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Whether the PCs learn of the refugee murders from Flame Zodge or through the alternate hook of the refugees themselves, don’t be surprised if they decide to investigate the murders for themselves. If they’ve been recruited by Zodge, this might happen before they go to the Elfsong Tavern to meet with Tarina. The PCs might also detour to investigate after meeting Tarina but before going to the Poisoned Poseidon. Or they might backtrack and start investigating the bodies after (or during) any of the early Vanthampur nodes (although the rewards for doing so will rapidly taper off).

THE VICTIMS

There have been six victims:

• Edmao Eduarda
• Wemba Oshrat
• Madhuri Akhila
• Leiv Diomidis
• Aneta Diomidis
• Annika Silverleaf

Each body was found in Insight Park. All of them were then taken to Candulhallow’s mortuarium (DIA, p. 187) to be prepared for burial. More details on each victim can be found below in “Canvassing Victims.”

ADDITIONAL VICTIMS: It’s overwhelmingly likely that the PCs will shut down the murder operation out of the Poisoned Poseidon within twenty-four hours of taking the case. If for some reason that doesn’t happen, additional victims will turn up (probably one per day):

• Shohreh Letitia
• Iolanthe Oshrat (sister of Wemba Oshrat, the second victim)
• Valeria Nuska
• Weronika Nuska (sisters)

These victims are most likely to appear if the PCs have somehow gotten lost or confused in their investigation. So use them to aggressively push increasingly obvious clues to the Poisoned Poseidon and Amrik.

Note that, as the scenario begins, Shohreh has already been killed and her body is in the Poisoned Poseidon. Valeria and Weronika are both taken at the same time, but Weronika might still be rescued from the Poisoned Poseidon after Valeria’s body turns up.

If it becomes clear that corpses cannot be safely dumped in Insight Park, the cultists will start dropping them in random locations around the city.

INSIGHT PARK

Insight Park is described on p. 189 of Descent Into Avernus. It takes up a fairly large plot of steep, gullied land that backs up directly onto the wall in the southeast corner of Baldur’s Gate, south of Cliffgate. Forty years ago it was an illegal junkyard, but a druid named Torimesh used magic to cause the rusting piles of refuse to become overgrown by a verdant forest overnight.

At the center of the park is the Drawing Tree, which Torimesh can use to produce prophetic images (see the write-up in the book for details).

Note: The published version of the park is significantly smaller than what I’m describing here. But the map doesn’t really match the description in the book, either.

TIMELINE: See “Candulhallow’s Mortuarium,” below, for a description of the corpses (which, for example, Torimesh would know).

• 10 Days Ago: The first victim, Edmao Eduarda, is found by Torimesh at the foot of the Drawing Tree.
• 8 Days Ago: Wemba Oshrat’s body is found in a clearing up near the wall by a halfling named Marvias Fleecefoot who was out for a morning walk.
• 5 Days Ago: The bodies of Madhuri Akhila and Leiv Diomidis are found Torimesh. They’d been dumped in separate gullies. (Madhuri Akhila was actually dumped the day before, she just wasn’t found until today.)
• 3 Days Ago: A fisherman named Zendreya Vereni who was tying up her boat on the piers near where the park meets the Dock Road spotted the body of Aneta Diomidis (Leiv’s sister) just inside the park boundary.
• 1 Day Ago: Annika Silverleaf’s body was found, once again in front of the Drawing Tree.

You may need to adjust this timeline somewhat depending on how quickly the PCs reach Baldur’s Gate / how long it takes them to get involved. The important detail is that the murders CANNOT start before Elturel’s Fall.

In fact you should adjust this timeline so that the first murder literally happens on the same day as Elturel’s disappearance. (The cultists knew it was coming.) Savvy players will likely pick up on the “coincidence.”

TORIMESH THE DRUID: Torimesh the druid is an elderly man now. He is both furious and heartsick about the bodies being dumped in the park. He’ll rage about the fact that the Flaming Fist has done nothing (“Nothing!”) to put a stop to it.

Torimesh can tell them:

• The timeline and identities of the victims found.
• He’s never seen any of the victims in the park before.
• The bodies were marked with ritualistic carvings he knows to be associated with the Dead Three.
• The corpses were collected by the corpse carts of Candulhallow’s Mortuarium.

He can also act as a guide, taking them to each of the sites where bodies were found.

DRAWING TREE: If the PCs don’t alienate Torimesh, he’ll offer to reveal a prophetic image from the Drawing Tree (see Descent Into Avernus, p. 190). Or, if you want it to feel more portentous, the bark of tree might simply start cracking and peeling back when they draw near.

The resulting image depicts:

• A large sword being held aloft by an angelic figure with feathered wings.
• The arms of the angelic figure are bound with chains.
• Below the figure is a large tablet or slab of some kind that is cracking into two pieces while being consumed by flames.

Note: You could swap this image out for something that would provide a more immediate clue to the murders. (And perhaps if the PCs bring one of the victims’ family members back here and ask Torimesh to do a divination for them, that could happen.) But we’ve got a pretty solid revelation list and it will be more interesting to present a prophecy that evocatively indicates the end of the campaign. See Foreshadowing in RPGs.

SEARCHING THE PARK: There are two clues to be found in Insight Park. You can predetermine which murder scenes they’re located at, put them at the first location (or first two locations) the PCs search, etc. Whatever works. The refugee papers should not belong to Annika Silverleaf or Wemba Oshrat, as their papers can be found at Candulhallow’s Mortuarium.

If you’re predetermining their placement, I recommend NOT putting either clue at the Drawing Tree. You can then put the refugee papers at another location and the tanner’s fluid at two different murder scenes. That gives you a cool interaction with the prophecy at the Drawing Tree, clues at three of the other four locations, and then a fourth location with nothing to be found (giving you a pretty good variety of experience).

CLUE 1 – TANNER’S FLUID: On the ground at or near a murder scene, a PC making a DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check can find a strange alchymical substance on the ground (or rubbed up against a tree or whatever).

Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Medicine)

• DC 12: It’s an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime.
• DC 15: This alcyhmical is often used in tanneries to rotten and loosen the hair of hides.

They can similarly identify the substance and its likely origin by following up with any plausible authority in the city. The nearest tannery to Insight Park is the Poisoned Poseidon.

CLUE 2 – REFUGEE PAPERS: These can be found blown into a bush or thicket near where one of the bodies was found. The papers appear to authorize the refugee to enter and reside in Baldur’s Gate. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

A DC 12 Charisma (Investigation) check can be used to ask questions around town about the forged papers. On a success, the PCs are directed to Amrik Vanthampur at the Low Lantern tavern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik).

STAKING OUT THE PARK: If the PCs decide to stake out the park, they’ll likely spot two Fists of Bane (DIA, p. 232; passive Perception DC 10 to spot them) dumping Shohreh Letitia’s body. They can be either questioned or followed back to the Poisoned Poseidon. (Shohreh could also easily have her refugee papers or a tanner’s fluid stain on her clothing to provide additional or reinforcing clues.)

CANDULHALLOW’S MORTUARIUM

All of the bodies were picked up by corpse carts from Candulhallow’s Mortuarium (see Descent Into Avernus, p. 187) and taken back to their morgue. Since they’re part of an ongoing investigation, gentle repose spells have been used to preserve the corpses in the Candulhallow morgue. The PCs can discover this by asking Zodge, Torimesh (at Insight Park), the victims’ families (who have been notified where their kin are being kept), or just by making general inquiries about where bodies are typically taken. (In the latter case, the PCs might also end up checking Harborside Hospital (p. 189) or the Shrine of Suffering (p. 192).

Option: You could also have the bodies split up among the three different locations, with perhaps the oldest bodies already interred in the Cliffside Cemetery. Any bodies taken to the Shrine of Suffering would have likely been at least partially devoured by the rats in the crypts already.

RITUAL CARVINGS: All of the bodies have been sliced into with a sharp knife or razor. These grisly ritual carvings are primarily in lokharic characters (the alphabet used for the Draconic and various arcane languages), but there are also other pentagrammic sigils and glyph circles suggestive of some terrible, bloody rite. In addition, each victim has a brand at the base of their spine depicting three symbols in a roughly triangular pattern (see graphic).

