I've seen multiple people suggest Schrödinger's Alicorn - where it simultaneously exists in all the locations until the players actively search for it.
If you want to build up the horn's importance, feel free to seed rumours and hints among NPCs.
For example, I purposely expanded the Legaue of Malevolence's involvement in the story, having Kelek and Warduke arrive at Brigand's Tollway while the players were trying to sneak around. After all, if anyone in Prismeer would know where a stolen unicorn horn might be, who better to ask than the Brigand King of Prismeer?
This was sort of the route I was planning on going, just to keep options open, but we'll see I guess lol. I really like that idea of using the NPCs to build up its importance. Especially since they get a little hint about it from Mr. Light right before entering Prismeer and then hear basically nothing about it until meeting Lamorna in Thither.
I added Foxfingers from the original League at the Inn. They're now with the group until somewhere in Downfall. If they get the horn, Foxfingers is going to try to turn them over to Gullop for attacking Bullywug knights when they showed up in Prismeer.
Unfortunately Foxfingers has not seen the powers of the group, so I expect they will make a play for Gullop and force Foxfingers to flee to Zarak in Thither. I plan to gather League strength along the way.
I moved it around. First it was in Trinket, Bauble, and Charm's in Downfall. If they didn't buy it there, it was stolen at some point by Wyll and moved to Thither. If they still didn't get it, then it was used as a prop in the plays being performed in Yon.
I tried to keep it hidden in plain sight. I had the high level plan I described above but honestly it was like 50/50 art and science. Just kinda adapting its location to where I thought would be most relevant and fun in the moment and used the plan as a guide post.
I really like the idea of the horn moving around! It makes it kind of like a secret B-plot happening in the background that the PCs don't realize is influencing their story.
They eventually figured it out when they got to Yon.
I wouldn't say my group is always the most observant so I'm not surprised they got so far in before realizing but I think it was more fun that way because when they pieced it all together they realized they had seen it so many times before and were kicking themselves.
I've literally given the unicorn horn to Clapperclaw as a walking stick.
I've made reference to his walking stick numerous times and it's not clicked yet; he's even revealed that he got it from around the wayward pool when fleeing Loomlurch.
They've yet to make it into Loomlurch proper, so maybe it'll click eventually.
This group has set up camp, about 250 feet from the shore of the lake (I know the book says 1000 but we fudged it a bit), tried to move closer to the shore only to be turned around and denied any way of even touching the water.
One day, they were coming back to the camp and I gave them this, "as you approach the camp you notice wet little footsteps leading up to Clapperclaw, who has leaned his walking stick nearby while toweling himself off after a dip which presumably happened in a nearby body of water."
This just 15 minutes after spending time being turned around and nothing clicked. LMAO.
Honestly, Skylla is possibly the best place for the alicorn.
However, I did run it that Trinket, Bauble, and Charm stole it while they were in Downfall (and had it when the party visited them, but didn't have it out for sale), then while the party is in Thither, they fly to Yon and deliver it to Skylla.
Oh I like this one. My players are still relatively new to D&D so I've been finding ways to help them along (without being too railroad-y) especially when it comes to info dumping so this would be helpful.
My current plan as they will be in Downfall in 2ish sessions.
Hither: Trinket, Bauble, and Charm’s (good chance they will get it since one of the characters willingly continues their “love for unicorns” Fey pact)
Thither: I have an NPC in the Underdark (fairy circles) that will give it in exchange for helping them. (Long story)
Yon: if it somehow makes it this far, I will use Skylla’s prompt
IMO the Alicorn McGuffin is pointless, pun intended, and you should have it just be to rescue Elidon. The activation of the cauldron could be as simple as all the players putting their lost thing in it and having the magic of friendship unfreeze time.
If you’re not going to go with that, Players hate backtracking, so I recommend before Chp 3 Thither.
That could be dark for my campaign since only one player decided to do a lost thing...and it's his characters little brother haha.
But that sounds great for other campaigns as a work around!
That's a cool idea! Adds in some heroic sacrifice and makes the whole adventure a little more bittersweet. I could definitely have something like that in my back pocket because I blended the Lost Things and Warlock Quest story hooks at the beginning.
My players just found it with will of the feywild. I thought the unicorn costume route was hilarious, now getting them to convince a “teenager” to part with an essential piece of a costume they use is going to be the game.
