Not much to say here so let’s skip to the meat of the post…

I’ve gone with the alternate theme Tribute today.

Historically a tribute has meant a “payment made periodically by one state or ruler to another, especially as a sign of dependence.”

In my campaign I made use of a bit of lore for Mintarn from The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide involving the dragon Hoondarrh, the Red Rage of Mintarn.

The lore specifically spoke of a yearly tribute that the Red Rage demanded from the people of Mintarn.

The party of adventurers were hired to guard the small fishing town of Queen’s Cove contribution to the tribute as it was sent to Mintarn. On the way they were attacked by sahuagin who were trying to steal the contribution. An attack they successfully repelled.

In Mintarn the party of adventurers ended up being asked “nicely” to escort the whole tribute to the home of the Red Rage on a nearby island by the Tyrant of Mintarn.

A bigger sahuagin raiding party tried stealing the tribute whilst it was at sea. After a very very close battle on board the groups ship they defeated the sahuagin, and delivered the tribute.

Once back at Mintarn the party were rewarded with some magic items.

I liked how I used the tribute as a plot device. It worked really well. It’s certainly one I’d return to in the future.