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The situation
The village of Harrowmere keeps one old custom, and it keeps it every year on Hollow Night. Before the midnight bell, every household leaves a treat on its own doorstep. At midnight the Hunt rides down the lane, and it takes whatever has not been paid for. Nobody in Harrowmere can say exactly what the Hunt takes from an empty doorstep. Nobody has ever wanted to find out.
Tonight the village baker is ill in bed, and six households have no treat. Mother Pell, the village elder, catches the party at the edge of the lane with a lantern and a lot of apologies. She cannot knock on six doors in time. She is not sure the doors will open for her anyway. She asks the party to go door to door, ask nicely, and see what each house is willing to give.
What you need: this page, something to roll checks with, and six small markers for the doorsteps (coins, buttons, or candy all work). No map or stat blocks, except one hound at the end if things go badly. Candles and a phone timer help the mood, if your table likes that.
A note on tone
This is spooky and a little silly, not gory. Nothing in it kills anyone. If kids are at the table, lean into the funny doors. If you want it scarier, play the quiet, the dark windows, and the bell.
Read aloud
Harrowmere is one long lane with six crooked houses, and every window is dark. Pumpkins grin from the steps, and each step is bare. Somewhere far off, a bell is counting the hour. Mother Pell grips her lantern. "Nine o'clock. Three bells to go. Six doors. Please. Be polite, and don't split up if you're frightened. Be quick, and don't split up if you're smart."
How the night works
There are four bells: nine, ten, eleven, and midnight. During each of the first three bells, the party can visit one house together, or two houses if they split up. Bell effects (below) apply as each bell tolls, before the party acts. Each house is one door on the table below. Visit a house, run its trick, and if the party wins, that house puts a treat on its own doorstep. Place a marker on that doorstep. If the party loses, the doorstep stays bare, and the visit still used up its time.
The party picks which house to visit. Roll a d6 for each visit to see which door they knock on, or let them choose if they ask about the houses.
The six doors
| # | The house | The trick | How to win it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Baker’s Cottage | The oven is haunted by a flour-covered ghost that wants someone to finish its last batch. | Help bake (any fitting skill, DC 12), or just keep it company. Treat: a tray of soul cakes. |
| 2 | Widow Crane’s House | Seven cats guard the door. There are always eight cats. | Notice the extra cat is a ghost (Perception or Insight, DC 12) and greet it politely. Treat: a honey cake. |
| 3 | The Gravedigger’s Gate | A talking door knocker asks: "What is full of light but empty inside?" | Answer "a pumpkin," or use Arcana or Persuasion (DC 13). Treat: a candied apple. |
| 4 | The Old Mill | A scarecrow on the porch stands up the moment anyone says "boo." | Do not be frightened (Wisdom save, DC 12) or make it laugh. Treat: a pumpkin pie. |
| 5 | The Schoolhouse | Five small ghosts are playing hide-and-seek in an empty classroom, and nobody has ever found them. | Find them: three successes on Perception (DC 12) before the group runs out of ideas. Treat: a bag of marzipan bones. |
| 6 | The Mayor’s House | The mayor will not give a treat without a secret in return. | Share a true secret from an adventurer’s life, or lie convincingly (Deception, DC 14). Treat: butter toffee. |
What the bells do
| Bell | What happens as the bell tolls |
|---|---|
| Nine | Mother Pell hands over two treats from her own basket. Place two markers on two doorsteps of her choosing, not the party’s, then the party sets off. |
| Ten | A cold wind comes down the lane and another lantern goes out. Dark houses are harder to read: every trick is 1 DC higher for the rest of the night. |
| Eleven | Hoofbeats, far away, and a horn sounds once beyond the church. The ghosts get nervous and helpful: the ghost tricks (doors 1, 2, and 5) are 2 DC lower during this bell. With the cold wind still in effect, the net change is 1 lower. |
| Midnight | The bell tolls twelve times. Count the doorsteps. Resolve below. |
When midnight strikes
| Empty doorsteps | What the Hunt does |
|---|---|
| 0 | The Hunt passes silently, riders in their saddles with their heads turned politely away. Every door in Harrowmere glows for a moment. The village is saved, and so is the custom. |
| 1–2 | The horns sound and the riders pass. At each empty doorstep, the house’s lights go out and the family inside sleeps until dawn, unharmed, and a pet goes missing for a night. Mother Pell is devastated, but nobody is hurt. |
| 3–6 | A hound of the Hunt is waiting on the first empty step. Use a wolf for levels 1–4 or a dire wolf for levels 5–8. It leaves if a treat (a leftover one, or any food the party is carrying) is set on its step, which anyone can do as an action, so the fight is a scramble across the lane. The party can win by feeding the steps, not by killing the hound. |
Actions that matter
- Split up. Two houses per bell is the only way to visit all six. The risk is that a split party has no help if a trick goes wrong.
- Share treats. A treat from one house can go to any doorstep if a character carries it, at the cost of a bell's travel.
- Ask the ghosts. Every ghost in Harrowmere is friendly if asked politely. They may know which door will be easiest.
- Be polite. Players who greet the houses, thank the ghosts, and say please should get easier DCs. It is Hollow Night, and manners matter.
Rewards
- The Hollow Night Lantern. A carved pumpkin lamp. While it is lit, it sheds bright light for 20 feet, and the bearer knows whether a creature within 30 feet is fey or undead.
- Leftover treats. Any treat not used on a doorstep can be eaten to regain 1d8 hit points, once.
- Mother Pell’s thanks, and a standing invitation to Harrowmere for next year’s Hollow Night.
How to scale it
Easier: start with three treats in Mother Pell’s basket, and drop all DCs by 1. Harder: remove the first treat gift, add a seventh door (the church), and make the party spend a bell to carry a treat to a doorstep that is not its own.
The Huntsman’s Game
If the Hunt riding through your village had your table on edge, The Huntsman’s Game is the other side of it. It is a complete 5e-compatible one-shot for levels 3–5, built around a hunt through a forest that doesn’t make escape easy. The party has one night to reach the standing stones, and the Huntsman is already behind them.