RHoD Addendum - The Hammerfist Holds

RHoD Masterpost

Dwarves! Everyone loves Dwarves... unless they're on the receiving end of their mighty axes! The Red Hand therefore did everything it could to keep those axes FAR away...

This post includes three things across two documents. First, basic details about the Hammerfist Holds. Second, some miscellaneous sidequests and sandbox/travel details. Third, and most importantly, the case of the Absent Clanlord, which the PCs must navigate in order to gain Dwarven allies for Brindol's defense!

The Hammerfist Holds

There are two documents: the Settlement Writeup and the Sidequest Writeup.

As per usual, the former just has the settlement stats, NPC details and stat blocks to use, and details of what is for sale. It's broken into the 3 main holds (there are more scattered throughout the mountains), as they're the ones the PCs might want to visit - one has great Smiths and Craftsmen, one has the Shining Axe Company they are looking for, and one has the Seat of the Clanlord (and a lot of surrounding intrigue).

It's likely 1 day on foot between the North Hold and the other two, or 2 days on foot between those two (slightly less with Horses). If the PCs managed to get Tiri Kitor Owls, those increments are measures in Watches instead of Days (so 1 Watch between North Hold and the others, or 2 Watches between the others). If they fly fast, you might let them do another Watch Activity with Disadvantage. Or you can just track things as per the normal travel rules, but for a tighter scenario like this I personally prefer having those details sketched out ahead of time.

I might flesh this out at some point with more NPCs, specific shops, etc., but only if it ends up being useful for my game, so we'll see!

Wyvernwatch Sidequests

There are 3 sidequests presented, along with some travel complications that might come up. It's honestly fairly sparse, since this whole section is centered around one big sidequest!

The main thrust of this section is the follow up to the "Mercenary Gold" encounter, where the party takes the gold and tries to recruit the Shining Axe Company! Unfortunately, the Clanlord appears to have ordered them not to leave the Holds, and his brother (acting as Regent) is increasingly strict.

One of the three Sidequests ("All That's Fit To Print") directly ties into that. Another ("Uniting the Hellriders") intersects with it, since the local Hellriders are all involved somehow. The third ("Wyvern Hunting") is the only truly unrelated sidequest, and is mostly a way for PCs to kill time if they want to earn some extra gold.

The broader Wyvernwatch Travel section mostly points to either Drakes or Spiders, but there are also two fun Dwarf Outlanders - the hunter Ida Silentmane, and the "Drakemother" Kriega. They can be a good source of information if the PCs are getting stuck!

The Absent Clanlord

This sidequest is based on this doc from the Red Handbook of Doom, but I ended up turning into less of a straightforward Dungeon Crawl and more of a mystery! My players just prefer social challenges, and there are enough dungeons in this campaign already.

The core structure here is that the PCs cannot simply recruit the Shining Axe Company like they want to. Well, they can try, and they might even succeed (though this is a tough negotiation), but only if they do an amazing job. Otherwise, they'll have to either gather some concrete evidence in order to convince the mercenaries, or save the Clanlord so that he'll let them go. 

It's up to the PCs how to navigate this! Saving the Clanlord is certainly the best option, but there are several ways to navigate this that would be at least a partial success.

The Conspiracy

3 Aranea Sisters (Miha, Moiranna, and Melisanna) and their extended family infiltrated the Hammerfist Holds, found allies in Othrek's brother Grimmald and the former Hellrider Tristram, and conspired to kidnap Othrek and elevate Grimmald in his place. They use their illusion magic to occasionally have Othrek show up and give commandments.

Why? The Aranea have been promised wealth and power by Azarr Kul if they can keep the Dwarves out of the war. Therefore, their political machinations all revolve around keeping the Dwarves isolated and keeping Othrek hidden. They unfortunately can't kill him, because if they do, ancient Dwarven magic in the Clanhall will recognize his son as the new Heir, preventing Grimmald from acting as regent.

What Happened? Tristram distracted the Lucents and the other guards by drawing them into a planning meeting. Grimmald called Othrek in to a meeting, where the Aranea kidnapped him. Moiranna donned an illusory disguise of Othrek to keep up appearances and declare Grimmald "his" regent while the Clanlord retreated to the mountaintop for religious contemplation, as well as to order that the Holds similarly focus inwards, forbidding trade or mercenary work outside the Holds while they "waited out the gods wrath."

Rewards

If the PCs save the Clanlord, they can either get +4 VP and another Unit to help with the siege or they can get some cool treasure! While I expect the PCs to choose the reinforcements, yours might not.

If your PCs choose the treasure, either give them items of about 400gp per PC or let them commission Runes of a similar value. If the PCs want to pool that to get a +2 weapon or two, they totally can! Or feel free to give more tailored gifts, especially if the party spellcasters are light on treasure.

