DM-Nastics #133 Part A: Meet Some Evil

Using blood as currency is a cool idea, meribson.

The Collaborator

Connected to the Guildmaster's Alliance as a consultant for the management and construction of major public works or private masterwork galleries.

The Collaborator is a jack of all trades and offers his services to complete the most mind-numbing and time-consuming tasks in the creation of a work of art or the construction of a public good (such as architecture, plumbing, etc). He does all the busy work to give his clients the freedom to focus on the creative aspects of their work.

He accepts standard payment of gold pieces to keep up an air of legitimacy, but secretly he places his mark upon everything that he helps create. His mark is the symbol of a ladder, looking like nothing but a series of meaningless notches to the untrained eye.

His true business, of course, is selling the marks. Each mark is controlled independently through his workshop. He can use them to store spells, traps, and arcane eyes for surveillance, or he can destroy their copies in his workshop to completely undo all of the work that he did, sending statues crumbling to their foundations or canvasses shedding their paint like snakeskin.

If you need a building brought down, or a guest at a museum secretly assassinated, or a politician spied upon and recorded for blackmail, the Collaborator offers you his services for a small payment. He prefers functional magic items like spell scrolls and decanters, though he also accepts promises of future favours.

The Collaborator secretly serves the Demon Prince of Deception. He has wormed his way into the Guildmaster's Alliance with the ultimate goal of turning them towards worship of his lord.

The Collaborator takes great steps to avoid being cheated. After all, he was never the only one working on any particular project. Usually, he's in large teams of people all taking on some aspect of the work, such that nothing can be explicitly traced back to him. Still, the consequences for double-crossing him or risking his exposure are dire, for the Collaborator has had his hand in almost every aspect of the city's construction.

You never know if he has placed his mark in the pottery in your cupboard, the iron of your stove, the pipes beneath your house, the artwork on your wall, the clothes you wear on your body ... his influence is as ubiquitous as it is insidious. The paranoia of where and when he might strike is often punishment enough for your transgressions.

Other interesting details to flesh out who this guy actually is:

Face Stealer. He's a changeling who takes the image of random people he sees on the street, not even bothering to learn their names.

Obsessively Maintained Workshop. His workshop is a private study in the Guildmaster's Hall choked with magical guards and wards, as well as charms of nondetection and auras of fake antimagic to fool anyone who tries to search for traces of the arcane.

Novelty Seeker. Each morning he visits a new cafe or tavern, never visiting the same place twice, and orders something he has never tried before. He's running out of new experiences and is getting a bit worried about it.

Hide in Plain Sight. You can spot him working on larger projects more easily because he usually takes on the disguise of another worker. Find the double and you know that one of them is the Collaborator.

All the Time in the World. He is functionally immortal thanks to his dealings with his demon lord, but he can be hurt and killed through regular methods. His immortality gave him the time to learn all of his unique skills in different cities under different masters and has done well to teach him patience beyond what anyone would find reasonable. His mortality, on the other hand, has made him cautious.

Meek. If anyone spent a day with him, they would find him unreasonably forgiving of minor inconveniences. He rarely raises his voice and always defers to others, almost like a slave would bow to a master. It can be quite frustrating for any companions who feel that he's a pushover and needs to stand up for himself, which is why he prefers to travel alone anyway. He's often a target for bullies, and at the same time a target for do-good adventurers going out of their way to protect the poor meek little man getting picked on. He is rarely grateful.

Broad Thinker. He rarely exercises his powers for petty reasons. Even those who double cross him may never see direct consequences for their actions. He views things more long-term, always seeking the best option for his lord instead of himself.

Creative Fear. He has never finished any work of art he's started for himself. It terrifies him that he may have lost the ability to work alone on his own creative vision. He lies awake staring at unfinished paintings, half-baked lyrics, brief outlines for novels, unbaked clay. Perhaps that's the price of his power. Perhaps he's just gotten inside his own head. He'll never be sure.

1. What is the NPCs name?
Benny Fiddler, the “mild mannered” innkeeper of the Happy Harpy a lovely tavern and bar for every weary traveler.


2. What organization are they connected to?
He is an active an generous member of the tavern keeper’s guild. He is well known for helping the strays that shadow his doors.

