Friday Fantasy: The Serpent in the Henhouse

The Serpent in the Henhouse is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game from Schwalb Entertainment set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. The Serpent in the Henhouse is designed for Master Heroes and can be run as a scenario for experienced players and characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. It presents the Player Characters with a strange situation and a dark tomb to explore late into their careers for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

The Serpent in the Henhouse takes place in and around an abandoned town in the borderlands. Word has reached the authorities that not only has the town been abandoned, but also that strange things have been happening in the surrounding area. People have disappeared, never to be seen again, but then statues started appearing in the middle of nowhere, in fields and forests, and some of them actually looked like the people who disappeared and others like the sheep who disappeared! Others looked like bandits and some were even posed as if they were running away. Which begs the questions as to who would sculpt and carve sheep and who would sculpt and carve bandits? With all of this strangeness going on, the inhabitants of the surrounding area are convinced that some terrible monster is stalking the land, something probably left over from when the Weird Wizard disappeared! So the authorities have hired a respectable group of adventurers to investigate the problem, see if they can solve it, and report back. These, of course, will be the Player Characters, likely working for a patron or someone who knows them by reputation.

What the Player Characters discover is a long abandoned town, surrounded by statues of villagers and other travellers, with the tracks of what appear to be large chickens or turkeys. Now most experienced characters, even most experienced players of fantasy roleplaying games, will have some idea of what the threat is given that so many animals and people have been petrified. They will also probably guess right as a nasty ambush is sprung upon the Player Characters in the deep grassfields. With careful work, they should be able to clear out the town of the immediate threat, but perhaps the most curious feature of the town is that close by stands a hill. A single hill that is the only hill for miles around and atop are the ruins of a temple whose carvings suggest that it was dedicated to Draconus. The bulk of the adventure concerns what can be found below the temple. This is a small tomb complex used by the cult which worshiped in the temple long ago. Obviously, it is full of undead, but it is also full of puzzles. Now none of the puzzles are challenging, more requiring some experimentation to work out how things operate in the tomb complex, though there are dangers too if the experimentation goes wrong. It is possible to use brute force to break through some of the puzzles, but this alerts the surviving denizens of the tomb. However, if the players do work out how the puzzles work, their characters can control access to different parts of the tomb complex, which will make exploration that bit easier.

Physically, Serpent in the Henhouse is cleanly and tidily laid out. It is well written and the map of the tomb below the temple is easy to read.

Serpent in the Henhouse is a dungeon adventure with an emphasis on traps and puzzles, exploration, and combat. There is no real opportunity for roleplaying, but that should not be held against it as not every fantasy adventure needs to involve roleplaying. Plus, if the Sage wants to include some. she could add a scene with the patron of the Player Characters or have them talk to an inhabitant of the villages affected by the disappearances of people and subsequent appearance of the statues. Serpent in the Henhouse should satisfy players wanting some dungeon action and exploration for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.