HM4-Meazel

7/25/2019 HM4-Meazel

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Pop Goes the

By Todd Hughes

MMX All Rights Reserved

HM4

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An adventure for 4-6 characters of level 1
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Pop Goes the

Editor:Matthew James Stanham

Proofreader:Daniel Dalton

By Todd Hughes

An adventurefor 4-6 characters

of level 1

Copyright 2010 Todd Hughes

Cover Art:T. Volz

Layout:John Laviolette

Dragonsfoot UKFree & Original RPG Materials

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Pop Goes the

HM4 - Pop Goes the Meazel

4

Background

This module is designed for four tosix players of novice or intermediateskill using characters of first level. It is

assumed that the party has very few orno magical items available at the start

of the adventure, but access to non-magical equipment is unrestricted.

The adventure takes place in andaround the village of Rashtan, a newlybustling settlement that borders onthe Lonely Wood. It is surrounded byfarmland, which is well served by a

generally temperate climate. Most ofthe inhabitants are humans, with theremainder being demi-humans.

Village of RashtanMore detailed information regarding the

settlement can be found in supplement HS1-TheVillage of Rashtan

Location Key

1 Wayfarers Place Inn & Tavern2 Jords Forge

3 Minters Marvelous Maps and Things4 Sheriffs Station5 Silos General Store6 Allisters Arms7 Temple of Mielikki8 Calebs Combat Training Center

9 City Hall10 Temple of Odin

11 Weary Traveler Inn & Tavern12 Estate of Winston Willrock13 Common Well14 Pottery Palace15 Toris Threads16 The Shoe Box17 Glabels Grand Jewelry18 Two Sisters Bakery29 Rolling Wheels Carts

20 The Solid Stone21 Holland Leathers22 The Sink Hole23 Park


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IntroductionAt the local inn, the party overhears the

complaints of several patrons aboutthe disappearance of their personalbelongings. Everything from coppercoins to small pieces of jewelry has beengoing missing. They will also see thesheriff posting a 25 gp reward poster forany information that leads to the arrestof the thief.

The players should also become aware

of the mysterious disappearanceof Wally Westler, one of the localsharecroppers. Wally rode his muleinto the village to have a drink at theSink Hole like he does every night, andnormally returns home within a fewhours, but last night he failed to return.

This morning his wife Vera came intotown to find him, and along the waycame across Wallys mule standing justoutside of town.

Later in the day the sheriff will post a 50gp reward poster for any informationin finding Wally. If asked, the sheriff will

reveal what he found out about thedisappearance.

Wally was at the Sink Hole last night,he spent about an hour there having acouple of drinks, and several witnessessaid he then left. He mounted his muleand started off down the street. Atsome point between the tavern and his

home he disappeared. This is the secondperson to disappear this month. Twoweeks ago a carpenter that had comein from another city looking for work

disappeared. He owed some money tothe Inn, so I thought he had just run off toget out of paying his debt, but now Im

not so sure.

DM Information

The thefts and the disappearancesare the work of a meazel that has alair connected to the common well.The creature sneaks out at night andbreaks into homes, shops, and rooms,stealing small objects, in particular

anything made of gold. The recentdisappearances were also the meazelswork; it killed both men and took theirbodies back to its lair to feed.

Should the PCs take up the investigationthey will find that one of the innspatrons, Jacoby Darth, wishes to join

them. They may have noticed Jacobyaround the inn and he will seem friendly

enough. In truth he works for JanosFeatherwind and is part of his networkof thieves. Janos is concerned aboutsomeone operating in his territory andwants to find out who it is, so Jacobyhas been tasked with tagging alongwith the PCs to try and discover as

much information as he can. He willnot attempt to steal from anyone inthe group, and will for the most part tryand stay out of the front lines whenever

possible.

Jacoby Darth, Level 2 Human Thief: AC5; HP 10; Align: N

S 13, I 12, W 12, D 17, C 13, CH 14Short Sword, Sling, 12 Bullets, LeatherArmor, Thieves Tools


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The InvestigationDiscovering that some creature has a

lair with an entrance within the commonwell can be as difficult or simple as theDM prefers. There will be clues as to thetruth detailed here, but it is up to the DMto decide how difficult it will be for thePCs to discern them.

