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A Job in Sod

D&Dinos I - The Great Dinosaur Race

D&Dinos II - Mercenaries of Meat and Muck

Goblin Fort

I Dream of Pelor

Law of the Desert

Royal Coronation

Sewers of Pelor Bay

Souris Farm

The Lilac Candle

The Problem With Pirates

Thieves Guild

The Lilac Candle

Start

(Music): Mistreated Mama Blues – Dock Boggs

A beggar approaches you on the street and asks for spare change:

Excuse me, friend, do you think you could spare some change for a poor grieving mother?

Campaign

You hand the woman your spare change and she takes your hand.

Thank you friend—Pelor bless you.

A Formal Intervention

(Music): Bugler’s Holiday – Leroy Anderson, Air Force Band

A man dressed in a fine silk suit approaches from out of the crowd. You notice that he is wearing a pin in the form of a golden wheel.

(Knowledge Local DC 15): You recognize the pin as the symbol of the merchants/bankers guild. Only the highest-ranking members of the organization wear this pin. He puts a hand on the old woman’s shoulder and addresses you.

Excuse me, friend. This woman wasn’t bothering you was she? You see, I’m afraid that we do not allow panhandling in Smittyville.

He begins to lead the woman away, but she resists:

Please no! Don’t take me away—I am only trying to get a meal for my son. He’s sick and bedridden and I’m afraid he won’t last the night unless I bring home food and water.

(Diplomacy DC 40): You somehow manage to convince the man to allow the woman to go. She falls on her knees and thanks you repeatedly (she accompanies you on the rest of the quest).

The man will not listen to anyone’s pleas for mercy and leads the woman away to the barracks to be locked up.

In the Quiet of the Night

The man in silk tells the guards that the woman is being arrested for causing a disturbance on the street. The guard opens one of the cell doors and the man in silk directs her into it. The woman slumps onto the floor and begins to weep. The man in silk leaves and the guard returns to his desk in the other room.

(Music): Wild Bill Jones – Charlie Parr

(Diplomancy DC 15): The woman looks up at you. She manages to gain her composure and begins to tell you about her son:

My son… he has a terrible disease. His body is covered with pox and it is a great trial for him just to breathe. It is all I can do just to provide for him. I ask you please… please if you have any mercy please go to him and just make sure he is OK. It would break my heart if he were to die when I could not be by his side.

We are staying in a small room in the basement of a house just south of the west gate to the city. Well… (she motions for you to lean in) in honesty, we did not pay for this room. The house is vacant. We are only living there to stay off the street, but you cannot go in the daytime. You must go at night when you won’t be seen. If the guards were to find us, I’m afraid they would take everything we have.

I would give you food to bring but I have nothing left. Pelor have mercy…

She breaks down again and begins to cry.

You reach the west gate and turn south. There are a number of different homes here, arranged in a somewhat disorganized fashion. You see one that has no light coming from inside.

(Music quiet): Anything else? – Alberto Iglesias

(Music tension): Esterhase – Alberto Iglesias

The front door of the house is locked (Lockpick DC 25) and a there is a sign that says:

NO TRESSPASSING PER ORDER OF THE MERCHANTS GUILD

While you are thinking about what to do, you hear someone whistling nearby. It is a city guard on patrol.

You notice that the windows are boarded up. At the back of the house, there is another small door. It is also locked (Lockpick DC 20).

Inside the house, it is dark and it smells musty.

(Search DC 15): The house has some furnishings, but it is mostly empty. The most prominent feature is a thick layer of dust on everything. You don’t see any way into a basement.

(Search DC 20): In what appears to be the dining room, you find a trapdoor under a rug.

(Search DC 30): In the kitchen you find a small painting of a child that fell down behind the woodbox.

He is a fair-skinned human child with blond hair.

A Deeper Passage

(Strength DC 18): The trapdoor is incredibly heavy, but you manage to lift it and you see a wooden ladder leading down into a basement. As you climb down, it looks like a root cellar, but there is a wooden door on the far side of the room. The trapdoor slams shut above you with a heavy thud (Magic Lock DC 35).

(Music): The Adventure Begins – Howard Shore

You open the door and find a passageway that stretches forward into the darkness (see map).

(Music): Miscellaneous

The Lilac Candle

(Music): Muertos Rojos – Bill Elm & Woody Jackson

Suddenly you see the faint flickering of a light far down the passage. At the same time, you detect something in the air. It is subtle, but you recognize the scent of a lilac. As you approach the light, you see that it is a candle on an alter. Around the candle are pictures of a young human boy with blond hair and, a small bag (contains bone meal), some bottles with various liquids in them (3 poisons and 1 Potion of True Direction), and 2 scrolls (spell scrolls).

(Music): Triggernometry – Bill Elm & Woody Jackson

As you reach for the items on the table, you feel the hairs on your arm begin to stand on edge, and then the ground begins to shake. The vibration grows into a tremor, and the passage starts to collapse around you (Strength DC 15)!

Into the Light

You heave the dirt off and emerge from the depths, gasping for breath. You look around and see that you are in a small shrubby clearing in the woods.

End

The woman looks out of her grease and dirt-stained hair at you. You can hardly see the whites of her eyes. She trembles as she speaks:

You… you were supposed to die. My son… was supposed to live.

(Music): Mystery – John Carpenter

She then lets out a high-pitched scream and begins to rise off the floor. A red aura begins to form around her and the air starts to become hot.

Dog

  • Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13hp)
  • Initiative: +2
  • Speed: 40 ft
  • AC: 16
  • Attacks: Bite +3 melee
  • Damage: Bite 1d6+3
  • Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft / 5 ft
  • Special Qualities:Scent
  • Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1
  • Abilities: Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
  • Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +5
  • Feats:

Grig

  • Hit Dice: ½d6+1 (2hp)
  • Initiative: +4
  • Speed: 20ft, fly 40 ft (poor)
  • AC: 18
  • Attacks: Dagger +6 melee; composite shortbow +6 ranged
  • Damage: Dagger 1d43; composite shortbow 1d4
  • Face/Reach: 2.5 ft by 2.5 ft / 0 ft
  • Special Attacks: Spelllike abilities, fiddle
  • Special Qualities: SR 17
  • Saves: Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +3
  • Abilities: Str 5, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 14
  • Skills: Escape Artist +8, Hide +16, Jump +9, Listen +7, Move Silently +8, Perform +6, Search +3, Spot +4
  • Feats: Dodge, Weapon Finesse (dagger)
  • Spelllike abilities: 3/day – change self, entangle, invisibility, ventriloquism
  • Supernatural: Fiddle – Will Save DC 15

Zombie

  • Hit Dice: 2d12+3 (16hp)
  • Initiative: 1
  • Speed: 30 ft
  • AC: 11
  • Attacks: Slam +2 melee
  • Damage: Slam 1d6+1
  • Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft / 5 ft
  • Special Qualities: Undead, partial actions only
  • Saves: Fort +0, Ref 1, Will +3
  • Abilities: Str 13, Dex 8, Con , Int , Wis 10, Cha 1
  • Skills:
  • Feats: Toughness

Skeleton

  • Hit Dice: 1d12 (6hp)
  • Initiative: +5
  • Speed: 30 ft
  • AC: 13
  • Attacks: 2 claws +0 melee
  • Damage: Claws 1d4
  • Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft / 5 ft
  • Special Qualities: Undead, immunities
  • Saves: Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +2
  • Abilities: Str 10, Dex 12, Con , Int , Wis 10, Cha 11
  • Skills:
  • Feats: Improved Initiative