Rumors of Lekar/other cities

[KingCorn]

Considering the success of the Rumors of Port-Lucine viewtopic.php?hilit=rumors%20port&p=230 ... a14a509c27 thread managed to make it to the wiki, why not continue on from that with another big city: Lekar! In such brutal slums, many a goings on is afoot. Or really any city, after all one idea in that thread was making a netbook of city rumors/plothooks

[KingCorn]

13 Rumors of Lekar:

1. There's a strange, overgrown warehouse in the southern district. It was supposedly holding something on its way to the ministry of science, but for some reason was never moved beyond the warehouse. Any soldiers sent to check on it emerge changed, listless and making excusses to leave the site alone (A new doppleganger plant, child of the one from Horror's Harvest, has taken root)
2. Ever since that halan witch was impaled, any woman facing the same will burst into flames on her stake, and burn to ash in moments.While searching for any other witch that might undo this, women are beheaded for now.
3. A few of the state orphanages have recieved new rations, courtesy of the Ministry of Science. The typical deaths their have almost halved, and the children grow like weeds. Despite their good fortune though, the children just seem to get more and more rowdy.
4. A gigantic red falcon, its wings as wide as a whole housing block, flew overhead not two nights ago. Just yesterday, the Falkfuher himself rode out with an entire triumph, out to personally tame the creature.
5. The Ministry Arcane has finally done something useful. Saw one of their new swords in the arena, took out a zombie in one strike. Lets see Darkon stop us now! (the ministry has made batches on undead-bane weapons)
6. A group of prisoners on their way to the arena broke lose and slipped into the city. While most were captured and killed quickly, many are still unaccounted for.
7. Ever since his daughter got executed, that old lamordian doctor hasn't emerged from his apartment, and its only a matter of time before the Talon's take him too. I've heard him tinkering with something in their though, something dangerous.
8. Stadfuher Tsyvlkevit has lost favor, and his life. In his place: Tsarina Duchku.
9. The latest "talent" of the local pleasure house has got plenty of attention from the Talons. She's supposed to be real exclusive, with only her client getting a look at her. Thing is, each one describes her looks differntly.
10. Talons are on the look out for a couple of poisoners: A fat women and a thin man. Seems like they killed some Talon's kid, along with so many of our own.
11. Ever since the latest Talons returned from their station in Invidia, people are turning into crytal, bursting into flames, even having their heads explode.
12. The latest group of births got a different brand: a skull, instead of a falcon.
13. They've been shipping more and more Talons out to some nothing place called Barovia. Apprently they need help putting down peasant uprisings.

[Joël of the FoS]

Those are very cool, well thought.

remind me, who is number 8?

[KingCorn]

Those are very cool, well thought.

remind me, who is number 8?

He's the Talon in charge of Lekar and its security. Tsarina Duchku is Drakov's latest mistress.

[IanFordam]

That landlord, the one who owns half of the south end? I've heard he's got family troubles. A nephew or somebody stole something from him and ran off to Morfenzi with it. Some kind of pet, maybe? Anyway. Wouldn't want to be that nephew when they catch up with him. The landlord is supposed to have the ear of Vlad the Younger.

[KingCorn]

A few more, then another city:
15. "The merchants and farmers can lie all they want, those new machines aren't farm equipment! All that smoke and noise, all those spinning blades and grinding gears!? There another war machine, and with it another Dead Man's March, I just know it! I'm setting my son up with the Silda girl by tonight, least then my name will live on."

16. A delegation from Dementliu has come, demanding the return of "cultural artifacts" that were taken during the last invasion.

17. Drakov has gone on a tear about "degenerate Dementliu art" and has been awarding arts that go to his tastes. Most of whats come up is tacky and outright propoganda, but its still kick started an artist movement in the city.

18. "Some bleeding heart has been laying wreaths at the impaling grounds. Only a matter of time before the Talons come down."

[KingCorn]

For the town of Skald in Kartakass. Think of them as things you'd overhear in the Old Kartakan Inn:

