Café de Nuit

Hi folks,

I am planning an adventure for my PCs that will have them stranded in a castle with a vampire on the loose. First objective is to leave the castle and regroup in some safe place. Second objective is to kill the vampire.

I've got almost everything set but I like the crucial point: how to make the PCs feel threatened enough to take a certain action.

I'll give you the outline.
The PCs are going from village to village across a forest that they've been told is haunted and populated by were-wolves. In game terms, there are CR7 Spectres and Mountain Loup-Garous which should be enough to scare them. I had to go for the Loup-Garous so they don't have the right weapon to affect them.
They are caught by a storm and the only bridge they could take to cross a river is destroyed. So, their chances are staying in the forest or going to that sinister castle up there. As is turns out, someone comes from the castle to rescue them for, as the coach driver says, "the master knows that on stormy days like this the bridge often breaks and travellers are stranded." So he sent him to rescue eventual travellers.

This places the PCs in the castle. Now, about the characters.
The master of the Castle is Prof. Arcanus 15 years after he decided to quit his travelling show. He came to understand his exhibits were dangerous when he foiled a near-catastrophe so he instead looked for service as a sage and began studying magic. Eventually he became rich enough to buy a castle in Invidia, still with old protraits of Duke Gundar on the walls. He keeps studying magic, but since he has focused on his lycanthropy and is using necromancy, his alignment has shifted to CN. He still thikns of himself as a good person, though, and provides charity for orphanages ran by Hala and Ezra churches in Borca, Mordent and Dementlieu. He even has letters or appreciation from them, and maintains a perfectly cared for altar to Ezra in his room (Dementlieu neutral sect).
He has taken under his custody a girl that he found abandoned on a road as a baby. She is now 17, and despite his efforts to teach her book magic ("wizard", in game terms) she has developed only natural talents ("sorcerer"). She may be of Vistana blood, but I haven't decided if that is necessary. She is called Hélène (but I will use Helen henceforth because of accent marks).

Now, Arcanus and Helen have lived in that castle for 3 years, and since it belonged to the late Duke Gundar himself (although I'm not entirely sure if this is really Hunadora Castle yet) the locals shun them and think they are cursed. This is quite inconvenient to Helen who, as a young girl, wanted more life and diversion. Also, she grew up in Dementlieu and is used to some other settings, so she came to resent Arcanus as a jailkeeper and of her as a prisoner. Arcanus occasionally invites friends, but Helen always feels alienated, so she now harbours some fear and hatred towards him. She merely wants to get free. Besides, she is really evil.

She has noted some peculiarities about Arcanus that have made her believe he is a monster. She has not guessed the true nature, and believes that he is turning into a vampire by his black magic. He never eats in front of her, does not come out by day, has eliminated all mirrors in the castle and claims that he can only be killed with a wooden stake.

when the adventurers arrive, Helen sees this as a chance to become free from Arcanus. So, she convinces them to help her kill him. For that, they should find a proper weapon, but there is no wood in the castle. However, she has found a secret passage that Arcanus keeps always locked. While Arcanus entertains his new guests, Helen profits of one distraction to snatch the key without his noticing and later one asks the players to go down that passage see if they find what secret Arcanus is keeping there.

among other things, they find a skeleton with a plaque hanging on the wall above identifying it as Duke Gundar. Helen does not know anything about him so she takes the stake or urges the players to take the stake. There is no visible consequence (Duke Gundar will only reform during the night).

Ideally, they should take on Arcanus and kill him to find later that he was not such a bad guy at all. When they think all is well, the vampire strikes them and the real fear begins.


Now, that is the intended outline, but I need a way to strongly suggest it (in others words, make it so natural that it is almost forced) to the players.
I only need them to accompany Helen downstairs and watch her take the stake. They may not even kill Arcanus, although I don't know what the reaction would be later. But how do I make them feel threatened enough by Arcanus to accompany Helen through the secret passage and, preferably, take the stake themselves? Or, even, make them go down there of their own accord?

I had the idea that Arcanus is experimenting with the blood of known dead lycanthropes. Currently, only wolves. For that, he has comissioned some Vistani traders to bring them occasionaly corpses of slain werewolves and living wolves. He is experimenting with transfusions of blood from were-wolves to wolves, and theorizes that it should turn the wolf into a were-wolf. He has not tried the transfusion on human beings, but he suffers that temptation when the PCs arrive. His objective is to ascertain that the inffecting agent is in the blood and afterwards to find a way of neutralizing that agent. The mindset is scientific and experimentalist, but the techniques used might be magical. This serves to scare the PCs in one way, so far: during the night, they hear a big noise in the yards below them and see the gypsies unpacking closed but heavy coffins and wild raging wolves in cages.

I'm afraid this is really long, but please, do you have any hint that can help me? My players are not really the heroic kind that will rescue a maiden only because she begs for help. They need either profit or menace, so I want them to really feel they're afraid.

