d20 Legion Publishing Critical Hits 18 - Child's Play.pdf - Legion Publishing - R5700

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LEG1018

L E G 1 0 1 8

INTRODUCTION

Greetings traveler and welcome to Critical Hits - a

series of electronic publications from Legion Publishing.

Each Critical Hit is a complete encounter that can be

dropped into any fantasy campaign with very little prepa-

ration needed by the DM. The encounters are little gems

of ideas built around a single situation, person, location,

creature or object that the players stumble across in their

travels. Each Critical Hit provides all the DM needs to use

the encounter. Whether used as a disposable diversion or

the springboard for adventure, Critical Hits give the over-

worked DM a break and the players some memorable

encounters that encourage creative role-playing.

V o l u m e 5 N o 2 - E n c o u n t e r L e v e l 8

C H I L D ’ S P L A Y

Published by

In Child's Play, a seemingly restful stay in a sleepy

town becomes a desperate hunt for a pair of missing chil-

dren. Dark forces seem to be at work up in the hills and

the PCs must find the poor children before they come to

harm. In this race against time, the players must find the

evil that lurks under the hills before it claims any more

victims. Text inside a border should be read aloud to the

players (unless you have modified the setting, in which

case you're on your own!).

www.legionpublishing.co.uk

First Published 2003

C R E D I T S &

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Written by

Simon Lucas

Editing

Robin Elliott

Illustrations by

Robin Elliott

A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

Typesetting and graphic design by Wildstar Digital Arts

Contact - info@wildstardigitalarts.co.uk

Author courtesy of Snake Eyes Studio

Contact - info@snakeeyesstudio.co.uk

The town of Durwidge ahead of you seems smaller than

your map suggests. Nestled into the rocky hillside, it

appears to be fewer than two-dozen buildings. As the

road winds its way down the mountainside, night begins

to draw in and the settlement's lights twinkle in the

gathering gloom. Soon the rocks rear up in a narrow

file, hiding the town from your sight. Rounding a

corner, you again spy the town's lights ahead. The sun

has vanished now as a sudden storm seems to have

gathered. As the wind whips around you and the first

spots of chill rain start to fall, you fancy you hear the

distant sound of laughing carried on the evening

breeze; a chilling cackle that freezes the blood in your

veins. You hurry on to the town, which looks even more

welcoming.

Legion Publishing, Critical Hits, the Legion Publishing logo, Legionnaire,

and all related characters and elements are trademarks of Legion

Publishing.

Wildstar Digital Arts and its logo are trademarks of Wildstar Digital Arts.

Snake Eyes Studio and its logo are trademarks of Snake Eyes Studio.

'd20 System' and the 'd20 System' logo are trademarks of Wizards of

the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used according to

the terms of the d20 System License version 4.0. A copy of this License

can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.

Designation of Product Identity

All material, other than material already considered Open Gaming

Content is considered Product Identity as described in Section 1(e) of

the Open Gaming License v1.0a. This includes but is not limited to

Critical Hits and all significant characters, names, creatures, spells,

events, plots, logos, trade dress, product names, product lines, places,

Reserved, except where otherwise noted. The use of another company's

trademark should not be construed as a challenge to that trademark.

Reproduction of non-Open Game Content from this work by any means

without the express written consent of Legion Publishing is prohibited.

Upon reaching the hamlet, the party finds that the

tavern on Durwidge's main street is bursting with life. The

Cardinal is known to the locals as the Card, and comprises

Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 5 No 2 - EL 8

a huge main bar with two small communal sleeping rooms

in the wings leading off to the north and south (one each

for men and women). The owner of the tavern, Vera Suggs

and her husband Ogden, live in a small apartment above

the bar. In the center of the main room is a giant fire with

several spits of roast animals cooking over the flame. Any

paying customers can help themselves to roast meat; the

town is a farming community so there is never a shortage

of meat and farmers who supply the meat drink for free!

ly tries to hide behind her hair. If questioned about it she

insists that the walked into the door last night while

drunk. She tries to laugh it off and mutters something

about being clumsy, but a Sense Motive roll (DC10) indi-

cates she is hiding the truth. If asked about her child, she

becomes tearful, saying that her son vanished three

months ago after leaving here to play with the other chil-

dren on Peektop hill above the town.

All the clues so far hint at the hills above Durwidge

being of interest. In case they haven't got the message

yet, as they leave the tavern, the party is accosted by a

desperate hysterical woman.

The patrons of the Card are friendly and outgoing,

simple farmers with little going on in their lives.

Consequently they are happy to buy drinks for those with

stories to tell o foreign parts. The few snippets of gossip

they have mostly pertain to the local area (though there

is a slim chance that one of them has heard something

pertinent to the players' larger quest). As the party

carouses, for each successful Gather Information (DC10)

roll, give them some of the tidbits below. If the party are

buying drinks and being generally friendly, modify the DC

by -2.

You step into the bright morning sunlight but the clear

mountain air is rent with the sound of a screaming

woman.

"My babies! Where are you?" she shrieks, panic in her

voice. "Oh, won't somebody help me? My poor children!"

She breaks down in sobs as the other villagers begin to

gather in the street. As the women rush to comfort the

distraught mother, all eyes turn to you.

