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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ajanders" data-source="post: 5243464" data-attributes="member: 3271">Have a Heart, Please?Game NotesThis is a Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons adventure for characters of the low paragon tier (10th-12th level). Parties will find social and knowledge skills as important as combat power.The adventure can be adapted to any fantasy system with amoral fae and supernatural evil, such as Pathfinder or D&D 3.0/3.5.This adventure contains mature material.SynopsisA noble disappointed in love receives an invitation from a fae noble inviting him to purchase a clockwork heart, which is immune to the pangs of that emotion. The party discovers this clockwork heart contains an unpleasant surprise. The party must follow him through the strange environment of the Feywild, gathering advice and allies along the way, and convince him to give up his plan. The climax of the adventure includes a tense standoff with the fae noble and the provider of the heart, a devil with his own agenda. Dramatis PersonaeGaston Murand: A young nobleman disappointed in love.Lorene: A young woman bringing an unusual offer to Gaston.Voissand: Steward of Gaston. He hires the PC's.Menard: Master of a curiously recurring Cabaret in the Faywild.Cumulonimba Mammata: Enslaved female Djinn dancer and "Student of Love". If freed, she aids the party.Reynard: A traveling performer and Cumulonimba's master. He must be convinced to release Cumulonimba.Fey Guests at the CabaretAbelard: Undead artists who may fight or aid the party.BernardClaudeDantonUndead guests at the cabaret.Legrand, Chevre Degoutant: Leader of a troop of lewd, raunchy satyr comedians corrupted by devils. Les Chevres Degoutantes (The Filthy Goats): The followers and assistants of Legrand. They will mock and harass the party.Disguised Devilish Guests at the CabaretAbelard Faux: A devil with an agenda of his own for Gaston Murand.Abelard Faux's retainers: Various demonic muscle, used to advance Faux's agenda when trickery and deception fail.Le duc L'automne: A fay noble unwillingly enmeshed in a devilish plot. He may be convinced to aid the party.Le duc L'automne's entourage: Fay creatures that may aid or attack the party, according to the orders of their master.PrologueIt's not easy being a devil in charged with creating a kingdom of evil in the mortal realm. You have an artifact of evil that will change someone into a cambion and set them off to do evil...but someone would have to implant it in themselves willingly. How can you get someone to do that?Here's a plan: the fay noble Le duc L'automne owes you a debt. The fay traffic with mortals all the time. Give him your heart of darkness, then let him sell the thing. Not too expensively: you want to make sure someone buys it and uses it. Who exactly? Well, that's the fay's problem.It's not easy being a fay noble. When you aren't on the side of evil and aren't on the side of good and aren't on the side of the primal spirits, you wind up owing a lot of favors to everyone and having to step quickly to keep your webs of diplomacy straight. Here's a plan: Abelard Faux wants you to broker a device he's made: a clockwork heart in exchange for some gold. He's a devil, so there's probably a hook in their somewhere, but we'll sell it to a mortal. What kind of hook might it be? Well, that's the mortal's problem.It's not easy being Gaston Murand. It's not easy to have your heart broken by Her, to know that you will never love again. To not wake up at night reaching for Her hair, smelling Her perfume. To know that women are untrustworthy; to know they will always have sweet words and tender caresses for you before they rip your heart out of your chest and dance the can-can on it in stiletto heels.... Better not to have a heart: better to think about your work and seriously study magic. Wait: here's a plan! A letter from someone offering a heart that will not break or suffer the pangs of love. All they want is some gold, and what is gold compared to a life free of distractions from the great art of magic? You'll need to get some extra gold from the safe: an advance on your allowance. If necessary, you can sell some scrolls when you return to replace the money. You'll only be gone for a week. Voissand shouldn't have any problems handling things for a week.It's not easy being Voissand, personal steward of Gaston Murand. The family Murand has been worried about their son: he's been badly disappointed in love and a little wild looking. When the woman came to call for him in the closed carriage, you thought she was a wonderful thing for him: a one-night stand to ease the pains of his heart. But he's been gone for over twenty-four hours, and he seems to have cleaned the safe out when he left, so he has a lot of money with him. You'll need to hire some adventurers to rescue him from whatever mad folly he's gotten himself into. It may involve going into some disreputable cabaret somewhere, but that's the adventurer's problem.It's not easy being a party of reputable, discreet adventurers. Gaston Murand's steward just sent over a message, begging