Fireheart

This first section describes the background of the mystery and the conflicts on which it is based. There is an invitation to kick off the action, then the text proceeds to describe the journey to the parish of Häryd in Smolandia. The section concludes with a countdown of events which you as the Gamemaster will initiate at some appropriate time during the mystery – and a catastrophe that describes what happens if the player characters do not take action or fail in their efforts. But first we will look back at the events leading up to the mystery.

Background

A thousand years ago, a mighty dragon plagued the pagan woods of what is today known as Smolandia. After many years of torment, the local clans assembled a great warband to slay the beast, whom they called Fireheart. They marched on the dragon’s lair, located in a deep valley in the darkest heart of the forest. The creature faced them in combat, and the battle was terrible.

The army was slaughtered to the last man, but the dragon was badly wounded and retreated into its lair. Then, a powerful shaman called down a fierce storm. The rain fell in torrents so great the entire valley was flooded and turned into a large lake, which was named Hären (meaning “The Army” in the local tongue) in memory of the warriors who fell there. Centuries passed, and the story was eventually forgotten. Only the name remained.

A millennium later, in the mid-19th century, a yeoman farmer named Johan Andersson and his wife Karolina lived with their sons Alfred and August in Häryd parish by the shore of Lake Hären. Life as a forest farmer was meager and hard. Alfred and August helped out on the farm, but they also had a thirst for adventure and often went on long hikes in the deep woods.

One day, they got lost and wandered deeper into the forest than they had ever gone before. Suddenly, August fell into a deep crevice in the rock face and injured his foot. Alfred climbed down to help his brother, and at the bottom they realized it was a large cave. Strangely, it was hotter down in the cave than it was outside. They carved their names into the rock wall to mark their find.

Despite August’s sprained ankle, the brothers sneaked deeper into the mountain, lighting their way with a lantern. The farther they went, the hotter it became. In a hollow deep in the mountain, they saw something gleaming. It looked like glittering gold coins – not just a few, but large heaps of them, a treasure beyond imagining! The brothers could hardly believe their own eyes.

The next moment they saw a large shadow – a huge, monstrous reptile resting on the gold, greedily guarding its riches. It seemed to be sleeping, but started to stir. The brothers ran for their lives and fled the cave, their hearts racing in terror. When they made it home and told their story, Johan and Karolina did not believe them, and scolded their sons for being gone so long. Despite many attempts over the years that followed, the brothers never found the cave again.

Ten years later, the brothers had grown up. They still worked on the farm, but years of drought and crop failure had left the family on the brink of ruin. Johan was ill and Karolina devastated with sorrow. At this time there were several ironworks in the area, which used ore from the bottom of lakes to produce the iron and steel that the growing industrialization demanded. The brothers August and Alfred dreamed of opening an ironworks on the shore of Lake Hären but lacked the capital to do so.

August, the elder brother, felt a great responsibility to save the family from destitution. One dark night he left without a word, to once again seek the cave and its treasure. And after many hours, he found it. He climbed down and sneaked into the dragon’s lair. It was now unbearably hot in there. The beast still seemed to be slumbering, but moved uneasily in its sleep. Sweat pouring and heart pounding, August gathered as many coins as he could and filled his satchel to the brim.

Just as he was leaving, he noticed that with each breath of the beast, a hot flame spurted from its nostrils. Filled with courage or madness, August crept up to the dragon and lit his lantern with its fire, which burned bright and strong, before leaving the cave. The quiet August never told Alfred what he had done.

With August’s newfound gold, the brothers were able to realize their dream, and the Häryd Ironworks became a reality. The blast furnace was lit with dragon fire from August’s lantern, and it burned with a heat that no other ironworks could match. The brothers changed their surname to Härenstam – meaning “stemming from Lake Hären” – as they felt it had a more distinguished ring to it, but also so that the dragon would not find them if it woke up. After all, they had carved their names into the cave wall. Their enterprise took off and the brothers became familiar names in the parish.

Another decade passed, and business was booming for the Härenstam brothers and their ironworks. Others in the area were not so lucky. The constant scraping of ore from the bottom of the lake disturbed the dragon in his slumber, and he started to wake up. The waking of the fiery beast unleashed immense heat waves that triggered crop failure and poverty unlike anything Smolandia had ever seen. Begging, thievery and famine followed, and the poorhouses were overcrowded, even though the brothers hired many local boys for their prospecting rafts. Many families saw no other option than to leave Smolandia and seek their fortune in America.

