Some way or another, the party should come upon two dead bodies. On the road, they might be in an abandoned carriage stuck in a ditch, or in a dungeon they might be in a corridor somewhere. Along with the bodies are a heavy oaken chest and numerous sacks and bags carried and worn by the two dead men, which contain in total 33,500 GP's worth of gold and jewels.
One of the men has a journal carried in one of his bags - reading it reveals that the two of them are would-be thieves who looted a dragon's hoard, and are looking to return to town with their fabulous wealth. However, it can be discerned from the man's notes that he has been growing increasingly suspicious of his partner over the last three days, suspecting that he intends to make off with the loot for himself instead of splitting it. In fact, a close examination of the body (DC 20 Investigation check) will reveal that both men have daggers buried in them facing each other, apparently having stabbed one another to death about the same time.
In fact, the two thieves were overcome by dragon sickness. When a dragon has sat upon its hoard for long enough, its very essence begins to permeate the gold, and the gold carries with it the creature's greed. In large quantities, the treasure of a dragon's hoard can carry a spiritual affliction that causes one to become covetous and paranoid - sometimes, to monstrous extremes! In the proximity of so much dragon's treasure, the two men began to suspect one another of plotting against them, and, wanting all the money for themselves, killed each other, leaving the loot where they fell.
The treasure still carries the dragon's curse - if anything, the bloodshed has only made it stronger. Any PC who takes a part of the dragon's hoard must make a DC 5 Wisdom save each morning they are in possession of the treasure. The DC increases by 5 each consecutive day they possess the treasure, and by 2 for every 100 GP's worth of treasure they carry. On a failed save, the PC becomes stricken with dragon sickness. They become possessive of their treasure and will begin to suspect everyone around them - including their allies - intends to take it from them.
For maximum fun, inform the afflicted player in private so that the rest of the players don't know what's going on. The player should be encouraged to play their character as unusually greedy, and the DM may veto any actions by a PC afflicted by dragon sickness that they feel are too selfless or altruistic and force the player to pick an alternate course of action.
Even after a PC becomes stricken with dragon sickness, they will continue to make saves every morning if the treasure remains in their possession. Keep track of the results of all saves. If a PC fails three consecutive saves against dragon sickness, they will become violent against their companions. They become an NPC under the DM's control - or, if the table would rather, the player retains control of their character, but must attempt to kill their allies by whatever means are necessary!
An addendum proposed by some of my players: If your table isn't keen on intra-party conflict, an alternative expression for terminal dragon sickness would be to have the affected PC develop a single-minded obsession on the treasure (or perhaps a single item therein), to the point of not wanting to do anything other than marvel at it. Or they might show a suicidal desire to gain wealth, to the point of ignoring danger - for example, walking into an obvious trap if lured by gold.
Dragon sickness can only be cured with a remove curse or similar spell, or by being separated from all objects of any value greater than 1 SP for three consecutive days (a creature with dragon sickness will, of course, never part with their treasure willingly!). However, if they do get rid of the treasure, it may still pass its curse on to others. And even if the party manages to deal with dragon sickness, there is still the possibility the dragon is out there, and looking for where its treasure has gone - after all, these creatures are keenly aware of every coin in their hoards, and will track it to the ends of the earth!
The idea of greed being an infectious sickness goes back to the Volsungsaga and even Celtic myths, and in some stories the person so infected will eventually become a dragon. Often it's a curse actively placed upon a treasure, like how Alberich cursed his ring of power when it was stolen.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point - I don't know why I didn't think of Fafnir. I've seen a lot of people argue that in the book Thorin was simply unable to resist the power that came with wealth and authority, but you are on to something.
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