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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 298606" data-attributes="member: 221">Hooberan’s StockadeAbout a month ago, a cleric of the Rotlord moved into this small village and posing as a worker, he managed to both infect the berries with an ingestible disease causing spoor and infect the people of Hooberan’s with a form of influenza.  The disease on the spoor is of itself non-lethal, but it lowers the immunity of the one who contracts it.  Thus after all the villagers had eaten freely during a spring berry harvest feast, they soon became deathly ill due to the influenza.  The cleric of the pestilent god waited one week and then in the middle of the night murdered off the village priest.  He then raised the priest and 4 dead villagers as zombies, desecrating the small shrine to The Raiser.  Confidant that the villagers would follow him in exchange for salvation from their affliction, he revealed himself for who he was and bade them follow him.  Instead the villagers burned down his house that night, trapped the zombies in the shrine and proceeded to painfully die over the course of a week.  A week later, the last of the horses and cows died of dehydration.  Though the walls around the village keep out many scavengers, carrion eagles and rats have had a heyday feasting on the dead animals and those corpses they can reach while a pack of 6 ghouls, led by the smell of death, have taken up residence in three of the houses.  The smaller rats will not attack the PCs but the larger dire rats will, as will about 20% of the vultures.  The ghouls will attack the PCs savagely if caught in their lairs.  None of the creatures will stalk the PCs however.  Food is simply too plentiful.1. Log fenceThe entire village is surrounded by a fifteen foot tall log fence with six watch towers.  For about a hundred yards in every direction around the walls, the ground is covered with redberry bushes in ordered rows.  There are still some ripe berries to be picked but birds are having a heyday with the unpicked crop.  On the dirt road leading to the gate a single arrow sticks out of the ground, a yellow rag tied to it.1a.  The gateThe gate is closed and barred from the inside.  A yellow flag flutters above the gate, warning of disease within the walls.  A single man can easily unbar the gate.1b.  Watch towers  The watchtowers are merely platforms, slightly lower than the walls, on which men can stand.  They do have a roof over them, but no walls other than the outer wall.  The three feet of log wall around the outside of the platforms provide some cover.  Each platform is reached via a twelve foot ladder.  1c.  Dead ArcherOn this watchtower, a man sits propped against the wall, dead.  His head is barely visible from the ground outside the wall.  Every now and then it looks to observers as if the head twitches.  The corpse is wearing masterwork studded leather armor and a masterwork Mighty Composite Longbow (+4 strength bonus) is clutched tightly in one hand.  At his side is a quiver holding 19 arrows, and a bundle of yellow rags.  Two dire rats are chewing his legs off and they are the reason his head occassionally twitches.  They will fight to defend their food.  2. The wellStone steps lead up to a deep well.  The mouth of the well is surrounded by raised stone (two feet high) and a heavy wooden lid is kept closed and latched (to keep children from falling in).  The latch is easily undone and the water out of the well is clean and cool and not the least bit dangerous.  However, propped against the well is the corpse of a gnome, well picked over by the eagles and rats.  Maggots currently crawl over the meatier portions that remain on the skeletal figure.  3. Barn and cattle yardThe barn is filled with dried bundles of hay and barrels grain.  There are also numerous “berry buckets” and other farm implements scattered around.  The farm tools in the barn could be sold for up to 100 gp collectively.3a.  Cattle YardsThere are a total of 7 dead cattle in the cattle yard.  And there are about 49 carrion eagles in the yard as well.  The eagles will only attack the PCs if they approach the corpse being eaten and then only about 2 eagles from each cow will attack at a time.  The others will merely fly off for a while.  Any eagle that loses more then half its hit points will attempt to fly away.4. Hooberan’s house and horse yardThere are two ghouls residing in Hooberan’s house.  There are also the corpses of Hooberan, his wife, son, daughter and two servants.  The house has four bedrooms, a large kitchen, a sitting room, a dining room, a basement and an attic.  During the day, the ghouls will be found in the basement with the corpses and there are telltale signs that the corpses have been dragged through the house.  In Hooberan’s bedroom is a safe (open locks DC 20) containing 230 gold coins and 1700 silver coins, all bearing the stamp of Xaarum.  