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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pour" data-source="post: 5619998" data-attributes="member: 59411">The ProposalA D&D adventure for characters level 14 - 16IntroductionFor centuries, the village of Madralupe has celebrated the White Procession, a festival of song, dance and libations that culminates in a costumed parade up a mountain, to the foot of the village’s matron known only as Our Lady in Waiting. They say she was a beautiful, young virgin once, romanced by Hhutteyo, god of secrets and wonder, and promised a marriage that never came. So enthralled by her suitor, she stood vigil morning, noon and night atop the summit, staring up at the heavens until she became stone. She waits still, and it’s become tradition for the village’s unmarried men to propose to her in grandiose and often comical fashion. In all her years, she has never accepted... until now.Adventure BackgroundFive hundred years ago, Madralupe was a beautiful virgin in a green, undeveloped valley. She was romanced by Hhutteyo and promised a marriage before she welcomed him to bed. The marriage never came. She waited atop the same summit for years, practicing many magics to try and garner his attention. Hhutteyo, feeling unusually guilty for an immortal, transformed Madralupe into stone so she might stand undaunted for ages without suffering loneliness. However, he placed a riddle at her feet, so that one day, if the right suitor came along, she would be released into a deserving man’s care. ‘Behold my bride never to be, loyal to a false decree, who stands in wait eternity, for that which makes god devotee.’ As the village grew in the valley, the bride became a saint, known as Our Lady in Waiting. It wasn’t long before the riddle inspired proposals and an annual festival known as the White Procession manifested. Unbeknownst to the village, fifty-eight years ago a young priest, Jorge Yomar, traveled up the summit to pray. While it was assumed the riddle called for a proposal, the priest offered something no other had, love. He was a man of the gods, and considered the Lady a part of that pantheon. Love, which would force even a god to become a devotee to another, freed Madralupe, but because of his vow of celibacy, they could never be together.Changed after years as contemplative rock, Madralupe held no ill will towards Hhutteyo or Jorge. She took a new name, Tittchikilippi, and at Jorge’s request summoned forth a new statue so that Madralupe might forever have its matron and its festival. Each year, Tittchikilippi places a flowered lay about her youthful likeness, while the padre offers a ceremony in Madralupe’s honor.Just prior to this year’s procession, the richest woman in the village, an aging Pittra Horyes, made a lustful proposition to her handsome gardener Eduardo Andreas. The young man refused and left her service, humiliating her. Years ago, Eduardo’s father Manuel had proposed to her, and she had been the one who refused. Manuel’s becoming a beloved mayor in the years hence infuriates her even still. Pittra is secretly a witch, and extraordinarily vain. She converted the statue of the Lady into a construct under her control, with plans of enacting her revenge when Eduardo makes his proposal...HooksThe PCs arrive to partake of the renowned White Procession, to meet or find someone who’ll likely be at the festival, or simply for respite or supplies in otherwise dense jungles and high mountains. They’d be welcomed with the many other visitors, encouraged to buy white costumes, and partake in the parade.Event 1: The White Procession The festival begins as usual, and the town is alive with celebration. Everyone is in white, and after hours of merrymaking, they head up the mountain to Our Lady in Waiting- who is wreathed in breathtaking tropical blooms. After some entertaining proposals from NPCs and PCs, Eduardo Andreas makes his proposal while all the village girls sigh longingly. That’s when the statue animates and grabs him. In a grating voice, she accepts, promising their union shall last forever. Eduardo is effectively merged with the statue, only his flailing torso still exposed.What the party decides to do next determines much of the adventure’s content and direction.CombatThe Lady has the same stats as a stone golem, but does not fight back. Whenever it is damaged, Eduardo is also. If it is destroyed, Eduardo dies. It cannot be made to release the gardener, even when stunned or knocked unconscious, and it is immune to domination. Attempts to teleport or pry Eduardo loose are unsuccessful and appear to cause him harm. If the party is stubborn, they’ll end up ripping out just his upper body, killing him. If it seems they will destroy the Lady, Manuel will plead for them to stop, and throw himself in front of the construct if need be.The Holy ManFrom the outset of the Lady’s animation, devote villagers call out for Padre Yomar. Ideally one of the PCs will fetch him, but if the party seems reluctant to split, he appears during Manuel’s accusations.Summoning the elderly padre from the chapel reveals he’s in the middle of a ceremony, but initial Religion checks confirm it’s nothing harmful, despite being related to the Lady. He claims it’s something he performs every year, which is true, and is quick to see the animated statue for himself.On the summit, Yomar is stunned, and convinced this is not the work of Hhutteyo.Witch HuntManuel believes this is the work of the witch Tittchikilippi, a local legend out of the jungles, who is said to keep a cursed garden watered in human blood. He and some of the villagers want to hunt for the witch, but the padre is against it, claiming it dangerous and believing Tittchikilippi is not the cause.It may dawn on the PCs that Yomar knows more than he’s letting on, but he will only urge the PCs to meet Tittchikilippi peaceably. How the party decides to approach the witch determines how they are received in Event 2. Either way, it will take a complexity 1 skill challenge to placate the growing mob, especially Manuel. Success will