Runequest - Bridging Six Seasons in Sartar and The Company of the Dragon

 Overview

 

This scenario takes place immediately after the destruction of Black Stag Vale. The Haraborn are shattered. The Dundealos tribe is collapsing. Lunar-aligned forces—possibly including Kangharl and his Colymar—are actively hunting survivors.

 

The purpose of this bridge is:

 

  • To make the transition from clan campaign to warband campaign feel earned.
  • To transform the PCs from young clan members into leaders of displaced people.
  • To sever the last emotional ties to the old way of life.
  • To bring approximately 100–120 Haraborn survivors to Harvast’s Vale.
  • To set up the death of the Royal and the emergence of Sha’va’shak.

 

This is designed to run in 1–2 sessions.

 

 

 

Structure

 

The scenario unfolds in four acts:

 

  1. Ash and Pursuit
  2. The Price of Shelter
  3. The Door Closes
  4. Exile and Transformation

 

Each act contains pressure, agency, and consequence.

 

 

 

ACT I – ASH AND PURSUIT

 

 

The Battlefield Aftermath

 

The PCs awaken or regroup in the smoking remains of Black Stag Vale.

 

The valley is scarred:

 

  • Burned earth and splintered trees.
  • Abandoned shields and charred banners.
  • Bodies—some recognizable.
  • Survivors moving in shock.

 

Let the players search, call out, and choose priorities.

 

 

Survivors

 

Scatter survivors so the PCs must move:

 

  • A wounded thane who can barely stand.
  • A young mother clutching a smoke-blinded child.
  • A boy who ran and feels guilty he lived.
  • Elder women carrying ritual items.
  • Someone the PCs know personally.

 

They quickly realise: if they do not organise, people will die from wounds, exposure, or panic.

 

By the midpoint of this act, they have gathered perhaps 30–40 survivors.

 

 

 

The Pressure Event – Chased Through the Smoke

 

While the PCs are still stabilising and gathering people, introduce motion.

 

Shouts. A scream.

 

Through the smoke, fleeing Haraborn appear—being chased by:

 

  • A small Lunar reconnaissance team, or
  • Kangharl’s Colymar raiders wearing Lunar sashes.

 

The pursuers are not here to slaughter randomly. They are searching specifically for:

 

  • Survivors,
  • Prisoners,
  • And ideally the Royal.

 

 

The Decision

 

The PCs must choose:

 

  • Intervene immediately (short, sharp skirmish).
  • Distract and lure the pursuers away.
  • Hide and let the chased survivors be captured or killed.

 

No option is “correct.” Each carries weight.

 

If they intervene, they reveal themselves and escalate pursuit later.

If they hide, those captured may appear later in chains.

 

This moment establishes:

 

  • They are hunted.
  • They cannot save everyone.
  • Their choices shape who lives.

 

 

 

Information Gained

 

From interrogated scouts or overheard commands, the PCs learn:

 

  • The Dundealos tribe is breaking.
  • Prisoners are being marched east toward Whitewall.
  • Kangharl has sworn to find the Haraborn Royal.
  • Lunar patrols are sweeping the hills.

 

They cannot remain in the valley.

 

 

 

ACT II – THE PRICE OF SHELTER

 

 

Approach to the Balmyr

 

The Haraborn, exhausted, approach a Balmyr settlement on the edge of forested hills.

 

The Balmyr are wary, not hostile.

 

Warriors gather. Spears are lowered but not aimed.

 

Chief Kallard Broadbrow speaks carefully. Hospitality must be weighed against risk.

 

 

The Negotiation

 

The Balmyr will provide:

 

Unconditional:

 

  • Water.
  • Fire.
  • Food for children.
  • Healing for the wounded.

 

Conditional:

 

  • Duration of stay.
  • Supplies for departure.
  • Information on safe routes.
  • Possible volunteers.

 

The outcome depends entirely on player behaviour.

 

Humble, honest, respectful PCs earn limited but meaningful support.

 

Entitled or careless PCs receive one night and instructions to leave.

 

The Balmyr fear Lunar reprisal above all.

 

 

 

The Warning

 

A Balmyr scout, Issalor Far-Walk, quietly warns a PC:

 

“Not all ears here are friendly.”

 

He does not accuse anyone. He simply notes:

 

  • Fear makes people foolish.
  • Someone might trade information for safety.
  • The Lunars reward useful whispers.

 

This plants the betrayal hook.

 

You do not need to decide yet whether betrayal will occur.

 

 

 

News of the Wider Collapse

 

During their stay, the PCs learn:

 

  • The Dundealos tribal centre is broken.
  • Some clans have submitted.
  • Prisoners are being marched east.
  • Kangharl rides with Lunar approval.

 

The crisis is not local. It is tribal.

 

 

 

Optional: The Taken

 

Word reaches them that a small prisoner column is passing through nearby hills.

 

6–12 prisoners. 4–6 escorts.

 

The PCs may:

 

  • Ambush.
  • Conduct a night stealth rescue.
  • Decide it is too risky.

 

If they rescue, survivor numbers increase and morale rises.

 

If they do nothing, some familiar faces later appear among chained captives or disappear forever.

 

This reinforces that they are becoming a mobile, armed protector group—not farmers.

 

 

 

ACT III – THE DOOR CLOSES

 

Tension rises naturally.

 

Choose one escalation:

 

  • Lunar scouts seen on Balmyr land.
  • Kangharl’s riders spotted on distant ridges.
  • A Balmyr youth overhears too much and talks.
  • A frightened villager alerts a Lunar-friendly trader.
  • Clan ring politics turn fearful.

 

Chief Kallard calls the PCs privately.

 

“We cannot risk war for you.”

 

The Balmyr will not betray them openly—but neither will they fight the Lunars for them.

 

The Haraborn must leave.

 

This is not cruelty. It is survival.

 

 

 

ACT IV – EXILE AND TRANSFORMATION

 

 

The Caravan

 

By now, through gathering, rescue, and word of mouth, roughly 100–120 Haraborn cluster around the PCs.

 

They travel:

 

  • Cold mornings.
  • Hungry children.
  • Wounded elders carried on makeshift litters.
  • Quiet arguments about direction.

 

Someone dies on the road.

 

Someone gives birth.

 

Someone asks:

 

“Are we still a clan?”

 

This is a key roleplay moment.

 

Let the PCs define what they are becoming.

 

 

 

The Royal Weakens

 

Away from ancestral lands, the Royal grows faint.

 

Dreams become fractured.

 

The wyter’s presence flickers.

 

Elders worry.

 

The PCs may receive visions urging them toward Harvast’s Vale.

 

 

 

Arrival at Harvast’s Vale

 

The valley is quiet, sheltered, oddly still.

 

It feels removed from the world.

 

Here:

 

  • The Royal finally fails.
  • Its vessel cracks.
  • The old clan bond is severed.

 

There is grief—but also release.

 

The Haraborn are no longer a settled clan.

 

They are a people in exile, bound not by land but by shared survival.

 

In that vacuum, the first hints of Sha’va’shak’s presence stir.

 

This hands cleanly into Episode 1 of The Company of the Dragon.


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