Total Conversion: Curse of Strahd 5e

[Guest]

Chap 8: Pottsfield, Special Events


The Birthing
If the characters are in Pottsfield and are in good standing with Enoch, he will come to them, riding upon Vegetana's pumpkin head, and excitedly demand that they follow him. He takes them to a garden bed of pumpkins in the middle of a field where 5 other Pumpkinfolk have gathered. They kneel in the dirt, shovels over their shoulders, around an especially thick pair of pumpkin vines sprouting from the ground. After giving the vines a good shake, the leaves fall away, revealing the vines's feet-like shape. They begin to sing and dig deep around the feet, uncovering more and more vinelike body until they finally unearth the pumpkin head.
The body falls over and pushes up onto its hands and knees. Still singing, the Pumpkinfolk drop their shovels and pull carving knives from their belts. They descend slowly upon the new Pumpkinfolk, carving eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Finished, they back away from the newborn. "Air," it gasps before joining the others in song.


The Tithe
This event occurs before the characters clear out the Hill of Pumpkin-Eaters if they intend to do so at all.
If they are in Pottsfield: 'A great hush falls over the village. From every home, Pumpkinfolk step out the door. They do not speak a word but gather in neat rows before the statue of Enoch, in front of which stands Enoch upon the head of Vegetana.'
Enoch closes his eyes, spins round and round on Vegetana, then points his tail. Whoever it lands upon is chosen for the tithe. He repeats the process until four are chosen.
Once the lottery is finished, the Pumpkinfolk sing their same dancing song but with great solemnity. The four march up the road to the Hill where they will be eaten. The characters cannot persuade them to any other course of action and can only stop them by fighting them until unconscious or killing them.
If they are on the Hill: 'In the distance you see four, orange-headed figures climbing the mountain road to the Hill. As they draw near, you catch the strains of a somber song.'
Otto and Iggy run excitedly to fetch Abby and Wanda who burst from the Hall of the Pumpkin-Eaters with a more stately haste. Abby and Wanda escort the four Pumpkinfolk into the kitchen where the Pumpkinfolk get down on their knees and bow their heads, still singing. The songs stop as Abby and Wanda hack the pumpkins away from the vines with cleavers.
If the characters try to stop any of the Pumpkin-Eaters, all the Pumpkin-Eaters and their allies turn hostile and attack the characters. This action causes Wanda to refuse to help the characters in their fight against the Beast as does harm to Abby for any reason.
Development
If the characters refrain from stopping the slaughter, Abby will later invite them to sumptious meal of hearty pumpkin stew, after which she will be more inclined to release Wanda into their service if Wanda is the foretold ally.
If they attempt to persuade Wanda to aid them before this event has passed, she simply refuses to leave Abby's side and Abby refuses to let her leave.

[Guest]

Chap 9: Winter Road
Winter Road is a gravel road that hugs Mount Gawking, climbing to great heights. The raod starts at the Raven River crossroads (Chap 2, area R) and travels seven miles to a gatehouse (areas T1-T3) and the winter watch (tower) (areas T4-T6), as well as a stone bridge (areas T7-T9) that spans the Loon River. Wind and snow make the journey treacherous. Without some way to keep warm, characters who aren't dressed for cold weather suffer the effects of extreme cold at night (see Chap 5 of the DM's Guide).


Areas of the Road
The following correspond to labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of the Tsolenka Pass on page 158. These structures are made of tightly fitted stone and can't be scaled without the aid of magic or a climber's kit.


T1. Gatehouse portcullis
When the PCs approach from the west: 'The shelf of rock to which the mountain road clings grows narrow. To your left, icy cliffs rise to the gray skies above. To your right, the ground falls away into a sea of fog. Ahead, through wind and snow, you see a high wall of stone crusted with white frost and topped by statues of two-headed dogs at attention. Set in the center of the wall is a closed portcullis, behind which burns a curtain of sky-blue flame.
On the other side of the wall, gripping the mountain's edge, is a frost-crusted stone watch tower topped by golden statues.'
The gatehouse is 30 ft high. The walls are 20 ft high and watched over by 6 petrified death dogs. If PCs fly or climb over the gate, the death dogs (area T2) animate and attack.
If the characters approach within 10 ft of the portcullis, it shrieks, metal upon metal, as it rises. It stays open for 1 min, then closes.


T2. Statues
The six two-headed dogs are death dogs, petrified to stand watch for eternity. If they are attacked or if the PCs bypass the gatehouse, they revert to flesh and attack until the PCs flee or they are killed.


T3. Curtain of flame
A curtain of sky-blue flame fills the eastern archway of the gatehouse. Any creature that enters or starts its turn in the curtain takes 33 (6d10) fire damage.
A successful dispel magic or antimagic field (DC 16) suppresses the curtain for 1 min.


T4. Winter watch, ground floor
The tower door is wooden and barred from within. It can be forced open with a DC 22 Str (Athletics) check.
Text: 'A cold hearth stands across from the door, the wind howling down its chimney. A stone staircase is on the south wall. Three windows look out over a sea of fog.'
The stairs climb 20 ft to area T5.
Teleport destination
PCs who teleport here from area K78 in the Elder Edelwood arrive at the point marked X on the map.


T5. Winter watch, upper floor
Text: 'The upper level of the tower is an icebox with windows set in almost every wall. A rusted ladder bolted to the floor and ceiling leads up to a trapdoor. The wind howls through the chimney.'
The trapdoor in the ceiling pushes open with a squeal, revealing the rooftop (area T6) and the stormy gray sky.
The wind will blow out any non-magical fire lit in the hearth.


T6. Winter watch rooftop
Text: '10-ft-tall, gold-plated statues stand atop the battlements, facing outward. Each one depicts a helmeted knight holding a lance. The cold wind stirs the snow, under which you see a tangle of skeletons.'
The roof is 40 ft high and 540 ft above the misty valley below. A wooden trapdoor in the floor squeals as it is pulled open, revealing area T5 below.
The skeletons are the remains of the last guards to hold this post agains the forces of winter. Their armor has been removed and placed on the statues.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, the statues animate. They are 6 animated armors and attack the PCs until they leave the rooftop or are defeated. Only after all six have been destroyed can the PCs find their treasure by searching in the snow.


T7. Western arch
When the characters approach the bridge: 'The snowy pass comes to a gorge spanned by a stone bridge. At each end of the bridge is a 30-ft-tall, 30-ft-wide stone arch. Atop each one are two states of armored dogs on turkeyback with lances, charging one another. The wind bites and howls for them.'
The western arch contains empty guard posts, one on each side of the bridge. The 10-ft-wide chambers provide protection from the wind but not the cold.


T8. Stone bridge
Text: 'The low walls enclosing the frost-encrusted stone bridge have fallen away here and there, but the bridge itself is intact. A shadowy rider in a cloak and antlers stands guard in the middle of the bridge atop a giant turkey.'
The rider is an illusion of the Beast to warn traverlers from proceding further. If the PCs interact with the rider in any way, it disperses as mist.
500 ft below the bridge is the Loon River, barely visible through the fog. The 10-ft-wide, 90-ft-long bridge has iced over and is extremely slippery. PCs must make a DC 10 Dex (Acrobatics) or Str (Athletics) check to avoid falling prone or worse at the DM's discretion.


T9. Eastern arch
Text: 'One statue atop the arch has crumbled, leaving only the hindquarters of the giant turkey intact. The mountain pass continues beyond.'
This arch contains 10-ft-sq empty guard posts, one on each side of the bridge.
Beyond this arch, Winter Road hugs the mountainside for 3 miles before branching north and south. The northern branch leads to Winter Place (Chap 13). The southern continues to wrap around Mount Gawking until it ends at the stone wall that surrounds the Unknown.


Special Events
You can use one or both of the following events as the characters make their way along Winter Road.


Stone golems of the bridge
As the characters cross the stone bridge (area T8), the three intact giant statues of the armored dogs on turkeyback animate and attack. The statues use
stone golem stats, their lances attached to their bodies acting as natural weapons.
They gang up to attack a random creature on the bridge but cannot leave the bridge without returning to inanimate stone.


Revenge of the scapegoat
As the characters make their way along Winter Road, they encounter a giant goat once intended as a sacrifice by the Black Turtle cultists in Tavern Town. This goat escaped to the mountain pass and now attacks all humanoids in the memory of its near-death experience at their hands.
Text: 'The road ahead is cut out of the mountainside, rising steeply to one side and falling away on the other. Mist and snow reduce visibilty, and the wind cuts through you like an icy knife.'
If no character has a passive Wis (Perception) score of 16 or higher, the party is surprised. Otherwise: 'A 9-ft-tall goat stands atop a crab above you, its gray fur blending perfectly with the rock of the mountainside. It lowers its head, and malice glimmers in its eyes.'
Modify its stats as follows:
--Int 6
--33 hit points
--Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks
--Challenge rating 1 (200 XP)
The giant goat charges down the mountainside (using its Charge feature) and rams a character. If the attack hits and the target fails its saving throw, it is sent tumbling down the mountainside, falling 100 ft onto a ledge.
The goat flees if it takes 10 damage or more. The mist and snowfall preven seeing anything more than 60 ft away. Once the goat is out of sight, it disappears through a cleft.
Development
If the characters have lost favor with Lady Fiona of Tavern Town, they can offer the pelt of the giant goat to her as a gift and restore her favor.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Guard tower = Winter watch (tower)
Roc of Mount Ghakis = Stone golems of the bridge
Bloodhorn's charge = Revenge of the scapegoat

[Guest]

Chap 10: The Overgrown Manor
While the Caretaker was in the process of becoming the Beast, a powerful fey named Margueritte Grey chased out all the other fey save her sister, Lee, from their homes in the marsh in order to construct a massive manor. But the outcast fey neither forgot nor forgave. When Margueritte completed the construction, the fey came in the night and set the new manor ablaze. Margueritte died in fire. Though her sister suffered horrific burns, Lee survived. She fled into the marsh and pledged herself to the pursuit of power and vengeance.
Over the centuries, the swamp grew in and through the vast manor. Only Lee, now Granny Lee (see appendix D), and a few other idiosyncratic denizens of the Unknown make their home here now. Granny Lee, hermit and spinster, spends her days working magic on metal to perfect her clockwork golems. She travels the swamp in her mobile, metal hut, revealing the glory of her past vengeance to stave off the still-raw ache of losing her sister Margueritte. Despite her mythic strength of will, even she has succumbed to the twist of the fog. Granny Lee suffers from the same oppressive, irreparable loss of the loved one that has driven others in the Unknown to impossible lengths to restore their beloved.


Approaching the manor
The following assumes that the characters approach from the north, along the trail from Worthwagon Road. If they approach from a different direction, ignore the first sentence: 'The trail hugs Loon River for several miles. The dirt and grass sink into marsh as the trail turns to a mush of spongy earth pockmarked with stands of tall reeds and pools of stagnant water. A low tide of fog shrouds all.
Scattered throughout the marsh are crumbling walls covered with black mildew that hunker down in the mire. From every corner of the ruins, black clouds of flies set your teeth on edge with their incessant humming.
The fog thins on the far side of the river, where a light flashes between stones standing in a ring.'
The river ranges in depth but is never more than 10 ft deep. Murielle, a Feathered Friend in human form, lurks in the circle of stones (area U6) and uses a lantern to signal the characters. In the manor proper, fog prevents a creature from seeing any other creature or object more than 120 ft away.
A few sections of dirt road have survived, and these places aren't difficult terrain. The marsh, however, is difficult terrain.
Whenever the characters take a short or long rest in the marsh, even if barricaded in the ruins, they are accosted by 1d4 swarms of hungry flies (use the swarm of insects [wasps] stat block in the Monster Manual). The swarms don't accost PCs in areas U3 or U5.