Key Places for Investigation

The Sink Hole This cheap dive bar isthe home to local lowlifes, and thoselooking for the cheapest drink in town.Typical patrons are very standoffish anddo not take kindly to strangers. The bar isrun by Boris one-ear, a surly man who

does not like people snooping aroundhis customers. Whilst the reception willbe cold here, several people, includingBoris, will assert if questioned that theysaw Wally mount his mule and ride off onthe night he disappeared.

Weary Traveler Inn & Tavern Ownedby Janos Featherwind; there are several

patrons here who have had objectsor coins stolen from their rooms overthe last week. Janos is furious over thethefts (not only is it hurting his legitimatebusiness, but it is encroaching on hisillegal dealings as well). Over the last

two days Janos has hired extra guardsto serve as watchmen, and since doing

so there have been no further robberies.Janos has heard that there have beenno incidents of theft at the WayfarersPlace and believes that the owner there,Korec, is involved somehow.

Wayfarers Place Inn & Tavern Unlike

the Weary Traveler, guests here have nothad any items stolen (this inn is too far

from the meazels lair). Korec, the owner,will speak freely with the PCs, but hedoes not have any information helpful tothe investigation.

Calebs Combat Center- This is theclosest shop to the well, and Caleb the

owner sleeps in a room in back. If thePCs happen to his shop and speak withhim about the disappearances he willtell them:

Last night I heard something strange.It sounded like a yell but it ended very

quickly. I went out and had a lookaround, but I saw nothing and no one onthe street.

If pressed for further information he willsay that he thinks the noise came fromthe east and that is all he knows. If thePCs do not visit his shop, they may runinto Caleb in the evening at one of thetaverns where he will relay his story.

City Hall The only people thecharacters will be able to speak withat city hall are the secretary and thejanitor. The secretary will know nothing,but Reese the janitor will tell the PCs thatevery night he is the last to leave, andalways goes to the village well to fill his

water skin. Three nights ago he heardstrange noises coming from the well, asort of scratching sound.


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The Well Down in the well, just abovewater level, is the entrance to themeazels lair. The creature found thesmall tunnel complex while travelingunderground only to become trappedthere. It began digging towards faintsounds of activity and broke through intothe well. A character with the ability totrack has a 20% chance of finding what

appear to be drag marks leading to thewells edge mixed in amongst all of theother normal tracks.

No one else at any of the other locations

in town has any more useful information.

Other Clues

If the characters try and track Wallysmule from The Sink Hole, a characterable to identify tracks will have a 30%chance to discern its trail. If successfulthey will find the mule went at a normal

pace until about fifteen feet past thewell, it then seems to have shuffled itshooves before moving off in a randomdirection.

If the characters remain at the wellduring the night they will likely hear ascratching noise coming from downbelow in the darkness. If they shine alight down the well, they will simply

see a quick flash of movement. They

should not encounter the meazel aboveground.

The LairThe only way into the meazels lair is

down the well. After the first ten feetthe walls turn from brick to packed soil.Twenty feet down, and a mere three

feet above the water level, is a fivefoot opening in the wall of the well. Thetunnels beyond are wet, muddy, andtightly confined, with water drippingdown from the ceiling.

Whilst in the tunnels movement foranyone over four feet in height willbe reduced to 3, and those four feet

and under will be reduced to 5. Inaddition, only thrusting weapons maybe used, as there is no room to swingslashing or crushing weapons. Also,the water and mud on the tunnel floormake it impossible to move quietly onaccount of the splashing, negating anychance of surprise. Furthermore, the

water dripping from the ceiling and the

general dampness makes keeping atorch lit difficult; therefore each roundthere is a 10% chance that any such lightsource will be extinguished.

The entire underground complex iscrawling with rats, except in the osquiplair; these rodents will not attack the PCs

but their presence should be presentedas quite unnerving.