Despite their success, the Härenstam brothers fell out with one another. August, who had hidden the stolen treasure in a strongbox in his bedroom, was slowly enchanted by the dragon’s greed and came to value wealth above all else. He pushed his employees harder and harder, with the help of his brutal foreman – a man known only as “Swine” – and a fire-and-brimstone evangelist named Beata Gideonsdotter who threatened the workers with the holy fire of God. Faced with the prospect of poverty and starvation, the staff stayed on at the ironworks, yet many worked themselves to death.

Not realizing that August was under the spell of the dragon’s gold, Alfred objected to his brutal methods. The conflict escalated and ended with August kicking his brother out and threatening to kill him if he ever showed his face at the ironworks again. Alfred If you want to run this mystery in Mythic Britain and Ireland instead of the Mythic North, a good site to choose would be the falls of Pistyll Rhaeadr on the river Rhaeadr, near the border between Wales and England where the dragon Gwyby of Llanrhaeadr is long reputed to have lived. Despite the success of the iron industry in South Wales and across the border in Shropshire, ironworks in this part of North Wales struggled. Perhaps it was the dragon? To run the mystery in Wales you’ll need to change the names of the NPCs, but apart from that the mystery will work as written. returned to the family farm, only to find his parents dead, victims of drought and famine.

Alfred decided to leave Smolandia for good and emigrate to America – but first he wanted to make one last attempt to reconcile with his brother and make him see reason. Besides, Alfred needs his brother’s money to make the journey to America and settle down there.

Alfred needs the Society’s help, as he thinks it is the idolatry of Beata Gideonsdotter that has clouded August’s mind. Little does he realize that he is dragging the player characters into something much bigger – something that may decide the fate of all Smolandia. Fireheart is about to wake up, and when he does he will seek revenge for the theft of his treasure. If the player characters fail to unravel the mystery and stop the dragon, all of Smolandia risks being reduced to ashes.

Conflicts

The primary conflict of this mystery is between August Härenstam and the dragon Fireheart. August is enchanted by gold and riches and refuses to part with a single coin, blind to the risk of the dragon burning down all of Smolandia. The dragon, on the other hand, is enraged by the theft of his treasure and will take revenge on the people in the area, guilty or not.

The secondary conflict is between the brothers August and Alfred Härenstam. Alfred wants August to come to his senses, leave the ironworks, take the money, and join him in seeking their fortune in America. August refuses to listen and sees Alfred as a threat to his power and wealth.

Invitation

This mystery begins at Castle Gyllencreutz, the Society’s headquarters in Upsala. It is late summer and the deep velvet nights are hot. The kingdom is in crisis. Severe heat waves, especially in the south, have triggered droughts and crop failures, followed by misery and hunger. Begging and thievery is on the rise, and thousands upon thousands emigrate to America hoping for a better life there.

Suddenly, someone knocks heavily on the door. A bearded postman in a strict uniform hands over an envelope sealed by wax before he turns on his heel and leaves. In the light of kerosene lamps, the player characters can read the letter (Handout 2A, also downloadable and found at the end of this book): To whom it may concern, My name is Alfred Härenstam, from Häryd parish in Smolandia. I turn to your esteemed Society as I see no other solution to my current predicament. It concerns my dear brother and best friend, August. All my life he has been very close to me, and together we founded the Häryd Ironworks by the shore of Lake Hären. Our workers scraped up the iron ore from the bottom of the lake, and in the blast furnace we smelted it into ingots.

As you have no doubt heard, Smolandia is these days ravaged by drought, crop failure, and poverty. Our beloved parents could not cope with this ordeal and they both expired a week ago. I buried them yesterday and I write these lines in the light of a single candle on our family farm. My dear late mother was interested in the supernatural, and she is the one from whom I learned of your Society.

I see no alternative but to leave these godforsaken lands and seek my fortune in America, like so many before me. But I cannot do so without my brother August, who still runs the ironworks. He has cast me out and threatened to kill me if I ever return.

August is in the grip of madness. A she-devil in the guise of a preacher has twisted his mind. This woman, Beata Gideonsdotter, presents herself as a proclaimer of God’s word, but I suspect that she is in fact a servant of Lucifer himself.

