The Unwelcome Guest

An Adventure for Faerys Tale Deluxe by Robert A. Dushay

Teaser. Twick the chipmunk has a problem,
and hes looking for help. Who or what has moved into his burrow without permission? And how can the faeries of Brightwood help get it out? A Faerys Tale Deluxe game, young audiences only. Its a lovely, lovely spring day in Brightwood. Ask the players how their faeries will start the game. Encourage them to consider fun activities for them: throwing flower petals into the streams, playing hide and go seek, etc. occupant had crawled deeper into one of his tunnels. Upon confrontation, the unwelcome visitor hissed and refused to move. Its been there for two days now. Its smelly, spiny, and decidedly unpleasant. [RAD: Hedgehogs are cute, but dont live in tunnels like chipmunks. Hedgehogs are European only; Chipmunks are pretty much North American. Chipmunks shouldnt have a cockney-ish accent, but a fast, staccato speech. A mouse might be good; native to both and statted out if need be!] Upon investigation, all is as Twick said. The mystery guest is about the size of a two or three golf balls, dark, with glowing red sliteyes, horns, spines, claws, and a musky, stinky odor. The creature has no name and doesnt seem to know very much, or isnt interested in conversation. It will respond to hostility with a hiss, bad breath, and attempts to scratch. If the faeries attempt to befriend it, it will respond nicely. [RAD: For adults, it takes coaxing, because its hungry and scared. For younger children, we want to reward good behavior.] Its probably a good idea for the players to go get their friends and assemble a party. It shouldnt be possible to kill the thing, because all that means is loss of Essence until it wakes up, and dragons, even hatchlings, have a great deal of Essence. They could just wall it up inside the burrow, but that would be pretty heartless. A simple solution is for Twick to abandon the burrow and dig a new home. Twick would be reluctant, and this will end the scene on a bit of a downer.

Part One: The Unwelcome Guest Appears

One of the faeries hears a commotion. Twick the chipmunk is in a twitter, muttering about his troubles. Upon seeing a faery, Twick will launch into his problem. Youve got to elp me! Its stuck in me burrow, it is, and hi wants im gone, hi do. Twick may offer a boon, or may call in a boon to get his guest out. Twicks tale: Hid just woken up from a nice long sleep with a bump, hi did. Hi wondered what might have bumped so. Hit didnt seem right For someone in desperate need, Twick takes a while to get to the point. After a lengthy narrative, Twick says hed discovered a large egg filling up an entrance to one of his tunnels. Thinking the egg might make a nice breakfast, Twick went out his front door looking for some herbs and other things to make a fine meal of it. Upon returning, Twick found the egg was gone, replaced by eggshell shards and a bit of mess. Its

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Once its free from the burrow somehow, we see its a baby dragon, with a crumpled wing. The dragon has no name; the faeries can name it. The dragon will have opinions, so it may not like the names they give it. Sping will zoom by, swing back, gulp water from the nearby spring, and tell the news. Dragon Fyrath has taken Human King Bochrans castle! She is unbuilding it tower by tower, and means to undo all of his kingdom! To wing, to wing! I must to the Faery Queen! Sping, Knight of the North Wind Body Mind Spirit 5 2 2 Gifts: Champion, Animal Friend Agile, Brave, Fame, Hardy Essence: 4
Champion: +2 to body when fighting. Incredible fighting feats at 1 Essence. Befriend animal costs 1 Essence. Agile: +2 body for agility, speed. Brave: +2 Spirit for bravery. Hardy: +2 Body for constitution Fame: Request aid, 1 Essence. Knight of the North Wind: Spend a Boon to call the wind.

Part Two: The Welcome Guest

Assuming they free the dragon and make friends with it, the next question is what do you do with a hatchling dragon? Babies of all species tend to be cute, and dragons are not implacably hostile. One could do all sorts of things to help out. Healing the dragons crumpled wing will be difficult, but not totally impossible. If the faeries decide to go on a quest to heal the dragons wing, thats a cool game, too! This section is about making nice. It is possible that the group will consider a search for mama dragon: after all, who wants to make a mama dragon unhappy? Where did the baby come from?

Part Three: The Quest for Mama

The baby knows nothing, of course, not even what it is. But Mama is out, and shes angry! She woke up with her egg missing, and somebody is going to get hurt! Fyrath is taking out her wrath on King Bochrans castle and domain, north of Brightwood. She is progressively dismantling his castle, tower by tower. She blocks all access, hissing furiously at all who would enter and lift the siege, and King Bochrans knights are disorganized and fearful. The news of this will appear with Sping, a Sprite who rides an exceedingly speedy dragonfly. Sping is a brave messenger, and a faery knight of the North Wind.

