Takaris has been framed as a Theran spy by his rival Kalourin. Takaris just escapes with his life, but swears vengeance. It his wanderings he discovers rumours that Kalourin is part of the Blood Circle. He makes his discover in Vors, after following a third group from Vors and into the Badlands, sent to re-enforce the group the characters were chasing in Stone Citadel and Badlands. He loses the trail of the group, but stumbles upon the characters.
Marvelling at his luck, Takaris offers to pay the characters to go to Blood Wood to talk to Alachia about the Blood Circle, as she only likes first hand information.
When they arrive in Blood Wood, they are greeted with hostility. Kalourin is now Alachia's favoured adviser, and Takaris begs the characters to help him, saying that not only will they remove a Blood Circle member, but also earn the respect of Queen Alachia.
The following description follows on from the previous module, Badlands, to remind the characters of what has happened before, as well as continuing on to reveal the identity of this mysterious fellow.
On the horizon you notice a dust cloud forming. The turbulence seems to be moving your way, and you can just make out a single figure inside.
As the cloud approaches, the figure seems to break away from it, and you can see it is a figure on a horse.
The figure on the horse draws up to you, features hidden by a cloak, raising one dusty hand, he pushes back his cowl.
From his skin, glints thorns.
A Blood Elf, cursed forever.
The characters are more than likely going to be suspicious of the lone figure riding towards them, so it is up to the Games Master to decide how the encounter pans out.
Takaris has been banished from the elven court in Blood Wood, and is looking for a way to clear both his name and regain his honour. He suspects that his rival, Kalourin, framed him, and that the only way to clear his name is to prove that Kalourin is a member of the Blood Circle.
Takaris is not going to tell the characters any of this, keeping his dishonour private. Instead he will indicate that he is one of Alachia's most trusted advisers and that the queen has recently discovered the existence of the Blood Circle. He was sent to investigate the activities and aims of the Blood Circle, and has been tracking a group of Blood Circle members from Vors (where he picked up their trail). He lost them in the Badlands, travelling south, and was attempting to pick up their trail again when he bumped into the characters.
In reality, Takaris was in Vors to escape from a group of Blood Warders tracking him, and planning his next move. He discovered the existence of this group of Blood Circle by accident, hearing a conversation a group of them had with an innkeeper. Following them on a hunch, he found they went to the ruins of a Traveller's Lodge. There they performed a Blood Magic ritual and Takaris assumed they were part of the Blood Circle. The rest, about him tracking them and losing them, is true. He was just lucky that the group was in fact Blood Circle.
Takaris will offer to pay the characters a large sum (wether he pays or not depends on how the characters fare) to tell Alachia of all they know of the Blood Circle. He knows the characters are involved as he will recognise their descriptions from the questions the Blood Circle were asking Lial.
If the characters agree, move on to Back to Civilisation. If the characters are unsure, it is up to the Games Master to hook the characters. Have them meet another group of Blood Circle, chased by the Blood Warders' tracking Takaris or have Takaris hire some orks to take the characters unwillingly. The options are limitless.
The characters journey to Blood Wood is going to long and arduous. All up, it will take the characters about a month to get to Queen Alachia's palace. This isn't bad considering it is on the other side of Barsaive.
Takaris suggests that they journey to Trosk, a small village on the shores of Serpent River and catch a river boat, the fastest form of travel. Trosk is inhabited by questers of Jaspree attempting to curb the growth of the Badlands. For more information on Trosk refer to page 36 of SR.
The journey from the Invae hive to Trosk will take the characters about five days on foot, less if they are riding. No encounters have been provided as there are plenty further on.
Trosk, as has been mentioned above, is a small town on the edge of Serpent River. As the town is completely populated by questers of Jaspree, the characters aren't going to find hanging around much fun unless they too are questers of Jaspree.
The characters may wish to pick up supplies and rest while Takaris goes off to see if he can higher a river boat. The characters can go with Takaris if they wish, and he will make no comment. There aren't any river boats in dock, but there is a river ferry, The Floating Troll, that can take the characters all the way to K'tenshin, a large T'skrang village.
Takaris will cover the character's expenses, seeming to have a limitless supply of coin, including travel, meals and drinks. Once River Ferry passage has been secured, Takaris suggests they leave as soon as possible.
The journey from Trosk to K'tenshin will take the characters about a day and a half on the river ferry. The ferry will travel sixteen hours a day, mooring in the middle of the river at night for four hours. River ferries can travel about ninety-six miles a day. For more details on river ferry's refer to page 108 of SR, and pages 90 - 110 of the same book for details on Ships of Serpent River.
As the route is not very well travelled, pirates tend to ignore this part of Serpent River. For this reason no encounters have been provided. Creatures are less partial to the density of river travel, so feel free to give the characters strange creatures to fight.
The ferry will also pass Fallam village, but will not stop there unless a passenger wishes to depart.
