This adventure takes place at Castle Tefrigio, a small keep along the border of Megalos & the Nomad territories, across the bay from Kethalos.
This scenario assumes the party has been traveling through the area, heading towards or just finishing, a mission into the Nomad territories. It can be moved to most any region on Yrth that is somewhat isolated, and of course, just about any other gameworld as well.
At present, the party has stopped at the Beserk Bear Inn, the only real place in the surrounding village that has rooms for travellers. Villa Tefrigio is a typical small town, the sidewalks are all rolled up and put away an hour after sunset, & there is little of value for the typical Player Character to want to steal. The sole "entertainment" the players are likely to find are Theresa & Valaria, two waitress/prostitutes who work at the inn.
Tefrigio is apparently a nomad corruption of the elven name for the
nearest mountain.
Information
Encounters
Background
Complications
What the PCs do
Aftermath
Continuing
The Cast of Characters
The fact that he chooses to still be known as D'Oxhamshire rather than as De Tefrigio says a lot about the popularity of this post.
That castellan was stripped of his rank by the Emperor, (almost as soon as word reached royal ears) and the surviving mercenaries discharged, contracted provisions rendered null and void by imperial proclamation. (Many of the women had died while successfully destroying the Minotaur alliance in campaign. This poor treatment of soldiers who had earned honor & glory has left the place with an equally poor reputation among mercenaries.) It is relatively poorly defended as Imperial Garrisons go, and in fact has had to make an alliance with one of the local Nomad tribes to keep the regrouping Minotaurs at bay.
The tribe is the Blue-eyed Tyger Clan, and owes it's name to the fact that most clan members have blue eyes, & the fact that better than 1 in 3 members is a Were Tiger. The betting money is that Lord Phillip the present castellan, will suffer the fate of his predecessor when word of this alliance reaches the capitol.
Alliances of this sort are not automatically discouraged, but in this case the church has been very down on lycanthropes of late, and this is just the sort of thing D'Oxhamshire's enemies (or more accurately, the enemies of his patrons) at court could use to destroy him.
(If the party has it's share of lecherous characters, and a bad reaction roll is made, it's suggested that the character(s) be told to "take advantage" of the lovely full moon due that night. Other party members may or may not be let in on the joke depending on the circumstances.)
She is trying to find her brother Obel, who disappeared when coming to the Villa with furs and skins to market.
The most likely force to change things would be the Dwarves who hold the mountains. Militarily, they could easily take it. Thulin, the leader of the eastern Dwarves, would prefer to march agaisnt the Megalan Empire, but is held back by his extreme age, the military power Megalos could muster if it wanted to, and lack of support from his superiors, the 7 brother kings of the Dwarves.
Maximus (Max) Gykyop: Goblin, son of the owner of the Berserk Bear Inn. He is a semi-trained wizard, particularly interested in magic. Specifically in learning the spell *Fish Control*. If any PCs are obviously wizards, he will try to make a deal to acquire that spell. If not available, & the PC(s) offer a different one he can use (IQ 13, Magery 2, spell list below) he must make an IQ check to keep from impulsively accepting it. (If successful he will hang on to the money he has saved until he can find a teacher for that spell. He knows the fishing fleets pay handsomely for mages who can cast that spell. However, if not, spells that might particularly (IQ - 2) tempt him are *mind reading,* *mammal control* or *simple illusion.*)
He is generally friendly & courteous to the guests of the inn and a good source for most of the above information.
History: (Easily available from Max or anyone in town) Max was an assistant alchemist at Kethalos when his father died 6 years ago. Sick of the intrigues between the Alchemy Guild and the two Mages Guilds of Kethalos, he readily returned home to help his mother run the inn. His alchemical training helps here. He makes several house specialties the PCs should enjoy. "Civilized" races and characters probably would rather not know just what is in those drinks, however. You don't want to know. Trust me.
