Folks who have taken a skeg at the 'Introductory Adventure' thread will know that I promised great things there... so here it is, my current draft scenario for PSCS
Some introduction and notes seem appropriate:
Obviously, this is a work in progress and several times the text has notes like [INSERT PRICE HERE] in it. You’ll also notice that it’s almost entirely STATless - although I have notes on various NPCs, I haven’t got presentable “hard stats” to show you yet (they’re generally the last part of my scenario designs).
This thread is rather HUGE (about 48 pages in word)
I set out to create this adventure with a few aims in mind:
* A scenario designed to get a disparate group of characters together for their first adventure
* A city adventure, about as different from a ‘dungeon bash’ as possible
*A good introduction to the basics of PSCS - I've tried to use ONLY our 3e info here as far as possible, since its the first experience of PS for many. Actually, I'm a long time [i]player rather than DM of PS and have never seen the inside of 'DM only' book - so if I mistakenly say that the Lady of Pain is really just an elaborate puppet worked by Cranium Rats or something similar, please let me know!
*A ‘living setting’ where the PCs aren’t the only folk in existence and their actions have consequences.
*A setting that will continue to exist after the adventure itself finishes, leaving the PCs (and teh DM) with a ‘home’ in Sigil.
Just a couple of other things:
*This isn’t the final formatting by a long way
*As stated in the text, this adventure was designed primarily for 1st level characters. Having seen some of the posts on the ‘Introductory Adventure’ thread however, I’m reconsidering this. My main worry with increasing the challenge level is that PCs of higher level and wealth won’t be attracted by the relatively meagre payment offered, and might not be interested in a stay in the Hive!
*Monetary rewards from the Hive dwellers are deliberately pathetically low, but my intention is to even the score through NPC treasure and other rewards.
*Some bits are still entirely missing, like the lair of Fingers, the Joculators, and Gnarlybone’s hideout. These are “coming soon”
So, have a read and see what you think - Are there any major omissions or plot-holes detected? It’s quite possible that something which seemed obvious in my head simply hasn’t been written down yet.[/i]
“DESIRE AND THE DEAD”
By Armoury99
Desire and the Dead is a Planescape adventure suitable for 1st level characters, either native planars or newly arrived primers. The scenario is set entirely within Sigil, mostly in Hive Ward, specifically the area near the Mortuary (part of the Grey District). The adventure is set post-Faction War using the PSCS material, but is easily adaptable to other periods.
The adventure can be used with characters above first level, as it involves a lot more talking and investigation that it does fighting, and many opponents will be humanoids with class levels rather than monsters. Much of the action is comparatively dangerous, but the party will usually have plenty of opportunity to retreat and rest up between encounters - these are city streets, not a dungeon. The party will rarely be in a situation where they cannot flee from trouble.
The adventure revolves around a plot by one Eyes Desire, a member of the Sensates still dwelling in the Cage. She wishes to disturb and unnerve the Dustmen, a Faction that her own has numerous philosophical issues with. With the aid of a mage, she has created the Thurible of Desire – a magical item that calls ceaselessly to those who have abandoned or are severed from the passions of life. The Sensate hopes that the desires inspired by the Thurible will cause many Dustmen to have a crisis of faith and maybe even cause them to abandon their order. To Eyes Desire, this is a mere diversion and an exercise in the philosophical warfare that as has existed for millennia, but her actions are potentially disastrous to those who live in or near the Mortuary, many of whom have urges best suppressed.
Desire has had the Thurible passed to a gang of chaotic pranksters, who are currently plaguing the district disguised (very badly) as members of the Funerary Guild. Desire hopes that when the Xaosetics are eventually apprehended, the Guild will take back their belongings, unwittingly spreading the Thurible’s influence among the remaining undead and Dustmen of the Mortuary.
The PCs likely become involved with the plot after encountering one of the undead affected by the Thurible, or by being exposed to it themselves. They may or may not discover the involvement of Eyes Desire.
BACKGROUND / SYNOPSIS
The Factions may have been banished from Sigil, but the Kreigstanz goes on. Disputes of philosophy continue as they have for centuries, and one cutter unwilling to let the matter go no matter what Her Serenity says is Eyes Desire, a member of the Society of Sensation.
Although she uses the words ‘guild hall’ rather than ‘Faction headquarters’ to refer to the Civic Festhall nowadays, Desire has changed very little in the aftermath of the Faction War. A minor but dedicated plotter in various Sensate schemes, Eyes has recently set plans into motion to further harm the remaining Dustmen of Sigil, whom she fears are rebuilding their Faction in all but name. Convinced that the Factions will one day get back into the Cage, she is already laying the groundwork for the Society of Sensation’s glorious return, and trying to evict what remains of the others.
Desire contracted the services of Brunathel, an artificer formerly of the Believers in the Source. For her, Brunathel created an enchanted censor called the Thurible of Desire. When lit, the device enchants any incense burning within it, producing an effect similar to a Suggestion spell. It stirs up the emotions of those exposed to it, especially passions long denied or lost – and the more severed the victim is from his passions, the stronger the effect. While Desire told Brunathel that the Thurible was to be used to heal Sensates whose passions had been lost on the Grey Waste, her true targets are the Dustmen.
Eyes’ minions then contacted a band of Xaosetic jesters called the Joculators. They suggested that it might be fun to prance around the Mortuary district “making fun of all those stuffy black robes and grim faces.” She also had her agents provide them with a ‘disguise’ - a selection of funerary gear and robes that included the magic censor. The chaotic trio have been causing trouble in the area ever since.
The Thurible is currently filled with a particularly cloying and persistent incense from Arcadia, called Three Suns Prayer (also given to the Joculators by Desire’s agent). The smell of this incense clings to the skin and clothes of anyone in proximity to it, carrying with it the magical effect. As the Xaosetics have been running around with the Thurible for days, its lingering smell and magic (which persists for three days and nights) is scattered all over them, and over much of the area around the Mortuary as well.
The Thurible is affecting the remaining Dustmen and undead of the district most strongly, but almost everyone is finding themselves a little more bitter, short-tempered, and full of old longings. One of those infected is a recently arrived primer ghoul known as ‘Fingers’, who was previously starting to follow the view of the Dustmen and fighting his hunger for living flesh. If the PCs do not do something about it, he will be unable to restrain his murderous urges for much longer.
ENTER OUR HEROES!
In the aftermath of the Faction War, those living in the area around the Mortuary were more fortunate than most. The district had always been fairly quiet; a sombre place where few bravos, drunkards, and ne’er-do-wells wished to congregate. Most gangs didn’t consider the area rich or fashionable enough to stake a claim on, and thieves found better (and safer) pickings elsewhere.
Even in the absence of the Harmonium, the inhabitants of Shuffle Street, Rattling Alley, and Wailer’s Square have managed to get by, but things have suddenly started to degenerate and they need some reliable protection. Wanting nothing to do with either the Sodkillers or Sons of Mercy (both equally balmy in their eyes), they have decided to risk their jink on some hired adventurers, luring them to the district with promises of friendly faces and free lodgings.
