The Roads That Hold
The Roads That Hold
Read aloud
A grain cart has failed to arrive from Fenbridge, and the reeve's search party has returned with one broken axle and a warning: armed riders are collecting tolls on the causeway. At the same time, a quarry crew has not come home, and their families are gathering outside the mill. Reeve Mara Venn asks you to find out what is happening before fear turns the town against its neighbors.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Restore safe passage between Millhaven and Fenbridge.
- 2Rescue the trapped quarry crew and address the danger driving them from work.
- 3End the Red Sash Company's control of the river crossing.
- 4Build a regional compact that can outlast the immediate crisis.Optional
The clock
Each major delay lets the Company move more supplies and tighten its hold on the road. After every two substantial setbacks or long delays, advance one consequence: the grain cart is partly sold, a frightened witness leaves, a community refuses to send help, or Vey relocates his wagons. These consequences raise the stakes without making the finale unwinnable.
Scenes
- 0:00A Cart Missing at the Ford
- 0:45The Causeway Toll
- 1:45Tracks Through the Wetwood
- 3:00Below the Quarry Rim
- 4:30What Safety Costs
- 5:30The Ford Decides
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver
- Tamsin ReedAlly
- Captain Harl VeyAntagonist
- Nella OrrWitness
The hook
Set the scene
Read the hook aloud in Millhaven's grain hall. Mara Venn has a map marked with the missing cart's last known route and offers a modest advance. Nella Orr waits nearby, anxious to hear whether anyone will look for her brother, while merchants argue that the town should hire guards rather than trust volunteers. Damianos and Corven can question the search party, inspect the axle, or set out at once. Their first choice establishes whether they approach the problem as investigators, rescuers, or negotiators.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara Venn approaches Damianos and Corven in Millhaven's grain hall after hearing they have handled local trouble without treating every dispute as a chance for violence.
She offers an advance, access to the town's records and stores, and a public promise that Millhaven will honor any reasonable agreements they secure with neighboring communities.
Rumours
Scenes
about 7 hours0:00
45 min
socialThe table is here
1. A Cart Missing at the Ford
Millhaven grain hall and riverside cart yard
Mara hires the heroes, Nella gives her account, and the search party shows the damaged axle. The heroes choose which lead to pursue first and may establish what the town expects of them.
NextFollow the cart tracks toward the causeway, or ask local residents for a route around it.
0:45
60 min
combat
2. The Causeway Toll
Flooded fields and the raised causeway east of Millhaven
The heroes find the Company's checkpoint, the missing cart, and evidence that several locals have been compelled to carry messages. They can fight, negotiate, sneak past, or turn the Company's own supply needs against it.
The Causeway TollNextA captured courier, recovered ledger, or witness points toward the quarry road and the missing crew.
1:45
75 min
exploration
3. Tracks Through the Wetwood
The old north road, a flooded woodland track, and the quarry rim
A guide leads the heroes through wet woodland and abandoned charcoal clearings. Tracks show that the quarry crew fled something in the lower workings; signs also suggest ordinary extraction work disturbed the creatures.
NextThe trail descends into the quarry, where the heroes can search carefully or hurry to reach the trapped workers.
3:00
90 min
exploration
4. Below the Quarry Rim
The limestone quarry's flooded lower cut and narrow adit
The heroes navigate unstable ledges, find the workers, and decide whether to fight, distract, or bypass the creatures. They can bring the crew out by the same route or find a harder but safer upper exit.
The Abandoned QuarryNextThe rescued workers can identify where the Company is gathering supplies and when Vey plans to move them.
4:30
60 min
social
5. What Safety Costs
Fenbridge's common house and the ferry landing
The heroes return with evidence and survivors. They must convince wary residents to share food, guides, or watch duty while dealing with the fact that some people accepted Company protection willingly. Success gives them a safer approach to Red Willow and a chance to arrange terms before fighting.
NextWith local support secured or refused, the heroes travel to the ford before Vey moves his wagons.
5:30
90 min
combat
6. The Ford Decides
Red Willow ford and its crowded riverbank
The heroes face Vey while his people prepare to move seized supplies. They can force a decisive battle, expose his coercion to his own followers, or negotiate a surrender with enforceable terms. Protecting the wagons and nearby civilians is as important as defeating the leader.
The Ford at Red WillowNextReturn to Millhaven for the settlement of rewards and the first meeting of the new regional watch.
Behind it
What people believe
A wet spring, damaged roads, and a poor harvest have left Millhaven's surrounding communities strained.
A disciplined group calling itself the Red Sash Company has begun demanding tolls and taking supplies along the river road. Meanwhile, quarry workers have gone missing in an abandoned cut. Reeve Mara Venn asks Damianos Razortooth and Corven Dast to investigate, help the communities recover, and restore safe travel through the region.
Background
Millhaven is a market town where the River Mere meets the old north road.
Its mills, ferry, and grain stores serve a patchwork of farms, hamlets, and timber camps. A wet spring has damaged roads and bridges, a late frost has thinned some crops, and disputes over tolls and grazing rights have sharpened old tensions. These are separate problems with different causes, not signs of one hidden master plan. The Red Sash Company, a disciplined band of human extortionists and deserters, is taking advantage of the strain by demanding protection money, seizing supplies, and pressuring isolated communities. This season framework follows Damianos Razortooth and Corven Dast as they earn local trust, discover the Company's methods, and organize a regional response. Insert downtime, personal scenes, and unrelated side adventures between the major beats.
