Sultan Abdurahman is 104 years old, and survived only by one of his nine grandchildren, Rasshid ibn Taj ibn Abdurahman, the current heir to the throne. Abdurahman is always accompanied by his advisor, Nazim, a man who seems almost as old as the king himself. Known only to the Sultan himself, Nazim is actually a genie who’s advised every sultan in the city’s history. Nazim is bound to three duties: enforce the city’s laws, ensure the city prospers, and follow the dictates of the sultan. Each of the duties is equally important and given equal weight.

The PCs arrive at a somewhat inopportune time, as the same night they arrive there is an assassination attempt on Sultan Abdurahman. The attempt is botched, and it is relatively easy to discover that Nazim was behind it.

If the PCs suggest to the Sultan that it was Nazim, he dismisses that as preposterous (since he believes Nazim cannot harm him) When confronted, Nazim is clearly despondent about the attack, but unapologetic. He explains that Abdurahman, though once a great and powerful leader, has simply grown too old. He is older than any mortal has any right to be, and his mind has been ravaged by age. The Sultan no longer looks after his city as he should, is easily confused and his memory is all but gone.

The laws of the city are very clear, though: so long as Abdurahman still draws breath, only he may lead it. Thus Nazim orchestrated the assassination attempt so that the leadership would pass to Rasshid.

As if to punctuate Nazim’s accusations, the next day the Sultan holds court, and many seek him out for help. He seems to listen to them, but when asked for aid he has no idea what was just said, but rather he was (for example) entranced by the memory of a monkey he once saw stealing a fig from a goat. Nazim does his best to cover up for the Sultan, but there is little that can be done.

Baron Obarof, the lord of the area, is not terribly concerned about the welfare of his missing subjects. In fact, as tax day is fast approaching, he suspects that the worthless worms are hiding so that they can avoid his collectors. To show them the folly of their plans, he intends to reclaim and redistribute any farmsteads which don’t pay in full on tax day. Oberaf nonchalantly explains that anyone who disappears and then miraculously reappears will be put to death for tax evasion.

The truth is that the Gray Wolves, a secret militia dedicated to the eradication of evil and defense of the innocent, has been sequestering the families in hidden save havens. They are preparing to overthrow Baron Obarof for his gross negligence, greed, and contempt towards his subjects. They do not know how long the coup will take, and want to ensure that Obarof can’t harm the innocents in retaliation to the Wolves’ actions.

Each specter is an elite assassin trained in a variety of skills. Tracking, espionage, impersonation, forgery… all are required for the specter’s mission. Specters are given a target, and must then follow him and keep tabs on him without being discovered. Meticulous logs are kept, and a specter may follow their target for years. In fact, it’s not uncommon for one never to be given the order to assassinate. However, when one is, they accomplish their task quickly with ruthless efficiency and then escape.

The few who know of the Specters of Ptolan suspect they get their orders from the equally-enigmatic Chronastic Assembly. It’s little more than an educated guess, however, as neither group is prone to the sorts of mistakes which would leave evidence one way or another. The specters do tend to take missions involving very high-ranking politicos, though, the same sorts of people which are often of interest to the Assembly.

Encounters with The Specters of Ptolan

The PCs stumble upon a cache of information about a local noble… They’ve actually found a specter’s drop point, and woe be unto them if it’s discovered they know about it!

One of the PCs could be stalked by a specter, never quite sure if there’s actually someone following him or if it’s just his imagination.

The PCs might be assigned to guard someone who, it turns out, is under surveillance by a specter. When the specter’s given the order to assassinate, the PCs have to stop him.

The only true industry in Shentreau is the manufacture of wine. Most of the vintners belong to one of four competing cartels; all told there are around twenty vineyards which produce approximately seventy different varieties of wine. The wonderful variety of wines is what originally attracted the wealthy and cultured to Shentreau, and the arts followed.

The central district of Shentreau is densely packed with upscale buildings. Inns, restaurants, brothels and more all cater to the fabulously wealthy. Most of the inns provide modest servants quarters adjoined to their guest quarters. The city’s workers mostly live in a shantytown along the western edge of the city.

Of all Shentreau’s many attractions, the greatest by far is the Grand Art Show held each month at the Vodonford. Here, artists from all over the world compete to have their paintings, sculptures, and even songs recognized. Those who win acclaim at the art show are showered with money, gifts, consorts and even land and noble titles.

Encounters in Shentreau

The PCs could be hired by one of the wine cartels to sabotage the vineyards of the other, or to stop such sabotage.

One of the many aspiring artists with which Shentreau is overflowing might try to get a PC to pose for a picture. Imagine the PCs surprise if the painting wins a prize in the Grand Art Show, and she becomes a celebrity overnight!

Shentreau would be a great place to locate The Slums.

See also The Plagiarist.

Several months ago that all changed, however. Minaerva made the transformation from art-lover to artist, and she’s seen a meteoric rise to success. Every month at the art show she appears, and every month she wins best-in-show. The other nobles are all in awe at her seemingly endless variety; unlike so many others the works of M are always fresh, edgy and exciting.

Minaerva has a terrible secret, however. She’s not got an artistic bone in her body. What happened originally is she was approached by a young man by the name of Bruno. Bruno had no money to get his art in the shows, and was completely unknown so could not get an audience with any of the high society. He learned of Minaerva, the woman who so desperately wanted to be taken seriously, and figured that she might give him a chance.

