Raven in Ritzen

This adventure was written for a character named Gainas and two other legionnaires. Characters are provided to help flesh out the plot and sample dialog is given as an example. Feel free to expound, or shorten, wherever necessary.

Maps:

The Outpost of Ritzen [PC: JPEG 518kb | 1410 x 2100 pixels] [GM: JPEG 683kb | 1410 x 2100 pixels]

Characters:

Olivius Aquillius Genom (legionnaire #2) and Markus Ruffius (legionnaire #3), Lord Algilir - NPCs to go with the party of 1.
Yigal Aethen, Shekedis Cadrune, Parsevil, Masane, Lounda Arkovel , Thelia of Fobin, and Dysen Smenther, Rethior (head clerk of the Legion) are all suspects.

The Setup

Ritzen is a small legion outpost located a few hours west of Imrum and north of Fobin. It is surrounded by wild forest and ancient woods. The legionnaires are all militia, but are the gruff and retired type of men and women who served at least 4 years before retiring to their farmer's lives.

The people are quiet and friendly.

This is the plot line for a murder mystery in the town of Ritzen. It requires at least 1 PC. The legionnaires cannot help and thus any help the PC brings should be other PCs (or the NPCs described above). At their lord's bequest, the townfolk will treat the PC with care and dignity, but will not be immediately forthcomming with information. For even with their Lord's backing, the PC(s) are still strangers.

Getting Them There

There's always the hapenstance that the PCs just happen to be in town when the murder occurs. Of course it's more likely that they meet the messanger along the road, or are sent from Imrum (nearest town to the north) or Geminost (nearest keep to the south.)

The Day Of

Lord Algilir sends out 3/4 of his men on a routine patrol through the woods. They shall not return for a fortnight. The remaining legionnaires are confined to Fort Ritzen for the next seven days as they begin pracitces and combat trials.

And then it began to rain. It rained heavily all day long. Those within pittied those without.

Yigal Aethen spoke to Orillis in the morning, when he asked her for broth and vegetables. He said he was coming down with a cold and hoped some of her broth would help cure what ailed him. Shekedis Cadrune had not been home when he called, but her husband promised to pass on the message.

After blessing the lunchtime meal at the fort Orillis worked his fields for several hours with Crolan Kosawhyn. Crolan noted that Orillis was sluggish and tired. He blamed it on an oncoming illness that he hoped Yigal's chicken soup would cure. After sundown they shared dinner in Orillis's tiny hut. Crolan left a few hours later for home.

Masane claims to have seen Orillis, lantern in hand, leave his hut and head east of the settlement. Orillis saw the man tending his livestock and waved cheerily. Masane thought to call out, but decided against it due to the late hour. Orillis, he will tell anyone asking, often walked about at night. He'd seen him at it often enough this past fortnight.

No one at the fort saw him after he'd blessed the night meal.

The Morning After

Yigal Aethen, the wife of the local timberwright, went to Orillis's home just after dawn on the 1st of Kelen. She was bringing some chicken stock, and vegetables, to make him a stew. Not finding Orillis at home, she went into his hovel, and left the stock and vegetables on the table. She then headed back to her own house to begin her daily tasks.

By noon, Shekedis Cadrune had been by twice, but had found Orillis's house empty each time. But she did notice a large raven that kept trying to get into Orillis's house. She made sure to bar all the shutters, and keep the door tightly closed against it.

During lunch Lord Algilir remarked that it was strange that Orillis had not attended to bless the assmebly.

Lounda Arkovel did the laundry.

It was later that day, just before the changing of 4th watch, when Orillis's body was found in the northern commons, hidden among the trees. The ravens gave searchers a direction in which to look. They were hopping around him, but had only just begun to feast when the body was found.

The Body

Orillis's body was dumped in among the small thicket that borders the wild forest north of the commons. The trees and foliage scratched and punctured the body in several places, but there is little or no blood in and around those wounds. The thicket doesn't seem to have been much travelled through by anything heavier than rabbits. The body was pulled out after the small wood was cut away from the body.

Half of Orillis's head was caved in from a heavy blow. The item that struck his head was bigger than the damaged area, with odd identations and ripples upon it.

