12. Old Whitebeard
A gruff voice muttering curses and self-loathing is heard some distance away. After a 2-5 rounds, a small man with the longest, most tangled white beard ever seen limpes into view. The small man wears a pointed green hat and carries a long staff.
This is Old Whitebeard, a faerie creature who occasionally roams the Highlands. He challenges the most powerful looking warrior to an single combat with staves. The stakes are simple: the loser must serve the winner for one day. The rules are simple, the loser is the one who is knocked down three times.
The problem is also simple, Old Whitebeard cheats. He uses magic to imbalance his opponents when he fights them. For purposes of the contest, Old Whitebeard fights as a 10th level fighter, but every round his opponent must make a Dexterity check (Dex or lower on 4d6) to remain balanced. Imbalanced opponents attack at a 3 point penalty and suffer a 2 point penalty to Armor Class.
If Old Whitebeard loses the contest, he will be true to his word and will serve the vicor for exactly 24 hours, disappearing at that exact moment with an echoing laugh and "Thou art worthy."
If Old Whitebeard wins the contest, he will first demand his bested opponent comb his beard. After several rounds of enjoying the humiliation of his opponent, he will clap his hands together and laugh with glee. Jumping up he will say, "I know! I want you to get the Eye of the Moon from the King Under the Water! Bring me the Eye of the Moon!" Old Whitebeard can give the bested opponent directions to the King Under the Water and can describe the Eye of the Moon, he can even teleport the opponent to the gate of the King Under the Water (and the opponent's friends, if asked before he teleports the bested opponent), but he will not otherwise aid the task. If the PC is already in possession of the Eye of the Moon or if the bested opponent is able to gain the Eye from the King Under the Water, Old Whitebeard will look despondent for a moment, but then try to snatch it away and disappear. Once Old Whitebeard has the Eye of the Moon, he will release his opponent from any further service. If the Eye is not surrendered, Old Whitebeard will throw a fit and disappear, but the opponent will suffer the same effects as if he or she refused to serve Old Whitebeard.
Old Whitebeard has no actual power to compel a creature to serve him. However, if he bests a warrior in the contest and the loser refuses to serve Old Whitebeard, the little man will sneer at the bested opponent for a moment and then disappear, placing a curse on the unwilling servant - save vs. spells or be cursed with bad luck until remove curse is cast. (In game terms, bad luck means that anytime the player has to roll dice, he or she rolls two dice, or two sets of dice, and takes the least advantageous of those rolls).
An opponent who willingly serves Old Whitebeard until released will receive a wink and a thanks from the little man and a blessing of good luck. (In game terms, good luck means that anytime the plaer has to roll dice, he or she rolls two dice or two sets of dice, and takes the most advantageous of those rolls).
13. The Fairy Box
This encounter begins with a tiny girl (about 4" tall) in a green felt hat and a red dress waving to make her presence known. If addressed, she will make her plea: her sisters, sprites all, are trapped in this area, far away from home (their home in the Faerie Realm, she will reveal if asked). The way back home is locked in a box that none of her sisters can open. Could anyone help them get back home?
The tiny girl, who has no name but will identify herself as Sprite if pressed, leads any who are willing to help to a stone chest resting among the weeds at the base of a tree. The chest is indeed locked, and trapped (it is also magical, if detected). The obvious lock on the front of the lid is a false lock, and the trigger for the first trap which, if triggered, shoots out a small, barbed brass hook that catches the hand of the one manipulating the false lock for 1 hp damage (save vs. paralysis to avoid). If the trap is successfully sprung, the locking mechanism of the box clicks and the chest is now unlocked (the "key" to unlock the box is a drop of mortal blood). If the chest opened, it appears empty. Immediately, 107 tiny women will swarm out of hiding and begin leaping into the box.
Anything placed in the box for the first 30 minutes after it is opened immedately disappears (including the tiny women). If a drop of mortal blood unlocks the box, it becomes a gate to the Dark Faerie Realm, teleporting anything placed therein to the Court of the Night Queen.
The tiny women are not sprites, but are
Night Fairies, selfish and often malevolent spirits who faithfully serve the Night Queen.
If the box is destroyed, if the tiny woman is ignored or attacked, if she is offended in any way, all 108 Night Fairies will swarm the offender. They attack as 1 HD creatures and do 1 hp damage, as well as special magical abilities.
14. Hooded Wanderer
When encountered, this creature always tries to stay in shadeor shadows. Whenever locals have encoutnered her, they always have a sense of dread. She appears as a little girl wearing a deep blue velvet hooded cloak. Every time the Hooded Wanderer appears, she looks slightly different, though always with the blue velvet cloak (hair, eye and skin color varies widely in the stories). The most disturbing feature of the Hooded Wanderer is that her legs face the wrong way, or her head is on backwards. No one has ever seen her arms.
