In this adventure, the PCs are tasked with finding a lost apprentice. At several points the players face a challenge that they can overcome in a number of different ways; each approach results in its own scenario and may affect future scenario options as well. As such, this is a more complex adventure to prepare and run. However, it maximizes player agency so that they really feel more in control of the game's story.

NOTE: Chains of Seclusion was the second playtest adventure run at convention events and other appearances. This version is slightly adjusted to better fit a home campaign.

The secluded barony of Ulin has become extremely reclusive of late, shutting itself off from the outside world and even posting an armed checkpoint to turn away any travelers or traders that seek to enter. With the dukedom currently dealing with a succession crisis, there are no authorities available to investigate.

The PCs were hired to retrieve a runaway, an adolescent boy by the name of Suren. He was an orphan, apprenticed by a blacksmith in a nearby port town, but has entered a rebellious streak and fled after a heated argument. Suren was last seen heading down the now-barren road to Ulin; the smith fears either things went poorly at the checkpoint, or he somehow got past it and is now stuck in the strange village.

In truth, the barony has secretly begun worship of an Unseelie Fallen, an evil fae exiled for practicing forbidden magics. The adolescents of the village (“Ulin Grove”) have been given over to the castle (“Ulin Castle”), where the Unseelie transforms them into her devoted Nibelung army. She is known simply as “The Baroness” for having “married” the baron, though this is pure political theater. The baron has been poisoned with a mind-altering brew that leaves him largely unaware of any happenings, immensely suggestible, and asleep for much of each day.

Suren, being a prime candidate for assimilation into the Nibelung force, was granted entry. He is now in Ulin Castle, hypnotized by forbidden Unseelie arts and about to begin the irreversible transformation process…

1. PCs seek to enter the reclusive village of Ulin Grove, which has completely shut itself off from the outside world. The main road in is now a manned checkpoint turning away travelers and traders with threat of arms. Thick swamps run alongside the road, straight up to some fierce mountain peaks that are too difficult to scale.
   
   Players can choose their approach to enter the secluded area. They could try to talk their way through, attack the guards, sneak past at the edge of the swamp, or trudge through the more difficult portion of the swamp. Each option results in a different scenario. A strong Interaction victory can result in the PCs learning of Suren's entry (if they weren't just trying to lie their way through).
   
   
2. Past the checkpoint, the PCs eventually come to see both Ulin Castle to the west and Ulin Grove to the east and may choose to proceed to either. If they go to the village, they'll notice that there are adults and small children, but absolutely no one anywhere near Suren's age. Village folk tend to be both suspicious and fearful of the party, but the players may run an interaction scenario to try to find someone willing to talk. If they succeed, they learn of Suren's location in the castle, as well as an old hidden path into the castle dungeon via a combination of natural caves and artificial tunnels.
   
   If the PCs head to the castle, they can go straight into the strangely unguarded front gate, or they could look for a side entrance into the poorly-maintained keep.
   
   
3. If the PCs learned of the secret path, they can run a scenario to get to the castle dungeon. If they came through the front entry or the side door, they'll see patrolling groups of Nibelung, which they can either try to sneak past or openly attack. Regardless of approach, they'll find Suren in the dungeon in a stupor and can rescue him, reviving him from his confusion and learning the horrifying truth of the barony. Getting out the way they came is no longer a challenge, and they may returned the rescued apprentice to the smith along with rescuing other survivors.
   
   
4. Daring players may try to take on the Unseelie Fallen despite warnings about her power. If they do, they can make their way to her chambers, where she will meet them with a haughty attitude and take them on in a very challenging and entirely optional level 2 boss battle.

Read the following out loud:

“He's a good lad,” says the smith with a sigh and a slight shake of his head. “Just a bit headstrong. Not much discipline, what with being an orphan growing up on the streets and all.”

Blacksmith Wolt came to your attention as a man interested in hiring the services of trained adventurers such as yourselves. His apprentice, an adolescent boy named Suren, has gone missing after a heated argument.

“Normally I wouldn't be worried, but… he was seen heading up the North Road. To Ulin. …Nobody goes to Ulin anymore.”

Players may now question Wolt as they like. He knows the basic information about Ulin from the background – that it's cordoned off, that nobody gets in or comes out – but he knows nothing of the truth behind the mystery. He blames the enduring succession crisis in the dukedom for generally poor law enforcement in the region.