3. What is their role in the organization?
To make sure that taverns treat customers well and to make sure that all taverns are playing fairly for the customer’s sake.

No one in the organization is willing to cast shade on Benny, but If coerced they admit that strange things seem to happen around the Happy Harpy.

4. What is the cost of doing business with this evil entity?
Billy Fiddler just wants you to keep an eye out for the poor or helpless. If you bring him a person in need he’ll give you a night’s stay and dinner for free. He loves helping people.

5. What is are the consequences of crossing them?
He is a serial killer that kills the lost souls that shadow his doors and then feeds their corpses to his tavern’s patrons. As barbecue!! Delicious scrumptious barbecue...

6. Anything else you might think to add?
Billy by himself isn’t that scary of a figure, but the chain devil that acts as his patron is. Chain devils are devilish jailers which combo well with the halfling’s sadistic tendencies.

The halfling tortures the captive until it surrenders its soul to the chain devil at which point the captive is slain. In return the chain devil kills anyone that threatens the easy soul collecting process which includes the halfling.

1. What is the NPCs name?
Bromwood the Mad Paladin

2. What organization are they connected to?
Formerly the Church of Pelor, now (unknowingly) connected with Nerull

3. What is their role in the organization?
Bromwood was once a mighty champion of Pelor. His entire order was slaughtered by a cult of Nerull while he was out traveling, including his wife and unborn child. On returning to the scene of the gruesome slaughter, Bromwood flew into a mighty rage. He singlehandedly hunted down and murdered anyone he believed to be an agent of Nerull in the city. He became so obsessed that he began killing indiscriminately. Pelor, seeing this descent into madness, stripped Bromwood of his divine powers. Nerull, angry over the loss of his followers, sensed a great opportunity.

Nerull had the now powerless Bromwood captured by his men; however, he had his agents disguise themselves as priests of Pelor. Bromwood was kept chained and tortured by ‘Pelor’ for his crimes. As the last vestiges of sanity slipped from his mind, Nerull began to speak to Bromwood directly, whispering into his mind but pretending to be Pelor himself. He told Bromwood that the entire ordeal had been done to expose corruption in ‘Pelor’s’ church, and that Bromwood would be his instrument to purge hat corruption. Nerull empowered Bromwood with new abilities and let him escape, setting him loose into the world with a new mission; to hunt down and expose the ‘evil’ priests of Pelor.

4. What is the cost of doing business with this evil entity?
Bromwood travels trying to ‘help’ people, but his methods of helping are insane. In a town dealing with plague, he might simply kill all the infected instead of searching for a cure. Sob stories from a beggar about their suffering are more likely to see him put the beggar ‘out of their misery’ than to toss them some change. A family asking him to search for their missing child risks him deciding to reunite them by killing the parents so they can be together in the afterlife. If he enters a town that appears to be starving, he might decide that killing half the residents Thanos style is the best course of action.


5. What is are the consequences of crossing them?
Nerull still whispers in Bromwood’s ear, and when he does Bromwood believes wholeheartedly that he is Pelor. Nerull delights in stoking the fires of Bromwell’s hatred and paranoia. If Nerull decides that someone is a threat to his plans or his control over Bromwell, it’s a simple matter for him to convince Bromwell that they are out to get him and have him try to kill them.

6. Anything else you might think to add?
Bromwood presents himself as a true and devout Paladin of Pelor. Any players meeting him would have no particular reason to suspect his true nature at first glance. Perceptive players may notice some small hints like glint of madness in his eye, bloodstains on his clothes, or people avoiding him completely. On initial conversation, he would likely just come across as fanatically devout. Only after extended conversation and/or traveling with him for a while would the players likely realize that this guy is not what he appears to be. His spell list and abilities would be off from a normal Pelor worshipper, or they can start to pick up on his paranoia and instability.

Bromwood is great for pulling the rug out from under players. He can be used to dissuade parties that try to recruit every NPC they encounter by getting the party into trouble. He can also be a good hook for a story requiring the characters to clear their names. He may do something terrible without the party’s knowledge while traveling with them, or send them on a quest to kill a cult of Nerull or ‘traitors’ to Pelor who are actually perfectly innocent.