Nonagon Olympics
This is intended as a demo game to let new players get familiar with Scarterra's dice system and get a cursory overview of Scarterra's nine deities and religious factions at the same time.
The nation of Talama has an annual tradition of having their religious factions compete in a series of contests for prizes. Five of the Nonagon factions are guarding a flag of their deity and four Nonagon factions are competing to collect flags. The winning team gets a hefty donation from the King of Talama and the runner up gets a smaller donation, but this competitions is more about one-upmanship than it is about money.
Killing an enemy team member results in disqualification, but technically anything short of death is permitted.
This year, the four teams represent Scarterra's goddesses: Mera, Nami, Khemra, and Greymoria. The five flag defenders are representing Scarterra's gods: Maylar, Korus, Zarthus, Hallisan, and Phidas.
At the Game Master's discretion, if any of the teams were especially annoying or hostile, the enemy teams might seek revenge against them for personal reasons rather than for tactical reasons,
Initial Set-up
Pick your Team
The players can pick any of the four teams, or the Game Master can assign the Players team, or you can draw the player's team out of a hat. Nonagon Olympic Team Rosters are via this link! For the purpose of this adventure for those who don't want to read all my amazing lore on the Nine, You can use these Pokemon Go allegories for a very quick and dirty summation of what the four teams represent. Team Mystic: Khemra. Team Valor: Mera Team Instinct: Nami Team Rocket: Greymoria Mera and Greymoria are traditional rivals. Khemra and Nami are traditional rivals. The four Teams are playing to win, but they might forgo logical tactics in favor of settling old grudges if they are provoked enough. Whichever teams the players don't pick become NPC teams. So the Game Master doesn't have to improvise everything, the NPC teams will follow a standard set of actions and outcomes. The Game Master only needs to adjust the behavior of the NPC teams when the PCs are changing the script, unless the Game Master really likes improvisation, in which case, go nuts. The player characters do not have to follow their team's playbook if they don't want to. If the players play the Greymoria team and want to play them as polite sportsmen, they can. If they are the Mera team and want them to be ruthless opportunists they can do that too.Pick your Characters
Each of the Teams has four character options that are broadly similar. The four roles are Brawns, Brains, Nimble, Theurgist (caster). All four Brawny characters are broadly similar in capabilities to their counterparts in the other teams. Same with the Brains and Nimbleness characters. You get a little bit more variation with the theurgists as they tend to specialize in the theurgy their religious faction is famous for. None of the characters are one-trick ponies and they all have useful secondary skills outside of their forte. The Mera team has a slight overall bias towards brawn. The Nami team has a slight bias towards nimbleness. The Greymoria team is 100% made up of theurgists (though most aren't very powerful theurgists). The Khemra team has a slight bias for brainy characters. The Nonagon can be adapted to fit a long-running campaign if the PCs party has a clear affinity with one of the Nine in which case you can use the player's normal characters.Introduction
Representatives from the five Nonagon factions not competing will describe their challenges. Then the teams can plot their strategy. The Game Master should probably give the players ten minutes to make a plan at most. Then the event organizers ring the bell and the contest begins in earnest.Challenge Overviews
The Maylar Flag Overview
Maylar's primary followers are called Testers of Strength or just "Testers". Most Testers aren't fans of kings or queens. Nor are they fans of civilization or civility. Ergo, only one Tester showed up to the Nonagon games. A male human named Vasha. "I tied the Maylar Flag around the collar of a great beast and set the beast loose. You can get the flag by any means you see fit." Among all the clergy present, Vasha is the only mage, and Enchanter and an Illusionist. He will use his Enchantment magic to hold the beast in place until the contest starts and then let it go after the starting bell is rung. Then he is going to use his illusion magic to vanish. He is going to use flying and invisibility spells to get a front row seat of the most interesting action and (at the Game Master's discretion) may or may not shout rude commentary at the contestants.The Korus Flag Overview
There are two male humans among the Korus delegation. One speaks. "We put the Korus Flag at the end of a plant-based obstacle course. If you try to go around the course rather than through it, you will regret that decision."The Zarthus Flag Overview
Zarthus' priests and priestesses are nicknamed Lanterns. The Lanterns make up the largest group by far. There are nine in total. A roughly even mix of men and women, mostly humans with a couple satyrs. The fanciest dressed human Feodor speaks. "The first team defeat two of our members in a honorable challenge gets the Zarthus flag"The Hallisan Flag Overview
