No Prep Module: A Flayer's Feast for D&D or RPGs
This adventure can be can be easily customized to a party of any size or level, or run as a level 6 adventure for 5 players. It can work as a small side adventure in an existing campaign, as a standalone one-shot, or the start of a new adventure. Use the links to the tools in their relevant section to customize the adventure to your party.
Background
An alhoon is a mind flayer that has discovered the arcane arts. Exiled from their colony as deviant minds, they are loner outcasts that can never return to the brood or join with an elder brain. One such alhoon has made its lair in the sewers underneath the town of Princemell, and has developed such a refined palate that only young brains will sate its hunger. The alhoon has been abducting children from their homes at night, and the problem has grown large enough that the town's parents are desperate for help.
Start with a week of downtime and choose something from each PC's backstory to advance and connect to the adventure. A relative, contact, or rival could be involved, or something pertaining to one of their character's goals can be progressed by something in the adventure. If a PC has no hooks in their backstory, use the downtime to establish what one of these might be instead: have someone ask about a relative, introduce a rival, or ask about their character's goals. If this is the first (or only) session with these characters, you can skip this.
Dinner Party
The PCs are invited to a dinner party for the city's elite.
You are at an outdoor dinner party. The table is set for 16; there is a bottle of wine and glasses on the table, along with some cutlery and napkins. The sun is setting behind you in the west as you look out over the valley below. The valley is filled with trees and a constant turbulent wind that rustles the leaves and branches violently. The edges of the leaves appear to be razor sharp.
Ask the players what they do at the dinner party, and play out any interactions with the food and guests. When there's a pause or you're ready to move on, Fallond Trollbleeder will make a toast and strike up a conversation.
You see a male dwarf smile at you. He wears silk and lounges about seductively. His skin is fair and his fingers are delicate and long. His white hair and beard is wavy and long. His violet eyes show the wear and tear of someone lonely with a great burden to carry. He raises a glass, "a toast to true heroes of the realm!"
Fallond Trollbleeder, Male Dwarf
Personality: He is filled with cunning. He likes to feign weakness letting people think he is weak. The occasional robbery is his preferred attention getting crime, but he mainly uses his means for meeting his own perverse desires.
History: He was born in the south. He has chosen to use the inheritance that was left to him frivolously. He has recently gotten a pet goose that steals things from people.
Motivation:He uses money and sex appeal to get what he needs.
Voice: Eastern European accent
Fallond asks the PCs for their help with finding several missing children. He knows the following:
- Most of the children were abducted from home, but no one has claimed to see the abductor.
- Several of the parents can be found at the church, where they've been praying for the safe return of their children.
Investigation
The PCs may decide to do some investigating on their own or take a different approach, in which case you can run it as a skill challenge. Ask the players what they do and determine which skill fits their action the best (skill reference) with a DC of 12, or use DC 17 if it's implausible [Customize].
- On total success, they manage to uncover several leads that ends up pointing them to the leatherworker at #7. Include at least one or two of the encounters below during their investigation.
- On partial success, there's an additional complication: The PCs then end up in the middle of a heated stand-off between two grieving families, and they need to resolve tensions or choose a side.
- On failure, their plan fails completely and they are attacked by the psychic illusions of the patrol below. With their leads exhausted, they end up at the church.
Exploring Princemell
The alhoon has dominated many prominent members of the populace, and will be aware of the PC's investigation. The alhoon will use psionic traps and illusionary monsters to try and stop the PCs, assume any listed encounters below are illusions that are visible only to the PCs. On death, any creatures the PCs fight will simply blink out of existence, but their attacks leave psychic scars that feel very real. Occasionally, dark figures may be seen out of the corner of their vision as the alhoon stalks their movements.
Room Contents
You can also generate different descriptions using the Description Generator
1
The multi-laned, cut rock and gravel street with smooth creek pebbles is next to a large public square. Near the centre of town is a cramped plaster and wood frame estate, with soot billowing from the chimney on a brown natural stone roof and a small tower rising toward the back. A preacher is giving a sermon.
The building is a Church known for beautiful indoor gardens, owned by Sekhmet Scorn, Female Tiefling.
In this hall is a trap. An enchanted eyeball watches the area. The trap is triggered when the eye sees movement from the PCs within its periphery, which sends out a psychic blast.
Effect: Targets all creatures within a 10 ft. square area, a psychic blast targets PCs in the area, DC 18 WIS save or take 41 (8d10) psychic damage.
Trigger: motion sensing eye, an enchanted eyeball watches over the area.
Countermeasures: A spell or other effect that can sense the presence of magic, such as detect magic, reveals an aura of divination magic on the eye. A successful dispel magic (DC 20) cast on the eye disables the trap.
[Customize]There is a west path that leads to #4
There is a south path that leads to #2
2
Along the walls, displayed on sandstone pedestals, are two sandstone statues of handsome women. The hall has clay walls and a brick floor. Hanging above is a stone chandelier that twinkles with a glowing light. Farther away, a single door leads from the north wall. The hallway continues after the hall, curving abruptly to the west and out of sight. There are several people praying here.
There are 1 Fire Giant (CR 9: Monster Manual p. 154), 1 Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4: Monster Manual p. 98) [Deadly, 6,100 XP rewarded] [Customize] here.
The other villagers can't see the illusionary monsters that fight the PCs, and will flee in terror when combat breaks out.
