Random hooks thread

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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by HuManBing »

The Kargat has traditionally been a hierarchy based loosely on meritocracy. The more individually capable you are, the more likely you are to survive and rise to the top, closer to the central decision-makers of the Darkonian leadership.

However, in recent months, the leadership has changed the focus of their governance. A powerful new method has been discovered whereby the leadership can force effective mental servility from even the lowliest resident of the nation. This change of tack, called "Project Pluribus" in some circles, promises to further tighten the Darkonian leadership's absolute control over its cowed populace, and numerous Kargat enforcers are tasked with implementing it.

Several Kargat, Eternal Order, and baronial enforcers are not so eager, however, sensing in Project Pluribus the seeds of their own obsolescence and eventual disenfranchisement. A small but growing minority of the Kargat are sabotaging the project, hoping to retain their privileged status as wolves among sheep. After all, if every sheep is given the chance to become a wolf, what do the wolves have to gain from it?
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

How dare you contribute to this thread!

Kidding, I'm glad someone else is helping out. Carrying this thing on my back isn't easy!

This said, I do hope some of my ideas inspired people around these parts.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

There are stories among the people of Har'Akir of a singular figure who runs through the sandy dunes at night.

The tall, lanky runner is said to be a cursed individual whom one should avoid at all costs, although in many cases the mere sight of his nightly sprints may cause an uncontrollable urge to join him on his mad dash.

No one knows where he is heading, but the bodies of unfortunate victims lured into accompanying the tireless runner suggest a vague path which traders and local travellers often debate at length.

It is rather unfortunate that no one knows of the runner's identity nor do they know that a few hours before sundown he actually does not run, but rather walks at a steady pace and will actually accost fellow wanderers to strike up a conversation. In fact, he's a rather affable companion who can also be quite helpful in giving directions or advice regarding travelling through the desert. As time goes on, he soon seems to remember some urgent matter and might ask anyone he meets to aid in his efforts to bring a message to a far away land. Refusing this request will trigger his latent psychic abilities and players may find themselves compelled to help despite being otherwise occupied or having their doubts.

During this time the dune runner's identity is somewhat veiled with the usual garbs of a seasoned desert traveller, all of which he will remove gradually as he prepares to run. If characters manage to resist the minor psychic abilities of the runner at first, they certainly will find it harder to resist the more time they spend around him. Also, the runner grows more impatient with time and may even appear a bit insistent.

Finally, as the run is about to begin, characters who have stayed in his presence must once again test their mental fortitude or join the run and possibly face their end.

The runner feeds on the energy of the deceased and some unfortunate souls who were forced to join the runner early enough may be eternally bound to the runner, becoming one themselves. Indeed, as the runner reaches his top speed, impeccably preserved bodies begin to rise from the sand and join the runner without ever catching up to him. These minor mummified corpses will sacrifice themselves to allow the runner to escape anyone trying to hamper his never ending quest.

The runner has a vague understanding of his lot when "rational", that is to say preparing for the run. His memories remain fuzzy and he does feel regret without fully understanding why he does so. Remorseful about companions lost to the heat during past campaigns? Lament of the man choosing a path rarely taken? Escaping his own past?

Time brings a clearer view of his motives and his curse, yet he can't stop the desire to run and the urgency of his mission eats away at his mind. He soon enough realizes what he may be unconsciously doing but feels helpless to stop it.

At the crack of dawn, the runner suddenly collapses along with any of his fellow runners before being swallowed up by the sand. He'll be returned to his starting point to once again repeat the endless cycle.

Completing his quest isn't impossible, although he will fight any attempts at pilfering his bags. Reasoning with the runner may be impossible once he begins losing his senses and those who know of his plight and try to convince his more rational self before a run will face quite the uphill battle.

The message is he charged with delivering is destined to a Kargat agent. It's entirely plausible that his failure to arrive in Darkon was caused by a rival member for personal reasons.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

The Man Who Would Be King

Preamble: My one man crusade to bring some legitimacy to oft mocked creatures continues with the much maligned sheet phantom!

Pharnaces always knew he was destined to be a King for no man was as pious and learned as he.

