User:Quincy/Mercenary Jobs

Inspired by 100 Adventure Ideas, this is a list of adventure ideas specifically for a mercenary campaign. A few names and other details are scattered about here and there, but mostly it's up to the referee to decide how it plays out.

1. Billy Bob, a local farmer, is offering 10 gold pieces, hot meals, and a keg of good ale to whoever can find and kill the black-scaled creature which has been killing his cattle.
2. The filibuster Frederick Smith is looking for unscrupulous warriors to join an unauthorized expedition to a neighboring country that's in the midst of a revolution. Anyone who joins in gets a share of not just the loot, but a portion of any land seized from either the rebels or the government.
3. Local townspeople have said "enough is enough" and are offering 500 gold pieces for the head of their corrupt sheriff.
4. The local temple is offering 2,000 gold pieces and a blessing for the return of a holy relic recently stolen by thieves.
5. An enormous raiding party of orcs is ravaging the land. The military isn't prepared to fight them and is growing desperate. Mercenaries are offered 300 gold pieces up front for signing on, plus extra upon completion of special assignments.
6. The trolls who live in the nearby forest are hungry and multiplying! 1000 gold is promised for each acid- or fire-damaged troll head.
7. Sir Gerald the Valiant has sold his worldly possessions to fund a crusade against the enemies of his faith. Crusaders are paid 8 gold pieces a day, plus living expenses.
8. Lady Emeline is offering vague but impressive-sounding favors to anyone who finds and returns to her a painting which has been in her family for generations. Complicating things is that the painting is inside the castle of a rival to her family, who has a legitimate legal claim to the painting.
9. Freya the barbarian is offering 800 gold pieces for the head of a frost giant. She needs it to help settle a friendly bet.
10. Marshal Wilson is offering 15,000 gold pieces for the live capture of Randolf the Bloody, a notorious fugitive from justice who slew twelve of the marshal's best men.
11. Elizabeth the Black needs mercenaries to find a magical orb for her inside an undead-infested cave.
12. Chester the shopkeeper needs some muscle to protect him from heavily-armed gangsters.
13. A general is offering a whopping 80,000 gold pieces for the return of a set of highly-classified and magically encrypted blueprints. "Don't you dare tamper with them," he says. "Because I will know."
14. The city's hiring mercenaries for an ambitious municipal-cleaning project. The mercenaries are tasked with exterminating any and all threats to public health or sanitation they come across; this includes goblins and other murderous lowlifes in the slums, oozes and wererats in the sewers, and more. Experience in guerrilla warfare is desirable but not required.
15. A party of diplomats wants "security" forces for important peace talks between two warring nations. In truth, the diplomats aren't the least bit interested in peace, and covertly intend for the mercenaries to assassinate a political liability on some manufactured pretense.
16. Privateers are planning a massive assault on a big, fat merchant ship laden with valuable goods. They need a number of hardy souls with martial inclinations to help bring down the merchant's escort and out-fight the battle-hardened marines on board... All without doing too much damage to the prize itself.
17. A haggard, visibly crazed man who refuses to give his name is screaming about a strange creature whose description matches no monster ever seen before. It's hard to tell what, exactly, he wants done, but he is paying 2,500 gold pieces in gems up front.
18. Morgane, an animated clockwork girl, is offering 600 gold pieces and a magic ring for the safe return of her father.
19. A ghost wants the remains of its mortal body brought back to its resting place and the graverobbers responsible brought to justice.
20. Two rival warriors' guilds are both recruiting mercenaries off the books to sabotage each other's businesses under the veil of plausible deniability.
21. A mining company seeks mercenaries to protect its personnel and equipment from raiding primitive tribes.
22. There's a 3,000 gold piece bounty on Bernard the expriest, a foul villain wanted for murder, blasphemy, and dabbling with black magic.
23. There's a 400 gold piece bounty on Nora the Red for acts of banditry and wanton vandalism.
24. There's a 1,000 gold piece bounty on Jamie Jameson for killing three men in a family feud.
25. There's a 2,300 gold piece bounty on Claudia the alchemist, a woman who's wanted for fraud, smuggling, grossly negligent business practices, murder by poison, and trafficking in stolen goods.
26. There's a 10,000 gold piece bounty on an ogre berserker going by the name "Og", who is said to have flown into a rage and completely obliterated an inn which refused him service, killing everyone within 100 feet in the process.