This is for an RPG campaign that I'm running, at medieval European setting, with magic as an uncommon but known force. The king is known to be a powerful wizard.
Already, my players have encountered a type of drug that "binds the minds together as one". They busted a sewer cult that was distilling more of this drug. Most of the cult's leadership was zoned out in a trance working on complex multi-dimensional mathematical equations, for no obvious reason.
Now, I intend to reveal that the drug can be used to seize control of an entire city's population, if it's distributed widely enough. The king will arrange to have the well waters simultaneously doctored with the drug, and over the course of a single evening, he will magically seize mental control of anybody who drinks from the wells (essentially everybody).
I could just leave it at this, and say "well, the city folk drank it, so they're under his control now". But I like the idea of a signal antenna of some sort, or a sender-receiver device. I'm thinking of something big and sturdy and prominent, like a clock tower or barbican. This then adds a thematic dimension to the proceedings.
It might also be something I can rely on to get the players out of trouble (if they drink the water and end up under the king's mind control). We could say something like "if you get X miles away from the antenna, the effects wear off" or something.
What could this be? Ideally it would have some sort of aesthetic tie to mind control, or the king, or similar authority rather than just saying "for some reason the clock tower is what's important".
This is for an RPG campaign that I'm running, at medieval European setting, with magic as an uncommon but known force. The king is known to be a powerful wizard.
Already, my players have encountered a type of drug that "binds the minds together as one". They busted a sewer cult that was distilling more of this drug. Most of the cult's leadership was zoned out in a trance working on complex multi-dimensional mathematical equations, for no obvious reason.
Now, I intend to reveal that the drug can be used to seize control of an entire city's population, if it's distributed widely enough. The king will arrange to have the well waters simultaneously doctored with the drug, and over the course of a single evening, he will magically seize mental control of anybody who drinks from the wells (essentially everybody).
I could just leave it at this, and say "well, the city folk drank it, so they're under his control now". But I like the idea of a signal antenna of some sort, or a sender-receiver device. I'm thinking of something big and sturdy and prominent, like a clock tower or barbican. This then adds a thematic dimension to the proceedings.
It might also be something I can rely on to get the players out of trouble (if they drink the water and end up under the king's mind control). We could say something like "if you get X miles away from the antenna, the effects wear off" or something.
What could this be? Ideally it would have some sort of aesthetic tie to mind control, or the king, or similar authority rather than just saying "for some reason the clock tower is what's important".
Any ideas?