TEXT: The 
  Fiddlers 
  Lament
  The 
  Fiddlers 
  Lament
  by Alistair Rigg
  with the Legendary Games Design Team
  
  ii
  Credits
  Author: Alistair Rigg
  Design, Illustration and Layout: Timothy Wickham and Richard Kunz
  Cartography: Robert Lazzaretti
  Legendary Games Team Members: Clinton J. Boomer, Benjamin Bruck, Matthew Goodall, Jim Groves, 
  Tim Hitchcock, Jonathan H. Keith, Nicolas Logue, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Tom Phillips, Alistair Rigg, 
  Tork Shaw, Mike Shel, Neil Spicer, Todd Stewart, Russ Taylor, Greg A. Vaughan, and Clark Peterson
  Publisher: Jason Nelson
  Executive Partner: Neil Spicer
  Business Director: Rachel Ventura
  Special Thanks: Erik Mona, Lisa Stevens, James Jacobs and the Paizo staff and to Michael Kortes for his 
  excellent ghost-story adventure, Haunting of Harrowstone. 
  Open Content: Subject to designation as Product Identity (see below), the only elements of this Legendary Games product 
  designated as Open Game Content are the statblocks of the Lesser Shadow, Ghoul Wolf, Skeletal Mount, Pecrit Murik, Rufio, 
  Alhindri, and the Rebec Malevolenti, and any and all rules content (names of skills, etc., taken from the Pathfinder Reference 
  Document)  as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d). The front and back cover, back matter, introduction 
  and Credits page, as well all other parts of this product including all text not specifically designated as Open Game Content is not 
  Open Game Content. No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any 
  form without written permission.
  Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License 1.0a, Seection 
  1(e), and are not Open Content: Legendary Games, the Legendary Games Logo, Adventure Path Plug-In, The Fiddler’s Lament, 
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  in this declaration.)
  Reference in non-Open Game Content (thus not covered by the Open Game License) in this work to content owned by others is 
  not a challenge to their ownership and is used under Fair Use.
  The Fiddler’s Lament (5ED)
  © 2014, Legendary Games; Author 
  Alistair Rigg.
  First published August 2014
  Pathfinder version published July 2012
  Legendary Games
  3734 SW 99th St.
  Seattle, WA 98126-4026
  makeyourgamelegendary.com
  About Legendary Games
  Legendary Games is an all star team of authors and designers, founded by Clark Peterson of Necromancer 
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  1
  Welcome to Legendary Adventures!
  This adventure is a part of our line of support materials for the Next edition of the world’s most famous 
  roleplaying game! This adventure doesn’t feature any dungeons, nor any dragons for that matter, but it provides 
  an excellent opportunity to introduce your characters into a campaign with more than a touch of the mysterious 
  and the macabre. It is an adventure that can easily stand on its own, set in a small village where things go bump 
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  a chance to earn the trust and admiration of the townsfolk for their heroic deeds, and perhaps gain the favor 
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  The all-star team of designers here at Legendary Games is committed to bringing you—the busy GM or 
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  Path (issues #43-48) from Paizo Inc. 
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  15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the 
  Coast, Inc.
  The Fiddler’s Lament. Copyright 2014, Legendary Games; 
  Author Alistair Rigg.  
  System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of 
  the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip 
  Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave 
  Arneson.
  The Hypertext d20 SRD. Copyright 2004, Jans W Carton.
  Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo 
  Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material 
  by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
  Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; 
  Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan 
  Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
  Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2. © 2010, Paizo Publishing, LLC; 
  Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan 
  Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
  Pathfinder Adventure Path #43 Bestiary. Copyright 2011, 
  Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Adam Daigle, Patrick Renie
  Pathfinder Adventure Path #44 Bestiary. Copyright 2011, 
  Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Rob McCreary, Patrick 
  Renie, Sean K Reynolds
  The Tome of Horrors Complete. Copyright 2011, 
  Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors Scott Greene, Erica 
  Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Jim Collura, 
  Meghan Greene, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, 
  Ian S. Johnston, Bill Kenower, Patrick Lawinger, Nathan 
  Paul, Clark Peterson, Greg Ragland, Robert Schwalb, Greg 
  A. Vaughan, Bill Webb
  
