Kringle Court

Table of Contents

Quick Reference

Every stat block in this scenario, resolved for Floor 2 (values written as X+F have F = the Floor number folded in). Move keeps its "+ S": S is the relevant movement Skill Rank, added when that Skill applies.

Debuffs used here: Burning and Blood Trail are in the core rules. Frozen is new to this scenario and is identical to Shocked in every way — same effect, same duration, same removal.

Overview

Kringle Court is a Christmas store — the kind you find off a highway in a tourist town, where it's December all year, every aisle is a theme, the trees are plastic, the snow is polyester, and the carols on the ceiling speakers have been on the same loop since the building opened. The dungeon didn't change any of that. It just made the decorations get up and walk.

The neighborhood runs on two kinds of people. Santa's Lil' Helpers are the staff: three-and-a-half-foot elves in felt, who wrap and stock and worry. Christmas Gnomes are the merchandise: knee-high felt cones with beards and hats down over their eyes, animated by the magic of the neighborhood's Boss, St. Mick — a mall Santa who got a real throne and decided the shop was his and the Gnomes were his and none of it was ever going to end. Every Gnome in the building is tagged Minion of Mick. When he dies, they stop.

Next door, past the loading dock, is the other store: the one with the beach towels and the sunscreen and the exact same Gnomes in swim trunks. The Summer Gnomes and the Christmas Gnomes have been at war since the floor opened, for reasons nobody can articulate beyond they're wrong and we're right. And three days ago, Mick's boy Piney walked off his shelf and out the loading dock to marry the Summer boss's boy, Sunny — and the Summer side grabbed him at the border and locked him in a stall as leverage.

The Helpers are frantic. Mick's answer is to animate more Gnomes. The party walks into the middle of it late on the floor, with a little over a day on the clock. They can talk their way through the store (the Gnomes and Helpers start as white dots), fight their way through it (one attack and every dot in the building goes red and starts shouting Summer spies), rescue Piney or don't, and finally walk into Santa's Village to deal with Mick — who will be very glad to see them, in the way a mall Santa is glad to see anyone.

Key NPCs at a Glance

St. Mick the Mall Santa (Neighborhood Boss, Level 9): A mall Santa in a suit that's actually magic, on a throne that's actually his. Cigarette voice, dead eyes, calls everyone 'sport.' He animates Christmas Gnomes by the shelf-load and doesn't understand why one of them would leave. He does not love Piney. He loves owning him.

Piney (Christmas Gnome, Non-Combatant, Level 7): Mick's 'son' — the Gnome he was proudest of, which is why it hurt when Piney walked off the shelf on his own. Locked in a beach-shop stall at the loading dock. If freed, he goes back inside and tells every Gnome in the store what Mick is, and they believe him.

Sunny (Summer Gnome, Non-Combatant, Level 7): The Summer boss's boy. Swim trunks, sailboat hat. He was supposed to be the one who ran away; instead his own side grabbed Piney at the border. He's been standing outside the stall for three days. He'll help anyone who's actually trying to get Piney out, and he'll go with them.

Foreman Jangle (Santa's Lil' Helper, Non-Combatant, Level 5): Runs the floor with a clipboard, and now runs a rescue committee that has mostly cried. He knows where Piney is and who took him. He's terrified of what Mick will do if he finds out the Helpers went around him. The negotiation face of the store.

Noelle (Bopca Protector, Level 51): Caretaker of the Gift Wrap Counter, the neighborhood's saferoom. Wraps things with a violence that suggests she'd rather be doing anything else.

Prologue: The Tree Lot

Two things happen as the party moves in. A Weak group of Rabid Reindeer spots them (Scene 1) — red dots, no conversation. And behind the reindeer, at the edge of the tree lot, two white dots: a pair of Christmas Gnomes on a shelf, watching, not moving. They are the party's first chance to understand that most of this store would rather talk.

The Gift Wrap Counter. Just inside the door, a wrapping station has become the neighborhood's saferoom. Noelle runs it. Standard rules: no hostile actions inside, short rests available, loot boxes open here. If the party has boxes from earlier on the floor, this is where they open them.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• That the reindeer are red and the Gnomes are white — and that the difference is the whole neighborhood
• Where the Gift Wrap Counter is
• That the clock is short: a little over a day on this floor

When the reindeer charge, move to Scene 1: Reindeer Games.

