Veneon Presents – A COMPLETE HOMEBREW Adventure for you to STEAL!

Monster Manual Plot Hooks Expanded – Abominable Yeti

Plot Hook: The eccentric monster hunter, Galagor Thansel, has finally met his match at the hands of a wickedly intelligent Abominable Yeti tribe. As per his will, the hero that slays the beast that bested him will inherit his estate. A considerable prize, and one that has attracted the interest of many adventuring groups.

NPCs:

Galagor Thansel (Dead) 
Race: High Elf 
Class: Fighter/Ranger 
Gender: Male 
Age: 607 
Background: Famous Monster Hunter 

Connection to Plot: Galagor is the trigger for this plot hook. Whether you introduced him as an NPC ahead of time or his death is the first your party hears of him, this character’s death is the event that gets everything moving forward. The party should learn that his will contains a clause that whoever slays the monster that bested him will prove themselves a suitable replacement and inherit his land and estate. They might learn this from a poster, town crier, personal agent or my personal preference; they overhear it from a rival adventuring group that are going for the prize. Part of the requirement is to bring the head of the creature as proof. Upon the retrieval of the Yeti’s head, a Cleric hired by the organiser will cast speak with dead on Galagor and verify the kill. 

Role-playing Guide: Galagor is a loud, excitable man. He loves sharing stories and has a flair for the dramatic. Even after death, his main focus was to be involved in a compelling tale. When he is targeted with the Speak with Dead spell, he will speak beyond answering questions, often with a dramatic exclamation or encouraging outburst during a moment of drama. He’ll be sure not to provide any additional information outside of answering the five questions. 

The Grim Accord (Arcadia 6) 
Race: Varied 
Class: Varied 
Gender: Varied 
Age: Varied 
Background: A local adventuring group with a reputation for being efficient but cruel 

Connection to Plot: Athlonia, of the Grim Accord, learned of Galagor’s will after manipulating the old hunter with the false chance of companionship. Immediately, the group hatched a plan to arrange Galagor’s death so that they could claim the estate as their own. Having worked in the local area for a while now, they knew of the empathic Firbolg, Dances-In-Snowfall, and correctly reasoned that they could be easily tricked into empowering a beast that would then kill Galagor. Irae Firetouched, the most charismatic of the group, met with Dances-In-Snowfall and expressed concern for the local Yeti population, citing that Galagor had been hunting them relentlessly. This deception worked and the enhanced Yeti tribe proved too much for the over-confident hunter. With the chance to win his estate now available, the Grim Accord need only slay the Yeti tribe, a task made easier by knowledge of the true circumstances behind their unexpected power. They’re aware other adventuring groups will be trying for the prize, but they aren’t the type to allow for a fair fight… 

Role-playing Guide: Arcadia does a great job at providing this information. For the sake of this adventure, all the members of the Grim Accord will be willing to kill members of rival groups to secure the prize. Irae specifically will try to manipulate the other groups. If she senses the party’s strength, she’ll hatch a plan to allow the party to kill the Yeti and then steal the proof (Yeti’s Head) from them or interrupt the party mid fight to finish them off. 

Connection to Plot: Dances-In-Snowfall is an unfortunate victim of the scenario. They have been manipulated by The Grim Accord to protect the Abominable Yeti in a way that would get Galagor killed. In an attempt to protect the tribe in a nonviolent way, they cast a modified version of the Awaken spell on them, hoping that if they could display human-level intelligence, Galagor would leave them alone. However, this only led to Galagor wildly underestimating them and dying to their unexpected intelligence and tactics. You can introduce this NPC in either a combat or rp encounter. If you want them to be involved in a combat encounter, you can have Dances-In-Snowfall show up during the parties fight with the Abominable Yeti fight, in a desperate attempt to protect them. The party might be able to convince them to help the party if they appeal to their guilt over Galagor’s fate. If you’d rather introduce Dances-In-Snowfall in a RP encounter, they can play a useful party in the parties research or locating of the Abominable Yeti tribe. While searching the Tundra, the party might come across Dances-In-Snowfall and have the opportunity to ask them about the tribe. They won’t be very forthcoming if they since the parties true reason for seeking the Yetis but they feel guilty enough about Galagor that they may be easy to manipulate into revealing some of the truth behind the situation. 

Role-playing Guide: Dances-In-Snowfall is a gentle soul. They value all life, including both beasts and mortals so their indirect hand in Galagor’s death gives them a lot of guilt. Their primary motivation is to protect life and ensure the continuation of the Tundra’s natural balance. An underdog themselves, if they see two creatures fighting, they are most likely to defend the losing side, regardless of the instigator. They speak quietly and calmly, only raising their voice in times of great frustration. 

