The latest D&D campaign setting explores the world of Critical Role in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, now available for preorder on the D&D Beyond Marketplace. Wildemount is a land of dark and epic fantasy, with low-level characters fighting to survive in a world full of common folk who are just as mud-splattered and hungry as they are—and high-level characters contending with the fate of nations and magic that has the power to bring about the end of the world, or the creation of a new one. This series of Encounters of the Week are one-shot adventures for low-level characters set in the four major regions of Wildemount: the grim, authoritarian Dwendalian Empire; in Xhorhas, home of their mortal rival the Kryn Dynasty; the tropical and politically neutral Menagerie Coast; and the frozen and forbidden Greying Wildlands, home to strange mystics and every sort of criminal scum.

This week’s encounter is Feeling Crabby, and takes the adventurers to the quaint lakeside town of Odessloe in eastern Wildemount. Every night for the past week, giant crabs have hounded the waterfront, piercing holes in fishing boats and snapping dock pilings in half. The superstitious residents of the town believe this is because they have angered the spirit of the lake—but is that truly the case? Or does something more sinister lurk hidden in the shore’s fog?

Combat Encounter: Feeling Crabby

This encounter is suitable for characters of 1st level, and assumes they are new arrivals to Odessloe. The characters can either be allied with the Dwendalian Empire or exist as a neutral party amidst the war that rages across Wildemount.

Starosta Vesdan Wossathic has governed over Odessloe for nearly a year. Eager to please his superiors in the Dwendalian Empire, Starosta Wossathic has demanded increasingly higher tributes from the town’s farmers and fishermen, and those who cannot meet his expectations face a slew of harsh punishments.

One such unfortunate individual is Nelson Seidel. A weathered human male with a distinctive salt-and-pepper beard, Nelson has tended the Seidel farmland for nearly five decades, following in his family’s long and storied tradition as farmers in Odessloe. Nelson uses the noble statistics, with the following changes:

• Nelson has proficiency in Stealth (+3).
• Nelson’s wealth of experience tending the land has afforded him a small measure of magical control over nature. He knows the cantrips mold earth and shape water. (Both of these spells are found in the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion.) Additionally, Nelson can cast fog cloud as a 1st-level spell once per day.

Recently, Nelson failed to pay tribute to Starosta Wossathic after a blight destroyed most of his harvest. Threatened with the loss of his family’s home as punishment, Nelson was in his most desperate hour. Panicking and thinking only of protecting his husband and two young sons, sought out an agent of the continent-spanning Myriad crime syndicate to help him. He found Orzala Niran, a chaotic neutral female fire genasi smuggler of some renown within Wildemount's criminal underworld. Yet in securing the aid of the Myriad, it seems he has simply traded one devil for another.

Orzala cuts a distinctive figure, with blue-white hair that flickers with flame and ash-gray skin riddled with jagged scars that shine like iridescent crystal. She is a bandit captain with the following changes:

• Orzala is resistant to fire damage.
• Orzala knows the produce flame cantrip. Once per day, she can innately cast burning hands as a 1st-level spell. Constitution is her spellcasting ability for this trait.

Orzala promised to cover Nelson’s dues in exchange for payment in three months’ time. But now, those three months are up, and Nelson is no closer to paying his debt. Desperate to find a solution, Nelson and his farmhands have begun capturing and starving giant crabs from the Erdeloch, the largest lake in the empire. Every night for the past week, Nelson has unleashed these crabs on the town, scaring the superstitious residents into leaving valuable offerings to the lake spirit—which he and his farmhands then steal.

Encounter Summary

The characters are asked to watch the pile of offerings on the lakeshore overnight. Like every night before, giant crabs begin terrorizing the shore, accompanied by roiling fog and other ominous omens of an angered nature spirit. But careful inspection leads the characters past these illusions to the Seidel homestead, where they encounter Orzala herself confronting Nelson for the payment she is due.

Encounter Start

As the sun sets on Odessloe, read or paraphrase the following:

The soft trundle of carts and jingle of metal fill the streets. In the light of the fading sun, you see several townsfolk marching towards the lakeside, their arms laden with all manner of gold and precious trinkets. Leading them is a barrel-chested man with a bushy salt-and-pepper beard. “Come now,” he calls to the others. “Perhaps tonight the spirit will be appeased.”

Nelson heads the crowd as they head towards the lakeside altar dedicated to the spirit of Erdeloch. As the current patriarch of one of Odessloe’s longest-standing families, Nelson’s leadership and wisdom is greatly respected among the town. Curious characters watching the procession may overhear at least one of the following statements:

• A mother calling after her child. “No, no, no—stay close! Those monsters could come back at any moment now.”
• A grumbling pair of fishermen, examining a torn piece of sailcloth. “Really hope whatever’s got Erdeloch in a fuss is fixed soon. Not sure how much more our boats can take.”
• A young man examining a hefty piece of gold jewelry with his spouse. “I hope this works. I don’t think we can afford any more offerings.”

