A Halloween Nightmare Adventure for Legend In the Mist

A Brief Background

Across untold worlds, nothing invokes as much dread as the Wild Hunt.

For one night a year, early fall or midwinter, when the walls between the mortal universes and the otherworld are thinnest, the unseelie’s great hunts cross from Faerie into the mortal worlds to hunt anything that can run, driving them on with whips and bows. Those caught outside during the Wild Hunt are seldom seen again, driven into Faerie to be chased until they yield.

Once upon a time on Domhannau, the fey nobility held such hunts, albeit on a smaller scale, when they got bored. The catastrophic end of the Second Age ended the nobility, but not the Wild Hunts. Those unlucky souls who were out hunting at the end of the Second Age still hunt, still chasing any poor soul, mortal or fey, that crosses their path.

The rules of the Wild Hunt

Every wild hunt, be they live or dead, follows these five rules:

1. Any available prey is fair game.
2. Chase but never kill
3. Never chase into homes or dwelling places; that would be rude.
   1. However, members of the hunt can scare those in homes out of hiding.
4. Never refuse the prey’s offer of a game for their life.
   1. If the prey wins, you have to let them go with a token of safe passage
   2. If you win, the prey gets a 10-second head start.
5. A hunter may keep any prey that yields; they may do with their trophy as they please.

Scenes

Opening Scene: The Hunt Begins

We open the adventure in the Grey Dales, a mountainous region between the territory claimed by the Kingdom of Lyonesse and the Wyrdback, known for its narrow valleys and low rolling mountains.

It’s been a long day hiking through the Grey Dales, and the sun is just kissing the earth. You were lucky to find such a quaint and convenient campsite just off the road. The sun is slowly sinking behind the horizon as you set up your camp.

Let the players roleplay for a while. Have them describe the journey so far and where they’re headed.

Keep one eye on the clock; about 10 minutes remain before the sun sets and night begins.

When night begins, read this:

Off in the distance, you hear a horn blow as the last rays of light fade beyond he horizon. Suddenly, a group of 4 blurry and indistinct riders materializes from the darkness with hoots and yells. In their hands are cruel whips, bows, and boar spears. They start riding around you, snapping their whips and swiping their spears at you.

What do you do?

Challenge

The four Ghostly Fey Huntsmen are outriders of the Wild Hunt tasked with driving prey towards the main hunt.

The Huntsmen aren’t trying to kill the Heroes. They’re playing with them, humoring their defiance for a spell before driving them to the main hunt. They charge, feint, snap their whips, and fire arrows that deliberately miss. If the Heroes refuse to run after 3 or so turns, the huntsmen bore of merely trying to frighten them. At that point, the Huntsmen begin inflicting real wounds—not to kill them, but to encourage them to flee.

Let the players try to fight back, only to find their weapons pass through their bodies without wounding them, and their spells merely dissipate them for a few seconds before they reform. If the players try fighting with an item that cannot be mistaken for anything but iron, like a frying pan or horseshoe, the huntsmen and their horses recoil in fear. It does nothing else.

Ghostly Fey Huntsman

Watcher, Pursuer

TAGS & STATUSES: Tracker, hunting bow, Boar Spear, whip, mounted, Rowdy-2, invisible, must always accept a challenge.

LIMITS: CONVINCE-3, DISTRACT-3, BIND OR BANISH-6, AVOID-3

THREATS & CONSEQUENCES

TRACK: An impending sense of being followed takes over the Heroes.

• Close in on the Heroes (remove two tiers from a hiding status or avoid)
• Find the Heroes (Exposure) and get into position to strike (gain poised-2)

FRIGHTEN Rear back, preparing to strike:

• Mock charge a hero and cut away at the last moment (stagger-1 or jumpy-1)
• Deliberately miss a hero with an arrow or spear (jumpy-1)
• Rear back to strike with the spear only to disappear(scared-1)

HUNT: Rear back, preparing to strike

• Attack someone with a bow or spear (wounded-1)
• Strike someone with their whip (stinging-2)

APPARATE: Come into view, like dust blown in by the wind

• Terrify all present (petrified-3)
• Break charms and spells where they pass (burn a magic tag)
• Disappear again (gain invisible or Blocked)

When the players decide to flee, describe a blatantly obvious gap the hunters leave open. One that leads back to the road. Once they break out of the circling huntsmen, read the following:

Behind you, you hear horns, pounding hooves, and the horsemen taunting you. You feel the road’s dirt shift under your feet, and you hear the occasional zip of a translucent arrow past your face or the slash of a whip from your unseen pursuers. Occasionally, one rides ahead to block a side road or other escape route, and you sometimes catch glimpses of them to your left and right in the woods. You rush by a signpost: St. Perinnet, 1 mile.

