ð You find an enemy room with thin walls, where you overhear an
important conversation.
"...then we're agreed? Our forces converge on the rebel hideout,
$Text3, at $Text1, $Text2."
Another voice comments, "the hard part will be marching the prisoners
back to $Text4 for trial."
ð You find an enemy room with thin walls, where you overhear an
important conversation.
"...then we're agreed? Our forces will muster at $Text1, $Text2, at
the $Text3. We'll march quickly to $Text4 and arrest the $CityLordTitle
-- and the government will be ours!"
A chorus of voices agrees with this plan.
ð You steal into the leader's office and scan through his notes and
papers. One catches your eye:
"Converge on $Text3, at $Text1, $Text2. Get them back to $Text4 quick,
then hold for trial."
You suspect this is the time and date for their move against the rebel
leaders.
ð You steal into the leader's office and scan through his notes and
papers. One catches your eye:
"Muster at $Text3. At $Text1, $Text2. Then march on $Text4."
There is a bold check-mark beside this. Could this be the rebel master
plan?
ð You overhear a loud argument in a nearby room.
"We must move now! The time will never be better!" You hear sounds
like somebody pounding on the table.
"But sir, what about..."
"No buts, we must move, no matter what the risks!"
"Yes sir..."
ð While hiding in a closet, you listen to two women walking down the
hall.
"What, $NamedOneName has a mistress? Not another one!"
"Oh yes, my dear, a beautiful but poor widow. That disgusting old man
is preying on her fears and poverty to get her into his bed!"
"Somebody ought to do something..."
ð Carefully, from an empty upstairs room you listen at the floor to a
conversation below...
"Sir, please, we should move now. It's the perfect time to strike."
"No... I don't think so..."
"But please sir, the men are eager."
"Eagerness is no good if you're dead. No, I want to wait until they'll
fall like a ripe apple into our hands!"
ø You overhear two apprentices on a small job discussing workmanship.
"Well, at least mine is better than $NamedOneName!"
"What?"
"Don't you know? People say he hires peasant wives at slave wages,
then puts the guild mark -- and price -- on it, and pockets the
difference."
"That's illegal. You can get branded and exiled, at least!"
"Yes, but you can get very rich, too."
î The crying of a young girl attracts your attention. You listen and
hear...
"But Daddy, why can't I see Hans? He's a nice boy..."
"NO! I said NO! No son of that man can be honorable. Remember, they
say the father reached his position by poison, and I believe it. You
have a rich dowry. I wouldn't like you to die soon after your
marriage!"
Predictably, the daughter refuses to believe a word.
ð Outside a laundry-room, you hear...
"Psst, Ruta..."
"What?"
"Have you heard? $NamedOneName is really a serf's son."
"By the Holy Mary! That means..."
"Right! If anybody proves it, he's stripped of everything and must
return to the fields, or worse."
ð You listen at the ceiling to the leader and his lieutenants above.
Apparently they believe $NamedOneName is actually a heretic who
worships demons and Satan. They are wondering how to find proof, and
whether to use that to influence or remove him.
ð Through a thin wall you hear the leader plotting with his
lieutenants. Apparently they believe $NamedOneName is the paid agent of
a neighboring prince with designs on $PlaceName.
They are wondering whether to use this knowledge to gain influence
over him, or to urge the $CityLordTitle to arrest him.
ð As you steal through a back corridor, you pause to overhear a
conversation in a money-counting room.
"Are those groschen from $NamedOneName?"
"Certainly, paid in full."
"Well, I'd test their weight. Come to think of it, a water test and a
scratch test too."
"Oh yes, those rumors..."
"Counterfeiting. People still try it, despite the death penalty."
ð You move quietly, keeping to closets, unused rooms, and back
corridors. But now you must decide whether to...
... continue searching for interesting information, relying on your
stealth and perception to keep you out of trouble.
1
... raid the political headquarters, attacking the workers and
destroying their materials.
3
4
5
6
7
8
...or leave now, which minimizes your chance of discovery.
ð Despite an hour of careful searching and listening, you find nothing
new or interesting.
ð As you carefully move through a back hall, you accidentally knock
over a clock. You look for an exit, but all you find is the sound of
running feet.
You hear a shout. "Intruders, sir! We're covering the exits, then
we'll sweep the building."
You draw weapons and prepare for a fight.
ð As you carefully move through a back hall, you accidentally knock
over a clock. Quickly you duck out a window, using your rope, before
you are discovered.
ð You all slip out quietly, unnoticed and unsuspected. Everyone
casually strolls away, smiling.
ð Quickly, you dash out the door and down a side alley. Running
quickly through the back streets of $PlaceName, you put plenty of
distance between yourself and any possible pursuit.
ð They strip you of armor, weapons, and other significant possessions.
The city guard arrives and drags you to the dungeon, where you await
trial for housebreaking, theft, and attempted assassination.
