T w e n t y S i d e d

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Grey Moor was the site of our very first campaign. At level one, the players stepped off the boat in the city of Bayhaven. By the time they were done they had walked all over the island many times, broken an evil curse that was killing the crops and draining the land of life, and then joined in a battle to prevent a single greedy nobleman for siezing control of the Island. Along the way they teamed up with Eomer and Endo and attained level 3.

Grey Moor is about 90% human, 5% halfling, and 5% “everyone else”. Dwarves are known to live in the mountains but their number is not known so they are not included in this total. Elves are very uncommon and usually never leave Bayhaven. The whole island is seen as rather bumpkin-ish to the other islands.

The area north of the mountains is uninhabited. The coast this mostly low rocky cliffs or very steep slopes. In other places, the coastal area is shallow and rocky. This means that for a majority of the island it was difficult or impossible to bring in large ships safely.

Bayhaven was the only good port for ships capable of inter-island travel. The others couldn’t support much more than small fishing vessels. It is also the biggest and most sophisticated city.

The town of Stackroot is home to a modest but profitable gemstone mine. About a third of the population is Halfling. The Halflings work the mine, while the humans handle the governing of the city and growing of crops.

A little infomation on the city of Bridgehold and Highstone Monastery can be gleaned from Endo’s backstory.

The other cities are just tiny little farming villages and not worth mentioning here.

At the end of our first campaign, the players had founded a new city, knocked a nobleman out of power, and established the council of Grey Moor.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

At morning they gather and interview a few people. They learn that the children saw a man in a robe with a beard. That is the extent of what they can recall.

The party walks to the fields in the north and looks for clues. They find nothing. They go to the hardberry bushes and look for clues.

This is the special “DM” map I made for this quest. The players did not see it of course, but this will help readers to follow along. I hope.

They are at the base of a hill, facing west. The bushes are at the foot of the hill. Assuming the kidnpper went west, he must have gone around the hill to the northwest or southwest. The hill is steep enough that it would be impossible for an encumbered human to walk up it without leaving some fairly obvious marks.

Thordek searches. Upon further investigation, he sees an opening in the center of the bush. It looks as though someone hid themselves in the deep parts of the bush and then leaped out, breaking many small branches in the process. The hollowed-out space is barely big enough for a man. Assuming this hole is related to the missing children, then what they seek must be man-sized or smaller.

Thu’fir also searches. He finds a small basket in the deep part of the bush. It is partly filled and looks to have been dropped (not hidden) suddenly.

Thordek and several party members go northwest, and Thu’fir leads the rest southwest.

They come to a point where the southern slope is less steep and it is possible to walk down. From here they can continue to follow the ridge around the hill (heading west) or go south into the valley, towards the river.

There are no visible prints to be seen on the slope going down. Thu’fir’s knowledge of wilderness lore tells him that even a child walking alone could no descend the soft grassy slope without leaving some hint. They continue west.

Both groups reunite at the other side of the hill, which is now east of them. They are on the edge of a watery glade. The water is still and filled with reeds. Insects drone nearby in the early morning sun. If someone passed throughthe water they would be hard to follow. The party decides to go around the glade to the south.

Eomer does a careful search and finds a hardberry along the way leading southwest. It sits alone in the grass. They do not grow anywhere near wet areas, so this berry must have come from elsewhere. This is the first clue they have seen in some time that suggests they are on the right track.

All the party is now together. As they progress west, the area becomes thicker and many drooping plants grab at them and hinder movement. Jaggers poke them from among the thick weeds. They emerge in a very small clearing, and see that they are at the southern edge of the glade. They have clearly found themselves on a path. They can follow the path west, or south towards the river. To the north is the boggy water.

Thordek searches and finds several strands of light blond hair caught on a jagger bush. They hang at about eye level for a human, (which is above Thodek’s head, since he’s a Dwarf) hinting that they either came from an adult or from a child being carried.

They continue. The path is plain and easy to follow. It heads west and then north, tracing the edge of the glade. They come to a group of large dreary willow trees. Their long branches reach down and touch the edge of the water. They look out across the bog, where east of them is the hill where they began their search.

Many large insects and a few butterflies are moving about here. They can hear the chirping of many other insects.

The path turns west from here. The path ahead becomes rocky and begins to climb upward. On either side, tall trees lean inward over the path, forming a great green canopy overhead. Foul black birds caw at them from above as they pass.

They discuss the birds. Are these related to the birds that watched them crossing the plains yesterday? None of them seem to have enough knowledge of the wild to tell. They move on.

A small cliff rises in front of them. The wall is a rough tumble of huge boulders about 20ft high. There is no longer any path visible, but from here they can go north or south along the cliff wall, or climb it.

Eomer searches and notices some moss has been disturbed on the rocky ground to the south. A small patch has been scraped away, which may indicate someone has walked here in the last few days. They decide to go south.

Suddenly Thordek bids the party to halt. He has spotted a tripwire across the path. Eomer examines it, finding that it leads to a pile of large rocks that look out-of-place atop the cliff-like slope. It’s easy for them to figure out that the wire probably causes a torrent of falling rocks to spill accross the path. Instead of disabling it, they simply step over the tripwire and move on.

After a few minutes the cliff gives way and they come to an open area. They walk over the green field for several minutes. Ahead, they see a wide stone ruin. It was once tall, but weather and age have thrown the stones down and they now lay in a broad heap. All that remains is a ring of stone making the outer wall of where the structure once stood. Broad steps lead up to what was once the inside of the building. The “interior” floor is covered in scattered stones.

