The Thing

The Thing

Setting

Weather - Rain, Thunderstorms, lightning, Windy. Location: the misty Valley 3 days east of The Red Scale Keep. Owner: Olthazhars thrall- Yathani the Oni.

Plot

Each night the player sleep at the inn, they roll a perception check, if they roll a 15 or higher they hear a woman scream. Nobody else wakes up The Dead Tower Weather - Rain, Thunderstorms, lightning, Windy. Location: the misty Valley 3 days east of The Red Scale Keep. Owner: Olthazhars thrall- Yathani the Oni.

The Riverside Inn

The inn has 2 floors, the first is mainly a 2 table dining room and the upper floor is where the patrons sleep in an open bay room. There is a locked door that connects the inn to the Fortified tower. DC 25, or they can find a key behind the bar. There are 4 or 5 other random human patrons there. And a random traveling merchant. The other 4 or 5 random patrons can be heard mumbling about leaving before its too late. And if questioned on this they reveal they have an orb of weather revealing, and it has revealed a mighty ice storm is approaching and they wish to leave to get ahead of it, the bar keeper argues they'll never make it in time to reach the safety of the sandy deserts to the east. They ignore him and leave anyway.

The barkeeper

The bar keeper's name is loinel Johnson. He is a tall human with dark hair who is kind and has minimal wares to offer those who wish to purchase supplies, (35% chance he has what a player wants). If the barkeeper is killed its while he went outside to relieve himself and was ambushed by the unknown assailant.

The Sheriff

The local sheriff lives in the tower with his 4 deputies. The sherrifs name is Barton Batter and They are all human and have the basic town guard state but instead they have a flat 40 health. They each take watch each night and ensure the inn stays protected and the innkeepers make sure the sheriff and his men are paid. The sheriff has a drug abuse habit and he sneaks out at night to go out by the treeline and does moondust. If he is killed it will be out by the treeline while huffing his moondust

The traveling merchant

The traveling merchants name is Tom seelow, he sell whatever random merhcant is rolled for. The merchant is really a murderer on the run, he accidently killed a man in a barfight in Queensreach, and now he travels to avoid the law. If his things are searched an old blood rusty knife can be found. The knife is bloody because he hunts to feed himself. If the merchant is killed, he will be killed while checking on his horse under the small wooden roof, his horse is also gone. Upon following the tracks of the horse they will notice on a perception check that the horse’s footprint slowly change and morph and turn into something awful. At that point make it clear if they continue any futher they may get lost in the Icey darkness, if they continue they must make a survival check at disadvantage to keep tracking the tracks, and there tracks are gone. To return it is a survival check at disadvantage as its dark and a white out.

The Grouch

The grouch is a local worker whose wife has gone missing recently and is currently on the road seeking any information as to where she went. He is naturally hostile towards to party, but will not openly attack or confront them. If the grouch is killed he is dragged out of the window behind the bar and off into the icy darkness.

The Wizard

The wizards name is Alioth Blackwood. He is an old human divination wizard who is goofy and aloof, if he overhears the player speaking of the storm he tells them he has read the stars, and that the storm will last for many many days. And something evil is coming with the storm. The wizard cannot be the shapeshifter. The wizard arrived on the 2nd day. The wizard will survive until the last day and assist the players in defeating the shambling shapeshifter.

The Old Mans Tower

The Old man's tower is a 3 story fortified tower with 2 peasants living within the musty walls of the tower.

The plot

The first night the players stay in the Inn a great blizzard hits. Temperatures plummet and the river freezes over and when they awake there is 1d4 feet of snow on the ground. Each night they sleep there they make a DC 15 perception check, if they succeed they will hear someone scream, if they dont they awake and must make a DC 10 check once downstairs to discover somebody is missing. If they players try to leave they will soon learn that they will certainly freeze to death outside the walls of the Inn and tower. Each day they will have to make runs outside to get enough firewood to survive the night. On a DC 10 they get enough firewood to survive the night, on a DC 15 the get enough to last 2 nights. Bones picked clean of all organic material can be found on an investigation check, or survival check of 20 or better. They will have evidence of no bite marks, or scratches, or scrapes.

Each night someone will go missing, with each missing NPC the Great shapeshifter will grow stronger. There are 11 people in total at the Inn when the players arrive. In order to determine who the shape shifter is roll a D4 on the list of special NPC’s earlier in the document. On the first night, there is a man in the jail cell of the bottom floor of the tower, the entrance to the tower is on the 2nd floor, the shapeshifter will slither in through the window and consume the criminal. And slither back out through the window. This will hopefully point the players eye at the guard who was guarding the door. After this, The order of in Which npcs go missing is as such: Day 2, a guard is killed while guarding the entrance to the tower. Day 3, Roll a d4 for the remaining special npc’s Day 4, a guard Day 5, the other peasant Day 6 roll a d4 for the remaining special npc’s Day 7, a guard Day 8, the last guard Day 9 roll a d4 for the remaining special npc’s After the 8th day of suffering if the players haven't discovered who the shapeshifter is they will be awakened by the sound and vibration of something large slamming against the door of the Inn. If they have discovered who the shapeshifter is, but have not acted on it, then it will do the same.

The thing

The thing will start with 70HP and with each npc consumed will gain an additional 10 HP. the thing gains the recent memories of those they've consumed. The Shap

From the outside it looks dire, unenjoyable and disturbing. Softwood and softwooden tree trunks make up most of the building's outer structure. It's near impossible to see through the darkened windows, but the apathy from within can be felt outside.
As you enter the tavern through the thick, metal door, you're welcomed by silence and aromas of what's probably food, hopefully. The bartender is staring at nothing and makes no effort to acknowledge your pressence.
It's as dreary inside as it is on the outside. Several walls support the upper floor and the light fixtures attached to them. The walls are covered in cobwebs and any decoration that does hang there is now unrecognizable.
The tavern itself is almost completely abanonded. The few people inside are silent and they keep to themselves, but whoever they are, you hope they'll leave you alone, just like you're leaving them alone.
You did hear rumors about this tavern, supposedly it's infamous for something, but for the life of you you can't remember what for. Though juding by everything you've seen so far, you don't really care and you probably don't want to know.