The Four Seasons of Jivaldi


Scene One : Spring


Blue Troll

v1.0/1995 - v1.5/1996 - v2.0/1999

Spring Summer 1 Summer 2 Fall
Winter Dolmor Esperia (DM's map) Esperia (player's map)
NPCs Ruins of Greytower Parchment & Tiles Deities


Before words

In the beginning (1995), this story was written in french for an ad&d tournament and all the characters were elves. Then maybe a year later i played this scenario as a regular campaign with different type of characters. That campaign didn't last long since the characters were kicked out of Dolmor because they were accusing the druid of doing the "wolf incident". I never really modified or even translated the text of the scenario, i will be doing it while typing it "right now". So if there is too many typos please just give me a chance, english is my second language. So forget about an all elven scenario, it's not going to be the case. The location of the adventure is home made but it can be inserted in any existing fantasy world with a few modifications. This is a 4 parts scenario, divided between the 4 seasons, starting with spring. The adventure is not that easy, the ennemies are tougher than the characters will be at the beginning and most combat will be quite rough. Characters starts at 1st level and should gain a level at the end of each season, so they should be at least 3rd level when winter starts.

Synopsis

A small, nice and almost quiet village is going through hard times with wolves. The main problem is that wolves never attacks human unless they are threatened or when protecting their kinds. This can seem to be some easy and boring task for the characters but no. Not when they learn that those wolves have something different than normal wolves and that magic could be the cause of all that. The local druid says that he isn't responsible for the wolves act and the village's hunters and guards don't know what to do anymore. This is the first of a 4 parts adventures divided between the four seasons. This scenario is written for 5 to 6 1st level characters, they should go up one level at the end of each season. It is very IMPORTANT that the the party includes NO druids or clerics with the animal sphere of spells, this could ruin the scenario, one ranger should be good.


Introduction

The scenario takes place mainly in the village of Dolmor, located in the Dolmen forest. That forest is located in the north of Esperia, in a temperated climate, 60% of the trees are conifers and the forest is very dense besides where the village is. Dolmor is known for it's excellent wine and it's bowyers/fletchers. It's during fall that Dolmor is very crowded and busy, because of many merchants travelling by and going south to major towns. Most of the merchants comes from the north coast and especially from the town of Tormaris. All merchants travelling south always hired mercenaries or local guards to travel with them. They need protection from goblins, many areas are infested with goblins since they were kicked everywhere during the second goblin/human war about 40 years ago (the first one was about 75 years ago). Most of them live in the Golden Woods, west of the Dolmen forest. Dolmor is not a very old village, it's less than 100 years old (exactly 78 years old), it was built from human settlements during the first goblin war. Dolmor was also badly damaged during the second goblin war 40 years ago.

The Golden Woods are the home of many goblins (we already know that) and also Jermlaines, Atomies, Wolves and a collection of fearie creatures. A few elves are also known to be wandering in those woods sometimes but they stay away from human settlements. South of the woods is the Valley of the Rocs, a very dangerous place with high dark rocky mountains, people say gigantic eagles live there. The characters would normally explore only a tiny part of that region, at the bottom in the hills.

The Humpy Vale is completely covered with low hills. Goblins live there too, this is also the place where they have larger settlements and a small village. Trolls are also known to be found in those hills, a few goblins have been caught between the teeth of the trolls. A few ruins also sleeps there, remnants of the goblin war.


Part One (beta)

Here comes the nightmare of so many game masters, the introduction of the characters. If you are playing a campaign in which they already know each other then, it's perfect. Since the scenario starts in the early spring, not many merchants travels around with mercenaries. If not, remember that Dolmor is known for it's wine and bowyers/fletchers. The pc's maybe need to travel there to buy many bows and arrows for a town guards or they are maybe just passing by going south (or north) to see bigger towns and have a chance to find a day job (or a dangerous mission). But i am sure some of you have no problem whatsoever introducing players to each other, so take it from there. The story starts in early april, so the nights are very cold, it's muddy and it rains a lot.

