Friday Encounter: Healing Spring

This encounter is best suited to an out-of-the-way location that must be discovered by the players, such as in the wilderness or in a dungeon. It could also be used in a town, though this may change some of the dynamics involved. It may be useful to have this encounter foreshadowed in rumors from NPCs, such as people in nearby towns claiming to have heard of a spring with magical healing properties, so that the party will be able to recognize the spring and its abilities when they find it.

The party should come upon an enchanted spring, where cool, clear water bubbles up from the ground. The water is always clear and clean regardless of the surrounding conditions, and it sparkles with a bluish sheen when the light hits it. If one bathes in the water for at least one hour, they will find that their wounds are miraculously healed, and they feel rejuvenated with a surge of energy.

In game terms, bathing in the spring conveys all the benefits of a long rest, and also removes any negative conditions one is under at the time. The water loses its magical properties if it is removed from the spring and cannot be transported. The spring may be visited any number of times; you may wish to mark the hex or point this encounter was obtained on, if using such mapping schemes, in case the players want to return to the spring

This may seem like an unusually generous encounter, but there are a number of ideas at hand here. It can be useful to have a resting place in the middle of an otherwise dangerous or inhospitable area in order to give the party somewhere they can backtrack to - think of the bonfires in Dark Souls, for instance, and how staying within a safe distance of one while exploring often becomes a strategy in and of itself. This goes doubly so if you are using Gritty Realism rules or only allow long rests in a safe location, so opportunities to heal to full are at a premium. Having a safe place that the party must return to can change the dynamics of how they explore.

Note also that the location of the spring itself may not necessarily be safe. The party might think they've found a spot to rest, but if enemies do come upon them while they're bathing in the spring, they may need to defend themselves unarmed and without equipment, providing its own tactical challenges.

In fact, the spring happens to be known to a tribe of elves (if in the wilderness) or goblins (if in a dungeon), who consider it a sacred site. The tribe is fiercely xenophobic and tends to attack unfamiliar people on sight - and if they were to find those strangers defiling their holy ground, they would surely not be amused. Every time the PCs visit the spring after the first time, there is a +10% chance that a hostile party of five goblins or elf scouts will be at the spring. If the party spreads word of the spring, they may encourage others to seek it out for themselves - and this may bring them into conflict with its guardians...

Three Demons

If I'm going to use demons - especially big, important, named demons - in my games, they aren't going to be something as simple as bosses to be defeated, with lots of HP and powerful attacks. That's boring. Demons are far more interesting if you stop thinking of them as enemies and think of them more as patrons - forces that could grant the PCs great power if they so wish to seek out their attention, but at a great price. Drawing on their depictions in folklore and mysticism, they're unique beings with their own agendas, exploiting the foolishness and temptations of mortals to corrupt them into acts of cruelty and chaos, and no PC who consults them should do so without it coming back to bite them in the end.

Here are three demons inspired by Goetic traditions and The Book of Ebon Bindings. Their summoning rituals are intended to be handled through narrative tasks and requirements, as described in this post on ritual magic.

Sifunoth, the Great Black Goat of Nowaub

Sifunoth is a Mighty Great President of Hell with forty-four legions of demons under her command. She is known as a patron of witches and is called upon at sabbaths and black masses to teach the secrets of magic to those who beseech her. Her cult is believed to have arisen in the last days of the ancient Nuwapian empire, but the rituals to summon her, and the secrets she is said to teach, have been passed down for generations, and cults to her now exist throughout the known world.

Appearance: Sifunoth typically appears as a large black nanny goat, and can assume the form of a normal goat in order to disguise herself. However, she prefers to manifest as a goat with a thousand writhing, spindly legs like those of a centipede.

Personality: Sifunoth addresses her mortal followers in an perversely grandmotherly tone, showing them cloying displays of affection and offering personal investment in their concerns. However, she is not wont to give good advice, and will always suggest acts of violence and cruelty as the solution to problems.

Summoning Ritual: Sifunoth may only be summoned under a full moon, beneath a clear sky, and when the moon appears directly above the summoning site. A scaffold of wood, eight feet tall, must be constructed, and atop it, three braziers must be lit with six juniper twigs and six aspen twigs each, before an incantation is read in Ancient Nuwapian. Then, the summoner throws themselves backwards off the platform; they may not look behind them to make sure it is safe. If the ritual is performed correctly, they will land atop Sifunoth's back, as she has miraculously manifested just beneath them, and expresses concern for her disciple risking themselves in such a fashion. The ritual takes three days to prepare and twenty minutes to perform.

