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.