Plot help needed

[Ancalagon]

Hello

If you folks wouldn't mind giving me a hand, it would be greatly appreciated!

Background: Warhammer frpg game (2nd ed) using the system but not the setting. Said setting is pseudo-historical: It's set in 1150 AD in what is now Turkey, at the very edge of the byzantine empire. However, there is magic, elves and dwarves etc. The game happens in Zeugma, a city that in real life was sacked over a thousand year before but in my game still stands.

The party is a group hired by a merchant as "guards/problem solvers" on retainer. They have done missions for both said merchant and the city and have shown themselves to be tough (dwarf pit fighter, human outlaw, elven bounty hunter and hobgoblin chekist), reliable and moderately discrete.

In the recent past, the PCs have faked a brigand problem, stopped a dangerous magical item from falling into the wrong hands and have explored/looted a tomb on behalf of the city.

The Plot: The party is asked by their merchant boss to travel south. A small town that is an important re-supply spot for caravans has been taken over by a new governor - who's since has raised taxes and fees on passing caravans to the point of extortion. This is bad for trade, and the merchant want the party to do something about it.

The governor is the bastard's son of the third son of the Caliph in Bagdad, and is ambitious and a trouble-maker. His father has arranged for him to get a position well away from the capital - a soft exile so to speak. The bastard is taking advantage of his position to rake in the cash. He has a group of hanger-ons who followed him in exile, and the local thugs have flocked to him too. A direct confrontation is therefore quite challenging. Furthermore, he has recently moved his headquarters to a ruined fort near the town, giving him a solid defensive position. The local elders don't think that what he's doing is right, but they feel powerless to intervene.

Where I need help:
1: Is this enough?

2: I have a bit of an idea for "more", but I'm having a hard time developing it. This small fort, built on a cliff side, was actually built on the ruins of "something else". The bastard has aquired/gained partial control/etc of something of power - he feels that with this *magic thing*, he will finally be able to fulfill his ambitions - hence his very rash actions at the moment. He's therefore milking the traffic while building up/mastering the *magic thing*

thanks!

[Ancalagon]

.... anyone? :grey:

[Kyle Voltti]

I think you need either something that isn't as it appeares or something to tempt the heroes to the governors side.

you could always have the key to stopping the Governor be killing an innocent person.

[Name Lips]

So essentially the party is working for a merchant who opposes the strict policies of a particular local governer, and is sending them to correct the problem.

Depending on how much political stuff you're willing to involve in this process, this adventure could be simple and quick, or complex and long. You might plan out this elaborate fortress and wind up with PCs who instead negotiate a more favorable trade agreement with their employer and head home, mission accomplished. Or they could go in "kick in the door" style, killing everything including the corrupt governor, and return "mission accomplished." At which point you could observe that there is a power vacuum, no governor, and the party is now on a course directly opposed to the legitimate rule of law and perhaps eventually to the Caliph himself. What exactly would the consequences be of killing him?

I really don't know your players' style so I can't say which way they'd play it.

If you think it's likely that they'll approch this as a "dungeon" I think it would be more fun to make layers of corruption - your whole "ruins of something else" and "magic thing" idea. That way the PCs can prove some sort of otherworldly corruption and dodge the political issues.

[Ancalagon]

for the "something else", I'm toying with this idea:

The new governor - the bastard - has found in the ruins an ancient tome, telling one how to craft a potion - the lunar virus. Normaly this potion is hard to craft and expensive etc, but there is something in the temple - an unholy spring? - that makes it rather easy.

The lunar virus works thus - you give it to someone, then you murder said person. The person then rises as a zombie under your control.

The bastard has been using a fair big of his money to buy slaves, and his underlings are preying on easy target - travelers who dare travel alone or in pairs. These unfortunates are being transformed into zombies. The bastard intends on building an army of the dead to gain the caliphate.

... of course, this can't possibly work, but hey, a man can dream...

How does that sound? Cool? Corny?

cheers,

[Ancalagon]

time-lagged double post

[Name Lips]

That could work. How is the bastard using these zombies? How does it tie in with the PCs mission? Would the bastard attempt to zombify the PCs, when they're obviously not helpless slaves/travelers?

[Kyle Voltti]

what if the ritual let him make duplicates of people he could control but the process isn't perfect yet and he's trying to perfect it so he can use it on his uncle and gain power that way?

[Ancalagon]

While the party is small, it's too well armed to be a tempting target for "snatching". Instead, they are taxed when going through the gates (8 gp, which is a lot in this system). A lot easier to do, and the money can be used to buy slaves and pay off the underlings.

I'm not sure exactly what the bastard wants to do with the zombies, and it could be that perhaps that's ok - he doesn't know himself! He's been exiled, he's angry, but he discovered he could make money milking the town - and now he's found he can create soldiers as well... His medium term goal is to get back at the people responsible for his exile, but he hasn't figured out a plan yet.

I've added a "wrinkle" in game - the party has picked up a fellow traveler - a leper, ex scholar, en route to Baghdad. He wants to go the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf (south of Baghdad) in the hopes of having his leprosy cured. The party, afraid of catching leprosy but unwilling to be cruel, have allowed him to "hang out at a distance".

This fellow traveler is actually a spy and a member of the assassin's guild, hired by the city (Zeugma) to investigate the situation. The leper thing is but a clever disguise. He's the pro, and they are (in his view) the hacks sent by the amateurs (their merchant boss).

[Kyle Voltti]

While the party is small, it's too well armed to be a tempting target for "snatching". Instead, they are taxed when going through the gates (8 gp, which is a lot in this system). A lot easier to do, and the money can be used to buy slaves and pay off the underlings.

I'm not sure exactly what the bastard wants to do with the zombies, and it could be that perhaps that's ok - he doesn't know himself! He's been exiled, he's angry, but he discovered he could make money milking the town - and now he's found he can create soldiers as well... His medium term goal is to get back at the people responsible for his exile, but he hasn't figured out a plan yet.

I've added a "wrinkle" in game - the party has picked up a fellow traveler - a leper, ex scholar, en route to Baghdad. He wants to go the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf (south of Baghdad) in the hopes of having his leprosy cured. The party, afraid of catching leprosy but unwilling to be cruel, have allowed him to "hang out at a distance".

This fellow traveler is actually a spy and a member of the assassin's guild, hired by the city (Zeugma) to investigate the situation. The leper thing is but a clever disguise. He's the pro, and they are (in his view) the hacks sent by the amateurs (their merchant boss).

by hack I assume you mean "scapegoats" :D

[Ancalagon]

by hack I assume you mean "scapegoats" :D

Exactly. The party, who has recently arrived in town, have made no secret of their allegiance. If they do end up getting in a nasty fight with the bastard, they (and their merchant boss) get the blame, not Zeugma.

What they will learn - maybe - is that this pilgrim has mystical powers*, and he will give some assistance to the party, depending on the situation - why not use them and encourage them to do the dirty work? I certainly don't intend to reveal he's a key figure in the assassin's guild - rather he will claim he is helping out of devoutness.

Ancalagon

*I'm introducing a new magic system to warhammer. Elves have sorcery, Human use the winds of magic, dwarves have rune magic, but the hobgoblins haven't mastered any special kind of magic... until now. One of the party member will apprentice to this mystic.