Blessing: When summoned, Sifunoth will teach her disciple the secrets of magic. She will offer to impart the secrets of a random first or second-level spell from the Warlock spell list; ideally, this should be a spell that would be of use to the summoner and fit their personality and tactics. If the summoner does not think this spell would be useful, she will propose another until they approve of her offer. Then, she will press her forehead against the summoner's chest, and the summoner will instinctively know how to cast the spell. They may cast it three times per day (if first level) or once per day (if second level), using Charisma as their spellcasting ability. They can cast the spell even if they are not ordinarily a spellcasting class.

Price: Those who learn magic from Sifunoth are marked by her favor. They grow coarse black hair like that of a goat all over their bodies over the course of the next week; if they attempt to shave this hair, it grows back the next day. Others will likely regard affected PCs with suspicion and fear if they do not hide this effect.

Ritzenfauer, the King of the Labyrinth

Ritzenfauer is a King of Hell with seven legions of demons under his command. He rules from the center of the Labyrinth of a Thousand Torments, a seemingly infinite maze of corridors, pits, and deathtraps. He is known for his power over life and death, and teaches the secrets of transcending the limits of bodily mortality. Previously, he was imprisoned by an order of Torvaldic monks in the Silver Chains Priory in Togarmah, but was released by a ritual gone awry. Though he will still respond to summoning rituals, he has taken to his freedom and wanders the Mortal Realm looking for those he can lead astray. As a result of his imprisonment, he is resentful of Torvald and his faithful.

Appearance: Ritzenfauer takes the form of a shriveled, withered figure wrapped in a blue or red shroud, his face always obscured by shadow save for a pair of piercing red eyes. When in the guise of a mortal, he always walks with a hunch.

Personality: Ritzenfauer conducts himself in a stuffy, formal fashion, speaking to mortals from a place of power and dignity. He is not afraid to use mortals as pawns to accomplish his goals, and often makes offers to them that he has no intentions of holding up his end of the bargain on.

Summoning Ritual: Ritzenfauer may only be summoned on the Tenth of Winemoon (equivalent to October 10th, or the tenth day of the tenth month in the world's lunar calendar). A sigil must be drawn in black chalk with five candles made from human fat placed equidistant to one another around its radius. Each candle must be lit in sequence after an incantation is spoken in Old Golniri, and the center of the sigil must then be anointed with the blood of three different people mixed in a brass bowl. The ritual takes half an hour to set up, an hour to perform from start to finish, and must end at the stroke of midnight. If the ritual is completed successfully, Ritzenfauer will appear at the center of the sigil and offer his blessing.

Blessing: Ritzenfauer's blessing will allow his disciple to defy the laws of mortality. If accepted, the next time the disciple dies, they do not start making death saves. Instead, they will begin slowly regenerating, their mortal wounds knitting themselves back together over a period of three days. This will work even if the disciple's body was completely destroyed, such as through a disintegrate spell; their body and all equipment will regenerate from nothing. The period of regeneration is painful and the disciple remains conscious throughout the entire process; they cannot do anything more than lying around and moaning in agony until the three days are up.

Price: Ritzenfauer is amused by the fact that mortals are so afraid of their own mortality that they would not consider the greater picture. Although his blessing will work once, should the disciple die for any reason after regenerating, they do not regenerate a second time, and their soul is condemned instantly to the Labyrinth of a Thousand Torments. They do not make death saves, may not cheat Death, and cannot be revived by any means short of retrieving their soul from the Labyrinth directly.

Art by getsugadante

Lagaaz the Festering

Lagaaz is a Prince of Hell with two hundred legions of demons under his command. Like many demons, he is a bringer of pestilence and affliction, and his minions carry it forth unto the mortal realm. However, Lagaaz does not see disease as merely a way to inflict harm on mortals, but also as an incentive to further his own aims. He has the power to heal mortals of disease by taking it on himself, and he delights at inflicting mortals with plagues so that they will sell their souls to him for relief from their misery.

