So, here's the situation: There are two protagonists, Arin and Boris, one of them an old monster hunter, and the other a 15 year old mage... Seems fun, right? Without boring you by going in detail, here's the plot: They need to find a woman, a mage, reason, unknown (to the reader). They'se so far tracked her to a destroyed village, where they killed a monster (not beautiful, I'll tell ya that much), and no sign of her. They notice a Manor-type house, also ravaged and destroyed as the village, and go there because it's on a nearby Hill... Here's the problem: I want them to come across her there, but I don't know how. Making them enter a spooky mansion would maybe be too much of a cliché. What do you guys think? Maybe it would be more interesting of they instead find more tracks... (The Woman set off the monsters on this village accidentally through magic, and destroyed... Again, accidentally, while preforming some kind of a ritual) P.S: This is Dark Fantasy.
Where exactly did she summon the monsters? If they came out of the mansion, they could have left tracks and signs of their passage. The protagonists could follow those backwards to find out where the monsters came from.
That's clever... Hmm, do you think it's better if they find her now)(uncovering the "end of the world" type scenario, but on a much lower scale), or should they just find tracks (maybe a portal distortion that they could track)... I play this to be a novel, and I am just beginning (5,000 words...), so I am opting for the latter...
You said the reader still doesn't know why they want to find her. If you're 5K words in, I think it's time to set up at least the basics of what they're trying to do and give the reader a general idea of where the plot is heading. That doesn't mean they need to find her, though--their reactions to the distortion, combined with the earlier monster fight, could show why they need to track her down.
In her youth, the mage brought an exotic cat, I'm thinking a Siamese, back from her travels. A portrait exists, of her with the cat and kittens, but the protagonists haven't seen it yet. The party encounter a farmer harvesting a potato patch on the sunny side of that Hill. "He" trades them some roasted potatoes in exchange for their labor in gathering firewood. Maybe he also provides information or is otherwise instrumental in their quest. Three skinny noisy cats yowl at them all the while they're gathering the firewood, and the party is pleased to see the last of the cats as they leave. They kill the monster. They see the portrait at the Mansion. They say, "...hey, wait a minute..."
Ooh, that sounds very interesting as well. I'll find a way to incorporate that idea surely... Maybe not exactly that, but something simillar indeed. Thanks for responding
Well, I would have to agree the mansion feels a bit cliche, but also random. Why is he wherever she is? That's the important thing. Whatever she's doing should decide where she is, if the location doesn't matter much. What is her life like? What is she like? Those are also considerations, I think.
Feels like Dracula's mansion Maybe they KNOW that she's likely in the city, and the derelect mansion just happens to stand out to them after they check out the city
What do you like about spooky mansions and what do you not like? That's how I try to keep things from being cliche. Take the parts you like and add onto them and take the parts you don't like and get rid of them. If you like cobwebs keep them, maybe even add a giant spider. If you don't like cobwebs get rid of them. If you like ghosts keep them, if you don't vacuum them up.
They know she is in the village, not a city. And I got this idea so far: She came to the village because it's a place with high magic energy. Of course, the villagers didn't let her, being scared that she would unleash monsters (they were damn right). She moved to a derelict mansion, and did her experiments there... Now, this village was once a medium sized city that was destroyed, which explains the mansion. Now, I'm wondering should they find her in there, or not... Being in there means that I immediately go to the main plot, but making her be somewhere else would make it so that I have a bit more time to explain the whole situation... I am opting for the latter currently.
I think the portal distortion idea is interesting. I also like the old industrial facility idea; maybe they could find the distortion somewhere in the shadows of the facility, and track her from there. Also, how are they tracking her? Sight? (Physical tracks, bent leaves, etc) Or a psychic kind of tracking? (Here's where the portal idea might be useful, if the portal works on some kind of mental wavelength.) Or do either of the main characters have heightened senses? Using something unconventional might be good.
Thank you all for responses! @Wolf McFadden: They are tracking her physicaly, thanks for responding. @Toomanypens Yes, that's the plot I'm going with right now. Just gotta figure out what they find that belongs to her, and I'll start writing... Tomorrow, of course, it's 11 PM right now... Thank you all, I have a pretty good idea on what to write.
