L13. Granny Nightshade’s Kitchen
The door to L14 is ajar, and the doors to areas L11 and L15 are locked. Granny Nightshade carries a key that locks and unlocks all three doors (see “Skabatha’s Ring of Keys” earlier in the chapter), as does Pincushion (see area L9).
This squalid kitchen is carved out of the trunk of the fallen oak. A large clay oven sits in the middle of the room, surrounded by crowded shelves laden with forest fungi, jars of pickled grubs, animal skulls, and moldy cookbooks. Sickly-sweet vapors emerge from a cauldron that rests atop the oven.
A young human girl shackled to a worktable is hard at work peeling potatoes. Set into the floor nearby is a padlocked iron grate through which you hear a gruff male voice say, “Are those potatoes I smell?”
Cradlefall, the green dragon wyrmling, spends much of his time dozing in here by the oven. If the characters have not encountered the wyrmling elsewhere, read:
A green dragon the size of a large dog is coiled up near the oven, apparently dozing. Fumes rise from the wyrmling’s nostrils.
Each afternoon, Skabatha Nightshade spends most of her time in this room with occasional visits to the study (area L14). She uses the kitchen to boil candy and prepare potions. The hag treats Cradlefall like her beloved pet; if Skabatha is not present, the wyrmling flees to her side and reports that intruders are in the kitchen.
Child Worker. Mishka (a 9-year-old female human) serves Granny Nightshade as a scullery maid. Mishka has managed to escape from Loomlurch twice, only to be tracked down by Cradlefall and recaptured both times; that’s why Granny Nightshade now chains her to the worktable. As an action, a character using thieves’ tools can pick the lock on Mishka’s ankle cuff with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. Any key that unlocks the kitchen doors also unlocks Mishka’s chains.
If Skabatha isn’t present, Mishka tells the characters about the hag’s daily routine and describes Granny Nightshade’s minions (see “Where’s Skabatha?” and “Skabatha’s Minions” earlier in the chapter). She suggests that they lure Granny Nightshade into the oven and burn her up.
Oven. This oven is large enough to cook a Medium creature whole. A 5-foot-wide iron door in the front of the oven allows one to reach into the oven’s interior without disturbing the fuming cauldron that rests atop it. The oven’s flames are produced by a fire elemental that is bound inside the clay enclosure. Its coal-black eyes are visible inside the flames to anyone who peers inside the oven. While it is trapped in this manner, the elemental can’t be targeted or harmed directly.
Any creature that enters the hot oven or starts its turn inside it takes 10 (2d6 + 3) fire damage. A character can try to shove a Medium or smaller creature into the oven, if the creature is within 5 feet of the oven’s open door (see “Shoving a Creature” in the Player’s Handbook). If the creature is looking into the oven when it is shoved, the Strength (Athletics) check to shove the creature is made with advantage.
The oven is a Large object with AC 13, 30 hit points, vulnerability to cold damage, and immunity to fire, poison, and psychic damage. If the oven is reduced to 15 hit points or fewer, the elemental escapes from captivity and occupies an open space next to the oven. The elemental waits in the kitchen for Granny Nightshade to appear, then attacks her. It attacks the characters only if they harm it.
Trapdoor and Cell. A 3-foot-square, padlocked iron grate covers a 5-foot-deep, 5-foot-wide cell built into the kitchen floor. The walls of the cell are made of 1-foot-thick clay bricks held together with mortar. Granny Nightshade carries the padlock’s only key (see “Skabatha’s Ring of Keys” earlier in the chapter). As an action, a character can use thieves’ tools to try to pick the lock, doing so with a successful DC 18 Dexterity check. As an action, a character can try to pull open the trapdoor without removing the padlock, doing so with a successful DC 22 Strength (Athletics) check.
Skabatha imprisons her most hated enemies inside the cell, which is filled with muddy water to a depth of 3 feet. The cell currently holds a bedraggled and grumpy dwarf named Elkhorn, one of the members of the adventuring band known as Valor’s Call. If Rubin Sugarwood was lured through the mirror in the Witchlight Carnival’s Hall of Illusions, the characters also find him in the cell, still wearing smeared butterfly face paint. Rubin angered the hag, and she has promised to “plant him in her garden” when she has a new plot of ground ready.
If Elkhorn is freed, he provides the following information to his rescuers:
Elkhorn and his four human companions entered Prismeer to confront their archenemy, the League of Malevolence. Elkhorn’s companions included Strongheart the paladin, Mercion the cleric, Molliver the rogue, and Ringlerun the wizard. Their group is known as Valor’s Call.
The League of Malevolence is a coalition of villains: Kelek the sorcerer, Warduke the helmed swordsman, Skylla the warlock, a priest of Orcus named Zargash, and Zarak the assassin. Valor’s Call caught up with the League of Malevolence in the Palace of Heart’s Desire, home of the archfey Zybilna. The two groups fought a mighty battle, during which Elkhorn believes he was knocked out. He woke up here, in Loomlurch.
Granny Nightshade has lost interest in Elkhorn and is not concerned if he starves to death. The children toss him scraps of food to keep him alive.
Elkhorn happily joins the characters if he is freed from the cell. He’s wearing his armor, and his shield and sword are stuffed in a kitchen cupboard (see “Treasure” below), though he doesn’t know that. The old dwarf is determined to free the children of Loomlurch from captivity and ensure their safekeeping until they can be returned to their families. His duty in this regard overpowers even his longing to find out what happened to his adventuring companions; if the children are rescued, Elkhorn rounds them up and cares for them.
When Elkhorn and his friends first arrived in Prismeer, they traveled to the Palace of Heart’s Desire by following the stone causeway that once stretched from the palace to the edge of the domain. This route has since been shattered. He knows of no other way to reach the palace.
Cauldron. The cauldron is nearly full of hot melted candy, which bubbles gently. As an action, a creature can spill the cauldron’s contents onto another creature within 5 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 (1d4) fire damage; in addition, the creature is covered with a sticky, crunchy candy coating that is easily washed off with water.
Cookbooks. Granny Nightshade has several cookbooks in her kitchen that contain candy recipes. One of these books has a 1-foot-long piece of gnarled root as a bookmark; this object is the cutting that Granny Nightshade took from the shambling mound in area L5.
Characters can also find a cookbook that contains formulas for common and uncommon potions. A character can brew such a potion by following the rules for crafting magic items in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Treasure. Searching Granny Nightshade’s kitchen reveals the following treasures:
Six brass egg cups embossed with the faces of crying children (5 gp each)
An ornate eight-minute hourglass (75 gp)
A moldy wooden coffer labeled “Mushrooms” (in Elvish) that contains two butterfly saddles and a hummingbrella (see area L5 for descriptions of these mushrooms)
In addition, Elkhorn’s shield and +1 longsword can be found inside a small cupboard.