The Demonic Plague Scenario

[jburneko]

So, as promised here is my Demonic Plague scenario that CK affectionately refers to my "demonic venereal disease story".  Enjoy!

The Humanity definition for this scenario is: Love.  Love is broadly defined and in addition to romantic love includes faith, brotherhood, patriotism, familial love or any form of human bond.  You gain Humanity when you take actions that create and strengthen those bonds between yourself or others.  You lose Humanity when you take actions that weaken or break those bonds between yourself or others.  At zero Humanity you are either a sociopath incapable of love or an obsessive incapable of distinguishing love and possessive coveting.

Lore is rooted in Passion.  You don't know how the universe works, you feel how the universe works.  Demons come to you because you call on them from deep within your heart-of-hearts.  If you feel it strongly enough, it must be true and right.

The setting is an urban city with a pseudo-18th Century Romance Era feel.  If you've seen the movie Amadeus or read the comic The Marquis you have the right idea.

The following NPCs are presented in an order which best allows the back story to be explained.

Lord Edmund Talbot
   Stamina 3, Will 4, Lore 0, Past 4 (Lord), Humanity 2

Lord Edmund Talbot is effectively an overgrown child.  He collects dolls and enjoys parties and pranks.  He throws the most decadent and opulent parties in the entire city. 

Talbot dazzled the Marquis Voldegall LeFleur into allowing his daughter, Sophie LeFleur, to be personally tutored by Talbot.  While under his wardship Talbot took sexual advantage of Sophie LeFleur and then cast her out when she became pregnant.

Marquis Voldegall LeFleur
   Stamina 4, Will 4, Lore 0, Past 4 (Marquis), Humanity 3

Voldegall LeFleur blames himself for what happened to his daughter.  He allowed himself to be seduced by Talbot's excesses.  A deeply religious man Voldegall turned to his priest, Father Alphonso Vega.  Vega recommended confining Sophie LeFleur to a convent for the duration of her pregnancy.

Sophie LeFleur
   Stamina 2, Will 3, Lore 0, Past 3 (Noble's Daughter + Convent Education), Humanity 4

Sophie is only 15 and has for the past ten months has been confined to a convent.  She has not seen or heard from her father in that time.  She has recently given birth to a son, Francois.

Francois LeFleur
   Stamina 1, Will 1, Lore 0, Past 1 (Baby), Humanity 5

Francois is the newborn child of Sophie LeFleur and Lord Edmund Talbot

Father Alphonso Vega (Sorcerer)
   Telltale: Bleeding sores on his forearms.
   Price: Self-Righteous (-1 when confronted with alternate worldviews)
   Stamina 3, Will: 4, Lore 3, Past 4 (Priest), Humanity 2

Father Alphonso Vega is morally outraged by the Talbot's behavior and what he did to Sophie LeFleur was the final straw.  He has summoned a biblical plague into his own body in order to spread fear and death among those indulge in Talbot's excesses.  Father Vega has deliberately kept Voldegall away from his daughter to maintain a hold over him, as he believe Voldegall may have doubts about their "holy" work.

Shkhik (Demon)
   Bound To: Father Alphonso Vega
   Binding Strength: To Be Rolled At The Scenario's Start
   Type: Parasite
   Telltale: Sores on the Host
   Stamina 4, Will 8, Lore 7, Power 8
   Desire: Fear
   Need: Sexual Gratification
   Abilities: Link, Mark (Sores), Perception (Those Marked), Spawn, Ranged Non-Lethal Special Damage (Disease), Taint

Shkhik's Spawn
   Type: Inconspicuous
   Telltale: The smell of rot
   Stamina 3, Will 4, Lore 2, Power 4
   Desire: Fear
   Need: Sexual Gratification
   Abilities (From Parent Above): Mark, Taint

Shkhik's Spawn goes out with Loretta (see below) and Marks anyone she sleeps with.  Shikhik each night uses its Perception + Ranged Non-Lethal Special Damage on all those currently Marked.  This manifests as a wracking feverish plague.  "Non-Lethal" is a bit deceptive as this will eventually kill the victim... just very slowly.

Loretta
   Stamina 2, Will 2, Lore 0, Past 2 (Prostitute), Humanity 3 (Currently 0 Due To Shkhik's Spawn's Taint)

Loretta was once worked as a prostitute in the city.  She decided to get out of the game and turned to her Priest Father Vega.  Vega has co-opted her into his plan and convinced her that helping to spread the plague among the city's sinners is her penance.  First Vega copulated with her to impart Shkhik's Spawn who follows her everywhere.  She attends Talbot's and others parties as Voldegall's date.  There she seduces the evening's chosen target and let's Shkihik's Spawn do its work.

Note: Shikihik's Spawn does not need Loretta to Mark its victims.  Indeed it Marks people to its whim but tries to stay within Father Vega's "profile."  A plague sufferer need not have slept with Loretta although most have attended one of Talbot's parties.

Jesse

[Ron Edwards]

My only concern with this is that I see no room or imaginable need for player-characters.

Best, Ron

[jburneko]

Ron,

The scenario NEEDS to be altered to accommodate the player's Kickers.  Something generally gets added or changed that brings that player-character accessibility into it.  This is just some "bad stuff" starter dough that can be re-purposed or re-targeted to touch the PC's Kickers.

Jesse

[Paul T]

Jesse,

Thanks for typing this up!

Can you give us some examples of how you adapt the scenario to fit in with players' Kickers?

[jburneko]

Paul,

Sure.  I've only ever run the scenario once so I'll just tell what happened in that session.

One player created a Bishop who is a regular at the decadent parties.  His Kicker was that someone was blackmailing him over his involvement in the parties.

Thing I changed: I decided that Voldegall is beginning to suspect that Vega is keeping him away from his daughter deliberately.  He's the one whose blackmailing the Bishop.  He doesn't want money, he wants someone with more Church authority (and to whom he doesn't have to explain his involvement) than Vega to find out where his daughter is being kept and what's happened to his grandchild.

Another player created sort of a swashbuckling demon hunter.  His Kicker was that his "lady fair" had suddenly come down with the plague.

Thing I changed: I decided that his "lady fair" had, had an encounter with Loretta.  Loretta's Humanity is zero due to the Taint and so the "lady fair" could tell something was wrong.  She's been making frequent visits to Loretta, bringing her food, and generally trying to help her, to get her out of the way Shikhik infected her.

The third player created a thief whose Kicker was that he had just received a tip on an item of value that was going to be showcased at one of the parties.

Thing I changed: This ended up being the most dramatic alteration and indeed almost everyone at the table assumed it was part of my original notes instead of an on-the-fly change.  What I did was rewrite Talbot so that he is also a Sorcerer.  I decided the "item of value" was in fact a Necromantic Token that Talbot had just imported from some far-off bizarre locale.  He intends to use it to protect him and his inner circle from the plague.  Just to keep things a bit tight I decided that Vega knows that Talbot had something shipped in from some where exotic and so he's tipped off this thief in the hopes of learning what it is.

The fourth and final player created an aristocrat whose Kicker was that he'd just received an invitation to one of the most exclusive parties in town.  The group spiked that a bit themselves suggesting that it recommend he bring a "date" and for unknown reasons specifically names the swashbuckler's "lady fair"

Thing I changed: I decided that Talbot needs to "activate" his Necromantic Totem by bathing it in the blood of the pure and innocent to thus purify the plague.  So he's sent out several invitations with instructions on whom to bring for sacrifice.

So that's what the scenario looked like in final form during actual play.

Jesse