Duke'sPark

Old City "*m®NewCity

Duke's Stronghold

Contour Line(30' height)

Wall

Streets

Pier

Gate

Duke's Pier

To find the distance moved,measure the straight line between the two points

with the city scale ruler.

Breakwater

• 1984 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Basic Game Adventure

The Veiled Societyby David Cook

Editor: Anne C. GrayGraphic Designer: Ruth HoyerCover Artist: Steve ChappellInterior Artist: Jim RoslofPaper Sculptor: Dennis Kauth

• 1984 TSR, Inc. All Righls Reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and D&D are registered trademarksowned by TSR Inc.

Distributed to the book trade in the United States by RandomHOUK, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd.Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR (UK) Ltd.

Thii module is protected under the copyright laws of the UnitedStates of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use ofthe material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without theexpress written permission of TSR, Inc.

TSR, Inc.POB756Lake Geneva,WI 53147

TSR (UK) Ltd.The Mill, Rathmore Road

Cambridge CB14ADUnited Kingdom

TSR, Inc.

ISBN 0-88038-085-3

CONTENTSPreparing For The Adventure 2The Families of Specularum 3The Festival of Lucor 4Beneath The Floors 5The Investigation 7Riotv 8Employment 10Further investigation 11The Chase 12The Chambers of The Veiled Ones 13After The Adventure 14New Monster 16Pre-Rolled Characters 16

LIST OF MAPS

Map 1 Specularum 2Map 2 The Festival of Lucor 4Map 3 Under the Floors 6Map 4 Riot 9Map 5 Ambush 11Map 6 The Chase and The Chambers of the Veiled Ones 15

PREFACE

Dawn's light reached through the window toshine on the man who sat brooding in thechair. Cartha Radu, brother to Anton Radu(the leader of the Veiled Society), was think-ing. "Today is the day," he said to himself."Today is the day to bring my plan intoaction," Cartha smiled.

Below his tower window, the cityfolkslowly awoke. Today was the Festival ofLucor. The goodwives flung open their shut-ters to the morning. Fishmongers and hawk-ers heartened their cries. Actors and jugglers

filled the streets, up from their beds of strawin the stables.

On a dusty road a few miles outside thecity, a small group roused itself. Somestretched their cramped bones, pained by anight on the damp grass. Others polishedtheir swords and armor. With little ado, theypacked their small camp and set out on theroad once more. The excitement tingledamong them, for today they would reach thecity of Specularum — the home of their newfortunes!

An Adventure for Character Levels 1-3

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PREPARING FOR THE ADVENTUREThe Veiled Society is an adventure that takesplace in the city of Specularum. Player char-acters become involved in the power strug-gles of the city.

The "Veiled Society" includes papersculpture buildings which will introduce athree-dimensional element into your cam-paign. Cut out and build the paper sculpturesfound in the center of this book. Your playersmay then see what the city looks like andwhere events occur.

Before playing the first encounter, read thisintroduction and the encounter carefully. It isnot necessary for you to read the entire mod-ule before you play. The adventure will lastmany nights; read only those parts you willplay in one session.

SpecularumThe setting for this adventure is the City ofSpecularum (shown on the inset map).

Specularum, the capital of the GrandDuchy of Karameikos, is the most importantcity in the area. Specularum and the Duchyare ruled by Duke Stefan Karameikos theThird. Specularum is the Duke's home, andthe trading center of his dukedom. About5,000 people live in or very near the city.They are farmers, craftsmen, sailors, andtraders.

The city is accessed by a port. The port is

protected on the seaward side by two longbreakwaters. A large river east of the cityallows ships to carry cargos inland to othertowns of the dukedom.

The Duke has protected his city fromattack by erecting a wall around it. The wallis dotted with 24 towers. His castle is locatedon a craggy hill that looms over the harborentrance. In the city, the Duke keeps 500 sol-diers ready for any emergency. The Dukealso has an elite troop, the Elvenguard, whogo on special missions and sometimes act ashis bodyguard. The entire Elvenguard oftenpatrols the forest lands to the north.

