From: "Ward Narhi" <narhiw@diebold.com>
Subject: To Uphold the Law
System: Elric!

        ** TO UPHOLD THE LAW **

GM: This encounter can be inserted anywhere in a campaign, just to add an element of realism and roleplaying to an evening. I suggest the backwoods of Ilmiora or Shazaar. It is best with one character, preferably a knight or some other PC who sees himself as noble. Although best with one character, two or three may do as well. The village it is set in is called Tyuleg.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS

Girope Werner: a mean son of a gun. Girope was born in Tyuleg but left when he was 13. He travelled quite a bit and made a small fortune due to his resourcefulness and gumption. At age 32, he returned to the village of his youth to raise cattle and has a flock of 32. The villagers hate him and he returns that hate. He is the orniest jerk the PC will ever meet. He swears constantly, is condescending, has no respect for anyone, is demanding, is ungrateful and loves to insult and demean people. The GM should play this character to the hilt. The mission of the GM is for the player to completely loath Girope. Some favorite phrases are listed, but not limited by, the ones below:

    "you are all just jealous of me"
    "lazy, no good jerks"
    "good for nothing bums"
    "bugger the lot of ye"
    "you pansy-wansy"
    "scheming ingrates"
    any swear word

    (and a host of others-be imaginative and as nasty and personal as possible)

Rufus Alsop: Girope's hired hand is a little touched in the head. He is a hard worker, but only understands simple instructions. Girope is very mean to him, but at least gave him a job when nobody else would. Rufus is too dumb to be bothered by Girope's insults.

Other notables in the town are a miller, innkeep, blackmith, and a storekeep. All are fairly nice people but they have varying levels of antipathy for Girope. Of course there are farms all around the area.

THE INTRODUCTION

The character is riding along on a journey and comes across a small hommlet called Tyuleg. A ramshackle inn is at the center of town, beckoning for the weary traveller to stop and rest. Inside, a few farmers have finished their work and are relaxing with a few ales. There is no place to stay here but the innkeeper may offer to let them sleep inside the bar if the party is nice about it. If not, they can sleep in the stable outside. Have the player carouse with some of the locals. They are a friendly bunch and will want to hear stories from the PC.

This fun is interrupted by the entrance of Girope. He is a large male in his 40s with unkempt brown hair and a rather heavyset frame. Girope slams the door open and goes up the bar:

    Girope: "Gimme a beer.."

The barkeep nervously goes to the tap and starts pouring him a beer.

    Girope: "Do I have to wait all damn day, you lousy idiot?"

The barkeep finishes and gives him the beer which Girope immediately quaffs.

    Girope: "This swill makes me ill. Can't get a decent beer in
    this town. Lousy bunch of thieves too, I tell you."

Girope glares around the tavern and screeches out, "Someone stole two of my cows and I know it was some stinking local. You just keep quiet
for each other since you are all buggering each other."

Girope goes on for quite some time before he notices the PC. He then will ask who they are and try and get them involved. There is no sheriff in the town and it is four day's ride to the nearest city. Girope will try and coerce the PC into investigating for him. If the PC is a knight, Girope will tell him it is his duty to uphold the law. Even during this he will be insulting and a mean cuss. But, if the PCs balk, he will use other means to try and get help.

THE INVESTIGATION

Remember that whenever Girope is talking, it is loud, obnoxious and replete with insults and expletives. Remeber all of this is according to Girope.

Girope will relate that he woke up this morning and went out to check on the cattle with Rufus. Rufus was already out there making sure the cattle had feed. Girope happened to count and notice that two were missing. Rufus can't count, so never knew. Girope then visited two roads around his lands to see if he could find them but was unsuccessful. Frustrated, he went to town to vent.

Girope suspects everyone. First he suspects the miller who charges him an exhorbitant price for grain. Girope says the miller hates him as sometimes he has grain shipped in just to irritate the miller and undercut his price. Girope feels that the miller is hiding the cattle somewhere.

