The Storehouse Beneath the Silt
The Storehouse Beneath the Silt
Read aloud
A landslide has uncovered a stone marker bearing the words FORGOTTEN STORES, and Mara Venn recognizes the mark from a supply ledger thought to be a children’s rhyme. She offers you a share of whatever can be recovered, but warns that a rival claimant is already on the road. The settlement needs the cache’s medicine and seed grain before winter.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Find the entrance to Forgotten Stores.
- 2Open the cache without destroying its contents.
- 3Return with a defensible share of the cache.
- 4Uncover the history of the original caretakers.Optional
The clock
Tovin and his hired porters are one day behind the party. Each long rest, major delay, or noisy setback gives them a chance to catch up. The first hard frost is roughly two weeks away.
Scenes
- 0:00The Ledger and the Offer
- 0:25The Marker Trail
- 1:05The Spoiled Pantry
- 1:55The Sealed Vault
- 2:55A Share of the Stores
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver and settlement quartermaster
- Tovin RuskRival claimant and social complication
- Sister CaldreWitness and former caretaker
The hook
Set the scene
Mara Venn lays a cracked ledger on a table in the settlement storehouse. Its final page shows a rough sketch of the landslide ridge and a line of text: When the river turns black, open the stores. Outside, rain begins to fall, and a messenger reports that Tovin Rusk has hired porters and left to claim the site.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara approaches the party in the settlement's storehouse, shows them the ledger and newly exposed marker, and offers a share of the recovered goods plus a formal settlement reward.
She asks them to keep the cache's location quiet until the supplies are secured.
Rumours
Scenes
about 3.5 hours0:00
25 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Ledger and the Offer
The settlement storehouse, amid half-empty bins and rain tapping on the roof.
Mara explains the need for the supplies, shows the ledger, and asks the party to act before Tovin arrives. The party can question her and establish what share or authority they expect.
NextA local guide leads the party toward the landslide ridge, where the old marker has been uncovered.
0:25
40 min
exploration
2. The Marker Trail
A rain-darkened ridge above a silted riverbed, with fresh rockfall and fragments of carved stone.
The party follows marker stones across unstable ground. They can search for a safe route, question locals, or take a faster path across the debris slope. Sister Caldre may appear here and warn them about the sealed inner vault.
NextThe trail ends at a half-buried service hatch leading into the old storehouse.
1:05
50 min
combat
3. The Spoiled Pantry
A cramped, collapsed pantry of bins, rotten grain, and broken jars.
The party enters through the service passage and searches the spoiled pantry for a route to the inner chambers. Vermin and a starving boar defend the remaining food, while hazards threaten fragile stores.
The Spoiled PantryNextA stamped inventory plate reveals the route to the inner vault and identifies its original caretakers.
1:55
60 min
combat
4. The Sealed Vault
A round underground chamber of stacked supplies, sealed medical stores, and a central alarm plinth.
The party opens the inner vault and faces its guardians. They can fight, disrupt the alarm, negotiate with Tovin if he catches up, or investigate the warning signs before deciding what to remove.
The Sealed VaultNextWith the vault secured or abandoned, the party returns to the settlement to divide what remains and decide what to say about the cache.
2:55
35 min
social
5. A Share of the Stores
The settlement storehouse, now crowded with residents awaiting medicine and seed grain.
Mara, Tovin, and any surviving witnesses argue over ownership and the danger of the sealed vault. The party presents its findings, distributes supplies, and chooses whether to disclose the caretaker history.
NextThe party's choice establishes the settlement's approach to the cache and leads into any unresolved claim or unexplored compartment.
Behind it
What people believe
A landslide has uncovered a marker pointing toward Forgotten Stores, a cache of emergency supplies missing from local records for generations.
Mara Venn, the settlement quartermaster, asks the party to recover medicine and seed grain before winter. Tovin Rusk, a rival claimant with a family connection to the cache, is racing to reach it first. The expedition must navigate unstable ground, old hazards, and a dispute over who should receive the supplies.
Background
Forgotten Stores is a sealed cache of supplies assembled generations ago for a disaster that never came.
