Tunnels of Carown Part III

The right tunnel, which slopes upward, does not go that deep into the mountain.  It goes about a hundred feet before turning sharply to the left, then spirals upward until it reaches a large cave about a hundred feed across.  In the cave are giant crystals that reflect the light from a small opening in the mountain.  It sparkles brightly, lighting the tunnel beyond for a good twenty feet, even though the tunnel curves.  A dark druid lives here with his bats and giant spiders.  He was corrupted by a demon when he tried to save the creatures of the surrounding forest.  Though he killed the demon he was tainted by its dark magic and now seeks to destroy everything besides his forest creatures.  The bones of past adventurers and explorers litter the grounds, so there may be some good treasure.  Also, the crystals would be good components for magical items.  The players just have to defeat the dark druid.

I would suggest what ever level is comparable to your characters, but one higher.  Treasure is up to the GM.  Since it's so close to the surface, the adventurers may just find adventure gear and very little "treasure".

Tunnels of Carown Part II

The Tunnels of Carown are extensive, thus why no one has ever come back out alive if they have gone in even a little bit.  It branches about ten feet in, continuing on straight ahead, slightly to the left and slightly to the right, each of the three sloping away from each other, the left and center going down, the right going up at slight angles.  There is no natural lighting, and there are crude hieroglyphics on the walls as soon as a person gets away from the mouth of the tunnel.  The sounds of bats, dripping water, and the patter of little rocks falling from the roof can be heard.  The walls are jagged and undeveloped.  The roof is tall in some places and makes people crawl in others.

Tomorrow: The right tunnel.

Tunnels of Carown

The Tunnels of Carown, east of Merryweather, have always been a source of thousands of brave tales, but little real knowledge.  Some say it is the home of a witch.  Others say ghosts of failed heroes haunt the tunnels.  What ever the case, no one has ever come back to tell a tale to clear up the mystery.  Blunder Carown, (his real name was lost to history), found the tunnels and tried to explore them for further use, but never came back out alive, nor did anyone in his party.  So many people have gone in and never come back out there is probably a lot of treasure lying in the tunnels tucked deep into the mountain side.

Tomorrow: a small lay out of the tunnels.

Hex the Stable Boy

Hex, who really isn't a boy anymore, has been a stable "boy" for almost two decades.  He started when he was ten and tried to steal a bit of oats because he was so hungry.  The stable master took pity on him and offered him shelter and a job instead of a hand chopped off.  Since that moment, Hex has been a loyal servant.  He cleans the stables, cares for the horses and chops the wood for the stove for the men who watch the stables.  He has a small cubicle he shares with two other stable boys in the Dark Dragon inn, a major inn in the city of Cole.  He also helps his master, who is aging and going blind, train horses.  Many people from all around come to have his master train their horses and so Hex enjoys seeing so many types of horses.

Hex is average height, a little underweight, but very strong.  He's a bright lad, his master teaching him to read and do his figures so he could help with the business.  He is so happy with what his master did for him so long ago, he has yet to realize his master means for him to take over the horse training business.  He just enjoys helping his master every day.

Hex hears lots of rumors and knows who has what type of horse.  And he loves to talk to anyone he thinks is friendly.

Wand of Finding

This wand was made by an apprentice for his master mage.  The mage was so forgetful and misplaced so many things, that once the apprentice became a master mage of his own he created this Wand of Finding.  Though simply a finding spell in a wand, it can be very helpful.  The wand must be attuned to the person who is using it for at least a week and then when a person asks, "where is such and such", the wand will point in the direction the item is.  It will glow brighter the closer it gets to the item and will keep tracking that item until the person finds it.  A wand can only find a dozen items a day that belong to the user before it has to rest for a day.  The apprentice made a good two dozen for his master, since he was so bad about losing things.

Women's Apartments of Manor Bloodhelm

The women's apartments in the Bloodhelm manor are spacious.  There are four bedrooms, a greeting room, a sewing room, and a private bath.  The lady of the house has a single bedroom to herself, while the ladies in waiting share one and the remaining two rooms are designated for any adult daughters of Bloodhelm.  The greeting room is full of chairs, small tables and beautiful rugs and tapestries.  There are small shelves with books, though few of are of any consequence.  The sewing room has several spinning wheels, a large loom, and shelves and shelves of embroidery materials, needles and fine fabrics.  Many of the instruments in this room, such as scissors and hoops are worth more then a peasant makes in a year.  The private bath has a large, brass tub with dragon clawed feet, a private fire place to warm water and an elevator to haul water up with more easily.  Only the ladies of the House are allowed here, though male visitors have been known to appear now and again.

