ONE SHOT

At a Unicorn

Introduction: This adventure is meant as a one shot that may be inserted into an existing
campaign, or may be played as a standalone adventure.

A 3-hour adventure for 3RD level characters

by SETH VANEYCK

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Adventure Overview
This adventure is optimized for characters of
third level.
All of the creatures in this adventure are avail-
able from the basic rules or the monster manual
unless otherwise indicated.
All text that appears in shaded boxes like this is
meant to be read out loud to the players.
The adventurers are travelling across the sword
coast, as they enter a wooded area they hear
sobbing coming from the east side of the path.
The travelers investigate and find a distraught
pixie. The pixie explains that his friend the uni-
corn is missing. Our intrepid heroes track the
unicorn to a clearing with a large tree on one
side.
After battling an awakened tree, the group dis-
covers that all signs point to the unicorn having
been brought to the large tree that dominates
the clearing. The tree turns out to be the home
of a green hag. A careful search reveals a hidden
passage that leads to an underground cavern.
Once the hazards of the tunnels have been dealt
with, the group finds the unicorn in a large cell,
whereupon they fight the green hag and free the
unicorn.
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
The Sobbing Pixie
While travelling across the sword coast, the
adventurers find themselves traversing a narrow
part of the path that meanders through heavy
forest. Suddenly from the east side of the path,
a little way into the wood, sobbing catches their
ears.
Heading off of the trail and pushing through the
brush, the band finds that they are in a small
clearing.
The sunshine spills into a small lush clearing as
you break through the final dense tree branches.
In the middle of the clearing, resting on an old
moss covered log, sits a tiny pixie. The pixie’s
body is wracked with sobs as he holds his head
in his hands.
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“He’s gone, oh where could he be! This is so
unlike him, we meet here every day”, the pixie
moans in anguish, letting the sobs again take
control of his tiny frame.
The pixie has brownish red hair, is wearing
purple leather armor, has a dagger, is about 2’6”
tall, and has one purple and blue wing and one
gold and blue wing.
If the characters talk to him, the pixie says the
following between sobs: “My name is Mahgrae,
I am so pleased to meet you! I come here every
day to share berries and stories with my very
good friend, Lairin the unicorn. He never misses
a snack date, never ever! I am so worried about
him, could you please help?”
If the characters offer to help, Mahgrae flut-
ters down from the log and eagerly offers to go
with them. If the characters appear reluctant to
help, the pixie offers them a reward of a single
citrine worth 75 gold pieces. If that still doesn’t
work, Mahgrae can roll a persuasion check with
advantage against the players (he is a cute little
fairy folk who is crying after all).
With a successful DC 10 survival check the par-
ty will notice footprints leading off to the north.
The footprints appear to be that of a hoofed crea-
ture and a humanoid. A result of 15 or higher
on the check will reveal that there is no sign of a
struggle.
The Glade of the Kind Woman
The group will travel through the dense under-
growth for about an hour; you may roll a random
encounter if you wish.

You find the going easy as long as you follow the

path that has been pushed through the under-
growth by your quarry. Outside of the path, the
brambles and branches claw at your group as
you pass through. The blue sky and sunlight
from the warm spring day are quickly lost as the
tree branches close over top of you, oppressively
shutting out the sky.

At the end of an hour, the forest opens up and

the group find themselves entering a pleas-
ant meadow from the south. The fact that it is
spring is important for solving a puzzle later in
the adventure.

It takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the

sudden brightness as you step out from beneath
the canopy. When you enter the clearing from
the south, you see a large tree standing alone on
the north side of a pleasantly appointed mead-
ow. The ground is a carpet of wild flowers, moss,
mushrooms and grasses. To the east of the open
space is one of the largest trees you have ever
seen. Standing in front of a prim door cut into tially leading into the tree.
the tree trunk, you spot a smiling ancient lady
energetically sweeping. Her eyes brighten as she
motions you over. If it becomes apparent that the party does
not plan to leave, Netty points at the large tree
1. Awakened Tree across the glade, and disappears. At the hags
At the north end of the clearing a lone large tree bidding the large tree to the north shifts and an
stands out. A DC 20 check will reveal that it awakened tree lumbers across the clearing and
appears to have a face and a vaguely humanoid attacks the players.
shape.
After defeating the awakened tree the players
2. The Hovel are free to investigate the clearing, unfortunately
A massive tree takes up the east side of the there is nothing to find other than the unicorn
glade. Set in the west side facing the open area tracks leading towards the door set in the mas-
is a trim red door. sive tree.