Thordek studies what remains of the stonework. He determines the building was made perhaps 200 years ago. It is not of Dwarven make, and is most probably of Human design. Given the configuration of blocks, he guesses that the building was probably a church or temple. It was not a fortified structure, at any rate.

Walking around the structure, they find two sets of cold stone steps leading down into the basement.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

They move south, passing several small farms and into the open grasslands. Eomer leads them at a strenuous pace. As the day wears on, Thu’fir notices that several back birds have been circling them for most of the day. The birds are too distant to be identified, but their dark outlines can be seen clearly against the blue sky of late summer.

The birds are too distant for them to do anything about it. The day passes as the hills to the south draw near.

As the sun drops low they see the outline of Joland Village ahead. They wonder what to do about this. Is the town occupied? Certainly they shouldn’t just march into town together. Eomer puts on the “good” Alidian uniform they own (the other one is bloody and slashed) and walks into town alone, while the others hide in the grass outside of town.

Dusk settles as he enters town. The little village is very quiet. Angry eyes peer out at him from the homes, but nobody speaks. A old man is sitting on the stoop in front of the blacksmith shop. He’s rocking back on his chair, looking thoughtful. He has a hard, creased face and a bushy white mustache.

At last he looks at the uniform and greats Eomer, “You lost, friend?”

Eomer is evasive, but as they talk his ruse about being in the army wears thin. He is alone and speaking with the wrong accent to be an Alidian.

Finally the man asks him, “You’re not an Alidian, are you?”

Eomer doesn’t need the disguise anymore, “No, I’m not.”

The man cheers up at this and introduces himself as Polan. He is the closest thing the town has to a leader. He asks how the towns to the north are doing. It’s clear he doesn’t have any idea the north has lost. When Eomer tells him that Fort Bolland and Breakshore are taken, the man concludes that the war is over. He looks sad.

He asks if Eomer knows anything about missing children. He doesn’t. Polan tells his story:

“About four days ago one of the little ones, a kid about seven years old, disappeared from the fields just north of town. Two days later, other kids were picking hardberries at the bushes over yonder”, He points to an area west of the town, “and the kids say a man jumped out of the bushes and took one of them and carried the little girl off. Now, the soldiers took all our weapons when they took this town. That don’t matter much ‘cuz they also took all the young men and women capable of using weapons. All we have left are the sick, the old, and the children.”

Eomer asks where the parents are. Polan explains that the mothers are here in town, but the fathers were taken south weeks ago.

Eomer gets up and calls the other party members into town. It’s obvious the enemy sodiers left this town to its fate ages ago and aren’t likely to come back any time soon.

He explains the situation as the evening closes in. By the time he’s finished the tale, it’s dark out.

Thordek and Eomer want to go right now and look for the kids.

Skeeve is not so sure, “Look, we don’t even know if the children are still alive.”

Beck shruggs, “Sure, but the guy who took them is, and we can at least fix that.”

A debate ensues. Skeeve is sensitive to the plight of the villagers, but doesn’t want to get dragged into helping everyone they meet on the way. He reminds them that they are chasing Endo, who left over a day ahead of them, riding horseback.

Enoch insists he will go and look for the kids, even if he has to do it alone.

Thus overruled and outnumbered, Skeeve agrees to go along, but suggests they wait until morning.

Eomer and others protest, wanting to begin now. Polan suggests that trying to track someone in the dark, even with the aid of magical light, is foolish.

The party relents and checks into the inn.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

The party sneaks back into town, on the way seeing a number of soldiers leaving, heading back towards the house. They are rolling a large barrel. They crouch down and consider taking these guys out. Eomer points out they could kill these guys and hide the bodies in the woods or dump them in the ocean. Enoch responds that even if the bodies are never recovered, the Alidians will still assume the townies are responsible, and take revenge on them anyway.

The party goes to the tavern. Beck is passed out at the bar. The bartender is red-faced and wearing a large bruise on the side of his face. They realize the soldiers must have come here and taken some ale. They wake Beck.

His head snaps up, “Alright! Let’s go get those guys.” He doesn’t realize they have already finished.

They lead him out of town to where Skeve has made camp. Skeeve examines the horn and identifies its magic properties. Apparently if you blow the horn it will stun anyone caught in front of it. The horn will be unnaturally loud, as well, perhaps even reaching miles away.

Thu’fir goes to the blacksmith and lets him know how things went. He shows him the horn. The blacksmith tells him the owner of the horn died several days ago, killed by Alidian soldiers. Thu’fir gives him fifty gold for it anyway. They look over Thu’fir’s map and Gereg explains that if they want to avoid the road, then there are two ways they can travel south.

Northern Mar Tesaro.
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“The first way is that you could head west, cross the bridge, and then head south through Upper Bolwood. The woods are dense and unyielding, and some travelers tell tales of Ettins prowling on the edge of the woods from time to time. If you come through the woods you should find yourselves in the village of Woodhurst.

“The other way you could go is to head due south over Tinderward. This would be much faster by my count, but it would take you over flat open grasslands where you have no hope of hiding. If you encounter the enemy soldiers, you’ll be discovered for sure. Furthermore, you would have to pass over the Weather Hills, which are home to a nasty and devious tribe of Goblins.”

Thu’fir examines the map before he replies, “Which way would you say is the most dangerous?”

Gereg shruggs, “Beats me. I always take the road. “

In any case, Gereg has no idea which way Endo went. Thu’fir thanks the blacksmith and returns to the party where they debate over what path they should take. There is much discussion about which path would be better. They argue about which way Endo might have gone, and if he would want them to follow him. Eventually they decide on the south way, over Tinderward. They sleep.

At dawn they set out. Beck awakens but doesn’t seem to be too hung over. He doesn’t say anything about the night before.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.