EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
I've got an extra week (possibly two) to do prep work for my Dungeon World game, and the party is on the hunt for a certain antiquities dealer, Zahara Benali. She's a relatively well-to-do woman, wealthy enough that the antiquities trade is something she does for the joy of it, but not so wealthy as to have a seat on the Brass Ring--think "lowest tier of upper class" rather than "highest tier of middle class," a distinction simultaneously subtle and of great import in Al-Rakkah. She has a private estate outside the city (relatively common for rich folks), a narrow townhouse-like residence in Al-Rakkah, and a small "gallery" space/trading office in a smaller city, Al-Maralus.
And she's gone missing. Seemingly for a while.
Now, initially I had no idea why she'd gone missing. This arose because one of the players, our Battlemaster, wanted to delve deeper into solving his family history, which involves (for complicated reasons that would take too long to explain) finding the third of three artifacts, a magical mirror. I hadn't planned a single thing about this antiquities dealer until the player asked, "Hey, I know you mentioned Shen had passed me some rumors about mirror-stuff. Who did he hear them from?" Thus Zahara Benali came to the party's attention, but (alas!) a failed Discern Realities revealed the rather unwelcome truth that she wasn't around...and hadn't been for weeks, perhaps months. But that didn't jive with when they'd heard about stuff from Shen, so they dug deeper. They've since figured out that she's almost certainly gone into hiding, but whether her absence is willing or unwilling--or started out willing before taking a sudden turn--remains unknown.
The four things they definitely do know:
But that all leaves open...where IS Mrs. Benali*? What was she doing before things clearly went pear-shaped?
I'm not strictly looking for a single answer. More hoping the, ahem, "cloud" can provide interesting suggestions or concepts to riff off of. I haven't prepared any of the above stuff, it was 100% pure improvisation, I just find it easier to work with "having some vague idea of what's going on" rather than "thank you for flying Seat-Of-Your-Pants Airlines."
*She's married, but she and her husband don't seem to spend much time together, he's a minor functionary in some Jinnistani court. The exact nature of their relationship is unknown, but mortal/genie marriages like this, while not common, are hardly unusual, and frequently loveless but not acrimonious, just exploited for benefits.
And she's gone missing. Seemingly for a while.
Now, initially I had no idea why she'd gone missing. This arose because one of the players, our Battlemaster, wanted to delve deeper into solving his family history, which involves (for complicated reasons that would take too long to explain) finding the third of three artifacts, a magical mirror. I hadn't planned a single thing about this antiquities dealer until the player asked, "Hey, I know you mentioned Shen had passed me some rumors about mirror-stuff. Who did he hear them from?" Thus Zahara Benali came to the party's attention, but (alas!) a failed Discern Realities revealed the rather unwelcome truth that she wasn't around...and hadn't been for weeks, perhaps months. But that didn't jive with when they'd heard about stuff from Shen, so they dug deeper. They've since figured out that she's almost certainly gone into hiding, but whether her absence is willing or unwilling--or started out willing before taking a sudden turn--remains unknown.
The four things they definitely do know:
- She had been doing research into a wave of immigration from the faraway nation of Yuxia about 200-250 years ago. That was around the time the black dragon that is trying to take over Al-Rakkah faked their own death, escaping to the Tarrakhuna, where dragons are rare (and thus no one knows how to fight them.) (This may have been done at Shen's request, as he is hunting this black dragon; the party doesn't know yet, as they intend to meet him next session.)
- The black dragon's gang, cells of street toughs and other plausibly deniable assets, were apparently aware of Mrs. Benali's activities, and had been trying (unsuccessfully) to breach her security in order to get what info she'd already collected. They had been doing it relatively quietly, but evidently felt that the party's arrival justified a more dramatic show of force.
- She hasn't been in her townhouse for several weeks, but that seems to have been an oversight--things like rotting fruit in her kitchen seem to indicate she meant to return sooner.
- She has clearly done some preparations for not being around. Servants haven't been coming by to clean, all the real valuables have been stashed away (no paintings or other particularly valuable curios in the house proper, all stored away in the basement), and with a thief's eye the party could tell she'd made sure her study looked messy and actively used, but that this was a cover to conceal that none of the messy documents are actually important.
But that all leaves open...where IS Mrs. Benali*? What was she doing before things clearly went pear-shaped?
I'm not strictly looking for a single answer. More hoping the, ahem, "cloud" can provide interesting suggestions or concepts to riff off of. I haven't prepared any of the above stuff, it was 100% pure improvisation, I just find it easier to work with "having some vague idea of what's going on" rather than "thank you for flying Seat-Of-Your-Pants Airlines."
*She's married, but she and her husband don't seem to spend much time together, he's a minor functionary in some Jinnistani court. The exact nature of their relationship is unknown, but mortal/genie marriages like this, while not common, are hardly unusual, and frequently loveless but not acrimonious, just exploited for benefits.