Chaosium Digest Volume 31, Number 4 Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2000 Number: 3 of 3 The Adventure of the Lady of Darkwater (part 3) Events during marriage Spices and Potions Jasmine, along with many other beauties of Arthurian fable, does not seem to age. She's ageless because she's already dead, but she can't tell that to her husband. If pressed, she admits to brewing a philter which delays aging. It works most strongly, she claims, for those of her religious persuasion, to which knights may not convert, but should still be of benefit to her husband, and those he selects to share "their" secret with. She cautions him not to tell too many, because men will do terrible things to live longer. Jasmine's potion, she claims, requires rare ingredients that must be purchased in London, York or Camelot. While the characters are away, collecting spices, her ghulish cohorts are disinterring a corpse per dose of potion required, and are draining away its juices. The potion is black and oily, and smells like decaying meat, but she gently chides any knight showing displeasure at the concoction, telling him that the price of beauty is discomfort, as any woman knows. Jasmine's false ingredients cost 5L per dose, or less if she feels the knights cannot afford it. If asked where she has been getting the money from to pay for the ingredients previously, she states that she has sold some of the gifts, from her previous husband, that she keeps in her private quarters. Characters need to drink the potion annually to retain its effects. Jasmine claims that good Zoroastrians keep themselves pure, and so need to imbibe it far less often. Jasmine either sells the spices, if the dominion is short of money, or stores them. When the characters ransack her rooms, at the scenario's end, they either find her private treasury or piled bags of cinnamon. The potion appears to slow aging, but actually it gradually transforms its drinkers into ghuls. Tell the players that the first statistic point that the character loses each year, either due to major wounds or aging is not actually lost. Keep a private record of these loses. If a character dies due to statistic loss (aging, poisoning, depravation or major wounds) while under the effects of this potion, they become a ghul, although they may not realize this until the final confrontation. When the characters dispatch Jasmine, the illusion of health this potion creates is dispelled, and their age catches up with them. While taking this potion knights lose 1 point less than is usual from each cutting injury and heal two points faster than usual. Jasmine uses this as an excuse to dose a husband who is too young to worry about aging. Bouncing baby ghuls? Any children Jasmine bears are ghuls. They have green eyes, just like their mother and have green mouth interiors. Ghulish babies are sneaky, and so don't poke their tongues out at other children, or perform other acts likely to give them away to humans, although the are casually cruel, in much the same way some natural children are. Ghul babies feed on blood, but their wetnurse, also a ghul, only feeds them in the "women's garden". The Ghost Who Walks The ghost of Sir Basil is unable to rest until the ghouls who shared his body are all dead, and buried in sacred earth or consumed by flame. He is distantly aware of this. On the anniversaries of his death, which is not the date in his epitaph, and his marriage, which is not the date in the parish register, he returns to Darkwater to seek revenge. He can be driven away by the ghul pack, but sometimes manages to kill one of the weaker ones. He assaults Jasmine when he is able, and, once the player characters have begun to take her potions, these "ghuls" as well. So that the characters do not wonder at the importance of the two days on which the Phantom is seen, Zekiel impersonates the ghost on certain other knights, leading the characters on lengthy chases through the dark and murdering innocent peasants. Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Jasmine's Husband... The charming Lady Jasmine can get her husband out of the house by having his lord grant him an office. His salary assists her to develop Darkwater, without cutting into the funds for the hospice. Her prefered station for her husband is Keeper of the King's Pleas, or coroner. If her husband's lord doesn't rule more than one county, he performs a similar role, collecting rights, but will draw this income from less exotic sources, and need to do less detective work. The number of counties a lord controls is equal to the number of places his land has on its regional Homeland table. For example in Logres, on page 73, Dorset contains three counties. Lindsey, the most powerful state, contains 4 rural counties and two cities, Leicester and Lincoln. Cities also have coroners. The Custos Placitorum Coronae, to use the formal title, are responsible for collecting the "chance revenues" of the king. Chance revenues include "the forfeited chattels of felons, deodands, wrecks, royal fish and treasure trove". It is the duty of the coroner to seek out these revenues, and ensure that they are transferred to his master. Chance revenues are miscellaneous income sources which kings hold by law or tradition. The chattels of felons are the goods of those who have been stripped of their property for committing a serious crime. Coroners hold inquests into any event they think might lead to a conviction for felony, to ensure that their lord gets any income owed to them. Deodands are objects which cause death by misadventure. Deodands are donated the Church, which sells them and then distributes the proceeds to the bereaved. The royal fish is the sturgeon, and if any are caught in Britain they are the property of the king. Treasure trove is any gold or silver object that has been found, but was not lost. That is, if it is deliberately buried, or hidden, then found, and if no owner can be discovered by the coroner, it belongs to the king. How much the character is paid for his work depends on how much the lord earns from his chance revenue rights. Some kings fund the office of coroner from a portion of their pleas. These coroners earn little most years, but collect a lump sum when a nobleman is declared a felon, a merchant ship wrecks on their coast or someone discovers buried treasure. Other coroners have a fixed salary, but these are less fun to role-play. Sheriffs or coroners? The Pendragon book describes the title of sheriff, or shire-reeve, which has a similar function to that of the coroner. Originally each shire-reeve acted as the steward for the king's portion of his county and ensured the king's justice was upheld. He held courts on major issues, appointed hundred-reeves to hold lesser courts, and called out the posse comitatus, the force of the county, to quell riots and pursue wrongdoers. Coroners are taxmen, who seek the truth because there might be money in it for their lord. The king's pleas, and the goods gathered under them, were originally handled by the shire-reeves, but they were widely considered incompetent and corrupt, so, during Phase Two, coroners were given the task of ensuring sheriffs passed on all the money that the king was due. During Phase Three Arthur shifts the right to keep the king's pleas to the coroners, which means they gain the right to hold inquests into matters that might net the king chance revenue. This gives the character, and his assistants, the right to snoop about after sudden deaths, ask people distressing questions and otherwise irritate in a manner common in cheap detective fiction. [This section compiled with the assistance of Rhea, N.,"Constable Through the Meadow" in Heartbeat: Constable Along the Lane And Other Tales of A Yorkshire Village Bobby, Headline Book Publishing, London, 1995, pp.425-8. The words in "quotations" are themselves quotations in this book, although no Act is named. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 4th edition. The Oxford Companion to British History] Tourneying Ghuls love tourneys. Basically, to them, tourneys are events in which humans poke sticks into each other, and spill blood everywhere. Jasmine does what she can with her husband's finances to ensure a tourney is held on important anniversaries. One reason for this is that the anniversary of her second marriage is also the anniversary of her first husband's death, and extra knights are handy when the Phantom comes calling. The other is that Zekiel can impersonate any nobleman whose blood he tastes. Wounds Ghuls drink the blood of the sleeping. If her husband is injured, Jasmine may not be able to help herself. A character who has a high Piety score has terrible nightmares of his wife licking his blood from his wounds, and awakes with fever and an infected injury. Wise healers and leeches from the hospice, who have green eyes, tell the character that he is suffering from blood poisoning and this often leads to nightmares. Drugs and Raucous Behavior Jasmine sedates her husband before sneaking out to ghulish festivals. Since she's dead, she's willing to taint food she shares with him. If