The Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad

The Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad

In the beginning was the Glorious Toad God Chag-Nuth-Thu, who was thirsty. He translated to the Material Plane, for there he knew was drink in abundance. The Glorious Toad God stumbled and hopped into the first inn he came upon, where he drank all that was offered, all he could buy, and even all that he could smell hidden in the cellar for the nose of the Glorious Toad God is most sensitive. He drank until he fell over insensible in the now empty cellar. When the Toad God awoke (much, much later), he hopped upstairs. The innkeeper told the god to go home. ‘I would’ burped the Toad God, ‘but I cannot remember which planee is mine own.’ ‘You can’t stay here’ said the innkeeper. ‘I am a Toad God’ muttered the Toad God, ‘Toad Gods stay where they want’ and waved his hand. The inn groaned, and twisted, and the land outside changed. The Toad God went back to bed in the basement; and from that day to this, the Inn has travelled the planes, visiting each plane in turn. One day, perhaps, it will find the home plane of the Toad God, or he will wake up and stagger home. Until then, it wanders.

Description

The Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad God varies in appearance depending on where it is. Each time it materialises on a new plane, its front door aligns to an existing doorframe, alleyway or other suitable portal. In one city on the Material Plane, the inn door might appear in an archway in the sewers, or a closet in a palace, or atop a belltower. In the Plane of Fire, it might appear in a cave mouth in an Earth Pocket, or in a ring of flames. In the Chasm, it might materialise in Peredrim or in one of the Windfisher Cities. A few minutes before it materialises, the sign of the Glorious Toad appears above whatever portal will be aligned with the door. Inside, the Glorious Toad is a large and rambling inn, expanded and renovated by numerous owners, long-term residents, or rampaging demons.

The Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad Traits

• Subjective directional gravity: The strength of gravity on a plane with this trait is the same as on the Material Plane, but each individual chooses the direction of gravity’s pull. Such a plane has no gravity for unattended objects and nonsentient creatures. This sort of environment can be very disorienting to the newcomer, but is common on “weightless” planes. Characters on a plane with subjective directional gravity can move normally along a solid surface by imagining “down” near their feet. If suspended in midair, a character “flies” by merely choosing a “down” direction and “falling” that way. Under such a procedure, an individual “falls” 150 feet in the first round and 300 feet in each succeeding round. Movement is straight-line only. In order to stop, one has to slow one’s movement by changing the designated “down” direction (again, moving 150 feet in the new direction in the first round and 300 feet per round thereafter). It takes a DC 13 Wisdom check to set a new direction of gravity as a free action; this check can be made once per round. Any character who fails this Wisdom check in successive rounds receives advantage on subsequent checks until he or she succeeds.

Getting there… and Back

The easiest way to get to the Wandering Inn is to walk in the front door. The trick, of course, is finding the front door, which can be anywhere in the multiverse. The Inn moves according to its own whim (or the whim of the Toad God’s ancient spell), but divination spells can predict roughly where the inn will go next, and The Inn’s schedule for the next few days is chalked up on a board just over the bar. The Inn is a pocket plane in and of itself, so plane shift spells can bring a traveller to the inn if they can reach the plane where the inn is currently resident. Just appearing in the inn, however, is frowned upon, especially if the traveller brings unwelcome pursuit with him. However, gating into a reserved room is perfectly acceptable.

Features & Locations

The Wandering Inn was once an ordinary inn, and most of the fittings have endured or been replaced with similar items. A pewter mug in the inn might have been swapped for the skull of a fiend, but through a drunken haze it might be possible to mistake this for a normal inn – until, of course, you see the customers.

Ground Floor Locations

Front Door

The shape of the front door of the Wandering Inn varies depending on which doorframe it is set into, but it is always a heavy oaken door (AC 15, 20 hp, Break DC 17). On the inside of the door is an ornate metal plate; when touched, this plate reinforces the door with arcane lock and ironwood while someone holds the door shut (AC 20, hp 60, Break DC 26 + Strength bonus of character holding the door). The metal plate can also be commanded to use clairvoyance to display the area just outside the inn, although there is also a small viewing plate that can be drawn aside. On the outside of the door is a heavy doorknocker in the shape of a frog with jewelled eyes. Using the doorknocker triggers an alarm in the bar within, but also casts detect evil on the character outside. Being evil does not bar a character from the inn, but it may result in the traveller being questioned and watched. Anyone viewing the area just outside the inn with detect portal or arcane sight will notice a quivering fissure – the exit point of the stable door (see below).

