Following on from my posts on D&D 5e and review of Xanathar’s Guide, I present for you a light-hearted introductory adventure, showing what happens when you take the classic The Orc and The Pie encounter and try and flesh it out into an actual adventure. Rather than structure it as a dungeon, this is a loosely-structured investigation into what has gone on at Mrs Miggins’ pie shop, and it contains some pre-setup questions that are designed to embed the PCs in the situation and involve them in creating some of the setting and background. The structure of the adventure uses Justin Alexander’s Adventure Nodes.

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If you’re looking for a more traditional dungeon-crawling 1st level module, I have to recommend Matt Colville’s The Delian Tomb (the link is a youtube video of him explaining how to design it).

If you want it as a .pdf, you can download it from here. Otherwise, read on!

The Goblins and the Pie Shop

A 1^st-level introductory adventure for D&D 5^th Edition

Mrs Miggins’ pie shop is the first place any self-respecting adventurer would head to on their way out to seek their fortune in the world… her delicious meat and flaky crust are the talk of every frontier tavern, and many carefree ventures into the wilderness have started here. Naturally, as you venture into the Dark Forest, you’d stop here first… but when goblins have stolen her secret spice mix, you must rush to Mrs Miggins’ aid so that adventurers will be sustained.

This is an introductory adventure for 5^th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. It’s designed to take around 2-3 hours to play through, although there are guidelines at the end to condense this to 1-2 hours. It’s balanced for four 1^st-level adventurers generated using Adventurer’s League guidelines; again the appendix contains details to scale the encounters for smaller or larger groups.

It is designed to give a simple introduction to D&D5e and fantasy roleplaying outside of a dungeon setting, and to demonstrate how a loosely-plotted adventure can be structured.

Background – DM’s Eyes Only

Symon “The Pieman” has a pie shop in town, and he’s brutally jealous of Mrs Miggins’ success. He uses the same alchemist to ward his own shop – so once he learned how to bypass the magical wardings, he sent his goons in to steal her secret spice recipe. He then paid Holg the Orc to break in and kick about the shop the following day to cover up the theft and make it look like a random goblin raid.

Scene 0: Pre-Set Up

Allow the players to choose characters and introduce them briefly. Explain the starting situation to the players. In brief:

• They have decided to seek their fortune in the Dark Forest, for the reasons determined previously
• They are rookie adventurers, having just banded together as like-minded young heroes
• It is traditional amongst new adventurers to call at Mrs Miggins’ Pie Shop, on the edge of the forest, for some fortifying snacks to take with them on the way to the Forest
• The forest is dangerous in the centre, but at its boundaries is less dangerous. There are goblins, orcs, and brigands wandering around it though, as well threats the players will now define

They have some background already, but spend a few minutes asking each of them one of the questions from the list below.

• Why are you venturing into the Dark Forest? What great riches await you there?
• What is said to guard these riches?
• What has made you leave your comfortable home to take up a life of adventure?
• (insert name), you have a mentor, a veteran adventurer. Who is he and what has he told you of Mrs Miggins pie shop?
• (insert name), a friend of yours growing up was Mrs Miggins’ grandson. What pie filling did he recommend that you just had to try?
• (insert name), you’re not sure you even like pies. You had one of Symon the Pieman’s pies back in the village and it made you sick. What have the others done to convince you to stop at Mrs Miggins’?

As the players answer these questions, make brief notes of them – if you can, on a big piece of paper in the middle of the table so that all the players can see it. If you can incorporate these answers into the game as it plays, so much the better – and encourage the players to do so as well!

Scene 1: Mrs Miggins’

As they approach the Pie Shop, a tumbledown cottage from which you would normally expect the smell of delicious baking, it is mid-morning and something is clearly wrong. The door hangs ajar from its hinges and the gates to the cottage garden appear to have been torn from their hinges. There are signs of a scuffle inside, and as they approach cautiously, they discover a group of goblins engaged in ransacking the place.

Combat: there are three Goblins (MM, p166), Elg, Melg, and Thom. They wield curved knives as scimitars from the standard stat block, and are extremely cowardly – they will run as soon as they have lost a total of half their hit points – this is 12 hp for 3 PCs, 16 hp for 4 PCs, and so on. Of course, the PCs may well decide to give chase, which will allow them (if anyone speaks goblin) to work out who sent them.

Treasure: The goblins carry only loose change – they carry 15 cp each and their wretched scimitars, and are clad in rough rags.

