The Midnight Hour
A miniature one shot for DnD 5e. Ideal for less experienced players.
- Number of Players: 4-7
- Player Level: 3
- System: Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition
- Duration: 1 Session 2-3 hours
Summary
The party wakes up in a grotto in a swamp, where they have been held, transformed to stone, by the Hag Nana Narcissa for her statue garden. The party realizes that it is the "midnight hour" of the Blue Moon, when Narcissa's powers fade... for one hour. They have one hour to escape, or else be returned to stone or destroyed.
As they escape Narcissa's swamp, they go through three challenges:
- They must find a way past the magical enchantments Narcissa has placed on the swamp to prevent their escape.
- They encounter a young, human girl who was also being held captive by Narcissa, and must fight her nursemaids if they wish to rescue her. (See how Hag's reproduce for why this is important!)
- As they are on the brink of escape, they encounter Nana Narcissa herself (Boss Fight.)
Throughout the escape, the players are made aware of the time and how much (little) time they have left before Narcissa awakens.
Scene I: The Labyrinth
Setup
Create a map for a swamp (a battle mat is fine). On the map, place index cards, face down. You will need at least 20 index cards. (For a 24x36 dungeon map, you will need 36 cards.) On the back of the index cards, write numbers from 1..N where N is the number of index cards needed to cover your map.
Shuffle the index cards, and then cover the entire map of the swamp with index cards, leaving only a 20 foot or so square uncovered. This should be some sort of island on the map. Players should place their tokens in this opening.
Opening
You become aware that you are standing on a podium. When you look around, you see N other people, also standing on podiums.
Beyond this, all you can see is fog and a bright, full moon shining orange through the fog. Thinking back, you try to understand where you are, and how you got here. But, all you can remember is a brief encounter with a very beautiful woman who seemed very interested in getting to know you.WHAT DO YOU DO???
How to run this.
Eventually, the players will decide to try to leave their little island. Have them pick a direction, and when they do pick up the appropriate card. The number on the card will tell you what they encounter.
| Index | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | Lost. The party will proceed in a direction determined by rolling 1d8. DC 15 Survival Save |
| 6-8 | Sink Hole. DC 15 Dex Save |
| 9-10 | Encounter: 8 x Hostile Twig Blights |
| 11-12 | Encounter: 3 x Hostile Vine Blights |
| 13-15 | Encounter 1 x Hostile Twig Blight |
*Adjust the numbers as necessary for the size of your map. It should be the case that about half of all tiles result in a side effect.
Vine Blight
Medium Plant, Neutral Evil
- Armor Class :: 12 (natural armor)
- Hit Points :: 26 (4d8 + 8)
- Speed :: 10 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 15 (+2) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 5 (-3) 10 (+0) 3 (-4)
- Skills :: Stealth +1
- Condition Immunities :: Blinded, Deafened
- Senses :: Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), Passive Perception 10
- Languages :: Common
- Challenge :: 1/2 (100 XP)
- Proficiency :: Bonus +2
Actions
- False Appearance. While the blight remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a tangle of vines.
- Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage, and > > Large or smaller target is grappled (escape DC 12). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the blight can’t constrict another target.
- Entangling Plants (Recharge 5–6). Grasping roots and vines sprout in a 15-foot radius centered on the blight, withering away after 1 minute. For the duration, that area is difficult terrain for non-plant creatures. In addition, each creature of the blight’s choice in that area when the plants appear must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or become restrained. A creature can use its action to make a DC 12 Strength check, freeing itself or another entangled creature within reach on a success.
Appearing as masses of slithering creepers, vine blights hide in undergrowth and wait for prey to draw near. By animating the plants around them, vine blights entangle and hinder their foes before attacking.
Vine blights are the only blights capable of speech. Through its connection to the evil spirit of the Gulthias tree it serves, a vine blight speaks in a fractured version of its dead master’s voice, taunting victims or bargaining with powerful foes.
Needle Blight
Medium Plant, Neutral Evil
- Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
- Hit Points 11 (2d8 + 2)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 13 (+1) 4 (-3) 8 (-1) 3 (-4)
- Condition Immunities Blinded, Deafened
- Senses Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), Passive Perception 9
- Languages Common understands but can’t speak
- Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
- Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
Claws. :: Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (2d4 + 1) piercing damage. Needles. :: Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d6 + 1) piercing damage.
In the shadows of a forest, needle blights might be taken at a distance for shuffling, hunched humanoids. Up close, these creatures reveal themselves as horrid plants whose conifer-like needles grow across their bodies in quivering clumps. A needle blight lashes out with these needles or launches them as an aerial assault that can punch through armor and flesh. When needle blights detect a threat, they loose a pollen that the wind carries to other needle blights throughout the forest. Alerted to their foes’ location, needle blights converge from all sides to drench their roots in blood.
