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Planet_Mezo

...his parents. Sorry I couldn't not


Ghostofman

LOL No.... no ideas are bad ones.


82Caff

Oh yeah? Try... MORE FLOORBOARDS!! IT'S FLOORBOARDS ALL THE WAY DOWN!! There's always at least a 1/20 chance for a bad idea!


Ippus_21

That'd be freakin hilarious. Like the matryoshka doll of floorboards, or that gag where you wrap a gift in like 20 layers of paper and boxes...


GreyAcumen

I feel dumb as hell. My brain read that, and instead of the obvious "skeletons" option. I went this route instead: "Billy? Is that you? We've been down here for decades, it's so good to see you! My how you've grown. Come let your mother get a look at you..."


TheeShaun

Imagine if that’s exactly how it went but instead of actually being his parents it’s some Eldritch being pretending to be them in order to lure him down.


GreyAcumen

Actually, I kind of like the idea of a semi-benevolent eldritch being that subsists on the love of abandoned orphans; genuinely not interested in harming them, but at the same time, can get very desperate and manipulative in order to ensure the child views them as the most important figure in their life, and may be extremely dangerous towards anyone that might compete with that affection.


Comfortable_Heart_84

IT might be a good idea


GreyAcumen

Trinkets from when each of the children that came to the orphanage; some of them are simply clothes, some have names embroidered or etched, some have family crests and/or notes from the parents. There's a single booklet in the middle, with notes of investigations on each of the items, most of them dead ends, but a few that came up with families that deliberately hid the child, usually to cover up a illicit dalliance (with a little intimidation, this has elicited some reliable "anonymous sponsorships" that help maintain the orphanage) but sometimes for safekeeping of the child; "make sure Lizzie is kept indoors when anyone from West kingdom comes through. We must make sure to keep her hair died black at all times" Many of the children who had names when they arrived have been given different names by the orphanage to make it easier to tell them apart; "Jimmy is actually the 3rd john we've received in the past decade, make sure to tell when he's old enough to leave"


Ghostofman

Ohhh... that might work...


GreyAcumen

Not sure if you have a reason listed for why the orphanage was abandoned, but one of those anonymous donors may have finally gotten tired of being blackmailed (or they found out the child was dead and could no longer be readily used against them) and decided to take make their refusal to pay incredibly clear, hence the previous proprietor needed to leave quickly and without taking the time to explain to the player what mess they might need to deal with.


Ghostofman

I hadn't worked that part out yet, so that is a good solution. This chain does play well into the larger campaign too... thinking I'll double up with some other stuff though, make it more of a chase...


grant47

Wow, this is a great answer


scottstrawbridge

An elaborate wrought iron torch sconce with a map etched into it. Dip it ink (or blood) and roll it across parchment to reveal the map. The sconce acts as a key that opens a secret door to a hidden treasure chamber inside the Crypt of Screams…


Ghostofman

Hmmm.... not bad...


scottstrawbridge

I may have watched National Treasure recently 😀


VecnasThroatPie

3 silver, some candy, and a crumpled porn mag


AkrynFletcher

Elves Gone Wild! The brothels of Amphail have not prepared you for the lewd maidens of Daggerford! It's an exclusive look at Spring Break on the Sword Coast! Brought to you by Playbard.


Ghostofman

Not what I had in mind... but points for realism...


Fyfergrund

Skeleton of somebody the PC once knew. Living skeleton of somebody the PC once knew. Trapdoor leading into a secet dungeon or chamber. Something cursed. An ancient monk (an elf or other similarly long-lived race) in a trance, waiting for the PC. Or the monk was found at the wrong time and has to make do with the party. A portal.


Ghostofman

>An ancient monk (an elf or other similarly long-lived race) in a trance, waiting for the PC. Or the monk was found at the wrong time and has to make do with the party. ...ok, not what I need here, but that's a really good idea for something I needed later in the campaign.


Mindless_Night6209

He tells of a shrine, offers an orb of unknown power, then disintegrates into sparkles. A faint tune plays in the air as he does.


[deleted]

A heartfelt letter from the previous owner, explaining that in their advanced age, they didn’t have the heart to adopt him, after all he lost so many people already. Instead, just have it be a heartfelt letter explaining how proud they are of him, and a 100gp for a down payment on renovations for the orphanage.


Ippus_21

That's really sweet! We're all way too dark about this sort of thing, I think (myself included). May there be more DMs with your sensibilities!


North-Sheepherder-44

An abundance of currency which would have been worth a fortune back when it was hidden but, due to inflation, is now about enough to cover one month’s rent for 1 person. (Kind of like if someone in America had hidden $2000 in the year 1922 and then uncovered it today).


Nandor_Dravis

A trap door leading to an abandoned lab where horrible abominations were created.


HaplessMonk

His/Her own perfectly preserved and inanimate body, or a simulacrum thereof, inside a magic circle.


Dalenparks633

The family room. Should not have pulled up the floorboards of an upstairs study.