He really is overqualified for this job though and would like to get into wizardry again, so long as it paid enough to take good care of his mother. The Kethalos Alchemist's Guild is the only Alchemist's guild in the county (it's chartered both in the city and outside it) and Max left on poor terms with the guild leadership. Because Tefrigio is a part of the County of Kethalos, Max cannot legally practice alchemy. This has never stopped or seriously affected Max's alchemical sideline.
A writ of exemption from the local lord allows him to make one potion. Max bribed D'Oxhamshire for 300 writs (paid in product instead of cash) 4 years back and still has 118 left! His mother's failing health keeps him running the inn, and without time to make potions.
Max has six potions left in the back, 1 elixir of Achilles, 2 potions of Chiron, one of Janus & 2 left to the GM's determination. Prices are 30% above normal due to the remoteness of the locale, and there is a $200 per potion fee for the writ. He is "expert" in all of the potions listed above and all Combat potions not already listed.
Max is rather popular among the garrison troops, and people who trouble him tend to end up regretting it.
Benito of Vekamera: Human, 1 legged blacksmith. Formerly a guardsman stationed here, he took up armoury after losing his leg to infection. He is quite good at repairing swords (skill 16) and decent at armor (skill 14). His smithy has a number of apprentices right now, and unless a PC is a dwarf or gnome & can prove he/she is skilled, he is not hiring. He actually has more work than he and his staff can handle, but not the facilities. He hopes next year to be able to build a larger foundry. Being the only smith around for miles, his prices are high enough to make that likely.
Theresa & Valaria: As the only prostitutes around a small garrison, they snort at Benito's complaints that HE is overworked. Neither is noticeably good looking, though Valaria can be talkative and is knowledgeable about the situation at the castle (IQ 12, Streetwise & Politics at 14.)
Eduard: The stabler of the villa. If the Party has horses, they will have to deal with him to have their horses cared for. He is also an imperial spy. If the characters make any anti-Megalosian statements in his presence, the offending character's description (and name if it can be obtained) will be passed along to his superiors. He will not openly act against any seditious or even treasonous characters, but can arrange for appropriate imperial force to go after the characters.
His primary job is to watch the people running the keep, so his identity is not known to Phillip or Phillip's underlings. He is unlikely to take any actions that would expose him as a spy.
His identity is known to Odysseus Josephs.
Word of what is happening here has already reached unfriendly ears in the Capitol. What could be a minor embarassment to certain generals is going to be exploited to the ruination of a minister or two at the court. Phillip is worried and has sent his wife back to the capitol to find out what is being done or said and make a case in defense of his actions. (In truth, he recognized Josephs and is actually getting his wife out of the way of a very dangerous wizard.)
Odysseus Carel Josephs, a top wizard & assassin, has been sent here to kill Phillip in a manner that will provoke a minor war. If at all possible, he is to make Phillip look like a traitor, and it is easier to do this if Phillip and most of his men are already dead when his masters hold their inquiry.
Accordingly, he is stationed at the Garrison as a minor imperial official in the accounting office, here to do some record checking. He stays in the Keep for the most part, doing the genuine accounting his cover requires and is unlikely to be anyone the PCs will encounter outside or during the day.
He knows all listed versions of the Shapeshift spell, and plans to turn into a Tiger, kill Phillip and blame it on the barbarian allies. To this end, he has drugged Obel and hidden him with the Entombment spell.
If all goes to the plan, he will take an arm from Phillip's corpse, sneak out of the castle then revert to human form. Near dawn, he will release Obel from the entombment, leaving the arm near the unconcious boy. Someone will come across the "WereTiger" sleeping off it's meal. Josephs will remain invisibly nearby, ready to cast Emotion Control on the people who find the boy. The effects here are to drive these people into a murderous rage.
If Obel isn't killed outright by angered soldiers, he will be imprisoned for Phillip's murder, either event grounds for war with the tribe, something his Emotion Control spell will whip up on both sides over the next few hours or days.