Part One (official) : A Hunter's Tale

After a few days of travelling through the Golden Woods, the pc's are finally crossing the low wooden bridge, over the Tormaris river that leads to the village of Dolmor. A few minutes after crossing the bridge, there is a chance that the pc's will notice tracks on the muddy path. If there is a ranger in the group you can make him roll under his tracking skill, if he does have the skill. The tracks are those of wolves, a bit strange though that they are on the path where humans walk.

A bit further away there is more tracks, a lot more, a mix of wolf and human tracks and blood (tracking skill roll again or perception roll at -6). A short time after that discovery, the pc's can hear the growling of dogs (or wolves) and the faint cries of human help. If the pc's have horses, they will start getting nervous. If the pc's are making a lot of noise they will attract some of the wolves, but remember that they will run away if they are outnumbered or at least half of them wounded. If the pc's don't care people will die, if they care read the following:

You noticed that many of the tracks leads toward the cries and growls. You walk between the trees for one or two minutes until you reach a small clearing. Away from you, on the far side of the clearing there is three men, one of them is unconscious or dead on the ground, bleeding. One of the two standing is wounded and very frightened, they have small swords in their hands. Around them on the ground you see bows with a few arrows. They have their back blocked by a very big thornbush, in front of them and preventing them to run away there is 5 wolves. Two of them are wounded by arrows, they staying behind the three others.

Almost at the same time, both the men and wolves notices your presence. The men now shows some relief on their faces, but strangely, it's only the 2 wounded wolves who turn around to look at you while the three others still watches the men (hunters from Dolmor).

The wolves aren't going to attack unless the pc's show signs of hostility or just start bashing right away. Even if this happens, the wolves aren't going to fight for more than 2 rounds because of the number of opponents. The wolves will attack the pc's first and leave the hunters alone for a short time (enough for the hunters to move away from the thornbush).


5 Wolves (* = wounded)
Ac: 7 Thac0: 18 Attacks: 1 Damage: 1d4+1
Intelligence: 9 (6) Size: Small Alignment: Neutral Movement: 18
Moral: 14 (10) HP: 13, 12, 10, 6*, 4* Special: Save vs charm at +1  

Intelligence and moral is modified by the near presence of their master (see Vorax).

3 Hunters (one is unconscious)
Ac: 7 Thac0: 18 (17 with bow) Attacks: 1 (2 with bow) Damage: 1d8 or 1d6 (bow)
Intelligence: Average Size: Medium Alignment: Neutral Good Movement: 12
Moral: 12 HP: 8, 7, 0  


After the hunters have moved away from the thornbush they will do their best to help the pc's, then the wolves will probably run away but try keeping them for a 2 rounds fight unless half of them got killed in the first round. It's not recommended that the pc's run after them if they evade the combat, the wolves will just bring them where there is more of them. The dm can point out that there is a wounded hunter to take care of but if they are stubborn, let them fall into a trap, these wolves aren't stupid. Since it is the beginning of a low level adventure, don't kill your pc's right away, give them a chance but you can make them learn a good lesson.

The wolves are under the influence of their master, Vorax. Vorax is, or was, a human wizard who turned into a rare permanent form of lycanthropy (he is a permanent werewolf but still with his human memory and abilities). Vorax is hiding farther away in the woods, there is no chances that the pc's will encouter him so early in this adventure. Like you read earlier, if the pc's follow the running wolves in the woods, Vorax will send two more of them (HP: 16, 14) but not more than that. Vorax is wearing magical boots so he can hardly be follow by anyone unless they have a darn good sense of smell (see all his background, stats and equipment in the npc appendix). Don't forget that the wolves will never fight to the death, most of the time they will run away after having lost 50% of their hit points or if half of their pack was killed.

After the altercation with the wolves, the pc's will have to take care of the wounded (at least one hunter). It is at your discretion if the pc's have horses or not, if not they will have to be careful while carrying the wounded. When the fight is over and the pc's are with the hunters, one of the hunter goes toward one of the pc, shakes his hand and speaks to all them. Read the following:

Peter: "If you knew how glad and thankful we are that you helped us, we would have been dead for sure. It is terrible what is happenning to us, we have to carry Eugene to the village, he is badly wounded and will die if he is not brought into the temple. My name is Peter, and this is Morris (pointing to the other hunter)." He takes a long pause and then conitnues."We are totally clueless about the behavior of the wolves, nobody in Dolmor can explain it, not even Foswel (the druid)."

