Blackhawk748
2014-10-23, 06:33 PM
I made this quest last year for Halloween, i got the idea off of a thread helping someone else make a Halloween quest, so i decided that since it went over pretty well last year that i should post it here so other playgrounders can enjoy it it too. Its planned out for a party of 4 at level 8, i pre genned 8 characters for the party to choose from, obviously mess with it as you see fit. Please note that this is more of an outline, so there arent any stats for the monsters or NPCs. So without further ado, Helloween;
A steady rain falls outside the Van Pelt manor as the last of the adventurers trickle into the parlor. (describe the various characters) A manservant comes in after a few minutes with a tray of tea and various pastries. He sets it on the table in the middle of the room and says, “My mistress begs your forgiveness but she will be along as soon as she is able.” He bows and exits the room.
This is a good time to let the players pick their characters and then allow them to roleplay them for awhile. This is also a good time to have a few of the unselected characters leave.
After the players have had some time to roleplay introduce Lady Van Pelt.
After a few minutes the Lady Van Pelt enters the room. She is an imposing woman with grey streaks through her raven hair, and you swear she is analyzing you as her gaze sweeps the room. “Well you lot look a much better than the last group who I hired. Let’s hope you fair better than they did.”
Lady Van Pelt then tells them about the job. It’s fairly simple, a mad necromancer forced her off of her familial land years ago and he killed her husband Hans. She wants the characters to go into the forest, find the necromancer and kill him so she can reclaim her land. At this point any unselected characters that haven’t left make their excuses and leave, leaving just the PCs.
She will answer any questions they have truthfully, she knows where the necromancer is but she doesn’t know his strength or what else he may have in store. What she does know, however, is that ten years ago he attempted to summon something, “his mad god” she calls it, but he was stopped by a mob from the village but they weren’t able to kill him. Now ten years later he is going to try it again. “Something about the stars being right or some such drivel” Lady Van Pelt says. The PCs only have a week before the convergence happens and by time they get to town it will be too late for them to go after the necromancer, leaving them 6 days.
If the players ask about who the necromancer is, she says she doesn’t know, however a successful DC 30 Sense Motive reveals that she does. If pushed she admits that it’s her brother, the former Lord Van Pelt. If asked why she wants him dead, she simply states that he is mad and a danger to the town. She does not mention however that she intends to sell the land after he has been taken care of, but she isn’t lying when she gives her answer. After the PCs have finished questioning her, she gets up, wishes them luck and leaves. They are then escorted outside by the manservant.
Pinetree Ridge
As the PCs approach the town read the following;
After leaving the Van Pelt manor and riding for about an hour you come to Pinetree Ridge. It is a growing town of a few thousand that is surrounded by a low wooden palisade. The gate is open and as you approach one of the guards commands you to halt. “Wha’s yer business ere?”
When the players tell the guard that they were hired by the Lady Van Pelt he waves them in, muttering about “another crazy group of adventurers” There are three taverns in town, The Wall, The Yellow Bird, and The Burning Kite, all of the taverns are of average quality and have several patrons.
Other areas to investigate:
The Cemetery
As the PC’s pass the Cemetery the gravekeeper hails them over the low wall asking what they’re doing in town. After discovering that they intend to hunt the necromancer, he jumps over the wall and begins measuring the nearest PC, this is when the PCs realize that he is covered in dirt. When asked what he is doing, he just says that he wants to be sure that the grave is big enough.
The Market
There is an armor smith, a black smith, a tailor’s, a general store and an alchemists shop in town.
The Church
If the PC’s go to a church, most likely to be healed, they will meet the priest, Reuben Van Pelt a Cloistered Cleric of St Cuthbert, he greets the party and asks what they are doing in town. Upon learning their business he becomes morose and explains to the party that Lady Van Pelt is his sister, and the Necromancer is his brother. He goes on to explain that his brother was a Judge of St Cuthbert before he fell, and that he is still not sure what happened. He has tried to redeem his brother but was almost killed the last time he went out there, and as such has given up hope for his brother’s redemption.
The Marsh Woods.
Ever since Lord Van Pelt has made this forest his lair it has slowly become more and more of a swamp as the dam that restricts the river is slowly eroding away. Once the PCs enter the swamp read the following;
As you follow the old road into the forest it slowly erodes away until, about 200 feet in the road is completely overtaken by undergrowth. Another 100 feet in the normal sounds of the forest become muted and then non-existent. As you continue in you get the feeling that you are being watched, and by something that wishes you dead.
When the road was intact it would take only about an hour to make it to the old house, but with the road gone it will take over 2 hours to make it there, and the party will be attacked almost the whole way. Roll 8 times on the chart; do not ignore duplicates, the encounters happen about 1 every 15 minutes.
2 Eaten Ones and a Gravesludge
01-15
12 Twig Blights
16-40
2 Shambling Mounds
41-60
2 Twig Sapling Bloodsawrms
61-80
2 Twig Horrors
81-87
The Devourer
88-00
The party should turn back after several encounters, if they choose to rest in the forest roll a d100 each hour, on a 01-60 roll once on the chart on a 61-00 nothing happens.
The Retreat
When the party chooses to fall back to town, they will be attacked by a 14 HD Tendriculos called The Devourer and 4 Eaten ones. On the third round of combat a Winter Wolf attacks the Tendriculos, when it is reduced to half health or lower it retreats using its Transports via plants. If the party does this before the Winter Wolf shows up, it walks out of the brush and a successful DC 15 Wild Empathy check shows that it wants to be followed. It leads them to Ms Brown’s house just outside of the forest.
Ms Browns House
When they come within sight of Ms Brown’s house read the following;
As you follow the wolf out of the forest you spot a small house, though the word house may be a bit generous. It is a tumbledown old farmhouse and the fields on all sides are filled with pumpkins. As you approach the house a small woman comes out. She appears middle aged, her long curly blond hair is going grey and she appears to be talking to herself. “Oh yes Big Brother I see him, and I see them too. I know I know, Im going.”
She approaches the party and asks what happened and if she could help. Upon hearing what they are here to do she screams. “NO! You can’t kill him! NO!!!” and she runs into her house crying. Before the party can do much of anything, they hear a sigh from the wolf. “Im sorry for my sister, she was in love with him, and she’s never been able to accept that he lost his mind. Im Charles by the way.” and with that a transparent man appears next to the Wolf, he is wearing good worn leather armor and has a fine longbow on his back.
He answers any questions the party has as best he can, he knows what the necromancer has for minions, and he knows an approach that is less watched. If asked what he knows about the necromancer, he shakes his head sadly and says “He was once my best friend, but he changed. I’m still not sure why or how it happened I just know that he went mad. I went there and tried to talk to him, but he killed me. So I’ve been running with Ace here trying to stop him as much as possible.”
He offers his sister’s barn for the party to rest in.
The Ent
After resting at Ms Brown’s house Charles offers to have Ace lead the party to someone who may be able to help them. A successful DC 15 Knowledge Geography check tells them that Ace is leading them around the swamp and up into the hills, to come at the house from the north.
After about an hour the party comes to a clearing with a massive oak tree in the center.
The massive tree, shifts, as you enter the clearing, almost as if it was turning to face you, and then you realize that it DOES have a face. “So Ace, who have you brought with you today?”
A DC 15 Spot check reveals quite a bit of rope in the Treants branches as if something, or someone, was hung there.
The Treant’s name is Tra’elki and he is old, also he has been cursed. A branch of his was taken for the ritual that created The Devourer, the massive Tendriculos that attacked them the other day. He cannot move or use his powers as long as that creature lives, the good news is, is that he knows where it dwells and how best to kill it. He tells them that in the creatures lair is a greatclub named El’Kayr, it was carved from the thigh bone of a Black Dragon by the Elven Champion that had killed it. It was given to that Elf’s son, who died attempting to kill the Devourer.
The beast’s lair is in the basement of the old lumber mill, and the club is somewhere in there.
When the PCs return after killing the Devourer, Tra’elki thanks them
“Thank you friends, Charles and I may have had our differences in the past, but I shouldn’t have let him go to Van Pelt alone. It is time to right this mistake. When you go to the manor, send Ace to me, and I shall make haste to assist you in destroying that madman.”
By time the party returns to the clearing it will be late, Tra’elki offers to take watch as they sleep in his clearing.
The Mill
It takes another hour to get to the mill from Tra’elki’s clearing.
The mill is a rotten heap that is still amazingly standing. The water wheel still spins and you can hear the sound of the saw still moving inside.
1. This is the main cutting floor, there are no logs here anymore but the saw keeps cutting, there are also 2 Eaten Ones floating here.
If anyone is pushed into the saw they take 2d4+6 damage
2. The Basement: This is where the Eaten Ones victims go, the floor is strewn with corpses and other remains, and there is very little of value. A DC 32 Search check reveals a bone that is larger than any of the skeletons here, jutting from a pile. This is El’Kayr, it is a +1 Corrosive Dessicating Greatclub.
3. Tunnel and Pit: This is the Devourer’s true lair, it rests in a pit of mulch and corpses in the middle of the room and it can reach anywhere in the room from that point. It waits until the entire party is within reach before it attacks.
The tunnel appears to have been melted through the earth and as you move down it the reek of rotting plants and offal intensifies until you come to a pit full of corpses and plants in various stages of decay. You see a smaller tunnel on the other side.
4. Dead End: The Devouer was going to expand its lair and this tunnel is its beginning attempt. There is nothing of note here.
Van Pelt Manor
The Van Pelt manor has seen better days, it is dilapidated and the roof looks as if it will fall in at any time. The house is surrounded in all direction by pumpkins, and you swear you see some move.
As the party approaches the Manor, they are attacked by 2 pumpkin shaped shambling mounds and 6 twig blights that are hiding in the patch.
The Manor: As the PCs enter the manor they hear a discordant note being played every minute or so, it sounds like a piano. In the parlor is Hans sitting at a piano, he has been turned into a ghoul by Lord Van Pelt.
As you enter the parlor you see a desiccated man sitting and playing at a rotted piano, every so often he hits a key that still has a chord to it and the sound is chilling. He looks up as you enter and rises from his seat. “Need…… fresh……catgut…..” he rasps as he charges you.
There is a hole in the corner of the parlor that leads to the basement; this is where Hans dumps his failed attempts at repairing his piano. There are some things of value down there about 45 gp and a +1 Energy Aura Mighty 2 Composite Longbow, and a +2 Adamatium Breastplate.
The rest of the house is in terrible disrepair and is unsafe to explore.
The Final Showdown
Lord Van Pelt is not inside his house, he is behind it in the garden, which is, oddly enough, devoid of pumpkins.
As you exit the manor into the garden, you notice that unlike the rest of the surrounding area, this place is devoid of pumpkins, or any other plant like for that matter. It is a large area of empty dirt with a large circle carved into the ground, with a figure in dark scale standing in the center of it chanting in some language you’ve never heard. As you approach the figure turns to you, he is a man of middling years, his hair hangs unkept and oily, and madness burns in his eyes. He approaches as he says“Oh what have we here? More sent by my sister? Oh she never gives up, but she can’t have this place, its MINE! and soon it will be my god’s and there is nothing you can do to stop it!!”With that he throws something into the circle and the circle bursts into flame. “YOU CANT STOP ME!!” he screams as he draws a whip.
6 4 HD Twig Blights charge the party as Van Pelt attacks, also his cloak flies off and attacks the party, it is a sheet ghoul. After 3 rounds the Great Pumpkin appears.
The smoke from the burning circle begins to twist into shape. It writhes with a life of its own and becomes solid, the tendrils turning into massive vines, with a huge pumpkin with 6 eyes sitting atop a massive pillar of intertwined vines. “Bow Bow before your new lord and master…… The Great Pumpkin!!! It is I oh Great Pumpkin, Linus your humble servant for all these years, my foolish sister has hired another group of mercenaries to try and stop you, we must kill them!” With a bestial roar the Great pumpkin attacks.
After the Great pumpkin appears, Linus is restored to half his total HP if his was lower, and he cannot drop below 10 HP also, the Great Pumpkin goes at the top of the Initiative order. If the PCs sent Ace for Tra’elki he arrives the round after the Great Pumpkin appears.
With an earth shaking bellow Tra’elki smashes through the garden wall and charges the Great Pumpkin, Ace at his heels with Charles on his back.
Tra’elki, Charles, and Ace all focus their attention on the Great Pumpkin.
