Mark's Campaign

Document 4: The Invisible Bond (Adventure)

Details (Part 5)

Broken Bridge Fort

During the Dragon Plague, almost a thousand years ago, a raging silver dragon destroyed an ancient stone bridge spanning the north fork from the Verduran (now known as Brokenbridge River). The bridge was never rebuilt, but a smaller wood bridge was built nearby and soon after a fort was constructed to maintain order on the river. The small community around the fort called Brokenbridge is mainly there to support a garrison of Taldor military, including a horse cavalry that patrols and keeps order in the area. Commander Ian Rastagian has presided over the fort for the past 12 years and his famous victories and fair-mindedness has earned the respect of his troops as well as the locals.

When the party arrives, they will find a bustling community of farms, outlying buildings, including a mill and a stone wall encircled fort on a low hill overlooking the Brokenbridge River. Old stone pilings and some remnants of the footings are all that’s left of the original bridge. A 10’ wide wooden structure now spans the river about 150’ south of the ruins.

Finding Rastagian is not difficult and the party will be able to find him at the fort or on the training grounds nearby, depending on the time of day (early morning at training). He will not recognize the bracelet at all, but may be able to recall Sertia with a description. Use the following adjustments on his Recall Knowledge (DC30 Society) roll:

  • +3 Physical description
  • +3 Weapon specialization
  • +4 Last name/relation to Demetrias
  • +4 Date of reported death

He will search through his records if they give him the approximate date of her reported death and with a successful roll will find what they are seeking.

The information is not very detailed, but they will find out the following:

She was on patrol near the Verduran border with a 24 member scouting party, commanded by Lt. Praecus. The Lt and 3 others were the only ones to escape and said they were ambushed by an unknown force in the treelines. Those that charged the trees were cut down and only the three of them escaped (Praecus, Ristin and Glorfil). All three are still serving at the fort currently. Depending if the party finds one of these men-

The bracelet will impart the image of the Lt in Merle’s mind – he will see a frantic, frightened young human, early 20’s pointing away from a battle. The view pans back in the opposite direction just in time to see a large spear enter the viewer’s body and the image turns grey and then black.

The bracelet bearer must make a DC30 Will save:

  • Crit success, no effect
  • Success, Shaken 4
  • Fail, Stunned 4 then Shaken 2
  • Crit fail, Unconscious

When Sertia was killed, the bracelet was still around her wrist even when she was collected by the necromancers’ assistants. When she was raised as an undead, the bond still existed, but the bracelet could not understand why their connection was so weak and distorted. For the next 2 years, during her existence as an undead creation, the bracelet existed in a nightmare state which will be imparted on the bearer once they regain their senses –

In your mind, you begin to watch a quick-fire flash of images of other people’s horrified expressions, walking through ground covered in dead bodies, each coming faster and faster, as though trying to get to the end of the horrible montage. The experience almost makes you physically sick. Until finally, the image of two strangers, purposefully striding up to you, one holding a golden metallic symbol and then a flash of white-hot flame that quickly shifts your view to black.

The next vision is of the sun rising on the horizon fading into the shape of two faces, a male half-elf and a human woman. The woman smiles and the rising sun appears in the vision once again. Your last impression is the feeling of warmth and the smell of the forest.

The next step would be for the party to find these two people in the vision. The bracelet will insistently display both of their faces in new visions. Thick trees and a wide forest clearing are the only major clues at first. But then, the half-elf begins casting spells that Merle may recognize as Primal/Druidic. If the group seeks out other druids in the Verduran, they will possibly be able to identify this druid by description, his unique weapon and more importantly his companion, the female cleric of Sarenrae.

The Politics of Nature

The Verduran has some of the most complicated politics in the area, even rivalling some of the larger cities nearby. The reason has to do with the valuable Darkwood trees, the constant back and forth skirmishes with the forest keepers and those who want to keep the Forest as natural as possible. The druids and rangers of the Verduran respect both sides, but many take one side over the other due to their past experiences.

