On a 6-, threats abound

Things are going to start bad and they're going to get worse.

Start with a threat, one that came up during introductions. If no threats were established, or none of them feel imminent or appropriately bad, then pick something from an almanac or make something up. If multiple threats were established, or you have ideas for more, then pick one to be the main threat for the adventure to revolve around. Use the extra threats to add texture and urgency and a sense of doom (threats abound!) but mostly keep them simmering in the background.

As you design the main threat, be sure to make it...

• … external, so as to get the PCs out of the steading; but...
• … nearby, within a few days of Stonetop, so that they can get there and back with a modest amount of supplies;
• … Stonetop's problem, something that directly threatens the villagers and that no one else will deal with; and
• … urgent, something that will get worse if not addressed.

Ask yourself: what does the threat want? Why is the threat such a problem for Stonetop? Why has it become a problem now when it wasn't a problem before? What changed? Try to tie your answers to details that came up during introductions. Next, think about how the threat has already manifested and affected the town. If the threat was established during introductions, what has happened since those established events? If the threat is new, how did it first start? Either way, ask yourself how bad it's gotten. It should be pretty bad. Don't worry about the details just yet. You'll ask the players for those during Setup.

These recent events—or the hook (when you drop it)—will almost certainly trigger Meet With Disaster, reducing the village's Fortunes by 1 (from +1 down to +0).

We already established that crinwin raided the town a few weeks ago and that Wynfor (Caradoc's nephew), went missing. Rhianna's worried about something organizing the crinwin, which I've decided it is a swyn (a big, arrogant, hypnotic, monkey-headed serpent). It recently moved into (or emerged from?) some nearby Maker-ruins.

Swyn are collectors, so I think: the crinwin are collecting children for their master. Since the raid, search parties have failed to find the child and have been attacked themselves. At least one of the searchers was killed. More raids have happened, targeting the homes nearest to the Great Wood. Trappers and hunters have been attacked and refuse to go out into the Wood. And most recently, another child will have been taken from the steading just before dawn.