buy the party time to get to the bottom of things, failure will find Manuel and his constituents boldly hunting for the garden.Examining the LadyThe flowers about the Lady are magical, but only in medicinal ways (equivalent to any three level-appropriate potions if brewed). They are very rare blooms and implicate the witch’s garden.Arcana checks reveal the statue has been enchanted and now acts like a construct, commanded by some exterior will.The riddle is clear upon the base, presumably writ by Hhutteyo’s hand, but there is no divine element to the statue, and Easy Religion checks confirm that. Questioning EduardoIt’ll take a Hard Diplomacy or Intimidate check to get the distraught man to focus enough for questions. Even then, there is little to tell, though if pressed about anyone wishing him harm, he’d offer Lady Pittra Horyes. He’ll refuse to say why without a second Diplomacy or Intimidate check at a Moderate difficulty. If Manuel learns of Pittra’s advances, he will admit his own failed proposal many years ago, and how she’s hated him ever since. He’s still convinced Tittchikilippi is the cause of his son’s woes, however.Event A: JungleIf the party fails their skill challenge to placate the mob, or decides to join them in search of the garden, the ill-suited villagers are eventually waylaid by one of the many ferocious jungle threats over the next few days of travel, either displacer beasts, were-jaguars or bloodthirsty fey.It will also take a complexity 2 skill challenge keying on Hard Nature and Arcana checks to locate the witch’s garden, with failure producing another random jungle encounter.Event 2: Tittchikilippi’s GardenThe witch’s garden is order out of chaos, perfectly trimmed hedges, artistically pruned trees, carefully-tended flowerbeds, peppered with stone buildings and statuary in the otherwise untamed wilderness. Tittchikilippi is a master of earth-based magic, especially stone, and her works are quite lifelike and reminiscent of the Lady.The garden holds many wonders, including elaborate stone calendars and sundials, singing blossoms and roving topiary beasts. Though unusual, there are no signs of bloody sacrifice.HostilityIf the party enters with hostile intent, they have a difficult few encounters ahead of them, involving plant monsters and calendar-and-sundial-headed constructs, culminating with Tittchikilippi herself, treated as a Solo medusa. They might feel as if they’ve solved the problem, but that soon changes when they’re intercepted on the journey back in Event B, and certainly when they return to find Eduardo still trapped.DiplomacyIf the party enters as guests, they’ll find Tittchikilippi a batty, bowed crone, but kindly enough. She’ll deny any involvement with the Lady’s animation, though it’ll take a mix of Moderate and Hard Diplomacy checks to coax anything further from her, like the reason for the lay, her true identity or notions of leaving her garden to examine the situation. She refuses to implicate Jorge in anything, though has an obvious fondness for the padre.Event B: InterceptorAs the party makes its way back from meeting with Tittchikilippi, or after the party has snooped about the Horyes Estate, Pittra sends an agile wooden construct with flowered lays to kill the party, or at least implicate Tittchikilippi.A Moderate Nature check reveals the mundane quality of the blooms. Eduardo would recognize them from Pittra’s garden, as would astute PCs who’ve been there with a Moderate Insight check. If Tittchikilippi is present during the attack, she’ll turn the construct to stone, slowing it considerably and lowering its Reflex and attack modifiers, but accidentally increasing its AC, Fortitude, and overall damage.Event 3: Horyes EstateLargest home in Madralupe, with well-tended lawns, gardens and orchards, all is colorful stucco, greased iron, polished marble and decorative stone. The staff is courteous and accommodating, if a little browbeat. Pittra’s an aged vision in finest satins and lace, with choice expensive baubles, some of which are magical. She’s initially cordial, but that only lasts so long.InvestigatoryThe party may enter the Horyes Estate just for investigative purposes, especially if Eduardo implicates her. There is nothing overly suspicious about the grounds or workers. If Pittra is pressed or, worse, accused of anything, she’ll grow irate and have the party thrown out, summoning personal guard, and eventually town officials, if need be. Pittra commands ample power and it will take definitive evidence to indite her.HostilityIf the party resorts to extreme vigilantism by ignoring town authority and storming Pittra’s estate, or if they’ve gathered ample evidence, they’ll have to contend with several guard contingents, and eventually a construct of the collected bones of her failed suitors, so numerous they form a huge naga construct. The naga, known as Suitor, is extremely quick. If Pittra is bloodied while battling the party, she sends the monstrosity into town. At that point, the party must likely accept the loss of life and finish Pittra, or abandon her to save the townsfolk.ConclusionThere are multiple ways to end the adventure, most hinging on freeing Eduardo. If Pittra is killed or driven off, the Lady returns to a normal statue, and Eduardo can be extracted.If Pittra is allowed to escape, she is free to seek revenge on the party and all of Madralupe another day.If Eduardo or Tittchikilippi were killed during the adventure, the truth of things brings airs of tragedy, and Manuel and Jorge may become enemies of the party, perhaps even Hhutteyo himself.IngredientsIdeal Location: The suspected origins of the flowers; Location of the animatorWitch’s Garden: Tittchikilippi’s garden; Pittra’s estateOur Lady in Waiting: The Lady icon; Madralupe, who waited; Pittra, who waited too longSkeletal Construct: Suitor, the skeletal nagaMisfortune: Madralupe and Eduardo’s situations; fruit of Pittra’s vanityRiddle: Riddle at the Lady’s feet; Mystery of who animated the statue; Pittra’s loneliness</blockquote>

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