Wed&Woes: Ghouls Stalk the Night (by Mark Gedak)

Illustration by Joe Calkins

Ghouls Stalk the Night (DC 15)

Failed Diplomacy check to gather information:

“It was my brother that first found the cow. It had been torn apart by vicious claws. Its organs were are missing, like some ghoulish thing had eaten it. It’s not the first either, there have been dozens of cows mutilated and all round the bodies was loose soil like the dead had risen.”

Source: Samuel Kars (male human youth). A local farmboy, Samuel is very excited by the possibility that a monster might be stalking the town. His oldest brother left town to become an adventurer, whatever that is, and he hopes that he can somehow be a hero as well.

Successful Diplomacy check to gather information:

“I was one of the first ones called over to see the body. The Kars family was worried that the carcass might carry the ghoul fevour. Having had a chance to examine the body, it doesn’t look like the work of a ghoul. The ground was turned as if by a burrowing creature and for as torn apart as the cow was there was very little blood. I suspect it is something terrible but it is not a ghoul.”

Source: Father Timmons (elderly half-elf adept 3). Father Timmons provides spiritual guidance and blessing to the people of the village. He is thoughtful and intelligent man who cares deeply about the community and is trying to provide a strong moral compass for them to follow. The cow mutilation worries him because he is concerned that people may get riled up to go monster hunting and he’d prefer that professional adventurers handle that sort of task.

Follow Up: The hills around the village are indeed being stalked but the evil creature is not a ghoul or pack of ghouls but instead

Anankheg vampire (CR 5): Why another vampire turned an ankheg into a creature of the night is unfathomable but it is slowly adapting to its new existence.

So far the ankheg has stuck to the outlying areas of the community, but it is running out of cattle to eat and thirsts for the blood of humanoids. Driven by the need to feed, it is building extensive tunnels under the village and hopes to create sinkholes to capture human prey in the dark of the tunnels where it can feast all day and night.