The Estlie Escapade is a one-shot ran by Shannon for Keiran's birthday.
The town of Estlie has often been overlooked. Home to farmers and shepherds, it boasts of it’s tidy farms and artisan products However, according to recent reports, the fields are overgrown, the sheep unsheared, and the people, while friendly, have a glazed look in their eyes. Something is amiss is Estlie, will you be able to solve the mystery and help the townspeople?
Party
One-Shot Synopsis
The Party is in a bar called the Pie-resian Barchives, enjoying a drink and a slice of pie after a day of work. At a large wooden table sit Granny, Rockit, Grimothy, Vinny, Dinaroo, and Grifton. They are delivered a letter with a plea for help:
Dear Friends,
I write to you in my time of need. I believe that something is grievously wrong.
I am a farmer near the town of Estlie. Myself and my wife Lena raise animals and live off of the land. We often trade out wares with the good people of Estlie but less and less folks have been showing up to the Fall Harvest market. Those who do seem off and repeat the same phrases over and over.
We have mobilized the surrounding community and can pay you a small sum if you are able to find out what is wrong, and fix it.
Come Quickly
Track Leyis
The party decides to take the quest and they travel to Estlie along a long and dusty road. They notice, just as they heard in the letter. The fields are overgrown and the animals are neglected. As they approach the center of town, none of the townsfolk look their way and their movements are clunky and mechanical.
In an effort to get the attention of a little old woman in a nightdress, Grimoty and Rockit did an acrobatic performance with a series of flips and tricks, ending with Rockit standing on Grimothy’s shoulders. Rockit then stands on the old woman’s shoulders to wave a hand in front of her face, but unfortunately, the little old woman was unstable and was knocked in conscious when she had a child stand on her. (Rockit got temp HP about it). Granny was able to stabilize the old woman and left a pamphlet for her Little Old Ladies Union.
Vinny talks to a town guard who has his armor on backwards, but doesn’t receive any additional information other than that “You can direct all other questions to the Li Family”. The bell tower begins to ring at the top of the hour and all the townsfolk start to do an odd sort of dance involving swinging their hips, pointing, and strange hand movements.
The party goes to the mansion and after figuring out the door (it was a pull door they were trying to push), they step into a dusty unkempt house. There’s a long dark red carpet lining the floors with stone walls that are filled with landscape paintings and old humans, obviously family portraits of the Li family. They walk through the house until they reach a door with a handwritten note. The door is intricately carved depicting a scene from a ball with dancers waltzing as the band plays.
“Enter stranger but take note of what you love and all your hopes. A prize for some, despair for others will meet you at this place.”
A nat 20 on a check reveals the door to be an entrance to a pocket dimension.
The party appears at the bottom of a very large well with some ropes they can use to climb up to another landing. The stronger members of the party make it up easily, but Granny takes a tumble before getting caught by Dinaroo. The party remembers that they can pull the ropes from the top and the party quickly moves on to see a large bobsled type contraption for 6 people. The party gets in with Grimothy and Vinny in the front as the smallest, and Granny, Rockit, Grifton, and Dinaroo taking the back.
The bobsled takes off down the track and as the first fork in the pipes approach, Vinny and Grimothy make perception checks to see which way to go and tell the party to go to the left. The party decides to fail intentionally and the bobsled moves to the right and then plummets out of these pipe like tunnels. Grimothy is able to activate his cloak to negate fall damage but the rest of the party crashes into a pit of styrofoam packing peanuts.
The party works their way out of the pit before seeing a large clearing about 60 feet in radius with a large expanse of forest, a lake, and another door awaiting about 150 feet away. As the party sees another sign that says “Run” and begins to hear just so many howling wolves. About 200 of them. Their gleaming eyes blink out of the darkness of the forest and the party takes off around the lake to get to the door.
Vinny waits back to assist Grimothy (who has forgotten that he has a bonus action dash), and the wolves get closer and closer. Granny and Grifton walk through the door to safety and Dinaroo, Rockit, and Grimothy wait for Vinny who has fallen behind. Dinaroo, Rockit and Grimothy watch as Vinny trips and is subsumed by the wolves who race towards the door. As they reach Dinaroo, Rockit, and Grimothy, the wolves leap with their teeth bared…
And disappear because they’re just illusions. Vinny makes a thumbs up to the rest and the group enters the door behind Granny and Grifton.
They find themselves in a small stone room and as they walk into the room a set of three animatronics mariachi bands begins playing “Happy Birthday”. There’s a long table with decorations and a banner that says “Happy Birthday Rikash” which is hung haphazardly on the wall. Rockit finds a 5 gallon bucket of Orange Juice. Grimothy tries the cake (white cake with grape jelly filling). The party takes a short rest before moving on.
Next, there is a room with three riddles:
A sensitive cleanse that mends, or a result of laughing too hard with friends. A vulnerable state, neither bad nor great, but just exists around emotional bends. What am I? Answer: Cry
Sometimes a wave, sometimes a bow, if it is the end, I’ll be sad now. What am I? Answer: Goodbye
I’m sometimes white, but always wrong. I can break a heart and hurt the strong. I can build love and tear it down. I can make a smile, but more often I bring a frown. What am I? Answer: Lie
The door unlocks to reveal another door with darkness behind it. Some party members decide to trust fall, swan dive, or otherwise hurl themselves through the door. Others just go through normally to see a large stone room with a spectral figure floating in the center of the room. The Ghost of Rick Astley hits the start button and speakers around the room blast “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.
The Ghost moves to attack and over the course of the fight, Rockit becomes possessed and gets put to sleep and Vinny is able to wake them up. Granny, Grifton, and Dinaroo go and destroy the speakers and Rockit is able to punch The Ghost of Rick Astley to death. Exploring the room found old journals that revealed that Rick Astley (also known as Rikash Li) was once an aspiring singer who got scammed into giving a man all his money and being told this man could make him a Famous Singer. But, that never happened and Rick died heartbroken. He has charmed the town to find a body to inhabit to now become a famous singer in this day and age. He decided that none of the townsfolk were good enough and would force them to dance and follow him like his biggest fans.
The party find a final door that leads back to the mansion and are joined by the townspeople who are no longer charmed. They find the following items: seven vials of dye, some nice leather bound journals, a live goose who carries around a knife in it’s bill, a book called “the snazzy book of jazzy puns”, three glasses of fermented milk, the world’s largest bag of polyhedral dice, a pair of black cat figurines, a stuffed animal in the shape of a wolf, and a side mirror for a carriage.
Rockit attempts to trade the goose a shortsword for the dagger and gets cut in the process. The village people invite the party to a raucous party in the city center and in the night, the rowdy townspeople write a petition to commemorate the party for rescuing them that day. As the party rides off into the sunset, the townspeople wave cheering and clapping.
The End
Important Non-Player Characters
Rikash Li, of the Li Family. Also known as Rick Astley.
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