Solo session - The lost daughter
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Some background
I have ported a few things from several zines, old modules and other sources into the Border Baronies, to ease my own workload. One of these things was the Abbey of St Clewd, from the Wormskin zines that were made for the Dolmenwood setting (link missing because necrotic Gnome took down the drivethru links because of their kickstarter). I altered the dungeon fairly severely, but I tremendously enjoyed the Gloam as a creature, so I left it in the upstairs bit.
A group of PCs has gone to the Abbey before, though they left the Bell tower alone, and only inspected the first dungeon room before a near-death experience with ghouls drove them out. However, they vowed to return, and next Tuesday they finally will, after a near month long hiatus in the campaign.
That's not to say that time stood still though. I run the Border Baronies on real time; for each day in real life a day passes in the Border Baronies. And one of the players is running a faction besides his characters. The Dixons, a family of magically inclined nobility that pride themselves of being descended from the 'best' son of Atrius. Regardless, he said he wanted that family to throw a lavish party in their domains to showcase their wealth to the rest of the baronies in the area. One of the other barons he invited was Baron Elspeth. He arrived a few days early, and wished an audience with Henricus Dixon, the head of the family. He told Henricus that his daughter had gone missing, and in spite of his best efforts his household guards had not been able to find her as of yet. He was asking Henricus for help in locating her.
The player said that there was one Jamalkus Dixon, who knew a spell that could help locate the poor girl. All they wanted in exchange was the Velvet Sceptre, an artifact held by the Society of the Rose, who reside in a castle on Baron Elspeth's grounds. He hemmed and hawed, saying that the Rose never gave up magical artifacts, but eventually he acceded to these demands; he would bring the sceptre when his daughter was returned safely to him.
After the party Jamalkus went with Baron Elspeth to his lands, and from there rode out with a small contingent of knights from Elspeth's household to find the poor girl.
Now, I knew I wanted Elspeth's daughters to be one of the children becharmed by the Gloam. And this was an interesting turn of events. It is also something that need to play out before the session, since these knights would arrive well before the party at the Abbey. So I decided to cash in on the solo RPG train and run a small session by myself.
I rolled up an NPC party using BX rules, and so we had:
- Jamalkus Dixon. Third level Magic User
- Ides of the Household Guard. Second level Fighter.
- Douwe Elspeth, second son of Baron Elspeth. Second level fighter carrying a +1 sword, +3 vs Dragons. An old family heirloom for which I'm sure to write up a small bio before the game.
- Sergeant Gerhard. A third level fighter, given a scroll of Protection from Undead from the sacristy by the Baron himself.
- Brother Levien, cleric of St. Alberic, who carries a scroll with the spell bless.
- Hidde the Huntsman, a third level thief.
Other things I used: my imagination, my maps, but also importantly: OSR Solo, a solo RPG oracle I enjoy using, and frequently even apply to non-solo games.
Onto the session
The party left the manor of Baron Elspeth and his wife with both of their blessings, and a mission: bring me back my lost daughter Margrite. Six men rode out, and Jamalkus slowly and with some minor detours led them straight to the Dimwoud. A large forest on the border between Elspeth's lands and those of the Brown Baron. They entered, deciding not to pay visit to the druids. They were on a mission given to them by their liege. Jamalkus led them to the ruins of an old Abbey, and the party left their horses behind at the old wall, not wishing for them to panic by anything inside. They wished to travel light and fast, so brought only riding horses, and no destriers.
They entered the grounds, and saw a ghostly apparition walking near the crumbled chapel. Levien approached it, holy symbol in hand and beseeched the ghost to tell whether or not it had seen Margrite.
Their loud voices however had stirred something inside the tower. An old man hobbled out and asked them who they were. At the sight of the man Levien sees the ghost dissipate, but any train of thought is pushed out of his mind by Douwe proudly announced himself and telling the man they're seeking a young girl. He describes Margrite and commands the old man to tell whether or not he has seen her. The old man thinks for a moment and then says he has seen her. She'd come here a while back and she was unresponsive to questions. He tells them she's in the tower and he'll gladly lead them to her for her to be returned to her parents.
The group is happy to follow him. However, as they enter the tower the man changes shape. He takes the shape of a tall, gaunt man, made from feathers, bones and beaks of crows. It attacks and wounds Hidde. Jamalkus hoofs it out, screaming that the thing can have the girl and he wants nothing to do with it. However, the five men sworn to bring back Margrite stay and fight. The thing however seems tough and resistant to most attacks. Gerhard and Levien make their way past the thing up the stairs while Ides, Douwe and Hilde stay behind to fight the monster.
Douwe does a solid hit with his sword, the magic searing the thing. The Gloam understands Douwe is a major danger dangerous. The two who went upstairs will have to try to get past him on their way down, so he tears poor Douwe limb from limb. The screams are heard throughout the tower, and the children stay up and hide. Upstairs Levien and Gerhard see the children. As the three kids attempt to dart past them Levien is able to grab Margite while Gerhard takes out his scroll of protection from undead. and casts it.
As the other kids flee out Levien and Gerhard come down. The four, with Margrite under Levien's arm, form a tight cluster inside the protective circle. They start walking out towards the horses. It's a 150 feet to the horses, and the party doesn't see the Gloam follow at first, but then they see a host of ghostly crows bursting out from the door and before they can get to them it. Miraculously the horses rear and stomp but manage not to panic entirely.
As the party gets to the horses they manage to calm them down and saddle up, leaving Douwe's poor horse behind. They ride out knee to knee with a flock of crows following them. They stick to the roads though, and soon the crows are left behind. They ride throughout the night, leaving the curses Abbey far behind. But in the morning not all is well. Poor Ides is coughing up blood and is looking deadly sick, and Hidde's veins stand out black against his skin around where the Gloam had hurt him. Furthermore, poor Margritte seems to be out of it. She couldn't stop raving about how she was fine where she was, and that she can't leave the 'Voddenman' and the two other children. She demands to be taken back. At one point she even attempted to escape and run back, though with the horses she was quickly ridden down and restrained.
The Aftermath
It wasn't even a week after coming back that poor Ides died of the death rot, and it seems soon Hidde will join him in a pyre. Baron Elspeth and his wife now grieve the loss of ason, while their daughter has been locked up in a tower. They've been unable to reason with her, and after two more escape attempts they decided it was for the best until they manage to break this charm on her. Jamalkus found his way back to Dixon lands a week after, covered in mud and having to have survive on near nothing. He scolds his nephew for sending him on a mission like this and doesn't leave his chambers for three weeks.
Meanwhile at the abbey there is a newsight. Over the ruined gate hangs a new decoration; a strange skeleton. The bottom half seems to be a horse, but where the horse's head ought to be instead is the torso of a person. This skeletal centaur hangs in the air, his teeth removed, and a sword shoved through the skull down into the ribcage. The hollow sounds of bone clicking against bone fills the air as pieces move in the wind.