Sparkless is a 1st level adventure written by Beyond the Screen. It is designed for four 1st level characters, and set in a world where Emotions can become intelligent spirits, and a child can born without a soul! It is a solid little adventure that includes everything one needs to play, plenty of role play opportunities, and an interesting plot. Piotr and Spiderbait only explore about half of the content and they manage to avoid almost every possible random swamp encounter. For solo play, it has, of course, been adapted somewhat and the rather lengthy discussion of the nature of spirits and what it means to be born “Sparkless” reflects on how elements of Beyond the Screen’s setting has been adapted to mine.
As evening draws near, we come to a small fishing village alongside the Green River at the southern edge of the Bleak Bog. The houses here are built on stilts, that lift them up above any potential floodwaters. They are linked by rope bridges, with small fishing boats leached to the platforms below. Fishing poles and nets are visible everywhere, along with crates and barrels. Many fish are hanging out to dry in the air, as are racks of drying flowers, and men, women and children are quietly going about their business in teh waning light.
Our arrival draws considerable attention in the small village. I might not draw anyone’s eye, but the two horses, and the goblin riding one are certainly not a common sight in this small town.
We rideup to a large building that has a placard hanging from it, depicting a chickens’ foot. Clearly the village tavern or meeting hall. Inside the tavern, I see an array of good luck charms nailed ot the wall or hanging from the cieling. With the Bleak’ Bog’s reputatin for being haunted, I’m not surprised. There are plenty of patrons scattered around, sitting at the various tables. A few look up from their meals and conversations as Spiderbait and I enter. She sort of cowers behind me, obviously nervous.
Luckily, there is an empty table in one of the corners. Usually, the first to fill in most places, but not here! I sit down, and gesture for Spiderbait to take another chair. I signal the barmaid that we’d like some food and drink.
-introduce new character, domination of allies-
“Not many people take their goblin slaves into a pub for a drink,” says a burly looking half orc who was watching us enter. I shrug my shoulders and suggest that it didn’t seem wise to leave her outside. “What’d she cost you? Wanna make sure I’m charging enough when I sell my next lot.” I shake my head, and say that I inherited her from my uncle. “You didn’t steal her, did you?” He asks, with a snarl.
“Hey, hey, you two!” hollers the barmaid as she sets down a pair of bowls and mugs at my table. “What’s it to anyone how he comes to have a goblin wench in his possession. Long as it don’t steal something, it ain’t hurtin anything.” I tip my tankard towards the half orc, and he sneers and returns to his meal. “Well, what brings you here? Our call for help?”
“Wait, what call for help?” I ask, confused. She tells me that the Vranic family’s newborn was stolen by a travelling healer they’d paid to treat their sickly child. They sent word for help to all surrounding villages looking for the healer, or for help finding him. “Tell me more!”
A young man at the next table says that he saw the old man taking a boat across the Green River, into the swamp. He had some sort of bundle in his arms, when he was getting into the boat and seemed to be in a big hurry. I lean back, and light my father’s pipe. “A boat, across the river, into the swamp? Poor odds of tracking him down! Unless you have a good hunting pack or something.” Then the barmaid tells me how desperate the parents are, and how the child’s uncle, Rodavak, and some of the other villagers went to find the child, but have not yet returned. “Well, I am heading into the Bleak Bog tomorrown, and could use a boat, a guide or some clue how best to cross it. Perhaps I should speak with the child’s parents, find out more. Perhaps I’ll run into the healer, or the rescue party.
I finish my pipe, and the barmaid’s grandson, Milo, who saw the old man in the boat, leads me over to the house from which the child was taken. But I notice the half orc has followed me out of the tavern. I turn to face him.
“I take it you think we have some unfinished business to discuss?” I ask, regarding him with wary disdain.
“You have stolen property!” he snorts derisively. “And you are taking her into the wildlands, she’s going to escape, rejoin her people and then breed a dozen or more warriors. If you don’t give her over to me, you’ve got blood on your hands!”
“Yeah, she may breed. Her sons may fight us, but I promised her freedom in exchange for her help to free an innocent woman from a death sentence. I keep my word,” I respond, my tone steady and resolute.
We glare at each other, and some of the villagers seem a little uneasy about our standoff. “This isn’t over,” the half orc says as he turns and walks away.
Spiderbait looks up at me, fear in her eyes, “He gonna kill me!” I shake my head no..not gonna get the chance.
“Ahem,” Milo stammers, “Let’s go inside.” He leads me to a small house built on top of a wooden deck, There are two crates up against the wall next to the door, and several cloves of garlic are tied into a bundle and hanging over the door. A boy and girl are seated on the dock outside. The girls shoving a big brown toad towards the boy, and he i trying to get away from it.
“If you don’t kiss the toad, it will never become a princess!” I laugh at the boy. He looks at me in disgust while the girl giggles in delight.
Milo knocks on the door, where a solemn young welcomes us inside when Milo tells him that I am going to be heading into the swamp and am willing to help search for their child.
Hearing this, a young woman, with tousled hair and tearstains on her face begins frantically clearing some space for us to sit and hear her story. I signal for Spiderbait to sit in the corner, but they don’t even seem to notice her, their eyes are on me…a potential savior?
