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A CR 9 Encounter
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MFE#10 1
About the Author ............................................. 9
Introduction .................................................... 2
HISTORY/BACKGROUND
History/Background......................................... 2 While reality would be better without demons,
they sometimes play a valuable role in thwarting
Getting the PCs Involved.................................. 3 each other’s machinations.
Demon lords of the undead, like Orcus and
Maps ............................................................... 3 Durakor, hope to transform the material plane
into an empire of the undead. The demon
Bog Encounter ............................................. 3 Zuggtmoy opposes this goal—not because she
disagrees with transforming the creatures of the
Bog Island .................................................... 4
material realm, but because she wants them to
Encounter........................................................ 4 become fungal beings rather than undead.
While Orcus and Durakor can often find
NPCs............................................................ 8 mortals who crave the power and long existence
of undeath, Zuggtmoy has no appeal to sane
Hook?.............................................................. 9 mortals—while being undead comes with certain
horrors, being consumed by demonic fungus is
Free Stuff! ....................................................... 9 nothing but horror.
While she can sometimes recruit the very evil
Free Map Collections ................................... 9
who are also insane, her main strategy has been
Free Rules.................................................... 9 to rely on even more trickery than other demons.
Her minions guide the creation of cults that
Free Encounters .......................................... 9 serve as fronts for her. Some of these cults are
openly evil, while others are elaborate
Stuff to Buy! ................................................. 9 masquerades in which the true leadership dupes
neutral or good beings and guides them down
Adventures .................................................. 9 the path to voluntary or involuntary conversion
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.
MFE#10 2
to worshippers of Zuggtmoy. She has also erratic behavior—they are ideal cover for any
created or corrupted beings to serve her will slips she might make.
from behind the façade of kindness. While she has yet to form a proper cult in the
In addition to competing with other demon village, she has won their trust and has
lords, Zuggtmoy is also competing with evil gods established a reputation that brings the sick to
with links to nature—while they are all evil, these her—some of which she helps (to further her
gods oppose Zuggtmoy’s plan to convert all reputation) and some she converts to fungal
creatures into fungus. One of Zuggtmoy’s main zombies. She has great hopes that she will soon
nemeses among these gods is Shadash—who have a cult formed and be able to use the village
also claims rulership of fungi. The two have long to expand her influence to other villages and
engaged in a secret war, infiltrating and towns.
destroying each other’s cults. Shadash generally
enjoys a considerable advantage over Zuggtmoy GETTING THE PCS
when recruiting since Shadash merely wants a
harsher natural world and not a nightmare of
INVOLVED
fungus. There are a variety of ways to get the PCs
One of Zuggtmoy’s small victories offer involved in the encounter. One option is to have
Shadash was corrupting (or corrupting even the PCs stumble across the Bog Witch while
more) some of Shadash’s favorite hags, thus journeying through the bog—the classic random
creating the dreadful Bog Witches. While Bog encounter.
Witches are still closely related to hags, even As second option is for a villager to have grown
those foul creatures loath and shun them for suspicious of the Bog Witch (perhaps following
their service to Zuggtmoy. her into the bog and seeing her change into her
Many years ago, a Bog Witch arrived in Kebb’s true form) and request that the adventurers
Bog (named for the explorer who found and died investigate.
in the bog) and began her plan of corruption. A third option is for the Bog Witch to try to
Like most Bog Witches, she focuses on deceit recruit the PCs to do some task for her—for
and keeps her murders to a minimum. She did, example, she might send them to deal with
however, bring with her Bog Ogres and a Bog servants of Durakor or Orcus in the area—Mike’s
Giant to serve as muscle. Free Encounter #8: Bonewalkers provides just
Using her shape changing ability, she such a scenario.
appeared to the villagers living near the bog as a
fair fey creature. Using her knowledge of fungus MAPS
herbalism and alchemy, she won over their trust The provided maps are of a bog encounter and
and gratitude by secretly causing and then the Bog Witch’s island.
publicly curing outbreaks of various infections
BOG ENCOUNTER
and illnesses.