Intelligence (Arcana/Religion)

• DC 10: The runes are choral praises to dark gods, invoking their right of dominion over all of the mortal plane. “All cities shall fall to darkness,” “that which was foretold in the Prophecies of Blood is upon us,” “the Spawn shall rise from mortal flesh,” “none shall live save those who offer their kin unto the heirs of Jergal,” and that sort of thing.
• DC 15: Although to an untrained eye the symbols would appear to belong to some arcane rite or spell, the arcane components are just nonsense. They don’t really mean anything or do anything, and seem to have been carved for effect rather than purpose.

Intelligence (Religion)

• DC 10: The branded symbols are the holy symbols of Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal; the three gods who raised themselves to divinity by slaying Jergal, the ancient God of Death.

Wisdom (Medicine) – DC 12: The brands were inflicted post mortem.

TANNER’S FLUID: A DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a strange alchymical substance staining the clothes of one of the victims.

Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Medicine)

• DC 12: It’s an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime.
• DC 15: This alcyhmical is often used in tanneries to rotten and loosen the hair of hides.

They can similarly identify the substance and its likely origin by following up with any likely authority in the city. The nearest tannery to Insight Park is the Poisoned Poseidon.

REFUGEE PAPERS: Annika Silverleaf and Wemba Oshrat’s personal effects include their refugee papers, authorizing them to enter and reside in Baldur’s Gate. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

A DC 12 Charisma (Investigation) check can be used to ask questions around town about the forged papers. On a success, the PCs are directed to Amrik Vanthampur at the Low Lantern tavern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik).

Option: The Baldur’s Gate gazetteer in Descent Into Avernus does an exceptional job of seeding the locations in the city with cool scenario concepts that a DM can quickly expand on. Candulhallow’s is no exception, with the Candulhallows engaged in a variety of necromantic scams, including corpse theft. PCs coming around to ask after specific corpses (that Leylenna Candulhallow may have used to replace more high profile corpses that she’s claimed for her experiements) is an excellent opportunity to accidentally reveal the corruption, and it would be relatively easy to spin this off as a small side quest (albeit with some small risk of becoming a red herring that completely derails the PCs from the main investigation).

CANVASSING VICTIMS

If the PCs backtrack the victims they’ll be able to find friends and/or family who can provide them with background information on the victims. You can prep this material ahead of time, but with the brief biographical sketches and key information summarized below it should be fairly easy to simply improvise the interactions.

Things to think about during these improvisations:

• If they’re refugees, think about the stories that might be told about how they got from Elturel to Baldur’s Gate.
• What’s a notable experience they had as refugees after reaching Baldur’s Gate?
• How were they kidnapped by the Dead Three cultists? Were there witnesses or evidence left behind that could be used to describe the kidnapping? (Actual witnesses should be rare, but could confirm that there were definitely Dead Three cultists involved.)

In addition, there are three key clues that the PCs can acquire here:

• Forged refugee papers pointing back at Amrik. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).
• Verbal reports that the victims were smuggled into the city by Amrik.
• A variety of clues indicating that all of the victims were either Elturgadian knights or related to them.

Each victim’s description includes a brief summary of the pertinent clues.

EDMAO EDUARDA: The first victim. Taken from his home ten days ago. Unlike the later victims, Eduarda was a native of Baldur’s Gate. He’s survived by elven wife Neske and his half-elven son Luus.

• Hanging on the wall above Eduarda’s fireplace is the mantle of a Hellrider. It belonged to Norbaer Eduarda, Edmao’s father, who retired to Baldur’s Gate after he married (and before Edmao was born).

WEMBA OSHRAT: Wemba’s sister, Iolanthe, was an apprentice to a wizard name Bèr Nölmien in Elturel. When the crisis began, Bèr used a teleportation circle to evacuate Iolanthe, Wemba, and about a dozen other refugees directly to Baldur’s Gate. Wemba vanished just one day after arriving in Baldur’s Gate and his body was found the next day.

• Iolanthe and Wemba were among the first refugees who got their papers from Amrik. (The gates hadn’t been closed yet, but they still needed proper documentation and Amrik offered to get it for them at a fraction of the price using his “connections at High Hall.”) Iolanthe still has hers; Wemba’s are with his personal effects at Candulhallow’s.
• Iolanthe can also describe the final minutes before Elturel’s Fall. Her master Bèr would have realized that the entire city was being influenced by some incredibly powerful magical field. Notably, they were expecting more people (including Bèr) to follow them. A second circle opened, but then abruptly winked out of existence (Elturel had just been sent to Hell, disrupting the spell). A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check might indicate that the spell winking out like that would be consistent with a counterspell, an antimagic field suddenly coming into effect, or one end of the portal being shifted outside the range of the spell.
• Iolanthe and Wemba’s mother is a knight of the Order of the Companion.

MADHURI AKHILA: Madhuri arrived in Baldur’s Gate in the first wave of refugees, catching a ride on a boat heading downstream. He has no other family in the city, but had been bunking with Sjang and Albaer, two other refugees who came in on the same boat. They found the door broken down and Madhuri missing seven days ago.

• Like Iolanthe and Wemba Oshrat, they were among the first refugees to get their papers from Amrik. (The gates weren’t closed yet, but they still needed proper documentation.)
• Madhuri’s paperwork was left behind in the room he shared with Sjang and Albaer. It would turn up if the PCs look through his meager personal belongings. (Sjang and Albaer also have their papers.)
• Madhuri’s father was a Hellrider. (Sjang and Albaer might mention this if asked about next of kin; or just spontaneously lament that they don’t even know how to contact him… assuming he’s still alive. Madhuri had mentioned his father on the boat ride down from Elturel.)

LEIV & ANETA DIOMIDIS: Leiv and Aneta were siblings; they were also both Hellriders. Supposedly there has been a Diomidis in the Hellriders since the legendary Charge of the Hellriders. Like the PCs, they led a caravan of refugees down the river to Baldur’s Gate only to find the gates closed. They disappeared six days ago.

• Many of the refugees they helped will report that Leiv and Aneta had helped them get their papers from Amrik Vanthampur, getting all of them into the city despite the gates being closed.

ANNIKA SILVERLEAF: Annika Silverleaf was a half-elf knight of the Order of the Companion. She’d been organizing fundraising in the city for relief supplies to be delivered to the camps outside. When she disappeared two days ago, she’d been negotiating with the Captain’s Guild to ship refugees south to Amn or north to Waterdeep as a humanitarian effort.

• She’d also been working closely with Amrik Vanthampur, connecting refugees in the camps to his services. (It’s uncertain if she knew his papers were forgeries, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if she did.)
• Her own papers are with her personal effects at Candulhallow’s.
• Annika was one of the founding members of the Order of the Companion. She joined High Watcher Naja Bellandi’s resistance on the Night of the Red Coup, her elven father having been turned into a vampire by High Rider Ikaia (see Part 4B).

Go to Part 3E: The Poisoned Poseidon

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As we discussed in Part 3, the Vanthampur Investigations consist of three nodes:

• Dungeon of the Dead Three
• Amrik Vanthampur @ the Low Lantern
• Vanthampur Manor

To these we’re going to add a fourth node:

• The Poisoned Poseidon

The Poisoned Poseidon is a beached ship that’s been repurposed into a tannery. It’s also the location where the Dead Three cultists are killing refugees before dumping their bodies. There are a couple of reasons why we’re adding this node to the scenario:

First, as we’ll see in “Portyr Politics” below, I wanted to enhance this section of the campaign by giving the PCs a window into the evolving political situation in Baldur’s Gate (and how that ties into both the refugees they care about and Vanthampur’s schemes). The most effective structure for that material required an extra “beat” before the Dungeon of the Dead Three, which means that we need an extra node.

Second, extensive feedback from DMs online suggests that the Dungeon of the Dead Three is a better experience for 3^rd level PCs than for 2^nd level PCs. Adding an extra node here also provides a natural opportunity for a milestone. In Act I of the campaign, the PCs should level up after:

• Reaching Baldur’s Gate
• Poisoned Poseidon OR Amrik Vanthampur (whichever they do first)
• Dungeon of the Dead Three
• Vanthampur Estate

Meaning they’ll be 5^th level when they head to Candlekeep (and, subsequently, Avernus).

REMIXING THE CONSPIRACY

There’s a million and one ways to create a thing, but generally the first thing I do when designing an adventure or campaign is to simply brainstorm ideas. (I describe a quick version of this in 5 Node Mystery.) We’re remixing the raw material from Descent Into Avernus here, so we can largely skip that step.

