Quest from god

[Arocos]

Hi,

I am looking for some quest ideas for mercenary group. PC group is travelling in semi-rural area and they have done few assignments already. Their main objective was to train weapon skills and gain better understanding on how to work in group, so they can advance to the main mercenary company.

In one these assignments, PCs lost quite a few POW points and this caused some tension in players. One of the players got an idea to contact PC's god (Storm Bull), so he could get a mission from god, where reward could be POW points. PC is an initiative within his cult, so contacting god should be quite difficult.

But what kind of mission/adventure can be given to PC, when (and if) he gains contact?

[Nick Brooke]

Storm Bull wants you to fight Chaos. Go fight Chaos.

[Jason D]

So kind of a Wartales sort of setup? 

As Nick says, if it's Storm Bull, the edict is clear. Fight Chaos or die trying. 

It's one of the few cults to offer the Hate passion, so that should indicate how strong the cult's anti-Chaos focus is. 

As a GM, it's up to you how much you need the god itself to intervene. The adventurer should already be looking for signs of Chaos at every step, and it's easy enough to feed them that, whether real or not. 

How they act and react, that's what's going to determine how favorably the cult and Storm Bull itself regard the adventurer's relative worth. 

[Ian_W]

23 minutes ago, Arocos said:

Hi,

I am looking for some quest ideas for mercenary group. PC group is travelling in semi-rural area and they have done few assignments already. Their main objective was to train weapon skills and gain better understanding on how to work in group, so they can advance to the main mercenary company.

In one these assignments, PCs lost quite a few POW points and this caused some tension in players. One of the players got an idea to contact PC's god (Storm Bull), so he could get a mission from god, where reward could be POW points. PC is an initiative within his cult, so contacting god should be quite difficult.

But what kind of mission/adventure can be given to PC, when (and if) he gains contact?

This would be my suggestion.

All of the group, including the ones that should be standing guard, have the same dream.

A young man wearing homespun and leathers, sits at a small fire in the wind blown plains. He offers them strips of dried meat to eat and water out of a leather bag to drink.

If they are cautious, he takes a small bite, or a small drink, and offers it to them with a nod. The light is low, as if it is in fog or cloudy and there is no sun. If anyone thinks to make a Spot or Search check, the young man has small horns inside his brown hair, and has had his hamstrings ripped out and probably cannot stand. If they roll against Beast, Death or Air runes, they find he has those runes. Yeah. It's Storm Bull, healing up after his fight against The Devil in Prax.

The Storm Bull initiate can see something the others cannot - an older pair of hoofed tracks heading west, and a newer scuffed path back to the camp.

Regardless of if the Storm Bull initiate says anything, the young man nods west.

If Our Heroes go West, the destruction increases. Cropland has been destroyed, water sources ruined, herd animals shamble on less legs than they should have. Lightning and rain thunder, behind them, as they proceed into silence.

If they do not, well, they've looked at I Fought, We Won and done something else.

If they do, they see a great horned demon dancing on a hilltop, calling down Chaos magics.

If you have a copy of Black Sabbath's War Pigs, put it on low enough for the players to hear.

Ask what they do. And then have the demon turn towards them.

Chaos demons engaging them in Spirit Combat will be the start of it, but the important thing is that I Fought We Won.

After they defeat the Demon, some of them might live. If they bring the dead back to Storm Bull's camp, the White Lady is there - describe her in very formal, old fashioned clothes, as Chalana Arroy is of the Celestial Court -  and she can and will Resurrect the dead.

The Dead will get honourable scars of the fight against Chaos, which is good for Reputation.

Whichever player was most definite about going west and fighting will be invited by Storm Bull to eat of the Heart of the Bull, which is red, bleeding and very chewy. If Our Hero can get it down, then Storm Khans will recognise them as a potential Hero.

[French Desperate WindChild]

There are in my opinion four options to get a quest from a god :

- pc is actor -> cast a divination spell and ask something like where could I serve you ? The god-gm will answer

- pc is is ‘poor’ actor -> just prey and devotion roll (poor = no rp used) the god-gm would probably not answer … but who knows what can happen (option 3 or 4)

- god is actor -> the god contacts the pc or a npc who decides to contact the pc. A dream or things like that

- the environment. Some shaman, priest, spirit or anything request the pc to do some holy stuff. Protecting a ceremony, looking for some artifact, investigating and healing some cursed land

 

now getting POW needs some heroic deeds. If you just fight a dangerous enemy of your cult you main gain 1 pow and for me only if you lose something (or… some friend) not just as a reward more as a compensation

if you want more pow you must visit hero plan and maybe gain 1 pow per station (if they demonstrate some spiritual/devoted/passionate activity not just because they succeed to climb the pit) then maybe 1d3 as the reward of the successful (if the quest, at the end, offer them a new understanding of the world or if the result is an enormous sacrifice)

of course the gain is personal if one pc just follow others or use his/her sword to solve the station issue there is nothing to gain (or maybe if the sword use was heroic - not just successful - 1d6% in sword skill but that is another story)

 

now regaining all the pow lost in the previous scenario with a new scenario will probably cause some damage in my opinion for the full play (but it depends on the table) in the same way that resurrection of every dead adventurer. The lost means nothing if it can be regained after 2-4 hours

[Akhôrahil]

Divination is good for this. It's how you find out what your god wants or knows.

POW rewards make a lot of sense for HeroQuests in particular, less for in-world quests.

[Shiningbrow]

I'd probably go simple - a Chalana Arroy personage points out a Malia temple in the area that needs destroying.

Disease spirits everywhere, and thus, lots of POW to be gained by defeating them!

[soltakss]

On 12/8/2023 at 8:31 AM, Arocos said:

But what kind of mission/adventure can be given to PC, when (and if) he gains contact?

Go and kill some Chaos.

Rescue a kidnapped Healer.

Escort a merchant.

Go to some Zorak Zorani trolls as an emissary (Storm Bull is an associated cult and might not kill him out of hand)