Note

Hopefully this is the beginning of a weekly installment of Seeds. Normally this will appear on Mondays, but this case is because I missed last Monday. Depending on my creativity level (aka boredom) I will have one or two ideas up this Monday. But as of Monday, Feb 24 I will definitely start making it weekly. And I don’t know how many seeds there will be per Seed. So as normal, happy gaming!

What the…?

The characters are flying somewhere (for an adventure, visiting someone, whatever). But from the back of the plane, they hear some screaming. Soon after the screaming starts, a stewardess and a passenger run into the First Class (where the characters are) and scream for everyone to get down. The stewardess and the passenger are both armed with pistols. After everyone is down, the passenger runs up to the cockpit, kicks in the door and yells some orders to the pilot. No matter how good the characters’ hearing is, no one will hear what is said.



After about 5 minutes, all of the passengers on the plane are put into the first class section. The hijackers consist of 2 stewardesses and 5 passengers (one of which is in the cockpit). Every now and again, one of the passengers will go into a screaming fit. Considering the stress that everyone is under, this is to be expected. Anyone that has a fit will be shot in the head instantly. There is no warning, no “shut up!” yelled, nothing. Just a pull of the trigger. Each of the hijackers has a few extra clips.



After about 15 or 20 minutes, the players will be able to tell who the leader is (one of the passengers). The leader will grab 3 passengers (all NPCs). Two of the hijackers go in back with the leader and the 3 passengers. Chanting will begin from the coach area. The chanting is completely foreign to all who hear it.



Anyone who peeks in the back will see that all six of the people back there (3 hijackers, and the 3 passengers) are standing in a circle chanting those strange words. Their eyes are all rolled back, so all the characters can see is the whites of their eyes. Soon after seeing this, a thunderous noise is heard, and the plane is violently jolted. Everyone loses their footing except for hijackers (who seem to have been expecting it) and the chanters. The strange part about the chanters, it doesn’t even look like they shifted at all. They just continue to chant.



As soon as the jolt comes about, the plane starts to go down in a controlled manner, like the plane is landing. A couple minutes later, the plane lands, and all flashes to seem normal! The hijackers disappear and everyone is back in their seat starting to rise to leave the plane. As the characters look around, the passengers are all different. None of the passengers that were on the plane before are on it now. Anyone who looks at his watch will see that the time has gone backwards to about 15 minutes before the plane took off.



While leaving the plane, the characters will see all of the original passengers getting ready to board, including themselves. NOW is when the characters can do something to prevent the events of the flight from happening.



What is going on here is that when the plane is supposed to land at its destination the airport (at the destination) gets attacked by someone (either terrorists or another country) killing everyone in the area. The seven hijackers are trying to prevent the deaths of the people on the plane (except for those getting shot). But they end up throwing the plane into a time loop. The only way that the loop can be broken is by having the plane land and get attacked.



It’s up to the players as to what they want to do after they land at the original airport. On the initial flight, they’re not intended to be able to do a whole lot because they have no idea what is going on. If they decide to drive to the destination, they will see/hear on the news that Airport X has been destroyed, no survivors. If the players decide to break up the hijacking, they will survive the crash (the runway’s out because of the attack) only to find all of the other passengers dead and bullets flying overhead.



What would you do?

Over Easy or Scrambled?

Walking through the forest one night, looking for food, wood for the campfire, or something similar, the characters will see something a little strange. They will see that there is a small group of people putting a dead body into a large “egg.” This egg is made out of materials readily handy, like branches, stones, mud (as glue), etc. The entire time that the body is being put into the egg, the group is chanting in some unknown tongue. The egg is then closed and covered with brush. After the ceremony, the group of NPCs start moving in one direction. If the PCs follow, they will find that the group went about a half mile into a log cabin to retire for the night.



Should the group try to open the egg, they will find it impossible. A very careful examination of the egg will note that there is a pattern on the top of the egg made out in the branches. This pattern is that of a ward. All it does is keep the egg closed until the creator of the ward opens it.



