Tricky Treats

T
ricky Treats is a fun Halloween D&D 5e one-off
adventure. Set in the quaint town of Mollywort, The Adventure begins
the party has been summoned by the temple of Background
Pelor to help with the local Fiend's Eve
festivities, handing out religious pamphlets The party has arrived at the town of Mollywort one day before
and candy to children and adults alike. They Fiend's Eve. During the next day they were assisting with
soon receive an unusual cry for help, from an decorations and preparations for the evening, and have been
even more unusual victim. tasked with handing out candy and religious pamphlets.
Mollywort is a pleasant town with about 1,500 townsfolk of
all races. It has all the basic shops, craftsmen and
Author's Note accommodations expected of an average town. A rather large
This short D&D 5e adventure was written with experienced spooky graveyard with a mausoleum is in its center.
D&D players in mind. Players and DM should be somewhat
comfortable with their roles, as some encounters require Fiend's Eve
creative solutions from the players, or may require the DM to The party has been busy all evening handing out candy, and
re-balance combat on the fly depending on party composition. sharing their wisdoms of Pelor with the local children and
I recommend not following this module word-for-word, but their families. The crowd has been getting smaller as the first
instead building upon it with your own creativity. There's still families are turning in for the night when the party notices
lots of room for improvement and extra details. Have fun! something strange: A zombie with a note stapled to its chest
Required materials: D&D 5e SRD (Monster stats may be is limping around the streets aimlessly. The zombie is rather
found online) docile but will chew on some brains given the opportunity.
The note written on its chest reads "HELP! THERE ARE
Summary VICIOUS MONSTERS EVERYWHERE. IM STUCK IN"
A fun 2 to 3 hour Halloween adventure. The party needs to the rest is torn off
help a town find their missing children, and help a Lich who Note to DM: Give as many hints as you like. The rest of the
has suddenly found himself with too many children after note would read "THE MAUSOLEUM", but let the party
turning them into real monsters. Will they help the Lich, or investigate and find their own conclusion.
strike down the evil being to save the children? Potential clues:
Party Recommendation Candy trail leading to mausoleum.
This module was originally written with three level 4 clerics Abandoned candy or costume props.
of Pelor in mind. Other classes may be safely substituted for Parents talking about the haunted graveyard.
each of these. If more or less than three players are present, People saying they saw the note-Zombie emerge from the
the encounters may need to be adjusted accordingly. graveyard.
The clerics of Lolth accidentally letting information slip.
Witnessing a kid enter the mausoleum and not return.
Key NPCs Costume descriptions which match the monsters they
Lord Dreadbone later encounter inside the mausoleum.
A Lich who has been living in the local mausoleum soon after At this point the first parents will begin reporting their
the town was founded over 100 years ago. He claims to be missing children, who they haven't seen since they went trick-
over 1,000 years old. He considers himself an evil genious, or-treating. Investigation and clues of your choosing will lead
but is rather harmless compared to other Lichs. Evil traps the party to the mausoleum, which should seem haunted and
are mostly non-lethal, and master-plans would rather see to spooky!
stealing candy than world-domination. Nothing is known
about his past. The Mausoleum
Clerics of Lolth (Optional)
These 3 clerics of Lolth are always aiming to one-up the
other churches of this town and gain a positive reputation. A Note About Monsters
While they are evil and will certainly sacrifice folks to please All monsters within the Mausoleum are actually
their goddess, their attempts at fame are self-centered and children who have been polymorphed into the
not on par with average cruel clerics of Lolth. They will stop costume they were wearing. They retain their
at nothing to get ahead of other local churches and take original mind and soul, but have a monster's body.
credit for reputable deeds. (Somewhat inspired by Team The implication is that they are ridiculously
powerful, but have no idea how to control their
Rocket from Pokemon). Their level of competence should be new bodies, barely knowing how to walk or use
determined by you. They can be seriously evil antagonists, or their powers. This should make for hilarious and
comedic relief. In my session their main purpose was random encounters.
mocking the party. Use them wherever they fit best in your
telling of this story.
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 When entering the mausoleum the party feels as if they've Heading Deeper
crossed through a magical barrier. This magical barrier casts
the spell Polymorph on every person that passes through it.
If the victim is wearing a costume of a monster, they will turn
into that monster. Once the barrier is crossed again, the spell Feel free to change up the encounters! Think of fun
monsters someone in D&D may dress up as.
is undone. Also keep in mind: What kind of child is inside
A spooky dark staircase leads down into the depths of the this monster? Is the Giant Spider a mellow kid? A
Mausoleum, where screams of monsters can be heard. A mean bully? This can influence how they act!
Minotaur and Skeleton (they're friends) are at the bottom of
the staircase, and will fight the party if approached. If the
monsters start taking some damage, they will quickly retreat
and wimper. The party is being lead by Lord Dreadbone through the
dungeon to head deeper towards the inner sanctum. He leads
them into an elevator, and warns them that this may be a
Important DM Decision regarding most EVIL trap! The elevator is designed to bore intruders to
monster encounters death, taking 1 full hour (short rest) to reach the bottom with
You as a DM have a very important choice to make no way to escape. However, if someone searches for a secret
at this point, which lets you influence how this passage before entering the elevator, they will find a staircase
adventure fuels your Halloween-y desires: instead. Which only takes 5 minutes to traverse.
Once at the lower level, the party encounters a huge
1. Wholesome Path: Defeating "monsters" results
in them poofing back into their child-selves and
spiderweb blocking the way forward in the hallway. A Giant
fall unconscious. Monsters will also be more
Spider rests on it, however its web looks wrong and more
obviously afraid and fleeing when attacked. like a kid's drawing of a spiderweb. They will need to get past
the spider and its web to traverse further in.
2. Evil path: Defeating "monsters" means actually Prior to reaching the next chamber, giggling can be heard
killing the monster and therefore the child who echoing through the halls. The chamber is revealed to be
turned into it. This results in an overall very dark some kind of laboratory, where a Beholder is gleefully toying
adventure which can make for a fantastic horror with all the funky colored potions and bottles. This Beholder
setting. Monsters may be less afraid and actually will fire off random rays every round. Players must roll a Dex
attack all-out with less of a tell that they are not saving throw DC 14 to avoid the rays. Otherwise roll for a
true monsters. random type of ray to strike the victim. The Beholder can be
easily distracted with shiny or colorful objects.
After the laboratory the party encounters the door to the
Inner Sanctum, with a hallway beside it. Down that hallway
After this encounter the party enters a chamber with 4 is the Phylactery room filled with 12 partying Pit Fiends.
sarcophagi, a Troll is cornering Lord Dreadbone in a corner. They will need to run/sneak past that hallway to get to the
The child within the troll is a bully, and therefore more prone Inner Sanctum door. Roll Stealth checks DC 13 to sneak by
to violent attacks than other monsters. Lord Dreadbone has undetected.
been beaten by the troll and is yelling for help from the party. If they investigate Phylactery room they will find it contains
Once the troll is defeated Lord Dreadbone will thank the Lord Dreadbone's phylactery in the form of a common silver
party and immediately hire them as his new minions. If coin.
questioned he will tell the party about the Polymorph spell he
created to stop kids from bothering him during Fiend's Eve. The Inner Sanctum
He needs their help and protection to reach the Inner
Sanctum where a monster is keeping his staff. Finally the party arrives in the inner sanctum. This room is
full of collectibles, magic items, priceless artifacts and a huge
Scaling Lord Dreadbone's Power pile of candy on which a Behir rests. (I recommend putting a
toddler's mind into the Behir for maximum hilarity) The
If you are worried your murderhobos are going to kill Lord
Behir has the staff in its mouth and is excited that new
Dreadbone, scale his power accordingly. In the original friends have come to play! It is completely uncoordinated
episode recording I had him "powerless without his staff". Feel with all of this legs and will mostly stumble around, crushing
free to make him quite powerful without his staff if you need people and furniture. The party needs to figure out how to get
him to keep your players from killing him outright. the staff out of its mouth, which the Behir has mistaken for a
That being said, Lord Dreadbone is technically not essential, rattle. Every time the Behir rattles the staff, there is a 25%
and if killed the players can still progress to the end of the
chance of a random spell being cast through it.
dungeon to break his staff and end the spell. Possible Spells: (Roll 1D6)
1. Lightning Bolt
2. Polymorph
3. Raise Dead
4. Charm Person
5. Hideous Laughter
6. Sleep

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Once the Behir is defeated, Lord Dreadbone is able to
reclaim his staff and undo the Polymorph spell on all kids. He
will thank the party for their help and officially hire them as
his minions. He will also reward them:
Possible Rewards: (Feel free to add more)
Bagpipes of Invisibility Be completely invisible while
playing these bagpipes.
Candy-Bag of Holding Produces infinite candy!
Gold Around 500 - 1,000gp
Cape of Billowing This cape always billows as if in the
wind.
Coin of Fate Once per day replace a D20 roll with a coin
flip, which will be either a crit fail or crit success.
Lord Dreadbone will ask the party to leave him be, and so
they party returns to the surface.
The Ending
The party emerges from the mausoleum with a group of
children eager to return to their families. They do so and are
celebrated by the townsfolk as heroes. If you decided to
include the Clerics of Lolth, they will now attempt to claim
credit for this deed.
The party returns to the temple of Pelor, where they are
welcomed and can finally rest.
The ending is very much influenced by the player's actions:
Did they save or kill the children?
Do they sell out Lord Dreadbone?
How do they explain the events to the parents?
How do they react to the Clerics of Lolth?
Credits
Hopefully you and your party enjoyed this module! I had a lot
of fun running it for the 2019 Halloween one-off with
DingoDoodles, Zeebashew and Puffin Forest. You can watch
it here. I always appreciate feedback!
Written by Felix Irnich, Twitter: @FelixIrnich
October 30, 2019
(Image borrowed from D&D Beyond)

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