Appearance: In his true form, Lagaaz appears as a horrendously bloated decaying corpse covered in boils and weeping sores. His right leg is the foot of a crow, and his left leg is unnaturally short. He also sometimes appears riding a donkey. If disguised as a mortal, his face is always hideously disfigured with scars and boils.

Personality: Despite his grotesque appearance, Lagaaz does not behave as an afflicted person would - he is, in fact, incredibly spry and full of energy, and his lesions do not seem to bother him. He is a fast talker and a slick con artist, akin to a carnival barker or a used car salesman, attempting to dupe his disciples into selling their souls before they can realize the price of his offer.

Summoning Ritual: To summon Lagaaz, one must exhume four bodies that have died of the same plague after they have been buried in the ground for exactly three days. Their hearts must be cut out with a bronze knife and burned on a pyre with the four bodies arranged around it pointing in the four cardinal directions. As the fire burns, the summoner must walk in a continuous circle around the bodies, sprinkling their feet with water mixed with the dirt from the exhumed graves, until the flames begin to dim, at which point the summoner must stop at the feet of the closest body and hurl it into the fire. As smoke rises from the pyre, Lagaaz will appear inside and offer his disciple to come to him. This ritual takes five hours to prepare, and two hours to perform.

Blessing: When summoned, Lagaaz will invite his disciple to step forward and place their hands upon his corpulent, decaying body. If they do so, they will find themselves gripped by a surge of vigorous energy. They gain Inspiration, and any diseases or other conditions they are subject to are immediately removed as Lagaaz absorbs their affliction into his body. They permanently gain immunity to any diseases and poisons thereafter.

Price: Lagaaz has removed his disciple's afflictions and taken them into himself - however, the ritual must be continued in order to maintain that state. Once a month, Lagaaz's disciple must murder a person who is innocent of any crimes and who does not hold any antipathy toward them and hang their body from a tree as a sacrifice to the demon prince. In addition to compromising the moral fiber of the disciple, this often necessitates they keep moving, as the disappearance of the sacrificial victim will surely be noticed, particularly when their body must be displayed in so conspicuous a fashion. If a month goes by without such an offering, the disciple is stricken by every disease that Lagaaz has absorbed into his body; they have Disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks; automatically fail all saves (including death saves); and will die in three days. If they commit a murder within these three days, the effect is immediately revoked.

Outlaws of Sonderlund

In Sonderlunding culture, there are some crimes so severe, it is deemed that not even execution will suffice.. Murder of a kinsman, the breaking of an ancestral oath - there is no codified set of circumstances for when such punishments may apply, as they are often meted out in an ad hoc fashion as an individual ruler sees fit, particularly in the disorganized Highlands, where thanes and kings rule by tradition and force of arms. But everywhere in Sonderlund is the concept of an outlaw understood, and the threat of being outlawed known and feared.

In most lands, to be declared an outlaw means that one can expect no protection from the law of the land, and that any matter of crimes directed against them shall go unpunished. In Sonderlund, however, there is more to the idea than that. Because of Sonderlund's long tradition of ancestor worship, it is believed that if an outlaw cannot be forgiven in this life, they may at least do something worth remembering with their dying breath, so that their progeny may still look back on them with honor. To this end, the greatest honor for an outlawed Sonderlunding is to die valiantly in battle against a worthy foe.

Sonderlunding outlaws roam the roads in search of a glorious death - their sentence is not the executioner's axe, but the battlefield, and they may never know peace. To die of natural causes, in fact, is considered a grave dishonor, and a sign that the outlaw was too much of a coward to face their fate, or else that they lacked the drive to redeem themselves with a death that may live on in the annals of history. So too, it is dishonorable for an outlaw to meet death at their own hand. Their dying breath must be made with a heroic effort, against an opponent that they must give all their effort against. It is even more honorable if they die while inflicting mortal wounds on their foe, but this is not necessary - only dying in battle is.

The life of an outlaw is not an easy one. While in the domains of their kin, they can expect no mercy or hospitality, for to aid an outlaw is believed to bring ill fortune upon one's household - the outlaw must meet their destiny by their own efforts. This leads to them being rather itinerant, going from place to place to seek new challenges and to avoid persecution. All the same, outlaws often acquire somewhat of a fearsome reputation, both for the nature of their crimes as so severe as to warrant their punishment and for the rugged sensibilities that allow them to survive on the road. Many petty thieves and brigands have actually given outlaws a wide berth, either out of fear of retribution, or because they know that it would dishonor the outlaw to fall victim to such an ignoble fate.

