Authors note – It has been a while since my last Tales of Argosa actual play post, indeed I had to read through the previous posts to remind myself what was happening. If you would like to do the same and read the adventure from the start the link to the first part is here https://solorpg.co.uk/tales-of-argosa-solo-adventure-part-1/
Also Pickpocket Press have just released V3 of the play test ToA rules and it is this version I will now be using.
Pickpocket Press have also announced that the Kickstarter for ToA should be going live towards the end of February, something to keep a watch out for and I will let you all know when it happens.

And finally, before I settle down to gaming and typing, Pickpocket Press have now released the ‘Deck of Signs’ on DrivethruRPG.com. A set of 50 cards for (currently) £15.80 (pdf £7.88). I am really tempted to purchase them myself but I am going to hang fire to see if they are bundled in with the rules book when it goes live on Kickstarter, hopefully the dice will be made available then as well.

Right, lets continue with the

Betrayal of the Dragon Queen.

Characters – Derowen, Ranger, 1st level. HP14 (currently 10hp)
Hedrak, Fighter, 1st level, HP 16
Peran Freeshadow, Rogue, 1st level. HP 17
Morwen, Mage, 1st level. HP 15

I am Morwen, sister to Derowen. It is through my eyes and my voice that our story is told.
We have spent the night at the Red Wyvern tavern in the village of Blackgrave. During the night both Derowen and myself were awoken by a piercing scream, I could not tell if the scream came from the village street or from inside my head either way it shook me. and I said a short prayer to Baal and hoped whomever made that scream was safe and that I would never hear such a terrifying sound again.

Scene 6 -The morning.

Derowen, although her sleep was broken, still slept for 6 hours so recovers a further 2hp, she is now at 10hp

weather shift – hotter, drier.

Question. Is everything as expected in the morning? Yes, misfortune. From Deck of Signs, Dragon, Searching, Death.

Derowen and I are the first to leave our room and make our way downstairs. Travis is already up and about. Hedrak and Peran soon join us. I ask them if they also heard the scream in the night, they had not, they slept like logs and heard nothing, I envy them for I had a restless night and am still tired.
Travis brings us a breakfast of porridge and hot norther tea, he tells us that it is much warmer this morning and the snow on the ground is already turning to mush. Hopefully the melt will continue and make the rest our journey easier.

We decide that we should go to Northgate. It is many a days walk from Blackgrave but, having neither supplies nor money to safely journey deep into the Sunstone Ranges, Northgate is our best hope of finding what we need for such an undertaking.

Our breakfast finished we are preparing to leave when there is a frantic thumping at the front door of the Red Wyvern. Although there is no reason to suspect trouble we four adventures ready our weapons in case we must defend ourselves as Travis opens the door. We all put our weapons away when we see who knocks. It is the nobleman from last night who stumbles in to the tavern, his face battered and covered in congealed blood.

Travis gets him to a seat and brings him a strong drink, Derowen brings warm water and makes to clean his face but the noble waves her away. He coughs then makes to speak. The nobleman tells us that as his elven companion and himself made their way along the street towards their wagon where they would stay the night they were attacked by riders, who, including their mounts, were decked in purple and two had purple flames shooting out of their hands. The nobleman tells us that he was beaten to the ground and left for dead, his elven companion taken away by the riders. He puts down a pouch of coins in front of us, 100 in silver if we can track his friend down, a further 100 silver if we bring her back alive.

Question. Do they know of the riders in purple and where they could have taken the elven lady? No, fortune.

We readily accept his offer, 200 silver pieces will pay for much of what we need to venture into the far mountains. Non of us have come across these riders in purple and the nobleman can give no help either, not even to tell us the direction they took her in. Thankfully Travis has heard of them, a cult which took up residence in a old wizards tower in the hills that separate Blackgrave from Wistwood. They sometimes come to the village for supplies. They have never caused trouble before but it is our best hope of finding the elven lady.
Travis supplies us with a simple map to the tower and we gather our gear and set out to find the tower. As we leave the Red Wyvern the nobleman calls to us, he tells us that when he came to this morning he was sure he saw in the sky a dragon, it seemed to be searching for something.

As we leave the village we notice that the caravans we accompanied to the village are leaving as well. Peran hails them and asks if they saw or heard anything unusual last night [cha(Persuasion)check = 4 Great Success]. The merchant tells Peran that they saw 4 riders, two with purple flames shooting out of their hands, ride into and out of the village and they were heading into the hills.

I did not hear the merchant make any mention of the missing Elf Maiden and I confess that I do not trust him, there is something he hides from us. I know a spell, if it works it will tell me if the Elf woman is close by.

Morwen casts a Whispers of the Watchers spell. If successful it will give her the correct direction towards the missing Elf woman. With her Int of 18 +1 for Arcane Lore skill Morven rolls 4 on d20, a great success.
Roll d6 x 10 mins for spell duration = 1, so the spell lasts but 10 minutes. The direction towards the missing elf is towards the hills not the merchants caravan. DDM (dark dangerous magic) check roll (d8) =5, she passes but her DDM rises to 2.

Once the merchant is on his way I tell the others, the one we seek has been taken to the hills.

We decide we should arm ourselves a little better, our task comes with great danger and we have little in the way of weapons. Hedrak knows the local armourer and we see if he is willing to sell us some weapons. Hedrak is the one who speaks to him [cha (11) check = 4, a great success] and the armourer is happy to supply us with whatever we need so long as he has it and we can pay. Peran adds a short bow and 20 arrows to his collection of weapons, while Hedrak selects a Great Axe. I go for a light crossbow and bolts. Derowen seems happy with the weapons she already has but takes another 20 arrows for her long bow.
We are now ready to start our quest.

Scene 7 – The path.

The spell I had cast told me the direction the Elven lady had been taken but the spell soon wore off, thankfully the map Travis gave us was good enough to lead us to a well used path which, although partly obscured by the snow, we were able to follow it without much difficulty.

Question. Do they encounter anything as they walk up the path to the old wizards tower? No.

After several hours walking we reach the end of the path and there in front of us, on a rocky outcrop, is the old wizards tower. A fire glow from the entrance on the ground floor and a light showing through the window of the highest point of the tower are all the signs of life we can see. Our problem is how to enter the tower without being seen.

To be continued