When it comes to the actual design work — when I start thinking about how a particular scenario is going to work in play — however, the first thing I’ll do is focus on how the scenario works in the game world. Once I know that, I can start figuring out what sort of scenario structures to use, how the PCs can get hooked into the scenario, and so forth. (Along the way, I’ll almost certainly tweak how the game world is arranged in order to facilitate the table experience, but balancing these factors of simulation, challenge, drama, practicality, scope, etc. — and which ones are more important or more valued — is (a) a matter of personal taste, (b) dependent on circumstance, and (c) a bag of worms I’m not going to dive into today.)

Long story short, in the Remix, this is how the Vanthampur conspiracy to kill descendants of Hellriders and knights of the Order of the Companion works in the game world:

• Amrik Vanthampur has set himself up as a black market resource for smuggling refugees into Baldur’s Gate. His agents circulate through the refugee camps outside of the city and he holds court at the Low Lantern, fleecing refugees who want to bring their loved ones inside the city. (This will be described in Part 3H.)
• This puts Amrik in a position to identify and track refugees of the desired bloodlines.
• Duke Vanthampur, with the aid of Thavius Kreeg and Gargauth, has cut a deal with the Dead Three Cultists to actually carry out the murders. (See Part 3B.)
• The operation is overseen by Mortlock and the Dead Three cult leaders at the Dungeon of the Dead Three. Once Amrik has identified a target, he sends word to Mortlock, who instructs the Dead Three cultists to put the target under surveillance. (See Part 3F.)
• The actual murders are carried out by Dead Three cultists operating out of the Poisoned Poseidon. Once a target’s location and identity have been confirmed, the surveillance teams will report that information to the Poisoned Poseidon. (See Part 3E.)
• A Poseidon strike team will then kidnap the victim, bring them back to the slaughterhouse, kill them, and dump the body in Insight Park. (See Part 3D.)

At this point, we could put together a little diagram of how the scenario works:

Refugees go to Amrik for help, Amrik gives their information to the Dungeon of the Dead Three, who passes the target information to the Poisoned Poseidon, who kill the targeted refugees.

(You don’t necessarily need to actually draw this out on a sheet of paper, but you may find visualizing it useful.)

Note that this has nothing to do with the PCs or their involvement in the scenario. I’m not focused on that at all right now. All of my attention is on figuring out the practical details of the situation in the game world.

The nature of these practical details can also vary a lot. In situations like this where the bad guys are in the middle of an ongoing project, though, the result will usually be some sort of logistical map for information, money, people, etc. This usually lends itself naturally to node-based scenario design.

Option: On p. 197 of Descent Into Avernus, there’s a group of Dead Three cultists based out of the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse who are ALSO murdering people across the city for vague and unspecified reasons and then dumping their bodies at the Smilin’ Boar tavern. I’d originally planned to just scoop them up and add them to the Vanthampur conspiracy, but realized I couldn’t quite make it work: The Slaughterhouse is outside the city because no hooved animals are allowed inside the walls, and it doesn’t make sense for the Dead Three to smuggle refugees OUT of the city, murder them, and then smuggle them back INTO the city to dump the bodies.

However, if you wanted to add more complexity to this section of the campaign you could still scoop up this material. Now there would effectively be two Dead Three operations hunting refugees: One inside the city walls and one outside the city walls. (Both operations are probably still linked to Amrik.)

(I even had a cool clue for the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse that I didn’t get to use: Blue blood on one of the victim’s clothes. In Baldur’s Gate, only the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse practices the slaughter of giant spiders.)

HOOKS

Once we understand the scenario, we can start looking at how the PCs can get involved. Because we’re not prepping a plot, we could theoretically generate lots and lots of scenario hooks, pointing them at any or all of the nodes we’ve designed. In practice, however, this is the point where we’ll usually start thinking about the scenario structurally in terms of how the PCs interact with it, which in the case of a conspiracy usually translates into a hook pointing somewhere at the periphery of the conspiracy (so that the PCs can learn more and more about the conspiracy as they work their way towards its center).

In this case, our little flowchart is a perfect loop: What’s the periphery? Well, we know that the Dungeon of the Dead Three is the control hub for the conspiracy. And, structurally, it will also be where the major leads to the next section of the campaign (Vanthampur Manor) will be found. Therefore, we can look at the point furthest from the Dungeon of the Dead Three: The refugees.

Once we’ve made that determination, a clear structure kind of leaps out at me: From the murdered refugees, the PCs can work their way up the ladder in either direction (or both).

It can also be useful to remember that the form of the hook and the content of the hook are two different things. For example, in the published adventure Flame Zodge tells the PCs to talk to Tarina, who tells them to go to the Dungeon of the Dead Three. But Zodge could just as easily tell them to go to the Poisoned Poseidon or investigate the dead refugees or question Amrik or even just go straight to Vanthampur Manor.

So even though we’re shifting where the hook points us, we don’t need to abandon the basic structure of the hook.

ZODGE’S BRIEFING: Zodge is actually going to point the PCs in two directions. As detailed in Part 1, he makes a deal with the PCs to investigate the killings:

• The city is in chaos. Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard is missing; presumed dead in the fall of Elturel. (He could mention a few Rumors of Elturel he’s heard.)
• Some people blame the Elturians; others think the refugees have a secret agenda; tensions are high, violence is everywhere, and the Flaming Fist is stretched thin trying to keep the city from falling apart.
• Someone is killing refugees. Zodge thinks it’s a coordinated effort, but the Flaming Fist doesn’t have the manpower to mount a proper investigation or response.
• If the PCs agree to investigate the murders and bring the perpetrators to justice, he will immediately allow the refugees from their caravan to enter the city.
• Beyond that, the refugees will be on their own: They’ll have to make whatever arrangements they can. (But it will certainly be better than the refugee camp outside, where conditions are getting more desperate every day.)

Note: If the PCs make exceptionally good time to Baldur’s Gate with their refugees, you may want to have them spend a day or two with the refugees stuck in the camp before Zodge tracks them down (or vice versa) so that there’s enough time for the killings to start.

Once the PCs agree to the deal (or even if they just ask questions), he’ll give them a full briefing:

• A half dozen bodies have been dumped in Insight Park, located in the Brampton neighborhood south of Cliffgate.
• Ritual symbols associated with the Dead Three – the gods Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul – have been carved into the bodies. Zodge isn’t sure if it’s actually followers of the Dead Three or if someone is just using them as a scapegoat.
• The PCs are authorized, as deputies, to kill whoever is responsible on sight.
• A Flaming Fist informant named Tarina has sent word to Zodge that she has a lead on the killings. The PCs are to meet at the Elfsong Tavern tonight, find out what she knows, and then follow up on whatever lead she has.
• Zodge gives them a bag with 50gp to pay Tarina for the information.
• They should keep him apprised of their progress.

The briefing actually gives the PCs two leads: They’re likely to go and meet with Tarina, but they could also decide to independently investigate the murders.

TARINA’S LEAD: The lead Tarina gives the PCs in the Elfsong Tavern is straightforward: She’s seen Dead Three cultists around the Poisoned Poseidon in the Brampton docks.

INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS: If the PCs decide to investigate the murders themselves, they have several options. We’ll discuss this in Part 3D.

LEADS (THE SCENARIO SOLVE)

In Advanced Node-Based Design, I talk about the two prongs of mystery scenarios: There are the clues you need to figure out the fundamental truths or revelations about what’s really happening (the concept solve) and there are the clues (or leads) that tell you where to look for more clues (another location or character or event; the scenario solve).

The concept solve is the answer you’re trying to figure out; the scenario solve is what you actually do.

The revelation list for the scenario solve is generally identical (or nearly identical) to the node list. In the case of the Vanthampur Investigations, we have five scenario solve revelations:

• Poisoned Poseidon
• Amrik Vanthampur
• Dungeon of the Dead Three
• Vanthampur Manor
• Infernal Puzzlebox

(The infernal puzzlebox is a scenario solve because it’s the structural link to Part 4: Candlekeep.)

Let’s take a closer look at this revelation list. Because this is a revelation list, we’ll be listing the clues that point to each node; not the clues that are found in those nodes. The location of each clue is indicated in parentheses. (I typically wouldn’t provide descriptions of each clue on a revelation list; but I’m doing so here to make the design process clearer.)

