New Year's Eve in Holystone

I haven't done a Holystone entry in over a year, but I thought a "Dick Clark" lich would be cool and the city provides a great backdrop for him.

New Year's Eve in Holystone

On the last night of the year, the 30th of Icemoon, everyone in the city celebrates the coming New Year. A large party is held outside the castle for the nobles of the city. All of the other districts hold their own parties, as well. Even the tent city holds special performances, featuring the elderly giving gifts to young children. 

The High Church holds services on this day, focusing on their followers renewing their relationship with the gods. After services, a large feast is held in honor of the gods. The Archbishop knows that the food and wine will bring in otherwise absent congregation members.

Followers of the Seelie Court meet in hidden glens and dance the night away. Most of the participants are more interested in drinking and sex than worship, though. The Fae are happy with this, as it shows that nature is more important than rites.

Devotees of Mabb have services, as well. Her followers have orgies, with some duels occurring between followers vying for her favor.

The Demon Lords have feasts punctuated by duels or human sacrifices. The priests of Orcus hold a ritual featuring the raising of an undead through magic. They often feed an enemy of their church to the undead. The Cult of Asmodeus holds duels and torture sessions. Lilith's cult has orgies, often featuring unwilling participants.

Near midnight, a lich named Rickard uses magic to appear in the sky over the city. He does a countdown during the last 10 seconds of the year, and his voice reaches even into the caves below the city. As he counts down, a bright light appears in the east, traveling towards the city. Just as Rickard reaches zero, the fireball that was approaching explodes far above the city. It creates a number of smaller explosions, which range in color from orange to red to purple and even blue. 

The sky shakes and it gets as bright as a clear sunny day for a almost a minute, as thundering blasts shake the walls. Everyone cheers and toasts the lich. He then disappears until the following year.

The Count has tried to find this creature, but with no success. Since Rickard causes no actual harm to the city, and even provides a great diversion for the masses, the Count isn’t really sure if he should do anything about the undead mage.  

Of course, some thieves use this distraction to pull off otherwise impossible heists, since their targets are distracted. Most of the wealthy have guards ready for these attempts, but there are always a few who get robbed.

Holystone - Thieves

Thieves

There is only one organized thieves’ guild in the city, the Night Fishers, which controls Lord’s City. Rory Fisher (T10) is the guild master. They are concerned with gambling, prostitutes, and a hidden fighting arena located in the Merchant Quarter. Rory makes sure petty criminals or wannabe muggers disappear. He knows that as long as he keeps crime relatively hidden, no one will bother him. If too many big heists or nobles get hurt, the city would find and eliminate him. Rory maintains a veneer of respectability, and is known to many of the noble families.

Street gangs control the Triangle district. They are mainly interested in protection, drugs, and robbery. They will defend their turf from any freelancers or rival gangs quite violently. The gangs often wear colored scarves or unique symbols to show their allegiance. Gang membership is an ever-changing status, as new gangs appear and old gangs break up for some reason. Several unlucky gangs have even been caught up in the city guard sweeps and summarily executed.

The rest of the city has no controlling authority. Individual thieves or small gangs perform thefts at their discretion. Smart thieves are careful to maintain a low profile, because if they get too famous, the city guard will hunt them down. 

Active Thieves

Jezrael (Cambion T5) – Jezrael is a gifted burglar. She has stolen many an item in the dead of night. She concentrates her work in the North Ward. She has robbed a few places in Lord’s City, but has not been caught. She knows the area is off-limits, but doesn’t know who Rory is. She is very careful to leave no evidence that could incriminate her, and only steals items that would not be easily identified.

Mickey One Eye (T7) – Mickey is a brawler and has ex-street gang members work for him. He smuggles weapons into the city for the ratmen in return for gold.

Rory Fisher (T10) – Leader of the Night Fishers – Rory is the most powerful criminal figure in the city. The uninformed think he is just a wealthy shipping merchant. Several shady nobles are aware of his secret and use his services.

Shilandra (Elf T9) – Shilandra runs a pickpocket ring in the Market. She gets street kids to target unwary shoppers, and she keeps most of what they get. In return, she has a small home where the kids can sleep. Her kids are under strict orders not to steal from the merchants or street performers, to keep the locals happy.

Varis (Nephilim T6) – Varis runs a guild of dockworkers in the Docks district. They make sure that anything loaded or unloaded off a ship on the two southern piers is done by them. Anyone who is not in their group will have an accident if they try to work there. Varis also fences stolen items with some of the visiting ship captains. The dockworkers on the northern piers have made their own group and keep Varis away from those piers. They are honest, and if they found out Varis was fencing items, would happily turn him in to the city guard.

Holystone - Street Performers

Street Performers

Street performers are found throughout the city and in Tent City. They are considered a commoner profession, and are generally treated as good citizens. 