The lawful good cleric of Sarenrae, Jana Westringer has teamed up with a powerful druid named Illendir Broadfoot and are attempting to keep the peace between all sides and interests while still maintaining neutrality. This has become a great challenge lately with the recent incursion of undead that seem to be wandering through the forest of late. The once small, rare pockets of cultists of Urgathoa and Zyphus are multiplying and growing quickly and their power and brazenness seem to be increasing as they gain favors of their patrons.

The pair of protectors have been moving quickly throughout the southern Verduran Forest where needed and have become adept at wiping out undead and setting traps for the cultists. For the past week, the two have been working their way from Dragonfen east, flushing cultists and their undead minions ahead of them, then eradicating them. The two have been leaving the hands of the cultists impaled on large stakes with obsidian unholy symbols grasped in their stiff palms as warning to others of their type.

Finding the Duo

The party will need to come up with their own strategy for finding the mystery benefactors. Some options include:

  • Seeking out local druids or rangers
  • Ask around Brokenbridge for information
  • Travel to a town or settlement in the forest and ask around
  • Try to get more details from Bracelet
  • Travel back to Maheto and ask druids/rangers there
  • Try to get more info about ambush site from survivors and search there for clues

Each time the party asks around or interacts with someone who may know the whereabouts of the druid and cleric, they can roll a Diplomacy check (DC20). Depending on the results, the group will collect points towards a crucial clue.

  • Crit Success        +2
  • Success                +1
  • Failure                  +0
  • Crit Failure          -1

When they reach 6 points, they will get the Final Clue.

Sample clues: (strikethroughs were marked once they were used)

Success

  • Was travelling along Verduran Fork and at Dragonfen, they found a recent field of battle with 6-8 pikes, each with 4 hands impaled on it. The hands had small black stones in their grips.
  • Found a recently used camp with neatly stacked robes, boots, and hoods. In center were 16 hands impaled with identical ritual daggers with obsidian pommels
  • The pair are well-known in the Verduran and are causing great fear and anxiety among the nasty cultists
  • Some rangers are carrying a carved symbol of Sarenrae (ankh) to bluff any cultists they may run into and use their fear against them
  • The pair are creating deadly pit traps near cultist hangouts and they have been more successful at trapping undead

Crit Success

  • The two are known as Illendir Broadfoot, a powerful druid and his long-time companion Jana Westringer, a formidable cleric of Sarenrae.
  • The pair have been travelling through the forest for over 5 years, doing their best to keep the peace between the forest creatures and fey who oppose the intrusion from the humans.
  • The pair have been lately on a quest to eradicate cultists and undead
  • They have the means to travel quickly by magic and many times show up just in time to thwart their enemies

The party will eventually gather enough information to point them into a much more accurate location, the Final Clue.

The Final Clue

When the party gathers its 6th point, they will find out the following information:

A half-elf ranger named Opell just came from the border of the Verduran. She was following a tributary to the main Verduran Fork when she ran into a group of humans foraging and setting up a defensive perimeter around a new camp just west of the stream. She believes that if the druid and cleric are making their way east, they will eventually target this new encampment, so it may be a good place to wait for them.

In reality, the duo have already been through this area, travelling quickly and laying numerous pit and snare traps for their quarry. They are now sweeping back along the trail of traps they left a few days ago (like any good trapper would do) and collecting their prizes.

The Field of Pits

The first indication of the duo’s plan will be found when the party crosses the tributary in search of the camp. They will hear the sounds of earth falling and scratching from ahead of them. One of the large hidden pits has trapped a handful of mindless undead. The monsters are effectively helpless, so the party can deal with them as they wish, however, their living essences will alert a pair of Owlbear Zombies who will begin closing in a couple rounds after the party arrives.

The spiked pit traps (see Hazard in game) are a tough DC31 Per to find.

Once the OZ’s have been dealt with, the party will need to continue west to find the new cultist camp.

