Taves Downtime Activities & Mini Games
It will be a few more days before the next sailing vessel docks in Taves. Don’t fret, there’s plenty to keep your players busy before they depart (or get recruited for a new Taves adventure!).
In this post, we offer GMs story-rich downtime activities and mini games to immerse your players in Taves and, perhaps, deepen their relationships with NPCs so that they’re invested in staying here just a bit longer.
Here’s what we’ve got in store for players who wanna kick it in Taves:
Crafting a potion of lycanthropy control
Foraging for the Five Lifetaking Leaves
Finishing Mariabella’s construction project
Partying at The Cat
Crafting a Potion of Lycanthropy Control
Background
If the PCs are interested in aiding Virinia from “The Cave of the Bat Queen” adventure, they can collaborate with Bitty Beren on a decoction of lycanthropy control.
Lycanthropes have a deep connection with Selûne, the moon goddess, who both blesses them with their enhanced abilities and curses them with an uncontrollable urge for bloodshed. Though some herbalists hold out hope that a cure is possible, Bitty Beren believes that one must embrace lycanthropy as a gift from Bright Nydra. He has been adapting a recipe that would give a lycanthrope control over her turning based on two very old fragments of recipes: one for a lycanthropy cure and one for enhanced strength.
Accepting the Work
Crafting the decoction will require three checks. Players should narrate their process for performing these checks before making their rolls. Bitty will offer to provide aid on one of these checks.
Religion: The crafters of this decoction must gain the favor of Selûne through prayer and supplication. They must spend 2d4 days in prayer at the Shrine and succeed on a DC 12 Religion check. Players can gain Advantage on this check if they spend an additional 1d6 days in prayer at the Shrine.
Foraging: The PCs must acquire the most important and rare ingredient in this decoction: moonwort. PCs can successfully forage the right amount of moonwort by spending 2d4 days in the Moon Swamp and making a successful Nature or Survival check (DC 12).
Preparation: Once the goddess’s favor is gained and the right ingredients are acquired, a PC must correctly brew the decoction. This delicate brew requires the right temperature, and ingredients must be added at precisely the right time. The decoction must also be made and consumed during a full moon. Players must spend 2d4 days preparing the decoction and succeed on an Arcana or Medicine check (DC 12).
Spending an additional 1d6 days in preparation will give the player Advantage on this check representing the player’s ability to accurately time the consumption of the decoction to the moon cycle.
Rewards
In return for their aid, Bitty and Virinia offer the players generous rewards and their unwavering friendship. Bitty gifts the players a small gnomish device he calls the Eyes of Minute Seeing. Bitty’s favor also gains the players advantage on any rolls made during social encounters with members of the Crescent Council. Virinia has been sewing a very special garment for the players that she calls the Cloak of the Bat.
Five Lifetaking Leaves
Background
From a young age, the children of Taves learn to identify and memorize the properties of the Five Lifetaking Leaves:
candlestick causes blindness in the left eye
crone’s gambit causes sleeplessness for 2d6 days
hairy berry causes temporary paralysis in the hands and feet
summer sun causes a painful bright red rash on the nose
tinker bells cause random memory loss for a ten-day
Salazar Flame has spent years researching these plants, learning that they can have surprising medicinal and ritual purposes. If the PCs visit his apothecary shop, the Swamp Sublime, he will offer them a fair trade in goods in exchange for choice specimens of the Five Lifetaking Leaves.
Accepting the Work
If the players accept his offer, Salazar will remind them to abide by the Harvesting Agreement, which says no herbalist shall stockpile ingredients or harvest more from the Swamp than they can use to make a single recipe.
Salazar needs exactly one candlestick stalk, a single petal of crone’s gambit, four hairy berries, two leaves of summer sun, and five tinker bell fronds.
To complete this mini-quest, PCs must venture into the Moon Swamp and successfully forage for these specimens under moonlight. The foraging adventure takes 1d4 days to complete and requires three checks: Investigation (DC 10) to locate the plants; Medicine (DC 10) to know how to harvest the plant without being negatively affected by it; and Sleight of Hand (DC 10) to successfully harvest the plant without damaging it or the specimen.
