Lost Lakes: Treasure Hunting
Spreading the Word
Hildson, now empowered with the Axe of his goddess, sends Jan south again to spread word and warning. Return to the old ways, for their chosen is swiftly returning.
A Treasure Map
But Jan also carries back to Caragon the old treasure map his captors carried. And, hearing the name "Saskia" mentioned time and again, finds the fresh hero drinking and enjoying her fame in a small tavern.
Surely one success should lead to another? The two begin preparations to seek out the marked treasure.
View from a Castle
The next day, Saskia and Jan hired a handful of rough men, bought a pair of horses, and set out along the backroad north.
But the backroad runs by an occupied fort, and they stop in to gather rumors. Fenil, the old commander of the fort, is grateful to have such a renowned warrior as Saskia within his walls, and tells them of the old battlefield to the north, and the wizard's tower that fell into the canyon in the Northwest.
Hearing tell of a broken wizard's tower, and people living in constant bleakness around where it fell, the pair change course.
Heads Lost, Heads Removed
Their road ran by a headless statue. A woman bearing a hoe in one hand and a sack of seeds in the other.
"Beoth" Jan realized, the gardener. One of the old gods.
The heroes investigated the statue, and found signs of recent damage around the neck, a divot in the ground, and wagon tracks leading north. The vandalism of the old goddess was fresh.
"Though you do not have ears to hear me," Jan said, "In your honor I will free the people of the canyon from the curse that has fallen on them."
The party thought themselves safe in the goddess's shadow, but wet, gurgling things stole up from the river to the west, and attacked in the night. Skeletons wrapped in jelly-like flesh.
Saskia took a great wound, but with the help of their hired hands, they severed the monsters' heads, stilling them for good.
A Seller of Tales
On the road north into the canyon, they met a fellow named Midge, who traded stories of the old gods for a statuette Jan had pocketed in Hildson's camp. Saskia bought a glowing globe from the bookseller, a wrathful spirit caught in glass.
Grey-Skyed Village
Finally, they came to Kwilon, a poor village of boney-ribbed youths lead by a deaf old man. A constant dark cloud hung over the village, and its fields lay limp and grey, too long without full sun.
Though Jan preached of the faithfulness of the old gods, the people would not hear it. "Silver words, but hollow." And come the morning, the party was driven away from the little town.
Jan spit on the ground before leaving. "Had I not sworn to save you, I would strike you down."
Referee Notes
Hexploration continues to be fun!
My hex-keys are more "prompt-like" than fully fleshed out ideas, and I jot down new notes in those hexes as things come up. I'm regularly surprised by my players' actions, but never feel "lost" about what they would be encountering.
And the story grows in the telling.
Themes deepen, and things get weird.
Saskia's wound has healed, but it's healed strangely. Surely there's no cause for concern.