Cyclops Beekeeper
A cyclops beekeeper named Mudlump stumbles upon the characters while he is searching for Pollenella, his lost queen bee. Mudlump wears a hooded veil to protect his eye from bee stings and carries a large beehive on a stick, which doubles as a greatclub. Three times per day, as an action, Mudlump can shake his beehive to bring forth a swarm of bees; treat each one as a swarm of insects (wasps). The swarm attacks Mudlump’s enemies.
If Amidor is with the party, the dandelion unsheathes its rapier to defend his beloved honeybee. Upon seeing Amidor, the cyclops roars in Giant, “You stole queen bee! Mudlump needs queen to make honey mead! Best mead in Yon!” Amidor doesn’t speak Giant and has no idea what the cyclops is saying, but Mudlump’s outrage comes through loud and clear.
Mudlump speaks no language other than Giant. Any character who can communicate with Mudlump can, with a successful DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check, convince him not to attack Amidor or the party. Here are three options for settling the dispute, though clever players can come up with others:
Honorable Duel. The characters convince Mudlump to participate in an honorable duel against one of their own. If Mudlump wins, he gets Pollenella; if he loses, he lets Amidor keep Pollenella and doesn’t trouble the party again.
Magical Deception. The characters use magic to fool or placate Mudlump. For example, a character might create an illusion of Pollenella that fools the cyclops long enough for the party to escape. Alternatively, a character might use a speak with animals spell to find out what Pollenella wants. The bee would rather stay with Amidor than return to the cyclops; if Mudlump sees the spell being cast and learns of Pollenella’s preference, he lets Amidor keep the bee.
Explain Love to Mudlump. The characters tell Mudlump that Amidor and Pollenella are in love. This statement causes the cyclops to blink in confusion and ask, “What is love?” If the concept is explained to him, Mudlump declares that he’d like to be in love, too, and gives the characters a quest to find his true love. Although the characters can try to pair Mudlump up with any creature they deem suitable, his ideal match can be found in the Palace of Heart’s Desire: the fomorian Dubhforgail (see area P18 in chapter 5).
Mudlump’s Home. If Mudlump survives this encounter, he returns to his home in the tumbledown, moss-covered ruins of a 30-foot-diameter stone tower that once protruded from a mountainside. There, in a small garden, the cyclops has cultivated three fat, 6-foot-tall mushrooms. These fungi have been hollowed out and turned into casks, their caps serving as lids. These casks are used to ferment a mixture of water and honey, which Mudlump combines with other ingredients to make honey mead. A great beehive—considerably larger than the one Mudlump carries around—fills an ancient, rotted-out tree stump on one side of the tower. The stump is 10 feet tall, twice as wide, and has openings at the top through which Mudlump can reach into the hive. A 6-foot-high, 3-foot-wide, naturally formed opening on one side of the stump leads to a cavity filled with honeycombs and swarming with bees. (Amidor used this opening to enter the hive and rescue Pollenella.)
Treasure. Mudlump has hidden the following treasures under loose stones throughout his home. Any character can find these items with a thorough search of the ruins:
An empty crystal vial shaped like a pixie, dangling on the end of a delicate silver chain (75 gp)
An untuned lyre of exquisite quality (250 gp)
A quiver of Ehlonna
Evil Kite
Feenia, an unhappy goblin child (neutral) in overalls, flies a kite on a blustery plateau. The kite is alive, has a hideous face stretched over its diamond-shaped frame, and cackles in the wind. The kite’s 40-foot-long string has five blue bows tied along its length at 8-foot intervals, starting about 5 feet from Feenia’s end of the string and ending 5 feet away from the kite.
Feenia’s goblin parents, Specklenose and Zolt, live and work in Motherhorn. Three days ago, Feenia was caught stealing theater props, but Endelyn Moongrave promised not to punish her as long as Feenia agreed to fly the hag’s kite. Feenia did so and is now unable to let go of the cursed thing. Yanking the string from Feenia’s grasp releases the goblin child from the pact but also ages her 10 years for every bow that is attached to the kite. The most she can age is 50 years—enough to transform her into a crone with skin like a shriveled apple.
