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A Shadow Over Pinewood

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Tales speak of a monstrous creature that lurks in the forests around the small hamlet of Pinewood; dragging hapless victims screaming into the grim 
grey mists that surround the village each night. As simple as monster hunts go, this one seemed straightforward enough.
"Probably a werewolf, or something similar". Captain Price said, reloading his rifle and checking the chamber for silver 
bullets. "Nothing we haven't faced before, eh? And I bet there's gonna be a nice little reward for its head!" 
Cie checked her pistols before glancing at the night sky. 
"Well let's hope so. I don't want another troll fiasco. Anyway, if we're going, might at well speed up. Sun's running out."
With a nod, the party gathered their possessions and made for the Bramble Pass.
It's never simple. But it wasn't meant to end like this.  


Shadow Over Pinewood is now available for Fantasy Grounds! 

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"A Shadow Over Pinewood" is a lovecraft inspired horror one shot, presented here as a short adventure for 10th level characters that builds upon the popular hunting format found in "100 Monster Hunts". The adventure is expected to take around 8 hours to complete, however this may vary, depending on the choices and actions made by you, the players, and the creature itself! How you ask? Because this creature is no mere beast, but an ever-changing, intelligent monstrosity capable of assailing you at every turn, and actively adapting to your tactics. Environmental effects, a short time frame and constant tension are all factors you should consider, should you wish to emerge from the mysterious fog with your sanity intact... 
So, are you ready to become monster hunters? Or will your choices and actions force you instead to become the hunted? 

Features:

  • A potential of 4 different endings (2 Epilogues), depending on player action and choice.
  • An intelligent, ever evolving creature that will make your players consider every option and tactic used. 
  • Pre-designed treasures and rewards, including 3 brand new magical items to add into your world.
  • Environmental effects that directly impact the adventure difficulty. Will your players survive the Grey Fog, or simply descend into madness? 
  • Named NPCs and story hooks to help quickly establish the setting in your homebrew campaigns or Ravenloft settings.
  • A collection of battle maps by Michael LaBossiere you can use to quickly prep the adventure.
  • A focus on random event tables that makes every playthrough different, forcing players to change tactics on the fly in order to survive. 

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www.valldoesdnd.tumblr.com

Check out the entire Monster Hunts series below!

LH  100 MH  Tier 1 Hunts  MH Halloween  MH Avernus  

Try out other Vall Does D&D products!

                                        

  GMH   Dogfighters Handbook   curious


                                                                  anpc   Monster Hunt Cover   Librarian Class   battlemap

Fantasy Grounds Modules

                                                FG1 FG2 Pinewood Curious 

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Reviews (5)
Discussions (5)
Customer avatar
Jacob M March 25, 2020 7:30 am UTC
The Shadow over Innsmouth, anyone? The only thing better than D&D is Lovecraftian D&D.
Reply
Customer avatar
Vall S March 25, 2020 3:48 pm UTC
CREATOR
Pretty much! I take a lot of inspiration from Cosmic Horror for my work. Thanks for noticing!
Customer avatar
Zackery B October 05, 2019 2:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
How would you navigate the RP of someone casting detect thoughts on Usaliti? I know message won't work cuz you have to actually speak, but I don't think there's been a single encounter session where detect thoughts wasn't used by my players.
Reply
Customer avatar
Vall S October 05, 2019 5:01 pm UTC
CREATOR
A great question!
I believe detect thoughts only probes surface thoughts. So she could easily be focused on other things during the carnival, or have innocent enough thoughts that could throw players off the scent. Or perhaps she finds one of the party members attractive? It's very easy for things like attraction to get an emotional response from a character and shift their suspicions elsewhere. Sometimes it can even work in your favour, as the party might form an attachment to said character if Usaliti appears to show a vulnerability. The mind is a complex machine of thoughts, feelings and emotions. Just because someone probes my mind, doesn't mean they'll find what they're looking for.
Most of my surface thoughts are about art or games, for example. It doesn't mean that someone who knows that would suddenly discover my motivations for those thoughts.
Reply
Customer avatar
Zackery B October 09, 2019 1:58 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Using the attraction to a PC or the vulnerability of Usaliti is a great idea! My main reasoning for asking was since the creature cannot actually speak, only mimic laughter and cries, I wasn't sure if that same thing applied to the creatures thoughts. Would they be just the same thing, sounds, feelings, etc or would it be true comprehensible language?

I know with detect thoughts you can use an action to probe deeper, but alert the host. If the host is "innocent" technically it shouldn't be a problem or else it raise suspicion, but through external interaction you could try and lead the host's thoughts toward what you want to know. In this case I may keep Usaliti hidden from the group until necessary as opposed to just having her wander or be seen in the group/show.
Reply
Customer avatar
Vall S October 09, 2019 4:32 pm UTC
CREATOR
That's a good idea. If you think your party could blow the lid off things pretty early on by her introduction, then don't introduce her until later to keep the story going in the right direction. You also have the option (like my group), of presenting her as a character that in no way appears problematic, but has something slightly sinister she was covering up, such as a theft from a nearby market stall, or some other activity deemed nefarious by the community, but not otherwise problematic. There's no reason her focus would be on anything more sinister if that was the immediate concern. Such as the party finding out and alerting the guards.

Where the creature's thoughts are concerned, it depends which was you want to spin it. You could go with the bear from Annihilation (the film), where it's mimicry is horrifying and haunting, but the thoughts are that of a simple creature - ie, not overly complex, and more focused on emotion and feeling. Or you could have it something akin to 'It', where the creature...See more
Customer avatar
Zackery B October 05, 2019 2:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
How would you navigate the RP of someone casting detect thoughts on Usaliti? I know message won't work cuz you have to actually speak, but I don't think there's been a single encounter session where detect thoughts wasn't used by my players.
Customer avatar
Zackery B September 17, 2019 1:52 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I am looking to possibly run this as a Shadowfell setting that my players are drawn into, but they are not APL10. There are 5 players levels 7,7,8,8,10. Can this be scaled down some if the players are properly equipped or is the monster itself the reason this is set at APL10?
Reply
Customer avatar
Vall S September 17, 2019 3:07 pm UTC
CREATOR
This adventure is balanced for a group of 4 level 10s, so having 5 characters of a slightly lower level is still certainly viable. The monster has various transformation tables so simply reducing the number of times it mutates can also help to balance it against a lower level party.
I believe the creature counts as a hard encounter for a group of 4 level 10s, so it would likely be considered deadly for your group. Though if they are outfitted with magical weapons and armor as well, I'm sure they'll stand on even footing against it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Zackery B September 17, 2019 4:58 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you for that quick response. I will certainly give this a try and it sounds like something perfect for my party to be thrown into during October.
Reply
Customer avatar
Vall S September 17, 2019 8:37 pm UTC
CREATOR
Awesome, I'm glad you think so!
Be sure to let me know how it goes, and remember - the creature can only be killed a certain way. So don't worry about the players nuking it early, as some parties do.
Customer avatar
William M October 18, 2018 11:53 pm UTC
PURCHASER
About how many level 10 players is the story designed for?
Reply
Customer avatar
Vall S October 19, 2018 2:31 am UTC
CREATOR
Around 4, but it can also be ran with 6. If you run with 6 or any more than that I advise giving the Creature a free trait or two from the traits table to start out with, alongside around 50 additional hit points or a single legendary action to help balance the encounters and action economy coming its way.
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File Last Updated:
February 26, 2019
This title was added to our catalog on October 07, 2018.