Feel free to sprinkle in more gold if the PCs go looking, for example maybe Tristram has like 200gp that he was paid hiding away in his room along with his journal.

Documents / Journals

The PCs might find several journals or similar as they unravel things! They contain the following information (both about the conspiracy and about other things):

Tristram's Journal

• He called a planning meeting with all the guards to ensure that they couldn't stop the Clanlord's kidnapping.
• He is frustrated that he didn't get to do any of the actual kidnapping. At least he was able to push Othrek around a bit after he was kidnapped, and has been able to throw his weight around without consequences in his new role!
• After Othrek was kidnapped and replaced, Tristram was part of keeping Othrek tied up until the procession to the Mountaintop could be organized. He was in charge of external security for this final step.
• He is annoyed with Moira, thinking she's smarter than him and hiding what her agents are doing from him. He'll show her who's a bumbling fool! Fucking dwarves.
• He thinks Miha is into him, and is extra frustrated that Moira doesn't want them to see each other. "I mean, Moira called Miha her sister - they're not even the same species! Gods women are confusing."
• Note: He does not know that Moira and the others are Aranea, or what their true purpose is beyond seizing power.

Grimmald's Letters/Journal

• There are several letters over multiple months, increasing in frequency as the start of the war approached.
• These letters start by teasing out his relationship with his brother, then vaguely offering power, and then directly offering to put him on the throne instead of Othrek.
• The eventual plan is to kill off Othrek's heir so that the succession falls to Grimmald, but they want to move slowly so as to not arouse suspicion.
• His Journal details his role in the kidnapping, describing in detail how he beat Othrek senseless before tying him up.
• It also contains a long rant that he apparently screamed at Othrek's unconscious body afterwards, basically along the lines of "look who's powerful now!"
• It also describes how the Aranea ordered him to keep the Holds out of the war with the Red Hand by stopping any soldiers or mercenaries from leaving the Holds at all. He is worried about the impact this will have on trade, but that's a later concern for him.

Moiranna's Journal

• Written in Code (3 DC 25 Society Checks at 1 Watch each to crack).
• Less of a personal journal, more of a way of tracking the movements of her agents.
• Contains a full log of who her agents were surveilling and when. Likely includes the PCs, the Lucents, Uldrina, and Thaardin.
• Notes fights between patrols and the so-called "Drakemother" in the mountains at large - sees her as a potentially major threat.
• Contains a brief timeline of events related to the kidnapping, but all in vague terms:
• Summertide 15: Arrived in the Holds, made contact with the Brother.
• Sumemrtide 25: Tristram's Distraction, meeting with the Lord.
• If the PCs ask the other Hellknights or other Guards about this date, they'll say that's when Tristram called them in to discuss plans for better protecting the Clanlord, saying that he didn't like how poor a job Alusair had done.
• Summertide 27: Journey to the Mountain.
• These are scattered between the other logs about spy movements.

Miha's Journal

• About half of it is also in code, but badly. She never took this as seriously as Moira. Only requires 1 DC 25 Society Check to read the rest.
• In Code is her account of the Clanlord's kidnapping. She was responsible for recruiting Tristram, and got to participate in taking out Othrek. She loved watching him squirm!
• Less in code are her notes on her activities since then. She is keep an eye on Uldrina, and probably the PCs, and has detailed notes on all their activities.

Politicking!

If the PCs come up with a good plan to get the Shining Axes or other important NPCs help them, let them work! A social plan to ostracize Grimmald could totally work, though it might lead to the assault on the Mountaintop Retreat being more of a hostage situation than a stealth raid! Similarly, it's totally reasonable that the PCs might bring allies along for that assault, though the more they bring the more easily the alarm will be raised.

In other words, follow the players on whatever crazy ideas they have! The point of a more free-form scenario like this that doesn't have a clear sequence of events is that the PCs can do whatever they want. If their plan is good, let it work! If it's sketchy AF, maybe their life becomes a bit harder. Either way, the players will be much more involved in the outcome for having decided on how to get their themselves!

I think we did it! Yay!

There's not a ton of stuff left for me to do pre-wise! There are 15 days in our in-game calendar until the invasion. The PCs are currently dealing with an Infernal Circus in Brindol (the ringmaster is our Bard's ex, so it's been getting delightfully soapy!), Lady Kaal is about to invite them to Brunch, and once they leave the city they'll be heading straight to the Hammerfist Holds and then to the Ghostlord.

My next post will probably be about Brindol Sidequests - there are several that are already done, but since I expect the PCs to return to Brindol several times, there are also several that are not. It's also possible I will writeup something brief about the Thornwastes first, though I don't expect that to be too in depth. Still, that's all for now - see y'all next time!