Common Room

The dominant feature of this room is the bar, which was torn from a dark temple of evil where it was once a sacrificial altar. The blood and ichor has mostly been scrubbed from the oily green-black stone, although visitors are still advised not to try to sip up spilled beer. The altar-bar occasionally manifests an aura of infernal green light, but has yet to summon up horrors or possess any of the patrons. Casks of ale and some bottles of wine are kept behind the bar, as are a pair of masterwork clubs and a merciful crossbow +2. Behind the bar hangs a slate, which has the inn’s next three planes of call and the estimated times of arrival and departure, as well as a silver bell. This bell tolls once an hour before the inn vanishes, and again five minutes before. The main fireplace is large and lined with stone – the Wandering Inn was originally located amid the snows of the north, where customers would come in frozen and frost-covered. The grating in the fire is made of cold wrought iron; it is also a summoning circle which has been used to bind demons and elementals. There is a small secret compartment half-way up the chimney between the ground floor and the first floor (Search DC 16 to find, but it is currently empty). Above the fireplace are a pair of crossed swords – neither are magical or even especially wellbalanced, but they do look like blades of great power. Above those is a painting of a rather obscure mountain range on the Material Plane. The painting is also non-magical, but the scene depicted is used as a guide for teleporting if regulars at the inn are separated or lost. Just to the right of the fireplace is a comfortable stool and a low table, often occupied by a bard or other entertainer performing in the inn. Half a dozen round tables are scattered around the rush-covered floor of the common room. There are also two alcoves near the fireplace where more private conversations can take place – both alcoves can be cloaked in private sanctum spells on command, by touching a little gargoyle-face on the wall. Here too are mismatched stools and chairs from a score of different worlds and craftsmen. There are two windows in the wall near the door, but they do not connect to the outside world – beyond the inn is nothing but silvery nothingness. Anything thrown out the window just floats a few feet away (so a pall of smoke hangs over the inn when the fire is lit, until blown away by the occasional gust of wind).

Tavern brawls

If a tavern brawl ever breaks out, and the various objects that populate the Inn are used in the fight, treat objects as an appropriate improvised weapon and use the following guidelines to determine if an object breaks: Mugs and bottles break if they are used to inflict 2 or more damage in a single attack. Stools and chairs break if they’re used to inflict 3 or more damage in a single attack. Tables break if they’re used to inflict 8 or more damage in a single attack.

Kitchen

Calling it a kitchen is perhaps being generous. Seeing as the inn visits new and exotic worlds on a daily or weekly basis, most of the inn patrons prefer to eat out, and the kitchen in the Glorious Toad goes largely unused – as an area for food preparation, anyway. Wizards and sorcerers are a major part of the inn’s clientele, so the kitchen has been pressed into service many times as an alchemist’s lab, workshop or even surgery. It was last cleaned before the fall of pretty much any empire you care to name.

Storeroom

The storeroom contains very little; the inn buys most supplies ‘locally’. A trapdoor in the leads down to the cellar. Cask the golem waits here when the inn is closed.

Stables

The Wandering Inn once had a more conventional outside stables, but only the main body of the inn was affected by the Toad God’s spell. Magic provided the answer – this former storeroom is under the effects of a size-altering spell, making it big enough to hold the steeds of any guests. In desperation, the stables can even be used as emergency accommodation. The room can warp its space to a maximum of 100 feet x 100 feet x 30 feet. A permanent dimension door effect in one wall transports the animals to a spot just outside the front door. This is a major hole in the inn’s security, as anyone who can pinpoint the spot where the dimension door exits can use it to slip into the back of the inn. Therefore, a heavy wagon wheel is pushed over the dimension door by Cask if the inn is threatened.

Office

This small backroom is protected by a heavy, ironbound door (AC 16, 30 hp, Break DC 17) and kept locked (Open Lock, DC 20) by Malpon. Inside is a small and battered writing-desk and a bookcase. Malpon can barely read or write, so the inn’s accounts are kept by Ariane. In truth, the Wandering Inn is vastly wealthy, as many of its customers are powerful adventurers who think nothing of throwing a thousand gold on the table to pay a bill. In addition to common notes and bills from suppliers, there is a special concordance written by a previous innkeeper. This book, in concert with a Knowledge (the planes) check, can be used to calculate where the inn will go next. The DC for this check is 12 + 3 per plane in advance, so DC 15 for the next plane, DC 18 for the one after that and so on – without the concordance, the DC is doubled. The bookcase contains several items and books acquired by previous innkeepers that were deemed too dangerous to leave on display upstairs in the library. Notable items include a helm of opposite alignment and a full set of elemental gems. The evil or dangerous books have had their most dangerous pages removed and replaced by pages bearing explosive runes. The expurgated pages are kept with the treasures of the inn. These treasures are kept in a chest in a cunning hiding place. The walls of this room are panelled, as is the ceiling and floor. Six of these panels conceal clever catches (Search DC 20 – each must be found individually). The panels are aligned to face each other, and can be rotated. Essentially, the chest is magically kept inside-out – when all six panels are flipped around, they put the chest back into normal reality. The chest is locked (Open Lock, DC 20) and magically sealed with an arcane lock. It contains 5,000 gp in cash and another 1d6 x 5,000 gp worth of gemstones, along with an amulet of the planes and the pages from the expurgated books, which include spells like horrid wilting, greater planar binding and wail of the banshee.

Notable Former Innkeepers of the Wandering Inn

Thelfric of Norvale. The first innkeeper, he sold the inn a few days after the Toad God fell asleep in the basement. It is said of Thelfric that he went out to find a way back to his home village and his lost wife. Jerome the Welcoming. Innkeeper after Thelfric, it was Jerome who established the Inn as one of the best way to see the planes. He made the silver bell that warns patrons when the inn is about to depart. Mab the Red. Under her stewardship, the Wandering Inn was used as the mobile base for a band of adventurers who cut a swathe of heroism and swashbuckling skulduggery across the planes. X’chrit’x. An insectoid warlord, X’chrit’x captured the Wandering Inn and used it as a beachhead for invasions of twenty-nine cities and towns. For a time, the sign of the Glorious Toad was as feared as the skull-and-crossbones or faceless helm. Sylassine. A daughter of one of Mab the Red’s companions, Sylassine was among the most powerful sorcerers ever to walk the planes. She reclaimed the Inn from X’chrit’x and served as innkeeper afterwards for longer than any before her save Jerome. She also wrote the concordance which allows innkeepers to predict where the inn is going. Ashto. The only innkeeper to be a worshipper of the Glorious Toad God, Ashto’s reign as innkeeper was cut grievously short when he declared that alcohol had offended the Toad God, and therefore the inn would no longer serve drink.

Upper Floor

Guest Rooms

All of the upper rooms used by the guests and staff are largely identical, save that two serving maids are forced to share a room. Each room has a bed or bunk bed, a table, a washbasin, a storage chest and a chair. Some rooms also have a window, although now it merely looks out onto the silvery bubble that surrounds the pocket plane of the inn. The inn has twenty guest rooms, of which seven have double bunk beds. Eight of the twenty rooms are currently occupied. When the inn is overcrowded, guests are offered sleeping quarters in the Menagerie, library or common room. Each room has a door which can be locked (Open Lock, DC 17). Guests are permitted to use more powerful protections (such as arcane locks, glyphs of warding, guardian monsters), but must put up the ‘do not disturb’ sign to prevent the cleaning staff getting blasted.

Menagerie

The menagerie is in a converted loft. It was established by a long-term resident of the inn, who was an avid hunter and collector of strange creatures. The menagerie is kept as a curiosity and an entertainment for the guests. Most of the creatures here are either stuffed or preserved using alchemy, although there are several that are petrified statues. The entities here include a stuffed planar dragon hatchling, a ravid, an elemental axiomatic dire wombat, a medusa and a bizarre round thing covered in ears. Unknown to anyone in the inn, the dead marilith preserved in magical amber in one corner of the Menagerie is actually only a mostly-dead marilith preserved in magical amber. The demon is stuck in the yellow crystal, but if the amber were ever cracked, even slightly, its evil influence could ooze out.

Library

This small adjunct to the Menagerie is filled with scrolls, books, carved stones, tablets and memory crystals from dozens of planes. There are few magical books in here (nothing but a few travelling spellbooks containing common or emergency spells), but there are lots of travelogues, discourses on religion and philosophy, histories and the like. The library also has a chest containing several games of skill and chance collected over the years.

The Broken Room

Before the inn became the Wandering Inn, the only problem with the Broken Room was that the roof leaked. Now, the room is exposed to the unthinkable transdimensional energies of the Space between Spaces when the inn moves from one plane to another. Anyone in the room sees the worlds wheel at terrifying speed through the holes in the roof. The geometries of the broken room have become twisted and…wrong. The bed has bumps and angles where no normal bed should have such things, there are unfathomable depths of dark, stagnant water in the washbasin, and the wardrobe lurks with terrible intent. Most terribly of all, there is no such wardrobe in any of the other rooms. No innkeeper has ever admitted buying such a wardrobe, and it is too big to fit up the stairs. Anyone in the Broken Room when the inn moves must make a Wisdom save and a Constitution save, both at DC 17. If the Wisdom save is failed, then the character’s mind is affected by the leaking divine energy; roll 1d6. On a 1-2, the character is feebleminded. On a 3-4, the character goes insane in some fashion, often becoming obsessed with some minor slight or passing desire. On a 5-6, the character converts to the worship of the Toad God. If the Constitution save fails, the character is swept away by the energies, and ends up on a random plane. The Broken Room also has a tendency to pick up random travellers and other planar debris. The door is kept locked and alarmed, but the staff still listen at the door after each transition, to make sure that nothing has materialised in the Broken Room.

Basement

Brewery

Most of the inn’s supplies are bought locally, but the small brewery here produces the inn’s own specialist brew – Toad’s Woad, an alarmingly blue ale. Malpon has also been experimenting with some of the stranger apparatus and notes left by former innkeepers – one of them was certainly trying to bottle the Philosopher’s Stone and serve it with tonic water, and he believes he is close to recreating this great work.

Cellar

The cellar of the Wandering Inn is whispered of in the same breath as the Vaults of Zin, the treasury of the caliph Oosalamagas, or the war chest of the Fiendish Legions. A partially inventory might run: fresh fruit, jars of water, sacks of grain, barrels of smoked and salted meats, bread and pastries, cheese, sundry junk and unidentified items, Toad God. Obviously, the last two items are of the most interest to unsavoury thieves (the rather tasty pastries acquired in the Afterworld of the Halflings are of interest to savoury thieves). The innfolk tend to collect curios and items from the planes, and many of these get donated to the inn or just left in the rooms. Such items are thrown into the basement junkpile. Arcane sight or detect magic spells are useless here, due to the proximity of the Glorious Toad himself. Almost anything could be found in this pile, but due to accidents in the past, guests are not permitted to root around without the innkeeper’s permission. Beyond the pile is the small Temple of the Toad God that contains the Toad God himself. The divine music of His Snores echo throughout the chamber, and in His sleep He scratches Himself in a manner that is surely meaningful and prophetic. The Toad God looks like a twelve foot tall hairy toad with a slightly smug expression. Whether it is a true god, or merely an amazingly powerful creature is unknown. Only one brave psion ever tried to plumb the mysteries of the Glorious Toad God, and she reported a hangover so terrible it could shatter worlds.

Hazards

Getting Left Behind (CR 0)

The Inn moves according to its own whim, but over the centuries, its patterns have been observed and mapped. It tends to stay on each plane for three or four days on average, but has been known to stay in one place for up to two months at the longest or only an hour or two at shortest. The estimated times are up on a board in the inn, and the silver bell tolls before the inn leaves and travellers are encouraged to cast alarm or similar detection spells on the bell if they are leaving the inn. Guests with unpaid bills must settle up before leaving the inn if the bell has tolled the hour. Most guests pay in advance, and the inn rarely suffers from welchers running out the door just before the inn moves on. Guests who are left behind must make their own way back to the inn, although rescue parties have been assembled from among the residents in rare cases.

Duration of Stay

1d6	Duration
1	1d10 hours
2	1d20 hours
3	2d20 hours
4	1d4 days
5	1d6 days
6	1d20 days

Rules of the Inn

1. No blasting spells.
2. All Toads are sacred.
3. The Inn waits for no man.
4. Do not open the door without the doorkeeper’s permission.
5. Last call at midnight.
6. No open fires save in the hearth.
7. No callings and no dismissals.
8. No disjunctions.
9. Do not set Cask on fire.
10. All woads lead to wuin.

Roll on the Random Plane Table below for where the inn goes next. For duration of its stay, roll on the table above.

d100	Plane
Material Plane
01-02	Familiar Location
03-04	Unfamiliar Location
05-06	Distant Location (far side of world, other planet, etc.)
Ethereal Plane
07	Border Ethereal of Material Plane
08	Border Ethereal of Elemental Plane (Roll 1d4, 1=Earth, 2=Air, 3=Fire, 4=Water)
09	Border Ethereal of Energy Plane (Roll 1d4, 1-2=Positive, 3-4 Negative)
10	Deep Ethereal
11-12	Shadow Plane
Dream Plane
13	Sea of Dream
14	Individual Dream
15-20	Astral Plane
Plane of Earth
21-22	Cave
23-24	Solid Rock
Plane of Air
25-26	Empty Sky
27-28	Storm, Gas Pocket, Elemental Pocket or other notable location
Plane of Fire
29	Open Fire
30	Landscape of Fire
31	Ash Wastes
32	Gradations of Fire
Plane of Water
33-34	Open Sea
35-36	Coral Island, Elemental Pocket or other notable location
Positive Energy Plane
37-38	Outer Corona
39-40	Inner Light
Negative Energy Plane
41-42	Borders of Void
43-44	Uttermost Abyss
45-49	Vault of Stars
Tarassein
50	Shaped Zone
51	Decaying Zone
52	Raw Chaos
53	Pocket Plane
54-59	Infernum
Chasm
60-62	Open Chasm
63-65	Side Wall
Halls of Order
66	Machine Realm
67	Model City
68	Library of All-That-Is
69	Circle of Judgement
70	Dominions of Order
71	Eutaxy
The Afterworld
72-73	Estate
74-75	Unclaimed Dead
76-77	Gulf of Azroi
The Firmament
78	River of Tears
79	Bright City
80	Halls of Heaven
81	Palaces of the Gods
82	Aurora Realm
The Questing Grounds
83-85	Generic Storyland
86-88	Saga
89-95	Astral Plane
96-00	Random Demiplane or Pocket Plane of Games Master’s Choice

Toad’s Woad (CR 0)

Toad’s Woad is the blue ale brewed in the basement of the inn. It is made from whatever ingredients can be obtained locally, so the taste and consistency varies somewhat. The major elements are gathered from the planes – pure elemental water, hops from the Elysian fields and so on – and when the Inn’s movements do not co-operate, the innkeeper hires adventurers to obtain the missing ingredients. The azure hue and distinctive taste come from the curious blue fungi that grow on the flanks of the sleeping Toad God. A mug of Toad’s Woad requires a Constitution check (DC 12) to avoid a cumulative –2 profane penalty to all skill checks, attack rolls and saving throws. If a character drinks more than twenty mugs of Woad, he may make a Wisdom save (DC 15). If the check succeeds, he may commune with the Toad God and ask three questions. A character can only commune in this fashion once per month. Toad’s Woad costs 6 cp per mug.

The Bill (CR 0)

The Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad is surprisingly reasonable given its unpredictable location. Room (per night, including breakfast) 10 gp Long-term Residence (per month, including meals) 200 gp Meal 5 sp Errands (obtaining items from local markets, etc) 5 gp

Denizens

The staff and residents of the Glorious Toad change regularly. Innkeepers die or tire of the duty, and hand the inn onto another worthy caretaker. Staff are even more fluid – most serve only for a few months before hopping off on one plane or another. The characters currently living in the inn are…

Malpon the Innkeeper

The current owner of the Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad is Malpon, a former adventurer. The previous innkeeper died when Malpon was staying there; he had tired of the adventuring life and decided to purchase the inn. He still remembers his glory days, riding out on quests and slaying monsters. He also has an eye for the ladies, ‘a conquest on every plane’ as one wit put it. Malpon keeps his old adventuring gear in his room, but he ensures that his weapons and armour are always in good condition and still practises assiduously, ‘a shiny sword and dashing suit of armour work wonders with the fairer sex’ he says. He keeps Gyhel’s Ring in his apron for emergencies, although the masterwork clubs and crossbow can solve most problems. Possessions: Gyhel’s Ring (casts antimagic field once per day when activated), greatsword +2, full plate +1

C’zahl, Serving Girl

C’zahl is a night hag who was unwittingly trapped in the inn – she was tormenting a poor cleric by using her dream haunting ability. When the inn moved, it translated to a plane without an Ethereal component, so she was forced to materialise atop the cleric. It was very embarrassing and confusing for all concerned. Having failed to corrupt or destroy the cleric, C’zahl knew that she would be persona not grata in the Infernum (or, more accurately, persona torn to shreds for her failure), so she elected to stay on in the inn as a serving girl. She wears the form of a human female and has sworn not to bite or eat guests unless they really deserve it, but is just as evil and nasty as any other fiend. She is sarcastic, coarse and cruel in the extreme, but her harsh, bitter exterior merely cloaks an inner soul of utterly depraved foulness. She takes especially pleasure in taunting Ariane and any clueless adventurers from the Material Plane who wander into the inn. C’zahl is a Night Hag. Her home plane for the purpose of banishing is the Inn.

Ariane, Serving Girl

A devotee of a deity of knowledge, Ariane sought out the inn. Each member of her order chooses one field of study, and she selected the planes. The Wandering Inn is the perfect place for such a scholar – or so she thought. To her horror, she discovered that all too often, the ‘Inn’ takes precedence over the ‘Wandering’ part, and instead of carefully observing the manifestation of the divine in the myriad realms of the multiverse, she now spends more time serving drunken genies and tipsy Fey. Raised in a sheltered convent filled with kindly and scholarly nuns, this came as something of a shock to the rather prissy young Ariane, but she is slowly adapting. In each new world, Ariane attempts to learn as much as possible. Guests are often asked to escort the cleric out into the plane if it is fairly safe. She is a pretty and personable companion, although her habit of mixing moral lectures with planar trivia gets tiresome quickly. Ariane has the statistic of a human NPC, Mage. Possessions: Cloak of resistance +2, potion of cure critical wounds

Cask

The final current member of staff is a wooden golem made from empty casks of ale and scrap wood. Cask has served the inn for over a century, carrying his inanimate kin up and down from the cellar, serving drinks, tossing out drunks and holding the door shut against hordes of nameless screeching horrors. Cask is not especially bright, even for a golem who has spent a century dealing with customers, but he is useful and well loved in the inn. During the night, after sweeping the bar, he waits in the storeroom. Cask is willing to help any guests of the inn, but will not leave the inn without the innkeeper’s permission.

Precifax Vaclen

Precifax the gnome is a herald from the court of a gnomish king, sent to deliver a message to a potent astral entity known as Eater of Eyes. He encountered the inn three years ago, and has stayed there ever since. After all, he reasons, statistically speaking the inn is almost certain to one day appear in the domain of Eater of Eyes, so staying put and drinking is exactly the same as braving the wilds of the astral plane. His bar tab and costs are paid for by the gnomish king. An investigation was launched into why a simple message to the Astral Plane is costing several hundred gold coins a year, but it is tied up in committee. The gnome generally introduces himself as a messenger-savant – he has seen many things and studied many scrolls, and considers himself an expert on every topic. After introducing himself, he will happily deliver a lecture on said topics, analysing the audience’s mental capacities, likely histories, probable fates and so on, before leaping like a conceptual mountain goat onto another intellectual peak. Precifax has mastered the bardic technique of breathing through his overlarge nose and exhaling through his mouth while talking, allowing him to ramble on for what seems like a lifetime. If it were not for his allergy to fur, which causes him to sneeze violently, Precifax could keep talking indefinitely. C’zahl has trained an infernal kitten to jump onto Precifax when he bores her. Precifax’s audience can introduce themselves to the gnome while he crumples in a fit of sneezing, or flee. The latter is generally preferred. Precifax uses the statistics of a gnome NPC, Spy Possessions: Boots of Striding and Springing.

