I run a homebrew campaign for three friends. Due to recent events in my personal life, I've found myself in a creative little rut in time for our game on Sunday. I can't seem to get the cogs going in the right direction to crank any ideas for our next session.
Here's a bit of background:
As stated, this is a homebrew world. At some point in the game's history, a Great War forced a country into isolation. The ruling monarch had a magical barrier erected that would separate the country (Gath) from the rest of the world. The monarch then ruled that only the LG God is to be worshipped and that arcane magic is to be heavily regulated by the monarchy with only a few legally allowed to practice. Arcane casters and worshippers of other deities are punished by death.
With that said, there is an underground network of arcane casters and supporters who continue to operate under secrecy. Every seven years they hold court to pass on the Codex Arcanum, which contains the collective knowledge of the master casters of each region (7 in total).
(Ok, I'm going to try to keep this as clean as possible, but it might get messy seeing as this is an intrigue game and there are various organizations)
The court is held in the bustling merchant city of Arden Spire, where Lord Hedgerow rules with a differing opinion than his second cousin, King Roln II of Belgrim. Hedgerow, himself an arcane practitioner (N Half-Elf Summoner 13 with a huge size Dragon-like eidolon that I may or may not have flubbed evolution points on) and a member of the court itself, wants to undermine the king, finding his anti-arcane ruling irrational. He welcomes the court and arcane casters under one strict rule: "Cast not in the open".
The player characters hail from the northeastern region and they travel with their Master, Lady Rhiana ( NPC NG Aasimar Magus 13). The PCs are: Oswald (Aasimar Inquisitor 6), Xanros (Half-Elf Swashbuckler 6) and Rodric (Gnome Rogue 6). By actual luck, they end up responsible for the Codex, which comes in a large featureless, stone, sealed black box. Which oddly shrinks.
To the southeast of Gath is an archipelago called Karkatha that managed to get ensnared within the radius of the barrier. Because of its proximity to the barrier, the islands of Karkatha are slowly dying. As a last ditch effort, Karkathan Prince and war general Kath Auliriel (N Elf Slayer 13) travels mainland in hopes of finding refuge for his people. Of course, this takes him to Arden Spire.
While traveling to Arden Spire and upon their arrival, Swashbuckler Xanros is targeted by an assassin's guild, and Inquisitor Oswald casts a spell out in the open to defend. This action is met by a team of 5 (homebrewed non-sentient, bestial) Dragons who rain fire from the skies. The PCs quickly learn why magic is not cast out in the open, while simultaneously escaping from their would-be assassins. After a series of close calls with the assassins, Lady Rhiana tells Xanros to squash the crap before they move on. He heads to their headquarters and finds out that they are a serious business. They barter a deal: his bounty for another. He is tasked with defaming Prince Kath of Karkatha so that whatever plan Kath has in mind is foiled. At this point, they do not know Kath is trying to save his nation and they quickly agree. They're given three days to gain Intel and do the deed. Xanros gets spotted snooping by Kath, learns that his plan is twofold (not only seeking asylum but wants Lord Hedgerow to take an active stand against the King). Xanros lies to Kath (failed a bluff check pretty badly) and Kath has him pegged as a conspirator.
OK SO: After farting around town, the PCs return to their inn only to find its inhabitants (arcane sympathizers) dead. They hear noise upstairs and figure that whoever is behind this is looking for the Codex. They rush upstairs and are met by a troop sent by the King. A battle ensues, PCs win, the codex is missing, noise is heard from the closer-- out pops an elf child who casts a monster out Fireball spell that nearly kills 2/3 PCs and blows a hole through the room. They quickly realize the child is the codex, knock him out and they run for it while high pitched dragon cacophony of screeches is heard in the distance.
And that's where we left off.
So, clearly they're running for their lives, but where do I go from there? I don't necessarily want to punish the PCs even further for scaring the child and triggering the fireball (had they asked questions first, The Codex would've been able to tell who was on what side. Instead, they went in swinging), but I also don't want to give them an easy way out of the situation. They're practically enemies of the state, but I don't know where to go with that.
Sorry that was so long, but with intrigue stuff, I feel like you can't leave info out. Looking forward to any input. Thanks!
I would send an inquisition after them, tasked by the government. Specifically trained to hunt them down. If they publicly defeat the team they can rally the citizens against the government. They can do some more minor fights until the citizens riot with the help of the order. Then the PC's would just go to the government leaders and go French revolution(if you know what I mean). BTW my account has a sample MageHunter that could make a good fight. His skills are messed up so I would redo them, but I'm working on them. I wish the best of luck for your campaign.
Also in the future, if you want your threads to look les scary you should use spoilers. It's in the how to format your text button.
Well, if that makes you think they should get punished, it would be a riot with some other types of players i've seen.
With some of the people i have gamed with, the kid would have been sold to the king using kidnapper style ransom retreival tactics, for whatever they could get.
Another bunch would be thinking up ways and means to make the kid transcribe all the spells or use him in anyway themselves.
As for furthering the plot, there is always someone or a number of somebodies who oppose someone else, so even if they become enemies of the state, they can still be contacted by "allies".
For example,
A bunch of renegade mages who may
i) aim for magic to be free for all
ii) aim to sieze the codex for the good of their group and may kill the PCs after helping them out in a pinch and securing the codex
iii) aim to sieze the codex for whatever ideals and will try to persuade the PCs to join
A faction in court that plan to depose the current ruler, not because of arcane magic being outlawed but because
i) they want power for themselves. Wizards or groups of them are useful and expendable after power has been seized.
ii) they want to outlaw divine magic as well and return the land to the "purity" that it should be. Arcane casters can catpaws or scapegoats used to kill divine casters so they want to make sure the codex is reviled more and as a distraction
iii) Only sorcerers with powers in their bloodlines are the ones decreed by the gods to sit on the throne. By sheer coincidence the faction is composed of exactly such people. Wizards and the current ruler are but pretenders to the throne.
