Arabian Adventures; Adventure Help!

[TheBrassDuke]

So we've started up a new adventure, set in an area predominantly based off ancient Arabia, Greece, Egypt and Rome--with a more evolved Britain-like faction "to the west". We began at the port city Katashka, bordering on a harsh and unforgiving desert, and my players were tasked with infiltrating a nobleman's home*.

The party consists of:

- Human Rogue 1

- (Seelie) Elf Paladin of Freedom 1

- Human Bard 1

- Halfling Barbarian 1

- Aventi Scout 1

The Aventi joined our group at the behest of the Blackwheel Company (from Eberron: City of Stormreach, refluffed for this world--serves similar purpose, but also reminiscent of East India Trading Co. from PotC), initially to guide the party on a ship through Sahaguin territory; she would negotiate safe passage.

The Paladin hails from the Court of Ecco (one of my Archfey/Fey Princes), deep beneath a lake somewhere out in the desert, and adventures in search of his missing patron; Ecco, along with two other Princes, has mysteriously disappeared and is causing chaos within what remains of Elven lands (great decline after one kingdom pulled down a moon), and he was one of five dispatched to retrieve her. His search led him to Katashka, and ultimately, chartering passage on this ship to the city across the bay.

The Bard hasn't given me a full backstory just yet, but she has said many times her character is basically a Gerudo (LoZ), in nearly every aspect. We've agreed for now she was blackmailed by the Company for [something], but I'm not sure what right now. I need her to tell me more about her character... Anyway, she's on the ship now, too.

The Halfling was taken as leverage by the Company, as they've expanded their Trading to the land, but are unable to pass through Barbarian/Tribal lands without their consent; the Empire believes they have been given permission, when in reality the tribes are afraid the Company will start a war they [Tribes] cannot win. He's been on for a few months, and been given tasks by the Company. They feed him and don't treat him like a prisoner, so he's rather content.

The Rogue was hired by the Company, specifically for their first mission, and like the Bard, has no real backstory yet. He was a wizard, then he wanted to be a Mindflayer, and then a Bard--I'm just glad he finally settled with something.

As payment for his passage, the Paladin was hired on to this mission with the others, and while he normally disagrees with breaking and entering, the nobleman has been accused of murder, and is said to keep slaves. So he's not happy.

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The adventure essentially follows this idea: https://youtu.be/TkFN8v60Rng

They enter the nobleman's home, get into his vault, and become the victims of a genie lamp. Like in the video, the players wrestle through the challenge of breaking the seals, and finally the genie makes himself known, and, thankful, offers them each a wish for releasing him.

I didn't want to railroad my players, and I thought it would be impossible to get any of them to make that "neither directly nor indirectly may you ever harm another mortal/s", etc...but one of them did! Because they knew genies were ****s, and their favorite method of defeating one is to BS them right back.

😏 But genies are petty, and do not like being outsmarted.

The mighty being does leave in a huff at the end, but little do my players know that this genie is not done with them. I expect him to be a recurring villain throughout the game, although mostly indirectly. Heh...he's not allowed to harm them, because they are mortal. And so he's going to help them, behind the curtain, to some degree throughout their career.

As they level up and adventure, doing this or that, this comically evil villain will be working in the background to make them immortal; I expect them to have unknowingly foiled his plans several times, while enraging the genie. Over time, I think he'll eventually succeed, and I plan for him to make some grand entrance, monologue for a bit, and then attack, as the players try to figure out how he's doing it when they expressly forbade it. It'll be later levels, after they've probably forgotten about the genie. I know I'll have at least two "...OH..!"s at some point.

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Can you help me with some ideas to throw at the party that this genie could be behind?

Their adventure will take them out into open water, across vast, scorching deserts, through mysterious, humid jungles and beyond...so there is no shortage of location ideas.

[Gildedragon]

A) "another mortal" kinda exempts the party. They are not "another" mortal.
Genie is perfectly capable of attacking them.
B) what was the motivation for the genie to attack them in the first place? Was it to get them to free him? Cause if not: why the gratitude wishes?
C) Who made the wish in question

Simple revenge: an insidious cursed item for whoever made the wish. Works fine when person is in service to others, suuucks when in service to oneself, and lowers the person's saves.
More convoluted revenge: genie aids someone else... though the aid can't harm other mortals... so not very useful in securing power.

