Domain of the Month
Dementlieu
Adventure Hooks
Dementlieu info in 3e: RL3E / RLPH, Gaz 3. In second edition: Black Box (Realm of Terror), Red Box (RL Campaign Setting), Domains of Dread. Adventures: Chilling Tale (Taskmaster's leash). Novels: Tales of Ravenloft (The Vanished Ones).
Gonzoron adds other canon sources: Angel Pajaro adventure in CoTN: Werebeasts, Alexandre DuCire adventure in CoTN: the Created, Francois de Penible adventure in CoTN: Demons
Igor the Henchman
A famous explorer has recently returned from a dangerous expedition, bringing with him a bizarre monster he had captured. The creature – a dark naga, an evil genie, a demon or even dragon – has in fact let itself to be captured willingly, and, once it finds itself in the strange city of men, it escapes, more than ever hungry for human flesh…
Rumours tell of a great museum of Port-a-Lucine being haunted. In truth, the structure has been claimed as lair by a hungry pack of mimics. The evil creatures now use the museum as their hunting ground, dragging lonely innocents into their nest to be devoured.
Yaoi Huntress Earth
You could play with the aspects of psychological horror with Jean-Pierre Theroux's growing depression. When a foreign artist who is disgusted with how art that is truly meaningful and thought-provoking is being silenced exhibits a cruel and mocking portrait of Jean-Pierre at a salon, the PCs are left to help resemble the shattered pieces of the nobleman's sanity. For extra fun, throw in the Nightmare Lands wanting a piece of him.
Dominic's son is growing up to be quite the young man. It would be a shame if Jacqueline Renier's Becoming Plague were to claim him as a victim.
Shadowking
A madman is stalking and murdering beggars and other unfortunates who lived in Port-a-Lucine's slums district. Examination of the corpses shows the injuries were performed by a massive slashing weapon like a cleaver or an axe, and that the hits were directed to draw as much blood as possible. Also, all the killings were performed on soil rather than paved roads and were only performed in a certain part of the slums in the shape of a perfect square.
The truth is that the madman is a former Gendarme, driven insane by visions telling him to turn the slums' soil red with blood. As the blood is seeping below the earth it enters the crypt of an ancient, monstrous Vampire (at least of Eminent age category) driven into torpor by hunters in the domain's false history, who lay dead but dreaming for centuries.
As he feasts on the blood of the slain he slowly rejuvenates his devastated body, and only 2 people need to be murdered before he finally wakes up and unleashes his evil upon the unsuspecting world, an evil neither Dominic nor the Brain can hope to stop at their own. The murderer must be stopped in time and the PCs better discover the Vampire's crypt (well-guarded by magical traps and undead sentinels) and destroy him before he drowns Port-a-Lucine in blood.
Wiccy of the Fraternity
In the alleys a series or brutal killing are taking place, each time a body is found, parts of it are missing. The culprit has been suspected of being many things from a Ghoul to a madman who feasts on the flesh of his victims. Michelle LaBeau has recently taken to hosting extravagant dinner parties for a select few among societé, serving a host of unusual and imported meats. Those who eat this rare and expensive flesh have found themselves more vigorous and far healthier and stronger than they were before. Is a connection between these two seemingly separate acts?
The Butcher down the road was always a pleasant man, offering small pieces of meat to those who were destitute, but no one was it coming when he finally flipped after chopping up one to many sides of beef. They said he attacked a rude customer and killed all he met before the constabulary brought him down. They said he had Brain Poisoning. his shop has stood empty ever since, no one will live there, not with the strange noises of a meat being chopped at all hours of the days and night.
Stefanie Nagestsi is a wonderful, charming and joyous young woman, but she fears what chases her. Her twin brother, who was taken to be a vampire's bride and now he follows his sister wishing to give her the same gift he was granted. Stefanie would sail out to the islands but she fears the water as much as she fears her bother and she suffers from minor skin irritations from entering the sunlight, forcing her to spend only limited times outdoors during sunny weather. her favourite spot in the garden are the rose bushes, her she feels very close to the owners of the manor she now stays at while they tour the more barbaric eastern domains. Stefanie has recently become more paranoid of her brother's chase after killings where bodies are left drained of blood have begun in the badder parts of town.