The
Hooded Wanderer moves in and out of this reality on her quest to serve justice. She seeks out the worst criminals (murderers, rapists, etc) and will follow them around, loudly weeping and sobbing. If confronted by a criminal, the true nature of this creature becomes immediately apparent: she opens the hooded cloak and within is a monstrous appearance - teeth and tentacles which viciously attack the criminal and eat him or her.
If encountered randomly, the Hooded Wanderer is searching for a murderer named "Alaric." She will ask (from deep inside the hood, hiding her appearance), "I seek Alaric of Newtown. Can you show him to me?"
If anyone encountered is actually a terrible criminal (murderer, etc), she will try to draw close to that person and then attack.
15. Wandering Jack
A middle-aged bearded man heavily laden with packs and bags, wearing a sword and carrying a staff, Wandering Jack is well known to and well loved by the local people. Jack is a champion of the helpless and the downtrodden. When encountered, there is a 30% chance that he is hurredly moving to someone's rescue (a peasant hunter being attacked by a wild boar). Otherwise, he is jovial, open, and friendly, welcoming strangers to the region.
Wandering Jack is a font of information about the region: he knows all the common knowledge, has a 70% chance to know whether a rumor is true or not, he knows where nearly all of the important locations are in the region and many of the unimportant locations as well. He may accompany the party for a time, but because of his chaotic nature, he will not remain long, and he will always help someone in dire straits.
16. Dorcan The Man Collector
Every six months (give or take a few weeks) this
Giant Ogre appears in the region and terrorizes the people of the region for about a week before mysteriously disappearing again.
Dorcan is bearing four dead peasants (woodsmen) on his spear and is walking back to his camp when encountered. He has never been bested in the Highlands, so he is over-confident in his ability to collect the bodies of those encountered.
Dorcan wears a moose skin tunic and a billowing leather cape. He fights with his great spear which is currently laden with his kills. His first action in combat will be to fling teh corpses draped across his spear at anyone who is unarmored, knowing that a flying body hurled from his spear has been enough to kill the average peasant. Treat corpse missiles as a ballista shot at point blank range (adding Dorcan's Hill Giant equvalent strength bonuses). Though the Giant Ogre is not terribly intelligent, he is very clever. He can be outsmarted, but he will not fall for obvious traps or tricks. He will use anything he can to his advantage (he will kick dirt into the face of an opponent, for example, and use the very long reach of his spear to every advantage). If brought to less than half his hit points, he will try to flee in disgrace, leaving the region altogether. However, he will return after two weeks with his two brothers, Galbron and Kirant, searching for those who humiliated him to exact his revenge. The three brothers will attempt to set up an ambush, possibly pushing their prey toward one of the other encounter areas (for example, they might be encountered outside of the Gnome King's Hall, hoping their quary will entrap themselves in that place as they flee the three brothers' attack, or they might be encountered near the Ettercaps' lair).
17. Ugly Karras
This hunchbacked man has been outcast from his village and clan because he has done wicked things. Ugly Karras denies any wrongdoing, in fact his story is one of long being misunderstood because of his deformities and his slurred speech. His story is, however, completely false (though he absolutely believes it himself). He is deformed because he made a pact with a demon and tried to manipulate that agreement in a way that angered the demon. If discovered, he will say he was sold into bondage to the demon and will beg to be released from the curse (see below).
Karras carries a book with him at all times, usually in his satchel though he takes it out from time to time to admire it. He knows that it is magical, but he has no idea what it might be. He would be willing to trade the book (a
Manual of Quickness of Action).
Karras is a man who has been imbued with two special abilities (which have come with a price). The first is he can read people's minds (ESP) as long as he is looking into their eyes. The second special ability is the ability to pass through walls (as per the spell passwall). He desired these abilities to enhance his own abilties as a thief. The price was high to begin with, he must cause a gallon of human or demihuman blood to be spilled onto the bare ground every year. When he sought to cheat the demon by gutting a corpse every week and spilling the blood of the already dead, the demon cursed him with these deformities and demanded that Karras spill a gallon of living human or demihuman blood every week. Since, Karras has been seeking to be released from his agreement. He will do almost anything, say almost anything to be released. To be released, he has to have the following spells cast on him: bless, remover curse, restoration. Doing so has a 5% cumulative chance per spell to attract the attention of the Type 5 demon who currently owns Karras' soul. Releasing him from his bondage will not release him from his won selfish and wicked ways, however.
