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Time for Pleasantries
A Pointy Hat Fae Adventure
Running the Adventure
Introduction:
Welcome to Time for Pleasantries, an adventure about the Plane of Faerie! If you’ve watched
the video, you know what this is all about -- people and children have gone missing from their
village, and it’s up to the players to track their captors back to Faerie and figure out what to do
with them. Will they bring the villagers back to the difficult lives the fae had saved them from, or
will they condemn the pleasantries’ victims to a life asleep and unaware?

On a more personal note, I want to say thank you to everyone that has made this possible, and
by this, I mean both this adventure and Pointy Hat as it is today. Thank you first to all of you who
have watched my videos and enjoyed my work, which has literally made it possible for this
adventure and everything I’ve produced to actually exist. Thank you to Bia, my video editor, for
her incredible work making the videos what they are. Thank you to Fey for their help with
additional sketches that bring our videos to a whole new level. Thank you to Briar, the editor of
all of my content and the co-author of this adventure. And thank you to Dungeon Dad, for his
cameo and the incredibly cool creature and encounter he’s made specifically for this adventure.
Credits for all involved will be at the end of this adventure!

Adventure Guide:
In order to help you run this game smoothly, the adventure is organized into five main sections:
● Faerie Tales: The players’ suggested path through the adventure, separated by location.
You can also find information on Renata, the key NPC, here.
● The Shallows: The dungeon in the Realm of Faerie, with details on the four encounters.
● Ending the Adventure: The final conflict and the possible ways this adventure can end.
● Epilogue: Possible outcomes and consequences, as well as ways to tie this into future
adventures for your party.
● Enemies and Stat Blocks: Enemy stat blocks and art to use during your game.

This is a relatively linear adventure until the moral choice at the end, so take some time to
foreshadow the twist. The players will have a difficult choice to make, with no right answer, and
it’s your job as GM to make the choice as hard as possible! Depicting and emphasizing the stark
differences between the material world and the Plane of Faerie might encourage the players to
see the pleasantries’ side of things -- or underline the fact that the mortals they’ve taken didn’t
have a choice in the matter, and have lives they may wish to return to. If the ending feels
bittersweet, you’ve done it right.

A big part of what drives this adventure is the strangeness of the Plane of Faerie and its
inhabitants. The pleasantries, and fae in general, run on a system of morality that’s completely
alien to mortals, and has nothing to do with ideas of good and evil or lawfulness and chaos.
Enjoy describing the weird wonder of the Plane of Faerie in exposition, and roleplay the
pleasantries as persuasively convinced of the rightness of their actions. Make sure your players
know they’re not in Kansas anymore!

Overview:
This adventure starts in a town called Alarcan, where a number of people have gone missing
from their beds. This is the work of a specific type of fae called pleasantries. Pleasantries feed
on dreams, and have been kidnapping people from the small town of Alarcan for sustenance --
offering them in return a pleasant end to their existence in an unending, peaceful sleep filled
with happy dreams. The party accompanies Renata, an orphan whose best friend was the
victim of the latest kidnapping, and travels to the Plane of Faerie, through a swamp dungeon
called the Shallows, and into the poppy grove where the pleasantries have built their nest.
There, they confront the pleasantries and their Queen, and must decide whether to attack or
negotiate -- and whether to leave the fae to their peaceful dream-farming, or to rescue the
dreamers and bring them home whether the dreamers wish it or not.

The Specifics:
● This is a level 5 adventure designed for a group of 4 players.
● This adventure clocks out at around 1 to 2 sessions of 3 to 4 hours to complete.
● This adventure can be a standalone one-shot, the beginning of an adventure in the
Plane of Faerie, or part of an ongoing campaign with minimal tweaking.
● If battles are too easy or too hard for your party, we recommend adjusting enemies’ HP
accordingly.
 ● All monsters in this adventure are brand new. Their stat blocks can be found at the end
of this adventure.
● We encourage you to change the details of this adventure to fit into your campaign or
setting. Use your party’s existing knowledge of the Plane of Faerie -- or lack thereof -- to
guide and subvert their expectations for the plot of the adventure.
● Content Warnings:
Reading these content warnings will spoil twists and parts of the adventure. If you are a
player, you might want to reconsider reading this section and instead ask your GM or a
trusted friend to read these and see if there is anything you would rather not have come
up during play. We strongly encourage you to play with all necessary precautions and
safety tools for a smooth and enjoyable experience at the table.
○ Child endangerment/harm to children: Some of the victims of the fae are children
and young adults. They are not killed outright by the fae, but are taken away from
their lives. If you or your players are especially affected by danger to children,
you can age up the victims and change the setting at which they encounter
Renata.
○ Suicide: At the end of the adventure, it is revealed that the pleasantries feed on
dreams, and keep their victims in a perpetual sleep filled with pleasant dreams in
order to do so. The pleasantries argue that their victims would be happier in
dreams, as opposed to living in difficulty. If you or your players are sensitive to
the subject, this may be reminiscent of struggles with suicidal ideation. If you feel
like these topics are likely to upset anyone at the table, we suggest allowing the
players to hear the dreams of the sleeping villagers, depicting that while their
conscious minds are at peace while asleep, their unconscious minds would
rather wake up and return to their lives. This will remove the moral choice at the
end of the adventure, but the safety and enjoyment of everyone at the table is
always paramount when playing. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please
reach out to the suicide prevention lifeline local to your country.

