Lost Lakes: The Stolen Poet
Feast of the Hunt
Following the death of Ser Wess of Caragon, a great hunt ensued to slay the griffon which took his precious life.
The hunters returned with the griffon's head and young in tow, and a feast was held in celebration.
During the feast, a visiting warrior poet, Jan [Pronounced Yan] the Joyful sang and made merry, so merry that when he awoke from his drinking and singing, he found himself in the back of a cart, pulled by the donkey of two treasure hunters.
Ill-fated Thieves
"We'll use the poet to go first, springing any traps, drawing the attention of beasts. You and I will stay in the back."
But Jan's spirit would not be embittered, "Gentleman! If you'd only asked, I would have agreed wholeheartedly to such a plan. Where are we delving?"
And soon the three went along into the forest, the two thieves following their map, Jan keeping a careful eye out.
Buzzing drew the poet's ears, and the three saw hound-sized hornets clinging to the trees. "This is the way the map leads!" The first thief argued, "But surely we can find the trail again, this is death!"
Jan offered a plan, "I knew a man who kept bees. He would burn green leaves to quiet the little beasts. Something similar may work here as well." And the plan did work, until Jan spied red honey dripping from the walls above. The hornets kept their distance, but as Jan climbed and scooped some of the precious honey for himself, the hornets decided to brave the smoke.
Jan took a stinger to the side, and poison filled his veins. He clung to delirious consciousness only long enough to eat the red honey, spread it in his wounds, and feel the jostling of the cart as the thieves raced north into the woods.
From Hornets to Hard Folk
Jan woke once again, bound and aching. A scarred woman's face glared down at him. "You are the guest of Hildson, heir of the goddess. Do you come to serve us, or hunt us?"
The poet gathered up his knowledge of the old gods, Hild the Warrior, Beoth the Gardener, Kwil the Builder, and sang a fresh rhyme of their soon to rise glory, brought anew by Hildson their servant.
This song so impressed the woman that she brought the bandit chief to Jan, and the poet was soon enlisted in a quest to retrieve the goddess's ancient artifact: the axe she wielded to split the land and sky.
Though a great snake waylaid them on their short journey, it took only the life of a bandit, and Jan survived to see the ancient tomb.
Into Darkness
Into the earth they went, past skulls marked with the sign of the axe, until they came to a branching path, and a red candelabra.
Jan lit the flames of the candles, and in their red light secret sigils shone. Jan chose the path of the boot over the path marked with a skull, and came to a great chasm, where the flames once again illuminated secret stepping stones across the depths.
They came to a great statue of Hild, and behind it, a tunnel reeking of death, leading down into the earth.
I will not darken the light of day with descriptions of the horror they fought there. Though none died in that darkness, the woman Iveen's scars may never fully heal.
But beyond the horror was found a lake of clear water, and a great axe gleaming with the power of the gods.
Hildson took it in his hands, and spoke with reverence.
"With this, Caragon is mine."
Today was a fun game! Only one player was able to make it, but agreed to try out a duet game.
Since this was a new player, I rolled on the big list of "where does the party start" and got the "captured by enemies" result.
Once again, I've found the hexes give both direction and freedom. I know what's out there, I know what people are up to and interested in, and I know what's over the hills and through the woods.
The players can do whatever they like. And while our poet did decide to go along with the thieves, I can see an evening where he instead ran from them, attacked them, etc.
I'm not sure if I would feel the same "mastery" of a hexcrawl I hadn't made myself. Perhaps if I'd studied it well enough, and that might be less work than making it myself.
For now, I'm enjoying this campaign, and the freedom it offers at the table. Screen. Whatever.
If this sounds like a game you'd like to join, send me a message! It's an open table. We play on Monday nights at 5:30 PST.