In Search of Adventure - #1

 

B1 - B9: In Search of Adventure

Castle Caldwell 

#1 

Our campaign begins in the town of Threshold where a group of adventurers have been invited to the Gold Dragon Inn to attend local merchant Clifton Caldwell, who has put out a help wanted poster at the Trade of Blades Board in the city. The merchant has paid for a light dinner in the upper room of the inn and meets the party, which is made up of the following characters:

Longinus the Younger - Longinus is the distant relation to one of the noblemen from the Empire of Thyatis to the east of the Known World and is the protectorate to the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. He has been sent west to test his skills, and hopefully not only make a name for himself, but also gain a small foothold into the Grand Duchy through his adventuring work, rather than take up any of the family’s fortunes in the east. Longinus is a Paladin dedicated to the Immortal Tarastia, the Mistress of Truth and Order.

Topace - Topace is a Dragonborn from the mysterious city-state of Rodhin far to the mountains between Karameikos and the Emirates. He is a member of the Topaz flight, which in the Known World, is associated with Air, giving him a lightning bolt as his breath. Topace is a humble fighter.

Messalina - Messalina Pennyweight is a goblin rogue from the Pennyweight Clan hailing from  the flying city of Serraine. Finding little fulfillment living in the relative comfort of the wondrous city of tinkers, arcanists, and artisans, also wanting to avoid any arranged marriages, she has taken an airship down to the surface and has found her way to Threshold. She is a rogue.

Branwell - Branwell ‘Bran’ Stotch is a Gnome Cleric of Garal, the Patron of Invention, and the chief god on Serraine. Branwell was sent out into the world from Serraine to help spread the faith of the Tinker. His other offering was a posting over in Five Shires, but Branwell was disinclined to hang out with too many Halflings. He met Messalina on the same airship bound for Threshold.

Fengir - Fengir Aramal is a Catfolk Warmage from Glantri and is a descendant from a clan of Beastfolk after a brief interregnum in Glantri allowed Beastfolk to attain full rights and establish their own fiefdoms and clans, provided that they keep any Immortal worship within the fiefdom and out of the city of Glantri proper. Fengir has no noble title to his name, instead his family were wanderers out of Glantri before ending up in Karameikos following a caravan trade. He has decided to abandon the caravan to become an independent adventurer. ---

“I am so pleased you could attend this dinner,” Clifton Caldwell gestured at the side table containing dishes of steaming food and the bar cart. He had wanted to put on a good impression for a combination of a human, a dragonborn, two small folk, and a bipedal cat who was already nibbling at the chicken from a porcelain saucer.

Longinus sipped at his goblet of wine. It had been awhile since he had sampled something more than tavern brew, “I am touched by your hospitality, although part of me is now feeling nervous about such a banquet before even telling us what you need. A man could wonder what you are having us march into.”

“I’m a little eager for you to say yes and handle this matter as quickly as possible,” Caldwell said.

Branwell sipped at coffee while watching Messalina Pennyweight smoke from a black reed cigarette holder with gold filigree decorating it. She was wearing a simple black dress with bare shoulders, which drew his eye since taking the airship down from Serraine to adventure together. He gestured to his mug, “The coffee is good.”

“I guess that’s a step in the right direction,” Messalina said and gestured to the brass bowl sitting to one side, “Can you bring that over for me? Thanks.” She flicked her ash into the bowl as she waited on Caldwell to get to the mission.

“I bought a castle outside to the west of Threshold,” Clifton began, “I was told that the area had seen very little activity and had set out with an initial team to begin making the place livable only to find monsters inhabiting the first couple of rooms. I had to scramble out of the place and leave my loading bearing donkeys behind to undoubtedly get eaten by the creatures inhabiting that place. I complained to the town clerk, the mayor, and the captain of the guard. They all point out that the castle sits outside the town’s jurisdiction and that I need to handle the problem myself. I bought the deed to the castle from a solicitor in this town, and yet it’s not actually a town matter. That’s where you come in.”

“What kind of creature chased you out?” Topace asked.

“All I saw were the bright red and yellow eyes and sharp weapons, I did not stay much longer to get a good look,” Clifton said, “I am willing to 100 gp apiece for going on this job. That’s 500 gp if you guys pull your resources together.”