When questioned, a resident earnestly explains that monstrous crabs have been terrorizing the town for the past week. They believe these attacks are some form of wrathful retribution from the spirit of the lake itself, and so they have been leaving offerings to the lake every night—yet, nothing they do seems to satiate the spirit’s anger. Alternatively, characters may listen in on these conversations instead of inquiring directly, gleaning the same information with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check.

If anyone talks with Nelson himself, the farmer elaborates on the situation similarly. However, throughout the conversation, Nelson carefully chooses his words so as to never tell a direct lie, saying things like, “Legend says a fickle spirit inhabits the depths of the Erdeloch,” and, “We’re hoping that leaving these offerings stops the attacks.” A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check picks up on Nelson’s particular word choices, though if questioned further, Nelson deflects and busies himself with some of the other townsfolk.

Characters with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 12 or higher also notice the glint of plate mail in the shadows as soldiers of the Righteous Brand, the Dwendalian Empire’s feared and respected army, watch the townsfolk crowding the lakeside altar with disdain. In the Empire, religious worship is strictly limited to six sanctioned deities—none of which are the spirit of Erdeloch.

As the residents begin returning to their homes for the evening, one guard pulls the party aside. The members of the Righteous Brand in Odessloe refuse to believe an actual nature spirit is causing these nightly assaults on the village, but their numbers here are too stretched thin for them to both protect the town and scout the lake. They offer to pay the characters 10 gp each to stakeout the lakeside altar and locate the source of the crab attacks.

Watching the Lake

The first few hours of the characters’ watch pass without incident. However, as it nears midnight Nelson and two of his farmhands (both of which use bandit statistics) approach the lake. A character that succeeds on a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check notices the faint rustling of their movement through the brush on the western shore, the side nearest to the farms of Odessloe. 

Once the group gets within 120 feet of the altar, Nelson casts fog cloud centered on the pile of offerings, obscuring his farmhands from view as they begin their work. While the farmhands begin to release the crabs, Nelson combines practical trickery—such as camouflage and ventriloquism— in concert with his nature magic to further the illusion of an angry spirit in the lake. Nelson’s illusions are creative; for example, he may use shape water to craft a small humanoid figure walking on the lake’s surface, or he may yell into a bucket to create a deep and echoing roar. A character that makes a successful DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) sees through Nelson’s illusions. Likewise, a character that makes a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check discerns the truth through his practical deceptions.

Before the characters can confront the presence of Nelson and his helpers, three giant crabs rise from the water and attack the characters. While the characters battle the crabs, Nelson and his farmhands focus on looting the altar under the cover of the fog.

Keep track in secret of how many turns the combat with the crabs takes, as it will be important later.

The Truth Revealed

In the chaos of the battle with the crabs, Nelson and his farmhands are able to escape with the majority of the treasure piled at the altar; however, the longer the characters were distracted by the crabs, the more time the group had to conceal their tracks leading west. If the combat took 5 turns or less, locating the group’s tracks requires a successful DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Survival) check. If the combat took more than 5 turns, though, the DC increases to 15.

If the characters fail to notice the tracks, it’s possible for them to completely lose Nelson’s trail—and the encounter ends. You may have to devise a social investigation encounter in Odessloe, if the characters go to town and ask the townsfolk if they saw anyone sneak into town at night. If you want to get them back on track, a character with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 10 or higher notices a bobbling blue-white flame headed westward. The light they see is from Orzala’s fiery hair, as she is also making her way to the Seidel farms.

Following Nelson’s tracks or Orzala leads the characters to the Seidel farm. Along the path, characters find 1d4 giant crabs still trapped in their cages and angrily snapping at the bars; a character that makes a successful DC 11 Wisdom (Animal Handling) or DC 16 Intelligence (Nature) or check discerns that these crabs are starving, which is most likely the source of their agitation.

Deals in the Dark

A neat white picket fence borders the sprawling fields that encompass the Seidel family farm. On top of a hill nearest to Erdeloch sits a two-story ranch house—Nelson’s home, which he shares with his husband and two young sons. As the characters approach, they clearly see that the downstairs lamps are lit, and one of the upper windows glows with faint blue-white light. The other areas of the farm are dark and silent.

Nelson’s two farmhands who helped him abscond with the treasure from the lake keep watch at the main gate, doing little to hide their presence. Characters wishing to enter unnoticed must make a DC 10 Dexterity (Stealth) check; on a failure, the farmhands notice their presence and attack (using bandit statistics).

