The Rumourmonger

Lead-in

In any town or city in Anarea, the main source of news, rumours, speculation and gossip are the rumourmongers; members of the Guild of Beggars and Rumourmongers. For a silver piece, or more or less, they will tell you all the latest stories, many of which may turn out to be essentially true. Nobody is quite sure where all their information comes from, or how stories disseminate so quickly to rumourmongers around the World. Certainly, a good rumourmonger will readily accept payment in information or interesting stories he does not already know, and the Guilds in different towns are presumably in touch with each other by magical means. Some say that as DALA is Mistress of Rumour, She, or at least Her Temple, are behind the Guild, and are certainly its main source of rumours and lies. Others speculate that the Guild has been infiltrated by Higher Powers, and that some rumourmongers are in fact Demons of Rumour in human form.

A rumourmonger will be an obvious source of information for the Questers, whether in Valdran or in any other town or city they may visit.

Location

Each town or city has a main street or square where the best rumourmongers' pitches are to be found. Any beggar will volunteer information for money, but the best and most reliable (or at least most interesting) stories are to be found on the local rumourmongers' street. If the Questers are in an unfamiliar town, it may be necessary to pay a beggar a copper or so to find this.

In Valdran, it is the Street of False Gods (nobody calls it by its correct name, Old Alma Street – unless the Law State is at +3 or more, at least), which cuts a wide and straight path through the New City to the Old Alma Gate. This street is notorious for being lined with prophets of all sorts of Gods, some of which are aspects of existing Gods, many of which are Demigods vying for worshippers and Godhead, and many of which do not exist at all. Amongst these false (or true) prophets are the best rumourmongers in Valdran, and indeed in the Overworld.

Background Information

The current Law (or Chaos) State of the location will have an effect upon the news (or rumours) available. It will be truer the greater the Law State (or more interesting the greater the Chaos State). However, the more Lawful news will be consistent with Lawful Precognition, which indicates that the Law emanating from the Sun Diamond will not be stopped, and sees nothing beyond the projected solidification of all Anarea on the last day of the month. Yet it is a truism that Lawful Precognition takes no account of the influence of Chaos (in its widest sense) upon the World. The more useful information to the Questers may therefore be found amongst the rumours.

Note that, to DALA, "news" and "rumour" are interchangeable terms. It is a mistake to think She spreads only lies. She is just more concerned with how interesting a story is than how true it is. "True" is an essentially Lawful concept, and therefore so is "False" (although DALA may adopt the latter as an interesting counterpoint to "True").

This Scenario applies whichever alternate Version of the 1-off is being run. Certain information presented below may therefore be a Clue ("True") in one Version and a Red Herring ("False") in another. Or maybe they are just pointers to alternative solutions to the problem faced by the Questers. The DM may choose to elaborate as appropriate.

NPCs

In any sizeable town, there will be competing rumourmongers vying to provide news which is likely to be very similar in its actual content. They compete on how well they tell the stories, rather than on price (The Guild has Rules about this.). They will not directly accuse each other of being wrong (The Guild has Rules about this too.), but will each claim to have further, more interesting information on the subject, or that an alternative explanation or speculation is more interesting or is more widely believed.

Each of the L, N and C Players may therefore play at least one rumourmonger / beggar / false prophet. Those provided below are typical examples from the Street of False Gods in Valdran.

Darius, Prophet of OMERRON, God of Knowledge (L); Darius makes a selling point of the truth and accuracy of his news, and will not deal in mere gossip and speculation. However, he is known to toe the Imperial line, and is regarded on the Street as an unofficial spokesman for the Empire. Indeed, he is in the pay of the Imperial Secret Service, and peddles propaganda and leaks for them, as well as selling them information from the Street. As the I.S.S. reports directly to the Emperor, if the Questers won the Duel he will in theory be a spy working for Decus XXI, but this will depend to what extent they have managed to take control of the machinery of government.

Darius preaches the claim to Godhead of OMERRON, Demigod of Knowledge (Who he will readily admit is presently only a Demigod if he is challenged). However, this is only a front to keep up appearances on the Street, and he has no real Faith in or links with OMERRON. He preaches that OMERRON has Nine Books, one for each Alignment, in which are written the sum total of All Knowledge, but does not know how these Books are to be found or consulted.

Ilar, Prophet of THE GREAT WISE OWL (N); Ilar is a Bird Cultist and Priest of THE GREAT WISE OWL, God of Owls and Wisdom (an Aspect of YELLIP). His Faith is in THE GREAT WISE OWL, for Whom he is genuinely seeking converts and recruits to the Owl Cult, the local branch of which is based in The Imperial Hunting Forest. Ilar is a well-respected rumourmonger, as he offers the Wisdom of THE GREAT WISE OWL with his news. He obtains such Wisdom through the Druidic Beastmaster Commune with Totem Spell, but often he has to make it up on the spot.

