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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 5838855" data-attributes="member: 53286">The villagers have recently decided to grow wine and thus have cleared out a large part of the hillside to start planting. Now people have gone missing, and the small group of soldiers sent from the next bigger settlement hasn't come back from their investigation - except one who is now plagued by nightmares and doesn't remember who he is. All they got from him is talk about "something beyond." That was a few days ago, and now more and more villagers get the same sort of nightmares but can't quite remember them when they wake up. They could be easily identifiable because they do not want to sleep anymore and look definitely sleep deprived. The few children who had the dream are the only ones who remember a "scary old bearded guy" trying to beat them with a large staff. In reality, this is the wizard who used to live on the mountainside a long time back. He thought himself a great scientist/alchemist, but he really was more of a dabbler and blew up much of his own underground complex. This killed him and set free magical energies still abundant in the area. It also trapped him between life and death. The staff the kids are scared of is the key to locking in the energies and has to be found in the complex. Unfortunately, only those with magical aptitude (which, as long as they are not spoiled with other ideas) includes all children, can understand the trapped spirit. The villagers should have gotten that the dream spirit is a wizard but probably think him a bad guy and not just incompetent. Now the PC could either get the idea together from the children or, in a  night or two, get the same dream of a wizard calling out and waving the staff. Being trained, he might hear the words "it is the key" or some such. The underground complex (any well done dungeon map with a few destroyed areas) could hold a few magically created beasts the golem would need to take care of, maybe the spirit of a toad or owl familiar talking in riddles about where the staff is and likely some items, substances and potions of use. Depending on how interested your cousin is in riddles, you can adapt it on the fly, probably. Then have the staff fit into a relief in a half-collapsed wall to close the source of the still abundant magical energy - a magical well, a never closed summoning circle to another plane, or maybe just a never deactivated item of high power. The latter could be something he has heard of in his studies ad something borrowed out from his wizard's school and never returned. If you use factions in the game, you could make up a wizard faction the PC could gain favor with.</blockquote>

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