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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DM_Fiery_Fist" data-source="post: 2228295" data-attributes="member: 6052">The White Duck IWayfarers who pass through the hare’s portal surface amidst tendrils of mist in a pool of water.  They are surrounded by evergreen such as spruces, cedars, pines, and firs; all drenched in snow.  Twilight is perpetual here.  Pools of water cloaked in mist are scattered throughout the landscape.  A well worn path winds through the trees.  Following it one direction eventually reaches the point where it is covered with snow.  In the other direction, the sound of a babbling brook can be heard from far away.  Those who make a successful Spot check (DC 25) glimpse tiny winged faeries (the evergreen cousins of petals) flitting amongst the boughs of the trees.The path wanders amongst the trunks of the trees until finally forking at the base of a large larch.  The left branch seems wild and overgrown, while the right branch looks to have been traversed more recently.  (I will cover the left hand path later.  The White Duck encounter occurred along the right hand path.)The right hand path wanders amongst the trunks of the trees until finally coming to a bridge which spans to another island containing a beautiful garden.  The bridge is guarded by a giant knight in emerald plate mail.  He carries a great axe and steps out onto the bridge to confront any who would pass.  He offers passage, but only if the bravest delivers three strikes to his neck, which he returns in a year and a day.  The third strike decapitates him, but he lifts his head and steps off of the bridge.  (As you can see, I borrowed Raven Crowking's Green Knight encounter and modified it very slightly for my own campaign.  It went over very well with my players, who loved the surprise twist at the ending whem he stepped off the bridge.)The very stream which runs beneath the bridge babbles amongst the flowers and plants of the garden.  There is quite the commotion when the wanderers arrive… a white duck is being chased around the garden by an aged woman with long white hair, clad in white robes of fur, who carried two gleaming daggers (I used the statistics of a marzanna from Frostburn, as they fit her very well with only very slight modifications.  The aged woman is meant to symbolize the arctic fox, as will be hinted at later on by the white duck.)  A stately castle can be seen further along the path, which comes to its gate.  As they approach, they can hear the duck calling out in a human female’s voice:"Quack-quack, my sons,Quack-quack, my beloved ones,In want I reared you,With tears I suckled you,You slept--I lay sleepless.You ate--I went hungry.”When the aged woman spots the wanderers, she cries out to them:  "Ho there, all! Drive the duck out of the yard!"  The duck begins to wing for the castle.  Children’s voices can be heard crying out from within:"We cannot sleep for the thoughts that chill us;We dare not sleep, for they mean to kill us--Fires are being kindled,Kettles are being hung,Knives are being sharpened!"The duck cries out in response:“Quack-quack, my sons.Quack-quack, my beloved ones!”“The witch it was that put you to sleep,The witch it was with her wicked ways,For a fox is she and a deadly one...From you she took your father own,Your father own and my own dear spouse;She drowned us all in the river swift,She turned us all into white-winged ducks,And herself she lives like a princess true!"The characters are now faced with the white duck and with the aged woman.  The "arctic fox faerie" frantically urges them to drive the duck away or kill it, while the duck begs for their assistance and generally causes quite the commotion.  The white duck comes to the wanderers if they are friendly to her.  She beseeches them to save her children, two of whom the aged woman has put to sleep inside the castle (the third is the one that calls out).  The characters must save the ducklings, which the aged woman wishes to kill and eat.  During the fight, the lord of the castle (Lord Drake) descends into the kitchen from a staircase, shouting about the commotion. The death of the aged woman ends the spell—the two sleeping ducklings awaken from the dark spell, the duck becomes a beautiful maiden, and the lord of the castle becomes a man in his prime.  The beautiful maiden thanks the heroes who saved her.  She introduces herself as Lady Mergina, wife of Lord Drake, and offers a favor in gratitude, as does Lord Drake.  Mergina heard the tiny fey seen amongst the evergreens speaking of a champion of the sun who was captured by the Morozko, a powerful wizard whom Mergina knows to serve Kashchej the Deathless.  ----------As you can see, this encounter was only broadly sketched out in my notes.  My next post will cover how my players responded to the White Duck and will also reveal the next leg of the plotline:  the Morozko.  The White Duck was based upon an old Russian fairy tale about a young princess who is turned into a white duck while her husband is on a quest.  You can find the story <a href="http://russian-crafts.com/tales/whiteduck.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</blockquote>

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