Brief

The Goblinoid masses are preparing to march and the Rangers have been frantically gathering adventurers to man forts to defend the menace. The forts will act as bases of operations during the impending goblinoid invasion.

A group of adventurers were dispatched with a ranger (Gaun) and a mage (Eris) to march to one of these holding places, (an old shrine) and fortify it. The mage was to use his magic to set up the fortifications and the ranger had with him the plans for the operations from that fort. However word from scouts indicate the group never arrived and the rangers need the place protected and fast. Further scouting information suggests that a small tribe has broken off from the main group and are heading for the undefended fort. (Maybe these gobbos are smarter than we think!) It hasn’t been that long since the group left (half a day) and the Rangers must have that place fortified. The party must:

• Get to the Fort before the Goblinoid tribe and hold it until reinforcements can arrive.
• Find the missing unit in time to take them to the Fort. If the mage is alive get him to fortify the Fort.
• Recover the plans that the Ranger carried.

What they don’t know is that the Nightgoblin shaman Grimaldi and his troops are not exactly a normal tribe but a bunch of cannibals. Grimaldi has made many pacts with demons and the cannibalism is a side effect of messing with the infernal. The tribe have been dragging off dead bodies to act as food and supplies.

What of the unit you may ask? They were ambushed by the tribe & mostly killed. The Mage Eris was captured and forced to drink the Blood of Kali a foul concoction blessed by Grumrush. He is now under Grimaldi’s control and Grimaldi is ready to use this to his advantage.

Heroes are needed! Please apply. The party to be successful must recover the plans, learn what happened to the advanced group, recover the mage & protect the fort. No slight task! But hey this is Holdfast!

[Pre information:- The adventurers have been gathered in person by a group of Rangers rushing around Dellgate and the general area. They have been locating notable adventurers and anyone looking able to undertake an urgent mission.
The Rangers were in a frantic rush and simply told each person they met they would meet them at the designated spot in Encounter One and explain in detail once they have mustered a large enough force.]

Meeting Place- Group of trees off path.

Two Human Rangers: Cloaks, Hoods. Hits 20, doubles, 10 power [Ranger warrants, crappy map]
Abs- Entangle, Conceal, Cwound.
3 Orcs: 12 hits, singles. axes, spears, swords.

The party have to find there own way to the meet place, they’ve had it easy too long. However they are not alone. The first members of the tribe who have gone ahead are stalking and terrorising the area. On the way to the meeting place the Orcs are entitled to follow, harass or attack the players. Or they can ambush the PC’s when they get there. The Rangers arrive at the meeting place a little late to give the Orc’s time to do their thing. The above brief generally tells the players what you want them to do: The pay is 3 marks, it’s a big job!
For anyone who bothers to ask the area to be fortified is quite out of their way, but because of recent orc movement they believe that it would be extremely dangerous to leave the area unguarded.

The Rangers can give the party a very poor map (because the previous group had the good one) with the proposed route of the previous group scrawled badly on it.

Soldiers: 15 hits, doubles. Black clothing, swords, shrt swords, spears.

You are marching about twenty miles to help hold off a sudden flanking manoeuvre by Nazgar’s forces (that’s where the army is at the moment). The rest of your unit is behind and you’re scouting ahead. Quiz the party about their business. When they tell you be appreciative, lament that you cannot aid them as you must march to intercept Nazgar troops and then ask if they can give any information about the area they have just came from. If they do the same tell them that nothing unusual from your direction but you have heard reports of a large group of goblinoids moving in the direction the party are heading. When you’ve talked long enough either head back the way you came, to report back, or carry on scouting the path ahead.

Dead Villagers: Tattered clothing, the odd axe.

Pick a profession, Woodcutter; whatever. Orcs have rampaged into your quaint village and you guys fled but were hunted down and slain. You have been killed as brutally as possible, any sicko cause of death is perfect. Explain this when some one checks your body. Also chewed off ears and eaten, apparently gnawed on body parts need to be described.

Orcs 12 hits, singles, swords, axes, clubs, spears.
Goblins 8 hits singles, as above

Don’t even wait for the party to come into view. You guys are hungry and all this exercise has given you a big appetite, charge! Don’t even give ‘em time to react, no standing off for you guys are almost at berserking point. Those who scatter, chase. A Goblinoid killfest.

The Prophet (Empowered): 12 hits (40 hits Regen 1per 10 seconds. PVM 4. Strength Quad.)
A dead human, a dead elf.
Chalice of blood (special), magic circle, a few severed heads.