Talking to them, Katarina tells me that her son was born six days ago. Sickly, pale, and he didn’t even cry. Two days alter, an old man named Leszek, who claimed to be a healer, arrived in town. They begged his help, and he examined the child for a few hours. Then said that he needed some different medicine, and would return to continue the treatment the following morning. That next day, the child was gone, and there was no sign of Leszek, though Milo, my escort, saw him disappearing across the river before anyone in the household had woken up. That next day, Katarina’s brother, Rodavan, led a rescue party into the Bleak Bog to try and find Leszek and the child, but they haven’t returned. It has been two days! Bogdan, the child’s father, curses himself repeatedly for not having gone with his brother in law and the others. I ask if they know where the man came from, if there as a particular prayer ritual he used, and leftover medicines that might give me some clue about him. They show me a candle had them burn overnight to help purify the air. It has a strange aroma, but I can’t quite place it. I ask if I can take it with me. Bogdan tells me that the village has raised 50 crowns they can pay me if I can bring their son back home! I smile at the offer, sadly. Katarina then suggests that her brother is likely leaving a deliberate trail for help to follow, and so he can make his way back. I nod at this.
“If Rodavan hasn’t returned by morning, I’ll go and look for your son,” I state solemnly. “Right now, it grows late. I need some rest, but I will set off at first light.” They thank me profusely, Katarina crying tears of joy, of hope. Her husband, desperate, somber, but grateful. He knows the odds are against us.
Vingrow 14th, Market Day-43 degrees, feel wind on skin, leaves rustle, weather vanes begin to move
Having spent the night in the common room of the inn, I wake up refreshed, and enjoy another bowl of fish stew and a day old loaf of bread. “Fish skins!” Spiderbait suddenly proclaims! “Gots fish skins?” I ask Irena, the innkeep, about fish skins and she lets the gobln go through the waste pail. I see the creature smearing the skins across her flaked and scabby skin, and whimpering in pleasure. I shake my head. I should have gotten her some fish oil on day one! I forgot that’s why goblins always smell like fish…the oil protects their skin from sunlight if the are forced to be out in it.
“Irena, I need some children’s clothes to cover her skin, and a broad brimmed hat for her. We’ll be hunting in daylight, and that isn’t good for goblins. I also need someone to get me across the river if I’m going to find Bogdan’s son.” Soon, I am in a boat with a man named Sasha, rowing me across the river, warning me about alligators and lizardfolk, both of which have a taste for human flesh! Spiderbait is happy in the shade of her widebrimmed hat.
As soon as we are put to shore on the other side of the river where Rodvan and his friends landed, I start trying to follow their trail. Shortly after lunch, I notice four trails about three feet wide as though something ehave was dragged across the muddy land. The trails go both north and south.
Binding Orders: look for footprints, indication of direction…use stealth to follow, watching for ambush
Looking at the trails, I realize that these are the bodies of men being dragged north through the mud, by lizardfolk undoubtedly, judging from the footprints. In goblin, of course, I tell Spiderbait to be on her guard. Then I notice two lizardmen in the muddy water, hiding in reeds nearby. As I give her the instructions, I suddenly raise my bow aiming straight at the lizardfolk, “Show yourselves or I’ll shoot!” I say in our trade tongue.
(a series of mythic qustions, they don’t immeidately atack, they absolutely don’t surrender, don’t flee, but they do want to talk!)
The two lizardmen rise up from the water, “Youss in our landsss!” they hiss in broken tradespeech.
“I am looking for a group of men who came through here. Men you’re people may have captured. I want you to release them.”
“We have no prisonerssss,” the one says. “We just hunt here…not trouble softskins.”
I am in a very difficult situation now. If I loose my arrow, and don’t kill my target, I am facing two dangerous foes on my own, though I notice that Spiderbait has slipped around behind them, and they seem completely unaware of the fact!
“Perhaps you saw a lone traveller, a man with a child pass through?” They deny having seen anyone like that either, but though their words deny it, I can tell they are holding back. “Well, I cannot have a pair of liars stalking me while I follow the trail of your kinsmen dragging my friends off to a cooking pot. Stretch out your arms and lay on the bank here….one here, one over there, and I will bind you up and leave you here.”
The lizardfolk don’t move. They just keep staring at me. If they could smile properly, I’d think that’s what they were doing. They understand my situation full well, and I understand theirs. We are at an empasse. If I leave them, they’ll track and kill me.
Seeing Spiderbait in position, I fire! But my target dives out of the way, and then is surprised to meet Spiderbait’s blade. The goblin the bounds away as the lizardman hisses in defiance! Then both saurons rush at me as i draw my blades to ward off their attacks. Trying to keep a tree between me and them, I dodge several heavy hits with their massive cudgels, but nearly lose a couple of fingers when one snaps at me as my blade slashes past his face.
The fight is fierce as the lizardmen are resilient adversaries and I cannot really get a clean strike at one without leaving an opening for the other, but they are so focused on me, that Spiderbait is able to get in several strikes from behind! After she bloodies them, I finish them off..it’s almost as though we were made to work as a team!
