Looking for an odd "mission" from the fae

[zenten]

So I'm thinking for the next session to have some sort of "mission" that the changeling PC would be taking up to earn a favour from another fae.  It should be something that the whole group (who's at Submerged level) would be able to get involved in.  One of the PCs is a cop, so it shouldn't be anything illegal.  I'm getting a bit stumped on specifically what to have it be though.

[Quantus]

"Raid a Dragon's Horde" is a good fallback that fits almost anywhere. 

[ery13]

Idea 1: Missing
Can always go the "one of my charges is missing and I can't find them" route.  The Fae is looking for a changeling of theirs (for any number of reasons) but they've gone missing.  Pick any antagonist to be holding them, maybe even a former ally of the group's for high drama.  

Idea 2:
Someone is trying to incite conflict within the supernatural community.  Various incidents that appear to be abusing if not out-right breaking the accords is putting the supernatural community at their throats.  The fae in question is being looked at as the scapegoat (maybe they even look like a goat haha).  They ask a favor/call in a favor to get the group to help them.  

[Haru]

Well it would depend on the fae in question. I do like the trickster kind though, and he could send the team on a completely pointless mission that would still be as dangerous as any real mission.

I remember a donald duck comic, where he was send to deliver a package over a certain route, only to later discover, that he was carrying spice samples for an add and he was travelling along the "spice route" which was what the whole thing was about.

Your trickster could send the gang on an equally "important" mission, to go somewhere and retrieve any harmless item, but spread the rumor, that they are returning an item of great power for him to rule all of faery. If the rumour is spread far enough, the wrong persons would know about it and send teams of their own.

He might even provide them with "great weapons" that he hands them very ceremonially, only it later turns out the sword is made from cardboard (and glamoured to appear real), the "bow that doesn't need arrows" does indeed not need them, but it doesn't fire anything whatsoever, and so forth.

Edit:
I would like to call this mission "just in thyme"...

[wyvern]

Pizza delivery.  To somewhere in the nevernever.  Must arrive within thirty minutes.

[devonapple]

One point that was brought up in the "Narrative Control" podcast is that the Fae use human agents (usually their Knights, but other "mortals" or Changelings would do) to do things in human society which are - to the Fae - unfathomable or risky. This doesn't have to be raiding dragon hoards. It can involve working against rival Accord Signatories, weakening opponents, navigating tricky elements of human society to gain an advantage which they themselves could not achieve owing to their peculiar mindsets.

It's easy to play the Fae as superior to humans in every way, but holding back some knowledge from them, and making it incumbent upon the Fae to recruit mortals to figure out the "fiddly bits," can give the players opportunities which aren't always smash-and-grab or termination contracts.

[Quantus]

Acquire a large supply of Fae contraband (Iron) and deliver it to an unseelie agent in the NN?

[tetrasodium]

- bring a large quantity of fertilizer to a place of the fae's choosing... likely to be distributed by minions or something mundane, but enough  fertilizer to get the players added to a list somewhere and potentially be an issue if they have collateral damage issues in the future.
-going on the iron/contraband example someone mentioned... Bring a number of steel jacketed rounds, some ceramic guns.  Maybe some gloves of some sort for loading them. Likewise it's a purchase that is likely to attract addition to a list somewhere

[zenten]

- bring a large quantity of fertilizer to a place of the fae's choosing... likely to be distributed by minions or something mundane, but enough  fertilizer to get the players added to a list somewhere and potentially be an issue if they have collateral damage issues in the future.
-going on the iron/contraband example someone mentioned... Bring a number of steel jacketed rounds, some ceramic guns.  Maybe some gloves of some sort for loading them. Likewise it's a purchase that is likely to attract addition to a list somewhere

The problem is that one of the PCs is a cop with a high contacts and a stunt that boosts to police related rolls.  So "will get you in trouble with the cops" isn't a big issue for him, assuming he's OK with it in the first place.

[Lanir]

Lots of good ideas here. Another style that hasn't quite come up is the "deceptively simple request".

It all starts out sounding so innocent. The fae wants you to water a tree. Well, that shouldn't be hard, right? Just get a cup or something and... But wait, it's a specific tree. A bonzai tree. From a specific monastery in Japan. That's hundreds of years old. It's entire life it's only been watered by specifically consecrated water. The fae wants you to dump plain old tap water on it. The thing just happens to be in town for the week. And did I forget to mention it was guarded..?

The basic way to structure stuff like this is snowball it and let the characters find out the details along the way as much as possible.  Like a snowball, by the time you're done just about anything can end up lumped in. Just have to make sure you don't put too many layers in and lose your players.

[UmbraLux]

So I'm thinking for the next session to have some sort of "mission" that the changeling PC would be taking up to earn a favour from another fae.  It should be something that the whole group (who's at Submerged level) would be able to get involved in.  One of the PCs is a cop, so it shouldn't be anything illegal.  I'm getting a bit stumped on specifically what to have it be though.

Do you have any city aspects usable for inspiration?  What about the fae's aspects?  What does it want?

Some general things a fae might want from humans / other supernaturals:

• handling anything to do with iron...possibly removing it from the fae's demesne, possibly having a weapon created in secret...
• acquiring some information from the human world - whether it's crunching numbers better done on a computer or delving into a library the fae doesn't have access to
• finding out information on another fae - following / spying on them, research, or simply questioning people in a way the other fae can deny responsibility for

[tymire]

Have them go to a baseball game and say to the people in Section 112 seats 13 and 14 that  "Camels have 3 eyelids, but 1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue" during the 7th inning stretch and leave without talking to anyone else.

[tetrasodium]

Have them go to a baseball game and say to the people in Section 112 seats 13 and 14 that  "Camels have 3 eyelids, but 1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue" during the 7th inning stretch and leave without talking to anyone else.

That's just evil 

[tymire]

Imo too often we give critters logical reasons for the things they want done.  Too often folks forget that fey are NOT human, who knows what they want?   

[devonapple]

So now that we've helped out with a bunch of "why" suggestions, here are some examples of odd requests.

Switch a pair of identical dogs owned by identical twins who never met.
Retrieve the last cigarette butt to be swept out of [insert local stadium here] after a serious home team loss, and give it to [insert odd NPC]. Then make sure the last one has a piece of gum stuck to it, and decide whether the addition makes it invalid.
Hug your state Senator.
Make sure a particular deli passes an upcoming health inspection. The deli has no obvious tactical, supernatural or political value.
Rescue someone who will drown in [insert body of water here] in the next week. Don't give an actual day or time.