The performers generally pass a hat after each performance, or have it sitting in front of them. Buskers with mandolins play all the popular tunes, with troubadours singing along with them. Acrobats perform stunts and magicians perform tricks to wow the bystanders. Artists draw caricatures of people and sell the pictures. Puppeteers have a small wooden stage, and have little puppets perform stories. Dancers in costume team with musicians.

The Market and its surrounding neighborhoods are considered prime territory by street performers, as rich merchant wives tend to tip well. They set up between merchant stalls, and often make plugs for the merchants during their performances.

Further south, the pickings are much slimmer, so the performers there tend to be established at certain locations. They can get very territorial about newcomers, including getting into brawls to scare them away.

A license is required to perform on the streets of the Lord’s City. The performers are assigned locations, so as not to disturb the nobles. Mimes and skilled musicians are usually the only performers permitted. Street performers are willing to pay the license fees, because if they impress a noble, he may become their patron and give them living quarters at the noble manse. Then the performer would just play for the family and their guests, and not have to wander the streets.

Street performers in Cliffside are dwarves, who recite old dwarven poems or sing songs in dwarven. There are only a few of them, all from the Clan Blackstone.

The performers in Tent City live in the tents and wagons there. They often work with their friends, including the gypsies and some Menagerie folks. 

Prominent Performers

1. Jessica and her Improvateers are a well-established group in Tent City. Jessica asks bystanders for a noun and a verb. She then relates a wild tale using the given words, while her Improvateers perform the story she tells. They wear outlandishly bright garb, and Jessica speaks loudly in a rhyming style. Jessica is a tall, blonde human woman, and her Improvateers include humans, halflings, and elves. They have a small circle of wagons in north Tent City, right next to a gypsy family, who they are great friends with.

2. Elle the Elven Dancer performs at the northern edge of the Market. She is a gorgeous elven woman, and is famed for her dances. Many noble girls watch her, and try to learn from her. More than a few of Elle’s dances have become popular at noble parties. Elle uses a magic stone to silence everything within 15 feet of where she dances. She performs flawlessly to music she hears only in her mind. Most viewers try to get close enough to be inside the silence circle, to enhance the performance for themselves.

3. Miklos the Mime performs in Lord’s City. He is actually mute, and has taken up his profession as a way to deal with his problem. He often mimics the Count and other popular nobles. Sometimes he shows them as wise and powerful, other times as buffoons in a comedy. The Count has seen Miklos perform. He knows it makes people laugh at his expense, but lets them relieve stress, so he approves.

4. Mender Blackstone is the eldest dwarven performer in Cliffside. He is a fount of dwarven history, and is respected throughout their community. He is getting ready to retire, as he is slowly losing his voice. His mind can wander at times, as well. Mender often performs at major dwarven celebrations, with his performances worked in with the priest’s ceremonies.

5. Jerri and Jon, a puppet couple, are located near the center of the Market. They perform on a small stage, and benches are set up in front of it for children. Their adventures include fighting monsters, defeating evil cultists, and trying to bake the perfect pie. All the while they make rude jokes and hit each other with sticks. They are very popular among the fishermen and their families. Each performance advertises a merchant at the beginning and the end. The puppeteers make more money from the ads than they do the children, and are quite happy with their setup.

-----------------------
Jessica and her Improvateers is based upon Rebecca Rebecca and her Improvateers, who are found in the novel "Promises to Keep" by Charles de Lint, which I highly recommend.

Holystone - opinions?

Just curious what people think of my Holystone posts. Is there anything you'd like to see covered? Just don't care about it? Anyone actually using any of it?

Holystone - Haldred's Emporium

Haldred’s Emporium

Haldred’s Emporium is located in the center  of the Market. The two story building is on the west side of the center square. A large sign above the door uses magically glowing letters to advertise its presence. The store is set up as an open room with a balcony for the second floor. Shelves are packed in everywhere, making the bottom floor something of a maze. Many a shopper has wandered the aisles lost in confusion or wonder, before finding their way out.

A stuffed white dragon hangs from the ceiling, suspended by chains. It is the first thing most people see as they walk in, and has caused more than one first-time shopper to fall back in fear before realizing that the creature is not alive. 

Haldred (cambion M9) runs the shop. He looks human, though he has yellow eyes. He always has a smile on his face, and talks in grand phrases and uses sweeping gestures, similar to a travelling mountebank.

The Emporium specializes in magic potions, fancy dresses, herbal remedies, strange and exotic pets, and the occasional magic weapon or suit of armor. Haldred will happily pay adventurers for items they acquire during adventures, as long as the items look impressive. He will attempt to haggle the price down, as he finds haggling to be a fun process. He has even hired adventurers to obtain items that he hears about, if the items seem interesting enough. 

Items in the store are not cheap, and most of the clientele are nobles or merchants who want to show off their wealth. The store is magically protected, and a few thieves have disappeared over the years, after thinking they could steal from the place.

