So I'm still at the beach, but apparently we have wifi. I'm going to run a game for some cousins. Beach stuff, undead stuff, a bit of mostly-optional mystery, and some difficult puzzles and traps and deadlines (parts of the dungeon are tidal, so I'm looking to use that.

It's 3.5 and level one with enemies up to CR 5.

_______________

Right now I'm working on the mystery bit.

In town, some people are getting murdered by a were-rat.

I'm thinking the were-rat found out a wizard* who was supposed to be dead wasn't, and got turned into a mute monster. Then he went off and killed everybody who wronged him**.

Setting wise I may want to bring in the mage's guild, organized crime, the sewers (where I have the rat dungeon and the wizard's false tomb), etc.

I need good clues leading back to both of these things. It's been a while since I last actually ran anything.

*Wizard will be a not-lich. Some mid-level undead reskinned to have spells and the macguffin artifact in the deepest levels is his phylactery / the eye of the (gibbering mouther statted) godling.
**Owed people money? Ex-wife's lover? Lord who sent his only son into a battle that couldn't be won?

_______________

There are lizardfolk on one of the ways to the tidal dungeon (and the sewers empty into the river in a way that characters might be forced down by rapids). They should be pissed at the settlement and I'm not sure why. Or how the party might resolve it. Yet.

_________________

At the cliffs by the sea, there are merfolk, kuo-toa, and a ruined ship. The ship had the macguffin and crashed in a storm. The kuo-toa (who worship the gibbering godling) got the eye and woke the thing up. I know more or less what chambers flood at what tides, but don't know how fast they should move in or out, or how to track them.

_________________

There's also an abandoned lighthouse with spidery stuff, including an ettercap. Lighthouse went out and helped with the whole ship crashing bit.

More as I think of it, and more after I run this. Could use help if anyone has ideas.

Were-rat pre-transformation:
tie-in w/ Mage Guild -- An average servant (apprentice?) at the mage guild who was routinely sent into the sewers to harvest material components. Basically stuck with the 'shit job'.

tie-in w/ Organized Crime -- found a few places where org crime do their blood sports (dog fighting, boxing, etc.) and favorite spots they dump the bodies (feces helps rots bodies fast). Not a stupid person, were-rat made friends when spotted and pressed to do some sewer scouting on the side. Started gambling and whoring as a way to flush away the dirty money.

This left him bound and also resentful to both groups, and ties them both to the sewers.

love interest & addt'l rumor source -- prostitute with a heart of gold. Were-rat wanted to run away with her, taking his dirty money (and maybe magic book?) to start a new life. Had another winter to go before magic undead cursed him. Were-rat is pissed.

Mage Guild Rumors table: 1d6
1 = "Naw, that service has been unavailable since our herbalist flunky ran out on us. (Left his magic book, too! Fool.)" "I thought he died?" "Maybe, but no body was found. Hey, PCs, how good are you at recognizing rare fungus?"

2 = "That [common] service costs 5x as much now. We don't have our regular procurer anymore. No one here wants to get that dirty anyways..."

3 = "Oh, that? We've got a big influx of large scales lately. Someone's been pissing off the lizard men. Half off, just for you today, or a regular 2 for 1 if you also buy a cantrip for the nice lady there [points to female PC]. Heh, I don't walk downstream of town anyway..."

4 = "Hmm, that service? You're playing the odds tonight? I can mask it for a price. (addt'l) Oh, you don't know... never mind. Sure, it costs this [1.5x price]"

5 = "What's there to do here? Well, if you want a hot time on the town nothing beats a love philter and a visit to [Bordello]." (addt'l) "Sometimes I change myself to look younger and more virile! Then they give me a discount! Want a Change Form spell service?" "They give you a discount 'cause they pity a harmless regular." "I'm not harmless! You there [points PC]! Want to look like my hot alter ego? Change Form, half off!"

6 = "Sorry, I'm in a mood. One of my apprentices recently died. He was a brat who thought himself a prodigy, but he didn't deserved to be torn to shreds like that." "He was a bit of a condescending ass, though. Gods, he used to torment junior staff" "But doesn't every young mage with their first aggro spell? One [Color Spray, Magic Missile, Burning Hands, etc] and you feel all brave..."

Org Crime Rumors Table (shady Tavern, etc): 1d6

1 = NPCs "Ugh, darts again? Can't we see something a little more fun, and dangerous?" "Hey, I hear you wanna see a real game. Good with sharps, eh? Meet me by [sewer entrance by river]..."

2 = NPCs "Good grog, but nary a fight. I am but half satisfied!" "Before you tear things up, interested in making some money on that desire? Meet here..."

