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Radijs 09-06-06, 07:22 AM

This little scenario is based on something I threw against my players last night. Feel free to copy it, use it and alter it to your own discression: This town is a small hamlet with only a few streets and is located on the edge of a dangerous place such as a gorge or a desert. (I used the black tide described here (http://community.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=9952890&postcount=7) but other more appropriate locales may be used.) When the PC's first enter the town it seems abandoned or deserted. Almost all of the structures have fallen into disrepair and weeds are slowly overtaking the town. The only thing thats still in fairly good shape is a small temple near the center of the town since its the only real structure in the town. The village: The village initially seems to be deserted but if the PC's enter any of the buildings they can slowly begin to see the villagers moving about going about their daily routine. Despite the fact that they are all ghosts. At this point the second half of the village becomes visible extending over the hazardous area and appearing translucent like the villagers themselves. The entire village has wooden sidewalks and even the translucent sidewalks can be trod upon normally. Staying in the village will trigger the change in the PC's. Every four hours the PC's spend in the village they will have to succeed on a will save (DC 14+1 for every 4 hours they have spent in the village) Failing the will save will mean the character will first become fatigued, the next failure will cause the character to become exhausted, the third failure will cause the character to fall asleep. These effects don't immediately happen after they fail the save but inform the affected PC's that they are slowly tiring. If a player falls alseep due to a failed save their body will become comatose and the player will rise as a ghost immediately. He will be unaware of this and he will be unable to see his body. To him the village looks like any other village now. The houses are no longer in disrepair and the people look perfectly alive while the people who aren't ghosts look like they are ghosts. PC's who have been transformed into ghosts can never see their own body or the body of any other PC who has been transformed into a ghost. The villagers: The players can normally interact with the villagers who are all unaware of the fact that they are ghosts and can't be convinced that they are dead. Some will attempt to trade with the PC's. (IE: The blacksmith has just finished a really nice sword that he tries to sell to the PC's The weapon is just as spectral as he is.) Touching any villager or spectral item forces a will save (DC 20) or fall comatose just as if the PC had failed its third save as described above. additionally triggering the trap this way also adds a mislead effect rendering the body of the victim invisible for 10 minutes. The temple: The temple is made out of hewn stone thats either indiginous to the are or imported from a nearby quarry. Its dedicated mainly to Pelor Main hall: The inside of the temple is no worse off then the rest of the villages, the benches have been thrown aside or have broken down and most of the glass has been broken. There is an old tapestry on the far wall the colors of which have long faded away. Behind the tapestry there is a sectret door that leads to the Sanctuary. Search DC: 25 On the altar a single book remains. As the player enter the temple they are greeted by the ghost of Amosa who quickly and enthousiastically introduces himself as the last priest of Pelor and he welcomes the weary travellers offering them a place to stay though he regrets that he cannot offer them any food. The book on the altar is a collection of holy scriptures, like a bible of pelor. Its got a small lock attatched to it (DC 20 to open). The book has been vandalized but that is not apparent until it is opened. Most of the pages have been cut up to make room for a small secret compartiment in which lies a golden holy symbol of Pelor. Amosa: Amosa was an adventurer who has fallen into the trap that this village is. He wasn't very bright in life and his prolonged stay in the village has left him quite insane. He knows that he is dead and that he's a ghost but he doesn't understand why. As he would explain it: "I don't know. I just woke up dead one morning." He has realized that the villagers outside are also ghosts but of a diffrent nature. They continue to relive the last day of their lives over and over again without realizing it though he doesn't tell the PC's this directly rather offering cryptic hints along the lines as: "Nothing has happened here for ages" and "I'm glad that I've finally got some company." He will make constant jokes about his ghostly state most of which are quite morbid. IE: He isn't amazed, he's a ghast. Of course this place is dead boring. He's a ghost of his former self etc... He is convinced though that he is here for a purpose and will constantly call himself a priest of Pelor or a servant of pelor but he does not seem to wear a holy symbol. The private quarters: Amosa offers them the hospitality of the temple and the players can explore the temple freely. There's a small library with some crumbling books and a few private rooms for the priests and guests. One room, where the high priest sleeps is locked (DC 15 to open). If the players gain entry to this room they will find a corpse lying on the bed, under the sheets as if it was asleep. The body is mostly dehydrated, it skin blackened through time and its features are gaunt. A DC 15 heal check will reveal that this person most likely starved to death. Set on the floor there's some old armor and equipment, some of it magical and a backpack with adventuring gear. As well as a diary belonging to Amosa. The diary tells of the adventures of Amosa and of his arrival in this town. He found it empty and decided to see if there was anything to plunder. It notes that he has met the villagers and that they did not want him to plunder their homes but that the temple has been empty for quite a while and he could look around in there. He turned the temple inside out but found little of value and then he went to bed to rest for the night. Thats the last entry. Should any character preform any kind of last rites on Amosa's body his spirit will be laid to rest and his ghost will dissapear. If they bring Amosa to his corpse he will not see it and in no way believe that its lying there. The sanctuary: If the PC's find the secret door behind the tapestry in the church they find some rickety wooden stairs that lead down to a secret basement chamber where the caretaker of this whole mess dwells. Unless the PC's made an effort to remain unheard he will be aware of the PC's and made preparations to deal with them in some way. The caretaker can be any kind of evil creature. Pick one that fits your setting and give him as many lackeys as you like. The caretaker is responsible for this whole mess and searching through the rubble in the sanctuary will yield his notebook which describes the intricacies of his plan. How he has tricked the good clerics of Pelor to leave and how he completed the ritual that transformed the village in what it is now. It also mentions a holy symbol and that it may be used to free his victims and that he does not know where it is but that the priests did not take it with them when they left. This is the holy symbol hidden inside the bible of pelor in the temple. The hazards: The curse is the obvious danger, the longer the PC's take in figuring out whats going on the more likely it is that they will fall comatose and be transformed into incorporeal ghosts. If the entire party becomes ghosts they are doomed. Scavengers and other carnivores have noticed that this place offers the occasional free meal and tend to hang around. If a PC falls comatose anywhere outside the temple a scavenger will be along in 1d4+1 hours and begin to consume the body. This will kill the PC in about 4 minutes unless the body is found and the predator driven off. A ghostly PC who is being eaten will quickly become more blurry until the body is dead. Upon which the PC forgets everything about his former life and he can only be brought back by a raise dead or other similar magic. Breaking the curse: Placing the holy symbol on one of the comatose characters will pull his spirit back inside his body. But if the caretaker hasn't been eliminated yet a powerful sleep spell will keep the PC unconcious as long as he remains in the town. The curse can be broken for everyone by hallowing the temple. The DM may inform the players of this if one succeeds on a knolwedge (arcana) or a knolwedge (religion) check while reading the caretakers notes. I think that about covers it. You can add a few random elements to heighten the confusion amongst your players. I had put in the "killing reflection" from Heroes of horrors on the shaving mirror in the room with the corpse. It threw the PC's off.