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Ancient Blood in Belmain /DONE
First Stop – Belmain: The characters first stop is the relatively well-off fiefdom of Belmain.
The people here have slowly begun a cultural shift towards the common folk of Dunstrand – away from the more hostile of their neighbors. The further south and west one goes, the less this is true.
The road to Tadeus: The roads leading towards the recognized center of Belmain have recently been cleared of debris and seem more passable than what you have been told to expect. The NE of Belmain seems a safe place. You follow a pair of peddlers to the first couple farmsteads before realizing that they will slow you down too much. They tell you about and old farmstead a few hours away from Tadeus – ruined by the river changing course, but enough remains for a defensible place to rest so you can enter the city rested and early. You crossed into Belmain early afternoon, Tadeus could be made by nightfall, and at first there seems to be no risk to travel here.
Any party members scouting purposefull behind the group, and the last person in the group should get to make
PER checks (-4 if not purposefully keeping an eye out).
GM: To simulate chance and encourage the party to go to Applebottom Farm, make a few checks and tell one of the group of the encounter.
Ambush Spotted! After a couple hours and close to darkness, one of you is able to discern that you are being followed. You can make for Tadeus and risk being ambushed, of make for the farmstead, with free shelter and rest.
the group should decide if they will try and reach the town, or camp for the night. If they camp, follow the trail to Applebottom Farm, otherwise, go directly to the Ambushed! encounter.
Road to Applebottom: So you slow and make early camp in a defensible place – you can make Tadeus in the morning, while your minds and strength are fresh. You follow the directions of the peddlers and a small side path can be seen to lead to a farmstead about a half mile away on a curving road at the base of some low hills. A faded signpost marks the way, a barrel from the top, looking down, with three apples at the bottom.
GM’s should encourage a view of relative safety. Animals (deer in the distance) can be seen, inviting those with the ability to hunt for fresh game. Perhaps even tell the party that they get the sense they have been followed for a bit – there may be brigands about.
Applebottom Farm
If the PCs choose to follow the ‘safe’ road and go to the farm, follow the text in the cursed land of
[– Play Scenario: Applebottom Farm –]
The ‘Peddlers’ Ambush
The peddlers have joined forces with some unsavory types to kill whats left of the party – they are assuming that some may survive. The peddlers – Jim and Jack, both from the Merchant Cities, have been through this area many times and are known and well liked. The death of a few outsiders will not hurt their reputation; in fact, their clever plan only raises them in the eyes of a few of the locals who stand to make a quick buck from murdering
the party and taking their goods. A local brute, named Steel-Eyed Pete, has heard their tale and is ready with them.
- Jim: Melee 2, Evade 4; dagger; RES 62
- Jack: Melee 3, Evade 4; dagger; RES 50
- Steel-Eyed Pete: MUS 6; Melee 3, Propel 4, Evade 4; leather armor; broadsword, spear; RES 68
- Pete’s Dog – ‘Wolfer’: MUS 5, RSP/CRD 6; Melee 4, Jump 3, Evade 5; bite & bark to scare mounts
- Pete’s Gang (2): Melee 2, Evade 4, Propel 3; leather jerkin (3/24); short sword, light staff; RES 44
- Steed the Hunter (1): Stealth 3, Camouflage 3, Melee 2, Evade 4, Propel 4; dagger, bow; RES 40
Ambushed! As you make your way away from the farmstead, the air seems clear and fresh. Suddenly, some sort of wolf-like dog sprints out from some brush, spooking your animals. From the opposite side, out from behind a large boulder rush several men, screaming
like savages.
Ambush Tactics: The hunter will always be on the fringes, hidden. Pete and his gang will confront whats left, letting Jim and Jack hide out of view. The moment that the party engaged. If they ambushers had to wait overnight, they will be sloppy and lax, thinking that the remains of the party will be easy pickings. If the party chooses not to stop, they will use the terrain to get in fornt and hit the party in the dark, a mile away from town. Wolfer (half wolf; sounds like one) will be used to scare the mounts of the party (require Ride checks).
Captives: If any of the attackers are taken captive (20 silvers for each head), they will be tried as bandits and hung. Steel-Eyed Pete has a bounty on his head of 100 silvers as well. The bounty can be claimed with
living captive (+50 more), or with severed head. If alive, he will offer to lead his captives to his treasure in exchange for letting him go. Steed will bargain with the party – telling them they had best kill Pete or take him in; he will offer to also guide the way to Pete’s treasure (he trailed him once) for freedom. If it comes down to it, he may try and give up Mr. Knap (see aftermath) and his meeting place for his life.
