About Studious GMA consolidated GM avatar for future AP's for DMummy, DM Spires and DM Davy Jones. You know it will be well-researched because of the pince-nez. Adventure Hooks for Magnimar - no peeking!:
Adventure Hook 1 - CR 8 A century ago an assassin named Ryl Marcuso stalked the lands surrounding the city of Magnimar. Using a powerful artifact, a dagger made of yellow crystal with a hilt of demon bone wrapped in the skin of his first victim, he became a feared presence eagerly sought by authorities lest he return Magnimar under the umbrella of Korvosa. Even his employers didn't realize his true purpose was a mixture of madness and magic - the dagger allowed its wielder to enslave the souls of its victims as unseen servants. Marcuso was so monstrous that when he was finally caught he was entombed alive in a remote valley one day's ride from the city of Magnimar. Over time the valley itself was settled by farmers who were able to cultivate a special kind of blue corn called Royal Blue that they sold to a distillery in Magnimar that made the bourbon Whilwren's Reserve (named for Ordelia Whilwren but not owned by her family), the most famous and best-loved bourbon whisky in all of Golarion. Little do they know that Marcuso's will lived on in undeath - the twisted magics of his dagger animated his corpse as a mohrg and his victims excavated a mighty tomb for the monster and he was able to attract and animate undead with his powers from the catacombs he created. He was unable to escape due to the magical seal placed on his tomb by a powerful cleric of Aroden in 4604. The magic has begun to fade and with the death of Aroden in 4606 no cleric has renewed the protection. Thanks to unfortunate treasure hunting by a foolhardy Pathfinder initiate that led him to remove the capstone of the tomb's seal Marcuso has been able to enact his insatiable desire to kill new victims and rule their unlife. This comes to light from the Vanderales who worry about the lack of the Royal Blue corn that has occured in the last few months - they are unaware that some of the farmers have been turned into fast zombies by Marcuso as slave labor and the remaining terrified farmers are inefficiently harvesting the corn due to a lack of manpower and the hope someone will come help them. Adventure Hook 2 (CR 10? 11?) - The Versades have finally hit the end of their rope and they turn to Magnimar's newest merchant company, the "Magnimar Shipping Concern" and our intrepid heroes Mesdoram and Rameth with promises of patronage and personnel in return for a share of their new business empire. Nothing loathe, the adventurers set forth to help the Versades bring in a shipment of counterintuitively fashionable and much-desired Osiriani palm wine to be sent north for the now-recovering lands of the Mendevian crusade. Somehow a hezrou has broken loose from its summoner and even now is feasting on the dwindling caravan company bringing the wine up river from Korvosa. Adventure Hook 3 (CR 14?) - Now firmly ensconced in the city, the Magnimar Merchant's Concern is ready to launch itself into semi-legitimate commerce in the magical artifacts trade to help Riddleport and Shackle pirates who've started to turn to them for help. But our intrepid protagonists have attracted the attention of both the Night Scales and a Nalfeshnee who fled the Worldwound and is forging its own empire inside the squalor of Rag's End. Can our heroes save the downtrodden poor and cut themselves into the green-gold pile brought from the Abyss by the Nalfeshnee to control the underworld of Magnimar? Adventure Hook 4 - CR (Whatever) Rameth and Mesdoram have carved out their own niche in Varisia's underworld but soon Mesdoram finds himself in a pickle - a lamia matriarch's daughter (an airheaded white sheep of the family with a CG alignment whose sweet nature has altered alignments from CE to CN for her mother and sisters) has inexplicably fallen in love with the investigator and he has to figure out how to extract himself lest he end up hitched to a monster or pursued by vengeful snake-women. Can Rameth save his frantic friend or will he play Cupid to the love-struck lamia? Adventure Hook 5 - CR 18+ Rameth and Mesdoram have reached the heights of underworld power but they've finally aligned the powerful interests of the nobles, Pathfinders, the Cult of Norgorber, Riddleport and Shackles pirates and Korvosans against them to keep our heroes from seizing outright control of Magnimar. Can Rameth and Mesdoram convince their enemies that they really only want to deal in plunder and strong drink for fun and profit or will they end up saddled with a kingdom stretching across the Bay of Varisia? Adventure Hook 6 - CR 11 A shipment of stone golems from the Golemworks has gone mad and went rampaging through the city before the staff could bring them under control. Rameth and Mesdoram are contacted by Toth Bhreacher to discover the source of the problem and are promised a goodly share of the profits from selling the golems should they find the