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The Pied Piper

By Rob Helm
Web Adaptation by Nick Eden

The heroes try to save a city from the Pied Piper (also known as the Rattenfänger) of the Grimm folktale. Invited to magically drive away the city's rats, the Piper returns to take its children when city officials refuse to pay him his full fee.  The heroes must buy him off, stop his magic, or drive him away by force.

The scenario is set in Namur, a fantasy-medieval European city. However, it might be possible to reset it in a city of one of the feudal regions of Glorantha, such as Seshnela, Ralios, Fronela, or the Malki Coast. The main elements that would need translating are summarized under "Setting" and "Characters" below.

This is not an immersive scenario—there are several challenges that are puzzles to be solved out-of-character by the players. If you want something more immersive, take a look at "Varying the Scenario", below. That section also suggests ways to shorten the scenario, make it non-violent, or get rid of elements that might be hard to translate to another setting.

These are expanded notes of a HeroQuest scenario written for players that included children aged 10 and 12. Notes from the original session that might be useful for a narrator are included in square brackets [thus].

Benchmark: The characters need combat, persuasion, and magic resistance abilities at around 1w. At least one should have a magic weapon or attack spell that is effective against darkness essences.

Secret: A gift of coins from St. Nicholas, hidden beneath a chapel just outside the city, can help the characters buy the Piper off, or weaken the Piper's magic by causing the bells of the city's churches to ring.

Involving the Heroes: The scenario works best if the heroes are working for the Contessa de Namur (a character sketched below), or  have a casual relationship with a Namur-based troupe of entertainers. [The scenario originally involved three heroes: A knight named Marguerite who served the Contessa, a jester named Henriette who was a member of the troupe, and a smith named Parvus who owed the troupe a favor.]

Setting

Namur is a city at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse rivers in southern Belgium. For the birds-eye view of the city  that serves as a map, see:  http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/belgium/namur/maps/braun_hogenberg_II_20.html
Some important locations for the scenario include the following:

• Bridge over the Sambre and market. The Sambre is the river that runs from right to left in the middle of the city. The bridge in the scenario is close to the Sambre's confluence with the Meuse. The market, where the scenario begins, is in a square a little upriver from the bridge (not visible).
• Chapel of St. George. This is the small church on top of a hill behind the city, about 1/3rd of the way from the left edge of the drawing.
• The Woods. These are the wooded areas on top of the hill behind the Chapel of St. George.
• St. Loup and St. Aubain. These are the major churches in the city.St. Loup is the small spire just to the right of the tall pointed spire in the middle of the inner city. St. Aubain is the squat Romanesque church inside the inner wall at right. (The tall pointed spire is St. John the Baptist, which doesn't exist in the version of Namur used in this scenario).
• St. Nicholas' Gate. This is the gate at lower left in the city's outer wall.

Characters

Apart from the player heroes, the scenario involves the following characters:

• Roget. Head of a troupe of low entertainers who employs or is owed a favor by two player heroes. He is a man in early 20s, dark and a bit dandified.
• The Contesssa de Namur. The feudal overlord of Namur, who has visionary powers. Her role in governing the city is limited, but she is concerned for its welfare. She is the patron or employer of some of the heroes. She is a widow in her mid-20s, thin with long, straight dishwater-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She is no great beauty, but she is energetic, clever, and unusually open-minded for someone of her position.
• The City Leaders. A mayor and a set of councilors. All are beautifully dressed in colorful pantaloons, heavy with jewelry, and heavily bearded.
• The Pied Piper. The figure from the Grimm folk tale "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", a slim, brown-haired young man who plays a pipe and wears wildly multicolored clothing.
• St. George. The warrior saint who slew a dragon. This could be replaced with another warrior saint (Maybe St. Gerlant?) famous for fighting some kind of monster. However, changing the saint will also require changing the name of the chapel and adjusting the dream in Scene 3 below.
• St. Nicholas. The saint who comes like a thief in the night and leaves bags of money for worthy recipients, traveling with a donkey. Supplicants leave carrots for the donkey. Note that Santa Claus and Father Christmas derive from St. Nicholas, but he's a distinct figure. It might be possible to replace him with a Robin Hood-like legendary figure in Glorantha. The Aeolian St. Tarkil, the hero of The Honest Rogue's Tale, might be a candidate (See HeroQuest page 45, right column.) Changing the saint requires changing the name of the gate mentioned under "Setting", above, and changing some details in Scene 3, below.

Varying the Scenario

To shorten the scenario, drop Scenes Three, Four, and Five. Replace them with one or more scenes where the characters try to either persuade the mayor and council to pay up, collect money from the community and patrons, or some combination. This should cut playing time to three hours or less.

Getting rid of Scenes Three, Four, and Five will get rid of some of the hard-to-translate elements, including both of the saints listed under "Characters" above. It will also eliminate the out-of-character problem solving.

If you want to make this scenario non-violent, shorten it as described above, and also eliminate the combat (Extended Contest 6.2) in Scene Six below. You can make the climax Contest 6.1, in which the heroes try to persuade the Piper to take what's offered.

Another non-violent option: Keep Scenes Three and Four, drop Scene Five, and have the final contest, Contest 6.2, concern getting the church bells to ring to block the Piper's magic. The heroes might have to thread their way through crowded streets, push through a wedding party leaving a church, convince an officious clergyman to let them ring the bells even though no mass is scheduled, search for an implement to get the bell-pull (which is just out of reach), or the like.

Scene One: Sham Battle Near the Market Square

The scenario starts with a sham battle between two heroes. One is dressed in a tight costume with metallic-painted green scales and a papier-mache dragon head, and is armed with a torch. The other is dressed as a knight, in fake armor and carrying a blunted sword. The two heroes know that they have to fight convincingly, and that the loser has to pretend to die dramatically. That's all they know initially.

Secret: The two heroes are performing a sham battle in the street on market day, to repay a favor or debt to Roget, leader of a local troupe of low entertainers.  [When this was first played, the dragon was Henriette the jester, a member of Roget's troupe. The knight in the sham battle was actually the smith Parvus, who did the battle to pay off a bet with Roget—Parvus has the relationship Friend to Bar Rabble.]

Contest: Sham Battle Between Two Player Heroes

Appropriate Abilities: Any combat or showy magical abilities.

Typical Modifiers: The hero playing the dragon fights at -10 due to the weird weapon and the big papier-mache head. The hero playing the knight takes a -5 penalty if the hero does not normally use a sword.

Complete Victory /Defeat: Something embarrassing happens: The knight's pants fall off, the dragon's papier-mache head collapses, or similar.

Any other Victory/Defeat: Loser must pretend to die dramatically. Encourage the player to ham it up..

Tie: Both combatants must pretend to die dramatically.

When the battle is complete, Roget emerges from an alley and shouts "Ladies and Gentlemen, let's hear it for—St. George and the Dragon. I give you St. George." (Hero should bow.) "And the dragon." (Hero should bow.)

Encourage the players that are not involved in the sham battle to applaud. Their heroes all watched this sham battle with a crowd on a street that leads from the main market square to the bridge over the Sambre. It is market day, so all the streets are packed with vendor tents and customers. The heroes who watched the battle were on some errand with the Contessa de Namur, who is also present.The two heroes who performed the sham battle did so to repay a favor to Roget (or something similar).

The Contessa invites all the heroes to a banquet at her manor that evening. She asks the two performers to repeat the sham battle at the banquet. She is entertaining a suitor, a "man of simple amusements."

Scene Two: The Piper Arrives at the Market

The heroes hear shouts and cries of fear. The crowded street begins to clear rapidly.

A man in multicolored clothing appears in the street, playing a pipe as he dances through the parting crowd. Behind him, is a huge gray mass of rats. It is all the heroes can do to keep from running away at the sight of the oncoming rodents.

Appropriate Abilities: Personality traits like Brave or Proud, relationship to other heroes (-5), piety relationship (-10)

Resistance: 14

Victory or Tie: The hero is not affected by the rats.

Defeat: The hero runs away for a few minutes, in proportion to the level of defeat. The hero will miss out on the conversation between the Piper and the city officials (see Contest 2.2)

[Parvus resisted successfully with his Eat Anything ability, picking up handfuls of rats and muttering advertising slogans like "Rat: The Other White Meat" and "Rat: It's What's For Dinner."]

The rats proceed over to the bridge over the Sambre and begin to leap into the river. Soon, none are left.As the crowd begins to return to its business, the mayor and city councilors come through, accompanied by guards, and go to speak to the piper at the bridge. The heroes can try to hear what's going on, but the guards keep them at a distance.

Contest 2.2: Overhear Bargaining Between Piper and City Officials

Appropriate Abilities: Listen, Spot Trouble (-5), Urban Survival (-10)

Resistance: 14

Victory: The players hear the Piper demand 200 gold pieces, and the city officials offer only 50. The piper refuses.

Tie or Defeat: The heroes hear nothing, except the piper's warning below.

Finally, the piper announces to the crowd that he will return next market day, and warns that something very bad will happen if he does not receive his pay in full.

Scene Three: The Contessa's Dream

At the Contessa's manor the evening of the piper's arrival, the Contessa tells the heroes about a strange dream.

Secret: The dream, if correctly interpreted, explains how to pick up a gift of money from St. Nicholas that will help protect the city against the Piper. Specifically, it is under the Chapel of St. George. The heroes must give a bunch of carrots to St. Nicholas' donkey to thank him for it.

The Banquet: Discussing the Piper

The heroes are not invited to the Contessa's table, but are allowed to dine in her banquet hall, already a great honor if they are common people. After dinner, she asks the two heroes to repeat their sham battle performance. Regardless of the outcome, her suitor, a large, coarse man in armor with mutton chop sideburns, will roar his approval.

Appropriate Abilities: Know Local Legends (-5), [Church] Traditions or similar (-10)

Resistance: 14

Victory: The heroes learn the details of the Piper legend that they don't already know. Most importantly: If the Piper is unhappy with his pay, he will play a tune to lure the children of the city away to a magic gateway nearby, and they will never be seen again.

Tie or Defeat: The heroes know nothing more than what they had heard already (which means what the players have heard).

After the banquet, the Contess retires, but a servant approaches the heroes and asks them to meet her in her antechamber after her suitor has retired to his own chambers.

The Antechamber: Interpreting the Dream

The Contessa explains that seeing the sham battles today reminded her of a dream, which might have something to do with the Piper's threat. (The narrator should give the paragraph below to the players in written form if possible.)

In her dream, the countess was climbing a green hill that seemed familiar. She knew that she had to get help for the city, or something terrible would happen. A stone knight was at the top of the hill, standing on a dragon and holding a sword. He said to her "Beneath my feet you will find a gift from my brother Nicholas. Give it to your enemy if he should accept, and give it to the city's ringing saints should he refuse. And don't forget the donkey!" The countess smiled at this last, because she was already holding a bundle of carrots.

Heroes might be able to interpret some elements of the dream.

Contest 3.2: Interpret the Dream

Appropriate Abilities: Understand Omens, Know Local Geography, [Church] Traditions or similar.

Resistance: 14

Victory: The heroes realize one or more of the following bits of information (given as hints by the narrator):

• The knight on the hill represents the Chapel of St. George
• Chapels often have catacombs underneath them where the bones of clergymen or other important persons are interred.
• Nicholas is a saint who often brings gifts in secret.
• The carrots in the dream are a gift for St. Nicholas' donkey.

Tie or Defeat: The heroes can use whatever knowledge the players already know or can guess themselves. The narrators might  encourage the players to study the view of the city to identify sites that might be relevant to the dream.

Getting the Heroes Unstuck

If the heroes come to the end of this scene not knowing what they need to know, the narrator can help them get moving again in a couple of ways. The Contessa can deliver any information on the Piper that the heroes didn't get in Contest 3.1. She could hint at how the heroes can defeat the piper, by wondering out loud why people in the city didn't try to drown out the piper's song somehow. She can also  throw out possible interepretations of her dream, giving the heroes some of the information they didn't get in Contest 3.2.

[When this scenario was first played, the Contessa suggested that the dream took place somewhere near the city, and the narrator helped the players search the view of the city until they found the chapel.]

The characters can defeat the Piper without the help from St. Nicholas. See "Varying the Scenario", above, for ideas.

Scene Four: Help from St. Nicholas at the Chapel of St. George

The heroes must get into the chapel and then into the tunnel where St. Nicholas has left them money. They must then battle a shade, a darkness essence that lives in the tunnel.

Entering the Catacombs of the Chapel

Presumably, with hints, the heroes will proceed to the chapel. Hopefully they have picked up a bunch of carrots on the way. If not, there is an out later in the scenario.

The sexton of the chapel lives in a little hut behind it, where he has a garden and some goats. The characters will have to convince him to let them go into the catacombs of the chapel, or they can try to sneak in when he is not watching. The chapel has a guardian, but for some reason it does not give the characters away if they sneak.

Appropriate Abilities: Sneak or similar stealth abilities, Bargaining or simular persuasion abilities.

Resistance: 14

Victory: The characters can enter the chapel.

Tie or Defeat: The characters will have to try sneaking in at a different time, with a higher resistance (17). They can also give up and  try to deal with the Piper without the help in the catacomb – see "Varying the Scenario" above.

[This contest almost stymied the heroes the first time the scenario was played because none had appropriate abilities. Don't forget to suggest Hero Point bumps.]

The chapel is small and relatively bare, with the Stations roughly painted directly on the cold grey walls. There are only a few crude wooden benches and a simple stone altar. Everything is dusty—it hasn't been used in a while. Steps in the floor behind the altar lead down to a door directly under it. The door leads to catacombs.

Under the Chapel: Solving the Tunnel's Puzzle Lock

The catacombs are just a single hallway going straight back from the door, the walls lined with niches containing bones in rough wooden boxes. Nothing is worth stealing. It is cold, dark, and damp.

At the end of the hallway (about 5m) the heroes find a stone door on the right. Next to it is a smooth, stone pedestal that is rectangular in both cross-sections. It is decorated with colored tiles, rectangles of various sizes set into it in no particular pattern.

There is a rectangular depression in the top of the pedestal, forming a sort of bowl. It's divided into a three-by-three grid. There are six smooth, flat, rectangular stones scattered randomly in the bowl.

Secret: To get through the door, characters must arrange the six stones in a three-by-two rectangle in the three-by-three grid. There are four possible ways to do that —any can succeed.

If the players are totally stumped, the narrator can give hints, like:

• It has something to do with rectangles.
• It has something to do with the number of stones.
• It has something to do with the factorization of the number of stones.

[The heroes in the original run of this scenario needed all of the hints.]

When the heroes arrange the stones properly, they hear a snap and the door opens, releasing a cold, damp draft.

The door opens onto a rough stone tunnel leading down. The floor of the tunnel is gravel. About 10 m beyond the door, the characters find a leather bag of gold from St. Nicholas in a niche. The bag contains 50 gold pieces and a note. The note just says "Be good, and don't forget my donkey!"

The characters are supposed to leave the carrots in the niche.If they fail to do this and later read the note, they can leave them in front of a little statue of St. Nicholas at the St. Nicholas gate in the city. (See "Setting", above.)

[The heroes who first ran this scenario had to find someone to read the note, then they remembered the carrots and took them to the St. Nicholas' gate. If they had not done so, the bag of gold might have mysteriously disappeared when nobody was looking.]

Scene Five: Escaping the Tunnel

The characters must fight a darkness essence, a shade, to escape from the tunnel with St. Nicholas' gift.

Shortly after the heroes pick up the bag, a cold wind blasts from further down the tunnel and closes the doors behind.them. The heroes see a black mass of darkness coming up the tunnel, a shade. The cold wind blows continually off of it.

The Shade

Weapons and Armor: None, but immune to attacks other than magic weapons, magic, light, and fire.

Magical Abilities: Fearshock 10w (multiple target penalties apply)

Tactics: The shade simply envelops the group initially, attacking and resisting every hero. If only one hero proves able to damage it, it will focus on that hero and ignore the others. The shade bids 3AP per round (more if you want a shorter combat).

Extended Contest: Fight the Shade

Appropriate Abilities: Weapon skills (magic weapons only), attack or light spells, torches or lanterns (-10 improvisation).

Complete Victory (shade at -40AP or less): The shade vanishes in a puff of darkness, and the cold wind stops.

Other Victory (shade at 0 to -39 AP): The shade retreats slowly down the tunnel, and the cold wind slows to a stop.

Defeat: A defeated hero suffers a penalty to all abilities based on level of defeat.

[In the initial run of this scenario, the heroes pursued the shade down into the tunnel, until the shade rallied and drove them back.   However, there's a follow-on scenario to this one (currently in the works) that the narrator could jump to, if the players want their heroes to continue down the tunnel.]

Scene Six: The Pied Piper Returns on Market Day

The Piper returns to the bridge over the Sambre on the next market day, as promised. The heroes can try to buy him off, block his magic, or drive him away.

Bargaining with the Piper

The Piper is met by the mayor and councilors, who offer him another 50 gold pieces, which he rejects. The heroes can horn in (if they show the guards that they have gold) and try to bargain him down to what's offered.

Contest 6.1: Persuading Piper

Appropriate Abilities: Bargain, Fast Talk, Orate, Urban Survival (-10)

Resistance: 10w2

Victory: The piper takes the 100 gold pieces from all parties and leaves for good.

Tie or Defeat: The piper refuses all the money, and leaves angry, but does not indicate what comes next.

Stopping the Piper's Magic

If the Piper refuses the character's payment, he will leave, but then go up the hill into the woods behind St. George and behind to play his "Call Children and Numb Parents" tune. Many children of the city will begin to walk toward the woods, while the adults wander somewhat aimlessly in that direction, but without stopping the children.

The characters can slow this process down by taking the gold from St. Nicholas and putting it into the poor boxes at the major churches in the city (St. Loup and St. Aubain). When they do this, the bells will begin to ring wildly by themselves, drowning out the piper's song.

With or without ringing the bells, the characters will presumably follow the children and try to hunt down the Piper to make him stop. However, the characters will be affected by his song as they get closer. It causes them to blank out for a moment, so that even if they catch sight of him and close in, the next moment he's gone.

Extended Contest 6.2: Stopping the Piper

Active and Resistance Ability (Piper): Call Children and Numb Parents spell 10w (includes all multiple target and range penalities). He will switch to Dodge (1w) and escape through a magic portal if very low on AP.

Bids: 3

Typical Modifiers: The Piper takes -10 for each church bell ringing (reducing his target number to 10 if both are ringing).

Active Abilities (heroes): Heroes must use Scouting, Track, Listen, or other perception skills until their Aps reach  twice that of the Piper. When they are at double the Piper's AP, they can use combat or magical attacks.

Resistance Abilities (heroes): Heroes can resist with magical protections, personality traits (e.g. Determined), noisemaking abilities (e.g. Storm Voice or Singing), or a piety relationship (-10).

Victory: The Piper will beg for his life if not Dying.

Defeat: The Piper will vanish into a magic portal in the hillside, with a number of children proportional to his victory level.

[The heroes in the initial run of this scenario took the Piper's pipe. It must be a powerful magic item for the Piper to achieve his effects, but it's left to the narrator to detail it.]

Aftermath

If victorious, the heroes will be the toast of the town, and can probably gain a permanent relationship to the city officials, although people have only a vague idea of what they did. The Contessa will invite them to a private dinner, at her table this time, so that she can hear the full story.

If defeated, the city will still appreciate the fact that they saved some of the children. In a future scenario, the heroes might have pursue the children, with magical help from the city to re-open the Piper's portal. Or, they might divine where the portal led and travel there.

The heroes might want to investigate the tunnel where the shade retreated. What's down there could be the basis of another scenario. [And is the basis of a follow-on scenario to this one, currently being written up.]