Of course, they're imprisoned in the castle during the day because of the ceaseless storm and blizzard outside that will last for as long as the DM needs, but I wanted more than just that (otherwise, it would seem like an old "kill-the-darklord" theme).

As an afterthought, I think I can have any of the following scenarios afterwards: they stop Helen from killing Arcanus, they kill Arcanus, they try to kill Arcanus but fail. I'll worry with the consequences for each of these later.

Thank you all.

Ail

Well, it will seem much more natural to go to him for shelter if the PCs have some inkling that he's a Good Guy--perhaps they've heard of his orphanages, or someone whom they meet early in the adventure, before being stranded in the woods, mentions him positively in passing.

Then they go up to the castle, and Helen reveals the "secret horror"--perhaps she'll say that, yes, he supports orphanages, but he does it to get children for his experiments!!! (emphasis hers ) He has been trying to instruct her in the arts of necromancy, but she wants to resist, thank goodness the PCs have come, he must be killed, etc. etc.

Now, that is the intended outline, but I need a way to strongly suggest it (in others words, make it so natural that it is almost forced) to the players.
I only need them to accompany Helen downstairs and watch her take the stake. They may not even kill Arcanus, although I don't know what the reaction would be later. But how do I make them feel threatened enough by Arcanus to accompany Helen through the secret passage and, preferably, take the stake themselves? Or, even, make them go down there of their own accord?

Play up the fact that Arcanus is still a beast. A errant torch casts his shadow as huge beast upon the wall, a odd red stain can be seen on his hands (even professors forget to wash up after every expanament), for those with enhaced scenses or Druidic/ranger knoweldge the whole castle smells faintly of old blood, the gypsys in the night etc:

And once a showman allways a showman. Dispite the danger from the more aracane things in his collection Arcanus would never throw every thing away that he didn't feel was unsafe. He would still have a few dusty rooms filled with his past collections and would be hard pressed not to talk of his good ole days (Wil save at DC 15 to avoid discribing any of his collection when asked about it). In the back of the room is a barred and sealed door that he strictly forbids nyone form even touching. Add the in natural cuisoity of your average PC with the hints that he is a vampire and that might be the door to his coffin the PCs will jump at the chance to slay the vile best in his lair. Helen could also play up that she thinks the skeleton is the former owner of the castle, slain by Arcanus and left to rot in this back room.

For an additional motivator for your players, you might consider adding another NPC to the mix: a would-be boyfriend for Helen, who has been trying to persuade her to run away with him. He could have given her the idea that Arcanus is a vampire -- passing on village rumors, playing off the things she's noticed which are odd about her guardian -- and would back up Helen's fears, seemingly confirming what the PCs have been told by the girl. He could even accompany them in their exploration of the passage and in their possible battle against Arcanus.

The twist? The "boyfriend" is actually a wolfwere, an outcast from the loose pack of which Matton -- Gabrielle Aderre's Significant Other #2, after the GC and before Ardonk -- is the tentative leader. He discovered that Gundar's staked body had been hidden in this out-of-the-way castle, and came there to ensure the old darklord's remains would be revived, as he's disgusted by Matton's involving the wolfweres in human politics and wants Gundarak restored to the fallen Duke's control, so his folk can go back to Kartakass where they belong. (He doesn't know about darklords, he just thinks the vampire will boot the Invidians out of his old turf and thus end the need for a Gundarakite Rebellion.) He senses that Arcanus is a werebeast, not undead, but has no problem with setting a lycanthrope up to get killed: wolfweres hate werewolves, and aren't crazy about other were-types either. He took on a human form to infatuate Helen, so he could manipulate her -- and, when the opportunity arises, the PCs -- into unwittingly rousing Duke Gundar's skeleton into blood-crazed undeath.

This would be even more interesting, and leave open the possibility for future adventures, if it turns out that Arcanus is mistaken that werewolf blood transfusions will turn ordinary wolves into lycanthropes. VRGtWB proposed that the first wolfweres had been a product of hybridization between moon-crazed afflicted werewolves and mundane wolves, but perhaps the ex-showman's transfusions will prove otherwise, by transforming those common wolves into wolfweres ... lots of 'em.

You can also just drop more subtle hints to his false vampiric nature.

- PCs walk past his door, just slightly ajar, to see vials of blood sitting out. A later search, as Dr. Arcanus isn't present, shows anticoagulants also present (to keep the wolf's blood fresh for his experiments, but PCs wouldn't know that).

- Helen's lies, mentioning that while currently it's only her and Dr. Arcanus present, occassionally they'll host an orphan from the orphanage. While Helen sees the orphan arrive, she never sees them leave... And strangely enough, it's always just one orphan at a time.

