Maze of the Cobstalker

The Labyrinth of Maize

Created by Neal Kisor
Header image by Walter Licínio 

Maze of the Cobstalker is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module one-shot for a party of four to six characters of 3rd-4th level. The one-shot should take three to six hours to complete, depending on which elements the PCs encounter.

Running The Module

It is important to read the adventure module in its entirety before running it. This module refers to the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual. Creatures written in bold refer to the corresponding entries in the Monster Manual or the stat blocks presented below. Magic items and spells written in italic refer to the corresponding entries in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Player’s Handbook, or the item description presented to the right.

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Adventure Background

Dismal May is a green hag who has lived deep in the Roright Forest for decades, causing pain and unpleasantness for all those who have ever crossed her path. Through years of experimentation and growth, she was able to create a labyrinthine demiplane to better torment the unfortunate souls she encountered in the forest. This maze takes the form of an overgrown corn maze and is contained within an enchanted ear of glimmering corn called the Gemcorn.
Along with her demiplane, May also created half-plant chimeras to guard the maze and hunt down anyone who found themselves within. May takes great delight in watching her trapped victims exhaust themselves attempting to find an exit, using their despair and anxiety for her own machinations.
In recent times, three of the green hags living in the Roright Forest, Dismal May included, have formed a coven. The three hags now call themselves the Baneberry Sisters and have moved deeper into the forest, leaving their old dwellings unguarded. Having learned of this, new efforts have been made to penetrate the Roright Forest and ensure that any remnants of the hags are properly taken care of. However, Dismal May anticipated this. Her dilapidated cottage holds the still-active Gemcorn, ready to sequester anyone unlucky enough to touch it into the demiplane. May can sense when new souls have entered her demiplane and has been eagerly waiting for her next victims to stumble into her trap.

Getting Involved

There are many reasons why PCs would get involved with this predicament, use the following hooks to set things in motion:

Witch Hunters

Recently the Witchblight Syndicate of Dellwind learned of the formation of a coven within the Roright Forest. Exorcist Dorothy von Petrica (F Human abjurer wizard), a respected leader in the Syndicate, is sending teams of adventurers to clear out any trace of hags. The Syndicate promises 50gp each to anyone who can significantly hinder the hags, or 200gp to anyone who kills a hag.

Loch Lurker’s Duty

Loch Lurkers are wardens of all natural areas and have found the Roright hags to be an insufferable challenge to get rid of. In an attempt to weaken the position of the hags, Lurker Erryx Volgenshire (androgynous half-elf archer) tasks the party with retrieving any soul-capturing items Dismal May may be hoarding. Erryx promises the party 50gp plus a favor for locating any such objects.

It’s Personal

Perhaps a character has encountered Dismal May in the past. She may have taken something from the character, like their ability to laugh or dance, or harmed someone close to the character. Perhaps they are representatives of Riverwatch, the town closest to the Roright Forest. With this hook, Dismal May knows the character’s name and holds something dear to them in her possession.

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Opening

The adventure begins with the party already deep within the Roright Forest in search of Dismal May’s hut. Allow the characters to introduce themselves if this is the party’s first time together then read or paraphrase the following text:

The tall trunks of the surrounding trees cast patchwork shadows across the soft brown floor of the Roright Forest. You’ve been traveling for hours, venturing many miles into the forest in order to locate the former dwelling of a hag.
Though the dwelling is said to be abandoned, neither the chirp of a cricket or the song of a bird can be heard in the sinister depths of the forest, as if nature remembers the harm done by the hag.
As the air begins to grow stagnant and stale, drying your mouths, you spot a clearing ahead,. The soil becomes loamy and damp, and where the tree line gives away the ground looks more like a tilled field. An overgrown garden growing from the field surrounds a dilapidated wooden cottage covered in vines and moss. The dwelling seems to have no foundation and looks to be growing directly out of the ground. The building exudes a mysterious aura, and it is clear that this is not the dwelling of any sensible being.

Despite the ominousness of the cottage, both it and the surrounding field are abandoned. A PC can determine this with a successful DC 13 Perception check.
The interior of the cottage matches that of the outside, drab and dilapidated. Mold and mildew cling to the walls, the wooden floors are nearly spongey from how wet they are, curtains and bedsheets are all tattered, and the air smells of rotting frogs. Once everyone is inside the cottage, everyone may roll an Investigation check. Anyone who rolls over 10 may roll a d100 and gain a trinket by consulting the Trinket Table in the Player’s Handbook. On top of this, the PC who rolls the highest locates a powerful item:

A beautiful glimmer fills your eyes as you open the cupboards and discover a strange item. It looks like an ear of corn, yet each kernel seems to be a small topaz gemstone.

