PDA

View Full Version : Campaign Help/Maybe Diary



BRC
2008-08-17, 10:17 PM
Alright, so, I'm going to DM the next campaign my group plays, I don't think any of them are on this forum, but to be safe, If you live in st louis, are of high school age, and have just done an Epic-level evil campaign, then theres a chance your in my group and therefore shouldn't read this thread.


Anyway, Iv'e GM'd other games, but I've never DM'd before, so I figured I'd post my ideas here, any maybe see what other people suggest, then maybe do a campaign diary type of thing.

Anyway, in our latest campaign (Epic level evil) Weve pretty much taken down every major good power and destroyed all the big temples to good deities. This next campaign takes place in the same setting, but after a lengthy "age of Conflict" that the evil campaign was the beggining of. All you need to know is that, by the end, all the forces of good were united behind one formerly minor diety that I made up, Yagora, Godess of the rising sun and good overcoming evil. At some point, an inquisition showed up and it pretty much stuck around, the world is mostly small kingdoms and city states technically independant but heavily influenced by the church. It is known that there were other good gods, but the Inquisition removed all details about them, including their names, from the histories, and did the same with the evil gods, though they replaced all their names with the nonsense word "Kayorak". The age of conflict ended awhile ago, the PC's are members of the Inquisition who are sent to the city-state of Inferno Bay. Oh, and the tech level is pretty much early-industrial revolution.


Alright, That's all you really need to know, here comes the Ridiculously long backstory stuff I typed up, spoilered for your Sanity.


World History

In ages past, there were many gods. Pantheons of both Good and Evil. However, Names and details of them have been long forgotten. The Yagorian Inquisition replaced all mentions of evil gods with the nonsense word “Kayorak”, and the names and details of all but one of the good gods were replaced, so as not to sway people from following Yagora. However, that time has become shrouded in mystery, known only as the Age of Conflict. Nobody knows how it started, but it was a period when the forces of good and evil clashed. These clashes took the form of everything from massive armies clashing on the field of battle, to bands of adventurers in dungeons.
Before long however, evil began winning. One by one the great temples fell, and the servants of the evil gods grew fat off the spoils of conquest. It was because of this that they were totally unprepared for the arrival of Caius Herodus. Herodus was a cleric of the minor diety Yagora, goddess of the rising sun, of good triumphing over evil. Herodus rallied the followers of the defeated deities under the standard of Yagora, and began winning great victories. Worship of Yagora swelled due to his actions, and for the first time in recent memory Evil was not just being held off, but pushed back. Today, Caius Herodus is known as Herodus the first prophet.
Years after Herodus’s death, the struggle still continued when a new and influential figure emerged, a Yagorian cleric named Amile Vigrati. Most of the clerics followed the teachings and beliefs of Herodus to the letter, and fought undead hordes and demonic armies with glorious steel and unyielding light. Vigrati however had a different method, she and her followers used subterfuge, summoning, and forbidden magic in order to fight the forces of evil. Though the Herodians condemned them as mad, they could not condemn the victories they won. They turned Evil’s own methods against itself, the most potent example of which was at the siege of the Argat Necropolis, where Vigrati and her followers infiltrated the stronghold of a powerful necromancer disguised as death cultists, then having researched necromancy themselves managed to sever the tie between the necromancer and his forces, then turn the undead against one another. Though some extreme Herodians burned Vigrati on top of all the copies of her book that they could find, as punishment for having enough knowledge of necromancy to use such a tactic, she went down in history as a great hero, and the second prophet of Yagora.
Many years later, as the last bastions of evil were under siege, a third prophet emerged. This one preached caring, healing and compassion. He and his followers would descend en-masse on areas devastated by war in order to rebuild them. His name was Arthur Shulpe, and he decided that evil grew from anger and resentment. By removing the anger and resentment through good deeds, you could stop it from beginning. He claimed he could defeat ten times the evil with a bowl of food, then anybody could with a holy sword. He was eventually assassinated, but he went down in history as the third prophet.
During the war, a counterintelligence network appeared amongst Yagora’s followers. It sought to find those that worshiped the dark gods and prevent them from doing any harm. When the last bastion of evil fell, this organization, and its unquestionable power, remained. It currently resides in the holy Doctrinopolis of Yagora, in a complex known as “The Silent citadel”, and it’s agents continue to fight the age of conflict from the shadows. They hunt down everything from demonic cults to criminal cartels, anything that threatens the peace. Those agents are members of the Most Holy Inquisition of Yagora, and they know where you live…
Religion Overview

Yagora: Good god, clerics referred to as “Priests”
The Spirits: A collection of neutral beings that maintain the world, spirits can represent locations, elements, animals ect, clerics are referred to as “Shamans”
Kayorak: Evil God, clerics referred to as “Blasphemers” and “Heretics”.
Gods, in this world, are kind of fuzzy on directions, they neglect to write their will in the sky with fiery letters, and they don’t appear in the dreams of fifty people simultaneously, giving a clear message of what must be done. Therefore, though all Yagorian worshippers are united in their goal of battling evil and, preventing another Age of Conflict, their beliefs and methods vary. Most Clerics are members of one of three main cults, each of which follows the teachings of a different prophet, Shulpe, Herodus, or Vigrati. Shulpists
Founded after the Age of Conflict by the prophet Shulpe, the Shulpists believe that the best way to prevent another age of conflict is to cut evil off at it’s source. Unhappiness and bitterness lead to evil, and therefore the best way to fight evil is through kindness and compassion. By helping those in trouble, you prevent them from one day turning to evil.
Domains: Good, Healing, Protection.
The Herodians
The followers of Herodus believe that the best way to prevent another Age of Conflict is to have the discipline and strength necessary to fight Evil when it arises. They believe in strict laws and harsh punishments, and value martial strength. One of the oldest sects that dates back to the earliest days of the Age of Conflict, they still remain fairly popular.
Domains: War, Strength, Law.
The Vigratians.
Near the end of the Age of Conflict, the prophet Vigrati wrote a book called “ Fire with Fire”. In this book she argued that evil didn’t follow rules, and so Good should not restrain itself while battling Evil. The Vigratian’s tend to be vigilantes in their hunting down of evil, believing that the Shulpist’s to be foolish idealists, and the Herodians to be inflexible fools. They follow the principle of locating evil by any means necessary, and then destroying it in the most permanent manner possible. They also discourage regulation, believing that flexibility and adaption are necessary weapons in the war against evil.
Domains: Chaos, Trickery, Destruction.


