The Stable
Regardless of how the PCs exit the inn, they will find themselves at the stable next and immediately get sucked into the drama unfolding there.
Read aloud
You are lured by the sound of wailing cries and distressed voices. A crowd has gathered outside the stable, a sturdy wooden structure set against the cliff wall. Amidst the group, a large male half-orc merchant, his voice surprisingly soft, attempts to comfort young Lendle, who is bawling his eyes out. Nearby, other travelers try to console one another, sharing in their collective misfortunes. The air is thick with a chorus of complaints and flatulence.
“This is a disaster!” one of them wails.
“My goods are ruined!” calls out another.
“My parents are gone!” cries the boy.
Time for another Intestinal Fortitude check!
Before the players can react, make them roll their next Intestinal Fortitude check. There is an outhouse here. It is a real outhouse but you should play it up as if it is possibly not. For example, “It looks like an ordinary outhouse. Do you just walk right up to it? How do you open the door?”
Improv Time
Here’s the situation: Chaos reigns within the stable. After a brief, harrowing glance inside, the people were so terrified by the scene that they swiftly shut the doors. What they saw was chilling: a dead horse, an overturned cart, and numerous missing items.
Unaware of the mimics, the merchants have concocted a ghostly theory: they believe the spirits of all the dead rats are haunting the stable, seeking vengeance. This idea of spectral rat vengeance has captivated their imaginations so thoroughly that they refuse to consider any other explanation.
Compelled by fear and curiosity, they are desperate for someone brave enough to venture into the stable and banish these supposed ghosts, allowing them to fully assess their losses.
The boy’s parents had spent the night in the stable. Now they are nowhere to be found.
The Stable Visual Mini-Game
Show your players the “before” image of the Stable (pictured on the following page). Give them 1 minute to write down three things in the scene they suspect might be mimics. When the minute is up, show them the “after” image of the Stable and find out how many correct guesses each player got.
```col-md
**Before**
![[plots/mimic-mayhem/images/stable-before.png]]
```
```col-md
**After**
![[plots/mimic-mayhem/images/stable-after.png]]
```when stabled. The post in the back was supporting nothing.
Results:
0 correct: Peed a little. You have the Frightened condition. You cannot move towards any mimic. Each time a mimic is killed, you can attempt a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw to remove the Frightened condition.
1 correct: Jump scare! You have disadvantage on your initiative check.
2 correct: Cool-headed. You get advantage on your initiative check and advantage on your first attack roll of the encounter.
3 correct: Genius! Gain a point of inspiration and take a single action prior to the start of this combat.
Stable Combat
This fight involves 4 enemies:
- Haystack Mimic (Large Mimic)
- Donkey Cart Mimic (Large Mimic)
- Stable Post Mimic (Medium Mimic)
- Baby Mimic Swarms
Baby Mimic Swarms
Feeding inside the dead horse are swarms of teeny-tiny baby mimics. They are hidden. At the end of the first round, the swarms emerge. They go last in the initiative. Use one swarm for each PC. On their turn, each swarm will move into a space occupied by a PC, starting with the closest one.
Behaviors
Until they are engaged in melee, the mimics will use their Spit attacks, hoping to lure the PCs further into the stable.
After the Stable Fight
The other travelers have watched the fight from the doorway and will now accept that mimics exist.
There is a small crevice at the back of the stable leading into the cliff. It is just big enough for a rat to squeeze through. If they investigate it deeply they will find a vast network of fissures in the mountain filled with hundreds of rats. This indicates that the rats have not been eliminated, but are likely just hiding from the mimics. If the mimics can be exterminated, the rats will return.
Evidence can be found of Lendle’s parents who have been eaten by the mimics. This leaves Lendle orphaned, except for his Granny, the inn’s cook.
The goods being transported by the other caravan, most of which are ruined, include spilled spices, tangled prayer beads, and shattered snow globes. The merchants converge on their spoiled goods and curse the mimics for ruining them financially.
Upon exiting the stable, a new scene unfolds…
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
NPCs present
- Dax Ironhide, male, half-elf, scale mail that shimmer like polished silver.
- Selene Nightwalker, female, human, old and thin with white hair to her knees.
- Zebron Toppilshop, male, gnome, wears golden jewelry and has gold teeth.
- Mungus Broadback, male, human, towering figure with a surprisingly gentle voice.
- Iridessa Lightwing, female, high elf, ethereal beauty and soft voice.
- Fargrim Frostbeard, male, dwarf, white beard knotted into little spikes.
- Lendle Pickles, 8-year-old boy, who can’t find his parents.
Intestinal Fortitude Check 2
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 can now happily eat the inn’s food without worries of getting ill.
Passing the 14 DC: The character needs to fart. The GM might award inspiration for roleplaying this well.
Failing the 14 DC: The character needs to use the restroom immediately. They have the poisoned condition until they relieve their bowels.
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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alignment: [Left, Right]Previous: The Leisure Room
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Next: The Alley
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