  2
  The Fiddler’s Lament is a short adventure designed to be set 
  in any small town where low (1st-2nd) level PCs may find 
  themselves, though it works best set in a village with a ruined 
  fortress, cathedral, or prison nearby, a place of tragedy and 
  sorrow with a fell reputation. The adventure may not provide 
  enough experience for the PCs to gain in level, but it does 
  provide several challenges and rewards.
  Adventure Background
  Alhindri’s parents used to say she had her head more in other 
  worlds than in this one as she sang and danced her way through 
  life, sprightly even for an elf. When her parents died in a tragic 
  boating accident, she was subdued for their funeral, but even 
  that fugue was short-lived as she soon went back to her ways 
  of prancing across meadows to stir the butterflies and singing 
  nonsensical songs to the birds. Many of the elves thought her 
  stricken or possessed, and ultimately none were anything 
  but secretly relieved when upon reaching the beginnings of 
  adulthood she upped and left her hedged community to explore 
  the greater world outside.
  Alhindri wandered for weeks before finally falling in with 
  a band of Wanderers headed north. In this people of dusken 
  skin and dervish dances, Alhindri had finally found a kindred 
  spirit. They knew the ways of the night song and the dance of 
  the moonlight upon the water; they too could hear the music in 
  the crackle of the campfire and freedom of nature as it flowed 
  through their veins in an expression of purest joy, devoid of 
  thought or artifice. In turn, the Wanderers accepted her as one of 
  their own and allowed her to dance to the sound of their fiddle 
  and tambourine as they traveled the rugged countryside of the 
  North.
  For more than a decade, Alhindri danced among the 
  Wanderers, and even they had to recognize something different 
  about her—something special that transcended the mundane 
  and touched on some other plane of existence where the troubles 
  of life were a trifling thing next to the trill of the music and the 
  thrill of the dance. More than one of the dusky men offered to 
  take her in marriage and make her a respected matron of their 
  tribe, but she gently rebuffed them all content in their company 
  alone, seeking neither companionship nor station—known to all 
  the towns they visited as the dancing elf maid of the Wandering 
  Folk.
  Unfortunately though the years of an elf are long, her state of 
  bliss came to an end all too soon. One evening as their caravan 
  camped in the wilderness, a Dark Stranger came into their midst. 
  Swathed all in cloak, scarf, and wide-brimmed hat, though it was 
  a warm spring night, he requested the hospitality of their fire. 
  This was begrudgingly given but the elder matron of the tribe 
  immediately made the ward against the Evil Eye at the stranger, 
  and all fell silent in his presence. Perturbed at the end of the 
  festivities the stranger demanded that the fiddler strike up a tune 
  and that the elf maid dance for him. Alhindri thought that he 
  seemed handsome enough from what she could see, but before 
  she could acquiesce to his request—nay demand—the strangest 
  thing happened. Lothiaro, the head of the caravan, took his 
  fiddle and smashed it upon a rock claiming that none of the 
  Wandering Folk would play for the Dark Stranger and that none 
  under his protection would dance before him—as it has always 
  been among the Wandering Folk, and as it would always be.
  Alhindri did not quite understand what was going on and 
  watched in a strangely calm daze as the Dark Stranger proclaimed, 
  “So be it,” and proceeded to gruesomely slaughter the Wanderers—
  her kin of the last several years— with his bare hands before her 
  very eyes. Some of them sought to fight; others tried to flee. It 
  mattered not, for the stranger moved with a speed and savagery 
  unmatched by mortal limbs. In moments, the gory massacre was 
  done, and the blood-slicked stranger stood before Alhindri. She 
  found that she could not look up into his mesmerizing eyes and 
  only stared dumbly at the ground where she noticed the curious 
  detail that he had cloven hooves instead of feet
  “Your adopted kin have purchased your freedom at a dear price 
  this night,” he intoned to her, “but the demand of the Stranger 
  cannot be denied forever. We will meet again, you and I.”
  Then he was gone in the darkness, and Alhindri found that 
  she couldn’t bring herself to move for some time and simply sat 
  and stared at the dew-stained grass where he had stood and the 
  imprint of two cloven hooves that remained faintly visible.
  When villagers from the nearby town of Raven came upon 
  the scene of the massacre three days later, they found Alhindri 
  sat there still, staring at the ground, silent and unresponsive, her 
  cheeks hollow from hunger and thirst, and her brow burned from 
  days in the unrelenting sun. The villagers buried the Wanderers 
  in the consecrated ground of their town cemetery to prevent 
  them from arising again to trouble the living and took the elven 
  waif in out of the kindness of their hearts, thinking her one of 
  the forlorn members of her race presumably in shock over what 
  she must have witnessed. They nursed Alhindri back to health 
  but soon learned that her injuries were more to her spirit than to 
  her body. She never spoke nor emerged from her silent stupor. 
  Finally, realizing that they could do no more for the young elf, 
  one of the local councilmen paid out of his generosity to have 
  her transported to a hospital in a distant city where she could be 
  cared for in hopes that she would eventually emerge from her 
  fugue and be able to tell what had occurred to the Wanderers she 
  had been with.
  There Alhindri waited, known only as the Raven Patient, 
  passed from hospital to prison to asylum, silent and alone for 
  85 years…until today. In the darkest hour of the early morning, 
  Alhindri opened her eyes to discover the Dark Stranger standing 
  in her cell with her. He called her by name and told her it was 
  time for her to return to her lost kin and dance for them once 
  more. She was fascinated, as he spoke, by the pair of cloven 
  hooves that peeked out from beneath his cloak but became even 
  more astonished when he handed her a meticulously cared for 
  viol that in her mind’s eye she recognized at once as being that 
  which had belonged to Lothiaro, made whole once more. 
  Immediately the color returned to Alhindri’s face and her life 
  as she took the beloved instrument in her hands. She didn’t even 
  notice when the Dark Stranger wrapped his cowl around her and 
  she found herself no longer in her lonely cell but standing upon 
  a hill covered in tombs, surrounded by ancient unmarked graves. 
  In the pre-light of dawn she gave no thought to her surroundings 
  but touched bow to fiddle and began to play. Though the fiddle 
  had never been her instrument, as she played upon Lothiaro’s 
  beloved viol she found that it practically played itself. She soon 
  lost herself to the music and began to dance as of old…and she 
  did not dance alone as her long-lost Wanderer kin rose from the 
  ground to join her.
  