you to come immediately "about a private, intimate matter". It would be nice if this could be someone else's problem...HooksGaston Murand is a noble wizard and man-about-town recovering from a bad breakup. When he disappears, people take notice.1. Voissand, Gaston's steward, may hire the PC's to go looking for him. He doesn't have any cash on hand, but the Murand family will back his bills.2. As a wizard and a member of the nobility, PC's in the low paragon tier may know Gaston and be friendly with him. After his bad breakup, they may be checking on him themselves.Act 1: Setting OffWhether Voissand hires the party to investigate Gaston's disappearance or the characters begin to do so on their own, they can make the following skill checks to find information.Easy Streetwise check: Gaston just had a very bad breakup. He's not handling it well. He was spending most of his time in his study.Moderate Streetwise check: a girl in a fancy carriage called at Gaston's house. She was veiled, but everyone thinks she was beautiful.Hard Streetwise check: Gaston left with that girl late that night. They took the road down to the beach.Characters may be led to investigate Gaston's study by the streetwise check or at Voissand's suggestion.. It's littered with bad emo poetry about despair. The fireplace is full of ashes -- a little study reveals they are love letters.There is a letter box on the desk: opening it reveals a letter from a fay noble known as Le duc L'automne. The letter speaks flatteringly about Gaston, then sympathizes with him about his heartbroken state. It comments on the perfidy of women and the weakness of the human heart."How I know you dream of a perfected heart, free from the arrows of love." The letter then goes on to suggest this is not a vain dream, but one that can be secured with the proper quantity of coin. Le duc L'automne has a steel clockwort heart, proof against all love and allowing a man to look at all things rationally and intelligently. Le duc L'automne finds himself needing to pay a debt, and so will offer Gaston the heart for 15,000 gp.Le duc L'automne recognizes this is a strange sounding transaction: he has sent this representative to bring him this letter and a drawing of the clockwork heart. If Gaston desires, the representative will be pleased to take Gaston and any gold he may wish to bring safely to the palace of Le duc L'automne and return him safely after they conclude their visit.Close reading of this letter and some skill checks reveal the following information.Moderate Streetwise Check: Fey gifts always come with tricks hidden inside.Moderate Arcana Check: The fey don't value gold or coins. Why is Le duc L'automne offering magic for mere gold -- even if it is a lot of gold?Hard Arcana Check: Upon examination of the drawing, the workmanship doesn't look fay at all. It looks devilish.Moderate Religion Check: Placing a devilish relic in one's body would invite possession by evil forces -- the results, predictably, would be dire.Difficult Perception check: There's tiny writing on the clockwork heart, if this picture is correct.Easy Religion Check: The clockwork heart is covered with intricately     engraved blasphemies and prodies of good. Simply being near the subject of this drawing could turn someone to evil, much less sticking it in your chest.Moderate Insight: Le duc L'automne is trying too hard in this letter: he really wants to sell this item. The Le duc L'automne's palace is in the Feywild. A Hard history or perception check or moderate Arcana or Nature check will reveal the location of a gate into the Feywild that opens at dawn and dusk: it's at the beach, and can be passed through by walking or riding with one wheel or foot on sand and one wheel or foot in the water. If the party found out where Gaston and the lady went (making the Hard Streetwise check above) they gain a +2 on either of these checks. Once the gate is located it's a simple matter to pass through it at dawn or dusk.Act 2: The First DayThe party passes through the gate and arrives in a lush temperate Feywild forest. The trees are leafy and green, with thick underbrush. A road stretches out before them, rutted with carriage tracks.The party can make skill checks to determine the following things about the Feywild.Simple Nature Check: This place doesn't follow the normal laws of geography and direction. Nature checks can't be used to find directions here.Moderate Insight Check: This place is pure Feywild.Moderate Perception check: There are things in the woods by the path: it would be wise not to leave it.The party can only follow the road one way.If the party leaves the path, they quickly become lost and confused. They blunder through the woods, apparently for hours, before finally getting back to the path. Judging by the position of the sun, no time has passed, but they are exhausted anyway. Roll 1d4 and deduct that many healing surges from each character.The Road Less TraveledAt one point along the road, the party can make a moderate Perception check. Success reveals a disused path splitting off from the main path. There are no ruts along this path. If the party elects to follow it, they will come