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Encounter at Harvest's Dawn Inn
🕑 Added 2020-06-21 04:49:17 +0000 UTC(This is the first encounter I've built as a standalone offering in to be used in a campaign using the ExpanDnD rules I've published. I would love to be able to do more of these with enough support. Imagine even being able to publish an entire module off of you guys' backer support.)
[for a Party level 1-5]
The party's travels eventually bring them to the small village of Harvest's Dawn, ironically just before the sun can set for the night. A small farming village that doesn't even appear on most maps due to its almost complete insignificance, your travel through the town would not normally have been noteworthy, except for one detail that you notice as unusual: Every single person in this town is incredibly fat. Men and Women with bulging guts resting atop thunderous thighs wobble across fields of grain, harvesting their crop before sundown as if oblivious to their excessive girth hindering their movements. Husbands and Wives not working the fields rest on porches and in chairs too small to contain their impressive weight, fattened asses spilling over armrests and buttons occasionally going flying from engorged chests. Plump children play in the streets, and even the local pets appear to be heavier than one might expect. Passing by these odd sights, you make your way to the local inn, simply known as the Harvest's Dawn Inn, to prepare to rest for the evening.
Unbeknownst to your players, this town has fallen under the spell of a swarm of Feeder Fairies (See ExpanDnD Bestiary). Every Adult in the town is over their first bulk limit, being burdened by their weight, and none of them are aware of what is happening to them. Any curious player characters may make a Perception Check (DC 13) to notice some of the individuals in the town are munching down on impressively decadent foods (slices of cake, extravagant pastries, well-stacked sandwiches, and other such foods one wouldn't typically find in a lowly farming village). Any villagers questioned about where the food comes from are seemingly oblivious to why there would be anything strange about the food they eat, as if it were nothing more than potato stew. The party will shortly arrive at the Harvest's Dawn Inn, where they are greeted with the following scene.
Entering the Inn, the unusual sights of the town quickly escalate into the definitively strange. On your way in the door you are able to hear what sounds like a commotion, and once inside it becomes clear what the source is; a pair of travelers like yourselves. The inn keeper appears to be ignoring any newcomers entering her establishment, too engrossed in what appears to be a pudding as tall as a gnome, but immediately you are assaulted by the smell of incredibly sweet confections as you notice a Half-Orc woman of considerable bulk scarfing down a plate of pastries, being argued with by one of the fattest High Elves you've ever laid eyes on. The Elven man is clearly struggling to stay standing, but is managing it just long enough to argue with his compatriot.
'Durgek you've got to stop eating, the food here is magical, it's the reason why everyone is-mfff' more than the elf's words, what startles you is the fact that his sentence is cut off by a loaf of sweet bread seemingly floating off the table on its own to cram itself into his mouth.
'Ah shut it Elandril, you're always messing with our waistlines anyway, I'm gonna enjoy some good food for once-mfnarf' The Half-orc woman seems markedly less perturbed by the food seemingly feeding itself to her than her companion.
Immediately you are caught by surprise as a series of sparkling particles seem to drift through the air around the elf, and suddenly he grows even fatter than he already was. His legs finally give out with that extra weight, and he collapses to the ground by the table his companion is still feasting at. The jostling of his blob-like body seems to divert his attention away from Durgek enough to let him notice all of you, however.
'Oh, thank the gods, fellow travelers! Please, you must help us, something seems to be trying to fa-mffff' His words are cut off by yet more food being crammed between his lips. Whatever caused it seems to have taken notice of you, however, as the faint sound of high-pitched giggling can be faintly heard somewhere in the air, and several objects of succulent looking food begin to manifest in the air around you, aimed directly for your mouths.
The Elf is Elandril, a novice Lipomancer (as the Lipomancer statistics in the ExpanDnD bestiary, but with only 30 hit points and no 4th or 5th level spell slots), and he has just been rendered Immobile, fattened past his immobility threshold. his companion is Durgek, a half-orc Veteran (see the Monster Manual), who is currently Impeded by her weight. Also in this room is the innkeeper, a commoner who is only burdened by her weight, and one feeder fairy for each character in the room, including both the party and these three NPCs.
Now begins a combat encounter. The Feeder Fairies will attempt to immobilize the party, with one fairy focusing on each member of the party, and one tending to each of the NPCs. The Inn Keeper and Durgek will be of no help, too occupied eating and growing to do much of anything, but Elandril will attempt to help as best he can while immobilized, though his magic is not the most suited to fighting these invisible enemies. As soon as any of the fairies harassing the party are killed, the ones tending the NPCs will break off to join the fight.
After the fight is over, read the following:
As the last of these mysterious pixies falls to the ground, dissolving quickly into faerie dust, Elandril lets out an exhausted breath as Durgek also issues an annoyed grunt.
'Hey, I'm still hungry!' the Half-orc exclaims, annoyed more at her dinner being interrupted than the fact she had until recently been the plaything of some particularly fattening fey.
'Relax, Durgek, at least now you -can- get full, I'll make you something in a moment. As soon as I manage to get myself standing again....' Elandril chides his companion, before looking dismayed at his enormous, wobbling girth. He looks up at the group of you as he asks
'I don't suppose any of you would have a quick way of slimming down a bit, would you? It's a little bit, well...Opposite to my usual magical expertise.'
Failure option: If the party is immobilized, or otherwise rendered unconscious by the feeder fairies, instead of the previous flavor text, they immobilize any party members who weren't yet past that threshold, at least as far as they can reckon someone to be immobile, in the case of any party members who either can't be or have deceptively high thresholds, and then leave, disappearing into the town while the party is left to figure out how to get moving again with Elandril and a newly-immobilized Durgek's help. This might cause some amount of time to pass as the party might take time to slim down.
Adventure Hooks: From this point onward, the party might seek to discover the source of this infestation of feeder fairies, tracing it back to an ancient source of fey power hidden in the nearby wilderness, or they might question Elandril and Durgek and find that they had been headed through this town on a journey to try and track one of the legendary lost laboratories of Narce rumoured to be buried somewhere in this region. They might continue on with whatever quest they had been on prior, or they might want to learn more about the town. There are numerous ways a fresh adventure can be had after this interesting-and fattening- encounter.