  3
  Mini-Adventure
  The Fiddler’s Lament takes place in the town of Raven near 
  a haunted prison. The enigmatic Dark Stranger, for reasons 
  of his own, has brought Alhindri back to the region where he 
  slaughtered her adopted kin and has provided her not with the 
  beloved fiddle of her former protector but an infernal instrument 
  called the Rebec Malevolenti, crafted in the pits of Hell with the 
  sole purpose to bring ruin upon mortals. With this instrument, 
  Alhindri heedlessly summons forth the dead from their rest and 
  causes them to descend like a plague upon the unsuspecting 
  town of Raven nearby. Only with the destruction of the fiddle 
  can the plague of zombies and worse be stopped.
  The adventure begins as the PCs, who have already 
  come to the town of Raven for their own reasons, make their 
  way to the general store to gather supplies.
  A Fiddle at Dawn
  The early morning sun has barely peeked over the eastern horizon 
  as you make your way through long shadows across the town 
  square. The village is awakening around you as goodwives push 
  their sleepy-eyed children out the door to begin the day’s chores. 
  The usual sounds of cock crows and dog barks are joined this 
  morning by something unexpected. Floating lightly upon the 
  morning breeze is the sound of a hauntingly beautiful melody, as 
  if the world’s saddest fiddler were out this dawn plying his bow to 
  catgut in a dirge for the day to come. Who the mysterious player 
  might be is unguessed and the music, though mournful, is not 
  unpleasant.
  Though it is morning, the PCs are assumed to be wearing their 
  normal gear and equipment as befits an adventuring party. 
  Their reasons for visiting the general store are unimportant and 
  should just be to pick up some mundane supplies or equipment. 
  Unfortunately, while there they learn that there is more to the 
  fiddler’s music than they know and that its effects have come to 
  visit upon the town.
  Visit from Grammy
  The storekeep and a local gaffer chat idly near the front counter 
  talking about the strange music, which has apparently been heard 
  across parts of town since before dawn, speculating as to who could 
  be the source. The storekeep’s wife stocks shelves while their giggle of 
  young girls run around playing chase. You once again eye the suit of 
  fine plate armor that stands near the back of the store, wondering 
  what kind of coin it would take to get the storekeep to part with 
  it—you’ve heard him mention that it belonged to his wife’s long-
  deceased grandfather from back when he fought for his country.
  As one of the young girls opens the cellar door to fetch a bag 
  of herbs for her mother, you hear her small child’s voice suddenly 
  exclaim with delight, “Grammy?!” to which the storekeep’s wife 
  patiently explains, “No, dear. You know Grammy and Grampy 
  passed on from the fever last winter. She’s not waiting in the cellar 
  for you.”
  Out of the corner of your eye you notice that the arm of the 
  suit of armor seems to shift and slightly raise, as if it had been 
  dislodged and the whole thing was about to fall over forward, but 
  you are distracted from further investigation by the sound of the 
  heavy, slow tread of bare feet climbing the cellar stair and the look 
  of delight still on the young girl’s face as she shouts, “It is Grammy!” 
  at something behind the cellar door that you can’t see yet. As the 
  suit of armor clatters to the floor at your feet and you see standing 
  in the alcove behind it the worm-eaten corpse of what was once a 
  gray-bearded old man, you can only think to yourself, “And this 
  must be Grampy.”
  Then the screaming begins.
  The map shows the floor plan of the general store. The shelves 
  hold only mundane equipment and supplies, though the waist-
  high shelves and front counter do provide cover to anyone behind 
  them and require a DC 6 Strength (Athletics) check to leap over 
  them headfirst (DC 12 without at least a 10-foot running start), 
  or a DC 12 (DC 24 with no run) to leap atop them. They can be 
  easily climbed over with a move action, but it provokes attacks 
  of opportunity.
  Creatures: The first of the undead brought forth by Alhindri’s 
  bone fiddle that the PCs encounter are indeed the zombies of 
  Grammy and Grampy come back to visit their young folk. They 
  crept into the store before light while the owners were busy 
  elsewhere and instinctively took up hiding places as they had 
  once done to play with their grandchildren. The sound of the 
  young girls playing has brought them out of their hiding places 
  but has also triggered their instinct to destroy all living creatures, 
  so playtime is over. They lurch to attack whoever is closest. 
  Hopefully this will be the PCs as the storekeep’s wife grabs the 
  young child and bolts for the stairs to the upper floor while the 
  storekeep gathers up his four older girls and hustles them that 
  way as well. The gaffer likewise scoots out the front door leaving 
  the PCs to deal with the zombie menace. They attack and pursue 
  until destroyed.
  
  4
  General Store
  
  5
  Grammy & Grampy, Zombies (2)
  Medium undead, neutral evil
  Armor Class 8
  Hit Points 22 each (3d8+9)
  Speed 20 ft.
      STR 13 (+1) 
  DEX 6 (–2) 
  CON 16 (+3) 
            
  INT 3 (–4) 
  WIS 6 (–2) 
  CHA 5 (–3)
  Saving Throws Wis +0
  Immunities (conditions) poisoned; (damage) poison
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 8
  Languages Common (can’t speak)
  Challenge Rating 1/4 (50 XP)
  Hard to Kill: If reduced to 0 hit points by damage other than 
  radiant or from a critical hit, a zombie is instead left with 1 
  hit point if it succeeds at a Con save (DC 5 + damage taken).
  Actions
  Slam Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +3 to hit, 1d6+1 (4) 
  bludgeoning damage.
  Development: When the PCs have finished with the zombies, 
  they can hear the sound of screams from out in the town square 
  with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check. However, 
  immediately afterward they automatically hear the shrill screams 
  of the storekeep’s wife and their five little girls coming from 
  upstairs. Encourage the PCs to stick together unless they have 
  more than four PCs as they decide if they will go outside to see 
  what is going on or if they wish to head upstairs to face the more 
  immediate threat.
  Lingering Shadows
  If the PCs head upstairs in the general store, they find it still dark 
  and shuttered from the previous night’s repose. The sound of 
  whimpering cries and shrill little screams come from the master 
  bedroom. A single candle lights the room and just a hint of 
  dawn light leaks through the heavily curtained window. Across 
  the room, behind the bed, huddle the storekeep and his entire 
  family. They point wordlessly to the open closet door that stands 
  near the exit. From within the closet, sinister shadows can be 
  seen to move in unnatural ways.
  Creature: Another dire visitor from the town cemetery 
  has made its way into here. It is a lesser shadow, much like its 
  normal brethren but weaker and more stunted in its power. It 
  lurches forth to attack as soon as the PCs enter, trying to get 
  at the helpless family but willing to take on adventurers if they 
  interfere. As long as the room remains in dim light, the lesser 
  shadow has concealment against the PCs. If anyone thinks to 
  open the curtain (the storekeep can do so if they PCs think to 
  tell him), the bright dawn light floods into the room and removes 
  this concealment for the creature. In addition, it must make a 
  DC 10 Wisdom saving throw each round to stay and fight or 
  flee back into the closet and out through the walls of the house 
  to find some shadowy corner of the town in which to hide. If it 
  flees, it is not encountered again in this adventure.
  Lesser Shadow
  Medium undead, chaotic evil
  Armor Class 13
  Hit Points 13 (2d8+4)
  Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft.
      STR 6 (–2) 
  DEX 16 (+3) 
  CON 14 (+2) 
             
