The characters return from Kaer Scol, passing through the monastery, but find Nybik has returned to Vors.
When the characters return to Vors, Ceren and Nybik are nowhere to be seen. A group of orks, involved with the Blood Circle, took Nybik, and all that remains of Nybik's home is a burning wreck. No one knows where Ceren is, and so his disappearance is left unsolved for the time being.
The leader of the orks who kidnapped Nybik is the brother of one of the orks the characters killed in Hidden Kaer, and is seeking revenge. He did not have the permission of the Blood Circle to do as such, but his brother is firmly tied with his gahad.
The orks meet up with a second Blood Circle party (the first being those the characters just missed in Liaj Jungle) and continue on to their real objective with the windling, a stone citadel.
The stone citadel is an obsidiman construct which predates Thera, and the Scourge which occurred before the founding of Thera. Its purpose is unknown, but the characters will be lead on a dungeon crawl providing them treasure and legend points to feel like they are getting somewhere.
The Blood Circle believe that the citadel contains magical lore or knowledge which can help with their objective.
The following description is intended to set the overall mood, or tone, of the adventure. The characters are going to be some of the first people in Barsaive to step foot in a place that predates the founding of the Theran empire by thousands of years.
Magic ebbs and flows through the universe, creating cycles which are known as ages. Separating the ages are the Scourge, when horrors from the astral plane invade Earthdawn. All knowledge of the previous age has been lost, but what wonders could one talk about . . .
If the characters have just completed Hidden Kaer, and are continuing straight on from that adventure, refer to the next section on how to proceed. If you are starting from this adventure, then the Games Master is going to have to devise some way of getting the characters out of Vors, meeting a group of ork raiders, and returning. The first part of the adventure deals with characters discovery of one of their friends kidnapping, and the beginning of their chase. The kidnapping is sparked by the characters killing the brother of an ork associated with the Blood Circle. If you have modified the adventure so that the characters are led into the adventure by some other means, be warned. Nybik and Ceren are essential to the plot, so further modification will be required.
Once the characters have secured the key knowledge they were searching for in Hidden Kaer, they will probably want to return home to Vors to share their success with Ceren.
If Nybik was travelling with the group, he would have gone as far as Scol Monastery before being distracted and staying. If so, the characters may stop by Scol Monastery but they will find Nybik has returned to Vors.
The return journey from Kaer Scol to Vors will take approximately two weeks, longer if the characters decide to take it at a leisurely pace. No encounters have been provided for the characters, but may be added if felt necessary.
The characters are going to have to make their way back across Lake Vors, and so they should have made arrangements with a boatman to wait for them at some prearranged time and place. If not they are going to have to wait for a boatman who regularly checks to see if there are travellers requiring transportation.
However, these kinds of boatmen are infrequent at best (due to the hazardous nature of travelling in Barsaive) and so will check once in the morning and once in the evening (late afternoon) at the very most, and once a week at the very least.
The characters first sight of the village as they return will be one of familiarity, as they return home. But the happiness of their return will soon turn to shock when they discover the smoking ruins of Nybik's home.
The following description assumes he characters are arriving by boat.
As Vors encompasses your vision, you feel waves of joy at having returned to the place you have adopted as your home. The familiar buildings seem all the more vibrant in the sunlight, and you recognise a few people on the docks. They wave and smile at your approach, and strong hands help guide the boat into its berth.
Looking deeper into the village, however, you notice a small tendril of smoke snake its way up to the sky. You feel a pang in your heart as you realise that the smoke is coming from the direction of Nybik's home.
Pushing past the crowd you rush towards the smoke and find your worst fears have materialised. Nybik's home is burning.
The characters probably want to go in and try to rescue their friends, or at the very least search for them. They are not going to find them, as Ceren hasn't been seen in some time and Nybik has been kidnapped.
Once the characters have established that neither Ceren nor Nybik were in the burning house, they can get on with trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to their companions.
The best place to start would be to ask neighbours and friends about what Ceren and Nybik have been doing recently.
Ceren, they will be told, hasn't been seen for a week. The general store owner, Turdy the troll, will tell the characters that a week ago Ceren came in with a large list of supplies. Ceren, as usual, wasn't very lucid and muttered something about a discovery he made. He picked the supplies a day later and was never seen again. One of the local militia will be able to tell the characters that Ceren left the eastern quarter of the city about six days ago.
Nybik, on the other hand, only arrived three days ago and was rather agitated that he couldn't find Ceren. Nybik kept to himself for the most part, which is very unusual for him. Nybik is usually quiet a social character, and would visit up to a dozen people a day at the very least. A few people inquired about him, but Nybik would either not answer the door, or tell them to go away.
