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Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 7 No 2- EL 7

L E G 1 0 2 6

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Greetings traveler and welcome to Critical Hits – a

series of electronic publications from Legion Publishing.

Each Critical Hit is a complete encounter that can be

dropped into any fantasy campaign with very little

preparation needed by the DM. The encounters are little

gems of ideas built around a single situation, person,

location, creature or object that the players stumble

across in their travels. Each Critical Hit provides all the

DM needs to use the encounter. Whether used as a dispos-

able diversion or the springboard for adventure, Critical

Hits give the overworked DM a break and the players

some memorable encounters that encourage creative role-

playing.

Volume 7 No 2- Encounter Level 7

PERCHANCE TO DREAM

Published by

In Perchance to Dream the players find themselves

pitted against an evil individual with strange powers.

Damien Moore is haunted by demons, but has found a way

to avoid their pursuit, at the expense of those around

him. Can the players save the villagers of the town of

Prenign or will the forces stalking damien Moore claim

more innocent victims? As with other Critical Hits, text

inside a border should be read aloud to the players

(unless you have modified the setting, in which case

you’re on your own!).

www.legionpublishing.co.uk

First Published November 2003

C R E D I T S &

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Written by

Simon Lucas

Editor

Kirsty Crabb

Illustrations & Maps

Robin Elliott

Typesetting

Kirsty Crabb

BACKGROUND

The inhabitants of the little village of Prenign are

dying one by one as a strange malady has afflicted the

village. For over three weeks, they have been unable to

rest for more than a few minutes. It began with just one

or two of the poor villagers, but spread until the sleep of

every person had been disturbed to the extent that they

were hardly able to keep their eyes open. Then the first

victim died, seen grappling with a mysterious shadowy

figure.

Graphic design by Wildstar Digital Arts

Contact - info@wildstardigitalarts.co.uk

Author courtesy of Snake Eyes Studio

Contact - info@snakeeyesstudio.co.uk

Legion Publishing, Critical Hits, the Legion Publishing logo, Legionnaire,

and all related characters and elements are trademarks of Legion

Publishing.

Wildstar Digital Arts and its logo are trademarks of Wildstar Digital Arts.

Snake Eyes Studio and its logo are trademarks of Snake Eyes Studio.

'd20 System' and the 'd20 System' logo are trademarks of Wizards of

the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used according to

the terms of the d20 System License version 4.0. A copy of this License

can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.

Designation of Product Identity

All material, other than material already considered Open Gaming

Content is considered Product Identity as described in Section 1(e) of

the Open Gaming License v1.0a. This includes but is not limited to

Critical Hits and all significant characters, names, creatures, spells,

events, plots, logos, trade dress, product names, product lines, places,

Reserved, except where otherwise noted. The use of another company's

trademark should not be construed as a challenge to that trademark.

Reproduction of non-Open Game Content from this work by any means

without the express written consent of Legion Publishing is prohibited.

He was not the last to die. Slowly the villagers began

to fall victim to some sinister evil and the superstitious

peasants sought help. However, the wise man the villagers

had hitherto relied upon to save them from misfortune

could not keep pace with the spread of the illness and

soon the villagers were so tired they could not carry out

their day-to-day tasks. The deaths continued and the

village fell into decline. When the villagers do sleep, they

cannot rest, as their slumber is plagued by dreams so dis-

turbing that they wake terrified after only the briefest

interval. They walk as if in a trance and can barely

summon the energy to speak to one another. After a time,

Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 7 No 2- EL 7

one or other of the villagers mysteriously dies, screaming

of a dark figure stalking their nightmares. Into this chill-

ing village of fear and death wander the characters, pur-

suing their latest quest and unaware of the danger that

awaits them.

bodies and, seeing more potential victims, snort, lower

their horns and charge toward the party.

The purpose of this opening battle is simply to force

any spell-casting characters to use some of their avail-

able magic. As the encounter prevents the party from

restfully sleeping, the PCs will not get the opportunity to

replace the spells they cast for some time.