reason. Unbeknownst to any Mad Laurdin has been bidding his time and has discovered a powerful magical spell designed to wrest control of any construct animated by magic. Can our investigators find Laurdin and stop him before it all spirals out of control? Adventure Hook 7 - CR 11+ Sir Aeryn Darvengians criminal army escapes from the Hells and has seized control of the Pediment building. Rameth and Mesdoram are pressed into emergency service with the guard to infiltrate and save the citizens and the mayor who's holed up in his office of the Pediment Building. They must stop mad man and his henchmen in this tale ripped straight from Batman and Robin (Mesdoram is Batman, obviously). Adventure Hook 8 - Jacildra Quildarmo, Seneschal of Dates for the Council of Ushers, has been found dead. Whodunnit? Adventure Hook 9 - Prince Mandali, the "tame" 14-foot-tall gorilla in the Lord-Mayor's Menagerie, appeals to Rameth and Mesdoram for help; he's secretly a real prince of a city of gorillas hidden in the interior of an island near Hollow Mountain and kept captive for the last five years in the Lord-Mayor's Menagerie. If Rameth and Mesdoram will help him escape the city and pursuit by Grobaras's guardsmen he promises them what Grobaras has been trying to extort for years: the jewels of the hidden city. Unbeknownst to Grobaras and our heroes, the jewels are a unique fruit that grows like mad near the city but nowhere else in the world and makes a fabulous liquor that Mesdoram and Rameth can sell for a fortune. Adventure Hook 10 - The Scarnetti shipyards have long given that family power but to the horror of the matriarch, the current head of the family has lost them in a high-stakes card game with a devil summoned by a Chelish noble hoping to gain control of the twice-removed colony. Rameth and Mesdoram will gain control of a single slip and rights to build four more if they can figure out a way to break the deal. Adventure Hook 11 - The people of the Marches have always led orderly lives but now it's just getting weird. The district rises at the same time, goes about its business in orderly lines with little to no need to speak, goes to bed at the same times and even more in step. The Sczarni gangs are creeped out and after they see some comrades become productive members of society acting the same way they go to Rameth and Mesdoram for help. Little do they know that a merchant has stolen a contraption from the Numerian Technic League and it's now reordering the people around it into mechanical precision. It's Chaos vs. Order as Mesdoram and Rameth fight to keep the order from spreading and making Magnimar respectably dull. Adventure Hook 12 - Ayamyra, the high priestess of the Dome of the Savored Sting, has come to believe Rameth is deserving of her retribution. Numerous accidents and pranks happen to the man, threatening his dignity but before too long a terrible curse has been placed on him: any alcoholic drink turns to water in his mouth. He has to discover what he's done to offend her and how to make amends. Adventure Hook 13 - It's All Souls Eve and the spirits of those slain during Andosalu's fire have risen. Mesdoram and Rameth are approached to provide muscle to keep prying eyes away from the burn by a necromancer who believes she can solve the problem but doesn't want anyone near the place because the common folk will think she's raising the dead. How do Rameth and Mesdoram convince people to leave without bringing the wrath of the guard and the Church of Pharasma down on them? Adventure Hook 14 - Mesdoram's old friend and shipmate Sandara Quinn shows up in Magnimar to get Mesdoram's help - the Shackles are in disarray as Balthe has gone on a freebooting rampage and looted Hell Harbor, Blackblood Cay, Cho-Tzu and Quent "because he was bored". Rather than have the Shackles break out into a second costly war Sandara has come looking for Mesdoram's help talking his old shipmate out of making the entire Free Captaincy his enemy. Adventure Hook 15 - Someone has stolen Gorgon, the prize bull about to be unveiled by the Matador Lodge to thunderous demand. Are the Desnans finally fed up with the Lodge's ways or is something more sinister afoot? Adventure Hook 16 - The summer games are coming up and The Fancy Reefclaw is offering is doubling its usual bounty of 250 gp per pound of golden raspberries to meet demand. Mesdoram and Rameth have unknowingly angered the Aspis Consortium and need money fast so they head to the Mushfens to make themselves rich and popular at the same time. Adventure Hook 17 - Rameth and Mesdoram set their sights on the Kaijitsu Villa, determined to buy the place as the keystone to their new empire. The only problem is that they now have to deal with a public auction with deeper pocketed rivals trying to buy the villa out from under them. Can they hobble rivals, blackmail competitors and safeguard the cold hard cash needed to win the day? Adventure Hook 18 - There's few obligations for men about town more onerous than a night at the opera. Inheriting a box