Their best source of information, however, will be the owner of The Brash 'Skrang inn, located near Vors Park. The owner, Lial Heret, a notable dwarven citizen, will tell the characters there was a band of about half-a-dozen orcs inquiring about a group matching the character's descriptions yesterday. Lial well give the characters the following:
"I thought they were in need of hiring a band worthy adventurers, and so told them that there was indeed a bad of adventurers such as they described, but they were currently out of town. They asked how long they would be gone, and I replied that I didn't know as they were on a mission. The leader, I presume because he was asking all the questions, got very angry at this and started pounding his fists on the bar.
"To placate them, I told them that there was a windling friend of theirs that had just arrived and perhaps he would have some word of them. I gave them directions to Nybik's home, and they left. Had I known that Nybik was acting so strangely, I would have called in the militia and had them removed."
Once the characters have sifted through all of that information, they will finally have a suspect for the burning, the orks.
The characters are going to have to learn as much about the orks as possible, as they are going to be their only link to rescuing Nybik, and find out what is going on. If they ask around again, they will find that indeed there was a group of a dozen, strange orks travelling around town stirring up trouble. They kept on saying they were hunting down murderers, but no one has seen them since the morning, and everyone presumed they left.
If the characters ask one of Nybik's neighbours, they will agree that they saw a bunch of orks skulking around, but thought nothing of it, as that's what orks usually do. If they ask the militia patrolling the southern sector of the town, the characters will find that they are indeed on the right trail. A group of six orks left Vors about three hours ago travelling south. They did not see any sign of a windling.
Once the characters start on the trail, they will be rewarded for their efforts after about half an hour. The ork leader placed a guard on the trail to make sure that the characters didn't follow them, but didn't instruct the ork on what to do if the characters did come.
As you travel down the dirt path, you hear a mutter and a curse. Some scuffling sounds come from an outcropping of rocks to your left, and a figure bursts from behind them screaming.
It is an ork warrior who seems to be hell bent on stopping you.
Orks normally travel in groups, but this ork was left to guard the trail to make sure the characters did not follow. His orders came from his leader, and was not a particularly strategic move as it is a sign post saying the orks had indeed passed this way. The ork leader, however, is not noted for his quick thinking.
For statistics on the Ork Warrior see Creature Statistics.
The orks are meeting up with the rest of their part who is waiting for them in a small crater a day south of Vors. Once there they will travel on to the Tylon Mountains where they are to locate the stone citadel and locate the lore they require.
The journey from Vors to the Tylon Mountains will take the characters about five to three days depending on wether they are riding or walking. The distance is approximately one hundred miles.
One encounter, with a herd of Thundra Beasts, has been selected for the journey, to break up the monotony and to once again re-enforce the dangers of travelling in Barsaive. The encounter may be placed anywhere deemed suitable by the Games Master. Statistics can be found in Creature Statistics.
Along one side of the twisting ravines that run through the mountains, is the entry into a series of tunnels leading to the stone citadel. If the characters are tracking the orks, they will notice the trail ends at the side of the ravine.
Upon investigating, they will find there is a spot where an obsidiman hand can go. If the group has an obsidiman, they can just place their hand in the panel, and a door will open. If not, they can either devise a method in, or the Games Master can allow two smaller hands to also activate the door.
There is no light inside the tunnels, so the characters are either going to require low-light vision, or light a lantern or torch. The tunnels are rocky and slope downwards, and there is a fair amount of moisture in the air.
After a few hours the characters will get to the entrance to the stone citadel, which is located miles beneath the ground. However, they will not be alone. The orks who kidnapped Nybik are waiting for the characters.
The tunnel opens up into a huge cavern, but whose walls give off a strange blue light. The walls seem to be made of a luminescent material that gives off an eerie light.
On the far side of the cavern is a portal, three obsidimen tall and four wide. The pillars bordering the door are intricately carved with squiggles and other strange symbols.
In the centre of the cavern are five figures who leap up at your approach. The figure in the lead screams 'murderer' as he charges towards you.
There are five orks waiting for the characters. Typically orks will think carefully before attacking a large group, unless one of the members of the ork party has had their gahad triggered. This is the case for this group, as the leader of the party held his brother very dear to his heart, as his gahad is insults to his family. In this case his gahad was firmly triggered.
Background Information
Stone Citadel
The Stone Citadel was constructed five hundred thousand years before the formation of the Theran empire, when the elven court was just a dream and the obsidimen where the only power in the world. The citadel was not constructed in the real sense of the word.
