Wrath of the River King was the first 4th Edition Open Design project from Kobold Press. I ran this adventure in 2009, setting it in the Feyshore Forest near Parsantium. Here’s the second write up. You can read Session 1 here.
26th Maius, 1745 (contd.)
With the bear and satyrs dealt with the characters demand that the tavern-keeper, Nikola, takes them to the barn where the miller is being held prisoner. Pellham the guard won’t let them inside so the party go to see Kemal, the village muhtar (headman) who is convinced of Hamid’s guilt despite a lack of any real evidence. Margarita, Ella and Sharden go to the mill pond to see if they can find a body while Krivinn goes to talk to Hamid.
At the mill pond, the characters run into a strangely-dressed tiefling who introduces himself as “the god-king Koh-Bar”; he claims to be searching for clues leading to a sect with a twisted draconic symbol – Sharden recognises this as the mark of the Twisted Rune. The dwarf goes off to tell Krivinn of the new arrival while Margarita dives into the pond. The genasi can’t find the missing miller’s wife but she does spot a millstone marked with elven runes on the bottom. Krivinn, meanwhile, has been speaking to the confused Hamid who begs for help from the party in finding his missing wife whom he believes has been dragged back to the Feywild by goblins after the two of them argued.
The dragonborn goes to the mill with Sharden where Ella and Koh-Bar are continuing to argue. Koh-Bar heads into the village and goes to the Golden Knight where he frightens one of the villagers. The others go inside the mill and meet a young boy with blond hair who calls himself Flax and says he’s the miller’s son. His story is confusing and the characters don’t think he’s telling them the (whole) truth. Krivinn goes back to see Kemal again and gets the muhtar to agree to let the PCs investigate Ellessandra’s disappearance thoroughly over the next couple of days before trying Hamid. The party also talk to Dargo the smith who saw Hamid and Ellessandra argue.
By this time it’s starting to get dark so they all return to the mill. Koh-Bar stays outside, lights a bonfire and declares that the mill and the surrounding area are safe from monsters and evil. Then he goes to sleep. Inside, Sharden fails to pick the lock to the counting room and triggers a magic mouth, so Ella kicks the door in. They rest for the night; Margarita falls asleep while she’s meant to be on watch. When she wakes up, Flax is nowhere to be seen.
27th Maius
First Margarita, then Ella and Krivinn swim down into the millpond and pass into the Feywild. After some dithering, Sharden and Koh-Bar tie themselves together and jump in afterwards.
The adventurers find themselves under the waters of a rushing river in the Feywild. All five manage to get their heads above water but struggle to get out of the current and lose various bits of their gear. Ella loses a boot and Margarita loses her waterskin in the churning waters but Sharden suffers the most, losing his ritual scroll of eye of alarm, his quarterstaff, his boot (with concealed thieves tools) and his hat. Koh-Bar loses his backpack but more importantly, his “gold” crown. Krivinn and Ella grab hold of a log and Margarita who has made it to the bank helps them out by throwing a rope. However, Sharden and Koh-Bar, both poor swimmers, are still floundering in the water and look to be heading over a waterfall. Desperate situations sometimes call for desperate solutions. Brave Ella uses split the tree to fire arrows with ropes tied to the ends into both of her companions – Koh-Bar makes a salmon leap out of the water to make sure she hits him. The two hapless characters take 19 hp damage each (which drops Koh-Bar to 2 hp!) but they are able to grab hold of the ropes and are dragged to safety just in time to avoid going over the falls.
The damp and gravely injured characters are tended to by Margarita’s inspiring words of healing but as they rest briefly, the waters start to churn – over a dozen large eel-like creatures are slithering towards the river bank….
Art by Pat Loboyko
Richard Green | Game Designer 