I kinda love when things are built up only for it crash with little pay off. Makes it better when there is pay off! Plus it’s funny. The horn you were told you absolutely needed, thought would be a big quest? Yeah some teenager glued it to a costume.
It was one of the suggested locations in the book too.
My players found it in a mud pit in Hither not long after they arrived. The LoM and Agdon are after it, and someone just stole their bag of holding. Guess where the horn is?!
I’ve placed mine at the peak of Motherhorn. It was originally with Bav but got stolen by Charm during the Hither arc.
My group is big on murdering hags, so I’m using the unicorn horn as a Endelyn power-up to give her some chance. She’s incorporated it into her Orrery machinery whereupon it enhances her prognostication powers significantly. As long as it’s there, she gets much higher AC, layer actions, legendary resistances. Also, so long as it’s there, I can reasonably counter any plan my party makes as having been predicted by her. Since the last two hags were eliminated easily by hatching cockamamie plans, I’m forcing their hand at improv against this one.
Right before they entered Hither, my players basically all agreed that they were going to kill the hags, which I find hilarious because two of them have never played the game and the other two have only run a couple of my one-shots, so I'm loving the confidence at the moment. But this is an excellent idea for beefing up Endelyn!
I made a unicorn headband a prize at the carnival, then after occasionally drawing attention to the fact that the horn on the headband was a little too heavy they discovered it's a real horn right around the Thither mark.
I put mine in the shop that Trinket and Bauble have with a sign that said “Totally Real Unicorn Horn”. My players, who dont know they need the horn yet, were slightly intrigued but the cost to buy it was to give up something they valued dearly so they didnt get it.
I hope later when they realize they need it theyll remember the two idiot merchants who had one
Like a lot of folks have said, I also had it exist in multiple places at once.
I also put it in places that weren't on the list when I felt like finding it would feel like a reward (I have given them a lot of fun toys since levelling up is so spread out) to their past actions. For example: after having a run in with Bavlorna the party went through her horde room and found the bronze frog statue- since there were no lost items to be acquired in Hither (we had a player bow out early) I gave them a disembodied voice asking them what they desire with full intention to hand it over if it came to mind. They didn't think of it so on to the next location - haha.
That's why it works better to just roll the die and let it be where ever that lands? Trying to plan for what players will do is ridiculous. Put it where the die roll says, use the information from the book on how the players end up knowing it's there and go with it, would by my advice from a DM who is about to have his players enter the Palace of Heart's Desire with the horn?
I put it at Trinket, bauble & charm's, but not as an item for sale.
I had it powering the storm cloud. My thinking was that when the players realised they needed it, it could lead to a cool (possibly airborne) heist.
Sadly, real life happened and the campaign had to end before we got that far.
I'm toying with making Lamorna Elidons daughter rather than his wife. Lost/abandoned children is a running theme in my campaign. But also that gives me both a father unicorn and a mother unicorn, so I can have two horns at play just in case.
Skylla 100% has one, and might trade the horn with the players if they make a deal with Endelyn to change her appearance so she can shed herself of the League for good.
But I can have the second floating around so Elidon can also be saved potentially. I'd either have it with Wyll's costume or at Trinket Bauble and Charm.
So while everyone is here answering the 'where', I have a question that more deals with the 'how' and 'why'... My players have the Alicorn now (got it in Hither) and they sort of understand just how important it is. Even without meta knowledge, it is universally understood in the D&D world that Unicorn Horns are hella-powerful.
However, they are getting ready to get to Thither, and if they find the Unicorn mare that was transformed into the hobby horse and re-attach his horn, then what are they going to do when they get to the Palace at the end?
Yes, the cauldron can be broken with a flame or frost brand sword, but that also makes Tasha angry when she gets un-frozen. So, how best to do both?
Another commenter on this post suggested having the characters toss their “lost things” into the cauldron (if you used the lost things hook) which was a suggestion I thought was pretty cool. Adds in a self-sacrificing, heroic moment for the PCs and makes the ending a little more bittersweet.
I put it in Trinket and Bauble’s shop, but I'm assuming they *aren't* going to buy it there, so when they encounter Skylla, they'll see that she paid the price for the horn and she has it now
I've seen multiple people suggest Schrödinger's Alicorn - where it simultaneously exists in all the locations until the players actively search for it. If you want to build up the horn's importance, feel free to seed rumours and hints among NPCs. For example, I purposely expanded the Legaue of Malevolence's involvement in the story, having Kelek and Warduke arrive at Brigand's Tollway while the players were trying to sneak around. After all, if anyone in Prismeer would know where a stolen unicorn horn might be, who better to ask than the Brigand King of Prismeer?