Wolt offers the results of his work as a reward for the undertaking. If the party finds Suren, he'll reward them with weapons, armor, and other blacksmith-produced Gear (such as Oil Lanterns and Grappling Hooks) totaling up to 2 Wealth per PC, with no individual piece of Gear more expensive than 4 Wealth. If the PCs demand up-front payment, he's willing to offer one piece of Gear valued at 2 Wealth or less (which will be subtracted from the final reward at the end).

The checkpoint into Ulin is half a day's travel on foot. It's currently morning.

The PCs are currently in the port town of Jula and may shop freely. Enterprising PCs may try to get some information about the barony first; it's fine to freely give bits of common knowledge without needing to run a scenario, but the townsfolk here don't know anything about what's really going on there. If the PCs continue to mess around, you can try to resolve their antics with individual rolls, such as Charisma. If they persist, gently remind them that Suren's life may be in danger and they risk losing out on the reward with too much dawdling. Still, it's fine to run some optional appropriate scenarios if you wish; it's rarely a bad thing when players go off and discover their own fun.

Once the PCs decide to proceed toward Ulin, read the following (if they wait until night, the checkpoint is lit with lanterns and torches and the like):

The light forests give way to thick swamps as the road curves downhill. Ahead, a checkpoint blocks progress, complete with wooden barricades and stakes that stretch from one edge of the swamp to the other. Several armed guards mill about.

Thief/Hunter PCs will see potential routes for sneaking past the checkpoint without having to get too deep into the swamp. If the PCs approach the checkpoint, the guards will greet them gruffly: “Road's closed. No travelers. Turn back.”

• If the PCs try to bluff, charm, and/or threaten the guards, run Gabbing With Guards.
• If the PCs draw their weapons, run Checkpoint Melee.
• If the PCs try to sneak past the checkpoint, run Swampy Stealth.
• If the PCs decide to brave the swamp, run Will-o'-the-Wisp.
• If the PCs try to just run through, they make it but each suffer an Injury in the process.

If the PCs win any of the scenarios, they're able to proceed freely into the barony.

If the PCs win interaction via debate counter, they will find the guards talkative. They will answer questions to the best of their ability, including acknowledging that the boy Suren came through the day before. They don't know his whereabouts. If asked about the reason for the seclusion, they shrug and say “Orders of The Baroness.” They get vague but reverent if the PCs press for information about her.

If the PCs defeat the guards in combat, the guards successfully flee. You don't want level 1 PCs to get all the Gear carried by these guards from a single scenario. If fleeing isn't an option for all of them, you can flavor a guard's defeat as their weapon and armor being badly damaged, forcing their surrender.

If the PCs lose interaction, the guards refuse entry. If this was the first approach, the players may choose another route and scenario above. The PCs will be at a disadvantage if they choose combat now that the guards are alerted; you might grant the guards substantial bonuses to Initiative, give them some extra HP, and/or start the PCs in a bad position on the map relative to the enemy.

If the PCs lose a combat scenario (or choose to run away), they successfully flee inside the barony but each suffer an Injury in the process.

If the PCs fail stealth, they are caught and must choose to fight, flee, or talk. Continue to the appropriate option above. The PCs should be at a substantial disadvantage if they choose a scenario.

If time and/or number of scenarios is an issue, you can skip running a second scenario after failure and instead narratively describe what happens after the players make their choice, with the result being an Injury for each PC but ultimate success at the effort.

Once the PCs pass the checkpoint, they have entered the Barony of Ulin. Though under the control of the Unseelie Fallen, the countryside is nevertheless fairly safe (apart from the swamp).

The road winds on for another half hour or so before forking at the crest of a hill. To the west looms the stone towers of Ulin Castle, seat of the barony. To the east lies the village of Ulin Grove, home to most of the small barony's populace.

The PCs may choose to head to either location. If they wander the countryside instead, they find little of interest.

The people of the village stare at you as you enter. At first their reaction is one of surprise, as travelers are not expected here. Expressions then turn to suspicion, fear, and nervousness. Some villagers retreat into their homes, while others simply give you a wide berth.

If the PCs don't bother trying to talk to the villagers, there's nothing to see or do here, and they'll eventually need to wander to the castle instead.