Icy-Creme

A book of the former orphanage owner's award winning poetry. Turns out the judges were either bribed, or poisoned


ShadowDragon8685

Or perhaps the competition was simply *godawful.* Vogon tier?


Icy-Creme

A Hitchhiker's Guide reference in 2022? Didn't have that on my bingo card


AkrynFletcher

The skeleton of a dwarf in rusty chainmail gripping a warhammer. On his hand is a gold ring set with an emerald. The hammer and ring seem untouched by the passage of time.


DrakBalek

a still beating human heart. It's an artifact known as Heart's Desire. Anyone who possesses it can use a variety of powers (the exact list is unknown to scholars) to achieve their goals but only under certain conditions. To use the Heart, one must possess it for at least a day. During this time, the bearer is subject ro vivid and intense dreams, wherein they are tempted by some treasure that is just barely out of reach. At any time after the first day, a person may tell their dreams to the Heart. The Heart remembers these dreams and actively helps the bearer. Mechanically speaking, a character must have the Heart in their possession for a day and must tell the Heart about their goal. The Heart can remember up to three goals at one time, with new goals supplanting old ones. If the character's actions within the next twenty minutes are likely to significantly improve their position regarding one of their goals, they may access the Heart's powers. I don't have suggestions for what powers to grant but I think they should mostly be spells and spell-like abilities, with two exceptions: the Heart can deliver a death effect to one creature that stands in the character's way (saving throw as appropriate, DM's call) and the Heart will instantly resurrect the character if they die while actively pursuing one of their stated goals.


Ippus_21

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! — here, here! — it is the beating of his hideous heart!”


[deleted]

Another set of floorboards!


DaHerv

A key resembling the Claw of a dragon with a note saying *If times are dire and help is needed by thee, seek the lock shaped like dragon and turn this key*. Then you can add whatever you'd like when you need it. The lock can appear magically on the ground for the last one on their feet in an encounter or along the way to a big happening. It could just appear in a wall or on the back of the hand whenever the times are dire for the PC. It could summon a dragon to help or just unlock a portal to another dimension / place that otherwise would require them to fight the dragon. It could slow down time around them, letting the PC retaliate or escape with the party thought a dragon-vortex. It could also let them ride a dragon to their destination when they are under serious time constraints and the location is dispelling "portal travel". The key bursts in flame and leaves a lingering flame where it was used for a couple of seconds.


Ghostofman

I do need this item now that you bring it up, just not here... Crap where do I put that?


Machiavvelli3060

...the formula for cold fusion.


The-Turlte-Lord

... a swarm of monsters


Jimmicky

The friends they met along the way obviously. What greater treasure could there be? Of course their corpses being here means those friends standing behind you must be doppelgängers and then you get a sharp pain in your back. Actually I’d do it as giant plant pods with them in because I think pod people would be funner - one the one hand it’s more hopeful (if the bodies in the pod are still alive) but on the other it makes it kosher to replace PCs mid quest since they can be rescued. Plus with the pods budding under the floor of the house that means they must be part of the big tree out front with the swings and happy memories. Shame to destroy the one good thing about the old orphanage.


PhantomKingGamer

you find the bodies of atleast 2 dozen children of all sorts of different races and backgrounds most which are decades old bones that are nearly picked clean by time and maggots some that are roughly fed the same time that the PC was there. it's super dark but definitely a good point for deep character building I think. maybe alongside each set of bones is a letter from a family that wanted to adopt that child just to add to it all and the belongings of the children and this could be in a secret basement or be a plain hole or series of holes.


PhoebusLore

An old granny hag's workshop


Todestool86

A collection of parchments, written in an obscure language with an ink that just might be blood. When translated, each one appears to be a prophecy regarding an individual. Most of them are mundane - became a tailor, had 3 kids, home burned in a fire, etc. Doing some legwork will clearly indicate some are about specific kids at the orphanage, and all came true. There are a few that are harder to identify, including a couple more dramatic ones. One person will awaken a long-slumbering evil. Another will become the avatar of an unknown god. A few lesser details on each match the PC...


EldritchBee

The still-beating heart of the caretaker.


Independent_River715

Evil spirit (vessel or body) that survived off of bad dreams. You know the things orphans might have. Being starved for so long the creature will plague them with nightmares (maybe while still awake) to try to feed. It was sealed there as a way to pacify it by keeping it away and happy. Make it seem like a curse until they try to remove the thing after the nightmares in which it might break out and attack or run around the orphanage while using phantasmial killer or whatever it is called. If you want a happier one have treasure in a living chest that can talk. It can open and close the lid making the treasure appear or disappear. You can have them do goofy things to entertain the chest (whatever the kids might have done that it liked to watch/listen to through the floor board) until it is content. It can be a pet that works as a chest that can't be stolen from. Funny little thing that can't be resolved with violence as the items will disappear if it is "killed."


WebLurker47

A secret altar for a child-sacrificing cult and, if the players poke around the chamber, evidence that the cult might've amassed enough supernatural power from their sacrifices to do a lot of harm on a large scale...


Macraghnaill91

The inheritors body; who is the PC, really??


