After finding a Golden Ticket on her pillow, Joy must decide what to do next and whether or not to stay down on her parents' mostly abandoned Farmstead, run off into the Tulgey Woods, or hit the road either to Wermspittle or off into the wider world beyond.
Whatever she decides, whichever way she goes, here are some encounters she might run into (or that might cross her path) as she's just starting out...
Whatever she decides, whichever way she goes, here are some encounters she might run into (or that might cross her path) as she's just starting out...
Wandering Monsters (1d30)
- Ragamuffins (2d6) have destroyed three scarecrows in the nearby fields and now they're heading this way. They horrid little things are starving and will pursue anything that they think has bones they can chew.
- Fighting Trees (1d4) Guard the rusty gate to an ancient orchard that was walled-off centuries ago. They do not remember why it was done, only that it is so and it is their duty to guard it from trespassers.
- Dodoes (1d4) waddle along the nearest road or trail in search of suitable accomodations for the night. They each carry 4d40 silver coins in their bulging purses. They absolutely refuse to stay anywhere penguins might be kept. Each of them wields a sword disguised as a walking stick and they each wear a differently tinted monocle.
- Bandit Marmosets (2d4) in chain-mail and wielding crossbows. They are interested in finding some camels to ride into battle, but have not had any luck locating any. Their leader Huudrin was lost beneath the Purple Glow of an especially large patch of Red Weeds in Wermspittle.
- Meat-Moths (1d4) dangle from a willow tree in glistening cocoons. They'll be ready to tear themselves loose in another 1d4 days, if the weather stays warm.
- Green Monkey (1). It really is a Prince trapped in this shape by a wicked spell. He speaks fluent Aklo, but nothing else. His manners are impeccable.
- Alraune (1). She is headed back to Wermspittle after carrying out a secret mission on behalf of her mistress.
- Refugees (2d6) or possibly an Arriviste. (Refugee Table nearly ready)
- Monikins (2d4). They have left the service of their former masters and they are not going back.
- Feral Children (3d4) prowl the area looking for things to eat, torment and kill. The leader carries an undead rotting boar-head impaled upon a glaive that speaks to them in blasphemous whispers urging them on to wicked things.
- Bush Tribe Hunters (2d4). Fierce illiterates, they have been quietly stalking the book-buying Borogove with the intent to burn any books she might discover.
- Moss-Folk (1d4). They are very shy and try to avoid most big people. Their pet mole was injured by some Feral children who pelted it with stones for no good reason.
- Glimmerpedes (1d6+2) are moving along through the leaf-litter in search of anything they can eat. They are driven to gorge themselves now, in preparation for hibernating through the winter, making them incredibly dangerous right now.
- Screechers (2d6). Bestial Winged Monkeys hunting for grubs, slugs or other easy-meat.
- Vinksers (2d4). The survivors of a hunting party that was ambushed by a Jabberwock.
- Borogove (1). Wounded and disheveled after having been plundered by a band of roving mercenaries, she is in search of rustic books and scrolls of the sort best found among the Farmsteads...but she no longer has the means to pay for such things, unless one is willing to accept a promissory note or perhaps accompany her back to Wermspittle.
- Stixin (14). Owl-folk hunting after a wounded Bandersnatch.
- Kalidah (1d4+1). A mother and her cub(s) looking for a suitable new place to set-up a fresh den after having escaped a band of Feral Children who smoked her and her mate out of their den. Her mate was killed. She hates bipedal children.
- Spirks (1d6). Lost and looking for a way back to the garden from which they escaped on a dare by their play-mates.
- Wanderers (3d4). Mama Rudta's Band on their way back to the mountains.
- Eloi Sharecroppers. (2d4) One of them might be a Pretty Young Thing.
- Peddlar (1) on his or her way to or from Wermspittle.
- Murkim Fungi-Gatherers (2d4) collecting seasonal mushrooms and other edible things they intend to take back to sell in the Low Markets. They wield quill-darts lobbed from light prod-bows. They have no intention of spending the night out in the open, but have not yet located a suitable camp-site.
- Nomads (1d4+1) mounted on goats; they 'acquired' six barrels of brandy and a few hundred pounds of salt, spices and herbs. They intend to sell it in Wermspittle, but something has been following them ever since the ambush and they are growing less certain of their chances of reaching the city, let alone realizing any profit from their ill-gotten loot.
- Weirdlight (1) flickers across the lower places in-between the trees and hedges. These things draw off the essence of those they lead into traps like quicksand or pits.
- Voormis (3d4). Out hunting dogs.
- Takers. Run!
- Moonshadow (1). Can only survive in the dark-spaces during day-light hours, it moans and calls plaintively into the evening breeze as it searches for a willing host.
