Overview:
This adventure is created for a low-medium power player group in any RPG system. While the major plot points are listed out, the game referee is expected to expand the locations and add minor plot details in accordance with their players’ tastes and character backstories.
Throughout the adventure, the terms “Low-Difficulty Challenge”, “Medium-Difficulty Challenge”, and “High-Difficulty Challenge” are used. These are meant to convey the level of toughness for a given task. Use this as a guideline for translating the adventure to your specific game system.
Information for the Game Referee:
In the year 967 MR, three harpy fledgelings set out from the western uncharted lands into the nation of Gorythgar. They looted, pillaged, and devoured a few villages before settling in the ruins of a collapsed watch tower. This site is located to the west of the mighty city of Hargdroth, a mining town and the strategic stronghold for the country.
Instead of their more careless approach in the borderlands, the fledgelings slowly and stealthily grew their base of power. Food was gained through stray cattle that wandered too far from their verdant pastures. They drank water only from ponds near the watchtower, for the water in any place where harpies slake their thirst is noticeably and completely fouled.
Though the town have been relatively ambivalent towards the harpies, in this year of 1028 MR, the feeling has changed. Woodsmen Edwin and Wulfhelm have gone missing whilst hunting deer, and the only survivor of the party, honorable Eoronda, says that the harpies snatched them. The thegn of the town, Galahad, has called for adventurers to save Wulfhelm and Edwin, and vanquish the harpies.
Chapter 1: The Arrival
After being alerted to Galahad’s message, the characters make their way to the town of Hargdroth. It takes an estimated five days to traverse the semi-rugged terrain to get to the settlement. The first four days pass by without issue, while on the fifth danger strikes.
The wind suddenly stands still, and a cawing sound is heard in the woods to the right of the path. The trees shake horribly in the midday sun, as a previously unseen creature wafts its foul wings in the air. Other such creatures, vaguely avian in appearance, rise out of the forest. Their feathers are mostly gone, revealing patches of ragged skin, yet they still fly.
The characters are being attacked by five Servants of the Harpies, various birds warped by the harpies’ magicks. One is a vulture, two are ravens, and three are wood pidgeons. The difficulty for this fight should be low to medium, as this is just meant to be an introduction to the type of enemy they will be fighting. However, they should still be a threat, and perhaps cause a serious wound or two.
Should the characters defeat these Servants of the Harpies, they will whither up and sink into the earth, a foul smell erupting from its grotesque mass. Left behind may be a talon, feathers, or even a piece of jewelry, given to it by the harpies.
After this encounter, the players arrive at the heavy wooden palisades of Hargdroth. Two guards clad in heavy mail army stand at the gates, seemingly unaccustomed to the weight, as this was a new feature implemented since the harpy attacks. The thegn’s house is relativey prominant, as it contains a shining gold sword statue, nearly three men in height, clad with rubies. The semi-literal gem of the town.
Nearly anything the characters wish to buy can be found in the town, and at a much cheaper price then they would find elsewhere. Be sure to create a list of shops and character names that would fit your particular style of play.
Once at the thegn’s abode, the characters are ushered into the “meeting chamber” wherein the thegn conducts important business. He offers the party any arms or armaments needed to vanquish the harpies, and a nice sack of gold coins. As a Game Referee, you will decide how much gold the characters recieve as a part of this quest. The amount inevitably varies between tables. In addition, he provides a map of where the harpy lair resides, in a watchtower near the Hargdroth Hills.
Galahad will provide the characters will room and board for the night, but insists they must continue on the quest in the morning.
Chapter 2: The Forest
After the characters set out from Hargdroth, they arrive at the Abrenedh Forest, and meet with an anxious Eoronda, who wishes to accompany them towards the watchtower. She will insist that she stay with the group, no matter the cost.
Should they continue, the characters notice the utter quietness in the woods. Neither bird nor beast stirs. Eventually, one of the characters should notice that runes appear to be carved into the trees, and the most tracking/nature-oriented person in the group will suddenly feel like they’ve been walking in circles. At this moment, a harpy (open for your description) laughs sinisterly, stepping out of the nearby thickly knotted trees, says that the characters are trapped by the runes until sundown, when they will then snatch them and eat them for dinner. In addition, the foul creature will say not to try to change the runes, for disasterous consequences would follow. This is a bluff, so it helps to convey a sense of deception so that the players know that this is the right thing to do.
Carved on four giant oaks in the middle of this semi-empty clearing are four different runes, like so:
On the north elm is carved the rune above that has the text “North” next to it. In the game the text is carved into the tree as well, so you are able to give this image as a handout to your players. On the south elm is carved the rune above that says “South”, etc. What the players need to do is convert all of these runes into the same shape, so that the ward is weakened and they are free to travel onwards. However, the harpy’s warning was not entirely a ruse. Here are the effects for when each of the runes are changed (feel free to convert these into different effects to fit the needs of your group and/or game setting):
East rune: A moderate amount of magick damage is brought upon the player who changes the rune. A large blast of purple arcane energy spews out from the rune, attracting who-knows-what to their position. 1 minute after this occurs, a pack of angry, ragged griffins stumbles into the clearing, and targets the players.
