The Raiders Went Home

Border tension

The Raiders Went Home

Lvl Low to mid level, or equivalent for a party that can handle both negotiation and a dangerous site crawl.3 to 5 charactersOne long session or two shorter sessions, about 4 to 7 hours total.· Moderate to hard, depending on how forcefully the party handles the settlement and border authorities.

“They stopped raiding, which is how everyone knows something is terribly wrong.”

— Hook · Border tension

QuestgiverMayor Elsin Vane

Border tension

System-agnostic tabletop RPG

Moderate to hard, depending on how forcefully the party handles the settlement and border authorities.

Lvl Low to mid level, or equivalent for a party that can handle both negotiation and a dangerous site crawl.

3 to 5 characters

One long session or two shorter sessions, about 4 to 7 hours total.

4 NPCs

3 encounters

The Opening

“The raids on Brindle have stopped, but the raiders have not gone away. They have built huts in the badlands, penned cattle on contested ground, and started acting like they mean to stay, which may be the most dangerous thing they could have done. Now both sides are asking for help before fear turns the border into a war.”
— Hook · Border tension

Set the Scene

At dusk, a Brindle reeve leads you to the border road where the last raided caravan sits untouched, its cargo still tied down and its driver alive. Beyond the ditch line, smoke rises from new roofs and watchfires from the raiders’ settlement, close enough that you can see children moving between them. The reeve says the same people who once stole from the road are now begging not to be driven off, and they want you to decide whether that is surrender, trickery, or something worse.

Patron

Questgiver

Mayor Elsin Vane

Appeal to duty and urgency, with just enough warning that anyone who loves Brindle should care before the first spear is thrown.

On the Streets · In the Books

Rumours

d5 · table

01
The raiders have been seen repairing wagons instead of burning them.
02
A sickly smell rises from the old wash pit at night, and birds refuse to land there.
03
Someone in Brindle is buying grain at inflated prices and selling fear at an even higher rate.
04
The new settlement has a child who can hear things under the ground before the stone cracks.
05
The raiders left one caravan untouched because it carried a box they were afraid to open.

Stakes

If Brindle panics, the border becomes a war zone. If the settlers are driven out, the buried danger may spread unseen. If the party can hold both sides together, they may turn a raider camp into the region’s first real buffer against worse things in the badlands.

Ticking Clock·By the next new moon, Brindle’s border captain plans a forced eviction, and the raider settlement plans to move deeper into contested ground if they are not given time, proof, or protection.

Background Lore

Brindle sits where old trade roads cross a hard border of marsh, stone, and thorn scrub. For years, a raider band known as the Red Crows hit caravans, stole livestock, and vanished back across the line before any lord could muster a reply. Then, over the last moon, the raids stopped. Smoke now rises from newly built huts in the badlands, cattle graze behind rough palisades, and the same people who once plundered the region have begun to plant roots on land everyone else considered temporary only because no one expected them to stay.

What the World Knows

The Red Crows, once notorious border raiders, have stopped raiding and now live in a rough settlement just beyond Brindle’s line. Brindle fears a trap, the settlers fear eviction, and the party must uncover why the raiders changed course before a tense border standoff becomes a war.