The safe itself weighs 100 lbs, but is worth at least 50 gp used. In that same room there is also a Masterwork Greatsword and a suit of half-plate.  In the bedroom of the two servants there is hidden 40 gold coins at the bottom of a chest of clothes.  The house contains a few valuable pieces of furniture and crockery, all of which could be sold for up to 200 gp.4a.  Horse yard  The four horses are dead.  They were heavy workhorses.  Now they are food for about 20 carrion eagles.  Approaching the eagles around a particular horse will cause two to attack and three to fly into the air.5. Smith’s houseThe village smith lived here and on the south side of his house is attached the smithy.  There are three dire rats in the house, along with a host of smaller rats, all feasting on the dead dwarf and his family (one wife and one son).  Hidden in the kitchen in a large jar (search DC 15) is 170 gold pieces.       The smiths equipment is very good quality and could fetch up to 300 gp if sold to the right party.  It is also very heavy and would be hard to transport.    6. Village houseEach house is basically alike though description should vary somewhat.  The inhabitants are all dead and sprawled out in chairs or in beds.  Rats are eating the corpses.  Amongst the rats are several Dire Rats.  In each house entered roll a d20.  On the roll of 1-5 there are 1d4 dire rats inside who will attack the PCs.  To determine the type and number of deceased roll on the following: D100      01-70 Humans inhabit    (There will be 1d6 human corpses inside, 25% of which are children)71-00  Gnome inhabitants (There will be 1d4 Gnome corpses inside, 25% of which are children)Each house will have 2d10 worth of gp coinage inside (search DC 15). And 4 d10 gp worth of goods that could be resold.6a.  Burnt house.This was the house in which the cleric of the Rotlord took up residence after revealing himself openly.  It is now a burnt shell.7. Rion’s HouseWhile Hooberan founded and ran the community, Rion was in charge of the harvesting, drying and storing of the berries.  His house contains many books, the only house in town to do so.  At his desk, Rion has a note which, if found by the PCs will help explain part of what happened.  Rion was amongst the last to die and was planning on burning down the whole village.  Realizing he would not have the strength to do so, he locked himself in his office, wrote the note, and then died.  His is the only intact corpse in town.  There is a single ghoul in the house feasting on Rion’s man-servant and his wife.  The books in Rion’s house are worth 150 gp.  Rion also had one book which was a hollow hiding spot for the money he had (70 gp) (search DC 18).  Most of the house is tastefully, though frugally decorated.  The kitchen is large and there is 20 gp in the servants bedroom in a chest of drawers.  8. Deerl’s houseDeerl was in charge both of village defense and making the berry wine.  He had a large family and there are three ghouls currently feasting on he and his wife and children.  Deerl himself is the man dead on the watchtower.  His wife was also an archer and she had a might composite longbow (+2 strength) and a masterwork suit of studded leather that matched her husband’s.  It is in her bedroom where she now lies dead and partially eaten.  Also in the house is 50 gp scattered here and there (each search DC 14 finds 10 gp)9. Packing shedThis is where the berries and the wines were packed and shipped from.  There are numerous tables in here with dark stains and there are also numerous amounts of cut boards to make crates and barrels as well as straw for packing.  At the moment the building is just one big empty room at the moment.  Also stored in this large shed are 10 20 gallon barrels of oil, originally used for water-proofing the wood but suitable for burning down the village.10. Berry barnThere are dried berries stored in both of these buildings.  In many spots, the berries are covered with a visible yellow mold (spot DC 12).  This is the growth of the spoors planted on the berries by the now dead pestilent one.  The fungus follows a three stage growth.  It is first of all planted on berries or fruit as spoors.  After 2-3 weeks it will grow into a visible yellow mold.  2 weeks after it is visible, the mold will spawn more spoors which may be harvested but which if left alone will be eventually carried by wind to other fruit.  In all three stages, the fungus is dangerous if eaten.  If eaten it acts as a disease with a 2 day incubation period and a 1 month duration (Fort DC 18, 1d4 constitution, doubles affects of all other diseases).  For every serving of the fungus eaten (approximately 1 cup of infected fruit), the save DC is increased by 1. The contents of both barns are entirely infected with the yellow fungus.  A purify food and drink spell will destroy the fungus, but otherwise the only solution is to destroy the barns.  