[3.5] Song-Based Adventure Concept

[Dsurion]

I was listening to Elvenking earlier, and I must admit, as much as I love their sound, half of their lyrics are completely unintelligible as sung unless you already know what they are (and even then... ). So, I wound up looking up lyrics for Conjuring of the 14th.

Spoiler

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Follow down the path
It leads to a circle of houses,
Where foreigners are not well thought
And strangers unwelcome to their affairs!
The villagers (so they said) do heathen rituals

"Just for a while
Look through the chimney stack
Through the mist, aren't you afeared?

Ajar are the doors
A smell of rotten woods
In the mud, aren't you afraid?"

Hidden by the clouds
A pallid sun on a November day
An expedition organized
To go and see what's going on
The villagers (none of them) weren't seen in town for weeks
To get provisions as they used to...

"Just for a while
Look through the chimney stack
Through the mist, aren't you afeared?

Ajar are the doors
A smell of rotten woods
In the mud, aren't you afraid?"

Hearsay called him the 14th, was never born, he's always been
The sins to expiate in front of him, will be the worst part of your dreams!
(Someone said it is a magic place!)

[Chorus:]
Through the hazy heights, two leagues from Avhon,
Among the heart of brushwood, aloof from the glances
Lies a village, built on a clearing
Thirteen houses, aligned maliciously, and a mansion on a hill
That mournful light in (the) ground floor window is always lit!

As they reached the hamlet on the hill
They found nobody at all! (was anybody there?)
Faint light in the house (where have they gone?)
Would they dare to go inside (to go inside)
When they all returned back home
They told of uncanny things
When they all returned back home
Inside (knock, knock) their souls something's hopelessly gone!

Jesp Van Cleave, the first found dead, drowned in the stream
While we was having a bath, "A terrible misfortune,
Was an incredible and fatal accident!"
Ichabold De le Fournier, son of the Major, was the second one,
His horse fell on top of him, the wounds were too serious to be cured.
One by one the thirteen died, all those who
had been to that village faced the unknown One!

One was hanged, the other choked, little by little
all the townsmen understood
The Conjuring of the 14th was gliding in the mazes of their lives
Thirteen souls to replace the old, the evil lifeblood will
flow in the shadows of their bodies

Hearsay called him the 14th, was never born, he's always been
The sins to expiate in front of him, will be the worst part
of your dreams!
(Someone said it is a magic place!)

[Chorus:]
Through the hazy heights, two leagues from Avhon,
Among the heart of brushwood, aloof from the glances
Lies a village, built on a clearing
When they went back to the village then, thirteen houses occupied
Thirteen new inhabitants, whom does he look like?

Thirteen houses, aligned maliciously, and a mansion on a hill
That mournful light in (the) ground floor window will be always lit!

The premise would be simple. The PC's are part of an expedition to figure out what happened to a number of villagers from an obscure area who are no longer seen around town to gather supplies.

Have the place appear to be deserted when they arrive, except for the manor on the hill glowing strangely, as if fires inside were lit. I'd probably make mention that the building is in good condition, as opposed to the rotting wood of the other villagers houses.

From there I'm unsure how I'd want to do this. Specifically, whether I want it to be a supernatural demon-summoning, based on the lyrics referring to Pagan rituals, or mundane and a mystery like the colony of Roanoke.

If I go with the summoning, I'm probably going to have the other members of the expedition become zombies or some kind of corporeal undead, or maybe possessed.

The game is low-magic, and almost entirely Human-populated, with only Goblins (though a more sophisticated, social variety instead of tribal raiding goblins), Dwarves, Elves, and maybe Halflings being the others in minority.

If it matters, for encounter-related shenanigans, the party will most likely be level one, three at max.

Can anyone offer any words of wisdom?

[Psyren]

Why not both? A mundane mystery that eventually leads into the deeper summoning plot, with the town's entire council of elders in on the hoodwink a la The Village.
I like the band too.

The nice part is that the focus can be to stop "The 14th" from being summoned, but if the players fail then you have a great hook for the campaign to continue with.

[Dsurion]

When you put it like that it seems like it should have been obvious

Still, any more ideas are definitely appreciated!