Sunday, October 7, 2012

Omerta - This Thing of Ours

So I had a hook and I had a great NPC and a fantastic climax to the adventure. That was about it. Here's what I got. Fill in the rest.

The Hook:
The adventurers run afoul of the local guild of thieves - which is actually a fairly large and prosperous criminal network. The head of the guild is a ruthless and feared crime boss and he's going to make them an offer they can't refuse.

CRIME BOSS:
Bill Burrows
Halfling

Bill (aka Billy Boy, Willy the Rabbit, Bugsy Burrows, Will D. Mancer, Billy No-Shoes) Burrows began his life of crime at the age of 13. He was running contraband poisons to the Sisters of Twilight and the Mage's Guild and by the time he was 15 he was stealing holy relics from the Tabernacle of Aslos and selling them on the black market.

In his mid 20's Billy Boy had made his bones in the Royal House of Cavaliers and Clements - the biggest thieves guild in the free kingdoms. He was second to the big man himself, Ordus Spane - King of Thieves. When the church cracked down on crime, Spane was one of the first to go into hiding. When Spane met with an untimely fate, Billy Boy took the big chair and ran the Royal House for over 30 years.

See what Billy Boy could do that no one else in the guild could do, was that he had a cousin in the Imperial Courts. It was a big deal, first halfling to hold a royal rank and there was nothing, I mean nothing, that anyone in the Court could do. It was between the Imperials, it was real greaseball shit. But Billy Boy used that influence to build himself a virtual city of fronts. Legit businesses all over the city were straight with the magistrates and tax collectors, but they all gave a piece of the action back to Billy Boy.

The local sheriffs and constabulary? They were guys on Billy's payroll! I mean, these guys were actual footpads from the guild, but Billy sent his cousin a request for position and it came back approved, every single time. And the good, upstanding guards and knights who weren't on the take? They all loved Billy. Billy made for sure that everyone who wore a sword in town got the softest bread, the freshest meat, and they got all their blacksmithing for free. I mean, who is going to turn that down?

One night, two drunken pirates in town for the festival tried to break into the guild. They caught Billy off guard and cut his legs. The bodyguards dispatched the pirates and burned them alive in the square, but after that Billy couldn't walk. For a while, Billy had to be carried everywhere, and he hated it, so he had some cart wheels put on a throne and he rolled around his estate. A team of builders built him a brand new house, a palatial mansion on a hill, except there weren't any stairs. Everywhere was ramps, all through the place. If you were called for a conference, he'd come rolling down at you, shaking his cane and screaming. Then you had to push him back up, all through the house. It was exhausting.

that shit don't work here man
Billy Boy had it made, until, the bottom fell out.

Billy's cousin Boyd got caught in a bad situation. They caught him trying to burn the evidence of one of Billy's bigger takes. The clergy, the bishops, everyone demanded that Boyd be put on trial and kicked out of the Imperial Court. To make matters worse, Billy caught Boyd with one of his girlfriends on a long weekend in the Bright Wood. So Boyd had a choice, give up Billy and the Organization and stay in the Court with his mistress, or face a long, hard trial and possible life imprisonment, which of course, would be unthinkable for a venerable halfling facing 130 years of age.

It was Billy who decided to get out of town and he needed some "impartial" persons to escort him and his servant safely. The adventurers had run afoul of the guild and Billy offers them a choice, help him get out of town or be dropped into a pit and be eaten by wolves.

The adventurers disguise Billy as a child and begin their long journey to freedom...

THE EXCITING CLIMAX:

Billy looked down at the massive frost giant's shield that lay in the snow. The howling of wolves and the barking of the dogs got louder, echoing through the icy air.

"What are we waiting for!? Get on!" Billy shouts and the party climb aboard the massive shield.

The grim-faced Chester Madsen stands atop the hill with his dogs. He spits on the snow.

"This ends now Billy!" He shouts. "You can't run forever!"

Billy grins "I'll see you in the seven hells you son of a pig bitch!"

The shield rockets down the mountain like a massive sled, faster and faster it streaks across the snow. The archers fire arrows after the party, but they are too far down the mountain...

...and that's all I got.




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