The Duchess' Divergent Desires
Ingredients
- Sea of grass
- Mountain of ice
- Feather wig
- Two-headed cat
- Truthful mirror
- Swindled noble
A 5e adventure for four 3rd-level characters
Pitch
Duchess
Venphyphara Mistpetal (elf
noble, she/they) offers the PCs—through
Snuli (
kobold bard, they/them), her spokesperson—rich rewards in exchange for performing two seemingly straightforward fetch quests for her. Namely,
- Retrieving as many feathers as possible from Bucephalus (she/they), the Great Bicephalous Cat-Beast who dwells in the Sea of Grass.
- Recovering the truthful mirror, a magical item that, as the name implies, reveals the true nature of anything reflected on it. This item resides atop Frozen Fist, a mountain of ice.
Hook
Snuli delivers the Duchess’ offer, which boils down to,
- If they retrieve 30+ feathers from Bucephalus, each PC receives 100 gp.
- If they retrieve 50+ feathers, each PC receives 200 gp.
- If they recover the truthful mirror, each PC receives a common magic item of their choice.
- If they retrieve 30+ feathers AND recover the truthful mirror in a timely manner [for you to determine], each PC receives an additional consumable magical item of their choice.
- If they retrieve 50+ feathers AND recover the truthful mirror in a timely manner, each PC receives an additional uncommon magical item of their choice.
The PCs can choose to complete only the
truthful mirror quest. The Duchess will not reward them for completing the feathers’ quest alone, however, because, as Snuli explains, another adventuring party swindled the Duchess with false feathers previously.
If the PCs accept the feathers’ quest, the Duchess (through Snuli) provides each PC with a
potion of grass breathing (works like a
potion of water breathing, but specifically for the Sea of Grass).
The Duchess’ Motivation
The Duchess wants Bucephalus’ feathers because they’re the material component to create a
fertility wig of feathers, which allows a childbearing person to have a magically safe multiple pregnancy. She wants to ensure her noble lineage’s continuity, sure, but to do so in one fell swoop. She's got better things to do than being pregnant many times!
Snuli knows this, but they wouldn’t share this information unless the PCs earn Snuli’s trust first.
Quest: Bucephalus’ Feathers
Bucephalus dwells in the depths of the Sea of Grass, a massive extension of grassland turned into a water-like substance as a result of residual magic.
While the PCs are traveling in the surrounding grassland, I recommend using the “Grassland Encounters (Levels 1–5)” table in
Xanathar’s to generate random encounters,
two times during the day and
four times at night.
- If the PCs are traveling stealthily, you or another player rolls 1d20; on a 1-3, the PCs have an encounter.
- If they’re traveling at normal pace, the encounter occurs on a 1-5.
- If they’re traveling quickly, the encounter occurs on a 1-7.
Once they dive into the Sea, the PCs need 1 minute of grass-swimming to reach Bucephalus’ lair, a clearing surrounded by tall, tree-like structures made of grass. The two-headed cat-beast sleeps at the center of this, surrounded by her already-shed fur's feathers.
Use the stats for a
displacer beast to represent Bucephalus, with the following additions:
- Bucephalus has two heads.
- As long as Bucephalus has two heads, she has advantage on attack rolls.
- When Bucephalus is bloodied (i.e. reduced to half hp or less), she loses a head and the use of both her Avoid and Displacement abilities.
Retrieving Feathers
Each PC can spend a bonus action or choose not to move during their turn to recover 1 feather. If a PC spends an action, they recover 1d4+2 feathers.
Consequences
If the PCs kill Bucephalus, they’re attacked by her seemingly endless progeny. Each round they remain in the Sea of Grass, 1d6 two-headed kitten (use
displacer beast kitten stats, with the same modifications as Bucephalus above) appear and viciously attack them.
Quest: Truthful Mirror
Frozen Fist is an impressive mountain made exclusively of ice. Getting to the top, retrieving the
truthful mirror, and getting back down should take the PCs
2 days traveling quickly,
4 days at normal pace, and
6 days traveling stealthily. Also, Frozen Fist should be considered as an “Extreme Cold” environment (cf.
DMG, pg 110).
I recommend using the same rules for random encounters as above, but using the “Arctic Encounters (Levels 1–4)” table in
Xanathar’s.
The
truthful mirror is at the literal top of Frozen Fist. It can only be retrieved by someone who’s not afraid of who they truly are. The item requires attunement and, when attuned, grants the effects of
truesight to any creature or object reflected on the mirror’s surface if held by an attuned bearer.