Where would you take this from here?

[Munin]

The Setup:

The players have been faced with choosing the lesser of two evils: In order to save the world from a demonic invasion, they have allied themselves to a red dragon that has conquered a large portion of the settled lands. This dragon spends most of her time in human form: a very attractive red-haired vixen. She is a worshipper of Tiamat, and so has a vendetta against every other priesthood; the effects have be devastating.
In this particular area, magic users are quite rare, so the party wizard is the most powerful caster in the entire nation.
Her next move will be against a nearby elven nation, with a significantly higher proportion of magic users.

The Hook:

After equiping the party to foil the demonic plot, the dragon summons the party wizard to her inner chambers. She offers him a place at her side as one of her counselors, power and position if he joins her against the elves, and, to sweeten the deal, offers him carnal pleasures as the icing on the cake.

The wizard is faced with a tough choice: maintain his independence, avoid conflicts of interest, reject the offer and risk bringing the ire of a very powerful NPC...hell hath no fury and all that.
or
Spend a night between the sheets with a hothohthot red dragon queen and think about the consequences later.

So the wizard chose the romp in the hay*.

Question is: where would you take this? What consequences will the wizard face in the future for his indiscretion? Certainly the party will consider it sleeping with the enemy...they aren't very happy with the present circumstances and are actively looking for a way to double-cross her. The queen is going to expect his services in the future.
What do you think she should ask for?


*The queen had an ulterior motive in this. Her personal priestess of Tiamat and the Lord Commander of the royal guard are both dragonkin...her offspring. She takes lovers according to their power and the potential for her progeny. Our poor wizard may soon be a father....

 

[diaglo]

kill the wizard and take his stuff. he has already performed the service he was needed for...

he is a potential loose end for the dragon.

therefore in her best interests have him killed. either while he sleeps or send him on a suicide mission against the elves but don't inform him of the dangers.

in fact tell the elves the wizard is to blame for the war.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Baby Red Dragon Wizard add some fluffy prophecy - nuff said.

The Red Dragon knows more than the players, she is planning her future, the demon horde is known and she is building her stronghold, she is making an army. The wizard can now go off and fight, his job is done from the dragons point of view.

 

[diaglo]

possibly replace the wizard with a minion of the red dragon. a doppleganger sorcerer.

his spell selection would be not as powerful.

but have him show the party some magic band or something that he explains the dragon has attached until they do a quest for her... rid the world of the elves..

gives the player a chance to run a monster PC and a secret agenda.

 

[Patman21967]

I wouldn't kill the character...I like the prophecy idea....and have her call on him to perform tasks....nonsexual ones....that puts the parties goals on the back burner...starting with the Elves....they would make great antagonists were the party forced to attack them

 

[Munin]

I see a wizard-child in the future. A young little sorceress with a taste for fire. I dig the prophecy idea. Not sure how to fit it in, but that's too good to pass up.

The underlying theme of this segment of the campaign is 'lesser of two evils'. The demonic invasion is basically a 'game over' for all parties involved, even the Dragon knows that.
The opposing King, who is allied with the elves, has been duped by the BBEG to open this portal, which the party must prevent or it's armeggedon time.

Maybe I didn't make it clear, but the Queen really does want the wizard on her side. Besides herself, she is lacking in arcane firepower. Pitting the party against elves will force some interesting moral quandries for the party, which makes for great roleplaying. Plus, killing elves is fun

 

[diaglo]

the dragon coyly left some plot hook nearby. after the romp... the wizard finds it. he, of course, believes he has found something out on the sly. doesn't ask the red dragon about without appearing like he was snooping around.

goes back and tells his party... they act on the information.

perhaps it was a map and contact in the elven nation to some secret cache of magic. the defenses are tough so the wizard needs his party to help get around them.

of course, the dragon set them up. and when they return demands compensation

 

[diaglo]

rose colored glasses...

the red dragon gives the party all a set of lenses. she explains they are magical and will see thru some forms of illusion. in fact they cause illusions..

they make regular elves appear as drow.

she sends them to retrieve some item and warns them of the duplicitous nature of her contacts.... the elves....

 

[diaglo]

of course, the item being crafted by the elven wizards is a dragonslaying weapon.

so do the PCs help the elves kill the red or do they take it back for her to destroy/hide in her hoard?

 

[demonpunk]

re

Here's a few ideas:

The party could definitely have someone spying on them (sent by the Dragon queen). Scry spells could work, but a half-dragon ranger has that personal touch.

Perhaps the Dragon queen has some hidden weapon against the demons--an ancient spell or artifact, a prophecy that reveals how to close the portal--she plans on using it eventually, she just hasn't told the PCs yet. The PC wizard finds out about it and the party can try to steal it.

Have the PCs make a contact with some of the elves trying to make an alliance. They can arrange to make "apparent victories" (defeating an empty fortress, stealing a fake supply shipment, etc.) so that the Dragon queen will think the war is going smoothly. In reality the elves are trying to work with the PCs to defeat the Demons.

The PCs find two groups among the elves--a warlike group focused on defeating the Dragon queen (enemies) and a smaller, persecuted group holding onto an ancient prophecy (or artifact or spell) that could defeat the demons. They need the PCs help--they need something from the Dragon queen (a matching artifact, or maybe a material component--say, a drop of innocent dragon blood--the wizard's offspring).

Have a giant robot panda kill the dragon and tie the demons up with silly string. Make all the characters roll randomly for gender, skin color and favorite ice cream as the world joins with the 432nd layer of the Abyss--by far the silliest of the demon planes.