by Stephen Yeardley, Jonathan G. Nelson, & Will Myers

Inspired by the old Hessian folk tale with ideas from the Bavarian fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm

An adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 6-8

Creative Director • Stephen YeardleySenior Art Director • Todd Gamble

Editor • Michael McCarthy • Oliver VollandCover Art • Todd Gamble

Graphic Designer • Todd GambleCartographer • Todd Gamble Dan Roy • Jonathan G. Nelson

Interior Illustrations Nicole Cardiff • Ramon Lucha • Public DomainKieran Yanner, LJ Stephens & Katy Hargrove -

OtherWorldly Art Portfolio V.1PDF Development • Joshua Gullion

Publisher • Adventureaweek.com, LLP

Adventureaweek.com, LLP FoundersJonathan G. Nelson & Todd Gamble

“Snow White is a 3.5 OGL & Pathfinder Compatible Adventure designed for 4-6 PCs of Levels 6-8th. This product makes use of the 3.5 OGL, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Role-playing Game, and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. These rules can be found online as part of the 3.5 SRD and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document at www.d20srd.org & paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ respectively. This adventure is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest fantasy roleplaying game. The OGL can be found on page 58 of this product. Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.) Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Adventureaweek.com, LLP game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission.

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Adventure BackgroundAdventure SynopsisAdventure Hook(s) Morsain Introduction to the adventure Introduction to Castle Morsain Maps: Castle Morsain Map Key Level 1 Level 2 Level 3Part One: Searching the Floor Main Door Prince Ruhtin’s Room Lord Valta’s Room Attendant Queen Haijyin’s Chambers Princess-to-be Lumi Valtatytar’s Room The Bridal SuitePart Two: The Banquet Lumi’s PoisoningPart Three: Guard DutyPart Four: Chasing Lumi Section 1: Over the roofs Section 2: Guard Duty A. If the party goes after the perpetrator B. If the party goes after Lumi C. If the party decides to question people Section 3: The Next Steps: Going After Lumi Section 4: Woodland Chase Catching the Horseman Conclusion of Part FourPart Five: Creepy Crawlies The Huntsman’s Cabin A Stealthy Approach An Open Approach Arresting the Huntsman If the Huntsman Survives If the Huntsman Dies Back at the Castle The Castle Catacombs Expertly Slain Prints in the Dust Outside the Catacombs AssassinsEncounter Index 3.5 Pathfinder

Foreword

This adventure was inspired by the old Hessian folk tale of Snow White with ideas from the Bavar-ian fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Since nearly everyone knows the story of Snow White, it is rec-ommended that you conceal the name of this ad-venture from your players until the conclusion.

What you do need to be aware of is that there are fairy tale-type elements within the adventure, some of which may surprise the players; grotesque caricatures, over-the-top histrionics, pantomime villains and even the odd clue of an “It’s behind you!” nature. This is intentional, as the adventure is as much designed to bring a smile to the faces of players as they realise what they are going through as test their ingenuity in a fairy tale setting, with its anomalies and unlikelihoods – I mean, seven dwarves living in a cabin together? Imagine the mess! For those of you with long memories, we took part of our inspiration for this adventure from Dungeonland (EX1) and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, (EX2) both released 30 years ago ex-actly in 1983.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeonland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_Beyond_the_Magic_Mirror

So with that in mind, and notwithstanding that fairy tales are indeed grim, deadly places to live out your life, remember that there are unlikely twists and turns, outrageous liberties taken, and scen-ery-chewing heroes and villains. Encourage your players to behave accordingly, reward roleplaying of this nature even, and maybe, just maybe, allow them to succeed at something spectacular – hey, slowing your fall after jumping from the minstrels’ gallery by thrusting a dagger in a heraldic ban-ner is just the kind of thing a gallant adventurer SHOULD be attempting.

And in a similar vein to the two EX modules, per-haps this adventure is all in the mind; a group of PCs suddenly assigned to important guard duty might just have a collective sleepless night, with vivid dreams and disturbing visions of what might pass. Perhaps none of this ever happens, but could, just could…

We thoroughly enjoyed writing this adventure and hope you enjoy playing it just as much.

Happy gaming!