[TheBrassDuke]

You gotta watch the video to really see what I'm talking about, but basically the genie was freed; he is evil, and informed the group of all the mean and nasty evil crap he was gonna do, since genies tend to monologue rather often. And instead of killing them right after they freed him, he felt beholden to reward them for it, and so he offered wishes. His intention never was to kill them, until of course they made that one wish. Spiteful genie is spiteful.

And "another mortal" wasn't exactly what was said, just a jist.

Oh, and strangely enough it was the Rogue, the PC with the highest intelligence.

[Gildedragon]

And "another mortal" wasn't exactly what was said, just a jist.
Gotta have the precise wording
>:3
Wish hacking needs to get to the nitty gritty...

[TheBrassDuke]

Gotta have the precise wording
>:3
Wish hacking needs to get to the nitty gritty...

lol I don't remember what it was specifically, I'll see if I can find out.

[thorr-kan]

Al-Qadim's (2ED setting) Secrets of the Lamp boxed set or A Dozen & One Adventures boxed set are full up on genie lore.

[weckar]

exact wording certainly matters, but what does it really mean to "indirectly harm"? Can he harm through inaction?

[TheBrassDuke]

Al-Qadim's (2ED setting) Secrets of the Lamp boxed set or A Dozen & One Adventures boxed set are full up on genie lore.

I know, and I've already Perused most of the free Al-Qadim stuff I could find. Heck, I even bought the Endless Sands: Arabian Adventures D20 book, just for some more ideas.


exact wording certainly matters, but what does it really mean to "indirectly harm"? Can he harm through inaction?

Okay, so basically he can't have hirelings or minions kill mortals for him, he can't start an avalanche here (for some reason) that "just so happens" to bury an entire city alive.

I'm worried about asking the Rogue exactly what the wish was, because then he might wonder why...I don't want them to even begin suspecting this genie might come back for them.

And to be honest, I'm going by the spirit of that wish, for the most part. I kind of liked the idea of this genie being a real jerk. He's not going to directly, nor indirectly harm them or any other mortals. This is why he's gonna plot in secret to help them on a path to immortality, which will be hilarious.

[weckar]

In generic Arabian folklore, the soul is immortal. So he's free to go after those, either while they are alive or after their death.

[JustIgnoreMe]

Gotta have the precise wording
>:3
Wish hacking needs to get to the nitty gritty...

You only need the precise wording if you want to be wish-lawyery about it. It's perfectly fine to have the wish work as the wisher intended, rather than as the granter twists it (yes, wish-twisting is fun, and a traditional part of genie lore, but it can also be petty and spiteful, which is fine for an NPC to be, but the dividing line between NPC and GM is a fine one). Who knows, perhaps the genie had previously been cursed to follow the spirit of the wishes, not the letter of the wording?

If the genie can't indirectly harm any mortal, that would include manipulating people to attack the PCs. So make good use of non-mortal creatures: elementals, summoned demons, archons, constructs, maybe even animals if the wording was loose enough. Can oozes ever die of old age? If not, then they're not "mortal".

Cursed objects are a good idea: making a whole bunch of cursed objects and hiding them in a treasure vault that's warded and trapped is called "being a responsible owner of dangerous magical items": it's not the genie's fault if, say, a party of adventurers hears about the legendary treasure and deliberately breaks in to steal what turns out to be dangerous artefacts. That's not directly or indirectly harming them: they're doing that themselves. If they hadn't meddled, no-one would have got hurt.

In fact, you can get quite a lot of mileage out of the "you're harming yourself" argument. You need to decide what constitutes indirect harm. Making a place dangerous might be indirect harm, if it's somewhere people are going to go (which is why you put wardings that forbid entry around the location, with the dangerous traps on the inside). But what about making a dangerous place look safe? Is an illusion of a rug over a deep pit "causing indirect harm"? Maybe.

