Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 24 Oct 2005 to 25 Oct 2005 (#2005-198) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 26/10/2005, 18:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There is 1 message totalling 222 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Ideas for a campaign? ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 18:15:37 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Ideas for a campaign? Things have been so quiet here, so I thought I'd use the lull in traffic to ask some ideas. My current Caravan-campaign has been moving on quickly (once a week, which is a small wonder for six over 30 years family men). You can find background info on the campaign in the Vaults under Darokin, "Conspiracy in the Corun House" A quick synopsis of where the PCs have been and what they have been doing: 1) Finding the Spice Merchant The PCs travel to Akorros to find a spice specialist whom the Coruns have hired but who has failed to turn up. They find him (he is drunk and has lost his wagon in cards) and get him to Darokin city --> Of course this individual, "The Cook", is not only a key person and a point of attachment, he is also a DDC infiltrator. But this will become apparent only later. 2) Selenican Road: Repelling the saboteur A saboteur sent by the rival Umbarth House causes a lot of trouble by poisoning supplies, sabotaging wagons, arranging a bandit attack etc. After many failures the PCs finally catch him at Ft Cruth Crossroads. 3) Selenica: Cloak and Dagger Four significant events: a) The PCs help "The Cook" to make a deal with local Ylari, which brings in a new PC. b) The Cook accompanies them also on an orc hunting mission. The fight against Orclanders seems to consolidate the group. c) The Corun conspirators, leaders of the Caravan, send the PCs on a mission to punish Umbarthians. Leader of the sabotage mission has contacted the two Selenican Houses and tries to stop the caravan here. But the two houses have instead sold the info to Corun. The PCs attack the Umbrathian merchant-mage at an insolated meeting-place. He escapes, leaving his hirelings behind. d) A Traladaran archealogist, an al-Kalimian convert, joins the caravan as a passenger. 4) Selenican Pass The Caravan is attacked by trolls, which have been lured in by the Umbarthian mage. 5) Sidetrack in Ust-Urt The PCs are sent on a trading mission with a junior Corun merchant into the Ust-Urt valley. On the trip the PCs notice that the merchant is totally frustrated and constantly drunk. When sober he seems very capable in his job, but is obviously mad about something. It seems that he has been kept busy with minor deals, like this mission. (The stuff sold in Ust-Urt isn't worth the trouble.) He hints at the two other Merchants being part of a rival faction in the House. - The PCs have to manage by themselves at the last town in the valley, as the merchant sleeps in a tavern of the previous town. They are asked to investigate the situation of a local Makistani sorcerer. He is missing, and the yearly water ritual hasn't been performed. --> They free the sorcerer from the grips of an evil spirit whom he had accidentally summoned. 6) Farewell to Umbarth...Or? On their way to Ylaruam the PCs and the Merchant are attacked by the Umbarth mage. Finally they catch him, but after a negotiation send him back home without any money, hirelings or items left. One PC decides to leave a note in his spell book suggesting an information-passing deal. 7) Nithian secrets The caravan stays in Ylaruam, and the PCs are hired as guards by the archealogist Janus Elysiam. They travel to Nithia in search for the Dead Lands. Desert Chosts pester them. They are attacked by strange dark cultists, but an old hermit (very Obi-Wan-like) saves them. The old man can't speak to them but draws pictures of a group of heroes opening an old tomb. Later on they find the camp of the cultists around a black glassy hill. They kill them after a bloody fight, break into the tomb fighting scarabees an mummies. --> Inside they find an ancient Alatian longhouse with statues of "Nithianesque" Odin, and three artefacts. The Old Man reappears, claims one of the artefacts and leaves (with his ravens and his eyepatch, which slowly appear on his face). The memories of the PCs are altered so they lose all information about the Real Nithia. However, they have found important evidence of an ancient Alatian presence and a cult of Odin ("Otan") in the area. The archealogist is happy. 