Around this time, the players should notice that there are about a dozen or so eggs around in a circle. Some of them are open, some are closed. The open ones are unoccupied, and it is safe to assume that the closed ones have bodies in them. All of these eggs look relatively new.



Should the PCs camp somewhere near the circle, the next day, they will awake to a pounding sound. This pounding will not be overly loud, but enough to arouse a curiosity. When the PCs look around to find the source of the sound, they will find that it is coming from the egg that they saw was closed last night. As soon as they see that, the PCs hear voices in the distance. The group is returning.



Should the PCs leave on their initial night, they obviously will not hear the pounding. But they all will have nightmares of demons hatching. Except for one player. That player will have a pleasant dream of a dead friend of his. The PC must KNOW (opposed to think) that the friend is dead. The PC and friend will be reliving something that they did like playing jokes on a younger sister, playing some sport particularly well that day, etc. But when the players wake up and are about ready to move along, the dead friend will walk up to the group. An inspection of this friend will show that he is alive and well…but the look in his eyes will show an evil change about him.



The friend will not attack the group. Only chat with the friend, catching up on old times like nothing happened. After a while, he will mention that he came from “that” direction…towards the egg farm. If that doesn’t get the PCs curious, nothing will. The trip back will be uneventful, with the friend leaving to take care of some personal business. No matter how hard pressed, he will not accompany the PCs.



When the NPCs come around, one of them opens up the egg and the person who was dead just last night jumps out. The dead person will then grab the nearest squirrel or other small game, and just eat it, not bothered by the blood spraying all over himself.



What happens from here is VERY much up to the PCs. Will they act? Will they go off to do what they were originally doing? It’s totally up to them.



Basically what is going on here is this. The NPCs are raising the dead, much like in “Pet Cemetery.” They are doing this for various reasons. Some are doing it to gain back a loved one. Others are doing it to bring back a dead king and bring a country into civil war. And one or two are just doing it for fun. But there is one person that is scared. After a little while, almost every person that gets raised ends up going crazy and on a killing spree. Those that don’t go crazy are the truly evil ones, plotting to take over (at a surprising successful rate) countries and rule with their own diabolical hand.



The magic is actually in the eggs and the location. The chanting does nothing and the symbol only keeps outsiders (like the PCs) from opening the eggs. The NPCs don’t actually know. But there is something very strange and evil about this place. Depending on the world history, there was a very bloody battle here. Or perhaps a showdown between the two most powerful wizards in existence. And the eggs are an ancient way of burial. The reason for this is totally up to the GM.



The scary part about this is that even if the PCs thwart this group of NPCs’ efforts, what will prevent someone else from moving in and setting up shop, so to say? The magic is in the location. The magic here cannot be dispelled, and the eggs not destroyed. If the eggs are stolen and cast into the sea, they can be replaced. This is the kind of threat that never really goes away.



“Come to think of it, King Loren of the Trystene kingdom did disappear for a little while, and hasn’t really been the same since…”

While You’re Asleep

On the news the characters see that there is a serial killer on the loose. There appears to be no pattern from this vicious killer, either. The police are completely baffled. If this does not get the PCs going, have them get hired by someone who wants to see this killer stopped.



Have the party start to look for clues, throw them a red herring or two, and a couple legit clues. Make it seem like a typical murder mystery. The first night of the investigation, have one of the PCs go to sleep (as usual) and wake up at his normal time (as usual) but very sore (not usual). His arms and legs feel like they have been working very hard. But try to get the player to blow it off as if he slept in a strange position.



The next day, one member of the group gets a phone call (doesn’t matter which member). This is a frantic phone call from someone involved in the case, either police detective or the person that hired them, saying that there has been another killing. Go to X address immediately. This pattern will happen a few times over the next 2 weeks or so. The character will wake up sore and there will have been a killing last night.



Basically what is happening is that the target PC is getting a split personality. When he sleeps is when the other personality takes hold. It’s totally up to you as to why he’s getting this split personality. He could have been involved in too many traumatic events, maybe he’s cursed, possessed? The possibilities are numerous. But at the very least make sure that your choice in PCs makes sense.