The Kettle and Key
Reopen a forgotten roadside inn before the first snow
Premise
For thirty years the Kettle and Key sheltered travelers at the crossroads where the Pellmoor Road meets the mountain pass. Then its keeper, Old Agnes Brightwater, retired to her sister's farm, and the inn stood empty for ten years. Now Agnes has sent you its iron key and a letter: 'It needs warm hands. The first snow comes in a week, and travelers will need somewhere to go.' The roof leaks, the larder is bare, and the village down the hill isn't sure about strangers. But the hearth is sound, and the road is already bringing guests.
The World
The Kettle and Key is a stone-and-timber inn at a windy mountain crossroads, with a crooked sign of a copper kettle hung from an iron key. Below it lies Pellmoor, a small village of shepherds, a miller and one very opinionated blacksmith. Pine woods climb toward the pass, autumn is turning cold, and every traveler has a story and somewhere they're trying to get home to.
Starting Location
The Kettle and Key
A dusty common room with sheet-covered tables, a cold stone hearth big enough to stand in, and ten years of cobwebs. Rain drips through one corner of the roof into a bucket someone left there long ago.
5 characters to meet · 2 factions to discover · 3 plot hooks to uncover