April, Lady in Waiting

April is one of the Ladies in Waiting for the Lady of House Bloodhelm.  She is the oldest of the ladies, almost forty, and has been with the Lady of House Bloodhelm since her marriage to the Lord of Bloodhelm.  She is happy with her life, not upset that she never married, and her father is happy for the connection without having to pay a dowry.  April knows all the Lady's secrets, but keeps them all to herself.  She knows talking about them could get her killed, but at the same time it gives her security.  She is very handy with needle work and has a voice of an angel, despite her age.  She goes with her lady where ever she goes, unlike the other ladies in waiting.  Only the Lord's chamber is barred to her.

April is greying around the edges, but her dark brown hair is still vibrant. She a little set with age, but still pretty lithe.  Her features are plain, but nice to look upon.  She wears almost as fancy clothes as her lady, and always gets first choice amongst the ladies in waiting.

Ring of Invisibility

Though no one knows for sure how many of these rings were made, the original maker, one Carl Swift, was a man who needed to get to places he shouldn't be.  He wasn't a thief, but a mage on a mission, trying to sneak into noble women's bedrooms.  He researched the ability to be unseen and had to look long and hard for the right ingredients to make it possible.  After he got too old to pursue his "hobby" he began to sell the rings discretely.  And when he was on his death bed he gave the ring recipe to his favorite apprentice.  Now these rings are everywhere, but still guarded and very expensive.  The ring allows a person to be unseen, but not unheard, for a period of ten minutes per day.  After twenty four hours the ability returns.  Foot prints are still left, voices can still be heard, and things touched by the person still move, so a person wearing the ring can be "seen" if not careful.

The Sidestep Inn

Situated between Landshire and Karoon in the village of Dust, this small and simple inn is just what a weary traveler needs on the long trek between Landshire and Karoon.  The building is two stories with five inn rooms upstairs, a warm, cozy dinning room and a large bath room to soak in.  The stables are large enough for a dozen horses and one wagon.  The people are friendly, the food fresh during the summer and at least good to eat during the winter, and the place inviting after a long day on the road.  Prices are reasonable for this adobe built building, but still a little more expensive then a normal inn, (add about 5% more then a normal inn).  General gear can be purchased here, but the selection is a little limited.  Maps of the area are also available either for purchase or to pay to copy.

Though simple looking, this inn also harbors a secret.  The Black Wizards of Shaniko have a spy here, since it so heavily traveled.  Though your players may think they are safe to talk about certain things out in the open since it's such a friendly inn, one of the staff, a tavern wench named Wendy, reports to a nearby Wizard for money.  Beware what is said in ear shot of the staff.

Tenda, the Wandering Bard

Wandering between Sunvale and Karoon, Tenda loves to see the sights and people along the way.  So dark skinned, she is often confused as someone from Ariella, she is a beauty to behold.  She is tall, almost six foot, with white blond hair and dark brown eyes.  She swaggers when she walks, mostly to get people's attention, and talks with an ease most people find hard.  She can sing, tell stories, and play have a dozen instruments including a lute.  She knows quite a bit of ancient lore, predating the Time of the Chosen, and loves to learn new and exciting things everyday.

Tenda would be an excellent way to start an adventure, with a bit of lore or a rumor from somewhere.  She could also be the link the party has been missing to find the next step in their adventuring.  She works for know one, is loyal to no one, and works for coin to keep herself afloat and ahead of the law.

Horn of Return

Despite what this sounds like, this horn is meant for farmers and ranchers to gather their livestock without having to chase them.  Made by a mage who had grown up as a rancher's son and hated having to round up the livestock, the mage made sure that as many farmers as possible had them. Though he charged for materials, after awhile they got too expensive except for ranchers who worked for the nobles.  The way it works this small horn, which looks like a curled ram's horn, is blown and all the livestock in the area will return to the blower.  This does cause issues if someone else is grazing their livestock nearby, but for the most part it just returns the blower's livestock.  There have been cases of livestock rustlers using it, but they are usually caught quickly since the horn is loud and most farmers know who should be blowing horns and who shouldn't.  And if they hear a horn they haven't heard before they go to investigate, with weapons and many sons.

