Changing the Adventure

"The Cardinals' Decision" is drawn from the historical record of the papal conclave of 1241. Pope Gregory IX died on 22 August 1241, while Rome was surrounded by the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. If your saga has progressed this far, it is entirely suitable to use these men as the pope and the emperor. If your saga is set at a different date, you can change the specific pope and emperor effortlessly. As mentioned in the adventure, several popes and emperors have wrestled for political control over northern Italy. In 1220, the pope is Honorius III.

Storyguides who do not wish to set this adventure in Rome have more work on their hands, but the storyguide characters don't need to change. Many medieval papal elections happened outside the city of Rome, but only one outside the Italian peninsula (1119, in the Abbey of Cluny). The essentials of the story stay the same as long as the College of Cardinals is sequestered in a building with an aura that Alyates won't enter. Making this an Infernal rather than Faerie aura could be interesting, turning the Planetary Divinities into Infernal False Gods (Realms of Power: the Infernal, page 37) instead of potent faerie beings. Other buildings would need to change, and you might have to forgo Frederick's encircling army, but the backbone of the adventure remains.

tion in the Roman Church. Tommaso da Capua, another of the cardinals, has been selected by the Planetary Divinities, powerful faerie creatures who were once worshiped in the Septizodium and continue to linger within its dilapidated marble walls. The faeries want their chosen man elected leader.

Two wizards also watch the cardinals. Alyates of House Jerbiton had clandestinely controlled the pope for several years, using a fixed Arcane Connection and an enchanted device to accomplish the task. Through subtle magic, Alyates kept the pope warring with the emperor, hoping that eventually the emperor would actually attack the pope. The plan worked, but unfortunately for Alyates, the pope died. He has an Arcane Connection to one of the cardinals, the most prominent Guelph candidate, Romano Bonaventura. If he can get Arcane Connections to the other cardinals, he can magically make them vote for Bonaventura. As yet, he has not achieved this goal.

The second wizard, Buonacorsus, is not a Hermetic magus. He belongs to a group of rival wizards called the Augustan Brotherhood, many of whom serve the emperor. He hopes to magically persuade the cardinals to pick Goffredo da Castiglione, a septuagenarian Ghibelline who is sympathetic to the emperor.

This four-way supernatural influence has created a tangled web of indecision, with cardinals changing their minds and their votes, never forming a majority for a single candidate. While it is not difficult to ascertain that other powers are controlling the cardinals, it may be difficult to deal with the various puppet masters. Moreover, if one is weakened, three grow stronger.

News of the protracted conclave reaches the player character magi, who are asked by another agent to intervene. The magi must go to Rome and sneak inside the Septizodium. They are limited by their Oaths of Hermes, particularly the provision not to interfere to the extent that it might harm their sodales. Player characters must defuse the various threats of manipulation and let the cardinals reach their own decision. Can the magi resist temptation and not select the man who would best benefit the Order of Hermes?