The Player Characters are contracted by the locals to keep the peace in the area, which suddenly seems on the verge of chaos. While protecting the district, the PCs will tangle with the Joculators and see evidence that something is affecting the area’s undead and Dustmen. They may well suffer directly from the Thurble’s effects themselves.
Encounters with Fingers the ghoul and others affected by the incense can shed some light on what is causing all the commotion. With luck, the PCs will also trace the Thurible back to Brunathel, then on to Eyes Desire for a final reckoning.
GETTING STARTED
There are numerous ways in which the DM can bring the PCs together, several of which are outlined below. The PCs might be hired as group or - if this is their first adventure - taken on individually and introduced to the people they’ll be working with as the adventure starts:
PLANAR STARTING IDEAS
·Planars visiting Sigil may well be attracted by word of free lodgings offered to honourable mercenaries.
·The character has a friend or relative living in the area, who requests their help.
·Members of a Guild or Faction might hear about the trouble in the area and be sent in by a factotum or local guild representative, either openly or ‘undercover’. The Sons of Mercy, Sodkillers, Harmonium, Guvnors, and Dustmen all have an interest in keeping the area quiet and productive, as do the City Guard and Funerary Guild. Each of these groups might also wish to expand their influence over the district – or just make sure that rival groups don’t.
·The PCs owes a debt to one of the NPCs in the area, or to someone who has traded their debt to Bald Grum.
·Dustmen PCs might have been working to induct Fingers the ghoul into their Faction, but he recently disappeared and the PC is looking for him.
·Planars native to the Cage might actually have grown up in the area, and have decided that now is the moment for them to begin a career as a hired sword.
PRIMER STARTING IDEAS
·The Primer stumbled through a portal a few days, weeks, or months ago (depending on which is most appropriate to the character) and arrived in a local’s house or business. New to the city, the PC has been asked to help keep the district safe in exchange for a place to stay and information on the Outer Planes/how to get home.
·The Primer was a henchman/follower to a more powerful adventurer, who was recently scribed into the Dead Book while visiting Sigil. The PC has seen to their cremation in the Mortuary and is now looking for a way home.
·The Primer has no idea how he got here! His amnesia may be total (he has no idea who he is or where he’s from) or merely stretch for several months. Options include:
a)The first thing she was aware of in Sigil was lying in a gutter with a Cranium Rat sat on her chest, but then the creature scuttled off into the sewers.
b)His first recollection is a mind flayer with its tentacles buried in his head, but the creature was slain before it could finish its meal.
c)The character was shaken awake by a barman in the Whispered Word, saying “that’s enough styx water for you, berk. Time you headed on home.”
·The primer ‘died’ while on the Prime Material Plane, but mysteriously awoke on a slab in Mother Xero’s morticiary (if the DM has a copy of The Eternal Boundary, this beginning might be modified to create a good lead in to that scenario).
·The PCs fell through a portal from the Prime into the heart of the Hive. Stumbling through the city confused and frightened, the PC was saved from a band of murderous beggars by Silent Brom, who took the PCs under his wing.
INTRODUCING THE FACIONS & GUILDS
Even if their political influence may have gone (or changed form) the Factions are still an important part of life in Sigil and the planes. Depending on how much the DM would like to introduce them at this stage, several characters in the district can introduce PCs to their Faction or Guild:
Bald Grum – the Fated, Council of Innkeepers, the Sigil Advisory Council.
Granny Marduk – Mercykillers, Sodkillers, and the Sons of Mercy.
Grimjaw the Githzerai – Minders’ Guild, Xaosetics.
Gnarlybone – Revolutionary League, rogues and the underworld.
Mother Xero – Dustmen, Funerary Guild.
Narma the Loud – Funerary Guild.
Silent Brom – City Guard, Primer viewpoint.
Sougad Sodkliller – The Sodkillers, City Guard.
The Joculators – Xaosetics.
Use these NPCs as mouthpieces to deliver information on Sigil, the Planes, and Belief in general, as well as their own particular philosophies (especially if your players are clueless as much as their characters). They can also update more experienced players on changes since the Faction War.
ACT ONE:
THE WHISPERED WORD
The PCs find themselves in the Whispered Word, a tavern off Wailer’s Square. It’s a quiet joint, populated by tired guildsmen, hoarse wailers, and relaxing Dustmen. Here they will officially meet their new employers:
The tavern called the Whispered Word is filled with a susurrus of quiet voices. The detail of these conversations is unheard but their subject is clear – you and your fellow adventurers. It’s a poor and hardworked band of berks that regard you, still stained with the grime of a long day’s toil: a mix of collectors, rag-pickers, coffin-makers, bearers, mourners, wailers, and morticians. A number of them wear the shapeless grey robes of Dustmen. The décor of the place matches the funerary nature of the people and their district: skull-shaped lanterns, tables made from coffin lids, and gauzy grey shrouds surround you. A wrinkled fellow with a blind eye gestures you to a table in front of the bar, where three figures await.
The three people sat at the table are collectively known as the Voices, unofficial representatives and spokespeople for the area:
Bald Grum is a heavy-set man with a wrinkled grey pate and a flattened wreck of a nose. Innkeeper of the Whispered Word, he is renowned as a miser and hard bargainer, but at least an honest one. He approaches the meeting with a brusque, business-like attitude, and does not suffer fools. Grum is a member of the Fated, although he no longer wear’s the faction’s badge or calls attention to his membership.
Silent Brom talks rarely, for him actions speak louder than words. He is a white-haired, scarred, and square jawed man tragically afflicted with rotting consumption and wracking cough. Caught on the Lower Planes some years ago, this thankfully uncomunicatable disease is slowly withering him away. A retired soldier and widower originally from a Prime world, Brom is a shrewd judge of character and a fearless if careful man. He regrets that he is simply too old and sickly to take up arms and sort this problem out himself.
Mother Xero is normally a kind and gentle old woman, though she has skin like cracked red leather and small ivory horns. Afflicted by the Thurible, she is visibly angry and may well snap at PCs during the meeting. She wears a holy symbol of Wee Jas over her grey robes, but is a mortician, not a priest.
THE PITCH
Each PC may make a Sense Motive check during the meeting (DC 18 - a little easier than usual since all the Voices pretty much wear their heart on their sleeve). Those who pass will sense no deception in their patrons, although both Brom and Glum are clearly sizing the PCs up. If anyone makes a check of 23+ they will realise that something is affecting her behaviour.
No roll is required to detect that Xero is clearly seething about something, but a successful roll reveals that she is also deeply uncomfortable with the emotion. A successful Knowledge (Planes) or Knowledge (Factions & Guilds) check at DC 10 will reveal that this state of agitation is rather unusual for a Dustman.
