D16. Bullywug Hut
The wooden door to this dwelling is barred shut from the inside. If the characters knock on the door or otherwise announce their arrival, a bullywug inside the dwelling croaks (first in Bullywug and then in Common), “Push the note under the door.” The bullywug is referring to the secret message the characters received in area D6. If the characters comply, the bullywug lifts the bar, opens the door, and allows them inside. If the characters don’t comply or don’t have the note, a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check convinces the bullywug to open the door and let them in. Otherwise, a character can use an action to try to force open the door, doing so with a successful DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check.
When the characters peer inside, read:
Standing just inside the door is a jittery bullywug with a spear, and behind this guard is a wooden crate with hunting gear piled atop it. Huddled in the back of the hut are four more bullywugs. Tension hangs heavy in the air as one of the huddled bullywugs signals you to enter and join their conversation.
This dwelling provides shelter to a group of bullywugs that is plotting to overthrow King Gullop XIX. Their leader is a bullywug knight (neutral evil) named Illig, Baron of Muckstump. The other four bullywugs (neutral evil) are Illig loyalists named Glorig, Grundelkrantz, Gullibek, and Voolp.
Illig regards Gullop XIX as a witless buffoon unworthy of the crown and plans to declare himself the rightful king. He proudly shows off a drawing on the mud floor that depicts a crude image of Gullop XIX with a dagger in his eye. Illig’s plot is straightforward: he intends to approach Gullop XIX while the king sits on his throne, pretend to trip into him, and “accidentally” stick him in the eye with the dagger. If Illig views the characters as coconspirators, he’s eager to hear what they think of his cunning plan. If they have a better one, he wants to hear it.
If the characters try to leave before Illig is ready to pull off his attempted coup, Illig and his allies become suspicious of them unless the party succeeds on a DC 13 Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) group check. On a failed check, the bullywugs attack the characters to prevent them from betraying Illig to Gullop XIX.
If one or more characters force their way inside, Illig’s allies try to hold the intruders back long enough for Illig to use an action to hurriedly wipe away the plans drawn on the floor. If he succeeds in doing so, Illig feigns innocence while demanding that the characters leave the hut at once.
Crate. The wooden crate has Bavlorna’s name scrawled on it in Sylvan. The hunting gear piled on top of it includes a heavy crossbow, six crossbow bolts, a hunting trap, and a rolled-up cape of moss. Inside the crate are seven woodland animal carcasses, which the bullywugs intend to deliver to Bavlorna (an amateur taxidermist) once Illig is installed as the new king of the Soggy Court.
Development. If the bullywug conspirators are not stopped or the king is not warned, the coup succeeds and Illig becomes King Illig I. If the characters warn Gullop XIX or thwart the conspirators, the coup fails.
If the coup is thwarted because of the characters’ actions, Gullop XIX rewards them with Illig’s former title, dubbing each of them “Duke of Muckstump.” These titles come with no lands or holdings, but other members of the Soggy Court are envious and eager to befriend the new nobility.
D17. King’s Mount
The wooden door to this dwelling is closed but not locked.
A frayed rope tethers a giant toad to a wooden post in the middle of this hut. The toad looks uncomfortable as a pair of sticky, webbed hands push their way out of its mouth. The toad’s jaws open wide as it regurgitates a bullywug, who falls prone on the floor.
The giant toad is Gullop XIX’s mount. The regurgitated bullywug (neutral) is the toad’s handler, Vlonk. “Swallow the guard” is a game the toad likes to play, and Gullop has ordered Vlonk to let himself get swallowed whenever the toad wants to “play.”
Vlonk and the toad are indifferent toward the characters. If the characters seem friendly, Vlonk asks them to mind the toad while he goes for a swim to wash the toad’s saliva off his skin. If the characters agree to toad-sit, Vlonk returns 10 minutes later to resume his duties. During Vlonk’s absence, the toad tries to swallow at least one of the characters. However, it can’t reach anyone more than 5 feet away from the wooden post to which it is tethered.
D18. Bavlorna’s Cauldron
A bulbous, green-black cauldron with a thick lid sits above a bed of hot coals on six sturdy iron legs that protrude from its curved bottom like the extremities of a crab. A wooden ladle hangs from a lanyard looped around the lid’s knob.
Bavlorna’s cauldron is 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall. The cauldron is hot to the touch, because it is being heated by the coals. The cauldron’s lid is held shut by an arcane lock spell, the password for which is “spittlespew.” If anyone tries to remove the lid without first speaking the password, the cauldron scuttles away; it has a walking speed of 30 feet and returns to its spot over the coals after 10 minutes.
If the cauldron scuttles away, a magmin emerges from within the pile of hot coals. It introduces itself as the coal tender and asks the characters, in Ignan, “You want in that cauldron?” He offers to give them the password in exchange for some dry wood (he loves the sound that dry wood makes when it burns). If the characters give him a bundle of dry wood (which can be obtained from the darklings in area D10), the magmin shares the password. The magmin lingers until the cauldron returns, at which point the magmin dives under the coals and disappears.
Animated Coals. If the characters attack the magmin, eight of the coals from the bed spring to life and come to the magmin’s defense. See the “Animated Coals” section in the description of area D4.
What’s Cooking? Inside the cauldron is a bubbling, frothy, gray-black liquid that radiates an aura of transmutation magic under the scrutiny of a detect magic spell. Any creature that drinks a pint or more of the liquid is targeted by a polymorph spell (save DC 14) that lasts for 1 hour. The creature is transformed into either a giant frog (75 percent chance) or a giant dragonfly (25 percent chance).
Unicorn Horn. If the Story Tracker indicates that the missing unicorn’s horn is here, the characters can find it amid the coals. (Bavlorna kicked it into the coals accidentally after one of her clumsy lornlings dropped it.) The soot-stained horn is easy to spot once the cauldron scuttles out of the way, because it tumbles into view when the magmin appears.
D19. Watch Tower
A wood plank path leads up to this location from the nearby dwellings (areas D16 and D17).
A ten-foot-high, raised wooden platform stands atop a mound of mossy earth and mud. Two bullywugs laze at their guard post atop the platform, occasionally peering through a long spyglass mounted on a swivel.
A frayed clothesline attached to one corner of the watch tower is festooned with patchwork garments. The line stretches out toward the nearby lake before disappearing in the fog.
The mound on which the platform is built is 10 feet above water level at its highest point. The slippery slope around the platform is difficult terrain. No ladder or rope leads to the platform, since the bullywugs can simply leap to the top of the mound. The two bullywugs (neutral) stationed on the platform use the swiveling spyglass to keep an eye out for danger, though the device does not help them see through the thick fog.
Clothesline. The clothesline attached to the watch tower leads to Bavlorna’s cottage (area D12) and has a variety of frayed, patchwork garments draped over it. The line can support an additional 200 pounds before snapping.