SESSION 31E: KABEL’S TALE

November 9th, 2008
The 18th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

A NOONTIME WITH KABEL

After dropping Iltumar back at the Bull and Bear (the lad was rather saddle sore), Tor returned to the Nibeck Street mansion. As arranged, Ranthir and Tee met him just inside the door. Tee broke the news of Kabel’s warrant (which she had learned from Elestra when she had returned earlier). Ranthir rendered him invisible and then headed out the door first, allowing Tor to slip out without any visible sign.

From the outside, Pythoness House still looked completely deserted. Tor passed through the gatehouse, easily slipping past two knights of the Order of the Dawn who were stationed as covert guards in the courtyard. He quickly found Sir Kabel and Sera Nara in one of the former bedchambers on the first floor, quietly discussing matters over a game of dragonscales.

Tor knocked on the door.

Sera Nara was jumpy. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

“That will be… difficult,” Tor said. “It’s Tor. I thought it best if I came as secretly as possible.”

Sir Kabel waved Sera Nara down.

“Where should I sit?” Tor asked.

“Wherever you like,” Kabel said. “We are, after all, here at your sufferance.”

It took a few moments for the invisibility spell Ranthir had worked to wear off. As Tor became visible, Sir Kabel smiled, “It’s good to see you, Master Tor.”

“Before we begin,” Tor said, “I have a confession to make.” He quickly explained that he was responsible for Kabel nearly being captured. “I thought it was a snare. I am sorry.”

“No, the debt is entirely mine,” Kabel said. “Without the efforts of you and your friends, we would have all been captured.”

“I’m sorry to say that I have more bad news,” Tor said. “A warrant has been sworn out for your arrest.”

Kabel grimaced.

“I’d like to help you. We’d all like to help you. But first I’d like to know what happened that morning.”

A flash of anger crossed Sera Nara’s face. Sir Kabel held up a placating hand to her, “No. It’s all right. I’m sure that Rehobath has spread his story far and wide. It’s good to hear the truth.”

KABEL’S TALE

“I had taken several knights from the Order to train at the tournament field. Many of these were loyalists to the Church, but there were a few that were brought so that we might try to recruit them. We needed all the support we could if we were going to remove the False Novarch.

“Unfortunately, not all of those I trusted were truly loyal. Two of my knights – Aric and Thomas – attacked me. Crying their loyalty to Rehobath and with a vow to kill me for a traitor, they attempted to assassinate me.

“They failed, largely through the quick blade of Sera Nara. While we were still gathering our wits, another of my loyal knights rode up and warned us of further treachery: Sir Gemmell had attempted to gather those knights loyal to me and ambush them in the Great Hall of the Godskeep.

“We rode hard and discovered that Gemmell’s plan had failed. The loyalist knights had fought their way out of the Godskeep. But now there was heavy fighting on the green south of the keep and my men were pinned down between the Godskeep and the Cathedral.

“We were able to cut through the defensive line that Gemmell had formed. We fled west down Sunrise Street. When we came to the Street of a Million Gods, I ordered my men to scatter. The group I led eventually made our way to the pub in Rivergate and, from there – through your grace – to here.”

PRELUDE OF THE FATAR

“That explains many things,” Tor said.

“Now, there’s something else I’d like to propose.” Sir Kabel leaned back and gestured expansively, taking in the whole of the room and beyond. “The knights loyal to our cause are scattered, hiding in bolt-holes around the city. They’re just waiting to bound by Gemmell and the other traitors and captured. But Pythoness House is practically a fortress. It could be secured against any assault by Rehobath or his cronies. You brought us here. Is it all right if use this as a safe haven for the others?”

Tor was hesitant. “I’m not sure I have the right to make the decision without first consulting my comrades. We’ve spoken, actually, of our need to find a place more secure – and secret – than the Ghostly Minstrel as a base of operations. We had been thinking of using Pythoness House ourselves.”

“I understand,” Kabel said.

“What are your plans, exactly?” Tor asked.

