Evaluación Global

There are four solid story reasons for striking out for the castle. Three of them originate from the previ- ous scenario, ‘Gallows Wood’:

1. Ghostly Bargains

The party may have encountered the spectre or the ghost in Section 14 of Gallows Wood. If so, they may also have struck a bargain with one of them that they would slay Duke Darian. If this is the case, it is likely that the party will be anxious to set out for the castle; if not immediately, then as soon as they have rescued Clothilda from Ned the hobgoblin.

2. Travel

The party will reach the castle if they follow the western road in Section 18 of Gallows Wood, or stepped into the eerie coach they found there.

3. Freedom for Ereworn!

Duke Darian is feared and hated in the village of Ereworn. After rescuing the landlord’s daughter, the party may find that the villagers’ confidence in them is now high enough for them to suggest an attack on the Duke, who holds them in such miserable thraldom.

If you judge that the PCs have earned exceptional trust, then the villagers tell them of the last adven- turer who swore to end the Duke’s evil—a young sorcerer from over the sea, who set out to find the Black Carriage and ride it to the castle, then locate the Duke and destroy him. He never returned. The PCs may already have enough of a motive to journey to the castle if they have encountered the evil Black Riders in Gallows Wood.

4. Elvaron’s Guidance

If the PCs have been clever enough to shine the noonday sun through the crystal shard, the image of Elvaron will have appeared and repeated the words ‘Darian’, ‘Castle’ and ‘Crystal’ over and over. Any villagers who see this will identify the image as Elvaron, in awed tones.

Unless they have stepped inside the eerie car- riage in Section 16 of Gallows Wood, the party will have to reach the castle by travelling west along the road that goes through the forest. Roll once on the Gallows Wood random encounter tables (p. 8) to see if they have any difficulties in the first part of their journey.

1. The Grey Hills

The party meets the ghost of a young sorcerer wan- dering an area known locally as the Grey Hills. He was foully slain by a pack of Darian’s Hell Hounds some years ago while fleeing from the castle. He offers them shelter for the night. When they wake they find his desiccated skeleton at the end of the cave in which they have slept. Next to it lies a rusted chest full of magic potions.

You follow a winding road, heavily marked by the tracks of many horses and the ruts left by wheeled carriages. After ten miles it enters some bleak, barren foothills, devoid of vegetation. Snow-capped mountains rise up to the north. The wind starts to moan over the hills and you see a sudden rainsquall heading your way.

Give the characters a moment to make preparations for the incoming rainstorm.

Soon you’re engulfed in it, rain coursing off your tunics. The lashing monotony of the rain, pummelling your bodies and turning the road to muddy ruin, makes the journey into a miserable trek indeed. Surely this cannot last for much longer! But the barren hills show no prom- ise of shelter any time soon. There is a crack and rumble of distant thunder, and the rain redoubles in force.

After the party has trudged on a little while longer:

Without warning, the rain turns to a blinding snow- blizzard. There is nothing to be seen anywhere around you but a chaos of driving white flakes. The wind rises to a moan once again, when suddenly you hear a differ- ent moaning sound, like something part beast and part man, some spirit of the forlorn waste. Blundering out of the storm in front of you, you see a huge, white-haired creature standing 3m tall. It lumbers towards you, bel- lowing, claws outstretched.

This is a Yeti (see p. 49 of the Bestiary)

Yeti

21 Health Points

Once the Yeti is slain, it dissolves into snow and blows away.

You realise you have lost the path during the blizzard and all the features you might have recognised in the



landscape have been completely obliterated by a thick covering of snow. The sun has just dipped below the line of the Grey Hills and darkness is beginning to cover the land. From up ahead you see a momentary glimmer of light from a shadowy opening at the base of a cliff. As you watch, it comes again. It seems to be a fire.

The player-characters may choose to avoid or approach. If they approach:

You see a small campfire burning next to a cave mouth in a cliff ahead of you. An young man dressed in white robes sits in front of it, staring into the flames. He is completely bald. Without looking up he calls to you.

If the adventurers decide to ignore the young man or bypass him altogether, they are forced to rough it for the night on the mountainside. Roll twice for encounters on the Hills Encounter Table on p. 11 of the Bestiary. Even if they survive these encounters, party members will find they have suffered exposure in the bitterly cold night air. Each character must roll under his Strength on a d20 or lose 1–3 Health Points from the exposure. Next morning the party will eventually stumble across the road leading to the castle (Section 2, below).

