Wild Adventure - The Merchant's Secret Stash

[jamesrbrown]

STORYTELLING OUTLINE:

Part One: Combat - Swarm of Sting-flies
Part Two: Journey - Hoard of Treasure
Part Three: Encounter - Soaked and Bruised

COMPANY CHALLENGE: To destroy the source of a cursed treasure hoard.

ADVENTURING PHASE:

Part One: A Curious Bag
The companions find themselves exploring an area of Mirkwood 40 miles west of Lake-town just south of the Forest River. Perhaps they are on an assignment from the Elvenking or they are on their way to Esgaroth after a long and tiring journey. In any case, as they cut through an especially tangled section of woods, they stir up a nest of Sting-flies: terrible flying insects with a painful and disorienting bite. They must fight off the frenzy of creatures for as long as it takes them to reach the river and get into the water.

Caught on the bank of the river is a leather satchel marked with initials from an important merchant from Lake-town. Inside is found a letter containing a farewell to the merchant's wife in case he should not return to Esgaroth. It also states the purpose of his journey so far from home: after recently considering their financial struggles, he went to collect some of the remaining treasure he buried in "the tree of crowns, beyond the enchanted stream" in Mirkwood.

Part Two: Coins of Darkness
The company must travel 40 miles upriver, past the enchanted stream and begin to look for "the tree of crowns." After a grueling exploration, they find the tree and evidence that the merchant has been here recently, but most likely robbed. Some of the gold coins remain, however, and when the player-heroes touch them, they are cursed by them, for they were originally stolen from the hoard of a Marsh-Ogre of considerable hate (although, they do not know this information yet). The cursed coins have a 2 point Shadow taint (see Rivendell page 103) and can only be destroyed by killing the Ogre...

Part Three: A Dying Wish
After searching the area, the player-heroes discover the merchant soaked and dying of bloody wounds to his body. The player-heroes must introduce themselves and convince the merchant that they are friends and not bandits. He asks them to bring his letter to his wife in Lake-town, and to destroy the Troll and lift the curse. Before the company leaves, he gives them the location of the Ogre's dwelling.

Epilogue
The company travels to Lake-town to complete the merchant's dying wish, to heal, and to prepare for their next Adventuring phase: a hunt for the Marsh-Ogre.

ALTERNATE ENDING: Perhaps even better would be to change the bit about the Marsh-Ogre and make the Tree of Crowns a cursed location that taints all treasure found beneath its roots. In this case, the company must destroy the tree to lift the curse...but the tree fights back, threatening to strangle the heroes and swallow them beneath the ground.

[jamesrbrown]

This is a re-posting of an example I created for the Wild Adventures Core Rules thread.

[Robin Smallburrow]

Are all these single adventures going to be collected and put into a PDF, or do you want me to add them to my Fan Supplement? (which is already massive!)

Robin S.

[Wbweather]

I think a PDF of wild adventures would be great.