The Chapel of the Green - Hexmas Blogwagon 2025
I’ve been meaning to start a TTRPG blog for a while and the Hexmas Blogwagon from Prismatic Wasteland seemed as good an excuse as any. In short, you write a hex for this winter wonderland and place it adjacent to another blogger’s hex! This particular hex sits directly south of Orcish Toy Factory by Magnolia Keep.
By the way, did you know Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes place at Christmas?
THE CHAPEL OF THE GREEN
When you enter this hex for the first time, begin at encounter 1. Then when you re-enter, go to encounter 2, and so forth.
A knight with a greataxe bars your way. His skin is green and veiny like the underside of a leaf and his beard has mistletoe growing in the curls. His horse is shaggy like a willow tree. He steps down to greet you and wish you a pleasant festive season. He wants to play a game. You take his axe and strike him as hard as you can, then you meet in two days time and get struck by him in turn. If you win you get to keep his axe! If you deny him his game he will summon great winds to carry you back to the previous hex you were in, and re-entering this hex triggers this encounter again, rather than going to 2. If you play his game he will pick up his severed head and tell you to seek: ‘The Chapel of the Green’ in a round hill in a gorge nearby.
You come across a ruined keep alone on the moors. The rubble that remains looks like it was cut over and over again with a huge axe. 2d6 Bramblewolves (as wolves, but starting your turn in melee range of one or more deals 1d4 damage to you from the thorns) are feasting on the bodies of a man and woman, who both died reaching for a green fabric belt with a gold clasp that has been ripped to pieces, beyond repair. You can hear the Green Knight laughing on the wind. A red kite shield with a gold star is hidden under some torn curtains. It is a Magic Shield +1 that grants one free charisma reroll when attempting to start an affair with a married person.
'Snarling Wolf' by Ilse Gort for Magic: The Gathering You find yourself outside a round hill on the floor of a gorge. If you arrive on time for the game, a flickering candle light glows from within. If you are late it is pitch black within and a layer of snow coats the hill.
ARRIVED ON TIME - The Chapel is warm like a summer’s day, the floor is a meadow and grapes grow on vines along the walls. The Green Knight greets you, takes up his axe and strikes whoever played his game. Their head rolls off and they have unlocked the CEPHALOPHORE class (see below). He thanks you for being honest and gives you his axe. It is a Magic Greataxe +2 that increases its bonus when you fulfil an oath another asks of you once a year, to a maximum of +5.
ARRIVED LATE - The floor is covered in headless bodies, coated with ice. The Green Knight is nowhere to be seen, but his horse is sleeping in the centre of the room. Anyone who enters the chapel is immediately beheaded and becomes the CEPHALOPHORE class (see below), but the horse will awaken and become the loyal steed of the beheaded person.
You come across the ghosts of the man and the woman in the ruins. They will ask any cephalophore characters for a kiss. If accepted, they give that character a Magic Belt that lets them return to their old class and prevents beheading so long as they wear it. It is green and has a gold clasp at the front. No further encounters in this hex!
TERRAIN
The terrain of this hex is wild moorland. Purple heather gathers frost atop the hills, whilst deep in the valleys evergreen trees conceal tinkling streams. It rains a lot. 1 in 6 chance of it NOT raining every time you enter.
FORAGING
Nuts can be foraged in the wooded valleys and hares caught on the moors, but one person in the party must always go hungry here whilst foraging as the Winters are hard in this place. There’s a 2 in 6 chance whilst foraging to encounter a portly shepherd with silky black hair and his flock of sheep. If you make or bring a toy for his red-haired son he’ll let you sleep in the barn with the sheep and give you spicy radish soup for your supper. At night his son transforms into a WEREFOX, still carrying the toy you brought him, and will break in to steal a lamb and go through the party’s pockets for anything sweet or shiny. The shepherd will abandon his flock and leave for the wilds if you kill his son, but will give you honey and porridge for breakfast before sending you off if you leave him be.
WEREFOX
Counts as a lycanthrope but cannot summon animals (werefoxes prefer human company). Werefoxes that live in cities tend to work alongside wererats as lookouts for heists and burglaries. In the wilds they try to cuckoo themselves into farming families with livestock or join as labourers, taking meals where they can and try to fly under the radar. They always have striking red hair, which some learn to dye or shave to not attract attention.
AC 6 [13] (9 [10] in human form), HD 4* (18hp), Att 1x bite (1d4) or 1 x weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 17 [+2], MV 120’ (40’), SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4), ML 8, AL Chaotic, XP 85, NA 1d6 (2d6), TT C
Surprise: On a 1-4; set ambushes.
Weapons: May also use weapons in animal form.
CEPHALOPHORE CLASS
(When you are granted this class in this hex, you keep your previous levels and gain level 1 in this class. You can only level up as a cephalophore until you can find a way to magically bind your head to your body again)
The Cephalophore is a variant of the cleric class, and uses the same XP thresholds, restrictions, spells and saving throws, with the following changes:
You cannot Turn Undead.
Your head counts as your Holy Symbol for spellcasting.
You can only wield one-handed bladed weapons (swords, axes, daggers, etc.)
You can wear armour and shields, but not helmets. You may only use a shield if you have a free hand to carry your head.
Once a day you can drop your head onto the ground. Where it lands, a spring of holy water will form, enough to fill waterskins equal to your Cephalophore level, before it disappears. If you don’t try to fill a container it will flow for that many hours instead.
Your body can operate separately from your head for a number of 10 minute intervals equal to your Cephalophore level, but you take twice as much damage whilst the two are separated and your body automatically fails dexterity rolls.
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| Saint Livier by Jacques Callot c.1624 |
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