This was sort of the route I was planning on going, just to keep options open, but we'll see I guess lol. I really like that idea of using the NPCs to build up its importance. Especially since they get a little hint about it from Mr. Light right before entering Prismeer and then hear basically nothing about it until meeting Lamorna in Thither.
I added Foxfingers from the original League at the Inn. They're now with the group until somewhere in Downfall. If they get the horn, Foxfingers is going to try to turn them over to Gullop for attacking Bullywug knights when they showed up in Prismeer. Unfortunately Foxfingers has not seen the powers of the group, so I expect they will make a play for Gullop and force Foxfingers to flee to Zarak in Thither. I plan to gather League strength along the way.
I moved it around. First it was in Trinket, Bauble, and Charm's in Downfall. If they didn't buy it there, it was stolen at some point by Wyll and moved to Thither. If they still didn't get it, then it was used as a prop in the plays being performed in Yon. I tried to keep it hidden in plain sight. I had the high level plan I described above but honestly it was like 50/50 art and science. Just kinda adapting its location to where I thought would be most relevant and fun in the moment and used the plan as a guide post.
I really like the idea of the horn moving around! It makes it kind of like a secret B-plot happening in the background that the PCs don't realize is influencing their story.
And where did they find it?
They eventually figured it out when they got to Yon. I wouldn't say my group is always the most observant so I'm not surprised they got so far in before realizing but I think it was more fun that way because when they pieced it all together they realized they had seen it so many times before and were kicking themselves.
I've literally given the unicorn horn to Clapperclaw as a walking stick. I've made reference to his walking stick numerous times and it's not clicked yet; he's even revealed that he got it from around the wayward pool when fleeing Loomlurch. They've yet to make it into Loomlurch proper, so maybe it'll click eventually.
lol I love hiding things in plain sight and having the PCs just completely ignore it.
This group has set up camp, about 250 feet from the shore of the lake (I know the book says 1000 but we fudged it a bit), tried to move closer to the shore only to be turned around and denied any way of even touching the water. One day, they were coming back to the camp and I gave them this, "as you approach the camp you notice wet little footsteps leading up to Clapperclaw, who has leaned his walking stick nearby while toweling himself off after a dip which presumably happened in a nearby body of water." This just 15 minutes after spending time being turned around and nothing clicked. LMAO.
>lol I love hiding things in plain sight and having the PCs just completely ignore it. "That's no walking stick! That's a Hither-Thither staff!"
Honestly, Skylla is possibly the best place for the alicorn. However, I did run it that Trinket, Bauble, and Charm stole it while they were in Downfall (and had it when the party visited them, but didn't have it out for sale), then while the party is in Thither, they fly to Yon and deliver it to Skylla.
I gave it to Skylla so that she could trade it and an info dump about the situation at the palace for her life. Worked very well.
Oh I like this one. My players are still relatively new to D&D so I've been finding ways to help them along (without being too railroad-y) especially when it comes to info dumping so this would be helpful.
My current plan as they will be in Downfall in 2ish sessions. Hither: Trinket, Bauble, and Charm’s (good chance they will get it since one of the characters willingly continues their “love for unicorns” Fey pact) Thither: I have an NPC in the Underdark (fairy circles) that will give it in exchange for helping them. (Long story) Yon: if it somehow makes it this far, I will use Skylla’s prompt
IMO the Alicorn McGuffin is pointless, pun intended, and you should have it just be to rescue Elidon. The activation of the cauldron could be as simple as all the players putting their lost thing in it and having the magic of friendship unfreeze time. If you’re not going to go with that, Players hate backtracking, so I recommend before Chp 3 Thither.
That could be dark for my campaign since only one player decided to do a lost thing...and it's his characters little brother haha. But that sounds great for other campaigns as a work around!
That's a cool idea! Adds in some heroic sacrifice and makes the whole adventure a little more bittersweet. I could definitely have something like that in my back pocket because I blended the Lost Things and Warlock Quest story hooks at the beginning.
My players just found it with will of the feywild. I thought the unicorn costume route was hilarious, now getting them to convince a “teenager” to part with an essential piece of a costume they use is going to be the game.
Omg that's so funny! I love it.
