The Crowd Goes Wild

The Crowd Goes Wild is a campaign for first level characters set in a small lumber town in Brevoy on the border between Rostland and Issia.

Rickett’s Glen is the home of sheep farmers, lumber workers, and the largest sports arena for three towns! Sponsored by Kalistrade prophet, Rea Bonn, the annual Ice Hurling championship is set to take place in three days and tensions have been mounting between local teams and the citizens of what used to be Rostland and Issia. The PCs are hired by the merchant to protect her investment and must keep the peace between warring gangs, assist the local constable against corruption, and discover a conspiracy. But more than ancient tribalism is stoking the fires. Can the PCs solve the mystery before it’s too late?

Act One: Arrival and Investigation

Planned encounters: PCs have traveled to Rickett’s Glenn at Rea Bonn‘s request to augment her peace-keeping force during a sport’s event. Since the disappearance of Brevoy’s royal family the formerly friendly sports rivalry has transcended to vicious battles. After the PC’s sign the contract, a riot beings. Rea tells the PCs to stop the fight and to save Farmer Hammis, a town elder and vocal supporter of a united Brevoy, who has been pinned under a cart. The ruffians are humans, part of the Pro-Rostland gang, and better armed than they should be. In the aftermath of this encounter, the party meets the Constable. If the NPC’s gain her trust, she recruits them to help her that night as she expects a reprisal from the Pro-Issia gang. She gives them a map, and marks the five places she expects attacks. Farmer Hammis’ house, the mayor’s house, the sport’s stadium, the lumber mill, and a local tavern owned by a woman from Issia.

Act Two: A Bad Night

The party patrols the town. Three of the five places are attacked at the same time: Farmer Hammis, the mayor’s house, and the stadium. PCs can only be at one fight, but should learn about the other events from the constable or the alarm bells and investigate.

-If the PCs are at the stadium, they find local corrupt guards giving weapons to the Pro-Rostland gang. The guards claim that the mayor will support them.

-If the PCs are at Farmer Hammis, they interrupt an attack on his herd, but not before the entire herd is slaughtered and the head of a prized ram is thrown through the open window into the house with ritualist symbols carved into its head. The PCs will be attacking several human cultists who fight to the death.

-If one is somehow captured and fails resist intimidation tactics, he appeals to Farmer Hammis and the PCs realize that the farmer is a cult leader trying to summon an aboleth.

-If the PCs manage to learn Hammis is leading a cult more discreetly while at the farmhouse, they inform the Constable and the campaign jumps to Act 6. If they are not discrete Farmer Hammis will try to kill one of them and cut out their heart for the ritual.

-If the PCs capture none of the sheep attackers, or unable to break the cultist, the PCs will probably question Hammis and his family, they learn Hammis has many enemies because he is from Issia but he married a Rostland woman. One of his enemies is the mayor who suspects Hammis of having an affair with the mayor’s wife.

-If the PCs are at the mayor’s house, they interrupt an attack from the better-organized Pro-Issia gang. The Mayor’s wife thanks them and invites them for tea (and information) the next day.

-If the PCs are elsewhere, they hear about these three encounters from the constable who fills them in on whatever above knowledge the PC missed.

When PCs report to Rea Bonn, she will dock their pay if they didn’t fight at all. However, she will reward them if they fought at one and investigated all three. If the PCs convey the markings on the sheep’s head, Rea Bonn is able to tell them about a ritual to summon an aboleth that use similar markings.

3) The Tea Party

When the PCs go to meet the mayor’s wife, they are initially turned away by a butler who then secretly leads into the house through a side entrance. The mayor’s wife will speak to the PCs to try to determine what they know about the sheep’s head, the ritual, and Farmer Hammis. She will also try to cast charm on them, to ensure they trust her.

– If the PCs do not resist her spell, they trust her implicitly and she frames the Issian gang. Continue to Act 4, (there is an alarm raised and the PCs go to discover the dead Issian).

-If they see through her plan she will call the “butler,” a duelist to murder them and feed them “to the herd.” If the PCs win the fight and kill her and the butler, her death leads to their arrest. The Constable, though convinced of the PCs innocence must obey the mayor and imprison the PCs.

4). The death of an Issian

While the PC’s were otherwise occupied, the leader of the Issian gang is found murdered at the inn. If the PCs were arrested, the mayor allows them to be released as he realizes he is freed of his dead wife’s control. The PCs to continue investigating the cult, but the grieving gang turns on them and attacks. When the PCs defeat them and investigate the body, they see her heart has ben cut out and there are similar carvings on her face to the dead sheep. This is the work of the cult but who is leading it?

5) The Big Game

One the day of the big game, everyone is on high alert. During the event, which is like hurling but on ice, the two gangs brutally attack each other. While the PCs try to stop the riot, a fire is started that traps Hammis’ family. The PCs must defeat various gang members, put out the fire, and save Hammis’ family. If the family is saved, Hamiss’ wife reveals that Hamiss started the fire saying he had to “complete the sacrifice.” If they die in the fire, a bystander, the constable, or other clue should reveal that Hammis is behind the cult.

Act 6) The Shepard

When the PCs become aware of the cult and Farmer Hammis’ involvement, they inform the Constable who will go with them to confront Hammis.

Going to the farm, they discover a secret door that leads to a cave under the farm. Here Farmer Hammis (who has taken the heart of the Issian leader) is about to sacrifice the leader of the Rostland gang. A DC check in knowledge religion or arcana reveals that this entire ceremony is nonsense but a sense motive check reveals that Hammis believes it. The PC’s must fight through the cultists to save the Rostland leader and one of Hammis own children (a mixed blood child). When they kill Hammis, arrest the cultists, and save the child and gang-leader, the heroes are rewarded with the love of the town, extra pay from Rea Bonn, and are offered permanent employment as city guards.

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