friends in need

A Shadow of the Weird Wizard Quest for Novice Heroes

There are good reasons for

many adventurers finding credits
their start in the tavern. These
natural gathering places bring Writing, Design, Art Direction:
together people from all walks
of life, people who, once suffi- Robert J. Schwalb
ciently lubricated, might share
Illustrations: Yuggin Maffioli
stories, rumors, and, just maybe, secrets. Where else can
you find a wizard lurking in a corner, a strange man with Editing and Proofreading: Jay Spight
the mud of the road still staining his cloak, or a band of
adventurers looking for a place to rest their heads before Graphic Design and Layout: Kara Hamilton
moving on?
Friends in Need makes use of such a familiar back- Friends in Need is © 2024 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC. All
drop to launch a quest for novice heroes, but all is not rights reserved. Friends in Need, Shadow of the Weird Wizard,
as it seems. Enemies stand at all sides and terrible danger Schwalb Entertainment, and their associated logos are trade-
awaits the unwary. marks of Schwalb Entertainment, LLC.

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 Bait the Hook A 3-yard-high wall wraps around a cobbled courtyard and
six buildings. A double gate, wide enough to permit the most
elaborate carriage stands at the front, remaining open during
For the last few weeks, people who visit Traveler’s Rest have been
the daylight hours, and closing at midnight. The tavern sees a
disappearing. Search parties formed to find the missing return
great deal of customers from the locals working the neighbor-
empty-handed. Missing people does business no favors, and
ing farms, so the place stays busy year-round. Most days, one
there’s talk of hiring a ranger to investigate the matter. But, so
can find a carriage or two, a few covered wagons, and maybe a
far, it’s just talk. Hiring help takes coin and business has slowed
cart crowding the courtyard.
enough that parting with a few coins on a traveler seems a good
To the left of the entrance stands a barn, with hayloft, and
way to throw money away. So, the Rest’s staff and its regulars
attached stable. The Rest has a few cows that they keep for milk-
keep quiet about the troubles and hope the troubles just go away
ing, pigs, and a great many chickens. The stable holds plenty of
on their own. stalls for horses.
The disappearances began a few weeks ago when a budding nec- Locals draw water from a wall just past the barn. It drops 10
romancer named Pyram Peek headed off to search for an old grave- yards to the water’s surface. Although safe to drink, it has a metal-
yard up in the nearby hills. Instead of finding a repository of dead lic taste.
bodies, he found an attercop, a monster that was overjoyed by the Behind the well and against the back wall stands the owner’s
meal that had stumbled into its lair. But, before the attercop could residence, a two-story cottage built from stone and roofed with
tuck in, quick-thinking Peek rattled off a plan that would benefit slate shingles. The main floor holds a sitting room, bedroom, and
both him and the monster. In return for his life, Peek would bring water closet, while the upstairs holds four bedrooms for servants.
people to the attercop. The monster could drain them all dry, and All rooms feature simple, though well-made, furniture and the
Peek would claim the bodies, turning them into undead. The atter- walls hold portraits of various relatives and ancestors.
cop weighed the loss of one meal against the promise of many to To the right of the entrance stands the forge, tended by a
come, so he let the necromancer go. skilled blacksmith and expert at shoeing horses, with a general
Since then, the necromancer has been a regular guest at the store attached. The store sells common goods. For uncommon
Traveler’s Rest and has made friends with the others that gather and rare items, make a luck roll. For a rare item, roll with 1 bane.
each night. He explains that he’s come to the region to investi- On a success, the store has one item. On a failure, it doesn’t.
gate some archeological sites important to his work. He’s quick The inn stands against the compound’s back wall. The tavern
to tell adventuring types about the treasure-filled tombs nearby, juts out to the front on the right side. One door offers access
directing them to the attercop’s lair. When he lacks for suitable to the tavern and from inside the tavern guests can make their
victims, he resorts to kidnapping locals and dragging them off. way to their rooms in the inn. The tavern has several tables with
He fears that if he goes too long without feeding the monster, chairs, booths, and a bar running along the side. A small kitchen
it might come after him. He just needs a bit more practice at produces much of the food, but there’s always a pot filled with
animating the dead and when he finishes, he’ll slip away, with bubbling “brown” hanging in the hearth. A small room with a
no one the wiser. desk and a wall full of keys with slots for correspondence stands
next to the hall leading to the inn itself. The inn offers a dozen
private rooms divided between the first two floors and a large
Enter the Characters common room on the third with cots for up to 24 guests.
The characters have a chance to take on the quest when they stop
at Traveler’s Rest. The simplest way to involve the group is for The Staff
them to stop here on the way to someplace else. The characters
have a night at the tavern, learn about buried treasure, and head Argyn and Marya Meel used their inheritance to purchase the
off to find it. A more direct method involves having someone hire Traveler’s Rest from the previous owner, an old man named Bent,
the characters. Plenty of people have gone missing and those peo- who had run the place into the ground. The Meels have worked
ple have relations, lovers, friends, and connections who have an their fingers to bone repairing and maintaining the place, hoping
interest in their well-being. A reward of 5 sp per character awaits to eventually turn a profit and leave something behind for their
the group if they find out what happened to this missing person. children. The Rest has become their whole lives. They would do
Whether or not the vanished person was consumed by the atter- anything to protect their home and family.
cop or found some other fate is up to you. Without Marya Meel, Travelers’ Rest would have failed. She
works hard, has a head for numbers, and a disposition others
find pleasant. At just 5 feet tall and with a matronly appearance,
Traveler's Rest she has taken more than one unruly guest by surprise when she
Novice Adventure

