This adventure involves the party become embroiled in the “Festival of the Coin” in the city of Drakkel. It’s important that the game master be very familiar with that particular festival. For full details, check out the Festival of the Coin.
This adventure is designed for a small group (3 to 4 people) of low to moderate level. Feel free to adjust the number and strength of adversaries, monsters and obstacles to suit your particular party.
To begin with, this adventure takes place in the city of Drakkel. So, either start them there or move them there. And this adventure takes place during the Festival of the Coin in that city which is held in the late summer (Windrise 1 to be exact) and lasts a full week (which is nine days in Khoras). Therefore, they need to be in Drakkel in the late summer.
While in town, they would definitely hear about the Festival of the Coin. Weeks before the Festival begins, people would be talking about it. The general idea behind the festival of the coin (the lottery, the search for the coin, the exchange of wealth, etc) would all be discussed at length in every tavern and shop for many days prior to the actual festival. So every newcomer to the city would be well versed in the activities by the time it began.
One of the hardest parts of an adventure is getting it started. How do you pull your players into the plot? It’s an age old question that every game master has faced. The cliché of “so you guys are in a tavern and…” and all of its endless variations have been used to death. Try to come up with something original and new.
If you are going to play this adventure with characters that have already been adventuring together for a little while and have some history together, then it should be easier for you, as the game master, to get them involved. Use the history they have and build on it. Tie something in their unique history as a group to this adventure.
There are a number of ways you could get them involved. If you need some
help, below are some general ideas that might spark an idea for you…
Idea 1 – Lord Halrath - Family or Friend of the Family
Lord Halrath is a relative of one of the players… a distant uncle perhaps.
Or perhaps a friend of the family. For instance, one of the players is asked by
his uncle to help. Lord Halrath once saved the life of the uncle “back in the
war” and the uncle now has an opportunity to return the favor by helping Lord
Halrath in his time of need. The uncle makes contact with his nephew (one of the
players) and arranges a meeting at Lord Halrath's house.
Idea 2 – Lady Halrath's Dreams
Lord Halrath's wife, Lady Eleanor Halrath, is a gifted psychic (or so she
believes). She occasionally has vivid dreams and she is convinced that these
dreams are visions from the spirit world guiding her in this world. She believes
that these dreams show her the future or show her action that must be taken. She
becomes frightfully upset if her husband shows the slightest skepticism of her
"powers". Two nights ago, Lady Halrath had a very vivid dream of the player
character party helping her husband out of his current predicament. She has
demanded that her husband hire the players. Although Lord Halrath doesn't know
the players, he is very reluctant to go against his wife's wishes. He conducts
some discreet inquiries on his own and finds that the players may just have the
necessary skills and experience to accomplish what he needs done. He sends out
one of his servants to make contact with the party and invites them to his home
to discuss a business proposition.
There are other possible ways to pull them into the plot, but no matter what, you want to have them meeting Lord Halrath at his house.
Lord Asy Halrath is a thin, grey haired man with intelligent eyes framed in wire rimmed spectacles and a somewhat timid demeanor. He dresses in fine burgundy and white robes. He is a short unassuming man and a very non-threatening presence.
Lord Halrath is one of the nobles of the Drakkellian Alliance and a master of a small guild. He owns a small quarry outside of Drakkel and has several stone cutters and masons working for him. He provides cut stones, baked bricks and rubble for several builders in the city and his artisans have sculpted several very nice statues and sculptures around the city.
No matter how you get them there, the players go to House Halrath, one of the smaller guilds in Drakkel, and meet with Lord Halrath.
This meeting takes place on the Magerule 27 (the day before the Lottery).
The home of Lord Halrath is a well manicured estate of modest size with many statues and gargoyles. He is a wealthy man and a noble, but he is one of the lesser nobles of the city.
Lord Halrath greets the party warmly. He is a gracious host and will present
food and drinks. During a fine meal of braised hare and wild mushrooms, he talks
of business.
He tells the players that he has learned, through certain political and economic
contacts, that the upcoming Lottery has been rigged against him by Lord Malleron,
his chief rival. Lord Malleron has powerful friends on various councils and
committees in the city. Halrath is afraid that Malleron will not only rig the
Lottery against him but will also be able to uncover Halrath's hidden assets and
possible even divert the wealth to his own coffers. If this were to happen, then
this Lottery would certainly ruin Halrath.
Lord Halrath can not allow that to happen, but he can not prove Malleron’s treachery. Lord Malleron is a much more powerful and wealthy noble with many powerful friends. A direct confrontation or accusation is out of the question.
