Drüskafeer Inn

A sentient, arcanely wrought building that entices and enchants weary travellers with the promise of rest and calm repose.

In an unfurling parade of inexplicable terrors it torments its guests into cataleptic catatonias, serving them up to be devoured by an ancient subterranean evil in the last of the darkness before dawn.

A fleet of long-dead faeries commit their collective magics to this horror, in service to a monstrosity they know only as “Mother”.

The cozy looking Inn is situated at a cross roads, deep within a forest. If its powerful magic is dispelled, the Traveller would perceive, instead, a long abandoned shell of a building, collapsed, rotting, and overgrown.

a note to the GM : for the Deity of the dead Faeries feel free to change "Mother" to "Father" should so you wish. This location works as well with one as it does the other.

Use this section as a quick reference during play, or at the start of a Session to refresh your GM senses!

Sights
~ Inexplicably tall trees in all directions, obscuring the world, closing in upon, and hiding, the Inn.

~ Mottle and daub walls with blackened timbers, as though wrought from a terrible blaze long extinguished.

~ Strange ember-lights that glow and flicker briefly at the periphery of one’s vision.

~ Inanimate objects that slide, shift, fall, or seem thrown; as though beset upon by some unseen hand.

~ Deep scratch marks, from claws or long fingernails, appearing in the skin of the Player Characters.

~ Shadows that move in unusual patterns, and strange mists that collate and dissipate.

Sounds
~ Doors slamming shut where no wind nor person is present.

~ Vague whispers and muffled voices.

~ Scratching, as though someone - or something - is within the walls.

~ Footsteps; sometimes heavy and slow, other times light and with haste.

~ An occasional scattering of notes from a wooden flute.

Smells
~ Tobacco.

~ Sour, pungent smell of rotting meat.

~ Lavender and honeysuckle blossom.

~ A charred, burnt timber scent.

~ Sweet summer berries.

The tap-room of the Drüskafeer Inn appears much like any other, but as though hastily abandoned mere moments before the Party’s arrival.

Plates of half-eaten food and still-smouldering cob-pipes litter table-tops, along with part-supped jugs of ale and mead.

Here and there a stool lay upon its side, as though its occupant departed carelessly and at speed.

All would suggest a popular inn, with many a customer, a warm fire, and a well stocked kitchen, yet neither barkeep nor patron are anywhere to be found.

What was, undoubtedly, a thriving business now stands empty of (living) souls.

Travellers, merchants, caravans, pilgrims, wanderers, adventurers and the like.

Though disparate in destination, they all arrive worn and weary, grateful enough to find an Inn that, at first, offers much comfort and respite from the forest road.

And so like flies to the honey pot do they come; fresh meat for the terrible evil that lurks below.

Many a cellar in regions afar may boast a cask of Drüskafeer Ale, long ago famed for its sweetness and quaffability.

None recall when last these barrels halted their passage, and any who now sup upon this rare and finely aged tipple find - amongst other things - any thoughts of the Inn shed utterly from their minds.

One small aspect of the Inn has somehow found its way into a few old books, and barely remembered nursery rhymes; it is often spoken thusly :

one afeared, who's here?
close your eyes, the Drüska's near

three hide, four run,
the Drüska's here before the sun

five tried, six failed,
the Drüska has your heart impaled.

Drüska, Drüska, Drüska, Drüska, Drüska, Drüska,
Run!

Standing at the cross-roads, and even upon the threshold, one might suppose that the Inn hosts a small spread of tidy rooms, as well as areas for dining, food preparation, and the like.

The interior, however, is a confusing parade of room upon room upon room; as though the Drüskafeer were rewriting itself in the presence of its weary guests.

What may, at first, present as a safe, warm shelter becomes a cold and terrifying prison; a maze of unspeakable, spectral horrors.

The many and varied ghoulish arts of the Inn serve to confuse, bewitch, and exhaust those within it.

A fleet of undead and ghostly Fairies perform these terrible acts with enormous glee.

All of this is in service to their Mother - a mass of earth and flesh that dwells in a pit of blood and tar deep below the Drüskafeer.

It is from this Mother that much of the folklore and superstitions of the surrounds begin; marsh-lights and shadow beasts, and other enchantments most foul.

The Drüskafeer would once have been a happy place of merriment, comfort and safe keeping.

Now, alas, it is naught but wrath and ruin, where much cruel delight is taken in terrifying unfortunate guests, exhausting them to such a degree that the Mother might then easily feed upon them.

Those with a keen eye may discern a great many strange symbols and markings about the Inn, along with tiny, intricate alters where sparrow skulls and lizard tongues may be found pierced with old boot nails and bloodied hair.

Ritual masks and the music of bone-flutes, too, play their role in the dark religion of the ghoulish fey-folk, who hold their Mother above all things, whilst reviling the dawn and its light.

At first, all appears just as it should. When it is least expected, however, terrifying horrors erupt from the floors, the walls, and the ceilings.

Listed below are several suggestions for the many interiors of the Inn. Roll to randomise what your Players encounter, or choose from the Table below.

