Hollow Halls Generator

The idea of the party wandering through a secret passageway in the royal castle and scooping up quest seeds like crazy sounds fun to me.  I feel like you could use this with Red and Pleasant Lands quite well, but it should fit in any fantasy castle.

The passageway itself modulates in size and shape wildly, as it was built to fit into the changing architecture of the castle.  Every 10 mins of moving silently down the corridor, the party has another opportunity to eavesdrop or look in. 

What is the party looking through? 1d6

1. Portrait on the wall with eyeholes
2. One way mirror
3. Camera Obscura built unobtrusively into the wall
4. Small gap in the stone
5. Nothing, the party just hears voices through thin stone.
6. A Telescope set up through a small window and pointed at a nearby tower. The party can see the people talking but not hear them.

What is it? 1d6

1. Two guards are discussing rumors of a coup lead by the captain of the guard.  They are debating if they should join.
2. The prince/princess meeting with a secret lover.
3. A high ranking nobleman (with heavy gambling debts) and master of the mint are discussing a plan to adulterate the gold currency.
4. The ambitious court wizard's assistant murders the court wizard right then and there.
5. Manchurian Candidate.  The King is meeting with traditional enemies of the kingdom and has been in their pocket this whole time.
6. A secret meeting of influential Guildfolk and nobility plot to overthrow the king after his recent socialist and radical moves.

Complication 1d6

1.  Just as the conspiracy gets to the good stuff, a pair of young lovers looking for a secluded spot stumbles into the hollow walls the party is in.  The woman will scream if threatened, and the man is slightly drunk and wants to look cool. 
2. The party finds a notebook, cigarette butts and snacks.  Someone else is on this case and has been coming here to gather dirt.
3. A wandering mischievous ghost takes an interest in the party.
4. "Say, have the portrait's eyes always moved like that?" (Or equivalent)
5. The party cannot see one of the conspirators, but they are identifiable from a distinctive speech pattern.
6. Spider Attack. - Huge spiders live in the hollow walls.  Remember to be quiet!

Roll for monsters every 10 mins.

Clare's Criers (Harper Affiliated)

(Part of my series on building more specific sections of the WOTC 5E factions.  Read the previous section on the union-affiliated Order of the Gauntlet group here)

In the capital city, new ideas are spreading.  A strange fusion of traditional street performance and modern-day investigative journalism has taken the streets of the city by storm.  The Criers gather crowds with a distinctive three-note whistle. These entertainers and bards proceed to regale the crowd with salacious gossip and indecent puppetry woven together with shocking tales of civic corruption. No person is safe from their stories, and Boss Peet, a corrupt minister of the Council of Lords, is a frequent target.  The stories which form the basis for these plays have so far proven true, and the investigation into the Averroist Controversy has brought down several high ranking weaver's guildsmen.

The reaction by Boss Peet has been swift and harsh, but so far ineffective. The distinctive three-note whistle sets corrupt guardsmen running towards the source, which has lead to foolish young men whistling the tune wherever they go, sowing confusion.  The rising three-note sequence has been worked into popular songs and ballads, the better to thumb one's nose at the machine while retaining plausible deniability.

Clare's Criers are a motley mix of old school troubadours, idealistic young puppeteers, and one old, slightly demented king's jester who was forcibly retired.

The group could make a good addition to a city random encounter table, with the party encountering a full-blown expose in progress.  For inspiration on civic corruption for the tale, just pick up a newspaper.  The guards move in after a few mins.

Quests:
1. Roland the Farter (demented ex-jester) tells the party of a secret entrance into the castle where they can wander through the hollow walls and secret passages, looking into various rooms via paintings with eyeholes cut out, one-way mirrors, and peepholes. The party scoops up hints and ideas on corruption in the court by the shovelful but must contend with the ancient spiders which have taken residence in the hollow walls.  Remeber the party must try to remain silent or nobles will send guards to check out the walls. Also, the coded language the nobles use to discuss their corrupt dealings could be a great chance to work in thieves cant.

2. An important selectperson election is approaching. The twelve elders on the town council are accepting bribes, but their vote is only as good as the most recent bidder.  The party is tipped off by verse in the Criers Pupper show as to which elders are on their side and which must be greased.  The party must traverse the city, fending off threats and competing bribes to the elders on their side, and attempting to contact and bribe the rest.

3. The board of United Coal has come to you in a tizzy.  The Criers are singing a new, fanciful play where Boss Peet and his allies verify fake stock papers for "Assembled Anthrocite," allowing a weak and stupid relative to seize control with Peet at his side.  They want this plan shut down.  If the party approaches the Criers for more info, they propose stopping the fake stock AND robbing United Coal blind. 

4. Volunteer firefighters in this city are arraigned by ethnic and regional ties, and function more like gangs.  They often brawl with one another while fires rage.  Rowland the Farter wants to travel the city and perform his play meant to shame the firefighters into cooperation.  He needs muscle to protect him from the vicious firefighting goons.  Questionable if his play is actually good or will just further enrage the firefighters, but if he survives the day he will reward them with knowledge of a secret dockhouse used by the mob to store easily stealable loot.

Yeti-Dragon

The yeti-dragon dwells in high mountains and eats color.  Stats as a rust monster but it corrodes/destroys color instead of metal. When it rolls max damage, hits the character's skin (assuming all characters are wearing armor/clothes) and drains color permanently from 

1. Eyes

2. Random Limb

3. Hair

4. Blood

5. Teeth (your teeth are now pearly white.  nice!)

6. Vomits color onto you.  Roll again and it is a random color. 

I'm gonna try to make a small drawing and write something about it every day in January (except the first obviously)  See you soon!