Tell you what, you and yours will get a warm meal, a full tankard, and a place to rest if you can take care of those rats in the basement once and for all. When you see the size of those beasts, you'll know this ain't no easy meal neither.

They found a way in through the basement. There might be a whole nest of them to deal with.

Long Stasis of the Moonchild

Alien, ancient, or from the future? The Moonchild remains in stasis in its chamber, and the chamber slowly gathers what it needs. The tubes from its chamber extract from inorganic and organic materials alike, and continue to spread as long as there are resources to find.

To aid its work, it releases a thin pink glowing fluid that ensnares those that it touches.

Anyone whose skin comes in contact with the fluid makes a save or becomes enthralled for 1d3 hours.
Violence against one enthralled is violence against all enthralled.

Tavern Basement

Below the tavern above, there are numerous barrels of ale, cheeses, and root vegetables. Tucked behind barrels, a crack in the rock wall has opened into a hole large enough to crawl through.

A large black root-like tube runs along the ceiling of the tunnel and is the cause of the crack in the wall.

1d3 Large Rats are feeding. They will not retreat into the hole.
The tunnel slopes gradually down and goes on for about 15 feet.

Defenses

A faint smell of melting plastic and damp, wet mold comes from the other side of a stuck door. The bottom of the door has a small rat-sized hole.

Beyond the door is a room filled with rotting barricades that would have provided solid defense. Along the walls and floors, the stone walls are pushed up in places as if roots have grown into the walls and floor.

A tangle of black tubes that lead back into the ground covers a barricade.

Doors in the room are stuck.
Defensive rats are here. They will retreat into the tavern but not into the dungeon.

Hallways

Smells of burning plastic and mold linger in the echoing hallways. There are signs of activity from various creatures on the dust-covered floor, but no discernible patterns emerge. Smudged graffiti and worn etchings give hints to the inhabitants from decades ago.

Trapped Hallway

On the ground lies the body of a rat and a goblin, each sliced in half. Along the floor and wall, a small seam exists where a large circular blade can pass.

A pressure plate triggers the blade trap. The trap is not magical, and the pressure plate is noticeable with an intentional search.

Barracks

Long rotted bedrolls of leather and hay form piles and stains in orderly rows along the floor. From the north, black tubes from stitches in the walls, ceiling, and floor as they weave above and beneath the surface. A faintly glowing pink liquid traces the cracks of the walls and floor.

Motionless creatures that occasionally lap at the fluid. Attacking them or the Moonchild will make them hostile.

• 1d3 Goblins
• 1d3 Rats
• 1 Emaciated Human

Officer's Room

Wooden beds and dressers create the makings of a bunk room. Black roots make their way from the south and weave in and out of the walls and floors. A pink liquid traces the cracks of the walls and floor. Supplies and corpses make two separate piles along a back wall.

The supplies are a treasure horde worth 100 gp of goods and a journal of Eliad detailing plans of an assault on the town.

Larder

The smell of rot and mold overpowers the senses in a room lined with shelves of crates and barrels dripping with spoiled food. Black thin tubes descend from larger ones in the ceiling down into the crates and boxes.

The door is stuck.
Save against poison for the first two unprotected people to enter the room.

Chrysalis

A cocoon-shaped sarcophagus propped up on an entwined mass of black tubes lies in the center of the room. A 10-foot diameter pool of pink glowing liquid, centered on the sarcophagus, lights the room. The pool is no more than 1 inch thick, but seems to ooze from the tubes that descend into the floor and spread out like roots, and ascend into the ceiling in the same manner. The sarcophagus top is clear, and entombs a small eyeless humanoid with papery milk-colored skin.

A screen with writing on the sarcophagus is indecipherable, except there is a progress bar showing 3% completed.

There is nothing hostile in the room unless the party provokes the sarcophagus. If they do, black tubes with pincers will unfurl and attack the party as well as summon the remaining creatures.

DM Tips

This adventure is meant to be mysterious, strange, and cause a party to debate their actions. There are no reasons why the Moonchild is here, or if what is happening is good or evil. That is left out intentionally. Adjust, add, and remove details as you see fit to make this fun for your table. Here are some potential adjustments for your consideration:

• The party enters the town after its half-enthralled
• Journals, graffiti, or dungeon denizens provide a history of the Moonchild
• The Moonchild's chamber communicates or learns to
• The dungeon pleads with the party to remove the Moonchild