Ghosts of Tollenkar's Lair -

[Terquem]

Ghosts of Tollenkar’s Lair -

(This was written as an introduction to a campaign I will attempt to GM on Discord - I would like to use this thread for story elements, exposition, and other written information too large to properly display on a Discord text channel)

"Me Da' said that when 'e were a boy, and Granddad was in the ol' Guard, them Heroes what are statues in the square went down in the hole in the old park and went up against Tollenkar hi'self. They was outmatched and out smarted almost every step o'the way, but in the end, the great sorcerer was banished from the world wif all his followers. Tha's why we got the park now and the door is sealed."

The gang was sharing a drink after a match on the big field. Bendwyn won 4 to 1, but Dill gave them the best game they had played in three seasons. Landmaster Park was near deserted now, with only the real Dill Hammers fans still hanging around the Beer Booth as the sun went down. The gang was the best fans the local team had, above and beyond them all in dedication and commitment, and it was they who kept the grounds at Landmaster Park clean, and the fields cut tight and green for every match. It wasn't like them to give in to tall tales, or ghost stories, and when Robert began talking about Tollenkar again, it seemed like that would be the bell that called it a night.

"Bob, why you always bringing up that old story. We all know the door is sealed and that the caverns below is off limits to all citizens on order of the Duchess herself," Beth complained.

That was when the old woman appeared. She stood like a proud woman of great wealth, but her garments were threadbare and tattered. She had a gold ring on one finger with a large blue stone, but nothing else to suggest that she might have been a wealthy woman long ago. She had long grey hair, still thick, but her age shown in the creases by her eyes and the dark brown spots on her hands.

"It is not sealed at all," she said in a whisper. "No one can seal that door. He made sure of that. It is forbidden for good reasons, and no one can be sure what crawls in those tunnels today, lizards, goblins, werewolves, vampires, maybe even ghosts. But I know this. The Heroes of Dill hardly made it out of there alive and certainly not with their minds intact, for the treasure of Tollenkar was never found. It has never been seen on the streets of Dranning, for surely it would if anyone had ever claimed it."

"Who are you, lady?" Robert asked lifting his glass and looking though the reflection of the woman above his beer. "And why would we believe a nutty old woman like you in the first place?"

She moved a few steps away, turned as if she were leaving, and then said over her shoulder, "I was called Lydia, by the sorcerer of Tollenkar's Lair. I knew his hand, his temper, his madness, and his genius. I was rescued from there forty years ago. I am not his captive anymore, but what a lie deep in that place haunts me still, and will haunt me till the last day of my very life."

[Terquem]

I have changed the time line in the introduction to "forty years ago," based on a discussion with the potential players that this adventure be set in the future of the Tollenkar's Lair adventure that corresponds to how many years it has been since the original was published (1980).

[Terquem]

Landmaster Hall - Once a secluded estate, Landmaster Hall had fallen into disrepair after it was abandoned more than three centuries ago. Fifty years ago the ruins were overgrown and much of what was once a fine country house had disappeared, and then, or so they say, a man of strange power and vast resources discovered a secret about the ruins.

Who were the original occupants of Landmaster Hall? No one knows. No one is really sure where they came from, or what their reasons were for building a fine country home deep in the Huldre, where strange creatures and tribes of treacherous humans and human-like folk still live to this day. These facts about the occupants of Landmaster Hall may never be known, but even more mysterious than this is the questions that came up when Tollenkar ab-Feersuf Bly Wen Bly discovered that there was something deep and dangerous hidden below the ruins of Landmaster Hall.

Did the builders know it was there? It is unlikely that they constructed the vast tunnels and cavernous chamber below the manor house after they finished the construction above ground. Hiding the effort would have been a tremendously complicated feat, to say the least. No, most who are alive today to remember the fall of Tollenkar say that the heroes who ventured into those labyrinths discovered that they were older, much older than the Hall itself, and it may be that what lie below the ground there in the first place drew those people to it.

For that is what Tollenkar found, on his quest to overthrow the ruling family of Dran, a vast subterranean expanse, filled even before he began to take management of the complex with horrors uncalculated, traps, tricks, pit falls and ancient alien temple alters. And manage it he did. For nearly twelve years Tollenkar controlled the complex that took his name, until one daring adventure brought him and his followers to an end.