“Well done,” I say, smiling down at Spiderbait. She grins and says it’s like she’s a warrior now. Not just a girl.
I check my hand where the one warrior nearly sank his teeth in, not too bad. Spiderbait didn’t even suffer a singl scratch! Then I push the corpses into the water and tell Spiderbait to follow me. We shadow the trail, but a bit off to one side, sneaking as best we can and hoping to find any survivors before nightfall.
–plan, approach via stealth, scout area, then try to free survivors/ambush sleeping lizardfolk if possible
We follow the trail until we come to a small village of three mud huts with thatched roofs surrounded by a low wooden palisade. There is a larege fire in the center of the camp, and a lizardman guard near the entrance. Sneaking around for a better view, I can spot three men tied up near the fire, and a couple of lizardmen hunters resting nearby.
I tell Spiderbait to slip inside the camp, and cut the men free after I draw the guard’s attention. “Stay hidden until they come after me. I think I can get them all to chase me into the swamp.” Spiderbait nods and slips through a gap in the palisade to get ready for her task.
Taking position where I just have eyes on the sentry, I take careful aim, and put an arrow into his throat. As he reaches up in shock, my second arrow catches him in the ribcage, and he slumps over, dead!
–(A solid crit on the first shot, an aimed shot with +10 damage, followed by the 2nd Use of Lucky for the day, Thank you DM Yourself bonus feat!)–
The guard is dead, but there are two more by the campfire! And Spiderbait is somewhere in the camp waiting for a distraction. I move up until I can see one of the two by the campfire, and then take aim once more. The arrow misses the mark, but the two lizardmen spring to their feet and start chasing after me. Though I don’t realize it at the time, the minute they leave, Spiderbait rushes out to cut free one of the prisoners, but two other lizardmen see her as she reaches them. She squeezes back out through the palisades, and they rush around through the front gate to chase her. But having slashed the ropes of one of the captives, he then starts freeing his companions as soon as the lizardmen have all left the camp!
Pausing to fire arrows as I retreat, my two pursuers, one badly wounded, finally catch up to me. So I turn and immediately cut the wounded sauraon down with me blades, facing the second one head to head. He lunges at me sinking his jaws into my shoulder, but impailing himself on my blades. I roll his corpse off me, wipe and sheathe my blades and start heading back to the camp with my bow at the raady.
I start racing back towards the camp, and I see the three captives emerging with bows in hand. I call to them, “My goblin friend! Where is she?”
They holler back, “The other two lizardmen went after her, other side of the camp!” I order them to help me save her, and eager for vengeance, they join the fight.
As the men and I round the edge of the palisades, the two lizardmen that were chasing Spiderbait realize they’ve been outflanked and are now outnumbered. They turn and flee!
“Spiderbait! Come on out!” I call in goblin, and my happy little helper comes to join us. The man look at her in surprise. They certainly appreciate her help, but it is odd to owe a golin your life!
“Is one of you Radovan?” I ask the group. The uncle greets me, and catches me up on the situation, their pursuit of Lezsek and how they were captured and one of their number was eaten by their captors. I tell them I am also looking for the man,and would appreciate their help. They say that we had best get moving, as three more lizardmen are out hunting and may return soon. I nod, but suggest we take a quick look for any sort of medicinal herbs or healing draughts. Split up, check the huts, and then let’s go.
The men, despeate and afraid, still see the wisdom of my suggestion, and we make a quick sweep of the camp before one of the men sets fire to the three huts. In our search we find a golden chalice with images of snakes carved into it, an ivory warhorn, and about three pounds of coin.
Moving away from the burning camp, concealing our tracks as best I can, we soon pause to set camp. “It’s too dark for us to get back to Murkwater,” Uncle Radovan says, “Let’s set camp. There is safety in numbers.”
“Your are giving up?” I ask him. He shakes his head and says that the child is likely dead, and that if they run into more lizardsmen, alligators or anything else out here, they are likely to die as well. “Your sister is counting on you!” He nods his head. I can tell he is struggling. “think on it overnight. No need to decide tonight.”
Halfway through the night, one of the village men yells “Stirges!”, and we all sprint to our feet, slashing at the things with our knives. One latches onto me, but I spit it on my knife. The flock was small one, and the attack was over in seconds, but it was still a reminder that one can never rest easy in the Bleak Bog!
Vingrow 15th, Sun Day-42 degrees, Torrential storm lasting from before dawn to late afternoon windy with leaves and small twigs in constant motion, flags extended.
The rain starts before dawn. Just a spattering at first, then the heavens burt open with the roar of thunder. It douses our fire in an instant, and our bedrolls and cloaks are soaked in minutes. Not that they were totally dry to begin with here in this marsh. We seek shelter under a large tree whose canopy seems to offer a little respite, but there is a nest where a cockatrice is sheltering its hatchlings at the base of the tree. The creature caws at me as we approach, and recognizing the danger, I guide my companionas to another tree, a little less leafy but also less dangerous!
(Immersion, speech, UNE Motivations for Uncle Radvoan-join love, progress love, detect friends—why is he giving up again?)