“I’ve received word from the Church in Seyrun. Kirian Ylestos has been raised as the Silver Fatar of Athor and dispatched to Ptolus to take control of the Cathedral. He’s bringing with him a small platoon of the Crimson Guard. With the guard reinforcing my loyalists, I believe that we’ll able to overwhelm Sir Gemmell, capture Rehobath, and put an end to this farce.”

“How many men do you have?”

“Twenty or so loyalists, unless more have been captured,” Kabel said. “And the platoon will bring another twenty armed men to our side.”

“And how many men does Gemmell have?”

“At least forty knights still serve him in the Godskeep,” Kabel admitted. “But when the true Fatar arrives and the word of the Church is heard again, I think many of them will realize their folly. Of course it would be easier if… Since he isn’t here, am I to understand that Dominic is not to be trusted?”

“No,” Tor said. “I only came alone in an effort to be as secure as possible.”

“If Dominic were to publicly denounce Rehobath, that would go far towards discrediting Rehobath’s heresies. More of the Order might turn against him and Gemmell.”

“He’s not a friend to Rehobath, I can tell you that,” Tor said. “But beyond that I can’t say. I would need to ask him. Perhaps it would be best if I brought all of my friends here to meet with you.”

Tee stepped out of the shadows by the door. “Some of us are here already.”

TEE’S PATH

After Tor left the Nibeck Street mansion, Tee had waited ten minutes and then climbed over the rear wall of the mansion. When she had reached Pythoness House she hadn’t bothered trying to go through the gates, instead climbing the wall and quickly reaching the roof above the gatehouse. From there she was able to look down into the courtyard and easily spotted the two knights guarding the entrance. She had slipped down through the gatehouse (saying a quiet “hello” to Taunell) and started looking for Tor. It took her several minutes, but she had arrived outside the door just in time to hear the last few sentences of the conversation.

Nara leapt to her feet and her sword leapt into her hand. “Who are you?”

Tor quickly made the requisite introductions. Tee gently pushed Nara’s sword away from her throat as Kabel waved her down again.

“Apparently we’re going to need new guards.” Kabel smiled.

They agreed to meet for dinner that evening and Tor asked him if they would need any supplies or the like.

“No. Nara is quite… skilled in keeping a low profile,” Kabel said. “She should be able to supply all of our needs. I look forward to our… palaver.” He smiled again. “Master Tor, I am forever in your debt.”

“It was the least I could do,” Tor said.

Kabel led them out into the courtyard – quite confusing the two guards who were still standing duty there (Kabel promised to explain things to them later). Then they made their farewells and left.

BACK AT THE MANSION AGAIN

Returning to the Nibeck Street mansion, Tee and Tor met up with the others and filled them in on the situation. They all readily agreed to return to Pythoness House for dinner the next day and listen to Kabel’s proposals.

Tee, having business in the city, left the rest of them to return to their vigil in the Banewarrens. On the walk back towards the excavated cave, the discussion turned towards what Dominic should do: Denounce Rehobath or continue keeping as low a profile as possible?

“So what is Vehthyl telling you to do?” Elestra asked.

“Vehthyl has nothing to say about it,” Dominic quipped.

“What about that other saint?” Elestra said.

Dominic was getting uncomfortable with her cavalier attitude towards the whole matter. He still wasn’t sure what he thought about being a saint or the “Chosen of Vehthyl” or whatever, so he wasn’t prepared for her to be so familiar with the idea of it. “Do you mean the Star of Itor?”

“Yeah. What was it he said to you? That you should follow your heart? What is your heart saying?”

“I… I don’t think I know,” Dominic said.

“I guess it’s a question of where your loyalties lie,” Ranthir said.

“I don’t know that, either,” Dominic said.

“We may not know which side is right,” Tor said. “But I think we know which side is wrong.”

Running the Campaign: Gore-Spattered Reactions  – Campaign Journal: Session 32A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

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BACKGROUND

This church belonged to a small cult which worshipped Aredhel, the sacred ur-tree which they claimed was the Mother of the Gods. The cult had a minor renaissance about fifteen years ago, during which time they claimed that the church’s tree was a sapling grown from a cutting of Aredhel herself. Seven years ago, however, the tree was struck by lightning and killed. The cult’s popularity abruptly declined and the church was abandoned.

