Nobody Home – Session #4 Design
With the session start, the players have decisions to
make. They are now 4th level,
having raised level after the end of last session. They are also very likely exhausted and wiped
out of spells and resources. Plus, now
Delix the tax collector lies dead at their feet.
Gerrett runs up with a woman of dusky skin and yellow eyes. Very quickly, let them have a conversation
concerning the fate of the village with Delix dead. Gerrett will be going after the leukodaemon
and other summoned creatures which are attacking the town and surrounding
farms. He is leading in farmers to the
town to centralize against the attacks, and using friends of his to assist,
including the woman, Quaithe, the new PC.
He will run off after briefly talking with Cenn and the party, more
concerned with those under his protection.
Cenn and the party should have a serious discussion about
what the party can do next. By this
point, the party should have a bit of a attachment with the village and what
happens to it. Options, none perfect:
·
The PCs continue with going to the next villages
Delix was to visit and let them know of a “delay.” That will mean the guards and a town
representative, probably Cenn, will need to travel to Korvosa with Delix’s body
and explain what has happened. Soldiers
will almost certainly be sent to investigate.
Cenn can also visit the Korvosan Church of Sarenrae for a replacement
priest, especially as the lawful mayor of the town.· The PCs instead take Delix’s body to Korvosa with the guards and represent the town in explaining what has happened. Cenn would then go to the other villages surrounding, with protection from locals or Gerrett’s friends. Korvosa will still likely send investigators, but the party might be able to quell some of the higher emotions on behalf of the city . . . or they could make it worse, depending. Also, the characters have some impetus already to go to Korvosa to do research and to buy equipment.
· Either way, Quaithe will be joining them as their guide. She has some familiarity with the area and is good in the wilderness.
· Let the PCs decide which course to take, or if they wish to take a different direction altogether.
Let the players recover and then set out. The encounters to follow can work for either
of the two main choices.
Point out when they set out on the road that it is late
Autumn, the days are shorter and nights longer, and the air has a crisp, cold
feel of impending snow in it. They may
want to get some winter gear before setting out from the village.
Encounter: Village of
Hunnell
After they travel for a full day and a half, they come up to
the first village. Give color of the
surrounding area, including the mountains in the background, another spire
nestled a few miles away high on a hill to the west, and the hilly landscape. They are still in the foothills of the
mountains, and the land is rugged with the farmers working the land hard to
grow crops. There are also folks who cut
trees for lumber for other areas in Varisia, and the trees are pine, very hardy
and used to cold.
Upon entering the village, they are noticing no one around. No one in the streets, doors open and banging
slightly in the breeze, laundry half hung as if suddenly abandoned. If they enter buildings, it’s as if people
just suddenly left, with food half eaten, signs of work left half worked,
etc. And not a soul to be seen. Also, there are strange rock formations in
the streets, not many, but a few. Some
are by doorways or in yards. If someone
examines, as it seems odd that boulders would be left in such strange places
around the town, the boulders seem incredibly smooth-looking to the eye: no chips, no fissures, no polish, just
smooth. If someone tries to touch, a DC
15 Reflex save is needed or they take 1d2 damage from burning (actually,
friction, but they won’t know that). If
they use a sharp object like a dagger or sword to touch a boulder, a CMB of +12
vs. their CMD or the object goes flying 10’ away. If they keep hold, the sharp object digs in a
little into the boulder and they are suddenly splashed with blood in all
directions out to 5’.
If they enter the village farther than a block, they hear
singing, coming from all around them.
The song is:
It should play on loop.
Also, Detect Magic senses magic everywhere, overwhelming to the point of
headache inducing to the caster.
Abjuration, Conjuration, and Transformation are the strongest
demeanors.
About this time, they should also notice movement out of the
corner of their eyes if they are near any boulders. Humanoids moving. But when they look directly at where the
movement was, nothing is moving. A DC 15
Perception check (with +1 for every successive occurrence of the movement) will
let them notice that whatever boulder is in their view has moved from its
original spot. Once in a while when they
see movement, they should hear someone or something speak: “By the Grace of Sarenrae, help us!” or
“Mercy to us all!” or a scream or an inhuman cry.