Inferno Bay

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/bloddyredcommie/InfernoBay-1.png
City History

The Legend of the Inferno Spear
Eons Ago, a spear was crafted in the elemental plane of fire. It was a weapon of unbelievable power, merely being near it was enough to kill mortal men without significant protection against it’s heat. Throughout time, it had many wielders, some good, some evil, but all of which possessed immunity to the weapon’s effects. It burned armies and leveled cities during the Age of Conflict, and it was feared by all who saw it used in battle. During the Age of Conflict, a fire giant named Brakard came into possession of the Spear, and used it to raise a vast army known as the Blood Horde which swept across the continent of Il-hatar, crushing all those before them, as even those who could match the Blood Horde’s armies fell before Brakard and the spear. Of the many warring powers during the Age of Conflict, the Blood Horde was the most feared. However, in the 323rd year of the Age of Conflict, The surviving Knights from the Order of Herodus, whose fortress had been taken by the blood horde years before, joined with the archmage Philimus and his pupils with the intent of destroying Brakard once and for all. They met in a bay where The Blood Horde had a training camp, the knights performing a seemingly suicidal charge intent on taking a certain hill. However, this charge allowed Philimus and his apprentices to get within range of Brakard himself and cast an epic spell that pierced Brakard’s defenses and slew him. With their leader dead the Blood Horde splintered and the Knights seized Brakard’s treasury, swollen with the spoils of conquest. They used this money and Philmus’s magic to construct a great stone pyramid above the spot where the Brakard had fallen, his corpse still clutching the spear, and an aqueduct to bring water from the nearby mountains, constantly drenching the Spear and keeping it’s unbelievable heat in check. The Knights also built a fortress, and Philimus raised an island near the pyramid in order to protect it. Due to the nature of the artifact resting there, the bay was soon named Inferno Bay. Before long the remnants of the blood horde began raiding nearbye villages, causing people from all over the continent to flee to Inferno Bay, to live under the twin protections of the Order and the Archmage. And thus a city was born.

Points of Intrest and City Districts

Points of Interest in Inferno Bay
The Steaming Pyramid: This mammoth step pyramid is built over the corpse of the fire giant Brakard, and more importantly the Inferno Spear. The top has a grid of holes leading to the inner chamber that water from the aqueduct falls through, it absorbs the heat of the spear by turning to steam, which escapes through a series of vents that open on the lower steps of the pyramid. There is also a series of powerful magical wards positioned throughout the pyramid that will attack anything that attempts to get to the spear through the tiny holes or the vents will be met with extreme prejudice. Mills have been built up onto the lower steps where they use the steam from the vents to power the rest of the mill. The pyramid is loud and the area around it is humid due to all the steam. The clouds of steam coming out of it give the pyramid it’s name and can be seen from miles around.
The Aqueduct: Bringing in water from the nearby mountains, the Aqueduct serves three purposes. First of all, it provides water to the pyramid, keeping it cool from the Spear’s heat. Secondly, as it falls into the city it turns a giant waterwheel that powers the great lift, and finally it provides the city with fresh water.
The Great Lift: The main way up the cliff, the Great Lift is powered by the and is essentially a mammoth elevator, it takes about fifteen minutes to go up or down the mountain.
The Glory Pit: Once The Glory Pit was where the blood horde trained it’s elite soliders with lethal tests. It has magical properties, if specially prepared it can create magical effects and modify the terrain inside itself, this is controlled from a tower on one side. Currently it serves as a gladiatorial areana, Seats, stalls, and barracks have been added, as has a vast underground complex to house various beasts, equipment, and gladiators. It is prime entertainment, featuring everything from two copper tickets for standing room seats, to expensive box seats used by the wealthy residents of the city.
The City Districts
Koboldtown: After the Age of Conflict what were referred to as Monstrous Humanoids were forced to join society. To this day they are still highly disapproved of and often live in their own neighborhoods. Koboldtown is one such neighborhood. Humans, dwarves, and halflings of the rougher sort are not unusual there, but orcs, kobolds and goblinoids make up the main occupants. It is a rough part of town, with it's legitimate workers often workingin the mines, or carrying crates at the docks. It hosts a famous, almost constant Bazaar where items of all degrees of legality can be purchased and vendors will scratch a few rune-looking symbols into anything and assign great magical properties to it.
Red Roof: Unlike the wilder Koboldtown, the district known as Red Roof is fairly law abiding. It’s residents are mostly human and tend to work either in the shipyards or up in the mills, mainly as unskilled laborers.
The Lift District: This district is positioned at the base of the great elevator which provides access to the top of the cliffs, and therefore all those who work in the mines or those who visit the city from the land must pass through it. Therefore, the district, especially along primary boulevard, hosts cafes, restaurants, shops and the like. The cities residents are usually middle class.
The Slope: This district is home to the cities craftsmen. Unlike the hustle and bustle of cheap goods sold in the Lift district, the slope is where the residents of Inferno Bay go for well made goods. Carpenters, Tailors, Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, potters and the like live and work here.. It is home to a few guild halls for the above proffesions.
The Hammer: named for the district’s shape, the hammer is part of the “Golden Trio” of districts. It is where the upper and upper middle class residents work and shop. It’s home to banks, offices, and high class services. It also hosts the Hall of Ledgers, a large circular building that hosts the merchant company offices and the majority of Inferno Bay’s economic activities, as clerks exchange slips of paper representing shiploads of goods and materials.
Bankertown: Bankertown is the home to the upper and upper middle classes. Usually the well paid professionals who work for the rich merchant companies or provide services and goods for them. It is also the home to the famous Degenard Opera House.
The Gates: The home of the city’s ridiculously wealthy. Noble families and people who own merchant companies and banks. They all live within gated compounds patrolled by hired guards and showing off their wealth to each other. Each lives within a bubble of wealth, attended to by an army of servants.
The Fort: Inferno Bay started as a fortress, the stronghold of the noble Order of Herodus. The order is gone, but the fort stands and currently hosts the city’s government. The mayor’s office and the city council are both housed here, as is the police headquarters, the city regiment, the courthouse, the prison and the . Acivic bureaucracy.
The Temple District: This district houses the great temple to Yagora, as well as the Festival Square. It’s residents are mainly middle class people who are comfortably well off. As would be expected, the church holds political power here. This district also hosts the city’s inquisition office.
The Docks: The Docks district is exactly what it sounds like. The district is home to Shipyards, warehouses, taverns and boarding houses for sailors. It also has a marketplace where sailors come to earn a coin or two selling things they picked up in far away lands and residents of the city come to earn a coin selling things to the sailors, and the each other. It’s similar to the Koboldtown marketplace, but it tends to be a good deal more respectable. Much of the docks is under the control of House Denald
The Park: Memorial Park is one of the main tourist attractions in Inferno Bay. Despite being so near the the Pyramid, it is rather peaceful. Statues show various scenes from the battle that occurred there during the Age of Conflict. The most famous of which are the Hero’s Charge, a hundred stone knights charging across the field. The other famous one is the Archmages Hill, where a statues show Philimus, his three apprentices, and twelve mages whose identities have been lost to history casting the epic spell that slew Brakard. Tours are available, as are souvenirs.
The Mills: After the Age of Conflict, the Dwarves harnessed the power of Steam, and so it was practically inevitable that the Steaming Pyramid would get used. Mills built partway onto the lower steps of the pyramid in order to capture the steam escaping from it’s vents then radiate out from it. Inside, mass produced goods are created and raw materials are processed. This is where much of the city’s unskilled labor works, toiling away in the humidity created by the Pyramid. Many of the mills are owned by House Tarpin.
The Pits: The Cliffs above Inferno Bay are rich in minerals, and therefore mining is a major industry. Monstrous Humanoids, prized for their strength and darkvision, often work in these mines. The land above the mines is used for farming. Much of this land is owned by House Rockridge.