There is a west path that leads to #3
There is a north path that leads to #1
3
Rusty utensils and old dishwares are piled everywhere. A cat dashes away as you enter, and across the hall to the north, a set of double doors stands closed. Set into the far wall is a stove. At the south end of the hall, a cutting table sits between two doors. A door next to the far wall leads to the east. A door stands closed to the west.
There is a west path that leads to #6
There is an east path that leads to #2
You see a female half-Elf priest. She wears a robe, a symbol of strength around her neck, and a longsword on her belt. Her attire stands in sharp contrast to her longsword, which is beautifully polished and possesses an ornate carving of a her deity on it. Sporting a blonde mohawk this woman's hair draws a lot of attention. She wears an eyepatch.
Anne Woodhouse, Female Half-Elf
Personality: She is always cheerful, even with a hangover, and is always willing to go through all sorts of trouble to help her friends. She considers everything a fun event and doesn't hold grudges. She can see the true alignment of people by looking at them, and uses this to pass judgement.
Voice: Pronounces 'its' and 'is' like 'eats' and 'ease'
Anne Woodhouse asks the PCs to go retrieve a coffin from the sculptor in return for a helpful lead. The sculptor can be found at #4 or the priest can be intimidated with a DC 16 check. If intimidated or the body recovered, the priest will reveal that she saw a heavily robed figure entering the leatherworker at night, and if investigated that leads to #7
4
You step along the red cobblestone street that's relatively cramped, which is covered in fallen leaves. You observe a big hewn rock rowhouse, which has pale furniture.
A runaway wagon careens down a hill. The building is a Sculptor known for being a social hot spot, owned by Sekhmet Scorn, Female Tiefling.
There are 1 Flameskull (CR 4: Monster Manual p. 134), 1 Red Dragon Wyrmling (CR 4: Monster Manual p. 98), 1 Fire Elemental (CR 5: Monster Manual p. 125) [Deadly, 4,000 XP rewarded] [Customize] here.
There is a west path that leads to #5
There is an east path that leads to #1
5
The brick floor is covered beneath a heavy rug. A tough green tapestry covers the floor. Two braziers of stone sit on the ground. The doors to the east and south are sheathed in stone.
In this hall is an event. Gain a random treasure, but trigger a trap. Offered by small magical constructs set to perform some ancient task. [Customize]
There is an east path that leads to #4
There is a south path that leads to #6
6
A tightly square-shaped hall opens up beyond a the door. A crypt filled with coffins sits dominates the far half of the room, and farther away, a solitary door leads from the north wall.
A crypt contains coffins marked with the names of previous rulers, but only one is correct and the rest are trapped decoys by the alhoon (History DC 12, any other solution DC 17). On success, they find the correct body as well as 190 sp, and 70 gp in the coffin [Customize]. On fail, they take 10 psychic damage.
There is a north path that leads to #5
7
You make your way through the somewhat simple, paved rock street, until you come upon a sagging carved stone, single storey property. It has soot billowing from the chimney on sagging tile roof and expensive looking furniture. The avenue has a wide well sitting next to the road, and a wagon has a broken wheel in the middle of the street, tying up all the traffic.
The building is a Leatherworker known for being pretty busy, owned by Sekhmet Scorn, Female Tiefling.
[Customize]Sekhmet asks a puzzle for entry: An iron horse with a flaxen tail. The faster the horse runs, the shorter his tail becomes. What is it? A: A needle and thread.
If the puzzle is solved, they're allowed inside. Otherwise, the PCs can intimidate or force their way in.
There is a west path that leads to #8
8
Clay shafts brace the 15-foot-high ceiling of this warm hall. Against the east wall rest three duplicate parchments. At the east end of the hall, a bookcase rest next to a door. Dense satin curtains swing across a door to the west.
An object in this hall the touched object animates, or it animates other objects nearby.
There is a west path that leads to #9
There is an east path that leads to #7
9
Thick shafts brace the ceiling of this cramped hall, with a curved outer wall. A mirror sits at the front of this long hall. A spongy mattress sits on the east wall between two doors.
The mirror is a portal that leads to #10
10
You step through the mirror and find yourself in the sewers beneath a city. It's dark down here, but you can see well enough to navigate. You walk along the sewer tunnel, following the walls of rough-hewn stone blocks. Eventually you come to a dark lair where you see a sickly looking mind flayer standing over a motionless body on the ground. The mind flayer notices your presence. "Ah! Visitors at last," it says with a twisted pleasure.
There are 1 Shadow (CR: 1/2: Monster Manual p. 269), 1 Alhoon (CR: 10: Volo's Guide to Monsters p. 172) (Deadly, 1,200 XP each) [Customize] here.
Searching the remains, they find 800 cp, 7000 sp, 2300 gp, 100 pp, Spell scroll (1st level),
50 gp valuables (300 gp total): 2 Sardonyx (opaque bands of red and white), Star rose quartz (translucent rosy stone with white star-shaped center), Citrine (transparent pale yellow-brown), Zircon (transparent pale blue-green), Jasper (opaque blue, black, and or brown) [Customize].
Conclusion
With the alhoon defeated, some of the missing children are found in cages within its lair. The families are grateful to have their kids back, and funerals are held for those lost.
The villagers dominated by the alhoon slowly regain their senses over a couple days, with no recollection of what happened.
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