Witchs Cottage

A 1st Level Dungeon

Written and Designed by Jesse Gazic

Summary

of the worlds most popular fantasy roleplaying game.

(The word dungeon is used here to refer to a set of
linked encounters in the same time and place.) GMs
are encouraged to adjust any element of this dungeon
to better suit their needs.
The first section of this text provides a breakdown
of each area of the dungeon and any encounters
therein. Italicized text at the start of each entry should
be read aloud to players. Shaded boxes contain
additional notes.
The subsequent section contains a map of
all encounter areas, as well as short profiles for
characters appearing in this dungeon. GMs should
familiarize themselves with all of the information in
this document before introducing this dungeon into a
campaign.

This dungeon details the cottage of Halia Whitethorn,

a witch who lives deep within a thick and dangerous
wood. Halia has spent the last few decades learning
the art of potion brewing, creating potent concoctions
through a combination of forest plants and her own
arcane powers. PCs can explore her yard and the
interior of her cottage before discovering the trapdoor
to her hidden underground workshop, where they
will confront the witch of the forest herself!

How to Use This Dungeon

This dungeon is suitable for use with the 5th edition

Approaching the Cottage

The trees clear to reveal a squat, ramshackle cottage
in the dead centre of a small meadow. On the west side
of the house, a figure slowly tends a large vegetable
garden. At the northern edge of the clearing stands a
decrepit outhouse, and to the south you see a low stone
well.
The following section details the exterior and first floor
of the cottage, which is 15 feet wide, 30 feet long, and
10 feet tall.The well and the outhouse are functional
but contain nothing of interest.

1. Garden
The garden is quite large, spanning the entire length
of the cottage. Colourful flowers and fat mushrooms
grow in dutiful rows, while bushes bearing swollen
berries droop from raised planters. A tired gnome
woman stands here, idly raking up fallen leaves.
This garden is where Halia grows plants that are rare,
valuable, or otherwise require a lot of attention. Several
of the specimens are grown in wire cages or raised
wooden planters. The gnome is Rowan, who was exiled
from her village for murder. She now lives in the forest
and thinks of herself as Halias apprentice, spending
several hours a day maintaining the witchs gardens
and fetching her ingredients. Halia has no interest in
rewarding Rowan for her efforts, and plans to poison
the gnome once she has outlived her usefulness.
Encounter: If approached peacefully, Rowan (pg. 5) is
hostile and insists the PCs leave at once. If they seek an
audience (or claim to have one already), Rowan assures
them that Halia is very busy, and if she had business
with the likes of youor anyoneId have known of
it! If the party refuses to leave, she inititates combat.

2. Front Porch
The front porch of the cottage is rather dirty and
dusty. The steps are crudely built, and the cottages
screen door hangs limply off one hinge. An old tin roof
covers the length of the porch.
Encounter: The front entrance of the cottage is
trapped, using a trip wire to collapse a section of the

roof. The trip wire suspended 3 inches above the porch

floor is strung between two posts. Its a DC 14 Wisdom
(Perception) check to notice the trip wire. A DC 15
Dexterity check using thieves tools disables the trip
wire successfully. A character without thieves tools
can attempt the check with a sharp implement at a
disadvantage. A failed check triggers the trap.
Anyone examining the ceiling of the porch can
see that the bottom sheet of tin is held up by beams
wedged into place. The dusty floor, signalling disuse,
can also clue in players to the danger here. (Halia uses
the secret door to the north, which is a DC 20 to spot.)
When triggered, the trap causes the bottom
section of the roof to fall open, and a hail of rusty
daggers and forks rains down upon the porch. Anyone
on the porch must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving
throw, taking 6 (1d10) damage on a failed save, or half
as much on a successful one.

3. Living Room
This large room takes up most of the interior of the
cottage. Every available surface is covered in boots,
trowels, shovels, shears, books, jars, seeds, and plenty
of mud. A hallway in the northwest corner of the room
leads further into the cottage.
There are no hostile creatures or traps in this room,
though combat with Rowan (area 1) or the rats (area 4)
may continue into this area. Any PC who stops to look
for treasure finds none, but their searching alerts the
rats in the next room. All of the tools and books are
mundane. Halia keeps her valuables in her workshop.

