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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 6899195" data-attributes="member: 786">The Devilish Influences - Merisal's Schemes[h1]Death at the Council[/h1]This adventure is intended to be run just after the First Council, while the characters are in Waterdeep reporting on the results of their first mission.When the Cult of the Dragon contacted the devils of the hells for their aid, the Duchess Zariel arranged for Merisal to answer their summons and aid them.[h2]Merisal's Cover[/h2]Merisal has assumed the form of a female minstrel, and joined a band of other female minstrels, who are extremely popular with the richer patrons and nobility in Waterdeep. To include a number of the senior aides and functionaries of the Alliance Council.In her cover form, Merisal is a half-elven minstrel/harpist named Perral. Her bandmates are Meliranna, a singer/drummer, and Vestila, a lutist/flautist. Perral is blonde and buxom, Meliranna is brunette and athletic, and Vestila is red-haired, tall and slender. All are extremely beautiful, flirtatious, and skilled performers. They consciously chose to associate together to widen their appeal. Each have their dedicated admirers. Perral's admirer is a Paladin of Lathander, and a member of the Order of the Gauntlet, name Garalt. Meliranna strings along three admirers - a minor noble of Lord Neverember's court and Captain of the Waterdeep Guard, Lord Athil du Hornkest, Hirst, squire to Sir Isteval, and Badtholem, apprentice to Lord Hornblade. And Vestila has two - Yvenne, a maid at the Waterdhavian Palace, and Delliana Silvermist, a notable Waterdhavian fiancier.[h3]Merisal's Dupes[/h3][sblock]<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Badtholem, a Commoner</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Dark Doug, an Assassin</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Delliana Silvermist, a Noble</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Garalt, a Knight</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Hirst, a Guard</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Lord Athil du Hornkest, a Noble</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Meliranna, a Doppleganger</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Vestilia, a Commoner</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Yvenne, a Commoner [/sblock] [h2]A Herring's Spy[/h2] Delliana Silvermist is using Yvenne to gather inside information on the Alliance's logistical needs, so she can negotiate better deals with the Council. In addition to their mutual connection through Vestilia, Delliana has addicted Yvenne to a drug that only she can supply. The drug is an aphrodisiac derived from certain fiendish plants. Delliana was in turn, introduced to the drug by Merisal disguised as Vestilia, who also introduced Delliana to an actual supplier from Skullport. Vestilia is also prone to using other artificial enhancers, and the supplier is also her normal supplier. The supplier (Dark Doug) actually gets his actual supply from Merisal in the guise of a female drow, who he knows as the Lady Theloma. If the characters track Lady Theloma, they find her house, staffed only by an old gender-indeterminate housekeeper (Merisal again), who says she doesn't know where her employer goes, but she's sure that the house isn't Lady Theloma's, and that Lady Theloma is almost certiainly not what or who she appears to be. The housekeeper doesn't care. The gold is real, even if her employer isn't, and she's careful to make sure that's *all* she knows. All of this is Merisal just setting up a smoke-screen, and corrupting mortals for fun. After her initial setup, Merisal's entire involvement is just in the drug re-supply. She's just been letting all involved do as they like. Nor has she charmed anyone - it's just been good old-fashioned seduction. [h3]Quest: An Unpickled Herring[/h3] [sblock] Quest Reward: 2500 XP. If the characters are integral in breaking Yvenne of her addiction, she is capable of recounting to the players that she was always a little confused by Vestilia - she was wildly inconsistent in her behavior, and sometimes, she'd swear she caught Vestilia using one of Perral's gestures or turns of phrases. She always wrote it off as the drugs or Vestilia's long friendship with Perral. Award the listed XP, and increase the character's reputation with the Emerald Enclave by 1. [/sblock] [h3]Quest: A Line Unwound[/h3] [sblock] Quest Reward: 3900 XP If the characters fully investigate this line AND they conclude or suspect that none of Delliana, Yvenne, or Vestilia are Merisal's disguise award the XP listed above. If the characters conclude that the Housekeeper is Lady Theloma, award half the listed XP, or the full XP if they actually force the housekeeper to flee, her deception revealed. [/sblock] [h2]A Smoked Herring[/h2] Meliranna is a doppleganger. She is not engaged in any plots. She's (It's) just trying to breed, and Meliranna's role is well-suited to this. The doppleganger is completely innocent of all of Merisal's plots. [h3]Quest: An Unsmoked Herring[/h3] [sblock] Quest Reward: 700 XP. If the characters prove Melirana's innocence, or recruit her as a spy, award the XP as above. Also, increase the character's reputation with Lord Neverember by 1. [/sblock] [h2]Just a Hint of Herring[/h2] If the characters investigate Perral, they can discover that in addition to her minstrelry and harping, she also has a reputation as a petty thief. The most she's ever stolen though is only enough to get her escorted out of town. She's also widely known as a troublemaker, and a card shark. Merisal established her cover some months back, arriving in a ship at Baldur's Gate, then traveling a winding route through the Heartlands to Waterdeep. If the characters spend the time and effort, including an in-person visit to Baldur's Gate, they can reveal Perral to be a false cover. Merisal's real nature however, is still concealed. By the end of this, however, Badtholem will have already investigated Lord Athil, and both corpses will be long past the time limit for speak with dead. [h2]Not a Herring[/h2] Merisal's actual effort is for much higher stakes. Using Vestilia's form, she's seduced Lord Athil, and worked a few blackmail-able events into the seduction as well. She hasn't concealed her connection to the Cult, nor the fact that she is a shape-changer. She is using Lord Athil ruthlessly and recklessly to gain the Council's secrets. She has even had some minor success in her plan - Lord Athil isn't particularly sneaky, and a number of people have noticed a change in his behavior. The characters can detect Lord Athil's nervousness and guilt easily (DC 12 Insight check, passive). Likewise, tracking him to a rendevous is almost trivial. In fact, if the characters don't get suspicious on their own, Badtholem tracks down, and confronts Lord Athil the night of the last Council briefing, just before the characters would leave for their second mission. If this happens, Lord Athil's and Badtholem's absences are noted the following morning, and news of their deaths is reported to the council. If the characters investigate, they can obtain the bodies to question using speak with dead, or they might use commune to discover the spy. Other likely questions for Batholem:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Why did you follow Lord Athil? I was jealous.