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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pour" data-source="post: 5656575" data-attributes="member: 59411">Blood for Blooda D&D adventure for characters levels 11 - 13History of KypraCenturies ago, the humans of the city-state Kypra shed the yolk of their elven masters and won freedom. The Kyprians in turn enslaved the elves, forcing them into roles as house slaves, laborers and prostitutes. For such a long-lived race this became living Hell, doomed to serve lifetime after human lifetime, inherited down generations like prized property. Many elves initially killed themselves rather than serve man, only increasing the others’ value, but a sorry majority simply gave up, broken completely by the terrifying art of the Sisters of the Lash and trained to accept the doldrum of their new lot. Thus have new generations of elf been born without any notion of freedom at all. Not all of those ancient elves could be trained, however, and the few that held onto their elvenity were thrown into ludi as gladiators, their outrage serving for the amusement of all Kypra. They did not fare long against the increasingly deadly and sadistic challenges of the sands, save one, Arsanthor the Slayer, who has endured for nearly four hundred years as champion of the Kyprian Arena. He is the prized bull of the Maxas ludus, one of the most formidable fighters in the world, and depending on the actions of the party the exacter of a terrible revenge...Adventure BackgroundA compassionate, naive and foolhardy elven prince Nilanthus sailed to the edges of Kypra with the intentions of liberating the famed Arsanthor, whose suffering he regarded an affront to all elvendom. The Maxas ludus refused his initial monetary offers, and so the prince, unbeknownst to his lord father and against all the ship’s counsel, stole into the city in disguise, with only his loyal bodyguard Tarem beside him, and eventually snuck and bribed his way into Arsanthor’s cell. The gladiator did not desire freedom, for all joy had been stolen from him forever, even with promises of peace and titles in Gwend. All that was left in Arsanthor was hatred... and the beginnings of a plan. The young Nilanthus left Arsanthor with a healthy sum of gold, enough to fund his escape, and promised to wait three days in the city quarry incase he changed his mind.Instead of using the coin to escape, Arsanthor bribed his human doctore Baa- whose dark secret he’d discovered years ago: Baa used a magical substance known as Wax Poetic to overcome his lisp with a famed verbosity and intimidating voice. It was an expensive material, but without it he’d never be taken seriously. Through Baa, Arsanthor initiated the grave robbery of Magar Maxas (including the gold rewards) and the capture of prince Nilanthus (via bribed house guard), intending to weaken Kypra through an ongoing blood feud between its two most powerful houses, and eventually kill the elven prince and incite war with Gwend.Event 1: The Corpse Robbery Hook: The party is approached by a muscular, lisping man in tattered robes and drawn hood, a hint of desperation about him, looking for a party to infiltrate the Maxas catacombs and steal the corpse of the ancient sire Magar Maxas. He’s willing to pay handsomely up front, and double upon delivery.DeclineThe lisping man departs worriedly, and if followed (a Complexity 1 skill challenge) removes his tatters, puts on a set of horrid, red wax lips, and enters the Karzes estates. Never fear, the adventure does not end here. Instead, the party has their first lead (the lisping man, and potentially the wax lips and the Karzes), and the real adventure does not begin until the end of Event 2, when they hear of what became of the corpse and shroud of Magar Maxus at the Karzes gala. The party may seek to warn the Maxas ludus beforehand, but the master of the house would laugh at their claims, and even if they did reach Lanista Maxas, he would dismiss them as fools until the end of Event 2, where he or the master would seek to question the party, and either arrest them or hire them.> An Easy Streetwise check offers a short list of people willing to offend the powerful Maxas ludus. In fact, there is only one, the rival Karzes ludus, though it’s a mystery what exactly might be gained.AcceptThe party is informed a cart will be waiting just outside the Maxas villa to transport the shrouded corpse to a remote dockside chandlery. He also assures them the catacomb gates will be unlocked, and that they should be mindful of the traps. However the party manages the robbery, Magar must be delivered that very night or the deal is off. > A Moderate Streetwise check regarding the urgency and learn Lanista Karzes, chief rival of the Maxas ludus, is having a birthday gala tomorrow night...The catacombs are located beneath the Maxas compound, a sprawling villa and accompanying ludus atop a hill in the east of the city. There are high walls, ample guard, and certain sections are crawling with gladiators, making for a tricky entry, but once inside the yards, the entry point is in an isolated corner, under cover of lemon trees. Beyond the unlocked gate, there are a few poison-based traps before the crypts of the ancient sires, Easy DCs to disarm, but each dealing triple recommended level-appropriate poison damage, enough to drop the careless or unskilled below 0 hp.The lisping man waits in the chandlery with the gold as promised. However, just as soon as the lisping man is out of sight with the cart and corpse, Karzes house guard attack. After a Normal encounter, the party is refused legal recompense given the power and prestige behind the Karzes name. There is the birthday gala the following night should the party want to make a scene...Event 2: The Birthday PartyThe following night the party is held at the Karzes estate, populated by