When the PCs arrive, they will find their acquaintance in trouble way over his head: he's mislaid some very important objects, and unless they find them for him, he might become their late acquaintance. They will also meet the owner of the objects in question, who is the reason for Noriom's distress. Hopefully, they will recover the goods after some detective work, in the course of which they will encounter practically every important NPC in town.
Last Windsday, Death Week, Storm Season an attempt to retake the temple was launched by the ambitious Humakt Sword Reath Dangallson. In his force were Konnach Barehead (another, less experienced Sword) and ten initiates. The choice of date was characteristically unimaginative, so the trolls had called in some reinforcements. When Reath & co marched up to the temple gates, Konnach suddenly got a lead slingstone between the eyes, courtesy of Xog, who had been hiding in the river with a few Great Troll buddies. The Humakti were caught by complete surprise and easily routed.
Reath managed to escape and hide in the Bronze Bell, where he desperately begged the innkeeper's assistance. Before Bolp could react to this, Noriom butted in. He was the only other person present at the time, and for once nearly sober. With silver pieces blinking in his eyes, he offered a way for the Sword to get out of town safely. Disguised as a farmer (how humiliating!), Reath headed back towards Kilwin, leaving most of his equipment in Noriom's care ("Can't drag all that stuff about with you, you know. A single Detect Magic would show you up...").
Now the Dangallson is back to collect his belongings. He first visited Noriom a couple of weeks ago and got the answer "Uhh..weeell..why don't you come back in a couple of weeks?". Now he's about to pay a second visit: all that's changed is that the old Trickster is even more drunk, and scared out of his wits as well.
You see, Noriom never really thought that Reath would get past the trolls, but was convinced that he'd made a clean haul. Just to be on the safe side, he decided to wait for a bit before selling off the goodies. Njard's dagger was stashed in a secret pocket on Noriom's person, while the suit of Iron chainmail armour and other gear was hidden in the egg-headed one's shack. But there had been a witness to the transaction between Trickster and Sword: Bolp. The same night, he gently encouraged Noriom to drink himself under the table and talk about his latest caper. Having found out the hiding place, Bolp collected Reath's equipment while Noriom slept it off.
Ever since, Noriom has gotten a hefty discount on beer at the Bronze Bell - sometimes even receiving drinks on the house. The reason for this singular behaviour on Bolp's part is that he wants to keep old egg-head in a state of constant intoxication. He's deathly afraid that Noriom might remember what actually happened that night and spill the beans to Reath or Barnan. The armour and weapons (apart from the dagger) now reside in the Bronze Bell's cellar, while Bolp negotiates with Eagin Dragonslayer. Eagin has started to get cold feet about this deal since he's heard about a Humakt Sword, said to be looking for a suit of Iron armour in Istakax. To tell the truth, Bolp isn't entirely calm either; the Dragonsnailer's latest, much too low, bid is starting to look attractive after all.
What about the dagger, then? Well, Noriom managed to hang on to it for a while, but with the constant flow of beer from Bolp's inexplicably generous bar, keeping track of things was none too easy. He simply lost it one evening when the walk home from the Bell was unusually long. It was promptly discovered by Gakh, a trollkin. At first, he was terrified by the Iron and Truestone, but pretty soon he figured out that this was the ticket to making a dream come true. The following morning, Gakh ordered a suit of plate armour with lots of accessories at James' Workshop. James was utterly fascinated by the magical dagger, though he didn't quite understand what it was. He's tested Turn Undead on his Zombies a few times and finds it just as amusing each time. By now, he wouldn't trade it for all the sacks in Genertela, and is considering ways to 'improve' the look of it. Gakh's suit is nearing completion, as a matter of fact the trollkin will receive it during the course of this scenario.
Njard had the stone set into the hilt of an Iron dagger, which was enchanted to add 10 percentiles to the chance of Turning Undead if presented forcefully.
Later, Njard bit the dust in a hopeless struggle against a horde of Ralzakark's minions. One of his companions managed to recover the dagger, and carried it into Ralios, where it has since been in the possession of several distinguished Humakti.
The dagger was made by the famed Bilini smith, Finn Redeye, from the finest materials. The hilt is entirely clad in silver, the pommel in the form of a raven's head. At the cross-piece is set what seems to be a piece of pale flint, the Truestone. It can hold the following spells: Sanctify 2, Worship Humakt x 2, Divination 3, Shield 3, Sever Spirit, True Sword x 2 and Turn Undead 5. The dagger has 14 Armour Points. At the moment, the stone contains: Sanctify, Worship Humakt, Divination 3, True Sword and Turn Undead. The last spell will be used by James during this adventure.
Bolp: Sweats profusely. Is very much afraid that Reath or Noriom will find out that he has Reath's armour. Has no idea were Njard's dagger might have gotten to, but knows that Toralt Hugesword has a dagger with a silver hilt.
Eagin Dragonslayer: Negotiating with Bolp for the purchase of Reath's arms and armour, but doesn't know who the stuff belonged to. Knows nothing at all about the dagger. Afraid of dragonewts.
Gakh Greennose: The trollkin that found the dagger. Easily recognizable from the green tint to his nose. Will show up in a suit of James' Workshop armour. Afraid of everything that moves.
Guolo Twelvepointer: Doesn't have a clue about any of this, but will for a reasonable fee agree to expand his consciousness in an attempt to gain more knowledge. If given an accurate description of the items, he can reach the conclusion that the dagger is located somewhere that smells of death (James' zombies) and metal, the rest someplace that stinks of sweat and beer.