Orillis has only two sets of cloths, pale brown tunics, hoes and shoes. His shirt is stained with an oil of some kind (lamp oil), and his hoes have holes along the backs of his legs, in which small pieces of dirt are embedded. His shoes are missing. He never wore a hat, and his hair is much dischevled. Tiny flaxen seeds are scattered in among his hair. His skin is pale, but the body is movable. And there seems to be little or no bloating.

To the North

Forest as far as the eyes can see, and the foot can travel.

To the East

About an hour's walk from the Fort, deep into the wild wood - there is signs of an encampment. A fire pit, used often, has not seen fire since before the last rain (the day before Orillis was found.) There are seveal depressions, and sets of tracks that lead to and from the campsite. There are two beds of sweet hay and leaves near the campfire, but the wind and the rain has done much to disturb them. Although the area was nearly flooded, there are still small rust-like stains near the stones of the fire pit. Beneath the stones is ground drenched with blood and rain.

A game bag of wrotting meat and a sleeping tarp are in this area to be found.

About a ½ hour walk from the camp site there are two shallow graves. The trail from the camp site to the body is mostly clear of trees, and a good tracker can tell something heavy was dragged in that area. The trail, and the drag marks continue another 30-40 feet before stopping just in front of a fresh earthen mound. Jasmia is burried in the mound, along with her just newborn child. (the cause of all the blood at the campsite.)

Jason's face is unknown to anyone in Ritzen, but if sent to Imrum - someone there will recognize it as belonging to a slave who'd recently been sold to Sir Isaak DeMontagne, a knight of the Eight Demons, residing somewhere near the Tharda-Rethem border. Jason was known to be travelling with his wife Jasmia.

To the South

Nothing.

To the West

Lies the road to Imrum. It has seen no traffic these last few days.

What Happened

Orillis has been helping two runaway slaves staying at the border of Ritzen and the wild forest. Upon learning that the legion would be performing a patrol through the area, he made plans with them to move them into his house as his "guests" and there offer them protection. Both Jasmia and Jason had seen others in the woods, but did not want to tell anyone about it - not even Orillis.

On the night he went to collect Jasmia and Jason everything went as planned, but upon heading back home - they stumbled upon Parsevil Arkovel. He was returning home from a night of poaching with his game bag full. Jasmia and Orillis recognized him at the same instant. Parsevil sprang upon them and slew Jasmia with his wide-bladed hatchet. Jason jumped upon him as Orillis dropped the lantern, spilling oil all over his shirt.

When Parsevil had killed Jason, he then turned to find Orillis already dead. In his range and fustration he dumped Jason's and Jasmia's body on his sleeping tarp and dragged both of them through the woods. After burrying Jasmia, and Jason, he returned to Orillis's body. Thinking to burry him too - he picked up the slight man and slung him over his shoulder. He got as far as the upper north common when he heard legionnaires talking, and thus dumped the body and ran for home. Only when he reached home did he realize he had a Peonian Lantern, no game bag and no tarp.

His wife and children were asleep. He burried his wet and bloodied clothes in the mess of laundry his wife was to do the next day, and went to bed.

Justification for Murder

Parsevil was poaching. In Tharda that's an offense punishable by 50 strokes with the lash for a first offense. This was not their first offense. Normally Parsevil kept his poaching down to a few rabits or a small deer. But that night he'd caught a full grown buck.

He slew Jasmia because she recognized her brother -the runaway slave. Parsevil and Lounda are runaways from the same Agrikan lord. Parsevil and Lounda received help from the Peonian church in escaping, forging their papers and settling in Ritzen. Parsevil was a master dog trainer for his lord, and Parsevil's escape cost his lord much. There is a 100d bounty on Parsevil's head (if brought back alive.)

His girls have been forbidden to say anything about their past, and most locals assume this means they were poorly treated. The girls both remember their lord as a dark and crule man who wanted them for one thing only.

If Lounda suspects her husband, she does not show it. She will remain steadfast by his side regardless of the outcome.

A few locals suspect that Parsevil has been poaching, but Lounda is generous with her beef stews (made once a month) and so no one has said anything about it, yet.

This page was last updated on
Questions/Comments should be directed to the Webmaster.
All works are Copyright their respective authors, 2002.

Pax Tharda

Raven in Ritzen