Arthur Parsec 

Race: Human 
Class: None 
Gender: Male 
Age: 64 
Background: Galagor’s executor of the estate 

Connection to Plot: Arthur has been tasked with enacting Galagor’s will after his death. He has put out the call for adventurers to gather at the manor and has made the arrangements for the competition. He finds the whole ordeal in poor taste but will still carry out the task to the best of his ability. As a man of high class, he finds most adventurers to be crass and rowdy so will endeavor to complete the challenge as quickly and efficiently as possible. This means he will only wait until 4 or 5 groups have shown up to begin the challenge. 

Role-playing Guide: Arthur has no love for adventurers but will always be polite and attentive, unless a person is needlessly rude, disruptive or violent. In which case, he’d take measures to reprimand or expel the person. He is unlikely to smile or laugh at any of the characters’ antics but is not above showing favoritism towards someone who is especially polite, or he feels Galagor would like. 

Gefroren 
Race: Abominable Yeti 
Class: None 
Gender: Male 
Age: Old 
Background: The alpha of the newly intelligent Yeti tribe 

Connection to Plot: Gefroren is the leader of the Yeti tribe that killed Galagor. After experiencing Dances-In-Snowfall’s magic, he has become wickedly intelligent. He has taught the tribe to build and wield weapons, as well as use new tactics in combat. He can also now speak common. It was Gefroren that killed Galagor and as such the adventurers will need his head to prove worthy of the estate. His intelligence has also come with potential weaknesses though. His heightened mind now understands community and empathy, and as such, he cares deeply for his tribe and will take steps to protect them. Unlike before, hostage situations would now prove effective against him, as would causing desperation through the slaughter of his tribe (these ae not the most heroic options though). 

Role-playing Guide: Gefroren is gruff and easily agitated. His increased intelligence hasn’t done much to improve his temperament. While he is capable of solving issues without violence, it isn’t natural to him yet so he is likely to use intimidation and threats first, and then seek other solutions only if they aren’t effective. Common is a new language to him so he may have found a few words he really enjoys saying and as such overuses them when he talks. He is intelligent but not exceptionally so. He is far beyond other Yeti but is still within the range of a well-educated human. There may be some words he doesn’t understand, never having encountered them, but he will be able to understand and process new information well. 

Maps:

Lots of professional map makers put free maps on reddit. If you want one that doesn’t have a watermark then signing up to their Patreon or whichever purchasing method they use is an excellent idea to support them. 

Where the Yeti used to live: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/comments/ahcnot/wintery_ruins/ 

On this map the party will find clues as to where the Yeti have gone, such as tracks. While investigating, the recent departure of the Yeti’s has attracted a snowy monster looking to move into the area. 

The building they overtook: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/comments/kxu9b9/a_hunters_cabin_frozen_forest_battle_map_30x30/ 

This is where the party will find the Yeti’s. They killed the previous owner and took it for themselves. 

Acts / Primary Encounters

I like to break my adventures into a series of acts or primary encounters. The encounters the party experiences between these acts can be anything that makes sense but by hitting these specific acts, I can progress the story in a way that makes sense. Having said that, these are the main acts I would include in this adventure. 

Act 1 – The Hook 

The party finds out about Galagor’s estate and the competition to earn it. There are a few ways they could learn this. Some are passive and leave the party the option of ignoring it, while others are active and require some engagement. The passive options include a poster, a town crier, or a stolen letter. These options give all the relevant information quickly and easily and can create intrigue. The active options include a recruiter approaching the party and requesting their participation, or my personal favorite, they overhear a rival adventuring group discussing their plans to participate. Both of these options allow the party to ask questions, do some roleplaying and lead the interactions. If the party overhears the rival group talking about their plans, the roleplaying interaction becomes a situation where the party is trying to subtly gather information without the group catching on to the idea that your party might be going for the prize too. 

Whichever method you choose, you party should learn the following information: 

• Who Galagor Thansel is. 
• What the challenge is. 
• Where the estate/meeting point is. 
• When the challenge will take place. 

You are free to provide additional information and adjust these answers to suit your current campaign, but they need to know at least this much to progress things along. 

If the party are a long distance from a cold climate, ensure to give them enough time to comfortably travel to Galagor’s Manor. During this period of travel, you’re free to provide them with many small, isolated encounters or combats to keep the world feeling alive. 

