Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 5203742" data-attributes="member: 5948">The Terrible Last Day of Chih Xuan(I am now two for two with fruit-related ingredients in Iron DM competitions.  What’s up with that?)     A mid-level D&D adventure, probably best used by a group that routinely refers to mariliths as ‘mariliths’ rather than ‘type V demons’.  Some Oriental Adventures-style material is used, though you can probably get away perfectly well with giving Chinese names to perfectly normal PHB characters.  I’ve used 3rd edition terminology and rules here and there because that's what I know, but it should be perfectly well adaptable to any edition.  In 3e/3.5e, this is an 8th level adventure (because PCs having Dispel Evil could use it in lieu of the final scene, and because transportation magic like Wind Walk removes the travel component too easily)     Summary:     A venerable, renowned plum orchard in a high, secret niche in the mountains, equally legendary for both the quality of its fruit and its beauty, acts as a portal between a small medieval kingdom and a great Oriental empire due to the incredible artwork depicting it created by the ancient painter Chih Xuan.  When the produce of the orchard begins to be known as supernaturally high in quality, a the long-running plot of a supposedly vanquished demon approaches fruition.        Background     Beauty and fame have power.  A place of particular beauty and fame has power.  And a place of power attracts - or to put it more precisely, generates – powerful spirits.     The Orchard of Chih Xuan is one of these places.  Isolated far in the mountains on the outskirts of the one-town kingdom  of Moravsky, it is the home of painter Chih Xuan, and his main topic of artistic inspiration for 60 years.  Chih Xuan hailed originally from the far-off Empire of the Lotus, but spent much of his youth traveling the world.  On arriving at the then-unnamed Orchard, he said that he had finally found a place of perfect beauty, and need wander no more.       The Orchard is visually beautiful – a small, high-altitude valley ringed with picturesque mountains down which cascade crystal-clear waterfalls.  Lush and brilliant greenery carpets the ground, swallows flit by and pure white cranes stilt through limpid pools, while bright-eyed foxes twine through the reeds.  The Orchard is dominated by its plum trees, dozens of them, seemingly growing naturally wild all through the valley.  Chih Xuan dwells in a small, simple hut a small way up the mountain track (so as not to despoil the view with the trappings of humanity), and lives on plums, wild honey, ki and fresh air while spending all of this days painting.     Chih Xuan is nearing the end of his days, and the Orchard senses it.  It has grown since Chih Xuan moved in – given shape by his serenity, and given power by the renown and admiration devoted to his paintings.  It already begins to reflect him.  His childhood memories of the plum orchards back home have generated a subtle and powerful linkage between the Orchard and those of the Chih estates back home.  Chih Xuan himself has not really noticed this, but visitors from either end have, at various times, discovered that wandering in one orchard for long enough means that you will find yourself in the other.  Travellers have passed both ways along the ‘Road of Blossoms’, ambassadors have been exchanged between Moravsky and the Lotus Empire, and while the road from Moravsky to the Orchard is too perilous to allow large-scale trade (and since the beauty of the Orchard is too revered in the Imperial Court for anyone to risk damaging it with high-volume traffic), ideas, knowledge, and culture is beginning to trickle across the gap in both directions.     The other effect of the Orchard’s increasing supernatural aura is that its produce is becoming truly exceptional.  The Orchard’s plums, for instance, not only taste truly spectacular (+10 to all profession (cook) attempts), but can, when eaten fresh from the tree or prepared with sufficient skill, cure illnesses and remove other baleful influences.  A naturally fallen branch, with blossom still on it, placed on a mantle will stay fresh for a year and a day, and will promote health, harmony, and fertility in one’s home.  A young woman who wears a fresh blossom worn behind the ear will meet her true love that day.     With his son’s marriage imminent, the King of Moravsky depatches the three most famous heroes of the kingdom, Czevak, Vadasz, and Varkuda, to personally retrieve a blossoming bough for the newlyweds’ mantel, and plums to make plum dumplings at the wedding feast, the national dish of Moravsky and one which must be served for the wedding to go ahead.  These three noble-born swashbucklers won glory two year ago when they stood alone against an orc horde on the Krumlov Bridge, holding off thousands long enough for the bridge to be demolished, marooning the orcs on the wrong side of the river and allowing the Royal Cavalry to be assembled.  The orcs were led by the demon Rukxillana, who Czevek slew in hand to hand combat just before the bridge fell.  Or so the story goes.  Mariliths are impeccable planners and strategists, and Rukxillana’s ‘defeat’ was entirely orchestrated by her.  