The Hallway Battle
Your players’ characters are already at half health and nearly depleted of spells. Luckily, this first enemy is not as tough as it appears. The hallway is ten feet wide. This is a straightforward battle. PCs begin ten feet from the mimic. You’ll find the Room Mimic stats at the very end of this document. If there is a real danger of a character dying, Mazlo can emerge from a room to cast cure light wounds.
Humorous Gag: All the rooms are locked, but held only by a wooden latch – easily broken down. If the mimic swings a pseudopod at a character and misses, it will bust open the door to Mazlo and Rosy’s room – catching them surprised in a very intimate condition.
After the Hallway Battle
Lendle Pickles, the nine-year-old brother of Penny who they met downstairs, shows up to witness the end of the fight. Freezing snow is now blasting through the huge hole in the wall where the mimic used to be.
Read aloud
“Come with me! I know a safe place!” The boy guides you back down the stairs, where the dining hall now lies in disarray. The windows have been blasted open by the savage wind, and chairs dance wildly in the turbulent air. The boy reveals a trapdoor in the floor and descends a ladder. Too loud to hear his voice, you see him wave his hands frantically, beckoning you to follow.
You enter a storage room with a bare stone floor. Here, amidst the casks of ale and barrels brimming with pickled fare, a modest bed claims its space. With some shuffling of barrels there is just enough room for you all to lay down for the night. Nestled together in this nook, the warmth of your bodies quickly banishes the chill. The storm’s roar is muffled to a whisper down here, lulling you with its steady, rhythmic white noise.
Lendle, the little boy, does not know his sister Penny is dead and, if told, will cry himself to sleep.
Long Rest
With their characters depleted and some of them having a level of Exhaustion, your players should be eager for a long rest at this point.
Morning - Fortitude Check
Start the day with an Intestinal Fortitude Check (see side bar).
Read aloud
You awake stiff but well-rested. Lendle is no longer down here but above you the trap door is open. You hear voices and the footsteps of the inn’s other guests. The savory aromas of a hot breakfast carry on the air.
Emerging from the trapdoor:
Read aloud
The dining hall is no longer in disarray. A crackling fire is once again burning in the hearth and small puddles all are that’s left to mark the memory of the snow that invaded last night. The inn’s guests are milling about, visiting the breakfast buffet with plates in hand. Steaming, aromatic sausages sit next to a large bowl of white gravy and freshly poured mugs of spiced ale. Buttercup is once again curled up on the floor near the fire, obediently ignoring the discarded plates on nearby tables.
Buttercup - optional combat
Sadly, the dog, Buttercup, was eaten last night. The mimic that looks like a sleeping Buttercup realizes it is outnumbered and is scared to reveal itself. However, if anyone touches it, they will be adhesively stuck to the dog. Then it instantly transforms and attacks.
The Buttercup mimic is a Medium Mimic. Artwork to show your players can be found on the following page.
Ignore this encounter if no one approaches the dog.
Read aloud
There is a passageway off the dining room with stairs leading down. A woman with a wide-brimmed hat calls down the stairs, “Milo, come on up. The food is served.” She waits for a second and says, “That’s strange. You don’t usually have to tell a halfling twice when food is ready.” She then disappears down the stairs herself.
Pause for the players to react. Then after a few beats…
Read aloud
You see a dwarf with tattoos on his bald head walk over to the doorway and call out, “Milo, Jalia, come back up here. We need to eat and then go check on the animals.” Hearing no response, the dwarf stomps down the stairs out of view.
If the players still don’t investigate the leisure room, read the next narration:
Read aloud
Now an old man with long shaggy eyebrows approaches the stairs. “Milo, Jalia, Harbek! Stop playing around down there. Let’s eat and get going!” Then, hearing no response, the old man
descends the stairs out of view. You hear a brief frightened gasp and then silence.
Infobox
table-of-contents
Introduction
Link to original
The Adventure Begins
The Hallway Battle
The Leisure Room
The Stable
The Alley
The Solution
NPCs
Mazlo Merryshadow
Rosy Rumblegarden
Buttercup
Lendle Pickles
Granny Pickles
Monsters
Room Mimic
Baby Mimic Swarm
Tiny Mimic
Small Mimic
Medium Mimic
Intestinal Fortitude Check 1
Everyone must make a check unless they somehow avoided eating, in which case they might deserve a level of Exhaustion from starvation.
Roll a Constitution saving throw versus poison with a DC of 14.Natural 20: The character has no gas at the moment and gets advantage on all future Intestinal Fortitude checks.
Passing the 14 DC: The character needs to fart. The GM might award inspiration for roleplaying this well.
Failing the 14 DC: The character has painful abdominal cramps, resulting in the Poisoned condition. They must make a new check every ten minutes until they pass the check.
Natural 1: They gain the Poisoned condition plus a sudden and urgent case of diarrhea. Every ten minutes the character can make a new Intestinal Fortitude check, experiencing another urgent bout of diarrhea on a failure, or removal of all sickness and the Poisoned condition on a success.
Magical Healing:
Lesser Restoration removes the Poisoned condition until the character makes their next check.
Protection from Poison and Heal will each remove the Poisoned condition and all need for future checks until they eat again.
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