Act 2 – The Estate 

The party arrives at Galagor’s Manor and is greeted by Arthur Parsec. Depending how punctual your group was, they may be the last to arrive. If this is the case, allow them an evening of luxury and begin the challenge the next morning. If the party arrives with time to spare, they are given a room in the manor to stay and time to explore the area until the final party arrives on the closing date.  

During this downtime, Irae Firetouched from the Grim Accord will spark up a friendly conversation, asking about the previous feats of the party. They will remain friendly and sociable throughout the conversation, all while trying to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Her goal is to see whether your party will likely to win and if they are, how to take advantage of their success to steal the win from under them. 

Once all the groups arrive, Arthur will gather the adventurers in the courtyard and explain the challenge. During this time, the groups might throw snide comments at one another in a competitive nature. An inciteful character might pick up on the fact that any banter aimed at the Grim Accord is not taken as such and they can see genuine anger and a grudge forming.  

The information Arthur will provide should include the following:

• The challenge is a race to figure out which monster killed Galagor and slay it. 
• Whoever brings the head of the monster back to the estate first will win, after being verified by Galagor himself (speak with dead spell). 
• Galagor’s body was found deep within the nearby tundra, about a 4 hour walk from the estate. 
• His body had not been eaten or damaged beyond a series of long, deep cuts and extreme bruising, each of which had severe frostbite in and around the wounds. 
• The only thing that was missing from his corpse was the array of rings and jewelry that Galagor wore. This is made stranger by the fact the large coin purse had been left. 
• There is no time limit on this challenge but due to the competitive nature, speed is obviously encouraged. 

Once the details have been given, the various adventuring groups will hastily head out in various directions. Characters with especially high perceptions might notice the Grim Accord subtly follow after the group that was aiming banter at them. Your players won’t know this, but the Grim Accord is absolutely going to kill that group. Since they already know what killed Galagor, they feel like they have time to spare. 

Act 3 – Exploration in the Tundra 

During this act your party will explore the tundra, gathering information about what might have killed Galagor. You can spend as much or as little time as you like on this. If your group enjoys overcoming environmental challenges, you can have a blizzard roll in and force your party to take precautions. There are tons of fun, 3^rd party rules for running Blizzard conditions in 5e. I’d recommend having a look on DMsGuild to find an option that suits your style.  

If you’d like to throw in some additional combat encounters, now would be the time to do so! 

It’s during this time that your party might meet Dances-In-Snowfall, the Firbolg Druid. Dances-In-Snowfall is an excellent opportunity to learn what happened to Galagor, as he was indirectly responsible. Guilt wracks the Firbolg and an inciteful character might pick up on this and be able to ask targeted questions to get the truth. Despite their guilt, Dances-In-Snowfall remains on the side of the Yeti, and if he learns or senses the party’s true intentions for finding them, he’ll become fully against aiding them further. He might also show up during the fight against the Yeti’s to defend them.  

Dances-In-Snowfall’s guilt does make him easy to manipulate though. With a bit of effort, he could be pushed to conclude what he did was unnatural and should be fixed (Persuasion) or that the party merely was to retrieve the body (Deception). If the party really knows how to talk their way around him, there’s a very slim chance he can be convicted to join the party in battle (DC 27). 

Whether the group learn of the Yeti tribe through Dances-In-Snowfall or by other means, they can locate their old settlement soon after.  

At the site of the Yeti’s previous camp, the party find signs of a recent departure. Surprisingly, signs of large, primitive sleds can be seen. Seeing as Yeti lack the intelligence to craft such things, your party might believe that they had help. (If your party learned the truth from Dances-In-Snowfall you can dismiss this). 

After a few minutes of investigating, signs of a more recent disturbance are found. As the party discuss what they creature might be, have a powerful monster attack. You can use any monstrous creature here that you like, however, I’d personally go with a Remorhaz as they’re a cool, memorable monster that doesn’t often get the chance to be used. 

Once the battle is over, the party can rest or follow the tracks. 

Act 5 – Assault on the Yeti Tribe. 

After following the tracks of the relocating Yeti’s, they’ll eventually reach a cozy log cabin. Yeti can be seen in and around the cabin, although their behavior is not typical of Yeti. They seem to be performing tasks of labour. Chopping wood, lighting fires (gingerly), skinning a deer. They also seem to be armed with primitively crafted weapons, something Yeti typically wouldn’t know how to do.  

A series of grotesque effigies protrude from the roof of the building, one is crafted from the remains of some poor hunter. Likely whomever owned this cabin originally. Another 4 are a rival group that the party would recognize. It’s up to you as DM how much of an impact they had before dying. If they group fell easily, remove 1d8 HP for 5 random Yeti. If they performed well, remove 2d8 from most of the Yeti. It’s best to leave Gefroren at full health though. 

