Arvban Keep Strike
A n c i e n t Blood – A Living World storyline Set in the Grand Duchy of Dunstrand of the [Fantasy] Steel Realms.
Ancient Blood’s Due > Ancient Blood – Test of the Bogmile Wolves > Arvban Keep Strike
Current Year: Common Year of the Steel Realms, 9169
Historical Events of Relevance:
Defining Moment: All of the Riverdans were devastated when, in CY 7950-7986, the Nanford River changed course during the Storm Times and Dwindor Swamp became a living thing itself and gained the appellation of “Mighty Dwindor”.
Aftermath of Gruxxand the Necromancer’s ascension to Lichdom: CY 9168/q3 > The Guild of Solars recorded everything they could about The Soul Scourge and the Dreams Leading Up To It and they and others used their skills to interpret the meaning or significance. Afterward, Orrish attacks increase… across the entirety of the Steel Realms.
- Arvban Rebellion of Bondeu (History/Lore check)
Scouts have gotten reports from the River Rovers of lights at night in the ancient ruins of Arvban Keep. Arvban was a high foothills keep that was once used as a base of operations for patrolling the Mistveil Hills in the east of the Riverdan of Bondeu when the Orrish incursions were bad 800 years ago. It was sacked by the Orrish, re-taken, and sacked at least twice more. There is nearly nothing left of it now, and it is too isolated and the Riverdan of Bondeu too poor to maintain it. However, scouts are saying that the Orrish might have taken it for a base of their own – a fire has been seen in the hills near it twice in the last month. That means the Orrish are planning something close by – probably trying to extend their terror from their recent base 30 miles east in the Hawktail Hills and Blue Willow Valley of the neighboring Riverdan of Pelmon. Its likely to be an advance party of just goblins and their minions from the Dark Lands.
But the The Interloper is bright in the night sky… this bodes ill… The Church of Darkness may be planning a Rite of the Interloper’s Defiance!
Little is remembered about this specific fort – it had only military significance (like most of its kind), it was not large, and it was used for defense against the Orrish only. The entire upper story is gone. There are just broken ruins of the main floor from the last reports a hundred years ago. It is assumed that there is an underkeep, but no maps exist of it. There was a water source nearby (obviously), and a stream flowed below the crags it sat on. Rumors say it was named for Lady Celia Arvban, niece of one of the Burren family rulers of Bondeu – but there is no known significance to that.
It was once one of the Picket Keeps of the Heartlands, and nearly all in the Riverdans are in ruins and uninhabited.
MISSION: Travel about 1.5 days to the Mistveil Hills and scout the area. If there is an advance party there, it needs to be taken out to send a message; Inventory their potential forces, and any tunnels made by the Rock Worms of the Underlands should be noted and marked for later collapse.
Rewards: Any bounty for goblin ears, incidental treasure found, a share of the worth of any historical artifacts or records… CP REWARD = 3
- ADV: Approx. 3-4th level, 3-5 characters for i20™ variant
- Resources = Whatever the current characters can bring on foot (roads are long gone) + a crude map of the area and old trail & each character receives: 2 firebombs (6+2d6;1 round delay fuse), 2 weeks trail rations, 1 honey healing salve from the Red Bees of Tufflim (8+d6), meager trekking supplies (if needed)
- A rudimentary cartographer kit, if the party does not have one (wax sealed map case, grease pens, ruler, and heavy parchment)
“A New Hope”
The name of De’Vosa is still remembered. With a series of battles and raids by the Orrish imminent, the people need hope. The old remember the name, but its not enough. The party needs to take their time, stop by settlements and farmsteads and spread word of an old hero, a heroic ideal, and the new efforts of the Cunaigh family and the Riverdans in general to organize a defense against the coming evil.
2.5 days, they want the PCs to make it a public trek! 3x CHA checks for each PC while spreading the name of the Cunaigh family and their group – “_____”; RS scale of +/-
10+ successes = +1 Character Weave for each PC; 15+ = +1 Reputation
RECORD OF ADV
PR Results: Darkland ranger was too bitter, only 3 PCs. Everyone got a character weave. The characters pool their knowledge and disseminate what they know about the days of rebellion, the picket keeps, the current rulers, river rovers, interloper moon rite, and Orrish lore/culture… they figure about some time in the next 30 days is a window for the rite.
