Hi folks,

I'm working on the outline of a story that I will be implementing into my campaign, but I would like to write it up as a stand alone for other people.

It is heavily inspired by medieval mysteries, as well as the films: the Brothers Grimm by Terry Gilliam and the Name of the Rose .

I'm looking for feedback, comments and suggestions from fellow GMs on making this work. I do eventually plan to write this up as a formal adventure and post it for the community, so be warned that this thread is obviously full of spoilers...

Location:
A small village in an isolated, heavily wooded part of the Empire.
Much of WFRP is centered around the Reikland, but I plan to write this so that it could happen anywhere.

Quick summary:
A famous Priest of Sigmar has gone missing. PCs are either sent there to find out what happened to him (hired by a wealthy relative or patron or the Church itself), or they encounter this village while on their way to some other place (just passing through).

Back Story:
The missing Sigmarite came to the village with the goal of aggressively converting the country folk to the worship of Sigmar.

He came from a larger city in the Empire, where he made close associations with radical Vereneans, revolutionary scholars, agitators and emerging Middle class politicians.

He followed a secret and borderline heretical sect of the Cult that venerates Sigmar in his aspect as the Great Unifier.

(This sub-cult of Sigmar the Divine Emperor believes that Sigmar's ascension to divinity and his crowning by Ulric represents the acknowledgment of Sigmar's primacy by the other gods. Slowly, quietly, the priests of the sect work to establish Sigmar not just as the primary god of the Empire, but as its sole god. They see the current war as proof that loyalty to any god other than Sigmar has weakened his Empire. Though popular among Sigmarite radicals, the cult has not announced itself openly, lest the accomodationist hierarchy decide a purge for heresy is needed to preserve religious peace.)

So amongst his fellow radicals and revolutionaries, this priest began to preach sentiments that denounced the noble class and the corruption of religious leaders. Promotion of Monotheism and fighting for the rights of the Lower class.

Due to some inevitable heated attention and the risk of being declared a heretic (and to avoid the chance of being excommunicated), he packed up and left the city, choosing to target smaller villages still seeped in Old World superstition and the worship of "false" gods.

The village that he chose were devout worshipers of Taal and Rhya. He essentially stormed in and converted the Shrine of these nature deities to one of Sigmar. He tore down the pair of antlers above the entrance and replaced it with the Imperial Cross.

To the village elders this act of extreme sacrilege, coupled with the Priest's aggressive and harsh converting process (which also included banning all nature rituals for farming, fertility etc...), was going to doom them all to pain and suffering.

To deal with him, this council of elders ventured forth into the dark forest and sought out the Troll Witch- a truly evil crone but one who was known for respecting the Old gods of Nature. The Troll Witch agreed to put a curse on the Sigmarite, driving him mad and turning him into a deformed imbecile.

Unfortunately, the cost of this act was dire: the Troll Witch demanded payment in the form of all virgin human females (including infants).

The villagers were distraught, but they feared the wrath of Taal and Rhya, so they did what the Witch asked.

Now they may continue to worship their preferred deities, but so as to not draw attention and risk receiving another Sigmarite missionary, they worship in secret.

(more to come- long post)

The Current State of the Village:

What is immediately apparent to any visitors:

• A good deal of the villagers are in mourning (wearing dark colors, black ribbons, veils etc...). If asked, they mourn for the missing Cleric, whom they say is surely dead.
• There are no female children or teenagers. If asked, they say that the village has been cursed: all female babies have been stillborn for years.

What can be discovered through investigations:

• The villagers keep secret shrines in their homes and in odd nooks and crannies in the village. If asked, they say that they are just quaint traditions and don't mean anything- echoes of the past. Really, they're shrines to Taal and Rhya.
• In the local cemetary, there are, in fact, many graves of female infants. However, upon closer inspection, they are all very recent, and were all made at the same time (if particularly gruesome PCs unearth the graves, they will find them empty). The local Priest of Morr is an unreliable source of information because he's senile and a clueless drunkard.
• If the PCs investigate the Cleric's belongings, they will find revolutionary pamphlets and a book on the before mentioned sub-cult of Sigmar.

Some leads from useful NPCs:

• Although the villagers have taken a solemn vow of secrecy, there is one young man who is terribly upset. He was infatuated with one of the sacrificed girls, and is deeply hurt about the choices made by the village elders. It would not be terribly difficult to get him to talk. However, he is naive and not too intelligent. If another villager suspects him of breaking the vow, the young man may go missing.
• There is a mad, retarded hunchback working in the stables of the inn. He seems harmless enough and useless, until a more learned PC catches the man saying a few words in Classical tongue mixed in with his usual ramblings.... This fool is in fact the missing cleric of Sigmar. He is hopelessly and irrevocably insane, but clever PCs may find ways to get him to 'remember' who he really was.
• Of course, truly inquisitorial or aggressive PCs may simply decide to force a villager to spill the beans. Either through intimidation, torture or even through more sublte methods of manipulation and espionage. Perhaps even mystical methods.

