Beasts Beneath the Lanterns
Beasts Beneath the Lanterns
Read aloud
A burst of frantic cries cuts through the festival music as a striped animal leaps across the lantern-lit stalls and vanishes into the crowd. The menagerie gates stand open, several cages are empty, and the watch is already blaming the nearest handler. Mara Marroway offers you a reward to find the animals and discover who let them loose before the festival turns into a stampede.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Contain the escaped festival animals before they injure anyone or vanish into the town.
- 2Determine how the enclosures were opened and separate the escape from the later smuggling attempt.
- 3Rescue the animal being transported beneath the fairground and identify the people behind the operation.
- 4Choose how to resolve responsibility for the unsafe conditions and Sella's deliberate act.Optional
The clock
Each major delay advances the smugglers' departure. After the first two substantial scenes, they begin moving the captive animal; after the fourth scene, they attempt to leave the drainage vault. The GM can advance this clock when the party takes a long rest, spends excessive time on unrelated tasks, or causes a major public disruption.
Scenes
- 0:00The Festival Breaks Loose
- 1:30Tracks and Testimony
- 2:45The Protester's Account
- 3:45Under the Fairground
- 5:00The Drainage Vault
- 6:45Who Opens the Cages?
Cast
- Mara MarrowayQuestgiver and menagerie owner
- Tovin ReedWitness and junior animal handler
- Captain Elira VennAlly and head of the festival watch
- Sella QuillAntagonist and animal-rights agitator
The hook
Set the scene
The party arrives at the Lanternwake Festival just after the first animal escapes. A macaque has overturned a lantern cart, the crowd is pressing toward the main gate, and Captain Venn is trying to establish a safe perimeter. Mara Marroway asks the party to help contain the animals and investigate, while Tovin Reed points out that the locks appear tampered with rather than simply broken.
How Mara Marroway asks
Mara approaches the party amid the confusion, offers a substantial reward for safely recovering the animals, and asks them to report findings directly to her.
Captain Venn can authorize access to the fairground and speak with witnesses, but urges the party not to cause panic.
Rumours
Scenes
about 8 hours0:00
90 min
combatThe table is here
1. The Festival Breaks Loose
Lantern Court, the festival's crowded central plaza
The party encounters the escape in progress. It can redirect the crowd, calm or corral the animals, and prevent the first injuries. A successful response earns trust from the watch and provides a chance to notice that one enclosure latch was cut cleanly.
Panic in the Lantern CourtNextOnce the animals are contained or driven from the crowd, Mara asks the party to inspect the enclosures while Captain Venn begins taking witness statements.
1:30
75 min
social
2. Tracks and Testimony
The menagerie's temporary holding yard and the watch's improvised witness station
The party questions Tovin, checks the cage latches, and compares witness accounts. The timing does not support a simple accidental failure: one animal was moved before the commotion, and mud from the drainage passage is present near a supposedly locked service door.
NextThe strongest clues lead to Sella's protest camp, the service passage, or both. The party can pursue either lead first, but a delay gives the smugglers time to move their cargo.
2:45
60 min
social
3. The Protester's Account
A protest camp beside the closed eastern entrance to the festival
Sella admits she opened the outer gate but denies cutting the latch or arranging the animal's removal. The party can test her account against physical clues and ask her supporters about the blue ribbon and the drainage passage.
NextSella's account points toward a hidden route beneath the fairground. She may accompany the party as a guide if they promise to protect the animals and hear her out afterward.
3:45
75 min
exploration
4. Under the Fairground
The cramped service passage and disused drainage works beneath the festival grounds
The party follows muddy tracks and finds signs of a recent handcart in the old service corridor. A stuck grate, branching channels, and fresh rope fibers provide a short exploration challenge; the evidence shows that someone used the route to move a heavy crate.
NextThe trail reaches a drainage vault where the smugglers are preparing to leave with their captive animal.
5:00
105 min
combat
5. The Drainage Vault
A flooded stone chamber under the old fairground
The party confronts the smugglers and attempts to secure the marsh-stalker without harming it. The rising water threatens to loosen its crate, while the smugglers may bargain, flee, or fight depending on how the party approaches.
The Drainage VaultNextWith the animal safe, the party can return to the surface with the smugglers, evidence, and a choice about whom to accuse publicly.
6:45
60 min
social
6. Who Opens the Cages?
The festival's council tent, with the crowd gathered outside
Mara, Captain Venn, Sella, and any captured smugglers give their accounts. The party presents evidence and negotiates a resolution that balances public safety, accountability, and the future of the animals.
NextThe festival closes or resumes under new rules. The party receives its agreed reward, and the remaining loose ends can lead into a further adventure.
Behind it
What people believe
During Bellwether Quay's Lanternwake Festival, several exotic animals escaped from the Marroway Menagerie.
The town watch needs help calming the crowd, recovering the animals, and determining whether the escape was an accident or deliberate sabotage. Evidence points toward both the menagerie and a protest group, but the festival's service passages may hold another answer.
Background
The Lanternwake Festival celebrates the founding of Bellwether Quay with music, lanterns, and a traveling menagerie.
The menagerie is owned by the Marroway family, whose long-standing contract with the town requires every animal to be displayed behind secured, warded enclosures. Festival organizers have quietly cut costs this year, and several vendors have been allowed to use an old drainage and service passage beneath the fairground.
