Wild Adventure - Of Stones and Spiders

[poosticks7]

Wild Adventure: Of Stones and Spiders

The Greatest of the Forests - Adventure
Company Task - Recover

Part 1 Encounter – Unexpected Company - Exposition
Part 2 Journey – Precious Stone - Rising Action
Part 3 Combat – Bandits - Rising Action
Part 4 - Combat – Hunting Spiders – Falling Action &Resolution
Part 4 – Encounter –– The River Maidens - Climax

Part One: Feast Interrupted

While visiting Sunstead within the East Bight and enjoying the hospitality of Ceawin the Generous’ Hall, the feast is interrupted by a sudden arrival. Some of the village folk bring a beautiful young woman into their lord’s hall; the woman is dishevelled, weak looking and obviously distraught. Through her tears she tells her name, Ethelinda, and after a healing roll TN12, she is able to tell a tale of woe:

She is the daughter of Leodgar of Woodland Hall; she tells how she was promised to Ceneric, the son of a prominent elder of Woodsmen-town Daegmund Fiercebrow. It was to be a fine match and she was travelling to Woodsman-town with her two cousins Kenrick and Anulf to deliver her dowry to Ceneric’s father as a pledge of trust.

Her dowry was a precious stone called the Dusk Stone – a treasured heirloom of her household, given to her Great Grandfather by one of the River Maidens of the Black Tarn. Whilst on the journey to Woodsmen-town the trio were set upon by a group of bandits. The two young warriors fought fiercely but fell in defence of their dear cousin. The loathsome bandits spirited both Ethelinda and the Dusk Stone away to their hideout deep within the dark depths of Mirkwood.

While held there she befriended one of the young bandits, little more than a boy, named Wassa. The young lad took pity on her and helped her escape. The two fled into the forest but soon lost their way. They wandered aimlessly for days, what supplies Wassa had brought with them did not last. They chanced upon a stream and desperate to quench his thirst Wassa drank from it. He fell into a deep sleep, his breathing was extremely shallow, and Ethelinda could not bring him round. Not knowing what else to do Ethelinda dragged the boy into a small cave and marked a tree nearby with a simple mark, with the hope of being able to return to find her rescuer.

She followed the stream; leaving marks on trees as she went, hope fading. Fate shone upon her though, in her wanderings she had been steadily moving eastwards and she eventually encountered a logging party out from Sunstead and they gave her food and water and escorted her back to Sunstead, ignoring her pleas to search for her friend.

Ceawin is moved by the young woman’s story and obviously intends to help if he can, knowing he is in the company of valiant adventurers he tries to ascertain whether the heroes would be willing to undertake the dual mission of searching for the brave boy and returning the Dusk Stone to its rightful owner, he pledges to lend the distraught maid whatever succour he can.

Encounter Evaluation

This encounter should be based on the highest valour in the company. Ceawin values bravery and honour above all else. The more they can impress him, the more aid he will offer. Ceawin's chief councillor Henlaf the Old is a cautious individual and moves to temper Ceawin's initial enthusiasm, The Tolerance of the encounter is ser at -1. Raise the Tolerance by 1 if one of the PCs was successful in the Healing roll to help Ethelinda.

0-1 Ceawin is dubious about the prowess of the company, he is too respectful to turn down their offer of help but his initial fire to aid the girl is somewhat dampened and he withholds any aid.

2-4 Ceawin is encouraged by the hero’s words. He sends his best woodsmen with them, an old veteran named Torsten, who is a wily tracker.

5 Ceawin is heartily encouraged by the company’s prowess and as well as Torsten offers the aid of one of his best warriors - Gama.

6 As above but also Ceawin offers the aid of another warrior - Leofwine.

7+ Ceawin is enthused by the words of his guests, as well as the aid of a third warrior - Angrim, he promises them a worthy reward if they can complete their quest. He will give them a treasure worth 60 pts to the company/ or a weapon of renown on their return.


Torast, the Woodsmen
Attribute Level: 4
Specialities: Beast-Lore
Distinctive Features: Cautious
Relevant Skills: Hunting ***, Spear ***
Endurance 15

Gama, Leofwine & Angrim, Warriors of Sunstead
Attribute Level: 5
Specialties: –
Distinctive Features: (G) Stern (L) Merry (A) Just
Relevant Skills: Long-hafted Axe **
Endurance: 18



Part Two: The Search for the Sleeping Boy

The company must follow the stream back to the sleeping boy. Torast (If present) will find the marks that Ethelinda left but any hero can assist him with hunting or search rolls. Play up the oppressive nature of the forest during the search.

When the last marker is found the cave must be located. A successful explore roll is required to find the cave (a failure results in finding the cave after the party of bandits and alert the bandits to the heroes presence in the next part).



Part Three: A Clash with Bandits

A party of bandits have been tracking Wassa and Ethelinda and are in the middle of entering the cave when the heroes approach. They will give battle but will surrender if half their number is defeated)

The boy can be awoken with a healing roll TN 18 – if this is unsuccessful Torast and Angrim (If present) will offer to return to Sunstead with the boy. If the boy is awoken he will be well enough to travel and will accompany the heroes or return with Torast (if present) to Sunstead.

One of the defeated bandits will show the heroes the way to their hideout.

