Looking for input - wilderness adventure.

[doghead]

general - duvik - thoughts

I was struck by the thought that perhaps there was something of a disjunction between the main event (the plague) and the surrounding events. Mostly one of timing. The plague is fast and brutal, and few weeks and its potentially all over red rover. But it would probably take more time than that for much of the surrounding stuff to come into play.

So off the top of my head

* change the nature of the central problem to something a bit longer term, perhaps something a little more intractable, giving greater weight to the need to find allies, look around, etc.

* leave it as is. Put some of the focus on trying to protect the villagers while looking for the solution. ie - rebuilding the palisade, hunting down some of the more dangerous/threatening monsters that are killing the villagers. Of course, this kind of goes against the time crunch nature of the plague - hand around too long and you start losing Int.

OK. Got to think about this. It just doesn't seem to gel at the moment.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[Kristivas]

[[Rant #1 - religion and village priests]]

This is where D&D seems a bit of an odd cludge to me. It tries to mix the 'church in every village' idea of Christian Europe with the pantheon of gods of the ancient world. So what would they have in a small village like Duvik. It would seem to me that the Healing and Plant domains would be popular, with Earth and Animal also up there. Weather would be good if they had it, as would Fertility. Of course, the domains are more geared towards adventurers than village priests. So anyways, to cut a long story short, do what I do and make the setting monotheistic. Failing that, choose whichever god works for you.

I always found this to be pretty easy to deal with. Rather than worry what kind of priest would be good for a small town and what domains he should have to fit the area.. I prefer to put whatever sort of Clergy there that fits my story, moreso than the area and people. Why? Well, say a Priest of a Goddess of Beauty set up shop in a far-away fishing village. Rather than trying to adjust his domains and whatnot to .help with fishing and the like, he would instead be trying to direct the townsfolk to his faith, ideals, and customs. This is where you arrive to find villagers dressed exotically, in glimmering fish scale-type colorful outfits, due to the Priest's influence.

...I hope that makes sense.

Another element I'd add into the story comes with the Fallon Commander. Once they arrive with the intention to negotiate and bring Duvik officially under their thumb, only to find the inhabitants stricken with a spreading disease, well.. The Commander would seem like the sort to do what most military types of today would: Contain the situation at all costs.

It would add further to the pressing matters at hand if the PCs had to work even faster, not only to save the villagers and themselves from the disease, but to do it before the army decides to cut a bloody swath through all of the infected, PCs included.

If you want to stall the infection rate on the PCs, you could introduce a few charms found on the Orc Shaman's cronies. It wouldn't cure the plague or make the wearer immune, but it could hold off the effects for as long as it's worn. Would be even better if the person wearing the charm could still infect others, taking away the option of the PCs finding a charm and running for the hills.

 

[doghead]

adventure - duvik

Kristivas. I understand what you are saying. Its a workable approach given the situation, but its not my ideal. I would be more inclined to have village priests sort of multi-task. Not sure how it would work mechanically. Fortunately, I don't have to sort that problem out.

I like your idea for the Fallon commander. It would add a degree of pressure to events. To balance that, one of the others in the Fallon contingent should be more moderate - a potential asset for the PC's should they have to negotiate with the Fallon contingent. Of course, they wuld need to put in some effort to establish the fact first. Its not a freebee.

Good point about the renegade orc warriors. Some steps would have been taken to protect them from the disease. I need to put some thought into that. Thanks for the suggestions.

doghead
aka thotd