Secud, Denouncer of DALA, False Goddess of Chaos (C) (pronounced "Say-sood", formerly known as "Susran"); Secud is notorious for denouncing DALA as not existing. He asserts that she (sic) is a False Goddess made up by Chaotics to justify their ludicrous beliefs. In fact his denunciations of her come dangerously close to preaching her Creed, as his denials of it involve detailed explanations of what he is denouncing, in a way which may seem superficially attractive. He is aware that the I.S.S. are keeping an eye on him (mostly through Darius), and is very careful what he says. He specialises in rumour, gossip, speculation and lies, which he serves up as examples of the sort of ludicrous things made up by people (not by DALA). Secud is secretly a member of the Secret Temple of DALA in Valdran (see Scenario "The Secret Temple")).

Robbi, the Beggar Boy (N) This crippled boy on crutches is always to be found begging just inside the City Gate to Lake Road East. He knows a few rumours, and is also a survivor of the Great Riot of 1997 and the Massacre of Lake Zarak (see Scenario "The Betrayed").

Clues / Red Herrings

Here is some of the information that may be obtained from rumourmongers:

The outcome of the Duel for the Lion Throne (see Scenario "The Duel") is likely to be the major news, as may be any subsequent initiatives undertaken by the successful Challenger (see Scenario "The Lawbreakers").
"Something Big" is going on in the Sacred City of Valdran. It is all being kept hush-hush by the authorities, but the Privy Council and the Temple of SARAN are clearly very excited about something, and there is extra security around the Sacred City and at the Temple of the Sun Diamond. The official line is that security was simply tightened because of the Duel. Rumours abound as to what exactly is going on - the most scurrilous being that SARAN has laid a big egg, which is about to hatch. There is further speculation as to exactly what might hatch from it...
Another rumour has it that the Nobility have become so Lawful that they are not allowed to do anything (even take a shit) unless they have previously made an appointment to do it in their diaries!
A Joint Conference of the Temples of the Gods of Heaven is now taking place in Valdran (See Scenario "Heaven on Earth"). Eminent representatives are present from the Temples of BUDIF, ESCUS, FIDAR, KOROS, MIRIMI, PAREL, SARAN and SHELDA. The stated aims of their project are the promotion of the Alliance of Good, Law and Neutrality in the fields of religion and politics, so strengthening the alliance between Good, Lawfully and Neutrally Aligned nations, and ensuring a good, ordered and peaceful life for all the free peoples of the World. The Joint Conference has been established in order to determine how best to achieve these aims, and was invited to meet in Valdran by the Emperor Narsus VI, who granted a special dispensation for the Temple of MIRIMI to attend.
There are rumblings in the Jungle. A Mabula Grand Palaver is being hosted by the King of Mabul'Adib, the main tribal leader in the city in the heart of the Jungle. A Grand Palaver is usually called to agree a common response to some crisis or threat amongst the Chieftains of the many tribes, the High Priests of the various local Deities and the Medicine Men of the different Animal Cults. Unusually, foreign representatives have also been invited, including the leading merchants who trade with the Jungle Forts and ambassadors of the Empire, Kuntax, the Southern Cities, and even the Kingdom of the North and Kyr. Something is definitely up, but it is not clear (in Valdran at least) exactly what. The rumours say that there has been an upsurge in tribal conflict (even worse than the usual raiding), that the Giant Spiders have got out of hand and people are disappearing into their mysterious Gossamer Kingdom and/or that Mount Ichil (the second highest mountain in the World, after Mt. Anar) has gone up in a volcanic eruption and lava streams are sweeping into the Jungle.
Ships heading South from Fort Venture to Kuntax and the Southern Cities have reported strange whirlpools, geysers and coloured lights deep beneath the waves close to the shore of Mt. Anar. There are also reports of Giant Manta Rays picking over bits of flotsam that have bubbled up from the sea floor, taking shiny bits and diving away with them. According to an old sailors' story, these could be the legendary Ixitxachitl: a race of Chaotic Clerical philosophers in the form of Giant Manta Rays, who are rumoured to hoard a fabulous treasure in their underwater city in the depths of the Ocean. But nobody has ever managed to find the place, or at least to return to tell the story.
A grand star-lit party is being held at the Palace of CASPIS, Lord of Gravity, at the Edge of the World, towards the end of the month, to celebrate the imminent End of the World. All are invited. RSVP to any Gravity Elemental. (This rumour is being denied by the Prophet of CASPIS, further down the Street, who claims it is Chaotic mischief-making.)

The C Player may add further stories at his/her discretion, provided they are sufficiently interesting.

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