The travels of an outlaw may even take them beyond the lands of their people, or even beyond Sonderlund, and many outlaws have become great heroes in other lands, whether as slayers of monsters or generals on the battlefield. Beyond their homelands, outlaws are not necessarily shunned, but it is rare for them to lie about their status as an outlaw if they believe they will not be recognized, as this is seen as incredibly dishonorable. The pursuit of a heroic death is a solemn and important one, and one that outlaws are wont to accept as their fate, grim as it may be.

A quirk of this practice is that an outlaw who has slain many foes and survived to tell the tale is, technically speaking, not very successful as an outlaw. It means they are a mighty warrior and warranting of respect, but also that they have not been able to find an enemy that will grant them the death they seek. If an outlaw manages to best a foe without dying in the process, they often set their sights on an even greater challenge, hoping this will be the one. After all, they do not merely want to die, but to die heroically, and there is not much heroic about dying to rabid rats when you have slain dragons in the past. Though Sonderlunding honor culture may seem primitive and barbaric to outsiders, they have a great reckoning of the merits of many deeds and how they should be ranked, and this is not to be taken lightly.

For an encounter with a Sonderlunding outlaw, see here.

Art by Roman Zawadzki

Background: Sonderlunding Outlaw

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: One set of artisan's tools of your choice (your trade before being outlawed) and one musical instrument of your choice (a hobby you picked up to pass the time on the road).

Languages: Sonderlunding, one other language of your choice.

Equipment: A cloak with the tartan of your former clan, a dungeoneer's pack or an explorer's pack, a musical instrument of your choice, and a pouch containing 25 GP.

Feature: Worthy Foe. You seek a glorious death in battle, and you have an eye out for a foe worthy of doing the deed. You can issue a challenge with the effects of the compelled duel spell, so long as the target's challenge rating is equal to or higher than your level. If the target of this effect is a Sonderlunding, it has Disadvantage on the saving throw. If you drop to 0 HP during this duel, you have Disadvantage on all death saves made and cannot cheat Death.

Reasons for Being Outlawed (d12)

1. Committed murder against a member of your clan.

2. Broke an ancestral oath issued by one of your ancestors.

3. Partook in an affair with the spouse of your thane.

4. Toppled an important runestone.

5. Committed treason against your clan during a time of war.

6. Defiled a sacred grove.

7. Killed a sacred beast revered by your clan.

8. Lost an heirloom belonging to an important ancestor. 

9. Neglected a task entrusted to you by your thane. 

10. Killed a druid your clan was in service to.

11. Brought a fey curse upon your people.

12. Aided a necromancer.

Friday Encounter: Wishing Well

This encounter may be used anywhere. It may be found in the wilderness, on the side of a road, at the center of a town, or in a dungeon. Ideally, the party should hear rumors of the wishing well before they come across it so that they know its properties and how to use it.

The party will come across a well or spring beside a large hawthorn tree, the branches of which are laden with many-colored ribbons and strips of paper (if this encounter is used in a dungeon, you could have them tied to rafters, pillars, or stalactites around the well instead). On the ribbons are inscriptions that all describe a wish, left there by previous travelers.

If a PC writes down their wish on a ribbon and hangs it from the tree, the next time they take a long rest, they will receive a vision of a beautiful woman bathed in light. This is the fey spirit who guards the well, and who works its magic. In a soft and soothing voice, she will describe the payment needed to grant the PC's wish.

Any number of wishes may be made in this fashion, and they will always be executed to the PC's desire, without being twisted or deliberately misinterpreted. However, the wish will not be granted unless an appropriate offering is brought to the well. This offering should fit the principles of equivalent exchange, approximating the metaphysical value of the wish. For instance, if one wishes for wealth or power, they must give up something worth the blessing, such as an eye. If one wishes for a magic item, they may be told they must obtain a rare object that proves their worthiness of using it, such as a dragon's scale. If a PC wishes to bring someone back from the dead, they will be told they must drown someone else in the well so their soul can take their place in the Land of the Dead. Use your judgment as a DM to come up with an appropriate sacrifice or challenge for the reward - and keep in mind that the fair folk find our notions of ethics and morality amusing at best.

