House of the Tyrant

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The Guildhouses Scribes The Royal Ministry’s three-score scribes HOUSE OF THE TYRANT The six guildhouses of Novy Dom control the are seconded from the guildhouses for three- city’s industry: silk-making, dyeing, gold-mining, a Fantasy Settlement by Michael Prescott year terms, for which they are part clerk, part tool-making, external trading, and gathering hostage. The Situation Trade & Guides from the surrounding land. A single family controls each function: the Forty years ago, a monstrous tyrant seized Trade in Novy Dom is entirely controlled by The Senior Ministers elder generation (d10 ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’) The three senior ministers are rarely seen control of the prosperous cliffside city of Novy its six noble guildhouses. Resting, resupplying, sets policy and grooms d12 younger nobles Dom and dubbed itself King Menaka. or quartering here will require establishing ties outside the Royal Ministry or the citadel. Except who oversee 2d20 bondservants (indentured for Menaka’s edicts, the senior ministers define, The tyrant has ruled from secrecy ever since, with one or more of the guildhouse families. laborers). surrounding itself with byzantine layers of If met on proper terms, hospitality is possible and are exempt from, the laws of Novy Dom. This has led them each to indulge in unsavory bureaucracy and ruling by terror, disinformation, (especially after gifts are offered or after Structure tastes: murder, torture, and demon worship. and generosity in equal measure. conspicuous displays of wealth). The guildhouses contain four to five levels Menaka appears to turn a blind eye to these Those old enough to remember the coup keep connected by well-guarded spiral stairs. habits, but secretly encourages them. The king the secret of Menaka’s true nature, but the city is Bondservants live in the humid lower levels. The wants the ministers hated by the population—if rotten with lies, treachery, and fear. middle levels are dominated by the guildhouses’ none can survive a coup, their loyalty is assured. workshops, while nobles and their personal servants reside and entertain Rumors for Nearby Places Greatcleft above. The Giragita • Novy Dom was once a vital gateway River Gorge for trade, but now buys little from Menaka’s spies are everywhere, and not all the surrounds. The Ocularium of them are human. The cliffs of Novy Dom are • A paranoid and secretive King took The Royal crawling with Giragita, dog-sized chameleons that act as Menaka’s eyes and ears. power in a coup. Ministry The Giragita normally blend into • Visitors must hire a guide, Tool-Making The Citadel the cliffs’ rock, but they can be or run afoul of the city’s Gathering strange customs. spotted easily when they move. • Citizens still revere They can climb surfaces of Cicollus, a god whose any angle with ease and can miracles ceased support many times their generations ago. own weight with just a single • The king of Novy Dom limb. is hideous and has not They crawl about day and been seen for decades. night, listening at windows and Mines Gold-Mining • King Menaka has Miracles doors and from the undersides of the walks, always attentive the power to create Silk-Making sustenance from thin for seditious behavior. air. They respond viciously if attacked, but they move Trading Dyes too slowly to endanger City in the Cliffs those with long weapons. Novy Dom is carved from Menaka sees and canyon cliffs, where the Greatcleft hears everything they do River meets the Blighted Narrows. through a psychic link. Adventurers approaching by water will likely The connection normally be met by the boats of the Trade Guildhouse, works one way, but Outsiders will need to hire escorted into the city, and interviewed. Menaka can speak to them, a guide for any serious dealings. Those arriving overland will first encounter and they can relay the king’s Guides—usually junior nobles of the bondservants of the Gatherers Guildhouse messages in their hissing, wet speech. guildhouse—are part chaperone and part agent, (looking for wood and small game in the nearby In a sense, the entire Royal Ministry is just a making introductions and brokering transactions The Royal Ministry blightlands). baffle, designed to stabilize Menaka’s rule, while (all while taking a hefty cut on top of official fees). The visible face of the Royal Ministry is its The city’s protective wall has long been the Giragita are the real agents. The guides also keep their clients from police, warriors dressed in layers of form-fitting abandoned, its towers left to ruin. They are wretched, competitive, suspicious, making common (illegal) gaffes, such as trying white silk. Two levels of wood-and-chain public ‘walks’ and superior. to have hushed conversations, disrespecting the They are trained and well armed, with are slung between the rocky walls, connecting nobility, or circumventing their assigned guide excellent swords and finely made boiled leather the major structures to the shores and to each in any dealings. armor beneath their silks—but stern resistance other. from troublemakers will surprise them.

