Sample Encounter: “Annalee’s Baby”

at the head of a refectory table. Lying in the center of the table is a dirty, naked child of about 10 years old. She is clearly alive but stares upward emotionlessly. Several other children with equally dead eyes are gathered about the table. As the PCs watch, the children carve small pieces off the girl with tiny knives and feed the quivering, bloody chunks to the old woman! Blood drips freely off the sides of the table, eventually draining out between the slats in the fl oor. Standing behind it all, directing the children’s actions, is a fi gure clad in dark jester’s motley. The PCs might be able to attack with surprise. In either case, Grandmother and Uncle Chortle use the same tactics once combat is joined. They attempt to flank the PCs, or at least stay far enough from each other that they cannot both be caught by a single offensive spell. They have the bleak ones attack from all sides, using knives or slings. Grandmother and Uncle Chortle often team up against a single opponent with their spell-like abilities, draining both Strength and Charisma. If a foe clearly relies on one ability or the other, however, they will redirect their tactics accordingly to eliminate him or her swiftly. Either one of the pair will flee if reduced to 25% of full normal hit points, or to 50% of full hit points if the other has already been slain. In either case, they abandon the bleak ones to their fate; the children have standing orders to fight until slain.

CONCLUSION

If the PCs search the house, they fi nd digging tools on the back porch, which they might use to unearth the buried remains of the other missing children. In the cupboard is the accumulated treasure of this pair of horrors: 600 gp worth of various coins and baubles, a child-sized silver bracelet worth 75 gp (an heirloom of one of the families back in Dunford), and gloves of arrow snaring (neither Grandmother nor Uncle Chortle knew what these were). The gloves have been here for some time, and might (25% chance) already have gained their own innate taint. Additionally, the house is adorned with decorations and art made up of children’s bones. The PCs should gain experience appropriate to the encounter if they defeat both Grandmother and Uncle Chortle. PCs receive no XP for slaughtering the bleak ones but do receive a bonus of 100 XP for each child they return to Dunford; this increases to 400 XP for each child that they somehow succeed in restoring to mental health. Each character should also receive 100 XP if they choose to return the bracelet rather than keep it. The strange effects of the region (sounds, refl ections, and so on) grow less common after the horrors are driven off but, due to the remaining taint, they never vanish entirely.

SAMPLE ENCOUNTER: “ANNALEE’S BABY”

In “Annalee’s Baby,” the PCs fi nd themselves entering the village of Eastbrook, a small human settlement nestled in a rolling green countryside. In this encounter, the characters are faced with the twin horrors of being hunted and trapped, as well as the more insidious horror that comes from the plot’s misdirection. Two villains feature in this scenario, but the PCs might only ever know of one. The first is a ghost (Monster Manual, page 117) named Jonah Parsons, and the other is his wife

Annalee—or, more accurately, the demonic entity possessing their newborn daughter Eve. The entity in question is an unholy scion (see page 155). It is more than likely that the PCs assume Jonah is the only villain, but clever players (and DMs) can and should fi nd a way to work the truth into play, even if it comes a little too late to save Jonah.

ENCOUNTER LEVEL

“Annalee’s Baby” is an EL 5 encounter, making it ideal for lower-level parties. As a ghost, Jonah Parsons is a CR 5 creature. The true evil in Eastbrook, the unholy scion inside Eve, is only a CR 2 creature, due to the fact that its host is a newborn baby. DMs seeking a more challenging counter can raise Jonah’s levels before he became a ghost or advance the age and experience of the unholy scion to where it becomes a threat in its own right.

BACKGROUND

Less than a year ago, Jonah and Annalee Parsons were a happy couple in a happy community. They had just found out that they were expecting a child. While Jonah, a researcher and scribe by profession, was working overtime to provide for all that they would soon need, Annalee was busily converting their unused barn into a study for her husband, now that his former study was going to become the new baby’s room. Not long into the pregnancy, however, Jonah began to notice a change in his wife. She wasn’t doing anything different or unusual, but she just didn’t seem like the same person. The one person in whom he could confide his concerns blamed them on the combination of the changes of pregnancy and the anxiety felt by every expectant father. But Jonah was not convinced, and he began to investigate his wife’s condition. Within three months, Jonah was dead—stabbed to death by town guards in his own study; records indicate that he was “slain while attempting to resist a lawful arrest.” What actually happened is that Jonah began to suspect that something had infected his wife’s mind, soul, or both. But before he could discover what was really going on, and perhaps find a way to bring back the Annalee he once knew, the thing inside her sensed his suspicion and contrived a way to silence him. The unholy scion made its mother, now some five months pregnant, scratch and beat herself before running in terror to the local constable. She claimed her husband had gone mad and locked himself into his study after nearly killing her. When the soldiers arrived, they took Jonah by surprise and, in the confusion, mortally wounded him.

