Next W.I.P Quest for the crew is something I'm calling Wicked Whispers. The synopsis so far is:
The Whispered Stone Monastery needs help. Not a place of religion or worship, the Monks there instead are known for utilizing objects called “Whisper Stone” to focus themselves, kind of like a meditative totem. Crafted by the monks themselves early in their training, these boxes are thought to hold the Monks most precious or dangerous secrets and truths. They act both as a tool of self-exploration and focus, but also a catalog of their lives. Recently, one of the orders oldest members died, and his Whisper Stone was stolen. PCs have been contracted to find the stone and return it to the Monastery before the Monks secrets are unleashed.
Below is the rough loot ideas and general twist/turns in my head atm:
At the end of the day my objectives are:
* To make my players a bit more interested in bigger stakes. So far they've been pretty afraid of larger campaigns, but I'd like to ease them in if I can.
* To give PCs an object that allows them to communicate in a sneakier way, so I'm thinking they'll be given alternative versions of the Whisper Stones towards the end of the quest, allowing them to speak to each other, or telepathically communicate (not sure which yet) within a few miles of one-another. This will help if they split up, but also if they just want to plan in-session within range of a big-bad.
So far my thought-process is that the stone was stolen by a wealthy businessman, who wanted to unlock the stones knowledge to open a vault containing the various collections of the Monk who had died. This includes wealth-based loot such as gold, or leveled magic items, but also one or two monsters that had been sealed away for -hopefully- eternity. The big bad I have in mind is an Eldritch Lich, sealed away with a bit of fluff being that maybe the Monk knew the Lich in life, and his greatest regret was not saving his friend from becoming a monster. IDK, still totally messy but I'm writing this as I prep for tonights session.
Additional thought stuff can be:
* Allowing you players to take over the business man's home to have a property within the city
* Allowing the monks to become allies upon completion.
* Gives players a chance to experience Monk stuff (since we don't have any Monk PCs) and maybe decide to multi-class who knows.
* Encourage exploration and give intelligent characters a chance to show off their build with Intelligence-based rolls.