Just to the south of the city is the privateestate of the Duke, managed by a loyalcousin. This land is mostly well-tendedwoods and gardens. It is surrounded by a low(15') wall. The Duke uses the estate as a sum-mer palace and hunting preserve. Anyonefound on the grounds is treated as a poacher.

Poor workers and petty thieves live justoutside the city walls. They work outlyingfarms and the Estate of Marilenev, a holdingthat surrounds the city.

There is a street map of the city on theinside cover. This map shows only a few spe-cific buildings. Use this map when the char-acters move around the city. Since the streetsare narrow, muddy, and crowded, charactersmove at the normal dungeon rate. The

MAPI

SPECULARUM

encounters are keyed to specific streets. Asthe adventure progresses, you may want tonote information on the map — the locationof an inn or the name of an armorer. The cityhas all standard services that the charactersneed; place the service businesses whereveryou wish.

The city is a crowded, noisy, unsanitaryplace. It is like the medieval cities of Ger-many and Italy. Reading about these citieswill provide information useful in describingSpecularum.

The streets are very narrow, twisting, anddark. There is no sewage system, except fortrenches in the centers of streets. Pigs, chick-ens, geese, and goats are not uncommon inthe poorer sections of the city.

Most buildings stand one or two stories.They are made of dried clay brick or mud andwattle, constructed on a wooden frame. Afew buildings are made of stone or firedbrick. Most businesses are on the groundfloor, the owner living upstairs.

Water is drawn from public wells, or fromthe river when the tide is flowing out.

Crime and gangs are not uncommon. Thegangs meet near the city walls and in thesqualid sections late at night.

Running a City AdventureMost of your adventures have occurred indungeons. This adventure is much different— the action takes place in a city. Players willoften surprise you with their decisions andactions. As they become involved in theevents of this adventure, their characters willgo places and do things that are not explainedhere.

Allow the characters to visit places notshown on the maps. Have the player writedown the name of the place, its location, andany important facts about it. If the characterreturns to this place, have the player remindyou about the important details. This makesyour job easier and encourages the players topay attention and remember details.

Characters will also deal with NPCs thatare not detailed in the adventure. Do notpanic! Have fun with your duties as DM —take the role of the NPC and play it like anactor. Give these people character and emo-tions. Give the players reason for remember-ing NPCs. Again, if the NPC is important,have the player note facts about him — wherehe can be found, what he is like, and what heknows.

The Paper SculptureIn the center of this module you will find sev-eral pages of drawings and diagrams toassemble and use during play. These sculp-tures are buildings and other features of thecity that form scenery for the encounters.

You can continue to use these sculptures inother adventures of your own creation. Onceyou are done with play, simply store them

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THE FAMILIES OF SPECULARUMcarefully in a box until you need them again.

To build the sculptures you need scissors, aruler, glue, and colored markers or pencils.The instructions for assembling the papersculptures are on page 10. Read theseinstructions carefully before doing anythingwith the sculptures!

On the fold-in panel of the back cover areseveral characters to cut out and use duringplay. Many of the ADVANCED DUN-GEONS & DRAGONS'" Metal Miniaturesare also suitable for use in this adventure.

EncountersThis adventure is divided into a series of sep-arate encounters. All encounters, whenlinked together and played in order, make acomplete adventure. The encounters areunlike many other D&D® adventures. Inthese encounters, it is likely that the playerswill not always act as a group. Some of thecharacters may side with one family, whileothers may be drawn to another. If this hap-pens, characters may find themselves in con-

flict with each other. This is allowable; how-ever, do not force the player characters intosituations where they must kill each other.Allow them to escape the situation, but do notmake it easy for them.

Some encounters take place on the streetsof the city. Maps provided in the adventureshow how to place the paper sculpture build-ings to form the scene. This set-up serves as a3-dimensional map for the adventure.

