building a headquarter

[Haru]

So my initial sessions with my group went rather well. We got a scope of what lies ahead and what the characters are going to have to deal with.
In short:
A cult of humans and lesser Fomor has tricked the PCs into freeing one of the Fomor heroes, Grolgam the Awaker. They learned that quite a large number of Fomor heroes have been put into a magic sleep, so they could be revived one day. The cult has taken over a few businesses around the globe, where they can easily transform their slaves and get resources and such. The group is stumbled upon one of those and found possible locations of a few more. Since two wardens were part of the cult, they wanted to have the wizard take the fall for the ritual that broke the prison. He got away, of course, but now he is cut off from the white council. Faced with an enemy of this magnitude and their own allies hunting them, the players decided to build up their own group made up mostly of minor powers, werewolfs, focused practitioners and the likes, to have enough power to fight and finally clear their name. I have even thought about giving the wizard the opportunity of becoming a freeholding lord, but I have not yet told the player that. One step at a time.

Now the players had the idea to have an old boarding school as their headquarter in the long run. There is one not far from us, which was the inspiration for it, with a gymnasium and a church attached for the angel-turned-human character and so on, brilliant idea. There is only one catch: I want them to earn it.

At the moment they are planning their first strike against one of the facilities, to free a large chunk of lesser magical folk and hit the cult where it hurts. After that, they are going to go for the boarding school.

I am planning to put all kinds of hurdles in there for them. For one, I want to have a ghost there (or a couple?), that is strong enough to have fought of the demolition of the boarding school. It was supposed to be cut down multiple times already, but there was always so much trouble, it just didn't work, so now it just sits there and rots.

But what else could get in their way before they can start settling down? You got any cool ideas?

[Sanctaphrax]

How about a partial collapse of the building? It's dangerous, it's realistic, and it provides a challenge that isn't just a direct physical threat.

Does anyone in your group specialize in Craftsmanship?

[Haru]

Well not really specialized, but the angel guy is certainly handy enough. And if they have to get some help, that's not the worst thing. I'll put that in. I had already though about electricity and water they'd have to connect again, but having part of the building collapsed will certainly be a whole new level of challenge. I like it, thank you.

Any more?

[Taran]

Maybe  a tunnel in the basement... leading to something unpleasant?  Or a well...

[Quantus]

Fun!

There are the practical issues with renovating a dilapidated building: reconnecting utilities, general repairs, structural issues, pest control, landscaping overgrowth, etc.  There are the supernatural issues, like a collection of ghosts, perhaps a fae that may have laid claim to some portion of the grounds (sacred Tree/grove, etc) or an elemental of some kind could be neat.  It may have borders/entrances to something's Undertown territory, borders/Ways to something's NN territory, or some transient supernatural group that uses it as a way-station and does not know or like that somebody else has laid claim to it.  Also there are going to be costs associated with setting up a base:  food and weapon stores, fortifications (ie Wards and alarms of magical or mundane construction), maybe even a brownie cleaning service. 

I am reminded of a recent news report where a sinkhole opened up in a guys house just big enough to drop a the sleeping occupant of one bedroom.  Tragic, but also creepy and supernatural sounding.

[cold_breaker]

Don't get too complicated though: it sounds forced. Why not try some external threats? Stuff they'd have to deal with regardless of their choice of lodging? Perhaps they need to take hold of the building legally! Good news, no one holds the deed. It was lost and only a dead man knows what happened to it... Also, perhaps you drop the hint to them that they'll need to ward it against detection - especially from the Fomor - and there's X ingredient that the spell wont be complete without.

[Taran]

Speaking of brownies...

If you have some kind of "little folk" who use all or part of the building,d epending on how they deal with these folks, it could turn into a huge head-ache, or if done right, a huge boon.

[Sanctaphrax]

There's a homeless guy squatting there. Just an ordinary guy who's down on his luck.

He doesn't plan to leave, and the PCs probably aren't willing to kill him. So he might actually be tricky to remove.

[Quantus]

They just have to win over the ghosts first, then crank up the creepy vibe of the place until he doesnt feel safe there anymore.  Or, you know, repell a zombie attack.  Zombie hoards tend to drive people to relocate pretty well too

[Haru]

Hmm, the tunnel idea is nice. I could even place some fae or other creature in there. Or a permanent access to the nevernever? Securing the other side would certainly be important.

A fae on the grounds is a nice addition as well. I could have a sylph or a nymph (or multiple) guarding a giant old tree. Some brownies are also nice, and I really like to play brownies.

The homeless guy can really add some spin. Like you say, killing is (should be) off the table, so it could get interesting. Then again, he might know a lot about the grounds, so they could hire him, if they get him on their side.

I don't think I'd let them win over the ghost. I'm thinking of an Agatha Hagglethorn vindictive/mad sort of ghost. The old sadistic headmaster and his victims, things like that.

Legal measures are going to be tricky already, yes. They can't really use their own names, because the white council might be from yesterday, but they are not stupid.

And without a threshold at first, there is only so much they can do in terms of wards. The adjacent church might help with that, but only as a supernatural bomb shelter.


I don't plan to put all this against them from day one, but introduce it gradually, as they expend their efforts both on their headquarter and in the offensive. It would just be boring if everything went without at least a bit of resistance. And if some ideas get left out along the way, that's fine as well, but better to have them and not need them and so forth...

Thanks everyone. Though if you happen to have more ideas, post away

[Taran]

Thinking about the well...instead of, or in addition to, the tunnel.

If there water source for the complex is a well, and said water source is poisonned by...something...they may have to go down there to fix it.  It would make an interesting and very tricky portal/creature to deal with...

[Quantus]

Random thought:  during a warden/magic-user raid, they have to use the dilapidated sprinkler system to ground out magic, but only if they have put the effort into some of the basic/mundane renovations.

Does the church also have its own cemetery plot?