7. Where can the heroic motivation be most effectively redeemed?
Be the PCs first:
Encounter: defiance
Place: Inside of Stefano's shop, La Piazza Avanti, same time
Ysabel assures Stefano and Elda that she and her friends will help them take a stand against King Ambrosi's mercenaries while Stefano readies the clockwork bird to take the fugitive couple to the realm of Elda's ally, the Merchant Princess.
Be the GM next:
Story Cube: ringing alarm
Suddenly, the bell tower atop Count Cabravino's palazzo rings out in alarm. There is danger in the piazza!
Be the PCs once more:
Orsini orders his friends to come with him back up to the piazza. This can't be a coincidence!
8. Where does the final showdown between the heroes and the enemy take place in relation to the results of Question 7?
Be the GM first:
Story Cube: cactus
Encounter: enemy nears completion of its goals, enemy takes aggressive action against unsuspecting victims
Place: La Piazza Avanti, moments later
Mercenaries from the eastern frontier town of Port Aghi ("needles") - a place of pirates and criminals - have descended on the piazza in search of Stefano and Elda. Their "searching" includes molesting every peaceful person they come across in Avanti!
Be the PCs next:
Upon encountering the mercenaries, Orsini demands that the intruders leave. The mercenaries laugh at him - they respect no law or system of personal hygiene. Guglio, feeling awful that his rumor-gathering brought the mercenaries here in the first place, charges the nearest ruffian. His friends, joined by Elda, follow the dwarf into battle. Elda, though much older, is a true fighting machine, and the mercenaries fall to a single one of her blows! Orsini and his friends manage to keep up with her, and they tie Elda for the number of mercenaries humiliatingly bashed. The day is theirs!
Be the GM once more:
Elda thanks Ysabel and the others. She knows that Ambrosi, emboldened by his alliance with Tito Nero, will never stop searching for Stefano and her until he is no longer king or he is dead. Ambrosi is a great warrior king, and he can never forgive or forget the humiliation that came from his queen preferring a studious, awkward magic-user to his masculine awesomeness. Blushingly, Elda admits that Stefano makes her laugh, and that has been worth more to her than any kingdom ever could be. With the mercenaries defeated, she and Stefano are safe...for now...
9. Where does the world stand after the results of Questions 7 and 8?
Be the GM first:
Story Cube: telescope
Stefano and Elda decide that running isn't worth it any more. Elda will travel with her remaining bodyguard warrior to visit the Merchant Princess to entreat her help. Meanwhile, Stefano will stay in Avanti under the protection of Orsini and the others. The clockmaker will lead the construction of a watchtower alongside the bell tower atop Count Cabravino's palazzo. There, he'll erect a telescope to watch the skies for Tito Nero should the black dragon ever come looking for them at Ambrosi's behest.
Be the PCs next:
Orsini wonders if there is anything back in Stefano's tiny tower in the Northern Wilds that can aid in his protection. Guglio wonders if the rest of the silver bust of the Dwarven Moon Goddess is in there.
NOTE: I decided after the fact that Stefano relates to Orsini that when he practiced the ritual that drew all of the magic out of him, something weirdly arcane happened to the tower and he wouldn't trust anything that was left in there anymore. Additionally, he tells Guglio that he only possessed the ear from the silver bust of the Dwarven Goddess - which bestowed upon the wearer the power to "hear" the truth in a liar's answer to a question, thus explaining why Ponzetti would have wanted it so much - and knows little of the whereabouts of the rest of the statue. My reason for establishing this was to keep some mysteries on the table.
Other stuff:
• Guglio's near-death dream-experience with the silver Moon Goddess bust will make him even more obsessed.
• We have two new locations! Stefano's clock shop in the piazza and that den of iniquity Port Aghi to the east (but not too far away)!
• As a group, Orsini, Guglio, Ysabel, and Don Pantaloni earned and will share 390 XPs. They are just shy of Level 2!
PS - I really NEVER expected this adventure to turn out the way it did! I'm very happy with the results!
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