Chaosium Digest Volume 14, Number 12 Date: Sunday, June 9, 1996 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: A Web of NPCs (Iain Rowan) ELRIC! Editor's Note: Welcome to the newest issue of the Chaosium Digest. This time around, a set of NPCs that can be used to generate a number of adventures for the Elric! game. Shannon RECENT RELEASES: * Elric! - _Atlas of the Young Kingdoms Vol 1: The Northern Continent_ (Chaosium, 144 pg., $19.95) shipped this week. It should start appearing in stores at the end of next week. This long-awaited resource contains information on Vilmir, Ilmiora, the Weeping Waste, Nadsokor, Org, the Forest of Troos, the Sighing Desert and Tanelorn. UPCOMING (FRENCH) RELEASES: As ever, thanks to Frederic Moll for info on French releases and sightings. * Mythos - The French edition of Mythos should be out for the end of June. It will be published by Jeux Descartes, the French publisher of Call of Cthulhu. (FRENCH) MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS: * Call of Cthulhu - "Le Livre des Revelations" is a 12 page scenerio for CoC that takes place in America, Berlin and Jerusalem, Calus Belli #95 [June, 1996] RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE: * Call of Cthulhu - _Trail of Cthulhu_ (Carroll & Graf), by August Derleth is now out. It's a reprint of the old Arkham House Derlethian short story collection, and includes "The House on Curwen Street", "The Watcher from the Sky", "The Gorge Beyond Salapunco", "The Keeper of the Key" and "The Black Island". -------------------- From: ROWAN Iain Subject: A Web of NPCs System: Elric! Below are some NPCs for Elric! which stand on their own as (hopefully) interesting characters. Also included are some suggested possibilities for adventure which draw these NPCs, and possibly the players characters, together. ARLAN DUBLAR Arlan is a successful merchant in one of the more lawful of the young Kingdoms. He has built up his fortune by trading in X, and by adopting a policy of what can only be termed fierce competitiveness with his rivals. Arlan is a respected (although not particularly liked) member of the local community, and is a prominent worshipper at the Temple of Goldar. Tall and dark, Arlan's already brooding features are laid over by a deep melancholy. In his life Arlan has had only two loves: Dryiyna, his wife, and Mayana, his daughter and only child. Dryiyna died two years ago, and Mayana blamed Arlan for her death, believing that his jealousy and possessiveness broke Dryiyna's spirit. Since that day, the two have become progressively more estranged. This estrangement culminated recently when Mayana eloped with one Helis Varn, the son of one of Arlan s greatest rivals, and announced her intention to wed. Arlan, disturbed by his grief over the loss of his wife and daughter, has become progressively more withdrawn. He still loves his daughter, and wishes his great wealth to pass to her, but the idea of a son of the Varn family laying his hands on the Dublar estate fills him with horror. Arlan Dublar, Merchant and Grieving Father STR 11, CON 16, SIZ 15, INT 15, POW 11, DEX 12, APP 13 Hits: 16 DAMAGE BONUS: +1d4 WEAPONS: Short Sword 58%, Damage 1d6+1+db ARMOUR: Leather and Rings, 1d6 SKILLS: Bargain 82%, Common Tongue 76%, Evaluate 92%, Insight 22%, Ride 65%, Scribe 66%, Young Kingdoms 56% Possibilities... * Arlan wishes to hire the PCs to return his daughter to him. If Helis Varn should happen to be maimed or killed in the process, then so much the better. Of course, as a pillar of the local community and the local Temple of Goldar Arlan cannot seen to be associated in any way with such a venture. Arlan may or may not choose to tell the PCs that Varn is a notable swordsman, and as the son and heir to the Varn family empire, has some strong and efficient bodyguards and companions. Mayana will not leave her love under any circumstances. If he is killed, or she thinks that he is killed, she will seize every opportunity to kill herself. If this occurs, the PCs are advised to leave town very quickly, as both the Varns and Dublar will be after their blood. * Arlan wishes to hire the PC s to guard him. He has received word that an attempt is to be made on his life, and in his disturbed state has decided that he can no longer trust his guards. He is convinced that he is being followed by a dwarven man, small like some kind of hideous union between a child and an ape . His usual bodyguards will be angered by the hiring of the party, and in no mood to take orders from a party of upstart strangers. * Arlan wishes to hire the PCs to recover a precious item which has been stolen from him. It is a silver locket containing a miniature self-portrait painted by his late wife. He was conducting some business in the market the other day when some vile thief stole it from his pocket. It can be instantly recognised even if the picture has been removed, as the chain is broken, which is why it had been in his pocket. The locket is of secondary concern however, what is most important is the portrait. Arlan also wants the thief brought to him alive. FORLEN HUBRIL On first sight Forlen cuts a remarkable figure. He can typically be found wearing a silken shirt dyed a brilliant scarlet, over a pair of trousers cut from the finest cloth, as blue as the eggshell of the rare corn plover (not surprisingly, as the dye is made from the crushed shells of the now even rarer bird). To complete the outfit Forlen is crowned with a yellow hat, trimmed with a large feather the same colour as his shirt. This hat is regularly swept off whenever beautiful ladies are met, to reveal a head of perefectly curled hair. Forlen also has a moustache that can only be described as preposterous. Forlen has a soft, lisping voice, and generally gives the impression of being quite effete. His habit of declaiming poetry at every occasion (and particularly when the