The Evil Ruins (A great starter quest for kids, found here)
This was set in Faerûn so that we could transition to published campaigns later if the game was a hit....it was
The Summoning
The wretched orc was on his knees begging for his life in his guttural, primitive tongue, but I had no use for such groveling. This was the last scumbag left in the clan that killed my family, so mercy was the last thing on my mind when I swung my long sword in a low arc to take off his head, but my blade never reached its mark.
There was a bright light and I slammed my eyes closed. I swung into the empty air and appeared in a large room full of people. Luckily there was no one in the path of my sword. When my vision cleared, I looked around to see three Dragonborn standing around me, one huge, blue one with a greatsword as big as he,
another smaller, stout, brass colored one dressed in leathers with a rapier at his side, looking roguish,
and a white one with his arms wrapped in cloth, standing to the right of me with a quarterstaff, tapping his foot.
"Welcome adventurers," said a frail-looking elderly man smiling from a chair at the far end of the room.
Being in public, I quickly sheathed my blood covered sword. I would clean up the mess later. There were women and children in this room. What sort of witchery brought me here? The three dragon folk looked just as confused and out of place as I did.
"I know that I pulled you from your world, but bear with me, please. It was for a good reason. Please, be at ease. This is a safe place."
"The Great Masher will make it safe if it is not," said the big dragon man as he patted his weapon like a puppy.
I looked at the crowd and saw nothing but hopeful eyes staring back at me.
"Please, Great Masher, that is exactly why I called you here. There is a great evil that threatens our quaint little village and I fear I have become too old to take care of it. I spent the last of my power summoning you all here. I have seen in my crystal ball that each of you are integral in saving our village from this threat. You do not know each other now, but I have foreseen your heroism and it is legendary."
"Is there money in this?" said the white, dragon man with the staff.
"Oh no my dear friend, there is much more than money, and I am prepared to pay you in advance. I have a magical gift for each of you. I have amassed these items over my long life, and no longer have a use for any of them."
The dragon with the staff got a gleam in his eye that I expected to see from the bronze one with the rapier. The Great Masher just stood there and waited.
He presented three items to the big one, and the asked him to choose. The dragon picked up a talisman.
"Yes, yes," said our elderly host. "If I know you as well as I think then I can tell that you, Great Masher, are a barbarian. Take this talisman made from the teeth of the largest brown bear in the western hemisphere. It will give you the strength you need to fight on when you have been sapped of everything you thought you had to give your enemies."
The big dragon took the talisman and put it over his head displaying the large teeth across his chest with pride.
The man then presented the stout looking brass one with three items and the shorter dragon man picked out a wicked looking dagger. "Excellent choice, Griffick, you are the silent one, a rogue. Take this silver dagger. When thrown at an enemy it will return to your hand ready for the next sneaky move you have in mind."
Griffick took the dagger and flipped it up in the air, nodding appreciatively.
When presented three items the white dragon man chose nothing but a slender piece of cloth. "Fine choice, Turtle, you are a monk and deserve something to help you channel your Ki. Take this scarlet headband. It was soaked in the sweat of the greatest monk ever known. You will be able to channel some of his Ki power."
Turtle took the headband with a smirk on his face and put it on. I could not tell if this pleased him or not. He did not say a word.
I decided to take a golden shield the likes of which I had never seen. "Finally, Sir Vindicta, paladin of vengeance, take this magical shield. It will not only offer you more protection but also allow you to channel even more divine power through yourself."
I smiled and took the shield with pride. I could see my reflection in it, and I was still covered in orc blood, which caused my smile to fade away. What would these people think of me?
"I do not know what to say, Lord, thank you. I apologize for my appearance. I was...in the midst of battle when you summoned me."
"There is no need to apologize, great knight, it is I that will be thanking you when the deed is done. There is a ruin to the northeast of town that harbors an evil like I have never felt before. Go and remove this evil from the land and we will be eternally grateful. There are two paths to the ruins. The shorter path through the Mirkmire Woods is much more dangerous than the long trail through the Baleful Hills. It is your choice which way you go, but I suggest you get there as soon as you can. Time is not on our side. Both paths lead around Crystal Lake."
The crowd began to cheer.
Getting to know each other
With no other explanation, we were escorted outside the village gates and left alone together. It was a beautiful summer morning in this land. The sun was shining just over the hill to the east and the birds were chirping. Our awkward group stood silent, but not for long.
"Oh look, there is a well just there in the distance," said the white dragon man. "Let's go investigate it. Come on, let's go." He ran down the road stopping quickly and going to the ground.
I became more alert, and the rest of us followed along, and then I had to chuckle to myself as I saw the very fast moving white dragon man named Turtle stand up with none other than a turtle in his hands.
