The Legend of Serpent Isle...

...and the Royal Treasure of Tirask
Thirty or forty miles east of Stillwater Reach, off the coasts of Alsberg and Mercia and at the northern edge of Oran Bay, lies an island of mystery and legend - the Serpent Isle.

Serpent Isle

Serpent Isle is a rocky and forbidding island, roughly 30 miles north to south and 20 miles east to west. It is a windswept and inhospitable place, separated from the mainland by rough seas and dangerous currents. The island is covered with rugged hills and forests, and has very little farmable land. There are no particularly good natural harbors either. It is famous for the things that have given it it's name - multitudes of snakes, including numerous poisonous varieties and giant snakes of all types.

Despite the dangers associated with the island, it is visited with some frequency by adventurers and northern youths seeking to prove their manhood. It is a mark of courage (discouraged by their elders) for an Alsberg or Mercian youth to simply spend a night on the island. Some never return.

The primary lure that brings people to the island is the legends of great treasure hidden here. It is said that in the Elder days, there was a settlement of old Tirask on the island, and that when things became desperate at the climax of the Elder Wars, the royal family fled to this island shortly before they were overwhelmed by the forces of darkness. Legends have it that the most valuable parts of the royal treasure would have been brought here, and hidden, prior to their final downfall. Treasure of a magnitude to make any man a king. As the North has been reclaimed, many have come to the island to see what they can find.

Adventurers tell tales of caves, caverns and miles of tunnels (both natural and manmade) criss-crossing the island. The rugged hills in the center of the island are said to be honeycombed with such passages. These tales bring a steady influx of new adventurers to the island.

As for the royal treasure of old Tirask, if any have found any of it, they aren't saying.

Campaign Journal - Session 2 - Going Underground

April 6, Northern Reckoning Year 707, continued.
We last left our heroes standing in the ruins of an old town, at the top of what seemed to be a well shaft terminating 30 feet or so below the level of the surface at a chamber with a pool of water.

The characters discussed whether to proceed down the shaft, and decided to spend some additional time investigating the surface. During the course of the above ground exploring, they found other interesting things is some of the other basements and ruins: what seemed to be another well with water at the bottom, a narrow staircase down, a circular carved stone floor which may have been a teleportation/conjuring circle or other magical focus, and a small silver box containing two potions (healing and gaseous form). There were a number of vultures conspicuously circling the area.

Above Ground

While exploring, there were a few times when a character would notice movement out of the corner of their eye. Eventually, they found that a young warrior looking for adventure who had seen them in Olmsby had been following them for the last two days. It was decided that he would be allowed to remain and attempt to prove his worth, with the party being heavy on spellcasters but relatively light on muscle. His name was Mordecai.

In a deep circular foundation, the characters found an intact wooden door protected by a magical ward. Duncan was able to open the door, and the party descended into the darkness. The area proved to be a small basement/dungeon complex consisting of eleven chambers going progressively deeper underground. It was obvious that the party wasn't the first group to enter this area, as most of the chambers appeared ransacked. Judging from the remnants of furniture and other items, the characters guessed that this was a laboratory and storage area for whatever building had been above. There was no combat in this area, but several items of note were discovered, including a large but heavy (6' by 6') carved wooden panel depicting warriors fighting a dragon in high relief. The characters mulled over options on getting this piece of artwork back to town. Behind a pair of secret doors, a library and treasure room were found, including the long-dead body of an earlier explorer. The party found some non-magical books with some potential value, some coins and silver trade bars, and a magical scroll with the second level Arcane Lock spell. The treasure was left in the secret room to be returned for later. In a pack that the dead explorer had been carrying was a scroll fragment that references searching ruins in the area, and named a particular halfling in the the town of Shimmermere as having been a source of information.

The Tower Dungeon

Finding no other egress from the Tower dungeon area, the party went back above ground and went down the narrow stairs they had found in another crumbling basement. This part of the dungeon was more damp than the Tower dungeon had been, with sections of mold and fungus in some of the rooms and passages. Like the Tower dungeon, it was a man made area, with regular floors, walls and ceilings. In one of the rooms, the party was attacked by three giant centipedes and was finally able to roll some dice in anger, disposing of the centipedes quickly. This section seems to have been an underground temple area, as there was a room with an altar and the remains of crumbling stone and wood benches, along with a lot of religious iconography painted or carved into the walls. Badric, the cleric, was able to recognize the religious symbols as belonging to some of the old Onorian "Forbidden Gods". The two chambers believed to be the bottom of the two wells were found, and down a succession of stairs and behind a secret door, the party found a large and beautiful Crystal Cavern.

