Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 rvaducks Jan 05, 2015 2:46:08	My current party is on their way back from helping a settlement mayor with a few minor tasks. They are level 2 and are walking towards the largest city in the reigion. I have an idea for an encounter I want them to deal with while on the road but I'm having trouble closing it. Here it is:   As the party is traveling they notice a town off the path. When they look closer they see what appears to be a delue of rain centered above the town and nowhere else. Should they choose to go look they will see this is exactly wha it is. If they enter the twon they will see run down buildings, gutters full of water, and other signs of enormous amounts of rain. They will speak to someone who will tell them that it has rained in their town for 12 years. Additionally in that time no one has been born and no one has died, Lastly when they exit the town the rain folllows, the person always gets turned around and lost and within a few hours ends up back at the twon. They have given up leaving.   My original idea was going to be that the rain started as a result of some type of evil act. Maybe townsmen killed the governor appointed mayor? Or they hung a girl for worshipping the wrong god? And after investigating the party comes to the conclusion that one or all of the guilty party must be punished to free the town. But that might be too cheesy. Also what are the consequences if they choose to help or not help? I do like the idea though, that the town is being punished as a result of some shared cukpability for the act.   Any ideas?
#2 iserith Jan 05, 2015 5:44:27	The town rounded up a woman who they thought was a witch and burned her at the stake. She was actually a druid and with her dying breath she drew upon the forces of nature and cursed the town. As the thirteenth anniversary of her murder approaches, the deluge threatens to worsen and wash the town and all of its inhabitants away unless the PCs can find a reclusive druid (her former lover) that belonged to her order. But will the PCs be able to find him or her in time and what will it take to convince the druid to set things right?
#3 Imaculata Jan 05, 2015 6:58:00	The town is the victim of a wish gone horribly wrong. An important character in the history of the town once wished the town to remain the way it is for as long as he/she lives, perhaps to save it from certain destruction? As a result of this, none of the original population can die, nor can new people be born, and they cannot leave. The weather always stay the same as it was upon that fateful day. Perhaps one of the allies of the players, who wishes to help them lift the curse, is actually the one who wished to destroy the town originally. Maybe a powerful witch or wizard, who has been biding his/her time, and been trying to find a way to complete the inevitable destruction of the town. So now this person is trying to use the players to destroy the town from the inside out, by killing the person who made the wish, thus lifting the curse. It would also be interesting to give both the villain and the person who created the curse, a tragic backstory. The villain could be a very sympathetic character, with an understandable desire for vengeance towards the town.
#4 Coredump00 Jan 05, 2015 7:37:48	I think the 'condition' of that town is very noteworthy, and thus doesn't really make sense for a town you can see from the main road.   Instead I would have it start to rain (even if the sky was clear a minute ago), after a few minutes they come across a person (man/boy/girl/whatever) walking dejectedly (or passed out).  The person is very happy to see them, and very excited to hear they are heading towards (Big Town)   As they walk together, the road seems to be getting worse..... then a tree is down, so they need to go around, and they find another path. and, etc....   They find themselves at a village, and their traveling companion drops to his/her knees and starts to sob....   They can leave, as long as no one from the town is walking with them.
(Reply to #4) SleepsInTraffic	Coredump00 wrote:
(Reply to #5) Coredump00	SleepsInTraffic wrote:
(Reply to #6) SleepsInTraffic	Coredump00 wrote:
#8 OoftaMeg Jan 05, 2015 11:37:37	A handful of options: The town could be cursed by any number of beings.   A fey creature upset that the villagers no longer put out saucers of milk at night.   A long-forgotten deity that is merely dreaming and doesn't realize what they are doing.     An NPC in the village wished for rain, and tacked on that they didn't want anyone to die.  Might work better if the NPC is a young child who could still have more wishes (and more bizzareness for the group) but not realize it.   The PCs go to leave and find they are trapped just like every other visitor that comes into town.  It's really a trap (even though most villagers don't realize it) and "sacrifices" have to be made now and then to keep the immortality going.  Some of the villagers are starting to figure this out and try to warn the PCs   The village can only be seen from the road occasionally, most of the time it's an empty meadow.
#9 DungeonKrusher Jan 05, 2015 11:49:38	My kneejerk reaction is an issue with your presentation. Short of "Well, the DM obviously wants us to go there..." a group of 2nd level characters may not want to advance on a town in the distance that has a powerful magic effect on it. That sounds like you're asking for death. Be prepared for the group to conceivably just rush past.   ;o)  There's slim chance of that, but it would ruin your moment.   I would suggest perhaps a fork in the road with a sign pointing the direction they shouuld be going. Make the ground wet, as though it had just rained. The party could follow the path towards their goal, not realizing that somebody snuck from the rainy town and changed the sign. Maybe this was an attempt by the townspeople to go out and find somebody to help them, and the rains followed them. As they see the rainfalll, the PCs should obviously figure out that it has a connection to the signpost, but hopefully their interest has been piqued.
#10 Imaculata Jan 06, 2015 3:16:52	Alternatively, a town with everlasting rain could cause surrounding towns to suffer from drought. This would give the players a very good reason to deal with the town.