I’m currently running a homebrew campaign loosely inspired by the new Saltmarah stuff (harbor towns, ships, pirates). The campaign started with the party bringing goods into town, unbeknownst they were smuggling jars full of brains to eventually exchange with a Flayer.
In the last game, an Intellect Devourer host finally came to pick up the “goods”. The host put the brains into a bag of holding and they confronted her, killing the Intellect Devourer and the host (accidentally). Where it gets tricky is instead of going to the authorities, they went to the rendezvous and made a deal with the Flayer. It let them keep the bag of holding, but now it will surely come calling, mostly likely using them as the new “brain mules”
This was a side arc, and certainly not where I thought it would go. In my past campaigns, I’ve never used Flayers, and while I’m excited to have the chance to run something like this, I feel directionless. I really like the “psychic matrix” idea from Mad Mage, that’s all I really have. Do any other DMs out there and more experience or ideas on a direction I could go? Just looking for some general inspiration, thanks!
Assuming that you started at 1st or 3rd level, a Mind Flayer is much more powerful than your PC’s are able to oppose and survive unless it lets them. Especially if you run them as ultra intelligent slavers who have lots of minions for protection.
I’d make them the Mind Flayer’s willing servants and send them on missions for it that will slowly turn them into hunted criminals without them realizing it unless they investigate what the missions are and what happens as a result of their missions. Give them clues of course.
Have the Mind Flayer ask them to take a wagon of food and supplies to a hidden settlement of it's slaves, only the slaves are a gang of bandits who are attacking small groups of travelers, killing them, and sending the brains to the Mind Flayer. Give them clues that something is off about the settlement, for example as they approach the settlement they don’t see any signs that it exists until they walk into the clearing because the buildings are concealed and blended into the forest so well.
Ideas I’ve had so far include the Flayer using intermediaries and ID’s (Intellect Devourers) to give them smuggling or “collection” missions.
As of right now, they’re all 3rd and 4th level, and therefore way out of reach, which o was planning on using to strong arm them into it’s “employ”. Whether it’s through dreams or ID’s, they’d start doing some pretty nasty things until they’re powerful enough to confront it. Maybe make any authority figure they’d go to also be thralls?
By the time they were strong enough to confront it, the mind flayer would already have replaced their brains with intellect devourers. Replacing authority figures with "pod people" is a classic.
If the players are willing to turn over brains to a mind flayer in return for a bag of holding, they're probably the bad guys in their own story. While they're hastening their own demise by continuing their employment with cthuloid monsters, introduce good guys who think they're responsible for all the deaths a cargo ship full of brains implies and who want to expose/jail/murder the players? They could be the recurring adversary?
They’ve already caught the attention of the local imperial Regiment. They were taking too long trying to decide what to do with the bodies, so I had a guard come up. The paladin talked their way out of going down to the station for questioning.
I had planned already on the local sergeant being corrupt. It wouldn’t be too hard to make them under the thrall or willingly in cahoots with the Flayers, especially this far outside of the imperial center.
The 26 brains they just traded were brought in (against by them, unknowingly) from a larger city to the north. I could have a group come down from there, investigating the “missing persons”. That would couple nicely with them going around “doing their job” for the Flayer.
After starting to ask the players what they’re comfortable with (since being brain mules is actually super nasty business), sounds like the majority so far are planning on coming clean to the cops.
What I’ve got in mind right now is the sergeant is on the take, turns them in for being good guys. That night ID’s try to take them over, which will give them two options: bounce out of town or take the Sea Ghost (since they’ve already done the Haunted House portion of Saltmarsh). I’d like to give them as many chances to be good guys before I commit any sort of horrific crimes.
If they bail on the town, figure out what the Flayers do. Do the characters alert the Imperial regiment? If not, the flayers probably accomplish their plan, whatever it is. Like bringing the whole town underground and doing that Matrix thing.
