Side Quest: The Clearing

The Set-Up
The characters have made camp, close to a road, when they begin to see strange lights and hear a cry for help.

The Setting
An angry, baleful female ghost haunts the clearing. The presence of the group nearby makes her attempt to lure them to their doom.

The Twist
The clearing is haunted. Years ago, Lady Brianna Hawthorne, the daughter of Baron Kletus Hawthorne had her carriage diverted from the road where she was murdered. Her fiancee, Duke Albrecht Kirk was responsible, after he found out that Brianna had poisoned his original intended, Lady Meleena Napier. The Duke had men loyal to him assigned to the carriage and paid them handsomely for the gruesome deed.

The only way to completely destroy Brianna is to find a strange tree nearby where her remains have stuffed. They must be salted and burnt.

Side Quest: The Cave

The Set-Up
The characters are traveling through a valley on the way to their destination when a raging storm drives them to find shelter in a nearby cave.

The Setting
The cave is dry and clean and about 60 feet in is a large rock to the left. Behind the rock is a cache of valuables (paintings, busts, jewels, etc [worth 230 gold],  a stockpile of weapons [swords, maces, shields, spears, crossbows], and 4 weeks rations of food and water for 4 people.

The cave is 200 feet deep and is about 15 feet wide at the opening and 40 feet wide at the back. Their is a magical glyph on the far back wall, painted in white chalk.

Succeeding on  a  DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, a character recognizes it as conjuration magic, but find it's symbology to be slightly alien.


The storm lasts for 9 hours.

The Twist
After 2 to 3 hours, the portal at the far wall opens and three Thri-Keen step through in a great rush, the portal closes after 12 seconds.

Jubal (Male, reddish brown carapace, left antenna is broken, stands 5'6" tall). He is the first through and he shouts to his two comrades to warn them of the intruders. He has the Magic Initiate feat and speaks Thri-Keen, Draconic, Elven, Undercommon.

Ista (Female, dark blue carapace, she is wearing a metal lens over her right eye, stands 6'2" tall). She is wielding 2 longswords that she uses in place of her claws. Her lens is a magic item that allows her to add twice her Dexterity modifier to Initiative checks. She has advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) and (Persuasion) checks and the Inspiring Leader feat. She speaks Thri-Keen, Common, and Dwarven.

Malia (Female, yellow-green carapace, missing her secondary right hand, she seems distraught and keeps saying "Ega" over and over, stands 6'5" tall). She wields a great axe and has the Savage Attacker feat. She only speaks Thri-Keen.

Ista demands to know if Gog Zuker sent them. She says that the bounty on their heads isn't worth dying over and warns them to retreat from the cave at once. 
   If the characters remain calm and communicate, they learn that the group of Thri-Keen are rebels on their world (an alternate Prime they call Teara) and are fighting against the corrupt rule of the Gogs, hobgoblins who control a series of authoritarian City-States. They acquired a magic chalk that allows them to create portals to this cave and use it to steal weapons and valuables to aid their rebellion. They were in a tough fight before escaping and lost one of their band, a thri-keen named Ega and Malia's mate. They are not willing to share their cache or give up the cave under any circumstances, but will allow the characters to wait out the storm before leaving. 
   If a cleric or a paladin is in the party, and is part of the communications they will learn from Jubal that the gods were killed by the Gogs two millenia ago. Jubal is very curious about their religion and will take notes on what he learns.
   If there is a warlock in the party, and is part of the communications they will learn from Jubal that the Gogs are warlocks who serve a fiendish patron named Thur Zomm.

If a fight occurs, and things are looking badly for the thri-keen, they will retreat with the chalk (it's an action for Jubal to open the portal) and the portal will remain open for 2 rounds.

Side Quest: Kroft, A Fantasy Village

I'm trying something new, a roughly sketched outline for an adventure. Something very much like Knights of the Dinner Table's Hook, Line, and Sinker.


The Set-Up
The characters are moving down the road, surrounded by flourishing farms and nearing a quaint village, when the scent of food (specifically ham or bacon) nearly overwhelms them. 

