Adventure: The Siege of Bleakburn Mill

When Anthony Anderson wanted to start his courier buisness, it was neither talent, gumption or planning that was his big problem. No, it was the lack of capital. And finding people willing to sponsor a courier service in Vastiaria was difficult, as many perceived it as a doomed venture, bound to be swallowed up like so many other enterprises in that sphere. Yet Anthony did not give up and soon, he heard of a group who had been known to willingly invest in even seemingly suicidal ideas. House Emberscar. And sure enough, they were willing to invest a lot of money, provided Anthony swore to pay them back.
Now, Anthony was by no means ignorant or wasteful. But he started his buisness to connect the scattered communities of Vastiaria, not to earn money. His buisness reflected that and while he never lacked money, it wasn't giving him vast profits either. Which was fine for Anthony, until the deadline started looming. Realising he had only two options, dissasembling his buisness and sell it off to get money or ask the Emberscars for an extension, he choose the option that would keep his dream alive. Throwing himself before them, he admitted he would be able to only pay a fraction of the debt. But he swore that he'd gladly give them any excess he'd earn, as long as they gave him the time.
But the Emberscars had a different plan in mind. Having kept an eye on who he was delivering for, they made a counter-offer. If he would be willing to divert a single letter and bring it to them, they'd consider the debt cleared. That letter would be sent by one Duke George John to a local gang of bandits that he'd allied with.
Reasoning that his courier buisness was vital to a lot of people and that the duke was dealing with bandits, Anthony managed to assuage his consciousness enough to accept the deal. Cycles later, he would be given a letter by a messenger and told to drop it off at a specified point.
However, while the duke was complacent, his bandit allies where not, quickly figuring out that Anthony, who had decided to handle this particular job himself, was heading in the wrong direction. They set after him, alerting the Duke as they did, who quickly began rounding up soldiers to stop the renegade courier.
The bandits cought up with Anthony during nightime in the woods. The ensuing scuffle saw the courier wounded, but he managed to escape thanks to the dark and stay ahead of his pursuers. Chased for hours, he stumbled into the village of Bleakburn, limped up to the nearest building and fell inside, barely able to kick the door shut and crawl into a corner before passing out.

Structure

Exposition

The players arrive at Bealkburn, where they'll find several villagers and militia members gathered in the streets. The harvest is just around the corner, but last night, town guards spotted a strange figure staggering into the local watermill. The villagers want it investigated, but the local guards are concerned its a ghost or other spook from the dark of the forest, which might be more than they can handle. Enter the players, who might offers to help, either out of the goodness of their heart, the promise of a reward or because they have objectives of their own that align with such an investigation.
Investigating the mill, the players will find one Anthony Anderson, a heavily injured courier who's delirious from dehydration, exhaustion and blood loss. He's not in danger of dying immediately, but if the players can help him recover, he can explain that his courier buisness was funded with loaned money. His buisness never made enough extra coin to pay off his debt without him risking bankruptcy, so he peladed his case to his lenders. In return for striking the debt, they wanted him to reroute an important message to them. The sender of said message, one Duke George John of the Noble House of John, caught wind of where his mail was headed and immediately send men after Anthony, who barely managed to escape.

Conflict

Shortly thereafter, the duke's men arrive in town, a mixture of knights, paladins and royal assassins. While Duke George has no official authority in town, the villagers of Bleakburn are certainly in no position to argue. They will quickly hear of the stranger in the mill and go investigate.
Once they confirm the presence of Anthony and the players, they will demand he be handed over, though they can perhaps be persuaded to give a bounty for capturing a wanted criminal. Handing Anthony over will surely end this adventure. Should the duke's soldiers be rebuffed, the ywill attempt to storm the building, while the assassins sneak in from other entrance points.

