This is "Running Scared" Version 1.2 (Version 1.1 willbe appearing in Issue #3 of Borkelby's Folly) and is Copyright Alex Blair, 1996. All maps are Copyright Matthew Pook, 1996. Full permission is given to distribute this information as freeware.

Please note that GURPS versions of the NPC's will appear in the near future if time and demand warrant it.

This is an adventure for a small group of Characters (1-4) of any experience. This is the scenario that I began my Campaign with. The format will leave the Sholari still with some work to do. The material given, is more an idea than a fully 'ready to run' adventure. When I write an adventure I have the idea for the basic plot and then design all the NPC's. The rest of the work is done at the beginning of each gaming session when I decide exactly what I want to happen. I have found that trying to do any more than this is a waste as the players will invariably do something else instead.

It is going to be broken down into the following parts:

(i) Background.

(ii) Plot.

(iii) Information.

(iv) Maps and NPC's.

(i). BACKGROUND

Sareess Nesh is a trader based in Ardoth. He is not an honest Trader. Far from it. He is corrupt and immoral willing to buy or sell anything - no matter how illegal it is. The only thing that matters to him is making money. Lots of it.

One day, approximately eight months ago Sareess was in the Bazaar doing business when he over heard two Crugars making enquiries about the hiring of cheap labour. Sareess approached the two Crugar and asked what they meant be this. He soon found out what they really wanted.

The Crugar were in the employ of the Arn Cartale, the youngest son of a rich Ardothian family. Amongst their assets, the family owns a small mine located on the West face of South Khodre in a town about half way between Choulth and Rirris (For more information on the area look at page 39 of Companion Jorune: Burdoth.). The town is called Relass.

Sareess found out that by the term "cheap labour", the Crugar meant slave labour, which they wanted to use to dig out the valuable crystals that are abundant on the Western face. The idea of anyone using slaves did not bother Sareess at all and seeing the chance to make money, he made direct with Arn Cartale who was in Ardoth at the time.

Two days after meeting the Crugar, Sareess finalised a deal with Arn Cartale. Sareess agreed to locate and ship a regular supply of slaves to Relass and in return Arn would pay a regular amount each month, as well a percentage of the mine's profits.

Within days of the deal being made, Sareess had his personal guards searching Ardoth for people that could be "removed" from society without being missed by anybody. The first twenty slaves were found from the dregs of Ardothian Society, and included drunks, beggars and cheap prostitutes. That was the easy part of the plan. More difficult was how he was going to move twenty people from Ardoth to South Khodre undetected.

It did not take Sareess's inventive mind long to think up a way to shipping the slaves. After they had been escorted to one of his safe-houses they would be bound, gagged and drugged and then placed inside barrels of smoked fish ready to be shipped to Gauss. Each barrel would have false top and bottom to hide the real contents. Once in Gauss the prisoners would be transferred into specially hollowed out durligs, after having been hosed down to rid them of the smell of fish. These durligs have been preserved by sealing them in large store rooms of salt to remove all the moisture. In essence they are mummified, a process that takes several weeks, prior to them being sealed up and shipped with other durligs to South Khodre. Sareess holds a contract with the army to supply them with food. Although the mainstay of army food, salted durlig is extremely unpopular with the troops. Local civilians are always very happy to sell their own fresh produce to Burdothian soldiers to make a quick Yule or two. With little else to spend their pay on, they are always prepared to pay the high prices . . .

This system has worked well for eight months, with an acceptable loss of slaves during transportation. That is, until last night.

On this evening the parents of one of the player character's oversaw the abduction of a drunkard sheltering in a doorway. Sareess's guards noticed their observer and knowing that if the operation was found out they, and (possibly) Sareess would hang for their crimes. The guards followed them home and abducted they found there everyone there. Removing them to the safe-house, they made up together with the drunk, the numbers for the next Shipment to the mine.

(ii). PLOTLINE

(a). I'M JUST GOING FOR A QUIET STROLL . . .

