Document 4: The Invisible Bond (Adventure)

Details (Part 3)

Journey to Maheto

The journey to Maheto is long, about 200 miles. This will take about 8-9 days on foot or about 6 days by horse.

Possible Side-trips: (the party avoided all of these)

Ruins of Nazilli – The ruins of the town of Nazilli are located on the southern edges of the Verduran Forest in Taldor. The settlement was destroyed by the black dragon Aeteperax during a period of Taldan history known as the Dragon Plague (3660-3672AR).

Bafra’s Face – Grand Prince Bafra was a now largely forgotten emperor of Taldor during the late 1st millennium AR. He is best remembered for Bafra’s Face, his giant likeness carved into a high granite bluff in Verduran Province, just south of the Verduran Forest

Dalaston – a large town on the southwestern edge of Taldor’s World’s Edge Mountains. Although members of all the major races reside in the town, dwarves are the second-largest group after humans. The three major employers are the local iron mine (owned by the Dalassenos family), the Morian Foundry, and the Irini brewery.

Dragonscar – The legends speak of the ancient beast said to dwell within the volcanic region, and although few have seen the mighty dragon of late, those legends are enough to ward idle explorers away.

On the Road to Maheto

The road from Mirewood to Maheto is actually more like a wide trail; a rough, potholed meandering route that follows the contours of the land. It rises and falls through the countryside, bypasses murky fens, carves through small woods and switches back over hills and rocky mounds. There are signs that smaller wagons have used the road, but it’s obvious that only the most experienced and patient wagonmasters would be successful.

The journey is mostly uneventful with only a few small skirmishes with wild animals and the odd band of wild bandit goblins from the edges of the Verduran – nothing that a capable group of adventurers could not handle. As the sixth day of travel is coming to a close and they are seeking a suitable spot to make camp, one of them (highest Per DC) notices something at the side of the road – a small piece of black stone that looks like it was dropped. The stone is about the size of a coin and is in the shape of some sort of insect. DC20 Religion to recognize symbol of Urgathoa.

The stone is made of onyx and is part of a gathering of like stones to be used by a group of Urgathoa cultists this evening to raise the carcass of a dead bear as a monstrous skeleton. It is one of two dozen other pieces of onyx that one of the cultists dropped while travelling to their destination. Although the group may be able to find the tracks of the owner, it will be difficult with the number of recent travelers and the falling of dusk.

After camp has been made and the party is settled in, have each person roll their normal Per roll for their watches. The first watch to have a Per roll of at least 26 will notice the sound of chanting coming from somewhere far off on the wind. The chanting is nonstop and rises and falls in intensity as the winds shift. The cultist’s ritual was started at sundown and when the party eventually finds the cultists, the ritual is just completing. They will see a group of cultists and also a newly formed Bear Skeleton!

Skeleton Bear – 60 XP

5 Cultists – 5×30= 150 XP (total to this point = 530 XP)

The Quiet Man

It has been over 30 years since the Shoanti exile Takoda Greyeagle arrived in Maheto and settled into the military city of humans. His story is long and sad, but everyone assumes that his distinctive limp must be from an injury that robbed him from a warrior’s life and left him to craft in the large city of Maheto. Of course there is much more to his story, involving a forbidden priestess, an encounter with a grouchy basilisk and the lasting friendship of a dwarf and a human from distant lands.

First impressions of Maheto –

As you approach the city, you see that it is a well-fortified city nestled against the towering World’s Edge Mountains. With distinctively dwarven architecture, the three-tiered city looks like it could easily withstand a siege army. Companies of human and dwarven soldiers drill in formations of dozens to hundreds on the fields outside, some on foot and others on barded horseback or ponies. One particularly unusual thing catches your eye – a steady stream of small carts on narrow mine-tracks come and go from two of the gates and head into the countryside or farther north along the mountain range. A column of well-armed dwarves passes you on the road as you approach, but they do not seem to break formation or look in your direction.

Takoda is easy enough to find even in a large city like Maheto, being the only Shoanti craftsman and a damn good one at that. But he is semi-retired and tends to take weeks off of work to putter in his own home workshop and garden or visit with old friends.

Notable NPCs:

• Dwarf Guard – Gustav ‘Gus’ Evershimmer
  • Friendly, but observant and inquisitive, very knowledgeable, been in Maheto for 25 yrs
• Human Innkeeper – Askana Lentern
  • Young widow (45yo), runs the Bristleboar Inn and Tavern, staff of 8, one of the more popular, lively places for visitors (mostly humans and some dwarves/halflings)
• Human Merchant (rogue) – Dardan
  • Works the street, ‘running into’ strangers to give them help, or beg, or steal if they are thick-brained. Can be charming to get out of a jam, very knowledgeable and lives at local brothel where he was raised by Rosa, the manager
• Halfling Merchant – Jeento Nine-toes
  • Pushes a small kiosk cart around the city selling a variety of things and always seems to have what people are looking for. He is quite a hoarder and with a couple of Type IV Bags of Holding, there is a very good chance he really does have what people are looking for.
• Human Sergeant – Buford Buhlman
  • Very straightlaced, serious career military type. Tries to talk up the glory of military life and get people to ‘sign in’ for a one month stint to ‘prove their true mettle’.

If the party arrives in the morning (sunrise to noon) they can find him by asking around.

• Diplomacy (gather information) roll DC15 they will get directions to his workshop (he is not there)
• Diplomacy (gather information) roll DC20 they will get directions to his home (50% chance)
• Diplomacy (gather information) roll DC25 they will get information about his contact at the garrison (50% chance)

Once the party locates him read the following:

Your directions lead you to a section of the Trade Quarter where small specialty workshops are located. There is not much foot traffic here other than the occasional craftsman unloading something from a nearby wagon. This area seems to be mainly for the craftsmen and their goods are probably sold elsewhere. A long stone building abuts against a smaller square building. Hanging over the door is a darkwood sign in the shape of an eagle with its wings spread wide and in the center, the same silver-inlaid symbol found on the bracelet.

The front door to the shop is open and an odor of fresh-cut wood and smoke drifts out. The walls are covered with all types of different craft supplies including leathers, hides, ropes, chains, bins of various metal ingots, scraps of wood, planks and sheets of different woods and thick timbers. On other walls hang tools for leather, stone and metalcraft. On several benches are projects in work, most of them are of a functional or military use, such as leather straps, scabbards, sword pommels, spear and polearm tips, etc.

Sharpening the end of a bladed polearm, a large man with dark skin and dressed in native Shoanti clothing greets the party in Shoanti first, then in Common a few moments later. “How may I be of service strangers?”

When he sees Merle, a fellow Shoanti, he nods and makes a gesture of touching his forehead and then his chest in salute to the holy man.

When the party first shows him the bracelet, his initial thought is that they are thieves who want to appraise its value. He looks disinterested and asks their business at his workshop. After they presumably tell him their story, they must make a Diplomacy roll to convince him to speak about the bracelet.

<15        He will not ‘remember’

15-20    He will tell them that is was commissioned by someone who no longer lives but used to work in Maheto as an alchemist and not much more info – he’s not interested in that kind of work anymore.

20+        He will invite them back to his home and give them any details that he can

Once the party gains his trust and especially if they tell him of the empathic communication the bracelet has with one of their members, he will fully recount his knowledge of Anabel and the commission of a special bracelet for the woman’s young daughter, Sertia (12-15 years?) . He will also give them directions to the home of Kendrick Demetrias.

Once the party has gained his trust, Takoda will give them directions to the Demetrias estate near the forest border. It lies near the end of a long winding country trail with the homes of other settlers scattered here and there, about 2 day’s journey by foot.