at the Triodea from a business associate in exchange for a bad debt, Mesdoram and Rameth set out for a night on the town but discover that the opera "The Siren's Song" has been hijacked by a monstrous bard in love with the prima donna. The magical harp he uses bewitches the crowd into his own personal play and only Rameth and Mesdoram are immune. To save the day they must climb into the scaffolding, defeat his minions and insert themselves into the opera performance! Adventure Hook 19 - A lumber mill is going out of business and Mesdoram has come up with a scheme he calls "Vertical Integration" - buying the mill would get them lumber for their ships and building as well as open all new opportunities in Rag's End to build new apartments. The only problem is the mill is going out of business because the owner's daughter has gotten kidnapped and is being held for ransom in Kaer Maga. If they can rescue the girl they get the deed to the mill and the workers' undying devotion but can they reach the walled city in time? Adventure Hook 20 - Billiver Billivan's shop is in more chaos that usual - someone has shown up demanding he hand over the batch of sun orchid elixirs accidentally delivered to him. Unfortunately the person who showed up was indiscreetly loud and now the whole town thinks over 100,000 gp of the most precious substance on Golarion has been hidden in Magnimar. Billiver takes shelter with Rameth and Mesdoram and charges them to find the elixirs and turn them over so people stop trying to kidnap him to torture the hiding place out of him and leave his shop alone. Adventure Hook 21 - Someone has stolen the Embassy Building in Ordellia and all its occupants. The Lord-Mayor asks Rameth and Mesdoram to find it before irate nations declare a trade war on Magnimar. Adventure Hook 22 - The Golemwalk this year has a new event - a Golem Demolition Derby! Wizards are encouraged to create golems that can move around and slam into each other for the delight of the crowds at Serpent's Run. A miscast control spell however causes the golems to go haywire and rampage into the stands near Rameth and Mesdoram. They need to defeat the golems, save the wizards Adventure Hook 23 - Besmara comes to Mesdoram in a dream and tells him he needs to do her a favor; Sarenrae recently saved one of Besmara's favorite captains from an ill-fated charting expedition on an Abyssal sea and now she owes Sarenrae a favor. Mesdoram has to publicly renovate the shrine of Sarenrae in Underbridge and find a priest for it without telling anyone he's doing it for Besmara lest it brighten her bad name. But now half the town is convinced the lovable would-be-crimelord has turned over a new leaf while the other half is convinced he's blaspheming the Dawnflower. Can Rameth protect Mesdoram's project and figure out what's going on before his friend is forced to relocate to someplace that thinks poorly of him? Adventure Hook 24 - Even crimelords have limits - Mesdoram and Rameth discover that the Creepers are selling human children to derros in return for toxins and drugs. Disgusted, and worried that their own black market might have been selling some of these substances and they'll be caught up in a sweep, they have to invade the Gull, rescue the children and destroy the Creepers once and for all. Can they do it without ruining their bad name? Adventure Hook 25 - Mesdoram thinks they're entirely too respectable lately and decides its time for a hostile takeover of the best private pier in the city. Can he and Rameth seiz the Friendly Merchant without angering the Night Scales? Adventure Hook 26 - Mesdoram and Rameth are paid in an unusal gift - a delicate sculpture by Ayavah that shows two succubi amorously engaged. While worth a fortune, the gift is scene by a client who is a cultist of Nocticula and is convinced that Rameth and Mesdoram know where Ayavah is hiding. Can they save the sculptor before she's murdered by the cult for heretical beliefs? Adventure Hook 27 - The Scarecrow is real and threatens Rameth and Mesdoram's fledgling empire by preying on their business associates and employees. Why is the Scarecrow targeting them and can they stop it? Adventure Hook 28 - Rameth and Mesdoram's caravans are being targeted too often and they go to hunt down the source of their problems - the rumored Rushlight Society. Adventure Hook 29 - The city sewers back up into the underground market of Rameth and Mesdoram - the reason being that the Forever Man and the sewer goblins have gone to war and the goblin bodies are starting to choke up the sewer system. Mesdoram and Rameth need to stop the war, and probably kill the Forever Man, to stop a plague and and save their businesses from a very messy cleanup effort. Adventure Hook 30 - One of Mesdoram and Rameth's managers is acting oddly - in reality they've become the host for an intellect devourer from Ilvarandin. Mesdoram and Rameth have to kill the usurping manager and then discover the Midnight Dawn. Can they save the city from the intellect devourer invasion? |