The Hallisan dedication is two human males and a female gnomes, all wearing heavy armor and carrying battle axes and shields. They are standing next to three large lumps under tarps, The gnome speaks. "The first team to pass our test of valor gets the Hallisan Flag."The Phidas Flag Overview
Phidas' priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Masks because they usually wear ceremonial masks when on duty. There are five Masks in the delegation, all human. Tikhon the head priest. Two holy warriors (one man and one woman) two acolytes (one boy and one girl). Tikhon speaks. "The Phidas flag is locked in a vault. If you solve our puzzle, you will receive a key to the vault."Starting the Challenges
If two Teams or two characters are going after the same challenge, you roll competing Dexterity + Athletics to see who gets their first. Any team that delays their initial sprint to assess what the other teams are doing suffers a two-dice penalty on this race roll. If any team is going after a Flag uncontested, they do not need to roll Dexterity + Athletics to get there. If two NPC teams are fighting and the PCs are not nearby, you don't need to roll anything out. The Game Master can flip a coin or make an arbitrary decision on who wins. If the PCs have a natural rival, it might raise the stakes to let their natural rival automatically win whenever the PCs aren't involved. NPC behavior (if the PCs don't force a change) Initial Actions The Greymoria Team will go after the Phidas Flag, but will also send a member to sabotage whatever the Mera team is doing. If the PCs make a play for the Phidas Flag, the Greymoria will not sabotage the Mera Team and instead try to hex or hinder the PCs while still going after the Phidas Flag. The Mera team will go after the Hallisan Flag. If the PCs make an obvious play after the Hallisan Flag, the Mera Team will try to beat them fair and square. The Khemra team will go after the Zarthus Flag. If the PCs make an obvious play after the Zarthus Flag, they will go after the Maylar Flag instead. The Nami team will wait just long enough to see where the other teams are going and pick an uncontested Flag, preferably not the Maylar Flag. By default this means they will probably go after the Korus Flag.Phase Two default
The Greymoria team is taking on a challenge a man short and the Mera team is taking on a challenge with active interference, eventually they will get the Flags, but they are going to be slower than the other teams. The Khemra Team will get the Zarthus Flag and the Nami team will get the Korus Flag at roughly the same time. They will then both go after the last uncontested Flag (probably the Maylar Flag) and fight the challenge while also trying to undermine each other. If the last Flag is the Maylar Flag, the Nami Team will get it barring PC interference. If the last Flag is any other Flag, the Khemra team will get it barring PC interference. The Greymoria Team will show up later. Regardless of whoever defeats the challenge, the Greymoria will try to snatch the Maylar Flag when the victors are distracted and tired. The Mera team will show up later. They are angry that the Greymoria team was interfering with their Flag acquisition and will make a play to steal the Greymoria' s team's Flag. If for whatever reason, the Greymoria didn't try to sabotage the Mera Team, the Mera Team will get their first Flag relatively quickly and then make a Phase Two play for any open Flags, preferably by fair means.Phase Three default
After the fifth flag is taken (or the event organizers sense a stale mate and want to break it), the teams have a five-minute warning bell in which case they can try to grab an enemies' Flag. If one team somehow gets three Flags, all the other teams will target them. If one team has two Flags and the other teams all have one, the teams might gang up on the winning team or they might fall back on their traditional rivals. If two teams have two flags and one team has one Flag, the two two underdog teams will after separate two-Flag holding teams. The Nami Team and Greymoria team will default to sneaky tactics to try to steal enemy Flags. The Khemra and Mera teams will default to brute force tactics to steal enemy Flags. by Zeta Gardner
The Flag Challenges
A little Flag represents the McGuffin that the Teams are competing for. Each of the stations (except the Maylar station which is a mobile creature) has a large flag on a pole. Once the prize Flag is claimed, the priest attendants will lower the decorative Flag. That way no one will be baited into undergoing a challenge without a Flag at the end though if two Teams are trying to complete the challenge simultaneously, it's first come first serve. In the event of a tie, the priestly organizers can improvise a tie-breaker competition.The Maylar Flag
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Manticores are not normally shy about eating humans, but this beast is well-fed, so it will not attack any of the people nearby unless provoked.
If the players think "What does my character know about manticores?" they can roll Intelligence + History or Intelligence + Animal Ken (whatever is higher) to see if they remember hearing something about manticores.
