DØLGSMÅL

The Woman at Vangegaard

A mini-mystery in the 'Ghosts and Dølgsmål' series

Revenants, Mylings and the Evil One are on the prowl in these mini-
mysteries about the folklore of hidden births and infanticide.

BY MORTEN GREIS
Dølgsmål - A hidden agenda.
I Dølgsmål - secretly, gedulgt, covertly. Haunted Vangegaard
To give birth i dølgsmål is to give birth in The farm Vangegaard is haunted by a woman searching
secret, commonly without a midwife and preferably for her infant child. Twice she has manifested on the farm,
in secrecy from others. If a child died after being born and twice it has cost the life of the soldier she asked for
in secret, the law assumed that infanticide had been help. Soon she is about to manifest a third time. Can the
committed. An act that in the 18th century resulted in Society avert the tragedy and bring rest to the ghosts?
the death penalty by beheading, but which was The scenario's character names and place names are
changed by the courts throughout the 19th century to based on Danish names. The scenario takes place a few
life imprisonment in a penitentiary. In 1866, the law hours' drive with a wagon from the Society's
was changed to life imprisonment with hard labor, headquarters.
but often a lighter sentence was imposed. The season is implicitly summer.
Being born out of wedlock in 19th century
Denmark was not uncommon. Around 10-15% were Mini mystery
born out of wedlock. It was not a criminal offense, the Mini-mysteries are shorter versions of
mother often brought the child into the world at home the Vaesen mysteries. They often take
with her parents, and when finances allowed, the place over a short period of time,
woman was later married - if the couple was still such as a single evening, and the
together: Sometimes the father ran off. Society is very quickly led to the
Giving birth in secret, fødsel i dølgsmål, conflict with the ghost.
however, was a different matter. These were often The text of the mini-mysteries is kept
maids who stood to lose their job and for whom shorter and it is intended to be played
having a child could have serious financial in a single evening.
consequences. In some cases, it went so far that the
mother subsequently killed the child.
Background
Danish folklore from the 1800s contains stories
27 years ago, the young maid Wilhelmina was seduced
about women who gave birth in secret or secretly
by the farmer Peder at Vangegaard. After they had been
committed infanticide. These are ghost stories where
together, she became pregnant, but the farmer would not
either the woman or the child, or both, haunt as ghosts
acknowledge the child or her, and he threatened to banish
and seeking peace. It is the folklore based on these
her from the farm and ruin her reputation if she did not
tragic situations that the scenarios in the Dølgsmål
get rid of the child.
series are all about.
Wilhelmina gave birth in secret, and she killed the
child. She hid the body in a wooden box, which she
CW: Infanticide, misogyny, suicide, infants as
concealed behind a loose stone in the farm's foundation.
revenants
Saddened with grief and the farmer's constant bullying,
she took her own life by jumping down the farm’s well.
Years have passed and the farmer Peder has forgotten
all about the incident. He is now well into his senior years.
His wife has passed away and he has leased out most of
his fields. He earns a little extra money by renting out a
room to cavalry soldiers from the local regiment. Almost
eight weeks ago, one of the mounted soldiers was found
brutally murdered outside the farm, and almost four
weeks ago it happened again. Rumors begun to spread
that the farm is haunted or cursed and that every four
weeks a soldier will be killed. Not wanting to suffer the
same fate as his fellow soldiers, the present tenant, the
young soldier Magnus seeks the Society for help.
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The Mystery possible to dig up records in accounts and church records

