Ji'tai
When the characters arrive at Ji'tai, read the following description, to give the characters a feel for what is to come.
On the eighth day out of De'la, a sense of anticipation seems to fill the air. It seems the day of your arrival is at hand. One t'skrang, a grim faced sailor, seems to glance in your direction ever so often. When you approach him, however, he disappears.
Your curiosity is soon lost as Ji'tai comes into sight . . .
The grim t'skrang is Lou, and he hasn't forgotten the characters.
The first place Ceren will go is home.
After bidding the captain of the Swiftwater goodbye, you disembark from the ship and return to the Temple of Jaspree. The temple, a wooden building, is dome-like in shape, is just as you remembered, nestled in a secluded park in the centre of the town.
Ceren opens the door, and invites you inside.
However he is going to find that he has an unannounced guest.
"I was thinking about the items you have, and perhaps I know someone who may be able to help."
Ceren guides you towards the sitting room, all the while continuing speaking.
"I have a friend who lives in Vors who is a weapon smith, and from what the librarian told you the balls are 'spike bombs', some sort of weapon I assume. He will be able to -"
Ceren opens the door to the sitting room.
"- guide in the right -"
You follow
"- direction."
You are not alone.
The librarian mentioned above is Grant S'tone, the librarian of De'la. The characters most probably went to see him to get the items identified, but if they didn't you can modify the passage accordingly.
A Desperate Windling
The other figure in the room is Nybik, and old friend of Ceren's. If necessary, Ceren will calm the characters down, but otherwise Nybik will start with his story almost immediately. Ceren will definitely, however, have to calm Nybik down and this is how he should be introduced.
It is important to note that Nybik is going to be very distressed at the children's disappearances, as windlings are very protective of their children.
"I should really begin at the beginning, and move on to the end, but there is so little time really. But - very well - beginning to end.
"I and my kind have being living in Vors, a small town on the shore of Lake Vors, for hundreds of years, and it is there where we weathered out the scourge. This is, you should note, unusual for windlings, who are creatures of change. We are constantly moving from place to place - but that is neither here nor there.
"Our community has become one with the community of elves, humans and dwarves, and we have relied on each other for both support and protection in these dangerous times. Thus we are more lax than we would if living as a separate community.
"What I am trying to say is . . . our children are disappearing."
At this point Nybik will break down and start to cry. Ceren will make him a cup of seaweed tea, and after a few minutes Nybik will continue with his story.
"I am sorry, but these last few days have really . . . got to me."
Nybik starts pacing the room, hands fidgeting.
"I need your help Ceren, and you friend's help if they are willing. We must find our children, and bring them home."
He turns to look at you, blue eyes gazing deep into your very soul.
"Will you?"
At this stage the characters may wish to ask a few questions. Nybik will tell the characters all he knows, but will be impatient to leave at once. Ceren accepts at once and presses the characters to help as well.
He offers to pay for travelling expenses, and when they arrive at Vors he will arrange for the characters to see his friend who can help the characters unlock the secrets of their treasures.
Journey to Vors
Once the characters have accepted to help in Nybik, the journey begins. The characters first destination is Vors, and Ceren will suggest that the best way to get there is by river boat. He would suggest the Swiftwater, but unfortunately it left dock soon after the characters disembarked.
This time the characters are going to journey on the River Heart, captained by Sterox the t'skrang. The journey from Ji'tai to Vors is about 800 miles, and will take the characters about eight days to reach there. One encounter has been provided below to add a little excitement to the journey, and break up the monotony of the river.
Dangers
The characters journey is going to be interrupted by a flock of Terok Birds who are after . . . Nybik. The birds have been sent by the person behind the kidnapping, to make sure that Nybik never returns. Lou, from the previous adventure, has been guiding the birds to the River Heart, as he is in league with the kidnapper.
Background Information
Vors
Vors is a smallish town on the edge of Lake Vors. It has been growing steadily in size ever since its founding two hundred years ago, and for all that time is has been a fishing village.
Vors is made up of a number of elves, humans, dwarves and windlings with a lower percentage of t'skrang, trolls, orks and obsidiman. The town relies heavily on the river to provide goods and services, which the townsfolk can trade with for their fish.
During the scourge the people took to the near by t'skrang village of Xerak, and because Vors was deserted, the village escaped the brunt of the horrors destructive rage.
Vors is now a thriving community, with a number of essential services of its very own. It is typical of most towns in Barsaive, growing for the future.
The Travellers' Lodge
Before the scourge, the area around the Liaj Jungle and beyond Vors was considering some of the last know wilderness left unexplored in Vors, and so travellers' lodges were common throughout the area. Here a traveller could have a meal and a bed for nothing more than a few chores around the house.
