# PCs AAW Games • Mini-Dungeon Collection
3-4
The Horror of Ochre Grove
The Horror of Ochre Grove
Justin Andrew Mason
T
he Cornelius family has lived in Ochre Hammond Gresham owned the neighboring
Grove for generations. Wealthy owners farm and founded his own distillery, and his
of the Rusty Mist Distillery, the family product was becoming popular enough to
brews a renowned corn-mash whiskey. The outsell the Cornelius stock. Hammond and his
sleepy farming town lies on the wooded mistress, Margaret Weber (who is also sister of
outskirts of a massive forest, and the Cornelius his late wife, Anna), worked feverishly to keep
Manor and surrounding estate lie just beyond pace with their more experienced neighbors.
the settlement on the far side of the Ochre River Their success was something that Victor
Bridge. The farm is occupied by the head of Cornelius could not stand for.
household, Victor Cornelius, his wife Amelia,
teenage twin daughters Elise and Eliza, and Falsely accusing Hammond of working
elder son Samuel. land owned by the Cornelius estate, Victor
attempted to thwart his competition through
Justin Andrew Mason
By most accounts the family is prestigious legal subversion. However, when the land
and well-liked by the locals. However, Victor warrants he presented were discovered to
harbors a dark secret unknown even to his be forgeries, the town council dismissed his
family – he’s a murderer. claim. A few weeks later Hammond Gresham
disappeared.
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AAW Games • Mini-Dungeon Collection Level
6-8
Margaret accused Victor of foul play, but The adventurers have come across Ochre
neither a sign of struggle nor a body were to Grove in their travels, and find the town quaint
The Horror of Ochre Grove
be discovered. Since Hammond had no wife or and inviting. With only a small pub and a four-
heirs, when the Gresham farm inevitably fell room inn to offer, the settlement is little more
into tax debt it was auctioned by the council to than a wayward stop during travels.
settle the balance.
It is late evening and the adventurers are
The Cornelius family won the bid. In leaving the pub and making their way towards
retribution for the claims of forgery levied the inn to settle in for the night. To the north
against Victor, he evicted Margaret from the they see a bright flash a roiling green-hued
property and had the farmhouse razed. fireball burst into the sky before dissipating.
The spectacle is quickly followed by the loud
That was ten years ago. sound of an explosion that rattles the very
Margaret is actually an evil enchantress (use ground.
oni statistics but treat as Medium size) who In dismay, denizens of the town rush out of
jealously poisoned her sister and seduced their homes to investigate. With the telltale
Hammond, with whom she had fallen madly in glow of fire looming in the wake of the
love. blast, the townsfolk begin to scramble about
When Victor murdered Hammond and gathering spare pails and rushing towards the
banished Margaret, she fled into the forest to river.
bide her time, scheming her ultimate revenge. The grain dust in the bins on Cornelius estate
She eventually summoned an incubus named have exploded, and the manor has been set
Keuxahl, who swore a pact to do her bidding. afire.
Keuxahl carries a rope of entanglement,
with which it tries to capture foes for A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom
experimentation and manipulation, and a book (Perception) check hears the faint and distant
of profane ritual magic. sounds of a few women screaming from the
direction of the blast.
Using the fiend’s dark power, Margaret has
now summoned the restless spirit of Hammond 1. Ochre River Bridge
and commands him to take vengeance upon
the Cornelius family. The invoked spirit of When the crowd reaches the river, the only
Hammond takes the form of a wraith riding a bridge has been destroyed – leaving a 20 ft. gap
nightmare as a mount. across rushing whitewater. A few remnants
of the bridge remain intact. The only villager
The witch intends to have Hammond tend to daring enough to attempt crossing falls into
Victor and son while she kidnaps the Cornelius the river and is washed away. The remaining
daughters. She plans on taking them back to villagers ask the adventurers to go across the
the site of the old Gresham farmstead, where river to help while they rush downstream to
Justin Andrew Mason
she intends to sacrifice them in a rite that will save their comrade.
curse the surrounding farmland.
The bridge framework supports no more
than 300 lbs. at once before it collapses. To
cross the ruins of the bridge without falling
off requires a successful DC 15 Strength
(Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check by
2
# PCs AAW Games • Mini-Dungeon Collection
3-4
each creature; failure results in falling into the gazing in horror at the wraith, its ghastly face
The Horror of Ochre Grove
river and being washed downstream where now clearly visible as it approaches him. “No!
rescue by the gathered townsfolk awaits. If You’re dead! I killed you! You’re dead! Dead!”
the bridge collapses, those upon it may make he shouts hoarsely.
a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or DC 18
Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to scurry across The adventurers automatically win initiative in
the framework as it collapses; a creature who this encounter, and have two objectives:
fails the save or check falls into the river as 1. They must rescue Samuel, who is
described above. unconscious. Samuel takes a turn on Initiative
count 15 each round, and will die at the end of
Use the standard jumping and skill check rules
his 3rd turn if not cut down and resuscitated.
if characters on mounts wish to try and jump
the river while riding. 2. They must defeat or drive off the wraith of
Hammond.