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What do you think of Vestilia? Glad that my beauty is innocent of being a spy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Were you aware that Meliranna is a doppleganger? My Meliranna? I assure you, she is not, cannot be, a doppleganger. None such could pass the inspection I gave her.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What do you think of Perral? A lesser supporting light to my Meliranna's star.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Who do you think the shapechanger/succubus/erinyes is masquerading as? Vestilia. Her corrupt nature betrays her. I saw the debauchery she engages in. No pure maiden she.</li> </ul> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Who was she? I don't know. At first I thought her Vestilia, but after I discovered her shapechanging, I noticed Vestilia dining with Yvenne. And I saw Meliranna in the streets while I was out walking with Her. And met Perral in the market when all three of us stopped to smell the flowers at a cart. So I don't know - all my obvious suspects are false.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What did you reveal to her? (Lord Athil recounts the briefing information giving by the Lady Harper and the party.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Did you know Meliranna is a doppleganger? (Lord Athil looks confused.) But I already told you she isn't the shapechanger. For one, I'm pretty sure the horns and wings indict her as a fiend of some kind. Wait. You mean the real Meliranna was a doppleganger as well? (Lord Athil laughs uproariously.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What do you think of Perral and Vestilia? Never trust Perral in a card game. But given her lover's a paladin of Torm, I'm pretty sure she's not a fiend. As for Vestilia, I'm afraid the poor girl has gotten into something that will be the end of her.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Where were the Cult Rituals held?  In a seedy brothel in the South Ward. I don't remember where though. Most of my attention was on Her, not where we were going.</li> </ul> [h2]Catching a Fish[/h2] If the characters investigate Lord Athil before Badtholem does, they walk into a scene carefully prepared by Merisal. Carefully hidden in a concealed alcove (Perception DC 21), she cast a Major Image just before Lord Athil enters the room, with an image of her in her drow form pacing about the room. Thanks to her scrying, she knows the characters are nearby, so if she can she times things so Athil is giving her a satchel containing the documents just as the characters burst into the room. She then proceeds to do a number of things, as soon as she can. She casts Mass Suggestion ("Preserve your honor and fight to the Death. Death before Dishonor.") on Lord Athil and as many other characters as she can (Lord Athil voluntarily fails his save). She changes her illusory self to appear as one of Bel's erinyes, as if an alter self spell failed. Then she Teleports herself and the satchel away to a safe place, dropping the illusion, and leaving Lord Athil to the mercy of the party. [h3]Mersial herself[/h3] [sblock] Merisal, a Succubus Bard 14, CR 7 Merisal has laced her clothing with thread made on Celestia, and wears a perfume made from celestial flowers. Together, this prevents her from registering as a fiend as long as she is shapechanged. She does not register as a celestial, just not a fiend. [/sblock] [h2]Outcome[/h2] Merisal has gone to great lengths to both reveal her presence, conceal her identity, and to weaken and corrupt as many people as she can, while still retaining her freedom. If, despite her work and the long odds facing them, the characters manage to definitively discover that she was Perral, that her usename is Merisal, or that she is a succubus, award XP as if she had been defeated in combat. (2900 XP) Regardless, if the characters have an opportunity to interrogate Lord Athil or witness the satchel exchange, they earn 1800 XP. [h1]Mole or Double Agent?[/h1] If the characters have managed to turn Talis or some other cultist, intelligence provided by them, lead to a mission by the alliance, which turned out to be a trap/ambush. However, the ambush/trap was set up for the mission as planned, not as executed, and Talis (or whomever) is still responding. Is there a mole in the council? Is Talis a double-agent? Has she been compromised? Turned? This is intended to be run as the sequel to "Death at the Council", during the Rise of Tiamat. [h1]The Wyrm's Wyrd[/h1] If she can, Merisal will try to fool the party into performing the assualt on the Vault of Fate (where the Wyrm's Wyrd is stored). If she can't set this up herself, she'll "betray" Lord Volmer's efforts. The two agents do know of each other, and will work together. If the party is not allied with Volmer, she'll tell the party that one of Asmodeus' own agents has arranged for the Vault of Fate to be assaulted, and that the Vault's protections must not, for the Good of All, be broken by the forces of Evil. She'll give the party a magic item intended to enhance the Vault's protections which should prevent Volmer's assault (or any other such efforts) from succeeding. The item will do exactly that - as long as no-one uses a special mystical key to deactivate it, collapsing the wards. Merisal doesn't have the key, nor does she know where it is or how to use it. If the party is allied with Volmer, she'll try to get them to distrust him deeply enough to install the Ward Enhancer. If she has to work on her own, as the party is opposed to Volmer, she'll try to get the party to believe that the Ward Enhancer was stolen from the Vault's defenses, and needs to be returned. She's willing to go to great length's to get the party to do what she needs, including letting them capture her, and "revealing" her plans. She's not worried about dying, she knows she'll reform back in her home.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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