After the Great Pumpkin is destroyed
The Great pumpkin lets out a massive bellow as it starts to crumble, the wounds inflicted upon it venting hellish green fire, it begins to crumple in upon itself. “NOOOOOOO!!” screams Linus as the Great Pumpkin starts to get sucked back from whence it came. Linus runs to it and is sucked into the portal with the Great Pumpkin.
A steady rain falls outside the Van Pelt manor as the last of the adventurers trickle into the parlor. (describe the various characters) A manservant comes in after a few minutes with a tray of tea and various pastries. He sets it on the table in the middle of the room and says, “My mistress begs your forgiveness but she will be along as soon as she is able.” He bows and exits the room.
This is a good time to let the players pick their characters and then allow them to roleplay them for awhile. This is also a good time to have a few of the unselected characters leave.
After the players have had some time to roleplay introduce Lady Van Pelt.
After a few minutes the Lady Van Pelt enters the room. She is an imposing woman with grey streaks through her raven hair, and you swear she is analyzing you as her gaze sweeps the room. “Well you lot look a much better than the last group who I hired. Let’s hope you fair better than they did.”
Lady Van Pelt then tells them about the job. It’s fairly simple, a mad necromancer forced her off of her familial land years ago and he killed her husband Hans. She wants the characters to go into the forest, find the necromancer and kill him so she can reclaim her land. At this point any unselected characters that haven’t left make their excuses and leave, leaving just the PCs.
She will answer any questions they have truthfully, she knows where the necromancer is but she doesn’t know his strength or what else he may have in store. What she does know, however, is that ten years ago he attempted to summon something, “his mad god” she calls it, but he was stopped by a mob from the village but they weren’t able to kill him. Now ten years later he is going to try it again. “Something about the stars being right or some such drivel” Lady Van Pelt says. The PCs only have a week before the convergence happens and by time they get to town it will be too late for them to go after the necromancer, leaving them 6 days.
If the players ask about who the necromancer is, she says she doesn’t know, however a successful DC 30 Sense Motive reveals that she does. If pushed she admits that it’s her brother, the former Lord Van Pelt. If asked why she wants him dead, she simply states that he is mad and a danger to the town. She does not mention however that she intends to sell the land after he has been taken care of, but she isn’t lying when she gives her answer. After the PCs have finished questioning her, she gets up, wishes them luck and leaves. They are then escorted outside by the manservant.
Pinetree Ridge
As the PCs approach the town read the following;
After leaving the Van Pelt manor and riding for about an hour you come to Pinetree Ridge. It is a growing town of a few thousand that is surrounded by a low wooden palisade. The gate is open and as you approach one of the guards commands you to halt. “Wha’s yer business ere?”
When the players tell the guard that they were hired by the Lady Van Pelt he waves them in, muttering about “another crazy group of adventurers” There are three taverns in town, The Wall, The Yellow Bird, and The Burning Kite, all of the taverns are of average quality and have several patrons.
Other areas to investigate:
The Cemetery
As the PC’s pass the Cemetery the gravekeeper hails them over the low wall asking what they’re doing in town. After discovering that they intend to hunt the necromancer, he jumps over the wall and begins measuring the nearest PC, this is when the PCs realize that he is covered in dirt. When asked what he is doing, he just says that he wants to be sure that the grave is big enough.
The Market
There is an armor smith, a black smith, a tailor’s, a general store and an alchemists shop in town.
The Church
If the PC’s go to a church, most likely to be healed, they will meet the priest, Reuben Van Pelt a Cloistered Cleric of St Cuthbert, he greets the party and asks what they are doing in town. Upon learning their business he becomes morose and explains to the party that Lady Van Pelt is his sister, and the Necromancer is his brother. He goes on to explain that his brother was a Judge of St Cuthbert before he fell, and that he is still not sure what happened. He has tried to redeem his brother but was almost killed the last time he went out there, and as such has given up hope for his brother’s redemption.
The Marsh Woods.
Ever since Lord Van Pelt has made this forest his lair it has slowly become more and more of a swamp as the dam that restricts the river is slowly eroding away. Once the PCs enter the swamp read the following;
As you follow the old road into the forest it slowly erodes away until, about 200 feet in the road is completely overtaken by undergrowth. Another 100 feet in the normal sounds of the forest become muted and then non-existent. As you continue in you get the feeling that you are being watched, and by something that wishes you dead.
