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This is a Palladium scenario for up to eight first level characters, six second level characters, four third level characters or any combination thereof. It is designed to be an introduction to those players with little or no fantasy role-playing experience.
The scenario itself takes place near the western edge of the Timiro Kingdom. While Timiro is basically populated by human beings there is a scattering of other races, most predominately Ogres and Elves, with a few Dwarves and a handful of others. All races are therefore available for player character use in this scenario. However, most of the nonhuman races will be met with mistrust, fear, or even hatred by the human population with the exception, of course, of Elves. Especially mistrusted are Trolls, Kobolds, Orcs, Goblins, Hob-Goblins, and Ogres. Wolfen also fall into this category, though they are extremely rare in this part of the world.
The major cause of these hard feelings, natural racial antipathy aside, is the continual raiding which takes place from the Old Kingdom inhabited mainly by the above-mentioned races, who continually strike deep into Timiro, wreaking havoc, despoiling farms and killing all who get in their way.
The mountain range, which separates the Old Kingdom from Timiro is infested with Kobolds, Orcs and especially Ogres, who often cross from those border mountains to the mountain range on Timiro's eastern border.
No determined effort has ever been made to clear out either of the mountain chains, due simply to the fact that both cover large areas with a thousand places to hide and wait in ambush.
As these creatures cross from one mountain chain to the other, they create a definite hazard to travelers and those who live in the area. This is particularly true for the area near the tip of the eastern mountain chain, for the paths of many of these wandering bandits converge near this point. This threatens the caravan routes which run through the area to the Eastern Territories.
It is on one of these caravan trails, in a border town which grew up around Fort Ac, about thirty miles from the first large mountain of the eastern chain, that this scenario takes place.
The fact that most nonhuman races are met with hostility does not mean that players who take nonhuman characters will be attacked wholesale by the population, nor that they will be killed on sight by patrols from the fort. They will, however, be met by prejudice, with some inns refusing to rent them rooms. Storekeepers may charge them more for an item than they will charge the humans in the party. Women and small children may scream and run at the sight of them, while older children may throw rocks and/or rotten fruit. There might also be the occasional encounter with someone who had a loved one killed by an Ogre or some other race, who may attack on sight, but such is the exception, not the rule.
It must be remembered that Ac is a border caravan town, with peaceful members of all races passing through it at one time or another. Only if an unjustified attack is made by one of the players on a towns person or child would a lynch mob develop. Tensions will usually run high
Fort Ac is one of the major towns of the eastern section of Timiro, a base for military patrols and an important rest stop for the caravans which go to and from the Eastern Territories.The fort itself is somewhat separated from the town proper, lying a few hundred yards north of the town walls and houses. It consists of some 300 soldiers and a detachment of the 14th Timiro Calvary Regiment. These soldiers normally travel in patrols of ten or more and guard the caravan routes to the north and south. The Emeras forest to the west and Northwoods to the east are left basically unpatrolled, being considered too large and the Northwoods too dangerous to control with the limited number of men available.
As a caravan town, Fort Ac sees to the wants and needs of the many passing merchants, having a large number of inns and taverns; many more than the size of the town suggests. There are also a large number of wheel wrights, blacksmiths, carpenters, one or two armourers and several resident healers.
As the players investigate the town they will discover that there is no Alchemist in the area. There is, however a 40% chance that one of the passing caravans will have any magical item the players are looking for at the standard cost plus 2D6×100%.
With the large number of merchants who use this route, normally 2D4+2 caravans will be found resting in the specially created and fenced area just outside the main gates of the town. Merchants are allowed to sell their wares here, and with the exception of magic as above, all items normally available will be sold by one of the merchants at slightly more than the price listed in the Palladium Role-Playing Game rule book.
A large number of transients and undesirables (that is to say adventurers), combined with the great amount of wealth moving through the area has fostered the creation of a thriving Thieves Guild. In the performance of its functions the Thieves Guild has, to a large extent, corrupted most of the members of the garrison, though by no means all. Being used to receiving money for silence, there is a 70% chance that any player character arrested can bribe their way out of trouble for 1D4×100 gold. Their captors will not hesitate in asking for money, nor in informing them if they are not offering enough.