In all my years of DM-ing, I have never seen a group so screwed.

[Joethegoblin]

So

A few sessions ago the awesome group of adventurers set out to the mountain to rid Redmire Island of a curse that plagued the land.
Before leaving, the Ranger received a gift from Lady Three-Fingers, a voodoo priestess. It was a small trinket box, and Lady Three-Fingers said explicitly:
"You only open the box in dire emergency, only when all is seemingly, and when you do, close your eyes, you and your friends."

They went to the mountain, kicked everyone´s ass, beat the curse. And they didn´t need the box.

Six months pass, and now they were stationed at Redmoor, a settlement not to far away, built around peat farming. They were asked to stay the winter as the settlement gains its permanency. During winter, on a sunday, one of the locals, Julie approaches the rogue, Blaine, to the whereabouts of Victor the carpenter. This is roughly around midnight.
They go out to investigate. To make a long story short they find out that he was last seen at the theater (yes, evidently this tiny village had a peat farm, bar and a theater. According to the rogue he was setting up a major play for the villagers.). They manage to trace his steppes, where he stepped outside, seemingly fumbled around by his lonesome in the dirt, then beelined into the swamps.
So they decide in the dead of night, to go after him, without letting anyone know, or without proper provisions.
They wind up camping in the marsh, the weather is getting periodically worse, wake up the next morning, keep on walking even though they are not sure Victor the carpenter (who evidently is very important for the theater piece, as he was building the set) was heading that way.
They stumble into Grippli/Bullywug territory and get into a fight, which they get fairly well out of. Though after the Grippli spellcaster gets away, the weather begins to get gradually worse. The bad weather becomes a storm, the storm becomes a hurricane. They are surrounded by marshland which does not provide good cover. visibility gets worse by the minute. They tie themselves together with a rope so they won´t lose each other.
They get lost, they all begin suffering from frostbite and such. The Ranger is fumbling around attempting to find a shelter, thinks about the box.
The box Lady Three-Fingers gave to him.
Without thinking, he opens the box. He closes his eyes, does not alert the party.
Out of the box comes a swarm of hellish angry spirits that tear away at the fabric of reality, shattering all those oppose them.
Those who do not close their eyes, get inflicted by the seething eyebane spell. if you are not familiar with it, it is a corruption spell and makes eyes explode.
All of them fail their fortitude saves.
Well not the Ranger, as he closed his eyes.
But the spirits continue to roam around them, looking to fulfill their role before returning to the underrealm. Except the group that let them out of the box, which yes, did not close their eyes.
So the spirits ask "what do you want of me?"
The Ranger gets perplexed by the fact that someone is asking him a question, so against explicit instruction, he decides to open his eyes.
and he fails the saving throw and his eyes burst.
So basically, they are stuck in a snow storm, in the middle of nowhere. Some of them are already exhausted from the cold, no one knows where they are, they didn´t even tell anyone they were going away. blind as bats with no direction. And also, they are not near a road, or a trade route or anything.

[Pauly]

Sounds like either a TPK or a wandering quantum cleric are the only solutions.

[Knaight]

This sounds like a fun starting point to me. They're in a bad situation, they get to try and figure out a way out of it, and that whole process could be a lot of fun.

[Reversefigure4]

Lady Three-Fingers said explicitly:
"You only open the box in dire emergency, only when all is seemingly, and when you do, close your eyes, you and your friends."

I have to say, this set of instructions does not connote "Your eyes will explode unless they are shut, and you must keep them shut even after the box has been opened (and possibly forever, since no context is provided for what effect will happen or for how long)".

But then, very possibly she was trying to screw them over rather than help them?

[Celestia]

I have to say, this set of instructions does not connote "Your eyes will explode unless they are shut, and you must keep them shut even after the box has been opened (and possibly forever, since no context is provided for what effect will happen or for how long)".

But then, very possibly she was trying to screw them over rather than help them?

Eh, it would work for me. It had a very Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe to it, so I'm more surprised that it just explodes eyes rather than also melting faces.

[Erloas]

I would also have to agree that the warning and the results didn't really match. If that is on purpose or not...


If you're looking for a way to allow the party to survive, if as seems to be implied, the Grippli spell caster is the one making the storm get worse, having the spirit find and kill him might cause the weather to get a bit better.
A deus ex machina, but one you might be able to make seem a bit less so, is to have the voodoo priestess somehow get notified that the box was used and shows up/uses sending to see what is happening/collect the box. If that helps at all would depend a lot on how powerful she is, but given the power of the box I'm going to guess her having access to some ways of helping them isn't going to be totally out of line.

[Mordaedil]

Eh, it would work for me. It had a very Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe to it, so I'm more surprised that it just explodes eyes rather than also melting faces.

