Campaign One: Raiders of the Lost Ruin

**Raiders of the Lost Ruin** is a D&D campaign and, despite being the third campaign played, is the first campaign after the 'soft reboot' of Magnula. It takes place entirely in the Sea of Sand province of the Dead Sands and follows a group of money-hungry adventurers as they fulfil a contract for the Mecklen archaeology corporation.

The campaign began in January of 2023 and is currently ongoing.

## **The Characters**

### **Main**

* **GrugGnug -** a Gnoll rogue. Once a successful antiques dealer (and a fence for organised crime), GrugGnug was forced out of his business by his own family. Now he craves adventure, which made the Mecklen Corporation's excavation a very desirable opportunity indeed.
* **Bo Humperdink -** a Halfling rogue and cleric. Bo was once an admittedly gullible family man, but the death of his wife and abduction of his daughter tore his world apart. Now he adventures in order to pay off a grievous debt, while also trying to better the world for a child he will probably never meet.
* **Aisha -** a Satyr rogue. A street thief from the city of Theset, Aisha is motivated by one thing and one thing only: money. She is a tried-and-true robber that sees the excavation as a way to acquire more money than she could ever imagine.

### **Side**

* **Benusha Hassan -** the excavation's quartermaster and supply specialist. Raised on the streets, HBenusha knows how to establish supply lines even in the most rural of places and can obtain most items with relative ease, skills that have proven to be vital for the excavation.
* **Damien Salvatore -** an Imperial historian and scholar who was hired by the Mecklen Corporation as a historical advisor. Due to Heinrich Mecklen's 'lacking' knowledge of archaeology, Damien is the unofficial leader of the excavation.
* **Danny Buchan -** a veteran of the Imperial Army, Danny served his country as a talented and experienced blacksmith. After leaving, he and his partner Preston McMillan became freelancers, selling their talents to various groups. The Mecklen Corporation's excavasion is just another job to him.
* **Ezio -** a veteran mercenary, potentially on the brink of retirement. Ezio was first encountered in Drop Off village, where he was wallowing in a tavern. He has since been hired by Heinrich Mecklen in order to replace a mercenary that was killed in the Gnoll attack.
* **Heinrich Mecklen -** head of the Mecklen Corporation and the official leader of the excavation. Despite his passion and hands-on approach towards archaeology, Heinrich is headstrong, arrogant, and stubborn in his approach. This usually means pursuing ideas that are inefficient, unnecessary, or potentially even destructive.
* **Mindy Mundy -** a mercenary hired for the excavation, Mundy is an experienced marksman and hunter. She talks little about her past but she claims to have lived in the Dead Sands her entire life.
* **Preston McMillan -** the excavation's resident doctor. Preston was a veteran of the Imperial Army, where he served as a medic. This position gave him a deep understand of practical medicine and was also were he met his partner, Danny Buchan. His knowledge and experience made him a natural choice for the Mecklen Corporation.
* **Veronika Salvatore -** an Imperial academic and daughter of Damien Salvatore. She, along with her father, were hired by the Mecklen Corporation to assist as historical advisors, but she herself sees the job as more of a learning opportunity rather than direct employment.

## **Story Summary**

### **Solving the Missing Caravans**

> *"Hey, you. You're finally awake."* - Unnamed sailor that ferried the party
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Our story begins on a boat, sailing up a small river. The adventuring party awakens from a short nap to find that they are reaching their destination - the village of Drop Off. They are told that, from the village, they need to take the road north-west until they reach the excavation camp, hidden within the confines of a canyon.

After the disembark the adventuring party explores the village and finds a dour atmosphere and few people. Supply caravans, as it turns out, have been going missing and nobody knows why. The village militia, in an attempt to protect the few that remain, have blocked all land travel in to and out of the village. By investigating, the party learns that the militia change shifts just before sundown and, if they time it right, there will be a small gap in which to escape Drop Off. And so, the party spends much of their day conversing and drinking with Ezio, a friendly mercenary who gave them the information.

As the sun began to set, the adventurers managed to sneak past the guards and escaped into the desert. As instructed, they followed the path for a time until, in the distance, they saw the remains of a wagon. As well as this, they also saw a trio of outlanders they seemed to be picking through the remains. Where they scavengers? Or perhaps the perpetrators of a violent raid? Aisha and Bo approached whilst GrugGnug stalked from a distance. As it turns out, the outlanders merely found the wagon and were not responsible for its fate - or at least they claimed. Nevertheless, the pair of adventurers were unable to discover any other information as suddenly they and the outlanders were ambushed by a pair of giant trapdoor spiders. After slaying the arachnids, they party intended to continue on to the camp, this ultimately not being their problem. However, Bo spied a smaller spider carrying a chest into the spiders' den. Motivated by the smell of wealth, he and the other adventurers chased the spider into the tunnels below.

