The Goblin Grinder

The streets of Galgenbeck are littered with goblin corpses. More and more townsfolk appear afflicted with the dreaded Goblin Curse and, with such a large infestation, it's becoming difficult to figure out which one to snuff to save yourself. Not to worry — for the low cost of 40 silver, local alchemist Nagel Krat has a cure at Medickal Shoppe. Until the price rises tomorrow. And the day after that.

What's really going on: Nagel inherited the Derelict Mill from his father Urvan Krat (whom he poisoned), found inside a contraption labeled The Goblin Grinder, and built a scheme: pay gravedigger Qarg for corpses, feed them into the Grinder to make new goblins, sell a fake Goblin Cure (it only postpones symptoms) at a rising price. The Bastard, a goblin overlord made from the corpse of a torturer for unsavory royals, supervises the infestation.

Why the PCs care (d4):

1. They're afflicted with the Goblin Curse and lack funds to keep up with Nagel's prices.
2. Nagel hires them as Medickal Shoppe guards (Qarg can't keep up with broke peasants demanding cures).
3. Suspicious noble Jota Klefunheim of Klefunheim pays 200 silver (reduced by 20 each day unresolved) to figure out what's going on.
4. Worried peasant Urgrip Wikt offers a family heirloom — unknown to him, it's a Calumny Pearl (place under tongue, entirely believe the first lie told to you).

The Mill is four floors plus basement: a barricade and a cannon ready to fire on entry, an oil-laden trap floor with archer goblins, an alchemical laboratory with an Alchemical Ooze, and the Goblin Grinder itself surrounded by goblin reinforcements. Whenever PCs linger, hesitate, or spend too much time on something: Nagel makes another goblin.