Danse Macabre Part 4

Intro

• Initial situation :

Metaplot :

Possible villains : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasbert_de_Valle https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Tarente https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_X_de_Laval

An alchemist found "the book" This book explain how to summon demons and gain riches beyond imagination. It also explains where to find the other artifacts. "the book" gave the artifacts to lots fo people, including a noble to whom he gave "the sword" All artifacts bearers should make ritual deathsand ship them to Marseille. If they do that, they receive titles and money, and their artifacts gain power. The point being to make the tower of Bones and summon the black plague. They succeed in 1347 The rest of the campaign is to try to kill "the book" and end the plague. The book or the sword is nicknamed "L." and he signs all contracts under this name.

Theplot happens just before the black plague 1347 in Marseille (change the dates and places of all previous scenarios) brough by "marin genois" Explain about Templars disappearing.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasbert_de_Valle (mort en 1347 too early??, find someone else ) wants to become the archdeacon of a united Marseille. "L." Promised him he could get that if he agreed to let his workers burn his cathedral with a tower of skeletons inside. "L." also gave him an artifact, (the artifact related to the archdeacon (archeveque)

"L." wished to do that so he can summon the Plague.

Two artifacts : The Sword and the Book (scholar) the mask ??? The Chastellain is a cousin of a noble in Marseille. That's why he makes a shipment of corpses. He is paid hansomely for it.

"the Book" is an alchemist. He has a book made whose cover is made of bones He manipulates "the sword" and promise him reaches beyond imagination if he accomplishes a ritual. This ritual requires lots of sacrifices and teh construction of a chapel. The aim is to summon the black plague.

Every year, a Masquerade (Bal Masqué) is organised in Marseille by the church. It happens in the cathedral : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_Saint-Victor_de_Marseille

Bal des Ardents : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_des_ardents tragic even where a charivari ended in a fire

The point of this masquerade is to gather all the representatives of the different objects.

During the ball, he will give them instructions on how to meet them for the final ritual. The burning of the tower.

Previously, the players have found an invitation for a Masquerade (Bal Masqué). There was a date, but no address on it. On the invitation, there is a drawing of the Saint Victor Abbaye in the background. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_Saint-Victor_de_Marseille This is a hint that the ball will happen in Marseille. And indeed, a ball is organised there, near the docks.

• Explanations :

• Unsolved mysteries :

Why triggering the Black Plague ? Who organises and controls all of this ? ("book" ? someone else ?)

• Historical themes :

Cour des miracles Orphans Beggars Whores Aumone Hospital

The players find where the maskerade was supposed to happen. It was supposed to happen in Marseille. In the cathedral. They arrive few weeks before to try to investigate.

Cathedral is a living place, lots of beggars and orphans. People sick and poor. But balls are organised there too.

The players go to the cathedral early. To prepare.

The maskerade is organised every year it's not connected to the lord. The lord uses this venue as a way to secretly give instructions on the actual meeting place and time. The meeting will happen in the cathedral where he will do the final ritual of the bones. The deacon of the cathedral is corrupted as well.

The danse macabre masquerade The cathedral is mostly closed. Because it's in construction. All services are held in one wing which is still open They build a spire of bones, to be sure the workers aren't aware that those are bones, they are hidden in word and straws

Part 1 Cour des Miracles

• Normal : Departement Necrologique

Ambiance track

Cour des Miracles, Bandits, Beggars etc... Interaction with all the kind of people you cna find in an hospice. XLeppers, Xold people, Xbeggars, Xorphans, diseased, Xwounded soldiers, madman, crippled, Xprostitutes.

Plotical tension in Marseille, some rebellions. https://journals.openedition.org/rives/4155

• 0min Meeting with the deacon, description of the hospice
• 15min There's an old man in his bed, with a lady sobbing at his side. She's a whore and he is her dying father. Her son was taken as well.
• 30min They see a man counting coins. When approached he pretends to be blind. He is a thief. After they finished takling to him, their purse is gone. And so is he.
• 45min A Leper come to them asking for Alms. He said he was refused in the Leprosy. He is an actual lepper.
• 60min A bunch of wounded solders are brought in, they fought in a skirmish nearby. The players receive a dagger thrown at them, one of them is wounded.
• 75min A riot between sailors (ville basse) and soldiers (ville haute) they fight against a new tax instored in the ville haute.
• 100min They see a vallet feeding an orphan. He runs away and bring them to the trap.

Scenario Track

The players arrive at the cathedral of Marseille. They are Greeted by the deacon (évèque) of Marseille. He has a crosier (crosse épiscopale) made of bones.

He greets the players and they talk about the Masquerade that will happen.

He is very cooperative (he's a Trickster).

