[size=3[b]Arcim’s Folly[/b][/size]
Arcim’s folly is a 3e adventure for a party of PCs of at least 15th level. It is located in an extraplanar city but the PCs do not necessarily need to be capable of planar travel to arrive at the city. Several of the encounters should be well below a 15 EL, but the time limit given to the PCs as well as the non-stop nature of the encounters will insure that the party is well tested.
Synopsis: The PCs are given the task of finding the sister of a recently deposed priest-king in the war-torn city of Arcim’s Analogy. Her name is Adriu and she is in hiding. The PCs must first locate a group of Gnomes who are still loyal to Arcim, the former ruler. These gnomes, once they are convinced of the PCs intentions will direct the PCs to a bard named Tirst who knows the hiding place of the woman. The PCs must save Tirst from a group of soldiers who are also looking for Adriu. If they do this, Tirst directs the PCs to an abandon arena where Adriu, the girl, is waiting. The PCs get to the arena just as a group of Slaad arrive. The Slaad naturally want her as well. If the PCs defeat the Slaad, they once more encounter the soldiers who will attempt to stop them from leaving the city.
Background: Arcim is a neutral good priest, who after many years of bloodshed and adventuring across the planes dedicated himself to the pursuit of peace. Seeking to establish a utopian society in which all alignments, creeds and races could dwell together, he founded a city and named it Arcim’s Analogy. It was connected to the Material Plane via the Plane of Shadows and contained gates to numerous outer planes. Within his city, violence was outlawed upon pain of expulsion and all were commanded to get along. In his mind he was creating a mini multi-verse in an attempt to show that coexistance was possible. However his own pacifist leanings contained within themselves the seed of his fall. In reality things were not always so peaceful in the city of peace and many of it’s citizens refered to it as Arcim’s Folly.
Arcim’s chief of police, a lawful neutral half-orc named Grisfird Axehelm, tried for many years to carry out his king’s wishes, but as year after year went by, he deemed it almost impossible to keep the peace using Arcim’s methods. Finally Grisird initiated what he hoped would be a bloodless coup. Rallying those soldiers he knew to be loyal to him, he informed the priest-king that Arcim’s sister, Adriu, was being held hostage and that if Arcim stepped down from the throne and left his city, his sister would be released unharmed. Arcim, desiring to avoid confrontation, complied.
In reality Grisfird did not have Adriu. She had managed to evade his men and was somewhere in the city hiding. Furthermore, with the departure of Arcim, chaos broke out in the city as several factions saw an opportunity to sieze power. Somehow word soon leaked into the street that Adriu was not in Grisfird’s custody and now there is a mad scramble to find her. Each faction assumes that the one who has Adriu in their control will be able to gain the support of Arcim and therefore the support of those still loyal to Arcim.
Arcim, now on the material plane, has also heard, via certain factions still loyal to him, that Adriu is in hiding in the city. The priest is very upset at what has happened and is considering ways to retake his city. In the meantime though, he would prefer it if his little sister were out of harms way.
Plot Hooks: The easiest way to bring the PCs into the adventure is to have Arcim hire them to enter the city and retrieve his sister. If Arcim hires them, he directs them to first seek out the Whistlow family of Gnomes who, when given the proper passphrase, will help them locate Adriu.
Alternately, the DM can have one of the other smaller factions involved in the city hire the PCs. This would be a good way to introduce PCs new to the planes to a society or race that the DM wants to incorporate as a major story arc in his campaign.
If the PCs are already planar adventurers, DMs might decide to have the PCs in the city when Grisfird initiates his coup. Within a day, there is word of dueling rewards being offered by competing factions to the person or persons who turns Adriu over to them.
Getting to the City: If the PCs do not begin the adventure in the city, which is likely, there are two ways they can reach the city. The most dangerous route is to travel there via the Plane of Shadows. However, it is likely that such a method of arrival will take the PCs too long. The other way is to travel via a gate created by Arcim. Arcim has the means to open a gate to a small, empty warehouse inside the city. If the PCs find Adriu and wish to give her into the care of her brother, Arcim can open the gate into the warehouse at any time. If Arcim is the one who hires the PCs, he will inform them that he will keep a close eye on them via scrying and that as soon as they return to the warehouse and make a certain sign, he will open the gate for them.
The city also has gates, some of them permenant, into several of the outer planes, including Limbo, Arcadia and Gehenna.
Arcim’s Analogy: Arcim’s once peaceful Analogy is now a picture of the war torn outer planes. Grisfird’s control is slight and several competing factions war openly in the street. Given enough time, Grisfird will bring things under control. But the recent coup has thrown everything into chaos. Small bands of demons and groups of celestials seek to eliminate one another. Githyanki and Githzerai are fighting one another openly. There is also a Slaad element that sees an opportunity to make the city a place through which planar armies can march on their way to fight in other planes. They have as their goal the conquest of the city so that they might then charge tolls to those passing through. As the PCs journey through the city, they will witness frequent clashes and they will also see Grisfird’s military police seeking to restore order.
In addition to the fighting which is going on everywhere, there is still a thriving business aspect to the city. Mercanes and other planar merchants continue to ply their trade, many of them now selling weapons to various groups and individuals. Street merchants hawk their wares and many of them are unscrupulous. One popular scam is for merchants who spot newcomers to the city to attempt to sell ‘magical’ maps to the unwary. They will claim to have a map showing the place of anything in the city. PCs who tell these vendors they are seeking Adriu will soon find themselves in possession of a map that purports to show the woman’s location. Such maps, however, inevitably send their owners on wild goose chases as the magic in the map causes the desired location to constantly shift. Such maps are considered great jokes amongst the citizens of the city who enjoy watching the unfortunates who try to follow the maps.
