City of Dead Women (A Variant on an Old Theme)
by John Leland
A Thing in a city devours all the women it can catch. Eventually all the women are dead or fled, and many of the men have fled as well. Those who remain are scavengers looting the abandoned buildings. They will sometimes go out and capture women (since no woman will voluntarily enter the city). The Thing inevitably tracks down the captives and eats them, so the scavengers must continually raid neighboring areas to bring in new women. This situation may lead to the neighboring folk asking a party of adventurers for aid, or, more dramatically, a female party member may be kidnapped and taken to the city, and the rest of the party must find and free her before the Thing takes her.
(Originally appeared in Re:Quests!, issue #31, August 1993, p. 46; Mary H Kelly, editor.)
Pat's Web Graphics