You can easily noticed that they are extremely nervous and almost in tears. It seems they haven't been sleeping a lot lately, they are a bit pale and haven't shaved in a few days (and maybe bathed).

Peter: "We are still a bit far from Dolmor, we have to go right now, i don't want any wolves coming back. We just have to take the path that goes east, Dolmor must be at least 20 minutes from here."

Trying to heal the wounded hunter will only stop the bleeding, he will die soon if not brought to the temple so the priest can take care of him. The pc's will probably have some questions for the hunters, they will answer nervously and will tell them that they will feel better and will answer most questions while walking toward the village.

If the pc's have questions about Dolmor, read the village appendix.
If the pc's have questions about the temple or priest, read Lehar's background.
If the pc's have questions about the druid, read Foswel's background.
If the pc's have questions about the wolve's strange behavior, read the following:

Peter: "Everything started about one week ago, when one late night guards from the village noticed the presence of very big dogs near old Willy's hen house. Well, after a very short time they found out that these dogs were wolves. Even if Willy's hen house in near the woods, it never happened before that wolves came roaming so close to the village. Wolves never approaches places where there is a lot of humans, unless they went through a rough winter and are looking for food. But we haven't had a rough winter in at least 5 years so this can't be the reason."

Peter then pauses for a few seconds, looks around and checks on Eugene's condition.

Peter: "When the guards got closer to the wolves, they ran away, no surprises there. But a few minutes later, after the guards left, they came back, and this time they were five. Willy got out of his house with his dog, he started to yell and the guards came running back. When they arrived, 3 of the wolves were trashing the hen house while Otto, Willy's dog, was fighting against one of them, poor old dog." Peter let go a sigh then goes on with his story.

Peter: "Only one wolf was killed by the guards, the four others ran away but not without leaving death behind. They killed 8 hens, but the biggest lost was Otto, Willy's dog. He was too old to fight against a wolf, he didn't have a chance, he was almost ripped apart. So then, nothing happenend for the rest of the night."

Peter stays quiet for a moment with a sad look on his face, Morris then decide to continue with the story.

Morris: "The next day, the body of the wolf was brought to the temple and examined by father Lehar and later by Foswel, the druid. But nothing wrong was found, the wolf was perfectly normal, not even rabies. The body was then burned by Foswel and Willy's dog was buried behind the hen house. We didn't have any choices after that incident Zak, the mayor, asked the Christopher, the huntmaster to search the woods for any pack of wolves living too close from the village. Three hunters were chosen to search the woods around the village, us. But we didn't find anything in our two first days of search, at night the villagers could hear in the distance the howls of wolves, we were all nervous. It seems that everywhere we were looking for them, they would just leave the place and go elsewhere and howl again, and again."

Peter: "Not until today that something happened. We didn't sleep a lot last night, we were, and still are, very tired. We found more tracks and decided to follow them, after at least one hour of tracking we didn't found any wolves, THEY found us. It was unexpected, and we never understood how they did that, we were totally surprised. We know a bit about the behavior of wolves, and for sure, we know wolves don't ambush people, but they did. They were only three but they caught us too close to use our bows, they had that terrible ferocious look in their eyes."

Peter: "They started to walk toward us, very confident, like they were pushing us away from their territory. We respected that and started walking away, but it was a trap, they brought us to two other wolves, waiting for us. It's unexplainable, they knew exactly what they were doing, like they had a bit of human instinct in them. We didn't have any choice now, we had to fight them, we ran away and were caught in that clearing with the thornbush blocking our way."

Morris: "None of that was normal, not for wolves. You appeared at the right time and we thank you again. The wolves were fighting like they were human, using tactics that are unusual to normal wolves. When one of them was wounded he would walk back and leave is place to another wolf. They were always blocking the smallest path we could have take to run away, unbelievable. It was so strange, a total enigma, and maybe...demoniac.

The priority right now for the pc's is to bring back the hunters safe to Dolmor. Then when in the village they will be able to question more people and look around. If there is a ranger or any hunter related class in the group the villagers will probably ask for help or at least tell what they think about the wolve's behavior.