Pete’s Treasure: If Pete is leading, he will wait until the party is in the cave, and trigger the trap that seals it. The party will get caught in the collapse and take precious time to get themselves out, while Pete (who knows the cave like the back of his hand), escapes with some of his goods. If Steed is leading the way, he does not know about the traps in the cave, and in leading them into the cave. He will try and escape by leading the party into dangerous terrain, but if he is forced, he will eventually lead the party to Pete’s cave and will trigger the trap – killing him and trapping the party for days.
Half: (If Pete manages to get out) 3 daggers, 1 vase (50), mixed coins totaling 200 silver, old cask of brandy (50), boots + clothes, 3 old poultices (3 pt) and bandages, spear, bedroll, old bear pelt (50)
More: boots + clothes (good), broad sword, purse with 50 silvers and 3 rings worth 30 each
Aftermath: The party should clearly understand that something is amiss by the end – bandits armed with real weapons, all from the same place in the north, even their normal equipment is good and new to boot; coordinated with peddlers, just happen to be waiting for the party? No way its coincidence. If any lived and the meeting place with Knap was not divulged, the baron’s agent will show up and not meet Pete, causing any survivors to be tracked down by Harpher Knap, a farrier and agent of Baron Grus Sherwald. If Harpher decides that the PC’s appear to be some force to be reckoned with, he will send ruffians to teach them a lesson and send a message to leave the Riverdans.
Increased Banditry
Harpher Knap will inform the baron to the north of who the party is. Remote travelers and farms will be targeted initially. This will probably be while the party is healing.
The entire increased banditry plot thread can play out as the other do, both with a few quick active encounters, as well as background ones.
Tadeus
The sprawling city ahead is bustling as city should be. You count 8 towers, though no walls enclose it. There are several ways into the city, and no proper gates – if there were any defenses, they are long gone now. At the center, on a leveled hill sits an old keep – dirty and run down even from this distance. The city sits at what appears to be the center of a large agricultural area. On the south side is sprawl which does not fit into the obvious city pattern – a growth of buildings and activity.
Outskirts: Scattered farmsteads and storage buildings mark the area under the city’s control. Workers are in the fields, people and traffic move brining supplies and local trade.
- Malby – west by south
- Terrovere – west
- Hooker’s Ranch – north (marks the safest north place on the poath to the ruions of Gnedfort.
Darrow Bros. Crofters small grain farm outside the city; this is a contact point for the guild. The PCs will get a chance to rest a day with no one knowing, and at least get basic gear and clothes if needed.
Rams Gate
A maze of smaller buildings and houses on the south side of the city proper. It has a population of some 1200 people, with farmsteads growing wheat and barley on the edges holding or employing some 100 more.
Goats Blood Inn: [SRLM Expenses] This Inn is central to a sprawling way station outside the old crumbling walls of the old keep. It is not the only Inn, but it is the largest and has its own stable in addition to the local smithy and stables.
The City Proper
Though the city was intended to have proper walls, these were never built. There are 8 round towers at the edges of the original city wall definitions. Any ditches or battlements have been filled in at this point. The towers themselves were sold over the years, and only 2 are used to house the city watch garrison (closest to the rams Gate) and the other is Traders Guild Hall. The rest are owned and decorated by families, with each being the defensible centerpiece of a larger estate.
Tadeus Keep
This was built by Tadeus Oihgnan as the new seat of power after the river’s course changed northward, after it became obvious that Gnedfort would be consumed by the river. The northern wall is partially collapsed… in fact the entire keep look dilapidated. The keep is large, and has foundation for many more building that were never finished and land for those not built. There is a garrison here that is crumbling and dangerous, but could hold 60-100 soldiers. There is a family chapel to Darupet and a public church to the Wyld Faith in general. The doors are not guarded and may not even move if anyone tried to shut them. The Baily of the keep will be guarded by a minimum of 4 soldiers; the garrison inside holds a total of about 25-30 – they are all mounted infantry, with about 3 dozen horses in the yard.
The party will be seen and a contingent of lightly armed men and servants will arrive to ask them their business
in the keep – and specifically if they have an appointment.
The family Oihgnan will welcome the travelers. Family – Stuart Oihgnan is the head of the family now. There are not so many who are obviously so well off. They will know immediately when large, suspicious groups come into the city proper.
The family will ask what their business is, interrupting at some point to ask them if they even have much of an understanding of where they are at and this land’s history?
(Spoken by Sir Stuart) This is an old area. There is much pain – pain brought the the east they say, where the knights of the old houses once rules vast lands. Servants now to a new master in Dunstrand, they carved out these lands from the foes that held them, making the heartlands safe for man. The Riverdans = River Lords in the old eastern tongue (not spoken any more); where once the river flowed through these lands they were prosperous and important – since the river changed course and devastated these lands, they have become marginalized… those other folk of Dunstrand even refer to us as a ‘backwater’ now.