  INT 8 (–1) 
  WIS 14 (+2) 
  CHA 11 (+0)
  Immunities (conditions) charmed, exhaustion, grappled, 
  paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, 
  unconscious; (damage) necrotic, poison
  Resistances (damage) acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; 
  bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical 
  weapons that aren’t silvered
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 12
  Languages Common
  Challenge Rating 1 (200 XP)
  Incorporeal Movement: A lesser shadow can move through 
  objects and creatures but can’t stop in their spaces.
  Shadow Blend: The lesser shadow has advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks in any light condition less than bright light.
  Sunlight Sensitivity: A lesser shadow has disadvantage on 
  sight-based Wisdom (Perception) checks and on attack rolls 
  in bright light and sunlight.
  Actions
  Strength Drain Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +4 to hit, 
  1d8+1 (5) necrotic damage plus the target’s Strength is reduced 
  by 1 point (DC 11 Con save negates) and dies if this reduces 
  its Strength to 0. This Strength reduction ends when the target 
  finishes a short rest.
  Development: If the PCs rescue the storekeep and his family, 
  they receive a 10% discount off any items in the general store.
   
   
  
  6
  Fight of the Old Dog
  When the PCs emerge from the general store, whether they 
  have defeated the zombies and lesser shadow within or not, they 
  witness the following scene.
  The mysterious fiddle plays on, barely audible above the ruckus 
  that has arisen in the town square. Townsfolk flee everywhere with 
  lurching undead horrors shambling along after them. Most people 
  seem to be managing to lock themselves within their homes and 
  businesses causing the walking dead to wander elsewhere in search 
  of prey, but in the center of the square, where stands the old gazebo, 
  a different scene unfolds. A number of disembodied, clawlike hands 
  clamber across the ground towards the structure and up its rails. 
  Within stands the town’s mangy stray dog that has been adopted by 
  the children. As the crawling hands approach menacingly the dog 
  stands its ground growling at them and blocking the way towards 
  a small group of children behind it who at the same time appear 
  to be trying to get past the dog with their sticks and play swords in 
  order to bravely defend it from the approaching horrors. None of 
  the townsfolk seem to have noticed this yet, and it is only a matter 
  of time before the dog and children find themselves in trouble.
  Creatures: Just as it appears, the local mutt is trying to protect 
  four small children from a group of four crawling hands, while 
  the children try to protect their pet as well. If the PCs hurry, 
  they will be able to intervene in time to save them. The crawling 
  hands will turn on the newcomers while the dog will bolt causing 
  the children to squeal and chase after it, leading them to safety.
  Crawling Hands (4)
  Diminutive undead, neutral evil
  Armor Class 13
  Hit Points 4 each (1d4+2)
  Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
      STR 13 (+1) 
  DEX 16 (+3) 
  CON 14 (+2) 
            
  INT 2 (–4) 
  WIS 6 (–2) 
  CHA 5 (–3)
  Saving Throws Wis +0
  Immunities (conditions) poisoned; (damage) poison
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception 8
  Languages —
  Challenge Rating 1/4 (50 XP)
  Hard to Kill: If reduced to 0 hit points by damage other than 
  radiant or from a critical hit, a zombie is instead left with 1 
  hit point if it succeeds at a Con save (DC 5 + damage taken).
  Actions
  Strangle Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +5 to hit, 1d4+3 (5) 
  bludgeoning damage, and the hand attaches to the target’s neck. 
  A target with a crawling hand attached cannot speak or cast 
  spells with verbal components, and takes 1d4+3 (5) bludgeoning 
  damage at the start of each of the crawling hand’s turns
       A crawling hand cannot otherwise attack while attached 
  but can detach itself by spending 5 feet of its movement. A 
  creature, including the target, can use its action to detach a 
  crawling hand.
  Development: Once the crawling hands have been dealt 
  with, the PCs can take stock of the situation around town. A 
  few zombies wander hither and yon but without any apparent 
  real motivation, and with most of the villagers safely locked up 
  in their homes they are out of immediate danger. Checking with 
  the sheriff reveals that he is away at one of the outlying farms 
  this morning and most of his deputies are currently off duty 
  tending to their own farming chores. There doesn’t seem to be 
  anyone around in any better position to defend the town than 
  the PCs themselves. All of the walking dead are recognizable to 
  various townspeople as their departed family and friends who 
  are supposed to be safely interred in the town cemetery to the 
  north. No one knows why they would be up and about like this.
  Now Hiring: Zombie Fighters, Some 
  Experience Required
  To the south of the square, the moneylenders have stationed their 
  troop of bodyguards outside the door to their establishment, 
  and this group of eight veteran warriors (human fighter 3) has 
  dispatched a half dozen of the walking dead themselves. They 
  put the finishing touches on a seventh as the PCs watch. One of 
  the moneylenders leans out the second-floor window of his shop 
  and shouts to the PCs that he will pay them 50 gp each if they 
  will stay and defend his shop alongside his guards. At the same 
  time, the haunting music continues to drift from the north and 
  the sounds of additional shouts and screams can be heard from 
  that direction.
  If the PCs choose to take up post alongside the moneylenders’ 
  mercenaries, they receive a chorus of boos from any of the 
  villagers watching from their windows. Every 10 minutes another 
  1d4+1 zombies will wander through the town square and attack 
  while the sounds of battle elsewhere in town will eventually 
  die down to an ominous silence with only the fiddle music as 
  accompaniment. This can go on for days with the sheriff and all 
  his deputies eventually arriving and falling to the endless waves 
  of zombies. At some point the PCs will need to either give the 
  town up for dead or head north to try and stop the fiddling that 
  seems to be somehow connected to the zombie plague.
  If the PCs head north proceed with “Extra! Extra! Read All 
  About It!” If they head south to reach the temple or some other 
  area of town, see “A Slimy Skeleton in the Closet” for details of 
  what is going on elsewhere.
  
