To Be Played in Late December
In December the characters are contacted by a mysterious stranger, a contact from an anonymous person wanting to hire them. He takes them on a half mystical journey through the polar ice to the North Pole. Here they meet their employer between his fairy staff and toy making facilities. It is, well, Santa Claus himself.
The gentle, old, but powerful entity has a quest for them to accomplish. He needs a small Christmas present delivered to Eridian Rashor, also known as The Blood Red (or take some infamous villain of your world, a Warlord and evil Sorcerer. The self-proclaimed rules of Eastern Skandia (or some very distant province of your world) currently resides in the High Castle, an ancient fortress he seized from the elves. He is known for some of the vilest acts in recent history, like the Massacre of Wingholm, where he had 2000 elves slaughtered during negotiations, the Unholy Tuesday, on which he had 200 nuns performing sexual acts in public or the Midsummernights Sacrifice, during which he sacrificed 300 children to attract the Dark God Daimor only to trap him and relieve him of his powers. You get the idea. He is the natural enemy of anything that breathes in Skandia.
The idea behind this quest is, as Santa explains, that if there is someone who is not likely to get any presents, like the Blood Red, but another one desperately wants to give him one and absolutely cannot, it is Santa's duty to bring him one or he hires others to do so, when he has no time to deal with customers as difficult as the Blood Red, like this year. The present is a shoebox sized case in plain white silk paper with a nice, red ribbon (it is also immune to scrying magic) and they have to deliver it exactly on Christmas eve (or on Julfest, as it is called in Skandia). He wont tell what the present is or who the subconscious donator is. Of course, when you work for Santa Claus, you are allowed to write a Christmas list with a present for yourself and presents for other characters and NPCs as well. They are allowed to use Santa's reindeer sleight to fly to Skandia and, of course, also some magical red and white cloaks if they want.
When they reach Skandia, they have to realize that their mission is much more difficult than it might have sounded. Unfortunately, the High Castle is under siege by the combined forces of order. Gathered in five camps around the fortress are an army of the Brotherhood of the Ring, Paladins, the Seventh Imperial Legion, including some silver dragons, an army of Elves from Eldylon, including griffin riders, the army of Iron Fist, a dwarven thane, with lots of siege engines and, if you like cannons and the army of the Duke of Skandia. Neither will be happy about some strange guys who deliver goods into the besieged castle and will shoot down any reindeer sleight trespassing their siege. On the other hand, they will probably welcome a group of adventurers willing to aide in the attack.
The castle is held by the Blood Red himself, who doesn't expect any deliveries, his guard of well equipped and experienced Black Ogres, the weird Necromancer Tuchlon and his undead legion, Chim One Eye, a savage and cruel barbarian and his men, the dark elven Weapon Master Tridon Talass and, last but not least, the enslaved god Daimor and his priesthood. His orc and human troops have deserted before the siege began. Only two human servants are still in the castle, Dai, the old butler and Irina, a kitchen maid. She is secretly in love with the Blood Red (don't ask ME why) and is, though unknowingly, the cause for the present.
The player succeed if they get the present (a musical clock with a romantic tune from the Blood Reds childhood) to the Rashor on Christmas eve, but they could also get him to flee with the kitchen maid (Hey, a Christmas adventure HAS to be romantic !) and thereby crushing the evil alliance and winning the war for good.
The following celebration and especially the exchange of presents should be nice ("Huh, what a nice sword ! I hope its more magic than my old one.", "Hey, isn't that my old lance, that my character lend to yours 3 years ago?", "A book? Who of you ****** expects my Assassin to read a book?", "What a nice statue. What do you think is its retail value?", "Warm socks? MAGES do not wear warm socks! ", "Oh no. Not more magic ginger bread!")
Martin Krauel Kolonnenweg 120 24837 Schleswig Germany
m.krauel@rendsburg.netsurf.de
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