Once the PCs are gathered before them, the Voices make them their offer:
“I am known as Bald Grum,” says the grey-pated bruiser in taverner’s robes. “This is Silent Brom and Mother Xero. We are the District Voices; we’re not factols or jackals or golden lords, but we speak for the people here, and we need you.“This used to be a quiet district, silent as the grave in fact. But of late trouble seems to have taken to walking our streets: Chaosites, thugs, and worse. We would like this place to be quiet again – that’ll be your job.
“Now we don’t want the Sodkillers or Sons of Mercy running things here, we want to sort out our own affairs and we’re prepared to pay you for the privilege. Keep the peace, keep things safe and friendly, keep them running smooth. We’re not looking to see berks murdered in the street, just kicked out or made to behave-
"Serve ‘em right if they did get scribed…” mutters Mother Xero darkly.Grum frowns at her for a moment, then continues: “For this service we offer you room and board, and maybe some extra jink depending on what trouble you have to handle. And should the worst happen, we promise to give you a good and worthy funeral. So, do we have a deal?”
Now’s the time for PCs to ask any questions they may have regarding the job. Paraphrase the following information for the PCs:
·The PCs can stay in two rooms above the Whispered Word. Each sleeps a maximum of three people. Additional PCs will have to call kip in the common room or be put up by various neighbours.
·If asked, Glum will say that the ‘board’ included is wholesome, but not exactly exciting: Just black bread and cheese, thick gruel, and stew. “It won’t kill you, but you want better food, you have to earn it.”
·Monetary Rewards - Glum refuses to be specific, saying that he will reward the group a sum the Voices deem appropriate at the end of each week, depending on how well they’ve done and how dangerous the work has been. He stresses that the folk here aren’t rich, but they are fair. If the PCs try and haggle, Glum relishes the opportunity and he’s a tough customer. Use an opposed Diplomacy check (Bald Glum’s total is +10)
·If any of the PCs require an advance, the Voices are prepared to give them just 10gp each, taken out of any future reward money they may earn.
·If any PC seems too greedy, mercenary, or untrustworthy, then both Silent Brom and Mother Xero will take a dislike to them. Although Brom will keep his opinions to himself, Xero will scoff that “you’re no better than sodding bloodcrows!” and storm out of the inn.
·If in need of healing during their work, the PCs should talk to Narma the Loud, a professional wailer. He has some skill in such matters, though he’s not a cleric.
·If the PCs attempt to find out why Mother Xero is so angry, they need to make a Diplomacy check with her (DC 10). If successful, she apologises and admits "this is most unlike me, but those chaos sods have just got under my skin!” Even on a fail however, the PCs learn that her shop was wrecked by some balmies yesterday.
·The trouble afflicting the area includes a band of balmies capering around pretending to be Funerary Guildsmen, a mysterious attacker who has fallen upon several residents around Rattling Alley, an influx of thieves and thugs trying to take the jink of local merchants, and a sudden increase in berks brawling in the street. The Voices advise the PCs to talk to the locals in the bar for further details.
·A fiend gang called the Proud Pariahs has recently moved into a nearby area, and the Voices think a show of strength in this district will help to keep them away.
·The Voices expect the PCs to patrol the district from time to time (at least twice a day), and to be available in case of trouble. Their ‘beat’ will be Wailer’s Square, Rattling Alley, and Shuffle Street.
Once the PCs agree to the job, they are free to mingle in the tavern. Many of the district’s residents have come out to see the PCs, and will want to clasp hands, exchange names, and give their greetings. Any character who spends time trying to make friends with the locals gains a +2 bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information checks made with them during the adventure, as well as 1d3 minor gifts such as scarves, woolly hats, flowers, cheap charms, a lucky copper piece, or just a free drink.
TALKING WITH THE LOCALS
Clearly, the PCs’ arrival is something of an event and people are quite eager to talk. As the PCs mingle, make Gather Information rolls. Assuming the PCs are cooperating, have the best score in the group make a Gather Information check, with assistance rolls by the others (see 'combining skill attempts' on P65 of the PHB). Each PC could also roll separately if they’re too paranoid or contrary to cooperate.
Remember that anyone who made an effort to be friendly (see above) gets a +2 bonus. There is also an additional +2 bonus to all Gather Information checks at this meeting, as that’s the reason most berks have turned up. Compare the results to the information below:
SUCCESS NUMBER less than 10
1.The PCs can learn some names and get directions to major buildings in the area, as well as hear loads of useless gossip.
2.The area specialises in various funerary services and is loosely connected to the Funerary Guild.
3.The PCs are warned that undead come and go through the area “but they don’t generally trouble berks who don’t trouble them.”
4.Laundry services are available from various washerwomen at Beater’s Corner in Wailer’s Square; baths can be had in the Three Tubs.
SUCCESS NUMBER 10+
1.Most people feel that the PCs presence is a good thing, but a few think that hiring sell-swords will cause more trouble than it solves. As usual, the Dustmen don’t care much either way.
2.Three Xaosetics have been running around the area, dressed as Funerary Guildsmen but capering and cackling, playing pranks and engaging in petty vandalism. On at least three occasions they have used magic to disable their opponents (Daze, Flare, and Colour Spray respectively, although their informants can only describe the spells’ effects, not supply their names).
3.Mother Xero is a kindly old tiefling, a mortician who can make the most carved-up corpse look like Sune Firehair herself. “Normally she’s never a bad word for anyone, but her store got wrecked yesterday and she’s running a red one ever since.”
4.A few rough types have also been hanging around the district; thieving and trying to persuade local merchants to pay them protection money.
5.Hitchskirt Alley is the place the nearest place to find jinkskirts and jinkshirts.
SUCCESS NUMBER 15+
1.Bald Grum is a Taker, though he rarely admits it. He’s also a member of the Guild of Tavernkeeps. He was quite the prize-fighter in his day: “There has to be some excuse for a face like that, eh?”
2.“Seems like Old Toadface isn’t coming back...” The PCs learn about Tad’Faddamfa the slaad and his recent absence.
3.Haigherty, owner of the Three Tubs bathhouse “thinks he’s the new Harys Hatchis.”
4.They say that Silent Brom is dying, from some vile pox caught on the Grey Waste in his mercenary days: “Terrible waste of a good man. Least it’s not catching, eh?”
5.The district’s been a tense and jumpy place these last few weeks. Seems like just about everyone is upset, on edge, or angry. The Dustmen seem just as disturbed as everyone else, which makes a sodding change.
6.Several residents have been attacked at night by something that hissed and spit at them. It roughed them up, but then shouted ‘no…no… no!’ and ran off. It moved on two legs and was roughly man sized, but no more detailed descriptions are available. Locals are already calling it “the Beast of Rattling Alley.”
7.A Sodkiller came touting his services a few weeks ago, just before all the trouble started. People are pretty worried that he and his fellow crow-feeders might return.
8.Lanis the Deathmonger is a hard and dangerous man, not to be taken lightly (Lanis himself is not be present).