If they try to talk to the villagers, you have a choice to make. If they just ran an interaction scenario at the checkpoint to get here, you may wish to avoid another such scenario in the interest of variety. If so, the village elder is willing to talk to the PCs freely, but gives different information than if the PCs ran the scenario. They'll still receive the same basic information, but instead of learning about the secret entrance, the elder will tell them about how the castle gate is strangely unguarded, and how parts of the castle are crumbling and may offer side entrances if they can find one.

On the other hand, if it already took two scenarios for the PCs to get here, you might go ahead and proceed as though the PCs won the interaction scenario so they can complete the adventure with just one additional scenario.

If branching the story for meta reasons such as these is not to your taste, go ahead and run the interaction scenario.

Run Suspicious Village Folk. The Local Elder is suspicious but sympathetic, disapproving of The Baroness but not trusting the PCs. The Simpleton has no idea what's going on and chatters nervously. The Acolyte speaks reverently of Holy She, The Baroness. Play the Bully as suspicous, lashing out from fear. Finally, the Spirited Youth is curious and young (pre-adolescent).

The PCs win over one of the village elders, who is upset about her grandchildren being taken into the castle along with all the other village's adolescents. She has no idea why this was done, but the cult-like reverence that the villagers have for The Baroness seems less effective on the elderly. This suggests some form of magic at work. The elder knows that The Baroness arrived a few months ago, but she doesn't know where from. From the beginning the people of Ulin were enraptured by her speaking and celebrated the news that she'd become the baron's wife. No one but the old questioned the suddenness and speed at which things developed, and at least one old man who protested was taken into the castle dungeon to the cheers of the villagers.

The elder knows of an old, hidden way into the castle dungeons via a system of caves and tunnels. The castle's dungeon hasn't actually been used in many decades, so no one cared to fix this security problem. The Baroness is likely unaware of this entry. PCs can take this route into the castle (see Secret Entrance), though they're free to try one of the standard approaches if they wish.

The PCs are attacked from behind by cultists of the Unseelie Fallen. A short melee breaks out, which the PCs win easily, but each suffers an Injury from the surprise attack. The elder witnesses the events and approaches the PCs with new-found hope; follow the results from the Victory entry.

If the PCs used combat to get here, and you want to encourage variety, replace the description below with one about the gate being shut and heavily guarded, encouraging them to either try the village or look around for another entrance. If you don't enjoy such on-the-fly adjustments, it's fine to just proceed.

The castle gates stand mysteriously open and unguarded. Perhaps the baron has confidence in the checkpoint and the loyalty of the villagers?

If the PCs waltz right on in, run Nybling Ambush. If they look for an alternate route, run Storm and the Castle.

The PCs make it inside Ulin Castle.

The PCs can't lose the exploration scenario. If they failed the combat, and you chose not to run it as life-or-death, they flee back outside the castle. The gate is shut and becomes heavily guarded, forcing the PCs to try another approach.

If the PCs learned of the existence of the secret entrance from the elder, they may venture out to find it. If they do, run The Forgotten Caves. Once the players complete that scenario, they have made it into the Castle Dungeons.

Whether they came in through the front door or the side entrance, the PCs make it inside the castle.

The lighting is rather dim in here, even for a castle. It also feels strangely empty. You proceed for awhile without incident, until you hear scratchy footsteps from around a corner. Carefully peering around it, you can just make out several short, monstrous creatures walking about – Nibelung.

The PCs are at a hallway T-junction, having arrived from the south.

• If the PCs decide to ambush the Nibelung, run Nibelung Skirmish. With a decent ambush plan, you might give the PCs a bonus to Initiative.
• If the PCs try to hide and sneak past, run Sneaking Through the Castle.
• If the PCs try to run, the patrol gives chase. You could try running a heavily-tweaked version of the exploration scenario above, swapped from stealth to chase. You could have the PCs run into a locked door at the end of a hall, forced to turn at fight (in which case run an altered version of the combat scenario). Or you could have them successfully race to the dungeons, but they suffer 1 Injury each from ranged attacks and minor skirmishes as they blunder through the area.
• If the PCs try to talk, the Nibelung respond with violence. Run Nibelung Skirmish.

The PCs make it to the Castle Dungeons.