Botch: The characters have false information that he or she is absolutely convinced is true. Possible fake facts. Manticores have bad peripheral vision, Manticores can't walk backwards, Manticores love music.
One: Manticores are large predators loosely evolved from lions.
Two: Manticores have poisonous stingers on their tail.
Three: Manticore tails cause paralysis, not death. They are clever for animals but not people smart.
Four+: Sneaking up on a lesser manticore is almost impossible, but tricking or hexing it is certainly feasible.
There are some orthodox plans the players (or NPCs) might try to attempt outlined below. If the players come up with a clever unorthodox way to de-collar the beast, the Game Master should try to accommodate their plan.
Any plan will automatically become harder if two Teams are near the Manticore at one time and the Teams are sabotaging the others efforts.
Manticore Base Stats
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Willpower 4
Dexterity 4, Strength 6, Stamina 5, Perception 4, Wits 3
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Dodge 2, Intimidation 2, Stealth 1, Survival 3
Base Attack: 7 dice (it will usually split it’s dice pool for a five-dice and four-dice attack)
Claw/Bite: 8 dice lethal damage
Tail: 5 dice lethal damage, unless the soak beats (not ties) the damage, Roll Stamina to avoid partial paralysis. Roll Stamina difficulty 7 or suffer one dice penalty (cumulative with multiple hits)
Health Levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -3, -5, Incapacitated
The Manticore will normally only spend Willpower power points after being wounded.
Kill the Beast
You would run like this a normal combat encounter, rolling initiative and whatnot. A dead beast is not going to be able to stop a character from de-collaring it, though another team could try to steal the collar from another team's kill.Placate the Beast
The beast doesn't want to have a collar on it, but it's instincts make it defensive towards its neck. If the PCs come up with a plan to calm or placate the beast, they can remove the collar without a fight. One character can roll Charisma + Animal Ken to try to remove the collar. Other characters that provide tangentially helpful actions that make their dice rolls with their successes turning into bonus dice for the character removing the collar. Default difficulty roll for the Charisma + Animal Ken roll is difficulty 7. If the players come up with a very brilliant or well-roleplayed plan, it can be difficulty 6. If the players come up with a somewhat questionable scheme, it can be difficulty 8. Add +1 to the difficulty is the beast is wounded. Add +2 the difficulty if the beast is wounded and PCs did the wounding (or looked liked they did the wounding). Botch: You fail the remove the collar and the beast will be hostile to your team for the rest of the contest. The would-be collar remover gets attacked with no dodge or parry possible for the initial attack. Failure: The beast attacks the would-be collar remover and no doge or parry is possible. The beast then wanders off. The PCs can try to placate the beast again with no penalty. One success: The character fails to remove the collar and gets attacked. But the character can dodge or parry with no penalty. The beast will probably run away rather than continue the attack in subsequent rounds. Two success: The character removes the collar and then gets attacked. The character can dodge or parry with a two-dice penalty. The beast will probably run away rather than continue the attack in subsequent rounds. Three successes: The character removes the collar and then gets attacked, fully parry or save may be rolled. The beast will probably run away rather than continue the attack in subsequent rounds. Four successes: The character removes the collar and the beast does not become hostile or defensive. It wanders off harmlessly after the collar is removed. Five successes+: The characters remove the collar and the beast is positively disposed towards the character for the rest of the game. This doesn't exactly mean you have a loyal minion but the PCs might be able to coax it to do some things that indirectly benefit their team.One team member distracts the beast, the other goes for the collar
The beast doesn't want to keep its collar, but it will instinctively view strangers going for it's neck as an attack unless calmed or placated first. If one or more team members get the beast's attention, another teammate can physically remove the collar. Removing the collar requires an A-action and B-action both succeeding in one round. The character needs three or successes on Wits + Athletics roll (difficulty 6) and three or more successes on a Dexterity + Legerdemain roll (difficulty 6) That's assuming a teammate is able to distract the beast. Otherwise, the collar remover will have to make both rolls while being attacked. If the character wants to defend himself, that means he has to split one of his dice pools so he can dodge or parry while trying to remove the collar. To be a distraction, a character can roll Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 6) to goad the beast into making him the target and then make a dodge or parry roll against the provoked attack.Strike the Collar
You can engage the beast in combat without killing it by removing the collar violently. Any combatant with a bladed weapon can make a strike against the collar itself though the beast is still going to defend its neck. Attacks against the collar are at difficulty 8. If the attacker gets three net successes they can break the collar which will then fall it. If they get one or two successes, the collar is damaged. This means it will fall off on a second hit.Influencing Vasha?
