Post by Head Moderator on Jan 16, 2015 1:49:54 GMT -5
Bryony is an ancient land and home to a great many mages. Each is trying to outdo his or her fellows in power or uniqueness of new items or any other measure that they can think of. In Portafina, on the coast, one of the mages has made a true advancement in the construction of golems. This mage, Chayosa Tuwese, has created a golem with some real intelligence, and yet with the usual immunities to mental effects. She guards this secret closely and has created only a few of these new golems to guard her tower.
No matter how closely one guards a secret, someone else finds out. In this case, a rival spellborn has found out about the new golems. This man, Blase Eldhelm, knows that Chayosa has made something really powerful but he doesn't know the properties of the new creature. He'd like to, so he seeks out some suitable mercenaries/thieves/adventurers to break into Chayosa's tower and steal one of the golems, intact and functioning. In addition to payment, he is also offering a map to a supposed treasure that he never got around to following up on when he was an adventurer in exchange.
Here are some ideas to switch things up a bit, choose one from each section if you wish!
Ideas for Motivations
Blase is sincere in what he says. He does not say what he wants to do with the golem, because it's not really the PCs' business anyway.
Blase is actually an employee of Chayosa, who wants someone to try to break into her house so she can see how well her new golems function. She plans to kill the intruding PCs.
Chayosa wants to fake her own death, and what better way than at the hands of mercenaries? She leaked the information about the golems, knowing Blase would find it irresistible.
Blase plans to kill the PCs rather than pay them, but he gives them enough real information to get them into trouble (and then enough false information that they cannot get out). The whole golem thing is a ruse; Blase has a lasting grudge against the PCs.
Ideas for Complications
Someone else has hired adventurers or thieves for the same purpose (stealing a golem), and the PCs encounter their rivals in the tower. The rivals are hostile to the PCs initially.
Chayosa is dead, slain by her new creations. Now they wander the tower at random, killing anything that moves.
Chayosa's new golems are created in such a way that the animating spirit comes from a human instead of an elemental or wherever. Thus, the golems have some intelligence and cunning, and yet they retain their mental immunities. The golems use weapons and tactics.
Blase has alerted the local law enforcement to the PCs' plans, in case they make it out alive. Law enforcement officers will be waiting for the PCs upon their departure.