Traits

Pain (Hypoalgesia) [IE 4]. Face experiences less pain from injury than most people. On any day spent on at least mild activity, he must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw. On failure, he sustains a sore or wound that he's unaware of. He must then succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check to identify the wound so it can be treated. If he receives help on this check, he makes the roll with advantage. If identified, a successful DC 9 Wisdom (Medicine) check will allow the wound to heal. If the check fails, he sustains 2 (1d4) damage per day until successfully treated. Because he does not feel pain the way most people do, he has resistance to psychic damage.

Actions

Multiattack. Face makes two longsword attacks. If he has a shortsword drawn, he can also make a shortsword attack.

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage, or 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage if used with two hands.

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.

Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 100/400 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d10 + 1) piercing damage.

Traits

Hearing Loss [IE 4]. Ears is deaf, which gives a −4 penalty on hearing-related checks but immunity to attacks that use sound (e.g., banshee wail). (Note: thunder damage is vibration, not sound, so this does not grant benefits against it.)

Actions

Multiattack. Ears makes two melee attacks or two ranged attacks.

Rapier. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

Reactions

Parry. Ears adds +4 to his AC against one melee attack that would hit him. To do so, Ears must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.

Traits

Hearing Loss [IE 4]. Ears is deaf, which gives a −4 penalty on hearing-related checks but immunity to attacks that use sound (e.g., banshee wail). (Note: thunder damage is vibration, not sound, so this does not grant benefits against it.)

Actions

Multiattack. Eyes makes two shortsword attacks.

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Traits

Blindness [IE 4]. Eyes's vision is absent completely, and he has learned to navigate the world with little or no reliance on his eyes, depending on other senses instead. He has a −4 on sight-related attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws including ranged combat beyond 10 ft. but a +4 bonus when using other senses to compensate, not because they’ve become stronger, but because he's learned to use them more effectively.

Assistive Device

Blindfold of Awareness
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)

This blindfold, while worn, gives you blindsight out to a range of 30 ft and advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks against creatures using stealth within range. It also allows you to hear the heartbeat of a creature within range that has a heart, giving you a +2 bonus on Wisdom (Insight) checks to determine when such creatures are lying.

In an environment with considerable background noise, the blindsight gets disrupted, and you lose all benefits from the blindfold.

Section Summary

Yllbella, the druid, lives in a purposefully hidden grove in the forest. Guarded and reclusive, the path to her hut (or hideout, however one prefers to interpret the way she lives), is known only to a select few, including Ashur Ivaako, who tells the party how to find her once he determines that they’re trustworthy. He takes the party aside and whispers:

Unfortunately, as this information is bound to be passed at the Brawler’s Caldron, Francis, the former captain of the burg and secret leader of the criminals, monitors their movements. He sees Yllbella as a possible threat to his dominance. She’s always lurking around, only found when she pleases, while moving unhindered. Uncertain of the amount of information she possesses on his operation, Francis sees an opportunity to finally locate her hideout to “take measures if need be”. He sends his best team to follow the adventurers to the spot and oversee their movements.

The Scouts’ Mission

The team of villains have specific instructions to locate the hut and decide whether to interfere based on the itinerary of the party. If they locate the druid and move towards town, they are to assume the adventurers have recruited her and are finally going to enter the castle to “fulfill their intended purpose.” In that case, the scouts are to wait for them to leave and then sack and destroy her home, since there’s be no use for her afterwards.

If the party finds her and moves elsewhere, the scouts are to follow. Francis suspects a second entrance to the underground levels of the castle through the woods, which would be valuable information. On discovering an entrance, the scouts are to map it and return. If the adventurers enter this newfound location, one of the scouts remains there to observe and report to Francis.

Francis also wonders about the supposed curse, interested in verifying both the veracity of the rumor and how it may affect the pillage of the castle and maintenance of the power established there.

The scouts are to remain unseen and to avoid combat unless their presence may somehow expose their leader and organization, in which case they are to eliminate all present.

The Scouts: The Gray Brothers

The Scouts are a group of three identical triplets dressed in hooded grey leather clothing. During a heist gone wrong, they suffered serious injuries from an explosion, and since then, they possess unique characteristics. They use their identical appearance to misguide those trying to tell them apart, resulting in no one knowing their names. They can be distinguished only by their scars and have all adapted to the loss of one of their primary senses.

• Eyes
• Ears
• Face

Note: As the Gray Brothers follow the trail left by the party, not the group itself, the GM should only run Wisdom (Perception) checks if the party is, for some reason, searching actively for someone following them. The brothers not only actively try not to be perceived, but they are also skilled in doing so. They do not intend to engage the party in combat yet, only when they’re back in town, and the party has fulfilled their usefulness.

The Singing Forest

The Singing Forest is known as such for the high concentration of insects, that create a constant and oscillating humming sound. The deeper into the forest one goes, the louder the sound becomes, and the vegetation becomes denser, which keep most people from venturing too deep.

Yllbella makes her home in the eastern part of the forest, close to the burg, beside a dried water fountain.

The hut is actually a very big tree that literally embraced Yllbella’s presence and has molded its roots into a home for her. She lives there and is gravely concerned with the drying up of the water fountain and the fact that the biomes are restless. The forest itself, as a living organism, seems afraid of something or someone, but Yllbella is not wise and powerful enough to understand its worries, which is why she’s seeking help.

The Stone Gate

At some point while traveling through the woods heading west, read or paraphrase:

As you walk carefully through the tangle of roots that cover the ground, half obscured by the fallen foliage, the humming of the forest grows to a Fortissimo and a sudden stop. As the sound slowly restarts, small points of light start to glow, as a pulsating heart. Fireflies start flying in a small group in concentric circles, then in a line, as if forming an arrow-like pathway that moves forward through the trees, their buzzing wings producing a sound distinct from the ambient forest music.

The fireflies are being guided by the forest itself. The humming of the insects seems to guide them with cadence.

A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Nature) check reveals that the roots and branches are moving, as if hiding the path taken by the adventurers.

Note: Unbeknownst to them, the forest is in fact trying to protect them from the Gray Brothers.

After two hours of walking in zigzag through the forest, assuming they’ve followed the fireflies, read or paraphrase:

After two hours of following the fireflies, the pathway they take you through leads to a beaten path. Further on, the path narrows to a passage with two huge boulders in each side, as if nature itself had formed a gate there. As the glowing insects proceed normally forward, the growling of beasts adds a new bass line to the music of the forest.

Leaving the shadows ostensibly, five dire wolves reveal themselves upon the boulders, as feral guardians, with fresh blood dripping from their bare teeth.

Meanwhile, the fireflies continue forward, disregarding the beasts above.

The wolves are intimidating but do not attack the party, even though they look like they will. They are aware of the presence of the Gray Brothers and are lying in ambush for them. If the adventurers simply continue forward, the beasts only look menacingly and growl but do not attack.

If the party attacks or pose as a threat, the animals attack. The fireflies, however, continue forward towards Yllbella’s hut, unless there is combat or a very loud noise, in which case the humming of the forest becomes silent, and the fireflies stop, resuming their way after peace is restored.

The Druid

After the adventurers pass through the stone gate, they soon find Yllbella.

The interaction between them is at the DM’s discretion, in order to steer the party one direction or the other, taking into consideration her traits and personality.

Read or paraphrase:

Gradually, the vegetation starts to wane as the forest opens up to you. The space between the trees gives you room to breathe and move, and the whole environment seems to lighten as the fireflies spread upwards as the humming of the insects stops completely. Over a small hill reveals a small house in the trunk of a tree, as if the tree had grown in that shape, without the interference of metal tools.

A hooded shape waves her hand, Yllbella signaling them up as birds and squirrels gather around her acting cute, as if she found a way to weaponize fluffiness.

“Welcome heroes! Come, take a seat with me at the fireplace and warm our bellies and hearts with some food. I have waited long for someone brave that would help me bring rest to the Singing Forest.”

Yllbella talks about the strange occurrences in the forest, such as monsters wandering around, the drying up of the fountain that is beside her hut and the strange dreams that she’s having, which she states are manifestations of the will of the Singing Forest, the way the forest “talks to her”.

She is convinced that the source of this evil comes from under the castle, but she knows of a tunnel in the forest from which evil creatures are emanating, and she believes it goes into the castle. She proposes going there to investigate. She is kind and is equally concerned about the criminals there and can easily agree to follow that route of investigation as well.

If over an hour passes without the party leaving Yllbella’s home, a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals muffled sounds in the distance. A successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check clarifies that it’s the sound of the wolves dying. The Gray Brothers stumbled upon them and quickly finished them.

Possible Outcomes

• The party decides to go towards the burg and investigate the criminals, in which case they’ll have a violent welcoming committee on arrival.
• The adventurers decide to investigate the source of the curse through the outside, in which case they are going to enter the main dungeon through route 2 (see the dungeon map)
• The group goes with Yllbella straight to the castle doors to investigate the location in a direct approach, in which case, Francis walks with them to the door, and no criminals attack.
• The party somehow discovers that that the Gray Brothers are following them and confront them, which causes the Gray Brothers to flee the scene in order to avoid confrontation and stick to their plans.
• The group manages to catch up with the Gray Brothers, triggering combat, in which case Face and Eyes stay to fight, while Ears goes back to warn Francis, who in turn arranges a violent welcoming committee for them once they show up back in town.
• The adventurers somehow conclude that Francis is the leader of the criminals, after collecting evidence upon defeating the brothers in combat.