here goes nothing
I'd like to apologize in advance for anyone that actually reads my submission. I had NO IDEA how hard it was to do this! boy does it make me respect the rest of you. I considered not even posting, or dropping out and letting someone else go, but I figured I would never stop sucking if I didn't practice and get some feedback, so here goes.
Iron DM – Summer 2003
Round 1 – cool hand luke
Warning: what you are about to read is Bad, really bad. Any resemblance to good righting is purely a coincidence.
ingredients:Bungling adept
Secret cove
Unsavory stew
Ioun stone
Carpet shop
Ooze
Whatever happened to Saturday Night? Or, the start of the Counter Reformation. An adventure for characters levels 3-5
Synopsis:
Wehrn has seen a lot of changes over the last generation. For a thousand years, Wehrn had been the epicenter for trade for the entire continent. It was at the cross roads of both land and sea travel and had a large natural harbor. It was also blessed (or cursed) by being far enough away from the capital city that very little attention was paid to it, as long as the goods (and therefore, the tariffs) kept rolling in. Wehrn developed a reputation based on three things; the huge marketplace, its fun loving, hard partying atmosphere, and the relative ease at which vices are found in the city. Almost any good or service, whether legal, or not, could be purchased on the streets of this city. (For you history buffs, imagine ancient Corinth, a good modern day equivalent would be a slightly seedier version of New Orleans). This debauchery was brought to a dizzying (and some would say disgusting) climax every spring with the Festival. The Festival was a fortnight long foray into feasting, fornication, and fun. (imagine Mardi gras/carnivale and spring break rolled into one.) This came to a screeching halt some 22 years ago. During that year’s festival, a huge fire broke out in the cities warehouse district, destroying most of the warehouses, city docks, and a good number of the merchant ships docked there. This devastated the econ0my, and was the beginning as what is referred to as the reformation. (The fact that this fire was set by a very ambitious young cleric named Felor has remained a secret, perhaps to be uncovered later) Grandell, A local cleric of (whatever a strict LG deity is in your setting that none of your characters are worshipping.) saw the opportunity before him, and seized it. Feeding upon the devastation, and desperation the people were feeling, he parlayed his natural charisma into political power. He was soon appointed as Head overseer (mayor) by the council of five (city council). He began a reformation that totally re-shaped Wehrn. In there fear and desperation, people were glad to change there ways, reinforced by a great “ad” campaign, of well paid bards that sung to the necessity of change, the dangers of excessive living, and the need for everyone to conform. In only a few short years, Grandell had not only totally rebuilt the warehouse and dock district, clearing it of the drug dens and whorehouses that had previously prospered there, but had also rebuilt the image, and atmosphere of the town. Mothers were no longer scared to let their children play outside, people could walk safely at night, and being from Wehrn was no longer considered a mark of low morals in the rest of the kingdom. The city prospered greatly for the next 10 years under Grandell’s rule. 7 years ago, Grandell died suddenly one night, in his sleep, His right hand man, a very pious man of the cloth named Felor took his place. Slowly, Methodically, Felor extended his power, and is once again changing the face of Wehrn. He established a secret police to investigate “personal crimes”. He has banned the public worship of any other god. He then disbanded the council of five, outlawed the traders’ guild (major opposing power base) and has driven the Paisans, (wehrn’s version of the mafia) into deep hiding. The church is now in complete control of almost every aspect of daily life.
This adventure can either be a short, one episode interlude, able to drop in anytime your players come to a big city, or, it can be a introduction to a long term campaign, to uncover the corruption, and, ultimately, unseat the theocracy that has been set up.
Character Hooks
Depending on if you plan to run this as a one-time adventure, or the beginning of a long-term campaign. If it is the beginning of a long campaign, the parties religious types (cleric, paladin, even druid) will have learned of the new rules in effect in Wehrn prohibiting any worship besides the “official” one. Once there, they will find out that something is rotten in Denmark, and be directed to investigate/expose the corruption. If it is just a one-night side adventure, the actions below should provide a hook.
Scene One: The town gate, and a very unsavory stew.
