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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MTR" data-source="post: 548077" data-attributes="member: 6491">What the heckI did one of these for the heck of it, using one of the ingredient sets from one of the quarterfinals on the other thread.  It's not very fleshed out in places to keep the word count down.  I'd love a critique or even a competitor....Ingredients     Secret Journey     Message in a Bottle     Ghost     Female Halfing Wizard     Doubtful Vampire     One Night Show  FINAL ACT      This adventure assumes the party has developed at least bit of a reputation but isn't so famous that their faces are known in every town; between 4th and 6th levels would work well.  A party interested in role playing, investigation and subtlety should enjoy it more than a kick-down-the-door group.  Since the enemies in this adventure are NPCs the GM can easily adjust the challenge by adjusting their levels. About a century ago the theater in a nearby town was run by a man named Ockler.  He was moderately insane, obsessed with theater and believed nobody could do it right but him.  As he grew older he became more and more worried about the terrible state he was convinced the theater would fall into without his "genius" so he took what seemed to him to be a logical step: he arranged to become a vampire.  He carefully hid his casket in a secret area in the theater basement and used his domination powers to make sure the theater continued to run the way he wished.  The theater developed a reputation for being haunted but otherwise prospered.Over time the pressures of being undead have eaten away further at Ockler's sanity.  In the latest play a new actress, Sarchi was given the lead role - her first big part.  A bundle of nerves, she simply fell apart during the final rehearsal.  Ockler, unable to control his rage, strangled her to death in her dressing room afterwards.The part is now being played by Dorina, who might do a passable job - if she had had more rehearsal and wasn't spooked by the haunting.  Yes, Sarchi has risen as a ghost and is causing a variety of backstage "accidents," mostly directed at her understudy.  The entire theater is terrified but the current director, Lethia (who is secretly dominated by Ockler), insists that nothing is happening and everybody behave as normal.  Lethia is a female halfling specializing in illusions and, in addition to running the theater, provides special effects.  The resulting performances are very poor and Ockler is going out of his mind.  He's wondering why he was so driven to kill Sarchi and suspects (correctly) that he is slipping further into madness and evil.At this point another actress, Althea, can't take it any more.  She's utterly terrified of Lethia but still, having heard of the party's reputation, has secretly traveled to find them and will do what she must to convince them to end the hauntings.  She's so afraid of Lethia that she keeps herself fully cloaked and covered at all times and won't speak to the party in a public place.  This is where the adventure starts for the party and the GM must find an appropriate hook for his group.  A bard PC may very well have ties to that theater and even have performed in it.  Sarchi's family is moderately important and may have posted a reward for their daughter's murder.  Althea can tell the PCs tales of how the theater ghost has been stealing for decades; certainly no matter how many tickets they sell the theater never seems to have any money.  And finally Althea is a very pretty young lady with considerable charm who may be able to convince the party to help her out of the goodness of their <ahem> hearts.Assuming Althea persuades them to help she won't even travel back with PCs.  If the party wants to communicate with her they'll have to go to the tavern where she works (her "day job").  When she sees them she'll bring an extra wine bottle with their order.  They can exchange messages using the empty bottle.  If the PCs find this overly romantic and melodramatic, well, that's Althea for you.From here the GM must play things by ear.  Presumably the PCs try to investigate, either by walking in openly or by getting jobs at the theater.  While they try to figure out who committed the murder Lethia and Ockler will try to drive them off with "accidents," ghost is continues to haunt, and most of the cast is terrified out of their minds.  For extra confusion the GM could add some cast members who have a motive either for the murder or to fake the hauntings.Since hacking apart a ghost simply means it reforms in a few days the PCs are going to have to do something clever to lay Sarchi to rest.  If they can get her to manifest and communicate peacefully they'll learn she wants to perform her role in the play - which should make for a very special one night show.  If the GM is feeling mean it has to be in front of a full house.  As you might expect, the rest of the cast will need some persuading to go along with this and getting customers to sit all the way through may take some creativity.  Lethia and Ockler will be dead set against anything the PCs want to do and are likely to end up attacking them outright.  However, it isn't impossible that both could be settled by roleplaying; Lethia by breaking Ockler's domination and (less likely) Ockler by convincing him he's now hurting the theater.  Of course your PCs may not want to let a vampire go.  Then you can have a big show down as Ockler and Lethia try to wreak the set or kill cast members minutes before the curtain goes up on the special performance to lay the ghost to rest.The GM can plausibly give Ockler had a treasure hoard (he believed any money the theater made was due to him) or was penniless (he had no real use for money).  PCs should be given XPs for non-violent solutions for Sarchi, Lethia and Ockler.  Possible further adventures could involve romance with Althea or hunting down Ockler if he escapes.</blockquote>

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