N’glm of the Glorious Toad

The Glorious Toad God is a god, and must be worshipped. Ever since it got heaven-shatteringly drunk and collapsed in the inn, the cult of the Toad God has understandably diminished, although it did enjoy a brief renaissance when the senior cleric came up with the Doctrine of Imbibed Example, which states that only by mimicking the holy acts of the Toad can the faithful achieve salvation, and therefore the followers of the Toad God should drink as much as they are able. N’glm, a balding half-orc, is the most devoted follower of this Doctrine. For religious reasons, he stays in the inn praising the Toad God, drawing on church funds to support his devout inebriation. N’glm lives in fear that the Glorious Toad God will wake up and do something stupid, like leave the bar or order him back to the swamps. Whenever the god stirs in its slumbers, N’glm hires bards to sing lullabies. N’glm uses the statistics of a half-orc NPC, Priest. Possessions: Holy Symbol of the Toad God, nolzur’s magic pigments

Walker in Shadow

The wizard known as Walker in Shadow is a newcomer to the inn. It is rumoured that he is fleeing a powerful foe, and took to the inn as it is an excellent refuge against pursuers. He is a potent magic-user and has a keen intellect. He has a habit of attempting to solve puzzles and disputes with his magic, as he sees lesser beings as problems to be solved. His solutions are often abrupt and cruel. The Walker in Shadows has rented two rooms in the inn – one for himself and his wife, the other for use as a laboratory. While evading his pursuers, he is also engaged in all sorts of magical research connected to some sort of plane-manipulating spell. He is a member of both the Planewrights and the Emissaries of Hell, but his plans are not part of the goals of either group. He dresses in long, dark, hooded cloaks; the only features that can usually be discerned are his flowing brown beard and his glittering eyes. Walker in Shadow uses the statistics of a human NPC, Archmage (replace Teleport with Plane Shift though.) Possessions: Headband of intellect +4, ring of protection +3, metamagic rod of lesser extension The Walker in Shadow has a planar cohort – an efreeti named Issan is bound to her service. Furthermore, if attacked, a barbed devil appears to defend the Walker. He has yet to use the wish spell garnered from his membership in the Emissaries of Hell.

Lyi

The consort to the Walker in Shadow is a vampiric sorceress named Lyi. The patrons of the inn are aware of her undead status and are scared of her, but she has promised not to feed while staying in the inn. Just to be on the safe side, Malpon has contacted an old cleric friend of his, who has promised to send a scroll of banishment to get rid of Lyi and the Walker if necessary. She is terrifyingly cold and clinical. Although the Walker has mellowed somewhat during his time in the inn, she despises most of the other guests and spends most of her time in her coffin. Lyi’s hungers are rising, though – the Walker has made it clear that she will be punished if she ruins his hiding place, so she intends to slip out and feed when he is distracted. Lyi has the statistics of a vampire spawn with the Spellcasting of an NPC, mage. Possessions: Cloak of Charisma +2, ring of protection +2

Adventure Seeds

The Wandering Inn of the Glorious Toad is basically a mobile setting – the campaign can move from plane to plane, but the characters still have a safe place to call home. One of the major problems with a plane-travelling game is a lack of continuity, but here the major Non-Player Characters come along for the ride. Anyone can show up in the inn. Relationships and quests related to the various denizens of the inn can keep a party busy for months. The bar is a neutral ground, allowing the characters to interact with evil wizards, bugbear alcoholics and golems in a way that is quite different to how they would interact in a dungeon. The inn is also a safe refuge for a low-level party on the planes, as they can run back to its comparative safety if necessary.

• Any one of the inn guests could hire the characters – Malpone might need ingredients for Toad’s Woad, Ariane might need an item or sample from a plane, the Walker a component for his magical researches. Such excursions would be on a strict time limit – if the characters do not return quickly, the inn will move on without them.
• The inn provides a quick way to drag low-level characters onto the planes. They arrive in a new town, visit a local tavern, and fall asleep there. They wake up to discover the inn has moved on to the Infernum…
• Malpon tires of running the inn, and offers it to the characters for a nominal charge. Do they keep it as an inn, or turn it into a mobile adventuring base, or a fortress, or something else entirely. And just what does happen when the Glorious Toad God wakes up?