Hambley Farm

[JamesHuds]

Hellooo,

Right, players are about to head to the hambley farm to deal with the "scarecrows", they have a holy vindicator, a wizard, a sorcerer, a rogue, a monk and a ranger/sorcerer whos becoming an arcane archer.

So far they have pretty much destroyed the campaign, they are having fun and so am I, but things are way to easy.

I buffed up the malfeshknor fight to give them a real sense of fear that combat is getting harder, and he did almost kill one of them.

As for the Hambley farm in skinsaw murders, having the ghouls in the barn and some out on the scarecrows, the players will down them easy, i know they will.

So instead to bump up the fear of this chapter I was considering having their be evidence ghouls were at the farmhouse and barn, but no sight of them, then as they are searching they will spot things moving through the cornfields towards them.

Basically have it all night of the living dead style, give them a chance to barricade the front door and have a dozen or so ghouls charge the house, if they deal with them easily then send another wave with the ghast, probably have evidence on the ghouls of former life indicating they were people from nearby farms or villages.

Is this a bad idea, should I just stick to the script and let them walk through without real risk?

[Bellona]

Well, if you're doing the siege thing in the farm buildings, remember to stress how shoddy the quality of the materials is, e.g., cheapest quality wooden doors (and therefore easy for the ghouls to break down). Not only does it make it easier for the ghouls to break in, it will also be a subtle hint that old man Hambley was a cheapskate. (Stressing the greed connection.)

When my players' party returned from the Hambley farm and mentioned to Ameiko that they'd been out there (but not yet why), she exclaimed "That old skinflint? Why'd you visit him?" (She was of course a bit more respectful when she'd heard that he and his entire family were dead.) It was that comment that really started the players on forming a theory about greed-related murders.

[JamesHuds]

Thanks, I'll do that, they havnt made a connection yet. But I did make sure to use Ibor Thorn to express how greedy harker was, and the sheriff said that he assumed the con-men had finally filled their pockets too much.

[the Lorax]

Before I ran the Hambley Farm scene, I ran a cut scene for the players, gave them all a 2nd level commoner to accompany Farmer Grump to the farm and let them get (quickly) overrun by/captured/eaten/infected whatever by ghouls, just allowing them to catch a view of Rogors walking out of the barn and straightening his jacket before the end.

When my players approached the place, they got jumped by a few ghouls in the fields via the scarecrow trick - just enough that when they saw poor Junior Grump strung up to "ripen" just outside the farm, he cried out when they shot him from a distance.

The helped him down and approached the house when ghouls started coming in from the fields and around the back of the barn. They quickly looked to the farm house as a place of refuge for their sick 2nd level commoner that they rescued (also infected with ghoul feaver...).

(note: I expanded the Hambley farm to include a fruit cellar, not just a cubby under a loose floor board, and an attic with a pull down ladder/stair)

Given their experience with the commoners, the players were fairly skittish and played right into the Evil Dead scene of defending the house against a wave of ghouls, including the expected attacks from above and below.

I didn't make it TO tough, as really the scene is mostly information and situation setting. Giving them the clues needed to move on and alerting them that they need to handle this quickly. (the key with the flower emblem was their sealing the deal clue "Hey you, you're a druid, is this flower on the key perchance a 'foxglove'?"