Post by cthulhu on Sept 16, 2016 6:53:36 GMT -7
I will be DMing a game come Dec/Jan and starting prep work now. The group is more suited for a campaign style type of game not a S&S game, so here is how I plan to start the campaign. I am looking for possible inconsistencies, things that do not work, or suggestions to do something better. The group will be all level 1 characters, e are using Pathfinder Rules.
In Quodeth, a serpentman in his alter-self form was meeting with some unwary humans. The serpentman was laying the brickwork for a plan that would help the serpentman cause of total human enslavement and reclaiming their lands. During this meeting everyone was attacked by a horrible crab-like monster, a Brain Collector (Neh-Thalggu), the serpent man escaped the humans were eaten and mutilated. The serpent man returned to his nest and reported to his superiors, causing the serpent men to direct their attention to the Brain Collector. Disguised scouts were sent and only discovered large blood stains, no other trace of the victims were found.
For the next three or so weeks serpentmen have only seen Brain Collector at night, flying around the Western part of the Tri-Paland district of the city. It circles the hill the Astrologer's guild is built on, but more notably the structure at the base of that hill, a squat two story windowless tower. The serpentmen found out the tower belonged to a summoner of note that called herself Gita the Caller. The serpentmen believe the Brain Collector is being drawn to the magic of Gita's summoning circles, like a moth to a flame. They are unsure if the attraction could be intelligent reason with higher plans, or animalistic attraction, either way they do not want to leave things to chance. The serpentmen plan to destroy the summoning circles after someone else kills the mage.
The serpentman that survived the initial attack spoke of the powerful magic it used to kill the humans, and the stealth before the attack. They have decided to trick another to engage the creature so they may study how powerful it is. But they fear exposing this creature because it will heighten the defenses of all the noble houses; or being exposed and having the humans rise up against them ruining years of planning and infiltration by taking the likeness and lives of many human politicians.
The serpentmen have already infiltrated some noble houses and have made many contacts with humans that do not know their true identities. One of these human contacts a man by the name Cy Roda. He has been chosen to be a pawn in the serpentmen plan. Cy was chosen because of many factors; he is a merchant of some wealth, his business is up and coming, he is an honest businessman with a good reputation, has a small amount of influence, has few house guards, has two wives and four children which he loves very much, all of these things make him an easy target. Furthermore there are many merchants and nobles that could be suspect for any matter of reasons, and this will most likely be seen as another merchant eliminating competition.
Cy returned home one night to find his servants murdered and family abducted. A note was written attached to his bedroom door by a dagger. The note simply read, "If you want your family returned the ransom is the head of Gita the Caller of Tri-Paland, inform no authorities."
The next morning Cy's friend Balasi visits him at his house and sees that Cy is in distress and tries to help Cy with a plan.
However Balasi has been replaced by a serpentman years ago. He was chosen because he was a merchant that specializes in the import of exotic and often dangerous animals, and would also smuggle items into the city hidden in the cages of dangerous animals the guards refused to search. Under this disguise Balasi has smuggled in many items into Quodeth to aid the serpentman cause.
--- This is where the adventure begins---
The group will be collected by the Hand of Fate, an ancient man named Kratos. He has been thought to be long dead, it is known to some that whenever he gathers people he sends them off to glory (or horrible death), many say it is the will of the gods. Kratos will throw a polished river stone attached to some twine at each character and pulls them along behind him as he goes around the city collecting them all. The city will part to accommodate his walking around, and no matter how much the players yell or protest no one seems to notice them (basically insta-party). He then delivers the group to Cy Roda's house the morning after the abduction. The characters arrive in the middle of a conversation between Cy and Balasi, hearing it from the other side of a door as they come up the stairs.
Balasi wanted Cy to hire the Red Knives, a very strong thieves guild in the city, to complete the task, this was simple enough for a merchant of his influence to do and he would have enough money to pay for it. The players will note Balasi's awkward way of speaking with hissing when there is an S (it sssoundsss jussst like thisss). Cy sees the Hand of Fate deliver his heroes to him and no longer wants to hire the Red Knives, he feels the gods have sent him his blessing. Furiously Balasi storms out of Cy's house wanting nothing to do with the player characters. Cy will talk with the characters and offer them a reward for Gita's head.