Feenia speaks Common and Goblin. If the characters approach her, she shares the following information while the kite taunts her from above:
“My arms are so very sore, I don’t want to fly this kite anymore! But if I let go of this string, Creeping Lyn says I’ll become an old thing! The curse comes from those five blue bows, but they won’t come off while the wind blows.”
The kite, which was created and brought to life by Endelyn, is a Small animated object (see the animate objects spell for its statistics). The bows can’t be removed from the string while the kite is in the air, and the string can’t be cut. The kite, its string, and the bows turn to ashes if the kite is reduced to 0 hit points.
The safest way to free Feenia from the kite without aging her is to untie the bows, which can be accomplished only while the kite is on the ground (see “The Kite Falls” below). Once the kite falls to the ground, it takes an action to untie each bow. Another way to free Feenia is to reduce the kite to 0 hit points with a single attack or effect before it can react (see “The Kite Reacts” below).
The Kite Falls. A character who doesn’t know what else to do can use an action to make a DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check. On a successful check, the character senses a correlation between Feenia’s foul mood and the strength of the wind around her. If the kite’s taunts are muted for at least 1 minute using a silence spell or similar magic, Feenia’s mood improves, causing the wind to abate and the kite to fall. The same thing happens if a character uses an action to try to calm Feenia, doing so with a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, or if the goblin receives the benefit of a calm emotions spell or similar magic.
The Kite Reacts. If the kite takes damage, but not enough to reduce it to 0 hit points, it uses its reaction to yank the string from Feenia’s grasp (causing Feenia to age as described above). On subsequent turns, the untethered kite flies away.
Development. Regardless of how this encounter plays out, Feenia is not happy about returning to Motherhorn as long as Creeping Lyn is there. She is aware of a small cave nearby where she can hide, and she can survive there indefinitely by eating moss and lizards.
Feenia has a trinket hidden in the pocket of her overalls. She gives this trinket to the characters if they rid her of the kite without causing her to age. Roll on the Feywild Trinkets table in the introduction to determine the trinket.
Goblin Procession
Eight goblins (neutral) shuffle into view, solemnly ringing handbells. They wear headdresses made from animal skulls (badgers, wolves, and rams) and are further adorned with necklaces of dangling bones. Known as the Dead Ringers, they sound their bells to comfort the dead, whom they believe lie in the rock beneath their feet.
The goblins are interested in talking to strangers and are willing to trade their services for a trinket. They have the power to commune with the dead by forming a circle and ringing their bells. (A minimum of three goblins are needed to perform the ritual.) After 1 minute of this clamor, the ephemeral spirit of a korred or some other departed Fey creature rises from the ground between the goblins. The spirit answers three questions put to it, as though it was targeted by a speak with dead spell. Use the spirit to communicate as much useful information as you want; ideally, the characters should learn at least one fact that might help them in a future encounter.
The goblins require one trinket as payment each time they commune with a spirit. After performing this ritual three times, the goblins must finish a long rest to regain their spirit-summoning power.
Goblin Shadows
Endelyn Moongrave separates Humanoids from their shadows using a pair of magic scissors. These severed shadows, indebted to the hag for granting them their freedom, have become a minor menace to travelers.
Characters who have a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 16 or higher observe two silent shadows creeping up behind them. Each one looks like the slightly elongated shadow of a goblin; both use the shadow stat block, except they are Fey rather than Undead. The shadows can’t leave Yon but otherwise try to follow the characters wherever they go, making spooky and threatening gestures but without causing any harm. If they are attacked, the shadows attack in turn. If one shadow is destroyed, the other tries to flee.
A creature whose Strength is reduced to 0 by a shadow’s Strength Drain attack does not die but falls unconscious instead. The creature regains consciousness and the reduction to its Strength score disappears after it finishes a short or long rest.