Rogues in Remballo (1 of 3)
Rogues in Remballo is an adventure for first-level characters, but is not intended as an adventure for a first-time game master or players. The adventure is not difficult to run, but pacing an adventure like this one requires a game master with some experience. There is a large area for information gathering, which can slow down the adventure if it is not well controlled, and assaults on a location like the Four Corners frequently bog down in excessive planning and discussion. The experienced game master should encounter no difficulties here, but keeping the action moving could prove to be a problem for a first-timer. Frog God Games publishes a number of introductory adventures suitable for learning how to run a game for the first time, and if you have never run an adventure before, one of these would be a better introduction to the art.
The first section of the module introduces basic information about the City of Remballo, in the Kingdom of Suilley. This material is not necessary for the use of the module, but provides context that may be useful if you want to use the entire city in your campaign. Information about the city of Manas and the countries surrounding Remballo is published in The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces published by Frog God Games.
The second part of the module is the complete adventure, as presented in the Borderland Provinces book. For ease of reference and to avoid page-flipping, it has its own introduction at the beginning of the section.
Rogues in Remballo takes place in the neighborhood of Dead Fiddler Square. It is a starting adventure for 1st-level characters, designed to get them a few experience points and establish relationships (good or bad) with some possible patrons who can point them to more adventures in the future. By the end of the adventure, the characters will most likely have contacts with the Borgandy family, the Thieves’ Guild of Remballo, and the City Watch.
Like most cities, Remballo has a tangled mess of strange laws and land rights. Case in point, a small courtyard in the Dead Fiddler Square neighborhood called the Four Corners is not subject to search or seizure by city authorities. It has become a place where stolen goods and renegade people can be hidden from the law, and the courtyard’s tenants are known to be a criminal fraternity of some kind. The situation has become more a matter of concern not only to the neighbors but also to the city watch and the Thieves’ Guild.
Ordinarily, this is exactly the sort of situation the Thieves’ Guild would handle for the city; the reason the guild is allowed to exist is because it helps control and regulate crime. However, in this case, the Thieves’ Guild believes (a) it has a traitor in its midst, and (b) the operation going on in the Four Corners is being run by the Thieves’ Guild of Manas. If the Manas Thieves’ Guild is involved, it creates a serious problem. First, there is a strict policy of nonviolence between the guilds, formalized in an actual treaty. Second, the Manas Thieves’ Guild is much more violent and numerous than the one in Remballo, which makes keeping to the treaty a matter of self-preservation as well as honor. However, if the Manas thieves are fencing goods or operating in Remballo, the Remballo thieves would very much like to put a stop to it, preferably involving the death of the Manas thieves who are invading their territory.
The first section of the module introduces basic information about the City of Remballo, in the Kingdom of Suilley. This material is not necessary for the use of the module, but provides context that may be useful if you want to use the entire city in your campaign. Information about the city of Manas and the countries surrounding Remballo is published in The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces published by Frog God Games.
The second part of the module is the complete adventure, as presented in the Borderland Provinces book. For ease of reference and to avoid page-flipping, it has its own introduction at the beginning of the section.
Adventure Background
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Milestones along the road count down the distance to the city of Remballo for the last five miles. When the city comes into view, it has the look of a fortification rather than a settlement, with high stone walls and substantial towers. Two flags fly over the gatehouse, one of them a mounted merchant on an orange background, and the other a triangle of three coins on a field of black.
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Remballo is a small city along the South County Road between the capital cities of Olaric and Manas, where a wide cart-road from the kingdom’s rural interior joins the high road. The town is filled with merchants, petty traders, carters, caravan guards looking for employment, and others who make their livelihood along major trade roads. Much of the area inside Remballo walls is given over to warehouses and caravan yards, large inns, and animal corrals, all the requirements of a commercial city.
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Remballo is not built upon Hyperborean ruins, as many of the cities of the Borderland Provinces are. It was founded in 3027 — at roughly the same time as Bard’s Gate — as a small trading post to take advantage of increasing trade from the southern cart road. The southern trail is usually called the Remballo Road, even though it is not paved in any way and winds drunkenly through the countryside, making sharp curves around woodlands and hillsides. To call it a “road” is quite an overstatement of the facts. Nevertheless, the Remballo Road is one of the longest decent trails through this part of the kingdom’s interior. A fairly steady stream of farm produce and other rural goods arrive at Remballo from the south, except during the mud season when rural travel becomes tremendously difficult for carts and wagons.
