Topic: Vulfen Clan Story

[gandalf970]

Playing in a low magic RMU campaign.  The party is all Vulfen, Fighter, two Rogues and a Warrior Monk.  They were left to their own after their whole pack was taken and they are now just discovering them and trying to get them back together.  They have found four so far.
After tracking one of their kind to a cave they find that he is dead and was tortured.  Before he died he cut the skin off his own chest, dried it and wrote something on it with his own blood.  They cannot read Vulfen as they were not taught or if there even is a written language for Vulfen.
My question to you and looking for ideas, what did he write on the scroll and in what language and why?  Thank you in advance for the ideas.

[jdale]

Could be a mark or sign that identifies the one who did this to him. The one writing wouldn't need to understand what it meant.

Could be a curse against them, in whatever language he felt had the most power.

Could be a prayer offered up to whatever spirit or deity he looks to, or one that reached out to him. Likely in a language he knows.

If he was trying to achieve a goal (e.g., he was also trying to reunite those who were scattered), it could be clues about how to carry that out, that he had not been able to do (e.g., a list of places the others might have been taken). I would think in that case he might try to write in a way that hides the meaning from those who tortured him, whether in a language he expects they wouldn't know, or in riddles or cultural references.

[gandalf970]

This is exactly what I wanted.  Thank you so much jdale, I really appreciate you.

[gandalf970]

jdale I wanted to share with you what I can up with from your advice.  I am using the Castles & Crusades world of Airhde with my spin on the races.  I am making a scroll out of paper and my wife is putting runes on it.  Here is what each line means so they have to find someone that can read each language and then recover the ruling stone for each pack.

Uher (You Her) was the Alpha’s name.  He wanted to reunite the Vulfen by telling them where the five other packs were.  The packs are the following.
•   Night Walker
•   Black Tongue
•   Blue Stone
•   Red Heart
•   Silver Claw
•   White Crown
He wrote the language in several ancient tongues so no one could decipher it.
The Sun rises on a streak of shelter for the Vermillion Core.  (The Sun rising references rising in the east.  The streak is a mark, meaning East Mark in Kayomar.  Shelter is the largest forest in the East Mark and the Vermillion Core refers to the Red Heart).  This is written in Runic Aenochian (Human).
In the obscurity of a day a wayfarer must find Iombian.  (Obscurity and Wayfarer refers to the Night Walker pack.  Iombian refers to Iombian emeralds and they are only found in Grundle’s Knob NW Aihrde).  This is written in Runic Dwarf.
The corpulence of voice leads to Ongole.  (Corpulence is a metaphor for “Black Dog” referring to the Black Tongue pack.  Voice also refers to tongue in a physiological nature. Ongole is the beef cow known for the eating of their tongue and only found in Lock El Tish NE Aihrde).  This is written in Runic Troll.


The lustrous manus hides in a garden branch of green waves.  (Lustrous is silver, manus is claw.  Garden Branch is the Edenflow river, and the green waves refer to the Lotian Sea and the Silver Claw pack.  South by Eldwood and South Mark).  This is written in Runic Elf.
The Melusine, the tusk of cobalt amongst the crags of the past.  (Melusine refers to a story of a dragon written by an ancient gnome poet.  Tusks are teeth, Cobalt is blue, and Crags are stone.  This refers to the Blue Stone Pack.  They are found in the Dragon’s Teeth SW Aihrde).  This is written in Runic Gnome.
A pallid apex in the abyss of a font of flesh.  (Pallid is White, apex is crown.  The abyss is the gorge and font of flesh refers to the Larank Gorge where many creatures died during a great disaster, White Crown pack).  This is written in Runic Vulfen.

[jdale]

That sounds like they have a bunch of mini quests to find translations, then a lot of lore checks and research to understand the clues, then another set of quests to actually act on the information. Those are fun clues, if challenging. I hope your players appreciate them.