Inflame the Yellow Crown

How To Use This

Inflame the Yellow Crown is a short dungeon-crawl through the hive of an ancient sorceress bee queen. You can:

• Drop it into a hexcrawl using the hex details in Setup
• Run as a one-shot using one of the Hooks in Setup
• Ignore the lore and steal any interesting items, spells, and creatures for your game
• Most importantly, have fun!

Setup

A long-sealed ancient beehive has been infiltrated by a group of bandits lead by a stoat named Vash. Clad in yellow and black, the so-called Buzzkills stole from locals and travellers alike.

But then the Hive went silent again.

Did the Buzzkills wander elsewhere to pilfer and plunder? Or have they awoken something dark within the Hive?

Hooks

1. Leader of a local settlement hires you to stop the Buzzkills.
2. Locals speak of the great fortune the Buzzkills have stored in the Hive.
3. Curio collector will pay 1000p for a powerful bee artifact they believe resides in the Hive (The Yellow Crown)
4. Whitacre Willow, the archaeologist, wants to examine the inside of the Hive but needs protection; will pay 300p each.
5. An ethereal bee queen visits your dreams, promises great power to whoever dons the Yellow Crown.
6. Buzzkills stole a rare Jade Vine flower from the renowned mole alchemist Bottul. He will brew a Glow Potion as a reward for its safe return.

Hex

To add this into an ongoing hexcrawl, place a hex with the following features:

• Field of flowers, the breeze constantly carries a faint hint of smoke.
• Imposing Hive, sealed as long as any nearby animal can remember.
• Burnt Birch - Birch tree that was burned down to just a stump some time ago. Now, a small hovel built into the remaining stump. Home of an elderly hedgehog named Plum.
  • Small and cramped, filled entirely with an eclectic set of knickknacks.
  • Plum wears tattered robes with once-regal flame symbols that have long since faded.
  • Aloof and irritable, has grown distant over years of travelers’ disinterest in his stories of “the sacred flame.”

Once the Buzzkills move into the Hive, Plum is their captive. See [10] Guard Post.

Background

30 Generations Ago

The bee queen Melys sought after a great, forbidden prize: eternal life. In single-minded devotion to her goal, her hive laid waste to the landscape. They stripped flowers bare to procure the vast amounts of life-nectar required for her ascension.

Animals and insects alike banded together in a coalition to oppose Melys and her rampant destruction. A great war ensued, in which they discovered she had been successful in her pursuit: each time the Yellow Crowned queen fell, a new bee would take up the crown and wield her terrible power. As long as the crown survived, she was immortal.

At great cost of life, Melys and her brood were pushed back into her hive. Unable to destroy the crown, great wizards stoked an eternal flame within the hive whose smoke pacified the bees and drove their spirits away. The Keepers of the Flame was established to maintain the fire, so that Melys could not return to this world.

1 Week Ago

A roaming bandit group lead by a stoat named Vash made their way into the sealed Hive-tomb, making it their new base of operations.

The lone remaining Keeper of the Flame, an elderly hedgehog named Plum, was no match for Vash and her crew. Imprisoned by the bandits, he was unable to fulfill his order’s cause. Vash extinguished the Sacred Flame, and donned the Yellow Crown, unknowingly setting Melys’ resurrection in motion.

To signify their new home, the bandits donned yellow and black clothing, crafted cloaks from flower heads, and renamed themselves “the Buzzkills.” They began stealing from travelers and locals, amassing a small fortune in the Hive.

3 Days Ago

Vash has sealed herself in the Throne Room and, much to the relief of the local populace the flower clad bandits have been quiet. Unbeknownst to them, however, something more troubling has happened: the Hive has begun to buzz again.

Now

Vash remains sealed in the Throne Room, midway through a transformation into the Yellow Queen Melys. The rest of the Buzzkills are entranced in her spell, instinctively reviving a new brood for their queen.

