Church & State by Kenya Ferrand
Written by Tony Hoffart
Edited by Kirk Duplessis
Illustrated by Kenya Ferrand
Cartography by Paul King
The guttersnipe squirms as you haul him about but doesn’t attempt to run.
“Please sir, I wasn’t trying to rob you I needed to talk to you honest. They’ve got me bruddah, and now they’re going to go after de Mayah!“
A few tears start to stream down the waif’s filthy cheeks. “I got no one else sir. Please listen to me. No one else will…“
Background
The PC’s have found themselves in a large town where Brother Ptolemy and the Monks of the Hidden Kingdom have set up shop. The order is now several hundred strong and the monks can be seen everywhere. The people love them, and many of the nobles and ranking officials of the town have expressed admiration for their good works, but the mayor remains skeptical. All this is common knowledge and is openly discussed in the streets and taverns around the way.
As the PC’s go about their business in town, a young street waif of indeterminate gender with quick fingers and quicker feet approaches them. The obviously skittish child approaches cautiously, but once within arms length, decides against the original plan, and turns to bolt. The waif tries to scurry off but suspicious of what’s going on, one of the PC’s grabs the urchin by the grungy collar and tugs them both somewhere quiet to “have a chat”.
The waif tells you that three days ago the Monks took it’s Brother unexpectedly, they tried to grab both siblings but it’s little legs were were too quick and got away. The waif wanted to know about what happened to it’s brother so that night the child scaled the wall of Gerhardt Von Brandt’s manor to find out.
There the child describes a ritual observed through a small basement window. The lead monk did the ritual on a girl who used to work in the Mayor’s estate, and then subsequently stabbed her with an ornate dagger! The waif winces fearing the PC’s won’t believe as it relays how the girl then got up and donned the red robes of the order. Then the new member begins to tell them about the in’s-and-outs of the mayor’s estate…
The waif is crying now, frightened that it’s brother had that dagger ritual happen to him. The more important question though is what does Brother Ptolemy have planned that involves the Mayor’s home?
Mission
Brother Ptolemy’s intent is to perform the ritual on the Mayor by having several monks sneak through the servants entrance under cover of night sneak into his chambers and fulfill it there. Then through the guidance of the other Monks the mayor will publicly announce his conversion before obvious decay of his body begins. That is, unless the PC’s can stop it from happening…
Since the waif did not hear the Brotherhood’s specific intent, the PC’s have no specifics to warn anyone and the Monks intend to act on the Mayor that very night so further investigation is necessary.
- The guttersnipe can repeat most of what the converted former servant said, which includes the various entrances to the manor, the rotation schedule of the guards, where the servants and residents sleep, and what activities can be expected to happen. GM’s can add details as they so desire.
- By questioning anyone in the mayors office a good result from an investigation roll will yield that quiet overtures from the Monks of the Hidden Kingdom have been made to offer the Mayor membership in the past, which have been coldly received, though the mayor hasn’t outright insulted them, he’s made it quite clear he has no intention of joining their ranks.
- Watching the Cult’s activities will reveal that they are establishing a candle light vigil for the sick and dying at a hospital only a few blocks from the mayor’s estate. It’s a fairly large affair including over 50 Monks, a perfect staging area to move on the Mayor.
Alerting the Mayor or any of his aids that something may happen will – at best – have the mayor add a few extra guards for a few nights, which will not deter the Monks, or -at worst – make the mayor suspicious of the PC’s intentions.
Climax
To stop Brother Ptolemy from bringing the Mayor under the cult’s influence the PC’s will have to head off the ritualists as they attempt to enter the Mayor’s estate. Brother Ptolemy will be among them to ensure the Mayor will be subjugated to him specifically. He will attempt to get away during any confrontation leaving his devout followers to cover his retreat before they attempt to escape themselves.
All 10 of the ritualists are talented magic users of roughly equal power level to the PC’s, they will attempt to fight the PC’s initially as their leader attempts to escape, and then escape themselves to avoid being implicated in any wrongdoing. The PC’s may be accused of invading the Mayor’s home if they cannot capture or incapacitate any of the Monks, but managing to do so will reveal the Brotherhood for what it truly is.
Click on the image below to download the map for this encounter.
Encounter Map by Paul King
Church & State by Nevermet Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.nevermetpress.com/contact.
