| Display a Printer Friendly Version The Tale of seven Quests to open one Door
[comments:(0),
views:(4388), rating:(0.0)] Author: Christoph Sticherling
Homepage: http://bigmama.rhoen.de/users/gm/lair2.htm
System: GURPS
Type: Scenario
Category: Fantasy
Requirements:
A GURPS Arabian
Nights Adventure.
Introduction
This unusual adventure is a cascade of seven adventure-fragments: It is
a vision within a story within a dream within a story within a story within
a dream within a dream. And the PCs are always actively in the fragments
or episodes. At one moment they are told a story and at the next moment
they have to make die-rolls to survive some catastrophe or to fight some
enemy. This will irritate and confuse the players at first. And it will
take them off-balance several times during the course of this adventure.
If your players are too inflexible or too faint-hearted for that, don't
do it. In that case you may use the scenarios of the adventure fragments,
some or all, and use them in more conventional adventures of your own.
Remember not just to tell the adventure but to include the PCs as often
and as soon in every episode as possible. Switch from telling the story
to telling the heroes that they hear and feel and see what is going
on. Switch from telling a story that took place maybe centuries ago to
everything happening here and now. And flesh out the episodes as
much as you like. Add color, smell, taste, interesting people and monsters,
mysteries and emotions.
The Seven Quests
0. Leaving the harbor town of Taufi by ship
(the flying ship from the last adventure lost its power when it was crash-landed)
and sending the caravan with most of their accumulated treasures, including
the white elephants and huge amounts of trade goods, on the long and slow
land way back to their home town of Dhulibhan, the PCs have a nice but
very hot first day on the sea. They are heading for Jedda (Jiddah), the
nearest port to Mecca on the red sea. The last month of the year is near
and many pilgrims from all over the world go to Mecca to do the Hajj. The
long, hot day is spent with storytelling. The corsairs tell of sudden storms,
seaserpents, strange islands, far away countries of the infidels, the dreaded
pirate "Little Red" (said to "shorten people" mentioning his height) dangerous
beasts, huge treasures, and so on.
1. During the night, the PCs wake up. A
bizarre, unexpected weather is brewing. Flashes are going down without
thunder, the waves are rising without wind. After about an hour suddenly
a high cliff is appears in front of the bow, threatening to crash the little
ship. But the ship passes the opening of a big tunnel, a river-mouth of
a river flowing from within the cliff and being flooded by the sea. The
ship sails right in and behind it the huge portals close. Everything is
quiet and dark. Only the distant rumble of the waves against the cliffs
is audible. After some exploring it is clear that this was the hideaway
of a pirate, some supplies and a small amount of treasure still lying around.
But it seems abandoned for a long time. A "captains chamber" is found with
a notably small bed ...
The portals are magically operated and seem to require some password
to open. They are made from black stone, armed with iron on the inside
and very sturdy and thick. The book of all knowledge says something about
a word that can open all doors, but the word itself is not easy to find.
Upriver there is a small waterfall blocking all use of ships in that direction.
Of course, daring PCs can try and find a way upstream. They have to swim
very hard against the current. They find an underground lake in a big natural
cavern. Total darkness. Something is pulling from beneath. Drowning. Regaining
consciousness:
2. Some one is telling a story: "Yes, they
where pulled down into the underwater realms of those people who lived
in the dark lake. First they where kept as slaves, but as soon, as it was
clear, that they are good Muslims, they where set free. And of course,
the folk of the dark lake knew the word. And they told it to the adventurers
who went back to their ship ..." The PCs are in the big old oasis town
of Ifriqiya (near the Mediterranean sea, around today's Tunis). They are
in the old quanats of the town (underground water-conduits, used to supply
large cities). Some dark men are sitting nearby in the ray of sunlight
falling in from a hole high above. The PCs are wet and feel exhausted.
"Ah! They finally wake up. Ha, that was close. Ha, ha." One man smiles
to them. "Never had such a sudden rise of the water level around this time
of year. Must have been raining in the mountains." The man explains to
them, that they where on a forbidden expedition into the old quanat system
to follow the hint of an old scholar, who said that maybe "the word" can
be found down here ... (Background: The PCs do not know how they came here
or what word they are looking for. But the man (Ahmed Abu-Karim) knows
of some amnesia after near-drownings so he considers this not to be to
unusual. He happened to tell a story to the other men about some other
adventurers who also drowned while looking for a secret word. All men where
waiting for the PCs to regain consciousness.)
When exploring deeper into the quanats (the flood has gone as quick
as it was here), they come into really ancient parts of the system and
by accident break through an old and crumbling wall into a secret tunnel,
with a trickle of water flowing on the floor. This leads to a strange chamber
with a whole town en miniature in it (sun is coming in through crystals
in the roof, green land frames the town). The people in this town see the
PCs as giants and are terribly afraid. A sultan, complete with warriors,
wizards and gifts (one never knows) comes forward and asks the "giants"
what they want. Asked for "The Word" he says something about old prophecies
and an inscription, to be found in another tunnel.
3. The inscriptions are indeed there. And
it is a whole saga, an epic story with thousands of words. It tells of
some brave adventurers, who came to the city of Cairo to accompany the
sultan of Dhulibhan. Cairo is the capital of the mightiest empire of the
world. It is protected by professional warrior-slaves, the Mamelukes. But
something terrible has happened. The caliph of Cairo (Abdullah Muhammad
ibn-Suleyman hajji abu-Mustafa) is arrested by his own Mamelukes. Their
leader (Ibrahim ibn-Isa) holds the audience, sitting on the place of the
caliph. No one dares to raise his word and resist Ibrahim or refuses to
honor him. No one? One group of visitors, some of them strange looking,
certainly from barbaric ancestry, hesitates. A wise man is among them and
he recalls very precisely the rules for dueling ... If the wise man fails
to draw the right conclusions, an Old Christian priest (Amin ibn-Daniel
al-Damascus) will suggest the right course of action: If the usurper is
defeated in an open duel the caliph may regain power. So one of the heroes
is pushed forward ... The Mameluke takes the challenge and the hero wins
after a good fight. All the while drums pound a slow rhythm in the background.
