### Rudolph, Firbolg Druid Rudolph is well known as one of Santa's reindeer and the guiding light to see during the worst of snowstorms, however many people don't know that Rudolph is actually a Firbolg **Circle of the Moon** Druid who was employed by Santa to wildshape as a reindeer and help pull his sleigh around during Christmas for the promise of gold and place to live free of charge. Due to this, Rudolph is easily annoyed by Christmas in general and has developed a hatred for reindeer and deer shaped animals in general. He's a very grumpy and bitter member of the group but will save Santa mainly because he pays him and has given him a place to live and without Santa he fears he'd be back out living on his own. His nose is cherry red in colour, which was done as a permanent enchantment by Santa himself and was one of the costs he had to make to live in the Workshop free of charge. During the adventure, and much to his chagrin he's wearing a pair of fake reindeer antlers on his head and a very garish and ugly woolen sweater knit for him by Mrs Clause which depecits all of the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh, with built in twinkling Christmas lights. He also wears a pair of woolen, neon green pants and a pair of black leather boots to cover his feet. His Druidic Focus is ironically, a small toy version of a Reindeer tied off to his waist which is made from pine needles, rosemary and pine tree branches. He isn't trained with using weapons and instead, if he needs to defend himself will just turn into animals or punch people. ***Unique Item.*** Reindeer Whistle

### Wilshire Lightclaw, Tiefling Cleric Wilshire Lightclaw also hails from Hollyshire and is a Tiefling **Trickery Domain** Cleric and is responsible for giving the blessings during the yearly feast held at Santa's Workshop and hence his involvement. Him and Father Kringle have a friendly relationship and have known each other long before the yearly parties. He is known for his love of pranks and practical jokes during the festivities. His skin has a purple hue to it and his eyes are pure black like charcoal. His holiday outfit consists of a gray wool tunic with sleighbells tied off around the waist, causing them to jingle with every step. He's also wearing a green coloured Santa hat and a pair of lens-less glasses with a candy cane colour design painted onto them. His pants are black and made from leather where his feet he is wearing a pair of slippers designed to look like polar bears eating his feet. His weapon of choice is a wooden club wreathed in flashing christmas lights and mistletoe berries. He sees himself as a light-hearted and comedic fellow often trying to find the humor in any situation. His deity that he follows and has belief in is Tymora, Goddess of Fortune. ***Unique Item.*** Enchanted Mistletoe

The snow is falling in a peaceful manner, and the sounds of Christmas music can be heard as it drifts through the winter night. The smell of roasting meats fills your senses and the laughter and chatter amongst friends fills your ears. As you stand there outside in the snow you can't help but smile and feel festive at the sights surrounding you. Santa's Workshop is a beautiful location spanning for hundreds of acres in either direction leading into a truely unknown environment. The building itself stands tall and proud in front of you. Four stories of solid wood and some of the best craftsmanship you have ever witnessed in your time spent in Faerun. It is decorated in a vast array of Christmas herbs and Christmas trees have been erected all across the landscape and are filled with beautiful ornaments from every continent imaginable. The snow is coming down heavily, but nobody seems to mind the almost blizzard-like conditions, everyone is enjoying themselves too much to care with the plethora of wild game roasting on spits and the nearby kegs which have been tapped to allow the guests a chance to drink some of the finest ales in Faerun.

