Open Sesame!

A caravan job gone wrong, magical contraband, and forgotten lore of dark import...

Written by M. T. Gaffney

In Valleyfort, Owem Whitesand has a problem. New imperial laws have dried up support for his caravning business. Struggling to hire anyone who will guard his wares across the sands to the city of Dabala, he has posted notice for all residents, including non-dwarves of the surface villages. The job is simple, to drive goods to Dabala. Unless of course there is an ambush! An ambush by a cult searching for tools of ingress, so they might plunder places best left unearthed by dwarvenkind. A tool that Owem should not have been selling in the first place, drawing the ire of the Piety Squads. An ire that places a party found trafficking this contraband in the warpath of imperial discipine! Now the party is between a rock and a hard place. But how will they find their way out of this knot of intrigue?

Plot points/Scenes

Part 1: The Caravan. wherein a party of adventurers take up an offer to help escort goods from Valleyfort to Dabala. Their caravan is ambushed and the antagonists reveal themselves. Part 2: Dabalan Rendevous. The party regroups with N'dola Clearglass, who gives insight into the actions of the Twelve Gates cult and the Pewter Gang. The party must find out what the antagonists are searching for, and how to curtail their progress. Part 3: Fights in the Alleyways. The party must fight, cajole, and sneak their way from location to location, obtaining information about the catacombs, its forgotten wing, and the Chime of Opening. This search should lead the party into the catacombs to confront their antagonists. Part 4: Tomb of the Forgotten Heroine. The party plunders their way through the catacombs and its dangers to find the cult (or the cult finds them). They and other interested parties, such as the Pewter Gang, battle for the wealth of the forgotten tomb. This is the climax of the adventure.

Themes

Legerdemain: Both the player characters and the antagonists will be encouraged to use tricks, traps, sleight of hand, and other forms of deception to trump their opposition.

Occultism: The atmosphere of this adventure leans heavily on ideas of mystic arts, secret societies, ancient lore, and black magic. The party will face antagonists who are using, and who pursue, disturbing magical power.

Structure

Exposition

In the Red Desert of Ukum-Aru, the dwarves of the Granite Fist run their empire in accordance with the rituals of the Inverted Sun. Icon of their imperial power, the Inverted Sun and the religions which uphold its authority enshrine the rule of the Emperor of All Stone. However, a cult has formed against the empire, named after the occult scriptures to which they model their tradition: The Twelve Gates. This cult plots in all corners of the empire, and the imperial priesthood has begun consolidating religious authority in response. Piety Squads patrol the city-states, and enforce the observance of all traditions of the Inverted Sun.
Meanwhile, these sweeping political events have shaken even the surface villages. Merchants, travelers, and non-dwarven residents have been squeezed for information about the Twelve Gates, or harassed as suspected associates. Caravaners have been subject to draconian inspections of their goods, and the market for mercenaries has dried up in response.
One of these caravan masters, Owem Whitesand of Valleyfort, has decided that desperate times call for desperate measures. He has put out a call for anyone willing to guard his caravan on its trip to the neighboring city of Dabala. He promises handsome reward at twice the going rate.
What he neglects to explain is in his rush to cash in on this caravan run, he has promised a noble in Dabala a magical item, the Chime of Opening. This magic item is part of a strict list of contraband under imperial decree, and anyone found dealing in them will be punished. This item will be the fulcrum around which the events of this adventure shall unfold.

Conflict

A wealthy tradesman, Owem Whitesand, is searching for mercenaries to escort a caravan of goods from Valleyfort to the Face of Dabala. What he does not explain is that the manifest of goods includes a Chime of Opening, a magic item coveted by criminal elements and banned by imperial decree. The caravan is raided by both a gang of thieves and agents of the Twelve Gates. Whoever comes out of this raid with the Chime will begin seeking out the tomb of the forgotten hero, while everyone else pursues them. If they party manages to hold onto the Chime, they will be pursued by Piety Squads, the thieves, and the cultists.

Rising Action

Members of the Twelve Gates, under the command of a lower priest named Quaim Jadepillar, seek to plunder the tomb of a forgotten heroine buried deep in the catacombs of Dabala. Piety Squads have caught wind of this plot, and hoping to curtail the cult have begun cracking down on the lower classes. Meanwhile, a band of thieves calling themselves the Pewter Gang have set their eyes upon this treasure as well, and have stalked the movements of the Twelve Gates cultists. These actions all come to a head when cultists and thieves ambush the caravan which the player characters are escorting, all during a goods inspection at the gates of Dabala.

In Dabala, the party will likely meet N'dola Clearglass, the eccentric merchant who was meant to recieve the caravan. He can give a little bit of insight about the motivation behind the caravan raid. Also, N'dola is secretly a member of the Twelve Gates. Should the Chime and/or information about the contents of the forgotten tomb be given to him, this will advance later goals of the Twelve Gates cult.