pinches their ear and walks them out the front door.
A walled compound, Traveler’s Rest, offers food and accommo- Her husband, Argyn, lacks her charm and friendliness. A
dations, goods and services, and much more to the weary trav- gruff man, tall, slightly stooped, and lanky, he says little, and
eler. It was established nearly one hundred years ago as one of a prefers to work in the kitchens or at maintaining the property.
series of coaching inns forming a chain across the borderlands. He avoids customers when he can and when he cannot he has
Banditry and monsters, combined with a lack of investors left all little to say. He keeps his reddish-brown hair cut short and
but Traveler’s Rest in ruins. wears a bristly moustache.
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 The Meels have three daughters: Anya (21), Rani (18), and With so many characters in play, managing who talks to whom,
Tella (16). All work at the Rest. Anya works in the kitchens with what information should come out, and keeping the identities of
her father. Rani runs the stables. Tella currently works as a server all these people straight asks a lot from even an experienced Sage.
in the tavern. The three inherited their father’s rust-red hair, but Here’s the thing: the people in the tavern count as set dressing
their mother’s stature. until the players choose to interact with them. When you go to
In addition to the family, the Rest employs thirty people. a bar or a restaurant in real life, you’re not likely to shake hands
These workers include the blacksmith and apprentice, three peo- and chat up everyone there. So, none of these other people are
ple who work in the general store, five stable hands, three maids, important unless you decide to make them important. The only
a pair of cooks, four servers, and two bartenders, five guards, and thing that must happen is for the characters to meet Pyram Peek
the rest handling miscellaneous duties, filling in where needed. and from him learn about the treasure buried under the Green
Some of the characters might become important and receive Hills. All other scenes are optional.
fuller descriptions later.

The Guests Pyram Peek

Local farmhands and workers descend on the Rest near dark. Tall, thin, late twenties, black hair, in need of a shave, dirt
under fingernails, clean smell
Some stop by once or twice a month, while others come every
day. Most head home a few hours before midnight, but the Meels Someone with his natural talent and capability could have
look after the people who overdo it and give them a place to sleep done great things, but for all the talent bestowed on Pyram
off their excess in the common room. Also, the Rest keeps the Peek (expert magic-user; with knowledge of the following
drink and food prices low for locals, as they help keep the busi- Necromancy spells: Animate Corpse, Grave Grasp, Pieces and
ness open during the slow times of the year. Parts, and Eaters of the Dead) it came with no sense of obliga-
The Rest does brisk business as travelers come and go from the
tion, no moral imperative to help anyone but himself. Pyram
nearby in all but the wettest days of the rainy season. Merchants,
Peek craves power and believes the dark art of Necromancy offers
peddlers, tinkers, and artisans make up the majority, but a trav-
him a chance to secure it. He hopes to build a vast army of undead
eling knight with entourage, mercenaries, and others who make
and use this army to carve out a kingdom for himself.
their livings doing dangerous things appear now and then.
Peek keeps his ambitions and methods secret and has told
Visitors find the locals welcoming and eager for news.
everyone that he has come to the region to investigate some

