Sunday 14 March 2021

The Thwarted Course

Word has spread as far as Birevia—masons are needed, or those willing to learn, to repair an ancient bridge. The silver is flowing, but why is nobody returning?

The Thwarted Course is my take on a classic setup: the ogre-troubled bridge. Here, however, the ogre isn't an isolated hermit, but the penultimate link in a dreadful chain of exploitation.


This location has had a long, long gestation, I think I started on this map seven months ago! Here's the illustrated bridge on its own, ready for you to either print and show to your players, or to restock however you like:


If you're using this location in your own setting, the bridge fits almost anywhere you have a steep-sided river in a sparsely populated area.

If you're using this with the setting from the Trilemma Compendium, the bridge stands in the far northwest, in hex 0107, upriver from Witchknuckle in northern Claimsun. If adventurers investigate the road, it should eventually connect to a Martoi cyst of some kind—a ruin at least, possibly a fortress.

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Thanks to my generous patrons for supporting this adventure-making project, long have you waited for this installment!

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the adventure, Michael! I hope all is well with you. It's good to see you back at it, creating fantastic, weird, unique locations again.

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  2. Hi michael. First, great content and thanks for sharing it with the community.
    I have a question regardin the entrances and accces to this bridge. Maybe you left them obscure enough so each one of us could interpret it in our one way, but I have troubles wrapping my mind around it.
    So, I understand that there is no more road, but my doubt is, at what level sits the land next to the bridge? Are the adventurers supposed to access the bridge only through the westing stair, (so they can only access the high bridge by climbing for example)? Or is the land high enough to walk your way through the high bridge without problems?
    I hype this question makes sense to you, best regards.

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    1. Hey Gronnd! The surrounding land is the same height as the upper level of the bridge. Adventurers could reach the bridge by using the rope in the river, by climbing it, or by somehow ascending the gorge walls and walking to the old road. (I have it densely forested where I put it on my map, but you could choose differently of course.)

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    2. So you had in mind an approach by the river, more than an approach by land, I see. Thanks for the quick response.

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  3. I like using your hex map so it's cool to see a new adventure in that part of the world!

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  4. Do we make our own maps or is there some available?

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    Replies
    1. Do you mean 2D dungeon maps? No, if you're playing a game that needs those you'll need to make them yourself.

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    2. Hey there! I just made one ^^, feel free to use it if needed.
      https://inkarnate.com/m/97Xkkl-the-thwarted-course-trilema/

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