The church stood vacant for several years and was then purchased by the Vladaams in 747 IA. They’ve used it for storage (and, most importantly, the hidden stash of illicit goods in Area 10).

(Malav Street – Temple District – I4)

THE TEMPLE

The church is entered by climbing stairs up from street level to the large balcony on the second level (Area 1).

Windows: Large windows look into Area 2 from the east and west. Smaller windows look into Areas 7, 8, and 9. Solid glass except for the window in Area 8 (which was broken and then boarded over).

AREA 1 – THE BALCONY OF THE TREE

The balcony has a balustrade of begrimed white marble. The floor is a mosaic of blue and green tiles, although several of the tiles are now missing and the rest are badly weathered.

Trap – Temple Entrance: Anyone crossing the threshold of the church into Area 2 who doesn’t wear a Vladaam deot ring triggers a bestow curse spell (DC 20 Wisdom saving throw to negate). On a failure, their forehead is branded with a “V” sigil which glows bright green and inflicts incredible pain (causing disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks).

• DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation), DC 24 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

DM Background: It’s become a custom in the neighborhood to pry up bits of the balcony as good luck charms.

AREA 2 – HALL OF THE DIVINE SEED

Statues: Depict Ahaar, the Lord of Air, and Gaen, Goddess of Light, kneeling as if in subservience towards the tree in Area 3.

Pillars: These pillars are designed to dispense some sort of small nodule. (Four dispensaries per pillar.) The mechanism still works, but nothing comes out.

• DM Background: The pillars would dispense small silver “seeds” that would be swallowed to produce an intoxicating effect on supplicants before they descended into the lower halls of worship.

AREA 3 – THE GREAT MOTHER

The tree is long dead, but still stand proudly. Its bark is papery-thin and silver-grey in color.

AREA 4 – THE ASCENT OF GODHOOD

The floor here is molded to resemble grass and dirt and is sloped steeply towards from the tree, forcing anyone proceeding towards Area 6 to climb up.

DM Background: Symbolically this mirrors the journey of the Ahaar, Gaen, and the other gods out of the Grove of Aredhel. So, too, do worshipers move out of divine grace and into the deeper mysteries of the cult.

AREA 5 – PRIESTS’ QUARTERS

Filled with old, ruined furniture.

Doors: Badly weathered. One hangs loosely by a broken hinge.

DM Background: These were once the quarters of the church’s priests. Simple abode beneath the boughs of the Great Mother.

AREA 6 – HALL

The walls have been marked with crude graffiti, but it’s so worn with age now that it’s impossible to make out.

AREA 7 – VLADAAM STORAGE

Several crates have been stacked here, each marked with the Vladaam seal.

• 500 pounds of saffron (worth 7,500 gp).
• 3 crates of purple-and-red linen (worth 3,000 gp)
• A crate containing 700 finely crafted arrows with black shafts. (DC 14 Intelligence check for local knowledge notes that the black shafted arrows identify the arrows as coming from the Red Company of Fletchers. They have a reputation for being favored by assassins in the city.)
• 2 crates containing 50 longswords.

AREA 8 – EMPTY ROOM

This room has been stripped down to the bare stone. The window has been broken and boarded over.

DM Background: Formerly the High Priestess’ chamber.

AREA 9 – EMPTY ROOM

This room has been stripped down to the bare stone.

Mental Alarm: An alarm spell keyed to Aliaster Vladaam is triggered if anyone enters the room who doesn’t wear a Vladaam deot ring.

• DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation), DC 24 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

Secret Door – DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation): A loose stone on the windowsill can be depressed, causing the secret door to Area 10 to swing open.

AREA 10 – VLADAAM SECURITY CACHE

Forged Art: A dozen framelss paintings have been propped against the walls here and there. DC 15 Intelligence (History) recognizes numerous famous paintings, with a total worth around 55,000 gp.

