Chapter one, Fire and Darkness

Players Introduction

As was mentioned in the introductory notes, the adventure begins on a cool and quite evening with the sudden and unexpected fire in the Tanners house. The PCs could be anywhere in the village at the time, perhaps at home enjoying an evening meal, or in the inn enjoying a pint.

They may also be going about there own business. Whatever the PCs are doing, the peace of the evening is shattered by alarmed calls of,

“FIRE! FIRE!”

As the PCs (and everyone else) make their way into the street to see what is going on the scene of chaos that greats them is as follows;-

“The air is alive with calls of alarm and screams, yet they do nothing to blot out the awful crackling sound of a home on fire.

Sparks light the early evening dusk, blown about on the wind dangerously so that they threaten to spread the fire to other dwellings.

Flames lick skyward from the inferno that was one Tanner Lavine's house, as a human chain forms to hurl bucket upon bucket of water upon the burning cottage.

Lavine's agonized screams can be heard from where she lies, badly burned upon the ground, attended by Sharn the village apothecary who is desperately trying to dress the tanners burns. Thor the village smith tries in vain to hold Lavine still, and nearby his wife Scalia is scurrying back to the forge with the swaddled form of Lom, the infant son of Lavine and her husband Talbot. Of Talbot himself there is no sign.

“Talbot is still in there!” Henrdrik calls, “We have to get him out, the roof is going to come in! Some one help me!” “

At this point the PCs have a number of options, the most heroic of which is to dash into the burning building and try to rescue Talbot. However, should a perfectly understandable instinct for self preservation overwhelm them at this point, they may decide not to. This is not a great problem for the adventure. Just have some of the townsfolk do it instead. They will recover Talbot's body having suffered a few wounds and burns of their own (more work for Sharn) but no actual fatalities.

At the very least the PCs will be expected to help the townsfolk try and fight the fire by joining the human chain passing buckets of water from the pond or the river. Failing to do anything at all, will result in the PCs being sent to Coventry by the town, everyone is expected to help in some way even if it is just passing buckets of

water up the chain.

Remember, the only vital element of this chapter from here on in is that the PCs catch a glimpse of the flicker fiend (see the chapter denouement).

The Burning House

If the PCs do decide to risk the burning house (and as mentioned earlier it is in no way vital that they do so) they will be greeted by a number of hazards and dangers, use the burning house map and this section to run the events.

1). Front Shop

The front shop room is ablaze, the wave of heat is all but unbearable and the smoke is thick in the air. Everything seems to be alight and the flames lick up the walls in a raging inferno that is terrifying to see.

There is no sign of Talbot, and the door to the workshop is on fire and lies beyond gouts of fire, making reaching it from the inside a very dangerous prospect.

Entering the area of the room that is on fire requires a successful general WIP (Willpower) check and results in a 55% KPA 30 hit to a random location every combat round. The wound is a burn with all the associated increased chances of scaring and difficulty in healing that this entails. (See the Spelldancer rules page 47, “Misadventure and accidents” for details on injuries from fire).

Despite appearances this room is far from the most dangerous in the burning house, if anything it is one of the safer areas.

However, fires do spread, so don’t let the PCs stand about too long, have the fire move towards them, perhaps the smoke grows thick enough to be a serous problem to respiration (For how to handle smoke inhalation, see Spelldancer pg 46, “Asphyxiation” under “Misadventure and Accidents”).

2). The Burning Workshop

Caustic smoke burns your eyes as you enter the blazing ruin that was once Layine the tanners workshop.The flames lick up the walls and are spreading to the stairs, engulfing them in a wall of fire. The worktop, counter and other furniture are all burning and there are occasional pops and explosions as the chemicals Layine uses in her trade detonate from the heat.Burning timber drops from the ceiling where a hole has appeared into the room above, and your breathing is growing painful from the acrid fumes.

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The air is thick with acrid smoke that is tainted with fumes from the burning chemicals. Breathing is dangerous here, and those attempting to do so without a filter (a damp cloth over their nose and mouth for example) suffer the effects of asphyxiation (See the Spelldancer rules pg. 46)

As the chemicals detonate they spray burning liquid over the room, have this occur once as the PCs move through the room, each of them suffers an attack at 55% KP 20 to a random location.

The now treacherous ceiling is another threat, if the PCs escape the detonating chemicals relatively unscathed have the ceiling shed more burning timber. PCs can dodge safely if they pass a general AGL check, if they fail it they suffer a single 100% KP 10 hit to a random location from a burning beam.

If the PCs suffered a few wounds form the exploding chemicals, have the ceiling cave in after they are on the stairs or leaving the room by another means, and describe it as a near miss to help heighten the tension.

3). The Stairs and Landing

As mentioned the stairs are on fire. Anyone using them risks being burned. Treat it as a single attack with a 65% chance to hit and a KPA 15. Again this is burn damage with the usual increased chance of scaring and healing problems that this entails.

The landing is filled with smoke, but other than that is unremarkable.

Lingering here for a minute or more results in smoke inhalation that causes a character to suffer the effects of asphyxiation (See Spelldancer pg 46) until the character is no longer exposed to the smoke.

4). Master Bed Room

The smoke is not as thick here as in other rooms, for the windows have broken open and the cold night air is providing a modicum of ventilation.Beyond the flames, near the now smoldering bed you can make out the body of a man in night clothes. It is impossible to say from here whether he still lives.

The man in question is of course Talbot, the tanners husband. He was overcome by the smoke before the windows blew out. He did manage to help his wife out of the window and hand her their infant child before collapsing.

Talbot is not yet dead, but may die unless he receives medical attention fairly shortly. It is up to the GM whether Talbot survives or not.

The primary danger here now is that the floor is about to collapse, having been largely destroyed by the fire that is blazing away beneath it. Once the PCs have reached

Talbot read out the following.

As you reach the prone man an awful groaning sound comes from the timbers behind you. The entire floor seems to sag and with a dreadful inevitability parts of the floor begin to tumble into the room beneath. The floorboards upon which you are standing sag and splinter dangerously, clearly they are about to go the same way as the others, you need to get out of here quickly.

The PCs have seconds to act, and their best bet is to get out of the windows. One person can climb out of the window per combat round. Every combat round make a LUC saving throw against the LUC of the character with the highest LUC score remaining in the room. Once it fails the rooms remaining floorboards give way, dumping everyone in the room onto the floor in room #1 for a 50% KPA 2 hit to a random location. The victims also take one fire damage injury of 50% KPA 20 to a random location every combat round after that until they get up and get out of the building.

5). The Nursery

This room seems largely unaffected by the fire, although it is beginning to fill with smoke,and the wall closest the cot is beginning to burn and blister from the fire in the adjoining room

The Nursery is not yet on fire, although it soon will be, as the fire in the living room spreads.

6). Living Room

A large portion of the living room floor has already collapsed into the workshop beneath. The air is thick with smoke and dancing motes of sparks that are being brought to life by the eddies of hot air entering by the window and heated by the fire.What is left of the floor seems ready to collapse any second now and the a burning chest of draws teeters on the edge of the hole in the floor.

The floor here is far to badly damaged to sustain the weight of a human being. Should the PCs be foolish enough to enter the floor will collapse and spill them back into the workshop for a single 50% KPA 2 hit. Not to mention all the dangers that the workshop and its exploding chemicals presents.

OUTSIDE THE BURNING HOUSE

Outside of the burning house the townsfolk have gathered to fight the fire and render what assistance they can to the injured. Two human chains have been formed, one leading from the river to the house and one leading from the pond to the house. Both pass bucket, pans and other containers full of water along their length as fast as possible to try and douse the flames (with limited

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success).

Sharn (the village apothecary) and Thor (the smith) are attending to Lavine (the tanner's) burns, whilst the smith's wife Scalia has taken the infant Lom to their house to take care of him. Sharn has already checked the infant and pronounced him fit.

Lavine has a medium 8 point burn to her body, two light burns to her arms (1 point to her left and 2 points to her right). A light 7 point burn to her face, and a medium 4 point burn to her left leg. She also has a 1 point winged wound to her right leg which took the brunt of her fall from the window. In all Lavine has suffered 23 HP of damage, leaving her with just 2 HP, multiple scars and an awful lot of pain.

Lavines Face, body and left arm will all scar from the burns.

Catching a Glimpse of the Burning Ghost

It is important that before the end of the chapter you run this encounter for the PCs. They should catch a glimpse of the flicker fiend.

The fire at last seems spent, although little remains of what was once the tanners house. The glowing embers spew forth the occasional shower of sparks, although they no longer seem a threat to the rest of the village or even the nearby trees.Despite the warmth of the recent inferno a chill begins to spread through your bones as you catch a glimpse of a terrible site. A skeletal form in the darkness, wreathed in flames and smoke. It seems to glare right at you with a malice that stabs at your very soul. Slowly it raises a bony hand and points at the husk of the tanners house as if to glory in the destruction that it has caused. With that it turns and is gone, leaving behind it nothing but a wisp of black smoke, a mote of sparks and an unnatural, malicious laugh that drifts away on the wind.Turning to you with horror struck eyes Sabin the cobbler, his face white with terror beneath the soot blackened streaks that stain it, stammers;“Did you see that ... that thing? By The unnamed god what was that?”Whatever it was, it seems safe to assume it was the cause of the fire.

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