The characters are going to start the adventure on the 'Sarat', a coastal path that runs to the south of Ardoth, along the cliffs.

The character who has had his parents kidnapped should be taken to one side and told that when he returns home from a trip out in Ardoth, he finds his home empty. The front door will be wide open, nobody is home. There will be obvious signs of a struggle as several ornaments have been knocked over and there is a blood-stain on the floor.

When player tries to find out what has happened he will come up against a brick wall. Nobody saw what happened and no real clues have been left to follow. If the Yords are called in they will notice that no money has been taken. They will think this strange, but there is nothing that they can really do about the disappearance apart from keeping an eye out for the family. They will apologise, explaining that they can not do little more for the Character.

You may yourself or have an NPC suggest that the Character could do with a walk on the Sarat to clear his mind.

You must also come up with a reason why all the other PC's are taking a walk if this is a new group, but if you have good players they should help you on this point.

At some point in the walk the players should be very near to each other or actually in a group. At this point, about a mile away from Ardoth (just out of sight of the city), the group will be ambushed from above by a group of thugs. The thugs have been hired by Sareess's right-hand man, Yartell Traish. Their job is to capture the PC who has had his parents kidnapped. Armed only with swords, they will also attack any people near enough to tell the Yords about the attack (i.e. the other players.)

They will give up if it obvious that they are going to lose. Those that surrender will tell the PC's that they where hired by a man to capture the PC and bring him to a point about half a mile south of Ardoth.

If the PC's go to that point no one will be there or turn up as Yartell has been following the thugs to keep an eye on them. He will also make a note of anyone that came to the aid of the intended victim. Reporting back to Sareess, he will tell him of what has happened.

This is the end of the first encounter. Hopefully it should bring the players together - if the group had to be formed like mine. If the group is already established there should be no problems here.

The players should head back to Ardoth. The Yords will not be interested in their story as they will think it is just an elaboration by the thugs to cover up the fact that they were going to rob the PC's.

(b). BIRDS OF A FEATHER

The next encounter will happen where ever the players decide to stay the night.

During the night they will be woken by a noise outside. This will be the sound of a young Muadra girl Kerning in the street below. She is defending herself from some of Sareess's guards. Her name is Simmilar Groat. She is in much the same position as the PC with the missing parents. Her family owed Sareess money and have been taken as slaves. Simmilar has been on the run from these people for almost two days and is very tired. She is using controlled kerning to fight off the six guards that are trying to capture her. The players should be persuaded to help.

It will not take much to help Simmilar as the guards will soon back off if anyone comes to her aid, as they all ready have attracted enough attention for one night. If the players try to confront the guards they will be Grade 3 guards (SEE NPC SECTION).

When she is safe Simmilar will break down in tears and not stop until she is comforted by someone. When she feels fully safe she will tell the PC's all she knows about what has happened to her family.

She thinks that a trader called Sareess Nesh has taken her family because of a debt that her father has not paid. She does not know any more than that. Although she has gone to the Yords, they do not believes her as she has a reputation as liar and a Githerin.

(c). I'M SORRY, BUT THAT'S GOING TO COST YA . . .

The next part of the adventure should be very free form in nature. If the players realise the importance of Simmilar's information, they can try and find out about Sareess. The problem is that she rarely trusts people and will not volunteer her information willingly. Depending on their ideas and performance (the right connections, appropriate skills, but preferably through role-playing) you should allow the players to discover some facts about what is going on. They will be able to find out the following:

(i) Who Sareess Nesh is and what he does.

(ii) Where he works from and where his house is.

(iii) Who Sareess's right- hand Man is and what he looks like.

(i) (a) Sareess is one of the most successful traders in Ardoth

(b) He deals in many, many markets . . . maybe not all of them legal.

(c) He is charming and Honest.

(d) His main trade recently has been with South Khodre. He was awarded a contract about eight months ago to supply preserved Durlig to the army units stationed there.

(ii) He works from an office in the Bazaar. His Ardothian house is in Lorri. (see Page 7 Companion: Ardoth).