Minaerva gave him a chance, but not in the way he’d hoped. She invited him to her estate and locked him away in the basement, stealing his artwork. This she presented as her own, and after the rave reviews she forced Bruno to paint more. These new works were poorly received however, and she fell out of favor. Minaerva killed the artist in her rage.

Ever since then, she’s sent trusted agents around the city and surrounding areas to discover new talents and bring them to her manor. She steals their best work and imprisons them in her basement, not quite having the mettle to kill them as she did the first.

Encounters with The Plagiarist

Arnod Zep was a simple farm boy who, through a friend of his father’s, got a job as a servant to Lord Huntsley, one of the cognoscenti in Shentreau. Arnod had grown quite used to being hauled back and forth to the art shows, and the whole affair was quite boring to his “unrefined” eye.

Last week, however, something he saw startled him: back in his village there was a young lady named Kristina whom he had eyes for. Kristina, like him, worked on a farm, but with her free time she’d taken up painting, and there was one hauntingly beautiful picture of a little girl (Arnod’s sister, in fact) standing in front of a well.

This picture was displayed as M’s latest, and after the show Arnod told his master about it. His master had long been suspicious of M’s talent, and this provided the impetus he needed. Lord Huntsley contacts the PCs, hiring them to expose M for the fraud she is.

Merribeth has become the victim of a particularly malevolent fae called a “toar kil’narrin,” or a duplicant. The toar kil’narrins feed on fear and despair and have the ability to copy someone’s appearance and steal their memories. While the person’s memories are in the possession of the toar kil’narrin, the person’s life is linked to it. Thus Merribeth would never actually have died in her coffin, so long as the duplicant survived, until such time that it got bored with and abandoned her.

It’s actually quite common for the toar kil’narrin to bury their prey alive. It suits their abilities and needs very well; it keeps the person safe from harm, important because if the victim died so would the fae, and the predicament they find themselves in combined with the complete lack of memories prove cause exceptionally powerful feelings of fear and despair.

The burial also serves another purpose: it prevents the victim from overwhelming the toar kil’narrin. Being confined in the box severely limits the stimuli they’re subject to. Ever since Merribeth was released, this particular duplicant has been somewhat disoriented by the flood of additional stimuli. It’s hidden this fact, since it doesn’t want to fall under too much scrutiny, but if the PCs face it it will be caught off guard.

As soon as the toar kil’narrin is destroyed, Merribeth’s memories will return to her.

They received the box, sealed, from her, and there’s no way she could have gotten into it without them knowing. The woman of course knows nothing.

Follow-ups: What happened to the woman’s memories? Is she the person who paid the men, or was it someone who looks like her? If it was her, how’d she get in the box and why would she do that? If it wasn’t, then who was it, and why did they look like the woman’s identical twin?

The men have just buried a pine box. They don’t know what was inside, and were paid well to bury it quickly and without being seen. Inside the box is a young woman, dressed in fine clothing. Her breathing is slow and shallow and to all but a trained eye she likely appears dead. She’d been drugged so that the people burying her wouldn’t know they were burying someone.

The girl wakes up about 15 minutes after she’d been initially buried; whoever did it to her had intended for her to be conscious of her predicament. She has no memories of what happened, how she got there, or even who she is.

Follow-ups: Who is this woman? Who had her buried, and why?

The following day, the child decides to run away and follow the characters. She might be smitten with one of them or maybe she’s just enamored with the idea of adventuring. Regardless, she sneaks away when the coast is clear and follows the PCs tracks. She’s actually good at following tracks, as her father’s often brings her along while hunting game.

She finally catches up to the PCs when they are locked in combat and decides that she will help them! Unfortunately, she is not trained in combat and her bejeweled dagger is a poor weapon made for show. It is up to the characters to keep her from getting hurt.

Of course, as soon as he discovers his daughter’s disappearance, the noble will dispatch some men to retrieve her. They’ll likely assume that the PCs have kidnapped her.

As if that all wasn’t bad enough, one of the men is corrupt. He volunteers to ride the girl back while the rest of them arrest the PCs. Once far enough away, he’ll stage an actual kidnapping with some accomplices and tell his lord that bandits mugged him and took her.

Ultimately, whether the noble believes the PCs story or not, he will hold them all personally responsible if anything happens to his daughter.

She introduces herself as Aksana, and she has twisted her ankle. Despite her noble clothing, she has little in the way of valuables, and says she is just a peasant traveling to see her grandmother in the small village of Maybridge, her grandmother being a midwife. She has little to offer the PCs but her undying gratitude if they’ll help her reach her destination. If pushed about her clothing, she will grudgingly admit to being the daughter of a minor duke.

Complication: Aksana is not who she claims to be. She is in fact the missing Princess Cyzarine, who’s been missing for months. She ran away when she discovered she was pregnant for fear that her parents would kill her lover Vadim. The grandmother she spoke of is in fact Vadim’s, not her own. Along the way to her destination, some thuggish brutes recognize her and accost the party, trying to secure her and ransom her for a reward. To make matters worse, soon after the fighting breaks out, Cyzarine goes into labor!