Mysteries of Mystara

[Dubbelyxa]

Jag lägger upp krönikan för min OpenQuest i D&D-kampanj. Vi spelar gamla BECMI-moduler. Pg av internationella deltagare är den på engelska. Vi började med King's Festival, och fortsätter nu med Queen's Harvest (bitvis omskrivna av mig). Om du tänker spela dessa som spelare så sluta läs här.

KARAMEIKOS CHRONICLE

Setting:
The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, the country formerly known as Traladara but renamed following the colonisation by the powerful neighbour The Empire of Thyatis. The indigenous Traladarans make up a majority of the population, ruled by a (mostly) powerful elite of Thyatian settlers. There is also a dwarven enclave, a few elven tribes and a Shire of halflings.

Dramatis personae:
Titus, a Thyatian former officer in the Duke's army, previously stationed at the Duke's Road Keep. Since demobilised he has wandered south, just in time to enjoy the King's Festival in the quaint Traladaran town of Stallanford.

Anara, a half traladaran/thyatian small time thief (retrieval expert) who dodging some bad news at home in Kelvin has sought refuge in the distant frontier town.

Boldar, a dwarven cleric from the Highforge enclave who has taken on the mission of clearing and sanctifying any undergound spaces claimed by evil and blessing them in Kagyar's name.

Kilzur, a dwarven warrior captured by orcs when guarding a merchant's caravan in the Wufwolde Hills.

Kirill, a member of a river-borne branch of the itinerant Traladaran tribe of the Darine, and a shaman, also captured by the orcs in the Wufwolde.


Soladain, 28th of Klarmont AC 999
The adventurers, Titus, Anara and Boldar, have gathered in the Hungry Halfling Inn in the town of Stallanford, some ways north on the Duke’s Road from Penhaligon, on the eve of the King’s Festival, also known as Beast’s Day. On the first day of Summer, all of Karameikos joins the ancient Traladaran festival, celebrating the legendary first Traladaran king Halav’s victory over the Beastmen. The three, who don’t know each other previously, are placed at the same table in the overcrowded dining room, and fall into conversation. Titus and Anara eventually find themselves sharing a room, while Boldar has his own.

Lunadain, 1st of Felmont Just before dawn they are awoken by shouts and cries, and flickering red light coming through the shutters. Looking out, they see people milling about, panicking, and the town’s central building, the Traladaran Temple, ablaze. They rush out and are told that there’s been an orcish raid. They head for the temple, where a bucket brigade is trying to put the fire out. They help as well as they can, and after a while a tall Thyatian man who presents himself as Andrus Beltharion, mayor of Stallanford. He tells them that orcs overran the palisade and stormed the temple, killing some of the town guard and abducting Aralic the Priest. He sees that they are adventurers and asks if they would be willing to go on a search and rescue mission to retrieve Aralic. Naturally, they agree. A weatherbeaten middle aged man steps up and offers to help track the orcs. His name is Jenner, and he tells them his son was killed by the orcs. They take him up on his offer.

Jenner follows the tracks, which often are quite visible, and he tells them there were between 20 and 30 of them (although orcs always travel in single file to hide their numbers). After a few hours he points to some low hills two miles off and says that the orcs will be hiding in the caves there. He then takes his leave and returns, since he is an old man and not fit for fighting. The adventurers approach the hill and spot a cave opening. They sneak up to it and hear snoring and guttural mumbling coming from somewhere just inside the entrance. Peering in they see a guard room with a drunken orc sitting at a table with a tankard, and two orcs asleep by the wall. They make a noise and the orc at the table gets up to inspect. When he exits they attack and kill him, and then rush inside and slay the sleeping orcs.

The adventures find that the guard room leads to a system of rough-hewn but regular tunnels. They enter and start exploring. In a small storage room they encounter a kobold hiding. He tells them there’s around two dozen orcs here before they let him go. They find a cave where they are attacked by a giant ferret and a rock-coloured lizard. In a couple of rooms they fight some orcs including a large one with another giant ferret. Here there’s a stuffed dwarf’s head on the wall, and the ferret trainer has a silver bracelet with a dwarf’s name inscribed.

In one room they encounter an orc discussing a human prisoner with a bugbear. The adventurers dispatch them and free the prisoner, a traladaran wizard/shaman of the Darine tribe. He presents himself as Kirill and accompanies them. Down another passage they find a prison cell where a large guard is using a trained giant spider to torture a captive dwarf. They free the dwarf while slaying the guard and his pet. The dwarf’s name is Kilzur. He reclaims his great axe from the dead guard and joins the group.

Kilzur tells them that there’s a powerful chieftain and a shaman advisor leading the orcs. In a barracks room they dispatch four more orcs, and in another they find eight drunken orcs who they defeat with some difficulty. They now have a few captives. Searching through the complex they find a secret door that leads to the chieftan’s chamber. They defeat him, the shaman and two bodyguards and free the cleric Aralic who’s been held in a small dark cell. Aralic tells them that the orcs have discovered dark secret underneath the tunnels, but begs them to return him to Stallanford. They oblige and are celebrated as heroes at the King’s Festival, which now can proceed with Aralic’s return.

