Help Required - Design me a Skill Challenge
- Thread starter vagabundo
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Nytmare
David Jose
What I would do differently if I were running it:
I'd have the shapeshifter only be able to use its mimicking ability if it kills the person, and only by cutting off the other person's face. It wants to kill the elder so that it can assume his identity and TAKE OVER THE WORLD/this village. (leaving a trail of missing/dead/faceless people only seems fair given the situation)
There are two guards at the gate, and it sweet talks its way past both of them, with one guard staying while the other walks him to the inn. (Would they have an inn at a village like this if strangers aren't allowed?) Maybe they have a bunch of small, currently empty barracks that the rangers use while they're stationed here.
At the barracks, the Helghast kills the guard and assumes his identity. It's happy because as a guard it should be able to get close to the elder with very few problems. The Helghast realizes that it needs to get rid of the real guard's body, but it's the middle of the day so it gets temporarily stuffed under a bunch of old hay in an unused stable.
Helghast/guard goes back to the gate to finish off his shift, he doesn't want to raise any suspicions, just calmly wander through his "normal" life, till he can get close enough to the Elder. Unfortunately when he gets back, there's trouble.
The Elder and his entourage have waltzed back into town, and he's furious cause there's only one guard at the gate instead of two. He lays into both of them and mistakes the Helghast's fumbling for answers as proof of magical mind-trickery. The Ghast-guard is spun around and sent back to the empty barracks to oust the old man where he counts to twenty, and shame-facedly returns to report that the man is no longer there.
So now he's in a pickle cause he's exactly where he doesn't want to be. He wanted to sneak in totally unobtrusively and slowly work his way into the perfect position, and now he's stuck, not only botching his picture perfect entrance, but also as the center of attention.
And then it goes from bad to worse: enter the PCs.
The PCs are here to help train the new recruits/answering an ad in the Pennysaver/heard about a pie eating contest, but before they start the Elder asks if they'd mind helping with this little problem. They're short handed at the moment, with the majority of the troops out in the field with the new recruits, and by this time the elder's assumptions are that the stranger is some deadbeat mage (old guy in a brown robe leaning heavily on a staff) who was looking for a safe place to hole up for the night.
Ghastguard doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to give up the fact that he managed to get inside. If he makes a break for it and tries again later, security will be a lot tighter. Plus now is the perfect time because it's the one time a year where the place isn't literally crawling with armed to the teeth rangers.
He also doesn't want to give up the face he's currently wearing because it gives him power and authority. But on the flip side of that, to guarantee his safety, if he doesn't get rid of that body really really fast, the PCs are bound to find it. He killed the guard in a room with an oiled dirt floor, and there was only a little bit of blood so it isn't really-really obvious. But the face-swapping was done in the stable, where the body is still hidden. Flies might not be uncommon in a horse stable, but when there haven't been any horses in it for two or three weeks, a perceptive person might notice...
When the PCs play 20 questions with him, he'll point them to the wrong set of barracks. Something they hopefully won't catch on to till at least the following day. If he can he'll get back to the body tonight and... God. Where do you hide a body in a walled fort with an intrepid bunch of adventurers sniffing around?
Dump it into a latrine? That's at least the first thing that comes to my mind.
If they're getting too close, and are really suspicious of the guard I guess he'd try to switch faces, and hope that they lose the trail. Maybe he'd dump the guard's body into a pigfarm and hope that the pigs do enough damage that no one notices that the face was more cut-off than chewed-off?
Oo, oo, ooh! Maybe he manages to do a little switcheroonie with the faceless corpse, dressing it up in the old man's robes and throwing it into the pigfarm with the staff hoping that everyone assumes that the old man mysteriously ended up dead and eaten by pigs. "Funny, I don't remember him being so tall. Or that tan, either. And look he's got that same funny birthmark on his arm that Benvolio the guard has. Ain't that pe-cuuuuu-liar?"
Either way, the first honest-to-goodness faceless victim they find should be the thing that clues in the Elder as to what's going on, and sends the entire village into lock down mode where just walking out the front door is no longer an option for the Helghast. At that point the Helghast's motivation should probably change from "assume the identity of the Elder" to "assassinate the Elder and get the hell out of Dodge."
I'd have the shapeshifter only be able to use its mimicking ability if it kills the person, and only by cutting off the other person's face. It wants to kill the elder so that it can assume his identity and TAKE OVER THE WORLD/this village. (leaving a trail of missing/dead/faceless people only seems fair given the situation)
There are two guards at the gate, and it sweet talks its way past both of them, with one guard staying while the other walks him to the inn. (Would they have an inn at a village like this if strangers aren't allowed?) Maybe they have a bunch of small, currently empty barracks that the rangers use while they're stationed here.
At the barracks, the Helghast kills the guard and assumes his identity. It's happy because as a guard it should be able to get close to the elder with very few problems. The Helghast realizes that it needs to get rid of the real guard's body, but it's the middle of the day so it gets temporarily stuffed under a bunch of old hay in an unused stable.
Helghast/guard goes back to the gate to finish off his shift, he doesn't want to raise any suspicions, just calmly wander through his "normal" life, till he can get close enough to the Elder. Unfortunately when he gets back, there's trouble.
The Elder and his entourage have waltzed back into town, and he's furious cause there's only one guard at the gate instead of two. He lays into both of them and mistakes the Helghast's fumbling for answers as proof of magical mind-trickery. The Ghast-guard is spun around and sent back to the empty barracks to oust the old man where he counts to twenty, and shame-facedly returns to report that the man is no longer there.