Let them examine any buildings they want. They can see a brief outline of the village,
which is about three-times as large as Clearwater’s Gate. At the south end of town, which will be
exactly the opposite direction from where they arrive, there is a large
townhall/ church to Sarenrae. In front
of the space is what looks to be a scarecrow hanging on two crossed-pieces of
wood directly in front of the door, about 15’ out. Around its neck is a glowing blue
crystal. Morgrym should recognize it as
the same type of crystal he and his brother were mining for. The glow is pulsing slowly, and if a DC 22
Perception check is made over the course of 3 rounds, it is getting slower.
Any attempt to touch or remove the crystal activates the
guardian, and coincidentally, begins to pull folks and creatures out from the
stasis. The players will likely mistake
movement of the crystal for “breaking” the magical effect. In reality, which should come out later in
the game at a later date, the crystal has been draining away the magical stasis
in place, and it’s just coincidental timing that its work is almost
accomplished when they arrive.
Every other round for 7 rounds (a total of 4 instances), 2-3
common village folks and 1 monster should become free somewhere in the
village. The effect is actually a time
stasis, in which everyone is held in stasis and spinning around at enormous
speed, thus the effect when touching the “boulders.” The spinning does not impact the one in
stasis other than the actual stasis effect.
The blue crystal is draining away the stasis and slowly freeing folks
and creatures.
As background, when the village was put into stasis, it was
being attacked by 4 Urdefhan. These were
summoned by the two men who have Morgrym’s brother in captivity, who they are
using, under compulsion, as a blood donor/ material component to set the blue
crystal to work. The village under
attack is a test to see how the blue crystal works in draining away magical
effects such as the stasis. The Urdefhan
were summoned to kill all of the villagers upon the completion of the blue
crystal’s work, thus to leave no witnesses as to what truly was happening. The crystal was hung around the neck of a
guardian, a Scarecrow construct, in case someone ventured into the village and
tried to remove the crystal.
The singing is actually a choir in the townhall/ church to
Sarenrae, which was holding services when the effect went into place. This explains why very few people were in the
streets and why houses had dinner arrangements set and some food out (dinner
preparations for after the service). The
PCs now have to deal with a guardian and 4 Urdefhan trying to kill them and
villagers. The guards will protect the
body of Delix and fight in a group, trying to get some of the villagers in the
center so that the 3 of them can form a circle to protect. Robinn, who finds the whole village
experience to be frightening, is glued to Juliet as much as possible.
Scarecrow – CR 4, N Medium Construct, Init +0, Senses:
Darkvision 60', low-light vision, Perc. +0; AC 16, T 10, FF 16 (+6 Natural); HP
47 (5d10+20); F +1, R +1, W +1; Speed 20'; 2 Slams +8 (1d8+3); Special
Abilities: Fascinating Gaze – target
fascinated if within 30’, DC 14 Will negates, remains fascinated within 300’,
approach of Scarecrow not considered an obvious threat; Fear – touch causes
fear, DC 14 Will save to negate or cower and can only do Will save at end of
next round (and subsequent rounds), a successful first save leaves victim
shaken for 1 rd; Defensive Capabilities:
Immune – construct traits, cold; Special Qualities: freeze – can appear as inanimate, take 20 on
Stealth checks; Str 16, Dex 10, Con - , Int -, Wis 11, Cha 14; Base Atk +5, CMB
+8, CMD 18.