You could think of this encounter as something of a quest dispenser for PCs to be able to initiate quests for the rewards they seek. I've heard of some DMs having players write "wish lists" of magic items they want to obtain over the course of a campaign. I find this idea utterly ridiculous - it takes away from the impact of obtaining such a reward if you knew in advance you were going to get it anyway. However, this way, if a player really is set on a particular item, you can make sure they have a way to get it - with an appropriate price they can decide whether or not is worth paying. Alternatively, it could be used as a way to give the PCs bonuses at a price. You may wish to mark the hex or point this encounter was obtained on, if using such mapping schemes, in case the players want to return to the well, or if whatever quest it sends them on would take them elsewhere.

Once whatever payment the spirit demanded is thrown into the well, the PC who made the wish will find that it is miraculously granted - any blessings they wished for are granted to them, items will appear in their possession suddenly, and any changes they wish to be made upon the world are enacted. If they climb into the well, there is no sign of the offering(s) anywhere. Alternatively, you might have the offerings stick around, but removing them from the well would condemn anyone to a curse...

Honor in Sonderlund

Sonderlunding culture puts a great importance on honor. Sonderlundings strive to live honorably and perform heroic deeds, both for their own standing and to advance their legacy so that they may be remembered as worthy ancestors. Here's an optional house rule to model the consequences of Sonderlunding honor culture. While these rules are geared toward Sonderlunding characters, they could easily be adjusted to suit similar cultures in the Lunar Lands, such as those of orcs or Northmen, or in other settings.

A character using these rules should write an additional stat on their character sheet called Honor. All characters start with 10 Honor, except characters with the Criminal background, who start at 5 Honor. These starting values may be adjusted based on character backstory, with permission of the DM.

During a campaign, a character's actions or conduct may cause them to gain or lose Honor. The DM should tell the player to adjust their character's Honor up or down when they perform such deeds, assuming that they have a witness to verify their account or provide evidence of their doings. A list of some common situations that may cause a character to gain or lose Honor can be found below. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, and a DM may need to use their judgment to determine the impact of actions not listed here on a character's Honor.

Performing necromancy: -100

Breaking an ancestral oath: -25 

Breaking an oath: -10

Attempting a quest with special circumstances (ex. defeating an opponent without weapons or armor) and failing: -7 

Attempting a quest and failing: -5

Being defeated by a weaker foe: -5 

Being taken captive: -5 

Committing murder: -5

Disrespecting a thane, king, or druid: -5

Fleeing battle: -5 

Refusing to pay weregild if requested: -5

Committing theft: -2 

Willfully lying: -2

Making a pilgrimage to a sacred place: +2

Recording your deeds in a runestone: +2 

Attempting a quest and succeeding: +5 

Avenging a fallen ally: +5

Defeating a member of a rival clan: +5 

Following in an ancestor's footsteps: +5

Making an ancestral oath: +5 

Attempting a quest with special circumstances (ex. defeating an opponent without weapons or armor) and succeeding: +7

Slaying a foe in battle: +enemy's CR minus PC's level (minimum 0)

Offering treasure to your liege: +1 for every 100 GP in value. 

Offering a magic item to your liege: +2 for Uncommon, +5 for Rare, +7 for Very Rare, +10 for Legendary, +20 for Artifact.

A character can boast of their heroic deeds to impress others. They may roll 1d100 if confronted by a non-hostile NPC; if the result is less than their Honor, that NPC becomes friendly. If using a reaction roll, you gain a +5% bonus to reaction rolls for every 10 Honor above 10, and a -5% penalty to reaction rolls for every 3 Honor below 10.

If a character's Honor ever goes below 0, they are declared an outlaw. Members of their clan may perform any crime against them (up to and including murder) with impunity, and they may not receive any benefits from members of their clan (for instance, they will be turned away if they attempt to visit stores or inns run by a clansman). They may or may not be considered redeemed if their Honor goes back above 1; DM's choice.

At 70 Honor, a character will receive a gift from their liege - usually a magic item or other such treasure suited to the character. They will be expected to pay the gift back in service or with another gift of a similar value.

At 80 Honor or above, every week, there is a 10% chance a character will be challenged to a duel by an opponent of similar strength. If this duel is refused, they lose 10 Honor.

At 90 Honor, a character will receive an invitation to the court of their liege, who may serve as a benefactor or quest-giver. If they refuse this invitation, they do not lose any Honor, but their liege may be insulted.

