The Mill of Midas
For 6 level 7 PCs, 3 to 3.5 hours, 3 encounters. Cure the king if possible.
📜 Session Summary
| Style Urban curse investigation where greed, panic, and quarantine are more dangerous than blades. |
| Win Condition Midas is cured or contained, the millstone is cracked, and the market keeps enough food and trust to recover. |
| Loss Condition The golden touch becomes a civic plague; bread, coin, and bodies turn beautiful and useless. |
| Players 6 × Level 7 · 3–3.5 hrs · 3 encounters |
| Key Ally Philon the Coin-Shaver (recruit Enc. Enc. 1 or Enc. 2) · Maguffin: Clay Loaf of Pact-Breaking |
Description
Queen Damodice hooks the party. Maguffin Clay Loaf of Pact-Breaking pays off in the finale against Avarice in the Millstone. Recruit Philon the Coin-Shaver along the way.
Stop a golden contagion spreading from a king's touch through a market quarter.
Major Beats
- A child tries to trade a golden apple for bread no one can eat.
- Midas speaks through a door with both hands tied in linen.
- A market bell turns to gold mid-ring and keeps vibrating.
- The millstone whispers prices for every heroic compromise.
Creature / Enemy List
| Creature | Easy | Med | Hard | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilded Panic Mob | — | med | hard | CR 4 · Hazardous crowd |
| Auric Homunculus | — | med | hard | CR 3 · Curse scout |
| Goldmask Bread Wardens | — | med | hard | CR 5 · Elite quarantine enforcers |
| Avarice in the Millstone | — | med | hard | CR 9 · Boss, possessing curse engine |
| Philon the Coin-Shaver | — | 1 | 1 | Recruit Enc. Enc. 1 or Enc. 2 |
Encounter 1 — Quarantine at the Saffron Gate
Overview
Navigate guards, frightened merchants, and gold-touched evidence without turning the street into a riot.
🗺 Terrain
Market gate, sealed bread stalls, gold-streaked fountain, guard cordon, rooftops for stealth entry.
Mechanics
- Run a 4-success DC 15 challenge with Persuasion, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, or Stealth.
- Failures increase the Riot clock; at 3 marks the Gilded Panic Mob surges.
- Clay Loaf reveals curse-tracks from touched bread to the royal mill.
- Recruit Philon by protecting civilians or using him as a guide instead of a scapegoat.
Creature Cards
Queen Damodice
Human queen, civic patron under quarantine
Motivation. Save her husband and the market quarter without starting a riot or inviting a coup.
Secret. Midas ordered the mill reopened after the first warning because the city needed bread.
Hard rule. She will not sanction murdering Midas while a cure remains possible.
Clay Loaf of Pact-Breaking
Ritual focus, humble counterweight to divine greed
Appearance: A heavy gray loaf that smells like rain, ash, and honest work.
Handout. "Gold cannot eat. Gold cannot knead. Feed the king what wealth refuses."
Enc. 1–2. Absorbs one minor golding effect or reveals fresh curse-tracks as dull clay footprints.
Enc. 3. Pressed into the millstone or Midas's hands, it gives the party one round to redirect the curse into earth.
Philon the Coin-Shaver
Medium Humanoid, Neutral · Recruitable Ally · Fence, street guide, and reluctant public witness
AC 14 | HP 52 | Speed 30 ft.
Role: Fence, street guide, and reluctant public witness
RECRUITMENT (Enc. Enc. 1 or Enc. 2). Protect his sister's stall, expose a profiteer, or promise amnesty for his quarantine smuggling.
Aid. Acts on party initiative when recruited; prefers nonlethal when asked.
Strike. Dagger +6 to hit, 6 piercing; Help as bonus action for Stealth, Investigation, or street Persuasion.
Gilded Panic Mob
Medium Creature · CR 4 · Hazardous crowd
AC 12 | HP 88 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Can be calmed; reducing to 0 means dispersal, not massacre.
Attack. Crush and grab, DC 15 Strength or Dexterity save or 18 bludgeoning and restrained.
