko seed, so is the girl.
Or the dead bodies have dark goo coming out of their orifices, which the girl is eventually caught vomiting.
Or they observe the girl singing high notes leaves nearby plants dry dead, just like the recent mass death by dehydratation.
I do expect them to catch on by 2nd or 3rd town, at least it be a possibility. So I am prepared for them to find out or solve it, which should lead them to find a solution. As the girls memory slowly comes back will lead to some more clues. But I do agree with ScattereBrain and VanZoeren about needing more clues with other things dying. Originally just had adult humans just dropping over, no kids, no woman with child, only adults. But yes, having a few birds drop from the sky dead would be good.
But thanks to everyone for your ideas and thoughts. Big help
She was captured by an evil cleric who was trying to steal her beauty. In the process she was cursed. So whenever she gets outside a populated area people die. Once they figure out it is her, then they will be faced with a decision of how to handle it. Do they use her to take over kingdoms, do they try to rid the curse, do they just kill her. They will figure it out probably 2nd or 3rd town. To make things more interesting. She is being looked for because of her beauty. So other rulers want her. So they have troops, parties, all looking for her too.
But the curse is not actually from the evil cleric. Not made up in my mind if a Great Dragon (which in my world cast spells, I do not like the 5e dragons but another topic or a great Aboleth with links to the goddess of disease.
As DM i like to create link spmehow and would probably put an emphasis on the death with particular characteristic that can eventually be associated to the girl, perhaps they appear dead of natural cause but their veins appears darken, or colored, which match the girl's eyes when angry or crying.
Perhaps the dead bodies have a distinct smell like a hyacinth flower or gingko seed, so is the girl.
Or the dead bodies have dark goo coming out of their orifices, which the girl is eventually caught vomiting.
Or they observe the girl singing high notes leaves nearby plants dry dead, just like the recent mass death by dehydratation.
As DM i like to create link spmehow and would probably put an emphasis on the death with particular characteristic that can eventually be associated to the girl, perhaps they appear dead of natural cause but their veins appears darken, or colored, which match the girl's eyes when angry or crying.
Perhaps the dead bodies have a distinct smell like a hyacinth flower or gingko seed, so is the girl.
Or the dead bodies have dark goo coming out of their orifices, which the girl is eventually caught vomiting.
Or they observe the girl singing high notes leaves nearby plants dry dead, just like the recent mass death by dehydratation.
That just seems a bit "too" obvious
The link is obvious only once they get to notice something happening.
She was captured by an evil cleric who was trying to steal her beauty. In the process she was cursed. So whenever she gets outside a populated area people die. Once they figure out it is her, then they will be faced with a decision of how to handle it.
What clue is pointing to her for the party to eventually figure out? As it stands it's very hard to tell
As DM i like to create link spmehow and would probably put an emphasis on the death with particular characteristic that can eventually be associated to the girl, perhaps they appear dead of natural cause but their veins appears darken, or colored, which match the girl's eyes when angry or crying.
Perhaps the dead bodies have a distinct smell like a hyacinth flower or gingko seed, so is the girl.
Or the dead bodies have dark goo coming out of their orifices, which the girl is eventually caught vomiting.
Or they observe the girl singing high notes leaves nearby plants dry dead, just like the recent mass death by dehydratation.
That just seems a bit "too" obvious
The link is obvious only once they get to notice something happening.
She was captured by an evil cleric who was trying to steal her beauty. In the process she was cursed. So whenever she gets outside a populated area people die. Once they figure out it is her, then they will be faced with a decision of how to handle it.
What clue is pointing to her for the party to eventually figure out? As it stands it's very hard to tell
She is having nightmares of various sorts, one will eventually be the face of the cause of the curse. And the fact that the only thing that has changed is she is with them. But if they do not seem to catch on after 2nd town, I will bring them more readily or obvious. But I think they will catch it.
Will the curse show up if they cast detect magic and she’s nearby? It seems like it should, and that could prematurely end the whole thing. What level is the party, because remove curse is only a 3rd level spell.
It would not show up under such low levels of spells. It is not a curse as applied by a spell. No remove curse is not enough to remove. I have the details of removing the curse.
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So here is the basic premis. A party has rescued a girl. The girl carries a curse. When she arrives just outside a town, a percentage of the population dies. So the first town they arrive to, the townsfolk blame the witch in the swamp and so the party goes there to kill the witch. The players will think nothing of there being any connection to the girl at this point. The 2nd town, they arrive to blames an old myth of the town being built on ancient ruins of basically a cemetery. This leads the party to the catacombs underneath to find a necromancer. So each one could kind of be blamed for the deaths of the towns folk. but there will be a little evidence to show it was not the necromancer.
I need a gap filler on what can happen at the next town. What foe/enemy/monster can be blamed for such a thing and be some what believable. To keep the party guessing. So in the mean time. There are all kinds of people looking for this girl. So the party will be under chase to a degree.
I do not want to use a Dragon or Aboleth yet. I will have one of those be the cause of the curse. And the final show down. Thanks in advance for any suggestions
PS I can have an Efreeti involved he is tormenting a character who is a Air genesai and a bastard son of an djinni he hates. He has changed the memory of the charater's mother to think she was raped, but it was a brief romance.
Seems like you already did a witch (Feywild?) and necromancer (undead).....so maybe it is time to get a demon on the books? A Bulezau or two along with some low level monsters like Abyssal Chickens, etc. would be a good distracting encounter.