The players arrive at the city to find a VERY long line of people standing before the city gates. Upon inquiry, they find that this is a new procedure that has been implemented. Everyone coming or going into town is stopped at the gate and searched, ostensibly to make sure that both a tax and tithe is paid, but also to look for “contraband”. Posted above the entryway is a large sign that states, “Nothing that thwarts HIS will” flanked by the church’s symbol. A make shift traveling circus has set up outside the gate, entertaining there captive audience with jugglers, trained bears, stilt walkers, and various sideshows. One group seems to be drawing a particularly large crowd. There are 2 men walking through the crowd, one talking constantly, the other carrying a big pot, and wearing a clip of somekind over his nose. On the side of the pot is scrawled “uncle eddees sweet stew” Apparently, the carny was offering anyone try to drink a mug of his “stew”, for 5 sp. If you were able to drink the entire mug, he would pay you 10 gp. He was very charismatic, and was able to get quite a few of the farmers to take a shot at drinking the foul concoction. Every one of them was reduced to puking long before they finished the glass. Uncle eddee and his assistant continuing walking down the line, taking people’s money, and leaving them puking, as they do, until they come to the party. Spying the group (and whatever character he feels most likely to be able to sucker in, you make the call based on there personalities, though an accompanying NPC, or cohort would work well), he calls out “here’s a likely customer! Whatya say, wanna test your guts against my gold?” (Important note, he HAS NOT said, “here’s a likely customer” in any of his previous talking, that is a signal phrase to his unseen partner that he has found a likely target, most likely the players won’t get this, but just in case). He will then attempt to goad the player into trying his noxious brew. Even going as far as to wave his fee, and letting the player try it for free (something else he’s hasn’t previously done). Unbeknownst to the players, at the same time, his partner, a level 10 rogue, is maneuvering to “plant” an item on the character. If the character tries to drink the stew, make a dc 20 fortitude check to see if he is successful. If the players refuse, then, eddee, just before giving up, he will quickly pick up the bucket, and hold it as close as possible to the players nose, “see this isn’t so bad, give it a shot”. Either then, or when they are drinking, is when the accomplices places a small bag somewhere on the player. A 10th level thief should be able to beat the standard dc 20 pickpocket check with ease. The player suffers a penalty on his opposing spot role, -10 if he actually drank it, -5 if he is simply nauseated from the fumes from the bucket.
Uncle eddee is desperately trying to seek out a way to get the ioun stones into town. He really is part of a traveling band of carnies. Recently, one of the contestant’s became so ill from his sweet stew that he passed out. Eddee was easily able to nab the Ioun stone from around his head. He is now desperate to move the stone to a fence he knows inside town, but is a coward, and doesn’t want to risk getting caught with the item, so he devised a plan to let someone else attempt to carry it into town, passed the guards. At which point, his accomplice (who normally pick pockets the marks while there puking) will retrieve the item.
Scene two: the gate
When the party approaches the gate, they will here one of the guards there reading the rules. “No symbols of other gods may be visible in town, No denigrating the church in town, No denigrating church officials, ….etc, etc.) They will be pulled off to the side, and asked for there names, occupations, etc, by 3 guards. During this time, Alfon, an adept stationed at the gate, will be looking over them with a “detect magic” spell. He will point to the character that had the “package” placed on him, and one of the guards will start to frisk the character, eventually coming away with the small package. The entire party will be asked to step inside the “office” . if they refuse, the guards will step forward to “convince” them to go peacefully, or will attempt to force them into the office. Once inside, alfon will open the package, to uncover small elliptical ioun stone, of lavender and green. Recognizing the stone as able to absorb divine spells, a sly smile spreads across his face. He goes on a rant about how DARE they try to sneak in something as blatantly EVIL as this stone, trying to stop the good magic of the churches representatives. When the PC’s protest , Alfon will tell them he is casting a spell that will see through there lies and treachery. He makes a great show of casting this spell. An easy knowledge arcane check (dc10) will let the characters know that no spell was cast, but Alfon keeps acting (and the guards definitely believe it) like it was. He is so convincing in the acting that it becomes apparent that he too believes he cast the spell. After more ranting about the evils the party attempted to perpetrate, he will say there is only one thing the party can do, and that is to make a penance to atone for there sins. The character caught with the item will stay with Alfon, either locked in his cell or with him, until the party completes the atonement.
