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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ender_wiggin" data-source="post: 5201283" data-attributes="member: 21629">Greed in GreencloudAn adventure for early paragon groups in 4th edition D&DGreedy for sun, the trees of Greencloud grow appendages full of gas, lifting them high into the air. There they flourish, in time blacking the sun out for all of their less ambitious brethren. Greedy for water and cut off from the nutrient rich ground, these gasbags grow appendages that hoard rain; catch it in hammocks and wide spongy reservoirs that save the precious fuel for a dryer season. Free from the earth, the flying bog floats with the clouds, climbing and falling with the pull of the tide.Greedy for power, Vivian Rylock keeps a stranglehold over her harvester slaves. They navigate the dangerous swamp, pierce the unstable gasbags, and breathe in the noxious fumes. The gas, worth twice its weight in gold, is sold in bulk to researching wizards around the world. Many terrible men are made wealthy. Greedy for revenge, the rebel slave Weretiger betrays his promise of peace, pushing onward towards retribution or death. Will the players slay the monstrous Weretiger and quell his bloody rebellion, or will they see justice in his cause and bring an end to Rylock’s cruelty?Background (DM Only)Throughout the world, arcane technology is developing. New, innovative spells and rituals are being invented at increasing frequencies, the education of wizards is becoming more accessible to the public, and fear of ancient magicks is giving way to the bravery and curiosity of a generation of adventurers. But mortal bodies are perhaps not built to withstand the constant bombardment of magical energy, and incidents of Mana Sickness are beginning to surface in large cities with high spellcasting density – a debilitating disease brought on by years of continuous exposure to aberrant magical energy, residue from permanent lights, force walls, construction automatons... The disease addles the mind, impairing cognitive processes while slowly transmutating the body into a disfigured hulk. Without a cure for this relatively new illness, cities resort to putting the monsters down before they can harm others.Greencloud Imperial Harvesting, however, has a better solution. Rather than watch these mana stricken individuals be executed and disposed, they offer a cleaner alternative for these municipalities – lull the sick with promises of healing and comfort, magically dominate their weakened minds, and put them to work in the noxious gasbag swamps miles in the sky. The manager in charge of this slave labor force is Vivian Rylock, a meticulous and self-righteous wizard. Her most powerful tool is a piece of gnome illusory magic she calls the songbow, an enchanted instrument that spreads a subtle enchantment magic in a relatively wide radius. Using multiple songbow spells to blanket her domain, she is able to tame and control a large population of mana-stricken individuals.But not all of the mana-stricken victims become mentally dull and exploitable. Mana Sickness can do inexplicable things to a mortal, and in the case of a latent sorcerer, can produce results far from typical. The Weretiger is one such example. He must have looked like any other stricken when Rylock threw him into the swamps, but somehow he slipped through her copious defenses. His mental status quite the opposite of his brethren, the Weretiger quickly discovered GIH’s scam, and with some deception and charisma was able to galvanize a small rebellion within the ranks of GIH’s slave force. Not wanting to risk the larger operation, Vivian offered a deal – she would grant him freedom and restitution fees for him and a number of his rebellion comrades. The Weretiger agreed, but reneged his part of the deal after Vivian had upheld hers, vowing to remain an outlaw champion within the Greencloud swamps until emancipation was complete.Tentative Adventure Outline<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The players are hired or otherwise tasked with investigating an ongoing problem with GIH’s gas yield.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The players happen upon the scene of a skirmish amongst the trees of Greencloud on their way in.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The players meet Vivian Rylock and are given her version of the story.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">An investigation ensues, leading to a showdown with the Weretiger. The players, confronted with both versions of the story, must choose either to put down the rebel or to confront Rylock and end her cruelty.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">They players either: a.    Chase down the Weretiger and kill him or: b.    With the Weretiger’s help, break down GIH’s defenses and destroy their control over their slaves.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Possible followup adventures include investigating higher level management involved in this slavery scam, finding a more humane solution to the growing epidemic of Mana Sickness, and, if the players chose to side against the Weretiger, quell new threats to the GIH infrastructure.</li> </ol>Part 1: HooksThe player characters are either instructed by their employers or tasked by their superiors to help GIH investigate and deal with an ongoing rebellion amongst their harvesting camp. A variety of alternate hooks are available, but the initial hook should place them on the side of GIH and not the Weretiger. The act of defecting, should they take it, is a critical and poignant part of the story and should be motivated by the players themselves.Part 2: ArrivalTravel within the Greencloud swamps is mediated in its most populated areas by magical cars that float up and down several hundred feet, carrying several individuals or up to a half ton of weight – colloquially termed Vector’s Floating Discs. However, entry into the Greencloud from outside must be accomplished via flying mount, teleportation, or some other external means. Once on the outskirts of the swamps, the bulk of the travel is done on foot and can take a grueling day or two. During this trek, the party happens upon a grisly scene. Read the following:You swat a coin-sized insect off of your sweaty cheek. It