Scene 1: Reindeer Games

A Weak group of three Rabid Reindeer. They charge the closest crawler and gore; they don't retreat. The tree lot is the terrain: plastic trees give cover from the 10ft-reach gore if a crawler ducks between trunks (Evade with Advantage), and knocking one over on a reindeer is a Str Stat Check vs 14 for 1d6 Bludgeoning and a round of Take Down. Rope light means Electric damage does double.

The two Gnomes on the shelf watch the whole fight and do nothing. When it's over, one of them says, without moving its mouth or its hat: "You're not from the Summer side. You'd have had sunscreen." That's the party's opening to talk.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• That Minion of Mick is on the reindeer's examine text, and what it means
• That the trees are terrain, not scenery
• That the Gnomes watched and didn't join in — because they didn't have to

The store opens up from here. Move to whichever of Scenes 2–4 the party heads toward.

Scene 2: The Ornament Aisles

A Moderate group of four Christmas Gnomes is patrolling — white dots. They stop the party and ask the only question that matters here: are you Summer? This is a Persuasion check against an Escalating Difficulty, one roll per crawler who talks, facts distributed to whoever hits them:

• Difficulty 10: the Gnomes stay white and let the party pass.
• Difficulty 14: a Gnome escorts them; other patrols stand down on sight.
• Difficulty 18: the Gnome tells them what Mick is — "He made us. He didn't make Piney leave. That was Piney." — and where Santa's Village is.

A Major Fail, or any attack on a Gnome anywhere in the store, flips the neighborhood: every white dot goes red, every patrol shouts Summer spies!, and the Helpers in Scene 3 are hostile on arrival.

Bauble Field. The aisle floors are carpeted in broken ornaments wherever a patrol has fought. Moving through a Bauble Field costs 1d4 Slashing per 10ft unless the crawler spends an Action picking a path; Perception vs 14 spots a clean line through. A fight in an aisle knocks a shelf over every time an Area attack goes off — new Bauble Field, 10ft radius.

Tinsel Tripwire. One aisle end is strung with tinsel at shin height. Detect Trap vs 14 to notice; otherwise a twelve-foot plastic spruce comes down on the crawler: 1d8+2 Bludgeoning and Take Down, and every Gnome on the adjacent shelves turns to look.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• How Escalating Difficulty works, and that talking is a group activity
• That one attack turns the whole store red — permanently
• That fighting in the aisles costs Health every 10ft

Move to whichever of Scene 3 or Scene 4 the party hasn't done.

Scene 3: The Nativity Display

Foreman Jangle runs the room. If the party is still white, he tells them everything: Piney left three days ago to marry Sunny; the Summer side took him at the loading dock; Mick's response has been to animate more Gnomes and threaten to send them over the border, which would start the war the Helpers can't survive. He wants Piney back quietly. He offers what the Helpers have — Potions of Healing, a map of the store with Santa's Village marked, and a promise: if you get Piney out, we'll stand aside when you go for Mick.

If the party has already turned the store red, the Nativity is a Strong group of six Santa's Lil' Helpers and Jangle is the one shouting. Tinsel Missiles from behind a manger; the Helpers don't advance, they hold the display and burn the aisle in front of it.

What Jangle won't say unless pushed (Detect Lies vs 14, or Persuasion vs 16): Mick doesn't want Piney back. He wants the Summer side to keep him, so he has an excuse. Jangle knows this. It's why he's asking strangers.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• The whole story — Piney, Sunny, the border, and what Mick actually wants
• That the Helpers will stand aside at the Boss fight if Piney is freed
• That the Helpers are not Minions — they're alive, and they'll still be here when Mick isn't

Move to whichever of Scene 2 or Scene 4 the party hasn't done.

