Corocinara's Gold
This is not a complicated scenario, but the player characters should have good
combat skills. It takes place in Dorflik and the nearby countryside.
Background
Corocinara and Lomlar, two prospectors from Dorflik, make it their business to
search out places where the bones of dead gods might be found. They usually
come across metal in small quantities, but of high quality (purity). On a few
occasions, they've even found magical crystals.
Last season they struck it rich in one of Saug's smaller rivers. They estimated
the find to be of about 40 enc pure gold, most of it further up the river at a
small waterfall. A family of Beaver hsunchen was talked into building a dam
above the falls, diverting the river's path. Corocinara and Lomlar where able
to extract 15 enc of gold before a band of tusk riders arrived at the site.
Corocinara managed to escape, but Lomlar was captured and later killed.
Corocinara is now in Dorflik, looking to hire mercenaries. She wants to drive
off the tusk riders and free Lomlar (she is assuming that his captors will be
smart enough to keep him alive for the sake of his expertise). The only payment
she can offer is shares in her half of the gold that's been found to date.
Corocinara
She has talked to Alorna at the Orlanth temple, and put up a notice in the
Humakti Hiring Hall. It should be possible to reach at least one player
character this way. The information provided by Alorna or the notice is that
this is a dangerous, urgent mission, with payment in shares, and that
Corocinara can be found at Home.
Corocinara is sometimes mistaken for a man: she's nearly 1.8 metres tall, with
broad shoulders, an angular face and large, coarse hands. Apart from the
players, a party of young Lightbringer-followers has applied for the job. No
Humakti could be bothered. The NPC party's combat skills average around 40%;
the PCs should be able to beat this. Corocinara is looking for people with
weapons and wilderness experience. She's also interested in how much Mineral
Lore the party knows, but from the opposite point of view - since she wants to
keep the extent of the find secret, she would prefer them to be ignorant of
such matters. Corocinara will under no circumstances hire dwarfs or Galanini.
She is very anxious to keep a low profile for this mission, word of it must not
reach Galanini ears as they would probably consider removal of their holy metal
from the earth an act of sacrilege.
The Dig
It takes a day or so to reach the site, 30 km east of Dorflik. The terrain is
rough, there are no hindrances apart from the usual random encounters. At a
point where the river used to flow over a number of large boulders, a bed of
smaller rocks and gravel has formed; mixed up with this is the gold. Since the
dam was built, the river has made a bend to the west, leaving the old riverbed
nearly dry.
The tusk riders have continued the work that Corocinara and Lomlar started, but
their methods are less skilful. 5 enc of gold has been lost, and only 1 enc
extracted.
The Tusk Riders
These were part of a mercenary company involved in Naskorion's conquest of
western Delela. When the campaign was over they were disbanded, but some still
had an appetite for looting and pillaging. Vaug took charge of a band of
like-minded tusk riders and started a career of banditry in southern Delela. A
couple of seasons ago things got too hot for them in those parts, so they moved
into Saug, their numbers somewhat reduced.
Vaug and his gang, numbering 8 in all, have made camp next to the site. They
have four guards on watch at all times: two at the dam and two a hundred metres
south of the dig. The guards are mounted on their tuskers. At most, three tusk
riders will be working the excavation, as Vaug won't stoop to manual labour.
Normally, only two will actually be digging, a third working the sluice.
The Dam
By tearing down the dam, the tusk riders at work could be put out of action for
1d6+6 MR, surprised by the ensuing flood. They would also receive 1d6 hits from
being washed against the rocks. Demolishing the dam takes 1d10+10 MR, and the
guards have to be dealt with first. Also, a player character taking part in the
vandalism has to roll DEX x 5 or be swept along with the river. The flood will
wash away 3 enc of gold.
The Beaver Hsunchen
The Slaptail family lives 2 km down river, and would not normally interfere in
non-hsunchen business. But if the players can think of something that might
convince them, they can be a big help in destroying the dam. This only takes
1d6+5 MR, and the guards won't notice anything until it's too late.
Epilogue
When Lomlar is found, brutally murdered, in a tree near the camp, Corocinara
realizes that she needs some more help. After a brief bout of agonizing over
it, she offers the PCs half of the gold for their assistance in finishing the
excavation. This will result in 7.5 enc (6 if the flooding tactic was used) for
the party to split. If they run Corocinara off and try to do the job on their
own, they will only get a total of 7 enc (5.5). They're much less skilled at
this, so cooperation is to their advantage.
The problem of spending all that gold remains. If any Galanini find out about
the party's sudden wealth, they will want to investigate. Any number of
thieves, bandits and just plain shady characters could also become interested,
drawing the conclusion that the PCs know where to find more gold.