8) Dark Omens Upon returning to the caravan the PCs find out that the junior merchant has been assassinated - seemingly by fanatics from the Kin faction. Actually of course the Corun conspirators killed him after a nosy PC hinted about some suspicious activity. The merchant got curious and ended like the cat. 9) Onwards to Castellan The caravan travels to Castellan and is attacked by some giants on the way. 10) Falun: Peeling the Onion In Castellan, the PCs get a chance to learn about the Plot. Kobolds attack one of the Corun merchants who has been delivering goods (an elven longsword from Gilfrondel's people, some Spidersilk and two Shadowelf gems) to a local lord. (Note: The Coruns are responsible for delivering the goods and getting the payment. They don't know what the Shadowelves will do with the stuff. Their mission is to get loyal and capable mercenaries into Favaro, from where they will be smuggled into Alfheim City. They also get some important magic items that are to be used in the Shadowelf operations.) - The PCs are asked to recover the trade goods. They trace to thieves into Falun caverns and battle the local kobolds. After initial failures they finally manage to kill enough kobolds to get them negotiate. They get the trade goods back. --> And of course the PCs peek into the coffins, seeing the elven sword. Luckily (really, not by design) one of them is a Chossum elf and realises that something is wrong. The sword of course bears the markings of her clan, since the key Shadowelf infiltrators in Alfheim are Chossums. It remains to be seen if the PCs family is involved... 11) Back in Castellan: Getting Involved The PCs are rewarded by the Corun merchants and are asked to perform special services in the future. They have for long been suspecting that The Cook isn't just a jovial merchant, and ask for his advice. He reveals that he is a DDC operative and asks them to find out what's going on. Note: DDC didn't know anything about the conspiracy, they were just suspicious about this strange operation by the Coruns, as it seems to create unnecessary tensions for little real profit. 12) The Great Marsh The PCs are sent on a scouting mission ahead of the caravan to warn about winter damages on the Great Marsh road. They are attacked by strange lights sent by "the Witch-Queen" luring travelers into Niflheim, and battle her strange Swamp Monster. The fight goes okay, but they miss valuable hints about missing local nobles, thus missing a reward also. Well, you can't win them all. 13) Bakomwatten and Soderfjord. The Caraven stops at Backwater (Bakomwatten), and the PCs are sent to escort one of the Corun Merchants into the capital. After some hasty trading they go on a secret mission with him to do some trading with a local jarl. Again, an elven longsword and some spidersilk are traded. The jarl takes advantage of the situation and asks for extra fee: help against a rival lord. --> The PCs are sent on an assassination mission, and they kill a Thorian godar/Jarl. Some tension in the group about the ethics of it all, but they decide they must go along "for the good of Darokin". Refusing would make it harder to learn about the secrets of the caravan. 14) Onwards to Landesfjord On the way the PCs thwart a giant ambush. 15) Landesfjord: The Plot Thickens The PCs accompany the merchants at a meeting with Jarl Burisson. A strange spellbook and an elven longsword are traded for strange items and "something else" (more mercenaries, mages this time). They hear about Favaro, but can't put it into context. --> Burisson hires them to recover some stolen runeposts. 16) Monastery and dark powers The PCs travel to an Odinian monastery to investigate the theft. Their excellent ranger manages to find the thives' tracks. A Cretian infiltrator in the monastery flees to warn his friends. - The PCs rush after the thieves and find them in the mountains in the ancient home of a modrigswerd necromancer. They battle Cretian cultists and the necromancer's creations, managing to get the runeposts back. Strangely enough, there are some Ylari in the group. - On their way home, the Old Man from Nithia reappears during the night. (Only one PC resists his powers and remembers the "dream". Again this Odin's aspect/avatar/whatever erases "incriminating evidence" about Nithia, and releases some memories stored in the artefacts. 17) Norrvik The caravan stops in Norrvik. The PCs meet with the archealogist, who is holding lectures about cult of Odin in Alasyia. Fanatics of Al-Kalim attack him one evening, but the PCs are there to help. - This closes one stiryline in the campaign about the Nithian secrets and religious strife that results from innocent academic studies. 18) Trollheim and Ethengar The PCs are sent to deliver some goods to Bortak contacts in Ethengar. Thus the conspirators are beginning to trust them, although they are also becoming suspicious about "The Cook". As a cover the PCs get hired for a mission in Trollheim (the scenario "Defence of Otkel's Stead" in GAZ 7). SO: My plans are clear until Ethengar. Next I'm going to send them to Ostland on a trading mission, as the caravan continues toward Freiburg. I'd like to get them involved with the Ostman clan, as Court of Cnute doesn't work in such a short timeframe. But I haven't yet come up with anything interesting to do in Ostmanhaven. Any ideas? Next they will rejoin the caravan in Freiburg. One of the PCs is a young and enthusiastic follower of Vanya, so this is a very important moment. I'm still unsure what to do there. Any ideas there? Of course eventually I will come up with something, but I've found that fresh advice gets good results. Ville ----- End forwarded message ----- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 24 Oct 2005 to 25 Oct 2005 (#2005-198) ****************************************************************