Underground clerics and followers of a church different from the national one may intervene because
i) They want more allies in overthrowing the monarch and restoring the worship of their own god
ii) There is no freedom which for some is enough excuse to start blowing things up, even if life is pretty good for everyone else.
iii) The true priest of the LG god tell the party that their god been skinned alive then destroyed just after the barrier was created and a NE god is wearing the skin. Those in power at the current church are all actual followers of the NE god, aiming to guide the good aligned ones into debauchery and evil. They need allies to expose the truth.
Royalty may intervene because
i) the prince is dabbling in arcane magic as he sees himself ruling over all creation if only he could get his hands on the Simulacrum spell. He's not going to expose himself to help anyone since he has brothers willing to take over as heir to the throne but untraceable help may be given.
ii) The king is actually a sympathizer to wizards (perhaps someone in his immediate family was one and was merciless persecuted) but because his forefathers have set down the rules, he cannot change it without facing complete opposition from the church and his own subjects. Certain things like permissions or orders for wizard hunters may be delayed, face to face weekly status reports, etc though nothing that openly connects him to it.
iii) Anyone in line to the throne (or evben the monarch himself if the church overpowers the monarchy) who wants a catspaw in reducing the power and control of the royal family or church. Openly fireballing in town is highly welcome, killing one of those dragons may even gain the party certain favours like unguarded gates or patrols that conveniently went for a toilet break. The more it shows the masses that the church and/or king has weak or no control, the more favours they get
Mix and match as desired.
Then of course you have the barrier, which may be something the PCs can utilise or those connected to it may aid them in return for certain favors.
i) It may require the sacrifice of a hundred sentients every year to empower. The church finds willing fanatics to do it every year but now, there isn't enough volunteers. Alternatively some LGs find this insufficient reason to kill off a hundred sentients every year
ii) The barrier may have been erected against the wishes of the royals and church and may in fact be a prison which the royals/church has spun as being something they chose. The codex may in fact be the key ro source of the barrier and they aren't against wizards but rather are hunting the codex to open the barrier.
iii) Everything outside the barrier is dead and overrun with undead/far realm entities/intellect devourers. The codex may be evil and attempting to open the barrier. Or the codex may be a freedom lover and want to open the barrier to grant freedom to everyone. Or the codex may simply know the truth while the royals/church don't believe it at all (the LG god would need to be trapped along with them or restricted in communing the truth)
iv) the barrier was put up for no reason other than as an experimental space on a large scale. The royals are the wardens in this prison while the LG church acts as the guards. The LG church may actually be LN depending on the reason for the experiment. One reason could a (still ongoing?) arcane cataclysm that was inflicted on the outside world and thus the LG god was trying to see if a world without arcane magic would survive and prosper (the codex was created to rebel against this)
Or it may simply an all powerful cabal of immortal arcane casters outside the barrier trying to create a new strain of beings without any arcane talent but with full intelligence (constructs), no overwhelming desire for death (undead), can become clerics who worship them and can never gain the same power the achieved (arcane talent) for use as slaves. The reasoning may be simply to kill those who show talent and sooner or later everyone should have no talent. The codex in this case is a trap and the LG church's god is a slave of the cabal.
v) The barrier is actually holding the last hope of the previous world. All else has been destroyed and the planet is slowly breaking up. The area within the barrier is seen as a sort of colonization ship that will hopefully survive the breakup of the planet. The codex is the main computer that was lost and can either fire up the thrusters or open the barrier. The royals and church want wizards dead because actual arcane power (spellcaster slots, not UMD) is required to power the computer and they are also the most likely to have the codex. Openly destroy the codex and the persecution *might* stop as the main reason was to avoid sucking vacuum if the barrier was opened.
Thank you both for the advice! I think I've decided on tomorrow's session!
We are picking up right where we left. Dragons on the horizon, building up in flames with the smell of burning wood and charring flesh and our heroes in a frenzy. A team of 12 or so guards will arrive on the scene with the dragons and begin scouring the area for any clues as to who or what caused the fireball. Finding the remains of the slaughtered sympathizers and the LG Cleric & Co, the guards deem it a terrorist attack and the city of Arden Spire is locked down. While elite city guards comb the city for any leads, the king sends an Inquisitor from the capital. The arcane community is shaken up and placed on high alert. It's been decades since any actual inquisition has been held in the city, mostly due to Lord Hedgerow's manipulation, but a blatant attack has left him powerless in the decision. After a day's time, Inquisitor MageHunter arrives with a team of underlings. Depending on how the PCs play their hand, there could be an all-out brawl between the King's Inquisitors and anyone that the PCs have managed to rally against them (which would cause all sorts of long-lasting problems), or they could pull favors with the few factions they've interacted with and find a way out of the city. Or, they could surprise me all together and fool everyone.
This would rely heavily on stealth, face skills, and smart planning on their part and would accent their party roles well (Party face Inquisitor, Stealth expert Rogue, and a daring Swashbuckler who seems to keep royally messing up).
The Glob:
I appreciate all these possibilities you've given me! Beyond the barrier, I've toyed around with the idea that the world is a wasteland or having the world be far more modern than life within the bubble. I'm going to have to sit down when I have more time and find some ways to incorporate all these juicy morsels.