A clever man he was for he knew that his ambitions could not be carried forth from the world of the living for surely another would eventually take his life.

He planned to rule from the land of the dead, acting through agents in who could traverse the realms.

As he had expected, an assassin found his way to his room one night and delivered a fatal dose of poison as he slept. However, as per his plans, servants prepared a holy funeral shroud which tightly covered his torso and head and rites were performed as per his instructions.

For decades, faithful followers offered various sacrifices to ensure that their master would neither starve nor suffer during his journey through the land of the dead. Unfortunately, a change in fortune left those who followed his faith with little choice but to flee the land and leave him without his regular offerings.

After centuries of neglect, his and other corpses were moved to a much lesser tomb to be shared with those they once looked upon as lesser men. Despite his exile to a world between that of the living and the dead, Pharnaces could still see and hear from the ever grey wastes of purgatory. His anger and hunger pushed him to return to his once mortal shell despite his better judgment as the heavens would not welcome him as is.

His body awaken but stiff, he breathed the stale air and immediately felt his stomach roar with a mighty hunger. Had his followers not abandoned him he would not have starved, but he had no time to concern himself with such matters as the urgency of his hunger consumed his mind.

He would be forced to debase himself by devouring whatever vermin plagued the resting corpses, staining his once immaculately white shroud with tufts of fur and specks of blood. The shroud would return to its immaculate whiteness and whisper to its wearer.

"Great Pharnaces, he who would be king, hear me for I know of your pain. This land is not yours, infidels have defaced it. Yet faithfuls surround you! Command them to find more to join your cause and the land will be yours as it should have been."

The shroud is actually a particularly intelligent sheet phantom bound to Pharnaces' undead form. This said, although the two cannot be separated, Pharnaces himself is not a sheet ghoul nor is he in any way forced to obey the phantom. While usually veiled by the phantom, a gaping, toothy maw will appear on the shroud when they feed.

Pharnaces is closer to the hungry dead of Athas and the more traditional ancient dead of the demiplane than the lowly sheet ghoul.

However, the various shrouded dead who shared his faith and which lay in the tomb now obey him as lesser versions of himself, as for the others, proper reburial following the customs of Pharnaces' time will bring them back as sheet ghoul.

Pharnaces only reluctantly accepted the sheet phantom's suggestion of reanimating these corpses as he feels that his people have been usurped by barbaric foreigners. This explains the discrepancy between the two types of undead follower.

At this point, Pharnaces is concerned with re-establishing his faith although it is merely a secret cult now.

Were it not for the constant hunger and his fear (even in undeath) of ruling from the realm of the mortals, Pharnaces' ambitions could pose a serious threat to the current power structure in Pharazia.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

The Oily Maniac

A trio of thieves from Souragne found that a local resin could be used for both camouflage, thanks to its dark coloration, and in eluding the grasp of pursuing guards by virtue of its oiliness. Of course, the resin will eventually develop a thicker, and even adhesive texture if exposed to air for more than a few hours.

Although the trio are merely thieves looking to pilfer the coffers of merchants and wealthy land owners and their ilk, a recent series of brutal murders and apparent kidnappings has local authorities on high alert.

The victims show signs of extreme violence with a telltale sticky residue on their clothes and skin, obviously from the same resin as the oily thieves.

While initially concerned that one of their members may have given in to darker impulses, reports of a large, brutish individual shambling out toward the swamps suggest that it is not one of the relatively lithe thieves but someone else entirely.

The true culprit is a cursed man who had tried to force himself upon a vistana woman. The Vistana curse turned him into a shambling, hulking being composed (apparently) solely of the oily resin with a potential escape clause which he misunderstood. He now believes that capturing enough virgins will allow him to regain his original form while the actual clause suggests that he make sufficient amends to atone for his crime.

He lives a solitary existence in the swamps where the moist air keeps the resin oily, however as he exits the resin slowly turns thick and adhesive.

