The players reach a small, out of the way town. The people there are terrified and desperate. Their children are being kidnapped by small, strange monsters that come in big groups. If they ask around and agree to help they will be told of a nearby tower in which strange lights can be seen at night. If they decide to stay at the town waiting for the monsters to appear, they will apear and the players should stop them from takeing some children. The town gives the players the task of searching and finding their children, because the children are always taken alive.
(the monsters are small, around one meter to one twenty high, and every one is different. They are all incredibly deformed, but are basicaly humanoid. Some sport psychodelic colours, some have beaks, or strange, furry body hair etc… they should be easy prey for the low level adventurers, in fact, to make a decent challenge the players, they should outnumber them 3 to 1)
Once they get to the tower they are met by a helpfull, elderly mage. He invites them to dinner and tells them about the monsters that have been ravaging the countryside. He also says the supersticious village folk blame him. The food has sleeping poison in it (he is immune to it, so he serves himself from the same plate). If they refuse or are agressive towards him, he calls his minions (make him completly insane, and archetypical, cackling etc… it’s the only humorous note in the whole adventure) Between him (his spells) and his small monsters he should subdue the adventurers (use spells like sleep, or try to stun them). If they win (make sure they have to kill almost all of the monsters to do so), and capture him (remember, his monsters are responsible for the kidnapping, he must know what happened to the lost children) read the conclusion of the adventure.
If not, they end up in a prision cell and the wizard tries some terrible experiment with one (bubbling cauldrons, etc). They can observe the wizard from their cells. The walls are lined with similar cells, full of monsters. If they cannot escape by their own means, a monser opens the door for them and cowers.
This takes the players to the final showdown. In the final fight with the evil wizard, they capture him, and when he is asked where are the children, he lookes perplexed
“What children?”
When they insist, he suddenly sees what they mean:
“Oh, but you killed most of them!!! Don’t you see, you’ve ruined my plan!!”
Of course, the children are the “monsters” the players have been slaying throughout the adventure. What they do to the wizard, what they do with any of the surviving children, and what they tell the villagers, is entirely up to them…
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September 19, 2002, 14:16
Ideas just explode for this one. Need to get the group together just for this!!
My guys may figure out the kids are the monsters not too far into it if the 'boiling cauldron' comes out too early. I would throw them in cells and really have a few of the children in cells around them to make it seem like they are all there. Have all the 'experiments' happening in another room where the characters can here the children's screams. Perhaps a dead body or two come out and/or then some of the deformed beasts or something.
Add this perhaps with a slave trader type plot where the characters are searching for some other kidnapped children and it leads them to this town. Then the fact that children dissappear from this town will all add up to a lot of children that will better justify the fact that there are a lot of these monster things.
I love it!!!
September 23, 2002, 6:14
-Why does my child have orange skin?
-increase any racial tensions already available
-openly question the heroes abilities and well-meaning
...
November 12, 2002, 14:02
November 12, 2002, 20:18
Given that the kids apparently must be brainwashed or mind controlled some how (I don't see them wanting to go back to their homes and bring their freinds and siblings in for touture and disfigurment likely) I don't think one of them would help the players out by opening their cage. Something must have gone wrong with any thing that helps them, for example a mentally challenged kid, one too old to be used, one very new so the "treatment" hasn't fully taken effect.
The whole plot is great and leaves them a much bigger task than they thought they would have no matter how they approach it.
July 4, 2003, 21:37
February 26, 2004, 17:02
March 28, 2004, 5:53
May 21, 2004, 20:39
May 25, 2004, 11:30
Excellent plot.
August 6, 2004, 3:32
The wizard is just a befuddled old man who is following the wishes of the kids...literally.
Excellent!
October 11, 2005, 9:22
The best part is, is that this kind of adventure is win win. If the adventurers kill the kids, then they have evil plot twist to keep them remembering this adventure for a long time to come. If they figure it out early and manage to save the kids, then the difficulty of having to subdue and capture them all will make everybody feel warm and fuzzy inside, and they will still remember the adventure because they went the extra mile.
-Nobody
October 13, 2005, 8:19
Even if the PCs spot the connection between the lost children and the small monsters early on, they still have the problem of what to do about it
Love it 4/5
November 12, 2005, 13:26
March 31, 2006, 5:17
March 31, 2006, 11:54
June 15, 2006, 10:28
Oh and yes I read this a year ago and it was lost to the ages, I just found it again.
July 27, 2009, 14:16
May 4, 2011, 10:49
Now this is an evil one. I would tend, as others have mentioned, to give more hints early on, but thats my own take.
A great plot!