West rune: The elm’s roots whip out of the ground, and grab the party. This causes a moderate amount of damage, and now the tree and surrounding bushes are alive.
South rune: The nearest player is converted into a bird (Game Referee’s choice) for 1 hour, but they can now hear the harpies’ thoughts. This is up to the Game Referee’s interpretation.
North rune: A swarm of ravens eschews from the trunk of this tree, and surrounds the characters. They will surround the players, and cause moderate damage as they continually dive at the players, pecking and scratching. If the players don’t dispatch of them, they will follow the characters and let the harpie’s know of their position.
If all of the runes are changed into a single form, then a large shimmering field will appear surrounding the clearing, and soon evaporate. The players are now free to leave and continue to the harpy’s lair. The next step in this adventure is the harpy lair, but feel free to include your own challenges to pad the adventure out.
Chapter 3: The Harpy Lair
After another hour of walking, the players come accross a lonely dilapidated watchtower leaning atop a large rocky hill. Dark forms fly above this watchtower, and something seems to be sticking out of the roof. In fact, its a nest, and within that nest are five figures, perhaps two of them are Wulfhelm and Edwin?
The entrance to the watchtower is a falling-apart ladder, that has a medium-chance of falling apart when a character starts to climb up. The players would then have to enter the watchtower via rope or other creative method.
The harpies are too fixated in their prey to see the characters coming closer, except if the swarm of ravens still is above them. If this is the case, then one of the three harpies, Aello, Ocypete, or Celaeno, will swoop towards the characters and slash to slay. This would be a High-Difficulty challenge.
Here is the map for the one-level watchtower plus the roof:
Key for bottom layer (I recommend reading through all of the descriptions before you run this adventure, and make adjustments as necessary):
- Rickety ladder, medium-chance of breaking whenever a character tries to climb up it. If investigated, it looks like it has sign of use recently from creatures other than harpies. For those knowledgable enough, the marks look like they came from goblins.
- A ladder that looks like it has never, if rarely, been used. If investigated, one of the rungs of the ladder comes off, and is a magical staff. As the Game Referee, you can intertpret what this means in relation to your game system.
- Weapon racks and other implements of warfare rest in this room. In addition, an armored goblin, clad in a chestplate and helmet way too big for them, stands guard here. The name of the goblin is Wormfinder, and it wishes to eliminate the harpies. The harpies are unaware of the goblins’ existance. In rooms 4 and 5 there are goblins that share the same goal. If approached in a hostile manner, they will attack, for they want the harpies’ treasure all to themselves.
- A map room, filled with long outdated maps of the realm. In this room, there are two goblins, Arrowtaker and Darkrock, who are poring over an atlas of the region, planning a battle strategy against the harpies.
- Four bunks adorn the four corners of the room, three appear to have been used by the goblins who inhabit the tower, and one looks to be the residence of Viltiltegi the Absolutely Evil, a rat. This name was given to the rodent by the goblins, and no reason will be given as to why.
- A desk with two chairs, on top of the desk is all manner of papers and battle strategy made by the goblins for a fight against the harpies. The drawers of the desk are locked, and inside are precious silver, gold, and platinum items.
- An abandoned harpy nest, inside is a giant poisonous copperhead that will strike if anyone gets too close. The goblins will not approach.
- If investigated, one of the floor boards in this area looks to have been pryed loose. Indeed, the harpies use this area under the floorboards as a stashing area for their valuables. As a Game Referee, you can decide what, if any, treasure lies in this hiding spot.
Key for the roof:
- A harpy nest sits on the rounded portion of the roof. Inside, bound with a crudely-made rope, is the alive Edwin and Wulfhelm, begging for help. Three harpies, unless the third was defeated previously, will then launch themselves at the players. The fight should be of a very high difficulty. Edwin and Wulfhelm are too weak to fight, and Eoronda will attempt to cut them free. The exact statistics for the harpies should be found in your game system’s rules, or make up the statistics. Suggested powers:
Control over birds.
Magick rays.
Runic abilities.
The ability to change players into verbs.
A foul stench that hampers attacks against them.
Once the harpies are defeated, the characters see various treasures emerge from the weave of the nest. You made decide what form these treasures take.
In addition, the only thing keeping this tower upright was the harpy’s magick, and so with them dead, the tower will start to crack and fall. The players must find a way to safely get everyone down, as even the bottom ladder had crumbled.
2. The ladder up to the roof, unless the players can succeed a High-Difficulty challenge, the ladder will creak, letting the harpies know of their position.
Chapter 4: Back to Town
Should the players make it back to town with Eoronda, Edwin and Wulfhelm, they are given a Good reward, if only two survive, they are given a Medium reward, if one survives, then they are given a Low reward. If one harpy is dead, this upgrades the level by 1, such that the Good reward becomes a Great reward, etc. If two harpies are dead, a Great reward becomes an Amazing reward, etc. Finally, if all of the harpies are dead, and all three people are alive, then the Amazing reward becomes the Best reward.
For Further Adventures:
There are many hooks that lead from this adventure to others. Perhap Thegn Galahad has another problem that the players can help with, or maybe the mother of the harpies wishes to get revenge. In addition, perhaps those goblins had a reason that they were after that treasure. A mysterious employer that wishes to cause havoc?