Thanksgiving Plots
November 23rd, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and welcome back to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. As you all know Thanksgiving is this Thursday (or if you’re Canadian it was over a month ago – a late happy Thanksgiving to you just the same), and so this week’s Plots will all follow a very loose Thanksgiving theme. I hope you enjoy these new Plots.
A New Colony
As was the case in Virginia in 1619, in this hook the celebration of a day of Thanksgiving is mandated by legal conditions beyond the PCs’ influence. The PCs have landed with a group of one hundred settlers from the kingdom of Seaxe to establish a community in the untamed land of Giana, far across the ocean from Seaxe. Having successfully made the trans-oceanic journey and reaching the lands granted to them by HRM Earnest, King of Seaxe’s sacred charter, the people are ready to settle in and get to the work of establishing their new colony. There are several formalities to get out of the way: their expedition’s charter stipulates that upon coming to the territory granted to them by this charter they must all swear to live by and in accordance with HRM laws and follow his legitimate government. Secondly, a feast must be held by the end of the week to give thanks to the gods for a safe journey and to pay respect for HRM’s generosity. Given that the colonists are tired and demoralized from the long journey, there had been much talk of foregoing the feast; after all, the king would never know and they might well need whatever supplies would be wasted in the feast in the coming days. The PCs are approached by the expedition’s leader John Barrows, who has a plan to raise spirits and create a sense of unity among the colonists.
The PCs are to convince the colonists to celebrate the feast and to take an active role in the governance and welfare of the new community. The PCs will have to face down a whole host of challenges: stubborn colonists who think what’s been decided is decided and that’s that; outcasts and outright seditionists who stalwartly refuse to do anything the king mandates now that they’re far away from his guards; and desperate families concerned about saving up enough food to survive the fast-approaching winter. After getting the colonists on board the PCs are left to organize the festivities themselves, with Governor Barrows stressing that the success of this endeavor is of dire import to the viability of this new colony. Come Sunday, it’s all over but the crying, and the PCs will have to stand by whatever they managed to cobble together, creating either a grand feast and founding a community tradition that will stand for ages, or a disaster that will have them fleeing into the unknown wilderness, one step ahead of John Barrows’ fury at their failure.
A Dinner Invitation
In this hook the PCs are invited to a feast celebrating the founding of Ahenbrook by the lovely Isabel Shalerose at her manor just outside of town. In addition to the PCs, a number of other public figures – the town mayor Hans Ahen and his wife Alyson; a famous mercenary based in Ahenbrook, Heinrich Amon; Elena, a beloved bard whose poetry is renowned the world over for her insights into the workings of the human heart; Michael, a knight of the Order of the Black Rose and husband to Duchess Selena Hermon, also in attendance; Tundor, a dwarven painter; and Ivan Gamble, a young wizard of promising talent – have also made the guest list. Including Isabel and her husband Markos, the feast is a veritable who’s who in Ahenbrook.
The feast proceeds normally until nightfall, when a strong wind suddenly blows open the windows and extinguishes all the candles. A scream then pierces the darkened silence before a servant rushes in with a lantern, revealing one of the guests face down and dead on the table with a knife planted in his or her back.
With one of the guests dead the other feast attendants begin to panic, heading for the exits, shouting, and accusing one another of murder, and it soon becomes clear that unless someone takes charge there may very well be another death. It also soon becomes obvious that everyone here has their own interests most at heart, and that everyone seems to have a history with one another, the only exception being the PCs, who, as adventuring types, have only recently become figures of public import. As it has at this time been collectively decided that the murderer must have been someone in the room, an investigation must be launched to find the guilty party and bring them to justice. The PCs’ unique objectivity, combined with their reputation as capable individuals, quickly prompts the other guests to nominate the PCs to head up the investigation into the events that have occurred at the feast this night. Of course, this decision is not unanimous and one or more of the guests will hold out that since the PCs might very well be guilty, they have no business heading up the investigation. Despite these protests, the PCs end up in charge anyway and should begin by interviewing the remaining guests to find out if they noticed anything, knew the victim, and what they know of other guests.
As the investigation progresses it should develop organically, slowly but surely allowing the PCs to whittle down suspects until they arrive at a conclusion and can bringing the villain to justice for committing foul murder.
Finding a Feast
If you’re just looking for a short little adventure while you wait for your turkey dinner to finish, try this simple hook out. The PCs are tasked by the village elder, town mayor, king, or whatever you please, to go collect meat for a great feast in celebration of a productive harvest. The authority figure in question requires the following (make any substitutions you wish): 6 aurochs, 5 giant eagles, 4 dire boars, 2 wooly rhinoceroses, and of course, the main course and most sacred of all harvest dishes, the legendary behir. All of these creatures can be found in the enchanted forest just outside of the settlement, or in the cliffs and caves found therein. The game creatures should present relatively little threat to the PCs; however, getting them back to town is another thing entirely. The PCs are to send up flares after a kill so that other members of the community can come collect. Besides the game themselves the PCs will have to face down two new threats this year: a rival band of adventurers looking to poach the sacred behir for their hides and who will not think twice about attacking the PCs if they get in their way; and a new, darker force (read demon, dragon, devil, or other major baddie) that has begun to roam the enchanted forest and who hates interlopers of all kinds, especially hunters.
Ok, well, that’s all for this week. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and until next time, I would like to wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.