Shadows of the Tower: Path of Two, Adventure One

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Apra 4th – Dusk

The moons had started to appear in the darkening sky. The wooden bridge creaked in the wind over the chasm behind the adventurers.

Two bandits struggled against their bonds. They tried to cry out, but Roe had muffled their foul mouthes with strips of cloth. Thay tended to their wounds. He turned to the others.

“We did not have to kill them, we could have incapacitated them.”

Leshy looked up, he strange eyes seemed puzzled. “What does mean, incapacitate? These were enemies. Enemies get defeated.”

“And now what do we do with them? We have to get to Elmhearth, and they will just slow us down.” Roe seemed a little uncomfortable straying from the mission.

Leshy interjected, “We defeat them. Then we go.”

The rogue looked ready to say something when the older bandit loosened his mouth gag enough to talk, “No reason for all of that. I can pay you. And pay you well, if you let us go.”

Summary

The adventurers left Kowal and headed north. In the forest, they were attacked by wolves, though they successfully defeated or scared off the beasts. On the third night they arrived at the Northguard Inn.

They sat at the large round table, which seemed a little short. They then found out that they had taken a dwarven patrol’s regular table. After a night of drinking and stories, the dwarves challenged the group to a wrestling match.  Leshy successfully defeated a one armed dwarf, and after such a good show, Mort pledged his and his “Irregulars” friendship to the adventurers.

Continuing on the Elmhearth, the adventurers ran afoul of some bandits at a large bridge. The bandits were defeated, though two survived and were taken prisoner.

 

 

The cold road out of Kowal.

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The first adventure under the Shadows of the Tower

Three left the relative safety of the walls of Kowal behind. A dwarven librarian, an old blind musician, and an adventurous elfling. Sent on a seemingly small errand to check on a farmer’s claims of ancient ruins. The contract they received offered a payment for any artifacts found and returned, as well as earning their Wanderer’s Coin.

Halfway through their journey, they were caught in an electric acid rain storm, and sought shelter in an old crumbling inn. That night they were attacked by a band of small demon creatures. In the middle of their battle, a red headed dwarf, sent by the Wanderers as well, burst into the old inn and helped defend their sanctuary. Thorbard the Librarian took a chance of using magic in front of his new companions, putting the demons to sleep. Having been confronted by creatures from the Navirim, the companions were phased little by his magic, especially when it was used to heal their wounds.

After meeting with Farmer Elm a few days later, the companions found their way to and old grove of ancient trees. There they found a tunnel leading into a hill side, warded by runes and fire glyph traps.

They headed into the darkness, finding the ruins to be inhabited by ancient undead. Fighting through their fear, they took down the creatures, finally barricading themselves in a room to rest and prepare to venture deeper into the catacombs.

How to join the Shadows of the Tower Living Campaign

The War of the Towers

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The sky was gray as ash, but every once in awhile the pale sun peeked through.

Martyn stood among the throngs of citizens standing outside the Walled Tower. The Tower was old, its dark grey stone matching the tall wall that surrounded it. Spires pointed up like fangs into the sky, the old architecture of Uthgard apparent in it’s design. The tower was mostly empty these days, save for the Baron and the rest of the Zadeku family. A small garrison of the Steel Guard stayed on the grounds as well.

Martyn heard his companion, Garric, shift from side to side. Garric never did like the cold. Today the Baron was to address the rumors about his son, telling the citizens what happened. All the city could talk about lately was the Baron’s son, the wizards, and what may come next. Martyn was afraid he already knew.

A two large wooden doors opened on the balcony above the walled gate. It seemed but a small speck on the giant gray wall, but everyone knew this was the lord’s balcony. The crowds quieted.

A tall man strode out, his suit an elegant purple, a sharp contrast to the dull colors surrounding him. He was thin, his eyes narrow and intense. He looked out over the crowd and smiled. It was the strange smile, Martyn often thought it looked like the smile of a thief who you couldn’t help but like. Next to him came his wife. In pale yellow she was the opposite of her husband. Contrast to his strange good looks, she was radiant and heart warming. Her light brown skin made her different than most in Kowal, and her jet black hair was styled intricately above her head, wrapped in jewels.

Baron Zadeku held up his hands, ” Greetings citizens.” His voice rang with a tone that had a hint of music to it. “I am sure you have all heard the rumors of the awful actions against my heir and son.” At that moment his son stepped from the shadows of the doorway. He held his head high, and the clouds seemed to part at just the right moment to reveal the tattooed runes all over his face. Even from this distance his eyes seemed sunken and dark. “The sorcerers of Eredar wrongfully kidnapped my only child, my son, and accused him of using the same ruinous magic that they partake in. They scarred his body with blasphemous symbols and pierced his flesh with implements of torture. We do not believe in the work of demons in our lands, nor do we accept those of other lands to take our own people and condemn them with their demonic ways. This is an act of war.”

Martyn turned to Garric, the Baron’s voice continuing to ring in cadence across the courtyard. “Garric, this is going to make things interesting. Its already been a tough few years, this will make things slimmer.”

Garric nodded. ” I think I have heard all I need to.” He turned and started to push his way back through the crowd.

Martyn turned back to hear the Baron proclaim.

