Etepete
Mongoose
I thought I'd set a good example by publishing just a seed for an adventure I hope might be found useful.
Setting: Anywhere in Nordheim. The characters are visiting a bleak homestead in a landscape of bogs and birches for the wedding of a friend or contact. Let's call him Sigalf.
Plot: The wedding is held during a weeklong "blot [bloot]" or sacrifice ritual. One animal is offered to the ancestors on every first light in the morning. It's killed by strangling.
On the first morning, when the wedding was supposed to be held, the bride is discovered to be missing after the sacrifice. The sacrifices will continue out of cultic nessecity, but on every morning another local is missing. Of course, Sigalf is frantic to get his bride back, and eager to put a stup to the abductions.
What to do: Tracking will uncover tracks leading into the bogs. Research will tell the adventurers that those same bogs where once the site of the worship of the grim god Böl, king of death, who demanded human sacrifice. The degenerate decendants of his mad priest are thought to still be hidden among the Nordheimr commoners.
Two sidetracks: One is the jealous younger brother of Sigalf: Nidalf who will be under suspicion of bride-theft. The other are the Hyperborean/Cimmerian/Vanir invitees who will be thought to be seeking to destabilize the settlements. These later are actually planning cattle-theft, and might become violent.
The real perpetrator is an old servant and favorite of Sigalfs: Grim. He's the storyteller of the household, and most likely one of the PC:s sources of information. His ancestors where priests to Böl. When his wife died som years back (of old age) he couldn't bear the loss, and went into the Bog to renew his families alliegance to the old god. He thought he heard the divinity instruct him to lay down seven strangled victims in the bog during the week of sacrifice: and he has done so. The first animal sacrificed was a heifer, and that's why the old man picked the only young woman still virgin. Let the other animals and victims correspond likewise.
The End: All the victims lie dead in the bog under the carved image of Böl. Grim has the support of savage decendants of the priest of Böl who live like beasts in the woods, and will defend their relative with their bare hands. The theatrical GM will let an avatar of Böl rise out of the muddy swamp: a mix of gnarled root, bloody clutters and bleached bone. A more fatalistic GM might let the adventure end with the death of Grim and a sense of meaningless death. If all seven are sacrificed, it might be proper to let the haunted wraith of Grims wife (Hella) rise from the dead, kill of her husband for bringing her to haunted life again, and then haunt the area and the PC:s.
Setting: Anywhere in Nordheim. The characters are visiting a bleak homestead in a landscape of bogs and birches for the wedding of a friend or contact. Let's call him Sigalf.
Plot: The wedding is held during a weeklong "blot [bloot]" or sacrifice ritual. One animal is offered to the ancestors on every first light in the morning. It's killed by strangling.
On the first morning, when the wedding was supposed to be held, the bride is discovered to be missing after the sacrifice. The sacrifices will continue out of cultic nessecity, but on every morning another local is missing. Of course, Sigalf is frantic to get his bride back, and eager to put a stup to the abductions.
What to do: Tracking will uncover tracks leading into the bogs. Research will tell the adventurers that those same bogs where once the site of the worship of the grim god Böl, king of death, who demanded human sacrifice. The degenerate decendants of his mad priest are thought to still be hidden among the Nordheimr commoners.
Two sidetracks: One is the jealous younger brother of Sigalf: Nidalf who will be under suspicion of bride-theft. The other are the Hyperborean/Cimmerian/Vanir invitees who will be thought to be seeking to destabilize the settlements. These later are actually planning cattle-theft, and might become violent.
The real perpetrator is an old servant and favorite of Sigalfs: Grim. He's the storyteller of the household, and most likely one of the PC:s sources of information. His ancestors where priests to Böl. When his wife died som years back (of old age) he couldn't bear the loss, and went into the Bog to renew his families alliegance to the old god. He thought he heard the divinity instruct him to lay down seven strangled victims in the bog during the week of sacrifice: and he has done so. The first animal sacrificed was a heifer, and that's why the old man picked the only young woman still virgin. Let the other animals and victims correspond likewise.
The End: All the victims lie dead in the bog under the carved image of Böl. Grim has the support of savage decendants of the priest of Böl who live like beasts in the woods, and will defend their relative with their bare hands. The theatrical GM will let an avatar of Böl rise out of the muddy swamp: a mix of gnarled root, bloody clutters and bleached bone. A more fatalistic GM might let the adventure end with the death of Grim and a sense of meaningless death. If all seven are sacrificed, it might be proper to let the haunted wraith of Grims wife (Hella) rise from the dead, kill of her husband for bringing her to haunted life again, and then haunt the area and the PC:s.
