Plant Y Daear

Details

Sacraments of Evil

Pages: 19

Author(s): Kevin A. Ross

Artist(s): John T. Snyder, Tom Kalichack (maps)

Setting: 1890s

Appears in: Sacraments of Evil, Sacrements du mal

Summary

The Investigators endeavor to solve the murder of Col. Albert Hardwicke in the wilderness of Wales.

Links

• Stephen O\'Brien's Sacraments of Evil review on RPG.net
• Sacraments of Evil review on YSDC

Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only

Players should not read any further.

Synopsis

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
Nathan Hardwicke is a half-human, half-little people hybrid, even though he doesn't know that. Twenty years ago, his mother, Clarissa Hardwicke, was raped by the little people while wandering in the wilderness around the family's summer house in Brecknockshire, Wales. She was never the same after this, and when 9 months later she gave birth to a little boy, she killed herself. Albert Hardwicke, Clarissa's brother, took the baby to London and raised as his own, never coming back to the Welsh house.

Now, Albert decided to sell the property and went to Brecknockshire to clean the estate. While strolling around in the wilds, Albert too finds the little people and their shrine, being murdered a little latter, all his properties being left to Nathan, who hires the investigators to look into his uncle's death, and travels with them to the Welsh property. There, they will have to deal with the little people and their leader, an atavistic serpent person, who recognize Nathan as one of their own.

References

Player Handouts:

• Note from Howard Jones to an investigator;
• Letter from Albert Hardwicke to Howard Jones;
• A passage from a Mythos tome.

Locations: London, England; Partrishow, a small village in the Black Mountains, Brecknockshire (today called Breconshire), Wales.

Creatures: Little People, Serpent Men.

Tomes and Artifacts: The Black Stone.

Comments

"Plant Y Daear" is Welsh for "children of the earth", one of the many terms used for faeries.

The following data is included for use in this scenario but may also be useful somewhere else:

• Statistics for Adders (also known as European Vipers) and how to deal with a character being bitten;
• Complete description with statistics for Little People;
• Statistics for an atavistic serpent person.

The scenario contains three new spells:

• Appear Human, which allows anthropomorphic creatures of man-size or smaller to appear outwardly human;
• Venomous Glance, which attacks the target's nervous system as if he had been bitten by a poisonous snake;
• The Curse of the Little People, used to cause a variety of effects, from tripping and pinching targets to spoiling food.

The protagonist, Nathan Hardwicke, is a human/little people hybrid. As the scenario advances, his suppressed little people side starts to bloom, gradually changing him physically and psychologically. Keepers looking for tips on how to handle similar situations in-game may find it useful.

Keeper Comments

The scenario revolves around the death of Col. Albert Hardwicke, which is briefly mentioned as an attendee in a party in The Eyes of a Stranger, a scenario also featured in Sacraments of Evil. This can be used as a tie for a Gaslight-era mini-campaign, if needed.