2 Owlbear Zombies – 2×40= 80XP

The New Cultist Camp

A larger group of cultists have banded together to form a more defensible position for their activities. They are led by a powerful priest of Urgathoa called Allomerus. They found the entrance to a small underground cave complex that they can retreat into if they are attacked and the cult leaders have set up their quarters in this area as well. There are probably more cultists than the party can handle on their own unless they come up with a good plan. In addition, the cultist have been harvesting the dead and have erected pens to hold new zombies that they create in the caves below. If the camp is alerted to an real threat, the cultists will release the Zombies and command them to attack. (the pens only have one door) Otherwise, the party can try to pick the cultists off when they leave camp to relieve themselves or forage for food and water. The cultists have started to be wary of the pit traps, although they are not very successful and often need to rescue each other from them. So many of the scouting parties are sent out to mark and/or disarm the traps.

Illendir and Jana will have completed their circuit and have saved the camp as their last loose end to tie up. They show up this night and will attack the compound (see both versions of the camp – fully loaded or partially loaded). If the party takes out the cultists on their own, the duo will show up shortly thereafter, but may mistake them for cultists, so they will need to talk fast! If the party gets in over their heads, or if the undead are released, the pair will show up a little sooner to help.

Fully Loaded Camp (NIGHT) Yep, the party waited until there were the most people in the camp 🙂

At night, many more of the cultists are on guard duty and fires are kept low. The leaders assign the lesser ranked followers to guard duty while most of them retreat to the cave for shelter. Groups of 2-4 cultists man the barricades and other groups of 4-6 are sitting near their tents. If any of them spot an intruder (Passive Per=22), they will yell out an alarm which will mobilize the whole camp to their location (diversion?).

Tactics

If one of the guard posts is alerted to an attack or intruders, they will raise an alarm which will alert the camp. The two closest guard posts are instructed to assist the one that raised the alarm. Meanwhile, someone from the outside camp will go into the cave to alert the leaders and prepare the barricade. Once this is done, one of each pair of the remaining guard posts will assist at the guard post where the alarm came from.

If the camp is getting overrun, one cultist will begin to release the zombies from their pens and command them to attack the strangers.

Partially Loaded Camp (DAY)

Surface = 5 Disciples (1 sleeping), 32 Cultists (10 sleeping), 15 Zombies, 1 Leader

Caves = 6 Cultists, 1 Disciple (praying), 12 Skeletons

During the day, the cultists send out scouting parties to warn of enemies and hunt for game. These parties are usually groups of 4-6. During this time, the leaders are outside and many of the cultists are engaged in prayer, combat practice or mundane duties. The camp population shrinks by about ½ during the day.

Tactics

If the camp alarm is raised, the camp will engage the source in force, but the leaders will stay close to the middle so they can retreat into the caves if necessary which is much more defensible. If more than half of the defenders perish or if the opposition closes in to attack, the leaders and any remaining cultists will retreat into the caves and try to set up a barricade.

The cultists already in the cave have orders to release the skeletons if the barricade is breached. One or two will stand ready if they hear combat in the caves and the rest will join the defense.

The Rescue

At some point, the camp will be alerted and all the undead will be released. The farther the party gets into the camp and the closer to the leader, they may miss out on most of the fight happening above. Jana and Illendir know about the new camp and have been allowing the cultists to feel a false sense of security in numbers so they can be taken out all at once. Their preference is to raid the camp at night, to maximize the number of cultists in attendance and the confusion of the darkness. They are staked out just north of the camp in a thick tree during the day when the party arrives.

** Revised Tactics **

The avenging duo have been watching the attack on the camp since it started and have been impressed although a little frustrated that they will have to sweep the forest for the missing cultists on patrol. They have no problem letting this mysterious group run the offense, but will assist when they see the undead pens clearing out. When the three masses of undead begin to close in, Jana will cast a Sunburst spell into their midst to thin them out, but the pair will stay concealed as the party continues their assault. After all, the pair can always use some more like-minded assistants!