Encounter 2 — The Counting House Crawl
Overview
Slip through seized ledgers and guarded flour stores to learn how the curse spreads through trade.
🗺 Terrain
Two-story counting house, flour hoist, locked ledger room, bridge to the royal mill.
Mechanics
- Three clue nodes: contaminated flour, Midas's sealed apology, and coin dust from the millstone.
- Stealth can bypass Wardens; social proof can convert them into a noisy distraction.
- Auric Homunculi flee toward the mill unless boxed in by clever positioning.
- A cursed object touched barehanded requires DC 15 Constitution save or disadvantage on Dexterity checks until cleansed.
Creature Cards
Clay Loaf of Pact-Breaking
Ritual focus, humble counterweight to divine greed
Appearance: A heavy gray loaf that smells like rain, ash, and honest work.
Handout. "Gold cannot eat. Gold cannot knead. Feed the king what wealth refuses."
Enc. 1–2. Absorbs one minor golding effect or reveals fresh curse-tracks as dull clay footprints.
Enc. 3. Pressed into the millstone or Midas's hands, it gives the party one round to redirect the curse into earth.
Philon the Coin-Shaver
Medium Humanoid, Neutral · Recruitable Ally · Fence, street guide, and reluctant public witness
AC 14 | HP 52 | Speed 30 ft.
Role: Fence, street guide, and reluctant public witness
RECRUITMENT (Enc. Enc. 1 or Enc. 2). Protect his sister's stall, expose a profiteer, or promise amnesty for his quarantine smuggling.
Aid. Acts on party initiative when recruited; prefers nonlethal when asked.
Strike. Dagger +6 to hit, 6 piercing; Help as bonus action for Stealth, Investigation, or street Persuasion.
Auric Homunculus
Medium Creature · CR 3 · Curse scout
AC 16 | HP 44 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Carries traces back to the cursed millstone.
Attack. Gold needle +6 to hit, 8 piercing plus DC 14 Constitution save or slowed by stiffening gold.
Goldmask Bread Wardens
Medium Creature · CR 5 · Elite quarantine enforcers
AC 17 | HP 95 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Will stand down if shown the queen's signet or proof of the true source.
Attack. Two spear attacks +7 to hit, 10 piercing each; net toss restrains on DC 15 Dexterity.
Encounter 3 — Midas at the Grinding Stone
Overview
Contain the living curse while Midas begs not to touch anyone and the millstone tries to crown him forever.
🗺 Terrain
Royal mill floor, turning gears, flour pits, gold-crusted sluice, and a locked viewing gallery.
Mechanics
- Midas is a protected objective: if isolated and spoken to, he spends his turn resisting the curse.
- At initiative 20, the millstone golds one object, exit, or 10-foot floor patch unless disrupted.
- Maguffin payoff: feed the Clay Loaf into the stone or Midas's hands to make the curse vulnerable for 1 round.
- Victory can be cure, containment, or shattering the possessing Avarice; murdering Midas counts as a bitter loss.
Creature Cards
Queen Damodice
Human queen, civic patron under quarantine
Motivation. Save her husband and the market quarter without starting a riot or inviting a coup.
Secret. Midas ordered the mill reopened after the first warning because the city needed bread.
Hard rule. She will not sanction murdering Midas while a cure remains possible.
Clay Loaf of Pact-Breaking
Ritual focus, humble counterweight to divine greed
Appearance: A heavy gray loaf that smells like rain, ash, and honest work.
Handout. "Gold cannot eat. Gold cannot knead. Feed the king what wealth refuses."
Enc. 1–2. Absorbs one minor golding effect or reveals fresh curse-tracks as dull clay footprints.
Enc. 3. Pressed into the millstone or Midas's hands, it gives the party one round to redirect the curse into earth.
Goldmask Bread Wardens
Medium Creature · CR 5 · Elite quarantine enforcers
AC 17 | HP 95 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Will stand down if shown the queen's signet or proof of the true source.