strange carnival acts and gladiatorial displays of prowess in Lanista Karzes honor, as well as much of Kypra’s well-to-do.If the party is present, they’d be shocked to see the lisping man in the armor of a doctore, speaking in a clear and frankly imposing voice, announcing the Lanista. The Lanista is eager to give out favors, as is customary before he receives his own gifts and the feasting can official commence. However, he cluelessly hands Lanista Maxas, his rival but also esteemed contemporary (thus an automatic invite) the worst thing imaginable: the wrapped up death shroud of Magar Maxas, which the man immediately recognizes. The uproar is met by yelling and even sword drawing. The party, and certainly others, can make their accusations, and a further inspection of the grounds will find the corpse itself propped on a stick, used as a training dummy and utterly ravaged.If attention is turned to the doctore, he’s begin to choke and gag, then fall over. Suddenly his lips warp, becoming red, grotesque and waxy. He spits them out, proving false lips, and in the familiar lisp utters his final word and the next clue... “Flayer”> Anyone there could tell the party the ‘flayers’ are the Sisters of the Lash, the sisterhood charged with breaking elven slaves. See Event B.With Baa dead, the Maxas leave with the corpse promising retribution, and Julius eventually emerges...Hook: The party is hired by an even-tempered Maxas or Karzes family member to get to the bottom of the suspicious grave robbery, and thus end the feud. Alternatively, they are hired by a concerned senator foreseeing city-wide turmoil if this is not resolved soon.> Companion: Julius was Baa’s gay lover, once a gladiator whom Baa helped buy freedom. He’s angry and distraught over Baa’s apparent poisoning, and reveals Baa’s secret lisp and dependency on the Wax Poetic. He’s willing to take the party to the chandlery (Event A) where he buys the stuff, and join their efforts.Event A: The ChandleryEvent B: The Desecrarium At the bleak temple of the Sisters of the Lash, haunted by screams, the ruling Matron of Pain denies all accusations. It is largely a dead end, save for Marizar...> Companion: Sister Marizar is tasked by the Matron of Pain to prove the sisterhoods innocence, a task she’ll join with the party to complete, or else go about on her own. She, like all her sisters, are leather-clad dominatrix/torturers with an affinity for the whip, but possess certain enchantments and harming spells as well. Event 3: Temple of the IlluminatorsThe chandlers of Kyra are also an order of historians and scribes, keeping secret histories of man and elf since the time of human slavery via thousands of lanterns. Each tells a story cast upon one of the circular walls of the subterranean temple known as the Chambers of Remembering. Their agents are many and very little escapes their notice, though all they can do is offer possibilities, and help players work through theories until they realize ‘flayer’ was ‘slayer’ and Arsanthor is to blame. Additionally, the observant illuminators, only allowed to speak in historical quotes, and out of fear for their very order’s existence, break their vows of silence and divulge that foreign elves are being kept prisoner at the quarry. This should click with the notion an elven warship was sighted off the coast.Event 4: The QuarryThugs are keeping Tarme hostage, but Arsanthor has already taken the prince to the arena, where the elven warship might see his execution.> Companion: Tarem Tar’ell failed in his role as protector and is desperate to save the prince. He’ll join the party or follow them and fight on his own, a skilled but reckless warrior, perhaps the only reason Arsanthor had his men spare him.Event 5: The Karzes LudusReturning to the ludus to confront the Slayer would find the place in shambles, most of the house massacred, including the Lanista and loyal gladiators. Enough searching reveals an underground tunnel connecting the ludus to the arena proper, and obvious signs its been taken by a sizable number.Event 6: The Kyprian ArenaIn the place Arsanthor feels most powerful, the Kyprian Arena, he awaits the party, with a number of disloyal Maxas gladiators and thugs hired with Nilanthus’ leftover gems. He knows the sands well, and has planned for various starved beasts to join the fight at various points and, if the battle is going badly, release the valves and flood the arena with seawater. The arena is along the rocky sea cliffs, soon to be in plain view of the Gwendian ship. Arsanthor has Nilanthus, noose about his neck, positioned on the edge of the highest heights, with two human thugs waiting to push him over, providing another layer of complexity to the involved encounter. While Arsanthor wants to bide his time until the ship is close as possible, he will signal Depending how the party went about the adventure, they might have allies in the doctore’s vengeful lover, a bloodthirsty Sister of the Lash and a failed elven bodyguard. These will undoubtedly help, as the encounter should be Very Hard.Conclusion: War or Peace?Depending on the success, failure and decisions of the party, Kypra could be finished, suddenly responsible for the murder of an elven prince and involved in a war whilst in a divided and weakened state due to the unresolved blood fued. Conversely, Arsanthor’s plot may have been foiled, or at least exposed, and the blood feud ended. If Nilanthus was killed, Gwend will seek retribution, though Kypra may have time to ready itself. If Nilanthus was saved, he’ll undoubtedly lament the loss of his elven kin and depths they might sink, but seek no further action in Kypra. IngredientsDevilish SmileIlluminated HistoryMisplaced VendettaElven ChampionGrave RobberPaving Stones of Good IntentionsFlayerWax PoeticBurial ShroudShip at Sea</blockquote>

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