I need a neck-breaking twist

[NOhara24]

Dax. You've provided the party guides from this forum before. At the very least I know that you're aware of this place. I ask that you do not read the below to avoid spoilers.

Hello Playground,

Let me tell you what I'm thinking and then I want to see if there's a way that we can "juke" my players even harder in a way that isn't just silly.

My Crusader has a very standard hero-with-amnesia backstory. However, this has allowed me to work with him and take some liberties and throw in a couple twists that have really reeled him into his own backstory (he's by far my strongest roleplayer.)

The situation he finds himself in: Not so long ago, campaign time, he learned that he had a family prior to his head injury that wiped his memory. It's been 14 years since he's last seen them and now that he's aware of them, he's been relentless in his search as he should be.

He's received some information that his who he suspects to be Wife is being held in a settlement as some sort of exhibit in a freak show. However, the antagonist for the settlement is known as the Wizard of Truth and Lies, and the party has knowledge of this.

When I ended the session last time, the sheet on the cage that was concealing the exhibit was in process of being pulled off. What should be in the cage? (I've thought about putting his daughter in the cage instead, but I've already got something planned for his daughter's reveal.)

My original idea:

Re-unite my Crusader with his wife and have him go through the motions with her until the end of this kingdom, but when they confront the Orange Wizard have her "poof" away and reveal that she was just an avatar of sorts created by the Wizard to lure the party in.

My second idea:

The cage is empty. The Wizard knew the party was coming (there is lore in place that would support this) and it's an ambush. The orange wizard flees for another location while the party is tied up.

My Third idea:

The Wizard himself is in the cage. It's an ambush. As much of a shock as this would be, which is good, my party is very good at not letting their bounties escape and I'd hate to have him teleport away or some BS that would be frustrating to the party.

What does everyone think? I'd really like for this to be a shocker but I'm having trouble thinking of something that wouldn't be a let-down or hasn't been done before.

[TheYell]

His wife is in the cage...but it's an ambush. She's a witch and she's married to the Wizard of Truth and Lies now.

[Dezea]

The sheets drops and "Poof", it's the crusader in the cage. Your player is not really the original crusader, but the clone who has been made by the Wizard, wich explain why his memory is lacking. The player must now choose if he want to help the original crusader reunite with his family, or kill him and steal his family.

(Yeah, I'm all for Huge moral dilemna, but check before applying such treatment that your player are OK with that level of wierdness)

[Keltest]

You take the cover off the cage... and its full of mice. The wizard (claims to have) polymorphed the wife and an unknown number of other people into small animals and stuck them in a cage filled with regular small animals. And he wont tell you which one is the wife.

[Douche]

his wife has been true polymorphed into a... like... a spooky monster!

[Geddy2112]

In the cage is an old friend/accomplice of his that he worked with before his memory wipe. The accomplice restores his memory, or the parts of it where he is party/entirely responsible for his family disappearing or did something super horrible.

The sheets drops and "Poof", it's the crusader in the cage. Your player is not really the original crusader, but the clone who has been made by the Wizard, wich explain why his memory is lacking. The player must now choose if he want to help the original crusader reunite with his family, or kill him and steal his family.

(Yeah, I'm all for Huge moral dilemna, but check before applying such treatment that your player are OK with that level of wierdness)

I second the clone idea too.

[zlefin]

his wife, isn't of the race you'd expect, maybe even of a monster race.

[NOhara24]

The sheets drops and "Poof", it's the crusader in the cage. Your player is not really the original crusader, but the clone who has been made by the Wizard, wich explain why his memory is lacking. The player must now choose if he want to help the original crusader reunite with his family, or kill him and steal his family.

(Yeah, I'm all for Huge moral dilemna, but check before applying such treatment that your player are OK with that level of wierdness)

Holy crap this is so good! Truly next-level!

I'll be blunt though. This is my Crusader's first campaign (and first character...) so I fear that "invalidating" him and making him a clone wouldn't bode well.

But please, more like this!

[NOhara24]

His wife is in the cage...but it's an ambush. She's a witch and she's married to the Wizard of Truth and Lies now.

This seems like a choice that would lead to the most possible heavy RP options. The timeline would be a little strange, I'll have to write stuff down and see if it works from a logistical standpoint but if it works, I do like it.

[Rakoa]

The Crusader goes and defeats the Wizard, frees his wife, and they live happily ever after. Except the Wizard he defeated wasn't THE wizard. The woman is, and all the information they received about both the wife and the Wizard was a way for her to get in his good books and use him to accomplish somethin she needs done, like slaying a powerful enemy or something.