THE ENCOUNTER

The story picks up some fi ve months after the death of Jonah Parsons. His daughter, Eve, was born recently, and with her birth came the return of her father as a ghost. What Jonah had begun to uncover is that inside his barn dwelled a dark entity that began to take over the unborn child growing inside his wife as she worked to convert the site into a study for him. Unknown to anyone, the site had once been the location of a shrine dedicated to Cas, the demigod of spite, and that lingering taint was an open invitation to demonic forces to take up residence in Cas’s absence. Cas, rarely one to forgive a slight of any kind, offered Jonah’s restless soul a glimpse of what the Lord of Spite would see as hope. Jonah arose as a ghost, fi lled with the knowledge that the source of his wife’s madness and his own death was the child she had borne in her womb. Now that Eve is no longer inside Annalee, Jonah’s spirit seeks to slay the demon child. He couldn’t save himself or his daughter, but he has one last chance to save his loving wife. When the PCs arrive in Eastbrook, it is just before dusk and the town is all but deserted. The DM should play up the eeriness of trotting into a pleasant-looking village in the late afternoon but not seeing a single man, woman, or child out in the streets. When they draw closer to the center of town, they see a magnificent church dominating a pleasant, prettified square, and that’s when they finally see some sign of life. A woman and her child, a boy of about ten, are running to the church on the other side of the square. They pay no heed to the PCs unless the PCs call out or otherwise draw attention to themselves. When she sees them, the woman gasps and advises them to follow her to the church: “Quickly, now!” Once inside, the PCs see what appears to be the entire town huddling in fright within. Many of the townsfolk hover around one person in particular, a grayfaced woman holding an infant. This is Annalee Parsons and her daughter Eve. The townsfolk explain to the PCs that an evil spirit is on the loose, and they relate the tale of Jonah Parsons, a man who tried to kill his wife and unborn child in life and who has returned from beyond the grave to fi nish the job. For two days now, most of the town has been spending the hours of darkness inside the safety of the church with Annalee and Eve, where they believe the undead menace cannot reach them. They all seem both protective of Jonah’s family and legitimately frightened, but perceptive PCs (who succeed on a DC 20 Spot or Sense Motive check) notice that Annalee seems rather calm for a woman whose dead husband even now seeks a way of killing her daughter and herself. Whether or not the PCs offer to help, the townsfolk tell them that Jonah’s ghost was last seen in his converted study, an outbuilding of the Parsons family home. Allow the PCs to ask any questions of the townsfolk before heading out to fi nd Jonah, but remember—they know only the story that Eve (through her mother) wants them to know.

Jonah’s Study

The Parsons house is located down a little country lane, about a mile from the church. It is a wooden structure, largely featureless and quiet but for the occasional slapping of one of the barn doors in the early evening wind. The PCs hear no sound coming from within. When they enter, they see a large wooden desk dominating the center of an open area between two rows of unused horse stalls. The hay and dirt has been cleared away, leaving a rather tidy and spacious study area. Hovering behind the desk, bent over a large tome that’s open on the desk before him, is Jonah’s ghost. He is dressed in the simple, practical clothes worn by other townsfolk in Eastbrook, and a pair of spectral spectacles rests at the very end of his nose. When the PCs arrive,

Jonah is lost in deep thought, having discovered what he

Illus. by W. England

Johan discovers a way to save his wife

believes might be a way of saving his wife. Given his temperament, however, he does not react well to the sudden intrusion of armed individuals into his private study (yet again). A brief flash of what appears to be recognition crosses the ghost’s face—this is the spectral equivalent of déjà vu, as Jonah brutally and suddenly reexperiences the moments that led up to his death—and then the spirit flies into a rage. Allow Jonah the chance to make a DC 15 Will save in order to calm himself and realize these aren’t the same soldiers who killed him. Even if he fails the first save, allow him another, should the PCs refrain from attacking. If the PCs are cautious enough to want to speak with the spirit, and the spirit is rational enough to want to speak, have Jonah explain his side of the story. The DM can have him roll Diplomacy, if a random element to the success of his plea is required. If the PCs listen and agree to help him, it will mean agreeing to help an evil creature slay a human baby girl. This is not the sort of decision that weighs lightly on the average hero’s conscience, regardless of the evidence presented in its favor . . . and, despite what he knows, Jonah Parsons doesn’t have very much evidence at all. Should the PCs not listen, or if combat begins before Jonah gets the chance to speak with the PCs, Jonah fi ghts to the last but tries to reason with them even while combat goes on. One favorite tactic is to use his malevolence to hide inside one of his foe’s bodies, the better to talk to them while still pressing the attack. He knows that, barring strange circumstances, he’ll be back even if the PCs succeed here today thanks to his rejuvenation ability. If the PCs succeed in dissipating Jonah’s spirit, and they want to have a look around, point them to the open tome on Jonah’s desk. The book is called Dark Doorways, and it is open to a page that contains an entry about a type of demonic force that inhabits unborn children and forces the host to submit to all manner of diabolical infl uence.

Jonah Parsons CR 5

Male human ghost expert 4 LE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, incorporeal) Init +3 Senses darkvision 60 ft. Listen +12, Spot +12 Languages Common, Elven AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 11 Dodge hp 26 (4 HD) Immune undead traits, incorporeal traits Resist +4 turn resistance Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +4 Speed fly 30 ft. (6 squares) Melee incorporeal touch +3 (1d6) or Melee corrupting touch +2 (1d6) against ethereal opponent Base Atk +2 Grp +2 Special Action malevolence 1/round (as magic jar; CL 10th,

DC 16), manifestation Abilities Str 10, Dex 13, Con —, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 12 SQ rejuvenation Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes Skills Concentration +4, Diplomacy +7, Hide +, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (history) +, Knowledge (religion) +7, Listen +12, Profession (scribe) +7, Search +, Sense Motive +5, Spot +12