The tower of Gita the Caller is on a main street in the Tri-Paland district, at the base of the hill the Astrologer's Guild is built on. There is no easy way to enter, it is a windowless two story tower. The group can do some observations and notice there are several NPCs that look like they are in the area all the time; a gardener, a young girl, a maid from an abutting home, and if they wait long enough a butcher will deliver meat to the tower. Ideally the group will talk to either one of the NPCs to discover the tower gets a fifty pound delivery of meat daily. The butcher is actually the butcher's slave that makes these deliveries, he will give additional information that Gita requests the meat still be bloody and warm from a fresh kill, and the cow has been dead less than a half-hour. The butcher is easily bribed, he will give the party the meat and tell them how the transaction works. If they do not talk to the NPCs they can try and bluff their way in, or break in from the stucco roof.
Once inside the group must not allow the guards to raise the alarm. The group will battle human guards, possibly some Akata if they unlock their cage, void zombies (creations of the Akata in a different room), some elementals, various fiendish creatures, a sarcastic salt mephrit, and finally Gita (a 6th level mage that has used most of her spell slots for the day). They get some loot, claim her head and return to Cy.
On the way back to Cy's house the group encounters two woman and four children that all have sacks on their heads and are crying. They are Cy's family dropped off up the street from his house, told not to remove the sacks because they were being watched and they would be killed. The family does not remember much except being kept in the wagon, the horses were kept close by, and they could hear many strange hissing from snakes and other large animal noises. The Family also says they only thing they heard their captor say was directed the other one that did not speak, "Let us see what this flying thing does." the children will interrupt saying voice was funny, "Let usss sssee what thisss flying thing doesss". (The animals are the exotic animals Balasi imports).
Cy insists that the players stay for (the next meal and/or night if it is late), he wishes to speak to them more. Cy instructs that his wives and children go and clean up so they can celebrate their return (or time for bed if it is too late), but one of his boys eavesdrops outside the door to what the group talks about. During this discussion CY is furious that his friend Balasi would abduct his family and make him finance an assassination. Cy wants Balasi brought to him alive, he wants to know why he did this before taking his revenge. Moments later a servant can be heard screaming outside, as Cy and the party run to investigate they see the dead body of one of Cy's boys, the one that was eavesdropping. He appears to of thrown himself from his bedroom window. One of Cy's wives yells down from her bedroom window, "Cy do you plan to go after him?", looking up every one of Cy's family that was abducted is standing in their windows and look as if they are about to leap. (if anyone says yes they all jump, if they say no they step off the window and go back to what they were doing). Cy will send the group out after Balasi regardless under the same terms without letting the family hear. (all the family members are dominated by the serpentman with the instructions to leap to your death if Cy decides to pursue Balasi or the man that abducted you.)
The players go to Balasi's home to investigate and find all the exotic animals he imports have been left out of their cages causing much combat. The group will find the traces of a hurried departure, including several burnt documents in the fire place that are beyond repair. Balasi leaves two pieces of paper on his study desk, a note that says something like "I am leaving forever, you can try and pursue me, or you can take a crate of valuable items that is set to leave port in short time." The second sheet of paper is a paper to claim a piece of cargo.
If they go after Balasi he will warn them that they do not know what they are dealing with while jumping off Viceroy's bridge in the middle of the day, and not remerge. Causing them to have serpentmen enemies.
If they go after the crate they pick up the crate at the docks, Balasi gets away. The crate contains the loot equivalent for what the animal CR group has killed at Balasi's home, and a note that is a job opportunity. The job is figuring out how the noble houses of Serdarnel and Taroth have been smuggling silk without the dyers guild knowing.
Serdarnels opened up a silk farm on the Northern Kalayan Sea, they use the Taroth ships to import, when close to Quodeth they lower crates of silk into the water, deep-ones swim it to the Temple of the Broken Gate, they clean and dry it then repackage it, send it to a warehouse under the control of the Serdarnels which adds it to the silks purchased from the dyers guild. After selling the goods the Serdarnels pay the Priest of the broken gate and House Taroth.