Scarecrows
Seven scarecrows under the command of Adelaide, the clone of the witch Tabitha (see Chap 3), have followed Murielle to the marsh. They appear to be ordinary scarecrows until characters approach within 10 ft. They follow the characters until noticed moving, then attack with the intent to kill.


Areas of the overgrown manor
The following areas correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of Berez on pg 164.


U1. Servants quarters
Text: 'As you approach this cluster of small, ruined rooms separated by the remnants of stone halls, you see a short stretch of dirt road. It is mercifully dry.'
All furniture in the rooms has rotted away with only ruin and vegetation to occupy them. The walls range from 3 ft to 10 ft but are easily scaled with their many pockmarked sections.


U2. Mansion
Text: 'Toward the south lie manor remains constructed on higher ground. They've been reduced to piles of stone. Empty, arched windows gape at you. Further south, an untamed garden now grows atop and entwined with the swamp's own vegetation. To the east stands a crude wooden fence, forming a circular yard in which several goats are penned. Humanoid skulls mount the fence posts.'


The high-ground ruins are littered with debris overgrown by grasses, fungi, and lichens. If the characters search the mansion, they come across a fly-bitten eccentric who now inhabits the ruins.
'A giant man, his features mutilated by maggoty sores and fly bites turning to sores, rises to his full, towering height. But a cringe lights his eyes. "Please, get out of my house," he croaks in a voice unused to words.'
The man's name is Quincy Endicott, an eccentric from Tavern Town who set out to find the object of his idiosyncratic desire, a marsh. Though frightening in appearcance, he is neutral good. He has recently fallen in love with a portrait of Margueritte that has remained magically intact thanks to Granny Lee.
If your card reading reveals a treasure in the overgrown manor, Quincy has come across it and can direct the PCs to what he considers a useless trinket.
Text: 'Travel west, 200 paces from here. My love will guide you from there.'
Characters who follow the directions end up at area U5.


Cellar
Buried under rubble inside the ruins is a stone staircase that leads down to a flooded cellar.


Garden
The garden behind the manor has run wild. Hidden behind tall weeds and thorny vines are sculptures of some kind of fey with nubby antlers. Their features have been cracked and worn away by time.
Four giant poisonous snakes attack PCs who venture 10 ft inside the garden.


Goat pen
Granny Lee raises goats for meat, diary, and fiber. Nine goats dwell within the pen. Fifty fey skulls are mounted on the tops of the fence posts, spaced 10 feet apart. They are all that remain of the fey who set fire to Margueritte's manor. Granny Lee hunted every single one of them down and set fire to the camp they'd set up in the marsh after Margueritte drove them out.
There is no gate in the fence, and Granny Lee uses her flying skull (see area U3) to enter and leave the pen. If the characters try to dismantle or damage part of the fence, the skulls atop the fence begin to shriek the final screams they made as Granny Lee tortured and killed them. She magically recorded the cacophony to use as an alarm.
The racket attracts Granny Lee, who arrives in her flyin skull on an initiative count 20 in 2 rounds. The howling also draws the attention of Adelaide's scarecrows. Roll initiative once for all seven scarecrows.


U3. Hut
Text: 'Someone has built a metal hut on the stump of what was once an enormous tree. The roots of the rotting stump thrust up from the mire like the legs of a gigantic spider.
An open doorway is visible on one side of the hut, beneath wich floats the upside-down, hollowed out skull of a giant. Flanking the hut's doorway are two cages of bone that dangle like hideous ornaments form the eaves.'
Granny Lee (see appendix D) is inside her hut unless she has been drawn out by activity elsewhere. Only the howling of skulls in area U2 or the sounds of nearby combat draw her out.
The cages are made of the bones of the fey to whom the skeletons belonged. Once bloody from their use in torture, flies have long since sucked them dry.


Giant skull
The upside-down skull that floats behind the skill like a maudlin sidecar is a hill giant's skull that Granny Lee has hollowed out and transformed into a vehile. It hovers until she commands it to fly, which she can do only from inside it. It has a fly speed of 40 ft. No one else can control it.
A creature inside has 3/4 cover against attacks from outside. The skull is big enough to hold one Med creature. It has AC 15, 50 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.


Hut interior
Text: 'The hut is 15 ft on a side and packed with ancient furniture, including a wooden cot, wicker cabinet, narrow wardrobe, a table and stool, and a chest. The walls are metal, dark and oily.
In the middle of the room sits a woman with her back to you. Two nubby horns sprout from the crown of her head.'
The woman is an illusion of Margueritte created by Granny Lee using a programmed illusion spell to keep her company. She talks to Margueritte every day as she tinkers with clockwork golems and parts at her work table.
The wardrobe contains her work tools and spell components.
If the PCs approach the hut at an appropriate time without being noticed, they can see Granny Lee speaking with the woman who sits on the floor.
The wooden chest is protected by a glyph of warding that requires a DC 17 Int (Investigation) to find. The glyph deals 5d8 thunder damage when triggered. Opening the lid releases four clockwork crawling claws that fight until destroyed. The chest (and hut) contains items taken from the tortured and killed fey:
--Gold bricks worth 1300 gp in any settlement's currency item
--A vial containing oil of sharpness
--Two spell scrolls containing mass cure wounds and revivify
--A pouch containing 10 +1 sling bullets
--A stone of good luck
--If your card reading revealed a treasure here, it's also in the chest

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Marina = Margueritte Grey
Baba Lysaga = Granny Lee
Lazlo Ulrich = Quincy Endicott
Muriel Vinshaw = Murielle
Abandoned cottages = Servants quarters

[Guest]

Chapter 10: Overgrown Manor, to the Standing Stones


U4. Sunken chimney
Text: 'Through the fog you see the shell of a massive stone chamber. To the north, a metal fence has sunken tine by tine into the mire like the spine of a metal monstrosity.'
PCs who explore the gutted chamber discover a fallen chimney, it's hearth now bubbling over with frothing, marshy muck.


U5. Margueritte's portrait
The portrait is hidden in the marsh, and the characters are unlikely to find it on their own. Quincy Endicott (see area U2) can them here. Without the eccentric man's guidance, they must enter the square housing the portrait and search there. Searching for 10 min allows for a DC 15 Wis (Perception) check to find it. If failed, they get another check after another 10 min search.
Text: 'Hidden by the fog, shambles of walls, and rampant grass is a raised, stone floor sunken in the marsh. Against one fallen wall leans a portrait of a betwitching fey, nubby horns sprouting from the crown of her head.'
A plaque on the frame of the magically preserved portrait reads: Margueritte Gray. If the PCs have seen the portrait of the Beast, they may notice some general similarities in the fey features of the two. Although the Caretaker was the only one of their kind, they sprang from the same blood that gave rise to this species of fey in the Unknown.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it is hidden in a cavity at the base of the wall across from the portrait.
If the characters disturb the portrait: 'The croak of frogs and chirp of crickets fall silent, consumed by the tooth-rattling hum of millions of flies.'
10 swarms of flies descend on the PCs, forming a black, biting wall between them and the portrait. As the characters flee the square, 7 swarms of poisonous snakes roil up from the ground to strike in passing, though neither threats follow fleeing players.


U6. Standing stones
Text: 'A dozen moss-covered menhirs form a near-perfect circle in the spongy earth. The weathered stones range from 15 to 18 ft tall. Two lean inward as though sharing a secret. A frightened peasant woman lurks behind the tallest, clutching a rusty lantern in one gnarled hand.'
The woman is Murielle, a Feathered Friend (see appendix D). She was separated from the group of Feathered Friends she'd been traveling with when they were attacked by scarecrows. The scarecrows have chased her into the marsh and she's afraid to venture out without an escort.
If the PCs allow her to speak, she can tell them the following:
--Legend has it that in ancient times, a great manor stood in the marsh, built over an entire town.
--An ancient, powerful mage named Granny Lee lives in a metal hut in the middle of the marsh. Sometimes she flies around in a giant skull.
--Granny Lee may very well be the oldest being in the Unknown next to the Elder Edelwood.
--The scarecrows are murderous creatures controlled by the evil clone of long-dead witch.
--The scarecrows hunt birds (Feathered Friends), but delight in killing and will attack anything.
Murielle avoids combat and flees if attacked. She conceals her Feathered Friend nature for as long as she can. She can't be pursued to accompany the PCs if they decide to confront Granny Lee.
She knows the Unknown well enough to give directions to other locations that might interest the players if they ask her specifically.
If they get her out of the swamp safely, she flees to Tavern Town and puts in a good word for them with the Mulchmans.


Circle of standing stones
This ring of menhirs is one of the oldest structures in the Barking Mountains. They were raised by the same race of fey who raised the stones by the Old Grist Mill and once lived in the marsh. Granny Lee is the last of these fey.
The circle is 100 feet across, and the menhirs are spaced apart at regular intervals. The stones located to the north, west, south, and east are taller than the other eight stones. They once bore carvings, but the wet, rotting conditions of the marsh have leeched them away.
The standing stones are nonmagical. However, druid characters who enter the circle can sense the blessing of a powerful nature god (the Caretaker), and that it stills holds some measure of power. They can also sense that creatures in the circle can't be targeted by divination magic or perceived through magical scrying sensors.
Though druid characters can't sense it, if they use Wild Shape inside the circle, they gain the max hp available to the new form. At the DM's discretion, the circle may have other strange properties.
Murielle is unaware of the stones's properties, only that in bird, she knew she felt safe here.

Special Events

Creeping hut
Granny Lee has given a semblance of life to her hut through its clockwork machinations. If the PCs overstay their welcome, she commands the hut to animate and attack.
Text: 'The hut shudders and shrieks, metal on metal, as it rise from the marsh. Metal legs winch out in screeches from under the hut, unfolding down into the mire. The hut lurches and groans, becoming a lumbering mass on wildly wheeling legs crushing all in its path.'

The creeping hut (see appendix D) is a clockwork construct that heeds Granny Lee's instructions and no one else's. It fights until destroyed or Granny Lee is killed.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Churchyard = Sunken chimney
Marina's monument = Margueritte's portrait

[Guest]

Chap 11: The Schoolhouse
In the time before the Beast, those servants of the Beast titled Tasha the Pumpkin Farmer, Khazam the Magicman, Duff the Diabolist, and Taz the Transporter were all student mages known simply as Tasha, Khazam, Duff, and Taz. They studied together at the Schoolhouse, a magic academy rising as a tower on a small island on Lake Barking. As the Beast came to power, the four friends on the verge of academy graduation noted that any fellow student of theirs who turned their magic against the Beast met an untimely end. As the four were both highly skilled and highly pragmatic, they offered their services to the Beast at once. They lived and flourished in pursuit of their powers and hobbies under the Beast. Their schoolfellows and teachers perished.
Theirs was the last class to graduate intact. After they left their magical home of childhood, the Schoolhouse soon closed and fell into disrepair. They standing empty for ages, it was recently taken into new management, semi-restored, and opened once more as the Schoolhouse. Save that no child nor adult student has ever been known to study therein.
The Schoolhouse has been taken over by a wealthy eccentric by the name of Langley. His idiosyncratic dream is to reeducated all the animals of the wild so that they can better integrate into the civilized world. To this end, he has gathered his students and even found them a teacher, Miss Langtree, who left Tavern Town and her beloved Jimmy Brown for answers to the problem of the Beast. She hasn't found them. She is now trapped in within the tower along with her 'students.'


Approaching the tower
The Edelwood forest has swallowed up the road that once led to the Schoolhouse. Now only a wide dirt trail remains.
Text: 'You come to a cold mountain lake enclosed by rocky bluffs and Edelwood trees exhaling thick fog that creeps across the dark, still waters. The trail ends at a grass-covered causeway that stretches a 100 yds across the lake to a flat, marshy island with a stone tower on it. The tower is old, decrepit, with rickety scaffolding clinging along one side.
Near the base of the tower, within sight of the entrance, is a giant turkey wagon led by a Fungai.'
The Fungai has just dropped off a shipment of food for the people and animals as arranged by Langley. They leave as the PCs approach.
THe tower stands 80 ft tall. It has four levels (each 20 ft high). The uppermost level overhands the levels below and has window boxes.


Spell drain
To protect the students of the magic academy, the mage professors warded the tower so that only students and teachers could cast spells near and within the tower. The effect is identical to an antimagic field centered on the tower and extending 5 ft from it in all directions. The effect doesn't apply to the magicks within the tower created by the professors and even students.


Areas of the Schoolhouse
The following correspond to labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of Van Richten's Tower on pg 170.


V1. Turkey wagon
The Fungai has parked their wagon in front of the tower while they unload Langley's shipment of provisions. If the PCs investigate the wagon:
'Mud and mulch coat the wagon frame like layers of thick, clumpy paint. The two giant turkeys hitched at the front gobble at your approach.'
The wagon contains nothing of value, but the food and provisions left in crates by the door are edible.
These can be used as bargaining chips against Langley if the PCs hide them before the clay golems come to collect the shipment and/or wrest them away from the clay golems. The Fungais only bring the shipments once a month. Langley will do anything to retrieve the supplies as everyone he's trapped within the Schoolhouse in the name of education will starve without them.


V2. Tower door
Text: 'The tower door is made of solid metal with no visible handles or hinges. In the middle of the door is a large, embossed symbol--a connected series of lines with eight stick figures set around it. Carved into the lintel above the door is a name that has been scratched out.'
The door is magically locked and trapped, however, four clay golems are coming down the stairs to pick up the shipment and will open the door from the inside if the PCs wait five minutes after the Fungai has departed.
A creature that touches the trapped door causes lighting to envelop the tower. Any creature outside the Schoolhouse and within 10 ft of it must succeed on a DC 15 Dex save, with disadvantage if wearing metal armor, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failed save, or half on a successful one. As long as the effect persists, any creature that enters the lightning's range for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 22 (4d10) lightning damage. The lightning lasts for 10 minutes or until the door is opened from the inside.
The clay golems do not attack the PCs unless the PCs disturb the food in their presence or attack them. If the PCs attempt to enter through the door while the clay golems are picking up the shipment, they clay golems don't notice their entrance unless they fail a DC 10 Stealth (Dex) check. If any of the characters fail, Langley is alerted to their presence at once.


V3. Rickety scaffolding
Text: 'Rotting wooden beams support the scaffolding, which groans and creaks with the slightest breeze. A series of ladders and platforms lead to a hole in the northwest wall on the 3rd floor.'
Langley has been attempting renovations to make the Schoolhouse more animal-friendly but used wood for scaffolding and left it out over months of rain. It's now no longer safe for his clay golems to use, so renovations are currently suspended until the golems finish the new scaffolding Langley has them making. They are taking the wood for the new scaffolding from the floorboards of the tower itself.
This old scaffolding can't support more than 200 lbs. If it collapses, anyone standing on it falls 20 ft to the ground, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 ft fallen pluse 2d6 piercing damage from debris. A creature under the scaffolding must make a DC 13 Dex save or take 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage from falling debris.


V4. First floor
Text: 'The flagstone floor is cluttered with stacks of books and piles of parchment. Several desks stand near the east wall as well as makeshift scaffolding.
A 5-ft-sq indentation in the center of the floor contains 4 pulleys attached to taut iron chains that stretch up through a similarly sized hole in the wooden ceiling.'
Langley is here, hidden by the desks as he is crouched to inspect the scaffolding. If not alerted by the clay golems, he pops up at the first noise, banging his head against the underside of the desk.
While Langley is friendly and welcoming of the players, offering them a tour, he means to trap them here with the help of his clay golems and force them to teach his animal pupils along with Miss Langtree.
The characters cannot use the elevator without the help of at least one clay golem. Pulling on the chain, a clay golem can lower the platform then raise to whichever one is specified.
The elevator ride isn't smooth. The platform jerks up or down 5 ft per round.
If all golems are destroyed, the elevator is no longer operational, but the chains can be scaled with a DC 15 Str (Athletics) or Dex (Acrobatics) check.
Langley (CN mage, any race) attacks the PCs if they attempt to leave in his presence or if they are hostile to anyone in the tower.


V5. Second floor
Text: 'Dust and cobwebs fill this otherwise empty room, the wooden floor missing almost all of its planks.'
In the middle of the room is a large opening in the floor and ceiling. Chains extend all the way from the bottom floor to the top through the hole. The 5-ft-sq sections of floor around the hole are weak. They can support 150 lbs each, but any more weight causes the section to collapse, and any creatures standing on it to fall 20 ft to the ground floor.


V6. Third floor
Text: 'Every square inch of this chamber has been subjected to carvings--names, pictures, and messages. The wooden floor has been almost entirely dismantled.'
This room once served as the dorm for student mages. Tasha, Khazam, Duff, and Taz have all carved their names here as well as written messages to or about each other. Such graffiti is left to the DM's discretion, but it may be used to reveal information about them:
--Duff and Taz were best friends.
--Khazam had a crush on Tasha (which developed into unrequited love while they worked in the Elder Edelwood).
--Tasha had a love for all things botanical, especially pumpkins, and essentially turned the dorm into an indoor garden.
--Duff had a love for demons and practiced minor illegal demonic conjurations in his spare time.
--Taz had a love for teleportation matched only by his love for sleeping in and having to teleport to class in his pajamas to avoid tardies.
--Khazam had a love for evocation and the elements and was somewhat pretentious about it, holding evocation AoEs as the highest standard of destructive magic.
The graffiti can also function as glyphs for programmed illusions of the four students presenting such information themselves.
The 5-ft-sections of the floor are extremely unstable. Any weight over 50 lbs causes the section to collapse, and any creatures standing on it fall 40 ft to the ground, smashing through the second floor on the way down.


V7. Fourth floor
Text: 'The gamey stench of animal stings your nose at the first whiff. A woman stands at a desk and blackboard, drawing a diagram and formulas for a triangle in chalk. Across from her, beasts and fowl, in clothing, sit quietly in two rows along the wall.
A bed occupies one corner while a foldout table and wooden chest occupy the one opposite. Mounted to the rafters are pulleys around which hange iron chains that support the tower's elevator platform.'
The woman is Miss Langtree (NG commoner, any race) who mouths "help me" at the PCs if accompanied by Langley and while Langley has his back to her. She hails from Tavern Town and was trapped here by Langley when she came across it in her travels and entered, believing it to be a tavern of some sort. She reveals her circumstances to them if they can convince Langley to have a word with her in private. She will gladly help the PCs as she can if they promise to help her escape.
The wooden chest contains spare clothes, metal bowls and utensils, and the teacher's chalk. None of it is valuable.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, its hidden in the rafters, which must first be scaled before they can be searched.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Van Richten's Tower = The Schoolhouse
Van Richten's Tower top floor = Schoolhouse attic
Ezmerelda's magic wagon = Turkey wagon

[Guest]

Chap 11: The Schoolhouse, Special Events


Pack Attack
If the characters activated the lightning sheath around the tower or caused any part of the tower to collapse, the sound echoes through the valley as far west as Pottsfield and as far east as Tavern Town. The disturbance attracts the attention of a group of 2d4 fog-touched fey and 2d4 dire dogs which arrives after 1 hour.
They attack any characters outside and attempt to enter the tower itself. They don't know about the lightning, but after it they will attempt the scaffold if it hasn't been destroyed. They can smell the animals within the tower and will stay outside until they are killed or at least three 'students' are delivered up to them.
Development
Any harm or suggested harm to the student will cause Langley to attack the PCs and set the clay golems on them. If Langley is killed the clay golems go berserk on every living creature in the Schoolhouse.


Beatrice's Retreat
Beatrice rides in on the back of a stolen giant turkey from the Fungai camp outside Tavern Town. She's come from the Elder Edelwood and an encounter with the Beast from which she barely escaped with her life.
She's being pursued by 3d4 swarms of Business Bats and seeks refuge within the Schoolhouse. She can't make it to the door and instead leaps off the giant turkey onto the scaffolding. She hides and waits there until the Business Bats fly off after five minutes.
Her altercation with the Beast has left her with only 30 hp and she graciously accepts any healing.
Development
If alive, Langley will take her into the tower and try to trap her here with the PCs.
From this moment, the Beast gains a new goal: kill the meddling Beatrice. He relies on druids and the Beast's fog-touched fey in the Edelwood forest as well as his spies and other servants to help him find and kill her at any of the settlements in the Unknown.
If the Beast learns that she and the PCs are working together, he invites the characters to the Elder Edelwood, expecting Beatrice to accompany them. They receive the invitation in a letter from a spy (see appendix F).
PCs who afterward head toward the castle encounter no threatening random encounters along the way.
Bloody Reunion
This event only occurs if the PCs have Jimmy Brown with them.
Jimmy Brown and Miss Langtree will recognize one another instantly and rekindle the great love they once held for each other. Jimmy Brown, determined to aid his beloved, will ask Langley for a wizard's duel. Langley will accept and the PCs may spectate or use the distraction for what it is. The outcome of the duel is left to the DM.
If Jimmy Brown dies, Miss Langtree will teach the animals through a lament for him. If the characters ask Miss Langtree to accompany them after her rescue, she will if they mention their intentions against the Beast and may be frequently heard humming or singing this same lament.
Song reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwUoMN3pK_s

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Ezmerelda's retreat = Beatrice's retreat

[Guest]

Chap 12: The Mulch Fields
The Mulch Fields are the bed of life for the Fungais, who are grown deep in its mulch. The family currently in charge of the Mulch Fields, the Mulchmans, also ferments the best alcohols in the Unknown in the same mulch that gives life to the Fungais.
The Mulchmans descend from allies of the first Feathered Friends and everyone of their number have become shifting Feathered Friends to this day.
Though it is common for denizens of the Unknown to brew their own alcohol, it is also common knowledge that the best spirits come from the Mulch Fields. Anyone may obtain such alcohol if they are willing to barter for it with organic material that the Mulchmans may add to the Fields.
This organic barter has recently led to tensions with the druids who live within and guard the Seed Garden (Chap 14). Five days ago, one of the less intelligent druids bartered away a most precious crop of seeds in exchange for alcohol. When he returned, the other druids, enraged at the loss, ritualisticall tortured and killed him. Their twig blights dragged his body all the way back to the Mulch Fields to barter the decomposing corpse for the seeds. The Mulchmans refused. The twig blights departed but left the body.
Two days ago, the druids returned en masse to tear apart the Mulch Fields in search of the seeds to take them by force. The Mulchmans fled into hiding, but without them, the druids could not find the seeds. In vengence, they desecrated the Fields and poisoned the fermentation vats, leaving the Fungais without any usable mulch.
Even if the PCs help the Mulchmans reclaim the Mulch Fields, the land will remain blighted and unusable unless they can get some druid to undo the desecration ritual. Without a druid of the Seed Garden turned to this path, the Fungais themselves, unable to grow new young, will die out.


Approaching the Mulch Fields
A branch of Worthwagon Road leads to the Fields. If the PCs approach along this path: 'After half a mile, the road becomes a muddy trail that meanders through the woods, descending gradually until the Edelwood trees part, revealing a mist-shrouded meadow. The trail splits. One branch heads west into the valley, and the other leads south into dark woods. A wooden signpost at the intersection points west and reads, "Mulch Fields".'
If the PCs head west: 'A light drizzle begins to fall. Unpainted fence planks lean hapzardly as they follow the trail, which skirts north of a sprawling, stinking field piled high with scattered mounds of pungent earth and detritus. Here and there, you see abandoned turkey wagons above a tide of low fog.
North of the trail is a large grove of Edelwood trees. A Fungai in a dark cloak and cowl stands at their edge, beckoning you.'
This Fungai is one of nine Feathered Friends (LG male and female Fungais) hiding in the grove north of the field. If the PCs ignore him and continue on their way, the Feathered Friends keep their distance and wait to see what happens.


The Mulchman Family
If the PCs head toward the cloaked figure, the other Feathered Friends emerge from the trees and greet them in person form. They wear dark leather rain cloaks and cowls.
One is the current head of the Mulch Fields, Dave Mulchman, who is an old and suspicious Fungai. Until he trusts the PCs, he says nothing about the druids's seeds but tell them that evil druids of the Beast and their twig blights have attacked the Fields and forced his family to take refuge in the Edelwood forest.
If the PCs rid the Fields of the invaders, Dave is grateful. Only then does he tell them that the druids have desecrated the land in search of their seeds, which are of similar size and shape as pinecones. But the Mulchmans need at least one druid to undo the desecration ritual, for which they are willing to trade one seed. Dave urges the PCs to travel to the Seed Garden and acquire one druid alive and bring them back for bartering.
Dave does not tell the PCs to leave any of the druids currently present within the Mulch Fields alive as a test. Much like his daughter Winnie, he has an idiosyncracy for testing others.
Dave's group of Feathered Friends includes:
Dave Mulchman
Ryan, his eldest son
Elmo, his youngest son
Steffie, his adult daughter
Dagbert, Steffie's husband
Clark, Steffie's teenage son
Noncombatants:
--Marty and Vic, Steffie's young boys
--Yolanda, Steffie's baby girl
If the PCs come looking for alcohol, Ryan tells them there are three barrels in the loading dock (area W2), three and several bottles in the cellar (area W14), and more fermenting in mulch (area W9).


Approaching the Mulch House
If the PCs continue toward the Mulch House: 'Situated in the midst of the pungent field, stands an old, two-story stone building with many doors and thick ivy covering every wall. The trail ends at an open loading dock on the ground floor.
A wooden stable, recently refurbished, is attached to the eastside of the building, next to the loading dock. To the west is a crumbling well and wooden outhouse.'
Upon reaching the Mulch House: 'You hear the rustle of dead vines from all around you. Inhuman shapes emerge from behind piles and within ditches in the field. Their limbs crack as they trudge forth through the mist and rain.'
30 needle blights (in six groups of five) emerge from the surrounding field and march on the PCs and Mulch House. They are 120 ft away when first visible and have a walking speed of 30 ft. PCs can barricade themselves inside or fight. If they stay outside, druids and blights from inside can join the battle.
Round Creatures
3 1 druid and 24 twig blights (from area W9)
4 1 druid and 5 needle blights (from area W14)
5 1 druid and 2 vine blights (from area W20)
The druid in area W16 carries a blight staff (see appendix C). If the staff is destroyed all blights within 300 feet of it instantly wither and die.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
The Wizard of Wines = The Mulch Fields
Workshop in Wizard of Wines winery = Mulch lab
Davian Martikov = Dave Mulchman
Adrian Martikov = Ryan Mulchman
Elvir Martikov = Elmo Mulchman
Stefania = Steffie
Dag Tomescu = Dagbert
Claudiu = Clark
Martin = Marty
Viggo = Vic
Yolanda = Yolanda
Urwin Martikov = Winnie Mulchman
Danika Dorakova = Dani
The winery = The mulch house
Gulthias staff = Blight staff

[Guest]

Chap 12: The Mulch Fields, Mulch House


Areas of the Mulch House
The following correspond to labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of the winery on pg 175.


W1. Stables
The Mulchmans kept their giant turkeys here, but the turkeys are currently in hiding from the evil druids and blights.


W2. Loading dock
Text: 'Parked in the loading dock is a turkey wagon with 3 barrels set in braces on the mulch-free bed. A raised wooden walkway runs along the west, south, and east walls. Through a hole in the ceiling, you see the wooden arm of a loading crane with ropes and hooks dangling from it.'
Barrels of alcohol in the cellar (area W14) are rolled up a ramp (area W12) to the crane on the upper floor (area W16), then lowered into the wagon. Empty barrels are rolled off the back of the wagon from above. Empty barrels are rolled off the back of the wagon and stored in area W9. The 3 barrels on the wagon hold poison as the druids got to them.
The south door has been forced open and hangs ajar. It can't be closed until repaired, though it can be barricaded.
Anyone who drinks the fouled alcohol is the same as drinking a potion of poison.


W3. Barrel maker's workshop
Text: 'Strips of metal and wood lie in neat piles on the floor of this workshop, the walls of which are lined with tools. 2 worktables stand against the east wall.'
Barrels are made here. The north door is barred from the inside.


W4. Barrel storage
Text: 'Rows of new barrels fill this room. A narrow stone staircase spirals upward in the southwest corner.'
The room contains 13 empty barrels.


W5. Veranda
Text: 'Resting on a flagstone veranda are 3 5-ft-diameter wooden tubs, their insides stained with mulch and reeking of it.
At the back of the veranda is a large set of sliding wooden doors as well as a normal-sized wooden door.
Stone pillars and arches support the floor above.'
Mulch is carried in through the veranda to the mulch lab for experimentation. The sliding doors are chained shut from the inside, and the smaller door can be barred shut from inside. Breaking through either requires a successful DC 20 Str check.


W6. Well
A ring of tight-fitting, moss-covered stones encloses this 40-ft-deep well. The druids have poisoned the water so that drinking it is the same as drinking from a potion of poison.


W7. Outhouse
Text: 'Sweet-smelling herbs hang from the eaves of this ramshackle wooden outhouse, which has a small WC carved into its door.'
The outhouse contains no surprises and has been left untouched by both druids and their blights.


W8. Storage
Text: 'Bare hooks line the walls of this storage room. Shelves to the south hold several pairs of mulch-stained boots. Both doors to this room hang open. This one to the west is fitted with metal brackets and leads outside into the rain. Lying on the floor next to it is a 5-ft-long wooden beam.'
Before fleeing, the Mulchmans took the leather rain cloaks stored here but left their field boots here.
The wooden beam can be used to bar the outer door.


W9. Fermentation vats
Text: 'The pungent smell of fermenting alcohol and mulch mingle in this large, two-story chamber, which is dominated by four enormous, mulch-stained wooden casks, each one 8-ft-wide and 12-ft-tall. A wooden staircase in the center of the room climbs to a 10-ft-high wooden balcony that clings to the south wall, which has four windows set into it at balcony level. Stacked against the wall underneath the balcony are old, empty barrels. The balcony climbs another 5 ft as it continues along the west and east walls, ending at doors to the Mulch House's upper level.
Underneath these side balconies are several doors, some of which hang open. Beneath the sloping roof stretch thick rafters, upon which scores of birds have quietly gathered. They watch you with great interest.'
Four swarms of birds perch on the rafters but don't attack the PCs. They are Feathered Friends who've been permanently been made birds by Adelaide (see Chap 3).
Unless they've been drawn outside, 24 twig blights and one druid (NE female, any race) are also present. If here: 'The balcony creaks. A wild-looking figure hunched over the westernmost cask, pouring a flash of thick syrup into it. She wears a cloth of animal skins and a helm of goat horns, her hair long and matted.
Something skitters across the floor, a tiny creature made of twigs. It moves from its hiding place under the stairs and disappears behind the easternmost cask.'
The four containers are fermentation vats, one each for beer, wine, whiskey, and vodka. The easternmost cask has split in the back, creating a 6-in-wide, 6-ft-high opening through which twig blights can pass. All 24 are hidden in the cask, past the layer of mulch between the inner and outer barrels. While inside, they have total cover against attacks from the outside.
The druid is poisoning the last of the vats. The 3 westernmost vats contain enough poisoned alcohol to fill 20 barrels. Drinking it has the same effect as drinking a potion of poison. Only a purify food and drink spell can neutralize the poison without changing the taste of the alcohol like an antitoxin will.
If the PCs attack the druid, she calls her twig blights. The swarms of birds descend to attack the blights.
The sliding wooden doors along the north wall (leading to area W5) are chained shut from the inside. The key to the padlock can be found in the office (area W20). The single door leading to area W5 is barred shut from the inside, as is the single door leading to area W2.


W10. Mulch lab
Text: 'As soon as you enter, you're hit with a wall of mulch pungence that draws stinging tears from your eyes. A dirty window in the south wall allows dim light to enter this room. Tools have been scattered amidst the mulch and broken glass tubes, jars, and implements of uncertain purpose littering the floor.
A hearth built into the southwest corner is flanked by a broken barrel of sand, the millions of grains joining the debris on the floor. A staircase descends underground beside a barred door.'
This room is where the Mulchmans experiment upon the Mulch to find the ideal conditions for producing new Fungais.
The stairs lead down to area W13. The east door is barred from the inside.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's in the barrel of sand. Digging through the sand is needed for the check to find it.


W11. Spiral staircase
Text: 'This turret contains a stone spiral staircase. Windows in the outer wall allow light to enter.'
The stairs connect all three levels of the Mulch House.


W12. Ramp
Text: 'This turret has a sloping, wooden floor that spirals from the cellar to the upper levels. Scratch marks suggest that barrels are rolled up and down the ramp on a routine basis.'
The spiraling ramp connects all three levels of the Mulch House. The evil druids use the ramps t move between levels.

W13. Back staircase
Text: 'Thick moss covers the walls of this underground staircase. At the foot of the steps is a landing with an arched wooden door set into the north wall.'
The staircase connects areas W10 and W14.

[Guest]

Chap 12: The Mulch Fields, Mulch House Other Levels


W14. Cellar
Text: 'Wooden pillars and beams support the 10-ft-high ceiling of this ice-cold cellar, which is split in 2 by a 5-ft-thick brick wall. A thin mists rolls out over the floor. Each half of the cellar features an 8-ft-tall wooden paritition that doubles as a rack for glass bottles. The western rack stands empty, but the eastern one is half-filled with various bottles.'
Unless drawn outside, 5 needle blights and one druid (NE male, any race) lurk in the eastern portion of the cellar. If they are here: 'Something moves behind the eastern rack. Through the holes, you glimpse a half dozen humanoid figures, one with his own full rack of antlers.'
One his first turn, from behind the rack, the druid casts a thunderwave spell, which shatters 1d20+10 bottles. Then the needle blights attack.
The cellar grows colder closer to the north wall. Against it are 3 frosty barrels of poisoned alcohol.
The rack in the eastern half holds 40 bottles. No alcohol in the bottles has been poisoned.
A secret door between the 2 halves of the cellar can be pushed open to reveal a freezing cold passageway (area W15).


W15. Brown mold
If the PCs open the secret door: 'It takes some effort to push open the secret door and you are blasted by cold air. A dark tunnel stretches 15 ft, ending at an archway beyond which lies a shallow cave.'
PCs with a light source can see brown mold covering the walls, floor, ceiling, and cave (see Chap 5, DM's Guide).


W16. Loading winch
Text: 'This room has a wooden floor with a 10-ft-sq hole cut into the middle of it. Looming over the hole is a wooden winch. Perched atop it is a man with matted hair, rotted teeth, and naked save for the patches of skin smeared with black tree sap. He wields a gnarled staff made from a black branch.'
The man is a druid (NE male, any race) who fights only if cornered. Otherwise, he tries to flee by dropping onto the wagon in the loading dock (area W2). He tries to hide.
A secret door in the north corner of the west wall can be pulled open to reveal a bedroom (area W17).
The druid wields a blight staff (see appendix C), which can be used to destroy the blights.


W17. Master bedroom
This bedroom normally belongs to Dave nut is currently being used by Steffie to raise her baby in its larger and private space.
Text:'This room contains a 4-poster bed, its headboard carved in the likeness of a giant turkey. A soft pelt rug covers the floor between the bed and the door. In the corner of the south wall stand two narrow wardrobes with a tapestry of a massive rootbed spreading out from a baby Fungai hanging on the wall between them.
Beneath the tapestry sits a varnished rocking cradle. To the north, under a window, is a plain desk and chair. Other furnishings include a wooden chest and a freestanding mirror in a wooden frame.'
One wardrobes contains Steffie's clothes and the other contains Dagbert's. The desk holds receipts recording alcohol shipments for the past century. An examination reveals the Mulchmans ship to Adelaide, Tavern Town, Pottsfield, and the Fungai camps.
Characters who check the oldest records also find entries for the Beast.
The wooden chest is locked with the key hidden in a compartment in a bedpost. A PC who searches the bed notices one knob is loose and can be removed.
A secret door in the north corner of the east wall can be pushed open to gain access to the loading winch (area W16).
Inside the chest are gold bars worth 50 gp, 270 ep, and 350 sp in any settlement's currency item. A secret compartment in the lid can be found with a successful DC 15 Wis (Perception) check. It holds a locket containing a painted portrait of a beautiful Fungai (Dave's deceased wife Angie, her remains returned to the Mulch Fields from which she was born).


W18. Kitchen and dining room
Text: 'This room contains a rectangular table surrounded by 8 chairs, a cupboard, and a floor-to-ceiling closet pantry. Next to the pantry is a small stove.'
The cupboard holds dishware and eating utensils. The pantry holds cooking ingredients and stores.


W19. Sleeping quarters
Text: 'Two pairs of bunk beds occupy this room. Against the west wall rest four identical footlockers.'
Dave, Ryan, and Elmo sleep in the westernmost room. Clark and his brothers sleep in the easternmost room, where a few toys are scattered.
One toy resembles a child's wooden rocking horse, except the horse is black with wild eyes and has painted orange flames for a mane, tail, and hooves. Carved into the wooden nightmare is the name "Wonderhorse" and, in smaller print, "No Fun for You!"
The footlockers contain clothes but nothing of value.


W20. Bathing room
The door hangs open.
Text: 'In this chamber are a bathing tub, a wooden toilet, a changing table, and a tall towel closet.'
Two vine blights and one druid (NE female, any race) are here unless drawn elsewhere. If here: 'Three creatures are here, lounging in the bathing tub in the northern end of the room. The water is filthy and seems more to spread the dirt than clean any of the occupants.'
The druid and vine blights fight to the death.
Inside the cabinet is a key hanging on a loop of twine. The key unlocks the padlock on the sliding doors between the veranda (area W5) and the fermentation vats (area W9).

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Printing press = Bathing room

[Guest]

Chap 12: The Mulch Fields, Special Events


Alcohol delivery
After restoring the Mulch Fields to the Mulchmans, the PCs can ask them to deliver the mulch-fermented alcohol again. A grateful Dave sets his kids to the task at once.
Ryan brings the untouched spirits and sets them on the wagon. Elmo secures the giant turkeys. Ryan and Elmo make the delivery themselves but welcome the party's escort. If the PCs don't volunteer to guard them, Dave suggests/heavily implies that they should.
Check for a random encounter once for each mile traveled. The wagon is also watched by 2 swarms of birds that swoop down to attack any threats.
Development
The PCs can trade the alcohol for a much-needed treasure or use it to buy their way into a settlement with which they've lost favor.


Treebert attacks
If the PCs leave the Mulch Fields and return before dealing with Treebert (see Chap 14), the enormous tree blight (see appendix D) is sent from the Seed Garden to ravage the Mulch Fields and destory the Mulch House.
The characters arrive to find the house and fields in ruins. Treebert's tracks are clearly visible on the trail to the south. PCs who follow the tracks catch up with Treebert on its way back to the Seed Garden.
The Mulchmans narrowly escape and flee to the Blue Tavern in Tavern Town (Chap 5, area N2). Dave is devastated by the loss of the Mulch Fields and will fall into Edelwood Slumber in 24 hours.
Development
Three days after the attack, Adelaide (see Chap 3) sends seven scarecrows from the village of Adelaide to take up positions in the ruined fields and watch for returning Feathered Friends. They attack any who crosses the fields or approaches the ruins of the house.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Wintersplinter = Treebert

[Guest]

Chapter 13: Winter Place, Part 1


The Unknown once had four seasons--spring, summer, fall, and winter. But in the first year of the Beast, winter proved too much for those Edelwood trees who grew from the bodies of the despairing. The leaves fell away and the bitter cold embrittled the trees from branches to roots. When the North Wind blew, the Edelwood trees fell and shattered as oily black shards.
The Beast could not keep his soul burning without the tinder and oil of the trees. So his path was clear. He had to prevent winter from coming to the Unknown. With the help of his servants, he discovered that it was the North Wind who brought the cold down from the sky and mountains to cause the season.
The servants of the Beast spent spring, summer, and fall constructing a prison to hold the North Wind and all the Wind's frigid servants. They called Winter Palace in jest. At the height of his power, the Beast trapped the North Wind here, and with the wind, all of winter, spring, and summer as well. The Unknown froze in time, an eternal fall.
The North Wind has weakened in power over the years, for the Wind (LN, sexless) sustains the lives of their servants through their own. Should the PCs release the North Wind, the Wind will gradually return to its old power and bring the seasons back to the Unknown in time.
Only servants of the Beast have ever entered Winter Place, however, so the creatures within, even the North Wind themself, will assume that the PCs are the Beast's servants and attack.
Extreme cold
Winter Place has a temperature of -10 degrees Fahrenheit or -23 degrees Celsius. PCs without heat sources, cold weather gear, or magic to protect them are subject to the effects of extreme cold (see Chap 5, DM's Guide). If the Highwayman (Chap 5, area N9a) is with them, he protects himself with a ring of warmth.


Areas of Winter Place
The following areas correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS maps of the Amber Temple on pages 182 and 190.
All doors are fashioned from translucent slabs of ice with metal hinges and fittings magicked to withstand the cold.


X1. Facade of the Winter 'Palace'
A snow-swept gravel road climbs the mountainside as it travels north from Winter Road toward Winter Place.
When the PCs reach the end of the road: 'The road fades away under cover of snow. Ahead, you see a facade carved into the sheer mountainside. The carvings reach a height of 50 ft. Six alcoves contain 20-ft-tall statues relieved from the stone of the mountain. Each depicts head-bowing yetis in chains.
Between the two innermost statues is a 20-ft-tall archway with a staircase leading down.'
Looking at a statue for long fills the viewer with unease.


X1A. Narrow fissure
Text: 'A natural fissure has opened in the mountainside west of the facade, creating a gap 2 ft wide, 10 ft tall, and 15 ft deep. You see light from a room beyond and hear voices.'
The fissure leads to area X15. If the PCs make a lot of noise, one creature from the area investigates.


X2. Entrance
Text: 'Icy steps descend 10 ft to a time-ravaged hallway. Beyond the hall lies a frozen, sepulchral darkness.'
The hall connects areas X1 and X4.


X2. Guard room
There are two of these rooms. This empty room lies behind a secret door. The ceiling is 10 ft high.
Guards are no longer posted here after it was discovered that keeping the North Wind locked up was enough to keep their servants here as well. Moreover, none of the servants have the intelligence to free the North Wind.


X3. Empty barracks
Text: 'Shattered bits of wood cover the floor of this frigid, 20-ft-sq room.'
The ceiling in each of these rooms is 10 ft high. The wood is all that remains of the guards's bunks.
A secret door in one wall of each room can be pulled open to reveal area X2a or X2b beyond.


X4. Overlook
Text: 'A 20-ft-wide balcony of solid ice with a shattered railing over looks a vast chamber. Ice-slab staircases at each end of the balcony descend 30 ft above the balcony. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all ice, lending the gloom a bluish sheen. A set of translucent ice-slab doors stands closed at the west end of the balcony. A similar pair stands open to the east.'
If the PCs's light source or vision extends 90 ft or more, they see a large, cloud-like statue at the far end of the chamber (area X5a).
The open doorway to the east leads to area X6. The double doors west open to X15. PCs who listen at the western doors hear gruff voices but can't discern the words.


X5. The 'guard'
Text: 'Four massive columns of translucent ice support the vaulted ceiling, at the north end of which stands a 40-ft-tall blue ice statue of a cloud with humanoid but hollowed eyes and mouth.
It stands between two ice-slab balconies, one of which has partially collapsed and fallen on the frozen floor, in front of an open doorway. Arched, glacial hallways lead away to the west and east. Flanking these exits are alcoves holding blue ice statues of yetis n chains. One yeti has toppled over and lies shattered on the floor.'
Ned, the Beast's newest archmage (LE male, any race), was sent here on 'guard duty' after he got on the wrong side of the Beast's head accountant and manager of the Business Bats, Mr. Lippy (see Chap 4, area k30). Only once he arrived did he discover that there was no longer an official guard post here. He is on his way out, grumbling, when he encounters the characters. He attacks at once, believing that he can rub his unintended usefulness as a guard in Mr. Lippy's face.
The onset of combat, however, wakes three hibernating black puddings into the chamber. They attack the creature nearest them.
The ceiling is 60 ft high. Wide, ice-slab staircases ascend 30 ft to the southern balcony (area X4). The balconies that flank the statue (areas X11 and X23) are 30 ft high as well.
The yeti statues are 8 ft tall.
If asked why he attacks, Ned stops and can be persuaded not to continue attacking the PCs if the characters don't attack again. Ned carries a spelbook containing the archmage spells in the Monster Manual stat block. He wears a robe of useful items with the following remaining:
Iron door
Wooden ladder
Riding horse
Pit
Rowboat
Spell scroll (moonbeam)
Mastiffs


X5A. The North Wind
This 40-ft-tall statue, deep blue from the density of the ice, depicts the face of the North Wind. At the base is a secret door that can be found with a successful DC 20 Wis (Perception) check. It can be pulled open to reveal a spiral staircase that climbs to a trapdoor set into the floor of the statue's hidden chamber.
A pair of 2-ft-wide eyeholes provides an unobstructed view of the chamber floor south of the statue as well as the southern balcony (area X4) but not the northern balconies or areas--nothing behind or above the statue.
If your card reading reveals a treasure here, it's on the floor in the statue's head.


X5B. Secret door
Set into the middle of the north wall is a secret door. A character searching the wall for secret doors and succeeds on a DC 20 Wis (Perception) check detects seams in the ice of the wall. It is warded by an arcone lock spell that prevents it from being opened, but knocking 3 times causes it to swing open for 1 min, revealing a staircase. The ice-slab stairs climb 30 ft to another secret door that swings open with 6 knocks. The stairs lead to area X30.


X5C. Locked doors
These doors are sealed with an arcane lock spell. The password to suppress it is "Melt." A character can push a door open with a successful DC 25 Str check. The doors (AC 15, 60 hp) can also be smashed. If reduced to 0 hp, lightning fills the 30-ft-cube directly north of them. A creature in that area takes 22 (4d10) lightning damage, turning to dust if reduced to 0 hp. Beyond the doors lies area X31.


X5D. Ice mirror
Text: 'This arched hall rises to a height of 20 ft. You can see your reflections in the crystal clear and glass-smooth ice. But the images don't mirror your movements. Instead, they wave their arms and scream noiselessly as though in warning.'
These are illusions meant to discourage exploration of the prison. They can be dispelled with a DC 15.
The east hall leads to area X32, the west hall to area X36.


X6. Southeast annex
Text: 'This room is featureless except for a rough-edged, 10-ft-diameter circular hole in the floor to the east. Double doors of solid ice stand open to the north and west. A single closed door lies just south of the western set of double doors.'
The ceiling is 20 ft high. Beyond the open doors to the north, the PCs can see a long, wide hallway (area X8).
The hole in the floor forms a roughly hewn shaft that descends 20 ft, then breaks through the ceiling of area X33a. From the bottom, it's another 10-ft drop to the floor of area X33a. The shaft is built of slick ice and can't be climbed without magic.
A secret door in the south wall opens to area X7.


X7. Secret scroll repository
Text: 'Carved into the south wall of this frozen space are cylindrical holes fit for scrolls or maps.'
The old wizard guard kept magic scrolls here, but they've been eaten by the black puddings.


X8. Upper east hall
Text: 'The walls of this 20-ft-wide, 70-ft-long arched corridor are pure ice. The doors at both ends stand open. A closed door is in the middle of the east wall. Cracks in the floor run the length of the hall.'
The cracks were made by squabbling yetis in area X10.


X9. Snow dragon's den
Text: 'Huge piles of snow blanket the floor and cling to the solid ice walls. Descending stairs to the north and south peak up by the rails from the snow piles.'
A young white dragon and servant of the North Wind has claimed this room for itself. The snow over the stairs is unstable and PCs who tread over them will fall 20 ft. Those who tread over the rows marked in red on the ORIGINAL CoS map of area X9 will also fall 20 ft. The snow is soft, however, and they take no falling damage.
Hibernating 20 ft below the snow is the young white dragon. If a PC falls through the snow, they wake it and it attacks.
Treasure
At the bottom of the den, the dragon is hoarding an amulet taken from a guard it consumed ages ago. The amulet thrums when it comes within 10 ft of the shield guardian in area X35. It is the control amulet.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Exethanter = The North Wind
Temple of lost secrets = The 'guard'
Neferon = Ned
God of secrets = The North Wind
Amber reflections = Ice mirror
Lecture hall = Snow dragon's den

[Guest]

Chap 13: Winter Place, Part 2


X10. Northeast annex
Text: 'The walls and ceiling in the eastern portion of this bare, frozen room have collapsed. To the west and south are open, ice-slab doors. In the center of the room is a 10-ft-tall statue of a yeti in chains made of cracked ice.'
The ceiling here is 20 ft high. The statue has been cracked by four yetis in a territorial battle for this area. While they are currently licking their wounds, the entrance of the PCs throws them into another frenzy. They can, however, be tricked into fighting one another instead of the PCs.


X11. Northeast balcony
Text: 'This ice-slab balcony, 30-ft-above the floor, overhangs the northeast corner of the chamber. The two frozen doors leading from this balcony stand open.'


X12. Shattered statue
Text: 'The bare, frozen room consists of a foyer to the west and a shrapnel heap of shattered ice to the east. The shards are littered in a raised alcove at the eastern end of the chamber. Two pairs of empty alcoves line the north and south walls.'
The brawling yetis in area X10 knocked over the ice statue of a yeti in chains. Doors in the west wall open to area X13.
A secret door is set in the back of one of the alcoves on the north wall. It can be pulled open to area X14.


X13. Guard toilet
Text: 'This narrow room has a frigid metal chamber pot at its center.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high.


X14. North staircase
When the PCs open the secret door at the top of the stairs: 'A corridor of ice heads north, then bends to the east, descending a dark staircase, blue at the edge of your light. The air is brittle and biting with cold.'
Three 10-ft-long staircases with landings between them descend 30 ft total to area X14a. The air grows colder down the stairs.


X14A. Collapsed lower hall
Text: 'The stairs descend to a collapsed glacial hall with a high ceiling and ice-slab walls. Frozen shrapnel covers most of the floor, and a path through the shards leads to an open doorway. The frigid air bites at your ears, nose, and lungs.'
This ruined area once connected to area X32 but was destroyed by the wizard guard to seal it off. The ceiling is 25 ft high.
Unless the PCs douse their lights and move quietly, the creatures in area X33c hear them and prepare an attack.


X15. Southwest annex
This room contains a young white dragon, four gelatinous cubes, and one white dragon wyrmling. They are the servants of the North Wind.
When they aren't expecting trouble, they try to hibernate, but the wyrmling keeps waking up, so the dragon tries to tell it stories to help it sleep. They all fight to the death.
There is nothing of value here.
A fissure has formed in the southwest wall and cold air seeps out from Winter Place through it. The gap is 2 ft wide, 10 ft tall, and 15 ft deep. It leads outside to area X1a. Those who listen from the outside can here the dragon's story (in Draconic). At the DM's discretion, it can be used to present the lore of Winter Place.
A secret door in the south wall opens into area X16. None of them know of it, as they've always tried to hibernate to conserve energy until the North Wind is free.


X16. West scroll repository
Apart from location, identical to area X7.


X17. Upper west hall
Text: 'The walls of this 20-ft-wide, 70-ft-long arched corridor are built of solid slabs of ice. Several doors lead from this hall. At the hall's center are three pools of shadow.'
Three black puddings hibernate here. They detect the PCs.


X18. Hallway
Text: 'This 20-ft-long, 10-ft-high hallway of solid ice has a door at each end.'
Area X17 lies beyond to the east, area X21 beyond to the west.


X19. Potion storage
Text: 'Solid ice blocks cut to resemble tables stand at the center of this room. Carved into the stone walls are niches filled with hundreds of frost-covered bottles. Wooden ladders have frozen where they lean against the walls.'
The ceiling here is 15 ft. The majority of bottles will shatter on contact, but 1d8 remain intact, containing frozen potions of healing used by the old guard.
The ladders can no longer support weight without shattering.
A secret door is set in the north wall. It can be pulled open to reveal a staircase landing in area X21.


X20. Architect's room
Text: 'Dominating this room is a 12-ft-tall ice sculpture of a massive tree atop an almost equally massive pinnacle of ice. On one side in an archaically fancy script is carved: "No Fun for You!"'
The model was built by the ancestor of Mr. Toymaker. Anyone who has seen the Elder Edelwood instantly recognizes the toy for what it is.
THe ceiling here is 15 ft high. A secret door in the sout wall can be pulled open to a staircase landing area X21.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's inside the Elder Edelwood toy model. The characters must smash their way into the toy to reach it.


X21. West staircase
Three 10-ft-long staircases separated by 10-ft-sq landings connect areas X18 and X36. The upppermost landing has secret doors set into its north and south walls. The south door opens into area X19 and the north door opens into area X20.


X22. Northwest annex
When one of the doors to this room is opened: 'A long table carved from one massive block of ice stands at the center of this room. Three shaggy, lanky beasts use it as a bunk bed.'
The three yetis will wake if the PCs carry a light source. Otherwise, the PCs can make a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check to sneak by.


X23. Northwest balcony
Text: 'This ice-slab balcony overhangs the northwest corner of the chamber, the floor of which lies 30 ft below. Nearly half the balcony has fallen away, leaving jagged edges and fractaling cracks.'
This balcony is unsafe. Weight over 250 lbs causes it to collapse. Any creature on the balcony when it collapses falls 30 ft to the floor.


X24. West statue
Text: 'This bare, frozen room consists of a foyer to the east and a statue to the west. The ice sculpture depicts a yeti in chains, standing with its head bowed. Two pairs of alcoves line the north and south walls.'
The ice statue weighs 250 lbs. Any living creature that enters this room must succeed on a DC 1 Wis save or be drawn to the statue as though affected by the sympathy spell. Covering the statue or destroying it suppresses the magic and ends the sympathy.
The doors in the east wall open to X25. A secret door is set in the back of one of the northern alcoves. Pulling it open releases a gelatinous cube.


X25. Guard toilet
Text: 'This narrow room has a frigid metal chamber pot at its center.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high.


X26. Secret alcove
Two secret doors lead to this room. When either door is pulled open, a gelatinous cube is released (one adhered to each door in hibernation).
This room has a 30-ft-high ceiling.
Text: 'Attached to the 30-ft-high ceiling is an upside-down metal chest.'
The metal chest is held in place by four gelatinous cubes. Its lid is sealed with an arcane lock spell. The chest is impervious to weapon damage. Prying it open requires a DC 25 Str check. The inside is lined with lead.
If opened, it triggers a disintegrate spell, creating a 10-ft-sq hole above area X39. Creatures standing on the floor fall 30 ft, landing in the northwest corner of area X39.
The chest is empty.


X27. Den of the yetis
Text: 'This 15-ft-high room has been frozen in time. Ornate furniture, exquisite rugs and tapestires, and decorative statuary all lie under a thick sheet of translucent ice. Curled up in the center of the room are three massive, shaggy pelts.'
An abominable yeti and its two children yetis are hibernating here. They attack if woken by PCs failing a DC 10 Dex (Stealth) check or if the PCs are using light sources.
On the table, under the translucent sheet of ice is an unrolled parchment scroll that lists the passwords of all the locked doors. If the PCs break through the ice, they discover more sheets under it that give the background information presented at the beginning of the chapter. Several quill pens have frozen to the parchment sheets and break if removed.
There are 3 secret doors. The door to area X28 has an arcane lock spell cast on it. The password to suppress the spell is "Blow."


X28. Master bedroom
The secret door to this room has an arcane lock spell (see area X27).
Text: 'Behind this door is a small bedroom frozen in time. A solid sheet of translucent ice lays over the ornately carved and decorated bed and furnishings.'
There is nothing valuable here.


X29. Secret room
Text: 'This is a bare, frozen room.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high.


X30. Preserved library
Text: 'This library carved out from ice has 20-ft-high walls and a 30-ft-high vaulted ceiling. A railing of ice encloses a glacial staircase that spirals gently down a 30-ft-wide, 30-ft-deep shaft to the north. Sculpted into the frozen walls stand 6, 10-ft-tall bookcases. On their shelves are hundreds of frost-encrusted tomes. A solid sheet of translucent ice covers embroidered rugs, chairs, and furnishings in the south.'
The spiral stair descend 30 ft to area X42.
There are no surviving ladders to reach the high shelves. All the books are frozen shut. Only by carefully defrosting the books can they be opened. They belonged to the wizard guard and appear to have blank covers and empty pages. They require a command word (found in area X27) to read or a true seeing spell.
Many spellbooks are here, collectively holding every spell in the Player's Handbook. But a book taken from the library disintegrates as the magic preserving it is dispelled. The same goes for the furnishings.
The secret door in the center of the west wall can be pulled open to reveal an empty room (area X29). The one in the center of the south wall can be pulled open to reveal a staircase that descends 30 ft to another secret door leading to area X5.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
East shrine = Shattered statue
East archer post = Guard toilet
West shrine = West statue
Lich's lair = Den of the yetis
Hidden phylactery = Master bathroom

[Guest]

Chap 13: Winter Place, Part 3


X31. Central prison
These cells contain those deemed the worst offenders of the North Wind's. They are in hibernation to preserve energy.
Text: 'You are greeted by a blast of frigid air that bites through your flesh to the very bone. The ice of these walls is darker, denser and glitters blue in your light.'


X31A. West prison
This prison contains an air elemental that attacks if the PCs carry light sources and/or fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check.
Text: 'The cold air whirls up into a vortex between the close, ice-slab walls. You feel your skin pulling away from your flesh.'


X31B. East prison
This prison contains a water elemental that attacks if the PCs carry light sources and/or fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check.
Text: 'Beads like sweat gather along the close, ice-slab walls. The unnatural liquid oozes down, pooling cold as ice at your feet.'


X32. Lower east hall
Text: 'The walls and ceiling of this great hall are covered by a solid slab of translucent ice that glistens blue. To the north, the hall has collapsed, leaving frozen shrapnel.
Many doors of ice lead from this hall. Standing in front of the south door are three, shaggy-haired mammoths. Their eyes are closed and icicles hang from the curves of their massive tusks.'
The ancient guard collapsed the hall to keep the creatures within the prisons at a distance.
The three hibernating mammoths wake if the PCs fail a DC 10 Dex (Stealth) check or disturb them in any way, including moving through their space to get to the door.


X33. Ice vaults
Each of these rooms contains two or more frozen spirits. The doors are sealed with arcane lock spells that require a password to suppress. A PC can push open the doors with a successful DC 25 Str check. The door (AC 15, 30 hp) can also be smashed at the loss of all stealth. If the door is reduced to 0 hp, lightning fills the 30-ft cube directly in front of it. A creature in the area takes 22 (4d10) lightning damage, turning to dust if reduced to 0 hp.


Frozen spirits
These are the servants of the North Wind who were too delicate to maintain their physical form even while nourished by the North Wind's life force. Instead, the North Wind has frozen their spirits in pure, winter ice to prevent them from getting trapped in the mists.
The winter ice blooks are 8 ft tall, 5 ft wide, and 5 ft thick. Inside is a sliver or glowing wisp of a spirit no more than a few inches long. The spirit can't be harmed or controlled, and is immune to al condiitons.
The winter ice block has AC 16, 80 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Destroying one causes the spirit inside to disappear in the mists, leaving no trace but an echoing scream that wakes any nearby hibernating creatures.
A creature that touches a winter ice block forms a telepathic link with the spirit inside. The spirits are sentient, intelligent creatures capable of speech and retaining all of their memories.


X33A. Password: Chilly
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice and a shaft in the center of its 10-ft-high ceiling. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves, pooling three black, amorphous shadows in front of them.'
The shadows are black puddings that attack anyone detected.
The shaft is 10 ft wide, 20 ft long, and can't be climbed without magic. It leads to area X6.
West block--belongs to the spirit of Phil, who died of pox.
South block--belongs to Hailey, who died from the lightning spell on the doors.
East block--belongs to Skylar, who died from hunger.


X33B. Password: Moist
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves.'
The ceiling is 10-ft-high.
North block--belongs to Savory, who died of boredom.
East block--belongs to Tara, who died of a fall from one of the balconies.
South block--belongs to Sham, who died of dehydration.


X33C. Ghastly vault
The door hangs open.
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high. There are seven gelatinous cubes here that fight to the death.
North block--belongs to Dax, who died from a bad climb and worse fall.
East block--belongs to Donny, who died choking on a bone.
South block--belongs to Angela, who died from accidentally sprinting into translucent ice trying to escape.


X33D. Breached vault
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Two ice blocks stand in alcoves. A third that once stood in the north alcove lies shattered on the floor. Clustered in the middle of the room are three, shaggy-furred heaps.'
Three yetis hibernate here. They wake if the PCs carry light sources and fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check. They fight to the death for their territory, possibly destroying more winter ice blocks in the process, but will not leave the room.
West block--belongs to Delmar, who died of hypothermia.
Other west block--belongs to Kiran, who died from falling into a drunken slumber beside a life-saving fire and catching.


X33E. Password: Hoary
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves. In the middle of the room lies a massive heap of shaggy fur.'
An abominable yeti hibernates here. It wakes if the PCs carry light sources and fail a DC 15 Dex (Stealth) check. It fights to the death but won't leave its territory.
North block--belongs to Erwin, who died of an eye infection.
West block--belongs to Tammy, who died of accidental decapitation.
South block--belongs to Wally, who died of damage by falling shrapnel.


X33F. Password: Frosty
Text: 'This room has walls and a floor of glittering blue ice. Three ice blocks stand in alcoves.'
West block--belongs to Norman, who died of drinking an expired potion.
South block--belongs to Vicky, who died of teleporting into a locked, frozen room from which she could not escape.
East block--belongs to Sara, who died getting into a spat with the yetis.


X34. Sara, Vicky, and Norman's bedchamber
Sara, Vicky, and Norman were wizards allied to the North Wind and imprisoned with the Wind. They set up this room to dorm together, but ended up getting into a spat with the yetis over some of the more shiny contents. They ended up dead as a result, though only Sara was killed directly by the yetis.
Text: 'A triple bunk bed of sculpted ice stands in the center of this bare, frozen room. Its mattress has been completely encased in frost. The room's furnishings have been reduced to frost-encrusted heaps. Arcane sigils have been carved into the walls.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high. The sigils were once wards to protect the room's contents from theft, but have been bled of their magic by persistent yetis and can no longer cause harm.
If the PCs break through the ice over the top mattress, they can discover three gold +1 rings of protection.


X35. Prison guardian
Text: 'The furnishings of this bare, frozen room have been reduced to frost-encrusted rubble heaps. Standing in the center of the room, its head scraping the 10-ft-high ceiling, is a vaguely humanoid construct made of metal. Its helmed head starts blindly in your direction.'
This room once belonged to Phil, Hailey, and Skylar, servants of the North Wind who fell sick with pox before imprisonment and were quarantined together. When Phil died, the others tried to open the quarantine chamber but found it locked. Hailey kept trying and was electrocuted to death. Skylar was too traumatized by the successive deaths of her fellow inmates to accept the nourishing life force of the North Wind and rapidly died of cold and starvation.
The construct is an incapacitated shield guardian that used to patrol the prison before the guards lost the control amulet (see area X9). They never recovered it, being decommissioned shortly thereafter.


X36. Lower west hall
Text: 'Glittering, translucent blue ice stands in dense slabs, forming the walls, floor, and ceiling of this enormous hall. The vaulted ceiling is 25-ft high. Set into the walls at a height of 5 ft are ice ledges lined with life-sized statues of yetis in chains, their heads bowed. Many statues have fallen and litter the floor with their jagged, frozen shrapnel.
A door in the north wall stands open. Four other doors to the west and south stand closed.'
The statues are mildly demoralizing and uncomfortable to look at but harmless.
The servants Dax, Donny, Angela, Erwin, Tammy, and Wally once met in this room in secret to plot their escape from the prison. They made it to the upper levels but ran into trouble with the territorial yetis who ended up pursuing and causing their deaths by one indirect means or another.


X37. Burned bedchamber
Text: 'This is a room frozen in time. A dense coat of translucent ice lies over a bedchamber and furnishings that went up in flames.'
Delmar, Kiran, and their companion lost to time were the first of the North Wind's servants to die in prison. They'd taken mass amounts of alcohol with them into the prison and drank themselves into a stupor on the first night. Delmar quickly died of hypothermia. Kiran, oblivious to the condition of his friend, fell asleep with the other. Both died in the fire.


X38. Savory, Tara, and Sham's bedchamber
Text: 'A triple bunk bed of sculpted ice stands in the center of this bare, frozen room. Its mattress has been completely encased in frost. The room's furnishings have been reduced to frost-encrusted heaps.'
The ceiling is 10 ft high. Savory, Tara, and Sham were the other three to have taken mass quantities of alcohol into the prison with them. They saved it up until they finally couldn't stand their imprisonment and broke it all out. Then decided that they wanted to escape. They encountered no threats by others but ended up getting killed by their own drunken antics.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Central catacombs = Central prison
West catacombs = West prison
East catacombs = East prison
Amber vaults = Ice vaults
Vault of Shalx = Password: Chilly
Vault of Maverus = Password: Moist
Vault of Harkotha = Password: Hoary
Vault of Thangob = Password: Frosty
Wizard's bedchamber = Sara, Vicky, and Norman's bedchamber
Sleeping guardian = Prison guardian
Other wizard's bechamber = Burned bedchamber
Haunted room = Savory, Tara, and Sham's bedchamber

[Guest]

Chap 13: Winter Place, Part 3


X39. Guard room
Text: 'The frozen doors that once sealed this great room of dense, glimmering blue ice have been smashed. Their huge, jagged shards litter the floor. A 10-ft-tall statue carved of stone stands against the back wall. Its head turns, grinding stone against stone, to face you.'
The ceiling here is 30 ft high and flat. A 10-ft-square hole in the northwest corner of the ceiling forms if the chest in area X26 is opened.
This stone golem is an active and overzealous guard that broke through its own doors rather than wait for the magic to open them on the job. It attacks at once and will chase the PCs throughout the lower levels of Winter Place but will not follow them up.


