Looking for a good city encounter

[NewJeffCT]

Reposted from the other forum, since this seems more appropriate now.
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Hi there,

Since my thread on suggesting a forest encounter went pretty well last time (I ended up picking one, and also modifying another – the charred horror; and then modified the imp sorcerer into a half-fiend cleric) I figured I would go to the well again here on enworld. (original link: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=225293 )

This is an ongoing 3.5E campaign and the players are in the level 7-8 range now – a party of six (human cleric, human sorcerer, human rogue, dwarf fighter, elf fighter/paladin, Halfling psion)

They will be entering a large city in a coming session for the first time in the campaign.

The time of year is mid Spring and the climate is warm temperate (think Georgia/South Carolina like). The city is a port city on the ocean and also the capitol of the kingdom.

The city of 50,000 or so persons is 90-95% human, with the rest being mind-flayers (just kidding, wanted to scare the players if they’re reading this thread!) The rest of mostly the typical demi-human mix of dwarves, elves, etc.

The city is also fairly wealthy and is a trading hub, and they will be meeting with the merchant that hired three of them to find his missing daughter at the very start of the campaign (my group has grown since that time last year)

The players will have an audience with the king, as they just solved the mystery of the assassination of one of his Dukes and also managed to rescue the Duke’s younger brother (who takes over as Duke now…) – while helping to repel an incursion from the evil theocracy on their border.

The players are also hoping to catch a fast ship out of town to meet with a sage from a neighboring kingdom. The king will ask a favor of the PCs in return for passage on a fast boat…

But, in the meantime, I might want to throw another encounter in there.

Thanks for any ideas. I got a couple of good ones in the other thread, but want more.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

This is a bit specific to my campaign, but it was a lot of fun!

I can email you the villains stat blocks and my notes if you're interested.


Richard

 

[Gilladian]

I typed a nice long reply, and the computer ate it. Here's a recap:

How about somebody at court trying to make them look bad, because they're jealous of these successful newcomers?

Or some startstruck young lady offering more than her daddy wants her to as a sign of her admiration?

A thief might decide that robbing these folks would be quite a feather in his/her cap.

A chance to do something heroic for the common man could be fun - maybe they're around when a wagon goes out of control on a steep hill, or when a fire erupts, or similar?

 

[NewJeffCT]

I typed a nice long reply, and the computer ate it. Here's a recap:

How about somebody at court trying to make them look bad, because they're jealous of these successful newcomers?

Or some startstruck young lady offering more than her daddy wants her to as a sign of her admiration?

A thief might decide that robbing these folks would be quite a feather in his/her cap.

A chance to do something heroic for the common man could be fun - maybe they're around when a wagon goes out of control on a steep hill, or when a fire erupts, or similar?

Thanks - could be pretty interesting with the right PC if a "starstruck young lady" showed some interest in one of them... like the somebody at court thing as well.

 

[Quickleaf]

The PCs rescued the duke's brother and his aunt/ex/niece/fiance is overwhelmed with gratitude. She is a shrewd and seductive noblewoman.
However, she is also a spy for the evil theocracy, having fled that land early in her youth and now attempting to channel information to a resistance movement within the theocracy. However to do so, she needs to wine and dine a fanatic spy cell in the city, which requires her to be covert. She attempts to manipulate the PCs into acquiring sensitive information about troop movements, claiming a missing uncle vanished while fighting abroad. Of course, she ends up falling for one of the PCs.

 

[NewJeffCT]

The PCs rescued the duke's brother and his aunt/ex/niece/fiance is overwhelmed with gratitude. She is a shrewd and seductive noblewoman.
However, she is also a spy for the evil theocracy, having fled that land early in her youth and now attempting to channel information to a resistance movement within the theocracy. However to do so, she needs to wine and dine a fanatic spy cell in the city, which requires her to be covert. She attempts to manipulate the PCs into acquiring sensitive information about troop movements, claiming a missing uncle vanished while fighting abroad. Of course, she ends up falling for one of the PCs.

Sounds interesting, but you said spy *for* the evil theocracy, and then she attempts to channel info to a resistance movement within the theocracy? That sounds like a double-agent, or a triple agent - noblewoman within the good kingdom, spying for the evil theocracy, but feeding info to a resistance movement within the theocracy. I think I could work with her being a spy for the evil theocracy, though.

 

[Knightfall]

If you don't have it already, then I suggest you get a copy of D&D Cityscape. It's a great book with a wealth of city-related encounters and ideas.

At least, IMO.

 

[NewJeffCT]

If you don't have it already, then I suggest you get a copy of D&D Cityscape. It's a great book with a wealth of city-related encounters and ideas.

At least, IMO.

thanks, I think I actually have that, but forgot about it until you reminded me!

 

[falcarrion]

Why not do a murder mystery type of encounter.
Have a major storm hit forcing the party to take refuge.
this could in a bar , church, etc..
As they are waiting out the storm one of the npcs in the building is murdered.
Have them try to figure it out before the storm ends.
As they have recently ran into a group of assassins, the murderer could be an asssassin who was hoping not to be noticed and killed the npc before he was outed to the party.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Why not do a murder mystery type of encounter.
Have a major storm hit forcing the party to take refuge.
this could in a bar , church, etc..
As they are waiting out the storm one of the npcs in the building is murdered.
Have them try to figure it out before the storm ends.
As they have recently ran into a group of assassins, the murderer could be an asssassin who was hoping not to be noticed and killed the npc before he was outed to the party.

Interesting idea - i like the shut in from the storm aspect.