Once encountered, Ugly Karras should show up every so often, begging to be released, offering to serve, anything to stave off the torment of the demon. He guards his special abilities, but might slip up and use them if he believes he can get away with it.
Karras generally only carries a knife with which he is very proficient.
Ugly Karras: T6, hp 19, #ATT 1 knife (dagger), Special: thief abilities, ESP, passwall, AL NE.
18. Pitch Wanderer
This undead creature is the animated corpse of a girl who was murdered by drowning her in one of the Tar Pits in area ______. The
Pitch Wanderer is a tormented soul, seeking revenge on all men for the injustice done to her in life. Everywhere she goes, she leaves a trail of tarry footprints and globs of smoking pitch (the trail disappears after 6 hours).
The Pitch Wanderer violently attacks men on sight, hurling balls of flaming pitch at them, or grabbing them with her hands (also flaming pitch). She will not fight women. If attacked by a woman she will pause in whatever she is doing, look quizzically at the woman, then continue on with whatever she was doing, as if the attack from the woman never happened. No matter how many times she is attacked by a woman, she will not respond in kind. However, for every hit landed by a woman, there is a 10% cumulative chance that the Pitch Wanderer will flee. She fights men to the death.
19. Finn the Tiny
A spirit from the Faerie realms, Finn the Tiny is a benevolent spirit known and beloved by the people of the Highlands. He is only about 3 inches tall, so he is easily overlooked. When Finn encounters good or neutral aligned beings, he is friendly and welcoming. Evil beings are best avoided in Finn's opinion, but his natural curiosity sometimes draws him to see what even the most wicked of creatures is doing.
Finn's favorite pasttime is hunting dragonflies which he cooks and eats. He knows a great deal about the highlands and can be a source of information about many of the major encounters found in this region.
Finn is very unpredicable, flitting from one interest to another without warning. He might spend an hour fascinated by a rock, then chase after a butterfly for ten seconds then be mesmerized by a cloud. The only thing that is guaranteed to hold his attention are dragonflies. His big dream is to hunt and kill a giant dragonfly.
20. Fritz and His Friends
Fritz is considered a crazy man by the people of the Highlands. He travels around the highlands with quite a menagerie: a donkey (Asson), a brown bear (Cubby) and a mouse (Dan). He talks to his three friends as if they are people and the animals are very tame in his presence. The animals are also very protective of Fritz if he is threatened.
When encountered, Fritz has discovered a wooden box bound in iron bands (floating on a stream or river if one is nearby, otherwise, simply on the ground). He will be talking to Dan (the mouse) about how to open the box as Asson and Cubby sit watching. Fritz speaks in a halting way as if language doesn't come easy (his laugh should sound like a donkey's bray) and moves in an awkward way, if frightened he will drop to all fours and kick hard with his feet.
Fritz and his friends are not exactly what they seem to be. Three men were beating their donkey when the Witch of the West Wind came to investigate, took pity on the donkey, and polymorphed the whole lot of them. Fritz into a human, the three men into each of the animals. As part of the curse, none of them can remember being anything other than what they are, though the animals all have uncanny intelligence for their kind.
The box Fritz is puzzling over is locked with an iron lock. Inside are traveling clothes of a distant nobleman (worth about 100 gp total).
21. Bearskin
Bearskin is a gruff and unpleasant man. When encountered in his human form, he will be standoffish and unkind. In his bear form, Bearskin is actually friendly and gentle when appraoched in a non-hostile way.
Bearskin is a
Werebear. He prowls the region as a protector and friend of the forest. He is well acquainted with the Brothers Five (Treants in hex _________) and the Forestmaster (hex____). If anyone says his name three times, there is a 50% chance he will appear within a minute. If summoned, the summoner had better have a good reason for calling him, or be in dire need, or Bearskin will react in a hostile, possibly violent, way.
Once encountered, Bearskin will keep tabs on those who have encountered him. If they prove to be friends of the forest, he may come to their aid at a particularly important moment. If they prove to be destructive to the forest or creatures therein, he will send dangerous animals after them. Every animal encounter will be with a dangerous animal (see Mundane Encounters, Animal Table, Potential Dangerous Animals Subtable).
When encountered, this creature always tries to stay in shadeor shadows. Whenever locals have encoutnered her, they always have a sense of dread. She appears as a little girl wearing a deep blue velvet hooded cloak. Every time the Hooded Wanderer appears, she looks slightly different, though always with the blue velvet cloak (hair, eye and skin color varies widely in the stories). The most disturbing feature of the Hooded Wanderer is that her legs face the wrong way, or her head is on backwards. No one has ever seen her arms.
