OK, so I haven't done one of these for a while and a lot has happened since the last. First, I should say that "The End of 4E" was probably the last real adventure report, as it kind of summed up where we ended the last game.
But here we are, and as my players are now helping me to playtest D&D Next, there is a lot I can't tell you, but here it goes.
The game started with one of the party, our ranger, being summoned by his "handler" to go on a quest. Another of his "brothers" is missing and needs to be tracked down, as he is carrying something very important that needs to be either delivered or recovered. This something is in a satchel with a gold buckle that must not be opened under any circumstances.
The players head off towards the town of Kelbar to track down Orin Selwyn, the missing messenger, or Loklor, the intended recipient of the package. If Loklor has the package, then no harm is done and nobody need worry. If Selwyn is missing with the package, he may be a traitor and must be dispatched. One would assume that this should all be done with reasonable "discretion" ...
... unless they happen to be my players.
Now: in their defence, they are both 10 (the only adult player was not available this week, which made this quest of dubious morality easier to get on with as he plays a paladin). However, I did not expect them to inquire the whereabouts of Loklor from the town guards on the gate, a mistake which resulted in their immediate arrest. The charge was association with known criminals.
After a night in the cells, beside another poor unfortunate who looked as though he'd been set on fire (a thought which they were a little too comfortable with), they got to explain themselves to the guard captain, at which point the ranger told him everything!! That's right: EVERYTHING!!
Of course, the guard captain had the satchel and the poor unfortunate in the next cell was the missing Orin Selwyn whom, the guard captain reveals, was set on fire by none other than Loklor himself. At this point he informs the players that they have one night in town while the storm passes, but must leave by dawn the next day. The players agree and, after a completely uneventful night (I bet you didn't see that coming), they hire a couple of horses and decide to head back to the city to report in to the "handler".
Naturally this isn't going to be easy. As they approach a river they had crossed on the way here, they find it has been collapsed by the storm. The gap is too wide for the horses to jump and the drop to the river too steep and high for the horses to navigate, plus, horse theft is a crime, and if the players don't return the horses to a designated stable at the city they will be accused and potentially hanged.
Returning to the nearest hamlet, they are given two options: go east, up the hills towards a fording point, a shorter path, but one not often taken by travellers, though nobody is sure why; go west, to the lower bridge, which may have survived the storm, but is a longer route.
They decided to go the shorter path, much to my delight, and travel for the rest of the day with little incident. As night begins to fall the spot some house lights through the trees and make for the village. There is nobody in the street and all the doors are closed. Trying the first house, they find it unlocked. Nobody is within and there appears to be signs of a struggle. The second is also unlocked, but when they look into the second room they are attacked by a dog within. The ranger tries to use animal handling to calm the beast, but when he rolls a natural 20 and it still doesn't work, he knows something is wrong.
They force the beast outside and manage to close the doors, but the dog is determined and starts to chew its way through the shutters on one of the windows. By this point, things are getting a little freaky, and the players end up finishing off the dog. Uncomfortable in this house, they move on to the next, which they find locked.
The rogue pops the lock and they enter the building, to find themselves confronted by a human occupant who demands they lock the door immediately, before "the animals come". I overlayed this NPC a bit: she is holding a dinner knife, dirty and dishevelled, refusing to look the players in the eyes. She rants a bit and carries out automatic actions with a quickness that they find discomfitting. It isn't long before they're nervous.
Talking to the woman reveals a few things: the village has changed since "the priests" came. They spoke grandly of protecting the villagers, but then went to the cave to the north. That's when the animals became "possessed". It couldn't have been "the priests" of course, so it must have been soemone else. Conveniently "the priests" come back to town with the bodies of some "intruders". Again the speak of protecting the village and some of the townsfolk agree. That's when the people start to change.
The night is coming and its time for watch. During the first watch, the ranger hears the noise of a great many animals moving around outside, howling, snarling and sniffing at the door. This continues through the night, and one of the players gives the woman a dagger to protect herself with.
As morning dawns, the players go out to investigate and see the town tracked too and fro with animal tracks. They decide to make a break for it, and go to the horses. One has been injured in the night, but they make for the trees. They don't get far before they are being harried by two wolves. Trying to shoot from horseback, they finish one off, but one of the horses becomes panicked and it and the rogue are disappearing off into the trees.
The ranger decides to face off the second wolf. He gets his horse stopped and jumps down, but the wolf manages to finish off the horse! The ranger kills the beast before it can finish him, but realises there are more animals coming through the trees. The only way to go is back to the village.
