"The Only Way is Narnia" (scenario)

In this standalone and not wholly serious scenario (see Postscript) the characters are loyal vassals of the young King Allandar who is trying to unite the dozen provinces of Meropis. The provinces were previously held together under a yoke of tyranny, and now that the tyrants have been defeated after a long war of liberation there is a risk of fragmentation.

The characters are the King’s paladins. Pre-generated characters are provided (links below) using GURPS. Each paladin is famous for his or her archetypal talent and from these talents are derived their nicknames:

• The Anvil 
• The Cunning 
• The Hunter 
• Silvertongue 
• Surefoot

Tell the players a few of the legends that are told of the paladins. When Silvertongue once dropped his sword in the middle of a fight, he convinced his opponent to give him his. The Hunter once read a message brought by a pigeon before the bird had alighted. The Anvil once held up a bridge while the King’s army crossed. And so on. It is up to you how much these stories are exaggerations.

Tell the players the nicknames and let them decide among themselves who will play which paladin. Once they have their character sheets (you can get those as PDFs from the links above) they can name their character -- eg Merivus the Cunning. Whatever they like. Then randomly hand to all paladins but the Anvil one of the four magic swords that are twins to Auric, the Sword of Light, wielded by the King:

The Sword of Justice
None can avoid justice. Finds weak points; half usual penalty when targeting chinks in armour (p400).

The Sword of Fire
Swift and deadly is this blade. You can make Whirlwind Attacks (p232) at -3 instead of -5.

The Sword of Lightning
No weapon strikes more swiftly; you can make Rapid Strikes at -4 instead of -6 (p370).

The Sword of Darkness
Strikes in a blur; your opponent is at an extra 50% penalty defending against Deceptive Attacks (p370).

HISTORY

After a three-year military campaign, King Allandar of Durdania has freed the dozen provinces of the Meropis Isles, driving out the Seven Necromancers of Nephid who have ruled (via their puppets, the Syndics of Tasuun) for a hundred years.

Nephid is a long reef of black granite crags in the sea to the west of Meropis. It is said at high tide to be entirely submerged. Nothing lives there apart from sea-birds and barnacles, but the few who have returned to tell of it speak of the lingering presence of the Necromancers who are said to lie submerged in the kelp-choked caves.

Durdania is an island province to the east of the main continent of Meropis. Its people are accomplished sailors and were (with Novaria) the most unruly of the Syndics’ subjects. It is ruled by the young King Allandar who is accompanied by his Paladins, childhood friends of heroic courage and ability. (The player-characters are the Paladins.)

Novaria is a rich province in the north-west of the Meropis empire. The Novarians are proud and see themselves as a distinct culture. Now that the Necromancers have been overthrown they don’t want anything to do with King Allandar’s plans to forge a united kingdom. But King Allandar needs Novaria’s wealth to rebuild the poorer parts of the empire which were always bled dry under the old regime and have suffered even more hardship during the war of liberation.

Novaria is ruled by Queen Aphra, who should really be a duchess but King Allandar has granted that concession in hopes they will stay in the empire. Queen Aphra has spent her life opposing the worst excesses of the Syndics, and now seems to regard their defeat as the opportunity to free her kingdom from the empire.

Tarascon is the lion deity of Novaria, a sort of Old Testament righteous type with a sprinkling of Jesus-like teaching as it might be understood by a High Tory of the 19th century. The Novariaians resent being told they are no longer allowed to preach their faith, as they regard all other religions as heathen.

(Maps? As long as players have a rough idea of where they're going, I don't know that you really need maps for a one-shot game. I swiped from Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique, but you could use anything, even Cretaceous Europe, or Bernard Sleigh's "mappe" of Fairyland, or Narnia itself. Or pick something from a book like 100 Fantasy Kingdoms.)

Deep background (not generally known, even to Dr Kestrel): 
Aphra Luttrell is the children’s great-aunt and came through into this world from Leofold Manor in 1870s Dorset when she was 14; she’s now in her late 70s. She imposed a version of her faith (a combination of Sunday school lessons and patriotism) complete with lion emblem.

The Luttrell children 

• Freddy 10 years 
• Mel (Amelia) 11 years 
• Justin 12 years

The Luttrell siblings are from Cheyne Walk in London and left Earth in January 1941, during the Blitz. They came through to this world using a fakir’s rope that their father brought back from India. Freddy played a tune on an Indian pipe and the rope stood up straight. They climbed it, then found themselves climbing down into this world. The rope went limp and Freddy had left the flute behind so there was no going back. They have a healing salve which they can offer to wounded characters. It’s standard WW2 first aid ointment, but superior to anything non-magical this world has to offer.