The Government and Nobility


Government: Inferno Bay is ruled by a city council and a mayor, all of which are technically democratically elected. However, bribery, graft, and political machines are so rampant that you would be hard-pressed to call it a Democracy. The City Council also commands the police force.

The Nobility and Military of Inferno Bay.
When the Order of Herodus disbanded, it’s commanders took a large share of the treasury that had been accumulated during the Age of Conflict. The children of these commanders became the Nobility for the city-state of Inferno Bay, most of them invested their fortunes. Also, because they are descended from the knight-commanders, they are required to maintain the city military. There are four major noble houses, each with a strong influence in a different area of business and each with it’s own contribution to the city military. Because open warfare hardly ever occurs anymore, the various family’s military contributions are mainly used to guard that family’s holdings. There are also many minor noble houses, most of which have attatched themselves to a major house, these minor houses usually only provide a very small number of troops to the military, usually only a small company or so.

House Marche
Head of House: The Baron Jonathan Marche
Military Contribution: The Musketeers.
House Marche was one of the first noble houses to turn it’s fortune into business and is possibly the most powerful family in the city. Their power comes not from their noble title, but from their ownership of the First Merchant Bank of Inferno Bay. Though most of the house is just as social as the rest of the nobility, the Baron and his personal circle rarely leave the Marche compound in the Gates district of the city. The Baron rarely directly interferes with politics, which makes his influence all the greater when it is finally exerted. For the city military, they provide the elite Musketeers. The Musketeers use single-shot muskets, but are famous for their skills with a rapier. Their main purpose is the guard the bank itself from intrusion, something they do solidly. The Musketeers follow a strict code of honor and are considered a throwback to the Knights of Herodus. They have a rivalry with House Denald.
House Denald
Head of House: Dutchess Anna Denald.
Military Contribution: The Navy
House Denald owns the Four Winds Trading Company, which controls much of the maritime commerce that occurs in Inferno Bay. They are one of the more politically active houses, always trying to outmaneuver and take advantage of their hated rival House Marche. To the city they contribute a navy, which is mostly used to protect Four Winds ships from pirate attacks. Due to their power as merchants, they possess more friends and contacts abroad than any other Noble Family. Under the Duke Arthur Denald, and now under his daughter Anna, house Denald has allied with other noble families and groups (but notably, not House Marche) in order to found colonies elsewhere, ensuring a steady flow of goods in and out of Inferno Bay.

House Rockridge
Head of House: Duke Elim Rockridge.
Millitary Contributions: Front Line Infantry.
House Rockridge holds power through the Rockridge mining company, and the Inferno Bay Farmers Guild. They own much of the land on the cliffs above the city, operating mines under the ground and financing farms aboveground. They have a good relationship with House Tarpin, whose factories require the raw materials harvested in these places. Because much of their holdings are outside of the city proper, bandit attacks are a constant threat. To counteract this, House Rockridge finances a standing army of frontline infantry (swordsmen and pikemen) that patrol the nearby area to protect the farms, mines, and profits.
House Tarpin
Head of House: Count Thomas Tarpin.
Millitary Contributions: Riflemen
House Tarpin is the most recent of the noble houses to come to power. Almost immediately after the invention of the Steam engine, House Tarpin bought up most of the area around the Steaming Pyramid and built several all-purpose manufacturing mills. Now they turn raw materials, either imported from abroad or bought from their allies in House Rockridge, and churn it into either refined materials, which are then sold to craftsmen on the slopes, or Finished products which are exported. They control much of the city’s manufacturing capacity through the company Inferno Industries. Their current ruler, Count Thomas Tarpin, represents an oddity. He was not born a Tarpin, he wasn’t even born a human. Thomas Tarpin was a Gnome who was adopted as a child, his amazing intellect soon propelled him through the ranks of the family. When he was chosen as the successor to Count Richard Tarpin, his uncle, there was much outcry. There have been several assassination attempts against him already, presumably from disgruntled relatives who object to the adopted gnome receiving what they see as their birthright. His rule has been very profitable however, so there are few open complaints. House Tarpin provides Riflemen to the city), which are often deployed in support of House Rockridge’s infantry.

Next Up, The PC's and my campaign Ideas.

Mushroom Ninja
2008-08-17, 10:52 PM
I like it. It's clear you've put some serious thought into this campaign. :smallsmile:

Red Machine D
2008-08-17, 10:55 PM
Monotheism at the end of a sword? I see some parallels with real life here. Anything else?

