09 – The Ruins of Baradahm (adventure)

The story opens with the characters, together or separate, making their way through the wooded foothills of the Donarzheis Mountains in the kingdom of Aetaltis. The trail they are on is not one they have travelled before. Their usual route was washed out, forcing them along a new path leading to the village of Quenlic that has been recently attacked.

As they arrive, they are met by a Quester, a Warder of Alantra named Grane. She describes that she had been injured during a recent storm and had arrived here ot convalesce. Last night the town was attacked by skratta, who mostly cause mayhem, stealing livestock and food stocks of all kinds. Her concern is they are scouting the area and bringing “prizes” back to their lair to prove they have found a way to the surface. Once word spreads surely there will be a larger group that may directly threaten the village or more.
Warder Grane asks the party to track the Endrori into the hills to investigate.
  • Primary Objective. Find the source of the Endrori and neutralize the threat.
  • Secondary Objective. Identify a suitable location to place a new Ward of Alantra and return to escort the Warder back to place the Ward. An ideal location would be a single passage surrounded by solid rock.
This introductory adventure is written for Narosia (HERO System), but is easily adapted to other adventures.
June 2016: This adventure will be first in our product line for Narosia NOVA6.  

GMs Only (click & drag to reveal)

This adventure is about the discovery of a valuable tsvergic ruin, long lost to the world. Baradahm consists of three key locations: the Upper Gates, the Depths and Library, and Baradahm Port. This adventure takes place entirely in the Upper Gates. Once the adventure is completed, the characters can consider whether or not to descend into the Depths and Library, or possibly to save that for another time.

Baradahm Port lies beyond the Depths and connects to The Great Way and the Deepland Canals. It is completely overrun by Endrori and well beyond the scope of this adventure. The details of the history of Baradahm can be found in the Librarian’s Missive (Area 9) and the Military Journal (Area 6). In brief, a garrison of Atlan Imperial Guard were stationed here to protect a small cloister of Priests dedicated to maintaining access to the Library of Baradahm. Access was of course always a challenge since passing into the Depths required a Warder to lower and raise a Ward of Alantra. This would then require the library expedition to remain in the Depths until the next sunrise. Even when timed properly, it still meant the party would be on the other side for hours in order to afford enough time to gain entrance to the Library and find the desired information.

When the Cataclysm occurred the garrison and cloister were relatively protected from its effects. However, as time passed no reinforcements or resupply came. Things became desperate and the priests knew they would not be able to maintain the Ward of Alantra forever. A decision was made that they would pray to Grethken to bury the Upper Gates, while they did their best to maintain the Ward inside. The garrison was split into two units: one to proceed to the Library, lock the Lower Stacks, and hide the Keystones, and the other to depart and make contact with the army and bring back reinforcements. The cloister would remain and do whatever they could to hold out until help arrived.

Grethken answered their prayers and buried the Upper Gates, but the Imperial Guard never returned. The cloister eventually died, the Ward of Alantra failed, and for hundreds of years the Endrori occupied the area. As the surface continued to erode, it was finally time for the Enaros to act and guide some adventurers here to solve the problem once and for all.