Random EncountersThere are no random encounters in thisadventure. If the characters need to find afairly common person (a street urchin, beg-gar, merchant, etc.), they will not have muchtrouble. If they want to find an unusual typeof person (a cleric, fighter, magic-user, noble,etc.), they must go to a place where that per-son can be found (a temple, for example) orspend time and money visiting inns, markets,and taverns asking questions. If the charac-ters want to find or speak to a particularlypowerful or important person, their chances

are almost nonexistent unless they haveimportant information or reason.

The city has several churches, most forLawful clerics. There are a few Neutralchurches, but not many people attend. Thereare even Chaotic churches; these are verysecret and do not advertise their existence inany way. If the characters need healing orsimilar help, they may obtain it if their clericgoes to his church. Of course, the playercharacters are required to make some type ofoffering (anything from flowers to magicitems) and may be required to do some serv-ice for the church.

NOTE: NPCs listed as Normal Humanshave a -1 chance to hit and a -1 on savingthrows. They save as a 1st level Fighter.

Characters are healed 1 hit point per day ofrest. Rest means no fighting, magic using, ormore travel than within an inn (upstairs,downstairs, etc.).

Three families are engaged in thestruggle for power in Specularum.Each faction is identified by thatfamily's name.

RaduAt a still-spritely 63 years, Anton Radu con-trols his family and organization with aniron, but hidden hand. He is assisted by hisbrother Cartha, his own sons Zweis andAntonito, and their sons Theodosius, Emil,and Pieter.

They are also the leaders of the secretVeiled Society, which uses terror and crimeagainst all enemies. Only some members ofthe society know them as its leaders.

The Radu family has many contacts in thebusiness and market areas of the city. Theirstrong control over the waterfront and walldistricts of Specularum greatly influences theshipbuilding and import/export businesses.The Radu are attempting to gain control ofthe money-lending institutions and busi-nesses of the city so they may dictate terms tothe Duke.

TorenescuOnce a powerful faction controlling theeveryday business of the city, the TorenescuFamily has been weakened by the death of itsleader, Christoph Torenescu. It is currentlyheaded by his son Aleksandar, a youth of 26.Because of Aleksandar's young age and inter-nal squabbling (especially between Aleksan-dar and his uncle, Boris), the Torenescufamily has lost power and followers.

The family wants to return to its formerglory. The Torenescu still have a great deal ofpolitical influence and discreet control on"The Hill," the noble district of town. Otherssiding with Torenescu include Lady Magda,Yaros (one of the Dukes's Privy Councillors),and "Lord" Dimitros (the self-styled princeof beggars).

Vorloi

Considered by the other factions to be anupstart, the Vorloi family has refused to fitthe political mold. The faction is openly con-

trolled by Baron Vorloi. Drawing on hisresources as a successful merchant prince,Baron Vorloi maintains a fleet of merchantships in defiance of the Radu family. Heresists all their attempts to control his busi-ness (or the businesses of those who side withhim). The Torenescu are no more pleasedwith the Vorloi, since the Baron refuses toside with them simply because the Torenescurepresent nobility.

Vorloi prefers that he and those who sidewith him be left alone. He has been able tomaintain privacy through his influence in themilitary circles around the Duke. He hopes togain more power and wring important tradeconcessions from the Duke. To reach thisgoal, he tries to prevent open strife andsilence any bad news that might reach theDuke. Preventing any problems keeps otherfamilies from gaining favor from the Duke.

Other members of the the Vorloi factioninclude the Baron's daughter Marianna,Mikel (the Commander of the Guard Phor-sis), and Admiral Hyraskos. He also has ason, Grygori. Unfortunately, the boy is sim-ple-minded and foolish, much to his father'sdisgust.

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THE FESTIVAL OF LUCOR

Anton Radu leaned forward, resting his bonyarms on the table. He looked carefully at theothers — Zweis, Antonito, and Cartha —trying to guess their hidden doubts. "It istrue that Lady Magda will be in the festival? "

"Yes, father," Zweis quickly said. "She isto lead the Parade of Maidens from the cas-tle."