BULL’S RUSH

The heroes are following a rough track through

rougher terrain and have been traveling for a few days.

Characters making a successful Knowledge (Geography)

check (DC15) are aware that the party is less than one

day’s travel from the village of Prenign and that they

may be able to stock up on provisions there.

Minotaurs (4): Large Monstrous Humanoid ; HD 6d8+12

(Monstrous Humanoid); hp 39; Init +0; Spd 30; AC 14;

Atk +9 base melee, +5 base ranged; +4/+9

(1d8+2, Gore; 2d8+6, Greataxe); SA: Charge (Ex); SQ:

Natural cunning (Ex), Scent (Ex); AL CE; SV Fort +6,

Ref +5, Will +5; STR 19, DEX 10, CON 15, INT 7, WIS

10, CHA 8.

Skills:

Intimidate+5, Jump+8, Listen+8, Search+6,

Spot+8.

Feats:

Great Fortitude, Power Attack.

Treasure:

Weapons: Axe, throwing, Masterwork; Holy water (flask);

Mighty composite longbow +1.

Armor: Breastplate.

Goods: Red garnet(90 gp); Blue quartz(10 gp).

Currency: 80 pp.

As you scramble up the rocky incline you see a small

stand of trees ahead of you, bisected by the dusty

track you are following. Silhouetted between the trees

is a small group of travelers moving slowly toward you.

The human-sized figures appear exhausted, leaning on

each other as they stumble forward. It seems to be all

they can do to put one foot in front of the other. As

experienced adventurers you are well aware of the

troubles that can befall the unwary on the roads in

wild places such as this.

As soon as the party reaches the trees on the crest of

the hill, it is within range of Moore’s devilish magic. From

this time onwards, the PCs are unable to sleep properly

and, if they cannot discover what is happening, are des-

tined to end up like the ill-fated travelers ahead.

Powerful Charge (Ex): A minotaur typically begins a

battle by charging at an opponent. In addition to the

normal benefits and hazards of a charge, this allows the

beast to make a single gore attack with a +9 attack

bonus that deals 4d6+6 points of damage.

Natural Cunning (Ex): Although minotaurs are not

especially intelligent, they possess innate cunning and

logical ability. This prevents them from ever becoming

lost, and enables them to track enemies. Further, they

are never caught flat-footed.

Some of the party may decide that the track through

the woods is an ideal place for an ambush, and they would

be right. Before the PCs can take any action to warn

their fellow travelers however, the trap is sprung.

Almost as soon as you consider the possibility of

ambush from the trees, there comes a bellow from

ahead of you. The travelers look up startled as you see

four huge beasts rush from the undergrowth toward

their hapless victims. The great figures have the bodies

of men but their heads are those of bulls, tipped with

wickedly pointed horns. To your surprise, those on the

road do nothing as their attackers charge them.

THE VILLAGE OF PRENIGN

Reaching the top of the hill and the little stand of

trees, the heroes can see the sleepy town of Prenign lying

ahead of them in a shallow valley some six miles distant.

As the PCs approach, they become aware that there is

something amiss in this place.

Whether or not the characters choose to intervene,

the weary travelers are doomed. They have been afflict-

ed by the magic of Damien Moore and, as a consequence

of days without proper rest, are too tired to raise their

weapons to defend themselves. In the opening couple of

rounds of the combat, the minotaurs gore and mutilate

all of the unfortunate travelers. If the PCs elect to hang

back and watch, the minotaurs look up from looting the

Following the track toward the village you notice that

the fields on either side of you seem to have been left

too long. The crops have over-ripened or gone to seed.

Normally, you would expect to see peasants busy in the

fields, but there are no souls tilling the earth and

nobody is visible on the road ahead.

Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 7 No 2- EL 7

A successful Knowledge (Nature) check (DC15) indi-

cates that the crops should have been harvested some

weeks ago and that they are now ruined – a crippling

oversight for an agricultural community.

