Thread Recompilation - Places


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El Jefe

First Post
Adventure - Short and Sweet [Orsal judging]

This was a delightful little adventure for 1st level characters set in Orussus. The location detail is rich and begs to be revisited, although the specialized nature makes it somewhat difficult to work into an adventure. Perhaps someone could roll up Theo as a PC someday when he's "all grown up", and present him at the Red Dragon...

Unfortunately, this is the first adventure I've come across that was affected by the Great Crash of '06. The resolution has disappeared into the bitless ether. For anyone curious, the party ascended to the attic and dispatched some minor beasties (stirges? I'm not sure I remember...), cleaned up most of the mess they made in the attic, and were then rewarded by Grandma. She gave some party members a choice between a fixed amount and "what's in box #1 that was left over from my adventuring days". The party chose the box, which as I recall was more valuable than the fixed amount. However the stuff inside wasn't directly useable by the party, so they sold it for a tidy sum.

But now to the details of what survived; first, a description of a residential neighborhood where a young boy named Theo lives, about 1/4 mile from the Red Dragon:

You head through the commercial district, past one of the outer markets, and into a warehouse and shipping district. As you leave the warehouse, you enter a residential area overhung with willow trees and spreading chestnuts.

The houses here are all apparently old patrician vacation homes and summer retreats, for there are small gardens behind the homes and many beds for planting. At its height, this would have been a very elegant street to walk along.

Sadly, its height is long past. Vines grow up over the stonework, paint is old and worn down to bare wood, and the noble families have long since moved on to districts either more fashionable or less expensive.
Small signs tacked discreetly in windows advise "Rooms to Let", "Glovers and Haberdashers", "Barristers of Discretion" and even the daringly eupehemious "Private Treasure Hunter".

It's not a dangerous place...particularly not for heavily armed adventurers, but it is clearly a place of genteel poverty or industry just beginning.

After a quarter mile, Theo mops his brow and points through a waist-height---well, to grown humans anyway -- it stands just a little over the top of Theo's head and likely towers over Sirtis -- iron fence to a three story house set back a little from the street.​
Some description of Theo's house:

Theo's house has two dormers on the roof, each with small leaded-glass windows.
One of the panes looks like it has broken out in the left dormer.
This house is neater than many of the others, at least in small details: it looks as if a small boy has been picking up sticks and pulling weeds.
Well, mostly weeds. There's a gap in one of the flower beds where it looks like something was meant to be.
The flower bed by the stone walk to the front of the house has a just a few flowers the color of fresh blood.
The house has a raised porch, with a wooden lattice under it.​
This tid-bit about the flower garden in front of the house:
  • The flower bed in front of Theo’s house in Orussus has both red and yellow trumpet-shaped flowers.
Here's a description of the entryway to Theo's house:

Theo leads everyone through a gate that squeals open and closed from rust. After the last person is through, he makes sure the gate is latched, then leads everyone up the walk to a deep porch.
As you approach, you see the house was once a friendly, if gaudy, red. It has now faded to a mellow welcoming weathered pinky-gray.
The bluestone steps up to the porch are solid underfoot, and while the porch creaks, it is solid.
There are a pair of disused lantern hooks hanging over the door.

Theo opens the door and beckons everyone into a hall floored in old wood. There are stairs on the left, a door directly ahead, and a double door on the right: all closed. A narrow window of red and green and blue colored glass is the only illumination in the hall except for the light through the door.
An old wooden dresser sits by the door, painted a fading baby blue. Some of the drawers are missing knobs.​
And yet another descriptive passage is in order:

There is a secret door under the staircase.
Not a high-quality secret door, either.
The door ahead is locked and blocked: something big and not moving is behind it.
There is too much woodsmoke in the house: not as in "house on fire" but as in "chimney badly needs cleaning".
There is a maker's mark in the colored glass window.
This was a very expensive house at one point, but it needs deep maintainance to return it to what it was.
The old woman coming walks with two canes, and only with great difficulty.
The fishmonger is outside, peddling fish. "Fish! Frrresh fish!! If it was any fresher nobles would challenge it to a duel! Frrrrresh fish!!"
Some of the original carving has been removed from the stair rail and replaced...a long time ago.
There are no birds singing outside.
There are scratch marks on some of the woodwork, as if a large cat had clawed them to amuse itself.
The hall is neat, but old and very worn.​
Here is more description of the interior of the house:

