The Bent Wheel Coaching House (Patreon)

This series of releases is new to my Patreon - these are adventure locations based on maps I've drawn for official products over the years. The low-resolution sample version of the map is available for everyone, but the high-resolution versions are only available to patrons and people who purchase the release through the Patreon storefront. As such, these maps are not going to be included in the Patreon-exclusive end-of-month PDF, but will instead be released as their own PDF alongside the end-of-month one.

These maps are released under the new Restricted Release License as found on the copyright page of the blog.

The Map in this post is covered under my Restricted Release License and is intended for personal gaming use. Distribution outside of your own sessions is a violation of this agreement.

The high-resolution versions of this map are available exclusively to patrons at the Level 1 Adventurer tier and above and to all Legacy Patrons.

This map was drawn for Appendix B of the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide and is copyright Wizards of the Coast.

The Bent Wheel Coaching House, where wagons limp in and stories roll out.

Walled coaching inns are small oases of safety along the roads in regions that are near the borderlands. In the borderlands proper, most inns are within fortified settlements, and few inns bother with a defensive wall away from the borderlands.

Within the walls of the Bent Wheel we have a number of structures. A long covered area on the north side is used for coaches and animals to keep them out of the rain. For those who are willing to pay more for their steeds, there is a small two-story stable on the southeast side (over which we have a barn and home for the stables staff). The main inn is two stories tall with stone and wood walls on the ground floor and wooden walls with a tiled roof above. The ground floor of the inn proper consists of the main tavern space, a common room on the west side (that remains very dark as it has no windows, perfect for sleeping in), a ‘snug’ on the southeast side, and the kitchens and owner’s office (and bed). There is also a scullery that doubles as a bathing room for travellers that can be accessed from the common room or from outside. A small shed is attached to the north side of the inn, and is the workshop where work is done to repair wagons and coaches and the various leather tack for the horses.

Tavren Pike bought the establishment off of the previous owners as they retired. Tavern is a grizzled ex coach driver who knows every road, shortcut, and dangerous detour within a hundred miles of here. His knowledge of the roads of the realm is extensive, but beyond this local area it has become quite dated.

There are stairs up to the second floor in both the main tavern room and the common room. Upstairs there are eleven private and semi-private rooms that are rented out at a flat “per room” price regardless of how many people you try to cram in there.

Besides Tavren who is usually hosting downstairs, the other staff of the Bent Wheel include:

Hobbin “Hotpot” Greel, a stout red-faced cook who believes every meal should be hearty enough to survive a siege. He makes a great stew, but has a short temper.

Lira, Marnen, Ressa, and Garrin all come from the nearby village and work here serving food and drink and cleaning the rooms. Garrin is a tall halfling, and the other three are human.

The stables are run by the Fenwicks who live above it. They are assisted by Pipkin and Patter, a pair of goblins that they somehow “adopted” some time ago who have become shockingly good at animal handling (even if they have to climb on each others shoulders in order to properly adjust bridles and tack).

Tamsin Reed also works in keeping the rooms tidy, and also keeps the yard lanterns lit. He has a habit of carving little protective runes into wooden posts and beams.

Local farmer Joss Halder supplies the fodder and straw for the stables from his nearby fields, loading up the stables every autumn.

The Missing Coach
A mail coach disappeared last night. Tavren begs the PCs to investigate before the crown blames the inn. The stables show signs of a hurried departure, and something large was dragged across the yard.

The Counterfeit Caravan
A group of merchants have taken over the common room, flashing suspiciously new trade writs. Tavren suspects they’re imposters preparing to rob a real caravan scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

The Whispering Trees
Travelers have been complaining of nightmares after sleeping in the western rooms overlooking the two trees. They dream of the trees in some frightening way or another. A ranger who had this experience has returned with a druid who insists the trees are trying to warn people of something...

The Guest who Checked Out Twice
A traveler pays for a room, stays the night, and leaves in the morning. Then arrives again that evening insisting they’ve never been here before... but their belongings are still in the room and their “double” is nowhere to be found.

The Roadstone Choir
At dusk, a faint singing drifts from the paving stones of the remnants of the old road that the Bent Wheel was built on. Following these voices they get louder, but are beautiful and eerie. They lead off of the existing road, and down the path where the old paved road once was. Are they leading to some ancient ruins, or to certain doom?

Stories & Myths
All of these rumours and stories are told to visitors, but all are exaggerations and tall tales passed around by the locals.

The Patreon-exclusive 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 12,900 x 16,500 pixels (43 x 55 squares). To use this with most VTTs you would need to resize the squares to 100 pixels (for 5′ squares) - so resizing the image to 4,300 x 5,500 pixels.