The Hive

• Inside the Hive the air is thick and sticky
• Smell of honey and pollen is pervasive throughout, an almost sickly sweet smell that overpowers a faint smell of smoke.
• A constant, low, directionless buzz fills the Hive.
• During the day, the heat trapping ability of the Hive keeps it quite warm. Dim light from the sun trickles through the porous amber resin and honeycomb exterior, casting everything in a dull orange light.
• At night, residual trapped heat from the day gives continued warmth, but it’s too dark to see without a light source.

1. Entrance

The Hive is a domed waxen structure coated by propolis (a smooth, thick, amber resin). A small hexagonal recess at ground level marks the singular entrance to the structure.

• Door is made from the same thick propolis as the structure
  • Inscribed on it is a circle of bees carrying flowers toward a central crown
    • Melted into the crown is the symbol of the Keepers of the Sacred Flame
• A hexagonal crucible is embedded in the ground, full of ash.
  • While a flower petal burns in the crucible, the door becomes like viscous, flowing golden honey, and can be traversed into [2] Foyer.
• Near the door are a few scattered flower petals.

2. Foyer

Honeycomb walls full of crystallized honey. Hexagonal patterned propolis floor, scuffed from recent usage.

• Just inside the door is a wax sculpture of a crowned bee with amber eyes, an empty bowl in its hands.
  • Twisting the bee’s proboscis secretes 3 drops of a viscous amber fluid into the bowl – Royal Nectar.
• Southeast: Propolis door propped open.
  • Sounds of scraping can be heard from beyond.
• Beside the south eastern door, the honeycomb wall is abnormally shallow and free of honey.
  • One hexagonal honeycomb is marked, visible with ultraviolet vision.
  • Pressing it in opens a secret door into [2A] Secret Room.
• West: Closed propolis door. Leads to [10] Guard Post.
  • Periodic, weak incoherent shouts can be heard from beyond.

2A. Secret Room

Musty room with smooth dark-orange propolis walls.

• Amber Amulet lies on a honeycomb shelf.
• Spell tablet on a wax plinth: Hive Mind.

3. Trapped Corridor

Short honeycomb hallway, ends in a wooden door.

• East: Conspicuously wooden door at the far end with a metal latch leads to [4] Bakery.
  • Soft sounds of steps on honeycomb and wax scraping behind
• One honeycomb near the door is hollowed-out through to the next room
  • A crossbow, affixed with sticky resin, aims through this hole, its trigger rigged up to the metal latch by a taut wire (d10 damage if triggered).
  • Pushing the door open without use of the latch does not trigger the trap.
• Northwest: Propolis door leads to [2] Foyer.

4. Bakery

Large open space, honeycombs line the walls and floors. A faintly sweet smell of yeast fills the air.

• d3+3 Buzzkills diligently make bee bread:
  • Mix honey, nectar, and pollen from [7] Honey Storage and [9] Nectar Processing in a wax bowl, store the mixture in honeycombs, and then cap off the comb with honey.
  • One bandit periodically extracts finished “loaves” and brings them to [8] Nursery.
  • Bee bread - as ration, cakey texture, tastes fruity and sweet.
• Six alcoves, each containing a trampled bedroll.
  • Searching through each yields a Loot.
  • Stashed in re-capped honeycomb: pouch with 200p. 2-in-6 chance this is “baked” into a bee bread loaf.
• North: Crossbow on a wax table aims through a hole in the wall into the corridor, taut wire connects it to the metal latch of a wooden door. Door leads to [3] Trapped Corridor.
• West: Opening in the wall leads to [5] Scrying Chamber.
• South: Sound of buzzing gets louder, leads to [7] Honey Storage.

5. Scrying Chamber

Pale yellow beeswax walls carved with a hexagonal pattern. Tranquil and peaceful, external noises are subdued.

