Red Moon Over Sartar Campaign

Adventure Outline for December 3, 1995

951203 Tax Trouble

Set Up: The characters have just begun as Constables for the Red Emperor in Sartar. The Lieutenant's plan (Inorri Matheman) is to wait until a horse is stolen or something and then go solve the crime. If nothing happens in two weeks, the team will be sent to kill some trolls on the Colymar tribal lands.

Alert: Word arrives that a Lunar Tax Collector and his guards were just killed

Private Sannile will be sent with the team as a scout. He worked with Captain Janniar two years ago when he suppressed the rebellion in the Lismelder lands. The private learned much from the Captain about how to fight. Captain Kosovo (below) and Janniar are close friends.

Background

Taxes in Sartar are paid in many methods.

Main ones include

Citizen's annual tax, usually in grain, livestock, or goods

Tribal tax, usually in grain, livestock, or goods

Armor tax, usually in coinage or goods

Trade tax, usually in coinage or goods

Various Lunar Tax Collectors and Carpet Baggers travel the empire collecting taxes

In Sartar, most tax collection is handled by tax collecting teams, consisting of:

Tax Collector

8 Lunar Guards

Wagon or Cart

Lunar patrol from Runegate found the team led by Marcus Incidious is dead

Found the bodies between Runegate and Swan yesterday and buried them

Event occured at most two-three hours before

Probably found them first

Many wandering animals

Armor and weapons still laying around

Four of the guards still had sheathed Shortswords

Everyone killed by medium swords

Attackers were on horseback [requires special]

Sword was curved, scimitar or Enhyli tribal sword (kukri) [requires special]

Lockbox smashed with a rock and contents taken

Coinage on guards taken as was the silver tax collector necklace of Marcus

The Crime Scene

Big mess with footprints everywhere

Two sets of horse prints heading northeast over the hills, no footprints

Strings of faded red cloth (wool)

Camp nearby for 2-5 people, waited about a week, overlooking road

Something nearby is buried, it is a bloodied & faded wool cape [requires special]

The rations were somewhat expensive and included two bottles of wine

Swan

Two important people in the inn: Captain Kosovo and Sir Reshera Sir Reshera, knight from Caramania at Swan Inn

Won big in Boldhome lately

Molli, his able manservant is a drunkard

He is proud of his piece of warrior dragonewt hide

He is a poor gambler and lacks some common sense

He seems like trouble all the way around

Locals were expecting Incidious and they are suprised but happy he was killed

They think it was bandits

Black Rupert is a local troublemaker, but he is supposedly hiding out north of Rainbow Mounds

Black Rupert and his me use spears [requires special]

They live in a hidey hole

The gang is about 10 men, includes an outlaw dragonewt

Enhyli live in Swan and to the south to Grey Dog Inn