I ask that you come to our family farm in Häryd at the earliest opportunity, to smoke out this Evil and save my brother’s soul. Most respectfully, Alfred Härenstam

Preparations

As usual, the player characters can prepare for the journey at their headquarters and thereby gain an Advantage. Player characters who go looking for information about the situation in Smolandia can find plenty of news articles about the drought, crop failure, and emigration to America. If they search in the castle library or some other collection of books and pass a LEARNING test, the characters find a short passage on Lake Hären in an old book titled Myths and Folk Tales of Smolandia (Handout 2B):

As for the Häryd Ironworks, the player characters can pass a LEARNING test to find out that it was founded ten years ago by the Härenstam brothers, whose last name used to be Andersson.

The Journey

The journey from Upsala is long and goes by stagecoach through the darkness of the Kolmården forest and across the windswept East Gothland Plains, before the player characters reach the forests and mountains of Smolandia. See the map on page 26 and show it to the players. As usual, the characters can gain an Advantage during the journey.

The farther south they get, the hotter it becomes. As they leave the cool air of Lake Vättern behind and continue into the depths of Smolandia, the temperature rises to unbearable levels. The effects of the heat wave are evident along the road – the trees are brown and shriveled, the fields are burnt to a crisp, flies are buzzing around carcasses on the fields, farms are empty and abandoned since their owners left for the hope of a better life in America. The exhausted stagecoach horses are panting and snorting their way up the hill, driven on by the coachman’s whip.

After several days of tiring travel, the player characters finally reach Häryd Parish, an unremarkable group of farms in the middle of nowhere. See the map on page 30 and show it to the players. The heat is scorching, even though the sun has gone down behind the trees. There is not a soul in sight. A signpost shows the way to the Härenstam family farm.

Excerpt from Myths and Folk Tales of Smolandia

In the woods south of the town of Gnosjö lies Lake Hären. Local elders speak of this black lake with reverence. Legend has it that a ferocious beast roamed these parts hundreds of years ago, and that the villagers banded together to slay the monster. In the terrible battle that followed, the army drove the beast back into its cave and a mighty sorceress called down a rainstorm of such magnitude that it flooded the entire valley and submerged the cave. The lake that formed was named Hären – meaning ‘The Army’ in the local tongue – in honor of the brave warriors who died fighting the beast.

Ambush!

If you want the adventure to open with an action scene, a band of robbers could attack the stagecoach before it reaches Häryd. The growing poverty in Smolandia has made some people turn to crime in order to survive.

The robbers, as many as the player characters, have felled a tree across the road. When the characters’ stagecoach stops, the attackers emerge from the forest with muskets and pitchforks in hand. They force the passengers to step out and hand over their belongings. They are only interested in weapons and valuables. The robbers do not hesitate to use violence, but run away as soon as any of them becomes Broken.

No matter how the encounter with the robbers ends, they urge the characters to turn back: “In Smolandia there is only death and ash!”

Arrival

A thin, dark-haired man with a lantern in hand shows up in the doorway as the player characters knock on the door of the farm residence. It is Alfred Härenstam, who lets them in right away and thanks them for getting here so quickly. Kerosene lamps cast a dim light over the spartan furnishings. No fire burns in the fireplace, for the heat outside is too great.

Alfred offers them a glass of brandy, the last drops from a dusty bottle, and tells his story. He also answers their questions as best he can. Alfred can provide the following information. Play out the conversation and let the players ask questions. If they do not get all this information from the first encounter with Alfred, they can always seek him out later to ask further questions.

• The Häryd Ironworks, where his brother August lives, is situated only a few kilometers away, near the shore of Lake Hären. The iron ore is scraped up from the bottom of the lake by the ironworks’ “Ore Boys” and then smelted into ingots in the blast furnace.
• Alfred’s brother August runs the ironworks. He was always a good-natured soul but has lately become obsessed with wealth and drives his workers very hard.
• The foreman of the ironworks, known only as “Swine” is a dangerous and brutal man.
• At the ironworks there is also an evangelist named Beata Gideonsdotter. Alfred suspects that it is she who has twisted his brother’s mind.
• Alfred wants the player characters to visit the ironworks and find out what is going on and do whatever they can to make August see reason. Perhaps they can find some answers in the diary August has always kept?
• Alfred warns the player characters that August is a very suspicious person and does not gladly let strangers onto the premises. Whether they should bluff, sneak, or fight their way inside is up to them.
• The preacher Beata Gideonsdotter holds a revival meeting in the workers’ quarters in the evening after the player characters’ arrival. These meetings often attract outsiders and Alfred thinks it is a good opportunity for the player characters to visit the ironworks without attracting attention.
• If the player characters have not yet come across the legend of Lake Hären presented under Preparations (page 28), Alfred can tell it now, although it is not strictly necessary.

