The adventure has been designed to start dramatically, with the characters discovering the prostate body of a young man on the road to Ferromaine. Of course Ferromaine has only been chosen as that is where the bulk of the adventure is set. It could quite easily be placed in any major city in Legend with alterations to take into account geography, culture and political situations.
There are a number of options to get the characters heading in the direction of Ferromaine. One is to get the characters hired by a merchant to move goods between where they are currently located and Ferromaine (within reason).
If this is the characters first adventure, however, why not thrust them into the middle of the action?
The following piece of music and text is designed to introduce the characters to the overall 'flavour' of the adventure as well as allude to things to come. Though it will be some time before the characters can make the connection between the story and the events they experience, it is essential to read the story to build up the mood of the adventure.
Bards, Troubadours and Storytellers all tell tales of magic and wonder to thrill audiences young and old. There is one tale, however, reserved for that quiet hour of the night, as the embers of the fire begin to die, and the young ones can hardly keep their eyes open.
It is a tale of a young knight and a young princess who shared a love so bright and happy that it should have lasted a lifetime. Of how the princess was so cruelly slain by one who professed his love for her, and how the young knight slew this villainous liar.
What these teller of tales will not say for fear of scaring the young ones is that some say the young knight haunts the castle of his princess, never sleeping that last sleep for his hatred can never be satisfied . . .
The characters, on the road to Ferromaine for one reason or another, happen to stumble upon the prostate body of a young man, Danten Bretson. He was beaten into submission by members of the DeVeragon family. These brothers stumbled into their sister's room, half-drunk, while the young man was in the act of slaying their sister. Enraged they struck Danten down, but he managed to get away.
Wounded and bleeding, Danten stumbled south towards the Ferromaine road. The brothers, having time to sober up, begun the chase at once. The characters have stumbled upon the group five minutes after the brothers intercepted Danten.
The sun, blazing in the sky above, seems to smile down at you as you make your way south along the road to Ferromaine. The bright day and singing birds can only add to your buoyant mood.
Making you way briskly along the road, you notice ahead of you a group of figures standing in the middle of the road. As you cautiously edge your way closer, you notice they have surrounded what appears to be the prostrate body of a young man. One of the figures, another young man, waves his fist at the sky and kicks the unconscious man.
Another of the figures holds the first back, whispering something in his ear, while pulling out a length of rope out of his back pack with his free hand. The figures look they are going to perform a hanging.
There are two obvious branches this encounter can take. The characters, if they are good souls, will probably want to help the young man. The rest of this adventure is designed with that option in mind. However, there is nothing stopping the characters from walking off in the opposite direction. If the characters do this, and you wish to continue with the adventure, simply make Danten immortal. So driven is he by hate, that he can't be slain by ordinary means. He will keep popping up in the character's way until they are forced to take some sort of action.
Once Danten has been rescued and healed up, the characters can begin questioning him. If they ask who the figures were, he will reply that they must have been common thieves as he has never laid eyes on them before. He will say that he is just a down-on-his-luck knight travelling to Ferromaine looking for work. The thugs must have seen his armour and guessed he was a rich knight, and that's why they attacked.
The characters should, and rightly so, feel the story doesn't quite feel right. Why would common thieves want to hang a knight? Danten, to complete the lie, will introduce himself as simply Daniel: "I lost both my honour and my name a long time ago."
After stories have been swapped and the introductions are over, Danten will beg the characters they help him get to Ferromaine. He is now worried for his safety and wishes the safety of numbers. The characters should readily agree, as this is the first half-truth Danten has told them. He is scarred at being attacked, but by other members of the Ferris and DeVeragon families.
Depending on where the characters are, Ferromaine may only be a few days ride or a few weeks. Any longer would push even the credibility of this adventure. Though not an essential part of the adventure, the journey from where the character's meet Danten and Ferromaine allows the Games Master to both lay some dark hints about their mysterious companion as well as build a grand description of the surrounding countryside.
Encounters can, and should, be provided for the characters along the road. The type, size and ferocity of the encounters is up to the discretion of the Games Master, but a mixture of wild creatures indigenous to the local area as well as human and humanoid encounters are suggested. Undead, magical and other weird and wonderful creatures would detract from the overall feel of the adventure.
When the characters arrive in Ferromaine, ward in tow, read the following passage:
Ferromaine, city of towers. Home to a quarter of a million people. Trade centre of the north and undisputed jewel of the region.
You make your way through the bustling streets, jostled and bumped by the hundreds of people flowing through the street. Merchants line the street, standing being their colourful stalls, waving their hands to get your attention. Your eyes are assaulted by a kaleidoscope of colours as your eyes are besieged by a mosaic of smells. Truly, this must be what it is like to be alive.
And when you turn, you notice, Daniel is gone.
Now that Danten has arrived in Ferromaine he feels a lot safer, and though he feels indebted to the characters, he is a lot more driven by his hatred.
The characters should feel a little peeved by the whole affair, but not sooner has Danten disappeared then they are pressed in service. They are approach by a city official, either a friend of the characters or knows of one of their friends, and begs for a brief moment of their time.
