Stolen Music Box
Pinned to The notice board
A clean parchment with neat, decorative writing reads:
Stolen: Ornate Music Box.
House Greyscale has recently been desecrated by a break-in and robbery. Although the entire house had been ransacked, so far only one item seems to have been taken; A music box which has been in the Greyscale family for generations.
While valuable on its own, its familial significance carries a higher value for us. For its undamaged return, we are willing to offer a total reward of 2500 Gold Pieces.
Interested parties please speak to our Steward at House Greyscale for details on the music box and further information with haste - Serious inquiries only.
[A grey wax seal is stamped into the bottom right featuring the handle and bottom half of a sword in front of a shield.]
Ways to approach
This is clearly a targetted job, made to look like the work of opportunists, which means the thieves’ guild may be involved. Or it may be the work of specialists. The main question is what is so special about this music box and why did they want it so badly? Also, why is it worth such a large reward? I created this poster as a tie-in to one of my factions, the Amaran, who hunt down evil mages. The music box is a very old prototype for one of their more common tools; when its music is playing, it can disrupt and even nullify magic in a given area. The design has been refined from this large music box, however, with its size comes potency.
What would your master thief or villain want with such a device? For lower levels you could simply have a great thief that is using the device to get past magical vaults and wards, leaving a trail of nobles confused about how their magic didn’t work. However, for higher-level parties, consider what a non-magical villain would do with such a device in a society ruled by mages - The advantages would be immense in establishing new rulership under themselves
Possible Repercussions
Depending on which route you’d like to take, as well as if you would even like to introduce repercussions for your heroes not taking on this quest, there could simply be the news of frequent robberies, until the royal vault itself is stolen from. Something like this could cause a lack of faith in leadership, or perhaps even have devastating consequences for the local economy. For your higher-level heroes, it’ll be hard to miss the news of a complete regime change, as well as the massive cultural shift that would undoubtedly ensue going from a magic-ruled society to one that may be completely anti-magic.
Spotlight
Looking for more inspiration on how to use this notice board poster? Check out this episode of the Quest Board podcast where they come up with ideas on the spot: Episode 97 - F’Red Went Down To Georgia
