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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dremmen" data-source="post: 2295209" data-attributes="member: 30977">The Hunt for the Dark Flower  Black the night                Black the seaBlack is the blood                And blacker is she--excerpt from “The Nightshade of the Necklace” by Tomas the Goldharp, Bard of Silver Necklace  A 4th level adventure for 3 – 5 characters. BackgroundThe Black Mamba is a broad, lazy river that winds its way across the vast plains towards the sea. Not but a few scant miles from the rocky coast the Mamba forks and spills into the sea from the two sides of a small islet. This islet is a rough triangle, two sides of the triangle formed by the branches of the Mamba, the third made up of the sea. And as the sun sets these branches sparkle in the fading rays of the sun making for a silvery necklace around the islet, a contrast with the sea which drinks in the light into murky depths. Silver Necklace, the town named for this, straddles the islet precariously, its outer walls treacherously close to the edge of the rocky island. Silver Necklace is a rowdy town full of fishermen, and pirates, and fishermen that sometimes plunder as well as thugs who sometimes have to resort to fishing. Its streets are narrow and houses are crookedly built on top of houses as space ran short between the walls.The town is presently the victim of a serial killer named the Nightshade. This flamboyant and arrogant killer is rumored to be a girl of exceeding beauty who kills the lovers that have scorned her always leaving her mark completely unconcerned about getting caught. That is one tale. Another tells that she was a whore disfigured by a drunken pirate and now kills all men to satisfy her anger. And yet another says that is not human at all but a lonely spirit of the dark depths of the sea that drags men’s souls back to keep her company. The only things the tales have in common is they all have the killer as a her, a fact that might be attributed to her call sign being a flower or maybe someone knows something. There have been 5 deaths so far, something that may have gone unnoticed in a  rambunctious town like Silver Necklace if not for the quality of some of the victims and the signature of the Nightshade. The victims were as follows:                Brummen Stormeater – a legendary captain with the skill and daring to face the meanest of typhoons and live to tell about it. He was found hanging from the mast of his own ship by his ankles, his hands tied behind his back. A sheep bladder had been slipped over his head apparently after he was hung, and tied around his neck. The bladder had been full of water. The captain had drowned hanging over his own deck that night. A nightshade flower was found floating in the water in the bladder.                Scallion – a scraggly deckhand on Stormeater’s ship, he was thought to have run off after the incident. He was found tied to the rudder of the ship. Nightshade flowers were stuffed in his eye sockets.                Celion, High Priest of the Sea Queen – the highest of the priests at the temple of the Sea Queen, the favored deity of sailors. He was found in his chambers, soaked and laying in an inch of water. His belly had burst open from the inside and apparently this was the source of the water that flooded his chambers, no other source making itself apparent. A nightshade flower floated in the waters pooled at his mouth as he lay staring blankly at the ceiling.                Craiven – the Master of the Fishyard, Craiven was in charge of overseeing the movement of fish from ships to market or to warehouses to get cleaned and salted for selling and as such was highly influential in the town. Although he was the third kill, as was determined by when he had gone missing, he was not found until recent. He was floating face down in the pool chum that floats behind the warehouses where all the spoiled fish and unwanted catch from the nets were dumped. Among this dense floating swill it had been hard to spot him.                 Roderick Talltowers – Master of the Guard, his death brought the legend of the Nightshade to new heights as Roderick was the main investigator in the deaths and had often spoken publicly to the gentry of the town as to how he was on the trail of the killer. A venerated soldier and experienced fighter, he was found in his bed, belly down and face in a basin of water. The water barely covered his face but yet there he lay, drowned, with little sign of struggle and a single nightshade floating in the basin. Where the Players Come InAfter the death of Roderick the merchants and nobles of the town, including the mayor, start to get squirrelly. It was good for tourism in the town, and brought a touch of legend to the Necklace, but when the Master of the Guard dies that means anyone could be next and rank and wealth mean nothing. So they start to advertise for mercenaries and sell swords to catch the Nightshade and in return great wealth and a ship would be the reward.The merchants and nobles have pages at every courtyard and inn, and rewards for the Nightshade are posted. Of course soon after victims started pouring in, dragged by scallywags telling of how they caught the Nightshade. When this kept happening and no proof could be brought to prove one or another body was the Nightshade, and also after the whores of the town complained of their numbers being thinned, the nobles changed their tune to wanting the Nightshade alive, so that she might be questioned. So, with that in mind, the players are encouraged to begin their investigation. The SkinnyThe Nightshade is a priestess of the Sea of Souls, a dark and evil power that demands souls drowned in its name in return for power. The Nightshade is presently posing as a cleaning wench at a brothel called the Enchanted Forest, a favorite in town. The Enchanted Forest is worked by women clad in ivy who call themselves the Dryads, and their matron