the castalian veil

4The Castalian Veil

5 The Castalian Veil

Information

Gems Of Night Adventures

The Castalian Veil

Copyright © 2009 by James Holland

FreeFall RPG Studios8828 Jamacha Rd. #7San Diego, CA. 91977Phone: 858 740 0030

Find us on the web at www.freefallrpgstudios.comMyspace Profile: www.myspace.com/gemsofveritas

Notice Of Rights:All rights reserved. No part of this book or electric document may be reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the author. For information on getting permission for redistribution in any fashion please contact the author at [email protected]

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Trademarks:

Gems Of Night is a registered trademark of FreeFall RPG Studios in the United States and other countries.

Daz Studio is a registered trademark of Daz Productions Inc.In the United States and other countries.

6The Castalian Veil

Dedication

Dedicated to

Ketkeo HollandMy life and reason for living. Everything I have become I owe to you. Thank you for your love and support. I will love you till the end of time.

Ron LuebbeMy right hand. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about your wisdom and insight. Without you I’d be a total train wreck. Thanks for everything.


Plot Points 30Tie-Ins 30Supporting Cast 30Sacrificed For Power 31Set The Stage 31Plot Points 32Tie-Ins 32Supporting Cast 32Into The Abyss 33Set The Stage 33Plot Points 33Tie-Ins 34Supporting Cast 34The Source 35Set The Stage 35Plot Points 35Tie-Ins 36Supporting Cast 36Mnemosys 37Set The Stage 37Plot Points 37Tie-Ins 38And The Rest Is history... 38Starring Roles 39Master Cast 39Statistics 39Force 39Agility 39Aleatheia 41Demographic Information 41 Statistics And Skills 41Ephesius 42Demographic Information 42Statistics And Skills 42Matthias 43Demographic Information 43 Statistics And Skills 43Corvanthus 44Demographic Information 44Statistics And Skills 44Xenon 45Demographic Information 45Statistics And Skills 45Shamir 46Demographic Information 46Statistics And Skills 46

Contents

Table Of ContentsIntroduction 8Preparing To Run “Silhouette” 9Scene Structure 9Gamemaster’s Tips 9Read The Adventure 10Be Prepared To Freestyle 10Know Your Players 10Take Notes 10Stay Calm 10General Rules 11House Rules 11Non-Player Characters 11Plot Summary 12Dream Analysis 13Set The Stage 13Plot Points 13Tie-Ins 13Supporting Cast 14The Betrayal 15Set The Stage 15Plot Points 15Tie-Ins 15Supporting Cast 16Introductions 17Set The Stage 17Plot Points 17Tie-Ins 17Supporting Cast 18Family Ties 19Set The Stage 19Plot Points 19Tie-Ins 20Supporting Cast 20Homecoming 21Set The Stage 21Plot Points 22Tie-Ins 22Supporting Cast 22The Horned Horror 23Set The Stage 23Plot Points 23Tie-Ins 24Supporting Cast 24The Black Queen 25Set The Stage 25Plot Points 25Tie-Ins 26Supporting Cast 26Unwelcome At Home 27Set The Stage 27Plot Points 27Tie-Ins 28Supporting Cast 28The Enchanted Spring 29Set The Stage 29


The Castalian Veil is an adventure designed originally for Gems Of Night, although it can be easily converted to work with any other game system since it consists of mostly plot information. Like all of the official FreeFall RPG Studios adventures for Gems Of Night it is a story crafted using a system of interconnected scenes. The adventure’s primary setting is the lawless city of Port Royal, Jamaica.

The Castalian Veil is designed to be an extremely gripping and emotional adventure creating heroes out of ordinary people and placing them on an epic stage. This adventure consists of fourteen scenes strung together in a fashion that allows each of the primary characters a chance to use their unique abilities without disrupting the enjoyment of the other players. Once all of the scenes have been played out, whether in the exact order or in a different order, the story will have been told and the adventure will be completed. By this time each of the players should have had their opportunity to be “In The Spotlight”.

Preparing To Run This story The Castalian Veil is intended to be used with Gems Of Night. Although the quick start rules are sufficient to run this adventure. It is recommended that the gamemaster obtain a copy of the core rules guide (Pictured Above) in order to have a more complete set of rules available to him or her. Sample descriptions of characters have been provided for

this adventure. Although these characters are described as having abilities and features consistent with the Gems Of Night system these abilities can easily be omitted or changed to fit whatever system you are playing.

Scene Structure In the official adventures written by FreeFall Studios the following layout is used to script each scene.

