In the previous volume of Dragon Warriors Adventures, the characters had been knocked unconscious and kidnapped by Agosta and his men. This first part of Tales from Algandy concludes the cliff hanger, and leads the characters further on the trail to rescue Bret de Maud . . .
The characters, when we last saw them, had been kidnapped by Agosta and his men. Escape details what happens to characters when they wake up.
The characters have been taken to a safe house a few miles south of Meore, a city in Chaubrette. The characters have been put under lock and key in the safe house, and Agosta has left to his fortress in Kurland to supervise the continuing construction of weapons to help in his effort to take over Albion.
The characters will be disorientated, but can escape fairly easily, as Agosta's hired help have been paid too much and have started to become lax in their security arrangements. The reason the characters were left on their own here in Meore, is Agosta wants to saviour his revenge, and as yet hasn't decided want to do with the characters.
To help to ease into this episode, and make the resolution of the cliff hanger more exciting, a pre-planed description has been supplied to be read out to the characters at the beginning of the adventure:
You have a splitting headache. You shouldn't have drunk all that wine last night and only now are you . . .
Hang on, the last thing that you can remember was being knocked unconscious by some guy called Achoo . . . Agreed . . . no, Agosta. You were on a boat headed for . . . Algandy! It all suddenly comes flooding back. The task given by the Illian Ward to find Bret de Maud, the successor to the Barony of Illian, after his brother was murdered, the investigation which you led. You travelled south, visiting Zeb's village and then to Breylak.
In Breylak you uncovered the weapons smuggling operation that Bret had become mixed up in, and tried to unravel it to it's end . . . here in Algandy. Only problem was you got onto the ship which took the weapons to Algandy, met your Nemesis, got knocked on the head and have a splitting headache.
You finally notice your surroundings for the first time. You are in a dark room, with only four small cots for company. There doesn't seem to be a latrine or everything else in the room. The only exit is a door.
The characters are going to have to escape if they are going to ever complete their mission. There are a number of ways they can achieve this, listed below:
If one of the characters is a thief, and they have hidden their thieves' tools somewhere, then they can try to pick the lock, which isn't very difficult.
The guards are pretty relaxed, and so aren't going to expect any trouble from the characters, so the characters will be able to jump them when they come to feed the characters once a day.
The characters can simply break the door down with a successful strength roll.
Anything else that the characters can think of, and sounds plausible.
Once the characters escape, the other problem is finding out where to go next. The only person who can help here is going to be the Captain (see Appendix A). He will be in his room (see Level 2, Room 3 below ), and will not try and attack the characters unless his life is in danger, much preferring to leave Agosta the trouble of cleaning them up.
The Captain will be able to tell the characters that Agosta left south, most probably for the Vantery safe house. Agosta doesn't readily share his plans with anyone, and the Captain has been no further than Meore, preferring the ocean voyages between Breylak and Meore, repetitive though they may be. He knows little else about the weapons smuggling, except the next shipment is expected to arrive in a week.
The Meore safe house is one of many establishments that Agosta has scattered through Chaubrette. They are interconnected in a line from Meore to his fortress in the Drakken Peaks.
The details on the house should be sufficient to act as the central core of this part of the adventure. The characters only task is to find information that will lead them further on Agosta's trail (and presumably Bret's as well), and escape from the house alive.
When a mercenary is located in a room, see below to Enemy Statistics for details on their statistics and their method of combat. The main non-player character in this act is Captain Giovanis Merani, and his details have been included in Appendix A, as he an either be used in a fight, as a recurring enemy who pops up to inconvenience the characters, or as the pivot of a later adventure.
The main building (detailed below ) is surrounded by three feet thick, ten feet high walls, as indicated by the map above. The inner grounds (between the wall and the building) is patrolled by six mercenaries, who are fairly bored and are not alert. They are most probably (roll 1d100, and compared to the numbers in brackets) in one corner of the grounds, drinking and playing cards (01 - 50). Otherwise they are doing their job (51 - 60), or inside in the foyer (61 - 100).
The only exit out of the safe house (not including jumping over the walls, or digging under them) is the gate house, which sits between the two main pillars (the two squares on the map above, to the left).
There is no one beyond the walls, as there is no need, the gate house is the only logical entrance and exit, and it is well guarded.
