Trail of the Ghost Bird

An Introductory Adventure, You Know… For Kids.

by ben boyarko
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 Trail of the Ghost Bird

An Introductory Adventure, You Know… For Kids.

Introduction: This is an introduction to D&D, an adventure where new

players can meet an NPC, explore some basic mechanics such as searching
for hidden items, make a couple ability checks, and see what combat is
like. Everything great about D&D condensed into a short introduction.

A 1-2 hour adventure for 1st level characters

by ben boyarko

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other
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Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.

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A Gentle Introduction
I don’t recognize this place either. How long have we been walking?

A Walk in the Woods

A thin blue light catches your eye sitting
atop a large stone. At first you think it must
Every adventure has to start somewhere. be a beam of sunlight reflecting off the cool
grey of the boulder, but on a closer look, you
For a lot of kids, D&D is a little hard to
grasp. The epic fantasy, the imagination, see it begin to take form.
and the characters, monsters, and NPCs are
usually no trouble though. It’s the An owl, shaped out of thick blue light turns
game’s mechanics that always appear a its round head towards you.
little opaque before playing through a
round or two.
“Hey. Can you folks help me? I lost one of
I’ve introduced a bunch of kids and my feathers in these bushes, but I can’t...
grownups to D&D, and it seems like the main Ugh. I can’t get through them to find it.”
challenge for most people to getting into
the game is the idea that some actions your
character takes might not work.
The skill check, the attack roll, and the
saving throw all seem to run together for The Main Points
the new player, especially for kids. Partial Cover
In this adventure, the PCs go for an innocent Bushes: If a PC is trying to attack a Jackal who
walk in the woods. It’s as good a starting is hiding in the bushes, that Jackal gets +2 to
place as any, and requires a little less AC due to the partial cover.
work at level 0 backstory creation.
Whoever is in the party, just make sure Difficult Terrain
that they know each other at least well
enough to agree to go for a walk in the Bushes: Moving through the bushes is difficult.
woods together. A PC can move at half speed with no problem, but
trying to just run right through the bushes runs
Setting a risk of tripping the PC up.
The bulk of this adventure takes place in Make a Dexterity check (DC 12) or else become
a forested setting, mainly getting stuck tangled in the bushes, losing all further
in the bushes. This is designed to
movement for the remainder of the turn.
introduce the concepts of partial cover,
difficult terrain, and the skill check. Critical fails result in 1 slashing damage as
a branch nicks the skin.
Stony Ground: Some of the ground in this area of
the forest is littered with exposed stones.
Dappled light filters down from the high
They’re not a big deal most of the time, but
branches of the canopy. Flowering shrubs and
can become an ankle twisting hazard if the PCs
bushes dot the understory, and the firm packed
earth gives way to patches of ferns, small aren’t careful. Movement at half speed is
clustered flowers and loose fist-sized perfectly safe, but moving at full speed, or
stones. Dashing might be a problem.

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Make a Dexterity check (DC 10) or else fall prone.
Five feet of movement can be used to stand up
again. Critical fails deal 1 bludgeoning damage Al the Ghost Owl
from smacking against a stone extra hard. The PC’s guide in this wild goose chase
is a surly ghost owl named Al, or his
Skill Checks proper name, Alouicious Questerberger Von
Bushes: Several Feathers are scattered among the Raincaller.
bushes. Some are magical feathers, capable of Al was a human cleric of an unspecified
producing a one-time effect, and some are not. nature deity who protected this area of
the forest before he was slaughtered by
While searching for a feather in the bushes, make the Jackalwere.
a Perception or Investigation check (DC 12). On
Upon his death, his spirit traveled to the
a success, the PC finds a random feather from Happy Hunting Grounds, where he was
the table below. transformed into an owl, but his deity
See the Feathers section at the end of this sent him back to the location of his death,
to resolve a little unfinished business.
adventure for magical properties. Feathers
with magical properties are followed by an Though Al doesn’t remember life as a human,
asterisk (*). his death, or the Jackalwere, he knows
that a body has been dragged into one of
the bushes nearby. He will point this out
to the party if they need the information.
He cannot rest until one of his two missing
Ghost Owl Feathers is returned to him, and
the Jackalwere that was responsible for
his death has been defeated.
Feathers Found
1 Spectral Blue Ghost Owl Feather(*) Important Points
Al can still cast spells, namely Cure
2-4 Black Crow Feather Wounds. He will do this only if
absolutely necessary.
5 Tiny Sparrow Feather(*)
He also knows that the body in the bushes
6 Red Fire Bird Feather(*) has a silver dagger, which he will share
if the party requires that tool to slay
7 Hummingbird Wing Feather(*) the Jackalwere.
Al also knows the magical properties of
8 Rainbow Feather(*) all the feathers. He will reliably
identify whether or not any feather
9 Big Purple Feather(*) presented to him is magical, but won’t
always share what the magic feather does.
10-13 Goose Feather
Al will never tell what the Ghost Owl
14-18 Chicken Feather Feathers can be used for. He will eagerly
claim ownership of the first one the PCs
19 Raven Wing Feather(*) present to him, but will claim ignorance
of any others found, saying simply that
20 A small pile of songbird down they must belong to some other ghost
feathers(*) bird.
Al will always confirm that the Chicken,
Crow, and Goose Feathers are
non-magical.
If shown Chicken or Goose Feathers, Al
will say:

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“Oh, yeah... There were some Chickens and Al the Ghost Owl will notice the Jackals at the
some Geese here a while ago. Now they’re not same time as the first member of the party notices
here anymore. There was some reason for them.
that... I can’t remember.”
“Right! That was it! That’s what happened to
all the Chickens and Geese.”

The Body Once the Jackalwere has been defeated, any

Dragged into the bushes is a body, long decayed remaining Jackals will flee. Al the Ghost Owl will
and desiccated. This is the fallen remains of Al, fly near the PCs.
back when he used to be human. Some of the bones
have been scattered, and the clothes, boots, and
leather armor are rotted beyond use. “It’s all coming back to me now. The
Jackalwere... I was trying to fight it off...
On the body are the following items: And I failed. My friends. I don’t know how
A Silver Dagger to thank you. Now I can rest, at last.”

A crumbling pouch, containing 36 Gold Pieces

After this, Al the Ghost Owl heaves a heavy sigh.
A Holy Symbol (Gold medallion with an oak leaf As if hearing a distant sound, he gives the PCs
inscribed on one side- worth 25 gp) options for their next adventure, and then flies
upward into the sky, disappearing in a wink of
blue light.
Search Interrupted
As the party is searching, Jackals will attack,
first sneaking in to array themselves to best Experience
advantage.
This adventure is designed to take the
1d4 + (the number of PCs in the party) Jackals. PCs from 1st level to 2nd level. Because
Use the stats in the Monster Manual. One of these of this it can be handy to just assign 300
XP and call it a day.
will transform into a Jackalwere when the first
blood is drawn. If you’d rather, though, grant:
The Jackals will be noticeable as they sneak 10 XP for each Jackal killed or scared off
towards the party on a Passive Perception check 100 XP for defeating the Jackalwere
(DC 15). They’ll take every opportunity to use
the bushes as cover, and will regroup behind the 100 XP for returning Al’s missing
Feather
Jackalwere when injured, frightened, or
intimidated. 50 XP if you learned of Al’s death

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 seen on an Insight or Investigation check (DC
NPC 18) in this situation, but appears as a thin
and translucent apparition. Al has advantage
on Stealth checks while moving in this
Al the Ghost Owl (Alouicious manner, but disadvantage on Perception
Questerberger Von Raincaller) checks made concerning sights and sounds on
Small Undead Beast (Ghost Owl), Lawful Good. the Material Plane.

Armor Class 11 Homing. Al is able to remove up to three

Hit Points 40 spectral feathers, and reattach them at
Speed 5 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover) will. So long as one of these spectral
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA feathers remains in the Material Plane, Al
3 13 8 11 15 11 is able to find its location from anywhere
in the Ethereal Plane. If the spectral
Damage Resistances: acid, fire, lightning,
feathers are carried to any plane other than
thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing the Material Plane, the Ethereal Plane, or
from non-magical attacks. the Beastlands, they disappear.
Damage Immunities: cold, necrotic, poison
Spellcasting. Al is a more or less second
Conditioned Immunities: charmed, exhaustion,
level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability
frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified,
poisoned, prone, restrained. is Wisdom (spell save DC 12 +4 to hit with
Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +3, Religion +5 spell attacks). Al has the following cleric
Senses. Passive Perception +0, Dark Vision 120
spells prepared.
ft.
Cantrips (at will): Light, Sacred Flame,
Languages. Common, Elven. Guidance.
Challenge. 4 (1,100 XP)
1st level (3 slots): Cure Wounds, Bless, Guiding
Bolt.

Ethereal Sight. Al can see 120 ft. into the

Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material
Plane, and vice versa.

Incorporeal Movement. Al can move through

other creatures and objects as if they were
difficult terrain. It takes 1d10 force
damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

Improved Etherealness. Al enters the

Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane or
vice versa on the Material Plane while it is
in the Border Ethereal, and vice versa, yet
it can’t affect or be affected by anything on
the other plane. Because Al can see further
than it is capable of moving, it can hover
just outside of visibility. Al can always be

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Feathers
The Magic Feathers are a tease at the
treasure and magic item gathering Ghost Owl Feather
potential of D&D. Plus I just like making
up Ridiculous and Impractical Magic Items.
The Ghost Owl Feather is a haunting spectral blue,
So there’s that. As far as that goes transluscent, and casting a faint blue glow around
though, these are a little less on the it.
Impractical side than I usually go for,
you know... for kids. Al the Ghost Owl can use the Ghost Owl Feather as
a bridge to return from the Happy Hunting
It’s All in the Wrist Grounds back to the Material Plane. This can
The magic feathers don’t work automatically, establish a tie to this NPC if the DM might
which can be a source of consternation. occasionally need a deus ex machina excuse to
swoop in and get the PCs out of trouble –
Waving them around, throwing them, or any other
potentially useful when playing with younger kids.
thing the PCs can think to do might activate them,
but might not.

To use the magic feathers roll a 1d6. Magic users of

any kind may add their Spellcasting Ability Score Tiny Sparrow Feather
Modifier to this roll. When the feathers do work as The Tiny Sparrow Feather is just an inch in length,
intended, they are consumed in a bright magical and so fragile that it appears it would break in a
light, and disappear as they create their effect. strong breeze. Its light grey in color, and is
surprisingly springy when picked up from the leaf
Roll Effect litter.
1-3 Nothing happens. The feather starts to shake violently, then becomes
4 The feather glows with a faint sparkle of two feathers, still shaking. After a moment it
light, but nothing else happens. explodes into a flurry of feathers in a cloud around
the user. The Tiny Sparrow Feather doubles the
5-6 The feather preforms its magical effect. user’s movement speed, and allows the user to
take one extra action per turn for three turns,
starting the turn it is used.

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Red Fire Bird Feather
The feather erupts in a poof of red flame which
melts into the palm of the user’s hand. Big Purple Feather
This feather, about 3 feet long and bright bright
The user may either cast Fire Bolt 3 times at will purple bounces jauntily as the character who holds
within the next 10 minutes, or may cast Fireball it moves along.
once. A tiny scorch mark remains on the user’s
palm for the next day. When used, the bright purple feather bounces up
and down, getting free of the user’s grasp. It pops
vertically into the air, and touches down to the
ground upright, where it begins to spin, and soon
Hummingbird Wing Feather appears to be a bright purple duplicate of the user.
A tiny feather that seems to shimmer with This purple duplicate will undertake any action that
iridescent light, though when you look again, it’s the user directs it to, as an Unseen Servant, except
just green. of course that the duplicate is quite visible and
conspicuous. Makes an excellent decoy.
The feather levitates, turns into a feather of
iridescent light, and shoots into the eye of the user. Lasts about 15 minutes before disappearing in a
The user now has advantage on all Charisma puff of purple smoke.
checks for the next 24 hours.
Raven Wing Feather
A long black feather, especially crisp with a faint
blue shimmer when the light hits it just right.
Rainbow Feather
A shimmering feather, sparkling with rainbow The feather falls to the ground, where it flutters
colors that seem to follow the feather around, down gently to any space where the user’s shadow
leaving trails in the air where it has passed. is. It slowly melts into the shadow of the user with
a crackling sound. The user has advantage on
The rainbow feather begins to sparkle with Stealth checks for the next 24 hours, and may Hide
rainbow light, and heals 1d6 +2 damage from the as a bonus action 3 times within the next 24 hours.
user, as well as 1d6+2 damage of any other target
the user chooses.
Pile of Small Down Feathers
About two dozen tiny white feathers, incredibly soft
to the touch. They are so fuzzy and light that they
seem about to blow away at the slightest breath.

When thrown into the air, these feathers cause a

change in the weather. The wind turns an icy cold,
and snow flurries begin to fall from the sky. This
effect is highly localized, to a 20 radius area the
user can see. If used indoors, this effect is limited
to the room in which the feathers are thrown.

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