is quiet and dark. A sliver of light makes its way hundreds of feet from Greencloud’s roof, illuminating a small hammock ahead. Eager at the prospect of walking, you sludge through the spongy reservoir, water at your ankles. The telltale signs of a skirmish are everywhere around you – ripped leaves, charred bark, chipped pieces of chainmail that float in the shallow water. The bodies must have been removed, but the forest will remember the violence for years to come.This is the site of the most recent skirmish between the Weretiger, a few of his loyal rebels, and Vivian’s soldiers. The Weretiger was able to escape, although his chronometer, a piece of gnome engineering, critical to safe navigation within the swamps, was damaged. The party finds pieces of this device scattered in small nooks around the combat scene and may be a vital clue to later identifying the Weretiger. A short investigative skill challenge yields the following information:Failure: the group finds pieces of a broken device but cannot tell what it is. One of the pieces says Erudite Engineering.Partial Success: In addition to the above, the group surmises that a number of evocation spells were cast here, in addition the broken arrowtips and chipped pieces of armor. Furthermore, they identify Erudite Engineering as a prominent gnomish arcane manufacturer.Complete Success: In addition to the above, the group recognizes the broken pieces as vital parts of a functioning chronometer. They have at least a vague understanding of the importance of a chronometer in the swamp (see below).Part 3: VivianVivian Rylock and her core contingent of soldiers have agreed to meet with the PCs at Skylark Lodge, the swamp’s only service for visitors. When the group finds this meeting point, read the following:The Skylark tavern hangs there, in the darkness, hooked to a large gasbag above it by a score of sturdy ropes. A bit of smoke billows out of its sole chimney, and moss has invaded every inch of its wooden surface, not that you can tell. Vivian Rylock has clearly tightened the security of this establishment, as a retinue of at least a dozen guards patrol the area on discs, watching each of your squishy step. Even from outside, the sound of a plucked instrument can be heard from within, carrying out a calming melody that seems to percolate for miles.The interior of the tavern could probably be mistaken as any watering hole of a large city, except that everyone’s feet are wet and the floor is a grimy mess. The music is loud but not overwhelming, plucked out by a young woman in a veil.Your glance about the place finally finds Vivian, a thirty-something matriarchal figure who is probably capable of causing more damage with her wrinkled scowl than the heavy sword strapped to her belt. Standing up from the table of guards, she approaches you and offers a handshake. It is a vice grip.Vivian Rylock openly shares with them the following:The Weretiger is an abomination, a treacherous sorcerer, and a dangerous rebel. Using his netherworld abilities to enhance and shape the effects of Mana Sickness, the sorcerer hides as a seemingly normal human by day and terrorizes her pleasant mining program by night as a monster with claws, teeth, and inhuman speed. He has somehow controlled the physical aspect of his disease, but clearly the mental transmutation has escaped his ability to manage.Of course, Vivian is hiding various aspects of the truth. If the players intuit that she is holding information back, she reluctantly explains that while most of her ‘employees’ find their work reasonable and their lives comfortable, there are a few that find their conditions unacceptable. Vivian, citing reasons dealing with harvesting efficiency, initially declined their requests for change. Without any other means of demanding their terms, this small fraction of her company violently rebelled. Being against violence of course, Vivian negotiated a number of terms with them, ultimately resulting in a large severance package for the entire disagreeing party. The Weretiger, however, refused to stop his crusade.Part 4: WeretigerNavigation through the middle half of the Greencloud swamp is, barring a climbing accident or hostile indigenous animals, relatively safe. At this point, the PCs shouldn’t be worried about those dangers. At the low and high ends, however, travel becomes tricky and very dependent on time. There are two slipstreams, almost silent, flanking the top and bottom of the swamp. Ironically, the largest gasbags (able to withstand the strong winds) containing the rarest and most expensive of gases are located at these ends, and it is imperative for GIH to gain access to them. Greencloud itself follows a tidal cycle, rising and falling a few thousand feet, and the company issues its human overseers chronometers to ensure that they can pinpoint their absolute elevation at all times, based on the time and their relative location within the swamp.GIH’s infrastructure is composed the harvesting unit, an independently acting force of 20-50 slaves, a single songbow spell that is capable of delivering its enchantment effect for several hundred feet, and one or two overseers that crack the whip. If questioned about the ubiquity of the music, GIH management will explain it as a new therapeutic technique to calm the stormy minds of the bereaved. The slaves are all complacent, calm, and appear mentally subdued – however, their compromised mental status is explained away as a side effect of their terrible disease. The Weretiger poses as a harvesting overseer with a number of his rebel brethren, needing mobility within the swamp but badly outgunned on his own. His songbow, unlike that of the other units, is fake (a real person actually plucking a musical instrument); he tasked one of his more lightly afflicted freedmen to play the instrument, although a keen eye will spot the telltale symptoms of the Sickness. The Weretiger’s chronometer, in light of the recent events, is also broken, forcing him to rely on intuition, perception, and luck to keep his team alive.The PCs can find the Weretiger easily if they have researched the clues they found at the scene of the skirmish and know what to look for. Otherwise, they have to rely on a more difficult skill challenge – eventually, the Weretiger will slip up in a casual interrogation. If