BRC
2008-08-17, 11:15 PM
Alright, The PC's so far are (This Is 3.5 By the way, and starting at 4th level. Things should focus on Investigation and Subterfuge, with one good Face smashing an adventure).
Though the PC's have Inquisitorial badges, flashing them around means the Bad Guys get more information, and I start making things more difficult to account for this (assasins in the night, hideouts booby trapped and abandoned, stuff like that)
A human Bard, going for the Spymaster PRC, played by our usual DM, very savvy.
A grumpy elven gun-wielding Cleric (Zigratian for those of you who read the above stuff on religion in the setting), played by the DM's sister.
A gnomish beguiler.
A gnomish rogue/barbarian going for the avenging executioner PRC, the explination for this is that he's the result of an experiment by a Mind Flayer inquisitor that went horribly right. The Character is kind of crazy, as is the player.
A Kobold Rogue going for the combat trapsmith PRC, the Player's concept was "Tonberry Macguyver".
A Maenad Psion going for a modified version of the Pyrokineticist PRC that uses Sonic damage instead of Fire damage (Iv'e warned my players that throwing around fire in a city, even one mostly made of brick, is not a good idea).
A Human Fighter, because the city has some weapon laws (plus because the group is trying to be Subtle, and carrying around a greatsword is anything but) I'm letting him buy a pair of gloves that cast Magic Weapon on everything he picks up for as long as he's holding it, I expect him to use a +1 chair at some point.
A Rogue going for assasin, currently the character concept is Altair.

There may be more, but rarely do all of them show up for a session, so adventure ideas should be variable.

My Ideas so far,

Adventure One: The PC's just finished their training as inquisitorial field agents, and currently hold the rank of "investigator", which means their job is to check out random rumors on the off chance that it leads to somthing the inquisition cares about. They are sent to inferno bay on the request of Inquisitors Ringfounder (Dwarf Rogue) and Elfdude (Name to come later, elf wizard). Upon arriving they're told that theycan help the inquisitors wrap up their investigation into a cult of mages called the Enlightened Circle, Ringfounder and Elfdude already caught abunch of them, and the rest are getting ready to flee the city. The PC's are given a name and maybe an adress of one of the members, and via some method track him down/follow him and catch the rest of the circle before they can flee with a group of smugglers. Afterwards, Ringfounder (Who was watching the entire time, having figured it out before hand but wanting to test the newbies) thanks the PC's and gives them their actual assignment, to investigate some dissaperances in Koboldtown ( a rough district with a high population of monstrous huminoids). Which leads us to
Adventure Two: The PC's are given the name and adress of somebody named Boss Bobby Bugane, an Ogre mafia boss who works with the Inquisition. He's the one who asked Ringfounder to check out these dissaperances, but that's what Wet-behind-the-ears investigators are for. Anyway, their told that in recent months a strangly large number of people have been vanishing in Koboldtown, mostly miners on their way to work. The City Police don't care what happens in Koboldtown, and the people who own the mines are willing to just hire more workers. The odd thing is that those who are vanishing havn't been the type to get murdered in an alleyway, theyve been big tough guys who can hold their own in a fight. The PC's poke around abit and end up with a description, a heavily tatooed human male. A little more investigation reveals that he was seen going to a goblin alchemist. Squeezing the Alchemist (either by beating up his Gnoll Goons, a good intimidate check, or some bribery) They learn that the tatooed man bought a large amount of Brawl Brew, a drink that makes people very agressive (No magical effect), and that is often bought for use in the Glory Pit, the cities gladitorial areana. As it turns out, the tatooed man was a sorceror who had been using Charm Person on people to get them to follow him where they were taken to the Glory Pit, forced to drink the Brawl Brew, and then die in Historical Re-enactment Battles (Twenty 1st level monstrous commoners with clubs representing the evil guys, five skilled gladiators with magic weapons and armor representing the good guys). After thwarting him and the manager who hired him the PC's find evidence that the Sorceror was more than a simple spell-for-hire merc, clues that point them towrds a mine a ways away from the city where "The Object has been found, but guardians have been activated, we hired a specialist to retrieve the object, but we want you on hand in case there's trouble."
Adventure Three: The PC's go to the mine, and find it locked down by the millitary, nobody is alowed inside, the mine's manager has supposably called for the inquisition, but he's just buying time. The PC's get into the mine, either by showing their badges or by sneaking, wherein they find Skeletal Dinosaurs. After the Dino's have been taken care of they find a sealed chamber that was breached by the Miners. Inside the chamber is a tablet, but before they can get it a man (think The Bad from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) Rides through the wall on an Ethereal Jaunting Nightmare, grabs the tablet, and leaves the way he came. Outside a waiting wizard uses a teleport scroll and they both vanish. After the PC's submit their report, they are told that this man is a dangerous bandit who is usually seen in the Badlands area of the colonies. Their best bet for finding him is to find a former Inquisitor who was tracking him, he turned in his badge when he was told to let sombody else take over the chase.
Adventure Four: The PC's set out for the colonies, upon arriving they are told that the Former inquisitor (The Good) has been seen around the mining town of Dry Creek, and that a Wagon Train is heading there shortly. Assuming the PC's catch a ride with the wagons, the train will be attacked by Bandits, and we get an old-west style gunfight. At some point The Good will show up and help. After hearing the PC's out TG (Rifle wielding ranger) joins up with them to take down TB. If they ask, there is a bugbear gunman named El Feo whom they can hire. The PC's take down The Bad and his gang, and find out that sombody hired him to get the Tablet and hide it somewhere, it turns out he hid it in an ancient temple in the jungles to the south. Leading us to
Adventure Five: The PC's head for the Temple, which is NOT in fact booby trapped, but within they find the skeletal remains of both natives and, what is essentially, Conquistadores. Scrawled on the wall they find this
"With Greed on their Sails, Three Knights crossed the sea.
With Greed in their eyes, Three Knights slew a culture.
With Greed in their hearts, Three Knights slew each other.
With Greed in their Bones, Three Knights fight, for all eternity."
Inside the temple they find a chamber full of gold, the tablet sits near the back (The Bad threw it). In the chamber there are three skeletal knights, who are constantly fighting, but as soon as one takes down the other two he reaches down to pick up the gold and the others come back to life and begin attacking again. After the PC's bring them down they can retrieve the Tablet, if they try to take the gold, the Knights come back to life and attack again, because I am evil and love taunting my PC's with a room full of gold they can't get. Upon analysis, they find that the Tablet is part of a powerful fire spell. They return to the city.

That's all I have planned out directly, but they soon discover the group behind this is the Circle of Enlightenment, a secret order of magi. The people Ringfounder caught had been cut loose from the organization to fool the inquisition. The campaign then focuses on thwarting the Circle and it's minions as they attempt various dastardly things, all the while the true goal is revealed.