The Society is visited by a young soldier, Magnus, who of who has lived or served on the farm, but none of them
asks them for help as he fears for his life. He believes reveal anything remarkable.
Vangegaard is haunted, and he fears suffering the same Clue: Mentions of the two murders
fate as the other two soldiers. In the newspapers the Society will find the following
At Vangegaard, the Society finds some evidence of two stories:
ghosts, and if they stay on the farm at night, they meet the Terrible Murder at Vangegaard (7 weeks, 4 days)
ghost of Wilhelmina, who wants them to find the body of A gruesome sight awaited local farmhands when they
her child and give it a proper burial. came out early morning to graze their cattle as they found the
Finding the body is not easy, as the manner in which dismembered body of the tenant, horseman Matthis Nielsen,
the body is hidden requires the Society searching in an behind the farm by an abandoned well. The magistrate and
almost ritualistic sort of manner. If they don't find the the local police are involved and are investigating the case,
body by the agreed time, a furious Wilhelmina appears but locals claim that they are still without any leads, and
and attacks. She then appears every night until she has although they are investigating the travels of two vagabonds
either been banished or her child has been laid to rest in who were seen passing through the parish, the perpetrator or
an appropriate manner. perpetrators have yet to be found.
NPC Roster New Terrifying Case at Vangegaard (3 weeks, 4 days)
Barely a month after a horseman was found murdered
• Farmer Peder Vesterdal
• Horseman Magnus Bruun near Vangegaard, a new case emerges. A terrible sight awaited
• Lieutenant Friedrich Holst the milkman as he passed the old stone fence near
• Wilhelmina the maid (ghost) Vangegaard on his roundabout, revealing a bloody sight that
• The unbaptized child (ghost) would make your milk run sour. The soldier was lying across
• The Dead Horsemen: Matthis Nielsen, Herman the fence with his back broken. It was a sight that made even
Goelle
grown men shudder. The police are investigating the case
with the utmost seriousness, and the magistrate has asked
Invitation witnesses to come forward with even the slightest suspicion.
One afternoon there is a knock at the gate. Outside, a Clue: Newspaper Article about Suicide
young man in an equestrian uniform asks for an audience. This story only appears if a player declares that they
An embarrassed equestrian soldier, Magnus Bruun, want to investigate the farm's history in depth.
presents his case to the Society, asking for discretion as Tragedy at Vangegaard (27 years)
his superiors do not believe in the supernatural. He Early morning, the maid Wilhelmine was found lifeless in
emphasizes the following: the farm's well. When asked, other maids on the farm reported
• The soldiers often rented private
that Wilhelmine had suffered from unrequited love. She was
accommodation rather than living in cramped
said to have killed herself when her suitor had rejected her,
barracks in the market towns. Magnus has been
and she was found in the well by the people on the farm. By
assigned a room at Vangegaard with farmer
then it was too late to save her.
Peder Vesterdal. Now Magnus fears for his life
as the two former soldiers who had a room at Clue: The Supernatural
the farm were found murdered. If the Society has access to supernatural sources of
• Rumor has it that the farm is cursed and every information such as spiritualism, mystics, visions, etc.,
four weeks a murder takes place. It's been they will receive a vision
almost four weeks since the last one (3 weeks, 5 Deep at the bottom of a cold darkness, a young woman's
days ago to be exact). face breaks the surface of the water. She struggles to the
surface. Then she sinks back in, her arm reaching up through
Preparation the water, but to no avail. Then she disappears completely

There is little preparation the Society can do, as they below the surface, and even her hair no longer sways on the
don't yet know the cause of the deaths: the fact that they water's surface.

happen every four weeks may lead them to believe that a

werewolf is on the loose. Vangegaard doesn't have a
known history of hauntings, and as with most farms, it's

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He can't explain how the two soldiers died, but since

