Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="BriarMonkey" data-source="post: 5633543" data-attributes="member: 95387">Round 2, Match 2:  BriarMonkey vs. Pour  1996 Words     Ingredients:     Swingset  Four and Twenty Blackbirds  Rakshasa Prince  Field of Stars  Consequences  Strand of Prayer Beads     Consequences of Court     An adventure for Pathfinder, or D&D 3rd Edition (3.5).     Background:     A minor noble, Lord Hennig, has tried many things to improve his standing in the royal court, however none of his schemes has fared well.  Recently though, a new plan has been hatched.     Along the southern borders of the kingdom roam several small gnoll clans.  For some time, there had been no real problems with the gnolls, other than the occasional missing livestock.  In Hennig's eyes though, these gnolls provided a way into favor at court.  Hiring a small mercenary company, Hennig sent these men to "stir up" the gnolls; arouse them into raiding into the kingdom.  These mercenaries did just that - unfortunately, their arrival coincided with the rise of a particularly strong and charismatic gnoll leader, Gnarl Headtaker.  Gnarl united several clans under his claw and began a rampage across the countryside, not only slaughtering the majority of the mercenary company, but laying waste to any farms and hamlets they encountered as they moved north into the kingdom.     In a political move, Hennig offered that he could resolve the gnoll problem.  That opportunity was given to him.  Unaware that the mercenary company had been destroyed, he unsuccessfully tried to find them so as to now stop the problem he had started.  Now, with no troops, he panicked.  The King was not approached for troops, as Hennig felt that would show poorly on his person.  Instead, he decided to act upon an offer from the agent of a Prince whom he had never met, and enter into an alliance.     At a banquet for the newly allied nobles, Hennig soon found out that he was now allied with the Rakshasa Prince, Maneevala.  Again, he panicked and offered a gift to cement their relationship.  Unfortunately, he offered Maneevala's wife an exquisite jewel encrusted gown, the "Field of Stars" - so named because when struck by low light, the entire gown lit up as though it were made of the heavens themselves.  The only problem with this offer was that the gown was currently the property of the Queen.  Maneevala offered that when his wife was adorned with the new gown, he would give Hennig a small force of troops to help him deal with his gnoll "problem".  Of course, this would be in exchange for a small favor, to be asked of at a later time.     Now in yet another difficult position, Hennig tendered the services of another mercenary company, this time of guildless thieves - led by a man named Rafferty.  This company was given the task of stealing the Queen's gown.  While Rafferty accepted the job, some ill will was built into the relationship when Hennig refused to give half the job's fee in advance.  In response, one of Rafferty's lieutenants had something very personal stolen from Hennig's wife - her strand of prayer beads.  These beads were made of perfect black pearls and corded with spider silk and gold; in their own right they could have paid for a large piece of the job.  The beads, considered collateral at this point, were then hidden with a halfling baker friend, who baked the lot into a pie of four and twenty blackbirds for "safe keeping".        Set Up:     As the PCs enter the picture, there are several different threads in motion.     To start, Rafferty's company of thieves are planning the theft of the Queen's gown, the "Field of Stars".  They already have a man on the inside at court, so as to provide details on the movements of the royals.  Similarly, they have an operative in the housekeeping staff, as well as within the grounds keeping staff.  All at this point are gathering intelligence.     Additionally, Maneevala, the Rakshasa Prince, is having one of his generals ready a small force of about 200 troops.  Once the Rakshasa's wife has received the promised gown, he will allow his general to travel to Lord Hennig's aid.  While deployed, the general is to keep his eyes open to any weaknesses in the kingdoms military and defenses.  These are to be noted for possible future exploitation.     As the company of thieves works their plan, Hennig is working on his own plans.  To start, he is planning how to employ his new troops to effectively remove the gnoll threat.  Similarly, while he fully believes the thieves he hired to be behind his wife's missing strand of prayer beads, he can not yet take any actions against them - as they are needed to obtain the gown.  Thus, he has sent his crier out, in as secretive a way as he can muster, to hire adventurer types to find and return the beads to his wife.     The gnolls, some several dozen strong under Gnarl Headtaker, are rampaging across the southern countryside.  They care not for anything save to slake their bloodlust and avenge themselves against the humans and their allies of this land.     Further, the King and the court are becoming concerned that Hennig is taking too long in dealing with the gnoll problem.  Should another town fall to the gnolls, the King will have to suspend Hennig's role and handle the matter himself - which would, of course, lessen Hennig's influence at court.     In the mean time, the local thieves guild has caught wind of something big going down.  Unfortunately, they haven't much more information than this.  But, because they have been excluded from the endeavor, they are actively seeking out the source as there are "fees" to be paid.     And finally, Hennig's wife, Lady Elzbeth Hennig, fully expects that her husband is up to one of his "schemes" again.  In an effort to save not only her reputation, but possibly her husband's neck, she is looking for someone to try to dismantle his plotting without calling undue attention to him, or her.        