Meanwhile, the rogue has managed to get her horse back under control, but becomes aware of an approaching bear. She too realises that she is becoming surrounded and the only place to go is back to the village.
As the old woman had promised, they weren't allowed to leave.
As time progresses I took an opportunity to make the players uncomfortable. As I passed behind each player, moving around the table, I would lean in for a moment and whisper a word or two. I would then make them roll a Wisdom save, but not tell them why.
This became invaluable in setting the tone for the rest of the adventure. The players realised that they too were under threat from whatever was affecting the village. The old woman used the term possessed more than once, and this surely affected how the players were now treating the situation. Could they, too, become possessed?
Of course, the answer is yes, but so far they were succeeding their saves, although they didn't know that's what they were doing. Each time I did this, they became a little more paranoid (and I think a little more uncomfortable).
Eventually, I said, just clearly enough, behind the Ranger "Give Up!" Now they were freaked out. He made his save, although he doesn't know that. Things were getting more disconcerting though, and they were genuingely worried that their characters were not going to make it out.
The players decide to face up to whatever it is that has caused this curse. The make their way north, realising that the animals are reluctant to come out of the trees. They surmise (correctly) that the beasts are afraid of daylight, so as long as the sun is up they're safe.
It only takes minutes to get to and through the graveyard, at which point they discover the remains of an encampment. One survivor, a priest of Úisean, comes forward and describes "the priests" who attacked his companions. One wore a strange artifact which writhed with shadows, possibly the source of this difficulty. He has been hiding for some time in a barrow he made for himself, unable to get through the trees to freedom.
The rogue hears the word "MINE!!" in a malicious whisper, but of course, nothing is behind her.
A few minutes later the players are within sight of the cave. The sun is still high, and there are several villagers in the cave mouth. Deciding they don't want to kill hte villagers if they can avoid it, they ask for volunteers to go forwards to speak to them. The priest ends up becoming the volunteer, but as he approaches they charge at him. The arrangement to have the players hidden to provide covering fire becomes the saving grace of the encounter, but the old woman charges forward to attack, fighting ferociously.
The party move on towards the cave. As they enter its shade a creature of living darkness moves forwards and pointing at the rogue says "MINE!!"
This is the creature behind the voice she heard earlier. The old woman attacks, the ranger begins shooting, the priest uses his Sacred Flame and the rogue herself attacks. To add to the tension for her, her rolls suddenly become inexplicably poor. While the others slowly hack away at the creature (which only takes half damage from non-magical attacks) she is unable to harm her tormentor. A convenient fluke for me.
Finally, the beast is put down, although the rogue and priest were rendered unconscious. The ranger used a healing kit to stabilise them and, after a while, they became conscious again. The priest then healed himself, but the rogue had to use her hit die to recover. Despite this, the party pressed on into the cave to face whatever lay ahead.
The players decided that avoiding direct combat with the villagers would be the only way to avoid killing more. They go into stealth mode and begin to search around the cave for "the priests". Eventually they find them, with the head priest, looking a little the worst for wear, sitting in the centre of a ritual, with six others around him, chanting and praying in a language the players don't understand. The rogue does a shortbow sneak attack, while the ranger fires his longbow. Two successful strikes and the Dark Priest is injured. Pressing home their advantage, they go into full attack.
Anything that could go wrong for me at this stage did. The players were pressing home their advantage, and quickly put paid to the Dark Priest. This disabled the villagers, who were moving to join the fray. The acolytes, lasted a little longer than expected, but the old woman's fury put paid to most of them.
With "the priests" dead and the villagers disabled, it was time to look at what to do with the artifact... but that would have to wait.
The outcome of this game was never certain. Again, I made this up on the fly, although it is full of tropes from many sources (but the "mad old woman" is usually a "mad old man"). I hadn't decided to do a scary game, but once I had the idea of possessed animals and people, I just got stuck in. It is kind of tempting to run the follow up on Hallowe'en and really go for broke on the terror level, but the kids are only 10 so I don't want to over do it.
Next rules really help with the fear factor. 1st level characters are really vulnerable compared to 1st level 4e characters. This makes them worth more to my players, not less. They area fraid of losing a character too quickly, and this drive to preserve gives the character more value.
I realised the protagonists were very tough in this game. The shadow creature was based on the wraith, without the long term damage, and I used the Dark Priest from the bestiary for the head honcho. These were two very challenging foes and it was luck of the dice that kept the party alive. The second level was well earned here, and I do hope my players enjoy it. We level up next time, then we deal with whatever dark artifact the priest had.