The character created a main campsite at the base of the hills, a hundred feet away from the old trail head on the map. The wash out of hundreds of years was bad – the trail was covered in silt and debris, definitely not a horse path any more. The winding trail was about 5 miles of trekking to get up to 1300 feet – near the top where the ruins of the keep were. The ranger scouted ahead. After finding the exit point of an underground stream and relaxing darkness was coming, they created a camp while the ranger scouted a possible ay through the hills to another switchback point. The familiar of the wizard was sent briefly in the air and noted a massive washout point where a stream tore the “road” up. At night, a scuttling spider of Gozen is seen but it does not attack. Overland through rough terrain as where the group decides to go. The bard takes a couple of minor spills. They get beyond the trail washout, and figure its a perfect ambush point. They draw the guards from there back down the road to them and ambush kill them. They are Rhoon – southern ‘men’ whop threw in with the Orrrish and serve an sentries during the day. They are never seen this far west and north! Another spider watcher sees them so ambushing through the road is out of the question. The ranger again leads the party overland and they attack from beyond the fort. From the hills slightly above it they see a tarp in tree line were road would lead into fort – an ambush spot and shadows moving under it. The ruins of the keep are prepared. Magical alarms go off. The ranger falls into a painted put trap and the wizard vortices hm back up – right before another trap is set off. The group attacks. Two look back and 2 forward. Bats swarm flies to them and a big hat shaman and spider with rider come out of stairwell. The 2 looking at them fail to kill the shaman, the other two react tot he warning at the same moment the shaman goes. He gets off a fireball, but the wizard hits with a critical shot from a light crossbow killing him. The fireball kills the elven combat medic. The wizard yells “hes got bombs!” bard kicks the body down a hole in the floor. As a few goblins approach it below, the bomb blows up in enclosed area, killing them and setting off traps. The from ambush spot is charged and the cloud of daggers the magus casts tears up their cover and they burn in the sun bane. They head downstairs and using the rangers primordial awareness corner the other goblins in the make-shift shrine in the room under the one above which used to be a shrine to the gods of light. Theres lot of traps everywhere. The shrine power is triggered with chanting and darkness fill the area. There is a brutal frontal charge. The bard, using her tuned hearing pinpoints the chanter and kills them in the darkness. The goblin champion charged meanwhile but froze when he aw a darkland ranger so far from home. Losing initiative, there is a few rounds of fighting, but the champion is smoked down and the bard sleeps the last 3 of 4 goblins. The shrine is destroyed (+1 character weave). There is a full sweep and the bedrolls and camping sites of the champion and shaman found – a map with a couple nearby farmsteads is mapped by the goblins for upcoming raids! A concealed hole in the tower basement floor leads to an investigation. Square cover would fully cover round hole, no hinge holes, no way to grab slab, no rings in walls for drop ladder – wherever the hole goes it was not mean to be found – even by the inhabitants of the keep! Primordial awareness shows rough positions of more orrish in an under cavern. The bard drops down with disguise self spell and pulls off a language skill to draw the orrish while disguised as a wounded champion. As the orrish congregate to climb up rope, 2 fire bombs are dropped and bard rolls away. BOOM. Spider of Gozen and rider attack bard but bard keeps sleeps it and it drops 20 from ceiling killing it and rider. Exploring, bard is attacked by carrion crawler climbing walls – a spawn of the 2 rock worms! Bard is getting repeatedly hit but making poison saves until other PCs attack. Rock Worms and worm tenders get away. Stream through cavern leads out – but it turns out it would have been a trap. A rubble covered choke point leads to ravine outside, stream would have been a death trap. There are shrieker mushrooms as an alarm and a magic mouth at the rock worm tunnel entrance. The group find a vein of coal (cool -place has it won heat source) AND figure out that its metallurgical grade – gets a reward of decent damage weapons for it after. What goblin ears can be collected are for a total of about 16 unburnt heads worth – the nurth spider riders and Rhoon dont count.