Several of the leaders and a few remaining healthy cultists will retreat back into the cave complex, while others abandon the camp entirely (especially after the powerful Sunburst explodes) and flees into the woods.

The party can either chase the cultists into the cave or try to investigate who cast the big spell. Hopefully they will follow into the cave, but if not, the pair will stay concealed (DC30 to spot).

The goal is to allow the party to root out the remaining cultists and their leader in the cave complex. But the duo will assist if the party gets in over their heads.

**

Tactics

When they are ready, the pair will separate slightly and then begin by lobbing Sunburst spells into the pockets of undead and cultists. Two of these spells should be enough to take out most if not all of the undead and the lower level cultists in 60’ bursts. If they detect the party (unknowns) in the range, they will not use these spells but save them in reserve.

In any case, the pair of powerful avengers will easily defeat the camp and will not pursue any who flee. Their main goal is the find and question the cleric leader. They will not murder the leaders unless they are threatened, but will instead lash them to trees when they will be collected by a fey cleanup crew for “forest justice”. If questioned, Illendir will tell them that the prisoners will be freed soon and will participate in a crash course in survival as they transported deep into the forest, stripped down to their skin and then told that if they can get to civilization on their own, they will have served their time.

Battle in the Cave

When the party descends into the dark cave, they will find it lit by sputtering torches. The cultists have prepared for this possibility, so they have constructed barricades to place in the way of any intruders that they can gain some cover while they fire arrows and spells.

CC1 – Two of the cultists did not make it back in time to be on the safe side of the barricade but they will do their best to stave off the intruders. The others will begin using bows at range and the Disciples will cast Blindness and Ray of Enfeeblement

The barricades can be breached by damaging it (acts as a wooden wall – Hard 5, HP20, BT10) or it can be moved aside with a single DC30 Athletics roll or two people succeeding at DC25 Athletics.

CC2 – The three main leaders live in this cave and are found here during the evenings. They each have a simple-locked footlocker (3xDC20) with the possessions they are not carrying, including a dark cloak, extra boots, several pieces of obsidian worth 10gp total, 3 Moderate Healing Potions, 120gp, 85sp. One footlocker (belonging to Allomerus is trapped with a poison needle (see Hazard on map) and contains a Scroll of Bind Undead, a Scroll of Detect Alignment and a Scroll of Animate Dead (H6).

CC3 – Allomerus sent three of the cultists here to ward off any intruders while he retreats and prepares to release the Skeletons from the pen enclosure. If the footlockers are searched, each has a simple lock (3xDC20), mundane items, 15gp, 10sp.

CC4 – 6 Cultists are chanting loudly in this chamber while attempting to complete a Corpse Communion ritual. They are consuming part of a dead body that belonged to a local druid to gain the secrets of their order in the Verduran forest. If/when Illendir finds out about this, he will bring his wrath down on the camp and utterly destroy it. The cultists continue their ritual unless attacked.

CC5 – When the camp was initially attacked, Allomerus and the rest of the leaders figured that some unsuspecting group of hunters had stumbled upon them by ill luck and they would be dealt with quickly. But when the screams of the cultists began to escalate, the leaders took notice of their mistake. They ordered the release of the Zombies and called in the remaining cultists in camp to eradicate the intruders. Meanwhile, Allomerus retreated back into the cave with a small protective guard. He figured that if anyone made it to the cave, they would bottleneck and they could be defeated easily.

Unfortunately, the invading force was quickly becoming a serious threat and once the barricades at the cave entrance started to breach, he hastily retreated back to the Skeleton pen, assigning cultists to slow them down while he works on releasing the undead.

The party will have 5 rounds once they make it through the barricade before Allomerus opens the pen and at that time, the Skeletons will rush forward to attack the intruders while the priest stays safely in the back and lobs spells, trusting to his Goddess that she will protect him.

Tactics:

The area contains a necromancer’s lab, a few experiments in progress with half-dead animals and a captured Pixie named Peep. She is barely conscious and has been tortured by the brutes, but will be very thankful for her rescue.

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