Meteor

By Xar

Lady Rousimme Belopo II looked out her bedroom window in the palace of Ophidia. A bright light lit up the night sky, brighter than any she’d seen before. Quickly she slipped down the hall to rouse her brother Troj, and together they stared in wonder at the trail of fire falling in the northern sky. The next day Rosie and Troj were rounding up some help in parts of town where the the children of the Overlord weren't really supposed to be, even if they were full grown.

"Rosie" is putting together a group to go and investigate what it was that fell from the sky, and what it means. Enter the PC party.

They accompany the two young royals on an expedition to the interior of Ophid's Grasslands. Several days’ ride through the grasslands brings them to a large crater in the earth, scorched around the edges. Deep in the center is a large boulder that is still hot to touch.

Some possibilities of the crash site could be:

The meteor is a new form of wealth for the growing colony. The meteor could be composed of a new type of metal ore that when properly smelted and reformed, could make weapons and armor of unprecedented strengh and quality. As this meteor is a nonreplenishable resource, items made from it would be destined to become very rare and expensive. However, how do you harvest this new resource? Either undertake the task of carting several tons of ore back to Ophidia, or arranging the labor and equipment to be transported north for onsite processing. Either way, there grows a distince possibility of interference from the neighboring hostiles (see page 137, paragraph 2, of The Western Empire sourcebook), or of other, unknown dangers emerging from The Devils’ Mark, now much more nearer.

The meteor could contain something alive. (Now I certainly don’t suggest crossing genres and making this a full-blown sci-fi tie in, just a little flavor of something otherworldly).

--The meteor could be infected with a disease microbe that has no natural enemies on Palladia. The party would have to begin to search for some way to overcome the disease, and since they were at ground zero, they would have a definate vested interest in achieving success before time runs out.

--Inside the meteor is found the remains of one or two Quorians, one of the races "recruited" from an alien world during the Elf-Dwarf Wars. Word leaking out about a possible connection to the Quorian homeworld could lead to an initial pilgrimmage to the site by Quorian Oneiromancers and/or Shaman to search for clues to take their people home. Word might not even have needed to have been leaked, as a Quorian Oneiromancer could have had a Chant of Dreaming that led him there just as the party arrives. The players and/or the Regional House of Belopo could either be helpful or not. Hindrances could result in a negative reaction from the aggressive and warlike Quorians.

Finally (and most trite) the meteor crater could have uncovered an entrance to an ancient tomb or subterranean complex. (Insert typical dungeon crawl here.)