Libertad
Hero
Cimbrine
The capital city of Gnolune sits at a fork in the Vernwine and Yltou Rivers, and is home to the most prominent Silvered Nobles and Conclave mystagogues in the Valley of Flowers. Split into three major Districts, Cimbrine is also a very vertical city, home to a Hundred Splendid Towers whose style, occupants, and unique features can be determined by 3 d20 rolls. These range from more mundane results such as outcast Conclave mystagogues or unfinished skeletal scaffolding, as well as more magical and offbeat results like nothing within casts any shadows or the tower being the headquarters of an assassin cult. Low-income housing is also uniquely novel, being giant mushrooms whose interiors are carved out to make room for living space. The Mushroom Slums are home to Cimbrine’s six major gangs, who all specialize in a specific type of crime such as smuggling, extortion, arson, or dealing in black market occult items.
The Mercantile District is the industrial and economic center of Cimbrine, the air smoky from the fires of industry. The Broken Bowl Market is where PCs can find various randomly-determined Special Deals and merchants Looking to Buy unique treasure types at higher rates. Dolores Magpie’s Haberdashery & Gown Bazaar determines what is in style among the Silvered Nobles and other well-to-do Gnolunians, while Vilhouse Neel’s Bidding House is a high-security auction takes place in various out-of-the-way, invite-only locations. Various items up for auction are designed to be quest hooks, such as a saint’s finger bones that can point the way to any disease’s cure, or a waterlogged parchment revealing the identity of one of the Riverkeepers posing as a now-extinct Gundlach family member.
The Order of Inviolate Passage’s headquarters can be found here: the Sacred Storehouse of Elbek. Arms-Brother Durand is the commander of the Stevedore Knights, and he can be worried about one of four things that (as usual) point to adventure hooks and intrigues in the city. PCs of the more larcenous type may be able to find a unique treasure in the Storehouse, such as flower knight bulbs that can be planted to grow more of those creatures, or a pair of magic rings that impose a respective bonus and penalty on rolls for impressing people.
The Noble District looks bright and cheerful on the surface, smelling of wine and perfume with well-dressed passersby laughing without a seeming care in the world. But it doesn’t take long to see beneath the charade. Even the supposedly defenseless nobles carry daggers in hidden places, the Knights of the Golden Promise extort people who look like they don’t belong for “taxes” and “donations,” and Riverkeeper agents plan hit-and-run assassinations. Cerulean Hall, the former King Aerthur’s summer palace, is managed by the animated suit of armor known as Lord Unther who issues seemingly nonsensical proclamations that various advisors and hangers-on pretend to know the meanings of. For more immediate management, the Adjudicator’s Seat is a courthouse whose judge is quite eccentric, and has taken to treating the legal system like a literal circus, filling the benches with drunks and yes-men and administering justice based on whatever he feels will be the most entertaining result. Lastly, the Quince & Peacock Club is an exclusive gathering for Silvered Nobles and their confidants, whose randomly-determined primary entertainment activity, main course, and after-party idea serve as adventure hook ideas. Like the nobles trying to become honorary gang members in the Mushroom Slums, or picking one of the Hundred Towers at random to party all night long.
Lady Violeta, the head of the Argent Council, lives in a Floating Chateau in the middle of the river. She hasn’t set foot on land after her personal soothsayer predicted death by landslide. Between this as well as the banning of mirrors onboard, one would initially believe her to be a trapped vampire. The Argent Council meets on the Chateau, and even they have use for “lowly adventurers,” like bringing in a member of the Grayrose family in Ylgotha or pursuing bounties on Riverkeeper agents. Parties who establish themselves as reliable will eventually be hired by Lady Violeta to go to Grymothy’s tower to free her trapped reflection.
