The characters are hired to travel up a river to deliver some goods, and pick up a cartographer. They have been instructed to protect and guide the cartographer further up the river to map and explore the region for potential agricultural purposes. Half way up the river they are caught by a group of bandits, and after being tied up and questioned, are surprisingly released. Once the characters continue up river, they discover a castle situated on the edge of the mountain range, above the waterfall which feeds the river.
The castle is the property Aldred, Baron of Alua, who is in reality just a puppet for his "court adviser". The characters are hired to catch the bandits, who they are told are disrupting the peace. The characters soon find the bandits are actually freedom fighters, trying to help peasants impoverished by the cruel tyranny of the "court adviser". The characters should help the freedom fighters, and restore order.
Aranstan is a small agricultural village. The surrounding land for a ten mile radius around the village centre has been cleared to make way for the farms. It has a population of about eighty, fifty of which live in the farms.
There are ten buildings in the centre of the village, which represent the life blood of the village. The only one of interest to the characters is the Green Eaves Inn, but there is also a brewery, armoury, leather shop, tailor shop and temple where the characters might find anything they need (only if they are common items).
There are a number of ways that the characters can achieve their goal of transportation up the river. The most obvious ways are either by building a raft and punting/paddling up the river, or by hiring/buying a boat.
Starting with the second method, the only person the characters can hire a boat from is Relta, as he controls all merchandise entering and leaving Aranstan. He is quite willing to lend the characters a boat . . . for a price. As they have been good employees, he offers them the price of one hundred gold pieces for two weeks, or taking some merchandise up the river by boat, and having free use of the boats afterwards for three weeks.
The next problem the characters will come up with how to tie up the raft and what to tie in up with. There are a number of choices - vines, rope, etc. - but someone must be semi-proficient in typing ropes (ie. the woodsman) and the tying material must be fairly sturdy and not prone to water.
The next problem that the characters face is how they are going to propel their craft up the river. The easiest way is to cut another tree and use it to punt up the river, as it is fairly shallow especially near the edges. They could also use paddles, but the requires more expertise and a greater chance at failure. The only person they can buy/borrow the paddles from is again Relta who will offer half the price of the boat loan, but will not offer the job of carting merchandise (as he doesn't trust the raft). If the characters have no woodworking skill, then their task is impossible as they don't know where to start. If they do have some woodworking skill, the must make a skill check per paddle, and can complete one paddle in one hour.
The river continues for another fifty miles, moving west, but continuing north. There are three villages by the river side as the river bends west, Jariel (two days journey) the only major village and the first, and where the river bends north there is a bridge (four days journey). The forest begins pas the bridge. There are two major encounters beyond the village which must be included. The characters have a normal chance of random encounters (to be rolled on a suitable chart), but they aren't necessary (and probably counter productive).
The man believes the river is his, and the characters are going to some how fight, or drive him off if they wish to pass. The encounter occurs a day after passing Jariel.
The man will continue to attack until he is mortally wounded, where some semblance of sanity will return to him, and will slink off to lick his wounds. He'll follow the characters and attack again if need be.
At noon on the day the characters pass the bridge, the characters are set upon by a band of what they should believe are bandits. The are hiding in the forest foliage, and the characters should not suspect they are there. They will outnumber the characters at least three-to-one, which should dissuade the characters that fighting is the right option.
Once the characters have been captured they are blind-folded, and taken to the bandits camp (fifteen miles east and two miles north of their original position). They will tie up the characters and their leader, Robert (see NPCs below) will question them. He will want to know who they are and what they are trying to contact Baron Aldred. The characters should tell them the truth: ie. they don't know what's happening or who Baron Aldred is. Once Robert is convinced the characters know nothing of what lies ahead, the bandits will tie up the characters, return them to the boat, then scatter. The characters will be unable to find them again.
Now that the scene has been set the real adventure can start:
The characters should continue on their journey (three days to the edge of the forest, and a week to the waterfall), and at the end of the river they discover a castle situated on the edge of the mountain range, above the river, next to the waterfall that feeds it (the characters can get to the castle by a small mountain trail, which takes three days to climb). The castle is the property Aldred, Baron of Alua, and the characters should investigate.
The characters will be warmly greeted by the Baron, and his wife (Sonya), but the Baron is continually being shadowed by his "court adviser". This is because his "court adviser" has placed an amulet on the Baron, so that he will obey all the "adviser's" commands without question. Thus the Baron is a puppet for the real power in the Barony.
The "adviser", who the characters shouldn't suspect at first, will plead with the characters to catch the terrorists, who he says are disrupting the peace and spreading terror throughout the Barony. The characters should at least investigate, and they will be offered a reward by the "adviser".
If the characters try to find the bandits again, by returning to the same place, Robert will be there waiting alone. He will ask the characters wether they have seen what has happened to the Baron, and ask for their help. He says that the Baron has been charmed by the "adviser", and has placed all the citizens in the local mines to work. His band of freedom fighters are the only thing that has stopped the "adviser" taking complete control.
The characters should help the freedom fighters overthrow the "adviser". The best way would be to get rid of the amulet (without the "adviser" knowing too soon), so they can explain the situation to the Baron.
Once this happens the Baron will face his "adviser", backed up by the freedom fighters and half of the castle guards. The other half are loyal to the "adviser" (having been promised wealth and power).