As you all finish introducing yourselves your attention is immediately given to a loud booming voice standing ontop of the steps leading into the Workshop. Upon turning to face the figure you all catch the first real glimpse of Santa Claus himself, a somewhat fat, elder gentleman in a beautiful red cloak and velvet red coat. His long white beard reaching his waist and a small red hat nestled tightly ontop his head. He takes a look around at the gathered crowd and begins to speak, a somewhat silky and smooth voice exiting from his lips. ***Santa*** : "I'd like to thank you all for coming to this year's Chrismas Feast. For those of you who don't know, or have never been, this is a yearly feast I put together every year in honor of the holidays and for all the friends and family we've made during the year. It's a time for reflection, compassion, charity and most importantly, a bloody good time!" He raises a glass of wine held in one his chubby hands, to which everyone else in the gathered crowd does as well and each of you down the blood-red liquid and feel comfort as it warms your insides. He begins to gesture to certain people in the crowd, those of which you recognize as the people you had just met moments prior. ***Santa*** : "This party wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of a select few out there. *Father Kringle*, the mayor of the nearby town of Hollyshire, he always shows up with a smile on his face and welcoming arms! *Zeke*! The beautiful and white-scaly friend over there! He's responsible for all the lovely lights floating around tonight. Be sure to give him a hand for that. You wouldn't be eating, nor drinking tonight without this man, *Grom Wolfsbane!* He's the dwarf who's supplied us with all this great meat and ale. I think he deserves some bloody applause. My top gnome, *Pillow* who not only serves as my top toymaker, she also is the one who organizes this whole shindig every year! I'd be lost and crazy without her. *Rudolph*, what can I say about him? Those of you in attendence get to discover his true identity. You may think he's my best reindeer, but he's actually just an ordinary Firbolg and one of the best there is. He's a master of the Wild Shapes I tell you. And last but not least, Wilsire Lightclaw! It's not often you see a Tiefling Cleric and not one nearly as fun as Wilshire. He'll be here to bless the meal and provide some well earned fun and comforts for you all!" ***Santa*** : Dinner will begin in twenty minutes, so please come inside or stay out here and enjoy the food and drink for a few minutes longer. And with that, Santa steps back inside the workshop along with everyone else.

As the next twenty minutes pass as you all stand outside further discussing the party and learning about one another, enthralled in the discussion you barely notice that the wind starts to pick up slightly and the snow starts to become thicker and has started to come down quite heavier, you haven't really seen snowfall like this anywhere.

You all make towards the front doors of Santa's Workshop to prepare for the long night of feasting and drinking ahead of you. As you approach the door the sounds of clinking plates and scuffling feet can be heard from the other side, and without a moment's hesitation you push through the door and step through to the other side.

As you step through the doorway and into the Entrance Hall of the Workshop you notice it's eerily silent, the sound of dineware and voices has completely died out. As you all take a look at your surroundings and proceed forward through the Entrance Hall. The sounds of the enchanted Christmas music can be heard and the twinkling lights floating around in the air, seem to be dancing along to the beat. In front of you is a set of stairs leading to the second floor, to the left is the doorway to the dining room, and to your right is another doorway which leads to the Storage Room. ***Player In Front.*** -insert name here-, you notice what appears to be a small form lying face down in the doorway to the dining room. As you finally catch a glimpse at the form and stare for a few moments you make out the form of one of Santa's gnomes and just as you have the time to register what it is, the body is pulled through the doorframe and out of sight at a lightning fast speed.

Stepping through the left most doorway you enter what appears to be a large dining room spanning a hundred feet across and filled with rows and rows of long tables covered in vast amounts of food and drink, but upon adjusting to the dim-light, your stomachs take a turn and notice a truly horrific sight. Scattered about the Dining Room are the mangled and mauled bodies of numerous of Santa's gnomes and guests for the party. The room smells heavily of blood and you estimate just by looking that most of the party-goers are lying dead in this room. ***Pillow, The Gnome.*** (If not chosen as a player character) You also make out the corpse of Pillow, the Gnome. She's spread-eagled out on one of the nearest dining tables and her entrails have been torn out and coiled over some mashed potatoes.

Stepping into the Storage Room, you recognize that each of your weapons have been kept here for safe-keeping, the party was weapon-free after all. The room isn't that big and by estimation it appears to be around 12x12 feet. There's a large wardrobe in the corner, but that's about it.

