“Making Fiends at School”

A Ginny Di Adventure

Watch on YouTube

Opening
The party is answering a peculiar urgent want ad when they first meet Wisteria Appledackle,
although they don’t know that’s who they’ll be meeting. The writer of the ad was extremely
secretive, like she was afraid someone would identify her from it. All the adventurers know is
that she’ll meet them in the back corner of the local apothecary, The Crafty Vial, by the herbal
potion making stock.

Wisteria
● Student at Krumbridge Academy, a magic school
● Is desperate to not get kicked out of school over her mistake

She’s promised 500 gold pieces up front, and another 500 once complete. She claims to have a
magic item that she’ll include with the second payment, although she was vague in the ad.

It’s really good! And it’s one-of-a-kind. I made it myself, actually. I’m getting pretty good
at enchantment! Last week Professor Loramys said I’m at the top of the class. ...well, he
said I’m in the top ten. For quiz scores. That week. But really, it’s a powerful item!
— Wisteria, magic student
The Job
Wisteria needs you to go to Krumbridge Academy, the wizard school. Wisteria, a student there,
accidentally released a devil there.

But it’s fine! I haven’t heard about any deaths or maulings yet, so I think there’s still time
to catch it before anybody notices! And then I won’t get kicked out of school.
— Wisteria, magic student

She isn’t quite sure what kind of devil she summoned. She was attempting to cast Conjure
Minor Elementals, but things went sideways. She gives you the key to her dorm room, number
14, and says you’ll find the remains of the summoning ritual there. She says she’ll meet you in
the library if you have any questions once you’re there.

Krumbridge Academy
Krumbridge Academy is a proud building of rich red stone that towers over the western side of
the city. Seeing it, it’s obvious why Wisteria had so much pocket change to spend on getting
herself out of trouble: This is an expensive school.

The party can get creative about how to make their way into the halls. Visitors, so long as they
look appropriate for the context, are welcome in the public areas. Teachers, staff, and students
are often in the halls, mostly between classes, and may be curious depending on what they see,
although they’re unlikely to be suspicious unless given a reason to be.
The academy is massive. There are two buildings, both imposing, joined by a covered walkway
where students often sit on the benches, reading or waiting to meet their friends. In the main
building are classrooms, a student cafeteria, and the offices of the instructors, including that of
the Headmistress. The second building features a huge library on the bottom floor, while the
second and third floors house student dormitories and a lavish common area.

The Dorms
In Wisteria’s dorm room, players will indeed find a summoning circle. An Arcana check of 11 will
show that there are a few mistakes in the runes and lines. The chalk is smeared on the side
closest to the door, and a Survival check of 13 will allow players to follow the vague remains of
chalk on the fiend’s footsteps to the common area. If players can’t find the trail, when they leave
the dormitory, they’ll hear a distant chittering sound, like very small voices, which will lead them
to the common area as well.

As they approach, there’s a thick, acrid smell in the air, like something burned nearby. Inside are
five pixies, but it’s clear immediately that something is off about them. Their eyes are black pits,
and their fingers end in blackened, too-long claws. They’re cackling madly as they tear around
the room, wreaking havoc.

There’s an elegant birdcage in the corner, but the bars have been twisted apart — this must be
where the pixies are usually kept, as pets or objects of study. An Arcana check, or maybe
History or Nature, DC 12 will remind your players that pixies are usually pretty friendly. These
pixies have been tainted by the presence of this devil.

Instead of using the stats of a pixie, you can use the stats of a Cackler from the Guildmaster’s
Guide to Ravnica, minus the spiked chain. Or, if you have Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts II, you
could use the Corrupted Pixie.

If your players can come up with a creative way to try and restore the pixies to their natural
state, then great! If calmed, the pixies become friendly, and can show your party where the fiend
went, although they’re too frightened to do much else.

Otherwise, once things have settled down, your players will find a five-foot-wide, slightly
smoking hole behind a couch, half-hidden under some extravagant drapes. The hole is
blackened around the edges and appears to lead directly through the floor and into the library
on the floor below. It’s a fifteen foot drop.

The Library
Once in the library, the players run into Wisteria. She’s spotted the fiend in the library, and has
also learned more about it in a book.