THE POISONED POSEIDON

• Tarina’s Lead. Tarina tells the PCs to go check out the Poisoned Poseidon.
• Tanner’s Fluid (Investigating the Murders). One of the victims has an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime staining her clothes, an alchymical used to rotten and loosen the hair of hides. (The nearest tannery is the Poisoned Poseidon.)
• Staking Out the Murder Scene (Investigating the Murders). When the next corpse is dumped, the PCs can follow the murderers back to the Poisoned Poseidon or question them.
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Correspondence from Poseidon and notations on the genealogical reports. Amrik can also be questioned to this effect.

AMRIK VANTHAMPUR

• Refugee Papers (Investigating the Murders). Forged refugee paperwork found at the murder scene and on bodies in the morgue can be traced back to Amrik.
• Canvassing Victims (Investigating the Murders). Those who knew the victims can report that they’d been smuggled into the city by Amrik.
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three).
• Assassin’s Orders (Dungeon of the Dead Three). The assassin targeting Mortlock carries a note with instructions from Amrik. The assassin could also be questioned to similar effect.

DUNGEON OF THE DEAD THREE

• Questioning Killers (Investigating the Murders). If the PCs stake out Insight Park, they can question the cultists dumping the bodies.
• Poseidon Correspondence (Poisoned Poseidon). Reports from the Dead Three leadership mention the bathhouse.
• Poseidon Cultists (Poisoned Poseidon). Following or questioning Poseidon cultists can lead to the bathhouse.
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Amrik is sending reports and receiving instructions from the Dead Three leadership. He can be questioned to similar effect.

VANTHAMPUR MANOR

• Vanthampur Boys (Trafficking Amrik/Dungeon of the Dead Three). Knowing that one or more Vanthampur heirs are involved can be enough to trigger an investigation of Vanthampur Manor all by itself.
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Amrik has correspondence from his brother Thurstwell.
• Mortlock’s Correspondence (Dungeon of the Dead Three). A letter from his mother detailing how to access the dungeons beneath the bathhouse. Mortlock can be questioned to similar effect.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Correspondence from Thavius Kreeg, passing on instructions from Gargauth to the Dead Three leaders (and inadvertently revealing its presence in Vanthampur Manor).

INFERNAL PUZZLEBOX

• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Amrik’s correspondence with his brother Thurstwell mentions the infernal puzzlebox (Thurstwell has removed it from the family’s vaults where it had been secured because he was fascinated by it).
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). The missives also mention the puzzlebox.
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Mortlock knows that a powerful cult leader escaped from Elturel just before its fall and that his mother is protecting him in the basement of Vanthampur Manor. The cult leader brought two powerful artifacts with him, one of which was locked in a box (or maybe the box is the artifact? Mortlock isn’t sure).
• Finding the Box (Vanthampur Manor). Oh. Hey! There it is!

(If you’re wondering how this revelation list was designed: I literally listed the five revelations and then started adding clues to each one, following the logic of the game world and our intention of being able to follow the leads “up the ladder” in both directions.)

CONCEPT SOLVE

As we’ve discussed previously, there are several core concepts that the PCs should figure out during the Vanthampur Investigations, but which are not actually required for them to proceed:

• The murder victims are descended from knights of Elturgard (either Hellriders or the Order of Companions).
• The Shield of the Hidden Lord is hidden in Vanthampur Manor. (Ideally, this results in them finding and taking the shield.)
• Thavius Kreeg is a cultist.
• Elturel was destroyed by devils.

VICTIMS DESCENDED FROM KNIGHTS OF ELTURGARD

• Canvassing Victims (Investigating the Murders). In speaking with those who knew the victims, the fact that they either were knights or were related to them will be a common theme players might notice. One victim is notably NOT a refugee; in their house hangs the mantle of a Hellrider (their father’s).
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). His paperwork includes the genealogical records he’s cross-referencing.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). The missives also reveal that the Dead Three cultists must “seek the blood of the holy orders of Elturgard.”
• Thurstwell’s Correspondence (Vanthampur Manor). Includes queries from Amrik regarding Thurstwell’s efforts to assist him.

GARGAUTH / SHIELD OF THE HIDDEN LORD

• Interrogating Cultists (Dungeon of the Dead Three). They know the history of Gargauth and know that the Vanthampurs hold the Shield of the Hidden Lord.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Name says its all.
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Mortlock knows that a powerful cult leader escaped from Elturel just before its fall and that his mother is protecting him in the basement of Vanthampur Manor. The cult leader brought two powerful artifacts with him, one of which was a shield in the likeness of a demonic face.
• Finding the Shield. Oh. Hey! There it is!

KREEG’S A CULTIST

(Most of these clues are more oblique. It’s fairly possible for the PCs to NOT realize that Kreeg is a cultist, instead “rescuing” him from the Vanthampurs.)

• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). The genealogical records Amrik is using come from Thavius Kreeg’s office in Elturel.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). These are signed with the initials “TK.”
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Mortlock knows that a powerful cult leader escaped from Elturel just before its fall and that his mother is protecting him in the basement of Vanthampur Manor.
• Encountering Kreeg (Vanthampur Manor). Uh… Hi. Nice to meet you. Whatchu doin’ down here?

ELTUREL WAS DESTROYED BY DEVILS

• Rumors of Elturel
• Altar Prophecies/Adulation (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Tales and prophecies of Elturel’s fall can be found in the chapels of the Dead Three.
• Questioning Gargauth, Kreeg, or Duke Vanthampur (Vanthampur Manor). All three of these NPCs know the truth (that Elturel was taken to Hell). All three of them will lie obliquely, referring to Elturel’s Fall and — if pushed to it! — that the legions of Zariel “fell upon the city” (and similar euphemisms).

PORTYR POLITICS

The last thing I want to layer in here is the wider impact of current events in Baldur’s Gate: In addition to the refugee crisis itself, the emerging ducal politics of how the power vacuum left by Grand Duke Ravengard’s apparent death is going to shake out is not only really interesting, it’s also immediately relevant to Duke Vanthampur’s schemes.

As the campaign begins, you have the position of Grand Duke, an empty ducal seat, AND Marshal of the Flaming Fists all up for grabs. These might go to the same person OR three different people. Then, over in the Adventurers’ League scenarios, Duke Portyr is assassinated just AFTER putting his niece in a position where she might be able to become Marshal of the Flaming Fists.

Can she consolidate that position? Or does the whole Portyr power base fall apart?

How can we bring this into the campaign? How can we give the PCs (and players) a window into what’s happening?

Our mechanism is going to be Zodge. We have five potential interactions with Zodge (when he hires them and then once after each of the four nodes in the Vanthampur Investigations as the PCs check in with him), and we’re going to use them like this:

FIRST INTERACTION. Zodge hires them.

SECOND INTERACTION. Blaze Portyr has arrived in Baldur’s Gate. It’s probably most dramatic for her to sweep into Zodge’s office while the PCs are in the middle of briefing him, but maybe she’s already in situ discussing strategy with him when the PCs show up.

See the “Topics of Conversation” in Part 2B and figure out how many of the rumors about rival claimants to the position of Marshal are true. (Could be all of them, could be none of them, or anything in between.) Portyr’s current agenda is securing the allegiance of Flames (like Zodge) in her own bid for Marshal.

It’s important to establish that Blaze Portyr is the niece of Duke Portyr in this scene. You can do that by having Zodge say something like, “I’m assuming your uncle is supporting you? Duke Dillard’s political backing will make the difference in the Upper City.” (But whatever works.)

Tip: Either way, Zodge won’t have had time to brief Portyr on the PCs’ investigation. When Portyr wants to know what’s going on, have her ask the PCs instead of Zodge. Let your players brief her in: Not only does it make them the active protagonists of the interaction; it will also be a great way to organically make them remind themselves of what they know and what their goals are.

If you want the players to like her, have her enthusiastically endorse Zodge’s initiative in seeking justice for the refugees.

THIRD INTERACTION: This interaction is optional, or it might happen after the Fourth Interaction, depending on the sequence in which the PCs go to the various nodes and whether or not they check in after each node. Portyr and Zodge are still plotting together.

