Help! What on earth is my McGuffin?

[blargney the second]

I've run a few adventures in a new campaign and the PCs now have in their hands a small arcane locked box. Here's the problem: I don't know what's inside, nor how to use it to further the plot that they're currently taking part of.

A quick rundown of what's happened so far:

Part 1:
1) Some monsters took over a lighthouse and lit a false beacon a ways down the cliff.
2) A ship transporting the box fell prey to the trap and ran into the reef.
3) The PCs went onboard looking for salvage, but instead got waylaid by a rope demon and a carnivorous seaweed creature.
4) The lighthouse monsters recuperated the booty from the wreckage, then fenced it through some pirate associates. (including the box)
5) The PCs found out about the false beacon, then cleared out the lighthouse.

Part 2:
1) A dwarf was waiting for the (now sunk) ship to deliver the box and then transport something to a city up the coast.
2) The pirates opened the box, and its contents caused them to go watch the dwarf.
3) The dwarf hired the PCs to transport his cargo.
4) Doppelganger shenanigans got some pirates on board the PCs' ship.
5) The pirates attacked the ship very unsuccessfully.
6) In return, the PCs raided the pirate lair and found the box.
7) The PCs delivered the dwarf's cargo.

Explanation: (as much as I've got...)
The ship that sank belongs to some demon-worshippers that want to kill the god of the sea and replace him with a demon. The dwarf is allied with them. The pirates caught wind of the plot from whatever's in the box and actually wanted to do the right thing by preventing the dwarf's cargo from reaching its destination.

Here are my questions:
1) What's in the box?
2) What did the PCs deliver?
3) Where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance!
-blarg

 

[LazerPointer]

cool stuff, man. the dwarf & the PC's delivered stuff to a 3rd party, not the same demon worshippers.

Maybe it was some kind of half-liquid metal, delivered to a very powerful dark pirate community; those evil pirates are allied with/led by a great serpent who was in human form when the PC's saw him. He will take the metal to a rift in the sea floor and pour it down some vents which are holy to the sea god, thus killing the living holy moonshells and suppressing his power in that part of the ocean.

As I understand it, the good pirates still have the box, and this cargo is different?

the box holds a holy moonshell which has been enchanted to show it's bearer the location of the rest of it's kind; since the vents are found in every ocean and sea, the demon's allies need it to carry out their plan.

good luck, whatever direction you take it!

 

[domino]

How big was the box? Big enough to hold a suit of armor, that say, would turn the wearer into a demon god incarnate on the world, thus fulfilling the evil dwarf cultist's prophecy, where he will be elevated above all others?

Or is it not big enough?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's a Box of Devouring, the weapon the demon-worshippers were going to use to destroy the god of the sea. The rest of the cargo was the apparatus needed to pull it off. Now everyone's after the PCs, because they (unknowingly) have their hands on the ultimate weapon.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Marcellus Wallace's soul.

 

[Mark]

Maybe....

Regardless of what is in the box, the inside bottom of the box has a mirror that reflects whoever is looking into the box and shows behind them the person who most wants to do them harm. The box belonged to someone knwon to the dwarf and was being sent to him to aid him in his dealings with the demon (more on that later). In the case of the pirates (the one looking into the box, anyway), it showed the dwarf standng behind them because he wanted to kill (or seriously harm) whoever took his box. The pirates don't understand the significance of what they saw but it caused them to take a more immediate interest in the dwarf and his operations. The dwarf, of course, wants it back because he wants to use it to warn him of his enemies and make sure that the demon with which he is allied isn't (and the other demon worshippers who weren't killed when the ship sunk aren't) harboring direct thoughts of betraying him. Without the box, the dwarf fears he will have no warning if the demon plans to kill him. The mirror could work once a day, or perhaps a few times per day, or maybe dawn and dusk, or some such.

As to what was in the box, or the rest of the shipment, perhaps there were other trappings he needs to protect himself while dealing with the demon, and the demon-worshippers, such as wards and alarm-type objects for the dwarf's home? Perhaps the dwarf has transported his more valuable things inland in anticipation of the plan to replace the sea ghod falling apart, and his needing to then not be anywhere near the sea.

Maybe now, the dwarf is having even stronger second thoughts and wants out from under his dealings with the demon, and the demon-worshippers, and will offer more to the PCs if they will help him escape his fate?

If, somehow when all this is done, the PCs wind up with the box it would be useful for you to be able to foreshadow and sometimes obfusticate your campaign as it unfolds.

BTW, I think I'll use this box for something else myself...

 

[Fieari]

Mark, that's really cool. It's a McGuffin, but it's not a stereotypical McGuffin in anyway. It's not some ultimate artifact of power that can destroy the world or save the world, it's a peice of very simple, subtle magic. As subtle as it is though, it has profound POLITICAL ramifications, and not just in terms of "The Person with this McGuffin can slay an army in a single stroke"...

I love it. I REALLY love it. Gotta find a way to use something like that.

 

[deltadave]

If it's a mcguffin, it really doesn't matter what it is. the point of it was to further the story and it has done so, quite well from the sounds of things. Call it a gold statue with sentimental value or something useless like that... something that the pc's will drive themselves crazy trying to figure out what the purpose was and why everyone wants it. then destroy the thing or melt it down or something like that. The key is to hint at cosmic powers but in reality its pretty useless or becomes so once the timeframe has passed.

 

[painandgreed]

The Manx Cat

The Manx Cat is a stylized cat statue made of gold that stands about 8 inches tall. The statue appraises at 100 GP value but does detect as powerful magic. It is cursed so that any who own it for more than a day must make a DC 30 Will check or begin to see it as a fabulously desirable object that they must own. Most simply see it as a beautiful and valuable work of art that they'd never part with. Others have been known to believe that it is an artifact of unknown power or a key to some mystery or secret they are trying to unravel. Cursed owners will guard the item jealously and assume that others will want to own it as they do but are also compelled to show it off and praise it for what they think it is. If an owner ever loses possetion of the statue, they will do whatever it takes to regain it. Although they are not forced to preform obviously suicidal actions, they will forever strive to regain the statue. For example, a 1st level thief won't attack a 20th level fighter to get it back, but he will abandon his family, quit his job and follow the fighter waiting for an oportunity to steal it. This has led to a number of very rich patrons who are constantly seeking to hire thieves or other adventurers to retreive the statue and bring it back to them. Once in possetion of the statue, the thieves often find themselves unwilling to part with it and the subject of the attention of other thieves seeking to get it back. Anyone who successfully makes the Will check sees the statue for what it is and is not subject to it's curse. The curse can be lifted by a Remove Curse spell cast at 10th level or higher caster level, but if the person freed ever owns it for another 24 hour time period, they must make another save or be cursed again.
(Stolen from the Grimjack comicbook.)

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Papers in code, the dwarf is working for somebody nad the papers are his new orders and/or secrets about the society he blongs to.

To use an example, he belongs to the Templars, not all of whom were killed when the order was purged. The papers include a piece of tracing vellum (What the pirates noticed). The dwarf has in his possession a map. The sheet of vellum has code written on it, and several places on the vellum are marked, these marks corespond to places on the map. The same compass rose occurs on both the map and the vellum to line it up. Among the details mentioned in the code is the location of the new headquarters of the Templars, including the lost treasure.

The Auld Grump