I kinda love when things are built up only for it crash with little pay off. Makes it better when there is pay off! Plus it’s funny. The horn you were told you absolutely needed, thought would be a big quest? Yeah some teenager glued it to a costume. It was one of the suggested locations in the book too.
My players found it in a mud pit in Hither not long after they arrived. The LoM and Agdon are after it, and someone just stole their bag of holding. Guess where the horn is?!
I’ve placed mine at the peak of Motherhorn. It was originally with Bav but got stolen by Charm during the Hither arc. My group is big on murdering hags, so I’m using the unicorn horn as a Endelyn power-up to give her some chance. She’s incorporated it into her Orrery machinery whereupon it enhances her prognostication powers significantly. As long as it’s there, she gets much higher AC, layer actions, legendary resistances. Also, so long as it’s there, I can reasonably counter any plan my party makes as having been predicted by her. Since the last two hags were eliminated easily by hatching cockamamie plans, I’m forcing their hand at improv against this one.
Right before they entered Hither, my players basically all agreed that they were going to kill the hags, which I find hilarious because two of them have never played the game and the other two have only run a couple of my one-shots, so I'm loving the confidence at the moment. But this is an excellent idea for beefing up Endelyn!
I made a unicorn headband a prize at the carnival, then after occasionally drawing attention to the fact that the horn on the headband was a little too heavy they discovered it's a real horn right around the Thither mark.
I put mine in the shop that Trinket and Bauble have with a sign that said “Totally Real Unicorn Horn”. My players, who dont know they need the horn yet, were slightly intrigued but the cost to buy it was to give up something they valued dearly so they didnt get it. I hope later when they realize they need it theyll remember the two idiot merchants who had one
Like a lot of folks have said, I also had it exist in multiple places at once. I also put it in places that weren't on the list when I felt like finding it would feel like a reward (I have given them a lot of fun toys since levelling up is so spread out) to their past actions. For example: after having a run in with Bavlorna the party went through her horde room and found the bronze frog statue- since there were no lost items to be acquired in Hither (we had a player bow out early) I gave them a disembodied voice asking them what they desire with full intention to hand it over if it came to mind. They didn't think of it so on to the next location - haha.
That's why it works better to just roll the die and let it be where ever that lands? Trying to plan for what players will do is ridiculous. Put it where the die roll says, use the information from the book on how the players end up knowing it's there and go with it, would by my advice from a DM who is about to have his players enter the Palace of Heart's Desire with the horn?
I put it at Trinket, bauble & charm's, but not as an item for sale. I had it powering the storm cloud. My thinking was that when the players realised they needed it, it could lead to a cool (possibly airborne) heist. Sadly, real life happened and the campaign had to end before we got that far.
Watch this! [Where to put the unicorn horn](https://youtu.be/fCE_gxGj6j8?si=sIynecPIVCEoKmjM)
Thank you! I watched this yesterday and I think he makes some great points.
I'm starting this module next week, too. So I'm faced with the same question. I think I'll follow this video's advice, but I'm open to options
I'm toying with making Lamorna Elidons daughter rather than his wife. Lost/abandoned children is a running theme in my campaign. But also that gives me both a father unicorn and a mother unicorn, so I can have two horns at play just in case. Skylla 100% has one, and might trade the horn with the players if they make a deal with Endelyn to change her appearance so she can shed herself of the League for good. But I can have the second floating around so Elidon can also be saved potentially. I'd either have it with Wyll's costume or at Trinket Bauble and Charm.
So while everyone is here answering the 'where', I have a question that more deals with the 'how' and 'why'... My players have the Alicorn now (got it in Hither) and they sort of understand just how important it is. Even without meta knowledge, it is universally understood in the D&D world that Unicorn Horns are hella-powerful. However, they are getting ready to get to Thither, and if they find the Unicorn mare that was transformed into the hobby horse and re-attach his horn, then what are they going to do when they get to the Palace at the end? Yes, the cauldron can be broken with a flame or frost brand sword, but that also makes Tasha angry when she gets un-frozen. So, how best to do both?
Another commenter on this post suggested having the characters toss their “lost things” into the cauldron (if you used the lost things hook) which was a suggestion I thought was pretty cool. Adds in a self-sacrificing, heroic moment for the PCs and makes the ending a little more bittersweet.
I put it in Trinket and Bauble’s shop, but I'm assuming they *aren't* going to buy it there, so when they encounter Skylla, they'll see that she paid the price for the horn and she has it now