He also suspects the blackmith who always was jealous of Girope's wealth and would just love to see him Girope suffer.

Girope also knows that the storekeep's wife is hot for him and his money so he suspects the storekeep of stealing the cattle in order to impoverish Girope.

Obviously, Girope is just casting accusations right, left, and center, and has no real leads.

Questioning Rufus proves quite futile in that he knows nothing of any interest.

If the PC has TRACK ability, he can explore the ranch area and if the roll is made, can discover where he believes the steer left the ranch. They seemed to head northwest. The tracks get lost on a road though.

If the PCs question the townspeople they will get slightly different stories on Girope as detailed below.

The Miller (Vargal Rintosh): Does not like Girope at all. Thinks he is a rich bastard that would be better off dead and hopes the cattle are never found. He is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The Blacksmith (Skiju Kanbitter): Grew up with Girope and thinks he is ornery but a fair man. A FAST TALK roll will reveal the Blacksmith grew up with Girope and was friends a long time ago. He wishes he had joined him and made his fortune like Girope did.

The Storekeep (Utbar Kopr): Greatly dislikes Girope and raises his prices for him as much as possible. His wife has no interest in Girope whatsoever but is a kind person and Girope interprets that as interest.

Various Farmers: Don't know anything. At one nearby farm an IDEA roll will reveal that the man of the house seems to be absent and the wife
will quickly explain he went to the city for supplies.

Girope will harangue the PC endlessly and make his life miserable even as the PC tries to help him. He will call him many names and eventually give up on him and go back to the inn to drink and fume and wait to see if the criminals are found.

When the PC gets back on the road and continues on his way, after a day he will come across two peasants leading two steer. They are the stolen steer and the peasants will of course give up. But, they say Girope deserved it and their families are hungry and need the money the steer will provide them. It has not been a good harvest lately. They are exagerating to save their hides as they know it is death by hanging to steal cattle. They are simple farmfolk whose greed just got the better of them.

THE FINALE

The PC is faced with a dilemma. Does he uphold the law, even though he despises Girope and may like the peasants? Or, does he stay true to
the law and return the cattle to Girope and bring the men to justice (as Girope will demand and will be gravely incensed if this does not occur)?

If brought to justice the outcome is not a happy one as the two peasants will be hanged.

The true story behind Girope is simple. He made a fortune in his youth and decided to bring it back to his home town. There he settled down to raise cattle. But he did not count on the resentment of his fellow villagers although it was easy for them since he is an obstreperous man. Most envied him his riches and his gumption to make something of himself. He tried to give back to the town in his own way by raising cattle there. His presence enriches the miller, blacksmith, and storekeep greatly although they still dislike him and he returns the favor. Girope sees the villagers as a bunch of ingrates.

If the PC decides to attempt ORATORY, he can try two things. One, he may try and convince the villagers that Girope is not such a bad man and has an inner good side which they fail to see. Success means the village accepts Girope more and slowly breaks his tough reserve down. Or, the PC can ORATE to Girope and convince him to be less rough and the village will be nicer to him.

EPILOGUE: A SECOND ENCOUNTER (OPTIONAL)

The moral fabric of the PC can be further tested by another encounter. Here, he is sleeping in a farmhouse overnight when his horse is stolen. The PC can head to town and catch up with the horsethief if he borrows a horse from a neighboring farm (FAST TALK or some other means to convince). A wandering peasant came across the horse late at night and decided to steal it.

The question the PC now has is whether to turn him in or not.

NOTES

These two encounters are a test to see if the PC is consistent in upholding the law for others as well as himself or whether he is a hypocrite or if he flouts the law totally. The player who I ran this for returned the cattle to Girope but let the peasants go. When his horse was stolen, he had the thief strung up. Interesting, eh?

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Comments, criticisms, or snide remarks about the adventure can be sent
to: narhiw@diebold.com