~Stephen, Jonathan, and Will

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Adventure BackgroundMuch of the Klavek Kingdom is one grand sweep of grasslands, snow, ice and tundra. However, some areas stand out, as they are forested hills and low-level mountains. Areas rich in natural resources cause towns and villages to spring up nearby. Vil-lages must pay heavy taxes to King Tokolvor XIII in Mohkba based on their economy, therefore, the common populace in these lumber and mining towns tend to hold a slightly negative view of the monarchy, whilst the leaders and council lean to-ward a more diplomatic approach.

Morsain is such a town, based many miles from the capital, Mohkba, along a notorious road avoided because of both natural and man-made hazards. The town has tended to have a fractious relation-ship with Mohkba because, due to the close prox-imity to the more hostile regions of Klavek terri-tory, it has often found itself as a centre of guerilla activity from dwarf, gnome, halfling, and other humanoid communities, all of which have tradi-tionally used the natural resources for themselves. Mohkba’s – and therefore what is considered Tolk-ovar’s – response has always been seen as slow at best and as completely ignoring the town at worst. This has led to the citizens of Morsain occasional-ly holding back wood, ore and taxes from the king, just to make a point.

King Tokolvor is actually quite impressed with the leader, the ruling body, and the citizens of Mor-sain, as the goods it produces rate as some of the best in the realm. In addition, the king grudgingly acknowledges that the place does a fine job in sup-porting the country’s ambitions, so resolved to do “just a little more” for the Morsainers. What this consists of has been under discussion for over a year, and final details are almost in place. One as-pect that has been confirmed in just the last few days is the betrothal of Tokolvor’s 4th son, Prince Ruhtin, to Lumi Valkea Valtatytar, the daughter of Herttua Valta, Morsain’s leader. This has been rumored for several months, and indeed, negotia-tions have been ongoing with regard to how the young couple’s love can help improve relations between Mohkba and Morsain. Lumi and Prince Ruhtin are set to be married in the very near fu-ture, and the act will be seen as the cement for a number of other building blocks which draws Morsain closer to Mohkba.

With the rise in prominence of Ruhtin during

these events, the prince’s goddess-mother, Atten-dant Queen Haijyin, has been seen more and more at the side of the king. She is a stunning woman, in a severe and unforgiving way. But her beauty is of the type that clouds easily and is distorted by jealousy and rage. She is not a woman to cross.

Haijyin, although only 5th Attendant to the king, is actually one of the 3 most powerful people in Klavek, not just because of her own abilities, but because she commands such personal loyalty in those around her, a trait that is almost unheard of in the kingdom. Although Tokolvor has most Klavekians on his side, it is because of strength rather than a desire to please him within his popu-lation. But Haijyin has shown how you can carve a life for yourself from virtually nothing, and the people grudgingly admire her for it. However, they don’t know everything about her by a long shot.

Of all the items Attendant Queen Haijyin pos-sesses, her mirror of mental prowess is easily the most powerful and most useful. Haijyin came to own this item soon after she became Attendant Queen when she financed a band of adventur-ers to conduct a reckless, but ultimately success-ful, series of raids on a dwarven underground city during the time of the drow uprisings. The party managed to loot an underground city, with barely any creature noticing, during a battle between the city’s dwarves and the attacking drow.

However, Attendant Queen Haijyin wanted to keep the raid quiet and has since had 4 of the 5 party members killed by assassins. The final mem-ber lives as a recluse in perpetual fear of becom-ing the last victim. What virtually no-one knows is that Haijyin, a thorough and ruthless woman, has been supplying poisons for the assassins to use, as she wants to keep her activities quiet. Even less well known is that she is leader of a group called The Grinning Ragamuffins and is plotting to re-move the king and replace him. But that’s another tale.

In the meantime, she is more concerned with her future daughter-in-law. Haijyin considers herself the most desirable person in the realm, and the mirror usually confirms this. However, since Prince Ruhtin met and fell in love with Lumi Valkea Val-tatytar, the mirror has become evasive and nerv-ous when answering and facing the queen. This is because Lumi is admired more by the people, who can see in her a brighter future for everyone in the realm.

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Adventure SynopsisIn Part 1 of the adventure

1. The party through various means (see plot hooks) is invited to the wedding of Prince Ruhtin and Lumi Valkea Valtatytar. They find themselves assigned as guards to members of the royal party. This is a significant step up from what they are used to – an adventurer’s life – and what poten-tially seems to be a chance to shine in front of sig-nificant people is actually fraught with danger. Al-though the PCs are assigned as guards, it could be that all of this is a dream, drawn from their fears and concerns about their sudden elevation from “grubby adventurers” to guardians of royalty – be-cause much of what they are used to will change as they fit into the protocols of being around kings and queens, princes and princesses, along with members of the royal household and retinue. Keep this in mind when the action begins whatever you choose to do – it’s quite likely to be a new world for the PCs and players alike.

