It’s Easter time, which for me means thinking back to the death and resurrection of Jesus, Easter Bunnies and chocolate eggs! So, how cool would it be if one of those eggs turned out to be a dragon egg? In this little adventure we explore that idea and provide you with a nice little campaign hook and some NPC ideas. I’ve tried to keep away from any specific rules in the hope that you can use this in any fantasy campaign with any rules set, but I have made references to rules from Dungeons and Dragons and similar games since most players will be familiar with those concepts. This is definitely for the GMs eyes only, players should go check out The Guild on YouTube, it’s great (but I warn you about Season 3, it was a little… iffy).

The Set-Up

The characters are approached by an old lady, half blind, who’s trying to sell some eggs to make some money. It’s clear from her appearance that she’s hard off. It’s also clear that not all of the eggs are hen’s eggs: one is much larger and has a dark, stone like shell. Give the characters a knowledge nature check or the equivalent skill check to spot that it’s indeed a dragon egg.

What to do with Mamma’s Kid

What the players decide to do next is up to them, but they may realize the need to return the egg to its home. A dragon can be mighty protective, after all. If the players need more convincing to take up the challenge of the egg you can have mommy dragon pay a visit to the village and tear down a few homes while the PC’s aren’t around. She knows that the egg is in town (she’s intelligent and has keen senses, she can figure it out) and just needs to find it. Eventually the characters should either decide they need to do something with the egg or face dire consequences.

The mother dragon should be a high level dragon, possibly a little too powerful for the characters to beat just yet. The players will want to either sneak the egg back into her lair or try to negotiate with her, but should be dissuaded from a straight attack strategy. Ideally you can use the dragon and her little family as recurring NPC’s that can be dealt with finally when the PC’s have reached a high enough level. Give the players knowledge history or knowledge local checks to recall information about the dragon, such as where her lair is and rumours surrounding how powerful she is. Finding the lair should be easy enough, and working through the network of caves and dungeons to get to her lair can be just as long as you want it to be. You could even use the quest to return the egg as a way to kick off the adventure from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box.

It’s Never That Easy

So, just how did the egg find its way into the village? Enter, stage left, the villainous tomb robber Felix Gred. Felix managed to sneak into the dragon’s lair (a heavy dose of luck more than skill) and remove the egg, hoping to use the egg to lure the dragon away from her treasure horde. Felix brought the egg back to the village, where he hid it in Madam Firth’s chicken coop.  It wasn’t the best hiding place, but he had realised that there was soon to be a dragon after him and he knew she was half blind. He figured she would mistake the egg for a stone, not a chicken egg, it was way too big. Now the egg is missing and he wants it back. Build Felix as a sneaky rogue with a high level of stealth, and have him follow the PC’s and attempt to steal the egg from them when they’re asleep or distracted. If he succeeds then it’s quite possible that the PC’s might find themselves standing in front of an angry dragon without the egg, or else needing to do more detective work to find the egg again.

And Then…

This adventure hook can go many ways, but I think the nice thing about it is that you get a couple of NPC’s (Felix, Madam Firth and Mother Dragon) that can potentially see quite a bit of use. There’s no reason to kill Felix, he’s a thief, not a murder, and if anything he should be under lock and key. Madam Firth is a witless NPC that can cause all sorts of trouble without having an inkling of what’s happening. She might even prove useful to the PC’s, she has lived in the village her whole life and she’s eager to make some money. The dragon, on the other hand, is too powerful for the PC’s to deal with directly. They’ll need to be diplomatic in their dealings with her and try keep her happy.

That’s it for this Easter special. Give this adventure hook a try and let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from you. Also, if you write up stats for any of the NPC’s, for any system, why not share them here and we can all get some use out of them.