Desmond LaRouche
The unthinkable has happened: Marcel Guignol, Lord Governor of Dementlieu, has died...of natural causes!
As the intelligentsia cries fowl, one of the non-Obedient members of the Council of Brilliance is appointed (by emergency vote) Acting Lord Governor (and it's not Dominic D'Honaire). A surface vacuum of power is thus set off, as the Darkord of Dementlieu must decide what to do next; to accept rulership of his domain publicly would arouse to much suspicion. A new Councillor must be appointed. The intricate web of alliances and manipulations d'Honaire has set in place have begun to fray at this unexpected turn of events.
The Brain, crimelord of Port-a-Lucine, begins machinations for the ultimate coup: to place one of his own agents on the Council of Brilliance to further toy with d'Honaire's mind.
Vlad Drakov also takes notice, and sends emissaries to find out if the rumours are true: Dementlieu is in chaos. An invasion force of Talons is placed on alert. Drakov finally believes that, with the death of the very visible 'leader' of the nation of fops will be finally ground under his heel, giving him access to more advanced weaponry he has long coveted. Dementlieu's traditional allies are touchy and refuse to commit themselves until the truth of the matter is solved.
Player characters could be contacted with a number of elite factions within Dementlieuse society who want the true story about the Lord Governor's death. Higher profile investigators such as Alanik Ray are passed over for less well-known, expendable (should the wrong information be discovered) foreigners, not tied to local police.
What the player character discover might mean the well-being of one of the most culturally significant domains of the Core, or its destruction.
Shadowkingadds: The hook about the Lord Governor's death got me thinking- what if Vlad Drakov succeeded in conquering Dementlieu? Let him conquer another domain for once so the great fear he spreads is justified, but also make an active "Le Resistance" movement which slowly but steadily drive the Falkovnians out of the country through a guerilla war which will eventually force even the haughty mercenary to withdraw his forces or the Falkvonian army will collapse- make Port-a-Lucine Drakov's Staligrad, so to say. In the meantime, the situation of an occupied domain at war can create much intrigue and adventuring opportunities.
Igor the Henchmanadds: This scenario works very well if combined with the aforementioned Guignol's death story. In Gaz IV, it is stated the Treaty of the Four Towers was signed among the four great families: Weathermay, Renier, Dilisnya and Guignol. If rulership of Dementlieu passes away from Guignol's family, Dementlieu's previous "allies" would have a pretext to ignore the domain's pleas for help in case of invasion. The PCs might be called to act as diplomats, in order to restore the old alliances before the country is completely overrun.
Wiccy of the Fraternity
The growing number of raving homeless is on the climb, the sanatoriums are quickly filling and the number of the insane seem impossibly endless. The only clue is an insane man who claims to have escaped from an island inhabited by strange monsters with heads that look like octopi. He has been seen leaving the scenes where several have suddenly become insane. A renowned telepath under the order of the Council of Brilliance was sent to track down this madman but was in turn found hugging himself in the gutter, utterly insane and screaming delusions of a world inhabited with squidmen. Agents from Dominia have recently arrived in Port-a-lucine showing interest in rounding up this lunatic before his madness spreads to far, but their motives appear far less than noble.
alhoon
Dementlieu has an RMR of 5. That means that the DC to resist spells gets a +2 and the saves against spells recieve a -2. So an adventure hook for low level characters could be:
In a village in Dementlieu with about 400 people, everything seems right. The people work the fields, the sheriff and 4 guards keep the peace, the mayor sends the taxes regularly to the noble family he serves etc. Until a beautiful woman arrives in the town along with her husband. She poses as a rich merchant but she is in fact a 3rd level wizard and he is a 3rd level rogue. She uses her spells to learn who is rich, help her brother steal him and then to cover the trail.
Give her a 16 intelligence and spell focus illusion. That would make the DC to resist her charm person spells 17 while the PCs and the NPCs have a -2 to their saves. Also give her a few powerful enemies. Perhaps she is hiding in the village because her brother stole something very powerful or valuable.
