Wulfwald/OSR - Introductory Adventure

 The Rose War of Wigwiella
A short Wulfwald Misadventure for a Wolfpack of 2-4 1st level Wolfsheads

REFEREE’S NOTES

This is a quick mission that should play out in a single session. There really isn’t much to it - Go to place, investigate, form plan, kick ass. Though many parties may well skip the investigate, and form plan stages. This makes it a good first adventure for both players and GM to get a feel for Wulfwald and, how the characters perform in combat. If the characters succeed Wigweilla could become their home base (or at least their Thegn’s home base).

Note: All the foes in this adventure have a morale of 12 effectively meaning they won’t route but will fight to the death. This is because of sorcery, not bravery. So if your players are fighting foes that don’t break when everyone would expect them to describe them as looking like broken or fearful foes unable to stop themselves or describe them as slack witted and blank-faced. Either way, this should clue your players into the fact that something is amiss.

There is no map of Wigweilla included in this adventure as one small hillfort town is much the same as any other. It’s on a hill and surrounded by a ditch and dyke topped with a palisaded wall. There is a gate in the west and a gate to the east. Inside the palisade, there are a number of humble longhouses around the perimeter and in the centre a less humble lord’s longhouse, a modest hall, a forge, and most important of all(to this adventure at least) a well. 

The Adventure begins when the Wolfpack are sent by their Thegn to find out why the hillfort at Wigwiella no longer pays fealty to his grasping Ealdorman. If they are successful in finding out why no tithe is forthcoming and “Dealing” with the problem the Hillfort town will be gifted to their Thegn, If they fail their Thegn will lose face and influence to his rival Thegns in the eyes of his Ealdorman and other betters. A fate that will no doubt make him a less than gracious lord and gift giver.

WAR OF THE ROSES?

The journey to Wigweilla is uneventful and the settlement is a small palisaded hillfort surrounded by good farmland. Good farmland that like the cattle that roam it freely has obviously been left untended for some time now. As the Wolfpack approach the hillfort sounds of conflict echo from within and smoke billows up from the centre of the fort. 

As they draw nearer they can see the walls and longhouses overgrown with dense and fertile creeping rose vines. The east half of the hillfort is covered in red roses, the west half covered in white.

There are two easy ways into Wigweilla: the east gate, which is covered in red roses, or the west gate, which is swamped with white roses. At each gate, there are six guards. The guards wear roses that match those growing around them. 

Climbing the walls is a slightly trickier prospect. Unlike the gates, there are no guards on the wall, but the rose vines are thick and deep and rife with thorns. Any character who fails a saving throw will become infected with a blight that deducts 1HP an hour this can be cured with a cup of rose petal tea made from the vine that scratched the character. This is knowledge that anyone living in the hillfort will share freely if asked, or if they notice the character looks a bit green around the gills. Otherwise, a Witch PC can cure it with a Nine Herb Charm.

THE GATES

If approached peacefully neither contingent of gate guard will act aggressively towards the PCs. No matter how many times the Wulfpack enter through, leave, or return to either gate, the reception is always the same. If they wear the opposite colour roses of the guards they’re attacked. If they wear the same colour roses they’re welcomed as reinforcements. If they’re wearing no roses they receive a friendly welcome and are ushered in. No matter how many times they pass through the gates, each time they return, the guards act as if they don't recognize or remember the Wolfpack. If questioned about this the guards are confused but unconcerned.

The first time the Wolfpack enter Wigweilla through either gate they are asked by the guards to join their glorious cause and wear the rose. If the Wolfpack agrees to wear a rose (White at the East gate and red at the West gate) the guards welcome them to the cause. If they refuse the guards become disinterested and unless attacked, will ignore them. However, they answer the Wolfpack will be asked to wait while their guard's commander is summoned. If they have sneaked in by climbing the wall, or do not wish to wait for the commander, they are free to explore.

Of course, waiting at the gate is the perfect time to snoop around. Any Aelf examining the roses will know that, although they seem perfectly mundane, there is a whiff of the otherworld where their scent is concerned. If studied for ten minutes or more the wolfpack can watch the rose vines growing at an alarmingly unnatural rate. A brief search of the immediate area and they find all the buildings around the gates are overgrown with vines and empty, except for one longhouse. All of the faction's non-combatants, women and children, the wounded, sick, and elderly, are crammed into this single building. They're in a bad way and appear to be on the brink of starvation. If the Wulfpack offer food or healing, the townsfolk steadfastly refuse to accept it. Instead, urging that all efforts and resources be directed to the fighting men of their glorious faction.

Eventually, the faction's commander arrives. The red rose faction is lead by a Wildling noble named Balin. His twin brother Balan leads the white rose faction. Balin/Balan will listen politely to what the Wolfpack have to say and answer their questions happily enough. Questions on the cause of the conflict are dismissed as unimportant, and any suggestion of a truce or negotiations with the opposing faction rejected as preposterous. Once these discussions are done with Balin/Balan will announce that the Wulfpack has “come at a most fortuitous time,” as “we are about to destroy the evil of the enemy once and for all!” He then offers the Wolfpack the chance to join the glory of final victory. If refused, his attitude towards them will sour somewhat, but he won't press the point. If they accept he is joyful at their pledge of brotherhood and confident in the coming victory. Either way, he gathers up his forces and leads them into the heart of the town.

ONWARD TO GLORY!