This is a ritual circle for the blood of Kali. The Orc has starting drinkin’ it and is empowered with the glory of Grumrush. In a drunken state the Orc rants like a preacher at the player party. Think Jules’ Pulp Fiction or an Evangelist Preacher. The Orc doesn’t attack the party unless they strike at him. As the Prophet rants special effects start happening. This will be dealt with by the ref.
To take away the power from the prophet he must be challenged by another in a test of faith. If a player rants back the merits of their chosen Deity the Prophet takes notice and focuses his preach on the Faithful one. If the faithful is more animate than the Prophet then the Prophet returns to be a normal orc again, who grunts and tries to attack predictably getting slaughtered. The faithful doesn’t have to be a cleric but it helps, and if the Prophet is challenged by multiple people then he loses a lot quicker. This is a reminder of why the orcs are up to no good, ie. The Prophecy.

Woodcutters house, dead body. [A few silver crowns]
Goblinoids 12 hits. doubles. Axes, Spears. Draggin body off, Surprised by the party.
Kobold: 2 hits.

You are in the process of carting off with the dead Woodcutter to the building at Enc 9. When aware of the party you put him down and get ready to fight. You’re defending the body like an animal would, it’s lunch. Also more dead people will create more food so killing the party is pretty high on your list of priorities.

Dead Adventurers (magic amulet) + Ranger (Gaun) [Assorted treasure, the odd mark]
Dead Goblinoids

The adventuers were hounded by the Wargs and their Nightgoblin Masters, pegging it they ran into this bunch and were overwhelmed. The mage isn’t among the dead, but two pairs of heavy tracks lead away from this site followed by more goblinoid tracks and dog- like prints. The Ranger doesn’t have the plans.

Night Goblin: 15 hits, Xbow (Single thru) Sword (doubles). Abs: Haste x1, Shadowshift x2.
Ghouls/Orc: 12 hits, Singles (claws), T Paralyse (occasional)
Orcs: 12 hits, Swords (doubles).
Wargs- 10 hits (mag), triples (claws) strength (triple)
Adventurer, Sword, Injured (right leg -2 left arm -2) Plans [A few marks.]

The adventurer escaped from the goblinoid’s food storage at Encounter Nine but was chased. Initially he’s battling, and evading a Warg. Wait for the party to kill the Warg. They should then be given enough time to talk to the adventurer. He’ll tell the party something strange is happening, the goblinoids have some supply line that is based over the rise (Holdfast). If asked about the mage Eris he tells them that he and Eris ran for it but he doesn’t know what happened to the Mage. The adventurer was given the plans by the Ranger and told to run. He will give them to the party without argument.
If the Adventurer survives the next bit then cool. Take the PC’s to the next encounter. Remember you’re a hero so do stupidly heroic things. We’ll kill you then.
Don’t let the adventurer talk for too long before the Night goblin, ghouls, orcs & the other Warg arrives and attacks. The Ghouls can be turned by clerics.

Encounter Nine [Refs description of the bodies in the building, smell of flesh + stuff]

Demon of Mammon/Troll: 25 hits (Regen 1per 15 secs), Triples,(Spirit) Soulblade (special).
Abs- PVM2 x2, Famine x2, Devour x1.
Warg- 10 (magic) hits (doubles).
Orc/Ghouls (orc masks) 15 hits, singles touch paralyse x1.

The shaman of the tribe speaks with demons and his pact with Mammon the Devourer is the reason for all this cannibalism. When the party arrive they have interrupted your eating and you are mighty peeved. The orcs hiss like ghouls and if you drop a character you can’t help but to start eating bits of them(but for no serious damage). In actuality the Demon is the Sword which has devoured and replaced the spirit of the Troll who wields it. Consequently the Troll feels no pain and is highly intelligent as the mind of the Demon is controlling it. The first two PVM’s are for the troll to resist fire spells. Remember to shout Resisted NOT No effect. If for some reason the Orc/Ghouls are dispelled they revert into dazed brain dead orcs who are ripe for being slaughtered. The Orc/Ghouls can be turned only by high powered Clerics as they are not completely Ghouls yet, but will make them stop in their tracks a little before continuing as normal.