- Wolf corpses, drained of blood should also draw some odd reactions from the PCs. Use a few before having the PCs stumble over the first drained *human* corpse (as he's also doing experiments on werewolves, should conceivably lose a few, and the werewolf will return to human form upon death). If you want to make it a touch more horrific, have the corpse be apparently chewed up by wolf bites, making it look like the "vampire" Dr. Arcanus drained the victim's blood before feeding the corpse to the wolves he has chained; in reality, Dr. Arcanus removed the blood for his experiments but failed to stave the Hunger, as he does have to eat a large quantity of meat every day.

- If you want to change his alignment to evil, one of those "human" corpses could also be that of a child, confirming to the PCs the rumor from above about disappearing orphans. There could be something present in the blood of child true lycanthropes that might be the key to curing lycanthropy but that is no longer present after the first changes at puberty.

I hope this helps a little, though I did just realize that I didn't answer your question at all. You were looking for ways to make him seem menacing (and so threatening to the PCs) and instead I just told you how to make him seem monstrous but not necessarily a threat to the PCs. Though, I guess when they find the first "human" corpse that might worry the PCs a bit.

Hmm - getting non-heroic characters to do heroic deeds is a very difficult thing to do. I have had my share of like-minded players who would prefer to get treasure and fame the "easy" way instead of doing something for the point of "goodliness". Like everyone has suggested before, you can build up his vampire nature, possibily even have strange things happen in the night - such as if a wolf were to get free, roaming the castle...ect. Another thing is to have the girl suddenly dissapear - where she goes is up to you, but build it up to make it look like Helene was stolen from her bed or assaulted. Sudden "attempts" against the PC's life or, at least "percieved" attempts may encourage the PCs to feel threathened. Other possibilities is to steal their weapons while they sleep, make use of the Dominate ability of vampires to have players steal for the Doctor - or even implant memories that havn't happened.

Last, but not least, if it's treasure they want then offer them something that will entice their curiosity - such as a hidden cache of treasure that used to belong to the previous owner somewhere in the castle, and that treasure happens to be located somewhere in the Doctors Laboratory - at least you can have them witness a lycanthropic transformation - possibily even someone they know with the Doctor holding the "cure" (which becomes fatal after x so many days to the recipiant) in that he administers.

Those are some of my suggestions. Good luck with the campaign.

If you really want to beat them over the head with the promise of treasure, make it a treasure hidden somewhere in the castle that can only be found with Arcanus dead. Either a curse prevents it from being revealed while he lives, or the key/map to it is always on his person. (Of course, all of this can just be Helen's lies... no need to actually give them a huge treasure for killing a non-evil guy.)

BTW, it's a bit odd for a CN guy to worship an LN goddess, even in a neutral aspect, but hey, whatever works. I assume he's deluded enough not to care by this point.

Also, I wouldn't have him bragging that only wood can harm him. (How would it come up in conversation?) Make that a deduction on Helen's part or the PC's part (with a succesful spot or wis check) based on the lack of wood in the castle.

gonzoron wrote:
BTW, it's a bit odd for a CN guy to worship an LN goddess, even in a neutral aspect, but hey, whatever works. I assume he's deluded enough not to care by this point.

Also, I wouldn't have him bragging that only wood can harm him. (How would it come up in conversation?) Make that a deduction on Helen's part or the PC's part (with a succesful spot or wis check) based on the lack of wood in the castle.

About the worshipping part: he was born in Dementlieu and spent about 10 years there before buying the castle. He was a good guy and since I don't take alignments too strictly here, I assumed he could worship Ezra, especially so since he turned CN. Remember that the Dementlieu branch of Ezra's church is True Neutral. Personally, I've always considered Ezra's alignment less important than the church's alignment, when it comes to attracting followers. So, he's one step away from the official alignment, which is still allowed by the rules. Nevertheless, be does indeed believe he is "good-er" than he is now.

As for the bragging part. That would never be done in front of the players, but since Arcanus is like a parental figure to Helen, or at least he intended to play that role, there are occasional intimate conversations where one little information like this may slip unwanted. Sort of what I did last session when I said to my players "you go back to room 10" and they stared at me and asked "what is room 10?". That's who I had marked the room in my map. Slips like these happen, and Helen may have collected them over the years.

Ail

Helene disappearing isn't a bad idea...particularly if she herself set it up to look as though she'd been killed, in the hopes of avoiding any pursuit...

Alternatively, with a willing and adventurous player, you might have one of the *player* characters disappear, perhaps kidnapped by the nefarious Arcanus...

Jasper wrote:Helen could also play up that she thinks the skeleton is the former owner of the castle, slain by Arcanus and left to rot in this back room.

Or she says it's her former boyfriend who tried to rescue her some years ago by driving stake to Arcanus' heart, but Arcanus overpowered him and as a little ironic joke staked the boyfriend.

By the way, great idea!