- Red Weeds have taken-root in the area, raising a formidable hedge-maze made-up of randomly grown sections interspersed with dead trees and toppled ruins, including a fallen shack that used to house someone's still.
- Giant Owl (1). Her mate was killed by a pair of grave-diggers. She took care of them both.
Unusual Things (1d20)
- There's a large, but mostly stagnant Scabrous Froth trapped in the pit beneath one of the old out-houses.
- Mousefolk (3d6) are out flying kites hung with small chimes and bits of tinsel in an effort to figure out a suitable defense against hawks and owls that have been preying upon them ever since they came to these woods. Their singer was injured recently, and they are growing desperate.
- That Heap is moving.
- A Quack in their wagon is stuck in the mud. They were making their usual rounds of the local farmsteads when they ran afoul of the recent wet weather.
- A large, very pregnant Unseen Beast sow is noisily rooting around in the nearby marsh.
- That's not a stump...
- Blue Zoogs (3d4) have taken-up residence within a very large, old oak tree. They've staked-out a dead cat as a warning to all trespassers.
- Interesting Weather we're having...
- A semi-pickled Gloomswallow trapped in a jar of high-grade hootch. It's a small specimen, left-over from some old farmer's youthfully indiscreet days as a traveling side-show barker.
- Greediguts (1d4+1) are prowling the woods in search of the Zoogs who killed their mentor, a plump tabby cat with one purple eye. (see 7. above)
- There is a clump of Dreaming Nettle-Jellies in the marsh.
- A patch of not-quite-mature Stranglemass has taken root nearby.
- Something has disturbed the Plow-Grubs that ought to be sleeping packed in sand in their boxes in the rafters.
- There's a Frume out by one of the sheds. You can smell its stench, even in day-light, so you know it is close.
- You were always told to avoid Zeb's Shack on account of his damn fool use of Yellow Wallpaper in the upstairs bedroom. Everyone thought they had burned all the Yellow Creepers in that place, but it turns out that there might be one still left in there.
- Watch your step: there's some Vicious Slime over there. Good thing you spotted it. This time.
- There's some kind of Swarm down in the holler, near the little creek. It wasn't there last week. Maybe it has not had time to build a full nest yet.
- You were always told to watch out for Tunnel-Rats along the South Ridge. Well, now they're keeping an eye on you.
- Why would a Rothaube steal your kitchen herbs? Maybe one of them is ill?
- Grozt (2d4) Hunchback spell-casters are making a survey of the area with the intention of locating one of the last remaining hidden graves of the vampire Karlessi or any other such revenant they might discover. They are licensed and sanctioned by a notary back in Wermspittle, so it is all proper and legal.
Special Encounters (1d10)
- Alzik the Dead Dreamer lies restlessly in a half-exposed bronze-and-lead casket that was supposed to have been buried near a crossroads before the Equinox. The Barrow-Men hired to perform this duty took his money and left the job only partly done. To be fair, they were driven-off by a pair of giant owls that they disturbed with their constant bickering.
- Moundfolk (1d4) have just discovered a cache of Gunpowder Grubs in the old root-cellar under an abandoned farm house.
- A vivid teal-blue Irrlicht trapped in a bone-and-horn lanthorn. The Luxer who trapped it fell down a poorly covered well-shaft with their neck broken. The luminous nasty-thing whispers venomously to you, demanding to be released. It is furious at having been captured by so clumsy an oaf.
- A huge, old Tripod stops to examine one of the local Roadside Attractions then moves on. It is heavily damaged and leaking copious amounts of green smoke.
- (3d6) Cans of White Wash covered-over by a rotting tarpaulin. One is leaking.
- A Weak Point that opens into a dead realm of flat gray dust and crumbling ruins where only a few leathery flat-leeches lie in wait for prey that never comes. A pair of enterprising Ractur have been digging-out dry bones to sell in the city. They are greedy, but increasingly nervous, especially since they started telling one another ghost stories around their little camp-fire last night. A terrible idea.
- Beware the Babes in the Woods.
- Curdle-Milk (1d4) are seeping into the hay stored in the barn.
- Paldrim the Precise, an Octoscholar with extensive experience in the greater metropolises of various and sundry Slumberlands, Dreamlands and similar such Oneiric Realms has been beaten, stripped, robbed of all his possessions and left dangling from a dead tree by a trio of grotesque black-and-green-striped spiders who've decided to become highwaymen. He is exceptionally erudite and well-versed in twenty-seven languages and a wide range of spells, charms and formulae that he will gladly trade for some assistance in his current difficulties.
- Koponu (1d4) are looking for a place to settle after having fled captivity. They are being pursued by a one-eyed Lurm who intends to regain his 'property' and sell the Koponu as living light-sources in Wermspittle.
Joy in Wermspittle