The Temple District is more reserved than the other two, its roads and architecture shining white and bright in imitation of heavenly realms, with passersby ranging from low-ranking clergy debating the finer points of theology to mourners and penitents part of extensive funeral processions. The Plaza of Righteous Weeping is a section of town that acts as a religious social release valve for people to come to terms with their sinful ways and resolve to do better. Even here adventure can be found, from someone confessing that they’re a Riverkeeper and can name others to cause some chaos, or finding and returning a unique named treasure elsewhere in this module as payment for misdeeds. PCs who wish to prove their righteousness can commit to the Oath of the Steadfast Shield via one of the high-ranking mystagogues, which is basically acting within the confines of the system to impose justice against lawbreakers and protecting those below your station.
The Cathedral of a Hundred Suns is mostly a table of random results for what sacred rite is being performed, any notable NPCs present, and possible twists like an attendee being an Ignoble Court member in disguise. The Crypt-Towers of Sidereal Peace is home to the Conclave’s Thanotosian sect, whose members all wear masks and share the same name (Citizen Mort) in the belief that this can confuse Death. They are tasked with arranging funerary rites, and we get some cultural details on how Gnolune honors the dead: Riverkeepers and those guilty of treason are buried upside down at the foot of the Tower of Shame, mystagogues of higher ranking are placed at the top of the Tower of Glory to face the stars, every year a mannequin is made of King Arthur to be interred in the Tower of Kings for a night and then exhumed and paraded through the town the next night.
Two locations are dedicated towards NPCs of note. The Apartments of Archmystagogue Banbeaux is home to the highest ranking Conclave member in Gnolune. It is obviously heavily guarded, and only those who earn his interest are permitted entry. His head is so swollen that it must be supported by poles held by children-initiates, and the apartment is both home to randomly-determined relics of great value and possible magical powers. We also have randomly-determined great secrets Banbeaux recently learned, that serve as hooks for adventures throughout the Valley of Flowers.
The other NPC is Sir Theophilus, the Knight of Fate. As one of King Aerthur’s knights, he believes that his mentor communicates to him through the Dice of Fate. The faces of these dice have magical symbols instead of typical numbers, and if one brings an offering to Theophilus and describes a quest they are about to undertake or currently undertaking, the knight will roll the dice to divine their portent. It’s a single d6 roll, with higher results netting better outcomes. While each result differs in some way, they all at minimum impose either the Knight’s Curse or Knight’s Blessing, a respective -1 penalty or +1 bonus on rolls associated with carrying out the quest. The absolute worst result causes Sir Theophilus to drive the party out and presumably never want to see them again, with the best result having the knight accompany the PCs on their quest. As his reliance upon the Dice and claims of still being in contact with King Aerthur made the Conclave dub him a heretic, he is under house arrest.* Needless to say this can cause complications for the party escorting him.
*imprisonment or death of such a beloved figure won’t go well.
Thoughts So Far: Cimbrine highlights much of what I like about the Valley of Flowers. The individual entries are brief, but packed with enough scene-setting to immediately give the reader a sense of the city and its character. Furthermore, the adventure hooks are both omnipresent but also blend into the text that their imposition doesn’t feel artificial. Even the more “gamey” aspects of Cimbrine, such as merchants who can pay a lot of gold for certain treasure types or Sir Theophilus’ possible boons, don’t feel like a by-the-numbers shopping trip where a player states “I go to the market and buy a horse,” deduct the gold from their character sheet, and move on.
In comparison to the prior regions, Cimbrine isn’t really a city that PCs go to for dungeon crawls and clashed battles, being more of a hub to derive additional information and favors. But even then, there’s still room to have adventure via the Hundred Splendid Towers or planning a heist or sabotage of some prominent power-player’s machinations.
Final Thoughts: There aren’t many adventures out there like the Valley of Flowers, OSR or otherwise. Its setting is novel, its locations well-connected enough that players would have to really try hard to commit to aimless exploring. Many other unique setting adventures can end up with flavorless, by-the-numbers text that feels generic, or have pages upon pages of background lore that doesn’t interweave with the adventure at hand. The Valley of Flowers manages to avoid both of these perils via brevity of content and clarity with what is there, so that the DM gets enough info to set the mood and fill in the missing gaps without much effort.
Phantom Mill Games outdid themselves with this adventure, and I’m eagerly looking forward to Volume 2 and seeing what else they have in store for the realm of Wildendrem!