If the pc's starts having thoughts about werewolves going around in the woods, let them fabulate on that idea until the day they meet with Vorax. If they start spreading a rumor about a werewolf (or many) in the village, they risk a general panic. If the players ask you if it's a full moon today or soon, tell them it was full one night ago, just to "please" them a bit.

Maybe 5 minutes before entering Dolmor, Peter will ask the pc's to bring Eugene from behind the temple so nobody will see that he is hurt and that no one panics at the sight. Morris will then lead the way toward the back of the village, a bit further east, where the temple is. Later they can see some houses from far between the trees, after leaving the main path Morris leads you all behind a bigger building, the temple of Halmanah (godess of harvest and the fertility). The player can also see a few other buildings and houses near the temple and a small cemetary next to the temple. When the pc's are close enought to the back entrance of the temple, read the following:

Morris ask you to wait a bit while he is looking for father Lehar, he doesn't knock at the back door and walks quickly inside (door isn't locked). After a short time he comes back with a young priest, probably not father Lehar, he introduces himself as brother Daniel.

Daniel. "Please enter quickly, Morris just told about Eugene. Bring him in the healing room, i will show you where it is. I will also inform father Lehar so Morris will be in good hands."

You follow Daniel along a corridor lighted by the daylight coming through a row of widows on the left wall. Along the way you have noticed a few very small bedrooms and what seems to be a kitchen. A bit further away Daniel opens a wooden door and lets you in with Eugene. It's another small room, a bit bigger than the precedent ones with two bunks, one small table with an oil lamp and a single chair (If a pc is also unconscious, he will be placed on the other bed).

Daniel. "Put him on that bed, i will go look for father Lehar and bring him here."

Daniel then leaves the room, Morris and Peter are staying with you until they are told about Eugene's condition. You haven't waited one minute when you see Daniel coming back with an older man but not very old, in his early 30's. Black hair, brown eyes, thin and not very tall. He is wearing a dark brown robe on which a symbol is broided: A tree branch with leaves (part of the symbol of Halmanah).

Lehar. "Good day gentlemen, Daniel just told me that you brought Eugene in. I am very thankful that you helped our hunters to bring him back to the village. I will have to remove his clothes and clean the wounds before proceeding to any healing. If you wish to wait in the kitchen back there i will come back to you and give you news about Eugene."

He then looks at Peter and Morris. "I would like to know what happen later, Eugene is in need of healing, don't go in the village telling about that, you will make them panic, especially Eugene's wife. You can go back to the Hunter's Club by the backdoor or stay here with our new friends."

After that, Morris and Peter tell you that they will be going to the hunter guild and be back later. Daniel takes you to the kitchen in case you haven't seen it on the way in. Quickly he puts on the table a few cups with a pitcher of water and a bottle of wine, he then goes back to help father Lehar.

The kitchen is fairly small, there is not enough chairs around the table for all of pc's (if more than 3). It's an old but very steady wooden table, same thing for the chairs. Everything inside seems to be made of wood, the quality of the carpentry is excellent. There is also dishes on a set of shelves, some jars, bottles of oil and various knives and spoons. There is also a smaller door in the back of the room (a small room where food is kept, the door is locked).

The wine on the table is extremly good, the pc's probably tasted wine before in bigger towns but not as good as this one. There is also a faint smell of herbs and spices in the air, very nice and relaxing. If any pc's look into the smaller bedrooms they will find nothing valuable or exciting (one bunk, one night table, a candle and some clothings), if they are too curious you can have Daniel popping up at that moment to check on them or to tell them that father Lehar is done with Eugene.

It takes about 15 minutes before Lehar comes back in the kitchen. He tells the pc's that Eugene will survive but will have to stay in the temple for a few days, he is still unconscious and he is having a fever. He thanks them again and also ask if any of the pc's need some healing (if there was a pc unconscious from the wolf attack, he will be on his feet the next morning). He will tell try to answer questions if any but he needs to stay close to Eugene for the rest of the day, he will tell them where the pc can stay for the night (the Noble Vine Inn). With that, he salutes and thanks them again. At that point, read the following:

When you are almost done with Father Lehar you hear some noise and cries far away in the distance. Father Lehar is surprised and sends Daniel to see what is going on. A few seconds later you hear the cries of a woman that echoes in the temple, she seems to be calling to see his husband. Like it is always in small villages, news are spreaded fast without knowing who started.

