The Missing Children

By early September, our heroes had cleared out the last few forgotten corners of the Sunless Citadel. Once again, all was quiet in Great Rock. Even the youthful characters’ “nemesis,” Brosen Silanus the local bully, troubled them no more. Perhaps shamed by the PCs’ newfound power and notoriety, Brosen slipped away quietly one cold October night, not even leaving a note.

Days later, Jonathan Stokes, captain of the guard, approached the young Duran, a look of concern in his eyes. Explaining that his 16-year-old daughter, Tess, hadn’t returned home the night before, he asked Duran if he and his friends might help find her. Readily agreeing, Duran gathered Aethelred, Druga, and Seth to help in the search.

The four quickly tracked down the boyfriend of young Tess, a local farmboy named Feargus Gray. The strapping lad claimed to know nothing of Tess’ disappearance, noting that he last saw her the previous evening when they parted not far from his home. Upon further questioning, Feargus admitted that they had argued, and that Tess had refused his offer of a walk to her home.

Druga’s tracking skills quickly located the girl’s trail, only for the trail to disappear shortly after it broke from the farmboy’s tracks. Equally mysterious was the set of hoofprints that seemed to appear in the vicinity of Tess’ trail and then head north and around the town.

Fearing a kidnapping—but mystified as to where these hoofprints came from, as no such trail led to the spot, only away from it—the characters headed north on foot in hot pursuit, knowing that they were at least 12 hours behind, if not more.

After losing the trail in the woods, the characters headed up the coast to the nearby city of Stormpoint to hunt for more clues. They soon met another interested party, Lieutenant Amanda Healy of the city guard. Apparently, Stormpoint had also experienced a rash of disappearances lately, from outlying farm families completely going missing to fishermen plucked from their very boats. Rumors of mysterious red-sailed ships in the region fueled rumors of something dark and evil: the last such ships were seen some twenty years ago, when a slave organization known as the Scarlet Sails operated in the area with little resistance from local officials (who were themselves recovering from the long Second Goblin War). Could the disappearance in Great Rock be part of a larger scheme?

The PCs’ questioning brought some unwelcome attention, as well. That night, they were ambushed by a thug who found the youths more competent than he had expected. After his defeat, the characters questioned the man (named Alasdair Waddell) as to his involvement. They learned that Alasdair and his brother Patrick worked as hired muscle for a man named Maximilian Varro, who was holed up in a half-ruined outpost in the hills near Stormpoint. What’s more, Varro was responsible for the kidnappings in Great Rock. Kidnappings? Yes, all three of them. Due to be sacrificed any day now.

Realizing that they had indeed stumbled onto more than they had expected, the PCs quickly located Varro’s lair, an ancient elven guard post built into the side of a hill. Dispatching the creatures guarding the area, the heroes soon found themselves in conflict with Varro—who turned out to be a cleric of the Dark God, Seth—and his right-hand men, a rogue named Sean Morgan and a sorcerer from the east named Ennius (who had used a wand of mount to create horses to make the fast getaway from Great Rock). Though the characters defeated the cleric’s minions, Varro himself escaped through a secret exit and fled east toward Helmsport, the capital of the province.

Thankfully, the PCs found all three of Varro’s captives alive, including Tess Stokes, Emory Fitzgrey (first encountered during the PCs’ very first adventure), and the missing bully himself, Brosen Silanus! They also discovered an unfinished letter from Varro, explaining that he “would henceforth be acquiring his stock via alternative methods.” The PCs left only a single door, sealed with magic and scribed with dark runes, unopened.

The characters looked upon this latest adventure with mixed feelings. Certainly, they had rescued three innocent youths from death on a dark altar, but they had also gained an enemy—one who would not soon forget his defeat at the hands of four upstart adventurers.

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