Plot Hooks:
If you are running this as a standalone adventure not tied to an ongoing campaign, we
recommend giving the players an introduction to the adventure and starting right as they arrive
in town. The players can be an existing part of adventurers looking for work or seeking to do
good, or a group of like-minded individuals who band together to solve this problem.

If you are running this adventure as part of an ongoing campaign, here are some hooks for you
to connect this adventure to your existing story:

● Missing Persons: Posters on buildings, a posting on the board of an adventurer’s guild,

or a desperate quest-giver in a tavern offers a reward for finding missing children.
● Tall Tales: Rumors are spreading between children of different towns, telling stories
about children being taken away by faeries if they’re particularly good, bad, or unhappy
-- and all the rumors seem to trace back to this one town.
● Relative to Renata: An NPC the players know, or one of the player characters
themselves, knows or grew up in an orphanage with a girl from a small village, who
sends a message or letter asking for their aid.
 Time for Pleasantries
Faerie Tales
The adventure begins as the characters find themselves in the town of Alarcan. It’s eerily quiet,
and strangely subdued. Strangers are eyed with suspicion, and no children roam the streets.

Set the scene, then allow the characters to explore the town and find leads on the missing
people. An Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check (DC 13), or a Charisma
(Deception, Persuasion, or Intimidation) check (DC 12), or any other means the characters may
try, can lead the party towards someone willing to give them some information:
- People have been going to sleep and have been found missing from their beds in the
morning. Most play it off as them running away, but it’s been happening a little too
consistently for people’s comfort.
- There’s no apparent connection between the people who have been disappearing. They
aren’t the same age, most don’t know each other too well, and most don’t live anywhere
near each other.
- However, most of the people who have gone missing were going through some
hardship.
- The most recent disappearance was a couple months ago, a child at an orphanage in
town. It’s not the first child who’s disappeared from that orphanage, either.
- With an especially high roll, a child might tell the party pieces of the orphanage kids’
story below.

The Orphanage
It should be clear to the characters, from whomever they’ve managed to talk to or whatever lead
they follow, that the first stop on their journey is the town orphanage. Read or paraphrase the
boxed text.

“The Alarcan orphanage is a small building at the end of the road, its brightly painted walls trying
valiantly to look cheerful despite the building’s wear and tear. A small group of children plays quietly
in one corner of the room under the watchful eye of an adult. A single girl sits apart from them, and
raises her head to watch you as you enter.”

The orphanage’s matron confirms that the latest disappearance was a child from the orphanage,
but dismisses the idea that she’s been abducted or hurt. She explains that Sofia was rejected by
a potential home the week before she disappeared, and may have run away. Sofia’s best friend,
Renata, seems shaken by her disappearance, but she’s closed up, refusing to talk to anyone.

Once convinced that the party is there to help, Renata shares what knowledge she has of the
disappearances.
- The adults are saying that Sofia ran away, but she wouldn’t have done so without
Renata.
- There’s a rumor among the younger children in the orphanage that faeries are taking sad
kids to their realm to play -- and that you’ll know you’re invited next if you start to dream
of faeries.
- One kid even says she saw Sofia start glowing and float out her window the night she
disappeared.
- Sofia told Renata that she had had dreams about faeries before she disappeared.

Renata has been dreaming about faeries for a week now. She knows she’s next, and wants to
set the faeries a trap. She asks the party for help: they must stand watch over her secretly, and
follow where she goes -- but if they alert whoever’s doing this of their presence, the trap will fail
and the faeries won’t come again.

