Old Varla's Hut
SocialArea T4 — Old Varla's Hut
Varla's cottage sits on the absolute fringe of Thornwick, pressed against the treeline as if the village itself took two steps back. Goat skulls leer down from rotting fence posts, and dried herbs dangle off the eaves like dangling fingers. Someone dropped off a split armful of firewood and a small, fresh loaf of bread by the stoop.
The heavy wooden door swings open before anyone even reaches for the knocker.
"You've been standing on my path long enough. Come inside or clear off. The dead are screaming today, and your heavy breathing isn't helping."
Old Varla is a 4th-level human witch, though age and bone-deep fatigue have robbed her of any combat punch. She’s small, hunched, and pushing ninety-five, with dark, needle-sharp eyes that cut right through pretense. She swears like a sailor, complains about everything, and shoves hot tea into cold hands while swearing up and down she couldn't care less if they drink it.
Lying near her hearth—watching the doorway with amber, razor-sharp focus—is Thornwick (so named by his master after the village itself), a large gray wolf with one white paw. He was the loyal companion of Old Merton, the village's finest shepherd, who recently perished and turned into an echo. Thornwick refused to leave his master's side and eventually ended up taking shelter in Varla's hut.
Varla's had the "gift" since she was a girl. It used to be faint—just quiet whispers near old graves or dying folk. But ever since the veil tore open, those whispers turned into a non-stop roar. She hasn't slept a full hour in three weeks, and she wants this nightmare over just as badly as the rest of the town.
Winning Varla's Help
Varla starts out completely indifferent. She hates buttering-up, digs her heels in against threats, but warms up quickly to plain talk, practical help, or anyone who treats her like a human being instead of a village loon.
Each hero gets one crack at earning her trust during the scene:
| Skill & DC | Practical Approach |
|---|---|
| Diplomacy DC 18 | Talk straight about the rift without talking down to her or mocking her abilities. |
| Medicine DC 18 | Spot her crippling exhaustion and ease her pressure headache with acupressure or herbal remedies. |
| Occultism DC 17 | Recognize the voices as raw psychic feedback from the frayed Veil rather than standard ghost hauntings. |
| Religion DC 19 | Explain standard Boneyard soul-flow, proving to her that an artificial Threshold Seed is choking the afterlife. |
| Crafting DC 18 | Mend her cracked glass alembic, sort her spoiled herbs, or clean up her chaotic alchemy bench. |
Creative Play: Practical help—chopping that firewood, sharing rations (especially offering cheese to the wolf), or letting Varla sit down while working—gives a player a +1 circumstance bonus to their check. One success bumps Varla to friendly; two successes make her helpful. On a critical failure, she kicks that specific PC out to wait on the porch.
What Varla Knows & The Wolf's Tale
Get her to friendly, and she tells the party about Merton and his wolf:
"That beast there belonged to Old Merton, best shepherd this miserable valley ever had. When Merton turned into one of those foul echoes, Thornwick nearly tore his own heart out trying to pull his master back. He wants blood. He wants to put Merton to rest and rip apart whatever did this."
She also lets slip that the dead started screaming three weeks back. That same night, she spotted a tall, hooded disciple of Brother Alms gliding past the cemetery carrying a heavy bundle wrapped in oiled black cloth. The disciple slipped into the church before dawn and was never seen in Thornwick again. She's convinced whatever was inside that bundle—a Threshold Seed—is buried beneath the floorboards in the crypts.
She keeps hearing the dead spit one specific phrase: the Ossuary of Forgotten Swords. She doesn't know what's waiting down there, only that the church seed is just the beginning.
If made helpful, she adds one creepy detail: the disciple didn't walk—they hovered an inch off the dirt, leaving a frost line in their wake, and every dog in Thornwick went dead silent as they passed.
NPC Companion: Thornwick the Wolf
GM Note: Named after the village by Old Merton, Thornwick can join the party if they seem underpowered for upcoming encounters, taking a liking to them and insisting on coming along to avenge his master.
- Role: Loyal, brave, occasionally disobedient when he smells danger. Loves cheese; hates undead. Cannot speak but understands Common and responds to basic commands.
- Combat Stats: Treat as Level 2 Animal Companion. HP 30 | AC 18 | Bite +9 (1d8+3 piercing plus Trip).
- Echolocation Sense: Grants the party a +2 circumstance bonus to Initiative in encounters with echoes or incorporeal undead.
- Veil Warning: Howls when the Veil is near a tear, giving the party 1 round of warning before an ambush or environmental shift.
Varla's Stash & Wards
If the party scores at least one success, Varla tosses them 2 minor healing potions and a pouch of Graveward Dust (a mixture of grave-salt and powdered silver, containing 3 uses). A player can use a dose in one of two ways:
- Option A: Consecrate a Ground Ward (1 Action): Sprinkle a dose onto a single 5-foot square (such as a doorway or corridor breach). The warded square remains active for 1 hour. The first incorporeal entity that attempts to enter or pass through immediately stops moving (ending its movement in the adjacent square), takes 2d6 spirit damage (DC 18 basic Will save), and expends that square's charge.
- Option B: Coat a Weapon (1 Action): Dust a weapon or up to 10 pieces of ammunition with the mixture. The weapon or ammo deals an additional 1d4 spirit damage on strikes against incorporeal or spectral undead. The coating lasts for 3 successful hits before flaking away and dissipating completely.
The mixture holds no commercial trade value.
Wares for Sale
- Minor healing potion (4 gp each, 2 available)
- Lesser antidote (3 gp, 1 available)
- Scroll of bless [Rank 1] (4 gp, 1 available)
- Scroll of revealing light [Rank 2] (12 gp, 1 available)
If made helpful, Varla knocks 2 gp off the total bill, grumbling that she's not running a charity and just wants them out before sundown.
Reading Cursed Relics
Varla can inspect cursed gear or weird magical afflictions. Give her 10 minutes, and she uses Occultism to Identify Magic. She can parse curses up to 5th level—she can't clean them off, but she can tell you if a curse was birthed by ghosts, planar magic, or something nastier.
Varla's Secret Past (Act 2 Only)
Varla and Brother Alms go way back. Long before he took his vows as a grave-warden, they were young lovers. She still keeps his old romantic letters tied with a frayed blue ribbon beneath her floorboards. She won't bring this up over simple skill checks.
If the party treats her with genuine respect, protects the church, and later brings back proof that Alms is leading the Flock of the Open Grave in the Ossuary, she breaks down and shows them the letters. They reveal Alms's deep-seated trauma regarding loss and his terror of permanent separation after death—a vulnerability that can be exploited in Area O3. Showing him one of Varla's letters grants a +2 circumstance bonus to the first Diplomacy check made to shatter his conviction.
A Fetch Quest
Before the party leaves, Varla demands they bring back a sample from whatever big threat is causing the rift—a scrap of cloth, a weapon shaving, or even a tuft of fur.
"If you run into whatever monstrosity is behind this noise, bring me a piece of it. I'm a witch, not a taxidermist."
She thinks having a sympathetic link might let her craft an anchor to quiet the screaming in her mind. Whether it works is up to you, but coming through for her secures her as a major ally in future acts.