That is how I read it as well. I think that warning should have been plenty, but that's just me. Did the ranger state he opened his eyes or did you ask "do you open your eyes?"

Because if the latter, you probably didn't make your DM voice spooky enough.

[Erloas]

A 38 year old pop culture reference is not a good assumption for conveying an idea. I'm just slightly older than the movie and I didn't get it. Granted I'm not a movie buff by any stretch, so even a current movie reference would probably be lost on me.
Short of knowing your players really well that seems like a pretty big assumption to make.

[Mordaedil]

Clearly, you need to take your friends in a group, sit down and have a movie night where you all watch Monty Python, Star Wars and Indiana Jones just so everyones pop culture references are on point.

[Mystral]

The vodoo lady should propably have specifies that the box only works against combat threats and not against environmental hazards.

[Tanarii]

Eh, it would work for me. It had a very Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe to it, so I'm more surprised that it just explodes eyes rather than also melting faces.

That's what I thought too. Certainly what I would have expected to happen the second I got those instructions. I thought I could see where this was going right up until the Ranger's party didn't die with face melting screams.

Exploding eyeballs but leaving them alive seems kinda cruel in comparison.

[Glorthindel]

I am mildly amused by all the suggestions a spooky voodoo witch should have provided a detailed idiots guide (maybe with diagrams and a "how to" youtube video) for her apocalyptic weapon of mass destruction

Sounds like the party are screwed. Depending on the players dispositions, there is a number of possible solutions:

The obvious is it is TPK time. I as a player would be perfectly fine if this was me, the party dug their own grave, and deep.

If the players are accepting of heavy penalties for their faliure, but you want the campaign to be retrievable, you can have them all make a suitable test (constitution, nature, something like that), and the one who succeeds by the highest is the sole survivor who stumbles, half starved, and suffering some major psychosis, out of the marshes six months later (missing a certain percentage of his possessions), who can then corral some locals to go back with him to find the other party members bodies (with even higher percentage of possession loss), and then decide how many ressurections and regenerations they can afford with the remainder of their wealth.

If you and your players wouldn't find either of these solutions fun, then its time to deus ex machina a powerful outsider to their location. If the party has a warlock, his patron would be an obvious choice, if not, perhaps the Voodoo witch was a devil in disguise - it would explain why the effect was so powerful, and the instructions for the players protection so vague, so as to set them up for a more ruinous bargain. The Devil can offer them rescue, and restoration of their sight in return for some pretty heavy obligations.

[Elvensilver]

If they somehow manage to survive the exploding-eye-fairies, stumble through the swamp for some time without more mistakes of that magnitude and there having to do some survival/fortitude checks to avoid losing fingers/ears/noses to the cold, then they deserve another chance.
But just now, there where loud noises and some magical lights... And there is still a grippli magic user on the lose. This brave little bugger will sneak back, and only find a mess of a party that is whimpering/praying and huddled together to not freeze to dead. Now the mage can shine: He will take them all prisoners and cart them/ lead them back to his tribe. Here, the spellcaster will impress everygrippli by his awesome deeds of magic after having blinded an adventurer party. But he will also be interested in keeping them alive...and so the adventurers are saved, nursed back to health and somehow have to escape while blind from a dozen low-level gripplis...

[Quertus]

So, if your players / PCs are smart*, they'll make shelter, weather the storm**, then use Survival to orient themselves***, and head back out of the swamp, following the edge of the swamp to the village. A great fun game of being at a huge, self-imposed disadvantage.

Otherwise, yeah, have them be captured.

* Which they obviously aren't
** I suggest eating the Ranger
*** Warmth of the sun, which side of the trees the moss grows on, etc

[DeTess]

I'd not TPK because it seems to me that this problem is solely the fault of the ranger that opened the box without communicating. I'm all for punishing a really foolish party, but punishing the entire party for one player doing something really dumb without communicating feels excessive. This does depend a bit on the maturity level of the party though, and it might be a good idea to have a an OOC talk with them;

"You're properly screwed right now. Do you see a way out of this? I can envision a couple of solutions, but I can also watch your characters dying down here. What options and potential solutions are there from your point of view?"

[Thrawn4]

So the spirits ask "what do you want of me?"

"Lead us safely out ot the swamp and back to our village."

[Celestia]

A 38 year old pop culture reference is not a good assumption for conveying an idea. I'm just slightly older than the movie and I didn't get it. Granted I'm not a movie buff by any stretch, so even a current movie reference would probably be lost on me.
Short of knowing your players really well that seems like a pretty big assumption to make.

It's a sad day when Raiders is no longer considered a pop culture icon that everyone knows.

[Joethegoblin]

That is how I read it as well. I think that warning should have been plenty, but that's just me. Did the ranger state he opened his eyes or did you ask "do you open your eyes?"

Because if the latter, you probably didn't make your DM voice spooky enough.

He stated himself that he opened his eyes as soon as the spirit began talking to him.

[Lord Torath]

It's a sad day when Raiders is no longer considered a pop culture icon that everyone knows.

Makes me think of this xkcd: Unquote

[denthor]

I am a firm believer in if the party experts to find equipment better then what they have on dead adventures. Somebody had to die first. It could be your party.

[EldritchWeaver]

"Lead us safely out ot the swamp and back to our village."

Cue the eye-popping of the villagers.

[Telonius]

If you really want to avoid a TPK here (and this might just be a good learning experience for the players if you do), this is a terrific chance for Lady Three-Fingers (or at least one of her representatives) to reappear.

"Well, that did not go as well as I had hoped. You had been warned, adventurers. My gifts are not to be so cavalierly tossed around. But now you're in a bit of a bind. I can see that clearly, though you clearly can't. I can help you, but this time I will need something in return..."

[paddyfool]

Yeah, the entire party are now largely at the mercy of whoever you want to throw at them. Assuming you want them to survive the storm itself. Generally I'm in agreement with the ideas of the attention of someone or something powerful being drawn to them by the release of those spirits.

For added verisimilitude, bring blindfolds to the table for each player to your next session. Keep dice rolls to a minimum, and emphasise that they should roleplay whatever bargaining they may seek to do with whomsoever you throw at them. Whether you want it to be a devil, archon, modron, dragon, fae, godling, wizard, psion or whatever, consider carefully how clear you plan to make what just happened to the characters, and how much about who and what their "rescuer" / new employer / exploiter / frenemy is you wish them to be aware of.

[Thrawn4]

Cue the eye-popping of the villagers.

All I hear is "campaign continues with reasonable in-game repercussions".

[geppetto]

I'd say its a chance for the ranger to make up for foolishness and even shine a little.

Have him use survival checks to lead the party back to safety. But each time he fails a check some horrible fate befalls a PC, quicksand, open mine shaft, etc etc. Just make sure you dont call for enough checks to kill everyone if he rolls badly.

Then back at the village they get healed, go back out gather the bodies of the fallen and rez them. Probably putting themselves deeply in debt to some unwholesome NPC.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I have to say, this set of instructions does not connote "Your eyes will explode unless they are shut, and you must keep them shut even after the box has been opened (and possibly forever, since no context is provided for what effect will happen or for how long)".

But then, very possibly she was trying to screw them over rather than help them?

Eh, I'd say it fits. It's pretty common in legends and literature alike for such mystic warnings to not mention the consequences of ignoring them. Not mentioning that there are consequences for opening your eyes after opening the box is...unfortunate, but the rest makes perfect sense. Besides, the first myth anyone thinks of with such vague dire warnings is probably Orpheus, who was also screwed over for not realizing quite when the prohibition ended.

He stated himself that he opened his eyes as soon as the spirit began talking to him.

I probably would have said something like "You open your eyes?", or maybe "Are you sure?" if I thought the player needed a hint. Something to let the player firmly seal their own fate.



I'm going to second the notion that the ranger should be punished more than the other characters, and that the campaign should continue. I'm not sure how, but depending on how far the eye-popping spirits went, the local frog-people (and predators) probably won't be much of a threat. I'd probably let the players stumble around blindly for a while, then manage to find their way back to civilization and find a solution to the problem which happens to require a sacrifice which the ranger is most-equipped to make. (Said sacrifice and the nature of the resulting solution will depend heavily on what the ranger has and what the rest of the party lacks.)
If it's a big enough sacrifice, you might throw the party (and ranger) a bone by having the antagonists still be blinded. They expended the eye weapon and made another sacrifice, but it wasn't all for nothing.

[Quertus]

Don't forget that there is a saving throw - some of the locals will be a threat.

Also, I'm loving the idea of the village of the blind, with some of the NPCs able to see. Creating this sudden shift in the local power structure could be a second and third awesome consequences of this idiotic action (the first being the all blind PCs game).

[username1]

This actually sounds like an amazing opportunity. How I would run this assumes you have had been many sessions in.

So here’s what you do:
The session starts, and you run a survivalist based session. As they progress they have to be creative not to freeze. The storm could last for a long time, presenting more and more challenges. Build up the sense of hopelessness, they are going to run out of supplies, and succumb to the storm. Let the session end with them falling to the cold, slipping away. Over play the drama, make them feeling like they themselves are dying. At the very end describe how they fall to the cold, describe every detail. As they black out into darkness they fall, frozen to the earth. This should feel like an end, a TPK. HOWEVER! At the very end simply state something along the lines, the heroes will return.(or use your party name like, The Sehril will return) If you have a flair for dramatics I would totally say this, pick up your dm screen and walk out. Just leave. This will have great effects, the players are left alone, hopeless. You said the game will continue, but who knows at what cost. Another great thing about this is you could take a break from the game. This is a good pausing spot, take a few weeks break. Give yourself time to prepare.

