"Rain Rain go away..."

[Mistah J]

Man, Plots and Places is my new favourite forum!

I'm thinking up an adventure in which the PCs come into a town where it will not stop raining. When the party arrives they'll just think it's poor weather at first but as they talk to people they will realize that something is wrong - it's been thunderstorming for weeks.

The question is, of course, why? I've determined that the cause should be arcane in nature but beyond that anything goes. I've been brainstorming around the ideas of magic pollution, awry experiments, curses, malfunctioning magic items, but nothing concrete so far.

Please help by posting any ideas that strike you. The party will be around 3rd level and some of the adventure will be about discovering the cause and solving the problem but it will also include some natural disasters like flooding, dams bursting, erosion and other problems from too much rain.

Thanks!

 

[fba827]

do you mean 'arcane' in the general magical sense? Or do you mean arcane in the strictest power-source definition?

If you mean it more in the general sense, here is something that comes to mind:
The town: shouldn't be a huge city or else they'll have more manpower and resources to deal with whatever is happening (rather than send the PCs that is).

Background: Near the town atop a forest-covered tall hill is a tribe of weather-worshiping people (be it goblinoids/orcs/barbaric humans, etc). They have a sacred artifact that was stolen by someone in the town. So the rain is either a divine/primal curse (depending on what type of theme you want for the artifact) until the artifact is returned. The town is also situated near a river bend that is partially damned off to divert the water at a bend rather than straight through town.

The PCs get to town, think it's just bad weather, but after being there a night, there is a flood in town's river from the excessive rain, causing the damn to overflow/break. The PCs (being able bodied people) get caught up in helping save people and baracade the water.

Over the course of doing this, they hear one of the locals talk about how it must be those 'nasty weather worshiping savages' on the hill that caused this rain since it's been raining for days (i.e. play up the factor that the townsfollk think the savagaes are doing it on purpose - which they do).

It then takes some physical challenges to overcome in reaching the tribe due to the mudy slopes. And maybe some random minor encounter along the way with a wild creature just to show them how annoying the mud can be (it effectily causes everything to be difficult terrain or something) while the wild creature (perhaps an ankheg or other natural burrowing creature whose lair is disturped by the soggy earth) can easily manuver around.

Once the PCs finally get to the tribe, the tribe does not trust them since they are from the town. After some social interaction to gain their trust (or the tribe's spiritaul person is able to 'tell' somehow if the PCs aren't doign a good job of earning trust), the PCs eventually learn of the stolen artifact and that the rain is a curse for the theft. Someone in the tribe should have some small clue as to the identity of the thief (or else the players might be frustrated if they need to search the entire town).

Thus, getting back to town. Perhaps some other small encounter back in town such as a giant sinkhole in one of the farms and the farmer needs help saving livestock and his son who are falling.

In town they have to get the artifact (show down with the person who stole it - perhaps the theif knows how to make lightning shoot form the artifact etc, just to somehow use the artifact against the PCs; and if the theif doesn't have henchmen then the thief can use the artifact to 'summon' whispy cloud-like elementals to fight for it) and then return it to the tribe's altar and the rain effect ends.

sorry for the lousy typing and random thoughts. this was just off the top of my head so i know it isn't as coherent as it could be. use as much or as little as you want. though whatever you do i'd enjoy hearing how it went.

 

[Gilladian]

I remember having read an adventure a while back that has a town slowly sinking into the nearby swamps because of a magic ring that creates water. A swamp-loving group of goblins had the ring. Night Below, maybe?

So maybe some "evil" or at least neutral group of creatures that loves rain/humidity is causing the rain, so as to convert the region into habitat that is suitable for them. Either they have to be defeated or persuaded to stop - maybe by being shown/led to a better place to live.

Or maybe the rain is a sign of some other terrible problem - a gate to an elemental plane has been created and the weather is "leaking" through. In this case the PCs may have to figure out where the gate is, find out who created it, convince them to close it (or possibly rescue them if they're in trouble with the gate) and then deal with the aftermath.

Of course, even after the rain stops, you could use the flooding as an excuse to reveal a new cave system or dungeon, or have people/creatures enter the region because of the changed terrain. Maybe an avalanche in a nearby region of hills or mountains creates a new pass to a previously unexplored or hard-to-reach region...

 

[saethone]

you could even combine one of the above ideas with another of your own. perhaps someone created the storm to throw the party off their track - distract the party while he enacts some other plan elsewhere. of course that would only really be applicable if the pcs have a known enemy in the area

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Maybe the Elemental Plane of Water is leaking into the Prime Material for some reason. The planar perforation happens to be located 40000 feet above the town, and getting wider. Might require an artifact to close.

 

[Mistah J]

Thanks for your ideas!

Taking what has been suggested, I have come up with the following:

Previous to the party's arrival in town, a wizard from afar came to meet one of her colleagues that live in this town. She brought with her an orb of storms that was cracked and damaged in the hopes that the resident wizard, who specialized in magic item repair, could fix it.

A deal was struck and the first wizard left to continue on her travels - leaving behind a magic servant to collect the orb and bring it to her when the work was done.

However, disaster has struck! The "fixer" botched his attempt and now the orb has gone haywire - bringing an eternal thunderstorm over the town. Worse still, the accident has killed the wizard - alone in his lab, so no one has any idea what has happened.