This city official, Kl'ren, will inform the characters that there have been a number of suspicious murders around Ferromaine, but only involving two houses. Kl'ren suspects that it is just house rivalry, but both houses vehemently deny such accusations. They assure the Ferromaine council they are the best of friends. Wether the characters believe any of this or not is up to them, but after being offered a large sum of money they are sure to launch themselves into the deed.
There are a number of possible avenues of exploration for the characters:
First the characters will more than likely want a list of the murders that have taken place. So far there has been two in the region. Clare DeVeragon was murdered yesterday in the family summer house to the north of Ferromaine. This is the sister of the three who pursued Daniel: John, Tom and Harry DeVeragon. Their father, Cecil DeVeragon, drowned two years ago in a mysterious accident while hunting and their mother supposedly took her own life last year, jumping from the tallest point of their ancestral home, located to the east of Ferromaine. All of their other relatives have long since died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances, except for their aunt and uncle who are currently looking after the family, Bruce and Desdemona. The DeVeragons, all questions will be answered by the aunt and uncle, stating the boys are too torn up with grief, and will be extremely tight-lipped at any such encounters.
The second murder took place over a week ago in the ancestral home of the Ferris' located to the south of Ferromaine. Brigette Ferris, prone to sleep walking, managed (somehow) to get out of the house and was run down by a carriage in the wee hours of the morning. The husband, and head of the family, Den Ferris will answer all questions saying his daughter, Julia, and two sons, Red and Bret, should not be bother by such impersonal questions. The last of the relatives of the Ferris' disappeared last year while travelling to Ferromaine, and no one has seen them since. Den believes them dead, but will not explain why he believes such a thing.
The characters can also try to get a feel for the situation from the locals. Though not many of the citizens of Ferromaine can fill the characters in with any details, they will tell the characters there are rumours of bad blood between the Ferris and DeVeragon families. Both are powerful and influential families who hold a lot of sway in the city.
Finally, the characters should stumble upon of storyteller, telling the story laid out in the introduction to this adventure.
The main purpose of this section of the adventure is to give the characters a feel for the situation as well as building up the tension and the atmosphere.
When the characters come close to breaking the puzzle of Danten, Danten himself will appear wherever the characters are staying to beg for their help again. He will say that he is trying to retrieve an old family heirloom (he will state that it is five hundred years old) that he thought was lost but discovered that a wealthy family hereabouts stumbled across it many years ago.
He will tell the characters that he begged for them to return the heirloom and even offered a sum of money but they refused. He says that his only other course of action is to infiltrate their home and take back the heirloom.
The characters may be a little squeamish about stealing but Danten will be very persuasive, using a latent charm ability he has always had (like a charm spell). If the characters agree, Danten will want to leave that evening.
The family who owns the manor are the DeVeragons and it is their ancestral home. Danten intends to break in and slay the head of the house. Danten needs the characters as both diversion and to throw them off the scent. He will also warn the characters that they may be separated during the course of the evening, and they must make for the heirloom. He will describe it as a large, oaken chest with an engraving of two snakes biting each others tails on the top.
The manor is located an hour east of Ferromaine, nestled in the woods north of that grand city. Plans for the manor house are located in Appendix B. There are two important events for the characters when exploring that house. One occurs when the characters get past the main walls, they are set upon by guards, which is described in detail in Something Lost below. The other is when they discover the chest, which is described in detail in Something Found also below.
As mentioned above, as soon as the characters get over the walls, and into the grounds beyond, Danten will disappear into the night. The characters will be set upon by a group of guards, equal to their number, and it is in this scuffle that Danten makes a break for it. He intended to lose the characters the whole time, but had a cover story so the characters would not be worried and would continue looking for the chest.
When the characters reach the main bed chamber, they will almost be drawn to the chest which lies to one side of the room. Once they have the chest in their possession, a small chest which can be quiet easily carried by a single person, they will have to escape the mansion and return to Ferromaine to wait for Danten's return.
Allow the characters to sit an stew before starting the final wheels in motion. A few days after the character's break in and recovery, they will discover the head of the house of DeVeragon, the uncle, was slain the very same night as their entry. The characters should put two and two together and work out that Danten is their killer.
The characters should also be able to work out that Danten's next target will be the head of the Ferris family. If the characters do not seek him out and offer their services, one of the servants of the Ferris household will seek out the characters to hire them out wether Den Ferris wants their help or not.
One again, the plans for the Ferris Household have been laid out in Appendix B. The night the characters stay to guard Den Ferris, Danten will make his move. He will sneak in and go directly to the main bedroom. If the characters are there at the time, go to Pain, Loss, Death below.
This is the most important part of the adventure, and is where the characters and Danten confront each other. There are a number of ways the adventure can end:
Danten regrets the killings he has done and faces justice as decreed by the council of Ferromaine. He will be incarcerated for the rest of his natural life, which would be another forty years as soon as he renounces his vengeance because he will now age normally.
Danten regrets the killings he has done and takes his own life.
Danten refuses to let the characters sway him and attempts to kill Den anyway. If the characters stop Danten then the end result is the same as the first choice. If the characters have to kill Danten, then that too will be an ending.
For those who think all other options are two depressive, make him forgive both families for their sins (and vise versa), and allow him to rejoin his beloved one in a magical and mystical ending.