another character follows her, he is be spotted by ghulish sentries, who keen a warning. Jasmine then lights a fire, burns some incense and prays for a few hours. If approached she claims that the sentries are there for her protection. If the character is not useful to her, she and her packmates simply kill them immediately. Dénouement Jasmine's scheme should be exposed before the players want to use her ghulish children as characters. A gamemaster wishing to stretch this story may arrange that all of her children are female, for some mystical reason. It is best if all of the player characters are present when this story concludes. A celebratory tournament, which the Darkwater Suitors attend, should be staged. The erratic calendar which times ghul festivals is cyclical, so one eventually falls on the date Jasmine murdered her first husband, and married her second. As her attendance is required, she drugs her lover and heads out into the darkness. Zekiel meets her at the manor's gates, as both know the Phantom may ride this evening. They gallop to their packmates, seeking safety in numbers. The Phantom instead attacks her drugged husband, rousing him from sleep as it first slices into him with its all-but-insubstantial sword. The character, without weapons or armor, may be seriously hurt in this encounter. His cries bring assistance after two rounds. Knights roused from sleep are dressed in clothing and carry daggers, unless they take an additional round to snatch up weapons. A large group of characters should have little difficulty banishing the ghost. Jasmine's absence is cause for alarm. The characters send out search parties, and receive reports that the Phantom has been seen prowling along the road near one of the graveyards. The characters may choose to waste time putting on armor if they wish, but those who have a Passion for Jasmine will not put their safety before hers. Gathering together, they ride to the ghul festival. All those with Passions for Jasmine should roll them now. For reasons which myths make absolutely unclear, ghul sentries never seem to notice the approach of the soon-to-be-mortified husband. On this occasion it is because none of the sentries want to be out where the Phantom might get them, so they have come into the great tomb that serves as their feasting hall. Success over so many years has made the ghuls lax. As they enter the graveyard, the characters hear, distantly, raucous laughter and strange, sensual music. (Awareness checks). Following these sounds leads to the door of a great tomb, which is open a crack. When the characters swing this portal wide the sounds become louder, and they can see the flickering of torches, beckoning them into a tunnel that descends into the earth. The tunnel seems to have been clawed through the soil, but it's stable. Its dirt floor is firmly-packed, possibly by the thousands of footfalls that have left marks going deeper into the ground. The characters must travel in single file, and stoop slightly, if they wish to follow the tunnel. Fortunately they do not encounter any ghuls in this passage...yet. The tunnel opens out into a vast, columned chamber. This room is bedecked richly in gold and fabric, and has many surfaces of marble. It is a morbid parody of a feasting hall. At its center lies a long, marble sarcophagus, on whose lid has been draped a red cloth. On the cloth rest vessels of gold and silver, the largest of which is a boar-platter. The boar platter supports a human form, partially decayed, and carved into joints. It has an apple in its mouth. Similar atrocities fill the tureens and platters surrounding this centerpiece. The feasters are dressed in finery suitable for any Earl's court. Their benches are coffins. They slurp wine and black, oily liquid from chalices of gold and silver. At the table's head stands Zekiel. He holds carving tools. To his left, in the place of honor, sits Jasmine, her face unveiled and her green eyes ablaze in the firelight. She laughs. "So, my loves, do you come as guests or as gammon?" If the characters do not reply, or she does not consider their replies important, she raises her glass in toast to them, and allows a little of the black liquid to dribble down her chin. Characters with a Passion for Jasmine, or a ghulish wife she has provided them, should check it, modifying their roll by up to 5 points, depending on how often and recently they have consumed the black wine of the ghuls. Those who succeed in their Passion roll want desperately to continue serving Jasmine, and may only save themselves by invoking