The Hearthside Café

Tressym's Hearth · the last two weeks of fall · Zinlynn Moonharvest, live

Placeholder art — to be replaced with fiancée's illustration.

The Place

Pine smoke and fresh coffee. The Hearthside is the town's living room — packed wall to wall on show nights, the kind of room where the loggers still in their flannels and the old folks in the corner booths all go quiet together when the music starts.

Read aloudPine smoke and fresh coffee. The Hearthside Cafe is packed wall to wall — loggers still in their flannels, kids home from the prep crews, old folks claiming the corner booths like it's their job. On the little stage, a tall elf woman tunes a guitar strung with crystal wire, and the whole room goes a little quieter. Outside, the first real cold of the year presses against the windows, and somewhere above the rooftops, something with wings glides past the glass.

🎵 The Room's Sound

Zinlynn's set for the café. Open it in a new tab and let it play under the scene.

▶ Zinlynn's Café Playlist ↗

The Show

Zinlynn plays her set. During one song, a tressym lands on the windowsill outside and listens, head tilted, until the final note — then it sneezes and flaps off. The room laughs. Tressym love her music. Everyone in town knows it.

Why are you here tonight? Have each player choose their own reason — it answers the question their background posed: why is your character coming to see this show?

Who's Here

Everyone the party can see and talk to right now. Flip to DM view for what they're hiding. Portraits are placeholders until the real art lands.

Barista

Dem Cracker

18-year-old orc, 5'9" and slight for her kind, straight black hair in a ponytail, apron dusted with flour. Shy, earnest, working hard — still deciding about college.

Right now: wiping down the counter between rushes, watching the door. She noticed the newcomers the moment they walked in.

DM: Her parents were born on the transcantine side — first of their line to settle. If the party refuses Zinlynn's invite, Dem shyly presses a hand-drawn map into someone's hand: "everyone's going, it's — it's really fun, promise."

Merch table

Michael Recordsetter

Human, 30s, chubby and bearded, scraggly black hair under a band sports-team cap, Recordsetter Records hoodie. Utterly chill. Does everything for Zinlynn — gear, van, merch, recording. She handles booking.

Right now: leaning on the merch table, selling crystal demo discs (2 gp). If a PC buys one, he asks them to Zelle him — revealing his full name: Michael Recordsetter.

DM: Ask about the name and he'll tell you about his great-great-great-grandmother, who set a record. The record changes every time he's asked (d10 table in the one-shot). Backup invite: if Dem's map fails, Michael bellows the party invite across the entire café, to everyone's amusement.

On stage

Zinlynn Moonharvest

Elf singer-songwriter — this world's Norah Jones. Looks mid-20s, much older; 6'4", poetic and wise. Hugely popular in Tressym Bay, but an outsider: a touring act, and touring acts take money.

Right now: mid-set, pretending not to notice how closely the room is listening. After the show she'll make her way to the party's table — warm, poetic, a little tired in the way of people who have seen a lot of road.

DM — do not reveal yet: Years ago, after a show in Port Labienus, a transcantine migrant pressed a ferry token into her hand and whispered "they're still building" before vanishing into the crowd. She's carried it ever since and never told a soul what she suspects it means.

Uninvited regular

The Ghost

Nobody invited him. Nobody ever does. He just… shows up wherever people gather, hovering near the pastry case, socially awkward, saying little.

Right now: by the pastry case, watching the stage. Trying very hard to look like he's supposed to be here.

DM: No backstory. There is nothing to find — ever. His dancing is a surprise for later; nothing about it should leak tonight.

Café tressym

Kitten

Tortoiseshell tressym with a beautiful eye shape. She belongs to the café the way the good armchair does — always around, usually asleep somewhere warm.

Right now: curled on a windowsill, one eye open, watching the room.

DM: Petting Kitten takes a DC 13 Animal Handling check. On a failure she bites for 1 piercing damage.

The Invite

After the show, Zinlynn makes her way to the party's table — Dem mentioned the newcomers, or Michael pointed them out.

Zinlynn"You lot look like you could use one good night before the cold sets in," she says. "We're doing the fall send-off out at the old clearing past Something Hollow. Bonfire, music, no cover. Come as you are — bring a blanket."

DM — if they refuse

Dem shyly presses a hand-drawn map into someone's hand.
Michael bellows the invite across the entire café, to everyone's amusement.

DM Notes DM ONLY

Scene purpose This scene is all roleplay — no combat, no checks that matter. Its jobs: (1) each PC answers why am I at this show?, (2) the party gets invited to the clearing, (3) the table falls in love with Tressym's Hearth before anything happens to it.

After the café The characters head home to get ready. Go around the table: how does your character prepare for a night out? What do they wear, bring, hope for? Pure roleplay — then load up The Old Clearing page.