1. "Looks like Grandfather Beaver's decided to get 'inventive' again. Seems during that short thaw last winter a whole family of them set up shop, and now they've all but dammed the Kilovan River. Will take more than a few men to take it apart and get business going again".
2. "Heard Meistsinger Wening of Cortton was killed last week. Word got out he had near emptied the coffers plying his mistress with gifts. Whole thing was messy, most of the town got a piece of him before the end, they'd always hated him. The mistress supposedly fled with what she could carry, including a gun those fancy western-types have".
3. One of the merchants in town has been begging Meistsinger for help trying to get a friend of his and his kid out of Invidia. Whoever this friend is, apparently it was a mutual one cause Lukas sounded familiar with him. Don't know why he sounded so hesitant about it, their's plenty of men here who would lend a hand.
4. A. "Seems Little Lilia has gone a courting against her daddy's wishes. Seems she's been playing two boys against each other, trying to get what she can out of them".
5. B. "Nah, she ain't like that. Just young and foolish is all. If were about just gifts she would have picked the richer one, that merchant's son. Wouldn't be fooling around with that boy from Out-Town. Not that he don't give good gifts, saw him day before give her a pelt from Grandmother Otter".
6. "Swear it on my brother's grave, I saw the The Head's Man of Dargacht Keep! Shirtless and fat, just like in the stories, with his blackhood and sword. Took a swipe at me while I was going out the night before. Woulda taken my head off if I haden't tripped".
7. They say underneath Dargacht Keep, their's a tree of dried heads, each being someone executed in the keep all those ages ago. The head's man tended it every day with his victims blood. His ghost still appears every so often, trying to water it still...
8. A group of Barovian merchants have been forced to do business in Out-Town. Apperently they had killed a group of Vistani on the Crimson Road, and the guard doesn't want them bringing whatever curse they might have gotten in return onto the town.
9. A couple of gnomes have set up shop selling intricate clockworks. Brothers apparently, with a third who works at the Clock Tower Mill. They're good, heard they made a new limb for a maimed lumberjack.
10. Last night an ebony boat crashed into the High Wharves, no owner in site. Most figure it was just left unteethered upriver, but the Meistsinger has got guards all over the things, and anyone else trying to get a closer look's been jailed.
11. The owner of the Dead Troll Inn in Lower Skald keeps the heart of a troll in a jar of alchohol, just in site. People swear that last night, the thing started beating again.
12. A trio of Borcan playwrites have been banned from the Grand Hall of Song and Dance after harrasing the staff for too long. Apparently the failure to appreciate their 'superior arts' had been getting to them. Meistsinger Lukas refuses to throw them out of the city, as they keep buttering him up with promises of writing 'an epic worthy of your name'.
13. Woodsmen have been talking about 'The Knights of the Silver Carriage'. Supposedly out in the woods is a carriage filled with an untold fortune of silver. Anyone who tries to claim it are set upon by ghostly knights, who guard it for 'The Purple Dragons of Cormyr'.
    (Note: Refernce to the lost Waevor Wagon treasure from 'The Lost Treasures of Cormyr' article)

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Woodsmen have been talking about 'The Knights of the Silver Carriage'. Supposedly out in the woods is a carriage filled with an untold fortune of silver. Anyone who tries to claim it are set upon by ghostly knights, who guard it for 'The Purple Dragons of Cormyr'.
(Note: Refernce to the lost Waevor Wagon treasure from 'The Lost Treasures of Cormyr' article)

I especially like this one from Dragon #281 p.78, it could be tied to Gondegal who knows the stories about the lost carriage from his time in Cormyr, maybe he needs the 60000 silver pieces for the support of the Falkovnian Resistance or the Knights of the Shadows.

[alhoon]

I think those rumors should be collected and used in articles about those domains.

[LeMaxul]

Since you're delving away from Lekar, I was wondering if it'd be okay to post Richemulot rumors here? I've written a d20 set of rumors for the cities of Mortigny, Saint Ronges and Pont-a-Museau.

[KingCorn]

Since you're delving away from Lekar, I was wondering if it'd be okay to post Richemulot rumors here? I've written a d20 set of rumors for the cities of Mortigny, Saint Ronges and Pont-a-Museau.

Sure go ahead. Lekar was just were I started, post anything you have.

[LeMaxul]

Since you're delving away from Lekar, I was wondering if it'd be okay to post Richemulot rumors here? I've written a d20 set of rumors for the cities of Mortigny, Saint Ronges and Pont-a-Museau.

Sure go ahead. Lekar was just were I started, post anything you have.

Okay! I'll start with Mortigny here:
d20 Rumor

• 1 The Lavigny family is the wealthiest family of aristocrats in Mortigny. They sponsor the Lock & Key watch company, who always cover their faces. A family member, Evrard Lavigny, is considered so influential that he is often called “the Mayor”.
  2 The Lock & Key is the most respected watch company of Mortigny. Recently, they’ve been arresting commoners on vague charges of blasphemy. The charges associate the arrested with the faith of the “Dark One” and working against the Church of the Rat King - and therefore the populace of Richemulot.
  3 Doctor Simone Temator of Mortigny West Clinic is constantly looking for people who’ve never had the plague. Rumors say she is trying to spread the plague.
  4 Deformed demon worshipers are said to attack the citizens of the city and the church of the Rat King. The Esteemed Capital calls citizens to bring in any information they know.
  5 There is a serial killer who kills victims by pummeling their heads. The watch companies call him the Brain Pummeler. The Esteemed Capital calls citizens to bring in any information they know.
  6 An arrested criminal turned into a werewolf and attempted to murder those present. The werewolf was put down by an elf warrior with an amber sword, who happened at the location.
  7 Doctor Alfons Temator, a scion of a wealthy family went missing a few years ago. Rumors say his wife killed him, because she was pregnant with the child of an extramarital lover.
  8 A noble called Jules Haurie was pummeled to death a few years ago, but the Haurie family still offers a bounty for the killer.
  9 There are few cats in Mortigny. Lately, rat groups have been attacking cats throughout the city. Some say that once all the cats are killed, the city will be covered by rats.
  10 The Lock & Key barged in Richemulot Academy the other day. According to the rumors, a professor was a necromancer.
  11 A carnival of fey creatures has arrived in the woods to the southeast of Mortigny.
  12 Mortigny has a sewer, but it has become a rat-infested deathtrap. Any desperate criminals who hide in the sewer are never seen again. The sewer was built so long ago that none remembers who built it, or if any print of it exists.
  13 The Temator family owns mines on the foot of Mount Raul. The mines have become infested with rats. The family offers a reward to whoever can remove the infestation. Their estate can be found along a stream that flows in the Musarde river from the west.
  14 Mademoiselle Pixtolix, who owns the Pix Arsenal store, is said to have once traveled with a legendary monster hunter called Van Richten.
  15 Local hunters usually hunt near the Phantom Lakes, but the invisible spirit of a fiendish wolf haunts them. Citizens whisper it is called the Spreader of Fear.
  16 A ghastly voice can be heard near the square at night. Those who’ve heard it say the voice is coming from the gallows. They whisper it was someone who was executed but was innocent.
  17 The tallest building in the city is an observatory called the Hundred Moths House. Locals whisper that the astrologists read the future in the stars, but may be consorts to alien powers.
  18 Tancapuche suffers from high criminality and most consider the neighborhood dangerous. Those who can’t find an honest job typically work there.
  19 A well-travelled troubadour is said to be playing macabre pieces in the inn called Maiden’s Sorrows.
  20 Re-roll the d20 twice, ignoring and re-rolling further results of 20. The character learns each rumor.

