Quote:
Originally Posted by Kunimatyu  Thing: crab/crustacean
Emotion: covetousness
Goal: concealment |
It started when the humans began raiding the great southern pearl beds of Nifar. The kuo-toa princeling Slirr'ak was selected to destroy the human pearl divers when next they returned. He did, and he (along with his honor guard of monitors and whips) slew the human adventurers who followed in their wake several days later.
These "adventurers" turned out to be wealthy beyond Slirr'ak's wildest dreams.
He took the magic items, the gold and the gems and parlayed them into even more power. This required a plan, because this sort of wealth could be used to tempt even more power from wondrous Blibdoolpoolp (May she forever burble in the salty darkness!) herself. Over several months Slirr'ak mapped out every settlement along the ocean's shallows. He then initiated his plan. In every medium to large city it is the same: use local fishermen to release a highly contagious disease that is carried by Blibdoolpoolp's heralds (crabs and lobsters) and which infects humans but not kuo-toa. Wait until people start to sicken, panic and die. Infiltrate the city using illusion magic to hide his kuo-toa strike force. Attack the sources of wealth in each city, including any adventurers, and then smuggle the goods back into the ocean. And in every case, as a tribute to Blibdoolpoolp, build an idol to the Goddess in the depths outside of each city's harbor.
Slirr'ak no longer goes on these raids himself, and he has dedicated himself to weaving a dark ritual that will somehow use those statues to cement Blibdoolpoolp's influence up and down the coast.
The PCs may enter into this plot at any point, but the most effective way is to have them start to be influenced by the political and social upheaval that these city plunderings are causing. Other adventurers are dying along the coast, either to disease or to violence, and multiple countries are ready to wage war in order to claim rich cities that their neighboring countries seem unable to defend.
-- o --
You're probably seeing the pattern: if you're stuck, break up the status quo. Throw the world into disarray, and build adventures from the scattered pieces. My corollary to this? If you really, really love part of your campaign world (or if part of your world is boring), destroy it and make the heroes deal with the event or the aftermath. You won't run out of plot hooks for years.
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