From the safety of self powered flight & invisiblilty items, he plans to watch the battle, and note which officers of Phillip died. Having kept meticulous notes of the comings and goings of these officers after hours, he can arrange his facts and forged documents to "show" Phillip and these other dead officers conspired with the barbarians to loot the merchant caravans next spring. The Tiger clan, for reasons unknown, felt betrayed by Phillip, and instigated the attack to avenge their "honor" upon those who cheated them.
Any and all survivors will be treated as innocent pawns of the traitors, those who wish to clear the names of their superiors will have to challenge the testimony of the man who is keeping their necks off the headsman's block.
Of course, things do not quite go as planned.
Josephs has made or will make a couple of mistakes: The first is selecting a non-were as his scapegoat. Many of his kin are were-tigers, but Obel is not, and proving this could undo his entire plan.
Being thorough and overconfident, Josephs will sneak out of the keep before turning into a Tiger, and break into it. One of his "competitors" was tripped up three years before in a similar frame up attempt because the person being framed was too short to have reached the hiding place of the murder weapon. Going through all the motions Obel would have to make eliminates the risk. This is another mistake.
Myska will be prowling around looking for signs of her brother, and will notice Josephs. She has tracked her brother's scent right to the spot he was entombed at, but only knows she lost it. Joseph's human scent was there as well.
The tiger's scent will be different from his human scent, but vaguely familiar to Myska when she catches it. Curious, she will follow Josephs.
Phillip has the Danger Sense Advantage, another miscalculation for Josephs, and he will wake up in time and dodge out of the way of the attack. Myska will come to his aid, and be wounded by Phillip by mistake.
Both tigers will flee the castle. Due to the blood trail she leaves, Myska will have a more difficult time fleeing the soldiers, and after a couple of more wounds, barely escapes by scaling a wall. A silvered arrow will nick her hind leg just as she is going over, dropping her HT to 0.
She manages to remain conscious for a surprisngly long time, (alright, a
Deus ex-Machina long time) collapsing just outside the door of a PC's room.
Unless the PCs investigate within 3 seconds of her collapse, Myska will be in
human form when she is discovered. This will automatically drop her HT by 2
points, making her comatose for 2 hours barring the proper magical spells.
If the PCs are not yet aware of her lycantropic nature, her story should make it apparent, though she won't introduce that fact directly.
Weres are common among the nomad tribes, and held in some degree of respect (Status for being a were cancels out her "stigma" for being a female: Status level: 0). A hostile reaction to weres will startle her.
Markings on her tribal beads make her lycanthropy clear to tribe members, and she tells her story as though the fact that she is a were tiger is as obvious as her blonde hair, and about as relevant.
Obvious goals would be to find Obel, discover who the other tiger was, and get the girl out of the keep before the soldiers can find her.
An alternate hook to get the players in the adventure is if they've just enlisted at the keep, or at least done nothing against Phillip's men, Phillip will secretly meet with the PCs the following night. He suspects Josephs of being one of his attackers, (Josephs has a limited reputation) and wants to know more about what is going on. The PCs are being used by Phillip rather than his own men because Phillip can't be sure which of his men might be in league with Josephs.
If the girl was captured, her story will be known to him. If not, part of their assignment will be to find the second tiger as well.
In this case, obvious goals would be to find the wounded were, watch Josephs, find proof of his involvement or eliminate Josephs.
His first attack ruined, Josephs will move cautiously for the next several days. He spends his days going over the keeps books, his nights, except for a couple of beers bought at the inn, are spent in his quarters. On the 4th day after the attack, Josephs will go past the inn to the stables, obstensibly to check on his horse, and pay the stable hand for another week's upkeep of the mount.
Edourd, the stable hand, is a spy for the empire, specifically under the control of the noble who hired Josephs. He will slip a note to the man. If watched after Josephs leaves, Edourd will take the note out and read it (suspicious in itself: Stablehands in backwood keeps are rarely literate!) and stuff it in his vest pocket.
In point of fact, Edourd is a loyal Megalan who would gladly turn on Josephs if convinced Josephs was working against the Empire. However, he has been involved in some serious intrigues in the past and it will take some convincing to make him do so.
