Puddle Point

Hex 29.24. A wilderness refuge for adventurers and explorers in the heart of the Puddlejump, home to a multitude of pioneer types, mostly broken up between two groups: The Puddlejumper Association and the Big Fame Hunters. The two organizations have opposing beliefs on how the Quagmash should be exploited. The former believe exploration and discovery are the true objectives, while the latter believe the thrill of the hunt and the subjugation of the wild is the real objective.

The Puddlejumpers all congregate in the Puddlejump Lodge, while the Big Fame Hunters gather in the Big Fame Hunter Lodge, where each explores their own fancies and spouts venom about the other. They often come to blows in the street.

locations

• Big Fame Hunter Lodge (p154)
• Puddlejump Lodge (p156)

what's going on

• Conflict between the Big Fame Hunters and the Puddlejumpers is at an all-time high. Their members hatch schemes against each other in an effort to drive them out of the Quagmash.
• A party of explorers is missing and the whole outpost is concerned.

sights and sounds

1. A scarred goblin with an oversized gold tooth adjusts a rusty harpoon gun on the end of a swamp boat.
2. Hunters pose with an impressive catch, a fifty foot

big fame hunter lodge

Considering the location, the lodge is a luxurious, old world style wooden hall with a giant roaring fire and walls decorated with animal head trophies from top to

DIN DIN SNAGGLETOOSH

The finest stalker in the Quagmash. He claims to have followed the infamous GATOR, Eyegouge, nearly five miles before it vanished into the muddy waters of the Gatormaze. Din Din got his name from the time he got snared by an orch war party led by Big Orch himself, who ordered the little orches to hog-tie old Snaggletoosh and roast him over a fire “for din din!”

• Traits: Weathered, approachable, great storyteller.
• Motivation: Learn the stories, behaviors, and hidden secrets of every beast in the Mucklands. slarm eel that wraps around the dock several times.

3. An old explorer with a magnifying glass pours over her huge, unfurled map. Licking her lips, she marks a spot with a big red X.
4. A shrym fishmonger dumps a bucket of wriggling tadpoles into a translucent tank and feeds them flakes of food from what looks like a pepper shaker.
5. MUCKLAND BATS gaze sleepily from underneath the eaves of thatched roofs.
6. A small GATOR lumbers into a small house. Two locals rush outside, poking at it with oars, trying to get the critter back into the water.

rumors

• Some say an outright war is brewing between the Big Fame Hunters and the Puddlejumpers.
• The Hinterlander is on the trail of something far more dangerous than the Great White RIVERSAUR—a nefarious DRAKE.
• Several Puddlejumpers have gone missing recently on their expeditions in the Quagmash.

outbound rumors

• CLUNCH DRAGONS have taken up residence in the Bogtown sewers.
• Long Johns Magilla is stopped in Skiff after the trail went cold for the Great White RIVERSAUR, and now he's looking to put together a ragtag hunting party.
• A Puddlejumper archaeologist is plumbing the depths of Tarmurk for ancient fossils.
• The Quagspire used to be the home of a magician, but no one has been inside in a hundred years. bottom. Veteran hunters from all over the Mucklands sit in gator-upholstered arm chairs swapping tales of their hunting exploits.

JERAMIAH JONKER

The finest sharpshooter in the Quagmash and even claims to have bullseyed a sparrow-sprite that stole his cigar (at over a mile, mind you) with his SPL 1000lbs Double Crank Recurve Whale-Sticker, a crossbow originally designed to fish for narwhalruses in the Swirling Sea. Jonker wears a little bird skull around his neck to prove he made the shot.

• Traits: Cocky, self-interested, always "bets" that he could do something.
• Motivation: Use his super-powered hunting weapon to bag himself the Great White RIVERSAUR.

THE HINTERLANDER

A mysterious human from Felmog, considered to be the finest hunter in all of the Mucklands by most that have seen him work. The Hinterlander is a stoic, quiet, loner who has never shared his real name with anyone local and who is not actually a member of the Big Fame Hunters, but enjoys the hospitality of their lodge. Many believe the Hinterlander has come from the north in search of a legendary beast.