Theo charges across the room on the other side of the double doors, makes a hard turn left just past a fireplace, and dashes through a doorway.
Little feet scramble over wood and floorcloth. Evidently it's going to be cookies and milk before adventuring.
Jaan steps through the double doors to find himself in a parlor. White walls, a marble fireplace...worn marble, a low fire, barely more than coals. Elaborate moldings at the ceiling and around the windows. Several fancy oil sconces on the walls.
The furniture does not match the room: it is plain and simple: a settle by the double doors Jaan came through, some candlestands with candles upon them, a tall armoire at the far wall, a tall three-legged stool, a secretary.
Theo dashes back into the room carrying an earthenware jug in both hands. He sets it by the fire, runs over to the armoire, opens it, pulls out two tin plates and cups -- adventurer's gear, by the look of them.​
There's an interesting maker's mark in one of the windows:
  • The maker’s mark in the colored glass window by the foyer in Theo’s house in Orussus is an open work cross fleury, rotated 45 degrees to make an "X".
Here's a description of the stairs and landings leading up to the attic:

Theo says nothing as he leads Jaan out into the hall and quietly closes the door to the parlor. Once the door is closed, he leads Jaan up the stairs, through the golden light from the colored glass window. The stairs go up four steps, then turn left. The stairs creak slightly under Jaan's weight. After four more steps, the stairs turn left again, opening onto a second floor landing. This landing is illuminated with another window, pebbly-clear and split into dozens of tiny lights, as well as an near empty oil lamp sitting on a narrow battered dresser. The smell of sausages, peppers, and onions hangs in the air. A reedy tenor voice sings a song in a language Jaan does not recognize to the accompaniment of frying sounds.

(Continuing up: )

After six steps, the stairs merge onto a small landing: just enough space to turn around in. The only light on this landing shines up the stairs from the lamp and window below: the window on this landing is small, very low...only coming up to Jaan's knee...and filled with blue, green, and red glass that stops nearly all the light. On the left wall of the landing is a secret door, three feet high.
Well, it was a secret door. Then someone nailed a sign to it that reads:

THEO'S FORT
NO GURLS ALLOWED
GRAMMAS DONT COUNT​
And a few closing facts about the place:
  • The panel on the landing above the second floor in Theo’s house in Orussus tips back and slides up on tracks to reveal a small room.
  • Before Theo’s grandma bought it, Theo’s house was used as a "Gentleman’s entertainment center".
  • There is a settee in the parlor of Theo’s house in Orussus.
 

Velmont

First Post
I'll have to add that to the Orussus thread description.

But I just want to make sure if my perception of that is right:

The residential zone where Theo lives is 1/4 of miles from the Red Dragon? Honestly, I don't even know the scale of the map I have drawn for Orussus, but I must think that with teh description it has been made, Theo is living somehwere near the Merchant Avenue, which is the largest commercial district. He must live on the western part of the district, not too far from the seaport, as there would be many warehouse there. The only thing that bug me, it is if that logic is right, it would most likely be more than 1/4 of mile of walk, I even doubt it would be that short at bird flight, but abstracting that distance, it would fit pretty fine with Orussus as it is presently described.
 

El Jefe

First Post
As for scale, I think we determined way back in the first General Discussion thread that the Street of Merchants was 1/4 mile from the Red Dragon Inn. And that fits with my concept of Orussus being "too big" for its population. Of course, feel free to revise your map as you desire.

I suppose you can put Theo's house and that neigborhood "across the bridge" and on the west side of town if you prefer, but actually, I was thinking of it as being on the east side somewhere between the slums and the high district. I like the description of a once-wealthy and now run-down district that may be coming alive again. And, I don't think it's a given that the Street of Merchants is the only commercial district in the city, although it is certainly the largest and most important one.

Don't we at least have a stables on the east side of town by the Fallon gate? One stablery hardly makes a "commercial district", but it's a start.

Since this was ajander's adventure and he's still around, why not ask him?
 

El Jefe

First Post
Adventure - Roger’s Living ENWorld Adventure

This was something a little different...an attempt to derive the plot of an adventure from the backstories of prospective PCs. I'm not sure if it wrapped up or not, because it seemed to reach a logical conclusion on the eve of the Crash of '06. I do believe that the adventure that was generated from this activity was the Tournament of Flowers, which Roger started and Patlin finished.

The only location information here came from the backstory of one of my characters, Boog Sammas. I summarized a recap of Curse of House Thrimbral. That adventure had concluded, but the last post in the adventure didn't come until after the recovery from the Crash. Hence, this little preview of Curse of House Thimbral:

  • A mansion, off the road from Orussus to Rivendale, is the ancestral home of the Thimbral family.
  • There is an inn somewhere in or near Orussus called the Morning Wench.
 