The City of Remballo
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- County Road Gate
- Remballo Road Gate
- Red Jongleur Inn (detailed below)
- Citadel
- Counting-House of the Borgandy family (detailed below)
- Cathedral of Thyr and Sefagreth (detailed below)
- Corrals and Enclosures for animals
- Warehousing District
- Cathedral Square
- Caravansary (caravans assemble in these fields)
- University of Remballo
- Citadel Courtyard (municipal buildings)
- Public Baths
- Thieves’ Guild
- Dead Fiddler Square
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The Borgandy family are a house of investors and bankers headquartered in Remballo. Rather than engaging in trade themselves, they finance caravans, expeditions, and land purchases for others. They do invest in town real estate, not only in Remballo but also in Manas and Olaric, but the only reason they would hold farmland is if they had foreclosed on a noble’s estate. The patriarch of the Borgandy Family is Romero Borgandy, and much of the family’s business is also managed by his daughter, Isobel Borgandy Razaan (the Razaan family is closely allied with the Borgandys).
The Borgandys provide a few services that might be useful to adventurers. First of these is simply to hold money safe for travelers unwilling to carry huge sums with them on the dangerous roads of the Borderland Provinces. The Borgandys do not pay interest on deposits: ensuring the safety of large sums of money is considered value enough in these uncertain times. Second, the Borgandys issue “letters of credit” that can be redeemed with other moneylenders in distant cities on the strength of the Borgandy family’s assets. Such letters of credit are extremely specific, with a description of the holder given in the letter itself, making them useless to thieves (other than shapechangers, perhaps). Moreover, the paper used for the letters bears a very specific magical watermark, difficult to forge even for a high-level spellcaster. The downside of these letters is that they cost 10% of the face value (a 1000gp letter of credit requires a payment of 1100gp), which is how the Borgandys make their profits and pay their distant affiliates for cashing the letters in.
The Counting House is, for obvious reasons, well fortified. A robbery would by no means bankrupt the family since they have extensive realestate holdings, loans to nobles, and shares of caravan cargos, but there is still a formidable quantity of treasure stored away here.
One might expect the Borgandy family to be motivated purely by self interest, and there are unquestionably a few of them that fit the mold of a greedy banker. Most of them, however, are dedicated to the proposition that if they foster a more productive world, one that is governed by law and mercy (commercially reasonable mercy, at least), their own trade will prosper. For a family that lives a thousand miles from any sea, their oddly maritime motto is that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” The family has informants and agents in several of the great cities, and in addition to the commercial information they get from this network, they have been piecing together information about larger-scale criminal activity. Unlike the counts and dukes and kings of the Provinces, the Borgandys assemble information that is not cut off by political boundaries, and they have a much broader picture of the threats facing the Borderland Provinces as a whole. They understand many of the implications of Foere’s withdrawal from the region, and have also discerned that the northern-based Friendly Men appear to be a very far-ranging criminal syndicate. They even surmise that the headquarters of the Friendly Men is probably somewhere in Aachen Province.
Although they cannot pay well for purely altruistic missions, the Borgandys might be willing to hire traveling adventurers for a number of different tasks. They often have foreclosures in distant lands, investments that seem to be going bad for no discernable reason, and people they suspect of being dishonest in business dealings. They handle their own problems in Manas and Olaric for the most part, but always have need of trustworthy help in places such as Kingston, Troye, Alembretia, and even the distant city of Endhome. In particular, they are very concerned about the fact that one of the Borgandy cousins, Savario Borgandy, has disappeared (see Rogues in Remballo, below).
They do not engage in the opium trade that has started to develop in the area, not for moral reasons but because they want to avoid the violence involved in the opium-related gang wars that are simmering in Manas and elsewhere. “Violence is unprofitable business,” as they say.
Although it is not a common occurrence, the House of Borgandy occasionally does business with Loom Ché, a denizen of Leng who resides in the Unclaimed Lands. Loom Ché captains a ship that can sail through the misty seas between dimensions. For a price, he sometimes ships supplies of gold coin to the family’s offices in Mirquinoc and Endhome. Loom Ché and his associates are very, very dangerous and unpredictable, not to mention bizarre. Lower-level characters would be at great risk to even board the ship. However, a higher-level group of characters might have a chance to interact with Loom Ché through the Borgandy family.
