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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Evilhalfling" data-source="post: 2296845" data-attributes="member: 16991">Finding Nightshade Background Years ago the Kingdom of Ibad was peaceful and happy.  These things don’t last long the kingdom was overrun by barbaric humanoids leaving only a few survivors.  The dryads fought to protect the last humans and in return forest was burned. There were only a few survivors among the dryads. The last dryad took the title queen, although the title has become empty with so few remaining dryads.  She still has the old queens necklace, and had the second necklace remade, trying to keep her peoples traditions alive. She selected an heir who was given a silver necklace. The Bishop of Northern Ibad survived as well, and would not leave with the other survivors.  Instead he buried his people then called a guardian to bury himself.  The guardian was assigned long term by the gods as a mark of respect.  Humans eventually resettled the area now live in the village of Cain.  Dwatharme the Queen of the Dryads is frantic.  Her daughter Nightshade is away from her tree, and If she is not returned soon, her daughter will die.  The arrogant daughter thought she could visit a nearby place of power – called the Sea of Souls.  Dwatharme  knows her daughter is not dead,  but will die in between 4 and 24 hours.  The Sea of Souls is only an hour away, for them.  It will have been five hours  before the PCs are notified/ reach the tree.  Old oral legends boast of the Sea of Souls as site as a place of healing, and that the secrets of the upper realms can be learned there.  This is a misconception. The Sea of Souls is a long forgotten church.  It was once the home of the bishop of Ibad, there is none left of in his See (domain) alive, and so there are only souls to attend to.  The church is actually still a holy place watched over by lantern archons and a hound archon, who stays in hound form.  Any undead are quickly put down, and looters driven away. Hooks  * The players are looking for the Dryad queen, as she is a bard (6th ) and has information they need. * A forester was charmed and sent into the village demanding help, on behalf of the dryad Queen.  * The Characters are looking to visit the Sea of Souls and have heard that it is near the town of Cain, which is odd because the town is landlocked.   The villagers don’t know of any sea and are barely literate.  They suggest talking to the local dryad, who styles herself a queen. (they do know of a nearby haunted church, but will not make any connection)  Scene 1: The queen of the dryads.  A striking woman with regal bearing and a intricate gold necklace steps into view.  Haughty and arrogant she demands that her daughter be returned.  She will attempt to charm compliance rather than bargain, but if her charms are spurned she will offer to bargain- for information or possibly a wand.  If the PCs appear so upset by her tactics that they will spurn the quest she will break down and cry, as she honestly loves her daughter and wants desperately for her to return.  If they agree she will step into a tree and emerge with a minute later with two broken branches – one still oozing sap, twined around the other.  These are from her tree and her daughters, and will function as a wand of locate object, but do to the haste that they were grown in it only has 5 charges. (40 minutes each).  Nightshade is wearing a silver necklace similar to the one the gold one worn by the queen.  The queen will direct the PC’s too and old path that leads to the See – She will tell them that the path ends at the see, but not explain what it is as she has never been there.  The path is 3 miles ( through trackless forest away) and the See is another 2 miles down the road.  The diction of travel is SW. Dwatharme will explain that her daughter can move between trees of the same species, as long as they are big enough for her to fit inside them.  The range is up to ½ a mile and her daughter can make six jumps if appropriate trees are in the area.  This ability should have allowed her daughter to make the trip quickly as it can be used 3 times per day. On the way out of the glade the party passes Nightshade’s tree.  It is surrounded by nightshade plants, growing 2 feet high The plants are a dull dark green and the large leaves spread out from the stalks. Beautifully tempting black berries cluster under the leaves, each the size of a cherry.  The unpleasant bitter smell of crushed nightshade fills the air.  Hustling for 2 hrs causes 1 pt non-lethal damage, 3 hrs = +2 dmg, 4 hrs +4 dmg w/o hustle the trip is (round trip) 5-6 hours Slowest possible round trip 10 hours (dwarves walking)Scene 1.5: Ettercaps have a lair/ trap set up on the road. They are disorganized and do not respond to the players the first time.  The players may notice them and respond to them if they are spotted – use enough ettercaps and spiders to provide a challenge to the party. If the players pursue the beasts then move to scene 3 Scene 2: See of Souls – A large graveyard covers most of a hill – trees grow among the stones, it seems peaceful And quiet.  