She allowed her body to dissipate, possessed Czevak, and has been living in his body ever since, shielded from detection magic, waiting for this exact time.          Hook:     The PCs can be drawn into the adventure by the murder of the sage Trebova, who they may have wished to consult regarding some other matter.       Or they may be dispatched to Moravsky from their home realms, as the fame of the Orchard’s plums spreads far and wide, and nobles, royalty, and the very rich vie to serve them at weddings and other feasts, and are willing to pay well.  On arriving in Moravsky, they find the local plum produce quite tasty but hardly exceptional, and upon asking around will reveal that only Chih Xuan’s plums live up to the more extravagant rumours of excellence.       Or, for if a PC or allied NPC might seek to take advantage of the.magical powers of the Orchard’s produce.  The market square and back alleys of Moravsky are lined with shonky stalls selling plums and bits of plum tree as lucky charms and cure-alls for various ailments, 99% of which are perfectly mundane vegetation, so the PCs would be best advised to go to the source.     Or the PCs (as PCs are wont to do) just may be miserably, joylessly paranoid and decide that when supernaturally excellent plums and plum blossoms show up in Moravsky, something bad must be happening and that they’d better sort it out before it gets worse…        Blood on a Book     It is not easy to get to the Orchard.  The King of Moravsky is fully aware of the Orchard’s importance to his kingdom, and strongly discourages people from tromping up their willy-nilly.     A limited number of writs of passage are available, assigned by the King’s chamberlain.  He takes a rather rustic attitude to his duties, and if the PCs can’t convince him through diplomatic means that they should be granted a writ, then he is amenable to bribery.  At this level, PCs should be able to manage that.  Once the PCs have a writ, he will refer them to Trebova, the nearest thing that Moravsky has to a sage, who dwells in a silent clocktower in town.  Trebova is, among other things, the court geographer, and is the only place that the PCs will be able to obtain an accurate map of the maze of mountain paths that lead to the Orchard.     Trebova’s clocktower is dark and quiet, and nobody answers the door.  Nobody in the neighbourhood has seen Trebova for days.  The last ones to see him were Czevak, Vadasz, and Varkuda, and they headed up the mountain days ago.  Once the PCs force the issue (or get the watch to do so), they will find Trebova dead, face down in a book.  His lower jaw and tongue have been brutally ripped off and are nowhere to be found (Rukxillana, in Czevak’s body, ate them while he bled to death in front of her) so he cannot respond to Speak With Dead spells.  The books on his table, though largely destroyed by the blood, are mostly tales and histories of Czevak, Vadasz, Varkuda, and the Battle of the Bridge, although the very top volume is a very old black-bound volume on demonology.  Scrawled in blood on the unstained portion of the desk, is a large letter ‘V’, underlined with a long smear.  This is an attempt on Trebova’s part to warn of the sort of demon that still walks in Moravsky.  ‘Marilith’ is the more common term, but Trebova is not particularly an expert in demons (which is why it took him so long to become suspicious of Czevak after the Battle of the Bridge) and only had the terminology in his rather antiquated book to fall back on.  Anyone who reads the book will notice that it uses the archaic labeling system, and may make the connection.  Rather poignantly, Trebova actually got as far as writing ‘Czevak - Rukxi’ underneath his ‘V’ before he died, but Rukxillana smeared this into illegibility, leaving the ‘V’ intact because it amuses her to have suspicion fall on Czevak’s companions.       The PCs can find maps to the Orchard in Trebova’s study.  A ‘mending’ spell will strip enough blood off the open face of the book to reveal that Trebova was reading about possession when he died.  A very close examination of the book will find plum dumpling crumbs in the page detailing Type V demons - Trebova spent a lot of time pondering this page, and dropped some of his dinner in here.     A Walk in the Wilderness     The Orchard is several days travel out of Moravsky proper, up a winding and at times treacherous mountain pass.  The mountains are known for their fey and nature spirits – oreads, elementals, sylphs, and stranger things.  It is customary to offer a libation of plum wine (poured on the ground) to the fey of the mountains each morning while making a journey to the Orchard.  If the PCs do not do this at the start of the path, the soldiers on duty at the last watchpost will warn them of the custom, then attempt to sell them very overpriced wine (500gp) while claiming it is the ‘best’ for the purpose.  Should they go ahead without making the offering, they will be the subject of increasingly nasty pranks until they do so, or turn back.  After the PCs make the offering, they should meet (around the next bend, stepping from behind a tree, etc) a small and relatively inoffensive fey creature, who toasts them with a stone cup and drinks deeply before disappearing.  