Scene 4: The Loading Dock

Piney is in the shuttered stall. Sunny is the Gnome outside it. A Moderate group of four Summer Gnomes guards the checkpoint, white dots — they assume anyone crossing from the Christmas side is a spy, but they'll talk. Three ways in:

• Talk. Persuasion vs 14 convinces the guards the party isn't Christmas staff. Sunny does the rest: he has the padlock key and has had it the whole time. What he doesn't have is the nerve to use it alone. A crawler who talks to him (Persuasion vs 10, or just kindness) gets the stall open without a roll.
• Sneak. Stealth vs 14 to reach the stall; Repair or Detect Trap vs 12 for the padlock. Sunny sees. Sunny helps.
• Fight. Four Summer Gnomes, Heat Wave from range, Burning on a bad Evade. The dock is open ground with stacked pallets for cover. If the party is wearing anything Christmas, the guards open fire on sight.

What Piney does. Freed, Piney goes back inside. Not to Mick — to the shelves. He tells the Gnomes, patrol by patrol, that the magic is Mick's but the choice was his, and they can make it too. It takes him until the Boss fight to reach enough of them. When the party walks into Santa's Village, every Christmas Gnome already in the room is on their side — and every Gnome Mick animates fresh is not.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• That there were three ways in, and which one they picked
• What Piney is going to do, and what it means for the Boss fight
• That the Summer side has a leader too — and this isn't their neighborhood

When they head back into the store, move to Scene 5: Boss Battle — or run the Intermission first if it's time.

Intermission: Crawler Advancement

Run this wherever the party is at the two-hour mark — the Gift Wrap Counter if they can reach it. Skill Advancement Checks where applicable; Stat points if they've leveled. Then the floor speaks, in the flat administrative voice that isn't the AI's.

That voice is the dungeon's administration, not the AI. Read it tired. Don't name it.

Optional Scene: The Speakers

Use this if the party is ahead of pace or too comfortable. Skip it if the clock's tight.

Speaker Blast. Any crawler within 30ft when it fires takes 2d6 Sonic and must Evade or gain the Terrified Debuff. Crawlers who cover their ears (an Action) take half and no Debuff. The speaker is on a tinsel cable: Throw or a ranged attack vs Evade 12 cuts it down (1d10 Bludgeoning to anything under it), and every Gnome within 60ft turns toward the crash. A crawler with Repair vs 14 can instead splice the cable and mute one speaker for the rest of the floor — the achievement is for that.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• That the store itself is a hazard, not just the things in it

Return to wherever the party was.

How it plays. Mick opens with Deck the Halls — two Gnomes off the shelf, snowballs from range — and alternates: animate, bomb, animate, sword when anyone gets close. He's slow (20 + S) and the Village is small; he fights from the throne until he's at half, then comes down swinging. The Bauble Field from every Ornament Bomb makes the runway a knife floor.

The Minion rule. Killing Mick drops every Gnome and Reindeer in the room not in melee. Every one in melee becomes a Bereft Minion. A party that spreads out and pulls the Gnomes into close combat before the kill will be fighting Bereft Minions for two more rounds after. A party that keeps the Gnomes at range and goes straight for the throne ends the fight the moment he falls. Say this out loud the first time a Gnome comes off the shelf.

After. Mick dies. The Gnomes not in melee drop where they stand, all at once, thousands of felt cones going still on the shelves. The carols keep playing. And then the Helpers come in.

The Helpers are Bereft: Disadvantage on Evade, +2 to hit, and they won't retreat. They aren't Minions and they don't fall. This is the last beat and it's a real fight, a real flight, or a real conversation. A party that freed Piney has one card: Piney steps between them — "He was never going to let any of us leave." Persuasion vs 14 with Advantage stops the Helpers. A party that didn't has to get past two hundred grieving elves to the stairwell.

Moving On

Before moving on, ensure that the players understand:

• That the Boss had a mechanism, and it was the shelves
• That every choice they made in the store showed up in this room
• That the Helpers are still here — and the party has to decide what that means

Move to the Epilogue.

Epilogue & Aftermath

With Mick dead, the shelves are just shelves. The Neighborhood Map drops from the throne and completes the neighborhood; the stairwell lights up behind the Nativity, where it was the whole time. The carols keep playing.

• Piney and Sunny reunited: they leave together through the loading dock, and for the rest of the floor both sides of the border are white dots to the party. The war isn't over. It's paused.
• Helpers talked down: Jangle runs the store now. He'll trade healing potions for anything that isn't Christmas-themed; the Gift Wrap Counter stays open.
• Helpers fought: Kringle Court is empty, quiet, and hostile. Nothing here will ever be white again.

