Treasures For The God-King!

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Ok. The group recently captured the capital city of a powerful kingdom. This kingdom--the Kingdom of Sharnogg--is somewhat of an ancient Persian culture. The kingdom has been around for hundreds of years, and controls millions of people and creatures.

The capital city has over 1 million people.
There are 6 other provincial capitals, each with 500,000-1,000,000 inhabitants.

So, the party has conquered the great capital, stormed the huge palace, and ransacked everything in sight. Then, they kick open the golden, 20' high doors to the Royal Treasury, and the vast chambers of other, specialized treasuries, the King's personal treasury chamber, the High Vizier's, and so on.

The doors swing open...

What do they find inside?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[justanobody]

Barrels full of spices!

Cinnamon, Cocoa, Sage, etc

A harem fit for a....king

Pillows and cushions and several sadan chairs.

Trophies from past wars and conquered peoples.

Gold chamber pots.

Antique suits of armor and heirloom weapons. (non-magical)

Intricately designed baskets.

Tapestries, rugs, curtains, and various other woven goods of silk, cotton, and gold threads.

A cache of hoarded water.

Wine barrels.

Asps and other snakes to guard the treasures from intruders for those who don't know how to enter safely.

Scorpion stings in large barrels for use on enemies and by assassins.

Toys and trinkets made from snake rattles, rares bird feathers, etc.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Good stuff, Justanobody!

Very interesting...

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Rechan]

I assume this is a magical culture. A kingdom with such resources and magic, at the expense of rulers who enjoy a comfortable living... Let's take this to the inevitable conclusions.

Harem of the Eternal Rajah

Designed on the outside as what appears to be a grand tent of silks, inside is multiple chambers of cushioned floors, hot bathes, and an endless supply of sensual delight.

In the heart of the tent is a great throne. Anything that is brought into the tent and placed upon the throne is absorbed into it. This stores the nature of the item in question in the throne. From then on, anything that has been previously stored can be brought forth. Sitting on the throne, you are made aware of what can be brought forth. It cannot be taken out of the Harem, however.

A massive assortment of exotic foods, liquors and drugs are able to be reproduced. However, as what would be expected, so to is there a store of entities. The hairs of women and men of almost every known species were absorbed in the Throne, thus able to be conjured up at a whim. Not merely demi-humans, but replicas of dryads and nymphs, extra-planar or elemental entities reveled for their beauty or unique characteristics, and even stranger things can be brought forth.

Any inside are treated as under effects similar to a Ring of Sustenance; not need to eat, drink, rest or relieve oneself of bodily necessity, thus one is capable of staying without interruption for as long as desired.

Exiting the harem, one feels fully rested, refreshed and sated.

Sultan's Balm

These three needles, crafted of mithril and other exotic metals, are used to doctor the most influential.

When the king (or significant individual) grows ill, or has any other inconvenient, temporary affect, it can impact the nation due to his performance. Or, it can be a great inconvenience. These needles are inserted into the afflicted area (such as the sinuses if the ruler has a cold, or the gut, if he has a stomach flu). They are left in for a minute, as their command words are spoken. Then removed. The needles are then inserted into a surrogate, and when the command words are spoken again, the affliction is transferred from the king to the surrogate.

It is generally considered an honor to be the Sultan's sickman. He is serving a great duty, choosing to take the suffering for his ruler.

(These will transfer any state that could be handled with Remove Affliction/Restoration).

 

[Khuxan]

The king's personal treasury contains artworks by his uncountable children, as well as portraits of them, their broken toys, birthday cards, unwanted presents, and so on.

 

[Asmo]

There was a similar thread many, many moons ago by one of the mods(?). I can´t remember who it was, but there was a lot of amazing stuff in there.

Asmo

 

[JoeGKushner]

The problem of what do they find requires more background.

Why wouldn't the most potent, powerful, and useful items already have been put in use before hand?

One example I can think of is that such items would be 'doom bringers' and that despite the powers they bestow, they would be cursed. Other items might be of use only against the God-King or those who used to actually be God-King's.

Otherwise the real useful stuff should've already been in play.

 

[Merlin's Shadow]

What about...nothing? They open it up expecting untold riches only to find the room empty save for one crystal ball resting on a stand. When they approach it, the crystal ball begins to glow. The face of some enemy (the king, a powerful vizier, a demon lord, something worse) appears and tells the heroes that they have been cursed or marked for death or worse. Then the whole room goes dark and they hear mocking laughter.

Okay, it sounds rather cheesy as written, but you could play it up.

Ooh, another idea just came to me. What if the only thing in the room was a portal to some other plane? Perhaps the Abyss? The king had made a pact with some dark force and now the heroes have entangled themselves in some other mess.

 

[Treebore]

This situation is an example of why I am glad I own this:

RPGNow.com - Necromancer - The Mother of All Treasure Tables

 

[Baron Opal]

What about...nothing?

When one of my players designed his citadel his treasure room had an interesting trap. If you were able to get through the hallway of death and opened the final doors without the key everything in the room was disintigrated. The final trap was armed by some fraction of the tricks and traps being activated. His thought was that he didn't want some stupid or greedy minion stealing his stuff or accidentally erasing his fortune. So, if he could survive getting to the end of the hallway then he was determined and capable.

If the King of Sharnogg was an adventurer, there may be a soul gem or iron flask imprisoning some vile creature that he captured in his youth. Whether or not it is trapped to release the creature upon his death or ransacking of his palace would depend on his love of his country.