"The members have been informed. Allwill be ready," Cartha softly rumbled.

"And our friends, Antonito, do they sus-pect?"

"My spies report nothing, Father. No onesuspects." Antonito quickly dropped his gazefrom his father's eyes.

"Very good. Then at the Festival ofLucor,we will proceed."

Entering SpecularumThe diagram to the left shows how to placethe fold-up buildings for this encounter. Placeall but the character pieces as shown.

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MAP 2

THEriVAL OF LUCOR

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Fold-up building

Gate and wall

This encounter will acquaint the players withthe city and how things are done here. It alsoencourages the players to join different sidesof the power struggle. Allow the players toask questions and learn about their surround-ings as they play. Be ready to create answersto common questions: Is there an innnearby? How much does it it cost? Whattime of day is it?

Into the CityThe player characters enter the city for thefirst time. The players should place their fig-ures outside the city gate.

The gate is open. A few soldiers withspears lounge near the entrance. Theywear tabards of red and blue with a deviceof a ship on the front. Beyond the gate is anarrow muddy street. It is choked withpeople. Most dress in their best clothesand many wear brightly-colored outfits.Jugglers and fire-eaters are scatteredthroughout the crowd. The noise fromwhistles, drums, singing, and happy chat-ter make normal talk difficult.

"Halt! Do you wish to enter Specu-larum?" shouts a guard inside the gate."The tax is 8 silver pieces, each of you. Allbut daggers must be bound with cloth.Unbound weapons are fined. Murder byunbound weapon is punished by confisca-tion of property, or death for the landless.Interference with the Duke's men gets youprison. Treasonous activity is especiallynice — it gets you one day of slow tortureand then we draw and quarter you. Soenjoy yourselves."

The guard appears quite bored. He tries towatch the festival out of the corner of his eyeas the characters talk to him. He recites hisspeech from memory, becoming interestedonly when he begins talking about the pun-ishments doled out for crimes.

The guard collects the tax from the playercharacters (3 sp of the 8 goes into his pocket).He checks all weapons to see that they aresecured. He lashes swords with thongs andwraps spears and the like with rags. It willtake characters one round to remove thebindings from their weapons. After bindingthe weapons, the guard forgets about thecharacters and turns his attention back to thefestival. The guard has lived here all of his lifeand can answer most questions asked aboutthe city and what is going on.

Beyond the gate swirls a crowd of people.Mud churned up by stumbling dancerscakes on the crowd's boots. People jostleeach other, straining for a look at acro-bats, knife-throwers, dancing bears, andminstrels. The smells of sewage, grilledmeats, breads, sweat, and wine mingle ina strange, but inoffensive odor.

Suddenly the crowd sways to the sidesof the street. The music fades and changesto bells and chanting. Statues carried byseveral men seem to float above the headsof the crowd. A sedan chair, borne on theshoulders of clerics, follows.

"The procession is coming!" shouts ayoung boy.

Advancing toward the gate is the Processionof Lucor. The procession is a religious cele-bration honoring a legendary local clericnamed Lucor. It winds through the streets ofthe city to the harbor, where the statue ofLucor is floated out to sea. Each year awoman of notable rank and importance leadsthe procession. This year Lady Magda, amember of the Torenescu faction, has thishonor.

The festival is of great importance. Thisfact well suits the Radu — if the festival hasproblems, problems that look like they werecaused by the Torenescu supporters, theTorenescu would be disgraced.

The procession stops. Something is hap-pening at its front. Three men are argu-ing. A general hush falls over the crowd aseveryone moves back from the procession.Two men, one small, plump, and pock-marked and the other tall and lean, arearguing with the lead bearer of the sedanchair.

Angrily, the small, plump man says tothe lead bearer, "Bald-headed fool, doyou Torenescu think you own the street?There's space for all of us, without yourape-like behavior!"

The lead bearer contemptuously wavesa rod in the small man's face. "Out of theway of the Procession ofLucor, Radu rub-ble!"

