Escape!!

[firth5]

** belladonna, please don't read. You know the drill **

My players' covenant needs to recruit some grogs, and I'm working on a scenario that might offer them some candidates. This is also an excuse to give the more combat-oriented mage a little something to do, since there hasn't been much of that lately.

It's the year 1200. The covenant (winter ruins) lies just north of the Andalusian border. One of the major projects going on in my Iberian saga is that the Mercurian Mercere are improving, and in some case re-building, all of the original roman roads. My players don't know about this yet, because they are all new to Iberia.

Background info: An emir in Andalusia has been contracted by the redcaps to work on the roads that run through his lands. He has put one of his younger sons in charge of the project, who has charged a captain to oversee a band of muslim slaves to rebuild the roads.

There are two rival djinn in the area, one is infernally aligned, and has been encouraging the slavemaster to be more cruel. This djinn is fairly powerful, has a few minions, and a lair that is ripe for exploration.

The other djinn is much less powerful, but has escaped his own personal slavery at the hands of a muslim summoner. He roams Iberia, doing his best to free slaves. He has very few powers.

Scenario: A few of the slaves have escaped, with the aid of the lesser djinn. Most fled south, further into al-Andalus, where've the've since been re-captured. Another escaped, and fled North, and will be found by the characters. Should they choose to aid him in freeing the others, the characters will get more grogs to add to their turb.

I'm hoping this will give me a chance to introduce the Mercere project into the story organically. I'm hoping the players will have some fun rescuing slaves, potentially introducing some muslims into their turb (which could prove troublesome for members of both religions in the covenant, as well as the Christian town nearby.) Finally, this could lead to an interesting encounter with an infernal Djinn at the end of the adventure, with some exploration of it's lair, and some potential magical finds.

So I'm posting this to gather general opinion, and see if there's anything that you SG's would add. I also invite ideas as to what may be found in the Djinn's lair. I figure the creature has taken over an abandoned castle in New Castile, (perhaps even one abandoned by a Christian Military Order, which could have a defiled crusader's sword or something?!?)

Thanks in advance,
Eric

[Verticius]

In exploring the Djinn's lair, they might find information on alchemy and maybe a hook into alchemical mysteries since alchemy seems to be more mature in Muslim lands.

The Djonn is Internally tainted, so some hooks into cthonic magic would be good if not direct details on summoning and controlling Infernal agents

Play up luxury and hedonism. Specifically develop a number of minor things that would tempt and taint specific characters. Playing against the PLAYER'S tamptations is also fair as well...

-K!

[The_dread_Comedian]

Aren´Djinn Faerie aligned these Day`s ?
There could be a lot of Stuff in A Djinns Lair.
It would be really interesting to see if the "liberating" Djinn kept a few of his liberated Slaves around and what became of them...........

[firth5]

In my saga, Djinn are magical creatures. Taking my cue from Niall Christie's "Blood and Sand" tribunal book, as well as 5th ed. RoP:D.

e

[The_dread_Comedian]

We will have a View on Muslim Magic when Societas comes out...
BTW there is some revised to 5th Ed. Stuff on Sanctum Hermeticum.(IIRC)

So magical Creatures eh ?
Hmm....

[firth5]

I meant spirits aligned with the magical realm, rather than "creatures" per se. If that's not what your "hmmmmm" was referring to, I am very curious as to what is going on behind your eyes....

And yeah, chomping at the bit for Societas....

e

[Erik_Tyrrell]

@The dread Comedian

We will have a View on Muslim Magic when Societas comes out...

really? where?

[firth5]

A glimpse, anyway.

I believe that there will be a "sahir" Ex-Miscellanea tradition presented in Societas.

[Erik_Tyrrell]

@firth5

A glimpse, anyway.

I believe that there will be a "sahir" Ex-Miscellanea tradition presented in Societas.

from the ToC description of the sahir virtue starts on page 135 and the next subject doesn't pick up until p137.

Even assuming a half page of art and a description that starts on the bottom of page 135, that is a lot of words devoted to a single virtue. (Fewer than celestial magic, but a fair amount none the less)

[Xavi]

Other stuff to introduce

1. The redcaps can come looking why the hell the road is not being built after all, and be upset if the characters did a mess of it all. They do not have to discover that the djinn was infernal (it could have been a djinn alone, not infernally tainted) so it would be a case of the redcaps becoming upset with them. Bad thing.

2. They can encounter a group of crusaders or muslim knights hunting down the good djinn for being a demon spawn. Or even a flambeau or tytalus wanting to go after both djinns to do a 3 way contest with them.

