Scenario 3
Lets return
to Verden and see how he deals with the fallout from Jolene’s adventure. He has
been keeping an eye on warforged activities, and so a group of warforged
spontaneously electrocuting themselves on the lightning rail platform will
probably catch his attention. Also, extra heat was thrown towards the refugees
by Jolenes exploits.
I want a
break from focussing on the warforged however, so lets look at some other
aspects. Fallout from the warforged incident may or may not come up.
Because
Verden is Champion of the dispossessed and friend to the watch it would be a
problem if a Vampire was preying on the Refugees.
Questions;
Can Verden discover the vampires presence
before it becomes entrenched?
Can Verden save the vampires thralls from its
power?
Can verden discover the vampires lair?
Can Verden defeat the vampire?
According to
the Bestiary, a fledgling Vampire is a Superb scale creature, while Verden is
only Good scale. That means that taking
it on single handedly and defeating it is probably a losing proposition.
Driving it away can almost certainly be considered a win here, while losing
(and probably creating another campaign issue in the process) is a real
possibility.
Scene 1
First Verden
needs to become aware that the Refugee camp is harbouring a Vampire in their
midst. Of course the vampire will have been feeding on people, who will have
been becoming sick and dying.
Lets
make this another challenge. First Verden needs to roll contacts (with a base
difficulty of fair[2]) in order to discover a pattern amongst the people
becoming sick. Second, he needs to roll Rapport to convince the victims he can
help. Thirdly, he needs to roll Faith in order to recognise the taint of evil
on the victims of the vampire (again with fair opposition).
[Verden
rolls Contacts for a -1+2=1. He
notices that people are becoming sick, but not until somebody he cares about
becomes affected. Is it a family member? Yes, but
not close family. It is one of his in-laws.
1)
Brother/sister in law
2)
Parent in law
3)
Neice/Nephew
A parent in
law!!! (his father in law to be precise!!!) WOW. That was not expected. I guess
I need to discover some details about his family now…
So, using
Tianxia ‘Path of destiny’ to generate a family…
Both his
parents are dead (died in the cyran cataclysm?)
3 siblings
(dead younger sister, dead older sister, dead older sister)
Wife (same
age, alive)
Wifes family;
Both parents
live (doesn’t get on with them)
No siblings.
His wife and
himself have grown apart and she now loves another!!! Is
she still amongst the refugees? No. She thinks he died in the cataclysm,
along with her parents, and is now living with someone else – no douebt we will
meet her at some point. Verden managed to save her parents (although his own
family were killed), which was the catalyst for him becoming the hero this
group of refugees are clinging to.
Her father is
a warrior – lets say he was a (retired) sergeant in the Cyran army. He
disapproved of Verden because he refused to join up and fight – until the flame
claimed him and turned him into a hero, Verden was a merchant. His wife escaped
the cataclysm because she was already in Breland, securing goods (and possibly
already conducting an affair? Perhaps we will find out when we meet her.)
So Verden’s
father in law has fallen sick and Verden is paying him a visit to check on his
wellbeing, partly through a sense of duty as a son in law and partly through a
sense of duty from his status amongst the refugees.
According
to the NPC creator, His father in laws motivations are; report academia,
operate discretion, and interact magic.
His
mood is sociable and he wants to know about Verden’s relics. He is clearly
intrigued by Verdens new role as a paladin of the flame, and wants to know more
about his powers.]
Secondly
Verden rolls Empathy to try and discern that something is wrong with his father
in law, rolling a 4+2=6 for a success with style.
#
Verden
swallows and takes a moment to pull himself together before drawing aside the
hanging that covers the entrance to his parent in laws shack. He has faced many
dark things since the cataclysm, but the judgemental ire of his father in law
still makes him nervous. Still, he has not managed to track down his wife since
the cataclysm and her parents are the only link he has left to a life in
tatters.
Like most of the semi permanent dwellings
making up the refugees shanty town the shack is gloomy and cramped, but his
parent in laws have done what they can to make it comfortable and a kettle is
simmering above a small fire in the corner.