Hubrik the Galaninieater: Knows that Torgen has a suit of Iron armour at the Baths.
James: Has hidden the dagger under a pile of his own weapons in the back room.
Kallumm: Was of course a witness to the fight where Reath was defeated. Can provide lots of gory details.
Noriom: Scared shitless. Doesn't know anything, which is the reason for this whole scenario in the first place. Good old Bolp is his only friend, the only one sympathetic to his plight. Noriom can describe what happened up to the point in time when he hid the loot, after that things get a bit hazy. He knows that he lost the armour first, but that's about it. He's even forgotten what the stuff looked like.
Reath Dangallson: Doesn't know much about anything, but is good with a sword. A very proud Humakti from Kilwin. Even his pals back at the temple find him a bit uptight. Actually, his bark is worse than his bite: if faced with any serious obstacles, he tends to back down and take the easy way out. A case in point is the temple raid, when he ran away rather than go down fighting. The other Humakti have been very snide about what a fiasco that operation was. As if that wasn't enough, High Sword Haston Swordscratcher has expressed an interest in the whereabouts of Njard's dagger. In short, Reath wants that dagger now! The other stuff would be nice, but isn't as critical. Might conceivably pay something for the dagger's recovery, but not voluntarily. Can of course describe the items that he's lost (note that he is one of two people that can describe the dagger accurately, and the only one who can tell the PCs what the armour looks like). If convinced that curing James with a Restore INT will do the job, he can arrange it through contacts in Kilwin. When the scenario starts, he is scouring the countryside for leads but will come up empty-handed and return for another interrogation of Noriom. After meeting the PCs he will remain in town, drowning his sorrows at the Bronze Bell (this will not do Bolp's nerves any good at all). He refuses to take any active part in the investigation.
The Stormback brothers: Know that Torgen has some Iron armour, and that Toralt has a silver-hilted dagger. They are also well aware that neither of these items are what the PCs are looking for, but feel like having a little joke at their expense.
Toralt Hugesword: Has a nice dagger, but it's the wrong one.
Torgen Twisnout: Bought Konnach Barehead's suit of Iron chainmail off the trolls, keeps it in his room on the third floor. You can tell it from Reath's by the fact that it's smaller and lacks a helmet.
Tormod Newtlingbane: Missed the big fight, dammit! He was in Kilwin when the Humakti had a go at the temple. Has since done some research on the battle and come to the conclusion that Reath is a lousy tactician. Knows that Torgen has Konnach's armour but not that Noriom lost Reath's gear. Can give a detailed description of Njard's dagger (and any other more or less famous weapon in Delela). Worried that this adventure might pass by without any combat.
1. The conversation with Noriom.
This is what starts the adventure off: the PCs arrive in town, meet Noriom and decide to help him out. The GM should make sure beforehand that they are motivated enough to do this, either because of some tie to Noriom or out of pure greed for the goodies. The egg-headed one is in worse shape than anyone has ever seen him in before.
2. Investigation.
The PCs stroll around town on a fine sunny day, asking lots of nosy questions. Make sure they get to hear the false rumours about the armour at the Baths and Toralt's dagger.
3. Reath Dangallson.
The Sword arrives, in a rather aggressive mood, that evening. He will vent his fury on Noriom unless someone intervenes. This is the time to acquire descriptions of the items and negotiate a reward. Remember that the armour is valuable, but hardly unique; the dagger is one-of-a-kind. The amount of any reward depends on your players' negotiating abilities, and of course on how much money you feel is good for them.
4. More investigation.
The next day is similar to the first one, except for the weather being overcast.
5. The zapped zombie.
One of James' zombies (easy to recognize from the armour) can be found lying 'dead' under a pile of rubbish in one of the ruins. It isn't very well hidden. James was playing with the dagger again; unfortunately, he rolled a critical on his Turn Undead. He got worried and tried to hide the remains.
6. Gakh Greennose.
A while later, the PCs will encounter Gakh, a trollkin easily recognized by any resident as a beggar and scavenger that frequents the area. Strangely enough, he's wearing a brand new suit of 'punk' armour from James' Workshop, specially made for his disfigured anatomy. If the PCs interrogate him, he will be very frightened, but will honestly reply that he got the gear in trade for a burning dagger.
7. Grabbing the dagger.
So, now they just have to collect the dagger, right? Of course, James wants to keep it ("Mine!"). If the PCs become aggressive, three trolls will show up to help James out. Stealing it is a much neater solution, and considering the average intelligence of the Workshop's inhabitants, one which shouldn't be too hard to pull off. And of course, if James' INT is restored he will realize that he can't keep the dagger, though this solution will deprive the campaign of an interesting NPC.
Many players will of course find ways to short-circuit this plot, in which case the GM will have to improvise. The more extreme solutions, such as killing Reath, should be discouraged. One optional encounter that can be tossed in if things are moving too fast or if the players are restless for some action, is:
The dragonewts: Five scout dragonewts are keeping their eyes on the Keep. If discovered, they will stand stock still for one melee round, after which they attack the PCs with total abandon. They can't communicate with humans in any way. The only people who take an interest in this incident are Eagin, who seems slightly worried, and Tormod, who's hoping for more. This is a foreshadowing of future happenings in Istakax.