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Last active December 8, 2023 13:54
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Pied Piper Impired OSR TTRP One-Shot
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README.md

The party comes into town as part of a group of guards for a caravan. The mayor of the town upon seeing the group tells them of a demon that has taken the town's children, 130 in total, into forest and the mountains beyond. Only one child remains, who had a broken leg and couldn't keep up with the "demon" and fell behind and then came back to the village. The children were taken the previous day. The mayor offers a large sum of money for the children to be returned.

The "demon" is a human magician who the mayor had hired the previous year to cure a plague in the town. I modeled the plague on cholera and had the magician seal the old well, after adding an alchemical mixture, and have a new well constructed uphill and in a less densely populated area. The mayor withheld payment for some bogus reason. I used that the mayor didn't think moving a well was worth the sum he promised. The magician promised to return in 1 year and 1 day, and if not paid he will exact his payment. He returns and uses magic to take away the town's children. The mayor tells the party none of this, and insists he has no idea why the "demon" took the children and that he just wants them back and they are worth the cost. He is a greedy and cheap man and will unwisely refuse to pay the party unless forced.

Through the forest and in the mountain there is a cave with a creature there that the magician owed gold. The fee for addressing the plague was supposed to cover the cost. The creature agreed to help the magician exact payment after the gold was withheld and taught him additional magic to get the children to follow him. The creature would prefer gold over children. The children are unharmed and behind an illusionary wall in the cave. When the party meets the creature it tries to turn them against the town and offers the children in exchange for the gold it is owed.

I rolled up the creature on random tables and ended up with some horrifying 6-legged and winged bear monster with telepathy. I made it more or less Lawful Evil. I had some minor problems or encounters in the forest and mountains, like woodland creatures running off with clues, or dangerous creatures being in the way. I tried to avoid making it all combat because the system I used makes combat very dangerous.

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