This is a simple adventure, an in-and-out affair that concerns only the small population of the village of Whitehill and the tragedy of a failed wedding some decades before. All in all, this quest should take no longer than an hour and a half, and involves more thinking and problem-solving than brawn.
A small village in the remote White Downs has been suffering from strange hauntings, eminating from the mine up in the hills. The players will need to gather clues about the mine's history and the threats that it poses, enter the mine while facing angry spirits and poisonous gas, and find the reason for the stirring of the ghosts.
The mine once belonged to a family of gnomes, who bought the plot of land on which the mine rests in order to begin a coal-mining company. Their business was less the coal, but specifically the ventilation system that they had built in order to remove the toxic gases. However, their machine was sabotaged on the night of their eldest daughter’s wedding, causing the entire family to die gruesomely. The mine sat abandoned for a time, until a mining party of dwarves bought the rights. However, they died or fled not long after.
In more recent history, a small group of vagrant wererats are attempting to escape the persecution of their kind: in order to leave their home city, they signed up to be workers at a circus, but were refused the opportunity to leave, forced to become slave labour. They are on the run, and are using the mine as a hideout. However, their repair of the ventilation system and their use of the mine is seen as the basest of insults to the spirits of the dead gnomes, who are now beginning to wander the land of the living once more.
The adventure involves roleplaying, puzzles, and combat, but its focus is on problem solving: the players can discover a great deal of information that will aid them in clearing the mine, and give options other than simply attacking.
Running the Adventure
To enhance the experience for your players, this pack comes with a set of information for you, the Dungeon Master, as well as items and papers for your players to peruse. Given the nature of the mystery that they are to unravel, it is recommended that at least one member of the party take rigorous notes on any clues that they come across, and use the notes and maps in order to assist their quest.
Adventure Synopsis
The Poison in the Dark adventure deals with ghosts and the events that disturbed them. The mine lies just to the south of the village of Whitehill, the master of which will reward the players with a vintage silver tiara.
Their foray into the southern mine will test their nerve, their intelligence, and their empathy. The mine has been fitted with doors specifically designed to stop the ghosts – during an earlier attempt to recolonise – but using them requires wit and cunning.
The result of the adventure will be entirely up to them, depending on whether or not they decide to side with the villagers, the ghosts, or the wererats. The adventure consists of three basic parts:
Whitehill and surrounds. The information that the characters gather is critical to the outcome of the adventure – though they do not need to know everything in order to resolve the quest, there is much more happening than is shown on the surface. They will need to question the villagers and gather clues.
The South Whitehill Mine. The bulk of the characters’ encounters take place in the abandoned coal mine now crawling with spirits. The ghosts can be defeated by magical means, or trapped using the fitted riddle doors, but negotiation and guile are the most potent weapons available against the undead.
The Abandoned Grotto. The finale, and the ultimate choice of outcome, occurs in the wererats hideout. The wererats are not difficult enemies to overcome, if the players choose so, but this is the test of their morals.