HSP 1 Introductory Adventure

High Spire Campaign NotesMonsters

The Players include the following:

• Half-Elven Fighter (Pam)

• Dragonborn Bard (Jason)

• Elven Cleric (Aleah)

• Halfling Monk (Brandon)

• Half-Orc Wizard (Ryan)

• Half-Elf Rogue (Edmond)

One day, while the PC's are lounging around at Highspire listening to Torrinn play, a runner comes from Lord Chancellor Henrich, summoning Apotheon to court. The Lord Chancellor says that the young half-elf has been loitering around the court for years, and now offers him a chance to be useful to His Majesty for a change. A problem has come up, and it is given to Apotheon to resolve it. One of the small villages around Wallendorf to the west is having problems, the village of Kersenn. Something is raiding outlying homesteads, and a couple of local militia are missing. As the lord of the relevant manor and the Lord of Wallendorf are both off with most of their men dealing with the raids from neighboring Jastros, Apotheon is granted the opportunity to win acclaim by taking his band of fellows out to the lands in question and solving the problem. Refusal to accept means no adventure. Acceptance of the task will result in a 200gp reward for proof of the solution. Lord Chancellor Henrich will provide a letter of introduction with his seal, which should ease the path with guards and authority figures, and will provide horses and provisions from castle stores. This includes ten potions of healing, which can be kept as part of payment. 

1) Four Days Out - Travel down the road is mostly without incident, though halfway between Genmere and Wallendorf the PC's will encounter a gang of eight bandits, two with light crossbows, and the rest with hand axes and spears. They will fight only until half their number are incapacitated, after which they will flee. Each bandit has 2d6 copper, though the first one slain has a Potion of Greater Healing. Their lair is an old farmstead a quarter mile back in the woods, where they have a buried chest with 75sp, 100cp, and a gem worth 50gp. 

2) Wallendorf Area -  Wallendorf is a decent sized town, with a stone wall topped by a palisade. There are roughly 100 households here, with double that scattered along various villages. Most basic services are available here. If the PC's inquire at the lord's manor or at the primary church, they will easily be able to confirm the details, and find a guide to the village of Kersenn. A local teen will happily lead them out to Kersenn for the outrageous sum of 1gp, though he can be talked down from that. If they refuse, it will take a day for them to find it. Kersenn is small and beleaguered, a farming village of about twenty households surrounded by trees on three sides. The villagers are nervous and terrified, and will be most grateful for assistance. They say that every few nights, more livestock are missing and now an entire household is missing. If the PC's wait in ambush, that same night an attack will come. A pack of several goblins and a bugbear will come out of the woods and prowl around, looking for targets. If confronted, they will only fight for a single round before retiring to the woods and trying to escape. Their trail can be followed via Survival or Perception, DC-15. The trail will lead to... the abandoned mine. 

3) Abandoned Mine - This is a water and moss-filled pit, an ancient quarry pit turned into a copper mine, long abandoned. The pit is 20ft deep, with 5' of water in the bottom. Along the wall is a difficult to spot ledge, leading to the mine itself. The shaft is mostly horizontal, and crumbly. It splits at a T-intersection. Left goes to Goblin Country, and is trapped with a pit and deadfall trap (DC-15 to spot, DC-12 to clear it), set mainly as an alarm. Inside live two bugbears, a bunch of goblins (enough to be interesting), and a half-dozen tied up farmers. They have accumulated some treasure, which they have kept in a giant clay pot with a giant centipede - 150sp, 20gp, a Potion of Vitality, and an Moonstone statue of a mastiff, casts Alarm in a 60' radius (DC-20 to sneak closer, has 1d6 charges) to any Kehler pantheon church or temple. Bones and scraps are all over the floor, mostly leftover livestock. Right at the intersection goes into the Spider cave. Webs, dried husks of goblin, local animals, and a long deceased human adventurer, who is still wearing a chain shirt. His sword lies on the ground, covered in dust. Bad news.