Intrigue in Haicheng

I’ve created a new Scarlet Heroes character for a solo urban adventure.

Yao Meihui

Yao Meihui is an assassin from the city of Haicheng. She has worked for the Ghost Mountain bandits of the Altgrimmr Mountains, tracking down and assassinating the members of a party of adventurers who attacked their mountain stronghold and plundered their wealth. But recently the stronghold was attacked by the orc Shou of the mountains and the Ghost Mountain bandits were scattered, so Meihui has returned to Haicheng. Her ambition is to explore the Altgrimmr Mountains and retrieve the wealth of their hidden places. But first she will see if there is any work for her in the city.

Meihui is a first level fighter with the following traits:

1. Assassin: 2
2. Fleet-footed: 1
3. Quick Reflexes: 1
4. Friend to the Ghost Mountain Bandits: 1

Tanguyan – Part Two

Here is the second part of this adventure in which Gong Trond explores the island of Tanguyan to the south of Haicheng, searching for the ruined Temple of the Blue Pagoda. The Temple holds a precious relic, a blue jade idol of the goddess Mimamsa. If Trond can return the idol to the Five Pinnacle Pagoda in Haicheng then he can collect a reward of 300 gold pieces. But a rival explorer named Kitano Aamir has the same intention and reached Tanguyan before him. I’m using The Location Crafter from Word Mill to randomly generate the island as Trond explores it.

Trond is a third level thief with the following traits:

• Ruin Explorer: 4
• Great Stealth: 3
• Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
• Resist the Red Tide: 1

Tanguyan – Part One

I’ve returned to my Scarlet Heroes campaign. This is the first part of an adventure in which the thief Gong Trond explores an island in search of a ruined temple. Instead of using the usual process for solo wilderness exploration in the Scarlet Heroes rulebook, I’m using The Location Crafter from Word Mill to randomly generate the island as Trond explores it. The adventure was inspired by the Duelling Explorers and Lost Shrine tags in the Adventure Tags section of the Scarlet Heroes rulebook.

Trond is a third level thief with the following traits:

• Ruin Explorer: 4
• Great Stealth: 3
• Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
• Resist the Red Tide: 1

The Flooded Chamber of Doom

My Ruins of the Undercity campaign continues. The fighter Zareef was the sole survivor of the previous expedition into the Undercity, and has become a second level fighter. As recommended by the rulebook I’ve created a party of second level adventurers to accompany him on another expedition and given each of them a magic item.

Cryptopolis

Zareef has survived three expeditions into the Undercity and completed a week of training with a sword master in Cryptopolis. He now joins a party of experienced adventurers who have been exploring another part of the Undercity.

Arshad

Arshad formerly worked as a clerk in the Temple of the Red Goddess. He is now an adventuring cleric. He wears a suit of magical banded armour (+1).

Arwa

Arwa left her job as an apprentice fletcher to explore the Undercity. At 17 years of age she is the youngest member of the party, but she is strong and armed with a magical scimitar (+1).

Haleema

A tailor turned sorceress, Haleema understands the languages of bugbears and wears a ring of Protection +1.

Thamra

Formerly a cobbler, Thamra is now an illusionist. She understands the languages of bugbears and flinds and also wears a ring of Protection +1.

Yusri

Once a leatherworker, Yusri is now an adventuring thief and claims to be an expert at finding and disarming the traps of the Undercity. He wears a suit of magical leather armour (+1).

Zoltar’s blessing

In his previous expedition into the Undercity Zareef retrieved the Red Topaz Goddess, a holy relic, from a lair of vapourware rats. He returned the relic to Zoltar, a high priest of the Red Goddess, and was told that he and his companions could come to the Temple of the Red Goddess to be blessed before going on another adventure. Zareef takes the others to Zoltar who blesses the party.

Every member of the party has a +1 to hit for the duration of this adventure only.

The Undercity

Zareef then guides the others to the abandoned house near the Temple of the Red Goddess, where there is a stairway leading down into the Undercity.

All characters are moving at a rate of 30′ per turn (exploring movement).

The Quest for the Wand of Imonora (Part Three)

Here is the third and final part of my campaign using the campaign rules in Four Against the Abyss, the advanced supplement for Four Against Darkness. I also used the random tables from the Fiendish Foes supplement. This time I made use of Clues which makes for a more interesting game.

Dorenin

Queen Arla of Osnor is hiring adventurers to recover the three pieces of the Wand of Imonora. This ancient artefact must be restored to save her realm from Gathorim, the dreaded entity who has returned from the netherworld through a fracture in the cosmos to create chaos and pestilence. Having already found one part of the wand, Closovae the sorceress and her companions attempted to recover another section from a dungeon deep within the Krolost Mountains. The expedition was unsuccessful; they failed to find a section of the wand and every member of the party except Closovae was killed. Closovae discovered the secret lair of a lich in the dungeon. Recognising that she was too weak to face the lich alone, she returned to the city of Dorenin to find more adventurers to accompany her on another expedition into the dungeon.