a stronger passion or trait. If the characters have bought other Darkwater Suitors, enough of them remain under Jasmine's spell to make this final confrontation challenging. Some of these Suitors can be freed by appeals to their Loyalty (Darkwater Suitors Group), should the characters think to try. The Phantom may appear if the battle goes against the characters, giving them time to flee back up the tunnel, in which the ghouls can only attack them one at a time. Killing Jasmine is difficult for any character who feels a passion for her. The knights who drive their weapons into her body are choosing to fumble their Passions, and are giving themselves over to Madness. The Gamemaster should allow them to conclude the battle before whisking them away, however. Characters who kill their own, ghulish, children are choosing to fumble Love (Family) and will similarly be driven mad, although Prudent checks will suggest that characters can avoid madness by killing each other's children. Ghul Statistics SIZ: 13 Move 3 Major Wound 25 DEX: 13 Damage 4d6 Unconscious 7 STR: 13 Heal Rate 8 Knock Down 13 CON: 25 Hit Points 28 Armor: Clothing (1) or Dress-up armor (5) APP: 17 Age: varies Attack: Scimitar 15 (+1d6 dmg, used double handed) Traits: All Evil 16+.* Deceitful 21. May oppose Deceitful to other evil traits to hide them. Passions: Loyalty (Ghoul Pack/Jasmine) 18 Significant skills: Awareness 21 * Evil bonus: Vary at Gamemaster's discretion Ghulish abilities: Ghuls do not bleed (maximum 6 points damage per cutting blow), do not age, heal quickly and are supernaturally charming. Ghula Statistics: SIZ: 10 Move 2 Major Wound 25 DEX: 13 Damage 3d6 Unconscious 9 STR: 10 Heal Rate 8 Knock Down 10 CON: 25 Hit Points 35 Armor: Clothing (1) APP: 20 Age: varies Attack 2 claws @ 19 Traits: All Evil 16+.* Deceitful 21. May oppose Deceitful to other evil traits to hide them. Passions: Loyalty (Ghoul Pack/Jasmine) 18 Significant skills: Awareness 21 * Evil bonus: Vary at Gamemaster's discretion Ghulish abilities: Ghuls do not bleed (maximum 6 points damage per cutting blow), do not age, heal quickly and are supernaturally charming. Darkwater Suitors Darkwater Suitors use the statistics for knights found on page 329. The Conclusion Defeating the ghuls is an act of heroism, but is it one that the knights want widely discussed? If the characters form a compact to take Jasmine's secret to their graves, then none receive Glory for those deeds kept private. If they do allow the Tale of the Lady of Darkwater to circulate they receive 100 Glory, plus that for defeating enemies and skill successes. Their liege, any Darkwater Suitors not in the battle, and a contingent of Knights Hospitallier quickly assemble to seek answers from the characters. The Hospitalliers are familiar with ghuls, and, if bodies showing the telltale green mouths are produced, they exonerate the characters. They then begin purging the domain of ghuls. Characters who wish to preserve their ghulish children must hide them until the Hospitalliers have departed. Characters looting the feasting chamber of the ghouls collect grave goods worth 25L. These should be reburied or donated to the church, as should the 30L of valuable materials found in Jasmine's private chambers. Jasmine's husband is given title over Darkwater. The Hospitalliers burn down the two hospices, as places of evil, then spend several days blessing the sites and sowing the ground with salt. They set up new hospices on alternative sites, if invited, as they want to keep a close eye on Darkwater in future. New beginnings It is difficult for the characters to be certain that they have destroyed every ghul in the area. It is likely that some escape the Hospitaliers. At the gamemaster's option, their lord's wife gives birth to a long-desired child. It is born with green eyes, and severs its umbilicus with its own teeth, but charms its parents as Jasmine and Zekiel did. How can the characters kill their lord's heir without being tried for treason? If the lord refuses to surrender his son, even to the justice of the High King, are they willing to muster the Darkwater Suitors a final time, to besiege him? Glory in conclusion For participating in the Adventure of the Lady of Darkwater: 50 each For permanently laying Sir Basil to rest: 25 each For permanently solving the ghul problem in Darkwater: 25 each For becoming an Officer: As set out in "Pendragon" For holding tournaments: As per Pendragon For defeating the Phantom Knight: 25 per victory. For killing Zekiel: 250 For killing Jasmine: 50 For each common ghoul