 

[Dubbelyxa]

Gromdain, 2nd of Felmont to Gromdain, 9th of Felmont

The adventurers return in time for the final day of the King's Festival, when the epic poem of the climactic battle between King Halav and the Chieftain of the Beastmen is recited and enacted to wild cheers and clapping on the Village Green. Aralic performs the rites of the Church of Traladara to conclude the festival, and then the adventurers settle in to rest for a week. During this time they visit Aralic, who asks them to return to the caves and clear out 'the great evil' he sensed underneath. He instructs them to look behind the orc chieftain's tapestry, as he suspects there is an entrance to the lower caves there.

This they do, having first healed their wounds and recuperated fully. They enter the caves which are now deserted (apart from various vermin who have now taken over, feasting on the orcish corpses). In the throne room they remove the tapestry and find a staircase that leads down into darkness. They now step into a still, chilling atmosphere, where the only sound apart from their own steps is that of occasionally dripping water. After about 50 meters' descent they enter a large, empty chamber with passages leading north, east and south. They start exploring and find two burial chambers with six sarcophagi in each. In one there is a giant centipede with paralysing tentacles around its maw, in the other there is a howling ghoul, both of which they battle and overcome. The sarcophagi are empty but look to have been disturbed recently, and they find a few dark blue threads of fabric caught in a crack.

Exploring further they enter a guardroom with six skeleton warriors whom Boldar turns and destroys. Another six come at them from another guard room but they are reduced to splinters by the adventurer's weapons. Further on they come to a rockfall, out of which two huge, 10 foot purple larvae like creatures burst and assault them. These too are dispatched. Deeper in there's a cavern with puddles of water, one of which turns out to be some kind of acidic amoeba that attacks them with blob-like protuberances. When struck with weapons it simply divides and also starts dissolving the metal. Kirill discovers, empirically, that fire is the best way to destroy it. In another chamber they find discarded clothes from several people, along with what looks like dried organs and brains.

 

[Dubbelyxa]

Following this grisly discovery they realise there are no further doors to explore, so they start searching for secret doors. Aanara uncovers one that opens onto a long, narrow corridor. This they follow until they come to a room where four zombies stand, seemingly waiting for them. One of them is, unusally for a zombie, clad in armour and wielding a sword and shield. All the same, the adventurers quickly destroy them but a door is thrown open and a figure in full plate, with a pendant representing a goat's head with ram's horns around his neck, rushes in wielding a dark blue steel mace and shield, accompanied by a strange, tall creature resembling a mixture of a troll and a ghoul. The fight is short but sharp. The dark cleric tries to put a spell on Titus but fails. Anara stabs the troll like creature through the cheek, generating a horrible gash like a crooked, evil smile all the way to the ear, but to the adventurer's horror the gash quickly starts closing, healing itself with unnatural speed. Next, Kilzur charges in and with a mighty chop of his greataxe decapitates the cleric. The tall creature turns and flees back into the room it came from, pulls open what seems to be a secret door and rushes inside. Titus and Kilzur catch up, and with a mighty stroke Titus' broadsword cracks the creature's skull and it collapses, twitching.

The adventurers turn to stripping the cleric of his armour and weapons, but as they are busy with this they hear a noise from inside the secret door. They hurry over, just in time to see the now regenerated troll-creature scramble up and away. They chase it up a long stair and after some distance again manage to catch up with it. It turns, fighting for its life, and manages to sink its teeth deep into Titus' left shoulder, the shoulder plate barely preventing the arm from being ripped off. Anara now comes up behind them, and aiming above the dwarves shoots a crossbow bolt through the creature's chest, severing its spine. For a second time it falls, and as it lays twitching helplessly Anara throws a bottle of oil over it which Kirill sets alight. A horrible stench arises as the roaring, gurgling creature turns into a pile of black goo.

The adventurers return to the cleric's chamber, and find to their horror that the walls are spattered with dried blood, there's a pile of humanoid bones against the wall, and on a heavy wooden table the corpse of a warrior lies splayed, a suit of chainmail partially removed. A chirurgeon's coarse knives and bone saw lie nearby. In a further room they discover a rough pallet, along with a small altar with a statue of a muscular human with a goat's head and ram's horns. They fail to recognise the likeness of this foul deity but surely it cannot be wholesome. In a trapped chest (disarmed by Anara) they find hundreds of gold and platinum pieces, along with a letter which reads,

”Petrides,

I am making progress. The specimens from the burial grounds are, as you have no doubt noticed, useful but far from adequate. It turns out that something less deteriorated is required. There are many Traladaran low-lifes here in town whom no one will miss, and I had my agent procure some fresh samples from them. I am satisfied this is the way forward. I have implanted the brains and the results were promising. I am sending one of the objects to you. He can make his way to you on his own, and will complement the troul I gave you nicely. Just make sure your damned orcs don’t shoot it! I will leave for the Keep this week; Ilyana and Bernal will be pleased. Make sure to carry out the raid at the agreed time, as it will almost certainly allow me to pass Stallanford undetected (those primitive fools will be busy getting drunk at their festival, but better make sure). Keep the cleric alive and healthy as he will be needed for advanced research. Don’t forget that the time to strike is drawing near, and when that comes you will surely receive your Lords’ reward. He is patient as Death itself, and so should you be.

K.”

In wooden casket they discover a magnificient golden tiara set with emeralds and rubies – a king's ransom, fitting accoutrements for a King's Festival.