Adventure Outline #003: Nice Work, Skeleton! (Patreon)

Hey everyone! This is a little adventure I'm prepping for my friends for Halloween. It's also a pretty solid look into how much detail I put into my one-shots. This is loosey goosey, mostly relying on everyone around the table having a solid understanding of cheesy horror tropes and riffing off each other. The only things I would add to this prep-wise is thinking of specific kinds of fun scares from movies, just so I could provide suggestions to the players if necessary. (Which means watching some horror movies! Yes!)

OPENING CRAWL

You are a skeleton. You and your friends are your master's favourite skeletons. You help him with chores around the lair and in return he showers you all with affection — but most importantly, he keeps you animated.

Master has been unwell though. His power is waning, and many of the enchantments around the lair have been fading. On Halloween, he calls you to his bedside.

"My children, I do not have the strength to renew the spells keeping you animated this year. Your very survival depends on this task I set upon you. Here is my Scare Jar, a powerful receiptical for pure terror. To power your enchantments, you each need to collect a scare from the village down the road tonight during their Halloween fesivities. But be careful! The Onyx Paladin is in town, and he is mighty smitey. To help with your task, you will need to find disguises to move through town unnoticed, and the gift of speech will prove invaluable."

Master casts the spell of Lesser Tongues on you, allowing you to speak and understand Common.

"Now, let me hear your beautiful voices, my children!"

THE SKELETONS

Everyone plays a seemingly-regular skeleton (or zombie) using the regular stat blocks. Intelligence is bumped to 10, and they can speak and understand Common. Each skeleton has a special talent — think like a circus performer. This is meant to be a simple little way to characterise each skeleton. Examples: fire eating, juggling, knife throwing, stage magic, comedy. The players have *insert session length here* to collect their scares.

WHAT IS A SCARE?

A scare is an intimidation check. Skeletons get a -3 to their Charisma checks, so the players need to set up scary situations to maximise their chances. Each target can only be scared once. A separate player takes the lead on each scare. A scare at any location causes such a ruckous that it's not viable for future scares.

• The Onyx Paladin Base Intimidation DC15
• Villager Base Intimidation DC10
• -1 if target is alone
• -1 for each scary element
• +1 for each non-scary element
• Advantage if it's a good jump scare
• Disadvantage if the target is particularly brave

A successful intimidation check means the target runs away white-knuckled screaming. A failed intimidation check means the target runs to get help.

THE ONYX PALADIN

This is our roaming threat: a 3rd-level paladin. If the party encounters the Onyx Paladin early in the adventure, perhaps he just Turns Undead. But if they encounter the Onyx Paladin towards the end of the session, feel free to start smiting these boney fools. Any skeletons who die can roleplay the scare victims moving forward. Play the Onyx Paladin as Lawful-Stupid, righteous as all heck.

POTENTIAL LOCATIONS IN THE TOWN

A Costume Shop

A Tavern hosting a frat-house kind of party

A haunted house attraction

A hay bale maze

A bobbing for apples/eating competition

A pumpkin carving event

A campfire with kids telling stories

An abbey

ENDING THE ADVENTURE

Not all of the skeletons are going to survive — that's OK. The remaining skeletons can bring their collected scares to the Master who will use them to renew their enchantments for another year.