4. Bedroom
This tiny room is sparsely decorated in comparison
to the clutter of the living room. The walls are covered
in patches of pale green mold, and a cot is crammed in
the back of the room, just on the other side of a large
trapdoor set in the floor.
This is where Halia sleeps. In the mornings, she leaves
via the secret door to work in her garden, and in the
afternoon and evening works tirelessly in her lab.
This room is therefore empty for most of the day, save
for Halias roommates (see encounter). Beneath the
trapdoor is a 20 ft. tall ladder that leads to the network
of tunnels underneath the cottage.

Encounter: When the PCs enter this room, three giant

rats (pg. 5) crawl out from under the cot and attack.
Treasure: Under her cot, Halia keeps some coin
stashed for when she sends Rowan to town to buy
supplies. A small silk bag contains 60gp.

Beneath the Trapdoor

This section details the basement of the cottage. The
ceilings are 6 feet high, and there is no light unless
otherwise noted. (Halia uses her goggles of night to
navigate.)

5. Milking Room
This large room is coated in thick, stringy webbing.
Through the darkness, you can make out deep gouges
along the walls and floor, and the room stinks of
droppings and decay.
In this padlocked chamber, Halia keeps a giant spider
she raised from a young age to farm for venom. The
spider is not tame, but Halia heavily doses its food
with opiates that keep it sluggish and docile. In her
busy operations, however she hasnt fed the spider in a
while, so it is alert and quite angry.
Encounter: If the giant spider (pg. 5) detects the PCs
through bright light or loud noise, it climbs to the
ceiling of its pen, hoping to pounce on anyone who
comes looking in this room.

Treasure: With a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception check),

PCs can discover a potion of healing, a dose of oil of
slipperiness, and a potion of poison.

7. Workshop
This room has a low ceiling of packed earth.
Long worktables hold clusters of ceramic and glass
instruments, most of which are spattered with
strange and sour-smelling liquids. At the far end of
the chamber, flickering candles perch on the rim of a
massive iron cauldron.
Halia spends most of her time here, tirelessly labouring
to create new potions. The cauldron is currently full of
potion of healing (amounting to about 8 doses), which
Halia brews to barter with forest creatures.
Encounter: Halia (pg. 6) can be found here when the
PCs arrive at the cottage. She is intensely focused on
her work, and wont be alerted to the PCs presence
unless they make a significant amount of noise in the
other underground chambers. If she is made aware of
intruders, she drinks her potion of heroism.

This Dungeon in Your Campaign

Halias motivations are kept unspecified in this text so
that GMs can easily integrate this dungeon into their
own campaigns. If youre unsure of how to incorporate the scenario here, below are a few suggestions:
A valuable object (or an allied NPC) has been
stolen by Halia for use in a potion. The PCs must
retrieve their quarry before its too late!

Treasure: The spiders last meal (a trespassing elf) wore

an amethyst ring (200 gp) which now lies in the corner.

The PCs desperately need a certain potion brewed

(perhaps an antidote or poison) and Halia is the
nearest or likeliest hope. Bargaining with the spiteful
witch is sure to be dangerous!

6. Supply Room
This room is barely bigger than a broom closet, but
the walls are lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed
with all manner of potion ingredients. Dried plants
and jars of brightly coloured powder crowd the room.

Tension rises in the forest as Halia claims more

land in order to expand her gardens. Why could the
crone possibly need so many potion ingredients at
once?

This is where Halia keeps her preserved potion

supplies. Most of the supplies are worth little (1d10 sp),
but Halia has stashed some emergency potions here.
A secret door (DC 15 to notice) behind a shelf leads
directly to the workshop (area 7).

The PCs are sent to track down Rowan, an exiled

murderer last seen in the forest, and capture her
alive. In this case, consider placing Rowan in area
7 and putting several Awakened Shrubs in the
vegetable garden.

S
4

1
3
2

Halias Cottage

1 square = 5 feet

S
7

The Workshop
4

Appendix: Enemy Statistics

roll against a creature if at least one of the rats allies

is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isnt
incapacitated.

