Highway, Bloody Highway
Note: This is a simple one-session brigand adventure with a few battles and some investigation. It's best if the players are a bit combat experienced and know a wilderness skill or two. If the brigands are a bit too though then insert a few more NPC's. The placement of the adventure is not relevant. I placed mine in Kanday in/near Heroth castle. Look out for that bird and enjoy!
Late on a inn somewhere...
The PC's has just had their late ales and are about to turn in for the night when the door opens and a bearded man tumbles to the floor. He is wet due to the heavy rains outside and his breathing is hard and not regular. The innkeeper will probably shriek at the sight and the players will probably reach for the man to see what ill's him. He will when helped up, cough blood and hold himself on his stabbed and wounded chest. He'll grab the nearest PC and mumble:
Brigands... too many... to the south.... Slew me master... all the goods... dead... 'elp 'im... urghhhhh....
He dies with those words. If examined closer the players will find some evidence that he is a teamster. A whip, some horse food and a faint smell of manure is all what this man has on his person except for his clothes. At this time the innkeeper will send one of his apprentices to the nearest noble or official to warn them of what has happened. If the PCs decide to look for themselves and do not wait for any authorities then they must do so at once. It won't take long for the mob or whatever force the GM want's to send out, is assembled. Whatever the decision the noble in charge will interrogate the PC's while traveling to the scene of the crime. He will not take no for an answer...
At the place where the robbery took place they will find the following; A dead soldier with two arrows buried deep within his torso, a wrecked wagon and the naked mercantyler bleeding from his skull. There is no sign of any beasts of burden or any goods. If the PCs examine the wagon they'll find nothing. The dead soldier lacks any real armor and the naked mercantyler is not dead. He is breathing and after a short while he will open his eyes and whisper in the nearest PCs ear (the GM can guide the players if they are traveling to the scene with the mob, with the command of the noble You peasant... search that man or something like that) and say:
Damn those scum... they took everything... my wine and wool.... gone... argh... take it back... I'll give you each two shillings... argh... and one fourth of the cargo... please... argh...
After that the mercantyler pass out from his wound, which is not fatal, only serious. He will survive if the players or the mob helps him. Searching the place for tracks in the middle of the night in heavy rain will not give the party any information unless a CS is rolled on tracking skill. If that happens or the players return the day after, they will find a temporary camp with windshields and a campfire, some hundred yards from the road where the robbery took place. This is as far as they get the day after or in the night. The rest of the tracks have rained away. The mob, and hopefully the players, will return with the wounded mercantyler and his dead mercenary. The mercantyler is given shelter in a room at the inn where the Players are staying. A physician is sent after to help the him.
The Day after...
The morning after the horrible deed one of the PC's will find a note slipped under the door. It's a vellum scroll and says (if the PCs can't read let the innkeeper know how):
It has gone too far. He said no killings. Stop him, please, I beg of you. To find the cutthroats seek the pretender for a hideworker, of the village (GM's choice) and force him to tell the truth. He knows of them and of their hideout. From a friend.
If the players ask who has entered the inn after they went to bed the innkeeper will remember a certain young boy entering the inn early in the morning. He has never seen the boy but gives a description that he might have been around 15 years of age and he was blond. He was dressed as a peasant. That's all the innkeeper has to tell the PCs. Searching the settlement will provide no clues about the boy what so ever.
Note: I used the apothecary in Heroth as the writer of the letter. It is meant to be that the PCs never finds out who wrote the letter. The peasant was paid by the apothecary to deliver the letter and run home fast as lightning. The GMs who prefer that the players might find the writer of the letter may do so. What he or she may have to do with the story is their idea.
If the players travel to the village where the hideworker is living they will find him in conversation with the lord of the manor. The PCs can hear words from the hideworker such as:
My lord such a fine steed.... I have made a small leather tunic for your son... Milord are great indeed...
The lord, encouraged by those words, may be overheard boasting:
My loyal subject... This sword fought in the Ezar's war (or some other fight)... A tunic well how nice...
The players should get the picture of an ass-licking hideworker and a proud lord who protects his underlings. If the hideworker is confronted and accused when the knight is present he will probably go mad over such false accusations. The hideworker will of course deny and seek aid from his; lord. The PCs will probably be chased away from the land belonging to the knight. If there is a knight or any other noble amongst the PCs the lord will be polite. He will tell them that he has a watchful eye over his subjects and they are not up to any mischief. The one who told the PCs of the hideworker schemes must be out of his mind. Further provocation might lead into a duel... Lord Greigor is no fool even if that's the expression the players might get. In any case while it's daylight and the knight is present the PC will have a hard time getting to talk to the hideworker, even if they approach him after the knight and he has had their conversation. He will at any sign of hostility run for help at the manor or scream if necessary. If the players grab him by night he will only confess (see The Truth... below) under torture. The only thing they will find out if approached normally is that the hideworker is named Kastil of Haerba.