He then tells the guards to leave and go back to their posts.
He tells the party that their atonement will be stopping an even bigger evil. He has discovered a secrete cove that the Paisans are using to smuggle in various contraband, and smuggle out wanted people. The cove leads to a tunnel that comes up someplace in the city. He wants to find out where this tunnel emerges, so he can shut down the entire operation, and get all of those involved. He uses the party instead of church guards so he will not have to share the glory of his discovery.
Alfon is motivated by one thing only by this point, greed for power. He wants to use this “bust” to make a name for himself, and further his career in the church. He started out as a true adept, devout in his worship, but, the corruption that has infiltrated the church caught him. Slowly, he became less focused on serving his church, as he was to furthering his own quest for power. Because of this, his god has removed his power to effectively cast spells. Alfon is terrified by this, but doesn’t realize the cause. He will put on a great show of being able to cast spells, and sometimes they still work.
Scene Three: the secret cove
Before he leaves, Alfon calls the guards back in, and tells them he must leave, and escort the prisoners to a special meeting. He tells them if he is not back in 3 hours, to call the captain of the guard, and start looking for him. This should happen in the late afternoon.
The secret cove is a very small body of water (maybe 50 feet in diameter) with a small (15’) outlet to the sea, just big enough for a small rowboat to pass into. It is situated in an area of high cliffs, the entryway to the sea is covered by a permanent illusion spell that makes it appear as a solid wall of rock.. At high tide, water floods into the cove, filling it almost 20’ deep. At low tide it is mostly empty, with just a few tide pools remaining. At the back of the cove is an entrance to a natural cave that is covered by water at high tide, but revaluated at low tide.
Alfon then leads the party to the secret cove, on the way there, he tells them that one, not necessarily the one caught, must stay with him, until the others return. Alfon leads them about 3 miles south of the main harbor. After an hour of looking around, he finds what he is looking for. He steps right into what appears to be a large rock on the side of a rocky cliff, flecked with green minerals, and steps right through it! Once the party is inside the cove, the tide should be half way out, revealing the top half of the cave. Seated over the entryway, on a small wooden ledged hammered into the side of the cliff is a lookout, who seems to be paying little attention. Alfon whispers, “one of you must come back with me, follow that cave, and find out where it opens inside the city! And here’s a little help!” at which point he stands and attempts to cast a spell. Again a DC 12 spell check will reveal that he is attempting to cast a sleep spell, what comes out instead is Light (divine sense of humor maybe) cast on the top of his head. The lookout immediately spots the light, and begins to scramble up a rickety rope ladder. It will take him 2 rounds to reach the top of the ladder, and disappear. Blushing with embarrassment, Alfon hollers “Well DO something, don’t let him get away.” Whether or not he manages to escape will effect the end of the scenario.
While the pc (or npc or cohort) that must go back with Alfon might think he’s getting the raw end of the deal, he will actually be a source of great knowledge for the future. Probably already suspicious of Alfon’s bungling of magic, he will pick up on many hints that Alfon is not the pious Adept he so desperately wishes to appear, and that he has only a vestige of the power he once had, because of his ambition.
Scene Four: The silken tunnel.
The entryway is about half covered with water. The PC’s can either wait an hour or so for the water to fall more, or make a short swim into the tunnel. The tunnel angles up sharply, and is soon out of the tide zone. Once there they will find a surpisingly deserted tunnel. It is obviously well used, occasional torch holders line the walls, and no dust has collected. The tunnel alternates between natural occurring tunnels and chambers in limestone, to short, crudely if efficiently cut hallways connecting the rooms. Finally the room enters into a largish chamber. A great spider web covers the far wall. A path cleared in the dust goes to the spider web then disappears behind it. The large web is the home of a Large spider, a ring of animal friendship on the guy you saw as a lookout allows invited guests to pass through it. But since our pc’s aren’t invited, they must figure there own way around the spider. An easy dc10 search will find a door hidden behind the spiders web. There are no other ways out of the room, and it’s always quite apparent which way the pc’s need to go.