afore-mentioned beautiful women are present) does not do anything to contradict this image. Describing himself as a Travelling Collector ("What do I collect sir? Why, experience, sir. The experience of beautiful women, of fine wine, of great art, of the bizarre and the fantastic. Why, as the poet said...") Forlen comes across as polite, friendly, but very vain and remarkably shallow. As Forlen himself would quote, the famous Vilmirian poet Arcos once wrote "Deeds not looks are what I believe / as deed unlike appearance does not deceive". This is certainly true in Forlen's case. He is one of the most skilled assassins in the kingdom. His peacock appearance and cultured outlook gains him easy entry into the circles in which most of his targets move, whilst his foppish demeanor means that none mark him as a threat or suspect him when the deed is done. Forlen has been hired by some of the most famous names in the kingdom (including the royal family), but none know this foppish dandy as the assassin, as all business is conducted through an elaborate system of cut-outs and contacts. Forlen has not operated in this area of the kingdom before, but has been brought in by a member of a notable merchant family to remove a rival. Forlen Hubril, Dandy and Assassin STR 15, CON 14, SIZ 11, INT 17, POW 16, DEX 17, APP 15 Hits: 13 DAMAGE BONUS: +1d4 WEAPONS: Rapier 122%, Damage 1d6+1+db+poison Thrown Dagger 86%, Damage 1d4+2+poison ARMOUR: None SKILLS: Art (Fashion) 84%, Art (Declaim Poetry) 78%, Common Tongue 92%, Climb 48%, Conceal Object 68%, Dodge 55%, Fast Talk 76%, Listen 56%, Move Quietly 88%, Physik 45%, Pick Lock 66%, Potions 63%, Young Kingdoms 50%, Reveal True Self with Chilling Laugh 88% Possibilities... * Forlen has been hired by Helis Varn to kill Arlan Dublar. Varn knows that Dublar will never allow his marriage to Mayana, in addition to which he is keen to get his hands on the Dublar family fortune. When Helis inherits the Varn fortune as well, he will be one of the wealthiest merchants in this province. Forlen wishes to use the party as a patsy, so he will hire them to burgle Dublar's house to retrieve some jewellery. While they are in the process of the burglary, he will kill Dublar and on leaving, ensure that the watch are raised to catch the PCs in the house with some stolen jewellery and a dead merchant. This could be particularly embarrassing if the party had been hired as Dublar's guards. * Forlen has been hired by Arlan Dublar to kill Helis Varn. The above all applies, with the characters reversed. OSKO THE UNLUCKY AND SNEFF RATTLESKULL Osko is a regular fixture at the busy markets of some of the biggest cities in the Young Kingdoms, and amuses everyone with his stories of hard luck and cursed misfortune which inevitably explain why he is having to sell this fine piece of jewellery at such a knockdown price. Today he is regaling the crowd with a long and complicated story involving his mother, a rare disease, and some medicinal herbs known only to a lost tribe of the Sighing Desert. If the PCs stand and watch Osko for too long, the chances are that his assistant, Sneff, will try and pick their pockets. Osko has a battered and scarred sorrowful face which manages to hint at all the terrible troubles which have befallen him. In reality, many of the scars were earnt in the course of some of his shadier dealings. Most of Osko's jewellery is cheap if decent. Occasionally, he will have a piece of greater value. What he sells tends to depend upon what Sneff managed to liberate in the previous town. One of the best pieces that they will be selling in the next town is a finely carved silver locket which Sneff picked up the other day. It originally had a picture in, of a beautiful woman, but Sneff has fallen in love with her. He has removed the picture and keeps it in a leather bag tied around his neck. Sneff is Osko's willing assistant, a tiny man mistaken by many for a child. Sneff does not have many talents, or indeed many virtues, except for his sleight of hand, and, surprisingly, the ability to sing like a thing of beauty. If Osko and Sneff are very hard up, Sneff will sing for money for them while Osko passes a hat round. Sneff is devoted to Osko, and will do anything for him. Osko repays this devotion by continually cursing Sneff and hitting him around the head at any opportunity. Osko the Unlucky, Shyster STR 9, CON 13, SIZ 11, INT 12, POW 12, DEX 14, APP 12 Hits: 12 DAMAGE BONUS: none WEAPONS: Dagger 48%, Damage 1d4+2 ARMOUR: Soft Leather, 1d6-1 SKILLS: Bargain 82%, Common Tongue 76%, Dodge 64%, Evaluate 60%, Fast Talk 76%, Pick Lock 45%,Search 67%, Spin Implausible Tale 65%, Tug Heartstrings 72%, Young Kingdoms 40% Sneff, Pickpocket and Soprano STR 7, CON 11, SIZ 7, INT 7, POW 11, DEX 16, APP 12 Hits: 9 DAMAGE BONUS: -1d4 WEAPONS: Concealable knife 35%, Damage 1d4-db ARMOUR: None SKILLS: Common Tongue 45%, Fast Talk 48%, Dodge 78%, Hide 72%, Pick Pockets 76%, Run through Legs of Crowd 56%, Sing 80%, Possibilities... * Trading has been bad for Osko and Sneff, and pickings have been few and far between. Osko is very keen to have one good score before they move on, and has decided to burgle the house of the merchant they stole the locket from. They saw him in the town a day ago, and Sneff followed him home. They plan on burgling his house that night. * Sneff is delirious with joy. He spotted Mayana in the street, and believes that she is the love of his life as depicted in the picture from the locket. He followed her home, and now spends much of his spare time waiting in the street for her to pass. If she does, he intends to sing a declaration of his love to her. If anyone tried to harm her he would go berserk. Osko finds all this very amusing. -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views or beliefs of Chaosium Inc. To submit an article, subscribe or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.