  7
  Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
  This event occurs at the town’s notice post at the east end of a 
  covered bridge.
  The town’s notice post lies just ahead at the end of a covered bridge: 
  a thick tree trunk, stripped of branches, sawn off at head height 
  for a tall man, and set upright in the ground so that notices and 
  broadsheets can be tacked to it for all to see. The young lad that you 
  recognize as being responsible for hanging the notices crouches at 
  the top of the post trying to stay out of reach of two clay-encrusted 
  skeletons that swipe at him with jagged claws. His stack of bills 
  and notices lies scattered on the ground. Sitting astride a skeletal 
  horse nearby is another skeleton, this one armored in a rusted 
  breastplate. A frayed noose dangles from its broken neck, and a 
  cracked leather eye patch covers one eye socket. The other two 
  skeletons likewise have the remains of nooses hanging from them.
  Creatures: The town’s posting boy has run afoul of a group of 
  malevolent dead raised by the music of the Rebec Malevolenti. The 
  bandit Kurchega was caught and hanged at the covered bridge 
  by the townsfolk of Raven 40 years ago after plaguing the area 
  with his bloody raids for an entire year. Two of his accomplices 
  were hanged with him, and before he died he watched the 
  townsfolk slaughter his prized mare. All were buried in the 
  river embankment near the bridge in unmarked graves so that 
  their memory would be forgotten by all. With the coming of the 
  supernatural music, they have dug forth from their clay resting 
  places. They came upon the posting boy unawares and have been 
  making sport of him at Kurchega’s orders until he grows bored 
  and orders the kill. When they see the party they turn to attack. 
  If the PCs have been having an easy go of things so far, include 
  the skeletal mount as a combatant. Otherwise it serves Kurchega 
  as a mount but does not enter the fray as a combatant itself and 
  likewise crumbles to dust when the bandit chief if destroyed.
  Kurchega the Skeletal Bandit
  Medium undead, lawful evil
  Armor Class 15 (rusty breastplate)
  Hit Points 22 (4d8+4)
  Speed 30 ft.
  STR 17 (+3) 
  DEX 13 (+1) 
  CON 12 (+1) 
  INT 9 
  (–1) WIS 10 (+0) 
  CHA 12 (+1)
  Immunities (conditions) poisoned; (damage) cold, poison
  Vulnerabilities (damage) bludgeoning
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 10
  Languages Common
  Challenge Rating 1 (200 XP)
  Actions
  Longsword Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +4 to hit, 1d10+3 
  (8) slashing damage.
  Skeletons (2)
  Medium undead, lawful evil
  Armor Class 13 (armor scraps)
  Hit Points 13 each (2d8+4)
  Speed 30 ft.
      STR 10 (+0) 
  DEX 14 (+2) 
  CON 15 (+2) 
              
  INT 6 (–2) 
  WIS 8 (–1) 
  CHA 5 (–3)
  Immunities (conditions) poisoned; (damage) cold, poison
  Vulnerabilities (damage) bludgeoning
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 9
  Languages Common (can’t speak)
  Challenge Rating 1/4 (50 XP)
  Actions
  Claws Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +4 to hit, 1d4+2 (5) 
  piercing damage.
  Skeletal Horse
  Large undead, neutral evil
  Armor Class 14 (broken chain shirt barding)
  Hit Points 30 (4d8+12)
  Speed 50 ft.
      STR 16 (+3) 
  DEX 14 (+2) 
  CON 17 (+3) 
             
  INT 2 (–4) 
  WIS 10 (+0) 
  CHA 5 (–3)
  Immunities (conditions) poisoned; (damage) poison
  Vulnerabilities (damage) bludgeoning
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 10
  Languages —
  Challenge Rating 1 (200 XP)
  Actions
  Hooves Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +5 to hit, 2d4+6 (11) 
  bludgeoning damage.
  Development: If the posting boy is rescued, he immediately 
  runs to his father’s restaurant at the river’s edge and tells him 
  everything that transpires. The heroism of the PCs will then 
  appear in tracts on the notice post over the next several days.
  
  8
  A Slimy Skeleton in the Closet
  This event occurs as the PCs reach a crossroads west of the 
  covered bridge. Here the PCs run into Rufio, one of the acolytes 
  (see “Raven’s Rest” for stats) from the temple of the goddess of fate 
  and prophecy, the deity venerated by the locals. He has a small 
  cut across his forehead and is much disheveled but otherwise 
  seems none the worse for wear. He is running north towards the 
  cemetery, but sags to his haunches out of breath in relief when he 
  sees the PCs.
  In between gasps for breath, he explains that Father Grimble 
  and most of the acolytes went to the cemetery early this morning 
  before the ghostly music started in order to prepare for a funeral. 
  They have not returned. Just a short while ago a group of walking 
  dead overran the temple and killed the other acolyte there while 
  he fled out the back. He says he has got to get to the cemetery to 
  alert Father Grimble and bring him back. He says that on his way 
  here he passed Councilor Murik’s home and saw that they were 
  having some sort of trouble. He kept going but promised he would 
  send help as soon as he found Father Grimble. He now begs the 
  PCs to head to Murik’s house and help him while he goes to fetch 
  the good father. He will not force the PCs to go that way but will 
  give them a pouch of seven scrolls of cure wounds that he snatched 
  before fleeing the temple if they agree to do so. He will also expend 
  the last of his own cure spells and channel energies to heal the 
  PCs (assume he has enough to bring them all to maximum hit 
  points). If the PCs refuse to help Councilor Murik, Rufio will not 
  give them the scrolls, but will still heal them.
  If the PCs agree to head south, Rufio tells them to not bother 
  going to the temple as it is overrun. As soon as they help out the 
  councilor, he asks them to join him up at the cemetery so that 
  Father Grimble and the other acolytes can link up with them to 
  sweep the undead from the town.
  If the PCs head south to Councilor Murik’s house, proceed with 
  the following. If they instead follow the acolyte to the cemetery 
  skip to “Raven’s Rest”.
  ___________________________________________________
  The stately home of Councilor Murik stands among the trees beside 
  the road. Several of the lower windows are broken and the occasional 
  scream issues from within followed by the sound of shattering glass 
  and breaking furniture. Soon the aged councilor himself hobbles out 
  onto the front porch, slams the door behind him, and huddles behind 
  a large flower urn to hide. Following him a slimy apparition that 
  appears to be wearing the finery of a wealthy man—a wealthy man 
  with a striking resemblance to the councilor himself—steps through 
  the door as if it wasn’t there and leaves a spot of viscous ooze upon 
  the hardwood. As the dripping creature lurches towards the cowering 
  councilor, you see that the ghostly image of a hatchet protrudes from 
  the back of the apparition’s head. When the councilor catches sight of 
  you he shouts in a raspy, fear-choked voice, “Help me! I didn’t do it! 
  He thinks I’m my father!”
  ___________________________________________________
  Creature: Councilor Murik is currently being menaced by the 
  ectoplasmic remains of one of his own ancestors, Pecrit Murik, 
  foully murdered many years ago and now come back to visit 
  revenge upon the wrong descendant. The ectoplasmic creature 
  attempts to slay Councilor Murik unless the PCs interpose 
  themselves between it and the feeble old councilor.  If the PCs 
  do not do so, assume that the creature manages to finish the 
  old man off in 3 rounds before wandering off to vent its rage 
  elsewhere. If the PCs manage to damage the creature, it turns its 
  attention towards them. The councilor’s servants remain hidden 
  in the house and do not emerge to assist until the battle is over.
  Pecrit Murik the Ectoplasmic Man
  Medium undead, chaotic evil
  Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 7 (1d8+3)
  Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.
      STR 16 (+3) 
  DEX 11 (+0) 
  CON 16 (+3) 
             