3 Severed Heads in three flour circles. Sneakily at the sides of the path.
Dodgy Runes scratched in the dirt.

These blessed items where given to the early goblin raiders to block the main path to the fort so that any large force of reinforcements would be held up. Each Head represents a race: Human, Elf and Drow (yes okay I know Drow are elves). These three Heads are placed in slight cover at the sides of the path as a trap. Each Head is surrounded by dull glowing light (flour circle). They face the direction the players will approach them.

As a player approaches the Severed Heads effects happen depending on the PC’s race. The closer they are to their race’s Head the more severe the effects are.

If a PC remains in the area of effect for more than five minutes they start to loose life point every minute.
Any Character who uses abilities to try and bypass the Heads will receive a magical backlash and receive a two point life shock. Unless they are not of the effected races.

• To keep in touch with the theme of the adventure, the Heads can be passed by those who put true faith in their Deity. They will still experience the effects but at a lesser degree allowing them to get past the Heads. Those who decide to suddenly become faithful do not receive any Divine assistance. However the Ref has final say in this for it’ll depend what Deity the New Believer calls upon.
• For those who are amazingly talented, a shot with a crossbow that hits the head will disrupt it’s enchantment for around thirty seconds.
• The surrounding area is covered by thick bind weed (that old chestnut) However those with Pass without Trace can successfully navigate around it as long as they give it a wide berth.
• A fairly hard mage could distrupt the Head’s enchantment for 30 seconds by blasting it with anything from bolt upwards.

Once passed the Heads, a PC may remove the Head of it’s own race. At this point the Head loses it’s enchantment. However any attempt to remove the other Heads will result in a burning pain as they try to touch it.

The Mage: Eris 12 hits, singles, 25 power: Major Ward of Power, Magic Bolt + any spells from levels 1 to 3 that are appropriate.
Scroll of Minor Ward of Power, Robes, dagger [a few marks].
Flour Circle, Chalice (empty).

Eris had been captured and made to drink the blood of Kali. He is fighting for control of his body against Grimaldi. However intervention from the party has stopped this process from becoming irreversible. When Eris is woken he is confused due to the conflict inside. He can recount what has happened (his capture) apart from the blood drinking part and believes they may be too late to get to the Fort. Eris will occasionally suffer from sharp headaches lasting for only a few minutes and will do his best not to attack any Goblinoids due to Grimaldi’s influence. If asked why he isn’t helping he will lie each time. Eris goes with the player party until the end.

Ogre 20 hits, doubles, glaive.
Orcs 12 hits, singles.

You are among the first of the scouts to make it to the fort. It won’t be long before the others arrive. You attack the party from the side.

Nightgoblin 15 hits, single thru (knife), doubles (sword).
Orcs as above
Goblins 8 hits.

You’ve got to the Fort before the party and are in the process of checking it out. You’re caught by surprise. The Nightgoblin in charge decides to try and hold the Fort until the bulk of the tribe can arrive.

Grimaldi Nightgoblin Shaman: 20 hits, Triples (spear). Spells: Venom Bolt x2, Famine x1, Earth Shock x1, Darkbolt x3. PVM 3 x3.
2 Wargs: 15 magic hits. Doubles.
Forest Troll: 20 hits regen 1per 30 seconds.
Night Goblins: 15 hits, single thru (knife), doubles.
Ogre: 25 hits, glaive, (triples)
Orcs (as above)

Part One: The tribe swarms in, only orcs at first streaming from all sides. You’re expected to go down pretty quickly.
Part Two: The Ogre stomps in with some more orcs.
Part Three: A small group of Nightgoblins with Wargs running ahead.
Part Four: Grimaldi, with Troll and Nightgoblin/orc support.

Allow a small pause between each wave so the players can heal up their wounded. No doubt at this time the PC’s will be frantically trying to get Eris to raise the fortifications. At first he will stall and then at a good moment will turn on the players quoting the prophecy in a goblinoid voice. This is the point that he has be taken over by Grimaldi. The players have four options:

• If held down a cleric could exorcise him and purge the evil spirit from his body.
• If he can be made to vomit the blood will be out of his system, he will slowly recover.
• They can kill him. Dumb move this guy is a serious asset to them and can whip up forcewalls to protect the place.
• Kill Grimaldi. If he dies then he can’t challenge for Eris’ body. However the party will have a lot of defending to do before he turns up.

