> Now comes my problem. I need to write a story for thwese characters. > Noen of the published ones i have strike me as ideal - they only have > one weapon skill between them, and no combat magiocs.
I'm playing a game now where the PCs are all noncombatants. One's a blind, aged brewer who dabbles in alchemy. I basically came up with a mystery involving a foul plot among the gentry that involved the use of alchemy. I tossed clues to the brewer, and made sure there was a combat-oriented NPC that he could tell what he discovered, and who would be motivated to do the "wet work" required to wrap things up.
Your Uleria priestess could probably get involved in all kinds of vile intrigues, love triangles, or covert disputes that the healer could help resolve. The hunter is more of a puzzle, but she might be able to function as a spy or "heavy" for the other two.
By the way: I did write a plot. I don't doubt that the relationship map method is fun, but when you have a web of secrets to expose, you need to think through who knows what, and how to put those secrets in the player characters' reach.
Summary of events so far below.
Rob
The stranger headed south from the bridge on the muddy main street that ran the length of the island, threading his way between a mixture of fine stone residences on the river side and well-tended, but old-fashioned wooden houses on the other. It was on the land side that he saw the two-story wooden public house, simple but clean and inviting, unshuttered and already bustling with travelers and local merchants even though the mid-day meal was still an hour off.
The stranger stepped through the open door into the hall and turned right into the common room. Behind the counter he saw the Brewer, a sixtyish, bald, but slim and vigorous man. He sightlessly but swiftly cleaned glasses and poured pints as his pair of distinctive metal eyepieces stared into space.
"I have a fine lamp that needs attention," the stranger said. "It is
not bright enough. I am told that you can help, that you can make a
lamp shine so brightly that it hurts the eyes to look at it."
"I might be able to help," said the Brewer.
"I can offer you a bushel of rare hops, grown from stock taken from
Danmalastan itself. Hops from the land before Time," said the stranger.
"Show me the lamp," said the Brewer.
The stranger handed it to him. It was metallic and heavy, not gold, but maybe copper or silver. And as he hefted it, the Brewer heard something. A party, with fine people conversing happily as their crystal glasses sloshed with bubbling wine. And then, the lamp began to become heavy, so heavy that the Brewer wanted to drop it, but could not get it to leave his hands. He felt the ground giving way beneath him, and fell with the now-screaming party guests into a damp hole in the earth. The earth above began to tumble onto his head -- he was being buried alive.
And then the feeling passed, so quickly that he had no time to react. He handed the lamp back to the stranger. Hops from Danmalastan would make prizewinning beer, beer worthy of Saint Minster himself.
"I will help you," said the Brewer.
The stranger, Algernon, moved into Crick's pub,with his two large manservants.
Crick went to his lab, a corner of the attic under a raised, ventilated section of the roof, ringed by climbing plants.
[Crick made a wick impregnated with white phosphorous in his lab -- this was an extended contest. When the action resumes a week later, Crick is meeting Algernon the stranger to test the result.]
Late at night, Crick called Algernon and his servants into the common room to test his work. Algernon gave Crick the lamp and hung close by, practically breathing on the brewer.
"Your breathing might dilute the material. Give me some room," said
Crick. He felt the lamp and found where the wick would issue from it.
The lamp was heavy, inscribed with a complex pattern of symbols that
Crick quickly determined were Earth runes. Crick recalled the feeling
of sinking into the earth.
"Is this material copper? I have to check its reaction to the
material. You don't want my material to destroy the lamp, do you?"
Crick said.
Algernon hesitated. "Err.. yes, it's copper. Will it work? It's important that it be bright."
"It should be all right," said Crick.
"Then let's get on with it," said Algernon.
"When you burn it don't let the wick get too low or close to the
copper for too long. It may give off a bad smoke and stain the lamp.
Just be cautiousm which I assume you will be," warned Crick.
"Of course -- very cautious," warned Algernon, with a slightly strange
earnestness in his voice.
Crick inserted the wick and struggled to test-light the lamp. Algernon spoke to one of his men in a foreign tongue. The man approached and took the lamp and the ember, hesitantly, and lit it. Crick felt the warmth on his face as the lamp ignited.
A moment passed. Algernon said, "Well, it will have to do."
"Is it bright enough?" Crick asked. "Remember, this is not as pure a
material."
"It will work," Algernon replied.
He spoke to his men in the strange language. One went to the fireplace to try to snuff the lamp, grunting with surprise when it remained lit.
"Watch it, you fool!" Crick warned him.
Eventually the servant was able to snuff it in the sand of the fireplace. Crick told them that they would have to keep sand handy to put it out. "Nothing like good earth to snuff out the brightest light. Well, it's time for bed. I'll get the rest of the material in the morning."
"What was that you said about earth?" Algernon asked sharply.
"Have sand ready to put out the flame," Crick said evenly.
"Thank you," Algernon replied, again with a strange earnestness. He
called to his servants, who brought a basket full of hops and left
them on the bar. They smelled heavenly, unlike any Crick had smelled
before.
The next morning, Crick went to find Devereux, one of the senior liturgists of his congregation, to help interpret what he had learned about the lamp. Devereux explained that the Earth rune and copper were both associated with Missus Farmer and her kinswomen, who help women with their work and intercede for them with the Creator.
There is a story of the Lamp of Wisdom, which Missus Farmer used to help Mister Farmer recognize his own failings. A powerful quester can return with a enchanted lamp that is derived from the original of Missus Farmer, which she can then use to make men see reason. Such lamps are rare.
It would be sacrilege to keep a sacred earth lamp outside of a shrine, and the Angry Earth, Avenging Daughter of Missus Farmer, might swallow someone who did. However, it's not illegal to keep such a lamp, and the authorities would not intervene.
Crick admitted that he knew someone with such a lamp. "May God have mercy on their souls, and on their bodies should the Avenging Daughter turn her eyes that way," Devereux said. "Well I'm not going anywhere near it again. If you are interested in seeing the people who have it, you can come by the bar for a free drink on me and watch me kick them out with their bright burning kit," replied Crick.
Powered by hypermail