The woman is a green hag in disguise. She The Horrible Hovel

engages with the party in pleasant small talk,
and introduces herself as Auntie Netty all the
while trying to get them to leave. A DC 20 insight
check will reveal to the players that all is not
what it seems.
Maybe there is a strange shimmer that they
catch out of the corner of their eyes, or maybe
the characters feel the hair stand up on the back
of their necks. A DC 15 survival check will show
that the tracks they have been following end at
the spot that the old woman is sweeping, poten-
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The door to the tree hovel is not locked but it is
trapped by a DC 12 Con poison spray spell. The
trap may be discovered by any character that
has a 15 or higher passive perception, otherwise
it takes a DC 15 perception check to discover.
The spell trap may not be disarmed; players are
encouraged to use their imaginations to over-
come it as the door is the only entry point to the
hag’s house. Once the group has gained entry to
the huge tree read the following:
2
 1 square = 5 ft
2a. Living Room
The inside of the hag’s home is dark and pu-
trid in stark contrast to the lovely meadow that
surrounds it. All manner of garbage and debris
cover every available surface, dirty dishes and
crockery form a mountainous landscape, broken
up by narrow valleys that are barely passable.
A sickly yellowish green fungus has taken hold
and is spreading with gusto through the living
space.
Once they have entered the living space the play-
ers must make a DC 10 CON save or they will
become ill. A player who becomes ill in this way
experiences a high fever and one level of exhaus-
tion. This effect heals after a long rest. On a DC
20 investigation success the characters discover
a hidden chest containing 150 GP, 20 SP, 2 CP,
and a gilded rose worth 25 GP.
2b. Bedroom
Aunt Netty’s bedroom is a horrific display of
decay, dead plant matter, and half eaten rodents.
A mound of disintegrating filth that was once
a quilt lies piled on the sleeping platform that
spans the back half of the room.
A successful DC 15 investigation check reveals a
hidden door opening onto a stairway that leads
down to room 3 of the caverns under the tree.
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Creepy Caverns
The following description holds true of the cav-
ern under the hag’s tree. The ceiling, walls and
floor are made up of hard packed mud reinforced
by interlaced roots. All the doors are fabricated
from hard wood held together by living roots.
Spaced approximately 30 feet apart and 5 feet
from the floor are dugouts that contain sputter-
ing candles. These candles provide low light in a
20 foot radius.
3. Entry Hall
As you descend the rough hewn mud stairs
into the darkness of the caverns below the tree,
the scent of wet earth and decay assaults your
nostrils. The tunnels are lit by flickering candles
that barely cast aside the shadows.
4. Storage Closets
Neither of these doors is locked, but each one
contains 1 root blight (use vine blight stats)
plus 1 additional root blight per character. Un-
like the rest of the hag’s lair, these two storage
rooms are neat and organized. The walls are
covered in shelves with primly labeled boxes and
bottles of spell components. The characters dis-
cover 1D100 worth of spell components in each
closet.
5. Locked Door
Before you stands a sturdy wooden door. The
heavy knotted boards that make up its construc-
tion are woven together with thick undulating
roots. Directly above the door is a simple im-
age of a tree. A movable ring encircles it with a
symbol of a sun at the top, a leaf to the right, a
snowflake at the bottom and a flower to the left.
As it is springtime, the answer to the lock puzzle
is to place the flower symbol above the tree. Ev-
ery time the wrong answer is entered, the roots
from the tree form into a root blight (use vine
blight stats) and attack the players.
6. The Cell
Entering the room you find yourselves in a well
lit spacious area divided in half by a cage made
up of thick knurled tree roots. Pacing within the
cage is a beautiful young unicorn, snorting and
stamping with fury. The elderly woman that you
met in the glade stands before you. Upon see-
ing you she spits, snarls and transforms into a
gnarled bent, and twisted green hag.
 1 square = 5 ft

For every party member beyond three, add a

root blight (use vine blight stats) to the en-
counter.

After the Battle

Upon defeating the green hag the tree roots
that make up the cage quickly wither and die. A
cursory inspection of the room reveals a bag of
holding and a drift globe tossed into a corner.

Lairin the unicorn explains to the party that the

green hag captured him in order to use his blood
in a magic ritual. During a dispute with a rival
coven, the hag’s sisters were cast into a pocket
dimension. The hag barely escaped with her life.
Since then she has had one goal, to bring back
her sisters, reform her coven and destroy her
rivals.

Mahgrae and Lairin thank the adventurers and

leave (Mahgrae rewards the party with a citrine
worth 75 gp). The adventurers are free to further
inspect the caverns, and any encounters that
they skipped are still active.

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