When the road was intact it would take only about an hour to make it to the old house, but with the road gone it will take over 2 hours to make it there, and the party will be attacked almost the whole way. Roll 8 times on the chart; do not ignore duplicates, the encounters happen about 1 every 15 minutes.
2 Eaten Ones and a Gravesludge
01-15
12 Twig Blights
16-40
2 Shambling Mounds
41-60
2 Twig Sapling Bloodsawrms
61-80
2 Twig Horrors
81-87
The Devourer
88-00
The party should turn back after several encounters, if they choose to rest in the forest roll a d100 each hour, on a 01-60 roll once on the chart on a 61-00 nothing happens.
The Retreat
When the party chooses to fall back to town, they will be attacked by a 14 HD Tendriculos called The Devourer and 4 Eaten ones. On the third round of combat a Winter Wolf attacks the Tendriculos, when it is reduced to half health or lower it retreats using its Transports via plants. If the party does this before the Winter Wolf shows up, it walks out of the brush and a successful DC 15 Wild Empathy check shows that it wants to be followed. It leads them to Ms Brown’s house just outside of the forest.
Ms Browns House
When they come within sight of Ms Brown’s house read the following;
As you follow the wolf out of the forest you spot a small house, though the word house may be a bit generous. It is a tumbledown old farmhouse and the fields on all sides are filled with pumpkins. As you approach the house a small woman comes out. She appears middle aged, her long curly blond hair is going grey and she appears to be talking to herself. “Oh yes Big Brother I see him, and I see them too. I know I know, Im going.”
She approaches the party and asks what happened and if she could help. Upon hearing what they are here to do she screams. “NO! You can’t kill him! NO!!!” and she runs into her house crying. Before the party can do much of anything, they hear a sigh from the wolf. “Im sorry for my sister, she was in love with him, and she’s never been able to accept that he lost his mind. Im Charles by the way.” and with that a transparent man appears next to the Wolf, he is wearing good worn leather armor and has a fine longbow on his back.
He answers any questions the party has as best he can, he knows what the necromancer has for minions, and he knows an approach that is less watched. If asked what he knows about the necromancer, he shakes his head sadly and says “He was once my best friend, but he changed. I’m still not sure why or how it happened I just know that he went mad. I went there and tried to talk to him, but he killed me. So I’ve been running with Ace here trying to stop him as much as possible.”
He offers his sister’s barn for the party to rest in.
The Ent
After resting at Ms Brown’s house Charles offers to have Ace lead the party to someone who may be able to help them. A successful DC 15 Knowledge Geography check tells them that Ace is leading them around the swamp and up into the hills, to come at the house from the north.
After about an hour the party comes to a clearing with a massive oak tree in the center.
The massive tree, shifts, as you enter the clearing, almost as if it was turning to face you, and then you realize that it DOES have a face. “So Ace, who have you brought with you today?”
A DC 15 Spot check reveals quite a bit of rope in the Treants branches as if something, or someone, was hung there.
The Treant’s name is Tra’elki and he is old, also he has been cursed. A branch of his was taken for the ritual that created The Devourer, the massive Tendriculos that attacked them the other day. He cannot move or use his powers as long as that creature lives, the good news is, is that he knows where it dwells and how best to kill it. He tells them that in the creatures lair is a greatclub named El’Kayr, it was carved from the thigh bone of a Black Dragon by the Elven Champion that had killed it. It was given to that Elf’s son, who died attempting to kill the Devourer.
The beast’s lair is in the basement of the old lumber mill, and the club is somewhere in there.
When the PCs return after killing the Devourer, Tra’elki thanks them
“Thank you friends, Charles and I may have had our differences in the past, but I shouldn’t have let him go to Van Pelt alone. It is time to right this mistake. When you go to the manor, send Ace to me, and I shall make haste to assist you in destroying that madman.”
By time the party returns to the clearing it will be late, Tra’elki offers to take watch as they sleep in his clearing.
The Mill
It takes another hour to get to the mill from Tra’elki’s clearing.
The mill is a rotten heap that is still amazingly standing. The water wheel still spins and you can hear the sound of the saw still moving inside.
1. This is the main cutting floor, there are no logs here anymore but the saw keeps cutting, there are also 2 Eaten Ones floating here.