Rewards
In exchange for these specimens, Salazar will provide the PCs with a vial of antitoxin, 5 candles, a bottle of oil, and a Bag of Beans.
Mariabella’s Construction Project
Background
Once the giant frog raids on Taves ended, trade picked up again. About a month ago, the owner of the Watering Hole and Hostelry, Mariabella Reelfoot, hired a group of traveling carpenters to build an expansion on the inn. The expansion was supposed to add a few rooms to the second floor on the northern wing of the property. A few weeks into the project, however, the carpenters up and left, and Mariabella hasn’t found anyone willing to finish their work.
Recently, Mariabella put up signs outside The Watering Hole, inside the tavern, and on the veranda requesting help to complete the expansion project. The signs read:
HELP WANTED
In need of carpenters, masons, painters, metalsmiths, woodcarvers, tinkerers, and other handyfolks to complete an abandoned expansion project at The Watering Hole and Hostelry.
Materials, supplies, food, drink, and lodging will be provided.
SEEK OUT MARIABELLA FOR MORE INFORMATION
Pays 60 gold per completed room.
If a PC(s) seeks out Mariabella for more information, she will disclose the following:
The project is halfway done. The carpenters Mariabelle hired abandoned the job one afternoon. One of Mariabella’s patrons told her that one of the carpenters, a half-orc with bloodshot eyes who seemed to be in the middle of a sneezing fit, was grumbling about sneaky swamp spirits when he left.
Mariabella has never had an issue with ghosts or spirits in the twelve years she’s worked at and owned The Watering Hole. She’s baffled as to what the half-orc was talking about or why the carpenters left.
In addition to the payment mentioned in the help wanted signs, Mariabella will also offer a bonus for players who complete the rooms early.
Mariabella estimates it should take an average worker four weeks to complete a room.
There is a firm deadline to complete the work. Mariabella needs the project completed in four weeks or less because The Watering Hole and Hostelry, including the expansion rooms, has been fully booked next month for Taves’s bi-annual Moon Festival.
Accepting the Work
There are as many rooms to complete as players interested in the job. To take on the work, PC(s) must seek out Mariabella at The Watering Hole and explain why they’re the right person for the job.
Sneaky Swamp Spirits
State of the Expansion. After accepting the job, Mariabella will show the PC(s) the halfway completed expansion. Each room is 10 x 10 feet. Feel free to fill in descriptions of the unfinished room/s. For example, you might describe a room that has had the subfloor and external framing installed, but whose interior framing is incomplete. Mariabella will also provide all the tools the PC(s) need to complete the job. Once Mariabella explains the state of the rooms and mentions the tools, she will return to her work in the tavern.
Work Interruptions. After Mariabella is gone, and a short while after the PC(s) begin their work, strange events will start happening. Roll on or pick from the Sneaky Shenanigans table to determine what befalls the PC(s) as they try to work.
Strange Shenanigans Table
When the PC(s) try to investigate the source of these strange shenanigans, they will discover 1d4 dust bunnies (see stat block below) living under a loose floorboard in one of the rooms.
The PC(s) can deal with these dust bunnies in several ways. They can, of course, fight them. But they can also attempt any number of non-aggressive actions. For example, they can try to capture and relocate the dust bunnies. They can also scare the dust bunnies off with fire. Encourage and reward PC(s) who make creative use of their skills and abilities.
Completing the Expansion
After the PC(s) deal with the dust bunnies, they will be in a better position to complete the work on the expansion. To determine how quickly the PC(s) were able to complete their work, each player will roll on the Expansion Construction table at the end of one workweek.
Players with proficiency in carpenter’s tools, mason’s tools, painter’s supplies, smith’s tools, tinkerer’s tools, or woodcarver’s tools may add their proficiency bonus to their Expansion Construction roll.
Expansion Construction Table
Payment and Rewards
Once the expansion work is completed, Mariabella will check the PC(s) work before paying them. She will give 60 gold for each completed room. Mariabella will pay an additional five gold coins for each day the expansion is completed ahead of schedule.
The Dust Bunny
Party at The Cat
Background
Mark and Marc, the dwarven couple who run Taves’s most popular fishmonger, The Choice Catfish, host a party every second day of the tenday. That’s the day they harvest the juiciest oysters and fattest crawfish that can be found anywhere along the Splintered Coast.
