Shady Employers
October 5th, 2010
Hello everyone and welcome back to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. This week I would like to discuss the topic of shady employers. While there are several types of shady employers, including well meaning but ultimately dishonest employers as well as just downright evil employers who do a good job of hiding it, this week we’ll be focusing on just a single sub-type of shady employer: the slimy employer. With that in mind, let’s have a look.
Slimy Employers
Every group of PCs occasionally has to deal with some shady characters; after all, if everyone was on the level all the time the world would be a pretty dull place, and your campaign world is no exception. Occasionally those same shady characters end up as the PCs’ benefactors, bosses, or employers. The key distinguishing feature of a slimy employer is that the PCs are generally aware of their sketchiness, but for one reason or another they still end up working with them. Slimy employers should ooze self interest, oily charm, and two-facedness; your PCs should probably be expecting something to be up with their employer. When the big reveal comes, the players should probably be making fake surprise faces and loud sarcastic comments about how they “never saw it coming” before bursting into giggles. At this point it’s important to resist the urge to drop green slime on the PCs and remember that the big reveal isn’t what slimy employers (or any other slimy allies, come to that) are really about. The real fun in a slimy employer is that while their motives are obviously shady, they can still cause a lot of trouble for the PCs, come to their rescue (but only when it suits them), or do nothing at all and still surprise your players. Slimy employers (or other ‘allies’) make for some of the most interesting and memorable NPCs out there. Let’s take a closer look.
Salvage Crew
Sean Shance, an expert treasure hunter, has long been searching for the book of infinite spells, a powerful artifact you can read more about in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. Believing that he has finally found the artifact in the ruins of the ancient Hallimar, in the kingdom of Einda, he has secured the exclusive rights to recover the tome for Einda’s queen, who has a historical claim to the item in question dating back to the founding of her kingdom, and who would consider the item of great aid to solidifying her rather shaky hold of her throne. With the promise of a rather substantial reward from the queen, Sean has organized an expedition to those ruins with the goal of retrieving the artifact. Unfortunately for the queen, Shance has absolutely no interest in returning the fabled treasure to her, as her reward, though substantial, both fails to more than barely cover his expenses in finding the book, and pales in comparison to the price the artifact itself would fetch on the black market.
Since the ruins are exceptionally dangerous the queen of Einda has gifted Mr. Shance with command of the most capable adventurers she knows, the PCs (to whom she offers rewards in gold and favors as compensation), to accompany him and make sure he reaches his goal safely. While adventurers loyal to the queen are the last thing Shance wants, he does need some kind of protection in the ruins and, supposing that accepting the PCs’ help will be cheaper than hiring mercenaries of his own for the duration of the expedition, he begins to think of various ways in which to take advantage of the situation. Shance, as it turns out, is something of a nightmare boss, making unreasonable demands of the PCs for more speed while insisting that they make detours to see some of his sources and various creditors. On these side trips he orchestrates situations for the PCs to deal with his problems, like inciting creditors and their guards to attack, and then expecting the PCs to clean up the mess. Additionally, it should quickly become clear that Shance is using the expedition as an excuse to smuggle goods all across Einda. If the PCs get wind of this and try to interfere in the smuggling, Shance offers to cut the PCs in for a small percentage. If they refuse he gets very moody, but chooses to continue his criminal activities more quietly. All the while Shance is looking over his shoulder, but refuses to explain why. At the last stop before reaching the ruins he slips off into the night to conduct some private business, and, strangely, without bringing the PCs. If they get worried and go after him they find him only with great difficulty, apparently enjoying a drink with a large fighting man Shance introduces as Tallmain, someone he has worked with before.
The ruins themselves, while perilous, are fairly straightforward, with the book being exactly where Shance said it would be, much to his apparent relief. After a fight with the sacred book’s guardians, a group of invisible stalkers, Shance appears a little nervous as he asks for the book. When the PCs hand it over, Shance declares their services will no longer be needed as a group of battle-hardened mercenaries led by Tallmain appear from the entrance to the chamber and begin training crossbows on the PCs. Where the adventure goes from here is up to you: perhaps it turns into the PCs hunting down Shance and the mercenaries to retrieve the stolen book, or maybe the mercs turn on Shance in order to sell the book themselves. Perhaps Shance was less discrete in his initial inquires than he thought, and a rival treasure hunter discovered the plan and bought off Tallmain.
The Baron’s Problem
Baron Igor Pallar has a problem: his daughter plans on marrying the son of one of his political rivals, and he stands to loose a substantial amount of money and land when he pays the dowry. His daughter Isabella is actually deeply in love with Raphael (her fiancée), but Baron Pallar refuses to see it and has driven his daughter away, forcing her to stay with Raphael’s family until the wedding. In the meantime Igor has been trying to stop the marriage at any cost (to avoid having to pay the dowry) to no avail, while the locals just seem to believe that Isabella and Raphael’s love is pure. Thankfully, with the arrival of some new adventurers in town (the PCs), Igor sees an easy solution to his problem.
Igor approaches the PCs in tears, telling them in a sickly voice of (false) concern that his daughter has kidnapped by that evil Raphael. He explains to them with a great melodramatic air that Raphael’s family has been out to get him for as long as he can remember, that Raphael has been making unwanted advances on his daughter for years, and that now he is forcing her to marry him, thus not only taking the one thing he truly cares about, his daughter, but also gaining a claim on his lands. Igor goes on to claim that Raphael’s family is powerful and has intimidated the local population, so no one else can help him. He offers a slightly sub-standard reward, but his most sincere smile and his eternal gratitude if the PCs will rescue his daughter.
When the PCs arrive at Raphael’s manor they quickly discover that Isabella and Raphael are indeed in love and learn the whole story about Igor and the dowry. Additionally, their arrival provokes a response in Raphael, who has grown sick of Igor’s interfering and sets off with a contingent of his guards to set him straight before anyone can get a word in edgewise. Isabella, worried for her father’s safety, begs the PCs to intercede on his behalf and protect him.
Tempers run high at Igor’s manor, and unless the PCs are very careful things could go to hell for Isabella and Raphael, and, I suppose, for Igor as well. Raphael is bent on blood and Igor is ready to oblige him, but Isabella won’t tolerate either man’s death and will run off if one of them dies. If the PCs can find a solution that makes everyone happy, then Raphael’s family provides them with a substantial reward for their efforts.
Ok, well that’s it for another edition of Grave Plots. I hope you enjoyed this week’s plot; keep an eye out for more shady employers in the future. If you would like to suggest a topic for future Grave Plots then please send me an email and you may see your suggestion in the near future. Until then, I wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.