  INT 10 (+0) 
  WIS 10 (+0) 
  CHA 12 (+1)
  Immunities (conditions) paralyzed, petrified, poisoned; 
  (damage) poison
  Vulnerabilities (damage) slashing
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 10
  Languages Common
  Challenge Rating 1/4 (50 XP)
  Phase Lurch: An ectoplasmic creature can move through 
  objects, but can’t remain within them. It cannot move through 
  creatures. Slimy mucus that lingers for 1 minute marks the 
  locations on the object where the ectoplasmic creature entered 
  and exited it.
  Actions
  Slam Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +3 to hit, 1d4+3 (5) 
  bludgeoning damage, plus the target is frightened for 1d4 
  rounds (DC 11 Wis save negates).
  Development: If the ectoplasmic creature is defeated and 
  Councilor Murik survives, the old politician emerges form 
  hiding and thanks the PCs profusely for their aid. He sheepishly 
  admits that the creature was undoubtedly his grandfather, Pecrit 
  Murik, a vile and abusive drunk. According to family lore, the 
  councilor’s own father Alberit—himself dead now for over 40 
  years—waylaid his grandfather in the woods with a hatchet when 
  he was drunk and buried him in a hidden grave somewhere on 
  the property. The councilor has never known where the grave 
  was or even if the legend was true, but based on the apparition 
  that appeared seeking vengeance, it would seem that the old 
  tale was true. Here the councilor clears his throat awkwardly 
  and states that it would be quite an embarrassment to his family 
  and the town if it was revealed that one of their councilors was 
  the son of a murderer. He assures the PCs that he will do all he 
  can to make their stay in Raven as welcoming as possible if they 
  would, how shall we say, use the utmost discretion in any matters 
  pertaining to what they have learned here. Regardless of their 
  response, he then encourages them to hurry and help the acolyte 
  who was heading to the cemetery to find Father Grimble and end 
  this plague of undead.
  
  9
  Raven’s Rest
  The cemetery lies a short distance north of the town. If the PCs 
  accompanied the acolyte, then omit the portion in parentheses 
  from the following description.
  The source of the day’s trouble lies ahead: the Raven’s Rest 
  Cemetery. It rises from the moor like a well-tended garden of 
  stone, rising beyond its gates past row upon row of headstones to 
  a low hill crowned by a circle of ancient tomb vaults. The fiddling 
  floats over the cemetery much louder than elsewhere in town and 
  achieves an almost manic quality. Everywhere across the cemetery 
  tombstones tumble over and the earth churns where things that 
  ought to lie still struggle to emerge from the cold ground. Yet atop 
  the hill a single figure can be seen racing around, jumping to and 
  fro in time to the music. There lies your quarry, and a road runs 
  straight to the top if only you can win past the emerging hordes 
  of the unquiet dead. From the brush beside the gate steps a foul 
  creature—obviously once a wolf—its skin hanging in ragged strips 
  from its moldering hide with ribs showing through the gaps in its 
  bloated, putrid flesh. There is fresh blood on its jaws, and the torn 
  robes of a temple acolyte beside the road hide the remains of the 
  wolf’s recent handiwork.
  If Rufio preceded the PCs here, he was paralyzed by the ghoul 
  wolf when he attempted to enter the cemetery. If the party 
  instead accompanied him here, then his stats are included 
  under “Development” below. He does not know exactly where 
  Father Grimble and the other acolytes were making their funeral 
  preparations but assumes the high ground at the boneyard’s 
  center is as good a place to start looking as any. He will assist in 
  any combats unless you feel the PCs are having too easy a time of 
  it, in which case he hangs back and stays out of any fights.
  Creature: A wolf died in the brush near the edge of the road 
  after running afoul of a hunter’s trap and developing infections 
  in its wounds. With the summons of the Rebec Malevolenti, it 
  has arisen as a ghoul wolf and attacks  anyone it meets, fighting 
  until destroyed.
  Ghoul Wolf
  Medium undead, chaotic evil
  Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 11 (2d8+2)
  Speed 40 ft.
  STR 12 (+1) 
  DEX 15 (+2) 
  CON 12 (+1) 
  INT 3 
  (–4) WIS 12 (+1) 
  CHA 6 (–2)
  Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
  Immunities (conditions) charmed, poisoned; (damage) poison
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 13
  Languages —
  Challenge Rating 1/2 (100 XP)
  Wolf Senses: A ghoul wolf has advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks to hear or smell.
  Hunting Pack: A ghoul wolf has advantage on attack rolls against 
  creatures that are within 5 feet of one of the ghoul wolf’s allies.
  Actions
  Bite Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +4 to hit, 2d4+2 (7) 
  piercing damage, plus the target is knocked prone (DC 11 Str 
  save negates). In addition, if the target is a creature other than 
  an elf or undead, it is paralyzed for 1 minute (DC 10 Con save 
  negates). A paralyzed creature can attempt a new save to end 
  the condition at the end of each of its turns.
  Development: If the PCs did not accompany Rufio the acolyte 
  here, then he is lying wounded by the edge of the road where 
  he fell after being attacked by the ghoul wolf. He is currently 
  paralyzed, but the effect will wear off in 2 more rounds. He 
  has a single potion of cure light wounds on him (which the PCs 
  could use to cure his wounds if they so choose) plus the pouch 
  of scrolls if he did not already give it to them. If he was with the 
  PCs all along, then he is not wounded.
  
  10
  Rufio the Acolyte
  Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
  Armor Class 14 (padded armor, shield)
  Hit Points 13 (3d8)
  Speed 30 ft.
      STR 9 (–1) 
  DEX 12 (+1) 
  CON 10 (+0) 
             
  INT 11 (+0) 
  WIS 14 (+2) 
  CHA 12 (+1)
  Saving Throws Wis +4, Cha +3
  Skills Medicine +4, Religion +2
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 10
  Languages Common
  Challenge Rating 1/4 (50 XP)
  Special Equipment: Rufio has seven scrolls of cure wounds.
  Spellcasting: Rufio is a 2nd-level Wisdom-based spellcaster. 
  Attack +3, Save DC 12. He knows the following cleric spells: 
  •	
  Orisons (at will): guidance, light, spare the dying
  •	
  1st Level (3 slots): cure wounds, healing word
  Actions
  Mace Attack: melee, 5 ft. reach, 1 target. +3 to hit, 1d6−1 (2) 
  bludgeoning damage.
  Cemetery Hill
  The Raven’s Rest cemetery is large and sprawling with multiple 
  pathways leading through ranks of headstones, but one path 
  in particular leads directly to the crown of the hill at its center. 
  Everywhere the PCs look they see graves churning as their 
  occupants slowly unearth themselves or open graves where 
  the occupants have already departed. Straying from the path or 
  exploring the cemetery has a 50% chance of an encounter with an 
  undead creature each round (see table in the “Rebec Malevolenti” 
  sidebar to determine what kind). Searching for Father Grimble and 
  the missing acolytes will likewise cause these random encounters.
  When the PCs climb the hill read the following.
  A cluster of aged stone vaults stand atop the hill overgrown with 
  creepers and high wild grass. It seems this portion of the cemetery 
  is older and gets less tending than other areas. Barely visible in 
  the tall grass are a number of headstones, cracked and crumbling 
  with age and canted at wild angles from their long years exposed 
  to the elements. Dancing among them like a vision out of a fever 
  dream is an elven maid. She is barefoot with long, lithe limbs and 
  wears a tattered and stained hospital shift and the ragged remains 
  of a straitjacket that no longer restrains her. In her arms she holds 
  a narrow-bodied gypsy fiddle which she plays energetically as she 
  dances about. Her face is the very picture of transported bliss as her 
  eyes dance with gaiety, and unbidden laughs actually burst forth 
  from her mouth from time to time.
  Though the elf may be the image of grace and joy, the effects of 
  her playing cannot be denied, as rotten and skeletal arms continue 
  to rise from the ground around her, clawing their way to the surface 
  as they sway in perfect time with the frenetic music.
  The stone vaults all remain sealed, so no undead have come forth 
  from them yet. The headstones around her are dated 85 years 
  ago and simply say “Unknown Wanderer. Foully murdered.” 
  Wanderer is the name for the enigmatic gypsy bands that wander 
  the North. A DC 20 Intelligence (History) check recalls tales of 
  Alhindri’s band massacred near Raven and of the lone elf maid 
  survivor who never spoke a word and was eventually locked up 
  and forgotten. The headstones do not impede movement but do 
  provide cover to Small creatures.
  Creatures: Here at the summit of the hill the PCs have found 
  Alhindri, totally enthralled in joy as she plays the fiddle provided 
  for her by the Dark Stranger. She is blissfully unaware of the 
  effects it is having on the surrounding graveyard and cannot 
  be interrupted in her playing. And since the fiddle provides her 
  with unnatural vigor, she will go on playing it for days without 
  stop until she actually dies of dehydration. As the PCs will soon 
  discover, attacks upon Alhindri herself are pointless as it is the 
  Rebec Malevolenti that must be destroyed to end the zombie 
  plague. In the meantime, concealed among the tall grass at the 
  points marked on the map are the skeletal remains of her former 
  gypsy companions. They still wear the tattered remains of their 
  distinctive Wanderer garb and rise up to defend Alhindri from 
  anyone that attempts to interfere with her playing. She uses her 
  move each round to dance about atop the hill and her action to 
  play her fiddle. These do not provoke opportunity attacks unless 
  she moves through a threatened square, which she will attempt 
  to avoid doing if possible. She does not otherwise react to the 
  PCs’ presence. There are a total of seven skeletons guarding 
  Alhindri. Every 2 rounds, another gypsy skeleton emerges from 
  the earth. It provokes opportunity attacks and attack rolls against 
  it have advantage in the round that it emerges, though it is lightly 
  obscured by the tall grass. Choose the spot of its emergence at 
  random. When the Rebec Malevolenti is destroyed, all remaining 
  undead in the cemetery and nearby town fall dead once again 
  and no more emerge.
  