As you fling the front doors open you're met with some resistance, but they eventually open very slowly, bits of snow falling through the opening in the door. As the door is pushed open, more and more snow begins to pour in. Within seconds there is now six feet of snow piled up in front of the door, each of you now standing back away from the pile. Glancing out a nearby window beside the door, you catch a glimpse of snow drifts surrounding the Workshop that appear to be hundreds of feet high. You have somehow become snowed inside in a matter of minutes.

Making your way up the stairs, you finally reach the landing of the second floor and take a look around. The music is still playing up here and the same source of lights dance around in the air in beautiful colours of green, red and white. You are now standing in a long stretch of hallway and to the left the hallway takes a turn to the right, and to the right the hallway takes a right.

Your footsteps make muffled squsihing sounds across the blood soaked carpeted floor. As you pass a nearby window you notice it is completely covered in a thick layer of ice and the wind can be heard howling like a thousand wolves outside. Curisouty takes you and upon glancing out through it you notice that the snow drifts stretch up as far as you can see and continue on out of sight. Whatever is happening here is not natural. You take a hold of your wits and proceed further, more blood coating the walls and as you pass an open door into one of the bathrooms you take notice of a lone Gnome sitting over one of the basins, but its lower half is completely gone, its eyes open in a blank, dead stare.

As you approach a dead end of the hallway, you pass by a door that is slightly ajar with no light beyond it, save for the enchanted Christmas lights floating in the air and causing an eerie glow. You can vaguely make out the sounds of heavy footfalls coming from somewhere around you. They're coming down with an extreme force, followed by what appears to sound like a gutteral scream and then silence.

You reach up and pull down the hatch to the attic and within moments, a set of stairs descend from the darkness and present you with a path upward. You can't make out any light up there, even the enchanted Christmas lights haven't found their way up.

Clumsily you find your way up the stairs and are immediately plunged into darkness. You cannot see a mere 5 feet infront of you, and your vision ends a few inches away from your face. The room stinks of mildew and dust and there is a slight iron-like smell on the air and a steady dripping sound can be heard.

**If Rudolph Isn't a Player Character.** In the eastern corner of the room you can make out what appears to be a faint dim red light slowly flashing. It feels slightly ominous and the dripping sound seems to be coming from over in that vicinity.

As light slowly begins to fill into the room, you take notice of numerous shelves filled with ancient toys in various states of disrepair and decorations that have long left their prime and luster. You realize this room is where Santa and his gnomes would throw away all the toys and Christmas items deemed not good enough. However, and far more ominous you take note of a strange trail of a thick, viscous green muscous trailing across the floor and down the attic stairs where you have just come up from. Something thad been in there with you and you didn't even know about it. The odd thing is, there seems to be bits of something in the mucous catching the light and...shining.

Realizing that there's nothing left for you in the attic, you descend down the stairs and notice that the slime trail from the attic now leads towards the door you past earlier that was slightly ajar.

Stepping through the slightly ajar door you now find yourselves in what appears to be a sort of living quarters, and judging from the size of the beds it doesn't take much deducing to realize this must be where the Gnomes slept and lived when not working. The beds are all made and in good shape, aside from the vast amounts of gore splattered everywhere. Sat on one of the beds closest to the door you just came through is one of the worker gnomes, rocking back and forth cradling another dead Gnome in their arms. **If Pillow is a Player.** Pillow, you recognize these gnomes as the married couple, Hix and Lix and you remember working with them for a time when they built the new barn for the Reindeer. Hix is cradling his wife in his arms and just has a silent, blank stare. They don't notice you. **If Pillow is not a Player.** The gnome cradling the dead gnome is a man, and the gnome he's holding is a female. The male gnome isn't sobbing or anything, he's just staring blankly off into space, not speaking or making a sound. His tunic is stained with blood and gore, the female gnome's head is staring up towards the ceiling, her tongue slightly drooping out of her mouth.

Moving on past the crazed gnome, you finally get a chance to look around the living quarters. There's mostly beds but there's a few wardrobes that have been knocked over and looted and you soon begin to notice that there are other gnomes in this room but in various pieces and gruesomely scattered about the place.

