Hamhocks Slaughterhouse

General Notes:
All walls made of timber logs, one foot deep each. A large, 14 foot high wooden palisade
surrounds the slaughterhouse, with two small gates in the northeast and southeast, and a 25 foot
wide rolling iron gate in the west (three ravens – actually imps in Thurstwell Vanthampur’s
employ – watch over the gate). All gates are open during the day and locked at night (DC 17
dexterity check w/ thieves’ tools to pick). The entire place smells of blood and animal shit. All
doors are locked at night throughout the rest of the slaughterhouse (same stats to unlock these),
and Y6 is always locked when not in use. Animal pens (Y1-4) aren’t locked, but held shut with a
large wooden beam that crosses perpendicular across the shed/stable doors. Areas Y1-4 are all
difficult terrain due to the number of animals within the stables/coops (unless the animals are
released).
The leader here, Pasque Enrial (an Iron Consul), works in area B1 during the day, and sleeps in
B5 with the other leaders (Corian Khee and Jaemus Exheltarion) at night. Corian Khee (a
Reaper of Bhaal with a maul [2d6 bl. Damage; switches to daggers turn two]) is in Y5 during
the day, smashing the skulls of animals, and Jaemus Exheltarion (a Skull Lasher of Myrkul
with 48 hp] is in B5 working on the flesh golem during the afternoon/evenings and B4 during the
morning, butchering animals. When the three leaders are sleeping downstairs, the yard area is
watched over by four Night Blades who attempt to hide if they spot the party first in order to
ambush them. During the day the night blades rest in B5.
Butchery
B1. Sales area
This large sales area of Hamhocks is clean and smells relatively fresh, considering the
locale. A wide desk greets you, upon which lays a few choice cuts of meat beneath glass and a
massive ledger. Meat cuts of various varieties are displayed on tables, with a dozen full
carcasses hanging in the southeast.
Notes:
- During the day, Pasque Enrial is in here with 1d4 commoners who shop.
B2. Hallway
B3. Office
A large bear rug decorates the floor of this otherwise Spartan office, which contains
nothing else but three wooden boxes and a simple desk and chair.
Notes:
- The boxes contain nothing of significance (paper, linens, etc.)
- Under the bear rug is a secret trap door that opens up to a ladder descending down, into
B5. A DC 10 perception check on the bear rug reveals this. The desk contains written
 inventories of the huge numbers of animals that come here to be slaughtered and
butchered (pigs, chickens, peacocks, and goats, mostly).
o A DC 10 perception/investigation of the desks’ contents reveals two notes. Give
them to the party. (If they don’t find the notes here, have them found easily in
the metal cabinet in B5). They read:

While we’re all glad that you have found more security for our operation, tell
them to keep the door to Babbler’s room sealed. We don’t want anyone finding it, and we
certainly don’t want Babbler to touch the braziers down there: fire would not be good for him.
In any case, Babbler is incomplete. I need more time to find a suitable head. Perhaps a ram
would do. Let me know if you come across one that might be salvageable. We must speak
when I return.

J
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P
I have interred Hamhock and his associates at Sewer Keep. I expect your odd
“accountant” to come without delay to put him to his final rest. We wouldn’t want him
traversing the sewers in search of revenge, would we?

B4. Butcher
Two cages stuffed full of screeching chickens are shoved into the northwest corner of this
room that assaults your sense of smell as you enter. A large stone table lies covered in blood and
is topped by a few butcher knives.
Notes:
- One of the knives is a keen dagger (which crits on 19-20 instead of just 20) (DC 13
perception check, then DC 10 arcana check for the dagger’s qualities)
- Jaemus is in here in the mornings, carving up meat for sale. There is a 75% chance that
he is sitting directly on the bloody butcher block, reading a black, dusty book. If
examined, the book appears to be gibberish written with a shaky hand. When he is
reading this way, he has disadvantage on all Perception checks, passive or otherwise.
 - The butcher block has a drain surrounding its floor perimeter which leads to the blood
spigot above the altar in B6.