11. Berry vatsThese empty vats were used to crush the berries into juice, a large part of which was converted into wine.12. WineryThere are three sections to the winery.  In the first section, pure berry juice is preserved in airtight jugs sealed with pitch.  In the second section, great tubs of juice are being fermented.  In the third section, the wine is bottled out of the casks for shipment.  Some of the bottles have been broken by the ghouls out of curiousity but they have mostly left this building alone.13. Chicken and turkey houseNot surprising all the turkeys and chickens are dead.  There are now many rats living in the hay and coops.  They are not a threat however.14. WagonsThere are three wagons parked outside the packing shed.  The one in the middle is actually not so much a wagon as a huge barrel on wheels with a seat for driving.  At the top of this rounded wagon there is a three foot square platform with a two foot square hole that can be opened.  There are steps leading up to this hole on the side of the wagon.  The back of this wagon opens up easily when unlatched and the contents can be removed.  The theory behind the contraption is that it is used to carry manure, human waste, and other compostable items to a large compost pile a quarter of a mile south of the village.  The compost is later used to fertilize the berry fields.  At the moment the wagon is ½ full.    The other two wagons are of the normal variety and are in good working shape.  15. House of Plentiful Vines  This was the temple to the Raiser.  The village priest lived in the larger part of the building and the small shrine on the west side of the building was used for sacrifice and worship by the community.  There are 5 zombies locked in the shrine.  They will attack anyone who unlocks and opens the door.  One of the zombies is the dead priest to the raiser and is still dressed in its clerical garb.  There is 30 gp in the clerics lockbox in the shrine and there is another 20 gp in the house.  Also in the house are the scriptures for The Raiser, “The Blessings of the Land.”    The shrine contains a hearth in the back with an altar to the left and a podium from which to speak to the right.  Over the door of both the house and the shrine is the symbol of wheat over the illustration of a clump of berries.  The shrine has been desecrated and vandalized and two rotting heads sit in front of the hearthCreatures:Carrion Eagles, Small animal:  CR ½; HD 1d8+2 (6 hp); Init +2; Move 10 ft fly 80 ft; AC 14; +3 Melee (2 claws 1d3), -2 (bite 1d4); SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +0; ALI N; Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 6.  Skills and Feats: Listen +4, Spot +4*; Weapon Finesse (claw, bite)*Eagles get a +8 racial bonus on spot checks during the day. While these birds can hunt for game they prefer dead carcasses where available.  They are less subtle then many of their cousins and will fight and squabble for a meal.  They have a wingspan of eight feet and are about 3 ½ feet long.  They are dark brown and black in color with white and brown undersides.Dire Rats, Small animal: CR ½; HD 1d8+1 (5 hp); Init +3;  Move 40 ft climb 20 ft; AC 15; +4 Melee (bite 1d4); SA Disease; SQ scent; SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3; ALI N; Str 10, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 4.  Skills and Feats:  Climb +11, Hide +11, Move Silently +6; Weap. Finesse (bite)Disease:  Filth Fever Fort SV DC 12, Incubation. 1d3 days, 1d3 Dex & 1d3 Con.  Ghouls, Medium undead: CR 1; HD 2d12 (13 hp); Init +2; Move 30 ft; AC 14; +3 Melee (bite 1d6+1 +par), +0 (2 claws 1d3+paralysis); SA Paralysis, create spawn; SQ Undead, +2 turn resistance; SV Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +5; ALI CE; Str 13, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16.  Skills and Feats:  Climb +6, Escape Artist +7, Hide +7, Intuit Direction +3, Jump +6, Listen +7, Move Silently +7, Search +6, Spot +7; Multi-attack, Weapon Finesse (bite)    Paralysis: Fort DC 14 paralyzed 1d6+2 minutes; elves immune.    Create Spawn:  Uneaten victims rise in 1d4 days to become ghouls. The note from area 7Everyone in Hooberan’s is dying.  We burned down the house he was staying in but it was not enough.  The fire was very bright and he screamed.  The fever is taking us all.  I can barely see to write and it grows worse.  Was it the water?  The Festival?  Hooberan tricked the things and locked them in the shrine to the Farmer’s Wife.  It is now an evil place where are the dead.  My head burns and I cannot burn the town for I cannot leave my room here.  There are things I fear clawing at the door.  But they will not kill me.  The fire kills me and burns my hand to the touch.  The town must burn.  There is oil in the packing crates.  Stay away from Hooberan’s and don’t read this.  Burn the town.  </blockquote>

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