Sandy's Soapbox
Intro
It was the night before that big holiday and you're stuck in ______________________ [suggestions: Skyrim, Gotham, Arkham, Cat Island]. You and your fellow travelers, who _____ [do/do not] know each other already, are waiting in the mass transit station to catch the last ______________________ [skyship, train, zeppelin, cruise ship] out of town.Around you are a dozen tourists and outsiders, clusters in pairs and trios and chatting in their own little worlds. There's a half-dozen down-on-their-luck sorts, who you figure are probably spending the holiday there in the station, with no place else to go. And there's the ______________ [pixie, orphan, runaway, half-breed] waif who has been staring at your group for the past half-hour.
You ordinarily wouldn't give her a second thought, except that you just saw the security guard walk through her without noticing. Yes, I mean 'walked through her', as if she were a ghost. Yet she seems completely real to you.
She finally seems to decide something, and walks up to your group. "Someone has stolen the great spirit, and I need your help freeing _________ [him/her]. Otherwise, tomorrow will never come."
Can you and your team save [Festival Day, Christmas, Earth, Another Fine Day in Paradise]?
GM Notes
The waif is a ghost messenger for the regional personification of the approaching holiday. Each holiday has a personification, which acts as a 'good will' sharer made up of the collective will of all who believe in the holiday. If no one believes, the personification will disappear and the holiday will stop being celebrated. But as long as the personification exists, the holiday will continue.
Usually, this just means once people forget, the holiday disappears (like, oh, Ivanje.) However, an evil villain has decided to reverse the process. By using arcane means to remove the personification, they'll wipe the world's memory of the holiday!
Scenario Stages
1)So It Begins Talking with the girl, accepting the mission, getting an idea of WHO captured the spirit and WHERE to go.
Who: _____________________ [The Prime Necromancer, Felix Faust's Forgotten Apprentice, The High Prestess of Hastur, The Chairman of Bank of America]
Where: Antipodal to your current location (i.e. directly on the opposite side of the world). As this often results in 'ocean' or 'south seas island', though you could substitute Australia in a pinch.
2) Travel! Now you have to get there quickly, so you'll need some mystical or super-science means. Let the players brainstorm, dismiss one or two of their ideas with a 'not available right now', and hopefully they'll converge on the wackiest one, which you then say is 'just what I was hoping you'd choose' to pretend that you've worked it out this far in advanced.
3) Conflict! Whatever means of travel they've chosen, 2 agents of the opposition are using the same method and meet you halfway to battle. Run a combat scene, favoring the players, but hopefully their transport will be damaged.
4a) Damaged? If indeed their transport was damaged, they fall into the ocean and encouter the sentient sharks of Shark City, who will help them only if they can defeat their Champion in one-on-one underwater combat. Because, hey, what holiday is complete without sharks? (GM Note: the sharks will help even if the players fail, as long as they fight well. Let the dead player return as a ghost, with the note 'you will continue to exist only until sunrise.' Ah, pathos.)
4b) Intact? If the characters totally dominated in the mid-travel fight, good for them! They get to loot the Secret Star-Shaped Key from their fallen opponents.
5) At the Lair. Yes, the characters arrive at the lair. Just make it a castle, because that's easy.
LEGO BREAK! Build the enemy castle with legos, clay, or by stacking paperback books. Hunt up some miniatures or pieces to represent the players.
6) The Entrance. There is an unguarded door with an enormous star-shaped lock. If they happen to have a Secret Star-Shaped Key, they can go in. Otherwise, they must come up with another plan (picking the lock, breaking the wall, climbing over, knocking, et cetera).
7) The Foyer. Upon entrance, they discover two sorcerors standing guard, coincidentally named Rosentrance and Guildenstorm. Rosentrance uses sleep magic, Guidenstorm uses lightning. The players must first try to convince they two that they really are supposed to be there. If they fail at this social persuasion attempt, combat will ensue.
8) The Hall. This long hallway has five suits of armor lined up on either side. Anyone with half a sense of mystical tropes knows the armor will come to life once they're most of the way across. Don't disappoint them. Have a battle.
9) The Throneroom. Entering this brightly lit place, you see a large throne with the main enemy sitting upon it. At ____ [his/her] feet, in chains, is the trapped spirit. The enemy says "stop now, or I shall slay this spirit and totally ruin the holidays for everyone."
Now it's up to you and the players to resolve this. Will it be combat? Will the players talk down the enemy-- who, as is traditional for holiday fare, only did this because the holidays always sucked for them? Or will they come up with something clever?
10a) It Went Badly. If for some reason the enemy wins or the spirit was slain, err, whoops? Their spirit-waif guide will go all mystical and explain that, as the spirit was slain, one of the party must take its place, forsaking all mortal life and pleasure such that the holiday will go on. Go for all the sacrifice and angst you can get. Happy Holidays!
10b) It Went Well. If the enemy is captured or convinced to let the spirit go free, rejoice! Heck, throw a party! After all, it's the holidays!
Happy holidays,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net, freelance
