Everyone needs to eat.
Whatever your reason for coming to Gloomhaven, out here on the edge of the world, that simple fact is never going to change. A mercenary can’t fight on an empty stomach.
So when Jekserah, a Valrath woman wearing a red cloak and enough gold jewelry to keep you fed for a decade, approaches you in the Sleeping Lion and offers to pay you ten gold coins to track down a thief and retrieve some stolen goods…well, it seems like as good an excuse as any to sober up and start paying off your tab.
“This thief has taken some important documents,”
says the red-skinned merchant, her tail whipping about in agitation.
“I don’t care what you do to him. Just bring back what is mine.”
Based on Jekserah’s description, it was easy enough to knock around a few alley thugs and get a location of the thieves’ hideout.
You don’t find yourself as a mercenary way out in Gloomhaven without knowing how to crack a few skulls.
So your target is the Black Barrow. Sounds like a lovely place.
Scenario 1 – The Black Barrow
The hill is easy enough to find—a short journey past the New Market Gate and you see it jutting out on the edge of the
Corpsewood, looking like a rat under a rug.
Moving closer you see the mound is formed from a black earth. Its small, overgrown entrance presents a worn set of stone stairs leading down into the darkness.
As you descend, you gratefully notice light emanating from below. Unfortunately, the light is accompanied by the unmistakable stench of death.
You contemplate what kind of thieves would make their camp in such a horrid place as you reach the bottom of the steps.
Here you find your answer—a rough group of cutthroats who don’t seem to have taken very kindly to your sudden appearance.
One in the back matches the description of your quarry.
“Take care of these unfortunates,”
he says, backing out of the room. You can vaguely make out his silhouette as he retreats down a hallway and through a door to his left.
“Well, it’s not every day we get people stupid enough to hand-deliver their valuables to us,”
grins one of the larger bandits, unsheathing a rusty blade.
“We’ll be killing you now.”
Joke’s on them. If you had any valuables, you probably wouldn’t be down here in the first place.
With that, the party cleared out the bandits and skeletons from the upper floor of the Barrow and looted a chest that offered a map to an Island off the coast that looks an interesting location for further adventure.
Conclusion
With the last bandit dead, you take a moment to catch your breath and steel yourself against the visions of living remains ripping at your flesh. Your target is not among the dead, and you shudder to think what horrors still await you in the catacombs below.
The party descended the stairs but were beaten back by a large number of Enemies below. Deciding that caution is needed and maybe some Divine assistance the group returned to Gloomhaven to rest and make offerings for divine aid.
Scenario 2 – Black Lair
The stench of death and rotting flesh gets thicker as you kick past the corpses of your foes and head deeper into the underground burial site. Guided by the muffled sounds of conversation, you find your way through the maze of crypts and burst into a small room full of hard-faced bandits, all with bows at the ready.
They’re clearly guarding something. You must be in the right place.
You open the door to a large crypt littered with coffins. At the back stands your quarry. He fits the description, but there is something previously unnoticed in his eyes—a dark otherworldly force.
“Who are you to think you can interrupt the work of the Gloom?”
A dark energy engulfs his hands as he speaks.
“I will show you what you are dealing with!”
Conclusion
Sifting through the carnage left by the battle, you find a cache at the back of the room containing the scrolls you were hired to collect. You can’t help but rifle through them a bit, but find that the writing upon them is in some unknown archaic language. One thing that does jump out at you, however, is a map of the northern countryside. A bend in the Still River is clearly marked as a point of interest. Contemplating whether you want to find out more about this so-called “Gloom,” you decide that the spot could be a point of interest for you, as well.
But that can be forgotten for the moment. You pack up the papers and head back to Gloomhaven to collect your reward. Meeting Jekserah once again at the Sleeping Lion, you hand over the papers and are paid the agreed-upon amount.
“You know,”
she whispers to you softly under the bustle of the tavern.
“If you’re interested,
I may have another job for you. A tribe of Inox in the Dagger Forest has ransacked a couple of my caravans headed to the Capital.
“I told the militia, but they do nothing,”
she spits.
“I can point you in the direction of their encampment. If you can make an example of them, I will pay you even more.”
She places a crude map of the forest on the table and stands up, her jewelry clinking with the movement.
“Come find me when it is done.”
