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My players, woe betide them, are wandering into the territory of the Unseelie Fey. I want to make sure that they are properly paranoid. What are some ways the Fey can try to entrap or deceive them? What are some good stories to read for inspiration/material?
It depends upon what you want from your Fey ?
Is Alice your cup of tea ?
Murderjacks, or anything else with a Slender-men kind of feel to it works well.
Other things that might work could be a forest where the trees move (silently) when the party rests to form a new forest. Or maybe the forest creates the illusion of the trees moving?
I don't have much experience with Fey yet, but I'm about to throw some things at them to make them paranoid
After a night's long rest, the party meets a mirror image of one of the members. This clone openly states he is a copy, and follows around while helping and cracking jokes. See how long it takes for them to kill "themselves" unprovoked.
If you are willing to make the cencession to plot, mess with time. Make a hundred years pass after they take a short nap in the woods.
Just some ideas:
The first thing that pops into my mind is an Unseelie Fey convincing or controlling animals into attacking the group. I can easily see an Unseelie Dyrad siccing a pack of wolves on a group for giggles, or because they are enroaching on her teritory.
A grig lures a player high into a tree, then uses it's fiddle to cause them to fall due to the Irresistable Dance.
A pre-weakend board breaks in a bridge mid-crossing, plunging a player into the waiting grasp of a Glastig.
A Pixie uses its Lesser Confusion on a player when the group is trying to sneak past the cave of a large, angry bear.
A Nymph lives in a pool know for its beautiful water lilies tries to lure in the young men who visit it to find a flower for their lover, purposfully blinding them so that she can drown them and fertilize her lilies.
Three Satyrs get their entertainment by using the leaders pipes to cause fear in travellers, then chase and headbut them, stealing and occasionally kidnapping if they can, before running off.
Joystealers shadow the party, using their incorpreality, DR and Fly speed to avoid harm. They try to creep out the party and throw them off whenever they can. If they see an opprotunity, they will also go for a few points of Charisma drain. Lets see your players want to sleep when one of these can float through their tent wall at any time.
At night Red Caps bombard the players camp with slings and run around slicing at their stuff. Come morning the players are unharmed, but their camp is ruined, littered with rocks and covered in iron bootprints.
The one thing to keep in mind is that normal fey pranks and tricks can be malicious because they don't really understand the consequeneces, or are apathetic as long as they get their way. Unseelie are apathetic about it at best. Most know exactly what they are doing, and just don't care about the victim, and the worst ones do it because it causes suffering.
This is my favourite thing, and I will be squirreling it away for future use :smallbiggrin:Quote:
Originally Posted by falloutimperial
What about having them "gift" a semi-significant NPC in their "Care" a pair of shoes. These shoes turn red-hot and force the wearer to dance and dance until his feet are worn down to bleeding stumps. Describe this in graphic detail.
First: these are the fey, they're all about rules and crazy head games. Offer the players food- they're in the fey's realm, and cannot leave if they partake of the food of faerie. Offer them gifts, be it riches or favors or trinkets- reciprocity is expected and demanded. You can't back out of such a transaction, and god help you if you renege. Don't lie. Never lie. Just don't ever give the full truth. What is truth in the grand scheme of things, really? If they do deal with them, demand things that only seem inconsequential- your sense of smell isn't that important, is it? You only need to kill one teeny creature to get what you want, is that so bad? It will come back to haunt them. Never offend them- they have long memories and cruel temperaments. They can and will wait, and they will be merciless and cruel. Never dance with them, late into the night- you never know when the dance will end. Some may come to you in the night, terrible in form and temper. Others will come, beautiful and haunting, irresistible in their charm. They will seem kind, but underneath the facade they are above all cruel and inhuman- you are but a tool at best, a passing amusement at worst. They will do unspeakable things, but you will not mind- not while they're watching. You could never want to disappoint them- that would be terrible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Urpriest
Second: books. The Dresden Files represent fairies well. So do Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside by Holly Black.
Paranoia from fey isn't based on cheap horror tricks- sure they can do that, but that's not why you should fear them. They're social creatures, and any interaction you have can enmesh you deeper into their machinations. They are cruel, inhuman, and don't give a damn about you. They will commit unspeakable acts to you because they thought it was funny at the time. They will try to entrap you to further their own goals or to while away the hours. They are monstrous and terrible and beautiful, and they will take away everything you love and care for while acting as a friend all the while. To us, the fey are twisted and they revel in it. This is what makes them terrible- that anything you do with them may draw you deeper into their schemes and madness, and that one day you may realize that you can never escape.
