I am scheduling this post in advance, so if all goes to plan, it will appear while I am actually running the adventure. This is a test, so I don't know how well-balanced it will be. There will be three or four players, and they will be bringing level 5 characters to the table. I don't plan to give them any rest, so the lower-level encounters are intended to add atmosphere and drain resources over time instead of generating major threats every time, but I'll also try to play the monsters as if they know what they are doing.
Our story opens with the party being hired by the city magistrate to investigate complaints from locals that this boarded-up store is haunted. People say they have been hearing voices. Reports of poltergeist activity have been rising. Small quantities of food are being stolen. Some even say things are slapping them from nowhere.
The city guard have better things to do than go ghost hunting. Real crimes are being committed, and/or they'd rather shake down the locals for extra revenue, depending on your opinion of the watch.
The first map will be the General Purpose Workshop & Store by Dyson Logos. I will be removing the windows on the first level walls, because buildings are too close together at street level. There will be a narrow, dark alley in back with a thoroughly locked door by the stairwell, though. No one wants to lease the space, and even the landlord has complained of the heebie-jeebies. The previous tenant left months ago, but payment in advance meant there was no reason to find a new tenant until now.
The landlord suggests the front door. If the players want to explore the back, they find a back door into the workshop instead.
Update: The players went for the front door and used their crowbar to break the boards loose enough to reach the door. Then the rogue picked the lock (DC10, because the landlord is a cheapskate) to get inside.
The Store
Inside the store, everything is coated with layers of dust, but there are hints from the decor that it was once a thriving toy and curiosity shop. Evidence suggests the tenant quickly packed up. Here and there are scattered toys like a carved wooden pony or a rag doll. A DC 15 investigation check on one case reveals an overlooked Charlatan's Die (Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 136) in the corner. In the other, a similar check discovers a box that is actually a Folding Boat [Dungeon Master's Guide, p. 170).
The first player to investigate the sales counter triggers a Talking Doll (XGtE, p. 139) which says, "Trespassers will be cursed! Depart, fools!" It does nothing else, but I expect it to suffer extreme violence.
Update: yep.
A curtained doorway separates the store from the workshop in back.
The Workshop
Similar to the store, this area is also covered in dust. It appears to have been disturbed by one or more small creatures scampering around, though, and there are a few puddles of oil. From this room, a curtained doorway leads to the front store. A barred door leads to the back alley. Stairs lead up to the living space over the shop. There is also what looks like a strong room with a locked door.
The fireplace has a bellows and metalworking tools nearby. It is not a proper smithy, but enough to work small metal parts. Another table once held alchemical supplies and tools. The big table has been moved to hide the trapdoor on the map, requiring a DC 15 perception check or actively moving the furniture to locate it.
Update: much time was wasted here. It was entertaining. That Boggle I mention later got some sneaky punches in and never got found.
The strong room is behind a locked wooden door. Should it be opened, all the party finds is blocks of wood, dowel rods, copper wire, glass marbles, and other minor crafting materials. There are also oddly fresh scraps of food.
Oh, and a Boggle (Volo's Guide to Monsters, p. 128) has taken up residence here. It speaks Common, and is using the Talking Doll in the store as part of its pranks. It will also use its Oil Puddle ability to make one of the stairs slippery, and the puddles on the workshop floor sticky. As soon as it hears the adventurers, it uses its dimensional rift to pop upstairs, and the first time a player approaches any window, door, or cabinet, I will roll a d6. On a 6, the Boggle will make a single Pummel attack through a dimensional rift there. I'm curious to see whether the players will try to find a way to catch it in the act.
Update: I decided an overturned crate had been turned into a nest by the Boggle. The players were perplexed by a room barred from inside with evidence something had made it into a bedroom.
Source: DnD Beyond
Upstairs
I haven't decided yet which room will house each of these hazards, but as the party explores, I want them to encounter the following.
- a Rug of Smothering (Monster Manual, p.20)
- a Mimic (MM, p. 200) disguised as a cot
- a Shadow (MM, p. 269)
- a Specter (MM, p. 279)
Huh. A table I can roll on. How about for each room I roll a d6 with 5 and 6 meaning no encounter, and re-roll any duplicates?
