The Harvest Carnival

The Harvest Carnival

An Adventure for 3rd-Level Characters

The party arrives at the final night of the Addlersfield harvest carnival. Expecting an evening of relaxation and revelry, the characters spend time enjoying food, games, and other activities within the carnival. After an hour or two, a large crowd grows around the center stage to watch a magic show put on by the carnival ringmaster. He brings a crowd participant on stage only to kill her in a ritual sacrifice, beginning a night of revenge.

Background

Ten years ago on a hot summer evening, a raging fire tore through the outer edge of Addlersfield, destroying Mar Quen’s farm and killing his wife and daughter. The fire was accidentally started by the neighbor’s children playing with sparklers. Due to their age, the children received a light punishment, infuriating Mar Quen. He left town after the judgement. Nobody has heard from him since, but most remember the fire and the grisly deaths.

Visiting the Carnival

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The Harvest Carnival could be outside any farming town or village at the end of the harvesting season. Use the following hooks or work with players to determine why the group has come to the carnival:

Local. A character grew up in a neighboring town and visited the carnival every year with their family. They’re excited to share the experience with friends.

Passing By. The town is on the way to another point of interest for the group. While looking for an inn for the night they see advertisements for the carnival.

Rest and Relaxation. The group just finished delving into a dungeon or defeating a villain and are looking for a night to recuperate before their next quest.

A Night at the Carnival

Temporary tents and vendor carts are set up around a main stage, offering food, games, and entertainment for townsfolk and visiting travelers. The carnival has been in town for two weeks and the final night has drawn the largest crowds.

The vendors are a mix of locals from Addlersfield or nearby towns and those that travel with the carnival. Adventuring gear worth 25 gp or less is easily found among the vendors. Notable vendors include the following:

Can You Fry It. A tent dedicated to deep fried food such as their double scoop deep fried ice cream for 4 cp.

Grindstone Bakery. This group of large red tents sells artisan bread with butter or cheese for 6 cp a loaf.

Henly Farm’s Winery. This array of tents houses a variety of local wines. A glass of wine is 1 sp.

Orpine’s Colored Hen Eggs. A table setup beneath a large tree sells brightly colored boiled eggs for 1 cp, or 1 sp for a dozen.

Piper’s Pickles. This table sells pickled vegetables. Their most popular item is their foot long dill pickle for 5 cp.

Wee Pints. Manned by halflings and gnomes, this tent sells mugs of ale and mead for 6 cp.

Carnival Games

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Most popular with the younger crowd are the tents and tables dedicated to games and contests, rewarding skill or luck with prize tickets. These tickets can be exchanged for trinkets or magic items at the prize booth.

Taking part in a game or contest costs 1 gp each time. A character chooses the difficulty of the challenge from the Challenge table. They then make an ability check that corresponds to the game they’re playing. On a success, they receive prize tickets based on the challenge. Some example games at the festival:

Foot-High Tight Rope. A Dexterity (Acrobatics) game with shorter and wider rope widths stretched between two raised platforms that must be walked along without falling.

Hammer Strike. A Strength (Athletics) game involving striking a metal pad on the ground to knock a puck up a track with various height markers.

Shell Game. A Wisdom (Perception) game involving a hidden ball beneath a set of cups that are randomly mixed in front of a participant and they have to pick the cup with the ball.

Talent Contest. A Charisma (Performance) contest with a panel of judges that rate presented talents.

Trivia Game. A Intelligence (History) game with sets of questions of varying difficulty.

Challenge

Difficulty	DC	Tickets
Easy	12	1
Medium	14	2
Hard	16	4

Prize Booth

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A golden tent near the center of the carnival displays a wall of prizes. The party can choose to pool their tickets together or spend them individually. The Carnival Prize table provides example prizes and ticket prices.

Tickets	Prize
2	A box with a random trinket inside.
3	An explorers pack.
5	A handaxe that makes no sound when it strikes wood.
5	A dagger with a handle that always feels warm.
10	A spell scroll of trick or treat.
15	A potion of healing.
30	A packet of dust of disappearance (one available).

Tent of Fortune

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Lavern Clearsight has setup her tent on the edge of the carnival with a sign on the outside offering fortune telling for 3 gp. Beneath the small tent is a round table with a glass sphere resting on it, wrapped in a satin scarf. The only light within the tent is a dimly lit lantern hanging above the table.

