In the last session, I was not certain which direction the players would go so I had several adventures ready. One of the toss in short encounters was a modification of "The Stealer of Children" from Small Niche Games written by Peter C. Spahn. The adventure was written for levels 1-3 of Labyrinth Lord but because of the nature of the adventure, I found it quite easy to modify the adventure for levels 5-10 for Swords & Wizardry. The adventure involves a single fey antagonist who has resistance to most attacks.
The adventure went very well. I think the players enjoyed the change of pace. It is more of a thinking player's adventure. The final solution that came up with (in the next session) was not what was intended but it worked out.
Session 95: The Stealer of Children
After a day Alayna has identified all of the potions the Company found in the cave of the mad alchemist. Lakima decides he has some of his own potion-making he wants to do. He heads over to the Mages Guild to make use of the alchemy lab. He is out when Lantosh brings up the issue of recovering Aashdoshan’s body. Domago says he regrets leaving the body behind but the building was collapsing. Eathwund agrees to go with Domago and Lantosh and Fenris gives Lantosh the Spade of Excavation.
Traveling outside the town to the south the three men arrive at the cemetery. They find that the Tower has completely collapsed and is now just a large heap of rubble with a few standing segments of walls. A pair of members of the town watch stand guard (or are actually seated on some stools rescued from the rubble). Lantosh scouts the rubble and gets the spade of excavation digging in the area he thinks is where the upper floor would have collapsed. After an hour the spade has uncovered a large area and they find Aashdoshan’s skeletal remains. An intact coffin is found in the rubble and it is used to remove the body from the hole. Eathwund pays a passing carter with a wagon 20 gold to haul the coffin to the Apothecary shop in Edgerton (likely years pay or more for the carter). Malyn takes charge of the remains and places a golden Mask of Peaceful Repose over Aashdoshan’s “face”.
The three make their way back to the Manor House. Outside they see a fine horse and carriage awaiting with footmen wearing the colors of the Town of Edgerton. Inside the Manor they find Baron Lucien Vorloi waiting for them. The baron swears them to secrecy and tells them that Earl Stefan of Lockeland has been missing for a year – taken in the middle of the night by the Creature of Rhyl. A mysterious beast that has been hunting livestock and the occasional villager during the night in Lockeland for the past ten years. This attack is different from the rest. Rather than a simple hunt for food, it seems more directed. The beast took Lord Stefan and two powerful magic items from the treasury. These are not the actions of a simple beast. The mages of the Ducal Court suspect that the wizard Astylis is behind the actions of the creature.
The Baron tells them that several companies of mercenaries and a cohort of the knights were sent to the location of Astylis’ complex and none returned. Recent divination confirmed that Duke Stefan is still alive so Duke Robert asked his court for suggestions. The Baron explains that he suggested the Company of the Black Dragon be hired. He is counting on their improving his standing with Lord Robert and on their discretion. So far, Lord Robert has been keeping Earl Stefan’s disappearance secret. Eathwund tells the Baron that they cannot agree to the terms (payment of 8,000 gold coins) without consulting Lakima who is busy. They promise to let him know before the sunset of the day.
Eathwund and Domago head over to the Mages Guild and disturb Lakima working on creating Healing potions. Lakima listens and agrees to the deal. A map is laid out and the distance to Leandra’s Row is plotted. It looks to be a journey that will take a few weeks. But Lakima tells them to send a note to the Baron that they will take the job and they will be in Leandra’s Row in 2 days.
The next day preparations are made for the journey. Lakima studies maps and asks Domago (who is from Lockeland) if there are any bridges in Leandra’s Row. Domago goes to Cromly’s and is shown the artisan’s latest creation – Cromly’s Marvellous Sling bullets. He is selling the explosive sling bullets for 100 gold each. Domago asks to buy all 20 that have been produced but has to borrow gold from Eathwund to do it.
The group hires a riverboat and spends 2 days traveling to the Dolm ferry. Lakima, Eathwund, Domago, Alrix, Flora, Fenris, and Lantosh are on the journey. From the ferry, they head north and then east into Kingswood. As the trees begin to close in, they meet some Elven Rangers. Once the rangers realize that they are the Company of the Black Dragon, they let them pass. Shorty, thereafter they arrive at the Bridgeway and greet the Custodian of the Bridge, the wizard Ezmeraldan. Lakima greets the old mage and asks for a portal to be opened to Leandra’s Row. The mage agrees and sets the crystals in the portal. The adventurers then cross the bridge and step off one end at the Cherry Creek bridge in Leandra’s Row, magically transported by the portal magic of the Bridgeway.
As soon as they find themselves in Leandra’s Row, the group sees a young farmer running toward them yelling.
“Help, help, he is trying to kill me!”
They see another man clad in rusted, old plate armor clumsily chasing the farmer. Without a whole lot of time to get an explanation, the adventurers move to protect the farmer who hides behind Lantosh. Eathwund, Domago, and Alrix move to block the knight. Alrix sends his dancing sword to attack. The knight is struck several times breaking off pieces of armor and they see that the armor is animated by a skeleton. After a few more blows the skeleton collapses. The adventurers ask the farmer for an explanation and he explains that he was chopping firewood from a downed tree when the knight exploded out of the very tree. Lakima insists the farmer show them the tree. They travel 20 minutes into the deep woods and find a large oak tree in a clearing. The tree has been split in two by a lightning strike and is badly damaged by fire. The tree grows out of a low mound of earth. A large, flat rock rests over a hole beneath the roots. Eathwund asks if they should move the stone, but they decide to the village and report what they found.
