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25 Floating City Adventure Seeds
What time is it? Adventure Seeds time! We’re high in the sky with a Floating City this time around, so come along and enjoy the ride!
I had a ton of fun writing these, and this may have been one of the easiest lists to write. The possibilities of a city that floats through the air are near limitless and I hope I put that to good use! From getting turned upside down, to flying monsters, and economic issues that can occur high up, there should be something for everyone!
The only real assumptions are that it’s a city (or large town), it’s built upon a floating mass of stone, dirt, and other earthy materials, and that it, be it slow or fast, floats through the sky and is not completely stationary.
And now here are the adventure seeds:
- A few days after the city begun floating over the ocean, a large chunk of stone that supports the city broke away and fell into the water for the first time ever. While everyone is grateful that no buildings or people fell in, a panic has begun worrying about if more will break off.
- A herd of migrating skywhales have been coming very close, and as of last night have toppled a tower injuring many. Usually the skywhales migrate in these parts, but they have always gone around the city before.
- The magical orb that sits below the city but powers it has been flickering lately. Just last week the city rumbled as if in an earthquake and titled enough for furniture to slide. The wizard in charge claims he solved it, but small rumbles keep occurring.
- Pirates aboard an airship have shot a warning shot of their cannons and demanded to speak with the leader of the city. When the mayor went out to meet with them, they demanded to speak with the real leader but won’t specify who that is, nor does anyone have any ideas.
- The watchmen noticed that the city is heading directly for a volcano but the arcane controls that can move the city seem to be locked. The wizard who created the controls has since passed and time is running out as her daughter keeps trying to figure out who to unlock them.
- Upon waking up after a city festival, the people have noticed that the city appears to be upside down, with the world above them and the sky below them. Luckily they and their belongings don’t seem to be falling up, but surely this can’t be good in the long run.
- Crystals have started growing out of the stone underneath of the city, emitting a toxic cloud on the world below. The people of the lands below have threatened violence after their crops died but the people of the city are unaware of the crystals altogether.
- On the day of the sky chariot racing, the inspectors caught hairline fractures in the body of the princess’ chariot. Now not only can she not compete, she is furious and is offering a reward for anyone who can figure out who sabotaged her chariot.
- The Pegasus Guards who fly around the city patrolling for incoming dangers disappeared when they went under the city to inspect some noise, and only their pegasi have returned, covered in glowing, infected scars.
- In the underbelly of the city is the jail for criminals as well as an arena. The arena itself has a large hole in the center that leads to a free fall to the ground, and criminals are given the chance to fight against vicious beasts for their freedom in the arena.
- The windmill that converts clouds into drinking water has been broken for weeks and water is becoming an expensive import. Riots are starting the break out, but no one knows how to fix the windmill as the inventor accidentally turned himself to stone.
- A wizard has purchased one of the smaller sky islands that floats along with the city and built a portal to an unknown location. Recently some monsters escaped and got stranded on the small island, now asking for help after initially intimidating the people of the city.
- After flying too low to the mountains, some irritated giants have futilely tried grabbing and pushing back the city. Now a couple giants hold onto the bottom for dear like as it drifts over the ocean just beyond the mountains.
- For the second month of the year, the floating city lands next to another major city and restocks many of its supplies, giving both cities good trade opportunities. Shortages on the ground have the people of the floating city worried about taking off under supplied.
- Angry peasants on the ground catapulted trash into the city after it blocked the sun for a week, causing crops to perish and shrink. The city began dropping the trash back onto the peasants before zooming off.
- The floating city finds itself besieged by wind elementals who claim that the elemental plane of air is messed up from city’s magic. They are demanding that the city land now and not take off again, which is difficult as the city is over a frozen wasteland currently.
- The king pays a dragon with tithes of gold and other treasures to live in a cave below the city and protect it. However, when another dragon came and attacked, the city’s dragon simply left with as much treasure as it could carry, leaving the city to fend for itself.
- Portals have been set up in three major cities that connect to the floating city. Traffic from the portals is overwhelming the flying city, and merchants are being cleaned out and the economy being ruined. Removing the portals is not an option as the magic was tied directly into the magic that keeps the city afloat.
- The city-wide spell that protects from weather has failed, and the sweltering heat of the desert the city flies over causing illness among those in the city. The healers are overwhelmed and the mages frantically work themselves to exhaustion trying to restore the spell.
- Children from a young age are taught magic to slow their fall should they accidentally fall off of the city. After a dare, one of the children jumped off to prove he could do the spell, but now no one can find him on the ground.
- A traveling band of monks have taken to calling the city home lately after having studied near a volcano, in the depths of the ocean, and underground. Their techniques are destructive, but they reason that like the wind they must be unpredictable and uncontrollable to complete their pilgrimage of the four elements.
- Farmers that saw the city float overhead just yesterday woke up to see the entirety of their farms now floating behind the city, and bridges being built out to them. Apparently they have been annexed, and many of the farmers are upset or afraid.
- Harpies have decided to roost at the tops of the highest towers of the floating city. They swoop down at night to pick up an unlucky townsfolk for dinner, and the queen is calling for their extermination and peaceful negotiation failed.
- An observatory has opened in the city to gaze up at the night sky. The mage who built it claims he has invented a telescope that can see into other planes of existence, but won’t let anyone look despite correctly predicting some otherworldly travelers lately.
- A murderous doppelganger has found their way into the city and has begun whittling down the population. The city is currently over the ocean and won’t be near land for at least a week, meaning the city is trapped with a murderer as their numbers dwindle.
As always, please let us know what type of adventure seeds you’d like to see next!
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