ð They strip you of armor, weapons, and other significant possessions.
Soon the city guard arrives takes you down a side street, where your
possessions are returned.
"The government appreciates your efforts," says the sergeant.
"However, next time we must let you stand trial. But right now, you
escaped from us!"
You thank him and quickly disappear down a side street.
è Carefully you sneak through the guild workshops and into the living
quarters. Your goal is...
... to find incriminating evidence about the guild leader.
... to listen to the private conversations of the guild leader.
... convince the leader's family that he must support your cause, or
else very bad things will happen.
7
8
... to leave as quietly as you entered.
é With a crash $ChosenOneName stumbles over a small table in the
hallway. As doors open and shouting begins, you dash into a storeroom
and bar the door.
Here you find the usual block, tackle, and crane to move goods in and
out of the top-floor storeroom. You slide down to the tackle into a
side street, then dash away as angry guildsmen cry, "Thieves, thieves!"
ì As you skulk around a corner, $ChosenOneName runs headfirst into a
surprised apprentice. Before you can do anything, she runs away,
screaming an alarm.
You dash for the nearest door, weapons in hand, pushing aside alarmed
guildsmen. Cries of "Thief, thief!" follow you down a back alley.
æ The leader's private chambers are filled with papers, ledgers, and
letters. Unfortunately, even $ChosenOneName cannot read fast enough, or
well enough, to make sense of this! Worse, you would need three big
wagons to carry all the evidence.
Frustrated, you resolve to have somebody learn how to read and write
better!
å You sort through various papers and ledgers, look in drawers,
cabinets and chests. Nobody finds anything incriminating. You have a
sense that in some unexamined place is just the right item, but you
can't imagine where. You're just not perceptive enough, at least not
today.
è You find a secret, locked chest. $ChosenOneName quickly and
skillfully opens it.
Inside is a special ledger listing the leader's source of supply for
goods, what he paid, and what he was paid for each. His sources were
NOT guild workmen, but peasants from distant farmsteads. With this
ledger, you have damning evidence against the guild leader.
è You find a locked cabinet that looks promising, but $ChosenOneName
cannot get it open. Eventually the lock jams completely. Unfortunately,
the cabinet's materials are quite resistant to alchemical potions. This
appears to be a dead end.
ð Among the leader's letters, you find one from $NamedOneName, a local
woman currently living in the $monastery. In it she complains that the
leader has failed to keep up the payments for a certain powerful
poison. She warns him that this is a dangerous course of action!
You wisely take this letter for safe-keeping.
ð Inside a hidden cabinet, you find a small leather-covered box with
the leader's name on it.
Inside is a small, child-size, silver-plated human skull; a few other
bones that look suspiciously human; a closed jar full of a noxious
potion; a blackened, wooden amulet with a different demonic symbol on
each side; and a scrap of paper that has the date $SabbatTime marked on
it.
You conclude the guild leader must be a devil-worshipper, perhaps a
witch. Carefully wrapping the box, you take it as evidence. You also
remember the date, which you suspect could be quite important.
å Then you discover a hidden lock that opens a hidden compartment. The
note inside says: "$SabbatLocation to $Direction." You recognize this
is a wild place of evil reputation. You wonder what unholy rites occur
there.
ð Suddenly you chuckle. In your hands is a package of scented letters.
They are from a love-besotten woman to the guild leader. You read
snatches, and realize they describe, in detail, all of the couple's
romantic liasons!
You immediately tuck the letters into your pouch for safekeeping.
ð You pry open a locked desk drawer and rummage through a pile of
letters. Near the bottom is one with a famous ducal crest -- that of
$PlaceName's arch enemy. In the letter the Duke tells the leader he
will receive 100 florins for secretly opening a sally port for the
Duke's mercenary captain.
ð Your looming presence over the suddenly awakened wife and children
of the guild leader has a powerful effect -- as does your less-thansterling reputation in $PlaceName.
"We expect your husband will find merit in the $Text1 cause," is all
you say, but it's enough. You leave the poor woman trembling in fear.
Quickly you steal away from the guild, before the family raises the
alarm.
ð Your looming presence over the suddenly awakened wife and children
of the guild leader has no effect.
"Hrumph," she says, "I can't believe that you're much of a threat! In
fact, I'll bet that as soon as I scream, you'll just disappear!"
You realize that successful intimidation requires not only fame and
charisma, but an especially evil reputation here in $PlaceName.
Quickly you steal away from the guild, before the family raises the
alarm.
ð Terrified by your dark forms looming over the bed, she blurts out,
"Oh, please don't take me yet! I know I have sinned, let me atone
before my time is come!"
You realize that she is half dreaming, and has mistaken you for the
grim reaper. Quickly, you tell her what actions are demanded of her and
her husband to avoid instant death. Never doubting, she thanks you for
this opportunity to survive as you steal away.