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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy E Grenemyer" data-source="post: 9441852" data-attributes="member: 12388">Let’s try generating some clack ideas.I'll use this slice of map from Volo's Guide to Cormyr.[ATTACH=full]377492[/ATTACH]<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Purple Dragons have surrounded Jester’s Green and are halting the early morning arrival of buyers and sellers of market goods. Rumors circulating among folk made to wait claim something has caused all the horses for sale in the Green to become invisible, and that anyone who touches an invisible horse themselves becomes invisible. Other folk claim the Wizards of War have yet to arrive and matters inside the Green are getting worse with every passing moment.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Trouble north of Suzail is not limited to Jester’s Green. By midday, folk waiting impatiently at the Green began hearing rumors of water breathing trolls emerging from the Starwater River a handful of days past and wandering south into the Sward.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Matters were clarified with the arrival of Emratha “Ten Daggers.” According to the ranger, one day ago a grasslands crofter was caught and eaten by a troll before he could summon aid. After consuming the unfortunate victim, the troll appeared to divided into two trolls, and each wandered off in opposite directions to find more food. Emratha’s fellow adventurers, all members of the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/adventuring-company-names-and-what-they-are-up-to.473088/page-6#post-8425036" target="_blank">Brave Binders</a>, split into two banners to hunt the trolls. Emratha’s banner were seen to warn folk at the north end of the Green to post an overnight watch and to keep several lit torches at the ready if word of a troll’s death did not reach their ears by sunset.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The manywares merchant Vharlgast Hallturnbell, of Archendale, was overheard to curse the situation loudly. However, Vharlgast’s mood was seen to improve considerably when word came to folk at the Green of the imminent presence of a host of war wizards riding out of Suzail. Their highsun arrival at the south end was greeted with cheers and the shared hope that there were enough hours left in the day for business to be completed once “this ridiculous matter of invisible horses” was resolved.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Folk waiting at the north end of the Green complained loudly when mounted Dragons refused to let them move to its east and west ends to avoid the troll threat. A pair of spice peddlers tried reminding folk of the Bold Binder’s past successes in dealing with monsters. Said the peddler Algratha Shoredown, “There was that business with the tentacled thing in Marsember that kept eating fisherfolk. The Binders hauled that beast out of the water and carted it off, did they not?” “Aye,” replied the other peddler, Jurligo Molwart. “It was a favor they did Marsember to not slay that pregnant creature and leave it to rot underwater. Its spawn would have grown to full size in a season and wreaked havoc in the canals.”</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The problem of water breathing trolls is more widespread than most folk realized. The tack, harness, and saddle maker Sharnra Lathwinter, of Waymoot, arrived by wagon late in the day at the north end of the Green. She, too, bore news of oddly colored trolls swimming in the Starwater: Two tendays ago, a lone troll emerged from the Starwater on the outskirts of Eveningstar and attacked a Purple Dragon. The dragon skewered the creature with her pike and held it at bay until aid arrived and the creature was slain. Sharnra’s account included a second report of trolls devouring a pair of unwary foresters and nearly slaying a third in the vicinity of Knightswood. The surviving forester, known only as Runevelle, dared watch the trolls, now numbering two more than before, make their way into the Starwater and swim away.</li> </ol>So, how to use this clack? The rumors stand on their own in terms of grabbing a player's attention. However, involving a group of player characters (in place of the Brave Binders, say) allows DMs to give the players a series of choices. If they’re tracking a strange troll that emerged from the Starwater and come upon the corpse of the freshly eaten crofter, do they split their party and track both trolls now that there are two of them, or stay together and only track one?And if they track one of the trolls to the north end of Jester’s Green, do they try to sneak past the patrols of mounted Purple Dragons and into the wide space of tents, paddocks, and warehouses—especially if it looks like their troll has already gotten past the Dragons? Or do they follow orders (for now) and interact with the merchants and spice peddlers waiting nearby?Once inside the Green, will that troll become invisible if it touches one of the invisible horses? And what sort of troll will emerge from it if it eats a horse? Perhaps a four-legged or four-armed troll that's visible in addition to the original troll that's still invisible?Might these trolls be unusual in more ways than one? Perhaps they don’t regenerate unless they remain submerged in water for at least eight hours. Or maybe they can only regenerate by feasting on raw flesh? If they’re slain by fire, perhaps their bodies dissolve into a burst of boiling hot steam the color of blood?Then there’s the matter of what’s causing creatures to turn invisible inside Jester’s Green. Could it simply be a matter of a spell gone awry? Are there one or more fae creatures amusing themselves at the expense of humans and horses? Or might a merchant have paid a spellcaster to conceal one or more prize horses from a rival? Or to attempt an early morning theft? Has someone unleashed a power inside Jester’s Green (unwittingly or not) that’s multiplying every spell cast near it? How soon will the invisibility effect end? How "contagious" is it? And lastly, how far along are the war wizards in their investigation of the south end of the Green?Lots to play with, depending on how interesting you want to make things for your players. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🙂" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" title="Slightly smiling face    :slight_smile:" data-shortname=":slight_smile:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /></blockquote>

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