Consumo

Adventures in the Pictish Wilderness and the Aquilonian frontier are not as limiting as one might, at first glance, think. Any sort of adventure that can take place elsewhere can be adapted to this setting easily. Not every encounter or adventure need feature the Picts; the Pictish threat can be just an atmospheric backdrop or historical factor. Of course, part of the fun of this setting is fighting Picts; so many adventures do feature Picts in various ways. The key is variety. The old standby of putting the characters in the woods and having Picts attack them can wear thin quickly.

Hopefully some of these ideas listed below will spark some imagination and variety in your campaigns.

 In whatever kingdom or city the characters are in, a curious old Pictish woman, far out of place, approaches the character whose home is in the Westermarck, telling him there is trouble there.

Of course, that means the Picts are rising and the character and his friends had better get there.

The woman melts into the crowd and cannot be found for further information.

 The characters are part of a mercenary force hired to guide the Aquilonian paymaster from fort to fort along the Westermarck,

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protecting him, his retinue and his money bags from brigands and Picts. Suddenly, in the night, drums start echoing across the nearby river…

 The characters are in need of money and so have joined a mercenary unit to scout out the Picts or they could try their hand at logging, only to become embroiled in adventure.

 Perhaps a notable character is retiring and the other characters have come to help him get settled in his own property and have to run off squatters or Picts.

 A Pictish shaman arrives to solicit the surrender of a Pictish relic or holy site.

 The characters encounter a young man on the run, being chased by a horde of Picts who are angry that he dallied with a young Pict girl. He has been on the run for quite some time, but the Picts refuse to leave the blood-trail and intend to track him to the ends of the Earth.

 One of the characters has a prophetic dream wherein a family member is killed or taken captive by Picts.

The character may want to recover the victim or seek vengeance against the Picts.

 The characters are implored by a distraught settler to find her missing child. The child may be lost in the wilderness, drowned in the river, kidnapped by Picts, run off with a friend or in any number of dire or mundane situations. The settler does not know.

 The characters have heard of a lost treasure deep in the Pictish Wilderness and must go into that trackless land of death to seek it out.

 Characters on a sea voyage have their ship splintered on the shores of Pictland. The characters must now decide to build a fort on the shore and hope for an unlikely rescue or to plunge into certain death and try to cross Pictland into some more civilised realm.

 A Nemedian scholar is putting together a Hyborian bestiary and wants reports of sub-humanoids in the Pictish Wilderness confirmed. He is putting together a safari into that wild land, heedless of the dangers, dismissing tales of the Picts as simply primitive men running around naked and fearful of civilised man.

Alternatively, this scholar could be putting together a menagerie of sorts and wants some Pictish wild-life captured, especially the elusive Chaken.

 A scholar may want to document the shamanic rites of the Picts for his own mystical researches into sorcery. He may hire characters to kidnap a shaman or to lead him to a tribe so that he may try to bribe his way into their society.

 An enterprising Aquilonian lord may decide that eliminating the Picts is too hard, but resettling them in a different area, using a type of reservation system, would be much more economical.

 Fugitives from a small settlement implore the adventurers for help against the Pictish tribe that just sacked their homes. Many people unfamiliar with the Picts may not realise there are multiple tribes in the wilderness, and the characters may mistakenly slaughter the wrong Picts.

 A village seeks assistance so they can perform a pious duty for Mitra that has been forbidden in the village by a heathen governor.

 Displaced settlers seek hospitality in a larger town, but the town is afraid of a disease rampaging through the countryside and will not let them in. Urgency is provided by oncoming Picts. The settlers might or might not have the disease.

 A group of renegades (Hyborians who side with the Picts) have had a change of heart and seek to rejoin their prior settlements – but old animosities do not get laid to rest quickly.

 A powerful and charismatic land-owner from Conawaga, infuriated by King Conan's refusal to extend the frontier, has decided Conawaga should be a separate kingdom (with the noble as king, of course).

 A Mitran priest, frustrated at the loss of loved ones at the hands of the Picts, has started promoting scalping expeditions from the temple itself, paying a bounty on each Pictish scalp returned to him, which he then displays in the temple as proof of Mitra's vengeance against demon-worshippers. In turn the Picts begin mounting scalping expeditions of their own up and down the Thunder River, further fuelling retaliation by the temple's posse.

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 In honour of a visiting noble, a celebratory masque ball is held in Scandaga – an assassin is going to be there and the characters have learned this, but they do not know who the assassin is, and the target is arriving at midnight…

 Severe weather conditions not appropriate to the season have destroyed crops up and down the Thunder River, with such side effects as flooding, freezing, or mudslides. A shaman is at work to force the settlers to abandon their waterlogged or frozen farms.

 Highwaymen disguised as Picts have been robbing trading caravans, outposts and settlements, hoping to blame the Picts and deflect those sent to apprehend them.