The best option is to exorcise him. If this happens an additional encounter maybe required. By exorcising Grimaldi’s spirit from Eris, Grimaldi is killed outright. When this happens a time freeze must be called and on time in Grimaldi will drop screaming. This will also cause the tribe to flee.
If Grimaldi arrives and they still haven’t dealt with Eris he will be preoccupied with controlling Eris. This means he will not be chucking as many spells and will be protected by his nightgoblins.
Finally if Eris has been dealt with any of the other ways, Grimaldi is at full strength which is not good really!

Rangers/ Adventurers 20 hits (doubles) + whatever extras. You can even play your PCs

Once you’ve died in the last wave, arrive as the reinforcements the Rangers promised and mop up the goblinoids. You’ve just surprised the tribe and gone straight through it’s rear. Once the Rangers have arrived they will pay the party and then offer more money if the party will help take part in the war effort against the Goblinoid tribes. If they say yes then they get to hang with the rangers. Those who don’t can fuck off back to Dellgate. It just gives them something for their PC’s to be doing while they’re monstering at Holdfast.

Grimaldi (dead)

Demon of Mammon: Robed like a leper, fat as you like. Hits: Use stats on Encounter 9.

If the PC’s exorcise Grimaldi from Eris before the Shaman has even arrived on the scene he will be found lying in a clearing dead. As the PC’s investigate a Demon of Mammon will appear from a gaping black void. Walking over to Grimaldi the demon grabs hold of his body and then both disappear into the black void it arrived from. If tangled with before you get a chance to do this, mete out enough damage to make them think again. You are just collecting what’s your master’s. You have no business with anything to do with the party.

Encounter 5: The Prophet

The Prophet has become enlightened with almost a direct spiritual link to Grumrush, therefore the following effects are suggested. A player feels the urge to attack another player of a different race with extreme prejudice. An elf begins to feel weak. Blow a character off their feet, like a holy lightening bolt.
It is up to you to call them when these effects happen but they should try to match with the words of the Prophet.

Godly hints may need to be whispered in this encounter. The players are quite welcome to bypass the Prophet if they wish but it will mean that Grumrush has triumphed spiritually over a number of Gods which in Godly terms is really rather bad! This could also mean that Clerics and Paladin’s Deities get rather pissed off with their follower and perhaps depending on the Deity show it in some way.
It will also be up to you to decide when the Prophet loses his Empowerment.

Encounter Seven: The Ambush

Tracks are important here as they describe the ambush. They show that the party was moving swiftly but ran in to more numbers from the direction they were heading. All but two stopped to fight and those who fight seemed to sacrifice themselves so the two could escape. Dog-like prints follow the two runners. The tracks are a few hours old.

Encounter Eight: The Adventurer

Once again tracks are important. The adventure had been chased through here then he was captured and then he escaped running back the way he came! Also the tracks of Eris the mage should lead towards Vanquasars, because the Adventurer will tell the party to head to Holdfast. This will mean they have to make a decision. If they do decide to skip encounter Nine then lead them to Ten which should hold them up long enough for the monsters to recover.

Encounter 9: The Abattoir

Your job here is to describe the inside of the Building because we won’t have enough monsters to supply enough bodies to eat. The only way in is through the Dragon Hill nearest Entrance. You’ll need to stand here and explain to each player as they enter the stench and scene of gore.

Encounter 10: The Three Severed Heads

This is explained pretty much in the brief. We’ll leave you to ref this so we can set up at the Ranger station. The distance between when the effects start and the distance to the Heads should be a fair way, long enough to make a crossbow shot difficult. The PC’s shouldn’t take too much damage here. It is only a problem if they get stuck in the area of effect. If they take ages, Godly hints are once again prescribed.

Devour: The equivalent of a Darkbolt. The target feels as if their self is being stripped from them.

The Soulblade is actually a demon. The evil weapon slowly works to take over it’s host like a parasite on the Soul. Initially the Soulblade is a +1 magic/spirit sword that is capable of inflicting a Soul Steal* on touch once per adventure. The Soulblade steals life from those it strikes waking the demon inside who then drains the soul of one target to satisfy it’s hunger. However it also drains life from the host at two points per adventure. This sustains the manitous (demon) inside the sword.

Each time the Host uses the Soulblade’s power the Sword start to slowly take control. Each time it’s power is used 1 to 2 points are marked next to the Host’s life. Once the number is equal to the Host’s life the Host starts to loose control with the demon taking over. Voices talk to him and suggest things and the host’s alignment slowly drops. For every two points that go over the hosts life the host loses a life point permanently. Once the number is double the host’s current life the Manitous has completely taken over it’s hosts body and the player is effectively an NPC bad guy with the demons full abs from Encounter 9.