The Village Square

The small square on the main street through Prenign

was once a bustling hub of village life, crowded with

simple folk who came to the square to draw water from

the well in the center of the village. Now the place is all

but deserted. Two old men lie on a bench made from half

a tree trunk. If they are disturbed, they mutter incoher-

ently about being old and tired and unable to sleep,

seeming to slip in and out of consciousness.

Reaching the town, the party finds that there are

still some people alive in the settlement. The people of

Prenign have had their spirits broken. Weeks of inter-

rupted sleep, of horrific nightmares and sudden deaths

amongst their neighbors have left them frightened and

demoralized. They are unable to summon the energy to do

even the most important, rudimentary tasks and their

health is suffering from neglecting themselves and their

surroundings.

Inn of the White Boar

This simple single-story building has a roughly

painted wooden sign hanging over the door indicating

that it is the local hostelry. Inside, the simple dark wood

décor lends the place a sinister air. A few of the village’s

inhabitants sit in the darkened interior, slumped against

the walls, weary and defeated, too tired to leave and

slowly dying.

Their personal hygiene – basic at best – has become

non-existent and disease is threatening to become a real

problem. If the party cannot resolve the village’s prob-

lems by removing Damien Moore, the place is doomed to

become a ghost town – haunted by the pathetic figures

of the peasants who the PCs find here.

The innkeeper was the first victim of the strange sick-

ness and his wife exhausted and grief-stricken retired to

her bed and also died some days later. Nobody in the

village even noticed she had died, so badly affected were

the poor folk of Prenign by the time she succumbed. If

the PCs investigate the inn, a Search check (DC10) discov-

ers her decomposing body locked in her bedroom, a look

of horror on her face. The inn’s kitchen is infested with

rats and cockroaches, which scurry over the rotting food

and spoiled meat. Eating any of the food in the inn leaves

a character nauseated for two days.

As you walk down the track past the first buildings in

the settlement, you notice that this would once have

been a pretty village but it has fallen now into disre-

pair. The inhabitants built sound structures and took

great pains to maintain them properly, but – quite

recently it seems – such care has ceased and the

beginnings of dereliction can be detected in many of

the houses at the village’s outskirts. Ahead, a pale

figure walks toward you, leading a lame-looking horse,

its coat unkempt. The figure, a thin gaunt-looking

man, seems to stare straight through you as if he has

not noticed your approach. There is a pained, far-

away look in his eyes.

The Healer’s House

Thick weeds grow in the garden of this house, cover-

ing the path leading to the painted wooden door. The

healer was in fact a sorcerer named Misal who used his

magic to protect the village and the villagers. In the

early days of the village’s troubles, he used his sleep

spells to restore the vigor of afflicted villagers.

The villager , Conlan Grice, was once the blacksmith.

He is dazed and very confused, having not slept properly

for over two weeks. Dark rings below his sunken, blood-

shot eyes indicate his suffering, but he forces one foot in

front of the other as he wanders the streets. Food is hard

to come by in Prenign and, though almost dead on his

feet, he has enough determination left in him to attempt

to find meat for his family. If the party speaks to Conlan,

he struggles to focus his exhausted eyes on the strangers.

As time wore on however, he found that he could

not remember his spells and as each one was cast, he

became powerless to prevent the spread of the strange

blight. He fell victim to Moore’s malign influence,

killed by the spectre meant for Moore, and Misal is

buried in the grounds of the village graveyard near the

temple.

“Who are you?” he whispers, seeming to have neither

the strength nor will to raise his head to meet your

gaze. “Leave here. This place is damned!” he mumbles,

“Damned… The shadow of death stalks us… leave or

suffer our fate!” As if the effort of speaking robbed

him of the last vestiges of his strength, the weary vil-

lager sinks to his knees, his shoulders slumped.

As the number of deaths grew and the remaining vil-

lagers became wearier, fewer of the bodies were buried,

compounding the problems of disease and vermin. More

recently, villagers have been left where they fell.

