What demands would the Fairy Queen make?

[Aberzanzorax]

Riffing off of Umbran's point and combining it with the fey love of nature...


Planting acorns in a certain inhospitable territory.

Gifts of some species (say 6 males and 6 females...or 12 eggs) to populate an area.

Mine a diamond the size of one's head and show it to her. The pcs can keep it, what she wants is the mine in a certain place to re route water flow.

A dozen cherries (she wants the pits/seeds).

and so on.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Well, someone beat me to a shrubbery, so:

"Cut down the largest tree in the forest wiiiiiith, a Herring!"

To make it at least a bit serious, Herring can be a magic axe that will come in handy later in the adventure.

 

[Orius]

I'd still not deal with that wench's treachery and just start negotiations by breaking out the cold iron.

 

[Banshee16]

My players are about to approach Queen Mab the Fairy Queen (no, not "Faerie" Queen) and request that she give them an important, world-saving item. Mab will see the necessity of handing the item over, but that doesn't mean she won't demand something in return!

What fun, silly, interesting, disastrous, preposterous, or puzzling demands could she make of the party? If you were the Queen of the Pixies what would you want from a band of level-14 adventurers? I don't want this to be a combat encounter but either a puzzle or roleplay opportunity. Or maybe just a tough decision to make.

Would love even your most outlandish ideas.

Thanks,
R

Depends on how you want Fairy/Faerie to be in your game.

Part of the problem is that the kinds of things which Faerie might normally take as payment in fantasy literature (ie. laughter, your first born son, etc.) are things that don't really have a mechanical effect in game....makes it hard to have them give something up....

A few ideas....

1-You could have her demand "the best time of your life".....if the PCs give it up, they're drained of their youth, and are now middle aged or old aged.

2-She could also demand "your identity" or "your reputation", and the PCs are reincarnated into new bodies that nobody recognizes. Alternatively, they become unrecognizable to any NPCs who used to know them.

3-A mage could have to give up his voice.

Some of these things could be reversed....maybe she takes their youth in a bottle, and they have to take the world-saving item, use it to save the world, and if they bring it back to her when they're done, they get their youth or original bodies back.

Banshee

 

[Starfox]

Whatever it is, it must be something they are willing to give. Having the quest stalled because they refuse is VERY anticlimactic. Or it may lead to a lot of dead faeries.

In a similar situation, I had a devil demand that the players accept a challenge from one of his minions - and loose. The devil got a lot of prestige, the players had to face a humiliation.

 

[Ravilah]

These are awesome! Thanks to everyone.
I'm going to go either with the Marriage Contract or the Service for a year and a day.
But I am definitely using a lot of these other ideas later.

R

 

[Herobizkit]

It might be a bit too cliche, but perhaps the egg of a dragon? Not just ANY dragon though, but Huhumihuhu, a Fairy Dragon. On the plane of Arborea (or Feywild). Good luck!

And thus "Alice Through the Looking Glass" meets "70's acid trip". Good luck, adventurers!

Play some Zeppelin and/or the Beatles in the background, but try and find the songs without the lyrics...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't think it's that kind of fairy queen.

Siam`s gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I`m only watching the game -- controlling it --
I don`t see you guys rating
The kind of mate I`m contemplating
I`d let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you

It might be a bit too cliche, but perhaps the egg of a dragon? Not just ANY dragon though, but Huhumihuhu, a Fairy Dragon. On the plane of Arborea (or Feywild). Good luck!

And thus "Alice Through the Looking Glass" meets "70's acid trip". Good luck, adventurers!

Play some Zeppelin and/or the Beatles in the background, but try and find the songs without the lyrics...

2 nice pieces of psychedelia are the intro to "In A Gadda Da Vita" and the extended version of "Susie Q." Also look at early Pink Floyd and ESPECIALLY the early works of Tangerine Dream- trust me, there is nothing more consistently trippy than that band's first few albums.

Re: Marriage.

The marriage does NOT have to be to Queen Mab. It could be to one of her relatives or supporters as a reward if mortal mates are "in" this century.

Or, if she's trying to embarrass someone in her court, pairing them off with the least charming and/or clumsiest member of the party would be a huge slap in the face..."A pairing of 'Princess Beauty' with Sir Beast, hahahahaha!"

Re: Service

She's a queen, she'll need champions. Champions, being a depletable resource, requires the choosing of new ones. And as mere mortals, Mab will feel zero compunctions about moving them to the front of the duty list.

 

[Orius]

Champions, being a depletable resource, requires the choosing of new ones. And as mere mortals, Mab will feel zero compunctions about moving them to the front of the duty list.

See what I mean about fairies? I'd rather deal with a pit fiend; preferably with full knowledge of its true name of course.

 

[Starfox]

Or, if she's trying to embarrass someone in her court, pairing them off with the least charming and/or clumsiest member of the party would be a huge slap in the face..."A pairing of 'Princess Beauty' with Sir Beast, hahahahaha!"

I have to elaborate on my xp handout here. This is not only good humor and a very fey thing to do, it could also put the player of the "least charming and/or clumsiest member of the party" in a new and exiting position, having to take care of an (at least initially) hostile fey spouse. This could bring out completely new sides of that character, who probably have not had many romantic entanglements earlier. The best possible end in true faerie-tale fashion would for the couple to find love in the end. Of course, you have to pick your player with care for such a plot. If the PC is mercenary, the marriage will be a one of convenience with no real repercussions, or possibly a very bad annoyance, the kind of thing that gives a DM the rep for messing with players.