He was prying out a sparkling gemstone from the turtle's shell and pocketing it. "It was nothing, just a worthless rock. I will keep it for now. We can see if it is worth anything later."
As soon as he put the turtle down, he ran to the edge of the well that was at a crossroads where the path led left and right. By the time we caught up with him he was over the ledge and climbing down into the darkness. I looked at my other companions, and they just stared at me. Perhaps this behavior is normal for their kind.
In a matter of minutes, Turtle came up from the well, and I swear his backpack was sagging lower on his back. "What did you find down there?" I asked.
"Nothing but muck and mud. It was a waste of time. Look there, see the sign right here at the split in the road?"
A Frog's Best Friend
I looked at him keenly and tried to discern if he was lying, but he just walked off straight ahead, past the road sign, and to the shore of a lake. The sounds of falling water met my ears, and I saw that the lake was being fed by a waterfall on the far end.
We all stopped and read the sign to ourselves, "The Mirkmire woods were to the left, and the Baleful hills were to the right.
"Which way should we go?" I asked.
"The old man said the woods were dangerous. I say we go that way. My blade is thirsty," replied Great Masher.
We decided to take the long road so we would be more prepared for the evil that we were brought here to destroy. As we were talking, we heard the monk yelling at what looked like a small frog.
We walked to the shore of the lake just in time to see the frog jump in the water.
"The little thing spit at me." We started laughing at him, but the laughter was replaced by the sound of splashing and croaking as four large frogmen came out of the lake at us. They had spears and were leaping and running at us in a threatening manner. They were larger than gnomes.
I drew my sword and moved in. The Great Masher moved more quickly and cut one of them in half and then went down on all fours and began slurping up the blood of his fallen foe. Honestly, I do not know what to think of these Dragonborn. The monk flipped over the heads of the frogmen and landed in the lake behind them smashing one of their heads during the flip and following that up with a kick to the face. That frogman fell.
Well, at least I am with competent fighters if nothing else. I took one down just as easily and Griffick threw his dagger and it sunk into the last one's eye and he went down with a plop. The silver dagger came flying out of the water where the body fell and Griffick snatched it out of the air. Before the battle even started all four of the big frogs were dead. We did take some damage, but not bad. We may yet live through this day.
The Waterfall Confession
"I think I see something. Wait here," said Turtle as his white scaly body dove into the lake and disappeared.
Can that dragon man stand still for five minutes? Why is he swimming under the water? It was not more than a few minutes, and his body floated up to the surface near the waterfall, unconscious.
"Let's go get him," we all said in unison shaking our heads in dismay, and we walked around the south side of the lake along a stony shore until we could fetch him from the water. The Great Masher had no armor, so he jumped in the water and brought the white dragon man to shore. He seemed to be breathing. He must have stayed under for too long. I was trying to figure out what he was doing when all of the sudden he woke up, jumped to his feet and ran behind the waterfall.
Before we could catch up to him, he came walking back from behind the falls, and his backpack was bulging and most definitely jingling with the sound of coins.
"Whoh Turtle, I know you are taking gold and keeping it from us. Empty that bag," I declared.
"Oh this," he said, "come over here and let me show you something."
He took me aside while the others explored behind the falls and showed me his backpack full of gold coins. I was right. There must have been several hundred.
"I found this in the well and behind the falls. Tell you what, I will give you half if you keep quiet about this. We can share what I find. I'm pretty quick you know."
Obviously, this monk had no experience dealing with a paladin. I grabbed his bag and brought it back to the others and explained everything. I felt we should split all of the treasure evenly, but the others didn't seem to care much, so I just let it go. I wouldn't hurt him to make him share. That wouldn't be right. His actions would come back on him eventually.
We decided to follow the trail through the Baleful Hills. The ruins could be seen over the way on a hill. We were getting closer.
The Magical Bully
We didn't walk far, and we were met by a small gnome standing in the middle of the road. We waved at him and started to walk around him, but he cut us off and started yelling at us.
"Hey, poopy paladin. You suck buffalo butts."
For some reason, his words hurt me. I mean really bothered me, like cut through my soul. I felt weaker. This was clearly no friend of ours, so I drew my sword and attacked.
I came down on his head with a blow that should have cut him in half. In fact, it did but not the way I wanted. Now there were two of them jumping around the road and slinging insults.
"Yo, stumpy," one screamed to Griffick. "Does your dad have to lean down to give you a hug?" Griffick leaned over in pain and then threw his dagger in anger, and you guessed it. Now we had three of them to deal with.
Turtle swung at one with his staff, and it split in two as well.
"Hey fish face, didn't I see you swimming like a cheap goldfish, belly up?"