Now, a local tradition has emerged of folks throwing a party at The Cat every tenday. Food and drink abound. Long tables are arranged at the docks, and families rotate preparing their secret recipe crawfish boil or gumbo for the town. Inevitably, Markelby Torres, the otherwise shy owner of the Strider general store, rouses the town into a friendly drinking contest. Everyone knows that Marc will win, but no one will turn down amiable Markelby on this day.
Visitors are welcome to participate in any of the festivities.
Party Gossip
Visitors won’t be disappointed by the juicy gossip at this party! Any PC who rolls a successful Perception check (DC 10) can overhear one of the following.
Oyster Shucking Contest
Cracking the hard shell of the oyster requires muscle and deft movements. Mark and Callum Aruna, the town’s two best shuckers, swear it takes years of practice, and most will never reach perfection like theirs. Townsfolk still enter the contest, knowing that the shucked oysters will make it into a tasty gumbo for all to share.
Rules.The contest takes place over three one-minute rounds. Each round, participants will roll Strength or Dexterity plus any bonuses or proficiency modifiers to determine the number of oysters they successfully shuck. For Mark, roll a d20 and add 5. For Callum Aruna, roll a d20 and add 4.
Rolls. 1-4 = 1 oyster; 5-8 = 2 oysters; 9-12 = 3 oysters; 13-16 = 4 oysters; 17-20 = 5 oysters; 21-24 = 6 oysters; 25+ = 7 oysters
Winning the Contest. The character with the most shucked oysters at the end of the third round wins! The prize is 5 silver, a dozen oysters, and a bronze medallion with an embossed oyster.
Markleby’s Drinking Contest
Mariabella brews a very special dry ale to serve on the tenday. It pairs beautifully with the spicy crawfish stews and gumbos Tavians prepare. Inevitably, after Markelby has 1 pint, he’ll challenge the whole town to a drinking contest. It costs 3 silver to enter.
How to Play. Players can challenge each other or Markelby or Marc. Each game is played best of three rounds. Each round, players make opposed Constitution checks (DC 10). Whoever rolls highest, wins. For Markelby, roll a d20 and add 1. For Marc, roll a d20 and add 4. If ever a player rolls under 10, they suffer a -2 penalty on the next roll indicating their loss of stamina. These penalties stack across games.
If you have more than 4 participants, divide the group into two teams. Each round, a different team member will roll. Marc and Markleby will challenge the visitors and play as one team, alternating making checks until one team wins.
Winners collect the pot for each game.
Frog Race
During the early part of the festivities, Loretta King (human mushroom hunter) will request participants for the frog race at The Cat. While she gathers participants, Marc will lay out long strings to mark the “lanes” of the frog race. A crowd will slowly gather around the makeshift racecourse, and many Tavians will claim that Bartleby Torres is king of the frog races. Some folks refer to him as the “Froglord” instead of using his name.
Participation. There is no limit to how many players can participate in the frog race. Loretta keeps a large basket full of frogs at her side and will distribute them to interested players. The GM can fill in the race with as many NPCs as necessary, but one NPC participant, Bartleby Torres, is required to participate.
Rules. Strings mark the length of the racecourse and are 60 inches long. Volunteers will place frogs at one end of the course, and the players will stand at the other end, where they can coax, cajole, or otherwise convince their frogs to cross the finish line.
Rolls. Invite players to describe how they interact with their frogs to get them across the finish line. Have them roll a d20 and add any pertinent modifiers, depending on their descriptions. For example, a player could produce a live insect to try to lure the frog toward the food. That attempt may require an Animal Handling or Persuasion check. Another player might yell at their frog, inviting an Intimidation check.
Winning the Contest. Every d20 roll result translates to the number of inches the player’s frog moved toward the finish line. The first player whose rolls add up to 60 or higher wins. Winners receive a voucher for a free meal at The Cat and may keep their frog as a familiar.
Optional Distraction. During one of the rounds, you may have Bartleby Torres throw beetles onto the racecourse to distract opponents’ frogs. He will stealthily toss a few beetles toward the leading frog to distract it. The player whose frog is affected by the beetles has disadvantage on their rolls for 1d2 rounds.
Legal Disclaimer
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.