The PCs will catch up with Czevak and his party the day before arriving at the Orchard – Czevak’s group moves rather slowly, as it is burdened down with Kladno the royal chef (here to make sure only the best plums go to the wedding banquet), bearers to carry the plums and bough down the mountain, and the personal servants, effects, wardrobes, and valets of Vadasz and Varkuda.  The royal group (particularly Vadasz and Varkuda) will welcome company (particularly if it comes in the form of people who appear noble or civilized, or attractive females of any variety), will offer plum wine and fine food, and will invite the PCs to travel with them the rest of the way.  Kladno tries his best to be welcoming (particularly if the PCs show an interest in cooking), but he is quite overweight and is finding the journey very difficult, so retires early.  The servants pretty much do as they are told.  Czevak is quiet and focused, very much the disciplined organizer of the expedition.  He does not drink, and will generally only speak if spoken to – even then he will confine himself to direct answers to direct questions regarding the trip to the Orchard.       The PCs should see Vadasz and Varkuda good-naturedly teasing Czevak, encouraging him to loosen up and have a drink like the good old days.  He will refuse, not overly politely, and the other two will (in loud, joshing voices that he is intended to overhear) will tell the PCs how their old friend is so *serious* these days, how he has no time for fun any more, how he never joins them at the tavern like he used to, and how he is so lost to decent civilized behaviour that Varkuda actually has to accompany him to the tailor or suffer the humiliation of having his great friend walking around in last year’s styles.  Vadasz and Varkuda are dim, cheerful twits, who will endlessly gossip, brag, and flirt if given any encouragement whatsoever.  In particular they love to talk about the Battle of the Bridge, and how the demon ‘disappeared into nothing!’ when Czevak sunk his blade into her.  Should the PCs bring up the death of Trebova, they will be genuinely shocked and grieved for a few moments, and then return to their previous gaiety.  Not through callousness, just through an irrepressible urge for fun and laughter, and complete inability to take anything seriously.  If the ‘V’ is mentioned, they will speculate wildly as to what it might mean, never considering for a moment that they might be under suspicion.       The Artist’s Apotheosis     On the morning of the last day of the trip, Czevak makes the libation.  He says he has some wine made from the plums of the Orchard itself, and to give luck to the endeavor he will use only the best on the final day.  What he actually uses is regular plum wine spiked with the juice of noxious abyssal fruits – Rukxillana is aware of the fey of the mountains, and knows that it will be easier to usurp the Orchard if they are unable to oppose her.  When the PCs see the fey this morning, he takes a swig of his wine, then his eyes cross and he keels over backward.  He doesn’t disappear, he stays where he lies.  Vadasz and Varkuda will applaud the ‘strong stuff’ and badger Czevak for a taste, but he will unsmilingly tell them that there’s none left.  On the road to the Orchard, the party will encounter dozens of fey, all unconscious with stone goblets fallen from their hands, passed-out drunk on Abyssal wine.  Some should be of significant power – sidhe, fey mountain trolls, elder elementals etc.     Once the group arrives at the Orchard, late that afternoon, they will find Chih Xuan to be very old and frail, almost translucent.  Camped a respectful distance from his hut are Jia Mei, an aged holy man of the Lotus Empire, and his husky young assistant Guo.  Chih Xuan is distant and uncommunicative, his eyes on the next world.  Jia Me will explain in a hushed, respectful whisper that the great Chih Xuan will soon pass on, and that he and his assistant are present to ensure the correct ceremonies take place, and to witness the ascension of a great man into the spirit world, as a part of the famed Orchard that he loved.  Jia Me can explain the principles behind the apotheosis that Chih Xuan will undergo, but knows nothing about Rukxillana.  Everyone should get the chance to eat a freshly picked plum, and receive whatever benefits the GM feel appropriate.  Kladno sets up a small portable stove and starts cooking up some practice plum dumplings, to decide which of the trees would provide the best fruit for the wedding meal.  Vadasz and Varkuda find blossoms, and offer them with extravagant grins to any attractive female PCs.  Czevak will feign eating, but discard the plum surreptitiously – Rukxillana knows that eating a plum would expel her from his body.       Rukxillana intends to make the Orchard a battleground, to possess Chih Xuan before his death, hijack his apotheosis, and with the power of a place spirit on top of her demonic abilities, turn the Orchard into a bloody battlefield between Moravsky and the Lotus Empire, destroying forever the growing bond between the two nations and watering the plum trees with blood.  