What demands would the Fairy Queen make?

[Hand of Evil]

A child
A dream
A decade of life
The drop of blood from a gorgon
The tear of a beholder
The sword of the lake
The wisdom teeth of a monk
A word of power
The last breath of a banshee

 

[Sigurd]

Do they seek to save the future of the world or simply the present?

If the present they may take the item but they will not get back any spells, magic or arcane, until they have pleased Mab. New items will be incorporeal to their touch and the coming sunrise will feel cold and forbidding. They are becoming shades.

If they wish to save the future they must please Mab now. She has a requirement they must fulfill on a timeless plane. If they succeed they will have not lost any of their future and they may take the item.

Mab is not a junior league encounter.

She will tell them that if their world is destroyed she will be saddened. She has many loyal servants within it. Still, politics is always about Change Change Change. Won't be the first time.....

 

[Horatio]

I would request several favors from them, something like this:

A cherry pie
The most beautifull trinket they have ever seen (in -their- eyes, and it have not to be neccesserily the most expensive they ever seen)
A cherry pie
Moving her meadow and cleaning her favorite pond
A cherry pie
Proof that Oberon had cheated on her again
A cherry pie
A foot massage from the most handsome/pretty member(s) of the group
A cherry pie and a cinnamon muffin
A hair from her archenemy (not neccesserily slain)

Each even "task" could be and encounter / skill challenge / adventure of itself.

And I wouldn't give them the important item unless they got me (among the other things) all 5 cherry pies

 

[Raven Crowking]

One of the party must willingly remain behind and be her servant for 100 years. That will make a great debate about who it should be, or should it be anyone, or maybe they should just attack. If somebody chooses to do then they would become an NPC, but possibly come back later in the game with a different agenda (set by Mab)

Of course that means someone will need to role up a new character, but this could make good gaming legends about the noble loss of a character when it is actually the players choice.

This.

Unless you think your PCs care about their firstborn children.



RC

 

[Umbran]

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.

Queen Mab has been around for millennia, right? She seems flighty to us not because she's flighty, but because she thinks on much longer timescales.

What she asks will not be fun, silly, or preposterous from her point of view. A group of 14th level adventurers are not gods, but they're notable powers. She will use that power for some important ends of her own. Those ends may be inscrutable from the players' perspective, but they'll be deadly serious from hers.

So, what does Mab want out of the next couple of decades? She'll ask for something that will play into those desires in the long run.

 

[roguerouge]

Their services for a year and a day.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Their services for a year and a day.

If so, with no foreknowledge of what (if anything!) those services will be, and an absolute ability to compel them if they balk.

 

[wherwrthal]

When I did this, I used Titania and I had her request their names. Their true names.

Then, she used her fairies to commit acts by using the PC's names and faces.

She could also summon them whenever she desired for her entertainment or leisure.

 

[WillOH]

If so, with no foreknowledge of what (if anything!) those services will be, and an absolute ability to compel them if they balk.

And of course Mab didn't say that it would be served consecutively. So an hour here and 15 minutes there, whenever, a cat needs to be comforted or whenever an enemy invades her realm. If not defined, she could bring them into any odd situation at any time.

They are about to face the BBEG's chief minion, POOF, they have to clean up the stables. Mab does not need to include sleep time either, so that year and a day can be really stretched.

Of course, this can really be abused, but what a valuable lesson about making deals with the faerie.

 

[lin_fusan]

Marriage.

But for the Fairy Queen, it's a political marriage designed to distract her opponents while she plots her real scheme. Since the PC is now tied to her throne by contract, her opponents will have to get rid of the PC, so assassination attempts.

And as the "King" of the Fairies, the PC will have to perform several important questing duties during the solstices and the equinoxes.