The stakes
If the heroes fail to act, the Red Sash Company will keep extracting food and coin from isolated communities, trade will further contract, and distrust may turn neighboring settlements against Millhaven.
The region is not doomed: people can recover, but delayed help costs lives, supplies, and confidence. The heroes can decide whether the result is a military victory, a negotiated surrender, or an imperfect local compact.
Encounters
3The Causeway Toll
Combat or negotiation
A narrow raised causeway between flooded fields, with a handcart, shallow ditches, and a low stone culvert.
Foes
Red Sash outriders
Red Sash crossbowmen
ComplicationThe Company has dragged a handcart across the narrow causeway. It blocks movement and can be shoved into the marsh, but doing so risks destroying the stolen medicine aboard it.
ScalingFor two level-5 characters, use a small patrol: two outriders and one crossbowman, with the option for one outrider to flee and summon help. For an easier scene, have one foe surrender when clearly outmatched. For a larger or better-supported party, add two crossbowmen arriving after several rounds.
The Abandoned Quarry
Combat or exploration
An old limestone quarry with a flooded lower cut, unstable ledges, hanging roots, and a narrow adit where trapped workers have taken shelter.
Foes
Cave fisher
Quarry ettercap
ComplicationA startled cave fisher has strung sticky filament across the safest route through the quarry. Loud fighting risks a rockfall and may trap the missing workers behind a blocked passage.
ScalingFor two characters, use the cave fisher as the principal threat and make the ettercap's presence a sign or trail rather than a second active foe. For a larger party, include both creatures. A cautious party can bypass the lair or lure the cave fisher away. Treat creature placement and any special adjustments as custom encounter guidance, not new rules.
The Ford at Red Willow
Combat, with a surrender or parley option
A broad river ford beneath willow trees, with wagons on the bank, a low watch platform, and shifting patches of deep water.
Foes
Captain Harl Vey
Red Sash sergeants
Red Sash archers
ComplicationOne of Vey's lieutenants tries to start a fire among the supply wagons while the rest of the group keeps defenders occupied. Water barrels and an organized response can prevent the blaze from spreading.
ScalingFor two level-5 characters, Vey is supported by one sergeant and one archer; additional Company members withdraw if their leader falls or yields. For a larger party, add two guards or give Vey a second sergeant. If local volunteers fight, keep them occupied with a separate objective such as protecting wagons rather than adding many allied turns.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver, Millhaven reeve
WantsKeep Millhaven's trade moving without giving its wealthy merchants unchecked control of the town.
“I can pay you for the work, but what I need most is someone people will believe when they say the road can be safe again.”
Tamsin Reed
Ally, ferryman and volunteer guide
WantsProtect the scattered river communities and prove that local knowledge matters as much as armed force.
“I know the ford, the old charcoal track, and which families will open a door after dark. Ask before you assume.”
Captain Harl Vey
Antagonist, pragmatic leader of the Red Sash Company
WantsBuild the Red Sash Company into a dependable regional power, with himself as its accepted commander.
“We ask for a little from each place. The reeve takes more, and gives less. At least we keep our promises.”
Nella Orr
Witness, young farmer from Fenbridge
WantsFind her missing brother and recover her family's winter seed before it is sold or spoiled.
“The bell rang twice, then stopped. I hid in the grain pit until I heard them ride away.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A well-made healer's kit and several days of trail rations supplied before the first journey.
Salvaged crossbows, weapons, tack, and trade goods recovered from the Company, with a modest resale value rather than an automatic windfall.
A rare quarry mineral or fine river-iron billet that a local craftsperson can use for a custom commission; treat any resulting item as a separate reward appropriate to the campaign.
Optional: one modest, useful magic item offered by a grateful merchant or community after the finale, selected to suit the characters and the table's preferred 5e sources.
On a win
Vey's force is defeated, dispersed, or brought to a surrender that the communities can enforce.
The rescued quarry crew returns, the missing supplies are accounted for as far as possible, and Millhaven's neighbors establish a workable plan for guarding and repairing the road. Damianos and Corven are no longer merely local troubleshooters: people across the river valley recognize them as adventurers able to unite communities and deal with threats beyond one town.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to track the quarry captors before they move their prisoners.
- The missing villagers may be recovered later, but some are injured and the community will remember that help came too late.
- The party cannot secure a safe supply route or persuade the local communities to cooperate.
- Millhaven loses supplies and trade slows. Mara Venn can still support the heroes, but merchants demand more proof before risking their wagons.
- The party loses the final confrontation or cannot prevent the Red Sashes from dispersing.
- Vey escapes with a reduced force and can remain a regional threat. His departure is a setback, not a campaign-ending failure.
- The heroes choose a negotiated settlement that protects civilians but allows Vey to retain some influence.
- The Company is broken as a regional force, but surviving members may become bandits, seek honest work, or carry grudges into later stories.
Complications (d6)
- 1A river rise washes away the safest ford. The party must find a longer route or cross fast water with a meaningful risk of losing gear.
- 2A frightened hamlet refuses to shelter armed strangers until the party resolves a dispute over a stolen ferry rope.
- 3A Red Sash lookout escapes with a clear description of the party and warns the next Company patrol.
- 4A wounded giant owl, driven from its nesting ground, attacks livestock near the party's route; treating or driving it off may reveal what disturbed it.
- 5A local headman publicly accuses the party of favoring Millhaven's merchants, complicating negotiations and access to supplies.
- 6A cache of seized grain is found damp and beginning to spoil. The party must choose what can be saved and where it should go.
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