The local lord (for maximum player engagement, this should be a noble the PCs have worked with before, and one they have a positive rapport with) has had a problem dealing with poachers in the woods on his estate. Like many nobles, he owns a tract of wilderness that he uses for his hunts, but as of late, guards have reported seeing figures flitting between the trees and bushes, and spent arrows have been found scattered among the ground and in the tree trunks. What brought things to a head was when a deer was found dead, with arrows sticking out of its flank - apparently, it was wounded, but got away, only to succumb to its injuries, proving that poachers were afoot. This is, of course, a gross violation of the lord's noble privileges, and he intends to see this devious act punished.
Depending on your party's relationship with the lord, they may be personally invited to deal with the poachers, or they may hear of the problem secondhand, either through wanted posters set up in the area or rumors from NPCs. Whatever the case, they should find out that the lord has promised to reward such service handsomely. Anyone who manages to apprehend the poachers will be knighted, with all the privileges that entails - in addition to receiving more social clout, the PCs will be granted a manor house, which may prove useful as a base of operations for further adventures.
However, if the PCs enter the lord's woods and track down the poachers, they will be able to do so easily - a DC 10 Survival check is all that is needed to find tracks from boots and trace them to their source (you can also add additional encounters in the woods while the PCs are following the trail, if you want to throw in more complications). But there, they will discover the truth.
The poacher, as it turns out, is a poor, starving peasant - again, this encounter will work best if this is a preestablished NPC the party has a good relationship with, so they have good reasons for aiding either side. He explains that this has been a bad harvest for him, and he barely has enough food to support his family. But a holiday feast is coming up, and his relatives are visiting. He knew that he wouldn't have enough to feed all of them, and sought to poach game from the lord's woods to fill his larder. The poacher admits to his crime, but begs the PCs not to turn him in, stating that it was desperation that drove him to such lengths.
Now the party has a choice. They could turn the poacher in to the lord and seek the reward, or they could heed his pleas and let him go free. Both options have consequences that will impact the PCs' relationships with the world around them. If they let the poacher go free, the lord will spurn them as ineffectual, and will not seek their aid in the future, potentially costing the PCs their access to a powerful patron; he may even spread the word of their failures, making it harder for them to ingratiate themselves with other nobles. But, on the flip side, if the poacher is turned in, he will decry the PCs as cruel and greedy, and place a curse upon their estate, causing bad luck to fall on the manor and those who inhabit it - accidents will keep happening around the fief, things will go missing, crops will fail, and servants will be afflicted with malaise and disease.
The optimal solution may be to try and convince the lord to show mercy on his people, and to deal with whatever famine caused such acts in the first place. But that might not be so easy, either...
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