EDIT: Another potentially useful source of information:

There's a regular at the local tavern who's obviously not a native. He is secretive and tries to organize a clandestine meeting with the PCs, offering them useful clues. The problem is is reliability: he's quite a shady character. What makes matter worse is that if any of the PCs are from criminal backgrounds, or if they have the Folklore skill trained, they'll instantly recognize the fellow as a famous con man and Charlatan who was apprehended and unmasked by the authorities in Altdorf. He somehow escaped from prison while waiting for execution, but his face is well known by those in the know.

Regardless of whether or not he's telling the truth, he WILL have some useful facts that the GM can insert if the PCs are floundering, or have missed some crucial clues elsewhere.

There are several possible outcomes.

One may even lead to the Troll Witch herself, as well as her sons (the number of which depends on the number and Rank of the PCs).

If they find her in time, they may even rescue the imprisoned children (who were being stored for future meals and a continuous source of bloody arcane ingredients for nefarious spells).

Obviously, there will be some moral quandaries for the PCs. God forbid one of them is a Priest of Sigmar!

This seems interesting, i will defintly give it a try when it is posted.

As I see it you're setting up a "relationship map" of forces creating a situation:

Sigmarite Priest (misguided becoming monstrous, catalyst for the "problem")

Villagers (innocent becoming tools of evil, instigators of the "the problem")

Troll Witch (evil, exploiter of "the problem" and superficially "the problem" at first glance)

The "problem" is truly innocent children being killed (which ultimately will destroy the village).

This is indeed a fun, interesting set of actors for situation.

I should indicate my biases in adventure design: I dislike older school "fiat/railroad", "your victory snatched from you whatever you do", "NPC staggers into inn and gasps out clue and falls over dead from assassin's arrow", "PC's press-ganged" etc. etc. Not saying you have these things here but there is a bit of that if the PC's do not enter the situation at a point where it is "most interesting and they can do the most to change it".

So I think they should have a change to save someone (if not everyone, it's a grim world, some children perished whatever), both to make things worse or better.

I suggest a few changes along this line:

Replace the "all at once" bargain - it makes villagers too evil and also is a bit hard to swallow they would actually go through with that without more disruption etc. (it's a more immediate attack on them then gradual loss of fertility/crops etc. the priest threatens). Instead, make it that the village elders forged a bargain that they thought meant giving one of their daughters to the crone to be "wed to her son", not realizing that the terms of the deal really meant "a wife for each of her sons" and she has lots of them (henchmen quality, except for whichever one is of age at moment, he is more dangerous foe). Thus there is a steady stream of girls but also it's not "all at once", they are handed over every (moon cycle?)

This also makes the "guilty" in the village really the village elders not everyone, though the rest of the village stands by their elders.

Related event for triggering action: The "a son" comes to the village to "claim their bride", and the village cannot resist them. A foolish lover might try and be struck down, the villagers generally are passive. To PC's this may seem like fear but it's more of course.

The priest, - hooks can include that PC's are investigating him for possible heresy etc. (e.g., if one is a Sigmarite or witchhunter, or priest of another deity for that matter). I'm a believer in "push story sooner and add more story" rather than "hold back on story". The priest sounds like he should be powerful (the villagers weren't up to just mobbing him). Add an event where the villagers did try to kill him but he invoked a mighty curse on them if they ever lifted a hand against a holy man. This drove them to the Witch. Some evidence of the event (damage to the temple, engraved words of his curse that they have tried to hide but can't erase). He is now the village idiot, they can't kill him (still) and he is a constant reminder of their ill deed, and PC's getting through is ramblings might learn something. Also if the PC's were sent looking for him, there's a moment when they realize "the village idiot is the great Sigmarite priest?!!!" He's the only one who can try to resist the "sons" and not get killed (he's ineffectual, they push him aside).

The Troll-Witch's curse on him has some manifestation that can be lifted, PC's may mistakeningly think that curing him makes situation better (he would immediately insist the village elders be tried and burned). Perhaps she drove him mad by having him look in her "mirror", which shows "awful truths" (though perhaps they are only lies, it showed him that Sigmar was a fraud and instead of the top and only god isn't one at all, looking in the mirror is essentially a nasty Terror test, passing means you see it for the liar it is).

Destroying Mirror cures him (it is unattended during "marriage ceremonies" for a son).

If the Troll-Witch is beyond PC's ability to take on, her sons should figure prominently as a "foe that can be met". My inclination would be to make situation such that the Troll Witch can't enter the village lands because of ancient wards placed by their original gods (perhaps an old oak tree) thus PC's task is to do whatever they do in her territory and then "get back across the line to safety". If they can somehow take the Sigmarite to confront her, he actually flies into a rage and is empowered against her because he has looked into the mirror (NPC takes out NPC is boring, de-protagonizing for PC's, I would make it more that his presence and actions are like the rat-catcher's dog, he gives PC's a fortune die on everything and her a misfortune die on everything).

