Aotrs Commander
2020-02-22, 06:50 AM
Ye gods, I missed the forums. I tried going on the Paizo forums, but it's just remotely the same (or as helpful)...
So, long story short, Have done Haunts, need second pair or eyes to a) check information provided by haunts is sufficient and b) rational check on Haunts, since I've not used them before. Help would be much appreciated!
Long version: The quest is on my homebrew campaign world for a party of 4th level characters (approx 6 characters). The crux of the plot is the PCs are heading to a village that has reported people going missing.
When the get there, the village is deserted, except for a wandering monster (a brontoscorpio, which on this campaign world is a tuned-up-to-11 version of the extinct early scorpion and a Level-Inappopriate challenge. Said monster is actually something else, under the influence of Veil and Feeeblemind. As the PCs hopefully avoid (or defeat and wonder), and try to find out where all the people are and why all the plants seem to have had a surge of growth and then died.
As they explore, they experience a series of haunts (placement uncertain, but nominally in order), tied to an incorporeal dryad bard, Narrei (a Dirge, a homebrew ghost bard template, essentially). The haunts essentially present the tale of what happened to her and (hopefully) suggest they way to put her to rest. As I like to try and present expositional historical events in creative ways other than just documents. (Other ways have including orbs with memories in them and cave paintings (described entirely through text, because I commit art like other people commit crime.)
(The PCs will hopefully be lead to believe this is all caused by her restless spirit, but when they arrive at the place to do what they need to do, the surprise twist is that she was deliberatly summoned by some evil fey from the local equivilent of the First World, who used her anger as focus for a ritual enacted to steal away all the populace, but that's not especially relevant to the specific topic at hand.)
What I'm looking for, then, is a rational-check and proximate balance look at the haunts (I've never used the official rules before), plus a general impression if you can tease out the story from the haunts. Thus, I've been a bit vague and omitted the names of the haunts, the DM's description and the method of destruction (it's the same for all of them). If no-one can figure out what to do, then I clearly need to do some mpre work!
Pertinent background information: 200 years ago on the campaign world, there was a period called the Dark Wars, where the nations of the north fought and defeated the Dark Lord, the final offensive being supported by an allaince with the (prime material) fey. The fall-out of the war and the burst of magic used to finally knobble the Dark Lord caused magic to wane in the north especually, and it still hasn't fully recovered. This happened at the same time as a load of plagues and famine, which essentially lead to a dark age for a century or so; the fey, stripped of their magic, got rather maltreated in human lands, and relations between the humans and the fey especially have been generally... Frosty, shall we say, from the side of the longer-lived fey especailly. This is all common knowledge to the PCs.
Dryads on this world are a specific subspecies of nymph (along with oreads, neriads and the like) which are a four-level monster class (and anoptional continued progression if they don't want to multiclass) which is a bit like druid.
(Pre-emptive apologies for any typos I missed, I haven't done my own second pass yet, though I've tried to clean it up for this post a reasonable amount!)
Note: The reset was explictly set as 1 hour, rather than 1 day, in case the PCs do decide they need to see one again for some reason.
Haunts
Haunt 1
CR 4; XP 1200
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (20-ft radius)
Caster Level: 4th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a female laughing)
HP 18 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The faint sound of a female laughing increases, and and world blurs into a scene of a brightly-lit day on a road into a forest. The laughter comes from a green-skinned female – a dryad who is walking arm-in-arm with a man, wearing Validus legionary gear.
A DC 15 Knowledge (History) or DC 13 Profession (Legionary) check will identify the gear as being contemporary with that of legionaries approximately 200 years ago, in the late- and post- Dark Wars period. The legionary appears to be of Immune rank (a specialist legionary rank).
Both are carrying heavy packs and a small mule trots behind them sedately, with no sign of reigns or bridle, also laden with saddlebags. The pair are laughing and joking – the words are unitelligable, like that in a dream – though the dryad is more animated so than the soldier, who seems tired and care-worn.
A DC 12 Sense Motive check will ascertain the soldier looks not merely tired from the road, but that of someone who has been under long-term pressure, only starting to be releived.
A DC 20 listen Perception check picks out a single intelligable word, spoken by the man “Narrei,” said in reference to the dryad.
The dryad dances ahead of the man, turning, and laughing, and in the background, a village can be seen.
A DC 14 Perception check will indentify that the village hall and thermae appear to be the ones in Hamabastor in the present time, though much newer. The village seems smaller and the layout of the other buildings around them and one or two other buildings appears to be different.
The dryad bounces back and tugs on the arm of the legionary – the sparkle of light catching the ring on her finger is unaturally bright . The legionary, an identical ring on his finger also glinting too brightly, suddenly tugs back and pulls her into a hug. She laughingly kisses him and then between one breath and the other, he vanishes a long with the mule and he villager, and the scene goes dreary and grey. The dryad stands there alone, continuing to laugh, but the sound is strained and increasingly loud and interspersed with sobs, culminating when she throws back her head in a scream of grief and loss. As she screams, her skin also appears to turn grey-blue, and her skeleton is visible beneath the suddenly translucent flesh. The scene collapases into nothing, leaving behind an echo of the scream and a sharp, profound sense of loss.
All creatures within the area must make a Will save (DC 12) or be affected as Hideous Laughter (except the creatures are crying uncontrollably instead of laughing).
Haunt 2
CR 7; XP 3200
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (35-ft radius)
Caster Level: 7th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a female humming a melodic tune)
HP 31 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The world blurs into a beautiful forest glade. A spectacular oak tree rises in the centre, and off to the side is a small cottage, made in the Ciracan style. While most of the grove is wild and filled with wild flowers, a small cottage garden stands at the front of the domicile. A small stone plinth is set between the tree and the cottage, on which a softly golden-glowing stone orb sits. Notably, outside the immeidate zone of the grove, the trees are bare or leaves and there is a layer of snow on the ground.
The same dryad and man are reclining together under the shade of the oak tree. He looks very relaxed and content. She is humming a spritely tune, and across the hand which is not wrapped around the legionary, she is making coloured lights dance around her finger, and twirl into a dancing figure of silver light.
A DC 15 Spellcraft check will ascertain this appears to be Prestidigitation; a further DC 12 Knowledge (Nature) check will note that this is not normally a spell dryads know.
A ripple of wind seems to brush through the clearing. The lights twinkle out. The dryad’s song falters and her brow furrows in confusion. The man starts to laugh, but quickly trails off as the dryad makes more gestures and nothing happens. She stands up, the man standing beside her in confusion and concern. He glances across to the orb and seems alarmed to see it has stopped glowing. The colour begins to leech out of the world. Snow begins to blow into the glade, and the plants appears to wither.
A DC 16 Spellcraft check will ascertain she is attmepting to cast several spells, both of the arcane and natural variety. Nothing happens each time.
A DC 15 listen Perception check will identify the man calling “Narrei” to the dryad (the DC is lower because it is repeated more; if the PCs have previously heard the name, the DC is reduced by 3).
The dryad tries several more times, using different words and gestures. In mounting panic, shivering and with her breath starting to mist, she leans down to touch the yellowing grass and closes her eyes. Nothing appears to happen.
A DC 12 Knowledge (Nature) or DC 15 Knowledge (Religion) or DC 16 Knowledge (Arcana) indicates she appears to be attempting to channel positive energy, a racial ability of dryads.
The dryad’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and she repeatedly tries and tries again with words ands gestures. The man tries to hold her and comfort her, but she seems to be too panicked to be comforted. The world has complete lost all colour now, and is entirely in black and white. Finally, the dryad throws back her head and screams and the world explodes into nothing.
All creatures with the area must make a DC 17 Will save or be affected by an Antimagic Field (confined to their space only, treated as a 5th level spell effect) for 1 minute. Creatures that pass their save are instead affected as if by a targeted Dispel Magic (at 7th caster level). (While the PCs are recoveing from this, now it a good time to have the “brotoscorpio” come knocking; or perhaps a distant wailing, leading to a glimpse of Narrei herself.)
A DC 12 Knowledge (History) or (Arcana) check, reduced to DC 8 if the late Dark Wars period has been identified would place this event as most likely being (or an interpretation of) the Fade of Magic which happened six months after the end of the Dark Wars, occurring at the Winter Soltice. It is currently understood that the ritual that created the burst of magic that finally destroyed the Dark Lord, (created by the combined efforts of the fey and the spellcasters of the Northern Nations to cast), backed by the rising power of Summer Solstice, had an unforeseen backlash which damaged the flow of magic for centuries – it is the reason why the majority of the Northern Nations are still only within areas of Low Magic. The Fade of Magic, combined with the following natural disasters of plague and famine, created the dark age which followed. (It is ambiguous whether the environmental disasters were caused by the Fade of Magic or were just natural, though the vertiable denuding of the able-bodied population to march south to finally end the Dark Wars and the loss of manpower in the following harvast significantly conributed.)
Haunt 3
CR 6; XP 1600
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (30-ft radius)
Caster Level: 6th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a pained moan)
HP 27 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The sound of a pained moan rises, and the world blurs out, to be replaced with a view of a village, in the depths of winter. People are moving around the buildings, but they are, for the most part, hazy and indistinct and inconsistant, as if in a dream. The dryad is standing, talking to a figure in a pale robe, with a holy symbol of the Bright Lady on his chest. The figure’s face is featureless, as if blurred out; the only discernable feature is a brown beard. The words are indistinct and unintelligable. The world’s colours seem slightly muted – present, but as if filtered through a grey haze.
Again, a DC 14 Perception check identifies this as Hamabastor through the town hall; this is automatic if the PCs have successfully identified it previously.
(The Bright Lady is one of the most prominent Good deities, Saranrae would be a rough approximatation.)
A man, carrying wood-cutting axe, stumbles into the village from the forest. His face and skin are grey and very gaunt, his eyes blood-shot, and he shambles more like a zombie than a living man. He is apparently the source of the groaning, and he lets out another moan. The apparent villagers stop and turn to see him, all at once. They display exaggerated dipositions of alarm and several of them, including the robed figure hurry over. The dryad remains where she is, and recoils.
A DC 10 Sense Motive check indicates that they appear to be alarmed and concerned, but not afraid (as would be expected if the man was an actual zombie, for example).
The man moans again and this time it is followed by a severe coughing fit. A great gout of bright crimson blood explodes from his mouth, splattering the villagers and especially the pale-robed man, where the lurid red stain stands in shapr contrast to his robes.
A DC 10 Heal check will determine that this is an improbable amount of blood of to be expelled, enough that a human in that condition would likely be dead.
The vague people shapes do not seem concerned about this, but lay the man down and lift him up, to carry him towards the building the dryad and the man were standng in front of. Before they have gone more than about ten feet, they stand stock-still and all begin to moan in unision, their skins turning grey. They turn away and start to move in different directions, and begin to cough, harder and harder, until they too cough out huge gouts of blood. More villagers head towards them as they do so, but before they can reach the afflicted, the dryad turns and runs. The world seems to blur again, a rush of snow and leafless trees. When it refocuses, it is the same glade as before, but now covered in snow, with no living plants. The orb on the plinth remains dark.
The dryad bursts into the cottage, revealing a neat interior, and flings herself into the arms of the man, babbling incoherently. He holds her, does does not respond. She says something questioningly, and when he does not answer, she looks up. The man’s face has become grey and he moans.
The dryad, alarmed, recoils in horror, clasping her hands to her mouth in dismay. The man coughs and vomits out a jet of bright crimson blood, which covers everything. As the dryad’s scream of horror rises, the blood fills the world and the image collapses – but not before coating you all in blood.
All creatures in the area must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or be subjected to a psychic echo of the plague (this is treated as a modified version of Contagion). Symtoms incude pale skin and throat irritating and paralysing fits of coughing.
On a succesful save, the creature is Staggered for 1 round (taking D3 nonlethal damage from a sudden coughing fit and dizziness) and Sickened for D4 rounds following.
A creature that fails its save is Nauseated for D6 rounds (taking D3 nonlethal damage per round from the coughing) and are Sickened for 4D6 minutes.
If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its Fortitude save, it actually contracts an echo of the disease. (This can be cured normally, and the victim is not contagious.)
Plague Echo: Disease, haunt-inficted (Fort DC 15); onset D4 minutes; frequency 1/day (D2 Con damage and Fatigued while the Con damage lasts), cure 2 consecutive saves.
The blood lasts only a few seconds before evaporating into nothing.
Haunt 4
CR 6; XP 1600
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (30-ft radius)
Caster Level: 6th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of angry shouting)
HP 27 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The sound of angry shouting rises and the world blurs. The scene is the same villager as the previous images, still in the dead of winter. The world is again painted in muted colours.
The dryad is standing in the village square. She is being restrained by two huge, ill-defined figures. Their build seems more like a large orc than a human, but their featureless faces are the tan of humans, not the green of orcs. An old woman, well-defined unlike the other figures is standing before the dryad screaming and shouting at her, obviously berating her in some fashion. Again, the meaning of the words slides away from understanding.
A DC 15 spot Perception check will note that the old woman bears a familial resemblence to the man seen in the previous haunts.
A procession of indistinct villagers bear palls, each one with a cloth-covered corpse. The villagers move in unison, and silently. The procession moves between the old woman and the dryad and stops. The old woman rips off the pall; beneath it is a faceless, grey-skinned body, with a froth of bright crimson blood staining its jaw a chest. The features of the body are otherwise hazy, as if only half-remembered. The old woman points to the body and makes a vigourous, demanding gesture to the dryad, and then to the body. The dryad, crying and distraught, shakes her head again and again, speaking with a pleading tone.
The old woman snarls, covers the corpse, and the pall-bears step away, only for the next body to be brought and the next and the next. And each time, the old woman grows a little larger, and a little more menacing looking, her craggy features darkening, and wisps of smoke emitting from her nostrils.
Finally, the old woman, now seemingly about ten feet tall and looking more like some sort of demon than a human, rips the cloth cover off and the body beneath is the man. The old woman’s demand is the most vigorous yet, but the dryad is incoherent with grief, letting out only a single wail of distress.
The old woman speaks, in a voice of a demon, and for the first time, the words are intelligable: “then what is the point of you?”
The dryad falls to her knees as the figures and the buildings all dissolve into a featureless plain. The dryad curls into a fetal position, sobbing. Eventually, a sound of a shovel striking the earth penetrates, unaturally loud, into the silence and she looks up. In the distance, the glade can be seen. Four vague pall-bearers are standing by an open grave next to the oak, now looking dead. The dryad stumbles to her feet running towards the scene. The pall-bearers lift the pall and dump it into the grave, still moving in unison. The dryad screams and redoubles her efforts, but the glade is not getting any closer. The pall-bearers begin to fill the grave in. The dryad screams again, and black metal bars manifest in front of her, forming into a cage. The glade seems to receed into the distance, as if the cage itself was pulling her away. It grows smaller and smaller, until it is barely bigger than the dryad herself. She screams and bangs on the bars to no avail. She collapses to the floor and howls in grief and despair. The scene and the cage burst into fragments, leaving only a feeling of unfathomable loss.[/B]
All creatures within the area must make a DC 15 Will save or be affected as a Wave of Grief spell (Spell Compendium (3.5): –3 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks) for six minutes.
Haunt 5
CR 6; XP 1600
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (30-ft radius)
Caster Level: 6th
Notice: Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a crackling fire)
HP 27 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The faint sound of a crackling fire increases and the world fades away, melting into the village. The village is dark, the sky moonless and without stars. A crowd of faceless villagers stands in front of the town hall, each one holding a lit torch. The sound of the torches burning sounds more like a bonfire than a torch, magnified by the number. In front of them stands the old woman, in the demonlike form you saw previously. Before her, the dryad is being tied to a stake by the large shadowy figures. Around the base of the stake are bundles of stacked wood. The dryad struggles, weeping, but one of the larger creatures strikes her and her resistance falters. They complete their task as step away.
The old woman-demon steps forward. Her voice is ringing, but the words are meaningless aside from the first “Narrei.” The tone is accuratory, and with the conclusion of each sentence, all the villagers stamp down their feet in unison, making a sound that is far louder than in sound be. The dryad, crying and shouting, goes unheeded. The old woman-demon finishes her speech and produces another torch. She moves forward, as do all the torch-wielding figures behind her. The dryad, screaming in fear and panic, struggles helplessly in her bonds. The old woman-demon leans forwards and sets her torch to the kindling. The torch-wilders behind her all stretch ther arms out, elongating unaturally, to set their torches to the pyre as well. The flames erupt brillantly, rapidly creeping up the wood towards the dryad.
The torch wielders turn away and part, as the old woman-demon snarls with satisfaction and turns on her heel. The parting of the crowd shows a series of ghostly figures being lifted upwards, borne aloft with golden light into an incongrously-present sunlit sky. The last such figure is the man, standing staring down at the dryad. She is now covered in flame, burning and screaming, but still staring out at the man, even as her flesh blackens. The man regards her with an expression of sadness as the light bears him aloft. The ropes binding the dryad become lose in the fire, and she reaches out her right hand towards him, screaming a single word: “Nartius!” As she does, the world also seems to set alight and away as the fire consumes the dryad, leaving only a blackened finger bone visible in the flames. The world dissolves in fire.
All creatures in the area are subjected to a Fireball (Reflex DC 15, 6D6 Fire damage).
(The PCs have max hit-points, they'll be fine!)
Shortly thereafter, the PCs will encounter Narrei herself. When she is defeated, she will leave behind a blackened finger-bone.
So, long story short, Have done Haunts, need second pair or eyes to a) check information provided by haunts is sufficient and b) rational check on Haunts, since I've not used them before. Help would be much appreciated!
Long version: The quest is on my homebrew campaign world for a party of 4th level characters (approx 6 characters). The crux of the plot is the PCs are heading to a village that has reported people going missing.
When the get there, the village is deserted, except for a wandering monster (a brontoscorpio, which on this campaign world is a tuned-up-to-11 version of the extinct early scorpion and a Level-Inappopriate challenge. Said monster is actually something else, under the influence of Veil and Feeeblemind. As the PCs hopefully avoid (or defeat and wonder), and try to find out where all the people are and why all the plants seem to have had a surge of growth and then died.
As they explore, they experience a series of haunts (placement uncertain, but nominally in order), tied to an incorporeal dryad bard, Narrei (a Dirge, a homebrew ghost bard template, essentially). The haunts essentially present the tale of what happened to her and (hopefully) suggest they way to put her to rest. As I like to try and present expositional historical events in creative ways other than just documents. (Other ways have including orbs with memories in them and cave paintings (described entirely through text, because I commit art like other people commit crime.)
(The PCs will hopefully be lead to believe this is all caused by her restless spirit, but when they arrive at the place to do what they need to do, the surprise twist is that she was deliberatly summoned by some evil fey from the local equivilent of the First World, who used her anger as focus for a ritual enacted to steal away all the populace, but that's not especially relevant to the specific topic at hand.)
What I'm looking for, then, is a rational-check and proximate balance look at the haunts (I've never used the official rules before), plus a general impression if you can tease out the story from the haunts. Thus, I've been a bit vague and omitted the names of the haunts, the DM's description and the method of destruction (it's the same for all of them). If no-one can figure out what to do, then I clearly need to do some mpre work!
Pertinent background information: 200 years ago on the campaign world, there was a period called the Dark Wars, where the nations of the north fought and defeated the Dark Lord, the final offensive being supported by an allaince with the (prime material) fey. The fall-out of the war and the burst of magic used to finally knobble the Dark Lord caused magic to wane in the north especually, and it still hasn't fully recovered. This happened at the same time as a load of plagues and famine, which essentially lead to a dark age for a century or so; the fey, stripped of their magic, got rather maltreated in human lands, and relations between the humans and the fey especially have been generally... Frosty, shall we say, from the side of the longer-lived fey especailly. This is all common knowledge to the PCs.
Dryads on this world are a specific subspecies of nymph (along with oreads, neriads and the like) which are a four-level monster class (and anoptional continued progression if they don't want to multiclass) which is a bit like druid.
(Pre-emptive apologies for any typos I missed, I haven't done my own second pass yet, though I've tried to clean it up for this post a reasonable amount!)
Note: The reset was explictly set as 1 hour, rather than 1 day, in case the PCs do decide they need to see one again for some reason.
Haunts
Haunt 1
CR 4; XP 1200
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (20-ft radius)
Caster Level: 4th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a female laughing)
HP 18 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The faint sound of a female laughing increases, and and world blurs into a scene of a brightly-lit day on a road into a forest. The laughter comes from a green-skinned female – a dryad who is walking arm-in-arm with a man, wearing Validus legionary gear.
A DC 15 Knowledge (History) or DC 13 Profession (Legionary) check will identify the gear as being contemporary with that of legionaries approximately 200 years ago, in the late- and post- Dark Wars period. The legionary appears to be of Immune rank (a specialist legionary rank).
Both are carrying heavy packs and a small mule trots behind them sedately, with no sign of reigns or bridle, also laden with saddlebags. The pair are laughing and joking – the words are unitelligable, like that in a dream – though the dryad is more animated so than the soldier, who seems tired and care-worn.
A DC 12 Sense Motive check will ascertain the soldier looks not merely tired from the road, but that of someone who has been under long-term pressure, only starting to be releived.
A DC 20 listen Perception check picks out a single intelligable word, spoken by the man “Narrei,” said in reference to the dryad.
The dryad dances ahead of the man, turning, and laughing, and in the background, a village can be seen.
A DC 14 Perception check will indentify that the village hall and thermae appear to be the ones in Hamabastor in the present time, though much newer. The village seems smaller and the layout of the other buildings around them and one or two other buildings appears to be different.
The dryad bounces back and tugs on the arm of the legionary – the sparkle of light catching the ring on her finger is unaturally bright . The legionary, an identical ring on his finger also glinting too brightly, suddenly tugs back and pulls her into a hug. She laughingly kisses him and then between one breath and the other, he vanishes a long with the mule and he villager, and the scene goes dreary and grey. The dryad stands there alone, continuing to laugh, but the sound is strained and increasingly loud and interspersed with sobs, culminating when she throws back her head in a scream of grief and loss. As she screams, her skin also appears to turn grey-blue, and her skeleton is visible beneath the suddenly translucent flesh. The scene collapases into nothing, leaving behind an echo of the scream and a sharp, profound sense of loss.
All creatures within the area must make a Will save (DC 12) or be affected as Hideous Laughter (except the creatures are crying uncontrollably instead of laughing).
Haunt 2
CR 7; XP 3200
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (35-ft radius)
Caster Level: 7th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a female humming a melodic tune)
HP 31 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The world blurs into a beautiful forest glade. A spectacular oak tree rises in the centre, and off to the side is a small cottage, made in the Ciracan style. While most of the grove is wild and filled with wild flowers, a small cottage garden stands at the front of the domicile. A small stone plinth is set between the tree and the cottage, on which a softly golden-glowing stone orb sits. Notably, outside the immeidate zone of the grove, the trees are bare or leaves and there is a layer of snow on the ground.
The same dryad and man are reclining together under the shade of the oak tree. He looks very relaxed and content. She is humming a spritely tune, and across the hand which is not wrapped around the legionary, she is making coloured lights dance around her finger, and twirl into a dancing figure of silver light.
A DC 15 Spellcraft check will ascertain this appears to be Prestidigitation; a further DC 12 Knowledge (Nature) check will note that this is not normally a spell dryads know.
A ripple of wind seems to brush through the clearing. The lights twinkle out. The dryad’s song falters and her brow furrows in confusion. The man starts to laugh, but quickly trails off as the dryad makes more gestures and nothing happens. She stands up, the man standing beside her in confusion and concern. He glances across to the orb and seems alarmed to see it has stopped glowing. The colour begins to leech out of the world. Snow begins to blow into the glade, and the plants appears to wither.
A DC 16 Spellcraft check will ascertain she is attmepting to cast several spells, both of the arcane and natural variety. Nothing happens each time.
A DC 15 listen Perception check will identify the man calling “Narrei” to the dryad (the DC is lower because it is repeated more; if the PCs have previously heard the name, the DC is reduced by 3).
The dryad tries several more times, using different words and gestures. In mounting panic, shivering and with her breath starting to mist, she leans down to touch the yellowing grass and closes her eyes. Nothing appears to happen.
A DC 12 Knowledge (Nature) or DC 15 Knowledge (Religion) or DC 16 Knowledge (Arcana) indicates she appears to be attempting to channel positive energy, a racial ability of dryads.
The dryad’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and she repeatedly tries and tries again with words ands gestures. The man tries to hold her and comfort her, but she seems to be too panicked to be comforted. The world has complete lost all colour now, and is entirely in black and white. Finally, the dryad throws back her head and screams and the world explodes into nothing.
All creatures with the area must make a DC 17 Will save or be affected by an Antimagic Field (confined to their space only, treated as a 5th level spell effect) for 1 minute. Creatures that pass their save are instead affected as if by a targeted Dispel Magic (at 7th caster level). (While the PCs are recoveing from this, now it a good time to have the “brotoscorpio” come knocking; or perhaps a distant wailing, leading to a glimpse of Narrei herself.)
A DC 12 Knowledge (History) or (Arcana) check, reduced to DC 8 if the late Dark Wars period has been identified would place this event as most likely being (or an interpretation of) the Fade of Magic which happened six months after the end of the Dark Wars, occurring at the Winter Soltice. It is currently understood that the ritual that created the burst of magic that finally destroyed the Dark Lord, (created by the combined efforts of the fey and the spellcasters of the Northern Nations to cast), backed by the rising power of Summer Solstice, had an unforeseen backlash which damaged the flow of magic for centuries – it is the reason why the majority of the Northern Nations are still only within areas of Low Magic. The Fade of Magic, combined with the following natural disasters of plague and famine, created the dark age which followed. (It is ambiguous whether the environmental disasters were caused by the Fade of Magic or were just natural, though the vertiable denuding of the able-bodied population to march south to finally end the Dark Wars and the loss of manpower in the following harvast significantly conributed.)