• Traits: Aloof, oozes gravitas, gravelly voice.
• Motivation: Challenge themself to the most legendary hunt they can.

quests

THE SPL 1000 LBS DOUBLE CRANK RECURVE WHALE-STRIKER

Jeramiah Jonker needs three pieces of starfell steel. You see, Jeramiah has broken his infamous SPL 1000 Lbs Double Crank Recurve Whale-Striker and needs starfell steel to repair it, as that's the only metal strong enough to make the crossbow work. After all, what better way to bag a Great White Riversaur than with an arrow that could shoot through a castle wall? Last Jeramiah heard, there was plenty of the stuff in Drippy Downs, at a place called the Starfell Mine. He'll trade a Magnificent blunderbuss [accurate] and an old treasure map he found on a dead sarpathi scout.

• Jeramiah's treasure map leads to Boiling Lake (p362), the reason he's never pursued the treasure. It's written in a strange script: a Lore Check reveals that it's sarpathi script, and the map marks an Eye of Ehk (The Quaking Eye) at the bottom of the lake.

THE BLACK DRAKE

The mysterious Felmog Outrider known as the Hinterlander is on the hunt for a deadly black DRAKE called Putrifex that hunts all over the Quagmash. He's putting together a hunting party and paying 1 pouch of Gold Coins to whoever survives a successful hunt.

• Putrifex is a DRAKE (L9-C) who soars above the canopy of the swamp, hunting for large prey and lost travelers below.
• The creature currently roosts in the Lost Willows. Finding Putrifex in the zone requires a 12+ Search Check.

A PLAN IS HATCHED

Din Din Snaggletoosh doesn't appreciate the Puddlejumpers' high and mighty attitude. The wilderness is dangerous and should be conquered! There's no room for treehuggin' folk in the Quagmash, that's for sure. With that in mind, Din Din has hatched a plan, as it were. He's going to make the Quagmash so dangerous that the Puddlejumpers will have no choice but to leave. Take these eggs and lay them from Puddlejump all the way to Gatormaze. In return, Din Din will teach you how to be a wilderness stalker.

• Din Din has procured mutant skeeter eggs from the Spill and aims to make the critters proliferate in the Quagmash.
• If PCs go through with the job, Travel Checks suffer -1 and Wandering Intruder Chances are +1 in the Quagmash Zones, but they'll be taught the Wilderness Stealth Proficiency.

puddlejump lodge

A homey, cozy cabin made from driftwood and swamp clay, cluttered with cuckoo clocks, old books, maps, adventure journals, and frontier provisions. Two stone garden gnomes and a welcome mat greet every visitor.

BINDY REMMY

The granddaughter of Tug Remmy, and the closest thing to an official leader of the Puddlejumpers. Bindy's a thrillseeker if there ever was one, and knows the Quagmash better than any other Puddlejumper.

• Traits: Welcoming, infectious spirit, a font of information.
• Motivation: Has a personal vendetta against the Big Fame Hunters after she was almost killed by one of their monster traps, and she wants them out of the Quagmash for good.

BACKWATER BUNDEE

The famed GATOR-rider of the Gatormaze. Bundee is said to have ties to the ORCHES, speaks their language, and knows their customs. Bundee lives off the swamp and earns his keep by selling the pearls of BOG SQUIDS, a kind of swamp cephalopod.

• Traits: Honest, hearty, starts sentences with “Now, what you wanna do is...”
• Motivation: Keep “civil civilization” from worming its way into his backwater paradise.

SQUAWG MUGGADUNK

A traveling bugbear who recruits eager adventurers to join the Puddlejumpers and explore the Quagmash. Squawg's an eager, enthusiastic sort that thinks just about everything is a great idea. By all accounts, one heck of a nice guy.

• Traits: Loves everyone's ideas, eager to help, high-pitched excitement.
• Motivation: Make friends and recruit as many of them into the Puddlejumper Association as possible.