• She’s declared herself Marshal.
• Flame Zodge has been promoted to Blaze.
• One of the rivals established in the Second Interaction has been eliminated. (For example, Blaze Beldroth has been arrested. Or Blaze Mukar of Wyrm’s Rock has sworn allegiance to Portyr. Or she’s gained the Eltan family’s support by having her uncle buy back their shares in the Flaming Fist for them.) Even if you’re going with the “lots of rivals” options, only have one of them get resolved here. (It’s a project in progress, not the whole enchilada.)

FOURTH INTERACTION: At the end of Part 3F: Dungeon of the Dead Three, we’ll discover that Duke Vanthampur has ordered the Dead Three cultists to assassinate Duke Portyr. The PCs rush to the political rally where Duke Portyr is being targeted, but they’re almost certainly too late.

When Marshal Portyr learns that Duke Vanthampur is responsible for her uncle’s death, she asks the PCs to wipe out the Vanthampur family. For political reasons, they’ll be disavowed. But if they succeed, she’ll offer them either promotions within the Flaming Fist or a big cash reward (whatever appeals to them more).

Note: It’s a relatively minor thing, but in the adventure as published it’s a little odd that the PCs are assumed to murder one of the Four Dukes and the response of the Flaming Fist is a collective shrug. Here we’ve contextualized the action within the general political crisis in the city (all of it flowing directly out of Elturel’s disappearance and the loss of the Grand Duke) and also given the PCs’ a clear agenda heading into Vanthampur Manor.

FIFTH INTERACTION: After the PCs assassinate Duke Vanthampur, Marshal Portyr will suggest/encourage/support them getting out of Baldur’s Gate for awhile until the political complications arising from Vanthampur’s death are settled. (More details on this in Part 4: Candlekeep.)

Note: When the PCs get back from Hell and bring a probably totally still alive Grand Duke Ravengard back to Baldur’s Gate only to discover that he’s been “replaced”… Well, that’s when politics are going to get REALLY interesting.

ALTERNATIVE HOOK

In Part 2B, I mentioned the possibility of the PCs figuring out an end-run around Flame Zodge and using the murder of one of their refugees to pull them into Part 3D: Investigating the Murders as an alternative hook to the campaign.

If you use this alternative hook, does it mean you miss out on the Portyr Politics?

Not necessarily.

First, if the PCs have avoided Zodge entirely, he might get wind of their investigation after the first or second node they’ve explored. He might approach them directly or through Tarina (who is most likely to have identified the PCs) to figure out what they’re up to (and potentially bring them onboard in an official capacity).

Second, if the PCs turned down Zodge’s offer, they’re still likely to run into Marshal Portyr after her uncle has been assassinated. She’ll want to know what their investigation has uncovered so far, and you should be able to weave in a few details of her current schemes to secure control of the Flaming Fists into the resulting scene.

Failing all that, these events will still provide some great background events for bringing Baldur’s Gate to life.

Go to Part 3D: Investigating the Murders

In the Railroading Manifesto I talk about how railroading warps player decision-making: “When you systematically strip meaningful choice from [the players], they stop making choices and instead start looking for the railroad tracks.”

Interestingly, GMs who habitually railroad rarely notice this effect, but it becomes glaringly obvious whenever the players they’ve screwed up come and play at my table: “Nothing is more incoherent than a player trying to figure out where the railroad is when there’s no railroad to be found.”

This is a very mild form of what bankuei calls Abused Gamer Syndrome. What these players have learned is that if they don’t preemptively look for the railroad and follow it, then they will be punished: They’ll be frustrated or have their character killed or be made to look stupid or have control of their character forcibly taken away from them or any number of other un-fun things that GMs do to force players back onto the rails.

So when these players are put into a situation where there IS no railroad, they will become increasingly desperate to find it, and they’ll interpret everything through the lens of, “Is this the railroad?” So if, for example, they’ve been trained to look for a GMPC who will tell them what to do and you put them into a scenario with a bunch of different factions who are all demanding that they do different things… it basically drives them nuts.

“We’re doing what the GM is TELLING us to do, but now the GM is telling us to do something completely different?! What the fuck?!”

They’re providing the input they’ve been trained to provide and expecting a certain outcome (a clear-cut track for them to follow), but are instead getting a completely different outcome. The more this happens, the more they flail about trying to find the “solution” that doesn’t actually exist. As their frustration mounts, it’s not unusual for them to feel as if the GM is just maliciously screwing with them (“We’re doing out best! Why is he punishing us?!”) and will begin acting out and even actively sabotaging the game.

In other cases, as we’ll discuss below, the player’s default response to the railroad is always to sabotage it in whatever small ways they can. Even though the railroad doesn’t exist, the disruptive behavior continues… and is probably even more successful because this GM, unlike the ones who railroaded them in the past, will let their actions have consequences!

All kinds of dysfunctional behavior can now result: Some players, feeling rewarded in their disruption and sabotage (because it’s been more successful and had a bigger impact on the game than anything else they’ve ever done!), will now double down. In other cases, GMs who follow where players lead them (because players generally know what they want to do) will lean into this disruptive behavior because it must be what the player wants, right? Except the player doesn’t actually want this! So nobody is happy. And because they’re not happy, the player will act out in the way they’ve been trained is the only viable method of expressing their dissatisfaction and become more disruptive, creating an ever-escalating cycle.

Because I spend a lot of time preaching about alternatives to railroading, it’s not unusual for people to come to me with reports of this type of behavior and say, “See? This doesn’t work! You have to railroad some players because it’s what they expect / it’s what they want / if you don’t they just sit there and don’t do anything!”

Which is, of course, the final trap. The GM is now exhibiting their own form of abused gamer syndrome, usually (but not always) self-inflicted through the medium of their players. (Of course, in some cases GMs saying this sort of thing are just looking to justify what they want to do.)

DESENSITIZATION

Let’s take a step back from these gamers being transferred into games running under different assumptions than the games they’re used to: The GM is running a railroad. The player has been trained to look for the tracks. That’s good, right?

Short answer: No.

Because it turns out that abused gamer syndrome creates other types of unwanted behavior.

DMDavid recently highlighted this on Twitter:

[There are] many places in Descent Into Avernus where the PCs must follow leads with no reason to believe the route brings them closer to their goal. The mod relies on, “We want to keep playing, and we’re told to go hither, so I guess…”

I see new players troubled by such moments more often than us longtime enthusiasts. We should be bothered too, but I wonder if we become a bit desensitized. (…) Do we grow accustomed to just following leads without question?

Instead of acting out or resisting the railroad, these players respond to it by becoming acquiescent. But that desensitization also means that they stop CARING: They don’t care about the NPCs or the lore or even what their objectives are supposed to be. These have all become bits of railroad track whose function is to point them at the next bit of railroad track. They have become divorced from their semantic content and now only serve a structural function.

GMs who relentlessly railroad their players will often crop up complaining that their players don’t care about their game world or their plot or their NPCs or whatever, but don’t understand why these behaviors emerge. They usually think the problem is with the players. (And since all they know how to do is railroad their players anyway, there’s nothing they can really do about it.)

Even more tragic is when this, too, becomes an escalating cycle: As the players stop caring about the semantic content of the game world, the GM also stops caring. The whole thing just becomes an empty loop.

Descent Into Avernus is actually a great example of this. There’s a bit in the adventure where the PCs are trying to help an NPC named Lulu recover her memories:

• They’re told that they need to go to a specific place and talk to some kenku. “Find the kenku! They knew Lulu back in Ye Olde Days! They’ll have valuable information and help reconstruct some of her lost memories!”
• The PCs go there. They find the kenku.
• The adventure says, “The kenku (…) instantly recognize Lulu, since they’ve met her previously.”

And then… nothing. Literally nothing. The kenku remembering Lulu is never mentioned again.

The problem is that the designers were no longer thinking of the game world as a real place. They weren’t thinking about what the players’ actual experience would be like — what they would be thinking, what they would want, etc. — because their players have stopped having that experience.

So the designers are thinking of the kenku strictly as another McGuffin in the long line of McGuffins that make up this campaign:

• They need a mechanism to move the PCs from Point A to Point B.
• The kenku were that device.
• The PCs are now at Point B.
• Therefore, the kenku are done.

And the kenku are thus immediately dropped.

The designers expect the players to directly transition to the next bit of railroad track without ever asking the kenku about the memories they were supposedly here to ask them about because the designers never actually cared about the ostensible reason the PCs were looking for the kenku. And they assume that the players won’t care either (probably because their players, suffering from abused gamer syndrome, don’t any more).