In Quodeth, a serpentman in his alter-self form was meeting with some unwary humans. The serpentman was laying the brickwork for a plan that would help the serpentman cause of total human enslavement and reclaiming their lands. During this meeting everyone was attacked by a horrible crab-like monster, a Brain Collector (Neh-Thalggu), the serpent man escaped the humans were eaten and mutilated. The serpent man returned to his nest and reported to his superiors, causing the serpent men to direct their attention to the Brain Collector. Disguised scouts were sent and only discovered large blood stains, no other trace of the victims were found.
For the next three or so weeks serpentmen have only seen Brain Collector at night, flying around the Western part of the Tri-Paland district of the city. It circles the hill the Astrologer's guild is built on, but more notably the structure at the base of that hill, a squat two story windowless tower. The serpentmen found out the tower belonged to a summoner of note that called herself Gita the Caller. The serpentmen believe the Brain Collector is being drawn to the magic of Gita's summoning circles, like a moth to a flame. They are unsure if the attraction could be intelligent reason with higher plans, or animalistic attraction, either way they do not want to leave things to chance. The serpentmen plan to destroy the summoning circles after someone else kills the mage.
The serpentman that survived the initial attack spoke of the powerful magic it used to kill the humans, and the stealth before the attack. They have decided to trick another to engage the creature so they may study how powerful it is. But they fear exposing this creature because it will heighten the defenses of all the noble houses; or being exposed and having the humans rise up against them ruining years of planning and infiltration by taking the likeness and lives of many human politicians.
The serpentmen have already infiltrated some noble houses and have made many contacts with humans that do not know their true identities. One of these human contacts a man by the name Cy Roda. He has been chosen to be a pawn in the serpentmen plan. Cy was chosen because of many factors; he is a merchant of some wealth, his business is up and coming, he is an honest businessman with a good reputation, has a small amount of influence, has few house guards, has two wives and four children which he loves very much, all of these things make him an easy target. Furthermore there are many merchants and nobles that could be suspect for any matter of reasons, and this will most likely be seen as another merchant eliminating competition.
Cy returned home one night to find his servants murdered and family abducted. A note was written attached to his bedroom door by a dagger. The note simply read, "If you want your family returned the ransom is the head of Gita the Caller of Tri-Paland, inform no authorities."
The next morning Cy's friend Balasi visits him at his house and sees that Cy is in distress and tries to help Cy with a plan.
However Balasi has been replaced by a serpentman years ago. He was chosen because he was a merchant that specializes in the import of exotic and often dangerous animals, and would also smuggle items into the city hidden in the cages of dangerous animals the guards refused to search. Under this disguise Balasi has smuggled in many items into Quodeth to aid the serpentman cause.
--- This is where the adventure begins---
The group will be collected by the Hand of Fate, an ancient man named Kratos. He has been thought to be long dead, it is known to some that whenever he gathers people he sends them off to glory (or horrible death), many say it is the will of the gods. Kratos will throw a polished river stone attached to some twine at each character and pulls them along behind him as he goes around the city collecting them all. The city will part to accommodate his walking around, and no matter how much the players yell or protest no one seems to notice them (basically insta-party). He then delivers the group to Cy Roda's house the morning after the abduction. The characters arrive in the middle of a conversation between Cy and Balasi, hearing it from the other side of a door as they come up the stairs.
Balasi wanted Cy to hire the Red Knives, a very strong thieves guild in the city, to complete the task, this was simple enough for a merchant of his influence to do and he would have enough money to pay for it. The players will note Balasi's awkward way of speaking with hissing when there is an S (it sssoundsss jussst like thisss). Cy sees the Hand of Fate deliver his heroes to him and no longer wants to hire the Red Knives, he feels the gods have sent him his blessing. Furiously Balasi storms out of Cy's house wanting nothing to do with the player characters. Cy will talk with the characters and offer them a reward for Gita's head.