Uncle Radovan starts talking, as we huddle under a tree to spare ourselves the worst of the storm, “If you, a stranger, aren’t giving up, how can I? When this storm lets up, we have to find my nephew.” His companions, no longer numbed by the shock of the previous day’s events, nod their heads in agreement.
A few hours later, the storm has let up enough that we can see to travel again. At this point, there is no hope of following a trail, we are simply hoping to find signs of where Leszek went. A house or ruin or something! We search in vain until nightfall, but find no such signs. Then we start weaving together a shelter from fallen branches and fresh cuttings to help us through the night. We are cold and miserable, but still hopeful.
-Scene=Negative for Spiderbait, arrival of the public-
“So…you and your goblin are still alive?” I hear Grom the half orc call out as he walks up to our camp. “Even found some more goblin loving friends I see.” He shakes his head scornfully, “I thought frontiersmen like yourselves knew better how the only good goblin is either dead or in chains. Not running around with a knife in its hands.”
“Who the hell are you? A bloody orc? Where were you when we were waiting to eaten alive by saurons? You didn’t risk your life to save us! You aren’t risking your life to save my nephew! You’re just here to make a living on someone else’s misery! This goblin saved us, and she’s helping us! You want her, you go through all of us you coward!” Radovan shouts at Grom with unexpected fury.
Grom is as shocked as I am but seeing four men standing in solidarity with a little goblin who is now hiding behind me persuades him to back off. “This isn’t over…not by a long shot. She’ll betray you. I won’t mourn you, but I won’t let her get away either.”
I look down at Spiderbait, and see the fear in her eyes. I pat her on the head, “Don’t worry. I keep my word.”
Vingrow 16th, Moon Day-40 degrees, feel wind on skin, leaves rustle, weather vanes begin to move
The next morning, we stumble across a hut in the wildlands. Relief that there will at least be a place to dry our clothing and equipment if its owner is friendly. The smell of mildew is starting to drown out the usualy stench of the bog, and I am eager to refresh myself with a bath and a warm meal.
binding decision-I will walk up to the door and knock, with Radovan at my side. Spiderbait will sneak around to try to enter through a window if something goes awry. The other two hunters will cover Radovan and I from a distance.
Radovan and I walk up to the hut, when a voice calls out from inside, “I know you’re there. Please, come in. I’ll boil water for tea and we can discuss everything.” I look warily over at Radovan, he seems to be worried as well Shakes his head “no”. I signal for him to wait here, in case I need help.
Then I walk up to the door, and step inside. I see a tall man in a brown robe. He has a grey beard, sparkling blue eyes, and not a strand of hair on his head. Next to the fireplace, in a makeshift cradle lies an infant child. Pale, sickly looking, but still breathing. “You must be Leszek? How does the child still live without a nurse at your sides?”
“I am a healer. I know some magic that will create mother’s milk for the child, but that is not why the child is sick. This child was born without a soul!” Leszek claims.
“What do you mean, without a soul?” I ask. “I’ve never heard of such a thing!” I say, looking down at the child.
Leszek explains that once in a great while, a child may be born without a sickened soul. The strength of which was snatched away by an evil spirit or through some curse that has been laid on the bloodline. Such a child will die within days if a stronger soul is not found and bound to it. A powerful soul willing to bind itself to another, joining with it, surrendering part of itself to heal another and then pass on once more when that mortal’s course in this world has ended.
“You mean like the Tyrants who seek to be enfleshed, and who will enter a corpse as though it were a puppet?” I ask, skeptically.
“A Tyrant certainly could do this, and may well if the child does not die first or a more suitable soul is not found. But there are other spirits, the Forgotten, not of the Whispering Tyrants, not of the family’s Ancestors in the Chorus, but the souls of those who have passed on with no bloodline to remember them and no living descendents to pray their reception into the Celestial Chorus. These restless souls, trapped betwween the heavens and hells, the few of them who haven’t gone mad with despair, may welcome a chance to be enfleshed once more. To be fused into another soul, so that this time, on their death, they may be remembered and may complete their journey to the hereafter. Such souls are often overwhelmed by anger, grief, or some other passion that will certainly be a burden in this life, but in a new body, joined to the child’s pure soul, weak though it is, together they can overcome this bringing life where there would be none, and having a second chance for both of them lending their strength to that of a sickened soul that would otherwise perish without even the strength to pass beyond.
“So, the child’s soul is sick, and will die unless a stronger soul can be joined to it. Why did you not tell his parents? Why are you out here with a dying child in the middle of a swamp?” I demand.
Lezsek shakes his head, “This child might have been put to death had I told his parents about his true sickness. His curse would have been known and he would have been killed to prevent him from becoming the vessel of a Tyrant, as you yourself suggested could happen. And what parent would wish to have their child’s soul joined to another? No…there is a place near here where an old wizard named Zevek once lived who trapped and studied the souls of the Forgotten, binding them into objects through which he could tap their life force and power. I am certain I could find one there that might agree to unite itself with the child, but I am afraid to take the child there. The place is certainly filled with danger, and one cannot fight with a child in one’s arms. Perhaps, you could go and find a suitably strong soul, and bring it back here!”