After Action: Tallying up the bedrolls and disposition so the bard can record it all, the ranger discovers that theres about 10-12 missing – turns out the total was more like 40-45, not 30! These goblins are probably in small groups scouting in several directions. Maybe preparing to raid the marked settlements! A small cache of iron mining tools is found in one of the rooms, under some rubble. The group buries the fallen Elven combat medic in a large cairn.
After the fight against the carrion crawler and hold outs in the under caverns, the group decided to climb back up the pit into the lower keep. It’s about 3pm. A full canvassing of the area was made and the discrepancy between the supplies and quarters and how many were found was made. There are at least a dozen missing – likely raiding. Bandages are applied, and the fallen medic is given a decent burial. There’s still smoke coming from the fires in the great room of the lower keep… they will likely burn out in an hour. The secret cavern below is still not completely explored.
The Coming of Nox
You are checking your gear in the courtyard, cleaning wounds and assessing your next move. From the shadows by a tree a man walks out with his hands raised. The group jumps to weapons. He says his name is “Nox”, and he has been brought here through the actions of his order – The Order of the Broken Sun.
Kvasir says “I know this order – you’re far from your home in Karolak. There is no charge for you to be here – and House Malor must surely be tracking you – why should we trust you?” Nox replies, “Aye, but my order is known to stay in the shadows… we are adept enough at hiding our presence. Making the journey into the Riverdans without using my powers I did not attract attention. As to why to trust me, admittedly there is no reason. The darkness stirs in these times, and so my order once again is trying to understand that darkness. And so I was.. Sent here. I must listen to and follow my order’s wishes. I am to trust yourselves, and I am unsure why myself and know not who you are.” Hylia steps forward and introduces the group: “We are the Bogmile Wolves… or at least part of them. We’re here on a mission from the lady Cunaigh of Bondeu, scouts reported this ancient ruin being used by the Orrish. We are trying to stem the tide as they are expanding their raids. There was a great battle less than a fortnight ago… and the Orrish have a foothold now in the Blue Willow Valley of the Hawktail Hills in the Riverdan of Pelmon. We are enemies of the dark dwellers and their kind. We don’t seek to understand them better, we seek to kill them. How do we know you are not a spy or their ally?” Nox ponder this for a bit as people start to fidget with their weapons… “I am neither a spy nor an ally. Nor a sympathizer. My order seeks understanding in order to deal with their ilk better. I smell death on the wind here, and I seek no revenge or quarter for them. I am a mage and I would willingly place myself at your disposal, under your command that I may fight them with you. But in that, I will record my observations and any insights for my order. Other than this simple obligation, I am my own person, and would ally myself with you and yours if you would have me. I have traveled far for this opportunity. I have extensive knowledge of their kind, my esoteric knowledge and my craft of the magus that I can bring to bear for you.”
The darkland ranger mutters that he can hardly have any more knowledge of the Orrish than him. The Bogmile Wolves talk among themselves. Kvasir says he can vouch that such a thing is not unheard of in service to an occult order. His order is enigmatic, and there’s not much to know. Centered in Karolak of the North Merchant Cities, they are known to be continually searching for vulnerabilities and understanding of the dark gods and their followers. It’s a touchy idea to found an order on, but they have never been proven other than sincere and more than willing to use their knowledge to fight the dark dwellers on their own terms. The bard calls back to Nox: “We have lost a comrade here fighting, and there may be more Orrish returning soon. We have yet to finish exploring the area and could use aid. For now, you will travel with us… but you are not one of us. Acceptance may come, but it is ours to decide when and where. Do you accept?”
Nox agrees. The group goes over what they have learned and reviews the encampment. Nox says that when raiding in the lands of light, a typical goblin raiding party consists of 15-20 and splits into three groups. Each group will have an off-spawn to carry the spoils and will likely be seeking metal in addition to doing murder in their dark gods’ name. “I was able to sneak past your encampment at the base this morning, under the protections of my order and with the help of that strange horse that somehow sensed me and my intentions. (Hylia nods her approval…) You should send word as fast as you can for them to hide. The best way to handle the raiders’ return is to try and ambush them. Do your best to make it seem normal, lure them in, and take them out. “It will be night time when they return, you will be disadvantaged in the dark… but the element of surprise should offset that. Otherwise, I would clear out. Facing them in the dark straight up is foolishly dangerous.” He also mentions that there will be a cache of goods they have collected if they have been raiding for a while; “I did not see such in this camp or what you have described, so either they don’t have it or you’ve not found it. If the River Rovers say they have been here over a month, I can almost guarantee it’s just that you’ve not found it yet.”
The Ambush
The group decides to try and set up an ambush based on Nox’s advice. They decided to set up an ambush at the washout area on the trail – only a half mile away, but 2 miles along the trail. They would re-use the traps the orissa set for them and the party bypassed, hiking around and behind them with the ranger pathfinding. Hylia goes down to get the baggage train into a hidden place. At 4am half the group were exhausted (not everyone got a short rest), and there was a signal pattern of using stones clacking. The group had no idea the reply, and so the orissa raiders coming back to base were alerted.
Soon after, Brandon arrives at 1:30pm, from the baggage train. They surveyed it all, including going down into the under caverns – they verify nothing has been disturbed from the last time – and do find the rubble choked passage to the ravine where the creek runs through. There they discover the stash of metal goods from their previous raids – trapped with a spore trap. They waited till everyone got a short rest and switched to a night cycle. Kvasir had his familiar positioned to watch the trail top and it alerted him when they were coming.
Two brutish off-spawn going slow meant to trigger an attack and get all the way to the main hall – the party waits. That’s when the goblins start to give themselves away. The ranger goes solo, and crosses the courtyard to the edge of the tower. Three groups of 5 roughly attack the party’s two positions. In the tower, the ranger triggers the protections of nature and a fog creeps over the area. AS he leaps over the wall and into the goblins, he growls out the orrish word for Darkland Ranger, terrifying the goblins. Another group is rushing through ruins to overwhelm him.
On the other side in the ruins of the stables one mage disguises themselves as a goblin and tries to draw the enemy out. When it all unleashes, fire bombs go off in two places and the unseen servant shoots the last off-spawn brute that Nox has gotten under control with a crown of madness. The goblins try to use the walls and get away from the area where three burned alive. Brandon finishes the last 2 goblins using his shield as a weapon and battle axe, as the other two party members move across the now lit courtyard (the corpses of 2 off spawn on fire still lighting it up). It turns out the ranger, inside the ruined tower, takes on 10 goblins by himself wielding two weapons. Although badly damaged, he slays them all. The last couple rounds, the other PCs are just watching the spectacle of hate as the dark land ranger, laughing and covered in blood, kills the last of them.
In the morning, they find the stash of raiding goods. They do a final search and find the special cornerstone – the goblins knew about it and were excavating it. It contains a few minor treasures and artifacts a archaeologist or historian would be interested in. Also a silvered short sword! This is actually treasure they can keep – the family that laid the cornerstone and built the keep is long dead. Many ears are collected for the Bounty on the Orrish. The group makes the half day trip back down to the base of the hills and finds the baggage train. At this point, one of the River Rovers of the Riverdans, rendezvous with them to lead them to their next destination and receive any intelligence gathered.
Nox is taking up the position of Quartermaster of the group.
DEATH of Aydim Bolstrin: As recorded by Hylia, the Bard (baggage train character) > With his last breath, he sacrificed himself. For the good of the mission, kept his bomb as he burned alive. May his valor be an example to us all.
Recorded by Hylia: Here we are once again on the edge of disaster. The soul scourge ripped through the minds of my countrymen. The voice of a million screaming dead slam against our consciousness. I watched people I believed stronger fold from the weight and sheer terror forced on them. My friends grab their heads and cry. Some rip out their hair. What an absurd sight. I should invest in a wig maker.
REMINDER
Dark-Spawn Loot/Goods: The selling of Orrish made goods/loot outside the Dark Lands has serious issues, and often the best value is 10% of normal.