Zip, Dragonfly Steed Body Mind 2 1 Gifts: Fly, Agile

Spirit 0

King Bochran is a good neighbor. While the faeries do not show themselves to him, his kingdom is peaceable and pleasant, and the faeries like the people of the Northern Kingdom. The faeries may choose to ignore this news or rush to assist, staying hidden, of course. Fyrath is known as a powerful and irascible creature, approached at great peril, but she rarely stirs from her massive bed of gold. Why is she moving against Bochran? Hopefully, our players will connect two and two, and realize this lost infant may have something to do with it. How will they transport the baby to meet his mother?

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Hopefully, our heroes will tell Sping of the baby dragon and figure things out on their own. If not, Queen Leanan will know once Sping tells her of King Bochrans plight. She will send assistance to our heroes in the person of Findwin, a Thomas of the Court. A Thomas is a friend and sometimes problem solver for the Queen, and Findwin has proven himself in the past. (Should our heroes have washed their hands of the baby dragon earlier, Findwin will persuade them to seek out the baby once more. Findwin, Thomas of the Court Body Mind Spirit 4 2 3 Gifts: Change Form, Travel Magic Fame, Fortunate, Sneaky. Essence 6 Boons: 3
Fame: 1 Essence to request aid of an NPC, or make an enemy hesitate. Fortunate: +2 Spirit for luck. Sneaky: 1 Essence to sneak past an alert guard, etc. 2 for difficult (such as hiding in plain sight.)

their knowing, or otherwise bind them into their surroundings when he startles them. Findwins favorite animal form is a fox, but hes been known to be a squirrel, hedgehog, dog, bright-eyed sparrow, or otter. Meanwhile, Fyrath the dragon is dismantling King Bochrans castle stone by stone, coiled around it and hissing furiously at all. For inexperienced players, simply presenting her baby is enough to change her rage to love and gratitude, and the gratitude of a dragon is no little thing! Her boons (one per character!) are worth quite a bit! For more experienced players, cooling down an angry dragon isnt easy. Shell recognize the baby, but be furious at the crooked wing, and suspect the rescuers as being the kidnappers, returning the child out of fear, and may respond appropriately. It shouldnt be hard to get the baby to vouch for the heroes, but will Fyrath listen in time? Fyrath, Mother Dragon Body Mind 8 6 Gifts: Breathe Fire, Fly. Essence: 16

Spirit 8

As a Thomas of Queen Leanans court, Findwin is able to spend 1 Essence to summon assistance from the Court itself. This will usually be a knight, but with either more Essence or a really serious situation, Findwin can request help from even more powerful folk. Findwin is unlikely to summon help unless things are really bad, because it would diminish his own reputation and fame. Findwin is a merry trickster, a gossip, a carrier of tales, and occasionally a messenger for Queen Leanan herself. He loves to surprise folk by suddenly joining their conversation, having snuck up on them in an animal form and being in the middle of the group when he speaks. He loves weaving people into vines without

Part Four: More Unwelcome Visitors

Should the group need a kick in the pants, some menace in the background, or just something to fight, we can introduce our original dragon-nappers. Goblins might do it out of spite, but in this case, the Hag Crugratha set them to it. Crugratha wanted revenge on the Dragon Fyrath, and intended to brew one of her eggs into a potion! Goblins like to steal, cause fear, and torment. They might also serve as roadblocks to keep the heroes from reaching King Bochrans castle. Since they cant fly, they wouldnt be able to stop a Pixie or a

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Sprite on the appropriate mount, and Im sure a clever Brownie and Pooka could figure out how to get around them. Names: Moldy, Slimepit, Stench, Snagtooth. Goblins Body Mind Spirit 4 2 3 Gifts: Black Magic, Contortion. Dark Essence: 6
Black Magic: Simple feats (sour milk) Free Scare animals, spark fire 1 Essence Frighten beings, shatter metal 2 Essence Contortion: Squeeze through small holes. Change Appearance: Hags like to look like human females, beautiful or aged. Curse Magic: Bad luck or trip Free Blight crops, break valuable item 1 Essence Cursed sleep, change to frog 2 Essence

Hag Crugatha Body Mind Spirit 3 6 6 Gifts: Change Appearance, Curse Magic, Brew Potions. Dark Essence: 10

Crugatha is one of the Big Bads of Brightwood. While shes evil and full of Dark Essence, shes not stupid and is also willing to make deals with others to her own advantage. In other words, shes motivated to serve herself, not to simply cause pain and evil. She will not fight until out of Essencehaving been imprisoned by Leanans friends before, she has little desire to be punished again. She carries a potion or charm to ensure her escape: a nutshell filled with something that creates a bright flash of light to blind and confuse her enemies temporarily, a potion of invisibility or even magic shoes that whisk her away to her home. When her side appears lost, she will flee.

End
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