As the characters near the farmhouse, they begin to hear snippets of heated conversation echoing from inside. A successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check overhears Orzala, in her raspy voice, reminding Nelson that his payment to the Myriad is due. As Nelson begs for a few more days to acquire enough money, Orzala casually reminds him that she can inform Starosta Wossathic of his deception and thievery—and surely, the punishment for a criminal is worse than the punishment for a blighted farmer.

If the characters decide to let the pair’s conversation continue uninterrupted, Orzala proposes that Nelson take matters into his own hands and assassinate the starosta before he has a chance to dole out his punishment on the Seidel household. Nelson, fearing for his family, shakily agrees. As Orzala leaves the homestead, nearby characters must make a successful DC 10 Dexterity (Stealth) check to avoid her notice. On a failure, though, Orzala makes no move to confront the party, instead simply saying as she leaves, “Nelson, dear, you have guests. Play nice.”

Nelson doesn’t want to hurt the characters, but he draws his sword and calls for his farmhands, then demands that the characters drop their weapons.

However, if the characters do decide to confront Orzala, the situation might fly wildly out of control. Presented below are two ways this situation might play out: fighting her, or talking her into a new deal.

Fighting Orzala

The main living room of the Seidel house, where Orzala is talking with Nelson, is a 15-foot by 20-foot room with one front door. The room has five windows, which require a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to break through or a successful DC 13 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools to unlock. In the corner, crooked wooden stairs lead up to the second floor, where Nelson’s family is fast asleep.

Orzala, not wishing to make the situation messier than it already is, only enters combat if a character attacks her first. Once she is reduced to half her hit points, Orzala does all she can to flee the scene, swearing that the characters will rue the day they made enemies of the Myriad.

Dealing with Orzala

Orzala is displeased with the characters’ interruption—though only briefly. Impressed by the party’s sleuthing abilities, she offers the characters a new deal: she will absolve Nelson of all his debts, so long as the characters promise to return the favor to her and her fellows at a later date.

Nelson argues vehemently against the new deal, not wishing to entangle the characters in his problems any further. A successful DC 12 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check allows the characters to negotiate some terms of the deal in their favor, though the fact that the party owes the Myriad a favor remains unchanged. If multiple characters contribute to the discussion, either all the characters make the check, succeeding if the number of successes outweigh the number of failures, or one character can make the check with advantage.

Once satisfied, Orzala leaves the Seidel household peacefully.

A Myriad of Issues

The minute Orzala leaves, Nelson breaks into tears and explains the entire situation to the characters. If Orzala released Nelson from his debts, he wishes to return all the things he’s stolen from the townsfolk; however, he would prefer to do so in a theatrical manner that maintains the illusion of the lake spirit, partly to save himself from the starosta’s wrath and party to keep the townsfolk’s treasured legend alive. Interested characters can contribute to this effort through various spells, performances, or other tricks—again, this is a good place in the encounter to allow for some fun creative freedom. Let your players surprise you!

However, regardless of how the situation was resolved, the threat of the Myriad now looms over the characters’ heads. When will Orzala call upon the characters, and what will that “favor” for the dastardly crime syndicate look like? Or, alternatively, what retribution will the fire genasi send after the individuals who interrupted her carefully laid plans? If Orzala appears in your adventures again, she grows in power just like the characters. Once the characters reach 5th level, Orzala uses assassin statistics. For every level they gain beyond this, Orzala gains a magic item of your choice, first one of uncommon rarity, then rare, then very rare, then uncommon—and so forth.

No matter what choices you make, you can continue your daring adventures through the land with Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, coming to D&D Beyond on March 17th, 2020, with preorders available now. You can also keep up with the adventures across Wildemount in Critical Role, every Thursday at 7:00 pm PST on www.twitch.tv/CriticalRole.

 Did you like this encounter? If you want to read more adventures like this, take a look at the other encounters in the Encounter of the Week series. You can also check out some of my other content on the DMs Guild—including the best-selling adventure i've been, which examines our struggles to vocalize our mental health and our often non-linear paths to progress, and Knarl's Candy Compendium, a collection of fifty enchanted candies to implement into your D&D games.

Makenzie De Armas is an independent tabletop game designer and writer. Known for her work as co-designer of MCDM Productions' Kingdoms & Warfare and co-host of the podcast One On One: A D&D Duet Campaign, Makenzie also serves as the lead writer for The Islands of Sina Una and appears in various streamed TTRPG campaigns on Scratticus Academy. You can usually find her screaming into the void on Twitter at @MakenzieLaneDA.