9.A serious looking (“aren’t they all?”) githzerai warrior has been seen lurking around, but won’t discuss his business.
SUCCESS NUMBER 20+
1.It’s rumoured that the Dustmen are re-organising and reuniting their Faction in all but name. It’s certainly true that they’re out and about again, although there are still far fewer here than before the Faction War. “A few peery berks are even going so far as to keep half an eye out for Her Serenity; she’s sure to take offence.”
2.Many locals use the services of Granny Marduk, a fortune teller on Shuffle Street. It is said that she used to be a member of the Mercykillers, but now wants nothing to do with any sect or Faction.
3.A trader named Dykos was recently maimed in an attack by the ‘Beast of Rattling Alley’. He’s become a virtual recluse since then. He lives at 8 Rattling Alley.
4.The Proud Pariahs are a fiend gang lead by a Rutterkin called Rash, easily notable because of the red welts and blisters on his skin. They’re based at the other end of Shuffle Street, but that’s still too close for comfort.
5.A local young rogue called Gnarlybone knows a lot about the seamier side of life. Here’s not here at present; but comes and goes every few days.
SUCCESS NUMBER 25+
1.The ‘fiends’ in the Pariahs are actually just a Rutterkin (‘Rash’, their leader) and a couple of Dretches. The rest are just tiefings. They were pushed out of their old turf by larger and more organised gangs of real fiends.
2.It’s whispered that Lanis the Deathmonger, proprietor of The Swords Salute is a kidnapper who sells men and women to gladiatorial schools across the planes.
3.Glory the jinkskirt will ask to speak to the PCs privately when the meeting breaks up. See A TALE OF BLOOD & GOLD below.
The gathering eventually breaks up and the PCs are left to their own devices. Bald Grum will show the party up to their rooms, handing over a pair of large iron keys (only one for each room, although he has spares). Each key opens the room’s large and very simple door lock (Pick Lock DC 16).
Within each room is a small round window of thin horn, polished to translucence. More light is provided by a crude iron lantern in the shape of a demon’s maw, firmly chained to the rafters. A threadbare carpet covers most of the floor between three pallet beds that have shrouds for blankets. Each room also contains a sturdy coffin that serves as a storage chest, bench, and table. A large rusty padlock secures it, opened by their room key.
GETTING TO WORK
Although they can settle in and plan, Bald Grum will certainly ensure that the party don’t rest on their laurels. He expects them to get organised and keep him informed of their plans. How exactly they go about keeping the district safe is largely up to them, but he’s happy to offer advice and encouragement – and condemnation of anyone he thinks anyone is a slacker. Ideally, he’d like to see the PCs set up a base of operations where locals can report any trouble (probably the Whispered Word), and have at least some of the PCs patrol the district a couple of times a day and at least once at night. If the party does more than this, he will be pleased.
ACT TWO:
HITTING THE STREETS
From this point on, the adventure is fairly freeform. Days will likely pass as the PCs get organised, get to know the locals, and get into various kinds of trouble.
A number of plot-related encounters are described below. The DM should intersperse these with random events and allow plenty of time to pass if the PCs need it, or are simply enjoying interacting with the locals. At least initially, Eyes Desire’s plot should only lurk in the background of daily life, which can be dangerous enough in the Hive.
SLIPPING THE BLINDS: The main way the PCs can mess up in the initial stages of the adventure is to get caught doing something untrustworthy, balmy, or downright criminal, or to go into a minor encounter heavy handed like the streets are just an urban dungeon (i.e. killing everything in sight). In both cases, the whole party will be summoned before the Voices to explain themselves. Grum and the others will give them a fair hearing, even if their words are rough. This may be a respectable district, but is still the Hive and life is cheap. Unless the PCs were doing something totally unconscionable, they’ll be let off with just a warning.
PLOT-BASED ENCOUNTERS
The following encounters can occur throughout the PCs’ time in the district, and deal specifically with Eyes’ plot and the Thurible of Desire. Some encounters come finding the PCs, while others will require the adventurers to seek them out. A summary of what can trigger the event is included with each encounter.
“DYKOS THE MAIMED”
Trigger: The PCs trace the victims of the mysterious attacker in Rattling Street.
Use of the jawbone knocker on number eight, Rattling Alley, at a sensible hour of the day, will eventually produce a cleanshaven, grey-skinned dwarven face, which gruffly tells the PCs to pike it. Basic Diplomacy (or a good kick to the door) will gain them entry, but the dwarf is not who they are looking for. He is Grykas, the victim’s nephew. He has been looking after his uncle since Dykos was attacked, as the older dwarf has suffered something of a nervous breakdown.
Word that they are upon the Voices’ business will eventually persuade Grykas to let the PCs see his enfeebled uncle, although he warns them that Dykos has been badly injured in an attack and is not himself.
Before you slumps form of a pale and shaking dwarf, his features angular and grey, like cut granite. Illuminated by a single spluttering candle, he flinches as you enter, then recovers his nerve. His face is badly bruised but he bares a far greater wound: His left hand is wrapped in a bloodstained bandage, and is clearly missing all four of its fingers.“Who-who are you?” he stutters.
Dykos is part of a small clan of dwarves living in Sigil but originally from a Prime world called Aebrynis. He is a trader in headstones, but in no state to run his business: Currently Dykos stutters and babbles, mixes dates and events, mutters fearfully to himself, and displays all the symptoms of someone in the midst of a nervous breakdown.
Careful questioning will reveal the information below but it will be mixed up and jumbled in with terrified babble. To get a clearer story, the PCs will need to spur on his recovery. Several options present themselves: Emotion-control spells, a bard’s inspire confidence ability, plying him with mummerwine from the Whispered Word (see Appendix), or just some good role-playing from the players.
If the PCs succeed in calming Dykos they can hear the coherent story given below, if not the DM should intersperse it with whatever rambling and madness they deem appropriate:
“It was late. I had just closed a deal at the Whispering Word and was heading home. No escort; I had no jink with me, just parchment and everyone knew it.”“I was halfway through the alley when some fiend leapt at me from behind, grabbing me about the neck and shoulders. It had talons like rusty knives and it stank of death. It- it hissed and spat some screed about ‘needing it again’ and threw me against the wall. I was struck unconscious, I think.”“I came to my senses with a pain in my hand and the thing crouched over me, jabbering and slurping. It-it was… gnawing on my fingers... What was left of my-my fingers. When it saw that I was awake, it covered its face and ran. I don’t remember how I made it home.”
Dykos can add little more. He wasn’t robbed, has no real enemies, and doesn’t suspect his business partner of the night. If asked for more of a description of the creature he says “it was shaped roughly like a man, but far too lean and leathery, with a hideous frog-like mouth. Fangs like shark’s teeth, and white blind eyes.”
