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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BriarMonkey" data-source="post: 5746291" data-attributes="member: 95387">The slavery issue is definitely a powder keg.  If it is allowed in the realm, and now the monarchy wants to abandon it, you have the makings for revolution.  Not only the economic issues are at play, but state security, property rights, and a whole host of other issues come into play.  It only takes one noble to start it all as most nobles have their own men-at-arms and knights, which means the more that don't see eye to eye on a huge issue like this, the more likely that armed conflict will happen.     Now, how a party would actually help a monarch effect such a change, well, that I really don't know as it's too big an issue for a group of 4 or 5 adventurers to do alone.  So with that in mind, imagine that the characters are going to be court pawns for a bit.  The monarch would use them to determine the true dispositions of the other nobles (in other words, spy on them and collect intelligence), and in extreme cases, may even have to "handle" some of the more extremist elements of the court.  In theory, the monarch would use them to try to even the playing field so that the abolishment of slavery could take place more even handedly.  But of course, this assumes the characters are right in their spying and intelligence gathering.     In this type of scenario, you could have nobles that have ties to other kingdoms and as such actually have more military muscle than is known overtly.  This, as well as the potential that the necromancer (below) is working with some of the nobles, would keep the way open to civil war as even if the characters found out, there is little they could do before the pro-slavery groups moved against the king.     And if slavery is allowed in other realms, they too could become embroiled in the conflict as they need to protect their interests in keeping slavery - or anti-slavery groups could take the chance to try to overthrow their own governments.  This gets even uglier if the realms use non-human slaves as those tribes and groups would most likely jump on the chance to take revenge when the realm is in open chaos.       Interesting?  That has more to do with what the dragons are up to, and who they are.  If we are talking about a couple young adult dragons, maybe.  If we are talking about a couple ancients, probably not.     As with any NPCs, you need to be careful that they don't overshadow the PCs.  The game is, after all, about the PCs.  If the dragons are there to work in the background, provide information, etc., then it should be fine.  If the silver is there to fight with the PCs, then you pretty much need to keep it paired against the bronze lest the PCs find themselves just watching the show.          That sorta depends on the graveyard, and who handles the dead.  If the graveyards are hallowed ground and managed by a church or priesthood, then it would become obvious fast as the caretakers would see the disinterments and disturbances in the yard.     On the other hand, if the graveyards are not really under the hand of any church, there would still be a caretaker or undertaker.  Someone has to bury the dead.  It may take longer to notice the issues in the yard if people are not buried often, but again, a caretaker would notice eventually.          ...preaching the Gospel of Prophecy.     Hook this to a doomsday cult, one that espouses a Prophecy of the end of days.  This could be any alignment, and of any bent.  The cult could be trying to look for converts to its message; it could be trying to hasten the end by bringing forth doom (like demonic or diabolical forces); or they could just be plain mad.     Regardless, if the cult appears to have some legitimacy, or even just charismatic leadership, there could be a huge problem as now you have some other group rallying people and support to their cause.  And regardless of that cause, it means that the nobility is having their base eroded.     You could take this in pretty much any direction you wanted - and if you don't have any ideas, just throw it out there and see how the characters react.  That alone should give you ideas on what the cult does from that point.          Catacombs.  They could be ancient, or current, depending on whether there is still a city there or not.  And if you look at some of the ancient catacombs, or necropolises as they are sometimes referred to by archeologists, that we know of in the modern world, they can extend for miles under the surface (but they tend to only be a couple layers deep).     And, with catacombs, the above mentioned necromancer would have fair grounds for not only creating his army, but a base of operations as well.     It would be quite reasonable for an ancient catacomb to have multiple levels.  As the city, or cities, above was destroyed and rebuilt, a new layer would be added to the whole environment - as the older layers would eventually be "lost".</blockquote>

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