El Jefe

First Post
Adventure - The Trindle Isle Market [Manzanita Judging]

This was a short adventure by Patlin. Like Short and Sweet, the resolution was lost in the Crash of '06.

The Trindle Isle Market was noteworthy for having the first permanent PC death in LEW, when a 1st-level CE Orc character insulted the first mate of the ship he was on, then decided to take on roughly 30 of the ship's crew at once.

That happened just as the adventure was getting underway. The remaining PCs had to pick up a package on the Isle and return it to Orussus. While killing time in the only inn on the Isle, the remaining two witnessed a large bar fight break out. One of the surviving players went AWOL about this time, and his character disappeared from the game. The sole survivor then watched as a press gang entered the inn, rounding up all present to serve in the Monemvassian (if I remember correctly) Navy. The last PC fled upstairs and used second-story skills to evade involuntary naval service. Things blew over, he caught his ship to Orussus, delivered the package, and pocketed the entire reward for the trip for himself.
  • The Raddanor family has a small office on the docks of the city of Orussus, near the sea and with a good view of the harbor area.
  • There is a place in Living EnWorld called Trindle Isle, accessable by ship from Orussus.
  • It is four days by ship from Orussus to Trimble Island.
  • Trindle Island has only one town, a small collection of ramshackle buildings.
  • Trindle Island rises to a peak beyond the town.
  • There is an inn on Trindle Island a few blocks from the docks.
  • Trindle Isle Market is known as a lawless place.
  • The inn a few blocks from the docks on Trindle Island is slightly seedy, caters to sailors, has tables on the first floor and rooms to rent elsewhere.
  • The common room of the Trindle Isle Inn is a bit wild, with sailors drinking, gambling, and occasionally fighting.
  • Trindle Isle is populated mostly by itinerant sailors, businesses that cater to them, and a few farmers. There are few land-based businesses on the Isle, a herbalist among them.
 

Dungannon

First Post
Hey El Jefe, I really like what your doing here. Any idea when you'll get to my first adventure (R1: Hired Hands)? Just curious as to how you'll write it up. :)
 


El Jefe

First Post
General - Is material from Unearthed Arcana allowed?

This was a short discussion on what material from Unearthed Arcana had been incorporated into Living EnWorld. (The short answer is that a few things had been incorporated, some more had been modified, but that most of it had not, and the Rules Thread held all the specifics.) It wasn't clear from the thread whether it had been cut short by the Crash of '06...it's possible that the last post was made just hours before the crash.

No location information in this one.
 

El Jefe

First Post
Adventure - M3: Assassin’s Knot (Patlin judging)

This was a lengthy and intricate adventure by Manzanita, part of his Monemvassian series. The resolution was lost in the Crash of '06.

After the events listed in the remaining posts, the PCs discovered that the missing lute string, one of the three murder clues, was given by an innocent NPC to his equally innocent girlfriend, acting on behalf of the not-so-innocent NPC mayor. That started a thrilling sequence in which two PCs, acting alone, accompanied the girlfriend to see the mayor. The mayor insisted on interviewing the girl in private, after which she attempted to imprison the PCs. One escaped the mayor's castle while the other was subdued and imprisoned. The escapee ran to the House of Abraham ahead of a detachment of the mayor's guards, who were then driven off by the other PCs. When the mayor sent reinforcements, the PCs fled, one returning to Monemvassia to warn of the mayor's treachery, the others planning a daring raid on the mayor's castle to free their companion. After a very successful raid, the PCs once again fled, and met up with the Prince's forces marching south from Monemvassia. The adventure concluded with the PCs hunting down more conspirators in the woods near Three Rings. There, they uncovered tantalizing clues to the roots of the conspiracy, which led to an expedition into the jungles south of Three Rings that was the basis for the fourth and final installment of the Monemvassian series. The mayor and a few others were executed for their misdeeds.

