Its not often you get to pull of the most beautiful heist as a GM, setting the stage, introducing the characters, the pieces, the players and the hook, then walking the entire group through it and then at the very peak, the penny drops and the players just stop and clap.
The Bottle of Magic Wine
The Scene: Blood Rayne, a city under siege, over 100 years, the late teens are bored, they sneak out of the walls and raid the ancient city of undead. The treasure, anything and everything from 100 years ago.
Metal, Glass, Coin, and the rare Book.
But sometimes... bottles of wine.
The Setting: The players have found out, some heroes, have returned with these bottles, and sold them to the taverns. The nice ones get sold to the gentry, the middle road or strange ones get sold by the glass, especially a half filled bottle. So imagine someones surprise when they give it a go for a laugh, and it has an effect on them... magically.
The Stage: The Group find out, a Tavern of reputable class has decided to put on a show this Friday of these rare bottles. Put a price on them to reflect the expected benefits, based on some small rumours or rare taste tests, they want to clarify the menu, and price accordingly. Who better to run this past than those adventurers who risk their lives on the undead streets.
Our Players: Four Heroes, having experienced the outside, approach the tavern, its late, they line up, they gain access, seeing a wide range of patrons and some interesting music. There is a free wine to start, (though, after an entrance fee) and they stand at a barrel-table. The waitress seems to be focused on them, they can't fathom why, but maybe because they seem interested in buying a drink and trying it out.
They Do. Its a strange wine, it messes with their head, but in moments, the walls seem to pulse with colours, the floor seems to pound with circles, but soon they understand the circles emanate from the feet of the patrons. every step, every click of the heel, sets off a small visual disco. "would certainly help a guard out" says one. Potion of Perception it seems
The Waitress approaches them, she's seen they are keen on trying more, and makes a small proposal. There is a gentleman in the tavern, who wants to try out some of the wines, but is not keen on trying it alone. Maybe she could introduce them.
The agree.
The Hook: This gentleman, thinly bearded, fox fur lapels on a green overcoat, Vest, invites them to sit, strange accent for a town of under 10,000, who've been here 100 years, he's interested in trying some drinks, he'll pay for them if they stay and watch, buy them drink if they drink with him.
The group agrees. why not, they get to discover more of the menu, he does the same. a shared experience. He's strangely familiar with them, not much, but just a tad friendlier than a stranger should be. They're a dash wary.
Furthermore, something seems to be bothering him from time to time, and after the drink that makes colours.. there appears to be some kind of animal just outside of their vision at the table.. or near it, or on the couch edge or not.. strange.
The Next drink arrives, they chat about it, it gives off strange vibes and has an effect so banal, I don't even remember it.
Lets up the game, says this fellow.. what was his name? Duke something, an obviously faked name, he orders the 4th more expensive drink on the list.. 6 drinks arrive. stranger and stranger.. yet the group decide to go for it. The drink is 3 intertwined bottles, 3 different liquids come out, mixing in the glass, coalescing into a dark green brew with swirls of dark blue and purple (with occasional sparkles of gold)
They haven't even the understanding that they've drunk the wine, when they awaken, haeds pounding, mind wundering, they are lost to the world and popped back in again, the next morning. The drink has been so potent, they cannot remember a second of what happened.
Two of them are in a pile of trash at the local markets, the other two in an alleyway behind the abbotair.
The first two, make their way back home for a change of clothes.. entering the hold of one, he notices his housemate had done chores twice in a row, not strange, but rather uncommon. things that were eaten yesterday, purchased and replaced, again rare but uncommon.
The second pair, made their way through the markets, and while there, spotted the green cloaked guy.
They approached, he looked at them blankly, a few strange requests, but eventually he understood, they had met at the tavern the last night and lost their memories, had he also, well yes it seemed. He was headed back there again tonight for more information, they would attend too.
He seemed strangely excited.
The arrived at the bar, hours too early for it to be open, in preparation for yet another party. They enquired about the waitress, she was not there yet, but would be, they asked about the drinks, again, yes, the drinks would be available tonight. They took a breather, cheap little tavern nearby, serving soup.
Once the bar opened, people began to filter in, so our lads went in and grabbed a table. The bar was setting up for the party.. but as they did so.. things seemed to be a little too .. whats the word.. on the nose.. I'll get back to that feeling.
The Penny: The bargirl arrived for her shift, they called her over.. she didn't recognise them from last night, but she see's a lot of people, yet last night was 'quiet' for a Thursday..
That word... hmm
The fellow in a green jacket arrives, he's dressed like he did last night, almost perfectly like last night. there is an impression on his shoulder, it promptly changes when being stared at. the Duke sits at a table, orders some drinks, he's just getting started..
and in walks the Duke, dishevelled, looks like he crawled out of a sewer, glances at the 2nd Duke at the table, and turns his head quickly, spots my guys at the table, and hastily makes his way over, grabbing a spot and slides in.
The group is aghast.. 2 of them?
No.. no.. the word.. from above.. Dejavu!
The bargirl is seem talking to the 'fresh' man in green, pointing at the flow of people walking in, they spot 4 men walk in.. its our guys.. from last night.. here now. they walk over to the barrel from last night, the girl approaches, free drinks.. now our lads see, no free drinks offered to other guests.
The bargirl talk again to the greencoat, he places coin in her hand, she invites them over, they sit together.. tasting drinks.. and they watch carefully.. the fancy drink.. it comes out.. they watch intently.. as soon as they drink it.
POOF!
The dissapear!
Everyone in the bar is aghast! OMG.. what happened..
so one of my guys jumps up.. "TADA" he calls out.. the crowd cheers.. awesome.. the potion makes you swap tables! they all cry.. or words to that effect,
Greencoat, exclaims he was as shock as they were 'this morning', but having read such things in a manuscript, was assured it would all work out if they just let things play themselves out.
Much debate was had about using the potion, again, and taking advantage.
Greencoat bought the whole bottle, bowed to the guys and left.. but it wasn't the last they saw of him.
The Reveal
If you haven't worked it out. The potion was time travel. They went back a day, and triggered the events that caused greencoat to go to the tavern, where they met him, and drank the drink that sent them back in time to meet him.. closed the loop.
Its the ONLY time I've successfully pulled off a time loop without having to retcon something major. NOR giving it away before hand. the players discovered what's going on as perfectly timed as possible. their shock matched their characters shock
And I got to introduce a small NPC 'collector of potion knowledge' .
p.s. why alcohol.
Having as much realism as you can in a game means sometime having to break the fantasy rules. Water based elixars won't affect the body as quickly as we like, think coffee, tea, medicines. They take hours to be absorbed and be effective. Also, acids in the gut can destroy many ingrediants before they can take effect, so you need to ingest larger does. Oil based Elixars might protect the ingrediants to get the right dosage, but won't be absorbed until it reaches the intestines. Yet Alcoholic drinks seem to break into the blood so much faster, via the mouth, the throat and the lining of the stomach. So to have a proper and hasty effect a potion needs to be used with alcohol. (yes yes, you can just handwavium with magic, but surely by now you know me)
As a result, all of my fast acting potions have a 1d4 alcohol effect, you can't drink many of them at once, most water based potions are weak and take minutes to hours, or strong potions withs specific effects can take an hour to even start being absorbed.
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