Printable guide sheet: The Light on Hare Down

Read this to your players to start

A light out on Hare Down has been counting at Reedwatch’s watchtower for ten nights, and nobody left in the tower knows the code. Find out what it is saying, and answer it before the weather it is warning about gets here.

Scenes (all session lengths — scene’s tag shows the shortest length it appears in)

1. Scene 1: The Watch Looks Inland from Quick Quest on

   Up and up you climb, to the top of Reedwatch’s tall tower. It is sunset. Watch-captain Orrin Sedge should be watching the sea. Instead, he turns round to face the land. Far away on Hare Down, a tiny light opens and shuts. Opens and shuts. "Ten nights," he says. "It is counting at us, and nobody knows what it means." The tower’s runner, a girl of eleven, holds out a notebook. "I wrote it down every night," says Pel Marram. "It is always the same."

   Goal: Get the count itself, three, then four, then five, and carry it to somebody who might know what it means.

   • Read Pel’s notebook No roll

     It works: Ten nights, ten rows, all the same: three short flashes, a pause, four, a pause, five. Then it starts again. It always begins at sunset.

     It doesn’t: If nobody reads it, Pel reads it out, tapping each mark: three, four, five. Every single night.

   • Count the light Clever, DN 8

     It works: Three. Four. Five. Then again. Whoever is out there is not in a hurry. They are saying the same thing over and over, like somebody waiting for an answer.

     It doesn’t: You lose count at four. Pel counts with you on the next go: three, four, five.

   • Ask about the old book Kind, DN 8

     It works: Orrin finds a very old book. One page has a heading, but the ink has faded right away. "We kept a watch out that way once," he says. "Long before my time."

     It doesn’t: Orrin shakes his head sadly. "Nobody alive up here was ever taught it."

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Everybody be the light! Open your hands and shut them: three, then four, then five.

   Ask the quietest player: Why do you think somebody would flash a light at the tower every night? Every answer is a good one. Remember it, and see later who was close.

   Orrin is not the baddie and must never sound like one. He is a careful man beaten by a problem the size of a lamp. Two facts must leave this scene: the count is three, four, five, and it repeats. Nobody in Reedwatch is hiding anything: the tower has argued about this loudly, in public, for ten nights. Why has nobody walked up there? It is half a day up and half a day back, and every night somebody says they will go tomorrow. Short on time? At the Quick Quest length, go straight to the hill: Halder says the rhyme himself in the climax.

2. Scene 2: The Skipping Rhyme from Short Session on

   In the Reed Market, children are skipping. They sing a rhyme every child in town knows: "One for the sheep on the hill. Two for the well going dry. Three for the rain by dark. Four for the wind from the west. Five for come up, come up. And a long one to say I hear you." Nan Weft looks up from her weaving. She taught them all that rhyme. "My grandmother called it the Inland Count," she says. "It is only a skipping song."

   Goal: Notice that the skipping rhyme is the code the tower lost, and read the ten nights with it.

   • Skip with the children No roll

     It works: They make you do it properly, and they laugh a lot. By the third go, you know all six lines, in the right order.

     It doesn’t: You trip over the rope. Everybody laughs, you too. Then they sing it slowly, just for you.

   • Match the notebook Clever, DN 10

     It works: Three is rain by dark. Four is wind from the west. Five is come up, come up! Somebody has been sending a weather warning, and an invitation, every night.

     It doesn’t: The rhyme goes too fast. Then a child skips three, four, five in the wrong place, and everyone shouts the right lines: rain by dark, wind from the west, come up!

   • Ask Nan Kind, DN 8

     It works: "Halder Anselm, same as always," says Nan, as if you had asked what colour the sky is. "He has kept sheep up there for forty years." Nobody hid this. Nobody asked.

     It doesn’t: Nan is counting reeds and does not hear. Then she looks up. "Halder Anselm is up there, of course." Nobody hid this. Nobody asked.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Everybody skip, or pretend to, and say the rhyme together!

   Ask the quietest player: If a light could send you one message every night, what would you want it to say?

   The scene the adventure exists for: it must land as delight, not as a clue handed out. Play the children first and the grown-up second: the rhyme should be in the room, sung over a rope, before anybody says it means anything. Nan is not hiding anything; to her it was never a code. If the table does not make the connection, let a skipping child count three, four, five out loud in the wrong place, and get shouted at by the others.

3. Scene 3: The Down Gate from One-Sitting Session on

   The Down Gate is a gap in Reedwatch’s woven reed wall. Here, the white chalk road starts to climb. Beside the gate is a book. It says who went out, and what they carried. Ten days ago: Halder Anselm, shepherd, up to his sheep, one lamp, one can of oil. Seven days ago: Rue Anselm, his granddaughter, down for bread, back up before dark. Nobody was hiding anything. Nobody carried it up to the tower, either.

   Goal: Match the gate-book to the ten nights, and set off up the road ready to answer.

   • Read the gate-book Clever, DN 8

     It works: Halder went up ten days ago with a lamp. The light began ten nights ago. The gate-keeper goes rather quiet when you say it out loud.