See, it's the social aspect I was aiming for. What sorts of bargains should the Fey offer? I like the suggestions for prices: senses, small acts of evil. What should the Fey offer in return?
The reciprocity idea is a nice one. I feel like the party will be quite wary of accepting gifts, especially food. Is there a good way to highlight what would have happened had they accepted, to make them feel more of a rush when they refuse gifts?
For those suggesting mechanical ideas, this is actually for 4e, but I'm mostly focused here on bargains and tricks outside the scope of the rules, and not simply ways the fey can harass the PCs as combatants.
As players, have you ever made a deal with the Fey, in one game or another? What were the consequences?
Bolded are points 1 and 2.Quote:
Originally Posted by Urpriest
1: First, make it so the players aren't metagaming, if the characters have no reason to fear the fey, have them accept food just like if a commoner or other adventuring party offered, yes, it may result in a TPK, but that is the fey. And it leads to trying to release to person from say, an eternity of dancing. You could also give them a NPC whos job is just to accept the first offer while the PC's don't in order for the group to see the possible consiquences.
Speaking of the effects of seeing what happens if they would have accepted, I remember an excerpt from something, heres a rough qoute, embelished at the end.
However, if they keep refusing, have the fey become slowly hostile, until they eject the players from their realm.Quote:
They lured me to the dance, sweet smeels tantilised my nose and satyrs music of the sweetest of kind lingered in my ears. A buety without compare smiled at me and waved a hand at me in a universal come hither motion.
"Come Dance With Me."
With a great test will, I refused.
Her face turned mournful, then turned as she kept dancing.
Then I saw it.
The music turned sour, a dirge at high speed, the buety was just a head atop of rotting bones, the dancers where jerky, dripping with sweat.
I could swear I heard one say.
"Help me."
Those with high will saves and enchantment resistance will obviously fare much better.
2: Consequences, make them up, your the DM and as said, it is definately out of the scope of the rules and thy have their own realm, the fey are supposed to be hugely powerful, but have some weird things that stop them dead, like counting grains of sugar 1 by 1. While I don't know the 4e rules, things like wish and geas are entirely within the scope of their powers with their promises. However, one must note that things have a different value to the fey, a twig or acorn could be worth their equivilant of millions, but a pile of gold is just a useless pile of junk.
A trip to the fey realm should only be MARGINALY more suvivable than one to the far realm. There is a reason druids worship nature, not the fey, they simply co-exist with them.
---
Edit: Also, in regards to what sort of deals, there are fey warlocks. Perhaps if they impress one....
As for why they would be wary, in this case they are forewarned. They've got characters in their party with at least vague understanding of the consequences of interacting with Fey, and their bosses are concerned and knowledgeable enough to warn them thoroughly. They still might be tempted to do something, of course, and I'd love to have particularly dark consequences if they do.
I do like the idea of having an illusory reveal, something beautiful that turns sour and vicious. Beyond dancing forever, aging/sleeping/otherwise losing large chunks of time, what are some other things that can happen to people tricked by the Fey? Beyond beauty, what do the Fey offer to sweeten the deal?
They offer anything they can guess you want. Answers they dole out in whispers as you walk slowly further into a marsh, roads that take you a thousand miles in two days and two nights where those who linger or lose their way will wander forever. Their most potent traps are those you can see but chose to walk into.
I once played in a fey-heavy campaign. At one point we were hired by a an unseelie noble to murder his half-fey son. We didn't want to kill some random guy so but we also didn't want to flat out say no having dealt with his type in the past. We politely asked if he had any other job for us. He said it was either murder his son, be his servant for 100 and a half years, or he would kill the prettiest member of our party. We understood that if we didnt accept one of his offers we would all die. We accepted the first offer after being assured that our payment would be fair. We did the deed. Turned out his son was a changeling (mythological sort) and was left as the child of a king. We were now the most wanted criminals in a powerful nation. We returned to our hometown to stock up on supplies before collecting our reward. This is whe we found out one of the PCs son had been killed. Fair payment indeed.