3. Maybe the 2 djinns are part of larger parties in the area?

4. The good djinn might be an asshole while the infernal djinn might act friendly. Who will they help? Will they believe an escaped muslim instead of cutting his throat (IMS muslims were badly treated by players, since they were mostly castillian xenophobes in character)

5. Maybe a trip to a muslim university would be in the order of the day if the djinn oproves too powerful to deal with. And there you get in contact with a bunch of arabic students that prove plenty of stuff for introduction into virtues & flaws (alchemy, astral magic, summoning & binding spirits et al) and a pair of urban adventures in the city. Always fun for the weirdos that magi are.

Edit: I really like tyour story arc and the adventure you have built around it. Might steal it for my saga in a modified format. Kudos to you

Cheers,

Xavi

[firth5]

@Xavi

Other stuff to introduce

1. The redcaps can come looking why the hell the road is not being built

Exactly. This was what I meant by introducing the redcaps story organically. Gives me a chance to get the characters actually into it, with some potential political stuff later on. Not just, "the local redcap knocks on the door of the covenant and wants you to build some roads."

2. They can encounter a group of crusaders or muslim knights hunting down the good djinn for being a demon spawn. Or even a flambeau or tytalus wanting to go after both djinns to do a 3 way contest with them.

Oooh. This I like. I'll think on it. A 3-way contest could be amusing... perhaps the infernal djinn was hoping for this, working the two against each other??

4. The good djinn might be an asshole while the infernal djinn might act friendly. Who will they help? Will they believe an escaped muslim instead of cutting his throat (IMS muslims were badly treated by players, since they were mostly castillian xenophobes in character)

I like the idea of playing the infernal as a charming being. That's pretty good. It may get in the way of a slug-a-thon climax, which some of my players may need soon. I'll see how it flows. I too am very curious how the players will react to the muslim slaves. Belladonna will probably not have a problem. The Jerbiton is a pious christian bent on spreading christianity. I suspect he'll bring them in and try to convert them. Regardless, the new personel will throw dynamics within the covenant into a bit of tizzy (Especially since the covenant's founder, an ancient mage who never comes out of his sanctum, founded the covenant as part of the front lines of the reconquista back when old Castille was, well, new Castille.)

5. Maybe a trip to a muslim university would be in the order of the day if the djinn oproves too powerful to deal with. And there you get in contact with a bunch of arabic students that prove plenty of stuff for introduction into virtues & flaws (alchemy, astral magic, summoning & binding spirits et al) and a pair of urban adventures in the city. Always fun for the weirdos that magi are.

Nice. Are you saying these students could be substitute covenfolk, or that the chars. go there to learn more about Djinn?

: I really like tyour story arc and the adventure you have built around it. Might steal it for my saga in a modified format. Kudos to you

Thanks. I'd like to hear what you do with it, if anything. I often post my adventure ideas as they are still gelling in order to get feedback, and just to focus my thoughts. It proves invaluable.

Later,
Eric

[firth5]

@Xavi

Other stuff to introduce

1. The redcaps can come looking why the hell the road is not being built

Exactly. This was what I meant by introducing the redcaps story organically. Gives me a chance to get the characters actually into it, with some potential political stuff later on. Not just, "the local redcap knocks on the door of the covenant and wants you to build some roads."

2. They can encounter a group of crusaders or muslim knights hunting down the good djinn for being a demon spawn. Or even a flambeau or tytalus wanting to go after both djinns to do a 3 way contest with them.

Oooh. This I like. I'll think on it. A 3-way contest could be amusing... perhaps the infernal djinn was hoping for this, working the two against each other??

4. The good djinn might be an asshole while the infernal djinn might act friendly. Who will they help? Will they believe an escaped muslim instead of cutting his throat (IMS muslims were badly treated by players, since they were mostly castillian xenophobes in character)

I like the idea of playing the infernal as a charming being. That's pretty good. It may get in the way of a slug-a-thon climax, which some of my players may need soon. I'll see how it flows. I too am very curious how the players will react to the muslim slaves. Belladonna will probably not have a problem. The Jerbiton is a pious christian bent on spreading christianity. I suspect he'll bring them in and try to convert them. Regardless, the new personel will throw dynamics within the covenant into a bit of tizzy (Especially since the covenant's founder, an ancient mage who never comes out of his sanctum, founded the covenant as part of the front lines of the reconquista back when old Castille was, well, new Castille.)

5. Maybe a trip to a muslim university would be in the order of the day if the djinn oproves too powerful to deal with. And there you get in contact with a bunch of arabic students that prove plenty of stuff for introduction into virtues & flaws (alchemy, astral magic, summoning & binding spirits et al) and a pair of urban adventures in the city. Always fun for the weirdos that magi are.

Nice. Are you saying these students could be substitute covenfolk, or that the chars. go there to learn more about Djinn?

: I really like tyour story arc and the adventure you have built around it. Might steal it for my saga in a modified format. Kudos to you

Thanks. I'd like to hear what you do with it, if anything. I often post my adventure ideas as they are still gelling in order to get feedback, and just to focus my thoughts. It proves invaluable.

Later,
Eric