(iii) Yartell Traish is his right - hand man. He is never seen without a pair of swords (See the NPC section).

Whilst the PC's are trying to find out exactly who they are up against, you should try and make them fell uneasy. Have them spot people following them all the time. Just to make them feel a little paranoid. Also don't let them get the above information for free, get them to work for it. NPC's are people too, they will want something in return for information and that may not always be money. If you plan this bit you and the players can have a lot of fun. And remember - make them work for any information that you give them.

(d). OH NO, NOT AGAIN ! !

At a convenient point when the PC's are off guard, you should let Yartell and a large group of grade 3 guards capture them. Use your imagination when doing this and let the players think that they have a chance - even though they don't. They must be captured at this point for the rest of the adventure to work.

If you don't get them first time, keep trying, throwing NPC's at them until they are caught. Just make up your up own NPC's that are powerful to capture them. Remember that Sareess is desperate at this point to capture these people because what they might know could get him executed.

When you have caught them all, they will be taken to one of Sareess's safe houses, a horse and thombo stable-shop. There they will be guarded until the following morning until some more people have been captured.

(iii). INFORMATION

THE CARTALE FAMILY

The Cartale's are a family of very wealthy semi-nobles based in Ardoth. Nichall's great-grand father was a distant relation of the ruling Dharsage of the time and it was because of this that the family was awarded the rights to a small mining town in South Khodre shortly after Dharsage began its rule of South Khodre. Despite the constant threat that the mine's crystal seams might dry up, the then family head Garran Cartale invested much of the family fortune into the mine. Fortunately the mine did not dry up and Garran's risk paid off ! The family fortune was substantially increased and ensured.

Currently there are nine members of the family headed by Nichall Cartale.

* * * *

* * * *

Jarl (m) = Remar (f) Tanmire (m) Yavall (f) Arn (m)

*

*

*************

* *

Breet (f) Aman (m)

Nichall Cartale is 57 years old and very fond of his four children as well as his daughter-in-law, Remar. He is also very anxious that his only daughter, Yavall, should be married off to the right man. Although he lacks solid evidence, he suspects that his youngest son, Arn, is using slave labour in the mines. This does not bother him as Arn is currently reaping in large profits and even if he were found out, Nichall has the power and influence to get his son out of trouble.

Nichall's wife, Janan is 48 years old. She knows nothing of her family's business methods and her only concerns are those pertaining to the upkeep and well being of her home and family.

Nichall's eldest son Jarl and his family do not live with the rest of the Cartale household. He and his wife Remar are both 27 and have children of 7 and 4 years old. Jarl is trying to set himself up in business as a trader to prove that he can get on in life without the aid of his father. Although unaware of it, he does receives fair amount of help from his father.

Tanmire is 23 years old and is preparing to take over the family business as he thinks that Jarl will decline to take it over. Unfortunately Tanmire is a poor businessman and his father keeps him handling relatively unimportant duties. He knows nothing of Arn's use of slaves.

Yavall is 20 years old and stunningly beautiful. Very quiet by nature, people think that she is a little simple, but this is not the truth. She knows about the slaves because she overheard her twin brother talking about them. Although very worried about it, she does not know what to do about them. She thinks that ii she tells anybody it will bring disgrace to her family and get Arn hung. So she keeps he secret bottled up inside her.

Arn is Yavall's twin. He is very bitter at the fact that he was born two minutes after his sister and is thus the youngest. He holds his family in the lowest of possible regard and his view of his elder siblings is one of deepest disrespect. He prefers to live in South Khodre as it is as far away from them as he can get. The man is sometimes viewed as evil by those that know him, but rather it is a case of him having absolutely no morals whatsoever. He has no compunctions about using slave labour to make the maximum possible profit from his mine. He is determined to make himself the most successful of all Nichall's sons, in the vane hope that he will be given the business instead of any other of his brothers. He was given the job of running the mine by his father who thought him best suited to the job. Nothing will stop Arn from achieving his goal of getting the family business. (If Arn survives, then it is possible that he will murder his way into the inheritance).

