TSR 9218 - X13 - Crown of Ancient Glory.pdf

(10307 KB) Pobierz
ExpertKO panion Game Adventurf
Cr
nciat
Gloi~
Introduction
‘The once-mighty kingdom of Vestland
is in grave danger. Divisiveness within
the realm
is
approaching anarchy. Fur-
thermore, ever-hostile factions from the
Ethengar Khanate pose a serious threat.
Foi-
many years the fierce people of the
steppes have looked with envy upon the
prosperous coastal realm to the east. In
thi
5
perilous hour Vestland lacks that
which it needs most: strong and legiti-
mate leadership.
At this time, the northern and western
portions of the country are most troubled
in the absence of an effective, central au-
thority. Raids along the border with the
Khanate are commonplace as the
Ethengarians test the weakening mettle
of
1
he Vestlandian folk. And within the
realm itself, petty warlords are engaged
in the most uncivil practices: exacting
unlawful tolls on roads and waterways;
extortion; smuggling and other activities
in defiance of the law of the land.
Despite the best intentions of many
noliles, Vestland has been beset with in-
ternal strife for over five years, ever since
the disappearance of the last High King,
Maramet. This fierce but noble monarch
apparently perished in a campaign
against barbarians on the border with the
Heldann Freeholds. At the time only
a
handful of Maramet’s soldiers returned
despite the overall success of the sortie.
Vestlandian losses were grave, and worst
of all, the king simply vanished.
Maramet had an heir in the person of
his son, Thendel, but the continuity of
the lineage was disrupted by the loss of
the Sorona, the greatly revered mystical
crown of the High King. It was widely
known
-
even by the lowliest peasants
-
that the High King always wore the
great circlet, for not only was the Sorona
a symbol
of
the king’s power, it was also
an endorsement of his right to wield it.
The lore of Vestland held that only one
worthy of high kingship could wear the
crown. Without this self-evident symbol
of righteousness Maramet’s son found
himself bereft of legitimacy.
Although many nobles, such as Duke
Stephen of Rhoona (see the D&D@mod-
ule,
X3
The
Curse
o
Xunuthon),
acknowl-
f
edged Thendel’s claim, others stopped
short of paying homage. The young
Prince had the pedigree, but without the
Crown of the Sun, he lacked the majesty
to rule. Within a few months of Mara-
met’s disappearance the superstructure
of the realm began to crumble and the
seeds of anarchy were sown.
Although Norrvik is the capital of Vest-
land, the kings of the realm have always
had a special affinity with the hamlet of
Ruthin. For centuries the High Kings
have been crowned here under the auspi-
ces of the Clerics of Ruthin. A small but
prestigious order, the Ruthinians have
always supported the high kingship, es-
pecially in times of succession.
Following Maramet’s demise these cler-
ics, under the direction of their patriarch,
Annacks, sought in vain to stabilize the po-
litical climate in the realm. As stalwart sup-
porters of law and order, the Ruthinians
had to accede to the traditions and thus
they could not press for Thendel’s en-
thronement. Instead, they proposed that
the Prince should become Regent until
such time as the Sorona could be recov-
ered. Further, Annacks suggested that
an
expedition be organized for the purpose of
reclaiming the lost crown and the pre-
sumed body of the missing king.
Much against Annacks’ better judg-
ment, young Thendel insisted upon leading
this excursion to the northern frontier. Alas,
within a fortnight of this leave-taking, the
Prince’s body was borne back to Ruthin.
Thendel’s party had been ambushed by
Ethengarians on the northwest frontier.
After Thendel’s death, Annacks and
other dignitaries established a Council of
Regents in Norrvik. Only those well-
disposed to the high kingship were elected
to this body, for their mandate was to gov-
ern until such time as the monarchy could
be restored. Under Annacks’s influence it
was agreed that the council would labor
also for the Sorona’s return. Officially, the
regents held that if the crown could be re-
stored, then a man worthy of kingship
would come forth to wear it.
