Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures - Village of Barley, Flora Brambleberry

 

I made a post about Hazel the Witches 'Prentice as part of the 2022 create a character challenge the other day (you can read it here), and I made reference to Flora Brambleberry the one foot high chambermaid who looks after the pots, jars and earthenware containers of every description for Wihnhilda Barkridge the village witch.  I thought it may be fun and interesting to say more about this diminutive fae creature.

Fords  Faeries, a bestiary inspired by Henry Justice Ford.

The chambermaid comes from the book Fords Faeries, this is a free pdf available from drivethruRPG.com and full of great ideas for Faery inspired games, and I really loved the idea of a one foot high woman looking after all the pots and jars for a witch and I could not resist putting one into my Barley village setting. The chambermaid is by Dan D who runs the throneofsalt.blogspot.com blog which is really worth checking out.

Flora Brambleberry, the Chambermaid.

Hit Dice : 1d6

AC :  11
Attack :  1d2 (fists) roll 1 d4/2 (round up).
Alignment : Neutral.

Flora is a chambermaid, a fae creature native to all manner of pots, jars and earthenware.  As with all chambermaids, Flora takes the form of a beautiful woman one foot tall and wears gowns of blue and white.  Flora is usually very friendly but is extremely protective of her jars and pots, woe betide anyone who puts one out of place and should you damage one, well you will repent at your leisure.

Flora has a very surprising knowledge of the area surrounding Barley, surprising because she never leaves the witches cottage, she simply would not trust her jars and pots to anyone, not even Wihnhilda, let alone that silly 'prentice girl Hazel.  Befriend Flora and she will be more than happy to talk to you about the local wilderness, its locations and its monsters, with a good 70% chance that what she tells you is correct.

Flora knows everything in every jar on every shelf in Wihnhildas cottage, anyone including Hazel,  Auden (Wihnhilda's beast keeper), even Wihnhilda herself, has to tell Flora if they take anything from a jar on the shelves, and whilst Flora may seem friendly enough, her temper, should you put a jar back in the wrong place or fail to refill an empty jar, is enough to wilt even the strongest of  barbarian lords.

Ask Wihnhilda how Flora got there and she will not be able to tell you, all she can say is that Flora seemed to' just arrive along with the jars and pots' but she is a indispensable part of the witches team, without her the shelves would be a muddled mess.

Special notes about Flora.

If you brake one of Floras pots there is a strong chance that unless you bring her a peacocks tail feather she will cast the fae curse of the diminished on the person who broke the pot.   

The subject's body begins to shrink at an alarming rate. On a failed save, the target is permanently reduced a full size category. If the failure was by 5 or more, they are reduced an additional size category. If the subject rolled a natural 1 on their save, the target instantly becomes diminutive. This curse cannot reduce a creature's size below diminutive.  

Removal: Break Enchantment or Remove Curse. Alternatively, the diminished creature may single-handedly defeat an enemy of two sizes larger than itself to lift the curse.

Flora will also remove the curse if the broken pot and any contents are replaced and the cursed person brings her a peacocks tail feather. This curse has no effect on diminutive creatures.