The Wild Hunt is deliberately herding the Heroes toward Saint Perinnet; they could catch them if they want, but where is the fun in that?

The Wild Hunt in Saint Perinnet

The scent of civilization wafts on the cool breeze from ahead: woodsmoke, hay, and cooked food. Then you hear the horns, the bray of hounds, and shouts from the woods’ edge. You breach the edge of the trees into a small valley and witness a scene of terror. Hundreds of rowdy ghostly riders, footmen, and hounds fly through the air and charge through the streets of a little farming hamlet, hollering, cracking whips, and chasing the odd townsfolk. At the apex of the hamlet, on a low hill, stands a little stone chapel. Golden light spills from its windows into the darkness. The Wild Hunt swirls around it like water around a stone, but not a single rider dares lay a finger on the building.

The Wild Hunt has completely overrun Saint Perinnet, with nary a living soul to be found. With their pursuers closing in, the only apparent safety is the chapel on the hill on the far side of the hamlet.

Journey: The Wild Hunt

The ghostly fey hunters are having a ball chasing the townfolk and eating their food and drink. The players cannot fight the hunt, so they need to avoid, hide from, or dodge the raging huntsmen. 

A note on running this journey

Run this journey multiple times at the narrator’s discretion when the fellowship is moving through St Perinnet. Run only one or two vignettes at a time, and give the fellowship a huntsmen-free trip from time to time.

Tags: Fey senses, riled up

General Consequences

• A ghostly fey huntsman appears from thin air before you(new challenge: Ghostly Fey Huntsman)
• A hunting horn resounds through the valley; you cannot tell if its blower is near or far away (jumpy-1)
• You trip and fall, injuring yourself (wounded-1)

Pack of Ghostly Greyhounds

A group of ghostly dogs circles and sniffs, searching for quarry

• The dogs find your scent and lope after you, eager to catch some prey (new challenge: ghostly fey greyhounds)
• As one, they howl at the moon, unnerving you (jumpy-1)

Hunting Traps and Snares

This one path looks a little too open and free of spirits. Something must be up

• You are caught by a bear trap (restrained-3 and hobbled-3)
• You are caught by a deer snare (restrained-3 and upside-down-3)
• You fall into a concealed pit (trapped-4)

Chase through the hamlet

Hooting and howling, a pack of mounted hunters chases a group of peasants through the fields and hamlet, right toward you.

• You fail to jump out of the way and are trampled by the chasing horsemen (trampled-4)
• Despite getting out of the way, your nerves are shot, and you can’t stop panting (jumpy-1)
• Is one of the Horsemen looking back? Oh dear, I think he is (exposure)

Lurking Ghostly Bugbears

In the shadows, a group of trappers is lurking, waiting for easy prey

• A hunter emerges to strike out at a vulnerable fellowship member (new challenge: ghostly bugbear trapper)
• The trappers are toying with you, tapping you on the shoulder, shoving you, moving things around before disappearing into the shadows(jumpy-1)
• They hurl a net over you before shouting for their fellows (restrained-3 and exposure)

Panicked Survivor

Out of nowhere, a peasant rushes out of the darkness, their eyes glazed with panic.

• They collide with the heroes, knocking them down
• The peasant grabs onto a hero and refuses to let go. (encumbered-1)
• The poor soul scares the wits out of one of the heroes (jumpy-1)

Circling Horsemen

The horsemen are circling around you looking for their prey

• The huntsmen are toying with you. They wheel in to attack (new challenge: Ghostly fey huntsmen)
• One shoots arrows blindly into the night. Be it sheer misfortune, it hits you (wounded-1)
• They charge off in search of prey, riding right through your midst, laughing like madmen(jumpy-1)

The Chapel

You stumble through the chapel yard. The small green is littered with debris from a feast or festival, overturned furniture, stray cutlery, and food and decoration trampled into the dirt. You can practically feel the whips and arrows zipping by. You burst through the doors into a small nave filled with briliant golden light that hurts the eyes. A group of bald men in simple brown robes are kneeling with their heads bent in prayer.

