Adventures in Milmar #29 - Blackstone Bridge
Welcome to the next part of the continuing tale of an adventure I ran in Dungeons & Dragons a while ago.
In the last post, Adventures in Milmar #28 - The Spear of Arvildar the Golden Part 2 I described a key encounter the players had with Sidhiaran elves as they reached the centre of the Warmark.
The Warmark is a blasted, blackened and dangerous no-man's-land between the Grand Duchy of Enrieme and the Sidhiaran elves. This encounter is the first one where the players meet actual Sidhiarans, at an ancient monument exactly halfway across the wasteland.
The Swamps of Despair
After leaving the relatively benign area around the Spear of Arvildar, the party finds that the swamps close in, around a nameless sluggish river. If the players try to cross the river, they’ll find it full of nasties – swarms of Quippers (Monster Manual pages 335 & 338), Constrictor snakes (MM page 320), Giant constrictor snakes (MM page 324), and Shambling Mounds (MM page 270). The only real crossing point is at the ruins of Blackstone Bridge.
I'll be honest and say that this is mostly a DM tool to push the players towards Blackstone Bridge. Through the rest of the Warmark the route is down to the players, with a mix of semi-random encounters that can be moved into their path and other, fixed, ones which that'll only find if their path crosses them. This is probably the only point where I felt it appropriate to subtly railroad them for a bit !
The Town of Blackstone Bridge
Blackstone Bridge was once a prosperous trading town, established by the Sidhiarans for their human subjects. Now, it is a blackened ruin. Most of the houses are charred wreckage, or at best roofless shells. Skeletons, pieces of skeletons, and shattered armour and weapons litter the empty, rubble-strewn streets. The only building with a semblance of wholeness is the Bridge House, and that is missing the key central section, the bridge.
Map generated in the awesome https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator
The Blackstone River
Anyone approaching the Blackstone River will rapidly notice the stench – a strong, nose-stinging bitterness like vinegar. The river is, in fact, highly acidic, etching the rock banks to a glossy (and slippery !) black shine.
Anyone trying to swim it will take 4D8 damage per round. Crossing it by swimming against the rapid current will take DC15 strength checks – each point of success is worth a foot of progress, and it is 50 feet wide.
Outside the town, the river runs through a gorge with overhanging banks – requiring 2 x DC18 athletics check to climb. Failure means a big splash and disadvantage on repeated attempts as the character's hands slowly dissolve.
Attempting to fly over the river will awaken swarms of spectral undead…..
Bridge House
The Bridge House was once both the administrative hub of Blackstone Bridge, and its key source of wealth. It's a beautifully constructed and ornate building, now reduced to a shell of it's former splendour. It sits on top of the bridge which spans the deep and corrosive waters of the river below, and at each end is a toll gate, now long since abandoned.
The bridge appears broken but is in fact whole on the ethereal plane. It can be made to manifest. To do this it has to be broken on the Ethereal Plane by the Mattock of Darballan. With elf blood spilled into the gulf, it will manifest briefly on the Material. After an hour, it will re-set, and poor Darballan will be cast back into his endless cycle of torment with no memory of the events that have just transpired.
Meeting Darballan
Darballan was the last human mayor of Blackstone Bridge. When Enrieme rebelled, he collaborated with Sidhiara at first. But the endless demands for supplies from armies passing through wore him down, and he led the human population in the town in a gruesome and bloody uprising which drove out or killed the Sidhiaran inhabitants.
When the Sidhiarans sent a force to retake the town and exact retribution, he tried to break down the bridge while a small band of companions held off the advancing enemy. They were slaughtered to a man, and now the Ghost of Darballan is cursed to try to finish breaking down the bridge.
As the party explores Bridge House, Darballan will come to them, a malevolent and bitter spirit - use the Ghost stat block from the Monster Manual. Use Ghostly Manifestations to set the atmosphere. He will try to possess the lowest charisma party member to get them to deliver his message.
When we ran the game I did adapt the rules a little bit. As written, ghostly possession in Dungeons & Dragons carries a risk of removing a player's control over his or her character. Loss of player agency in this kind of way tends to go down very badly, and I don't like doing it. So instead, I took the player to one side and handed them a note which read;
You have been possessed by a ghost. Your spirit is still in your body, but the ghost has control over your desires and goals.
As he takes over, you hear a voice in your head.
“I am the shade of Darballan. I am cursed to re-live my death over and over until the bridge is broken down with my mattock. You must free me from this curse. Make the bridge appear by pouring the blood of an elf into the void. Do it at midnight. Then cross and destroy it !”
You are still (mostly) you. But you feel a driving need to find the missing Mattock of Darballan and use it to break down the bridge. You know it is somewhere in this building. Performing this ritual will break the bridge on the ethereal plane, forcing it to manifest on the material plane, and freeing Darballan’s ghost from its torment.
You know that trying to just walk out of the building without it is a really bad idea and will lead to considerable personal discomfort. You also feel that you must not tell your companions you are possessed, or how you know what you know, or the details until needed – steer them, don’t just blurt it all out.
This is a great RP opportunity – enjoy it, and slurp up all those XP you’ll get for doing it well :D
Image by Syaibatul Hamdi from Pixabay
It should also be noted that when I wrote this section, I made sure none of the characters had a weapon which would allow them to just attack the ghost in his ethereal form.
Next time.... Descent into Bridge House Cellars to find the Mattock of Darballan