Glancing under the bed you notice what appears to be a small gingerbreadman sitting under the bed, against the wall. They're roughly a foot anda half tall and smiling, their large candied eyes in a state of surprise. You also seem to take notice of a sharpened candy cane held in their one hand.

Stepping through the now gaping hole in the wall you find yourselves wedged inside a narrow passage and moving through the walls. It's extremely dark in here, but you can vaguely make out a trail of cookie crumbs leading straight ahead. Proceeding forward for what feels like half an hour you finally arrive at an opening and step through into a large room full of toys and bright coloured lights dancing around in the air above your heads. You hear the familar sound of a circus and turning your heads you see a classic carousel spinning around in motion, bright colours and horses blurring into one. This must be the core of the workshop where all the toys are made. **If Grom Isn't a Player.** You catch flashes of red and gray within the swirling of the carousel and with a sickening wet snap sound you watch as the mangled corpse of Grom Wolfsbane, the dwarven Hunter comes sailing from inside the carousel and landing at the foot of (the person in the lead). His neck is severely broken and his remaining eyes has been gouged out quite horrifically.

To the west of the Toy room is a doorway that leads into what appears to be a room with a mess of hay cascading from within. To the east you take notice of another doorway, but connects to a set of stairs that seems to stretch upwards, turn and go out of sight.

This room is smaller than the previous and the floor is covered in hay and has a slight barnyard scent to it. In the middle of the room is a massive, but beautiful sleigh and you recognize this as the sleigh Santa uses every Christmas to deliver gifts to the children. This is one of the first rooms you've come across tonight that doesn't have any signs of death or violence. It's quite peaceful.

As the final key is placed into the slot you all hear a loud grinding and groaning noise and as you turn towards the sound you watch as a piece of wall slides to the side revealing another room behind the sleigh.

Making your way down the stairs your nose is immediately assaulted by a harsh and brutal smell which you notice is a mixture of blood, rotting meat and what you can only assume is sick. Stepping off of the final step you find yourselves standing in a large room full of shelves filled with Christmas supplies and there are a ton of corpses scattered about. You vaguely pick up the sound of bones being snapped and the wet sound of meat being torn. The sound of snarling and growling can be heard before the sounds fill your ears once more. Whatever is in here is eating the corpses.

As you slowly make your way around the room as you pass the first corner wall you notice an undead Gnome feasting on the corpse of a very handsome Half-Elf male. It's gnawing away on his shoulder and as you catch a glimpse of it you notice that it's not alone and about nineteen other zombie gnomes are feasting away on the plethora of corpses in the room. You've realized that somehow, the undead gnomes have turned this room into a larder...

As you shut the door behind you, you now find yourselves in a small, yet homeley kitchen. There are dried herbs hanging from the ceiling and floating Christmas lights here as well. The sounds of Christmas music can be heard, but it's more faint than the rest of the workshop. There's a table that had been set up for a private dinner but most of the food had been eaten and only crumbs remain. There is a doorway just ahead of you which seems to lead into a living room where you can just make out the shape of a Christmas tree. You realize that you're inside Santa's very own home.

The living room is decorated for the holidays and for the first time tonight you all feel a sense of relaxation and holiday cheer for the first time tonight. To the left is a set of stairs leading to the second floor and in the corner of the room is a massive Christmas tree adorned with lights and various ornaments. A fireplace is roaring away casting the room in a warm, orange glow. Sockings hang above the fireplace with the names Santa, Mrs Claus and Frosty etched onto them. Sitting on the fireplace is a framed photo of Santa, Mrs Claus and Frosty standing side by side smiling next to the sleigh while gnomes work in the background.

The second floor is quite small and homely. There's only one room and you notice that looking through the doorway from the top of the stairs is a large bed covered in reindeer furs as blankets but what catches your eye is Mrs Claus, tied to the bed and gagged with rope.

