Season 1, Quest 3: Ghost Town
I’ve been meaning to do this for weeks, and really have no excuse why I haven’t posted these quest synopses other than the fact that it doesn’t seem like anyone’s reading them. Regardless, here they are.
After several days of traveling in the Duchy of the Black Mire, the heroes notice that what is supposed to be a fertile and verdant land is filled with blasted and wasted vegetation. One evening, the heroes come upon an inhabited village; an anomaly from what they’ve come to expect, as they’ve seen plenty of abandoned farms and towns so far. While the occupants are friendly to the group, they seem to have no knowledge of the war between the Duchy and Westmarch, or about why their neighboring villages are unoccupied.
After the inn has settled down for the night, several of the heroes emerge from their rooms and discover that the building is entirely vacant. Even more mysterious is that it looks like it has been vacant for quite some time. When the heroes regroup, they find that they are the only people in the entire village and a heavy rainstorm has sprung up. As the heroes explore the inn, a number of frightful events occur, ranging from sinister scratching on the other side of walls, to a cellar door that slams shut even after it has been removed from its hinges, to a strange drain over an underground stream that smells like ash. But most distressing is when Everritt miscasts a spell he vanishes!
After some frantic searching, the young man reappears, having been transported into the inn’s attic. There, he found a collection of strange jars filled with amber fluid and spherical objects (which were also found in the cellar), as well as a sigil from a long-forgotten demon-worshipping apocalyptic cult. Distressed, the group leaves the inn and investigates the town itself; however, they find that they inn has vanished once they leave it behind.
Of the entire village, the only location of note is the mill: which is still milling…but it is milling fresh bone instead of flour. The building seems to be overrun by spiders, and the heroes catch glimpses and hear a titanic spider-monster skittering on the roof. However, no matter how they try, the creature remains elusive.
Once the group leaves the mill, they find a “trail” of corpses: men and women that still stand up despite their condition, and are filled beyond capacity with cobwebs and spiders. The trail leads back to the inn - which has reappeared in their absence. Orchid’s ability to see into the past histories of people and places grants her the insight to believe that the town’s condition can be prevented. When they return to the attic of the inn, the group discovers a strange metal ring with a jewel in the center, and the object radiates powerful magic. Believing it to be the source of the demonic influence, the heroes destroy it. Soon afterwards, the storm breaks and all of the village’s inhabitants return as if they had never left.
This was only the second “scary” quest that I’ve ever done, and it was a success (so says the consensus of the group). Atmosphere played a large part in it, as we played after it was dark and I turned out the lights, so the only illumination was a pair of candles on the table. In addition, I split the group up way more frequently than I prefer, leading to a large amount of misinformation and confusion on the part of the players. Making Amy jump after I slammed my fists on the table when the cellar door slammed shut the first time was the highlight of the evening for me.
After several days of traveling in the Duchy of the Black Mire, the heroes notice that what is supposed to be a fertile and verdant land is filled with blasted and wasted vegetation. One evening, the heroes come upon an inhabited village; an anomaly from what they’ve come to expect, as they’ve seen plenty of abandoned farms and towns so far. While the occupants are friendly to the group, they seem to have no knowledge of the war between the Duchy and Westmarch, or about why their neighboring villages are unoccupied.
After the inn has settled down for the night, several of the heroes emerge from their rooms and discover that the building is entirely vacant. Even more mysterious is that it looks like it has been vacant for quite some time. When the heroes regroup, they find that they are the only people in the entire village and a heavy rainstorm has sprung up. As the heroes explore the inn, a number of frightful events occur, ranging from sinister scratching on the other side of walls, to a cellar door that slams shut even after it has been removed from its hinges, to a strange drain over an underground stream that smells like ash. But most distressing is when Everritt miscasts a spell he vanishes!
After some frantic searching, the young man reappears, having been transported into the inn’s attic. There, he found a collection of strange jars filled with amber fluid and spherical objects (which were also found in the cellar), as well as a sigil from a long-forgotten demon-worshipping apocalyptic cult. Distressed, the group leaves the inn and investigates the town itself; however, they find that they inn has vanished once they leave it behind.
Of the entire village, the only location of note is the mill: which is still milling…but it is milling fresh bone instead of flour. The building seems to be overrun by spiders, and the heroes catch glimpses and hear a titanic spider-monster skittering on the roof. However, no matter how they try, the creature remains elusive.
Once the group leaves the mill, they find a “trail” of corpses: men and women that still stand up despite their condition, and are filled beyond capacity with cobwebs and spiders. The trail leads back to the inn - which has reappeared in their absence. Orchid’s ability to see into the past histories of people and places grants her the insight to believe that the town’s condition can be prevented. When they return to the attic of the inn, the group discovers a strange metal ring with a jewel in the center, and the object radiates powerful magic. Believing it to be the source of the demonic influence, the heroes destroy it. Soon afterwards, the storm breaks and all of the village’s inhabitants return as if they had never left.
This was only the second “scary” quest that I’ve ever done, and it was a success (so says the consensus of the group). Atmosphere played a large part in it, as we played after it was dark and I turned out the lights, so the only illumination was a pair of candles on the table. In addition, I split the group up way more frequently than I prefer, leading to a large amount of misinformation and confusion on the part of the players. Making Amy jump after I slammed my fists on the table when the cellar door slammed shut the first time was the highlight of the evening for me.