ACTS OF SABOTAGE

Of course, not all players respond to a railroad by acquiescing. Others will act out, seeking to sabotage the railroad (and the GM) as much as they can. Most of these players will learn that they can’t really stop the railroad from happening, but will still find small ways of declaring their independence and giving voice to their protests.

Examples are legion, honestly, but include stuff like:

• Killing NPCs (if you kill them before they railroad you, you’ll have carved out a small corner of freedom)
• Deliberately undermining whatever “objective” the PCs are supposed to be pursuing, ensuring its failure (the GM will usually negate this, but at least they made him work for it)
• Ignoring prompts until they’ve been forced down their throats
• Challenging illusionism by taking random, contradictory actions
• Provoking intra-party conflicts

And so forth. These behaviors will often be propped up by an array of secondary techniques. A common one is to create a half-crazed/anarchic character concept that can be used to “justify” whatever other actions the player is taking. (That way they can blame the character for “making” them play that way.)

SEEKING REFUGE

Instead of acting out, other players will identify the parts of the campaign where they do have freedom, seek to expand those elements of the game, and put their overwhelming focus on them.

A really common example of this is combat: Even lots of GMs who railroad everything else in their game will nevertheless “let the dice fall how they may” in combat. The rigid mechanical structure of combat paradoxically creates a zone of freedom where the players are free to choose their own actions and see those actions have meaningful consequences.

A similar impulse also drives a fair amount of rules lawyering: When you don’t trust the GM, the rules are seen as a way of either controlling outcomes or, just as frequently, providing the neutral arbiter that the GM should be.

Provoking intra-party conflicts, in addition to being a form of sabotage, can also be a way of seeking refuge, because PC-to-PC relationships is another area where otherwise railroady GMs will frequently become hands-off.

OTHER ABUSED GAMER SYNDROMES

I want to emphasize that these behaviors are usually not conscious choices. Players aren’t often literally thinking, “Well, if he’s going to railroad me, then I’m going to kill his NPCs.”

Railroading is also not the only negative behavior that can result in abused gamer syndrome. I’ve focused on it here because railroading is so common in RPG circles that it’s basically institutionalized gaslighting at this point, so it’s a touchstone almost everyone can grok, but there are definitely other behavior patterns that result from people’s bad experiences at gaming tables. (And behavior patterns that you’ll create if you’re creating those bad experiences.)

Another common one, for example, is the player who has been “trained” to just passively sit at the table and rarely contribute creatively because their previous tables (GMs and players alike) systemically rejected and ridiculed their ideas. I used to see A LOT of female gamers suffering from this problem because their entire gaming experience was with tables full of misogynists. (Thankfully, this seems to be less common now, although it obviously still happens.)

FIXING THE PROBLEM

So what should you do if you find a new player at your table exhibiting abused game syndrome?

Honestly, it mostly just boils down to having a frank discussion with them to reset expectations.

In extreme cases, however, this won’t work because they won’t believe you. Often they’ll have actually had GMs who said the same thing and then ruthlessly railroaded them, so why would you be any different?

(Ironically, some of the worst GMs for this are those who honestly don’t want to run a railroad, but have no idea how to prep or run anything other than a railroad. They’ll say stuff like, “There’s a plot, but you’re free to do anything you want!” But because the plot is all they know how to prep, everywhere else the PCs go they just find blank walls and vast empty expanses of boringness. This still feels like punishment to the players. Worse yet, because the GM is trying to give them “freedom” to “do whatever they want,” he is no longer giving them the usual prompts and pressure to keep them on the rails, so these bad situations paradoxically become more common!)

At this point, all you can do is run your game honest and true.

Port mortems can also be useful, where you pull the curtain back a bit so that you and the players can chat about what happened in the game, why it happened, and how it could have gone differently.

You may also find it necessary to interject yourself more aggressively into the metagame in the middle of a session. For example, when a player begins openly talking about how they’re being railroaded or speculating about “what the GM wants us to do” you may need to step in and literally say, in that moment, “That’s not how this works.”

Similarly, if other bad behaviors are the problem, be prepared to step in and protect the players’ interests if other players are stepping on them. For example, saying stuff like, “I think Beth had an idea. What were you going to say, Beth?” (This doesn’t necessarily mean that the other player at your table is actually doing something wrong! But once a player has been conditioned to respond to certain stimuli, they can overreact to stuff that otherwise wouldn’t be a problem.)

Understand that this is about creating an environment of trust at your table and that trust can be tough for players who have been given no reason to trust in the past.

This becomes easier once you’ve already established this trust with a stable of players, because when a new player joins up and assumes the railroad or other bad behavior is happening, the other players will help push back on those assumptions.

WHAT IF YOU’RE THE PROBLEM?

We often talk about how the first step in solving a problem at your table is to have a frank discussion with your group about it, but first you have to (a) recognize that you have a problem and (b) identify what the root cause of that problem is. Even if you convince your players to stop creating wacky anarchist characters who disrupt the game, for example, if you haven’t addressed why they were creating those characters in the first place, then you’ve likely just moved the problem around. (That player will find a different way of responding to what they don’t like.)

So what if you’ve realized that you’re the one engaging in the bad behavior (railroading, for example) and you want to change the way your table works?

First, make sure you can actually get to the point where you can run your game honest and true. If all you’ve ever run or know how to run is a railroad, it can be hard to figure out how to do things differently. Check out Don’t Prep Plots, Node-Based Scenario Design, and Game Structures for some good places to start.

Second, it’s time to have that frank discussion: Tell your players that you want to change the way your game works. Be specific, not just with what you’re trying to do but also what it will mean for how they play the game. Remember that it’s not enough to just change your own behavior; you need to get your players to change their behavior, too.

I also recommend explicitly empowering your players to call out the bad behavior you’re trying to address. When they do, pause the game and have another frank discussion. Don’t feel attacked in this moment. If it’s happening, cop to it and figure out how to address it. If it’s not happening and the players are just being paranoid, pull the curtain back and explain what’s actually happening.

And, yup, that might disrupt a few sessions. But the long-term pay-offs as you collectively rebuild trust in each other is going to be worth it.

Go to Part 1

EPILOGUE: HONORS

They contacted Vajra and made arrangements for the gold to be brought out of Neverember’s Vault. It took workers the better part of a full day to load it all up.

A day later they stood upon the grand stairs in the courtyard of Castle Waterdeep in a carefully negotiated and orchestrated ceremony. Renaer stood at Kittisoth’s side — the son of Neverember returning his father’s ill-gotten spoils along with the heroes of the hour who had been most responsible for its recovery. In her speech to the assembled nobles, burghers, diplomats, guild representatives, broadsheet writers, and other notables, Kora made a point of thanking “the great aid that our sister city of Luskan, by virtue of their Lord Jarlaxle, gave us in pursuit of this gold.” Jarlaxle, who was standing among the crowd of nobles, tipped the broad rim of his feathered hat in silent recognition.

Laeral, of course, had known that this was coming, and her own speech was careful in thanking, “Lord Neverember and all those who aided you in this brave enterprise as part of Force Grey.” Kora appreciated the subtle political touch of pulling an official shroud over the whole affair.

Publicly, Laeral awarded them all the Bright Sleeve – literally a sleeve of cloth-of-gold embroidered with (at their request) “The Trollskulls” in recognition of their “acts of bravery above and beyond expected conduct or paid duties.”

In a private ceremony, afterwards, Laeral passed over a small coffer containing one thousand harbor moons — a tenth of the hoard they’d recovered.

EPILOGUE: J

Even before the ceremony, Jarlaxle had released the Gralhunds’ son. (The Gralhunds could not express their eternal gratitude for what the Trollskulls had done.) A few days later, a note arrived on black paper and written in silver ink:

EPILOGUE: KORA’S SEARCH

Kora stood at the entrance to the Snobeedle Orchard and Meadery in Undercliff. Dim memories danced within her. In the wake of all that had happened, she had come looking for her mother. She’d felt a need to tie off loose ends.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped off the main road and headed down the private drive which drove into the heart of the orchard. The road was shaded by a canopy of tall fruit trees and lined with the gentle swell and distinctive round doors of halfling mounds.

All Kora truly knew about her family was that, after the death of her father in an accident on the docks, her mother had given up her and all three of her siblings to various temples.