If anyone is pushed into the saw they take 2d4+6 damage
2. The Basement: This is where the Eaten Ones victims go, the floor is strewn with corpses and other remains, and there is very little of value. A DC 32 Search check reveals a bone that is larger than any of the skeletons here, jutting from a pile. This is El’Kayr, it is a +1 Corrosive Dessicating Greatclub.
3. Tunnel and Pit: This is the Devourer’s true lair, it rests in a pit of mulch and corpses in the middle of the room and it can reach anywhere in the room from that point. It waits until the entire party is within reach before it attacks.
The tunnel appears to have been melted through the earth and as you move down it the reek of rotting plants and offal intensifies until you come to a pit full of corpses and plants in various stages of decay. You see a smaller tunnel on the other side.
4. Dead End: The Devouer was going to expand its lair and this tunnel is its beginning attempt. There is nothing of note here.
Van Pelt Manor
The Van Pelt manor has seen better days, it is dilapidated and the roof looks as if it will fall in at any time. The house is surrounded in all direction by pumpkins, and you swear you see some move.
As the party approaches the Manor, they are attacked by 2 pumpkin shaped shambling mounds and 6 twig blights that are hiding in the patch.
The Manor: As the PCs enter the manor they hear a discordant note being played every minute or so, it sounds like a piano. In the parlor is Hans sitting at a piano, he has been turned into a ghoul by Lord Van Pelt.
As you enter the parlor you see a desiccated man sitting and playing at a rotted piano, every so often he hits a key that still has a chord to it and the sound is chilling. He looks up as you enter and rises from his seat. “Need…… fresh……catgut…..” he rasps as he charges you.
There is a hole in the corner of the parlor that leads to the basement; this is where Hans dumps his failed attempts at repairing his piano. There are some things of value down there about 45 gp and a +1 Energy Aura Mighty 2 Composite Longbow, and a +2 Adamatium Breastplate.
The rest of the house is in terrible disrepair and is unsafe to explore.
The Final Showdown
Lord Van Pelt is not inside his house, he is behind it in the garden, which is, oddly enough, devoid of pumpkins.
As you exit the manor into the garden, you notice that unlike the rest of the surrounding area, this place is devoid of pumpkins, or any other plant like for that matter. It is a large area of empty dirt with a large circle carved into the ground, with a figure in dark scale standing in the center of it chanting in some language you’ve never heard. As you approach the figure turns to you, he is a man of middling years, his hair hangs unkept and oily, and madness burns in his eyes. He approaches as he says“Oh what have we here? More sent by my sister? Oh she never gives up, but she can’t have this place, its MINE! and soon it will be my god’s and there is nothing you can do to stop it!!”With that he throws something into the circle and the circle bursts into flame. “YOU CANT STOP ME!!” he screams as he draws a whip.
6 4 HD Twig Blights charge the party as Van Pelt attacks, also his cloak flies off and attacks the party, it is a sheet ghoul. After 3 rounds the Great Pumpkin appears.
The smoke from the burning circle begins to twist into shape. It writhes with a life of its own and becomes solid, the tendrils turning into massive vines, with a huge pumpkin with 6 eyes sitting atop a massive pillar of intertwined vines. “Bow Bow before your new lord and master…… The Great Pumpkin!!! It is I oh Great Pumpkin, Linus your humble servant for all these years, my foolish sister has hired another group of mercenaries to try and stop you, we must kill them!” With a bestial roar the Great pumpkin attacks.
After the Great pumpkin appears, Linus is restored to half his total HP if his was lower, and he cannot drop below 10 HP also, the Great Pumpkin goes at the top of the Initiative order. If the PCs sent Ace for Tra’elki he arrives the round after the Great Pumpkin appears.
With an earth shaking bellow Tra’elki smashes through the garden wall and charges the Great Pumpkin, Ace at his heels with Charles on his back.
Tra’elki, Charles, and Ace all focus their attention on the Great Pumpkin.
After the Great Pumpkin is destroyed
The Great pumpkin lets out a massive bellow as it starts to crumble, the wounds inflicted upon it venting hellish green fire, it begins to crumple in upon itself. “NOOOOOOO!!” screams Linus as the Great Pumpkin starts to get sucked back from whence it came. Linus runs to it and is sucked into the portal with the Great Pumpkin.