2. Before the wedding begins the party finds a number of traps around and in the couple’s bed-room. They may attempt to disarm as many as they wish, but the difficulty increases with each trap.

3. The couple is wed, and a banquet thrown in their honor. During the banquet Lumi collapses on the floor, presumably poisoned. A suspect at-tempts to escape and may or may not be appre-hended.

4. Once it is determined that Lumi was poisoned, the PCs are assigned to guard the door to her room. Bats swarm into Lumi’s room and attempt to make off with her. The PCs intervene and stop the creatures.

5. Lumi’s condition improves, and whilst on a walk with Prince Ruhtin, she is kidnapped by a person identical in description to one of the PCs. The kidnapper snaps a bracelet on her wrist, causing her to disappear in a puff of smoke. The PCs are accused, a confrontation (or worse) takes place, and trust is lost.

6. If the PCs are quick on their feet, they may at-tempt to follow Lumi by magically tracking where the bracelet took her. They find her with the real kidnapper, a huntsman, at the edge of the Haunt-

ed Forest where he stuffed Lumi into a sack upon his horse. The huntsman activates a magical orb, creating four decoys. All four rush off into the for-est, if the PCs follow they will be in for a wild ride.

7. In most cases the horseman and Lumi escape, but soon after, unbeknownst to the PCs, Lumi is kidnapped by an entirely different and unrelated group; the seven short folk, spies from afar who immediately see great benefit in capturing a newly anointed member of the royal family, have their hands on Lumi!

8. The Attendant Queen summons the PCs and gives them excellent information allowing them to locate Lumi’s kidnapper, the huntsman. The PCs may track the kidnapper and determine that he lives in a cabin outside the castle. When they con-front him he is killed by giant albino centipedes. If the PCs investigate further they can determine that the albino centipedes are unique to the cas-tle’s catacombs, and thus someone relocated the giant centipedes which killed the huntsman. This could be seen as a premeditated murder designed to shut him up.

9. Snipers attempt to kill the PCs. It seems that someone doesn’t care for their investigation into the disappearance of Lumi or the fact they are helping the Attendant Queen.

10. A meeting is held with the PCs. There are those that believe the PCs are involved and actu-ally holding Lumi for ransom, while others believe they are innocent. The Attendant Queen uses a lock of Lumi’s hair with a magical device privately in her own chambers to locate Lumi and deter-mines that she is currently within the Haunted Forest. The PCs are asked to retrieve her, although many are skeptical as to the PCs intentions at this point.

In Part 2 of the adventure

11. The PCs enter the Haunted Forest where they may or may not encounter numerous fantasy lo-cations such as the Bottomless Pit, Feyglade, For-est Maze, or Pondy Falls. Eventually, the PCs ap-proach a small cabin nestled within a massive wall of stone. Protected on three sides by stone and on the fourth by a plethora of traps, gaining entry seems to be near impossible.

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12. The seven short folk hold Lumi captive inside and hope their traps slay the PCs so they don’t have to. They are content with their anonymity and prefer to continue their spying operations on the Klavek Kingdom without interruption.

13. If the PCs are able to retrieve Lumi from the seven short folk, all will seem as well for a time until the evil Attendant Queen makes her true na-ture known and makes to slay Lumi once and for all.

14. The adventure could conclude a number of different ways depending on the adventure hooks used and the PCs actions during the course of the adventure.

Adventure Hook(s)1. The PCs find themselves in the pay of the Mohk-ba government, as many “adventurers” do when times get tough, but instead of being sent into the wilderness exterior to hunt for Vikmordere, or the barely-hospitable interior to somewhere like Rybalka to act as defenders of the local indus-try, a rather more mundane chance to experience “guard duty” comes their way. This seems rather dull until it comes to light that Prince Ruhtin will be the main object of their protection, and success will bring prestige upon their heads.

2. One of the PCs finds herself in need of pay-ing off a debt of honour to a friend who stood by her side during a time of great trouble. It comes to light that the PCs friend doesn’t want to make the journey to Morsain as the birth of his first child is imminent. Consequently, he asks the PC if she will repay this outstanding debt of honor by taking his place at a ceremonial duty that involves protect-ing a royal couple at their wedding. it sounds like a straightforward enough venture, so the PC agrees.