Her sister, Kaila, had been taken in by the Hospice of St. Laupsenn, a Triad Temple dedicated to the gods of Ilmater, Tyr, and Torm that had been erected by the Ilmatari knights of the Order of the Golden Cup. Kora was introduced to Vhaspar, an old man in his seventies, half blind with cataracts, to whom Kaila had been apprenticed. Sadly, he told Kora that her sister had caught the spotted plague while tending to the sick in 1488 and died.

She had more luck at the Spire of the Morning, the temple of Lathander where her other sister, Kamara, and her brother, Keryth, had been fostered. The temple was built of pink marble and, as she had arrived, the first light of the dawn had just been striking the seven spires of copper, gold, and silver which had been designed to reflect that light brilliantly across the city.

Delsanra Iangella, the Sovereign Mother of the temple, told her that Kamara had recently gone on pilgrimage to the House of the Triad in Bryn Shandar, a Lathanderian temple far to the north near Ten Towns. “But your brother should be down in just a moment.” Delsanra hadgestured up towards the spires. Keryth had become one of the seven Dawn Priests, charged to stand atop the spires and call out the Songs of Dawn when the sun rose and the Songs of Night’s Warding when it set.

He, too, had thought about contacting their mother a few years before. “She was still working at the Snobeedle Orchard in Undercliff,”

“I was born there!” Kora exclaimed.

“I remember!” Keryth laughed. “But to speak true, I felt… unwelcome there. It felt less like an orchard and more like a cult. I… didn’t find the answers I’d hoped to. I haven’t been back.”

Keryth remembered more of their childhood than Kora did, and he had been able to share a few tales with her before needing to return to his duties. They’d made promises to talk again. Kora wasn’t sure if that would happen, but his words had led her here.

To the orchard.

EPILOGUE: THE CASSALANTER CHILDREN

Meanwhile, the others had been summoned to Blackstaff Tower. Entering the tower they found that, rather than ascending it, all of their paths led down… and down… and down.

They came at last to a room. Vajra was waiting for them outside the door.

“I found the Cassalanter children. You need to be here for this.” She opened the door and stepped in.

“No,” Kittisoth murmured, shaking her head. “No… No.”

But Pashar nodded firmly and followed Vajra. Theren went with him. Edana took Kitti gently and helped her inside. It was horrible, but it was their plan. It was their responsibility. Vajra was right. But she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive her for it.

As Vajra said, “It’s all right. It’s going to be all right,” she drove two blades simultaneously into the backs of the Cassalanter children’s heads, neatly severing their spinal cords. With a wave of her hand, the Blackstaff opened a furnace in the wall of the chamber and levitated the children’s corpses into it.

Kittisoth sobbed and fell to her knees, her wings quaking.

The bodies burned away.

EPILOGUE: KORA’S MOTHER

At the end of the private drive, Kora found a complex of larger buildings, mostly still built in halfling style. The main building, in fact, appeared to be less constructed and more grown directly out of the ground as a tangle of trees winding and twisting around each other.

After some short introductions, she was led to an elderly halfling woman dressed in green robes with silver trim. The old woman smiled at her. “Yes, yes, of course. Welcome. My name is Blossom. Blossom Snobeedle. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She gave a small smile and her eyes twinkled. “I remember when you were born in the field, just over there.”

“That’s right,” Kora said. “I was born in a field.”

Blossom nodded, hearing the tone Kora couldn’t quite control in her voice. “I remember Samira’s heartache at giving up her children. Those were hard years after your father passed.”

“I’d like to talk with her, please,” Kora said.

Blossom tapped her cane. “You didn’t ever properly know this. Your mother didn’t want you to know. But no amount of hardship could have made her give you up. The only reason she ever gave you up was because she was following the Voice of the Wood.”

“What?”

“She’d joined the Circle of Initiates,” Blossom said. “All that you see here is owned by the Emerald Enclave, a powerful druidic order. Your mother had joined the order. She was still learning the druidic arts when she received a vision from the God of the Ents that she needed to give her children up for the greater good. It broke her heart. But she did what she needed to do.

“I wish I could introduce you to your mother now. But unfortunately that’s not possible. Three months ago she did me a great service: My youngest son, Dasher, disappeared in Waterdeep. He’d just been running some errands, but he didn’t come home. After much heartache, he was found by a man named Davil Starsong. He had been kidnapped by a gang of wererats named the Shard Shunners. They’d infected him. They’d turned my son into a monster; severed his connection from the Old Growth.

“He needed respite and time to heal. Samira offered to journey with him to the Isle of Ilighôn in the Sea of Fallen Stars, where the stronghold of our Enclave is located. They left three weeks ago.”

Kora wiped a tear that was threatening to fall from her eye. “Thank you. I am very proud of her for helping… for helping your son. And you should know that the wererats who plagued your son… they’ve been dealt with.”

“Indeed?” Blossom smiled. “Even out here we’ve been hearing good things about you Kora. About you and your friends.”

“When she comes back, could you please tell her to come and visit?” Kora asked. “I run a small tavern with some friends. I’d love to share a meal with her.”

Blossom nodded. “Of course. I’ll let her know.”

“It’s just off Trollskull Alley,” Kora said. “It’s called Trollskull Manor.”

EPILOGUE: THE FEASTS OF LEIRUIN

Festival season was finally coming to an end with the Feast of Leiruin. In Trollskull Alley, the celebrations they had arranged were a roaring success. Spring garlands were strung between dancing poles. Mattrim Threestrings was singing while laughing children dunked for apples and chased each other through the swirling, chaotic joy of the evening.

In the midst of this merriment, the five of them came together on the porch of Trollskull Manor and headed into the tavern’s common room. They were waving to various neighborhood faces that were starting to become familiar to them when Floon came running up. “Edana!” He was holding an orange tabby cat. “My friend Riklyn Harvester has been transformed into this cat by an irate sorcerer who was upset that he had picked up a girl at the Old Skull Tavern. Now, I’ve got Riklyn right here and—”

“Meow!”

“–I’m really hoping you can help turn him back!”

Kittisoth frowned. “Why do you think she would be able to turn him back?”

Floon looked confused. “Edana helps with everything, doesn’t she?”

Pashar laughed.

Kitti’s eyes narrowed. “Was it Riklyn who was trying to pick up the girl?”

“Of course!” Floon declared. “I was just being a good wingman! Riklyn’s a player! You’d like him!”

“I would not!”

Edana smirked. “Kora, can you do anything?”

Kora sighed and cast detect magic. “Uh… the cat’s not magical.”

“What?”

“That’s not Riklyn. It’s just a cat.”

“What?!”

Kittisoth laughed and laughed and laughed.

“Meow!” The cat leapt out of Floon’s arms and ran off into the crowd.

“Riklyn!” Floon shouted. “Wait… you’re sure that wasn’t Riklyn?”

“Positive,” Kora said.

Floon shrugged. “Then he must be with the girl.” And he headed off to get a drink.

Mattrim danced by with Bonnie, the barmaid from the Yawning Portal, in his arms. He made a point of flashing his Harper pin to them as he spun by. Kitti laughed again.

And then, across, the room she spotted Isgrigg heading toward Ilthaea, one of the floating star elf triplets. She pounded Pashar on the shoulder. “Look!”

Isgrigg nervously said, “Would you… uh… like to get a drink some time?”

“Oh!” Ilthaea blinked. “I always thought you liked Ulthaea.”

“No!” Isgrigg said. “I like you.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Yes. We should go out for a drink. It is written.”

Pashar cried out, “It is written!”

“What?!” Kittisoth shouted.

Just then, coming in from the alley, they saw Valetta, the priestess from the House of Gond, accompanied by Nym the Nimblewright. Nym came over to them. “Thank you very much. For the invitation.”

They had a brief conversation with them, and then Volo came trundling over to them.

“Oh gods…” Kittisoth murmured.

“My friends!” Volo cried. “Trollskull Manor! I must say, this is the finest decision I’ve made in decades! So much activity! I’d actually like to talk to you about arranging for a signing of Volo’s Guide to Mountains… Er… Monsters.” He might have been a few drinks in at that point. “I also have a number of questions to ask you about the forthcoming Volo’s Guide to Spirits and Ghosts!”