STRUCTURE OF THE ADVENTURE

This is a very highly structured adventure that is designed to be run in three hours. These are the story beats you’ll be aiming to hit:

• Arrive at the palace. Get the mission briefing: stop the rebels destroying signal towers.
• Go to Lord Garious. See pigs. Meet signal officer: told that the rebel leaders are children.
• Go to woods. Meet the children: told that Vitrine the Glass Witch is alive and in the area, waiting for her casque (armour) which has been reforged in Mount Holovar. (The rebels disabled the signal towers partly because they think the empire is in league with her.)
• Find Gall: told that Vitrine’s casque is being brought by the Bear of Drear via the Old Road that runs parallel to the main highway through the scrubland. Fight Vitrine’s emissaries. Discover the armour is fake – they’ve been duped. Real casque being brought by a flock of ravens direct to Garious’s keep. Back to Garious’s keep. Fight Vitrine herself.
• Discover the real mastermind was Gall. Try and recapture him.

1. THE PALACE

The capital city of Meropis. As the characters approach the palace they see the signs of the long bitter siege: damaged buildings and people queuing for food.

Prisoners await judgement in the hastily-assembled courts. They hear grumbles that the soldiers of the Syndics have largely been allowed to integrate into the army (albeit on probation) and the only ones likely to be punished are the most senior officials.

The town crier is making some proclamations in the main square:

• Proselytising is now outlawed. The King wants to prevent religious schisms breaking up the empire.
• Users of magic must obtain a licence for any conjuration higher than the third decile of power.

These have no direct bearing on the adventure. They just serve to show the players how much remains to be done in winning the peace.

THE THRONE ROOM

Also damaged by the fighting. The High Throne is covered, the Eye of Nephid on the wall now effaced.

After a three-year war, the young and idealistic King Allandar of Durdania has freed the dozen provinces of Meropis, driving out the Necromancers of Nephid who have ruled (via their puppets, the Syndics of Tasuun) for a hundred years.

As they arrive, the King is explaining the reconciliation policy to his councillors. They would rather round up and punish all collaborators, but he says that the infrastructure of the realm is fragile and they cannot afford to replace every lord who made an accommodation with the Syndics’ rule.

The King’s advisor is Doctor Kestrel (Merlin type) who explains the background to their mission:

“To ward against any possibility of counterattack from beyond the Black River we have been erecting signal towers across the empire. However, the rebels of Novaria have been attacking the work gangs and burning the towers. Their short-sightedness threatens the continued stability of the whole realm.”

The King: “Now we must unify and rebuild. The empire is on a knife edge, weak and battered after years of war. Novaria was sheltered from the worst excesses of the Syndics’ rule, and did not suffer from the desperate fighting that ravaged the eastern states. We need the grain and resources that Novaria can provide to build a better life for all our subjects.”

2. THE KEEP IN THE MARCHES

New signal towers being attacked suggests the enemy camp is in the fringes of the Tinarath Woods, close to the border with Novaria.

The characters arrive at the keep of Lord Garious, warden of the marches, formerly a lukewarm sympathizer with the deposed Syndics of Tasuun, who were Nephid’s puppet rulers. Can the characters trust him?

Garious keeps a stable of fine pigs who snuff out truffles for him – the source of his wealth. The characters are treated to truffles at dinner.

The keep is by the town of Periton. They ride into stone stables. A reek of pigsties (this is where you can mention the truffle pigs) is swiftly masked by the many barrels of apples that line the upper halls; Periton Keep is also famed for its cider.

Lord Garious greets them in a drawing room with a crackling fire and gable windows looking out north across the moors.

They meet Captain Terfin, who was in charge of one of the sacked signal towers. He says that the rebel leaders were children.

(I based Periton town and castle on Dunster, especially the stables.)

3. THE WOODS

The Luttrell children are here with an airship (the Blighty). They expect to intercept Vitrine’s casque (suit of power armour) on the road.

On the ground: Freddy and Justin are with the troops. If attacked, they and their men (with a cry of “Scramble, chaps!”) ascend to the airship on individual balloons whose tethers they can cut quickly. To catch them you’d need to climb an adjacent tree really fast (as Surefoot could).

The airship Blighty nestles in a hollowed-out “crater” amid the treetops, so is not obvious till you’re up close.

Six soldiers rush forward to hold off the paladins while their comrades escape. A Tactics roll spots they are fighting defensively to buy time.

