September Short Adventure 24: A Babe In The Woods

Preamble

A September of Short Adventuresis an OSR Challenge initiated by Matt over at the Asshat Paladinsblog. You can click on the Moustache Dragon over on the right-handside-bar (just above Features) to learn more about all of this stufffrom Matt directly. All of our 25 (possibly more...) entries areformatted along the lines of what Matt calls the Get Ready, GetSet, Go! format. In a nut-shell, this approach breaks eachadventure into a Title, Three escalating sections of adventuredetails (the Ready section is limited to an elevator pitch only 2sentences...), and a final catch-all section for any NPC notes/stats.The idea is to keep it short, simple, easy to read without any maps,drawings, diagrams or 8X10 glossies. Keep description to a minimum,avoid lengthy exposition, and no casts of thousands -- unless it's aninvading horde of three-eyed orcs or goblins riding purple wombats.

We're also going to aim to keep thingsgeneric, setting agnostic and thus portable or adaptable to anycampaign/setting using the particular rules-set we'll be using in anygiven September Short Adventure such as Mutant Future,Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry (White Box), etc.

FreeRules

Labyrinth Lord:http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

Mutant Future:http://www.goblinoidgames.com/mutantfuture.html

Swords and Wizardry (White Box):http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/whitebox.htm

SeptemberShort Adventure Number 24

Title: A Babe in the Woods

Rules: Swords and Wizardry (WhiteBox)

Ready

The players are caught out in ablizzard and take shelter within a section of dense forest. The snowand wind howl and swirl for hours, but the Player Characters are safeand even build a small fire to keep warm.

Set

There is a sound off past the first rowor two of trees. It is intermittent, getting weaker and is distinctlyhuman-sounding. As though someone were crying.

Go!

The sound is comingfrom a baby that has been abandoned out in the woods by its parents.

As far as the PCsknow, if they do not rescue this child, it will die. But that is nottrue at all.

If they do golooking for the baby, they will find it easily enough and return totheir camp-site with no real bother. In fact, nothing will botherthem for as long as they remain in the woods and every morning afreshly killed deer will be left within close proximity. They willreach the next town or village easily, well-fed and completely safe.

If the PCs abandonthe babe, then it will suddenly stop crying altogether, veryabruptly. The next morning, and every morning after that, mutilatedbodies of brutally slaughtered farmers, woodcutters and travelerswill be found right at the edge of their camp with bloody trailsleading to the place of ambush. These bodies will all be arranged tolook as if someone inside the camp dragged the corpses through thewoods to the periphery of the camp. Within 1d4 days, a party ofTherioclasts will come upon the PCs. They are following the trail ofwhatever has been preying upon the locals...following a trail thatleads clearly and unmistakably right to the Player Characters...

There are worgs inthese woods. Clever beasts who have mingled their blood with humansoff and on over the centuries. They know how to be good friends andterrible enemies...

Notes / NPCs

Baby Worg-spawn(1) [HD 1; HP 4; AC 9[10]; ATK 1 Bite; Move 4; Save 19; CL/XP: 1/10] Note: This is a changeling-child, a hybrid of human and worg. It willappear mostly human until it reaches puberty, then its more bestialside will emerge, often tragically.

Therioclast Trooper(2d4) [HD 3+1; HP 12 on average.; AC 6[13]; ATK 1 weapon; Move 12;Save 16; CL/XP: 4/80; Special: +2 on Saves vs lycanthropy] Grim anddour warriors who might be either Humans, Dwarves, Elves orHalflings. Studded-leather armor, crossbow (with a mix of silver andiron headed bolts), silver-headed hand-axe or blessed scythe,rune-engraved short-sword and skinning-dagger. These are hard-bittenprofessionals who exterminate shapeshifters and each one has a 10%chance to spot one outright.