Explore24 is a daily wilderness exploration adventure using a ttrpg of my own design, inspired by the OSR and heavily influenced by CastleGrief's Kal-Arath. One day in the real world equals one day in the game world. You can follow along with the adventure on Instagram or Substack Notes.
Day 1, Summer 7
Minerva Seabright and her companion, Tara Fletcher, departed the fishing village of Freecove on the seventh [2D6 = 7] day of Summer. Minerva, a scholar of Rune Lore, had arrived by fishing boat three days earlier in search of a rumored site of runic significance near the village. As the foremost wilderness guide for miles, Tara was the obvious choice of guide for the first-time adventurer and they quickly became fast friends.
At dawn of Minerva’s fourth day in Freecove, Tara led them out of the village, following alongside a happily bubbling stream, and into an old growth pine forest. Despite the cloudy sky seen at times peeking between boughs of the ancient sea-blown pines, the first day of their journey westward proved wholly uneventful.
By dusk, they were wandering still beneath the shadows of great red-trunked pines that rose dozens of feet into the air. Tara found a spot by the stream that was flat enough for them to comfortably sleep and they set to making camp. With a small fire, they ate their fill of hard bread and dried meat. Though Tara stayed up long into the night, keeping watch, she too soon fell asleep, and nothing disturbed their slumber the night long.
Day 2, Summer 8
The clouds cleared overnight, and the day dawned clear and bright. Tara covered the fire with sand and dirt from the stream bank and gathered her bearings.
“Ready to go?” she asked a still sleepy Minerva.
“As ready as I’ll ever be this early,” the scholar mumbled.
Tara once again led Minerva along the bubbling stream, heading west toward the Rune Scholar’s supposed goal. The day progressed as the last, without incident, until mid-afternoon. Tara quietly called a halt and motioned for Minerva to stay put. The guide crept ahead, sticking to the cover of the pinewood. She was soon lost to view but trotted back after only a few minutes. Motioning Minerva forward, Tara led her to a macabre scene. Five human corpses, geared for travel, were strewn haphazardly across the ground, blood and entrails soaking into the earth.
“Looks like wild animals. Maybe wolves?” Minerva suggested, crouching near one of the bodies.
“Wolves don’t cover their tracks,” Tara replied from where she was studying the sand and dirt in search of footprints. “Something is off here. What prints that were here have been well covered.”
Adventure
“Do you recognize any of them?” Minerva asked, stepping away from the grisly scene.
“Actually, now that you ask it, I do.” The guide crouched near the body closest to the stream, and then said, “This is Kalnark of Hempfield, a fellow guide.”
Adventure
“I am sorry,” Minerva said quietly. “Were you close?”
“His husband and I were childhood friends. But no, we were not close,” Tara answered, then continued speaking after a heavy pause. “Would you be alright if we took the time to bury them? It’ll mean stopping here for the night.”
“Far be it from me to withhold a proper burial for the unfortunate souls,” Minerva replied. “Do you want my help?”
“My thanks, friend. I can handle it.”
“Then I shall light a fire and search the area for any edibles.”
Tara set to digging about twelve [2D6] feet from the stream while Minerva began to forage just inside the forest’s edge. Minerva quickly found a thicket of plump bramble-berries and gathered enough for a couple of days split between the two of them.
Adventure
By dusk, the scholar had a small fire blazing. A tired and dirt-stained Tara sat quietly, munching on a handful of bramble-berries.
“We will pass near to Hempfield by tomorrow evening. We should stop there and resupply before continuing. I can also pay a visit to Lethon, Karnak’s husband, and give him the news,” Tara said.
“A soft bed would be most welcome.”
Tara nodded and laid down on her bedroll and fell asleep. Minerva kept vigil for a time, before falling asleep herself. Nothing disturbed them in the night.
Resource Update
Day 3, Summer 9
The third day of the journey out of Freecove dawned clear and comfortable, with a cool breeze blowing in from the north, cutting through the summer heat. Tara paid her final respects to the fallen adventuring party, then they began their trek once again. They continued to follow the stream, as Tara knew it passed through Hempfield Village. Around midday, they stepped out of the dappled light of the forest into a broad field full of summer flowers and high grasses. Suddenly, Tara stopped and drew her bow. Knocking an arrow, she knelt and looked over at Minerva.
“Something is coming. Be wary.”
