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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 3933961" data-attributes="member: 467">The Beggar QueenIn any city the size of Daer Amath, especially one that is a hib of trade, there will be many beggars.  They infest the bazaars and are often camped outside inns, taverns and shops with their cups out.  In Daer Amath, however, many of these beggars are under the sway of the Beggar Queen, and ancient witch that resides deep in the most fecund neighborhood of the city.Hers is not an organizations so much as a cult to a living goddess.  A blind crone, the Beggar Queen cannot stand the light of day or the presence of beauty, so she hides in a decaying, abandoned house and sends her followers out into the city to collect coppers and, more importantly, information.  Most of her followers are destitute people, men, women and children who turned to begging to survive and fell under her sway after encountering one of her Queen's Guards -- thieves and worse fanatically loyal to the Beggar Queen and charged with managing beggars in a given neighborhood.  The meager wealth and vast information the beggars acquire is  funnelled through the Guard to the Queen, who rewards the Guard with ample food and some coin, who in turn reward the beggars with just enough sustenance to keep them alive.Such detritus are beggars that few take notice of them, even as they are stepped over.  So it is that the beggars glean small bits of information here and there that the Queen -- whose body has failed her but whose mind is voprpal sharp -- pieces together to get a more complete picture of the state of affairs in Daer Amath than anyone else. Those who desire to know the real working of the merchant guilds, the thieves, the nobility must go to the Beggar Queen, who charges a high price for what she knows.  She speaks to them from behind a curtain of rotting silk, with her most trusted Guards on hand to deal with any treachery or refusal to pay.One of the Queen's comandments is to never steal: she has no desire to start a war with the Black Hands or other thieves guilds, and in fact often provides them with information at a discount.  In return, the thugs of the thieves' guilds leave her beggars alone.  Many of the Queen's Guard are former guild members who were enchanted by the Queen who, despite her physical shortcomings, is supremely charming.Adventure Hooks:1) The Beggar Queen is finally succumbing to her years and she is seeking an heir to take her place.  A charismatic, intelligent PC catches her interest and is invited into the underground world of secrets that is the Queen's domain.  Refusal is considered betrayal and the Queen will use every resource at her disposal, every piece of information gleaned and every favor owed to hunt down and kill the "traitor".2) A royal secret, one that could pave the way to usurpation, falls into the Queen's "hands" and the Prince's vizier, in hopes of protecting his master, hires the PCs to silence the Beggar Queen before she can reveal it to the Prince's enemies.  They must find her hidden lair and bypass her most skilled Guards to kill her -- but once there, she reveals the secret to them so that they too are now targets, and then makes a "counter offer".3) The Queen is more than she seems, and ancient creature from the world that was before men rose.  A fey spirit of uncountable age, she has always been, and always will be.  Her charm is more than a silver tongue -- actual magical power, a siren song that can bend the most powerful will to her own.  She trades not just in secrets, but in souls, even if for a short time: if one wants a boon from her, they need only indenture themselves to her for 7 years, living on the street as one of her charmed drones, begging for coppers while collecting secrets.  She can grant any wish, even the revification of the dead.  Does a PC or valued NPC have so strong a desire they are willing to sell their free will for 7 years to get it?</blockquote>

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