The Journey it happened just off his farm, he doesn't see it as his
It takes about two hours by horse-drawn carriage to problem.
reach the village where Vangegaard is located. Along the If asked about maids, the suicide, and Wilhelmina, he
way, Magnus keeps the traveler’s company, riding can explain that decades ago, there was a maid who
alongside them on his own steed. committed suicide by jumping into the old well that they
It's morning when you get into the carriage. The coach no longer use - "The water never got well after that". She
and his helper lift your luggage onto the roof of the carriage. committed suicide after a man on one of the other farms
Meanwhile, Magnus gets on his horse and as you start to roll rejected her.
away, he sets off and rides alongside you. GM TIP: Aim to make farmer Peder as unpleasant an
Once the noise of the cobblestones under the horses' experience as possible, but preferably without drawing
hooves is replaced by the sound of the dirt road, the change undue attention to his true role in the case. Note that he
from city to countryside is felt. Gone is the noise and stench generally lies very little to the Society, as he doesn't know
of the city and in its place are golden fields bordered by dark the context of the case and is mainly just trying to dodge
forests. Between the trees and fields, you can see small questions about his relationship with the maid who
villages, and between the houses, farmers tend their fields and committed suicide (as this will be revealed later in the
gardens and livestock. Every now and then a bend in the road scenario).
reveals a farmhouse from which curious children come
Autopsy (the second victim): Horseman
running as they hear the horse-drawn carriage rumbling
Herman Goelle
past. It's a warm day with gentle winds. On the horizon, gray
The body of Horseman Herman Goelle has been
clouds hang heavy with rain.
buried in the local cemetery, as there was no family to
The gray clouds are closing in as Magnus points out a
return the deceased to. Instead, the local church fund paid
large, whitewashed farmhouse with a thatched roof as
for the burial after selling the horseman’s few belongings.
Vangegaard in the afternoon.
The witness and investigators (and an exhuming) provide
the following information:
Arriving at Vangegaard • His face is contorted in torment and horror.
Vangegaard is a large four-winged farmhouse that has His eyes are dilated, and his face is as pale as if
seen better days. The walls are crooked and in disrepair. he had seen death itself. His fingers are bloody
The thatched roof has holes and is overgrown with moss. and torn.
Windows are cracked and muck leaves a foul stench • His back is cracked, as if he was grabbed and
bent with great force.
everywhere. The place is dark and cold, and for
Thursday’s Children, the place is even colder and darker. The first victim: Horseman
There are chickens in the henhouse and pigs in the Matthis Nielsen
pigsty. Most of the farm is no longer in use, as the land has The body of equestrian soldier Matthis Nielsen has
been leased out, and farmer Peder Vesterdal lives here been sent to his family at the opposite end of the country,
alone with his livestock. In one of the wings, a farmhand’s where he has been buried in the local cemetery. Witnesses
room has been converted into accommodation for the and investigators provide the following information
soldiers who rent it. • He was as pale as a corpse and the horror was
Meeting farmer Peder carved into his face. His fingers were bloody
Peder Vesterdal is well into his senior years. He is a and torn.
disgusting person, both physically and humanly. He is • One of his arms was broken in two places. The
hunched over with age, and he stinks of tobacco, brandy, other arm had been pulled off his shoulder and
and old sweat that he hasn't washed off in weeks. He's a was hanging by bloody tendons. Both legs were
sucker for money and unwilling to help if he can't see a broken in opposite directions. His head was
turned halfway around.
penny in it. He is suspicious of 'sophisticated city folk'.
He is not interested in letting the Society visit, explore
or stay at Vangegaard, and he demands a shilling for the
slightest service.

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Lieutenant Friedrich Holst Meeting the ghost

The horsemen are in a platoon attached to Lieutenant The ghost appears every four weeks, on the night
Friedrich Holst. The lieutenant is an old war veteran who before Thursday and Thursday night. On those two
is half recovered from several pieces of shrapnel still nights, she may try to persuade people to help her. If
lodged in his body. The lieutenant cares about his soldiers people fail to help her, she manifests every night to seek
but has no belief in the supernatural or vaesen. For the out her victim and take revenge until she succeeds.
lieutenant, it's all about finding the bestial killer hiding THE ARRIVAL OF THE GHOST: Wilhelmina appears after
somewhere in the parish. midnight. Her pale face protrudes from the scarf she
If the Society presents good arguments, he will make wears around her head, she is dressed in simple, dark and
patrols available to patrol the area or keep Vangegaard light, gray and brown robes. She is often distracted and
under surveillance. For the first plan, it takes a successful looks for the sound - and the sound is infant crying. She
INSPIRATION test, and for each subsequent plan, it takes an can't find her child, and she pleads for the Society's help.
additional success (max 3) to persuade the lieutenant to She is a GHOST (Vaesen, Core Rules p. 132).
make people available. With a successful OBSERVATION TRAITS: The air is cold around her. She herself is icy
test, the PCs can identify an argument that can be used to cold to the touch and water drips from her clothes as if
persuade the lieutenant, thereby reducing the number of she is soaked.
successes needed to persuade him. A TASK FOR THE GHOST: "Help me find my baby!", "I can
The Abandoned Well hear my baby crying, but I can't find it", "My baby is missing."
Down at the water's surface, where the rocks are She asks only one person to find her infant, even if
green with moss, you can still see the marks of desperate several may offer themselves. The person is put under her
fingers trying to get a foothold. Despite 27 years having spell, and if they don't find her child by cockcrow, she will
passed, the moss has never grown back. attack between cockcrow and sunrise. She attacks with
Near the well, the body of Matthis Nielsen was found. MANIPULATION 7. If the attack is against an NPC, she will
There are still imprints of the body in the ground. On a dismember the victim, twist off their head, break their
stone in the grass, "not a word" is written with a bloody back or a similarly grotesque, gory death. Against a
finger (CLUE). character, the victim only perishes if they become
Monitoring the Farm BROKEN, and until then, successful attacks leave limbs
It's likely that the Society will be watching the farm at broken (the character begins the next mission with their

night, and if they don't, Magnus suggests it, as he doesn't arm or leg in a cast etc.). She cannot be wounded herself

want to stay at Vangegaard without the Society present. in combat.