This is the Gemcorn. It registers as magical to any detect magic spell, yet its purpose and use cannot be determined through any means, including through spells like identify. Dismal May has hidden a Hag Eye behind one of the hut's walls to spy on any trespassers and uses it habitually. Once she sees the party inside her hut, she uses an action to trigger the Gemcorn's trap mode.

As you behold the cold jewels, the gems sparkle vibrantly and suddenly cave in. In their place, a portal rips open in space and sucks you all in! You feel yourself shunting at a rapid pace, as if you’re falling!
Then it is over. You land on soft hay-covered soil. Above, the sky is a dull topaz yellow; the air feels crisp and blustery on your cheeks. You are within a long corridor whose walls are composed entirely of green cornstalks that tower 20 feet high. The corridor contains twists and turns, you’ve landed in a corn maze.

May’s Corn Maze

Use these general characteristics for the maze:
Walls. The stalks are 10 feet thick and too dense to see through, but they can be entered. Use 5 feet of movement per 1 foot travelled within a wall.
Cobstalker. The maze is protected by the fierce and mighty Cobstalker (see the statblock to the side) a pumpkin-headed plant beast chimera created by May. If the maze is damaged in any way the Cobstalker rushes to the party’s location in 1d4 + 2 rounds. Characters can make a Stealth check against the Cobstalker’s Passive Perception (11) to hide.
The Cobstalker is a constant threat and will quickly dispatch the party in a fight. However, it was created to corner and exhaust parties, not outright kill them. To heighten the sense of “danger” be sure to frequently describe the Cobstalker’s loud obvious movements, imposing growls, and ground-shaking footfalls. The Cobstalker should only rush to the characters if the maze is damaged.
Dismal May learns that new souls have entered the Gemcorn as soon as the characters are sucked inside. May begins traveling to the cottage and arrives 2 hours after the PCs enter. Keep track of how long the characters have until Dismal May arrives in the cottage (see “Developments”).
The PCs will need to traverse the maze to escape. For every 10 minutes spent traversing the maze have a character roll a d6 and consult the Maze Encounter Table. If a character rolls a duplicate result for an encounter, the party instead becomes lost for 30 minutes.
Maze Encounter Table

Dice	Maze Encounter
1	Cobstalker's Nest
2	Corpse
3	Bargain Fountain
4	Blight Fight
5	Maze Map
6	Exit

Cobstalker’s Nest

You enter into a large clearing with a few half-dead trees. Three large nests are placed in the middle of the clearing and are all filled with pumpkins. Bones and big feline pawprints mark the ground around the nests.

The Cobstalker’s nest resembles a pumpkin patch. However, the pumpkins are actually the Cobstalker’s eggs. Roll a d20; on a 15 or higher the Cobstalker returns a few minutes into the party investigating the nest.
The Cobstalker is fiercely protective of its eggs and fights to the death near its nest. The nests contain personal knick-knacks and trinkets that Cobstalker has collected from its victims. The largest nest contains two important papers: a spell scroll of dispel magic and a bloody torn scrap of paper with the word "SHUCK" written on it. The characters may find these useful for discovering the secret of the maze's map.
If the Cobstalker doesn’t come back to its nest, a character can determine that this is likely its lair by making a DC 10 Survival or Nature check.

Corpse

A red trail of blood comes into view on the hay-covered ground. It continues for a few hundred feet before coming to a pool around a corpse. It’s impossible to tell how long it has been dead, the blood still seeming fresh yet the corpse obviously decayed. It clutches a scrap of paper, and you can see a faint glow within its pant pocket.

This scarecrow-surrounded corpse found the password to escape: Silk Shuck. The password is written on a scrap of paper in the corpse’s hand, but it has been torn in half, just leaving “SILK.”
As the party gets close 3 wicker scarecrows positioned hidden in the corn attack. The skeleton has 2 potions of healing and a dagger of warning in its pocket. This dagger is the source of the glow.

Bargain Fountain

An inconspicuous stone fountain faintly bubbles within a circular blank patch in the corn. The water is the same topaz yellow color as the sky. A poem seems to be scrawled on the front of the fountain:

"When every turn is riddled with doubt

And you’re faced with your mortality

Will you bargain a way out

For the price of your vitality? Sip of the fountain's spout To learn the exit's locality."

The fountain is magic and yet another contraption Dismal May created to siphon her victim’s misery and life force. Any creature that drinks the fountain water must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure that creature ages 2d20 years but learns the password to escape—Silk Shuck—as its lifeforce is transferred to Dismal May. A creature may choose to intentionally fail the save.
The fountain has one additional property. Any creature who accepts the bargain will be cursed with the following affliction:
Curse of the Naturophobe. While suffering from this curse, the afflicted creature feels an overwhelming desire to burn any plant it can see. Every hour, the creature must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or attempt to ignite the first plant it can find. The creature also must make this saving throw whenever it takes damage from any source. This curse goes away after one year or whenever the curse victim burns a total of 5000 lbs. of plant matter, whichever comes first.

