[osr Challenge] The Silent Sage

 

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

Get Ready:
The PCs are seeking a wise man called the Silent Sage.

Get Set:
The PCs are in the wilderness, looking for the Silent Sage. The Silent Sage is reknown around the Ashford Valley but  few have ever met him. His expertise is whatever the PCs are needing.

The Silent Sage is a centaur and lives a quiet and scholarly life. As such, for the duration of this short adventure, he has the equivalent of Phonophobia (fear of loud noises) and freezes in place, unable to act, when exposed to loud noises.

The PCs manage to find directions to his dwelling, a comfortable grotto, and arrive soon after the sage has been  taken by morlocks into the underground caverns of the Ashford Valley.

Go!:
The cave has been ransacked, with books and papers strewn about. There is no sign of the sage. At the back wall, a  new opening leads down into the darkness.

The morlocks disturbed a colony of stirges as they were traveling and the PCs run into them in the first cavern  below. There are several bodies of morlocks and stirges scattered around the cavern but it's obvious which direction  they went. The stirges will not follow the PCs outside of the cavern but remaining stirges will attack the PCs on  their way back out.

The tunnel beyond the stirge cave winds down to another cavern, where the PCs find the sage (a centaur) and the  morlocks. If the PCs are paying attention, they hear loud noises coming down the tunnel from the cavern ahead. The morlocks are stopped there because the shriekers are making a ruckus and the sage is stunned by the noise.

The shriekers have been screaming for a while now, so it's safe to assume that a wandering monster (in this case, a basilisk) is going to show up in 2d6-3 rounds.

Notable NPCs: Stirges; No. Encountered: 1d4+6; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 7; Hit Dice: 1d8, Hit Points: 8, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3,  3, 2, 1; Attacks: blood drain (1d3 + special); Save: F2; morale: 9; Special abilities: flight, blood drain (+2 to  attack, automatic 1d3 damage per round until target is dead or stirge is killed)

The Silent Sage; Centaur; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 5; Hit Dice: 4d8, Hit Points: 24; Attacks: 2 hooves (1d6  each), staff (1d6); Save: F4; morale: 8; Special abilities: extensive sage knowledges, Phonophobia (fear of loud  noises - freezes in place).

Morlocks; No. Encountered: 2d6+3; Alignment: Chaotic; Armor Class: 8; Hit Dice: 1d8, Hit Points: 8, 8, 7, 6, 6, 5,  5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1; Attacks: short sword (1d6); Save: F1; morale: 9; Special abilities: 90' infravision.

Shriekers; No. Encountered: 1d4+4; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 7; Hit Dice: 3d8, Hit Points: 24 each; Attacks:  Special; Save: F1; morale: 12; Special abilities: alertness (detects movement within 30 feet or light within 60  feet), shrieking (makes loud noises for 1d3 rounds if it detects movement or light, 50% chance of attracking a  wandeirng monster, arriving within 2d6 rounds).

Basilisk; No. Encountered: 1; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 4; Hit Dice: 6d8 + 1, Hit Points: 31; Attacks: bite (1d10),  gaze (save v. petrify or turn to stone); Save: F6; morale: 9; Special abilities: Petrification (direct look from  target turns target to stone unless save v. petrify is successful, -4 to attack if avoiding gaze, -1 to attack if  using mirror, if basilisk sees itself in mirror - 35% chance - it must save v. petrify or be turned to stone).