  11
  
  12
  Alhindri the Fiddler
  Medium humanoid (elf), neutral
  Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 13 (3d8)
  Speed 30 ft.
      STR 7 (–2) 
  DEX 14 (+2) 
  CON 10 (+0) 
             
  INT 9 (–1) 
  WIS 6 (–2) 
  CHA 16 (+3)
  Immunities (conditions) charmed, frightened, grappled, 
  paralyzed, poisoned, restrained
  Resistances (conditions) charmed; (damage) bludgeoning, 
  piercing and slashing from nonmagical weapons
  Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception 6
  Languages Common, Elvish
  Challenge Rating 1/4 (50 XP)
  Special Equipment: Alhindri has the Rebec Malevolenti.
  Elven Trance: magic cannot put Alhindri to sleep.
  Faerie Lights: Alhindri can cast dancing lights as an Intelligence-
  based spellcaster without requiring the material component.
  Actions
  Play: Alhindri plays the Rebec Malevolenti which summons an 
  undead creature each round. Refer to the Rebec Malevolenti 
  below for more details.
  Skeletons (7)
  Use skeleton stat block in Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
  
  13
  Minor Artifact: Rebec Malevolenti
  This is a three-stringed fiddle made with a narrowboat-shaped 
  body and a horsehair bow. Its finish has the cracked polish of old 
  bone, and when stared at intently tiny glowing red letters can be 
  seen to swirl about just beneath its varnish, never staying still 
  long enough to be read. It weighs 1 pound. You must be attuned 
  to the rebec to gain the following benefits and powers when it is 
  played:
  •	
  The fiddler gains a +3 bonus to natural armor and 
  resistance to damage by nonmagical weapons.
  •	
  The fiddler gains immunity to the charmed, frightened, 
  grappled, 
  paralyzed, 
  poisoned, 
  and 
  restrained 
  conditions.
  •	
  The fiddler becomes engrossed in the playing and 
  suffers a –4 penalty to Wisdom (Perception) checks 
  while doing so.
  •	
  If the fiddler is reduced to 0 hit points, the rebec 
  grants 1d10+10 temporary hit points to the fiddler as a 
  reaction. These temporary hit points remain for as long 
  as the fiddler plays. There is no limit to the number of 
  times the rebec can do this, and it can do so multiple 
  times per round.
  •	
  The rebec sustains the fiddler without rest in order to 
  allow the fiddler to keep playing.
  The primary purpose of the rebec is to animate the dead to 
  wretched unlife. Each round that the rebec is played, any corpses 
  within range of its sound (including those buried in this range) 
  are subject to reanimation. Even corpses that have rotted away 
  can return as incorporeal undead. For each round of playing in 
  an area where dead bodies are available, roll 1d6 to determine 
  the type of undead creature that is created. These creatures do 
  not attack the fiddler but are not otherwise under the fiddler’s 
  command; they remain true to form, attacking living creatures 
  as opportunity presents. They remain animated until destroyed 
  or the rebec is destroyed at which point all previously animated 
  undead return to death once again.
  d6 
  Undead Type
  1–2 
  skeleton
   
  3–4 
  zombie
   
  5 
  ectoplasmic man
   
  6 
  creature of GM’s choice (lesser shadow or 
  ghoul wolf in this adventure)
  The effects and powers of the rebec cannot be dispelled or 
  nullified by silence. The fiddler must use her action each round to 
  play the instrument, which does not provoke opportunity attacks
  The rebec can be destroyed by sundering it. It has an AC of 15, 
  20 hit points, and resistance to damage by nonmagical weapons. 
  When reduced to 0 hit points, it crumbles to dust and is destroyed.
  Epilogue
  When the Rebec Malevolenti is destroyed, all undead created by it 
  are immediately destroyed as well. The other powers it provides 
  likewise end immediately. If still alive, Alhindri stops in her 
  tracks. The expression of jubilation and total abandon vanishes 
  from her face instantly and is instead replaced by the ashen 
  pallor that once again leaches the color from her cheeks.  She is 
  visibly reduced to a shell of her former self becoming completely 
  unresponsive and listless. She will offer no resistance and can 
  easily be slain or led about. Alhindri has become one of the 
  forlorn once again. The twisted work of the Dark Stranger is over 
  for now. Who he was or what his purpose may have been remains 
  a mystery to be solved for another day. The townsfolk recognize 
  Alhindri from tales of the gypsy massacre and will wish to lynch 
  her to prevent her from being able to come back and threaten 
  the town again at some time in the future. If the PCs can change 
  their attitude from hostile towards her to indifferent, they will 
  agree to let the sheriff lock her up until she can be transported 
  back to the asylum from which she escaped.
  If the PCs search for Father Grimble and the missing acolytes, 
  they find that one of the burial vaults at the eastern edge of the 
  cemetery has been blocked shut with broken headstones piled 
  against the door. This can be cleared in a matter of minutes, but 
  clearly visible in the dust before this pile is a pair of cloven hoof 
  prints much too large to be a goat or other natural creature. 
  Father Grimble can only state that as he and his acolytes entered 
  the vault in the predawn darkness to prepare it for the coming 
  funeral, the heavy door slammed shut behind them and became 
  held fast. They then began to hear the eerie fiddling and knew 
  something foul was afoot.
  
  Music fit to wake the dead!
  This dark fantasy adventure is perfect for 1st-level characters using the 5th edition of 
  the world’s most famous role-playing game. The adventure can be played on its own 
  or in combination with The Murmuring Fountain, or as part of the beginning of a 
  horror-themed Adventure Path campaign.
  Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, it’s true, but some music truly is the 
  devil’s music. An orphan raised by gypsies, now full-grown but still lost and alone, 
  must face once more the tragic curse that destroyed her past. Will her darkling music 
  bring ruin to the village she now calls her home? Can the heroes earn the townsfolk’s 
  trust, or must innocence be sacrificed for the heroes to save town from the mysterious 
  hauntings that plague a village huddled in the shadow of an accursed ruin?
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/Legendary Games/Gothic Horror/The Fiddlers Lament.pdf