The Villain and the Countess:

The villain, Elward Highfeather seeks to marry the Countess Olivia of Westfar, thus leaving his plebian origins behind and entering the nobility. He plans to cause the Countess to choose him for her new husband by creating problems that only he can solve.

The problems he intends to/is creating:

1. Bandits: to raid caravans of merchants, to loot freeholds, to steal tax-money

2. Thugs: to pressure merchants in town, terrorize citizens, raise cost of common goods

3. Unrest: bribe peasants and freeholders to complain to the Countess, threaten to take up arms, refuse to pay another tax.

4. Undermine Authority: to undermine the authority of the other Barons, he will bribe their men to fail in killing the bandits, give their Barons bad advice, and even bribe one of his supposed “enemies” amongst the barons, to work for him in misguiding the others (for example, to cause further unrest he will have the false Baron urge the Countess to collect a second tax to replace the first one.)

5. Rumors: he will have rumors spread of heavier taxes, more intrusive soldiery (he creates at least one incident where soldiers searching for bandits are blamed for the rape of a peasant girl, and burning her family’s home), and imply that the bandits are actually working for the Countess!

He intends to show that he can solve these problems by:

1. Catching Bandits (since he’s paying them he can have their leader betray a group of them to him with little danger).

2. Thugs: he proposes that the merchants of the town band together, hire an independent protective force (selected by him), and defend themselves. He, of course, will help pay the largest share because he is wealthy. He actually uses some of his own bandits as this protective force, and doesn’t have to pay them - they collect their pay in stolen goods, which they then bring into town as “loot recovered from bandit lairs”.

3. By dealing with the other problems this one theoretically dies away - he can say it was because they respect him.

4. Doesn’t need to be dealt with; he wants them to continue to look incompetent.

5. By publicly agitating for the flogging of the “disobedient” soldiers, and by touting the “independent” protection as “loyal to the people” he can seem to soothe the tempers of unhappy people, and simply stop paying the rumor-mongers.

Needed NPC’s

villain

countess

villain’s main henchman (with bandits)

bandits

thugs

barons (3 good and 1 bad) (Lord Padric)

merchants in town (5 good and 1 bad)

ladies in waiting (2 good, 1 bad)

villagers (3 or 4 villages) and farmers

townsfolk (1 town)

merchant traders (1 caravan)

suitor lordling

sister of the Countess

young daughter of the Countess

Countess’ priest

Needed Places/Things

caravan

Laston

villages

Farms

countess’ castle

villain’s manor

bandits’ lairs

thugs’ hideout

Countess Olivia of Westfar

Str 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 14 Wis 11 Chr 15

L5 Aristocrat

Countess Olivia inherited her county from her father when she was a young woman (about 19). She has ruled for 10 years. She was married to one of her father’s knights shortly before she inherited, and they were wed for not quite nine years. He died of a sudden stomach ailment just under two years ago. They had one daughter, who is now seven years old. They were very happy together, and she is reluctant to remarry, but she knows that a woman ruling alone is in a difficult situation. She is thinking of remarrying, and her choices are three:

1. Marry the younger son of another Count: Several young men have visited her over the years, and one is currently staying at the castle now. The problem is that any one of these young men would expect to rule the County himself. Her daughter might be disinherited, especially if anything happened to her. Certainly her daughter would lose her position as heiress if she bore her new husband a son.

2. Marry one of her own barons or knights: these men could be trusted, she knows them. Unfortunately, none of them are personally appealing to her. And she is afraid they would not be adequate to the task of co-ruling.

3. Marry one of the merchants in town: one of these merchants would not expect to rule, leaving her authority intact. And the money such an alliance would bring would be useful. But marrying outside one’s class brings other problems. Children of the alliance might be disregarded by the other counts, and even her daughter could have difficulties.

So she waits, hoping that some other option will appear. Unfortunately, things are not going well in the County, and she has realized her decision must be made soon. She is currently leaning towards marrying her senior baron, Lord Simon, as the least of evils.

Elward Highfeather, Mercantyler

Str 12, Dex 9, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 14, Chr 12

L7 Expert (Merchant)

Elward is convinced that marrying Countess Olivia will give him the power and authority he craves. He is wealthy both from his own efforts and those of his parents. He is using that wealth as outlined above to create pressure on the Countess. He will begin his “curative” program in a few months’ time, after one final planned assault on the Countess - he intends to have her kidnapped, and to rescue her himself! With this show of authority and power he knows she will wed him.

Jared Crackjaw, Bandit leader

Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 11, Chr 16

L8 ftr

Jared is a strong, ugly man with real leadership skills, who was once a captain in the Greenvale Patrol, until he was caught extorting money from travelers for protection. He now acts as leader of Elward’s bandits, and is also known in the city of Laston as a huntsman. He has about 30 bandits under his command. He knows who Elward is, but never communicates with him directly. He instead goes through a peddler (Ned Sandiman) who travels between Laston and the surrounding villages.

Jared and his personal group of bandits (10 L1 fighters, longswords and spears) are found most commonly on the road between Woodsvale and Laston, but also in the eastern third of the County. They have a hideout on the edge of the County not far from Stillwater.

Beor: bandit henchman

Str 17, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 11

L4 ftr

Beor is a big strong man who loves to drink and eat. He will challenge anyone who might be stronger than he to arm-wrestle, especially if drunk. He is a bold fighter, and leads one of Jared’s bandit groups. He dislikes dwarves. Beor and his 7 men have a hideout just outside Westfar to the east of Laston. They can frequently be found on the road to the north of Laston, but also in the north-west section of the county.

