0305 The Boggin’s Lamp

Scrubby heath, mud, and shallow pools. Windless and quiet. Eerie lights and strands of mist drift.

• Terrain: Bog (3), Dwelmfurgh
• Lost/encounters: 2-in-6. Encounters are 2-in-6 likely to be with 1d4 marsh lanterns (DMB).
• Within the Ring of Chell (p20): True fairies are afflicted with a spiritual malaise; teleportation and summoning are ineffectual; magic of illusion or charm has a 2-in-6 chance of failure.
• Foraging: Successful foraging yields 1d2 portions of Oddy Sorrel (p430), in addition to the normal results.

The Boggin’s Lamp (Inn)

A homely inn stands inexplicably in the midst of the trackless bog, its lights flickering welcomingly at all hours.

Sign: A young boy gazing in wonderment at a glowing crystal pendant held by a cloaked, bearded hermit.

Interior: Low beams, crackling fire, chunky oak tables and chairs. Narrow windows look out into the night, whatever time of day a traveller entered. A sign reads “To each their own rede; to each their own seclusion.” The landlord, Smauvol Oddnum, serves from a nook lined with bottles.

Guests: A merry assortment of travellers from far-off places (some real, some imaginary). Carrington Shyde wick (going by the name of Mercy Alquip) mingles in the crowd, contentedly sipping a glass of Underbrood’s Vintage (DPB). There is a 2-in-6 chance of 1d3 Drune cottagers (DMB) quietly conversing in a corner.

Protection from divination: The inn is swathed in a dweomer that stymies all magical scrying and detection.

Food and drink: The inn’s pantries and cellars are magically replenished daily. Items taken from the inn disappear after 1d6 days.

Origin: A magical lodging of fairy construction, claimed by the Drune after the Cold Prince was banished.

Services at the Boggin’s Lamp

Lodgings and food: Of common quality (DPB).

Smet: A hearty dish of bread, gravy, turnip, and goose fat. 4sp.

Wine: The inn stocks all wines listed in the Dolmen wood Player’s Book.

No stabling: The inn has no housing for mounts.

Smauvol Oddnum—Boggin’s Lamp Proprietor

A broad-faced, wide-eyed human man in his late 40s, with black, shoulder length hair. Wears a chequered doublet, white hose, pointy shoes, and a brass skull necklace. Refuses to discuss any of the inn’s peculiarities, merely replying that he keeps his own rede.

Demeanour (Neutral): Smug, enigmatic, mirthful.

Speech: Softly spoken. Shifts between rustic, urban, and archaic. Woldish, Old Woldish, Sylvan.

Desires: Peace and good company. Tales from afar.

The Shrine to St Dank (Hidden)

A wooden wayside shrine, now decaying and covered in moss, lies toppled in the mud beside a reeking pool.

Idol of St Dank: A 2′ square marble relief depicting St Dank with a great serpent around his neck, flanked by two kneeling longhorn acolytes.

Prayer: If the shrine is righted and cleaned, characters praying may receive the blessing of St Dank: the ability to cast Charm Serpents. See Shrines, p22.

Carrington Shydewick (“Mercy Alquip”) (Level 7 Thief)

A youthful human woman with a button nose, freckles, a beauty mark, and voluminous golden tresses (a wig). Wears an extravagant ball gown of turquoise satin, with a blue leather girdle embossed with silver hops. Currently lying low in the Boggin’s Lamp after infiltrating the Hall of Sleep (1304) and stealing a platinum tiara from the sleeping Lady Guillefer.

Demeanour (Neutral): Jaded aesthete. Arches her brows with curiosity.

Speech: Affected upper class accent. Casually impudent. Woldish.

Desires: Information on tombs, dungeons, and ruins in the Table Downs. Clues about the location of Dewidort of Smerne’s lost hoard (see 0607). To undertake thrilling robberies of heavily guarded sites. Has her eye on Nodding Castle (0210) and the Drune mausoleum on Phantom Isle (0706).

Possessions: Belt of Might (p406). A Bag of Holding (p420), containing an Arcane Longsword (p412), 3 Fairy Daggers (p412), 500pp, 1,000gp, and a platinum tiara stolen from the Hall of Sleep (2,000gp).