THE TRUE GOAL OF THE CIRCLE:

The Grandmaster of the Circle is Inquisitor Elfdude Himself! awhile ago he found an ancient library full of pelorian texts, and decided it was time to re-institute pelor worship. unfortunetally the Inquisition and the Church of Yagora stand in his way (Remember, nobody else even knows that Pelor Exists). He ascends to Grand Mastership of the Circle, and finds out about an epic spell that, if given a powerful enough source of fire magic, could level a city. The Tablets describe the spell, and he plans to use the Inferno Spear (Read the Very Long Backround Material) to level the Doctrinopolis of Yagora! He's meanwhile converted the local Cardinal/archbishop equivilent to pelor worship, and through him the Inferno Bay contingent of Templars and other things. Elfdudes plan is to blow up the doctrinopolis, thus destroying the headquarters of both the Church and the Inquisition, and in the resulting chaos have mister Archbishop spread the word of Pelor. He's like the operative from serenity, he knows the irony in what he's doing (killing a city in the name of the Happy Fluffy Hugs Diety), but he's doing it anyway.

As for real-world parallels, actually W40k was a big inspiration for this, but the regular DM is the one who made the world map a slightly-skewed version of europe in the first place.

One more point: In most cases I won't be using the "The guys you killed had abunch of gold lying around" system, mainly because I don't like it. In most cases treasure will come in the form of the Inquisition reading the PC's reports and increasing their budget. This means that it will be one big treasure haul every few adventures for the most part, with maybe a few magic item finds in between.



So, Thoughts, Suggjestions, Pie?

Dervag
2008-08-17, 11:19 PM
One more point: In most cases I won't be using the "The guys you killed had abunch of gold lying around" system, mainly because I don't like it. In most cases treasure will come in the form of the Inquisition reading the PC's reports and increasing their budget. This means that it will be one big treasure haul every few adventures for the most part, with maybe a few magic item finds in between.

So, Thoughts, Suggjestions, Pie?
[lemon meringue]

This system encourages the PCs to pad their budget estimates and attempt to fool the Inquisition into overestimating the opposition. That can be a good thing or a bad thing.

[/lemon meringue]

BRC
2008-08-17, 11:23 PM
[lemon meringue]

This system encourages the PCs to pad their budget estimates and attempt to fool the Inquisition into overestimating the opposition. That can be a good thing or a bad thing.

[/lemon meringue]

I'm encouraging my players to think creativly. That said, I'm also a Bastard. That might work, but then later the Inquisition (locally represented by Interrogators John Thompson and Jon Tomson) will say "Well, we checked some stuff out, and according to your reports, you should have enough money left over for use to slice this budgetary increase by abit. What, we may be the incarnation of Yagora's justice, but we arn't made of money."

Red Machine D
2008-08-17, 11:25 PM
As for real-world parallels, actually W40k was a big inspiration for this, but the regular DM is the one who made the world map a slightly-skewed version of europe in the first place.

If you think about it, 40k's whole Imperium of Man is... well, I should put it here.


DO NOT CLICK SPOILER IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT RELIGION, RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION, OR ANYTHING INVOLVING RELIGION OR THE LACK THEREOF. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
40k's Imperium of Man is what Islam would be if it had Catholicism's bureaucracy and organisation. Take a look into Islam, read the Qur'an a bit, and look into the Shari'a. It'll make sense after a while.
DO NOT CLICK SPOILER IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT RELIGION, RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION, OR ANYTHING INVOLVING RELIGION OR THE LACK THEREOF. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I can see where you got the inspiration from 40k though. It isn't too obvious, which is good. All in all, I like what I'm reading. Continue.

BRC
2008-08-17, 11:35 PM
If you think about it, 40k's whole Imperium of Man is... well, I should put it here.


DO NOT CLICK SPOILER IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT RELIGION, RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION, OR ANYTHING INVOLVING RELIGION OR THE LACK THEREOF. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
40k's Imperium of Man is what Islam would be if it had Catholicism's bureaucracy and organisation. Take a look into Islam, read the Qur'an a bit, and look into the Shari'a. It'll make sense after a while.
DO NOT CLICK SPOILER IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT RELIGION, RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION, OR ANYTHING INVOLVING RELIGION OR THE LACK THEREOF. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I can see where you got the inspiration from 40k though. It isn't too obvious, which is good. All in all, I like what I'm reading. Continue.
That may be, but it's irrelevant, I'm looking for comments, or maybe advice on the specifics of these adventures, ideas for things I could do later on, that sort of thing.

Edit: And it's not truly Monotheism, Spirit worship isn't illegal, though it's incredibly decentralized, so politically the shamans pose no threat to the Church. The occasional ambitious and charismatic shaman may need to be accused of Kayorak worship and killed, but for the most part they are left alone. Besides, their useful for preventing earthquakes and the like, appeasing the spirits so the land stays fertile, big storms don't show up, stuff like that.

Dervag
2008-08-19, 12:31 AM
You mentioned a mind flayer inquisitor... how does that work again?


If you think about it, 40k's whole Imperium of Man is... well, I should put it here...I'm not sure I agree. If they'd had that much bureaucracy, they would probably have mellowed out over time.

In real life, a bureaucracy presents a target for reformers. If they hurt enough people, someone gets annoyed and starts trying to resist. Either the bureaucracy cracks down hard enough to trigger a revolution, or it reforms on its own to preserve its power.

A network of scholar-priests doesn't present such a target, because many of the individual religious leaders have a good reputation and there's no one big target that you can point to and say: "these guys are evil and are actually corrupting the true faith!"

But if the scholar-priests develop a bureaucracy, that changes. Eventually, the bureaucracy will tick people off and have to change or die.

In Warhammer, the Imperium doesn't do either, because it is a totalitarian government held together by magic. On the inside, there's magic in the form of psychic inquisitors and super soldiers. On the outside, anyone who rebels against the Imperium is likely to fall into Chaos, at which point they become self-evidently evil and horrible to anyone with a brain. The Imperium persists precisely because the forces of Chaos are so openly malevolent and so quick to take control of dissenters. Even given how horrible the Imperium is, no sane person in the WH40k universe would prefer it to the plausible alternatives, such as all humanity getting chopped up by orks or mutated into reinforcements for the Lost and the Damned.

BRC
2008-08-19, 07:51 AM
You mentioned a mind flayer inquisitor... how does that work again?


The way I see it, the inquisition knows good help when they see it. First of all, Mind Flayers are good for infiltrating evil illithid organizations, secondly they are scary, which is good for the inquisition, thirdly they tend to be smart and make very good interrogators. So, while they are very rarely used as field agents, a decent number of them work in the Silent Citadel doing various tasks. Iv'e never liked the whole "Race equals alignment" thing, and besides, the inquisition is pretty heavily shades of grey-esque.

