The Secrets of the Shrine

The Beginning

The party has been hired, by Cass Elliot, to explore and map out what she calls a "dragon shrine". It is a relic from the time of the The Kobold Accord, and the wars that raged for hundreds of years, so the Kingdoms want to check it out. Which is all fine and good, but the elves of The Impenetrable Forest of Birkwud do not like Kingdoms authorities in their territory. This is a sentiment that stretches back to the Elven Purge.

We will be starting this little adventure in the city of Greynor, a tropical paradise in the south of Pax known for its food, its canals, and its hospitality. A location known as The Gilded Goose is Cass Elliot's very favorite place to do business, and sip borscht.

When the party has settled and Cass starts speaking:

Read the following aloud

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Adventurers, well met! I hear you are interested in another job? Perhaps less lucrative than the last one, but still the pay is decent, and the benefits are good.

We have heard rumors of a Dragon Shrine out near a remote settlement in Stilton Head; a little place called Hammingburg. Local woodsmen found it, saying the ground around it had been cleared, and repairs had been started on it. The Unified Kingdoms needs to know the absolute truth of the matter. We would like to hire you to map out, and report on, what you find out there.

If the party accepts the job:

Read the following aloud

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The job pays 50GP per week, plus expenses. 100GP will be paid up front, the rest due upon completion of the task. We expect the job to take upwards of six weeks, including travel. A ship will be made available to you, should you wish to travel the oversea route, or a cart and horses if you will be taking the ferries and roads. Each of you will receive a challenge coin, a badge if you will, identifying you as agents of The High King's Seat, and you will be given a state-of-the-art set of cartography and surveying tools. General arms and armor are available should you so desire. Please remember, as agents of the High King's Seat, to act appropriately in the interests of the Kingdoms.

Report to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to receive your advances, your challenge coins, and your tool kit.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a dour, thin-faced man who wears a severe suit that makes him look like he is on his way to a funeral. He habitually wears a black bowler cap, and carries a black umbrella. There is a Chancellor of the Exchequer in every major town in the Kingdoms, and they are all identical to one another. They seem to be able to share information immediately, and it is rumored that those who have tried to rob them have quietly disappeared, entirely, never to be seen again.

Note:

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If the party turns down the job, improvise your ass off until you figure out what the hell they want.

Greynor, City of Refuge

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A small city nestled in the bosom of the Wutjorn delta, Greynor is purportedly a place of seemingly lax laws, loose morals and looser women. Having been founded in the distant past by some ancient ancestor of the royal family, it has been a pirate haven, a party town, and a fishing village. For the last few eons, however, it has become and grown as a merchant haven. Simple and straight tax laws make it a desirable place to register shell corporations for the mega rich. In living memory, it is assumed Greynor is occupied and run by the famous Merchant and Sailors' Guild, an infamously powerful and resourceful labor group and, some say, the finest spy agency on the planet.

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Structure

Rising Action

Travelling to the Hamlet of Hammingburg can happen one of two ways in this adventure; by land, or by sea.

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If by sea, the party will leave Greynor via a Headship Ketch called the Perseverence. They will put in at Stilton Head, and travel upriver, via ox-barge, to Hammingburg.

Should the party decide to travel the rivers, refer to the following handy-dandy random encounter table.

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Travelling through the Kingdoms will present its own chellenges, yes, but there will also be Kate's Lads to contend with. Lydia Hartunian, from her Noble's Prison within the Old Keep in Craysilt, has vowed revenge on the party. She has sent two patrols of Kate's Lads out already...one to intercept the party, and the other to try to beat them to their objective. Lydia reasons (correctly) that something interesting is going on at this "Dragon Shrine" that the Kingdoms wants investigated. She thinks (incorrectly) that obtaining the information first will make her look so good that her sentence will be commuted to house arrest at her lavish country estate. She also just wants to make the party look bad, in general, and plans on killing them and planting incriminating evidence on them in an attempt to despoil the witness they gave in court, thereby freeing her with prejudice. So far, none of her machinations have garnered any traction.

If the party defeats the Kate's Lads hit squad, news will get back to Lydia, who will fume over it and start thinking up other ways to kill the player characters, up to and including summoned creatures. In the meantime, have fun describing the party's travel through the countryside. There will be ferries, and woods, and river travel, and the countryside will generally be pleasant, except for the occasional weather incident or other randomly rolled encounter.

Travel Travails

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It may behoove the GM to fast track this part of the adventure, depending on the group. Travel can seem 'grindy' to some players. Alternatively, throwing in some side quests, or even a hunting trip, can be exhilarating. Refer to the examples below.

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However our heroes decide to get there, try to make the travel as interesting as possible! Remember that there is beauty to describe, as well as feral cats and porcupines, along the trail.

Arriving in Stilton Head

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Stilton-Head is the largest population center on the western coast of Pax, housing some one-hundred and eighty-five thousand people at any given moment. It is situated on a myriad of islets that change shape drastically with the activity of the river. Rowboats and canoes litter the shores for the use of all and sundry. One glaring difference between Stilton-Head and Greynor is the general lack of street food in Stilton-Head. There are plenty of diners and restaurants, but street food and street vendors are very few and far between. There is, instead, and open air market where vendors are welcome to ply their wares.

Stilton-Head

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Stilton head is the territory to the far west of Pax; a rough land just starting to be resettled after the The Kobold Accord's armies bloody ravaging throughout the area. It is also, however, the name of the great northwestern trading town whose history precedes that of the Kingdoms by a thousand years or more

Note

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The GM may wish to remind the party to check in with the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stilton-Head.

Note

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While in Stilton-Head, the party will be safe from Kate's Lads, as it controlled by the Merchant and Sailors' Guild. However, once the party checks in the with Chancellor of the Exchequer, they will have the chance at a lucrative side quest! He will ask to meet them at The Gilded Goose to talk privately.

Once they get to the The Gilded Goose to speak to the Chancellor, they will have the opportunity to sit at the same booth they were in last time they were here, while the party was still in Greynor. Roleplaying Igle can be a little difficult; just remember to be enigmatic when it comes to time, or his relationship to it. He will not speak of why the Goose does what it does, only mentioning that Weavewalkers may have something to do with the strange properties of the inn if pressed. After all, he will say, he cannot control where the doors will open for Weavewalkers. Only that he thinks they open where the Weavewalkers are either most needed, or where they most wish to be. In a nutshell, Weavewalkers walk upon the strands of fate, as opposed to being a part of the pattern. They can snip strands and affect the patterns of the Great Weave by their very existence. Trouble seems to be attracted to them, like moths to the brightest flame for miles around, and they almost always find themselves making existential decisions that can affect many people, if not the entire world. A Weavewalker's mere presence can affect those around them, as ripples and swirls in the Great Weave emanate from them like a stone into a still pond.

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Note

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This is as good a point in the story as any to bring up, to the party, that they are probably "Weavewalkers", mythic beings whose actions can affect fate itself. Igle and the Chancellor will know of, and be able to converse about, Weavewalkers. It is a great opportunity for a lore drop, about Weavewalkers or the Travelers, or anything else for that matter. They know all about the Dragon Shrines, although they will profess to not know about one of them being cleaned and refurbished.

They are a wealth of information, and can be used here to impart a layer of gravitas to the party's undertaking.