It was a very fun campaign, we quickly learned the only way to survive dealings with the fey was to pit them against one another rather than us. Also never say the words "thank you" because fey see that as the ultimate form of ingratitude, you show thanks with favors not words. Oh and don't tell them your name, that's how I got mine stolen. Nobody could remember what to call me and I had no recollection of my own, in the end I traded the color of my eyes to get it back...
Like I said: fun campaign
Have you ever read the 3.5/PF module Carnival of Tears? It's effectively a primer on how the Unseelie can kill people for laughs. Notables include polymorphing, spiking drinks with potions to induce permanent Tree Shape, putting so much glamour on someone they don't notice being slowly killed by a torture device, being frozen in ice, having people equally glamoured so they don't realize they're killing the people mentioned above when doing various activities, giving people rewards that cause curses (stench, unluck, weird appearance quirks), and imprisoning loved one's souls in crystals for no real reason.
And that's when NOT in their realm. I bring it up because you asked about consequences for trusting them, but once you get into their realm GeoStationary gives a pretty good summary.
Other things I've come across in books and such include that they can give out a ridiculously harsh punishment merely for implying something insulting or a small infringement of manners. Names are important; don't give them your name. Plus, never accept a gift. If it's a trick, sad for you, but if it isn't, and they did not specifically say they want nothing in return, you just got a minor item in exchange for an unspecified time of servitude. As mentioned, never accept food or drink. (Cold) iron hurts them, but you may not be able to bring it. If there is a path, it is actually often trustworthy, and straying from it will invariably endanger your lives, but they will attempt to convince you otherwise.
The important thing is to emphasize the need for control and finesse and the sheer presence of the beings. Unseelie are powerful enemies, but can't be handled by waving a sword, even a CI one. Moreover, they are malicious, yes, but they aren't evil the way a devil or demon is. They'd kill you because they hate Goodness or want your soul. A Fey will kill you because it'll get them a cheap laugh.
Anything, really. It's what they do- you have a wish, a hope, a wicked deed, and they'll do it so long as the price is right. The key with their bargains is that they always come on top and take more from you than you thought. You get screwed over somehow, but you only see this after the fact (or sometimes with full knowledge of it, because they wanted to see you squirm). Senses, colors, and metaphorical things are always good to use because you often don't value such things, even though they may have an unseen significance to you or the fey. Vague favors or nebulous deeds are also good. Illusory reveals are fun as well, as suggested above- fey are known for their love of glamours. The person above talking about names is also on the right track, as names are very important with the fey; to quote an unrelated book, "A named thing is a tame thing".Quote:
Originally Posted by Urpriest
Show them the victims. People have come before, and will continue to wander in hence. They're pets at best, the toys that they play with until they break, and even then. They can do good things to them, they can do bad, they can do all the above and more- just show that people who underestimate or get on the bad side of the fey don't end up well.Quote:
The reciprocity idea is a nice one. I feel like the party will be quite wary of accepting gifts, especially food. Is there a good way to highlight what would have happened had they accepted, to make them feel more of a rush when they refuse gifts?
I dont think you should FORCE them to do anything, espessially accept gifts. By force i mean the notion of a fey just jumping out of the bush and making a pc dance to death, or a Fey going psycho killer for them not accepting a gift.
Fey (and fey like creatures in any fantasy and sci-fi show) capitalize on misfortune, even if they have to instigate it themselves. Rumplestilsken didnt create the situation, he just profited off of it.
Further more fey have their own agendas and psychosis.
Say you have the party traveling through the forest. to not force them into a situation where they have to be devoid of all their gear (cus that always sucks) just take inventory of all their adventuring gear.
The situation starts with them talking to the various fey. avoiding psychotic parties where the guests wherent allowed to leave and are either dead or to obese to move. Deal with fey that seem insane.Affibly evil. And predatory.
They go on their way politely refusing the aid of the fey.
But then have to start calling in small favors. A chasm is to far? One PC trades in his ability to rhyme for some more rope. Another trades knowledge of his second name for brandy. a 3rd trades in a single unknown memory for some shoe laces.
As greater and greater challenges go there are many ways to make it easier, for the right price. You can imagine a life save would end up with a great price. such as "I will save your life, But starting tomorrow at any moment I will be granted the right to stab you or one of your companions once and only once"
Once the party gets stuck with heavy depts they start meeting allies. These are other unseelie fey who are enemies of the previous ones. You might have a lowly goblins who wants revenge on Mab, so agrees to grant you a great Fey-slayer in return for a lowly piece of string.