X40. Workshop of the North Wind
The doors to the south are sealed with an arcane lock spell. The password to suppress the spell is: "Snowball." PCs cannot open the extra-dense ice door without the magic, and attempts to do so alert the stone golem guard in area X39.
Text: 'A thunderous crack shakes Winter Place, the doors of this cell bursting open. They fly off their hinges, shattering in the hall behind you. The air within is unnaturally cold and still. It draws the heat from your body in a visible mist around you. Through the clouds of your own breath rapidly diminishing heat, you see six sculptures of ice. They appear to see you as well.'
If the Highwayman is with the PCs he will fall to his knees and beg the North Wind as an ancient god to restore life to his sister Patty. The North Wind speaks through the ice sculptures of yetis in exultation. The Wind will agree if the PCs speak up on the Highwayman's behalf in honor of their help in the liberation of themselves and their servants. The North Wind gives the Highwayman a coin of ice to place on Patty containing the Wind's life-giving breath. Once this boon is asked, the North Wind leaves Winter Place forever, blowing up the slopes of the mountain to recover strength.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's in the hands of one of the exultant yeti sculptures.


X41. Fissure
Upon liberation, the North Wind shakes Winter Place to the very core, opening up a fissure between areas X40 and X42 through which to escape. The openings are 3 ft wide, 8 ft high, and 10 ft deep.


X42. The Quartermaster's
Text: 'An ice-slab staircase hugs the north wall as it spirals up a 30-ft-wide shaft. Lying in the middle of the room are six piles of frost-encrusted equipment thrown from the frozen shelves on the walls.
The west, south, and east walls contain alcoves, and standing in each is a pedestal of ice on which sits an immaculate but blank book.'
The spiral staircase climbs 30 ft to area X30.
This room once served as the stock room for the old wizard and warrior guard. They left the equipment here when they departed.
Pile 1
--Three suits of plate armor
--Nine shields


Pile 2
--Five suits of ring mail and six breastplates
--A silvered rapier with a pink glass hilt
--Four greatswords


Pile 3
--75 empty bottles
--A trunk filled with six fine sets of evening clothes, never worn


Pile 4
--Eight warhammers and six war picks


Pile 5
--Six no longer magical crystal balls
--The frozen remains of six barrels of alcohol


Pile 6
--Eleven helms
--A no longer magical obsidian scepter with gold filigree (worth 2500 gp in any town's currency item)


The three books can't be read with a spell of read magic. Each contains not a spell but a ritual to obtain an eldritch power.
West book--contains a ritual to become a vampire. The creature must slay a humanoid that loves or reveres them, then drink all of its blood within 1 hour of its death. The creature must then die by the hands of someone who hates them. When the conditions are met, the creature instantly becomes a vampire with the following idiosyncracy: 'I am surrounded by hidden enemies seeking to destroy me. I can't trust anyone.'
South book--contains a ritual to become a lich, available to any humanoid that can cast 9th-level wizard spells. The creature must craft a phylactery and imbue it with the power to contain a soul, then concoct a potion of transformation to enable the transition from humanoid to lich. A phylactery takes 10 days. A potion takes 3 days but expires after the next 3 days. When the creature drinks the potion, they instantly become a lich. The gain the following idiosyncracy: 'All I care about is acquiring new magic and arcane knowledge.'
East book--contains a ritual to restore the dead to life. The effect is identical to resurrectoin, but it works regardless of how long the creature has been dead. The creature must burn the book to ash and rub the ash over the dead's remains. The ash will form a cocoon and instantly restore the dead to life. But the one who performs the ritual is permanently streaked with the book's ash, preventing the book's reconstruction.
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.


Special Events
Exodus
Once the PCs free the North Wind, all the servants of the North Wind are also freed and escape from Winter Place in a frentic stampede. Dragons fly, yetis sprint, and jellies ooze out as fast as they can. The remaining guardians attack to stop them but will ignore the PCs for in favor of the flashier servants. The servants only attack the PCs if they get in the way of their escape.


The Highwayman's Coin
If the Highwayman (see appendix D and Chap 5, area N9a) finds his way to area X40 and gets the breath of the North Wind with the help of the PCs, he'll ask them to accompany him to the rootbed of the Elder Edelwood to restore Patty to life (see Chap 4, area K84, rootbed 21).
Development
If Patty is restored to life by her brother (see Chap 13), she returns as an archmage with no spells prepared. If the characters have her spellbook, she asks for it back to help destroy the Beast. If the characters oblige, she joins them in the final fight against the Beast, but her harrowing experiences have left her extremely susceptible to the mists and she will become a mist-possessed during the encounter. As a mist-possessed, she will attack the nearest moving creature, friend or foe alike.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Plundered treasury = Guard room
Sealed treasury = Workshop of the North Wind
Amber vault = The quartermaster's
Kasimir's dark gift = The Highwayman's coin

[Guest]

Chap 14: The Seed Garden
The Druids who once worshipped the Caretaker of the Unknown now worship the Beast as the lord of the land master of the weather. They gather upon a hill known to them as the Seed Garden. They are the Beast's chosen guardians for his Tree of (Edelwood) Seeds.


Areas of the Garden
The following locations correspond to the labels on the ORIGINAL CoS map of Yester Hill on pg 199.


Y1. Trail
Text: 'The trail through the thick, autumn-leaved woods leads to a hill covered with dry, golden grass and cairns of black rock. Rolling gray clouds span the sky above. West of the hill, the land, the woods, and the sky fade into a towering wall of fog.'
The trail splits as it climbs the hillside, forming 2 concentric rings (area Y2).


Y2. Berserker cairns
Text: 'Dirt trails run along 2 concentric rins of cairns that encircle the hillside. Each cairn is a 10-ft-high mound of glassy black rocks.'
The burial mounds belong to the race of fey that died out, all save Granny Lee. Their bones lie beneath, nubby horns protruding from the skulls.


Y3. Druid's circle
Text: 'Atop the hill is a wide ring of black boulders and smaller rocks that together form a makeshift wall enclosing a field of dry, golden grass. A 50-ft-tall statue of tightly woven twigs and packed with black earth resembles a towering, cloaked man sprouting antlers from his head.'
The giant statue is a wicker idol of the Beast. Close inspection reveals roots sprouting from the ground around its base. They're part of the Tree of Seeds in area Y4. They wrap around the statue to support it. They prevent it from being toppled and allow the idol to be used in their tree-blight creating ritual (see special events).
The statue has AC 10, 50 hp, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. If it takes fire damage after being splashed with oil, it catches fire, taking 2d6 fire damage each round. If reduced to 0 hp, it collapses.
Hidden graves
Hidden throughout the field inside the boulders are six evil druids (male and female, any race) and six berserkers (CE male and female, any race). They are covered in mud from sleeping in the earthen graves to represent their root-like connection with the Beast and the Unknown.
PCs entering the circle with passive Wis (Percepton) of 16 or higher notice the dozen covered graves throughout the field. The druids and berserkes rise and attack anyone who approaches or damages the statue, or if they are discovered/attacked.
They are waiting to begin a ritual to create an enormous tree blight. Only one druid is needed to complete it, but they are waiting for the appearance of their honored guest, the Beast.
Development
If the druids and berserkers are killed, their numbers are replenished by those returning from the Edelwood forest. At the end of the day, at dusk, 1d4-1 druids and 1d4-1 berserkers arrive until there are 6 each.


Y4. Tree of Seeds
Text: 'At the south end of the hilltop is a copse, a grove of trees and shrubs with a huge, misshapen tree at its core. Black sap oozes like blood from its twisted trunk. Its branches, heavy-laden with dark, bulbous growths sweep the tops of the tall, golden grasses. Skulking under the tree are 6 gangly humanoids covered with needles.'
This is the Beast's Tree of Edelwood Seeds. Every month, a few of the bulbous orbs pop open, dropping the seed within. The druids burn these seeds whose smoke fills the air with the Song of the Beast. The smoke then joins the mist. Those who succumb to the Song and fall into Edelwood Slumber inhale the seed, which takes root inside them and turns them into a living tuber from which to grow, eventually turning them into Edelwood trees.
Lurking among the trees and shrubs are the Tree's guardians: 3 vine blights,
6 needle blights, and 12 twig blights. The needle blights are plainly visible, but the False Appearance of the vine and twig blights allows them to hide in plain sight. They attack any who harms the Tree.
The Tree of Seeds has AC 15, 250 hp, and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and psychic damage. If reduced to 0 hp, it seems to be destroyed but isn't truly dead: it regains 1 hp every month until fully healed so long as the Beast lives. With a successful DC 15 Int (Nature) check, a PC can determine that its lifeforce is tied to the Beast's.
The Tree creates blights from ordinary plants and is the only one of its kind in the Unknown. Chopping down the tree is worth 1500 XP.
If your card reading reveals a treasure, it's buried amid the roots. PCs who dig in the ground automatically find it.


Y5. Wall of fog
Text: 'As you look west into the curtain of fog, you see a blue sky and summer sun. A deciduous forest stretches out for miles before you, lush and green. The fog obscures all detail, but you can hear the clean and song-like flow of a nearby river.'
The spirits in the mist have created this false image, a memory, of the Unknown in summer. It draws creatures to it, but any that enters is subject to its effects (see Chap 2).
If the PCs ask an NPC spellcaster about this part of the wall of fog, they suspect that it is fed by the good memories of the spirits trapped in the mist, twisting the spirits as it devours all pleasant remnants.


Special Events
You can use one or both while the characters explore the Garden of Seeds.
Druid's ritual
You can allow this event to unfold regardless of whether the PCs have visited the Seed Garden. They can still deal with the aftermath (see Treebert in Chap 12).
The Beast travels to the Garden of Seeds, prompting the druids in area Y3 to rise from the graves and begin the ritual. They use their actions to chant and dance about (including the Beast). To complete the ritual, the druids must chant for 10 consecutive rounds, with at least one of them chanting each round. If a round goes by and none can chant on their turn, the ritual is ruined and must be started anew.
If the Tree of Seeds (area Y4) has been reduced to 0 hp, the ritual doesn't work. Druids who realize the tree is destroyed know enough not to attempt the ritual.
Development
If the PCs are present at the completion: 'A 30-ft-tall plant creature bursts out of the statue, sending twigs and earth flying. It resembles a dead-eyed treant and oozes black sap.'
The creature is a tree blight (see appendix D) that the druids call Treebert. They command it to travel north and lay waste to the Mulch Fields (Chap 12).
Once Treebert departs, the Beast takes the druids and berserkers to gaze with him at the image in the west (see area Y5).


Blood Spear of Kevin
The spirit of Kevin, a long-dead druid and chieftan from the time before the Beast, reaches out to a character--preferably a barbarian, druid, or ranger.
Text: 'You hear a wordless whisper carried on the wind. The stone of a cairn topples from the mound.'
When the PC approaches within 30 ft of the cairn, they feel the presence of Kevin's magic spear under the rocks.
The rocks are heavy but can be rolled aside, revealing a blood spear (see appendix C) lying amid the bones of Kevin and his trusted barbarians. Any creature can wield the spear, but only the chosen character gains +2 to attack and damage made with the magic weapon.

IMPORTANT CHANGE NOTES
Gulthias tree = Tree of Seeds
Kavan = Kevin