Renata
Renata (neutral good, human commoner) is a short girl in her early teens, brash and stubborn.
She’d planned to run away from the orphanage with her best friend, but with Sofia missing, all
she cares about is finding her and saving her from whatever is taking the children.

Personality Trait. “I stand up for other kids who can’t stand up for themselves.”
Ideal. “Just because our lives are bad doesn’t mean we can’t work to make them better.”
Bond. “I have to make sure Sofia is safe. I’ve always protected her.”
Flaw. “I’m still learning about the world, so I’m a little gullible.”
 Renata is right about the faeries taking her tonight. Allow the players to come up with a way to
watch over her. With some exploration or investigation of the area, the players may notice some
details about the orphanage that can help them plan. Renata has a room to herself here on the
first floor, with a window not too far off the ground, though the walls are thin and sound travels
easily between rooms. Due to the recent disappearances, the building is patrolled by a series of
guards on rotating shifts (humanoid guards), but with a sufficient check or enough time
watching, the characters can figure out the patterns and breaks in the shifts. Alarm spells,
Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and watchful familiars may come in handy at this juncture.

The first few hours of the night pass without incident, though a call for Wisdom (Perception)
checks will help create tension. In the middle of the night...

“Slowly, the windows begin to open, creaking as they slowly move. Moonlight shines through them
and pools on the sheets above Renata’s body as it, too, starts to move. Renata is still peacefully
asleep, but her body rises above the bed, hovering limply. Color leaches from her, turning her almost
translucent. As if carried by a gentle current, she floats out the windows and into the night.”

Following Renata’s body in secret, the characters make their way towards the forest at the
outskirts of Alarcan. As they enter the woods, plants begin to light up around them with a
beautiful, eerie glow. They move through the forest for a long time, until Renata’s body brings
them to a clearing filled with red poppies. Renata’s body floats forward, then slowly lowers
towards a puddle that sits at the center of the clearing. The moment her sleeping body touches
the puddle, it glows brightly.

The puddle acts as a fae crossroad for one minute after a sleeping body is laid in it. After
Renata’s body sinks through it, the light begins to dim quickly -- but there’s just enough time for
the party to jump through.

The Realm of Faerie

The characters emerge through the portal into the Plane of Faerie.
“As you pass through the portal, there’s a moment of disorientation. You can’t tell up from down,
dark from light; your head spins -- and then you’re standing in a completely different place than you
were before. Gone is the drab clearing in the moonlight -- instead, the sky bathes you in a twilight
glow. Clouds move across it at different speeds, fast and then slow. The brackish water lapping at
the shoreline of the island you stand on is iridescent, like the wings of a dragonfly, and the roots of
the trees that grow out of the shallows are like thin stilts, holding massive trees over the waters of
the swamp.”

Renata is there, ten feet away from the party -- but she’s not alone. Several pleasantries
surround her, flitting around her body and chittering to one another like insects. They go silent
as soon as they notice the characters; they pause for a moment, then flee.

The pleasantries are small faeries, around the size of a pixie, with chitinous bodies and vaguely
humanoid faces. They have soft fur around their necks and long, feather-like antennae.
Uncommon as they are, pleasantries are unfamiliar to the players, but with an Intelligence
(Nature) check (DC 22) or an Intelligence (Arcana) check (DC 20), they can learn their name
and figure out that these little faeries are likely servants or drones of a larger group, like hive
insects -- and that they can clearly traverse realms with ease and put creatures to sleep.

With the departure of the pleasantries, Renata falls five feet to the ground and startles awake.
She urges the party to follow the pleasantries, going deeper into the Plane of Faerie, and help
her find Sofia.
The Shallows
A clear path lies before the party in the form of a winding line of islands, connected by thin
bridges of land or walkways made of the trees’ roots.

Light. The twilit sky sheds a diffuse bright light over the islands, unless otherwise noted.
Water. All of the islands, and the land- or tree-bridges between them, are surrounded by
brackish water. The shores slope into shallow water, but it becomes 8-10 feet deep less than
five feet out.
Tree Cover. The huge trees that dot the shallows provide a sparse canopy, but otherwise there
is no ceiling.

The Nightcap
 Following the path ahead of them to the first large island leads the characters to the first
encounter of the dungeon.

“As you step onto the solid ground of an island, you find yourselves wading through a sea of flowers.
Some are familiar to you, though they grow in unnatural colors -- blue roses, red violets, prismatic
daisies with each petal a different shade -- while others are completely alien, strange shapes in
brilliant hues. Most notable, though, are the poppies that grow here and there, each at least three
feet tall. They sway enticingly in the light breeze, and little motes of glowing pollen float around
them.”