Set The Stage This section of the scene is designed to set the mood and atmosphere for the location in which the scene will take place. The text written here is designed to be read to the players either verbatim or interpreted as the gamemaster sees fit.

Plot Points: This section is intended to give the gamemaster a feel for the scene’s emotion and purpose. With this information the gamemaster will understand what should happen in the scene and why.

Supporting Cast: This section of the scene will describe minor bit players who the characters can interact with along with their goals and reasons for being here.

Tie-Ins: This section of the scene will describe certain tactics that the gamemaster can use to move the story along as well as anything the characters should have obtained in this scene that will point them to the next.

Some scenes will need to be mapped out in order for the players to get an accurate feel for them. For the scenes that require maps we will provide them in the back of the book. We will also provide sample character write-ups for each of the main characters of the adventure so that you can recreate them in your chosen game system.

Keep in mind that at some point during the adventure each character should be granted an opportunity to stand in the spotlight. The Talespinner system provides spotlight scenes and four additional scenes for each adventure. The usual setup should include an inciting event that will draw the players into the adventure, a planning scene where they can cook up their ideas on how to handle the inciting event, at least one spotlight scene for each character in the adventure, a climax, and finally a resolution scene in which the characters reap their rewards and walk off into the sunset.

Gamemaster’s Tips Each and every gamemaster who was ever run Gems

Introduction

10The Castalian Veil

Of Night has always had their own style. Some are fans of dramatic role-playing. Others are action junkies. Regardless of your style there is no right or wrong way to run gems of night. Whatever feels comfortable to you and makes the game fun for your players is all right with us. With that in mind we recommend that every gamemaster at least use the same basic framework for running games. These basic tips will help you get the fundamentals of running Gems Of Night under your belt.

Read The Adventure We cannot stress how important this first step is to making a game fun and enjoyable to for all of your players. Many times we have been the victim of an unprepared Gamemaster and our nights have been ruined by stories that were more “roll playing” than “role-playing”. Read the entire adventure before presenting it to your players. This way you are prepared for what ever your players can throw at you and you know exactly where the game is leading and can react accordingly. Every official adventure from FreeFall RPG Studios reads like a novel with information that is only revealed when the gamemaster reads each specific scene.

Be Prepared To Freestyle All of the official adventures for Gems Of Night have been written with as much flexibility in mind as possible. That does not, however, mean that anything written between these covers is written in stone. As a gamemaster if there is anything written (rule or otherwise) that does not sit well with you feel free to change it. Jim’s a Veritas is as much your game as it is ours. As such you are free to do what ever it takes to give your characters and players a wonderful adventure.

Know Your Players Many gamemasters take up the mantle for the first time by running games for their friends or family (or any combination of the two). Doing this gives each gamemaster the opportunity to understand the personalities of the people he or she is taking with them through the wondrous journeys of gems of night. We recommend getting into your players heads and understanding both them and their characters. That way you will be prepared to know exactly how they’ll be thinking and you can react accordingly. Surely there will be times when your players will surprise you. Knowing them on a personal level will mitigate most of the damage that can be done to a story this way. Take the time to understand each player and each character and the connection between them. This will allow you not only to ensure that each player is involved in a story on an emotional level but will also allow you to know exactly how far to push the envelope.

Take Notes This step is extremely important as most game masters tend to forget small tidbits of information during the course of the story. When a player has a vested interest in the events of the story they tend to keep track of every detail of their characters lives. The last thing any gamemaster wants to do is deprive a player of the excitement of gems of night by forgetting a minor detail that might mean so much to that player. We understand that people do not take notes the exact same way. Therefore we encourage you to take notes in your style so that you can keep track of the details of the events of your story.

Stay Calm Gems Of Night is a new system featuring many new concepts in tabletop role-playing. The details of this game can become so intricate at times that the scope of rules can take up several pages of text. In the core rules guide you will find over 500 fully detailed skills, 20 playable stage types, dozens upon dozens of pages of custom content creation rules, and a master’s class and storytelling. Surely the depth and breadth of detail injected into the core rules guide alone is more than enough to power the average tabletop role-playing game. Keep in mind that these rules are scalable. The rules presented in the quick start guide are but the tip of the iceberg. Just enough rules to get the game going without having to worry about strenuous details. For a new gamemaster we recommend that you start with a limited set of rules and begin injecting new rules as your comfort level increases. Keep in mind that as the gamemaster you have the right and authority to change any part of his game that does not mesh well with your style of role-playing. Also remember that as the gamemaster you are in charge of your game session. Do not allow yourself to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of rules in this game.