Lavern’s fortunes are obscure and widely applicable. One of her favorites to share is “You will soon face an exciting challenge.” She hopes to entice a visitor with the initial fortune and pay for her divine magic. Lavern can cast the spell augury three times a day and charges 60 gp for the service.

Pickle Eating Contest

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Piper runs a pickle eating contest at the center stage to build up the crowd for the magic show that follows. Entry to the pickle contest costs 1 gp and easily attracts a full table of contestants. A character that takes part in the contest can make a DC 14 Constitution check. On a success, they claim the top prize of 10 gp and a free pickle everyday for a year from Piper’s Pickles. If more than one character succeeds, the gold is shared, but each character gets their own daily free pickle.

Carnival Folk

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The night’s festivities have attracted a large portion of the local community. Some notable characters are:

Falkoris. A young male half-elf who is trying to impress his girlfriend, Tammy Fumble, by winning carnival games.

Mariel. A female tiefling with burgundy skin. She works for the carnival as a sword swallower and juggler. She’s been with the carnival for five years and remembers when Vonvar took over the show, trading his former name, Mar, to his stage name.

Olo Diggler. A young female halfling who leads a group of prospective adventurers. She has her eye on the top prize and is willing to pay 3 gp per ticket for the remaining 12 tickets she needs.

Pronex. A male dragonborn of copper ancestry. He works for the carnival as a firebreather.

Rogmesh. A middle-aged male half-orc is visiting the carnival with his 8 year-old son Rognesh who is hoping to win enough tickets for a trinket.

Solan Olerys. A male elf who thinks all the games are rigged. He can provide tips in the form of the guidance spell for 5 gp.

Tammy Fumble. A young female human with long braided hair. She has a faded scar from a burn on her hands that she got as a child when playing with sparklers. A character notices the scar with a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check.

The Ringmaster

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Vonvar Vescego (a chaotic evil human commoner) is the charismatic ringmaster of the carnival. He wears a long red coat with a tall black hat that covers most of his curly brown hair. He greets every attendee with a smile and reminds them to join him later this evening for the magic show, claiming that the final show is always the best.

True Identity

Vonvar is Mar Quen in disguise, having significantly changed his appearance. A character notices the dyed hair and makeup with a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check. Makeup also hides a burn scar near his neck that can be discerned with a successful DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Mar Quen

After leaving Addlersfield, Mar Quen joined a traveling carnival in search of distraction from his woes. He went by Mar, for short, and gained more and more responsibility over the years until he ranked just below the ringmaster, Bruenor Earthcoat.

One drunken night, Bruenor told the story of a carnival that kidnapped and sacrificed townsfolk to gain favor with an evil entity. The creature would perform favors for each sacrifice. People eventually figured out who was kidnapping townsfolk and an angry mob destroyed the carnival and killed the carnival workers. Bruenor revealed the details of the ritual to Mar Quen but didn’t say how he knew. When Bruenor retired, Mar Quen took over and began plotting his revenge.

Learning More

The carnival workers know him as tough but fair and he always pushes them to perform their absolute best. He has been more gleeful than usual and particularly excited for his performance this evening. He even went as far as carefully setting out the pumpkins and other decorations around the stage and throughout the carnival this morning.

Exploring the Carnival

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Read the following text once characters reach the Harvest Carnival:

As the sun sets beneath the horizon, the warm twinkling lights of the festival provide a golden glow to the tents and trees of the carnival. The smell of fried food, fresh bread, red wine, autumn flowers, and more fill your senses. Crowds of townsfolk and visitors wander the tents, tables, and carts, enticed by the smells and the arcane sounds of carnival games.

Give the party an opportunity to explore the carnival and visit some of the aforementioned vendors and meet some of the other visitors.

If the party decides to take part in games or contests, proceed to the next section after two or three rounds of games and after they’ve had a chance to exchange tickets for prizes.

The Magic Show

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Read or paraphrase the following once the characters are ready to proceed:

A large crowd has built up around the center stage in anticipation of tonight’s magic show by the ringmaster, Vonvar Vescego. The seating and tables near the stage are full with only standing room behind. Nearly a hundred pumpkins of various shapes and sizes are arranged along the perimeter of the stage.