“Alright,” I say, “tell me how to get there and what to look for.” Leszek gives me general directions as best he knows them, telling us that three is a hill near the Thornwild where Zevek’s tower was said to stand. He also gave me a few clues as to the sorts of objects that might have a spirit bound to them. Hopefully, my prayers can guide me as well!
I leave the hut, and tell Radovan what’s going on. He is shocked and horrified by the news, but agrees that we need to try to find a soul that can be bound to his nephew. We decide not to tell the others exactly what’s going on, only that we are looking for a magical artifact that can heal the child. They too agree to come along.
We trek through the deep mud for the rest of the day, pressing ever onward in search for this ancient ruin. Our feet are sore and itchy. Our clothes are saturated from the previous day’s rain. We are completely miserable when we finally set camp to rest through the night. Some of are garments are arrayed near the sputtering fire to dry to dry out, but we aren’t certain this will do any good!
Vingrow 17th, Lord’s Day-42 degrees, windy with leaves and small twigs in constant motion, flags extended.
Knowing the child is at least alive, the villagers are more confident about our mission, but they are asking Radovan and I a lot of questions about what Leszek is going to do to save the child’s life and why he didn’t simply send them out from the village for help. As much as I try to deflect these questions, Radovan’s friends begin growing increasingly frustrated with us. If we don’t find the “Cure” soon, they may abandon the quest and simply try to steal the child back for his parents.
As the day wears on, a mist settles through the marsh, obscuring our vision somewhat. Sloshing through damp areas, our feet beginnging to blister, are clothing never quite drying out. Incessent questions about why we can’t simply take the child and seek a more powerful healer. It start starts to wear on my nerves.
Vingrow 18th, Hay Day-39 degrees, windy with leaves and small twigs in constant motion, flags extended.
After a full day seemingly lost in the swamp, I urge my compnanions to keep pressing onward. Mikal, taking courage from prayers to his ancestors, talks quite about about the various plants we pass by, and their uses. Little I don’t already know, but I am glad to be in the company of others familiar with the swamp. Lairn speculatates the Leszek may be part of some secret order, and planning to kidnap the child.
Late afternoon, where the Bleak Bog and the Thornwild become intertwined, we spot a low hill with some stone ruins on it. This is sort of what Leszek told us to look for, so we decide to check it out. Spiderbait and I lead the way, and Radovan comes with us. Laird and Mikal watch the rear. As we start to climb up, I notice small saurian footprints in the earth. I point them out to Radovan, and say “Kobolds!” He shakes his head, unfamiliar with the creatures. “Kind of a cross between goblins and lizardmen, small, cunning, fond of traps. Keep your eyes peeled!” Radovan nods, just as we hear a snap and the clatter of tin bells. I turn to look and see Spiderbait dangling by her right foot, suspended some twelve feet above the ground, and frantically trying to cut herself free.
My companions have their bows nocked and arrows pointed all around, looking for anyone who may rspond to the alarm.
It is quiet.
I call quietly up to Spiderbait, “Cut yourself down, I’ll catch you!” She takes a couple of deep breaths to steady her nerves, and begins working on the rope. After a few seconds of furious sawing, she falls down into my arms. “Kobolds” I tell her. She nods, and spits out a few curses at the beasts.
Radovan then points inside the ring of stones that once formed the base of the tower (the rest of which is now a pile of rubble sprawled out across the hillside and into the bog below). “Looks like there may be something beneath that slab over there.” I tell Spidebait to light up a torch, and I head over to take a look. Sure enough, if we squeeze past the slab, it looks like there are stairs leading down into the darkness below, perhaps into an old storage cellar, or possibly into some underground complex of which the tower had been but a part!
“Spiderbait, follow me with the torch. Radovan, you can wait up here if you’d like. I’m going inside.” I say. Radovan hesitates, seeming to wrestle with the notion of traps in the dark. At last he tells me to holler if i need help. He and the others will wait outside.
The stairs descend into a quiet circular room with an empty stone fountain at its center. The hallway head is lined with wooden beams that support the stone ceiling and ends with a stone door.
–binding action, examine the fountain and then proceed cautiously towards the stone door…wary of traps and ambushers—
Moving down the hall, I notice that some of the support beams appear to conceal a pressure plate of some sort. Further examination reveals that the beams support a false ceiling that is likely to collapse on anyone who steps onto the plate. I carefully wedge the plate in place using Tenvye’s longsword that I’ve carried slung to my back. Then I let Spiderbait cross to ensure the blade will hold the plate in place. Then I cross.
At the end of the hall, I push open the stone door while Spiderbait holds the torch and watches for danger.
The smell of dust and rot clouds the air beyond the door. IN the torhlight, we can see shattered statues and debris littering the floor. There are a few pieces of furniture in the room that remain intact though. Four doors laad from this area, and there appears to be a stairway descendign deeper down from the north wall. It looks as though it is blocked by a number of boulders. It is unclear where they might have come from or who placed them there.
–binding decision- proceed cautiously expecting an ambush from kobolds or centipedes hidging behind or beneath debris. Listen at doors and check them for traps, look for kobold footprints in the dust, and then look for any relics that might be left behind.–
Entering the room, I iimmediately notice numerous kobold tracks in the dust. I spot a chest in one corner of the room, but signal for Spiderbait to help check the doors first. As I approach teh eastern door, it pops open briefly and a kobold is pushed out of it as I raise my bow, the door then slams shut behind him! There is a look of terror in his eyes he stares down my bow.
