Printable guide sheet: The Rumble Under Ferndown

Read this to your players to start

Ferndown bakes the best mushroom bread in the Ladderwood, and Loaf Day, its big festival, is in two days. But every morning there are new holes in the root road, and the mushroom beds behind the bakery are dug to pieces. Tullo Mudge, the troll road warden, and Bryony Crumbwell, the baker, ask the heroes to find the digger before the festival is ruined.

Scenes (all session lengths — scene’s tag shows the shortest length it appears in)

1. Scene 1: Holes in the Road from Quick Quest on

   Ferndown sits deep under the giant trees, where the light is green and soft. It smells of warm bread and wet earth. Long tables stand ready for Loaf Day, hung with ribbons. But the road into the village looks as if a giant has been planting turnips. There are holes everywhere, deep and round. A big troll leans on his shovel and sighs. "Again," he says.

   Goal: Find out what has been digging up Ferndown.

   • Look at the holes Clever, DN 8

     It works: The holes were dug by big claws, and a sharp brown spine as long as your hand is stuck in the dirt.

     It doesn’t: The holes are just holes to you, until Tullo pulls a brown spine as long as a hand out of the dirt. "Found this," he says, puzzled.

   • Ask around the village Kind, DN 8

     It works: Several people heard snuffling and grunting at night, "like a pig with a cold." Bryony adds that her mushroom beds are the worst hit.

     It doesn’t: Nobody wants to admit they were scared, but Bryony blurts it out. "Snuffling! All night! Right behind my new oven!"

   Ask your players

   Ask each player in turn: The villagers are setting up for Loaf Day. What does your hero help with while they listen? Whatever they help with earns a friend. A hero who helps Bryony is given a fresh loaf, which is a perfect peace offering at the climax.

   Tullo is grumpy but kind. Bryony is very proud of her new oven, built against the oldest stump in the village. Neither of them knows what is digging. Both ways point the heroes to the mushroom beds behind the bakery. In the shortest length, go straight to the climax at dawn.

2. Scene 2: The Mushroom Beds from Short Session on

   Behind the bakery, the mushroom beds have been turned upside down. Caps as big as umbrellas lie on their sides. The earth is churned and soft. A trail of round footprints leads away into the ferns, each print with five long claw marks. Here and there, more brown spines poke out of the soil. Somewhere in the ferns, a beetle clicks.

   Goal: Follow the trail and find out where the digger goes.

   • Crawl into the ferns Brave, DN 10

     It works: You crawl through the wet ferns and find a deep tunnel going down under the roots. It smells of earth and of something warm and animal.

     It doesn’t: A fern springs back and slaps you with cold dew. Spluttering, you still find the tunnel, deep under the roots.

   • Read the footprints Clever, DN 8

     It works: Five claws, short legs and a heavy belly that drags. The prints go round and round the bakery, as if the digger is looking for something.

     It doesn’t: The prints loop and muddle. But even a muddle tells you something: the digger keeps coming back to the bakery.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: The trail circles the bakery three times. Why might something keep coming back to the same place? Any answer about food, home or being lost is close. Being lost is right.

   The trail always circles back to the bakery and the new oven. Let the heroes find a beetle or two in the dug earth: the digger eats them, and a hero who keeps a few has a snack ready for the climax. If the table wants to catch the digger in the act, the next scene is a night watch on the root road.

3. Scene 3: Night on the Root Road from One-Sitting Session on

   Night falls, and the root road glows. Moss shines pale green along the giant roots, like a path of soft lamps. Everything is quiet. Then the ground trembles under your feet. Somewhere close, something snuffles and grunts. Ferns sway. A cart pony tied by the road stamps and rolls her eyes. Then the snuffling stops, as if something is listening to you.

   Goal: Get close to the digger without scaring it away.

   • Calm the pony Kind, DN 8

     It works: The pony settles and nuzzles your hand. In the quiet, you see a huge brown back covered in spines slide past in the ferns, heading for the bakery.

     It doesn’t: The pony whinnies, and the snuffling stops. But in the moss light, you see a trail of fresh earth leading straight to the bakery.

   • Hang a bell line Clever, DN 10

     It works: The bells jingle in the dark, right by the bakery wall. You creep over and find fresh digging against the new oven, deeper than ever.

     It doesn’t: The string snaps, and the bells clatter into a hole. Still, anyone can see where that hole leads: straight under the new oven.

   Ask your players

   Ask the quietest player: In the dark, your hero sees a pair of small, shiny black eyes for a moment. How does your hero react? The eyes are frightened, not fierce. Say so.

   Nothing attacks. The digger is big and nervous and keeps away from people. Every way through ends at Bryony's oven, where the next scene happens.

4. Scene 4: The New Oven from Full Session on

   Bryony's new oven is round and fat and made of red brick. It is still warm from the day's baking. It is built against the oldest stump in Ferndown, a stump as wide as a cottage. Around its base, the earth is scratched and scraped and dug. Bryony stands there in her nightcap, holding a rolling pin. "Something keeps trying to get under my oven," she says.

   Goal: Find out why the digger wants to get under the oven.

   • Shift the loose bricks Brave, DN 10

     It works: Behind the bricks is an old round doorway in the stump, stuffed with dry leaves and moss. It is a den, and something has slept here for many winters.

     It doesn’t: The bricks are heavy, and one drops on your toe. Ouch. But the gap shows an old round doorway, stuffed with leaves.

   • Ask how the oven was built Kind, DN 8

     It works: Bryony thinks. "The builders covered an old hole in the stump," she says slowly. "A big round one, full of leaves." Her face falls. "Oh dear."

     It doesn’t: Bryony is too cross to think, but Tullo remembers. "We bricked over a big hole in that stump. Full of leaves, it was."

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Who would sleep in a den full of dry leaves all winter? Any guess about a hedgehog, a badger or a sleepy animal is right enough.

   Now the heroes know the secret: the oven was built over a winter den. As they talk, the snuffling starts again in Bryony's bean rows, and dawn is coming. Go straight to the climax.

5. Scene 5: The Hedgehog in the Bean Rows from Quick Quest on

   Dawn creeps green through the leaves. In Bryony's bean rows sits a huge round ball of spines, as big as a hay wagon. It trembles. A long nose pokes out, sniffs toward the oven, and pulls back in. A little squeak comes from inside the spines. Then it sneezes, loud enough to shake the beans. The whole ball rolls one step closer to the oven.

   Goal: Help the giant hedgehog without anyone getting prickled.

   • Offer a snack and talk softly Kind, DN 8

     It works: The nose comes out again, sniffing at what you hold. Then a face appears, with small dark eyes and a wet black nose. She takes the snack very politely. Read "If you made friends."

     It doesn’t: She curls tighter, and her spines rattle. But she does not roll away. A second kind try needs no roll.

   • Dig her a new den Clever, DN 10

     It works: You scoop a deep hollow under a giant root and line it with dry leaves. The hedgehog sniffs, uncurls and waddles over to inspect it. Read "If you dug a new den."

     It doesn’t: The new den is too small, and the hedgehog snorts at it. With Tullo's shovel the heroes can make it bigger, no roll needed, or try a kind way.

   Ask your players

   Ask the table: Watch where the hedgehog's nose keeps pointing. What does your hero notice? She keeps sniffing at the old doorway behind the oven. A hero who opens the old doorway, with Tullo and Bryony helping, needs no roll. Read "If you opened the old door."

   Burrbristle is a giant hedgehog, shy and sleepy, woken too early and lost. That is the secret, and every ending lets the heroes find it. She curls up when she is scared, and her spines prickle anyone who grabs her. If a hero attacks, she only curls tighter: beating her Guard of 13 is harder than the kind way at 8 or the clever way at 10, and it changes nothing. When she is settled, read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   How it ends

   Read the ending that happened, then the homecoming.

   If you made friends. She eats the whole snack, crumb by crumb, then sniffs your boots, your hands and your hair. Her spines lie down flat and soft. She lets you scratch behind her ear and gives a happy little grunt. Then she curls up right there in the bean rows and falls fast asleep. Bryony sighs. "Well," she says. "She can stay."

   If you dug a new den. The giant hedgehog turns around three times in the new den, then flops down with a sigh. Her nose twitches, her eyes close, and soon she is snoring softly. Tullo pats the root above her. "Finest den in Ferndown," he says proudly. Bryony tucks a few more leaves around her, very gently.

   If you opened the old door. Bricks come out, and the old round doorway in the stump is open again. The hedgehog uncurls, sniffs once, and trots straight inside with a happy squeak. From deep in the den comes a long, sleepy grunt. Bryony looks at her oven, then at the door. "I'll build a little arch," she says. "So she can come and go."

   Homecoming

   Every ending: Loaf Day in Ferndown. Loaf Day dawns bright and green. The road is flat, the tables are full, and Bryony's new oven bakes perfect loaves. Tullo fills the last hole himself and stamps it down. That evening the village bakes one extra loaf, round and crusty and covered in little spikes. They leave it by the old stump, for a friend who is sleeping.

Monster stat blocks

Rewards

• A Loaf from Bryony's New Oven: once in your next adventure, share it with someone and they help you, no roll needed.
• A Burrbristle Spine: once in your next adventure, use it to pick a lock, poke a hole or scratch a secret mark, and it works with no roll.

Tips for running this one

• Play it as a tracking game. Each scene gives one clue: a spine, round prints, frightened eyes, a covered den. Let the players say what they think is going on, and nod when they get close.
• Burrbristle is a big animal, not a monster. Describe her the way you would a nervous dog: sniffing, trembling, curling up. By the time the heroes meet her, they should want to help her.
• Playing in Story mode? Take 3 off every DN and skip the roll for anything kind. Veteran tables add 2 to every DN.