• The Heath of Midnight by Collier
• Eyes of the Satyr by Banald
• The Fire of the Gray Forest by Pannal
• The Color of the Gods by Lacas
• Beneath the Southern Sea by Lacas
• The Nine Eyes by Lacas
• Guildcrafters of Sarlush by Supparo
• The Valley of the Street by Supparo
• The Forbidden Love of the Gods by Pannal
• The Warrior’s Gauntlet by Pannal
• The Blooded Claw by Kabuto
• At Anchor at Dohrinthas by Heffala

DC 21 Intelligence (History) or Wisdom (Perception) recognizes one of the paintings as a forgery, plus one additional painting per point of success. (All of the paintings are forgeries.)

Dagger of the Black Sapphire: The dagger of the black sapphire is a +1 silvered dagger. Its hilt has a large black sapphire (cut into the shape of s dagger) embedded in it (so that it can be seen from both sides of the hilt). If someone is slain by the dagger, their soul is drawn into the gemstone and held there. Over the course of a year and a day, the soul is slowly consumed (during which time the victim cannot be revived or resurrected by any means). The holder of the dagger can speak with dead once per month to communicate with the soul. Only one soul can be held by the dagger at a time and it will not capture another until it has consumed a soul it currently holds. Shattering the gemstone releases the imprisoned soul.

• Current Occupant: A man named Makett who was a former member of the Red Company of Surveyors. He made the mistake of embezzling money from the Vladaams, and the even bigger mistake of getting caught. He does know several pertinent pieces of information regarding the Vladaams (conveying all the information on the notable guild houses and also 1d4+1 random bits of information from the gather information tables). He also suspects the presence of hidden chambers with the Surveyor’s guild headquarters (but he was not a member of the Brotherhood of Yrkyth, see Part 14: Surveyor’s Headquarters).

Black Lotus Poison: 3 vials of black lotus extract (7d8+30 poison damage and the poisoned condition, DC 17 Constitution saving throw for half damage and no poisoned condition).

• Attached Note: “Make sure payment is passed to Master Thornai for the concoction and Captain Hinmos for retrieving the lotus blooms.”
• DC 18 Charisma (Investigation): Thornai is the Master Alchemist at the alchemical lab on Black Street (see Part 7: Alchemical Labs).
• DC 14 Charisma (Inveistgation): Captain Hinmos is of the God’s Pearl, one of the Fleet of Iron Sails (see Part 9: Fleet of Iron Sails).

DM Background: This area was originally designed as a safe room where the priests could hide in case of religious persecution. The Vladaams use it as a place to store hot or risky items.

AREA 11 – HALL OF WORSHIP

Several rows of dusty pews, including one which has partially collapsed, face a dais on the far side of the chamber.

Dais: There are signs that an altar once stood here, but it’s been removed (leaving only bolt holes in the floor).

AREA 12 – MURAL OF THE GREAT MOTHER

A painting of a silver-barked and silver-leafed tree fills the wall of this alcove. Depictions of Ahaar and Gaen, their holy symbols tattooed or burned onto their chests, stand below the tree, and seventeen huge, cocoon-like seedpods depend from the boughs of the trees (each marked with a holy symbol of a different god).

A dry and empty pool is slightly raised from the floor in front of the mural.

Go to Part 7: Alchemical Labs

DM: As you’re crossing the completely empty, 20’ x 20’ room, your foot hits a pressure plate. A huge fireball engulfs the room! Give me a Dexterity saving throw!

Player: 18! And I have evasion!

DM: Somehow, while standing upright in the middle of the featureless room and taking no defensive action whatsoever, you’ve managed to completely avoid the raging inferno!

That’s weird, right?

But we’ve all come to just kind of accept it as a weird trope of D&D. It’s not even an intentional trope. It’s just a weird artifact of turn-based actions, locking our characters onto a grid, and requiring specific abilities or effects to declare any sort of positional change.

