a funny business
This adventure is part of The Emerald Anthology, a community-created anthology of adventures designed for Quest (more information). It's mostly setting agnostic (as long as it's medieval fantasy with nature-related magic) and players can create any sort of character. You can download the Quest Gamebook for free here.
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overview
This is a short and light-hearted adventure designed for any number of players using any roles or abilities they prefer. During the game, the adventurers will find themselves in a town, Weezleton, which has been infested with a bunch of strange ferrets that seem to be too intelligent for their species. They will track down a ferret-obsessed druid and, depending on their choices, they can help her join the town life rather than staying locked down in her laboratory. This is a light-hearted adventure that’s meant to be run either as a fun one-shot or a side quest for your main campaign. If you run it as part of a bigger campaign, you can place Weezleton anywhere in your world and adapt the NPCs as needed. If you’re running it as a stand-alone adventure, the following paragraph will give some worldbuilding basics you can use, modify, or expand upon. You can find stat blocks for all mentioned creatures and NPCs in the sidebar. Weezleton is a rural and peaceful town located on the outskirts of a beautiful forest. Most of its people work in the fields or in the farms, taking care of animals like cows and sheep, which usually roam in the forest. It’s located relatively far away from the capital, but not so far that it’s dangerous territory.Did you know? A group of ferrets is known as a “business”.
opening
The adventure starts in the Skunk Inn, a comfortable tavern located on the outskirts of Weezleton.
You find yourselves in a rusting but comfortable tavern in Weezleton, a peaceful town located far from the capital. A young dwarven waiter is going through the room, taking orders from the handful of patrons having lunch. Another waiter stands behind the bar, cleaning some bottles. Over the bar hangs an old wooden sign: “The Skunk Inn”.
You sit around a table, eating and enjoying the conversation or the warmth and the crackling of the fireplace. The town isn’t used to foreigners, and although you’ve been welcomed warmly into the inn, several people keep looking at you with curious eyes and concealed whispers.
At this point, have your players describe their characters if you haven’t already, and ask them what they are doing. Shortly after, or if an adventurer tries to leave the room, skip to the following description:
Suddenly, you hear loud noises coming from the outside. People screaming and running, and sounds of animals skittering about. Some patrons around you groan saying “Not this again...” just before something big crashes against the door. When it crashes a second time, the door breaks down and a huge business of ferrets enters the tavern.
The chaotic mass of furry creatures floods the room, eating food and climbing on top of people. You see a group of four ferrets running in your direction, clearly interested in your food.
The adventurers will need to deal with these chaotic and mischievous ferrets before they can leave the inn. If they don’t act immediately, have some patrons ask them for help—they know they are adventurers “from far away lands” and want them to use their “prowess” to drive the ferrets away.
If the party decides to fight the ferrets or scare them away, treat all ferrets as a single creature (see the Business of Ferrets stat block). They will run away very quickly, but they will remember the party’s actions. The party can choose any other strategy they like and the ferrets will leave if stealing food in peace becomes too difficult or annoying for them.
Attentive adventurers can notice a ferret standing on the bar, pointing at things and chattering in a way that appears commanding. His fur resembles a black suit with a white shirt underneath and the other ferrets seem to respect him. The party can negotiate with him—if they do, they’ll realize he can understand and speak the common human language. His name is Finn and he speaks in a surprisingly low and pompous tone. After the ferrets have stolen enough food, he can be persuaded to leave without causing further chaos.
aftermath
If the party manages to drive all the ferrets away, regardless of the method, the patrons and all nearby Weezletoners will be grateful for their help (although they might be a bit weirded out if they chose a bloody method). They will immediately ask for help with this problem, which has been happening a lot lately. They will share the following information:- These ferrets have been around for about a week. They keep barging into houses, stealing from the townspeople, and being a huge nuisance.
- The townspeople don’t know why this is happening, but some of them think it could be related to Cruella de Fur. She’s always been a bit of a weirdo and lately, she has been studying ways of enhancing wild animals to make them more intelligent. They can point the party to Cruella’s house.
- The townspeople can’t do anything about it because Cruella is too powerful and they don’t even dare approach her house. The mayor has asked for help from the king, but it will take a long while because the capital is far away. They would be so happy if they could count on the party for that.
- If the party helps, the town promises to reward them with anything they need (with reasonable limits, given that it’s a small humble town). They can offer them basic equipment, lodging, food, and this sort of service. They are really desperate and will do anything to get help.
let's get down to business!
Cruella de Fur lives in a house near the center of the town. However, she conducts her experiments in a hidden basement, so if the party enters the house, they won’t find anybody.
The house is empty and the wooden floor creaks lightly under your weight. The living room has a couple of dusty armchairs and the sun shines through tattered curtains, hitting wide shelves, which cover an entire wall and are full of old books. The floor, and the old red rug that lays in the middle of the room, are covered with a thin layer of dust.
Adapt the description above with the following elements if your party is perceptive, or ask for rolls if they aren’t:
- The kitchen cabinets don’t have any food and the fireplace hasn’t been lit in a long time.