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I’m currently running a homebrew campaign loosely inspired by the new Saltmarah stuff (harbor towns, ships, pirates). The campaign started with the party bringing goods into town, unbeknownst they were smuggling jars full of brains to eventually exchange with a Flayer.
In the last game, an Intellect Devourer host finally came to pick up the “goods”. The host put the brains into a bag of holding and they confronted her, killing the Intellect Devourer and the host (accidentally). Where it gets tricky is instead of going to the authorities, they went to the rendezvous and made a deal with the Flayer. It let them keep the bag of holding, but now it will surely come calling, mostly likely using them as the new “brain mules”
This was a side arc, and certainly not where I thought it would go. In my past campaigns, I’ve never used Flayers, and while I’m excited to have the chance to run something like this, I feel directionless. I really like the “psychic matrix” idea from Mad Mage, that’s all I really have. Do any other DMs out there and more experience or ideas on a direction I could go? Just looking for some general inspiration, thanks!
Assuming that you started at 1st or 3rd level, a Mind Flayer is much more powerful than your PC’s are able to oppose and survive unless it lets them. Especially if you run them as ultra intelligent slavers who have lots of minions for protection.
I’d make them the Mind Flayer’s willing servants and send them on missions for it that will slowly turn them into hunted criminals without them realizing it unless they investigate what the missions are and what happens as a result of their missions. Give them clues of course.
Have the Mind Flayer ask them to take a wagon of food and supplies to a hidden settlement of it's slaves, only the slaves are a gang of bandits who are attacking small groups of travelers, killing them, and sending the brains to the Mind Flayer. Give them clues that something is off about the settlement, for example as they approach the settlement they don’t see any signs that it exists until they walk into the clearing because the buildings are concealed and blended into the forest so well.
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Ideas I’ve had so far include the Flayer using intermediaries and ID’s (Intellect Devourers) to give them smuggling or “collection” missions.
As of right now, they’re all 3rd and 4th level, and therefore way out of reach, which o was planning on using to strong arm them into it’s “employ”. Whether it’s through dreams or ID’s, they’d start doing some pretty nasty things until they’re powerful enough to confront it. Maybe make any authority figure they’d go to also be thralls?
By the time they were strong enough to confront it, the mind flayer would already have replaced their brains with intellect devourers. Replacing authority figures with "pod people" is a classic.
If the players are willing to turn over brains to a mind flayer in return for a bag of holding, they're probably the bad guys in their own story. While they're hastening their own demise by continuing their employment with cthuloid monsters, introduce good guys who think they're responsible for all the deaths a cargo ship full of brains implies and who want to expose/jail/murder the players? They could be the recurring adversary?
I like the idea of LG adversaries.
They’ve already caught the attention of the local imperial Regiment. They were taking too long trying to decide what to do with the bodies, so I had a guard come up. The paladin talked their way out of going down to the station for questioning.
I had planned already on the local sergeant being corrupt. It wouldn’t be too hard to make them under the thrall or willingly in cahoots with the Flayers, especially this far outside of the imperial center.
The 26 brains they just traded were brought in (against by them, unknowingly) from a larger city to the north. I could have a group come down from there, investigating the “missing persons”. That would couple nicely with them going around “doing their job” for the Flayer.
After starting to ask the players what they’re comfortable with (since being brain mules is actually super nasty business), sounds like the majority so far are planning on coming clean to the cops.
What I’ve got in mind right now is the sergeant is on the take, turns them in for being good guys. That night ID’s try to take them over, which will give them two options: bounce out of town or take the Sea Ghost (since they’ve already done the Haunted House portion of Saltmarsh). I’d like to give them as many chances to be good guys before I commit any sort of horrific crimes.
If they bail on the town, figure out what the Flayers do. Do the characters alert the Imperial regiment? If not, the flayers probably accomplish their plan, whatever it is. Like bringing the whole town underground and doing that Matrix thing.