The Children's Crusade

by Dion Scher



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Preamble

This story is based on a historical event which took place in Marseille. Therefore the story is best played out near Marseille, where the characters will be affected. When we played, the characters' Covenant was situated a couple of miles outside of Marseille and therefore was highly affected by the events of this story.

Format

Because the story is location specific, I will try to elucidate further by explaining what happened in our saga. Hopefully, this will give Guides enough of a picture to run it in their own sagas.

Actual History

(This may be also found in the Mythic Europe Sourcebook)

There was a French Shepherd boy by the name of Stephen. In 1212 A.D., he had a vision that Jesus was calling him. He leads 20000 children to Marseille where he promises God will part the sea, allowing them to walk to Jerusalem.

The sea refuses to part for Stephen but some merchants offer them free passage to Jerusalem instead. However, the merchants change their course to Africa, where they sell the children as slaves to the Muslims.

Marseille gets a shocking reputation and is condemned by the Pope for their unspeakable acts. Marseille becomes a cesspool of scum and theives.


The Children’s Crusade (1212AD)

What can the Magi do about it?

If the Magi do nothing?

The situation with the rats and faeries gets worse and worse. (I'll leave this up to your imagination.)

This scene is rather self-explanatory. It is your action scene 101. The rats explode, characters get upset etc. It is meant to stress the urgency of resolving the situation.

In our game, a Grog died from attacking and killing a rat - the rats explode on death or on being hurt.

  • EVENT 3: When Stephen arrives.

    [Crusade Divine Aura = 3]

    [Children headcount = 20000]

    In this scene, Stephen arrives. Stephen promises major miracles. He does have divine faith but that is mainly as a protective measure against magic.

    Stephen Quote:

    "The sea will part before God's children and we shall march our way to the walls of Jerusalem with Piety as our shield and Faith as our blade!!!"

    The children gets scared of the exploding rats. However there are now about 20000 children waiting in the forest for Stephen to arrive. They are very restless. The divine aura is at a high.

    Stephen then arrives and calms the masses. He builds their emotion until roars of excitement can be heard. He then leads them onward to Marseille.

    Why should Magi follow Stephen to Marseille?

    In our saga, the players took a hike into the forest to find the cause of the faeries' problem. They saw clumps of scared children (because of rats) here and there. They couldn't actually see all the children as the forest is thick.

    One bright spark decided that he'd shout that there was a Covenant in the south and that they were offering protection. Next thing, wave after wave of children start to pass them, heading south. There are way more than a few hundred - which is all that they've seen so far. Words has travlled fast and all the children are making their way to the Covenant.

    One of the Magi flies up into the air to check out the scene from above. He basically sees a rock concert type gathering in the Covenant main square.

    When they get back Stephen has arrived, preaching like his life depended on it. It truly looks like a rock concert.

    My player then `helped' the Crusade to leave - their Magic aura started to go down due to the Divine aura.

    The hunter then noticed his son had joined the Crusade and pleaded with one of the kind hearted Magi to rescue him - Mwhahahah! They agreed to help! Mwahahahah!

  • EVENT 4: Crusade arrives in Marseille.

    Now is the time for the GM to make a decision. Will he let Stephen part the sea and defy history or keep his saga consistent with history? I chose the latter and therefore the sea doesn't part for Stephen and he stands there dumb-struck, with 20000 children behind him for hours. Mumbling softly to himself.

    My players actually attacked Stephen - as a diversion. They turned invisible and swam underwater. They then dragged him under and attacked him. He managed to get away with a few bumps on his head. While this was happening, they grabbed the hunter's son and left.

  • EVENT 5: Merchants oddly offer free passage.

    This is the closer. You can pretty much run it ad hoc here. My players heard the merchant's speech and couldn't be bothered to actually take the matter further. They had what they came for and therefore left.

    A merchant by the name of Pelonius approaches Stephen and offers free passage:

    "For such a noble cause, the Merchants of Marseille have found it in their hearts to transport God's children to their destination."

    The merchants are NOT doing this because of the goodness in their hearts, but because they were paid to by the (rival) Autumn Covenant Locus de Umbrae. If pressured by Magi Pelonius will give up the information of his sponsor.

    [Why? They want to learn magic from the Lords of Dis (demonic magic). Magi only find out that the children were sold to the Moors - see South of the Sun.]

    How do Magi find out about real fate of the children?

    As a GM you can take it from here to adapt to your own campaign. I use Pelonius as a great mundane enemy - he's still waiting in the wings...

  • CHARACTERS
    1. Stephen

      Stephen is a blond-haired, blue-eyed shepherd's boy with a lot of charisma and a sprinkling of divine intervention. Stephen is about 16 years of age and stands 6 ft tall. He is slim of build with wiry muscles.

      He believes he has received a vision and is leading the Children on a crusade to rescue the Holy Sepulchre.

      Strengths:

      Weaknesses:

      Characteristics:

      Int

      2 (Cunning)

      Per

      1 (Perceptive)

      Str

      1 (Wiry)

      Sta

      0

      Pre

      4 (Crowds)

      Com

      5 (Inciting Crowds)

      Dex

      0

      Qui

      0

      Skills:

    2. Pelonius

      He is a local merchant of Marseille with a particularly untrustworthy and slimy nature.

      Pelonius is about 5'8" with dark brown hair and a full beard and mustache. He has dark brown eyes which dart about in every direction and a hooked nose. His face sometimes takes on the appearance of a rat. He stands hunched.

      Make the players HATE him but have no reason (yet) to take action.

      Characteristics:

      Int

      2 (Cunning)

      Per

      2 (Perceptive)

      Str

      -2 (Wimpy)

      Sta

      -3 (Unfit)

      Pre

      1 (Barter)

      Com

      3 (Bargain)

      Dex

      0

      Qui

      -2 (Slow)

      Skills:

      Strengths:

      Weaknesses:

      Other:

      Ring of the Infantile Will - Pelonius once made a good trade where he acquired a magical ring. It functions once a week and allows a statement made by the user to be believed by the target with absolute naivete. The target effectively gains the comprehension and analytical abilities of a child. The effect lasts only for that statement. For resistance, use Trust of Childlike Faith PeMe lvl 10.

  • PLAYER AIDS (for the end)
  • These were delivered to the entire region.