The men are the prior and several brothers of Saint Perinnet, who took shelter in the church when the wild hunt appeared. Inside the chapel, the air is peaceful and warm. Outside, the ghostly huntsmen shout taunts to the monks inside and test the doors and windows with their whips and spears.

The monks can answer these questions.

• What is this place? This is the priory of Saint Perinnet, patron saint of soapmakers and bathhouse owners. He was a former soap maker who became an itinerant preacher. He was well known for healing miracles using sanctified soap he made himself.
• Why are the ghosts not attacking us? The priory has two relics of the saint: his body, entombed beneath the altar, and the box he carried his soap in and preached from. The brothers have prayed continuously since the Hunt appeared, and golden light now emanates from the altar, maintaining the chapel’s consecration and keeping the ghosts out.
• What Happened Here? The Wild Hunt descended on Saint Perinnet roughly an hour ago, during the hamlet’s harvest festival in the priory courtyard. The brothers who reached the chapel are safe; everyone else’s fate is unknown.
• What is outside? The prior recognizes the phenomenon as a Wild Hunt. It drives those caught in its midst into the night, never to be seen again. He also knows old stories claiming that the Hunt obeys ancient rules of courtesy, though he cannot say what they are.
• Can we go outside?: They answer yes, but the heroes will be at the mercy of the Wild Hunt if they do so
• Is it safe here? The monks answer that the chapel is safe for now.

The monks beg the players to help save their brothers and the townsfolk who did not make it into the chapel. The prior gives the players their last flask of holy water to aid them and gives them a basic description of every location in town.

The Huntmaster’s challenge

Whether or not the heroes accept the Prior’s plea, as soon as he finishes speaking, an ominous, loud thump, thump, thump resounds from the front door. A gruff voice, speaking weirdly accented (something like a Highland brogue) English, then shouts,

“I wish to speak with the <description of the heroes> who evaded my huntsmen. I know you are in there; open up and let us speak man to man like civilized folk.”

​If the heroes open the door, read the following.

Just beyond the threshold is a man wrapped in grey cloth and leather, wearing a wide-brimmed cap with a long feather, atop a massive white horse. His eyes burn with unholy fire, a pair of tattered butterfly wings jut from his back, and he holds a long spear. “I am Seán de Clócaliath, master of this hunt, and I have a little proposition for you.”

He explains that he knows what is going on inside the chapel. The monks tremble inside, praying to their god for salvation. He says the rules of the hunt forbid entering any dwelling where the prey hides, even one meant for spirits rather than men, so they need not bother the chapel.

He admits tonight’s hunt has been boring so far; the prey has too many places to hide and cower until sunlight, places that count as dwellings. So he suggests a little game to ease his boredom: his hunt against theirs.

He and his huntsmen will let the players try to save those who remain in the village and bring them back to the chapel; his men will harry them, but he promises they will not stop them, and they will not harass the chapel for the rest of the night. Ten hours remain until cockcrow, and when that time comes, both sides will part ways with what they have caught. Those in the chapel will be left alone, but those outside its safety will be chased into the wild, never to be seen again. Not even those hiding in the priory outbuildings and cottages will be spared.

If the heroes refuse the challenge, Sean laughs and says that he and his men will hunt and harry them every night for eternity, claiming that they are the most intresting prey they have had in a while.

The Heroes have only a few hours before cockcrow. Each scene is assumed to take about an hour (turn) to resolve, factoring in navigating the wild hunt and/or fighting the marauding huntsmen, interactions with the rescued victims, and short rests and roleplay in the chapel.

The remaining scenes can be done in any order

The soapworks

The small building has partially collapsed. Midst the rubble are bronze vats and splinters of table. The air smells strongly of lye, herbs, and lavender. You hear moans coming from the rubble.

