jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
I've been wanting to run some dark-ish, human-centric, fantasy for a while. After having some intense night terrors last. . . er. . . night. . . a weird-ish plot came to me while driving to work this morning. I think that there was also some subconscious influence via the original Clock Tower RPG for the Super Famicon going on. . .
Manheim is a small, feudal, feif far removed from anything that could rightfully be called civilization. It's a self-sustaining farm community overlooked by a single castle built high on a nearby hill, in which resides the local Lord, Gaerick Manheim.
For all intents and purposes, the feif seems to be a normal kind of place, save for one night a year during the Fall harvest festival, where the names of old gods and disturbing imagery (if only because of its unknown origin) is invoked. Basically, the residents of the feif dress up in strange, alien, costumes and dance through the streets -- while the doors and windows of each dwelling are marked with The Sign in fresh calf's blood.
Depsite a night of rather awesome revelry, all of the locals are in their homes by the Witching Hour (midnight-ish), while visitors must stay at one of the many local inns -- where windows of guest rooms have not, conveniently, been marked with The Sign (something that PCs won't notice unless they are specifically searching for its absence).
After midnight, something horrible lurks in the village streets -- namely a Shape (per the JAGS bestiary, a kind of Michael Myers-ish psycho killer in his Curse of Thorn era). This killer will not abduct prey (or attempt to abduct prey) from homes that have been properly warded (i.e., homes bearing The Sign). He will visit unwarded rooms or residences.
So, why is this Shape out abducting tourists, anyhow? Well, under Castle Manheim, deep in a secret cavern, resides a hideous, inhuman, thing that the locals worship in exchange for guaranteed bountiful harvests. In exchange, the thing only demands a little fresh blood every now and again. Enter the Shape.
The Shape is (or rather was) the first-born son of Lord Manheim, a sacrifice made by said Lord to the thing under the castle in order to sate the thing's demand for proof of loyalty. The Shape is now a kind of hollow husk that has been animated and empowered by the thing under the castle to cull further offerings of sacrifice from the village below.
To what end the thing under the castle uses the sacrificed travelers is unknown to any of the villagers and Manheim. And in truth, they don't care what the sacrifices are being used for -- so long as they continue to have a bountiful harvest every Autumn. The truth is that the thing under the castle has been preserving these victims for use as other Shapes, pending a coming war with other alien beings not unlike itself.
Attempts that the PCs make to evade or kill the Shape will be fought by the townsfolk with passive aggression (e.g., they will deny travellers entry to possible safehavens) while priests of the thing under the castle (themselves warded with a hidden tattoo) may well take up arms to herd PCs into the grasp of the Shape. The thing under the castle may well dispatch more than one Shape if the PCs prove too crafty.
Clever PCs may decide to hide from and follow the Shape (or cultists) back to the lair of the thign under the castle, rather than combat them directly (in which case, they'll likely be dragged back to said lair). Escape can be a goal, as can the destruction (or imprisonment) of the thing under the castle (e.g., causing a cavern collapse and warding the entrance with The Sign should do the job). The real obstacle is the villagers, who will no doubt undo (or attempt to undo) any kind of temporary solution enacted by the PCs.
Regardless, the end result of this adventure is that a peaceful night in a small town becomes a gauntlet run from a small army of supernatural killers, crazed cultists, and one very horrific alien intelligence. How it ends is pretty much up to the PCs, depending upon what they find out and how smart they play their cards.
Manheim is a small, feudal, feif far removed from anything that could rightfully be called civilization. It's a self-sustaining farm community overlooked by a single castle built high on a nearby hill, in which resides the local Lord, Gaerick Manheim.
For all intents and purposes, the feif seems to be a normal kind of place, save for one night a year during the Fall harvest festival, where the names of old gods and disturbing imagery (if only because of its unknown origin) is invoked. Basically, the residents of the feif dress up in strange, alien, costumes and dance through the streets -- while the doors and windows of each dwelling are marked with The Sign in fresh calf's blood.
Depsite a night of rather awesome revelry, all of the locals are in their homes by the Witching Hour (midnight-ish), while visitors must stay at one of the many local inns -- where windows of guest rooms have not, conveniently, been marked with The Sign (something that PCs won't notice unless they are specifically searching for its absence).
After midnight, something horrible lurks in the village streets -- namely a Shape (per the JAGS bestiary, a kind of Michael Myers-ish psycho killer in his Curse of Thorn era). This killer will not abduct prey (or attempt to abduct prey) from homes that have been properly warded (i.e., homes bearing The Sign). He will visit unwarded rooms or residences.
So, why is this Shape out abducting tourists, anyhow? Well, under Castle Manheim, deep in a secret cavern, resides a hideous, inhuman, thing that the locals worship in exchange for guaranteed bountiful harvests. In exchange, the thing only demands a little fresh blood every now and again. Enter the Shape.
The Shape is (or rather was) the first-born son of Lord Manheim, a sacrifice made by said Lord to the thing under the castle in order to sate the thing's demand for proof of loyalty. The Shape is now a kind of hollow husk that has been animated and empowered by the thing under the castle to cull further offerings of sacrifice from the village below.
To what end the thing under the castle uses the sacrificed travelers is unknown to any of the villagers and Manheim. And in truth, they don't care what the sacrifices are being used for -- so long as they continue to have a bountiful harvest every Autumn. The truth is that the thing under the castle has been preserving these victims for use as other Shapes, pending a coming war with other alien beings not unlike itself.
Attempts that the PCs make to evade or kill the Shape will be fought by the townsfolk with passive aggression (e.g., they will deny travellers entry to possible safehavens) while priests of the thing under the castle (themselves warded with a hidden tattoo) may well take up arms to herd PCs into the grasp of the Shape. The thing under the castle may well dispatch more than one Shape if the PCs prove too crafty.
Clever PCs may decide to hide from and follow the Shape (or cultists) back to the lair of the thign under the castle, rather than combat them directly (in which case, they'll likely be dragged back to said lair). Escape can be a goal, as can the destruction (or imprisonment) of the thing under the castle (e.g., causing a cavern collapse and warding the entrance with The Sign should do the job). The real obstacle is the villagers, who will no doubt undo (or attempt to undo) any kind of temporary solution enacted by the PCs.
Regardless, the end result of this adventure is that a peaceful night in a small town becomes a gauntlet run from a small army of supernatural killers, crazed cultists, and one very horrific alien intelligence. How it ends is pretty much up to the PCs, depending upon what they find out and how smart they play their cards.