Either way: one day and nine hours to the collapse, and the stairwell is right there. Somewhere past the loading dock, the other store's boss is a man in a costume that became real, and he has just heard that his son ran off with the enemy. That's another neighborhood, and another scenario.

Items

Candy Cane Sword (Boss drop): Enchanted weapon, Gold-level (two Silver benefits, GM's choice or roll): 2d6+4 Slashing, 10ft reach. Peppermint. Sticky. Inflicts Blood Trail on a Major Fail.

Ornament Bombs x3 (Boss drop): Throwable, 60ft, 1d6+3 Fire in a 10ft Blast, leaves a Bauble Field.

Enchanted Snowballs (from any downed Gnome, 1d4 each): Throwable, 50ft, 1d6+2 Cold. They don't melt. Nobody knows why.

Tinsel (from Helpers): Fifty feet of it, surprisingly strong; a Tinsel Tripwire is a Fabricate vs 12 job.

Potions of Healing x3 (Jangle's gift): For a party that negotiated.

The Naughty List (Santa's Village): A ledger on the throne. Every crawler on the floor is in it, with a note. Examining it gives the party the names of every red dot within 100ft for the rest of the floor.

Piney's Letter: Found in the stall. Addressed to Sunny. A Helper who reads it cries. Worth nothing. Keep it anyway.

Neighborhood Map (Boss drop): Reveals Kringle Court on the minimap.

Adapting This Adventure

Sandbox and Pacing

Scenes 2–4 are order-free. A talking party will finish in three hours; a fighting party will run long and arrive at the Boss hurt — that's correct. If you need to cut, the Optional Scene goes first and the Nativity can be folded into the aisles (Jangle finds the party instead of waiting). The Loading Dock is the one scene not to cut: without Piney, the Boss fight is just a fight.

Scaling

Written for Floor 2, late, crawlers Level 3–4. Everything in the stat blocks is resolved with F = 2; to move the neighborhood, re-add the Floor number. For a Floor 1 party, drop the Gnomes to Level 4 with four Health Bar slots and the Snowball to 1d8+3; Mick to Level 7. For Floor 3+, leave the Mobs and give Mick a third attack — a sack of coal, 30ft Blast, Blinded.

What's Here and What's Yours

Every Mob, NPC, trap, item, and achievement in this scenario is original to it, and every line of read-aloud, announcement, and examine text was written for it — nothing is quoted from the novels. The rules terms (Mob, Neighborhood Boss, Boss Battle, Health Bar, Debuff, Escalating Difficulty) are the game's own and are used as any compatible scenario would use them. Frozen is a new Debuff defined as identical to Shocked. Noelle's examine text is original as well.

Tone

The joke is the tension between the setting and the stakes: a store where it's always Christmas, run by a man who never wanted it to end, populated by things that would leave if they could. Play the Gnomes as people the moment a crawler talks to one. Play Mick as the least magical thing in the building. Play the Helpers' grief straight — it's the only scene in the scenario that isn't a joke, and it's the last one.

Open Decisions

• Box types on the achievements are suggestions; contents are the GM's, rolled when the boxes open at the Gift Wrap Counter.
• Trap and check Difficulties (12–14 to spot, 14–16 to talk) are set for Level 3–4 crawlers; raise them for a strong party.
• How many Gnomes Mick can have active at once (6) is the pressure valve for the Boss fight — lower it for a smaller party, raise it for a party that's clearing the room too easily.

Plot Threads Seeded

• The Summer Gnomes' neighborhood, and their boss — a man in a punch-pitcher mascot costume that the dungeon made real — is a separate scenario. Sunny and Piney can carry the party into it.
• A party that talked down the Helpers has a neighborhood of white dots and a saferoom they can come back to.
• The Naughty List names every red dot on the floor. Some of those names are other crawlers.

Compatible with the Dungeon Crawler Carl Roleplaying Game by Renegade Game Studios; requires the core rules to play. Unofficial Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG (Renegade Game Studios) Fan Material. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher. Not for resale. Intellectual story belongs to CritsNThings.com.