The Ruins of Duskwood
NPCs
Pop - Adam’s father and the constable of Windshire.
Henry - One of the rangers of the town. He also turns out to be something else.
Wallace - A boy slightly older than Adam who also is part of the patrol.
Gregor - Pop’s second in command.
Olif - The town’s priest, a cleric of Boldrei.
Witch of the Wild - A hermit who lives deep in the forest and knows of medicinal herbs.
Selendra - Noble of Karrnath and leader of a cell of Emerald Claw agents attempting to recover an artifact from the ruins near Windshire.
Laramir - Elite Knight of the Order of the Emerald Claw. Selendra’s second.
Francis d’Cannith - A dragonmarked heir, direct descendant of the Cannith who built this ruin, kidnapped by the Emerald Claw and being used to activate a door mechanism for the ruins’ vault [only possible with her blood].
Story
Adam is the son of the constable for the small town of Windshire located on the Western border of Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches. Windshire sits on the edge of the Duskwood, a deep forest. Adam is coming home from early dawn hunting.
It’s early winter, enough to be cold but only frigid when the wind is blowing hard. Occasionally, the sky will sprinkle some snowflakes.
Lindsay is sitting inside a cell, awaiting transfer to the Fairhaven maximum security prison.
Rumors spread of strange people in the Duskwood.
Scene 1:
Adam is out hunting (or doing something pertaining to his class) and is traveling through the forest back to Windshire and his home. He encounters a man, named Henry, who he knows as a one of the townsfolk who works for his dad. He’s always seemed weird. Henry stops and hassles him for being out in the woods alone.
“The Witch of the Wild will catch you and make a soup out of you.”
Scene 2:
Adam arrives home, it’s still early in the morning and his father, whom everyone calls Pop, is shaving. He wonders if Adam caught anything while he was out and warns him to be careful going out into the wilderness by himself. Pop mentions Adam getting old enough to one day wield his grandfather’s weapon, held aloft above the hearth on hooks. As they are chit-chatting, Pop’s right hand man, Gregor, knocks on the door. Gregor has come because there are reports of strange looking people in the forest. Pop tells Gregor to summon Henry and Wallace for a patrol to investigate.
Scene 3:
Pop and Adam arrive at the constable’s office. There is a woman lying on a wooden bench in a cell. This is Lindsay. She’s been arrested for some reason and is awaiting transfer to a larger jail in Fairhaven. (Hopefully, she can convince Adam to release her in exchange for helping him, because outside of these two, there are little in the way of adventurers.)
Gregor, Henry and Wallace show up on horseback and Pop tells Adam to wait here until it is time for the morning service to Boldrei, the Sovereign of Community and Safety, and he should be back shortly.
Scene 4:
The day continues on, and Olif the Cleric gives his sermons for Boldrei. He comes back with Adam to the constable office but there is no word from Pop or the others. Either Adam needs to go investigating, or eventually Pop ride into town barely conscious and fall off his horse.
Scene 5:
If Adam goes looking for Pop, he finds him sure enough lying in the dirt on a hillside. The others have been brutally slain and Henry is missing. Pop tells them they spotted the strangers but were ambushed. Henry is missing, presumably taken captive by the strangers. And, Pop is in dire condition. Olif says, the only thing that can save him is the Kaleidoscope Lotus, a rare flower said to only grow in the part of the forest where the Witch of the Wild lives.
This is only partly true. The Witch used to trade with Olif before she was dubbed evil by the church because she wouldn’t share the flower with a dying noble from Fairhaven. Orders came down from the head of the church and Olif was forced to dub her so. Now, Olif cannot make healing potions without the flower and the church suffers for it.
Scene 6:
Witch of the Wild - This is more of a detour, because the witch actually gets the lotus plant from some ruins nearby. The witch tells anyone who comes to her that she’ll reveal the location where she gets her flowers if they head into the deepest part of the forest and retrieve something that was stolen from her by the toad men; that would be her staff. If they do this, the Witch gives them each a medallion that can be worn. She tells them it will protect them from the spirits in the ruins.
Toad Men - The toad men are bullywugs who have taken up residence near a mosquito covered pond. There’s a small island in the center of it and what looks like a tiny structure on it’s peak. The bullywugs are lazy and really don’t want any part of a fight. They are willing to negotiate if communication is possible. They’d really just like some food. Perhaps an alligator or something.
Tracking Strangers - It’s easy enough to track the strangers through the forest. Most of them appear to be wearing heavier armor and they didn’t seem concerned with hiding their trail. Arrogance? Probably. Following the trail leads to a deeper part of the forest Adam hasn’t been to before, in fact, it’s been off limits for any of the younger residents to travel out here. The trail leads to a bluff that opens up into a ravine with a clearing. It looks like there is some sort of ancient ruin below in the ravine. Tents and canopies are set up outside the ruin in a camp. There are banners flying around the camp, depicting a green hand with claws. Adam notices some people coming out of the largest and most colorful tent, a blonde woman in black leather armor and a ruby red cloak (Selendra), a powerful looking knight in heavy plate and a green cloak (Laramir), several other guards and Henry.
Henry and the woman exchange words and a handshake and then Henry goes off to a smaller tent on the outskirts of the camp. The woman leads the men over to the ruins and then disappears into them.
Ruins - Henry can be confronted, but he’s just going to lie and say he’s being held captive. He says he’s sorry about Pop and just wants to go back to yesterday when he was sitting at home with his creamed cabbage pie and warm blankets. He says he doesn’t know much about what’s going on here. That is, until he can alert the guards. Henry is actually the local contact for the excavators here. He’s been paid to make sure no local authorities interrupt the digging. And, Pop almost did just that. So, Henry alerted them and helped set up an ambush. He led them right into it.
There are only a few Emerald Claw guards at the camp. Most of them have already headed down into the ruins with Selendra and Laramir.
In The Ruins
Once in the ruins, men’s screams can be heard from deep within. If the party has the medallions the witch gave them, they should be fine. Otherwise, they’ll have to deal with the same creatures causing these men to scream.
However, they are ambushed first. Some Emerald Claw soldiers have been left to guard the entrance.
After defeating these guys, moving forward they encounter Selendra and Laramir. They are both disheveled and confused looking. A young girl, maybe 15 or 16 years of age is with them too; her name is Francis d’Cannith, an obvious noble of a dragonmarked house based on her signet ring. She doesn’t look like she is here of her free will (hands tied and all). There are bodies on the ground. Emerald Claw soldiers that look like their veins have been turned black and skin cold, pale and dead looking. Selendra tells them of the dark spirits here and offers to compromise - if they are allowed to go deeper into the ruins and retrieve the artifact they seek, they will help Adam find his flower to save his father. Otherwise, they split up and are on their own. Or, fight it out right there. [Obviously, if they went and retrieved the staff for the Witch, this will be less of a problem.]
When the spirits attack later, they attack those who do not wear the medallions the Witch of the Wild has or Francis (blood heir). If the party is not with Selendra and Laramir, they hear the Emerald Claw agents’ screams soon after.
What happens next depends on a variety of factors: