The Peppermint Wood

— Willem Wenckebach, late 19th century

This is my contribution to the Merry Hexmas Blog Bandwagon.

Adjacent Hexes

North: The Inaccessible Ever Frost
Northeast: The Inaccessible Ever Frost
Southeast: The Drumlands
South: Talking Wishing Well
Southwest: The Jinglebell Barrens
Northwest: The Inaccessible Ever Frost

Exploring the Wood

Narrow tracks and footpaths meander through the wood with peppermint trees encroaching on all sides. Each hour the party spends wandering the wood, roll 1d6:

1. Roll on the encounter table.
2. The party exhausts themselves trudging through deep snow. They must rest for half an hour, and fresh snowfall covers their tracks.
3. The party reaches the edge of the wood bordering the Ever Frost.
4. The party reaches a random neighboring hex.
5. The party stumbles upon the lowest-numbered undiscovered location.
6. The party stumbles upon the highest-numbered undiscovered location.

Encounters (1d8)

1. 1d3+2 Licorice Eels¹ slither just beneath the snow. They hunt as a pack and target the rearmost member of the party.
2. Seven emigres from Sadtown seek a good place to found a new town. If guided to the Talking Wishing Well, they reward the party with the Snowglobe of Scrying.²
3. 1d4+1 Awgwas³ pursue a random elf from the syrup refinery.
4. Smugtusk, an escaped orc, has taken refuge in a peppermint tree. 1d3+2 Licorice Eels circle below.
5. A swarm of Goblin Ants laps sap from a leaky peppermint tree tap.
6. Three elves—Gleeberry, Lemondrop, and Sweettooth—sing somberly as they pull a sledge through the trees. Upon the sledge lies Puffwind, an ancient puffin the elves are ferrying to the Ever Frost, where he will depart from this world to the White Heavens.
7. Rhinestone the Reindeer wanders the wood in search of Yukon Cornelius.
8. Clive Cornice, Dowd Downy, and Professor Isadora Iceberg, members of the Weather Advancement Institute, are conducting research near the border of the Ever Frost.

The Peppermint Trees

The flaky white bark of these trees smells of peppermint and bears red flecks of candy cane. Boiling the sap of these trees yields peppermint syrup: medicinal yet addictive for elves, paralytic to Awgwas, Goblin Ants, Licorice Eels, Merry Leeches, and Snomes.

Locations

1. Hot Springs

Steam rises from a crystal-clear natural hot spring—a perfect place to camp out and watch the aurora.

2. Treehouse

A peppermint wood treehouse perched high in the boughs of a towering peppermint tree overlooks the Ever Frost. Five elves live here: Dimples, Flufftuft, Goodcheer, Jollywink, and Merrygrin. Once members of the radical Elf Liberation Front, they mostly drink peppermint syrup and watch the aurora these days. If they deem the party pure of heart, they’ll offer pristinely gift-wrapped high-grade explosives.

3. Syrup Refinery

Three elves—Clearbell, Redcheek, and Snowcone—tap peppermint trees and boil sap in their cramped, rustic cabin. They plan to use the syrup against the Snomes to rescue Yukon Cornelius, but they can’t help but drink it faster than they can refine it.

4. Snow Heads

Clumps of snow have rolled down a nearby hill, accumulating mass and forming snow heads. The snow heads glumly lament their lack of bodies, promising to serve anyone who builds them some.⁴ Three Snomes—Frosteye, Icebeard, and Rimespittle—have made a base and are busy rolling a torso.

5. Loggers’ Camp

A dozen emigres from Sadtown camp here. They cut down peppermint trees, strip the bark, and sell it in Sadtown. If the treehouse-dwelling former ELF members hear about this, they’ll be sympathetic to the emigres’ predicament but determined to stop the logging nonetheless.

Sadtown Emigre Names

1. Algernon
2. Barnabas
3. Basil
4. Cassandra
5. Clover
6. Edith
7. Eustace
8. Francis
9. Harriet
10. Horatio
11. Joanna
12. Maisie
13. Morgan
14. Nicola
15. Oliver
16. Philomena
17. Rosalind
18. Rupert
19. Violet
20. Waverly

1. Licorice Eel: swift, stealthy, cowardly—stats as small snake (no venom). ↩︎
2. Snowglobe of Scrying: once per day, name a location and shake the globe. When the snow settles, the globe will contain a tableau depicting the location as it exists at that moment. ↩︎
3. Awgwas: lumbering, stupid, cruel—stats as blink dog. ↩︎
4. Snowpeople serve their creator for three days before marching into the Ever Frost. Slow, clumsy, immune to pointed weapons (stats as skeleton). ↩︎