To Grandma’s House We Go

The driver is anxious to leave the next morning in order to deliver the players to Gobbleton Manor. He will have the horses ready and will depart without the players if they aren’t on board before noon. The road leaving Noname leads into a dark forest. During the ride, one of the following random events happen. (Roll 1d6 for each player and reroll any repeats. Everyone gets their own event).

1. Sleepytime Visions – The gentle rolling of the carriage coupled with a poor nights sleep have caught up to you and you begin to doze. You feel a tap on your shoulder and turn to find yourself face-to-face with a giant turkey head. It’s glowing red eyes pierce into your soul. It opens its bloody beak wide and screams at you. With a start you jerk awake and find yourself still sitting in the carriage now sans turkey. Make a Wisdom Saving throw DC 10. On a success, you are shaken but not stirred. On a failure, you are frightened for the next hour.

2. Did You See That – You stare out into the forest and watch the trees pass you by. Standing between two trees is a tall, dark figure holding a giant scythe. It raises an arm and throws something red at you. Make a Dexterity Saving throw DC 10. On a success, you duck your head back and when you look again the figure has vanished. On a failure you get smacked in the face with a cherry pie. Take 1d2 bludgeoning damage. The figure is long gone by the time you wipe away the sauce.

3. An Unwelcome Stowaway – It’s a long ride. You’re bored so you begin to dig around in your bag for something to do when your hand brushes against something fuzzy. You pull out this strange thing and find yourself holding a small orange puffball with fangs and a tail. This annoyed kitten explodes in spitting and claws. Make a Charisma check DC 10. On a success, the kitty purrs and becomes a happy little stowaway. On a failure take 1d2 piercing damage and the kitten leaps out of the moving vehicle to disappear into the fallen leaves.

4. Beware the Bump – You hear the driver say, “Watch it” and the carriage hits a particularly sharp dip in the road right beneath where you happen to be sitting. You bounce.  Make a Strength save DC 10. On a success, you manage to grip the carriage and keep from getting tousled around. On a failure, you are knocked unconscious because you hit your head either inside the carriage or by falling off if you are riding on top.  You will sleep for the next 1d4 hours unless someone feels like waking you up and even then you will have a pounding headache.

5. Better Out than In. The carriage rattles along and you begin to smell something truly disgusting, No one else seems to notice it. The smell just keeps getting stronger and stronger making your stomach churn. Thinking back, you recall your breakfast and how it didn’t quite taste right. Suddenly, you can feel it on the back of your throat. It’s coming back to say, “Hello.” Make a Constitution save DC 10. On a success, you manage to swallow it back down. Your stomach protests in agony. You suffer disadvantage on all ability checks for the next 1d4 hours. On a failure, you cry out to stop the carriage just in time to vomit everything up on the side of the road. On the plus side, you no longer feel sick. There’s no lasting effect for failure.

6. Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut – As you stretch your legs inside the cramped carriage you hear a cough to your right. Sitting on the open carriage window is a squirrel. It tilts its head and then speaks to you in an erudite clear voice with a distinct British accent, “Pardon me my good sir. I hate to bother you but my friends and I have a wager and we would appreciate your assistance in solving it.” After a moment’s pause the squirrel continues, “Could you please tell me what is the difference between a walnut and a pecan?” Make an Intelligence check DC 10. On a success, you say “Pecans are sweeter and have more fiber” to which the squirrel twitches its tail in delight and hands you a pecan. Eating the pecan gives you an inspiration point or advantage on your next ability check. On a failure, you say “One is brown” and the squirrel shakes his head sadly before saying, “Well, at least you tried. Here. You’re going to need this.” He hands you a walnut. Eating the walnut grants a permanent +1 bonus to Intelligence.

EVENT 1 – The Driver Vanishes

You’ve been traveling for a few hours when the carriage begins to pick up speed and to swerve on the road. Looking over, the driver is gone. One moment he was there, the next poof. The horses have lost control. Players may crawl out from inside the carriage to the carriage top with an Athletics or Acrobatics check DC 15. Failing by 5 or more causes the player to fall off the carriage and take 2d6 bludgeoning damage. Any player on the carriage top may attempt to calm the animals with either a spell or the Animal Handling skill DC 15. Failure by 5 or more causes the horses to spook and they will crash the carriage into a tree causing everyone in and on it to take 4d6 bludgeoning damage. Success reigns the animals back under control and they will slow down to a halt. There’s no sign of the driver although if the players decide to go back and search the area, they will find several large clawprints with three toes in the ground with a succesfull Perception check DC 15. A Nature check DC 15 will reveal that the prints seem to come from some giant bird.

EVENT 2 – A Fir to a Kill

You continue along the road assuming that it will eventually lead you to help or Gobbleton Manor. After a couple of hours, you hear a woman’s scream ahead. Rushing forth you see a woman in a beautiful white gown. She’s sitting atop a horse and is trapped in a small clearing surrounded by thick bushes. Several fir trees about 6-8 feet in height are stalking towards her and waving their branches menacingly. They are awakened trees. There is one for each player. The woman’s tries frantically to shoo the trees away with her riding crop. One of the trees snatches it from her hands and snaps it in two.

The woman is Sir Reginald’s fiance, the Lady Maribell Angustia. The players may attack the trees or let them carry Lady Maribell away. If the trees are defeated then Sir Reginald will ride up and greet the group. Sir Reginald’s arm is in a sling. The pair were riding together across the estate when something spooked their horses. Sir Reginald was thrown to the ground and injured his arm while Lady Maribell’s horse carried her off. Sir Reginald has been looking everywhere for her. The two are both extremely melodramatic when they hear each other’s misfortunes. However, once they’ve finished gushing over each other, Sir Reginald will turn to the players and offer his thanks. He will then invite them back to his manor house.

Move on to chapter 3.