River Blood Campaign: Play Report

[warlic888]

This is my first time playing an adventure using the system, and if anyone has any ideas about where I could take the Company on their next adventures, or anything else please don't hesitate to post your thoughts! So without further ado:

THE COMPANY
Wyn the River-maiden, a Woodwoman of Wilderland, a descendant of the River-Maidens.
Idrenlan, an Elf of Mirkwood, a raft-elf by trade and nature.
Tanta Took, a Hobbit of the Shire, a gentlewoman with an adventurous streak.

The year is 2950, and the tale begins at Midsummer on the banks at the head of the Dusky River.

The Woodwoman, Wyn, and Hobbit, Tanta, recline on the bank, while Idrenlan, unknown to them watches from the eaves of the forest, scouting ahead of his Rafting party. Suddenly, all three of them are drawn to the sight of a River-maiden, a water spirit, rising through the water and appearing before them. Wyn and Tanta stand transfixed, while Idrenlan draws his bow, and leaps forward to intimidate the River-maiden. Though at first frightened, Wyn's gentle words convince the maiden, whose name is Silverbell, to reveal her purpose for being there. Silverbell offers the company a challenge; if they reach the Black Tarn by the Dusky River, they each may claim a wish. Though Idrenlan and Wyn are sceptical, doubting the spirit's nature, Tanta is drawn in and soon endears the other two into both accepting an uneasy fellowship and the River-maiden's challenge. The players are a bit slow to start, constantly wary, but after a grand total of ten minutes, they decide to get move on. Their journey rolls leave them with a six day trek. I placed Fatigue difficulty at 16, since the river veers between moderate and severe, 14 and 18.

Idrenlan bids goodbye to his old friends as he sets out on the river by raft, with his new companions in tow. Tanta's dried provisions keep the party going for three days, but they soon need to bank to find more supplies. Unable to leave the raft, they sleep among their gear. Wyn succeeds in taking down a stag, and gathering some herbs, which Tanta promptly transforms into a hearty venison stew. The company sleep. Successful Hunting rolls from Wyn and Tanta's Cooking speciality helped this along.

Tanta is woken at midnight by sounds from the river, and looks out to see a second River-maiden washing her hair. The two compete in a game of riddles;
"Alive without breath
as cold as death,
never thirsty, ever drinking,
all in mail, never clinking."

Despite her best efforts, Tanta is confounded by the riddle, but Idrenlan, who was keeping watch, guesses correctly; "A fish." This subsequently earns him a kiss from the River-maiden, whose name is Sunshadow. Wyn falls prey to jealousy, and becomes spiteful towards him for his achievement where her ancestors are concerned.Tanta's player rolls unusually low, and Idrenlan's player guessed as themselves, so I let them have it. Idrenlan gained a point of Hope, while Wyn and Tanta made corruption tests, Tanta succeeding while Wyn failed.

They continue down the river, but bad luck forces them down a waterfall! Tanta survives unscathed, while Idrenlan and his raft suffer a few injuries. Wyn, however, falls to the bottom of the riverbed and starts to drown. Suddenly, the voice of the River-maidens sounds in her mind, and the tide pulls her to the surface, where she is pulled to shore by Tanta and Idrenlan, nearly drowned. Idrenlan sets himself to raft-repairs, having quickly recovered, and Wyn gets back on her feet after a day's rest, but Tanta spends so much time cooking and making tea and mending clothes that she has payed no attention to herself, recuperating very little in one day. A failed roll incurred a Hazard, which was Out Of The Frying Pan Into The Fire, and I decided to throw in Scanty Provisions because I'm mean. Wyn rolled an Eye of Sauron when falling, but a Gandalf Rune when drowning. Idrenlan lost about seven Endurance, while Tanta lost four points, and Wyn was Wounded and Miserable.

On the seventh day of voyage, the company reach the Black Tarn. There they see Silverbell again, and she offers them their wishes. However, they are warned against this by the voice of a mysterious third maiden, Duskwater.
Silverbell enacts a spell to snatch the sense from the company, snaring Idrenlan and Tanta, but Wyn is yet again rescued by the voice of her ancestor spirits. Tanta shakes off the spell, and the two of them quickly sail to the edge of the lake, a bewitched Idrenlan unable to help. As soon as they reach shore, Silverbell sheds her human guise; revealing that she is in fact not Silverbell: she is a Secret Shadow, a servant of Sauron. As the Shadow wings its way towards the company, a quickly notched stinging arrow from Idrenlan's bow strikes the creature in the throat, robbing it of its voice. It does, however, continue to fly, fastening its leathery wings around little Tanta, who wastes no time in pulling out her dagger and ripping the thing's wings to shreds. Barely alive, the vampire is beheaded by Wyn's long-hafted axe.Again, Wyn's player scores a Gandalf Rune, ignoring the spell, while Idrenlan and Tanta fail. Wyn manages to rouse Tanta through an Inspire test, and when the Secret Shadow came to the fore, it was very nearly KO'd by Idrenlan's player spending a point of Hope when firing his Stinging Arrow. Tanta got in a decent attack. Wyn rolls a Gandalf Rune again but it hardly mattered because it had two Endurance points left.