Searching the Records
They will certainly make their records in the chapel available, without a fuss. However, they are all reconstructed from memory or copies. No one doubts the succession, and its well enough document from the time of the Gnedport’s fall. A single instance of confirmation from one of the old places would probably serve in any court.
Recovery and Healing
The PCs should take the time to recover and heal before going off on any further investigations. While there, the family will show them every courtesy, offering them a good place to stay in the keep for free (though the rooms are cold and drafty). During the day, the PC’s are free to explore.
GM: If the PC’s have no knowledge or lore ability to get knowledge of creatures, in the course of a couple weeks study one of them (literacy level 2 min.) can pick up Lore: Monsters 1 or Zoology 1.
Gnedfort City (ruins)
Background: Gnedfort was THE shinning gem of the Riverdans. It was the largest of the cities in all the ‘dans, supporting a population of 40,000. It had three hills, one of which was dug out at one end for the Temple of The Earth – A holy place to the followers of Darupet. On Rom’s Mount was a tin mine and a small quarry. Haldor’s Hall was a craggy mount, entered through a tunnel going beneath the hill, and held the houses of many rich and on top of which stood the Fire of Pexmuth – a small keep, built by Pexmuth Oihgnan as a watch tower with its ever-burning fire which was a symbol of protection to the people. The ancient city was devastated by the river course change. Some of the ancient buildings on the rises and hills survived, and for a time levies and dams channeled the river… but ultimately it was ruined. When the levies broke, many were drowned. It is now a city of spirits, and it is said the dead walk there. Few who venture into its environs come out again. Annually at the spring festival,
the clergy of Ezrilus holds a vigil to keep that which is dead barred from the fields and homes of the living in the areas around it. The locals do not appreciate anyone disturbing the peace they have made with their dead ancestors.
Rom’s Mount
Background: Rom’s Mount was named after Erwilla Rom, the first priestess of Darupet and the family
priest of the founders. The great Temple of The Earth had its foundation laid in her time, mostly due to her efforts. The mount is a rock hill which had its south side washed away – it was mostly earthen. The family burial crypts were all carved into the mount. It is said the under the mount was an entrance to The Deeping. For many years these crypts stood locked and watched, opened only at times for burial. the mount was also a place where public processions were guided over – into its shadow for mourning or onto its plateau into the sun for celebrations. The tunnels flooded and crypts were ruined by the river, though damage was minimal compared to the rest of the city. A few crypts are visible from a distance – boulders of a different color marking their sealed entrances. It is said though that there are other crypts and pitfalls into the caverns that are merely covered by overgrowth. The is where most of the treasure-seekers go.
The Motivation: One of the old habits of the ancient nobility of the city was to have stone tablets carved with geneology burried with each family member entombed. Several of the families inter-married and any number of crypts could provide access to tablets which can be stolen or a rubbing made directly of them which would validate the copies and those inscribed from memory held by the Oihgnan family.
Rumors: There is 2 villages nearby – Malby west by south and Terrovere in the east.
- Malby – Bard can be persuaded to tell the local tale of the last 2 brave souls who went to seek their fortune.
They bragged they found the tomb of Family Crithomyssis by following the ‘lions path’. They vanished in at high noon time, just beyond sight of their bearers. The last sounds heard for a mile in the distance was the great rattling of chains, a shackling of their spirit and they were never seen again. - Terrovere – The party will be beaten and mugged here.
Perils
The Deeping: The old city is a place of ghosts and the dead. Hundreds would not leave their homes as the river encroached. When a gathering broke loose and riots ensued, soldiers were sent in and hundreds were killed in the fighting, on the eve of the river claiming the city itself.
It is an ugly time and one the people and family prefer to forget – though its used against the family by their detractors and enemies. Such places reach out to The Deeping – calling on its power to give life to the undying memories, anger and hatred. It manifests as The Suffering Tread – while it is silent to those outside its’s effect,
those inside hear and feel as if some massive creature is running towards them but there is no physical manifestation. Once full affected, they feel as if they have been trodden on – it becomes difficult to breathe and
and a great weight comes over them (-2 AM + stun; WPR to resist to -1 AM)
– Those waiting in the effect long enough will be swept into a sinkhole which only froms for those in the effect and will carry then to caverns waiting for them under the earth to the cavern of Bolg Morda (RSP check – those succeeding will notice other failing and can choose to stay with them).
