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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CruelSummerLord" data-source="post: 3924790" data-attributes="member: 48692">Here's something I originally posted in the "Creepy" thread, inspired by the thriller movie Cube, as well as some of the goings-on in the old 1E G3 module: A cabal of nobles is abducting people-children, poor people, rival nobles, whoever-and does all sorts of horrible things to them, including various types of torture and abuse.  What makes this cabal stand out is that they have a deadly maze beneath the mansion where they meet, where they throw down their prisoners and watch them run like rats through a maze until they are inevitably killed by either the deadly traps or the killer monsters.  The prisoners are trapped for the nobles' sick entertainment, and are almost helpless to escape, much like the characters in the Cube movies.  Just as Rechan borrowed from Arthur Conan Doyle, so too will I borrow from Alexandre Dumas...Several years after a civil war threatened to overthrow the monarchy, a dashing young army captain seems to have everything a man could ask for.  He is about to be promoted, and given noble rank; he is about to marry his beloved; he is famous for his skill in the field and his loyalty to king and country.  And then, on his wedding day, he is arrested and charged with treason, as an agent of those elements who sought to depose the king.  The captain is never brought to trial...he simply disappears, much to the despair of his fiance and his family.  Twenty years later, a mysterious new aristocrat, known for his wealth, poise and intellect, appears.  Few indeed can match his skill with the sword, the sheer size of his fortune, or the distance and breadth of his experiences and travels.  Everyone strives to gain the friendship of this new nobleman, who styles himself a count.  At the same time, a series of tragedies begins to befall some of the other prominent nobles and wealthy citizens, coincedentally enough those who were once the friends of a certain army captain who disappeared...As it turns out, those other prominent nobles have some very dark secrets of their own: -One of them, as it turns out, is a prominent general who has risen on his reputation as a strong and fearless military man.  The general, however, has a record of treason and betrayal as long as a storm giant's arm, surrepetiously arranging the deaths and murders of everyone from military rivals to valued allies to innocent noncombatants, so long as it advances his own personal power, status and reputation.  Obsessed with his personal status, he is insanely jealous of any who rival him, or might stand in his path to glory and power.  -Another nobleman rose to prominence as a wealthy banker and trader, well-known for his opportunism and greed.  He is also known for his stunningly attractive wife, who just happens to be the former fiance of a certain army captain who disappeared many years ago.  Knowing he could never challenge the captain in honest combat, he instead uses underhanded methods to destroy those who might have what he covets, whether it be in gold or women.  The pen is truly mightier than the sword...and who knows what lives he has destroyed in his quest for wealth?  -A prominent magistrate, one of the highest in the land, is well-known for his ice-cold demeanor and harsh sentences from the bench.  Never does he smile; he is simply depicted as a marble statue of the law itself, occasionally given to bursts of temper and rage, or depression and melancholy.  His cold-blooded behavior strikes many as odd, unless they realize the depth of his ambition and how far he might go to nurture it, including destroying the lives of the innocent if he believed the truth they hold might ruin his advancement.  -A respectable, upscale innkeeper and baker by day, by night he is a murderous and cruel thief, who fences loot for criminals, robs the houses of the wealthy, shelters murderers, and robs and even slays the most wealthy of his guests.  It is odd indeed, for fortune has given this baker the talents and chances to live well...and yet his greed returns him to seek wealth by any means possible, regardless of how he gets it.  He has little sympathy for those he envies, viewing the wealth and power they might possess as his by right, ready to spite or destroy those on whom fortune has smiled more.  These four men could easily play roles as antagonists or NPCs in your campaign, as could their mysterious foe.</blockquote>

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