So, as things go in a campaign, the players occasionally encounter a caravan.
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| Not that Caravan... |
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| ...that caravan. |
And, of course, we have the running gag of "something that fell off the wagon" recovered by either the PCs or the local Halfling Mafia. So what did they find?
So here are two D66 lists of potential cargo to pick and choose from, with items both mundane and exotic.
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| List the First |
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| List the Second |
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| OK, maybe that Caravan... |
Who hears the drums of war?
It has been a week since Acroria burned. The anchor lens is active, helping communication up and down the Western lands, as well as creating a deterrent to the Chaos forces pressing into the settled areas. Chirath's embattled forces are mopping up both Acroria's strike south and outbursts of Chaos that penetrated past the barrier.
Scattered forces gather at Gaerborin: local militias, Victor Matui with his knights and mercenaries, other adventuring parties and their forces, and the naga Adra with her hobgoblins and outlaws. Umm, let's keep her out of sight, ok? Maybe as a reserve... Oh yeah, and a bunch of dead dudes.
Knowing that the twisted dragon heralded from the west, Slick and Rondel flew invisible scouting missions west, looking for troops. Sure enough, two columns of mutant soldiery were spotted. Time to dig in.
The party arrayed their forces west of the tower. Rondel found a massmorph scroll in his collection, and hid the undead troops as a copse of trees. Two hurriedly-constructed trebuchets were wheeled out. The mutants and their leaders formed up, charging across the plain. Slick was able to kill one leader, causing some to hesitate and pull back. Rondel took out the second, as the dead clattered into the mutant flank.
Archers fired, knights charged. All very cinematic. From the south, Chaos knights plunged across a river, intending to catch the allies' flank. A company of mercenary foot, supported by Adra and her forces, halted their charge.
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| get 'em, boys! |
A common question I ask at the beginning of one-shots to get people into role-playing their characters is, "How did you get into trouble in the last town?" Because adventurers are always on their best behavior within city limits...
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| Or sometimes not |
Anyhow, sometimes there is a need to rapidly vacate the premises, due to shenanigans, a misunderstanding, or elements easily pinned onto itinerant adventurers. Here are a few:
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| DOWNLOAD me here |
And per my prior entry on creating - yes, I am on task, as it were, transcribing notes from scribbled-upon maps to editable and expandable form. The pile was thicker than I thought, but progress is being made, and little adventures will begin to trickle out soon...
First of all, it's been about 2 1/2 years since I ran this adventure. I'd dovetailed it into my growing (inadvertent) campaign world, and recalled that we'd had a good time taking down the cult. So why not Shadowdark it up?
The Meetup crew:
I used the module setting this time, with the party arriving at the settlement of Haven by boat. As per the last time, though, it was a port of surreptitious cargo comings and goings, with the "Solinsky brothers" exchanging coin for no questions. Khori ("drifter" background) had passed through before so knew where the tavern was.
Approaching the tavern, they see Pip, an entrepreneurial elf, selling very large eggs from a handcart, which he claimed to have found along the shore. 250 coins? Too rich for our taste. Rugrord (hi WIS, low INT cleric) is certain of giant chickens. Entering the tavern, the party got rumors from the barkeep, and pointed toward the town's Elder for a potential job. Marthal left immediately, leaving the others to finish their drinks...
Elder Oddmar told of the town's issues - missing boats, cultists, and oh yeah, the eggs. The herbalist Helga may help as a guide, if needed. She was agreeable, as long as they kept an eye out for spiders.
Off they went.
The party headed south out of town, following the coastline. No eggs. But they did find a wrecked fishing boat, possibly one of the errant ships.
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They were inspecting it, finding claw and corrosion damage, when they were confronted by five cultists.
Who's staring slack-jawed at the news that Acroria is on fire?
Things were in motion. Slick and some loyal soldiers secured the captured priest in the fortification's oubliette, with Slick giving plenty of both vocal and implied threats of what would occur if he were to attempt any more shenanigans.
Now what's this with the fire? The soldiers could report little more than seeing columns of smoke and meeting a swarm of terrified refugees. Some of the dispatched soldiers had ventured on, with intent to learn more.
But first, shenanigans. The party and Manchin were attacked by soldiers and priests loyal to the head priest. Their attacks focused on Manchin as the fortification's leader, and he took several wounds before the party was able to counter them. More sounds of combat rang through the halls of the fort. The priest, freed by loyal troops, emerged. Rondel attempted to web a door to halt their charge, but the priest was able to dispel his barrier. More struggle, and Slick made good on his promises, shanking the priest, before Henry Cee was able to unlimber his flail and punch his clock for good.
The surviving rebels surrendered and were secured.
More troops returned, confirming that most of the city's troops had marched south to attack the "incursion" of Chirath forces gathered at Mithlonde in preparation to mobilize west for the region's defense. Gerhard returned, confirming the attack, followed by a confused retreat as news of the city's demise spread. Regardless, both forces were out of play as they fought running, pitched battles.
And what could have caused the fire? Word arrived of mutant chimera bursting from the city's prisons and sewers. Chaos had gained much more than a foothold. It had been staging for some time...
And the response was in kind.
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| Hi again! |
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