Rising Action

After they drive of the duke's soldiers, they'll soon have other problems on their hands. Duke George has an agreement with a local gang of bandits, to whom he had sent the wayward message. Said bandits are also heavily invested in ensuring the message is returned, as they profit heavily from working with the duke. And to ensure said bandits could stay in the woods, George made a deal with the local elves, promising to have said bandits target several encroaching logging and hunting camps set up by his rivals. Hearing what's going on, the elves conclude that it is in the best inetrest to get the message, perhaps even enabling them to get a few more concessions out of the duke before giving it back.
After a short break, the mill becomes besieged by a small force of elves, who's brough some fairy allies with them. Having witnessed what happened to the duke's own soldiers, they don't even bother negotiating, using their bows to shoot anyone they spot through the building's windows while the fairies try to infiltrate through various openings.

Climax

After watching the other attacks fail, the bandits themselves attack, lead by their leader, Amy Henderson. She brings in several bandits, adventures and sorcerers. Figuring that trying to force their way in will lead them down the same path as the other groups, they instead aim to smoke the party out by setting the building on fire. The players will have to fight both the blaze and the bandits.

Resolution

With all the groups defeated, Anthony can be on his way to deliver the message. If the mill is not too trashed, the villagers will also be grateful. If it is trashed, well, they are none to happy but blame the attackers.

Components

Goals

The goal is keeping Anthony Anderson and his cargo safe. The motivation can vary, be it out of kidness of their hearts to wanting to gain favour with Anthony's patrons.

Hooks

With Anthony being a no-show, the Emberscars hire the players to go investigate, sending them on the path to Bleakburn where Anthony should have passed through.

Stakes

Local politics will stay the same, but Anthony will propably be imprisoned for a long time, if not outright just executed.

Moral Quandaries

While Duke George John is by no means a saint, stealing his mail, especially when one is a courier, seems like a serious dereliction of duty. And House Emberscar certainly have no plans on stopping the Duke or his deal with the bandits, only blackmail him into using them for their benefit, so handing the message over may also seem iffy.

Relations

Protagonists

The player characters.

Allies

Anthony Anderson, though he has little combat expertise and starts out considerably wounded.

Neutrals/Bystanders

The villagers of Bleakburn has little interest in the conflict aside from how their mill is getting affected.

Adversaries

Duke George John. When bandits moved into his territory, he realised an actual conflict would just be a bloody mess. Instead, he made them an offer. Go after his rivals' transports and merchants, and in turn, he'd pay them. if this knowledge became public, losing his title would be the least of his problems. Suspecting his rivals were keeping an eye on his own men, he began to rely on Anthony's courier buisness, not suspecting that House Emberscar had noticed.
Amy Henderson: A skilled hunter of the infamous Henderson family who took to hunting people to make ends meet. Skilled and charismatic, other outlaws started following her as her successes racked up. By no means a cruel person, but certainly not unwilling to hurt others for personal gain either.

Backdrops

Locations

The village of Bleakburn, named at its founding for the scorched woodland that surrounded it after a major war. Many years later, the forest has recovered notably and the name often strike travellers as odd.

Threats

The duke's men. Employed and proffesional soldiers and assassins, here to put down a threat to their employer's authority.
The wildfolk. Elves and fairies who've benefitted from their forest's reputation as a bandit haven and thus willing to throw down to keep things that way.
The bandits. A hefty paycheck from the duke means they're living large for little actual work. They see the players as a threat to their livelyhoods.

Encounters

The adventure is primarily combat focused and has three encounters as the various adversaries besiege the mill. The amount of units in each group should be tailored to the system and the player's strength as needed.
The duke's men consist of knights(Provide heavy muscle, attacks directly), paladins(Commanders, leads the knights) and assassins(Attempts to infiltrate mill and ambush the players)

The wildfolk consists of elven archers(Attacks at a distance) and rose sprites(Small, but dangerous. Can gain entry many ways)
The bandits consist of a warlord(Amy Henderson herself, leads the others), bandits(Provide most of the muscle) and sorcerers(Backs up the others with magic).

Plot type

Adventure

Related Organizations

• Azi Empire
• House Emberscar