Mini Adventure 1, Lair of the Skunk Ape

    To the west of Brambleville is a small stench filled cave in the forest. A group previously used this as a base of operations to funnel out some of the treasure from the keep in the swamp, paranoid the locals would try to take it from them. The cave has had a Skunk Ape family living here for a few months, with a smell to prove it.

Map Key Normal Doors marked with D, Secret with S, Locked with L

1. Skunk Ape sleeping area
  The mother Skunk Ape will be sleeping here in a bundle of canvas from the wagon during the day. Her three cubs will also be here, but each will have a 2-in-6 chance to be awake. During the night the three cubs will wander around the lair and the mother will be out hunting in the swamp.

2. Store Room
   Little is left in this store room, the Skunk Apes have eaten any food and clawed into any barrels and crates left here. Searching the rubble will reveal a jeweled necklace worth 1000gp, and a love letter to some woman who works in a tavern.

3. Secret Store Room
   This room is hidden with a false stone door, three feet wide and three feet tall from the ground. The walls near the door have claw marks from the Skunk Apes trying to find food. The stone door may be pushed back, as it is mounted to a small wooden cart like device on the other side that stops it from being pulled through into the hallway. Inside are a dozen barrels of dried and salted fish, all now well past being edible. Inside is also a locked chest with a small poison needle hidden in a handle mounted to the lid. To open the chest safely you must first tilt the chest forward to the handle. An audible click will let you know the chest is safe to open. Inside are 3000 silver pieces, three gems worth 50gp, 50gp, 100gp. Also inside is a piece of jewelry worth 3d6*100gp. The rotting corpse of a person clad in rusting chainmail is laying in a corner of the room, a dagger still gripped in a decaying hand. 

4. Animal Pen / Feed Room
   A wooden wall blocks half of the 10 foot wide opening at the north of this room. Inside are iron posts hammered into the stone to tie horses to and sacks of feed now torn apart and molding. The remains of two or more horses are splattered around the room, bones picked clean. 

5. Bunk Room
   Inside this room are four cots along the walls and a chest in the corner. The remains of two people are scattered in two of the cots. Inside the chest is a few sets of clothes, three unused candles, and a small pocket journal with a crude map drawn showing how to get to the Keep from here and a note on how the author thinks he was able to make a flower move with his mind. The note mentions that keeping food further from the entrance in the secret room is a good idea, but the author isn't sure it'll keep all the animals from finding the cave. 

6. Ruined Kitchen
   Inside this room is a wooden table with four chairs and a small iron cooking stove. A deck of cards or dice can be found on the table. The secret door is hidden behind a wooden wall that the table is pressed against. 

               Skunk Ape Mother, Cub
Armor Class:   5                 6
Hit Dice:      6                 3
Move:          120'(40')         90'(30')
Attacks:       2 claws/1 bite    2 claws
Damage:        1-6/1-6/1-8       1-6/1-6
No. Appearing: 1                 1-3
Save As:       Fighter: 3        Fighter: 2
Morale:        8                 6
Treasure Type: V                 U
Alignment:     Neutral           Neutral

The Skunk Ape is often mistaken for a black bear from a distance until their white stripes and long tails are seen. Males are often solitary creatures, while the females will raise their young for the first 5 years of life until they venture out on their own. Skunk Apes may spray once every eight hours, forcing a Morale Check from all creatures able to smell the stench or a Save Vs Paralysis to avoid coughing as long as they are near the smell (-1 to attack rolls in melee, -2 to ranged attack rolls).