You can use the Cartale family when the players get back to Ardoth. Who they approach will effect how the problem is solved. If Nichall is approached then he will deny it all and will try to get his son out of trouble. Janan will defer the characters to Nichall. Jarl and his wife will go through the official channels. Tanmire will dither around, generally getting nothing done. Not knowing what to do, in the end he will go to his father. Yavall will not do anything about her brother, but maybe there are always that she can be persuaded to help . . .

RELASS

Relass is a mining town on the West face of the in South Khodre. It has the reputation of being a very rough town (even compared to the other mining towns !). The population mix is composed of the following:

Humans: 60% 161

Muadra: 01% 2

Boccord: 05% 8

Crugar: 34% 96

Total: 267

You may think that the 96 Crugars are out of place, but they are one of the most important parts of the town. The Crugars are tolerated in the town because of an agreement that was forged two years ago, between the Crugar clan and Arn.

The agreement was a clever piece of negotiation on the part of Arn. The deal is quite simple: the Crugar are allowed to live in the town and receive 1% of the profits from the mine. In return the Crugar will not attack or let any other Crugar bands attack the town. This made a very amicable arrangement as both sides get what they want at very little loss to themselves. The Crugars get all the amenities of a town and the money from the mine just for making sure nobody in the town is bothered by any other Crugar bands. Whereas Arn ensures the protection of his town and his mine and his profits.

THE MAIN BUILDINGS IN RELASS

(1). The Tool House: This is where all the mining tools are kept.

(2). The Crystal Store House: This is where all the mined crystal are stored. Apart from the Cartale house this is the most secure building in the town. Guards are on duty around the clock.

(3). Cartale family House: Arn lives here most of the year, keeping the house like a palace. The house has its own well and guards.

(4). Militia Quarters: The 50 town watch are quartered here. Most wear mail and are armed with swirds and crossbows.

(5). Watch Tower: A wooden structure from which all of the town can be seen, apart from the mines. Two guards are stationed here with crossbows, a bell and a telescope at all times.

(6). INCLEP: The only Inclep in the town, it is also home to the local Money lenders and Enclep (Healers). It too, is owned by Arn, who employs the Reskins, a muadra couple to look after the Inclep. Prices are 1.5 to 2 times as much as the norm.

(7). SINTH'S HUT: This is where the leader of the Crugar, Sinth, lives.

(8). MEETING HUT: The meeting place for the Crugars.

(9). THOMBO PENS.

(10). MARSH LAND.

(11). FOOD STORAGE: The warehouses where all the goods are kept.

THE MINE

The mine is on two levels. The first level is used to mine the crystals (red, amber, yellow and green crystals are taken from the rich deposits in the mine). The crystals mined on level 1 are moved by trucks that run all the way through the mine along tracks (the heavy lines on the map). Level 1 also has the bucket lift mechanism on it. A group of 20 slaves can operate the winch system and lift or lower about half a ton of material in the lift. The Bucket lift is used mainly to move rocks or slaves.

The second level was formed by an old underground river long dried up. It is used to house the slaves and to a much smaller extent for some limited mining. On Level 2 any crystals that are extracted are moved to the bucket lift by being dragged along the floor in sacks.

The slaves are kept chained together in groups of 5. The guards will be humans 80% of the time, occasionally replaced by the Crugar. One guard will monitor an average of 20 slaves. The guards are armed with sword and whips. On each level there will also be 4 guards with crossbows. They work in shifts to cover the long hours worked by the slaves.

The daily time table of events in the mine is as follows:

5:00 am The slaves are woken and put to work. Anyone who tried to escape the day before is executed in front of the other slaves.

12:00 noon The slaves are allowed 10 minutes to rest and have lunch.

6.00 p.m. The slaves are another 15 minutes to rest and drink.

12:00 am Work stops and the slaves are returned to the lower level.

(iv). NPC's

DEFINITIONS

The first paragraph on the NPC's description will Define the their stats.