- Footsteps, both human and ferret, are visible thanks to the dust that covers the floor. They are all over the place, especially around the bookshelves, the front door, and all over the living room.
- The books in the living room are mostly about magic, especially spells relating to transformation and naturalism. However, they can also find mundane books like cookbooks and romantic novels.
- The rug has less dust than the surrounding floor. The reason is that it hides a trapdoor, so every time it opens the rug moves.
- Animal sounds (like skittering and excited growling) can be heard through the floor, coming from under the living room.
into the den
A narrow staircase leads you to a dark basement. The whole structure looks like it has been carved directly on the stone under the house, but at the same time, it has an eerie smoothness to it. As you walk down, the animal sounds get louder, but you also hear light snoring from immediately below you.
When you arrive in the room, you find yourself surrounded by four ferrets sleeping on the floor, snoring lightly. They have little daggers next to them and are dressed in armor made out of kitchenware. A closed wooden door stands at the other end of the room.
The ferret guards are happy to keep sleeping as long as the players aren’t too noisy. If they decide to walk stealthily, they have to roll the die. Otherwise, or if they fail the roll, the ferrets wake up and proudly do their duties as guards. If the players insist on going through the door, the ferrets will attack fiercely. You may run the combat using the Business of Ferrets or the Funny Ferret stat block, depending on your preferred style. In any case, they are armed with daggers that deal 2 damage. If there is combat here or especially loud noises, the ferrets in the next room will join the fray, although they are not armed.
In the next room, five ferrets sit around a little table playing poker—or at least trying to. They don’t know how poker works, so they are fighting over the rules. If the party has obvious signs of combat, the five ferrets will sound the alarm, which will make Cruella de Fur appear immediately. Otherwise, one of the ferrets will ask the party for help with the rules. If the party complies, the ferrets will happily welcome them around the small table.
cruella de fur
Cruella de Fur will appear sometime after, and she’s not happy. If they are fighting, she will be angry and will help the ferrets. If they are still playing cards, she’ll be surprised and slightly jealous. At this point, the players can choose to fight her, but make sure to run this scene in a way that makes it clear that fighting is not the only option. Cruella was shunned by the townspeople because of her powers, as people thought nature shouldn’t be controlled by a mere human. In truth, this was a way to hide their fear of someone capable of such power. So Cruella left the village to deepen her knowledge of magic and came back some months after with gained power—and a ton of ferrets. The players can discover this information if they decide to talk to her. She won’t give it easily, but she will end up doing so as she wants to be able to open up to someone else. If the party offers their help to reintegrate Cruella into town life, she’ll be reluctant at first but will end up accepting the offer. As for the ferrets, the party can negotiate with them and get them to coexist peacefully with the Weazletoners. Alternatively, they can scare them away or fight them. If a fight breaks out here, Cruella and the ferrets will fight together against the party. But if Cruella has decided to take the party up on their offer, the ferrets will run away as soon as combat starts.epilogue: business as usual?
If the ferrets have been driven away, or if the party has managed to teach them how to respect the town and its people, everyone is very happy and grateful to them. They’ll offer anything they can to the players (within reason) and they’ll be happy to try to coexist with the ferrets as long as they don’t fall back into chaos. As for Cruella de Fur, the town will be wary of her at first but will end up accepting her. If you ran this adventure as a one-off game, you can end the story with a similar scene as the opening. The party is in the Skunk Inn with other patrons, and the atmosphere is much more cheerful. There are ferrets roaming around, but this time they are polite and won’t try to steal or bother anyone. If you’re running it as part of a campaign, feel free to use this epilogue as a way to connect with the rest of the story. Cruella, or one of the townspeople, could give them the next plot hook, for example. Or you can just end with the inn scene and save any plot hooks for the next session.the emerald anthology
The Emerald Anthology was created in 2022 by a group of Quest creators. While all adventure take place in a shared setting, this mostly acts as a backdrop that some adventures lean on more than others. The goal of the Anthology was to introduce new people to the amazing game that is Quest and to give Guides some free resources to run at their table!new to quest?
Quest is a rules-light high-fantasy RPG that takes a narrative-first approach to the game, removing all unnecessary restrictions and providing you with evocative character design and gorgeous art. Learning the rules and creating a quick character takes about 20 minutes—and all you need to play is a d20, your character sheet, and some friends! Curious to learn more?npc stat blocks
cruella de fur
hp 30 — atk 3 — boss — she/hersocial features: Untrusting, curious, possessive
physical features: Ferret-like agility.
role abilities: Shapeshift (gb. 58/82), Freeze (gb. 60/84), Burn (gb. 60/84). If the party has attacked or insulted a ferret in her presence, Cruella’s attack damage will become 4 when her HP lowers to 15 as she becomes progressively more enraged. treasure: Whistle of ferret calling.
veritable weeakness: If a ferret is hurt, or if a player spends their turn insulting a ferret (and has a successful roll), Cruella will lose 2 HP immediately.
vulnerability: Damage taken by illusions is doubled.
funny ferret
hp 4 — atk 1 (2 with dagger) — minionrole abilities: Speak With Animal (gb. 55/78), Sneak Attack (gb. 76/103).
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