This adventure is pretty straight forward without a lot of room for players to wander off. That makes it a pretty good choice to start a campaign in a new world, and I especially love the opening scenes that clearly communicate some of the unique elements of the setting. Of course, this is a re-cap of our experience with the adventure, so spoilers abound. Abandon all hope (for playing in this adventure) ye who enter here.
The Beginning
So, I changed the opening slightly, having the characters summoned to speak with Sarostip Prince-killer (since he is the Malani spokeman in the city) instead of them just stumbling onto the issue. Thus, they arrived at the gate and asked directions from Faran, who gave them directions on how to reach the Malani House.
Once the characters were moving toward the market and the trouble with the trolls got rolling I was expecting Harala to step up and use her social skills, but Orani beat her to it, shouting for the trolls to stand down. Zargin (who I identified as the one eating the whole chicken in the image) was unimpressed and asked “What little do? Little want fight?”
Orani shot back “Better question is, do you want to fight?” I called for an intimidation roll and she rolled a dramatic success (five over her opponent’s roll), to which the troll stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her before calling off the other trolls. “Enough. Enough. Listen to Little Scary,” he said (the table thought that was hilarious).
When Hungry barged in, she knocked everyone but Andivarth down (he was the only one that made his perception roll). Harala intervened at that point and managed, with Zargin’s help, to talk her down. Jojera was impressed by their non-violent action (“Especially you. Babeester Gor initiates aren’t known for their… diplomacy…”). Judging it likely too late to call on Sarostip, she offers to have them put up in the Issaries temple in the Merchant Quarter.
The Merchant Quarters
This is were things went a little off course, but it turned out to be a good thing. The Issaries priests demanded that they disarm, and Orani and Andivarth both refused, so the Issaries priests politely sent them on their way. This lead them to heading into the night, determined to go find shelter within the Ernaldan temple (for Orani) or in one of the other inns. I noticed that it describes the location the trolls were kept as being in the Merchant Quarter, so on a whim I told the duo that they hear a long wailing keen coming from one of the back alleys.
At this point the players are half convinced there is some sort of poisonous alcohol going around that caused the trolls’ behavior (they latched on to their ability to eat or drink anything and just knew they couldn’t just be drunk). They dash off to investigate, only to find Zargin singing (very poorly) some sad trollish captivity song. He sees them approach through the window and calls out to them “Little Scary! Here! Little Scary!”
Bemused, they head over and here they learn the real reason for the trolls behavior. Driven by her Honor, Orani swears that she will find some way to help them make it right, just as a guard comes along to shew them off (“What? Get out of here! Don’t you know? These are dangerous prisoners!”)
The Meeting
As the group is awaiting their meeting with the Rex, Orani and Harala make a plan of action. When given the opportunity, Harala is careful to play up the trolls’ desperation and frustration with their situation. The trolls are shocked at her support. When Joh tries to spin the situation Harala turns the tables on him, asking why he wants to punish them unduly, saying that they can’t pay a fine, but they could work off the debt, so long as it was a reasonable amount.
Before he can protest any further, Orani interjects “Zargin, you and your people are honorable and pay your debts, don’t you?” Picking up on what is happening Zargin stands up tall and affirms that, on Kigor Litor’s name, he and his people will pay off the debt before they leave to travel back south. Caught out, Joh stammers as Rex Ongerin accepts this judgement. Zargin swears to the players that if they ever need anything, they can count on the band of trolls.
With that done, the Rex thanks them in private, telling them that he thought the way they handled the situation was rather deft. He also mentions that Sarostip was called out of the city a couple of days ago, but if the characters have business with him, Brangdor, his second, would likely have the information they need (I changed this from the original, because I wanted the characters to have a reason to be involved, so have Sarostip the one dealing with this issue instead of Orngerin made sense).
Malani House and On to Mernyr’s Landing
Brangdor meets with them and explains that the Malani have lost contact with a small cluster of farms called Mernyr’s Landing. The territory is located between several Malani clans and is hotly contested. Because of this, Sarotip sought an independent mediary, as the Blackrock’s territory does not border Mernyr’s Landing. Brangdor also mentions that Sarostip is an old friend of Dorestros, and that the two traveled together in their youths. Before the group sets off, Brangdor explains that knowledge of the situation is more important than thwarting whatever is happening there, followed closely by saving the farmers. The matter of past due taxes is ultimately unimportant.
Armed with this knowledge they head off toward Mernyr’s Landing. The players immediately picked up on the Aliens vibes, to the point that when they found the doll they immediately shifted gears and went searching for a little girl, certain she had to be hiding somewhere. Maybe a bit too on the nose, but it worked. I had gravely underestimated when converting the scorpionmen and karshtkid, the latter of which was killed in one hit by the (admittedly bladesharped and axe tranced) Orani. I was prepared to have Zargin come rushing in like the adventure suggested, but it wasn’t needed. I obviously undershot that one, but I have ideas about bringing in Zargin and company again in the future.
Conclusion
They turned the Lunar Troops in and asked the Rex to put their portion of the ransom into a fund for the little girl and her mother. The players had fun, though, and that is ultimately the best thing. I went back to the drawing board and readjusted how I was doing the conversion for the creatures, which really helped in the next adventure. Overall it was a fun, simple adventure that was pretty easy to rework to fit my players and concepts. Its one of the few adventures I’ve ever ran that I didn’t have to change or adjust because it was deficient in some way, just a few tweaks to fit it to my group.
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