The Siege of Kakariko

Story in one line

The players, defending Kakariko village between both times in the story of Ocarina of Time, intercept an infiltrator carrying a talisman of dark energy; they realize it's meant to wake up Dead Hand. They set to reinforce the seal on the bottom of the well to prevent being attacked from behind.

Encounters

1. Trivial 6 — Capturing the sneaking Vire
   • 1× Vire
   • The Vire is carrying a monster heart, glowing with evil magic. It must deliver it to the bottom of the well, empowering Dead Hand.
   • Vires love to mock, belittle and gloat, so it carelessly reveals the whole plan to his "inferior" foes.
   • This fight is scripted, and the Vire will never escape. It will act as though it's heading for the well, but even if it reaches the well it doesn't go in yet, prefering to "finish off" his foes.
2. The seal on Dead Hand must be reinforced.
   According to Impa, this would require a magical instrument and a magical song.
   Asking around for leads is a Skill challenge, DC 20; each success reveal a random lead below, each failure an obvious red herring.
3. Aquiring an instrument
   • The ghosts of Flat & Sharp will leave Magical Flutes when defeated. 2× Big Poe, Moderate 6
   • Talon has found a Fairy Ocarina in Hyrule Castle's moat, and is keeping it for Malon. Skill challenge, DC 24, 2 out of 3
   • The Goron Shop sells Drums of War for 90gp.
   • The General Store sells an Entertainer's Lute for 200gp, but might price-match the Goron Shop. Skill challenge, DC 22, 2 out of 4
   • The Great Fairy of Death Mountain can add magic to instruments owned by PCs. Skill challenge, DC 20, 2 out of 3
4. Acquiring a magical sealing song
   • Guru-guru will readily teach the Song of Storms. Skill challenge, DC 20, 1 out of 4
   • The Happy Mask Salesman can teach the Song of Healing, though he will deny knowing it in the first place. Skill challenge, DC 24, 2 out of 3
   • In the Tomb of the Royal Family, amongst its undead guardians, is displayed the Sun Song. 8× Redead, Severe 6
   • Impa might begrudgingly teach Zelda's Lullaby. Skill challenge, DC 24, 3 out of 4
5. Moderate 6 — Reaching Death Mountain (Optional)
   At this point, the Gorons have not yet been all kidnapped by Volvagia. The dragon only manifests through increased volcanic activity thus far. The trail to Death Mountain is quiet, but Goron Village is doing fine; the gorons are helping reinforce Karariko's defenses.
   • At the start of every round, select 1d3 random 10ft-squares to mark with a shadow: a boulder will fall there next round, causing 4d10+18 dmg 🔥 Basic DC 25 Reflex.
   • 4× Young Dodongo Moderate 6
   • The trail is so quiet, the dodongos are hungry for any prey. They fight to the death.
6. To reinforce the seal, a song must be played in front of three statues, the sources of water in the well. This functions as a 4th-rank ritual with DC 23. It takes 10 minutes to cast and the Primary Check is Performance (Expert). The number and type of Secondary Casters depend on the song:

   Song of Storms	3 — Performance, Nature, Survival	This song is not quite appropriate; increase all DCs to 25.
   Song of Healing	3 — Performance, Diplomacy, Medicine, Occultism, Religion	Failing the ritual with this song angers Dead Hand, add 1 tension.
   Sun Song	3 — Performance, Arcana, Intimidation, Nature	If this song is played at the coffins, all Gibdos are stunned 3.
   Zelda's Lullaby	2 — Performance, Society	This secret song is perfect, reduce all DCs to 21.

7. Moderate 6 — Entering the well
   • You can hear the spirits whispering in this room... "Look for the eye of truth!" That's what they are saying.
   • 2× Skulltulas with permanent 4th-rank invisibility
     Players should now realize that they will be facing invisible foes in this dungeon, and leave now to get supplies if needed.
   • 1× Bubble
   • The Skulltulas lurk right by the entrance. They roll initiative when they are in place to Descend, Bite, and Web Trap a foe.
   • The Bubble is patrolling and joins the fight on the 3rd round.
8. Severe 6 — The coffins
   • 3× Gibdos
   • The Gibdo rise from their coffins one by one if disturbed, or all at once if the ritual is completed in their room.
9. Low 6 — The waterway
   • 2× Like-like, one with permanent 4th-rank invisibility
   • Roaming around the third ritual spot, they are easy to hear, but it's very hard to notice that the sound is from two foes, not one.
10. Impossible 6 — Dead Hand
    • 1× Dead Hand
    • Dead Hand has not quite recovered from his encounter with the Hero, but is still deadly.
    • Whenever the PCs fight, spend 10 minutes, or critically fail the ritual, add 1 tension.
    • Whenever the PCs change location, remove 1 tension.
    • If tension reaches 4, a single hand shows up; it has -5 circ to all checks and DCs.
    • If tension reaches 5, Dead Hand shows up; the PCs must flee or die.
11. Kakariko celebrates the brave heroes who braved the darkness!