Copyright © 2015 Michael Prescott - cbna - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ - Find more adventure locations at http://blog.trilemma.com v1.02 pg. 1/2 The Watched People The application of the law is completely by the next full moon shall be exempt from animals, dense cakes, or wine. All the food is The population is accustomed to the eyes of arbitrary, at the whim of the Royal Ministry, taxes for the next d3 months. blood red. the Giragita, and they make a point of ignoring or as the result of a noble calling in a favor to 5. To ensure the Royal Ministry rules sagely, The droplets fall until mid-afternoon. Elders them. satisfy a personal grudge. all written documents within the city must and their honored guests may take food here, It is the height of bad etiquette to overtly Anyone targeted for persecution will be be surrendered to it; mostly accurate copies while junior Benefactors deliver food to all parts notice one, and explicitly illegal to point one out. arrested by agents of the Royal Ministry. will be returned in d6+1 months. of the city well into the night (along both levels), Doing so is guaranteed to concern nearby citizens 6. Because of their exemplary conduct, the their red robes aflutter. and will earn a sharp rebuke from guides. Favorite Laws elders of one guildhouse shall inspect the Those arrested are accused of some specific private documents of another. They shall ing enaka s cularium variation on the following: provide leadership advice and a report to the K M ’ O uildhouse eadership G L • Withholding information Royal Ministry. (Menaka chooses the pairing A dome of new stone sprouts from the old Few guildhouses run smoothly. When it • Seditious speech, insolence (or insufficient that will cause the most friction.) citadel; a thousand spy-holes allow Menaka to becomes relevant, roll d6 to determine how power deference) toward the institutions of the city, observe much of the city from the dark interior. is held and the concerns of those who hold it. asking questions None but three senior minsters come here, 1. A single elder rules, focused on industrial • Buying something at the wrong time, in the Novy Dom Encounters and they never discuss Menaka’s true nature. output above all else. wrong quantity, not buying something, or During the day, encounters are continuous on 2. An elder trio leads with the support of the paying the wrong price the busy walks. Roll d6 to determine the most Eyes of the Tyrant others; they are effective and aligned. • Excessive indulgence in foreign customs noteworthy group at any given time. Menaka is a great, scaly sphere the height of 3. A powerful leader is focused entirely on • Behavior that implies one of the above Add 2 to the roll for encounters on the upper a man. A dozen chameleon eyes pivot and peer private/selfish goals (money, sex, collecting) might be occurring, wasting Royal Ministry walks. in every direction and a soft, tubular ‘mouth’ while the others dither on the periphery. resources and eroding the social fabric 1. Benefactors from the Gallery of Miracles dangles from the underside. 4. The titular leader, sidelined by the others, Demanding that the law be applied uniformly delivering blood-red food A bladder of buoyant gas lets him float about rages self-destructively. is, of course, a direct challenge to the authority of 2. A Nuss exile, not quite passing as human the Ocularium at will. 5. Output practically ceases as elders focus the Royal Ministry and grounds for arrest. 3. d3+3 Royal Ministry police escorting obsessively on treachery (see below). detainees (roll d3 – 1: a guildhouse noble, Blood of the Chained God 6. The ruling elder is dead or missing (wasting Favorite Punishments 2-3: d3 bondservants) At the center of the Ocularium hangs sickness, murdered, drowned); business Minor offenses result in an exhorbitant fine or 4. An eavesdropping Giragita Menaka’s prized possession: Cicollus, a half- halts as elders compete to fill the power d12 weeks of ‘corrective service’ (forced labor as 5. d6 bondservants (of a random guildhouse) on forgotten godling in humanoid form. Hooks vacuum. a guildhouse bondservant). errands, carrying goods or messages suspend him from the ceiling, and poured iron Serious offenses result in d6 months of 6. d6 bondservants maintaining a suspended encases his head. Menaka bleeds him to perform Treacheries corrective service, forfeiture of all property, walk or a building facade auguries, and his blood feeds the city. Deep within each guildhouse lurks an urgent, mutilation, or all three (50% chance of each). 