The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

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chiisu81
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by chiisu81 »

I would say so; I can put them on page before the Sapient Glyph at the end.
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by PapersAndPaychecks »

The Blade of Eight

The Blade of Eight is unmistakably a dagger of artifact-level power. It appears as a blade made of something white and organic, perhaps ivory, with a leather-wrapped handle; it radiates an aura of power that anyone can feel.

If used in normal melee combat it fights as a dagger +2. The wielder will grow wan and pale after using it in battle, but suffers no permanent ill effects.

The party can learn more if they use extreme measures:- casting powerful magics such as commune, using a wish, or reading the most obscure tomes of forgotten knowledge such as the storied book of Llashram Traust. If the party does, in fact, resort to these extreme measures they will discover that the Blade is a relic, carved from the claw of a Nazgorean Ancestor. The party's source avers that the Nazgorean Ancestors, which were never very numerous, are now all obliterated, having been wiped out by their own progeny. This happened either long ago and far away, or else a fraction of an instant ago and very close by, depending on how you solve a recondite equation in dimensional topology, but the source says very clearly and definitely that there are none left. It uses terms such as "annihilated", "eradicated" or "exterminated".

Another power of the Blade of Eight is when used in conjunction with the Enchanted Font. If it has been anointed with blood and then dipped in the blood-filled font, then it can strike across a gulf of time and space, such that the blow arrives in the place and at the time depicted in the font. This is of course how the murders were committed.

The party will probably need to return to Vallerin to work this out. Luckily the De Murtas family know a sage, of which more anon...
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chiisu81
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by chiisu81 »

r4 posted with Blade of Eight details and correct Maggot-man XP value.
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Solomoriah
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by Solomoriah »

Llashram Traust. :D

One feature to keep in mind is that Nazgorean magic is completely alien. Human characters may learn to use some Nazgorean items, particularly those with simple activation methods, but reproducing them is impossible.
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by PapersAndPaychecks »

Good, that's certainly how I would have run them! Really weird, alien things.

I'll wrap this up by offering an explanation about the who and the why as well as the how of these murders, and putting in a way to save Sophie De Murtas and earn the fee.

The fact that someone's been able to commit remote murders in Vallerin, across a gulf of time and space, is probably going to worry the powers that be in Vallerin. I presume they would want to arrange for the Tomb to be collapsed and filled in and try to commission someone to destroy the Blade of Eight, but that's beyond the scope of this adventure as I envisaged it. I just wanted to write something that'll fill a couple of evenings' play. :)
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

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Tomb of Eight: Aftermath

If the party has followed each lead promptly and not wasted time then they should be able to return to Vallerin (another three-day ride) and save Sophie De Murtas in time. If they have dawdled then the GM is encouraged to allow her to die and reduce the party's reward commensurately; but if the delay is because they have been badly mauled by an unlucky combination of encounters, or some other factor beyond the party's control, then a particularly benevolent GM might add a scroll of teleport to one of the treasures found, so that they can get back to Vallerin in the nick of time.

If the adventure works as planned then the party should leave the Tomb of Eight with the Blade of Eight and some unanswered questions. If the party decides to return to Vallerin of their own accord, then all is well. If they seem to need some more guidance, then after a little thought and reflection, the highest-level magic-user or cleric in the party will recall meeting a sage in Vallerin some years ago and discussing the legend of a Nazgorean shrine or tomb, among many other things, over a fine vintage. This sage represents what is probably their only lead.

In fact the sage, whose name is Pasquale Poncet, is a family friend to the De Murtas, and they will be able to provide directions and a letter of introduction. Poncet's villa is about half an hour's ride from Vallerin itself. It is a pleasant, secluded retreat surrounded by vineyards, set in several dozen acres of mature timber populated by dappled hares, martens and fallow deer. If there is an elf, ranger, or druid in the party, then they will notice that a grey dove is keeping a watchful eye on the party as they approach.

When the party arrives they find Poncet waiting for them. A trestle table has been set out on the lawn, and a meal of cold roast fowl, leaf salad, cheese, grapes, and dark bread awaits, served on wooden platters. A dark-haired maiden in a toga serves cold wine or black coffee from a clay jug.
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by PapersAndPaychecks »

Hmm, I see there's no forget spell in BFRPG. Or at least, it's not in the core rules or the new spells supplement. I was going to have Poncet cast "forget" on the blade to wipe the murders it's got, err, in memory.

I can write up a version of "forget" for this adventure but before I do ---- was that a deliberate design choice? I've noticed that BFRPG doesn't have a lot of spells that let you affect NPCs' minds, and the ones that do such as charms are quite denatured compared to the way they work in superficially similar old school games.

Perhaps Poncet should have a few droplets of water from the River Lethe instead, if there's been some kind of decision not to let "forget" loose in the wild?
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by Solomoriah »

BFRPG deliberately mimics the spell range of BX; New Spells and Libram Magica add a lot of spells, but no, I don't think Forget is one of them.

I have no objection if you want to write one up. Post it to New Spells, and we can put it in the module as well.
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chiisu81
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

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Aftermath added to R5; will wait to post for further additions and/or changes.
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Re: The Unusual Predicament of Sophie De Murtas

Post by PapersAndPaychecks »

Forget spell added...
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