 Local unrest has gripped the land because of the appointment of an 'inappropriate' sheriff or constable, such as a Pict, Cimmerian or other barbarian or non-noble. The townsfolk want him hanged for being non-Hyborian, despite his exemplary service.

 A royal visit is proclaimed and King Conan is on an inspection tour. Troops might be pulled into Scandaga from the outlying forts in order to put on an impressive display, thus weakening the border outposts. The Picts may also attempt an assassination or kidnapping. Perhaps a Pict approaches the players hoping they have the clout to arrange an audience with Conan so that he can discuss Aquilonian outrages against the Picts. The players must overcome incredible odds to arrange this audience, and once it is arranged, innumerable mishaps threaten to keep the players and the hapless Pict from making the date.

 The Picts could be attacking a Westermarck settlement in retaliation for some crime against them. Perhaps a logger has taken a Pictish bride against her or the tribe’s will. Perhaps a tribal totem animal was found slain or was witnessed to have been mishandled or abused. The Picts could be avenging a slain or kidnapped (rescued) child. The same could work in reverse, with the Aquilonians seeking revenge against the Picts for similar crimes.

 An Aquilonian noble has been bragging that he defeated a notable Pict in combat – and the Pict has heard the braggadocio and has declared war on that Aquilonian.

 A Pict has become smitten with an Aquilonian woman – she rebuffed or deceived the Pict in some manner, and now that Pict has a vendetta against ALL Aquilonian women and has engaged in personal guerrilla war of his own, slaying or kidnapping many settlers’ wives and daughters.

 An Aquilonian constable has decided to pay a bounty on Pict scalps or heads, bringing in hordes of bounty hunters to the region, which is inflaming the Picts up and down the entire length of the Thunder River.

 An Aquilonian is playing the natural hostilities of the Picts against each other and is paying Pict tribes for the scalps and heads of enemy tribes.

 An Aquilonian criminal, pursued by the Black Dragons for treason, has made it across the Thunder River. The Black Dragons need experienced scouts and Pict hunters to either flush out the criminal or lead them to the criminal. Similarly, someone fleeing a posse of angry citizens of a settlement, could hide out in the wilderness.

 A criminal could be exiled into the Pictish Wilderness by the Aquilonians. However, he is not killed by the Picts. He manages to befriend one, is adopted by their tribe, and now he has amassed enough reputation among them to lead a war party against the Westermarck.

 Two young settlers have fallen in love, but, either due to station in life or other obstacles, are forbidden to each other. Finally, in an act of desperation, they flee into the wilderness and must be found lest they fall into the torturing hands of the Picts.

 A Pictish brave and a young Aquilonian girl have fallen in love, and meet derision on both sides of the river. The Pict decides to live among the settlers, and his tribe have come out of the dark forest to drag him and his lovely bride to the village for brutal tortures and sacrifice. The Aquilonians, annoyed that the girl chose a Pict, do not care, but her mother pleads with the characters to rescue her daughter.

 Entire adventure campaigns and cycles could be written about the final dissolution and destruction of one of the major Pict tribes. A great war has happened, and one of

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the tribes was utterly defeated, throwing the balance of power in the wilderness off. Refugees and lone rebels are causing problems on both sides of the river (especially if a rival tribe assisted the Aquilonians).

 A tribe of coastal Picts were driven from their lands by other Picts, a demon, Cimmerians, Vanir or Zingarans, and have taken to the sea in a captured Zingaran ship to live a life of piracy and bloodshed.

Not understanding the value of plunder, they merely attack other ships to prove their superiority, their spirituality and their bravery. The scalps of the slain decorate the masts and bowsprits of their growing collection of ships.

 A family of settlers were decimated by the Picts, and their hopes were dashed and robbed. Their children gone, the father and mother have begun slipping across the forest to kill Picts, and leave their heads in trees as an insult to the Picts.

 A favoured and honoured counsellor to the chiefs has found that he has been forgotten, his deeds too far gone in the past to matter anymore to the young war-chiefs rising in the Pictish nation and he embarks on a daring raid to restore his reputation and lifestyle.

 A powerful shaman finds himself wretched, dispossessed of his magic and spiritual guides. He may even be a slave in the Westermarck or Zingara, or treated as a slave among his enemies, who decided to treat him as a captive woman instead of torturing him to death as they do brave warriors. Then he discovers the means to return to his former station.

 A conspiracy is brewing in the Westermarck to use the Picts to dispose of a political enemy. Perhaps King Conan himself is coming to the provinces for an inspection tour, a royal visit of the largest magnitude. The conspiracy hopes to stay behind the scenes and incite the Picts to attack King Conan and his retinue in hopes of the King's death.

 A famous borderer whose name is slowly being forgotten decides for one last hurrah. He decides he will cross the Pictish Wilderness on foot and return.

He is hiring his support crew of accomplished Pict fighters and other skilled adventurers ready for

the ultimate in adventurous expeditions.