They were very popular, and soon this idea spread throughout Barsaive, until the scourge swept through Barsaive. Travellers dwindled to nothing as the horrors roamed the land, and so the lodges were soon forgotten.
However with the re-emergence, more and more of these lodges are being restored and as exploration is becoming more common place it seems likely that most will be restored to their original condition.
Homes in Vors
A note should be made at this point that most houses (elvish, human, dwarvish or windling) are human size. The reason for this is that since most of the population is made up of these races and to foster inter-species harmony, it was decided all buildings would be human size. This means they can accommodate almost all races including windlings, humans, elves, dwarves and t'skrang. Only large orcs, trolls and obsidiman would have trouble fitting in these houses.
Arrival in Vors
Once the characters have arrived in Vors, Nybik will immediately take the characters to the Vors Travellers' Lodge, which is his home and he is trying to restore (see above). This means that he will have rooms suitable for almost any sized character.
Nybik, once he has the characters settled down, will go off to get Lera, the windling community leader. Once he has arrived, the characters have been fed, Lera will tell the characters of current events.
"I should bring you up to date on current events. So far forty-four windling children have gone missing in the past three weeks, the latest two were this morning. If you'd like I'll take you to see Anak and Tana's parents, the latest two to have to suffer."
When the characters see Anak and Tana's parents they will tell them what happened. It is a non-school day when the characters arrive, so the children had organised to meet with some friends in the market place for the morning. They were supposed to have lunch with their parents at a small restaurant, so they could keep an eye on the children, but they never arrived.
Fresh Trails
The character's best bet would be to track the movements of the latest victims Anak and Tana, the son and daughter of two prominent windlings. If they interview the parents, they will find out that the children were kidnapped on the day of the character's arrival, and they raised the alert when the children hadn't met their parents for lunch.
It is a non-school day, so the children had organised to meet with some friends in the market place for the morning, and have lunch with their parents at a small restaurant (so they could keep an eye on the children). The first place they would have gone is the candy shop:
- Bui, the candy shop keeper, will tell the characters that the children will often come to the candy shop to buy some sweets. Today was no different, and the two children, and about four of their friends, came and bought sweets. He will also say if they follow their normal plan they will go to the bead seller next.
- The human bead seller, a strange and often incoherent lady, will tell the characters that the children did in fact come to look at here wares, but they didn't buy anything. If they ask, the lady will say she doesn't know where they have gone, but they will either have gone to the general store, if they have errands to run, or the herbalist.
- The dwarven herbalist hasn't seen the children today, which he believes is strange, as they always come to buy a few things.
- The general store keeper, Turdy the Troll, did see the children as they came in to run a few errands for their parents. They also bought some cakes and said they were going to the park to eat them.
This should lead the characters to suspecting that perhaps all the missing children were last seen in the park.
Past History
The other thing the characters can do is investigate the past disappearances. They will find that the windlings are very meticulous about their note-keeping, and have kept records on all the missing children.
Over the three week period that the children have been going missing, there has been a total of forty-six disappearances, two in the first three days, six in they next eight, twelve in the next eight and twenty-four in the last eight not including the two most recent.
The first two children went to the park at night, which should seem unusual, and the rest of the children went to the market place and never came back. This should once again point to the park.
To Catch a Thief
Map 1 - Vors Park
Vors Park is located in the centre of Vors, and is the favourite playground for children of all races. Families often meet in the park to picnic and catch up on old times, so it seems as if the park is never empty.
Eventually the characters are going to work out that their best course of action will be to stake-out the park. The can do this in a number of ways, the two most obvious being hiding in the bushes or pretending to be patrons of one of the nearby inns (several which provide a good view of the park).
If they do stack-out the park, the characters will notice a strange man keeping to the bushes. If they wait a little while, they will also notice that windling children stray towards the man, while others stray away. The man is using a magical device to attract windlings which was given to him by his employer, the inn keeper at Kesmerak. It is a small blue box, which is activated by placing a hand on the red metal place on the top side.
Eventually the man is going to make a grab for the children, and it is at this time that the characters should make their move. The man, Wallace, is not very quick so the characters should catch him easily. He will not fight back, as he is more used to catch frightened children than tackle real adversaries. If the characters question him, he will tell the characters all he knows.
"'twas not I, my lords, who wished these here children kidnapped. It was another. I was just hired by an innkeeper in Kesmerak, a few days south-west of here. He says he has a friend who needs windling children, and will pay ten gold pieces a head. It be a deal too good to refuse and I says I shall do it. And so I am here."
Once the characters get all they need out of Wallace, they should turn him over to the authorities. The innkeeper's name is Haemic, and the name of his inn is The Speckled Tiger.