If the note can be read, it asks for a meeting with Taranaku. The name sounds Minotaurish, and it is.
It should be simple for the party to discover that Taranaku is a minor war chief among the Minotaurs.
If the note alone is brought in as evidence, it will prove little, as Josephs is a skilled forger and took the trouble to write the note in another's hand. (The person Josephs is forging is a rival of his. It is unlikely that the PCs will be able to follow up the clues to this other assassin immediately, though this could be a long term goal for the party.)
If confronted with the note, he will quickly point out that the note is not his, and offer countless examples of his handwriting to prove it. If necessary, he will point out how the Illusion disguise spell works and suggest that he is being set up.
If the meeting with Taranaku is allowed to take place, Josephs will set up an attack plan for destroying the keep, and sell the reluctant Minotaur on the idea by showing how he will get the gate open. Josephs will cast the illusion disguise spell to make himself resemble Phillip, mimic his voice, and point out he has forged documents in Phillip's handwriting that the guards will recognize and obey.
(How the PCs get to learn this is up to them. Keep in mind that Minotaurs get a number of +'s to their senses. If the characters try and sneak in close, the odds are that the Minotaur and/or his lieutenants will detect them.)
Obvious goals for the party here are to capture or kill Josephs, the Minotaur chieftain and his lieutenants and/or warn the settlement of the attack.
If the Minotaurs are not stopped after meeting with Josephs the attack will go as planned unless Joseph's death or capture is known to them. The walls of the outer villa are low and hold little chance of stopping invaders. The keep itself is the area that can repel the attackers.
Taranku will get his troops to move swiftly through the town to the keep's gate. He expects Josephs to open the gate which will let his force in and decimate the defenders. If the PCs warn Phillip in time he will set a trap for the minotaurs. Roll a contest of Tactics between Taranku (9-) and Phillip (17-). The odds favor Phillip winning. Phillip will commit troops to hide in houses and stores just outside the gate. The minotaurs will be crushed between the keep's forces and the outside troops. If Taranku wins, he spots the trap, deploys a small force to walk into it and sends his main body into the fray after the trap has been sprung.
On a critical success for Phillip, he has his fire wizards to cast enough *create fires* to cover the inner courtyard, and opens the gates for the attackers, who will charge in and be barbecued. A detachment of Phillip's men who have been enchanted with *resist fire* will march through the fire and cut into the front ranks of the Minotaurs as the rear guard attacks.
On a critical success for Taranku, he fires the buildings that would hold
the outer defenders and keeps his troops from charging into the courtyard,
taking the walls and circling around before attacking the main buildings.
If Obel is rescued, Myska would probably be willing to become an ally. Marriage to the PC paying the points for her would be one in game reason for her to join the party, though others can be arranged if need be. (Myska should grow another half inch in height and develop her *beautiful* *appearance* advantage into *very beautiful* during the next 18 months. Her dowery will be the difference between the cost of her items & the $1000 starting characters get at creation time.)
If Phillip is rescued from his troubles, he can either become a patron or
give the PCs letters of introduction that will permit them to acquire patrons
at the Megalosian capitol, in addition to whatever payment they may have
negotiated.
If Taranaku is still at large, Phillip may ask the players to scout around the Minotaur regions and see what is being planned. The Minotaur has gathered his troops together and is likely to do something unpleasant. If denied a good attack on the castle, his honor demands he at least turn some profit or glory out of this. He may raid the farms supporting the castle or turn on the Tiger Clan, depending on which direction the GM wants to go.
A longer term job would be to try and find evidence to support the theory that Thulin is training and supplying the Minotaurs.
In point of fact, Thulin is not training and supplying the Minotaurs, but one of his lieutenants is. Tranonakan is an ambitious dwarf who hopes to take the old dwarf's place when he dies. Driving the hated Megallans away would certainly help his advance.