Partly we can address this by just loosening up a bit and giving ourselves a bit more creative leeway when narrating outcomes in a scene like this. (There’s nothing inherently wrong with describing a PC diving out of the room in the nick of time.) Even if we want to remain more firmly locked to the grid, the reality is that the 5’ x 5’ square is an abstraction that can cover a multitude of sins, particularly in a typical room.

(Seriously: Tape out a typical room of your house in 5’ x 5’ squares. You’ll discover that pretty much any square has some bit of furniture or a door or some other form of cover that you could imagine an evasive monk finding cover behind in the event of an unexpected explosion your living room. This is a useful lesson in general: Even if your dungeon map or battlemap may make most squares look wide open for the sake of legibility, that doesn’t mean you can’t weave unillustrated details into your descriptions of the action.)

Of course, many of our fantastical adventures will take us into quite atypical rooms — barren rooms, vast vaults, and so forth.

Regardless, we might find a slightly more formal system useful in any case. For better or worse, I’ve frequently had players object to bits of flavor text woven into action descriptions (e.g., “you stagger back a step” or “you leap out of the way”), and you may find a little formality can help grease those wheels.

DYNAMIC RESPONSES

When a character has to make a Dexterity saving throw in order to avoid an area effect (or any other effect where the DM deems it appropriate), they can describe a dynamic response that explains why/how the saving throw is being made.

Examples include:

• falling prone
• ducking behind a large shield
• getting behind cover
• moving out of the area of effect

Other options are certainly possible, particularly in specific environments (e.g., diving into a lake). Players are encouraged to be creative in the dynamic responses that they create.

Guidelines for resolving dynamic responses:

Not a Reaction: A dynamic response is not a reaction. If a character cannot take a reaction, however, they also cannot make a dynamic response.

No Response: If no appropriate dynamic response is attempted (or can be attempted), the character makes their Dexterity saving throw with disadvantage.

Movement: Characters can move up to 5 ft. as part of a dynamic response. Alternatively, they can move up to 10 ft., but they must fall prone at the end of the movement. (In other words, they’re diving for cover.) This movement provokes attacks of opportunity normally.

Duck and Cover: Simply falling prone and covering up can be a sufficient dynamic response, but this renders the character prone.

Design Note: Dynamic responses essentially create a wider spectrum of mechanical response to area effects. You can have no adequate response (disadvantage), actively seek to avoid the effect (resolve normally), or be well-prepared and take the Dodge action (advantage).

ABUSING THE SYSTEM

“Hey! What if my players start dropping area effects on each other just so they can ‘dive out of the way’ and get ‘free’ movement across the battlefield?”

You have a few options:

• Simply disallow it.
• Limit dynamic response movement to once per round.
• Allow it, with the rationale that the area effects are creating enough chaos and confusion that people are able to move around a little more freely than they usually could. (Or whatever other rationale makes you happy.)
• Only require/allow dynamic responses to trap effects.
• Sigh… fine, dynamic responses now require you to use your reaction. If you don’t have a reaction left this round, then you’re stuck making your Dexterity saving throws at disadvantage.

Go to Table of Contents

Although briefly described in the Ptolus sourcebook, the Vladaam Estate was originally published and fully detailed in the Banewarrens campaign book five years earlier in 2002. This, unfortunately, resulted in some continuity errors.

The key problem is that the Vladaam family was not fully detailed in the Banewarrens. Only Iristul, Navanna, and Aliaster are mentioned, and as a result the Vladaam Estate lacks rooms for the other siblings. While it’s possible that Godfred and Gattara simply keep their rooms elsewhere, I decided it would make more sense to add the rooms to the mansion, which I did by simply adding a third floor identical to the second (as shown on the map above).

I’ve added key entries for these new rooms, as well as adding some enhancements to other rooms in the mansion. You’ll also find an adversary roster below, which is quite useful if you end up needing to run a true heist at the Vladaam Estate.

ADVERSARY ROSTER

There are two adversary rosters for the Vladaam Estate: One for daytime and another at a night (when security is higher, but the servants are asleep).