The Journey to Kesmerak
The journey from Vors to Kesmerak will have to be undertaken overland. If the characters are riding, it will take them approximately one week to arrive in Kesmerak (assuming 40 miles per day) or 11 days on foot (assuming 25 miles per day). The distance from Vors to Kesmerak is approximately 290 miles, so this can be used to work out exact distances. The map below shows approximate locations of Vors and Kesmerak in relation to one another.
Map 2 - Journey to Kesmerak
The journey should be fairly easy, but to spice things up, an encounter has been provided. More encounters can be included. The characters are going to learn quickly that ork raids are common occurrences throughout Barsaive. An encounter should re-enforce the point.
Arrival at Kesmerak
Kesmerak, a disreputable place if you ever did see one. It is a shabby collection of huts and other ram-shackle buildings. For some reason you can believe that someone here might have something to do with the windling children's disappearances.
Once the characters arrive in Kesmerak, they will find that their arrival did not go unnoticed. Lou, once slave to the Invae, has it in for the characters and told the innkeeper the characters were coming. He was then sent of to see the mysterious kidnapper, Kesnok, so he could offer his services.
The characters primary worry, however, is going to be a group of thugs.
Background Information
Kesmerak
Kesmerak is one of the nastier places in Barsaive, a hive of scum and villainy. As such there is no local council in Kesmerak, but the town is instead run by the most powerful crime lord at the time. The 'local authorities' are merely the thugs under the control of this crime lord.
This makes for a very nervous time in Kesmerak, and the crime lord's word is law. Travellers are warned to tread carefully in Kesmerak, or face the consequences.
Meetings
The first place the characters are going to have to go is to The Speckled Tiger, and to see if they can get any answers out of Haemic. Haemic is scar-faced ork who doesn't like being pushed around, but is more concerned about the 'local authorities'.
If the characters ask Haemic directly, he will deny any involvement in anything the characters say and try and ignore the characters as much as possible. If the characters push him too hard, he'll get violent and start smacking the characters up.
The best way to get information from Haemic is to pay him a handsome sum of money, and he'll happily spill the beans.
"Me be given messages under door. Say need children, windling children, and pay good price. Fifty gold pieces a head. I hire man to catch, and pay him half. I then get messages to take children to edge of Liaj Jungle and leave them there. Me not know where they taken, but there is path that leads through jungle. If I come back, children are gone."
Travels
The characters aren't going to have much to go by, but it is all they have. If they payed Haemic enough he will show the characters where he is told to leave the children, and will point out the path.
Map 3 - Journey to the House
The map above shows the path, which does in fact lead to where the children are taken. If will take the characters about two to three days to get to the house, depending on how fast they can walk (by horse will actually be slower to get through).
Two encounters have been suggested below to make sure the characters don't feel like the journey is going to be a walk in the park. More can be added, but too many will detract from the atmosphere. One is with the Traders that inhabit the jungle, and the other is with a wild beast of the Games Master's choice.
The House
Read the following description as the characters enter the clearing.
The trail widens, and soon enters a large clearing. The clearing looks artificial, with the packed earth blackened from a recent fire.
Near the edge of the clearing is a wooden house of some sort, crudely built, it doesn't seem to be an old structure. There are no windows that you can see, only a door on the wall facing away from where the trail enters the clearing.
On the far side of the clearing there is another structure, a strange stone structure with small holes dotting the exterior surfaces. There seem to be no other way in.
Map 4 - The House and Surroundings
Details on the interior of the house can be found here. The characters are most probably going to explore this building first.
When the characters enter the house, they will find all the children in the common room, happily sleeping no matter what time of day it is. The characters will be able to wake them easily, and ask them what happened.
The children will tell the characters exactly what Kesnok had been doing, and give him a description. He is human, about six feet tall with a wild mane of blonde hair. He has piercing blue eyes. The children can also tell the characters that he was joined by a t'skrang (all t'skrang look the same to windlings), and the man put them all to sleep soon after this t'skrang arrived.
None of the characters will be able to see in the structure unless they too are a windling child. They will have to be happy just knowing this man wanted these unobtrusive, grey rocks.
A Disturbing Message
The note on the wall of the study has the following written on it:
Dear friends,
I am sorry that I couldn't be here when you arrived but I had pressing business elsewhere. I hope you like my humble abode, please make yourself feel at home.
I can't however, let you foil my plans, so if we ever meet again, don't expect such a warm greeting. Please take care of the children. I had to use them, though it pained me so . . .
Yours sincerely,
Kesnok of the Blood Circle
Kesnok also has instruction on how to remove the bands around the children's necks without killing them.