The tall, lean man, spitting on thestatue ofLucor says, "That old fool? Youmake me laugh!"

The lead bearer strikes the tall man,knocking him into the filth. The smallerman tenses, ready to lunge.

If the player characters act, they can preventviolence. If they favor the two men, the Raduseek their following. If they side with thebearer, they are sought by Torenescu sup-porters. Stories of the incident circulate thecity. If the characters continue to watch with-out becoming involved, two men in green liv-ery break up the argument and pacify bothsides. These men are Vorloi servants.

After this scene, the characters can learnmore about the families by asking any of thepeople there. Some will reply neutrally, whileothers fiercely support one faction or theother. Once the incident is over, the proces-sion moves on.

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BENEATH THE FLOORS

Finding a RoomWhen the characters decide to get rooms(remind them by asking where they intend tosleep), they find all inns very crowded. Wher-ever they ask, only one room is available, atiny thing that cannot hold more than 3 peo-ple. If they want it, they may have the roomfor 1 gold piece per person. Point out thatother characters might be able to get a roomat the inn across the street. There are roomsfor everyone, but it means that several char-acters must sleep at another inn. If the char-acters refuse to take any rooms, they mustspend the night sleeping in the mud of thestreets.

When the characters pay for their rooms,tell one of the characters that some of hismoney is missing. He has been pickpocketed.Not much should be missing, only enough toremind the characters to be careful.

During the evening, one of the followingevents will happen to each player character orgroup of characters. If possible, do not havethe same event happen to all the characters.The first event should be used for fighter andstrong-looking characters, the second forthieves or a character standing outside the

First EventRead the following to strong-looking charac-ters as they relax inside an inn.

The citizens have finally slowed their cele-bration of the festival, although it hastaken much time, food, and strong drink.From nearby in this smoky common roomcomes a loud, tipsy voice.

A scarred man points. "Hey you there!Want some work? Here, sit and drink. Ineed strong bodies. Theosius is my name.You look brave. Do you want to earnmoney?"

Theosius explains that he is looking for trust-worthy people to perform occasional dutiesfor him. None of the missions involve doinganything illegal, but there may be dangerinvolved. He will press very hard to get theplayer characters to seal the bargain. If theydo, as a sign of good faith, Theosius giveseach player character who agrees 3 gp. Hewill get in contact with them when they areneeded. (Theosius will attempt to contact theplayers in the "EMPLOYMENT" section.)

Theosius works for the Torenescu and sodo any player characters working for him. Ifthe player characters ask about him, theylearn that Theosius is a respected wood sculp-tor and craftsman in the city. It is known that

he does a great deal of work for the nobles ofthe city, and it is rumored he has a smallhoard of money.

Second EventRead the following to a thief or a characterstanding just outside the inn.

Outside the inn, a man walks by. Helurches drunkenly along. He smiles andnods as he passes. Suddenly, three hoodedmen step out of the shadows and thedrunken man turns around. None of themen carry weapons openly.

"So, new to town, eh?" asks thedrunken man, who now appears quitesober. "You look like you need some work.Now, we have some things that need to bedone and you look fairly smart. I'm sureyou would want to help us. You stayinghere?" he asks, pointing to the inn. "Be areal good idea if you didn't leave for awhile. We'll see you tomorrow night.Here, catch," he says. He throws a smallbag.

With that, the men slip into theshadows and run away. The bag holds 20gold pieces.

The men are members of the Veiled Societyof the Radu. If attacked, they immediatelyrun. However, the Veiled Society will treatthe player characters as enemies from thenon. If the characters ask about these men,NPCs answer evasively. The people do notlike talking about the hooded men. If they askthe innkeeper, he explains that he has a quietbusiness and likes the idea of it staying quiet.He doesn't create trouble and no one createstrouble for him.

If the characters attempt to go to theauthorities, it does not help them. City offi-cials will shuttle the player characters to dif-ferent officials — the magistrate sends themto the warden, the warden to the constabu-lary, the constabulary to the bailiff, the bailiffto the magistrate, etc. The PCs will not findhelp — not because of fear, but because ofbureaucracy, protection, and bribes. None ofthe officials are evil.

