123 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
123 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
## The Market Square of St Parnas
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The PCs manage to leave the Museum of Orethys, with Joycie’s help. The
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entire group plane shifts back to the outlands. They arrive in the
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market square in the center of St. Parnas. The market square is full of
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shops and stalls with various vendors. You can buy most anything in the
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market square, or near it.
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### Damage from the Chaos Storm
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The first things the PCs notice when they reach the market square is
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that there is merchandise scattered all over the ground, and merchants
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are busy picking up the mess. The merchants will explain that items were
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teleporting around. The merchants have given the phenomenon a name:
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they’re calling it a “chaos storm.” The epicenter of the chaos storm
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was, of course, Castle Green.
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The PCs will not learn the cause of the storm for some time. However,
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the DM should know the secret. When Tymora observed a spiritual link
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between the PCs and the other deck-touched individuals, she speculated
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that a link might also exist to the creator of the deck. She was not
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wrong: Omta knows that the PCs can in fact lead Tymora to Omta. When the
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PCs agreed to help Tymora with this, Omta had a panic attack.
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His panic manifested as objects teleporting around randomly. The biggest
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object that got teleported was the top half of Castle Green, it got
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teleported all the way into the Museum of Orethys. If this seems like an
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odd coincidence, it is… but Gods and Fate are like that.
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Lots of medium-sized objects also teleported, chunks of masonry, wagons,
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you name it. Most of these items moved 20 to 30 feet in a random
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direction. Some of these movements caused real harm: when a wagon
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teleports 20 feet in the air, it can really hurt somebody when it comes
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crashing down. When a structural support beam of a building teleports
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somewhere else, it’s not good for the building. There are many injured
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people.
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The damage is most severe at Castle Green itself. But the parts of town
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that are close to Castle Green also got hit. Places that are farther
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away mostly avoided any serious damage, but they did experience a lot of
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small-object movement: wine bottles, notebooks, and the like got
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scattered. There is quite a mess. In the market square, which is far
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enough from Castle Green, there is minimal real damage.
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Much of what happens in this chapter will be dealing with the damage and
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aftermath of the chaos storm.
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### Joycie Says Goodbye, Lada Stays
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Shortly after arriving at the market square, Joycie says that she was
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glad to have met the PCs, but she now needs to go back to her job at the
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temple in Brightwater. She’s very high-level, which means her time is in
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very high demand. The temple was only able to spare her for a short
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time.
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Lada explains that she would like to stay with the party, if they’ll
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allow it. Tymora wants her to study the deck, and they both agree that
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sticking with the PCs is the best way to do it.
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Assuming the PCs allow Lada into the group, let the players take turns
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running Lada’s character. Lada will never fight, but she will do support
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activities like casting *cure* and *bless* spells. Be strict about that:
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the players cannot put Lada on the front line: she is scared of combat,
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and she will panic if she is targeted. Lada is always one level beneath
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the PCs. The reason she’s so low-level is that she doesn’t aspire to be
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a combatant: she’s a scientist, she spends her days in the lab, not on
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the road.
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### Magic Items in the Market Square
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The PCs will notice that there are several merchants selling magic
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items. That is not typical of St. Parnas, this is only a medium-sized
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town. On a normal day, there would be no more than a handful of magic
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items for sale in the entire city (not counting potions, which are
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fairly common). But today, there are multiple merchants displaying quite
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a few items. Naturally, that’s because the deck has been conjuring lots
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of items, and many of them get put up for sale. The merchants try
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selling them in St. Parnas first, and then if they don’t sell in St.
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Parnas, they ship them to Tradegate where there’s a broader clientele.
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If any PC didn’t receive anything of material value from the Deck, then
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Green owes them 5000 gp. When the PCs were cast into the *donjon*, Green
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assumed they would never be heard from again, so he gave the money to
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the PC’s family or friends. When the players created characters, they
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were instructed to invent at least one friend. If the PC talks to their
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friend, the friend will have the money (unless the friend has issues.)
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So again, they will have enough money to buy one serious magic item.
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So none of the PCs will feel left out - everyone will have about enough
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money for one serious magic item, unless they already received a magic
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item directly from the deck.
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When the PCs created characters, they were expected to have a reason to
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draw cards from the deck. Some of the players may have given their
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characters backstories that they needed to pay a debt, or to rescue a
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family member. In that case, a PC may have used up their money. This may
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make the player feel left out. Try to avoid that situation. For example,
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if the PC used their money to rescue a family member, perhaps the family
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member in their gratitude raised money to pay the PC back. Try to find
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an excuse to make sure that every player still has the money they won
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from the deck.
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### The Ogre in the Market Square
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In the corner of the market square is huge Ogre, just standing there
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holding a mandolin. His name is Pig, and he is deck-touched: the PCs can
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see cards over his head. A detailed description of Pig is given in the
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upcoming section, “Pig: The Ogre King.” The Deck gave Pig the ability to
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play the mandolin - just before the chaos storm, Pig was playing music
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for a small crowd. When the chaos storm hit, Pig stopped playing and the
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crowd scattered. Pig is now just standing there looking perplexed. Pig
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has an INT of 6, so when he’s perplexed, he stays perplexed for quite a
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while.
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If the PCs approach Pig, then Pig is not that hard to have a
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conversation with. Refer to Pig’s character bio to know how to play Pig.
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At this time, Pig is not willing to leave the market square. Pig will
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tell the PCs anything they want to know, but remember that Pig has an
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INT of 6, so he can’t tell them anything that isn’t straightforward and
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obvious.
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