Haunt 3
CR 6; XP 1600
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (30-ft radius)
Caster Level: 6th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a pained moan)
HP 27 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The sound of a pained moan rises, and the world blurs out, to be replaced with a view of a village, in the depths of winter. People are moving around the buildings, but they are, for the most part, hazy and indistinct and inconsistant, as if in a dream. The dryad is standing, talking to a figure in a pale robe, with a holy symbol of the Bright Lady on his chest. The figure’s face is featureless, as if blurred out; the only discernable feature is a brown beard. The words are indistinct and unintelligable. The world’s colours seem slightly muted – present, but as if filtered through a grey haze.
Again, a DC 14 Perception check identifies this as Hamabastor through the town hall; this is automatic if the PCs have successfully identified it previously.
(The Bright Lady is one of the most prominent Good deities, Saranrae would be a rough approximatation.)
A man, carrying wood-cutting axe, stumbles into the village from the forest. His face and skin are grey and very gaunt, his eyes blood-shot, and he shambles more like a zombie than a living man. He is apparently the source of the groaning, and he lets out another moan. The apparent villagers stop and turn to see him, all at once. They display exaggerated dipositions of alarm and several of them, including the robed figure hurry over. The dryad remains where she is, and recoils.
A DC 10 Sense Motive check indicates that they appear to be alarmed and concerned, but not afraid (as would be expected if the man was an actual zombie, for example).
The man moans again and this time it is followed by a severe coughing fit. A great gout of bright crimson blood explodes from his mouth, splattering the villagers and especially the pale-robed man, where the lurid red stain stands in shapr contrast to his robes.
A DC 10 Heal check will determine that this is an improbable amount of blood of to be expelled, enough that a human in that condition would likely be dead.
The vague people shapes do not seem concerned about this, but lay the man down and lift him up, to carry him towards the building the dryad and the man were standng in front of. Before they have gone more than about ten feet, they stand stock-still and all begin to moan in unision, their skins turning grey. They turn away and start to move in different directions, and begin to cough, harder and harder, until they too cough out huge gouts of blood. More villagers head towards them as they do so, but before they can reach the afflicted, the dryad turns and runs. The world seems to blur again, a rush of snow and leafless trees. When it refocuses, it is the same glade as before, but now covered in snow, with no living plants. The orb on the plinth remains dark.
The dryad bursts into the cottage, revealing a neat interior, and flings herself into the arms of the man, babbling incoherently. He holds her, does does not respond. She says something questioningly, and when he does not answer, she looks up. The man’s face has become grey and he moans.
The dryad, alarmed, recoils in horror, clasping her hands to her mouth in dismay. The man coughs and vomits out a jet of bright crimson blood, which covers everything. As the dryad’s scream of horror rises, the blood fills the world and the image collapses – but not before coating you all in blood.
All creatures in the area must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or be subjected to a psychic echo of the plague (this is treated as a modified version of Contagion). Symtoms incude pale skin and throat irritating and paralysing fits of coughing.
On a succesful save, the creature is Staggered for 1 round (taking D3 nonlethal damage from a sudden coughing fit and dizziness) and Sickened for D4 rounds following.
A creature that fails its save is Nauseated for D6 rounds (taking D3 nonlethal damage per round from the coughing) and are Sickened for 4D6 minutes.
If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its Fortitude save, it actually contracts an echo of the disease. (This can be cured normally, and the victim is not contagious.)
Plague Echo: Disease, haunt-inficted (Fort DC 15); onset D4 minutes; frequency 1/day (D2 Con damage and Fatigued while the Con damage lasts), cure 2 consecutive saves.
The blood lasts only a few seconds before evaporating into nothing.
Haunt 4
CR 6; XP 1600
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (30-ft radius)
Caster Level: 6th
Notice: Listen Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of angry shouting)
HP 27 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The sound of angry shouting rises and the world blurs. The scene is the same villager as the previous images, still in the dead of winter. The world is again painted in muted colours.
The dryad is standing in the village square. She is being restrained by two huge, ill-defined figures. Their build seems more like a large orc than a human, but their featureless faces are the tan of humans, not the green of orcs. An old woman, well-defined unlike the other figures is standing before the dryad screaming and shouting at her, obviously berating her in some fashion. Again, the meaning of the words slides away from understanding.
A DC 15 spot Perception check will note that the old woman bears a familial resemblence to the man seen in the previous haunts.