If your party watch for a short while, they’ll eventually see a much larger Yeti moving through the area. The Abominable Yeti, Gefroren. Gefroren wears a necklace of small, human-sized jewelry on a cord.  

Whether your party perform an ambush or charge in loudly, a fight will break out. This combat encounter uses 3 types of intelligence Yeti stat blocks that I have built for you and can be found below. Each can be clicked to easily download the statblock.

The Yeti Swordsman are the grunts in this fight and should make up most of the enemy ranks. They will follow the orders of the other Yeti’s and focus on locking down the melee fighters. The Yeti Tactician can still hit hard (it is a Yeti after all) but it’s main purpose is to use its multiple reactions to support the others and help make the Swordsman more effective. Gefroren: The Educator is the boss of this adventure and the target of the Estates challenge. While I didn’t make him a legendary creature, he is still very dangerous. He also bolsters the effectiveness of the Swordsman. His increased intelligence is shown through the adapting tactics built into his statblock. Early in the fight, charging into melee and beating down the party will be most effective but as he takes damage, and more importantly, as his intelligence increases via the Ever-Expanding Mind ability, eventually it will be more effective to retreat from melee and use his Primal Magics attack.  

This fight might prove very difficult or perhaps it will be too easy. If you feel the combat needs adjustments to help or challenge your party, this is where Dances-In-Snowfall can come in, as either a new foe that protects the Yeti or as an ally that tries to rectify the escalating situation he created. 

During the fight, it’s likely Gefroren will be slain before all the other Yeti are defeated. Should this happen, the Grim Accord are waiting in the shadows for the chance to steal victory for themselves. Having known the cause of Galagor’s death, they headed straight here and have been hiding until another group managed to bring the Abominable Yeti down. As soon as it’s dead and the party has moved over 25ft away, the Grim Accord strikes. Rushing to the fallen Gefroren, and cutting its head from its body. You can decide whether they do this stealthily or loudly. If they use stealth, Uldun rolls a stealth check and provided it’s higher than your PCs passive perception, he carefully approaches and begins quietly removing the head. If any characters return to within 20ft of the corpse, have them roll a perception check. It will take Uldun 4 rounds to quietly remove the head and sneak away. If the Grim Accord decides to go in loud, roll initiative for them. They won’t attack the party or Yeti’s beyond shoves , grapples or anything else that will keep the party at a distance while they claim the head. Due to its size, it takes them 2 rounds to get the head off. Plenty of time for the party to react. 

Once the Grim Accord have the head, they will immediately teleport back to the estate with a Scroll of Teleportation in Irae’s possession. 

It is likely that your party will begin to fight the Grim Accord in an attempt to stop them. While the Grim Accord is mainly focused on getting the head, they care about each other enough to begin fighting back should any one of them get close to death. It’s important to note that the Yeti’s would assume this new group is after them too, so the Yeti’s will attack both groups in equal measure. If Dances-In-Snowfall is present, he’ll suddenly understand that he was tricked by the Grim Accord and in anger focus his full attention on them. The Grim Accord are greedy and violent but they still value their lives above the prize. If any of them dies, they others will retreat. They might be gone for now but it’s likely your party have found some future antagonists. 

Act 6 – Champions or Failure 

Once the Yeti are slain, the party will find themselves in one of two situations. Either they defeated the Yeti but the Grim Accord stole the head, or they defeated the Grim Accord and can claim the head themselves. Either way, the party can now return to the estate.  

If the Grim Accord managed to steal the head, they are signing the contract when the party arrive. Galagor is currently in his Speak With Dead form and congratulating them. He does seem to recognise Athlonia, which if questioned might lead to the reveal that they began this whole chain of events. What the party does now is up to them. They might wish to challenge that they were cheated but Arthur will require proof of that claim if he is to take it seriously. They may wish to fight, but now that the Grim Accord own the estate, they get to make use of it’s defenses, including releasing the two petrified monsters that decorate the main entrance. Your party might also accept the loss, in which case they are rewarded with XP and Arthur pulls them aside to explain he feels they are the stronger group and gives them a series of hunting contracts Galagor had yet to fulfil. Each has a generous reward for its completion. 

If the group return with the head themselves, Arthur and his cleric will cast Speak With Dead on Galagor. He will confirm that they have indeed killed the right creature and congratulate them on winning his estate. They will enjoy the formalities of signing the deed and then given a tour of the estate. As for the estate itself, you can find a map that suits your parties need and provide it to the party. There are many options available for free if you search Google or Reddit. 

And that’s the adventure!