Nothing happens for the first several hours, but when the ENCHANTMENT: If people don't voluntarily agree to

tower clock in the nearby church chimes midnight, look for her child, she enchants them to do so. She uses

Wilhelmina appears. MAGIC 10 to enchant people. If a person resists, she selects

a new victim.
RITUAL: If the body of her infant is found, she finally
finds peace and stops haunting the farm. If the infant is
not given a proper burial, it returns as a MYLING.
BANISHING: She can be briefly banished with well
water, for example by throwing a bucket of well water on
her or pushing her into a well. The memory of drowning
in a well will drive her away for the rest of the night or
until the wooden box with her child is found.
DISTRACTION: She can be distracted by babies. The
sound of a baby crying, a doll swaddled as an infant and
the like will distract her while the ruse lasts. While
distracted, she won't attack.

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LEARNED TEST: Finding the child information out of him, INSPIRATION TO convince him to
When players realize they need to share information, OBSERVATION TO see if he's hiding
find a child born in secret, they must anything. With each success or each role-play sequence,
attempt a LEARNED TEST: Peder reveals a little more.
1 SUCCESS: A ghost is haunting and • Wilhelmina was a maid on the farm 27 years
the only way it can find peace is by ago.
finding its child. The child may be • He was with Wilhelmina, and when she came to
hidden in a supernatural way. him pregnant and told him that she was
carrying his child, he refused to believe it and
2 SUCCESSES: To find things hidden
instead threatened her that he would banish
in a supernatural way, it must be
her if she did not get rid of the child.
done before sunrise or before
• She came down and got rid of the child, but he
cockcrow, whichever comes first. The
doesn't know where she put the child.
hidden must be found in silence: Don't
Afterwards, she could not stand the teasing and
utter a sound near it. threw herself into the well, where she
3 SUCCESSES: Ghosts often have drowned.
something that scares or fascinates • She had a maid's room behind the stable, where
them. It often has something to do there is now a pigsty.
with how they passed away.
The previous victims: The soldiers searched several
places on the farm until they uttered a word and lost their
The Enchanted Hunt
chance to find the infant, after which they fled, but were
The body of her child is hidden in a wooden box
caught by Wilhelmina and killed. There are no clues
hidden in the foundation of the farm. Over time, the box
where the bodies were found.
has been bricked in. When Wilhelmina asks the victim to
Searching for the tomb: The Society can make
find her child for her, an enchanted hunt for the grave
INVESTIGATION tests to get closer to the hiding place. One
begins.
• The hunt for the tomb can only take place at character makes the test, and the other characters can
night. When the first rooster crows, the tomb help (they each contribute +1 dice). Each test takes two
disappears again. hours, and the number of successes accumulates from
• If someone speaks near the grave, it disappears. previous tests. Let the players know that they can to take
• Once the grave has disappeared, it doesn't the test over and over again instead of pushing the test.
reappear until the next night. The ghost now • 1 SUCCESS: All over the farm, there are signs that
attacks its victim for not finding the child for things have been moved. There are boot prints
her. from the soldiers searching through nooks and
crannies.
SILENCE: If a character in game speaks near the grave, • 2 SUCCESSES: The sound of a child crying is
it disappears! If players speak loudly between themselves, heard from the stable. The sound is an
it is equivalent to a character speaking loudly near the unnatural wailing from a deep, dark abyss that
grave. Players may whisper (loudly) to each other, but sends chills down your spine: PCs have to pass
their characters may not talk to each other, i.e. players can a FEAR 2. If they fail, they don't dare approach
whisper to each other how their characters sign and the stable, but a successful Inspiration test lets
gesture to each other. them approach the stable.
FINDING THE GRAVE: By asking around and searching • 3 SUCCESSES: In many places there are
the yard, the group can find the grave. bootprints of the soldiers, and they have clearly
rummaged through the stables. In the mud of
Wilhelmina: She is of no use. She has no memory, and
the pigsty is a button from a soldier's coat.
although she can hear her child crying, she can't point to
• 4 SUCCESSES: With a bloody finger is written on
any direction.
a plank at the pigsty: "Not a word" (CLUE)
Farmer Peder: The farmer denies any knowledge and
• 5 SUCCESSES: In the pigsty in the stone
is not willing to help. He only reluctantly provides the
foundation of the wall, a large, wide stone is
following information through role-playing and/or loose. A muffled cry can be heard from behind
successful social skills tests - MANIPULATION to force the stone.