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Area #1 Giant Rats Nest

The tunnel opens into a bigger area

that looks to have been eroded overtime. It rises to seven feet in height,allowing you to stand straight. Alongthe floor and piled in the corner area number of broken sticks and treeroots, mixed with paper and otherpieces of garbage.

A family of giant rats has taken up

residence in this area. They live amongstthe garbage, and if the PCs beginmoving it around the rats will attack.

Because of the tight confines it isimpossible to use a non thrustingweapon where the space required isgreater than 2. Even those non-thrustingweapons with a space required of 2 orless receive a -1 to hit.

6 Giant Rats (AC: 7 HD: HP: 2, 1, 3, 2, 1,4, 3 A/DAM:1/1-2+special) (MM)

Piled in a corner beneath the nest are 25sp.

Area #2 Frog Pond

The tunnel takes a steep decline andthe muddy floor makes it difficultto keep your footing. You emergeinto a small cavern with a ten foothigh ceiling, knee deep in a pool of

muddy water.

This cavern is home to a giant frog thatlies just below the waters surface. Thefrog is ravenous and will eat anything

that wanders into his cave (typicallygiant rats and centipedes), greedilyattacking any intruding PCs. Becauseof the size of the cavern there are no

weapon restrictions in this area.

Giant Frog (AC: 7 HD: 3 HP: 20 A/DAM:1/2-8+special) (MM)

Area #3 Giant Centipedes

This room appears rockier and dryerthan the tunnels you have been

moving through. Like everywhereelse there are at least a dozen ratsmoving around the room, but theyare revealed to be not the onlyinhabitants when you notice fourgigantic centipedes moving directlytowards you!

4 Giant Centipedes (AC: 9 HD: HP: 1,2, 1, 1 A/DAM: 1/special) (MM)


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Area #4 Osquip Lair

The tunnel opens into a wide area

where the dripping water seems tohave somewhat subsided. The areaalso seems to be devoid of rats.

This is the lair of an osquip, whichaccesses the chamber by means of fiveseparately concealed tunnel entrancesthat open into this room. While its tunnel

network is too small for a man to use,

the osquip moves through them quickly,and once the party enters it has a 2 in 6chance of surprising them, rushing fromone of its tunnels to attack.

Osquip (AC: 7 HD: 3+1 HP: 18 A/DAM:1/2-12) (FF)

Area #4a Osquip Tunnels

These are the tunnels used by theosquip; it is a network of numerousnarrow passages that interconnect andeventually lead to the surface. Theyare too tight for even a halfling to crawlthrough.

Area #5 Meazels lair

The awful smell of death permeatesthis cavern; on the floor is the halfeaten remains of a human male, afew feet away sits a pile of bonesthat have been picked clean.

This is the meazels lair, and where itdrags its victims to devour. The creaturewill have heard the party coming and

do its best to hide in the shadows at theback of the room, and avoid discoveryuntil they leave.

The meazel gained access to this seriesof caverns by crawling through a smalltunnel from deeper in the earth, butupon emerging the passage collapsedbehind it trapping the meazel here.

If the party shines a light on the meazel

or in some way discovers its presence, itwill let out a shrill cry and attack, clawingat the PCs with one hand, whilst in theother wielding a shiny steel dagger(dagger +1) stolen from the surfaceworld.

Meazel (AC: 8 HD: 4 HP: 26 A/DAM: 2/2-5, 1-4) (FF)

There is a small sack in one corner of theroom containing the treasure the meazelhas stolen: 50 cp, 40 sp, 100 gp, a plaingold ring (ring of water walking), a silvernecklace (40 gp), a silver cloak clasp (20gp). Hidden amongst the bones of thevictims is a small pearl (100 gp) and a

bloodstone (25 gp).

Area #5a Collapsed Tunnel

This was the tunnel the meazel usedto climb towards the surface from theunderdark below.


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Conclusion

It should be obvious that the remains

are those of Wally Westler, and the PCswill be entitled to the 50 gp reward fordetermining his fate. If they return any ofthe recovered items they will receive theadditional 25 gp reward for finding thethief, but not if they keep the items forthemselves, in which case the hunt forthe thief will still be on!


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APPENDIX

Maps

Rashtan


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Meazel Lair


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