calls herself the Queen of the Dryads. They all wear exotic blue paints over their bodies which contrast with the green leaves. They are all in the cult of the Sea of Souls, and in the name of their god and patron the Nightshade, have ritualistically drowned themselves to become intelligent undead for the Nightshade. The blue skin color is quite natural for them. The Nightshade in actually committed only one of these crimes herself, the rest being attributed to her undead minions. The Captain, the Master of the Fishyard and even the Priest and the Master of the Guard were killed by these so called Dryads. The Scallion, however, was tracked down and killed by the Nightshade herself, for he had seen his Captain getting killed. Some victims had souls the Sea wanted – the Captain for daring to live through the Sea’s wrath, the Priest for worshiping that kind hearted false idol that is the Sea Queen, the Fishmaster for spilling his filth into her waters. The Captain was getting too close, and the Scallion was a victim, and this is why they died. The Nightshade uses her flower to bring attention to the deaths, her arrogance too great to admit that she could get caught, her, priestess of the Sea of Souls.   Ways to Skin a CatThere are several ways the characters could investigate and find the killer. If they investigate the Captain they will find that that night most of his men had been busy whoring. If they investigate further they may find out that it was the women of the Enchanted Forest. However, noone is suspect of them and a trip to see them will reveal nothing unless the players take some magical means of detection. If pressed some of the sailors admit that some of the girls were missing by morning. In fact, they had left by means of the Ettercap, the swift dark ship that Nightshade uses around the harbor. The DM should play this as no big deal. Also, Scallion had been the watch that night. He was an eunuch, and had nothing for whores. If Scallion is investigated the players will find out from the taverns near the piers that he was a local boy the Captain had recently picked up. Apparently he had family in town. The other sailors know little of him for they avoided the eunuch. The players can find out who his family is. If they go find them they will find their quarters ransacked. If they track and use diplomacy well they may be able to track down his brother, who is still in town. Apparently Scallion had made it off the ship that night, scared to death when he saw his captain being dragged like a child by a couple of women and dragged up the mast. He made it to shore on a dingy and had gone to his brother. He had told his brother of the ship the Ettercap that had been pulled up besides their own ship, and how he and his brother had split up to pack and get out. But he waited and waited and his brother never returned. If the High Priest is investigated the Priest second him will tell of wet footsteps leading away from the chambers, and of ivy leaves. If Craiven is investigated the thugs at the warehouses will avoid the PCs and seem very defensive when it comes to questions about Craiven. Craiven was also a smuggler, and his men are mostly thugs. If pushed they will attack the PCs, closing the warehouse and ganging up on them. If Roderick is investigated the PCs will quickly run into young Dedrick, the deputy. If the PCs do good in diplomacy, and don’t try to bribe Dedrick, he will agree to talk to them after hours since officially they are not Guards and should not delve into this. The do not approve of mercenaries and sell swords. After hours, if invited to some drinks Dedrick will have to many and start talking of prodded gently. He tells that they have no clue except for a ship called the Ettercap which seems to be a phantom vessel that appears on nights that there is murder. They cannot however find the ship. He looks around nervously when he says this because this, he thinks, is what got the Captain killed.  ShowdownIf the PCs get enough clues to go to the Enchanted Forest they will be warmly welcomed into a back room and taken to someone that knows more. Down some stairs and to the cellars where all the individuals that talked to the PCs will be floating face down in a large pool that is the entrance to an underwater tunnel to the secret harbor where the Ettercap is. At this time they attack, having the stats of 2HD zombies that count as special undead for turning. After the combat they may use the tunnel if they can travel the 100 yds underwater to find the Ettercap. If not they will find in the Matron’s chambers the map that leads to the secret harbor at the base of the Necklace.Or they can stalk the harbor, using a ship they rent or keeping a watch at night, maybe even paying for a small crew, to help them spot the Ettercap as it sails to its secret harbor. If this is the case Nightshade will be back at the Enchanted Forest and the players will be going there and fighting all the girls (12 in all) and the Matron (3HD instead of 2). Then the Nightshade escapes back into the ship and the encounter ensues as described below. Once at this secret harbor the Nightshade will appear, an undead cleric of 5th level. She will attack the party and when things get ugly jump onboard the Ettercap. The Ettercap will take off on its own driven by magical currents. Even if the Nightshade is slain it will continue on until nightfall where it will lay still. Then the avatar of the Sea of Souls appears as a Drowned Soul (per MM3) that climbs the ship and speaks in a haunting voice that promises death. If the party can defeat it it promises revenge. They can keep the ship.  IngredientsSilver Necklace – the town bordered by waterNightshade – undead clerical assassinQueen of the Dryads – Brothel MatronEttercap – the ship of the NightshadeSea of Souls – powerful dark deityArrogance – expressed by the Nightshade in leaving her calling card, and is finally her undoing</blockquote>

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