Two from a Savage Tide campaign I ran:
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Players have been trapped beneath an island in a pirate hideout. Crypt is occupied hungry zombies. Low level characters had used up most of their spell slots and were low on HP, so retreated to a room with one entrance which they could barricade. During the night, the huecava (undead cleric) controlling the zombies joined the siege outside the door. At the time, yours truly was just getting over a bad cold, and my throat was wracked, so when the huecava starts threatening the characters, my voice had the perfect 'from a watery grave' sound to freak the players out.
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Same campaign. One of the players, a grad student, had finished his course work and was moving back to Ohio. I convinced him to give me one more session the day before he left so I could give his character a proper exit.
Characters return to town and are approached by a priest from the exiting players clerics temple. I hand the player a note. He opens it, reads it, stands up furious, pounds the table, grabs his stuff and slams it into his pack while cussing me out, then slams the door on his way out. Other players are just sitting there all wide eyes and open mouths. They are searching the table for the note, none of them noticing I'd pulled it back during the tirade. I just continued the session as if nothing had happened, but kept it short since they were all in shock.
After I close out the session, I hand the players the note. It was me saying a final goodbye to the exiting player, saying as fun as it was to have him in the campaign, it was more fun playing is his campaign a few months before. He left his goodbyes on the site where we coordinated the campaign, and explaining he and I had staged the whole thing.
Cruel joke. It was perfect, however, for giving their characters the sense of loss from the cleric being removed from the campaign.
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