[osr Challenge] Memories

"Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door." - Saul Bellow.

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

Get Ready:

While wandering through the Ashford Valley, the PCs encounter an aging wizard and his two guardians. 

Get Set:

The PCs could have any reason to be where the adventure takes place, including actively seeking the aged wizard Saul for some reason like needing a scroll translated or following up on a clue from a previous adventure.

Saul is actually losing his mind and he is going from lucid to mad as he interacts with the PCs (not that they'll notice much). He'll fixate on the PCs as those "who took his family away" (his family is long gone, dead these many years, of natural causes) and summon "demons" to kill them.

 

Go!:

The PCs find themselves at Saul's tower with the scroll to translate. The tower is three stories, with the first being an entrance hall and a wooden stable built against it, large enough to hold the PCs mounts. The second and third floors contain Saul's laboratory and personal chambers, respectively. There is a ruined barn with some fodder and a well for water in his "yard." Around the tower is a forest with deer.

Saul will greet them cordially and allow them to stay in the first floor. He'll be fairly professional and have a few odd ticks, but what do you expect of an old man, especially a wizard? He'll tell them it will take him 3 days to translate the scroll and he mustn't be disturbed.

Once he is away from the PCs, he'll switch to the mad mode and spy on the PCs from his lab on the second floor. Using his magic ring, he'll summon the Wire Wolves and pit them against the PCs in the countryside around the tower. The Wire Wolves will stalk and attack anyone outside the tower, waiting for one or two of the PCs to gather water or go deer hunting. Smart PCs will notice that within hours of them arriving at the tower, the forest is completely silent, which is really weird. 

Notable NPCs:

Saul the Mage; Magic-user, Level 3; Alignment: Neutral/Chaotic; Armor Class: 9; Hit Dice: 3d4; Hit Points: 9; Attacks: dagger (1d4), staff (1d6); Save: MU3; morale: 9; Special abilities: Ring of Wishes (no wishes left), Spells: Charm Person, Sleep, Knock.

Wire Wolf; No. Encountered: 2; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 2; Hit Dice: 6d8, Hit Points: 35 each; Attacks: bite (2d6 + special); Save: F6; morale: 12; Special abilities: a target struck by two wire wolves in the same round must save v. Paralysis or be knocked prone, +2 to attack/damage to prone targets, immune to Sleep, Charm and Hold spells, immune to surprise.