The Gobble Goat Float

Animal Escapade

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A goat has chewed through the bars of a tiger cage, releasing the animal into the crowded district. The tiger panics.   Innocents. AC 10, HP 5. 2d4 bystanders are in the tiger’s path. The tiger moves 40 ft. in a random direction each round. If the tiger ends its turn in their space, they take 1d8 slashing.   Tiger Stats. AC 12, HP 37, Speed 40 ft. Athletics +3 .   DC 13 Animal Handling. If the tiger flees, 2d4 bystanders are knocked prone in the stampede and take 1d6 damage.

Nina’s Silvered Pitchfork

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Read Aloud.   Nina’s Quest. Nina is an eleven-year-old human child who is scared. Once she finds someone who listens, Nina won’t leave their side, insisting the Gobble Goat is after her. She is determined that if she can hold onto the pitchfork for the holiday Rimpsmeat and the Gobble Goat won’t be able to harm anyone.   Nina is well versed in Nobbletot lore and can tell the characters details about the city if asked.   The Pitchfork. It has an unnatural glow and is silvered. DC 13 Arcana reveals it is enchanted and has a fey aura.
 

Strange Goats & Stranger Clues

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Unusual signs hint at something more. These clues can help the characters prepare for what’s to come. DC 13. Identifying 3x total clues removes the surprise round during the parade.  

• Goat Tracks. Small footprints turn into hoofprints and vanish.
• Puppets. At a puppet show, a group of goats sits as an unnaturally still audience enjoying the performance.
• Human Screams. A chilling scream from an empty alley echoes like someone in pain.
• Droppings. Found in odd patterns and glowing faintly green.
• Chewed Scenery. Decorations and carts are damaged in impossible ways, like spirals and clean bites out of wood.

Befuddled Bystanders

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A group of festivalgoers sits cross-legged in the street, covering their ears and humming loudly. When approached, they glance up with wide eyes and say, “It sounded like someone dying.”  

• DC 13 Insight. The bystanders are shaken but unharmed, frightened by a noise only they heard.
• DC 13 Arcana. A faint trace of fey magic lingers. The people took minor psychic damage.

The Parade

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Read Aloud.   If the characters identified 3x clues earlier, they are prepared for the ambush and are not surprised when the float opens.   Combat. 1 x The Gobble Goat & 2 x Goat Swarms each round.   The Gobble Goat is on the rooftops and has 5x rounds to seize the pitchfork. If it fails, it retreats, leaving the crowd dazed and Nina safe for another year. If it grabs the pitchfork, it flies to the rooftops at a 30 ft. move.   Complications. Adults in the crowd remain oblivious to the absurdity and see the characters attacking what they believe to be children. DC 14 Persuasion or Performance can calm the crowd or convince them the characters are acting. If unconvinced they will hamper and cause disadvantage on all attack and ability rolls.   The Gobble Goat has a +6 Strength to grab the pitchfork. It will not attack or harm anyone after using its initial Human Scream. If the pitchfork is lost, Nina later disappears, leaving behind her half-eaten straw doll. If successful in keeping the pitchfork, there is no Nobbletot this year and the children will celebrate.

Rewards

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Payment. If characters kept Dondarian safe they are paid 50 gold each for their day of work.

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Rimpsmeat’s Silvered Pitchfork

Weapon (pitchfork), rare (requires attunement)   This +1 silvered pitchfork glows faintly with an unnatural light and hums with fey magic. The pitchfork deals 1d6 piercing ( 1d8 if wielded with two hands) plus 1d8 psychic damage.   Special Effect. When you hit a fey, goblinoid, or gnomish creature, it must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be incapacitated until the end of its next turn.

Nobbletot

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Nobbletot is an Otherwyld Otherwyld tradition intended to instill discipline into misbehaving youths. As stories go, a creature known as Rimpsmeat comes to take bad children from their parents, leaving payments of toys and sweets behind. To keep Rimpsmeat at bay, the children craft dolls to trick the creature. Kids take the holiday far more seriously than others, as fear of Rimpsmeat seems to fade when entering adulthood.   Rimpsmeat is said to be a small otherwylder, with exaggerated physical features, wearing bright yellow clothing, and carrying a silvered pitchfork, that leaves behind the smell of sugar and cooked meat. It relies on a massive, overweight companion called the Gobble Goat for transportation, feeding its prizes to the goat before moving on to the next home. Some say that the children become the kids of the Gobble Goat, eventually turning into goats themselves; the only tracks left behind are those of massive cloven hooves.   Important Items: Hand-crafted dolls, cursed sweets & toys   Rituals: Decoy dolls, feeding the goat   Celebrated Locales: Belwin, Gnome's Landing, Heavy Gnome or Goblin Populations, The Otherwyld