A procession of indistinct villagers bear palls, each one with a cloth-covered corpse. The villagers move in unison, and silently. The procession moves between the old woman and the dryad and stops. The old woman rips off the pall; beneath it is a faceless, grey-skinned body, with a froth of bright crimson blood staining its jaw a chest. The features of the body are otherwise hazy, as if only half-remembered. The old woman points to the body and makes a vigourous, demanding gesture to the dryad, and then to the body. The dryad, crying and distraught, shakes her head again and again, speaking with a pleading tone.
The old woman snarls, covers the corpse, and the pall-bears step away, only for the next body to be brought and the next and the next. And each time, the old woman grows a little larger, and a little more menacing looking, her craggy features darkening, and wisps of smoke emitting from her nostrils.
Finally, the old woman, now seemingly about ten feet tall and looking more like some sort of demon than a human, rips the cloth cover off and the body beneath is the man. The old woman’s demand is the most vigorous yet, but the dryad is incoherent with grief, letting out only a single wail of distress.
The old woman speaks, in a voice of a demon, and for the first time, the words are intelligable: “then what is the point of you?”
The dryad falls to her knees as the figures and the buildings all dissolve into a featureless plain. The dryad curls into a fetal position, sobbing. Eventually, a sound of a shovel striking the earth penetrates, unaturally loud, into the silence and she looks up. In the distance, the glade can be seen. Four vague pall-bearers are standing by an open grave next to the oak, now looking dead. The dryad stumbles to her feet running towards the scene. The pall-bearers lift the pall and dump it into the grave, still moving in unison. The dryad screams and redoubles her efforts, but the glade is not getting any closer. The pall-bearers begin to fill the grave in. The dryad screams again, and black metal bars manifest in front of her, forming into a cage. The glade seems to receed into the distance, as if the cage itself was pulling her away. It grows smaller and smaller, until it is barely bigger than the dryad herself. She screams and bangs on the bars to no avail. She collapses to the floor and howls in grief and despair. The scene and the cage burst into fragments, leaving only a feeling of unfathomable loss.[/B]
All creatures within the area must make a DC 15 Will save or be affected as a Wave of Grief spell (Spell Compendium (3.5): –3 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks) for six minutes.
Haunt 5
CR 6; XP 1600
NE chained (Narrei) persistant haunt (30-ft radius)
Caster Level: 6th
Notice: Perception DC 16 (the faint sound of a crackling fire)
HP 27 Trigger: Proximity Reset: 1 hour
Effect:
The faint sound of a crackling fire increases and the world fades away, melting into the village. The village is dark, the sky moonless and without stars. A crowd of faceless villagers stands in front of the town hall, each one holding a lit torch. The sound of the torches burning sounds more like a bonfire than a torch, magnified by the number. In front of them stands the old woman, in the demonlike form you saw previously. Before her, the dryad is being tied to a stake by the large shadowy figures. Around the base of the stake are bundles of stacked wood. The dryad struggles, weeping, but one of the larger creatures strikes her and her resistance falters. They complete their task as step away.
The old woman-demon steps forward. Her voice is ringing, but the words are meaningless aside from the first “Narrei.” The tone is accuratory, and with the conclusion of each sentence, all the villagers stamp down their feet in unison, making a sound that is far louder than in sound be. The dryad, crying and shouting, goes unheeded. The old woman-demon finishes her speech and produces another torch. She moves forward, as do all the torch-wielding figures behind her. The dryad, screaming in fear and panic, struggles helplessly in her bonds. The old woman-demon leans forwards and sets her torch to the kindling. The torch-wilders behind her all stretch ther arms out, elongating unaturally, to set their torches to the pyre as well. The flames erupt brillantly, rapidly creeping up the wood towards the dryad.
The torch wielders turn away and part, as the old woman-demon snarls with satisfaction and turns on her heel. The parting of the crowd shows a series of ghostly figures being lifted upwards, borne aloft with golden light into an incongrously-present sunlit sky. The last such figure is the man, standing staring down at the dryad. She is now covered in flame, burning and screaming, but still staring out at the man, even as her flesh blackens. The man regards her with an expression of sadness as the light bears him aloft. The ropes binding the dryad become lose in the fire, and she reaches out her right hand towards him, screaming a single word: “Nartius!” As she does, the world also seems to set alight and away as the fire consumes the dryad, leaving only a blackened finger bone visible in the flames. The world dissolves in fire.
All creatures in the area are subjected to a Fireball (Reflex DC 15, 6D6 Fire damage).
(The PCs have max hit-points, they'll be fine!)
Shortly thereafter, the PCs will encounter Narrei herself. When she is defeated, she will leave behind a blackened finger-bone.