Now after five years, the power and au-
thority of the Council has dwindled. In
some cases the regents have simply been
unable to discharge the duties of royalty. In
cases of feudal succession their proclama-
2
tions have been often ignored. Further-
more,
all
attempts to recover the Sorona
have failed-a situation which of itself has
diminished the council’s esteem.
At the outset of this adventure the coun-
cil only has nominal control over the south-
ern portion of the realm, due largely to the
support of the Duke of Rhoona and the
amenable dispositions of the Jarls of
So-
derfjord. Elsewhere the voice of the council
is weak or else completely ignored.
Background Intrigue
Without doubt the best kept secret in
the realm is the fact that a direct heir to
the throne yet lives. Twenty years before
King Maramet’s disappearance, the
Queen of Vestland gave birth to twin
boys. The elder, and senior by a matter
of minutes, was Thendel. The other
babe was named Tenitar. Only one mid-
wife was witness to the event and tragi-
cally the Queen died shortly thereafter.
In the utmost secrecy the king and An-
nacks held a sad counsel with one an-
other late into the night. The Ruthinian
Patriarch had the heavy burden of point-
ing out the inherent danger of there be-
ing twin heirs to the throne. Even in his
shattered state of mind the grief-stricken
monarch could see the problem: when it
came time, which of these boys would
rule? How could one of the Princes defer
to the other? It was plain enough that
civil war, and quite probably a sundered
kingdom, lay in the future.
S o
it
was that the king and his advisor
decided that one of the boys should be
taken away in secrecy and given as an or-
phan to a worthy guardian.’ As the
youngest, Tenitar was thus taken by An-
nacks and given into the care of the at-
tending midwife. This trusted servant
was furnished with money for herself and
the babe, and further directed to find
a
suitable home for the child. It was also
decided that Maramet and Annacks
would not know of the child’s fate, for the
temptation to seek him out would be too
great. If the need arose to find the babe,
they would trust to the powers of the
Sorona. Thus young Tenitar, Prince of
Vestland, was taken into the night.
Introduction
After some deliberation and searching,
the servant woman offered the infant to
Kadm, who was then Keeper of the Stones
of
Sky,
a sacred place of standing stones in
the north of Vestland. Kaden, who even
then was well past the prime of life, took on
the custodianship of the anonymous or-
phan, for he saw a chance to raise and train
an apprentice, someone to take over the
stewardship of the shrine.
Now,
25
years later, Tenitar is the sole
keeper of
the
stones. H e is
known
as Gre-
gorian, and sometimes as Gregor. Igno-
rant of his true origins, Gregorian is a
simple rustic, a fellow with no more polish
than a caretaker or a marsh warden. With
mattled hair, a long beard, and the shabby
robes of a pilgrim, he is the most unlikely-
looking candidate for kingship that one
could imagine. Deep within, though, Gre-
gorian has a noble spirit waiting to emerge.
Annacks harbors the knowledge that
Tenirar (Gregorian) is yet alive, or most
likely
so,
somewhere in the realm.
At
this
time the aging patriarch is pinning his
hopes on finding both the missing heir
and the Sorona. Thus far, the old man
has not revealed the existence of the heir
to any of the soldiers and adventurers
who have sought in vain for the lost
crown. In this dark hour, however, the
patriarch is ready to make this disclosure
to
the true champions of Vestland.
The Death
of
King
Maramet
At the time of his demise, King Mara-
met was leading a force of outriders
against barbarians based in the Heldann
Free5olds. The king engaged the enemy
at the border and met with some initial
succ(:ss.
No
match for the horsemen of
the king’s troop, the barbarians took
flighc, riding northwest back to the hilly
country of the Freeholds. Maramet and
his men rode after them in hot pursuit.
A::
the Vestlandians rode on into the
high country they began to lose the ad-
vantage over their prey. Twice the bar-
barians ambushed the pursuers and
twicc: the outriders slew their attackers
despite alarming casualties.
