Stephen suggested about the ancient cradle being reactivated by the new one crossed with my last post. I think this could indeed be part of the picture.
Nick wrote:
> I'd incline to pin the blame on a Trickster Shaman type (one of the
> Raven or Coyote aspects -- or why not Rattlesnake, using his tail as
> a rattle to lure the baby from the Cradle?)
>
> > Could the giant baby still be around, but grown up? Could it be
> > somebody famous?
>
> If lured away by the "nice, shiny, rattly" Rattlesnake Trickster, I
> doubt it!
> ...
> I still think
> death by rattlesnake is your best bet: that leaves big bones some-
> where obscure for the PCs to find while rummaging through caves.
This sounds pretty good. Finding the bones could be another clue as to what it is their on the trail of.
Philip adds:
> Or dead, buried in the mud - think of all the great magic stuff that
> could be made from baby giant bones! Perhaps the baby died and became a
> wraith, add that to the list of magic stuff defending the cradle.
which seems like a good mid-level scenario building up. What sort of thing can be made from giant bones?
Dave P wrote suggestions for having a giant toddler around which needed to placated in order to enter the cradle. Do we know of any giant toddlers around at this time that could fit the bill? (Stephen suggested it could have gone to the Plateau of Statues) I do agree, it would be fun to get it back!
Actually getting this toddler down to where the Cradle was would be tough!
Stephen suggested that the baby could be alive and adopted by the daughters of Zola Fel. I was actually wondering about Zola Fel's involvement in all of this - since she (they) would certainly know what had happened (cradle floating down before the sunstop - not floating down any more after it). A little bit of variation from the RofC campaign (Troubled Waters(?)) could give me that initial hook thing (Zola Fel decides its time to tell someone what happened).
> > Looting of the cradle could be at any stage - I would opt for just
> > started. If a lot of stuff had been taken then the Jrusteli might
> > have been able to figure out what had happened.
Nick:
> I thought the whole point was to have a pre-Jrusteli wrecked Cradle.
> If you want it to have been looted by God Learner cradle-snatchers,
> what om earth was the point of the previous few posts? Surely we're
> trying to have a more-or-less complete buried Cradle undiscovered in
> the bogs of the Zola Fel valley, not a heap of big old planks which
> the God Learners looted nigh on a thousand years ago.
I think you missed my point here. What I was saying was that if a lot of stuff had been nicked from the Cradle before it went down then when the God Learners turned up 400 years later they might be able to figure out what had happened and then go dig it up for themselves.
> Possible, of course. I'd prefer digging down to the wrecked Cradle
> to having a miraculously-preserved 1200 year old Cradle "magically"
> emerge from the bog, but each to their own.
> ...
I like the epic feel to this - it's a bit like raising the titanic.
> If you want to give your players
> vacant possession (and control?) of a fully-functional Giant Cradle,
> your gaming is happening at a radically different level to my own,
> and I'll stop making suggestions which can only interfere with your
> group's fun.
No - I wouldn't do that. I probably would like to allow the PCs entry into the cradle and then set some sort of final climatic adventure inside it. PCs should be well into Rune status by then and this could be a neat means of launching a HeroQuest. It's quite a long way off though (probably 2 years gaming time).
Dave P also told me about the Gold Wheel Dancer and the possibility of Stasis. If they can indeed do this, put the whole cradle into stasis, then that has many possibilities. The GWD could sort out the cradle after the PCs have come and gone (thus taking it out of the world), or, indeed, the baby could resume its journey. Furthermore, other things might have crawled in and got stuck in stasis, providing for more investigative clues to the present day mystery.
Stephen added some more stuff:
> I do like the idea that the Cradle will stay sunk until the baby comes
> back. How about this: when The Cradle comes down the river, the Cradle's
> magic defender (similar to Pinchining, but not a Gold Wheel Dancer IMO)
> awakens. He starts trying to get people to come to him. Obviously, he
> wants to enlist their aid to find his missing charge! Can the adventurers
> track down a baby who has been missing for 1250 years? Where would they
> even start?
There are definately two trains of thought here. So maybe, the Rattlesnake Trickster tempsts it away but the baby then escapes.
> A good place to start would be to trek up to Gonn Orta's castle to get
> some info from him -- he has been around since the Dawn, the baby on the
> most recent Cradle was his daughter, so he ought to be both knowledgeable
> and sympathetic. I assume he is on good terms with Zola Fel, too, so
> getting the aid of the River should be fairly easy.
This sounds nice as well. Where is Gonn Orta's castle, BTW?
Richard
- --
Richard Develyn Tel: (UK)-1732-743591 Principal Architect / Development Manager Fax: (UK)-1732-743597 Network People International http://www.nwpeople.com ------------------------------
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