Mrs Miggins is tied up, badly injured (DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine), or a Spare the Dying / Cure Wounds spell to stabilize, otherwise she will be groggy and uncommunicative, and unable to provide them with any pies), and says that she came down this morning to find the goblins rooting around. She has freshly paid-up magical wards from the Alchemist’s Guild in town, so she was surprised to see them, but they quickly overwhelmed her. There’s no way they could have bypassed those wards – she often finds drunken adventurers trying to sneak in and steal pies, and the wards always knock them out cold.

Any surviving goblins can be easily persuaded with a DC 10 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check to surrender what information they know. They were tipped off by Holg the Orc to raid the shop, and told there would be no magical defences. There weren’t, and the door was unlocked, which they thought was unusual. Holg oftens throws good jobs to their tribe (the Dark Forest Goblins) in return for odd jobs and help with distracting adventurers. He’s a herbalist who lives not far from here on the edge of the forest. Mrs Miggins knows him as a regular customer, and is very upset if she learns that he has had any hand in the raid. She doubts that he is skilled enough to remove her magical protections.

Mrs Miggins is in shock when it emerges that her secret spice mix has also been stolen – the goblins know nothing about it, but when she checks her cupboards it’s nowhere to be seen. She offhandedly remarks that, while she has no competitors because her product is so good, Symon “the Pie Man” in the village would dearly love to get his hands on her spice formula, and he has been visiting recently asking her about what goes into it – she never reveals anything, and has told him he will just have to devise his own formula! She of course begs the PCs to help her recover the secret spices; she can offer lifetime credit at her pie shop, 100 gp, and also a couple of potions of healing that they can take with them if they agree to help.

A really thorough search of Mrs Miggins’ spice cupboard reveals a scrap of black velvet that has been caught on the side of the wall – and which certainly doesn’t belong to any goblins.

From this point, the players may decide to investigate their leads in whatever order they choose – they can visit the Alchemist’s Guild (scene 2), or head over to Holg’s dwelling (scene 3). Either of these may lead them to scene 4 or to the final confrontation in scene 5.

Scene 2: The Alchemists’ Guild

The Alchemists Guild sits on the edge of town, and it is straightforward to get an appointment with Crawford Ellison, the wispy-bearded wizard who set up Mrs Miggins wards. If persuaded (DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion)) he will reveal that they are standard-issue wards, given to regular business customers, and a DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) or Wisdom (Insight) check, as they check his records, that the wards only appear to be changed weekly – so that a customer who had the wards installed in the same week could in theory bypass them. If Crawford refuses to talk to them (failed persuasion roll) they can see the warding roster and invoices sat in the back office of the Guild – a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) or Intelligence (Investigation) should be enough to find them by stealth and discover the same information.

The customers from the same week include Rezzik the Half-Orc’s Wagon company, The White Lion public tavern, and Symon “the Pie Man” for his pie shop at the edge of town… again, if Crawford is friendly he will reveal that Symon still hasn’t paid for his wards, as he said he had a big business venture coming up which would mean he could pay them off easily. He has also asked for another job to be completed, and they are currently debating whether to ask for the money up front this time – for a small shack further into the forest (“A godforsaken place – that surely can’t be his next business venture, unless he’s setting up some sort of goblin mercenary company haha!”). A sketched map to this shack is held with the other files for the wards, which Crawford will share with the PCs if he is friendly.

Scene 3: Holg the Orc

Holg lives in a isolated, tumbledown cottage deeper into the woods. He’s a solitary herbalist, and while he has no great love for adventurers, he’s no fool. He has had a bad feeling about organising the goblins to raid Mrs Miggins ever since he was party to it, and is keen to try and make amends so he can enjoy her delicious pies again. Holg isn’t easy to persuade, ut a DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) will be enough to make him share what he knows, or any show of force that shows him the PCs mean business. Once this happens he will reveal that Symon used him as a go-between to get the goblins to ransack the shop

Combat: Holg is a standard Orc (MM p246) with no additional abilities save his contacts and reasonable nature. He surrenders as soon as the combat turns against him – which includes having taken more damage than the PCs have at any time.

• Symon just said that the magical protections would be down for the day, and asked that Holg go and ransack the place. Holg is quite fond of Mrs Miggins, so he didn’t go himself, but he got the Dark Forest goblins to go, on the condition they didn’t hurt her
• He knows nothing about the secret spice mix, or even that Symon’s men had raided the shop previously
• He can give them directions to the shack that Symon has set up in the forest, and everyone knows where the Symon “the Pie Man”’s shop is

Scene 4: The Shack in the Forest

Symon has set this up as a secret laboratory to try and duplicate the results of his theft. The shack is lined with herbs and spices, and different crust mixtures sit in an ice-box alongside packets of Mrs Miggins’ pies. Hidden away in the shelves (DC 15 Wisdom (Perception)) is Mrs Miggins’ secret mix, with the label half-peeled off.

