Chaosium Digest Volume 6, Number 12 Date: Sunday, July 3, 1994 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: The Treacherous Pict (Eric Rowe) PENDRAGON The Trail of the Mermaid (Eric Yin) PENDRAGON Editor's Note: Jan Engan (LadyeJan@aol.com) is currently moderating a "round robin" discussion group regarding Call of Cthulhu. Current topics include women in gaming, cross-gender characters and gaming couples. There is an emphasis on the needs and interests of Keepers. If any subscribers are interested in being a part of this, drop Jan a line, and she will send information and guidelines for posting. New out this week is Nexus (Chaosium, 136 pg, $19.95), the first of Chaosium's "Play This Book" LARPs. It's a game for 44 players and several gamemasters. I'd like to get a review of Nexus for the Digest, so if you're interested in writing one, drop me a line. Recent Sightings: More French sightings, thanks to Frederic Moll. * Call of Cthulhu - "La Poussiere a la Poussiere", a seven pages adventure which begins as a cruise and finishes in Egypt. As a bonus, there is a page about the Egypt of the 20s and 30s, Casus Belli Special #12 [July, 1994] * Nephilim - "Les Yeux d'Esmeralda", a seven page adventure, Casus Belli Special #12 [July, 1994] - -------------------- From: Eric Rowe Subject: The Adventure of The Treacherous Pict System: Pendragon INTRODUCTION This adventure is set in Caledonia and is best dated in Phase 3 of Arthur's reign. This year has seen a marked increase in Pict raiding of Strangorre, in an area just north of King Brangore's capital, Alclud. In the past, King Uriens has always come to the assistance of Strangorre, but these days he and his son spend most of their time at Camelot. Gorre's steward is Urien's nephew Bagdemagus, also a round table knight. Bagdemagus is willing to help Strangorre, but only if he thinks there is real need. Small raids in the northern territory do not an invasion make. Thus, Strangorre finds itself having to deal with the raids itself. The players may be knights of Strangorre, knights on adventure in the north or even sent there by Arthur, perhaps to escort a new priest to the north so that he may continue his plan of pacification through conversion. In any case, the players knights (and likely others as well) are asked to travel north from Alclud to investigate the cause of the increase raids. They should always be alert for Irish raiders (Scots) as well. BACKGROUND A Shaman from the Pictish highlands lost his family to an expedition of Arthurian knights several years ago. This event increased and twisted his hatred of knights and the English far beyond normal Pictish levels. In such a mindset, he ventured south to study his enemies. After more than two years away, he has returned with knowledge he believes will help him destroy his enemies. Since his return, he has been banding several of the smaller clans together under his leadership, letting each in on his master plan. He plans first to strike against nearby Strangorre. He will begin by softening up the land through many small raids. Then, using the methods and beliefs of the Strangorre knights against them, he will destroy their best knights. When the kingdom is finally weakened enough, the massed clans of Picts will invade. HUNTING PICT RAIDERS Several days to the north of Alclud are the lands where the Picts are concentrating their raids. When players knights arrive, they can find several small feudal areas that have been plundered recently by Picts. The Picts are raiding in small bands of 5-10 men and striking quickly, immediately retreating afterwards. They leave many depressed survivors to tell their tales. After the players have talked to some of the survivors of the raids, they should begin attempting to track the raiders down. Successful Hunting rolls allow them to eventually track down one of the Pict bands. If you wish to make this stage of the adventure harder, the players may also mistakenly pick up the trail of a band of Irish raiders. While this will provide an entertaining fight, it brings the players no closer to their goal of stopping the Pict raids. THE PICT BAND When the Pict band is finally discovered, the player knights do not find the bunch of blue-painted madmen they would expect to find, based on the past history of Pictish raids and the descriptions of the raid victims. The men they find are indeed painted blue, but they are not mad. In fact, they don't even look angry. Their leader will attempt to parley with the party in broken English. Assuming chivalrous knights, the players listen. The Pict has a deal for the knights. If the champion of the knights fights the Pict champion in an honorable combat, the Picts will leave. If the player knight's champion wins, the Picts will withdraw and promise not to raid for at least a year. If the Picts win, the player knights must withdraw to Alclud for a like time. Of course, other knights may try to follow, but they too must face the Pict champion before the Picts agree to cease their raiding. If no deal is made, the Pict bands continue