Countdown and Catastrophe

During the mystery the conflicts will escalate step by step. Unless the player characters steer the development in a different direction, the whole region will be plunged into disaster. The following events can be used to keep up the pace of the game when necessary, and to push the players toward the final confrontation.

Countdown

1. The dragon Fireheart wakes up and flies out over Lake Hären, and blasts one of the ironwork’s rafts with fire. If the player characters are at the ironworks, they can hear the screams and see the light of the flames. August sends his workers to save the Ore Boys on the raft. The player characters can also help out, making August see them in a more benevolent light. Few on the raft survive the attack, and those who do cannot give a coherent testimony.

2. Alfred Härenstam arrives at the ironworks, torn with anguish and waving his old musket around. But August mocks his brother and has the Swine disarm him and throw him out. The situation may turn violent unless the player characters intervene. Alfred may also recklessly reveal the player characters’ cover story, if they have one.

3. The dragon sweeps over the Häryd Ironworks and sets the entire facility ablaze. The Ore Boys flee in panic, but many are burned to death. The player characters can witness the calamity and might also be targeted themselves by the dragon’s attacks. After this event, August breaks down and can be pressured into telling the player characters how he stole the dragon’s treasure (page 25).

Catastrophe

Fireheart has had enough and burns down the entire region. People flee in terror as the beast comes flying over the forests, burning everything in its path. The player characters are also targeted by the dragon’s attacks, no matter where they are. Devastating fires are soon raging all over Smolandia and hundreds of farms are consumed by the flames. Dozens are burned to death and numerous more are robbed of their homes and livelihoods, which drives even more people to emigrate. Smolandia turns into a charred and depopulated wasteland.

The player characters’ investigation and their visit to the Häryd Ironworks can pan out in many different ways. Some possibilities are listed below:

• The player characters steal August’s treasure and remove it from the ironworks. August is mad with rage and pursues the thieves with Swine and some Ore Boys in tow. August suspects that Alfred is behind it and looks for him at the family farm, where a confrontation may take place.
• The player characters capture August and take him away from the ironworks, most likely to the family farm where Alfred is waiting. However, this is going to be difficult without confronting Swine.
• The player characters are captured by Swine and August. If only some of the player characters are caught, the others can try to free them – otherwise they will have to escape on their own, possibly with the help of Alfred. If this succeeds, they can then try to steal the treasure or take August away as described above. If the dragon’s enchantment over August has not yet been broken when phase 3 of the countdown occurs (page 30), it will be after the dragon’s attack on the ironworks. When that happens, August regains his senses and breaks down. Even if the player characters are his captives, they now have a chance to speak with August.

August Confesses

When the dragon’s spell over August is broken, regardless of how it is done, he starts to have doubts, which allows the characters to reason with him and make him tell them about the dragon and the cave. Make a MANIPULATION test. If the player characters fail, Alfred can get his brother to talk. The conflict with August can be resolved peacefully or violently – especially if Swine is still in the picture.

Once August’s resistance has broken down, the brothers are reunited, and August asks Alfred’s forgiveness for what he has done. August tells them how as children he and Alfred found a treasure in a cave guarded by a terrible serpentine monster. Alfred nods in agreement. If the player characters ask why Alfred never mentioned this, he replies truthfully that he never realized this story had anything to do with August’s change of mental state.

August explains that he found his way back to the cave many years later, to take the gold and save his family from destitution by setting up the ironworks. Player characters who have found his diary (Handout 2C) will already know all this.

Beata Shows Up

At an appropriate time during (or immediately after) the conversation with August, the evangelist Beata Gideonsdotter shows up. If the player characters are at the Härenstam family farm, she finds them there instead. Now that the dragon’s enchantment is broken, she too has regained her senses. She is full of remorse and anger towards the creature that twisted her mind.