“We will declare war on these demon lovers both abroad, and in our own city. We will reclaim our lands, our city, and our people, and none shall challenge us.”

Martyn shook his head. This will change things.

How to join the Shadows of the Tower Living Campaign

The son returns…

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The whispers ran through the city of Kowal.

The Baron’s son was returning. It had been a year. Arnexi had long been known for his adventures and disregard for his station, ever since he travel to Tyr on a diplomatic mission in his teens. He had never arrived in Tyr and returned to Kowal a month later. But this had been different.

Rumors said that Arnexi was a warlock. A practicer of magic. But in Kowal, practicing magic was considered almost the same as murder. Magic destroyed the world, magic was forbidden.

But the son of Baron Zadeku was off limits to the magistrates and their tough laws. The ruling family was above the law. After all, they wrote it.

Arnexi had been gone for a year, off in a far away land doing the things only a young lord can do.

Now he is returning. And he was different. Word came from the outlying villages. Arnexi had been captured by Eredar, the tower of the mages. He was sentenced for practicing ravaging magic and had been silenced.

Arnexi arrived in the streets of Kowal astride a giant white horse, his honor guards behind him in dull gray armor and dull gray horses. Large red banners flew from their backs, the symbol of Kowal floating in the breeze.

Arnexi had changed. His blonde hair was shaved in places, and tattoos covered most of his skin where it could be seen. His eyes looked sunken and bruised. But he sat tall in his saddle, ignoring those who stared from the streets and windows. The silent procession carried itself down the street and through the gates of the Baron’s tower.

The gates closed, but mouths opened and the city was buzzing with speculation.

 

How to join the Shadows of the Tower Living Campaign

The Dead Gulch Adventure is now Live on Kickstarter!

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kickstarter-image3Plagues have ravaged the lands for generations. While the city of Ferryport has been spared the worst, it has still seen its share of death and pestilence. During the worst outbreaks, corpses lined the streets and the people had to find a place to dispose of the bodies. North of the city, they walled up the sewers and filled them like catacombs with the charred bones of the dead. In the southern parts of the city, they dumped corpses by the thousands into the canyon which split the land between South Hollow and Lyncast. This became known as the Dead Gulch.
The adventurers are hired by Tain Northbow, a druid and advisor to Silas Monta, one of the most powerful men in Ferryport. A man of his power and influence has many friends and many enemies. One of Silas’ longtime adversaries among the Guildmasters is Lord Resly. After the treason of Lord Glycyn, former ruler of Ferryport, Resly opposed all motions to move toward a democratic government. Resly believed the city needed a single strong ruler, supported by the Guildmasters, who would become minor lords of the city.
Now, Resly has been missing for over two weeks. The City Guard have investigated and found no trace of Resly, save a rumored visit to a traveling circus. His house sits abandoned and watched over by the Guard. Rumors have started to circulate that Silas may have eliminated his biggest opponent. To clear his name, Silas has hired you to look into the disappearance and report back with anything you find.
Explore the strange and mysterious Todaren Family Circus. Look for clues to explain Resly’s disappearance. Explore the cemetery during the unnatural storms that have been increasing in severity. And continue to forge your own legacy within the chronicles of Ferryport.
The Dead Gulch is a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game-compatible role playing adventure designed for 4 to 6 characters of 2nd level. This adventure is part 2 of the Ferryport Adventures: Return of the Fey adventure path, set in the dark world of Uteria.

 

Fan Fiction – A Treasure

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by Jeremy White Stout

Xyla crouched in the underbrush, not as much to conceal herself as she wanted to be relaxed so she could think. The merc crew she had followed out of town was settling in after their evening meal and were starting to bed down. There were several crude comments directed at the two women in the group, who smirked and threatened until the teasing passed. Xyla shook her head. Men, she thought, but without disparity. She had travelled with many male-heavy groups, but none of them were ever this vulgar. Once, it had even been an entire party of barbarians, but they were very respectful of the women in their crew.

She picked up a couple of small rocks and twiddled them absently while she gauged the makeup of this particular team: two fighters (one of them female), a barbarian, a rogue, some healer-type (the other female) and the leader, an ex-soldier type who was the one who had exactly what she was there for. She’d seen it in town while she was assisting Felden on an info gathering jaunt of his. She enjoyed working with other rogues, but she chose her partners differently than most others of her profession did: they had to have something about them she liked. With Felden, it was his stutter. Everyone who knew him called him Twitch because of it, but Xyla didn’t: his name was Felden and so he was Felden. She didn’t make fun of him: she thought the stutter was kind of endearing.Continue reading→

We are funded! 290%!!

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Thanks to everyone who made this happen! Dane and I are now working on fleshing out all the added characters and places that were added due to funding goals. I will be putting together new art orders for the added artwork at the end of the week. But things are moving quickly and the book should be out way ahead of schedule.

I am also getting the ball rolling on the next adventure in the series so we can have a full adventure path finished by 2015.

In addition we are sending out the adventure to have some out of house play-testing done. The beta should be ready by the end of the week. So if anyone wants a sneak peak at the adventure and wants to do a little testing, I will post details later this week.

Thanks again to everyone! And live the fantasy!

Mike