Coming with Daniel you see a young woman in her mid 20's, she is in tears and confused. She learned what happened to her husband and wants to see him. Father Lehar tries to calm her down, he speaks softly and say that Eugene is fine and will recover. He tells her that it's probably because of you that he is still alive and that she should be thankful of that.

She then looks at you, her eyes still full of tears and falls in the arm of *random pc* and starts thanking you that you save her husband and that she couldn't survive without him and that they have a child etc. She says her name is Helen.

Lehar will finally calm her down but if a pc does that it's even better to give him a few more xp's (or whatever type of point system you use to gain new levels) and he will bring her to Eugene's room after she had calm down. The pcs are now free to get out of the temple and go in the village.


Part Two: Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

There is a map and an annex available for the village description and many of it's inhabitants. You can apply any modifications to Dolmor but do not give the pc's anything that could help them too much on their quest i.e. Silver weapons or any magical items (that include potions). Along the campaign, they will have to find what they need the hard way, nothing is going to be too easy at this level. Read all the description of Dolmor at least twice so you don't have to go look back too much often to find a particular building or shop. Some of the npc's should be played as they are described in their small description, you can modify a few or add another personality but keep the story base as it is right now.

You have to make sure though that they will agree to help the villagers. You can give them free lodging at the inn at the expense of Zak, the mayor (only if he did offer that to the pc's) or a small amount of money, also from the mayor. This amount should be given only after a part of the quest is done, just to be sure the pc's won't go in a big town to buy magical gimmicks and bring them back to Dolmor. The reward should be around 100-200 silver pieces, that is a lot for any low level adventurer, and if they are given free lodging at the Noble Vine Inn, they don't need much money. You can give them maybe 15 silvers each in advance for food and drinks. At the inn, give them a common room if they accept the mayor's offer. But after a few days, maybe 2 weeks, the mayor will ask them to pay at least half of the lodging if the mission is going too slow.

Most of what happen with the wolves was already told by the hunters. They could always ask questions to Willy who was attacked by them or the druid Foswel. The druid lives outside the village, any Dolmorian can give directions to get to the druid's house. They can also question the guards who were there on the night of the attack, they will tell what the hunters told the pc's earlier but with maybe a few small difference, since they were in the action.

You can find useful to use the rumour table when the pc's ask questions to the common people, people like Lehar or Foswel don't need the rumour table when asked questions.

So if the pc's agree to help the Dolmorians, the mayor will be quite happy about it. Especially that it's not the life of any of his villagers that will be endangered. From what happened in my two previous games, the pc's went to see the druid first, since he is suppose to be in contact with the animals and the nature.

Around Willy's house most tracks have been erased with time and the passage of people. It is still possible to see a few of them (Perception -3 and Tracking roll if they want to follow them toward the woods) around the hen house. Willy's home is very close to the woods, if the pc's are able to follow the tracks there (Perception -1 or Tracking roll) they will notice after a short distance that the wolves were walking where the soil is packed and harder so they leave less tracks. If the pc's continue to follow the tracks in the wood (Perception -4 or Tracking roll) they will start to get very far from the village, if they want, they can follow the tracks for almost one hour.

If the pc's have followed the tracks very far from Dolmor, make them roll a surprise check and read the following:

Four wolves suddenly come up walking toward you very slowly, they are about 30 feet from the leading character. They aren't showing any signs of hostility (unless they are already bashing them). When they are about 12 feet from you, they stop and sniff the air.

If the pc's are hostile or cast a spell, they will attack (since they make no difference bewteen a offensive and innofensive spell). If the pc's are not hostile, the wolves will walk toward them again, trying to show them that they have to walk away, to go back toward the village (Animal Empathy roll if available to a character or Wisdom roll at -6). If the pc's do not understand, the wolves will start to growl and get closer to them.

The way the wolves attack, is to make the pc's move toward where Vorax is hidden. If needed, Vorax will send 2 or 3 more wolves so the pc's will feel that they have to move away from that spot. At first, Vorax will stay hidden to watch the fight and will not let the wolves be killed, remember they are not suicidal.

