The Search for the Q Source

Library Storage Rooms
Library Storage Rooms

And now for a Pulp Adventure sidequest:

Background Info: The “Q Source” document is a theoretical document many real Biblical scholars believe existed. Some passages of Matthew and Luke are very similar, making scholars they are borrowed from another unknown source.

Getting the PCs Involved:

  • The papacy knows the Q Source is real and where it is, but can’t be seen “stealing” it. They hire the PCs through an intermediary: a private collector.
  • A private collector and historian has found a reference to the Q Source’s location, but he is unable to travel. So he hires the party.

Encounters:

  • The collector explains he believes the document is located in a secret basement of a library in the middle eastern with a corrupt government. He stresses the importance of baptism.
  • As the PCs land in the foreign city, they are attacked! (A secret organization believes the document will change perspectives about religion–they wish to keep it hidden.)
  • The PCs are rebuffed by Library staff. Even though it is the middle of the day–it is time for lunch, siesta, etc.
  • Eventually the PCs get in (by wearing out excuses, breaking in at night, etc.).  The basement stair doors are locked.
  • A secret door must be found in the first basement room to get to the second, and another to get to an ancient corridor.
  • Statues stand in the room beyond. In the room with a font, a false Q document is on a bookcase.  Careful examination will show the material isn’t correct. Disturbing the water (as if for baptism) will cause a door to the remaining room to appear for 5 minutes.
  • The other room holds several documents. Taking the wrong one out (even if the right one is also taken) activates the statues who attack!

Follow-Up Adventure Ideas:

  • The organization hiding the document attempts to steal it back.
  • Is it the real document, of did the secret organization plant a fake?