Vasha literally disappeared at the start of the contest, so it's not really possible to flatter, bribe, trick, or intimidate him into helping with the challenge. He will only intervene to magically control his pet monster if it looks like it's going to flee the Nonagon testing grounds entirely, which it's not likely to do because he cast a spell to keep it in the general area. Vasha respect strength and chutzpah and may choose a favorite team to cheer on, but that is unlikely to result in a real advantage. If the PCs does multiple daring and inventive plays, Vasha might be impressed enough to mock their rivals. (See the blurb on psychological tricks). Vasha is not going to shed any tears if the manticore is slain, but if the Maylar Flag without killing the Manticore, he will resume magical control of the beast after the concept and safely release it into the wild. He will thank the Team for not killing it.The Korus Flag
(Still a WIP)
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The Korus testing area is larger than the other testing area taking up roughly twice the space of the others. Two walls of thorny brambles form a makeshift tunnel and from an arial view ressemble a coiled rope or snake. It's not a maze, there is a clear obvious path, it's just winding.
The primary followers of the god Korus are nicknamed the Stewards. There are only two Stewards in the Korus entourage, but they are fairly accomplished and well-known. Most of the characters would know them by reputation, Green Reverend Alexei and Green Reverend Grigory. A middle-aged married couple.
The title Green Reverend is an honorific for a master of Plant theurgy, the pair grew and shaped the obstacle course themselves. Alexei is at the entrance and warns any Team "Use the proper path and navigate the obstacles. If you try to go around and force your way through, the obstacles will be the last of your problems. Every member of your team must reach the end to get the Korus Flag"
Grigory is standing insdie the brambles at the end and is holding the Flag. He will hand the Flag over if he confirms all four members of a Team have completed the course.
"f you try to go around and force your way through, the obstacles will be the last of your problems"
To hack through a safe hole through the bramble wall, a Team needs to get eight successes on an extended roll. Two Team members can roll at a time. Strength + Melee to hack through with a sword or axe difficulty 7. Difficulty 8 if they are using a knife or dagger. Or they can burn a path through with a Wits + Survival roll difficulty 7, difficulty 5 if they have alchemist's fire. That's easy enough, but the two Green Reverends will not take kindly to someone cheating their obstacle course. If they suspect a Team is trying to cheat, both Alexei and Grigory are capable of animating and weaponizing a large portion of the bramble wall. First round they will cast Augmentation 1 on themselves then they will animate sections of the bramble wall. They have a base attack pool of eight dice and a base damage of pool of six dice (before extra successes are factored for accurate hits). They will start out inflicting bashing damage the first round as a warning, then switch to lethal damage.The Zarthus Flag
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Counting, Feodor, their leader, there are nine Lanterns are standing at the ready to accept challenges. If a challenge is given, one of the Lanterns (who is reasonably skilled at the thing being challenged) will step up and take the challenge.
Several priests and priestesses of Zarthus will accept challenges. The first team to win two challenges wins the Flag. There are many challenges set up as options, but the Lanterns value improvisation.
If a PC comes up with an improvised challenge, on the spot, they can persuade the Lanterns to accept said challenge with a simple Charisma + Expression roll, difficulty 6. Only one success is needed though if you roll very well issuing a challenge, you might be able to set more terms for the challenge though the Lanterns have the final say for the challenge. In most cases, default to six dice for the dice pool of the Lantern a character is going against.
Characters can cast spells or take other actions to help their teammates in challenge. The Lanterns will not tell the players this, but they will not stop most forms of interference unless they are really blatant and/or violent.
There are lots of Lanterns here. If two teams arrive at the same time and choose not to interfere with the other teams, both teams can independently challenge Lanterns peacefully.
If it's not obvious to see who completed their second challenge first, put the winners of the second challenge from both teams against each other in an opposed roll.
Dance-Off
Roll Dexterity + Performance, Appearance + Performance, Dexterity + Athletics, or Appearance + Athletics. (player's choice). Lantern has six dice. You need to win two out of three rounds. A tie adds a new round.
Improvisational Poetry or Music
Wits + Performance or Wits + Expression (players choice) against six dice. You need to win two out of three rounds. A tie adds a new round.
Tug of War
All the PCs roll their Strength attribute and add their successes together. A botch counts as (-1 successes). There are an equal number of Lanterns on the other side and they average Strength 3.