Its contents are valuable, but the cache's location and inventory were deliberately erased from local records. A recent landslide has exposed one of its old marker stones.
The stakes
The settlement may face a hungry winter without seed grain or medicine.
A careless recovery could destroy the supplies, revive an old danger, or turn a rival claim into an enduring feud.
Encounters
2The Spoiled Pantry
Combat
A cramped pantry with overturned bins, narrow aisles, waist-high grain piles, and a rotting floor that gives way in one corner.
Foes
Storehouse rats
Grain-maddened boar
ComplicationThe floor is layered with loose grain and broken jars. Loud movement draws additional vermin, while careless fire can ignite old packing material.
ScalingFor a smaller or less experienced party, use only the rats and let the boar flee when injured. For a larger or more experienced party, add a second boar or have the rats harry characters who become separated.
The Sealed Vault
Combat
A round vault chamber with stacked crates, a central alarm plinth, and narrow aisles between shelves. Several crates can provide cover but may collapse if shoved.
Foes
Brass storehouse sentinel
Two dustbound sentries
ComplicationThe cache's old alarm system activates when the inner vault is opened. A character can spend a turn or equivalent action disrupting its mechanism, or the guardians continue to arrive.
ScalingFor a smaller or less experienced party, use the brass sentinel alone and allow the alarm to be silenced with a simple successful attempt. For a larger or more experienced party, add another dustbound sentry and make the vault's shifting shelves hazardous.
Cast
3Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver and settlement quartermaster
WantsRecover the cache's medicines and seed grain before winter, and keep the settlement from descending into a fight over its contents.
“The cache was meant to keep people alive. Help me make sure it does.”
Tovin Rusk
Rival claimant and social complication
WantsClaim the stores for her family, whose ancestors helped build the cache. She is willing to bargain, but believes the settlement has no rightful claim.
“Those seals have my family's mark. You can call it history, but I call it a debt.”
Sister Caldre
Witness and former caretaker
WantsPrevent the party from opening the cache until they understand the danger inside, while concealing that she once helped hide its location.
“The old doors are not locked to keep people out. They are locked to keep the fever in.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Recovered medicine sufficient to treat several serious injuries or illnesses, subject to the chosen ruleset
A bundle of viable seed grain
Optional: a sealed brass inventory token that opens a secondary compartment in the vault
On a win
The party recovers at least some usable supplies and returns with enough evidence to negotiate their distribution.
A careful group can preserve the medicines, prevent a public panic, and establish terms between Mara and Tovin. If they also learn the cache's history, they must decide whether the truth is worth the political cost of sharing it.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party cannot locate the cache or must abandon the expedition before reaching it.
- The expedition returns without the medicines and seed grain. Mara's settlement loses trust in the party, and Tovin gains the chance to organize a second claim.
- The party triggers the vault alarm and fails to silence or contain it.
- The cache's alarm attracts scavengers or dangerous creatures, who strip the exposed outer stores before the party can return.
- The party mishandles fragile medicine, allows floodwater into the vault, or causes a fire.
- A portion of the supplies is ruined, and the party must choose which residents or neighboring communities receive what remains.
- The party cannot resolve the claim peacefully and chooses to let Tovin take part of the haul.
- Tovin leaves with a share of the stores and publicly challenges Mara's authority, creating a lasting dispute over who controls the cache.
Complications (d6)
- 1A shelf of sealed lamp oil tips over, filling the next chamber with slick flooring and a strong fuel smell. Open flame becomes dangerous until the oil is contained.
- 2A sudden runoff surge floods the lowest passage to waist height, forcing the party to secure their packs or risk losing unsecured items.
- 3Tovin Rusk arrives with two hired porters and demands a share before the party can remove any crates.
- 4A rotten beam collapses behind the party, blocking the route back. Clearing it takes time and makes enough noise to draw nearby creatures.
- 5A crate marked MEDICINE contains brittle glass vials. The party must handle it carefully or lose some of the cache's most useful contents.
- 6A storehouse warning bell rings when a pressure plate is disturbed. It awakens the cache's remaining guardians and signals anyone outside that the entrance is open.
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