[jason taylor]

Cliffhangers style. With any other source you like.

The PCs have been summoned to Rome. A disaster has struck! Cardinal X, the PCs Patron tells the story. The deepest corner of the Vatican Archives has been robbed. The Spear of Longius or some other Implement of Power has been stolen (and you thought they only kept crumpled manuscripts here). It is your job to find it.

The burglar is an unusually sporting one and has left a riddle. Why in the world did they do that. I haven't the slightest idea, they always do that.

Possibilities: She is a Femme Fatale Classy Cat Burglar. She was hired by who-knows-who.
Maybe when she finds that the villain really is an Evil Mastermind instead of just your day to day black arts dealer she will ally with the heros.


Maybe Cardinal X is the real mastermind.

This story can go all the way around the world in campaign after campaign.
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A second one has more interest because it has potential to go into more parts of the world. It also has, as well as a clear adversary one who is perhaps deluded but well-intended, making for some complexity.

Instead of the Spear of Longinus it is the Lost Arc. It ended up in the Vatican Archive some how (maybe it was originally Titus' plunder). Some overzealous Coptic sponsors it's theft to be returned to Ethiopia. In that case the original thieves are Worthy Opponents. A third party will arrive that is the real Mastermind. Whether or not the Arc is an object of power decide.