Minerva gripped her hefty walking stick, a branch expertly shaped with the Rune indicating scholarship carved into the knobby head, in both hands and braced herself. The eerie sound of howls, too close for comfort, rang out through the pinewood. Suddenly, three black wolves—scrawny, as if underfed—prowled into the clearing. Behind them came two short and stocky humanoids with green skin. Minerva gasped, utterly stunned to behold what was—to her academic mind—legends come to life.
“Goblins?” Tara voiced her disbelief. The guide knocked an arrow and pulled it back to her ear even as the largest of the two goblins raised a rusty hackblade and warbled. The wolves yipped as they charged ahead toward the two adventurers.
Tara loosed her arrow at the largest goblin. The arrow pierced the goblin in the throat and buried itself up to the black-hawk feather fletching. The goblin fell just as the first wolf, the smallest of the three, barreled headlong toward Minerva. The scholar brought her staff down in a fierce blow that caved in the wolf’s head and left it dying in the grass. A second wolf sprang at Minerva, but she just managed to move out of its path.
The third wolf and the other goblin attacked Tara simultaneously, but the nimble guide deftly evaded teeth and dagger, dropping her bow and drawing her longsword in the process. Minerva, fueled by adrenaline and self-preservation, spun her staff and struck the second wolf a deadly blow, splattering fur, blood, and bits of skull all over her. Even as the second wolf fell to the scholar’s blow, Tara’s longsword flashed in the sun as she brought it down in a fierce overhead slash, splitting the wolf’s head in twain. The surviving goblin screeched in panic, dropping its rusty dagger and sprinting as fast as its short legs would carry it into the forest.
Adventure
Combat (Tara)
Combat (Minerva)
Combat (Enemies)
Combat (Minerva)
Combat (Enemies)
Combat (Tara)
Combat (Enemies)
Combat (Tara)
Combat (Enemies)
“You alright?” Tara asked, breathing heavily.
“Fine,” Minerva replied unsteadily.
“You were vicious with that staff,” Tara remarked approvingly.
“I…just reacted.”
“First time?”
Minerva nodded, trying to calm her frayed nerves.
“Doesn’t get easier. On a positive note, I think we avenged Kalnark and his party.”
“That would explain the wounds and the covered tracks, yes.”
“I’m going to check the goblin and then we should move on.”
“Agreed.”
Tara searched the goblin corpse, but only found a crudely carved bone whistle. Discarding it, she motioned to Minerva to follow. They spent the rest of the afternoon traveling in silence, arriving at Hempfield at dusk. Tara led Minerva to the village’s inn. They paid for a shared room and a hot meal, which they ate before turning in for the night. The two women, exhausted from the experiences of the day were quickly and deeply asleep.
Adventure
Resource Updates
Day 4, Summer 10
The next morning, Tara left Minerva to purchase some supplies for their journey and went to find Kalnark’s husband, Lethon. She found him working in the rope-making workshops that lined the hemp fields between the village and the pinewood. Lethon, a former adventurer and guide himself, was not surprised to hear of his husband’s fate—though he was visibly distraught.
“I am glad to know you avenged Kalnark’s death, Tara. For that I will forever be grateful,” the rope-maker said through sobs. “The old folks have tales of the goblins, but I never thought them to be true. Do you think there are more out there?”
“I cannot say,” Tara replied. “The one that got away must have gone somewhere, we caught no sight of him on our way here.”
“I will warn the town militia and see if they will double patrols in the fields,” Lethon said, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Here, take this rope. I don’t have much in the way of reward for giving Kalnark a proper burial or bringing me the news, but this may be useful on your journey.”
“You don’t have to give me anything, old friend.”
“No, but I insist. Take it, Tara.”
Tara took the coiled hemp rope, estimating it to be about fifty feet in length. She strung it through the straps of her field pack and said her goodbyes to Lethon.
Meanwhile, Minerva paid a visit to the local bakers. She purchased enough traveler’s bread and dried meat to last them another week in exchange for the all of their combined Silver. When she and Tara met back up outside the inn, they portioned out the food and began their journey westward once more.
In the afternoon, they reached a dirt path traveling north through the forest and crossing the river by way of a stone and wood bridge. By the side of the road, they found an abandoned wagon. One of its wheels was lying cock-eyed in a rut. There were no people or animals around to be seen, and, when Tara inspected the dirt for tracks, she found none.
“Looks to have been abandoned for a while. Doesn’t look like anyone has been through here since then either,” the guide said.
