Building a Mini-Adventure

Hello Fellows,

Looks like it is my turn at the DM's seat. Seems to rotate every so often. Though the last adventure was only a couple of Roll20 sessions, I was thinking I would go a bit longer.

We recently stopped off in a coastal city to reequip and sell unwanted loot. Every member of the group takes turns DMing, and they all have their own long reaching arc. I have my own in mind, and I would like to start it off with a city raid/siege.

I have my enemies in mind, humanoid seafaring folk, along with some creatures they may keep with them and use.

The City is somewhat isolated from the mainland by a couple of bridges that island hop, so there shouldn't be an issue keeping people from running for help if the force succeeds their stealth. I have a few encounters over the course of the attack planned as well should they head to certain locations. I would like to hear what some of you think, and if you have any suggestions or tips. This isn't the first time I have run a situation like this, but I like to hear new ideas as well, things I may not think of.

I can provide additional details if you need.

So, something you said caught my attention; "seafaring folk, along with some creatures they may keep with them and use." It gave me an idea; the seafaring folk are a group of cultists turned pirate, and the creatures they "keep with them and use" are Sahuagin, and they have an idol that they believe lets them control the sahuagin, and throw in a mythos style bend to the story. They're not just pirates, they have some casters with them, and they're not just taking plunder and leaving, they're taking captives for sacrifice (women, children).

It gives you some pretty good shock troops to work with, some tougher commander type characters, and you can sprinkle groups with casters to throw surprises out at the party ("You're fighting with this group of cultists when all of a sudden I need dex saves from you as one of them casts burning hands! What are your results?"). If your group is around levels 4-8, then regular sahuagin would be effective, some thugs/veterans for the pirates, and the random casters as mages, if they're 9-13 then fluff sahuagin barons as regular sahuagin, maybe gladiators for pirates, and throw an archmages in as a caster every once in a while (since they're up there in CR). Or, obviously, whatever you want, it's your game.

For the king of the hill style destination objectives, they could be burning down a temple with villagers holed up inside, they have a number of villagers being loaded onto boats (that the cultists are also trying to steal) at the docks, there's a pitched battle between the guards and the sahuagin led by the cultists and the guards are losing ground, a group of mercenaries have abandoned their merchant employers and are defending a shop filled with commoners and merchants in the town's marketplace facing overwhelming odds. Then of course there's the whole hostage angle as well, where an important and well-liked official has been kidnapped while the party was dealing with another objective, and the cultists are attempting to make their escape. Lots of opportunity during traveling to have little groups of enemies pop out (if 9+ use 4-8 creatures for the groups, if 4-8 then use guards for pirates, regular sahuagin, and cultists for casters).

I don't know what all you already have prepared, and if any of this is even helpful or appropriate to what ideas you already have, I just read that line and was like, "Dude, I totally want to make this adventure now!"

<.< I would have the cult be being led on by the Sahuagin who are actually in service to some greater creature, like a dragon turtle or something, but with a Lovecraftian twist as the end-goal. Give them some island somewhere as a base of operations, it's all weird architecture and super ancient, definitely a hotbed of volcanic activity to have steam roiling up from the ocean floor and making the whole island misty, with hotsprings and geysers on the island as well. Natural caverns that just seem to go deeper, and deeper, and deeper with the monsters that inhabit it getting weirder and weirder and weirder. Some sunken sahuagin temple at the bottom. Lots of traps...

You mentioned a Raid/Siege. A siege could be really interesting, and building on what lolzero said about the Lovecraftian twist, you could have the players confined with the villagers for some unknown reason. The RP session could be figuring out why the Raiders aren't leaving and why they aren't killing people...then the whispers start...

>: )

I like these thoughts. I must confess I Love Lovecraftian stuff and there is already some of that involved.

These raiders are bought and paid for by an unknown organisation to accomplish a task, but the leader of these people is also using this 'job' to further his own dark agenda in service to some Lovecraftian beings.

Should provide some layers to the attack itself and an interesting 'Red Hering' in the way of the formal employers. (Maybe not a true Red Hering, but an avenue to investigation that will not answer all questions about the raid.