One of the PCs, an aquatic elf, finds as treasure after doing battle with sahaguin pirates a gold amulet which resembles peices that have always been in his family, on the elven side. He decides to take the PCs down to his family's aquatic city to get some answers. Is he ready to know that the city is really crawling with malenti? Is he ready to know that his father is a malenti?
A smith realizes that a salamander would make a great assistant in his forge work, so the PCs are to recruit a flamebrother. Finding one while avoiding getting attacked by his tribe, and other dangers, will be a bother, as will recruiting it (whether by bargaining or by a few raps on the head).
In either case, when the party returns to the home plane, they find the smith has gone bankrupt and nobody wants the salamander, so the party has to return it (facing the dangers again) or open their own forge (dealing with the urges of the flamebrother to do evil, and the other smiths who do not like the competition).
The Book of Fire and Ash, considered a holy relic in many flame-worshipping pantheons, has resurfaced. After thousands of years, it has been uncovered by a group of excavators digging in the ruins of an ancient temple buried in a dormant volcano. When the book was brought to the surface it felt the heat of the sun, and the resulting explosion reawakened the old volcano, killing most of the excavators and destroying their camp.
Sages and clerics attuned to the Way of the Flame can read in campfires, cooking fires, and scrying pools that the Book of Fire and Ash has been found. Many groups, including one led by a noble salamander cleric, are gathering their resources to go find it and bring it back to their altars. The salamander noble leads a troop of other salamanders and flame brothers, and races to get to the volcano and the tunnels and temple ruins underneath to claim the Book as their own.
A sage, perhaps someone the PCs are familiar with, contacts them immediately after the volcanic explosion. The sage has read the signs, and knows the book has been found. He also knows that others are after it, and fears what will happen if it falls into the wrong hands. He begs the PCs to find the Book of Fire and Ash first, or at least ensure it is put into the hands of those who would use it for Good.
A satyr sorcerer with a malicious streak a mile wide has acquired a set of pipes that cause all who hear its music to be polymorphed into weasels (Will DC17). Needless to say, those communities around the satyr’s patch of forest are more than a little upset. Unfortunately, everyone they have sent in to parlay with the satyr, or then later to kill him out-right, have been weaselized.
As the PCs pass though the village, the village leaders beg them to deal with the satyr sorcerer. What they don’t know however, is that the satyr himself is under a powerful charm spell. While he is a malicious prankster, he is under the command of an evil orc druid, mad at the communities surrounding his forest for harvesting so many of the minks, foxes, rabbits, and weasels for their fur trade. The villagers, in their greed, have nearly hunted the fur-bearing animals into extinction, and the druid wants to repopulate. The druid is using the satyr in hopes that if the satyr is ever caught or killed, the druid can slip back into the shadows and try something else.
A giant pride of sea lions has moved into a harbor near a small coastal town. The harbor provides them with shelter from rough seas, plenty of small fish for food, and playful sport, as the younger ones like to race between the many sunken posts the town uses to hold up its docks.
The town, however, has become landlocked. Any boat that leaves its dock is attacked within minutes, no matter the size, and many have already been sunk. The village depends on its fish-trade for survival, and the season for fishing is winding down, with nothing to show for it.
The village elders demand that the PCs eliminate the pride, freeing their harbor and allowing the fishermen back to the sea. However, an aquatic druid approaches the PCs as they begin their task, requesting them to look deeper into the depths, and find out what drove the sea lions from their usual haunts. This will take some time, as the investigation takes the PCs into underground caverns and sunken ruins, but the village elders need the harbor open NOW.
The PCs should be encouraged to find a solution to keep everyone happy: the villagers, the druid, and the sea lions.
A shaman necromancer has developed a nasty trap to kill off nosy adventurers. His trap consists of an enchanted torch, hanging in a sconce across of from a wide wall in his cave. The trigger for the trap is the presence of three or more large life-forces, such as humanoid adventurers. When at least three people come within 30 feet of the torch, it flares up, casting their shadows on the wall behind them. One round later, these shadows come to un-life and detach from the wall to attack the intruders, just as the torch flickers out.
The shaman necromancer is now working on the necromantic equivalent of a “flash-bang grenade,” which his warriors can toss over enemy camp walls at night. The grenades light up with a flash, and up to 1d4 shadows cast by nearby humanoids are fused with undead shadows, pulled from the Negative Energy plane, to attack those within.
Pepe, the overindulged son of a noble insisted that shadow mastiff puppy was just what he wanted, and thus just what he got.
For some time, this worked out fine (at least as fine as anything involving a spoiled brat can). The two were great pals and didn't cause trouble more than once a day. (The servants hated being bayed at, but at least it gave them an excuse to run off from work for awhile.)