“It’s empty as well,” Minerva observed. “Perhaps they went to Hempfield.”
“Perhaps. But we’d be best to stick to the trees and stay vigilant.”
Adventure
The two continued on their westward journey, following the river until it turned to the north. At the bend, Tara called a halt for the night and the two set up camp. They ate some of the berries and a hunk of dried traveler’s bread for dinner and soon fell asleep. Nothing but the night sounds of the forest could be heard through the night.
Day 5, Summer 11
Clouds blocked the sun more than usual as the two explorers woke and prepared to set out on the next leg of their journey. Tara estimated that they had at least three more days of travel to the west before they’d be in the vicinity of the rumored runic site.
Sometime during the late morning, the women stumbled upon the corpse of a well-fed, wool-laden sheep. Tara immediately set to searching for tracks and finds clear signs of at least three humans and hoof prints of countless sheep.
“Look at this,” Minerva called, crouching over the sheep’s body. Tara joined her. “These gashes. Do they look familiar?”
“Whatever killed this sheep did so with a dull blade.”
“Dull, or rusty.”
“You don’t think that goblin did this?” the guide asked.
“Maybe. Perhaps down on their luck outlaws might wield rusty blades?”
“We know the goblin is out here. Somewhere,” Tara said, looking around. “But whatever it was, the shepherds and their flock were here when it happened. The ground is a mess of human and hoof prints.”
“If it was the goblin, it looks like they scared it off.”
“Let’s hope for good,” Tara said. “We should leave this for the beasties. We won’t need food for days yet.”
“I don’t fancy carrying raw meat anyway, not in the summer heat.”
Adventure
They pressed on for the rest of the day, reaching another clearing by dusk and setting up camp. They sat around the campfire in companionable silence, eating dried meat and bread. Tara gazed thoughtfully into the fire, while Minerva stared up into the violet heavens and the innumerable sparks of light contained within them.
Minerva was the first to wake. The noise of bleating and hushed human voices filled her dreams, and drove her to consciousness. Standing all around the dying embers of their campfire were wool-laden sheep. She spotted a man, a woman and two young girls dressed in homespun clothing and carrying crooked staffs standing in a tight circle just beyond the reach of the fire light.
“Tara, wake up,” she whispered, kicking the guide gently in the thigh.
Tara groaned and rolled over, facing Minerva. “What is it?”
Minerva pointed, and the guide turned over. She gasped quietly and drew her longsword from its scabbard as she sat up. Minerva followed quickly, drawing her dagger from its sheath on her belt.
“What are you doing here,” Tara called.
The sheep began to bleat and scurry about, bumping into one another and the legs of the shepherds. The man turned to Tara, his staff held in both hands and a look of distrust on his face. The children huddled behind the woman, whom Minerva supposed was their mother.
“We could ask you the same thing, stranger,” the man called back. “Are you associated with the thing that slaughtered one of our ewes?”
“Thing?” Tara asked.
“Was it short and thick, with green skin?” Minerva piped up.
“It was,” the man replied cautiously. “How do you know it.”
“We slew its companion and three of their tamed wolves two days past, on the far side of Hempfield.”
“There were more of them?” the woman blurted, her face showing true fright.
“We only saw the two,” Tara answered calmly. “The second one escaped while we dealt with the wolves.”
“I believe you; may we approach your fire?”
“Come, come,” Minerva said, smiling broadly and motioning them forward. “I am Minerva, a scholar of ancient history.”
“And I am Tara, wilderness guide currently based in Freecove.”
“My name is Iskan. This is my beloved Kelthia and our children, Iskia and Kelthan. Our flock, those that you can see, numbers about four hundred. We graze them in the forest meadows in the summer before we take them south for the winter.”
“Welcome, Iskan. Kelthia. Iskia and Kelthan,” Minerva said, still smiling. “Come and sit. Tell us what happened.”
The family of shepherds sat around the newly stoked fire, eating their own rations and telling the adventurers how the goblin sprang down from a branch onto the back of their sheep right in front of poor Iskia’s eyes.
“Thankfully,” Iskan concluded. “I was close by and was able to fend off the creature. It ran west, toward the old ruins.”
“Old ruins?” Minerva asked, her curiosity peaked.
“Aye, ruins. Ancient if my pa is to be believed. We don’t go there, and the sheep give it a wide berth.”
“That might be where we are heading,” Tara whispered to Minerva, who nodded eagerly.
“How far is this ruin?” Minerva asked.