At the top of the hill lies the foundations of a massive church.  Next to the church are the remains of a statue – the last bishop.  The inscription reads – I stand over the remains of my people /Behold my See of Souls.   This graveyard, unlike most, is still purified.  As undead that awaken are put down by the celestial guardians. If the graves are disturbed, or the church entered a lantern archon will teleport in to warn off the desecrators.  It will talk with them in a musical voice, warning not to desecrate the graves or church.  If questioned it will lead them to its superior, a large dog.  The dog is a hound archon named Sebastian. He will confirm the presence of the dryad several hours ago, but say that she left the grounds, looking in no particular distress, it will warn of a nest of spider creatures that hunt along the old road, and suggest that they look there.  Sebastian the hound archon is a 3rd level cleric, with the natural spell feat.  He keeps the graves consecrated.  He will share information about the celestial realm as long as the PCs remain polite. He is arrogant and takes offense easily – the lanterns will not back him in a fight that he starts.  He will bite for subdual unless PCs detect as evil. The lantern archons will plead with the PCs to leave, as there is no talking to him when he gets like this.  He will teleport away if badly injured, and the lanterns will warn that he has plenty of healing, and will return shortly.  They know that the dryad was here and left along the road, but nothing of the ettercamps. Scene 3: Background: when nightshade was returning from the See, she was attacked by the ettercamps & spiders.  She was entangled and bitten several times, failing her poison saves.  She managed to wriggle free and with her dex dropping she used her last tree stride to enter a linden tree.  After she had made only a few jumps the rest of the poison took effect and she became paralyzed.The ettercamps attack the party as it returns from the See.  One of the ettercamps is strangely weak (-4con), and his many pupils are strangely dilated.  The fight as described, in MM, using nets and poison to disable rather than kill. Their lair is in the trees and contains several cocoons both large and small. Among the treasure, a masterwork longbow lies next to a large tree – there are signs of a struggle and the strong bitter smell of crushed nightshade.  The (linden) tree is tall and has white wood and heart shaped leaves.  A moderate spot or survival check will locate a nearby large linden tree, it is 1000 ft to the NE.  This tree also bears the strong bitter smell of nightshade.   The checks to locate the next tree get harder, but the trees all lie in the direction of her home. The missing nymph is lying against the fourth linden tree. She is paralyzed and must be carried back to her own tree. The problem is that she has taken on some of the characteristics of  nightshade plant and her skin acts as a weak contact poison.  After 3 minutes of contact it causes 1d3 con damage on a DC 13 Fortitude save.  The source may not be immediately obvious.  It will repeat every 3 minutes.  Trouble ShootingIf the party misses some of the trail of trees the wand of location can be used to find her In 1 hour if they stay in the right general area, 2 if they have a search pattern, 4 if they wander aimlessly. If the party is unable to find the trail of Linden trees at all then the dryad may have taken 1 jump then used tree shape to hide, in that case she can be found by calling out and reassuring her it is safe to resume her form. (the wand will not detect the necklace in this form. Continuing the Adventure* The See of Souls is not what the players are actually looking for is it a red herring with the actual Sea of Souls located elsewhere. * The haughty queen furnish bits of forgotten lore that lead to other adventures, or may reconsider her deal, and demand further services for any knowledge or magic wands.  * PC’s can talk with celestials to gain better understandings of the celestial hierarchies.There may be some anti-humanoid weapons in the graveyard that the players will need to combat the renewed humanoid threat. Summary Of Ingredients:•    Silver Necklace – the jewelry worn by the daughter of the queen of the dryads. Used as focus for the wand of Locate object. •    Nightshade – the daughter of the queen of the Dryads, named for the plants around her tree and the poisonous nature of her skin.  The distinctive scent can be used to find her trail. •    Queen of the Dryads – Sponsor/reward for players •    Ettercap – antagonists, who captured the daughter of the queen •    Sea of Souls – misconception – See of Souls is an abandoned church (seat of a dead bishop) •    Arrogance – the daughter believing it would be safe to travel so far.  And the arrogance of the queen commanding the players/ town to do her bidding.  Finally the arrogance of the hound archon. </blockquote>

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