A duel of honor
One-on-combat against a Lantern with a six die combat pool and 6 Initiative pool. Combat ends at first hit.
Foot Race
Character rolls Dexterity + Athletics against a Lantern with a six dice pool. If the character is still winded from running to the Zarthus station, he or she may suffer a +1 penalty.
Barrel throw
Character throws two barrels, Strength + Athletics difficulty 7. Taking the better of two rolls. Lantern does the same thing with six dice pool.
Let's Mug 'Em!
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Feodor the Lantern is running this challenge and is carrying the Zarthus Flag openly. In theory, one of the Teams can beat him up and take the flag or just yank the Flag out of his hands and run.
Feodor is a formidable person, but he can't defend himself against three to five adventurers in one go, but there are eight other Lanterns nearby. All of them are wearing light armor and carrying swords. Besides Feodor, one of them is an expert sword fighter with a six dice combat pool. The rest have four-dice or five-dice combat pools. If a Team tries to simply rob Fedor, all the Lanterns will rise to Feodor's defense.
Because the Maylar Flag is tied around the neck of a dangerous monster, the Lanterns built a wooden stockade with wooden spikes and bells as a precaution in case the monster wanders towards them. They left a small gap so Teams can enter their testing area to challenge for the Zarthus Flag, but the same anti-monster fence will also make it hard to rob Feodor. If one of the Teams just tries grabbing the flag and running, the Lanterns can bodily block the exit.
And if the Lanterns attack one of the Teams, the other Teams are free to take advantage of this and help the Lanterns beat up the would-be cheaters.
Buttering up the Judges
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The Lanterns believe challenges are sacred and will yield to anyone who beats them in a fair challenge. That said, Lanterns are human and biases shown.
The Lanterns will be insulted by an attempt at bribery but they are rather susceptible to flattery or flirtation. They also appreciate music, poetry and chutzpah.
If someone challenges a Lanterns and the contestants tie, the Lanterns can choose whether to count it as a win or not. They may say "I respect your valiant effort, but you haven't beaten me" or they might say "You are worthy opponent, I yield".
This is where biased referees might come into play. Characters are free to use flirtation, flattery, bravado or any other social technique to try to win over the Lanterns, the Game Master can pick the attribute + ability based on what the players are describing. The base difficulty to try to sway the Lanterns is difficulty 6 for the Mera and Nami Teams, difficulty 7 for the Greymoria and Khemra Teams.
If players are get one or two successes in an attempt to butter up the Lanterns, their team will win ties.
If the players get three or four successes in an attempt to butter up the Lanterns, they can run their next challenge with a bonus die. If they get five or more successes, they can get two bonus dice.
The Hallisan Flag
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Hallisan's primary followers are nicknamed the Guardians of Valor, or simply the Guardians
The Hallisan has three large lumps under a tarp. Each tarp has an earth elemental under it. If the PCs (or any NPC Team) wants to get the Hallisan, they only have to beat one of them.
If two teams make a play for the Hallisan Flag at the same time, they each get a separate elemental to battle and the Guardians will give the Flag over to the first to best their elemental. Hypothetically, the Guardians could let three teams fight an earth elemental simultaneously, but in reality the third elemental is there just in case the manticore that the Maylar team brought goes rogue.
by me with Midjourney
How to Run an Elemental Fight
The earth elementals will not move unless commanded to and if it looks like an earth elemental is about to kill someone, the controller will restrain or redirect it at the last minute. Earth elementals are very strong and tough, but slow. They are not very hard to hit, especially for a group since it's defense successes can be worn down by multiple attacks. An elementals soak pool is so high that it will probably take many hits to bring it down. The elementals can only attack one character at a time. If everyone just bum rushes the elemental, they will probably win, but might take a hit or two in the process, which might not be much of a problem if the group has a healer. Otherwise there are two ways a team could use coordinated tactics. if the competitors operate in pairs, the pairs in question can pool their parry successes together to make the party collectively harder to hit. Alternatively, a character with Dexterity and Wits of 3 or better can be the Roving Defense for his/her entire party and use his/her A-action to augment the dodge or parry of whoever is being attacked round-by-round (the B-action is used moving around). If the Roving Defense character never attacks the elemental, the elemental will never attack the roving defense character. Earth Elemental Dice Stats
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Base Attack Dice Pool: 5
Base Defense Pool: 4
Base Damage Pool: 7
Soak Pool: 8
Health Levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1. Destroyed
(If there are three PCs instead of four, reduce the damage and soak pool by one die each).
