Looking for a few, good ideas (Adventure help)

[Slander]

Hey all, I'm hoping you all can help me with a bit of GMs block I'm having.

One of my players, a tiefling spellthief, decided to surreptitiously threaten a not-so-honest merchant in the town they are visiting. She snuck into his home and place of business, leaving notes basically saying that she can get to him anytime she wants, and that the merchant should leave "the box" in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town ... "He knows which one." The player has no particular expectation of what box the merchant should leave, or what would it would contain. She was simply curious to see what the merchant would leave.

Now, being a sneaky, secretive type, she hasn't let the other party members know she's done this. Likely, she will go off on her own and see what treasures await her. My inclination isn't to simply have the merchant be cowed by her demands. After all, he's made quite a business in town and has many subordinates.

Making things slightly more interesting is that another party member, a goliath knight, has chosen to get hired as a bodyguard to this same merchant. He knows that the other player has been threatening the merchant, but not the specifics. His plan was to show up to the merchant after a day of absence (he was handling another side quest with the party), and present a handful of gems to the merchant. The story for his absence being he was tracking down the thief, took care her, and the thief had these gems on her person. His hope was to get the merchants attention off the party member and further gain the merchant's trust.

All of this is going on within the confines of a larger subplot that really has nothing to do with the merchant directly (for those who know, I'm running the third adventure in the WotBS series; the merchant in Cernaban ... or Cinnabon as the party calls him). I've been busy making changes to the adventure based on the parties previous actions, and my creative juices have simply run dry about how to handle this little PC-driven sub-plot.

If it matters, here is the party makeup: the Tiefling spellthief, Goliath knight, and Aasimar Paladin/Cleric of Athena are all 5th level. The Human Warmage, and Elven Fighter are 6th level. There is also a 6th level NPC Cleric of Poseidon with the party now (yes, we're using the Greek pantheon). All party members have an ability that will resurrect them should they die (once per month). The players don't know that they have this ability yet, so I'm not fearful of being a RBDM. There are no evil characters in the party; though two have questionable moral fiber (the tiefling and elf).

As I reread this, the setup just seems like it should be absolutely ripe with ideas ... but this block is killing me. So I'm hoping you all can help get the juices flowing again. Be as broad or detailed as you like; I think I can manage once I have a framework to build upon.

Thanks in advance, ENWorlders.

 

[Rechan]

First, I'd have the merchant ask the goliath a few questions. Namely "What did you do to her/with her" (and, if he doesn't lie that he destroyed the corpse) "Where is her body?" ("After all, we could Speak-With-Dead her corpse, and find out where more of her money is!"). Because he's trying to lie to his boss (and came up with a clever idea), make him sweat by building on his lie.

Next, the tiefling left the notes all over his house and business. What if the merchant wasn't the only person who picked up one of the notes? It managed to get into a box of goods he's shipping somewhere, an employee picked it (and took it to be for them), or maybe someone in his household thought it was meant for them. Thus, the person bringing the box (and what's in the box) can be totally unrelated, and might even be a nasty surprise for the tiefling; maybe the Merchant's butler has a drug problem, and wants to silence the tiefling. Or some smugglers find the note in their crate, and plan on putting the kibosh on the tiefling because they think she's on to their smuggling ring.

 

[jdrakeh]

Perhaps the merchant is smuggling some kind of narcotic out of the town on behalf of the constabulary who have been cultivating a crop of the narcotic plant in question and selling it to gangs in a nearby city to increase their own wealth. He may assume that the box in question is either the latest shipment of the narcotic or, alternately, the payment for said narcotic that he has in his possession.

The merchant would, naturally, wouldn't immediately tell the contabulary of his troubles for fear of retribution (after all, assuming he has been found out, he hasn't been doing a very good job of flying under the radar). Hence, the hiring of some muscle and attempting to resolve the situation himself before it goes any further.

If the Goliath Knight's plan comes to fruition, the merchant will likely believe that the spellthief is dead and/or was physically discouraged from continuing her blackmail and business will continue as normal. At least until the next blackmail attempt comes about.

If he finds out that the Goliath Knight lied to him, he probably will alert the constabulary to the problem, becoming convinced that a larger conspiracy exists to stop their trade and/or attempt to take it over. At this point, the PCs may be viewed as agents of the Crown or rival drug dealers.

How the corrupt constabulary deals with them (and, perhaps, the merhant) could vary on a number of factors. They might simply try to kill the PCs, or they may try to kill the merchant before his link to them is discovered.

 

[roguerouge]

Does this merchant pay protection money to the local thieves' guild? If so, he should have reported the threat to them immediately. And once the goliath says that he handled it, it's very possible that the thieves' guild contradicts him on that score.

 

[Wik]

Spellthief!? Did someone say Spellthief!?

*ahem*. Sorry, I got distracted by the awesomeness that is spellthievery.

First off, I think it could be cool to have the merchant be dabbling in some magical doodadery, and when it gets into the spellthief's hands, the spellthief accidentally "absorbs" the magic and is stuck with it.

Or i'd have the merchant be selling medical supplies to an underground resistance in an evil country nearby, and see what the PCs do.

Also, kudos for the Greek religion.

 

[Slander]

@Rechan: Putting a little pressure on the goliath is a good idea. Always a good thing to have the players squirm a little, even if there is no intent to call them on their lies. And I like the idea of the notes being picked up/intercepted by someone other than the merchant himself. That opens up several avenues I probably never would have considered.

@jdrakeh: Introducing someone else who might be concerned about the merchant's operation being infiltrated is also a good idea. That kind of situation would allow me to tie the merchant into some other plot hooks (always a good thing).

@roguerouge: The town itself isn't big enough to support a formal guild as such, though in effect, creating a "guild" is one of Cernaban's goals. But since Cernaban's not in this alone, this ties into jdrakeh's suggestion of having another party intervening for Cernaban to protect their interests. And such strife in a fledgling organization makes 'em vulnerable to PC intervention (or, possibly but not likely, having the PCs get involved with fledgling operation themselves).

@Wik: Cernaban certainly has his hands in a few different pots, and there is actually a unique magical tie that exists in the adventure. He's associated with a transmuter who sells his talents to create unique animals, or change the appearance/race/gender of clientele. The PCs have had a few passing encounters with the transmuter, and this could be an opportunity to reveal more of that tie.


Thanks for the ideas so far, this is the type of stuff I needed. I'll leave these ideas to simmer overnight and see what gels. But I'll certainly appreciate any other ideas that people might have. Even among these four, it's gotten me thinking about some other plot hooks I could use while the party is in town. Thanks again!

 

[jdrakeh]

Does this merchant pay protection money to the local thieves' guild? If so, he should have reported the threat to them immediately. And once the goliath says that he handled it, it's very possible that the thieves' guild contradicts him on that score.

I like the idea of a Thieve's Guild in place of my earlier suggested corrupt constabulary. It makes more sense in the context of D&D fantasy, I think. Still, I think it's perfectly understandable why a merchant involved with the Guild on the scale that I mention might try to handle things himself, first.