Introduction


General Rules Many of the general rules for playing gems of night can be found in either the Quick Start Rules or the Core Rules Guide. Rules on conducting combat, skills, character creation, and statistics are listed there These rules will not be repeated in this adventure. Several adventure specific rules will be found in this adventure. These rules are designed to accentuate and flesh out the various concepts brought forth in this adventure alone. You will find all of the rules that you need in the core rules guide.

House Rules In Gems Of Night, just like many other games, the rules are what makes the game unique. But keep in mind that this is just as much your game as it is ours. Feel free to add any house rules or options to the game to make it your own. If you would like to create your own rules or disregard any of the ones that we have made we recommend that you make sure that every player is informed of the new rules or changes before you begin playing. In the effort at fairness we also recommend that rules be made universal so that they apply to all characters and not just a chosen few. If all players do not agree on house rules we recommend using the standard rules. Of course if you are not using the Gems Of Night rules to run this adventure then we recommend using the standard rules of the game system you are using. Keep in mind that house rules are best when they apply to everyone involved.

Non-Player Characters Non-Player characters (NPC’s) are an essential part of any adventure. They make up the population of the world around the characters. These characters, who’s parts in the story are played by the gamemaster, breathe life into an otherwise lonely world. In the official Gems Of Night adventures these Non-Player characters are represented both in the main cast chapter of each book and in a less detailed version with character sheets similar to the sample characters presented at the end of the Quick Start Rules.

It is recommended that each gamemaster make these NPCs as unique and as “Human” as possible. Even for the faceless minions of more powerful NPCs we advise that you come up with, at the very least, a short background story and personality for each person. Keep in mind that NPCs will, for the most part, not just throw themselves at a powerful hero unless they believe that the consequences for not doing so will be worse than the possible punishment they will receive at the hands of the heroes. It is this concept that also makes for great stories as the heroes can role-play the interrogation of a defeated foe. Even a lowly minion values their pitiful lives and if they believe that there is a chance for survival they are most likely to trade information for safety. Not every NPC is willing or even able to just throw their lives away for a cause that they aren’t that attached to.

Introduction


Plot Summary Delphi, Greece is the home of the most famous and most revered oracle of all. With her gift of prophecy the entire nation has risen to levels of prosperity unheard of by any other culture, save the Egyptians. Four Hundred Eighty years before the birth of Christ a great battle was fought pitting a legion of free Greeks against the mightiest force that could be amassed by the God-King of Persia, Xerxes I.

Aleatheia, a young girl raised on a small farm just outside of the city, would have been perfectly happy with her simple life had it not taken a turn of epic proportions under the light of the North Star on the first day of the previous year. The news of her mother’s death took it’s toll on her entire family. With her father’s duty to the Athenian military he would be away for many months out of the year, leaving Aleatheia and her older brother Matthias to fend for themselves. Soon Matthias turned to thievery to make ends meet. Three months after the death of Aleatheia’s mother she would see her father leave yet again for Athens.

The condition of Aleatheia’s family and her subsequent fall into a deep depression set her mind into the perfect conditions to receive messages of hope and recovery from an unknown source. Listening to the voices in her head Aleatheia began to advise her brother on opportunities that would set him on a path to a new life for both him and his family. This brought about six months of good fortune for the siblings.

Upon the return of Rios, Aleatheia’s father, he saw that the family’s structure was changed. He was no longer the sole provider for his family. Nor was he the leader of his own house. Rios instantly cast Matthias into the streets and called for a priest to examine his daughter in order to get answers regarding her peculiar behavior.

For a period of eighty nine days Ephesius, the newest member of the Administration of the Oracle of Delphi, examined the young girl in an attempt to understand her state of mind. During this time she would tell him of the strange and horrifying dreams she would have. These dreams always centered around once concept.

Her dreams told of a terrifying monster with over a million heads would crash into the shores and destroy everything she has every known. It would kill her family, devour her neighbors, and slay every living thing in it’s path.

Knowing that there could only be one with the gifts of prophecy in any given region Ephesius knew within his

Introduction

heart that Aleathei’s dreams were nothing more than just dreams. That is until she advised her father not to leave the house one night or be stricken by Zeus. Against her advice Rios left to serve in Athens and was killed by a lightning strike on the eve of the anniversary of his wife’s death.