Brother Jimmy took shelter in the soapworks. The structure’s roof caved in when the huntmaster landed upon it, and now he is pinned under the rubble with two broken legs.

The monk cannot walk and is in constant, intense pain from his broken legs. Until they return him to the chapel, the fellowship has the story weakness: frail, moaning burden.

When freed, he tells the players to collect the dozen or so bars of soap on the floor. They are made with herbs blessed in the chapel and might help against the ghosts.

Reward: Sanctified Soap

If the players experiment with the bars, they learn that.

• While not as effective as holy water, the bars of soap can stagger the ghosts when thrown.
• They can also remove one bar of injury-related status
  
• It may also remove supernatural statuses.

The bathhouse

The door to this large stone building stands open. You see a small ball of light floating above several large basins of water, weaving around a bugbear huntsman and his net.

When you enter, the ghostly bugbear shouts, “Sod off; this is my prey.”

The ball of light screams, “The water! He does not like the water! It’s special; this village’s druids make it magical every morning!”

The only other notable objects in the building are several wooden buckets.

Challenge: Ghostly Bugbear trapper

Watcher, trapper

TAGS & STATUSES: tracker, javelins, cudgel, woven net, Rowdy-2, invisible

LIMITS: CONVINCE 3, BIND OR BANISH 5, AVOID 3

THREATS & CONSEQUENCES

HUNT: Crouch slightly, preparing to strike

• Attack someone with a javelin (wounded-2)
• Hit someone with a cudgel(stunned-1)
• Ensnare someone with a net (restrained-2)
• Hide in the underbrush or shadows (gain camouflaged-2)

FRIGHTEN The bugbear puffs himself up for a strike:

• Deliberately miss a hero with a javelin or club (jumpy-1)
• Beat his chest and howl at a player(scared-2)

TRAP: A sudden brush of air and a tightening rope—it’s a trap!

• The Hero is caught by a snare (surprised-2 and restrained-3)
• Sneaks up and grabs one of the heroes (restrained-2 and surprised-1)

APPARATE: Come into view, like dust blown in by the wind

• Terrify all present (petrified-3)
• Break charms and spells where they pass (burn a magic tag)
• Disappear again (gain invisible or Blocked)

Reward

Once the ghostly trapper is dealt with, escapes, or is driven away, the ball of light lands on the first convenient perch, such as a hero’s head, shoulder, or backpack. The ball of light is a pixie named Myrtle, as in bog myrtle. She came to town to trade her silver mark for cloth and thread, and maybe steal something sweet to eat from the feast.

When the wild hunt swept into town, that brute chased her into this building. The players arrived just in time; her wings were about to give out, and she would have had to yield to the huntsman. Once you yield to the wild hunt, you belong to the huntsman who caught you, she explains. As such, she owes the players a life debt; once she regains her strength, she will be at their disposal until she can repay them.

Companion: Myrtle

Tags: Tiny, agile, flight

Weaknesses: too small, mischievous

The cells

This two story building is long, with many small, bare-walled rooms, each containing a cot and a small table. The rooms have been thoroughly ransacked. From one of them comes raucous laughter

If the players investigate the laughter, read the following:

Inside, two Huntsmen sit around a small table. A pitcher of sacramental wine sits between them. They pour cups, raise them to their lips, and drink. The wine passes straight through their ghostly bodies and spills onto the floor.

The Huntsmen in the room have temporarily abandoned the chase to get drunk on sacramental wine. They invite the players to join their revelry, or they will rejoin the hunt if the players sour the mood. While drinking, they get chatty and can explain the hunt’s rules, what is happening in the other scenes, or general fey lore.

Challenge: Drunken Ghostly Huntsmen

Two Ghostly Fey Huntsmen are enjoying themselves, drinking the hamlet’s beer and wine. They will drink until they max out drunk and fade from existence as they pass out, or max out bored, at which point they attack.

They are quite chatty while they are drinking, and as long as the heroes don’t bring the mood down, they will regale them with all the background lore and the rules of the hunt they want.

Tags: Drunk-2, rowdy, merry

Limits: Drunk-5 , Bore-3

Threats and Consequences:

DRINK!: The huntsmen pour another round

• The heroes are pressured into drinking(drunk-1)
• The huntsmen down another glass each(drunk-1)

BORE: The huntsmen’s mood towards the players sours:

• The huntsmen get bored(bore-1)

REVEL!: The hunters get even rowdier.

