The adventure runs in any locality of any realm our adventurers happen to be. It would be handy if any of them had connections in the town or within the castle, as there will be clues they will able to gather from the staff and the villagers along the adventure.
The adventurers should be quite strong and willing to investigate, otherwise they could fall into an invasion that they will never be able to control or eradicate.
Characters:
Lord Ramsic has ruled over his people with firm but fare hand over many years. As a Paladin of the Order of the Blazing Sun. Strong and with a good heart, his kingdom has seen prosperity over many years and the many friends of the Lord have been happy to help him in any problem he’s had in the past. Having said that, apart from an epidemic of Ettercaps 7 years ago, this land has been pretty much problem free.
Lady Ravenna has been married to Lord Ramsic for the last 28 years that she describes as “sufficiently happy for a lady in my position”. The truth is that Lady Ravenna has enjoyed expensive parties and presents for as long as she has been married. She has received the most beautiful jewels from Lord Ramsic conquests and the most beautiful garments from far away. She is not bad at all…actually, she has a good heart, but believes a lady should be treated as such, and there isn’t a treatment that is good enough for a lady.
Sir Marclock has been Lord Ramsic advisor since he saved his life from a giant 15 years ago. He is brave, eloquent, sensible and very, very loyal to his lord. No one disputes his kindness and is probably one of the most righteous beings serving Lord Ramsic.
Clhogh is Lord Ramsic wizard. He advises his lord about magical matters and makes sure that his Lord knows every magical item he’s ever found in battle. No one knows where he comes from and he likes to keep to himself. Although Marclock has never been against him, he likes to keep the distance with the wizard. Why, he’s never told. Clhogh is well versed in many kinds of magic, both by knowledge and practise and will use whatever he needs to use to protect his lord or himself. He tends to avoid Lady Ravenna because of the interest of Princess Anna in the arts of magic.
Pacal is the advisor Lord Ramsic uses when is about religious matters. Pacal has been a priest since he can remember and his knowledge of religion and the gods is inmense. He adores Princess Salvela and would love to see her becoming a priestess when she reaches adulthood. Of course, Lady Ravenna doesn’t really like the idea, although she is more diplomatic with Pacal than she is with Clhogh.
Prince Aron is an arrogant but brave young man who would like to follow his father’s steps and become a king. Being 16, he still doesn’t know about the responsibilities of ruling and spends most of his time with Marcock training. Eventually will become a good king for his people…right now, most people think he deserves a couple of slaps and some chores!
Princess Anna is a very intelligent and lively kid with a keen eye and interest in magic. At 14, she is already a well versed wizard and has shown talents that make Clhogh very proud. He loves her like a daughter and they both adore to spend time together in the labs. The disputes with lady Ravanna are constant as she things Anna should spend her time learning about etiquette and how to entertain guests than involved in the “pestilence and the unpredictable consequences of Magic”.
Princess Salvela is the jewel in the crown of Lord Ramsic. She is 10 years old and has been blessed with the most beautiful face and manners anyone in the kingdom has ever seen. She is still too young to have decided what she’d like to do with her life, but she is old enough to know what she doesn’t like, and she does not like to behave like a lady in front of the guests for the sake of the guests. With a very strong personality and keen hand for animals, she loves to ride her pony as much as she can and her father spends long periods of time riding with her in the heaths surrounding palace.
Background for the adventure:
The kingdom Lord Ramsic rules has always been a peaceful one. Despite being surrounded by mountains, he’s only had a trouble with giants once, and they disappeared very easily, a lot more easily than usual.
Recently he received a letter with a messenger from a neighbour kingdom, asking for explanations about the disappearances of some villagers from a small town near the frontier between both kingdoms. Lord Ramsic has always kept very good relationships with all the kingdoms around his own and was keen to help with the enquiries. Unfortunately Clhogh, Pacal and Sir Marclock have been unsuccessful bringing good news to lord Ramsic.
Soon after princess Anna disappeared from her own quarters. How, no one knows. Whoever did it could not get in through the doors, but there are no magical traces. At the same time, some unusual events have happened. Some animals from chaotic nature have disappeared from the mountains with no apparent reason. Also, three caravans have disappeared in the mountains with all the pertinences, as if they had never existed before. No magic, no prints on the ground…no one left to tell what happened to them…
Princess Anna had been gone for 3 weeks when another messenger from the same kingdom as before came covered in blood and no horse to deliver a letter, just on time to die. Princess Anna had been seen in the mountains in the company of some creatures that no one has seen before in the area. After that, and as quickly as she was seen, she disappeared behind a rock.
A reward has been offered to anyone who can provide with any clues as what happened to the princess. That should give the players enough motivation to decide they want to find out, but it would be better if someone they knew was in any of the three disappeared caravans or amongst the people disappeared from the villages around the mountains.
What’s going on?
By means of magic and without the knowledge of Clhogh, Anna discovered a portal that leads to one of the planes of law. Protected by all the means she could find, explored the plane on her own for a little while, until she saw some formians in the distance and then decided to trust this discovery to Sir Marclock. The reason for that is no other than the love she feels for him. Fortunately for her, he feels the same, otherwise he’d gone right away to talk to Sir Ramsic. Instead he decided to go with Anna to this new world and find out a bit more, with the intention of impressing his Lord with important discoveries. Instead, the Formians, who took them in front of their queen, made them captives. The only reason for not killing in the spot was that the queen had never seen humans before and was curious to find out how another creature could be lawful too and where they came from in order to expand their reign into our world.
Having seen what the Formians can do in terms of constructions of subterraneous forts, Marclock made an agreement with them by which they would create a huge fortress in the mountains and would be able to expand into our world if they spare the lives of those living in the kingdom. What they didn’t know is that the Formians regard little respect for any other forms of life and they use them as workers for their subterraneous constructions.
That happened more than one year ago. Now Marclock and Anna have discovered the true intentions of the Formian queen and tried to stop her. Therefore, she is being held captive and Marclock has been released in order to keep Sir Ramsic away from the area, which he has managed for a little while, until now.
Marclock is more scared for Anna’s life than anything else, and will do whatever he can to stop anyone from going into the mountains. However, he will never go against his master’s wishes. He will just not assist anyone needing information about what is going on.
In this time the Formians have worked an amazing complex under the mountains and enslaved the people from the caravan, as well as the villagers who have disappeared. Several hundred Formians are at all times in the complex, although they are concentrated in their tasks of expanding the subterranean complex and the rest will be almost empty. The only things along the complex are the belongings of villagers and caravans and some monsters the Formian use as guards.
If the adventurers try to go for the Formians, they will find a formidable enemy they will never be able to defeat. Their best bet is to bring as many clues as possible to Lord Ramsic and find out as soon as possible about Marclock involvement. He will be able to provide with clues as to what’s happening and how to stop the Formians coming into this plane. The only other person who knows about the portal is Anna, but she will be killed or taken to the plane of origin (whatever is more convenient for the Formians) if things get ugly. If they don’t find the portal, the Formians will send a huge army, big enough to invade the whole country.
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