The Borgandys provide a few services that might be useful to adventurers. First of these is simply to hold money safe for travelers unwilling to carry huge sums with them on the dangerous roads of the Borderland Provinces. The Borgandys do not pay interest on deposits: ensuring the safety of large sums of money is considered value enough in these uncertain times. Second, the Borgandys issue “letters of credit” that can be redeemed with other moneylenders in distant cities on the strength of the Borgandy family’s assets. Such letters of credit are extremely specific, with a description of the holder given in the letter itself, making them useless to thieves (other than shapechangers, perhaps). Moreover, the paper used for the letters bears a very specific magical watermark, difficult to forge even for a high-level spellcaster. The downside of these letters is that they cost 10% of the face value (a 1000gp letter of credit requires a payment of 1100gp), which is how the Borgandys make their profits and pay their distant affiliates for cashing the letters in.
The Counting House is, for obvious reasons, well fortified. A robbery would by no means bankrupt the family since they have extensive realestate holdings, loans to nobles, and shares of caravan cargos, but there is still a formidable quantity of treasure stored away here.
One might expect the Borgandy family to be motivated purely by self interest, and there are unquestionably a few of them that fit the mold of a greedy banker. Most of them, however, are dedicated to the proposition that if they foster a more productive world, one that is governed by law and mercy (commercially reasonable mercy, at least), their own trade will prosper. For a family that lives a thousand miles from any sea, their oddly maritime motto is that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” The family has informants and agents in several of the great cities, and in addition to the commercial information they get from this network, they have been piecing together information about larger-scale criminal activity. Unlike the counts and dukes and kings of the Provinces, the Borgandys assemble information that is not cut off by political boundaries, and they have a much broader picture of the threats facing the Borderland Provinces as a whole. They understand many of the implications of Foere’s withdrawal from the region, and have also discerned that the northern-based Friendly Men appear to be a very far-ranging criminal syndicate. They even surmise that the headquarters of the Friendly Men is probably somewhere in Aachen Province.
Although they cannot pay well for purely altruistic missions, the Borgandys might be willing to hire traveling adventurers for a number of different tasks. They often have foreclosures in distant lands, investments that seem to be going bad for no discernable reason, and people they suspect of being dishonest in business dealings. They handle their own problems in Manas and Olaric for the most part, but always have need of trustworthy help in places such as Kingston, Troye, Alembretia, and even the distant city of Endhome. In particular, they are very concerned about the fact that one of the Borgandy cousins, Savario Borgandy, has disappeared (see Rogues in Remballo, below).
They do not engage in the opium trade that has started to develop in the area, not for moral reasons but because they want to avoid the violence involved in the opium-related gang wars that are simmering in Manas and elsewhere. “Violence is unprofitable business,” as they say.
Although it is not a common occurrence, the House of Borgandy occasionally does business with Loom Ché, a denizen of Leng who resides in the Unclaimed Lands. Loom Ché captains a ship that can sail through the misty seas between dimensions. For a price, he sometimes ships supplies of gold coin to the family’s offices in Mirquinoc and Endhome. Loom Ché and his associates are very, very dangerous and unpredictable, not to mention bizarre. Lower-level characters would be at great risk to even board the ship. However, a higher-level group of characters might have a chance to interact with Loom Ché through the Borgandy family.
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Wealthier travelers in Remballo are directed in particular to the Inn of the Red Jongleur. The Jongleur offers ordinary accommodations to farmers and pilgrims, but their luxury rooms at the top of a large round tower are spectacular. For a (large) price, the Jongleur produces gourmet foods of a quality that would impress even the King of Suilley. The top rooms have their own common room for small gatherings, and the inn is frequently host to diplomatic gatherings of dignitaries from Olaric and Manas, allowing these nobles and luminaries to meet midway and live in luxury while their discussions are in progress.
