Crimon was a thief from a small town located near the capital city of Neverwinter. A number of years ago, during a visit to Neverwinter, he was bitten by a rather ugly creature. The initial changes were painful and frightening. Fearful of being discovered, he decided to leave town and head for the hills. During the next full moon, he fell unconscious because of the gut ranching pain... only to awaken as a wererat!
With time, he grew increasingly repulsive of the bright light in the real world and found solace in an abandoned cave. After several months, he was able to control the morphing process better. Although he remained in his human form most of the time, he has learned to change form at will (automatically when provoked). A small nest of dire rats soon joined him and the brood has been growing ever since. As the rodent community multiplied, they dug deeper and deeper into the cave and created two levels of tunnels which they called home.
Embolden by his wererat ability, Crimon grew more vicious and became the leader of the pack. He also decided to expand his little empire. A few months ago, the expansion party broke through a dirt wall that led to Frans' abandoned cellar. The stockpile of food found in Frans' cellar allowed Crimon to grow his army easily within a short time!
The wererat leader now lived comfortably in a central cavern located in the lower level, leaving the dire rats army to scavenge for food daily from the cellar. Some of the dire rats has tried to attack Bennay when she went to the cellar to fetch new food supply. In the last year, Crimon has begun attacking small group of unsuspecting travelers resting near the cave, and had collected a small sum of gold and interesting items.
Your player are now faced with the option to explore the underground tunnel through the crevice in Frans' basement. He/she will eventually face the wererat.
The player met the short man and thought nothing of it, suspecting him to be a druid, or some man with the ability to communicate with rats.
Crimon was really upset about the Adventurer standing in front of him, as the Player has just killed his brood of vermin! Hence, whatever conversation there was did not proceed very far.
No matter what option the player pick from the conversation thread, Crimon soon grew tired of the charade, and called for the 2-3 dire rats that were still alive and commanded them to charge at the players.
When Crimon's HP dropped below 20, he changed into a wererat! The player finally realized that the rat problem was caused by Crimon.
Even though Crimon was rather short as a human being, after he turned into a wererat, he grew larger, and more ferocious. Use you imagination here: the wererat and Crimon (the human) can have different HP altogether and different size (e.g., from "1, 1, 1" to "1.2, 1.2, 1.2".)
As a boss, Crimon shouldn't be too difficult to defeat. Remember the motivational hooks, and use them. You want the player to feel they can succeed at this. After all, Crimon is only the firsy BOSS!
When Crimon is killed, the player will discover the hidden stash (and some experience points). There will be a small sum of gold, and a few special items like serious healing potions. There are two unique items in the stash: (1) Crimon's personal diary, and (2) a special bejeweled ceremonial dagger. (The dire rats had found the dagger during the excavation. Unbeknown to Crimon, this is actually a key to the ancient catacomb in the vicinity.)
Even though Crimon no longer keep a diary as a wererat, the last few entries contained the account of how he became infected with the lycanthrope disease. The player will learned about the chance encounter between Crimon and the first wererat during his fateful visit to the noble district at Neverwinter.
Once the wererat is defeated, the player can report back to Frans and Bennay for a small reward. However, one might wonder: What happen to the first (alpha) wererat? Since it was found at the noble district, does it mean the alpha wererat is a noble? Or perhaps it has been hiding in the sewer of the noble district within the capital?
What about the ceremonial knife? Will the player find the section of the wall with loose rocks that will reveal the entrance to the underground catacomb? What will the player found when he/she insert the ceremonial knife into the slot on the wall of the inner sanctum? What evil or treasure will be revealed?
I hope all these suggestions would sound exciting enough to be the beginning of a larger story waiting to be finished.
Now that you have completed the tutorials, you have earned the rights (and the skills) to finish it.
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