Scene four: the carpet shop
The door hidden behind the spiders web opens into a medium sized room, half of which appears to hve been a natural cave, the other half roughly hewn out of rock. There are piles of spider silk everywhere, in varying conditions. Some just heaped up, some, spun into thread. On the far wall is a door, and several barrels. Inside the barrels is more silk, soaking in an array of dyes. The door opens into a 20 foot wide, 30 foot long room. There is a ledge on each end with a door in it, and about a 5’ landing. The center of the room is a 15’ deep pit. A spot check will reveal a gray ooze at the bottom of the pit. There is no ledge around the sides, no visible way of getting across. There is a 8” high, 3’ wide slot directly beneath the door across the pit. Over the door is carved the words
first rival
earliest friend
a blood bond that cannot break
nor even bend
(answer of course is brother, that’s what Paisan means, and this was there smuggling passage, they used the ooze to not only guard the passage, but dispose of any evidence )
If the answer is spoken, a platform slides across the room, if not, it’s up to the PC’s to find a way across.
Opening the next door welcomes the pc’s to a very strange sight. There is a huge loom on one wall, weaving a beautiful rug. But what is odd is all over the room, laying on the ground, spilled over desks, are finished rugs, with there solid backing partially pulled off of them, and piles of papers, and other small objects resting beside each rug. Open investigation, the papers turn out to be texts of holy books for just about every major known religion. It is odd indeed that all of these are in one place. Other documents appear to be some sort of accounting system, that is hard to decipher. The odds and ends are small religious objects, symbols of devotions, small statues, etc. some of the pages have been carefully sewn onto the back of the rug, to be covered up with a solid cloth backing. Obviously someone is going to great lengths to hide these holy books in the rugs. There should be recognizable pieces of a holy text that any cleric or paladin in the party worship. There is a staircase leading up out of this room. At the top of the staircase is the back room of the carpet shop. A great array of carpets hang on the wall. Some very plain, to very ornate rugs. Here’s where it matters if the lookout escaped.
If he DID NOT escape, this room is deserted, filled with nothing but hanging carpets, however, one of these is a animated carpet, set to defend the area. It is either large (cr 3) or huge (CR5) whichever would be more appropriate for the party. Once the carpet is defeated, the party can proceed to the front of the store. It is after hours, and the store is closed. If they are spotted in the store by the town guard, they will be stopped and questioned. Mentioning alfons name to the guards will get them released. Hopefully enough questions have been raised that they see not everything is as it should be.
If the lookout did escape, this final room had 4 people in it, who just happen to be waiting for them. One is a member of the Paisans, and the other 3 are clerics of various religions, that are using the carpet shop to smuggle there holy material around the city. One of the clerics should match up with whatever your parties affiliations are. The group waiting for them will not attack, but will ask them how they found the secret cove, and why they are there. Mentioning alfons will draw a response of “I thought he was getting wise to us.” They will ask that the party to not reveal the true location, that it is vital in there efforts to combat the heavy handed censorship that is being enforced, they will also inform them that Alfons is incredibly easy to fool, and he has no real divine spellcasting abilities, despite his claim otherwise.
When they return to Alfons, he will once again go through the motions of his “truth detecting” spell, he seems to really believe he can do this, and ask the pc’s where the passage wound up. The PC’s can tell the truth, or lie, either way, Alfons believes them.
Conclusion
After releasing of the character, they party is free to do as they please, continue on there way, putting this unfortunate incident behind them, or seek into the corruption and try to expose the church for what it is. If investigated, it will be found that Felor not only set the original fire that started the reformation, he also had his predecessor killed. His power comes not from the LG god he claims to worship, but actually from a LE diety that has set him there to corrupt the opposing church. The corruption is starting to spread to many of the lower level clergy, including Alfon.
Primary NPCs
Alfon (lvl 5 adept)
Felor (lvl 17 cleric of LE god)
Uncle eddee (lvl 8 bard)
Pick pocket thief, (lvl 10 rogue)
Lookout (rogue lvl 4)