The party can arrive and get involved with a few encounters with natural disasters, i.e. "save the people from a flood" or "strengthen the dam before it bursts". After that, they can investigate - which will lead them to the fixer's home at which point they will have to break in.

Breaking into a wizard's lab will have all sorts of challenges, especially since I can throw all kinds of neat weather effects at them "a hurricane indoors!?"

It will culminate when they get to the orb in the laboratory. There they will have to deal with whatever creature the original wizard left behind to take the orb. It can't leave until the thing is fixed, (something beyond the PCs abilities) and it won't let them destroy it to save the town.

They will have to fight it or somehow get in touch with its master to get its standing orders changed.

So, what do you think? Any glaring holes? Or other things I should watch out for? I need to come up with what, exactly, the servant creature is (the PCs are lvl 3 - using the Pathfinder Rules). I also need to ensure the party can, in fact, make the nessecary step from "too much rain" to "we need to see the wizard".

As always, thoughts, feedback, and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

When I read this thread, I was reminded of a couple of things...

Ever read any Douglas Adams?

In one of his non-Hitchhiker's Guide books, one of the characters was the God of Rain...and didn't know it. Wherever he went, the rain followed. He had never, ever seen a sunny day.

In some of the text, the clouds were anthropomorphized- they were described as being blissfully in love with him and wanting to share their rain with him, etc. Hilarious stuff!

There is also "The Rain King" episode of X-Files, in which one character's moods affect the weather.

That said, one of the things that struck me about your campaign scenario is that weeks of torrential rain would essentially scour the land of life, either by flood or erosion or both.

Perhaps, instead the rain has varying intensities, ranging from thunderstorm to a faint misty drizzle. The intensity of the rain brought by the Orb varies due to some condition in the environment- someone's moods, someone's unsuspected divine/arcane nature, a ley-line flare, resonance with another magic item (possibly of the same kind), the stirrings of some local nature spirit that has been dormant for some time, or even the flickering weakness of a failing barrier between the Prime Material and an extradimensional prison housing some uncaring quasi-demonic Outsider who is linked to the destructive power of weather & water (an Elemental Prince? Something from the Far Realms?).

If its that last one, perhaps the "fixer" failed deliberately- IOW, sabotaged the Orb- in order to free his master...and actually murdered the Wizard who owned it.

 

[Ro'Dal]

Having an town that perpetually rains is a pretty cool idea. You wanted the cause to be arcane but it doesn't have to be directly tied. Perhaps its the byproduct of something bigger which might open up larger plot hooks.

The basic science behind rain is when you have hot temperatures near water sources like oceans or lakes, it rises up and is carried by trade winds over cooler areas (typically mountains). But really, what fun is that?

Maybe someone is manipulating the trade winds (with magic to fit the arcane you wanted) to help their navel fleet reach their enemies faster then naturally possible. Maybe its a flight of dragons with winds at their backs. Either way, the result is an increase in rainfall over the entire continent. However to prevent ruining the eco system they used a magic item of power to collect this new excess rain to fall within the confines of a layline which happens to cross this village. Obviously the villagers only see it as never ending rain. If the heroes remove the item of power (hidden by whatever group was messing with the trade winds) this torrent spreads across the continent in smaller doses but ruins crops everwhere. The entire kingdom is brought to its knees because of some meddling adventurers. This leads into the plot hook to 1) clear their names and 2) stopping the trade winds from blowing the wrong way before the kingdom starves.

Maybe your city is in near the foot of some mountains with vast mounds of snow capping them year round. Unbeknown to the townsfolk a group of Duergar have been mining for an artifact of power that was said to control the pulse of the earth. However upon searching for it they triggered a fraction of the artifact's power resulting in a volcano's slow rise. Each day it grows and the heat is melting the snow and letting it drift over the village to cool as rain. The PCs may find it odd that the temple sitting on top of said mountain is becoming bare of its whiteness. When they finally discover the reason behind the town's rain not are they attempting to stop rain but also a wave of lava running to engulf the nearby town.

Also in spirit with the volcano aspect, Cryovolcanos (commonly seen on icy moons) spew water out.

I find that whenever I want my PCs to feel a greater sense of accomplishment, it requires a few feelings of "Wow this is bigger then I thought it would be." Rain from an arcane device is nice, but having it as a byproduct of something bigger lets you have a nice plot hook for your next adventure.

Sorry if its not quite on what qualifies for a "Arcane cause" but its my first post on these forums so I'm trying to feel things out

 

[Gilladian]

Sounds pretty good to me! I might just use a construct for the creature the PCs have to defeat/convince. Maybe they can see some sort of control panel or power source in/on the creature, so they can figure out what they need to do to shut it down. For what construct to use, depends a LOT on what books you have to draw from...

As far as learning how the wizard is involved; maybe the owner arrived in a very flashy manner just a day or two before the rain began. If they flew in on a broomstick and landed in a puff of yellow smoke, people would certainly remember their arrival - the PCs would probably be told about it, and might investigate just because of the timing.

Also, if they do discover that the rain varies according to some activity or mood of a given person, they might take that person to a temple, who could then do divination to narrow down the focus; "You must inquire of the one in the blue tower".