The Setting
The village of Kroft is comprised of:

The Iron Nail, an Inn owned by the Widow Seera Glenn (31, always wears a scarf that covers her hair). She runs it with her children Curt (15, has a blue and green eye ), Nigel (13, his nose is always running), Robb (11, flaming red hair), Neena (11, dresses like a boy), Tanith (9, bright orange hair), Myron (7, thick spectacles), Moses (5, crazy, unkempt curly hair), Irena (3, stares judgmentally at one of the characters specifically whenever she is in the room with them), and Clem (1, is always smiling) and her brother-in-law, Aron (21, he has a stutter). There is a heavy and strange looking "nail" over the outside of the front door. Only Myron will talk about, saying that fey haunt the entire region and their Mother believes that they cursed their Father (he will not utter his Father's name for any reason, nor will the rest of the family).

Erick's, a feed store that also serves as Kroft's general store. It is run by Kearn Erickson (4th level Champion Fighter, 39, his hair is white and he has a northern accent, he will admit to being a former adventurer  if pressed, who returned home several years ago to retire and take over his father's business; if pressed he brushes over any details about his father). His wife, Madrid (Half-Elf, 22, with eyes the color of almonds and long, golden-blond hair down to her butt), helps run the store part of the time, but focuses on their newborn son, Kotton (6 months, he's deaf, which Madrid accepts, but Kearn refuses to).

The Sterling Note, is owned by Albus Sterling (47, he has a large goiter) and is a well-renowned maker of tonewood instruments he finds in the surrounding forests. He has an apprentice, Yggrette Huren (35, has a prosthetic left hand, has a raunchy sense of humor) and her son, Edgar (15, tall and handsome, but is very protective of his Mother and Albus and can play all of the instruments they make), who has taken over finding the tonewood Albus needs for each project. 
   Albus has a local Baroness, Desdemona von Brom, as a patron and his creations are extremely popular throughout the region. His shop's location in Kroft is the village's primary reason for being on the local trade route.

The Green Place, is a two-story building maintained by Licorice Vernon (3rd level Oath of the Ancients Paladin, 28, dark complexion, large brown eyes, a western accent, she curses in Elven and has no love for Albus Sterling or his patron, but she has a soft spot for Edgar). The first floor is a shrine to Aja, Goddess of the forest, animals, and healers. While the villagers are not necessarily faithful to Aja, they gather here once a week at dawn and dusk due to their fears of the fey in the surrounding forests.
   The second floor is her workspace as a healer, midwife, herbalist, and soothsayer and has a separate entrance in the back of the building.

There are half-a dozen homes (the Von Diehls, Carruthers, Watsons, Brightflames, Whellings, and Jollywalks) in the village proper, as well as four farms (raising crops, cattle, hogs, goats, and chickens) surrounding it for a few miles.

The Twist
Kroft is a literal ghost town. Two summers ago, Howling May (A Green Hag, she refers to everyone as "my child", her eyes burn with orange fire, and her teeth are broken) and her Coven descending onto the village and surrounding farms, murdering it's denizens in a single night and cursing them due to Edgar ignoring Albus' warnings about not selecting tonewoods in certain areas of the forests (he didn't choose to elaborate on a pact he had made with the local fey).

Early indications that things are not quite right will be animals behaving strangel (birds flying into a building, a chicken mooing like a cow), but the longer the characters are in the village things will escalate (exchanges with villagers replaying [deja vu], villagers looking dead out of the corner of a character's eye, cries of pain and hideous laughter in the dead of night. 

If the characters confront any of the above villagers, they will look confused and then begin calling for Licorice. If they characters confront Licorice, she will appear to wake from a stupor and be overwhelmed with grief. She will tell them the whole story and recount Howling May's rampage. Finally, she will ask for their help in freeing the villagers from the curse and move onto what lies next.
   If the characters agree to help her, she will tell them to meet her at an ancient well in the nearby forest at midnight.  When they arrive she will ask them to join her in a ritual, where Licorice will reveal herself as Howling May and have a surprise round to attack them (possibly joined by a satyr and two brown bears). If the group defeats Howling May, they witness the area transform into an abandoned village and unkept farms. Licorice will step out of the well and reveal a secret cache of treasure in the second floor of The Green Place (a ring that grants darkvision, a silver longsword, 35 gold). 
  Finally, an lonely, hermit will approach the characters. He will introduce himself as Erwin Glenn (36, unkept hair and beard with streaks of white, haunted look in his eye) and he was away from Kroft, delivering an instrument to Baroness von Brom for Albus when the Howling May attacked. His red eyes and tear streaked face reveal his deep sorrow, but he thanks the characters for freeing his family from their curse.