Both wells were actually cisterns fed by a small stream running through the respective chambers. In the more southerly of the two, the water passed out of the room through a passage with barely enough head clearance to be navigated, and Melior crawled far enough down the shallow stream passage to find a small alcove holding about a hundred gold coins and a very nice longsword that one of the characters was able to identify as being of Onorian manufacture. It remains to be seen whether there is anything special about the sword. Continuing down the stream passage brought the Druid to a natural passageway intersecting the stream that would be large enough to walk in (and there were small humanoid tracks in the dirt and rock floor). The rest of the party was led through the stream, arriving at the natural passage cold and wet, but unharmed.

The Temple dungeon and the Caves

The passage led to a chamber, and then another passage which arrived at a larger chamber with multiple entrances/exits. The party chose to go east down a narrow passage that had been behind a rough curtain made of scraps of cloth and netting. They arrived at a large natural chamber with some light filtering down from above, which was filled with mushrooms and other fungi. They surprised a goblin in the process of harvesting some of these fungi, and fleet-footed Niam was able to catch and slay the goblin before it could run out another passage.

Proceeding down the passage, the party engaged and defeated 5 more goblins quickly (4 courtesy of a Sleep spell from Duncan), but taking some damage in the process. A clerical Cure Wounds spell was needed. So far so good.

With a number of unexplored passages leading out of the last few chambers the party had been in, and with choices to make, we stopped at that point. In game terms, it was estimated to be mid- to late afternoon on April 6, perhaps 6-7 hours after the party had arrived at the ruins.

Next...More Caves and more Goblins.

The Sage's Commentary - We  played this session back on October 25 (I think), and our second session had three of our four planned players, losing one from last time but gaining the one who had missed our first session. This was the session where exploration and scene setting began to result in action and combat. I think things went more smoothly this time around. It probably wasn't much different, but just seemed to flow better in my own mind as I felt less self-conscious about telling the story and guiding the action. Being very well prepared certainly helps. Everybody seems anxious to continue, which is terrific, and I have a lot of ideas for things to do to make the game play flow more smoothly, some of which we were already using in this session (cheat sheets, spell cards, a custom player character sheet...). I'd rather do a lot of prep work so that when we sit down to play, it is about the story and not about fumbling with rule books to figure what a spell does, etc. It seems to be working.

The Sentinels

Sometimes also called "the Watchers" or "the Guardians" by the local peasantry, the Sentinels are a somewhat secretive organization whose declared mission is to protect the good people of the Northlands. They are a loosely organized collection of adventurers, priests and others who openly battle against evil and lawlessness, as well as townspeople, peasants and others who keep their eyes and ears open to gather information. Some members are open about their allegiance to the group while others hide their affiliations. There is speculation that some of the most powerful warriors, spell casters, clerics and politicians of the north are either Sentinels or are sympathetic to their cause. As with any group, there are some who question the true motives of the group. The common folk for the most part recognize them for the good deeds they do, and look favorably upon them.

Little is known about what hierarchy or power structure exists within the Sentinels, but it is rumored that there are powerful individuals within the group that hold the title of "Warden", and have at least some authority over other members within their area.

Those members who openly declare their membership in the Sentinels often wear a piece of jewelry emblazoned with the Sentinels' symbol; a radiant sun above a shield.

Tales of Sentinel activity are typically stories of adventurers protecting villages, hunting monsters, aiding travelers, and patrolling the Wilderlands.

The history of the Sentinels goes back 25 or 30 years, and the size of the group is open to debate. Openly declared Sentinels would not be considered rare, but they aren't terribly common either. The Sentinels seem to be active in Alsberg, Mercia, Longwood Vale and the High Plateau, the eastern stretch of the Great North Road, and the lands between these areas.