Beata explains that she has heard stories of the beast in the woods since she was a child, and she is sure that the Devil himself is lurking out there. She desperately wants to help the player characters slay the beast, one way or the other. She suspects that the dragon’s lair is situated somewhere in the wilderness east of Lake Hären, but does not know its exact location.

Planning

Player characters who did well with their LEARNING test (page 39) know that the dragon must be driven away, or the entire area will be wiped out. If they do not realize this, August, Alfred, or Beata can enlighten them. If the player characters nevertheless think their work here is done and wish to leave Smolandia, let them do so. The Catastrophe (page 30) will then occur and large parts of Smolandia will be reduced to ashes.

More likely, however, the player characters will decide to track down the dragon’s lair and face the beast with violence or trickery. If they hesitate, August or Beata urges them on – they must get rid of the dragon! There are several ways of achieving this:

• Appeasing the dragon with a suitable offering or gift. August’s treasure is an obvious choice.
• Tricking the dragon into leaving Smolandia. It will not be easy but might work if the player characters are silver-tongued and clever.
• Fighting the dragon with violence. This will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, but let the players give it a try if they want to.
• Fighting the dragon indirectly, for example by blowing up the entrance to its cave. At the ironworks there are several barrels of black powder that the player characters can take with them. Whatever they decide to do, August brings the treasure and his lantern with him. Alfred stuffs a small barrel of black powder into his satchel without telling anyone.

To the Dragons Lair

August knows the way to the dragon’s lair and leads the group there. Alfred comes with them as well, as does Beata.

The quickest way to reach the cave is to row across the lake, then walk a few hundred meters into the woods on Pine Hill. There are rowing boats on the beach. If the player characters choose to walk through the forest all the way around the lake, it will take much longer, which means another phase of the countdown may occur.

Set the atmosphere during the player characters’ journey to the cave. If they row across the lake, you can describe the mirror-like water and the heat that makes the air throb around them. Smoke from several forest fires rises from the woods around the lake.

Finally, they arrive. On the east side of the lake, on the slopes of Pine Hill, the terrain is steep and rugged. August shows them the entrance, a small crevice hidden behind a large boulder in the forest. It is time to descend into the darkness.

Into the Darkness

After a short climb the player characters find themselves in a deep natural cave. It is pitch-black down here, even during the day, so August leads the way with his lantern. See the map on the next page, but do not show it to the players.

Describe how the heat rises the farther into the cave they go. The sharp stench of sulfur invades their nostrils, and there is something that sounds like… breathing. Some distance into the cave, someone has carved the letters “A&A Andersson” into the stone – traces of the brothers’ first visit here, many years ago. If the characters press on into the mountain, they finally reach the dragon’s lair – a large cave fifty meters across with twenty meters to the ceiling.

Resting on a large heap of glittering gold is a giant reptile with huge wings. Even NPCs without the Sight can see the dragon here, as it makes no attempt to hide inside its own cave. Its breathing is so heavy it makes the walls quiver, and flames shoot from its nostrils with every exhalation. Beyond the dragon is a dark flooded tunnel which Fireheart uses to get in and out of the cave. Over the centuries the water has receded enough for the dragon to fly out that way. The tunnel leads to a cave entrance by the rocky shore of the lake.

The sight of the dragon is terrifying – all player characters must immediately make a Fear test, but only against Fear value 1, since the dragon is still asleep. As they move through the cave where the dragon is resting, the characters must make STEALTH tests not to awaken the beast. Let the players decide what to do. You can now also let the characters roll OBSERVATION to resist the dragon sickness (page 31).

Sooner or later the dragon wakes up, no matter how stealthy the characters are. Fireheart rises, towering with his wings over the player characters, who suddenly feel very small. In a thunderous voice he asks who intrudes upon his dwelling. Now the player characters must make another FEAR test against the dragon’s full Fear value, which is 2.

Final Showdown

The time has come for the mystery’s crescendo: the final showdown with the dragon. It can play out in many different ways depending on the player characters’ actions. The NPCs present can make a difference as well, but let the players take the lead.

Combat

Player characters who engage the dragon in combat will have a tremendous fight on their hands (see page 45 for stats). Let the dragon use its magic to make the fight as exciting as possible – in addition to breathing fire and slashing with its claws, it can shapeshift, distort the player characters’ vision, and hypnotize them with its gaze. Meanwhile, the player characters can benefit greatly from Beata’s obsidian dagger. If the fight is going badly for the characters, you should give them a chance to switch tactics and negotiate with the dragon.

