Creeping Underwood

“CREEPING UNDERWOOD” is balanced for 4 characters of 2nd level and is intended to be the first area upon arriving to D-List Kingdom. If you are playing with more characters you can increase the number of insect enemies as per the Enemy Roster Table below.

*Location Map*

Location Overview

Originally a port area in the early days of settlers to the island, once a more suitable location had been established, The Creeping Underwood became an overgrown area and a lair for all kinds of powerful, oversized insects. While a simple inspection would indicate that a variety of insects with distinct specialties work separately, a deeper look would unveil the true horrid nature of the site.

All of the insects play a part in this deadly funnel trap, herding unsuspecting parties to the final area the Cocoon Circle (area L5.) in order to transmogrify them into insect warriors to protect the Underwood. The Cocoon Circle is a warded Insect Barrier that does not allow insects to pass within its walls, when parties discover this information, they usually take rest in this area only to be engulfed and consumed by the Evolution Cocoons.

Quest Goals

Search the area and find the treasures lost by past adventurers.

Find a path through the Creeping Underwood without succumbing to the horrors of the forest.

Arrival

Read the following to the players:

“Your row boat pulls up to a rickety old dock that looks like it has been abandoned for many years, as you finish disembarking and tie up the boat, you look around and see a dense forested area within a 20ftx20ft clearing of the docks.”

As players look around, they do not need to roll perception checks for you to let them know that other than returning to the water and risking being swept out to sea, the only path is forward into the woods.

Underwood Locations

L1. Underwood Entrance

This large initial clearing contains half of the Basic Insects and Big Insects. Roll initiative upon entering this area, if a player rolls a natural one on an attack roll, have one of the Killer Needle join the enemy side and have them attempt to attack party members instead of grappling them. Make sure you note which creatures have been poisoned and turned into insects (it will come up later).

L2. Needle Nest 1

Characters can enter this area undetected on a DC13 Stealth check otherwise half of the Killer Needle reside here and will start attacking the party. If not provoked early, the Killer Needle will join their allies when the party passes into L3. Deep Underwood.

Treasure: Upon a successful DC12 investigation check, a character discovers the following:

“You find a body clutching onto a potion bottle in one hand”

A character who succeeds on a DC13 History/Medicine/Nature check will understand that this body has been here for only about 1 year which is unusual as the story the party were given on the ship was that the area has been abandoned for many years.

Once identified each one is a Tincture of Insect Eradication (6 uses).

L3. Deep Underwood

If necessary, characters can rest between areas L1. & L3. and should roll initiative again when entering this new area. In this space, there are the remaining Basic Insects and Big Insects along with all of the Gokibore and any Killer Needle from L2. that have not already been summoned.

The Gokibore can dash, dodge and disengage as a bonus action and will use half of its movement to back up and ram creatures in order to implement its charge effect, the Killer Needle will attempt to grapple non-insect creatures and take them directly to the cocoons in L5. Cocoon Circle.

L4. Needle Nest 2

Similarly to L2. characters must succeed on a DC13 Stealth check to avoid the remaining Killer Needle that are here.

Treasure:

Fairy’s Hand Mirror

Fiend’s Hand Mirror

L5. Cocoon Circle

As the characters approach the runic circle surrounding this area, any who are already insects through poison notice that the circle is a 20ft high Insect Barrier that can only be passed by non-insects. The Insect Barrier can be broken if characters break 4 of the loadstones that make up the circle, each loadstone has 18HP, 16AC and is immune to all damage types apart from bludgeoning damage.

All of the Evolution Cocoon are in this area and their goal is simple: engulf the party and turn them into Moths. When the Moths are reduced to 0HP they will return to their original form however the Great Moth and Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth will flee after gusting the party to be encountered later. Have the player roll a new character until the party can find their original party member or they can be lost if the player so chooses.

Treasure:

Evolution Cocoon Husks

Killer Needle Venom (roll 1d100 per needle for gp value)

Leaving the Underwood

Most of the adventures so far have given the player characters very little choice and have been mainly to introduce them to the world and mechanics, as they exit the underwood there are many more options available to the players. See 3. Wild Encounters for an idea of enemies that the party may encounter and an idea of what players should come in contact with during the adventure.

Describe to the players that they enter deeper into the forest, heading Northward as they end this adventure however let them know (especially if they did not destroy the Insect Barrier) that they appear to be a relatively safe area and could take a long rest before exploring further.

GM Tips

One big thing to keep in mind when running this adventure is that it gives the players the least amount of choice in the module. As there is only one path through the Underwood and players may still be getting used to their characters and abilities, if necessary, you can extend the paths between areas L1. & L3. and L3. & L5. to be long enough for players to take a short rest (or long if needed). If you choose to do this you can still have players roll for a random encounter during rests and send an appropriate number of Big Insects to attack the party.

Don’t forget you are not trying to eliminate the party on their first real adventure but you do need to keep it tough for them. This extends to area L5. where theoretically all PCs could be captured by cocoons and turned into GM controlled moths, in order to avoid this possibility, if too many PCs are being targeted by cocoons, you can introduce a saving throw (WIS or STR) with DC12 - (2 * party members already in cocoons) in order to not become engulfed.