Mordent Campaign

[The_Confessor]

I'm starting a new RL game tomorrow night and it is going to be primarily set in Mordent. My PCs include a Half-Vistani Bard who is a descendant of the Godefroy line and was raised as an orphan but the Archonites of Mordentshire, a Human Ranger who was also raised in the church and wanted to be be a Paladin - but after her lack of discipline got her mother (a locally famous paladin) got her mother killed she was shamed, a Human Fighter who is a pistoleer in the local watch and searching for his father's killer, and a Human Wizard who was cursed by Vistani to never use the two schools he loved most after he acused a Vistani of theivery. The Wizard is also of Godefroy descendance. (Neither of the Godefroy bloods know who they are)

I had the idea of what if Lord Godefroy decided to begin to make his big push to get rid of the Weathermays and really reclaim Mordentshire as his. He's subtle, so what if he decided to do it by using his ghostly minions to possess local residents while they slept. These local residents then, while they thought they were sleeping, commit horrible crimes under the control of these ghosts. Most of these ghosts are not willing servants of Godefroy, so they desperately attempt to get messages to the Godefroy blooded PCs to help stop this. This backfires, though, and suddenly the PCs find themselves the target of posession

As I think about it more and more, the idea seems to be elaborating. The session opens with the Harvest Festival in Mordentshire. Celebration has filled the town, fore despite the tragedy of the ship Miller's Crossing a few months back, the harvest has been plentiful. But this year's festival is attended by none other than the Vistani, who are passing through during festival time in an attempt to lure silver from the pockets of the locals.

After the first night of the Festival, an odd thing begins to happen. Several children in Mordentshire begin to suffer from horrible nightmares. Visions of murder and slaughter fill their dreams, as well as the crying out of the dying. Each night, more and more children suffer these dreams. By the third night, it is evident that this is more than coincidence. The local townsfolk begin to blame the Vistani, claiming that the nightmares didn't start until they arrived and that they must be the source.

But this Vistani know the truth. These nightmares are being caused by the unwilling ghostly servants of Lord Godefroy. They know that they will soon have to obey the Darklord's command to take possession of the children and commit horrible murders, so they plague the children with nightmares so they won't sleep and be forced to commit these crimes. But outraged at their treatment, the Vistani leave town. Only in a cryptic message, via the Tarokka, do they leave any clues as to the truth of the matter.

The evening after the Vistani leave, Godefroy lets loose his plan. John Marlowe, an assistant to Lord Weathermay, is murdered. Also murdered are Jane and Edgar Graves. They leave behind a six year old son, Timothy. A note is left at the scene of Marlowe's murder: "Martha, my dear Martha, isn't this something to see? Joined by dearest John, now he'll keep you company." A second note is found near the bodies of Mr. & Mrs. Graves: "A neseccary evil, as they all are." Both of them are written in a halting, shaking hand. Both are written in the blood of their victims. Both are written on mirrors near the corpses.

Timothy is taken in by the orphanege of Ezra. Rumors begin to fly around town that the normally dour Jules Weathermay has been cursed by the Vistani or even gone mad. Perhaps he has murdered his long time friend because of old rumors of an affair between John and Martha. Things grow tense in the town.

The next evening a fire breaks out in Mordentshire. The famous shop of Rudolph Van Richten has been set ablaze. With the aide of the PCs, the blaze is contained. However, inside the shop, two crying children are found. Albert and Mary Cobbler, the eight year old son and four year old daughter of Garrett and Amy Cobbler. The children, if they survive, don't claim to remember how they got their or anything that happened. If the characters take the time to look around the half-destroyed shop, they find something written in the small hearth in the ashes: "Ashes to Ashes, my dear Rudolph."

This continues to imply Weathermay, though if the PCs look closely at the oddities... the children involved in the killings, no signs of Weathermay being bloody, etc...

The key to discovering this mystery lay in two things...

First: During the Carnival one (or more) of the PCs recieves a Tarroka reading from the Vistani. In the reading are various clues to reveal the truth of what is happening with the Nightmares and what is going to happen with the Murders.

Second: Any research done into the Cobbler or Graves family reveals that they had other children who died 10 years ago or more. These are the spirits coming to the children, and possessing them.

When the truth is finally revealed and the clues put together, the PCs can figure out that the only other family to suffer such loss of children is the Gordons, who lost a teenage son, Ethan, eleven years go when he fell from the cliffs and into the Sea of Sorrows. If they stand watch over the Gordons' remaining child, 7 year old Anna, they will see Ethan's spirit come for Gordon.

Though they can scare the spirit off, they cannot kill it. The only way to put to rest the spirits of the Ethan Gordon, Jason Cobbler and Maggie Graves ghost is to discover how they died and put them to rest. Ethan Gordon died when he slipped from the cliffs near Mordentshire. He used to go there to be alone and write poetry. Jason Cobbler died when he was misdiagnosed for an illness, and given the wrong medicine. (Remember, Van Richten's shop used to be an herbalist shop). Maggie Graves was actually murdered by her father secretly, because he wanted a boy. Maggie will only be put to rest when her father confesses or dies.

These things will break Godefroy's hold over them and set things right - ending Godefroy's most recent attempt to remove the Weathermays from power...

[Jennifer]

Hi confessor,
This sounds like a very interesting setup. It contains a lot of mystery, a lot of different NPC's to interact with, a lot of elements of horror.

I would like to see how this works out.

Jennifer

[Desertrising]

I must say that is a very elaborate and well thought out beginning to a campaign. I like it a lot. In fact I hope you don't mind if I borrow a couple of the ideas you put forth for my own campaigns.

[JinnTolser]

Excellent setup! Let us know how the PCs handle it.