Talon's Height: Cabbage Country Overview and Random Encounters

Cabbage Country is one of the five main "zones" of the Talon's Height setting, along with Talon's Height town, Puddleton, the Brightwood, and the Long Moor. I include below both a general overview of the area, a plain list of the locations by hex, and the random encounter table. Obviously this doesn't render it completely usable for you yet; however, hopefully it might provide some ideas.

OVERVIEW

Population: Around 550 between smaller villages and hamlets and many individual farms

Game Function: Cabbage Country does not host any of the major factions of the setting, but there is an endemic problem with the undead due to the the influence of Orcus, Demon Prince of Undeath. Some locations connect directly to this – the Gatehouse, Bulwer's Mount, and the Count's House, as well as two random encounters. Key clues to the activity of the Torrynton Compact may be discovered in Cabbage Country, via the Patzers' raids on Waylter's farm and Torrynton's country house, and there is unusual elemental activity on the Random Encounter table due to the growing strength of the Prince Most Magnificent in Shimmering Smoke. The area is one full of strangeness and mysteries: the strange autumn equinox at East Wellbury (and poor Pumpkinhead, a man trapped in scarecrow form), the disappearances near Bulwer's Mount (connected to a cult of Orcus), gateways to other Planes and to the Underdark, as well as the agricultural troubles Waylter and Mannix are experiencing.

Description: Fields of cabbage and grain spread for miles south of the Trade Road, as far as the eye can see. The Dancing River and the River Puddle amble through the fields, and copses of trees, little hamlets, and mysterious ruins punctuate the landscape. This is Mystic Arable, with a scent of mystery in every corner – not quite crop circles, but everything else.

LIST OF LOCATIONS (LOW DETAIL)

Hex 7-1: The Gatehouse: half-ruined fort with Underdark access below, with Drow, Kuo-Toa, Fane of Orcus, and deeper down, Olm and a Trilobite Knight. potential Stronghold

Hex 7-3: Seedhome: gigantic hollow acorn inhabited by Pixies and Sprites, with a planar portal to the Feywild

Hex 8-7: Circle Y Ranch: Forest Gnome Illusion Cleric/Rancher who thinks he's great and kinda is needs help with disappearing cows

Hex 7-10: Waylter's Farm: retired Paladin is being raided by neighbouring farmers who are part of Torrynton Compact

Hex 8-5: The Count's House: ruined and haunted giant's steading, with portals to other parts of the Prime Material Plane (default being Slumbering Ursine Dunes, the Rock of Bral, and Tyr on Athas)

Hex 9-4: East Wellbury: hamlet with autumn equinox harvest festival where celebrants become avatars of fruit and vegetables

Hex 9-6: Bulwer's Mount: friendly village which also sacrifices people to Orcus on the Winter Solstice

Hex 9-9: Rock's Truth: commune of Earth Genasi

Hex 10-1: Low Spittington: inbred yokels with good food

Hex 10-10: Gruumsh's Trough: badlands with Giant Ants, Bullywugs, and a mad Druid who lives with termites

CABBAGE COUNTRY ENCOUNTER CHART

d12 each hex, on an 12 roll again:

d20

1: Tibi the Tinker

The adventurers meet Tibi the Tinker (Halfling Commoner with Intelligence 15 and Wisdom 15, Insight +6). He drives a cart pulled by a Giant Goat called Sir Turnipton, who is very protective of his friend. At any one time he has 1d8 Trinkets available, which he will sell for between 5sp and 1gp each, as well as 1 random Common Minor Magic Item. He has a dull silver key which he consider a Trinket, but is in fact the Memory Key (see New Magic Items section).

2: Ankheg Attack (repeatable)

An ankheg bursts from the ground and attacks the travellers. If it loses half its hitpoints, it will seek to escape.

3: Broken-Down Cart

The adventurers come upon a cart that has thrown a wheel. The driver, Helmut, has been thrown off, breaking his leg. He will pay for help or healing (he can gather 12sp), and can give limited information about the local area (including locations of larger villages such as Bulwer's Mount, East Wellbury, Low Spittington).

4: Mineshaft Collapse

The ground collapses into the shaft of an old chalk drift-mine. Adventurers must succeed at a DC17 Dexterity Saving Throw to avoid falling 20 feet down, taking 1d8 damage. Inside the shaft is a chest with a DC12 lock, containing an intact Explorer's Pack, a Horn of Hearing (see New Magic Items section), and an entirely unmagical lucky rabbit's foot.

5: Pumpkinhead

The adventurers encounter a walking pumpkin-headed scarecrow (stats of a Human Commoner); it is silent, and not aggressive. If they are friendly it follows them, if they are not, sooner or later it will leave – sooner if attacked! It can communicate telepathically if contacted (e.g. using Rapport Spores or Sending). It is in fact a local farmer who was trapped in this form as a freak side effect of the Autumn Equinox festival at East Wellbury years ago. He can be restored using Greater Restoration. His wife has remarried, thinking he has abandoned her.