So with the help of their opportune deals they gain the power to black-mail, withstand, or break their previous contracts.
I'm reminded of the story of....The Green Knight i think it was called where he agreed to be struck int he head first and he survived cus he wasnt mortal. So if a PC got the chance to be dead for a day, he couldnt die and thus would be able to survive an otherwise lethal price.
This isn't quite what you're looking for, but be sure to make liberal use of the template's seasonal powers from Dragon Comp. I once had the group face a "sentai group" of 4 Unseelie fey all with a different season, man they almost got TPKed. That La +0 is a bitch.
I second the vote for reading the Dresden Files to gain inspiration, but if you need the shortcut here it is:
The Fey (all of them) are old, cunning, intelligent and never lie but never give a straight answer as well. they offer bargains to ensnare unwary people. they ofer things like knowledge, power, riches, food, carnal knowledge, what have you. Remember Wish in 3.5? With the fact that the DM should properly screw you over if you wouldn't ask for a standard wish and didn't word it carefully? That's what the fey do. the only difference between seelie and unseelie (and wyld fey) is the fact that the season they represent might influence what form you get your bargain in. Seelie are generally nicer and ensnare you with compliments and basically making you want them. the unseelie fey will make you miserable and make you need them. What do they want? they want your soul. But lesser bargains apply: a certain amount of memories, a sense, your firstborn, they aren't really picky as long as it can be used to screw you over or lure you in enough to completely win you over.
While they can not ever speak lies they can discuss probabilities and possible consequences. When a bargain is struck don't expect them to keep to the spirit of the bargain, but to the exact letter (including interpunction). A verbal contract is more then enough (they can't break it) and above all they WILL get what was promised to them.
the funny thing is, in DnD they are represented as being chaotic, but in mythology and the Dresden files (which IMO does a great job of describing) they out lawyer the forces of hell. they will absolutely keep to the letter of the law, not the intention, no matter what.
Also, here's something from the movie Forbidden Zone, which I stil maintain is one of the best/most unconventional modern tales of the Fae out there, that you could flat-out reuse in a different context.
When Squeezit goes to the Sixth Dimension to save Frenchie and his crossdressing brother Rene from the bitter and jealous Queen Doris, he gets captured by the Devil's minions and taken to his lair. The Devil, played by Danny Elfman (No, really), does an AWESOME song & dance number to the tune of "Minnie the Moocher" about how he's going to cut of Squeezit's head.
But when Squeezit tells him of his plight, he says that if Squeezit captures and brings him the topless Princess of the 6th Dimension (it makes slightly more sense in context). So Squeezit does so, and when he brings her to him, the Devil says that he'll keep his word (Which we find out later in the film, he actually does), but he'll also keep his word on cutting of Squeezit's head. Which he does.
While Squeezit does survive as a disembodied flying head on chicken wings, this scene adapted to your game would be perfect for illustrating the fickleness of the fae. Also, from my description of that scene, can you guyess why I love that movie so very much?
Hmm... Bookmarking this.
As for why they are listed as chotic, Fey are also supposed to be fickle, acting on a whim.
Don't ever lie to the fae, but don't ever give them full details. If asked where one is headed, say, "Ahead of me." If asked where one came from, say, "Behind me." :smalltongue:
And of course, as others have suggested, avoid telling them one's actual name. One of the reasons I'm so fond of titles and sobriquets. :smallbiggrin:
Set some landmarks in the domain, they don't have to be immediately obvious to the players, but should they make a counter-clockwise circuit relative to the landmark they end up discretely teleported to the area of another random landmark. They should only be able to notice if they make a good spot/perception check or if someone happened to have detect magic going at the time they completed the circuit.
Have sneaky fey swap out their rations for fey-created food. If the players fail to realize the change has been made and eat the unseelie court's food, they have to make will saves to attack the fey leader during any climactic confrontation: it's simply rude to attack your host after accepting their hospitality!
Woodcutters, hunters, trappers, and hermits from the surrounding woods get kidnapped and baleful polymorphed into rabbits and deer. The players might find that out too late if they go hunting to replace fey-swapped rations.
no, the fey may have misplaced your provisions and will try to offer you food. Then if you accept it you are in their debt. They can't just exchange it, that would be foul play. (anything not foul play, however, is fair game :smallamused:)Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyCancer