@Abandoned Raft
The characters find an abandoned, 8-foot-square wooden raft that can support up to 1,200 pounds. The characters need a 10-foot pole or similar tool to guide the raft across the water. When the water level of the swamp is at its lowest, the raft gets stuck in the mud and won’t budge unless it is carried or dragged. It weighs 300 pounds.
@Gushing O'-well (1) , @Gushing O'-well (2) , @Gushing O'-well (3) , @Gushing O'-well (4) , @Gushing O'-well (5) , @Gushing O'-well (6) .
The characters hear the rush of water in the distance. If they investigate, they come to an o’-well that is 10 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter. A steady geyser of water shoots from the well, rising to a height of 30 feet above the well. Characters who have a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 13 or higher see 1d4 Feywild trinkets bobbing in the water at the top of the geyser. (Roll on the Feywild Trinkets table to determine each one in turn.) For each trinket, one invisible @Will-o'-Wisp hovers within 5 feet of the geyser.
The geyser is powerful enough to lift up to 300 pounds into the air, and the flow of water can be stopped if the well is covered by something weighing more than 300 pounds. If the water is prevented from erupting, anything being lifted by the geyser plummets to the ground within 5 feet of the base of the well.
The @Will-o'-Wisps are the spirits of creatures who owned the trinkets in life. If a character tries to take one or more of the trinkets, the will-o’-wisps turn visible, accuse the character of being a dishonorable thief, and insist that the stolen items be returned to the well at once. The will-o’-wisps will also accept a different trinket as payment for one that was stolen. They attack if the character fails to return the stolen trinkets or provide worthy substitutes.
The Inn at the End of the Road is the only inn in @Hither. It crawls through the swamp on fleshy legs and has a walking speed of 30 feet. Its movement is not reduced by swampy terrain or water up to 10 feet deep. It crosses the characters’ path as they make their way through the swamp. Every mile, the inn stops for 10 minutes and lowers itself so that guests can enter or exit without risking injury.
The inn follows an unpredictable course through the swamp. When @Prismeer was whole, the inn could travel anywhere in Zybilna’s domain. Now that Prismeer is splintered, the inn can’t leave @Hither.
The inn is a squat, three-story structure with a slate-shingled roof and worm-eaten wood walls. Dozens of tiny orbs of pale light buzz about the exterior like flies. The structure rocks and heaves while in motion, but these movements cannot be perceived from inside the inn.
As the inn passes by the characters, they catch the smell of hearty stew wafting from its open windows and see smoke rising in cottony puffs from its stone chimney.
Innkeeper: @Tsu Harabax, an elderly female human druid (neutral), has been running the @Inn at the End of the Road by herself since before @The Hourglass Coven seized control of @Prismeer. She has heard rumors that @Zybilna is trapped in her palace, but she doesn’t know any details. Tsu would love to see Zybilna restored to power, if only so she can escape the swampy morass of Hither.
Tsu despises @Bavlorna Blightstraw. If the characters mention the hag or @The Hourglass Coven, the druid spits and mutters, “In Zybilna’s time, this inn was the talk of Prismeer.” She speaks about @Zybilna reverently, though her tone remains morose.
Staying at the Inn. @Tsu Harabax offers free beds, hot meals, and slices of delicious plum pie to her guests, but the rule of reciprocity dictates that guests repay her kindness (see “Rules of Conduct” in "Prismeer Overview" lore page). If the characters aren’t sure what to give her, Tsu says, “Any old trinket will do.” If the characters promise to do everything possible to restore Zybilna to power, Tsu considers that recompense enough.
One of the hazards of @Hither is marsh gas, which erupts from iridescent bubbles in the muck. When a bubble touches something edged, such as a twig or a blade of grass, it pops, releasing its gas with a sound of stifled laughter. The gas smells like old cheese.
As the characters cross the swamp, they encounter a field of marsh gas bubbles and must make a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) group check. If the group check is successful, the characters avoid popping any of the bubbles as they wade through the field. On a failed check, a bubble bursts within 10 feet of the character who had the lowest check result, perhaps catching other nearby characters in its area at your discretion.
Anyone within 10 feet of a bursting bubble must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffer the gas’s magical effect for 1 hour.
This encounter can occur when the swamp’s water level is low. Five mud mephits emerge from the muck around the characters and threaten to drag them down into it unless they can guess the mephits’ favorite food. The answer, of course, is mud pie. Each character gets one guess. If a character guesses correctly, the mephits cackle maniacally, dive back under the muck, and disappear. If no character guesses correctly, one mephit blurts out the answer as they attack. If two or more mephits are killed in the ensuing fracas, the rest dive into the muck on their next turn and disappear.
This encounter takes place in a mist-veiled field of tall swamp grass dotted with clusters of cattails. It begins when the characters hear rustling in the vegetation ahead of them. The sound foreshadows the arrival of six @Stilt-Walkers. The stilts allow these creatures to move more easily through the muck and to stay above the water. Their walking speed on stilts is 30 feet, and this movement is not reduced by mud or water.
As the stilt walkers advance, the characters recognize them as six hobgoblins (lawful neutral) who are wearing patchwork rags and furs (AC 12). Strapped to the back of each stilt walker is a wire cage padded with straw and filled with 1d20 eggs of various sizes and colors. These @Goblinoids scour the swamp for the eggs of reptiles and birds, which they either eat or trade to the @Bullywugs of @The Soggy Court. The hobgoblins are not violent toward strangers.
If they are left alone, the @Stilt-Walkers pass by the characters without so much as a greeting. If the characters try to communicate, the stilt walkers stop and regard them silently for a moment before prompting them to continue. If asked about what they’re doing, the stilt walkers explain (in Goblin or, if necessary, in Common) that they are gathering eggs for trading in @Downfall. They know in which direction Downfall is located and share that information freely. If the characters attack the stilt walkers, the hobgoblins flee.
When the water level of the swamp is low, the characters chance upon a 10-foot-wide stream. Unknown to them, the stream flows from @Downfall, and any character who looks into the water’s reflective surface catches a glimpse of an event transpiring in Downfall at that very moment. Each character who looks might see something different. Roll a d8 and consult the Stream of Visions table to determine what each character sees. Each character can receive only one such vision.
@Stream of Visions | Roll 1D8
1, A headless, child-sized scarecrow with metal lobster claws for hands tries on some new heads, including an upside-down wooden bucket and a withered head of cabbage. It decides on a large gourd.
2, A bullywug bedecked in the trappings of a monarch constantly adjusts his ill-fitting crown of lily blossoms while leafing through a large tome spread across his lap.
3, A hag with toad-like features relaxes in a pool of water while miniature versions of her ladle the water and pour it over her head and shoulders.
4, A tall, thin figure wearing a pointy black hat and a hooded black cloak climbs a rickety staircase leading up to a large, ramshackle house built on stilts. As the figure approaches the house, their shadow seems to detach from their body, move across the walls of the house, and crawl through an open window.
5, A satyr whistles to himself as he reclines in a metal cage that dangles off the end of a boom over a lake.
6, A short, mean-looking old woman wearing a crimson cap, a leather apron, and iron boots uses a cleaver to chop meat in a drab kitchen.
7, Two merrow swim past each other in murky water.
8, Rows upon rows of severed bullywug heads, all impaled on spikes, chatter at each other.
The characters come upon a bog that was the site of a battle between elves and fomorians long ago. The area is littered with rusted and broken weapons and armor, along with the bones of the dead. If the characters enter the area, two suits of animated armor stand up from the detritus. The suits are clearly of elven design, their helmets shaped like stylized owl heads. Both suits are 20 feet away from the party at the start of the encounter.
Each suit of animated armor mimics the movements of the character closest to it. For example, if the character closest to a suit of armor swings a sword, the armor makes a similar gesture, though it wields no weapons. If the character casts a spell, the suit uses its action to mimic the somatic component of casting a spell on its next turn, though it lacks the ability to cast spells. If one or both suits are attacked, they stop mimicking the characters and defend themselves. Otherwise, they are harmless. They can’t leave the battlefield.
A suit becomes inanimate and collapses in a heap if its helmet is removed, if it is reduced to 0 hit points, or if the characters leave the area. Removing a suit’s helmet while the armor is animated requires an action and a successful DC 10 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check.