Lies and Libations burial sites left by a vanished people in the Green Hills. Locals
avoid the hills, as they’re said to be infested with giant spiders
and other monsters. As proof of his excavations, he’s shown off
The quest begins when the characters reach Traveler’s Rest. The
his “finds,” old coins, a helmet, and a rusty sword he plucked from
guards welcome them, while stable hands come forward to tend
a grave a few weeks back.
to their mounts, if they have them. Guards direct the characters
to the tavern, informing them they can secure rooms from Marya Most people take him at his word and his celebrity among the
Meel at the desk near the stairs. If the characters arrive during the locals seems to be growing. Few have put together that the disap-
day, Pyram Peek (see below) drinks coffee at the bar, while one pearances began not long after he came to the Traveler’s Rest. The
of the servants sweeps the tavern floors. After dark, the tavern few who doubt him are detailed in the following pages.
becomes crowded, with servers hustling between the tables and The necromancer noticed the group when they arrived and
booths. In either case, they find Marya Meel as welcoming as the decides to recruit them for his next “expedition.” At some point
guards. She provides them with the rooms they need, has a pair after the group comes to the tavern, Peek introduces himself and
of boys carry up the bags, and gives them keys, if they opt for a buys them drinks. He explains that he has a lead on a treasure
private room, or directions to the common room at the top of the buried in an old tomb up in the Green Hills and needs able-bod-
stairs. She encourages the guests to return for dinner, praising her ied people to protect him while he excavates the site. He’s quick
husband’s skill in the kitchen. to point out that his interests are scholarly; he’s keen to find out
Once the characters settle in, they’re free to do whatever they what happened to the people once indigenous to this part of the
like while they’re at the Rest. Ideally, the players have a chance to borderlands and believes the tomb holds the answers he seeks.
roleplay with you playing the part of various persons of interest, He offers to pay the characters for their time (he has no funds to
described in the following pages, but they can also gamble, gather do so, but keeps this to himself ) and, if they are agreeable, invites
rumors, and discover clues about the happenings here and, if you them to meet him at dawn.
like, hooks for future quests. All the action happens in the tavern, Characters armed with magic useful for ferreting out lies and
Novice Adventure