Forty years ago Tollenkar’s Lair was conquered. Tollenkar, who had tried to escape through a Gate of his own construction was tricked into using a false gate, and banished into the ‘Tween Realms, never to be seen again. His followers were defeated, or fled for their lives across the Huldre, and never returned.

Less than half a year later, the heroes who had defeated Tollenkar sealed the entrance to the lair with powerful spells and wards. Two years after that, Duke Dran XII gave over the rule of Dran to his niece, the Duches Donnalina Amaneran, and she granted a land holding to Gregory Son of Strake, who began the reclaiming of the forests west of the sealed Lair.

The first settlements were logging camps, and these grew into small trading towns. Eventually, the largest of these logging towns was renamed from Strake’s Hollow to Landmaster, for it was from here where the loggers came from who cleared the last bits of the untamed forest around the old Landmaster Hall site.

It has been forty years since the fall of Fall of Tollenkar’s Lair. Landmaster Town has grown to a population of nearly 800. The site of the old Landmaster hall lies to the southeast of the center of the town, separated from the close built structures of downtown by fields and parks. The site itself is now called Landmaster Park, and is approximately 20 acres in size. The park was been designed by Mortimer Glood, the gardener to the Duchess herself. A water course was diverted from the Bright River to bring fresh water to fill the ponds and fountains within the park. There are gardens, a shelter for the grounds keepers, and a few statues to the great poets admired by the Duchess.

The sealed entrance to the old lair is found in a small clearing in the southeast corner of the park. It is surrounded by a short, wrought iron fence, posted with “stay out” signs. The door to the lair, which was once hidden in a pile of “false rocks”, is now surrounded by brickwork, but if you are foolish enough to investigate, the door itself seems untouched by time. Brave, younger folk, will often dare to approach the brickwork, to paint their initials, or slogans of bravery, and even insults about their enemies. The groundskeepers do not like the work of repairing and cleaning the brickwork, for reasons of their own.

The park is popular when the weather is nice. Young couples, and families with young children picnic there in the summer and early fall. Folk seeking inspiration from the bounty of nature take walks there in the spring and fall when the colors are changing. There are long stretches, when the weather is poor, when no one visits the park, and in the deep winter weeks, even the groundskeepers leave the small cabin that is their normal home for a place in the town, as snows pile high and maintenance of the park is not required.

[Terquem]

It is June 27, and things in Landmaster Town are about as boring as they can be. The day before, however, was not. June 26th was the day Dill played Bendwyn in the annual “Civil War” Field Ball match. Both teams were full, for a change, with twenty-seven players each, and through injuries, incidents, fouls, and fair play, the game went on through eight periods until Bendwyn was declared the winner 4-1, with a stunning three point scoring streak in the eighth period.

Folks came from all around to sit in the stands of the Big Field just off of East Street in Landmaster Town, which had won the annual lottery for holding the Civil War. Sitting was at capacity, and folks stood on crates and sat on the west hill, just to watch the game. Landmaster Town saw more money change hands on that day than it does in a month. Vendors sold out of every kind of treat and beverage. There was even a company of men from Dill in attendance, to keep the peace, what with the events of the Civil War four years ago, when Dill’s team mascot attacked the Bendwyn Goal Captain and a full scale riot broke out lasting two days and completely destroying the stadium at Willerville.

Regular citizens of Landmaster Town were sure to not speak out about rumors of revolutionaries taking refuge in the forest east of Landmaster Park. That kind of gossip is bad for business. And the regular town guard worked overtime in the days before the match to clear old buildings of vermin, and pesky packs of Slinkers invading the town from the wilds becoming unafraid of people and being a general nuisance.

But that was yesterday. The match wound up well before sunset, and folks were on their way in caravans back to their villages and settlements, leaving Landmaster Town quiet, dull, and back to the regular grind of the everyday work needed to keep things going.

But some of the young folk look differently today. There are people with a wild look in their eye, a small group of Dill fans that stay out too late, normally, have been going to bed early, and meeting in corners to talk among themselves quietly. Is there going to be another raid on Bendwyn to steal the Civil War Cup? That never ends well, for anyone, but it is almost a tradition after all. Yes, the young folk have their fun, everyone knows, but let’s hope this time it doesn’t go too far.