- Sink Hole: -1 evade; 4 pts + twisted ankle (-1 physical actions)
- Cold Wind (blows unwary off cliff edge; RCT to grab hold, MUS if fail – 140 points damage)
- Trick of sight – trying to catch the trick causes twisted ankles, ruined knees and horrible falls. PER check or CRD check to fall
- Fetid wind – fear; HLT check or retching (-1 actions while on the mount)
- Spirits – try and drown
Crypt of Family Crithomyssis
Gnedfort Crypt
bent out and require a lot of wriggling – maximum size of 12 to enter; 10 if armored. Anyone bigger will have to fill the role of anchor – using long hafted weapons or ranged weapons through the bars against pursuing creatures.
Bending the bars – only a single or maximum 2 can attempt, and a minimum muscle of 40 would be needed.
Antechamber:
Dead Body:
Lifting door: Operates on a chain mechanism that is VERY noisy.
[Traps: ]
Respects Chamber: For recently dead to be laid out
Dead Body:
Statues:
[Traps: ]
Chapel: Altar to the wylds [Trap: ]
Offering = 1 blessing
Crypt Proper: Stone sarcophagi line both sides of this room, and additional cut chambers hold even older bodies. Several of these have been broken open. Crumbling remains lie broken on the ground in obvious desecration. Their wrappings and clothes torn off in search for jewelry and items of value.
[Traps: ]Columbaria: [Trap: 15% chance each blade trap severs the hand/RCT to avoid] Rows of urns line the walls inset into cut squares. Each urn holds 5-50 silvers; there are over 120 urns – they are all cemented into place.
Reliquary: [Trap: 2 armored skeletons come to life]
Contains many artifacts of wealth and some few powers. 7 rusted broadswords,
18 spears with pennons, ivory statuettes (6 x 200 silvers), necklace of sapphire and crystal – words and motion can make approx. a barrel of water come alive for 10 rounds – water blast/watery-cold creature attack/encase in ice
; many are in rotted boxes with the seal of the house – a cresting wave.
Flooded Area
Hall of Memory: In bas relief are the faces of hundreds of women, men and children.
Sacrifical Supply: Items laid to rest here not part of a burial itself. They are flowers, foodstuffs, and other perishables that are being allowed to disintegrate in proper sacrifice. Broken casks, bolts of ruined cloth.
Supply Room: Oil, tools, water – but nothing but remnants.
Ceremonial Decorations: Stones, statuettes – all broken and cracked.
Leaving
Mules stolen + riding gear; the least guarded of the PC’s equipment.
Further Adventures
Breaking the Curse of Applebottom Farm
Applebottom farm’s curse may be either broken or the PC’s may simply have escaped it. the authorities want to know, and want to hire the PC’s to investigate further.
A Wyld Priest (most appropriate) or a priest of Light can happen to have been in the area, and sense a weakening of the curse’s power – the binding had been touched! They may be able to transport the group to the Land of Shadows in order to break the curse.
Applebottom Farm
The PC’s may want to try and buy Applebottom farm. this will not be well received as they are outsiders. If they have the thousands of silver to get the farm up and running, they will be asked to make a deal with one of the local families to buy an ‘interest’ in the farm – though not controlling. The politics around such an attempt, and of running the farm, in addition to dealing with local feelings (torn between the old ways and new) could be very interesting.
New Camapign Materials
Old ‘dans legend of the Drunnad – the Goat People, they were here long before the river lords, dwelling on the north side of the river. They lived at peace in the gulley’s and hidden places in the ‘dans, but vanished when the river changed course. The goat is a venerated animal in the ‘dans, and a few old legends remain of how these creatures once help the River Lords rid their land
of the Ameni-Epyp… the cursed snake folk. The Drunnad and them had been at war for ages, and the River Lords helped the Drunnad defeat them finally… but did not
erradicate them entirely. Their queen was killed, and the royal blood line cut, but weaker breeders were made, further abominations, and these folk have struggled to remain alive in the dark places and soft soil in the ‘dans – still ambushing Drunnad when they can. The curse of Everdark
drew them from their Deeping lairs and they also sit and wait in ambush near the well’s entrace to The Deeping.
The Drunnad have empathy cut cannot speak most languages. they have three fingered hands and barely a thumb, but have small horns in their head and cloven hooved feet.
Size: 8, RSP/CRD 7, VIT 5; Iron Gut, Acute Smell; Melee 2, Evade 3, Empathy 4
RES = 40
There is 2 ways for the Drunnad to help, 1) Shaman will open the Moon Path – at midnight, on a full moon, a path into the curse vortex will appear – they must physically combat the curse to get free; or 2) steal the Hearts blood – the standard of Umbar.
The Wyld: The hart, connection with the earth-mother
Climbing – chaining together adds +1 to all connected for any checks to footing. If someone has to hold on to a slipped climber, they must make a MUS check or slip themselves. this is modded by -2 for each slipped person they must carry.