Feel free to add your own, and to embellish upon what is provided.

Consider making the interior of the Inn a confusing mess of rooms that constantly shift in relation to one another, as the Faeries attempt to unsettle and confound the Player Characters with the slowly unfolding horrors of Drüskafeer.

1 - ENTRANCE - various stuffed and mounted animals come to life in horrifying ways, attempting to devour any who pass through.

2 - GRAND HALL - enormous tentacles erupt from a spiral staircase, threatening to drag any who linger beneath the floor.

3 - DINING ROOM - a great and extravagant banquet awaits, with all manner of treats too tempting to ignore. After partaking in the feast, bizarre hallucinations take hold, and food-like demons attack!

4 - BEDCHAMBERS - spiders lurk in every shadow, and every darkened corner. Their queen, enormous and starving, slumbers beneath the beds.

5 - BATHROOM - commanded by a grim bog-witch, ancient elemental spirits await, ready to drown you in fear and fetid waters.

6 - ATTIC - the ghosts of old toys and dead children linger here, playing foul tricks and cruel games on those foolish enough to wander in.

7 - CELLAR - littered with skeletons, chained and starved, they yearn to feast on living flesh.

8 - PANTRY - a wide, corridor-like space of jar-packed shelves, cured meats, bottles and barrels. After several feet it turns at abruptly at right-angles, becoming increasingly narrower the deeper one wanders, slowly crushing and suffocating.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and is intended simply to stir the pot of your own imagination.
Use what follows as starting-points, or ignore them entirely in favour of your own Adventure Hooks!

Roll 1d6 or choose from the Table below :

1 - A mysterious gentleman by the name of Baron Arcadia wishes to seize upon the Mother, and to display it as one of the many bizarre attractions in his Circus Fortuna. Aid him, and be rewarded greatly.

2 - A Traveller wishes to enter the Inn, knowing better than many what awaits them. Is it foolishness that brings them here, or a thirst for revenge?

3 - Residents of a nearby Village are increasingly being blamed for the many disappearances that occur at the crossroads beside the Drüskafeer Inn, and they wish to be rid of its terrible influence.

4 - The Fairies of the Inn have no love for their Mother, and wish to be freed from her despicable bonds.

5 - Something else is within the Mother, and calls out to the Party in dreams; they suffer a great anguish, and wish to be free.

6 - A book of great arcane wisdom is hidden somewhere within the ever changing environs of the Drüskafeer Inn. To find it would bring great renown, riches, and much magical prowess to the Party.

ROLL 1d20 for a DRUSKAFEER TRINKET

1 - A wooden spoon with a face angrily scratched upon it.

2 - A planchette made of matted hair.

3 - A pewter tankard decorated with an ornate inscription.

4 - A small, carved wooden box full of miniature wine bottles.

5 - A badger’s skull that screams when near to water.

6 - A collection of copper terrine moulds, each depicting increasingly macabre methods of torturing a witch.

7 - A wooden marionette whose footsteps may be heard when it is out of sight.

8 - A jar holding a bundle of dried sage packed in pink salt.

9 - A small limestone figurine carved with unusual markings.

10 - A large head-adornment made from barley-stalks and decorated with wild flower.

11 - A small phial filled with owl's blood.

12 - A small satchel of boiled, and dried, willow leaves.

13 - A desiccated fairy corpse, pinned to a piece of card in the manner of a butterfly in a museum.

14 - What appears to be, at first glance, a bracelet of small, dark steel ringlets. Upon closer inspection, small clumps of tiny hair and flecks of blood can be seen upon each hoop.

15 - A tall black candle that, when burnt, slowly reveals something quite horrifying having been encased within the wax.

16 - A pouch of pale, damp tobacco whose smoke contains unusual mysteries.

17 - A pair of eye-glasses made, perhaps, from faerie wings, and through which certain symbols and markings may appear ringed in strange light.

18 - A thick bundle of ragwort stems, bound in dark thread.

19 - A string of charms made of cold iron cast into bells whose music is dissonant and harsh.

20 - A golden, disc-shaped amulet depicting the sun and its warming rays.

Roll 1d8 for a Drüskafeer Encounter :

1 - A giant white-worm erupts through the rotting floor timbers, pierced through with iron rods and spitting tar.

2 - Several voices call out desperately for help, before turning to howls of laughter and derision, and then back to agony and despair.

3 - A fox wanders through, picking its ways carefully about the furnishings, muttering to itself about the terrible habits of the Party.

4 - Plates, tankards, mugs, and cutlery begin to be flung at the Party members.

5 - Ask the Players to roll 1d6. The Player Character of whomever rolls the lowest begins to levitate, as though lifted by unseen hands.

6 - Instructions, admonishments, foul proclamations, and warnings appear written in chalk upon floors, walls, and ceilings. Who, or what, is making these markings?

7 - The rooms begin to fill with a thick, black tar that threatens to drown and consume the Party.

8 - A great crowd, in finery and masks of flowers and grass, enters the Inn, as though partaking in celebration and festivity. Are these mere spirits, or true revellers?