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**Guest** · 10-12-2016, 05:28 PM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Lore

Located close to the shores of Lake Froget, the town of Tavern Town holds itself as a safe haven against the perils of the Edelwood forest, if not the Beast himself. The town lies beyond the shadow of the Elder Edelwood on its Thronestone and doesn't, at first blush, seem as opressed as the village of Adelaide farther east. Those who spend time in Tavern Town, however, quickly realize all the happiness here is but a strained and fragile false hope.
Tavern Town was founded by the Brown-Dam families not long after the caretaker of the Unknown became the Beast. The Brown-Dams, however, splintered into factions after the despair induced by the Beast, his mists, and his songs. The Dams all but died out, survived only by their distantly removed and related cousins, the Watts.
The current burgomaster, Baron Brown Dam, has retaken the Dam name in the hopes of mending relations between his business rivals and extended family, the Watts. He stages one "togetherness" festival after another, but neither the Browns nor the Watts can bare to drop their cutthroat taverning practices.
Only the Blue Tavern dares to openly defy the monopoly of the other two by calling itself a tavern. But it cannot compete with the the prices or amenities of the Burgomaster Tavern or the Watter Tavern.
Every business and occupied building in Tavern Town, however, serves as a tavern on the sly, though many are lacking such basic facilities as spare rooms or beds. This common idiosyncracy is, for better or worse, unique to Tavern Town.

Approaching the Town
Text: 'Worthwagon Road meanders into a valley watched over by dark, brooding mountains to the north and south. The woods recede, revealing a moutain burg with a wooden palisade festooned in layers of colorful banners, all reading "It's Time to Celebrate Togetherness."
The dirt road ends at a set of sturdy gates with a pair of shadowy figures obscured by fog standing behind them. Planted in the ground and flanking the road outside the gates are a dozen, giant paper lanterns, their light turned to a soft glow in the mist. Each bears one painted letter from the word "TOGETHERNESS".'
A 15-ft-high wall encloses the town, its vertical logs held together with thick ropes and black sap mortar. THe top of each log has been sharpened to a point, on which the many twines of the banners are looped. Wooden scaffolding hugs the inside of the palisade 12 ft off the ground, enabling guards to peer over the wall there.

Town Gates
Three tall gates made of metal bars lead into town:
--The north gate is called Froget Gate or the gate to the lake because it leads to Lake Froget (Chap 2, area L).
--The west gate is called Failure Gate and a few abandoned cottages/failed taverns line the road outside this gate.
--The east gate is called Cloud Gate after the Queen of the Clouds, the benevolent deity.
Heavy chains with metal padlocks keep the gates shut at night. During the day, the gates are closed but not typically locked.
Two town guards (LG male and female, any race) stand just inside each gate. Instead of spears, they carry pikes (reach 10 ft, 1d10+1 piercing damage on a hit). These weapons are long enough to stab creatures through the bars of the gate. The guards greet all visitors with desperate, face-straining pleasantry, unless the visitors are openly hostile.
If trouble breaks out at one of the gates, the guards cry out, "Not again! Code XX!" (The DM may choose the alphanumerical combination to replace the XXs.) Their shouts are echoed across Tavern Town, putting the entire town on alert and on the verge of barely-contained violence in minutes. The town as 24 guards (any race), half of whom are on duty at any given time (six stand watch at the gates and six patrol the walls). The others can be found at various taverns. The town also musters a mob of 50 able-bodied commoners, any race, armed with clubs, daggers, and torches.

House Occupants
If the characters explore a residence other than Burgomaster Tavern (area N3), roll a d20 and consult the following table to determin the house's occupant.
d20 Occupant
1-3 1d6 giant goats
4-5 2d4 swarms of rats
6-18 Tavern Town folk
19-20 Black Turtle cultists

Giant Goats
A building housing giant goats appears abandoned at first but filled with wreckage and smelling of acrid goatshit and gamey goat oils. The goats are half-starved and attack with the desire to eat.
The cultists of Tavern Town have been using these giant goats as sacrifices for years to maintain secrecy. This has impacted the efficacy of certain rituals, but not enough for them to risk exposure by murder.

Rats
A house infested with rats appears abandoned at first. The rats are servants of the Beast and attack if the characters explore the interior of the house.

Tavern Town Folk
A house of townsfolk contains 1d4 adults (LG male and female commoners, any race) and 1d8-1 children (LG male and female, any race, noncombatants). Anyone who listens at the door hears chatter from within. Townsfolk politely but consistently refuse to invite strangers into their homes unless the characters bring up the possibility of renting a room as per a tavern.

Cultists
A Black Turtle cult haven contains 2d4 adults (LE male and female cultists, any race) and one cult fanatic (LE male or female, any race) who leads them in prayer or orchestrates ritual sacrifices. These cultists worship the Beast as the successor to the Black Turtle mantle and consider Fiona Watt (see area N4) to be their spiritual leader.

Tavern Town Lore
In addition to the info known to all denizens of the Unknown (see Chap 2), Tavern Town folk know the following:
There are three official taverns in town, Burgomaster Tavern, Watter Tavern, and Blue Tavern. Blue Tavern offers the lowest quality food and amenities of the three, but it's the only one with a stable.
The burgomaster, Baron Brown Dam, has decreed that the next togetherness festival will be held in the town square (area N8) in three days. The previous togetherness festival was held less than a week ago.
Tavern Town has endured at least one festival every week for the past several years. Some townsfolk believe that the festivals keep the Beast at bay. Others claim they provide general but unspecified protection or benefits.
None dares to speak ill of the festivals, though speaking of them at length tends to cause facial strain and elevated blood pressure.
The burgomaster's righthand man, Hothand Zeb, got his name for his ability to conjure fire, but only in one hand.
No one hates the burgomaster more than Fiona Watt, who still goes along with the festivals. She owns the old but lavish Watter Tavern (area N4). Her two sons, Nicolas and Carl, are cutthroat promoters of the Watter Tavern. She's also been rumored to have a daughter but no one has ever seen her if she exists.
Purple flashes of light have been seen emanating from the attic of Burgomaster Tavern, but that's part of the property off-limits to patrons.
Dogs and dire dogs prowl the woods and aren't afraid to attack travelers on Worthwagon Road. Well-armed groups of hunters and trappers have managed to kill several of the dogs, but more keep coming.
It's too dangerous to go fishing on Lake Froget (Chap 2, area L) because of all the roaming packs of dogs, but they haven't seemed to bother any members of the Frogfolk colony that lives under the lake waters.
There have been no recent sightings of the Weird Elk (Chap 2, area M) on Mount Barking. Folks used to see it skulking along the north shore of Lake Froget, sometimes on two legs. If the characters seem interested in this wildlife attraction, the locals recommend using a fishing boat on the south shore to cross the lake, because it's shorter and less dangerous than walking around.
There's a Fungai camp in the woods southwest of the town (area N9), but none of the tavernkeepers like them because they refuse to stay in a tavern when they come through.
West of the town is the Inn of Whispers (see Chap 7) that nobody goes to because it's too far for any sort of convenience and therefore lumped together with the failures of Failure Gate.
South of the town is a village that's been abandoned for decades. They believe it was long ago cursed by the Beast, though for what crime has been lost to the mostly unrecorded history of the Unknown.

**Guest** · 10-14-2016, 09:50 AM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Areas
The following areas correspond to labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of Vallaki.

N1. Church in the Clouds
This church has the same configuration as the one in the village of Adelaide (Chap 3, area E5), but without the undercroft.
Text: 'This slouching, centuries-old stone church has a bulging steeple in the back. Its walls, lined with cracked, stained glass windows, depict a garish musical procession to a city in the clouds. A metal fence encloses a garden of gravestones next to the church. A thin mist creeps among the graves.'
This church is dedicated to the Queen in the Clouds, the only benevolent deity left to the denizens of the Unknown.
Lucy (LG female priest, any race) oversees the church and does her best to maintain spirits. Assisting him is an orphan and altar boy named "You" (LG male noncombatant, any race). A brawny lass with a perpetually furrowed brow named Milly tends the grounds and digs graves.
At night, the church is packed with 2d6+6 adults (LG commoners) and 2d6 children (LG noncombatants), all making use of the church's black market tavern services. The only price is that they must sit for Lucy's offering of prayers and sermon of the good Queen in the Clouds.
Among the regulars is an old woman named Willa. Her son, the shoemaker Luke, has been imprisoned for getting caught running a black market tavern (see area N3m). She is one of the few with prayer requests, and they're always for the freedom of her son.
Milly (N commoner, any race) is rarely seen without a shovel, which she wields like a club. Modify her stats as follows:
--Her Str is 15 (+2).
--Her melee weapon attack bonus is +4, and she deals 4 (1d4+2) bludgeoning damage when she hits with the blunt head of her shovel.
She hates the togetherness festivals as much as Fiona Watt, the burgomaster's own archnemesis. She is not very social in general, believing all efforts not spent digging should be spent fighting the Beast. But she fears to leave her younger siblings all alone in Tavern Town.

The Iron Cloud
The church was holy ground but recently lost its holiness. The great holy symbol, the Iron Cloud, was sealed in a hidden stowaway room under the church's main altar. But someone broken in and stole the bones a few nights ago. Lucy was the only person in Tavern Town who knew of the Iron Cloud but recalls mentioning them to You over a month ago in her explanation of the worth of prayer and faith--"If the Queen of the Clouds isn't listening, why did she grant us her holiness?" After the bones were stolen, Lucy asked You if he told anyone about them. You nodded but wouldn't divulge a name.
The culprit is Milly, whom Lucy suspects. But the priest is reluctant to confront Milly because she's so temperamental. Lucy hasn't reported the theft in the hope that the Queen of the Clouds would provide and bring it back. If the party includes a good-aligned cleric or paladin, Lucy mentions the theft on the off chance that their efforts will speed the deity's providence.
The stowaway room is a 10-ft-sq, 5-ft high chamber under the chapel. To reach the crypt, Milly used her shovel to pry up the floorboards, which she replaced. If a character confronts Milly and succeeds on a DC 10 Cha (Intimidation) check, she admits You told her about the Iron Cloud. She also admits to passing the info to Henny, the local coffin maker (area N6), and to stealing the Iron Cloud to Henny in exchange for the local currency item to help feed her younger siblings.
The theft does actually leave the church vulnerable to attack by the Beast's necromantically-inclined minions (see Special Events). If the Iron CLoud is returned to their resting place, the church becomes hallowed ground again as though protected by a hallow spell.

N2. Blue Tavern
Text: 'Gray smoke issues from the chimney of this large, two-story wooden building with a stone foundation and sagging tile roof, upon which several birds have perched. A painted wooden sign hanging above the main entrance depicts a blue waterfall.'
The Blue Tavern is the main gathering place for locals without the currency item to spend the night at the Burgomaster or Watter Tavern or the nerve to run their own taverning services. The tavernkeeper, Winnie Mulchman, is a barely tolerated Fungai who considers her tavern a sanctuary from the twisted wilds of the Unknown. In the event of trouble, the windows and doors can all be barred shut from within.
A bed for the night costs 1 sp in the town's currency item. Characters lookin for something to eat are fed hot beet soup and fresh bread for no additional charge. A cooked dog steak costs 1 gp in currency item.
The tavern offers a pint of real wine or beer for 3 cp in currency item or a pint of real whiskey or vodka for 1 sp in currency item. Winnie is hurt if the characters complain about the food or drink as her family makes them in the Mulch Fields.
The tavern's supply of alcohol is almost depleted, and the latest delivery from the Mulch Fields is overdue. If the characters claim to be adventurers, Winnie asks them if they'd be so kind as to find out what's holding up the shipment with the promise of free room and board if they return with the shipment.

Feathered Friends
Winnie (LG female Fungai) is a Feathered Friend (see appendix D) and a high-ranking member of that secret society that opposes the Beast. Her wife and business partner, Dani (LG female, any race), is also a Feathered Friend, as are their two sons, Brom and Bray. The boys have only 7 hit points each and, at ages eleven and nine, are too young to be effective combatants. The boys were grown in the Mulch Fields like all Fungai in this day and age.
At any given time, another 1d4 Feathered Friends are at the tavern, either shapeshifted as birds or renting rooms inside. They are loyal friends of the Mulchmans and help protect the tavern.
If the characters earn the trust of the Feathered Friends, the society will watch their backs. The next time the characters get into serious trouble, you can have a group of 1d4 Feathered Friends show up to rescue or help them.
If your card reading revealed a treasure here, the Feathered Friends don't reveal the location until they know the characters can protect it. As a way of testing them, Winnie gives them the following quest:
'Winnie takes you aside and keeps her voice low. "My supplies from the Mulch Fields are nearly gone, and the next shipment is overdue. I'll give you what you've been searching for if you bring me the goods. The Mulch Fields are only a few miles west of here. Just follow Worthwagon Road and the signs."'
Winnie fails to mention that her cantankerous father, Dave Mulchman, runs the Mulch Fields (Chap 12). There's bad blood between Winnie and Dave after Winnie gave up the typical Fungai life centered around Mulch to settle down with her wife, a lifelong citizen of Tavern Town. Although Winnie could easily visit the Mulch Fields herself, she considers dealing with Dave to be a worthy test of the characters's competence and makes good on her promise if they complete the quest.
Winnie sends a Feathered Friend in bird form to observe the party's progress from a distance. If the characters get in or cause trouble, the Feathered Friend reports to Winnie at once.

N2A. Well
A 3-ft-high stone rim surrounds the mouth of this 40-ft-deep, moss-lined well. The inn draws fresh water from this well.

N2B. Outside Staircase
A wooden staircase hugs the outer wall of the inn and leads up to guest quarters on the upper floor (areas N2l and N2m). The sturdy wooden door at the top of the stairs can be barred from the inside.

N2C. Taproom
Text: 'Damp cloaks hang from pegs in the entrance portico. The tavern is crammed with tables and chairs, with narrow paths meandering between them. A bar stretches along one wall, under a balcony that can be reached by a wooden staircase that hugs the north wall. Another balcony overhangs an entrance to the east. All the windows are fitted with thick shutters and crossbars. Lanterns hangin above the bar and resting on the tables bathe the room in dull orange light and cast shadows on the walls, which are plastered from floor to ceiling with ads for "Togetherness" festivals.'
The double doors leading into the taproom can be barred shut from within.
Mounted on braces and tucked into alcoves behind the bar are four barrels, one for wine, beer, whiskey, and vodka, and each three-quarters empty. A brass spigot is hammered into each barrel.
Dani usually tends the bar while Winnie works the kitchen (area N2e). Their boys, Brom and Bray, scamper about and easily get underfoot.
Before dawn and noon, there are no patrons here, and the Mulchmans are upstairs in their bedrooms (areas N2o and N2p) or in the attic (area N2q).
From noon to dusk, the taproom holds 2d4 local patrons (LG commoners, any race). Between dusk and midnight, 2d8 townsfolk are here. In addition, one or more of the following people might be here at this time:
Wolf Hunters
Saul and Jessie (N scouts, any race) are local hunters who kill dogs and dire dogs to sell their meat and pelts for a living. Both are grim customers and have haunted looks in their deep-sunken eyes.
Though on the verge of breakdown, neither can afford to pass up an opportunity to earn more thanks to their medical fees. If the characters are looking for guides or info about the Unknown, the hunters can be of service. They aren't afraid to venture beyond Tavern Town's walls during the day, and they know the woods and valley well ("Not well enough..."). They're willing to serve as guides for 5 gp in Tavern Town currency item per day, or to provide directions to important landmarks in exchange for free drinks. They think "Traveling at night leads only to regret..." and won't do it unless their payment is 100 or more gp's worth of currency item.
Jessie speaks in enigmatic sentences that typically trail off without explanation. Saul rarely speaks, and then only to speak in general, similarly unexplained warnings ("Never fight a dog with a bone."). Jessie has a notch in her bow for every creature she's had to kill, while Saul adds a new swatch to his dire dogpelt cloak every time he fails to save someone he's guiding. Both have families but spend most of their time together, either drowning their encroaching despair or hunting in the woods.

Watt Brothers
Nicolas and Carl Watt (N male nobles) are the brothers of cutthroat business. Their mother, Fiona Watt (see area N4), owns the prestigious Watter Tavern. They spend their time in Blue Taven talking to anyone who will listen and spreading horrific and unsubstanstiated claims about how terrible Blue Tavern is. Despite the often transparent lies, their slandering keeps the majority of taproom patrons from spending the night.
When the characters come, they come to hear all about their travels and adventures, hoping to use the stories as slander fodder.

Fred
Fred the fey (see appendix D) has glamoured himself as a horse. He adopted this guise after the companions forced to enter the Unknown with him all perished from the perils of the Unknown. He found that humanoids were less likely to attack him in the form of a horse.
Fred is the only 'horse' in the Blue Tavern stable, otherwise occupied by the giant turkeys who pull the Mulchman's wagon, as well as the entire town. During his stay, he's quietly been gathering info on the Feathered Friends, trying to figure out all their identities. He's also been investigating the Fungais after witnessing the town's harsh treatment of the Mulchmans.
Fred wears a hat of disguise and a ring of mind shielding to conceal his identity. He carries a skeleton key that unlocks the door to the Mulchman's stable (area N2F).

N2D. Liquor Storage
Text: 'This hallway contains three curtained alcoves as well as a larger area stuffed with barrels emitting a strong, stinging odor of liquor.'
The Mulchmans keep their alcohol here. Tucked behind blue-dyed curtains are three alcoves, each one containing a half-emptied barrel of spirits lying on its side in a wooden brace. Twelve empty barrels are piled high near the door to the kitchen (area N2e).
The Mulchmans can identify which alcohol was in which barrel by the particular fragrance. The characters can as well with a DC 20 Wis (Perception) check.
The double doorsthat lead outside can be barred shut from within.

N2E. Kitchen
Text: 'This room looks like the kitchen of someone who lives to cook. It has piles of pots, walls lined with utensils and shelves of ingredients, and all manner of warm, comforting aromas. Two lanters hang above a sturdy wooden worktable in the middle of the clutter. A pot of soup bubbles on the hearth.'
Winnie Mulchman, who prepares most of the meals, is found here throughou the day. She occasionally receives help from her two boys, but they're too easily distracted to be fully trusted in the kitchen. A cupboard against the east wall holds most of the cultery and dishware, none of it valuable. A door in the west wall leads outside and is usually barred from the inside.
A secret door at the west end of the south wall can be pushed open to reveal a wooden staircase that leads up to area N2i.

N2F. Stable
The sliding wooden doors on the west wall of this room are held shut by a lock and chain. Winnie carries the key to the lock, but Fred has a skeleton key. The doors to the north and south can be barred shut from the inside but are usually unlocked.
Text: 'You hear the squawking of birds, the gutteral gobbling of giant turkeys, and an oddly nasal whinny of a horse as you peer inside. The stalls are clean and well maintained. One contains a red, perhaps ginger stallion. A small door is set into the east wall, and a wooden ladder gives access to a loft overhead. Perched on the wooden railing that encloses the loft are dozens of birds.'
The horse is Frey, a glamoured fey. If the characters try to ride him, he will go along with it as long as the weight doesn't exceed the capacity allowed by his Str. Otherwise, he collapses.
A detect magic spell reveals a strong aura of illusion magic.
The small door in the east wall can be pulled open to reveal area N2g. The loft is described in area N2h.

N2G. Storage
This small room lies under a wooden staircase (area N2i). Hanging from wooden pegs are harnesses to equip two giant turkeys. In an unlocked wooden cheast are dry turkey snacks.

N2H. Loft
Text: 'Dim light spilling in through a pair of dirt-encrusted windows reveals piles of clean straw with pitchforks sticking out of them. Hundreds of birds bedeck the rafters.'
Characters who search the loft thoroughly find three pitchforks and a locked wooden chest under a pile of straw next to a secret door. If the characters tamper with the chest the birds gather into four swarms of birds and attack. If two swarms are killed, the others flee. Otherwise, they cease their attacks if the characters leave the chest alone. If the fighting continues for more than 3 rounds, Winne Mulchman and two Feathered Friends hear the ruckus and investigate (in human form).
A secret door in the back of the loft can be pushed open to reveal a bedchamber (N2p) beyond. No ability check is required to spot the door because light in the room beyond slips through the cracks.
Inside the locked chest are 140 ep and 70 pp's worth of Tavern Town's currency item, two elixiers of health, three potions of healing, and a blue bag of tricks.

N2I. Secret stairs and hall
Text: 'A wooden staircase to the north descends fifteen feet to a landing. A window dimly illuminates a short hallway papered with old ads for "Togetherness" festivals that runs west to east.'
Guests aren't told about the tavern's secret hallway. Fred knows of it because he has heard the boys (who enjoy forcing him to carry them around) opening and closing the secret door.
At each end of this area is a secret door, each of which is easy to spot from inside the hallway (no abilty check required). The northern secret door, at the bottom of the staircase, can be pulled open to reveal the kitchen (area N2e) beyond. The eastern secret door can be pulled open to reveal a balcony (area N2j) that overlooks the taproom.

N2J. Great Balcony
Text: 'A wooden balcony stretches the full length of the taproom, enclosed by a wooden railing carved with bird motifs. The taproom's many lanterns illuminate the rafters and cast ominous shadows on the peaked ceiling.'
The balcony floor is 15 ft above the taproom floor. A secret door at the south end of the western wall can be pushed open to reveal a wood-paneled hallway (area N2i) beyond.

N2K. Guest balcony
Text: 'This 20-ft-long balcony provides a clear view of the bar and has a wooden railing carved with bird motifs. The taproom's many lanterns illuminate the rafters and cast ominous shadows on the peaked ceiling.'
The balcony floor is 15 feet above the taproom floor.

N2L. Guest rooms
These two rooms have identical furnishings
Text: 'Two cozy beds with matching footlockers rest in the far corners of this 15-ft-sq room. Dog pelts are heaped atop each bed. Between the beds, a lamp sits on a table under a shuttered window. Two tall, black sap varnished wardrobes stand against the wall by the door.'
The door to this room can be locked from the inside, and each guest gets a key. Winnie and Dani carry spare keys. The footlockers and wardrobes are empty and are for te use of guests.

N2M. Guest room
Text: 'Four plain beds with straw mattresses line the north wall of this well-lit room. Each bed comes with a matching footlocker to store clothing and other belongings. A table and four chairs occupy the corner across from the door. An oil lamp resting on the table casts a warm yellow flame.'
The door can be locked from the inside, and each guest receives a key. Winnie and Dani carry spare keys. The footlockers are empty and are for the use of guests.

N2N. Private Guest Room
Fred has a skeleton key to this room, which is locked at all times. He uses it when the Mulchmans are asleep as the tavern never has patrons who spend the night. The door's lock can be picked, but discretion is called for because the door is in plain view of the taproom below.
Text: 'This small guest room contains a bed heaped with dog pelts, a footlocker, a tall wardrobe, and a writing desk with a matching wooden chair. An oil lamp rests atop the desk.'
Fred keeps a journal in red leather locked in the footlocker, which uses the same key to the room. His writing recounts the long and tedious days he spends being ridden by the Mulchman boys and others curious about the only horse in town. He has also written about various oddities he has seen during his time traveling and looking for an escape with his companions:
--A pitchfork and torch wielding mob running after a centaur
--Anthropomorphic frogs acting indistinguishably from amphibian humanoids
--An elk walking around on two legs
--A giant gnome chopping down a tree with a magic axe
--Trees breathing fog and oozing pitch-black, oily resin

N2O. Boys's bedroom
Text: 'A large, painted toy box rests between two small, cozy beds. Murals of birds in flight are painted on the backs of old flyers.'
Brom and Bray don't spend much time in this room. The toy box contains a pile of "care"worn toys, many of them etched with the slogan "No Fun for You!" The toys include:
--A puppet theatre of frog puppets in costume
--A miniature turkey wagon with wooden turkeys
--A wooden top with images of scarecrows chasing children through the forest
--A tree with featureless wooden dolls attached to it by strings
A hidden trapdoor in the 8-ft-high ceiling opens into a secret attic (area N2q).

N2P. Master bedroom
Text: 'Matching end tables flank a large, wood-framed bed with a blue-dyed canopy. Across from the bed, the wall has been papered with the backs of blue flyers.'
Winne and Dani retire to this room every night before heading to the attic (N2q) to sleep. This room is for appearances only and contains no valuables.
A secret door at the west end of the south wall can be pulled open to reveal the loft beyond (area N2h).
A hidden trapdoor in the 8-ft-high ceiling opens into a secret attic (area N2q).

N2Q. Secret attic
Text: 'This 10-ft-wide, 35-ft-long attic has a ceiling that slants down toward the west, dropping from a height of 8 ft to a height of 5 ft. Four nests cover the floor, and a locked strongbox sits against the north wall. A small square opening int he south wall leads outside. Two trapdoors with metal hinges are set into the floor.'
The Mulchmans sleep here at night in hybrid form. The opening in the south wall is just big enough for a bird or other Tiny creature to pass through. The Feathered Friends can use this opening as an escape route.
Two trapdoors, clearly visible on the floor, can be pulled open to reveal the bedchambers (areas N2o and N2p) that lie directly beneath them.
Winnie carries the key to the locked strongbox. The lock can be picked with thieves's tools and a successful DC 20 Dex check. The box contains a sack of 150 ep's worth of currency item, and three potions of healing.
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is in the strongbox.

**Guest** · 10-15-2016, 12:15 AM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Burgomaster Tavern, Ground Floor

N3. Burgomaster Tavern
Text: 'This massive establishment has walls of vividly plastered stone. Garish, multicolored drapes cover every window, including a large, arached opening above the tavern's entrance doors.'
Patrons come and go from the tavern at all hours, most congregating in the grand taproom (area N3a). Morever, guards bring in criminals cited for "malicious disunity."
If the characters knock on the front doors, a server (LG commoner) lets them in, escorts them to the den (area N3e), and leaves to fetch Baron Brown Dam.

Roleplaying the Family
The burgomaster, Baron Brown Dam (N male noble, any race), is a proud, stubborn man who firmly believes that only "togetherness" can save their town from the despair of the Beast and the Unknown.
He has a brittle ego and lashes out at anyone who pokes fun of his festivals or treats any of his blood disrespectfully. He has two pet mastiffs that follow him everywhere, as well as his righthand man, Hothand Zeb (see appendix D). In addition to his weapons, Hothand Zeb carries a ring of keys that unlock the stocks in the town square (area N8).
If the characters get on his bad side, Baron accuses them of "malicious disunity" and sends 12 guards to arrest them, seize their weapons, and run them out of town or put them in the stocks. If the guards fail, Baron sends Hothand Zeb to rally a 30-strong mob of commoners to do the job. The frenzy, however, turns to a blood-frenzy and the commoners will attack with the intent to kill. If the mob fails, Baron summons the 12 remaining guards to his tavern, giving the town up to the PCs.
If the characters get on his good side, he insists that they join him as special guests at the next festival.
Two members of the burgomaster's staff have vanished in the past week. Baron has charged Hothand Zeb to find out what happened to them, but Hothand Zeb doesn't know the first thing about investigation. Searches have been organized to no avail.
Lydia (LG female noble, any race) has embraced her husband's togetherness festival fanaticism, though it causes her considerable facial strain and elevated blood pressure. She laughs at every comment spoken to her. She does, however, spend time with tavern patrons in the tea and sandwich room, which is where the poor are sequestered for free-meal dining. Lydia is one of the few faithful to the Queen of the Clouds and is the younger sister of the local priest, Lucy.
The burgomaster's love-lorn son is Jimmy Brown (CN male mage), who has confined himself to the attic (area N3t), where he is content to avoid his parents, who refer to him as "Jimmy Brown Dam" against his wishes. Years ago, Jimmy Brown found an old spellbook in the tavern's attic and used it to teach himself magic. He's been busy constructing a teleportation circle in the hope of escaping the Unknown now that he believes he will never again be united with his love, Miss Langtree, who left Tavern Town to seek hope elsewhere.

N3A. Grand taproom
Text: 'Framed portraits adorn the walls of this grand taproom papered with ads for "Togetherness" festivals. Leather booths curl up around tables against the walls. A long hall attached to the taproom stretches almost the length of the tavern an has several doors leading away from it, including one at the far end. The bar sits in front of a wide staircase with a sculpted railing. A chandelier hangs above the room and shakes slightly from its frenzy of servers and patrons.'
The stairs climb to the upstairs gallery (area N3i).
Tucked in the northeast corner is a vestibule packed with the patrons's cloaks and coats.

N3B. Tea and sandwich room
Text: 'This room contains spare, wooden furnishings, and its clientele are noticeably more dirty, weary, and worn than the other patrons. Servers bring them trays loaded with small mountains of rock-hard sandwiches and jugs of pungent, earthy tea seeming without end.'
The poor are given free food and drink here. Lydia visits with them here once a day.

N3C. Dining room
Characters can hear the chatter of female voices as they approach. The first time they peer in: 'A chandelier fitted with red wax candles hangs above a polished wooden dining table. Around the table are seated 8 women of various ages in high-backed wooden chairs. They drink a pungent, brewed spirit and devour a rack of lamb. Upon noticing the PCs, all eating and speaking ceases.'
This is a women's only drinking and dining room for women who wish to get wasted without men around.

N3D. Preparation room
Text: 'White sheets cover two plain, wooden tables in the center of the room. Neatly arranged atop one table are neat stacks of polished silverware. The other table is covered with wicker baskets containing turnips, beets, and other hearty vegetables. Severs hustle and bustle in and out of the room, grabbing silverware or foodstuffs as needed.'
All the silverware together is worth 150 gp's worth of Tavern Town currency item.

N3E. Den
Characters who ask to see the burgomaster are brought here.
Text: 'Padded chairs and couches line the walls of this cozy, carpeted den. The room reeks of pipe smoke from a small crowd of townsfolk smoking and speaking in hushed voices.'
This room sequesters 2d6 smokers (LG commoners, any race) from the patrons to avoid complaints. Smokers are not permitted to eat or drink in this room, but this has allowed the burgomaster to fill the room with more easily stained though more comfortable furniture.

N3F. Servers's quarters
Text: 'This room contains four triple-decker bunk beds and an equal number of stacked and locked wooden cabinets.'
Three servers sleep here for free on rotation while 9 work, though 2 of the twelve servers have gone missing.
The trunks contain the staff's clothing and uniforms.

N3G. Kitchen
Text: 'A cook wearing a white apron over a black smock busies himself in this warm kitchen smelling of fresh baking and oven roasting. A staricase in one corner climbs to the upper floor.'
The staircase leads to the upstairs gallery (area N3i). A door in the west wall leads to a garden outside. The door is usually locked, and both the cook and the burgomaster carry keys to unlock it.

N3H. Pantry
Text: 'This pantry contains shelves packed with foodstuffs. Two barrels of homebrewed brew stand against the east wall. A folded wool blanket lies on the cot against one wall.'
The cook sleeps here whenever he isn't cooking.

**Guest** · 10-15-2016, 07:40 PM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Burgomaster Tavern, Upper Levels

N3I. Upstairs gallery
If the characters arrive here from the entrance hall (area N3a): 'The staircase climbs 20 ft to a gallery that continues west, running almost the length of the tavern. Flyers for "Togetherness" festivals paper the walls from floor to ceiling, and red silk drapes over a ten-ft-tall arched window of leaded glass.'
If they arrive from the kitchen (area N3g): 'The staircase climbs to a 10-ft-wide gallery that continues west, running almost the length of the tavern. Flyers for "Togetherness" festivals paper the walls from floor to ceiling. Two separate, narrow hallways lead away from the gallery to the north.'

N3J. Hothand Zeb's bedroom
The door to this room is locked. Hothand Zeb carries the only key.
Text: 'Row upon row of lifeless, steely eyes stare at you from mounted shelves and every solid, flat surface in the room. They are toys--animals, dolls, monsters--all cast in heavy metal.'
Hothand Zeb (see appendix D), the burgomaster's righthand man, sleeps here at night. During the day, he's in town taking care of his master's business. A wooden chest weighted down by lines of metal toys contains a heap of wrinkled clothes, under which is a nonmagical shortsword and a metal smoking pipe.
Each toy, made by the local Mr. Toymaker (area N7), bears the inscription "No Fun for You!"

N3K. Jimmy Brown's bedroom
Text: 'The room contains a bed with a red silk canopy, a low bookshelf, and a full-length mirror in a wooden frame on the wall across from the door. Set into the north wall is an arched window of leaded glass. Though nothing seems unusual, the air is stagnant.'
Nothing about the bedroom betrays Jimmy Brown's magical proclivities, though the terrible feng shui might make some uneasy. The books include collections of fables and mythology of the Unknown, most fanciful versions of the Unknown's true history with some core element of truth.

N3L. Hostel guests's room
Text: 'Triple-decker bunk beds with red, silk sheets and soft white pillows line every wall of this windowless room. At the center of the room are stacked and locked wooden drawers, each one paired by a number to a bunk.'
If the burgomaster hasn't been introduced elsewhere, he is here: 'A portly man stands on a ladder braced against the towers of wooden drawers. He replaces the melted red candles in the chandelier with fresh, new candles, placing each old one in his mouth like pipes. Resting on either side of the ladder are a pair of black mastiffs.'
Baron Brown Dam never goes anywhere without his beloved mastiffs, Earny and Burny. One of his idiosyncracies is consulting them as his advisors over his every decision. They do not respond, being simple dogs.
Two of his servers have vanished without a trace in the past week, putting him in a state of worry and concern.
Baron believes everyone must hear the good word of the benefits of Togetherness and cordially invites, pressures, and sometimes indirectly threatens everyone to take part in the festivities. Any protest, challenge, or question of his authority falls on willfully oblivious ears. At a threat, however, he will summon guards and Hothand Zeb.
The Baron wears a signet ring and carries three keys: one that unclocks the door in area N3g, and two keys for the door and manacles in N3m.
The lockers contain nothing of value--merely the clothing and other such ordinary items that belong to the tavern's overnight guests.

N3M. Locked closet
The door to this quaint punishment room is locked. Baron carries the key.
Text: 'Chained to the back wall of this otherwise empty closet is a sad-faced man. Shackles around his wrists anchor him within one foot of the wall opposite the door.'
The man is Luke the shoemaker (LN commoner, any race). He was arrested after an unhappy patron tipped off the guards that he was running a black market tavern in his cobblery.
Baron has the key to his manacles. The manacles break if they take 10 or more damage from a single weapon attack.
If released, Luke just wants to go home. If Baron discovers Luke's absence, he sends Hothand Zeb to find Luke and question him. Luke provides the names and descriptions of his liberators under threat of the hot hand.
Baron will turn against the characters for siding with the underground taverns and paper the town with unflattering flyers of their likenesses, warning of their "criminal" ways. Black market taverns will no longer offer their services to the players, nor will Burgomaster or Watter Taverns, but Blue Tavern will.

N3N. Master bedroom closet
Text: 'Cloaks, coats, gowns, and other fancy apparel hang from hooks in this closet. Arranged on low shelves are many shoes, slippers, and boots.'

N3O. Master bedroom
Text: 'Time has faded the colors and crispness from the furnishings of this master bedroom. A short pull-rope hangs from a wooden trapdoor in the ceiling.'
Baron and Lydia sleep here at night but keep nothing of value on this floor as all guests have access to it.
The trapdoor in the ceiling can be pulled down to reveal an attic room (area N3r). An unfolding wooden ladder allows easy access.

N3P. Toilet and washroom
Text: 'This room smells of fresh powder and soapy perfume. A line of mirrors hang along one wall over sinks and, at its center, vanity tables. Mounted on another wall is a full-length mirror with a gilded frame. A door in one corner leads to a toilet, and a line of patrons stand along the wall in front of the single mirror, waiting.'
A detect magic spell reveals that the gilded mirror on the wall radiates an aura of conjuration magic. None of the mansion's current occupants are aware of it, as the mirror hasn't been used in years. Casting an identify spell reveals that an assassin's ghost is magically bound to it. The spell also reveals the rhyme needed to summon the ghost:
Magic mirror on the wall,
Summon forth your guest;
Imprisoned spirit, heed my call
And take a penitent quest.
The witch Tabitha bound the spirit of the assassin the Beast sent to kill her to this mirror. She intended to release him after sending him on an errand to prove his worth but the Beast found her before she could do so. Tabitha was forced to abandon the mirror in her escape, binding most of her own spirit to the All-Seeing Monocle. The rest of it (non-magical) reincarnated in Irene Kole.
If a creature speaks the rhyme while standing within 5 ft of the mirror and staring at its own reflection, the assassin's ghost appears nearby in sight of all. The form it takes depends on the alignment of the summoner.
Non-evil summoner--if the summoner isn't evil, it assumes solid form, appearing as a masked man in form-fitting black. He has the stats of an assassin but doesn't speak. He disappears if reduced to 0 hit points. The summoner can command him to kill one living creature within the Unknown if the summoner knows their name. The assassin automatically perceives the distance and direction to the named target. He attacks any creature that prevents him from completing the task. Once completed, the assassin disappears. If commanded to kill someone dead or undead, or if he isn't given an appropriate name, the assassin disappears.
Evil summoner--if the summoner is evil, the assassin appears as a ghost with ghost stats. He tries to kill the summoner but disappears when reduced to 0 hit points.
Once the mirror is used, it can't be used again until the next dawn. The mirror has AC 10, 5 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Destroying it 'frees' the assassin to be trapped in the mist along with all the other dead.
The mirror corrupts those who use it to kill. Each time a creature uses the mirror, there is a cumulative 25% chance that their alignment shifts to NE.
If a character touches the mirror and says "the Beast," there is a 50% chance that the Beast takes notice and appears on the mirror's surface in his shadowy silhouette. In this form, he can't be harmed but does try to charm one humanoid he can see within 30 ft of the mirror. A charmed creature feels compelled to accept the Beast's invitation to the Elder Edelwood.

N3Q. Bathing room
Text: 'A polished tub with clawed feet stands against the back wall. Fresh, folded towels rest atop a table near the door.'
Baths aren't popular with townsfolk patrons, so typically only the Baron and his family, including the mastiffs, use the tub.

N3R. Attic room
Characters are most likely to enter this room via a trapdoor in the ceiling of the master bedroom (area N3O).
Text: 'The walls are papered in notices: "Honored guest(s), please return the way you came. This floor is off-limits and we, the Brown Dams, are not liable for damages you may incur here."
The high ceiling reaches its peak 20-ft above. The wooden rafters are shrouded in cobwebs, but the lower reaches of the room has been dusted. Wooden boxes are stacked in a single, neat pile.'
The boxes contain spare bedding materials, towels, and clothing. None of it is valuable.
A door in the south wall can be pulled open to area N3s.

N3S. Attic storage
Text: 'This large attic is full of old, forgotten, and broken things draped in white sheets. Piled around are barrels, crates, trunks, and old furnishings covered with cobwebs and dust. You see a clear footpath through the maze.'
Characters can follow a single set of human footprints in the dust that lead area N3t. Searching through the items reveals only broken junk that would need to be fixed for any use.
If your card reading reveals a treasure is here, it's hidden in a trunk. Each character has a cumulative 20% chance of finding the item for every hour spent searching.

N3T. Spellroom
Jimmy Brown spends most of his time here, leaving only when he needs food or spell components. When the characters first set eyes on the door: 'A wooden sign hangs from the doorknob. It reads "We are all trapped." You hear a young man's voice beyond.'
Anyone who inspects the door and succeeds on a DC 14 Int (Investigation) check notices a small, faint glyph etched into the wood of the door. This is a glyph of warding (5d8 lightning damage) that triggers if anyone other than Jimmy Brown opens the door.
The voice belongs to Jimmy Brown. Anyone who listens and succeeds on a DC 14 Int (Arcana) check can tell he's badly pronouncing some kind of teleportation spell.
If the characters open the door: 'Someone has taken old, mismatched furniture and created a study in this lamplit chamber choked with dust. Tables are strewn with pieces of parchment, on which strange diagrams are drawn, and a freestanding bookshelf holds a collection of bones. A dusty rug covers the floor in front of a wooden box, on which lounges a skeletal dog. Several more skeletal dogs skulk about.'
If the PCs trigger the glyph of warding or otherwise announce their arrival, Jimmy Brown casts a greater invisibility spell on himself and hides in a corner. Otherwise, he's visible.
If the characters can see Jimmy Brown: 'In the center of the room, perched on a stool, is a thin young man with a premature streak of gray in his dark hair. He cradles an open, leather-bound book in his arms.'
Jimmy Brown found a spellbook in the attic and is using it to teach himself magic. Only recently has he been able to decipher some of its high-level spells.
For practice, Jimmy Brown dug up the dog bones of the dogs that came before his father's mastiffs and animated them, creating six dog skeletons (use the cat stat block but give them darkvision 60 ft and immunity to poison damage, exhaustion, and the poisoned condition). The skeletons attack only when Jimmy Brown commands them to.
The sheets of parchment are covered with elaborate diagrams of teleportation circles. Jimmy Brown drew them in an effort to learn the teleportation circle spell he's trying to master.
The trunk contains several bolts of red silk cloth, needles and thread, and a half-finished wizard's robe. Jimmy Brown works on it before he goes to bed as he finds it relaxing.
Teleportation Circle
Jimmy Brown's spellbook contains incomplete text for the spell, along with the sigil sequences of three permanent teleportation circles, the locations of which aren't described. There's not enough text to prepare the spell properly, but that hasn't stopped Jimmy Brown.
He recently inscribed his own version on the floor. It's hidden under the rug so his parents don't find it. In the past weeks, he's imbued the circle with magic, but has failed to account for several factors. His circle doesn't fade after use nor does it function like teleportation circle. If used to cast the spell, any creature on the circle takes 3d10 force damage and isn't teleported. If the damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, the creature is disintegrated. Any character who studies the circle and succeeds on a DC 15 Int (Arcana) check realizes the circle is horribly flawed and potentially deadly.
Jimmy Brown tested the circle by bribing the two missing servers. The servers died in flashes of purple light. Jimmy Brown was horrified and has been researching non-stop to fix the circle. But as he believes there is nothing for him in the Unknown as his love, Miss Langtree, has left Tavern Town in search of an answer to the terror of the Beast, he intends to use the circle again.
Jimmy Brown's spellbook contains all the spells from the mage stat block as well as: acid splash, animate dead, blight, cloudkill, darkvision, glyph of warding, levitate, mending, remove curse, and thunderwave.

**Guest** · 10-16-2016, 03:04 AM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Watter Tavern

N4. Watter Tavern
Text: 'The tavern slouches from on high, its black-tiled roof threatening to slide at this angle. Vines climb the on wooden trellises against the walls, both decorating and obscuring the weary sag. The occasional patron bustling through the door neither notices nor minds.'
The tavern's master, Fiona Watt, is secretly the head of the local Black Turtle cult. She also seeks to supplant Baron Brown Dam as the town burgomaster to end the blighted "Togetherness" festivals.
Roleplaying the Watts
Lady Fiona Watt (LE female priest, any race, AC 10 and no armor) makes no secret of her acrid rivalry with the Brown family, refusing even to call the Baron "Brown Dam." The instituting of the "Togetherness" festivals have pushed her to seek ways to usurp the burgomastership.
Fiona conspired to wed her daughter, Stellabel, to Jimmy Brown to get a foot in Baron's household. When the two were set to meet, Stellabel searched Burgomaster Tavern for him and wound up on the receiving end of his glyph of warding. So close to death, the mist took hold of her mind and brings her ever closer to Edelwood Slumber with each day. To maintain face with the cult, Fiona locked away her "heretic" daughter (see area N4n).
These days, she meets with her "book club" (the cultists) and plan their takeover of the town with codewords that sound nonsensical as delivered through their fake book reviews.
Another secret of Fiona's is that she has cast gentle repose on the corpse of her dead husband, Nicolas, and keeps him in her bedroom. She misses him terribly though he's been dead for 3 years and simply hasn't been able to let go.
If the characters come to Watter Tavern looking for help to overthrow the burgomaster, Fiona is all ears and suggests first killing Hothand Zeb. She's happy to take care of the rest.
If they come looking for a way to defeat the Beast, she will laugh the characters out of the tavern. She laughs so hard that she begins to cry, slapping the shoulders of nearby servers and patrons as she walks/forces out the characters. As the characters leave the premises she says, "I haven't laughed like that since grade school."
She has the prepared the following priest spells:
Cantrips: light, mending, thaumaturgy
1st level (4 slots): command, purify food and drink, sanctuary
2nd level (3 slots): augury, gentle repose, hold person
3rd level (2 slots): animate dead, create food and water

Fiona's sons are Nicolas and Carl (N male nobles, any race) in whom she sees much of her husband. They've grown particular cutthroat and slanderous in the tavern business sector since the establishment of the Blue Tavern. They're usually at the Blue Tavern, slandering the place to the face of its patrons to keep them from spending the night.
They are aware of Fiona's cult, but focus exclusively on the business of running Watter Tavern and eliminating its rivals, starting with the weakest. They don't know that she has kept their dead father preserved and learning of it would squick them out.

Fiona's spy is Mr. Lark (LE male, any race). He keeps her informed about everything that happens in town in case their is an opportune moment for takeover. Mr. Lark knows Fiona's secrets and would blackmail her in a heartbeat if she ever turned against him. He firmly believes, however, that Watter Tavern offers the best accommodation in town and fiercely guards his privilege of free room and board.

N4A. Front door and vestibule
The front door is never locked and constantly opening and closing for patrons or servers at all hours. Poor-looking patrons, however, are spotted and turned out as soon as possible. If the characters are dirty or particularly haggard when they approach, a server will come outside and ask them with stiff politeness to depart.
The server will not fight but flee inside if threatened and lock the door, which can only be opened with a successful DC 20 Str check.
Text: 'The front door opens into a narrow vestibule. Three stained-glass doors depict all manner of animal and plant lifeforms atop a giant, black island in the middle of an aqua sea.'
Two closets flank the front door, filled with the coats and cloaks of the patrons. They clothes are high quality, if not masterwork, and fetch the corresponding prices in a settlement's currency item.

N4B. Staircase
Text: 'A wooden staircase leads up to a balcony. At the foot of the stairs is a landing with three stained-glass doors in wooden frames. They depict the same scene as below except that also humanoids walk the islands.'
The staircase climbs 15 ft to the upstairs hall (area N21).

N4C. Kitchen
The house cook (see area N4h) rushes about this spotless kitchen most of the day, preparing meals or cleaning. A washbasin stands in the northeast corner. A slender door in the west wall leads to a small pantry.

N4D. Storage room
This room holds trunks of spare linens as well as three barrels of drinking water, and four barrels of spirits imported from the Mulch Fields--whiskey, vodka, wine, and beer. All the barrels are half-empty.

N4E. Back vestibule
This is identical to the front door vestibule in design and use, only that the back door is locked. The doors lead to areas N4d, N4f, and N4h.

N4F. Server's closet
Text: 'Servers fancy uniform jackets and spare suits hang from hooks in this room, and boots are neatly lined up against the wall.'
Anyone who searches the closet and makes a successful DC 10 Wis (Perception) check finds a secret door in the south wall. The door can be pulled open to reveal a stone staircase (area N4g) that leads to the cellar.

N4G. Secret staircase
Text: 'Torch sconces cling to the wall of a stone staircase that cuts its way through the heart of the old house.;
The stairs connect the server's closet (area N4f) with the cellar (area N4s). Fiona uses this staircase to reach the secret cult lair (area N4t).

N4H. Server's quarters
Text: 'The furnishing in this room is austere but clean and comfortable. There are four triple-decker bunk beds, each paired by number to a simple wooden chest.'
Three of twelve servers sleep here on rotation while the other nine work. They know Fiona's secrets but would rather die than betray her.
Their chests hold only clothing, none of it valuable.

N4I. Booth room
Fiona comes through at least once a day to greet patrons here.
Text: 'Here three elegant leather booths surround an intricately patterned oval rug. All are set in front of a blazing hearth, above which hangs the portrait of a man with a face of strong planes and angles. He sports a broken nose and a tangle of hair graying at the temples. Several smaller portraits hang on the north wall. Smaller portaits hang on the north wall.'
The portrait depicts the late Nicolas Watt. The other portraits depict the three children playing various games with each other, usually in some sort of mess.
The booth room shares the fireplace with the den (area N4k). Mr. Lark lurks in the den and eavesdrops on any conversation that Fiona has with the characters, so he can advise her after they depart.

N4J. Bar
Text: 'An ornate bar stretches the length of this room, a crystal chandelier spilling gentle light from above. The servers set silverware and and food on porcelain dishes before the patrons who sit on leather-cushioned stools. Arched windows made of a latticework of iron and glass look out onto the small, fog-swept lawn.'
If the characters aim to oppose the burgomaster, Fiona tells the barkeep to give them any food or drink they ask on the house.

N4K. Den
Text: 'Wood paneling, embroidered rugs, colorful furnishings, and a blazing fire distract from the stifling clouds of pipe smoke from the crowd of murmuring patrons. Across from the hearth, tall, slender windows look out over flowerless gardens.'
Mr. Lark lounges with the smokers when he's not spying.

N4L. Upstairs hall
Text: 'A hallway with a window at each end wraps aroudn the staircase railing. Framed portraits and mirrors festoon the walls, surrounding you with the staged play of children. You hear something scratching at one end of the many doors.'
The scratching noise comes from the door to area N4n, which is locked. If the characters call out, a plaintive female voice begins to sing.
Song reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRvWJWgaICM
A closet at the south end of the hallway holds blankets and linens.

N4M. Brothers's rooms
Text: 'This bedroom contains nothing out of the ordinary: a neatly made bed, a table with an oil lamp on it, a handsome wooden chest, an ornate wardrobe, and a window box with aqua drapes.'
These two rooms belong to Nicolas and Carl. There's a 25% chance that one of servers is here, tidying up.

N4N. Stellabel's room
The door to this room is locked from both sides, and only Fiona has a key.
Text: 'This room is musty and dark. An iron-framed bed fitted with leather straps stands near a wall. The place has no other furnishings.
A young woman stands in a simple shift with her back to you, scratching the wood-paneled wall with a knife. She turns her head just enough that you glimpse a dark, dilated eye. She begins to sing and turns back to the wall.'
The woman is Stellabel Watt (CG female noble, any race). A greater restoration spell heals her mind enough to fight the mists back from her mind. If cured, she turns against her mother for treating her horribly and using her as a pawn to seize control of the town. Stellabel knows none of her mother's secrets, apart from her mother's desire to overthrow the burgomaster. Stellabel has nothing kind to say about the burgomaster or his son, Jimmy Brown, whose reckless magic harmed her. With her wits restored, Stellabel feels she has no one in Tavern Town she can count on. She latches onto any character who is kind to her. If the party takes her to Tavern Town's church, Lucy offers to look after her, and she agrees to stay there.

N4O. Master bedroom
The door to this room is locked. Fiona and her servants carry keys.
Text: 'Across from the door, a fire sputters and struggles for life in the hearth, above which hangs a framed family portrait: two parents, one of whom being a decades-younger Fiona, and their three children.
Wood paneling covers the walls of the room. To the north, a wide bed with a black and aqua pinstriped canopy lies between matching end tables with oil lamps. A closet and a framed mirror flank an aqua-curtained window to the south. The door to the closet hangs slightly ajar.'
Fiona's husband appears to be sleeping while standing inside the closet. He is in fact, dead, and under the effect of the gentle repose spell. Nothing of value is on him, though he wears a finely tailored funeral suit sewn onto his body.
The closet also contains shevles of fancy footwear and many fine garments, including a black ceremonial robe (similar to the ones worn by other Black Turtle cultists in Tavern Town's cult chapter, see area N4t). On a high shelf rests a locked metal chest. Fiona hides the key to the chest on a tiny hook in the fireplace, under the mantel. A character who takes a minute to search the fireplace finds the key with a successful DC 10 Wis (Perception) check. Use of the key disables a poison needle trap hidden in the lock (see Chap 5 in the DM's Guide). A creature that triggers the trap and fails the saving throw against the needle's poison falls unconscious for 1 hr instead of being poisoned for 1 hr.
The chest is lined with thin sheets of lead and contains the bones of an evil ancestor, an assassin. They keep his bones under lock and key so that he can't be raised from the dead. They aren't aware that the witch Tabitha bound his spirit to a mirror that has found its way into Burgomaster Tavern.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it is in the chest of bones.
Characters who have a passive Wis (Perception) score of 15 or higher notice a key hanging at the back of the closet.

N4P. Hostel guests's room
Text: 'Narrow but elegant beds under aqua curtains line the walls. Locked wooden drawers bear metal plaques whose numbers correspond to those on similar plaques on the beds. A bookcase stretches between the beds along the southernmost wall.'
The drawers contain fine, if not masterwork, clothing belonging to the wealthy patrons and accordingly priced.
There is a 25% chance that a server is here, tidying up.
The bookshelf is actually a secret door. It can be pulled outward, revealing a doorway to area N4q.

N4Q. Storage room
Text: 'Behind the hinged panel in the bookcase lies a dusty, 10-ft-sq room with a curtained window and shelves lining three walls. On the bottom shelf rests an iron chest. The other shelves are bare.'
The key to the chest can be found in the closet of the master bedroom. Use of the key disables a poison needle trap hidden in the lock (see Chap 5, DM's Guide).
The chest contains: a wooden pipe passed down through many generations of Watts, all the way back to the Dams, and five scrolls--notarized deeds for parcels of land given to the Dams from the Browns then renotarized on one scroll under the Watt name.

N4R. Cellar entrance
If the characters approach the cellar door from the outside: 'A slanted, wooden cellar door with an iron pull ring and iron hinges stands against the foundation of the house.'
The door is unlocked. On the other side of the door are stone steps leading to a stone landing with a wooden railing. A longer staircase extends south from the landing, leading down to the cellar.

N4S. Cellar
Text: 'This large root cellar has a dirt floor. Two ascending flights of stone steps enclosed by wooden railings stand across from one another. Tracks in the earth lead from one staircase to the other, and other trails go from both staircases to the center of the bare west wall. Four neatly made cots are set in a row against the south wall.'
Buried under the earthen floor are 8 skeletons, animated remains stolen from the church cemetery (area N1) and animated by Fiona. They rise up and attack anyone who crosses the floor. They don't attack anyone who utters the phrase "The Mantle of the Black Turtle protects me." Only Fiona, her family, servers, and the members of her "book club" know the phrase.
The cots are for any cultists who wish to use tavern services but are too tired to blend in with the patrons.
The footprints in the dirt give away the location of a secret door in the center of the western wall. Consequently, no ability check is required to locate it. The door is soundproof and pivots open on a central axis.

N4T. Cult headquarters
Text: 'Flickering aqua candles in metal holders fill this room with light and shadows. This room has a 10-ft-high ceiling and a large black knot in the vague shape of a turtle inscribed on the stone floor. Seated in four of five chairs around the black turtle are men and women in black robes with hoods--each silk hood stitched with the same pattern as on the floor. They rise to confront you.'
The four are town residents (LE male and female cult fanatics, any race). They are also among the members of her "book club." Fiona only ever admits four at a time to avoid drawing too much attention.
The cultists gather in secret and attack the characters to protect their identities.

**Guest** · 10-16-2016, 06:28 AM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Townsplaces

N5. Amber Stockyard
Text: 'This large stockyard has several locked sheds along its periphery and lies adjacent to a roomy warehouse. A wooden sign above the front gate reads "Amber Stockyard".
Parked at the south end of the stockyard is a sturdy carnival wagon, its colorful paint peeling off. Faded lettering on its sides spells out the words "Carnival of Wonders." A heavy padlock secures the back door.'
The stockyard is a general store and a facility where storage sheds can be rented--for the night, if patrons ask for taverning services. It is owned by a middle-aged married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Amber (LG commoners). They sell items from the Adventuring Gear table in the Player's Handbook that have a price of 100 gp or less, but at five times the price.
Carnival wagon
If the characters approach the wagon: 'The wagon suddenly lurches, as though something big has thrown itself against the inside wall. You hear the cracking of wood, the scraping of metal, and the snarl of something not quite human.'
The townsfolk have captured a fog-addled centaur. Baron pays the Mr. and Mrs. Amber to keep it in the stockyard while he decides what to do with it, though he always gets distracted by planning his festivals.
The lock can be picked with thieves's tools. If the wagon is opened, the fog-addled centaur attacks. If the players flee, it runs through town trying to escape to the woods and attacks anyone in its path.
Treasure
The warehouse contains countless items, some of them valuable:
--An unlocked wooden coffer containing 50 ep's worth of Tavern Town's currency item
--A small prayer book worth 50 gp's worth of currency item in any settlement
--A healer's kit
--Three wooden holy symbols inlaid with silver and in the shape of a cloud, worth 50 gp's worth of currency item in any settlement
--A cold iron shortsword
--A bundle of 20 cold iron crossbow bolts
--A bone scroll tube containing three spell scrolls of protection from fiends
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it's hidden in a secret compartment in the carnival wagon.

N6. Coffin maker's shop
Text: 'This quaint shop is two stories tall with narrow windows in wooden laticework. A sign shaped like a coffin hangs above the front door. It squeaks on its hinges in the slight breeze.'
Henny (LE male commoner) is a mediocre carpenter but the only coffin maker in all the Unknown, for he receives shipments of mountain pine from the Fungais who live in the camp outside town. He does, however, serve as a spy for the Beast.
A fearful man, he has requested the Beast for protection in case anyone finds out about his service. He has lent Henny a squad of the Beast's fog-addled fey. This has given the Beast to attack the town with a horde of his fog-addled fey, gradually imported as "protectors" for Henny. Henny keeps them in the upstairs wood storage room, area N6f.
But this protection isn't enough. Henny collects holy symbols, and they are now the only currency he will now accept in exchange for taverning services. His hobby is well known and has inspired Milly to sell him the local church's own Iron Cloud, hiding it with the others in the bedroom wardrobe (area N6e).

N6A. Coffin storage
Text: 'Arranged haphazardly about the floor of this musty, L-shaped room are several, asymmetrical pine coffins.'
Henny stores and displays all the coffins he makes in this room. They are considered a town specialty and treasure.

N6B. Junk room
Text: 'A table with four chairs is in one corner of this room, with a lantern hanging from a chain directly above. Two asymmetrical cabinets stand against the east wall.'
The cabinets are packed with handheld carving tools.
If the characters request taverning services and provide holy symbols, Henny takes an appropriate number of coffins from the display room and moves them here to serve as beds.

N6C. Workshop
Text: 'This workshop contains all the large, heavy tools needed by a carpenter to make coffins and furniture. Three sturdy worktables stretch the length of the west wall.'
Henny builds the coffins here as well as any furniture requests.

N6D. Kitchen
Text: 'This kitchen contains a square table surrounded by chairs and shelves of provisions.'
Henny prepares his meals here.

N6E. Henny's bedroom
Text: 'This modest bedchamber holds a cot and several wonky pieces of furniture, including a teetering table, an uneven chair, a slanted bookshelf, and a bulging wardrobe.'
Henny sleeps here, at night and well into the morning. The bookshelf contains a handful of storybooks and carpenters's manuals.
The wardrobe in the southeast corner has a secret compartment in its base, requiring a successful DC 15 Wis (Perception) check to find. Inside are two large sacks of holy symbols, one holding the Iron Cloud.

N6F. Spare room
Text: 'This large, drafty room is strung with cobwebs and takes up most of the upper floor. Stacks of wooden planks piled high lie amid several creates.'
The two southernmost crates contain mountine pine lumber. The six crates in the northern part serve as beds for six of the Beast's fog-addled fey. If the characters open one of the occupied crates, all of them burst forth and attack.
Characters who teleport to this location from area K78 in the Elder Edelwood arrive at the point marked on T the map.

N7. Toyshop
Text: 'This cramped shop has a dark entrance portico, above which hangs a wooden sign shaped like a rocking horse. Flanking the entrance are two arched, lead-framed windows. Through the dirty glass, you see jumbled displays of toys and hanging placards bearing the slogan "No Fun for You!"'
Tavern Town's toymaker, Mr. Toymaker (CN male commoner, any race), calls himself the "trapper of stories" but has been falling into despair lately because no one likes his creepy toys. The burgomaster tries to keep Mr. Toymaker out of despair and the Edelwood Slumber by paying him to make decorations of the "Togetherness" festivals, but Mr. Toymaker doesn't enjoy it.
He's a heavyset man who wears a moth-eaten wizard's hat during store hours. In the past six months, the only toy-buying customers here in the past six months were Brom and Bray, the children of Winnie and Dani Mulchman.
When the characters enter, believing them customers, tears fill Mr. Toymaker's eyes and he physically embraces them with open arms. "Finally, finally," he says in a voice shaking with emotion. "You've come to buy toys."
Creepy toys are on display throughout, all priced 9 cp in Tavern Town's currency item:
--A headless doll ith a sack of attachable heads
--A miniature gallows, complete with a trapdoor and a weighted "hanged man"
--A set of wooden nesting dolls; the smaller each one gets, the older it gets, until the innermost doll is a mummified corpse
--A wood-and-string mobile of hanging bats with flapping wings
--A ventriloquist's dummy that looks like a vampire
--A doll that looks eeriely like one of the PCs, chosen at random
If the characters don't buy a toy, Mr. Toymaker succumbs to the Edelwood Slumber. If they are traveling with any clockwork automaton, Mr. Toymaker is even more overjoyed and offers to make the characters any toy they desire, up to Large size, in exchange for giving him the clockwork "toy."

N8. Town square
Text: 'The shops and homes that enclose the town square are decorated with limp, tattered garlands and painted wooden boxes. At the north end of the square stands a row of stocks, locked in which are several dour-faced men and women.
In the center of the square, peasants in patchwork clothes stretch their faces into uncomfortably toothy smiles as they see you. They wave as they wait their turn to draw water from a stone fountain using cups and vases. Standing tall at the center of the fountain is a gray statue of a smiling Baron Brown Dam and a...possibly smiling Lady Fiona Watt holding hands.
All around the square, flyers for "Togetherness" festivals paper the sides of buildings from roof to roadside.'
The boxes are jack-in-the-boxes made by Mr. Toymaker. Touching any side causes a life-size Business Bat to pop out and chatter nonsensically until it winds back down into the box.
The commoners in the stocks were arrested and placed there for showing "fractious disunity," which was anything from a long period of dourness to arguing where someone might hear.
If the characters linger, they see the burgomaster's right hand man, Hothand Zeb (see appendix D), arrive with two town guards who carry small mountains of new flyers in their arms. Hothand Zeb orders the guards to begin papering the square with the new layer, advertising mandatory attendance of the next festival.
Freeing one or more prisoners's without Baron's consent is a crime. If the characters are witnessed doing so, Hothand Zeb rallies the 24 town guards and orders the PCs to leave town or suffer the consquences. If the characters stand their ground, Hothand Zeb orders the guards to beat them into submission, seize their weapons, and cast them out to be dire dog food.
If the PCs are exiled without their weapons, the Feathered Friends can help them if the PCs have proven themselves worthy.
If the guards fall, they scatter. Hothand Zeb has already fled to Burgomaster Tavern. The PCs have the run of the town until they leave or some other group attempts a takeover.
The townsfolk lock themselves in their homes, convinced the characters are worse than Baron and will outright murder them on sight.

**Guest** · 10-18-2016, 05:15 AM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Out of Town

N9. Fungai Camp
Several footpaths and turkey wagon trails lead to this location in the woods southwest of Tavern Town.
Text: 'The fall-leaved woods part to reveal an expensive clearing: a small hill covered in golden grasses with low houses built into its sides.
Atop the hill, above the tide of fog, is a ring of barrel-topped wagons that surround a large tent with a column of smoke pouring out through a hole in the top. The tent is brightly light from within. Even at this distance, you can smell the emanating odors of giant turkey and mulch.'
This natural clearing serves as a permanent campsite for both the traveling Fungais and the dusk elves.

Fungais
The elders have died, leaving the brothers Igor and Mr. Lou in charge. Both serve the Beast out of fear--Igor for his own life and well-being while Mr. Lou fears for his family.
Mr. Lou's 7-year-old daughter, Arabelle, has recently disappeared. This has thrown the camp into a state of great fear and turmoil. As a result, Mr. Lou and Igor have imposed even stricter regiments and punishments on the Fungais in their camp. Though none can bring themselves to say it, they fear that the Beast has taken Arabelle as punishment for some kind of infraction on their part. They couldn't bear for anyone else to be taken.

Dusk Elves
The dusk elves are one of the only remnants of the original fey population of the Unknown whose forms weren't altered by the Beast and his mists. The twisting of their brethren has forever stricken them with the fear of the Beast. The only one in recent history who did not fear the Beast was Patty, sister of the Highwayman. Her brother misses her with the same idiosyncratic ache that drives Fiona to keep her late husband preserved.
The dusk elves have dark skin and hair and the stats of wood elves (see Player's Handbook). They reside inside hovels dug into the hillside and are mostly self-sufficient. They are skilled trackers, but many are far from the camp when the characters arrive, helping their Fungai neighbors search the Unknown for the missing Arabelle.

N9A. If the characters approach the hovel and its surrounding ditch at the base of the hill on the easter perimeter of the camp: 'Standing quietly in front of this hovel, bathed in the warm light of its lanterns, are three gray-cloaked figures bent and crouched in the ditch that surrounds this hovel like a waterless moat.'
The cloaked figures are three guards (N dusk elves). If the characters seem friendly and are looking to speak with someone, the guards direct them inside to the Highwayman.
The Highwayman (see appendix D) is the leader of the dusk elves. His hovel has a vestibule decorated with trinkets taken off those found dead or in Edelwood Slumber in the woods. Wooden statuettes of two elven children stand and play together in cubbyholes along one wall. The Highwayman carves them himself when he wakes from his nightmares.
The Highwayman confesses that he's burdened by dreams sent to him by his dead sister, Patty, whose spirit has languished in the Elder Edelwood for centuries. The Highwayman has never been able to let her go, paving the way for the mist to connect the siblings and turn the Highwayman's heart to despair. He believes that Patty's torment and his own cannot end unless he brings her back to life, stealing her spirit from the fog.
If the characters seem intent on destroying the Beast, the Highwayman offers to help if they first help him. Patty has sent him dreams of Winter Place. He believes there must be something there that can restore her to life.
The Highwayman wears a ring of warmth, taken from a Slumberer, and has a leather-bound spellbook containing all the spells he has prepared (see appendix D) plus the following spells: arcane lock, comprehend languages, hold person, identify, locate object, nondetection, polymorph, protection from evil and good, ray of frost, and wall of stone.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it's in the Highwayman's possession. He gives it to the characters only if they promise to accompany him to Winter Place and help him bring Patty back from the dead.

N9B. Dusk elf hovels
Six hovels surrounded by ditches like waterless moats ring the base of the hill. Three protrude from the north side and three from the south side.
Text: 'A gray-cloaked figure stands in front of the door to this hovel. They shake their head upon catching your eye, their smile friendly but sad.'
The cloaked figure is a guard (N dusk elf). If the characters appear friendly and are looking for someone to talk to, the guard directs them to the Highwayman's ditch (area N9a).
Under no circumstances will the guard allow strangers to enter the house they protect. Each hovel is configured similarly to the Highwayman's. All are currently unoccupied. Except for the nine guards left to watch the hovels, the dusk elves are searching for Arabelle.

N9C. Fungai tent
Text: 'Piled outside the wagon are clumps of mulch swept into neat piles. Murmurs and soft sobbing comes from inside the tent. Three sputtering campfires fill the tent with smoke, and through the haze you see six, travel-dirtied Fungai sitting on the grass. They eat ravenously with their bare hands.
A large, middle-aged male Fungai in studded leather stands in front of the central tent pole. His hulking frame blocks out the one softly sobbing.'
The larger Fungai is Igor, an assassin, while the smaller and slimmer one who crying for Arabelle is his brother, Mr. Lou. The six scouts have just returned from long and nonstop travels through the woods in search of Arabelle.

Dealing with Mr. Lou
Mr. Lou is a terror-stricken parent who is desperately fighting down his fear that he'll never see his daughter again. As she's only 7-years-old, he's never let the precocious child out of his sight, but she slipped away in perilous night in her reckless fearlessness.
Mr. Lou, a commoner rather than a scout, stays in the camp where his brother, Igor, watches him to ensure that he doesn't fall into Edelwood Slumber. 12 Fungai scouts are out searching for Arabelle in the woods. Every hour, 1d4 return to the camp with no results.
If an alarm is sounded 9 more Fungai scouts emerge from three of the surrounding wagons (area N9g), and arive at the tent with weapons drawn in 2 rounds.
Mr. Lou doesn't dare aid the characters against the Beast, though he won't stop them unless they threaten the Fungais. He asks only that they help him find his daughter. In exchange, he agrees to do business with them.
In gathering mulch, the Fungais have collected many more items that they can sell. Mr. Lou sells Adventuring Gear, anything on the table 1000 gp or less, but there's a 50% chance that he doesn't have the item requested on the particular day asked. The chance resets every dawn. Additionally, any large, bulky item had to be broken down for transport and is left to the PCs to repair.
If the PCs return Arabelle, Mr. Lou gives them a turkey wagon (but not the turkeys) full of items that non-Fungais find valuable. The Fungais had intended to offer them to the folks at Tavern Town but, "They don't like us 'failed taverners' anyway, so we reckon a bit of their treasure won't change that."

N9D. Giant turkeys
Text: 'The hilltop is plastered with a layer of turkey droppings. More than two dozen giant turkeys are tethered to stone blocks inside the circle of wagons but outside the tent.'

N9E. Mr. Lou's wagon
Text: 'The wagon contains a roomy seating area the at front, large enough for several Fungais to lie down to rest. The back is deep and full of mulch. The pungent odor brings tears to your eyes.'

N9F. Wagon of sleeping Fungais
There are four of these wagons at camp.
Text: 'You hear heavy snores from within this wagon.'
Each of these wagons contains 1d4 resting Fungai scouts. They wake if the wagon is shaken or they take damage and have at least 1 hit point remaining.

N9G. Wagon of storytelling Fungais
There are three of these wagons at camp.
Text: 'Loud voices and laughter spill from this pungent wagon.'
Each of these wagons contains three Fungai scouts. They are telling wild stories and tales to each other, though the tales are built on grains of truth. The characters can receive fanciful and highly elaborated versions of histories this way. If they stop to listen, however, the Fungais will peer pressure them to regale them with tales of their own: "Story! Story! Story!"

N9H. Family wagon
There are three of these wagons at camp.
Text: 'The raucous screams and laughter of children exploding from this wagon assault your ears.'
Each of these contains one Fungai adult commoner and 1d4+1 Fungai children (noncombatants). The adult is watching the children as they play, acting as judge, jury, and referee.

N91. "Treasure" wagon
Text: 'Not mulch but fine and well-made containers fill the back of this wagon. There's not even a trace of the pungent mulch odor.'
The Fungai have stockpiled items they know that the townsfolk of Tavern Town find valuable in the hopes of gaining some good will. Many, including Igor and Mr. Lou, believe this will ultimately be a futile effort, but any theft of these items will provoke the camp to attack.
The wagon contains the following:
--A wooden chest containing 1200 ep in Tavern Town's currency item
--A metal chest containing 650 gp in Adelaide's currency item
--A stone chest containing 500 gp in Pottsfield's currency item
--A small wooden box with three potions of healing
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is lying with the other items in the wagon.

**Guest** · 10-18-2016, 08:51 AM

Chap 5: Tavern Town, Special Events
Any of the following can occur while the characters are staying in Tavern Town.

Togetherness Festival
The next "Togetherness" festival takes place three days after the characters first arrive in Tavern Town. You can delay the festival if the characters get waylaid or drawn elsewhere, or you can advance the timeline if the characters seem to be in a hurry.
Text: 'Despite the sky's dark threat of rain, a muscial procession marches most mechanically through the muddy streets. Children throw flowers on cue, paving the way for the lines of men and women clapping like living metronomes or playing instruments. The jaunty rhythm never changes, the melody repeating over and over and over.
They gather round the hand-holding statue in the town square. The crowd parts in practiced unison, needing only a single step to one side or the other. The burgomaster, holding the hand of the woman in the statue, her face forming the exact same scar of a smile, walks forward. They turn around to face the crowd, replicating the unliving sculpture behind them.
Two servers in gaudy clown costumes present the two with a giant wicker ball on a rope. Clowns behind the statue hoist it up from the hands of the burgomaster and the lady into the stone hands of their counterparts. A clown places blazing torches into the hands of the two of them.
"Let us light the fire of togetherness!" cries the burgomaster, brandishing his torch to the sky.
Heat evaporates from the air. From all around comes a sound like a million marching toy soldiers. Rain drops strike your face, fast and heavy. The torches sputter.
"No!" cries the burgomaster, throwing his torch at the wicker ball. It spins head over tail as it flies almost in slow motion. With each turn, the flame flickers weaker. The torch hits the ball and drops to the ground, dead.
A singular laugh erupts from the crowd.'
The burgomaster immediately has the laugher arrested for "fractious disunity." Everyone is loosed from the stocks to make room for the laugher. At Baron's demand, tavern waste bins are raided for spoiled food. The crowd returns wielding putrid fruits and vegetables and throws them with all the spirit of wind-up toys.
Development
If the characters challenge Baron in anyway, he orders them banished. If they protest, he calls the guards to force them out at sword point.
If the characters lose their weapons, the Feather Friends can help steal them back.
If the guards fail, Baron and the townsfolk flee to their homes, giving the characters free reign of the town.

Fiona's Wish
Mr. Lark (see area N4) begins shadowing the characters. Characters who have a passive Wis (Perception) of 14 or higher notice him doing so. If they confront him, he claims that he keeps a watchful eye on all strangers, though doesn't reveal the name of his employer. If the PCs threaten him, he backs off and reports to Fiona after he believes he's not being watched or pursued.
Fiona is looking for powerful allies to help her oust the burgomaster. If the characters impress Mr. Lark, he tells her and she has him invite them to a private dinner at Watter Tavern. She uses the dinner to determine if they have the strength and resolve to crush Baron.
If they refuse her, she marks them as enemies and sets out to destroy them.
Development
Fiona will unleash her 20 cult fanatics, 10 cultists, and 10 giant goats on the town (not all in the same area), but does not lead them. If the characters have refused them, the Black Turtle cultists seek them out to drive them out of town or kill them if they continue to fight. If the characters have taken Fiona up on her offer, Mr. Lark comes to them and directs them to Burgomaster Tavern, where a disguised Fiona waits for them to help her destroy Baron and his family. Mr. Lark accompanies them.

The Trial of Henny
The characters can prevent this special event from occuring by killing the Beast's fog-touched fey hiding in the coffin-maker's shop (area N6). If the characters stay in Tavern Town for three days or more and don't destroy them, the Beast visits Henny's shop the following evening and orchestrates an attack, starting with the randomly determined church.
The Beast's fog-touched fey begin the attack that night. They cling to the outer walls and roof of the St. Andral's church while four swarms of Business Bats enter through the belfry and terrify and exhaust the congregation within. As the tavern patrons flee the church tavern, the Beast's fog-touched fey leap down and attack them.
During the chaos, the Beast enters the church and is attacked by Lucy the priest. Unless the characters intervene, he kills Lucy before returning to the Elder Edelwood.
If Lucy dies, the locals bury her body in the cemetery.
Development
The attack on the church terrorizes and demoralizes the town. After a few days, the townsfolk form a 50-strong town mob and oust Baron or Fiona Watt and their entire families from Tavern Town. They then burn either tavern. Whichever it is, the mob stands and stares at the fire for the entire three days that it burns. The dawn after the fire dies, half the townsfolk of Tavern Town fall into Edelwood Slumber. For the first time, Fungais are allowed freely into the town. They port the sleeping, sprouting bodies away into the forest to prevent Edelwood trees from taking root and consuming what remains of Tavern Town.

**Guest** · 10-19-2016, 08:30 AM

Chap 6: The Old Grist Mill
The servants of the Beast erected this centuries-old mill to refine the black sap of the Edelwood trees to a pure, black oil. This oil keeps the Beast's Dark Lantern, which holds his soul, burning longer.
His Woodcutters bring down the Edelwood trees and chop them into lumber to fill their wooden carts. At night, the Woodcutters cease their cutting and bring their lumber-laden carts back to the Old Grist Mill. There, a three-body contingent of Woodcutters crushes the black sap from the wood and sends it through the machinery of refinement. The black Edelwood oil is collected and, every dawn, transported to the Elder Edelwood in the same wooden carts.

The Woodcutters
There are always three Woodcutters at the mill. Should the characters kill all three, three more come to replace them within the hour. The Beast can create an endless supply of them by budding them off the Budded Root in the Root Tangle of the Elder Edelwood.
The only way to cut off his supply of Woodcutters would be to destroy the Budded Root. This leaves 10d20 Woodcutters still roaming the Unknown and keeping the Old Grist Mill churning.

Approaching the Mill
The mill's stone walls appear identical to the magically impassable ones surrounding the Unknown, but they are easily climbed. Wooden floors separate the various levels. There are no lights, since the Woodcutters are merely permanently enlarged Deep Gnomes with darkvision. The Beast has had the entire mill fire-proofed, though any oil burning in the mill won't die down for 24 hours.
Text: 'Worthwagon Road transitions here from being a winding path through the Barking Mountains to a lazy trail that hugs the mountainside as it descends into a fog-filled valley. In the heart of the valley you see a walled town near the shores of a great mountain lake, its waters dark and still. A branch in the road leads west to a promontory, atop which is perched a grist mill of wood and stone, chugging black smoke.'
Upon closer investigation: 'The great wooden sails of the mill turn round and round, and you hear the squeaking, cracking grind of wood between stone teeth. A platform stained with black oil encircles the mill above a wooden doorway.'
Beyond the mill is the Edelwood forest. Once atop the mill's hill, the characters can see a ring of four squat megaliths at the forest's edge.

Areas of the Old Grist Mill
The following areas correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of Old Bonegrinder on page 127.

O1. Ground Floor
Text: 'The distinct fumes of black oil from Edelwood trees cloys the air with its thick and clinging burn. The oil itself stains the stone floor and tables with its splatter. The dark fluid squeezes through glass tubeware and metal machines into a large metal drum. Many more drums stand closed opposite the set-up.'
The ceiling here is 8 ft high. Each of the drums opposite the refining machinery is full of gallons of black, volatile oil. The drum into which the oil now drains is half full. A Woodcutter comes in to monitor the refining process every ten minutes.
In the darkness beneath one of the stone tables against the wall is a chain devil. It has been bound to the refining machinery by Duff the Diabolist (see the Elder Edelwood). It will not attack unless the PCs try to destroy the set-up and does not follow the PCs outside. It will not protect the Woodcutters.

O2. Grist mill
Unless lured elsewhere, there is a Woodcutter on watch here. This is where the Woodcutters crush the Edelwood lumber to bleed the sap from it.
Text: 'You see the bald, pastel-skinned head of a gnome who stands as tall as a human. They wear a lab coat once white but now stained so black with oil that those unsplattered patches appear almost out of place. The crush and crack of wood shakes the floorboards, but this figure remains still as stone.
The dirt-caked windows allow litle light to enter this eight-foot-high chamber, most of it taken up by large millstones connected to a wooden gear shaft that rises through the ceiling in the center of the room. A stone staircase continues up, shaking with each turn of the great gear.'
If the Woodcutter notices the characters, they first sign at them with sign language to determine if they have been sent by the Beast. If the characters seem confused or give an obviously wrong response, the Woodcutter run up the stairs to alert the others. All three will then hunt the premises for the characters. If they find them, they fight to the death, but only use nonlethal moves on the charactes. If they subdue the party, they transport them in their wooden carts to the Elder Edelwood.

O3. Bedroom
The two other Woodcutters are here unless they've been drawn elsewhere.
Text: 'A thick wooden gear shaft winds up through the the center of this cramped, circular room. You hear nothing over the grinding of its gears and the shaking of the stone walls and wooden floorboards.
A giant gnome sleeps on heaps of tattered rags. A second sits with their back to a pile of crates. They sharpen a wicked-edged axe in their hands with a whetstone. A neat stack of such axes lie beside them.
A ladder climbs to a wooden trapdoor in the nine-foot-high ceiling.'
The tattered rags are former lab coats that met various ill ends caught in the gears of the mill. The crates contain spare parts for the mill and the refinery below. None of the contents are valuable.
The Woodcutters attack if they perceive the PCs.

O4. Domed Attic
Text: 'You've reached the grist mill's peak--a domed chamber filled with old machinery. There's barely room to move around without risking entanglement in the massive, grinding gears. They rattle the very teeth in your skull.'
Characters searching this space must make a DC 10 Str (Athletics) check or be thrown into the gears. Clothing is caught first, but after three failed attempts to get free, the mill grinds flesh and bone.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it's easy to find, buried under some dirt in a corner.

The Megaliths
The four ancient stones were erected by the original fey population in the Unknown. The four stones depict each of the four sentient races--the dusk elves, the centaurs, the shape-shifters, and the race that has now been completely touched by the fog save for its sole survivor, Granny Lee. The carvings have been weathered and aged to make out clear details. All that can be seen of this fourth race is its featureless but humanoid outline.

**Guest** · 10-23-2016, 06:17 AM

Chap 7: The Inn of Whispers
The Inn of Whispers belongs to the Whispers family, formerly of Tavern Town. The Whispers ancestor fell out of the favor with the Brown-Dams when their tavern, to be renovated years later as the Blue Tavern, began doing a better business than Burgomaster Tavern. The Brown-Dams had the Whispers family run out of town by a mob.
Now the Whispers family is all but dead, survived only by Auntie Whispers, a powerful archmage and Lorna, (N female commoner, any race) her soon-to-be mist-possessed niece. To help her maintain the inn, Auntie Whispers has constructed a small army of flesh golems and decked them in proper servers's livery.
The business has suffered, however, with it's location beside the glut of taverns in Tavern Town, as well as Auntie Whispers's idiosyncracy of eating her guests. She is a big believer in waste-not, want-not, and uses the remains to create more flesh golems. She also has a taste for black turtles.
Lorna, meanwhile is the face of the inn and front desk manager. Though she doesn't have any of the reprehensible idiosyncracies of her aunt, the recent devouring and repurposing of the inn's last guests have left her feeling as guilty as ever about never mentioning Auntie Whispers's proclivities.

Approaching the Inn
A winding branch of Worthwagon Road meanders up the forested slope of a mountain spur to the old inn, which is perched on high ground overlooking the Edelwood forest and the Loon River valley.
Text: 'High above the river valley is a promontory upon which looms a massive, turreted inn built like a fairytale fortress. A third of the structure has collapsed, as has part of the roof, but the rest appears intact. A fanciful octagonal tower rises up from the surrounding architecture and fog.'

Areas of the Inn of Whispers
The following areas correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS maps of Argynvostholt on pg 131 and 137.

Q1. Bell
Text: 'A massive bronze bell hangs from a sturdy frame over a ten-foot-wide, ten-foot-high cube of granite.'
If the characters make a DC 20 Str check they can ring the bell. It summons 2d4 dire dogs from the forest who arrive in 3 rounds, but it also summons a single flesh golem from the inn in 3 rounds. The flesh golem and dire dogs will attack each other unless the characters interfere.

Q2. Main entrance
Text: 'Flagstone steps flanked by stone railings climb to a landing in front of a pair of tall, wooden doors varnished black. Carved into the lintel above the entrance you read: "Inn of Whispers".'
The doors are unlocked and can be pushed open to reveal a massive reception area (area Q3).

Q3. Reception desk
Text: 'A grand staircase leads up to stone balconies held aloft by stone pillars and arches. A tall, faded tapestry depicting a near-featureless humanoid with a finger held to its lips hangs from an iron rod above the staircase landing.
Six sets of double doors lead from this reception. The light of two chandeliers cast the odd rainbow on the wall from their bell-shaped crystals. Displayed on marble pedestals, are four bronze bells in the shape of a featureless humanoid in a long dress. A reception desk stands between two of the pedestals along the wall. A young woman in a plain blue dress behind the desk gives you a shy but welcoming smile.'
The young woman is Lorna. She will flee if attacked. Whether killed or not, Auntie Whispers will arrive within 3 rounds of the first attack. If the characters seem friendly, she will guide them anywhere that they wish on the ground floor but will neither leave the inn nor accompany them to any other floor. She will, however, provide directions.

Q4. Turtle terrarium
Text: 'The floor is carpeted with a slow-moving mass of small, black-shelled turtles. They perch on all manner of rocks, logs, and other crawling obstacles brought in from the outdoors. The curves of the turrets have been opened through the walls, allowing fresh air and low fog to flow over their shallow, turtle-filled pools of water.'
The turtles will part for Lorna and Auntie Whispers, closing their ranks behind the last to follow either of the two. They will not part if the players try to enter the terrarium without Lorna or Auntie Whispers, creating difficult but non-hostile terrain.

Q5. Ruined stable
Text: 'Here lie the blackened beams of wooden turkey stable, burned to its stone foundation.'
There is nothing of value in the stable. If the characters have Auntie Whispers pledge to fight the Beast, she or Lorna may explain that one of the patons put up a fight when Auntie Whispers tried to eat them. The patron burned with the stables rather than run into the arms of the waiting flesh golems.

Q6. Smoker's den
Text: 'A cold, dark hearth dominates the west wall of this den between two narrow windows. Divans, chairs, and ottomans face away from the hearth. Standing upright against the north wall is a cabinet varnished with black sap.'
The cabinet contains spare pipes and various dried smokeables.
A secret door at the north end of the east wall can be pushed open to reveal a storage room (area Q11).
If accompanied by Lorna, she discourages them from lighting the fire though won't say why. She will non-violently attempt to stop them if they try it, but will refuse to explain until after the fireplace has been lit or the characters have Auntie Whisper's pledge.
Living fire
A patron later devoured by Auntie Whispers cursed the fireplace so that any fire in the fireplace turns hostile. If the characters approach the fireplace: 'A fire erupts in the dead hearth and assumes the form of a hollow, gaping face.'
The PCs roll iniative. The fire acts on initiative count 10 and has AC 15, 1 hit point, and immunity to fire, poison, and psychic damage. If it is reduced to 0 hit points, it explodes and fills the room with fire, setting everyhing alight. Each creature in the room must make a DC 12 Dex saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
The fire doesn't attack. On its first turn, if it hasn't been reduced to 0 hit points, it speaks: "Run! Save yourselves!" Afterward, the fire burns out.
If Lorna is killed, Auntie Whispers will not help the characters unless they bring her niece back to life.

Q7. Parlor
Text: 'Violet, velvet drapes faded by sunlight cover the tall, slender windows that encircle this parlor. A bronze chandelier hangs from the ceiling, which is covered with a faded mural that depicts a near-featureless humanoid holding one finger to its lips.'
The furnishings are faded and careworn but comfortable.

Q8. Iron gate
An iron gate, chained shut, closes off a 10-ft-tall archway on the north wall of the inn. Auntie Whispers holds the key, but the lock can be picked by thieves's tools with a DC 20 Dex check. The old lock can also be smashed b a character who uses a bludgeoning or slashing weapon and makes a DC 15 Str check. Opening the iron gates makes a loud, rusty creak that summons a flesh golem to investigate within 3 rounds.
Ten-ft-high flights of stone steps to the west and east of the archway lead up to landings and doors to areas Q7 and Q9.

Q9. Servers's quarters
Text: 'Heavy violet drapes cover the windows of this circular room, and a heavy curtain hangs across an archway to the south. Half a dozen meticulously made but dusty beds and other dusty pieces of furniture stand against the walls.'
This room hasn't been used since the inn last had humanoid servers, when Auntie Whispers was a young child. The current flesh golem servers have no need to sleep. Lorna may explain this room but will avoid mentioning the flesh golems. If the characters bring up th flesh golems, she pretends to have no idea that the inn's servers are not humanoids.

Q10. Kitchen
Text: 'This spotless kitchen holds tidy stacks of dishes and neat rows of utensils hanging from the walls but is noticeably cold. Narrow windows flanking a hearth look out over a cemetary. An open pot hangs from a hook inside the blackened fireplace. It rattles on its hook as though something moves from within.'
The iron pot contains an ordinary, small black turtle. If accompanied by Lorna, she runs to the pot and helps it out. She returns to the kitchen after finishing the tour of ground floor to make dinner for them and herself. It's here, making their futile sustenance, that she is weakened by despair at the thought of the PCs's fate at Auntie Whispers's hands. The mist takes hold of her and she becomes mist-possessed. She leaves the fire on the hearth and the kitchen in a state of mid-preparation, headed for area Q36.

Q11. Spirit storage
Text: 'Five barrels lie in wooden braces along the walls of this dark, damp storage room.'
The alcohol in the barrels has turned to vinegar as neither Lorna nor Auntie Whispers drink, nor do the patrons tend to last long enough to enjoy more than the odd pint.
Inside one of the barrels is the body of a patron who tried to hide from Auntie Whispers but died from his wounds. His body sunk into the vinegar and has been pickled. Lorna will be genuinely surprised and disturbed by the finding. Auntie Whispers will remark, "So that's where he went! No matter. I hear pickles are good for the gut."
A secret door at the north end of the west wall can be pulled open to reveal the den (area Q6).

Q12. Dining hall
Text: 'A 20-ft-long table with clawed, bronze feet on its legs stands in the center of the hall. The chairs that surround the table have backs carved out in the shape of a woman with a bell-shaped dress. The crystal chandelier above glows with a soft white light that casts rainbows on the walls through its bell-like crystals.
Five sets of wooden doors lead to this hall. The doors in the northeast corner hang open. A pair of leaded glass doors stand open between panels of stained glass set intot he east wall. The panels depict a shadow humanoid ringing a massive bell with a mallet while another shadowy humanoid holds a finger to their lips. Beyond the glass doors lies a dark, misty room.'
A continual light spell was cast on the chandelier long ago and has never been dispelled.
If accompanied by Lorna, she will run to shut the doors to the misty room. She will non-violently attempt to stop the characters if they continue onward. She will say nothing about the contents of the room save a single, hushed plea: "Please, Auntie Whispers just put them to sleep."

Q13. Holding room
Lorna will not enter this room but will run to get Auntie Whispers if the characters enter. Auntie Whispers returns without Lorna in 3 rounds.
Text: 'Wooden pillars varnished black support a wooden, U-shaped balcony that overhangs this stone-walled chamber. Narrow archways lead to spiral staircases that curl up to the balcony, and a door set into the north wall has a woodn beam barring it. At the east end of the chapel rests a stone table flanked by empty, bronze candelabras. Tall, arching windows set with panels of stained glass decorate the walls behind the table. They've been broken and shattered in places, allowing thick fog to enter and fill the room. Three lumpy figures slump under the table, chains running from manacles around their limbs to the stone legs of the tables.'
The figures are three former fey twisted by the mist and song into night hags. They came from the forest to investigate the last extremely loud toll of the front bell and saw Lorna. They tried to take her but were quickly overpowered by Auntie Whispers and her flesh golems.
The night hags wake if any of the characters fail a DC 10 Dex (Stealth) check. They break free of their chains in 1d4 rounds. When Auntie Whispers arrives, she will focus on putting the three back to sleep.
Afterward, if the characters are still around, she offers to show the characters to rooms on the second floor. She sends 1d4 flesh golems come to them in the night and try to bind them, but they aren't very stealthy. PCs with a passive Perception 10 or above wake at their approach and may attempt to fight or flee.
Auntie Whispers will continue to send flesh golems until all 9 have been destroyed, trapped, or knocked out. Only then will she come to converse or parley with the PCs.
The balcony (area Q24) is 20 ft high and can be reached by climbing either spiral staircase (area Q14).
The bar across the north door is easily lifted from this side. Once the bar is removed, the door can be pulled open to reveal a stone staircase leading down to a cemetery (area Q15).

Q14. Staircase
Text: 'Narrow windows allow dim light to enter this 5-ft-wide spiral staircase.'
The staircase leads from the holding room (area Q13) to the balcony (area Q24) and climbs another 20 ft to a small, empty room with a window that looks down on the holding room.

Q15. Cemetery
Text: 'Tucked behind the inn is a fog-shrounded cemetery enclosed by a 7-ft-tall fence of wrought iron. In the northeast corner stands a mausoleum.'
The graves belong to the members of the Whispers family while the mausoleum, described in area Q16, belongs to the Whispers who founded the inn.
A stone staircase curls up from the outside of a turret to a flagstone landing in front of a sturdy wooden door. The door is barred from the inside and opens into the chapel (area Q13).

Q16. Whispers Mausoleum
Text: 'Gargoyles shaped like women in bell-like dresses cling to the stone-tiled roof of the mausoleum. An 8-ft-tall, 4-ft-wide white marble door set into the southwest wall is engraved with the name: Whispers.'
The stone door can be pulled upon with a successful DC 15 Str check.
Text: 'The interior of the mausoleum is dark and dusty. You see four empty alcoves with raised floors. At the center of the room is a marble sarcophagus in the shape of a near-featureless woman in a bell-like dress. A bronze handbell sits atop the marble.'
The bell makes a heavy, dull thunk if rung as the hammer is a black sapphire worth 1000 gp in any settlement's currency item. It is not valuable but if a detect magic spell is used, it emits a powerful aura of necromantic magic. The bell contains a single, modified Soul Bind spell that can be cast only on joined spirits within mist, such as those that cause the possession of a mist-possessed.
A user may release those spirits on will. If directing the bell at a particular living creature, the spirits will attempt to possess them.
Neither Auntie Whispers nor Lorna have ever been inside the mausoleum, but Auntie Whispers can check and understand the nature of the bell if it is brought to her.

Q17. West staircases
Text: 'Narrow windows illuminate this dusty, 5-ft-wide spiral staircase.'
These staircases connect the second-floor balconies (area Q18) to areas Q30 and Q36 on the third floor.

Q18. Balconies
Text: 'Two stone balconies flank the main foyer. Balusters carved to resemble women in bell-shaped dresses support the elegant, airy stone railings. Bells carved in alabaster flank hallways that lead north and south away from the foyer. At the west end of each balcony is an archway hat leads to a spiral staircase going up.'
The blacony is 20 ft above the floor of the foyer (area Q3).

Q19. Bedchambers
Text: 'The south end of this room appears to have been blown outward, but waterproof tarps have been stretched across the openings. Violet drapes hang on either end of the tarp. The beds and other furnishings appear to be intact.'
There are two of these rooms. The only difference is that in the second room that the characters visit, the violet drapes have been drawn across the section exploded outward to hide the tarp.
The last patrons in these rooms were miners who used their explosives to blow out the walls when trapped by flesh golems. They did not, however, survive the fall into the terrarium below.

Q20. South alcove
Text: 'A violet velvet curtain hangs in front of an alcove in the southeast corner of this hall. It ripples ever so slightly.'
One of the narrow windows in the back of the alcove has a broken glass pane through which a slight breeze passes, causing the curtain to move.
When the characters look behind the current: 'A black cloth has been thrown over a bulky shape beneath a broken window.'
Under the cloth is a broken carving of an alabaster bell.

Q22. Bathroom
Text: 'The room contains an iron tub and has wood paneling on the walls that rises to a height of 3 ft. Above the paneling, the walls are painted with a continous, faded mural of an evergreen and snow-capped mountainscape.'
The mural accurately depicts the Barking Mountains.

Q23. Storage room
Text: 'Changes of towels, pillows, and sheets are neatly stacked on the wooden shelves that hang from the walls.'
There is nothing of value here.

Q24. Balcony
Text: 'This wooden balcony overhangs the inn's holding room. A massive bell carved in wood rests at the west end between two doors, and narrow archways lead to spiral staircases going up and down. Hanging from the high ceiling is a chandelier whose bell-shaped crystals cast rainbows on the walls.'
The sides of the bell have been intricately detailed and show the stages of a group of featureless humanoids leaving a walled town on a hill (Tavern Town), journeying on the road, and building the inn.
The doors behind the throne lead to areas Q20 and Q21. A wooden railing surrounds the balcony, which is 20 ft above the floor of the holding room (area Q13).

Q25. Cursed hallway
Text: 'This T-shaped hallway has branches to the west, east, and south. Three arched windows in the north wall look out over the foogy grounds.'
The ceiling is 20 ft high. The wooden doors to area Q27 and Q28 are locked, requiring a successful DC 20 Str check to break down. The 10-ft squares in front of the doors (marked T on the ORIGINAL CoS map) are cursed by a past patron. When a character enters one of these squares, a floor-to-ceiling wall of stone (created by the spell) magically appears across the opening on the south wall. At the same time, the vengeful hell hounds in areas Q27 and Q28 rush through the doors (which can be freely opened from their side) and attack.
The wall of stone vanishes after 10 min, at which time the trap resets. Characters who cast detect magic in the hall sense hazy auras of evocation magic in front of the doors.

Q26. Auntie Whispers's room
The door to this room hangs open.
Text: 'A large bed with a violet canopy stands against the wall. A rug embroided with a near-featureless humanoid with a finger to their lips lies on the floor in front of it. Set into the far wall is a fireplace black with soot.'
If one or more characters approach within 10 feet of the fireplace, they notice black turtle shells inside the fireplace. Auntie Whispers always eats a few as a midnight snack.
Her turtle-eating habits have made her a mortal enemy of the Black Turtle cult. If Auntie Whispers is with the PCs while any servant of the Beast successfully spies on them, all members of the cult will be informed of her eating habits the next day. Should the characters encounter any such cultists, they will focus their attacks on Auntie Whispers. If within the Elder Edelwood, they will not try to kill her but subdue her and bring her to the Black Turtle room to be judged and executed by their turtle-eater-killer artifact.

Q27. Doomed quarters
Text: 'This room is littered with the wreckage of bunk beds. 5 dirt-caked windows allow precious little light to enter, and between them are four empty cupboards, the doors wrenched off their hinges.'
Four hell hounds haunt this room. They stay here or enter the hall when characters trigger the trap in area Q25. They are not bound to these rooms. They were called into the Unknown much like the players and befriended the patron who created the wall trap in their last ditch attempt to kill Auntie Whispers and her flesh golems. They now stay here, mourning their devoured master. Neither flesh golems nor Auntie Whispers dares to clean them out.

Q28. Doomed quarters
Text: 'Ragged violet drapes cover the windows of this circular room. Broken bunk beds and cabinets torn asunder litter the floor.'
Five more hell hounds haunt this room, the same as the others. All nine hell hounds were once part of their befriended master's dog-sledding team. Now they're determined to spend eternity here mourning their devoured master.
Buried under the wreckage is a small wooden coffer containing four potions of invulnerability.

Q29. Lorna's room
Text: 'The contents of this room are draped in cobwebs. Between curtained windows stands a black marble hearth with a sculpted mantelpiece. Above the hearth is a portrait of a family in violet dressing, one of the women holding a baby. This woman and the man beside her bear a striking resemblance to Lorna.
Opposite the fireplace is a large bed with an extra blanket of dust. Across from the double doors stands a tall wardrobe, its doors hanging open, revealing its emptiness.'
There is nothing valuable in the room.
Lorna, too disturbed by the marching of the flesh golems to the guest rooms at night, sleeps in the turtle terrarium.

Q30. Curtained staircase
A heavy violet curtain conceals an archway leading to a spiral staircase that descends to area Q17.
At the top of the stiars is a secret door that can be pulled open to reveal area Q36 beyond.

**Guest** · 10-24-2016, 08:34 AM

Chap 7: Inn of Whispers, Upper Levels

Q31. East staircases
A round-topped wooden door opens to reveal a spiral staircase with narrow windows set into its walls. The stair connects the third floor and the inn's roof.

Q32. Ruined bedchambers
These two rooms stand across from each other, separated by a ruined corridor that abruptly ends to the south of their doors.
Text: 'Most of this chamber has collapsed. The wooden floor is strewn with rubble and falls away into a foggy abyss to the south. The roof overhead is jagged and broken.'
The floor is 40 ft above the floor of the terrarium (area Q4). The roof is 20 ft overhead.
These used to be the rooms of Lorna and Auntie Whispers before a group of patrons ran to this floor from the flesh golems, taking the battle with them. Auntie Whispers and Lorna moved to the second floor where they roomed the guests though Lorna eventually transferred to the terrarium.

Q33. Collapsed ceiling
Text: 'The roof over this part of the inn has collapsed, creating a 20-ft-diameter gaping hole with broken rafters bisecting it. Dark storm clouds roll across the sky overhead. The floor is piled with rocks, broken tiles, shattered beams, and other debris. Beneath the rubble lie a sagging floor and puddles of rainwater.'
Patrons climbed up to the roof through the windows while flesh golems climbed up the walls of the room and brought down the roof from the inside. None of the patrons survived.

Q34. Ruined bathroom
Text: 'This room has a tiled floor and an iron bathtub filled with debris from the collapsed roof. A torn curtain hangs in an open doorway in the center of the east wall.'
This used to be Lorna and Auntie Whispers's private bathroom before the flesh golems brought down the room.

Q35. Upstairs gallery
Text: 'This room has wood panelling varnished black that rises to a height of 3 ft. Above the paneling, the walls are painted with murals of a tavern in a town on a hill surrounded by a wooden palisade. Shadowy humanoids look on with hands on their hips as many others come and go from the doors of the Bell Tavern.
In the center of the west wall is a heavy violet curtain hanging in an open doorway. Opposite the wall, three tall, slender stained-glass windows feature a near-featureless humanoid with a finger held to their lips.'

Q36. Ruined library
Text: 'The west wall of this 50-ft-long, 30-ft-wide chamber has collapsed, leaving a gaping hole and piles of rubble. Dark, wooden bookcase have fallen to the floor where they lie and rot. Damp, ruined books form a carpet of litter and fill the ruins with their moldy odor.
Only one large bookcase still stands, looming under three tall windows to the west.'
If the characters have not killed Lorna and approach the bookcase: 'You hear the sound of heavy breathing from behind its rows of mold-jacketed books.'
Lorna has become mist-possessed and will attack the characters if they come within 5 ft of her. As they approach she grows clearly more agitated and twitchy as the last of her self-control tries to protect the inn's latest guests. She lets out the inhuman scream of the dozens of spirits possessing her through the mist as she attacks. This summons 4 flesh golems to defend her within 3 rounds. The flesh golems do not come if the characters have made a deal with Auntie Whispers to free her niece of the mist in exchange for Auntie Whispers's might against the Beast.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it's now in Lorna's possession, and she doesn't part with it until freed of the mist.

Q37. Private dining room
Auntie Whispers eats the inn guests here.
Text: 'Faded tapestries adorn the walls of this spacious chamber, in the center of which stands a heavy wooden table. A bronze chandelier hangs above the table, casting rainbows down its six wooden chairs. Five massive humanoids stand behind five of the chairs. In the sixth sits a large, bulge-eyed woman sucking a finger-like set of bones.'
The tapestries depict the same, near-featureless humanoid with a finger to its lips as the lower floors, but these are much older.
The five are flesh golems awaiting orders from Auntie Whispers after she finishes the last of the last patron. She takes 1d4 minutes to finish. If the characters attempt to interrupt her in any way, she sets the flesh golems on them. Once finished, she calls the flesh golems off if any still live.
Development
If Lorna is dead or has become mist-possessed, Auntie Whispers is aware of it. She pretends any past interaction with her and the characters hasn't taken place and asks them to help her niece--either by bringing her back to life or fighting off the mist.
If your card reading reveals that Auntie Whispers is the Beast's enemy, she falsely agrees to help you if you save her niece. Once Lorna is saved, she will pretend she has no knowledge of any such bargain, though the PCs can persuade Lorna to ask Auntie Whispers for her help. Auntie Whispers will be unable to refuse the niece whom she nearly lost.
If the characters have met Auntie Whispers in the fight against the night hags, the flesh golems who come to their rooms attempt to bring them back to this dining room so that Auntie Whispers can ask for their help.
Auntie Whispers herself will not attack unless threatened.

Q38. Closet
Text: 'This closet has a narrow window set into the north wall. Neatly folded clothes line the shelves.'
The clothes belong to Auntie Whispers and Lorna and are of no value.

Q39. Nursery
Text: 'Light enters this circular room through five windows. The light falls on an empty cradle blanketed by dust. Two large stuffed animals flank the double doors. One is a brown bear standing on its hind legs, metal claws outstretched. The other is a dog, a vicious snarl stitched onto its face.'
This room once served as a nursery for the Whispers children. The stuffed animals were made by Mr. Toymaker and have the slogan "No Fun for You!" stitched on their rumps.