though characters who opt to engage in other activities might false information can get a sense that Peek is up to no good, but
spot curious developments as the night unfolds. he’s skilled enough at deception that he makes no missteps in his
The group’s first night at the Rest finds the tavern busier than offer: he appears to be a scholar with a genuine interest in arche-
usual. In addition to ten local folks, there’s a traveling knight with ology. If any characters keep an eye on the other patrons, they
his young squire, members of a caravan, a traveling magician, a notice that Mikka (see below) seems to be watching the conver-
minstrel, and a band of adventurers who call themselves the Silver sation and that Candace, the bartender, smirks when she glances
Coins Company. over at Peek.
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 Silv er Coins Company the drakes, and, for now, follows them. Pyre wears a mask of a
demon face. When they need to eat or drink, they lift the mask
from the bottom. The other Silver Coins tolerate the magician
The Silver Coins Company established themselves a few months
but have little love for them.
back after wiping out an infestation of drakes that had depleted
the goat population of a mere speck of a village about a week’s walk
from Traveler’s Rest. With pockets still bulging with coins earned
Brutus
for their efforts, the Silver Coins have come this way in search of
ever bigger rewards. This group shows up at night on the same day Loud, ugly, mean-spirited, roll of fat on the back of neck
that the characters arrive, and the Coins settle in the tavern, listen- No one in the Silver Coins likes Brutus (adventuring soldier).
ing for rumors in hopes of finding a lead for more work. In fact, most people he meets come to share the Coins’ opinions
of him. However, Brutus knows how to fight and he’s quick to
Mikka engage the enemy, either because he has great courage or bound-
less stupidity. He drinks whenever he can, and his personality
Short, slender, young, smirking, hair cut to stubble grows sourer with each tankard he puts down. Before the end of
the night, Brutus and Reginald shout at each other and fight if
Mikka (adventuring archer) founded the Silver Coins and leads not for the quick wits of the staff to pull them apart.
the group still. More than anything, she wants fame and glory, to
add her name to those great heroes of the previous generation.
She boasts about her companions and adds plenty of embellish- Candace, Bartender
ments to the stories she tells about their first quest—she calls the
drakes dragons, for example. Smart, pretty, terse, no-nonsense, perceptive
When Peek gives his sales pitch to the characters, Mikka eaves-
drops. Later that night, she finds Peek and offers him the services Candace (enforcer with Intellect 11) has a hard time putting
of the Silver Coins for half the fee he was willing to pay the group. down roots. After she stays somewhere for a few weeks or months,
but never more than a year, she packs her belongings and hits
Peek doesn’t care who accompanies him, as he intends to hand
the road, looking for someplace else to live. Candace has worked
them over to the attercop, so he agrees.
behind the bar at the Rest for about six weeks and already finds
the place stifling.
Pwyll She does her job well and she’s always aware of what’s happen-
ing in the bar. Her attention to detail has helped her see through
Shifty, young, short, witty, and tough Pyram Peek’s façade and recognize him as the scoundrel that he
is. She’s caught him in a few lies and noticed that everyone that
The Company’s “burglar,” Pwyll (adventuring criminal) got his
has gone missing talked to him first. She brought up her concerns
start pinching purses in Eastport but made a quick exit after he
to Marya Meel, but the woman never acted on them and even
ran into trouble with the Temple of Fetch for not paying his dues.
dismissed them as if they were unimportant.
He took up with Mikka and the rest of the company for want of
A character who befriends Candace might receive a warning
something better to do. A survivor, he’s in this for the money. about Peek. She tells the character how she doesn’t trust Peek
and thinks he’s hiding something. She can reveal that Peek has
Sash been hanging around for as long as she’s worked here and that
he’s spoken to many people, particularly adventuring types, mer-
Tall, muscled, handsome, stiff cenaries, and fortune hunters. She’s never seen again anyone who
has worked with him. She hasn’t confronted him as she thinks he
For as long as she can remember, Sash (adventuring priest) might be dangerous.
dreamed of joining the Redeemers. She spent her childhood as
a ward in a temple of the High One and learned to fight after
marauders burned the temple to the ground. She’s wandered ever Sir Reginald
since, and took up with the Silver Coins in the hopes of doing
some good and earning enough to purchase a suit of armor Pompous, certain, attractive, fancy
worth wearing. She dislikes most everyone in the group and she One of the Thorn Knights come to the borderlands to locate the
has nothing nice to say about Pwyll. She plans to leave the group missing heir, Sir Reginald (knight) has become demoralized by a
after their next job. string of recent failures. He and his squire, Marissa (soldier), ran
Novice Adventure

