Regardless of their final outcome, the byzantine procedures of Sippar’s judicial system commonly allow for a three-day respite between the trial and the execution of the verdict. This gives honorable folk a chance to settle their disputes, gather more evidence to support a losing case or make appeals, but it also offers the possibility to murder, silence, rob or blackmail a rival so that their claim is dropped. While this practice is far from uncommon, it stands in direct opposition to the judges and the divine justice they proclaim. Because of this, outsiders are often recruited to carry out the illicit deeds that are in demand, for without a voice in the city’s legal system they cannot bear witness against their employers.

If the adventurers seek such employment, roll on the charts below to generate a court-case, a client, a rival, their allies, the task at hand etc. Referees looking to get started quickly may choose to skip some of the charts, whereas those wanting a richer intrigue can roll multiple times to produce a complex web of past or present injustices, bonds and alliances. Regardless, you should note which persons and groupings come into play, marking them with a plus or minus sign depending on whether the adventurers have worked for or against them. This way, the adventurers’ actions will affect their future enterprises—for example when they seek employment anew and find that some of their new clients’ allies are people they have previously fought.

Intermediaries

As clients are commonly from the higher social strata and have much to lose from being spotted recruiting strangers to do dirty work for them, all who can use intermediaries. This adds a layer of deniability, makes the transactions less eye-catching and makes it more likely that the client can remain anonymous for the adventurers. To determine the intermediary contacting the PCs, roll on the chart below.

1. A pompous youngster, eager to impress
2. An ambitious slave
3. A loyal guard
4. A charlatan advisor
5. An elderly notary handling the family accounts
6. A money-lender, sent against his will
7. A tutor
8. A noble woman in disguise
9. A broker of illegal services
10. A beggar
11. A nun
12. A street vendor
13. An orphan messenger
14. An astrologer
15. A scribe
16. A nurse
17. A nervous nobleman
18. A tavern girl
19. A masked smuggler
20. A minstrel

Relations

If needed, use the relations chart to determine the connection between characters. For example, you could use it to determine the relation between the intermediary and the client if the adventurers start investigating the former to learn more about the latter.

1. Indebted to
2. Former spouse
3. Illegitimate child
4. Blood relative
5. Lover
6. Shared name
7. Employment
8. Oath-sworn
9. Shares uncommon religious or political affiliation
10. Secret benefactor (one side of the relation is not aware)
11. Childhood friends
12. Wartime comrades
13. Is blackmailed by
14. Coerced with violence
15. Wishes to impress on
16. Loyal to the same master
17. shared offspring
18. Parents know each other
19. Concerned for the well-being of someone else in household (i.e. acting on behalf of a father to protect his children, rather than himself).
20. complicated story: roll twice and combine.

Involved parties

Roll once to determine the client seeking the adventurers’ services and once for the rival. Note that if the adventurers were approached by an intermediary, the client is likely to be unknown to them—at least originally.

1. A merchant prince
2. An ageing crime lord
3. The emissary of a foreign city
4. The head eunuch of the Moon Temple
5. A captain of the fire watch
6. A high-ranking canal inspector
7. A prominent notary from the wall of complaints
8. An alchemist, concocting gold-balm and ointments for the temples
9. The steward of the steam-bath
10. A hostage queen, ensuring a truce
11. A barû-priest with a penchant for wine
12. A celebrated veteran hero
13. A terrible and wealthy ogre
14. Byblos, steward of the Portico
15. The first courtesan of the temple
16. The business-minded matriarch of house Zhavo
17. A child-widow and heir to a large trade empire
18. A fugitive court psychic living under false name
19. A former explorer, employed as army cartographer and chronicler
20. An ambitious noble eager to take his father’s place in the assembly

Allies

Allies are groups associated with the client or the rival and whom they can rely on for aid. Allies will give help according to their trade and position in society. In addition, combat-trained allies are able to immediately muster 3d6 fighters; all other groups are capable of rallying 2d6 fighters within a shorter time span, either from their own ranks, from the ranks of their sons and daughters or by using their resources to pay soldiers.