Two adventurers from the Krolost Mountains arrive in Dorenin to join the quest; an elf named Tathalron and a barbarian woman named Brifnen, a kinswoman of Grolsond who was killed during the previous adventure. A rogue from the slums of Dorenin named Vorben also joins the party.

As in the first adventure the new adventurers begin as fifth level characters with 100 gold pieces each and, with the exception of Brifnen, one random magic item.

Closovae hires a warrior named Harsturn to be her bodyguard, and buys him a glaive and a chain hauberk. She also hires a surgeon, a woman named Doroslin. Brifnen has her sword sharpened by a bladesmith, Closovae hires a herbalist to prepare remedies for her, and Vorben goes to an apocathery to have his short sword coated with poison.

When playing the previous two sessions I didn’t read the rule for hiring professionals (hirelings who don’t go on an adventure); only three professionals may be hired by the party before an adventure. Even so, all but one of the party died in the previous adventure.

The Quest for the Wand of Imonora (Part Two)

This is the second part of my campaign using the campaign rules in Four Against the Abyss, the advanced supplement for Four Against Darkness. I also used the random tables from the Fiendish Foes supplement.

Dorenin

Closovae the sorceress, Durnrik the warrior, Grolsond the barbarian and Somvis the rogue have been hired by Queen Arla of Osnor to find the three pieces of the Wand of Imonora. The wand must be restored to save Osnor from the chaos and pestilence caused by Gathorim, the entity that has escaped from the netherworld. Having found one piece of the wand in a dungeon in the foothills of the Krolost Mountains, the adventurers have returned to the city of Dorenin, the capital of Osnor.

The adventurers prepare for their second expedition, which will take them into a dungeon deep within the Krolost Mountains in search of another piece of the wand. Dorstorn the dungeon guide and Greth the surgeon are hired again to accompany the adventurers into the dungeon. Closovae goes to the alchemist to order a Potion of Healing that will be ready for her to drink when she returns from her adventure.

The Dungeon

Leaving Dorenin the party journey deep into the Krolost Mountains. They make their way up a valley through pine woods and between massive boulders. At the end of the valley is a cave, the entrance to the dungeon. Durnrik comments on the fickle nature of fortune; since they found the first part of the wand with relative ease then this dungeon will most likely test them severely. Closovae drinks her Potion of Vigour that she ordered from the alchemist, which will give her immunity to the Dark Plague that is found in the foulest dungeons.

The Quest for the Wand of Imonora (Part One)

Back in 2016 I did some playtests of the Deeper Dungeons supplement for Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games. This supplement has now been published as Four Against the Abyss, and I have begun a new campaign using the campaign guidelines from the rulebook. I’m also using the Fiendish Foes supplement to generate adversaries; I’ll roll on the tables from both Four Against the Abyss and Fiendish Foes and go with whatever result is most appropriate. Some of the results that I rolled for this adventure were similar to those of my playtest for Deeper Dungeons, but I still have two dungeons to go through in the campaign.

Chaos in Osnor

West of the Krolost Mountains lies the kingdom of Osnor. Queen Arla rules the kingdom from her palace in the magnificent city of Dorenin. The Krolost Mountains are sparsely populated by barbarian tribes, and separate Osnor from the Dreaded Wastes, a realm of chaos where no laws of nature apply.

Osnor is in turmoil. Crops are withering and mysterious plagues are decimating the villages and towns. Deranged cultists are openly defying Queen Arla’s authority and taking villagers for sacrifice in lonely places. Queen Arla has consulted Clefeus the sage, and has been told that these events arise from the return of the vile entity Gathorim from the netherworld. Centuries ago the great sorceress Imonora created a magical wand from an unknown metal and used it to banish Gathorim, though not before he had blighted the lands beyond the Krolost Mountains which became the Dreaded Wastes.

After her death Imonora’s wand fell into the hands of Gathorim’s followers, who tried to destroy it. They only succeeded in breaking it into three pieces, which were hidden in three different dungeons. The first dungeon is beneath an ancient ruin in the foothills of the Krolost Mountains, the second is at the end of a desolate valley deep in the Krolost Mountains, and the third is situated in the Dreaded Wastes.

If the pieces of the wand are joined together in the correct order they will be magically fused together. Only a wizard or a sorceress of great knowledge will be able to read the ancient magical script on the wand and activate it. Once this has been done Gathorim will be banished back to the netherworld, and the cosmic fracture which allowed him to escape will be sealed.