Memories of Holdenshire: Beginning the Adventure
The adventure begins in the holy deep (Area #1) of the Northminster Catacombs immediately after Annika Crestveil slays their khalkos "master". They cannot remember the time of their psychic imprisonment and from their perspectives they're waking up from a long and hazy dream in a strange and unfamiliar place.
Read or paraphrase the following to begin the adventure:
You wake up. It's sudden and you lurch to a stop—where are you? How long has it been since you could think clearly? What are you doing, what are you wearing? You've got on dark robes over your normal garb, and your weapon is drawn. It's dark, lit only by flickering torchlight, and you see each other standing in a circle. Your companions wear the same dark robes as you and they look just as bewildered and confused.
You hear a choked laugh from a figure standing beside you, a human woman dressed in plate armor and dripping with blood. A slender stinger juts out from her chest, snapped off from the creature you now see that she's standing over. The thing at her feet is broken and crumpled like a dead spider, an insectile monstrosity almost in the shape of a man but with a face and limbs like some sort of horrible wasp. The woman smirks and with one last laboured breath says, "you're free," before collapsing and going still.
The echoes of the woman's armor reverberates throughout the hallways as she slams into the stone, then the sounds of her struggle fade into the darkness ahead of you and silence prevails. While you have countless questions, what comes first and foremost is simply what will you do now?
As the adventurers have been dropped into these strange circumstances, they'll likely begin by investigating their current situation and may ask the following questions:
- Where Am I? The party has no recollection of the catacombs or even the city above them. Reference the holy deep (Area #1) of the Northminster Catacombs to describe the room around them.
- Who Are All Of You? This is an excellent opportunity for the adventurers to introduce themselves. None of their long-term memories have been affected and the players should be encouraged to share information.
- How Did I Get Here? The party's last firm and concrete memories should each be of their time in or near Hengistbury before their abduction. Use their recollections as an opportunity for each player to describe their adventurer and what they were doing before all this. However, none of them remember their abduction or have any idea how they arrived here.
- What Am I Wearing? Each of the PCs is wearing a long black robe and cowl over whatever starting gear they selected as they created their adventurers. Each robe has a strange symbol sewn into the front that resembles a stylized insect wing.
- Who's This Lady? To determine if any members of the party are familiar with Annika Crestveil, have each of them roll a DC 12 Intelligence (Culture) check. On a success they recognize her as an adventurer, and on a result of 18 or higher they know she is Annika Crestveil, an adventurer based out of Northminster.
- What's This Wasp Thing? Adventurers that inspect the corpse of the khalkos with a DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana or Nature) check determine that this insectile humanoid isn't native to this world. On a result of 15 or higher, consult the Legends and Lore of khalkos .
- Can We Save This Lady? Annika Crestveil is currently doomed —she only had enough left for her dramatic last words and collapse. Any ability checks to determine if she can be helped reveal that she is irrevocably dead.
- How Do We Get Out of Here? The only apparent exit is a set of stairs along the southern wall that lead upwards into pitch darkness (Area #2).
A Different Start
If your group prefers not to begin the game without memories, see A Different Start. Also review Level Up's suggested safety tools .