Q40. Cannibal kitchen
Text: 'This room is a haven for oversized cookware and implements that appear more suited to torture than the culinary arts. Three narrow windows allow slivers of light to illuminate the neat rows, tidy cabinets, and large, sturdy chopping tables. A great black cauldron fills a cavernous, unlit hearth. In the south corner of the west wall is an iron door.'
This is where flesh golems prepare Auntie Whispers's humanoid meals. As she is just finishing the last of the latest patron, the kitchen is near spotless. The cauldron is empty but smells of the last savory stew it held.

Q41. Ice box
The iron door to this room is shut but not locked, as those people or parts taken to the ice box are already dismembered.
Text: 'The frigid metal walls of this room are coated with frost. Massive blocks of ice have been stacked around the room. Sharp, meat hooks hang from the ceiling, empty.'
There are enough hooks to hold each member of the party.

Q42. Laboratory
Text: 'An arcane circle has been etched into the stone at the center of this room. Arcane sigils form a net of ink along the walls, the ceiling, and the floor connecting to the circle.'
A detect magic spell reveals a powerful aura of enchantment magic.
It is here that Auntie Whispers creates the flesh golems. The circle is currently inactive, but if the PCs have Auntie Whispers's pledge of aid and the night hags are dead, they can watch Auntie Whispers create a flesh golem construct out of their body parts.

Q43. Hole in roof
This 20-ft-diameter hole in the inn's roof is directly above area Q33, the floor of which is 20 ft below. The rubble on the roof surrounding the hole is difficult terrain. The roof is sloped and covered with cracked stone tiles. Climbing the tiled roof requires a successful DC 10 Str (Athletics) check. A failure by 5 or more causes the climber to slide down to the parapet, landing prone but taking no damage.

Q44. Stone Belle
Text: 'Watching over the rooftop and parapet is a stone-carved statue of a near-featureless woman in a bell-shaped dress.'
The statue, Belle, was made in the image of the Whispers ancestor cast out of Tavern Town. Weather has worn her features down to near nothing. The statue was made while the Whispers were still in Tavern Town and hugely successful. They transported it with them to the new inn. All other depictions of Belle were made after the weather damage, obscuring her likeness.
The statue is 10 ft above the parapet and has a magic mouth spell cast on it. When a character passes in front of it, the spell is activated and Belle sings an eerie recording of voice and bell tolls.
Song reference:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph4f06Q5ItE

Q45. Old gazebo
Text: 'An old wooden gazebo, rotted by weather and time, stands on this tower rooftop.'
The gazebo falls apart if disturbed.

Q46. Destroyed gazebo
Text: 'Stream atop the roof toward the front of the inn is the wreckage of a gazebo. Flanking the wreckage are two stone turrets with conical rooftops and narrow doors.'
Patrons who fled to the roof and tried to hide in this gazebo caused its unintentional collapse.

Q47. Roof turrets
Text: 'Cobwebs hang from the rafters of this turret, which is empty except for a wooden bench and an iron stove.'
A patron hid here successfully for three days, surviving on rainwater and the few raw turtles they'd grabbed, but was discovered after they stole the iron stove from the kitchen.

Q48. Roof's edge
Text: 'Beyond a ragged edge of stone is a 60-ft plunge to the rubble-strewn ground below. A few rafters stick out from beneath the stone.'
The edge of the roof is sturdy enough to walk on. It's 20 ft down to area Q32, 40 ft to area Q19, and 60 ft to area Q4.

Q49. Tower door
Text: 'The parapet narrows to a width of 10 ft, ending before a sturdy wooden door set ino the wall of the eastern tower.'
This door is barred from the inside. Any destruction to the door is heard by the flesh golems in area Q52, who come down to investigate.

Q50. Lower landing
Text: 'A rickety wooden landing and a staircase cling to the walls of this tower. The stairs lead up to another landing 20 ft above, and the floor of the holding room lies 60 ft below.'
The landing and stairs creak and shudder underfoot, but they are safe.

Q51. Upper landing
Text: 'Creaky stairs climb to a wooden landing with three windows that look out over the roof of the inn. Flanking the windows are two narrow wooden doors.'
The landing creaks and groans underfoot but isn't safe. The 10-ft-long section marked T on the ORIGINAL CoS map is particularly weak after past combat in the bell tower. It collapses under 50 or more lbs. A creature on that section when it collapses must succeed on a DC 15 Dex save or fall 20 ft to the landing below. The collapse creates a 10-ft gap in the landing.
The doors lead to the rooftops of the turrets (area Q52).

Q52. Turrets
Text: 'A stone walkaround encloses the roof of this turret. A spiral staircase descends to the level below.'
These turret rooftops are 80 ft above ground level. The spiral stairs descend 20 ft to small equipment sheds. None of the repair tools in the sheds are valuable. In each of these rooms is a flesh golem doing an inventory check before the long process of repairing the roof.

Q53. The bell tower
Text: 'Wooden stairs climb to the tower's peak, which has a stone floor and a 30-ft-high pitched roof. Below the crisscrossing rafters is a massive frame hooked to a system of weights and pulleys above.'
The giant bronze bell down below used to be housed here, but Auntie Whispers had the flesh golems move it down to the grounds after multiple patrons tried to use the bell as a weapon.
If your card reading reveals a treasure is here, it's resting against a post of the frame that held the bell.

**Guest** · 10-24-2016, 09:11 AM

Chap 7: Inn of Whispers, Special Events
You can use one or both of the following events as the characters explore the inn.

Special delivery
This encounter occurs while the characters are inside the inn. Those who have passive Wis (Perception) of 11 or higher hear the bock of turkeys and the cruch of wagon wheels on gravel.
A turkey wagon pulled by a Fungai commoner stops in front of the inn. The Fungai drops off a wooden coffin at the front door and leaves immediately. If any try to speak with them, they flee faster.
The coffin was made in Tavern Town by the local coffin maker, Henny, and commissioned by the Beast. It has the name of a randomly determined PC chiseled on its lid. Opening the coffin releases a swarm of Business Bats from within. They attack the character whose name is on the coffin. If the character isn't in sight, they fly away to find the named PC.

Igor's hunt
Beatrice (see appendix D) arrives at the Inn of Whispers on the back of a giant turkey stolen from the Fungai camp outside Tavern Town (Chap 5, area N9). She has heard that the tavern might harbor enemies of the Beast and contain secrets to the Beast's destruction.
Once she arrives, Beatrice releases the giant turkey (which flees back to its camp) and makes her way through the inn until she reaches the characters.
Hot on Beatrice's trail are Igor (assassin) and two Fungai bodyguards (scouts). All three ride giant turkeys.
Igor is determined to capture Beatrice and haul her back to the camp to face punishment for turkey theft. He does nothing to antagonize the characters, however, and returns tot he camp if he can't convince them to give her up.

**Guest** · 10-26-2016, 07:55 AM

Chap 8: Pottsfield
The farming village of Pottsfield lies near the edge of the Beast's domain in view of the stone wall that forms the border. The farmers of Pottsfield have erected their own walls against the perils of the Beast which pale in comparison to the perils within the village limits.
The farmers of Pottsfield are all pumpkin-headed, plant-typed humanoids known as Pumpkinfolk (see below). Centuries ago, Tasha the Farmer, a powerful mage and ally of the Caretaker, brought the first Pumpkinfolk to life from a simple pumpkin patch, forming heads and brain matter from the raw material stored within the pumpkin fruit a humanoid body from the vines. Tasha enchanted the original rootbed of the pumpkin patch so that the Pumpkinfolk could reproduce by grafting parts of themselves to the rootbed. As such, all Pumpkinfolk are genderless. The rootbed grows the new Pumpkinfolk to full physical maturity deep within the soil. After harvesting, it takes from several days to several weeks for a Pumpkinfolk to reach mental maturity. Many never live long enough to see it thanks to the Pumpkin-Eaters on the Hill.
The Hill looms high above the village and villagers its inhabitants prey upon. Those who live within the village are Pumpkin-Eaters (see appendix D), animal-headed humanoids and vegans with a taste for pumpkin. They are the descendents of the humanoids whom Tasha drove out from the village to make room for her pumpkin patch. They took refuge on the Hill, looking down upon Tasha's village in both fear and hatred. After the Caretaker became the Beast, the fog of Edelwood smoke that accompanied him twisted them and their livestock to meet halfway, physically. Unfortunately, the Pumpkin-Eaters developed their common idiosyncracy for eating Pumpkinfolk around the time of Tasha's death. Without the great mage to protect them, the Pumpkinfolk have forever been at the mercy of those whom their creator displaced.

Areas of Pottsfield
The following areas correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of Krezk on page 144.

S1. Road junction
Text: 'The road branches north and climbs a rocky escarpment, ending at a gatehouse built into a 20-ft-high wall of stone. The wall encloses a settlement on the side of a snow-flaked mountain spur.
The somber toll of a bell comes from a massive stone fortress that clings on a hill against the mountainside, high above the settlement. The steadiness of the chime is inviting--a welcome change from the silent weight of the fog that blankets the Unknown. It's hard to tell from this vantage point, but there seems to be a road clinging to the cliffs that leads from the walled settlement to the foothill fortress.'
Worthwagon Road continues west from this location for a little over a mile before coming to the impassable stone wall that surrounds the Unknown. Characters who follow the road north arrive at the gatehouse (area S2).

S2. Gatehouse
Text: 'The air grows crisp and chill as you approach the walled settlement. Two square towers with peaked roofs flank the stone archway of two 12-ft-tall wooden doors. Carved into the arch is a name: Pottsfield.
The walls that extend from the gatehouse are 20 ft high. Atop the parapet, you see 4 figures wearing unusually orange helmets and clutching spears. Their lightless, gaping eye-holes turn toward you.'
Cut into the upper floor of each tower is an arrow slit 6-in wide, 4-ft tall, and 1-ft deep. An open doorway leads from the archer's post in each tower to the adjacent parapet. Behind the walls, wooden ladders lead from the parapets to the ground 20 ft below.
Two archers (LG genderless Pumpkinfolk scouts) are stationed inside the gatehouse, one in each tower. Four guards (LG genderless Pumpkinfolk) man the adjacent walls. If the characters are seen flying or climbing over the walls, the guards assume that the village is under attack and cry out in alarm. Five rounds after the alarm sounds, every Pumpkinfolk villager arrives at the gatehouse, clambering for safety. The eight guards can barely contain the forty Pumpkinfolk commoners flailing their around their scythes, sickles, pitchforks, and the like.
The double doors are made of thick wood planks and sealed shut with a heavy beam. The beam can be lifted with a successful DC 15 Str check. The doors require a siege engine to break open.
There aren't enough villagers to defend the outerwall. Every 300-ft stretch is watched over by a single guard. The guards are trained only to crouch and sound the alarm at any sign of danger.

Burgomaster Enoch
If the characters ask to be let inside or otherwise draw the attention of the guards on the wall, one of the guards fetches the burgomaster, a CN black cat familiar named Enoch, and his CN Pumpkinfolk witch Vegetana, who acts as his speaker.
Enoch is a lord of a cat and expects to be treated like one. He places his safety above the welfare of strangers. He assumes all non-Pumpkin-Eaters who come to Pottsfield wish to become his subjects. He is willing to permit them such an honor, but demands their attendance at one of Pottsfield's many impromptu dance rituals. Enoch enjoys forcing these dances upon his subjects as a show of his absolute power.

S3. Village of Pottsfield
When the characters get past the outer wall: 'The mist-shrouded village beyond the wall is nothing more than a scattering of humble cottages along dirt roads that stretch across a vast field of tall, golden grass. To the northeast, gray cliffs rise sharply, and the road winding up the mountain foothill is clear to all.'
The village operates as a barter-system commune with no exports. Villagers grow vegetables, harvest wood from the forest, raise animals and swap foods with neighbors. A few villagers have cows and giant turkeys. The village has no inns or taverns. Characters who are willing to do manual labor or chores, however, can spend the night under Enoch's roof.

Cottages
Pottsfield residences are single-story cottages with stone chimneys and thatch roofs. Pigs and chickens are kept in indoor pens and coops so they don't freeze.
Burgomaster's Cottage
The building closest to the outer gate is Enoch's cottage--the largest building in town but still a modest dwelling. Enoch lives here with his speaker, Vegetana (CN Pumpkinfolk witch). Vegetana is powerful but never speaks of their own volition, instead voicing only the thoughts and opinions of the great Enoch.
Commoner Cottages
A typical cottage is only 200 sq ft yet contains 2d4-1 Pumpkinfolk, plus the family's pigs, hares, and chickens.

Pottsfield Lore
In addition to the information known to all denizens of the Unknown (see Chap 2), the villagers of Pottsfield also know:
--Residents never leave the village for fear of being eaten.
--When Enoch declares a dance, all must dance the impromptu dance. Thus has it been, as it is, and how it shall always be under the great Enoch.
--Enoch's dances area a time of celebration and meditation for the villagers who may die at any moment.
--A pool at the north end of the village provides their fresh water. Beside the pool is the Pottsfield barnhouse, where Enoch likes to hold the dances.
--Though safe from the Unknown within their walls, Pottsfield is still threatened by the Pumpkin-Eaters who live upon the Hill, the structure built on the foothill and into the cliffside of the mountain.
--The leader of the Pumpkin-Eaters is Abby, who demands a monthly tithe of Pumpkinfolk to keep the peace.
--The Pumpkinfolk tithed to Abby and the Pumpkin-Eaters are chosen from a lottery often held at the same time as an impromptu dance.

S4. Pool and barnhouse
Text: 'Even under gray skies, this pool at the north end of the village shimmers and sparkles. Near its shore sits a brightly painted barnhouse. A wooden statue of a cat the size of a human, forelegs raised to the heavens, stands outside the barnhouse.'
The pool is fed by an underground spring and tastes fresh and sweet. The statue is clearly Enoch.
If the characters arrive peacefully and accept Enoch's demand to attend a dance, Enoch calls for an impromptu dance immediately. The forty Pumpkinfolk villagers gather within and without the barnhouse to play music and dance. Though the tunes are pleasant and jaunty, the villagers dance with a great sense of purpose, believing the dance to hold much more meaning than simply the fulfillment of a whim of a cat.
Song reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMPiZBBd1B0
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it is hidden under the barnhouse. The barnhouse must be torn down to reach it, which doesn't sit well with the villagers. If the characters damage the gazebo, any Cha checks they make to shift the attitudes of the villagers have disadvantage unless they comply with Enoch's demands for community service. The sentence: to get rid of all the Pumpkin-Eaters on the Hill and/or ensure that the Pumpkin-Eaters never harm Pottsfield again.

S5. Winding road
Text: 'The road that hugs the cliff is 10-ft wide and covered with loose gravel and chunks of broken rock. The ascent is slow and somewhat treacherous, and the air grows colder as one nears the top.'
The road climbs 400 feet, doubling back on itself twice before reaching area S6.

ALTERATIONS/ADDITIONS

**Guest** · 10-27-2016, 09:42 AM

Chap 8: Pottsfield, Hill Grounds

Areas of the Hill
The following areas correspond to labels on the ORIGINAL CoS maps of the Abbey of Saint Markovia on pages 149 and 153.
The Pumpkin-Eaters that live upon the hill are all descendents of the original Pottsfield villagers and their animals whom Tasha the farmer drove from Pottsfield to make room for her magic pumpkins. Abby, leader of the Hill, keeps most of them confined to the Hill because most lack the restraint to leave any Pumpkinfolk alive--such is their great hunger for pumpkin flesh. This would, of course, destroy their delicate ecosystem and force the Pumpkin-Eaters to find another source of vegetable matter, possibly even farm. Abby doubts that any of them have the brains or heart for true labor.
Abby has two henchman, Otto and Iggy, and a cowardly servant, Clover. Clover rings the bell (area S17) whenever Abby decides it's time for dinner. The toll of the bell causes a howl in all the other animal-headed Pumpkin-Eaters in their excitement to be fed.
The windows of the north wing are made of leaded glass that is translucent--they let in light but don't allow for seeing through the glass. The windows of the east wing are broken outward, by the Pumpkin-Eaters, who keep putting off repairing them. Yet another reason Abby doesn't trust most of them with manual labor.

S6. North gate
Text: 'The road from the village climbs above the mists to the wide ledge of the mountain's foothill. The gravel road passes between two small, stone outbuildings, to either side of which stretches a 5-ft-high, 3-ft-thick wall of jumbled stones held together with mortar. Blocking the road are iron gates attached to the outbuildings by rusty hinges. They appear unlocked. Viewed through the gates, the great stone building upon the hill stands quiet. Its two wings are joined by a 15-ft-high curtain wall. A belfry protrudes from the rooftop of the closer north wing, which also sports a chimney billowing gray smoke.'
The gates are unlocked but squeal loudly when opened.
Two gate guards are on duty, but they aren't awake when the characters arrive (see below). Characters who succeed on a DC 12 Dex (Stealth) check can climb over the low outer wall without waking them. If one or more characters fail the check, or if the characters open the gates, the guards awaken and stumble forth to confront the trepassers.
The gate guards are Otto and Iggy, two lawful evil Pumpkin-Eaters (see appendix D). They sleep under piles of animal fur trimmed from the heads of every Pumpkin-Eater upon the Hill during the communal trimmings. Both are loyal to Abby but aren't good at guarding, among other things. If the characters seem friendly, the Pumpkin-Eaters escort them to the courtyard (area S12) and ask the characters to wait there while they fetch Abby (area S13). If the characters seem hostile, the Pumpkin-Eaters let them enter but don't accompany them willingly.

