The next four scenes...
SCENE SEVEN
I. Haymon's Gate
In mid-afternoon, the group arrives at the village of Haymon's Gate
(so named for the triumphal arch in the market square, erected to
commemorate an ancient victory over the nomads). As they walk into
own it begins to rain, first with slow heavy drops, quickly turning a
steady downpour.
The shower is heavy, but passes quickly. Everyone except Mars (who has the geas "Never seek shelter From Storm") can take cover in the local inn, and enjoy a hot meal of antelope sausage, bread, cheese and barley beer before venturing on their way. There are a couple of other glum souls outside in the rain too, who share Mar's unfortunate geas. The barkeep passes them their refreshments through a special hatch in the inn's wall.
Melo Yelo may wish to keep Mars company on his strange vigil in the rain.
SCENE EIGHT
I. The Riddler
In contrast to the main Pavis road, the road to Harpoon is just a deeply
rutted dirt track, well-tramped by thousands of feet earlier in the day.
As the characters march down the path the wind picks up again, and there
huge black clouds form in the north above Pavis. (This is the work of
Orlanth priests at the Pairing Stone, whipping up a storm to help the
Cradle on its way downriver).
Not long after the turn-off, the the party approach an old man seated on a two-wheeled cart, pulled by a Bison ox. It looks like an uncomfortable ride, because the wheel ruts in Sun County don't match those of his cart (perceptive characters might recognize him then as a foreigner). A small ginger shadowcat is curled up on the bench next to him, which hisses at Mars (who has the shadowcat paw charm). Bob recognizes the cat as an awakened familiar, similar to himself. The odd man is eating a hard-boiled egg. He pauses in his eating to say to Yelanda:
"Wandering Sun, Jealous Uncle,
I have a new Toy here, see it?
Test me, twice if you can
For a Gold Piece each right answer."
The old man is an Orlanthi priest, who wishes to engage in the traditional riddling contest. Remind Yelanda that she cannot communicate with him directly: negotiations must be carried out via a third party such as Mars or Melo.
[The Orlanthi Riddles with the PCs, and if he wins a round, claims one of the gold rings as prize. It's highly unlikely that the PCs will hand it over, but you never know. If he's attacked, he Teleports away.]
SCENE NINE
I. Crop Circles
As the road draws closer to the river, Bob notices an unusual pattern in the cornfields. The yellow stalks of grain have been curiously pushed flat into strange circular shapes of varying sizes. There are about a dozen, spread over a wide area. Track reveals footprints leave the road and make their way through the field to one of the circles, where the prints abruptly disappear.
These "crop circles" were caused by a party of Orlanthi, flying on sylphs (air elementals) to rendezvous with the Cradle. Yesterday, they landed here briefly to pick up another comrade. They now wait upriver of Harpoon, ready to board the cradle as it sails past.
SCENE TEN
I. Troll Raiders
Yelm begins his fiery descent into the underworld as the characters
plod along the last few kilometers to Harpoon, the wind whipping around
them. The road winds through a stretch of vineyards. As it grows darker,
it begins to rain again, but the characters notice a bright yellow glow on
the horizon (the village of Harpoon is well-lit by bonfires, torches and
Light spells as the Sun Domers hurriedly prepare for the arrival of the
Cradle.)
The characters are about to get overrun by a gang of marauding trolls and trollkin. They were happily stripping the vineyards of the area bare when the Sun Dome army arrived, and they think that the *entire Yelmalio cult is now after them*! They hid during the day, but now that night has fallen, they are getting away as fast as they can.
*Listen: gibbering sounds and rustling vegetation, coming through the vines to the right.
There's one dark troll, another huge great troll, and three or four dozen wild-eyed trollkin who would all gladly fall upon the player characters to destroy and eat them, but for the fact they're in a blind panic to get as far away from the Sun Dome army as possible.
The troll band burst out of the bushes and head straight for the player characters, with the trollkin in lead and the great and dark trolls following. Remark that the player characters have never seen the whites of a trollkin's eyes before, but now they can see about 45 pairs. What the players might interpret as screams of rage are in fact screams of terror.
As they swirl past, around and over the player characters, the trollkin try to wrench away loose items (eg. spears, helmets, packs, etc.). One pack take particular interest in the pack containing the gold rings, whoever's got it... In addition to their attempts to steal anything not nailed down, the trollkin also try grappling and trying to bowl the PCs over or belting them with their fists.
The characters have a couple of rounds (before the dark troll and his great troll buddy come up) to avoid a very nasty melee. The trolls are in a panic, so any overt offensive action from the players is enough to frighten them:
*If a character attempts to hit or cast a spell at a trollkin, have it (and a couple of trollkin around it) run away screaming in terror. Note that because of the failing light, all attacks made by the player characters are at -25%.
*Even shouting loudly or making threatening gestures at a trollkin has the same effect as above.
Such action will not be enough to scare the dark troll leader and his dark troll bodyguard though, and they approach, the dark troll unfurls a whip and starts barking orders at the trollkin, cracking the whip above their heads.
The dark troll successfully casts a Blinding Spell at Yelanda, making her temporarily blind.
The way out of this for the player characters is for either Yelanda or Mars to cast their Sunbright spells. This spell creates a 50 meter radius circle or light, enough to make all the trolls and trollkin drop everything and flee immediately. Casting the spirit magic Light spell is not nearly good enough, though the trolls will keep away from its source, instead concentrating on the other characters.
II. Stats
No stats are provided for the troll party. Just pretend to roll dice and
be descriptive! If a PC hits a trollkin, it tries to run away. If the
players make a complete balls-up of this encounter, help is not far away:
when things are looking at their diciest have a Yelmalio Templar scouting
party dash in to save them. One of the Templars casts his Sunbright spell.
On the way back to Harpoon make sure the Templars give Yelanda a rough time
for letting her party walk straight into a troll ambush!
Note that regardless of what action the other player characters may take, Mars is bound by his geas to never flee or surrender from darkness creatures, and trolls are darkness creatures.
Next: Wyverns in the Sky!
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