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The cathedral of Thyr and Sefagreth is a splendid, graceful stone building with the left side dedicated to Sefagreth and the right side to Thyr. It was originally just a small temple to Thyr, financed by the city fathers at the time of the city’s founding. When the first members of the Borgandy family arrived a hundred or so years ago, they began financing the temple and later arranged for the sanctuary to maintain a shrine to Sefagreth as well. The Borgandys take both of these gods as their patrons, without preference between the two. Since the cathedral has a dual nature, it is not maintained by the priests of either of the two deities venerated in its halls. Rather, it is managed by a Vicar neutral to both gods who is appointed by the Borgandy family. The current Vicar is Gorvais Borgandy (gor VAY iss), a family member who showed more talent for managing real estate than money. In addition to supervising the cathedral grounds and building, Gorvais manages several of the warehouses and caravanyards in Remballo on the family’s behalf.
The priests of Thyr and Sefagreth are generally content with the role of tenants, even though it is a bit unorthodox. The Borgandys do not interfere with religious practices, and handle the sort of administrative tasks that the priests view as a distraction anyway.
The priests of Thyr and Sefagreth are generally content with the role of tenants, even though it is a bit unorthodox. The Borgandys do not interfere with religious practices, and handle the sort of administrative tasks that the priests view as a distraction anyway.
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Ghristoph Borgandy is always willing to pay for information, and he occasionally handles the family’s dirty work, some of which is kept secret from the other members of the family. Ghristoph could send a party of adventurers on all kinds of missions, from recovering lost collateral to gaining information about mercantile and political operations in Manas or Olaric, to tracking down rumors about the Friendly Men or the Wheelwrights.
The Adventure
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Rogues in Remballo takes place in the neighborhood of Dead Fiddler Square. It is a starting adventure for 1st-level characters, designed to get them a few experience points and establish relationships (good or bad) with some possible patrons who can point them to more adventures in the future. By the end of the adventure, the characters will most likely have contacts with the Borgandy family, the Thieves’ Guild of Remballo, and the City Watch.
Like most cities, Remballo has a tangled mess of strange laws and land rights. Case in point, a small courtyard in the Dead Fiddler Square neighborhood called the Four Corners is not subject to search or seizure by city authorities. It has become a place where stolen goods and renegade people can be hidden from the law, and the courtyard’s tenants are known to be a criminal fraternity of some kind. The situation has become more a matter of concern not only to the neighbors but also to the city watch and the Thieves’ Guild.
Ordinarily, this is exactly the sort of situation the Thieves’ Guild would handle for the city; the reason the guild is allowed to exist is because it helps control and regulate crime. However, in this case, the Thieves’ Guild believes (a) it has a traitor in its midst, and (b) the operation going on in the Four Corners is being run by the Thieves’ Guild of Manas. If the Manas Thieves’ Guild is involved, it creates a serious problem. First, there is a strict policy of nonviolence between the guilds, formalized in an actual treaty. Second, the Manas Thieves’ Guild is much more violent and numerous than the one in Remballo, which makes keeping to the treaty a matter of self-preservation as well as honor. However, if the Manas thieves are fencing goods or operating in Remballo, the Remballo thieves would very much like to put a stop to it, preferably involving the death of the Manas thieves who are invading their territory.
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The Thieves’ Guild of Manas is not officially running a secret operation in Remballo as feared by the Remballo Thieves’ Guild. However, thieves from the Manas Guild are involved here, without the knowledge of their own guild. They are acting as renegades, an activity that can get them executed by either one of the guilds involved. The Remballo Guild is working from reliable information — that there is a Manas connection to the Four Corners — they just reached an incorrect conclusion that it was the Manas guild behind it rather than renegade members of the guild. This could become important in the events following the adventure.
There are actually two criminal activities based in the Four Corners, and they are not related except for their location and the fact that they know about each other. The first is the fencing and smuggling operation run by the renegade Manas guildmembers. The second is a kidnapping plot by the actual owner of the Four Corners: a man by the name of Doctor Remora, once a professor at the University of Remballo. Remora is a magic-user of small talent, but with a flair for audacious crime. He has kidnapped a member of the Borgandy family, and with the coerced assistance of the banker is producing fake letters of credit.
There are actually two criminal activities based in the Four Corners, and they are not related except for their location and the fact that they know about each other. The first is the fencing and smuggling operation run by the renegade Manas guildmembers. The second is a kidnapping plot by the actual owner of the Four Corners: a man by the name of Doctor Remora, once a professor at the University of Remballo. Remora is a magic-user of small talent, but with a flair for audacious crime. He has kidnapped a member of the Borgandy family, and with the coerced assistance of the banker is producing fake letters of credit.