6: Bandit Attack (repeatable)

1d4+3 Bandits and a Bandit Leader block the way of the party and demand a 50gp “toll” (Morale 14, Bandit Leader). They are dirty and desperate; they have come from the south, beyond the Lordship, where several harvests have failed.

7: Standing Stones (mark hex)

The adventurers come upon a circle of standing stones. Whilst standing inside, the sun is shining and the air still, no matter the weather outside.

8: Hungry Goblins

The adventurers come across a Goblin campsite. There are 1 x Goblin Boss, 4 x Goblins, and 3 x Wolves present (Morale 12, Goblin Boss). The Goblins are members of the Broken Pot Gang, and serve Nimthur – unenthusiastically. They have wandered into Cabbage Country when sent by the Blue Dragon to scavenge, and are struggling to find much but cabbages. This has left them hungry. They will switch allegiance for “bed and board”, and may tell employers about their familial situation. Alternatively, if they detect the presence of the adventurers and believe that they are weak, they will attack.

9: Darter the Sprite

The adventurers meet Darter, a Sprite from Seedhome, who will happily pass time with them (and offer them berries from his pack). He has little information to offer, but freely offers any small detail about the local area he might know. If the adventurers seem trustworthy he will tell them to visit Seedhome, and he will ask them if they have seen Orien, an Elf friend of his who went missing last autumn.

10: Regrowth in Cabbage Country (mark hex)

The Adventurers pass a burial ground between hamlets as 8 x Zombies (Unbreakable) are in the process of rising from their graves. They have been unlife by Orcus' latent power in Cabbage Country – the Zombies visibly tear themselves out from the earth, shedding skin as they do so. There is a faint trace of magic in the background if Detect Magic is cast, but with no source.

11: Family Tragedy (mark hex)

An old woman in a nameless hamlet asks the adventurers to bury her young grandchild with his mother (her daughter), up near the High Lake – the child's father (who grew up near the High Lake) went silent when she died, took her to the Lake, buried her, came home and said what he'd done before leaving. Now her grandchild has died, too. She cannot pay except in water and bread and vegetables.

12: Comforting Sunrise

If it is the first hex travelled on this travel day, the sun crests the horizon in the east, with the light falling gently on the vast fields, seeming to turn everything to glowing gold and verdigris. All characters gain a d4 Inspiration die. If it is later in the day, replace this with Random Encounter 11 or 13 as desired.

13: Ghosts of the Past (mark hex)

In the ruin of a farmhouse, the adventurers find a desecrated shrine to Lathander. If they arrive late in the day or at night, the adventurers are set upon by 2 x Spectres (Unbreakable), former inhabitants of the house who cannot rest whilst the shrine remains desecrated. If destroyed and the shrine remains desecrated, they return the next dusk.

14: Earth Genasi Wanderer

A wanderer from Rock's Truth encounters the adventurers. He speaks slowly and sparsely, but asks them for news. He will share news of the world beyond Talon's Height, or wisdom about the Elemental Chaos. He will give hungry people bread. He will tell other Genasi where Rock's Truth is located.

15: Creepy Cabbages (repeatable)

The adventurers pass through an area of cabbages which give off a mild, life-sapping hallucinogen. Each adventurer rolls two Constitution saving throws (DC 12); a failure costs them d4+1 HP, and they begin to believe the cabbages are moving around them or talking to them. They must have been out of the square-mile area for over an hour before the symptoms wear off. There is a faint sense of magic in the background, without a source (as with Random Encounter 10). The power has been infused by Orcus. The cabbages do not taste good, though they are not poisonous.

16: Deserted Farmhouse

The adventurers come upon a deserted farmhouse, with food set at the table and just cooling, horse tacked to a cart in the barn with a case of clothes and money in the cart itself, and strange sketches of human-like figures in a child's bedroom.

17: The New Hot Springs (mark hex)

7 x Steam Mephits (Morale 13) have taken over a local spring – the adventurers may come across it or be asked by a farmer they meet on the way. The spring is now perpetually hot. The Mephits are disinclined to communicate with those who come to their home, and will attack any who get too close. They are very low-level extensions of the Prince Most Magnificent of Shimmering Smoke's power.

18: Hermit's House (mark hex)

The adventurers come upon the tumbledown hut of a grumpy hermit, Axel. He will reluctantly offer visitors food and water. He can tell visitors about the historic power of Orcus in Cabbage Country, as he knows a little about the history of the Gatehouse and has encountered the walking dead before.

19: Giant Ant Foragers (repeatable)

1d4+1 Giant Ant Workers (Morale 13) are foraging in this area. They will take an interest in any passers-by, but are not automatically aggressive and can be followed back to their home in Gruumsh's Trough.

20: Drow Slavers

1d6+3 Drow (plus an Elite Drow Warrior if there are 7 or more normal Drow) attempt to ambush the adventurers (plus an Elite Drow Warrior if there are 6 or more normal Drow); as they spring their trap, ask each character to roll Perception (DC15). Those who fail are surprised. The Drow will not kill adventurers, but instead take them as slaves – first to the Gatehouse, and then to Velkynvelve in the Underdark.