“Do you have the gold with you now?” Messalina asked.

“I have it in storage at the money exchange, I can get it when you get back. For now, my opening payment is supplying you with adventuring equipment, the wagon I had bought to initially haul my furniture, and an animal to pull it. I even have a driver, a Harengon named Tirnol, who comes with the wagon and mount to watch an outside camp.” ---

While the initial adventure says that if pressed, Clifton will raise stakes to 250 gp, I decided to stick with 100 gold and just offer the outfitting as an extra incentive. In addition to the 100 plus outfitting, the party can keep any treasure they find in the castle that has been left behind.

The party accepts and starts heading towards Castle Caldwell. I skip random encounters and begin with the party arriving at the front gates to the moss stained, stone fortress that sat on a plateau that overlooked the area.

It takes a few days but the party does make camp in the shadow of the plateau that Castle Caldwell sits on. In addition to the party, there is also Tirnol, a Harengon, also known as rabbitfolk, acting as a driver and guard for the camp and the wagon that Caldwell has hired to carry the gear. Tirnol sported fur coloring of browns, grays, and accented by whites with two floppy ears. He carried a longbow along with his long knife, but after fixing the campfire went back to smoking a pipe near his tent and wishing the party the best of luck.

---

“So we cannot convince you to come with us at all?” Messalina asked.

“I think you all will do well,” Tirnol said before blowing another smoke ring as he waved the party off. Dusk was setting in the west as the party made their way around the outer ring of the cliff and the party started up towards the double doors leading into

---

The party starts out in the hallway where two doors lead either left or right. Messalina approaches the left door (Room #1). The door is not locked and not trapped, so while her Passive Perception 14 is significant, it is not strictly necessary for the context of the door. However, let’s consult the oracle:

Q: Is there an random encounter inside Room #1?

A: No, no modifier - the room is empty.

The party enters and finds an abandoned dining room with overturned tables and a few broken chairs. The party gives the room a general search where Messalina, the one with the highest Perception, is able to find the following behind one of the overturned tables:

120 sp bundled in a grease stained cloth

Two gems - a chipped emerald (50 gp) and a cloudy moonstone (25 gp)

The party marks this as a potential camping point, seeing that it is empty and nothing is obviously rotting. There is an old hearth that would need some wood to be placed on the fire, otherwise the room is barren with shuttered windows that can be thrown open to let fresh air into the room. Topace and Longinus handle that aspect while Messalina and Branwell watch the door and Fengir takes a break to sip water. ---

“So where is Rodhin located?” Longinus asked as he watched Topace fit his prybar under the rim of one of the shutters, giving it a hard jerk and causing the wood to groan before it shifted inward. The two were rewarded by a cool breeze rolling into the room.

“In the mountains north of this land,” Topace said at length as he worked, “I only visited the city on occasion, most of the time I lived in a village bordering the Emirates. Dragons from the air caste are the most likely to interact with the desert folk who came to trade.”

“Not fire?” Longinus asked. He had preconceived notions that given the fact that the Emirates of Ylaruam was located in a desert that the fire dragons would have enjoyed the region more than the air caste.

“The fire caste rule the high peaks, the few that venture down prefer to avoid dealing with humans on any equal terms unless they have to. If a fire caste party appears, it’s probably for the sake of the city’s security or escorting a diplomat.”

“You dragonborn seem to cover a lot of mountains,” Longinus noted.

Topace thought about regaling Longinus about how the dragonborn were once part of an empire stretched across the mountains and ruled the lands below before the dream of Thyatis was ever formed or the first men arrived to Karameikos to battle the beastmen, but Topace merely shrugged and acted ignorant beyond saying: “I guess we do cover a fair amount. Some of it is on the peaks, other parts are beneath the earth.” ---

With a few windows exposed, the party prepares to move onto the next room, which is straight across. The prepared marching order included Topace, followed by Messalina, then Longinus, followed by Branwell and lastly Fengir. The party starts towards Room #2 with Messalina performing her usual bit of checking the door for traps, seeing whether it is locked, and finally listening at the door.

She hears a sharp argument between parties in her native goblin. They made no attempt to conceal their presence short of the fact that they were talking instead of yelling to one another.