EPILOGUE: THE DANCE OF LEIRUIN

Later that evening, Kittisoth and Renaer danced in the midst of the Feast at Brandathall. They swirled about the ballroom, gliding (and occasionally floating) beautifully across the floor. The others were nearby, part of the large crowd mingling around the busy dance floor.

They saw the Gralhunds come in. Their eyes met and, from across the room, the Gralhunds mouthed, Thank you…

Kitti and Renaer swept around the ballroom. Kitti twirled around just in time to see Laeral and Vajra teleport in on one side of the room. Mirt was with them! He was a little pallid, but he gave a grateful nod of the head to the new Brightcandle and her friends.

Kitti danced on. As they passed the door, Jarlaxle came walking in – as himself, for a change. Seeing Kitti’s doubletake, Renaer grinned. “Don’t worry. Osco has an eye on him.”

“Oh good,” Kitti grinned sardonically. “My confidence is restored!”

They passed Hermione, who was dancing with a tawny-haired Calishite noble. She gave Kitti a bawdy wink, and Kitti replied with a bawdier thumbs up.

And then the song was winding down. Renaer took the lead and they twirled out into the middle of the floor. As the music ended, he spun down onto one knee and produced a ring.

“Kittisoth, would you go on one last adventure with me?” Renaer grinned. “The greatest adventure of all?”

The entire room seemed to hold its breath.

“… Yeah. Sure. Let’s do it!” Kitti grinned and blushed red. “But I may need to go to the Sea of Fallen Stars to save my friend’s mom. And I also lost a bet with Pashar, so I’m going to have go Dip first.”

“Well, we could be married in the Yawning Portal,” Renaer suggested.

“No!” Kitti said. “We could not!”

EPILOGUE: THUNDERSTAFF

Time passed. Now they were placing the last of the Harper cache into the secret chamber beneath Thunderstaff Manor. Theren tucked the last package onto a shelf and they all stowed their Harper pins, their business as Harpers completed.

They headed back up the stairs. As they came into the entryway, the doors burst open. The two Cassalanter children came rushing in, joining the other children who were there playing at the new Thunderstaff Orphanage.

EPILOGUE: THE SEA OF FALLEN STARS

Pashar stood at the prow of a ship, the sea wind in his face and an endless horizon before him. Kora stepped up to join him on his right side. Theren stepped up to his left.

Kittisoth swooped down from the skies, flying past them and alighting next to Renaer on the lower deck. She threw her arm around her husband and smiled.

The swanwing ship sailed on into the Sea of Fallen Stars, seeking the next great adventure.

EPILOGUE: TROLLSKULL FUTURE

One year later, Edana stood on the balcony of Trollskull Manor looking out across the city towards Mount Waterdeep. Below her, the Trollskull Gardens that had been meticulously planned by Theren filled the alley — a verdant sweep of green growth and flowering trees. Squiddly was down there, shooting at a target propped up against one of the trees.

Nat was sitting in the bole of a different tree off to one side, nearly of a height with the balcony. Her brow was furrowed in concentration… and little sparks leapt from her fingertips.

Jenks, who was working in the kitchens down below, called out, “Do you want a roll? Catch!” He hurled one up through the window and Edana snatched it nimbly from the air.

Taking a bite from the gloriously fresh bread, she turned to head back into the manor. But as she did, Vajra flew down from the blue sky and alighted gently on the balcony next to her.

There was still work to be done.

The Sea goes ever on and on,
Away from manor where it began.
On distant shores we light upon,
Let others follow us who can!
With them a voyage new begins,
But one day with thought of child and friend,
We’ll turn back to lighted inn,
Where toils began and journeys end.

THE END

GM: Justin Alexander

Kittisoth Ka’iter – Heather Burmeister
Mamoon Pashar Al-Eiraf Um-Hafayah – Peter Heeringa
Kora Marwood – Chris Malone
Edana – Sarah Holmberg
Theren – Erik Malm

POST-CREDIT SCENE

Edana sat cross-legged in the secret chambers beneath Thunderstaff Orphanage. She held the Stone of Golorr in the palm of her hand. Its alien thoughts melded and danced with hers. The secrets it had stolen from the world flowed into her.

She had gained so many of them already: Horrible racial slurs. The elvish word essylathir, which meant the beauty of eyes which are the color of a storm-tossed sea. The existence of tawny-haired bipeds known as “fuzzies” that lived in the High Forest. The Kingdom of Otheria, which ruled a demesne from the Sword Coast to the sands of Anauroch five hundred years before. The name Anu-Devan which had one been the most popular male elven name. The location of sixteen silver bars buried in the rear yard of a tavern in Murann in 916 DR. The spells of blacksteel and midnight shroud. The ritual required for the creation of a Hell cyst. The location of a vast complex of gothic archways, each leading to a different locale holding great secrets.

Now a new secret was leeching into her: An atrocity performed during the Crown Wars.

She saw the utter truth of it. How history had long maintained that the dark elf Ilythiiri had viciously attacked the kingdom of Orishaar on the thinnest of pretenses, thus beginning the Second Crown War.

But there, buried inside, was the secret: That the Orishaari had actually betrayed the Ilythiiri at a wedding which was to unite their two people and slaughtered most of the Ilythiiri royal family. The Stone had wiped this truth from history, leaving the official histories to turn the murderous moon elves into victims and the wronged dark elves into villains who were served with a cold justice when they lost the Crown Wars and were forced underground into the sunless realms of their cavernous kingdoms.

And none would ever know but her.

Her eyes snapped open.

Go to Part 1

A question I’ve been not infrequently asked is what starting date I used when running Dragon Heist using the Alexandrian Remix. A quick summary:

• PCs arrive in the Yawning Portal on Ches 1^st.
• Grand Opening of Trollskull Manor on Ches 20^th.
• Fireball on Ches 22^nd.
• Cassalanter kids get their souls sucked to Hell on Tarsakh 11^th.

Some of this timeline, particularly as it pertains to the dual festival weeks of Fleetswake and Waukeentide (with the sacrificial feast thrown by the Cassalanters being a Feast of Leiruin on Tarsakh 10^th), is laid out in Part 4 of the Remix. Other dates are given on the master timeline in Part 5. But I apparently never clearly laid out how these dates related to the events in Chapter 1 (rescuing Floon) and Chapter 2 (opening Trollskull Manor and joining factions).

Basically, there are four considerations here:

First, you want to give the PCs plenty of time to resolve the situation before the Cassalanter kids get their souls sucked, but not so much that they don’t feel any pressure. It’s not quite the illusion of pressure, but it’s close: You want the players to look at the calendar and think, “We could run out of time!” without that just kind of accidentally happening despite their best efforts.

Second, you want the Grand Game stuff to play out across the full length of the festival season to give maximum opportunities for onsite surveillance. (Jarlaxle, Xanathar, and the Cassalanters all have opportunities tied to the festivals.)

For both of these reasons, you neither want the fireball (which triggers the PCs’ meaningful involvement in the Grand Game) arriving too early (no time pressure; the onsite surveillance opportunities aren’t available yet) nor too late (no time to save the kids, fewer surveillance opportunities).

However, the third consideration is that the section of the campaign you simultaneously have the least AND most control over is the refurbishing of Trollskull Manor (and simultaneous faction missions): Least because the players can theoretically fritter away a ton of time here in unpredictable ways. Most because once they’re done frittering you can ultimately say, “Okay, and then it takes you [arbitrary amount of time] for the last of the repairs to be finished. Looks like you can open the joint on [arbitrary date]!”

This allows you almost infinite control over the date that the Grand Opening happens AS LONG AS the players don’t run past your desired date. Starting the campaign on Ches 1^st gives you a nearly three week lead time. In other words, you’ll have plenty of time with a healthy margin of error.

But why do we want the Grand Opening on Ches 20^th?

First, it allows the Grand Opening to be its own distinct day.

Second, you get a “normal” operating day on the 21^st (which you can also use to cleanly establish the beginning of the back-to-back festival weeks; see Addendum: The Twin Parades) before you blow the windows out with a fireball on the 22^nd.

You’re letting the Grand Opening be a legitimate payoff for all the hard work the players have been doing and then you’re establishing something at least vaguely resembling the new status quo before you literally blow it up.

The picture at the top of this post depicts an amazing Faerunian calendar that was made by Erik Malm, one of the players in my Dragon Heist campaign. Thanks to Erv Walter, the Patreon patron who prompted me to write up this post!