Set The Stage The Temple Of Apollo stands before you in all of it’s glory. The ancient columns, still strong as if being held up by the Gods themselves, spread their power evenly across the length and width of the floor forming a shining example of the beauty of Doric architecture. The popularity of the oracle has lead to the need to hire an administration to manage the waves of supplicants who come seeking her counsel. They move among the crowd like buzzards picking at the flesh of the dead. Soon they begin choosing those who will see the oracle this morning. Hopeful supplicants display their offerings to the priests in order to earn their spots in line to be lead into the underground chamber to have their fortunes read to them by a girl barely out of puberty. Fortunately you have not come her to seek the oracle’s advice. You’ve come for the advice of another. Lord Nephacles, High Priest of the administration, himself. Now, if only you could find him.

Plot Points

This scene is driven by the desperation of the masses who have come to have their lives changed by the mystic power of the oracle. In their eyes she is arrow that will point the way in which they should go. Show the players that these people are willing to give what little they have in order to earn a space in a line. Show them how the supplicants react when their offerings are both accepted and rejected.

The Administration should be made to appear like a gang of crooked salesmen. They take whatever is offered to them and still ask what else the supplicant would give for their chance with the oracle. They should be played similar to slimy snake oil salesmen.

By the time Lord Nephacles appears the players should feel dirty just being close to these thieves.

There should be no need for the characters to do anything more than role-play and explore this scene. If any of the characters decides to start any trouble they should be reminded that they are in a holy place. If they still insist on making trouble then feel free to place someone important to them among the supplicants. Have the supplicant plead with them not to ruin their chance at seeing the oracle. If this doesn’t work then place a few enforcer types among the supplicants. Remember that the supplicants come from all walks of life and ruining the chances of an important person to see the oracle can cause no end of problems for the player characters. If all else fails any number of the supplicants can just be bigger and more powerful than the PC’s.

Tie-Ins Once the characters have sufficiently explored the Temple Of Apollo they will encounter Lord Nephacles. The main purpose for being here, as for Aleatheia, Matthias, and Ephesius, is to consult Lord Nephacles on Aleatheia’s condition.

Shamir is a wealthy Persian merchant and the primary benefactor of the temple, next to the kings. His fortunes have taken a turn for the worse since the installation of the new oracle just over a year ago and he is here to see if he can turn this fate around. When he overhears Ephesius talking to Lord Nephacles about Aleatheia he will take a passive interest in the subject and begin trying to sort things out.

For Xenon just being here is beginning to become annoying. He is a powerful, yet young Spartan being tutored by a once-great warrior, Corvanthus, who has since turned sixty and is

Dream Analysis


Dream Analysis

headed downhill. Hearing of Aleatheia makes things slightly interesting and now he begins to pay attention.

Corvanthus has come to seek the oracle’s advice regarding his future. Should he remain a Spartan soldier and hope that one day he could meet someone on the field of battle with the skill to send him to the next world in glory or should he finish out his days in Delphi as an advisor to the existing militia. he will not be present to overhear Ephesius’ conversation with Lord Nephacles due to the fact that he is currently recieving a reading from the oracle.

From this scene there is only one way the adventure can turn. Once the heroes are all in their expected positions Lord Nephacles will give the order to have Aleatheia murdered. She is to be killed with the sacrificial knives that each of the administration priests possesses. If the heroes attempt to defend Aleatheia they will be caught up in the conflict and immediately branded enemies of the temple. The supplicants will begin to disperse and make their way toward the exits as the conflict grows. From this moment on anyone in Delphi who can recognise the heroes will treat them as if they have defiled the temple and the gods. They are now pariahs in their own city. Of course this has never been a problem for Matthias.

Supporting Cast Minor roles include:

Administrative Priests: These people wear many hats in the Administration. The first set that the characters encounter will be gathering the offerings of the supplicants and shoving any currency into large chests to be taken to one of the many treasuries lined up along the walkway in front of the temple. Others join the oracle in the Adyton while she enters her trance and speaks in gibberish to them. They interpret this unknown language to the supplicant as prophecy from the god Apollo.

Supplicants (Minor): From farmers to great leaders. Rich and poor alike gather at the temple of Apollo in order to hear the words of the oracle as she informs them of her findings. They have come a long way and have had to endure great troubles in the early morning hours just o make it this far. For them this is religion.

Supplicants (Major): These Non-Player characters are just like any other of the supplicants as far as status and reason. The difference is that these characters will actually be able to stand toe-to-toe with the Player characters should the need arise. An example of a Major supplicant would be a high level Spartan Soldier or magic user.. If things should get out of hand to the point where the heroes can only be reigned in with violence or superior power these NPCs will come in handy quite well.

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