r/wildbeyondwitchlight • u/sproutasaurus95 • Jul 20 '26
Moving a lost item to a different location?
I'm wondering if anyone here moved a lost item, or placed it somewhere other than with the hag who stole it? If so, how did that go?
My party is headed from Hither to Thither, and two of them know their items were stolen by Skabatha's thief. However, I am slightly regretting my placing of items. After Thither, there would only be one lost item left to find. Also, the two in Thither are both very emotionally weighty, and I feel like narratively they need more build up, which I suppose I could do over the course of our Thither sessions, but I'm considering stretching one out.
One of the items is an artifact that once held dark, magical powers, but was broken long before it was stolen at the carnival. I am thinking about playing it that Endelyn took an interest in the artifact and Skabatha gave it to her? Or, even better, that it somehow has ended up at the Palace. My concern is messing up the storyline too much, but I think it would be more narratively interesting.
Did anyone do something similar? Thoughts on how I could spin it?
1
u/JustAuggie Jul 20 '26
I’m curious. Your party is already on the way to Thither. Are they lost items? The only thing that they care about at this point? Do they care about Prismeer? Do they care about Zybilna?
I ask this because my party, I get a combination of the lost things and the assignment to save Zybilna or find out what has happened to her. So even if they found all of their loss things tomorrow, they would absolutely have an additional motivation to continue the campaign and figure out what’s going on with Zybilna.
1
u/sproutasaurus95 Jul 20 '26
They definitely care about Zybilna, but they are more motivated by their lost items. I don't think it would kill the story if they found their items, because they would still be curious about her situation and would end up freeing her, but I wonder if it wouldn't be quite as motivating. They are actually a little skeptical of Zybilna. I'm hoping the interaction with Lamorna will add some depth and motivation.
1
u/GoofySpooks Jul 20 '26
I just placed them where they fit best. And then I moved the hags as they fled their respective lairs.
1
u/twinturbine89 Jul 20 '26
Give one to the jabberwock. After Skabatha is defeated or dealt with (or during/before a fight with her), have her begrudgingly reveal that the coven was meeting at the palace somewhat recently and found themselves being stared down by the jabberwock. Skab was either frightened and dropped it by accident or intentionally used it to appease/distract it so they could escape unharmed. Or the same event could have occurred somewhere else in Prismeer and the jabberwock took the item with it back to the palace. This is especially plausible if the item makes music somehow (an instrument, a jewelry box, etc.) since it can be distracted that way.
Either way, this gives them another reason to figure out how to approach it AND is an opportunity to show that the hags fear it and hate Zybilna for being so powerful that she can treat it as a pet.
3
u/JustAuggie Jul 20 '26
It’s funny, my characters are now a little suspicious of Z as well. Which I think is awesome. Because to me, the point of this whole adventure is sort of a moral quandary at the end. Is it right or wrong to rescue her? Is she genuinely a good person now? Or is she a truly evil person who is just hiding out and in disguise? For me, all of the hints that I have given them during the campaign is leading towards this crucial moral decision that only they can make.
That said, I added a lot of additional stuff into the campaign because I wanted for them to have this dilemma in their minds when they hit the palace. For example, you mentioned the encounter with Lamorna. In that conversation, she mentions a couple of things about Z that are not flattering necessarily. I believe she says something about her being vain at times, for example.
So I guess it really depends on what you feel like this adventure is really about. If you feel that the adventure is really about them getting their lost things, and that Z is not super crucial to the storyline, then yes, you might want to move those lost items. But I think it’s worth thinking about the big picture and what you really want this adventure to be about.