Stepping into the room you see that Mrs Claus has been indeed tied to the bed with what appears to be thick ropes and has been gagged with a rope around her mouth. She notices you and starts squirming trying to break free from her restraints.

**Mrs Claus:** "There are stories about who it is, and my husband and I share a common belief. Centuries ago, my husband had a brother who shared in the work-load and duties around the holidays. He had a seperate sled, and a seperate crew and his own section of the workshop. During a terrible blizzard one Christmas Eve, his brother's sleigh got lost and crashed into the side of a mountain. Nicholas went to see if his brother had lived, but noticed that the terrible blizzard had already covered any trace of bodies and his brother, crew and sleigh were lost to the storm." She seems slightly disturbed telling the story, like something is truly bothering her. **Mrs Claus:** "My husband was distraught and sealed off his brother's workshop hoping to stop the painful memories. However, that blizzard was not natural and there was something about it that haunts my husband to this day. We believe that the blizzard somehow took his brother and corrupted him with dark magic, and we've both been tormented by dreams of his brother as of late, standing over us as we're trapped inside something and he's staring down at us. We believe that his brother has become the dark-side of Christmas, the one they call Krampus." As she finished her story, you all hear a gagging sound mixed with wet slapping and watch as a long snake-like creature with the torso and head of a Jack in The Box descends through a trap door in the ceiling and in one quick movement swallows Mrs Claus whole. It slowly turns its head towards you, a wooden creaking sound filling the air as it turns. As its eyes lock with you, it claps its hands and let out a blood curdling scream.

***Mrs Claus:*** The keys will show you the way.

As you step through the door leading outside you find yourselves standing in very deep snow and the wind is howling around you, drowning out the sounds of Christmas music. The yard is lined with pine trees each decorated with ornaments and magical blinking lights. In the distance you can make out a small barn next to a frozen pond. Then, as soon as you take a few feet the storm picks up and you find yourselves lost in the blizzard.

Standing in front of you is a large barn with the doors wide open, but hardly any snow inside. Through the door you can make out pens where the Reindeer are most likely kept not during the holidays, and you see piles upon piles of haybales lined up inside, a pitchfork embedded into the hay itself.

The barn stinks slightly of animals and manure, but it's warm inside and you can feel the cold from outside slipping away. Each of the reindeer stables are empty and from what you can gather, you're alone in the barn. There's a ladder nearby leading up to a small balcony where more haybales are stored, but they seem to be set up in some sort of defended fortification.

As the three keys turn on their own you hear a strange grinding behind the sleigh and as you turn to look you watch as one of the walls slides off to the side revealing another room nestled behind this one and drenched in darkness.

As you enter through the opening you all find yourselves in a very dark room but you assume this is the sealed off workshop. There are no sounds what-so-ever. **Player's With Darkvision.** Those of you with darkvision can make out what appears to be a large throne sat in the middle of the room and sat on the throne is someone that appears to be Santa, tied to the throne and unconcious. The rest of the room is decorated with very dusty shelves, tables and other assorted workshop equipment.

As soon as you approach Santa you're all blinded with brightly coloured lights of green, red and white. As your eyes adjust to the bright colours dancing in the air and illuminating the room, you hear the sound of clapping and watch as a creature, dressed just like Santa stepHis out from a room in the back. It doesn't take you long to realize that this is Santa's brother, the current Krampus. He's roughly 8ft tall and has two very long, coiled horns sat on top of his head, similar to a goat's. His face and skin is a dark gray colour, thick with black veins. His eyes are two black pits and his mouth is full of blackened, rotting teeth oozing with a black goo. His fingers taper into long claws and his feet now resemble hooves of a goat. When he speaks his voice causes you all to feel extremely cold and sounds like bones clattering amongst one another. You cannot understand the words he speaks and gestures up to Santa who is screaming but no sound comes out. Magical ropes of dark energy coil around his neck and limbs and head out somewhere within the workshop. You watch as the ropes start tighetning...