“Identifiable by its sharp spines, the Barbed Devil is not only extremely dangerous in
hand-to-hand combat, but also has innate spellcasting abilities that allow it to hurl flame
 at its opponents. However, this is not what makes this fiend so uniquely deadly. As a
Summoner, the Barbed Devil can call other fiendish allies to its aid.”
— Excerpt from an arcane text

Skill Challenge
Wisteria will accompany the party while they follow the devil through the library in a skill
challenge. (If you’re new to skill challenges, check out Matt Colville’s video about them.) To win
the challenge, players must have three successes. For each failure, the Barbed Devil will have
summoned one ally when they reach the final encounter, with a maximum of three.

There are five challenges, in no particular order, but once your players have won three or lost
three, skip the rest and take them right to the final encounter.

1. Tracking the devil. Survival or Investigation would be a great way to find the devil’s trail.
2. Stifling a book fire. Players turn a corner to find a shelf partially engulfed in flames.
They must put out the fire without attracting notice.
3. Diverting a librarian. Players run into an oblivious librarian… say that ten times fast…
in the records section. Persuasion or Deception could help get this person out of harm’s
way without Wisteria getting in trouble.
4. Fallen shelf. The devil has knocked over a bookshelf, which now blocks the path.
Intelligence could help players find a way around, or Athletics could right the shelf,
among other options.
5. Bottleneck. You reach a doorway that Wisteria says is the only point of entry for this
section. Let players get creative in how to turn innocents away from this doorway.

The Final Encounter

There it is! Can you get rid of it? The book says it can be banished, or you can kill it and
it’ll just *poof* back to the Nine Hells! Either way, no body, which is perfect!
— Wisteria, magic student

This is the final encounter. It takes place in a dusty room with just one entrance, lined with
boxes of old student attendance records. We’re using the Barbed Devil: Summoner Variant stat
block, which can normally only summon one other Barbed Devil, but we’re switching things up
here: The Devil is in the act of summoning a Dretch, preparing himself for his siege on the
library.

Depending on how the party did at the skill challenge, he may already have up to three
Dretches around him, in which case he is attempting to summon a fourth. If the party aced the
skill challenge, this is his first summoning. Either way, the summoning can be interrupted.

The Conclusion
After the fiends are defeated, Wisteria takes you back up to her dorm to give you the second
half of your reward — 500 gold, and a ring.
 I call it “The Ring of Thundersnap”! Once a day, you can snap your fingers and cast
Thunderwave! Pretty amazing, right? Maybe I should major in Evocation, since
Conjuration isn’t working out so great…
— Wisteria, magic student

An Insight check (DC 16) will let them know that Wisteria isn’t telling the whole truth about the
ring. It may not be until one of the adventurers attunes to it and uses it that they realize the flaw
in Wisteria’s design: Casting thunderwave using the ring causes the entire hand to go numb for
ten minutes afterwards, during which it cannot be used for wielding a weapon, casting spells, or
really anything. Looks like she’s still got some learning to do.

RING OF THUNDERSNAP
This ring has one charge, which is regained daily at dawn. You can use your action to expend
the charge to amplify a snap of your fingers, which casts Thunderwave on yourself. After
casting, the hand upon which the ring is worn becomes numb and cannot be used for ten
minutes. This item requires attunement.

Scaling the Adventure

This adventure as-written is suitable for parties of 4-6 level 5 characters.

To make the adventure easier:

● Reduce the number of pixies in the common area
 ● Replace the Barbed Devil with something of a lower challenge rating, such as an Imp
● Eliminate the summoning mechanic and introduce another consequence for skill
challenge failure

To make the adventure harder:

● Use the Imp or Quasit stat block for the pixies
● Replace the Barbed Devil with a higher level fiend, such as the Chain Devil or Hezrou
(Summoner Variant)
● Have the devil summon higher level minions, such as Imps or Quasits, or even Spined
Devils or Hell Hounds

Incorporating the Adventure

This quest could be a great way to get your players in touch with an NPC that might lead to
other quests or plotlines.

For example, their trip to the school could put them in touch with a professor or another student
relevant to your campaign. Or maybe during their investigation, they get wind of some other
mystery happening at the academy, maybe they stumble across some dirt on the headmistress,
or something going on at the school behind closed doors. Or maybe once Wisteria’s problem is
solved, she connects your players with someone else who needs the services of a capable
adventuring party.