into trouble when they tried to bring a bandit chieftain named

Pyre Invidian the Fallen to justice for his crimes of murder and arson.
The knight, squire, and two pages chased down their quarry and
Mysterious, clothed in red from head to toe, speaks in whispers landed themselves in a trap from which they only just escaped,
having left their pages dead on the battlefield. Reginald and
Not even Mikka has seen Pyre’s face. Secretive Pyre (adventuring Marissa have been at the Rest for a few days, during which time
fire mage) joined the Silver Coins late, lending a hand in fighting they have been recovering from their injuries.
4
 Pyram Peek approached Reginald the night before, but much they want to wager and then make a luck roll to determine
Reginald was not interested in “tomb robbing.” In fact, the two how they did during the night. On a critical success, the character
men exchanged heated words, before Peek gave up and slunk off wins four times the amount wagered. On a success, the charac-
for the bar. Reginald has forgotten all about the confrontation, ter wins twice the amount wagered. On a failure, the character
and instead regales the locals with tales of heroism and adven- loses the wager. On a critical failure, the character loses twice the
ture, tales that elicit more than a few eye rolls from his squire. amount. Characters can only wager the coin they have.
If you have time and the players are interested, you can use
Rumors this opportunity to play real games of chance such as klondike or
poker. The rules for these games are easily found.
From conversation or eavesdropping, the characters can learn
some or all the following rumors, plus any others you wish to
Wizard Slayer
introduce.
The local dice game is called Wizard Slayer and has five to seven
players. Each player has 4d6 cp with which to gamble. In the
The Missing game, each player antes 1 cp and then rolls two 6-sided dice and
adds them together. Then, each player can wager some amount of
All the locals know something about the recent rash of disap- coin that they will slay the wizard with their next throw. Anyone
pearances that have befallen the community. The characters can can drop out—called surrendering, but once all wagers have been
learn the following facts. made, those who wager roll two more dice and add the total of
Four travelers and two locals have vanished. that roll to the one previous.
The travelers include a pair of adventurers bound for Four Anyone who gets a total of exactly 21 slays the wizard and
Towers, an itinerant priest of Lord Death, and a bard. wins, taking all the wagered coin. If there are multiple winners,
The locals include Ruddy Jonn, a strapping, young lad who they divide the spoils. Anyone whose total exceeds 21 is “killed”
talked big and was a known boaster. The other was young by the wizard and forfeits the wager to the wizard’s cauldron.
Philomena Stroup, a noted healer and herbalist. Anyone whose total is less than 21, can wager again and roll two
Although most people figure the travelers just went on their more d6s, adding the number rolled to the previous total, with
way, none gave any indication about leaving and they all took the results being the same as the previous roll. This continues
their room keys with them. When the maids checked their until everyone’s killed by the wizard or someone slays the wizard.
rooms, they found personal effects, baggage, and some coin. If the wizard slays everyone, all the previous bets are added to the
The Meels have talked about hiring a ranger to look into the wizard’s cauldron and the game starts over with new antes.
matter but have not yet done so.

Monster Sighting Early Departure

A few hours before dawn, the Silver Coins Company departs
Galloping Gus, a goatherder with a fondness for fermented goat Traveler’s Rest in the company of Pyram Peek, regardless of
milk, claims a lion has been killing his goats. He’s found their whether the man had a deal with the group. The staff does not
carcasses, all torn up and mutilated. He offers a reward of 5 gp to become aware of the Silver Coins’ departure until mid-morning
anyone who brings him the lion’s head. No lion stalks the goats; when the maids go to tidy their rooms, only to find them empty.
a manticore has done all the killing. The monster drifted into Of Peek, there is no sign. If any character became close to one of
these parts and has been picking off the poorly tended goats, the Company members, the character finds a note slipped under
one at a time. The manticore lairs in a bone-strewn den some- their door. You can present this note in a way that makes sense for
where in the Green Hills. the relationship, but it should be clear that the Company signed
on with someone after being promised a substantial reward.
Red Pox The characters have a few options for their next steps.
WAIT: The characters can stay on at Traveler’s Rest for as long as
Refugees have brought some new kind of sickness to the bor- they like. The Silver Coins never return and neither does Peek.
derlands. Supposedly, the disease covers its victims’ bodies with After three days, a character should overhear a local exclaiming
x-shaped red blisters. People in a nearby town took in the new- that he saw some zombies milling about in the Green Hills and
comers and the disease sickened everyone there a week later. that he’s never going back there.
Locals recommend avoiding that place until the sickness runs SIDE-QUEST: The group can investigate the disappearing locals
its course. or hunt down the manticore. Asking farmers and other locals
Novice Adventure