We stare at each other for a few seconds, then noticing his hands are empty and held palm upward, I lower my bow. In trade speech, I say “I’m looking for some sort of magical relics that may have been left here by the wizard who lived here ages ago. I need them to heal a sick child. Do you know where I might find such things. Do you have any to trade?”
(natural 20 on a persuasion roll is kind of cool)
The kobold then starts blathering about there being magic downstairs, but he doesn’t know anything about it. But maybe his queen does. “Queen Mukka knows magic!” he says, “Maybe help you if you help find lost kobolds!”
One favor after another it seems. “Let me talk to your queen then.” I say. The kobold, whose name is Pooni, eagerly leads me down the hall from which he came, the door opening easily.
Spiderbait reminds me of the chest, but Pooni warns us that it is just a trap. “Nothing but nasty bugs inside!”
Pooni leads us down a long hall, and points out a series of three pressure plates to avoid as we travel down it. After the pressure plates, there is a door on the north wall that we walk past, and a crack in the wall on the south wall opposite it. In our torchlight, I can see a natural stone tunnel, the walls of which have some sort of fungal growth on them.
At the end of the hall is another heavy door. Beyond the door is a lavish chamber with a great mahogony throne on the eastern wall that has seen better days. Above the throne is a beautiful painting of a red dragon soaring through the skies. Seated on the throne is a kobold who appears to be absolutedly dwarfed by her throne. Two kobolds armed with bows stand on either side of her. They regard Pooni, Spiderbait and I with some interest. There are broken bookshelves and shatter furniture scattered across the room. I pick up an old book, whose moldy old pages seem to slough off in my hand. Then I look up at the “queen” once more.
“You are Queen Mukka?” I ask tentatively. She nods, eyeing me intensely. “I am Piotr Trollscar. I am looking for magical artifacts the builder of this…” I search for a word, “stronghold may have left behind. Artifacts which may help to heal a child. Pooni suggests you may have such relics to offer in exchange for my help finding some of your lost tribesmen.”
“You mean the wizard Zevak!” the queen says authoritively. “he built this stronghold. And yes, he made magical artifacts by binding spirits to them! Then he left to the northlands seeking a very powerful spirit.”
Surprised at this bit of information, I ask how she knows this as I’d never even heard the man’s name until a few days ago, “We found his books, and in one of them, his diary he calls it, he says what he thinks and what he plans to do. We have been to his laboratory, but it is guarded by an invincible man of iron. We could not defeat it, so we trapped it down below. I ams sure we can help you find the magic you need though, if you help find my lost tribesmen.”
I ask if they were taken in battle or lost hunting, she says that they disappeared here, in their own stronghold. They were merely workers who do not leave, yet she has lost five of them over the last two weeks, just vanishig without a trace. Her people are nervous. I nod my head sympathetically, “what would you have me do? WHere should I start looking for them?” She tells Pooni to show me around, and we begin investigating the rest of the lair.
–Binding Plan of Action: First I ask to see the tribe’s living quarters, and have Pooni find out where the missing kobolds were each last seen. Then we go back to the room where he and I first met, and start examining the other doorways out of that room. —
The kobolds we talk to tell us that these individuals all vanished shortly after returning from gathering food from the mushroom garden, or after being asked to help butcher game in the larder. Pooni then takes me to one room that contains a tunnel that leads into a vast cave complex. He tells me that his tribe comes from there, and moved into the stronghold about four years ago, but often goes hunting in the caves beyond. A good place to catch rats, and bats, but the missing kobolds aren’t hunters so they wouldn’t have gone down there, and if anything had come up from their, the alarms would have warned them, just as the alarms on the surface warned them of my arrival!
Then Pooni takes me to the storeroom, it is filled with raw meat, a bit of dried meat, baskets of mushrooms, rat hides and the such. There are barrels and crates piled against the walls, and half a dozen dead, skinned giant rats hanging from hooks on in the ceiling. As we start poking around the barrels and crates, I find that my hand sticks to one, and a blob of goo swings forth from it to hit me! “Get help!” I yell to Pooni as the creature hits me repeatedly. I stab at it with my dagger while Spiderbait leaps to my aid. I am unable to pull free from it, so I cannot use my second blade, and though the thing pounds at me repeatedly, it cannot avoid our blows any easier than I can avoid its. Soon black goo is leaking from several gashes in the barrel, and then the creature suddenly becomes a lifeless blob on the ground.
The two kobold archers then scamper into to the room, led by Pooni and followed by the queen and half a dozen other kobolds. Breathlessly, I point to the creature on the ground, its sharp teeth plainly visible. “It looked like an ordinary barrel. Perhaps your people got too close to it like I did! I’ver heard of things like this. They can mimic any sort of object. They wait in ambush, and eat anything they can get a grip on. Anyway, I need to sit and rest a bit, then we can talk about the magic you owe me, now that I have killed the creature hunting your people.”
