The Day Urda Sank: an introduction

Welcome, dear Guest!

I must confess that I’m very, very ashamed about how Steamagination stopped during the last two months. My exams were over, but first I got ill and then I moved to Warsaw so I had less time to write about Wolsung. Today I begin to redeem my indolence.

The first step to my redemption is giving you an epic scenario that could change the face of Urda. The day Urda sank is a three-arc adventure in which Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen will face the terrible threat of the Deep Ones trying to flood the civilized world using their vile magic, the power of their god-ruler Dagon and a captured dragon. Yes, a dragon – namely Migardorm, the long-lost wyrm of Jotun dynasty.

Additionally I’ve created Steamagination’s FB fanpage. Follow me there for small daily giveaways related to The day Urda sank – this week I’m posting various accessories for the PCs related to the Lovecraftian inspirations of this adventure. If you don’t use FB, don’t worry – I’ll regularly collect these giveaways in a single article and post them here.

What I have for you today is an overview of the entire adventure. Its first arc, taking place in Lyonesse and centering around a halfing scylla with a terrible aeons-old mystery, will appear here on Thursday. Beware!

 

The tentacled threat

A Dagon cultist from the rulebook. I didn’t inserted Cthulhu into Wolsung, it has always been there.

You may wonder, dear reader, what are you reading – is it an adventure for Wolsung or for Call of Cthulhu? Do not worry – The day Urda sank is as steampulp as an adventure can be. It uses the eldritch abominations invented by H. P. Lovecraft, but it gives your players much more strength to oppose their blasphemous schemes and prevail unscratched – on mind and body. As you’ll soon see, Wolsung is a perfect game for Lovecraft-inspired pulp horror.

 

The backstory

The Deep Ones have plotted for centuries to conquer Urda and slaughter the surface-dwelling races. They are numerous, powerful and armed with deadly weapons unknown to the Eight Races. Their only problem is that they are much weaker outside of water – in order to conquer Urda they have to sink it.

Long have they sought for an opportunity to do this and finally they found a solution – a dragon! Deep Ones’ scouts found Skellbriger, the Jotun dynasty’s sword of coronation that lied on the seafloor for centuries since the ship carrying it sank. The high priests of the Deep Ones used Skellbriger to summon Migardorm, the sea dragon that once served the Jotuns and ordered him to melt the icecap on the north pole, thus raising the sea level and sinking most of Urda’s cities!

A savage storm begins to rage over the arctic region and governments don’t know what to do – only Jotunheim and Hrimthorst know what is really happening but they don’t want to warn anybody fearing that “their” dragon could get killed. The Monastic Order also suspects something, so the Iron Maiden sends North a fleet of submarines with ultra-modern technology able to undo the damage that will soon be done to the world.

 

Plot overview

For our Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen this adventure begins in Lyonesse. The city slowly begins to sink, but the real problem are halfing gangsters who thwart every attempt to stop the flood or evacuate the civilians with the help of a kraken. It turns out that Nunzia Profonda, a powerful godmother has been an incarnation of an ancient entity who knows about Deep Ones’ plan and wants them to succeed. In the meantime the government offers the players a submarine with which they could reach the North Pole and investigate what’s happening there.

The setting for The Day Urda Sank – northern lands and seas of Vanadia

The northbound journey is very, very eventful. First and foremost the kraken still lurks in the sea, ready to crush the submarine. Then the expedition encounters agents of the Monastic Order who are preparing to use a bizarre technology related to time travel to reverse the coming doom. This is a mad, reckless plan it’s up to Our Ladies and Gentlemen if they allow the Monastic Knights to conduct such an experiment.

The final revelation comes just before landing at the North Pole: it turns out that the submarine is infiltrated by spies from Jotunheim, Hrimthorst and Slavia! Each of these countries have their own business and making them work for the PCs will take a lot of effort. On the upper side Our Ladies and Gentlemen will then learn about the theft of Skellbriger and thus could prepare for the dragon.

The passage through melting Arctic is extremely hard even though some locals are willing to help. Finally our expedition reaches the North Pole and has a chance of stopping the ritual. They have an entire army of Deep Ones, Father Dagon and Migardorn against them, but Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen might be able to gain upper hand even in such dire straits. If not, at least their sacrifice will slow the Deep Ones’ schemes.