Nations and Regions of the Realms - West

A Whirlwind Tour of the Realms - part 2, The West

Darlish - Darlish is a mysterious and dangerous country, ruled by the Council of the Seven, a cabal of powerful spellcasters. Magical ability is valued extremely highly in Darlish, and the noble families that control day to day power within the realm strive to have their members recognized for their spell casting talents and abilities. The common people do not fare nearly as well, and it is fair to say that nowhere else in the Northlands is the gap between the ruling elite and the common folk as wide as it is here. Servitude that amounts to little more than slavery is commonplace, with the lowest tier of society living a wretched existence. Some of the more powerful noble houses do have slaves, either purchased in the far South, or captured and brought in against their will.

The rulers of Darlish have lofty ambitions with regards to the place of their realm in the future of the Northlands (in other words, they believe they should be running the whole show). The Darlishites are intent on expansion and extending their sphere of influence, to the chagrin of the more moderate lands that they are in contact with. Rumors of Darlishite agents and spies abound throughout the North, and are not without basis in reality. Political intrigue and information gathering is a Darlishite focus, and also a specialty. The one thing that keeps Darlish from being even more of a threat than they already are is that the internal power struggles of the various noble houses within the realm is equal to, or even exceeds, their ambitions in the outside world.

Darlish is located at the far southwestern end of the Great North Road. The land of Mirraddi is to its north, the Blood Peaks form its eastern border, and Lake Trelgar forms the southern border. Varlune is to its southeast, and the Florian Empire is across Lake Trelgar to the south.

Darlish and Varlune

Varlune - The Blessed Land of Varlune is a small nation, roughly 75 miles both north to south and east to west, on the eastern shores of Lake Trelgar. Varlune is a theocracy, with the worship of a triumvirate of gods being the official state religion. The ruling class is tied directly to the clerical hierarchy of these gods. The three main gods are Ardran, the All-Father (the Creator diety), Tombal, the god of balance, and Barsek, the god of fate. Of only slightly less significance are Brand (duty and honor), Barrin (justice) and Valtus (perseverance). Duty, honor and righteousness are important to the Varlune people. This makes Varlune an excellent choice to serve as a buffer that exists on the border with Darlish (to the northwest).

Varlune may be a small nation, and pacifist by nature, but its "duty and honor" mindset  results in a small but highly trained and very effective military. Even the Council of the Seven in Darlish, with their overdeveloped superiority complex, would think twice before provoking the people of Varlune.

Mirraddi - Not much is commonly known about the land of Mirraddi, other than that it is the far western terminus of the Great North Road. Not much more that 25 or 30 years ago, this territory was wilderness. Over the last couple of generations, settlers from the far west, beyond the rugged mountains, have staked claim to this area, and have begun to settle some of what was the Elder realm of Ithilkar.

The people of Mirraddi speak what is known as Westreth, a language related to the Old Gorlavan tongue. This language is related to Darlishite, and suggests a common ancestry with the Elder nation of Gorlavar. The Mirraddi are tall and strong, typically with reddish blonde hair, similar to how the tales describe the Gorlavar people of the Elder days.

Next...Wrapping up the tour of the Realms with the South...

The Shearingvale

The Shearingvale is a fertile farming and herding area on the frontier of the Onorian Wilderlands. It stretches roughly 50 miles from east to west, and 20 miles from north to south, with the Great North Road running through the heart of the Vale. The town of Linden is centrally located. Linden is a town of approximately 1,000 inhabitants, including the neighboring farms, and is the largest settlement between the town of Wegley (50 miles to the east) and the city of Turil (60 miles to the west), both of which are beyond the borders of the Vale.

Shearingvale region (hexographer, 6 mile scale)

The territory of what is considered the Vale stretches from Pittston in the west to Grainger in the east, both of which are hamlets on the Road. The northern limit stretches in an arc above the villages of Draharr, Olmsby and Tardesk. In the south, the villages of Gulb, Bornil and Murtin line the edge of the Greenreach Woods. The Silver Hills and their resident communities of gnomes and halflings border the Vale to the northwest, and the dense and mysterious Shadowveil Forest is to the northeast. Futher north lies the Onorian Wilderlands, a vast expanse of untamed and dangerous territory.