What about an illusion of an oasis in the desert when they are low on water (are they harmed because they've wasted time and effort on something not real?).

What about an illusion of a dragon (or other deadly creature) sitting in a real oasis... who's harmed by that? It dissuades them from entering the oasis, but there's no harm that could come to them if they went in. They might waste scrolls, spell slots and potions getting ready to fight an imaginary dragon, but that's too remote to be indirect harm, surely.

[TheBrassDuke]

In generic Arabian folklore, the soul is immortal. So he's free to go after those, either while they are alive or after their death.

Hmm, I think the genie generally assumes he meant "mortals", the way it's intended. Really, I just want to play the genie this way, a very spiteful jerk who's gonna make them immortal somehow, and then attack them once they least suspect it. This could be several levels down the road. They met this guy at lv 1. So who knows when this genie may come after them? First he's gotta help them. He may grow to like them, as some Djinn and Marids love their slaves.

Of course that won't stop him from at least confronting and hurting them down the road.

It should lead to some fun encounters, though. I'm just looking for some hijinks this genie could put them through, without hurting them or any other mortal creatures, but instead helping them, to fulfill his goal of immortalizing them.

Hell, they could even be abstractly immortalized later on, if they continually foil his plans/their shot at immortality, by means of a Bardic legend, or some nonsense like that. Not sure yet.

[weckar]

The problem with them being immortalized is that he literally CANNOT kill them, as it would effectively, literally, make them not-immortal.

[TheBrassDuke]

Immortality only implies that you can no longer die of old age, naturally; however, an immortal may be killed. You're immortal, not invincible/impervious to harm.

Some interesting little thing I read about the Genies in Eberron, which led me to my specific genie's feelings on the subject, and why he thinks this may be a perfect revenge:


...And yet they are still immortals, as they do not die of old age...
[Snip]
As immortal beings, genies do not view death as an inevitability, but as a terrible crime or punishment. As their pride finds it hard to accept that a genie's end could be the result of a random accident or dumb luck, this means that when a genie dies it's because someone made it happen. It is always a direct action, something that someone did to the genie.

Any immortal's light can be snuffed out, through direct or indirect action. They just won't die naturally.

[weckar]

I suppose immortal is a relative term. I was thinking gods/highlander :P

[Telonius]

The players walk into a Lawful town, and are promptly arrested. The genie had been attacked by bandits. Since the players had deprived him of any means of self-defense, he was beaten and robbed. Twirling his mustache all the way, he complained to the local Sultan, and demanded justice from the wicked adventurers who had left him defenseless. He hasn't caused harm, only justice for himself and atonement (therefore actually doing a good deed) from the players.

[TheBrassDuke]

The players walk into a Lawful town, and are promptly arrested. The genie had been attacked by bandits. Since the players had deprived him of any means of self-defense, he was beaten and robbed. Twirling his mustache all the way, he complained to the local Sultan, and demanded justice from the wicked adventurers who had left him defenseless. He hasn't caused harm, only justice for himself and atonement (therefore actually doing a good deed) from the players.

LOL that is awesome. XD

I can actually see him trying out these sorts of things, before actually settling on the "make them immortal then" plan. That's great, Telonius. 😂

Just gotta make sure they don't find out he's the genie...I kind of want them to forget about their level one encounter; right now they think the genie left sulking, and have no idea the guy will be stalking them and plotting from behind the scenes.

[TheBrassDuke]

So for one, having them led to the Gates of Dawn at some point might be interesting. Have the satyr guardian mention they can become immortal in passing, or whatever. Or imply it in his mysterious music. That's just one adventure idea.

[Gildedragon]

the genie could also try and trap them in a sort of Lotus-Eater place...
They stop at a seemingly ordinary caravansari, most delightful and pleasurable, but it is a sort of hotel california deal or a rip-van-winkle sorta place (either a null-time or fast time plane/demiplane)
The hotel california sort of space could be gotten by an alliance with a mirage mullah or a rakshasa.

[TheBrassDuke]

I do have plans for Rakshasas in the campaign, and one of my players is actually on one of their bad lists. So that could help. The genie will have little effort screwing with the PCs.