Plot so far….Waterdeep has a rat problem, a big rat problem. A wererat lord (solo) has been leading his very large clan on frequent raids to WD’s street. He is supported by an endless sup[ply of rats (MM all kinds). The rat attacks are often in conjunction with WR attacks. There seems to be no other purpose of the attacks other than sow chaos. To make matters worse the wererats’ Filthy Plague is more virulent and many people are sick with the plague. The players get to WD before it is locked down. They learn that there is a standing bounty of dead rats and men at arms are encouraged to kill as many as possible (would need to kill can collect tons of rats to get any meaningful coin). I’m going for a horror/high tension feel and will take extra time for descriptions and flavor encounters. For example, as the pcs enter the city they witness a shopkeeper stumbling out of his shop covered in a rat swarm. If the pcs help the rats flee in all directions. Several of these encounters will heighten the mood.
All that being said I thought it would be great to get some encounter ideas from this point. I was thinking 3-4 maybe 5 encounters (short adventure) starting with
1. Pcs vs. rat swarm (lvl adjusted to pose a small challenge)
2. Pcs vs. wererats
3. skill/roleplaying challenge to find info on the wererats lair. If a high DC is made the pcs will find info on the (forgot the guy’s name from the FRCG, the Plaguebringer who destroyed the wheat fields)
4. pcs vs. wererat lord- end? Add another opportunity to gather clues on the Plague uy. I can adjust the DC according to my wishes…
5. Waterdeep is locked down, try to escape if you can! Chaos in the streets, cats and dogs living together total mayhem! The pc’s are finished if they didn’t get any clues on the priest…
6. End- a priest of Talona? Has a portal opened in the sewers of WD to some rat infested plane. Here is the source of the rat/plague problem. This is the big payoff/super major quest, if the pcs don’t shut the portal down WD suffers big time. If they do shut the portal down the powers that be are grateful and generous. The pcs become a big name in WD. This is an option that I may wish to use if we are having fun or prolong the adventure. But I want the pcs to work for this one and not drop cluse on their head.
As I said it is a rough outline and I’d love feedback on developing the encounters or even the story…
Cheers,
Donn
Or,
Consider making an encounter just before the end one that involves a lot of murky water, infested with a hard-to-see monster. Ideas for this include a small black dragon, or a mind-flayer thrall who can breathe underwater. (Maybe it was a kuo-toa or kobold or something that would seem more "slithery") The special part of this encounter would be to use the dark / murky surroundings against them. Think Luke in the Death Star's trash compacter, but with a much larger scale. Maybe there's a sewer nexus with a bunch of sewage water-falls that gather into a great pool or maybe it's a temple that had sunk most of the way down into the water after the Spellplague and now it holds the Maguffin?
Whatever you like. But I think in the same strand of "Waterdeep", "Dark / Scary" and "Rat-kings" there should be an encounter that encompasses as much grit and darkness and scariness as the environment, and then the PCs can worry about their foes.
This is an awesome thread. I'm going to go to sleep thinking about this one and see what interesting dreams may come.
I'll try to post my ideas tomorrow. C U then.
EDIT: What races are the players running and do they have any noteworthy magic items yet (so we can factor them into the encounter ideas)?
This is borderline goofy but consider having a massive iron golem shaped like a rat. maybe these folks have a bunch of rat statues and one of them is a golem. Oh and it has two extra arms. Add that into the stats. It just sounds nastier.
Or,
Consider making an encounter just before the end one that involves a lot of murky water, infested with a hard-to-see monster. Ideas for this include a small black dragon, or a mind-flayer thrall who can breathe underwater. (Maybe it was a kuo-toa or kobold or something that would seem more "slithery") The special part of this encounter would be to use the dark / murky surroundings against them. Think Luke in the Death Star's trash compacter, but with a much larger scale. Maybe there's a sewer nexus with a bunch of sewage water-falls that gather into a great pool or maybe it's a temple that had sunk most of the way down into the water after the Spellplague and now it holds the Maguffin?
Whatever you like. But I think in the same strand of "Waterdeep", "Dark / Scary" and "Rat-kings" there should be an encounter that encompasses as much grit and darkness and scariness as the environment, and then the PCs can worry about their foes.
I love it, "What was that? something just brushed past my leg..." with the pc's in chest deep water...
In the Underdark edition 3 book, it says that Blingdenstone is being controlled by were-rats. Maybe you can have them migrating to Waterdeep. Waterdeep is kind of close by.
CoS:Waterdeep pg. 57 mentions the 'Plague Rats' a wererat-thieves-organisation dedicated to Talona, complete with a blightbringer cleric. so there is no need to import the rats. ;)
Best wishes
Lirdolin
CoS:Waterdeep pg. 57 mentions the 'Plague Rats' a wererat-thieves-organisation dedicated to Talona, complete with a blightbringer cleric. so there is no need to import the rats. ;)
Whoa.
Maybe the source of all the rats could be a territory war between the wererat thieves and wererats from Blingenstone who migrated to Waterdeep through one of the many portals that line Undermountain.
Put the players right smack in the middle of that mess and let them sort it out. :D