Encounter-a-Day

One night, while walking through the seedier part of a large city, the players come across a well-dressed man lying in an alley. Out of place and out of his head on drugs, he lays on the ground babbling incoherently.

A civic-minded character might recognize the man as Burton McKrendle, the head of the city council and a very powerful politician. Regardless of whether they recognize Burton or not, it is clear the man is the sort who carries a lot of money and shouldn’t be alone in this part of town.

If the players help him discreetly, he acts grateful when he’s feeling better and promises them a great reward for their aid and candor. In truth, however, Burton is terribly paranoid and won’t trust the characters to keep their mouth shut. If word got out about what happened, he’d be ruined.

Burton will try to arrange a time to meet and deliver the characters a handsome reward, but in reality he is trying to set up an ambush. He’s knows plenty of thugs who specialize in making problems disappear.

If the players turn him into authorities, Burton will swear revenge and use his considerable influence and contacts to make the characters’ lives a living hell. He’ll try to get them in trouble with the law and, if they get out of that, will send assassins after them.

Finally, if the characters simply rob (or even kill!) Burton, there will probably be no repercussions as no one knows where he is and he’s too out of it to remember anything that happens.