Duskwater thanks the party, though the real Silverbell and Sunshadow are dead, and, as the last River-maiden of Middle-Earth, offers the companions a wish each as a reward. Tanta immediately asks for treasure, and is rewarded with an Elvish tiara , from the riverbed, which she quickly adorns herself with. Idrenlan asks that the River-maidens' plight be remembered, and Duskwater erects a statue of the maidens within the woods of Rhosgobel; as a reward for his unselfishness, he earns a second kiss, freeing him from all negative conditions the voyage had brought him. Wyn asks for the knowledge of her true mother, and Duskwater replies that it is her. Mother and daughter were reunited, shadows were kept at bay, and the river-maidens were remembered for time immemorial. Tanta got twenty-two points of Treasure, selected from the treasure index, Idrenlan gets a point of Hope to replace his spent one, and Wyn gets a nice piece of fluff, which had all the players "aaawing" into their coffee.

If anyone has ANY ideas concerning where I could take the campaign, based on characters, locations or anything else, please post your ideas.

[dsmvites]

Brilliant stuff!!

My campaign also tries to concentrate on a small corner of the Wilderland and explore it to its fullest. So impressed that (with your permission, of course) I will go out of my way to insert the cast and the plot in my ongoing campaign.

Where to go from there? Keep it in the Dusky River, for now...
1) The Spiders try and cross the River - more of a hunting (and haunting) adventure.
2) Radagast summons them for Rhosgobel - patron, sanctuary, mingle with Woodmen in a social adventure for a breather.
3) Help the Erringmen - a group of erringmen needs to get to the spring of the dusky river - a great social adventure, perhaps a little romance, very exotic characters, what are they going to do there? spread the ashes of one of their ancestors "in the spring of dusk"? Meet a Giant Eagle there? Simply wanderlust and achievement?
4) The Kingfisher - find and earn the favor of the "god of rivers", protect the Riverfolk for one season.
5) Werewolf of mirkwood - your story seems low key and emotional, so here is a take on the bigbad wolf: a) add a lovely npc as soon as possible to the story, b) make one adventure of the fellowship running from/surviving a brush with the werewolf (the river must be their best defense), c) add another session in the middle, d) give them a chance to drown the werewolf or trap it on the bottom of the river, e) make it comeback to possess their loved npc, f) Radagast can ward off the possession but he needs something up in the Anduin (the party has to leave their element of comfort, but at least is another river )
6) The last river maiden - Radagast or Kingfisher says the king of elves can weave one's soul to the a river or tree. Take the long trek to his hall, somehow earn his attentions, be sent upon a quest, and if everything goes well transform one (or more of them!) in a river guardian.

Just ideas that came rushing from reading your report and that corner of the HotW. PLEASE do keep us posted on your progress.

Best of luck!

[warlic888]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read it! Yes, I will make sure to update it when I can. You are more than welcome to use the cast and/or plot in your own games, and if you need any more information on their personalities, or finer details of the plot, I'm happy to oblige!

Those ideas are great! Especially the last one. I think I might have them meet Radagast, and make friends with the Woodmen,then move onto the Werewolf, (by the way, that was genius,) and have Radagast suggest that the Elvenking might be able to help with slaying it. I might try and tie in the Vampires, who could act against the company or their allies in revenge? But, seriously, great stuff! Thanks!

[dsmvites]

Suggesting on the Shadows... make it three sisters, serving the werewolf. Tie the rewards of defeating each one to the task of slaying / binding the werewolf! Example: "the wolf weakens under a tree born of river tears" - the monument built on the memory of the river maidens.

The fellowship could be usually safe in the river, but bats & wolves together make for a tough challenge on land. Attack the Scout on a game of hide & seek, the Hunter on a two way hunt over tracks, the Lookout can be Bewildered in the middle of the night, etc. This recurring enemies though seem to work better IMO as obstacles to the main quest, a thorn on the side, for a while to better generate antagonism.

I have had 9 sessions so far and 3 fellowship phases, but I will try to post brief concept and logs as soon as I can.

[warlic888]

That's cool! I'll look out for it. All your ideas are a great help!