Café de Nuit

Hello all and again another blathering rant from me.

I recently created a new adventure idea that works as follows.

The gentry of shadowsdown a small village get together at the manor of one Richard Le'Sale and begin a party reminiscint of the old American south balls. During that time a lamp gets knocked over and a fire soon spreads through the house killing several guests.

Now about two years later the burned house comes back to life at the setting of the sun with the old party goer's now ghosts reliving thier last moments. However there also seems to be some kind of mesmerizing affect to two or three of the locals who will go to join the party and meet their doom when the old mansion again burns down.

That is the quick synopsis and I was wondering if anyone knew a good domain to place it in.

Quickly, I'd say any north western domain.

Ghost stories are best in Mordent, but could be anywhere.

That kind of ball is mostly an educated domain possibility, with Darkon or Nova Vaasa.

Joël

Nice idea - a new take on a classic theme.

I'd say Borca is a great place to put this adventure. The Borcans are rich and decadent enough to get the Antebellum South backdrop. As well, the Borcan nobility are corrupt enough to give a sinister background to the whole affaire.
Perhaps the fire at the Ball was no accident?

Maybe there was a fight in the stables, in which the lamp was knocked over. A jealous lover slaying a rival, perhaps? Rather than stay and clean up the site, the murder ran back to the ball, leaving the lamp overturned....

Hey I like that idea, thanx ScS I beleive that would be a neat way to cause the fire now if I can find out exactly what it is that they are drawing more victims to them....

No problem, Desert.

Few more ideas; Perhaps in the aftermath of the blaze, the estate was abandoned and subsequantly began to sink into the marshy soil. In fact, the whole of the estate began to be reclaimed by the swampy river. Now there estate is protected from the outside world by a border of marshlands.
The blackened corpse of the Manor is avoided by squatters and local hunters. The Marsh is a deadly morass, filled with peatbogs and sinkholes. Only the most experienced woodsmen even think about the joureny, and they say that in the Night they can hear the sounds of music wafting on the wind.
On Autumn nights (or whatever month the Ball was dated) the ghosts manifest - albiet only one or two of them, and only for a minute at most.
On the aniversery of the Blaze, the whole House reforms, and the marsh receeds. The lights and music have a hypnotic quality, and those who are lured to them become inextricably drawn forward.
Upon arriving at the Manor, the victim finds him or herself transformed. They are now dressed as a noble gentleman or a delicate Lady - their companions might find themselves as servants or similar underlings.
The victims take on the identiy of one of the Dead- though their friends see them as they normally appear, the ghosts (and reflective surfaces) show them to be one of the victims of the first fire.

Once drawn into the Manor, they are trapped. Attempts to flee are thwarted by the Butler and staff - or worse, the Marsh becomes an inescapable sinkhole.
At midnight the fire starts, and slays the PCs for sure.

Perhaps they have some help, though? Maybe some of the victims of the House are still around. Dead, they have reclaimed their old identity, though the ghosts mostly ignore them or treat them as something between guest and servant. These Ghosts have succumbed to their own helplessness, but they can bring the players up to speed on what will happen.

The PCs only hope to survive the night is to set things right. However, as one of the Ghosts warns them, they can't just stake out the stables. If they interfere in the wrong way, the fight happens elsewhere and the fire starts anyway. If the PCs cause too much of a fuss, they will be locked in the dungeon and doomed to suffocation on smoke.

Somehow the players have to thwart a leacherous villian, reveal the evil schmes afoot, and expose the guilty before the rest of the Ball.

I really like the way you fleshed out that idea. I think the music is a fine tool to draw in the PC's and also just having the house reform on the date of the origianal fire works very well (has a rather gothic tint).

I was also thinking that for the PC's to escape they have to resolve a curse and that gave me a good idea.

The fire was not started on accident it was actually started by a jelous lover who caught his love in the arms of another man. He quickly knocked out the couple in the carriage house and killed the man but left the women alive.

As she came to concsciencess she saw her lover and tried to explain that the man had come onto her though she had tried to stop him. Wether or not this is true the man still carries out his plan for revenge and starts the hay he has piled around her on fire. As the flames begin to lick her she utters a curse.

I am not sure of the exact wording of the curse yet but I am thinking the escape clause should have something to do with justice (perhaps the man got away and the victims being claimed the last few years are his children or other family?).

So to end the curse the man must be burned to death as well which makes an interesting problem for PC's trying to avoid powers checks....

Urmmm...

Let me know

Sourange (an Island of Terror) might also work.
But I agree with all the above that Mordent (if set far enough in the past) and Borca would work just as well.

Actually Sourange was my first idea I am just not sure how well it would work, and Mordent is always good for a ghost story and would fit in well for the lighthouse adventure they are currently on since it is in Mordent as well. But really I think it could almost work as a floating island or some such.

Maybe when I get it fully developed I will submit it to Quoth the Raven of course giving due credit to ScS.

Souragne definitely has the antebellum feel, though it's more renowned for zombies than ghosts. OTOH, that might work in your favor...

Tinctnoire Manor - Richemulot.
GAZIII p. 84, upper right corner


Here, one can find, the remnants of Tinctnoire Manor, where the hourly tolling of the tower bell fell silent one fateful night, releasing vengeful ancestral shades.

Jus' edit it or something

I'm not sure how far you're willing to deviate from canon, but Arkandale as presented at the Lonesome Road website (check the links) is an excellent possibility. In a word, it's a re-imagining of Verbrek/Arkandale as the American Deep South circa 1800-1830 or so. I really like the domain concept, and it sounds like it would fit really well with this adventure idea.

If I may offer the wording of the murdered lovers curse- (its a speciality of mine )

“As flame take me in their embrace
Look once more upon my face.
No love lies behind these eyes
Head my word, hear my cries!
Once four seasons have gone past
I will claim your kin onto the last.
At the last tolling of the bell
All will be lost in a crimson hell.
But if the truth be known across the land
I will speak no more and stay my hand.”

Once a year the house rebuilds itself for one night. Each time one member of the murderers family (Brother, sister, son, Grandfather etc:) is drawn to the part and becomes part of the retelling of the story. If they are not rescused in time by the tolling of the mannors great bell at midnight the house catches on fire and he/she burns along with it.

The spirt of the murdered woman wants all the family members dead and will use any ghostly means nessary to ward off intruders.

The curse will be broken when the murdering lover confesses to the crime to all those in the town/village.

Jasper that was awesome! Wow! I must say I am totally blown away! Good job. You know this is more turning into a Fraternity board project than one guys adventure. But I think it is turning out quite nice.

I did give some thought to using the lonesome roads version of Arkandale and I would love to but at the same time going off of canon can be tricky at times.

Thank you all for the input.

There actually is a domain based of the same sort of thing. Its an Island of terror I think.

The idea of the pc's playing the roles of original victims is great. Although it may be tricky balancing the players' actions with the ghosts' thoughts. Having a npc companion that the players have grown to know and like becoming the jealous lover would be a nice touch as well. Especially if the npc is by nature a soft spoken and gentle person.