Aftermath: If the PCs help speed Dykos’ recovery, he will not forget them. Several days later (whenever the DM wishes) he will venture forth from his house and thank them publicly for their efforts. Although he offers no coin, his eloquent and heartfelt words will make the populace even friendlier towards the PCs – or help them to forgive any past indiscretions. The PCs gain an additional +1 to all CHS checks with the locals. The Voices will also note it, rewarding the PCs with an extra handful more gold at the end of the week.
“GNARLYBONE THE ROGUE”
Trigger: The PCs hear about Gnarlybone and seek him out.
Gnarlybone is well known locally as a scoundrel, but tolerated because he never steals from the folk of Wailer’s Square. What’s not widely known is that he has a hideaway just off Rattling Alley, where he keeps a stash of goods and equipment (see Appendix for details). PCs can find Gnarlybone by making a good Gather Information check (DC 20) with one of the local urchins or someone who buys his stolen goods, or by asking Narma the Loud or one of the Voices to set up a meeting.
Gnarlybone is a friendly but cautious half-elf; charming, precocious, and unashamedly cowardly. He is skeletally thin and sports a shaven head, prominent joints, and long fingers. He usually wears ragged garments similar to a monk’s outfit, not quite so poor as beggar rags. Only 17 years old, Gnarlybone is still a child by the standards of his race, but experienced in the ways of the Hive. He grew up as an urchin in the Grey District and genuinely loves the Wailer Square folk. ‘Gnarlybone’ is the moniker the other urchins gave him as a boy. He doesn’t remember his parents or know his real name.
Gnarlybone can act as a guide to the violent underworld of the Hive, and knows about both the Proud Pariahs and Joculators. He can supply PC rogues with thieves’ tools and also fence any goods they may have to sell. Although he knows where the Joculators have made their lair, he considers telling the ‘authorities’ (as he sees the PCs) as against the code of the alleys. He won’t reveal their location unless threatened with his life, offered a very large garnish, or persuaded that some bigger threat is at work in Wailer’s Square.
SLIPPING THE BLINDS: Gnarlybone is actually quite well liked in the district. The Voices won’t dismiss characters who just did heir duty to clean up the streets, but PCs who torture or murder Gnarlybone will receive the cold shoulder from many folk around Wailer’s Square, as well as petty harassment from the local urchins: Thrown stones and excrement, name-calling, telling tales on them, etc).
“NARMA THE LOUD”
Trigger: The PCs seek out Narma; The PCs can also encounter Narma in Wailer’s Square, at his Guildhouse, or in a funeral procession.
Narma has no direct involvement in Eyes’ plot, but is a very useful contact for the PCs. He is a professional mourner, hired to accompany funerals to show how well loved the deceased was. Many a not so well loved berk has also put aside a few stingers to hire folks like Narma, to wail and gnash their teeth as the body wagon goes by.
Narma’s not a handsome man, but has great skill in contorting his face and body into a semblance of grief. He’s perhaps fifty cycles old, but looks older. Narma works throughout the city, but advertises his services with free demonstrations in Wailer’s Square, alongside his fellows. Narma is their leader by virtue of his superior skills (he is in fact a 3rd level bard) and organisational ability. He can perform a number of services for the PCs:
· He can contact Gnarlybone for the PCs and arrange a meeting; provided he doesn’t believe they’ll just scrag the young rogue.
· If anyone asks him about Dustmen or the troubles of the district, he knows that Glory the jinkskirt had trouble with a customer in Dustman robes the other night.
· He can identify Brunathel’s mark on the Thurible, and knows the mage lives in Lower Ward.
· He can tell the PCs all about the Voices and the local area.
· He can provide lots of general information, using a Bardic Knowledge score of +5
In addition to information, Narma knows the Cure Light Wounds spell, and acts as something of a healer in the district. He will treat bruised and battered PCs, but uses non-magical means unless the PCs are very badly hurt or specifically request magical aid. Although he’ll heal them with magic once or twice for free, from then on he’ll charge a small fee.
“SCENE OF THE CRIME”
Trigger: The PCs investigate the scene of Joculator crimes.
It’s likely that the PCs will visit the aftermath of at least one Joculator attack. Each scene will vary, but a number of clues can be found at each location. Depending on how they approach the investigation, they can make Gather Information, Search, and Sense Motive checks to learn the following:
· A cloying smell hangs around the location; any religious characters will recognise incense, if not the particular type. After a few visits to crime scenes, this smell will start to faintly hang around the PCs too.
Characters who closely examine three or more scenes where the Thurible was used will start to carry the smell of Three Suns Prayer incense around on them, and be exposed to its effects (see TERRIBLE TROUBLE WITH THURIBLES).
· Witnesses describe three wild-eyed humans running amok, dressed as Dustmen but acting like total barmies. They were also swinging ceremonial funerary gear around wildly most disrespectfully.
· Damage done is usually minor – general mayhem, vandalism, petty theft, goods pulled down and pushed over, and the occasional blow to a particularly hidebound victim. The DM can go wild with random details (see DANCE OF THE JOCULATORS for more information)
· There’s a 50% chance that among the gawpers and bystanders is Grimjaw the Githzerai, keeping a quiet eye on things. If a PC pays particular attention to the crowd, have him or her make a Spot check, opposed by Grimjaw’s Hide of +6.
· A successful Sense Motive check (DC 23) reveals that the victim(s) a little more agitated and excitable than they should be. This effect is more noteworthy on characters that normally keep their emotions under wraps, but not very noticeable in either case.
“SHADOWS & PORTENTS”
Trigger: The PCs go to get their fortune’s told by Granny Marduk, or use similar divination magic to reveal what’s going on.
It is possible that the PCs may seek clues to their future, either by their own magic or the services of a soothsayer. Granny Marduk is one NPC where such things are available, from a tiny shop on Shuffle Street hung with carved wooden masks and dangling bronze charms:
Granny’s ebony flesh may be marred by a mass of wrinkles but her eyes and smile are bright. Her bead costume rattles as she shuffles a deck of tatted cards with ancient but still nimble fingers. She lays them face down on the table before her, the faded image of a bladed face looking out from their backs.
The playing cards do indeed depict the fading image of Her Serenity, which might well make some berks nervous. Although their design mimics the images of a Deck of Many Things (and this is how Granny refers to them) in fact the cards themselves are not magical, Granny is.
Granny Marduk turns the cards one by one, nodding and mumbling as though their images merely confirmed what she already knew.“Passion is written upon these cards. Desire is the key to your troubles! The Flame Card indicates that an old and powerful enmity is the source of your woes. The Jester and the Void and the Knight... Mmm, your enemy is far removed from here, I think, and uses others in their game-”The old woman suddenly hack and spits, scattering the cards and tracing a warding sign in the air. “Blek and sod it, you unlucky berks! I see the shadow of three Factions looming over you! Get out before their hubris taints me too. Get out! Out! OUT I SAY!”
Granny will only stop shouting once the PCs have left her shop, and if necessary she’ll flee from them - the old woman is clearly terrified and desperate get away. Repeat visits to Granny will prove equally unproductive, as she will simply refuse to see or help the PCs. She doesn’t know what Factions are involved and doesn’t care; if necessary she will pack up and leave the district temporarily to avoid the party.
