fight fire with fire

Strossborg seeks to hire Acryn adventurers to help them with a mad wizard problem. Payment of 50R a head, plus salvage rights

• Mark Carter
• Francesco Antonio-Bartolomeo Graves
• Samuel Skye
• Unit03

The party travel to Strossbourg, having been hired to investigate an artefact which appears to be corrupting and ensnaring those who are magically attuned (i.e. mages and those with a lot of mana on them, which is extremely inconvenient for Strossbourg, as that describes most of their adventurers).

The party trace the source of the corruption to an artefact of a long dead warlord, Gustav the Terrible, with the artefact being designed to act as a last-ditch defence should his kingdom fall (or at least a massive inconvenience to those who had overrun it). Recent excavations in the warlord's volcano lair had activated the artefact, causing the troubles. The party successfully rescue the Strossbourgers who have been caught in the artefact's grip, but the Heart itself is stolen by Frederick Dines. Following a dramatic escape from the exploding volcano, the party return to Strossbourg.

Seeking to remove his proto-god nature, as he has heard that it is in fact hurting those who follow him, Mark Carter puts himself forward to undergo the ritual to create a Perfected Being, severing him from the divine energies. However, something goes wrong, and Carter screams out that the procedure is hurting everyone, and must be stopped. When it becomes clear that the procedure cannot be stopped (either due to the unwillingness of the Strossbourg mages, or simply because it had progressed to far), Carter sacrifices himself to stop whatever terrible things he has felt occur. This very nearly causes a major incident with Strossbourg, but with some hasty diplomacy the worst is averted. Mutterings among the Strossbourg people suggest that this simply proves their convictions that gods, godlings and their followers cannot be trusted. Carter's wife, the flux being known as the Ice Queen, rages, coating the north in a colossal blizzard.

• 20R payment

• Dead/retired following his sacrifice on behalf of his followers

• His post office in Strossbourg is under surveillence, franchise benefits are still available (or equivalent benefits from other resources representing the office), but Strossbourg will know what is being done there.
• Experimental brain surgery: Colourblind (no mechanical effect, except at GM discretion), resistant to effects which would alter his perceptions (1 encounter per adventure IMMUNE ENRAGE)

• Experimental brain surgery: Brain Surgery epic tree unlicked, resistant to effects which would alter his perceptions (1 encounter per adventure IMMUNE ENRAGE)
• Artefact weapons: Twin 1h swords Speed and Power:
• Speed: 1 encounter per adventure, 2 uses of agility (i.e. both must be used in the same encounter)
• Power: 1 encounter per adventure, STRENGTHENED and IMMUNE WEAKEN
• Some peices of giant beetle shell. No real mechanical advantage, but can be used to make armour, and will stand out in Acryn (common in Strossbourg, but not used much as it's harder to work with than metal)

• Has an agreement from the Council that he will be involved in any task force sent to combat Dines
• Has some minions among the cult of the Shepherd
• Has an agreement with a mage of Strossbourg that he will be taught the Rite of Manipulation if he can obtain one of the following artefacts (each of which is owned by one of the Acryn colleges, and each of which is of sufficient power that they will not be given up easily, or sold for mere coin - check with a GM whether one will be on the adventure, the GM can define the nature of the object unless it has previously appeared in an adventure). The list is longer than presented here (i.e. a GM may always choose to say that an interesting item on the LARP is on the list). The mage is particularly interested in powerful artefacts of wounding and fracturing.

• Dragonskin Grimoire
• Vulstragorn's cube
• The Sundered Staff (an artefact of fracturing and binding)

• The Blade of Dammerung (an artefact of wounding)

(list possibly to be expanded/edited pending LARPO approval)