The Road That Forgot Us

Investigation, supernatural journey, and climactic confrontation

The Road That Forgot Us

Lvl Any equivalent of low-to-mid tier adventurers, adjusted by encounter scaling3 to 6 characters4 to 7 hours, suitable for one long session or two shorter sessions· Moderate, escalating to difficult during the final confrontation

“Some roads lead nowhere. Others lead somewhere that no longer remembers you.”

— Hook · Investigation, supernatural journey, and climactic confrontation

Investigation, supernatural journey, and climactic confrontation

System-agnostic tabletop fantasy RPG

Moderate, escalating to difficult during the final confrontation

Lvl Any equivalent of low-to-mid tier adventurers, adjusted by encounter scaling

3 to 6 characters

4 to 7 hours, suitable for one long session or two shorter sessions

4 NPCs

3 encounters

The Opening

“For three nights, the road to the village of Bellweather has ended at the same stone gate, even though no gate appears on any local map. Gurdah von Lichtenstein offers you a sealed purse and a warning: recover her stolen brass astrolabe before the next midnight bell, or the village may become a place no one can remember reaching. She insists that someone inside Bellweather is helping the thief.”
— Hook · Investigation, supernatural journey, and climactic confrontation

Set the Scene

Gurdah receives the party in a candlelit map room beneath a ruined manor. Every map shows Bellweather in a different location, but all versions depict the same black road ending at an empty gate. Gurdah provides the party with a silver compass that points toward remembered places rather than magnetic north. Before they leave, she warns them that the Cartographer in Ash may imitate familiar voices.

Patron

Questgiver

Gurdah von Lichtenstein

Gurdah approaches the party through a trusted courier who delivers a silver compass and an invitation to the ruined Lichtenstein manor. She offers a substantial reward but refuses to explain why the astrolabe matters to her family until the party reaches the observatory.

On the Streets · In the Books

Rumours

d6 · table

01
People who leave Bellweather sometimes return before they departed.
02
A noblewoman in the ruined manor keeps maps of places that never existed.
03
The old aqueduct carries water uphill whenever the moon turns red.
04
A masked surveyor has been buying children's drawings of the village.
05
Sister Maelin can tell when someone is remembering a lie.
06
The bells of Bellweather ring whenever a road is erased.

Stakes

If the astrolabe completes its alignment, Bellweather and the surrounding valley will be erased from common memory. The people may remain physically alive, but no map, traveler, or neighboring settlement will remember how to reach them. Gurdah's family history, the Cartographer's planned hidden kingdom, and the party's own memories may all be rewritten.

Ticking Clock·The next midnight bell completes the astrolabe's alignment. Each major delay gives the Cartographer more control over the valley's roads and increases the severity of terrain distortions.

Background Lore

Gurdah von Lichtenstein was once the youngest heir of a minor noble house, celebrated for her brilliance in engineering, diplomacy, and battlefield logistics. After her family lost its lands in a disputed succession, Gurdah disappeared into the borderlands and rebuilt her reputation as a patron of refugees, ruined settlements, and inconvenient truths. She now controls a remote observatory called the Glass March, where she studies a strange celestial phenomenon that has begun altering memories and physical landmarks around the region.

What the World Knows

Gurdah von Lichtenstein, a disgraced noble scholar and patron of the borderlands, hires the party to investigate Bellweather, a village that has become inaccessible through ordinary roads. A stolen brass astrolabe is at the center of the disturbance, and a masked mapmaker is using it to alter routes, landmarks, and memories. The party must reach the Glass March observatory, identify the thief's allies, and decide whether the dangerous device should be recovered or destroyed.