How he figures this out, or if he does at all, is probably up to him and you. But you can definitely have some fun with it.

[ATHATH]

The Wizard is the wife.

[Beastrolami]

It's the wife in the cage, pleading with the crusader not to hurt the wizard as he's a member of the family. "son, brother, brother in law, etc.)

[ElChad]

Owlbear under a near flawless illusion to look like his wife. The awkward moment where he goes in for a kiss, then gets mauled by an Owlbear.

[Dezea]

Owlbear under a near flawless illusion to look like his wife. The awkward moment where he goes in for a kiss, then gets mauled by an Owlbear.

This.

It's D&D, If you are looking for an answer, just put an Owlbear instead. (With bonus point for romancing it, in this case)

[Zale]

The Wizard himself is in the cage. It's an ambush. As much of a shock as this would be, which is good, my party is very good at not letting their bounties escape and I'd hate to have him teleport away or some BS that would be frustrating to the party.

What does everyone think? I'd really like for this to be a shocker but I'm having trouble thinking of something that wouldn't be a let-down or hasn't been done before.

The Wizard is the wife.

I honestly thought that third suggestion was heading in this direction- that this wizard had really been his wife the whole time, plotting a revenge scheme because of some deeply personal problem between them. Maybe a child who died because of his actions or something.

I also like the idea of her having been some kind of evil humanoid monster the whole time- a Medusa or a Giantess maybe. She's evil, but she still loves and cares about him. That offers some potentially interesting conflicts where she wants to pursue an evil means of helping- especially if the Crusader is good.

[Segev]

It's his wife, who wonders why he's wrecking the show by removing the cloth early. She's a willing participant in the act, and the orange wizard uses polymorph to make her into the freak-of-the-week. The twist is, she keeps addressing him as if he IS the wizard and her husband.

See, she never knew he was missing. She and the wizard do know that she found her husband waking up with amnesia 14 years ago, and she's tried to help him by filling in blanks for him.

And, indeed, the Crusader and the Wizard look...identical, except for perhaps some muscular definition and fashion choices.

[Anxe]

The wife also has amnesia and screams like Mary from It's a Wonderful Life when the Crusader calls her his wife.

Alternate that I've used: The wife and the crusader both think they were married, but the Wizard actually altered their memories to make them believe this. Subtle differences in their memories reveal that they were implanted. They were in fact never married and the daughter has a different father that the "wife" has forgotten about due to the Wizard's magic. The Wizard did this because he's a cruel son of a Balrog.

[Mutazoia]

Option 1) Inside the cage is a very elegantly crafted mirror. The mirror has the trapped soul of his wife inside...her ghostly image (as she appeared 14 years ago) can be seen in the glass. She can talk and interact verbally with people outside the mirror, but that is all. She has no idea what happened to her body... Which is now being happily enjoyed by the last person to be trapped in the mirror after swapping places with the wife. Where is her body...can they get it back and get her back into it?

Option 2) Inside the cage is a flesh golem that is made from the wife...well parts of her....like her head....

Option 3) Inside the cage is a doppleganger that has taken the form of the wife. (The show involves the doppleganger taking the form of various people the audience knows, and then acting in a way that humilates and degrades said person...who wouldn't pay to see their boss humiliate themselves?) It's not too happy being the freak in a freak show, so it pretends to be the real wife to get the PC to "rescue" it.

[GungHo]

Rick Astley is in the cage. In the commotion, his wife brains him from behind with a frying pan, as she did previously (which led to his amnesia). He gets amnesia again and restarts at 1st level.

[Celestia]

My first vote would definitely be the clone route, except don't immediately say which is the original. Leave it hanging in the air. Maybe the player is a clone. Maybe the guy in the cage is a clone. Who knows? This also allows you the option to decide later who the clone is. If the player feels like being a clone "invalidates" his character, then have him find out that he is the real one. It would completely deflate the tension and tragedy, of course, but never sacrifice the enjoyment of the players for the sake of the story.

If you still don't want to do that, then I would go with the wife in love with the wizard route. Perhaps it even goes all the way back, and she was having an affair with him while married to the player. Perhaps she was the one who gave the player his amnesia so that she'd be free to be with the wizard. It wouldn't have the identity crisis of the clone option, but there'd still be drama abound.