slain: 25 For each ghoul baby slain: 5 Failure If the characters die in the final confrontation, Jasmine waits several years, as the ghulish heir grows, then arranges to become its governess. This is a wise dynastic move, as she has ghulish children of similar ages. Perhaps the next batch of player characters are Hospitaliers or noblemen, who, travelling down a darkening road, see a group of knights, riding into Darkwater. ----------------------------- TO AMUSE A LADY I ran this short scenario at a Convention here in Rome and it was quite successful. I hope you will like it too. All the references and statistics are given according to 4th edition King Arthur Pendragon rulebook, although maybe the magic rules need a little fudging to make it run smoothly - but, hey, it's magic, isn't it? PROBLEM Lord Robert, Earl of Salisbury, assigns the player knights to Lady Madule's entourage. The Lady plans to visit one of her relatives, a vassal of Earl Artgualchar, in Wuerensis. The trip will be more problematic than it might appear. Three main challenges await them, although you are free to add as many as you want, of course. The party will stop in Devizes Castle for the night. During the feast Sir Yolains throws for them, Sir Laurent - an Ordinary knight (p. 329) belonging to the castle garrison, with Amour (Orlande) 20 - will accuse the player knight seated beside Lady Orlande to be looking at her with dishonorable intentions. Sir Yolains, torn between his duty towards his guests and his obligation towards his vassal and the love for his daughter chooses to defer to God's judgement. During the fight that will follow the knight may inflame his Honor or his Hospitality passion. To use Mildenhall Bridge, as usual, every knight will have to joust with The Knight in Red and Black - a Notable Knight (p. 329). But, not so normally, as soon as the Knight is knocked from his horse he will draw his sword and charge the winner as if he received a serious insult. It's up to the player knight to stop this good knight gone mad - without an apparent reason. A test of Merciful and Forgiving is appropriate. If no character unhorses the Knight you have two options: you can have him knocked from his horse by the last player knight that jousts with him (maximum game fun). Otherwise the last character to be unhorsed must test [Proud, +12; success = "You don't know why, but you can't stand being beaten by this particular knight. You take it as a terrible offense"]. During a night spent in a country manor, Lady Madule will slip under the blankets of a player knight, possibly one with an Amour (.) or Love (.) and will ask him to make love to her. She will hint that, as everybody knows, witches are very good at certain things - and she is a witch after all. Ask the player to oppose his [Chaste vs. Madule's Lustful +12; failure: "You cannot resist this Lady's dark passions"]. If the player knight inflamed his passions then surrendering to Madule's seduction counts as a failure and provokes a Shock in the knight. If he decided to not inflame the passion then it counts as a failure: -1 point to the passion's score and the character will be Disheartened (see p. 206 for further information). SETTING Obviously the scenario takes place in the Salisbury County, so the Gamemaster should review the information beginning on page 223. Of special interest are the places mentioned above and Lady Madule's capsule. CHARACTERS Lady Madule, who thinks that every gentlewoman and gentleman of Salisbury hate her, and so gives them good reasons to keep on doing it. She has discovered her Talent for magic - namely to manipulate emotions - at Amesbury, courtesy of Queen Morgan le Fay, segregated in the abbey after the affair of the enchanted mantle (in my campaign - Your Chronology May Vary). Her only true friend is her loyal servant and factotum, Ysgarran. Born serf in the lands of West Lavington, Ysgarran left his family and asked his Lord the Banneret to take him as his squire before the Battle of Bedegraine. Arthur's army was vastly outnumbered and this is why the Banneret accepted his plea instead of beating him to death. (Please note that the Battle of Bedegraine is where Arthur "invents" the role of Squire as he "invented" the role of Knight earlier that year at the crowning in London - again, YCMV). Many years later, on his dying bed the Banneret ordered his loyal squire Ysgarran to take care of his only child and heiress, Madule. His heroic constitution notwithstanding, Ysgarran could not avoid paying the toll of Time (he had 15 years in 510) and now his hands