to a giant pear tree in which roosts a Standard encounter's worth of harpies, which will attack. If the harpies are defeated, they will provide a standard treasure parcel and a single silver pear. A slice of this pear will restore all lost healing surges as though the party had taken an extended rest. The pear is large enough to provide every party member with a slice.Characters climbing the pear tree will see a building ahead -- this is the Crossroads Cabaret. Characters looking for a coach up ahead will see that too, though upon thought, they will wonder how they saw that far.The Crossroads CabaretThis inn is festooned with blue and white bunting. The sign in the front reads : The Southwinds Cabaret -- Live entertainment!If the party enters, Menard, the host of the cabaret, will offer them food and shelter for the night in exchange for a healing surge from each character. If the characters can't pay that night, they can pay two surges in the morning. There is also entertainment on the stage.Characters who choose to sleep outside are attacked by enough Firbolg for a Hard encounter...this fight will prevent taking extended rests.The entertainment at the Southwinds Cabaret consists of the illusionist Reynard, a red-clad gnome. The climax of his act is his "Hankerchief of Clouds Trick": he casts down a handkerchief, from which rises a pink cload that takes the form of a beautiful woman. Sweeping through the audience, she whispers in a party member's ear "Free me and I will help you."The PC's must engage Reynard in a skill challenge to steal the handkerchief from him.This is a complexity 1 skill challenge of Hard difficulties.Primary skills are Bluff, Thievery, Intimidate. Secondary Skills (Gain +2 bonus on the primary skills) are Arcana, Diplomacy, Perception, and Insight.Reynard will also trade the handkerchief for the silver pear.If the PC's get the hankerchief, they find it has a female djinn bound into it: Cumulonimba Mammata is a "student of Love". Less salacious then it sounds, she is a personal stylist and relationship counselor. She will travel with the party and aid them. She has no combat skills, but once per encounter or skill challenge she will allow a character to reroll a failed Insight or Diplomacy check with an additional +3 bonus to the die roll.Act 3: The Second DayThe party leaves the cabaret and steps into a barren forest. The trees are black and bare, the ground hard.The road stretches out before them, rutted with carriage tracks in one direction, marked with the character's footprints and carriage tracks in the other.The party can make skill checks to determine the following things about the Feywild.Simple Nature Check: This place doesn't follow the normal laws of geography and direction. Nature checks can't be used to find directions here.Moderate Insight Check: This place is corrupted Feywild: the party is closer to the Shadowfell here.Moderate Perception check: There are nastier things in the woods by the path today: it would be much wiser not to leave it.If the party leaves the path, they quickly become lost and confused, then become attacked. They blunder through the woods, apparently for hours, before finally getting back to the path. Judging by the position of the sun, no time has passed, but they are exhausted anyway. Roll 1d4 and deduct that many healing surges from each character. In addition, the party must fight an easy combat encounter against undead.The Road Less TraveledAt one point along the road, the party can make a moderate Perception check. Success reveals a disused path splitting off from the main path. There are no ruts along this path. If the party elects to follow it, they will come to a giant pear tree in which roosts a Standard encounter's worth of advanced accipitridae (Page 184, Open graves). which will attack. If the monsters are defeated, they will provide a standard treasure parcel and a single blood-red pear. A slice of this pear will restore all lost healing surges as though the party had taken an extended rest. The pear is large enough to provide every party member with a slice.Characters climbing the pear tree will see a building ahead -- this is the Crossroads Cabaret. Again. It looks different, but what the differences are can't be seen from this distance. Characters looking for a coach up ahead will see that too, though upon thought, they will wonder how they saw that far.The Crossroads CabaretThis Cabaret is festooned with black streamers. The sign in the front reads : The Final Rest Cabaret -- Live entertainment!If the party enters, Menard, the host of the cabaret, will offer them food and shelter for the night in exchange for a healing surge from each character. If the characters can't pay that night, they can pay two surges in the morning. There is also entertainment on the stage.Characters asking Menard if they were there the night before are regarded solemenly, then Menard allows he has a good deal of repeat business.Characters who choose to sleep outside are attacked by enough ghouls for a Hard encounter...this fight will prevent taking extended rests.The entertainment at the Final Rest Cabaret consists of the ABCD players. These blasphemes