Chapter One: The Town of
Clearspring (1)
Our story
picks up in a small town somewhere in the Wild Coast, close to Trebonshire
Forest. Clearspring was founded some five hundred years ago by refugees
who escaped from the Unholy Assault, the Tonomai conquest of the
Arrufat Peninsula. The Wild Coast had for times eternal been an
impenetrable wilderness that was left to monsters and bandits; after the
Unholy Assault it has become home for many people displaced from their
origins by the war.
They have
forged their own lives, wrested oases of peace from their untamed
surroundings. But they are little more than such islands of peace within a
land still ruled by forests and wilderness. Contact between settlements is
sparse, and Clearspring is no exception.
Don’t
expect the locals to know much of what is going on abroad. By now they
know that the Tonomai have been driven out of the better part of the
Arrufat peninsula, but that is about the extent of their knowledge. They
know the next few villages and towns, which they occasionally visit.
For a little
bit about their history, read the short story Ruins and Hopes,
available at our website. Three of the characters hail from Clearspring.
Following is an excerpt from that story in which the young novice priest
Markesh tells of their home:
“Our home
is the village of Clearspring, some fifty miles northeast of here, at
the edge of Trebonshire Forest. The elders say Clearspring was founded
after the Unholy Assault… Uhhh, I mean the Tonomai invasion of the
Arrufat peninsula. Anyway, our ancestors once lived in a big city
further north, but they were driven down here. An army protected them,
led by the Falken family, it is said. With Trebonshire Forest so near,
the ancestors decided that this was a place to stay and defend. That is,
some of them did, and a goodly number moved on down to Ibrollene.
“Clearspring
has never been very big. The elders claim that once there were many
thousands of people living there, but there are no ruins, nothing to
indicate that our population ever numbered more than the five hundred or
so of today. Probably less in the beginning.
“Most of
the Falkens moved on back then, on to Ibrollene. I suppose they’re
still there, some part of the aristocracy. Maybe one of them’s even
king!”
He stopped
abruptly as Koyson cleared his throat sarcastically. “Well, gwan,”
the dwarf muttered then, not willing to explain.
“Uhh,
apparently you know more than I do,” Markesh said carefully. “Which
is part of our problem. You see, ever since the days of the Assault, we
scarcely heard any news from outside. It took until the arrival of Sage
Urquart that we learned that the Tonomai had been repelled from the
better part of the peninsula, and that our current sovereign reigns in
the city of Freeport. We know so little! And that… is dangerous. What
if there were another Tonomai attack? We wouldn’t know until the
unholy hordes were before Clearspring’s gates!
“And what
about trade? There are mines around Clearspring where we have found
valuable ores. Iron, silver, gold – and some other metal that seems
much stronger than steel, that… Urquart claims it has to be gadnú,
a dwarven ore, which I suppose you know all about, Master Smith.”
Koyson raised
both eyebrows at being addressed correctly – so unusual to find a
human who knew proper etiquette -, then he shrugged. “Yer people’re
wrong, lad. Nobody’s found gadnú this side of the Mine of the
Gods, far as I know. Sounds interestin’ nonetheless.”
“Yes, it
does,” Markesh picked up the cue immediately. “But we can’t do
anything with it! Who could we trade with when we don’t know where to
turn? Who will pay us well, who will reject us, and who will rob us? We
don’t know anything about the world outside our village!”
Clearspring
has only one tavern, The Drunken Badger, which serves the community
as well as any travellers who find their way into town.
This is where
the adventure should start. You can skip the tale of coming to town and
deciding to have a meal and drink, so the characters are already in the
inn. And then the story will pick up, as described later.
Afterwards,
the party will likely want to improve their equipment and do a bit of
shopping. Clearspring offers quite a few possibilities in that regard, and
your characters should take a look at everything. Not least of all because
some of the shopkeepers or their patrons might have some information of
interest to the adventure.