A character may not have greater than 100 Honor, or less than -100 Honor.

These rules were adapted from those given in the HR3: Celts Campaign Sourcebook for 2e D&D, by Graeme Davis.

Sonderlunding Ancestor Worship

Although Sonderlund practices the Old Faith, its Old Faith is a different kind than that observed by the elves or the hillfolk of Vardessy, Kvesland, and Togarmah. Although there is obviously overlap between all these groups, what characterizes Sonderlunding religion is a belief in ancestral spirits as the chief forces that must be obeyed and appeased, and that allegiances are sworn to.

Many Sonderlundings can trace their lineage back to ancient times, and they maintain extensive genealogies, often recounted through a long and unbroken oral tradition. They do this to recount the heroic deeds of great ancestors, reiterating their glories and attesting to the reasons as to why they must be honored. Though Sonderlunding religion does not deny the existence of gods, demons, and other spirits, it asserts that their intentions are not as important as those of the ancestors - after all, they are distant creatures, existing on a level beyond mortal comprehension, whereas the ancestors were once men and know of earthly concerns. Surely, then, they would have the intentions of their descendants closer at hand.

Sonderlundings believe that one must respect the word of their ancestors and live by it. This reinforces the stratification of societal roles; if one had an ancestor renowned for great deeds in a particular field, it is held that their descendants must follow in their footsteps to honor their ancestor's contributions, and thus, Sonderlunding traditions tend to be a family affair - warriors beget warriors, artisans beget artisans, druids beget druids. Even more important, of course, is the ancestral oath. A Sonderlunding may make an official declaration that is to be recorded in history, and their descendants are expected to live by it and honor it throughout the generations. Much of Sonderlunding law is codified through the ancestral oaths of past thanes and kings, which are held to be permanent and binding, and a not insignificant task of the druids is to interpret these oaths, the situations in which they apply, and when, if ever, it is acceptable to act against them. To a Sonderlunding, defying the word of an ancestor is seen as the ultimate form of disrespect and dishonor, and is never taken lightly.

Sonderlunding tradition holds that the ancestors build great palaces in the Land of the Dead, and that when Death takes one's soul, they join the ranks of their forefathers, where they feast and rejoice together. However, the spirits of the ancestors may be called upon to affect some change, however limited, upon the mortal realm. Many villages in Sonderlund have a shrine devoted to a past ancestor that the people make offerings to so that their spirit is appeased and grants them guidance in their particular field, and Sonderlunding druids often invoke their ancestors to grant them power while casting spells. This means that one's ancestry is important in determining what prayers may be made - it is considered rude to call on someone else's ancestors, so ideally, ones' own lineage should have ancestors suitable for a given prayer. For instance, if one's great-great-grandmother was a forester, her spirit will be a better one to call upon for aid in tracking game than one's great-grand-uncle who was a shipwright. If all else fails, however, it is considered acceptable to make a general invocation to the ancestors for aid in a given task, if one does not know of a particular ancestor that applies.

All this carries a particular implication. Unlike in Pantheonism or Elementalism, where the most honorable cosmic forces are beyond mortals, it is possible - rather, inevitable - for mortals to become ancestors. Thus, Sonderlunding culture places a great deal of importance on achieving glory in one's field to ensure that one may become an ancestor worth praising and invoking, and to ensure one's deeds live on in history. One who dies without accomplishing anything particularly impressive is doomed to be forgotten - but a great hero is remembered. It is not uncommon for old Sonderlundings who believe they have not accomplished anything in life to go out and seek one last glorious deed to accomplish (or die trying) before their time is up, in order to ensure they may be venerated by future generations.

As a material consequence of ancestor worship, Sonderlund's landscape is dotted by graves, barrows, and runestones commemorating historic deeds. As much of the populace is illiterate, these markers serve as a means to record the stories of their ancestors, and they are deeply woven into oral tradition, to the point where directions in Sonderlund often make mention of a particular barrow or shrine as a point of reference (because of course everyone knows which barrow Colum mac Dubh the Slayer of Men is buried in).

