Encounter-a-Day

The skies are cloudy and threatening rain as the PCs find themselves traveling along a road through a fairly secluded wood. The sound of a child singing and laughing draws their attention. Miles from the nearest village, a little half-elven girl is dancing around and playing with her ragdoll. The doll has what appears to be a golden ring being worn as a bracelet.

The little girl’s name is Leigh, and shortly after meeting her a crack of thunder announces that the rains have begun. A torrential downpour soaks everyone almost instantly, and Leigh offers to lead the characters back to her house.

As they follow the girl through the forest, they can hear a female voice shouting, “Leigh! Leigh!” It is not long at all before they come to a clearing with a small manor, and standing in the doorway is a teenage half-elven woman, delighted to see her sister appear but concerned when she sees the PCs.

The characters are quickly introduced to the rest of the family. The sister who was shouting for Leigh is named Kacey. Their older brother Barend has just come in from chopping firewood and is placing the axe in a closet when the characters arrive. The father, Crisdean, is a decidedly refined human of about 40 years of age. After some questioning, Crisdean thanks the characters for helping Leigh find her way back and invites them to stay for dinner and wait for the rains to die down.

Kacey prepares a savory dinner for everyone, and they engage in a lively conversation. If asked about his wife, Crisdean explains that she died in a fire several years ago, and Leigh holds up her doll, saying that the ring on the doll was her mother’s. Crisdean and his wife met as hired help to Ancel d’Chevalier, the former owner of the house, and they were left the house when the old man died.

After dinner, everyone retires to the sitting room, where a portrait of an elven woman dominates the wall above the fireplace. Shockingly, the woman in the portrait could be the twin of one of the NPCs! Crisdean explains that the portrait is of his deceased wife.

The hours pass quickly and the rains show no sign of letting up. Finally, Crisdean sends the little ones off to bed and offers to let the characters spend the night, offering them 4 rooms.

The same character which looks like Crisdean’s wife awakens to a thunder clap with the distinct feeling that there’s someone in the room with her. Another bolt of lightning reveals the suspicious to be true, Leigh is standing at the bedside, holding her dolly as always, and apparently watching the character sleep. When Leigh sees the character wake up, she asks, “Will you be my mommy?” If the character tries to leave, she finds the door locked.

Another crack of thunder awakens the other characters, and they each see a different member of the family in their room. Barend holds an axe high above his head, ready to strike, Crisdean wields a fireplace poker, and Kacey is about to try and smother one of the characters with a pillow. Observant characters will notice that the three of them appear as if in a trance.

The family fights tenaciously, but not particularly well. However, in the mean time, Leigh’s doll has become animated and attempts to cast a spell of some sort on the trapped character. Leigh, for her part, simply stands there and does nothing but watch. If the doll is destroyed, the family drops out of the trance and ceases attacking. They have no idea what they were doing and, depending on their situation when they drop out of the trance, may react with anger, curiosity or disbelief.

When the characters leave, after traveling a bit they encounter a merchant wandering down a road. Seeing their distressed state, he asks what happened. If they describe the story, the merchant recalls hearing about a fire at the old Chevalier manor, but that was forty years ago. The elven matron of the family that was living there, a terrible sorcerer, destroyed the house when her dealings with fiends went sour, killing her and her entire family. Sure enough, if the characters return to the site, they find only a long-abandoned, burned-down husk of a manor house.