to raid. The Picts leave and return with their champion in a day; he is nearby. This means the players must decide upon a champion amongst themselves or find a way to delay the battle until a more suitable champion for Strangorre can be found. That is up to them and their Prudent and Proud scores. THE PICT CHAMPION The Pict champion is an enormous man wearing reinforced chain and helm, no doubt pillaged from the south. His armor is covered with blue mud and paint and he wields a massive great axe. He fights from the ground and his spokesman demands his opponent do so as well. He will fight a foe on horseback if necessary, but this would not be a Just or fair fight. The Picts have no intention of being Just or fair. The blade of the Pict champion is coated with a horrible poison concocted by the Shaman. It can only be noticed if an Awarness roll is a critical success. As the fight progresses, the Pict just tries to wound the Strangorre champion in any way. Once a wound is scored by the Pict, no matter how small it is, the Pict yields and begs for mercy. The Picts will then sorrowfully depart back to the north, promising not to return for at least a year. The victim of the poisoning must roll under his CON or face the full wrath of the poison. That is, of course, death, though it takes several days to wreak its full course of bodily destruction. If the CON roll is a success, the lucky knight only finds himself in a light coma. If the Pict champion is defeated without striking a blow, the Picts become enraged and claim the knights cheated. They all attack and shortly are joined by another raiding band that was hiding nearby. AFTER THE FIGHT The Picts will not keep their promises, though they may have made many to convince the knights to fight fairly. Raids continue, as will more treacherous challenges to other groups of knights. Pict bands fight any group that has already been tricked once or for some other reason refuses the honorable challenge. CONCLUSION? After the discovery of Pictish treachery there will still be many loose ends to tie up. 1. The poisoned knight. Since the poison is not immediately lethal, there is hope to save a life. It is rumored that in the wild lands between Stangorre and Lothian there resides a powerful magician or witch. They could probably purge the poison and save him, but what would they ask for in return? 2. Obtaining the aid of Gorre. Bagdemagus is an honorable man. If worthy and true knights are able to sufficiently sway his mind in court, he could be convinced to send more knights to help Strangorre. This would require the players impressing or persuading many or the court powers to take their side. 3. The Shaman. The players still know nothing of their original mission. It is possible that they could capture some Picts to question, but they are notoriously uncooperative, even under extreme duress. One possiblility would be to travel into the highlands themselves to seek the source of the raids. This would be very dangerous, but is possibly the only way to prevent eventual invasion of Strangorre from many united Pict clans. 4. The Irish. Dalriada is one of the prime suspects for provoking the increased Pict raids. If they are not behind the raids, then they are most likely taking advantage of the situation. Perhaps the Picts can be convinced to turn their wrath in a westerly direction. WILD PICT WARRIOR Use stats from Pendragon 4th ed. p. 330. PICT CHAMPION SIZ: 20 Move 3(+2) DEX: 14 Damage 6d6+1d6 STR: 16 Hit Points 36 CON: 15 Armor 12 + 3(magic tatoos) Attacks: Great Axe 20 (1d6 damage bonus) The Pict Champion will not use the double feint tactic common to Picts. He instead intends simply to pound his way through an opponents armor. - -------------------- From: Eric Yin Subject: The Trail of the Mermaid System: Pendragon In V5.5 of the digest, I presented my "oriental adventures" rules for Pendragon. Here are two short vignettes, based on Rumiko Takahashi's Mermaid Saga (Mermaid Forest and Mermaid's Scar) published in Japan by Shogakukan, and here in the U.S. by Viz Comics. The scenarios presented can be easily converted for use in a regular Pendragon campaign by changing names and locations, and altering weapon damage to standard Pendragon format. The Trail of the Mermaid Many Chinese emperors were obsessed with immortality, and would go to great lengths for the chance to live for eternity. In these vignettes, the characters can be commisioned by the Emperor to seek the flesh of a mermaid, which is said to grant immortality to those who eat of it. Mermaid Hill Setting: Fukien Province, an isolated mansion on the coast. Plot Devices: The corpse of a girl without any feet. The legend of a mermaid buried beneath a hill. Characters: Foam, a crone; Fan, a young woman with prematurely white hair, stricken by infirmity; Dr. Wan an aged physician; a young servant girl newly come to the mansion. Secrets: Foam and Fan are actually twin sisters. In their youth, Foam was chosen by their father to become guardian of the Mermaid Hill and its secrets. In her desire for immortality, she