To your left, a narrow uphill path leads through an opening between two cliffs.
Do you
Follow the path?
Continue on your way?
You are standing before a weathered stable and can see a rickety stairway leading down inside it.
do you
Explore?
Turn back and march on?
A wandering salesman is resting by the side of the road. His saddlebags are obviously empty, so he probably can’t sell you anything.
do you
Ask for directions?
Ask him about any dangers ahead?
Say hello as you pass him by?
“Well, this road goes all the way around the entire island, along the coast from Ljasdahl and back again. Usually, it takes three days to do the round trip.”
“Dangers? Naw, nothing happens around here. At least nothing has happened to me yet - and I’ve been traveling this road for more than ten years now. No bandits, no dangerous animals. But the local peasants keep muttering about this place down south, where supposedly the demons come out and dance during a full moon. Everybody is a bit superstitious around here.”
A barely visible path winds along the rocks here. An ideal place for an ambush, if ever I’ve seen one.
After a while, you notice an opening in the rock face - obviously man made - well, its not a natural opening, anyway. There is a stairway leading into the dark depths inside the cave.
do you
Go down the stairs?
Turn back and journey on?
There is a way to an underground vault here.
do you
Visit the cave?
Journey on?
After about one hour, the door of the cabin opens and a hunter comes stomping in. He murmurs something like “Firunbewiye”, throws his bow and bag onto a free cot, and stares up at the ceiling.
do you
Try to talk to him?
Leave the gruff fellow be?
The hunter stares at you as if you were ghosts: “Oh, strangers. Hullo there. Strangers are rare around here. I’m a hunter. Know the whole island. It’s boring here. Not much game either. I’ll be leaving soon. What about you?”
“We are searching for the sword of Hyggelik.”
“We want to visit a relative in Brendhil.”
“We’re just roaming about.”
“Well, good luck to ye.” the hunter murmurs and turns to the wall.
“You better watch out the pirates don’t get you then. They have a base somewhere on this island, you know. Night all.”
You can see tracks from boots and sandals beside the road before they disappear quite suddenly in the bushes. When you follow the tracks, you notice a path leading up into the coastal hills that begins just behind a few thick pieces of undergrowth.
After a few dozen paces you can see a cave entrance. Do you
Explore the cave?
Turn back and continue your journey?
A hidden path leads to a cave from here.
do you
Visit the cave?
Journey on?
The ground gets marshier with every step. Your feet constantly get stuck in the mire. It gets more and more difficult for you to pull your feet free and even gets so bad you occasionally sink down to your knees.
do you
Turn back and look for a different route?
Continue with the utmost of care?
The swamp seems to go on forever…
Suddenly, [NAME] sinks into the ground down to the hips and threatens to go under! As fast as you can manage, you throw [NAME] a rope and finally pull [NAME] back out.
After almost one full day - at least that’s how it seems - you finally reach dry ground again. You are dirty as hell and as weak as newborn kittens. Without giving your surroundings more than a cursory glance, you fall asleep.
The Dark Eye
You can see from quite a distance that you are approaching a single mesa - or more precisely a rock spire. You reach it after about one hour. The rock goes straight up for at least fifty paces, truly an inspiring sight. It must be some spectacular view from the top…
The spire looks anything but easy to climb. Will one of you try anyway?
Sure, we can’t resist the challenge.
What do you think we are, nuts?
Who is the courageous climber?
The first ten paces are child’s play…
The next ten are a lot more difficult…
Now the going gets easier…
That overhang is murder…
And finally, the last stretch is a sheer but remarkably easy wall.
[NAME] slips! Can’t recover! Falls!
Curtains! [NAME]’s neck is broken.
[NAME] is seriously wounded! Immediate help is necessary!
Made it! [NAME] arrives at a flat peak of maybe ten by ten paces. The view really is awe-inspiring: the entire area around hermit’s lake is spread out before [NAME]. The view makes all the effort of getting up here worthwhile. But that’s not all…
In the center of the small mesa, [NAME] finds a small shrine containing an eye of darkness! Without thinking, [NAME] touches the artifact…
Harsh colors and strange sounds whirl through [NAME]’s head, and slowly, very slowly indeed, a message takes shape
[NAME]
“The map you are looking for consists of nine parts, shared out between nine owners. None of those parts will be found in Phexcaer, none in Thorwal, none in Prem, one is in the hands of a druid and one is in the hands of a black magician. But hurry, the orcs will march against Thorwal on the 27th [N] of Peraine in the year 17!”
[NAME] remains as if in a trance for some minutes, until your calls bring [NAME] back to reality. The descent proves easier than the climb up, and just half an hour later you can continue on your way.
Do you want to try again?
You reach the shores of a small lake surrounded by willow trees. It is extremely idyllic, and you would love to stay here if you had time. But as things are right now, you are much more interested in the fact that the lake provides an ample supply of fresh water and fish.
do you
Fill your bread bags and water-skins?
Continue onward?
The path is hardly visible. Small wonder it was abandoned. Without any warning, it ends in front of a large thicket.
do you
Hack a path through the thicket?
Try to find a way around?
You hack at the thorns…
after six hours of sweaty work, when you are beginning to lose hope of ever seeing the light, you are back on the path.
Finding a way through the forest is more difficult than you imagined, but in the end you do find a usable path leading in the right direction.
When you leave the thick undergrowth some hours later, you are thoroughly lost.
Somehow, one tree looks just like any other. To make things worse, the sky is overcast, so you have absolutely no way to tell in which direction you should be heading.
You wander about for quite some time until you finally find a path leading approximately in the right direction, and lo and behold, it turns into a road after a while.
Try as you might to find your way, you are completely and utterly lost. Downhearted, you set up camp.
Well rested, you have no trouble at all getting back on the road again. The gods only know what was wrong before.
The tracks were obviously left by a stag. Your hunting instincts are aroused by this knowledge. Hour after hour you trudge through the thick forest, always trying to be as silent as possible. You receive many small scratches and injuries, and several tears to your clothes as you fight your way through the dense growth and thorny hedges. But you efforts are rewarded as you find your quarry by a stream, apparently watching its image in the water - a magnificent stag indeed, a fourteen-pointer no less!
As far as you can tell, you haven’t made any noise, but the stag suddenly jumps across the stream like an arrow leaving a bow and disappears between the trees.
do you
The stag appears totally oblivious to anything but its image in the water. Who will sneak up to kill the animal?
Carefully, [NAME] creeps closer, stands up and fires two arrows in rapid succession at the stag…
What a shot! With a pained bellow, the brute jumps and falls to the ground dead. Your congratulations are well deserved: [NAME] has bagged a real prize there that will supply you with meat for days.
One of the arrows hits the stag! With a loud snort of fury it turns and leaps across the stream.
do you
Firun has turned his back on [NAME] today: both arrows miss their target. The surprised stag turns to flee.
do you
Pursue the animal?
Turn back and be on your way?
Though you can clearly see the stag’s tracks, the animal itself seems to have disappeared into thin air. After two hours of fruitless searching, you break off pursuit and return to the road.