The "political and economic contacts" which informed him of the rigging is actually a spy who works in the Malleron guild but is loyal to House Halrath. This type of political and economic espionage is quite common in Drakkel.
No one other than Lord Halrath, Lady Halrath and Halrath's spy knows of this plot nor can any of them see a solution to the problem. It seems that Malleron will be his undoing. Lord Halrath had all but given up hope when a stroke of luck befell him. He has come into possession of certain information which will give him a huge advantage in solving of the Rhyme of the Coin. However, he cannot use this information. If he is indeed named Patron of the Coin (as he fears), he will be legally bound not to search for the Coin. It is a dilemma that he will soon face.
Since he cannot use the information, he wishes to hire someone to search for
him. A proxy of sorts. Because of his wife's dreams (and her subsequent bullying
of him), he wishes to hire the players. If they have a history of successful
mercenary missions, all the better. Lord Halrath will know of this and feel
comfortable that they can accomplish this mission as well. More importantly,
these mercenaries have no direct connection to him or his guild. It is illegal for
Lord Halrath or any of his guild to search for the Coin, but if the players will
search for him, he will pay them handsomely. No one can know that they are
working for him and they must be discreet.
If they agree to his proposal, he will pay them a very handsome reward upon
completion of the mission (the exact amount is up to the game master to decide,
but it should be enough to entice the players). Lord Halrath is a wealthy man
and is facing the very real possibility of losing his entire fortune. Paying
each of the players 3,000
gold lords is not out of the question.
He will give them the information he has that will give them an advantage in solving the Rhyme of the Coin and give them a head start in finding the Coin. Once they have retrieved the Coin and handed it over to the Council, they will wait for the Gifting Ceremony. At which time, they will decline the Gifting.
He will pay them 5% now and the other 95% upon completion of the mission.
If they ask him why he chose them, he will gladly tell them of his wife's visions (and perhaps put a positive spin on it). He will also mention past successes they've had (if appropriate) and remind them that he needs someone with no connection to his guild.
Smart (or devious) players may notice that there's nothing to stop them from betraying this noble and taking all of his wealth. And it's true. They could accept his wealth at the Gifting ceremony and take him for all he's worth. However, there are two things going on that might prevent that... first of all, Lord Halrath's spy is convinced that Lord Malleron has some plot in mind to take possession of Halrath's wealth. If the players betray Halrath, they might end up facing Malleron, who is little more than a crime lord. This might deter them.
Second, Lord Halrath is simply out of time and out of options. He must act and this is his only option. It is possible that he could take precautions against betrayal. I leave it to your imagine...
In any case, it does not matter. This adventure, Part I, is about recovering the Coin. What happens afterwards is told in Part II. If the players begin to plot against Halrath and think they might keep his wealth for themselves, let them dream. When the time comes, they will have much bigger problems...
If the players accept, he pays them their 5% and tells them what he knows...
Although the Rhyme of the Coin has not been released yet, he can tell them that the last line in the Rhyme will refer to a church in Damerus (one of the city districts). He doesn’t know which church, but even just knowing that it's in a church drastically narrows the search. In addition, he knows that information about the church (and specifically the clue in the Rhyme) can be found in the city library.
If the players ask how he came by this information, he says only that he was in the right place at the right time and fortune smiled on him. However, he does not wish to give details as it could cause trouble for a friend.
In truth, he and his wife happened to be invited to a dinner at the house of Amaratu through a mutual friend. Amaratu is one of the high ranking wizards of the city (and a close and trusted lieutenant of Poth Dimrani) and happens to be a member of the Council of the Coin this year. After far too much Gaithian brandy at the dinner, Amaratu let slip something about the Rhyme of the Coin while the two men were outside admiring the stars. No one else was around and Halrath was the only one who heard it. Amaratu is a not a close friend to either Malleron or Halrath. It is very unlikely that he is aware of Malleron's plotting.
After having almost given up hope, Halrath was determined to use this misstep by Amaratu to save his fortune.
The next day the Lottery is held. As Lord Halrath predicted, he ends up being the Patron of the Coin. It turns out that his contact was correct and his rival, Lord Malleron, is determined to ruin him. The announcement is made later that day and gossip and rumors about the new Patron of the Coin begin to fly all over town.
To begin the Festival of the Coin, the city officials create a riddle which contains clues as to its whereabouts. This riddle is made publicly available to the general citizenry on the morning of the second day of the festival. It is presented by criers and posted bulletins. With the unveiling of this riddle, the hunt begins and anyone who wishes may join in the hunt and seek the Coin.