If the players search for the nearest guildmaster of the Hideworkers Guild or the nearest Mangai they will find that there is no hideworker in these parts named Kastil or in any other large settlement. They will even get a letter confirming this. If that letter is showed to the lord of the manor where the hideworker has his establishment, he will ride to the hideworker's house and confront him. Kastil will deny again and say that the note is a false one (the best rhetoric roll will convince the lord) and smooth talk his lord. The outcome will depend on the discussion. In any case if the players tell the lord to accompany him to the Mangai or Guildmaster, he will. He will also command Kastil to follow. Of course Kastil will panic and try to flee into the woods. He is rather slow and will not go far however. When caught or if the lord has been persuaded, continue to The Truth...
The Truth...
Kastil is the younger brother of the cutthroat leader and has his establishment due to some fine loot he bought it for. He has forged the guildspaper needed and uses his house to store some food and drink for his brother and the gang (picked up late at night). The leader of the gang is named Borbat and is suffering from a mild psychopathy, making him a rather dangerous man. He is prone to violence and prefers to see his victims dead before leaving the place of the assault. Borbat is feared by most of his men and they obey his every command. He is of course rather generous to them and treats them fairly well. Getting stabbed in the back from a companion lies not is his area of interest. The cutthroat leader has no future visions and takes every day as it comes. The band consists of Borbat, his mistress Thargia , the cunning Slagga the archer, three peasants and two mercenaries, light foot forced into poverty.
If and when Kastil is forced to tell the truth he will reveal where the brigands camp are. If the PCs tell the local authorities they will be paid a smaller reward and a small force will be assembled to destroy the band stalking in the woods. Unfortunately for the players they will not be permitted to participate in this raid. The noble in charge does not trust any fortune seekers. Besides he might find something valuable that he decides to keep, and with the PCs running around, that chance might be forfeit. If the players decide to get the aid of Lord Greigor that holds the village where the hideworking has his home, they will have better luck. The knight only seeks the honor to defeat the scum that lies lurking in the woods of his domain. He will aid the PCs with a light foot yeoman and himself, a heavy horse.
The camp is located about a mile from the nearest settlement hidden behind streams and thick dense forest. Getting there without the aid of Kastil is almost impossible.
The Camp...
The base where the brigands operate from is made of timber. Two cabins of serf standard are set in a 45 degree bent line. They have no windows but only window shutters made of plain wood. Between the cabins there is a fireplace with two long benches. If the players arrive at day these are occupied with one to two peasant guards. There is a thirty percents chance that Borbat, Slagga, one mercenary and one peasant will be robbing near the road a league from the camp. If they arrive at night there will be at least three men at the lit fireplace. The players do not have to be extremely cautious, because no one expects an assault this far from civilization. If any alarm or fight breaks out the rest of the brigands will come storming out with their weapons ready. Greigor will not try to stalk into camp and will not listen to any hunter nonsense. He will charge into the camp and expects the players to do the same. If the players and the knight are defeated they can count on a slow and painful death that includes; being skinned alive, branding and heavy flogging. If the brigands are defeated on the other hand the players will find the following in the cabins; the mercantyler's cargo (wool, wine, parchment etc. worth 1d6+3 x250d) other smaller goods (rope, shovels etc.), ale, food (mostly dried), a locked chest (key is on Borbat) with 1d3 x100d + 1d100d in mixed coinage (Aleath and Coranan mostly) some smaller jewelry and some fine clothes, a couple of spare weapons and arrows, a mysterious book (either a grimore or a treasure book) and a blood stained lute (taken from a bard).
The PCs will also find out that Thargia will hide in one of the cabins (roll for stealth) and wait until the battle outside is over. If the players are victorious she will wait, tears running, for the nearest character (roll for awareness) and try to kill him/her. She'll berserk after the first attack. If the noble survived he will insist that the brigands be hanged, including Thargia, in the forest at the site. And only leave one alive for transportation to nearest royal official. If the PCs protest over such a brutal maneuver, Greigor will remind them that one cutthroat will not be able to harm them, but several alive might. He will also try to arrange for the goods to be transported back and will not let the players take what does not belong to them. Any coins or smaller jewelry is fine, but not the goods and other items of importance. When the players return to the inn and the settlement they will after a couple of days receive their reward from the mercantyler. They will also get three shillings each from the nearest bailiff of the hundred for a work well done. Unless they prefer to keep all for themselves whereby some strange bounty hunters will arrive...
More...
If the GM feels like it he can let Slagga slip away after shooting a few arrows. He is very smart and is probably the real power behind Borbat. He can emerge in any future adventure the GM seems fit to place him in. Also if a GM needs stats, download the Military article. Treat Borbat as a yeoman MF (+10 and +1), Slagga as a yeoman SB (+15 and +2). The rest will have the same values as the stats say. Thargia is treated like a guildsman. Hope there aren't too many fatalities....
Patrick Nilsson September 1997