Little D&D: Friends for a Giant

This is the adventure I wrote up for the second session of "Little D&D" that I ran at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library last month in Williston, VT. Like the first sessions, this game was aimed at players age 6-8. It was designed to be self-contained and last for about an hour.

The Player Characters are camping in a forest after a long day on the road. They’re delighted to discover that the forest is home to a colony of Wood Fairies.

As the party relaxes in the woods, however, they hear a strange booming that frightens the fairies: a Hill Giant! The Hill Giant walks through the woods for awhile, calling out for the fairies, before it gives up and leaves.

The next morning the fairies offer the PCs a proposition. They’re scared of the giant and they want it gone. They offer the PCs a bag of gold if they’ll track it back to its camp and scare it away.

Assuming the PCs take the job, they’re follow its footsteps to a nearby cave where the Hill Giant will be waiting. After a brief fight, the Hill Giant will surrender, tearfully revealing that it just wants to make friends with the fairies.

It will ask the PCs if it could go back with them to explain. On the way back the PCs might encounter a crumbling bridge and kobolds trying to kidnap the forest fairies.

To get started the Dungeon Master can read:

After long hours on the road, you and your friends set up camp in a lush forest grove. No sooner have you made camp than the air around you fills with small, curious creatures that glowed like miniature stars!

A band of forest fairies! The tiny creatures, curious about the strangers in their woods, couldn’t resist popping out to say “hello.”

You, your friends, and the fairies share a happy meal, telling stories, eating snacks, and singing songs into the night.

You fall asleep to the gentle sound of the distant breeze and comforting sight of fairy dusty glittering above you.

A sound like thunder wakes you several hours later. (Boom! Boom! Boom!) Sitting up from your bedroll, you look around in the darkness and see all the fairies hiding and trembling in the branches of a nearby tree. The thundering sound (Boom! Boom! Boom!) grows louder and louder until you realize it’s not thunder at all! It’s the sound of huge and pounding footsteps.

They get closer and closer until it feels like they’re just feet away from you. You can hear the fairies whimpering in fear in the tree branches above. After a moment, however, the footsteps start to move away (Boom! Boom! Boom!). They grow quieter and quieter until you can’t hear them anymore. The fairies swoop down from their hiding spot in the tree.

The DM should ask one of the players what they want to do. If the Player Characters question the fairies, they’ll reveal that part of why they were so happy for the PCs to spend the night is because a giant has been visiting their forest:

It comes every night! At first we thought it was a coincidence, but it started calling out to us the other night! “Fairies! Oh, fairies! Where are you fairies?”

A young dark-skinned fairy named Jana, will reveal that she followed the giant one night:

“It lives near a cave about five miles from here! It’s a terrible, huge ugly brute!”

The fairies will ask the PCs to please stay the rest of the night and then go and get rid of the giant in the morning. They’ll offer a bag of gold coins as a reward for the PCs efforts. Assuming the PCs accept the job, Jana will offer to be their guide.

The next day she’ll lead them to a secret path in the forest, a bridge that crosses a deep river and, eventually, to the edge of the Giant’s Cave. Jana will fly away in terror at the sight of the giant, leaving the PCs to decide how to deal with it.

The giant, in truth, means the fairies no harm. It’s name is Georgy, he has no friends, and he’s been feeling lonely. When he discovered the fairies living in the forest, he made it his mission to become their new pal! If the PCs choose to attack him, he’ll defend himself, but make it clear through dialogue that he doesn’t want any violence. Once his Hit Points fall below 20 percent, he’ll surrender and explain his situation. If the PCs choose to spare him, he’ll ask to accompany them back to the Fairy Forest so they can help him explain himself.

On the way back to the Fairy Forest the PCs and Georgy will cross the bridge the PCs encountered on the way to his cave. This time, however, the weight of the PCs, combined with Georgy’s stomps, will crack and break the bridge!

Roll a Dexterity DC (15) to see who jumps across to safety and who falls into the river’s deep water. The drenched PCs will need to get back to dry land. Georgy might be willing to offer a helping hand if they ask!

Once the PCs arrive back at the Fairy Forest, they’ll discover the Fairies are under attack by new enemies: Kobolds. Adjust the number of Kobolds as needed to challenge the player party.

Georgy will charge ahead,  bellowing “Leave my friends alone!” while he attacks the Dire Wolf. The PCs may roll Initiative and engage the remaining wolves (one for every two PCs).

Once all obstacles have been cleared and the Fairies are safe, Georgy will start to feel shy and ask the PCs to help him explain. With the PCs help, Georgy can hopefully win over the Fairies and make new friends! The Fairies, true to their word, award the PCs with a bag of gold.