At different points PCs have to decide (a) who among villagers deserve "justice", if any or if all; (b) whether the Sigmarite deserves it for heresy [a group of witchhunters would really be saying burn them all, it's more interesting if the villagers clearly include some "never agreed, never went along" types].

That's all I can think of moment.

Rob

That's FANTASTIC, valvorik. Thank you, those are great points.

Yeah I definitely don't want the PCs to be railroaded. I want the outcome to this story to be determined specifically by the choices of the players.

They COULD end up with all kinds of compromises, even avoiding any bloodshed.

I like some of the fundamental themes and changes to the story that you've proposed. May I use those? I will of course credit and thank you when I write this up.

Thanks and of course use them. And "it can go all sorts of ways" it the hallmark of a "relationship based" adventure. Once again, great stuff in the initial outline - nice change from "an evil cult plans to...." but still very "Warhammer".

Nec,

Great start. Get it formatted and posted so it looks prettier

Jay H

Some further thoughts:

The village can't break their promise to the Troll Witch because their oath is tied to the tree/wards that hold her at bay, if they break it then she ceases to be held at bay. Perhaps she is connected to their old faith in some way, she is bound by it too. She was a priestess of the old faith who betrayed her oaths and lay with something unholy and forbidden (a seductive mutant/Slaanesh type), for this she was cursed, and cast out with her progeny. Thus she still keeps some of the customs and obeys some of the "rules" of the old faith etc. In her own twisted way, she is trying to care for her sons.

Another avenue to gain information, the tree (or whatever it is) is ancient and has carvings on it, pictographs that among other things show the "story of the Troll Witch".

Another possible event is that the village holds a lottery (of sorts) to determine which household offers its daughter this time. Whoever offered the last four times is "exempt". The PC's arrive in time to see the lottery, each household gathered to watch and strangely only some coming forward to "draw a token" (to see who draws the black token) [Observation check to realize it's only those with daughters, except one or two with them don't - those being ones who lost a daughter recently]. The "winner" of the lottery is obviously not happy.

Perhaps this happens before the "son" comes to claim the "winner's daughter".

If one of her sons is killed by a non-villager (and not at the village's instigation), the village hasn't broken its promise. If all her sons were killed, in effect the village's promise would become moot (she has a finite number not being replaced, the tale of her coupling with whatever is another matter, not for faint ears).

If you want more possibilities for what can go on if adventurers enter her lair, think the Giant in the Jack and the Beanstalk, with her the Giant, her sons extensions. Her lair is actually a large abandoned temple of the old faith, one accursed because of her deeds. One or two village girls who have be "fortunate" have pleased their husbands enough not to be dinner one night, they are like the Giant's wife and can help the PC's with adviced etc.

The village includes some "toughs" who may try to drive PC's out or "brawl" with them (if you want more "action" opportunities).

Rob

valvorik said:

I wouldn't do this, personally. Killing a priest (even if it's not of a god you follow) is a terrible thing to do. Remember, the villagers didn't like him pushing his ideas on them and destroying their shrines. That's why they went to the witch, to stop him without any "real" harm coming to him. The villagers aren't confrontational, and least of all agressive. This could be a nice curve ball for the PC's if they decide to attack the villagers ("You want to kill them? What did they ever do to you?" "Well, they... uhm... the priest... no, that was the witch... uh... they... damnit!").

* Bump *

Interested in any updates on this adventure, still my favourite set-up idea I've seen to date here.

Rob

Hey!

Yeah I'm working on it. Times are hard this time of year. So busy.

It's coming! I swear!

UPDATE for those who are interested:

I'm nearly done the first draft.

Huzzah!

Necrozius said:

Looking forward to it!

Necrozius said:

Any word on progress?

Rob

I must say this looks very interesting

I haven`t bothered to read many posts, (mainly because of a very long session at neuropsychological institute. don`t worry I am not a patient, but a guinea pig ready to sacrifice myself for science and research).

but as it seems like a site-based adventure I will strongly suggest a good map, both for the players and GM. If you (like many other GM`s) lack the neccesary cartography skills to conjure such a map, I know there is a few excellent map designers among the forumites. and they might lend a hand.

second if it takes place at a monastery (like the name of the rose), I would also suggest gettting as much info about the daily life of the monastery as needed to make the adventure more real. its pretty much like the old D&D advice saying that if you make the forrest come alife as possible then the dragon who lives there will also become more real.

other than that you have a wondrously mind necrozius, and I am exicted how it all will turn out.

sincerly drug induced guinea pig. (aah what I wont do for research)

Gaming good

Necrozius said:

Any word on progress? This one sounds like something I'd like to run.