My attempt:
Ingredients:
Angry Mob
Costume Jewelry
Alchemist’s Fire
Silver Dragon
Foppish Vampire Bard
Apparatus of Kwalish
In Over Their Heads:
As written it is intended for characters of levels 10-12. However it could be used for higher levels as long as the NPCs are scaled up coorespondingly.
Background:
The Phoenix Glory This is the trade ship of Boreanis the Ravisher. It is a midsized tradeship designed more for speed than cargo capacity.
Boreanis the Ravisher Boreanis the Ravisher is a 10th level Vampiric Drow Bard. 50 years ago he hit upon a cunning plan. No one would suspect a merchant ship's captain of being a vampire. He could pick up meals at each port, and be gone before anyone really missed them. In practice this ended being a little more difficult, however he has come to enjoy the traveling. He has picked up the title of Ravisher for his penchant for seducing young women and sailing off with them.
The city of AnyPort Really any mid to small port city in your campaign world will suffice. Boreanis the Ravisher has been making shipments here for roughly 8 years and has become trusted by the local thieves guilds.
The Thieves Guilds The only real connection to the Guilds and Boreanis is through the docks. A number of smugglers ship goods in and out of the city and Boreanis runs goods for them.
The Merchant Guilds Boreanis also has picked up contacts through the Merchant guilds in this city. He routinely ships cargo for them, in part to cover the smuggling and in part because he doesn’t always see eye to with the Guild.
Farus the Pure A young adult Silver Dragon that has taken up residence on a mountainous island roughly 50 miles of the coast of AnyPort. This has been recent (within the last 15 years) and the youngling has concocted his own cunning scheme. He decided from this roost he can uphold the ‘laws of the sea’ and crack down on both piracy and smuggling. Allowing him to increase his horde by seizing their cargos. His plan has had several drawbacks. Chiefly in that he has had to hire ships and crews to board the ‘impounded’ vessels in order to not lose the cargo and to transport the offenders to his island jail. Secondly he isn’t quite sure what to do with all these prisoners. Work release programs?
Hooks:
This is the hardest step. Either the characters can be hunting for a job (and this will be the only one on the boards…), or be put on this mission by a patron. Possible patrons include, Merchants, Nobles, the City Leaders, and the Thieves Guild.
Merchants - They have the need to ensure their goods will be returned. Particularly one of them-a case of expensive costume jewelry.
Nobles - A local Noble has ordered (through a Merchant) an expensive amount of … yup costume jewelry… and he wants to makes sure it all comes to him…
City Leaders - Wishing to appease the Noble who placed all his eggs (money) in one investment basket (costume jewelry) at the City Leaders advice, the City Leader will strongly urge any adventures in his pocket/patronage to make sure it comes back…
The Thieves Guild - They have a contract with Boreanis to be given the costume jewelry and exchange it with fakes so they can resell it elsewhere. If discovered Boreanis plans to blame the oversea Merchants contacts…
If the characters are merely hunting for transportation, they will find that there are no ships leaving to where they wish to go except one… and he’ll only accept them as Marines, at least for as long as the mission takes. Then he will happily transport them for free (at least to the next port of call)…
The Setup:
During his last run Boreanis was forced to drop his cargo in order to pickup speed and out run the ships of The Silver Dragon. Thusly a number of Merchants are extremely angry with him. He has claimed that it was pirates of the coast. The crowd has become somewhat unruly…
The Angry Mob:
The characters should come upon a group either in an upscale tavern or in the market district. In either case in the center will be a tall Drow attempting to speak to and calm down the crowd. He is employing Diplomacy to explain that it will all be well. When this begins to fail and several thugs begin edging towards him he will Enthrall. At this point the crowd will calm and become receptive to what he has to say. This should include the characters. He will state that he has a plan to retrieve the goods and put paid to the pirates. He has learned where there secret base is located and plans to sneak in and rob them blind, then cripple their ships. He will individually address some of the merchants concerns but refuses to go into any details aside from the fact that he needs to hire on extra crew in the form of marines. He will continue to Enthrall and employ Diplomacy until he is sure the Merchants (and a few smugglers) have calmed down and will let him pursue his mission. The crowd will break, with some staying to discuss things with him. He will ask to continue it later, either here or at a good tavern.
From here go where you wish for a day or two. Take this time to hook the characters or to interject some of the background material. Regardless on the second day at dawn the ship will sail.
