dailyadventureprompts:Dungeon: The Hobs’drum RuinsSetup: None know the cause of the strange mu
dailyadventureprompts:Dungeon: The Hobs’drum RuinsSetup: None know the cause of the strange music that floats through the woods on moonless nights, though locals will tell you it emanates from a ruined old barrel keep in the deepest and least traveled part of the forest. Called “Hob’sdrum” for its squat silhouette and the pounding that reverberates through the darkness accompanied by shrill horn and the piping of boney flutes. Hunters have reported seeing wild torchlight through the crumbling window arches, but none in living memory have dared to stray close enough to see who lights the flames and dances with them to those caterwauling tunes. Adventure Hooks: Should the party sneak into Hobs’drum on a dare, their reputation would surely rise high on the tales of their bravery, the exact sort of thing that’s likely to attract the attention of a wealthy patron in need of a few free lancers. They will have to spend the full three nights in the haunted ruin while others keep watch from outside. Days can be spent exploring the place or sleeping, for at night they are beset by strong poltergeist activity, and the spirits of the warriors who feasted there long ago.A gaggle of goblins and other miscreant fey have made hob’sdrum their monthly ritual site, for on moonless nights the border between the material world and the feywild is thin there, allowing transit and trade. The goblins hunt all month to prepare for the feast, and lay the spread out with fairywine and gobbish rotgut . This month they have something special prepared: a child they nabbed wandering alone through their section of the woods, trussed up and drugged with strange herbs to keep them complacent for the guest of honor: a visiting fey noble in the habit of collecting green eyed children, or (perhaps just their eyes). The party only has three nights to retrieve the child before the fey lord whisks them away on their third night. The goblins will be most alert on the first night, and then grow steadily laxer as nights of debauchery catch up with them.The Rites at Hobs’drum are presided over by a powerful hag who has organized the revels as a means of tapping into the layline of energy that flows beneath the fortress. Interrupting these rites is likely to earn the crone’s unending ire, who will flee back to her hidden lair and bedevil the party with minions and far-flung curses. While researching the hag’s history and potential weaknesses, the party discover that her appearance in the ruins pre-dates the fey gatherings there, meaning there’s a good chance she might be there the next new moon, even with the rituals disrupted. The hag does indeed need to return to Hobs’drum each month, as it is a place of power from which she has woven many great spells, which she cannot risk unweaving without finding a new powersource. -- source link