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Fifty-five years ago, there was a strong border guard in Fort Hide & Seek, led by their beautiful commander, Shanna Milirril. One day traveling from the fort to the town she was assaulted by brigands. Eventually she escaped after slaying her captors, but less than a year later she gave birth to a son one of them had fathered. Still, she doted on her son and stayed at the fort in command while raising him. There was much shaking of heads over keeping a small child in an outpost, and the critics may have been right, because young Crowley was slain when a force of orcs attacked the fort.

There were few other casualties from the raid, but the fort was never the same. Shanna became more withdrawn and capricious, and many said she was losing her mind. Again, the critics seem to have been correct, as after several months of erratic behavior she killed herself. Thom Bechtel, the replacement commander was harsh and almost tyrannical, and the odd occurrences around the fort often enraged him. Bickering and yelling soon turned to brawling and sabotage and within a few months all within the fort had fled or died.

It has been over fifty years since, but the spirits of the slain still haunt the rooms and walks of Fort Hide & Seek.

Hopefully, the discussion of "haunts" will put the characters in mind of incorporeal undead, which they don't really have the resources to handle at this point, but they may ask at the various temples for assistance. Erastil's isn't too useful, but Pharasma, as a foe of undead is quite helpful. Lorrim Aldissinol? (Elf M CN Clr1) will hire on to assist for 25 gold plus 5 gold per day. They also have good advice, that the Magic Stone spell can be quite useful, and the local clerics will likely be willing to assist with castings of it. Erastil requires both spellcasting payment and hazard pay, but Torag's temple is willing to help with the castings for free, so long as the party assists with the troubles at Ganath Mine.

  • A - The lower fort is inhabited by a crazed hermit? (mnk2/bbn2) who has been possessed by the evil spirits of the fort and charges to attack the first person who enters. He lives in the stables (area D). The lower fort also has a raised wooden floor formerly covered by a tent which used to be used for training (area C) and has a number of broken wooden weapons, and a small smithy (area b) with an anvil, rusty hammer and tongs, lumps of iron, etc.
  • E - This is the causeway leading from the bailey to the motte. There is a rockfall trap here, triggered by a mischievous spirit. A DC 19 perception check notices the collection of rocks and logs in the upper gatehouse, otherwise it is triggered when the party is most of the way up the causeway. There is a tumble of debris down the walkway, which causes 3d6 damage to each character on the causeway, or half to those who make a DC 13 reflex save. The spirit dissipates after triggering the trap.
  • F - This is the gatehouse where the spirit operating the causeway trap resided. It also has a portcullis, which is down and requires a DC 23 Str check to lift or a DC 15 check to climb over. The winch to raise the portcullis works, but the rope is old and weak and has a 50% chance of falling on the party as they pass underneath (DC 10 engineering or 15 perception to notice, 4d6 damage to one character, DC 15 to negate.)
  • G - This is the courtyard surrounding the old sod-walled fort. The front gates are slightly open, but are stuck there and require a DC 15 str check to open, or a DC 15 escape artist for a medium size creature to wriggle through. Opening them produces a loud cracking shriek of stressed wood. The courtyard is also home to stairs up to the roof walk and down to the basement, as well as the fort's old whipping post. Also, an entrance to the kitchen is to the east side of the fort. If the courtyard is investigated, the bones of one man are apparent around the base of the whipping post, and if it is overcast or anytime from dusk till dawn, the ghost of the man who starved to death here, Dorian Bell? is in residence, and not immediately hostile. The ghost can be put to rest by burying his bones. If spoken with he can relate much of the story of the fort, and requests a burial with food, drink, and a warm blanket.
  • H - The dining room is home to both a Commanding Haunt and a poltergeist. The poltergeist attacks with either benches (2d6 damage) or cutlery/broken tableware (2d4(19-20) damage). It might also fling gnomes or halflings against the walls. It and the haunt work in concert, although the haunt is limited to this chamber, while the poltergeist will follow the party anywhere not underground. The haunt doesn't begin until the poltergeist has attacked, which is right as the last person is leaving the room.
  • I - The old kitchen, with tarnished metalware and food long since rotted and moldered to dust. There is plenty of ammunition here for a pursuing poltergeist.
  • J - A bedroom intended for visitors, there are two bunk beds and two chests. One chest is unlocked and empty, but the other (in the closet) has a DC 25 lock in good condition. If the chest is opened, it contains a 6"x6"x12" wooden box, covered in hinges, braces, and clasps which weighs 4 pounds and radiates moderate transmutation magic - a Folding Boat! There is also a largely illegible journal where the last entries describe how the author, a traveling adventurer, has been warned away from the fort, and is therefore determined to discover what is going on with these apparently insane soldiers.
  • K - A plain room with a desk. Aside from aged blank paper, scrolls and books, and vials of dried ink, there is little in this room.
  • Monster - Those who enter L or M must make a DC 15 will save or be fascinated for 2d4 rounds by an allip, which moves to attack, gliding under the floor to block the doorway.
  • L - (See "Monster") Another plain chamber with a desk, this one has doorways into a closet and a connecting bedroom. The closet contains old clothes, mostly uniforms, now little more than rags. A logbook rants about the "laxness" of the post's soldiers, and goes into detail about punishments prescribed - various hours of extra watch duty, cleaning detail, and frequently, some number of lashes, sometimes followed by long hours of standing at attention. Several times, the journal refers to his determination not to quit: "As long as our flag still stands, so will I!"
  • M - (See "Monster") This is clearly a bedroom, once belonging to the guard commander. It contains about what one would expect - old bedclothes, uniforms in the closet it shares with room L. A DC 22 perception while searching reveals a secret compartment dug into the wall of the attached garderobe, containing a 3 foot long rectangular wooden box. When opened, it contains the bones of a human child. These are the remains of the former commander's son, which in her madness she unearthed to keep close to her. Burying them dispels the poltergeist, and the allip which was the former commander.
  • N - Formerly the baths, this room is home to a cast iron stove, several barrels, and a few large tin tubs. The walls are lined with hooks for clothing and towels.
  • O - The old barracks, bunks line the walls and the center of the room, with chests and lockers lodged into odd corners. Wreckage, rags, and old bones give evidence of a brawling struggle. A ghoul has hidden here with a DC 26 stealth check, and springs to attack the weakest-looking searching party member. The Confusion Haunt triggers when this happens, affecting one party member at random each round and continuing until dispelled. A DC 15 search of the room turns up a dozen or so rusty daggers, five battle axes, a rusted masterwork chain shirt, long sword and heavy steel shield, 85sp, 128cp, and various bits of personal belongings currently worth 24gp, but which could be cleaned up to 72gp worth with enough DC5 craft checks. The search also turns up a cramped dirt tunnel at floor level in the western wall (DC 15 to wriggle through for M creatures). The iron door into area P is locked (DC 30, DC 28 to break). This haunt is dispelled by dispelling all the other haunts in the fort.
  • P - This is the old armory, and contains weapons and armor which have been rendered broken but not destroyed by the passage of time. There are mostly glaives, battle axes, short bows, and light wooden shields, and the scales from around a dozen suits of decayed scale mail.
  • Q - The iron door into the old cell block is locked (DC 30, 28 to break open). Alternatively, it is possible to enter the eastern cell from the tunnel into area O, although there are bars between the cells. (DC 20 to pick, 24 to bend) The eastern cell has gnawed bones and rags from one person, as does the western cell, along with a pair of ghouls, still locked in.
  • R - Anyone on this roof walk attracts the attention of the poltergeist if it hasn't been dealt with, which will attempt to bull rush characters off the roof in anything other than broad daylight. (CMB +3) A flagpole still stands from the center of the roof, with the tattered remnants of Lodell's flag (a gold sun on green and blue parted diagonally with a black lower chevron) still flying. Lowering the flag and either burning it, storing it, or returning it to Lodell dispels the Commanding Haunt in the dining hall.
Page last modified on May 24, 2012, at 10:33 AM