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The characters might get involved with the Four Corners in a number of ways: the Thieves’ Guild, the City Watch, and the Borgandy Family. The Borgandys are quietly searching for their kidnapped relative, Savario, aware that he could be fashioning letters of credit; they do not know if he has been kidnapped, or if he has turned to a life of crime. The City Watch knows nothing of the possible involvement of the Manas Thieves’ Guild or of the missing Borgandy relative. These are secrets the thieves and the Borgandys are keeping to themselves. However, the City Watch knows that something is going on in the Four Corners, wants to stop it, and has no way to do so — not officially, at least. The Thieves’ Guild, believing that the Manas guild is involved, wants to kill everyone in Four Corners without leaving a trail back to themselves. This is made more difficult by the fact that they believe they have a traitor in their midst.
The City Watch:
If the characters come into contact with the City Watch, they meet with Captain Gustave Bouchard, who explains that the city cannot enter the Four Corners. But if the characters were to break in and find out what is happening, the City Watch also cannot prosecute the characters if they were to take everything in the place. The guards would prefer that the characters capture any wrongdoers and take them out of the Four Corners for arrest, but they won’t lose sleep if there are a few deaths. Because of their legal constraints, they cannot pay for the characters’ work, but they have talked to the House of Borgandy about some sort of secret payment from the city’s premier family. They just don’t want to know about it. Captain Gustave gives them a letter of introduction to speak to Romero Borgandy, head of the family. He also gives them a copy of the player map of the Dead Fiddler Square neighborhood so they don’t have to waste time scouting it out.The House of Borgandy:
If the characters come into contact with the House of Borgandy and appear to be reliable, they are brought before the aged Romero Borgandy and his daughter Isobel, who explains that their cousin Savario has disappeared and must be recovered. They believe that he disappeared in the vicinity of Dead Fiddler Square, and willingly give this information, but they do not mention the possibility that he might be forging letters of credit. It is possible that this contact happens because the City Watch sends the characters to get the promise of a reward from the family. If this is the case, the Borgandys offer a reward of 1000gp for handling the situation in Four Corners, and 2000gp if they can recover Savario — keep in mind that at this point, no one knows that the two missions are connected. If the characters agree to help, the Borgandys give them a copy of the player map.The Thieves’ Guild:
Finally, it is possible that the Thieves’ Guild will contact the characters. This will be done in secret by the guild’s second in command because the guild does not want to alert a possible traitor in their midst. The agent, Master Thief Leonora Spider will of course not mention the possibility of a Thieves’ Guild traitor, but will caution the characters not to talk to anyone in the Thieves’ Guild other than herself. If the characters are obviously concerned about this, she explains the traitor problem. If the characters agree to undertake the mission for the Thieves’ Guild, the guild pays 1000gp for a successful mission, and 500gp toward raising any casualties from the dead at the Cathedral of Thyr and Sefagreth. They give the characters a copy of the player map.-
The Thieves’ Guild of Remballo is virtually an extension of the city government. Thieves are forbidden to act with violence, pickpockets and thieves all pay dues to the guild, and a cut is paid into the city coffers as a tax. Authorized burglaries are limited to a certain number, and the number of thieves allowed in the guild is also limited. Guild thieves are tried in the city courts (with a guild attorney), but if convicted they are sentenced not by the city but by the guild, which assesses monetary damages rather than hangings, brandings, and mutilation. On the other hand, the Thieves’ Guild actively hunts down freelance thieves, handing them over to the city or trying them in the Court of Thieves (which invariably hangs the freelancers they convict). As such, the Remballo Thieves’ Guild not only reduces crime in the city but ensures that it is nonviolent, and helps the city to police all other thefts.
The Thieves’ Guild of Manas is an altogether different animal. The City of Manas allows their Thieves’ Guild to remain in operation not because of a friendly relation but because any attempts to close it down result in an all-out crime wave, not only of theft but of murder and arson as well. The guild makes it very clear that war means war. Just as with the Remballo guild, the Manas guild hunts down freelance thieves in its territory and limits its numbers. Unlike the Remballo guild, the thieves of Manas are not barred from violence, and rather than paying the city’s government, they pay bribes to selected government officials.