Over the next two days Boreanis will enact a plan he has been concocting for approximately 5 years. He has a handful of Apparati of Kwalish, a map of Farus’ island and the tunnels under it, a small group of guards on the island, and a desire for some dragon treasure. This ‘stealing’ of his cargo by ‘pirates’ is just his trigger. He wasn’t sure if he would even go through with the plan (the Apparati are available on loan from the Thieves Guild). After all it is extremely dangerous. However, he had a lot of capital tied up that last cargo, and doesn’t want to lose it all (or have to pay the penalties for cargo lost…). He knows that almost all of his cargo was picked up by the two pursuing ships (from his plants), and knows where it should be.
Player Information:
The characters should easily be able to learn the following:
Boreanis is a bit shady (if they have connections with the Thieves Guild they can learn that he is a smuggler and owes them cargo, specifically a crate of costume jewelry…)
A great many important locals want some cargo to be returned. Individual investigations can lead them to discover exactly what it is they want.
Boreanis will tell them this: He knows where the ‘pirate’ island is because he has men amongst them and has been planning to shut them down. He has a secret method for entering the island through a system of underwater caves. He will not reveal more than that until they are on their way.
He believes (he is lying) that the pirates worship a ‘dark deity’ and will probably have offered up the more valuable goods to this ‘deity’ in the upper levels of their cave complex.
The Plan:
There is a nearby island that is mostly just a rock jutting up. Boreanis plans to moor here, hide the ship, and walk the Apparati across the ocean floor to the island and ferry the goods back, along with anything else they find. Then as the last bit is being carried across to the Glory a small group will be sent to wreck their boats from underwater using the Apparati. The plan will be detailed during the 2 day journey to the small island.
The underwater journey will take approximately 3 hours (just allow the Apparatus to have enough air) and lead into an underwater grotto. The booty will have to be found and hand carried back to the grotto. From there it will be carried back. Boreanis will have enough Apparati to carry all the characters (1 per 2 characters) and 4 more.
Farus’ Island:
There is a shallow harbor on the north side of the island. Nestled against it rising up (and into) the mountain slope is a very small town. It exists to house the sailors and guards of the island.
There are 5 sailing ships, 3 in port, 2 out on patrol. Each ship has a crew of 25 housed just off the docks.
The further you go up the slope the higher the social class raises.
The caves. There are 12 levels. The lowest 6 levels are infrequently guarded and contain mostly stored goods (food, ship parts, lumber, etc), most of the ‘stolen’ goods can be found here. These caves are below the town. The lowest two are rough hewn from natural caves that lead into the sea. Only the major intersections are really guarded The next 3 levels are barracks for the guards. These are in level with the towns. Some guards can be found stationed occasionally at intersections or on patrols (particularly the upper levels). Levels 7 through 10 are the prison itself. Mostly just cells down long twisty tunnels. The upper two levels are the dragons lair itself. All tunnels here are large enough for the dragon to maneuver easily (even turn around). The largest central chamber is used to store his booty. There are openings to the outside of the mountain periodically. The dragon can be found here.
Some notes. The Vampire will never mention that their quarry is a dragon. Nor will he leave his ship. His plan involves the party go in and secure a handful of corridors, via barrable/jammable doors. His men will ferry the cargo back and forth while the PCs guard and secure the passages. Very early on a handful of crates will be missing. These are the more valuable containers (the Costume Jewelry most notably). If the party is having problems figuring things out… one of the crew sent haul the cargo will remind them that some things are probably upstairs.
Going Up:
If the party needs help a handful of marines can be sent over, a few at a time to help hold upper corridor doors shut. Ideally the party should endeavor to be stealthy. However these are excellent opportunities for limited combat engagements. All of Boreanis’ Dominated plants will turn up to help guard key pasages, but they can’t guard them all. Once passed level 10 however their will be no guards.
The dragon will be found in Human form inspecting his goods. All are carefully stored in racks along the walls. Outfit him as you feel it necessary. He will only be prepared if the party has been completely unstealthy or if guards have escaped the party to report to him.
He will happily listen to the party if they try to parlay. He can even be convinced to return any non-contraband goods to the party if they can convince him they are working for the Authorities. If they roll over on Boreanis he will happily reward them (if he is captured…).
The Costume Jewelry itself will be easy to find, it and a few other crates are in the center of the chamber awaiting his categorizing.
Wrapping Up:
Most (if not all) of this mission can be accomplished through Diplomacy and Stealth. If the party successfully stole the goods, they will get any reward offered them by the town.
The Vampire: Ideally the party should never discover that Boreanis is a vampire. If they do let them deal with it as they wish. He won’t do anything In the open to give himself away, but accidents do happen…
The Dragon: Occasionally Farus comes to town. If the party fought him and escaped he might recognize them…
The Costume Jewelry: In a last port of call, Boreanis switched the real goods for very good imitations (Appraise DC 25)… He was planning to make this his last trip to AnyPort
I just didn't have much to say.