As indicated on the map, the guard house is located between the two ornate pillars of the house's walls. The actual guard house is a single room. with a set of oaken doors that lead in and another set that lead out. There are two tables in the north-east and south-east corners of the room, supposedly one to guard the people in and the other to guard the people out. In reality all the chairs (four in total) are brought to the table in the north-east, and the four mercenaries on duty play cards and drink.
The room is unremarkable in every other way, and is completely devoid of decorations, as it is supposed to be a safe house, not a manor house.
This is the main entrance into the safe house, via a huge oaken door. The solid door has a normal mechanical lock, which is normally kept unlocked anyway.
The room is adorned with a few tapestries, but little else, as the building was built to be practical (but not a prison, except for the characters). All the doors in the house are solid, plain jarrah (except for the main entrance of course). The room is normally unguarded (see Guard House above ).
This is the crux of the whole level, leading to all other places in the house. The room is bare except the stair case leading up, and the jarrah doors leading to the mess hall, kitchen, lounge, meeting room and secret corridor.
The door to the secret corridor is strangely marked, and this is because it is a hidden door. The door has been built into the wall, and is very difficult to see (the characters have no chance of seeing it, no matter what they try to roll). It can only be activated via a secret switch on the wall, which the characters have a 2% chance of finding.
This is the mess hall where all the mercenaries' meals are taken, as Agosta (when he stays here) eats alone. The room is kept very bare, as the mercenaries aren't neat eaters, and meal time can become quiet rowdy. There are five huge tables packed into the room (made out of stout timber) surrounded by numerous chairs (about sixty if the characters count).
The kitchen is where the food is prepared, but as there are no servant's quarter's , the servants must return to their houses at night (they all live in Meore). There are normally 12 servants scattered throughout the house in the day time, but will not attack anyone (so statistics aren't included). They will ask the characters to leave if uninvited, but the characters should under no circumstances attack them, as they are helpless (and would be killed very easily).
As the name suggests, this is where all the stores are kept, mainly food. There is nothing in here that the characters can use as weapons.
This room is decorated in a similar fashion to all the others, with its main distinguishing feature being an array of sofas, lounges and seats, with a fire place built into the eastern wall. The lounge was built to be a place where the soldiers could relax when they are off duty. Hence the lounge us a bit of a mess most of the time. There are normally six mercenaries lounging around the room.
This room has a two fold purpose. The first is as the name indicates, a meeting room. whenever Agosta comes to stay, he brings in the Captain (the chief for this safe house) and updates him on plans, and any new orders. The second use of the room is as Agosta's study. Thus the room has a large table in the centre of the room for Agosta, and the walls are lined with shelves. Normally the shelves are empty, until Agosta comes to stay, where he fills up the room with any documents, books or other material he needs.
The secret corridor has a stair case in the end, which leads down to the next level. The bottom level of the safe house is a dungeon used to store prisoners, as well as a cargo hold, for storing weapons which are going to be sent off to Albion. There are two entrances into this corridor, one through the meeting room, and a secret door (see Stair Room above ).
The landing is unadorned by decorations, and is only a central point to the level, which leads to all the other rooms. The set of stairs lead down.
This room is more lavishly furnished than all the rest, though everything in this room is two big to move. One of the cabinets which doubles as a safe, where 10,000 gold pieces worth of gems and jewellery lays hidden.
The safe has a poisoned lock, which must be deactivated before the safe can be opened. This is where Agosta sleeps when he stays in the safe house.
The room is richly furnished, but has little in the way of personal items (as the Captain keeps all of these on his boat, the Encarta ). There is little for the characters to take, as most decorations are too big to carry.
This is where the mercenaries bunk down for the night. There are six beds in each of the rooms, and a small chest at the foot of each bed which contains a few articles of clothing but little else. There are normally two mercenaries in each room, off duty and sleeping.
This is the level where everything actual starts, even though it is mentioned last. This is where the characters have to start, and they are going to have to make there way up and out.
This is where the guards stay when there are prisoners who have to be looked after, or cargo to be protected. There is a table in the centre of the room with four chairs around it. There is also a matching set of four mercenaries inside the room. All the characters possessions are stacked in a neat pile in one corner of the room.
This is normally where the weapons are stored before being put onto the Encarta and taken to Albion. At the moment the room is completely bare, but normally is filled with creates full of weapons.
The cells are where the prisoners are kept, and only have a simple mechanical lock to keep the prisoners in. The inside of the cell is plain, with four small cots, and little else.
Once the characters have the information they need to track Agosta's movements, they can begin following his trail south . . .
