In The City

Constantinople. It is the twenty fifth year of the rule of Basil the II, who commands great fear and respect throughout the Byzantine Empire. Sergius II is Patriarch and shows no sign of appeasing the growing tension between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West. The empire is flourishing. It seems unassailable. Basil keeps it this way with his constant wars against the Empire's restless neighbors. And life is good for the high and the holy, the soldier, the trader, the thief. As always, though, life is not good for the lowly.

And lowly you are. If you are lucky, the world stops ignoring you long enough to throw a coin into your begging bowl. If you are unlucky, you get a beating from the city guard just for being there. You and your wretched fellows huddle together for warmth and protection. Sometimes you wake up with corpses next to you. You take what you need and move on. This is life in the city.

Why then would you and some of your fellows suddenly fall under the scrutiny of the Orphanostrophus? He is after all one of the most powerful public officers in Constantinople. What possible use could he have for a half-starved group of beggars?

Caveat mendicus...

A Call of Cthulu Dark Ages module for four players by Philip Anastasiadis