Other fortune tellers and divinations will provide similar results, although without Granny’s extreme reaction.
“A TALE OF BLOOD AND GOLD”
Trigger: Glory approaches the PCs (Gather Information check or random encounter); The PCs specifically investigate trouble among the Dustmen; The PC befriends Glory or the jinkskirts.
The PCs are approached by Glory, a dark haired and tired-looking prostitute who works Hitchskirt Alley. Three nights ago she was approached by a handsome man in Dustman’s robes, searching for ‘a special service’ from her:
“Posh berk, he was. Unusual enough in these parts. But the thing is, he… he wanted to drink my blood. Just a little, he said. He was swaying back and forth, all unfocused, like he was drunk or something. But his eyes were red as coals and he had fangs like a fiend. He drooled… I’m no coney and told him to pike it, nice as I could. But he begged me, seemed desperate. Grabbed me so hard by the shoulders that I still have the bruises! I thought he was going to kill me but then he just let me go. Told me to get away from him. Suddenly he was in tears. I just blitzed it out of there. Sodding balmies.”
Blood-drinking, burning eyes, and supernatural strength are all classic signs of the vampire, but Primers will probably know more about this creature (at least in legend) than any Planars, given the general rarity of undead in the Planes.
If questioned further, Glory can reveal that she’s seen the man coming and going about the mortuary several times before, but he’d never seemed interested in her wares or any other girl before. She can easily furnish them with his description:
“He always wears a heavy cloak, with a deep pointed hood. Underneath he wears black silk and gold-edged red lace, expensive. I’d have said he was about thirty cycles old. Skin so pale it was sickly, with thick dark hair, clean chinned but with braided mutton-chops. He wears a heavy iron amulet, the Dustman sign. He was always very polite when he turned us down before.”
Glory and the other jinkskirts have seen the figure coming and going from the Mortuary for as long as they can remember, although his visits are generally a few weeks apart. She can also tell the PCs where the alley is: “Those sodding chaosmen were running through there that morning, and the whole place stank of perfume.”
If the PCs ask after the mysterious stranger at the Mortuary, they will receive a polite but firm “no comment” from the gate guards - those that can speak, anyway. The Guild treats information on its undead as strictly confidential, and the same applies to any Dustman/Guild member they talk to unless the PCs make a Diplomacy check (DC 20). If they manage the latter, the guard or guildsman promises to look into it for them.
Some time later, the PCs receive word through Mother Xero that the object of their questions has agreed to meet them at the mortuary, an hour before Antipeak that night. Read or paraphrase following to the PCs:
The journey is not a pleasant one. Already well on its way towards Antipeak, the darkness is illuminated only by blue-white witchlight flickering from the mortuary windows. It casts harsh bladed shadows down the street towards you, like a great fanged maw trying to swallow you up… And into it you walk.
If the PCs have visited Granny Marduk before this point, they may well feel that this description fits in with Granny’s prophecy, and they’d be right. The party will be escorted through the Mortuary by guards, who will not insist that the PCs relinquish their weapons unless they are already renowned as undead-hating fanatics. They’ll be warned however that what they see in the mortuary is mortuary business, not the business of the living; they’d better show caution and restraint unless they’ve come seeking the True Death.
The party are escorted through dark corridors, accompanied by the echoes of dirges and chanted eulogies. The corridors are chill, and in places ice crystals form strange patterns on the walls. The silence is broken intermittently by a groan or an echoing scream, or the sudden presence of an indistinct incorporeal form passing across the corridor – in through one wall and out of the other. Their escorts remain silent unless questioned, and answer only in terse whispers.
The meeting takes place in a crypt well below street level. Lit only by faintly glowing braziers, the gloom will loom oppressively around the PCs, edged with an undulating darkness that even Darkvision cannot penetrate. Close examination reveals only that there seems to be layers of darkness moving sinuously over one another.
The only furnishing in the room is a stone sarcophagus, beyond which waits a figure whose black robes leave him barely visible in the gloom. As the PCs enter, it leans forward and a face is revealed, identical to the visage carved on the sarcophagus lid. His appearance also matches Glory’s description.
The creature before them is Lord Madrigore, a vampire. Of course Lord Madrigore will not introduce himself as a member of the blood-drinking undead. He just won’t deny it if asked.
Madrigore is a stuffy and hidebound creature, who speaks slowly and deliberately. He came to the city two hundred years ago, and has joined the ranks of the Dustmen a short time later. He dwells in a baroque lair beneath Lower Ward, but often visits his tomb and his Faction’s old headquarters. As far as he is concerned, the Faction War was nothing significant in his quest for the True Death; to him the Dustmen’s status as Faction or Guild matters not at all.
If asked about the incident with Glory, Madrigore considers their words for some time before answering in a hollow emotionless voice:
“The thirst came on me suddenly, in a way it has not these past two hundred years. Not since I learned the Way of True Death and set aside my longings.“I was passing that alley of whores, as I have a thousand times before. But that night a cloying scent filled my nostrils. Suddenly I remembered the dark and misty streets of my immortal youth, and the… the pleasures of sanguine wine. I do not remember much of what happened next, though I remember the girl. I think I would have killed her, drained her dry and sought another if I could. But then I was struck by sorrow and wept for the first time in centuries as I contemplated my sins. If there had been sunlight or fire I would have sought it out, but there were neither. I returned to my sanctum and spent three Antipeaks in meditation. In time, I became myself again.”
Madrigore has no idea what happened to him. He had done nothing out of his normal routine, and this sort of thing has never occurred before. He can tell the PCs little more than he already has, and in fact was hoping that they could tell him the cause of what occurred.
Aftermath: If the PCs have been courteous and professional, then he presents them with a parting gift, “for your inconvenience and that of the girl. And a reward for your discretion.” He will pass them a dusty pouch, in which are a hundred tarnished electrum coins of unfamiliar denomination. If the PCs try to extort more money from the vampire however, or are rude or grossly indiscrete then Madrigore will become a dedicated if minor enemy. Although he will not descend on them from the shadows like a monster, he will see to it that the Dustmen do them no further favours.
“WANDERING FINGERS”
Trigger: PCs encounter Fingers the ghoul in a random encounter; PCs stake out Rattling Alley looking for the creature that attacked Dykos.
The figure wandering past you stinks of incense, a cloying scent that becomes almost overpowering as he draws near. He’s a Dustman but seems highly agitated - Hissing and muttering issues constantly from beneath his filthy hood:‘No no no... failing…failing…not falling to dust, Fingers is…. Fingers… fingers…. Mmmm.... True Death, True Death…mustn’t give in, mustn’t know it. Need the quiet hole where it was… fingers must be good and not-not…like that again…no, oh no no no....”
This is none other than the ‘Beast of Rattling Alley’, Fingers the ghoul.