4 Wolves

Ac: 7 Thac0: 18 Attacks: 1 Damage: 1d4+1
Intelligence: 9 (6) Size: Small Alignment: Neutral Movement: 18
Moral: 14 (10) HP: 13, 12, 12, 10 Special: Save vs charm at +1  

Intelligence and moral is modified by the near presence of their master (see Vorax).

Vorax feels that if the pc's win the fight they will try to go further away and find something about his hideout. So if the wolves are badly wounded and in trouble Vorax will cast a Shocking Grasp and will get closer to the fight, hoping to hit one of the pc's with his spell. Vorax will only attack a pc that is not too close to the others, when they were following the tracks they weren't probably all close to each other, it's not practical. The damage of Vorax's claw and the spell does 2d4+1d8+2 damage. That is enough to kill any of the pc, but don't do that, bring him to zero hit points if the damage is high enough to kill. If Vorax makes an attack on a pc, read him (ONLY HIM) the following:

You suddenly feel a presence while fighting the wolves (surprise roll). A humanoid figure just appeared on your blind side and is quickly moving his clawed hand toward you. The figure is wearing a long cloak and robe, very dirty, in shades of brown and some black, the robe is ripped in some place and you can see thick fur underneath ,"he" is also wearing leathery boots. The clawed hand is also furry and have a freaky bright blue glow around it. When the hand touches you you noticed a pair of bright red eyes and a few long pointed teeth under the cloak's hood, you suddenly feel extremly cold to the point of hurting and the blue glow envelops you (depending on the amount of damage done, that pc will probably fall unconscious).

After that, Vorax will run away quickly in the woods, if he is being followed he will cast another Shocking Grasp just in case. If he isn't followed he will then call back all the wolves and leave the pc's with their wounded. The other pc's, unless too far, will all have noticed the presence of Vorax and the blue glow enveloping their companion but not the details of his appearance. Vorax is way too quick to be catched by any of the pc, same thing for the wolves, they run too fast.

It is better at that point if the pc's go back to Dolmor instead of risking all their lives in the woods. In the village, Lehar will gladly help heal the pc's and Foswel can do the same thing. A few other things can also happen from now on, they will maybe ask for a bigger reward now that they know about a humanoid furry sorcerer (they can start using the word werewolf if they want but they better not spread that in the village). If they truly believe they encountered a werewolf, they will try to find some magic to fight against him or find any silver weapons (none in the village and the smithy doesn't know how to make any weapons from silver, and doesn't know where to get pure silver).

An important thing is that you have to keep the pc's in that quest, they shouldn't leave the Dolmorians with their problem. You could always rise a little bit the reward from the mayor, or use a more emotional approach from someone of the opposite sex toward one of the pc's. Maybe the main npc, Jivaldi, will be enough to keep them in Dolmor if they have already met with her.

It is only after the pc's have seen Vorax that a few other clues and stories will come up in the campaign. Since before his appearance, all the villagers just thought it was a problem with ordinary but angry wolves.

At the end of spring, Foswel (druid) have to leave the village for a few months. He will attend a druid reunion in the Golden Woods, in a secret place. The pc's are not invited and only druids can participate to the reunion. It takes place around a magical dolmen, a magical architecture that never stays in place, it moves magically from reunion to reunion. So besides you are a druid or VERY lucky, you cannot find the secret place...and the Golden Woods are gigantic... Jivaldi cannot go to the reunion before she reached a certain level of experience (3rd level). Foswel will only be back in the winter scenario, so that makes Jivaldi the official druid in dolmor.

End of Spring - Before going to the Second Season, let the pc's talk more in the village, look around and learn things. It is also a good idea to include a small side adventure at this point if you don't want to have them gain a new level yet. But it is very recommended that they start the second scene at the 2nd level. Don't have them play a side adventure that is totally unrelated to the current area or that includes ANY magical items, they should not get any until they come back from the ruins in the next season (summer).



On to the next season, summer.

The four seasons of Jivaldi, property of Blue Troll. 1995-99. Copyrights 1995, this document can be distributed freely over the internet with my approval.
This document cannot be sold to anyone for any price. All drawings were done by Blue Troll, monsters stats and any AD&D related rules or comments are the property of T$R. Available on Blue Troll's Netbooks Web Page and Troll.Saucybard.Com