Leandra’s Row is a small farm village along Duke’s Road. The road passes through the village linking Lockeland with Thurmany. There is a tavern with a few rooms named “The Red Smile” and a nearby Abbey. They learn that the land and the village are managed by the sisters of the order of St. Leandra. The town is known for its cherry trees. The village warder, Arlen Travers, has the body of the knight taken to the abbey. Sister Allisen tells them that the heraldic designs on the knight indicate he was a member of Lansing House. The former Lords of Leandra. The Lansings died out hundreds of years ago. The last Lord Lansing was killed in a fire that destroyed Lansing Manor.
The adventurers go to the Red Smile tavern and meet their contact, Sir Angus Goblinbane. Their contact turns out to be a very old knight of some repute. Sir Angus shows them on a map where the location of Astylis’ complex is suspected to lie – about 2 days ride north.
The party spends the night in the tavern. They find they have to sleep on the tavern floor as the tavern has only 2 rooms for rent and Sir Angus has taken the larger one. The next morning there is a commotion in the village. They learn that a child went missing during the night. Disappearing from home with no signs of disturbance. The adventurers do head over to where the villagers have gathered to organize search parties. Arlen Travers is doing the organizing. Lakima tells Arlen that if the Company is paid in gold they will look for the missing child. This angers the warder who asks them to begone from the village.
While walking away from the village gathering, Lantosh stops and tells Lakima that he will return and help the villagers find the missing child. Domago agrees and also turns to leave. Lakima calls them back and tells them that he thinks the child was taken by a fey creature and that the key to finding the child is investigating the lightning-struck oak. He is convinced that it is a fairy mound. Lakima suggests they investigate it immediately.
The entire group heads out of the village and into the Tanglewood forest. Soon they arrive at the clearing with the lightning-damaged tree. Eathwund tries to move the boulder without success. He also tries with Lantosh’s aid and still fails. Finally, Lantosh taps Domago on the shoulder and the two manage to lever the stone to one side. Below the rock is a large hole dug in the ground. Fenris slides down into the hole and calls up that there is a tunnel below. The entire group descents. Lakima provides light with his glowing staff and Lantosh lights a lantern. Flora and Alrix take the lead using their superior dark vision.
The tunnel winds through the earth continually descending. Finally, they arrive at an intersection and see a pair of chambers dug out of the earth. The nearest chamber is full of detritus including some disturbing items like children’s clothing and toys. Lakima enters and looks around and is attacked suddenly by three tiny 1-foot-tall fey creatures. One of them bites him on the leg. Lakima releases the efreet Khisa from its bottle and orders it to erect a Wall of Fire. The fire springs up blocking the creatures from the group but it also fills the small tunnels with smoke. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla summoning a cohort of berserkers to appear on the other side of the flames. They hear some screaming and then quiet. Coughing, Lakima tells Khisa to drop the wall of fire. The flames vanish and they see three hacked-up corpses of the tiny fey. Eathwund searches through the debris and finds the ancient skeleton of a child with a silver locket about his neck. They decide to take the child’s bones and place them in the Bag of Holding.
In the next chamber, they find a disturbingly large number of human bones. All of the bones are clearly those of human children and most are very old. Some have almost disintegrated. The newest bones are at least a few hundred years old. All show signs of having been eaten.
Armed with this knowledge the group moves deeper into the earth following the tunnel eventually arriving in a large cave bisected by a swiftly moving stream. Lantosh leads the way cautiously holding his lantern out in front. Soon the light falls on a fey creature resting on a bed of children’s clothes, dolls, and toys. The creature stirs as the light falls over it. The fey creature is short in stature about 4 feet tall with green skin, short horns, and long hair. The creature rises and taunts the adventurers in gibberish muttered in elvish. Its sentences end in gurgling laughter and the phrase “grombel… grombel… grombel..”
Disgusted by the creature, which claims to be eating the missing child, the group attack. Eathwund and Lantosh strike at it with their weapons and Alrix send the sword of dancing at it. All of the attacks miss. Domago blows the Horn and two berserkers appear and attack but they also miss. Then the creature turns into a cloud of cold mist and slowly drifts over to a dirt wall and passes through it.
The adventurers wait for a short time but the creature does not appear. A slightly rattled Fenris keeps repeating that they need to leave. Finally, Lantosh suggests they check the other passage. This passage leads to a wooden wall with a door in the center. Eathwund moves to the door and Fenris joins him. Fenris listens and tells everyone he can hear a human child crying. Domago cautions that this could be a trap.
Eathwund swings the door open and they see a crudely constructed child’s bedroom. A crying girl of around 5 years of age rests on a bed. Lantosh rushes forward and picks up the child comforting her. Eathwund checks the chamber for magic but finds none.
“We need to get her out of here,” urges Lantosh.
The group immediately leaves and heads back through the forest to the village. The child’s parents eagerly come running once the word is spread that the adventurers found the child. At first, the child is unable to speak but eventually, the young girl tells her parents that a creature appeared in her bedroom and she was frozen with fear. Then it picked her up and they floated through walls and through the air to the bedroom beneath the ground.
Arlen Travers arrives and thanks the adventurers calling them heroes and telling them he was wrong to doubt them. Later he asks them to meet Mother Mills with him at the abbey. The skeleton of a child they found is identified by one of the nuns as Evan Lansing. The locket he was wearing shows the Lord and Lady Lansing, the last Lansing family members to rule the area. Sister Allisen identified the child from the research she had done on the history of the area. The heroes are not certain how this all connects. Lakima is still wondering if this is somehow connected to the Creature of Rhyl. A mission that they need to get started on soon. In the meantime, they return to the Red Smile tavern.
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