SHELDON NIMBLEWEED

A hardy quortle who risks his shell delving into the scariest, muckiest places in the Quagmash to find rare plants. His latest work is to create an alchemical cure for the Witchbreath cough.

• Traits: Accomplished alchemist, very discerning, not friendly but makes a good friend.
• Motivation: Find new ways to cure sickness and disease.

quests

THE SECRET OF GATORSPEAK

Backwater Bundee has discovered that some ORCHES can communicate with GATORS in a language they call gatorspeak. Bundee wants to transcribe the language and learn to communicate with beasts all over the Mucklands! Problem is, Bundee accidentally offended Big Orch (a translation error), so now he's staying out of Orchmire until things blow over. If you could find ORCHES willing to teach gatorspeak, Bundee will part with a random Magic item (see Magic Items table in Core Rulebook).

• Only the ORCHES known as toothsayers can communicate with the GATORS. Toothsayers are some of the most revered of orchkind, so gaining an audience isn't easy. They live in Orch Sty or inside guarded huts within the hamlets of Mudwallow in Orchmire.
• One must prove their worth in the wilds for a toothsayer to teach gatorspeak. And that starts with taming a wild GATOR in the Gatormaze.
• Taming a GATOR requires the carcass of a large critter. Once procured, make a Wilderness Check with Disadvantage.
• Once successfully transcribed by toothsayers, a PC can spend 1XP to gain the Gatorspeak Proficiency.

THE FALSE TRAIL

Bindy Remmy hates those nasty Big Fame Hunters and has an idea to get them out of the Quagmash. She wants to spread a believable rumor that the Great White RIVERSAUR has migrated from the Quagmash out to sea, via a rarely traveled estuary called the Drowned Marsh. If the Hunters follow the trail, it will lead them straight into a lair full of hungry LIGER SHARKS that Bindy discovered on her most recent expedition.

• Unless the PCs get a 12+ on a Trickery Check, they must accompany the hunting expedition for the lie to actually work.

THE LOST MAPS OF VOK'S FOLLY

Several months ago, Squawg Muggadunk and Backwater Bundee delved into Vok's Folly, an old ruin full of danger. After running into some MUCKMEN and a SARPATHI REAVER they fled, and Squawg accidentally dropped Bundee's bag of valuable maps. The old whalen has been upset ever since. Some brave Puddlejumpers went to retrieve the maps a month ago, but they haven't returned, so now Squawg is getting worried. Perhaps you can go check on them. Return the maps and 1 pouch of Gold Coins is yours. .

• The bag is located in the kitchen of Vok's Folly (p160), and contains:
• An old, disintegrating map of Quagspire (p158).
• A map of Gatormaze (p163).
• The claim to a Sinkhole goldmine (p145).
• Only one Puddlejumper survived the expedition, but she's trapped inside the ruins.

THE MISSING PUDDLEJUMPERS

A pair of Puddlejumpers left on expedition to the southeast months ago and never returned. Sheldon Nimbleweed believes it's time to send out a search party. The two explorers were headed to Croaking Bog to monitor MERGA TOAD activity before going south to Mushmash (p138).

• The Puddlejumpers were captured by the Hookfin Horde. Unfortunately, they've met their unceremonious demise in the brig of the Hookfin Hideaway (p177).

JOINING THE PUDDLEJUMPERS

Becoming a Puddlejumper is a right of passage for many a brave adventurer with a hankering to explore. PCs can join the elite group by fulfilling a few, rough-and- tumble requirements. Don't worry, Squawg Muggadunk will cheer you on the entire way!

• PC must venture to 3 random Hexes in the Quagmash and report back to Bindy Remmy on their findings.
• On their journey PC must only eat self-found food. No Rations!
• PC must solemnly swear to “keep nature wild,” and always confront hunters, poachers, and polluters.
• HEROIC TITLE ACHIEVEMENT: Complete the requirements and uphold the Puddlejumper oath.
• Puddlejumper•. Once every session, gain Advantage on a Wilderness or Athletics Check. Grants an Official Puddlejumper Society Membership Card (Lets them stay at Puddlejump Lodge and attend social events and potlucks).