(There you go, an adherer AND a reference to a classic Malaysian myth)
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

You do know that you can contribute hooks and ideas... I mean, I'll keep pumping them out, but you should all feel free to share!
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zilfer »

Here's one that's kind of based off a topic I made earlier but with a few modiffications to bring it closer to the real legend and then tweak it. Closest I can get to a hook write up here while at work... (the only real time I have to brainstorm xD)

The Halloween Tree

Once a year in (enter preferred/fitting Domain) during the fall near Halloween there is said to be a tree with carved pumpkins that appear. Every year people carve pumpkins and place them on their door step to keep away the ghost of this tree. The legend goes of a man that cheated death by asking him to climb a tree to pick a fruit; one he claimed had a strange likeness to death. Curious as to this death climbed the tree to find a carved pumpkin with a skull that looked like his up in the tree, but while death was up there Jack carved a holy symbol into the tree so that death could not come down for him. He bargained with death allowing him only to come down when he would not come to claim his soul for ten years(or some number). Death agreed, but their pact would turn out far worse than jack could ever imagine. He died (DM determined as to how. ) before the ten year period was up and so he became a ghost. Death at that time seemed to have forgotten him and has never come for him since.

Being a rather good pumpkin carver he took to carving pumpkins of people he knew and putting them in tree's to celebrate his most favorite time of year. His death had come at the hand of falling out of a tree, the very tree he had climbed thousands of times, and even tricked Death into climbing. The tree absorbed his blood and body and as a ghost he could come to realize his body was bound to the tree. Most curiously however his tree would grow pumpkins once a year with the likeness of people he had never seen before.

People swear to have seen Jack wandering around using one of his carved pumpkins to light his way. Other’s have claimed to have found his tree, while other’s say this is nonsense. If you find the tree you will be marked to be visited by Jack, and most who come to see him are never heard from again. Their faces join the multitude of pumpkins as he adds another fruit to the tree. Every year the tree is said to grow larger with each successive victim.

Jack’s soul is agitated, having no afterlife to look forward to, he takes the lives of his victims and traps their souls in pumpkins. Then he carves (either physically or magically transforms) the pumpkin to look like the victim. Victims cannot be resurrected while Jack has their soul, though some claim you can bargain with him to obtain a soul claimed by him. Despite his anger and depression he takes delight in furthering his own legend sometimes using guises of a man with a pumpkin head or a rider with no head at all. Should he throw a pumpkin head treat as fireball of appropriate level.
There's always something to lose.

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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

Copycats

A group of young, brilliant scientists from the far corners of the dread realms have joined into a secret cabal devoted to extolling the virtues of the great controversial scientific minds and their misunderstood efforts to bring progress into the land.

It all started when one particularly curious young scientist head rumours of Dr.Mordenheim's fabulous inventions, most of which existed only as stories told in closed intellectual circles. Some claim to have witnessed them in use during brief stays at Schloss Mordenheim, but the doctor has neither the interest nor the time to train a gaggle of clumsy apprentices so visitors - even scientifically minded ones - are few and far between.

Klaus was always fascinated by these tales and wished to see them with his own eyes whatever the cost, so he braved the harsh climate of Lamordia to make his way to the door of Mordenheim. Taken in in part out of his insistence and the doctor's need of an extra pair of hands to work on some machinery and execute repairs while he handled more pressing matters, Klaus would be almost just as quickly ousted for his frustrating curiosity and desire to peer into the doctor's more private research.

Unfettered, he took those scattered notes he had copied and studied them all the while fawning over the brilliance of the man. Then a thought occurred to him: as unique as a genius like Mordenheim is, surely there are other possibly somewhat less talented or intelligent but nonetheless gifted minds in this vast world.

He also learned from his time in Lamordia that not everyone sees scientific advancement in the same light as he, in fact, some scientific geniuses who might have equalled Mordenheim may have been unjustly kept from pursuing their research due to superstition.

Thus began his tireless search for the misunderstood and persecuted. His list came to include such luminaries as Emil Bolenbach and Frantisek Markov. Still, his dismissal from Schloss Mordenheim left him pondering how he had offended the doctor and if other great minds might be equally put off by him. Moreover, he felt that the world needed to study the work of these radical thinkers so a new generation could one day rise up and take the mantle of the land's scientific authority.