Entering the spiders' den they found that their exit was now mysteriously blocked by a wall of green energy - magic. With nowhere else to go they ventured through the web-covered tunnels, discovering rooms filled with spider eggs and, curiously, junk from the surface. Suddenly, the group reached a narrow tunnel, with small lines of webbing set up like tripwires. Bo and Aisha made it through with little fuss but GrugGnug set off the trap, triggering yet another two trapdoor spiders to ambush the group. Luckily these spiders were not too much of a problem and were swiftly slain, though Aisha sustained a shoulder injury in the process. Working their way past the trap tunnel, they entered a larger room - containing nothing but an old campfire and yet another wall of magical energy, one that blocked the way forward. However, unlike the previous one, this wall presented a solution to the party - in the form of a riddle. "What falls but never breaks, what breaks but never falls?" The party raked their minds for a moment but, growing frustrated, GrugGnug opted for a different solution. Picking up Bo, he propelled the Halfling towards the seal with the force of a cannon. By all accounts, such a method should not work however, shockingly, the force of the throw combined with the evidently weak magic of the seal caused it to break and shatter - though Bo himself was slightly hurt by the impact.

The party then made their way into the next room, where they heard the faint sound of clanging metals. Aisha, due to her injuries, opted to stay hidden however the others marched in regardless, where they were met by the presence of a ghostly figure. This spirit wore clothes covered in jewels and a large turban, clearly a wealthy man in life. His open and friendly attitude was also displayed, however it was clear that the ghost was a greedy man. At first, discussions were cordial and friendly. However the party's constant inconsistencies and actions, combined with the spirit's greed and arrogance, pushed him beyond reason. The spirit revealed its true form, an angry spectre that was murdered travellers for its own greed. Luckily, the party had quickly discovered the spectre's aversions to direct light, and used this weakness to slay the spectre with minimal risk to themselves. During the fight, a cabinet in the room had been knocked over, revealing a quick route out.

As the party emerged from the tunnels, they noticed that night was nearly upon them. Instead of continuing on to the excavation camp, the distance to which they did not know, they instead chose to camp at the remains of the wagon before moving on in the morning. And so they did, with Aisha and GrugGnug taking the wagon itself whilst Bo opted to shelter himself using a solid wall of crates. Despite the less than ideal sleeping conditions, the group managed to doze off for a time, however were interrupted in the night by a pair of Goblin raiders. These would-be attackers proved to be quite incompetent however and were quickly taken the care of - with one being killed and the other captured. And so, the adventurers fell asleep once again.

### **The Raid on the Excavation Camp**

> *"This suit was custom!"* - GrugGnug, getting revenge for his suit
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The following morning, the adventurers reconvene. Overnight, Aisha and GrugGnug felt like their experiences had honed their skills. They felt faster, more agile. Bo, on the other hand, did not. However, he recalled strange dreams of a blonde, winged human woman, holding a golden cup. He shrugged these thoughts off as just pointless dreams. Nevertheless, upon meeting Aisha and GrugGnug noticed something peculiar. Bo now had strange markings on his face, like pale tattoos, where he didn't before. They acknowledged the peculiarity of it, but did nothing more to question or pursue answers, deeming it none of their business. And so, the adventurers left their improvised camp and continued on towards the excavation site.

After what felt like a couple of hours, the party arrived at the mouth of the canyon. According to what they had been told, the excavation camp was within the confines of this canyon. They continue inside. The soft sand turns into a grainy dust as the walls of the canyon swallow them. As they venture through it is almost completely silent, the only other life they see being the occasional bird or jackal from the ridges above them. Some time passes, and they finally see some tent-like structures in the distance - presumably their camp. However, as they near they find no people. In fact, the camp has been ravaged, the tents ripped and supply crates destroyed. As they investigate, they stumble across a man dressed in scarlet scuffling with a tribal-looking Gnoll. The human manages to kill the Gnoll, but not without sustaining an arm injury. Noticing the party, the man introduces himself as Damien Salvatore, a historian and advisor on the excavation. He tells the party that a nearby Gnoll clan had raided the camp, taking away all the people and supplies to their outpost - positioned on the north-eastern ridge. Damien tasks the party with getting back the people and supplies, which the party accepts.

The party makes their way through the remains of the camp, towards the ridge they must scale. However, the on the way they encounter another two Gnoll clansmen. The pair was picking their way through what little hadn't been taken, but it was clearly impossible to sneak around. As a result, GrugGnug and Bo attempted to ambush the pair, but this was only partly successful. In the ensuing fight, the adventurers killed the Gnolls, but Aisha sustained a bite to her forearm and GrugGnug suffered the terrible loss of having his prized suit slightly damaged. Luckily, Bo was able to use his knowledge in medicine to at least stop Aisha's wound from bleeding. After gathering themselves and checking for that all-important loot, the party approached the ridge and found that they had a 50 foot climb to the ridge. Luckily, there were plenty of outcroppings and so the party gradually made their way up the cliff. When they pulled themselves onto the ridge, they were exhausted but successful in their goal, as ahead lied a pair of bone effigies that clearly marked an entrance to the Gnoll clan's outpost.