3. One more refined PC, or one with at least 8 ranks in Knowledge (nobility and royalty), is actually a friend of Prince Ruhtin from their time in military academy (many royal offspring between the ages of 10 and 18 have two years in military academy, ar-cane school, under clerical devotion and studying the roguish arts. This then gives them the chance to make informed choices and decisions when and if they end up making legal judgements in the fu-ture). As a friend, the PC receives an invitation he can’t refuse – to act as part of the honor guard for

the events surrounding the betrothal of the prince to Lumi.

4. One of the PCs is a member of the Mohkba secret police and is charged with making sure no harm befalls the prince, to look for insurgents in Morsain AND, as a legally approved agent, take any and all action required to protect the name of King Tolkovar. There will be a handsome reward for this service, received when the prince and Lumi are finally fully married.

5. One PC is actually an insurgent, with either dwarven, elven, gnomish, halfling or Vikmordere blood or allegiances. They are there to ensure that the wedding is spoilt without too much attention-attracting bloodshed taking place. They will need to play along with their fellow party members, but actively work against them to disrupt the ceremo-ny as much as possible.

6. One PC is actually in the pay of the Attendant Queen and will do all he can to make sure her plans come to fruition yet not to attract too much attention to himself. The PC isn’t aware of all the Attendant Queen has planned, but has enough in-formation to string the PCs along and for several events to take place.

However the PCs end up at the castle, it is highly recommended the party contains a rogue.

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Morsain

LN large frontier trading townCorruption +2; Crime -2; Economy +1; Law +3; Lore +0; Society -2;Qualities Prosperous, racially intolerant (low level, of all humanoids except humans and half-orcs), strategic locationDanger +5

DemographicsGovernment Overlord (appointed by the Mohk-ba government with some autonomy)Population 3,000 (2,994 humans; 5 half-orcs; 1 dwarf)

Notable NPCsLord Herttua Valta, the town’s leader (5th fighter/3rd aristocrat)Lumi Valkea Valtatytar (3rd expert)Attendant Queen Haijyin (7th level wizard/6th level druid) – in town for the weddingPrince Ruhtin (2nd fighter/4th aristocrat) – in town for the weddingViscount Sihteeri (3rd cleric (Travel)/4th ex-pert) – in town for the wedding

MarketplaceBase Value 2,931 gp; Purchase Limit 15,000 gp; Spellcasting 5thMinor Items 3d4; Medium Items 2d4; Major Items 1d4

Introduction to the Adventure

The life of an adventurer can be a good one; the open skies, the road ahead, the temptation of another treasure to recover, village to protect, or ne’er-do-well to serve justice to. Ah, what could be simpler…

Well occasionally, just occasionally, there are storm clouds, the roads are blocked because of war, vil-lages are doing very nicely themselves thank you due to that same war, and the bad guys flee un-der threat of a sound thrashing from forces much larger and stronger than a band of tomb robbers. Now is one of those times. So then what do you do to earn a crust?

Well, it seems that the goddess of Luck is on your side, because you have become part of a big and important job, and a comfortable one at that. You are to help with the security of a wedding in a distant town between Prince Ruhtin and a lo-cal girl. So no huge crowds, no dissenting voices, no rogues’ guild attempting to gain glory from its mischief or mad mages throwing arcane energy around. It’ll be in a castle, with other guards, and not all that many guests.

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The journey to Morsain is not without some low-level difficulty, but the goblins fled at the first sight of the vanguard, the wolves skulked off when such a large force approached them and the dragon that flew over was too far up for either side to make an effort to attack the other. Which means you’ve ar-rived at Castle Morsain in good time and in great health. Let the wedding festivities commence. It’s going to be a right royal party. Break out the cer-emonial uniforms!

Introduction to Castle Morsain

The castle is an imposing structure, one that the citizens of Morsain are rightly proud of. Neither grim nor foreboding, is does give off an air of strength and “reliability” that has given rise to the phrase, “As honest as the castle’s foundations!” when someone is referring to something that can be trusted with their life.

The first real job the PCs find themselves involved with is making a sweep of some of the important rooms in the castle for anything untoward. It is as-sumed by many that as they are experienced ad-venturers, they will be able to deal with unusual and difficult problems – and besides, it’s not as if the Prince can just bring a tame rogue along, now is it? How would that look to the people of Mor-sain? So discretion is required as the PCs go about their work.