If they ascend to the airship, Mel Luttrell appears from the cabin and points an old WW1 Webley revolver at them. “If I pull this trigger, the stick will deal a sure death. But it contains only three such deaths, and I would sooner mete those deaths out to truly wicked foes who deserve them, so I’ll give you a chance to unhand my brother.”

THE CHILDREN

The children accuse the empire (they call it the Meropi Empire) of trying to assassinate Queen Aphra. They are highly prejudiced against the empire, regarding the new king as barely an improvement on the Syndics. Of course, their thinking is coloured by the world they come from, where radical visionary politicians are distrusted with good reason. As evidence of the assassination plot they present a dagger with the royal crest. “This was coated in poison!” (It was stolen from the throne room a few weeks ago by Lord Garious.)

Assuming the characters can calm things down and a truce is agreed, the Luttrells explain a little of how they came here and, more importantly, their mission:

“Vitrine the Glass Witch yet lives. She is the last of the Necromancers. It was thought she had fled, since her condition makes her wary of battle, but now we know that her casque – the impervious body armour that protects her, which was believed destroyed – has been reforged in the fires of Mount Holovar. According to our portents, the casque is to be delivered to her here in the Marches. And soon.”

If any characters are injured, remember that the children have a healing salve (see earlier).

GALL THE SPRITE

While they talk they have a chance of noticing a soft slithering or rustling (check Danger Sense too):

“The Glass Witch is said to be served by a woodland sprite!” gasps Mel.

Gall acts like a snivelling wretch and claims he serves Vitrine out of fear. “I’d like her dead too. One tap would shatter her – unless she gets her casque back. That’s what she calls her armour. It isn’t being brought on the highway, but on the Old Road that lies through the woods. But beware, for it is guarded by the Bear of Drear and Minister Midwinter.”

4. THE OLD ROAD

Snow starts to fall. This is the sorcery of Minister Midwinter, a demon that owes a service to Vitrine.

The characters need a tracking roll to find the Old Road (Gall will ingratiate himself by pointing them vaguely in the right direction) and it’s magical. If you step off the road, what is on it appears only as an intangible blur. Because of the snow, roll IQ to remain on it during a fight, or IQ+5 at other times.

The Bear of Drear is a huge mound of a monster that stinks of decay. Its fur is clumped and grimy with grave-mold, its skin slimy and pitted. It approaches accompanied by a thin blue figure and, behind them, a carriage like a hearse bearing an ornate mahogany casket.

Minister Midwinter, the aforementioned thin blue figure, stands to one side surrounded by a whirlwind of ice. To reach him: HT roll to endure biting cold, ST roll to push through the wind, then any hit will drive him off and you can see the Old Road clearly.

But when they have won, they find the carriage contains only an empty box.

High up in the sky they see a huge flock of ravens.

5. BACK TO PERITON

The ravens take their burden to the tower of the castle. As they arrive, Vitrine is already armouring up (you know, like this).

She first telekinetically lifts the cobbles from the main street (or courtyard) and these hang in the air, shooting in volleys at the characters: 2d6 each round, subtract armour and shield.

Then she starts a storm gathering, which after six rounds allows her to cast lightning bolts in addition to other actions.

Then she conjures a sickle (2d+2 cut) and whip (1d+5 cr, and HT or double damage) made of coruscating silver-green energy with which she fights (both weapons each round, skill 15).

She has 20-point armour but, in effect, a single Hit Point.

6. FINAL TWIST 

After defeating Vitrine, they find a shoot and gall lodged inside her shattered glass skull. The true mastermind was Gall, who took control of the witch after the other Necromancers fell. But Gall has got away. In fact he’s burrowed underground and the only chance of finding him now is to use one of the truffle pigs (though a Perception roll beating a critical of 6 on 17 will at least confirm he can’t have got outside a perimeter).

7. EPILOGUE

Can they reconcile the King and the rebels?

Can they help the Luttrell children go home? (One way to get them home would be if Silvertongue plays a tune to animate the rope again.)

It's not expected they'll necessarily do this within the three-hour gaming session, but if not then they'll have something to think about afterwards.

POSTSCRIPT

I wrote the adventure as a birthday surprise for the 13-year-old son of a gaming buddy. The concept was simply: what if you experienced Narnia from the other side? Knowing I'd only have three hours to run it in, I abandoned my usual freeform approach and scripted it like a story -- not something I'd do often, but this time it worked. If Narnia isn't your bedknobs, here are some alternative sources for inspiration.