To do so he needed others like him: young, ambitious, and open minded. He contacted former classmates and recruited them into a small cabal of underground scientists endeavouring to replicate famous experiments. If the originators will not freely share their secrets out of fear of persecution then they will strive for a bottom up approach wherein imitation will lead to understanding.

Not only that, but Klaus feels that one should go through a personal metamorphosis INTO the scientist to properly understand the precise way in which inspiration came to them.

His cabal will thus take on the role of their mentor and engage in debates or work together to reproduce inventions or experiments. Inevitable failure leads to bickering, in character, between the members.

The rule is that no argument should come to one member inflicting harm on another no matter how heated the debate or crushing the failure.

The Dark Powers saw fit to give them access to some otherwise inaccessible information regarding the infamous men of science and their work in order to encourage them.
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Re: Random hooks thread

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The Squid Man Autopsy

The "Squid Man" is the name given to the corpse of an illithid found near a farm in Mordent. The farmers who found it have since then disappeared under mysterious circumstances. And to further complicate matters, various groups of individuals are interested in the corpse, which now seems to have been stolen from the home of a local scholar who had taken possession of it.

Following the theft, an "autopsy" report surfaced suggesting that whomever took the body has dissected it and probed those mysteries it might contain. This said, some are not convinced and feel the document is but a fake designed to discourage scientists and scholars from hunting down the thieves.

Among those interested in recovering the corpse is a group of illithids who would rather keep as much of their nature a secret to humanity.

Of course, there are those who feel the whole thing was either a hoax or a case of a simple, easily explained story taking on ridiculous proportions as various misunderstandings and mistranslations accumulated.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

The Ghostly Doll Maker

Somewhere in rural Borca lives a reclusive doll maker whose work has become highly sought after by the more affluent citizens of the nearby cities. Whether made of fine porcelain or carefully sown fabric, the dolls she makes have become quite the sensation and people jealously compare their purchases.

While one would assume that the ruthless and rich would try to bully the artisan into some manner of exclusive contract, they are stopped by the various rumours that surround the reclusive woman. One of them being that angry customers pushed her too hard and forced her to flee her supposed native Invidia for Borca. The quality of her work is such that those Borcan citizens who do purchase the fabled dolls are quite gentle in their approach fearing that they may be blamed for her flight.

The dolls do have a mind of their own, though. As simple and even limited as they may be, the dolls tend to react to the overall mood of their new household such that a perceived "negative" atmosphere may lead to "accidents". Children are especially at risk of being the victims with results ranging from mere scratches and bruises to broken bones to permanent disfigurement.

While not quite doll golems, the dolls are close enough relatives having been borne out of both supernatural and emotional causes. Their maker is in fact a ghost who needs no sleep, nor food, and spends her time making dolls.

Her skill is such that she is served by a handful of adult sized doll servants who can easily pass for real life humans until one touches their "skin" and find out that it is not flesh at all. Such is her unnatural skill. These dolls gather raw material and handle transactions in silent fashion for the doll maker.

The ghost will not rest until her first doll returns to her, however said doll has no love for the woman who made it, in fact, the doll was her murderer.

In life, she was a wealthy woman who was told she could not conceive and thus channeled her sorrow and frustration into art taking the form of doll making. Her husband no longer wished to lay by her side at night, so she spent more and more time working on her dolls until one sleepless night brought forth her first satisfactory result.

The porcelain doll's beauty was such that tears of joy fell down her cheeks onto her nightgown. It was as if she had finally given birth after so many failures. She gave it a name and spent considerable time sharing her every thoughts with the doll, caring and loving it as if her very own child.

No wonder then that the Dark Powers gave a spark of life and intelligence to the doll, animating it with a hint of malice as they are known to do.

Some years later her husband fell ill and would succumb to this illness rather quickly, but by then their love had completely eroded to the point that she had no tears for a man who had become as a stranger to her. She took to meeting with a local suitor shortly after her husband's death, somewhat to the doll's dismay, but it had yet to develop a fully formed mind able to truly express and understand the jealousy it felt.

The man was far more interested in her than her husband and her time spent with the doll did seem to decrease. Yet he was quite fascinated by the doll himself and fancied adopting it as one would a child, that is until news hit that his new wife was pregnant.