Before the players can explore or interact much, they are attacked by an unseen enemy: a
Nightcap. Nightcaps are fae beings with an extremely alien biology. Their bodies are in
constant flux between the Plane of Faerie and the Ethereal Realm, which allows them to cross
between them at will. Nightcaps wander between the two planes in search of victims. They are
guided exclusively by instinct, their feelers indicating the nearest source of energy. They are
obligate carnivores, but the way in which they obtain sustenance is unique: once a nightcap has
killed its victim, it stands over it, casting its magical shadow over it. Its spores then decompose
the body and fly back into the body of the nightcap, bringing it the nutrients from its prey. While
that process is taking place, the nightcap remains completely motionless, and its beauty may be
admired without risking your life, so it’s always important when encountering one to check if
there are any corpses lying under its cap.

Unfortunately for the players, this Nightcap is actively hunting. The Nightcap attacks from the
Ethereal Plane, invisible to the players and untouchable from the Plane of Faerie. To show the
players how to reach it, whenever a character comes within 5 feet of one of the poppies, rather
than simply asking for a saving throw, ask them if they wish to resist the flower putting them to
sleep. If they do resist, have them make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw -- but if they don’t, or
if they fail the saving throw, they awaken in the place where the Ethereal Realm makes contact
with the Plane of Faerie, and are able to see and attack the Nightcap while their sleeping bodies
remain in Faerie.
 When the Nightcap is severely bloodied, have it disappear again, returning to the Plane of
Faerie and attacking the players’ vulnerable, sleeping bodies. The characters must then wake
themselves up, either by taking damage from the Nightcap; willing themselves awake by
succeeding on a Constitution saving throw (DC 15); or another character taking an action to
wake them, upon which the sleeping player can make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10) with
advantage to wake up.

The Chest Weasel

As the players walk deeper into the marsh, they are met with an open area on an island, with a
single chest laying innocuously in the center. If inspected, the chest is unlocked and un-trapped,
and opens to reveal another, slightly smaller chest inside. If this one is inspected, it is unlocked
and un-trapped, and opens to reveal another, slightly smaller chest inside, and another, and
another, and...

The chest is connected to a Chest Weasel, a fae creature that feeds on frustration. These
faeries are attached to enchanted chests, and often hoard treasure within them, using them as
bait. They then play illusion-based tricks and pranks like this on hapless treasure-seekers, filling
their bellies with their victims’ annoyance. They’re generous with their treasure in return, so it’s a
fair trade... at least, if you ask the Chest Weasel.

With every sigh or groan of frustration your players produce, this particular Weasel gets happier
and happier; when you count ten expressions of annoyance, the Chest Weasel pops out of the
chest and thanks them for the meal!

The Weasel offers the players what is actually hidden inside his chest: a Horn of Plenty. He is
also happy to chat, perfectly friendly after he’s been fed so well, and may even provide some
information about the faeries behind the kidnappings to particularly persuasive players.

Horn of Plenty:
Wondrous item, rare, requires attunement

A beautifully carved golden horn with a small hole on one of its ends and a large one on the other.
This horn has 3 charges. When you use an action to blow it, you can cast the spell healing word at
level 1 using your highest ability modifier, provided the target of the spell is within 60 feet of you and
can hear you. Any sleeping creature within 30 feet of you is immediately woken up when you blow
the horn and cast the spell. If you blow the horn after consuming all three charges, the horn
produces no sound. The horn regains 1d4 expended charges daily at dawn.

Night Terrors
This encounter and monster has been created by Dungeon Dad.
“As you reach the next area, you find themselves in a gloomy forest. The trees are gnarled, and a
few appear to have twisted trunks that resemble grotesque faces bearing horrific expressions. The
air chills to the point where you can see your breath, and a thin veil of fog blankets the region. Every
surface seems to be coated in a thin, oily substance with a colorful sheen to it; in some places, this
substance has pooled into small puddles of black ichor.”

These black pools are actually terrors. Terrors are fae beings created by an accumulation of
nightmares, usually found right outside poppy groves where pleasantries build their nests. The
pleasantries discard the nightmares of their dreamers, since these can’t serve as sustenance for
them; terrors form from the discarded nightmares, and then build their own nests on the
outskirts of the poppy grove, feeding on the discarded nightmares. In return, the pleasantries
gain a sort of guard dog and a last line of defense for their poppy grove. The two fey beings
form a tight symbiotic relationship where they both benefit from the other’s very specific diet.

