Strictly speaking this should probably be over in CotCT, since I'm just putting the Grauls and their house of delights in between the first and second modules of that AP. The PCs have left Korvosa for a bit after Edge of Anarchy -- they've taken a brief trip to the Cinderlands -- and now they're on their way home. They'll arrive just in time for Seven Days to the Grave. Meanwhile, they've found a bear caught in a bear trap...
The Graul house adapts nicely to insertion. My PCs are a bit low level (APL 4th) but the Grauls are easy to manage -- they're all ogrekin with PC levels, so just whack off a level or two and lower the CRs. IMC their farm is near the edge of the Great Escarpment that borders the Cinderlands. They get occasional visitors, some of whom are guided to their farm by the Cinderlander -- he's neutral, after all, and doesn't care as long as he's paid in good coin.
And those visitors? Well, I've added a secret to the Grauls' place: a drug lab in their basement. (Trying to be thematically consistent here.) The drug is "snap", which IMC boosts the powers of primary spellcasters (free metamagic and a temporary INT boost) at the cost of crippling addiction. It affects wizards much worse than sorcerors, so the city that relies on sorcerors is smuggling it into the city that relies on wizards. Brewing snap requires an alchemist, and you don't want to be in the neighborhood if your Fort save is less than +8 -- it produces toxic fumes that can cause paranoia, hallucinations, violent outbreaks and, in the case of prolonged exposure, INT and CHA drain. So, the Grauls' basement is the perfect place for this; they provide security, they have really high Fort saves, and even if they fail it's not going to make much difference.
So, in the basement, instead of the trapmaking Graul brother, there's a tolerably well equipped alchemical lab with a deranged gnome alchemist. And something like 10,000 gp worth of fresh-brewed snap. In a few days, the wholesalers will arrive (escorted by the Cinderlander, as per above). If the PCs do their job right, they'll find a smoldering ruin -- and no snap. Hum hum, what will they do? (And what will the PCs do when the PC paladin insists on putting all the treasure to the torch?)
Doug M.
Ooooo I like this! Yoink!
Dark Sasha wrote: Ooooo I like this! Yoink! +1
I probably won't use the gnome, but I will definitely use the meth lab. It's such a perfect fit.
I have to agree with Liane, a gnome doesn't fit. But neither does an ogre-kin; the other family members are simply too dumb, if I remember the stats correctly. But an Ogre Mage would fit and would be a challenging but not impossible encounter. The party would need hints that there's a powerful drug maker around, though; otherwise this has TPK potential.
It could also be the parties first encounter with a cabal of Ogre Mages that operates against the city and become a side plot for some time; Ogre Mages stay a challenge for several levels and can easily have character levels for higher levels. And for both campaigns (RotRL and CotCT) a giant tribe trying to destroy the main city and push back civilization is appropriate.
I'd also introduce a tainted version of the drug; a DC 30 or higher check to tell that it's tainted, all the same negative consequences, but far less benefit. Of course the players wouldn't necessarily realize that, even after taking it.
Maybe an even lesser version that can be produced wholesale to contaminate water supplies, and then sell this version as cure against the withdrawal symptoms for a time; by the time people realize what's going on, lots of people in the city will be hooked on it. Korvosa might be too poor for that, but there are other cities around.
Old Drake wrote: I have to agree with Liane, a gnome doesn't fit. But neither does an ogre-kin; the other family members are simply too dumb, if I remember the stats correctly. Well, if you want to have a gnome, it's pretty easy to have a captive gnome. I'd give him a backstory as a prisoner (who happens to be a completely evil little rat bastard, in the event the PCs try to free/befriend him just because he's a prisoner of the Grauls so they assume he must be an otherwise innocent person). The Grauls captured him as he was trying to smuggle a load of meth through their territory. Although stupid, the ogres weren't stupid enough to overlook the moneymaking and recreational potential of a prisoner who could make more drugs on demand, so they locked him up in the basement meth lab to crank out crank.
His legs have been gnawed off (or maybe just lopped off, put in the smokehouse pants-and-all, then hung from a nail on the opposite wall as a sort of mummified motivational poster) so he can't run away, and there he awaits discovery by the PCs.
Hmm. Maybe I'll have a gnome after all.
Old Drake wrote:
by the time people realize what's going on, lots of people in the city will be hooked on it. Korvosa might be too poor for that, but there are other cities around.
If you're playing more-or-less straight CotCT, then it's something the Queen would probably like. Introduce the drug, legalize it, but make its sale a state monopoly. The strong will be able to handle it and will become stronger, the weak will become addicted and die off, and the Crown will pocket the revenue either way. Win-win.
Doug M.
Liane Merciel wrote:
His legs have been gnawed off (or maybe just lopped off, put in the smokehouse pants-and-all, then hung from a nail on the opposite wall as a sort of mummified motivational poster) so he can't run away, and there he awaits discovery by the PCs.
Hmm. Maybe I'll have a gnome after all.
That's horrible! [snicker] I'm tempted to use it.
But no... while that's neat (and thematically appropriate!), I've got the gnome set up as part of this drug cartel. The drug runners may be intermittent antagonists to the PCs for many levels to come; the gnome is a valued employee. A valued employee who's also chaotic evil, somewhat deranged, and personally obnoxious -- so it makes sense to install him in a basement far out in the woods.
The gnome /likes/ the Grauls -- they're big and smelly and stupid, but they keep him supplied with raw materials, and they know how to have fun. The Grauls find the gnome amusing, and he's definitely improved the quality of their moonshine. So everybody's happy. Well, except for the occasional unfortunate captive, who gets to face not only the Grauls, but a gnome with a masterwork surgical kit and a satchel full of alchemical reagents that need to be properly tested on a living subject.
Doug M.
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