At
length,
Maramet and two of his household
guards rode on ahead of the remaining
troop, for only the barbarian chief and
one other remained.
At
last the High King of Vestland caught
up with the enemy chieftain at a mountain-
side track known by the local tribesmen as
Knife’s Ridge, on the eastern peak of a vol-
canic formation
known
as the Red
Fangs.
With their respective retainers slain, the
king and the barbarian engaged in mortal
combat. The fierce chieftain received
a.
kill-
ing wound in the melee, for the king
WiM
al-
most invincible with the Sorona about his
head. With a last desperate lunge, however,
the barbarian grappled with the King and
together they plunged from the ridge, f d -
ing hundreds of feet into a narrow ice flow.
With no living thing the wiser, both men
were instantly entombed in the glacier and
so too, was the Sorona. The High King and
his
mystical crown were never seen again.
Maramet’s body, frozen and pre-
served in death, was conducted through
the flow of slowly moving ice. And so it
would have remained had not an unusu-
ally hot and early spring come. Through
the hot summer the glacier began to melt
and at last the king’s body was carried
off
in a cold stream that issued from the
melting ice. The remains were con-
ducted north for miles, almost
to
the
land-locked lake of Erid, about
100
miles
from the Vestland border. Here the body
of the king was found by the chaotic bar-
barian priests of Erid Isle.
The Eridians were keepers of the is-
land shrine
to
their god, Gylgarid, an en-
tity worshiped by many northern
tribesmen. The dark clerics took up the
body of Maramet, deeming it a gristly
gift from their god. They enshrined it,
crown and all, within the vaulted depths
of their castle on the island. It is here that
the dead king and the lost Sorona yet lie.
The
Enemy
Within
In addition
to
the threat from the
Ethengar Khanate, Vestland’s lawful
factions face a dark and sinister power in
the person
of
Vana Cullen, the Duke of
Estine, Vestland’s northernmost princi-
pality. This man is the cousin of the dead
king and, by blood at least, a potential
candidate for the vacant throne
of
the
realm. M o r e importantly, however,
Vana Cullen deems it his destiny to rule.
Accordingly, in the last five years the
Duke of Estine has consistently under-
mined the efforts
of
those who seek the
Sorona. In point of fact, it was Cullen’s
men, in the guise of Ethengarian tribes-
men, who attacked Prince Thendel’s
party as it rode out in search of king and
crown. This chaotic duke is directly re-
sponsible for the Prince’s death!
Furthermore, Cullen has made pre-
liminary overtures
to
emissaries of the
Ethengar Khanate. H e intends to offer
the enemy a land corridor through Ves-
tland to the sea
so
that the people of the
steppes may at last take advantage of
a
lucrative sea trade, free of Vestlandian
tariffs and meddling. In exchange for
this promise he expects the tribal people
to
help him win the throne of the realm
by making war on the southern prov-
inces of the country.
In his twisted reckoning, the Duke be-
lieves that the Ethengarians will accept
this proposition because it will give them
access to the sea without having to oc-
cupy and govern a new territory. True to
form, though, Cullen secretly plans to
drive the foreigners back to the plains
once he is High King.
Vana Cullen’s powers are formidable,
largely because he has a number of
agents in key positions throughout the
realm. One of these is a cleric of Ruthin,
a fellow who has kept him appraised of
developments in Norrvik. This devious
cleric has secretly monitored Annacks in
his sleep. Alas, the old man has spoken
aloud in his dreams and the Duke now
has reason
to
believe that a true heir
(Tenitar) exists. Through this agent, the
Duke of Estine will also learn of the par-
ty’s mission to recover the Sorona just as
the adventure begins.
Another diabolical minion of the Duke
is the chaotic wizardress, Ala the
Seawitch. From her hidden rock island
tower off the west coast of Ostland, this
magic-user has answered Cullen’s sum-
mons. A t the outset, the Duke has com-
missioned Ala to find the heir through
the use of her extraordinary powers. In
due course the Seawitch will succeed and
3

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin