Rose Red and The Seven Dwarves
This adventure is designed for 1 to 5 characters of 1st to 10th level. It is a “find and escort home” adventure with heavy role play and exploration. There are two combat encounters with the option to add random encounters during travel.
The Backstory, Snow White Upside Down
Rose Red, a runaway princess has taken up refuge with a small clan of dwarves. She ran away on her 13th birthday because she is secretly a Hag. She uses her magic to present herself as a beautiful young woman.
Not knowing the truth, the queen offers a huge reward for finding and returning the princess. She uses her magic mirror to scry for her daughter every day and gives out clues to bounty hunters.
Scenario 1: Rose secretly uses the time while the dwarves are away in the mine to plot the downfall of her mother, the queen. Her parents were responsible for hunting down and killing all the hags in the kingdom, and Rose is the last of her coven.
Scenario 2: Rose is on the road to redemption. Not having a coven has left her with greatly diminished powers. It also means that the kind and loving nurturing she received as a child and the kindness shown to her by the dwarves is overshadowing the hag’s evil nature.
The seven dwarves, not knowing Rose is a hag, are supportive and protective of her. She takes over day-to-day management of the small keep the dwarves have built using stone quarried from their mine. At her suggestion, they setup an inn and take in a few guests here and there. While they keep mining, Rose focuses on managing the inn and protecting her identity.
While speaking with a traveler from a far off land, Rose learned of about the Ki-Rin, a mystical beast that has the power to bring the dead back to life, even without a body. Realizing that the home land of the traveler is too far away for her to travel safely, Rose seeks advice from the dwarves.
On their advice, Rose plans to travel to the keep of a power wizard who is rumored to have the power to transform a people and monsters. Knowing the wizard will demand a huge price, the dwarves allow Rose to save all the money from the tavern and they regularly added gold and sliver from their mine to her treasure chest.
Scenario 1: Rose keeps her true identity hidden. She intends to ask the wizard to transfer her into a Ki-Rin so she can resurrect the other hags of her coven.
Scenario 2: Rose, wanting to be completely honest with the dwarves, reveals her true nature and her plan to the dwarves. She wants to have the wizard transform her into a Ki-Rin so she can use her power to resurrect the true princess.*
*Hags steal and eat female babies and then give birth to a duplicate, which they return to the parents. DnD lore does not say if the baby know it’s true nature or not and that it transforms into a hag on its 13th birthday.
The Hook
News from the Kingdom of Grimm reaches the party. The Princess Rose Red has been kidnaped. Queen Sneewittchen has offered a fabulous magical golden apple to anyone that can return the princess. Should the worst be found, the first to return proof of her death will receive a lesser reward.
The queen uses her magic mirror to scry for the princess every day and provides whatever clues she can glean to the bounty hunters.
Running the Adventure
Depending on how long you want this adventure to run, there are several ways to run it.
If you want this to be a multi-session adventure, start the players off on the way to the castle where they must register to become official representatives of the crown. There they will be given a couple of clues as to the location of Rose Red along with a scroll that identifies them as officers of the crown. If they role play well and do well on their persuasion rolls, you may add a “free lodging and food” clause to the scroll.
If you want this to be a one-shot adventure, start the players off just before they get to the Seven Dwarves Inn where they will encounter Rose Red.
Once the party arrives at the Inn and recognizes the princess, Rose will agree to go with them peacefully as long as they escort her on a mission to deliver a treasure chest full of gold to a near by wizard first.
Getting To The Wizard's Castle
There is no road between the tavern and the wizard’s castle. The characters will need to travel overland, through the forest. They will encounter a road shortly before arriving at the castle. Along this trade road, the party will find a private gated road leading into the thick, dark forest. A small sign hangs on the gate that reads, “Trespassers Will Be Eaten.” A lot of spider webs can be seen hanging in the trees and any character that investigates will spot a set of 8 glowing eyes staring at them from deep in the woods. This is a permanent illusion placed on the entrance to the castle ground by the wizard to keep salesmen and pesky travelers from knocking on his door.
For the more determined trespasser/visitor, Pradler has setup three obstacles that anyone wishing to reach the castle must overcome.
NPC Characters
The Seven Dwarves: Blick (the eldest), Snick, Flick, Plick, Whick, Glick, and Quee (the youngest). The dwarves each have their own unique personality. For the purpose of the game, consider that they are all fighters of the same level as the party members.
Broadrell Pradler: A very high level wizard, Pradler is know for helping those that prove to be brave and clever in the face of danger. He is Chaotic Good and frequently associates with some more nefarious characters. (Broadrell Pradler Character Sheet)
Sneewittchen: The queen is an interesting mix of formality and “I get what I want” spunk. Running a kingdom as a single mother isn’t easy and she has developed a keen sense of both people and politics. She is quick to reward those who do her favors and devious when dealing with her enemies. The Queen is a spellcaster and can use the following once per day: Poison Spray, Ray of Sickness, Charm Person, Zone of Truth, Locate Object, and Legend Lore
Rose Red is a Green Hag. Depending on which scenario you plan run, she is either a cunning evil character bent on revenge and resurrecting her coven or she is battling her inner demons and desperately trying to do what she feels is right to repay the kindness of the queen and the seven dwarves.
The Big Reveal
Scenario 1: With two scrolls of polymorph in hand, Rose will accompany the party back to the queen’s castle. The first chance she gets, Rose will slip away from the party and use one of the scrolls to transform herself into the Ki-Rin. She will immediately resurrect one of her two coven hags. The newly resurrected hag will use the second scroll to transform into a Ki-Rin to resurrect the third member of their coven. If the party is high enough level to be a threat to them, the three hags will attack the party. If not, they will return briefly to gloat. Rose will give the party her royal ring as proof they found her. The ring may be cursed or have some evil spell on it.
Scenario 2: With a scroll of True Polymorph in hand, Rose will accompany the party back to the queen’s castle. Along the way, the party will be attacked by bounty hunters. Rose will use the scroll to transform into the Ki-Rin and help the party defeat the bounty hunters. After the battle, she will heal any wounded PC’s and resurrect the true princess. Rose will tell her tail to the party and ask that they return the baby to the queen.
The Reward
Upon return of the princess, the party will be presented with a magic golden apple. The apple has one of the following powers:
True Resurrection per the spell – 1 charge.
Remove Curse per the spell – 1 charge.
Greater Healing per the spell – 1 charge, regains 1 d4 charges to a max of 4 charges at dawn each day.
DM’s Choice – one spell effect of the DM’s choice.
Random Encounters
Roll 1d6 twice per day of travel. On a 6, the party encounters a band of bounty hunters. If the party is traveling with Rose Red, they will encounter bounty hunters on a 5 or a 6.
How to use this table: Roll 1d6 and add the total character levels -1. So 1 first level character could get anywhere from 1 to 6 while a party of five 5th level characters would get between 25 and 31.
| Roll | Creature | HP | Avg Damage |
| 1 | Weasel | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Baboon | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | Badger | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | Spider | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Deer | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | Awakened Shrub | 10 | 2 |
| 7 | Tribal warrior | 11 | 5 |
| 8 | Blink Dog | 22 | 4 |
| 9 | Boar | 11 | 4 |
| 10 | Blood Hawk | 7 | 4 |
| 11 | Giant Owl | 19 | 8 |
| 12 | Giant Wasp | 13 | 5 |
| 13 | Hobgoblin | 11 | 7 |
| 14 | Lizardfolk | 22 | 5 |
| 15 | Bone naga | 58 | 10 |
| 16 | Goblins | (2d6) 14 to 84 | 10 to 60 |
| 17 | Gorgon | 114 | 18 |
| 18 | Griffon | 59 | 19 |
| 19 | Swarm of Ravens | 24 | 7 |
| 20 | Panther | 13 | 9 |
| 21 | Giant Badger | 13 | 10 |
| 22 | Needle blight | 11 | 6 |
| 23 | Constrictor Snake | 13 | 6 |
| 24 | Cockatrice | 27 | 3 |
| 25 | Giant Wolf Spider | 11 | 13 |
| 26 | Bugbear | 27 | 11 |
| 27 | Brown Bear | 34 | 19 |
| 28 | Ogre | 59 | 11 |
| 29 | Raiding Party | (5+1d10) Warriors 55-165 | 25-50 |
| 30 | Tigers | (1d4) 37 – 148 | 8 to 32 |
| 31 | Giant Centipede Nest | (4+1d4) 16 to 32 | 56 to 112 |
| 32 | Pegasus (2) | 118 | 22 |
| 33 | Gobin Warband | (6+1d6) 42 to 84 | 35 to 80 |
| 34 | Giant Ape | 157 | 44 |
| 35 | Young Green Dragon | 136 | 42 |
| 36 | Hobbobin Warband | (6+1d6) 66 to 132 | 30 to 60 |
| 37 | Ghost | 45 | 17 |
| 38 | Centaur | 45 | 20 |
| 39 | Flesh Golem | 93 | 13 |
| 40 | Gorgon | 114 | 18 |
| 41 | Allosaurus | 51 | 23 |