You have several options here. Perhaps the PCs are forced to flee the castle, suffering an Injury in the process, and must find a different way back inside (maybe learning of the secret entrance from a villager as they nurse their wounds). Perhaps they are captured, locked in the dungeons; they are able to find Suren, but now escape presents a new challenge. This could also lead to overall failure of the adventure, as Suren dies before the PCs are able to reach him. However, the Unseelie Fallen still remains, and the PCs may still wish to fix events in Ulin, leading to all new adventures.

In a cell ahead, you find a boy matching Suren's description. The cell door is open, but he sits still, staring open-mouthed at the wall, unmoving.

Suren is in a stupor as the Unseelie Fallen works her magic on his mind. PCs can shake him out of it fairly easily; almost anything reasonable they try will work.

In the text below, the last two paragraphs are intended to push the adventure toward a close and give the players some useful contextual information. If you want to extend this adventure into a longer campaign, or want to keep The Baroness's true identity a mystery until the PCs learn more later, you might skip those bits, stopping after Suren's words. This leaves the next steps in the hands of the players; if this is a good time to end the session, you can ask them what their intentions are so you can prepare appropriate scenarios for next time.

Suren blinks at you as he slowly seems to return to consciousness. “W… where am…” he stammers, then gasps sharply, remembering.

“Th… the Baroness! She was… she was in my head. She was going to make me like the others… those monsters… she calls them 'her children'… please, you have to get me out of here before she finds us!”

Suren's words confirm your fears. “The Baroness” is, in truth, an Unseelie Fallen – an evil fae outcast from the Twilight Court for practicing forbidden arts. One of those arts is the key to creating the Nibelung, beastly creatures transformed from disaffected youth. Her dark magics hold the barony under enthrallment. You see only a few other teens in cells nearby; the rest are lost, irreversibly transformed into minions of the outcast Unseelie.

But those can be mourned later. For now, you can only rescue those that remain.

At this point, the PCs may return to Jula with Suren; escaping the castle and leaving Ulin is not as difficult as getting in was. The PCs must decide for themselves what to do with the remaining Ulin Grove teens; if they return them to the village, they're just as likely to wind up right back in the castle (the teens know this and will resist this action). The PCs can take them all to Jula, where they may find a temple or youth organization that can temporarily safeguard them.

Should the PCs return to Jula with Suren, Wolt is thrilled to see his apprentice and embraces the boy tearfully. The PCs are rewarded for returning the youth. Still, something must be done about the Unseelie… This adventure comes to a close, but you have plenty of hooks for what comes next.

Instead, you might choose to allow the players to go ahead and confront the Unseelie Fallen if they want. It's an incredibly risky and dangerous thing for level 1 PCs to attempt, but winning is certainly possible, especially if the party has some Karma saved up, lacks Injuries, and is well-equipped. In this case, proceed to the Throne Room.

Feel free to adjust the spoken words below if you want your villain to have a different style or personality.

You make your way through Ulin Castle, sneaking past patrols and dispatching the occasional straggler. You reach the throne room; near here are the private chambers of the lord and lady. You should find The Baroness there.

Instead, she's waiting for you in the throne room, seated with a crossed leg, smirking as you enter. “You come, knowing who I am? Perhaps you intend to pledge your service?”

When the PCs do anything but, she cackles, drops her human visage, and attacks; run Seat of the Fallen. If the PCs actually accept her offer and pledge allegiance, it might be best to convert the PCs into villainous NPCs and put new heroes into the hands of the players. You could also go along with it and run evil adventures if you're comfortable.

The Baroness falls, and her grip over Ulin ends with her. Freed from her poisons for the first time in months, the baron makes a gradual recovery and works toward restoring order and normalcy to the barony. The roads are reopened, and life mostly returns to normal.

You manage to dispatch a few more of the Nibelung on your way out of the castle, but many of them escaped, fleeing into the surrounding wilderness. The loss of half a generation hits Ulin Grove hard, but with trade and communications restored, the village will eventually recover. You have saved lives and put an end to whatever eventual scheme the Unseelie was planning.

Still, it's hard to shake the sense that something larger and even more fiendish was at work here…

You could have the PCs fall, ending the campaign. Or, perhaps they barely escape the castle with their lives, each suffering an Injury (or perhaps even two). Encourage them to head back to Jula to recover and get their rewards. Following this, the PCs will have a strong nemesis for future adventures that may carry them into level 2 and a more equitable rematch…

More level 1 quick adventures