Help me with a fey-themed adventure

[Colmarr]

In my campaign, I am running a subplot involving the wife of one of the PCs having promised their first child to the Unseen Court in return for the PC's safe return from war.

Erik's wife sara is now (or will shortly be) 6 months pregnant and Erik has recently become aware of her acting strangely. He knows something is out there which threatens them, and the player suspects exactly what is going on.

It's time to bring the subplot into the foreground.

I'm planning to have one member of the Unseen Court approach the PC with an offer: achieve some goal for the fey lord and in return the fey will release Erik's wife from her promise.

tl;dr I want a fey-themed adventure that can easily be re-skinned to represent a mission given to the PCs by a scheming fey lord. Preferrably it would involve the feywild but it's not mandatory.

The PCs will be 5th level at the time, so an adventure in that range would be ideal, and I'd prefer it to be shortish rather than an odyssey. It's a subplot, after all.

Any nominations or ideas?

 

[Quickleaf]

Well I don't have many pre-made adventure suggestions, though this one looks interesting, short, and potentially adaptable: Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Nightmares Unleashed)

If it's an unseelie issuing the quest then I suggest it have an element of menace in that the PCs know it's better if they do the quest (rather than baby-stealing face-eating unseelie fey), even if the objective is a bit questionable. Something that parallels the PC's own dilemma maybe?

Like an evil character who possesses the shawl of a selkie/swanmay which allowed him to marry her; but the evil character made a deal with the same unseelie who hires PCs - the unseelie provided him with knowledge of the shawl. In exchange the evil character would assemble an army for the unseelie fey*, but he didn't keep up his end of the bargain and hides behind prodigious amounts of cold iron and mercenaries. This gives the PCs the chance to do some good (rescue selkie/swanmay) while doing the unseelie's dirty work. Plus set up would be pretty easy - grab a fort map, pull some guards and an elite from MB, jot some notes on other defenses and you're good to go.

*You could make the evil characters end of the bargain more sympathetic like his turning the shawl over to the unseelie fey after 10 years, or delivering *his* firstborn child. Or you could make the evil character himsel sympathetic as someone seeking redemption (which is why he refuses to raise an army now). These would take a bit more work and would probably be concealed by the unseelie fey.

 

[SensoryThought]

I find that the Lost Girl tv show explains well in a modern sense the difference between light and dark fey and how they are not good or evil in the traditional sense. They also have a lot of monster and plot ideas you could lift.

 

[aco175]

I'm picturing a minor fued between 2 eledrin dukes over something silly, like a bridge or a toll road. Although maybe 'troll bridge' would be interesting. One duke wants to open a trade road through the swamp on the other dukes land and the other would be fine with the idea except for the witch that lived in the swamp. I think my feymire crocdile cleaned house on 7th level pc's though.

 

[pemerton]

<snip scenario ideas>

I can't XP you at the moment, but these are good. I'm likely to be running something in the Feywild fairly soon, and might borrow some of these.

 

[Ryujin]

For a traditional aspect think of the Fey as being ancient, powerful, and infinitely bored. They want to be entertained. Even events of great mortal import mean nothing to them. For the Unseely Court, the more blood the better. Doesn't matter if it takes a couple of lifetimes. They could stir up the whole plot line for "Game of Thrones", just to see who survives.

Level 5 might just be a good starting level, for adventures that have to do with destabilizing a couple of neighbouring city states. A couple of 'points of light' tearing each other apart might amuse them for an afternoon.

 

[Colmarr]

In zeitgeist, there's an infamous event where the Unseen Court turned up for their annual tribute and demanded 1000 silver moons... on only 24 hours notice.

I think I'm going to have the fey lord ask the character to recover one of those moons, but I'm stuck for great ideas about where the PC might find one and what obstacles to throw in his path.

I'm thinking of giving the moon to Gale, a notorious eladrin terrorist with whom the PCs will soon cross paths, forcing the PC to "deal with the devil". Anyone have better ideas?

 

[Rechan]

My knowledge of Zietgeist is very poor, so I'm at a loss for providing info with context. What's a silver moon btw?

One thought is that either a town, or a Fey Hunter, has a stockpile of Cold Iron weapons/defenses. The Unseelie are planning to wreak havoc (or vengeance on the Hunter), but first need someone to disarm the target.

 

[Quickleaf]

In zeitgeist, there's an infamous event where the Unseen Court turned up for their annual tribute and demanded 1000 silver moons... on only 24 hours notice.

I think I'm going to have the fey lord ask the character to recover one of those moons, but I'm stuck for great ideas about where the PC might find one and what obstacles to throw in his path.

I'm thinking of giving the moon to Gale, a notorious eladrin terrorist with whom the PCs will soon cross paths, forcing the PC to "deal with the devil". Anyone have better ideas?

Uh 2 posts -one from me other from Ryujin- both had good ideas.

Assuming a silver moon is just a special silver coin. Does it matter *which* moon is returned or can it by any moon? IOW do the players get a choice about who/what to pursue or not?

I can't XP you at the moment, but these are good. I'm likely to be running something in the Feywild fairly soon, and might borrow some of these.

Cool, if you do, post how it goes?

 

[Rechan]

I was thinking about this over lunch. This idea isn't a really great Adventure, but it makes for an interesting dilemma to the PCs:

A nearby village has a special bell installed in a watch tower called the Beacon of True Reflection. If any shapechanger, creature which can change its appearance, or otherwise illusioned-up thing steps into the town's limits, the bell 1) begins to ring, and 2) shine with a brilliant light. The sound of the ringing hurts the shapechanger (along with alerting everyone nearby), and 2) if caught in the light, the shapechanger reveals its true form.

The Unseelie Lord wants the PCs to replace the bell with a fake, or sap its magic, without alerting the town that the Beacon has been dismantled.

In truth the Lord has no nefarious plans for the town. Just the fact that the town would have the audacity to protect itself from the Unseelie is insulting. Never mind the fact that the bell was installed after a lycanthrope terrorized the area. But don't tell the PCs the Lord's true motives; not knowing will have them creating all kinds of scenarios among themselves as to why he wants the bell sabotaged.