Currently Fingers wears a Dustman’s robe over ragged knee-length pantaloons and a filthy shirt and waistcoat. He walks along with hood up, head bowed, and claws concealed in the wide sleeves of his robe. His face is yellow and leathery, with hideous jagged teeth and white eyes almost blind from cataracts; Fingers is extremely weak sighted, and hunts mostly by scent but this is impaired somewhat by the cloud of Three Suns Prayer incense that hangs around him.
Fingers mutters to himself constantly - about the True Death, about failing his vows, and about his previous favourite subject - eating peoples’ fingers. It’s possible that the PCs will encounter Fingers before they learn of Dykos the Maimed, but if they encounter him afterwards it’s likely that they will leap to the (correct) conclusion that this is the creature responsible for attacking the merchant. The dark of things is a bit more complicated, however:
Having stumbled through a portal from a prime world called Nehéz about two months ago, Fingers found himself in the Mortuary. Disguising himself in a Dustman’s robe (after eating the previous occupant), the ghoul has prowled the streets for weeks. Seeing the many dangers of the Hive, he became a cautious hunter, feeding only off animals and those who wouldn’t be missed. Like many living primers, he found the city awesome and frightening but wanted to know more.
During this time, Fingers explored the streets and mortuary and overheard many conversations by Dustmen. He liked what he heard, and eventually being a Dustman became more than a mere disguise: Fingers is actually on the verge of embracing their philosophy for real.
Fingers had abstained from feeding for almost two weeks when he encountered the Joculators, who established a lair above his own. The stink of the incense leaked down, impregnating his clothes and reawakening his hunger for living flesh. Several times he attacked solitary individuals in Rattling Alley, but always managed to hold himself back from feeding. Eventually the incense overcame his inhibitions however; a few days ago he attacked Dykos the dwarf merchant and partially devoured his hand. Fingers feels deeply ashamed of this, not because of the harm done to Dykos but because it represents his failing to put aside his desires, and because he almost gave death to someone not yet ready for it.
If confronted, Fingers first tries to get away. If cornered however, he attacks his enemies frantically. He must make a WILL (DC 15) save in every round of combat, or begin to use his Bite attack – characters who make a Sense Motive check at DC 16 will realise that he’s deliberately holding back from biting, with some difficulty.
If captured rather than killed, Fingers will swiftly confess his crimes. He claims to have given up eating his favourite food (“fingers, mmm...”) but just couldn’t help himself the other night; the hunger has come back worse than ever in the last couple of weeks.
Amidst his other ramblings (or if asked about the smell on his robes) Fingers mentions that a band of “dancing dustmen” keep hitting him with a smelly metal thing and shouting and singing while he’s trying to have a quiet think at home. They moved into the ruins above Fingers’ house two weeks ago, and have been bothering him ever since. If given the chance, he’ll even show the PCs where he lives; a ruined tenement just off Rattling Alley. This is also the home of the Joculators.
Aftermath: Caring PCs might take Fingers to Mortuary, where a pair of Dustmen will take him into custody. Unfortunately these very Dustmen will later be involved in an angry exchange with their fellows as they are affected by the incense as well. The characters can hear about this from Mother Xero or any other Dustman of their acquaintance.
Under the care of the Dustmen and away from the affects of the Thurible, Fingers will eventually recover from his hunger and eventually even his muttering madness will subside. If they encounter him again once the Thurible’s affects have worn off, Fingers will be grateful for their help, although not very passionate about it. They will now have a contact and minor friend in the Mortuary, should they ever need one. Fingers would make an excellent ‘project’ for a PC Dustman seeking to advance in rank.
SLIPPING THE BLINDS: Seeing a monster (and not even a harmless one) it’s quite likely that the PCs will simply attack Fingers and kill him, although as the Voices pointed out when they were hired, this isn’t actually what they’re being paid for. They should also know by now that many undead are part of the Dustmen, and if they kill Fingers just because he’s a ghoul, that’s murder. Dustmen or good-aligned PCs should also be concerned with helping the ghoul stick to his beliefs.
“DANCE OF THE JOCULATORS”
Trigger: Random encounter; The PCs encounter the Joculators; the Joculators come looking for the PCs.
‘The Joculators’ are a trio of Xaosetics pranksters out to cause trouble. Jesters by profession, their current aim is to “laughing crazy make the puppets like dusties dance!” - but chaos and disorder is their true expertise.
The Joculators are a loose association of Chaosmen who worked as jesters and jongeurs – and secretly as pranksters for hire. After an incident where a joke resulted in the serious injury of a senior Harmonium officer however (they hid a bear trap in his privy), they were forced to flee to the Hive.
The Joculators were never particularly reserved or sane, and prolonged exposure to the Thurible of Desire has made them even less stable. Although they’re not really trying to hurt anyone, their pranks are starting to get out of hand. They’ve been up to various mischief so far:
· Ambushing Dustmen and forcibly dressing them in brightly coloured clothes.
· Running around with sheets over their heads, pretending to be ghosts.
· Throwing brightly coloured paint at the mortuary walls and various monuments.
· Disrupting a funeral procession by urinating on it from a rooftop.
· Blinding passers-by with Colour Spray spells.
· Running past people, hitting them with their ‘relics’ (including the Thurible)
· Stealing carts, wagons and pony carriages to race them.
· Stealing corpses and propping them up in comedic and obscene vignettes.
· Performing mock ‘recruitment speeches’ while pretending to be Dustmen.
· Using their Suggestion spells to start a brawls and arguments.
PCs will most likely encounter the Joculators engaged on one of their ‘happiness patrols’ around Wailer’s Square, but once they hear that the PCs are representing law and order, they will actively seek them out for a good seeing to. PCs are likely to hear the Joculators before they see them:
“Happy dusties, that is we, we do not laugh and we do not pee. Teeth like tombstone slabs, when we die our jaws hit the floor in dribs and drabs! Blessings of the none-day to you berk! May you die soon but begin not being not living with a laugh!”
From a distance the Joculators might be mistaken for Dustmen, but a Spot check (DC 10) reveals that they are wearing black-dyed jester’s motley under their hooded robes. Of course, they’re also shouting and capering and acting like balmies most of the time too. Each Xaosetic wears an excessive amount of amulets and funerary jewellery, including a dozen cheap holy symbols. They also carry a selection of other funerary equipment: A skull-shaped brazier, a huge ceremonial candlestick, and the Thurible of Desire.
Tactics: The Joculators aren’t really trying to kill anybody - they just want to bring the joy of chaos (and comedy) to a tragically depressing district. They focus their spells on distraction, confusion, and befuddlement rather than harm.
The Joculators may well come across the party randomly and decide to embroil them in one of the pranks above, but if the PCs have earned enough of a reputation in the district, the Xaosetics will deliberately target them for a humiliating ambush, using their magic to make the party seem as foolish and ineffectual as possible. Low level parties will be particularly vulnerable to their Sleep and Colour Spray spells.