The Cathedral is being expanded, they want to build some new towers https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_Saint-Victor_de_Marseille#Les_remaniements_d%E2%80%99Urbain_V

He will let them visit if they want except the tower because it's unstable yet.

Worse case scenario if they really want to visit the tower, they see nothing. Bones are hidden inside bricks made of material that can burn but looks like stone.

He want to throw them on the wrong trail. So he tells them about the numerous Oprhans disappearing. In the mean time he will order thugs to kill the players.

The point is to lure players into a trap.

They visit the hospice with the deacon. They see Leppers, old people, beggars, orphans, diseased, wounded soldiers, madman, crippled, prostitutes.

(if the ask the orphans to stop begging, they need to pay, but it doesn't solve anything, just stop the killings)

Action : Ask the orphans where they go beg. See that there is just one street with zero orphan beggars (because that's where they disappear)

Action : There is a vallet looking through his window all the time. For no reason.

Action : They search his home, he is not here. He left throught the window to go to a nearby home (the two homes are very close.)

The other home is a trap. That's where they are attacked.

A lot of brigans with clubs come to them.

Combat or they are wounded before the guards arrive.

Part 2 Danse Macabre

Ambience Track

• 0min The ball starts with a feast. That draws all the poors. The meat tastes weird. Everyone wears a mask, even the poor. Lots of tables, from rich to poor. Different food on each tables.
• 15min A Drunk pack of persons come to them and ask them to dance. One of them is an influencial noble.
• 30min Music : ??? A small troup of people make lots of noise. They try to force two people to go on a donkey. They re-married. It's a Charivari. It makes them cry but at the end they have no choice but to do it.
• 45min Someone shouts start attacking someone else with his knife. He is a madman : "Is saw them ! Human bodies in the cathedral ! Hundreds of them ! ! I hear their screams !"
• 60min The ball starts, but most people don't dance, they just eat. Music : Danse Macabre Very few dancers, all of which have skull masks. After a hosrt dance, they are gone. It's very awkward.
• 75min Music : ??? Characters chained together and covered in feathers and oil arrive and scream like monsters.
• 100min Music : Danse Macabre The fire starts and the maskerade stops, players are caught in the fire.

Scenario Track

The players attend the Masquerade / Charivari / Carnaval. All the Danse Macabre characters will attend.

It's held in part of the cathedral everyone has masks.

They feel some very heavy ambiance.

Action : scan the crowd for artefact bearers, there are clearly lots of them who avoid the inquisitors as much as possible. They are extremely defensive.

Action : follow them, they can see that a weird person give them all a letter.

Action : Either they steal the guy's bag discreetely or take the letter from an artifact bearer who is drunk.

The letter is a name and date in the past and a time. It's the name of a person who died.

Action : Tonight they should go to the grave of the person with the given name.

When they leave the maskerade, the fire starts, but they are spared.

There they see someone waiting for them.

The person will try to run away, but they will catch him. He tell them where to go. They should go to a family crypt.

They are attacked by a squeleton, but defeat them easily or get wounded.

Clearly there are traces of a recent passage.

Part 3 The crypt

• Normal :

Ambience Track

• 15min They hear a long scream echoing and then it's gone.
• 30min Scratching noise coming from a tomb. It's a rat inside.
• 45min Blood dripping from the ceiling. No idea where it come from. They hear chanting. Something evil is happening upstairs.
• 60min One of the players who is an artefact bearers is attacked by a monk. He fights back and see that he was attacking another player.
• 75min More and more blood dripping from the ceiling, something evil is happening upstairs ! A small flow of blood on the floor.
• 100min The cultists found them and try to smoke them out. They are Wounded. Music :

Scenario Track

They enter the crypt, there is a secret passage that lead to the cathedral. There hear people talking and it resonates a lot.

The secret passage arrives in a strange building. (it's a forgotten part of the crypt of the cathedral)

Entrance

The entrance is concealed and they have to find the entrance.

Eye of detail : reveals one of the tombs that was frequently opened

Knowledge : Reveals the name of a person that is not supposed to be buried here

Strength : Allows to open all tombs quickly

Worse case scenario they spend a lot of time doing it. Which advances the ambiance track by one.

Uner it is a very narrow tunnel recently dug, they have to crawl for a certain time, then they arrive in the crypt.

One of the players is stuck. They have to help him.

Crypt

The crypt is situated in the cathedral. When they enter, they hear chanting from outside.

There is a monk that heard them enter. He hides.

When they are all inside, they hear a lock sound.

The monk just locked the gate they came from, then he throw away the keys.

They are locked in.

Three doors in total : The door they came from, locked with a heavy gate. The heavy iron gate that leads to the cathedral : Locked before they came in. A strange wooden door.

He starts shouting, they kill him quickly.

They have to find a way out without making too much noise.