As a sign of his gratitude, the caliph promises the PCs to order his
best scholars to research for "The Word", because he knows that the PCs
have been looking for it quite a long time. They are led into a extremely
valuable and immensely big library. An old librarian ( Rashid ibn-Idris
al-Cairo) digs out an ancient scroll and starts to reads aloud ...
4. A band of adventurers was once, quite
some years ago, traveling the seas when one day they sighted a small uninhabited
island. They landed to collect some fruits and look for fresh water. And
'Amir Ismael abu-Zayn ibn-Hassan al-Sardis held a map, comparing it to
the shape of the island. "No, its not the right one. Here we will not find
The
Word." The trees where unusual and of a kind never seen before. One
man sighted another thing on the horizon. First it was taken for a ship,
but after a while it was clear that it was no ship but a giant sea monster,
a two-hundred yards long Dendan. Everybody was lucky they found the island
at the right time. No ship is safe when a Dendan decides to swallow it.
So all watched the monster nearing, when suddenly the whole island began
to shake. It rose out of the sea and revealed its nature: It was a Fastiticalon
(Aspidochelone), a.k.a. aspis testudo = island turtle. The giant turtle
dove and pulled the PCs and the ship down with them. When they emerged
again, the Dendan, who was surely not after them but hunted the Fastiticalon,
swallowed them with one breath. Inside it was damp and dark but there was
air, two. And the remains of several ships. Exhausted the PCs gathered
inside one of the ships and after eating some still good food they found
in the hulk, they rested. The low heartbeat of the Dendan was pounding
in the background and nobody could say when the monster would open its
mouth again. Trying to stay awake, one after the other failed and was overwhelmed
by sleep ...
5. In their dreams they encountered the
spirits of all the other poor sailors who where swallowed by the Dendan
before. They saw people from India, Africa, and even barbarians from the
north. Very few faces looked familiar and after a while it was clear: This
where the ghosts of infidels. They walked on the streets of a city made
of brass, like all the poor souls. Some of them starred at the PCs, some
even pointed at them. Hostile looking eyes followed them. "They are still
alive!" someone shouted, sounding like a accusation. Groups of evil and
dangerous looking ghosts gathered and slowly followed the PCs. When the
PCs flee and hide, a riot breaks loose but fails to discover them. Hidden
where they are, the overhear a conversation: "These are the ones. The group
who entered the Marid's palace!" "Sure? How did they dare?" "They where
ignorant at that time, only looking for "The Word", no matter where they
had to go." "But the Marid, all gods, most people die just by attempting
to see him." "No, they did not die, they reached his door carried by a
Djinn ...
6. The door to the palace of the Marid,
one of the High Lords of the Djinn, is at the end of a small street, leading
in spirals high on a mountain needle. The mountain itself draws all iron
and steel (its magnetic), so all weapons and some other items are lost.
The allied Djinn is trembling and urges the PCs to use utmost politeness,
courteousness, and respectfulness (e.g. straight flying into the palace
would be a deadly stupid mistake). The High Lord, Saadawi ira-Nasr, is
greeting the PCs in a very casual manner, not paying very much attention
to them. He is gigantic (ca. 15 yards high), his guards are big (ca.6 yards;
p. AN92), ugly and slightly amused. Saadawi is not directly evil, but very
bored. He has taken on riddles and puzzles as a hobby, just to have something
he cannot solve immediately without even thinking about. He wants the PCs
to provide him with a good puzzle. As long as he takes to solve it, they
are allowed to look in to the Celestial Orb. There they can find the source
of every answer. If he solves the puzzle before they have found the answer,
he will simply order his guards to polish their skulls to a nice shine.
(But it must have a solution, or the Marid would come after them, no matter
where they hide!) So they look into the Celestial Orb ...
7. Inside the Orb, they see a group of adventurers,
traveling through the desert towards a small oasis, when one of the PCs
spots a peculiar (odd) hollow in the sand. It is a footprint. A giant's
footprint, and more are nearby. The giants soon show up. They laugh: "Ha,
dinner will be rich today." They are man-eaters. And there is not much
the PCs can do to resist them. Twelve giants (10 yards high) are to much
for a fight. But wait, one thing might convince the giants to suspend the
"meal": Since they do not have very much traffic going through their territory,
they are also hungry for good stories and always willing to let the food
tell some before they eat it (some giants may beg the others not to hasten
this time, not to waste good stories). The only one really useful and appropriate
story at this point would be the story of the PCs as they are captured
with their ship inside the cave at the coast of the red sea. When starting
this story, the giants will wave their hand in disappointment and say:
"Oh no, not this one again. We know it already. It is the story with the
word to open the portal." "Yes", another giant says, "INABINET, that was
the word, wasn't it?".
(...)
Back to 0.
The PCs wake up on their ship, the morning is beautiful. One of the
seamen is singing a song of the pirate Little Red and his fabulous hideaway,
sealed by magic portals, the word to open nobody ever found ...
As an added bonus the PCs might find the portal in "reality". And then
they can try the word they dreamed of. It might work. And there might be
a treasure inside. Or something that leads to a new adventure, a new story.
Or both.
The End. |