• Flat amber crystal shard, polished to a mirror shine. Blemished by spots of crystallized honey where liquid honey has been smeared and dried.
  • If honey is spread over the surface of the mirror, observers can briefly glimpse through the eyes of bees of the hive and Buzzkills (Reveal information about an unexplored room).
• West: Propolis door, flickering blue light can be seen through the seams. Leads to [6] Antechamber
• East: Busy movement, sounds of scraping wax, leads to [4] Bakery.

6. Antechamber

Small cramped chamber with a regal door. Honey-colored beeswax walls have been carved with hexagons radiating outward from the door.

• North: Propolis door with ornate carvings of a regal bee wearing a crown and surrounded by workers. The Keepers of the Flame’s symbol on the queen’s abdomen flickers in blue light as though burning
  • Locked – if the Keeper’s Talisman is brought here, the light extinguishes and the door unlocks.
  • Leads to the [12] Throne Room.
• East: Propolis door to [5] Scrying Chamber.

7. Honey Storage

Honeycomb walls ooze and drip honey onto the sticky floor. A droning buzz of busy bees fills the air.

• Honey coats the floor – STR Save to pull away quickly.
• Two Buzzkills assist four Bees in honey production:
  • Buzzkills bring pollen from [9] Nectar Processing.
  • Bees process it and secrete honey into honeycombs.
• West: Amber propolis door leads to [8] Nursery. A steady buzz can be heard from within.
  • A Buzzkill from [4] Bakery occasionally passes through with bee bread.
• In the alcove to the right of this door, the honeycomb walls are filled with wax scraps.
  • On closer inspection, the scraps are wax bee sculptures, crafted into strange geometries.
  • Most are broken, but 2d6 are intact. Worthless to most, but 100p each to collectors.
• East: Sweet, yeasty scent. Leads to [4] Bakery.
• Northwest: Sweet, floral aroma, leads to [9] Nectar Processing

8. Nursery

Honeycomb walls and floors, each cell occupied by a bee egg or larva. Buzzing fills the air as Nurse Bees tend to the young.

• 8 Nurse Bees tend to honeycombs full of bees in various stages of growth, from eggs to pupae.
  • Interfering with the young in any way will draw the ire of the Nurses.
• At the far side of the room is a wax plinth, coated in crystallized honey.
  • Atop the plinth inside the cyrstallized honey is a spell tablet – Summon Bee.
• At any time there are d6+2 usage dots of bee bread near the entrance.
  • Nurse Bees consume it between feedings, and it is occasionally replenished by a Buzzkill from [4] Bakery.

9. Nectar Processing

Flowerheads line the floors, the ceiling, and are tucked into honeycomb walls. Air is thick with powdery pollen and a sweet, flowery scent.

• Two Buzzkills crudely extract pollen and nectar from the flowers into wax containers, before tossing the desiccated heads in a pile.
  • A Buzzkill from [4] Bakery occasionally drops off empty containers, and takes full ones to [4] Bakery and [7] Honey Storage
• Buzzkills and Bees stop contentedly for a moment here as they pass through, indulging in the sweet scent.
  • Anyone walking through the pollen cloud gains the Pollinated Condition
• Searching through the various flowerheads yields a turquoise Jade Vine Flowerhead.
• Northeast: Vertical shaft with broken propolis stairs.
  • 12” up the shaft is the [11] Upper Level.
• Southeast: Lively buzzing and sticky floors lead to [7] Honey Storage
• Northwest: Muffled voice wearily shouting, leads to [10] Guard Post.

10. Guard Post

Yellowed wax walls surround a make-shift propolis prison. The prisoner’s periodic, weak shouts are the only sounds here above the pervasive buzzing.

• Two Buzzkill Drones, eerily still, stand guard at a propolis slatted door.
  • An old hedgehog with sagging spines shouts from within “Help! Let me out! The flame must be relit!”
    • Plum, the deteriorating Keeper of the Flame.
    • With the flame extinguished, his body and mind are fading. Doesn’t remember what the Sacred Flame is for, or what his purpose is, just that it must be relit in [12] Throne Room.
    • Repeats the Keeper’s Mantra to himself in times of worry:
      This flame is my life
      This smoke, our shield
      I shall be its steward
      My soul shall not yield
  • The Buzzkills will see any attempt to free Plum as an act of aggression.
  • One guard carries the Resin Rod.
• North: Propolis door leads to [2] Foyer
• South: Sweet, floral aroma, leads to [9] Nectar Processing

11. Upper Level

Ring of echoing honeycomb hallways around the upper level of the hive.