about the disappeared folk ought to point the group toward

the Green Hills. The group could stumble across the attercop’s
Di v ersions lair while hunting the manticore.
PURSUE THE COMPANY: If the group decides to look for the
Characters looking to gamble do not have to look too hard. The Silver Coins, they can do so, but the rival adventurers have a
Rest offers plenty of diversions, from darts to cards to dice. If considerable head start. It takes 6 hours on foot to reach the
you want to keep things simple, have the players declare how Green Hills. If the characters have steeds, they can reach the
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 hills in about 4 hours. The trip takes the group across sev- Cunning characters might decide Peek is up to no good, in
eral farms, where people working can report seeing the Silver which case Peek calls forth the 3 zombies he has hidden away and
Coins passing this way. The characters should find signs of a fights the characters until it’s clear he cannot win, at which point
camp where the Coins rested and had a meal, and from there he runs or surrenders.
can find tracks that lead up into the hills.
An Unlikely Reunion
Other Perils Here, the group catches up to the Silver Coins before they enter
the attercop’s lair. The Silver Coins are not about to give up the
You can use the following combat scenes to add tension to the treasure, so a heated exchange is likely to happen and might
quest. Have the first happen about an hour from the hills and the culminate in a fight. Peek suspects the attercop cannot handle
second while the characters are climbing the hills. both groups, so he sides with whichever group seems to be the
strongest.
Rotten Revelers It’s possible, though, that the Coins and the group come to an
agreement to split the treasure, in which case they can venture
The characters spot, about a quarter mile away, a group of peo- into the place together. If this happens, Peek waits outside as
ple walking toward them. These travelers move at a slow pace, above, but he calls forth the hidden undead servants as described
but seem to shift their direction to meet them. These travelers are above, sends them into the cave, and then he hurries away.
5 zombies, an acting troupe of dead human performers brought
to unlife by freakish magic. The characters can smell the rotting Silver Coins Arrive First
bodies when the zombies come to within 100 yards, though any
character with Keen Scent can smell them at 200 yards. The char- The most likely outcome is for the Silver Coins to get to the cave
acters can see that these people are undead at 50 yards distance, first. They waste no time in entering the lair, but become over-
or 100 yards for characters with Keen Vision. Characters can whelmed by the spiders, attercop, and undead. You decide the
outpace these creatures without much trouble, but the zombies fates of these adventurers, assigning one to each. If the player’s
follow after them and, unless dealt with, the zombies might cause group has more than five members, discard one of the results and
the group trouble later when contending with the attercop and have Pyre join forces with Peek.
its dread servants. • Unconscious, cocooned in spider silk, and hanging from
the ceiling.
• Dead, drained, and partly eaten.
Bloodthirsty Bats • Missing.
A colony of vampire bats haunt the Green Hills, groups of them • Injured and hidden somewhere in the lair, waiting to
escape.
lairing in the various shallow caves dotting the hillocks’ slopes.
The attercop and its spider allies feed on these creatures when • Killed and turned into a zombie under Peek’s control.
humanoid victims become scarce. After the group nears or Peek might still be near the attercop’s lair, depending on when
reaches the hills, 6 vampire bats come swooping out of the dark the group arrives, but he likely takes off, with or without Pyre.
to attack and fight until destroyed.
The False Tomb
The Trap The attercop lairs in a tomb ransacked by grave robbers years
ago. The entrance appears about 40 yards up the steep slope of a
As he has done several times, Pyram Peek leads his victims to the
hill, being nothing more than a rectangular hole framed in stone
attercop’s lair, where the monster makes short work of them. The
blocks. Pedestals stand on either side of the entrance, but the
circumstance the group finds depends on when they arrive.
statues they once held lay in pieces down the slope and at the
bottom, all but lost in the undergrowth.
The Group Beats
the Silver Coins: Antechamber
In this situation, the group takes the job and somehow prevents A 5-yard-wide, 10-yard-deep antechamber extends beyond the
Novice Adventure

