A goal with my Middle-earth Hexcrawl project is to capture the feeling I first came to love in Zelda: the feeling of wandering around and falling into a hole and realizing Oh shit, there's a whole dungeon in here. So even though I'm trying (and failing) to keep the hex entries brief, I sometimes want to include a site-based adventure that can stretch its legs.
This is one such adventure.
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| Arthur Rakham |
! - HEDGE MAZE: Mr. Cuthbert Burrows (hobbit - pointed nose and big ears, eccentric, goodman) of Borrowstones House has spent years perfecting his hedge maze, hiding several of his antique finds within. He's eager to test it out on real "professional treasure hunters."
The Borrowstones Hedge Maze uses the rules for flux space by Nick L.S. Whelan.
Theme
Five fields of Borrowstones farmland have been dedicated to the hedge maze. From no vantage point in Oatbarton can one see the entire thing at once: it runs up and down hills, through ditches, and around copses of trees. Stones from old Norbury (Arthedain) have been used in the construction of the maze, giving it (at times) an ancient and awe inspiring air. Indeed, there's something uncanny about the place. Traditional tools of maze-solving (the thread, the dropped candy, etc.) are baffled by some force within.
Event Die
Although the maze is bewildering, it's not the Mines of Moria (thank goodness!). Use a d4 Event Die in the maze:
1. Encounter
2. Rest or lose 1 morale; if no morale, lose 1d6 Endurance
3. Local effect
4. Encounter sign
Encounters (1d6)
1. Dragon: A stone statue shaped like a dragon stands at a junction of two ways. (Is it the same one as last time or are there many such statues? Is this the same junction? Has it moved?) The statue has a baleful visage. Each burglar must pass a Valor Δ6 test or lose 1d6 Endurance.
2. Hateful Goose: It is a lovely day in the hedge maze and here is a hateful goose. Base stats as rat, but the goose can attack three times during a turn (two wing buffets and a bite). The goose can also unleash a provoking honk (Valor Δ6 test: on a success, they must attack the hateful goose; on a failure, they run away, becoming separated from the group).
3. Living Hedge: The hedge ambles, grasping at passers by. Stats as troll. On a hit, target must also test Strength Δ6 or lose an item to its vines.
4. Monkey and Bear: A bear in a little hat ridden by a monkey in a vest with a barrel organ. The monkey's discordant tune seems to provoke the bear forward. Strength Δ6 tests to run away or battle the bear to ½ Endurance.
5. Scarecrow: 1d4 scarecrows with pumpkin heads sit on poles poking out of the hedges. As the company goes by, they reach down and grab them. Test for surprise. Stats as bandits. (It's just some of Mr. Burrows's farmhands doing a bit of wrestling. Right?)
6. Wizard: Why, it's Gandalf, the famous wizard. He's stuck in the hedge maze, too, and is ready to start burning the whole thing down. He smokes his pipe in fury. (If Gandalf is encountered before the Center of the Maze, he will be active in fighting the specter there.)
Local Effects (d4)
1. Fog: A dense fog fills the maze. The company must light torches or each encounter begins as a surprise.
2. Sleep: Soporific flowers, heavy with a drowsy scent, grow in the tangle of the walls of this passage. If approached without caution, each burglar must test Skill Δ4 (Δ6 for hobbits) or fall asleep. If all fall into sleep, each burglar is separated in the maze and loses 2d6 Endurance.
3. Shifting walls: The second person in the marching order sees the hedge shifting in front of them. They can either jump forward, joining the first person who is about to get cut off from the rest of the company, or remain with the main group.
4. Strange mushrooms: Strange and toxic mushrooms cover the mossy floor of this section of the maze. Disturbing them has a 50% chance of triggering a 10' spore cloud. Each burglar in the cloud must test Strength Δ6 or succumb to its effects. Roll d3 to determine type of mushrooms in this area:
- Marsh candle: Erupts into tiny sparks dealing 1d6 damage; can start fires if not dealt with. It is harmed by water and strengthened by fire.
- Brown jenkins: Fills the victims lungs, dealing 1d3 damage per round for 1d6 rounds. It is harmed by fire and strengthened by water.
- Mervyl's smile: Saps the victim's hydration; suffer -2 penalty to all tests until they drink a quart of water. It is harmed by cold and strengthened with water.
Points of Interest
The hedge maze has d4 shallow rooms and two deep rooms.
Shallow Rooms (d4)
1. Tea party: A confluence of paths has a picnic set for tea. A notecard at the head of the table reads: "If Tobold's son is my son's father, / Then find your seat—don't make a bother! / What am I to Tobold, can you say? / Sit where that answer points the way." Each place is set with a covered dish and a notecard. The notecards read: Tobold, Tobold's Da, Tobold's Gaffer, Tobold's Lad.
- Tea: The tea at Tobold's son is actually an infusion of healthful herbs: drinking it allows the burglar to recover 2d6 Endurance. The tea at each other place setting is just tea.
- Covered dish: Under all covered dishes except "Tobold's son" is a strange mushroom (see local effects), which erupts when the dish is uncovered. Under the cover at "Tobold's son" is a card that reads "South" and a purse with 3d4 silver coins. Taking the southern path allows the party to proceed.
2. Pond: At the bottom of the pond is a statue of a mermaid. She is holding a gleaming short sword, clutched to her breast.
- The sword is clutched tight in the statue's stone hands. The statue is impossible to move, it's so heavy.
- Sword: If the company has a clever plan to get the sword out, they find it is a +1 sword of the auroch. Bulls and cattle flee from it when it is unsheathed. Its crossguard is reminiscent of an auroch's horns.
[Credit: Prismatic Wasteland]
3. Lawn chess: In a confluence of many paths there is a life-size chess board with large, wooden statues of the pieces. The board is currently in the configuration shown below. A sign reads: "White to mate—the victor's sign, / Follow their gaze in a line."
- White to Mate: Moving white queen to a4 shows that the northeast path is the correct one as that's the way her statue would be facing to look at the black king. Taking this path allows the party to proceed.
- White queen: Investigating the statue of the white queen shows a real ruby in her crown (worth 50 silver).
4. Topiary menagerie: At a confluence of paths there is a garden with six topiary bushes. A sign reads: "One beast here is not the same, / Find the odd one in this game. / At this creature's tail, / Is the exit to the right trail"
- Six topiary bushes: The bushes are shaped like:
- Panther
- Troll
- Knight
- Horse
- Eagle
- Dragon
- Take the path along that trail: Only the horse is an herbivore. Taking the path at its back allows the party to proceed.
Deep Rooms
1. Center of the Maze: The center of the maze is at the top of a hill. As the company crests the hill, fog lays on the maze itself, obscuring any attempts to divine a path forward from the vantage. On the hilltop, a spiral of weathered stones curls around a raised stone with a wyrm-like engraving. A red candle flickers on top of the stone, from which a shadow seems to stretch, even in the middle of the day.
- Shadow: A specter attacks the company; they cannot leave the hilltop until it is defeated. Each time it successfully hits its target, they must reduce their number of hexes traveled by 1 as it drains their hope.
- Candle: If the candle is snuffed out, the shadow disappears.
- The candle is sorcerous. Sorcery spells cost 1 less Endurance while it burns and are cast with +1 to all values. It has 9 remaining uses.
2. The Exit: Finally!
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