As Krampus falls to the ground dead you watch as his body quickly morphs into a human similar in appearance to Santa and then within moments the body turns into snowflakes and floats away on an invisible gust of wind. While this happens the sound of the storm outside increases and you watch as walls are torn down and things begin freezing instantly as the storm tears through the workshop. You however notice that one of Krampus horns lies on the spot where he died, glowing blue and pulsating.

As you pick up the horn you feel your hands get ice cold and those of you watching, notice that (insert name here) slowly shifts into the shape of Krampus before vanishing in a flash of light. The storm ceases and you all find yourselves back in the dining room, the dead bodies and gore have vanished and instead the bodies of the deceased are waking up again and looking around bewildered. Santa is standing at the front alongside Mrs Claus and are raising glasses of wine in the air and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

As Krampus falls to the ground dead you watch as his body quickly morphs into a human similar in appearance to Santa and then within moments the body turns into snowflakes and floats away on an invisible gust of wind. While this happens the sound of the storm outside increases and you watch as walls are torn down and things begin freezing instantly as the storm tears through the workshop. You however notice that one of Krampus horns lies on the spot where he died, glowing blue and pulsating.

As you pick up the horn you feel your hands get ice cold and those of you watching, notice that (insert name here) slowly shifts into the shape of Krampus before vanishing in a flash of light. The storm ceases and you all find yourselves back in the dining room, the dead bodies and gore being removed by the survivors, with Mrs Claus (if she survived) directing the survivors on where to take the bodies. The gnome you rescued from the chest saunters over and bows, thanking you for stopping Krampus, and mentions that due to Santa's death, and Krampus being reborn the balance needs to be completed and he mentions that he has taken up the mantle of the new Santa and wishes you all a merry Christmas, and gets back to the clean up.

The portal tears open into the ground and Krampus takes one step forward, flashing a smile at you and steps through the portal. **Players With Naughty Points Sucked In.** Suddenly, you feel yourselves become light as a feather and you're ripped towards the portal and sucked inside. Your body becomes incredibly cold and you wake up. You're back in the Dining Room surrounded by the others pulled through the portal. As you seem to forget the events of what had transpired at the workshop, you all begin to feast...Unknown to those of you pulled into the portal, Krampus is inside his workshop in is own domain looking down at you sealed inside a small snowglobe sat on a shelf with hundreds of other snowglobes, sealed away for an eternity. **Krampus Christmas.** With a bright flash of light and those of you not pulled into the portal find yourselves back in your homes, in your own beds. It must have been a nightmare you all think, but when Christmas morning arrives you find out it has changed. People are being sacrificed out on the streets for Krampus and every following year, each town elects a handful of their population to join Krampus crew and serve him forever. Gifts are no longer exchanged and instead, the gift people get every Christmas is not being sacrificed or taken by Krampus...

The portal tears open into the ground and Krampus takes one step forward, flashing a smile at you and steps through the portal. **Players With Naughty Points Sucked In.** Suddenly, you feel yourselves become light as a feather and you're ripped towards the portal and sucked inside. Your body becomes incredibly cold and you wake up. You're back in the Dining Room surrounded by the others pulled through the portal. As you seem to forget the events of what had transpired at the workshop, you all begin to feast...Unknown to those of you pulled into the portal, Krampus is inside his workshop in is own domain looking down at you sealed inside a small snowglobe sat on a shelf with hundreds of other snowglobes, sealed away for an eternity. **Christmas.** The storm ceases and you all find yourselves back in the dining room and bodies are being covered and removed by those who have survived. Santa stands overlooking the clean up and seems to be holding a somber expression. He takes notice of those of you still around and alive and thanks you for saving him and saving Christmas, but expresses disappointment that Krampus is still alive. He mentions that this is the last party he'll hold for a long time and heads out to deliver the presents, offering to drop you all off at home on the way.