Hooks:     1) Refugees from the south have entered town, claiming that a massive gnoll is leading a rampage across the lands.  None are spared from being devoured while still alive, or having their heads ripped from their bodies.     2) A man, calling himself Thom Henshroud (Hennig's crier), approaches the party.  He inquires if they are willing to undertake a task of finding an important religious artifact, lost within the city.  He will pay handsomely for it.     3) Rumors abound in the taverns and guild halls as to a gnoll incursion in the south.  The town of Southfordeshire is apparently in the line of their warpath, only a few days from where the gnolls' last attacked.     4) A representative of the local Thieves Guild approaches the party.  They have reason to believe that a significant job is underway in their city, possibly revolving around the royal court.  The party is asked if they would be willing to find out what is actually going on and who is behind it.  Honorary membership in the guild is part of what the task will reward.     5) A priest asks the PCs to a meeting at the childrens park, by the swingset, of the local temple.  This is on behalf of his influential friend.  It is a matter of importance to the kingdom's well being.     Details:     Timelines:     There is about 1 week of time before the gnolls strike the town of Southfordeshire - if for no other reason than the gnolls are not moving in a straight line from place to place.  They tend to amble and zig zag as they look for victims and any potentials for personal gain.     Similarly, Rafferty's company (comprising about 14 individuals, not including paid informants, etc.) is about 3 days from making their move to steal the "Field of Stars" gown from the Queen.       Therefore, there will be a minimum of 3 days before Hennig will be able to "gift" the gown to Maneevala's wife and expect to gain any form of military support.        Working the Hooks:     The PCs may advance from one of more of the hooks given, each of which takes a different direction initially.  It is because of this that the timelines above should be noted as any one can impact the decisions and actions of another.     1) If the PCs interview the refugees, they will find a member or two of the original mercenary company.  These men, in utter shock of the horrors they witnessed, are willing to tell the PCs anything they are asked about, that they had a role in (see the background above).     From here, the PCs could either head south to try to deal with the gnolls; or they could confront Lord Hennig.     2) If accepted, Thom describes the strand of prayer beads and indicates that while valuable, their sentimental value far exceeds their worth.  He gives them the only lead they have, which is that Rafferty, or someone in his company, has stolen them.  Thom will also tell the PCs where the company is staying.     He will not tell the PCs why Rafferty is in town, nor what connection they have to himself or Hennig.     From here, the PCs are most likely going to confront, or otherwise try to check out, Rafferty and his company.  These thieves are professionals and are paid well to keep their mouths shut.  But, there is also hubris and bravado involved when dealing with these sorts - effective diplomacy, or just good old fashioned snooping can lead to who hired this company, and may even reveal that they are here for a job involving the royal court.     3) If the PCs are only working this hook, they will most likely head south to confront the gnolls.     If all plans go on schedule, what happens next depends on when the PCs arrive into the gnoll's area.  If they arrive after day 3 and before the end of the week, they will have another group (Maneevala's troops on-loan) in the area combating the gnolls; if the arrive prior to, or on, day 3, they will be the only opposing force in the area.     If, by whatever mechanism (most likely by killing Gnarl Headtaker, which will cause the weak alliance to crumble), the PCs are able to handle the gnolls by themselves, they will return as heroes.  Otherwise, Henning will have already claimed credit for removing the issue.     4) If the PCs accept, the representative will point them in the direction of the halfling baker, Louf Baker (who happens to be a guild member - but the representative won't tell them that).  They are told to ask Louf about his Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie.     Louf will be evasive due to torn loyalties, but if plied with enough drink or coin, he will eventually point the PCs toward Rafferty.     5)  The priest's friend is Lady Hennig, and she will implore, or bribe, the PCs to help them.     She will explain that they have had strange visitors over the last few weeks and recently had a banquet where one of the guests was introduced as a Prince - but he looked like a tiger-man.  It was after that banquet that her husband started acting weird.  He became very secretive and started meeting with even more strangers.  At about this same time he became involved with the gnoll issue.     If the subject comes up, she will note that her strand of prayer beads also went missing during this time.     She wants this whole issue with the tiger-man, the gnolls, and all these strangers to be cleared up - with as little noise as possible.  If asked, she will grant an audience with Lord Hennig.        Wrapping Up:     Depending on how the PCs handle this scenario, any of the following may occur:     Handling the gnolls (this deprives Hennig of his options, he may or may not try to pursue the relation with the Rakshasa);     Handling Rafferty (this deprives Hennig of his military aid, but the gnolls are still a problem);     Returning the beads (Rafferty may bail on the job without having collateral).</blockquote>

Verification