Planning: Travel out of Nuln (part 2)

...we the undertow... 

Regardless of how the Vagabonds end up on the Berebeli heading out of Nuln, we are going to need some events for the journey. 

There will be some things that happen on the route which are more about setting up border plots, so I won't detail them here, but I will need  some encounters and events to run along the way to give the feel of the old world, and to help with my players understanding of the scale of the Reik and the empire as a whole. 

Looking at the map and doing some quick calculations I've broken the route up into a number of legs, and here they are, along with the encounters the Vagabonds will face along the way.

Nuln to Grissenwald (62 miles)

Through busy waters the Berebeli makes its way. The fields left fallow sown with winter wheat, and pasture glide by in the weak winter sun; slowly turns into forest. Sometime in afternoon, the Berebeli enters the reikland, and you back in your homeland home.

Weather: Fair

Chill and bright, with a relatively warm southerly breeze that carries the barge along.

Encounter: What a Jam!

The Reik outside of Nuln is heaving with boats and the crew have their work cut out just to keep the Berebeli from getting damaged or crushing some smaller vessel. To clear the jam without incident requires a boat handling check from Josef.  Each Vagabond my make a Perception, Outdoor Survival, or Sail check. On a success, they give Josef +1SL on is roll.  

Any Vagabond contributing to this will need to make a endurance (+20), or gain a Fatigued condition.

 If a Boat Handling Test is failed, the boat takes two hits for +10 Damage each.

Grissenwald to The Three Feathers (42 miles)

Down river of Grissenwald, the Reik starts slow along a long, wide, deep and mostly straight stretch. Going is lazy, and as Stirgau comes into sight in the late afternoon passes, the vagabonds might be forgiven for thinking they are about to have a night on the town, but berebeli sails on. Finally stopping at twilight as it reaches the sign of the three feathers, only a few miles short of The Lorlay.

Weather: Snow (See Enemy in Shadows pg. 33)

Encounter: Fair lady in dis dress

Diethart met Pompai Ricolma in the days after his first battle. They have a long history, so when the Vagabonds come across the Courtisan, adrift in a rowing boat, having escaped less than ideal circumstances with a suiter who'd taken her on a trip on the Emperor Luitpold. Pompai throws herself on Dietharts Mercy, asking for passage to Kemperbad with the Vagabond. 

Josef understandably want payment for her travel.

If the Vagabonds say no, and leave her adrift, she will call after them, calling Diethart an "absolute beast"

At the end of the day, run Rough Night at the Three Feathers.  

The Three Feathers to The Empress Margritta (62 miles)

The Lorlay await you this morning, swift rough water flowing around ancient, unyielding rock. It may not be the greatest navigational hazard on the reik, but it is far from plane sailing. In the freezing winters morn, you set off the navigate its swift current.

Weather: Snow (See Enemy in Shadows pg. 33)

Encounter: The Lorlay

Navigating the Lorlay without incident requires a boat handling check from Josef.  Each Vagabond my make a Perception, Outdoor Survival, or Sail check. On a success, they give Josef +1SL on is roll.  

Any Vagabond contributing to this will need to make a endurance (+20), or gain a Fatigued condition.

If a Boat Handling Test is failed, the boat takes two hull hits for +10 Damage each.

Encounter: A Grouchy Passenger

Heinrich ‘The Grouch’ Marken boards the barge at Achern, and decide immediately that the Vagabonds will be his life long friends. Play him for laughs on the ship

The Empress Margritta to Kemperbad (40 miles)

It's a short run from The Empress Margritta to kemperbad, but it take you though bad country. The forest become thicker and full of malice. Small village press close to the river, as though seeking shelter from the forest. At noon you pass a foreboding castle, on a large head land that sticks out into the river.
Things become brighter as you approach kemperbad.  

Weather: Fair

Chill and bright, with a relatively warm southerly breeze that carries the barge along.

Encounter: The unwelcome of the river

 Three Strigani barges sail in tight convoy. Children in ill fitting cloths watch the Vagabonds from the deck, and strigani men and women, their faces painted with skulls go about their business with good cheer. 

When one of the children falls from the barge, it is upto the vagabonds to  decide how to respond. It is clear that the Vagabonds are in a better position to recover the child that the Strigani, but the reik is a dangerous river to go swimming in. 

Should the Vagabonds make efforts to save the child, they will be remembered fondly. 
If they take no action, the child is rescued, but the Vagabonds descriptions and the name of the Berebeli will pass amongst the Strigani, and their will be dire consequences in time.  

Blizzard over Kemperbad

Josef will not sale, instead mooring up and getting drunk. Run some encounters in Kemperbad.

Kemperbad to Lengern (58 miles)

The reikwald here is by now deeply held in winters grip, its trees heavy with snow as you glide past them,. 

Weather: Snow (See Enemy in Shadows pg. 33)

Encounter: Wreckers 

The channel comes close to the shore, and when it is clear that stakes have been driven into the riverward side of the channel, the Vagabonds must choose between getting close enough to the shore they can be boarded and attempting to weave through the stakes

If they choose the wreckers:

Three "typical wreckers" get aboard and it is upto the Vagabonds to defend the ship, as Josef isn't interested in complying.

If they choose the stakes:

Navigating the stakes without incident requires a boat handling check from Josef.  Each Vagabond my make a Perception, Outdoor Survival, or Sail check. On a success, they give Josef +1SL on is roll.  

Any Vagabond contributing to this will need to make a endurance (+20), or gain a Fatigued condition.

If a Boat Handling Test is failed, the boat takes a hull hits for +15 Damage.

Lengern to the Upper reiker marshes Huffer station (52 miles)

Weather: Rain (See Enemy in Shadows pg. 33)

Encounter: The Barking Pike
While moored at the Huffer's station, the Vagabond's share an evening of stew and stories with Yela Holtsgutter, the oldest and best respected Huffer on the reiker marshes. She is full of wild tales. Her matchloc blunderbuss; an exquisite work worked to look like a pike with it's jaws open.

If any of the Vagabonds pay special attention to it, she will leave it to them in her will, and it can be picked up during death on the reik. 

The Upper reiker marshes Huffer station to Fielbach (47 miles)

With Yela Holtsgutter as your huffer, the reiker marshes glide by without incident. Though she points out many snare and dead channels that are no longer servicable, as well as the one and only real landmark on the route, that being Castle Reikguaed. In the early afternoon there is more excitement, as you spot a family of river trolls moving in the distance. But the you are free and clear on the other side of the marshes and sailing on to Fielbach, your guide left at the lower huffer station. 

Weather: Rain (See Enemy in Shadows pg. 33)

Encounter: Providence

As castle reikguard comes into view , the gods send the Vagabonds a message. An eagle rises out of the undergrowth carrying something. The prey shifts and strikes, revealing itself to be serpent. Almost immediately, the eagle falls, crashing, dead on the deck. The serpent slithers away, over the edge into the water, apparently fine.  

A Lore (Theology) Test reveals that this is a warning or treachery against the emperor.

Fielbach to Altdorf (41 miles)

An easy day of travel ensues, fair weather and the the closeness to the capital ensuring that you can travel without fear.

Weather: Fair
Cold, clear and dry.

Event: Shipswords

A river warden patrol comes aboard and checks the cargo. Use the Shipswords from chapter 6 of the Death of the Reik Companion.