By Joshua Raynack
A rogue magus preys upon the hearts of travelers while he picks their pockets.
The Cry of a Daughter is a short adventure for four to five player characters. Although designed for the Feudal Lords Campaign ™, this adventure is suitable for any medieval fantasy setting. This wilderness encounter is best set in a mountainous region with low canyons of steep, rugged rocks swallowed by a dense growth of shrubs and trees.
ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
Morcar, as with many seeking otherworldly power, is an outcast; banished to the wilderness to live by his wits. In his youth, his natural talent for wizardry brought great wonder and freedom from the drudgery of peasant life. Though as years passed and his power grew, the fledgling mage grew impatient and bitter with serfdom.
Morcar led a rebellion against his lord believing his command of magecraft would bring swift victory. It did, though not for the rebels. Unbeknownst to the renegades, the loyal steward of the keep likewise wielded great thaumaturgy. The steward countervailed Morcar as the lord and knights crushed the remaining rabble.
Morcar fled to the fringes of the known world. In his travels, the banished mage became caustic and cruel. Two young girls, Morcar refers to the eldest as his daughter, accompany the wizard as he investigates old ruins of a once great dwarven empire.
The outcast mage exploits the young girls to draw wayward travelers close to thieve the curious of their valuables.
ADVENTURE SECRETS
Neither of the girls, Fawn or Mora, are daughters of Morcar. Mora, the eldest and nearly nine years old, regards the mage as her father for she remembers nothing of her life before the mage. The name of the child is not Mora, it is Elsbeth. The enchanter chose the name Mora after himself.
Years ago, Morcar waylaid an aging knight with a sleep enchantment. The old warrior was charged to escort Elsbeth to a neighboring lord to learn the art of etiquette and one day, become a lady-in-waiting. The knight suffered a heart attack and rather than leave the child to the wilderness, Morcar raised her as his own.
Though the enchanter takes great pleasure in knowing that a peasant has a guiding hand in the upbringing of a noble child, Morcar has grown close to Mora. Despite his affection, the mage often emotionally and, on the rare occasion, physically abuses Mora because of her birthright. Frustrated that he cannot control his anger, Morcar relies on magecraft to charm the poor lass to forgive him or cause her to forget.
Knowing that Mora longs for a playmate, the enchanter kidnapped Fawn a few months ago from a peasant home in the middle of the night. Morcar relies on his hypnotic powers of persuasion to convince the six year old girl that Mora is her sister and he is her father.
To further complicate matters, Mora has noticed that Morcar favors Fawn over her and is now jealous of the younger child. Mora is unsure of the reason for the kindness Morcar bestows upon the young girl and she often torments Fawn in secret. Morcar indulges Fawn by virtue of her parents being serfs.