To this end, he collected all the Minotaur slaves he could some 70 years ago. These he used as a breeding stock. The first generation of minotaurs were (ironically) trained by Megallan arena overseers he'd purchased. If this would be valuable knowledge for Megalos, as it would "shame" the Dwarves of Zarak into giving them better trade agrreements. Or even Very good agreements if the revered name of Thulin can be kept untainted by the scandal. Thulin, if directly confronted, would prefer to see the PCs silenced, but will not compound the scandal.
Tranonakan will be summoned to face the evidence. If he cannot exonorate himself in Thulin's eyes, Thulin will remove his badge of office and walk from the room, (non-dwarven PCs may make a Savoir -3 roll (Gnomes & Dwarves make normal rolls to realize he is) effectively abdicating then and there. Tranonakan will have to make a critical success on his own Savoir-faire (12-) or fall on his sword. The PCs will be paid a generous reward, escorted off dwarven lands, and given rather direct hints that they will experience fatal accidents if they are ever seen in the Whitehoods again.
Wizard's in the party can probably find work at the coven Lady Anne was supposed to have gone to. It is 3 days journey inside the Nomad Lands. One of it's leaders is a Megalosian noble, and Megalosian maps refer to it as her lands, though it should be apparent to the PCs that they are outside of Megalos here. (A successful politics roll here will let the character(s) realize that a token yearly payment of tribute to the Empire is a small enough price to be left alone.)
The Megalosian calls herself Abrinia, speaks with a Caithness accent, runs around 250 to 300 points, and is well schooled in the Animal, Body Control, Air, and Enchantment colleges. The other coven leaders should have a similar point cost.
They have a major problem right now: One of the members had a critical failure when casting independence on a Created Servant. The result was that his mind was transfered into the servant's body. (The PCs will be told that round the clock crews have been maintaining the spell - in truth there is a 3 hex area very high mana region in the cavern they use. This region sustains the hapless wizard.)
Abrinia will inform the PCs that they are gathering materials to try and develop a spell to reverse this condition, and can hire them to go and get some of them. (This last statement is true.)
Unfortunately, they need a brain from a cockatrice, and that must be roasted by a dragon's breath within a day of the slaying of the cockatrice. The cooked brain must be returned to the coven within 3 days of being cooked to be useful.
To make matters worse, some of the materials they already have are going to spoil in 10 days.
In short, the PCs will have to find a cockatrice, kill it without damaging it's brain, then find a dragon and convince it to tenderly cook those brains, then get back to the coven. All in less than 10 days.
And no, the coven has no idea where a cockatrice might be found, though several members are magically searching. They have several leads on dragons willing to cooperate. Hopefully one will be near the cockatrice.
Rewards can be cash, spell training or discounts on magic item
production, as you and/or the players see fit. Creating an item from scratch
takes a LONG time, but the coven may have something along the lines desired in
a final stage of production. The members of the coven can indivdually become
a patron, as could the coven itself.
Myska
Odysseus Josephs
Lord Phillip D'Oxhamshire
Maximus "Max" Gykyop
The Guards
The MinotaursSoldier Wizards support the main body of warriors. Specifically, they will cast Flaming weapon as often as they can while reserving ST for healing, up until the first spell has to be maintained. They can maintain the spell at 0 cost in a normal mana region at their skill level. The casting penalties for additional spells while maintaining that many spells is prohibitive.
They will then remain out of direct combat as much as possible. If
they have to fight, they can, both with and without spells. (if more
than 2 soldier wizards are actually encountered by the PCs, it might
be wise to change some of the spells, put 11 points worth of Air
college or illusion college or body control college spells in place of
the Fire spells. The Protective & Healing spells can be considered
universally known spells for frontline mages.)
Purists will note this uses the 1st Edition Fantasy Minotaur stats rather than
the 2nd. To convert to 2nd Edition, drop the Accute Hearing, add +3 DR and
2 points Magic Resistance and add Bloodlust and Odious Racial Habit: Eats
Sentient beings to the racial disadvantage section. Cost remains 75 pts.