Help wanted: Quests for three dragon scales

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, the player characters in my Midwood campaign have finally learned that the Green Mountain kobolds are working to complete a ritual where they need all five colors of chromatic dragon scales. The green dragon scale will come from within Green Mountain itself, where the dragon who used to live there, Gax, presumably left one behind. (The kobolds used to follow Gax, so getting a different green scale is unthinkable to them.)

They also know that the kobolds have managed to purchase one other dragon scale, but I've left out which type so that I can pick the best three ideas for the kobolds obtaining the others. Even though the players don't know what the ritual will do (although I think they may have a guess), they do know it's a bad idea to let it happen.

This quest, along with a voyage across the sea to a fallen temple of Tiamat (and coincidentally a Dungeon Crawl Classic module!) will form the frame for the rest of their campaign, with other stuff sprinkled in along the way.

With all that said, what would be cool/challenging quests to get dragon scales from chromatic dragons? Each should be flavorful enough that the quests are distinct by color -- i.e. one couldn't swap a red scale quest for a black scale quest.

All chromatic dragon climates are reasonably accessible.

Suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[JonMonster]

Gotta go with the favored climate for each of these guys. You'll need to venture through steaming lava tube caverns to get the red, dank and dim swamps to get the black, and endless dunes of sand to get the blue. Which is a good thing. It allows you to generate that Indiana Jonsey/globehopping campaign vibe going.

But - you don't always have to fight a dragon to get a scale.

For the blue dragon scale I'd have em trek to the desert. But rather than fight a dragon, I'd have them learn of a powerful Caliph who happens to have a scale in his possession. This Caliph would gladly offer it to the PCs, if they would but help him with a simple task. You see, his daughter is betrothed to the eldest son of a neighboring Caliph and, unfortunately, a rather impudent genie has taken up residence at the lone oasis on the border of the two countries. This genie demands tribute from all who pass by and will soon bankrupt both Caliphs. If the PCs would simply escort his daughter to the neighboring caliph, and, while they're out there, eliminate the troublesome genie, then perhaps he could stand to lose his favorite blue decoration.

Mind you, a simple hit on a genie seems pretty straightforward. But having to do so while keeping a troublesome (and possibly flirtatious) princess and her dowry safe is anohter matter. And for the right 'Arabian Nights' twist, I would suggest that the genie is actually allied with the Caliph's royal vizier who hopes that the death of the princess will leave him next in line for the throne. This allows you to have a spy in the caravan who will betray them all to the genie at an inoppotune moment.

Now that would be a fine quest.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For the blue dragon scale I'd have em trek to the desert. But rather than fight a dragon, I'd have them learn of a powerful Caliph who happens to have a scale in his possession. This Caliph would gladly offer it to the PCs, if they would but help him with a simple task. You see, his daughter is betrothed to the eldest son of a neighboring Caliph and, unfortunately, a rather impudent genie has taken up residence at the lone oasis on the border of the two countries. This genie demands tribute from all who pass by and will soon bankrupt both Caliphs. If the PCs would simply escort his daughter to the neighboring caliph, and, while they're out there, eliminate the troublesome genie, then perhaps he could stand to lose his favorite blue decoration.

Mind you, a simple hit on a genie seems pretty straightforward. But having to do so while keeping a troublesome (and possibly flirtatious) princess and her dowry safe is anohter matter. And for the right 'Arabian Nights' twist, I would suggest that the genie is actually allied with the Caliph's royal vizier who hopes that the death of the princess will leave him next in line for the throne. This allows you to have a spy in the caravan who will betray them all to the genie at an inoppotune moment.

Now that would be a fine quest.

That's great! And /yoink, thanks!

Two scales to go.

 

[JonMonster]

Two scales to go.

All right, since no one else is biting...

I think part of the charm of this campaign is going to stem from the cultures the PCs will encounter. You've got the Blue quest giving them a nice swashbuckling Arabian Nights story arc in a civilized, political and more or less refined setting. We're going to turn that on its head for the Black scale.

From the RAW black means swamps, bogs and fens. And big ones, too. The kind of impenetrable terrain that could hide all sorts of bizarre cultures. I'm thinking of small villages where the main transport is flat bottomed boats poled through the mire and houses built on stilts above the gator infested swamps. The folks dwelling here are going to be dirt poor because, let's face it, if they had any money they'd get the heck out of there and settle down somewhere decent. These swamp-folk wring a life out of the swamp hunting gators and snakes, fishing for anything that swims, and tending meager crops on the few stands above the water line. They brew moonshine and play raucous music heavy on the squeezebox and drums.

But beyond that, there's something not quite right about these people. Most of them are are deformed in one way or another. Mishapen heads, stunted or withered extraneous limbs, bent spines, club feet, and an abundance of mentally retarded folk. In our day and age you'd think that inbreeding was taking its toll on the population. In the PCs day and age the patchy, flaky skin is a top off that something else is going on.

These wretched swamp-folk are subjects of a <insert appropriate age here> black dragon. They pay him meager tribute, he keeps the better adapted lizardfolk out of thier region, and everybody wins. The only real downside is that this particular black demands the right of prima nocte. Most often no child results from the coupling. But when one does, most often the child is born with obvious genetic defects. In the decades that the black has been thier tyrant the people have slowly degenerated into their current state. Once every few years, however, the child is born true and the black returns to raise the half-dragon as his own.

What the children of the black do in the wide world depends on how far you want to take this idea. They could be the generals of his plans to conquer the world. They could be spies sent out to keep the swamp lands safe from the depreadations of neighboring kingdoms. Or simple rounders making their way as best they can. One thing that is certain, their dragon heritage has given them an edge in the world and ensured that that edge isn't used for the good of mankind.

What's this have to do with a scale? This one is straightforward - kill the bastard.

You'll have to figure out the mystery of the degenerate swamp-folk first. Some will hate and fear the dragon and aid the PCs. Some will love and fear the dragon and hinder the PCs by serving as grunt troops and spies for the dragon.

 

[Sound of Azure]

an idea

Here's one idea I had:

The lizardfolk of a lonely salt marsh worshipped an ancient black dragon for generations, but the dragon moved on due to circumstances unknown. Their chief had a shield made from a black dragon scale, but in their weakened state were unable to withstand the assauld from their long-time enemies, a tribe of sahuagin.

The lizardfolk are nearly wiped out, and the sahuagin are now taking their loot back to underwater city while the last of the lizardfolk are being mopped up.

Then the PCs arrive.

Edit: Damn, JonMonster's ideas are too good!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

To prevent the players from resting on their laurels if they foul just a single scale recovery by the kobolds, I'm thinking I'll have another faction of the kobolds (the green dragon consciously disrupted natural kobold social structures for centuries to keep them better in her power) will let the player characters know that, if the PCs get all five scale types, they can ruin the summoning ritual with a different one, preventing the bad stuff from occuring. That way, they have to keep after the scales themselves, because the kobolds will otherwise find scales from somewhere, eventually. (I'm also thinking that once the kobolds know they're being interfered with, they'll grab multiple scales at a time and split up, etc., to keep the adventurers from recovering all of them before they get back to the warren.)