The wealth of he who sells the stone
Lies 'neath decrepit field of bone
From spying eyes, the coin now lies
With muted voice of Selgre’noen
If the players are smart, they will take Lord Halrath's second piece of information and go to the library. They only know that the coin lies in a church in Damerus. However, since there are over two dozen churches in Damerus, the Coin is far from theirs.
Keep in mind that the Coin is immune to magical spells. Any spell that would allow rapid location of the Coin will fail. This has always been true. Poth Dimrani has used magic to protect the coin from scrying and other spells. The only way to find the coin is to search for it the old fashion way. With diligent research, hard work, wisdom and a little luck.
It should be pointed out that they will not be the only ones in the library looking for this information. In a medieval world, books are rare and valuable and libraries represent an enormous amount of wealth and knowledge. Only the nobles and scholars and priests and other elite of the city will have the money to get into the library or the ability to read. So, while most commoners will not come here, there are many who will. The players will not be the only ones looking.
This could lead to some interesting role playing. First, if any of them are fluent in Old Traxxian, they might have a chance to recognize the last word in the riddle. If not, they can look it up at the library. With some research, they find that the two words are Old Traxxian and that “selgre” means “spire”. Later on, they find that “noen” means “grey”. So, selgre'noen is Old Traxxian for “grey spire” in the Southern tongue.
They might run into other "coin hunters" in the Traxxian section of the library. To spice things up, there is only one librarian there that day that speaks and reads Traxxian and others try to monopolize his time. There will likely be bribes, threats, etc. A rival group might try to distract the players, delay them, etc. Some might even hide certain Traxxian books, moving them to other sections of the library. Maybe a really snooty librarian refuses to help them or gives them a hard time. Have fun with this. Just remember that there are many would be coin hunters. Most of them in this library will be educated and smart.
The players, however, have a huge advantage. They know ahead of time they are looking for a church. This will help them narrow down their literary search very quickly.
After having uncovered the meaning of the name, the players may scour the religion and history sections of the library. A deeper and more thorough search, particularly in the History of Drakkel section, will reveal that one of the old temples of Bauranto, a Traxxian god of war, was named “Stone Spire” and sometimes referred to as “Grey Spire”.
Further research will find that the ruins of that ancient temple were rebuilt in 880 CY and now serve as "the" church of Imarus in Damerus district. However, another document will tell the players that, although there are four churches to Imarus in Drakkel, only two of them are in Damerus. Neither document tells them which one.
Make the search a difficult task, but not impossible. The players should be able to find this information within the first day. With this information in hand, they have now narrowed their search to a two buildings. They are, indeed, ahead of most of the city.
The players have narrowed it down to two churches. If they go to explore these two churches, they find that one of them has a much larger and older graveyard next to it. This is an obvious clue and will indicate which of the two churches is the older.
Now that they've narrowed it down to one, they can begin exploring. The Church is a beautiful ancient grey stoned building dominated by a tall tower which is crowned with a belfry. To the west of the church is a large cemetery. To the north and east are gardens and a small orchard.
This church is tended to by one head priest and four sub priests who live here and preach here, tend to the sick and dying and minister to the masses. A stable boy and a deaf laborer also work here keeping the place clean, cooking the meal and so on.
The priests are happy to discuss the history of their church. If the players talk to the priests about the "muted voice", the priests don’t know what that could be. But they are quite proud of their church and its long history and boast about the detailed records kept in the archives.
If the players ask to see the archives, they are allowed (though the priests ask a small donation to the church first). Two priests accompany them to the offices in the back where they enter a small library. The priests help the players look through the ancient scrolls.
This is an optional encounter... if you want to throw some combat in there and give them an obstacle, here's a good opportunity.
While the characters are perusing the church archives, they hear a racket out in the nave. A rival group of would-be coin seekers has entered the church. This group has ascertained the meaning of the Rhyme (at least as much as the players have) and they are determined to find the coin first. They have no qualms about killing and they slay one of the sub priests. They then attack the player characters. Feel free to make this "rival group" as tough an encounter as you like. If the players are generally heroic, then they will be trying to protect the priests as they fight. It's possible that the players would be justified in killing their attackers because they could claim self defense (and the defense of the priests). Or they could incapacitate them and hand them over to the city guards. In any case, this encounter can be as easy or tough as you want.