• The noise attracts other members of the hunt. (Add a Ghostly Fey Huntsman or Ghostly Bugbear tracker.)
• They start to sing a drinking song; if the players do not join in, they get bored(bore-1)

Clinic

A small field-stone building sits on a once-quiet hilltop corner. Now hounds bray, and paws pound the shutters. Above the din, you swear you hear cries for help.

Challenge: Distract the hounds

Brother Mathew, the healer, and novice Jacob are trapped inside the Clinic with 6 bedridden, sick, and injured people and a Pack of Ghostly Greyhounds scrabbling at the doors and windows. Mathew and Jacob could save themselves by abandoning the infirm to the hunt, but they will not abandon the people who trust them. To get their charges to safety, they must distract the hounds.

As the players work to overcome the challenge, Mathew and Jacob ferry the injured out one at a time on a stretcher. Both men have a limit of harm-2. When the hounds follow through on a snap threat, there is a 50/50 chance they attack Mathew or Jacob instead of the heroes

Reward:

Healing: Once Mathew and Jacob are safely in the chapel, the Heroes can spend one turn resting with them. Each Hero who does so can remove any injury-related status or tag.

Supplies: Mathew offers the heroes the story tags: bandages and some clean rags.

The Rectory

You smell the rectory before you see it. The scent of a home-cooked meal is wafting through the shuttered windows and open door. Inside, you see a monk laboring over a large kettle that seems to be the source of the wondrous smell.

Brother John is the monastery’s chief cook. He was preparing the main course for the festival’s feast when the wild hunt crashed the festival and has been hiding here since. He insists on finishing the stew because his brothers will need it to survive the night. He is almost done, but he needs some potatoes from the rectory cellar, and he will not go down there; he heard hounds baying behind the cellar door. If the heroes ask why the ghost hasn’t bothered him, he tells them he’s laid a line of salt across the doors and windows; salt banishes ghosts.

Reward: Stew

Eating the completed stew gives anyone who eats it the warm-food-2 status.

The Rectory Cellars

The stone steps lead downward into the cool, dark cellar. The air smells of cured meats, root vegetables, and salt. You can hear barks and whines of hounds echo off the stones.

Some of the hunt’s ghostly greyhounds got into the cellar, drawn by the smell of meat. They try to bite off chunks of meat from the hanging sides of lamb and pork, only for their mouths to phase through.

Challenge: Pack of Ghostly Greyhounds

Role: Hazard

Tags: bite, hungry-3

Limits: Avoid-3, distract-2, banish-4

Threats and consequences:

BAY — The hounds throw back their heads and howl.

• The howl attracts a nearby hunting party of two huntsmen.
• A Hero gains frightened-2.

SNAP — A greyhound lunges, and its jaws suddenly harden as they close.

• Bite a hero or a survivor (wounded-2)
• Scratch one or more tags.
• Inflict the weakness knocked down.

PACK — The hounds circle their prey.

• Give the hounds poised-2.

APPARATE: Come into view, like dust blown in by the wind

• Terrify all present (petrified-3)
• Break charms and spells where they pass (burn a magic tag)
• Disappear again (gain invisible or Blocked)

Reward:

If the players search the cellar, they find a sack of potatoes, a small cask of beer, some chunks of meat, and bags of salt.

TThe Guest House

The guest house is a small fieldstone building with a thatched roof and a covered porch. Out front, three half-naked ghostly huntsmen and a young gnome sit around a table piled with random items. “3 aces,” the gnome shouts. The huntsmen shout in disgust and throw down their cards.

The gnome’s name is Connor, a flimflammer. When the Wild Hunt descended, they chased him back to the guest house and cornered him. Desperate to save his skin, he challenged them to 3-card Brag and has been on a winning streak ever since, collecting a fine pile of his opponents’ belongings. He invites the heroes to join him as he deals the next hand.