 A beautiful settler's daughter is sought by many of the local loggers and settlers, but she is unsure of any of them. She has decided she will marry the one that brings her the most Pict scalps. One of the suitors hires the players to help him head-hunt in the Pictish Wilderness.

 The characters could be sent to look for a person who must be found on pain of death. The characters must dive into the Pictish Wilderness or face the wrath of the authorities.

 A scholar has a dream, a riddle, the solution to which lies somewhere in the Pictish Wilderness, perhaps even among a small, hard-to-find, obscure tribe.

 Because a daughter hates her father, she has taken up with the Picts to insult her family, resulting in a border war between that family and that tribe of Picts, a war that now threatens the stability of the region.

 One brother is hated by his other brothers and mistreated. A demon whispers to him at night and he uses the demon to help him slay his kin in brutal murders that are blamed on the Picts. If the brother is finally held accountable, he insists a shaman forced him to do his bidding and the players are hired to find this shaman and bring back his head.

Players could also be the ones doing the initial investigations.

 Two brothers have an intense rivalry, and this has taken a gruesome turn as they are now competing to see who can kill the most Picts – this has created an unintentional border war as the Picts seek vengeance.

 A settler goes mad with loneliness or disease, and slays their family. The settler believes the Picts did it and nothing will convince them otherwise.

This may take the form of a murder mystery, where the characters discover clues and come to the slow realisation that the settler did it... and is mad.

 A jealous lover slays his paramour and blames the Picts, resulting in a mob seeking frontier justice against some hunting Picts, resulting in a war with that tribe.

 A young man is curious about the Picts and so he talks his two younger brothers and a sister into sneaking into the wilderness to spy on the Picts and

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see what they are really like. They are caught. The curious young man escapes, but his brothers are tortured to death (possibly in front of him) and his sister is adopted by the tribe. The young man must face the consequences of his actions and may lie or flee in order to escape culpability.

 A character discovers he has a sibling living among the Picts. His mother or father had an adulterous affair with a Pict and the child of that affair is a Pict. Perhaps he discovers this just as he is about to kill the Pict or just after. Perhaps he knows the existence of the sibling through an oracle, who has demanded he slay the sibling to restore something lost.

 A noble who is trying to become politically powerful stages a public hanging or sacrifice of a Pictish girl, not knowing the girl is his daughter from a illicit affair from years gone by.

 A man is determined to sacrifice his life for the sake of his faith in Mitra, to prove that Mitra will protect him, to prove Mitra is real and active. He goes into the wilderness without arms or armour. Of course he is slaughtered by the Picts, throwing the Temple of Mitra into turmoil as people start to distrust the power and value of Mitran religion, giving other,

less wholesome cults a chance to get a firm footing in the Westermarck.

 A woman has traded her life for the life of her husband, son or daughter, agreeing to become the slave-wife of a Pict so that the loved one can go free.

The freed relative wants her returned and hires or asks the players to recapture her. She however feels bound to her word and her oath, and has not been mistreated, so she will only go if forced.

 A war has broken out between the followers of Mitra and another cult along the frontier, or the Mitran cult is facing a schism. This war or schism is weakening the fabric of society and the Picts are taking advantage of the situation to increase their raids.

 A sorcerer has taken residence in one of the villages or towns and has caused a divisive rift in town. The characters must choose sides, or are threatened to be squashed between the two forces in town. The Pictish threat may only be marginal in this setting.

 A sorceress has taken residence in town and is seducing all the men, which has the women up in arms. They may hire assassins or they may attempt to kill her themselves, resulting in a botched attempt with a tragic outcome or they might all be killed, enslaved or abandoned by the men and the sorceress.

The reverse could also happen if a sorcerer decides to make an entire village's complement of women into his harem.

 A young Aquilonian girl has fallen in love with a Pict, unaware the Pict is the slayer of a close member of her family (a brother, mother, father or sister).

 A child, long believed to have been killed by the Picts, has been recovered or has reappeared in society. She knows a horrible secret, though has forgotten her native tongue.

 A settler, upon witnessing the slaying of his family and kin while powerless to prevent it goes mad, or seeks out demons to enact vengeance, either against the slaying Picts or against those that encouraged or caused the family to move to the Westermarck in the first place.

 A soldier, upon killing a Pict, stole a mask. Not understanding that it needs to be fed and

My name is Gault Hagar’s son. I was born in the province of Conajohara. But when I was ten years of age, the Picts broke over Black River and stormed Fort Tuscelan and slew all within save one man, and drove all the settlers of the province east of Thunder River.

Robert E. Howard, Wolves Beyond the Border

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should never be left face up, the soldier is struck with a vile illness. Because the mask is being left face up, it whispers dark things in the night. He tries to be rid of the mask, but it keeps returning, even if destroyed. Horrible nightmares strike the soldier as he slowly dies. The players are asked to return the mask to the tribe. Perhaps the players could convince a tribal shaman to return with them to heal the soldier.

A Timeline of