the PCs arrive at this point in the adventure are clearly have not at all investigated the chronometer and display no intention of doing so, it is advised that the DM give them a push in the right direction: for example, Vivian may express a suspicion that the tiger is hiding amongst her own groups and offer a list of all of her harvesting overseers that the group can use to cross reference.Once confronted by the party, the Weretiger will relate his side of the story:He has worked in Greencloud for far longer than GIH suspects, as he was once an overseer himself. He subjugated the economically challenged, forced them to work in hazardous and unforgiving conditions for meager pay. Eventually, when major cities became democracies and universal suffrage became fashionable, cruel operations like GIH were forced to shut down, and he lost his job. Two years later, fate dealt him another stroke of bad luck, and he contracted Mana Sickness, a seemingly irreversible condition that destined him for a bloody death. He thought it fortune that GIH was offering a sanctuary for him, a place in relative seclusion where individuals like him could try and cope with the advance of his disease.Arriving here, however, he realized that the situation was quite the opposite. He realized that GIH, devoid of labor after the changes in government regulations, turned to more nefarious routes to power their gas extraction. After being magically compelled for several months, suffering from not only the Sickness but grief and guilt as well, he accidently uncovered his own sorcerous nature when his own transmutation process began to oscillate between cogent human and violent killing machine. Interestingly, the former meant that he was no longer under the influence the songbow, and the Weretiger escaped from the clutches of his captors, vowing not to let his brethren wallow like he did in his old life. The Weretiger wreaked havoc for a month before Vivian reluctantly offered a deal – release the Weretiger’s old unit, the members with whom the Weretiger had grown attached to, in return for their exodus and silence. But this was just a ploy, for now he possessed a sizable force capable of threatening the entire GIH company.The Weretiger urges the group to see the righteousness in his ways. When (if) it comes time for him to make his last imploring statement, read the following:“Do you know the legend of the Weretiger? Yes, a dangerous beast, he slew many innocent men, ripped their innards out left them to bleed out, but there was another side to him. Beneath the monster lived a man, every bit a victim as his body which had taken control of him. And these people, this bitch Vivian, her minions, they are no more than another disease, turning that man into the despicable tiger.I exist because of the monsters. I hunt and I kill because of the monsters. I fight because of the man.”Part 5a: Slaying the MonsterIf the group decides not to side with the Weretiger, a skirmish will erupt. The bog should provide for very interesting terrain and cinematic action, with the Weretiger being exceptionally mobile in his monstrous form. It should be noted that falling (failing Athletics checks, etc) should result in a level appropriate amount of damage, as the preponderance of hammocks that evolved to catch water should break their fall and allow them to get back into the melee at the expense of a round or two of movement.Part 5b: EmancipationShould the group decide to betray their own allegiances and agree with the Weretiger’s sense of morality, they are faced with a more complicated task. There are a number of avenues to approach – should they assault other harvesting units and gather an army? Should they find Vivian herself and plow through her guards? The approach is up to them, but Vivian’s security is strong and it may require several combat encounters to finish the deed. Dealing with the songbow makes for an interesting combat skill challenge, as disabling it uses up valuable time during the fight yet could wreak havoc amongst the guard if it is successfully disabled. When pushed on the defensive, Vivian will hole herself up at the Skylark and use a Sending for martial aid, which will come after several days. A political storm will likely ensue, generating apt hooks for future adventures.Other ConsiderationsThe script intentionally keeps the initial description of the songbow players light, such that the player’s attention is hopefully drawn more to Vivian than the tavern music. However, a thorough investigation of the songbow would certainly draw suspicion amongst the players and it’s not the DM’s job to stop this possible route. However, the songbow is certainly very powerful gnomish magic and the man or woman playing the instrument is even capable of producing limited speech while ‘playing’. The players are likely to know that something is wrong if they realize that the music never stops, the musicians never move, but Vivian will refuse to expound upon the enchantment process, and if she deems the group has learned of their techniques, is authorized by GIH to use force to make sure the trade secret stays that way. If the illusory effect is dispelled, either by an arcane skill challenge or other means, a complex machine is revealed with lots of moving parts, glowing sigils, and the name Erudite Engineering emblazoned on the side.Ingredient UseWeretiger: the mythical legend of the lycanthrope, and the man who took his name to fuel an idea.Aerial Swamp: A marsh filled with gasbag plants that evolved to gain better sunlight exposure, and secondarily, water conservation.Human Slaver: Vivian Rylock, the manager of GIH’s operation, who resorts to slavery in times of need, and all of her GIH underlings.Universal Suffrage: Recently adopted by a number of influential organizations, galvanizing a mass exodus of the harvesting job. This is the cause of GIH’s labor crisis, which eventually led them to use even less ethical methods.Broken Chronometer: a critical clue used to track down Weretiger.Songbow: the name of a gnomish illusion spell utilized by Vivian in order to enslave her workers and deceive outsiders into finding them docile and content. The spell is seen by unafflicted human eyes as a young man or woman plucking a musical bow.</blockquote>

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