A short encounter today as we continue converting the Runewild Campaign Setting from D&D 5E to PF2. If you’re interested in learning more about the Runewild, the 5E version of the book is available now on DriveThru RPG.

31. Ten-Ton Satyr (Level 1)

• Scrape, an elite ghast
• Carvings function as a spellbook

The bones of a gigantic satyr fill this clearing, as if the creature laid down for a nap and never woke up. Though the satyr’s flesh has rotted away, a nauseating stench greets the PCs as they approach.

The Giant Satyr

The bones are the remains of Ponderwattle, the largest satyr ever to walk the Runewild. Ponderwattle once served a hag named Molly Bitters, but the Whitebone Sisters (18) killed the satyr and his mistress decades ago. The Whitebone Sisters still visit Ponderwattle’s bones to perform magic inside his skull. A ghast named Scrape (the source of the foul smell) guards the hags’ sanctum.

While he lived, Ponderwattle stood over 50 feet tall. There’s no sign of how Ponderwattle died, but if the PCs interrogate his bones using the talking corpse spell, the satyr explains the Whitebone Sisters tricked him into disturbing the sprite nursery at 16 and slit his throat when he succumbed to the sprites’ enchanted arrows. Ponderwattle still bears a grudge against the hags. He tells the PCs everything he knows about the Whitebone Sisters, in the hopes the PCs decide to confront them. Assume Ponderwattle’s spirit knows all the information detailed in the Whitebone Sisters’ entry in the Runewild Bestiary.

Scrape

If the PCs visit this location at night, Scrape is absent, having gone hunting in the nearby woods. Every hour the PCs spend investigating Ponderwattle’s bones, there’s a 1 in 6 chance Scrape returns. Make secret Perception checks for the PCs against Scrape’s Stealth DC 22. Characters who succeed spot the ghast when he arrives. If he goes unnoticed, the ghast observes the PCs for several minutes, then leaves to report their presence to the sisters.

During the day, Scrape hides inside Ponderwattle’s skull, muttering to himself and smashing worms between stones. PCs can sneak up on the ghast by making Stealth checks opposed by Scrape’s Perception DC 20. On a failure, Scrape senses the party’s approach and attempts to outmaneuver them. He ambushes PCs he manages to catch alone (Initiative Stealth +12).

Scrape won’t betray the Whitebone Sisters unless coerced by intimidation or magic. He knows the way to the sisters’ cottage (18) and the halfling village of Kidwelly (19) but little else about the forest.

Inside the Skull

Ponderwattle’s skull is large enough to accommodate up to two Medium-size or smaller creatures. The Whitebone Sisters have scratched magical symbols across the inside of the skull. PCs who make a successful DC 23 Occultism check recognize the symbols as formulae for the spells bind undead and talking corpse. A wizard character who successfully studies the carvings can inscribe the spells into their spellbook.

The space inside Ponderwattle’s skull is cluttered with the trappings of the Whitebone Sisters’ magic: candle stubs, mortars and pestles, baskets filled with chicken eggs. Cracking open the eggs reveals the bones of tiny, unidentifiable humanoids. The chickens the Whitebone Sisters raise at their cottage lay the eggs. The bones are identical to those which decorate the sisters’ enchanted mirror (see location 18 for more information).

Today we visit two more locations from the Runewild Campaign Setting. Both of these encounters lead the PCs other locations of the Runewild…whether or not they want to go!

29. The Path of Petals (Level 1)

• Magical flowers tempt PCs (DC 15) off the trail to 124

Vibrant purple wildflowers grow beside the trail in such profusion that the party can’t help but pause to admire them. Each PC must make a DC 15 Will saving throw or become fascinated by the flowers for 1 minute. While fascinated, PCs are compelled to abandon the trail and stroll among the flowers. As if to avoid being trampled, the flowers magically part as the PCs approach, revealing a path leading deeper into the forest.

 Unless physically restrained, fascinated characters begin following this new path. Moments later, they emerge in a stand of trees far north from where they started, a half-mile east of the watchtower described in location 124. The path disappears once the PCs arrive and can’t be used to return to this location.

Characters who successfully save become immune to the flowers’ effects. A character doesn’t need to be fascinated to see the path revealed by the flowers. All characters can travel the path willingly, if they choose.

Every time the party returns to this location, there’s a 1 in 6 chance the path of petals has disappeared.

30.  The Whispering Well (Level 3)

• A magic well is a portal to 57
• The Gunkpuddle Girls, a coven of sea hags, hear everything inside the well
• Foul water: DC 18

A mile north of the trail sits a crumbling well half-hidden in the underbrush. The well’s pulley system has rotted away, but its low stone brim remains intact. Those who peer into the well discover relief carvings of hundreds of faces decorating its interior. The faces are human, but each likeness is unique. The carvings continue all the way down to the waterline, 20 feet below the lip of the well.

Investigating the Well

If inspected with a detect magic spell or similar effect, the well radiates auras of conjuration and divination magic. Any words spoken into the well cause the faces to animate and repeat the words in a chorus of whispers. Characters who succeed at a DC 18 Society check to Recall Knowledge knows the well’s name (the Whispering Well) and have heard the following folk tales about it:

• If you throw a coin into the well, the faces grant you a wish. (This is false.)
• If you drown a cat in the well, you can’t be killed for the next nine days. (Also false.)
• If you whisper a witch’s name into the well, the witch must answer one question you ask. (Only partially true.)

