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[5E] Module: Toothache

Having just completed their last adventure, a wandering half-elf merchant named Vaseron catches up to the party, asking for help. His friend Godwin, the blacksmith of Oakhurst, told him that the village has had a plague of missing teeth. Vaseron will continue on, but will describe the small path that can be taken to Oakhurst.

Oakhurst

Oakhurst is small village, no more than a few dozen in the village proper. It has wooden walls and two gates carved in an elven style. The village has a handful of homes, a blacksmith, a market square, and a blacksmith. Almost everyone is missing at least one tooth, many are missing even more.

At night, the gates are guarded at night by Zora and the frequently sleeping old man Greelish, watching for thieves passing through. They wear common clothes or leathers, and wield quarterstaves. They will check bags for missing teeth, though they are under orders to deny this, as well as the prupose of their watch. They will refer the party to Balthazar if pressed. Greelish is missing more than a handful of teeth, and does a poor job at hiding it.

Godwin, the blacksmith, has been concerned by a volume of 'discreet' inquiries from many about replacement teeth. He can give you a few names, but little more.

Balthazar, a half-elf woodcarver, leads the town. His house is adjacent to the market square and doubles as a meeting hall for the village.

There are some hunters who live further out. They were the first to lose teeth (they lost all of them), starting with a child who played in the fairy ring in the forest. The child is uninterested to divulge this, as their parents warned them of the dangers of such a thing.

The Fairies

Stats as per monster manual with minor adjustments.

Rustyguts
Rusyguts Redcap, upjumped minor servant of a long-ruined fairy court. Believes he has a right to the teeth and bones of Oakhurst. A compact between the fairy court and an ancient monarch of the area gave the fairies the royal remains (used in spellcraft) in exchange for a safe border. Thousands of years later, the citizens of Oakhurst all have a few drops of royal blood in their veins. Rustyguts is a terrible angry old man, lustful for power and bloodshed. He foresees the rise of a new fairy empire.

Boggle
Boggles Slippery, slimy servants of Rustyguts. They wear bags of tin coins and/or teeth on their waist, and wooden cabinets on their backs filled with cubbies and drawers. These hold up to a dozen pixies like an aircraft carrier. Excrete slippery oil, and portal 30' or less. At a particularly fairy ring of mushrooms in the forest, the boggles enact the Ritual of Passage to move between realms.

Pixies Agents of dental extraction. Working together to peel back the lips of unsuspecting sleeper, these pixies wield enchanted numbing pliers to remove teeth without disturbing slumber. Each tooth taken is exchanged with a tin coin, placed in the mouth of the sleeper. The coins depict a moon on one side, and a jolly face with a cap on the reverse. The cap is made red with rust. Fly and go invisible.

Fairy Magic

Pixie Pliers: 1" long, these miniature tin pliers have their teeth carved like their namesake. When put in contact with a body, they powerfully numb the immediate area until removed. Additionally, they make well-rooted teeth slide out as easy as a kernel of corn from a cob.

Ritual of Passage: Must be done under the light of the moon, at a particular fairy circle of mushrooms in the forest about two hours from the village. Two or more creatures must join hands, with a tooth and one of Rustygut's tin coins clasped in each hand. Then, they must sing (make your players sing) "Silvered moon/Bone and tin/Rustyguts, Rustyguts/Let! Us! In!" When this is done, the horizon will curl up into the sky inception style, wrapping behind the moon, now shown to be an orb floating not too high above them. During this, they will have moved to Rustyguts' Realm.

Rustyguts' Realm

Interior of a sphere, four hours walking all the way around if on an even path. At the North pole, there is a ruined fairy castle, mostly fallen to rubble. One tower remains at the corner. Surrounding this is tall grass, dry and dead. A dark creek runs in a ring around the equator, with a thick forest beneath it. In this forest is the fairy ring where the Ritual of Passage lets out.

The forest might be animated, scratching and clawing at the party as they travel.

The creek will be unnaturally opaque if examined. It is alive, grabbing and drowning anyone who tries to wade through it.

The tall grass is home to a pack of blink dogs. At their baying, Rustyguts will look out from the ramparts of his short tower, bust open the front door, then come to ruin the party's day.

Inside his tower, you can find teeth piled up in corners, discarded due to poor quality or small size. Most of them have been planted into the dirt in a series of concentric, galaxy like spirals, with the best teeth placed more centrally. Most are fresh except a handful towards the center which are ancient (these are ancient royal teeth). As the teeth are removed, faint tremors will begin and the realm will diminish. Eventually the tower around them will crumble to dust, leaving the fairy ring immediately above them. Once the realm has diminished such that the fairy ring forms the equator, the realm will pop like a bubble and the party will be deposited in the forest outside Oakhurst.

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