Inside the tomb of the forgotten heroine is lore explaining the location of a demon which was sealed away by the heroine and her allies. The cult seeks out the demon so that they might release it in exchange for the magic necessary to overthrow the Granite Fist. The thief gang simply wants the wealth left inside the ruins. The Piety Squads seek to stop both and to extort the cult members for information about their larger plots.

The party should spend the bulk of this adventure working to accomplish two tasks: 1. hold onto or reclaim the Chime of Opening from the antagonists, and 2. reach the forgotten tomb and either destroy the information inside or take it and whatever treasure is there for themselves. Both of these goals will be best accomplished by laying traps to capture and interrogate cultists and thieves, infiltrating their hideouts in Dabala, and avoiding scrutiny from the law.

Climax

In the Catacombs of Dabala, there is a collapsed wing which was recently unearthed by the Twelve Gates cult. An ancient map of the catacombs marks the way to the tomb of the forgtten heroine, whose door is sealed by great magic. The party at this point should be dungeoneering through the forgotten wing, fighting cultists and thieves and possibly the Piety Squads as well. The "final battle" of the adventure will likely be the party against Bedou Ironclasp, a decently powerful Initiate of the First Gate, and his acolytes.

Falling Action

The party flees the tomb, treasure in hand, and perhaps even the Chime of Opening. There are many end states to this adventure; does the party of the favor, disinterest, or scorn of the various factions in play; who escapes with the Chime of Opening; did the cultists obtain the lore about the imprisoned demon? Regardless, the adventure reaches its conclusion when the party has successfully dealt with the business of the forgotten tomb and returned to N'dola Clearglass for their reward.

Resolution

The party has recieved ample treasure (and therefore experience points), and maybe a magic item or two. The factions involved in the Twelve Gate's plot have gained or lost ground towards their ultimate goals. At this point, things have returned to a steady state, but the pieces of the Twelve Gate's plot are still in motion.

Questions may remain unanswered: how did the cultists get the map of the catacombs? How did the thieve's gang know the plans of the cultists before the Piety Squads did? If the thieves or cultists still have the Chime of Opening, what will their next target be? If the players have the Chime, will someone come after them? If the cultists are thwarted, what will they do instead to seek out the demon? These are some of the questions that this adventure should leave open to further campaign, should your group want to continue playing.

Components

Goals

The ultimate goal to bring the whole adventure together is the tomb of the forgotten heroine. An abandoned burial place filled with the riches of a legendary warrior? Score! Now the party just needs to get past all of the cultists and take it for themselves.

Hooks

The initial hook to get the party traveling with the caravan will probably be the promise of good money for a seemingly simple job. Making a big fluff about how much more of a nuisance the paperwork is for Owem Whitesand than the trip will be for the party. If that does not interest the party, place something that does interests them in Dabala, so that they are motivated to use the caravan as a means to travel there.
A secondary hook to spur the party into more mindful action should be the caravan ambush. Wild, chaotic, multiple groups attacking each other over a similar goal. The encounter should leave the party curious and perhaps a little confused. If they don't feel like pursuing the cult or thieves immediately, or are arrested by the Piety Squad, N'dola Clearglass will meet them and provide assistance, which hopefully will further pique their interest.

Stakes

If the party can't thwart the cultists, it's likely that they will make an enduring enemy of the Piety Squad. Moreover if the party doesn't accomplish anything, they leave the adventure will very little wealth, which would be some salt in the wound.

Cruel Tricks

The major cruel trick is that, should the party make it their mission to stop the cult, N'dola is already a member of said cult, and has more or less been playing the party as a second set of hands to get the information the Twelve Gates want. If the party is perfectly successful, they'll probably hand over everything the cult needs anyways without realizing it until later.

Relations

Allies

In this adventure, the party has no real allies except for themselves. If they manage to persuade the Piety Squads that they are above suspicion, they can get a few of them to help thwart the cult and the thieves. N'dola Clearglass, while helpful, is ultimately an antagonist working to use the party for his own gain.

Neutrals/Bystanders

Owem Whitesand. Tradesman, business partner, a little sleazy but nonetheless operates with (a somewhat deliberate) ignorance to the politics which surround him. He's not supposed to be present for this adventure, but if the players push for it, Owem is there to cut deals with the people in his employ.

Competitors

The Pewter Gang. These thieves are not totally evil people, they're just, well, criminals. The party can be open to making allies with them, but there's always the chance that the theives might try to make off with a bigger share of the treasure than they were promised.

Adversaries

The Twelve Gates. This cult is, by all accounts, an unashamed force of chaos, which seeks to realize the ultimate goal of their namesake. All people aligned with the cult are enemies to lawfulness. The only time that the party and the cult might be on the same side is if they choose to follow the cult and whatever misery they unleash upon the realm. The cult will never give freely to the party.

Plot type

One-shot Adventure

Parent Plot

Shadow Under the Hanging City

Related Characters

• N'dola Clearglass
• Owem Whitesand

Related Organizations

• Granite Fist
• Pewter Gang
• The Twelve Gates

Related Locations

• Catacombs of Dabala
• Face of Dabala
• Valleyfort