     It doesn’t: The writing is old and curly. The gate-keeper reads it out: Halder, ten days ago, one lamp. That is when the light began.

   • Borrow a shutter-lamp No roll

     It works: Three dusty shutter-lamps sit on a shelf, kept just in case. You take one, and a can of oil. Now you can answer the light yourselves. Tick the box on the story tracker.

     It doesn’t: If nobody thinks of it, the gate-keeper does. "Take a lamp up with you. That is what they are for."

   • Take Pel along Kind, DN 8

     It works: Pel is already waiting, boots on, notebook buttoned into her coat. She is the fastest runner in Reedwatch. Tick the box on the story tracker.

     It doesn’t: Pel is not allowed at first. Then Orrin waves from the tower: let her go. Tick the box on the story tracker.

   Ask your players

   Ask each player in turn: What would you carry up a big hill at night?

   Ask the table: Everybody did their own job right. So why did nobody tell the tower? Because it was nobody’s job. Let them find that.

   The gate-keeper is not to be told off: the gate-book is a record of who went out, not a message board. Let the table feel the ordinary shape of the whole problem: everybody did their own job right, and nobody did the one job that was nobody’s. If the heroes take the lamp and Pel, the climax has everything it needs; if they take neither, it still works, just slower.

4. Scene 4: Up the Chalk Road from Full Session on

   The chalk road climbs, white against the green. Behind you, the whole fen lies flat: reeds, water, and the tower, small as your thumb. Ahead, in the west, a grey wall of rain hangs over the hills. It is walking slowly this way. From down in the town you cannot see it at all. From up here, you can watch it come. Suddenly, something huge and fast whooshes past through the grass! It is a hare.

   Goal: See, from up here, the two things Reedwatch cannot: the weather in the west, and its own tower.

   • Time the rain Clever, DN 10

     It works: Pick a fencepost, watch the edge of the rain, and count. It is coming at a walk. The town has about two hours. That is exactly the warning the light was sending.

     It doesn’t: The numbers get muddled. Halder will ask later how long you think you have, and you can work it out then: about two hours.

   • Find the tower No roll

     It works: There it is: a grey pin in all that green, right in line with the road. Any light up here can be seen down there.

     It doesn’t: It takes a long time to spot. Then Pel points: there, a grey pin, right in line with the road.

   • Mark the road Kind, DN 8

     It works: The road is made of chalk, so you draw a big cross at every bend. Now a runner can come down it in the dark. Tick the box on the story tracker.

     It doesn’t: Your crosses come out small and wobbly. Do them again, bigger, all together. Tick the box on the story tracker.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: A hare whooshes past! Did anybody jump? Show me your best jump!

   Ask the quietest player: The rain is coming. Who in the town would you most want to warn?

   The wide scene: play it slow and let the table look at things. The two hours matter, and the children should work them out, not hear them from the GM. The hare is a joke, and the only jump in the adventure: it goes past, it is huge, it is a hare, and nothing is chasing it.

5. Scene 5: Bonus: The Dew Pond from Epic Session on

   At the top of the driest hill in the whole land, there is a pond. No stream runs in, and none runs out. Shepherds made it long ago, a saucer of clay. Every night the mist lies down in it and fills it up. The sheep stand all round it, like a meeting. Kneeling by the water is Rue Anselm, twelve, with chalk on both knees. She looks so relieved. "You came," she says. "Grandad said somebody’s child would know the rhyme."

   Goal: Meet the person who has been working the shutter, and see the quiet cleverness this country is built from.

   • Watch the mist No roll

     It works: The mist rolls up from the fen at sunset. It settles in the saucer, and the water rises while you watch. It is not magic. It is a very clever pond.

     It doesn’t: Waiting is hard! But if you sit very still, the water creeps up, just a little.

   • Water the sheep Kind, DN 8

     It works: Forty sheep, one can, and lots of splashing. Rue has done this alone for ten days. Halder will notice your wet sleeves and smile.

     It doesn’t: A sheep knocks the can over, and you all get soaked. Rue laughs for the first time in ten days.

   • Ask Rue Clever, DN 8

     It works: "Three, four, five," says Rue. "I work the shutter now. Grandad’s hands shake." She shows you a flat stone with ten nights scratched on it, just like Pel’s notebook.

     It doesn’t: Rue is shy at first. Then she shows you a flat stone with ten nights of marks on it: three, four, five.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Everybody be the mist, rolling slowly up the hill!

   Ask the quietest player: Rue has worked the light on her own for ten nights. What would you say to her?

   The wonder scene, and the reason to run the Epic length. Nothing here is needed by the plot. Rue is relieved, not rescued: she and her grandad have been safe the whole time, with sheep, water, a hut and a week of bread. If a child asks how a pond stays full on a dry hill: the clay holds it, the mist fills it, and the saucer shape is the whole trick. If they ask why Rue did not tell the tower: she told the gate, and it went in the gate-book.

