Horse Sense

This zero-level adventure begins when a sage named Erollson agrees to accept the PCs as apprentices. On their first day at his country mansion, Erollson asks the party to stack hay for his prized horses while he goes to town. As fate would have it, the barn will catch fire, forcing the PCs to escape, rescuing as many horses as possible. This compels them to adapt the skills they possess to new uses.

Brutish fighters who prize their great strength might try to drag horses out forcibly, while others may pray for druidic spells or clerical powers of healing. How the PCs rescue the horses while saving themselves will determine what Erollson decides to teach the PCs. The party cannot get outside help until the fire is out because Erollson lives over five miles from town.

Erollson is a short man, with a red beard fading to white. If his horses are saved, the old sage will not punish PCs for the fire, although he may tease them about it after a new barn has been built and the matter is no longer so painful.

Barn Fire

Early one morning, Erollson takes the PCs to hi5 barn, where he tells them to stack hay in the loft. The hay is in a pile, with pitchforks alongside. Erollson has locked the main barn doors, but PCs can go in and out through a man-sized hole which has been cut in one panel. A few silver harness pieces are on display, but nothing else of interest is visible.

Although the PCs do not know it, Erollson keeps a decanter of endless water for watering his animals beneath a secret panel in the horses’ trough. The decanter’s command words are: “clear” (for a clear stream), “blue” (for a water fountain, range 57, “white” (for a foamy geyser, range 20’), and “black” to stop the water. A hint on the jug’s stopper reads, “What color is the water?”

Seven horses live here, named Wind, Steel, Blaze, Arrow, Lightning, and River-six magnificent warhorses-and 40’ wide, and the stables begin 20’ from the door.

Warhorses (6): AC 7; MV 15”; HD 3 +3; hp 12,15,11,16, 12, 13; # AT 2; Dmg 1-8/1-8; THACO 16; AL N.

Whitey: AC 7; MV 12” ; HD 3; hp 12; #AT 2; Dmg 1-3/1-3; THACO 16; AL N.

The previous night when Erollson blew out the barn’s lanterns, one of them continued to smoulder and has now returned to life. During the first two turns that PCs are in the barn, this lantern licks the pitch-soaked beams with flame. It is hidden in a feed stall, so the PCs receive no warning except from Whitey, who stamps her foot and whinnies constantly. Fire then sweeps the ceiling. It fans out along each beam as horses kick and bellow in their stalls. Each character and horse must check to see if burning debris strikes him or her. There is a 10% cumulative chance of being hit each round. PCs will be hit automatically after ten rounds. Anyone hit suffers 1-8 points damage from smoke and flaming cinders.

If a character uses a luck roll to cast a precipitation spell (silver buckles from the horses’ tack could be used for the material component), this subdues the fire enough to halve the chances of being hit from falling debris while the spell lasts. Cloudburst would eliminate damage entirely during the spell’s duration, but characters can only cast it with insight. The horses could easily be killed by this fire. Any PCs who reach zero hit points may survive by using AP and will be found in the ashes later, unconscious but alive.

The panicking horses refuse to be led to safety. It takes one round to open a stall, and then the horse must be removed. PCs can force the animals out by making a strength check with a + 4 penalty ( + 2 for Whitey). Characters with a horsemanship proficiency, possibly obtained through luck rolls, can also try to coax horses out, by making wisdom checks at a +3 bonus. Any time a character attempts to command a horse and fails, the panicking steed attacks the PC with both hooves, using the normal combat procedure. One round later, the character may attempt another strength or wisdom check. Characters must make these checks twice to lead a horse to the barn door. PCs may attempt to blindfold a horse. This takes one round and requires the same strength or proficiency check as leading the animal, but after being blindfolded, the horse will follow its leader nervously.

At the barn door, PCs must spend one more round to lead a horse through the tight humans’ entrance. Only one beast can pass at a time. In addition, any horse which is not blindfolded will be afraid to go through, forcing the PCs to make two more proficiency/strength checks. PCs could unlock the main doors by using a bend bars roll to break the hinges, or a luck roll to obtain a thiefs ability to pick locks. There are plenty of loose bits of wire on the floor which could be used for lockpicks.

When these doors are open, the horses can easily be herded outside once they are out of their stalls. Most horses will stamp impatiently as they reach safety, breathing heavily. Whitey, as some fire-crazed animals do, will stubbornly attempt to go back. If the PCs let her, she will lead them to the trough and nuzzle the panel which conceals Erollson’s Whitey, a wise but stubborn mare. The barn is 100’ long by decanter of endless water.The PCs could use this against the fire, halving the chance that debris will fall, or to douse a particular victim, preventing one character or horse from suffering severe damage.

Zero Level Adventure

Aftermath

That evening, Erollson returns. When the sage learns of the fire, he will tear his beard and rush to his beloved horses. If they were all killed, he orders the PCs out of his sight forever and refuses to teach them. If the horses were saved, he calms himself and realizes that the PCs were not to blame. Recovering his decanter of endless water he muses that the PCs have had a far more realistic test of their adventuring talents than any teacher could devise. His horses watched it all, so the sage talks with them using a speak with animals spell. Together, Erollson, the horses, and the party discuss what omens can be found in the incident, and what sort of training it suggests for each PC. As DM, play the roles of Erollson and the horses, helping each PC decide what to study. Increase each PC’s tendency to good alignment by one point for every hit point he or she lost while rescuing horses.

Erollson will train the PCs for the next several months or possibly longer. The DM is free to revise his personality and fields of knowledge to suit the campaign.