If the estate is on high alert, use the nighttime roster during the day. If Navanna is leading the PCs on a fake heist (see Banewarrens, Chapter 4), use the daytime roster at night (but still have the servants asleep).

Vladaam Guards: Banewarrens, p. 45.

VLADAAM ESTATE – DAYTIME

VLADAAM ESTATE – NIGHTTIME

SERVANTS

OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS

• Godfred: If present during Navanna’s fake heist, he’ll be drunk and potentially foul it up. 50% chance he’s in his room (1 in 10 chance he comes out looking for more liquor). 50% chance he’s out drinking (1 in 10 chance he comes home early).
• Aliaster: 40% chance of being out during the day. 90% he’s at home at night (sleeping).
• Gattara: 10% chance she’s present.

REVISED KEY

AREA 11 – LIBRARY

Very well stocked, the Vladaam library seems particularly complete on the subjects of history and magic. Many books here are valuable.

Secret Trap Door: Can be found with DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Leads down to the dungeons.

Chaos Lorebooks: Protected by a knavescour spell.

• Book of Faceless Hate
• Masks of Death
• Eye of Legion
• Hand of Gellasatrac
• Vested of the Galchutt

KNAVESCOUR
4^th-level Abjuration [Warlock, Wizard]

Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: 10 days

A particularly useful foil for thieves, knavescour allows you to designate 8 objects which you touch at the time of casting, anmd again once per day to maintain the spell.

If anyone intentionally touches any of these objects without your spoken permission, this spell causes it to spray corrosive energy at that creature, dealing 8d6 acid damage (Dexterity saving throw for half).

After this discharge, the object becomes safe for anyone to handle, and the other objects retain diminished protection. The second object touched without your permission deals one less die of damage than the first, the third deals two less dice, and so on.

At Higher Levels: You can designate an additional 4 objects for each spell slot level above 4^th.

This spell is covered by the Open Game License.

AREA 22 – VLADAAM CREST

The original stone crest of the Vladaam family — roughly six feet in diameter — hangs above the door to Area 24.

AREA 24 – IRISTUL’S BEDCHAMBER

Locked Door: DC 23 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

This room is tastefully decorated with grand furnishings, albeit in a slightly dated style. Although kept meticulously clean, any careful inspection of the room reveals that it has not been lived in for months or possibly even years.

Black Roses: On the mantlepiece, there are four black roses, each levitating under a separate glass bell jar. (Iristul keeps one for each of the Vladaam children’s mothers. The reason for this is uncertain, as sentimentality does not seem to be one of the patriarch’s virtues.)

Weapon Collection: One wall of Iristul’s room is filled with a large collection of prized weapons. Notable items include:

• unholy battleaxe
• berserker axe
• silver dagger (marked with runes which read, “For the Heart of the Wife”)
• light hammer +1 (marked with the personal seal of Yrkyth Vladaam)
• light hammer +2 (marked with the personal seal of Yrkyth Vladaam)
• longbow (of blackoak, gilded with the Vladaam family crest)

AREA 25 – TROPHY ROOM

All sorts of beast and animal heads, as well as stuffed specimens in their entirety, are displayed here.

AREA 26 – BONSAI ZOO

A small zoo of “bonsai monsters” — living miniature monsters kept artificially small through magical “pruning.” Created and maintained by Gattara Vladaam, specimens include:

• owlbear
• gas spore (looks like an ocular tyrant)
• flail snail
• polar bear
• mammoth
• tyrannosaurus rex

AREA 27 – GATTARA’S BEDCHAMBER

Locked Door: DC 23 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

Gattara’s décor is as garish as her wardrobe… or rather, her three wardrobes, each packed with bespoke outfits commissioned from the Jade Woman (Ptolus, p. 277).

AREA 28 – GODFRED’S BEDCHAMBER

Godfred’s bedchamber is decadently luxurious, the walls filled with more animal trophies. An aumbry filled with rare liqueurs is near the black-and-gold sheeted bed.

Writing Desk: A small writing desk in the corner of Godfred’s room is ill-used, but has a recent letter from Guildmaster Essetia requesting a meeting (see Part 14: Red Company of Surveyors).