Any creature not from the Plane of Faerie that looks into one of these small pools sees bizarre
and twisted versions of past events -- versions of history where things went differently, and the
outcome was worse for them. Every vision is unique and serves only to foster anxiety in those
who stare. A creature who looks for more than a moment must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom
saving throw or suffer disadvantage on their next saving throw. A creature who succeeds by
more than 5, however, has advantage on their next Wisdom saving throw.

As the characters try to wrench their gaze from the horrifying visions, a group of four terrors
attacks. Each takes a form imitating the fear of one of the characters -- but an exaggerated,
nightmarish version of that fear, a manifestation taken to the extreme. When a terror is killed, it
reverts to its true form, a humanoid shape that looks to be made of a black oily substance.

The False Path

“Battered and bruised as you are, the next leg of the journey seems to go on forever. Strange as it is,
the scenery of the Plane of Faerie seems to blend together into a familiar, technicolor monotony.
Except -- wait. It’s not just that the unnatural colors of the swamp are becoming familiar. You’ve
crossed a channel on a log bridge three times now...”
 A powerful illusion guards the center of the marsh, trapping those who traverse it in an unending
loop. If the players swim out to one side, they appear ten minutes later on the other side of the
corridor. If they try to take a different fork in the road, they eventually find themselves back at the
start of the loop.

The only way to circumvent the illusion is for the party to walk right back the way they came --
although if your players come up with a different ingenious solution, don’t hesitate to allow it.
Either way, when they are free from the loop, they find the swamp opening up before them, to
reveal a vast meadow.

The Poppy Grove

“The dim light, the buzzling fireflies, and the humidity of the swamp give way to an expanse covered
in beautiful flowers, upon which you see... beds. Dozens of beds are strewn around the meadow.
Some have wooden frames, some wrought iron, some have intricately carved golden bedknobs --
and each of them holds a body, lying fast asleep. Overlooking each bed is a massive, blood-red
poppy, its pollen falling gently over the sleeper’s face.

Flying around the beds, you see the same tiny beings that had carried Renata’s sleeping body
across the planes. They look up as you enter and freeze, and then a massive, figure emerges from
the flowers that blanket the meadow: equal parts humanoid and insectoid, with beautiful wings that
flutter behind her like a moth, and a wicked stinger at the end of her abdomen.

The Queen looks at you, and smiles.”

The players have made it through the Shallows and into the heart of the pleasantries’ nest: what
is commonly referred to as a poppy grove.

Pleasantries are fae beings that can only feed on the dreams of beings from the Material Realm.
In order to do so, they kidnap people and bring them to their poppy groves, where they keep
them in an eternally pleasant sleep until their deaths. Pleasantries have a strict moral code, and
do not see their way of feeding as immoral or bad. They deliberately select those who are
experiencing turmoil, hardship, or sadness in their lives as their sources of sustenance, and
believe that by putting these people under a pleasant sleep they give them a much better end of
their lives than their toilsome existence back in the Material Realm. Pleasantries liken this to
how people in the Material Realm keep cattle, and will argue that their way of treating their
dreamers is much more “humane”. (A Wisdom (Insight) check (DC 11) will reveal that the pun is
very much intended on the Pleasantry Queen’s part.)

The pleasantries have no desire to fight the players, and a high-stakes social encounter will
commence at this point. If the players decide to attack the Pleasantry Queen instantly, you can
find how to run this combat in the Ending the Adventure section below, under the subsection A
Battle Among the Poppies.

Ending the Adventure

The Pleasantry Queen acts as the representative of the pleasantries. Pleasantries are not
aggressive, other than the kidnapping, and have no particular interest in fighting, so they won’t
attack the party unless the party attacks them or tries to wake up their dreamers.
The Pleasantry Queen is open to compromise. She believes strongly that she and her
pleasantries are doing the right thing, but may be swayed slightly with clever roleplaying and
persuasive points, or with a Charisma (Persuasion) check. The DC for this check is set at 15,
but lower the DC or grant advantage on this roll for particularly good arguments or roleplay. On
a success, she concedes that taking dreamers from the same town was not the best solution for
their grove, and proposes that they take dreamers from a variety of settlements, bringing the
concentration of kidnappings from one town to a minimum.