Scarecrow
4 Urdefhan – CR 3, NE
Medium Outsider (native), Init +1, Senses: Darkvision 120’, Perc. +7; AC 16, T
11, FF 15 (+3 armor, +1 Dex, +2 natural); HP 25 (3d10+9); F +6, R +4, W +4;
Speed 30’; Rhoka sword +8 (1d8+6/ 19-20), bite +2 (1d4+2 plus 2 Str unless DC
14 Fort) OR bite +7 (1d4+4 plus 2 Str unless DC 14 Fort), ranged composite bow
+4 (1d8+4/ x3); Defensive Capabilities:
negative energy affinity, SR 14, DR 5/ good or silver; Immune to
death effects, disease, fear, level drain; resist acid 10; Special Attacks:
blood drain (1 Con); Spell-like
Abilities: At will: Feather Fall; 3/day: align weapon, death
knell (DC 14), ray of enfeeblement (DC 13); Special Qualities: Daemonic Pact – as an immediate action, 50%
chance to let daemonic energy consume soul, creature dies and releases
5’-radius burst of negative energy for 2d6 dmg (DC 14 Reflex for half); Str 19,
Dex 12, Con 17 , Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 14; Base Atk +3, CMB +7, CMD 18;
Feats: Iron Will, Weapon Focus (rhoka
sword); Skills: Intim +8, Know (Planes)
+8, Perc +8, Ride +4, Sense Motive +7, Survival +7; Languages: Aklo, Undercommon.
Urdefhan
At round 3, a man named Trufargus, who was entering the
village right when the magical effect went off, will come out of the
stasis. He should hear the fighting and
the screams of villagers, and will come running to give aid. At such time as he realizes Robinn is in the
village, he will call out in surprise, as will Robinn. He will also admonish the party to “protect
the boy,” as if they aren’t already.
Once the battle is done, conversations will take place. Robinn hugs Trufargus, who is very happy to
see the boy. He lets it be known that he
was hired by “parties in Korvosa” to investigate strange occurrences in the
villages around Korvosa. The villagers,
who will be coming out of stasis, will tell of two men and a dwarf, the dwarf
seemingly under duress, passing through the village and leaving the morning of
worship. Some villagers who were not at
worship said the town was attacked by horrible creatures, the Urdefhan, while a
stuffy-man walked into town with a blue crystal on its neck and hung itself up
in front of the main hall. The
adventures just appeared in front of the villagers, as far as they are
concerned. The stasis took away any
realization of time lapse, but upon questioning, they realize it has been 2 ½
days since the effect went into place.
The villagers are thankful for the party’s help, and that of
Trufargus. They give each party member
and Trufargus a potion of up to 3rd-level or a magical item of up to
500gp in value (if they have it, 30% chance).
The village is significantly larger than Clearwater’s Gate, and thus
they have slightly better resources. If
anyone takes notice, Trufargus gives whatever he claims to Robinn. Trufargus leaves soon after to continue his
investigations, but first has words with Robinn and whoever Robinn is near,
questioning what Robinn is doing away from Clearwater’s Gate and who the
players are to Robinn. They both
obviously know each other well, but are coy as to why. Once Trufargus receives assurances of
Robinn’s safety, he leaves.
The party is welcome to stay the night in the village to
rest. The local priest can assist with 1
Cure Disease spell and 2 Lesser Restorations for any party members in need
(likely Aean and possibly Juliet from the last game). When they wake the next morning, it is
snowing. Use the snowy terrain features
for the rest of the trip to Korvosa.
They should set out the next morning on to the next village,
named Wilheim Lodge, a logging community in the hills two days south. They are stopped before getting close enough
to the village to see it by soldiers, members of Korvosa’s Sable Company. They tell the party in no uncertain terms
that the village is quarantined and they must find another route south, either
east or west. They do not discuss anything
about the quarantine and will get easily angered if the orders are not followed.
The party will likely need to find camp as it is getting
dark early and it is beginning to snow again.
Only about 6 inches have fallen in two days, but the snow is beginning
to start again, a little heavier than before.
If the party or some of the party want to sneak towards the
village and investigate, let them. The
guards, if the party is travelling to Korvosa, will not leave Delix’s body, and
point out that they cannot delay too much time.
In the event of sneaking into the village, they see the village nestled
up against a tree-filled hill with a rocky cliff area rising above. Into this cliff is a huge round doorway/
gate/ borehole, surrounded by soldiers and what seem to be magic practitioners
of both the arcane and divine variety, chanting. A DC 22 Spellcraft from this distance
determines it is a powerful abjuration effect meant to keep outsiders
away. Any villagers on the street of the
village seem to move quickly about their business and keep indoors as much as
possible. The party members are over
500’ away from this activity. Unless
they make incredibly poor Stealth rolls or call attention to themselves, they
will not be noticed.
