Help with 4E adventure

[beldar1215]

Hello All,

I'm trying to put together my frist adventure. I have always run pre-made adventures and want to try my hand at running something of my own. Having said that, I would like some help.

Here is the general idea:

I'm calling this "Coins of the Dead". There is a set of coins that when separated cause the person holding one of the coins to fall into a coma. Until both coins are brought together and placed over the persons eyes they can not be woken up. My plan is to have the wife of one of the main NPC's in the town we are using to get one of the coins and have the other taken. The PC's will need to get the other coin back within a given time frame in order to bring her out of the coma.

We have a thieves guild that we have used in the past. My thought was to use this guild. Maybe they are trying to punish the NPC for some reason.

Any help with this would be great. I would like to have at least one Skill Challenge in the game.
If I can give anymore information, let me know.

Beldar

 

[lotuseater]

why not complicate things a bit? what if someone from the thieves guild stole the coin without knowing what it was. at the same time, the creator, or former possessor of the coins wants them back. the thieves are being tracked from two sides, and it will depend on how the pcs play it what happens. will the thieves return the coin, in exchange for help against this new threat? will the pcs forcibly take the coin, and now they are being tracked by this mysterious villain? perhaps the mysterious villain even tips off the pc's about the coins location, hoping that they will go through the trouble of getting it from thieves.

 

[fba827]

your skill challenge could include asking around for clues

*perception to notice some tracks on the sloping rooftop of the house
*streetwise to finally find someone who thinks they might have seen someone waling down the alley near the house but didn't think anything of it at the time.
*arcana (high), to sense a 'vector' that the magic from the one coin is leading (i.e. it must have some magical connection to the second coin)
*history (high) they recall a story about this from the past and one wizard whose husband fell prey to the curse found that by sprinkling X over the body (perhaps equal to X gp worth of natural ritual components or arcana ritual components) they wizard was able to prolonge the coma state by two more days -- so if they can do all that, they buy themselves two more days before the coma becomes permanent.
*heal check (low/moderate) the PC is able to determine what rate the body is declining, to know how long they have before she is dead
.... without my books handy, i can't remember the other skills right now

success: they're able to track down (at least the direction) that the culprit went
failure: the culprit realizes that someone is asking around town and comes after the PCs (or sends some thugs, who in turn could lead the PCs to the hideout)

 

[beldar1215]

Any other ideas out there?

Beldar

 

[Gilladian]

My only question is this: why doesn't the person who stole the 2nd coin also fall into a coma? After all, he only has one of the coins, too.

Or does he? Maybe there is more than one thief, and the one who stole the coin is comatose, and his buddies don't understand why.

 

[fba827]

My only question is this: why doesn't the person who stole the 2nd coin also fall into a coma? After all, he only has one of the coins, too.

That was actually my initial thought as well. But then I figured I just wasn't understanding or one was a blue coin the other red and it's the red one's holder that goes unconscious/etc...

 

[lotuseater]

That was actually my initial thought as well. But then I figured I just wasn't understanding or one was a blue coin the other red and it's the red one's holder that goes unconscious/etc...

or you have to come into physical contact with the coin to be affected by the curse. but that could also add to the tension. the thieves stole one coin, but never actually touched it. at some point one of their number succumbs as well, and now they want to steal the first coin as well.

 

[beldar1215]

My thought was one of the coins has the curse on it and the other is the trigger. Take the trigger coin away and the curse is activated.

Beldar

 

[beldar1215]

My thought was one of the coins has the curse on it and the other is the trigger. Take the trigger coin away and the curse is activated.

Beldar

 

[Plague]

All this talk of the dead wants to make me throw some skellies and zombs and ghouls so here goes..

Ok so two coins one is cursed the other is the trigger..That works very well.

Cursed coin once activated causes person to look dead excellent but how about this..

The two coins are the Relic of some ancient evil. Before this being was banished from the material realm of your world he made the two coins and bound himself to those coins. The curse causes the captor to go into a coma and while in this coma a transformation begins. A foul smell begins to radiate from the body, and the skin starts to turn a dull grey color. The person begins to thin out and loose pigmentation in all aspects of their body. The later part of the curse causes the body to begin to dry out turning skin organs and the like to dust leaving behind dried flesh and bones. and Once the curse has been finished it takes on phase two.

The Corpse now begins to give off a bone chilling sensation to those who enter a 15 foot radius of the corpse. Have a X number of hours go by and then someone comes to visit the corpse and notice it to be gone...Although it isnt gone its merely invisible...and you are wondering why a corpse would be invisible huh...

Because in truth the coins are actually a phlactery(spelling?) and the corpse is now a old Sorcerer of great power...the Lich known as "xxxxx"

sorry lol you got me going on my loved undead