(If you have
spent an hour or two already with the creation of the characters, you
might want to slowly introduce the characters to the story and push the
shopping spree to the beginning. Then you will have to describe the party
entering town, seeing the various shops – and of course The Drunken
Badger. But that means delaying the start of the action even further;
you have to judge whether your players are squirming at the bit to finally
do something.)
There are
three major exit points of the Clearspring chapter:
(1)
Towards the mines: This is a diversion which might offer a hook to
a later adventure. The mines are not involved in this module.
(2)
Towards the “Lost Temple of Darawk”: If you check the story Ruins
and Hopes, you will find that this supposed temple is actually a
fortress of old, which used to be held by a man named Carawlk. The name
was similar enough to be mistaken for Darawk, and thus the legend was
born. In our story, the fortress was already looted, so it isn’t likely
that a lot remains. Your players could be aware of this and should
therefore stray away from this option. (If they want to go there, we have
a few surprises prepared for them.)
(3)
Towards Trebonshire Forest: This exit follows the plot line and is
encouraged. (If the players decide to search for the “temple”, they
are in fact heading into Trebonshire Forest as well and can easily pick up
the trail of the plot from there.)
Starting this
module, I assume that your players have already created their characters,
including backstories and the like. Now there are a few questions that
need be resolved at the beginning of the adventure.
The foremost
question is their motivation for being here in Clearspring in the first
place. What brought them here? Your players can come up with reasons all
by themselves, but you might give them a nudge or two. Let’s start out
the story on the right foot, and give everyone good reasons to be here.
In this
section, I’ll offer you a few pointers on what might be the motivation.
They are pointers only, and you are under no obligation to use them. After
all, they have no direct impact on the gameplay whatsoever.
If they are,
then the party has known each other for a while, and we can assume that
friendships (as well as enmities) are already in place. For a beginning
group, that is not really the best way to start things out. After all, it
is better for the relationships to form during gameplay rather than being
introduced beforehand. You never know how the actual game is going to turn
out, and so the prior relationships might look all too artificial.
For The
Courier’s Oath I would suggest that few if any of the characters
know each other prior to this tale.
If your group
of players is a mixed bag of veteran players and newcomers, you might
decide to give each veteran a relationship with a newcomer, so that her
experience can help.
Otherwise,
the characters should meet for the first time in the single tavern of
Clearspring, The Drunken Badger.
By
“locals” I mean that the characters are from neighboring areas, not
from Clearspring directly. The reason for that is that someone from
Clearspring would have a lot of information available that the party has
to work to acquire. (If you, the GM, want to run your own character in the
game, this qualification is lifted. You have already read the adventure
and do know all these things.) Someone born in the village down the road
may have some idea of what’s going on, but not more.
“Foreigners”
would be people from outside the Wild Coast who have drifted for one
reason or another into this area. Referring to the story Ruins and
Hopes, both Koyson and Vobul are clearly foreigners. (There is no
insult to the word “foreigner” here. In a secluded area such as this,
the people of Clearspring don’t particularly distinguish between someone
from ten miles down the road and someone who was born three hundred miles
to the west.)
The advantage
of a local is that he might have some knowledge of the area, and perhaps a
knack for speaking to the citizens of Clearspring.
GM
Tips
If one of the
characters is indeed a local, perhaps you ought to write up some
information on the area and the people for the player. Keep it limited
and concise. If the character is from a nearby town, he won’t have
been in Clearspring more than a few times his entire life.
Hand the notes
to the player in secret, tell her not to reveal the information to the
other players outside of the game. (You might do so a day in advance, to
have the player memorize the notes.) This means that her character can
tell the other players about her knowledge, but it must happen within
the course of the game – and the role of the character.
A foreigner
has to learn everything about the area. His advantage is that he comes
from a more civilized place (we hope), and therefore has a different view
of Clearspring and its surroundings. His backstory should be interesting,
to see how he found his way into this backwater place.
Perhaps the
best party assembled here would be one that is a mix of both locals and
foreigners. Their different origins should give rise to some conflict in
the game, and ironing out this conflict can forge more solid relationships
between the characters.
