Cecil Howe (a scholar and gentleman if ever there was one) offered to let me fuck around with one of his maps. Thank you Cecil!
The Situation
Sometimes it’s just easier to allow a weak king to stick around and be weak. His vassals pay nominal homage, but rule their own territories like small kingdoms. If anyone outside their lands asks, they’re absolutely loyal to their king, blah blah blah. Of course, none of the decrees made in their duchy bear the king’s name, and why should they? These dukes have more soldiers, more cunning, and more balls than the king’s got, so who is going to stop them?
Arnulf Broglie, “The Dancing Duke,” was (until recently) one of these. He ruled a middling territory of middling importance, and wielded middling power. The only remarkable thing about the man was his dancing. Not a pursuit fitting of his lordly dignity, but no one who saw him dance could say he did not excel at it. It was sometimes joked that he could have been a more powerful man as a traveling entertainer in European courts than he was as the Duke of a relatively minor duchy. It’s a joke that would probably be true, if not for the hidden powers of his dance.
Arnulf was charming, funny, and generous. He had all the qualities of a great gentleman, if not a great statesman. It was his weakness in the latter arena which led to his break with the church.
As a young man, still beholden to his father’s commands, Arnulf had taken an oath before the pontiff to crusade on the church’s behalf. By the time Arnulf was called to serve, his father had passed, and the Duke had no interest in fulfilling his oath. The pontiff couldn’t allow this minor duke to establish a precedent for disregarding the crusader’s oath, and spent years coaxing the stubborn young ruler to crusade. Even a nominal concession would have been sufficient, but Duke Broglie did not budge.
The pontiff threatened, and finally delivered a writ of excommunication which Arnulf danced on it with dirty boots, and returned. The enraged pontiff took a further step, damning Duke Broglie’s soul to hell. A crusade was declared against him, and the other dukes and lords began to imagine how they would divide his territory amongst themselves.
Facing certain destruction, Duke Broglie decided that if he was in for a penny, he may as well be in for a pound. He entered into a contract with the devil: his kingdom in exchange for the power to defeat his enemies. For the devils it seemed a surprisingly straightforward trade. Usually mortals needed to be tricked into this sort of thing. The Duke’s single strange request, that the contract be written in the language of dance, was taken by Satan as mere foppish fancy.
The devils infused the duchy’s soldiers with fanatical loyalty and infernal strength. They instructed the duke’s engineers in the crafting of hellish instruments of war. Duke Broglie’s foes were obliterated within three years, and the devils moved to claim their payment. That’s when the the Duke began to Dance.
Duke Broglie’s mastery of the contract was beyond anything the devils had ever expected or experienced. They were well used to mortals versed in mortal law. Mortals who thought they could outsmart a devil at a devil’s game. It had never been anything but a minor inconvenience. Never before had it worked.
Every day a dance battle is held in the grand hall of the castle, where the contract is debated, extended, and revised. The devils have won some small victories, but the Duke’s dance is too strong. He has yet to expel them from his lands, but his calm confidence that everything is going well has never faltered.
Encounters
A single encounter table covers the whole of the map. Roll 2d4 to determine what creatures are encountered.
2. Solkor The Yellow, a dragon which slept for long centuries before being awakened by the incessant pounding of feet from all this legally-binding dance. Solkor hoards mirrors, and prizes a fine mirror more than any other treasure. AC 17, HD 12, Move 240’/240′, 2 Claws 1d8, Bite 2d10. Morale 9. Breathes a sense of suicidal self loathing which requires characters to save versus magic (not breath) or deal 2x max weapon damage to themselves. The feeling passes after this damage is dealt, but if a character is prevented from harming themselves the depression will persist until they are cleansed by suffering. If Solkor is slain, another dragon will take his place.
3. A caravan of merchants moving goods from one location to another. There are 1d4 carts in the caravan, and they will be able to sell most basic items that would be found in a small village. For each cart in a caravan, they will also be carrying a curio that will be for sale. There is a 4-in-6 chance that any given merchant caravan is trying to smuggle something.
4. A roving band of 1d6 devils. Their behaviors are strictly controlled by whatever the current conditions of the contract are, but few if any provisions of the contract will govern their attitudes towards outsiders traveling in the Duke’s lands. The appearances of devils vary wildly, but a good average of their abilities would be AC 15, HD 4, Move 120′, Attack 1d8, Morale 8. Most will also posses special powers such as flight, a second attack, dealing additional elemental damage, short range teleportation, or gaseous form, determined by the referee at the table. For convenience, groups of devils may be similar of type.
5. A patrol of the Duke’s men. There is a 50/50 chance they will be 1d4 + 1 mounted soldiers, or 2d6 + 2 foot soldiers. They’re primarily concerned with ferreting out papists and keeping an eye on the movements of demons. That said, they’re a cruel lot. Being transformed by devils will do that to a person.
Mounted Soldiers: AC 16, HD 2, Move 360′, Weapon for 1d10, Morale 11, Special: 1/Day Fire Blast from hands, dealing 3d8 damage, save v. Breath for half.
Foot Soldiers: AC 14, HD 1, Move 120′, Weapon for 1d8, Morale 11, Special: Special: 1/Day Fire Blast from hands, dealing 3d8 damage, save v. Breath for half.
6. A group of 2d6 papal agents. They are dressed inconspicuously. Perhaps they are dressed as peasants, or merchants, or even as the Duke’s soldiers. They will not expose themselves foolishly, but if they think they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, they will offer any group of inferior strength the option to repent or die. The penitent will immediately be smuggled out of the duchy, or shanghaied into service via a “Pendant of Papal Geas” someone in the group is hiding on their person.
Papal Agent: AC 15, HD 2, Move 120′, Weapon for 1d6, Morale 10. Special: Once per day each papal agent can add 4 to their attack and damage roll against one person who is not an avowed member of their faith.
7. Wildlife which has been transformed and driven mad by the infernal magics that now abound in the duchy. There are (1) Devil Bears, (2) Hell Elk, (3) Satanic Serpents, (4) Vile Sharks, (5) Sinning Hounds, and (6) Boars of Babylon.
8. An army 1d6*100 strong. Roll to determine if the army is (1-3) Duke Borges’ men, (4-5) Papists, (6) Devils. The army is currently moving on the nearest held enemy location. If it’s an army of Devils, or of the Duke’s men, then their movement legal under the contract as it stands at this moment. (Unless they’re moving against papists, who are never protected by the contract anyway.)