Shearingvale detail (Hexographer, 1 mile scale)

The economy of the Shearingvale is based on farming, herding, hunting, trapping and forestry. The northern part of the Vale is made up primarily of rolling grasslands and fertile farmland. Thus the villages north of the Road (Draharr, Olmsby, and Tardesk) revolve around sheep and goat herding and related industries (weaving, textiles and cheese making), as well as farming, especially apple and pear orchards as well as vineyards and wine making. The towns along the Road (including Linden, Grainger, Sarenton and Pittston) have the same focus as the northern towns but also have businesses supporting the caravan traffic on the road. The three southern villages (Gulb, Bornil and Murtin) are much more involved in forestry and related products, as well as hunting, trapping, fur trading etc.

There is no strong central government in the Shearingvale. Each town and village is mostly independent and rules itself in its own way. To address larger matters that impact the whole community, there is a monthly meeting of Vale Elders. Because there is no true central government, there is also no organized military common to the Vale. However, due to the fact that these are frontier settlements, each village does have a militia of all able-bodied men (and women in some cases), and in many cases a sheriff or constable and some number of town guardsmen. Some of the merchant companies and trading costers operating in the area hire mercenary guards to patrol the roads, and these serve to supplement the town guards.

Adventurers are a fairly common sight in the area, as the lure of the untamed Wilderlands to the north, and the multitude of ruins dating to the time of the Elder Nations draw a steady trickle of courageous souls northward. Some of them even return... Basic necessities and supplies for expeditions into the Wilderlands are easy to find, but more uncommon items will need to be sought out in larger towns and cities, often quite far away. The people of the Vale are wary but generally friendly.

Campaign Journal - Session 1 - A Beginning

All dates Northern Reckoning year 707.

Linden, Olmsby, Fulcher's Hold (1 mile hex)

April 3 - On the road again, arriving at the frontier town of Linden late in the afternoon. Linden is a town of perhaps 200 buildings, and numbering as many as 1,000 inhabitants if you count some of the outlying farms. The plan is to spend the night in Linden and finish the trip the next day. The party meets and talks to a few locals in the Rusty Nail tavern, including a nosy merchant named Narsan of Ilaresh (from the Kalembar Federation), along with his lackeys Mack and Gardel. There are tales of sheep and goats going missing in bunches over the last couple months, and there are a lot of questions from the locals as to the long term intentions of Fulcher's Band. Before turning in for the night, someone is seen snooping around the wagons. Nothing seems to be missing, although there are signs that some things have been rummaged through.

April 4 - Atherik and the dwarves have some business in town to attend to first, so it is late morning by the time the group sets out northwards on a minor road. A mile or so north of town, a wheel comes off one of the wagons, spilling its heavy cargo onto the ground. Careful inspection shows that several other wagons have also been tampered with. Fixing the damage takes a few hours, and it is near dark when the wagons pull into Olmsby, a small hamlet of maybe 50 buildings and 200 inhabitants. The party meets some locals, including Ravar, an elderly beekeeper, who warns the party of his giant honeybees (which are harmless unless provoked). Ravar claims to have been an adventurer in his younger days, and regales the characters with some good stories of ruins in the Shearingvale, including one site just a half dozen or so miles further north. There are more tales of missing livestock in this town. The party sleeps with the wagons through an uneventful night.

April 5 - The party heads the remaining 6 miles to Fulcher's Hold. They talk with Fulcher (priest of Alaron, god of Light), Alissara (female elven spellcaster of some sort) and Damron (human warrior), the 3 of Fucher's Band who are present at the moment.  Fulcher seems friendly. He claims to have no greater goals than to semi-retire here and "spread Alaron's divine radiance over the surrounding land". The characters do not get the sense that he is lying, but have the vague feeling that he is hiding something.

On a bit of high ground overlooking a stream, a couple dozen laborers and a few dwarves are working on the keep. There is a cluster of a dozen or so wooden shacks and a few nicer houses at the bottom of the hill; presumably where the workers live. The site itself consists of a rectangular wooden palisade, with a wooden tower in one corner, and a medium-sized stone keep rising at the opposite corner. The wooden parts of the complex seem complete, or nearly so, while the stone keep is complete only to about the top of a first story. Work is focusing on the stone keep, which definitely looks more like a castle than a manor house.