Mushroom Ninja
2008-08-19, 10:03 AM
The way I see it, the inquisition knows good help when they see it. First of all, Mind Flayers are good for infiltrating evil illithid organizations, secondly they are scary, which is good for the inquisition, thirdly they tend to be smart and make very good interrogators. So, while they are very rarely used as field agents, a decent number of them work in the Silent Citadel doing various tasks. Iv'e never liked the whole "Race equals alignment" thing, and besides, the inquisition is pretty heavily shades of grey-esque.

Yeah, after reading your first post, I had figured that the inquisition would be the enemies.

I like the adventures that you've posted. It looks like it will be an interesting campaign for you and your players.

BRC
2008-08-19, 11:58 AM
Yeah, after reading your first post, I had figured that the inquisition would be the enemies.

I like the adventures that you've posted. It looks like it will be an interesting campaign for you and your players.
Thanks, our players just did a Campaign where one of us would kill random people and EAT THEIR SOULS to heal himself, working with a scientifically inclined illithid is nothing.

As for Idea's I had that I need some help with.

In adventure Two, the Pc's need to find a message that serves as their next plot hook, I want a code the PC's could crack, maybe a form of riddle-speak, The sorcerer will be in the middle of decoding it when they find him, so we can give them some hints. It should say something like this

The object has been found at Rumble Creek Mine, however some guardians were activated. The area has been locked down by the local millitary, and the captain wants to call in the Inquisition, Foreman Wheelbright is stalling for time. The circle hired a specialist, we want you on standby in case there's trouble.

At some point, the PC's will get promoted and will gain the ability to call in a strike team of inquisitorial storm troopers. This will take the form of treasure, based off the Horn of Valhalla, except that it doesn't require any skills to use, it summons four 4th level fighters (or maybe warriors), and the fighters only last for two minutes (They are sent via a modified version of the Teleport Spell that only lasts a few minutes before the targets return to their original location). At what level would it be appropriate to give this to the party.

Ideas needed for the specifics of the First adventure.

BRC
2008-08-21, 07:54 PM
Bump/still looking for help planning out the first adventure. Here's the basic outline right now:

The Enemies for this adventure will be

Andre Wheelman: Bookseller, Wiz 2
Darton Mord: Criminal Spell-for-hire, Wiz 2
“Rummy”: Smuggler captain, Rouge 1/fighter 1.
Six smugglers (Warrior 1).
Anybody else the PC's antagonize during the course of their investigations.
The goal is to capture or kill the two wizards. The PC’s are given Wheelman’s address, pictures of both Wheelman and Mord, and the information that the City Guard has a file on Mord that may prove useful (His criminal record specifically). If they investigate Wheelman's house they will find that a tide chart and a letter of introduction to a bookseller in a foreign city (Wheelman forgot to bring it), as well as other evidence to suggest he is going somewhere overseas ( I could use some ideas here). If they go to the Guard and get Mord’s record through some method (Diplomacy, bluffs, stealth, bribery, or whatever they can devise) , they will find a list of known associates including Rummy. Hopefully the Players will put two and two together , and go ask about “Rummy”, a few checks around the dockyards will find where his ship, the Rum Raisin, is docked.

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-21, 07:59 PM
Honestly, it looks pretty good to me; all that's missing are PCs messing things up. What else are you looking for?

BRC
2008-08-21, 08:19 PM
Honestly, it looks pretty good to me; all that's missing are PCs messing things up. What else are you looking for?
I dunno, suggestions on how to do things or treat certain characters, alternate clue paths that I should set up for the PC's to follow, stuff like that. This will be my first time DMing so any advice would be useful.

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-21, 08:40 PM
Alright, a bit of generic advice then :smallbiggrin:

make sure to distinguish important characters. If any of these characters (perhaps not baddies, but helpful/harmful NPCs, and so on) are ever going to be seen again, give a detail or two about them, a great ugly mole on their forehead or a lithping thpeech. This will make it much easier for your players to remember it.

It never hurts to throw some red herrings designed for overzealous PCs in their path-- the law of "if the DM describes it, it's probably important" is pretty universal, so when you're describing Wheelman's house, maybe they find something else totally out of place there: a book on Aboleths or the like. It may scare the characters and if your group is like mine, at least one of the actual players will immediately jump to the conclusion that they're going to have to fight an aboleth! They will then freak out and have the others do the same, and all get prepared for a fun aboleth adventure. Just be prepared for strange requests from the PCs, and have fun with your answers. One thing I've learned is never to feel bad about allowing PCs to wander far abroad from your original plans: it'll happen anyway; you can't really stop it without using the DM PlotStick®, and best of all, it can lead to a lot of very fun possibilities without you having to do any actual work. In my experience, maybe 40% of the side-quests I've DMed have actually been PC-generated. There's no way you can prepare for that sort of thing, so you just have to learn how to do it as you get more comfortable.

BRC
2008-08-22, 08:09 AM
Alright, a bit of generic advice then :smallbiggrin:

make sure to distinguish important characters. If any of these characters (perhaps not baddies, but helpful/harmful NPCs, and so on) are ever going to be seen again, give a detail or two about them, a great ugly mole on their forehead or a lithping thpeech. This will make it much easier for your players to remember it.

It never hurts to throw some red herrings designed for overzealous PCs in their path-- the law of "if the DM describes it, it's probably important" is pretty universal, so when you're describing Wheelman's house, maybe they find something else totally out of place there: a book on Aboleths or the like. It may scare the characters and if your group is like mine, at least one of the actual players will immediately jump to the conclusion that they're going to have to fight an aboleth! They will then freak out and have the others do the same, and all get prepared for a fun aboleth adventure. Just be prepared for strange requests from the PCs, and have fun with your answers. One thing I've learned is never to feel bad about allowing PCs to wander far abroad from your original plans: it'll happen anyway; you can't really stop it without using the DM PlotStick®, and best of all, it can lead to a lot of very fun possibilities without you having to do any actual work. In my experience, maybe 40% of the side-quests I've DMed have actually been PC-generated. There's no way you can prepare for that sort of thing, so you just have to learn how to do it as you get more comfortable.

Thanks. Lessee, the two inquisitors will be repeat characters, though they probably won't meet any other repeats during this adventure unless they manage to piss off the guard and get arrested, in which case Detective Zizuthros (one of the Inquisition's people inside the city guard) needs to show up and bail them out, or if they go to the inquisitorial offices for help they may run into Tompson and Thompson.