The Gunkpuddle Girls

The Gunkpuddle Girls, a coven of sea hags, were drowned in this well before their transformation into hags (see the Gunkpuddles’ entry in the Runewild Bestiary). The Gunkpuddles hear any words the faces whisper. If the faces are made to say one of the Gunkpuddles’ names (Foul Anne, Dripping Jenny, or Fishbone Sue), that hag climbs from the water at the bottom of the well a few moments later.

Despite the folk lore surrounding the Whispering Well, the Gunkpuddle Girls aren’t bound to answer any questions if summoned in this way. They’re fond of the old well, however, and usually arrive in generous moods. If the PCs use the well to ambush one of the Gunkpuddles, the remaining sisters refuse to appear when called.

Entering the Well

Creatures who use the carved faces as handholds can Climb the well’s interior with a DC 15 Athletics check, provided the climb is made in silence. If the faces animate, the Athletics check increases to DC 20. On a critical failure, the creature loses its grip and falls into the water.

The Gunkpuddles’ association with the well has permanently fouled its water. Creatures who start their turn in the water must attempt a DC 18 Fortitude saving throw.

• Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
• Success The creature is sickened 1.
• Failure The creature takes 2d6 poison damage and is sickened 2.
• Critical Failure The creature takes 4d6 poison damage and is sickened 4.

Creatures who submerge themselves entirely beneath the water are teleported to Area 5 of The Palace of Water, Wind, and Stone (57).

What better way to kick off the week than by converting more of the Runewild Campaign Setting from 5E to PF2!

27. Rufus Ambercomb (Level 3)

• A dwarven druid (as a beast tamer) and his moon bear (as a grizzly bear) companion
• Hidden pots of magic honey (Magic of the Runewild): DC 18

The tumbledown slabs of an ancient Aosidhe temple serve as the den of a dwarven druid named Rufus Ambercomb. A half-wild thing, Rufus wears nothing but the moss and vines that grow untended in his waist-length beard. His companion, a moon bear named Belle, prides herself as being more civilized than Rufus, but she’s savage in her defense of the dwarf, if needed.

Rufus is the keeper of the Magic Honey Tree (13). PCs who try to convince Rufus they pose no threat to the bees can attempt a Diplomacy check against Rufus’s Will DC 22. Druids and dwarves gain a +2 circumstance bonus to the check. On a success, Rufus becomes helpful and shares the following information:

• A tribe of goblins used to raid the Magic Honey Tree, but Rufus hasn’t seen the goblins in months. (For more information on the goblins, see 12.)
• If the PCs seek the thrushkin village of Shadownest (15), Rufus can lead them to the borders of the bird-folk’s territory. However, he warns the PCs the thrushkin aren’t particularly friendly.
• Rufus is on good terms with the wizard Bormgastor (32) and may ask the PCs to deliver a pot of magic honey to the wizard.

If Rufus suspects the PCs intend to harm the Magic Honey Tree, he gives them one chance to leave the area. If they refuse, or if Rufus catches them in the Runewild again, he and Belle attack the PCs to drive them off.

The interior of Rufus’s den smells of musky earth. Ancient carvings depict moon bears dancing with elves beneath a starlit sky. (These carvings may provide insight into encounter location 54.) A successful DC 18 Perception check to Search uncovers three clay pots filled with magic honey (six uses each) stashed beneath a pile of leaves at the back of the den.

28. Whisperwink’s Prison (Level 0)

• Whisperwink, a sprite

A hundred paces south of the east-west trail, the party discovers the statue of a kneeling ogre. At first, the ogre appears to be praying, but closer inspection reveals the ogre’s hands are cupped as if he holds something between them. The ogre glances over his shoulder, his face captured in a moment of surprise.

PCs who succeed at a DC 14 Perception check hear from the direction of the statue a high-pitched whisper pleading for help. Characters who investigate further discover a tiny girl with dragonfly wings trapped between the ogre’s hands. The girl, a sprite named Whisperwink, explains the ogre caught her several weeks ago, but something turned the brute to stone before she could escape. Whisperwink begs the party to free her.

Rescuing Whisperwink from her prison is relatively straightforward, although PCs who simply smash the ogre’s hands risk harming Whisperwink in the process. Carefully chipping away the ogre’s fingers does the trick. Returning the ogre to its original state (with a stone to flesh spell or similar magic) also frees Whisperwink. If restored to flesh, the ogre (named Yalthruk) is grateful enough not to attack the PCs on sight. If asked what petrified him, Yalthruk describes a “big lizard with too many legs” (the basilisk from location 14) before he wanders off.

Whisperwink is shy but good-natured. She has a fondness for humanoids, particularly small ones like halflings or gnomes. Even when yelling at the top of her lungs, Whisperwink’s voice hardly rises above a whisper. Her arrows, like those of all sprites in the Runewild, are invisible and curse targets until removed. Replace Whisperwink’s luminous spark Strike with the following:

Ranged [one-action] invisible arrow +8 (range increment 20 feet, reload 0), Damage 1d4 piercing. The target must make a successful DC 12 Will save or become cursed. While cursed, the target is magically silenced (as if by a silence spell). The curse lasts until the target or another creature uses a Seek action and makes a successful DC 12 Perception check to find the invisible arrow and another action to remove it. A successful remove curse spell also ends the curse.

PCs who befriend Whisperwink find her to be a useful source of information. Whisperwink can share the following:

• To thank them for freeing her, Whisperwink directs the party to the coins buried at Wall’s End (3).
• Whisperwink’s clan lives in a glade to the east (16). She agrees to accompany the party there, should they wish.
• Whisperwink doesn’t know what magic petrified the ogre, but she guesses it has something to do with the goblins who serve the Broken King (109).