Summary

The player characters take part in a project that is reestablishing owlbears in areas where they have been previously wiped out. Their job is to move a pair of large, ferocious owlbears, and their two eggs, from the Wild Wood to the town of Steep Valley. An earlier version of this adventure was produced as a part of Unfamiliar Heroes.

 

This page is in progress! I am adding sections to it as I finish them.

 

 

Stage 0: Character Creation

If characters are being made specifically for this adventure, use the Magic Goes Awry character creation system with this additional guidance:

• All characters are students at the Adventurers Academy who have just completed their core training and are about to start their first internship.
• This game has room for less physically active characters to participate as long as they have a way to travel.
• There will be diverse action sequences in this adventure, but there shouldn’t be any killing, so a character focused on using lethal weapons won’t be an ideal fit.
• If character creation is its own session, there are fast, mini-adventures that can be used as part of a character creation to give players a feeling for the game system.
• Additional background question for each character: How did your character become a student in the Adventurers Academy?
• Group background question: Your group is about to start their first internship together. How did your group come together? For example, did you choose this group, or did the Academy place you together? How well do you know each other?

 

 

Stage 1: The Internship Briefing

As this adventure starts, the group arrives at a morning meeting with Kyra Piper so that they can receive this internship assignment.

 

Setting the Scene

Meeting Purpose and Overview: “This adventure starts at the Adventurers Academy. Your characters are students at the Adventurers Academy who have recently completed their core training and are about to start one of their internships. It is first thing on a spring morning and each of you is on your way to the Rainforest Meeting Room in the Main Academy Building to receive the details of your internship from Kyra Piper, one of the two founders of the Academy.”

• If Applicable: “As a reminder, Kyra Piper is also the instructor of the Creative Problem Solving class that we experienced in the mini adventures.”
• It is early spring (the equivalent of the middle of March).

The Academy: “At the center of the Adventurers Academy is the Main Academy Building, which is a large, three-story building shaped like a giant donut that encircles the training arena. This donut-shaped building is woven like a basket out of giant woody vines that are supported by two concentric rings of enormous trees. Spirals of open, vine supported ramps and balconies cover both the outside and inside surface of this building. The grounds around the Main Academy Building are separated into wedge-shaped sections, each of which magically contains a totally different ecosystem.”

The Rainforest Meeting Room: “The Rainforest Meeting Room is a small circular room with many small windows that overlook a section of rainforest out in the grounds. The walls of this room have a coating of clay and tiles cover the floor and ceiling. Inside there is an assortment of chairs and cushions arranged around a circular table. Kyra is already in the room waiting for you.”

Kyra Description: “Kyra Piper is a middle-aged orc woman with green skin and long blue hair in a wood and brass wheelchair. She is wearing an intricately embroidered turquoise tunic and trousers.”

 

Internship Details

Kyra’s Manner: Kyra is a practical and direct person who has a friendly, informal manner. She takes on the role of mentor with her students and knows how to set boundaries and be firm when needed.

Background: Ever since owlbears were nearly killed off fifty years ago, many places have had problems. The deer are now overgrazing open areas, impeding the growth of new trees. Trees, of course, are important as building materials and for firewood, but in the High Mountains the woods on the slopes above towns are necessary to protect those towns from avalanches and landslides.

Druids have been making do by planting trees one-by-one and using magic to grow them to a size tall enough to withstand the deer, but this is an imperfect solution. Fortunately, with the development of Stinky Pricklbushes has made it safe enough to start re-establishing Owlbears in their native ranges.

Their Job: “The town of Steep Valley has been accepted into the Owlbear Reintroduction Program and a family of owlbears living in the Wild Wood has been selected for relocation to them. You have been hired to safely capture and transport this owlbear family.”

• Items: Kyra hands the group an official document, a map of Crossroads, and a pouch with some coins in it (not an entire bag of coins). Who takes each of them?

“You will start by going to Islandtown on the edge of the Wild Wood to meet Keeper Silvia Aguilar. Hand over this document to them and they will give you everything you need to go into the forest and collect the owlbear family. You are expected to arrive there no later than two weeks from today.”

• Aguilar is pronunced AEg-yoo-lAAr, kinda like egg-you-lar but starting with an A

“Silvia has your route from the Wild Wood to Steep Valley planned out, but how you transport the owlbears is up to you. This coin is meant to cover the entirety of your expenses, which includes anything you need to transport and feed the owlbears. Your route to Steep Valley and the final den site are being kept secret for now to protect the owlbears from poachers who want to steal their eggs.”

“Any questions?” The players can find any of the information listed in “The History of Monster Reintroduction Programs,” “Owlbears,” and the “Locations” sections.

 

 

Stage 2: Travel Plans and Preparation

Goals

The player characters need to choose:

• Their method of travel
• Their general plan for transporting the owlbears
• What they are going to spend their money on

This is also an opportunity for players to get to know the Academy a bit and for the characters to research and go on side quests.

 

Travel Options

After working out your budget for necessities, you have three main options for getting to Islandtown.

#1: Travel by the Roads

• Time: This will take the full two weeks, requiring you to leave right away and report in as soon as you arrive at Islandtown. You have at most two hours to pack, run errands, and cast rituals before you leave and it will be the same when you get to Islandtown.
• Money: Because this is the cheapest option, most of your budget can go to purchasing or renting useful things, allowing you to acquire five helpful things (see the Helpful Things Options list below).
• Route: You will be following the main road that goes up the bank of the Boundary River to the town of Fork.
• The Main Downside: Your group won’t have time to prepare for or cast any advanced rituals, which means that you are limited to basic rituals. Rituals are needed to cast more powerful magic, such as magic that lasts more than a day. While both basic and advanced rituals can accomplish the same things, the likelihood of magical side effects is higher for basic rituals (see the details of each below).