The PCs are approached by Prince Ruhtin’s sec-retary, an aristocratic expert who, whilst not cur-rently a landowner himself (due to an ill-fated sponsorship of a trip to find a hidden Vikmordere burial ship), knows all about the whys and where-fores of running a visit such as this one to a place such as Morsain. Viscount Sihteeri watched the PCs on the journey to the castle and feels they are ideally placed to help make the Prince’s stay a bet-ter one. They do have to earn their coin, after all! He approaches them, and gives them a number of tasks, one after the other, as the group proves it-self by undertaking these activities. After the first request, the messages come by note, and the PCs are never able to take up any more of Viscount Sihteeri’s time.

Unbeknown to the PCs at this stage is that they will find themselves required to perform ceremo-nial duties. This means that they won’t be able to

wear their usual adventuring equipment and will have to resort to the items protocol allows them. This wouldn’t be such an issue back in Mohkba, as they would have time to prepare, but events at the castle overtake them and they may find them-selves having to rely on less useful or effective items. This may initially cause some distress to players, but make it clear to them that they will be rewarded for their efforts, both within the game and by you with story and role-playing rewards. You will find one or two encounters that initially seem too low for the PCs, until it becomes clear that these are at times when the players will be without all their magic and will be relying on their wits and ingenuity to a greater extent. Make sure they aren’t penalised for this.

As the PCs deal with the first set of traps, they find themselves having to be more and more sophisti-cated and “expert” in the way they deal with them. Attendant Queen Haijyin has had these set up so that the party will have its abilities thoroughly tested. At this stage, if anyone falls foul of a trap and the alarm is raised, the Attendant Queen her-self will arrive within 1d3+3 rounds with a neutral-ize poison potion and cure the affected character if required. Otherwise, she will arrive in1d10+10 rounds and thank the PCs effusively, calling for them to be taken care of as her own special protec-tors. This will happen even if she administers her potion, in further gratitude for their efforts.

After a brief meeting with Viscount Sihteeri, the Prince’s secretary and righthand man, you find you are “working guests” at the pre-nuptial celebrations of Prince Ruhtin and Lumi Valkea Valtatytar. A prestigious role, without doubt, but not one without surprises. Your full adven-turing kit has been frowned upon a number of times, as ceremonial garb is the order of the day. You’ve been advised that you’ll need to step in line on that point as soon as possible. However, for the moment you are tramping around the castle looking like a team about to take on an orcish horde…

The first part of your duties require you to do a sweep of the floor containing the royal party’s quarters. As seasoned adventurers, this is just the sort of thing you can excel at, and giving the royal party confidence about their quarters whilst putting yourself at little risk seems a fine way to earn a prince’s gratitude.

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In fact, it turns out that you are asked to do more than you thought you would have to. Most of the other guards are martial types, and you are going to be relied on to undertake some compli-cated tasks. As you approach the first of them, you see members of the castle’s staff and other’s on guard duty pointing at you as you pass them; the whispered comments (Listen/Perception DC 22 to catch them) talk of you as “brave out-siders” and “folks with a tough job.” What can they mean?

Castle MorsainMap Key

Level 1

1. Packed earth approachway to the castle

2. Collapsible stone bridge

3. Front gatehouse with murder holes and bronze portcullis

4. Glass-roofed dining courtyard

5. Main dining table

6. Rear gatehouse

7. Viscount Sihteeri’s temporary room

8. Jetty to the lake

9. Kitchen with hammocks for most staff

10. Guest quarters

11. Library and music room

12. Meeting room

13. Chapel

14. Lord Valta’s study

15. Reception room

Level 2

16. Guard gathering room

17. Balcony over the glass-roofed dining courtyard

18. Lord Valta’s temporary room

19. Bridal suite

20. Lumi Valtatytar’s room

21. Portcullis control room with murder holes

22. Attendant Queen Haijyin’s temporary room

23. Guard corridor

24. Prince Ruhtin’s temporary room

Level 3

25. Parapet walkway, facing across the lake

26. Tower above Lord Valta’s room

27. Guard parapet over the bridal suite

28. Tower above Lumi Valtatytar’s room

29. Rooftop guard room

30. Tower above Lord Valta’s temporary room

31. Guard parapet over Prince Ruhtin’s temporary

32. Tower above guard gathering room

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