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The Dungeon Masters
Guild
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Modular
Campaign Components
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Voodoo
Swamp Dwarves
by
SCA Bard
Summary: Miss Betsy's is a clean and safe place where well-behaved PCs may spend their nights. A cast of eccentric NPCs lends it interest. It could be found in an urban area ranging from a mid-sized town to a large city.
Miss Betsy'sFirst, there never was and never has been a Miss Betsy. Nigel Worth has owned and operated the place since he inherited it from his father. But wayfarers seem to expect the sort of clean and decent living found at Miss Betsy's to have a name like, well, Miss Betsy's.Nigel rents rooms by the week and by the month. Each comes equipped with a bed with a straw-stuffed mattress that's unstuffed, the ticking boiled, and restuffed with fresh straw every year. A cupboard is provided for personal effects, and there's a washstand with a mirror and basin. The room comes with linens, which need to be put in the hall hamper by the end of the week if you want Nigel to launder them. The rooms are warm, clean, and well-lit by windows and lamps. Each room also has a shelf in the pantry. The pantry is kept locked, and Nigel has the only key. He's available to unlock the pantry during certain hours, and you can get your food and fix yourself meals in the house's kitchen. You can use the pots and pans, and even the dishes, but if you leave them dirty there's an extra charge. There's one large table in the dining room, so you may find yourself eating with Nigel or some other guests. The downstairs has a homey common area with a fireplace, chairs and couches where guests can relax, chat, work on knitting and suchlike. Nigel's own room is also on the first floor, where he can keep track of the comings and goings of people. He also has a strict "no hanky-panky" policy, which means (among other things) no hard liquor in the house, no bringing streetwalkers into the house, and no unmarried couples sharing a room. Anyone found in violation of Nigel's rules is expelled immediately, with no refund. Nigel WorthHuman male, 45 years old, tall and slender with dark hair that's badly receeding.Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 13 THAC0 20, AC 10, 5 hit points NWP: Cooking, Housekeeping, Gossip In a word, Nigel is fussy. In two words, he is prudish and fussy. He does not like loud noises, guests who keep odd hours, guests who are messy, or guests who are overly merry. He is a big believer in clean, sober people living clean, sober lives of moral worth. Within those constraints, however, Nigel is a charming and capable host. He is an excellent conversationalist, and if he has a guilty fault, it is a habit of gossiping with and about his neighbors. He knows a wide variety of entertainments for polite society: he can deal for any socially acceptable card game, keeps balls for gentle games like tennis or bocce around, and so forth. He even gets along surprising well with children, even tolerating loud shrieks from them. (He still does not like messy children, but rather expects their parents to either enforce better behavior or to clean up after them). Nigel is an honest businessman who deals straightly with his guests, and he expects to be treated similarly in return. Guests at Miss Betsy'sThe guest list is meant to give ideas; levels, abilities, spells, and races can be changed to suit the campaign. No equipment has been assigned to any of the guests, but several may possess magic items. All guests are given with their natural armor classes, since no one wears armor around the house at Miss Betsy's. Ilena Stoneaxe, Queen of the Iceclaw Mountain Ilena Stoneaxe has been renting a room at Miss Betsy's for over a year. Whenever Nigel asks how long she'll be staying, she tells him, "Until they come for me." She never elaborates. This is the only thing about which Ilena is mysterious. Anyone who makes eye contact with her is sure to hear her tale of blood, tragedy and woe: she claims to be a dwarven queen, driven from her home by the usurpers who killed her royal husband and her children. But no one has ever heard of the Iceclaw Mountain, and no dwarf will recall a similar event in recent history. But Ilena will go on for some time, describing the ancient halls, the glory of the Stoneaxe clan, and her great battles in her youth, when she fought with an axe in each hand, blonde braids wet with her enemies' blood. But aside from reigning over conversations in the sitting room, the old dwarf puts on no airs, doing her own cooking and dishes like the rest of the guests. Mostly, she sits in the downstairs, sometimes doing beadwork. Nigel assumes she sells these somehow, to pay for her board. Ilena has had no reason to fight since coming to Miss Betsy's, so none have seen her rather impressive, if somewhat rusty, skills in this area. The other guests are fond of her in a sad sort of way, believing her to be a bit senile. Boris and "Angelica" "Angelica": A tall, awkward woman who laughs uncertainly a lot. Boris is the fast-talking manager of Timothy, a young and agile second-story man... well, boy. Tim is still in his teens. The pair were caught while on the job and started running. Unable to shake the law, Boris hit upon the idea of stopping and letting the law pass them by... He disguised Timothy as a woman, "Angelica," and the two are posing as a married couple at Miss Betsy's. Boris paid for a week's stay, and the two are only just arrived. Both are nervous but are trying to not look nervous, with only occassional success. Timothy is very much not sure what to do in his disguise (and is constantly worried the wig will come off at a bad moment), so he tends to just smile vapidly and laugh inappropriately. The pair will spend most of their time hiding in their room, which the other guests may gently rib the "newlyweds" about. They do come out for meals - it would be suspicious not to, after all. Toriad Lostfinder Toriad is an adventuring mage, dedicated to finding lost items of power - usually evil ones that he destroys. He's on the trail of the Sapphire Skull, reputed to shoot bolts of freezing cold from its eyesockets. He thinks it's somewhere in Miss Betsy's. Toriad has kept his true nature and mission from Nigel, and the housekeeper is getting cross with the mage. Nigel has found Toriad poking around the basement, the attic, and empty guest rooms. Nothing has been out of place, and Toriad has managed to come up with a satisfactory lie each time, but it will take very little more for Nigel to toss him out on suspicion of being a thief. Adventure Seeds Using Miss Betsy's
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