“ With a huge number of sacrificial victims, another realm long ago secretly bound a Prince of the land spirits, Iorstonn by name, thus ensuring the fertility, and improving the magical defences, of their realm. But binding that Prince to one spot has disrupted the weather and magical patterns (ley lines?) over half the continent. Things have become bad enough that a coalition has been formed to rectify the situation, once divinations have established the cause.
Your party is one of the teams assembled to do the rectification: find the binding object and steal it ('so that we can destroy it here in our realm, of course'...*) or destroy it over there. Presumably the Prince will be grateful to his rescuers and angry at the binders, but with a greater spirit like Iorstonn one can never be sure: such beings are 'tricksy'.
* Of course, the rulers of our realm might want to control Iorstonn for their own ends...”
“ Actually a real-world fungus, just heard about it. A fungus that tastes well and all, no ill effects. UNLESS you consume some beverage, even 3 (three) days after eating it. Then you become really sick, pains, vomiting, all the fancy stuff. Was really used to cure alcoholism. May be a joke or to make sure the heroes spend their time focused on the mission.”
“ On a planet with an ammonia atmosphere, that is inhabited by intelligent aliens, the police carry oxygen spray, that has the same effect on that planet that pepper spray does here.”
