Zak, Theodric, Origen, and Ursa stay out.
I have a player who is playing a Gnomish Bard. In the backstory for the character he was brought up in a small community within the Stolen Lands. Just before his birthday to signify his transition into Gnomehood from being a Gnomeling the community stopped playing nice with the bandits. The bandits got together and burned down his home.
This community had a number of gnomelings living at it, and the house that they lived in was the one that was burned first. 14 of the 16 gnomelings died in the attack because of the fire and the attack.
The player was taken away from the Stolen Lands by a human bard that had taken an interest in him. Eventually he went to Bardic School in Taldor. Now, 70 years later he is returning to the Stolen Lands. His human friend died of old age recently, and it was her wish that the gnome spread her ashes in places that were important to them, the last of those places being his home.
The player has been playing the gnome as very scared of bandit counter attacks on those that the PCs have been staying with (there are a few families out in the Stolen Lands that farm). The character has had nightmares and even conjured Silent Images while sleeping of NPCs burning to death because the bandits attacked them when the party was not around.
So I have been playing around with the encounter to use when they come back to where he grew up. He doesn't really know where it was in the Stolen Lands, just that it was in the hills near the forest and remembers that they used to be able to pick Fangberries. So I put it near the forest in that hex.
What I have so far in my thoughts are as follows:
There was a dwarf that used to work some of the lands around the community. He acted as the protector of the community. He is still around to this day in the area (player's request that I use the NPC, which I was cool with). I have already gotten information to the player that the NPC is in the area, and travels north without supplies and south with supplies.
The Dwarf feels very responsible for what has happened, and to this day has never been able to get what happened out of his mind. He tries to rebuild what was there and to cure the land of the problems that it has, but has no success.
There was another surviving gnomeling, so I thought that incorporating them into the encounter in some way might be good.
Going through the Bestiary I looked at the Attic Whisperer. I thought that this monster was a perfect fit for what happened. Certainly there are some changes from the standard generation of the Attic Whisperer, but lots of aspects fit with it.
Poltergeist hauntings seem like they would be really nice, and not just 1 Poltergeist but 14 of them. Sure, I'm not going to use 14 to kill the party, but having the look of the Poltergeist keep changing seemed like something really cool to me. All of them the size of young gnomes.
While I was thinking of Poltergeist haunting, I wondered about the bodies of the dead gnomes. I had thought of having a graveyard out back and was thinking of having some Haunts spread around the place. I think that is a great thought for it, but I also think that at the graveyard that the zombie bodies of the 14 gnomelings attacking the party would be seriously disturbing. Not only are the spirits haunting the location, but their bodies come back after our gnomish hero too.
The hunters in the area know the area to be a haunted location, and when the party deals with one of the ones that hunts the area they can get some information about the settlement's existence and that it is haunted.
So we have a Dwarf who has been trying to rebuild the area for so many years and has become a victim of the haunting nature of the place but is too stubborn to leave or give up. He is utterly convinced that through hard work he will be able to fix this place up. A gnome that returned to his one time home after many years of being away that awoke the Attic Whisperer. The Attic Whisperer now has someone to play with in the disturbed gnome. The spirits and bodies of the 14 dead gnomelings, and haunts to boot.
The kicker to the whole situation will be that the bard (who is already been mentioned to be a special individual) is the entire reason that things have turned out this way here. It is a manifestation of the guilt that he feels over the death that happened on the eve of his change from a gnomeling to gnomehood. The party should not be easily able to deal with the Poltergeist or the Haunts, but it will be the redemption of the dark gnome and the defeat of the Attic Whisperer that will finally act as a method to free the gnome hero of the guilt over what happened and bring the area to rest.
I'm wondering what else I can mix in here, haunt ideas, thoughts on other things regarding this, and such. Thanks for any feedback.
This is what I have set up as the door to the house.
Arcane Lock Haunt; CR 1/3 (135 XP); CL 1st; Notice Perception DC 25 (Gnomish voice crying that the door is locked); hp 2; Trigger Proximity; Reset 1 hour; Effect When the Arcane Lock Haunt is triggered, the front door slams shut behind whoever just entered the house. A ghostly gnomish girl can be seen banging on the closed door and crying out that the door is locked. A teddy bear lies at her feet; Weaknesses: Tricked by stealth, invisibility, and hide from undead.
At the end of the round the Arcane Lock Haunt has gone off, the smell of burned flesh begins to roll out of the area, originating at the doorway.
Stinking Cloud Haunt; CR 1/2 (200 XP); CL 1; Notice Perception DC 25 (To smell the burned flesh emanating from within the house); hp 2; Trigger Proximity; Reset 1 round; Effect Stinking Cloud centered on the door, emanating both directions. The scent is that of burning gnome flesh. Weaknesses: Slow, tricked by stealth, invisibility, and hide from undead.
The round following the Stinking Cloud Haunt a Shadow Conjuration takes effect.
Shadow Conjuration Haunt; CR 3 (800 XP); CL 3; Notice Perception DC 20 (To hear the chant "Never grow old, left to mold, sixteen graves, no one saves."); hp; Trigger Proximity; Reset 1 day; Effect Shadow Conjuration. Weaknesses: Slow.
This Shadow Conjuration summons 1d4+1 gnome zombies on the inside of the house to attack the person who was caught by themselves in the house.