But Puppy has grown up and left to find other shadow mastiffs, and Pepe has gone chasing off after him into the Shadow district, which has dangers besides the dogs. For some reason, his parents are frantic to get him back, and the party is hired to fetch.
Pepe is entirely immune to baying and other shadow mastiff abilities due to long exposure. With this, and Puppy defending him, he has become the pet of a pack, who are not interested in giving him up. He is not at all interested in rescue (a situation that may well change in a few weeks as he learns the drawbacks of this sort of life, but the party can't wait that long).
Fighting is the simple solution, but Pepe won't like this and he will order his parents to punish the people who hurt his friends. A bargain is possible, if the party has lots of diplomacy, some way to communicate, and some way to get the talks started before the mastiffs get bored or hungry. Kidnapping Pepe is also difficult, but not totally impossible.
The party has to infiltrate the local thieves' guild and to do so, they must enter the sewers to get to the secret lair. (Talk about cliche!)
This secret lair happens to be protected by numerous electricity traps set to go off when the PCs pass nearby. The area around the lair also has knee deep to chest deep water in every passage, making the electricity that much more lethal.
In addition to the electricity traps, the PCs will find numerous shambling mounds lurking in the water (all of which of course happen to be immune to the electricity traps!).
Archaeologists have been digging in the old part of town. Their excavations have revealed what appears to be a large and ornate statue, and they suspect the room or buliding they are digging up was once an alchemist's lab from various pottery fragments. One of the archaeologists insisted in finishing the dig on the statue without getting proper clearance from the magical authorities. Unfortunately as they were half-way down someone awoke the creature, which attacked the workers and scholars in the area and is now once again performing it's duty in protecting the laboratory.
Possible solutions:
A sign on the door of the lich's research lab says "remove all armor and metal weapons and deposit here before entering."
Listening reveals some sort of clicking sound.
The shocking lizards inside have been trained that metal armor or weapons = foes and will attack immediately. Those in robes are deemed friends. (Trying to pet a lizard or even take one with you is possible, though not safe if one lacks animal handling skills or such.)
The university has a very large collection of skeletons. Unfortunately it has been discovered that a number of them are undead skeletons, with unknown instructions (likely some sort of "When X happens, attack..."). They want these removed, without any fuss, and of course without damaging the other skeletons.
Oh yes, due to a dispute with the temples, the skeletons are kept in an area where cleric spells and turning are not as (at all?) effective. So it may take a bit of work to find the sleepers.
The PCs are approached by a slimy creature that looks like a cross between a human and a fish.
The creature explains that it has come to the characters for help -- apparantly its master, a very powerful aboleth, has recently come under attack from a band of duergar. The duergar have used some of their engineering techniques to dam up the small underground lake where the Aboleth resides.
The aboleth refuses to leave because some of its eggs are laid nearby and it doesn't want to abandon them if it doesn't have to. Instead the aboleth sent some of it's skum slaves out to find a band of adventurers willing to help the aboleth for the right price.
The party recieves an odd message. When they were just beginning their adventures they slew a foe. But the small village they saved are now requesting that they slay the foe again! They are threatening to spread the word that the party "left the job half finished."
When the party returns they meet and greet many of the people they had met when they were 1st level. They now have the opportunity to interact with such folk on an equal basis and with much more wealth.
However, this is not a time for happy reunion! The old foe has met an end at violent hands (the party's!) and now thirsts for revenge!
The heroes happen upon a gynosphinx trying to resist the advances of an overly amorous hieracosphinx. She calls out to them to help her get rid of the creature. After the hieracosphinx is dead, she explains that there is also a criosphinx in the region who has been making advances towards her. She would be pleased to reward the party with a portion of her hoard if they could find an her an androsphinx to keep her company and deal with the criosphinx.
A very wealthy man breeds spidereaters. In a bold coup, his precious creatures (2 adult specimens and 5 still young and unable to fly) have been stolen by bandits, who now use them for raids on merchant caravans. The breeder hires the PCs to bring him back at least 1 living adult specimen, or he will be ruined.
A grig tried too many practical jokes on somebody powerful with no sense of humor. Its friends have hired the party to guard it.
Of course, the minor fact that the party is the only thing keeping it from a very painful death does not stop, or even slow down, the sprite's preference for pranks, and the party is so available...
So the party must guard itself, and any bystanders who may be dangerous, from the sprite while they guard the sprite.
The village blacksmith's son has disappeared, and evidence points in that he wandered to a lake in the woods. The lake is a source of superstition and has been considered haunted for untold centuries.
Turns out that one of the nixies of the lake took a liking to the boy and is keeping him charmed permanently, casting it anew every 24 hours. He is being kept in a cave, where the only entrance is underwater. There is an airhole at the top, but it is hidden under the roots of a great tree on an island in the middle of the lake.
