I love a good mystery adventure, and this one could easily be considered one of the better one’s I’ve ran recently. My only issue with it is that it seemed unwieldy for complete newbs, like one might expect in a Starter Set. Mostly this is because actually deducing what was happening required a simply massive info dump on my part to get them on the right path before it was over. But before I go any further, know that beyond this point is spoilers.
The Beginning
We started this session with the characters receiving an urgent message from Dorestros, their chieftain, requesting that they come to the council house. There they are informed that Rex Orngerin has specifically requested them to come to Jonstown. He was so impressed with their previous successes that he wants them to look into a new matter. His message doesn’t elaborate, only asking them to hurry. They’ve taken a liking to the Rex at this point and decide to go first thing in the morning (we’ve decided that Jonstown is about a day or a day-and-a-half’s journey from Blackrock. There is a non-labeled village on the regional map to the north of the fort, and we’ve claimed that as Blackrock).
They arrive again just after dark. They meet Faran again on the gates, and he’s gotten a bit more used to his role and authority. He greets them and waves them through, saying they were just about to close the gate for the night. As they pass through town they smell smoke, then hear shouting coming from the south market. Having a Heler initiate is very useful at times like these! Harala immediately guesses that it is a house fire and the group races to the scene. Harala casts Rain as soon as they get on the scene. I had rolled randomly and determined that it was about a 50% cloud cover, so she got a pretty good amount of rain, which I ruled to be roughly 5 points of “damage” a round to the fire.
Orani asked if there were a bucket brigade already formed, to which I informed her that no, everyone was either staring in shock or were clustered around a woman lying on the ground. She declared that she wanted to get people moving, so I asked for an Intimidate roll, assuming her demeanor is like that of a drill sergeant (which she agreed would be in character). I decided that every success she got was another point of “damage” to the fire as the group began working efficiently to fight the blaze.
Garmast and Andivarth both go to the woman, finding her wheezing and struggling for breath. They teamwork a Medicine roll to help her out, doing well enough that she can gasp out a plea for someone to find Markal, her son. Without a second thought Andivarth moves toward the burning building, with Garmast hitting him with Protection. Before stepping into the house he grabs a rain barrel and dumps it over himself, which I rule will protect him for 2 rounds. With that he runs in.
Meanwhile, Harala begins casting Extinguish, which is further reducing the fire, and Orani is again successful in taking charge and getting the bystanders to work. Andivarth makes a lucky perception roll (he doesn’t get many, his dice seem to hate him) and finds the kid in the first round. He grabs the kid and tosses him over his shoulder before starting to make his way out. He makes an Athletics roll to keep his balance as the flaming debris starts piling up, but he makes it without further issue, reuniting the boy with his overjoyed mother.
The Investigation Goes Off the Rails
The fire begins dying down, and is completely put out in another round. Jojera arrives with a contingent of guards only to be pleasantly surprised by the players having already dealt with the issue. She tells them “Orngerin may have been right about you, after all,” before explaining the situation regarding the recent spate of fires in the city. This, she informs them, is why Orngerin brought them in. They are resourceful, creative, and react well in hard situations.
The group agrees to investigate and begin right away, questioning the mother. Now, this is where the problems begin. There is a good through-line on the clues, and they found them quite easily, but they didn’t understand anything about the wyter and were convinced that the fires were actually being set by the Lunars in retaliation against those that had set fire to the temple. To the point that they thought that the “red light” was some sort of spell the Lunars were casting on folks.
Only when I stopped the session and gave an info dump (passed on to Garmast as the result on an Academics roll) were we able to actually get back on track. Their characters should have been very knowledgeable about such things, since they were all in clans, tribes, and cults that feature these types of spirits, but there isn’t anything in the Starter Set primer (which I gave out to the players as a system neutral intro, and it otherwise works great for that) so its very unreasonable to expect them to understand it.
That said, they were starting to get frustrated when they decided to report in to Orngerin. I took this moment to have him offer to have guards check the Lunar cultists’ homes. This brought to light the fact that the Lunars were not in the city at all as the players had been expecting. There really feels like there should be a clue that directly points the players in that direction. Anyway, back on track, they asked Faran about the various personages and found that they had only been seen at the south gate, which finally made Andivarth think “Do I know where that valley Dorasa hunts in?”
I was happy enough I didn’t even make him roll. Yes. Yes, you do. Its to the south of the city.
The Camp and the Final Conflict
The entire party has Hate (Lunars), but not at a high enough level to compel them to violence, so Orani makes a plea to Vargusin’s Honor and fails. Harala instead makes a plea to the safety of the other Lunars and gets his buy in. The Lunars explained their side of the story and the players were moved to accept their temporary truce. It was a nice moment. Definitely played on that whole family theme we had going.
With that they made a plan to try and get Ferene to bond with the wyter before setting off for the the burned down temple. I expected this to be a rather easy conflict, especially with a shaman, but I was totally wrong. The only ones who could actually fight the spirit were Orani (with Bladesharp) and Garmast with his fetch. The rest were making perception rolls, then athletics rolls to dig out the banner, and that was actually pretty fun, but Garmast’s dice seemed to have rebelled and he nearly died. Thankfully the wyter never managed to land the Madness roll or things probably would have ended in a TPK.
So much for an easy fight.
With the conflict over, Vargusin takes the offering box and gives it to Orngerin to pay for the damages they had done to the city (though, not without more persuasion from Harala) and the troop of Lunars leave that very night on their way to Tarsh.
Conclusion
At this point I introduced a quick little interlude in which Kallyr Starbow barges into councilhouse (berating the chamberlain for not letting her in before). I’d added this because I wanted the players to get a sense for who she was. I’m planning on doing the same with Leika Blackspear and Argarath as well in the next few sessions. I really want the players to get to know these people because we are about to switch gears and let them start playing at politics a bit (by way of the faction rules from Worlds Without Number).
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Kallyr shows her hotheaded nature and her proud, haughty self-importance, demanding the Rex see her immediately regarding her plans to perform the Lightbringer Quest during the upcoming Sacred Time. Orani points out that the risks of something like that seem to outweigh the benefits, given the near constant threat of Lunar raids. Kallyr is offended, but Ongerin steps in and placates her before dismissing the characters. Orani is deeply troubled by this interaction with Kallyr, to the point that she informs Dorestros upon returning to Blackrock.
Wrap-up
That wrapped up the session, but I have to note that the players were quite frustrated with the middle section of the adventure. For any GM looking to run it, definitely don’t forget to mention to the players things their characters should know, like the function of wyters. I would also definitely arrange for Faran or some other familiar face to run into them with information regarding the Lunar’s absence from the city. Also, it would likely be a good idea to eliminate the scene with the wife attacking her husband, as that just confused my players tremendously. Its a cool scene, but your mileage (like your Glorantha) may vary.
Next session we will be chilling in the village and doing the Great Hunt for Andivarth and the player’s own Sacred Time activities.
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