(optional) Scene 4a: Symon’s Thugs

Depending on the time available, the confrontation may take place here (see the listing for Symon and his associates in Scene 5) or you may need an additional conflict to stretch out the adventure. If this is the case, a squad of Symon’s guards arrive to dissuade the PCs to call off their search; they are all human thugs, but one carries a swatch of black velvet on his shoulder which can be seen to be ripped.

Combat: There are 6 Guards (MM p347) and one guard dog (stats as Wolf (MM p341)) who has tracked the PCs here.

Scene 5: Symon “the Pie Man”’s Shop

Symon’s shop is freshly painted a new, but the aroma of pastry that comes from it is stale, and the meat in his pie fillings is under-seasoned. His shelves groan with unsold pies – truth be told, Symon is not a gifted baker, and unless he is able to successfully duplicate Mrs Miggins’ spice mix, it is unlikely that his business will survive.

If the PCs arrive here without solid proof that Symon is implicated in this, he will present himself as a reputable businessman and tell them that the attack on Mrs Miggins is a result of random goblin raids. Only the evidence of the secret spice mix (if they have recovered it from the shack), or compelling evidence like the torn black velvet, will force him into a confrontation, where he and his guards will attempt to silence the PCs.

Combat: Symon is a Thug (MM p350) and he is accompanied by his Guard Dog, Gnash (stats as Wolf, MM p341) and 2 Guards (MM p347).

Treasure: Symon and his men carry 40 gp and 200 sp, and Symon has a potion of greater healing (which he drinks if he has to) and a potion of climbing.

He fights to the death as he realises his entire business empire is at risk, peppering the battle with references to Mrs Miggins’ terrible pies and how she only made her fortune serving dishonest adventurers.

Once dispatched, the town guards will be certain to arrive and take Symon and his men to be imprisoned and tried by the village magistrate. Having rescued the secret spice mix, it is probably time for the PCs to return to Mrs Miggins where she will be fulsome with her praise and generous with her pies!

Appendix A: Running in Less Time

The adventure is designed to run to completion in around 2-3 hours; if you have less time, cut out some of the options for the investigations in the middle of the adventure to have just one of scenes 2-4 happen. Some options are presented below, depending on which lead the players follow:

• The Alchemist’s Guild will implicate Symon fully in the break-in, and will give them the details of the shack in the forest that he has also asked to be warded by them. They can head over there where they interrupt Symon and his crew and can have the showdown with him.
• If the PCs go straight to Holg the orc, have Holg spill the whole story as soon as he knows he has adventurers on his back; he has a note signed by Symon asking him to break into the shop, and was given the keys to the arcane wards as well. He is meant to be meeting Symon that afternoon, and will happily take the PCs with him to allow them to ambush him
• If they go to The Shack, they interrupt Symon and his crew in the process of duplicating the spice mix – once they notice they have been seen they go to attack the PCs to cover up their secret.

In all cases, be prepared to guide and assist the players if they don’t quite follow the sequence of events. The goblins in Scene 1 will readily admit that the place was already broken into when they arrived – and maybe one of them is carrying a prepackaged meat pie from Symon’s place!

Appendix B: Running With More of Fewer Players

The adventure as written is designed to provide a challenge for four players. With fewer (or more) players, use the following table to adjust the number of opponents in each of the (potential) combat scenes:

Scene	2 PCs	3 PCs	5 PCs	6 PCs	7+ PCs
1 – Goblins	1 Goblin	2 Goblins	4 Goblins	5 Goblins	6 Goblins
3 – Holg	Give Holg stats as a Goblin (p166) – he is old and infirm	1 Orc	1 Orc	1 Orc and Holg has a pet Wolf as well	1 Orc and Holg has a pet Wolf as well
4a – Guards	3 Guards	4 Guards	6 Guards 1 Wolf	6 Guards 2 Wolves	6 Guards 2 Wolves
5 – Symon	1 Thug 1 Guard	1 Thug 1 Wolf 1 Guard	1 Thug 1 Wolf 1 Guard	1 Thug 1 Wolf 2 Guards	1 Thug 2 Wolves 2 Guards