Ultimately, the adventure culminates at this point. The players must now make a choice, and
neither option is clearly the moral one. Pleasantries are not kidnapping people for evil reasons,
but because they need their dreams to survive. They are also not treating their dreamers
unfairly, and are actively taking good care of them. Based on the pleasantries’ moral code, they
could be considered lawful and good. The pleasantries certainly believe so; they argue that their
dreamers may prefer their current existence to the one they had in the Material Realm, and that
waking them up would be as much a violation of their choice as not waking them. The
pleasantries care little for the autonomy of their dreamers, but they refuse to bend on the matter
of their own sustenance, and will argue persuasively on their behalf.
It is, however, clear to see that the dreamers did not choose to be put to an eternal sleep, and
that many wouldn’t have chosen this, no matter how pleasant the dream they are plunged into
or how unpleasant their life at home. Many on the Material Realm may miss the dreamers, with
no closure as to what happened to them; many may think that the dreamer left their family
behind with no word. It is deeply unfair to take away their choice in the matter according to the
moral code of most people in the Material Realm, including what is likely to be the majority of
the player characters.

In order for this moral choice to be effective, you as GM must not give in into the attempts of
players to derail this twisted trolley problem. Players are most likely to try to find a way to not
make a moral choice at all, such as suggesting to wake the dreamers up one by one and ask
them if they would rather stay asleep or leave with the party. Don’t allow them to do so. We
strongly suggest having the Queen of the pleasantries say outright that she and her colony will
be forced to attack the party if they disturb the sleep of the pleasantries’ dreamers, just like a
farmer wouldn’t appreciate if their cattle were freed from their farm simply because some of the
cows did not wish to stay.

There are many ways to get to these two endings, but there are, in the end, only two.

A Planar Understanding:
If the players choose to leave the dreamers and the pleasantries be, the pleasantries are
overjoyed. They don’t like when denizens of the Material Realm venture into their grove -- or at
least not while they are awake -- and will offer the players their aid in exchange for the party’s
silence. If the party manages to successfully convince the pleasantries to vary the locations
from where they obtain their dreamers, the pleasantries assure the party that they will honor that
promise. If the party hasn’t found the Horn of Plenty, have the Pleasantries give it to them as a
parting gift. Emphasize that today the party made a powerful friend in the Plane of Faerie, and
that many other pleasantry colonies will hear of their understanding.

The Pleasantry Queen offers to open a portal to the Material Realm, transporting the party back
to the forest where they first entered the Plane of Faerie.
Renata stays very quiet during this, and refuses to talk to the party at all during the long trek
back home. When their paths are about to separate, Renata breaks her silence to state plainly
that she will never forget how they left Sofia behind. While they may have made a friend in the
Plane of Faerie today, they also made an enemy here, on the Material Realm.

A Battle Among the Poppies:

If the players choose to take the dreamers with them, either by waking them up, attacking the
pleasantries, or otherwise not reaching, an understanding with the fae, a battle ensues.

The Pleasantry Queen is a fierce foe, with lair actions and a kit that focuses on sustainability
and ongoing healing to make up for her middle-of-the-road total hit point count. If you feel like
the battle might still be too easy for your party, you can add pleasantries to it, expanding the
options of lair actions the Queen can take. If you believe the Pleasantry Queen to be enough of
a foe for your party alone, you can explain that worker pleasantries are not strong enough to
help their Queen in combat.

At the end of the battle, assuming the players kill the queen, the other pleasantries scream a
shrill, ear-piercing cry and fly in all directions, leaving the grove to the players. The dreamers
can be woken up easily, including Sofia, who Renata hugs tightly -- much to Sofia’s surprise;
from her perspective, she just went to bed a couple of hours ago. While this is the option players
are more likely to take, don’t be afraid to show them the consequences of their actions. Some of
the dreamers try to go back to sleep immediately after being woken up, wanting to go back to
their pleasant dreams and now unable to do so because the pleasantries are now gone.

The fae crossing at the edge of the Shallows opens when someone falls asleep in it from the
Plane of Faerie too, so offer the players a long rest back where they started their journey into
the Shallows. Renata will admit that she’s pretty tired after all that adventuring and fall into the
lap of her rescued friend, opening the portal once more back to the real world and out of the
pleasant -- and deadly -- faerie dream.
Epilogue
Here are some hooks to tie the end of this adventure to brand new adventures that reflect your
party’s choices.