Turtle winced, and then another spoke, "Yo, big fat butt. You're so fat if I melted you down I'd have enough oil to keep my lamp lit for a century," The Great Masher cringed. We were in trouble here. Now there were four of them. And every time they opened their mouths we took damage.
Turtle looked around at us and said, "This isn't working. If we fight back, it will only make him stronger." Then Turtle had a stroke of genius. He walked right up to one of them and said, "You know, I like you. You seem like a really nice guy."
The gnome screamed as he joined back together with one of the other ones. That was it!
"You have wonderful insults. Very well done," I said and two more joined together.
"You are the best gnome I have ever met," said Griffick, "and then we were back to one gnome.
"You are the best-looking gnome I have ever seen," said the Great Masher and then the gnome just stepped aside.
"Very good great adventurers, you know how to handle a bully. Defeat them with kindness" he bowed low and waved us on.
A Hag in a Hut
We were all so weak after that. We didn't think we could go on. Up ahead we saw a small hut with smoke coming out of the top. Maybe we could rest there. We knocked on the door and were greeted by an ugly, smelly, hag of a woman. She was leaning over with a hump on her back. There was a big wart on her nose and hairs were growing out of her nostrils.
"Welcome adventurers," she said in the creepiest old lady voice you can imagine. We were immediately on guard, but afraid we were too weak to handle another battle, so I decided to not take her at face value.
"Thank you, fine lady. We are weak and weary from the road and could use a place to rest," I declared.
"Oh come right in. I have some soup brewing and would love if you would have some food."
Turtle walked in and started snooping around. I hoped he didn't steal anything and upset our host. The rest of us entered as well and she had some mats on the floor where we could rest. I ate her soup and it was surprisingly good. It made me feel 100% again. She sent us on our way refreshed and ready for anything. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. What a nice lady.
The Ogre and the Dragon
When we walked out of the hag's hut, we noticed a cave across the road. It was on the way to the ruins, and we felt rested, so we decided to go exploring. The first thing we noticed was the incredible stench. This was not the home of something nice. Then a colossal ogre came charging out of the cave at us. I stood in its way, and he slammed me with a big club. After that, we took him down pretty quickly. We were starting to work as a team. The only treasure in the place was an egg about the size of a softball, and it was hatching. Out popped a tiny little dragon that crawled up my leg and nuzzled up to me, roosting on my shoulder. I could feel happiness coming from the little guy. I think he decided to be my friend. I will call him Kevin.
The Ruins & The Guardian
The ruins were not far from the cave and we were eager to complete our quest, so up the hill we went. When we arrived we saw a structure made of stone, the size of a house, that was falling down. There were large stone pillars on the ground and a semi-circular staircase leading up into the place, which was mostly open to the air. The walls had collapsed on all sides except the back, and there was no roof. Floating above the stairs, sitting in a lotus position, was an old man that looked a lot like the one that brought us here, except older and more frail looking. He opened his eyes and spoke to us.
"I am the guardian of this place. I hold back the evil within, but I fear I am dying. If I die, then there will be nothing to keep the evil at bay. Will one of you take my place and become the guardian? I will give you my power to repel evil, and you will take my place here."
"Will we have to stay here," asked Turtle.
"Yes," he replied, "you will spend your life, as I have, keeping this evil from entering this world."
I could hear the others talking, and none of them thought that was a good idea at all, but I am a paladin. I started to speak up to tell the man I would take his place when he keeled over, falling on the steps and rolling down to our feet. He wasn't breathing. He was dead. I didn't get a chance.
Before we could gather our senses, we heard the scrapping of metal on stone and looked into the ruins to see a large skeleton, dressed in a knight's armor, with glowing red eyes walking up a stairwell from below. This Death Knight did not speak. He only attacked.
I ran up the stairs to meet this evil and was met with a sword in the gut. It was no easy mark. The Great Masher crashed down his greatsword onto the thing and rattled its bones, but did not stop it. He shot flames from his eyes at Griffick, that careened across the ruins and enveloped him, but the dragon man could breathe his own fire, so it had little effect.
Turtle abandoned us and ran down the stairs all by himself. As I slammed by long sword into the creature. It shoved his sword deep into my gut and twisted it. I went down. The world was fading and I did not think I had long to live. My career as the guardian would be a short one. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the Great Masher going berzerk and crushing the skeleton with one mighty blow from his sword. The bones fell apart and the glowing red eyes went out, and so did I.
A Second Chance
When I awoke, I had The Great Masher's talisman around my neck. He gave up its power to save my life. I was truly grateful. I took it off and gave it back to him.
I opened my mouth to speak...
and then we heard Turtle screaming from below.