The party approaches the entrance and see a pair of Gnoll clansmen guarding it. However, lucky for them, they were engrossed in conversation and did not notice the party. Instead of sneaking past, though, they replicated the same plan as before - distracting, ambushing and cutting down the guards. But this time the attack was simply a component of a larger plan. GrugGnug, a Gnoll himself, removed his beloved suit and donned the clothes of one of the clansman. Aisha and Bo bound their hands as to appear as prisoners and, together, the party waltzed their way through the camp as if they were supposed to be there. Interestingly, the camp was mostly empty. However they did eventually encounter a single Gnoll guard who has, somehow, swayed by the disguise. She led the party to the prisoner room, which was watched over by two hounds. These dogs were, naturally, suspicious of these unfamiliar people so, just before their cover was blown, the party ambushed the dogs and the lone guard. The guard was paralyzed by a dagger to the spine and knocked out. One dog was pinned by GrugGnug and the other was mounted and, after a short rodeo show, forcefully tamed by Bo - which finally gave him some well-needed height. The immediate threat taken care of, the party then turned to freeing the prisoners. Though it perhaps took more time than it should have, Aisha eventually went to the table to grab the key but, upon opening the box the key was kept in, she was hoisted into the air by a rope trap. The trap began to strangle her but it proved to be little threat as she swiftly sliced the rope and fell back to the ground - winded but alive.

The party then freed one of the prisoners, a young woman named Veronika Salvatore. They learned that she was, indeed, the daughter of Damien and that the rest of the prisoners were the excavation's survivors. From her they also learned that the excavation's supplies were being hoarded by the clan's chief - who kept to himself in a gated-off part of the camp. Their second objective now located, the party handed her the key and left to slay the chief and liberate the supplies. They make their way to the centre of the camp where Bo, upon seeing his reflection in some water, realises that he now has markings on his face and a brand on his chest. This makes him consider whether his dream from the night before was reality or fiction. Nevertheless, with little time, the party makes their way through the gate and confront the clan chief. Irritated at the incompetence of his own people, he attempts to kill the adventurers in cold blood but this effort is largely unsuccessful. The party manage to use the terrain in order to corner the chief and use this advantage to slowly cut him down. However, it was Bo who got the finishing blow by using a spell that ripped the chief's many wounds open. The resulting blood fountain was evidently too much for even the hulking chief to bear, for he collapsed and died soon after. With the chief dead, the party proceeded to help themselves to the chief's treasure hoard, discovering coins as well as some items with seemingly peculiar properties. They also found the supplies, which they decided to report to the camp for there was simply too much to carry back themselves.

With the supplies found and the prisoners freed, the party left the camp the way they arrived. Lowering the supplies and Bo's new dog down the cliffside before following suit themselves. They return to the camp to find that much of the damage had already been repaired and that everyone is getting settled in again. For the rest of the evening, the party spends their time getting acquainted with everyone: the doctor, Preston McMillan, the quartermaster, Benusha Hassan, and the blacksmith, Danny Buchan.

### **Breaching the Complex**

The following morning, the party members had time to reflect on their experiences thus far. Bo Humperdink felt more in tune with his newfound magical abilities. Aisha, perhaps because by Bo's abilities, felt inspired to delve into the magical arts herself - though undoubtedly for more self-serving reasons. And GrugGnug felt reminded of his glory days and believed that he was slowly regaining the talent and skill he once had. Nevertheless, the day progressed slowly for most. Bo worked the forge alongside Danny. GrugGnug spent the day perfecting the art of billowing his new cloak. And Aisha, well, she spent the day attempting to crack the mystery of the ruin's door. She spoke to Damien and Veronika, who explained to her that they couldn't open the door despite. Aisha suggested knocking, which they admittedly hadn't tried. So Aisha herself went to attempt it. The door was large and made from pieces of a black obsidian-like stone. Aisha knocked - nothing. She knocked again - nothing. She then attempted to hear through the door but, again, there was nothing. Finally, she attempted to use her *mage hand* spell to unlock the mechanism. This also failed, but in the process she learned that this wasn't because of a fault on her part - there was no mechanism to unlock in the first place. From her perspective, the door more a wall than anything else.

Aisha returned to Damien and Veronika with questions. They explained that any traditional attempts to open the door would fail as ruins belonging to Those Who Came Before did not function in a traditional way. Precursor technology relies on objects interacting with each other using an unknown force or energy and, despite having leads, this 'key' was nowhere to be found. Aisha pushed Damien to tell her about his leads but he refused, unwilling to go behind Mecklen's back so directly. That night, Aisha decided to wait outside for Damien and Veronika to go to bed, at which point she would steal their notes herself. However, despite waiting until the early hours of the morning, she never saw them leave their work tent. Indeed, going inside herself she saw them still working, going through old notes and research. Aisha read Damien's journal on this excavation, hoping to learn something she might use, but it seemingly held little of interest.