• Thick crystal honey windows line the center, [12] Throne Room is barely visible through the hazy amber.

Northwest – Crystalline Prisoner

• Alcove transformed into a makeshift prison. Three Bees crawl over a prisoner, secreting sticky propolis liquid, slowly encasing the prisoner in resin. A single Buzzkill stands watch, an empty expression in their eyes.
  • Prisoner’s arms and legs are already secured to the walls and floors with hardened propolis.
• Prisoner is Lark the Buzzkill, strangely lucid unlike the others. Pleads with any passersby for help.
  • They wear the Keeper’s Talisman.
    • Plum recognizes this as a key to [12] Throne Room, but does not as his possession.
  • Will help the party if it means freeing the Buzzkills, but will turn on them if they try to kill Vash.
  • Lark will urge any saviors to not kill the guard.

East – Spell Workshop

• Three alcoves are occupied by Buzzkills sitting on bedrolls, carving symbols into Beeswax Spell Tablets.
  • Searching through each alcove yields a Loot.
• The fourth contains a raised wax Thaumatic Honey Basin, full of a shimmering amber liquid.
  • Soaking in the liquid are d3 random Beeswax Spell Tablets. Each has d3 charges.
  • Liquid is Thaumatic Honey, which seeps into and charges the tablets; d3+3 uses still in the basin.
• Aybizee, a ghostly blue bee flits between the Buzzkills, instructing them on symbols to carve.
  • Beeswax tablets clack gently together as she flies.
  • Takes finished spell tablets from Buzzkills to the Thaumatic Honey Basin.
  • Bound to a beeswax soul jar carried by a fourth Buzzkill bandit that follows her every movement.

12. Throne Room

Grand queen’s chamber, with hexagonal propolis pillars, honeycomb floors, and large ceilings. A hardened wax hexagonal and cup-like queen’s cell lies in the center.

• Within the cell lies Vash, partially consumed by the Yellow Crown. An incessant buzzing fills the chamber as three Nurse Bees feed her Royal Jelly.
  • Responses from Vash alternate between Vash’s raspy, frightened voice, and Melys’ deep, commanding one.
  • Vash and her Nurse attendants, will aggressively defend against any attempt to remove the Yellow Crown or relight the Sacred Flame.
  • If left for another day, Vash will fully become Melys, the Yellow Queen.
  • The cell is full of 6 usage dots worth of Royal Jelly.
• Behind the Queen’s cell is a large brazier, empty and blackened with years of burning.
  • The place of the Sacred Flame. Can be relit with three Rounds of concentration while reciting the Keeper’s Mantra.
  • If relit, smoke begins to fill the Hive, Bees return to slumber, including the Queen, releasing the Buzzkills from their trance.

Items

Amber Amulet

Small beeswax amulet in the shape of a bee with a bronze stinger. Mark a usage and sting yourself (1d4 STR damage) to change into a viscous, honey-like liquid for one Turn.

Barbed Stinger

Front: Barbed Stinger (Light d6) – If damage is dealt directly to STR, flip Barbed Stinger and inflict the Stung Condition on target.

Back: Stung (Condition) – Attacks are Impaired

Clear – Spend an action to pull out, take 1d4 STR damage from barbs. Flip and mark usage on Barbed Stinger.

Bee Bread

As ration, cakey texture, tastes fruity and sweet.

Crossbow

Heavy Ranged, d10 – Takes a Round to reload

Jade Vine Flowerhead

300p to an alchemist

Brilliant turquoise flower head, highly sought after by alchemists.