With that out of the way, here's the geographical information:
  • The town of Three Rings is south of Monemvassia. It is under Monemvassia’s protection, has a modest port, but has been the home of a notorious assassins group called the Black Hand.
  • The city-state of Monemvassia is a major port. It has had some minor problems with both pirates and sahuagins.
  • There is a Monemvassian military post a few miles north (an hour’s ride) of Three Rings.
  • There is a castle on a small island off the coast of Three Rings that belongs to Monemvassian nobility.
  • Three Rings is about four hours by horseback from Monemvassia.
  • The House of Abraham is the only inn in Three Rings.
  • There is a small apple orchard just north of Three Rings.
  • Nobody is admitted after 8 pm to attend shows at the theater in Three Rings.
  • Along with a garden, barn, corral and tool shed, the House of Abraham in Three Rings has an outhouse around back.
  • Each room in the House of Abraham in Three Rings is furnished with two double beds, a table, four chairs, a dresser by the door, a chest under the bed, a barred window with inside shutters, and a carpet on the floor.
  • There is a tailor in Three Rings, in a 20-by-20 foot building with two large windows in front.
  • The island with the tower near Three Rings is close enough to the mainland to be visible from the town.
  • There is a large statue of Delanor in Three Rings, just off the docks.
Here's a description of the tower/castle that is on the island visible from the docks at Three Rings:

As the boat approaches the island, you are able to see it well. The island is a rocky outcrop that is hardly larger than the tower structure atop it. A single tower just upwards at least 6 stories. Further smaller structures may exist, but are concealed by a stone wall that seems to go all around the island. The tower and wall are plain, but sturdy looking.

The boat rows around to the north of the island where you see a single pier jutting into the sea. A pillbox-like guardhouse stands at the place where the pier connects to the island wall. Hutchinson parks the boat and secures it to a post with a rope. He then leads you to the pillbox, where a single lightly armed guard opens the door and ushers you inside. You then walk through a domed wood and stone tunnel, about 7 foot high at its apex, on a curvy path leading to a sturdy metal-enforced oak door. Sunlight occationally peeks through the domed roof as you walk.

Hutchinson knocks twice on the door and an eyeslit is pulled back. An eye is placed at the hole briefly. Then the sound of a bolt it heard being pulled back, and the door opens. A pretty young woman, neatly dressed in black and white, smiles curiously at the party and invites them in. Hutchinson nods good bye and returns the way he came. You enter a solidly built stone hall. Torches burn on the walls and several benches trunks and suits of armor dot the sides. The woman leads the party to the nearest door and ushers them into a waiting room, with soft plush couches and low tables.​

And some more information about the town and lands near Three Rings:
  • Both apes and giant bats can be found in the swamps to the south of Three Rings.
  • There is a library in the tower/castle on the island just offshore of Three Rings.
  • The secret trap doors in the floor of each guest room in the House of Abraham in Three Rings are locked from the underside of the floor.
  • There is a gravel path on the grounds of the House of Abraham in Three Rings, leading from the main inn building to the outhouse and also to the barn.
  • The trap doors in the guest rooms at the House of Abraham in Three Rings open downward.
  • Giant crabs infest a beach just south of Three Rings.
  • The west door in the common room at the House of Abraham in Three Rings leads to the rooms, not to the outside.
  • Behind the east door of the waiting room in the Mayor’s castle in Three Rings lies a narrow, dark, unadorned hallway, which leads to a reception area.
While we're at it, here's a nice description of the reception area in the Mayor's castle in Three Rings:

On the east wall of this room is a stone dais of three steps. Atop the higheststep is a large, highly decorated wooden chair. Two smaller chairs sit on the next step down from the large chair. The dais itself is six feet wide and five feet deep, with the chairs standing along the back wail. The north and south walls are hung with tapestries of woodland scenes.​

And more information on Three Rings and its environs:
  • The first building to the south of the House of Abraham in Three Rings is a 30 x 25’ house that has been abandoned.
  • The jungles south of Three Rings are home to magical beasts and primitive barbarians.
  • There are two exits to the Theater of the Mystic Celebration in Three Rings, a main door and a smaller side door that leads to a small building in back that is the company’s residence.
  • The trapdoors in the rooms in the House of Abraham in Three Rings lead a 3’ high and wide passage with little ladders to each trapdoor.
  • The private quarters of the employees of the House of Abraham in Three Rings are on the west side of the building.
  • Across the road to the north of the Theater of the Mystic Celebration in Three Rings is a barn.
  • At the west end of the narrow passage under the trap doors in the floors of the guest rooms in the House of Abraham in Three Rings is a short ladder leading to another trap door, which is locked from above, unlike all the others.
  • Behind a locking door to the west of the common room at the House of Abraham in Three Rings lies the employee’s quarters. There is a hall that goes west for a ways and turns north, with a door to the left and a door at the west end at the turn.
  • The first room to the left past the door that leads to the employee’s quarters at the House of Abraham in Three Rings is the proprietor’s room, with a trap door in the floor that leads to the spy passage under the guest rooms.
 

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