The Cherpa Hen

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Two figures scurried through the darkness whilst the town of Cherpa lay quiet behind them. Pushing through the tall grass and reed they made their way towards the old mill, a place that was thought as haunted and cursed by the townsfolk of Cherpa.

As they approached the large, old double doors that lead to the interior of the mill they skipped with glee. They were about to pull off the greatest prank in the history of the sleepy little town. Pushing on the door they snuck inwards, the bags they were carrying bursting with grain, lake weed and vegetables.

‘Now don’t fret. Stop it. Calm down!’ the two humans shouted as dozens of large birds fluttered and called out as the mill was suddenly invaded. ‘Come get it!’ the other called as the bags were upended and the food within was scattered amongst the room. The birds calmed down some degree and waddled forward to pick at the food scraps. However they were on edge, alarmed and spooked easily.

This wasn’t like the birds they knew. Each bird was intelligent beyond normal birds. In fact the birds had followed them to the mill at the promise of mischief. But their feathers were puffed out and their large flat beaks were bent down threateningly. Normally these beaks were used at snapping and severing plants at the bottom of the lake as these birds were peaceful. However now they were waving threateningly in front of the youngsters.

Trouble

‘I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They aren’t acting normal. Daisy isn’t even eating!’ called the younger of the two who was trying to coax a particularly large cherpa hen to eat. The hen suddenly rushed forward, the smaller wings on its back beating in an effort to gain speed as it crashed into the boy. The beak darted forward and snapped several times, the boy cried out before the bird landed down on the boy.

‘Help me sister! It bit me. There’s blood, soo much blood!’ a panicked voice cried out from under the feathers of the hissing bird. The opening and rapid closing of the mill door were the answer to his cries as Casey rushed from the mill back towards Cherpa.

‘The adventurers. The ones old Gerald was talking to. They can help I am sure of it.’ she said to herself under strained breath as she raced down the road. Meanwhile in the mill the lifeless body of a furred predator lay meters away from the hissing hen as the large birds moved around the one called Daisy. Their large bodies covered with dense plumage creating a barrier between the youngster and the other predators that had dug their way into the mill. Concealed under their feathers of the large bird the boy wept and promised any of the gods that would listen that his days of trickery were over.

Thoughts

Being young and brought up by a community of calm, collected folk would drive any child to boredom if not tickery. Corey and Casey are products of this and I have tried to stress the intent of their actions of a prank rather than malice. However malice doesn’t need to come from the ones at fault or those who cause mischief and in this case it comes from the outside. There are several predators of water birds and the larger the bird the larger the predator has to be.

Being a low level encounter and adventure I wanted to try and both bring something familiar to all low level adventures but keep it a bit fresher. Avoiding the normal kobolds and goblins that I favour for low level encounters this week I thought of natural predators that we can use. I also wanted to avoid rats.

Now I love rats, skaven are still my favourite race in most of fantasy settings but in this case I felt like the cliché giant rat adventure was a bit over done. So tonight we are looking at something else. Curious? Well you’ll just have to come back later this week to fine out what’s in the shadows of the mill.