Oval Door
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Quicklings
Female Hill Giant
Staff of Thunder and Lightning
False Beard made of Dwarf Hair
THE CROOKED CAIRN
Because this adventure deals with fey creatures, the DM can place it in any out-of-the-way location, from dark woods to rolling green hills. You can help set atmosphere if you further place it at or near a crossroads, long recognized as places where dark faerie congregate. At any rate the blackened tree upon the cairn should be visible from a distance.
The DM can hook the PCs into this adventure in several ways, choosing the method that is most likely to appeal to the party's instincts:
Curiosity: Place the Crooked Cairn right in their path as they are travelling.
Greed: The PCs may overhear some clue in a nearby tavern-- perhaps a young adventurer bemoaning the loss of a companion. In either case, the PCs hear tale of a sacred burial mound full of treasure, including fine elven blades and armor.
Glory: The PCs are hired by a local town to investigate the cairn. When the weather is foul, the locals blame the cairn for the thunderstorms, and woe to any traveller who passes by the crossroads at night, in the driving rain. They offer the PCs a modest reward if they can help lift whatever curse haunts the cairn.
This adventure is suitable for characters level 4-6.
The crooked cairn, a low, rocky hill, is found in a wooded area. Rocks rise around the barren mound like broken teeth; moss covers the rocks and only partly conceals the runes that slither across them. No trees grow upon the mound, save for a shattered oak at the very top, rent asunder years ago by a fork of lightning.
Background
Many years ago there were two travelling adventurers, a human bard named Ort and his elven lover Lauren, a druid. Ort and Lauren travelled together doing their best to spread cheer to the small communities roundabout, and dealing as best they could with more serious troubles. They were an example of love, hope, and fidelity to all the folk of the countryside.
At the crossroads where the cairn now stands, Ort and Lauren stopped to rest after a dangerous battle. They fell asleep beneath the arms of the old oak. Little did they realize that the crossroads was the happy home of two pixies by the name of Glimmer and Glammer. Attracted by Ort's musicianship and Lauren's love of nature, the pixies decided to have some 'harmless' fun with them. What better fun than to test the will of these two mortals? Surely a bard and a druid could resist their fey magic? While the lovers rested at the crossroads, the two pixies bestowed them each with a kiss.
Unfortunately, there was foul magic at the crossroads that day. Both lovers succumbed to the magic of the pixies, and they awoke to confusion. At once the two lovers attacked each other ferociously. To his everlasting torment, Ort slew Lauren almost immediately.
When he recovered his wits-- though still furious with anger-- the bard used his magic to charm the two wilful sprites. Together they built a cairn for Lauren, and Ort ordered them to create a permanent image inside of his beloved, lying at rest, surrounded by a beautiful cavern filled with flowers and sparkling crystals. Though Lauren would never wake to see it, though she would soon shrivel into dust, forever would she lie at rest, preserved in beauty with beauty around her.
Ort planted Lauren's staff of thunder and lightning atop the cairn, hidden within the old oak. Should the pixies try to escape, he warned them, they would be struck by lightning. To further secure their prison, he built a magic portal to secure the cairn, sealed with a clever riddle so that he could return to visit as he pleased.
The Quicklings (EL5)
All of that, unfortunately, is ancient history, and things inside the cairn are rather different. The unrepentant pixies are desperate to escape, but true to Ort's word, each time they approach the exit, they are blasted with lightning from the roof of the cairn. To make matters worse, the staff acts as a magnet for lightning strikes, filling the entire cairn with energy. Over the years this energy has changed the pixies into something... different. Blasted by energy, twisted by guilt, and certifiably insane, they have become Quicklings.
The Quicklings cannot escape until the staff is removed, and they spend much of their time using ventriloquism to whisper to passersby and lure them in. They have no knowledge of the riddle on the door, nor can they communicate with folks outside, so it's rather a hit and miss proposition. Though their magic is forgotten, the illusion inside was long ago changed to reflect a cavern gleaming with weapons, armor, and gems-- though the gems are little more than rocks and pepples, that seeming helmet is no more than poor Lauren's brainpan, and that sword, her thigh-bone.
Not long ago the quicklings received their most recent visitor, a dwarf, though unfortunately with a female hill giant hot on his heels. The cowardly quicklings watched the battle inside their cairn and did not interfere. Only when the dwarf fell to the hill giant did they realize their mistake: they cannot communicate with the giant and she's far too stupid to see through the illusion. Now she's moved in and things are worse than ever! She squats in the cave, spending endless hours caressing her "treasure." From time to time she heads out to hunt, jamming the door with a rock so she can return.
The Oval Portal
When the party finds the cairn the door will be closed (and the hill giant within). Written upon the door they will find the riddle. The DM should put this riddle in a language spoken by only one member of the group (such as Draconic or Elven), or he can allow someone to make a Decipher Script or Knowledge: Arcana roll to read it. In any case it is an opportunity to allow a player's skills to shine.
The riddle reads as follows:
The closed portal glimmers not, the open portal gleams
What passes through this oval portal passes into dreams.
Open every dawning, closing every dusk,
Naught that passes through here does the wise man trust.
The answer to the riddle is "the eye," and with perhaps a little foresight, Ort's riddle also serves as a bit of a warning to those who enter. If the answer is given correctly, the portal will swing open.
The Cairn (EL~7)
Once the players open the door, the giant will ready two large rocks and move to hide herself. She'll hurl rocks at the first PC through the passage and then close to melee.
Unbeknownst to the PCs or the giant, the quicklings have devised a cunning plan. They know they have little hope of anyone setting them free while the giant remains. At the very least, they need her out of the way.
Using the beard trimmed from the fallen dwarf, the quicklings have made a false beard. Although they will prefer to stay out of the combat, they will use the beard to protect (in their opinion) the most useful member of the party. Left to her own devices, the she-giant has enough wits to attack the person who is hurting her the most. This is where the quicklings will step in: Whoever wears the beard is "IT" as far as the giant is concerned. With a loud, stupid bellow of "DIE DWARF!" she will turn on whoever is wearing the beard and ignore all other opponents.
Using their haste, the quicklings will distract the giant by dashing up and placing the beard on some poor sap who was otherwise staying out of the fight. If this PC falls or removes the beard, the quicklings will replace the beard or move it on. Remember that the quicklings have natural invisibility, so the PCs will probably have no idea what's going on. Like the best pixie pranks, this one is hilariously lethal.
If the PCs survive the hill giant, the quicklings will remain invisible, but they will inform the party of the staff hidden somewhere above and offer to trade the rest of the treasure for the staff. As soon as the staff is removed, their curse will be lifted. If the PCs offer to trade the staff, the quicklings will happily leave to wreak further mischief. If the PCs remove the staff and try to keep it or otherwise betray the quicklings, Glimmer and Glammer will hasten out of the cairn and follow from a distance, eager to find an opportunity to hurt the players though careful not to risk themselves (see below).
Finally, if despite the the quicklings' best bargaining, the players don't agree to remove the staff at all, Glimmer and Glammer will turn on the PCs in a frenzied rage.
The DM should be warned that the staff is an extremely valuable item (EL15), far too much for fledgling PCs. It is recommended that the staff be lose many of its powers or even be rendered inert once it is removed. More suitable treasure, including the dwarf's belongings, can be found in the giant's bag.
If the quicklings are free, Glimmer and Glammer will settle down together, and it may be some time before the PCs realize that they have inadvertently unleashed a new race of evil fey into their world...