Adventure Hooks

1. A dragon has heard about Haldred’s Emporium. It is quite angry about the stuffed dragon, and will use agents to kill the mage or burn down the shop. 

2. A magical box has been placed on sale. Unknown to Haldred, it is cursed. A spirit comes out of it at night and damages items in the store. Haldred may hire the adventurers to find out what is causing the problem.

3. A mystical orb of unknown magic is rumored to be in a ruin two days journey to the east. Haldred hires the adventurers to retrieve it.

4. A paladin comes to the store, determined to slay Haldred based only upon his demonic heritage. The adventurers arrive as the confrontation begins.

5. A demon has infiltrated the store. It seeks to corrupt any powerful-looking nobles or adventurers it spies wandering the store. 

6. A pair of rare talking parrots has been stolen from the store. Haldred is not sure how the thief got past his wards. He hires the adventurers to find the thief, recover the parrots, and determine the weakness in his defenses.

Holystone - Lucky Lara's

Lucky Lara’s

Lucky Lara’s is a gambling hall and tavern on the border of The Triangle and South Harbor. It is run by a retired adventurer named Lara Deepburrow (Halfling T7). The building interior is extravagant, and is decorated like a very gaudy temple to Luna. The serving girls are dressed scantily, and have bits of Lunar regalia included in their costumes. Lunar clerics view the establishment with amusement.

There is a large open area with tables and a floor-length bar. There are also smaller rooms for nobles or wealthy merchants to play against each other. 

Lara’s is busy every night of the week. It contains a mix of young nobles, commoners hoping to get lucky and desperate souls out of the Triangle. 

Lara keeps a large staff of waitresses, bartenders, and guards. There are no prostitutes working in the hall. Lara does not approve of them. Rumor is she had been forced into prostitution in her youth.

Lara’s old adventuring partner, Arthos (Dwarf F6) is in charge of security, and wanders the hall dressed in chainmail and carrying an axe. He is friendly with the regulars, but makes no bones about keeping an eye on any newcomers who look like trouble. Both Lara and Arthos are Knights of the Rose, and visiting nobles treat them with respect.

Nobles bring their own guards, who keep the riff-raff away from the private rooms. Arthos talks with them, and makes sure they don’t cause any unnecessary issues with the commoners.

The city watch also checks in every night, in an effort to keep the peace and maybe make a little coin on the side. Lara makes sure they get a free drink before they go. 

Adventure Hooks

1. Lara’s old pimp is a powerful man in the Triangle. She will happily hire adventurers to find him and kill him. The man is well protected by guards and traps. She doesn’t want it leading back to her, though, as then the Triangle gangs would cause trouble.

2. One of the dealers was using magic to cheat the tables and has pocketed a valuable item used as collateral by a noble. The noble has returned with money to buy his item back, but the dealer and the item have vanished. Lara wants the crook and the item recovered. She is worried that her reputation could be damaged, and that she might lose customers.

3. An old enemy of Lara and Arthos is in town. Nevin the Black (C9 of Orcus) attacks the hall on a night when the PCs are there. He has a cadre that includes wights, zombies, and skeletons. 

4. A group of adventurers show up, looking for Lara. Apparently she is wanted in a neighboring city for stealing some valuable items from its ruler. She may or may not be guilty.

5. Gang members from the Triangle start a brawl with the PCs in the hall. The guards jump in, not discriminating about who started the fight.

6. Ratmen have infiltrated the basement. They plan on using poison to kill as many people as possible. The PCs find out about it not long before the attack happens, and must race to save everyone.

Holystone - Adventuring Company Charters

Adventuring Company Charters

Adventurers can get sanctioned by the Count, by applying for and receiving a charter. The city guard has an office at the prison to take care of this. 

Prospective adventurers must pay a fee of 500 gold pieces for the charter. The charter must be renewed every year, for the same fee. They must prove their intentions to benefit the city, as well. Many adventuring groups acquire a noble patron to smooth over this process. Some groups have a noble in the party, which will almost guarantee approval. 

Groups that are predominately thieves, or that have evil clerics or mages in them, will not be given a charter, unless they avoid detection. This rule is absolute. A city guard mage will cast detect alignment on the whole group as insurance for this. 

Adventuring companies must maintain an up-to-date listing of members and hirelings at the city guard office. Members not on the list are not protected by the charter, and have none of the rights included with it.

Benefits of an Adventuring Company Charter

The members of the group may go about the city armed and armored. 

The group may be required to go on specific missions for the city, and will be bound to secrecy on delicate or potentially unpopular missions.

The group will be treated as honorary city guardsmen. They are honor-bound to report any criminal activities they encounter, and may arrest or kill groups such as cultists or necromancers. They do not have the right to do basic everyday law enforcement, such as tax collection.

The group may have a small company of hirelings in their employ, including mercenaries and spellcasters.