Some farmers have recently discovered some of their

sheep missing after mysterious storms

The wind blows up rapidly these days and dies down

with equal speed. It never used to happen

Rumor has it that the landlord of the Card and his

wife have been drinking a lot and arguing since their

child died recently

The town recently stoned to death an old woman sus-

pected of being a witch. She is reported to have

turned the blacksmith's brother into a newt

The sheep in the area have been coming down with a

strange blight

Several dwarves came through the town a couple of

months of back. They seemed interested in the hills

above the town but didn't stay long

In times gone by there used to be a castle or some-

thing on top of the hill. Nothing is left of it now

Should the PCs not be altruistic enough to simply offer

their assistance, the villagers can offer them 10gp each.

Such a paltry offer should be sufficient to sting the

players into realizing how mean they are being and how

little these simple folk can afford. If they enquire further

into the whereabouts of the children, it transpires that

other children were with them when they disappeared.

These others returned to raise the alarm. One such youth,

Dorritt MacKay, son of a shepherd can answer the PCs

questions if they think to ask him. If allowed to ramble,

Dorritt chatters on endlessly with the trivial details of the

games they intended to play and why. The PCs must be

firm with him to keep him on the subject at hand.

Well sir, we goes up to the Cat's Temple every day to

play. I don't know why it's called that it's just a little

ruin really. Is that a real sword? Anyway, we went up

there this morning and we were supposed to be playing

adventurers but Millie didn't want to because she only

gets to be an orc and she wanted to be Gideon the

adventurer mage; he's the best. Did you ever kill

anyone? Why? Have you ever met Gideon? He's the best.

Anyways, we started playing jacks instead 'cos Millie

didn't want to be an orc and then Jeb won. Do you know

any magic? Millie said that he'd been cheating and she

chased him and then they both fell in the hole in the

ground, so I came back here and told my mam.

A MOTHER'S PLEAS

The morning dawns crisp and clear and there is more

free meat with goat's milk for breakfast. The landla-

dy's hair hangs down over her face as she busies around

the room clearing the mess from last night's revelry.

A successful Spot roll (DC10) by any of the PCs notices

the dark bruising on the woman's face that she inexpert-

Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 5 No 2 - EL 8

three chambers immediately below the surface, which the

locals call the Cat's Temple, but the chambers were once

part of an older, larger structure, the dwarven mines of

Romand. After she lured Millie and Jed down into her lair,

the children gave the witch the slip and fled lower into

the dungeon, looking for a way out.

THE CAT'S TEMPLE

A half-day's journey up into the granite hills, the thin

grass gives way to scrub brush. Eventually the vegeta-

tion dwindles to almost nothing. This high up, the land

cannot sustain livestock so this area is devoid of sheep.

Only the children venture up here, to play. From

ahead the wailing of cats floats down toward you on

the breeze.

As is their custom, the dwarves first constructed

guardrooms and dungeons to protect the early test shafts

of a new mine while they decided if the region's deposits

of ores were worthwhile. It is this practice that leads to

the number of abandoned underground systems which dot

the landscape, usually consisting of a little more than a

couple of dungeons and a couple of guardrooms, connect-

ed by a few tunnels. At Peektop, the dwarves found gold,

however and so they extended their excavations and

started to build in earnest. But they were greedy and

delved too deeply. The dwarves awoke something ancient

in the mines they called Romand, and it drove the

dwarves away forever. The witch knows nothing of the

history of the place but there is evidence of it in the

lower area.

At the crown of the bald hill of Peektop, some

stonework can be seen, the remnants of the dwarven

mine. The place is now called Cat's Temple because a large

number of domestic cats gather around the three holes in

the ground, one at each of the main compass points, the

north, south, and east. The cats gather at this place

because of the witch that inhabits the chambers beneath

the ground. It is her cackling that can be heard on the

wind during the storms, and these freak weather changes

are her doing.

The western point is occupied by the remains of a

small circular tower, no more than eight feet in diameter,

and now nothing more than a crumbled ruin. Some careful

excavation and a successful Search roll (DC25) reveals the

tops of a badly damaged spiral stair, at the bottom of

which is a corridor leading to the old dwarven armory

(location 6 below).

GOING UNDERGROUND

The corridors in the mine were made for dwarves

rather than larger visitors. As a result, the corridors are

only 5' high and 5' wide. The chambers are larger (see

map) but moving between them is awkward for any char-

acters larger than a dwarf. Reduce a character's base

speed by 5' as a result of the cramped conditions.

The evil witch purposely tries to lure children down

into the holes in the ground as they play. She had a sister,

who lived there with her, but when she was caught away

from the temple recently, she was put to death by the

townsfolk. The old hag is bitterly resentful and wishes to

harm to the villagers for their cruelty. She remains in the

1 Hag's Chamber

The small room's rough floors are strewn with furs

from a variety of wild beasts. On the walls, mysterious

sigils are crudely chalked, defacing the geometric carv-

ings of the dwarven creators. A roughly-constructed rack

is used to suspend herbs and skins for drying and large

numbers of strange plants are collected and tied in

bundles on the floor.

Over a crackling fire in the center of the room stands

a tripod of stout sticks from which hangs a black iron pot.

Dark mysterious broth foams in the cauldron and an evil

smell emanates.

In the corner stands an iron gibbet, too small for an

adult. Within the metal bands, unconscious and near-

Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 5 No 2 - EL 8

d20 Legion Publishing Critical Hits 18 - Child's Play.pdf

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