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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dunjin" data-source="post: 1209602" data-attributes="member: 14572">I have an interesting situation brewing, I think. A small village pays an annual tithe to a white dragon whom they believe (thanks to a long-lived custom) brings them a short winter in return. The PCs come to find out that things aren't exactly as they seem.A tribe of kobolds has been perpetuating this belief because they find that having this treasure appear in a lump sum once a year is preferable to actually raiding the village. The leader of the kobolds is a draconic kobold with silver dragon blood who, while getting up there in age, still manages to keep a leash on his increasingly docile tribe. Basically, rather than staging bloody raids, the kobolds prey on the beliefs of the humans. Once a year, the village sends up a cart full of treasure of all kinds and leave it there overnight. That night, a dragon appears and the treasure disappears, leaving behind a stone tablet with a single draconic word on it. That word has always been "ACCEPTABLE", but this year it reads, "MORE."The dragon is an illusion cast by the kobold tribe's adept. The kobolds take away the treasure and live off it for the year. Meanwhile, there are no dragon attacks, and winter doesn't last all that long in the area, considering that the village is in the foot hills of a large mountain range.This year, though, the kobolds have been beset by a gang of bugbears who've caught on to their plan, and the goblinoids are demanding "protection money" from them. The kobolds can't pay this and survive on the treasure, so they either have to ask for more or begin to conduct raids that will no doubt end in their destruction. The twist? There is actually a dragon in the mountains, a white dragon who couldn't care less about the piddly gold offering of a small village of humans. The dragon has a deal with the large nearby city of Geniir, which provides her with slaves and other food in return for her pledge not to destroy the city. Anyway, that's a twist on the old "dragon ransom," "thieving kobolds," and "city in peril" plots, I think.</blockquote>

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