Editing Rumors

This page links to the various regional rumors used throughout the campaign.

'''Rumors''' 

The PCs can hear the following rumors as they move through 'Trel on their patrols. The
PCs should hear no more than four rumors in any one day. Rumor-spreading NPCs may
include fellow soldiers, refugees, healers, fire-fighting crews, etc. Each NPC that the PCs
approach knows 1-3 rumors. In all cases, the NPC believes the rumor to be true. 

1. Undead are over-running L’Trel, including ghouls, ghasts, vampires, and ghosts. (False. No vampires or ghosts have moved in, but ghouls have.) 

2. I saw a pack of giant rats dragging an unconscious young boy into the sewers. I tried to
stop them, but they snarled and tried to bite me. They were very large and vicious. (True.
This unfortunate soul witnessed an attack by a group of wererats.) 

3. People have been disappearing in large numbers since the fire. The disappearances are
obviously related to the undead. (Partially true. Slavers have been grabbing people, too.) 

4. Dogs are running wild in the city, Some of them are starving and may be dangerous. (True.) 

5. The fires are still burning in the pathetic remnants of the city’s once-mighty shipyards.
All the shipyards were destroyed, along with about 90% of the fishing fleet. (False. The
shipyards were about 90% destroyed. It is true that 90% of the fishing fleet was destroyed,
which will aggravate the food shortages in the coming months.) 

6. The army high command is going to order L'Trel evacuated. (False.) 

7. Many more people died in the fire than the army admits. (The exact number that the
NPC claims varies from 100 to 10,000, depending on the NPC. Approximately 3,000 people
died as a result of the fire. Several thousand more will die when the plagues take their toll.
‘To add impact, the PCs should hear this rumor from several different sources, each quoting a different number of casualties.) 

8. The fire did more than 1,000,000 gp worth of damage to U'Trel. (False. The damage was
much higher.) 

9. All of the city food stores were destroyed, and thousands more people will starve to
death in the winter. (Three-quarters of the granaries were destroyed.) 

10. The fire was punishment from the gods for L'Trel’s wickedness. (False.) 

11. The fire was caused by a mage’s experiment gone awry. (This rumor is true simply by
accident; no one really knows what started the fire. Other rumors attribute the fire to an
attempt to assassinate a mage, a magical smithy fire, a freak lightning strike, and an attack by a vengeful fiend.) 

12, The fire was a sign that L’Trel now belongs to [an evil god in the DM’s campaign]. All
must bow before his rule! (False. This rumor is shouted loudly by a wild-eyed, selfproclaimed prophet.) 

13. The army has posted a 2,000-gp reward for information leading to the discovery of the
cause of the explosion and the arrest of anyone involved. (True. This is a large reward, but
the crime was great.) 

14. The Shipmaker’s Guild has posted a 3,000-gp reward for information leading to the
discovery of the cause of the fire and the arrest of anyone involved. (False. The shipmakers
will have a hard time recovering from the fire even without giving away money.) 

15. Fire-fighting crews have been battling the fires for several days now, and blazes still keep popping up in apparently random areas of L’Trel. (True. See Day 24 for an encounter with Baernan the fire elemental.) 

16. Some crazy people (perhaps members of one of the new fire-worshiping cults) are run- ning around committing arson, purposely setting new fires, (True. The PCs hear this rumor
from a tired, badly burned member of a fire-fighting crew.) 

17. LTrel is a plague city. Everyone is doomed to die! Unless, of course, you buy one of my
special plague-warding charms. Yours for a mere 10 sp. What a bargain! (False. The plagues
will take a heavy toll, but not everyone will die.) 

18. Our god is with us! The spontaneous fires are proof! (False. Baernan the fire elemental
(see page 24) is the cause of most of the spontaneous fires. The PCs hear this proclamation from a fire-god convert.) 

19. Bands of evil cultists meet on dark nights in the heart of the Burnout district. (False,
although the DM could easily run several encounters with evil cultists, in which case this
rumor would be true.) 

20. The city council is going to officially rename the devastated area “Burnout district.”
(False. The citizens of Tre] will call it the Burnout district from now on, however.) 

==Cardum==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Dice Roll
!Rumor
|-
|1
|A forgotten entrance to the [[underway]] exists in [[Cardum Swamp]] (true) and those that enter it are cursed and can never venture outside again in daylight. (false)
|-
|2
|A [[Karul|dragon]] has taken up residence in [[Cardum Swamp]] (true)
|}

==Orlane==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Dice Roll
!Rumor
|-
|1
|The well water throughout the village of Orlane has been poisoned with a powerful drug. (false)
|-
|2
|Sinister and mysterious evil is at work in the village. (true)
|-
|3
|A huge, many-headed creature has been stealing children at night. (false)
|-
|4
|A sorcerer from the Valley of the Mage has moved to the Dim Forest, and is working foul enchantments there. (false)
|-
|5
|Savage crocodiles are straying far from the marsh. (true)
|-
|6
|People in Orlane are being altered (true), and the "changeling" can be recognized by fang marks in their throats. (false)
|}

==Grenvik==