Plot Hooks

Separate from the rest of the wiki pages, here are a list of suggested plot hooks in the various locations around the Empire of Aarden.

I've never written anything for use by other people, before - so if anything here is confusing or doesn't seem usable within the context I've provided, please feel free to reach out to me on discord!

As Xulthraxis is still in very early stages of development, I don't yet have anything really usable for that space - but I'll put them here when I do.

A Note on Fadebeasts, spellcasters, and the Breach

Hastus Vos (spoiler) was a worshiper of the ancient god Morphaeos, an entity associated with Dreams, Inspiration, Darkness, and Art. Attempting to open a portal to a realm he believed to be associated with Morphaeos, he accidentally tore a hole between Kemetus Major (the planet Aarden is located on) and the Ether, a space between spaces, a realm that exists and does not exist all at once. The fog / mist known as "The Fade" pours from this hole, from the Ether itself, and as a result is endless and infinite in supply. Fadebeasts are monsters or animals from other worlds who have in one way or another wound up in the ether, and left through the breach into KM.

Fadebeasts and magic users should be rare, extremely rare. The primary antagonist in Aarden is ultimately meant to be mankinds misinterpretation, or invention, of religion or otherworldy messages. The concept of Lovecraftian "old gods" with no regard for, or desire to interact with, human life allows for a multitude of interpretations by humans covering a wide array of possibilities. Several of the villains I've used have just been people trying in vain to attain magic powers through worship, strange behavior, or even blood sacrifice. People are awful and do awful things.

Magic users should be limited to a bare fraction of the NPCs you introduce - and keep in mind that with no instruction, schools, or solid information to learn their craft, many of these spellcasters should be inexperienced and improvising.

Fadebeasts themselves are extra-dimensional beings, Aberrations in 5e terms, however they are not inherently malevolent. These could be simple animals, predators or prey, from a variety of different worlds or universes that were ultimately deposited somehow through the Breach into Aarden. The neutrality of these animals is important, because humans misunderstanding, and therefore fearing them, is equally important.

That being said, throw in some evil as hell bastards if you want.

In addition, with the exception of the Solace Massacre and animals typically associated with packs, fadebeasts should almost never work together. Keep in mind any two fadebeasts could be just as alien to each other as they are to the people in Aarden.

One final thing to bear in mind is that not Aarden is not located on Earth and the world associated with Aarden isn't meant to replicate or be Earth in any way. Strange creatures are sure to exist, native to Aarden, within reason. I've used giant spiders and centipedes, hinted at owlbears, and introduced a flying dog that are all supposedly native to Aarden. (The flying dog is not.)

Aarden

Solace

Solace was placed within the woods and directly next to the Fade, with the explanation that it's proximity to the stronghold monastery of Nostor's Keep made it a first-stop and high priority for the maintenance of the Fade Collector network.

With that in mind, I also used the town for fodder to jumpstart a campaign. It's isolation and the boldness of having a town in a location that obviously risky make it an easy target for destruction.

I had a dark knight leading a small group of monsters attack the town during a festival, causing the players to have to run away. I used a death knight and wyvern stat blocks for this so that it would very clearly be something the players could not defeat at their level - giving them a much larger payoff down the road when they finally beat the bad guy they had to run from in the beginning.

The Solace Massacre factors into many of the other plot hooks available in other cities, as increased fear regarding the concept of organized fadebeast attacks, or the introduction of refugees from the forest town could upset the balance in other places.

Three Bridges

Three Bridges is a goof name, as there are only two bridges. The people behind the town's name had intended on a third bridge, crossing the Istun Inlet south of the town, but it was never built.

• The Miller is ripping off the refugees

Following the massacre of Solace, Jakub Gondwright been asked to provide his services to the Solace Refugees free of charge and that he'll be reimbursed by the town's coffers once the crisis is over. He chooses to disregard this, and instead has jacked his prices for grain and flour up - not believing the town has enough to cover the cost that would be incurred. His mill is old, clunky, and the grain he keeps in exchange for his services to farmers takes time to mill and sell. On the party's arrival in town, there will be a clerk, or perhaps even the mayor herself, positioned near the gatehouse taking in refugees from Solace, stressed at the influx of people and trying to keep track. They'll request the party's help with convincing Jakub, although insist they do so peacefully.

Jakub is a coward, but knows the guards will intervene if he's at risk for violence. He's also a bit of a scumbag, so appealing to his sense of decency will be difficult. As a result, I set the DC's for my players to intimidate and persuade him in these ways a bit higher, around 18 for their level 3 characters. Jakub is not especially bright, however, and a deception attempt to do something like make him think the guards wouldn't intervene, that the mayor had sent you to issue a threat, or that you can guarantee the coffers can cover his fees - these all would have been easier, around a 12 or 14.