REVISED KEY – DUNGEON LEVEL

AREA 3 – INNER STRONG ROOM

See key in Banewarrens, p. 48.

In addition to the other items, there are six blood rubies in a coffer near the hand.

Blood Rubies: A blood ruby can be placed on the chest of a victim. Once per hour, It inflicts 1 point of Constitution damage (as the ruby mystically fills with blood) and forces a DC 15 Wisdom save. On a failure, the victim suffers the effects of a dominate person spell as if cast by the person attuned to the blood ruby. The effect lasts for a period of time equal to how long the blood ruby rested on the victim’s chest.

AREA 4 – TRAINING ROOM

See key in Banewarrens, p. 48.

DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation): Beneath the inset mahogany floor is a seal of adamantine with an arcane lock that can only be opened with a drop of Vladaam blood. This vault leads to the Fane of the House Founder (see below).

AREA 5 – PRISON

See key in Banewarrens, p. 48.

Thariad Rivelost was brought to Ptolus aboard the Pride of Morrain, taken to the Vladaam slave warehouse (see Part 16: Slave Trade), and then selected by Gattara Vladaam and brought here. He can identify the ship and/or lead PCs to the warehouse where he was kept.

FANE OF THE HOUSE FOUNDER

The walls of this sunken chamber are made from gleaming black chalcedony with veins of milky-purple. A green sphere, glowing with a faint light, levitates in the center of the room, bound in position by seven thick, black chains that are attached at various points across the ceiling, walls, and floor.

Behind the sphere is an inhumanly large statue carved from the same purplish-black stone of the vault. It depicts a faceless, androgynous figure with bat-like wings. Its left hand is extended beneath the sphere, as if presenting it to the room.

Sphere: The sphere represents the lost (or hidden) moon of Vallis. At the touch of someone with Vladaam blood, the “moon” can be opened, revealing a small chunk of Vallis rock within that has a 100 spell level capacity (see Ptolus, p. 648).

Figure: The figure depicts Vladaam, one of the original Vested of the Galchutt who helped the Lords of Chaos identify the Seven Chains that held the soul of the world upon the Vallis moon.

THE TWELVE CLAWS

Navanna’s “werewolf” bodyguards, known as the Twelve Claws, are not actually werewolves at all. Their hybrid transformations are the result of wolf’s paw totems that they wear on golden chains around their necks. These are linked to Navanna’s master totem (also known as the Thirteenth Totem) and using them requires on to swear loyalty to Navanna.

The master’s totem is crafted from the mummified heart of a werewolf. The wolf’s paw totems are crafted from the left front paws of werewolves infected by the werewolf from whom the heart of the master’s totem was taken.

Go to Part 6: Abandoned Temple of the Great Mother

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 31D: The Midnight Watch

Tee floated up to the roof and kept an eye on the street to make sure that he wasn’t actually leaving the building. A few minutes later, however, she saw a light through the rear windows of the building moving back towards the room with the corpse. She returned to the window in time to see a group of several people return: The same grey-robed man was accompanied by two others wearing serpent symbols and a fourth man with a large tattoo in the shape of a black hand on his throat.

After no more than a cursory inspection of the corpse, the group fell into arguing with each other. Tee was having problems hearing, so she cautiously cracked the window open.

NPCs talking to each other.

…

I have felt a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of GM spines suddenly shivered at once and in unison.

Roleplaying one character is tough. Roleplaying two characters is tougher. Roleplaying two characters talking directly to each other sometimes feels completely impossible. (Dial up your terror level as the number of NPCs increases.)

In practice, this is the result of two distinct challenges.

First, putting words into the NPC’s mouths. Literally just figuring out what they’re actually going to say.

Second, making it clear to the players which NPC is talking (and who they’re talking to).

Of course, neither of these challenges are unique to scenes featuring multiple NPCs. Whenever the PCs interact with an NPC, we must establish who’s speaking and then play the role (i.e., figure out what they say). The exponential complexity arises from switching, often rapidly, between roles, turning simple performance — which can be difficult enough in its own right — into a juggling act.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a magic wand I can wave to make this simple for you. But here’s a cluster of techniques that I use to turn the untenable into the manageable.