#2: Travel by the River

• Time: Traveling by the river will take one week, giving you six days that you can use to prepare before you leave or after you arrive in Islandtown. This time can be used researching owlbears and preparing for advanced rituals.
• Money: This is the medium-priced option. If you choose this option, your budget will allow you to purchase or rent three helpful things.
• Route: You will be traveling by boat up the Boundary River to the town of Fork.
• Balanced Option: This option gives the characters a medium amount of preparation time and a medium budget.

#3: Teleportation

• Time: If all goes well with the teleportation, the entire process of hiring someone and traveling will only take an hour or two, giving your characters thirteen days to prepare. There is, however, a risk of magical side effects and complications.
• Money: If you need to hire someone to teleport you, this is the most expensive option. It will only leave you enough money to purchase one helpful thing.
• Route: The Teleportation System consists of a set of Core Stations that all connect to each other and a set of Local Stations which only connect to one Core Station each. Using this system, the group can teleport directly from the Core Station near the Academy (in the city of Stopoverton) to the Core Station in Fork. Even though there is a Local Station in Islandtown, the group does not have clearance to use it. Professional teleporters can be hired at all Core Stations and most Local Stations.
• The Main Downside: This option is so expensive that there is little budget left for helpful things.

All of these routes lead to the city of Fork. Once there, the group needs to head east overland for one day to reach Islandtown. Fork is where the player characters will encounter the thieves in Stage 3.

 

Helpful Things Options

• Rent a cart.
• Rent an animal, like a horse, donkey, or mule.
• Purchase a large quantity of smoked fish. This is enough fish to feed the owlbears for the journey and is tasty enough to keep them happy.
• Purchase all three components for one basic ritual.
• Purchase one of the three components for an advanced ritual. Finding one advanced ritual component to purchase takes half a day.

 

Basic Rituals

• No research is needed.
• Use three basic ritual components that can be purchased in any town.
• Take thirty minutes to cast.
• Are cast by one person who isn’t considered prepared.

 

Advanced Rituals

• Require research. This is a simplified group roll. Each character makes one dice roll for each day they participate in research. This roll can be any skill they can justify. When the group has achieved 6 total successes, they have found the information they need. They can ask Head Librarian Barb (Barbara) of the Rocky Hill Nest for help researching. She is a sapient (feathered) velociraptor rogue.
• Require three advanced ritual components. If purchased, each of these components is expensive and takes half a day to track down. Alternatively, the students can use the resources available at the Academy to harvest these ritual components themselves.
• Take three hours to cast.
• Can be cast by an individual or the group. If cast by the group, use the group roll mechanic with an average difficulty. Either way, the person or people casting the ritual are prepared and, if it is applicable, they can get a die for having help.

 

Harvesting Advanced Ritual Components

The player characters can ask Lina the Patient, the Head Farmer of the Academy, where they can find these three ritual components. She is a minotaur druid.

• A Floating Puffball Fungus spore bubble caught in flight. This is tricky because the spore bubble is delicate and must be kept intact as it is collected. Lina knows that there are puffball funguses in Bristle’s swamp. They can make a deal with Bristle to get access to them or wait for a windy day and try to catch a puffball once it has floated outside the swamp boundaries (roll a six-sided die each day, on a six the weather is windy).
• The tip of an Armadillo Vine, harvested while extended. Lina will let them harvest from an Armadillo Vines in one the Restricted Greenhouses if they have an advanced druid student with them. Druid player characters count as advanced druid students. If the group doesn’t have a druid, they will have to find Rowan the Centaur Witch and convince them to help.
• An un-thrown Catapult Walnut. Lina knows that best place to get this in Stopoverton is in the overgrown yard behind a rundown mansion in Gray Valley that has been divided into apartments. This yard has a whole grove of Catapult Walnuts in it. Because it was too expensive for anyone to deal with these plants, it has just been fenced off. A sturdy wicker fence was build around it years ago. The fence is now old, rotting in places, and there are some suspicious holes in it.
  • When anyone approaches the Catapult Walnut grove, the trees rattle their branches threateningly. Those who can talk to plants will hear the trees growling things like, “You will not eat or trample our children!” “We shall protect our grove!” “Fear us and flee!”
  • When they attack, the nearest tree shouts, “Sisters, attack!” and all of the others start shouting, “Attack! Attack!”
  • Their goals are to protect their grove and to be feared.

 

Making a Deal with Bristle

• Bristle is a full fae pixie druid that does not have their best interests at heart. She is one of the druid teachers at the Academy and stays exclusively in her swamp.
• The students need to give Bristle a modest present for her to talk to them (their classes with Bristle have made it clear that every interaction with her requires a gift).
• Bristle’s initial offer: If the group agrees to do one favors for her at the time of her choosing, they can have one Floating Puffball Fungus spore bubble.
• Hidden details: Bristle intends to make them collect the spore bubble as she watches and laughs at their struggles. It will cost a second favor if they want her to collect the plants herself (it is easy for her, but she wants the entertainment of watching them).
• Bristle can be negotiated into a better bargain if the students are careful. It will help if they find something that appeals to her. She likes entertainment and magic plants.