Hatred Unbound
"As you have reaped, so shall you sow." These are the words Anar uttered when he walked into Blackford. No one knew what to expect from the boy who'd left the village so many years ago.
"You all knew how Rykin used to torment Jarris and me. You all stood back and let it happen because he was the son of Baron Tordan. Poor Jarris and Anar you'd always say. If only we could do something.
"It took the death of Jarris at Rykin's hands before you did anything. And then what did you do? You exiled me! Not Rykin for pushing Jarris off a cliff, but for me for wanting revenge!
"This I might have lived with, but what's this?" Anar pulled forth a yellowed crumpled paper. "That bastard Tordan wanted me hung and all blamed for Jarris' death placed at my feet!
"And if not for Roland, that's what would have happened... Who would have guessed that a wandering mage would happen to be traveling in these lands? Who would've guessed that he not only saw the fight, the so-called prank, but that he would take in an outcast? Certainly not Tordan..."
Anar raised one hand, the sun gleaming off an obsidian rod with runs of fire dancing about it. "It's often been said that all that's required for evil to win, is for good men to do nothing. I know I'll find no good men here..."
Anar lowered the wand...
Synopsis
Hatred Unbound is a combination site/event based module. The party will have to explore Alstin Manor, ally themselves with Rykin, and battle Anar and his fiendish allies.
The ruins of Blackford should attract the players' attention with waves of black smoke dancing visible in the sky.
Upon investigation, the party encounters evidence of demonic infestation that grows clearer with each step they take into the town. When the party moves into the town square, where a statue of the God of Law and Justice once stood, they'll encounter a powerful force that torments them and asks, "Are you good men?"
Anar is so sure that no one will oppose his violent revenge against Blackford that he's left a messenger to deliver his proclamation. If the party claims that they are of noble heart and survive, then they'll have the opportunity to explore the manor
After their encounter with the newly created undead, they'll have a decision to make. Find Rykin and inform him of what has happened, or battle Anar on their own.
The party will have to fight their way through Anar's cavernous dwelling where he makes his last stand against "A few good men."
Background
The small town of Blackford never knew great hardship or prosperity but did know the lax hand of a long line of barons who felt they should be more than the lowest rung of noble society. The town endured in silence, hoping that hard work and perseverance would pay off.
For the most part, this plan worked. When abused, the workers found small ways to ensure that the Baron felt the pinch come tax time or when men were needed for military duty. The Barony learned to work within these boundaries and for the most part, everyone was satisfied.
Not all benefitted from this unofficial arrangement though. One small family, the Bryonbowers, had the misfortune to be Fate's unlucky victims.
One summer, the men of the household fell to a plague that spared only Sharla. Some say she lived because she was rarely home, dallying in the tower proper as opposed to her home, living on the outskirts. Within a summer, she was the last living Bryonbower.
Baron Tordan felt not only pity for the young girl but lust. The Baron was already married and intent on keeping his family line intact. Still, he felt that he was above the petty concerns of those beneath him, above the morality of the common folk.
He went to her one night while his retinue was out hunting. Under a mask to hide his identity, he offered her gold to keep her in comfort for the rest of her life, if she would but sleep with him one night.
With no relatives to turn to and no one to take her in, she accepted.
Their affair became more than a one-night affair, continuing well into the fall with her slowly and with no show of wealth, buying her way into the town with gifts from 'concerned' relatives out of town. A few in Blackford suspected the truth but the Baron hadn't been in such a jovial mood in years and no one cared for his wife. They often hoped that she would die and that the Baron would take in Sharla so that they might have the beginning of a new barony.
That didn't happen.
Instead, Sharla became pregnant with child and the Baron stopped the affair, never letting Sharla know that it was him.
She took it in good stride. Baron Todran paid her well for the companionship and she had no complaints.
She hired a nursemaid to help her through her pregnancy but Fate held off almost a full year not, struck and took her life during the childbirth.
Thuys was Anar, bastard son of Baron Tordan, born into Blackford.
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