The tower of Gita the Caller is on a main street in the Tri-Paland district, at the base of the hill the Astrologer's Guild is built on. There is no easy way to enter, it is a windowless two story tower. The group can do some observations and notice there are several NPCs that look like they are in the area all the time; a gardener, a young girl, a maid from an abutting home, and if they wait long enough a butcher will deliver meat to the tower. Ideally the group will talk to either one of the NPCs to discover the tower gets a fifty pound delivery of meat daily. The butcher is actually the butcher's slave that makes these deliveries, he will give additional information that Gita requests the meat still be bloody and warm from a fresh kill, and the cow has been dead less than a half-hour. The butcher is easily bribed, he will give the party the meat and tell them how the transaction works. If they do not talk to the NPCs they can try and bluff their way in, or break in from the stucco roof.
Once inside the group must not allow the guards to raise the alarm. The group will battle human guards, possibly some Akata if they unlock their cage, void zombies (creations of the Akata in a different room), some elementals, various fiendish creatures, a sarcastic salt mephrit, and finally Gita (a 6th level mage that has used most of her spell slots for the day). They get some loot, claim her head and return to Cy.
On the way back to Cy's house the group encounters two woman and four children that all have sacks on their heads and are crying. They are Cy's family dropped off up the street from his house, told not to remove the sacks because they were being watched and they would be killed. The family does not remember much except being kept in the wagon, the horses were kept close by, and they could hear many strange hissing from snakes and other large animal noises. The Family also says they only thing they heard their captor say was directed the other one that did not speak, "Let us see what this flying thing does." the children will interrupt saying voice was funny, "Let usss sssee what thisss flying thing doesss". (The animals are the exotic animals Balasi imports).
Cy insists that the players stay for (the next meal and/or night if it is late), he wishes to speak to them more. Cy instructs that his wives and children go and clean up so they can celebrate their return (or time for bed if it is too late), but one of his boys eavesdrops outside the door to what the group talks about. During this discussion CY is furious that his friend Balasi would abduct his family and make him finance an assassination. Cy wants Balasi brought to him alive, he wants to know why he did this before taking his revenge. Moments later a servant can be heard screaming outside, as Cy and the party run to investigate they see the dead body of one of Cy's boys, the one that was eavesdropping. He appears to of thrown himself from his bedroom window. One of Cy's wives yells down from her bedroom window, "Cy do you plan to go after him?", looking up every one of Cy's family that was abducted is standing in their windows and look as if they are about to leap. (if anyone says yes they all jump, if they say no they step off the window and go back to what they were doing). Cy will send the group out after Balasi regardless under the same terms without letting the family hear. (all the family members are dominated by the serpentman with the instructions to leap to your death if Cy decides to pursue Balasi or the man that abducted you.)
The players go to Balasi's home to investigate and find all the exotic animals he imports have been left out of their cages causing much combat. The group will find the traces of a hurried departure, including several burnt documents in the fire place that are beyond repair. Balasi leaves two pieces of paper on his study desk, a note that says something like "I am leaving forever, you can try and pursue me, or you can take a crate of valuable items that is set to leave port in short time." The second sheet of paper is a paper to claim a piece of cargo.
If they go after Balasi he will warn them that they do not know what they are dealing with while jumping off Viceroy's bridge in the middle of the day, and not remerge. Causing them to have serpentmen enemies.
If they go after the crate they pick up the crate at the docks, Balasi gets away. The crate contains the loot equivalent for what the animal CR group has killed at Balasi's home, and a note that is a job opportunity. The job is figuring out how the noble houses of Serdarnel and Taroth have been smuggling silk without the dyers guild knowing.
Serdarnels opened up a silk farm on the Northern Kalayan Sea, they use the Taroth ships to import, when close to Quodeth they lower crates of silk into the water, deep-ones swim it to the Temple of the Broken Gate, they clean and dry it then repackage it, send it to a warehouse under the control of the Serdarnels which adds it to the silks purchased from the dyers guild. After selling the goods the Serdarnels pay the Priest of the broken gate and House Taroth.