3 = PCs "Yeah, there's fun things to do in town. But who the hell are you? Why don't you try something safer, like [bordello]." (addt'l) "Nah, they're cool. [Madame] said they're good spenders." "Oh really? So, now ready for risk after a sure thing?"

4 = NPCs/PCs "I hear you're having trouble covering your bar tab. Here, let me. Now just a favor. Got a good back, sense of direction, and a dead nose? Follow me."

5 = NPCs "Naw man, that place is no go. Ever since Johnny that [sewer area under X town district] is too dangerous." "Shit, and there's still some good stash down there now all tied up!" "Hush, keep your voice down..."

6 = NPCs "Another 'scaly' broke up a scrum last week. At least we got a decent return at [magic shop]. Covered the room cost to help one of ours and more." "He's at [common inn]?" "Nah, a back room of [bordello]" (addt'l) "Says he's seeing red eyes out his window." "Poor guy. Nightmares, huh?"

Bordello Rumors Table: 1d6

1 = NPCs "Gruff said he got this just for me! Ain't it beautiful?" "Is that real pearl?" "Bet ya it is! He knows how to treat a girl nice" "Like that shiner last time?" "Well, in his line of... work, he gets stressed." (addt'l) "Well it doesn't look like it's made here, so he's not wanted for that, right?" "Nah, can't be. Madame said she never saw its like before. Did make her queasy, too. I still love it, though."

2 = hunky NPC/PC "Heh, aren't you just a treat for tired eyes? Stay in my room sugar, sight of you'll sweeten my tea." /wink (addt'l) "I understand if you gotta go early. Madame says we can work with the time you're here. Big strong men often gotta be places, don't they?"

3 = NPC "Oh, [were-rat 'girlfriend'], won't you chin up? We got new guests and everything." to NPC/PC "She's been like this since her favorite regular gone up and made himself scarce. A girl and dreams; white knights don't visit these parts much."

4 = NPC/PC *Moan* "Oh! Uh, that's my girlfriend in the next room." to next room "Got yourself a live one, dearie?" (addt'l) from next room "SHIT, those eyes! Those eyes!" tumble, thump, "Oh God! Oh!" prostitute gives concerned look to room then back "And didn't I mention she had the most beautiful eyes?"

5 = NPC "Madame knows where to get a philter or two. It's not just for clients, y'know. Some days you need a little help making it believable. However, if you got good regulars have 'em bring a philter or cantrip or two when they offer a gifts."

6 = NPC "I gotta dress for an arena event this week." "Oh dear, those are dreadful!" "Yeah, I hate all the blood. And the smell. But the guys treat us good and keep us safe during events." (addt'l) "I hear it's at [town district] this week." "Yeah, you'd think that'd make it nicer. But gilded on the outside does nothing for it underneath..."

Just some ideas. Lizardmen are pissed at the town because town is blaming them for murders while the lizard men have recently lost 1 (maybe 2) of their own thanks to the sea monster people and think its the town. Were-Rat in the mean time is trying to build an army and is turning people into controllable were-rats and sending them about because he feels he needs to. The fact that he's "getting back" at the people he loves is actually incidental. The wizard is using the muted monster to search for the (I guess lost?) thing and fractured the were-rat's mind when he seized him. The were-rat doesn't actually know "why" he's doing what he is doing and is just kind of doing it.

Clues that tie it all in. Recently wrecked ship could draw some attention. Owner of the ship knows of the thing and the "Thing" was not supposed to get out. This will lead to sea monster people, dead bodies of ship's inhabitants and lizardmen who were blamed for it. Maybe the wizard makes an appearance once the sea monster people's priest is out of the way to grab the thing. Then PROFIT.

Clues can also first lead to lizardman investigation. Perhaps some kind of diplomacy attempt with them by someone who cares to sort this shit out. Diplomacy mission is foiled by were-rats trying to keep up the confusion until they can have a go at getting the thing.

Maybe the wizard decides to be xanatos and hires the pcs to muddle in things, guiding them along and influencing their actions such that, no matter what happens in the end he gets the macguffins and gets to ride off laughing evilly.

Sounds like a great E6 game...

I think you need to tie it all together - the problem is generating a story that explains all the disparate parts here. Currently there's a few weird coincidences to explain
*why is the wererat mute?
*why is the phylactery also the god's eye and what was it doing in a ship that's just docking? (if I understood that bit correctly).

