Looking for some ideas

inspiration
#1

Some quick context.

The players got themselves arrested and thrown into jail in order to be at a certain location at a certain time. When the time was right they broke out and started moving their way through the keep in which they were kept. While escaping the jail they came across another prisoner who was obviously tortured and in bad shape, they free him and bring him along as they escape and do their original mission.

Along the way the players suss out that the prisoner can’t remember his name or anything before he was bound and chained and thrown in the cell and the manacles around his wrist that they couldn’t get off are actually magical in nature and might have something to do with his memory loss.

They eventually come across an NPC who is utterly shocked and full of dread when they realize that this prisoner is free and warn the players to not free him of his manacles, but this npc is also a member of an enemy faction and they players don’t really have a reason to trust anything he says.

The question I have is what is the mystery behind the mysterious prisoner with no name and no past?
I have a few ideas but I like hearing ideas from people.

One I have is kinda cliche. Hes a powerful mage blah blah and he eventually becomes the Big Bad once they players find a way to free him of his magical bindings.

One, more specific to the immediate situation is that he is the host to a powerful demon and once the magical bindings are removed the demon will be free to do his dark business.

#2

I think your second idea is pretty rad.

Maybe he’s the personality of a sentient weapon? And once the manacles come off, he reverts to his weapon form, and attempts to dominate the nearest character? Like a Holy Avenger gone wild?

#3

Maybe he was thought killed and long dead by the enemy faction but was resurrected by an old mage in order to revenge himself against the enemy faction. Perhaps the enemy faction tortured him and his loved ones for working to expose them in some way. Once the manacles are removed he remembers his past and takes revenge with supernatural abilities given him by the mage. Anyone who gets in his way, including the players who may be mistaken as being part of the enemy faction, become part of his powerful wrath.

#4

Maybe the guy is really, really old, kept young and alive by the manacles. Generations of captors have kept him here and tortured him in order to learn his big secret. They have recently acquired a machine or device which extracts memories, but the guy is so old it’s proving difficult to find the exact ones they need. If the manacles are removed, he’ll age thousands of years in seconds and become dust, taking his secrets with him…

#5

What if the enemy faction isn’t scared of the prisoner, but scared of what the prisoner knows? Some dark secret that, if spread, could not only depose the enemy faction, but destabilize the entire region.

But then if the secret is that dangerous, why haven’t they just killed the poor person? Maybe some combination of this and @Baconivore 's idea? The prisoner knows other secrets that could benefit the enemy faction.

#6

Thanks for the input, some good ideas to mix and match with.

#7

Perhaps they are magical manacles of shrinking and this is actually a giant. If removed, he regains giant size. As for the memory loss… that is most likely due to being so beaten and that could remain even if he regains his true form which would make for some interesting chaos or perhaps simple role play and befriending despite the others fears.

#8

Sounds like the manacles keep him from shape-changing to me. Shackles of Shape-Binding

A lycanthrope won’t remember their crimes, and if the shackles also help keep him docile, that could explain the apparent memory loss.

As my ancestor once said, “This one is more dangerous than he seems…” (Darkest Dungeon)

#9

Had a thought. This person is the Herald for the coming end of days. He is the mcguffin that unleashes the 4 horseman.

This works because Orcus is actively being summoned due to the players failing to stop it with their previous characters. The 4 horseman are a response from heaven to orcus.

But the agents of orcus got their hands on the Herald before he could sound the horn or something.

#10

The manacles keep him from aging. He is the embodiment/avatar of the world’s blood magic. If the handcuffs come off him, he ages and as he ages… blood magic returns to the land. If he’s killed—dark days indeed. The evil faction doesn’t want him out or dead because they realize that as blood magic enters the world, all other magic wanes…

#11

I’m thinking something simple, but unclear. Like SIRIUS BLACK… a simple prisoner with different layered motives. On the one hand, framed for a crime, on the other, set to protect a treasured relative…even if it means killing