Blight Fight

Walking through the corridors of the maze is becoming a demoralizing event. The twists and turns never seem to end, nor can you spot any deviation to the walls of corn. A sudden shuffle from within the mass of corn draws your attention. Six beings made of wood and vines leap from the corn and attack!

The party is surrounded and ambushed by 3 vine blights and 3 twig blights Dismal May created to guard the maze. While the blights are not strong on their own, however they attempt to position themselves in ways that goad characters into damaging the corn and draw Cobstalker’s attention.

Maze Map

A wooden podium is set up against the wall of corn. To your relief, it looks like a map of the entire maze, complete with “You are Here” and “Exit” labels.

The map is a trick for trespassers, the exit on the map is actually the Cobstalker’s Nest. An illusory script spell has been cast over the whole map. If dispelled a proper route will be revealed. If the party follows the fake map’s directions go directly to the “Cobstalker’s Nest” encounter.
The trickery of the map can be recognized if a character makes a DC 15 Investigation or Arcana check. The map also reveals its magical nature to any detect magic spell. The actual map cannot be seen unless the illusory script is dispelled. If it is, the real route toward the exit is revealed and the characters may immediately go towards it.

Exit

The maze’s exit looks like yet another dead end. However, it is positioned at the border of the maze. Trying to walk into the corn and bypass the dead-end results in bumping into the invisible planar edge. Instead, the password, “Silk Shuck,” must be spoken out loud to open a golden portal and allow the character’s escape.
Read the following when the characters discover the way out:

The words linger in the air for a moment. A palpable power seems to emanate from their utterance, much like the casting of a spell. A faint crackling noise begins to sound from the corn in front of you. Moments later, a slender golden line draws itself through the air before splaying out. A hazy yellow portal rips in existence, replacing the wall. Your escape route has opened!

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Developments

A few different outcomes may occur depending on how long the party spent in the maze. Regardless of the outcome, escaping the maze renders the Gemcorn inert and the demiplane seals for 24 hours. The Gemcorn is worth anywhere between 300gp-1000gp depending on the buyer:

• Under 2 hours. The party was expedient in their escape. Dismal May has yet to arrive, and the party may escape and report to whomever gave them their mission. However, they will have undoubtedly made a nemesis in Dismal May, who is still attuned to the Gemcorn.
• Over 2 hours. Dismal May arrives at her old cottage and the party will be met by her when they escape. Dismal May is a green hag who will wait to ambush the weakest party member in the Ethereal Plane.
• Unable to Escape. If the party cannot escape for whatever reason, Dismal May will create new horrors and blights and send them into the maze, sending 1d6 vine blights every 2 hours the party is in the maze. Alternatively, she may bargain with a character by offering freedom in exchange for something important to that character (such as their ability to have humor or grow hair).

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Continuing the Adventure

The fun does not have to stop at Dismal May and her nefarious maze. There are still two other Baneberry Sisters within the Roright with schemes and plans just as devious as May's. The character's may gain new missions from Dorothy von Petrica or Erryx Volgenshire. The character's own initiative may spur them to go deeper into the Roright, where things get continually more twisted and corrupt. Or perhaps they escaped the maze fast enough (or slow enough) to the point where Dismal May is still a real threat.
If left to their own devices, the Baneberry sisters machinations will lead to even greater threats and challenges for the party to face. If the party is ready to face the coven, they will surely be hailed as heroes if they are successful!

Placing the Adventure.
This adventure takes place in the Roright Forest located about 35 miles east of Dellwind. The Dungeon Master can easily replace the Roright Forest and Dellwind with any forest and large city, such as Waterdeep and Cryptgarden Forest in The Forgotten Realms.

Topaz Gemcorn
wonderous item, rare (requires attunement)
Exactly 40 small topaz gems of slightly differing colors create a gemstone representation of an ear of corn. The Gemcorn is the entrance to a labyrinthine demiplane. While both the Gemcorn and the attuned creature are on the same plane of existence, an attuned creature can utter a command word with an action and set the Gemcorn into "Trap Mode." While in this mode, the anyone within 60 ft. of the Gemcorn when it is touched is warped into its demiplane.
The attuned creature may set the Gemcorn to "Release Mode" to free anyone trapped inside. Alternatively, those trapped inside can discover a means of escape. Doing either of these renders the Gemcorn inert for the next 24 hours.

Plot type

One Shot: Maze of the Cobstalker