Vonvar is leading a young woman with braided hair up to the stage as the crowd excitedly waits. She is presented with a chair to sit in while Vonvar stands behind her. With a flourish, a dagger appears in Vonvar’s hand and he quickly plunges it into her chest. Yells and screams fill the horrified crowd.

Suddenly, half of the pumpkins around the stage spring to life with toothy maws and orange glowing eyes. Panic ensues as the crowd disperses in every direction, chased by rolling and hopping pumpkins.

Vonvar has finished the first step of the ritual as he stares at the chaos he’s created. He patiently waits for the ritual to complete. He will surrender if attacked, knowing his work is done.

Each character is threatened by a pumpkindred determined to knock them unconscious and drag them to one of the pumpkin patches scattered around the carnival. While the party fights, other pumpkindred drag unconscious crowd members to the pumpkin patches, before melding with the patch and creating a cage around the captive.

The Creeper’s Reaping

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Read or paraphrase the following once the characters have defeat the pumpkindred:

The sounds of squishing pumpkins and vines rustling through leaves masks the faint moans of those encapsulated by the vine and pumpkin cages scattered about.

A sudden, sharp crack of bones draws your attention to the dead woman on stage. Unnaturally long arms wreathed in shadow and blood emerge from the dagger wound as a 9-foot tall, lanky creature crawls out of the corpse. As its feet touch the stage, its skin takes on the appearance of wooden planks.

The pumpkin cages begin to writhe. Thin wispy tendrils of shadow stretch from the cages to the maw of the creature standing before you on stage.

The carnival creeper is draining the life essence of those held within the six pumpkin cages. Some of the aforementioned notable characters can be seen held within the pumpkin cages.

The creeper will focus on eating nearby characters or ones that look like easy prey. It recognizes Vonvar as its summoner and won’t eat him.

Pumpkin Cages

Pumpkin cages can be attacked and destroyed (AC 13, 10 hp, immunity to psychic damage) or torn apart with a successful DC 12 Strength check, freeing the captive inside, and dealing 10 (3d6) psychic damage to the carnival creeper.

If at least one pumpkin cage isn’t destroyed or torn apart by the end of each round, the carnival creeper consumes the essence of the captives in one of the remaining cages, chosen at random, turning them to husks.

Conclusion

Once the creeper is defeated, any remaining pumpkin cages collapse, releasing their unconscious captives. Eventually the sheriff and locals armed with spears and pitchforks arrive to gather up the fallen and take the unconscious back home to rest and recover. If Vonvar is alive, the sheriff takes him into custody to face punishment.

Rewards and Clues

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The remaining townsfolk are appreciative of the party for saving them from certain death and offer free lodging and meals whenever they are in town.

Closer Inspection

A character that inspects the body of the carnival creeper and succeeds on a DC 11 Intelligence (Religion) check learns about crafting a cloak from its as per the Creeper Skin feature.

Within the corpse of each pumpkindred is a single gold coin. The face of the coin has a deep scratch. The group can recover 100 gp in coins from the pumpkin remains.

Vovnar’s Cabin

Searching Vovnar’s cabin reveals a journal he began writing a few days after the fire and detailing his plans for revenge and the ritual Bruenor told him about. It includes the process of enchanting coins that animate plants when a sacrifice is made to a creeper. In an entry describing Bruenor’s retirement, it mentions him leaving a mask behind that Vovnar kept.

In a chest hidden beneath Vovnar’s bed is a macabre mask, two gems worth 100 gp each, and a spell scroll of speak with plants.

Captured and Unconscious

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If the entire party was knocked unconscious, they could be saved by Olo’s adventuring party and other townsfolk. The creeper would have been scared off, but not before killing a large number of townsfolk and carnival workers.

Further Adventures

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The characters are left with some mysteries tied to Bruenor Earthcoat such as how he learned the ritual or why he left the mask behind? The journal could include hints of Bruenor’s last location five years ago.

The journal detailing the summoning of a fiend could be quite valuable to the right buyer if the party is interested in selling it.

If the creeper escaped, the party might be interested in tracking it down by following a trail of missing persons.

Other Map Versions

Tokens (Created with Token Stamp)