Travelers passing through a village have been disappearing in unusual rates, and even some of the local villagers have gone missing. The culprits are a couple that own a farm in the village countryside. They have fallen into worship of demons of pestilence and mostly abduct travelers for sacrificial purpose, nabbing the occasional villager that learns too much. Inside the PCs find hellish iconography and bloodstains. Eventually they will reach the sacrificial altar where they can save the latest would-be victim.

Consider why a pair of farmers would turn to worshipping pestilence demons. Did it start with efforts to protect their crops? Or was it sinister from the start, with the goal of inflicting pain on neighboring farmers, perhaps as some kind of payback for perceived wrongs? In keeping with the horror theme, avoid the temptation to provide answers to everything in the game. Every answer you give should lead to two more questions, each with further disturbing implications.

    (1F)        (B1)
   B    <     E - F ~ G
   |              | (goal)
   A - C    <     D
(start)

This scenario assumes the PCs intend to directly investigate the farmstead. You can easily expand the scenario, adding more regions to the 1F area for PCs to explore. For instance, you could add a maze of crops (wilderness setting) that features Whispers of Madness and becomes suddenly blocked by an Overgrown Path upon entering, though it holds an additional Fortune secreted away for brave PCs to discover.

With five players, lower the Respawn timers for the Rats to 1. Consider adding some more Obstacles, such as Daunting Corridors or Haunted Passages at some of the B1 unblocked exits. You could also add a Jump Scare or two.

If you want to switch the theme from pestilence to some other form of evil, swap the Poisoned Surfaces for Jump Scares and the Knot of Serpents for Wandering Spirits (changing the description of region G appropriately). You might also swap the Plague Rats for more Wandering Spirits or some Mud Hands or Cave Bats, particularly at lower player counts.

Add an impish agent of the pestilence demons by including a respawning Saboteur that stalks the PCs throughout the scenario.

Turn the scenario into stealth by swapping a country couple for an entire cult (or a large cult-family). Use Guard Dogs outside and Torch Bearers underground. Be sure to add several Jump Scares, and include a Magic Mouth that utters terrifying things. Include Bell Tripwires somewhere key, such as B, F, or G. Triggering the Deep Pits Trap should cost the PCs a Stealth Token (and any Torch Bearers should head that way to investigate the collapse regardless), and bashing down doors shouldn't be an option without automatically failing (nor should illuminating underground passages except with sources like a Wax Candle).

More level 3 exploration scenarios