Adventure Proposals: Cleansing Chateauxfaux

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The Lesser Evil
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Re: Adventure Proposals: Cleansing Chateauxfaux

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Other ideas to address the other parts of your questions. If you're having trouble fitting physical combat in, then you may rig up some kind of "social combat system" for debates and verbal sparring matches. (A 3.X example of such a system would be in Dynasties and Demagogues by Atlas Games, though it's too table-intensive for me to use straight as is.) Social "combats"/arguments could be run to sway the minds of the Council and other government bodies on how to respond to a potential contagion (if the source of the madness is a communicable disease, for example.) Some of the more more ruthless or even exploitative may call for particularly brutal quarantines of the infected or even their termination if things get wild enough.

Switching to physical combats. On the other side of the coin, I think you could fit in some physical combat since people infected with the hallucinogenic pathogen may not listen to reason. A few riots might break out or threaten to break out, and nonlethal takedown methods could add an additional complication to any physical combat scenario. In addition, some sort of madness spawned creature or parasite (fehyrs, the Nightmare Court, etc.) could be drawn in by the mass hysteria and add to the confusion. If Falkovnia's not been completely nullified as a threat in your game with the fall of Drakov et. al., whomever is at the helm might call for an invasion while Dementlieu is weakened.

A more structured subplot may come from Dr. Vilhelm Mikki's situation. One theory of the Salem witch trials was that an ergot infection caused the accusers to experience delusions that brought them to accuse the innocent. A similar setup (changed a bit to suit Dementlieu) could be brought against Mikki.

Finally, if you wanted some longer lasting consequences/follow up, you could have somebody in the Dementlieuse sect experience madness-induced revelations that may still be seen as religiously significant. (As the Dementlieuse are the most inclined to appreciate secret/esoteric knowledge/understanding, this may not be as far fetched as it seems.) A heretical splinter cult off of the Demtentlieuse sect may even believe the polluted water to be a way to achieve divine insight or communion. (Timothy Leary, anybody?) On the other hand, even if the madness is removed, the message it inspired (however twisted it might have been) may have lingering effects in the hearts and minds of Ezra's followers. As argument and debate can serve to communicate unknown ideas and make the arguments for them more well thought out. Ironically, this originally madness-inspired ideology may become stronger and more coherent, allowing for a second contagion of an ideological nature.
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Re: Adventure Proposals: Cleansing Chateauxfaux

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

The Lesser Evil wrote:Other ideas to address the other parts of your questions. If you're having trouble fitting physical combat in, then you may rig up some kind of "social combat system" for debates and verbal sparring matches. (A 3.X example of such a system would be in Dynasties and Demagogues by Atlas Games, though it's too table-intensive for me to use straight as is.) Social "combats"/arguments could be run to sway the minds of the Council and other government bodies on how to respond to a potential contagion (if the source of the madness is a communicable disease, for example.) Some of the more more ruthless or even exploitative may call for particularly brutal quarantines of the infected or even their termination if things get wild enough.
Thanks, I have used a social combat system in the past, and may break it out again for this.
Switching to physical combats. On the other side of the coin, I think you could fit in some physical combat since people infected with the hallucinogenic pathogen may not listen to reason. A few riots might break out or threaten to break out, and nonlethal takedown methods could add an additional complication to any physical combat scenario.
Makes sense. The main PC in this case is pretty much a pacifist, so this would actually be an appropriate challenge.
In addition, some sort of madness spawned creature or parasite (fehyrs, the Nightmare Court, etc.) could be drawn in by the mass hysteria and add to the confusion.
Y'know, I liked the Fehyr idea more than the Court when I first read this, BUT there was another PC on sabbatical nearby who had a tie to the Nightmare Lands. Could use the Court as a reason to pull her into this.
If Falkovnia's not been completely nullified as a threat in your game with the fall of Drakov et. al., whomever is at the helm might call for an invasion while Dementlieu is weakened.


Well, Falkovnia is not completely nullified, certainly, but it's not Dementlieu that would be weakened, just the one city, and not a border city either. But I might look through my list of Falkovnian warlords/power brokers and see who might profit from this.
A more structured subplot may come from Dr. Vilhelm Mikki's situation. One theory of the Salem witch trials was that an ergot infection caused the accusers to experience delusions that brought them to accuse the innocent. A similar setup (changed a bit to suit Dementlieu) could be brought against Mikki.


Yeah, this is where I was expecting the most structure, but you've given me other ideas.
Finally, if you wanted some longer lasting consequences/follow up, you could have somebody in the Dementlieuse sect experience madness-induced revelations that may still be seen as religiously significant. (As the Dementlieuse are the most inclined to appreciate secret/esoteric knowledge/understanding, this may not be as far fetched as it seems.) A heretical splinter cult off of the Demtentlieuse sect may even believe the polluted water to be a way to achieve divine insight or communion. (Timothy Leary, anybody?) On the other hand, even if the madness is removed, the message it inspired (however twisted it might have been) may have lingering effects in the hearts and minds of Ezra's followers. As argument and debate can serve to communicate unknown ideas and make the arguments for them more well thought out. Ironically, this originally madness-inspired ideology may become stronger and more coherent, allowing for a second contagion of an ideological nature.
Excellent point, considering other subplots I've got going many years later about strange cults thinking being an Obedient is actually an enviable state of Exra-worship.
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
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