Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 30

I'm playing a mashup of Scarlet Heroes and Basic Fantasy RPG with a few supplements to turn it into a solo fantasy hexcrawl in the world of Eilobar, a doomed land entering its end times. I'm using the Level 0 Character Tumbler, Hexcrawl Adventures, Mythic GME 2nd Edition and some homebrew rules. The characters started as level 0 peasants and have since levelled up to become heroes.

Introduction

Life has got in the way of my solo RPG gaming this year but I've finally found time to return to the world of Eilobar. As a recap: In an era long after the fabled Age of Heroes, peasants Stilda, Cyna and Bryne decided to fight back against the monsters that were plagueing their village, Keyham. They slew Mothric, the local goblin dungeonmaster along with a goblin king who had taken another nearby village. Both were in possession of a mysterious rune.

Yormath, the wizard of Keyham didn't recognise this rune but suuggested they show his old friend Thiri, a dwarven wizard turned scholar who lives in Seethorpe, a town over a hundred and forty miles west of Keyham. After many adventures they have finally arrived in Seethorpe along with Ellyn, a former housemaid now training as a wizard under Bryne. It is the thirty-second day of the dry season in the year 1152.

From this point on I'm using Mythic GME 2nd Edition as an oracle, since I wasn't a big fan of the way investigations and adventures are run in Scarlet Heroes. So it's really becoming a Frankenstein's monster of an RPG now.

The Adventure

Our three adventurers stand just inside the palisade walls, having bid farewell to Lady Eudocia, a noble they rescued in the swamp to the east. They are tired, hungry from existing on foraged food for the last few days, and they only have three horses since Wyn sadly died of over-exertion and was eaten by the party.

Nevertheless they are determined to find Thiri and ask him about the rune. They go to the nearest inn, The Woodcutter's Arms and start asking after Thiri. Each of them will make a charisma check to see if they can find someone friendly who'll talk to them. This will be DC 12 because they are bruised, dirty and stinking of shite from their long trek west.

Ellyn makes a check (Difficulty 12)

15. Success! 1 XP (1D4)

Ellyn meets a kindly old farmer at the bar who gives her Thiri's full address, so they head there immediately.

Is Thiri at home? (Nearly certain, chaos factor 5)

Yes.

Thiri opens the door to the adventurers. (Maze Rats NPC generator says "wrinkled, birthmark, cautious). He is an elderly dwarf with a wrinkly bald head, a large pink birthmark streaking one side of it. "Yes, can I help you?" He asks, half hidden behind the door.

Stilda and the others explain how they keep encountering the strange rune and that Yormath told them to show it to him. Bryne retrieves the goblin king's amulet from her bag and hands it to him. Thiri definitely knows what it is, but will he help them right off the bat?

Will he? (Very likely, chaos factor 5)

Yes.

"This is no rune, girl. This is the sigil of a powerful demon." He says.

"Demon?" Stilda asks.

"Aye, demons are wicked and cunning beings from Hell itself. If you've found this sigil twice in this fair kingdom of ours it must mean this fellow is on the move..."

"I thought demons were just made up monsters parents use to scare their kids!" Says Ellyn.

"No..." Thiri shakes his head. "No. Look, why don't you all come in. If you-" He points to Bryne "-are a student of Yormath you can't be that bad."

They follow him into his house, a tall and narrow building crammed between two larger houses on a quiet street. Inside, every room is filled with bookcases and piles of books. Papers litter the floor around a writing desk with quills and ink bottles atop it.

"Long ago in the Age of Heroes, the barrier between Eilobar -" Ellyn looks at him blankly. "- That's our world... and the realm of Hell was weaker. The Nine Kings of Hell would mount invasions regularly. Brave men and women would lead armies to fight them off. The ancients tell of three scourges that would befall our world, many years apart from each other. The first two have already occurred long ago, but the third is still to come. The Third Scourge that will destroy the entire world and leave it in darkness and chaos. This sigil could be a sign that the end times are upon us." Stilda catches Cyna's eye and both of them burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry old dwarf but that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Says Cyna, laughing with tears in her eyes now.

"The 'Third Scourge'?" Says Stilda, almost rolling onto the floor.

"Hey!" Bryne snaps, "If Yormath says Thiri knows what he's talking about, then he bloody well must do." Thiri looks appalled at the reaction of the two warriors, but seems to soften a bit at Bryne's reply.

"It is no laughing matter. You said yourselves monsters have become braver, taking a nearby village and attacking yours. Did you not see that abomination of a demonic temple near the town as you approached?" He suddenly stops, thinking for a moment. "Look - I need to find some of my old books and investigate this... this fellow I think that sigil represents. The temple outside town, it was built by beastmen. Earthly shock troopers of the Hell Kings. I don't know what they're doing in there or how they got there but it has to be related to this!" He holds up the amulet with the rune on it. "I'll get those books out and why don't you go there and purge that evil place? But don't burn it down or anything, see if you can find any clues as to what those creatures are up to. Anything at all! Then by the time you're back I should have some new information for you."

Hell Kings, scourges, the end of the world... The party doesn't know what to make of all that, but they do know how to clear out an evil temple of monsters, so they resolve to go there tomorrow.

For now, they visit the market and sell Lady Eudocia's two rings that she gave them as payment for escorting her to town. They buy seven days' worth of rations, eight bandages, twenty-seven crossbow bolts and an oil flask. They pay to stable their three horses for the night, then pay for separate rooms at The Woodcutter's Arms, followed by a simple meal and ale. The two rings were worth quite a bit so this leaves them with 150.44GP profit.

In the morning they eat breakfast at the inn (-20 copper pieces). Ellyn has healed her wounds overnight. They buy a new horse, naming him George. Cyna will ride him. George and his gear along with a week's worth of feed for the animals comes to 93GP, leaving the party with 627 gold pieces and 86 silver pieces. This is a lot of money to carry around with them so they visit a goldsmith who will store 600GP for them safely. I don't want to get too bogged down with economics so we'll say each time they pay him a visit to deposit or withdraw money he'll charge them 1% of what he's holding for them.

Next time they'll set off for the temple of the beastmen!