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IntroductionThe player-characters find themselves in the small village of Nesbitt-Hill just in time for an autumn festival. Why? Here are a few options:

• One of the PCs needs a loan, favor, or item from Thomas, a friend of a friend. Thomas was once an adventuring thief, and made enough money to retire here and raise a family. He’s now a grandfather.

• The village priestess is an expert on a magic item that the PCs just picked up in a dungeon

• The PCs are just passing through.

The PCs enter the town to find hogs being driven from Young Topher’s farm into the center of town, and a large bonfire being built in an outer field. The common room of the Nesbitt-Hill Inn bustles with teenagers and children preparing tables groaning with food.

The first person they meet is Old Widow Hazel, an old woman with a crooked nose who is driving the pigs. She tells the PCs to beware, that this is the night when the Hunt is sure to return. When pressed, she’ll say that local legends tell of otherworldly creatures that descend on humans on the night of the harvest festival. If the PCs ask around, other villagers will dismiss the story, saying that they’ve had the festival every year with no problems in memory.

The PCs are invited to take part in the harvest festival. They will meet several of the major characters in the town, who will become more important later:

• John Stillwater, the mayor, is a portly, balding man. He relishes his position of

authority, and the villagers respect him (with a few sniggers behind his back at his pomposity). He makes it clear that this is a very small village where nothing ever happens.

• Old Widow Hazel, the oldest resident of the town and a part-time herbalist. She repeats the warnings from earlier. She remembers being told about this as a girl by villagers “who were actually there.”

• Priestess Blossom, the red-haired priestess who presides over the small congregation at the church. She’s reserved but very dedicated to the care of her flock, frequently spending days with the sick.

• Nick, the swarthy innkeeper. He settled here after many years as a sellsword to raise a family, though his wife only managed to birth one child before dying. His daughter Lydia, now 12 years old, helps at the tavern, and Nick dotes on her.

The festival begins with a feast in front of the inn. Several pigs are slaughtered and roasted, while villagers set up sheaves of wheat in the fields. The sheaves are woven into simple humanoid shapes, which the villagers explain are the shapes of the monsters that this celebration is supposed to ward off.

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Nesbitt Hill

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The ProbleAt dusk, the villagers troop out to the fields and bring torches to light the sheaves on fire. As flames lick at the bottom of the sheaves, horrible war screams echo out of the nearby woods. Goblins mounted on the backs of wolves charge out of the forest and into the fields, lassoing and netting villagers.

The villagers immediately split into 3 groups. One heads into a copse of trees, a second group retreats to the village, and the third is in the fields, surrounded by the goblins.

If the PCs spend significant time in the fields battling the goblins, they will hear screams from the village and the sound of cracking wood. If they go to the village, they will find it overrun with flesh golems who are cracking open the barricaded houses.

And that’s only if they avoid the undead which are suddenly spewing out of the graveyard.

The Goblins in the Fields

The goblins act in high spirits, as though this is a game. Indeed, they don’t kill any of the villagers; they just capture them with ropes and nets.

As a result, most goblins will fight until they take damage, then will retreat to the woods with whatever villagers they’ve captured. The PCs will not be able to follow them far in the woods.

The Flesh Goles in the Village

There are 6 flesh golems in the village, and they follow a simple command: grab as many living adult humans as possible and drag them out of the village. If a captured human struggles, the

golem will toss the human against a wall or the ground to stun them.

If attacked, the flesh golem will stand still and defend itself until it’s destroyed.

However, anyone performing a ranged attack against a golem who has captured a human must either make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check or attack with disadvantage. If the check fails, the human is hit by the attack instead of the golem.

The Undead

The undead hide in the dark corners of the village, leaping out at unsuspecting passersby. The undead follow similar commands as the flesh golems, but are less careful. They’re much more likely to bite, club, or otherwise hurt their victims.

If attacked, the undead will abandon their victims and retaliate. The undead will also retreat to the graveyard if badly injured.

In the graveyard is Corvax the Necromancer, who is orchestrating the undead attacks. He absolutely uses undead as meat shields.

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Mounted Goblin

medium humanoid, chaotic evil

Armor Class 16 (goblin), 14 (mount)

Hit Points 12 (2d8 + 2)

Speed 60 ft. mounted (30 ft. unmounted)

STR 14 (+2) DEX 13 (+1) CON 14 (+2)

INT 9 (-1) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 9 (-1)

Senses passive Perception 12

Languages Common, Goblin

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Mounted Charge. If 2 of the goblin’s enemies are in a direct lineahead of the goblin (within a 90-degree arc ahead of the goblin) and within its speed, the goblin can use its bonus action to attack one of them in addition to its action to attack the other.

Actions

Pike. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 vs. AC; 7 (2d4 + 2) piercing damage.

Trample. Melee Attack: +3 vs. AC; 10 (2d8+2) bludgeoning damage, and the target is knocked prone.

Net. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 vs. AC, 15 ft.; target is restrained.

Mounted Goblins prefer to ride towards their foes, attack, then continue riding past them. They also generally split up rather than all focusing on one enemy.

Flesh Gole

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Corvax the Necromance

medium humanoid, neutral evil

Armor Class 15

Hit Points 102 (10d8+62)

Speed 30 ft.

STR 9 (-1) DEX 13 (+1) CON 12 (+1)

INT 15 (+2) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 11 (+0)

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Aspect of Lugh

medium humanoid, neutral

Armor Class 17

Hit Points 84 (8d8+52)

Speed 30 ft.

STR 14 (+2) DEX 13 (+1) CON 14 (+2)

INT 10 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 10 (+0)

Senses passive Perception 12

Languages Common

Challenge 8 (3,500 XP)

Actions

Flaming Spear of Slaughter. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, 50 ft., one target. Hit: 24 (2d8+6) piercing and fire damage, and the target takes 4 (1d8) fire damage per turn (DC 12 Dexterity save ends).

Sling. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, 50 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (4d6+8) piercing damage, and the target is blinded 1 round.

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The Bad NewsOf course, it’s not that simple.

Every 30 minutes of game time, roll on the following table for Bad News. Use 1d4 if you want a common event, 1d8 to include one-time events, or 1d12 if you want to intensify the initial problems. Which die you roll is up to you.

Result Event

1 House collapses! Anyone nearby makes a DC 15 Dexterity save or is knocked prone. Flesh golems collect victims.

2 Mounted goblins charge!

3 Undead capture villagers from ambush!

4 Villagers rally! Roll 1d6. 1-3: goblin brought down, 4-5: zombie killed, 6: flesh golem distracted.

5 The forest starts burning. Anyone hiding there make a DC 15 Dexterity save or takes 1d4 fire damage.

6 Fresh undead rise from the graveyard.

7 A flesh golem goes berserk, attacking anything nearby (including other golems).

8 A druid arrives from woods to help. He smmons water elementals to extinguish fires.

9 John Stillwater attempts to rally the villagers, but gets surrounded by goblins in the fields.

10 Flesh golems attack the inn. Lydia, the innkeeper’s daughter, is endangered.

11 Priestess Blossom and Corvax the Necromancer struggle to turn or control the undead in the church graveyard. Blossom appears to be losing.

12 Aspect of Lugh rises to defend the town. It will attempt to drive off monsters, but will retaliate if attacked.

The BackstoryIf the PCs are able to capture a goblin, track a flesh golem back to its lair, or talk to Corvax, they may discover why this is all happening.

The goblin tribe—the Fourlegs—worships a goddess named Macha, who appeared before them in a ghostly body and ordered them to raid this village and capture the villagers as slaves.

The flesh golems were created by a mad artificer who operates a secret laboratory. Years ago, he was visited in a dream by a heavenly creature that called herself Nemain. She taught him the secrets of stitching together bodies and creating these flesh golems. He was frankly surprised when they all left on this mission; he didn’t tell them what to do. He has since realized that Nemain controls them.

Corvax, in his many dealings with dark powers, summoned a female goddess named Badb. She offered him great power if he would capture villagers from this village for a human sacrifice.

These can be the seeds of a campaign, as the PCs seek to meet these goddesses and find out what’s going on. If they can do this, they will discover that the three goddesses are all aspects of the same goddess, The Morrigan, and are competing against each other.

On this day, The Morrigan embodies death and destruction. Her minions may be opposed by Lugh, master of skill and creation. If you decide to use this struggle between gods in your campaign, consider making Blossom (the priestess) a follower of Lugh.

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CreditsThis supplement was written by the Gamer Assembly, specifically Brent P. Newhall and Jim “T.W. Wombat” White.

The cover is harvest moon by joiseyshowaa on Flickr.

The map on page 3 is by Nesbitt-Hill by Dyson Logos.

On page 5, the goblin is orc warrior by tzunghaor on Openclipart and the flesh golem is Nothing - Ringdoll Frankenstein by Evie ex Machina on Flickr.

On page 6, Corvax the Necromancer is Dark mage by JR19759 on Flickr, and the zombies are public domain art from Pixabay; no author is listed.

The Aspect of Lugh on page 7 is Ghost in the Dream by Keoni Carbal on Flickr.

This manuscript was laid out in LibreOffice 4.4. The headers are typeset in Eadui, and the text in Book Antiqua. The text on the cover is typeset in Trattatello by James Grieshaber.

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Ot Heus (order #7805758)