Inspired by
the Weather
December 27th, 2011
Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting edition of Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. As the year draws to close, we find ourselves immersed fully in winter’s icy clutches, and this week’s Grave Plots draws its inspiration from the season. Winter means a lot of different things to different people; some find wonder and excitement in the season’s chill beauty, others regard winter as time for harsh weather to be endured while we wait for the rescue of spring, while some don’t really think the winter worth thinking much about at all – after all, where they live, it’s pretty much just like spring all year round.
Personally, I fall into the first camp, and perhaps a bit in the second (after all, who likes dealing with snowy or, as I live in western Washington, slushy/icy/overly sanded roads). Winter offers us a number of great opportunities to get together somewhere warm and enjoy one another’s company. It exposes us to a sort of beauty highlighted by snow and gnarled leafless trees that only comes round but once a year. Perhaps most importantly, the Super Bowl occurs during the winter. Yeah, you could say I was a fan… At any rate, when I was thinking up a plot to share with you guys this week, I rather fancied creating a plot which could highlight the things I like most about the winter.
What I came up with, then, is a series of plots which take place at the remote mountain estate belonging to High Lord Irvine Chaus over the course of an entire winter season. These plots are designed to occur gradually and the PCs should feel free to attempt other daring adventures during the course of the season. Before we get into the specifics of the plots, let’s look a little bit about the adventure background.
Irvine Chaus, a high lord in service to the king of faraway Medius, rules over a small, rugged, mountainous region called Orsis, famous for its ancient shamanistic religions, breathtaking scenery, and for producing some of the heartiest warriors in all the world. A loyal vassal of the king in all appearances, the high lord has officially outlawed the old pagan ways and established a church to Varen, the official deity of Medius.
Despite these shows of devotion, the king still doesn’t trust Irvine and has requested the PCs spend some time around him and his house to see if he really is what he appears to be, an honorable and trustworthy subject, or if his submissive exterior hides something more sinister. Sending word to Irvine that he wishes to learn more about one of the empire’s most remote regions, but that unfortunately his presence is required in the city, the king requests that Irvine show great hospitality to some of his most trusted retainers (the PCs). The high lord quickly returns word saying that, of course, he would be happy to host the king’s party and that he would arrange for them accommodation within his own manor.
With that, and a promise to pay handsomely for proof of the high lord’s loyalty and whispered caution against letting Irvine know what they’re up to, the king sends the PCs west to winter with the remote high lord. The journey takes about a week on fast horses, and the PCs arrive in Orsis to unfamiliarly frigid temperatures and just in time to catch sight of the first snow gleaming in the moonlight. Any villager or passing merchant happily points the PCs in the direction of the lord’s manor, saying that the journey won’t take more than an hour and providing good landmarks to go by.
Indeed, the trip is a short one, and soon the PCs arrive before the high lord’s manor, just as the snow and wind begin to build into a proper storm. The manor itself resembles nothing so much as an immense wooden cottage stretching fully 60 feet into the air above a 20-foot-high stone foundation. A pair of frigid-looking guards ask the PCs’ business when they arrive, but take much time asking questions and keeping the obviously out-of-sorts newcomers from the warmth of the fire and blankets within their master’s home. Past the guards and the manor’s immense carved doors, the high lord greets the PCs personally. The good-looking middle-aged gentleman sweeps the PCs with him towards his main sitting room, where his family is assembled and waiting.
The sitting room offers a great deal of warmth and a good chance to meet with the other members of Irvine’s (as he insists on being called) family. He has two daughters: a beauty in her late teens with a strong sense of duty by the name of Illena, and her sister in her middle teens, who seems to be full of joy and bristling with youthful energy, called Reena. Widowed, the lord has no wife, though the chief maid, a plump young woman called Yvette, can be seen caring for Irvine’s young son Jon as he scampers about. His elder sons sit in a pair of large, comfortable looking chairs and each sport reserved, proper demeanors and splendid beards. Talks with Chester and Cameron tend to quickly turn to brandy, horse racing, or warfare. After the PCs have had time to warm up a little bit and talk with the household, a clever looking butler named Trevor announces that, if it pleases his lordship, the feast is ready to be served.
What Was in Those Drinks?