If the party decides to speak to the young man:

The young bald man invites you to sit with him by the fire. “Not good weather to be out wandering the hills!” His eyes are kind, though his face looks tired and worn, as if by great hardship. “Come. Tell me of yourselves. How do you chance to be out here, buffeted by the winds?”

The PCs can now relax and trade tales, if they feel up to it. The young man listens with interest. He politely deflects any talk of his name, who he is or what powers he may have, describing himself as “only a traveller”. The party may still be suspicious, in which case the young man is happy to talk on:

“For my part, I have travelled from Castle Ereworn to the North, where I went to plead with the Duke to show mercy to the peasants. Ah, but the Duke is a hard man. Something has rotted him from within. I fear he is more beast than man, now.

“Of course, my pleas for mercy for the people were not heeded. The Duke and I quarrelled for many hours, and at the end of it, I had the hounds set upon me for my pains. A merry chase I led them, before at last they lost the scent and I found my way to this goodly cave.”

If the PCs go nosing about in the cave, he seems perturbed and asks them to stop. If they press on regardless and find the skeleton (see below), the young man droops his head and fades from view, and the fire flickers and dims but stays lit. If they remain by the fire:

“I think that it is time for you to rest after your ordeal. On the morrow, I will see what help I can give you in your mission.” As you are listening his words become an indistinct murmur and you feel very tired.

The adventurers are being subjected to a sleep- inducing spell with a magical attack of 22. Any- one resisting the spell will see the young man slowly fade from view and then disappear. The fire will burn with magical flames all night long, before it, too, vanishes. Everyone else will remain fast asleep until dawn, when they awaken as well rested as if they had spent the night in a cosy inn.

If the player-characters explore the cave in the morning, they find a skeleton lying at its far end, beside a small wooden chest. The skeleton looks like some wild animals have savaged it. A rusty key will be found in the tattered white cloak wrapped around the skeleton. This will open the small chest. Any attempt to force open the chest will smash its contents.

If the PCs open the chest with the key they will find four magical potions. They are labelled.

1. Evaporating Potion. 2. Healing Potion (five doses). 3. Potion of Strength.

4. Dust of transformation (sabre-tooth tiger)

For descriptions of all these, see pp. 138-141 of the

Dragon Warriors rulebook.

From the cave, the party will now be able to see the road to the castle winding through the foothills below them.

2. Bridge of Illusions

(Hell Hounds Attack)

The adventurers get their first sight of the castle set high up on a looming crag. They reach a very thin, narrow stone bridge at the foot of the crag. It spans a mist-filled chasm. This bridge is actually an illu- sion (only 5% chance per player of seeing through



it). The true bridge, which has been rendered invis- ible, runs parallel to the illusory one 2m to the left. Anyone travelling over this seems to be riding on thin air, another dramatic effect that Darian uses to terrify the populace.

Unfortunate players at the front of the party may find themselves plunging into the chasm, although those behind should be able to check themselves (unless of course they are riding their horses towards it at breakneck speed). The drop is 10m. Four of Duke Darian’s Hell Hounds roam in the mist-filled chasm, looking for the bodies of foolhardy travellers so that they can rend and devour them. Player-char- acters who fall may be cushioned by the thick snow (see below).

After six hours of travel, you find yourselves amongst the towering peaks of the Pagan Mountains. The road winds up and up, through narrow passes and by the side of steep cliffs. Soon you see a bleak castle atop a black crag in the middle distance. A track leads to it, passing over an extremely narrow, arched stone bridge and up a steep incline. A gate stands in the crenellated wall facing you.

There are four towers rising from the castle, one at each corner. The two immediately in front are only slightly taller than the surrounding walls and are crenel- lated at the top. The tower in the northwest corner is slim and minaret-like with a conical peak. The tower in the northeast corner also has a peak at its top with attic windows set into it. There is a large iron-bonded, dou- ble gate set into the curtain wall immediately in front of you. The landscape is covered with a thick layer of snow, in which you can see the marks of carriage wheels and hoof-prints leading towards the bridge.

If the party approaches the bridge with caution, they will notice that the carriage tracks and the hoof- prints are not visible on the bridge itself. Instead, they veer off to one side, bound for the true, invisible bridge. (Snow that falls on to the bridge becomes invisible itself.)

Anyone stepping onto the bridge will fall 10m to the bottom of the chasm. However, their fall will only be the equivalent of a fall of 5m, as they will land in a bank of soft snow (1d6 HP damage). The illusion will be dispelled immediately someone falls over the edge, and a ghostly, sadistic chuckling can be heard on the air; this is all part of Darian’s phan- tasmagoria. The illusion resets, weaving itself afresh from the mists, after ten minutes.