Negotiation

Player characters trying to bargain with Fireheart must first explain who they are. Make this a tense conversation where the players must choose their words with great care. The dragon speaks in a booming voice and uses its magic in a negotiation as well, reading the characters’ minds or twisting their senses. Perhaps a player character is struck by visions of an important NPC from their past?

If the dragon realizes that the person who stole his treasure and his fire is among them, his wrath will be terrible. The player characters can make a MANIPULATION test to placate the dragon. But even if it succeeds, Fireheart demands that the gold be returned to him, in exchange for him sparing the area and resuming his slumber. If the roll fails, the dragon will require some additional sacrifice, such as August’s life.

Cunning

The players might find some clever way of tricking the dragon, blowing up the cave’s entrance with gunpowder, flooding it with water, or something else that would force the dragon to leave. Do not make it easy, but if the players come up with a smart and creative plan you should give it a chance to succeed.

Beata

Beata sees the fight against the dragon as a sacred act. Since she believes Fireheart to be an incarnation of the Devil, a negotiation is out of the question – the dragon must die. If the player characters start bargaining with beast, she will attack the dragon suddenly and without warning. She uses magic and her obsidian dagger, which is a real threat to the dragon. The player characters can fight alongside her or try to stop her with violence or MANIPULATION.

Alfred

Having learned of August’s treasure, the dragon sickness has taken root in Alfred as well. He sees the dragon’s treasure and fire as the key to success and happiness across the Atlantic, in America. When Alfred sees the dragon’s huge treasure in the cave, he becomes fully enchanted. If the player characters and August offer to return the dragon’s gold, Alfred takes action. He takes out a small powder keg from his satchel and lights the fuse, ready to throw the charge at Fireheart.

The player characters can try to stop him with violence or MANIPULATION, but they must act quickly. The charge has Blast Power 10 against everyone in the same zone as the dragon and Blast Power 3 against anyone in adjacent zones (the entire cave). The explosion is deafening and may also cause the cave to collapse, with unforeseeable consequences.

If Alfred no longer has the powder keg, he can try to stop the return of the treasure some other way, for example by convincing or even attacking August and/or the player characters.

August

During the climax, August is the most amenable of the NPCs. He feels profound guilt over everything that has happened and is ready to give up his gold and even his life if that is what it takes for the dragon to spare the others – particularly his brother Alfred.

Dragon Sick Characters

Player characters can also be afflicted by the dragon sickness in the cave, and act accordingly (see boxed text on page 31). They can resist the effect by rolling OBSERVATION, but if it fails they might need to be stopped by force.

The Dragon Departs

If Fireheart is placated by getting its gold back, or if it’s defeated in combat, the entire cave starts to shudder violently. Rocks fall from the ceiling and the ground starts to collapse. The dragon (and the gold, if he got it back), slides down into the depths with a thundering roar. The player characters need to run for their lives toward the entrance to survive. If you’re feeling mean, you can have them roll AGILITY to make it. Back on the surface, they can finally relax – the dragon’s cave is gone and the beast with it. For the first time since they came to Smolandia, the characters feel a breeze of cool air.

The outcome of this mystery can have huge consequences for both Smolandia and the NPCs involved.

• If Fireheart is defeated or agrees to go back to sleep – probably on the condition that the gold be returned to him – the threat to Smolandia is averted for now. The temperature drops to normal, the rain returns, and the land recovers.
• If the player characters fail to appease or defeat Fireheart, the Catastrophe occurs. The dragon ravages all of Smolandia and hundreds of farms go up in flames. Dozens of people are killed in the fires and many more are robbed of their homes and livelihoods, causing even more people to emigrate. Smolandia turns into a charred and depopulated wasteland.
• If the Härenstam brothers manage to keep either the dragon’s treasure or its fire – or both – they leave Smolandia to seek their fortune in America. They establish a new ironworks in Pennsylvania, which becomes a huge success.
• If the brothers lose both the treasure and the dragon fire, they remain in Smolandia and live a simple but happy life as furniture makers. For the player characters there is little left to do but return to their headquarters in Upsala, where they are awarded experience points.