Theran Cole's Estate

A half a days ride from Cole, to the northeast, is the small estate of Theran Cole.  It's roughly three hundred acres of both farm and forest land.  The farm has a little wine, some sheep and root vegetables.  The forest land Theran has managed so he can harvest a little bit of timber at a time and replants as he goes.  The manor itself is two stories, with five bedrooms, a huge meeting room, a study, a large kitchen and dinning room, a root cellar and a bath house. The well for the manor is right next to the manor in the courtyard and protected by anti-poison magic.  There are three small, one room houses for the staff, a bunk house for the men at arms and there is a small, stone wall around the whole area.  It is not very defensible, but would give those living there enough time to reach the safe room in the root cellar of the manor.  There are typically four men at arms and three family of servants living here at all times.

Theran of House Cole

Theran is the third son of Lord Cole and expecting to be the lord commander of the Knights of Cole once his uncle retires in a few years.  He loves the thrill of battle, the gait of a galloping horse, the feel of sword against sword.  He is happy that he was not born first, because he wants nothing to do with ruling House Cole, he only wants to protect it.  He has thought about the future and has several grants of land his father gave him and is making sure they are producing something, whether wool or food or wine so even if he can't lead the Knights of Cole forever he will be comfortable in retirement and not have to depend on his brother's generosity when he becomes feeble.  Because of this fear of having to rely on others, Theran likes to find adventurers to sponsor that might find some great magic or other wealth that might help in the future.  He will sponsor promising adventuring groups, though expect a good chuck of the return in exchange.

Theran is blond, blue eyes, heavy set with muscles, not fat, and handsome in a rugged way.  He always wears sturdy clothes, feeling uncomfortable in court dress and thus stays away from court as much as possible.  He is good at what he does and feels kinship with any warrior, not just royals.

Gaming Over Time

My family does a "Family Morning" every Sunday...cough, cough...  Okay, we try to do it every Sunday, but with two middle schoolers and all our volunteering, time doesn't always allow.  But when we do, each of us has a campaign that we run an alternating Sundays.  With no consist time between sessions, sometimes things are forgotten, so here are a few ideas to keep things straight.

1) Have your players take notes.  My youngest was doing that on her own, because she liked to keep track of every time she trashed my adventure, but it is a good idea.  Have them keep a spiral notebook or, if they are doing Pathfinder, make sure they take notes on the back of their character packet.

2) As GM, make sure you take notes.  As much as I'd like throw out all those monsters my characters trampled once they do so, I don't until I write in my spiral what happened and what treasure they found.  I also don't throw out treasure sheet until I know they have picked through it. (Though, I do try to keep track who has what magic items and where they got them.)

3)  Do a recap before you start the adventure.  Start with what butt-kicking they did last adventure, (or how they got their butt kicked), and answer any questions your players might have at that time.  My campaign has my characters looking for some lost artifacts from an ancient civilization so I remind them what info they found the last few adventures and what they are up to now.

Happy Gaming!

Eagle Companions and Your Characters

There are many character archetypes that have animal companions: druids, hunters, rangers and mages, for example.  Since we've been talking about eagles here are some things to keep in mind when allowing a player to have an eagle as a companion.

1)  An eagle has a wing span of 6 feet +.  Yes, bigger then a person might be tall.  Cool, huh?  Though they are a bird, they are still quite sizable and have wicked talons. (Though in most monster books normal eagles do very little damage, their talons do as much damage, in my opinion, as a dagger or even a short sword they just don't have the reach.) 

2) Allow the eagle to grow.  In Pathfinder, the druid's pet does actually grow as the druid advances in levels.  This allows for more damage, and if the character happens to be a gnome, they might become large enough to carry their gnome friend.  Even if your campaign system doesn't allow for growth, in either size or power, adjust.  This allows the character to have a cool companion that they won't want to swap out as soon as that cooler, stronger monster comes along.

3) Remind your character's player that eagles, and other flying creatures, do not necessarily like enclosed areas, making dungeon runs hard.  People tend to forget birds do not like caves and such and get mad at their DM for saying their companion doesn't want to follow.  If you remind them up front, they have no leg to stand on.