Update: I basically did that. The mimic snared the greedy rogue, and the rug almost got the rogue and did wrap up the ranger.
Investigation of the living space reveals one of the rooms was occupied by children based on the clothing remaining in the full closets. The other room also shows typical garb for moderately well-to-do merchants still in the chest of drawers. The study also contains a Mirror of Life Trapping (DMG, p.181) covered by a tattered sheet. This could possibly trap all players and end the session if they get curious and fail all their saves. No one else is in the mirror dimension cells.
Update: Almost got the rogue again here.
The Cellar
The area at the base of the stairs is guarded by a Spectator (MM, p. 30) who has been telepathically tormenting people living or working near the abandoned shop just to satisfy its own amusement. It guards the smaller room from all interlopers, which means it will definitely fight the party as soon as they descend the stairs.
Update: It tried to telepathically and then verbally warn away the adventurers. He's officially lawful neutral, right? He just wants to do his job, he's not out to kill people. Why wouldn't they just go away? No, he doesn't know anything. His job is to guard these stairs and prevent anyone else from passing further into the cellar. He doesn't know why, he just has to do the job he's bound to.
At the end of the long hall, the party will find ritual markings in the stone. This is a teleportation circle.
Inside the small room, they find an adult humanoid corpse shackled to the far wall, and the skeletons of two children on the floor just past the doorway. As the party enters, it looks at them, and a hollow voice croaks from its throat.
"If you be virtuous souls, unshackle me and aid my just vengeance!"
This apparent zombie is actually a Revenant (MM, p. 259), once half of the married couple who ran the shop upstairs. They were dabblers in the arcane arts, and crafted some of the mystical items they sold using spell scrolls. Her husband fell under the thrall of a dark magic tome, and began attempting to gain control over otherworldly beings. The thirst for power, or perhaps something he touched beyond this world, drove him mad. He shackled his wife to the cellar wall and killed their children first before killing her in a failed attempt to gain more power still from a ritual in the book. This is why some of the monsters and constructs now inhabit the shop.
I was told this was messed up. It got their attention, though!
In happier times, they had carefully created a permanent teleportation circle linking this shop basement to a secluded cabin in the far mountains where more dangerous magical and alchemical experiments could be conducted without endangering the populace. She can sense he is there now, and implores the party help her gain final justice.
Source: DND Beyond
Through the Circle
If the party slays the Revenant, she swears vengeance on them. Now they have an undead foe and some kind of evil wizard to deal with if they want to continue the game. If they help her, it's time for me to come up with a final showdown in the forest.
As I write, details are fuzzy in my mind, but it will be a Conjurer (VGtM, p. 212) with minions. I am leaning toward Cult Fanatics (MM, p. 345), but if the players are in good shape, I think they need to encounter a Succubus (MM, p. 284) "prisoner" asking for rescue from these cultists first, and/or maybe a Gibbering Mouther (MM, p. 157) representing other failed dark magic experiments, as they trek from the destination teleportation circle toward the cabin where the final showdown will occur. A Meenlock (VGtM, p. 170) might be fun, too.
Update: I went with a teleportation circle followed by a 1/2 mile walk to a secluded cabin where the evil conjurer was creating an effigy and altar. He was away, but a succubus played the role of a victim in the cabin and almost killed the rogue.
I don't know how far this will get in one evening, and perhaps this will become a two-part adventure. Heck, if they waste too much time before getting to the cellar, maybe the Conjurer is still at work in the cellar trying to summon monsters from other planes, and the party interrupts a ritual. This is still an experiment, so maybe there will be a follow-up post later telling how it went?
Update: The trip and their revenant associate decided to rig an ambush for the conjurer. The rogue (now down to a level 1 wizard equivalent hit point cap thanks to the succubus) and the ranger set up an arrow attack, and the paladin waited inside the cabin with the revenant. Their plan worked. Nothing was noticed thanks to the ranger's stealth boost to everyone. The conjurer was dead almost instantly. As he approached the door, he took two arrows, followed by the revenant opening the door to say, "Miss me, honey?" and punching him right in the kisser, and then the paladin finished with a massive sword blow.
