Every Boot by Dawn

On Bootnight every child in the valley leaves one boot on the hearth, and in the morning it is full: an orange, a sugar mouse and a small wooden toy. Nobody has ever seen the Bootman. Everybody knows it is old Noll Tanner.

Tonight Noll slipped on the ice in his own barn and his ankle is the size of a turnip. The sledge is loaded, the reindeer are in harness, snow is coming at midnight, and first light is at ten past seven.

He needs four strangers who can drive a sledge and keep a secret. He has not told them the other thing yet.

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🦌 WHAT HAPPENS ON THE ROAD

A choice at the top of the hill: the long way through the woods, or straight across a frozen lake with thin ice. Six hungry wolves at the only bridge, and twelve smoked hams on the sledge. A sleeping town of a hundred and seventy-one boots to fill without waking anybody. Something very big and very white that has followed the sledge all night. And the last boot of all, beside a little girl who has stayed awake to see who fills it.

Both fights can be skipped by a party that pays attention.

🎲 A 48-page Christmas one-shot for D&D 5e — 3-4 hours, 4 players, level 3.

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📦 WHAT YOU GET

▪ 6 scenes, every one written out in full: read-aloud text, what happens if they fail, what to do if they skip it

▪ 3 painted winter battle maps in three versions each — DM, player, and a copy with no grid. 70 px per 5-foot square, so it drops straight into Roll20 or Foundry already aligned

▪ 4 ready-to-play 3rd-level characters, finished. They are optional: notes for running it with your own party are included

▪ 2 original creatures with full stat blocks, and a mercy line for every fight

▪ 3 printable handouts, 3 roll tables, 11 secrets and clues at three different costs

▪ 4 people with portraits, each with a voice, a want and a secret

▪ Written help for when the party goes sideways, and a section for your first time running a game

▪ 7 paintings of the adventure to show your players

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❄️ THIS IS FOR YOU IF

▪ You want a Christmas dnd one shot for your December session that is warm, not grim

▪ Your table likes a race against the clock with a real choice of route

▪ You want sneaking, sledges and snow more than dungeons

▪ You want a real choice at the end: one that nobody at the table will agree on

▪ You are new to running games and want the read-aloud text already written

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🗓️ SET IN LOWMERE

The valley of The Lowmere Year. This adventure stands completely alone and needs nothing from any other, but Sheriff Odett Quill and Wick the cellar-boy are in it, and in other adventures of the valley too.

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📄 THE FILES

▪ A4 — 48 pages, colour and printer-friendly

▪ US Letter — 52 pages, colour and printer-friendly

▪ 9 map images (3 maps × DM, player, no grid)

▪ 7 paintings

▪ 2 table-scale battle map PDFs, A4 and US Letter

🗺️ The battle maps also print at table scale: two extra PDFs lay every map out at one inch per five-foot square across numbered sheets with a cut line. Print them at home, tape them together and put miniatures on them.

Five downloads: the adventure in one zip (both paper sizes, colour and printer-friendly), the map images, the paintings, and the two table-scale map PDFs.

The printer-friendly build is the same book in pure white, nothing removed.

⬇️ Instant digital download. Nothing is posted to you.

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📜 THE SMALL PRINT

Compatible with Fifth Edition.

Made with AI assistance: the text, maps and paintings of this adventure were written and generated with AI, then edited, checked and laid out by hand.

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🕯️ ONE GOOD EVENING

Games for a table, and for a chair by the fire.