Her apparent kind deeds and illusory beauty Aside from an unusual level of fungal growth,
won over Brell, a naïve druid. While Brell would the bog is a normal bog and features plenty of
be horrified by the truth of what she is, her biting insects in the summer and an abundance of
deceptions and illusions have enabled her to leeches. The bog has numerous small islands,
manipulate him quite effectively: he built which are mostly just muddy protrusions with a
structures for her on her big island and aids her tree or two holding it together.
in her healing efforts in the village. She is also This map can be used for a random or planned
careful to play up the legendary fey oddness and bog encounter, perhaps with a Bog Ogre.
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. MFE#10
3
BOG ISLAND
The Bog Witch lives on the largest island in the
bog. She originally lived in a crude tent but was ENCOUNTER
able to get Brell to construct three modest The base encounter is with the bog witch and is
structures for her. She is careful to use her CR 7. To increase the challenge, add an
illusions to ensure that he remains convinced she appropriate number of minions.
is a kind and gentle fey creature with odd, but not While quite capable of physical combat, the Bog
evil, fey giants as her assistants. Witch is smart enough to use her spells to their
1. Path: This path leads to the house; the Bog full advantage if she must fight. Her preference is
Witch has decorated it with fungal covered skulls; to avoid combat by deceit—but if she sees a clear
she has convinced Brell that this is just an advantage or necessity in murdering the PCs,
eccentric fey behavior and that she found the then she will do so.
skulls in the swamp and wanted them to have a If she has her minions and combat ensues, she
better home above the bog. The fungi covering the will use them as expendable meat shields in order
skulls has grown into shriekers and violet fungi— to survive the encounter.
they have the skulls embedded in their tops, One of her survival plans involves the lie that
making them seem somewhat like undead fungus. the giant captured her and has forced her to serve
him.
3. Bog Ogre’s House: The Bog Ogres dwell in Amphibious. The creature can breathe air and water.
this house; they have wrecked the furniture made
Fungal Infection. If a creature has intimate contact with a
by Brell. They have been forced to maintain a bog witch, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution
level of cleanliness alien to them, but they fear the saving throw against disease or become Poisoned until
Bog Witch so much that they are willing to do the disease is cured. Every 24 hours that elapse, the
target must repeat the saving throw, reducing its hit point
some cleaning for her in order to not give away maximum by 5 (1d10) on a failure. The disease is cured
their true identity (gnawed corpses and bones on a success. The target dies if the disease reduces its hit
would give it away). point maximum to 0. This reduction to the target's hit
point maximum lasts until the disease is cured. A
creature that dies from this disease becomes a fungal
4. Bog Giant’s House: The Bog Giant lives in this zombie.
house; like the ogres he is forced to keep it
Illusory Appearance . The bog witch covers herself and
somewhat clean. He has broken his furniture and anything she is wearing or carrying with a magical Illusion
made it into a pillow; shoved under the debris is that makes her look like another creature of her general
125 gp and a silver shortsword (medium size). size and humanoid shape. The Illusion ends if the bog
witch takes a Bonus Action to end it or if she dies.
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. MFE#10
4
The changes wrought by this effect fail to hold up to While blessed with great strength and natural weapons,
physical inspection. For example, the bog witch could the Bog Witch also possesses powerful spell casting
appear to have smooth skin, but someone touching her abilities and relies on them in combat—at least until
would feel her rough flesh. Otherwise, a creature must melee combat is required.
take an action to visually inspect the Illusion and succeed
on a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern Despite these powerful abilities, a Bog Witch prefers to
that the bog witch is disguised. rely on deceit—she makes good use of her shape
changing and illusions to hide her true nature, win over
deluded allies and cause dissent among her foes.
Actions
STR 20 (+5), DEX 7 (-2), CON 18 (+4), INT 5 (-3), WIS 6 Armor Class 8
(-2), CHA 6 (-2) Hit Points 22 (3d8+9)
Speed 20 ft.