Before all the really horrible things start to happen though the host starts to hear voices in his head mistaking them for his own thoughts. At night he is tormented by the souls that have been consumed by the sword in a torrent of violent nightmares. Also with continual use the Host starts to slowly pale and become gaunt, with sunken eyes slowly appearing as if they are undead.

Another effect is occasionally, if the sword is used to run a dead man through, the dead body is infused by the Soulblade and becomes undead usually a Zombie bent on revenge for being trapped in the sword.

The more the host uses the Soulblade the firmer the grip the Demon inside has over them. This means that they will not see what is happening to them and not give the sword up just like the Ring in ‘Lord of the Rings’. A remove curse will allow the user to see what they have become giving them the opportunity to get rid of the sword. Also the demons control over the host can be cast out by exorcising the Wielder. This would need to be done by very devout priests.

However just like a demon, the sword cannot be destroyed. A powerful mage could banish the sword or if it is destroyed physically it’ll unleash a explosion of magic most probably draining the essence of everything in it’s surroundings before vanishing back to the abyss. The only other option is to throw it away and hope no one finds it. Anyone who uses the sword, starts to crave it. If it was taken by a member of the party the original host would kill to get it back and the new user wouldn’t be too quick in giving it up either.

*Soulsteal- a touch based attack that inflicts the equivalent of a Spirit Strike. On PC’s it’s 10 life damage. On monsters it’s ten hits worth of damage unlike Spirit bolt+ which halves a monsters hitpoints. This Spell has to have the ability to kill low level monsters outright.

NB Using the Blade to kill players should incur more possession points against the wielders life. Especially if the Player was a Goody Hero type.

During the Orc ritual the chalice was infused with divine magic. When blood is drunk from the chalice the drinker becomes immune to the blood of the race they’ve drunk from. So if the drinker drinks elven blood they are immune to elves & their abilities for 30 seconds. For this to work the blood must be fresh and pure. This means that blood cocktails will not have any effect.

However drinking blood is not a healthy habit and quickly the drinker starts to become more violent and irritable. At the referees discretion they can order the player to berserk at any moment where they must attack whoever is nearest or who is irritating them. They will attack their own party as well as any monsters without no distinction between the two. If the Player continues this dark practice they will have found they have started to get a craving for human flesh and feel an urge to eat any bodies they slay. Quickly the player will slowly start to resemble a ghoul and unless they are saved they will turn into one and then go mad attacking and trying to feed on whoever they come across. A sorry end indeed!

This holy relic of Serrin was forged out of Holy energy and then bound into a physical form. The amulet allows anyone whether holy or not to turn away undead by holding the relic out and commanding the unnatural creature(s) back. If the amulet is used by one of faith then the scope of what they can turn is increased. To those of an evil or dodgy alignment the amulet feels uncomfortable and prickly.

This protects the wearer’s Soul from attack by unnatural creatures. It halves the damage from any sprit based attack rounding up. This is the reason that Eris managed to resist Grimaldi for so long.

General

One of the themes of this adventure is Faith. The players are putting their faith in their Deities against that of Grumrush and the Prophecy. Also the Exorcising of evil plays an important part in this adventure. Therefore hints for those Devoute Clerics who pray should follow along these lines such as : The evil rot must be purged. Wear your faith my child and other such Melodrama.
Also when PC’s pray they should receive something almost everytime.
Hopefully this will enable the players to get through the later encounters correctly.

Cloaks x2, LongSwords x5, Orcs x6, Hoods as many as poss. Spears x2, Kagonesti x1Furs x2, Axes x2, Goblins x3
Robes x2, ShrtSword x2, Kobold x1, Shaman Robes x1, Xbow x1, Wargs x2, Tunics, Kag Champion Sword x1, NightGoblins x4, Brown leather jerkins, Daggers x2, Forest Troll x1, New orc gear. Glaive x1, Ogre x1, Bone weapons. Demon x1.

Ranger Warrants x3, Plans, Crappy map, Chalice x2, Severed heads x3, Flour, Amulet, Scroll of Minor Wall of Power, Ring, Treasure, Red liquid (Ribena) for the Chalice.

Howdy Ref, tracks come into play quite a bit in this adventure and although I sure you’re capable of working it out on the fly this should provide it quickly regarding the more specific details rather than general track stuff. You don’t have to refer to it precisely, just get the gist and adapt as needed.