Twig Blight
Small Plant, Neutral Evil
- Armor Class 13 natural armor
- Hit Points 4 (1d6 + 1)
- Speed 20 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 6 (-2) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 4 (-3) 8 (-1) 3 (-4)
Skills Stealth +3
Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
Condition Immunities Blinded, Deafened
Senses Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), Passive Perception 9
Languages understands Common but can’t speak
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2
False Appearance. While the blight remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a dead shrub.
Actions
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage.
A twig blight is an awakened plant that resembles a woody shrub that can pull its roots free of the ground. Its branches twist together to form a humanoid-looking body with a head and limbs.
Twig blights can root in soil, which they do when living prey are scarce. While rooted, they resemble woody shrubs. When it pulls its roots free of the ground to move, a twig blight’s branches twist together to form a humanoid-looking body with a head and limbs.
Twig blights seek out campsites and watering holes, rooting there to set up ambushes for potential victims coming to drink or rest. Huddled together in groups, twig blights blend in with an area’s natural vegetation or with piles of debris or firewood.
Given how dry they are, twig blights are particularly susceptible to fire.
Scene2: Faith Revealed
{{note
Hags reproduce by kidnapping young female children of sentients and eating them. They then give birth to an apparently identical child who will transform into a Hag on her 13th birthday.
}}
The party finds a demented nursery guarded by a faerie nursemaid. They have to defeat the Faerie Nursemaid and then decide whether the child is already a Hag, or is she being kept for the Hag's supper when the Midnight Hour is over? The child's name is "Faith".
Faith
Human Child, Chaotic Neutral
Armor Class 10+/-/*
Hit Points 3 (1d6)
Speed 30 ft. | STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA | | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | :-: | | 7 (-2) | 11 (+0) | 10 (+0) | 9 (-1) | 10 (+0) | 10 (+0) |
Senses Passive Perception 9
Languages -Sylvian Anor (human)PB +2
Challenge 0 (10 XP)
Actions
Kick. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage. \columnbreak
Faerie Nursemaid
Small Fey, typically Chaotic Evil
- Armor Class 14 (leather armor)
- Hit Points 22 (5d6 + 5)
- Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 8 (-1) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 12 (+1) 14 (+2)
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +7 Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13 Languages Common, Sylvan Proficiency Bonus +2 Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Actions
Stingblade. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 5 (2d4) > poison damage. If the faerie had advantage on the attack roll, the target takes an additional 3 (1d6) slashing damage. Spellcasting. The faerie casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Charisma as > the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 12):
- 2/day each: bane, grease
- 1/day: blindness/deafness
- Theft of Nerves (1/Day). The faerie unleashes a burst of mind-muddling magic in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in > that area must succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw or have the frightened condition for 1 minute. A > frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a > success.
Bonus Actions
- Mischievous Stealth. The faerie takes the Hide action.
Faerie pests love to cause annoyance, fear, and pain. They are perhaps the most mercurial of the faeries and are happy to follow anyone who promises the opportunity to menace someone new.
A faerie pest could be mistaken for a human toddler, except for the black-feathered wings sprouting from the faerie's shoulders. When engaged in combat, faerie pests wield thought-manipulating magic alongside sharp blades coated in stinging poison.
Scene 3: The Witch's Wrath
Having extracted (or killed?) Faith, the party escapes the Hag's cottage, but just as they're getting ready to escape they encounter Narcissa herself... back to her full powers.
This is a fairly mundane encounter between the party and Narcissa.
Nana Narcissa
Medium fey, neutral evil
- Armor Class 17 :: (natural armor)
- Hit Points :: 82 (11d8 + 33)
- Speed :: 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 13 (+1) 14 (+2) 14 (+2)
-Skills :: Arcana +3, Deception +4, Perception +4, Stealth +3 -Senses :: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14 -Languages :: Common, Draconic, Sylvan -Challenge :: 3 (700 XP)
- Amphibious. :: The hag can breathe air and water.
- Innate Spellcasting. :: The hag’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12). She can innately > cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
- At will: :: dancing lights, minor illusion, vicious mockery
- Mimicry. :: The hag can mimic animal sounds and humanoid voices. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check.
Actions
- Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage.
- Illusory Appearance. The hag covers herself and anything she is wearing or carrying with a magical illusion > that makes her look like another creature of her general size and humanoid shape. The illusion ends if the hag takes a > bonus action to end it or if she dies. The changes wrought by this effect fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, the hag could appear to have smooth skin, but someone touching her would feel her rough flesh. Otherwise, a creature must take an action to visually inspect the illusion and succeed on a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern that the hag is disguised.
- Invisible Passage. The hag magically turns invisible until she attacks or casts a spell, or until her concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). While invisible, she leaves no physical evidence of her passage, so she can be tracked only by magic. Any equipment she wears or carries is invisible with her.
Wretched and hateful, Nana Narcissa dwells in her lonely swamp, making her home in caves. She loves to manipulate other creatures into doing her bidding, masking her intentions behind layers of deception. She also loves to "decorate", by luring victims to her and turning them to stone.. Nana revels in the failings and tragedies of other creatures. She derives joy from bringing people low and seeing hope turn into despair, not just for individuals but also for whole nations.