Adventure: The Spear of Destiny

An incomplete adventure that Ken gave me some time ago.

by Ken Richardson

SET-UP

This scenario is intended for use with PCs that are  involved with The Knights of Holy Retribution, The Horus Society, or some other religious/mystical group, but there is no reason why other groups might want to attempt this venture as well. The location of the characters’ last briefing is intentionally left blank to suit the flow of the GM’s current campaign. Choose any city that will work best.

In this adventure the characters are  assigned to steal the legendary Holy Lance from the Heinrich Himmler Museum of Aryan Heritage in Berlin. Before journeying to Berlin, the PCs are given a series of passwords and correct responses to memorize. Copy these first 5 spoken lines and give them to the mission leader before play begins.

Rad Levels: As the adventure begins the Rad Level is .001. Subsequent rad levels/day can he determined at random by rolling, 1d10 and adding the result to .001. “10” should be read as a zero – no c hang e . 4 would then be .005, for example.

INTRODUCTORY SCRIPT

GM: The cold, polluted rain falls mercilessly from a bleak obsidian sky. With a sigh of relief you stand at last in front of your destination: the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Reichschurch Cathedral. The ancient stone Cathedral seems eerily out of place in this futuristic metropolis, and the weather helps strengthen the impression that it belonged to some gothic horror film . An iron gargoyle stares into your soul from the oaken door, daring you to use the knocker held in its mouth. (… after knocking … ) Soon the great door  creaks open and a white haired, bespectacled priest greets you.

PATER SCHUBERT: Ja? …

MISSION LEADER: We were told we might find shelter from the storm here.

PATER SCHUBERT: There is always shelter in Gott’s Haus, mein kinder.

GM: Der Pater opens the door and beckons you in with a smile.

PATER SCHUBERT: Come in from the shadows.

MISSION LEADER: But I fear no evil.

PATER SCHUBERT: Then He is with you.

GM: He closes the door and locks it behind him

PATER SCHUBERT: Wilkommen, mein freunds, you arrived earlier than I expected.  Follow me.  

GM: He leads you down through the pews towards the alter.  Long Nazi Party banners hang between the stained-glass windows and at far end hands a colossal Reichschurch crucifix.  It is a blending of the Christian and the ancient Nordic paganism.  The figure hands suspended by nails in the familiar fashion but facial features are those of a blond, blue eyed Aryan.  The hair and beard are braided in a Viking fashion and the cross is a tree with its roots encircling the earth.  Above a halo is carved a swastika.  The whole image then becomes a parallel of Wotan’s crucifixion on the world-tree Yggdrasil.  It had been “proven” decades ago by the SS Ahnenerbe office (“Ancestral Heritage Office”) that Krist {Reich law forbids the Greek spelling of Christ} had been descended from a German tribe that had settled in the Holy Land and therefore was definitely NOT a Jew.  It seems that not even the church is free of Party Influence.

Der Pater leads you to the curtains below the crucifix.  He pulls them back and slides his bookmark/smart card into a crack in the wall.  You hear a faint beep and the wall opens to reveal a hidden room 4x4x2 meters.  Most of the room is taken up by bunk beds.  On the wall is an ancient pre-Nazi crucifix, and on a small table sits a comparatively massive 1945 Catholic Bible. Once everyone has entered, he closes the wall/door.

PATER SCHUBERT: I don’t know how much [city] briefed you on .  What do you know of the history of the Holy Lance?  (wait)  Alright, I will start from the beginning.  Centuries ago, when Krist took his dying breath on the cross, a Roman centurion was charged with the task of piercing our messiah with his spear in order to be certain he was dead.  As you may know from other tales, Joseph of Arimathea then collected the blood that flowed from the wound in the very cup the master had drank from at his last supper.  The Roman soldier who had committed the deed became plagued by guilt and uncertainty, and one night an angel appeared before him and offered him forgiveness and a chance to redeem himself.  The angel informed him that his spear that was once used to kill (and now stained with the blood of our savior) was now a Holy item of healing.  The soldier deserted the army and traveled the world healing the sick and spreading the gospel.

Both the Grail and the Lance became lost in history until around 500 AD, when the great Welsh chieftain Arthur Pendragon dispatched his finest warriors on a quest to find these items. Three of these warriors went forth: Bors, Parsifal, and Galahad.  It was Galahad who was finally deemed worthy enough to receive the Lance.  With the Lance he was able to heal King Pelles and was thus able to complete the quest for the Grail.  Also tied in with the Lance legend was the belief that an army that possessed the Lance could never be defeated.  Some believe that it was the theft of the Lance by Mordred that enabled him to destroy his father’s kingdom.  After the fall of Camelot, the Lance disappeared again in time. Then in 1921, it was found in Spain by Ahnenerbe archaeologist and brought to the museum in Bonn. When the Nazis came to power, Hitler had the Lance brought to the Chancellery.  After Himmler’s death, it was placed in the Ahnenerbe museum in his name where it resides at this moment.

Your mission is to retrieve this rightful property of the TRUE Church. It is irrelevant whether or not the legends are true. The point is that the government holds it as a great historical and cultural treasure. It symbolizes the power of the Third Reich.  If it were to be stolen out from under them it would be a tremendous blow to national morale and an immense boost to our own.

….

My personal expansion of this plot idea

This could go one of many ways.

1. Straightforward planet bound heist.  They get inside the museum using false credentials (obtained from a forgery expert loyal to the resistance) and proceed to execute a plan to get into the case the spear is being displayed.  Points of interest/encounters will be getting the credentials, fending off any enemies that may be suspicious, getting plans to the Museum, getting into the museum and into the display area, as well as getting out.  Complications come from who can they trust.  The more people the rope in, the more chances of a traitor.  This is best suited for a short one shot.
2. Straightforward planet bound heist but with a slight twist. Above but the PCs find out that the one on display is a fake.  This creates a dilemma. Based on the mission, they simply wanted to take the item so that it can publicly be seen missing and thus a propaganda nightmare for the Reich.  However, taking a fake may not be enough, if any inkling of the legend is true.  Depending on the format of the heist, they may either stay and find the real Spear or leave and come up with another plan once they learn where it is.  This could lead to a vault or some other secret location somewhere else in Berlin.  Points of interest are about the same until they find the fake.  Complications are also the same.
3. Planet bound heist that leads offworld.  #2 but the location of the Spear leads them offworld (in-system for Savage Reich Star or out of system, if Classic Reich Star.)  This could be for a private viewing or for research purposes. Points of interest include the off world location and encounters there.  Additional complications include getting to this offworld location.

This could easily turn into a James Bond-type adventure, globe trotting across the world or system or known worlds, to exotic locations.  I imagined NPCs that include a Expert on Holy Relics, an underground Forgery expert and perhaps a contact in the museum.  Earth-side locations could include old War era tunnels or dungeons, isolated monastery where the Expert resides, and exotic urban location to access the underground contact.

Adversaries include of course the Nazi intelligence agencies that want to protect the Spear, perhaps an intelligence agency that wants to get at the leadership of the PCs organization (clueless about their mission) or perhaps a faction within the Vatican loyal to the Fascist party that has gotten word of the PCs mission.