So now he's in a pickle cause he's exactly where he doesn't want to be. He wanted to sneak in totally unobtrusively and slowly work his way into the perfect position, and now he's stuck, not only botching his picture perfect entrance, but also as the center of attention.
And then it goes from bad to worse: enter the PCs.
The PCs are here to help train the new recruits/answering an ad in the Pennysaver/heard about a pie eating contest, but before they start the Elder asks if they'd mind helping with this little problem. They're short handed at the moment, with the majority of the troops out in the field with the new recruits, and by this time the elder's assumptions are that the stranger is some deadbeat mage (old guy in a brown robe leaning heavily on a staff) who was looking for a safe place to hole up for the night.
Ghastguard doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to give up the fact that he managed to get inside. If he makes a break for it and tries again later, security will be a lot tighter. Plus now is the perfect time because it's the one time a year where the place isn't literally crawling with armed to the teeth rangers.
He also doesn't want to give up the face he's currently wearing because it gives him power and authority. But on the flip side of that, to guarantee his safety, if he doesn't get rid of that body really really fast, the PCs are bound to find it. He killed the guard in a room with an oiled dirt floor, and there was only a little bit of blood so it isn't really-really obvious. But the face-swapping was done in the stable, where the body is still hidden. Flies might not be uncommon in a horse stable, but when there haven't been any horses in it for two or three weeks, a perceptive person might notice...
When the PCs play 20 questions with him, he'll point them to the wrong set of barracks. Something they hopefully won't catch on to till at least the following day. If he can he'll get back to the body tonight and... God. Where do you hide a body in a walled fort with an intrepid bunch of adventurers sniffing around?
Dump it into a latrine? That's at least the first thing that comes to my mind.
If they're getting too close, and are really suspicious of the guard I guess he'd try to switch faces, and hope that they lose the trail. Maybe he'd dump the guard's body into a pigfarm and hope that the pigs do enough damage that no one notices that the face was more cut-off than chewed-off?
Oo, oo, ooh! Maybe he manages to do a little switcheroonie with the faceless corpse, dressing it up in the old man's robes and throwing it into the pigfarm with the staff hoping that everyone assumes that the old man mysteriously ended up dead and eaten by pigs. "Funny, I don't remember him being so tall. Or that tan, either. And look he's got that same funny birthmark on his arm that Benvolio the guard has. Ain't that pe-cuuuuu-liar?"
Either way, the first honest-to-goodness faceless victim they find should be the thing that clues in the Elder as to what's going on, and sends the entire village into lock down mode where just walking out the front door is no longer an option for the Helghast. At that point the Helghast's motivation should probably change from "assume the identity of the Elder" to "assassinate the Elder and get the hell out of Dodge."
Last edited:
vagabundo
Adventurer
Load of great stuff guys (and gals?).
Thank you, all and one, for your time. Some comments:
- I will "keep it loose" as suggested, I've a few great story lines for what the Helgast did once he got into the village, I can use element from all of them and it really depends on what my, very unpredictable, "Heroes" do! They may never get a true timeline of events.
- I like to DM on the fly, but the more story and mechanics (skill checks in this case) I have prepared the better the session usually goes for me. But I'm never too rigid with it, it's just to fill in holes when I get caught unawares and as seeds for good story.
I really hope they do expose the Helgast (I've got him STATed as a 2nd lv Solo Lurker), but part of the fun I have from DND is seeing where the plot goes. If they fumble this challenge the new Elder will send them on a suicide mission. If them manage to survive that, they can confront the Elder then.
I'll post my notes later in the week in the thread and update you after next Sunday with what has happened.
Thanks for the offer LostSoul, but this is a bad week for me in Work (only place I can post from, such abuse of my work ethic). I'll be keeping an eye on it though, thanks.
Thank you, all and one, for your time. Some comments:
- I will "keep it loose" as suggested, I've a few great story lines for what the Helgast did once he got into the village, I can use element from all of them and it really depends on what my, very unpredictable, "Heroes" do! They may never get a true timeline of events.
- I like to DM on the fly, but the more story and mechanics (skill checks in this case) I have prepared the better the session usually goes for me. But I'm never too rigid with it, it's just to fill in holes when I get caught unawares and as seeds for good story.
I really hope they do expose the Helgast (I've got him STATed as a 2nd lv Solo Lurker), but part of the fun I have from DND is seeing where the plot goes. If they fumble this challenge the new Elder will send them on a suicide mission. If them manage to survive that, they can confront the Elder then.
I'll post my notes later in the week in the thread and update you after next Sunday with what has happened.
LostSoul said:
Thanks for the offer LostSoul, but this is a bad week for me in Work (only place I can post from, such abuse of my work ethic). I'll be keeping an eye on it though, thanks.
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LostSoul
Adventurer
vagabundo said:I really hope they do expose the Helgast (I've got him STATed as a 2nd lv Solo Lurker), but part of the fun I have from DND is seeing where the plot goes. If they fumble this challenge the new Elder will send them on a suicide mission. If them manage to survive that, they can confront the Elder then.
I like the way you think. The skill challenge, pass or fail, is going to lead to more conflict/adventure. Just like it should!
If you really, really want to have something happen, don't make it part of the goal of a skill challenge. If you really can't live without seeing the fight with the Helgast, announce the skill challenge like this: "There's something bad in town. You have to discover it - and you will. That's not the goal of the challenge. The goal is to corner it on your terms."
vagabundo said:
No problem. I still want to run through something, so I'm still hoping to do it!
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