the Silver Coins from stealing it out from under them. When entrance. A single, 3-yard-wide column rises from the floor up to
Peek and the characters reach the cave entrance, Peek feigns ill- the ceiling 5 yards overhead. Webs crisscross the chamber and a
ness and fatigue. He urges the group to scout ahead. If they do, myriad of tiny spiders creeps through the darkness.
and as they fight the attercop and giant spiders, Peek strikes from Three steep staircases descend from this chamber: one to the
behind and drags off the first character to become incapacitated. left (west), one to the right (east), and one on the other side of
Unless stopped, he kills this character and then performs a ritual. the column (north). Webbing chokes each, though some tearing
When he finishes, he turns the character into a zombie. shows passage at some point. They all end in darkness.
6
 THE COLUMN: Inspecting the column reveals carved writing EGG SACS: The four sacs hold hundreds of immature giant spi-
on the surface in the language of the Living Statues. It tells of ders (harmless).
all the crimes committed by the bestial warrior interred here CORPSES AND DEBRIS: Bodies of the dead cover the floor cre-
and curses his name. The wrongs include the names of people ating challenging terrain throughout the room. Anyone that
killed by this warlord, the places he despoiled, and the societ- spends 1 hour sifting through the mess discovers 1d6 sp per
ies wiped out on his command. The warrior’s name has been character in the group, along with one random oddity. There’s
chiseled away. also a sword, a quiver of four arrows, and an Elixir of Healing
SPIDERS AND WEBS: The venomous spiders creeping through contained in a small glass bottle.
this room pose no danger to the characters unless they meddle
with them. East Stairs
West Stairs The stairs descend 10 yards and, again, end in a web-filled room,
10 yards wide and 10 yards deep with cracked and pitted walls.
The stairs descend some 10 yards before the webs become too Webs carpet the floor, covering five lumps. Hiding in the four
thick. Fire clears them. Hacking at them with edged weapons largest cavities in the walls and ceiling are 4 giant spiders. If
can also remove them, but the clinging webs foul the blades and flesh-and-blood creatures enter this room, the spiders come for-
impose 1 bane on rolls to attack with them until cleaned with ward to attack.
alcohol. SUSPICIOUS LUMPS: The lumps are all that’s left of the mag-
Beyond the dense webbing is a raised platform, 1 yard wide, ical guardians left by the people who fashioned the tomb
2 yards long, and 1 yard high. The platform’s top holds a statue to maintain the place and punish robbers. Each lump is a
of a human. Carvings appear on the walls, floor, and ceiling queer-looking humanoid made from metal with limbs that end
throughout. An urn sits on the floor in front of the platform, in tool appendages. If touched, roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, the
facing the stairs. lump unfolds to become a hostile small awakened object that
treats all flesh and blood creatures as enemies. On a 3 or less,
PLATFORM: A living statue reclines on the platform. Iron the magic animating the object has failed and it becomes an
bands festooned with magical symbols hold the neck, chest, ordinary object.
both arms, and legs. Anyone with professional knowledge of
magic recognizes them as protective symbols of some kind.
A character that also gets a success on an Intellect roll with 1
bane knows that they keep the statue inert.
Conclusion
Breaking any one of the bands (Health 20) defeats the magic Ideally, the quest ends once the characters destroy the attercop,
and frees the prisoner. The long ages and imprisoning magic all but it can also end when the characters expose Pyram Peek and
but erased the being’s memories and the only thought the crea- bring him to justice, or the characters abandon the plot to do
ture retains is hatred for flesh-and-blood creatures. The living something else. Some possible consequences follow.
statue attacks the group if freed, pursuing them through the RESCUED RIVALS: For each member of the Silver Coins that
tomb until it or the characters are all dead. the characters rescue, the adventurer becomes a professional
connection for the group.
WALL CARVINGS: The carvings on the wall channel magic
from the surrounding areas to sustain the bindings holding THE NECROMANCER: If the characters defeat Peek, they find
fast the living statue. A character with professional knowledge on his body an Inscription of the Animate Corpse spell from
the Necromancy tradition, along with a 2 gp, 12 sp, and 36
of magic knows this. A character inspecting the carvings while
cp. If the characters fail to deal with the necromancer at the
under the effect that reveals auras around magical effects sees tomb, they might decide to hunt him down and bring him to
streams of magical energy flowing from the surfaces into the justice. If not, Peek becomes a notorious bogeyman in these
platform and the bands. parts, and tales of his growing magic and malevolence spread
URN: The urn contains sacrifices made to the living statues’ far and wide.
gods to gain their aid in containing this prisoner. Any char- THE ATTERCOP: If the characters fail to deal with the attercop,
acter opening the urn finds it is full of dust, bits of bones, and the monster continues to prey on people exploring the Green
one random oddity. Hills. The group might return to this place at a later point to
destroy it or hear about the horrors it perpetrates when passing
through this area in the future.
North Stairs RECOVERED BODIES: Recovering any of the bodies cocooned
Novice Adventure

in the lair and returning them to Traveler’s Rest enables the

The stairs descend 20 yards into a web-filled room, the lair of the
locals to bury their lost loved ones. In return for the characters’
attercop. The room is about 10 yards wide and 10 yards deep. Six efforts, they receive free room and board for the next down-
cocooned bodies hang from the ceiling, while desiccated remains time period the group spends here.
of animals and people appear all over the floor. Four curtains of
webbing, that reach the 5 yards from ceiling to floor provide total
cover to anything behind them and it’s behind one of these cur-
tains that the attercop waits.
7