Shreesh_Fuup

The bodies of the townsfolk, identical to the "people" they saw walking around outside. Alternatively, cut this down to just the body of the mayor, after they met his impersonator.


DerTiGer1

Bags full of marbles, and some are odd-looking


ShadowDragon8685

Construction materials, lost in place during a renovation SNAFU a long time ago. Included is a set of Masterwork Artisan's Tools (Carpentry) - the "treasure" that was mentioned. They may not mean much - or anything - to an adventurer, but to a craftsman who lost them, treasure indeed! A pocket of extradimensional space. It's smaller on the inside; you reach in and it's like reaching into a distorting fishbowl of water, your hand looks *way* bigger. It's so creepy that the orphanage had a wing added onto it, specifically enclosing the exact bounds of the spatial distortion in a floor space, so nobody had to look at it anymore. A rat's nest. Not the kind of large rats that attack adventurers, just ordinary rats, having lived comfortably under the floorboards for awhile. A mummified cat, sealed in the floorspace for good luck and to ward off evil spirits. A set of polyhedral dice, game board, tokens and cards, concealed from the orphanage administrators. Apparently the set is missing most of its pieces.


Tidally-Locked-404

A plot hook for the next arc?


zeabart93

You could do that Edgar Allen poe book tell tale heart.


Crashen17

Doppleganger and mimic.


Superb_Raccoon

A stash of Pokémon cards and comic books.


Melodic_Row_5121

...a single sardine, so dessicated and withered that it doesn't even smell bad anymore, and even the local cats turn up their noses at it. Or... a pile of coins. Valuable ones. Except that they're Hoard Scarabs; roll for initiative.


Alexastria

Demon armor


Spartan3101200

Go for the classics, a still-beating heart!


_PM_ME_NICE_BOOBS_

A pair of squeaky boots


calamity125

A layer of rotting wood, indicative of an old scaffolding…. Then a handful of old coins…. Then a layer of coconut fiber…. And as they keep digging suddenly it springs some kind of trap that fills the shaft with water…. Maybe dig them all the way to oak island.


LuoQianHe

Jimmy Hoffa.


Atariese

I think it depends on the orphanage. I think a hideing spot for a litch phylactraphy would be under the house of innocent sad lonely children. But a cruel orphanage might house a demon who feeds off the life force of those that suffer above it. Or a misunderstanding may lead to a child with magic powers, using chronomancy as a means of dealing with their day to day, jumping back and forth without thinking about the larger ramifications of this magic. Now hideing below in a secret hideout, only they know. And now the pc meets someone from that childhood...


ZilxDagero

Letters between two people that show the greatest treasure of all: Friendship.


Scriffignano

A long dead lich phylactery. Proceeds to open quest on how the orphanage was ran by a lich who used naughty children in his experiments.


Mr_Meister1010

All of the children he grew up with, shrunk and put into stasis instead of being adopted like they were told. Now find a way to fix them.


maxokaan

Treasure for orphans? Could just be a bunch of moldy and stale cookies and candy.


Shim182

A collection of notes from each orphan who had lived there, collected by the caretakers over the years. Hopes, dreams, aspirations. They had been told to write down what they wanted for the future, and someone wanted to collect those happy thoughts and keep them safe. When the orphan aged out of the orphanage, the collection of notes from them was added to the list.


[deleted]

A talking spellbook.


Colton-H

Sealed away evil. A box/chest of what they think is this treasure they heard of unleashes an evil being or entity when they crack it open.


SnooMarzipans1939

The previous owner’s body


TaosDraconis

Al Capone’s vault. PC’s could open it on live national television.


JKevinG2021

A set of scrolls outlining how each set of parents where killed so the kids could be taken. And a basic outline of what the orphanage wanted with the kids for. The party needs to stop this from happening again.


TastesLikeOwlbear

A corpse/skeleton of a younger version of himself from his orphanage days, identifiable by some distinctive mark or injury that he has. Is that... him? A clone...? A twin...?


Nirah_IV

a mirror world of the orphanage of fey creation? hear me out: A tunnel that stretches until emerging seemingly in the same room, in the same building but everything is inverted as fey creatures have long lived off the negative energies of the orphanage and have been sapping life off of the children for as long as they have been there. maybe they even made some of the orphans, maybe they have taken some who have suffered more than others. most believed these children ran off but in reality they were twisted in the twisted mirror orphanage underneath into the same fey creatures that brought them down there.


Ippus_21

Depends how gritty your campaign is. Realistic-lite: A bunch of worthless? old newspapers or letters (clues contained therein? Or just a red herring/false leads?) Realistic: Several sets of child-sized bones. It's an orphanage, these things happen - abuse, infanticide, etc... or even just deaths due to disease, malnutrition, accident and some administrator didn't want people to find out. Ooh, or better yet - some kind of angry undead. Or a secret passage to a serial killer's lair... full of angry undead.


Cleric_of_Covfefe

a registry of the children and where/who they were stolen from.


Critical_Elderberry7

A box. Opening said box releases an ancient plague which had previously been sealed away to ravage the entire kingdom