Additionally, a player skilled in masonry, carpentry, tinkers tools, engineering, etc - could offer to increase the productivity of his aging, clunky windmill. A successful DC15 check in any of these skills to do so, along with committing to working on the Mill over the course of a day - will convince him that he'll be able to make up any losses with the increased production.

• The West Empire Company

Immediately to the left of the entrance to the town will be a large walled-in storage yard with a building behind it, marked with the emblem of the WEC - a well known caravan company that ironically operates mostly on the eastern side of the Empire, maintaining freight routes where boats and trains cannot go. There are a few notes for this building:

1. Colton Smythe will be standing outside the building, attending to horses or smoking. He does the hiring for the caravan company and will approach anyone who enters the yard to see what they need, or if they're in search of employment. He's a gruff, pragmatic man. He is also a relic dealer - the term used in Aarden for black-market magical or enchanted items, however the party will need to earn his trust in order to find this out. The DM can decide on what he has and how much it costs, depending on your own loot tables and how much money you're dolling out.
2. The WEC will be hiring people to investigate a missing caravan headed towards the town from the east. Should they choose to pursue this, they'll find the caravan only a few hours east from town - it had been stopped by the Hand of the Creator, and witch-hunters had hauled it's drivers away for questioning. The caravan was known to have been moving a few crates of illegal materials including Bloodstone Dust, Dried Bat Wings and Newt Eyes, and runes made from bone - all materials associated with spell components, particularly for necromancy. The Witch-Hunters still investigating the caravan will have no questions for the party - but will give them the above information to take back to Smythe.
3. If they did not take the job from Smythe, there is a woman waiting inside the office for the shipment from the missing Caravan named Susanna Grimsby, because I name things like a child. She'll claim to know nothing about the spell components, and that she was just waiting for a gift of spices from her sister. As a warlock, Grimsby is skilled in deception, set an insight check DC high for this one, as she's lying and is definitely waiting for the crates containing the spell components.

• Amalia Efterstone and the Istun Ruins

A wealthy looking woman visiting from the capital city of Vezenhold is meeting two bodyguards at the WEC building, having hired them through Smythe to escort her to the Istun Ruins. Her name is Amalia Efterstone, and her family has owned the deed to these ruins for generations - without ever making any attempt to renovate or rebuild, as the manor there was destroyed centuries ago during the panic following the Breach. She's looking to see the former grounds of Istun Manor as she plans on renovating them herself now that she's inherited the deed. The bodyguards hired through the WEC are, in fact, bandits - intent on finding a way to acquire the deed for themselves. If they can get Efterstone to sign it over to them before having an unfortunate accident, they could then sell it off and be rich. Smythe is not aware of this - these men offered their services knowing Efterstone would be making the visit.

If the party somehow determines the bodyguards are untrustworthy they can accompany Efterstone to the ruins, where an ambush will be lying in wait for them. There are a few ways this could be done.

They look shady. That sounds silly, but it works. A relatively easy insight check of around 14-16 could determine that these guys look more like highwaymen than what you'd expect for a bodyguard hired to protect nobility.

If they offer their services in addition to the bodyguards, they'll have to pass a persuasion check on Efterstone of around the same 14-16 range. The bandits will quit on the spot, and go wait ahead of the party.

They could follow the trio, seeing the ambush group and Efterstone being tied up.

Not only is Efterstone grateful for her rescue - but she's disappointed in the state of the Istun Ruins, stating that her manor in Akerton is on a parcel of land twice the size of this. She'll gift the party the deed in exchange for saving her life. (alternatively, you could just give them a large sum of gold, if you don't want to bother with player housing / homesteading.) If the players try to sell the deed, they'll learn pretty quickly that it's actually relatively worthless. People in the frontier towns won't be able to afford it - and the wealthy elites from the Vezenhold area are unlikely to ever want to move that close to the Fade. They could, potentially, sell it off for however much gold you would've given them instead of the damn thing in the first place.

• The Necromancer, or the Rectangular-Mouthed-Fade-Beast

Someone in town - be it the Mayor, Colton Smythe, the local Nostor at the church, etc - will tell the party that there have been mysterious graverobbings happening over the past few months. Entire graves, hollowed out, without piles of dirt or anything left behind - perfectly squared out empty graves. A local sergeant in the Vezenhold Militia, who I voiced like a slowed-down foghorn leghorn and made as dumb as a brick, very strongly believes that it is, in fact, a rectangular mouthed fadebeast. One that flies. "And what he does is, see, he comes up to this grave, see, and he fits his whole mouth around the grave and he sucks all that dirt up into his mouth, see. But he only does it at night, or he's invisible, or he's flyin', or both."

