Session 1 - The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

The quiet morning in Caiseal is interrupted by the sounds of lamentation and commotion from the market.  As the PC catch a glimpse of what's going on, there seems to be a large number of people wailing and crying and gesticulating wildly. There are four or five times the number of people in the market as usual now.

As the characters talk to the panicked people in the market, they learn that they are the residents of the nearby town of Tiobraid Árann, just across the River Siur.

Late last night, the golems guarding the children of the town turned on the inhabitants and drove all the adults out, keeping all the children in the town.

Upon further inquiries, the PCs learned from the people the following:

- twenty-five golems were made to protect the children of the town

- young children have been kidnapped from their cribs and beds (twelve in the past six months)

- the golems' creator, Colmán Mac Carthaigh, died a week ago; he was an old man

- faeries from the Glen of Aherlow are responsible for the kidnappings

- the golems turned on the townspeople last night, forcing all the adults out of the village

- there are still twenty children inside the town

- golems can only be injured by magic and magical weapons.

The PCs probe further by talking to more of the townspeople, they will eventually come across Deirdre Ní Fhlannagáin. She can tell how her 16 year old son, Brendan, got into an argument with her about having to be back home before dark. She was afraid of the faeries, who have been blamed for kidnapping the children who disappeared, but Brendan was headstrong about the curfew. As he started yelling, "You're keeping me a prisoner! I'm trapped!" a nearby golem entered the house and restrained her while he went back out to meet his friends. This event occurred three days ago.

A little more probing revealed that Brendan has a reputation as a ruffian and troublemaker.  It was also learned that the parents of teenagers noted increasingly contentious interactions with their children in the past three days, sometimes getting bad enough that a golem intervened.

The people will beg anyone who looks fit for adventuring to save their town and liberate their kids by getting rid of the golems.

The PCs band together to accomplish this, either because they personally know Deirdre and want to help her or because they want to help the people who are suffering.

The PCs will have two tasks. In the short term, the golems need to be dealt with. This means infiltrating the town and killing them all. Given that the golems can only be hurt by magic or magic weapons, the party needs to do something to acquire sufficient weapons to engage in combat. In the longer term, they will have to track down the twelve kidnapped children from the faeries in the forest.