Buttering up the Judges
Even properly flattered, the Guardians will not lift a finger to help any of the Teams fight their elemental. The only situation in which buttering up the Guardians might be useful is if two teams defeat their elemental and the same time and it's not clear who won or one of the teams is displaying unsportsmanlike behavior and the PCs want to talk the Guardians into helping them stop the cheaters. They respect valor, hard work, and forthright dealings, and will be hard to sway. Attempts to flirt, flatter, or bribe the Guardians is base difficulty 8. The Guardians are pretty stoic, but they are not robots and are still human at the end of the day.Let's Mug 'Em!
Sister Ragani, the priestess heading the Hallisan delegation is carrying the Flag openly, and she is a gnome, a buff gnome wearing heavy armor, but she's still only three feet tall. In theory, a Team could just snatch it out of her hands and run. The gnome is controlling all three earth elementals and if she's jumped she will command the elementals to defend her. The other two Guardians are buff humans who are well-armed with shields and battle axes. All three of them have six dice base combat pools and Strength 3. Even with the strength penalty that Scarterran gnomes receive, she is not a pushover. Fighting one earth elemental is substantially easier than fighting several elementals and three holy warriors though the Guardians are absolutely not expecting anyone to just grab the Flag, so any Team trying to do this will probably at least get the element of surprise, and the characters have a good shot at outrunning the Guardians though outfighting them in a very difficult task.The Phidas Flag
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There are five Masks, Tikhon the priest is their leader. He has two honor guard (one man, one woman) and two teenaged acolytes (one boy, one girl). The honor guard are wearing closed faced helmets with mask designs, the other three have small masks over their eyes but leaving most of their faces exposed.
Tikhon ordered his entourage not to talk to the players unless absolutely necessary. Tikhon will relay instructions and possibly hints.
Puzzle Set Up
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There are 81 stones laid out in a 9 x 9 grid. The X-axis and Y-axis are clearly labeled one to nine. Of the 81 stones, one has the real key underneath it, eight random stones have a fake key.
There is a table with assorted knickknacks and tiny statues. You can add your own, but here’s a representative set.
A dancing satyr
A small dragon
A unicorn
A leaping trout
A maiden/mother/crone trio
A see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, monkey trio
A fake crown
A wizard’s hat
A lump of fool's gold
A carnival mask
A wooden sword
An hour glass
A Scarterran Zodiac wheel
Each item has a number on the bottom.
As Game Master, you can randomize the location of the key or you can default to (4, 7)
While giving the first riddle, Tikhon will hold his arm out in front of him. While giving the second riddle he will hold his arm over his head.
This indicates the X-axis and y-axis, but he will not explain this.
Tikhon will just keep repeating the riddles, he will not deliberately give any hints or say anything else, but characters can try roll Perception + Empathy (difficulty 7) to read his face for hints. A lower difficulty if they butter him up.
The Game Master can use any riddles he or she wants, but default to the classics.
What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? Man, or you know also Woman (X-number is under the maiden/mother/crone statue).
Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking; Clad in mail, never clinking (Y-number is under the trout)
If the Game Master wants to use his own riddle, just make sure the answer to your riddle has a corresponding knickknack on the table.
Buttering up the Judges
The players might be able to trick one of the teenaged acolytes into blurting something out that they shouldn't, but functionally buttering up the judges means buttering up Tikhon. Tikhon is shrewd and paranoid, so this is no easy feat, but it not impossible to use flattery, trickery, bribery, or some other verbal trick to get him to dispense a hint. Tikhon pretends to be unbiased but he wants Team Khemra or Team Greymoria to win. He won't verbalize a hint, but his face might use facial expressions to let the players know if they are on the right or the wrong track. Whatever social trick the players try to use, it's difficulty 7 for the Greymoria or Khemra Team to manipulate him, or difficulty 8 for the Nami or Mera team to do likewise. You need three successes for him to give a hint.Let's Mug 'Em!
