Save the Mill

From the parapet of the keep, someone spots a group of raiders trying to set fire to the town mill. Governor Nighthill quickly approaches the adventurers.

“The guards have spotted a new threat. Raiders are trying to set fire to the town’s mill. If it burns, we’ll lose our stockpile of flour and we won’t be able to grind more for months. I’m trying to assemble enough defenders from here in the keep to defend it through the rest of the night, but that will take time. You’d do us a great service if you could get to the mill quickly and drive away the raiders before they can set it aflame. You’ll need to defend it until our force arrives to take over, but it shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes behind you.”

The mill is about 500 feet from the keep. The distance is doubled if characters use the secret tunnel and follow the stream to stay hidden.

Roll a d6 on the Episode 1 Encounters table to determine the strength of the raiders that are trying to set fire to the mill. Any kobolds in this force run away as soon as two or more raiders are killed. If characters observe the mill for a minute or more before attacking, allow them to attempt DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) or Charisma (Performance) checks. If successful, a character realizes that the raiders are making a demonstration of starting a fire, but it’s for show. A few fires are burning around the building, but they could be extinguished easily.

This act of burning the mill is a ruse. Mondath has been informed that heroes are aiding the town, and she wants to lure them into an ambush. More raiders—one cultist plus one guard per character—are hiding inside the mill, waiting for the characters to show up.

The mill is a simple rectangular barn, about 40 feet long and 20 feet wide, with an attached, exterior office. The long side of the building away from the stream has barn doors and a two-part door, and the two short walls have windows. All these openings are closed, but none are locked or barred. Inside, the main floor is dominated by a massive stone grinding wheel driven by a water wheel in the stream. The mill was operating late when the raid began and the millers fled without disengaging the wheel, so it still turns noisily. The upper half of the barn is a loft where milled flour is stored. The loft can be reached by wooden stairs along the east wall or by using the ropes and pulleys that hoist bags of flour up and down through large openings in the loft floor.

The ambushers are waiting in the loft for heroes to enter the mill. When the heroes are inside, the guards launch a volley of spears from above, then leap down to fight hand-to-hand. The ambushers have a good chance to gain a surprise round for their spear volley; a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check is needed to notice them before the attack. Characters who scan the loft for hidden enemies upon entering the mill have advantage on the check.

Ten minutes after the second fight ends, a dozen bloody but basically healthy defenders arrive from the keep with orders to relieve the characters and defend the mill. They tell the characters to go back to the keep quietly while they remain behind at the mill.