B5. Cold Storage
Two roaring braziers burn in opposite corners of this room that nonetheless feels
unnaturally cold. The floor is littered with bedrolls and bits of half-eaten cuts of meat that are
not always cooked. The western wall is hung with pristine carcasses of swine and large fowl. In
the southwest corner, a tall metal cabinet topped by a large ram’s skull lurks in the corner.
Notes:
- This room, along with B6, are permanently chilled by necromantic energy (DC 12 arcana
check to know this), specifically a permanent heat drain spell. The braziers in B5 keep
the occupants of this room from suffering the negative effects experienced in B6. If for
any reason the braziers are extinguished, B5 becomes dark and the following is in effect:
o Necromantic Cold: Each creature in this area must succeed at a DC 10
constitution saving throw at the start of each of their turns or they gain level 1
exhaustion (disadvantage on ability checks). Further, if they fail this check they
must make a DC 5 constitution saving throw or take 1d2 cold damage and go to
exhaustion level 2 (speed is halved). Each round thereafter (either on a fail or
success), the player must make another DC 5 Constitution saving throw for 1d2
cold damage (they don’t gain further exhaustion). Note: Babbler is immune to this
effect.
- All three leaders sleep down here at night, and the four Night Blades sleep here during
the day.
- A DC 12 Perception check reveals a false back in the cabinet that opens into B6. The
metal cabinet contains the following: two potions of healing, one Necro-Star (see below),
and several cultist outfits (which if applied provide advantage on attempts to disguise as
Cult of the Dead Three members). Note: the cabinet also contains the notes that are in
the desk in B3 if they weren’t found there first)
o Necro-Star: this skull-ended morningstar is capable of bursting with necrotic
energy. Three times per day, when the wielder of this weapon strikes her target,
she can choose to have the weapon burst with necrotic energy. Each creature in a
5-foot radius of the hit creature (including the wielder of the Necro-Star), must
succeed at a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. If they fail, they receive 1d4
necrotic damage. A pass negates any damage.
B6. Babbler’s Cold Storage
A near-overwhelming cold greets you as you enter this freezing chamber, which has a
large drain in the southwest corner. The massive skull of a demonic giant dominates the
northern third of this room, in front of which lies a stone altar flanked by candles that burn with
an eerie purple light. Massive runes burn heatlessly in that same purple light in an arc on the
floor around the altar. Upon the altar itself lies a giant headless body, its mismatched humanoid
arms and legs sewn onto a massive horse torso. A long, clear, and blood filled tube hangs
suspended from the ceiling above the altar and its occupant. A half-dozen well-preserved
decapitated heads of humanoids and beasts litter the floor surrounding the altar.
Notes:
- Necromantic Cold: Each creature in this area must succeed at a DC 10 constitution
saving throw at the start of each of their turns or they gain level 1 exhaustion
(disadvantage on ability checks). Further, if they fail this check they must make a DC 5
constitution saving throw or take 1d2 cold damage and go to exhaustion level 2 (speed is
halved). Each round thereafter (either on a fail or success), the player must make another
DC 5 Constitution saving throw for 1d2 cold damage (they don’t gain further
exhaustion). Note: Babbler is immune to this effect.
- A DC 17 religion or arcana check reveals the skull to be one of a particularly large
goristro.
- The tube above the altar contains blood from people and animals killed in areas Y5 and
B4. The tube ends with a spigot that can be turned to release the blood from the tube. The
cultists use it to fill Babbler (and conceivably other creations) with blood.
- Babbler is a headless, unfinished, and Large flesh golem. As such, he cannot see and does
not have his Immunities to nonmagical/adamantine melee damage. He also does not have
his Magic Resistance. Any creature not wearing the unholy symbol(s) of Bane, Bhaal,
and/or Myrkul (such as would be present on the cultist outfits in the metal cabinet in B5)
who comes within 15 feet of the altar awakens Babbler. Upon awakening, the stump
where his head should be begins spewing blood and the air in his lungs bursts out of his
open windpipe in infrequent bursts, causing a wet babbling sound to emit (thus the name
Babbler). The moment he gets off the altar, the purple runes extinguish and the room is
now dark.
o On each of Babbler’s turns, roll a d8. Babbler moves in that direction and attacks
any creature in his path with his two slam attacks (remember that he has
disadvantage for being blind). He repeats this every turn until killed or until no
one is present in the room.