If at any time one of the PC's wears a rose have them make a Saving Throw adjusted by their Wisdom modifier. They should make this saving roll every other turn. After the first failure, they begin to feel proud to wear the red or the white. Then must make a Saving THrow every turn. A second failure and they begin to hate the other faction. After a third failure, they are lost to the madness of the roses and will attack anyone (including their fellow wolfpack) wearing the other faction's rose. 

The only way to save them is if their comrades physically restrain them and remove the rose. At which point they will fully recover. Two success in a row and the character will become immune to the power of the rose (of that particular colour red or white).

[[SIDEBAR]]If the whole party succumb to the rose magic madness roll to pick a character randomly and have that character’s rose removed during the fight at the well. Explain all the other characters are lost to the madness and engaged in combat with the other rose faction and have the saved player rescue the other one by one and continue from there.[[SIDEBAR]]

If the Wulfpack stays on the edge of the town, near the gates or the palisade wall there is nothing much to discover except empty longhouses and the occasional vine-covered corpse. If they move to the centre of town skirmishes and bitter street fighting erupt around them as the two factions clash. If they are wearing roses a squad of ten spearmen of the opposing faction attacks them. If they remove their roses, even in the midst of combat, their enemies will instantly lose interest in fighting them. If the heroes are without roses, even though they are walking through a violent and bloody battle, they will be completely ignored. It's as if the warriors wearing roses don't even see them.

When they get to the town centre the fighting is at its fiercest, especially around the well in the middle of the hillfort. By the well, the Wildling twins and their staunchest warriors clash. Both the white and the red rose vines are growing up and out from the well.

If the Wolfpack try to cut or burn the roses new vines grow to replace the damaged ones at almost as quickly as they can destroy them.

WELL, WELL, WELL

Thanks to all the rose vines the climb down is an easy,  but perilous climb. There is a 3 in 6 chance of being pricked by a rose thorn (1 in 6 if wearing chain, fur, or scale). Anyone pricked must make a Saving Throw. Failure results in them falling into a deep magical slumber. Once asleep the sleeping beauty can only be awakened with a kiss. If the players don't cotton on to this their character will slumber forever or until they can get a witch to lift the curse with a Nine Herb Charm.

At the bottom of the well, there is a hole in the wall that leads to a tunnel. The tunnel is also choked with vines, but is mercifully short (30ft) and leads into a small damp cavern. This is where the rose vines are coming from. It is here that the Heroes discover the 'root' of Wigweilla’s problems.

In the cavern, they can see what at first appears to be an ancient and gnarled rose tree from which both branches of rose vine grow. As their eyes adjust to the darkness they realize this rose tree is staring back at them with two knotty eyes. Eyes that stare at them with malice. As it moves towards them they see that the creature has a rosewood club covered in red roses in one hand and a white rose whip in the other. It stalks towards them making low, inhuman creaking noises. The creature is a Wigrose Hellchnit, a war rose hell knight, a demon of the otherworld. It feeds off the conflict his roses create. If left unchecked his vines, and the war madness they cause will spread beyond Wigweilla and into the wider kingdom

If the Wolfpack best the demon the vines of both red and white roses instantly age, wither, die, and disappear. As does the demon itself leaving behind only its club, whip, and a handful of rose petals as evidence of its invasion into the world of men. At the same time the sounds of combat, which were echoing down the well from above, cease. 

When they climb out of the well the Wulfpack can see that the townsfolk are bewildered and befuddled with no idea about what has just occurred. Most of them are unharmed, but tragically the same cannot be said for Balin and Balan who lie by the well impaled on each other's swords. However, the Wolfpack can take cheer in the fact that they saved most of the townsfolk of  Wigweilla from the same tragic fate leaving them once again able to take up their toil in servitude to their Thegn’s and his Ealdorman.

THE FEARSOME FOES OF WIGWIELLA

Balin/Balan - Young Noble Wildling Twins

AC:17 HD:3+1 Attacks: Longsword (1d6+1). ST:14 Move:11 Morale:12 

Gear: Each has a golden torc, six silver rings and a fine longsword in the wildling style.

Wigweilla Fyrdmen

AC:11 HD:1 Attacks: Garr (1d6). ST: 16 Move:10 Morale:12 

Gear: Spear and small shield.

Wigrose Hellchnit

AC:16 HD:5 Attack: White Rose Club and Red Rose Whip(1d6+1 each) Special: Slumber Smite, Binding Lash ST:12 Move:10. Morale:12 

Gear: White Rose Club, Red Rose Whip, Red and White rose petals.

Anyone struck by the club must make a Saving Throw if they fail they will sleep for 1d3+1 combat rounds. Anyone struck by the whip must make a Saving Throw or become entangled in vines unable to move or act for 1d3+1 turns.

If the PCs are defeated by the demon he will not slay them but instead seek to infect them with the zealotry of his rose magic pinning half the survivors with white roses and the other half with red roses. They must make Saving Throws (as described above) to avoid becoming mindless warriors of the rose war. 

If the players triumph, then any character with a STR of 16 or higher may wield the Club, any character with a DEX of 16 or higher can use the whip, and a Witch character can make 1d6+2 Potions of Devotion from the few petals that do not wither when the demon dies. The Potion of Devotion will put anyone who drinks it and fails a Saving Throw in thrall to the Witch for 1d3+1 days.

If no PC’s can make use of the demon’s weapons they can be gifted to their Thegn as war trophies. Such gift-giving will encourage their Thegn to be more generous with his gifting (XP) for their success.