“About three days as the sheep travel,” Iskan answered. “The two of you could make it in half that. It is to the southwest of the Shepherds Stake.”
“What’s the Shepherds Stake?” Minerva asked.
“It is a tract of arable land that was deeded to the nomadic shepherd tribes by a king or lord long ago. Some of our folk keep it and grow what food we need that one cannot find in the wild.”
“We will make for the Stake at dawn,” Tara said, smiling at Minerva’s excitement.
“The dawn is not far off now,” Kelthia said. “We thank you for your hospitality. Be sure to tell the headwoman at the Stake that Kelthia sends her love.”
“And with that,” Iskan said, rising, “we must be off. The flocks will begin to disperse at first light and we needs be further east by end of day. Farewell, Minerva. Tara.”
The two adventurers watched as the shepherds gathered their things and walked off into the graying forest.
Adventure
Day 6, Summer 12
The temperate weather changed dramatically by sunrise, with the clouds that had been steadily building over the last two days erupting in torrential rain. Tara, skilled at wilderness travel as she was, could not see more than five feet in front of her and after a few hours of trekking through the mud, muck, and soaking precipitation, she realized they were lost. By mid-afternoon, they stumbled out of the woods, only to find themselves back in the clearing they had spent the previous night. Miserable and irritated, Tara called a halt and used some deadwood to create a makeshift shelter just inside the tree line.
Tara sat in silence, water dripping down her face from her drenched black hair. Minerva, equally miserable, but less irritated, attempted to meditate. The guide’s constant sighing and aggravated huffing made it impossible to focus inward.
“It could have happened to anyone,” Minerva tried to engage her friend.
“This is my life’s work; I should be able to navigate even in these conditions.”
“A fellow student back at the Academy often felt like they should be perfect in all the things they attempted. It quickly led to disappointment. Don’t do that to yourself.”
“I will try,” Tara muttered, then gave Minerva a half smile. “Thanks, Minerva. For not being upset about the delay.”
“Think nothing of it, my friend.”
The two sat in companionable silence as the rain bombarded their shelter, finding its way through despite Tara’s best efforts. They ate soaked through bread and a bit of the berries Minerva collected a couple days previous and tried to sleep.
Resource Update
Day 7, Summer 13
The torrential rain stopped near midnight, and by morning the clouds had been burned away by the summer sun. Its light warmed the two adventurers’ faces as they woke and broke camp. Tara, feeling more herself after the depression of the previous day, gathered her bearings and led them west once again.
The pine trees, though thinner than they had been, marched unendingly ahead, interrupted only by small meadows like the one they camped in the past two nights. Minerva, who was considering what they might find at the old ruin the shepherds had told them of, stopped in her tracks and looked up into the trees.
“Tara, look.”
The guide also stopped walking and looked up to where Minerva was pointing. In the boughs of the trees were more than a dozen black and red feathered Carcass Hawks. The birds ranged in size from about eight inches tall to two feet, and their naked heads were equipped with a curved, razor-sharp beak. Their talons, currently gripping tightly onto the branches, were likewise sharp and extremely deadly. Their pale red eyes glared down at the two travelers.
“Watch yourself, Minerva,” Tara warned quietly. “Carcass Hawks are territorial if they are guarding their food.”
“Speaking of,” the scholar said, pointing at the carcass of a black-spotted cervid. “We might want to get out of here.”
As they began to move again, one of the larger hawks screamed and a flurry of wings reverberated through the forest.
“Get down!” Tara yelled, diving to the ground.
She was not quick enough, and a small hawk managed to rake its talons across her shoulders and back. She cried out in pain as she hit the ground. Minerva, however, managed to dodge three diving hawks and shoulder rolled her way past the deer carcass. The hawks quickly wheeled around, surprisingly agile, and focused their attention on Tara.
Adventure
Combat (Tara)
Combat (Enemies)
Combat (Minerva)
Minerva scooped up a small stone from the ground and threw it as hard as she could at one of the hawks now standing on the ground beside her friend. The rock flew true, smacking the bird in the back of the head. It swayed on its feet but did not fall. Tara, however, desperate to escape the vicious beaks and talons of the carrion fowl, reached out and grabbed a small specimen by the naked throat, squeezing and swinging her arm violently. The sickening crack of the bird’s neck echoed through the forest, silencing the screeching hawks. Time seemed to stop as the creatures looked at their dead flock mate hanging limply from Tara’s clenched fist. The largest of the birds, still perched in a tree, cawed loudly and the other birds withdrew. In a flurry of wings, the birds fled deeper into the forest.
