Fears by Torchlight

Written By: Chris Colland

Reviewed By: Scott Bennett

Brief: The Bloody Fist have had enough of these damn heroes so they have decided to just set the town on fire to watch the suffering set in. Small squads of Bloody Fist will strike all over the town with Torches to try and burn down the Town of Stonewood in a very futile way.

Requirements:

  • Run on Saturday Early Evening
  • The Reclaiming Stonewood series of Quests have been run.
  • After sunset on Saturday.

    • Synopsis: If the Bloody Fist can’t have Stonewood then they will incite Fears by Torchlight! The village matter not to them, the citizens can eat ashes for allowing the “heroes” to mess up their arrangement. They didn’t want to resort to this tactic, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

    Outcomes:

    1. The players stop the Bloody Fist from burning down the town. Property damage was inflicted but at least the town still stands. The citizens are relieved and now more hopeful because the heroes have warded them off.
    2. The players don’t get enough fires put out and the citizens of Stonewood are broken over their homes being vandalized by the Bloody Fist. The citizens will be very judgmental of the heroes now because it wasn’t them that provoked the Bloody Fist. No merchants will enter the town if they fail to respond well for the evening.

    Number of Cast Members: All that are suitable for combat.

    Props: Bloody Fist Banners, Bloody Fist Costuming & Makeup (Red Scales on left side of face and 4 finger mark warpaint on right side of face), War Horn, Torch (Glow stick around weapons), “Oil” Jugs for fuel

    Makeup: Bloody Fist Makeup (Red Scales on left side of face and 4 finger mark warpaint on right side of face)

    Treasure: Gems, Evaluate Items, Coins

    Rumors:

    The patrols have been increasing at night as of late. Something marches in under the cover of darkness. For what purpose, only a sinister feel behind it. Why use torches at night when the moon provides a perfect veil for criminal activities. I have noticed more trees missing branches around the town lately, freshly cut too. I thought only the Dwarves of Stonewood understood the way to harvest them. But this seems crude and hasty.

    Balor Ironleaf

    Captain and Guildmaster of the Black Anvil Mercenary Company

    Hook: In Occupied Bloody Fist land, Hook come to you!

    Running Notes: This module is meant to scare the players and citizens of Stonewood with the threat of being torched. The Bloody Fist are growing impatient and annoyed by the heroes. This is one module where the Bloody Fist will split up to divide and conquer. Each time will be 1 Scout with a Torch and 3 Grunts to guard him. The Goal is to have the Scouts preform a 30 count (20 to Douse with Oil and 10 to burn with Torch) to set buildings on fire. If the teams get 6 Buildings “On Fire” before the PCs can stop them then the failure condition is reached for the PCs. The Tavern is large enough it can be set on fire twice. It counts as 2 objectives if 2 different teams set it on fire at different points, it will be fully ablaze. When a building is on fire, the Scout will loudly announce “X BUILDING IS ON FIRE!” where X is the building they set. The Bloody Fist will try this tactic one more time later in the evening but more frantic before putting out the “Surrender or Burn” pamphlets in the module "Fatal Warning" which will lead into the final module "Ritual of Fire".