I'll try to come up with a sizeable list of various acomplices for the criminal record to show, and some other stuff in Wheelmans house. The idea will be that hopefully they will put Evidence of Overseas journey + desire to escape + knowing a smuggler together.

BRC
2008-08-23, 06:36 PM
So, Today the last campaign ended. I didn't know I was expected to START the next one today, so I improvised the part we had. So far, the PC's present
The Bard
The Cleric
The Gun Wielding Urban Ranger (was originally a fighter)
The Beguiler
The Assassin

The arrived in the city, and recived there orders. They infiltrated the house and found the clues there, and they bribed the deskman at the city guard office, this is where we stopped. so over the next week I'm going to prep the rest of this adventure and the next one.

Edit: While infiltrating the house, the assasin rolled a Natural one on his attack roll to get the grappling hook on the gutter, it hit him on the head. Then once inside he rolled a natural one on his move silently check, so I ruled that he slipped while heading into the house and bumped his head on the windowsill, good thing there was nobody in the house.

BRC
2008-08-26, 10:20 PM
Bump, stilll need help coming up with a crackable code for this message (Can be paraphrased):

The object has been found at Rumble Creek Mine, however some guardians were activated. The area has been locked down by the local millitary, and the captain wants to call in the Inquisition, Foreman Wheelbright is stalling for time. The circle hired a specialist, we want you on standby in case there's trouble.

Somthing tough enough that the players will feel good having cracked it, but easy enough for them to crack..

playswithfire
2008-08-27, 12:02 AM
Bump, stilll need help coming up with a crackable code for this message (Can be paraphrased):

The object has been found at Rumble Creek Mine, however some guardians were activated. The area has been locked down by the local millitary, and the captain wants to call in the Inquisition, Foreman Wheelbright is stalling for time. The circle hired a specialist, we want you on standby in case there's trouble.

Somthing tough enough that the players will feel good having cracked it, but easy enough for them to crack..

My initial instinct is to suggest a vigenere cipher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher)*, but that's a pain to crack without some really good clues**. Basically the message would be something like.

*in this case, the name of the addressee, Abadon, is the key
** e.g. There's no one named Abadon in the city, the lines break after 36 characters, which someone might notice is 6 (the length of the word Abadon) squared
Abadon -
Ujf sqxfeu lpg cgfr ucvpe ei Fvocpt Qsgfo Bw-
og, islswgs wdaf ivegrjcow lssg bgiwwcuis. H-
ig bvto ict ftso npgzse fpac pz vii acdcm qxz-
mkuegm, bpe xws dcqxpwo ybrig uq deaz jp ult Wos-
vmhwukpr, Ucsgnec Kigfpqfjiix xg tvbpawoi
gsg hjof. Xws dksgas iksis o trfgxomktx, ls xc-
ox ncv qo wioofcc xb dcti ivftf'w ifpwcpt.

I'll try to think of something more reasonable

BRC
2008-08-27, 07:11 AM
My initial instinct is to suggest a vigenere cipher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher)*, but that's a pain to crack without some really good clues**. Basically the message would be something like.

*in this case, the name of the addressee, Abadon, is the key
** e.g. There's no one named Abadon in the city, the lines break after 36 characters, which someone might notice is 6 (the length of the word Abadon) squared
Abadon -
Ujf sqxfeu lpg cgfr ucvpe ei Fvocpt Qsgfo Bw-
og, islswgs wdaf ivegrjcow lssg bgiwwcuis. H-
ig bvto ict ftso npgzse fpac pz vii acdcm qxz-
mkuegm, bpe xws dcqxpwo ybrig uq deaz jp ult Wos-
vmhwukpr, Ucsgnec Kigfpqfjiix xg tvbpawoi
gsg hjof. Xws dksgas iksis o trfgxomktx, ls xc-
ox ncv qo wioofcc xb dcti ivftf'w ifpwcpt.

I'll try to think of something more reasonable
Yeah, I was thinking somthing more along the lines of a cryptogram or a variant number substitution, or just some good old-fashioned riddle speak.
EDIT: Although a Ceaser cypher would work great here.

Firefingers
2008-08-27, 07:50 AM
a simple cipher would be to remove most of the capital letters, remove all the existing spaces, and then place a space after every 5th letter. (was going to go with 3 but is too obvious) the captials allow the players to find the starts of some of the words and hopefully realise how it works (another choice is to remove all the capitals and punctuation) how long do you want it to take? this will take your average person about 10-15 minutes to solve or so, a bit less if they realise how it works.

theob jecth asbee nfoun datRu mblec reekm ine,h oweve rsome guard iansw ereac tivate d.The areah asbee nlock eddow nbyth eloca lmill itary ,andth ecapt ainwa ntsto callin theIn quisit ion,Fo reman wheelb right issta lling forti me.Th ecirc lehir edasp ecial ist,w ewant youon stand byinc aseth ere'st roubl e.

only1doug
2008-08-27, 09:01 AM
a simple cipher would be to remove most of the capital letters, remove all the existing spaces, and then place a space after every 5th letter. (was going to go with 3 but is too obvious) the captials allow the players to find the starts of some of the words and hopefully realise how it works (another choice is to remove all the capitals and punctuation) how long do you want it to take? this will take your average person about 10-15 minutes to solve or so, a bit less if they realise how it works.

theob jecth asbee nfoun datRu mblec reekm ine,h oweve rsome guard iansw ereac tivate d.The areah asbee nlock eddow nbyth eloca lmill itary ,andth ecapt ainwa ntsto callin theIn quisit ion,Fo reman wheelb right issta lling forti me.Th ecirc lehir edasp ecial ist,w ewant youon stand byinc aseth ere'st roubl e.

If this seems too obvious, reverse the entire script as well:

elbuo rts'e rehte sacni ybdna tsnou oytna wew,t silai cepsa derih elcri CehT. emitr ofgni llats sithg irblee hWnam eroF, etc...

much less readable than simple breaks but the capitalisation should (fairly) easily reveal that it has been reversed.

