Pietrie's Dish

[RJB]

A short adventure for anyone who needs ideas:

 

Your players are asked by the French embassy to deliver a wooden chair by ship to North Africa and hand it over to the Foreign Legion to help resolve some trifling tribal dispute. Enroute, the ship goes down in an Atlantic storm with all hands. If for some reason the ship can't be sunk in this way, have Geist Kapitan torpedo it during the storm and then leave. In any case your players come to, having been miraculously saved, in a large basement room. There is only one exit from the room, and that way is blocked by bars. The characters have no equipment, the bars are too strong to break, and lock pick attempts fail. After a few hours, they begin to notice that they are all suffering from the same symptoms: fever, nausea, joint pain. It is then that Dr. Petrie shows up, holding a gun.

 

“Gentlemen, welcome to the island of Wango-Bango! I cannot begin to express my joy at the fortuitousness of your arrival, for you are about to help me advance the cause of medical science. Each of you has been infected with a virus unique to this island, a virus that I shall name ‘Pietrie’s Pox’. Ha Ha! That’s a nice name, don’t you think? All scientific discoveries should be named after their discoverer after all!”

 

Pietrie will allow the players a moment to respond before continuing.

 

“The disease is fatal in three days, but do not despair! There is a cure! Yes! A golden panacea! Let me tell you my story. Like you, I too was shipwrecked on this island, a former British colony that was abandoned due to the virulence of the local disease. All that is left is this small fort, and a remarkable diary. The diary claims that the locals have a cure for the disease (Yes, there are natives here!). This cure is remarkable, incredible! They merely drink from a dish made of solid gold and they are cured of any and all afflictions! Gentlemen, I must have that dish! Bring it to me, and you will live. Yes, live, and what is more, escape from this place, for you are not the only things to wash up on shore. I have a large lifeboat, well stocked and hidden. Bring me the dish and we shall return to civilization together. What do you say?”

 

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON

 

The players are not infected with a virus, but with an amoebic parasite present in the local water. Pietrie doesn’t know this, as he has no lab to investigate with, but he does know that people who drink the water tend to get sick. He naturally boils any water before he drinks it.

 

The gold dish exists, but it has no special curative abilities. When someone gets sick, the dish is ritually polished with ikiliki fruit before being filled with water and given to the sick person. The ikiliki fruit is so sour as to be inedible, but it is excellent for polishing metal and the juice from it is absolutely lethal to the local amoeba. It is otherwise not a curative for anything. Pietrie hasn’t figured this out as he is blinded by his own greed and ambition.

 

The natives are friendly enough, but they recognized at once that Pietrie is a scoundrel, so they wont let him anywhere near the dish. The players can get the dish by either stealing it or enduring some suitable ritual of worthiness, such as wrestling some wild animal.

 

It’s up to the GM as to whether Pietrie keeps his word or not. Once the players find his hidden boat (-3 concealment roll) he won’t have a leg to stand on.

[Basil]

Re: Pietrie's Dish

 

I like it pretty much --- nice and pulpy --- but why is something being taken from France to north Africa via the Atlantic, not the Mediterranean?

 

It would make more sense if it was going from England to west Africa. Of course, then it would be meant to be delivered to the Foreign Legation.

[RJB]

Re: Pietrie's Dish

 

The players are being asked by the french embassy. Therefore, they're not in France. The whole thing is really just an excuse to get them on a boat in the middle of the atlantic so that you can sink it:eg:

 

Yes! Yes! And then make them spend all their HAP on not drowning, which you never intended for them to in the first place!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

God, Im evil.

[Basil]

Re: Pietrie's Dish

 

The players are being asked by the french embassy. Therefore' date=' they're not in France. The whole thing is really just an excuse to get them on a boat in the middle of the atlantic so that you can sink it:eg:[/quote']

 

Um, OK. Sorry I didn't notice that. Of course, now the question is why is the embassy in Country A conducting foreign relations with Country B? Oh, and why is a branch of the military representing France in Country B?

 

Yes! Yes! And then make them spend all their HAP on not drowning, which you never intended for them to in the first place!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

God, Im evil.

 

::Backs away ssllooowwwllllyyyy::

[RJB]

Re: Pietrie's Dish

 

Um' date=' OK. Sorry I didn't notice that. Of course, now the question is why is the embassy in Country A conducting foreign relations with Country B? Oh, and why is a branch of the military representing France in Country B?[/quote']

 

 

It's a plot hook. And, I admit it, a plot hole. But then that sort of thing was typical of the pulps, wasn't it? The point is to get to the action quickly.

[Narratio]

Re: Pietrie's Dish

 

He does have a point. Every plot hook is usually covered with a plot hole. The only thing that disturbs me about this plot is that the natives are neither cannibals nor head hunters.

 

Is that allowed?

[RJB]

Re: Pietrie's Dish

 

I agree with you, headhunters/cannibals would be fun. However, in order to survive, the players must be inducted into the tribe and then see the golden dish ceremony. If they just massacre the natives and steal the dish, they won't know to polish it with ikikliki fruit and will probably die as a result.

 

So the natives have to be friendly. Otherwise I go with the standard formula: The Chief wants to have you killed for being outsiders, the Chief's Daughter wants to have your baby, and the Witchdoctor wants to have you for lunch.