tested the effects of the mermaid's blood on her sickly sister Fan, for fear of the effects on herself. The experiment failed. Fan's hair turned white overnight in the excruciations she endured, and her feet became that of a monster's. Foam decided that it was best to tell her father that Fan had died. They maintained the fiction until their father died, with the help of Dr. Wan. Now, she is old and burdened with guilt. Merely existing, Fan stayed unchanging while her sister was able to lead the life of an ordinary woman; to wed, raise a family, grow old and eventually die. Fan knows her sister knew of the dangers of the mermaid's blood and experimented on her. Now, she lives only for vengence. She seeks to discover the location of Mermaid Hill to make her sister eat of the mermaid's flesh to repay her for her "gift". Fan seeks the hill more urgently now, for while appearing young but for her white hair, she is old like her sister, and will not live much longer. She will not hesitate to use the life of the servant girl as a bartering tool to get others to fulfill her ends. Dr. Wan has stolen the feet of newly deceased girls to replace the monstrous extremeties of his once-betrothed and alleviate her pain. However, after a few years, her feet once more return to their abominable form, and with the transformation, the pain returns. The Mermaid Hill has a secret entrance leading into a cave beneath the hill. Within, in a barred pit, is the corpse of a mermaid, impaled upon the wall. Guarding the corpse is a Lost Soul. If the mermaid is disturbed, the Lost Soul will attack the nearest human. If the creatures are defeated, a successful Awareness roll allows the character to find a jar of mermaid poison. Solution: The characters get Foam to lead them to the mermaid's corpse. At this point, if the characters help Fan, they may receive a Vengeful or Cruel check. If they help Foam to destroy the mermaid's corpse, check Merciful. If they let the scenario play itself out, and do not interfere, they may receive a Prudent check. In any event, the mermaid's corpse should be destroyed, either by a despairing Foam, or (once) purposeful Fan, so that the characters can continue on to the next part. Village of the Mermaids Setting: The Eastern Isles, Cape Nosuri. Plot Devices: Coruscant scales the size of one's palms found near Cape Nosuri. A cliff riddled with caves opening into the sea. A village with no men, where all the old women have the same faces. Secrets: The women of the village are mermaids. They buy young girls from other areas, and raise them, seeking the *one*, for just as the human who eats the flesh of a mermaid gains immortality, the mermaid (in human form) who eats the flesh of a human who has successfully gained immortality is restored to youth. The mermaid who has lived the longest is chosen to sacrifice her life so that the young girls can eat mermaid's flesh. All those who become Lost Souls are banished to the sea caves. Solution: Drive the mermaids back into the sea, and rescue the girls. Mermaids The mermaid is a being that appears to be half woman, half fish, but upon seeing the creature, there is nothing human about it. Its face is like a bleached skull except for large bulging eyes and gaping jaws filled with sharp teeth. The flesh of the mermaid is said to grant immortality to those who eat of it, but it is a deadly poison. It is only the rare and exceptional person who is lucky enough to be gifted with eternal life. The vast majority of those who eat the mermaid's flesh are unable to withstand the violent changes it brings upon the body, and either die or become monsters cursed for eternity. SIZ 12 DEX 16 STR 18 CON 40 HP 52 Harpoon (in human form) 1D3+1 Claw 1D6 Bite 1D8 Regenerate 6HP per round, only kill by a critical success. Armor: 1 point scales. Lost Souls The lost souls are those who have eaten the flesh of a mermaid and failed to gain immortality. They become grotesque fish- or frog-like parodies of human beings, with great lumpy bodies crisscrossed with a network of bulging veins and corded muscles, big goggling eyes, huge clawed hands, and gaping mouths filled with sharp needle-like teeth. Like mermaids, they can only be killed by decapitation, massive head trauma or mermaid poison. SIZ 18 DEX 14 STR 21 CON 40 HP 58 Claw 1D8 Bite 1D10 Regenerate 6HP per round, only kill by a critical success. Armor: 2 points of rubbery skin. Mermaid Poison Poison made by allowing the corpse of a mermaid to rot in a mixture of poisonous herbs. POT 100. Notes: If the characters decide to eat the mermaid's flesh themselves, remember that it is deadly poison, and only one person in a century (or fewer) have the luck of being able to gain eternal life. To paraphrase Bramt Hex in Michael Shea's "In Yana" after refusing immortality: "It is better to first learn how to taste of this life before taking a second helping." - -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu. The old digests are archived on soda.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP. ------- End of Forwarded Message