shake. Some of his skills, exotic both for his peasant and squire backgrounds were taught to him by Lady Madule. Obviously, he is not aware that a Troubadour may call his feeling for Lady Madule courtly love. All that he knows is that if she orders, then he must obey. SECRETS The knights' strange behavior and Lady Madule's lustfulness are inspired by magic. The Lady will use three Create Directed Trait: on Sir Laurent Suspicious (vs. the knight close to Lady Orlande), on the Knight in Red and Black Proud (vs. the knight who has knocked him from his horse) and on herself Lustful (vs. the knight whom she wants to seduce). She hopes that they will shame themselves by overreacting or otherwise breaking the customs. For the scenario's sake you should slightly ignore some magic rules and assume that, between passions and high skills Lady Madule always criticals her Talent roll (this, with the spells' +7 modifier, gives the +12 which is applied to the Traits rolls). LADY MADULE'S TALISMANS Fashioned from precious gemstones set in gold rings, they cast a short but bright colored flash when their magic is invoked. The emotion created or enhanced by the spell dictates the flash's color. For example, a burst of jealousy is preceded by a green flash. Player knights staring at the Lady [test Suspicious as a measure of watchfulness] will notice the flash with a simple success of Awareness, but will probably dismiss it as a natural reflection. But a critical success reveals that the flash comes from inside the gemstone. On the contrary, the spell's victim will see the color flooding his field of view, turning all other colors in shades of itself. SOLUTIONS Overcome all the problems above, plus some more of gamemaster devising. Eventually, this game will tire Lady Madule and she will admit that there is no relative to visit, although she will not say that it has been just an elaborate joke. Rather, she will say, "it was a test of your knightly virtues". But the Player Knights will probably know better. As an alternative, Ysgarran could be befriended. Not very likely for Player Knights, less so for the Squires (and I think it would be nice - for a change - to play the squires rather than the knights). Ysgarran is torn between his Love for Lady Madule which prompts him to comply with everything she does and his Loyalty which tells him to protect her, especially from herself. CONCLUSION The Player Knights may have acquired new friends or new foes during this scenario, depending on how they overcame the challenges. Certainly Lady Madule could be among the foes, but if they are sympathetic enough they may even show her the road to redemption and by demonstrating her that she is not hated, mitigate her hatred for others. GLORY Beside the normal Glory awards for the specific tasks (combats won, roll succeeded), the Player Knights may divide 200 points among themselves for taking part in an ordinary adventure seasoned with a pinch of magic. STATISTICS Here are the statistics for Lady Madule and Ysgarran. Traits not written are supposed to be at 10 or 13 if they are religious and passions at 11 or absent at the gamemaster's whim. The value of skills not written is given on page 104 for Lady Madule (Cymric female) and on page 271 for Ysgarran (peasant). LADY MADULE Insight 1754 SIZ 13 Move 3 (+2) DEX 16 Damage 3d6* STR 9 Hit Points 25 CON 12 Armor 1 (robes) APP 13 Attacks: Dagger 10 (*subtract one die for dagger). Significant Traits: Lustful 16, Energetic 13, Vengeful 16, Generous 16, Honest 7,Cruel 13, Proud 18, Suspicious 13. Significant Passions: Love (Brigid) 15, Hate (Knights) 15, Hate (Ladies) 15. Significant Skills: Celestial Lore 9, Courtesy 10, Faerie Lore 9, First Aid 10, Geomantic Lore 14, Industry 10, Orate 11 Read (Latin) 14, Religion (Pagan) 10, Sight 18. Magic Limit: 70 Magic Defense: 70 Personal Life Force: 4d20 Significant Talents: Emotion 19, Glamour 14, Necromancy 12, Travel 7. Talismans: 3 x Emotion 60 Woman's Gift: Make Potion Rides a Palfrey (from Camargue). Emotion is her Natural Talent. YSGARRAN Glory 271 SIZ 13 Move 2(+1) DEX 8 Damage 5d6 STR 14 Hit Points 34 CON 21 Armor 6 (cuirboulli) APP 12 Attacks: Sword 16, Grapple 11, Battle 10, Horsemanship 10. Significant Traits: Just 12, Merciful 10, Reckless 13, Trusting 12, Valorous 16; directed trait Forgiving +9 vs. Lady Madule. Significant Passions: Loyalty (Lady Madule) 17, Love (Family) 6, Amour (Madule) 16. Significant Skills: Awareness 10, Chirurgery 5, Compose 5, First Aid 15, Folk Lore 5, Heraldry 6, Hunting 10, Industry 10, Read Latin 5. Rides a Rouncy. --