Mushroom Ninja
2008-08-27, 09:48 AM
Or, you could have an entire passage of nonsense with the 1st or 2nd letters of each word spelling out a simple sentance.

playswithfire
2008-08-27, 10:17 AM
How about this:



Te o rnveirvTaekne r pa qoeeht m aaW yseu
hcbuRe,e aeah ee myttnctunmetafech leys e'b
etenoe rgn tehndbli,hatahi.al lo.iisi oti sl
edckh usae a yol eisles nbilr rrpswuant e
ohn k osa cdasld cia n l iF rsi Tceeta n ht.
ba a Mworwt.r ootatnc tiItoWi nthldc.nodcer
jsftCiemdei ebcwhladawonnirhgsgiee i tnbaro


Answer

Read down each column

Mushroom Ninja
2008-08-27, 11:03 AM
How about this:



Te o rnveirvTaekne r pa qoeeht m aaW yseu
hcbuRe,e aeah ee myttnctunmetafech leys e'b
etenoe rgn tehndbli,hatahi.al lo.iisi oti sl
edckh usae a yol eisles nbilr rrpswuant e
ohn k osa cdasld cia n l iF rsi Tceeta n ht.
ba a Mworwt.r ootatnc tiItoWi nthldc.nodcer
jsftCiemdei ebcwhladawonnirhgsgiee i tnbaro


Answer

Read down each column


oooh... I like that one!

BRC
2008-08-27, 01:15 PM
How about this:



Te o rnveirvTaekne r pa qoeeht m aaW yseu
hcbuRe,e aeah ee myttnctunmetafech leys e'b
etenoe rgn tehndbli,hatahi.al lo.iisi oti sl
edckh usae a yol eisles nbilr rrpswuant e
ohn k osa cdasld cia n l iF rsi Tceeta n ht.
ba a Mworwt.r ootatnc tiItoWi nthldc.nodcer
jsftCiemdei ebcwhladawonnirhgsgiee i tnbaro


Answer

Read down each column


Ooh, that's perfect, thank you. I'll need to be careful to keep it from messing up when I put that into word, but I like it. It's the type of thing where I can do this

"In his pocket you find this note *hands PC's note, pulls out his Ipod and watches Dr Horrible until they figure it out.*

BRC
2008-08-29, 08:28 PM
Densins of the playground, I am scared.


A little backround, our "gaming Group" actually consists of about thirteen people, however, on a given day, usually about six people plus a DM are there, some regulars and maybe a special repeat guest star person.

Our regular DM (who has all the phone numbers and is hosting the game) called me and said "Hey, it looks like between nine and elven people are going to show up tommorow, so yeah."


That is a truely extraordinary number of people, especially since I designed these encounters assuming I would have around Six players. So I need to go change some things to account for 10 players, so yeah...

Deth Muncher
2008-08-29, 09:19 PM
Densins of the playground, I am scared.


A little backround, our "gaming Group" actually consists of about thirteen people, however, on a given day, usually about six people plus a DM are there, some regulars and maybe a special repeat guest star person.

Our regular DM (who has all the phone numbers and is hosting the game) called me and said "Hey, it looks like between nine and elven people are going to show up tommorow, so yeah."


That is a truely extraordinary number of people, especially since I designed these encounters assuming I would have around Six players. So I need to go change some things to account for 10 players, so yeah...

First off, I'm terribly sorry for you. That many players is...excessive, to say the least.

So how to fix it? Easy. Up the stats of the monsters. Give them all max HP. Maybe throw in some nifty SLAs for some?

Possibly, have it so that there are reinforcements for the original baddies, so that JUST as the PCs think they're through, they get to do the entire encounter again. Possibly twice more.

BRC
2008-08-30, 07:33 PM
Well, The Aftermath.



As it turned out, there were only 7 PC's present, the 9-11 People included myself, and some people didn't show up. Ah well, such is life. One of them hadn't been here before and made a Monk. He's good people.
Anywho, the PC's got Rogat's criminal record, interrogated some of his imprisoned contacts, and questioned an orc mercenary contact named Krack, who they fell in love with and want me to stat out so they can hire him as a mercenary. Eventually they found the smuggler the fugitive wizards were sneaking out with.
The encounter was as follows
Two 2nd level level wizards
The smuggler captain (Rummy), Rogue 1/Fighter 1 with some nifty melee niftyness.
7 Smugglers (warrior 1)

Looks like a tough encounter, Unfortunetally, I made a crucial mistake. I gave the PC's a skylight...
The Cleric, the Rogue, the Beguiler, the psychic warrior, and the Ranger go to the roof, Bard and Monk wait outside.

Cleric smashes skylight, Rogue swings down on a rope and sneak attacks one of the wizards, killing him. Ranger shoots the other wizard. Beguiler tries to hit the Smuggler captain with something but Rummy makes his save.

Monk runs in and is able to charge one of the smugglers, Bard goes in and starts playing. The Psy Warrior goes through the other skylight and uses catfall to get down, then casts Dissolving Weapon.

The next round, the monk finishes off his smuggler, the ranger takes care of the captain, the psywar goes through a smuggler like a +5 flaming dairybane chainsaw through butter. A sleep spell, followed by a Whelm on the one smuggler who makes his save, take care of the rest. The PC's, having dropped all ten foes before they got a turn (We don't roll for init, we just use our bonuses and none of the baddies had Dex bonuses) and convinced me to never give them skylights again, ever. Namely to investigate some miners vanishing. They're told to meet an Ogre mafia boss named Boss Bobby Bugane, who gives them a house at 221 Breadmaker street. The house used to belong to a conjurer wizard who died in an accident two years ago. Inside they find Gerald, a butler spirit that the wizard made by heavily modifying the unseen servant spell (I just modified a Djinn). Gerald crits the Rogue down to 3 HP before the PC's get him to let one of them go get proof that his creator is dead. When Proof is gotten, he agrees to serve them as they are the new Masters of the House (He can't leave the house and he must obey whomever he recognizes as it's master)

For those of you too lazy to read above, the miners are being kidnapped by a tattooed sorcerer who is charming them and taking them to the local gladiatorial arena where they are given a potion that makes them really agressive and sent into the pit to die in rigged "Historical Reenactment" battles. They were meant to find this out by finding a goblin alchemist named Razcrick.

However, looking at the city map I realized the most likely place for these kidnappings to be happening due to the way the map was, was right in front of the gladiatorial arena, so the PC's already suspect the truth.

Anyway, they found the alchemist and his gnolls, but rather than beating the information out of him, they found out that the tattooed man comes by every week to pick up a shipment. So their current plan is to hire Krak as a mercenary, beat up the Gnolls and the goblin, then Ambush mister tatto when he comes in to pick up his shipment.

And thats where we ended today...