Rake ’Em ’Cross the Coals:

A Planar Understanding
Some time after the events of Time for Pleasantries, the players become aware of a mysterious
figure that stalks them, a ranger with fae powers who seems to be after them, appearing and
disappearing through trees and greenery. This mysterious ranger kidnaps a friendly NPC who
the party values and trusts, instructing the party to meet them at a specific place if they ever
want to see their friend again. It turns out that the mysterious figure is none other than Renata,
who found a way into the Plane of Faerie again and experienced a lifetime there while
significantly less time passed in the Material Realm. Renata is now an adult, not the child the
party met in Alarcan, has learned to master the ever-changing nature of the Plane of Faerie --
and she has not forgiven the party for how they abandoned Sofia to the pleasantries. Renata
has taken a friend of the party in return, and hid them away in the Plane of Faerie. If they want
their ally back, they must help her find the pleasantries that originally captured Sofia and take
them down. Renata can’t do so on her own, since the Queen has found a mate and created a
poppy forest -- the last stage in the life of a pleasantry, and the point at which they are most
powerful. Will the party be up to the task now? Or will they betray Renata once more?

Friends on the Other Side:

A Battle Among the Poppies
When the pleasantries flew away from the grove after witnessing the death of their Queen, they
went to find one of the Queen’s most powerful allies: a fae monarch who rules over an entire
province in the Plane of Faerie. Furious with how mercilessly the party destroyed her friend over
the pleasantries' simple need for sustenance, this monarch has launched an all-out attack not
just against the party, but against whatever place or form of government the party is closest to. It
looks like an all-out conflict between a fae court and a ruler friendly to the party is brewing, and
the consequences of this war may be far-reaching. Will the heroes be able to stop the war from
starting, or will they have to participate in a battle between the Plane of Faerie and the Material
Realm?

A Whole New World:

Either A Planar Understanding or A Battle Among the Poppies
As the party crosses into the Material Realm, they find a desolate landscape. It’s immediately
apparent to all of them that much more time has passed here than had in the Plane of Faerie. A
calamity has taken place, and the world as they knew it is no more. The world has changed
completely -- but has it changed irreparably? The party must venture forth, discover what
happened while they were away with the faeries, and find a way to turn back time and prevent
this all from happening. Could the time-warping abilities of the Plane of Faerie that put them in
this situation in the first place be the key to solving their problem?

Enemies and Stat Blocks

Nightcap:

NIGHTCAP
Large fey, True Neutral

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 95 (10d10 + 40)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

18 (+4) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 8 (-1) 12 (+1) 6 (-2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +3

Senses Darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Sylvan
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Ethereal Traveler. The nightcap can see and attack creatures that are
currently in the Plane of Faerie from the ethereal realm.
 Night Cap. The space within 5 feet of the nightcap, including the space it
occupies, is in dim light, regardless of if a source of light, magical or
otherwise, is brought into the space.

Full of Spores. A creature that touches the nightcap or hits it with a

melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) poison damage.

ACTIONS
Multiattack. The nightcap makes two slam attacks.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6
+ 4) bludgeoning damage.

Ethereal Jump. The nightcap shifts into the Ethereal Realm. It can’t be
seen, heard or targeted from the Plane of Faerie, but it’s able to see,
hear, and target creatures in the Plane of Faerie.

Spore Bomb (recharge 5-6). The nightcap shakes its cap, liberating
noxious spores. All creatures within 5 feet of the nightcap must succeed
on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 poison damage and be
poisoned for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end
of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Terror:

TERROR
Large fey (shapechanger), Typically Neutral Evil

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)

Hit Points 37 (5d10+10)
Speed 35 ft., climb 35 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

12 (+1) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 6 (-2) 16 (+3) 10 (+0)

Skills Insight +5
Condition Immunities frightened
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages Sylvan
Challenge 1 (200 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Horrific Shifting. The terror can use its bonus action to transform its
 appearance. It decides what it looks like, including its height, weight,
facial features, the sound of its voice, hair length, coloration, number of
limbs, and distinguishing characteristics, if any. It may also choose to be
Small, Medium, or Large. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in
each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It
reverts to its true form if it dies.

Fear Sense. The terror knows what any living creature within 120 feet of
it is frightened of. It has advantage on attack rolls against any creature
that is frightened by it.

ACTIONS
Lash Out. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12
(2d8+3) slashing damage.

Syphon Fear. The terror feeds on the mental energy produced by a

single creature it can see within 60 feet. The target takes 12 (2d8+3)
psychic damage, or half as much on a successful Wisdom saving throw
(DC 13). The terror then takes temporary hit points equal to half the
damage dealt.