First, universal roleplaying templates. I make a point of prepping these for major NPCs, and particularly for those that I know (or suspect) will be putting in an appearance during a big social event. A key utility feature here is that each template appears on a separate sheet. That might be a full A4/Letter sheet, or it could be a half sheet. Regardless, you want a separate sheet for each NPC because it allows you to easily grab the NPCs you need and lay them all out on the table in front you. This allows you to easily swap from one character to another by just flicking your eyes around.

With a little extra effort, you can make tent cards for the NPCs. Put a picture on one side and their name on the other, then put them on the table or drape them over the top of your GM screen where both you and your players can see them.

(For NPCs with shorter write-ups, you might even be able to fit all their info — or maybe just duplicate the most important info — on the back of each card.)

These tent cards make it very easy for everyone to keep track of which NPCs are present in the current scene (or the current grouping within a larger party scene). It can also vastly simplify indicating who the current speaker is: Simply pick up the appropriate tent card, then set it back down when they’re done talking.

Another trick for indicating current speaker is body position. Just sort of flipping back and forth in your chair can feel silly. It can be more effective, rather than thinking about the act of turning back and forth, to pick a point of focus for each NPC. (For example, King Abelard is looking at the dragon statuette in the corner to your right and Lady Beatrice is looking at the AC/DC poster on the wall to your left.) When the NPCs are talking to each other, just have them address the appropriate point of focus.

You might also consider standing up. Simply moving from the left side to the right side of your chair can feel more natural than spinning in place, while having an even greater clarity for the players. (Each NPC literally gets their own physical space in the game room, even if it’s only a slight distinction.)

Finally, returning to the roleplaying template, I highly recommend making sure each character has a distinct physical mannerism (stroking their beard, tapping their fingers together, bawdy winking, running their fingers through their hair, tugging their ear nervously, an accent, etc.). Such mannerisms not only help clue the players into which character is speaking, they can also make it a lot easier for you to switch between characters: The mannerism becomes a convenient hook for picking the character up and sliding into the role. Swapping from tugging your ear to stroking your imaginary beard is a mnemonic that helps easily propel you from one POV to the other.

Speaking of POV, that brings us to arguably the most difficult part of the whole exercise: Figuring out what each character is saying.

What I recommend here is to really clearly define for yourself what each character’s objective is. Why are they participating in this discussion? What are they trying to achieve? Don’t get wishy-washy with this. The more specific it is — and the more motivated they are to get it — the easier it will be find their words.

If you want to get more technical with this, then start thinking in terms of tactics: How is the NPC trying to achieve their goal? Once again, making this as specific as possible (she’s going to blackmail him with the photos to make him steal the vault codes; he’s going to appeal to the duke’s sense of morality; the goblin is going to lie about he saw) will make it easier for you to flip to the other side of the conversation and ask, “Does that work?” (And, if not, why not?) If you’re uncertain, then play the uncertainty. Or make a dice roll to resolve it.

“Reggaloch’s dead, Gavele. Theral found the body here.”

“Theral killed him you mean!” Vocaetun shouted.

While the other cultists went back to arguing, Gavele knelt down next to Reggaloch’s body and did a more thorough inspection of the corpse. Unnoticed by the others (but not unnoticed by Tee), she found a note and slipped it into her pocket. Then she stood up.

“That’s enough,” she said. “Reggaloch has been dead for days. Give the body to the thralls. They’ll eat it up. Then come with me and we’ll settle this. You really don’t want me to have to bring this idiocy to Illadras’ attention.”

Finally, if each character has clearly defined and opposing objectives in the scene, it will become a lot easier to identify when the scene is over (i.e., when one of the characters has achieved their objective). That will help make sure that the conversation doesn’t just kind of whimper out or continue forever without any sort of resolution.

Campaign Journal: Session 31E – Running the Campaign: Gore-Spattered Reactions
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index