“Verden.” His
father in Law greets him “I was hoping you would visit. Make yourself
comfortable while I finish a brew.”
Verden sinks
into a chair uneasily, wondering what has brought on this change of attitude.
Perhaps his status and acheivements have softened the old man towards him, or
perhaps this is simply a ploy to put him off guard. “Sir.” He nods respectfully
“I hear you have not been well.”
“Nonsense.”
The old man retorts, lifting the kettle with a heavy glove and filling two cups
with steaming liquid. As he moves into the light Verden can see that his skin
has taken on a pale, almost pallid, sheen. “I’m as fit as a fiddle. Thanks to
you as well that. Without your fiery blade we would all have met our graves
back in Cyre.”
Its true as
well. Most of the refugees have Verden to thank for their lives. “All I did was
my duty.” He demurs “Anyone else would have done the same. Isn’t that what you
are always telling me I should do? Duty and Honour and all that?”
“But nobody
else had the power to do it did they?” the old man asks leerily as he hands
Verden one of the drinks “Why did the flame choose you I wonder? Of all the
Cyrans it could have chosen – and most of them warriors in their own right –
why you?”
So this is
it, Verden thought. He simply thinks me unworthy of the flame, and wants to rub
it in. “I don’t know.” He admits simply. Best not to rise to it.
“A good job
it did though. With the way you fought back in Cyre I assume those flames
aren’t just an empty special effect? Some strong magic there eh?”
This is not
what Verden expected. Instead of dwelling on how unworthy Verden is, the old
man grills him on his powers. Can he fight better than he did before? Does the
flame speak to him? What other powers has it granted him? Can he channel the
power at will? How reliable is it? Despite her is unhealthy pallor the old man
has a feverish intensity to him that Verden has not seen for years and his questions
come hard and fast, flowing from one to the next and then looping round to
verify something Verden said earlier. It is almost as if the old man is
gathering military intelligence. Perhaps he has decided to put his skills to
use helping to prepare the refugees for conflict and he wants to appraise
Verdens usefulness.
“So will you
be drilling a new militia?” Verden asks, breaking the flow of the
interrogation.
“Me? I am
retired.” The old man responds, confusion written across his face
“So what do
you need this information for?”
For an
instant the confusion is replaced by guilt, and then carefully concealed. “Jus
interested.” The old man murmurs, and settles back to sup his drink.
Verden isn’t
fooled. The old man is clearly working for somebody, and if it isn’t the
refugees then it is bad news.
[Finally,
Verden rolls faith to detect the evil lingering over his father in law for a
roll of 2+3=5 and success with style]
Something is
wrong. Verden can feel it in the depths of his soul. The words his father in
law is speaking are wrong. The drink he is holding untouched is wrong. The way
his father in law is acting and the ‘illness’ he is suffering are wrong. Evil
is clinging to him like a parasitic demon, supping the mans vitality and
twisting his thoughts.
Verden can
feel the flame that has filled him since the cataclysm burning in answer to the
taint he can sense here, and he knows he has work to do.
The scene
ends with a partial success. Verden knows a malign influence is at work on his
father in law, but he doesn’t know the extent of its reach across the refugee
camp.
Scene 1a
Can Verden exorcise the Vampires influence
from his father in law?
I
am not sure if this should be a separate mini-scene or simply an extension of
scene 1.
This
will probably be a straight overcome roll using faith. Verden rolls 1+3=4 vs
the vampires Will of 2, for a success.
Following the
urgings of the flame within him, Verden reaches forwards and grasps his father
in law by the shoulders. He can feel the wrongness coursing through the man’s
veins, a tarry sickness polluting his blood.
The old man flinches from his touch and tries to pull away, but Verden
grips him tightly and murmurs a word of praise as spiritual flame flows through
his hands, burning out the rot and purifying his father in laws soul. Soon
enough the struggle stops and his father in law slumps, exhausted, into his
seat.
“Rest now
father. The evil is passed.”
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