Jia Me’s knowledge worries her, and the first chance she gets, she kills him and removes his lower jaw in the same way as she did to Trebova.     Once the body is found, suspicions will obviously run high.  Rukxillana will work as hard as she can to throw suspicion onto Vadasz or Varkuda.  She intends to goad Guo into attacking one of them, in effect ‘sanctifying’ the Orchard for her purposes with blood from a battle between the Lotus Empire and Moravsky regardless of who wins.     The PCs may by now have enough clues (behavior change after the Battle of the Bridge, not eating a plum, Trebova’s books) to suspect Czevak.  In particular, the dregs of his wineskin (if tasted) have a rank, foul aftertaste once the initial sweetness has passed, and radiate evil.  If they do Rukxillana will most likely know (her Listen check is +31, so if anyone’s talking about her, she’ll hear!), and attempt to hurry matters along.  She’ll take a quiet walk, ‘accidentally’ encountering Chih Xuan.  Then, in front of him, she will use Czevak’s own sword to hack off his own jaw, abandon Czevak’s body to bleed to death, and jump to Chih Xuan’s body, hoping that the shock of seeing the Orchard so desecrated will kill the old man and begin the apotheosis.     The PCs will hear by Chih Xuan’s brief, shocked scream and the hideous noises that Czevak makes as he thrashes to a horrible death in the lush grass.  While Rukxillana is disappointed to find that Chih Xuan’s heart doesn’t give out, there is another method of death at hand – Chih Xuan picks up Czevak’s rapiers and attacks the PCs, hoping to kill as many as she can (because she enjoys it, and because the more blood that desecrates the Orchard, the more it comes under her power), and then let the last one kill her, triggering the apotheosis.     The first thing she does, of course, is use Chih Xuan’s connection to the Orchard to make all the plums fall off the trees, since freshly picked plums could expel her from Chih Xuan’s body.  She fights using her own feats, BAB, base saves and special abilities (including spell resistance, but not natural armour), but using the physical stats of an unarmoured elderly painter.  She has full access to her spell-like abilities, though she will not use her summoning or blade barrier (she wishes to corrupt the Orchard, not overtly rule or destroy it), and she will not teleport out of the Orchard.  All the rest are fair game.     If the PCs kill Chih Xuan while Rukxillana is in control, they lose.  Rukxillana gets exactly what she wants, undergoes apotheosis to a place spirit, Moravsky and the Lotus Empire will soon be at each other’s throats, and the Orchard will be a deceptively beautiful sink of betrayal, blood and misery permanently.       The best option the PCs have is to use Kladno’s dumplings.  Windfall plums have no special powers, but a well-cooked dish of fresh plums would.  They will have to defend the cook while he finishes his work, then pin Chih Xuan and force a dumpling down his throat.  This would expel Rukxillana from Chih Xuan, and force her to slowly (a couple of minutes) revert to her corporeal form.  This of course leaves them with the problem of an angry marilith.  Fleeing is an option (a foiled Rukxillana will spend her time utterly destroying the Orchard and torturing Chih Xuan rather than chasing PCs, in the short term at least), but probably the best choice is for them to take the remaining dumplings, and feed them to the biggest, nastiest unconscious fey creatures they can find.  With the consciousness of the mountain returned, and some powerful fey to confront on their home ground, Rukxillana will eventually give up and teleport away.     Chih Xuan will die shortly afterwards, and become what he is destined to become.  Kladno will blanch at the prospect of returning to the king with no fresh plums, but as soon as he says the words, heavy and juicy fruit sprouts from the trees once more.   Ingredients:     Plum dumplings: The national dish of Moravsky, to be served at the Prince’s wedding.  Also, the dish that the PCs have to protect Kladno long enough to prepare, in order to exorcise Chih Xuan and awaken the fey.  Foppish dandy: Czevak, Vadasz, and Varkuda.  Czevak’s decreasing level of ‘foppish dandy-hood’ since the Battle of the Bridge is a clue to the fact he is no longer in control of his body.  Hungover mountain range: the spirits of the mountains, out flat on their backs after Czevak’s offering of tainted plum wine.  Type V demon: Rukxillana, the demon that seeks to pervert Chih Xuan’s apotheosis in order to create chaos and war.  The fact that Trebova the scholar uses the antiquated ‘type’ terminology in his dying note is intended as a red herring  Collapsing bridge: The battle at which Czevak defeated Rukxillana, became a great hero, and was possessed by her.  Also, more metaphorically, the bridge of communication between Moravsky and the Empire of the Lotus embodied by the Orchard of Chih Xuan, which will crumble into violence and war if Rukxillana’s plan succeeds.  Apotheosis: As death approaches for Chih Xuan, his connection to the Orchard means that he will undergo apotheosis into an eternal fey guardian of the place – unless Rukxillana hijacks the process.</blockquote>

Verification