At the end of their conversation (and getting paid), Fulcher indicates that if the party wanted to remain in the area, he and his companions would welcome that, and would provide what assistance they could. The party is noncommittal, and decides to head to the nearby ruins described by Ravar. The party backtracks 2 miles toward Olmsby, and is able to find the overgrown trail leading north along the west bank of a stream. A mile or so up this trail, the party comes to a spot where the trail drops down into a marshy looking lowland. With daylight fading, the party decides to camp on the dry ground. The night passes quietly.

April 6 - The party rises early and is on the trail by 7:30am. By about 9:30am, they have made their way through a couple of miles of marshy lowland and across another couple of miles of open ground. Ahead they see a few low hills, the landmark that Ravar told them to look for. Leaving the trail and heading east toward the stream, they find the site and begin to investigate the area. A few vultures circle low overhead.

Ruins

There are the remnants of many low stone walls, flagstone paving that may have been streets, foundations and basements fairly well hidden in the dense scrub and underbrush. In a large sunken area that may have been a building's basement level, they discover a 2.5 foot diameter circular opening in the floor covered by a pair of thin stone slabs. The party surmises this may have been a well. Niam, the extremely dextrous wood elf rogue, is easily able to climb down the very rough stone-lined shaft and finds that water can be seen below, perhaps 30 feet below ground level. The pool of water seems to be in a chamber that opens out beyond the bottom of the well shaft, which ends 9 or 10 feet above the level of the water. Without a rope, he can go no further without free-falling into the water. He returns to the surface to tell the others what he has seen.

An old stone well?

The party begins to discuss what to do next...

The Sage's Commentary - For a first Dungeons & Dragons session in about 22 years (best guess), this went pretty well, and I had an absolute blast. We had two out of our three hoped-for players, and were able to rope in another player on a few hours notice, so we had three players and a DM. Over the course of almost 3 hours, we put the finishing touches on character creation for a couple of the players, and had the new player create the wood elf rogue. Then we very briefly covered some "world background" of the type posted here (which the players for the most part had not read). Once we got things rolling, we covered the above 2+ game days of non-combat role playing fairly smoothly. I will admit to feeling like a bumbling (and very self-conscious) fool at start, but think that we all found a pretty good groove once we got going, and you have to start somewhere. Preparation was key, and once I stopped thinking and just went with the flow, things went very well. People seemed to enjoy themselves. Now that the players know that this blog is here for the campaign, creating some of that sense of place in which to set these adventures should go more smoothly. I can't wait to play again. We have yet to roll dice in anger...

Campaign Journal - Preamble

All dates Northern Reckoning year 707...

Nandra to Linden on the Great North Road (6 mile hexes)

March 28 - The various characters are in the city of Nandra, to the west of the Grand Duchy of Rimini, looking for adventure but hard up for money. They are hired by a warrior named Damron to guard a small wagon train carrying construction materials and other goods to a site near the town of Linden, in the Shearingvale. Damron refers to the place as Fulcher's Hold. Apparently, a cleric named Fulcher and his band are rebuilding a small ruined keep a day or so north of Linden. Four dwarves of Clan Dundark of the Iron Spire Mountains, led by a stonemason named Atherik, are with the wagon train. Damron will take care of some other business and meet the party there.

March 29 - The party leaves Nandra with 8 wagons heading west on the Great North Road. The party consists of Duncan (a human wizard), Badric (a dwarven cleric of the Life domain), Niam (a wood elf rogue), Melior Ardenshade (a wood elf druid), and a human barbarian warrior (Malachy Fairwind). The first night's camp is along the banks of the River Greve.

March 30 - On the road. Uneventful travels. Camp for the night in the grasslands between Nandra and the town of Wegley.

March 31 - On the road. Arrive in the small town of Wegley late in the afternoon. Spend the night in a rundown inn.

April 1 - Leave Wegley heading west. Camp under the stars by the side of the road. Woken during the night by several deer bursting through the camp, but nothing else of note.

April 2 - On the road. Night spent at a tiny un-named waystop. The party should reach Linden tomorrow...