Cottage on the Long Road

An Adventure for 2nd Level Characters

Setup

Between the village of Amphail and the city of Waterdeep lie dozens of small ranches and farms, many of them home to commons who work the land as serfs and sharecroppers in service to the nobility of Waterdeep. Peppered among these noble-held lands are a number of small private farms and cottages. Some of these are used as vacation homes (or safe houses) for wealthy adventurers or merchants seeking a quiet respite from the bustle of their daily lives. Others are acquired by industrious homesteaders who hope to raise their own crops or herds for private sale at the markets of Waterdeep.
One of the private cottages in the area was recently acquired by such an industrious soul. A tiefling woman named Criella raised a sufficient sum to start a small ranching venture by acting as a page to a knight and saving her copper until she was able to afford a modest cottage, a small plot of land, and a small flock of sheep to graze upon it. Once she had enough coin to realize these goals, Criella left the service of her patron and purchased a long-abandoned cottage to the southwest of Amphail.
Upon arriving in the region, Criella has done her best to keep to herself, tend to her flock and enjoy relative solitude and peace. She does most of her business in the markets of Waterdeep, where her appearance is considered barely remarkable. Between journeys into the city, she must occasionally come to Amphail to acquire various supplies. In these visits she tends to suffer a cold reception from the folk there and frequently must cope with hostile verbal harassment from the locals she encounters. So far, none of these confrontations have turned violent, as Criella is very adept at ignoring the verbal barbs of those she feels are too simple to separate her appearance from her worth as a person.
Since moving into her cottage, Criella has noticed several disturbances. The sheep have been frightened in the middle of the night on a number of occasions. Criella has also heard strange sounds in the middle of the night and has felt as if she was being watched while tending her sheep. She has also found odd effigies made of sticks around her property, which she assumes are being crafted by her neighbors in the hopes of scaring her off of the property. In reality, these effigies are dormant twig blights, a mere symptom of the evil that permeates her land without her knowledge. Unbeknownst to Criella, her cottage sits upon the entrance to an abandoned necromancer’s lair. The noises that disturb her homestead are coming from the crypt below as the necromancer’s experiments and servants rouse from decades of slumber due to the return of the living to this forgotten patch of land.

The Party's Arrival

The party is introduced to Criella while staying in Amphail. In Amphail, horses are bred and trained, rich Waterdbavians maintain secluded estates in the hills, and farmland is plentiful. Stands of dark duskwood and spruce trees are everywhere.
When the party settles down for the night at The Stone Stallion inn and rents some rooms, Criella (CG female tielfling commoner) bursts into the inn, loudly demanding a room and accusing the townsfolk of harassment. Jung-Hoon Honda, the owner of The Stone Stallion, refuses to give a room to Criella, stating that the last rooms were just rented by the players. If the players intercede, the tiefling explains that she has recently moved into a nearby cottage and that the neighbors have been harrasing her for days. She has no proof of this, but is willing the pay the adventurers 15 sp each to investigate. If the players do not intercede, Criella argues loudly with Jung-Hoon for a few minutes before noticing the player characters. Criella recognizes that the party are not locals and pleads with them to help her.
If the characters agree to help, Criella suggests that the group leave immediately. It is clear from her demeanor that she is terrified to go back to her cottage without an armed escort, and she fears for the safety of her sheep. On a successful DC 11 Wisdom (Insight) check, characters think Criella is sincere in her fear. On a failure, they take Criella's terror for a sham and conclude that she must be setting them up for a trap.
If the characters insist on waiting until morning to head out, the problem of finding a place for Criella to sleep is an issue. Jung-Hoon is not lying about giving the last rooms to the party. However, any character can offer to share their room with Criella.
Criella cottage sits off the Long Road, southwest of Amphail. The road is well-traveled and generally secure. If the characters wait until morning to investigate, there is little chance of encountering trouble on the way to the cottage. If the party decides not to wait, leaving at night, roll a d20. On a roll of 18-20, roll on the table below.

d4	Encounter
1	One Will-o'-Wisp
2	One Deer
3	One Scarecrow
4	Four Skeletons

Once the characters turn off the long road, they must travel a wagon path to reach the cottage. At the end of the wagon path, a small wooden bridge crosses the narrow creek that marks Criella's property line. The bridge is 10 feet wide and 15 feet long. When all of the characters step onto the bridge, eight twig blights spring the life and rush the characters. Four blights approach from each side of the road, on the cottage side of the bridge. As the blights are dormant until the characters arrive, they cannot be noticed. Furthermore, when the blights activate, all characters with a Passive Perception below 13 are surprised.
The twig blights are a side effect of the corruption permeating Criella's land. The influence of this evil force, and the boundary of its power, ends at the narrow creek. If any of the twig blights are thrown, knocked, or dragged to the other side of the river, they immediately die as the dark magic animating their wooden forms no longer functions. Once the twig blights are defeated, the party may proceed to Criella's Cottage.

Criella's Cottage

Due to the wandering of the animals, it is difficult for characters to distinguish tracks. A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check confirms that no creatures other apart from Criella, the sheep, and the blights have walked the ground of this property in the past few days.

Epilogue

After clearing out the tomb beneath Criella’s cottage, the characters can certainly assure the tiefling shepherd that her recent troubles were not due to the harassment of her neighbors. How much information the characters choose to divulge is ultimately up to them. Depending on the party’s reaction to learning that the cottage’s prior owner was an evil tiefling, the characters may wish to further interrogate Criella, but she genuinely knows nothing of Carrion or his experiments. Beaumont also does not recognize Criella at all.
So long as the characters deal Criella no great insult or injury, they will have made an ally by clearing out her holdings. Having access to an underground complex greatly expands the potential of Criella’s lands, and she is left contemplating what to do with her newfound dungeon. As someone who is herself seeking a second chance, it would not be out of character for her to turn the abandoned tomb into a home for other outsiders and wayward souls looking to make a better life for themselves.

Related Locations

• Amphail
• Criella's Cottage