After a brief castle-wide scuffle, the "adviser" cuts his loses and flees (to lick his wounds). The characters should be suitably rewarded, and the Baron will asks if they will his hired adventurers who do odd jobs for him.
Aldred has become disillusioned by the politics surrounding both the monarchy and the church (see Background Information), so he was easy pray for the so-called "adviser" who mysteriously appeared in his time of need. His control of the barony slowly faded and is now merely a puppet ruler. In his prime he was a strong-willed man, who believed very strongly in honour, loyalty and duty.
The adviser's real name is Agosta, but he likes everyone to call him Lord Chamberlain. He is in truth a power-hungry mage who has put the Baron under control. He uses the peasants as slave-labour in the mines, to produce material components needed for his magical research, as well as a huge source of income. His aspirations are not merely limited to the Barony of Alua, and wishes to expand his sphere of control as much as possible.
Sonya is Robert's sister (see below) and wife of Baron Aldred. She pretends to be Agosta's mistress to get information that she can supply to the bandits. If she discovers that the characters are here to help, she will supply them with any information they need.
Robert was the baron's ex-warden, but never trusted the so-called "adviser". When he tried to face him down in front of the Baron, he was arrested, as at this stage the Baron was completely charmed. He was broken out of prison (by Sonya) and slowly eked out a small resistance force. Now he is their leader, trying to restore the balance of power.
Aldred became a knight of the Sankta Glavos at the age of twenty, believing they were a force fighting for truth and justice. He soon became disillusioned when he found the order was merely a tool for the political machinations of the church hierarchy.
He therefore demanded to be transferred to a border outpost, where he believed he could get away from the church. One of his superiors understood his situation, and gave instructions for Aldred to build a border outpost in the northern mountains to watch for incursions. After five years the outpost was surrounded by a handful of villages, and all of the men who served under Aldred respected him so much that they joined in his quest to protect Albion, not realising his true motivations.
At this stage Alua was declared a Barony, Aldred was given control, and has been left alone ever since. Very few people know of its existence, as it was believed to be a military area, and most traces hidden by Aldred's superior.
Because of its hilly terrain and mountain ranges, Alua has an abundance of metals and other precious gems, and survives on the agricultural produce both shipped in and grew in nearby villages.
The castle is set on a plateau over the river. There is a waterfall underneath the castle, which feeds the river. There are always two guards in the guard house, guarding the only entrance into the castle, and two more guards either patrolling the courtyard or guarding the main entrance into the keep.
This room is decorated with two statues in the far corners of the room, and an assortment of tapestries and paintings. The statues are of the Baron and Baroness.
The room is decorated with banners, tapestries and paintings, and filled with numerous lounges and chairs, scattered tastefully throughout the room. This room is where the guests must wait before being received by the Baroness or Baron.
The room is dominated by a huge table situated in the centre of the room. Along the walls are decorative shields, colourful banners and other such decorations. There is a beautiful crystal chandelier handing over the table, and is where all the main meals are eaten.
The northern wall is dominated by a cheery fireplace, which basks the room in a ruddy glow. The room has a few divans scattered throughout the room, and is tastefully decorated with paintings and other fine decorations.
The room is bare, but there is a set of stairs that lead up to the next level in the south-east corner.
At all times there will be six servants here preparing food or cleaning. They will move freely between the kitchen, store room and dining hall.
All the food in the castle is stored in this one room. The south door provides a connivent entrance and exit.
This is where all the miscellaneous items are kept in the castle.
Two sentry guards will constantly patrol the entry hall, more out of habit than necessity.
The guest rooms are luxuriously furnished, containing a bath, a huge bed, cabinets and a desk. The rooms are all decorated in blue and have a window looking out of the keep, into the courtyard below. These rooms normally house the knights and guests, and are where the characters will stay if they sleep at the castle over knight.
This is the Baroness' bedroom. If the player's search the room, they will find a cabinet containing all the Baroness' valuables. The cabinet is locked and has a poisoned trap. The sentry guards will most likely here any pilfering.
The books in the room are very valuable, as they are histories, instruction manuals, but have no value to the players. The sentry guards will hear any pilfering and immediately put a stop to any such thoughts.
There will always be two sentry guards patrolling the corridor who will stop the characters try to go any further.
The rooms are bare except for a couple of pallets for sleeping and a desk. The room is very clean, and there are a few possessions neatly staked away.
This room has a bath, bed and lounge. There are all sorts of furniture scattered throughout the room . If the player's search the room, they will find a locked cabinet. The cabinet is magically warded, and the characters will be unable to open it.
There is a desk in the centre of the room and shelves upon shelves of books. This is where the Baron will discuss matters to the characters if they ask to see him in private, or he they.
Empty.
The room is cluttered with all sorts of weird objects and items, glowing strangely. The room is a laboratory which has vast quantities of magical equipment, items and spells. This would be a treasure trove for characters, but the characters will not be allowed to enter.
The room is large but has only two features, a desk in the centre of the room and shelves upon shelves of books. This is the Mage's study, and is considered off-limits.
Each tower is divided into four levels. Each level only contains a single circular room. The bottom three levels are the sleeping quarters for the guards, and each level can hold a total of four guards. The top level (not counting the battlements) is where the guards relax, and play cards (they do not drink).
The top of the tower looks out onto the surrounding countryside. There will be four archer on the top of the front two towers at all times.
