Faction Friday: The Dragon Slavers

RPG Faction

Mialorn ManorOriginal photo by Dwight Burdette

A wealthy halfling, Harran Mialorn, has been cowed by a young dragon named Mezvorax into kidnapping people to be the dragon’s slaves. He and his followers (also slaves of the dragon) live in a bat-filled mansion. Each follower wears an amulet that keeps them dominated by Mezvorax. About a quarter of those kidnapped become working members of the slaver ring, while the rest are delivered to the dragon.

The amulet gives each member of the slaver ring the ability to cast a psychic blast cantrip (range 50 feet, attack +4, 6 (1d8+2) damage).

As a friendly faction, Harran’s unusually strong will occasionally pushes back Mezvorax’s mental control, and he’s horrified at the situation he’s in. In one of his more lucid periods, he hires the PCs to infiltrate the group and kill the dragon. He’s procured amulets that look similar to those that dominate the group, and gives them to the PCs. If the PCs do kill the dragon, Harran becomes a grateful benefactor to the group, providing them with money and items as needed, as well as access to the city’s higher society.

As a foe faction, Mezvorax completely dominates Harran, as well as the other members of the group. The city Watch hires the PCs because the slavers made a mistake: a group of three street girls they snatched a few days ago included the daughter of a noble family who was “slumming.” The Watch has received several reports of strange goings-on around Harran’s manor, so they suspect he’s responsible (he’s been acting strangely, he’s become very reclusive in recent months, odd people are seen coming and going, etc.).

If your players are of an investigative bent, feel free to build this into a complete mystery, with clues, witnesses, and such that the PCs can follow up on before approaching the manor directly.

Mialorn Manor The upper floors of Mialorn Manor consist of bedrooms, parlors, and other mundane rooms of no particular interest to an adventuring party. Harran keeps no clues to his draconic ties in the upper floors of the house. Main Floor Basement Secret Caves A large entrance hall leads to a grand staircase leading upstairs. A dining room, sitting room, and other functional rooms for entertaining stand just off the entrance hall. At the door, guests are greeted by Nessa, a girl of about 19 dressed as a maid. If the PCs grow hostile, she will attack with psychic blasts and call in another servant, the chef, who attacks with knives and psychic blasts.

Foe: Nessa was one of the girls kidnapped a few days ago, an important clue that the PCs have come to the right place.

This dank basement consists of a wine cellar, root cellar, and two storage rooms. The first storage room is crammed full of crates and boxes, as the other has been cleared for use by the slavers. The second storage room contains several chairs, a table, and ropes. Victims are kept here temporarily. A number of bats roost in this room, and attack any intruders who enter (normally vermin who only roost here overnight, Mezvorax’s spells have turned them into guards).

A section of the wall in the second storage room has been knocked out, then disguised by a major image spell to look like the wall is whole. This exit leads to the caves.

Magical runes cover the floor of the first, small room of the cavern, which Harran uses to attune victims to their amulets. Several cultists stand ready to attack the PCs when they enter, getting a surprise round and defending the deeper caves with their lives. Further down the caves lies Mezvorax’s lair, where he employs the remainder of the slaves to expand the cave complex into a full lair. These slaves do not fight back (the most mentally docile are chosen for this work), but Mezvorax should be plenty of challenge.

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