6. Scene 6: One to Say I Hear You from Quick Quest on

   At the top of the hill stands the Chalk Post. It is an old leaning stone with a slot for a lamp. Beside it sits Halder Anselm, wrapped in a sheepskin. "Three, four, five," he says. "Rain by dark. Wind from the west. Come up, come up." He nods at the grey rain in the west. "Two hours from your town. And nobody sends a light back." His granddaughter, Rue Anselm, holds the shutter. All the tower ever had to send was one long light.

   Goal: Answer the light, and decide what Reedwatch does with a watch it has just found it still has.

   • Hold the shutter open No roll

     It works: You hold it open. And hold it. It feels like forever. Then, far below, the tower’s lamp stops blinking and stays lit: one long light. Read "If the tower answered."

     It doesn’t: Nothing happens at first. Keep holding! At last, far below, the tower lights up and stays lit. Read "If the tower answered."

   • Send Pel to the tower Kind, DN 8

     It works: Pel runs down the chalk road and up eighty stairs, shouting the rhyme. The warning goes out to the whole town. Read "If Pel taught the tower."

     It doesn’t: Pel slips on the dark road, but gets up and keeps going, a bit muddy. Read "If Pel taught the tower."

   • Keep watch tonight No roll

     It works: Halder has not slept a whole night in ten days. You take the sheepskin and the shutter, and he falls asleep at once. Read "If you kept watch."

     It doesn’t: Halder will not sleep at first. Then Rue tucks the blanket round him, and he snores. Read "If you kept watch."

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Everybody open your hands, slowly, for a long, long light. How long can you hold it?

   Ask the quietest player: Halder waited ten nights for an answer. How do you think he felt? There are no wrong answers. Then let the tower answer him.

   Three real endings and no wrong one. Halder is glad, not proved right: never let him tell the town off. "They did not forget it to spite me. They just stopped needing it, and then they needed it again." The town gets its warning in all three endings. Sending Pel needs no roll if the heroes chalked the road or brought Pel (see the story tracker); with no Pel, a hero runs instead. Short on time? Every length gets the twist: at the Quick Quest length, Halder says the rhyme himself, so let the table work out the long light from his words. When it is over, read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   How it ends

   Read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   If the tower answered. Down in Reedwatch, the tower’s lamp shines steady toward the hills. Halder puts his hand over his mouth. Then he laughs. "They heard," he says. "After ten nights, they heard." Rue hugs him so hard his hat falls off.

   If Pel taught the tower. Pel bursts into the lamp room, puffing, and sings the whole rhyme. Orrin writes it in the tower’s book, every line. By dark, every reed-boat is tied up safe and every herb garden is covered.

   If you kept watch. Halder sleeps like a log. You sit by the Chalk Post with Rue, sheep breathing all round you. You open the shutter: one long light, then three short ones for rain by dark. Far below, the tower answers. Then the rain comes over, soft and loud at once.

   Homecoming

   Every ending: the town is ready. The rain arrives two hours later, just as Halder said. But Reedwatch is ready. Boats are tied and washing is in. Everybody is safe inside. Now, every sunset, the tower looks both ways, at the sea and at the hills. And every child in Reedwatch knows what their skipping rhyme is for.

Player handout — show this to your table

Pel’s Tally Page

A page from an eleven-year-old’s notebook, ruled by hand and kept beautifully. Ten rows, one for each night, and every row the same: three marks, a gap, four marks, a gap, five marks. Then the whole row again, and again, until the marks run off the edge. Beside each row, a tiny sun going down, and a tiny moon at the end, because it always starts at sunset and stops at full dark. At the bottom, underlined twice: "SAME EVERY NIGHT."

Monster stat blocks

Rewards

• The Inland Count, written down properly at last: in Pel’s notebook, in the tower’s night-book, and on Rue’s flat chalk stone.
• Two hours of warning before every western squall from now on, which in a land of reed-boats and herb gardens is not a small thing.
• If they watered the sheep, chalked the road, or brought Pel: a place at the Chalk Post whenever they are in the Reach, and Halder teaching them to work a shutter properly.
• If they sat by the dew pond in the mist: a shepherd’s way of reading tomorrow’s weather off the hills, which is right far more often than it has any business being.

Tips for running this one

• The answer is a skipping rhyme, and that is on purpose, not a twist you spring. If a child reaches for spies or a curse, do not stop them: keep the town loud and open about the light, keep the gate-book honest, and let a child sing the rhyme nearby again.
• Nothing in this adventure fights. If a child reaches for a sword, have nobody on the other side reach back, and let the scene stay a conversation about weather.
• Nobody is missing and nobody is in danger, Halder and Rue included: they are up there on purpose, with sheep, water, a hut and food, doing a job. Play the climax as an answer arriving, not as a rescue.
• This is not The Silent Landing. That quay had agreed not to talk about its problem; Reedwatch has talked about nothing else for ten nights and got nowhere, which is a different kind of stuck and should feel like one.
• Short on time? The Quick Quest is the tower and the Chalk Post, and it still has the twist: Halder says the rhyme himself. See the climax’s DM notes.
• Playing with 5- and 6-year-olds? Take 3 off every DN and skip the roll for anything kind. For 9- and 10-year-olds, add 2.