Let’s now
take a look at specific motivations for coming to Clearspring. Mix them,
change them as you feel is best.
If the
characters already know each other, they might have been traveling through
Trebonshire Forest with a specific goal in mind. Unfortunately they got
lost, have been wandering through the forest for days, when they finally
found some traces of civilization – which means Clearspring. They head
to town, and happily go to the inn to get a bearing.
Clearspring
is the biggest settlement in the area, and it has a few trade options to
offer. That is as good a reason as any for a party to head there. After a
long travel, you can expect to get decent service in this town, enough to
replenish your supplies and perhaps buy a bit of new equipment. (This
applies to both options.)
The
characters might be with a group of traders, or be traders themselves. (If
they decide to carry goods to Clearspring, inform them that the sale has
taken place before the story begins. For each player in the group, roll a
d10 and divide the result by the number of players. The end result is the
number of gold coins they receive for their sale. That doesn’t upset
their wealth too much.)
Life in a
secluded town doesn’t offer lots of opportunities for young people. So
they might want to see a bit more of the world, to strike out on their
own, which leads these characters to Clearspring.
Doesn’t
sound too intriguing yet, does it? Have your players spice this up a bit.
One of the
characters could be the youngest son of a farmer; the land will be split
among the sons by ranking of age. This character plainly expects to
inherit next to nothing, and so he sets off to find a fortune for himself
(or at least enough to buy his own farm.)
Another
character could have had a dalliance with the daughter of his village’s
mayor – one that led him to run away from home, lest the mayor string
him up. He still pines for the girl and is sure that if he proves his
worth he can show his face back home. (Some people of Clearspring may have
heard of the story. Let a NPC drop her own remarks about the situation
which might cast a dubious light on the girl; after all, when the
character who is in love with her ran away, why didn’t she join him?
Does she love him? The remarks of the NPC could bear enough of a sting for
the character to re-consider his plans.)
On the other
hand, the character could be that mayor’s daughter who has left
home to look for her lover. Her father incarcerated her after the
incident, madly protective, and it took her days to calm him down enough
that she could slip away from home. She has no clues where to go, and came
to Clearspring hoping that he might have come there, too.
GM
Tips
The last two
character examples might serve as the hook of your next adventure,
following The Courier’s Oath. The male character could find a
clue that the girl has fled from home and is looking for him; so now he
convinces his friend in the party to find her.
The girl finds
a clue where her lover has gone, and she will find him, no matter how
long it will take.
Both trails
could lead into a situation where the other character is trapped in some
way and has to be rescued.
Clearspring
has rich mines nearby. Rumor has it that the holy metal of the dwarves,
the gadnú, has been found there. But in all dwarven existence on
Gushémal, the only gadnú is that which their ancestors brought
from the Mine of the Gods. So a dwarf would be interested in finding out
whether the rumor is true or not.
In the story Ruins
and Hopes you have been introduced to the young half-elven warrior
Ha’el Morhawk-Des’Epaes. Her father is a local from Clearspring who
attracted the attentions of a passing elven warrior woman, C’rinn
Des’Epaes. C’rinn fell for the young man, and they had a child. But
the elf grew quickly bored and moved on, leaving Ha’el with her father.
C’rinn has
a bit of a history, a bit of fame. (We left it vague in the story. Sequels
to this story are likely to flesh out this background.) Enough so that an
elf might be following in her footsteps, so to speak, to try and find her.
Considering elven life-spans, the thirty years that have passed aren’t
quite that much. An elf might consider this trail luke-warm rather than
the icy cold a human would think.
The reason
for seeking C’rinn could be that either this character is awe-struck by
her tales and wants to find her, or that the character (or her family) has
a grudge against her and is after revenge.
A part-elf
character can have heard about C’rinn’s passing through Clearspring
and that she had a child here. Since the character himself is part-elf, he
might be interested in meeting C’rinn’s child. They are alike, and
perhaps he could learn from that child as much as teach the child.
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