Challenge: angry huntsmen

Connor’s opponents are two Ghostly Fey Huntsmen and a Ghostly Bugbear Trapper, who think he is cheating. He is not cheating, just very, very lucky. At the end of the next hand, he reveals he has a three-kings brag, and his opponents have had enough. They flip the table over and try to kill the “cheat.” Connor grabs what he can and bolts for the chapel. He has the limit harm-3 and if the heroes do not distract the huntsmen, he is unlikely to make it.

Reward:

Connor offers one item from his remaining winnings now: a pair of seven-league boots, a ghostly elven bow, or an amulet of warding.

The Barn

Shouts and laughter are coming from inside this modest-sized barn. As you enter, an arrow whizzes by you, followed by someone saying, “Good shot, mate, nearly got me that time.” You can barely see the glint of steel in the moonlight and the outline of two huntsmen flourishing their whips and swords.

Challenge:

Two Ghostly Fey Huntsmen have cornered the community’s hunter, Michael. He is bleeding out from an arrow in his leg but remains intent on making this his last stand. The huntsmen honor that noble sentiment by pretending his arrows keep them at bay.

Anyone who examines the wound realizes Michael needs treatment within 10 minutes, or he will die.

When the players enter the barn, he is visibly relieved. His leg hurts like hell, and he only has 5 arrows left.

Reward

If the players banish the Huntsmen, convince them to leave, or otherwise make them go away, Michael will help save the rest of the townsfolk once his leg is treated.

Companion Michael: Tags: Hunter, gruff, tracker. Weaknesses: leg injury

Blacksmith’s house

At the foot of the hill stands a cottage slightly larger than the rest, with a lean-to shed containing an anvil and furnace. The cellar door is ajar.

If the players enter the cellar, read:

A dozen people huddle in this dark, dank room against the far wall. They are silent, except for a little girl whimpering behind her mother’s hand.

The blacksmith, his family, and a dozen other townsfolk are packed in here. The ghosts have not bothered them yet, and they believe they will be safe if they stay. They are reluctant to leave their hidey hole.

Challenge: Terrified Crowd.

Tags: Scared-2, simple folk,stubborn-1

Limits: convince-3, scared-4. stubborn-4. If they reach scared 4, use the Mindless Terror threat.

Threats and consequences:

MOB MENTALITY: These people are thinking as one, not as individuals

• They grow more scared(scared-1)
• Someone in the group comes up with a half-baked counterargument to the heroes(challenge gains story tag: convincing nonsense).
• The crowd becomes more fervent in the belief of their safety (stubborn-1)
• Someone insists that everyone who leaves will be killed, causing the crowd to refuse to listen. (stubborn-1 or scared-1)

MINDLESS TERROR: They act as one instinct in terror

• They lash out at whoever tries to make them leave, seeking a scapegoat (harm-1).
• Someone claims that they hear something coming down the stairs(scared-1)

Reward

The blacksmith hands out some horseshoes. He tells a tale that Fey cannot touch you if you wear a horseshoe.

The Cottages

A cluster of small stone-and-wood cottages is scattered between the foot of the hill and the fields. Unlike the rest of the hamlet, the cottages are dead quiet. There is not a soul to be seen, alive or dead.

None of the cottages have locks. The cottages are sparsely furnished with simple rustic furnishings and dirt floors. They look deserted, but a search of the cabin interiors reveals 7 children hiding inside, squeezed under beds, under tables, and inside cabinets.

The children are terrified and initially refuse to come out. Once reassured, they explain that a ghostly bugbear has been hunting them. He chased them into the cottages but did not follow them inside. Instead, he has been waiting outside, occasionally banging on the walls and shouting taunts to scare them into running.

Several of the children also mention strange wooden totems hidden around the cottages. They scream whenever someone gets too close.

Challenge: The Ghostly Bugbear Trapper and His Hunting Totems

Hunting Totems

Tags: magical, hidden, terrifying, alarm

Limits: Avoid-3, Disable-3

PROXIMITY ALARM: Someone approaches a totem.

• It emits a horrible hunting cry, alerting the trapper(Exposure).
• The scream pierces the mind on a primal level jumpy-1 or ringing echo of terror)
• Whoever touches it stumbles back, confused and disoriented(confused-1)

Reward:

If the players can avoid, drive off, or otherwise deal with the bugbear and his traps and escort the children to the chapel, the heroes gain the story tag Children are Safe, which may be useful to convince the Militia in the Granary or the Terrified Mob in the Blacksmith’s cellar to head to the chapel

The Granary

A tall stone tower looms beside the fields. Several hunters ride around it with lit torches, shouting taunts. At the doorway, half a dozen men stand with pitchforks and spears.