One thing to think about is HOW did these people die? Did they have symptoms? Did they just drop dead? There is a reasonable chance that the players will ask especially since most witches or necromancers won't have a way to cause a large number of folks to suddenly die. If they do have such a way then there would likely be signs of a ritual or plot or some other sort of explanation. However, in this case, the characters may go after the witch or necromancer who might be surprised to see them and have no idea what the characters are talking about when they start talking about them killing 10% of the towns folk. Keep in mind that the witch or necromancer might want to talk first since they likely have no idea what is going on OR if they are aware the town blamed them for the deaths then they might quite honestly try to deny any involvement which the party can likely verify with spells like Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts.
Are the deaths caused by this "girl" voluntary? Do they choose to use an ability that kills people or is it something happening that she is unaware of? Does the ability have a 10% chance of killing any humanoid within a certain distance (except perhaps someone the girl has decided might be a friend?). Or does it extend to all mammals, or all creatures?
If the girl is a source of a "plague" then perhaps the villagers start to die sometime after the girl first comes within range but on a short enough time scale that the party is usually still in town and available to investigate?
Anyway, just some suggestions on some pieces to fill in so that you can run it more seamlessly.
P.S. If you are looking for others to blame ..
- a local despised noble
- a vampire or mad experimenter with a lair in the hills
- the local alchemist
- some random citizen that no one likes or trusts
- the Raven Queen from the Shadowfell
- the local cleric of the god of death
- a devil stealing souls to be fodder for the never ending blood war with demons
- a curse (attribute to who ever - perhaps the town is cursed and they blame someone in a neighbouring town)
I'd suggest that the people don't drop dead as soon as the party enters the town since the timing of that will likely still be suspicious for the characters, or at least anyone paying attention.
With no details on how exactly people die it's hard to give suggestions but Gnolls of Yeenoghu or some fiend could do the trick.
Instead of a creature, it could be a place, like a cursed well or corrupted sewer.
Or a mix of both, like a garbage pit with a Otyugh.
Off-topic a bit, but is this really what you're doing? With every event, you have a nice neat in-game reason for it, and there's also the meta-reason that wherever the party goes, adventure shows up. I think a lot of groups would have zero questions about this sequence of events.
I'd throw in some other things. When the party forages for food, they find a few dead animals just outside the camp. Maybe even while they're traveling down the road, a bird falls dead out of the sky. Dead fish float by in a stream. Bad omens. Nightmares. Give them a reason to suspect that more is going on if you really want to keep them guessing.
If you give them a clear reason for all these events, when you reveal that those reasons were false it just teaches the party to not trust you. You need to have missing pieces so that the big reveal can fill them in. And you also need to be prepared for the possibility that they might figure it out on their own. If they never have a chance to do that - or never even know they were supposed to be doing that - then the story is just kind of happening around them rather than them actually feeling like they're a part of it.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I agree with scatterbrain - my suggestion would be that the next town is basically a tiny little paradise, with no problems and no monsters to blame. That way the party KNOWS that something is happening, even if they don't know what.
Otherwise, just like scatterbrain said, the party will just assume that each town they go to has an adventure waiting for them. It seems to me like you're throwing them TOO much off the scent of the cursed girl.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
As DM i like to create link spmehow and would probably put an emphasis on the death with particular characteristic that can eventually be associated to the girl, perhaps they appear dead of natural cause but their veins appears darken, or colored, which match the girl's eyes when angry or crying.
Perhaps the dead bodies have a distinct smell like a hyacinth flower or gingko seed, so is the girl.
Or the dead bodies have dark goo coming out of their orifices, which the girl is eventually caught vomiting.
Or they observe the girl singing high notes leaves nearby plants dry dead, just like the recent mass death by dehydratation.
I do expect them to catch on by 2nd or 3rd town, at least it be a possibility. So I am prepared for them to find out or solve it, which should lead them to find a solution. As the girls memory slowly comes back will lead to some more clues. But I do agree with ScattereBrain and VanZoeren about needing more clues with other things dying. Originally just had adult humans just dropping over, no kids, no woman with child, only adults. But yes, having a few birds drop from the sky dead would be good.
But thanks to everyone for your ideas and thoughts. Big help
How and why the girl is killing people exactly?
She was captured by an evil cleric who was trying to steal her beauty. In the process she was cursed. So whenever she gets outside a populated area people die. Once they figure out it is her, then they will be faced with a decision of how to handle it. Do they use her to take over kingdoms, do they try to rid the curse, do they just kill her. They will figure it out probably 2nd or 3rd town. To make things more interesting. She is being looked for because of her beauty. So other rulers want her. So they have troops, parties, all looking for her too.
But the curse is not actually from the evil cleric. Not made up in my mind if a Great Dragon (which in my world cast spells, I do not like the 5e dragons but another topic or a great Aboleth with links to the goddess of disease.
That just seems a bit "too" obvious
The link is obvious only once they get to notice something happening.
What clue is pointing to her for the party to eventually figure out? As it stands it's very hard to tell
She is having nightmares of various sorts, one will eventually be the face of the cause of the curse. And the fact that the only thing that has changed is she is with them. But if they do not seem to catch on after 2nd town, I will bring them more readily or obvious. But I think they will catch it.
Will the curse show up if they cast detect magic and she’s nearby? It seems like it should, and that could prematurely end the whole thing.
What level is the party, because remove curse is only a 3rd level spell.
It would not show up under such low levels of spells. It is not a curse as applied by a spell. No remove curse is not enough to remove. I have the details of removing the curse.