Honor Among Thieves [The Vault #15]
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All fairs ill when the land teems with lawlessness. Still, not all who come to thievery are evil. We hope the twenty plot seeds below will add depth to your Bandit-based quests:
_FamineTide_ Starvation stalks the lands, driving even moral men and women to desperate means. Are the bandits evil? Are there merchants withholding food to drive up its price?
_Gangwar_ The Crimson Band and the Blackguards have cast aside their uneasy truce. The streets run red with the blood of thieves and innocents alike. Someone must bring the strife to an end, one way or the other.
_Cursed Cargo_ The adventurers best a band of thieves that seem all too willing to part with their sordid gains. Why, and of what consequence to the adventurers?
_Lawless and Disordered_ A conspiracy threatens the fragile rule of the new monarch. If they cannot bring to heel the recent rash of unrest in the land, another lord may be able to usurp the throne. Who will the adventurers back?
_Ill Gotten Gains_ The adventurers have just discovered that an old friend and respected pillar of the community was once a criminal, who started their legal business by stealing from former associates. Now the associates have found them. What will the adventurers do?
_Contract with Death_ Someone has hired an assassin to slay one of the adventurers. Who and why?
_Blood Money_ The authorities approach the adventurers unexpectedly and find stolen goods in their possession. How have they come to be there? Who is trying to frame them?
_Bounty Hunting_ The adventurers return to the capital to find several criminals have amassed significant bounties, just waiting to be collected.
_Making the (Roman) Peace_ Commerce depends on safe roads, something the realm certainly does not possess. Can the adventurers tame the space between settlements and restore prosperity?
_Bribery and Corruption_ Common folk are preyed upon by those who have crafted the law to suit their greed. Will the adventurers join "the system" or fight against it?
_Slave Trade_ Slavers prey upon the coastal lands, abducting many and taking them across the waters for sale in distant lands. One of the adventurers has recently lost a relative to them...
_Drugwar_ A powerful and addictive drug has hit the streets. Spellsnuff temporarily gives common folk magical powers--to terrifying effect. Now even those of common means will go to great lengths to acquire it. > Draw a :magic: ability that can be used by the Encounter or NPC card, though not with reliability.
_Ransom_ Someone dear to the adventurers has been abducted. Now the ransom note has been delivered. What will they do?
_Fleshtrade_ The Hall of Lords has been blackmailed into legalizing prostitution. They say it's a "woman's right to choose". Now a brothel has opened next to the adventurers homes.
_The Bookie_ A family member of one of the adventurers has willingly entered into some unwise...arrangements. Now they've come crying to their relative for protection and help.
_The Fence_ The adventurers have come back from their last quest with a wagon full of loot. The problem is, the items they've gained have been made illegal, and the command has gone out all those in possession of them must turn them over to the crown. Will they comply or find those who can "move" their goods.
_The Caravan_ A merchant caravan has hired the adventurers at an exorbitant sum. Why? What cargo could warrant such a fee? Are the goods legal? More importantly, what threat would require such countermeasures?
_Lost and Found_ The adventurers have been hired to recover filched goods. But what happens when the adventurers discover their employers may not be the legitimate owners?
_Bodyguarding_ The adventurers have been contracted to protect a VIP from kidnappers or assassins. Complications ensue.
_Moral Hazard_ Washing up on distant shores, the adventurers are taken in and nurtured back to health by a band being hunted by the powers-that-be. Will they help the outlaws who claim to be backing the dispossessed, legitimate ruler of the land, or will they turn them over?
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