Yard
Notes:
- Four Night Blades patrol this area at night (start them off at points of the compass and
move them their speed every round). If they notice the party first (they are rolling
Perceptions constantly), they try to Stealth and hide in order to ambush the party. If
reduced to one Night Blade in combat, the remaining Night Blade tries to flee to tell the
leaders in B5 what has happened.
Y1. Chicken coop
 This long chicken coop smells like nothing you’ve ever truly experienced. Dead chickens
nearly outnumber the living, who feed nervously on the bodies of their dead fellows. A shallow
trough of fetid water is pressed up against the eastern wall.
Notes:
- Behind the water trough are 13 mundane daggers, each of which is covered in dried blood
and bears a small etching of a stylized skull (DC 13 arcana/religion to recognize the
etching as a representation of Bhaal, god of murder and one of the Dead Three).
Y2. Pig pen
This pen is divided into two areas. The western area contains nothing but a massive
black boar; the bones of small animals litter the floor this creature’s pen. The east is otherwise
full of ordinary gray pigs, who give the western area a wide berth.
Notes:
- If the gate dividing the areas is opened, the giant boar charges the closest creature in
range unless a PC passes a DC 18 animal handling check (adv. if the boar is fed first).
Y3. Peacock coop
This coop is filled with peacocks. Some of which are enormous, but suffer from obvious
deformities and other defects. Four low and wide bowls of murky water are left for these poor
creatures to drink from.
Notes:
- DC 8 history check to remember the peacock breeding frenzy which results from the
peacock size law of Baldur’s Gate.
Y4. Goat stable
This horrid-smelling goat stable is divided into eight smaller pens, each of which
contains a water trough that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in a long, long while. The floor is
scratched by the thousands of terrified goats that lived the rest of their short lives in this stable
which is bereft of hay.
Notes:
- DC 12 perception check notices the carvings on the west-facing wall of the pen in the
southwest. The carvings are of three images aligned in a triangle: a gauntleted fist, a
stylized skull, and an undead hand wreathed in flame. DC 13 arcana/religion check
reveals the symbols of Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul (the Dead Three).
Y5. Knackery
Two brick and mortar, L-shaped walls give this outdoor knackery its general form, each
of which shelters a bloody, stone knackering table and various hooks to aid in the preparation of
the disposal of animal corpses deemed unfit for consumption. The smell here is so thick as to be
almost viscous. Death and decay reeks here. Between these two areas is a massive lead cauldron
that bubbles with green acid. A large shed to the east stands windowless, its door closed.
Notes:
- The smell of death in the knackery is brutally foul. Standing within five feet of any of the
L-shaped knackering areas requires a DC 15 constitution saving throw or be poisoned for
1d4 rounds. A character must make this save every turn it takes in this area.
- The acid cauldron does 1d6 acid damage to any creature that touches the acid, and 10d6
acid to any creature submerged in the cauldron. A creature deposited into the cauldron
can make a dexterity saving throw or acrobatics check (whichever is higher) opposed to
their opponents athletics (strength) check to take half damage. A creature who wins this
contest ends up in the nearest square not occupied by the acid cauldron or their opponent,
regardless if they were reduced to 0 hit points from the acid damage.
- Corian Kee is here during the daytime, smashing the skulls of dozens of different kinds of
animals (some dead, some living) from sunup to sundown. Since she’s worked here so
long and revels in her work, she is immune to the poisonous effect of the knackery.
Remember that she switches to her daggers in turn two.
- Both knacker’s blocks have drains surrounding their floor perimeters, which lead to the
blood spigot above the altar in B6.
Y6. Storage shed
This shed appears to contain all the tools necessary to run and maintain a butcher and
knackery, including extra tables, whips, knives, linens, cages of various sizes, and storage
containers.