I would not go the monstrous wife route. That serves no purpose other than simple shock value and could come off as you intentionally screwing with the player.

[Vogie]

My first vote would definitely be the clone route, except don't immediately say which is the original. Leave it hanging in the air. Maybe the player is a clone. Maybe the guy in the cage is a clone. Who knows? This also allows you the option to decide later who the clone is. If the player feels like being a clone "invalidates" his character, then have him find out that he is the real one. It would completely deflate the tension and tragedy, of course, but never sacrifice the enjoyment of the players for the sake of the story.

I like this. Make both the PC crusader and the caged crusader both think they're the original, and the other is a clone.


I also like the idea that the Wizard of Truth and Lies is also whom the crusader is his wife all along. Both Crusaders think that the Wizard is their respective wife. In reality... who knows?

[N810]

Pulls aside the sheet covering the cage to reveal....

Spoiler: suspense

Show

Toad, who states that your princes (wife) is in another castle.

[Anxe]

Pulls aside the sheet covering the cage to reveal....

Spoiler: suspense

Show

Toad, who states that your princes (wife) is in another castle.

Spoiler: Suspensful

Show

I use Smite Evil on the DM.

[N810]

Spoiler: Reward

Show

you find a warp pipe to lvl8

[TeChameleon]

...



The cloth comes down to reveal... the clone of/original crusader. Difference being, whichever one is the clone actually is the wife, polymorphed and mind-controlled to think that she's the crusader... and since she doesn't have amnesia, she actually knows the crusader's life better than he does.

Alternatively, the cloth comes down to reveal... the crusader's wife. All three of her.

All three women are identical, and all three of them are the wife according to every test available to the party, and all three genuinely believe themselves to be the original wife.

However, all three women are wearing explosive collars, and whichever one he picks as the 'real' wife will be the only survivor of that decision. Unbeknownst to him, at least at first, the other two 'wives' are a changeling couple who have a deep and abiding hatred for him, thanks to a past encounter with him (maybe he was responsible for the arrest/death of their [evil, adult] child, who died in prison/died fighting the crusader?), but who are very much devoted to and in love with one another.

If the crusader picks the wrong 'wife', then his actual wife will die. So will the lover of whichever changeling he picked. And the changeling will know it, because the spell forcing them to believe themselves to be the wife will break when their collar comes off (which it should do upon their being chosen as the 'real' wife).

[Mutazoia]

What's inside the cage?

Spoiler: You pull back the tarp to reveal.....

Show

[Beelzebubba]

He gets there, and she is obviously trapped and needs rescue, but is furious with him for showing up!

It turns out she's cursed to be trapped by that Wizard for one year after they lay eyes on each other, and he's cursed to keep searching her out - and one day after he sees her, and realizes the predicament, his memory of her gets wiped again, and he's compelled to leave. All he remembers is a heartbreaking sense of loss and loneliness. Rinse, repeat. It's been going on for 6 years now.

She has tried recruiting people and situations to distract him, keep him from coming back, whatever. Just long enough for the curse to abate. (She's pretty capable in her own right, like how a crime lord can run his business from prison.) But he's broken it every time.

The Wizard, who definitely had a Snape thing going for her, completely snapped and put the curse on them with an artifact. The Wizard enjoys seeing that character ping-pong around life, never resting, never laying down roots - always compelled to go away, then come back, feeling the loneliness the Wizard always felt.

The party has to steal the artifact, find out how to destroy it, while avoiding a Wizard who is very powerful and resourceful and sending ALL sorts of grief their way.

[N810]

Spoiler: Evil DM

Show

pulls aside the sheet to reveal.....





A Gorgon!

... Everybody roll construction saves with disadvantage

[Largo833]

One option that I'd find fun to RP, assuming the player would be okay with it and it doesn't conflict with what he's already established of his backstory-

Inside the cage is his wife, perfectly safe and happy to be released. They successfully escape with her, and at first it seems like all is well, but over time his wife's behavior and actions after her release make it clear that she's evil. Any subsequent investigation establishes that she hasn't been brainwashed, isn't being coerced, or anything of the sort. If the Crusader openly calls her out on it, she becomes surprised that he thinks it's weird because she's always been that way. It could create some interesting RP opportunities for the Crusader, calling into question what kind of person he was before he got amnesia and maybe even make him re-think whether he still wants to regain his memory.

[daniel_ream]

clone

I feel the need to point out that this didn't go over well when Marvel tried it.