Before the PCs is laid a fantastic feast arrayed with every kind of local delicacy offered up to surpass their expectations. The fantastic fare is accompanied by a pleasant conversation with the high lord and his family, in which they happily share tales of the past, engage in political banter, or gossip idly about life in the manor.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the feasters, a powerful remnant of an age past has hatched a plan to gain retribution on the arrogant lord who brought the house of a foreign god to her home. With an acolyte in place, converted from the high lord’s own family, she would force the high lord to acknowledge the old ways once again. With a devious image forming in her ancient mind, the fey princess Dieara stalked the woods with a wicked grin on her face.
Halfway through the feast, Irvine suddenly claps his hands, and his daughters rise with the perfect unison achieved through years of practice and march down a hall, disappearing around a corner. When the PCs inquire as to what just transpired, Irvine simply chuckles, wags a merry finger, and says they’re in for a real treat. A short time later the girls return wearing triumphant, and in Reena’s case almost comically prideful, expressions and carrying a massive kettle filled with a sweet-smelling liquor. Pouring for their father first and then the guests before seeing to the rest of the family, they explain that it’s something of a family specialty. The liquor instantly warms the PCs and fills them with a sense of joy, and so in merriment the evening ends without ever a trace of suspicion being found within the high lord’s demeanor.
In the morning everyone feels slightly odd, as though still drunk, and the entire dinner party, as well as any of the PCs who fail a reasonable Fortitude save, find themselves inexplicably drawn to someone else who was at the party. As time progresses, this attraction quickly, as if by magic, begins to deepen, causing the affected to fall wildly in love with the object of their attention. Almost alarmingly quickly, this love becomes accompanied by a powerful carnal lust that all but demands to be acted upon. This, as one might imagine, leads to some fairly compromising and uncomfortable moments, though no one seems able to resist.
Only clever action by the PCs can keep things from degenerating into a sexually charged free-for-all as the strange condition drives everyone to madness. Even should the PCs weather the first day, the effect starts over, selecting a new object of attraction every morning for one week. At week’s end, a strikingly beautiful young woman comes to the household and says that she can cure everyone of this affliction if they can but arrive at a consensus to do so, else they will remain this way until the end of their days.
If the PCs can convince everyone to agree to her terms, she happily lifts the curse, congratulating them on resisting temptation before leaving the house. Otherwise, the strange feelings continue for another 1d4 days before fading, and the PCs find a scroll, conveniently tucked away, discussing that the old gods offer mercy to those afflicted by powers beyond the ken of foreign powers.
After the incident, life returns to normal in the manor, or as normal as it could after such an occurrence, until one night in the dead of winter the strange woman arrives just in time for supper.
The Uninvited Guest
The woman introduces herself as Dieara, a fey princess of great power and practitioner of the old ways. She enters the home without permission and sits in the high lord’s seat before gesturing imperiously for everyone to join her. The family reluctantly does so, and over the course of dinner she begins a debate about the superiority of the old gods with Irvine. Without the PCs’ intervention, her silver tongue will convince the high lord that he should destroy the new church and reestablish the legitimacy of the shamanistic tradition. While this might seem harmless, such an act will be interpreted as rebellion by the king back in the capital, and if Irvine does such a thing under the eyes of the PCs, the lot of them will be branded as outlaws and hunted by the king’s men for the remainder of his reign.
Snowed In
If the PCs manage to prevent Dieara from swaying the high lord, she makes no bother about it, but reveals rather direly that one among you is not truly who they seem to be. Despite her sordid reputation, any attempts to find a lie in the statement (which is true, as one of the high lord’s family is secretly her acolyte, specifically Reena) fail. She then vanishes on the spot. Even groups that pay the statement no mind find it haunting them rather soon, unable to forget her words as a sudden snow storm locks everyone inside the manor and cabin fever gains a grip on those less accustomed to dealing with stress. It soon becomes a paramount issue to find out who the traitor is, and it falls to the PCs to investigate the family, whilst they look into the PCs, to the best of their ability. An investigation should reveal that Reena was, in fact, corrupted by Dieara and made into her servant; however, you should leave plenty of red herrings about Irvine being untrustworthy.
With her acolyte discovered and either redeemed or chastised, Dieara considers herself defeated and vows to leave and never return.
Well, that’s it for this week’s Grave Plots; I hope to see you all next week for more great plot hooks and adventure ideas.