4) Remind the player to treat the animal right.  If the player forgets about their pets, except during a battle to save their but, perhaps the pet should suddenly not be there...

Happy Gaming!

The Eagle Crest Clan

In Ariella, the Akicitia live in tight knit clans, usually no more then 30 individuals, though some clans can grow larger if they have the resources on the open plains to support more.  The Eagle Crest Clan, while prosperous, has only 28 individuals.  The clan lives in a series of caves near the western coast of Ariella, which is unusual for Akicitia that usually like live in the open. The clan trades with two nearby plains clans regularly and thus the young men and women have plenty of opportunity to meet others their age to begin to court.  The clan fishes and hunts nearby mountain goats. They also trap birds.  They trade in fine shells, wool and fish.  They like to get newer contraptions like metal weapons, iron pots and the like in trade.  About half the village will be at the village during the time, with either the people working on gardens or children having their lessons.

Awohalee

Awohalee is a warrior of the Eagle Crest Clan along the high cliffs of western Ariella.  The Akicitia clan has thirty members, living in caves near the coast of Ariella.  Awohalee is the lead hunter of the clan, teaching the younger members, (three at the moment), how to hunt and how to survive in the wilds without the clan.  Awohalee takes his job seriously, but when he is not hunting he loves to watch the eagles soar around their home.  When he finds feathers he will tie them in his mane or on his clothes to honor them.  Awohalee is currently trying to work up the courage to ask Taladue to be his mate.  In the mean time he is looking for something great to impress her enough that she will want him.  He would be a good guide for this area of Ariella and is able to speak a little common, though not well.  He will not work for coin, but expects trade in more advanced weapons or contraptions form the empire or the north.

An Overview of the House City of Cole

The City of Cole is a port city, but is a large agricultural center as well.  Cole is the largest producer of grain and wheat in Tridon and thus Cole ships a lot of both around the world.  The city is surrounded by a low wall and a natural river that splits to go on both sides of the city.  The city doesn't go to the banks and the city elders will not allow such things to happen.  They worry that the river will start to undermine the wall or buildings if they were allowed to go out so far.  Cole, itself, is surrounded by fields and fields of wheat and grain.  The farmers own their land, though they still pay taxes to Cole.  The original leaders of Cole thought this would help produce more food and thus more taxes.  For the most part their faith in their people has proven true.  Most buildings in Cole are three or four stories high, with housing in the top floors and businesses below.  Roofs are steeply sloped and bare clay tiles.  Some buildings are brick, while the more expensive houses are made of wood since that has to be brought in from quite a distance.  The House of Cole has a small compound, about thirty acres, and like to actually go out into the city and be with their people.

The Shadow Guardians

Tyriel Shadowhunter has always wanted to help people, and to do so he has created the Shadowhunters.  This group of like minded people rescue people from ogres and the like, find lost artifacts and magic to aid in the betterment of mankind and deliver items, (or people), to places they can be better used or protected.  Tyriel started out by himself but has about two dozen people working with him at the moment, as well as a lot of support staff at his headquarters in Cole.  They have a store front in Cole, where they actually sell writing services as well as writing supplies, but this is the contact spot for their other services.  Tyriel will have a person's story checked out before he sends any of his people into danger.  The fees depend on the danger involved, but his services are expensive to begin with.  Adventurers can find some help here if they are looking for a person or place or even an object, but the group will not go into a dungeon to retrieve something for an adventuring band.

Tyriel Shadowhunter

Tyriel has wanted nothing more then to help people.  Though he acts like he doesn't have a care in the world, jumping from one flight of fancy to the next, he wants nothing more then to work for the best of those around him.  To do so he started his own organization, based out of Cole, that helps those who need it but can't afford to.  He hand picks all those people who join to help the unfortunate and raises money by working with nearby nobles, or just wooing them outright to obtain funding.  Tyriel is a handsome man, standing tall and lithe and always dresses in the finest of clothing.  Though he loves the adventure of rescue, he finds himself doing more obtaining of funding then he does going out in the field.  He has dark hair, dark brown eyes and reflexes that few can match.  He cares for everyone in his "employ" and takes any of their injuries or deaths personally.