The local baker, Jacqeyz, has gone missing. Their assistant noted their absence from their bakery that morning, and they were not home either. She tracks down a group of helpful adventurers to investigate.
Zuggtmoy, the Demon Lady of Rot and Decay, has a hand in these proceedings. She and Pavel Avalon, master baker, have made an important wager, one the demon lady has no intention of losing. Jacqeyz’s assistant has been corrupted and controlled by Zuggtmoy, and seeks out an adventurous party of spanners to throw into Pavel’s intricate works.
The adventurers find the baker’s home to be fairly neat. He has a set of luggage that appears only half packed. There is no sign of forced entry, only a single letter on the floor, the invite to an event Jacqeyz had been looking forward to for months: the retirement soiree of Pavel Avalon. However, as soon as the adventurers read this letter, they find themselves whisked away to a faraway location.
Hollywoodland Manor
The adventurers, Jacqeyz, and anyone who reads one of Pavel’s invites is immediately teleported to Hollywoodland Manor, Pavel’s reclusive mansion on the other side of the world. The sun is setting, and the guests are settling in to what they realize is the famously eccentric baker’s retirement soiree. Pastries, cakes, and breads, savory and sweet, line endless tables throughout the halls and banquet rooms. Pavel himself is nowhere to be found. The adventurers have about an hour to investigate before the “festivities” begin.
An Illusion Shattered
It starts with a scream. A large Dundee cake, having sprouted legs and a mouth, has torn into the flesh of a nearby partygoer. Winged cupcakes assault all assembled. The centerpiece, Pavel’s famous cottage loaf, has risen to gargantuan proportions, and begins to chase down guests. The illusion maintaining the well kept manor begins to fade, revealing the hidden reality: a rotted and overgrown chateau, long-since overtaken by the damp jungle outside.
Wood and cloth have rotted and metals have rusted to the point of uselessness, including any equipment brought in by the adventurers.
The Wager
Pavel, old but longing for immortality, has struck a bargain with Zuggtmoy in exchange for a fungal lichdom. Pavel bet that he could murder one hundred bakers with bread and pastries, and without using poison. His plan: to utilize a fast-acting yeast, enhanced by the heat and humidity of the enchanted jungle (a region deeply connected to Zuggtmoy’s supernatural rot) and his own dark magics. These living microbial cultures would then quickly gain full sentience. When baked into cakes and rolls and breads of all kinds, this would create living, horrifying “yeast beasts”, which would then descend upon his hapless guests.
Zuggtmoy is actually shocked at the ingenuity of the master baker’s plan. She had not expected him to be so clever. She does realize, however, how to use Pavel’s own hubris against him to throw the bet further in her own favor. Pavel, ever the pretentious baker, routinely brags about his very rare, very expensive, set of volcanic glass cutlery (“Obsidian holds a much finer, sharper edge than steel, you know!”). He is so well known for hawking his obsidian cutlery that many of the guests at the party will joke about it in the time leading up to the yeast beast attack. Pavel, knowing his yeast beasts’ weakness to edged weaponry, has counted on the powerful magics of the jungle to eat away at any knives, swords, or other bladed instruments that might make short work of his creations.
After the yeast beasts attack, a large volcanic glass carving knife (treat as an obsidian short sword) appears on the centerpiece table. A bow of mycelial thread is wrapped around the hilt like a present. A note is attached to it, saying simply “-Z”.
Resolution
The adventurers must use the obsidian cutlery to fend off attacking yeast beasts, including the massive cottage loaf, and save as many guests as they can. A bewildered Pavel, watching from a hidden location, attempts to intervene personally. While he is an experienced mage and somewhat dangerous, his magics are ultimately better suited for the bakery than the battlefield.
The immediate threat ended, a new threat rises: the adventurers and party guests are far from civilization, and the trek will not be an easy one, especially should the party decide to spare or capture Pavel. More yeast beasts, adapting the forms of jungle predators to survive, lurk along their path.