After meeting the members of the VeiledSociety, the player characters are watcheddiscreetly by the innkeepers, merchants, andmembers of the Society. If a player wishes todetermine if the party is being watched, havehim roll Id6 and add all wisdom bonuses. Henotices someone watching if the result is 5 orhigher. The player characters can attempt tolose anybody trailing them, but will not knowif they succeed. They will not succeed.

BENEATH THE FLOORSZweis nervously looked at the others aroundthe table. Antonito casually studied his fin-gernails. Anton, hunched beside a candle,flipped through papers. "Zweis looks a bituncomfortable," thought Cartha. "Good."

"So, it didn't work as you planned,"Anton said, fixing a sharp eye on Zweis. "Afeeble plan and it didn 't work. What do we donow?"

"Make a statement," Antonito said, grin-ning. "A knife in the night would teach theVorloi peace-makers a lot. The members areimpatient. They want to act, no more littlework."

Anton looked at him calmly, "I thenassume you would lead them? We must becautious. There will be no more mistakes.Cartha, what do you say?"

"We cannot act so long as the Vorloi areabout. Use Antonito's demonstration to dealwith them."

"No, we cannot," said Anton finally. "It istoo soon. There is no more to say. Goodnight,see yourselves out." Anton stood and held outa trembling arm to Zweis. The younger mantook it and they both shuffled out of the room.

"Well, what do you feel in your heart?"asked Cartha. "The merchant Fortunato iswhere I would start, Antonito."

Antonito looked to the closed door. "Iagree. When shall it be done?"

At the InnIf the characters gather at one inn the nextmorning, read the following. If the groupdoes not gather in one place, read the follow-ing to either group.

It is morning at the inn. A cat stalks some-thing in the corner of the room. The inn-keeper's daughter sweeps last night'sdinner off the floor. From the back comesthe clicking of dishes and the splash ofwater. A traveller snores loudly in the cor-ner. Suddenly, the door swings open andan elderly lady frantically looks about.

"Please, some kind sir, come quick tohelp me!" she pleads, panic overcomingher. She looks about for anyone to answerher. "Oh save me! There are demons inmy house, I know it! I hear them at night,talking to each other. They want to catchme. Please!" she says, falling to her knees.

The innkeeper runs in, kneels besidethe old woman, and tries to comfort her.

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Front CoverMap

The Veiled SocietyPreparing For The Adventure����������������������������������SpecularumRunning a City AdventureThe Paper SculptureEncountersRandom Encounters

The Families of Specularum���������������������������������RaduTorenescuVorloi

The Festival of Lucor����������������������������Entering SpecularumInto the CityFinding a RoomFirst EventSecond Event

Beneath The Floors�������������������������At the Inn1. Under A Garden2. Fortunato's Cellar3. Kobold Exploration Party4. Refuse Pit5. The Goodwife's Cellar6. The Unburied Dead7. Turano's Cellar

The Investigation������������������������Vorloi HouseTurano's Guest HouseThe Actual Events

RiotThe Mood in the StreetsEscapeLeading the RiotAfter the Riot

EmploymentVeiled Society MenThe Ambush

Further InvestigationThe ChaseA. Arrow AmbushB. BoothC. CrowdD. CartE. Guard

Chambers of the Veiled Ones1. The Blue Water Mead Hall2. Beyond the Curtain3. Robing Chamber4. Sirenflower Passage5. Meeting Chamber7. Cell8. The Secret Chamber

After the AdventureLIST OF MAPS�������������������Map 1 Specularum�����������������������Map 2 The Festival of Lucor����������������������������������Map 3 Under the Floors�����������������������������Map 4 RiotMap 5 AmbushMap 6 The Chase and Chambers of the Veiled Ones

New MonsterSirenflower

Pre Generated CharactersConstructible BuildingsBack CoverCharacter Figures