Gemathustra
Nowadays, anyone who is anyone in Dementlieu attends the party-exhibitions of the famed artist Pavo. Everyone raves about Pavo, and everyone loves how his entourage of pet gossips, the Harpies, model dresses based off his paintings. In fact, it seems as if no one can say anything bad about Pavo.
Perhaps it's because of his flawless talent... Perhaps it's because of his saintly charity-work... Or, perhaps it's because that Pavo's Harpies see to it that those who do have bad things to say about him wind up as social pariahs, insane, or even dead.
In order to safeguard their patron's reputation and ego, the Harpies constantly manipulate events to destroy all those who run afoul of Pavo, whether they are hated rivals, annoying critics, or even rude street riff-raffs. Usually, they achieve this by spreading rumours, lies, or making subtle bribes and threats. If they need to hire thugs and assassins to get their point across, they don't hesitate to do so.
And so, it seems that an influential official, who is also a friend of the PCs, had recently attended Pavo's latest unveiling last month, and commented about how the exhibition was "the pinnacle of vapidity." Now, the PCs must prove that their friend is not the ringleader of a gang of kidnappers, despite a host of incriminating evidence, and discover who is responsible for framing him.
One more thing: while it is common knowledge that Pavo was once a mere portrait-painter who was barely able to eek out a living in Port-a-Lucine, no one seems to know anything about the Harpies' past, other than them helping to elevate Pavo. In fact, the best anyone can do is to shrug, and suggest they may have came from Richemulot.
hida_jiremi
The world of stage magic just got a lot bloodier. Everyone knows that stage magicians hate revealing their "tricks." Now, a mysterious masked magician is putting on public performances to blow open the magical world, explaining how every aspect of the illusionists' art works, from sleight of hand to the actual arcane sorcery. Le Societe de Legerdemain has decided that this rogue magician is a dangerous element and must be unmasked and then removed - permanently. The PCs can come in on either side of this, working for Le Societe to bring down the masked magician, or hired by the masked magician to act as bodyguards. He's quite good at narrow escapes, but even the best magician needs assistants...
ScS of the Fraternity adds: Yep; Of course, were he a smart magician, he would add on an extra illusion - he isn't the masked magician - he isn't even a he at all.
Years ago, a young girl traveled the world with her father, the Great Garizmo. Though a mage of small talent, the Great Garizmo was a showman supreme. For years he traveled the core, practicing a combination of slight-of-hand, escape artistry, and illusions with the help of his young assistant. After years of labouring in obscurity, the Great Garizmo earned a coveted appearance in Port a Lucien. However, disaster struck when the well respected Dominic D'Honaire yawned during the performance. Now officially declared "unwatchable", the Great Garizmo was a pariah. Immediately, Le Societe de Legerdemain cast the shunned magician out of their ranks and forbade him to perform in Dementilieu. In despair and drunkenness, he committed suicide.
For years, his daughter Sharella has sought revenge. She has worked as the "beautiful assistant" to hundreds of magicians in Le Societe de Legerdemain. Never considered to be a real magician, she has been privy to all the greatest secrets of the society's mages. In secret she has fostered her own sorcerous abilities and plotted her revenge.
Rather than risk her own neck, she has recruited a dupe. A magician of mediocre talent and monstrous ego, Lucky Pierre, was easily manipulated into the scheme. He is so convinced of his own genius, that he remains under the belief that he really knows how to make the magic. He thinks nothing Sharella's constant hints and preparations.
Still, Sharella can feel the sharks circling. She has protected her own identity with a false name, a revealing costume and a dye job (no one ever pays close attention to the beautiful assistant, or at least not her face ) Nonetheless, she requires some new guardians to help stall for time until she can put her final plan into motion. If Pierre suffers from some misfortune, one of her new dupes can wear the mask (as she says, the show must go on) and no one will be the wiser.
Living on borrowed time, Sharella just needs to put on a few more shows before her final act. Once Le Societe de Legerdemain is angered enough, she'll have the Masked Magician perform at their grande stage during their annual meeting of all members. Just to show there are no hard feelings, the masked magician promises to not only reveal his identity, but he will also perform a new trick that is sure to astound the collected membership of the society.
Sharella is going to make her audience disappear. Permanently.
Gemathustraadds: Perhaps Sharella is getting help and motivation from a certain gentleman friend?
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