K'tenshin, or the Sixteen Towers as it is more commonly known, is the home of House K'tenshin the biggest House in the Southern Reach of Serpent River. The sixteen towers are arranged in a four-by-four grid which outlines nine diamonds and is where the house gets its common name, the House of Nine Diamonds. For more information on the Southern Reach, House K'tenshin and The Sixteen Towers, refer to pages 16 - 37 of SR.
K'tenshin is going to be of far more interest to the characters, and Takaris will allow them the rest of the day to explore. He will leave to book passage on a river boat all the way up the Servos River, and the characters can join him if they wish. Once that is done he will retire to an inn until the next day when the river boat leaves.
The Sixteen Towers is the crux of trade along the Serpent River in the south, and the characters will find little difficulty finding all but the most difficult of items.
The day after their arrival, the river boat Singing Lady will leave K'tenshin. The river boat travels faster than the ferry and can travel 128 miles per day. The boat will follow the same ritual as the ferry, travelling sixteen hours a day and stopping for eight.
The trip will take approximately five and a half days, and a total distance of about seven hundred miles. No encounters have been provided, but river pirates are more common and could be easily added.
Once the characters reach the end of Servos River, they must disembark and continue north. The journey from the beginning of Servos River to Serpent River will take the characters about five days.
This being a very well travelled route, highwaymen abound (their statistics have not been provided). About one per characters should be enough. The characters shouldn't find the highwaymen any trouble at all, they have been placed here to keep the characters on their toes. Highwaymen abound in most well travelled places of Barsaive. It is only in places of exploration that you can be sure of not to find bandits, mainly because they aren't stupid enough to be eaten by horrors that inhabit such places. The highwaymen aren't after the characters personally.
The final leg of the journey will take the characters across Serpent River, and to the edge of Blood Wood On the shores of Serpent River the characters are going to have to find a way to cross. The easiest way is to look for another river ferry or similar vessel. The river ferry will be able to get the characters across in no time at all.
Once on the other side however, the characters are going to be attacked by a group of orks working for the Blood Circle. They have been instructed not to let the characters reach Blood Wood, but to capture Takaris alive. The orks are some hired goons the third part of Blood Circle hired to deal with the characters. Once the party discovered the second party had been eliminated, they left to inform Kalourin of what had happened. Discovering the characters also trying to reach the same destination, the group hired some orks to deal with them. The orks have been promised an easy fight and lots of money, so will flee at the first sign of trouble.
The journey from the other side of Serpent River to the edge of Blood Wood should take the characters two days on foot, less if riding. Once there their adventures just begin.
The final leg of the journey is for the characters is to Queen Alachia's palace. The journey will take about eight days, and without Takaris' help they would never find their way to the Palace. The characters journey will take about eight days, but to add a bit of tensions, an encounter with Blood Monkeys has been provided. There should be six to twelve Blood Monkeys.
The characters aren't going to be greeted as hospitably as they though they might, in fact their arrival is going to be met by deadly force.
From out of the surrounding trees, figures appear. These silent, graceful beings surround you and within a few heartbeats you have no escape.
One of the figures steps forward, a gold sash across his chest being the only item that distinguishes him from the rest.
"Takaris, so nice of you to return."
"I didn't know you care, Kalourin."
The two elves face each other off, visages twisted in anger, and voices dripping with malice.
The characters are going to have their weapons taken away and their hands bound. They can try to resist, but make sure they realise they are facing overwhelming odds. Once they have been bound up, they will be taken to see the Queen.
Kalourin suspected Takaris would try something like this, and intercepted the Blood Warder and the characters at the earliest opportunity. Somehow the Queen found out first and ordered Kalourin to escort Takaris and his companions safely to an audience. Normally the characters wouldn't get anywhere near the Queen, but because she believes them to be Takaris' companions she will allow the characters a little licence. The characters are going to have to make sure they don't push too hard.
Once the characters are taken into the Queen's presence the following events will take place:
Not long after the characters are taken to their rooms, a servant will inform them that Takaris has requested their presence, and wishes to speak with them. The characters can refuse, and it is up to the Games Master to prod them in the right direction.
When the characters arrive, they will find that Takaris has been locked up in a cell, and is being held there for treason (so one of the guards says). Takaris manages to get the characters and himself some privacy so he can discuss what is really going on. He will tell the characters the whole truth, about how he was framed by his rival as a Theran spy, and how he fled to avoid execution. He said he was framed because he found out that Kalourin is a Blood Circle member but had no proof.
He also tells the characters he didn't want to discuss all of this earlier because he thought it would sway their decision. He needed some way to keep himself alive long enough so that he could get some friends to find hard evidence. He said he needed outsiders as there would be less chance they would be influenced by the politics of the situation, but he also needed a good excuse to bring them in.
Now that the characters understand what is really going on they are going to have to decided what to do. Fortunately they have a range of options open to them:
The most obvious is to help Takaris prove that Kalourin is a member of the Blood Circle. If they decide this is the right option, go on to Catch a Spider below.
