Need ideas for 'Ol' Witching Days' holiday

[Ice]

I think this is the right place to post this.

I am going to be running a game and was in the process of coming up with holidays for a small town. One of the holidays is called 'Ol' Witching Days' it was set up by a local wizard to troll the local witch.

Thadius the wizard started spreading rumors that if you touch the witches hut on a certain night you will get something cool (think trick-or-treat). The gist of the situation is you have from dusk until dawn to try and touch the door of the hut. The witch has set up Obstacles to slow down contestants on the way (All non-Lethal).

Basically i need a bunch of non-lethal traps, obstacles and creatures that slow contestants down. The village is about 3 hours walk away from the witches hut. She lives next to a lake that the village is also on. their is a forest, a road, and she has plots for farming (including scarecrows)

Some ideas i have come up with are. Spider web traps in the forest, Living pumpkins that wrap would be contestants in vines. I need more layers of defense. its intended to be an open 'how do you go about this' situation so i need to plan for different angles of attack. She would have compensated for previous years winners to make it harder to win the same way twice.

I should also note the witch herself is an active part of the holiday. I have not decided on how, maybe flying around on her broom zapping fear effects at people to scare them away, or i thought she could be the last line of defense and have a spell that turns contestants into a scarecrow for the night if it hits (and a save of course).

Any thoughts or idea would greatly be appreciated!

Cheers!

[Unoriginal]

A field of plants that transform you into a newt until morning if you move through it?

Of course the witch could just let the people touch her hut one year and then they'll realize they don't get something cool.

[Ice]

Interesting. ill add it to my list.

I like to think the Witch rather enjoys the attention and the wizard does give the winner something cool. i just haven't figured out what yet hahahaha. Maybe a tour of his tower.

[Unoriginal]

He could grant the winner a Charm. They're described in the DMG.

[Son of A Lich!]

Just fishing for info here;

What do you mean by 'Witch'? Do you mean 'Hag' or wizard/druid/sorcerer who lives in seclusion?

Are the witch and wizard immortal (as far as the PCs are concerned at least)?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how fluffy is this world? Like, if evil is amidst, are they going to steal forty cakes (as much as 4 tens, and that's bad) (the 1), or are they going to hang desiccated bodies of local townsfolk to incubate horrors of beyond the outer planes until they can manifest in the material realm (the 10)? I have a feeling we're talking about a fairly fun, sit back and relax, pop and popcorn game here. Didn't want to suggest anything too far out of tone.

Is this a festival that the witch is into? Like, could she snap if boundaries were crossed? Or is she powerless to stop them? (The old Jessie and James dynamic, they want to do bad, but shucks, that Darn Pikachu and his friends keep getting in their way)

[Ice]

The Wizard and the Witch are immortal as far as normal people are concerned. The Witch is a wizard/druid/sorcerer that looks like an old croon so she lives by herself. She makes potions and cures people of ailments through... non-traditional means.

as for evil in the setting its... in the middle? The world fluctuates it has some dark undertones but for the most part its light. I intend to have it start getting darker the longer we end up playing but for the early levels i want to keep it more on the light side. perhaps their backstory will help you understand a little better. (I figure if it starts out light when a cult does start hanging people on stakes outside a village for some ritual it will have more impact)

Lets get into some of the Witch and Wizard backstory to answer your last question.

Isabella (the witch) and Thadius each where chosen. Isabella by a god of Chaos and Thadius by a God of Order (the gods are playing chess and people in the world are pieces they are both considered Bishops). They where sent to kill one another. However when the time came Isabella couldn't do it. Failing her job Isabella was cursed. The curse was two fold. First to the average viewer she looked like an old croon, second is at night she would be magically maimed (death by a thousand cuts). Thadius however fell in love with the Witch and decided to share her curse and took the maiming portion for himself. He created a tower with powerful runes that prevents himself from dying within its walls. Thus Thadius doesn't get out much and each night he suffers enough to die (but his runes prevent it). Isabella knowing that Thadius has her curse suffers from depression and was not very happy. Most of the villagers avoided her based on her looks. One day to cheer Isabella up Thadius spread the rumor of the game and a holiday was born. Isabella enjoys the holiday because she liked the human interaction and it is fun for both sides.

This holiday is one of the lighter holidays. Another one they have includes sacrifices (blood/human) to the Sahuagin that live in the lake for peace so they dont send the lakes monster to attack the villagers.

I hope that helps. I haven't really shared lore before.