7. d3 entertainers (music, tumbling, poetry) If freed, Cicollus will be quite dangerous. treacherous project. Roll d6 as soon as it becomes 8. d3 Guildhouse nobles (with d6 bodyguards Hunger and pain will drive him to replenish relevant: and hangers-on) visiting other nobles on Edicts of the King himself immediately so that he can ascend to 1. A trio of uncles has so much dirt on the business or pleasure senior ministers that they are exempt from Each week, Menaka issues an edict to the safety. Involuntary blood sacrifices are likely. the Royal Ministry’s oversight. guildhouses, galvanizing them into action. The Encounter Disposition (d6) As a minor godling, Cicollus’ magical aura is 2. The nobles are actually Nuss exiles, their Royal Ministry considers noncompliance to be 1. Curious, perhaps even friendly enormous; sensitives can detect it easily from humanity only skin deep. Avoid marrying in. treason. 2. Cautious, but keen for news from outside anywhere within the city. 3. Younger family members plot to assassinate Most believe the edicts are responses to the 3. Angling for advantage; hoping to make a spying of the Giragita, but in truth, Menaka a senior minister and are looking for brave sale Nuss Exiles and/or expendable allies. issues them randomly as part of a campaign to 4. Trying to avoid notice; concealing something The Nuss dwelling in Novy Dom have 4. The elders worship Cicollus, smuggle in keep Novy Dom divided and mistrustful. 5. Indifferent, wary if engaged abandoned their true forms (a heresy to most their own food, and only feign to eat the food On any given week, roll d6 to determine the 6. Actively looking for a scapegoat or victim Nuss) to adopt human shape. This requires from the . current edict: Gallery of Miracles effort; when exhausted or angered, the guise 5. The guildhouse specializes in close-quarters 1. Each guildhouse has been told that d3 he allery of iracles slips a little. fighting and has a secret cache of weapons. traitors lurk within it and must be turned in T G M They will do nearly anything to protect 6. The guildhouse wants to unload a profusion by week’s end. Making painful choices is a The majority of the food in Novy Dom comes the secret of their presence in Novy Dom. In of stolen goods, preferably outside the city. sign of loyalty. from here, an open gallery in the citadel, directly 2. A rebellion is brewing among the beneath Menaka’s Ocularium. truly desperate situations they will abandon bondservants; work shall cease until the At noon, red blood of a rare and precious humanoid form to sprout whatever they need: Laws and Punishment traitors are rooted out. variety drips from the darkness beyond a ceiling new limbs, mouths, tentacles, claws, blade-like The Royal Ministry maintains a dense 3. Subversives and criminals are moving freely grate. horns, spikes, protective fur, or scales. network of legal codes, sufficient to ensure that at night, therefore a curfew is established The Royal Ministry’s High Benefactor They dissolve into iron-smelling goo if slain. everything that transpires within the city is and the walks must be empty after sunset. chants rituals of transmutation while a line of For more about the Nuss, see adventure #13, illegal in one way or other. 4. Output is flagging, so the guildhouse which aides catches the drops in silver pans, where The Extent of Gamandes. remits the most tax for the Royal Ministry each transforms into weird, sweet fruits, small Edited by Radek Drozdalski, Brent P. Newhall & Andrew Young.