xlVii

This 4th Sooton adventure deals with missing children and the revenge of yet another old enemy of the PCs.

pied piper of sooton

Children have been disappearing around Sooton and people are worried. The PCs get involved by frantic parents or friends of theirs who are concerned with the disappearances.

suffer the children

Over the past couple of weeks, a number of the children in Sooton have gone missing. Noone has any idea where they are and even the criminal element is upset (and you seriously dont want them upset). A total of 15 children have been missing for the past 2-3 weeks. The first disappearance happened 20 days ago and the latest was just yesterday. This information is spread out around town, so at first, the PCs are only aware of 2 or 3, but as they start to investigate and ask around, more and more are added to the list. This information soon gets out and the streets are emptied of children as protective parents keep them close at hand. Sooton is a town where the children grow up quickly and are uniquely aware of their own safety and how dangerous the town can be, so they arent usually prone to running away or being abducted. Interviews with the parents reveals that each child had mentioned a new friend that they started to play with. They dont know the name of the new friend but several of the parents have seen him and the description (unhelpfully) matches nearly every male child of about seven years. They do, however, remember the new friend was fond of hideandgoseek.

return of gordon

Gordon the Wererat returned to Sooton after being defeated by the PCs in Ashford. On the way home, he came upon the scene of a massacre. A group of bandits had robbed a caravan, killing most of the people. The only survivor was a child about 7 years old named Gus. Gordon, faced with this situation, hatched an evil plan. He infected Gus with lycanthropy and taught him how to control his new werenature. They proceeded to Sooton where Gordon used the child to capture the towns children. He plans on becoming a Fagin by turning them all into wererats. Why start a thieves guild with adults when you can make one from children who you can control better?

When he found some digs in the sewers of Sooton, he encountered a ghoul. They fought but failed to kill each other (Gordon was immune to the ghouls paralysis and the ghoul was undead, so unaffected by the lycanthropy disease), so they parleyed and became partners. The ghoul gets the useless and weak children while Gordon gets the most promising of them. The situation is pretty twisted and the partnership is very tenuous. Gordon figures that hell be powerful enough soon to kill the ghoul and dissolve the partnership.

The ghoul, following Gordons lead, has created monsters from some of the children, too. And the ghoul figures that soon hell be powerful enough to kill Gordon and all those nasty little wererats! Gordon (Wererat); No. Encountered: 1; Alignment: Chaotic; Armor Class: 7; Hit Dice: 3d8, Hit Points: 24; Attacks: bite (1d4), short sword (1d6); Save: F3; morale: 8; Special Abilities: Lycanthropy disease may be passed on. Gus and Tom (child Wererats); No. Encountered: 1d2; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 9; Hit Dice: 1d8, Hit Points: 2 each; Attacks: bite (1d2); Save: F1; morale: 3; Special Abilities: Lycanthropy disease may be passed on. Giant Rats; No. Encountered: 1d6+6; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 7; Hit Dice: 1d4, Hit Points: 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1; Attacks: bite (1d3+disease, each bite a 1 in 20 chance of catching a disease, save vs. poison or die in 1d6 days, otherwise bedridden for 3d10 days with 1 in 4 chance of death); Save: F1, Morale: 8. Ghoul; No. Encountered: 1; Alignment: Chaotic; Armor Class: 6; Hit Dice: 2d8, Hit Points: 15; Attacks: claw/claw/bite (1d3/1d3/1d3+paralyzation); Save: F2, Morale: 9. Becky, Fred and Sue (child Ghouls); No. Encountered: 1d3; Alignment: Neutral; Armor Class: 9; Hit Dice: 1d8, Hit Points: 2 each; Attacks: bite (1d2+ paralyzation); Save: F1, Morale: 3.

xlVii

ghoul children and young wereratlings

The monsterlings range in age from 5 to 9 years old. The older ones take care of the younger ones, with Gus the leader for the ratlings and Sue the head of the ghoulings. The children of both camps get along quite well, even playing together on occasion, and developing as close friendships as they can under these circumstances. The monsterlings main chore is to watch the captive children (about seven are left now). Since the ghoul and Gordon dont trust each other, both sides have their common pot together and have at least one guard from each camp on duty at all times. While the ghoul doesnt treat his thralls very well, Gordon is sometimes nicer, but not much (hes a megalomaniac, convinced of his great vision). In the event that both their masters shuffle off this mortal coil, the monsterlings will stay together, either to go home to one of their houses (which will result in a bloodbath and more wererats and/or ghouls) or theyll make a run for it, plaguing the region for years to come if let go. The danger of these children should not be ignored. Even though they are children, they are also monsters that must be destroyedthey have driving hungers to feed on the living (for the ghouls) or spread disease (for the wererats). They can paralyze even the most hearty warrior or bestow the kiss of lycanthropy. Their alignments are Neutral so far because they dont understand things as an adult would but their cruelty knows no bounds and they soon will revert to Chaotic. They frequently torture the captive children with a casualness shocking to most adults (think Lord of the Flies, but throw in undead and monsters). It will be fun to give the players a good creepout where they are concerned.