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THE HIDDEN TOMB: With a FORCE test, the stone can be The Society can confront farmer Peder for his
wiggled free. If the test fails, it takes an hour to wiggle the misdeeds. If brought before a magistrate, he confesses his
stone free. Behind the stone is a wooden box, and in the role in Wilhelmina's secret birth and her subsequent
wooden box wrapped in cloth are the bones of an infant suicide.
corpse. Escalation
If time runs out, the characters hear a rooster crowing The case will escalate if no new victims come to
in the distance. No matter how far the Society gets in Vangegaard. Wilhelmina will search further afield to find
finding the grave, the grave disappears in the blink of an people she can persuade to find her infant. Soon, no one
eye. The foundation becomes an intact foundation will dare travel on the road near Vangegaard at night, and
without the slightest trace of the hiding place. later the farms around Vangegaard will begin to
• In the time between cockcrow and sunrise, depopulate and end up as empty, abandoned buildings.
Wilhelmina attacks. The silence is broken by Peder will remain on the farm, untouched and
her hoarse roar of grief just before she emerges
increasingly lonely.
to take her revenge.

Combine dice rolls with players' descriptions of how

they search for the grave. Try to build up the atmosphere
of searching for the hidden grave of a crying ghost in a
darkened courtyard: Shadows are deeper than usual.
Lights in lamps flicker and sway, and they're on the verge
of going out. Cold drafts wrap around people. Sounds are
swallowed up by the darkness. At the same time, time is
running out. Sunrise is approaching. Use the fact that
players need to speak softly/whisper loudly to build the
mood. If players are describing how they are searching for
the grave, you can also let them skip the INVESTIGATION
tests.

Finale
Shortly after the box is uncovered, Wilhelmina
appears and takes a ghost child from the box into her
arms, and together they fade away. Outside, a rooster
crows and soon the sun rises.
If farmer Peder hasn't confessed to his misdeeds, you
can let the following play out, so the players learn the
backstory of the mystery: Peder appears just as the
wooden box is being pulled out of its hiding place. He
spontaneously utters: "Oh, so that's where she hid the kid".
Then an enraged Wilhelmina appears and accuses him of
disowning their child and driving her to suicide. Faced
with the ghost's accusations, Peder doesn't dare deny
anything, and the ghost tries to kill him - it succeeds
unless the Society intervenes - and then she takes her
ghost child and leaves this world with it. Outside, the sun
rises.
Confrontation
The confrontation with the ghost Wilhelmina only
happens if the Society fails to find the grave of her child.
In that case, it's a matter of surviving her attacks until she
is banished, or the sun rises.

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Attachments

Terrible Murder at Vangegaard

A gruesome sight awaited local farmhands when they
came out early morning to graze their cattle as they found the
dismembered body of the tenant, horseman Matthis Nielsen,
behind the farm by an abandoned well. The magistrate and
the local police are involved and are investigating the case,
but locals claim that they are still without any leads, and
although they are investigating the travels of two vagabonds
who were seen passing through the parish, the perpetrator or
perpetrators have yet to be found.

New Terrifying Case at Vangegaard

Barely a month after a horseman was found murdered
near Vangegaard, a new case emerges. A terrible sight
awaited the milkman as he passed the old stone fence near
Vangegaard on his roundabout, revealing a bloody sight that
would make your milk run sour. The soldier was lying across
the fence with his back broken. It was a sight that made even
grown men shudder. The police are investigating the case
with the utmost seriousness, and the magistrate has asked
witnesses to come forward with even the slightest suspicion.

Tragedy at Vangegaard
Early morning, the maid Wilhelmine was found lifeless in
the farm's well. When asked, other maids on the farm reported
that Wilhelmine had suffered from unrequited love. She was
said to have killed herself when her suitor had rejected her, and
she was found in the well by the people on the farm. By then it
was too late to save her.

This product was created under license. Vaesen - Nordic

Horror Roleplaying and its logo, are trademarks of Fria
Ligan AB.

This work contains material that is copyright Fria Ligan

AB and/or other authors. Such material is used with
permission under the Community Content Agreement
for Free League Workshop.

All other original material in this work is copyright

2023 by Morten Greis and published under the
Community Content Agreement for Free League
Workshop.

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