The "muted voice" in the Rhyme of the Coin actually refers to the bell of the church. A smart player might actually figure that out. If the players search the belfry, they do not find the coin, but an observant character (especially a dwarf) might notice that one of the five copper bells is much newer than the other four.
If the players ask about it, the priests can tell them that one of the bells cracked. During the rainy season that followed, the clapper rusted so badly that the bell was rendered "mute".
If the players don't figure this out on their own, then they eventually stumble upon it in the archives. A historical record about the church refers to the bells as "calling the faithful to service with the voice of the Church" and another document, detailing maintenance, describes the day that one of the bells cracked and how later it was rendered "mute".
Once this conversation about the bell starts, the priests can inform them that the mute bell was replaced many years ago. The mute bell was taken below into the catacombs beneath the church and put in storage.
Now we're getting somewhere! The players have narrowed it down to a single room!
At this point, it becomes a much more traditional dungeon crawl. The church does have a sprawling network of catacombs beneath it where many former priests and faithful are buried. The priests will be reluctant to allow the players to go roaming through the catacombs which contain much of the churches history.
The players should be able to convince the priests eventually, but it will take both honeyed words and a sizeable donation to the church. Once the donation is accepted, one of the sub priests will lead them down into the catacombs.
Feel free to make the catacombs large. This church is, after all, built upon the foundations of a much older church. It's possible that the catacombs could have been expanded several times over the centuries. It could be a large labyrinth of tunnels and chambers.
Here's something else to consider... Poth Dimrani, the wizard guild master, is the one who put the Coin down here. He used magic to come and go unseen. He placed the Coin down here and could have put all manner of traps or guardians around it, depending on how difficult he wanted it to be. Traditionally the Coin is well hidden, but not particularly well guarded. Any traps or obstacles or guardians blocking the path to the Coin are usually mild and easily defeated. Wisdom or luck are required to find the coin, not brawn. Even a beggar, if he uses his head, should be able to get to the Coin.
Also, the priests are unaware that the Coin has been placed in their catacombs. With magic, Poth Dimrani came, entered the catacombs, placed whatever traps or wards you decide and then left, all without ever giving the slightest hint he had been there. The priests of this Church are completely unaware.
A few examples of obstacles you could put in the way. Feel free to pick and choose or add to this list:
- A giant rat. If you want, it can be a pair of giant rats and they are hungry. Possibly under the influence of some kind of magical charm by Dimrani to keep people from proceeding down the right corridor. They may not attack, but will growl menacingly, etc. They will only fight if attacked.
- A large (non lethal) pit. Perhaps a pit that teleports the victim back out into the city.
- An undead creature. Not placed here by Poth Dimarni. Rather this creature is an undead corpse animated by dark energies from all the spirits that have been laid to rest here. Or perhaps one of the subpriests has been dabbling in necromancy and this undead is an experiment gone awry. In which case, he might have been trying to prevent them from going down into the catacombs all along.
Once you've had your fun with them, it's time to reward them.
The last chamber is a storage chamber. In it are a number of crates, boxes of candles, large decorations for specific ceremonies, etc. Hidden in the back of the chamber beneath a blanket is a large rusted copper bell with a crack running up the side all the way to the crown.
The bell is quite heavy and will take three or four strong men to lift it. If the bell is successfully lifted, the party will find a single copper coin beneath, sitting on a velvet cushion.
The coin beneath the bell is the one true Coin of Drakkel. It is an ancient Traxxian coin - a large copper coin with a knight on one side and a castle on the other.
Now that they have it in their hands, remember that no magic will work on the Coin at all. It has been ensorcelled with very powerful magic from Poth Dimrani, the most powerful wizard in all of the Alliance. The adventuring party will most certainly have no hope of thwarting such powerful magic. It cannot be made invisible or silenced. It can not be transformed or teleported or melted or destroyed. As far as the players are concerned, the Coin is indestructible and immune to magic.
Once the players have the Coin, it's pretty straightforward from here.
Traditionally, upon finding the Coin, the finder brings it to the Council of Guilds and formally presents it there. The Council of the Coin verifies that this is, indeed, the Coin of Drakkel. Upon this confirmation the finder is treated as an honored guest until the end of the Festival wherein he is award the wealth of the Patron of the Coin.
Now, if you want, as a game master, you could end it here. This could be a nice simple short adventure. However, this whole excursion is really just a prelude to The Festival of the Coin - Part II.
If you wish, you may continue on to Part II (coming soon).
This page last updated Wednesday, December 24, 2008. Copyright 1990-2009 David M. Roomes.