Winning Her Spurs
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The society portrayed is far from a utopia. It isn't even a utopia with monsters. Many of the perils and problems faced by the characters stem from things we would see as flaws in human society. I don't claim that the Kingdom of Lorne is medieval authentic¸ but it is feudal and Church-ridden¸ lacking in even the concept of equality. To a modern audience¸ this society is much less progressive than the Black Mountain District¸ where many of our previous adventures are set. There are no non-human player-characters or long-term NPCs¸ except hobbits. The Church's intolerance of non-humans is not something I like. It's just what is. As Lenny Bruce said "what is¸ is; what should be is a dirty lie.”
A bigger deviation from RPG tradition is that this tale has a natural protagonist¸ the Baron's daughter. I ran this as a solo adventure and also¸ a few years later¸ as an adventure for four players and the other three characters all worked for her¸ just as several continuing NPCs did when I ran it as a solo.
This is more of a setting or a sandbox than a typical module. A great many NPCs are named and described. Some are bound to be important and others are people the characters might never meet¸ but they are here in case they become involved. Some events definitely will occur but the shape of the story that will emerge depends a great deal on the decisions players make for their characters. Only the first two scenes have to occur in any iteration of the adventure. After that¸ fate and character decisions will determine what happens.
The starting state of the adventure: Baron a Autun's daughter has finished her Elite Warrior training and her periods of service as a page and then a squire.She knows that she has only been able to take that training¸ which she had wanted since she was a toddler¸ because her father weas indulgent and courageous. She knows that he has been criticized by many people¸ including her late mother¸ and praisedby very few. She doesn't want to cause him any more trouble. Only two otherwomen that she knows of in Lornehave trained as Elite Warriors and neitherof them ever received the accolade.
She hopes to win her spurs soon. For one thing¸ that is what any Elite Warrior wants. For another¸ she believes¸ and with some reason in Lornelaw¸ that a knight cannot be married for three years after winning the spurs and she knows that their neighbor¸ Baron Dugles a Avalon¸ wants to marry her and double the size of his barony. She has seen hm at court and wasn't repulsed but his reported reasons for wanting to marry her makes her angry. She doesn't know for certain that the Duke would also like to marry her but she knows that she has been invited to court in the fall. And she knows that a young woman would be almost expected to lose her virtue there. Marriage and pregnancy would interfere with life in the saddle under arms.