There are a number of ways your players could figure out the identity of the necromancer, who is in fact Susanna Grimsby, mentioned above. If they already suspect her, they could sneak into her home, watch her movements, or confront her directly. Players could try to post up overnight and watch the graveyard - where they might find evidence of undead minions moving about the shadows on the outskirts of town. These minions could be followed back to Grimsby's home, or perhaps their tracks could be followed if the party destroys them.

Grimsby herself will attack the players and absolutely fight to the death if confronted or found out. If she figures out before a confrontation that she's being investigated, you could choose to have her leave town and go into hiding somewhere. She will not give herself up or surrender under any circumstance, as to do so would guarantee the rest of her life being spent enduring painful torture until her execution by the Hand of the Creator. Better to take her chances here and die fighting than have her spirit severed by those red robed freaks in their frozen monastery.

Grimsby is a potential place for your players to find one of the Nua-Stones, a set of five ancient stone orbs of extradimensional origin scattered throughout the Empire, believed by occultists to be fragments of an ancient world that was completely shattered and destroyed.

• Alistair Fawkes wants to capture a Fadehound

Alistair Fawkes is an important character in the Aarden setting. An archaeologist, alchemist, and cleric, he'll offer the party a small reward in exchange for their aid in capturing a fadebeast alive for use in his research into their origins, behavior, and anatomy. He's heard of a small pack of Fadehounds outside of the city that he believes they could handle in order to capture one of them. He'll bring his flying dog, Aluat, and a horse + carriage with a large wooden crate to store the beast in, and lead them to the edges of the Istun Ruins where the fadehounds are rumored to be hunting.

To make the combat encounter more difficult, you may wish to place additional, unengaged enemies around the ruins. A pack of bandits, or a wandering monster, as when one of the fadebeasts are killed, the rest will scatter and run (see their stat block) and the potential for having them alert other enemies is a risk your players will have to take into consideration to avoid focus-fire.

Alistair will reward them however you see fit for your campaign - I used his expertise in alchemy and herbalism to give the players the option of adding those proficiencies during their stay in town, however if you aren't using a crafting system you may want a more traditional reward scaled to the party's level instead.

Noxfeld

• Outsiders!

Noxfeld is extremely untrusting of outsiders - and Guards are posted on towers at the gates in this wall, and will refuse anyone entry unless they're working for the West Empire Company.

If the players are not working for the WEC, Charisma skill check attempts to get past these guards should be set exceptionally high, however they could earn their way into the walls for a night's say should they agree to handle a local threat. A group of highwaymen have been "taxing" WEC caravans on the western road out of town. The Hand doesn't patrol that road, and Noxfeld is remote enough that nobody else comes here. The leader of these highwaymen is called One-Eyed Jack, and if they bring his signature eyepatch as proof of his defeat, the guard will let them pass.

• The Farewell Festival

When the party enters the town, they'll be instructed to stay strictly within the market, church, or WEC compound. They'll be recognized and asked to leave should they enter any of the other areas of town, and one of those areas is currently celebrating something being referred to as a Farewell Festival. People will mostly refuse to explain what the festival is about to the outsiders, but with a bribe or medium-difficulty charisma check, they could change their disposition.

Noxfeld has, as one of my players put it, "A Logan's Run Kinda Situation?" When residents reach the age of 35 years old, they're the celebrated guests at a feast that the entire town partakes in, and given a generous stipend from the Governor, Augustus Stone, before they leave the town of Noxfeld. As the walls of the town have never been expanded outward, generations of Noxfeld's citizens have accepted the reality of the Farewell, and have waved goodbye to dozens, if not hundreds of citizens over the past century and a half.

Nobody in the town knows, though some may suspect, that Augustus Stone is a member of the "Enlightened," a secretive cult that worships the Blood Lord, Orcus. These citizens have almost all been killed in ritual sacrifice in the small dungeon beneath the town's Hall of Laws. Several of the town guard are also members of the cult, as well as some of its leadership. These sacrifices empower their Patron, giving him more of the strength he needs - believing, falsely, that with enough sacrifices Orcus will come to Aarden and liberate them from the oppressive Church, and their false god "The Creator."

None of these people are magic users, and most of their stat blocks should be barely stronger than Commoners - they're just dumb, misguided zealots. There are a few ways you can pursue your party learning the truth, outlined below.