It also means that in Sonderlunding culture, it is important to respect the dead. In most lands, necromancy is not strictly illegal in and of itself, but it does carry the unsavory connotations that go hand in hand with grave robbery and meddling with corpses. In Sonderlund, however, to defile a tomb is a grave sin, and one that will bring down the anger of the ancestors. Necromancy is almost always punished by death, though some have gotten around this by issuing an ancestral oath that their bodies may be reanimated after death if any descendants should wish to perform such experiments.

Lastly, it is a consequence of ancestor worship that progress in Sonderlund - particularly in the isolated Highlands - moves slowly. Technologies like plate armor and gunpowder, as rare and expensive as they are elsewhere, are practically unheard of in parts of Sonderlund, as people are wary of new and unfamiliar things that their ancestors did not know of. Sonderlunding culture has remained largely the same for centuries, in no small part due to the traditions of ancestor worship and ancestral oaths.

Friday Encounter: The Lost Boys

Hook

This encounter is a simple one, but one designed to place the PCs in the forefront of a moral dilemma where there's no easy answer and see what solutions they come up with. It can be used along a road (preferably a remote one away from civilization) or in the wilderness.

For this encounter to work best, the DM should foreshadow it with rumors planted in advance. Some time before this encounter, the PCs should receive word of a ferocious band of brigands preying on travelers along this route - perhaps hearing the story in a town along the way, or seeing a wanted notice posted at a crossroads. Importantly, it should be made clear that no one has ever gotten a good look at the bandits, and they don't know what their faces look like or how many there are. All that's known is that they are ruthless fighters and will take no prisoners.

When the PCs run into the bandits, they will announce their intentions by having four of their number hiding in the bushes and firing arrows in the party's direction in an ambush. Roll Stealth against the PCs' passive Perception to see if the bandits are noticed; they have Advantage on their Stealth roll due to being concealed in the underbrush. If the bandits aren't noticed, they get a surprise round.

After this round, the leader of the bandits steps out to accost the PCs...and there, they will see that these bandits are led by a young boy of about ten named Cian, carrying a sword that seems too big for him, but nonetheless conducting himself with the seriousness of a hardened criminal, demanding that the party turn over any valuables if they want to get out alive - or, as he puts it in a gravely serious voice, his men will see fit they pay with their blood.

In fact, all the bandits are children, ranging from four to twelve. Cian was the survivor of a raid by bandits that killed his parents and burned his village, but he was able to hide and escape detection. This event taught him a harsh lesson - that one may only survive by virtue of strength, cunning, and ruthlessness, and that the law of the land does nothing to stop those strong enough to not fear it. He decided that he would become a bandit just as ruthless as those who laid waste to his home, and that he would never be weak again. To that effect, he recruited other children orphaned by the raid, their strength later bolstered by wayward orphans and runaways, teaching themselves to fight, rob, and survive in the wilds. Now, they have formed a gang that preys on travelers to survive, and despite their youth, they've managed to carry on well enough for themselves.

The children will stand with their weapons drawn, carefully eyeing the party while Cian makes his demands. However, if the PCs won't hand over their valuables or seem hostile, Cian gives the order to attack, which will see four of the children staying in the bushes to fire arrows on the PCs while the rest of the gang rushes them in melee. Cian will make it readily clear that he isn't bluffing during any such negotiations, brandishing his sword and proudly boasting that he has killed a dozen men (this is, of course, exaggerated, but he has killed two, and others in the gang have blood on their hands as well). The children show no signs of hesitation either; they are swayed by Cian's charisma and believe his might-makes-right philosophy wholeheartedly in the absence of any better role models.

There are in total twelve children in the ambush, including Cian. All of them have the stats of bandits, but are Small size, have 6 HP each, and have Disadvantage on their attack rolls, as they are untrained in their weapons and wield them clumsily. Nevertheless, they are fierce fighters - in their naive understanding of the world, they believe themselves to be invincible and overestimate their abilities while underestimating their fragility. After all, they are mighty bandits! As such, if anything happens that would cause the children to rout, they make their morale saves with Advantage.

Obviously, what makes this situation difficult for most PCs will be the moral dilemmas involved. The children have every intention to do them harm, but fighting back means harming children, something many parties will balk at. Perhaps the party will try to talk the children down with reason, or perhaps they'll have to find a non-lethal way of dealing with the problem. Either way, it should make most PCs think twice about going headlong into combat, and encourage them to think outside the box - as long as you aren't playing with murderhobos, anyway. And if you are, I pity you.