Glow Potion

Single-use

Coat the surface of an item to enchant it with phosphorescence.
A phosphorescent item glows with a dull turquoise light for 18 Turns after removal from a direct light source.

Keeper’s Talisman

400p

Golden talisman engraved with the symbol of the Keepers of the Flame.

While worn, unaffected by mental conditions but cannot cast spells.

Acts as a key to [12] Throne Room.

Melys’ Malice

Medium d6/d8

Translucent chitinous sabre, buzzes like a bee’s wings when swung. Small fluid sac set into the pommel.

Critical Damage: You may choose to will the blade to extend barbs, rendering it impossible to remove from the target. While embedded, it exsanguinates the victim over the next Watch, creates one usage dot of Thaumatic Honey in the pommel sac, then releases the barbs.

Resin Rod

Golden rod with a pointed base and topped with a bee’s head. Feed the head one usage dot of honey and the base of the rod secretes a sticky red viscous liquid that hardens to propolis resin after a Turn.

Royal Jelly

50p per usage dot

Sour and acidic in taste, but very nutritious! Use as ration, gives advantage on your next attribute score recovery roll during a long rest.

Royal Nectar

200p per drop

Extremely bitter and sour. Eyes smeared with this permanently become compound: you gain night vision and ultraviolet vision, but lose red-vision and subtract 1 from all non-bee reaction rolls in your presence.

Soul Jar

1d4, damages WIL

Critical Damage: If the jar is empty, target’s soul is trapped inside.

The trapped soul can emerge from the jar as a spirit when it is uncapped. It must stay within two mouse-lengths of the jar, but is not beholden to the jar’s owner.

If the jar is destroyed, the soul bound to it is lost.

Thaumatic Honey

100p per usage dot

Soak a spell tablet in the honey for one Watch to restore one usage dot. Saps the honey of vitality.

The Yellow Crown

Forged from life-nectar and Melys’ soul, this honeycomb crown emits a low, inviting buzz. Hosts may die, but Melys’ soul lives on.

• Wearer knows Summon Bee and Hive Mind.
• Exudes a sickly magical honey when worn, adhering itself to the wearer.
  • Can only be removed with a successful WIL Save. On failure, take 1d4 WIL damage and the Drained Condition.
• Each day, lose a max point of WIL. At 0, the wearer’s mind is replaced entirely: the Yellow Queen is reborn.

Spells

Spell – Summon Bee

Effect: Summon a loyal bee follower for [DICE] turns. Use Bee – Drone stats.

Recharge: Leave in an active beehive for a day.

Spell – Hive Mind

Effect: You and [DICE] other willing creatures share senses and thoughts for [SUM] Turns. WIL damage is shared by members of the Hive Mind, and if a member of the Hive Mind dies, all others must take the Drained Condition, and make a WIL save or be incapacitated for 1d3 Rounds.

Recharge: Leave in a public forum where creatures freely exchange ideas for 2 days.

Beeswax Spell Tablet

The Yellow Queen’s magic captured in wax. Treat as normal spell tablets but with no recharge condition. Instead, the tablet cracks as usage dots are filled, shattering on its final use.

Bestiary

Vash, The Yellow Heir

10hp, STR 12, DEX 12, WIL 5, Armor 1

Attacks: d10 Crystal honey smash, d6 Melys’ Malice

Critical Damage: See Melys’ Malice

Vash wants to be free of the Yellow Crown’s hold and desires a home for her kin

Melys wants to complete her transformation by expelling Vash’s mind from her new body

Vash mid-transformation into Melys, the Yellow Queen. A grotesque combination of stoat and bee, covered by a growing exoskeletonand a crystallized honey chrysalis. Her left arm has solidified into a crystalline honey mace, and she wields the buzzing Melys’ Malice in her right.

