Country Meat-Grinder Classics: "The Hellson Horror" is a fun 17 page adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics. I noticed that the setting was 1939 U.S.A, so I used Amazing Adventures (242 pages, Troll Lord Games). To solo this, I used Bing AI-powered copilot (it helped generate keywords and ideas). I used the characters that had finished the adventure that was included in the rulebook. So, I dusted off my first level characters from August 6, 2020 and got started.

So, in West Virginia the PCs heard about some strange beasts out in the country. They arrived at a general store and asked a lot of questions. They were getting ready to check for physical clues when their horse outside got upset. It was being attacked by four devil-sows. The PCs killed them, but Mack and Malley went down. They were given first aid and left in the store to recover. The PCs bought some supplies with cash, asked the clerk to summon the sheriff, and then followed the physical clues outside. In the middle of a sorghum field (you can’t get more country than this, well maybe grits) they were attacked by another devil-sow. The PC Steve went down, but the sow was killed. One minute later another one showed up and they killed it too. At this point, Marie healed Steve for five points. They continued on the trail and saw one of the Hellson troublemakers up ahead. A PC uses a rifle but misses him. Their target blows a whistle and disappears in a building. The PCs wait for a target to appear and time passes.

Next, the PCs are hit with a sleep spell. Two PCs fall asleep, and the other three drag them into the heavy brush. They try several methods to wake their friends up. They hear the sheriff announcing his presence. Buck and Marie wake up. The sheriff is now asleep. The PCs now see Mamaw, Jeb, and Henry, and the battle starts. The three Hellsons are killed but Marie goes down. They drag her around for the rest of the adventure. At the abattoir, they kill Pete and rescue Vinny. In the barn they find Jolene and Beau. Buck the Gadgeteer uses his electro-sword. It malfunctions, sparks fly, and the barn starts to catch on fire. The PCs kill the two Hellsons. The PCs yell down to the level below to see if there are any humans down there. No response. So, they let the barn burn. They can hear the screams of some critters (monsters?) down there.

Next they explore the house which is dirty and has no enemies or clues. They consider waking up the sheriff. There is a discussion and it is decided that they do not want to answer questions. So, they exit the area by a different route. They do discover a mine but they do not explore it. The last scene is of a barn cat sleeping on the sheriff.