2. The Forest Fork
If Samuel survives, give each adventurer
Once across the bridge the adventures can an extra 150 xp as a bonus. A character who
follow the dirt road toward the manor to a succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception)
fork, where one path leads towards the estate check finds the skeleton of Hammond Gresham
and the other towards a forest hunting trail. in a shallow grave, along with identifiable
They see a massive black horse with flaming articles.
tufts of mane with a rider wreathed in dark
wisps of shadow. The rider drags a young man If the PCs do not pursue the wraith into the
(Samuel) by a rusty chain wrapped around his forest, then both Samuel and Victor are killed,
neck. Lagging behind in pursuit is a heavy-set and the wraith joins the encounter in section 5.
and balding farmer (Victor) riding a packhorse.
4. Cornelius Manor
As the two riders gallop up the hunting trail
into the forest, the PCs can hear screams from The grain bins have been totally destroyed and
the manor: “No! Not my daughters! Please!” the two-story manor is ablaze.
3. Tree of Reckoning – If the adventurers pursued the riders first,
they arrive to find a woman (Amelia) stabbed
If the adventurers follow the riders the to death. The trail of sanguine suggests she
following events unfold. If instead they rush to crawled from the manor to the edge of an
the manor, skip to the section 4. unharvested cornfield.
The adventurers follow the long-unused trail Otherwise, in the front yard the adventurers
to its end. There they find the battered and see Amelia crawling towards cornfield. She
bloodied Samuel hanging from the chain, has been stabbed in the stomach several times
which is tossed over the high branch of a and is bleeding profusely. A character who
lifeless ancient black oak. Unable to breathe uses magic, a healer’s kit, or succeeds on a
Justin Andrew Mason
and near death, Samuel struggles and kicks. DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check will stabilize
Amelia, otherwise she will bleed to death in
The packhorse lies lifeless and emaciated one minute.
on top of Victor, whose legs are broken. He
reaches helplessly towards his son while
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AAW Games • Mini-Dungeon Collection Level
6-8
When approached Amelia frantically begs for Conclusion
her daughters to be saved while pointing at the
The Horror of Ochre Grove
cornfield. The only information she can provide After speaking with the townsfolk, the
about their captors is “The stick men took adventurers should be able to easily discern
them!” Victor’s crime. If he survived the encounter at
the reckoning tree, the town authorities will
Elise and Eliza have been kidnapped by take him into custody to be tried.
scarecrows (use animated armor statistics).
Animated by Margaret, the constructs have If the ritual was completed, the entire breadth
taken the girls to the ruins of Gresham farm. of the Cornelius estate is cursed with a blight
that causes all plants on it to become diseased
A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom and poisoned – nothing will grow in the soil.
(Perception) check uncovers a swath through The blight lasts for 100 years, and can only be
the corn stalks. When walking through the negated via wish or similarly powerful magic.
rows, the adventurers are attacked by six
scarecrows (use animated armor statistics). If the ritual was not completed, the council
Having completed their task and captured offers the adventurers half of the surviving
the girls, the scarecrows now stand guard Cornelius family’s estate (4,500 gp value) as
protecting the ritual. reward and recompense; otherwise they offer
lifetime free room and board in Ochre Grove.
5. Ruins of Gresham Farm
Only a pile of overgrown rubble remains
where the farmhouse once stood; in front of
the debris roars a large bonfire. The daughters
are bound to sun-bleached beams in the pile,
and both scream hysterically. They have
been blinded by blood pouring down
their faces from wide gashes in their
foreheads.
Margaret stands between them chanting and
has used the blood to paint hellish sigils over
her nude body. Upon any attempt to interrupt
her, Keuxahl the incubus descends from the
night sky and intervenes. If the wraith or
nightmare were not destroyed at the reckoning
tree, then they join the fiend’s defense.
If the fiend is destroyed first, the sigils
painted upon Margaret’s body burst into
Justin Andrew Mason
flame, inflicting 3d6 +3 points of fire
damage to her. If she survives, she
attempts to kill both girls.
Each adventurer receives a 150 xp
bonus for each girl saved. If both are
killed, the ritual was completed.
