Scared-to-Go Scarecrow

Feels like an NPC kinda Monday, so let’s take an existing character from our ongoing office campaign and see if we can get a new storyline in the mix (or at least be more prepared for it to happen organically).

Let’s begin bringing everyone up to speed. Our central home-brewed character, Lyra Shaw, was outed as an Evil Night Hag deep in The High Forest. Our resident witch was snatching up younglings in a relentless effort to keep up her fake appearance.

Her husband, Jack Shaw, started to figure out that evil was lurking under his roof, and when he went to confront Lyra, she turned him into a scarecrow and stuck him out in the fields (as sort of a trophy).

Now, when the Night Hag cast a spell on poor ol’ Jack, she basically stole his soul and literally placed it in a Soul Bag hidden in the underground cavern below the cabin. Our players won the first battle, and ultimately, the witch was forced to leave quickly! So much so that she inadvertently left the Soul Bag behind. Now, our party has a chance to find it and save poor Jack.

The players initially set him free from his post, and Jack lost it! He instantly sprinted toward the cabin in a fury of rage. The Night Hag’s mimics took him down quickly, and the party propped Jack back on his post until they could figure out what to do with him.

We already have three miniatures to represent Jack. The scarecrow in the field (by Crafting Toawi) and a standalone one to represent him off his post (a rebased MageKnight & a WizKids mini). However, we wanted to introduce a third miniature to accompany our new plot twist.

We want to give Jack Shaw a third appearance. For that, we leaned on the magnificent Schlossbauer and his free scarecrow STL. We love the sculpt as it looks like his post will forever be his personal cross to bear for not stopping his lunatic wife sooner. We especially love it when our DnD 3D Prints are the storyline instigators!

Oh, and by the way! We have an exciting announcement of a recently completed partnership with a local AZ painter, nicknamed Sunrise Sven! He just passed us back a bunch of great STLs in all their colorful glory and we’re really jazzed to share his fine work with all of thee here in 2025.

Sunrise Sven just nailed the brush strokes for this down-on-his-luck scarecrow! We love the different browns and blue trousers to go with the ropes and, best of all, his oversized post/”scarlet letter.” You can just feel the angst inside of him!

Now, this version of Jack Shaw comes into play anytime he tries to leave The High Forest. Even though the players will ultimately locate and return the Soul Bag to Jack, he won’t return to his human form. He is forever cursed for allowing such horrors to happen under his watch. So, it wouldn’t be odd to see Jack trudging through the forest with his post over his shoulder.

Now, we’re big fans of the television show Ghost (UK or US version) and love how those ghosts can only get so far from where they passed before magically appearing right back at their home base. We’re partial to the UK version of the show, but the US one is growing on us. 😉

And that’s what happens to poor Mr. Shaw. He gets about a mile off the property and magically returns to his perched spot. The guy just can’t catch a break!

Where will DM Ben hide Jack’s Soul Bag, you might be asking? That’s a tough one. Brainstormed spots included:

• In the main Cabin area.
• Buried in the backyard.
• Inside the Umber Hulk’s main tunnel.
• On the trophy shelf.
• Inside the Bulette’s nest.

Ultimately, DM Ben decided a hidden compartment within her victim trophy shelf was the ideal place, especially because one of the Night Hag’s favorite activities was to pop down late at night and marvel at some of her seized trinkets.

Now, nothing says the players will even be willing to return the Soul Bag to Jack Shaw. They’re a very skeptical bunch. However, DM Ben wanted everything in lockstep should this sub-storyline reappear in the game.

Until next time!