It seems as if it was not her but her husband who could not conceive, but to protect his reputation he had laid the blame on her. Still unsure, she saw the pregnancy as nothing short of a miracle, but the doll was not so keen on sharing its "mother's" attention let alone be reduced to a mere toy.

The Dark Powers heard the doll's lament and gave it the ability to be independant and left it to follow its own destiny. As one would expect, the now fully ambulent doll wasted no time in using its newfound abilities to ensure a favourable outcome; nothing was more important that securing an outcome that would better suit its own interests.

The shock of the doll's new "life" and its actions drove the woman to the brink of insanity which the doll decided was a sign that the woman was unfit as a mother and violently dispatched her. Alas, the emotional distress caused the woman to return from the grave as a corporeal ghost with a single minded pursuit.

Now it wanders the land inserting itself into homes where it either corrupts children or kills them, depending on how apt they are at following its ill advice. It suffers from embarassing periods of dormancy in which it completely loses consciousness and finds itself in dire straits.

Finding the doll and forcefully bringing it back to its maker would likely cause both to cease existing, putting the ghost to rest and sucking the life out of the doll.

The ghostly woman is unaware of her original doll's continued existence and tries by all means to forget about it. Even in undeath she suffers from various self imposed mental blocks and breaking these down would likely result in unpredictable behaviour on her part.

Were the original doll to find its way into a household where one of its maker's newer creations lives, it would quite probably recognize her work and be both angry and puzzled. It is in no way aware of its maker's return from the grave and the very thought of its maker still creating dolls would likely enrage it. It would certainly try to destroy the other doll but how successful it would be in such an endeavour remains to be seen. Certainly it would try to find others such as these and perhaps even face its maker if it could somehow come to her, unknowingly causing its own demise.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

My beautiful thread, how could they? How could they leave you to rot on the SECOND page?

I shall have to rectify this situation immediately!

The Two Eugénie

Port-à-Lucine is home to two Eugénie. One, a madam whose clientele tend toward the upper end of the middle class and those with a foot firmly planted within the noble aristocracy. The other, a growing force within the underworld who heads an increasing large group of ladies of the night.

Eugénie, the madam, is actually an erinyes who attempted to escape the never ending blood war by accepting the summon of Eugénie's former mortal self. Or perhaps it would be better to say that Eugénie is the resulting persona of the erinyes as merged with the mortal woman's mind and body following an imperfect overtaking.

While certainly not the most powerful or influential person within Dementlieu, she does come across quite a few secrets and has dabbled in the world of politics from time to time when the need arises.

However, she has competition in the form of the lowly street walkers whose prices and eagerness to accept the most degrading and dangerous of practices have made them a rather popular substitute. Some might attribute this sudden shift in attitudes to the desperateness of the said ladies, however the truth is that they are being unconsciously nudged by their pseudo leader, the other Eugénie.

She came to Port-à-Lucine with little more than the clothes on her back and a smile yet in a few months she somehow became quite notorious within the loose bands of street walkers who tend to the needs of lonely sailors and the less fortunate or simply desperate men. There is something about her, about the way she speaks, the way she smiles... if only they knew that she is in fact a succubus who feeds on human depravity and lust.

The women seem to lose their worries and find a long lost love of life when in her company and thus she became a central figure in their ranks, although of course none would suspect the true unearthly nature of their friend and would-be leader.

The erinyes wishes to cull the number of "independent" ladies and is actively seeking the reason for their recent change in attitude.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Rogold Gildenman »

Keep up the good work all you fine contributors! :D
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Nemesio »

Nice thread! I'll have to take a closer look. :)
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zettaijin »

Thank you for the praises, guys.

Now, once again I ask my humble readers to step in and suggest a place, creature, or NPC around which a new hook shall be created.

Pick your poison, as they say.

For example, I was handed the living tattoo and wights in the past, but I also covered the sheet phantom/ghoul, the neo-otyugh, the grell and probably a few other fairly unloved creatures.
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Re: Random hooks thread

Post by Zilfer »

You could try for spring heeled jack for example. xD
There's always something to lose.

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