The second paragraph is concerned with skill the standard Jorune skill indication is used i.e. inexperienced is levels 0 to 1, Familiar 2 to 4 Experienced 5 to 7, Seasoned 8 to 10. If a skill is not listed it is inexperienced. For Cultural skills S = Spoken, I = Interaction, E = Etiquette, W = Written, ME = Military Etiquette. CE = Caiji Etiquette.

[f the character has any dyshas then they are listed in the second paragraph. Further paragraphs contain the character description.

SAREESS NESH

CON: 11 STR: 10 SPD: 12

SOC: 16 EDU: 17 AIM: 13

COL: 14 LRN: 16 SPOT: 11

ISHO: 10 AGL: 15 LIST: 14

Familiar with Knife, Story Telling, Geology (practical), Weather. Arithmetic, Lore, Croid (S / I), Crugar (S / I / E) and Ramian (S / E / E). Experienced with Bribe, Lie, Oration, Geography (Classical), History (Class) and Fast Talk. Seasoned with Bargain and Contacts.

Sareess is a charming but dangerous man. He is rich and very powerful He has Contacts everywhere and always has a number of top notch guards with him at all time. Hs personal body Guard Is Yartell Traish. He is a well built dark skinned man. Normally dressed in fine clothing he usually arms himself only with a gilded knife and a lot of money.

SIMMILAR GROAT

CON: 10 STR: 07 SPD: 15

SOC: 08 EDU: 11 AIM: 13

COL: 14 LRN: 12 SPOT: 13

ISHO: 18 AGL: 16 LIST: 10

Familiar with Knife, Range Combat, Athletic, Current Events, Bargain, Bribe, Bribe, Pick Locks, Poison, Stalk Conceal Self and Scan. Experienced with Lies Pick Pockets, Underground Info, Silent Movement, Interfere and Unweave Shal.

Knows only Dyshas in the Shal group Faint (5), Calm Animal (5), Darkness (5), Scramble (4), Bodyfreeze (4), Brain Blast (4), Craze (3), Drain (3), Senses (3).

Similar has long auburn hair and generally looks very rough. She is 17 going on 36. She has to bring in all the money for all her family due to the fact that both her parents cannot work. She is a Whore and Githerin. She has a great deal of hate for the upper classes and will take any opportunity to steal from them. Dressed in rough clothing, she is armed with a knife.

YARTELL TRAISH

CON: 15 STR: 15 SPD: 16

SOC: 09 EDU: 15 AIM: 11

COL: 10 LRN: 08 SPOT: 11

ISHO: 15 AGL: 17 LIST: 13

Familiar with All Combat Skills, Thombo, Interfere (Desti, Du, Gobey). Experienced with Knife, kick, All athletic, Conceal Self and Silent Move. Seasoned with Sword, Fist Aid, Track.

Yartell is one of the best swordsmen in Burdoth. But Yartell is known as a man when the truth is that he is really a woman. Her short ginger hair and boyish looks only go to enhance her male image. She keeps her small bust strapped down at all times. She wears good quality mens clothing, a leather jerkin and carries two swords - which she is capable of using at the same time. These are carried across his back.

ARN CARTALE

CON: 12 STR: 10 SPD: 11

SOC: 15 EDU: 16 AIM: 12

COL: 10 LRN: 14 SPOT: 13

ISHO: 11 AGL: 13 LIST: 11

Familiar with Sword 2-H Sword, Knife Crugar, Horse, Thombo, History (class) and Geology (practical). Experienced with Bargain, Bribe, fast Talk Contacts and Spouling. Seasoned with Lie.

Arn is mean, depraved and arrogant. He runs Relass like his own little kingdom and thinks that he can do anything that he wants to do. He normally carries a knife, but has a two-handed sword and a suit of Thailerian mail in his rooms. In an emergency he will use the three cleash capsules he keeps hidden (exactly what they they is the Sholari's choice).

