[D20cember] E is for Evil Bones

Evil Bones: A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! Labyrinth Lord adventure set in the Ashford Valley.

Get Ready:
A broken Witch Ball spells trouble for some farmers when the dead rise to attack the living.

Get Set:
The PCs traveling through the farming area around Clifton learn of this danger when the farm they are staying at is attacked.

In the Ashford Valley, commoners often use glass Witch Balls to trap evil spirits. Few actually have power to protect their owners but one maker of witch balls somehow has the right formula - and the destruction of one of them is trouble!

Go!:
The PCs are staying the night at a cluster of farmhouses when the skeletons attack! The buildings are attacked by 2 more skeletons than there are PCs. There's lots of screaming as the farmers, their wives and families, and farm hands alternate between ineffectively fighting and just as ineffectively fleeing the undead menace. There are plenty of opportunity for the PCs to perform acts of daring-do, with the skeletons threatening young children, a biting and bucking mule, a burning barn (got to put that out or all the buildings will burn) and more.

After the skeletons are dealt with, the farm buildings made safe and the mule calmed down, a trail leads through the fields to an old Runestone, where the shattered remains of the glass Witch Ball, with their erstwhile owner, are guarded by the rest of the skeletons.

The owner of the witch ball, a young girl, is unharmed but the skeletons will not allow her to leave the protection of the runestone and they cannot approach it so she is trapped. The skeletons will fight to the death!

The young girl is named Clarie (a daughter of one of the farmers the PCs are staying with) and she broke the witch ball in a fit of pique, not knowing that the spirits trapped within would be "activated" by the old Runestone, bringing to unlife the skeletons buried nearby. She's been trapped for most of the night, afraid to leave the protection of the stone. An investigation of the broken witch ball produces a maker's mark, which the PCs can use to track down the glassblower.

Notable NPCs:
Skeletons; No. Encountered: 2d6+3; Alignment: Chaotic; Armor Class: 7; Hit Dice: 1d8, Hit Points: 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1; Attacks: rusted and pitted longsword (1d8-1, minimum 1); Save: F1; Morale: 12.

Kicking and Biting Mule; No. Encountered: 1; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 7; Hit Dice: 2, Hit Points: 15; Attacks: bite (1d3) or kick (1d4); Save: NM; Morale: 8.