Chapter 2: Grave Danger

Plot points/Scenes

After traveling for nearly a week, going through the wonderful changing sceneries of the Argus wilderness, the party made one last stop in the city of Espartir before making it to their destination, in the hamlet of Kingsholm. They made their way into the Coronet and Cabbage Inn, a commotion arisose from the back room. The innkeeper, a dwarf dressed in noble clothing and prosperous-looking strode through the door of the back kitchenand into the common room. Unswervingly, the innkeeper walked up to the party’s table. It is with a slight disdain in his voice that he asked them: “Are you mercenaries?” He glared at the misfits with dark eyes as if challenging them to deny it. “Are you adventurers, the ones we sent for? We need brave and capable folk, right now, and we’re willing to pay!” After a little bit of back and forth between them and the innkeeper introducing himself as Ian Tubrand, Mayor of Kingsholm and the client Yam'Sera had sent the party to, Mia, captain of the townsguard arrived whilst the dwarf added: “Mia says we have trouble up in the old graveyard,” indicating the woman in uniform. She looks uncomfortable, and you sense fear from all the onlookers. “We need your help, and we need it now!” The party then asked a few questions, but sensing the discomfort from everybody's stare and judgement for who they are, they decided to simply take a room for the night and decide what to do next in the morning. Something which they had forgotten about: Yam'Sera had told them Ian would provide them with a room. The dwarf instead shook his tipping mug at them as he was going to show them to their room and upon seeing the small change he was able to extort, got upset and gave them the worst rooms the inn had to offer: bunk beds next to the bathrooms.

Components

Goals

Players were advised to investigate the situation. As reward, the mayor is willing to provide 50 Gold Mutts to each adventurer on the Misfit's Guild contract if they find out what happened to the 3 members of the Yurling family and the 2 townsguard. Which makes it a total of 200 Gold Mutts. Should the players go further and find out who/what is behind this and bring them back dead or alive, Ian Tubrand offered to raise the stakes 5 times, so that each adventurer would get 300 Gold Mutts, for a total of 1200 Gold Mutts for the entire party.

Hooks

What the party found out with their chat with Ian Tubrand, the Mayor and Innkeeper:

Three locals went up to the graveyard the day before last to prepare a recently deceased member of their family for interment in the graveyard’s mausoleum. The family (a mother, father, and daughter) did not return. When the family’s servants reported them missing, two sentinels (town guards) went to investigate and didn’t return, either. Mia is reluctant to send any more sentinels.

The missing locals were all human.

Their names are Desiree, Morgan, and Tyra, respectively. Their family name is Yurling. The dead man’s name is Gunar, and he is Morgan’s father

Only prominent citizens of the town are interred in the mausoleum. Most are buried at the base of the hills that extend to the north of the sprawling graveyard.

Stakes

Not only is Ian Turbrand the owner of the Coronet and Cabbage Inn, but he is also the mayor of the town and the richest person in it. He has a vested interest in solving Kingsholm’s problem and winning his trust would go a long way into making a name for the Misfit's Guild.

This is a race against time. The party found 2 dead and signs of violence. Whoever is behind this is already way ahead of the group. Each passing hour, they reduce their likelyhood of catching the enemy.

Kingsholm has armed guards and presumably some hale and hearty townsfolk. Why don’t they investigate the tombs themselves?

The answer is simple: They’re terrified. Not in living memory (and some of the townsfolk are dwarves) has any disturbance happened in the graveyard of Kingsholm. Townsfolk believe the area to be blessed, and they believe their town has been protected by its proximity to the statue of the forgotten king. Now, suddenly, that immunity is gone. They look to others—those with at least a little adventuring experience—to investigate the disturbance and tell them that everything will be all right.

Plot type

Chapter

Parent Plot

Book 1: Forgotten King

Related Organizations