During the last session, the party completed their explorations of the complex beneath the ruins of Valvur Abbey. They encountered a mostly friendly ghost, a zombie, and found some new items–including a magic mace and some mundane equipment–and new information regarding what had happened here at the abbey as well as a map and some notes to another potential adventure site found on the corpses of adventurers. There was one door found which the party could not open. It is magically warded and Denton determined that they would need more powerful magics than currently available to them in order to remove the ward. With that, the party returned to the surface, head into the woods a bit, and settled down to camp. During Denton’s watch, he heard a twig snap…and that’s where we stopped…mostly.
Jen and Savannah were both missing this session and we had to stop early when one of the other players had a family medical issue come up. So we pick up with the twig snap…wait, did I say mostly? That’s right, I did.
I asked what the party planned on doing outside of returning to Bridgeford and there wasn’t really any response. Nothing about maybe checking out the map found on the dead adventurers, seeing if they could acquire anything in town that might let them bypass the warded door, try to learn more about the black sword which Norfek has been lugging around for a few days now, try to find out the identity of the woman in the red dress that the bandits had been dragging through the woods, the identity of the man taken prisoner by the bandits and killed, tracking down the remaining bandits, or even to pursue any of the other dozen or so adventure hooks already seeded throughout the Borderlands. There are multiple things for an adventurer to do or see already out there. The players just need to remember that they need to pick from them or tell me that they want to do something different. We pick up with the next session below.
As soon as Denton heard the twig snap, all of the trees began to rustle. A moment later, the ground began to strongly shake…an earthquake.
- Everyone was woken either by Denton’s whispered calls or by the earthquake. Looking about, it was clear that someone had been going through their packs…primarily Aja’s and Norfek’s packs which were on the opposite side of the campfire from Denton.
- A quick check and the party found that the Creepy Flesh Idol, a gold bracelet (found on a dead scrabling in Goblin Gully), and a pouch of six gems were all missing.
- Ellery found tracks of a single scrabling. The tracks led a short distance away from their campsite and then up a tree.
- With no real way of tracking a scrabling through the trees and no real idea of where it might be going (its tracks were not leading in the direction of Goblin Gully or the ruins of the abbey) and low on supplies, the party decided to accept the losses (at least for now) and continue on towards Bridgeport.
- Traveling on the road this next day, the party could spy a figure sitting at a small henge (just two stones supporting a lintel) off the side of the road. As they came closer, they could see that it was an orc. The orc, quite large and muscular (and yes, Aja, quite hot for an orc), rose and came to the road…no weapons drawn or other obviously hostile actions. The party came close and greeted the orc. He wished to speak with Alexandria…in private.
- The others walked a short distance away and Alex and the orc had a short conversation. The orc’s name is Wulf and he pointed to the magic mace–the Fist of Janda–found beneath the abbey. He asked Alex if she was worthy to bear it. Her answer was a simple yes. The orc said she was the “Chosen” and knelt before her, saying that he would provide her aid if she ever needed his help. With that, the orc rose and walked back to the henge.
- The others came back to ask Alex what that was all about. She shared what happened, but she didn’t really know what it was all about. As Aja watched the orc pick up a pack and start walking into the grasslands–perhaps with a little too much interest in his muscular frame–the orc disappeared. One moment, she’s watching him…blink…the next moment, he’s gone as if he just faded into the grasslands.
- Arriving in Bridgeford the next day, there are a lot more soldiers around then on the prior visit. The group heads to The Spider’s Bite and despite the hustle and bustle of soldiers around and in town, there is little lunch business going on. After the few customers finish lunch and leave, Harold sits down to hear the adventurer’s tale. They share most of what they had done (and leave a large tip as thanks for the information Harold had provided previously).
- Harold shares that there had been an earthquake the night before last and the King’s Corps was keeping everyone away from the source about a mile or two to the southwest of town. Townsfolk who had explored the area before it was cordoned off were now confined to their homes.
- From the description of the slain prisoner taken the bandits, Harold identified him as Tygol. Tygol is (was) one of the Baroness’s closest advisor. Tygol had been missing for a little over a week. The Baroness will be devastated by this news as Tygol had also been something of a surrogate father after her parents had passed away. The Baroness is still traveling and Harold suggests that they need to speak with Commander Varos about this.
- The party heads to the Baroness’s manor. Soldiers are quite active on the streets. After Aja eyes a rather handsome guard one duty at the gate and they share some of their information with the sergeant at the gate, they are escorted inside to a small room and locked in. After some soldiers come and take their weapons, Commander Varos arrives. The party shares their story. Varos, like the prior sergeant, seemed to be quite interested if the party was accustomed to taking the law into their own hands and had no qualms about killing when necessary for the greater good.
- Aja shares that she is a member (or ally…I’m not sure which) of House Springbluff and needs the Commander’s assistance, calling in a favor that the Commander owes that House. Varos tells Aja and the group that he will do whatever he can to keep Aja from coming to the King’s attention (the King has put a bounty on her head) if they do some work for him. All agree.
- The job is for the group to explore where the earthquake was centered. A big, flooded canyon appeared overnight with various buttes rising up from the surface of the nascent lake. A tower rose at the edge of the canyon closest to town. Like the flooded canyon, the tower appeared overnight.
- Their mission…should they choose to accept it…is to figure out what this is all about and why the tower and canyon appeared. They can start with the tower.
- This agreement is made and the Commander has Captain Jasmin come in. She is to be their liaison with him. Before he leaves, he also suggests that Aja might not want to use her real name when trying to avoid the King’s “justice” and that the handsome soldier on duty at the gate is his son and she’s to stay away from him.
- The party asks for time to stock up on supplies and Jasmin agrees that they’ll meet early the next morning to head out. Shopping is done, the party spends the night at The Spider’s Bite and arrive the next morning to head out. The Commander’s son is one of the soldiers in Jasmin’s command.
- The King’s Corps has setup a camp not far from this new tower. This is where the full group travels, soldiers and adventurers. At the camp, the party stores some of the supplies that they purchased (torches, rations) and continue on to the tower.
- The tower is about 30-40 feet from the edge of the canyon. It looks to be some five or six stories tall. A side tower extends another floor above the main tower. With the exception of this side tower, the tower is square in shape. It is also windowless and appears to be made of a single piece of smooth granite. It does look a little worse for wear…as if time has taken a toll. There are some spots of damage, plants taking root in small cracks on the walls, and is quite dirty/dusty looking. A stairway wraps around one side to a second side with platform before a set of double doors at the top of the stairs, around three stories high.
And that is where we stopped for the night as we were pretty short on players.
The orc encounter was completely random using the tables in Shadowdark. One roll indicated an encounter and the next was an orc sitting amongst a henge (I have the players roll these things). Since they had recently just seen a tapestry with a monk negotiating a treaty between an orc and human…a tapestry hanging in the same room as the Fist of Janda…it seemed to fit for the orc to act as it did. Now the question is why? How does bearing the Fist of Janda make Alex the chosen one and what does that mean? Is she really worthy to bear this relic? Hmm…
We can add it (and this tower and flooded canyon) to the dozen plus hooks that I’ve tossed into the campaign waters…we’ll just have to see if the fish start biting.
And where did that dang scrabling make off to with the Creepy Flesh Idol and other loot?!?