Rowan

Actions
Bite. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one
target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.

Small humanoid (gnome), Lawful Evil Druid 2

Armor Class 14
HP 17 (2d8 + 4)
Speed 25 ft.
STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

9 (-1)

16 (+3)

15 (+2)

14 (+2)

16 (+3)

11 (+0)

Saving throws Intelligence +4, Wisdom +5

Skills Nature +4, Survival +5
Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common, Gnome
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Spellcasting. Rowan is a 2nd-level spellcaster. Her
spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13, spell
attacks +5 to hit). She has prepared the following
spells:
Cantrips (at will): druidcraft, mending, shillelagh
1st Level: cure wounds, entangle, thunderwave

Actions

Quarterstaff. Melee weapon attack. +1 to hit, reach 5

ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d8 -1) bludgeoning damage.
Sling. Ranged weapon attack. +5 to hit, range 30/120
ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage.
Rowan is a natural lackey who craves power but fears
responsibility. She entangles foes, then attacks with her
sling, casting shillelagh on her staff if caught in melee.

Giant Rat

Small beast, unaligned

Armor Class 12
HP 7 (2d6)
Speed 30 ft.
STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

7 (-2)

15 (+2)

11 (+0)

2 (-4)

10 (+0)

4 (-3)

Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 10

Languages
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
Keen Smell. The rat has advantage on Wisdom
(Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Pack Tactics. The rat has advantage on an attack

Giant Spider

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14
HP 26(4d10 + 4)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

14 (+2)

16 (+3)

12 (+1)

2 (-4)

11 (+0)

4 (-3)

Skills Stealth +7
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60ft., passive
Perception 10
Languages
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Spider Climb. The spider can climb difficult surfaces,
including upside down on ceilings, without needing to
make an ability check.
Web Sense. While in contact with a web, the spider
knows the exact location of any other creature in
contact with the same web.
Web Walker. The spider ignores movement
restrictions caused by webbing.

Actions

Bite. Melee weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one

creature. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the
target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw,
taking 9 (2d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half
as much damage on a successful one. If the poison
damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is
stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit
points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.
Web (Recharge 56). Ranged weapon attack: +5 to
hit, range 30/60 ft., one creature. Hit: The target is
restrained by webbing. As an action, the restrained
target can make a DC 12 Strength check, bursting
the webbing on a success. The webbingcan also be
attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to
fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and
psychic damage).

Halia Whitethorn

Medium Humanoid (human), Neutral Evil Warlock 4

Armor Class 14
HP 28 (4d8 + 8)
Speed 30 ft.
STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

10 (+0)

13 (+1)

14 (+2)

16 (+4)

15 (+2)

18 (+4)

Saving throws Wisdom +4, Charisma +6

Skills Arcana +5, Nature +5,
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Spellcasting. Halia is a 4th-level spellcaster. Her
spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, spell
attacks +6 to hit). She has two available spell slots and
knows the following spells:
Cantrips (at will): eldritch blast, mage Hand, true
strike
1st Level: expeditious retreat, hellish rebuke, unseen
servant
2nd Level: darkness, hold person

Actions

Dagger. Melee or ranged weapon attack. +3 to hit,

reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 +
2) piercing damage.

Other

Eldritch invocations: agonizing blast, beast speech

Familiar: Ajax (bat, noncombatant)
Gear: In addition to any items listed above, Halia
carries a potion of heroism, a potion of resistance
(poison), a potion of water breathing, and a pair of
goggles of night.
Halia Whitethorn is a witch studying the art of potion
brewing. Unscrupulous in her quest for knowledge,
Halia is willing to sacrifice anything (or anyone) for a
deeper understanding of the arcane arts. She regularly
traffics with the fey of the forest, and has no problem
using lethal force to protect the many gardens and
mushroom beds she cultivates throughout the region.
In combat, she attempts to control the battlefield with
darkness or hold person, then attacks with eldritch blast.
If reduced to 10 or fewer HP, she casts expeditious
retreat if able and attempts to flee through her secret
door.

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