Beor’s men are all L1, longswords and spears. These men are loyal but know nothing about anyone beyond Beor. They recognize Jared, but do not know how to contact him when he is not around.

The third group of bandits is led by ?

Ned Sandiman, Hobyt peddler (and go-between)

Str 11, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 12, App 14, Ldr 9

L4 thief, (favors dagger, thrown dagger), wears no armor but has a +1 ring of protection

Ned is a red-haired hobbit of cheerful manner and seeming pleasantness. He is really a tool of Elward’s, carrying out both the job of spreading rumors and stories about the Countess’ failures and the actions of the thugs/bandits, and also carrying messages between Jared Crackjaw and Elward’s personal servant Mark.

Mark, human servant

L2 commoner

Mark is Elward’s personal servant and a trusted henchman. The servant carries messages to Ned and Dinias. He is very loyal to his master, but Elward doesn’t realize that Mark is slightly unbalanced and will act in rather violent ways to rid his master of people Mark deems a threat. Mark has access to Elward’s supply of poison and might use it if he feels Elward’s plans are at risk.

Dinias (Thug Leader)

Dinias is a lout. He has only one purpose in Elward’s plans: to die violently when Elward “cleans up” the town’s problems. In the meantime Elward uses Mark to keep him in line. Mark hates Dinias and could be led to betray him early in the right circumstances.

Thugs:

Fin: L3 ftr clever but lazy, he might recognize a carelessly disguised character.

Pitro: L2 thf Pitro is a housebreaker, he spends his spare time dreaming of robbing the local Temple of Centarius.

9 L1 ftrs and thvs. These characters are mere hirelings who enjoy hassling merchants and collecting protection money.

These thugs can be found at various of the taverns during the afternoon hours. In early evenings they gather at the Red Cock, where they plan their next day’s intimidation work. Mostly these thugs stand around in the market, look threatening, and occasionally visit a merchant to voice threats of violence.

Villages:

Treesap: pop 45, 5 close-knit families, have been raided by bandits twice - had pigs stolen, several houses burned. One man killed three months ago. No shops, blacksmith is only craftsman. People are indifferent to Prince Starbow and the Greenvale patrol, suspicious of the Countess, have heard rumors that she “can’t handle being the ruler ‘cause she’s a woman”. Very suspicious of any magic or non-human outsiders. Woodsmen, pig-farmers, small crop fields. Village spokesperson is Ran Hardbottle, a 50-ish pig farmer of epic proportions and drunken manner.

Stillwater: this village is on the bank of a small lake (about 350 yards wide at widest point but nearly two miles long, on the Eagle River). Pop 150, 15-20 families, blacksmith, woodchopper, hedge-wizard (L2) (Korina), priest of Elanora (L1) (Hadrian), and a general merchant. Farmers, huntsmen and fishermen. Only mildly suspicious of outsiders, but very much against the Countess. The rabble-rousers have been here several times, and actually one or two villagers are unknowingly in the pay of Elward (through Ned Sandiman). For a few coppers or small items given by Ned, these locals are happy to spread the most vicious rumors. Bandits have not been in the village, but have raided several farms within a mile or two.

Turnstop: this village is on the main road to Laston, a wagon-day’s travel from it. Pop 125, 12-15 families, small inn, 2 merchants (1 foodstuffs 1 drygoods), baker, miller. Farmers, woodsmen, gatherers of dye-stuff, pig-herders. This village has been raided by bandits once, but seems to treat the experience as a fact of life. However, they are very down on the Countess, because they had their tax-money cheated out of them and had to pay it again. Rabble-rousers have been here and found fertile ground. Innkeeper (Josiah), priest of Centarius (L3), Ranger (L1), and small Patrol outpost (2 men permanently stationed here, and 4-man patrol rides by from Laston 2-3x week). Lord Padric has a manor about 3 miles from here, where there is a blacksmith and a “village” of about 30 people.

There are about a dozen other villages, none with more than 30 pop, in the County. There are also many small farms, eleven Knightly manors, and the other two Baronial manors which boast villages of between 30-50 people. Baronial manors support small villages, have some sort of defense (usually a stone tower of sorts), and house at least 4 armed fighters of L1 or higher, along with 2-8 warriors of L1-2 with some weapns skill. Knightly manors have no defensive structures beyond stone walls and roofs, and usually boast only the knight and perhaps his heir as trained soldiery. They may have 1-4 warriors of1st level.

Laston: pop 3,800. This town is a busy one, being the last stop on the road to Tallowsland and points north. It boasts 4 Inns, a dozen taverns, a large caravan “park”, a half-dozen merchants selling travel supplies, clothing, leather goods, metal goods, and other necessities and luxuries for the road. There are 2 smithies (one blacksmith and one weapon/armorer/finesmith). A leatherworker, a tanner, wagon-maker, basket-weaver, charcoal-seller, butcher, baker, cordwainer, a barrel-maker, two gristmills, a toolmill and a sawmill complete the town’s mercantile trade. There are 3 temples (Elanora, Centarius and Kehret), a wizard (L5), several adepts and at least one sorerer, 2 scribes, a brothel, and 3 bath-houses. There are also several warehouses, a post of 16 Greenvale patrolmen, and the Countess’ manor/keep. Each of the three barons also boast a fine house here, as do about 5 of the Countess’ knights, and three mercantylers, including Elward.