D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Ballista's Betrayal: A Thorn Hold Inquest

# Combat# Investigation# Social

The impregnable fortress of Thorn Hold, a bastion against the creeping Shadowmire marshlands, stands silent. Its legendary, arcane-powered ballistae, designed to unleash devastating salvos, have been silent for a week. The 'rapid-fire' mechanisms are jammed, the targeting runes are smudged, and the garrison is demoralized. Whispers point to Captain Durnan 'One-Eye', a decorated but notoriously hard-drinking officer, who allegedly misconfigured the 'Combat Readiness Directives' during a bender. But the truth is a tangled web of exhausted engineers, desperate supply shortages, and a shadowy pact with the very swamp-dwellers the fortress was built to repel. Veteran players are summoned as neutral inquisitors to uncover the sabotage, restore the fortress's defenses before the next full moon tide, and navigate the treacherous politics of a garrison on the edge of mutiny.

Chronicle Prelude

The players arrive at the Outer Barbican of Thorn Hold under a gray, drizzle-soaked sky. The air smells of wet stone, ozone from dormant magic, and old fear. They are greeted by a tense, heavily-armed honor guard who escort them through echoing, empty courtyards to the Great Hall, where they await the Fortress Commandant.

Environmental Traits

The regional crisis is the imminent return of the 'Brine Tide,' a monthly, magically-charged tidal surge from the Shadowmire that swells the swamp's monstrous inhabitants into a frenzied, coordinated assault. Thorn Hold's ballistae are the only deterrent. Failure means the overrun of the fortress and the opening of a direct path to the heartlands. The players must diagnose the mechanical/magical failure, identify the saboteur(s), and decide how to restore or re-purpose the fortress's ultimate weapons before time runs out.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (9)

Commandant Varek
A tall, gaunt man in his late fifties, his Garrison Loyalist uniform immaculate but worn. His face is a mask of stern duty, etched with deep lines of stress and sleeplessness. He carries the weight of the fortress on his shoulders, and his eyes hold a desperate, uncompromising light.
Captain Durnan
A heavy-set man who reeks of cheap ale, his Loyalist captain's uniform stained and askew. He slouches wherever he stands, his eyes bleary. Yet, beneath the performance of the drunk, a sharp, terrified intelligence occasionally surfaces. He flinches at sudden noises.
Captain Durnan
The drunken facade is gone. Captain Durnan stands tall, his face grim and sober, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. He is a man cornered, ready to fight for his life and his family's secret.
Engineer Mira
A woman in her forties with soot-smudged cheeks and calloused hands, her Compact Sympathizer leanings hidden beneath a grease-stained work apron. She moves with a nervous, precise energy, constantly glancing at the mechanisms around her as if they might lash out.
Gate Warden Kael
A lean, nervous Loyalist soldier with a perpetual scowl. His eyes dart constantly, scanning for threats real and imagined. He grips his spear a little too tightly, his knuckles white. The Gate of Inquest behind him is a monument to his suspicion.
Ssketh, Compact Envoy
A tall, lean lizardfolk with iridescent green scales, perched silently in the shadows of the outer barbican. He wears a simple harness adorned with teeth and bits of polished bone. His eyes are intelligent and watchful, his posture one of patient readiness.
Archmage Pellus
An elderly human male in worn, star-dusted robes, his fingers stained with ink and alchemical reagents. He peers through a pair of thick spectacles, his gaze focused on some point beyond the physical room. He is surrounded by hovering scrolls and softly glowing crystals.
Malfunctioning Construct Guardian
A hulking, humanoid shape of stained stone and pitted iron, one of the Engineer's Ward automated defenders. Its movements are jerky and erratic. One eye-lens glows a steady red, while the other flickers wildly. It emits a low, grinding hum and the smell of ozone. It perceives all organics as a threat to its master's unfinished work.
Abyssal Horror Vanguard
A grotesque amalgamation of swamp sludge, petrified wood, and chitinous plates from deep underground creatures. It drags itself forward on multiple, mismatched limbs, its 'face' a cluster of dimly glowing, hate-filled eyes. The air around it warps and stinks of deep rot and ozone. It is a vanguard of the true monstrous horde from the Shadowmire's depths, drawn here by the destabilizing magic of the ballista core.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Gauntlet of the Shamed Champion

The Feast of Shadows: A Banquet of Betrayal