Roleplaying the Pumpkin-Eaters
All Pumpkin-Folk have the body of a humanoid but the head and neck of an animal.
Otto
Otto has the body of a dwarf but the head and neck of a donkey. He can barely speak Common, and his laugh sounds like a donkey's bray. Otto has the Standing Leap feature (see the Pumpkin-Eater stat block in appendix D). He claims: "I am the smartest, wisest, strongest, fastest, and most beautiful person I know."
Iggy
Iggy also has the body of a dwarf but the head and neck of a crocodile. She has a gruff voice but rarely speaks more than a handful of words at a time. She has the Darkvision feature (see the Pumpkin-Eater stat block in appendix D). Her philosophy is simple: "Stay down where trouble can't find ya."

S7. Graveyard
Text: 'Weeds have overtaken every inch of the rocky, earthen graveyard near the foundation of the Hill's north wing. The windows are cracked panes of leaded glass. Ancient gravestones burst from a thin crust of frost in the yard. Beyond the low wall that surrounds the graveyard, the ground falls away. The village lies four hundred feet below, and the view is breathtaking.'
A name is carved into each rough-hewn gravestone except for one. The name has been scratched away completely. An X has been scratched into the indent. The gravestone, once located outside of Pottsfield, belonged to Tasha, though the Caretaker had her remains taken to the Elder Edelwood. The Pumpkin-Eaters found the gravestone and stole it away to deface it.
If Tasha's Iron Pumpkin (see Chap 4, area K84) is brought to the gravestone, the stone disintegrates, revealing a ring of regeneration within.

S8. Garden gatehouse
Text: 'A gatehouse stands at the entrance to the garden bed.'
The gatehouse is empty, its assigned guard slacking off.

S9. Garden bed
Text: 'Nestled bewteen rising and plunging cliffs are four rectangular garden plots enclosed by a 5-ft-high wall of mortared stones. Rabbits nibble on turnips uprooted by the cold. Two scarecrows with stuffed gullets and sackcloth heads hang from wooden crosses pounded into the cold, hard earth.'
If the characters haven't cleared out the east wing, add: 'The east wing looms over the garden, its shattered windows darka nd disturbing. A door leads into this forlorn edifice, which apparently isn't completley abandoned. From within comes laughter and the growls of animals.'
The rabbits and scarecrows are harmless. The gardens contain a meager assortment of root vegetables and squash, which have only lasted this long because Abby has an idiosyncracy for gardening.
The door to area S15 isn't locked.
If your card reading reveals a treasure is here, it's hidden in the straw-filled gullet of the southernmost scarecrow. If the treasure is removed, seven hibernating giant scorpions awaken and erupt from the gardens.

S10. Entrance
Text: 'A 15-ft-high curtain wall joins the two wings of the building. Behind its battlements, two guards stand at attention, their features obscured by fog. Below them, set into the wall, is a pair of 10-ft-tall, wooden doors.'
The "guards" on the wall are propped-up scarecrows that wear corroded chain shirts and clutch rusted spears (see area S18). Characters who succeed on a DC 10 Wis (Perception) check discerns the charade. They were placed here by the guards so that they could slack off. The two wear wooden signs which read "I'm watching you."
The double doors are heavy but unlocked. They can be pushed open to reveal a foggy courtyard (area S12).

S11. Inner gatehouses
These two empty buildings help support the curtain wall (area S18) that encloses the courtyard (area S12). The wooden doors that lead to them are unlocked.

S12. Courtyard
Text: 'The thick fog that fills this courtyard swirls, as if eager to escape. The courtyard is surrounded by a 15-ft-high curtain wall on which stand several guards with their backs to you--or so it seemed at first. It's clear now that these guards are merely scarecrows.
Wooden doors to the northand east lead to either of the two wings. In the center of the courtyard is a stone well fitted with an iron winch, to which a roe and bucket are attached. Along the perimeter, tucked under the overhanging wall, are several stone sheds, as well as three shallow alcoves that contain wooden troughs.'
If the characters are escorted here by Otto and Iggy, they are asked to wait in the courtyard while the Pumpkin-Eaters fetch Abb from area S13.

S12A. Well
The well is 80 ft deep. Hiding 20 ft down is a chaotic evil Pumpkinfolk (see appendix D) named Missy. She clings to the wall and scuttles up to attack anyone who shines a light down on him.
Missy
Missy has the body of an elf and the head of a spider. She has the Spider Climb feature (see the Pumpkin-Eater stat block in appendix D). She enjoys nothing more than killing and eating anything that falls down the well.

S12B. Old troughs
These three animal troughs are badly rotted and fall apart if handled or jostled.

S12C. Chicken sheds
If the characters open a shed: 'This shed holds the shattered remains of several chicken coops. An animal-headed Pumpkin-Eater sleeps curled against the back wall.'
There are nine of these sheds, each one containing a snoozing Pumpkin-Eater (see appendix D).

S12D. Tethering posts
A true giant turkey is chained to one post, though the others are empty.
If the characters approach the turkey: 'The creature chained to the post flaps its wings and takes to the air but doesn't get far before its chains go taut.'
The turkey is skittish and afraid of everyone and everything except Clover (area S17), whom it allows to come close enough to feed it.

S13. Main hall
Text: 'Gentle-sounding music trickles down from above, played on a single stringed instrument by some unseen master. The ground floor is one large, 50-ft-sq room with arched, leaded glass windows. A cauldron sits on an iron rack above a fire in a hearth. In one corner, a wooden staircase climbs to the upper level, while in another corner a stone staircase descends into darkness.
Several chairs surround a wooden table that stretches nearly the length of the room. Wooden dishware and gold candelabras are neatly arranged on the table, standing behind which is a woman cast in metal, dressed in a torn and soiled red gown. Her hairless head looks straight ahead, though her eyes stare blankly.'
Abby is normally here. If so: 'A humanoid with the head of a cat gently takes the robot by the hand. The Pumpkin-Eater moves with the grace of...a cat.'
The cat-headed Pumpkin-Eater is Abby (sse appendix D), one of the few Pumpkin-Eaters who possesses the strength of body and mind to devote themselves to pursuits other than eating and sleeping.
The iron maiden is Wanda Metalman, a clockwork automaton created by Granny Lee. Granny Lee believed Wanda to be a failure and kicked them out of her domain. Wanda spent centuries in aimless wandering until Abby so recently discovered her. Abby has great plans for Wanda, the only one Abby feels she can trust with work and labor.
Abby is teaching Wanda how to set the table at present. Wanda obeys Abby's command to the best of her ability, which is more than can be said for the Pumpkin-Eaters. If driven berserk, Wanda fights any hostiles until Abby reasserts control or until Wanda is destroyed. She has supernatural strength despite her Medium size.
Abby has no desire to harm the characters once she determines that they are not, in fact, Pumpkinfolk. She knows that the Beast has brought them to the Unknown to become Edelwood trees and has no intention of standing in his way. Her cool, calm demeanor changes if the characters become hostile or threaten Wanda.
The music comes from upstairs (area S17). The stone staircase leads down to the cellar (area S16). The wooden stairs climb to the loft and belfry (area S17).
The stew pot in the fireplace contains several gallons of hearty vegetable stew cooked in pumpkin stock.
Roleplaying Abby
Abby believes that she and the other Pumpkin-Eaters are in the right in demanding a tithe of Pumpkinfolk to keep them alive. Now that she has Wanda, she hopes that the Pumpkin-Eaters will no longer have to rely so heavily on the tithe for their survival.
If the visitors seem friendly, Abby will give them a tour of the Hill, making dry, weary comments about the Pumpkin-Eaters as they come across the slackers. She turns hostile if the characters threaten her or her charges.
Hidden in a hollow brick above the fireplace is a potion of superior healing. A successful DC 15 Wis (Perception) check while searching around the fireplace discovers the hollow brick.
The four gold candelabras are worth 250 gp each in any settlement's currency item.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's hidden in the hollow brick with the potion.

S14. Foyer
Text: 'This room used to be an office, evidenced by the remains of a desk and chair, both of which have been smashed to pieces. A hallway to the south leads to a staircase going up. A dark passage to the east is full of unnatural whispers, wild laughter, and gamey odors.'
The stairs lead up to area S20.
If the characters enter this area making noise or carrying light sources, the two owlbears whom the Pumpkin-Eaters have mistaken for Pumpkin-Eaters are drawn out from area S15 (unless they've already been defeated).

**Guest** · 10-29-2016, 12:25 AM

Chap 8: Pottsfield, in the Hall of the Pumpkin-Eaters

S15. Living hall
Text: 'This lightless corridor has multiple doors behind which lie creatures that break the silence with cackling laughter, snores, and other feral noises. The stench is overpowering.'
Before getting hold of Wanda, Abby searched the areas around Pottsfield for any lost souls drawn into the Unknown with that particular combination of bodily strength but weakness of mind that lent itself to unquestioning manual labor. What she found was a hill giant. While she managed to convince him to obey her, he ended up breaking every farming tool he was given, and thus has been placed solely on guard detail.
When the characters first see the hill giant: 'Even in the gloom, you can make out a monstrous shape lumbering down the high-ceilinged hall. It whistles a jaunty tune as it approaches, heavy footfalls shaking the stone floor.'
The hill giant attacks anyone who isn't in the company of Abby or Clover.
None of the doors along the hall are locked. If the characters open any and look inside, they see that the rooms are dimly lit by natural light that filters through the filthy, dirt-crusted windows. The door at the east end of the hall leads outside and can be pulled open to reveal the garden bed (area S9).
The sixty Pumpkin-Eaters here are served their food at irregular intervals by Clover. Dinner is heralded by the ringing of the bell (S17). While the Pumpkin-Eaters have not been confined to their rooms, most refuse to leave, as doing so would mean risking being seen by Abby, who would order them to run some errand "for the common good." In addition to a dagger, each Pumpkin-Eater has its own wooden soup bowl.

S15A. Skittish ones
Text: 'This room was once a shared bedchamber, but its furnishings have been destroyed. Three Pumpkin-Eaters shriek at your approach and run to the corner, cowering in the shadows. One cradles something shiny.'
The one holds a golden candelabra, taken from Abby's table, which they've been using as a chewtoy. Any attempt to take it causes the Pumpkin-Eaters to attack.

S15B. Quarreling ones
Text: 'Four Pumpkin-Eaters brawl amid the wreckage of this bedchamber watches from behind the the safety of the up-turned frame of a bed.'
The four aren't trying to kill each other but assert dominance. If a character tries to stop them, they take it as a sign that the character also wishes to assert dominance and attack that character until the PC either flees or shows submission.
Close inspection reveals that the bedframe is covered with bite marks.

S15C. Sleepers
Text: 'Seven Pumpkin-Eaters snore from their pile of warm bodies spilling from the corner over the center of the room.'
The seven do not awaken unless disturbed and do not attack unless threatened. If no hostility is directed toward them, they fall back asleep before finishing a full sentence.

S15D. Hungry ones
Text: 'Nine Pumpkin-Eaters stand in the middle of this room, staring at the doorway in silence with hungry looks in their eyes.'
These nine haven't received their pumpkin stew in days because they keep threatening Clover whenever she doesn't have any to bring and now she's too scared to bring them any. They try to kill and eat any character who sets foot in the room.

S15E. The horde
Text: 'This room is packed wall to wall with Pumpkin-Eaters wallowing in their own filth. The floor is strewn with bones and gory smears.'
These 16 Pumpkin-Eaters are also Pumpkin-Eater-eaters. As such, Abby has ordered them all into the same room in the hopes that if they do eat a Pumpkin-Eater, it'll be another cannibal, thus reducing the number of cannibals on the Hill. The bones are all that remain of the cannibals who've been consumed. Those who remain try to grab the characters and drag them into the room to be consumed alive.

S15F. Singing and dancing onces
Text: 'Eight Pumpkin-Eaters caper about the wreckage of this bedchamber while singing a rhyme. One holds up a glittering gold candelabra as it leads the conga line.'
The conga line falls apart into weeping if the candelabra is taken from them.

S15G. Babies
Text: 'Haggard Pumpkin-Eaters cradle screaming young in the debris-strewn corners of this room while several more hoot, holler, and roll on the floor, whacking each other with sticks.'
This room contains 3 adult Pumpkin-Eaters tending to 7 noncombatant babies.

S15H. Pumpkin-Eater fort
Text: 'This room contains a fort made out of piled bits of shattered furniture and torn draperies. From within the fort, you hear a mischievous cackle.'
Two Pumpkin-Eaters live in the makeshift fort and refuse to come out unless baited with food. While hidden, they have 3/4 cover.

S16. Cellar
Text: 'The stone steps descend 20 ft to a cellar that contains 10 damp barrels.'
The barrels are rotted and fall apart when touched. Inside one is a musty, rolled-up spell scroll of heroes's feast.

S17. Loft and belfry
Anyone on the curtain wall (area S18) who listens at this room's door hears the soft tones of a stringed instrument.
Text: 'The wooden stairs climb 20 ft to a loft with a pitched roof and a door in the center of the south wall. Unlit lanterns hang from the rafters, and a rope dangles from a bronze bell lodged in the belfry 30 ft overhead. The room is filled with the sound of beautiful music--a melody so enchanting that it adds a bit of much-needed warmth to the otherwise chilly room.
A cot heaped with furs rests in the northeast corner. An oil lamp burns atop a table nearby, silhouetting a creature with the body of a halfling but the head of a rabbit. It sits on the edge of a cot, playing a viol.'
Needles, thread, wood working tools, and other masonry implements are stored inside a closet in the northwest corner.
If anyone rings the bell, a cacophony erupts from the courtyard and east wing as the Pumpkin-Eaters howl, "Food!"
Clover, Abby's dutiful servant, a N Pumpkin-Eater (see appendix D), resides here. She plays the viol beautifully, and the music is often enough to put rowdy Pumpkin-Eaters to sleep.
Roleplaying Clover
Clover wears an over-long robe that, despite several attempts to shorten it, drags on the ground. She is Abby's servile martinet but is despised by many other Pumpkin-Eaters, who accuse her of hoarding food and starving them all to death. She, in turn, is terrified of them, some to the point that she is unable to bring them their rations, unintentionally starving them.
Clover wishes to escape the Hill but is too timid to do so sober or while Abby still lives. If Abby is killed, Clover flees at once as only Abby's command keeps the other Pumpkin-Eater from harming her.
Teleport destination
Characters who teleport to this location from area K78 in the Elder Edelwood arrive at the point marked T on the ORIGINAL CoS map.

S18. Curtain wall
Text: 'Scarecrows line the abbey walls, looking outward. They wear tattered chain shirts and carry spears with rusted heads. The courtyard below is blanketed with fog.'
The scarecrows are lashed to wooden stands. Though fearsome, they are inanimate.
It's a 15-ft drop from the top of the wall to the courtyard. Any creature that falls over the southwest wall tumbles 400 ft down the cliffside.

S19. Barracks
Text: 'Bunk beds that have disintegrated with age lie in heaps along the walls of this moldy, 30-ft-sq room.'
Back when the Hill was a safehaven and rescue station for those who crossed the mountains, it employed a small contingent of hunters to ensure those who came seeking shelter would always have enough to eat. The hunters were quartered here.
Beatrice
If the characters haven't already encountered her elsewhere, Beatrice (see appendix D) the Beasthunter is here, plotting her next move.
She crept into Pottsfield unseen under cover of darkness and made her way to the Hill in the hopes of gathering info about the Beast and his domain from the residents here.
Having met Abby and the Pumpkin-Eaters, Beatrices realizes that nobody here could be of any help to anyone and that they know less about the Beast than even she. Abby told her that she expects the Beast to come the Hill, so Beatrice has been waiting.
In fact, Abby only believes this because of the magic aura from the teleportation area, which doesn't know was used by Tasha the Farmer rather than the Beast. Beatrice has slowly come to the conclusion that Abby's worries are unfounded and is more than ready to leave with the characters with they seem committed to fighting the Beast. As Abby's guest, Beatrice is free to come and go as she pleases.

S20. Upstairs office
Text: 'A wooden counter shaped like an L stands at the front of this spacious office. All the other furniture has rotted away, leaving heaps of moldy wood and faded cloth.'
The wood of the counter is old, soft, and easily broken. Nothing of value remains here. If they haven't cleared out the living den (area S15), the whoops, howls, and laughter follow them as they explore S21-4 to the east.

S21. Hospital
Text: 'This spacious chamber contains metal bed frames arranged in two neat rows. Cobwebs and bits of rotten mattress cling to each frame.
Three doors are spaced along the south wall, each with a plaque mounted on it. From west to east, the plaques read Operating Room, Nursery, and Morgue.'
Six black bears are hibernating in this room, piled on each other for warmth in the shadowy corners. They don't attack unless the characters fail a DC 10 Dex (Stealth) check.

S22. Operating room
Text: 'A bloodstained table stands in the middle of this otherwise empty room.'
The first time a character touches the table: 'A scream fills the room--a scream that echoes through time. It is followed by another and another. Each fainter and fading until they are nothing more than haunting memories.'
There is nothing of value here.

S23. Nursery
Text: 'This room contains the wreckage of old wooden cribs.'
This room was used as a nursery for the Pumpkin-Eaters until they quickly discovered that their newborns had the strength to destroy their bedding.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it is under the wreckage of a crib.

S24. Morgue
Text: 'A bird perches on the windowsill of this otherwise empty room.'
If the characters approach the Feathered Friend, it flies to the shoulder of the nearest garden scarecrow or the one in whom lies a card reading treasure (area S9).

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