Shilo the Buff (campaign)

**Shilo the Buff** was a one shot DMed by Jack. It revolved around a cannibalistic mad-man terrorising the village of Whitwick.

## Synopsis

Áine, George, and Valeria Wren were wandering through the woods, until they reached the village of Whitwick. They noticed most of the buildings in the village were boarded up, with some having claw marks on the outside. Entering the village tavern, they met Cedric Shaw, who explained the town was being terrorised by a creature who would take people, mainly from the woods. The only person to encounter the creature and survive was Quinn, a hunter, who warned the group to stay away from it. However the party decided to pursue the creature anyway. Valeria decided if she could save a whole village from a monster, she would be sure to win the aldermanic election for the southwestern ward of the city-state of Markwater. George realised if he killed the monster it might finally impress his father for once. Áine just thought it would be a good adventure.

Quinn advised the group to talk to Arthur Fenwick, who would have torches they could use if they were going into the woods at night, and Muriel, whose son Gregory was the last person to go missing. He also warned them of the bear traps he had left in the woods. Arriving at Fenwick's house, the party found it in disarray. He first told the group that Cedric Shaw was in fact a werewolf who was terrorising the village, but then changed his mind and said it was a bard from Waterdeep. He gave the group the torches and a knife, which Áine took, and they left. At Muriel's house, they found Gregory's room covered in blood, with the window torn open, and slash marks on the bed. Looking out the window, George spotted footprints and a trail of blood leading into the woods. They fixed and boarded up the window, and advised Muriel to do the same with hers. She gave Áine another knife, and they left. The party returned briefly to the tavern to collect Quinn's bow, and then journeyed into the Holly Forest.

Walking through the woods, George insisted everything about the monster they had heard so far was consistent with a description of a dragon. Valeria and Áine pushed back on this, but George remained adamant. Walking on a little longer, Valeria spotted a shape following them through the woods. Realising it had been noticed, the creature got down on all fours and sprinted after them. After a short chase, they managed to lose it.

Then it was dark, and they seemed to have lost him. But they were hopelessly lost themselves, stranded with a murderer. They crept silently through the underbrush. Aha! In the distance, a small cottage with a light on! Hope!

As they moved towards the cottage, George spotted a bear-trap. Instead of stepping around it, **he attempted to pick it up**, and it clamped shut on his arm. While he bled profusely, Valeria attempted to open it with brute strength, but failed. Áine then opened it by figuring out the release mechanism.

The party approached the cottage, with Valeria calling out, to no reply. Opening the door, the found the creature inside, sharpening an axe. Valeria and Áine fought the creature, while George did nothing for a while, and then climbed up the side of the house. Eventually Áine killed the creature.

After the creature was dead, George insisted it be decapitated, as this was the only way to kill a dragon. Exploring the cottage, the party found a bloody mess in the basement, with meat-hooks and a butcher's table and a carefully stacked pile of bones. George insisted this was the dragon's hoard. Valeria argued with him at length about his characterisations of dragons, but eventually gave up. Returning upstairs, they found the creature's body had disappeared, and its head began to smoulder in George's hands. He threw it down a well outside, and they began to head back to the village.

However on their way back, they encountered the creature again, now headless and transformed into its true half-draconic form. They did battle again, with the creature now brandishing a shotgun, and George deciding to do nothing again before throwing a rock at the creature. Áine attacked the creature with Quinn's bow while Valeria disarmed it. Valeria then shoved the shotgun into the hole where the creature's head would be and fired it, killing the creature.

They were finally safe from Shilo the Buff.

## Player Characters

* Áine
* George
* Valeria Wren

## NPCs

* Cedric Shaw
* Quinn
* Arthur Fenwick
* Muriel
* Shilo the Buff
* Gregory (mentioned only)
* Otto Behring (mentioned only)

## Locations

* Whitwick
* Holly Forest
* Markwater (mentioned only)
* Waterdeep (mentioned only)