The monk threw away the keys through the gate they took to enter. Just one key is reachable.

Action : they have to find a smart way to reach it.

It is a key with a carved skull on it. The key looks like a small dagger.

There is a wooden door which is covered with metal sculptures of skeletons. Skeleton dancing with people. It is locked.

Action : Put the dagger in the heart of the deacon with the Crosier. It hides a keyhole.

Undercrypt

There is a very strong smell that pours from the room behind. The players puke.

THe room is an ancient crypt with statues, all of which where mutilated. INstead of their heads there is an awful clay figure sqhowing horrible scenes (rodin gates of hell style)

There are lots or alchemical equipments and a very strong stench of chemicals mixed with blood.

In the corner of the room there is a pedestal to put a book and lots of chains to keep it. But the book is absent.

They see a bookshelf and lots of notes. One open book.

Action : The last written note is a letter.

The letter explaine that the person has few weeks to hold his part of the bargain, he has to kill X people in this exact way otherwise they will come for him. And death will be the last of his worries. Signed "L."

Action : The open book is a ledger it talks about all the "bricks" brought by each persons.

Action : Read the book son the book shelf. One of them will force the user to keep it.

Action : Analyse the alchemical substances either using a skill or by reading the books.

One of the alchemical substances is very strong burning rock.

Action : use it to break the gate that leads into the cathedral.

Cathedral

They see the ritual happening. They understand that they are in the cathedral.

Part 4 The tower of bones

They find the tower of bones. Then a fire starts. At the end, a dark ship lands with the black plague onboard Italian sailors. (genois) And they manage to kill "crosier"

Ambiance Track

• 0min The fire starts. The cathedral is on fire.
• 15min The fire is unnaturally strong. They smell strong incense. They see some ritualists falling.
• 15min The tower burns, revealing skeletal hands in the fire.
• 30min Incense smell intensifies. They hear souls screaming. they now see clearly that the tower is hiding a spire of entwined skeletons.
• 45min The sound of souls screaming is strong and unbearable. Some heads open and scream fire then the skeleton falls.
• 60min More and more skeletons start falling from the tower. THe ground is glowing red with skeletons crawling.
• 75min
• 100min The tower collapses. Same for the roof of the Cathedral. They are hurt.

Scenario Track

The ritual is accomplished, they start to burn the tower.

All the artifacts holders keep chanting, they are at the top of the cathedral.From times to time some people doing the ritual fall.

The players try to stop the ritual but to do so they have to climb the cathedral and "Crosier" is there to attack them.

As the tower burns, it reveals all the corpses bound in a spiral.

Fire pours through the skulls.

They hear horrible sounds, like souls.

The air is filled with strong incense, makes them hallucinate.

Phase after phase the fire become more unnatural and stronger. Start to burn more and more of the cathedral.

BOSS fight against the deacon "Crosier".

If they have any remo way to attacking him, they skip one step.

There's a very narrow stair. "Crosier" ask a cultist to hold it with a spear.

Combat skills can work or any other way to kill him. Otherwise they are wounded.

They climb the stairs, "Crosier" raises a dead cultist corpse. His eyes burns. One of the players clearly see that it is only a big cultist with a skeleton mask.

Action : Combat duel can work. Attacking the roof can work. Otherwise one player has to stay and let the others pass. He is wounded or killed.

They get closer to him and he starts screaming, which breaks all the surrounding windows and there's a surge of fire, it break all remaining ground between him and them.

They have a way to retreat to the nearby walls.

Or they have a shot at him.

Action : if they have anything to attack distantly or jump through, they can do it. If not they have to leave.

If they reach this point fast enough, they can leave indemn. Or they are hurt.

if they manage to kill him they can keep the "Crosier".

Either way, they are separated from the rest of the cultists who run away.

The ritual is a success.

They players arrive next to the ocean they have to jump to the water, where a ship come to rescue them.

The ship owner explains that they where sailing nearby, but they saw the cathedral burn in the distance, so decided to visit. They came back from a battle in the holy land.

Epilogue

Epilogue musics :

• Epique entre-scenart gagant 12-Pista de audio 12.mp3
• Epique entre-scenart gagant 12-Pista de audio 12.mp3 (put it twice)
• Fin epique glorieuse 06-Final
• Then loop this Playlist Normal-Prima

Next scenario : Black Plague in marseille, and killing "doctor" ? plague doctors are much later !! "Sword" is buying real estate of the deseased, all the poeple he loan from die from the plague. Making him very rich.

The next day, people flock at the cathedral to try to help rebuild it, the Italian soldiers are here to help too. And the players see a first italian soldier collapse in the ruins. He picks up a burned skeleton and collapses. The player see his body is swollen. The plague arrived in Europe.