Now how do you continue?
The players could wake up captives of some higher power, one who brought them back from the dead. Mabye the spellcaster they let get away. This would be up to you, but I would have this be years later. The players wake up by themselves by themselves. Mabye even in different parts of the world. Why did this person bring them back, and what powerful scheme has been put in play? If this was years later you could have the players deal with the effects of their failure. I would restore their eyes by the spellcaster spell, but what other side effects remain. Remember that village they were hired to protect. Yeah it’s destroyed. Because the players weren’t there it was wiped out by some strange creature or power. Mabye the same one that brought them back, weaving a giant scheme. This is a great situation for a dm. It’s up to you. Make something amazing happen from their failure. 😁😁😁😁

[Grog Logs]

There's a lot of great ideas here. Here are some potential points of inspiration and salvation.

(A) INSPIRATION: What it's like to loose your senses unexpectedly in an emergency. The most important lesson here is suspense. It's less important what happens next to your PCs and more important what they DREAD will happen next. Any payoff will work better if you can instill the dread and suspense. Suspense > Horror.

Spoiler: Examples

Show

(1) Daredevil (2011-2014) #7, which was written by Mark Waid and pencilled by Paolo Rivera. In this issue Matt Murdock is taking a group of blind children on a field trip. In the middle of nowhere, a deer jumps in front of the bus. The driver (the one person who is not blind) dies in the bus crash and the bus is on fire. Matt must lead the kids to safety without revealing his superhero identity. Even worse, his arch-nemesis is present: a snowstorm which renders him effectively blind. You can access the issue on Marvel Unlimited if you have a subscription or for about $2 digitally. Mark Waid won an Eisner Award in 2012 for this issue and this series.

(2) The Netflix movie Bird Box (2018), where the main characters must blindfold themselves to survive a terrible threat. I have not seen this movie yet, but I advise you to avoid the Bird Box Challenge.

(3) A Quiet Place (2018) movie, where the main characters must avoid making sounds in order to survive a terrible threat. I also have not seen this movie yet, but it received very positive reviews. While it is a different sense, it deals with the loss of a "normal" sense modality and dire consequences for doing something that we normally do all the time.

(B) SALVATION: Here are some solutions in how you can resolve the PCs predicament. The one that you choose should ideally be an unexpected outcome of something that the PCs did in the past, which is now resulting in their salvation (or damnation). If you can also tie it into an upcoming plot thread, even better.

Spoiler: Examples

Show

(1) Make a Deal with the Devil/Fey/Angel. In desperation, one of your players calls for help and an extra-planar being answers. The PCs must chose to die or to accept the offer without knowing who is offering help (or what the creature wants in return). And, remember, the only thing worse than a deal with the devil (or fey) is a deal with an Angel. The TV show Supernatural can give good examples of that. Bonus points if you use a nearly identical script for each PC, but different Pacts are made with different types of beings. One PC may be offered a deal with an Archdevil, another by an Angel. This would also be a good time for a Warlock Multiclass, if you are playing with a D&D system. Eyes of the Runekeeper would be a good, refluffed Invocation if playing 5e.

(2) The PCs are rescued by Grimlock(s). As an eyeless race, they stumble upon you and take pity on you. They now trust you and take you to their home in the Underdark. A shaman grimlock trains them in the way of blindsight, but with a cost. Hopefully, the PCs also learn some of the "humanity" of Grimlock and realize why they are important for the Underdark ecosystem. The Netflix TV show Daredevil has some great scenes where Stick teaches a sensory overwhelmed Matt Murdock how to navigate with his new powers. Impossible you say, tell that to the real life blind people who ride bicycles. The "How to Become Batman" episode of Invisibilia talked about this and training blind kids to find where the soccer field ends and road begins without the use of a cane.

(3) A familiar voice casts Regenerate or Lesser/Greater Restoration on them. This should be a cleric, druid, shaman that they encountered in the past. Ideally, one that they helped without anticipation of reward or one who they scorned.

(4) Somehow the PCs learn the ability to cast Find Familiar. They can now see out of the Familiar's eyes instead of their own...at the cost of their action each turn. If they use their action to see through the familiar's eyes every turn, they will not reach shelter in time. If they do not use it at all, they will wander aimlessly.

[noob]

If the players does not care much about the characters just letting the characters die can be alright.