The local militia is defending the town’s food supply. The circling huntsmen have tried to lure them out, to little effect. Growing bored, they now threaten to burn the granary down at once.

Challenge Standoff:

The 6 militiamen (use the militiamen varient of the commoner challenge profile) are holding the granary and will not leave while it is threatened. They believe that if the chapel is safe, it still won’t matter if the hamlet’s food stores are destroyed or stolen. The players must either convince the militia to retreat to the chapel or deal with the hunters. The three Ghostly Fey Huntsmen threaten to burn the granary down if the militia doesn’t start running for their lives. The heroes must either convince the former or banish the latter.

The fields

The air smells of freshly mown hay and loam. Through the fields, a ghostly rider chases a farmer. Another rider drinks from a wineskin by a remarkably realistic scarecrow; it looks like somebody is really standing there with their arms outstretched. The rider puts away the skin and adjusts the scarecrow’s hat.

Challenge

The scarecrow is actually one of the farmers standing perfectly still with his arms outstretched, his arms slowly going numb. The two Ghostly Fey Huntsmen know this and are toying with him. If the players can distract, banish, or convince the hunters to leave the farmers alone, they can book it to the chapel for safety.

The graveyard

On the slope between the priory and the hamlet is a field of headstones and simple graves. Huntmaster Seán de Clócaliath watches midst the headstones, smoking a ghostly pipe.

There is nobody to save here. Just Seán the huntmaster. He is more than willing to shoot the breeze with the players. He is a jolly old squire, enjoying his afterlife and doing what he loved most: hunting and talking about the many hunts he’d done all over the world. He has hunted everything and everyone imaginable on Domhannau; he even claims he dueled Frederick Von Mountainheart himself and would have won if not for the wolf prince’s cold iron sword.

Cockcrow

In the east, a faint glow begins to peek over the mountains. Somewhere in the valley, a rooster crows.

As one, the Hunt falls silent.

No horn blows—no dog barks. No hunter cries out.

Then the Hunt moves.

The ghostly hunters sweep through the buildings below, driving everyone the you could not save out into the open and westward toward the mountains. As the villagers stagger and dash before them, something begins to happen.

Fingers draw together and harden into hooves. Faces stretch. Antlers and tusks push from skulls and jaws. Clothes tear as bodies twist and shrink. The screams become bleats, squeals, and frightened cries.

By the time they reach the treeline, they are people no more.

They are boar and deer.

Seán rides slowly past the chapel upon his great white horse. He tips his hat toward the Heroes.

“Well played.”

“May we meet again, and once again test our mettle in the Hunt.”

The first rays of sunlight touch the hill.

Seán and his horse vanish like mist, leaving only his echoing laughter behind.

The Wild Hunt is gone.

Aftermath

After Seán’s dramatic disappearance, the survivors emerge from the chapel. In stunned silence, they seek out their neighbors and family trapped outside, hoping beyond hope that what they witnessed was some kind of trick. It soon becomes clear that those who couldn’t reach the chapel are gone.

The prior falls to his knees at the hero’s feet. He thanks them for saving as many as they could. He promises they will always be welcome at St. Perinnet; it is all he has to give to a group as brave as the players.

Tagalongs

If the players save Myrtle, she accompanies the heroes out of the village; she still owes the heroes a life debt. She alternates between flying and riding on her favorite hero’s shoulder.

If they save Connor, he leaves immediately after the heroes and runs to catch up. He is eager to return to New Mountainheart, tell his friends how he nearly beat members of the Wild Hunt at Brag, and show off his winnings. He will accompany the players until their paths diverge.

As the fellowship and their new companions walk back down the road from the hamlet, Connor and Myrtle cannot help but speculate on the fate of those lost to the hunt. Myrtle thinks they are cursed to be a beast forever. Connor says he’s heard legends that prey can escape and regain at least a little humanity. But they agree on one thing.

“I’d rather not learn the truth firsthand.”