Combat (Minerva)
Combat (Tara)
Combat (Enemies)
“Are you ok?” Minerva asked, rushing to Tara’s side.
“I’ll be fine,” the guide said boldly. “I’ve certainly had worse.”
“Let me heal your wound, at least.”
Tara looked at the scholar quizzically. Minerva reached into the leather pouch hanging from her belt and pulled out a smooth obsidian cube. Runes were etched into each surface and painted with a strange golden hue. As Minerva held the cube, she began to murmur strange words. The runes on the cube began to glow brightly and she placed her hand on Tara’s wounded shoulder. Warmth flooded through her shoulder and down her back, knitting the ragged wounds back together. Within a few seconds, her back felt better than it had in a long time.
Rune Casting (Minerva)
“What was that?!” Tara asked, stunned.
“Rune magic. Surely, you’ve heard of it.”
“Of course, everyone has. But I’ve never seen it done, much less felt it.”
“I only have the one Rune, but it has its uses. My grandmother was a Rune Scholar like me, and she passed the Restore Rune down to me when I graduated from the Academy.”
“I owe her my thanks then,” Tara said. “And you as well. I’ve not felt this good in a long time.”
“Think nothing of it,” Minerva said, blushing. She offered Tara a hand up. “What are you going to do with that?”
Tara looked down at the carcass in her hand, then tossed it into the underbrush. “I’ve eaten Carcass Hawk before. I don’t recommend it. Its flock will come back after we’ve passed on, let them deal with it.”
They pressed on, reaching a wide clearing in which several folks were harvesting summer squash and corn from the fields. A burly man with his shirt tied around his waist stepped out of the field and approached them.
“Hail strangers,” the man said in a deep, booming voice.
“And well met,” Tara replied. “Is this Shepherds’ Stake?”
“It is,” the man answered. “How do you know of it?”
“We met Iskan and his family two nights back,” Minerva replied before Tara could speak. “They told us of the old ruin somewhere south of here. We intend to go there.”
“That is an unwise choice, friend.”
“Perhaps, but we must go anyway.”
“If Iskan and Kelthia told you of our home, they must trust you. So, we will as well. Come, I shall take you to meet the headwoman. You may call me Bargen.”
“I am Minerva, and this is my friend, Tara.”
Bargen nodded at the women and led them around the fields and to a large tent. Inside, he introduced them to a woman, Lelandra, who could not have been much older than Minerva. The scholar was surprised to find someone so young as the headwoman of the shepherd tribe. They explained to her what had befallen Iskan and his family. She was not as surprised as Minerva expected when they spoke of the goblin.
“I feared it might be so,” Lelandra said. “My predecessors recorded dealings with the goblins beneath the old ruin. My folk are a superstitious lot and trust the instincts of the flock. We do not go near the ruin, and the goblins have let us be for many generations. If they are active again, it does not bode well for my people—or any of us.”
“We must go to the ruin,” Minerva said. “It is the whole reason I came to this place.”
“You go into death, friend. But if you must go, perhaps you can determine the strength of the goblin warband and what might be leading them to go raiding once more after all these years.”
“That we can do,” Tara assured the headwoman. “I have no desire to see these goblins rampage through our home.”
“Shall I send Barben with you as guide? He knows these lands well, and can take you to the ruin tomorrow.”
“We would welcome the numbers. Especially if the goblins are gearing for war as you suspect,” Minerva said, suddenly more confident in their chances.
“I will have him prepare himself. You are welcome in our camp this night, but I must insist you eat your own victuals. Our harvest is small this season and we have many mouths to feed. I am truly sorry.”
“Do not think anything of it, Lelandra,” Minerva said. “We have plenty of food for ourselves.”
“You are kind. It is not often we meet outsiders with such kind hearts.”
Minerva blushed, unable to respond to the sudden compliment.
“We thank you for your hospitality, Lelandra. Tell Bargen we will depart at dawn.”
The explorers left the headwoman’s tent and were led to a small clearing where they were told they could build a fire and camp for the night. They talked about the prospect of a goblin raid, and what they might find in the old ruin as they ate their bread and berries, then turned in for the night.
Adventure
Resource Update
If you made it to the end of this first week of exploration, thank you so much for reading! Next Tuesday, we'll see what the next week of exploration looks like for our intrepid explorers.