The city of Manas and its Thieves’ Guild have a much more adversarial relationship than the peaceful situation in Remballo, and the Manas guild has a correspondingly more-violent approach. Since they are already a technically illegal operation, the Manas guild dabbles in crimes other than thieving and fencing, getting into extortion, kidnapping, and even assassination, while the traditionalist Remballo guild absolutely forbids such expansions.
The Thieves’ Guild of Manas is an altogether different animal. The City of Manas allows their Thieves’ Guild to remain in operation not because of a friendly relation but because any attempts to close it down result in an all-out crime wave, not only of theft but of murder and arson as well. The guild makes it very clear that war means war. Just as with the Remballo guild, the Manas guild hunts down freelance thieves in its territory and limits its numbers. Unlike the Remballo guild, the thieves of Manas are not barred from violence, and rather than paying the city’s government, they pay bribes to selected government officials.
The city of Manas and its Thieves’ Guild have a much more adversarial relationship than the peaceful situation in Remballo, and the Manas guild has a correspondingly more-violent approach. Since they are already a technically illegal operation, the Manas guild dabbles in crimes other than thieving and fencing, getting into extortion, kidnapping, and even assassination, while the traditionalist Remballo guild absolutely forbids such expansions.
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The City Watch and the Thieves’ Guild have both been keeping an eye on the Four Corners, and can tell the characters that there is not much passage in and out of the place, even though several people seem to be living there. They prefer that the characters be extremely discreet about asking questions, and definitely don’t want to see a door-to-door investigation going on. A quick scout-around is fine, but they want the place cleared out regardless of who is in there, so there isn’t much mystery (or so they think). A bit of discreet inquiry of the neighbors could help the characters, but it can also slow the adventure down, so try to move them along if they are playing police detectives.
The only person who seems to go in and out on a regular basis is the owner, a Doctor Remora who once taught at the University of Remballo.
Doctor Remora is described as a tall man, bald except for a long, red-dyed braid (a queue) that lies down his back. He usually wears professorial robes, and he talks to himself. No one in the university knew him well, and he was removed from the faculty for accepting bribes from students.
If the characters visit the university, they gain a piece of information no one originally told them: Doctor Remora is a magic-user, although not a very good one. No other useful information comes from the university; do not let the characters get bogged down there.
The only person who seems to go in and out on a regular basis is the owner, a Doctor Remora who once taught at the University of Remballo.
Doctor Remora is described as a tall man, bald except for a long, red-dyed braid (a queue) that lies down his back. He usually wears professorial robes, and he talks to himself. No one in the university knew him well, and he was removed from the faculty for accepting bribes from students.
If the characters visit the university, they gain a piece of information no one originally told them: Doctor Remora is a magic-user, although not a very good one. No other useful information comes from the university; do not let the characters get bogged down there.
Temporary Surveillance on the Characters
Whether the City Watch or the Thieves’ Guild (or both) hire the characters, the patron has a spy shadow the characters to make sure they are remaining discreet. Moreover, if the characters were hired only by the City Watch, they almost immediately gain a spy shadow from the Thieves’ Guild and vice versa. Within a day, spies will follow them, one from each organization. The spies notice each other, and report to the characters that they are being followed. This can lead to all sorts of complications; if the characters handle it well, they may come into peaceful — or non-lethal, at least — contact with another patron, and get more reward money for the same task. If they kill a thief or a guard, on the other hand, they will be in trouble with a powerful organization in the city. Under no circumstances will either of the two tailing spies assist the characters in any way within the boundaries of the Four Corners. Their organizations do not want to be implicated in anything: that’s what the characters are for. If both the city watch and the Thieves Guild end up hiring the characters, the two organizations decide that there is no need to keep tailing the characters and withdraw their agents for more useful pursuits.
Adventure Layout
• Appearance
• General Information
• History
• City of Remballo Map and Key
• The House of Borgandy
• Place of Interest
• Adventure Opportunities
• Rogues in Remballo
• What's Happening in Four Corners
• Getting Involved
• Investigating the Neighborhood
• Dead Fiddler Square Map and Key
• Various Locations
• Ground Floor
• Upper Floors
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