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages Common, Giant STR 14 (+2), DEX 7 (-2), CON 16 (+3), INT 3 (-4), WIS 7
Challenge 2 (450 XP) (-2), CHA 2 (-4)
Spell Attack. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 0 Multiattack. The shambling mound makes two slam
ft., one target. attacks. If both attacks hit a Medium or smaller target,
Hit: As Spell damage. the target is grappled (escape DC 14), and the shambling
mound uses its Engulf on it.
Unarmed Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5
ft., one creature. Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one
Hit: 2 bludgeoning damage. target.
Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage.
Description: Brell realized at a young age that he loved
plants and animals more than he loved people. After Engulf. The shambling mound engulfs a Medium or
learning the ways of the druid, he set out to protect the smaller creature grappled by it. The engulfed target is
wild areas he loves and discovered he had a special blinded, restrained, and unable to breathe, and it must
fondness for swamps and bogs. succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the start
of each of the mound’s turns or take 13 (2d8 + 4)
While exploring the bog, he encountered the Bog Witch— bludgeoning damage. If the mound moves, the engulfed
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. MFE#10
8
target moves with it. The mound can have only one Mike’s Free Encounter #4: Kobold Emissary
creature engulfed at a time. Mike’s Free Encounter #5: Gnark Horse
Mike’s Free Encounter #6: Ghost of Kella Thar
Description: Shambly is Brell’s plant friend—they wander
about together. Shambly is well fed by Brell and has Mike’s Free Encounter #7: Capraemortu
learned to not attack people and animals except in self- Mike’s Free Encounter #8: Bonewalkers
defense. He is quite loyal to Brell and will follow his lead Mike’s Free Encounter #9: Alena Trel the Eye
in combat. Shambly senses something is wrong about the Piercer
Bog Witch; she explains this away by saying that it is
because she is a fey creature.
Stuff to Buy!
I also sell stuff for D&D:
HOOK?
The encounter can serve as a hook for
ADVENTURES
additional adventure. As noted above, the Bog
Witch could send the PCs to deal with the Belmey (pay what you want)
Bonewalkers. The Bog Witch might have also Broken Mine 5E
Arrogo's Tomb
succeeded in creating a cult in the village, which
Dragon Hunt
must be rooted out—or the PCs might think she
has done so (she will encourage this idea; if she
cannot survive to corrupt the villagers then she
hopes the PCs will murder them).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Michael LaBossiere is a gamer/runner from
Maine who went to school in Ohio and ended up
a philosophy professor in Florida.
FREE STUFF! While acquiring his doctorate in philosophy at
I regularly make free D&D stuff available, Ohio State University, he earned his ramen
including map collections and encounters. noodle money by writing for Chaosium, GDW, R.
Talsorian Games, and TSR. After graduate
FREE MAP COLLECTIONS school, he became a philosophy professor at
Florida A&M University. His first philosophy
Mike's Free Maps Collection #1 book, What Don't You Know?, was published in
Mike's Free Maps Collection #2 2008. He continues to write philosophy and
Mike's Free Maps Collection #3
gaming material. He is also a blogger, but these
Mike's Free Maps Collection #4
Mike's Free Maps Collection #5 days who isn't?
Mike’s Free Maps Collection #6 When not writing, he enjoys running, gaming
and the martial arts. Thanks to a quadriceps
FREE RULES tendon tear in 2009, he was out of running for a
while, but returned to the trails and wrote a book
Mob Rules about it, Of Tendon & Trail. He can be contacted
at ontologist@aol.com.
FREE ENCOUNTERS Michael LaBossiere’s Amazon Author Page
Michael LaBossiere’s Paizo Page
Mike's Free Encounter #1: Necromancer's Stash
Mike’s Free Encounters #2: Worg Riders Michael LaBossiere’s DriveThru RPG Page
Mike’s Free Encounter #3: Haunted Stones Michael LaBossiere’s Dungeon Masters Guild Page
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. MFE#10
9
MAPS
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.
MFE#10 10
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.
MFE#10 11