challenge the party to meet them in a game of Exquisite Corpse: each party member and blaspheme writing the line of a story, then reading it aloud.This is another skill challenge, Difficulty 2. Primary skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, Arcana, Religion, Nature. Secondary skills are Insight and Perception. All primary checks are moderate, all secondary Hard. The successful use of a secondary skill allows the party member to realize the ABCD players will give the party clues about the Feywild and the Autumn Duke if they are given a good prompting sentence.The ABCD players will reveal the following clues, one per success, once the secondary skill check is made.1. The Feywild can be corrupted by the Shadowfell or by Hell.2. The Autumn Duke owes a favor to a devil: he's working to pay it off.3. The Autumn Duke doesn't like devils: he'd get out of his arrangement if he could.4. There is a road less traveled: it leads to valuable treasure and dangerous risks.5. The Autumn Duke is a fay of his word: if he gives a promise, he will keep it. Just watch the loopholes.6. Beware filthy goats.Failing this challenge or refusing this challenge causes the party to be attacked by the Blasphemes.Offering the Blasphemes new wine gives the party a +2 bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy checks.Act 4: The Third DayThe party leaves the cabaret and steps into an autumn forest. The trees are covered with blood red leaves.The road stretches out before them, rutted with carriage tracks in one direction, marked with the character's footprints and carriage tracks in the other.The party can make skill checks to determine the following things about the Feywild.Simple Nature Check: This place doesn't follow the normal laws of geography and direction. Nature checks can't be used to find directions here.Moderate Insight Check: This place is corrupted Feywild: the party is closer to Hell here.Moderate Perception check: Devils lurk in the woods here: take a step and they will attack.If the party leaves the path, they quickly become lost and confused, then become attacked. They blunder through the woods, apparently for hours, before finally getting back to the path. Judging by the position of the sun, no time has passed, but they are exhausted anyway. Roll 1d4 and deduct that many healing surges from each character. In addition, the party must fight an standard combat encounter against devils.The Road Less TraveledAt one point along the road, the party can make a moderate Perception check. Success reveals a disused path splitting off from the main path. There are no ruts along this path. If the party elects to follow it, they will come to a giant pear tree in which roosts a Standard encounter's worth of erinyes. which will attack. If the monsters are defeated, they will provide a standard treasure parcel and black pear that smells of sulfur. A slice of this pear will restore all lost healing surges as though the party had taken an extended rest. The pear is large enough to provide every party member with a slice.Characters climbing the pear tree will see a building ahead -- this is the Crossroads Cabaret. Again. It looks different, but what the differences are can't be seen from this distance. Characters looking for a coach up ahead will see that too, though upon thought, they will wonder how they saw that far.The Crossroads CabaretThis Cabaret is festooned with what looks like black and red coconuts. The sign in the front reads : The Lusty Goat Cabaret -- Live entertainment!If the party enters, Menard, the host of the cabaret, will offer them food and shelter for the night in exchange for a healing surge from each character. If the characters can't pay that night, they can pay two surges in the morning. There is also entertainment on the stage.Characters asking Menard if they were there the night before are regarded solemenly, then Menard allows he has a good deal of repeat business.The entertainment at the Lusty Goat Cabaret consists of Les Chevres Degoutantes. These fiendish satyrs mix juggling, slapstick, and lewdness for a very rough comedy act. The climax of the act is the challenge of the Knight of the Golden Lance. Les Chevres Degoutantes bring out an elaborately worked golden chamber pot and invite the company to void their bladders into it at range.Treat this (if any PC wants to play along) as a ranged basic attack: the PC rolling the highest attack value wins. Les Chevres Degoutantes will deliberately throw the contest to the party. Les Chevres Degoutantes will then surround the winning party member, singing their praises. They will then "crown" the winner by pouring the full chamberpot over their head. If no PC plays, they will pick a character with the divine power source to crown.If the PC's start a fight with Les Chevres Degoutantes after this, Menard will have them all thrown out of the inn. Les Chevres Degoutantes will run off, laughing. Later they will return with enough devilish reinforcements to make a hard encounter for the PC's and attack them as they try to sleep.Act 5: Stop the Sale!The party leaves the cabaret and steps into an autumn forest. The trees are covered with blood