Besides the encounters detailed hereafter, DMs are encouraged to embroil the PCs in several small street fights. These should not be particularly deadly to the PCs, but they will slowly drain the PCs resources. The DM should also maintain a constant sense of urgency to the adventure. The PCs must find the Adriu before other parties do. If the PCs dawdle too long, DMs should feel free to alter the encounters to reflect the progress made by other groups. If the PCs take too long they may have to rescue the girl from the dungeons of Grisfird or the clutches of an evil Death Slaad.
The Whistlow Gnomes: Whether the PCs are hired by Arcim or not, they will be directed to first visit the Whistlow Gnomes, a large family of illusionist. These gnomes are loyalist to Arcim and the PCs will be told that they will be able to point the PCs in the right direction. The Gnomes will only give the PCs information if they believe the PCs are sincerely working for Arcim and not against him. The recent coup has them extremely worried and suspicious. They will not trust the PCs merely because the PCs tell them to. If Arcim hires the PCs he will have given them a passphrase, “Omelettes require broken eggs,” which will insure the gnomes assist them. If the PCs are working for another party they will have to prove their trustworthiness to the gnomes through other methods. If the gnomes grow suspicious of the PCs, they will give them one of the maps described above. In point of fact, the Whistlow gnomes are the chief creators and wholesalers of the minor magical maps.
If the gnomes decide to trust the PCs, they will direct them to find a bard name Tirst. He habitually frequents some of the cheaper bars in the city and can be identified as being the one with a talking violin. They know that Tirst knows where Adriu is.
Tirst: Tirst the bard is fond of cheap booze and bad songs. He is also in love with Adriu and is one of the few people the woman currently trusts. When the PCs find Tirst, he will be in a dive named “The Sailor’s Gut.” It is a place that is dangerous and oft avoided. It is also a place where people do not to ask questions. Tirst is hiding there. He is drinking, singing and generally wondering how he can smuggle Adriu out of the city to her brother.
Tirst is easily recognizable because of his violin. It is a magical and intelligent violin. It can play itself and can work minor charms through its music (sleep and friendship spells in the main). As Tirst drinks, his violin hovers in the air next to him playing melancholy airs. Tirst is slightly drunk and the PCs must figure out some way to win his support and sober him up enough to be of help to them. Given enough time this would be easy but just moments after the PCs find Tirst, another group enters the bar. These are soldiers sent to arrest Tirst.
The soldiers (Fighters level 5) are led by a Captain Helsoford, a Fighter level 14. Helsoford is armed with a +3 Brilliant Energy Falchion and is a dangerous opponent. If the PCs let Tirst be arrested, the soldiers will soon know the location of Adriu. The sensible thing for the completion of the mission is to keep the soldiers from arresting the bard. If Helsoford loses half of his men he will order a retreat (assuming he is alive) all the while threatening the PCs to leave things alone if they know what’s good for them. Helsoford will then have some of his men keep an eye on the PCs from a distance in order to see if they will lead them to the woman.
If the PCs keep Tirst from being arrested and convince him that they can get Adriu out of the city, he will reveal that she is hiding in an old arena on the edge of the city. This arena is currently unused, but it has an anti-magic field around it which protects Adriu from scrying.
The Arena: Eventually the PCs should discover Adriu is hiding in the old arena on the edge of town head there to retrieve her. Adriu herself is a neutral good Wizard, level 10. She has lost her spell books but she possesses Spell Mastery over several spells and will have these prepared.
The arena itself was designed as a place where contestants could joust and spar and where magical interference would be impossible in fights. The floor of the arena is still perfectly level, but the seats are falling apart and the building itself is in bad shape. The actual floor of the arena possesses a permanent Dead Magic Field. Outside the floor of the arena, in the seats, or any of the various rooms of the arena magic works normally, with the exception of fire spells. Some now dead architect had the idea to put a permanent Quench spell on the whole arena to prevent fires. Magical and non-magical fires alike are affected by the spell.
Adriu is hiding in one of the rooms around the arena floor. The PCs will have to find her. However things are made more complicated by the arrival of some Slaad who are also looking for her. The Slaad, who break apart into smaller groups, will seek to kill the PCs on sight, rightly assuming the PCs are after the same thing they are. The Slaad are led by a crafty Death Slaad. He is the one with a vision of turning the city into a thoroughfare for fiendish armies and he will gladly share his vision as he fights. In his mind such a thoroughfare would help spread chaos throughout the multiverse.
Assuming the PCs defeat the Slaad and find Adriu, they are still not out of the woods. Even as they start to leave the arena, Captain Helsoford (or his replacement) leads a squad of men to arrest Adriu and the PCs. The PCs will have to get through the soldiers to finish their job.
Conclusion: If Arcim’s sister is returned safely (or even if she is killed) the priest will have slightly changed his worldview and will begin planning on recapturing his city. The PCs may or may not decide to help him do this. Alternately, the PCs may end up seeing Grisfird (who will be a good ruler) return the city to peace and law and decide to support him against the weaker Arcim. As mentioned before, if the PCs do not rescue Adriu from her hiding place in the arena, they may have to rescue her from even more difficult circumstances. However it ends up, the DM should be able to use the conclusion of this adventure to propel the PCs into further adventures outside the material plane.
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