[KingCorn]

• 11 A carnival of fey creatures has arrived in the woods to the southeast of Mortigny.

I espeically like this one as it has multiple uses. It could be actual fey, it could be Isolde's carnival, or something else entirely.

[LeMaxul]

Here's a set of rumors for the city of Saint Ronges.

• d20 Rumor
  1 The city of Saint Ronges is ruled by the city council. The council elects its own overseer, who is called the burgomeister, and holds the closest office to a traditional mayor or city ruler. The position of burgomeister is currently held by Klaus of the Nellak family.
  2 The city guard is sponsored by the city council. Almost half of them are conscripted from young and jobless individuals. They conscripts are said to hold little allegiance to the council, and are just trying to get through their time of service.
  3 The Temator family owns mines on the foot of Mount Raul. The mines have become infested with rats. The family offers a reward to whoever can remove the infestation. Their estate can be found south from here, along a stream that flows in the Musarde river from the west.
  4 People whisper that obscure gangs are fighting a criminal war in Saint Ronges. A few people claim that foreign aristocrats are sponsoring these criminals, while others whisper that the churches of Ezra and the Rat King are fighting for territories through this gang war.
  5 When a person’s cause of death can’t be identified, or a person simply vanishes, the city guard simply attribute it to the gang war and refuse to investigate further. Friends and relatives of victims claim the guard and council cover for serial killers and abductors.
  6 There have been murders in which the victims have been drained of blood down near the docks. Constable Quind calls any witness or hunter to visit The Periscope.
  7 Inhabitants of the Mocraux neighborhood claim that a sobbing ghost is haunting their neighborhood. Her often sobs make it hard to sleep in the neighborhood.
  8 The smiths in Saint Ronges are capable metallurgists, able to turn high-quality iron ore into a alloy called Rongeise steel. Lately, there have been significant shortages of appropriate iron. Two of the most well-known blacksmith workshops are called Scratchless Steel and Rusty Crucible.
  9 The clerics in the Church of Patronage and the Temple of the Rat King are said to bless sacred weapons made out of Rongeise steel.
  10 The Council Hall is where the city council meets the burgomeister during the day. Notable members are said to include Anchorite Amable Flieu, Mogion Maereegh, Commander Melisande, Corneille Dragova, Gerard Renier, Emili Traidou.
  11 There’s been a pick-pocketing streak lately in the Fishmarket. Most people whisper that homeless youngsters are to be blamed.
  12 Saint Ronges has a sewer, but parts of it are rat-infested deathtraps. Some desperate criminals who hide in the sewer are never seen again. Churches and memorial offices are said to include members who navigate the sewers.
  13 The Church of Patronage is said to bless and honor craftsmen. The choir performs a morning ritual to attract grace and fortune to their work.
  14 Years ago, something so horrible happened at the Dufaux Estate, that two wizards were called to seal it up.
  15 People whisper that a misty ghost haunts the abandoned Chateau d’Is.
  16 A murder took place in the Old Gardens just a few days ago. The murdered victim was said to be gangster. The guard did not investigate it further.
  17 Apparently anyone who stays in the Cerulean Motel can hear moaning and sobbing in the night. Most people claim it must be a trick of the wind.
  18 In the Dernarri neighborhood, its common to see processions and funerals spraying cologne. Apparently it’s a practice employed by memorial offices.
  19 Two of the most well-known places to stay safely are the Inn of the Last Breath, and the Cerulean Motel.
  20 Re-roll the d20 twice, ignoring and re-rolling further results of 20. The character learns each rumor.

[Mistmaster]

First one is not a rumor, is an information.