So, the party has to find the boy, and convince the nixie to let him go. If they come to blows, remember that the nixie will only be able to use its charm person ability twice per day, having already used it once on the boy.
A young and not too bright man from a rural community has been recently exposed as a talented sorcerer.
His talents, however, come from an invisible and malicious pixie playing a prank on the dim youthster. While the pixie is highly amused at the new respect the young man has gained by his "sorcery", the boy has followed ancient traditions for upcoming heroes and decided to drive off the local goblin tribe.
With the pixie around, it is questionable whether the man can be convinced of the lack of magical prowess and be stopped from entering the goblin lair, where he would surely die.
A sage wants a stirge to study -- a live healthy one of course.
This is easy enough to achieve by staking out, using whover draws the short straw as bait, and then applying a few sleep spells when a stirge shows up, but the only known local stirges are in a large swarm/flock, and anyone used as bait will be very pale by the end of the encounter, as may some other party members.
So the party must kill/drive off most of the stirges while luring one into a trap. And of course, not get drained in the process.
The stirge swarm looks fairly simple until you realize exactly how much Constitution damage this thing will be dishing out per round - I tried to be as 'realistic' as possible when determining abilities, but for survival purposes, I'd suggest limiting it to only a single attachment attempt on each PC per round of damage dealt, otherwise you have a lot of Con loss and some really unfair deaths -- the point is fast terror attacks and not brute power; a little bit of preparation on the part of mid-high level adventurers will knock one of these out of the sky pretty quickly. Other than that, this hasn't been playtested and I've never conjured a monster out of thin air like this, so I couldn't tell you how balanced or mechanically correct it is.
A wealthy merchant has begun a shady logging operation on the edges of a swamp that borders several large farmland communities. Unbeknowest to the merchant, the townsfolk have made a pact with a lizardman tribe that inhabits the swamp, and by creating the logging operation, the merchant has violated it for the first time in a dozen generations. In retribution, the lizardmen have begun breeding stirges and sending them to attack the merchant's operation in large droves. However, their attacks are not only limited to the logging camp, and every few days a swarm will storm through a local town, sometimes feeding for hours before flying away. The townsfolk are baffled and panicked by the attacks, forced to barricade themselves indoors while watching friends and relatives who were caught outside drained of blood.
Stirge swarm; tiny magical beast (swarm); CR 12 (?); HD 12d10; HP 66; Init +4 (+4 dex); Spd 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (average); Base Attack/Grapple +1/- (+1 for an individual stirge that is attached); Attack Swarm (3d6 plus attach); Full Attack Swarm (3d6 plus Attach; Face/Reach 10 ft/0 ft.; SA attach, blood drain, distraction (DC 16); SQ swarm traits, half damage from slashing and piercing, darkvision 60', low light vision; AL N; SV Fort +8, Ref +12, Will +5 Abilities: Str 3, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6; Skills: Hide +14, Listen +4, Spot +4; Feats: Alertness, Weapon Finesse
Attach (Ex): When a stirge swarm attacks, a single stirge uses its eight pincers to latch onto the opponent’s body. An attached stirge is effectively grappling its prey. The stirge loses its Dexterity bonus to AC and has an AC of 12, but holds on with great tenacity. Stirges have a +12 racial bonus on grapple checks (already figured into the Base Attack/Grapple entry above). In addition, the stirge is separated from the swarm, and loses all swarm traits while attached, essentially becoming a normal stirge. The swarm is not affected by the loss, and the stirge can now be killed normally, though individually. An attached stirge can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. To remove an attached stirge through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the stirge.
Blood Drain (Ex): A stirge drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage in any round when it begins its turn attached to a victim. Once it has dealt 4 points of Constitution damage, it detaches and flies off, returning to the swarm to digest the meal. If its victim dies before the stirge’s appetite has been sated, the stirge detaches and returns to the swarm, seeking a new meal.
Swarm Traits: A swarm has no clear front or back and no discernable anatomy, so it is not subject to critical hits or flanking. The swarm takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons. Reducing a swarm to 0 hit points or lower causes it to break up, though damage taken until that point does not degrade its ability to attack or resist attack. Swarms are never staggered or reduced to a dying state by damage. Also, they cannot be tripped, grappled, or bull rushed, and can only grappled by separating from the swarm – see rules under attachment. A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind. A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells. For purposes of determining the effects of wind on a swarm, treat the swarm as a creature of the same size as its constituent creatures. A swarm rendered unconscious by means of nonlethal damage becomes disorganized and dispersed, and does not reform until its hit points exceed its nonlethal damage.
Distraction (Ex): Any living creature vulnerable to a stirge swarm’s damage that begins its turn with the swarm in its square is nauseated for 1 round; a Fortitude save (DC 16) negates the effect. Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills that involve patience and concentration requires a DC 20 Concentration check.