1. A person of no slight notice: roll on the involved parties chart to determine which
2. A powerful family, including 1d3+1 notable persons: roll on the involved parties chart to determine which
3. A band of mercenaries: 1 Akkadians, 2 Amorites, 3 Hittites, 4 Reed-men, 5 locals, 6 Dur Kurigalzu murderers
4. The cult of a foreign god: 1 Andarmalech, 2 Anamalech, 3 Pazuzu or 4 Ereshkhigal.
5. A band of youngsters: 1 orphans, 2 noblemen’s bastards, 3 wealthy brats, 4 lawyer students, 5 temple hands, 6 apprentice masons
6. An association of women: 1 prostitutes, 2 bath-house girls, 3 midwives, 4 dreamers of the Moon temple, 5 lamenters, 6 seamstresses, 7 dyers, 8 dentists, 9 brewers, 10 widows, 11 bakers, 12 pharmacists
7. An association of men: 1 actors, 2 bards, 3 masseurs, 4 morticians, 5 orchardmen, 6 butchers, 7 stone masons, 8 wood cutters, 9 gem cutters, 10 potters, 11 painters, 12 shoemakers
8. Bandits: 1 burglars, 2 cut-purses, 3 robbers, 4 counterfeiters, 5 assassins, 6 tomb robbers
9. Temple guards from: 1 the Ziggurat of the Celestial Zenith, 2 the Moon temple, 3 the Merchants’ temple, 4 the Shrine of the vagrant Queen, 5 the Water Clock, 6 the temple of Enlil, 7 the Library of Light, 8 the Barû temple.
10. A chapter of the sun Templars: 1 morning, 2 midday, 3 nighttide or 4 nadir
11. Officials: 1 the Fire Watch, 2 Toll collectors, 3 tax collectors, 4 water carriers
12. Foreigners: 1 Akkadians, 2 Amorites, 3 Hittites, 4 Reed-men.

The deed

Roll to determine what the adventurers are tasked with doing. Elaborate on the outcome to match the client, rival, and circumstances.

1. Make the rival withdraw their claim
2. Exact revenge (nature depending on case)
3. Defend/protect the client’s life until the verdict has been executed.
4. Assassinate the rival
5. Find a witness to plead for the client’s case. Roll on the intermediary or client chart to determine who the witness is.
6. Drive the rival off their land or take the rival’s wealth
7. Steal and destroy all evidence in favor of the rival
8. Retrieve evidence stolen by the rival
9. Forge contract, seal or similar that supports the client’s case
10. Fight off bandits sent by the rival and their allies to steal the client’s wealth
11. Destroy the rival completely
12. The client is not him/herself directly involved in the dispute. The PCs should oversee that the rival makes no trespasses against someone else: roll to determine whom.
13. Silence, blackmail or kill the judges involved and frame the rival for it.
14. Destroy all documentation of the case and kill the notary and the rival’s representatives that attended the hearings
15. Persuade the rival’s allies to betray her.
16. Destroy the rival’s allies to set an example.
17. Shift blame from the client to a third party: roll to determine which.
18. Find evidence of the rival’s involvement in a crime whose magnitude trumps the dispute involving the client.
19. Free the client’s eldest child, who has been exchanged for the rival’s eldest as safety during the trial and is held hostage there.
20. Help the client flee the city.

The dispute

If the nature of the court-case becomes relevant, roll on the chart below to determine the accusation or area of contestation.

1. Assassination of a prominent family member
2. The legality of a wedding that merges the wealth of two houses
3. Inheritance
4. Ownership of land
5. Illegal taxation/confiscation of goods
6. Unsanctioned practice of sorcery
7. Fraud or impersonation
8. Forgery
9. Adultery
10. Contract breaking

Evidence

1. An ancient sculpture establishing pedigree
2. Two clay tablets, identical in all but a few words that changes their meaning
3. A witness: roll on the intermediary chart
4. Fragments of a shattered cylinder seal
5. An electrum dagger, with the owner’s mark engraved on the hilt
6. An heirloom that was considered lost for years
7. A cache of foreign gold
8. Two halves of an emerald brooch
9. A silver key
10. The grain-keepers’ records
11. A body
12. Blood-spattered clothes
13. Two runaway slaves
14. A broken chariot, palanquin or other vehicle
15. A vial of tamarisk perfume
16. A broken tooth, nail or lost tuft of hair
17. A discrediting message, written on reed
18. A sandal, shawl or other piece of clothing
19. Imprints of six similar seals
20. A charred bone

Complications and twists

To make the situation more complex, you may choose to add one or more complications from the chart below.

1. The PCs are approached by both parties and must choose sides
2. Both sides are innocent of the crime; instead it was orchestrated by a third party that stands to gain from the rivalry. Roll to determine whom.
3. One of the clients’ allies is loyal to the rival party.
4. The client has hired more adventurer-groups that the PCs, and they must compete with the others if they hope to get remunerated.
5. To avoid paying them and keep the recompense for herself, the intermediary seeks to frame the PCs for any illegal actions they have done in her service.
6. The rival is immensely powerful, having 1d6 additional allies.
7. The rival has recruited a band of assassins to murder the client; if she dies, there will be no payment.
8. The rival has recruited a band of ruffians to take counter-measures against the client. Roll twice on the “service” chart to determine what their plan is.

Remuneration

As these are desperate affairs, assume each character receives 1d100 shekels upon completion.