Welcome to the Dungeon

so, this links to my Villain Idea post, and is basically a description of the Hag’s lair and who inhabits it. 

The Hut 

The hut of Grannie Minda is a pilework built in the centre of a swampy lake. It’s composed of four ambients: the hallway, and three circular chambers, each devoted to a different purpouse. The largest one is the workshop: in it you’ll find the cauldron bubbling on the hearth, a workbench, and various shelves filled with vases, dried herbs and strange paraphernalia. The middle one is the bedroom of the hag, containing only her bed, a large framed mirror and a small circular table. The last room is the warehouse, where the players will find every kind of magical components, live or dead animals, another framed mirror, and an overly large cauldron, decorated with skulls and bones. 

Regional Effects 

In the area of the lake the players will notice: 

A great deal of toads and snakes

Voodoo-like dolls hanging on trees 

Illusory duplicates of the hag, cackling and disappearing as soon as someone glimpse them. 

Grannie Minda 

Grannie Minda is a Grandmother Night Hag who likes nothing best than trading souls to anyone who will buy them. Among her customers are devils, demons and litches, who get souls of particular quality (especially wanna-be-good-doer adventurers who try to destroy the hag) in exchange for minions, magical objects or, from time to time, humanoid infants. 

Her Minions 

So far, her lair is guarded by: 

4 Guardian Scarecrows posted at the main door 

1 Dire Crocodile patrolling the water entrance to the hut 

2 Flameskulls posted in the workshop

1 Rug of Smothering 

1 Ghost 

2 Soultrapping Mirrors

1 Bearded Devil

As you can see she has quite a respectable little army: the creatures have the orders to capture intruders whenever it is possible, in order for the Hag to get their souls. 

Loot 

In the hut of the hag you will find: 

A broom of flying 

2 potions of healing 

An ornated silver hand mirror that casts Cloud of Daggers when smashed 

9 cut gems, each worth 100 GP 

The Duke is haunted by a terrifying ghost, who holds its own head in its hand.  Who was this ghost? Why does it haunt the Duke? Why is it headless? 

I devised this plot hook after assisting to the Royal Opera House version of Rigoletto (it’s absolutely AMAZING)... in my personal plot, the ghost is the knight Monterone, seeking revenge on the evil duke who dishonored his daughter and had him killed. Monterone will invariably appear at every fete, every party, every banquet or ball hosted by the Duke, terrorizing his guests and courtiers with the preternatural chill emanating from his ghostly figure and his dire prophecies. 

Brave adventurers, whether you are a spellcaster or handle a sword: try yourself at the Annual Tournament in the honour of the great Torm, god of fighters and braves! Glory and a great prize await those who win! 

*in weeny eeny teeny tiny letters* Loss of limbs or life is not reimbursed.   

I am using this plot right now to gain some time, since my pc single handedly shredded my campaign to pieces ON THE FIRST SESSION BECAUSE THEY DIED AND LOST THE ARTIFACT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO GUARD. 

to me, interpretation of my PC is dramatically more important than their power, and the more I gain experience as a player the more I find this to be a tenet of my playstile. 

 gods I love NPC generators. it saves you loads of time while you’re preparing for your next campaign/session to have a bunch of ready made npcs, wherether it is cannon fodder or a very special BBB (Big Bad Boss). 

most generators only give you the generic description and the name of the npc (such as “the barman looks like this, and his name is...”), but I have found a couple of reeeeeally god generators who give you stats and feats and skillz and everything! you can either have them pregenerated, pregenerate them and then modify them to suit your needs (my favourite option), or to make them yourselves from zero. 

my favourite so far are RPGTinker and Orcpub, because they give you ample possibilities for NPCs customization. 

apparently in my party two players have made constitution their dump stat. 

“oh dear me. black armour, huge magic sword, evil cackle and grand speeches- you are another death guard or death knight or death something, aren’t you? your lot never learn how to not be a walking clichè” 

“omg that cloak is sooo 200 years ago! vintage is fine and good, but this is really too much!” 

“seriously man, the only scary thing about you is your fashion sense. you don’t put strong colours together like that!” 

“lord lich, you are literally bone-thin and you managed to find the only cut of tunic that makes you look fat, I am amazed.”