SINTH

CON: 11 STR: 15 SPD: 18

SOC: 04 EDU: 12 AIM: 10

COL: 08 LRN: 14 SPOT: 17

ISHO: 10 AGL: 18 LIST: 11

Familiar with Knife, Pick Pockets and Poison. Experienced with Battle Axe, Fist, Advance, Throw Knife, All Athletic Lie, Stalk, All Outland and Oration.

Lightning Blast (5) Isho points 55.

Sinth is big for a crugar and knows it. He will use it to his advantage in combat and will throw the knives he keeps on a bandoleer before closing for combat with his wickedly serrated axe. He is well known for his hatred of woffen and will kill them for the slightest provacation.

AVERAGE CRUGAR

CON: 12 STR: 13 SPD: 15

SOC: 02 EDU: 06 AIM: 07

COL: 10 LRN: 07 SPOT: 15

ISHO: 07 AGL: 15 LIST: 15

Familiar with Sword, All Outland, All Athletic and Fist.

GUARD GRADE 1

CON: 12 STR: 15 SPD: 15

SOC: 10 EDU: 11 AIM: 13

COL: 10 LRN: 10 SPOT: 11

ISHO: 10 AGL: 13 LIST: 10

Familiar with Knife or Thikes, Fist Advance, Def W/O Weapon, Crossbow or Bow and Some Athletic Skills. Experienced with Sword or 2-H sword or Polearm or Battle Axe.

GUARD GRADE 2

CON: 12 STR: 13 SPD: 11

SOC: 10 EDU: 10 AIM: 13

COL: 10 LRN: 10 SPOT: 11

ISHO: 10 AGL: 12 LIST: 10

Familiar with Sword, Knife or Thikes, Fist, Advance and Def W/O weapon.

GUARD GRADE 3

CON: 12 STR: 12 SPD: 11

SOC: 10 EDU: 08 AIM: 10

COL: 10 LRN: 09 SPOT: 08

ISHO: 10 AGL: 11 LIST: 10

Familiar with Sword.

Editor's Notes:

The scenario went pretty much as planned. Barlin Brown, a Boccord finds his adoptive parents kidnapped and the encounters on the Sarat and with Simmilar took place as described. Besides Barlin, the group consisted of Jowdii, a Woffen and Dern Voceridith, a Muadra and ex-army Caji. Dern was the only character that had been played previously, in The Skyrealm Kolovisondra adventure and as result of injuries sustained from having to jump off the skyrealm was suffering from amnesia. Instead of investigating too deeply, the group headed South to Rhodu, only to be captured when they returned to Ardoth a month later.

Upon arriving in Relass Sinth killed Jowdii. The others are joined by Cerephenia, a blind Muadra healer in their first escape attempt. Despite meeting up with a band of travellers led by a human, Kalin, they are recaptured by the crugar and returned to the mine. A second escape attempt is made the next day, but they only get as far as the Cartale house, capturing Arn. Barlin kills him the following day. With Kalin's help they escape both the siege and town, and return to Ardoth, vowing to stop whoever is behind the slave trade.

This campaign was started about 1988 and involved three players plus our Sholari (who for reasons too obscure to explain properly became known as the 'carrier bag'): Pete "Can I have a word with you ?" Dewsberry (Barlin), Matt "Oh Dern you idiot, I'm blind." Channel (Jowdii and Cerephenia) and Matthew Pook (Dern). It later expanded to include Clive Emerson (Kalin), Martin "I've got an axe and I know how to use it" Sharland (Derma Morgranth, Bronth Iscin and killing machine) and Simon "Mmmm, this afterbirth tastes delicious" Exton (Griosh, Woffen scout). Further changes came as Alex switched to different groups as well. The campaign started on Erris 65, 3487 and the group did not return to Ardoth until Auss 3, 3487 - 101 days in total. It took several weeks to play through this at about three hours each week, but got very bogged down in the everyday minutia of life.

From Ardoth the group became involved in the machinations of Saress and his new bodyguard, Garth to stop them revealing the truth and later in the hunt for an earth-tec cache. Further details of this campaign may form the basis for a later article.