The flag is in a small wooden strongbox, the sort that merchants store their valuables on long wagon rides. The normal process is to solve the puzzle to get the key to unlock the chest. It is not possible to mug the Masks and steal the key from them because the Masks are not actia;;u carrying the key. They hid the key and the puzzle reveals the hiding place. The chest is in clear sight, so the players skip the puzzle and break open the chest. The box is heavier than it looks, at least one person in each team saw the set up and this obvious from watching the Masks move the box in a hand cart rather than carrying it. It's not a magic trick, the box is full of rocks and the Flag is on top of the rocks. A character with Strength 4 can push or shove the box slowly. A character with Strength 5 can pick up the box and carry the chest short distances. Carrying the chest off is not very feasible unless the players defeat all the Masks in combat first. Any character with Divination ● can examine the box and notice that it has Transmutation magic on it. It's making the wood stronger. Smashing the box open barehanded or with a sword or rock is a level 8 Feat of Strength check. Using an axe or mace to smash it open is a level 6 Feat of Strength. If a character with Purification ●●● gets three successes on a Purification roll, they can remove the Transmutation spell. At this point this lowers the Feat of Strength levels to 7 and 5 respectively. The Transmutation spell has no effect on the lock. It seven successes on an extended Dexterity + Legerdemain roll (difficulty 7) to pick the lock. Each attempt takes 30 seconds and requires the full concentration of the would-be lock picker. There are two armed guards wearing medium armor and carrying battle axes and shields. They have five-dice combat pools. They are not going to stand by twiddling their thumbs while a Team is trying to pick the lock or smash open the chest. That means they have defeated or distracted. Perhaps one player goes for the chest and the others run interference. There is the option to wait for another Team to solve the Phidas puzzle and then snatch the key or the Flag from them. If one Team solves the Phidas Puzzle and has not gotten the Flag out of the Phidas Area yet and another Team is directly interfering with the Team that solved the Puzzle, the armed guards will back the Puzzle solving Team up as long as the Teams are in the Phidas area of the game grounds. Tikhon is carrying an arming sword, but he's not a brave man. He won't fight the players unless forced, but he is clever and paranoid. If he suspects one of the Teams is going to try something fishy, he will use his theurgy to buff the honor guard. If there is trouble, the two unarmed acolytes will run and/or hide. The Teams all know that the key is hidden somewhere in the Phidas Area. If any of the Teams starts tearing up the area at random looking for the key without trying to solve the clues first, the guards will response hostilely just like they would for a direct attack on the chest.Pacing
Ideally this adventure will take about four hours, the normal time frame for a convention or game store TTRPG demo. There are five Godly Challenges., but the PCs do not have to undertake all five challenges. With the way the game is setup, It is functionally impossible for one team to go after all five challenges. While the PCs are going after one challenge, the NPC teams will be working on other challenges and at least one or two of them will get a flag before the PCs can stop them. The PCs will probably be able to hit two Godly Challenges. If they are very efficient and/or lucky they might be able to hit three Godly Challenges. After this, there is a brief free-for-all as the Teams enter a free-for-all and try to steal the other team's Flags. After all five flags are picked up by one or another, the event organizers will throw up a fifteen minute warning bell. The winning team is whoever has the most flags after the fifteen minutes. signalled by a closing bell. If things don't go super smoothly and the GM and players are nearing the four hour time window before all five flags are collected, the Game Master can declare that the Nonagon event organizers will hit the warning bell early. At which point, the PCs can enter the free-for-all or try to make a mad dash to catch the last free flag.
Reccommended Schedule Guidelines
Introductions: Hand out characters explain premise 30 minutes Challenge Phase, The characters go for the challenges, GM covers what the other teams are doing in broad strokes 110 minutes End of Tournament Free-For-All, 90 minutes Midgame recess/pee break, 10 minutesAltering the Adventure to make it longer or shorter
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If you want to squeeze this adventure into a smaller time slot, you can have three teams compete for four Flags or have two teams compete for three Flags.
If you want to make this a two or three session adventure instead of a one-shot, you can have two Maylar Flags, two Korus Flags, two Hallisan Flags, and two Phidas Flags. A team would not be allowed two copies of the same Flag
In this variant, there would be two loose monsters with a Maylar Flag and for the other Flags, the first and second Teams to complete the challenge would get a Flag.
This will let the PCs take on more challenges and it will delay the final free-for-all. Also it will make inter team dynamics more complicated,
If you want to make it really complicated, you have two different groups of players compete in the same tournament. You'd probably need two Game Masters so the two PCs can go after separate challenges and separate NPC teams for portions of the adventure.
Psychological Tricks
by Monty Python Movie Still
Mera, named by Zeta Gardner
Nami, named by Zeta Gardner
Greymoria, Named by Zeta Gardner
Khemra, named by Zeta Gardner
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