PCs who are incapacitated by the Joculators will find themselves robbed and then either stripped naked, dressed in inappropriate clothing (women’s undergarments, theatrical villain costumes, etc) and left in whatever position the party are likely to find least amusing when they wake.
During their activities, Grimjaw the Githzerai is always lurking nearby. He doesn’t involve himself unless the Joculators get themselves into real trouble, however. When he does take action, he will ambush whoever is proving the most threatening, in an attempt to subdue or incapacitate them, and distract everyone else; lethal force will only be used if necessary (although it certainly doesn’t bother him). Grimjaw will also make efforts to remove any unconscious or dead xaosetics from the scene, and cover the retreat of the Joculators from both pursuit and attempts to track them. He has some of the Joculators’ caltrops, thunderstones, and tanglebags to assist him in this.
Capturing the Joculators: If captured, the Joculators will initially refuse to talk, or at least talk anything other than babble. They’ll seem even balmier than most Chaosmen, alternately giggling, weeping, and ranting. Eventual 'persuasion' (one way or another) will get them to reveal their plans - i.e. to cause chaos and disruption while dressed as Dustmen.
Pressing them on why they are doing this or who put them up to this will reveal that they met a man in the Hive who suggested the idea, and even gave them outfits and some props. If asked to describe him, the party will eventually make out that they met someone young, blond, clean, and nice smelling, who had a small red birthmark on his cheek.
If roundly defeated, the Joculators will slink away to a less ordered part of the Hive – unless of course the DM wishes them to return for later vengeance! If the PCs want to question them later (perhaps after experiencing more of the Thurible) they will have to track them down outside of Wailer’s Square, which could be a risky proposition. Tracing them via Grimjaw and the Minder’s Guild is probably the better option.
Capturing Grimjaw: Grimjaw is certainly not prepared to die for his charges, and will flee or surrender if badly injured. The Githzerai is much more taciturn and pragmatic than his clients. At first he will tell the PCs to pike it and little else, but will eventually admit that he was hired a couple of weeks ago by the Xaosetics to be their bodyguard: They paid a sizeable amount in advance to his Guild, and now he’s stuck with them. He doesn’t like them and does not share their lair because “that smoke they use sends them crazy.”
SLIPPING THE BLINDS: Depending on the level difference between the PCs and the Joculators, the party may well come off worse against them. The Xaosetics will then happily continue prancing around the district, possibly even dropping by to poke fun at the PCs for earlier defeats. PCs might require several encounters to get the better of these pranksters, giving the DM ample opportunity to play them as a minor but highly irritating nemesis for the group.
For more details of the Joculator and their Lair, see Appendix III.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
Eyes’ plot isn’t the only thing happening in the Grey District. There are plenty of minor encounters to occupy the party’s time too: Helping drunkards home, driving off urchins, carrying the shopping of old ladies, etc. There’s also a 50% chance once each day and once each night of a more significant encounter. Some of these are affected by Eyes’ plot, others are not.
Roll 1d20 on the table below:
1) Arguing Collectors: Two small groups of collectors are arguing over a small pile of corpses piled up in a handcart. Each claims the prize is theirs and says the other group is attempting to steal it. If they do nothing, the argument eventually comes to blows (see encounter 2).
2) Brawl: A fistfight begins. There are 2d6 level 1 commoners (5hp each) involved. PCs who make a Wisdom check at DC 15 will detect the faint smell of incense. Roll on the table below to see exactly who’s involved:
1.Residents versus new immigrants (see Appendix)
2.Bubbers from the Scold’s Bridle
3.Funerary Guildsmen versus Day Labourer’s Guild
4.Beggars
5.Residents
6.Rival Collectors
3) Bubbed-up Client: The PCs notice one of the local jinkskirts (a girl named Glory) having trouble with a drunken ‘client’ in an alleyway. He’s swaying and staggering as he growls and snarls at her, waving a half-empty ceramic bottle. A successful Sense Motive check indicates that he might well get violent.
If the PCs save Glory, she will warm to them and regale them with tales of her encounter with Madrigore (see A TALE OF BLOOD AND GOLD), and become rather attached to any heroic-looking PCs (male or female). If the PCs do not interfere, the bubber will briefly assault Glory with fist and bottle, leaving her lying stunned on the ground.
4) Dance of the Joculators: The party run into the three Xaosetic jesters (see DANCE OF THE JOCULATORS, above). Roll 1d4 to determine exactly what the party encounters:
1: The aftermath of a prank.
2: A prank in progress.
3: Joculators capering about on ‘happiness patrol.’
4: Joculators decide to prank the PCs.
5) Demonic Visitors: Panic spreads throughout the district, as news reaches it that Rash the Rutterkin and the Proud Pariahs are coming to kill the PCs and make Wailer’s Square part of their territory. Shops are shut, windows are shuttered, and berks flee the streets. If the PCs are brave enough to stand and await the fiend gang however, nothing happens.
6) Grimjaw the Githzerai: The PCs see Grimjaw the Githzerai strolling warily around the district. If approached, he will be terse and unhelpful, but insist that he has every right to be here. He’ll defend himself if attacked, but isn’t otherwise looking for trouble (see DANCE OF THE JOCULATORS for more information).
7) Guild Trouble: The PCs come across an altercation between Jaime (location 7) and some thugs from the Day Labourers’ Guild. The bravos are armed with cudgels and knives. At the moment they’re sparring with just words, but Jamie’s expressive cursing is riling them more and more.
Funeral: A long procession of black-robed priests baring great candles, silver censors, and bronze gongs makes its way down Shuffle Street, accompanied by professional wailers who scream, thrash, and pray loudly for the soul of the deceased. Traffic comes to a virtual halt as they make their way slowly to the Mortuary (if the DM wishes, the funeral might prove too tempting a target for the Joculators, who attempt to disrupt it).
9) Pickpocket: The PCs are targeted by a trio of professional pickpockets, who try and dip a PC’s purse. They work as a team: one man distracting the PC(s), one lifting the purse, and another receiving it If detected, they scatter.
10) Procession: A solemn procession of priests wends its way through the Grey District, then up Shuffle Street and to the Mortuary. Trouble erupts when the priests (all primers) are told that the portal they were expecting to use no longer exists!
Heated arguments ensure, with a 50% chance that the priests foolishly try to force their way into th
Since at that point I'll be the one creating the PDF I can provide the cross linking by hand when it's put together.
Armoury99,
The adventure is excellent -really, really great stuff!
I'll probably reply later and post a heap of compliments and specific praises to the module proposal, but in the meantime -the post seems to end mid-sentence. Did it cut off due to charater-length limits? Or will you just finish the rest later. Just wanted to know.
I think this would be easy to run as either a 1st level of 3rd ECL level module -with very little changes.
One last question -this seems to all be one stand alone adventure (rather than a 3-part adventure arc) -is this correct? (which is fine if it is).
But once again -excellent work!