As the party members watch, two of the casters collapse, and
the doorway cracks open slightly. A DC
15 Perception check lets the party notice creatures exiting out of the
crack: more Cacodaemons and Urdefhan. What the guards and casters don’t notice that
the party members do is that some of these creatures quickly peel off into the
surrounding forest, unfortunately in the same direction as where the party made
camp.
The party members can race back to the camp to take on these
creatures. They should arrive 2 rounds
after the creatures do. Anyone left in
the camp will have 2 rounds of attacks to contend with before help
arrives.
If no one went to investigate, the attack just happens, with
a DC 18 Perception check to be part of a surprise round.
2 Cacodaemons - CR 2, NE Tiny Outsider (daemon, evil,
extraplanar), Init +4, Senses: Darkvision 60', Constant detect good, detect magic, Perc. +7; AC 16, T 12, FF 16 (+4
Natural, +2 size); HP 19 (3d10+3), fast healing 2; F +2, R +5, W +4; Defensive
Capabilities: DR 5/ good or silver,
Immune: acid, death effects, disease,
poison, Resist
cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; Speed 5’, fly 50’ (perfect);
Bite +6 (1d4+1 plus disease); Special Attacks: Disease – save Fort DC 12 onset
1 day, frequency 1/day, effect 1d2 Wisdom damage, cure – 2 consecutive saves,
any infected creature can be telepathically contacted by the Cacodaemon over
any distance on the same plane; Soul Lock (Bestiary 2 p. 64); Spell-like
Abilities: At will – invisibility (self
only), 3/day – Lesser Confusion (DC 12), 1/week – Commune (CL 12th,
6 questions); Str 12, Dex 11, Con 13 , Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 12; Base Atk +3, CMB
+1, CMD 12; Feats: Improved Initiative,
Lightning Reflexes; Skills: Bluff +7,
Fly +18, Know (Planes) +5, Perc +7, Stealth +14; Special Qualities: change shape (lizard, venomous snake).
2 Urdefhan: – CR 3, NE Medium Outsider (native), Init +1,
Senses: Darkvision 120’, Perc. +7; AC 16, T 11, FF 15 (+3 armor, +1 Dex, +2
natural); HP 25 (3d10+9); F +6, R +4, W +4; Speed 30’; Rhoka sword +8 (1d8+6/
19-20), bite +2 (1d4+2 plus 2 Str unless DC 14 Fort) OR bite +7 (1d4+4 plus 2
Str unless DC 14 Fort), ranged composite bow +4 (1d8+4/ x3); Defensive
Capabilities: negative energy affinity, SR 14, DR 5/
good or silver; Immune to death effects, disease, fear, level drain;
resist acid 10; Special Attacks: blood drain (1 Con); Spell-like Abilities: At will:
Feather Fall; 3/day: align weapon, death knell (DC 14), ray of
enfeeblement (DC 13); Special Qualities:
Daemonic Pact – as an immediate action, 50% chance to let daemonic
energy consume soul, creature dies and releases 5’-radius burst of negative
energy for 2d6 dmg (DC 14 Reflex for half); Str 19, Dex 12, Con 17 , Int 14,
Wis 13, Cha 14; Base Atk +3, CMB +7, CMD 18; Feats: Iron Will, Weapon Focus (rhoka sword);
Skills: Intim +8, Know (Planes) +8, Perc
+8, Ride +4, Sense Motive +7, Survival +7; Languages: Aklo, Undercommon.
The party finds odd bits and pieces of gold jewelry and
earrings with gems on the two Urdeghan, worth about 2,500gp total. Also, there are two rhoka swords and two
composite longbows (Str +4) with 20 arrows each. They also find medallions on each of the
Urdefhan with the same rune-sign etched into them as was on the ruins by the
lake. They almost appear to be holy
symbols for the creatures.
End of Session.