Part Four: Overrun Hideout

The bandit’s hideout is a series of cave in the side of a cliff that overlooks the Dusky River, at a particularly fast flowing part of the river. The main approach to the hideout is following the River upstream and crossing a rope bridge to an entrance on the other side. There are several other ways in and out of the hideout and they are usually well watched, unfortunately for the bandits while the group that was chasing down the two fugitives was away the hideout was attacked by a large number of hunting spiders that came forth from their nearby lair. Only the leader of the bandits, Kenhelm, escaped the attack by desperately jumping into the river from an opening in the cliff that overlooked the rapids. He had the Dusk Stone with him.

The heroes and their allies must kill or drive off all the spiders if they are to search the hideout for the stone. Although there is no sign of the Dusk Stone the bandits have a small stash of other treasure.

Part Five: Song of the River Maid

The most elusive of the River Maids, Silver Bell, was intrigued by the Dusk Stone when she sensed it as Kenhelm entered the waters of her river. She recovered the stone from his drowned body and has been singing a song to the stone that the heroes will hear on their return journey. It was in fact her sister Sunshadow who gave the stone to Ethelinda’s Great Grandfather, the heroes can perhaps persuade Silver Bell to return the stone to them so they can in turn return it to Ethelinda, but Silver Bell is not easily swayed.

Encounter Evaluation

The tolerance for this encounter is based on the highest wisdom of the company, but there is a -1 penalty because of Silver Bell’s shy nature. If any of the heroes are especially young for their race then the tolerance can be shifted by +1.

0-1 Silver Bell is unconvinced by the company’s story and decides to keep the stone for herself. She will keep it with her and it will not be seen by mortal man for many years.

2-4 Silver Bell is still unsure of the hero’s words. She will consult with her sister Sunshadow and will eventually return the stone to Ethelinda’s family.

5-6 Moved by their story, she gives the Dusk Stone into their care; she also gifts them with a cordial which has magical benefits. Taking a draft of the cordial will remove a point of shadow – there is enough for three drafts.

7+ As above but she also bestows a blessing on the heroes that will help with corruption tests within Mirkwood which allows a reroll of the feat dice, the blessing lasts for the remainder of this adventure and the next.



This was certainly not an improvised story - been thinking about how to combine the separate elements into a coherent story - I'm pleased with the results. Hope people enjoy, any feedback would be appreciated.

On to the next story I've been mulling over - yes I tend to be a muller - my improvising skills work best within a structure.

[Majestic]

Very nicely done, poosticks!

I have to say, I've been very impressed with what the community has come up with for these. The only negative (to me, anyway) is that I wonder how many people don't even end up seeing them because of the threads' location here in House Rules.

So far I think all of them would be worthy of doing as adventures for a party!

[Wbweather]

Another very good adventure.

Very nicely done, poosticks!

I have to say, I've been very impressed with what the community has come up with for these. The only negative (to me, anyway) is that I wonder how many people don't even end up seeing them because of the threads' location here in House Rules.

So far I think all of them would be worthy of doing as adventures for a party!

Do you think we should start a thread on the regular forums of community created adventures?

[zedturtle]

I think the Adventure Ideas thread linked to in one of these threads is the ideal place for finished adventure outlines... we can do roll-ups and polishing here, but then post there and link back to the rules thread when folks ask.

[zedturtle]

P.S. Good adventure... I'm a bit worried about the number of NPCs going with the group. If there's a small group of players (3-4), they might feel overwhelmed at the assistance.

[Wbweather]

I think the Adventure Ideas thread linked to in one of these threads is the ideal place for finished adventure outlines... we can do roll-ups and polishing here, but then post there and link back to the rules thread when folks ask.

Okay, I posted the 4 Wild Adventures I have written so far in the above mentioned thread with a link to the Core Rules for writing Wild adventures. I'm hoping the others that write them will do the same.

[poosticks7]

I think the Adventure Ideas thread linked to in one of these threads is the ideal place for finished adventure outlines... we can do roll-ups and polishing here, but then post there and link back to the rules thread when folks ask.

Good point - I've made the initial encounter harder by adding a cautious councillor (added benefit of more role-playing opportunity for the Loremaster). I've also staggered the help a little more, so only a really impressive company will receive all 4 Npcs.

Think that should alleviate some of the problem, they also lose 1 or 2 of them when they find Wassa.

If that doesn't fix it throw in more spiders

[Majestic]

I think the Adventure Ideas thread linked to in one of these threads is the ideal place for finished adventure outlines... we can do roll-ups and polishing here, but then post there and link back to the rules thread when folks ask.

Okay, I posted the 4 Wild Adventures I have written so far in the above mentioned thread with a link to the Core Rules for writing Wild adventures. I'm hoping the others that write them will do the same.

I saw that you did that, and think overall it's a good idea. I imagine there's some folks who don't even dip their toes into the House Rules section, and now they'll get a chance to see these brilliant adventure outlines.

[jamesrbrown]

I would propose posting these adventure ideas in the regular forums individually like we do here. This one would be posted: Adventure - Of Stones and Spiders. I think this important so that people can easily find it later and also it has its own thread of comments separate from the rest.

poosticks7, this is a really interesting adventure! You have a nice mix of challenges. I especially like the encounter rewards being in the form of extra help (in the encounter with Ceawin). Maybe each warrior could be given some special instructions for how a Loremaster can use him particularly if he is present at specific parts in the adventure. Kind of like having added Traits that allow player-heroes to invoke automatic successes.