-doublecross-yes-
The queen then says, “You didn’t find our tribesmen. You found a monster. I said we would help you find the magic if you find our lost tribesmen!”
With nine kobolds staring at me I shrug my shoulders, “You are right, my queen. i’m pretty sure this is the only one of these things, but if it’s all the same to you, I should check a few more of these crates just to make sure. Best get your people out of the way.”
The other kobolds start looking around nervously, and begin backing out of the room. As they do so, I mutter a couple of healing prayers, and whisper to Spiderbait to bring Radovan and the others. As soon as the kobolds are out of the way, she scampers off with the kobolds watching curiously as she dashes out, while I remain in the storage room where they watch.
A few minutes later, Radovan, Mikal and Lairn enter the hall, and on their arrival, the kobolds suddenly realize that I am not exactly alone.
“My queen,” I call to Mukka,”my men and I have determined that your people were slain by this beast, and that for your tribe’s safety, you should return to the caves from whence you came, and leave this stronghold to us! Unless of course, you would like to honor our initial agreement to provide the magic I seek in exchange for my help.”
-renegotiate-Exceptional Yes-
Queen Mukka looks at me, and then at my three friends with arrows nocked and keen eyes, and then back at me, and says, “You have truly served us well, and eliminated the threat to my people. Of course I will grant you the magic you seek.”
We follow her to her throne room, and my eyes fall on a green crystal orb and a black leather tome that sit in a pile of gemstones and coins near her throne. “That orb! May I see it?” I ask. She nods and one of her tribesmen passes it into my hand. I mutter words of magic, seeking to determine whether it may contain a suitable spirit within. I sense that the object is enchanted in some way, but am unsure whether it contains a spirit.
The queen looks at me, and at my men, then back at me. She is clearly nervous that having realized that if Spiderbait and I can kill the mimic that was terrorizing her tribe on our own, that with my men behind me, we mgiht be able to wipe out her entire tribe! Recognizing her fear, I ask to look at the book. “Is that Zevek’s diary?” She says that it is, and it is very interesting. I ask to look at it. She reluctantly agrees. “May I take this with me?” I ask. She demands that I leave the orb if i want the book. The book holds many secrets, but the orb holds a spirit! “How do you know?” I ask. She leaps down from her throne and points to the passage in the book about the Orb of Wonders. I smile, “You are right, this is the orb I need! Thank you, my queen. Do not betray me again, and you and I will have no quarrel” I chastise her, as my companions and I depart.
Outside, Grom is waiting for us.”Well, well, well..you and your little goblin friend are still alive. Are you really going to set her free?”
I look at the man, and shake my head. “How much time have you spent trudging through this swamp after us? If you are truly a great goblin slayer, you’d gone and tracked down raiders. Instead, you chase after this little one trying to intimidate us and generally showing us that you are a simple, cowardly fool. If you want her, then let’s get this over with. My firends will stand down. She will stand down. You and I blade or bow, either way we’ve talked enough, time for steel.”
The half orc falters, and then throws up his hands, “You are right!” he says. “And I’m lost here in this damned swamp. So far in following you, I’m not even sure the way home anymore. My men left me weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to hire new ones, and I needed a slave to get a bit of coin to start over again. I thought for use you’d give this one up.”
I shake my head, “You are pathetic! But we’ll get you out of the swamp.” Then I look at Spiderbait, “Do you have any idea how far we are from your tribe?” She shrugs her shoulders and says we are close. The thornwoods are her home, but she doesn’t know exactly where we are as she doesn’t come to the swamp. I tell her that we’ll come back after I get the orb to the child and the child back to the villge.
“You truthspeaker. But I almost home. And I no girl now. I warrior! I find my own way from here!” she smiles. “And I got good hat, and good knife! You go home. I go home.”
I chuckle, and then toss her a healing vial, “Never thought I’d call a goblin friend, but you are alright Spiderbait. Use that if you are ever grievously wounded. It will heal your flesh as quick as a saint’s prayer.” She smiles, and then dashes off into the Thornwood.
Grom looks after her, fighting the urge to pursue. “This is over,” I remind him.
We spend the night in the fountain room. Grateful to be on try ground, and with a supply of dry wood from the kobolds, and fresh rat meat and mushrooms, we finally have chance to try out our clothing and treat our worn and tired feet. We keep a watchful eye for treachery, but the kobodls know better than to betray us again.
Vingrow 19th, Dame’s Day-42 degrees, feel wind on skin,leaves rustle, weathervanes begin to move
We set out the next morning to return to Leszek’s hut. Grom is with us now, and Spiderbait long gone…hopefully to join a tribe that will cause us no trouble! My companions are quiet…pleased with themselves but content in their own thoughts. The swamp is quiet as well, the only sounds being the squelch of our boots in the mud, or the occasional hum of a fly or gnat.
It is much easier to find a place you are familiar with, and we arrive at Leszek’s hut as night begins to fall. As we approach, the old man steps out of his hut looking at us warily, “Did you find something?” He asks, cautiously.
I smile, and hold up the green orb, “We believe a suitable spirt is contained within this orb…work your magic and heal the child.”
Leszek nods and Radovan and I follow him inside.