At some stage Kalourin is going to approach the characters and ask for their support in denouncing Takaris. Even if they do nothing, Kalourin is going to use their silence to aid his cause. If the characters actively support his cause however, he will look on them more favourably and would be more likely to let them live.
The characters may just decide that court politics are too much and they want nothing to do with it. If they do they are going to have to make sure Kalourin doesn't have anything nasty planned for them (see note two) and must get the Queen's protection. They are going to have to plan on the fact that they are bringing her very valuable information, and should be rewarded accordingly.
The characters are going to have to find some hard evidence if they want to prove that Kalourin is a member of the Blood Circle. They can't just accuse him, as they are outsiders, but they do have a few things going for them:
The Queen is going to want to question them about their knowledge of the Blood Circle. Over the space of a week she is going to interview them at least three times, each time in the evening after dinner. She will question the characters on anything and everything, including questions about the characters themselves. She won't stop until she is satisfied that she has all the information the characters have as well as being sure that the characters are trustworthy. The Games Master should build up the atmosphere with these interviews, emphasising the dark, broody nature of the palace and its inhabitants. Stress the repulsiveness of both the Queen and her retainers, as well as the twisted flora that surrounds her domain. This will give the characters the time they need to explore, uncover and expose.
Outsiders are uncommon, though not unknown, in the elven court and so the characters have an air of mystery about them. This, coupled with the fact that the characters are carrying important information, will cause the elven nobles to treat the characters with a certain amount of fascination. This will give the characters a lot more freedom, they will be allow almost anywhere, as well as giving them every ear in the elven court as well as numerous sources of information.
All of this is all well and good, but is not going to help the characters get the evidence they need to help Takaris. There are a number of ways the characters can go about this, and the following is a list of suggestions:
Hard evidence is going to be very convincing. The first place the characters will think to look will be in Kalourin's quarters. Though the characters have a pretty free reign, the guards aren't going to let the characters waltz in here, so they are going to have to break into Kalourin's room. Once inside they can search around, but will find most of his stuff is personal. The real hard evidence can be found in the third point.
Talking to the other elven courtiers is going to be a gold mine for the characters for even though they can't get hard evidence, they will pick up a number of leads. Most will mention the Kalourin seems to have some sort of merchant business going, which through frowned upon by the Queen, is not illegal. He has also a section of the place which is populated by himself and his most favoured.
The characters next instincts should be to follow Kalourin around. They will notice that there is a secret entrance three doors down from his room, and they can follow him through to a secret spiral staircase which lead into his secret meeting room. The meeting room has an exit to the outside world, which is enough to get Kalourin hanged. More importantly they will find records of correspondence between Kalourin and the Blood Circle discussing Takaris' continuing nuisance and the need to have him removed.
The sequence above is one path to discovery, but the Games Master can devise any numerous ways in getting Takaris' freedom including torturing Kalourin for information as well as dropping in on one of Kalourin's meetings. The first suggestion should be frowned upon, and would more than likely get the characters in a whole pile of trouble. The latter is a better course of action, especially if well planned, as it would catch Kalourin red-handed.
When the characters have their evidence, they can go to the queen with it and plead their case. Just because they have evidence doesn't mean they will automatically win. Alachia isn't known to be completely impartial about her judgements.
Alachia is very fond of Takaris, as though he often disagrees with a lot of her decisions, his loyalty has never been questioned until now. In some ways Alachia was grateful the characters came to clear his name. She is almost looking for any excuse to clear Takaris' name.
Let the characters role play their case with the Queen, with Kalourin making all sorts of wild accusations. As soon as the characters level the charges against Kalourin he'll try to flee so one the characters should be allowed to stop him.
Kalourin is not going to leave without a fight however. He saw what was happening and has a contingency plan. He smuggled six orks into the palace and they are ready for his signal.
There are six orks in the party, and once the fight is over, Kalourin is nowhere to be seen. The orks are loyal to the Blood Circle and will fight to the death.
The final part of this adventure is the characters hunt to reclaim Kalourin, or if the Games Master wishes it can be ended here. If the characters are going to track Kalourin, they are going to need some skill as he is experience in travelling through Blood Wood and knows his way around.
The trail ends one hour to the east of the palace in a small hut that has been Kalourin's safe house for some time. They will find him there packing, and will have to subdue him if they wish to claim him as their prize.
Kalourin's fate has been sealed, and three days after the characters return him he is hanged. Alachia will thank the characters for their help and tell them they should consider her a friend.
For their efforts, Takaris will reward the characters with one magical item each as well as a sum of five thousand gold pieces in gems and jewellery, most of Kalourin's old wealth.
For more information on the Ork Warriors, including statistics, refer to pages 307 - 308 of ED.
For more information on the Blood Monkeys, including statistics, refer to pages 56 of BG.