For an undead type monster - you could just pull out the Necropolitan template from Libris Mortis which basically just adds undead traits to a humanoid - so take a L5 wizard, drop the Con score and reroll HPs with d12s (PCs get an LA/Xp cost as well, but hardly matters for an NPC).
The lizardfolk may just be annoyed at the settlement contaminating water nearby - sewage? Mage's guild alchemical experiments causing two-headed lizard babies? Actually the experiments of the lich?

My 2c for a plot would be that the wererat was a servant of the wizard - who vanished around the time of his death. He might have been a wererat then without it being common knowledge.
There could be clues that its a wererat, and perhaps as to who the rat was, that could lead them to the tomb.
The murders are actually at the wizard's command - bringing him various spell components and the like for some vile ritual (TM) going on down there. Possibly he struck a deal with the 'god' that granted him his undead status (avoiding death by old age?), but in exchange he has to free it from magical wards that held it down there. Using the wererat as a proxy, he managed to hire thieves' elsewhere to obtain the 'eye' which is a necessary ingredient in the ritual to free the godling - the wererat then came killed those who knew too much (i.e. local 'thieves guild' people). (So the eye is a McGuffin, but not a 'phylactery' since the wizard isn't a true lich).
The wererat might not be mute, but is geased in some way to not talk about his employment.
He could leave clues to try to break the spell and be freed, perhaps. If the PCs investigate the shipwreck they might find the eye and be hunted by the wererat themselves; investigating thieves' guild murders might show some records of the job there to bring back the eye - perhaps if the thieves were paid in items that once belonged to the dead wizard, for instance, rather than gold.

Wow, this is a lot of great stuff. I already ran the first half of the game, so the tie-in between the wizard's guild and the rat-man (not necessarily a were-rat) is as follows:

The were-rat was a tanner who lost everything. A certain noble sent his son into a futile battle with the lizardfolk. The son died. He got depressed, drank and gambled a lot, and lost all his money to some mobster. Then his wife left him for a traveling potion merchant. The tanner moved here years ago, but when the potion salesman and the noble got into town, he decided to take revenge. Potion salesman was staying at the wizard's guild, Omar the Black (the evil wizard) was there for some reason and the tanner saw him. Then Omar the Black turned him into a monster to keep him quiet. The other two murders were in rat form, and finally the ratman went to his wife with a token with the seal of Erishkagal and omar's name scrawled on either side.

Actually, I did end up mentioning that the lizardfolk were blamed for disappearances. In addition to this, they're mad about the military ship that has shown up by the coast (after the first ship was wrecked). If the party keeps up the diplomatic streak, I figure the lizardmen want the kuo-toa and the navy boat gone, so the party can offer to help with this stuff.

The lighthouse entrance to the Kuo-Toa temple is "guarded" by an Ettercap and some spiders. The ettercap is actually another victim of Omar's. If the party sneaks in and investigates the body of the lighthouse keeper they'll see that he was murdered in a pretty conventional not-ettercappy way.

There's a natural cave entrance carved by a gelatinous cube, but it's underwater and guarded by an assassin vine. The assassin vine might try to drown people and can't be messed with by fire, while it uses pretty lilies to hold people back and prevent them from helping.

And the ocean entrance is guarded by the navy boat. I need more details on their motives I guess.

As for tracking the tides in the dungeon, I put together a side view six squares tall and every hour the tide goes up or down one square. The party has to go through an always sumberged portion with Erishkagal in it to get to Omar the Black (who in this case is a reskinned ogre zombie with no movement limits and spells as a wiz 3).

As for why the eye of Erishkagal was being taken here, I'm saying it does three things.
1) It's a phylactery.
2) If broken it will release Erishkagal from his portion of the dungeon into the ocean, and restore his power.
3) It's powerful in some as yet undefined way.

____________________________________

The party handled the sewers really well. Omar's false tomb was in there, but they skipped it. On their first random encounter (with dire rats) the party druid was able to make the rats lead them to the rat-man's lair, where they found out almost everything about the rat-man's story diplomatically. They were able to get from the sewers to the river, but their torches are all soaked now.

In addition there are secret goals for all the players meant to encourage a bit of a PvP endgame. Everybody seemed cool with the idea. These goals include:

-Bring the eye of Erishkagal back to a contact in town.
-Kill Erishkagal.
-Free Erishkagal (which you can do by breaking the eye)
-Kill Omar (likewise by breaking the eye).
-Earn 200 gp (probably all the treasure there is, so might require stealing)
-Bring the killer to justice.

The druid was about to sneak off into the woods with the rat man tied up, but the session was ending because it was late. She might have changed her mind and might just wait until they go back to town anyway.

Also, people turned down the spare characters idea and we instead went with going back to town and buying resurrection as the way to deal with death. There's still one spare char and the ratman, and NPCs aplenty down the road.