Terrify (recharge 5-6). The terror attempts to overwhelm one creature it

can see within 60 feet with horrifying images of what that creature fears
most. The target takes 9 (2d8) psychic damage, or half as much on a
successful Wisdom saving throw (DC 15). On a failed save, the target is
also frightened of the terror for 10 minutes. The creature has
disadvantage on this roll if the terror is currently shifted into the shape
of something the target is afraid of. A creature can repeat the saving
throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a
success.

Pleasantry Queen:

PLEASANTRY QUEEN
Medium fey, True Neutral

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)

Hit Points 112 (15d8 + 45)
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft.
 STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
10 (+0) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 13 (+1) 18 (+4) 16 (+3)

Skills Acrobatics +6, Insight +7, Perception +7, Persuasion +6

Damage Resistances Psychic
Senses Darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3

Wakeful. The Pleasantry Queen cannot be put to sleep by magical or non

magical means.

Ethereal Traveler. The Pleasantry Queen can see and attack creatures
that are currently in the Plane of Faerie from the Ethereal Realm.

ACTIONS
Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13
(2d8 + 4) piercing damage. The Pleasantry Queen regains a number of hit
points equal to half of the damage inflicted by the stinger (rounding up).

Ethereal Jump. The Pleasantry Queen shifts into the Ethereal Realm.
She can’t be seen, heard or targeted from the Plane of Faerie, but she’s
able to see, hear, and target creatures in the Plane of Faerie.

Siphon Rest. The Pleasantry Queen siphons away the life energy of a
sleeping creature within 30 feet. She can then roll one of her Hit Dice,
regardless of whether she has any left, and regain a number of hit points
equal to the roll. A sleeping creature dies if its rest is siphoned three
times before the creature completes a long rest.

Spellcasting. The Pleasantry Queen casts one of the following spells,

requiring no material components and using Wisdom as her spellcasting
ability (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks):

● At will: color spray, druidcraft, dancing lights,

● 3/day each: sleep, gust of wind, healing word
● 1/day each: thunderwave, moonbeam

LAIR ACTIONS
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Pleasantry Queen can
take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the Pleasantry
Queen can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row.
 ● The Pleasantry Queen invokes her dominion over the poppy field
to use her Siphon Rest action on two different sleeping creatures
at once.
● The flowers covering the soil of the poppy field shake, spreading
a cloud of pollen that covers the field and blinds all hostile
creatures to the Pleasantry Queen until initiative count 20 on the
next round. A powerful gust of wind can end the effect early.
● The flowers covering the soil of the poppy field come to life,
using their delicate roots to entangle the feet of the enemies of
the Pleasantry Queen. The entirety of the lair becomes difficult
terrain until initiative count 20 on the next round.

Pleasantry:

PLEASANTRY
Tiny fey, True Neutral

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 5 (2d4)
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

1 (-5) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) 8 (-1) 16 (+3) 15 (+2)

Skills Acrobatics +6, Perception +5, Stealth +6

Damage Resistances Psychic
Senses Darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Wakeful. The pleasantry cannot be put to sleep by magical or non

magical means.

Ethereal Traveler. The pleasantry can see and attack creatures that are
currently in the Plane of Faerie from the Ethereal Realm.

Save the Queen. When the Pleasantry Queen is targeted by an attack,

the pleasantry can use its reaction to redirect the attack towards itself,
so long as the pleasantry is within 5 feet of the Pleasantry Queen or the
creature targeting the Queen.

ACTIONS
Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6
+ 4) piercing damage. The pleasantry regains a number of hit points
equal to half of the damage inflicted by the stinger (rounding up).

Ethereal Jump. The pleasantry shifts into the Ethereal Realm. It can’t be
seen, heard or targeted from the Plane of Faerie, but it is able to see,
hear, and target creatures in the Plane of Faerie.

Royal Sacrifice. The pleasantry sacrifices itself, immediately dying. The

Pleasantry Queen can then roll one of her Hit Dice, regardless of
whether she has any left, and regain a number of hit points equal to the
roll.

Sleep (1/Day). The pleasantry casts the sleep spell at 2nd level.
Credits and License
● Writing, art, and game design by Antonio Demico @antodemico
● Video editing by Bia @BnazF
● Additional video art by Fey @feymilde
● Additional writing and text editing by Briar @theminism_
● Additional content and video cameo by Dungeon Dad

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