red leaves.The road stretches out before them, rutted with carriage tracks in one direction, marked with the character's footprints and carriage tracks in the other.The party can make skill checks to determine the following things about the Feywild.Simple Nature Check: This place doesn't follow the normal laws of geography and direction. Nature checks can't be used to find directions here.Moderate Insight Check: This place is corrupted Feywild: the party is closer to Hell here.Moderate Perception check: Devils lurk in the woods here: take a step and they will attack.If the party leaves the path, they quickly become lost and confused, then become attacked. They blunder through the woods, apparently for hours, before finally getting back to the path. Judging by the position of the sun, no time has passed, but they are exhausted anyway. Roll 1d4 and deduct that many healing surges from each character. In addition, the party must fight an standard combat encounter against devils.After a few hours, the party comes to the castle of the Autumn Duke. If they state their business is to attend the sale of the clockwork heart, the guards will allow them in, escorting them to the Autumn Duke and Abelard Faux. The Autumn Duke has had a good discussion with Gaston and is about to close the sale of the clockwork heart. New customers are an interesting development, and he will let them speak.The party has two objectives here, each of which is reached by a separate skill challenge. First, the party must convince Gaston not to purchase the heart. Second, the party must get the Autumn Duke to allow them to leave without a fight. Each of these challenges is Complexity 2.Convincing Gaston not to purchase the heart has the primary skills Diplomacy and Insight initially, both at Hard DC's.Showing Gaston either the blood-red pear or the black pear suggests to Gaston he's dealing with more than the fay here: characters gain a +2 bonus on a single diplomacy check for each pear they show Gaston.Reminding Gaston the fey never take gold in a bargain also arouses his suspicions, giving a +2 bonus to a single Diplomacy check.Showing Gaston the drawing and pointing out the lack of Fay craftmanship and the Hellish blasphemies written on in gets him to think about what the clockwork heart might be: it opens Arcana and Religion as primary skills.Revealing Abelard as a Devil opens Religion as a primary skill and makes that skill check easy, not Hard.Every time the PC's gain a success in this challenge, they should make a free perception check against Abelard's Bluff. If they succeed, they note Abelard is getting more ready to fight.Convincing the Autumn Duke.to allow the party to leave peaceably is similarly a skill challenge of complexity 2.The Primary skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate: Diplomacy is an easy challenge, Bluff a moderate challenge, and Intimidate a hard challenge.Secondary skills include Insight and Perception, with special effects detailed below.A Successful moderate Insight challenge allows the PC's to realize the Autumn King is looking for an excuse to thwart Abelard: it allows the PC's to work out the hierarchy of interaction skills for this challenge.If the party notices Abelard is readying his minions to attack, they can point this out to the Autumn Duke. This counts as an automatic success: the Duke does not like devils pulling weapons on him.The Duke can also be bribed: giving him any one of the three pears gives an automatic success (one per pear). Offering him more money for the hearth than Abelard did will also provide an automatic success.If the party fails to convince Gaston not to buy the heart, he holds the Autumn Duke to his word and buys the heart. He presses the clockwork into his flesh and is transformed into a cambion. Gaston will join Abelard Faux and they will all attack the party and the Autumn Duke.If the party convinces Gaston not to buy the heart before they convince the Autumn Duke to let them go peaceably. Abelard Faux loses his temper and commands his entourage to attack the party and Duke.If the party convinces the Duke to let them go in peace and Gaston not to buy the heart, the Duke will let them go and give them safe passage to the world of mortals.If the party fails in both goals simultaneously, the Duke and Abelard will attack the party together.The Duke has enough Fay bodyguards for a standard PC encounter.Abelard has enough devils for a hard PC encounter.IngredientsDreams that money can buy: what the Autumn King offers Gaston. A subtle clue that all is not as it seems.The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart: the Autumn King;s messengerFestooned Cabaret: the cabaret the party just keeps going back to night after nightExquisite Cadaver: a game played with real cadavers where the PC's win clues about what's going onPrestigious Urinal: a prop used by the Dirty goats to mock the PC'sHandkerchief of clouds: the home of a potential ally for the PC's.Three pieces in the shape of a pear. The three pieces of fruit in the shape of a pear (since they are pears) useful for healing or bribery.</blockquote>

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