The child still rests in its crib by the fireplace. Tiny and frail, its breathing uneven, and skin nearly transluscent. Leszek kneels down becisde the child, and begins chanting while rolling the orb within his hands, causing the object to slowly glow brighter as the minutes roll by. After what seems like an eternity, the room is now bathed in green light eminating from the orb and then there is a sudden flash!
The child’s eyes glow bright green for a moment, and the orb fades to a dull grey, and is scored by dozens of tiny cracks across its crystalline form. Leszeks slumps over, exhausted. Rodovan picks up his nephew, cradling the child in his arms. “Brown eyes like my sister’s, but in a field of green, instead of whites.” I look at the child and nod in agreement. It’s very strange. I also notice the Leszek’s eyes are unusual as well, I had at first thought they were bloodshot, but now I realize, the whites of his eyes are tinged with red.
“So it is done? The child will recover?” I aks.
Leszek nodes, “The child is saved. But if you take him back to his home, he may be in danger. He will always be seen as strange. He will have nightmares and strange outbursts, as his spirit and the one now bound to him struggle to live together. Their wills ever in turmoil until they learn to make peace with each other. He will have few friends, and may even be rejected by his parents and siblings. That is what my life was like, having been born in the same state as he, and healed in the same way. If you leave him here, I can guide him through the turmoil, and teach him to overcome these trials.”
Radovan says firmly, “This is my sister’s son. He is bloodkin to me, and under my protection. We fought to save him. Cardis died to help me rescue him. We are not returning home with out him.”
I nod my head in agreement, “Leszek, I understand what you’ve said. And I don’t disagree with your desire to raise the child away from harm,, but I am not the child’s father, nor his mother. We must bring the child home. The three of us will talk to the child’s parent. And perhaps, after the child is weaned, they will see that what you say is true. Perhaps, they will name you the child’s godfather, or apprentice the child to you so he lives away from the others while you train him. I will encourage them to do so, but that is their decisino not mine.”
(wow! Two exceptional yes’s, both men agree with this course!)
Leszek smiles and begins to cry tears of relief. Radovan also shakes his head in agreement, “Yes, Piotr, I’ll talk to my sister and to Brogdan. It may take some time, but I think they will listen. They want the best for their children. They are good parents.”
Vingrow 20th, God’s Day/Ring Day-39 degrees, feel wind on skin,leaves rustle, weathervanes begin to move
We arrive at Murkwater to strings of white and red flowers laced across the eaves of every house (save one), and adorning the lamp posts. Radovan is smiling broadly as we ennter the village. When people see that we are carrying a small child and the Leszek is with us, news travels quickly and there are shouts of joy and laughter.
Soon Brogdan and Katarina are racing towards us, Katarina joyfully scooping the child from her brother’s arms, and Brogdan shaking my hand with tears flowing from his eyes, and then embracing his brother-in-law in thanks. As the flood of tears and laughter fade, they turn towards Leszek. I explain, “Your child was very sick. Leszek knew only one way to save the child, but was afraid you would not agree to it. Let us go inside and explain.”
I can tell they are still angry at Leszek, but they agree to hear us out. Inside their hovel, Radovan, Leszek and I explain what happened and the nature of the curse that afflicted their child, and of the cure that has saved him. They listen carefully to my words, shocked by what they hear, there are tears there is relief, Leszek answers their questions, and Radovan confirms that what we say, he believes to be true. Eventually, they agree that when the child is three years old, Leszek will adopt the child as his apprentice. In the meantime, the child will live in the village, and Leszek will come to check on him every fortnight. And after Leszek takes the child, his parents will do the same visiting them at Leszek’s hut.
As Brogdan promised, I am given 50 crowns for my efforts in rescuing Radovan, Mikal, Laird and the child. When Leszek sees how little reward I am given for my efforts, he draw out two pouches of coins to add to it. “You have saved the child’s life, and perhaps mine. And restored my hope for the future!” I thank them both for their generosity.
There is a feast that night, not just to celebrate the return of the child, named Cardis in honor of the man the Lizardfolk killed, but also in honor of Ring Day! Radovan introduces me to his fiance. They had planned to make the announcement today, and he is very grateful to have returned in time! Of course, she was worried he might have died in the swamp! I meet Mikal’s wife and children, he was the only married man to join Radovan in his quest to save the lost child.
I suggest to Grom that if he were to head over to Estkap, the baron is likely to hire him, for they lost quite a few men at Tellog, and if Grom likes to fight goblins, that’s a good place to start. He shakes his head and says that he’ll find his own way.
An old man suddenly sits down at our table, “Rionnos the Hunter!” he says, “You have finally done something useful! But how much did you charge Brogdan for your help! Sellswords like you are always gouging those in need, hunting treasure, stirring up trouble, and wakening old curses! The world would be better off with out your kind!”
I look at the old man, confused. “Who is Rionnos the Hunter?”
“Don’t pretend we don’t know who you are! Are you on the run from someone? Hiding from trouble you’ve stirred up?” the old man accuses. I just shake my head and walk away. He’s still hollering at me when I reach Brogdan’s hovel. I lay mmy bedroll down on the straw covered floor.
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