[Encounter, adventure seed] Joruums home

[Lars Gottlieb]

Location: Somewhere in the wilds in the Throal Mountains, could easily be relocated elsewhere.

On their travels, one of the adventurers spot a cozy little house in the distance. It's on a hillside facing south, tucked away between old fruit trees and surprisingly hard to spot, even when looking directly at it.
The house is surrounded by a magical ward that is intended to keep curious animals and people out, which works by making it feel uninteresting and clearly something someone else will have to take care of, some day, but Clearly Somebody Elses Problem. The enchantments are old, though, and some of the rune carved stones that hold the magic have been dislodged by wind and weather; it is slowly failing.
If they get close to investigate, there's a distinct feeling of dread, a subconscious command to turn away and flee the scene, a second layer in the ward.

Should they overcome this too, they find themselves standing in what looks like a very well tended garden run a little wild, surrounding a cozy little stone house, obviously designed for dwarven occupants. There are roses and petunias and a hundred other flowers, a couple score herbs and vegetables, and ageing fruit trees, all running wild, but all obviously planted and tended. Someone has spent a lot of time making this a wonderful garden, but stopped some years ago. Behind the house, under an old apple tree, there's a plaque reading 'Moria, my rose'.

Inside, there's a bright and cheerful little home, all spotlessly clean and smelling a little of lavender and quince tea. There's a bedroom upstairs, a kitchen and a living room, all lined in bookcases flowing over with row after row of well-read books.

Sitting in a very comfortable looking armchair, thick book in his hands, reading glasses on his nose, half empty teacup on the table, is the mummified corpse of the owner, looking for all the world as if he's just having a nap between pages. He looks content, at peace in death.

On the dinner table, propped against a teapot enchanted to, at command, produce two liters of really great quince tea, is an open wooden box full of letters, the top one one with the words 'for who may find me, my last will and testament' written clearly on the envelope.

In the letter, Joruum, our host, invites his guests inside, apologises for not being able to greet them properly, and asks them to make themselves comfortable. The command word for the teapot is written there, and he describes where the cups and biscuits (still good) are tucked away in the kitchen. He then goes on to plead them to bring the box of letters to his son Jarel who lives in Bartertown, and promises that he will show them where 'the treasure' is hidden, and give them a fair share. There are six letters in there too, each with a name on the envelope, each sealed with a rose stamped in wax. Also, he wants them to take his spectacles, which are enchanted.

The house is full of little magical treasures - the teapot, warm blankets, slippers that are always dry and warm, hotpots, a fireplace that just needs to be given fuel to burn, lightquartzes, pretty much everything is enchanted to stay clean and fresh, and lots of little things to compensate for rheumatic bones. There is nothing that would prove very useful in a barroom brawl, but there is peace.
The books are mostly romantic novels, gardening guides and cookbooks, but also a selection of very serious guides in enchantment and spellcasting, and a grimoire of wizard spells up to circle 5. The most worn pages of the grimoire are the pages describing the Circle 2 spell 'Clean'.
The glasses are a thread item, each rank granting better and better clarity of vision, compensating against cataracts, but also not only translating languages but also telepathically providing explanations and etymologies for words at will. There is a small air spirit caught in there Named Ectoraige, brimming with knowledge and eager for more. Should the characters be able to communicate with him directly, he should invoke a feeling of ginger cookies, tweed and good tobacco, and have an exceedingly british voice.

Joruums diary, between numerous recipies for mostly elaborate cakes and simple soups, describes most of his life - he did not write in it often, but he mostly had something big to say. It tells the tale of a dwarf growing up in the Throal Kaer just as the Gates were about to be opened. He fell in love with a young noblewoman, and they fled their disapproving parents shortly after the gates were opened. They found this place, built the house and garden together, and settled down to have kids. There were six of those, and all of them grew up and left, many years ago. Tucked between the pages are some letters from the children, evidently sent after they moved away. One of the last pages describes how his wife grew senile and slowly died, his despair and loss. Her ashes are buried in the back yard. The date of her death is more than 20 years ago.

Tracking down Jarel, it turns out that he served as an Elementalist and fell in the Battle of Prajjor’s Field, but his wife and children, who now live in Throal proper, are happy to receive the letters. They have no knowledge of any treasure. Jarel's sister Julietta, air sailor and captain of the merchant drakkar the Swift Commerce, however, does, and knows how to find the house again. There are 2000 silver in elemental coins tucked away behind another Somebody Elses Problem field, in the fireplace.

[Lars Gottlieb]

I was SO sure there was a spectacles thread item somewhere in the lore, but I simply cannot find it.
Also, it seems that the wizard spell Clean has been dropped in Fourth, which makes me kinda sad.

[Tattered Rags]

Somebody Else's Problem sounds an awful lot like Notice Not.

An alternative adventure would be Joruum setting the adventurers on a wild goose chase, or having tricked them somehow. Perhaps there is enough truth in what the diary says, but more behind his intentions.

Ultimately I'd want the players to research Joruum's legend at the Great Library and, in the end, find him still alive. I was thinking, perhaps, that he and his wife turned out to be a decent adventuring team (Illusionist and Swordmaster).

Fill the adventure with inconsistencies and see what the players bite.

[Tattered Rags]

Oh, and I wouldn't make him nefarious. Just a little tricksy.

[Lars Gottlieb]

Use it exactly like you want, or don't use it at all; just a bunch of ideas (o:

[Tattered Rags]

Use it exactly like you want, or don't use it at all; just a bunch of ideas (o:

Exactly, just trying to throw more ideas for others out there!