Attack. Two spear attacks +7 to hit, 10 piercing each; net toss restrains on DC 15 Dexterity.
Avarice in the Millstone
Large Creature · CR 9 · Boss, possessing curse engine · Boss
AC 18 | HP 172 | Speed 40 ft.
Role: Boss, possessing curse engine
Note. Boss last. It wants Midas alive as its hand, not dead.
Hard encounter focus. Win condition may be steal, escape, disable, or drive-off — not always kill.
Multiattack / Assault. Grinding aura and gold shards; DC 16 Constitution save or 28 force/radiant and partial golding.
Advance (1). Move up to half Speed.
Strike (1). One attack from Assault.
⚖️ Difficulty Scaling
As Written ★ — 6 Players, Average Level 7
- Baseline for this guide. Numbers, DCs, and win tracks assume six PCs at average level 7.
Library Standard — 6 Players, Average Level 8
- Slight bump: elite HP +15–20%, one extra minion in Enc. 1 or 2, DCs +1. Enc. 3 as written is near-parity.
Easier
- APL 5–6: −1 elite; boss loses one recharge attack.
Harder
- APL 8–9: +1 elite; boss recharge improves by 1 step.
📋 Appendix — Cards
Queen Damodice
Human queen, civic patron under quarantine
Motivation. Save her husband and the market quarter without starting a riot or inviting a coup.
Secret. Midas ordered the mill reopened after the first warning because the city needed bread.
Hard rule. She will not sanction murdering Midas while a cure remains possible.
Clay Loaf of Pact-Breaking
Ritual focus, humble counterweight to divine greed
Appearance: A heavy gray loaf that smells like rain, ash, and honest work.
Handout. "Gold cannot eat. Gold cannot knead. Feed the king what wealth refuses."
Enc. 1–2. Absorbs one minor golding effect or reveals fresh curse-tracks as dull clay footprints.
Enc. 3. Pressed into the millstone or Midas's hands, it gives the party one round to redirect the curse into earth.
Philon the Coin-Shaver
Medium Humanoid, Neutral · Recruitable Ally · Fence, street guide, and reluctant public witness
AC 14 | HP 52 | Speed 30 ft.
Role: Fence, street guide, and reluctant public witness
RECRUITMENT (Enc. Enc. 1 or Enc. 2). Protect his sister's stall, expose a profiteer, or promise amnesty for his quarantine smuggling.
Aid. Acts on party initiative when recruited; prefers nonlethal when asked.
Strike. Dagger +6 to hit, 6 piercing; Help as bonus action for Stealth, Investigation, or street Persuasion.
Gilded Panic Mob
Medium Creature · CR 4 · Hazardous crowd
AC 12 | HP 88 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Can be calmed; reducing to 0 means dispersal, not massacre.
Attack. Crush and grab, DC 15 Strength or Dexterity save or 18 bludgeoning and restrained.
Auric Homunculus
Medium Creature · CR 3 · Curse scout
AC 16 | HP 44 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Carries traces back to the cursed millstone.
Attack. Gold needle +6 to hit, 8 piercing plus DC 14 Constitution save or slowed by stiffening gold.
Goldmask Bread Wardens
Medium Creature · CR 5 · Elite quarantine enforcers
AC 17 | HP 95 | Speed 30 ft.
Note. Will stand down if shown the queen's signet or proof of the true source.
Attack. Two spear attacks +7 to hit, 10 piercing each; net toss restrains on DC 15 Dexterity.
Avarice in the Millstone
Large Creature · CR 9 · Boss, possessing curse engine · Boss
AC 18 | HP 172 | Speed 40 ft.
Role: Boss, possessing curse engine
Note. Boss last. It wants Midas alive as its hand, not dead.
Hard encounter focus. Win condition may be steal, escape, disable, or drive-off — not always kill.
Multiattack / Assault. Grinding aura and gold shards; DC 16 Constitution save or 28 force/radiant and partial golding.
Advance (1). Move up to half Speed.
Strike (1). One attack from Assault.