The Stone Citadel was purely constructed by magic and thought alone, the stone loving moulded into place. Not a single obsidiman hand was raised to make the citadel, as the obsidiman were so much closer to the earth in those times and had to merely think for it to change.
The citadel was called Teran Drak by the obsidiman, but no living being remembers Teran Drak except for the obsidimen elders and the Blood Circle (who only discovered it recently). The purpose of the citadel are known by known save the elders.
The character's next problem is going to be entering the stone citadel. There is no way the characters are going to be able to push open the door, and unlike the entry into the tunnel, there is no obvious place to put an obsidiman hand.
The solution, however, is simple. One of the characters simply has to say "open" in the tongue of the obsidimen.
The layout for Teran Drak has been provided in the Background Information. As well as showing the plans for the citadel, background information and notes have been provided. This episode centres around the characters exploring Teran Drak, and so there is no linear sequence of events. There are some key events that must happen, and they happen in reference to certain rooms. The rest of the episode is layed out as a description of what happens in the key rooms.
The main hall is the only entrance into the citadel, except for the tunnel leading out (see Treasure Room below). This is where the characters will get their first taste of what the citadel is like, however they are going to find they are not as welcome as they think they are . . .
You enter the citadel, and find yourself in a huge hall, lined by majestic pillars. The hall is enormous, but not unoccupied. Three creatures detach themselves from the ceiling and swoop towards you . . .
The creatures are Shadowmants, and there statistics can be found in Creature Statistics.
The meditation chamber will be empty, but the characters are going to get an eerie feeling as soon as they enter the chamber. The eerie feeling is due to physic residue left over from the chamber's use as a place of meditation.
As you enter the chamber, the room seems to darken as if there was a spotlight on you. As you shake your head, the light returns to normal, but a few seconds after you stop moving your head the sensation returns.
You can faintly hear a noise that sounds like the rumbling earth, but as you focus your hearing, the noise fades into silence.
The characters entry into the citadel has not gone unnoticed. The Blood Circle suspected they have been followed, and that is why the orks were placed on guard at the entry. The obsidimen members of the Blood Circle have no doubt that the orks would fail, but they have something else in store.
To prevent the characters from every escaping, they are going to use the library as a trap.
Sniffing the air you can smell what seems to be smoke coming from a candle. As the air heats up, you notice smoke coming from one corner of the room.
From above you, crashing can be heard. The room above has collapsed, trapping any escape up.
The Blood Circle has already taken anything of value from the chamber, and the characters are left with a few tantalising morsels that go up in smoke.
One of the obsidimen is a magic user, and when the characters enter, will make the meditation chamber collapse, sealing off the character's exit up. Then they block the door which is the only exit out of the library.
The characters are going to have to find some way of breaking down the door if they want to get out of the library alive.
The Blood Circle are not going to take any chances with the characters, and the leader of the current group the characters are following, has stayed behind.
Kneeling in front of the crystal is an obsidiman. The light cast by the torches on the walls paints the rock man's pitted skin in a mixture of light and darkness.
Slowly, the obsidiman rises, and turns.
"I am Thandrel Drek."
The voice comes out as a rumble, echoing off the walls.
"I am of the Blood Circle."
The obsidimen draws a huge sword from behind him, and stands before you both hands gripped on the sword.
"I am your death."
With that, he rushes forward.
Thandrel will fight to the death to get rid of the characters, but at the very least will buy his companions enough time to escape with the information and the characters' windling friend. Thandrel's statistics are in Characters.
Once again the Blood Circle has gotten here before the characters. What they have left they don't believe to be of any value, but they did not get everything. One of the last guardians is the spirit of an obsidiman, who has got a few surprises for the characters, as a reward for their efforts.
From out of the shadows steps a figure of light. The ghostly form move towards you, and you can discern that the figure is obsidiman.
"I am the last guardian of Teran Drak. This sacred place has been defiled by those that call themselves the Blood Circle. To aid in your quest I grant you the following . . ."
The spirit will give the characters each a magical item suitable for their discipline. Refer to EC for details on some 'common' magical items that would be suitable, including magical armour and swords. There is no way the spirit would give the characters and truly powerful magic items.
Once the characters have entered the treasure room and received their reward, they will notice a hole in the side of the room. The tunnel leads out and back to the surface.
Once on the surface the characters must continue with their hunt. The details, however, are contained in Badlands, the next instalment of Chronicles of Barsaive.
For more information on the Ork Warriors, including statistics, refer to pages 307 - 308 of ED.
For more information on the Thundra Beasts, including statistics, refer to page 310 of ED.