Melys, The Yellow Queen

13hp, STR 10, DEX 14, WIL 15, Armor 1

Attacks: d6 Melys’ Malice, d6 Regenerating Barbed Stinger

Flies, knows Summon Bee, Magic Missile, and Fear

Wants to raise a bee army, reclaim the territory she held before she was imprisoned

Ancient bee queen sorceress, reborn through the Yellow Crown. Wears crystallized honey plate armor.

Aybizee, Royal Servant

8hp, STR 7, DEX 12, WIL 12

Attacks: d8 mental drain (damages WIL)

Critical Damage: Sap 1 max WIL from the target, store a piece of their soul in a blank Beeswax Spell Tablet

Flies, carries 3 random Beeswax Spell Tablets

Wants to ensure everything is ready for Melys’ resurrection. Only harmed by silver or magic weapons

An ethereal, ghostly blue bee, flying on silent wings. Carrying several blank and complete wax spell tablets that gently clack together as she flies.

Melys’ most loyal servant in life, her soul was stored in a Soul Jar to extend her servitude ad infinitum. Buzzkills revived her under Melys’ influence.

Highly animated, trusts that everyone in the Hive is serving the Queen unless they prove otherwise.

Bee (Drone/Nurse)

6hp, STR 6, DEX 12, WIL 10

Attacks: d6 Barbed Stinger or d4 Bite

Flys, any direct hit to STR from the stinger inflicts the Stung Condition, and removes the Bee’s stinger. Each round thereafter, the Bee must make a STR Save or die.

Drone wants to revive Melys

Nurse wants to nurture and feed the Yellow Heir

Buzzkill Bandit

4hp, STR 11, DEX 11, WIL 10

Attacks: d6 Sword or d6 Bow

Wants a stable home and security

Ragtag group of outcasts united under Vash. Each Buzzkill carries an item from the Loot Table.

Under the Crown’s Influence

While Vash wears the Yellow Crown, the Bandits exhibit bee-drone behavior. There is a haze over their eyes, and they are driven by instinct.

Buzzkills dutifully, though inefficiently, perform tasks of the Hive without pause.

• They ignore PCs unless their work is interrupted.
• Earnestly try to return to work, violently if necessary.

Wants to perform their assigned task in the hive.

Lark

3hp, STR 9, DEX 12, WIL 11

Attacks: d6, d6 dual needle pins

Wants ro prove themself by freeing Vash and the Buzzkills from the Yellow Queen’s hold

Ardent shrew Buzzkill, spared the Hive Minding with Melys due to the (stolen) Keeper’s Talisman they wear. Determined to free Vash and the rest of the Buzzkills without loss of life.

Plum, Keeper of the Flame

2hp, STR 7, DEX 9, WIL 8

Attacks: d4 desperate flail

Wants ro relight the Sacred Flame, stop Melys’s resurrection

Last remaining Keeper of the Flame. A plump, old hedgehog hermit with sagging, patchy spines. His tirades about the importance of “the smoke and flame” fall on deaf ears of travelers. No animal alive remembers a time when he was younger, or less irritable.

Secretly, Plum vowed his life unending to the Sacred Flame of the Hive as its first Keeper. As long as the flame is lit, he will live eternally with his singular purpose. With the flame extinguished, his body and mind are rapidly failing him. If the flame is not relit before Melys awakens, Plum will fade to dust.

Conditions

Pollinated

Covered in pollen, bees and Buzzkills alike are attracted to you.

Clear: Spend a Turn washing off with water

Loot Tables

General

Common Loot

Rare Loot

Credits

Map

The Goatherd’s Shrine by Dyson Logos dysonlogos.com

Fonts

Atkinson Hyperlegible by Braille Institute, Applied Design Works, Elliott Scott, Megan Eiswerth, Linus Boman, Theodore Petrosky

Quicksand by Andrew Paglinawan

Writing & Additional Art

Brian Stauffer @brstf

License

Inflame the Yellow Crown is an independent production by Brian Stauffer and is not affiliated with Losing Games. It is published under the Mausritter Third Party Licence.

Mausritter is copyright Losing Games.