The Cat, the Witch, and the Auction: A Fairy Tale D&D One-Shot for 2-3 Players

Looking for a fairy tale D&D one-shot that runs in a single evening, works for small groups, and delivers a complete adventure with whimsy and wonder instead of grimdark gravitas? The Cat, the Witch, and the Auction is a D&D 5th Edition adventure designed for 2-3 players at levels 2-3, built around a deceptively simple premise: a black cat slips through your tavern door at moonrise, drops a silver locket at your feet, and asks to be petted. Touch him — and you shrink to mouse-size. The cat needs you, urgently, to save the witch he serves before the auctioneer’s gavel falls on Lot Thirteen.

This is whimsical fantasy with weight. The fae are not villains. The witch is sympathetic. The cat is a beloved companion, not a tool. And the auction at the climax is a branching set-piece where the players’ choices — across roleplay, combat, leverage, alliances, and the secret carried in the locket — actually shape how the night ends.

A Fairy Tale D&D One-Shot Built for Small Tables

Most published D&D adventures assume a party of four to five characters. When you run them with two or three players, the math falls apart — encounters become deadly, social scenes thin out, and the DM ends up rebalancing on the fly. The Cat, the Witch, and the Auction is built natively for 2-3 players. No scaling tables. No rebalancing on the spot. The encounter math, the bidding economy, the climactic disruption tools — all calibrated for small groups from the ground up.

Two-hour to three-hour runtime puts the adventure in single-session range for most tables. The structure is tight, the pacing is brisk, and the climax has theatrical flourish without bogging down. If you have an evening and a small group, you have everything you need to run it.

A Whimsical D&D Adventure Where the Players Shrink to Mouse-Size

The mechanic at the heart of this adventure is the scale shift. When the players touch the cat, they shrink. From that point on, the entire garden becomes a vast and dangerous landscape — tall grass blades tower like trees, lanterns hanging from twigs glow like distant suns, and a passing magpie becomes a dragon overhead. Mouse-scale wonder is the adventure’s signature, and it permeates every encounter.

The party rides the cat across this fae-touched garden, choosing two of four possible paths through Acts Two and Three: a hedgerow ambush at a beetle merchant’s overturned cart; a frantic defense of a mole bookkeeper’s archive against giant silverfish; the rescue of a frog noble from a reed cage at the pond’s edge; or the siege of an old tool shed under attack by fae-corrupted wasps and a hunting shrike.

Each path delivers a tool the party will need at the auction climax. None of the paths is mandatory. None is missable. The choice is yours, and the consequences carry forward into the final act.

Soot, the Witch’s Familiar

The black cat — his name is Soot — is the emotional anchor of the adventure. He never speaks, never betrays, and never becomes the antagonist. He communicates through purrs, telepathic flashes, and meaningful looks. The party rides him across the garden and fights alongside him in every encounter. Once per round in combat, a player points at a target, and the DM rolls Soot’s bap. He is consistent, predictable, and beloved by the table by the end of Act One. He is not a tool. He is your friend.

How the Auction Climax Works in This D&D One-Shot

The auction itself is the centerpiece of the adventure — and the most theatrical encounter of the night. The party enters a silk pavilion lit by hanging lanterns, finds their seats, and watches as flamboyant fae auctioneer Master Thistleburr calls cottage lots one by one. The witch is Lot Thirteen. The opening bid is more than the party can afford. They will not win the witch by spending alone.

Disruption is the path. Bidding is supported by a Charisma-check mechanic where Persuasion, Deception, and Intimidation all matter against named bidders, with target DCs scaled to each opponent’s personality. But bidding alone cannot save the witch. Six different disruption plays are available depending on what the party gathered in the earlier acts: a vanity-cracking letter, a bottled laugh that paralyzes the room, a Frog-Song reed that loops Thistleburr’s last words, a First-Frost Leaf that forces him to speak truthfully, the alliance of Lord Brimble of Reedmere, and the secret carried in the silver locket the cat handed them in the very first scene.

Combinations are stronger than single plays. Combat is available, but it is the harder ending — and the adventure clearly tells you so. The renegotiated-pact ending closes the adventure with a treaty rather than a body count. The combat ending closes it with consequences. Both are valid. Neither is forced.

Four Ready-Made Characters for a Quick Start

The adventure includes four pre-generated characters at level 2, sized to fit on two facing 6-by-9 pages each so they can be photocopied or printed for individual players. The party is balanced for 2-3 players — pick any two or three for a complete table, or use all four for a four-player session. Each character is fairy-tale flavoured but not a character from any specific tale: Brindle Hartshorn the halfling druid (the hedge witch’s apprentice), Sage Wickwillow the half-elf bard (the tale-keeper), Tomas Ferncloak the human fighter (the deserter from the king’s third infantry), and Pip Underbough the gnome rogue (the third son with everything to prove). At least one Charisma-built character is recommended for the auction climax.

What’s Inside This Fairy Tale D&D Adventure

• Complete D&D 5th Edition one-shot for 2-3 players, levels 2-3
• Designed to run in a single 2-to-3-hour session
• Four-act structure with a branching path system
• 8 detailed black-and-white battle maps with grid overlay
• 12 fully-statted creatures and NPCs — no flipping to other books
• 4 pre-generated characters on photocopiable two-page sheets
• 6 alternate opening hooks for slotting into any campaign
• 8 What If? scenarios for handling player surprises
• An epilogue with multiple endings and long-term consequences
• 6 campaign hooks for continuing the adventure into a longer arc
• No prep required — read it, run it, ready tonight

Perfect for Small Group D&D Tables

• DMs running 2-3 players who need adventures balanced natively for that size, not scaled-down party-of-five modules
• Tables looking for whimsical fantasy without grimdark, body horror, or excessive moral weight
• Anyone who wants a one-shot that respects player agency at the climax
• Sessions where you want meaningful roleplay and combat in the same evening
• DMs who like fae-flavored fairy tales but don’t want a Brothers Grimm body count
• Anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to ride a cat into adventure

About the Ready Adventure Series

The Ready Adventure Series from Anvil N Ink Publishing is a growing line of zero-prep one-shots designed specifically for 2-3 players. Every adventure runs in 2-to-3 hours, requires no rebalancing for small groups, and is built to drop straight into your campaign or run as a standalone session. Other titles span heists, mysteries, prison breaks, gothic horror, shipwreck survival, holiday-themed sieges, and more — a wide tonal range under one structural approach.

Run This Fairy Tale D&D One-Shot Tonight

If you have a Friday night, two or three players, and four hours blocked off, you have everything you need. The Cat, the Witch, and the Auction is ready to run as soon as you open the cover. The maps are ready. The stat blocks are inline. The pre-generated characters are sized to fit on photocopiable spreads. The opening hook works in any campaign. The endings are yours to shape with your players at the table.

Pet the cat. Save the witch. Outbid the fae.

A whimsical fairy tale D&D one-shot for the table that wants wonder, weight, and a black cat at the door at moonrise.