Legion Publishing - Critical Hits

Volume 7 No 2- EL 7

Villagers’ Houses

The houses of the villagers of Prenign are all much the

same. Some have dead bodies decomposing in the simply

furnished rooms. In others, the exhausted inhabitants lie

comatose on the beds or the floors, unable to either sleep

peacefully or wake properly after so long without effec-

tive rest. The food in these houses is spoiled and rotten

and the water stands stagnant in wooden pails, the vil-

lagers often too tired to venture out for fresh water.

Siawala: Female Human Clr2; Medium Humanoid ; HD

2d8+2 (Cleric); hp 14; Init +3; Spd 30; AC 16; Atk

+2 base melee, +4 base ranged; +2 (1d6+1,

Quarterstaff); AL N; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +8;

STR 13, DEX 17, CON 12, INT 11, WIS 16, CHA 13.

Possessions:

Weapons: Quarterstaff.

Armor: Studded leather.

Skills:

Concentration+6, Heal+8, Knowledge (religion)+5.

Feats:

Extra Turning, Iron Will.

Spells Prepared (Clr 4/3): 0 - Cure Minor Wounds,

Guidance, Purify Food and Drinkx2; 1st - Cure Light

Woundsx3, Magic Weapon.

The Temple of Roshee

The small simple temple is dedicated to Roshee, god of

a local healing cult, and is staffed by a single novice.

Siawala is only 18 years old, and has been in the cult for

three years. On her sixteenth birthday, she and her

mentor arrived in Prenign and set up the temple here.

Since his death, Siawala has been left to run the small

temple, aiding the villagers and doing what she can with

her basic skills. She has been powerless to resist the

effects of Moore’s curse and take the fate of the village

as retribution from the gods for some failure on her part.

SIAWALA’S JOURNAL

The young cleric has kept a journal of the fall to ruin

of the little village. If the PCs ask her about what hap-

pened in the village, she is happy to show them her writ-

ings, though she is apologetic about some of the writing

which is of poor quality. She explains that she has been so

tired recently that it has been difficult to summon the

energy even to pick up a quill.

She does what she can with the limited spells at her

disposal but is frightened and unsure of herself. She has

resolved to keep an accurate journal of the events that

have befallen the village and, though exhausted to the

point of collapse, uses her magic to keep herself alive and

her food fresh enough to eat. The fact that she can keep

herself alive, but cannot save all the other villagers,

leaves her wracked with guilt and she is more than willing

to aid any attempts the party make to save Prenign from

its terrible fate.

Until four weeks ago, her journal is a trivial account

of village life, with no entries of any interest. Then, 28

days ago, she remarks on the arrival of a stranger in the

Inn of the White Boar. The man was dark and mysterious,

no different in that respect from the other adventurers

that occasionally pass through Prenign.

27 Days Ago

The man left in the night, without paying for his room.

There are some mischievous souls in this world – the

man clearly had plenty of money.

25 Days Ago

When the party arrives at the temple, she is slumped

unconscious on the steps leading up to the simple altar to

Roshee. Her breathing is so shallow that she appears dead

at first glance. If disturbed by a PC, she awakes with a

scream and tries to escape, thinking the characters are

the dark figure in her dreams coming to kill her. If the

PCs make a successful Search check (DC15) to check

through the temple, they discover two Cure Light Wounds

scrolls and Siawala’s journal (see below).

The innkeeper visited the temple today (Roshee be

praised). There was something he wanted to ask me

but he left without telling me the problem.

22 Days Ago

The innkeeper came back today complaining that he

could not sleep properly. I tried to persuade him to

pray with me but he left in a foul temper. I will not

record the exact words he used in our lady’s house;

modesty forbids.

Siawala can assist the characters in their quest if

they are determined to get to the bottom of the trouble

in the village. If they seem unconcerned by the plight of

the people of Prenign, she is horrified by their callous-

ness. She offers the party 200gp of temple funds if they

agree to save the village from whatever affliction it is

suffering. She shows the party her journal and tries her

best to answer their questions, in particular mentioning

the fearful dream of the woods to the north of Prenign.

20 Days Ago

The village is in uproar; the innkeeper died in the

night. His wife reported a strangled cry which roused

her from her sleep but, when she woke, she saw her

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