Mind Control

Veeky Forums what's the best way to convey an entire town's population being under the effect of mind control?

The party is on approach to a isolated town that (unbeknownst to them) has fallen victim to an creature living under the city that has taking command of each citizen. They aren't zombies though, not brain dead either, just... off.

What are some little actions I can describe to drive it home? As soon as they enter the city I want to describe the mental fatigue they experience, but that's all I have so far.

Setting is D&D.

>jerky or unnatural movements
>their eyes look terrified and tired, as if screaming for help from the back of their minds. The rest of their facial movements are normal
>unusual amounts of coordination. Things seem a little too organized and scheduled
>the entire populace is either working, standing guard or hidden. No one is doing leisure activities or begging in the streets
>singleminded dedication to their task, they will fight you or freak out of you try to pull them out of it

Got most of this from watching Jessica jones, I'd suggest watching Kilgrave commands on YouTube to get an idea of
Eeriness and horror of mind control

All of those are phenomenal, and I'll take a look at YTube when I get a chance.

The first two are a bit easy, but the last three there are perfect I think. You don't want to make it too obvious, give the creature some respect. It's good at what it does!

Maybe if you talk to them, they react in similar ways to topics that you bring up. If you ask about the mayor, you always hear that "he's a nice old man, but he wouldn't get anything done without his wife."

A general disregard for their pets. They dutifully feed them, but don't react right to a dog wanting to play, or being cute. Logic, but no pathos.

That's all I've got right now.

I like that as well, subtle enough for the party to not catch on immediately.

Now my next order of business is
1. How do they figure out that a hiding monster is causing all of this?
2. How do they find the underground monster?

A lack of voices. Normally in a city, you would hear constant chatter, bits of conversation, people bantering in the inns...

Now imagine you're walking through a city and no one is talking to each other. An unnatural, silence calm settled over the entire town.

Why is it taking control of the city? Is it making them do something, or is it simply hiding its presence?

It's making them dig and mine a small area on the outskirts of town that it believes to hold a powerful weapon. The weapon will grant the amoeba-like creature a humaboid form.

The party is intended to fail in stopping it from getting the weapon, but succeed in waking up the town. The monster will then be the ongoing BBEG with mind control powers and now a more mobile form that can blend into societies and work its way to the top, where it can rule the nation.

Well then, I'd suggest neglect of almost everything in the town that is not related to digging up the weapon.

They don't need guards within the town if everyone is under control (no crime etc). Guards might be posted outside to prevent interference. The populace would probably discourage exploring the outskirts to keep the weapon hidden.

Local services (such as the inn) might be suspended.

Once they start feeling something is wrong, they hear a struggle, or spot some shifty homeless kid on the outskirts of town.

They saw the monster take over, and have been living on scraps and stolen supplies, since they can't go back to their family. They can infodump the party, and give them a motivation to avoid killing the townsfolk.

Maybe they don't know where the thing is located, though. The party might be able to reason that out. If the town is built on a mine, it might be down there. Otherwise, just have hints around based on what kind of monster it is. Roots all seem to congregate somewhere for a plant deal, trails of slime, etc. If the party is especially ruthless, maybe they can offer the kid as bait and see where they take him.

Should I have "non-essential" personnel (elderly, disabled, etc.) be locked in a state of slumber, or would it be better if the monster disposed of them?

That'll work well enough, thanks.

>Should I have "non-essential" personnel (elderly, disabled, etc.) be locked in a state of slumber, or would it be better if the monster disposed of them?

Depends on how cruel the BBEG is. The elderly can still be of some use.

>how cruel

I want to say ruthless. People are tools, and some are too old or broken to be of any value.

Hmm there's a few options
A: He has them killed/makes them commit suicide
B: He drives them out
C: He ignores them because they're not worth bothering with

>drives them out
I'll rule that out that there are no "outsiders" that know the truth and it can work in secret.

>ignores them
Might have an abandoned warehouse he drops them all in so they are out of sight from passers-by.

>kill/suicide
Probably the best bet, in my opinion.

Also, for reference, the weapon was created by an incredibly skilled warlock that dealt with eldritch powers beyond space, and when he realized what he had done he delivered the sword to the town's mayor (an uncle of his) for safeguarding since the town is so isolated. The warlock then killed himself to escape the torment and nightmares of his Patron. The monster is a piece of the same Patron, trying to reclaim its stolen power held inside the sword (hence how it eventually found it after a few years of searching for its own power signal).

Whatever you do OP, don't forget the character that's seemingly free from the grasp of the creature but was actually under its control all along and betrays you at the worst moment :^)

Eh, I don't really like that unless the betrayal is more of an inconvenience than a crushing blow. It feels cheap. Like maybe the only 'sensible' character locks them in the warehouse of sleeping elderly/disabled people or something.

None of them ever talk to each other, since whatever I'd controlling them doesn't need it to coordinate them. They still talk to the PCs when addressed, but sometimes a nearby townsperson will answer a question that was asked to someone else, since whatever is controlling them usually thinks of them as interchangeable.

Once the PCs start getting suspicious, they start having loud conversions about the weather within earshot of the PCs.

>but sometimes a nearby townsperson will answer a question that was asked to someone else

That's gold, definitely using it.

To go further, have all townspeople work with a shared knowledge. If a player asks one villager about something specific, when he approaches have the other villager mention it as if he were the same one.

Yeah, this is really useful. Enough to creep them out. I think they'll assume hivemind before mind control, but they'll get there.

Everyone eats at the same inn.

The whole town.

They come in, get given a bowl full of brown, sit, eat, and then go. They don't pay for it, and the party isn't charged for their meal either, but if they ask for anything other than the bowl of brown, people around them don't seem to know what they want.
No shops are open.

Well, okay, the door is open.

But there isn't anyone behind the counter, and there's dust on the stock. The till isn't locked, and looking through it would reveal some money left there.
Nobody is wearing make-up, or jewellery. And depending on whether the creature wants to control the town long term or not, you could have nobody wearing shoes.

It takes time to do any of this, and that time could be better spent digging, or whatever it is the creature wants. Shoes take a bit longer to put on, especially if you have to think about it, and feet will toughen up quickly. Long term, it might cause damage, but that only matters if this creature plans on sticking around

Go look up mind control fetish drawings.

Excellent options, adding them to the list.

________No._______

Why not?

Or have it ignore them so completely it doesn't waste it's energy or it's tools on doing anything about them, so they just mull around doing what they did before and largely don't notice that anything's different.

That doesn't seem plausible though, really, given the activity of the worker citizens.

Kung-fu Sam is perfect.

post the ones for the other girls please

>Veeky Forums what's the best way to convey an entire town's population being under the effect of mind control?
They all support Trudeau.

:)

Bump

Strict schedules, meaningless conversations, and other stuff Oblivion does.

Maybe it uses them in 'service' jobs?
So the old guy's the barkeep, the kids being everyone food, and the athsmatic woman is the cook.

Unified reactions. If you attack one person, everyone turns and hisses at you. If you give one a cookie, they all smile.

If one catches you hitting on them and they all give the same no-response.

>they act like Oblivion NPC's

Yes.

Make them kind of like ants, all working as one at any given project. Small details like money never being exchanged or children working rather than playing.

Well, if the monster has control of them, we can assume they're feeding it. So a large amount of the populace is requesting/hunting for a certain item