The stakes
If the party fails to contain the animals, the festival crowd may be injured and the creatures may disappear into the waterways.
If it stops only the visible panic, the smugglers can escape with a rare animal, while careless accusations may ruin an innocent handler or conceal the unsafe decisions that made the crisis possible.
Encounters
2Panic in the Lantern Court
Combat or noncombat containment
A crowded festival plaza filled with food carts, hanging lanterns, low awnings, rope barriers, and scattered crates. Narrow lanes create bottlenecks, while the crowd can be safely redirected with quick thinking.
Foes
Two escaped ember-tailed macaques, custom festival animals
One glasswing marten, custom festival animal
ComplicationThe animals are frightened rather than malicious. Loud attacks or sudden movement may cause them to flee through the crowd, worsening danger and making later recovery harder. Use existing 5E creature statistics only if suitable; otherwise treat the animals as custom nonlethal hazards with clear ways to calm, distract, or contain them.
ScalingFor a smaller or less capable party, use one macaque and the marten, and let a handler calm one creature after a successful check. For a larger or more capable party, add a second macaque or have the creatures use the stalls and awnings to reposition. Avoid treating the animals as enemies that must be killed.
The Drainage Vault
Combat, stealth, or rescue
An old stone drainage chamber below the fairground, with shallow rising water, slick ledges, barred side channels, and a narrow maintenance bridge. The animal's transport crate is wedged near the water gate.
Foes
Two hired smugglers, use appropriate low-threat humanoid statistics
One trained marsh-stalker, custom beast or an existing suitable 5E beast
ComplicationThe captive creature is agitated by the unfamiliar surroundings, and the smugglers are trying to move it before the party arrives. A fight can endanger the animal and damage evidence; negotiation, stealth, or a coordinated rescue can avoid a direct battle.
ScalingFor a lower-level party, the smugglers surrender or flee when the marsh-stalker is contained, and the creature can be distracted with food. For a higher-level party, add one lookout and make the rising water impose a time limit rather than increasing damage. Adjust existing creature statistics to the party rather than assuming a specific stat block.
Cast
4Mara Marroway
QuestgiverQuestgiver and menagerie owner
WantsRecover the animals alive and protect the menagerie's reputation, while concealing her own role in approving an unsafe transport route.
“Please find them before the crowd does. Some of those creatures are frightened, not cruel, and the festival guards will not know the difference.”
Tovin Reed
Witness and junior animal handler
WantsClear his name after being blamed for the escape; he knows which animals were moved shortly before the festival began.
“I heard a latch snap, then the music covered the screaming. I swear I never opened that gate.”
Captain Elira Venn
Ally and head of the festival watch
WantsKeep the festival operating and avoid public blame for ignoring safety complaints, even if that means suppressing evidence.
“The festival has one night to stay joyful. Bring me a culprit, a cage, or a convincing story, but do not bring panic.”
Sella Quill
Antagonist and animal-rights agitator
WantsFree the creatures from captivity and make the menagerie pay for mistreating one of them; she insists she wanted no one hurt.
“They called it a display. I call it a chain. I only wanted the cages open, but I did not choose where the animals ran.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A set of well-made animal-handling gloves, a custom nonmagical item that grants advantage on one suitable check to handle or calm an ordinary frightened beast per day, at the GM's discretion
A festival token granting free meals and lodging in Bellwether Quay for three nights
On a win
The animals are safely recovered, the smugglers' operation is stopped or exposed, and the party gives the town enough evidence to distinguish Sella's reckless release from the larger transport scheme.
Mara must answer for approving the unsafe passage, while Sella faces consequences for opening the gate. The festival can resume in a quieter form, with the animals moved to secure shelter.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- If the party does not contain the animals before the festival crowd surges, or uses reckless force in the plaza.
- The escaped animals injure several festivalgoers and the watch closes the grounds. The party can still investigate, but witnesses scatter and the town's trust in the menagerie sharply declines.
- If the party accepts the first accusation without checking the physical clues or witness accounts.
- Sella is publicly blamed and detained, while the actual evidence of the transport route is lost. The menagerie remains under suspicion and the real organizer has time to leave town.
- If the party abandons the drainage vault or fails to secure its exits during the rescue.
- The marsh-stalker escapes into the waterways with the remaining animals. The immediate crisis ends, but recovery becomes a longer search and the creatures may threaten nearby farms.
- If the party exposes wrongdoing without securing corroborating evidence or a safe plan for the animals.
- The festival proceeds, but the menagerie loses its license and the watch suppresses the cost-cutting evidence. The party receives reduced payment and earns the distrust of at least one local group.
Complications (d6)
- 1A startled glasswing marten darts through a crowded food stall. The party must calm the crowd or pursue it without causing a crush; spilled hot oil makes the stall a hazardous obstacle.
- 2A panicked festival guard mistakes the party's pursuit for an attack and blocks the nearest route, demanding a clear explanation before allowing passage.
- 3A sudden rain shower washes chalk marks and muddy tracks from the service lane. A surviving scrap of blue ribbon remains caught on a nail nearby.
- 4A child has hidden beneath a wagon to protect a small burrowing creature. The creature is harmless, but the wagon is about to be moved.
- 5Sella's supporters begin a loud demonstration at the menagerie entrance, drawing guards away from the investigation and making witnesses reluctant to speak.
- 6One recovered animal recognizes a handler's whistle and bolts toward the old drainage passage, revealing a route but risking a second escape.
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