The Adventure Begins

## Every Story Has A Beginning

On the island of Claguroth, located in the Cerulean Isle, there is a famous annual festival to celebrate Hallow’s Eve. People arrive from near and far to buy souvenirs, eat wonderful festival food, and listen to live music. This year, something new is happening, and five adventurers arrive at the beginning of their destinies…

### Let's Meet Our Party

The first to set foot on Claguroth is Cordala Charybdis, a merfolk who swam to the island. Second is Zale, famous pirate captain of The Night Soul (with even famouser parents). Third, a young half-elf woman named Levina Noreaster disembarks from The Peregrine, a merchant ship stopping to restock rations. In a separate, nearby merchant ship, a tiefling woman named Yvanna sneaks out of her spot in the cargo hold. Finally, a dinghy with Styx painted on its prow bumps against the dock, and a young noble-looking elf man named Aurelius steps out.

Yvanna immediately heads right, away from the food stands, vendors, and the stage, towards a lone stand in front of a broken-down mansion. Sitting there is an old purple tiefling woman, who waves Yvanna away, saying her stall isn’t ready yet.

Cordala, having been to this festival before, makes a beeline for the stage and mingles with the people swaying to the lively music.

Levina and Aurelius, both sick of the meager pickings at sea, head for the food vendors. Here, Levina finds a stall with a sketchy man selling dried meat (most notably, something he claims is ‘dragon jerky’). She buys mutton and a dried urchin and hurries away.

Aurelius searches for the stall with the most expensive-looking food, and finds one with no customers selling caviar. He purchases one of every kind, and sits on a bench near the stage to eat.

Zale is a man with a mission. His cartographer claims the pendulum Zale has on board The Night Soul doesn’t work, which the captain takes to mean that the pendulum is broken. He searches for a stand selling crystals, and finds one with a large bugbear woman named Flora. She sells him a malachite pendulum, and gives him an enchanted moniker which enables him to send her mail from anywhere.

Cordala leaves the stage in search of a vendor selling sharp things. It doesn’t take long for her to spot a dwarven blacksmith who seems to be a local vendor. His name is Mari, and he sells them a pack of four fish-themed throwing stars. He also gives her a type of leather business card for his and his partner (a leatherworker)’s shop: Mari Kay.

As everyone wraps up their business transactions, an announcement booms out calling the audience to the stage for the welcome speech.

A middle-aged human man in a purple velvet robe, with the aid of a gold cane, walks on stage. He introduces himself as Graham Featherkin, the ruler of the Cerulean Isle. He welcomes everyone to Claguroth’s annual Hallow’s Eve festival, and thanks the vendors for attending. But a hubbub breaks out when he announces a new activity: the haunted house.

Featherkin explains that any individual or group who makes it through the entire haunted house will win a voucher worth 200 gold pieces for the shops on Claguroth. They would also be invited to a private dinner with Graham Featherkin. Each member of a group will get a voucher.

Yvanna, excited about the promise of money, immediately begins searching for the strongest people she can find. There are many strong-looking people in the crowd, but she bypasses all of them to loom over Aurelius on his bench. Faced with such an intimidating figure, the young noble can’t decline.

Zale and Cordala are also intrigued, and head for the haunted house. However, Levina isn’t swayed by the promise of money immediately, and goes to buy a hat from a mousey-looking young woman’s stall. That finished, Levina supposes she’ll go see what the haunted house looks like at the very least.

The crowd thins as the five get closer to the new attraction, until it’s just them. Prudence seems thrilled to have customers. When asked if everyone present is in her group, Yvanna intimidates everyone else into joining her. Thus, the party is formed. Everyone signs a waiver, and Prudence blows some green dust into their faces that makes them pass out.

### Into the House

One by one, the five adventurers awoke alone in a room dimly lit by oil lamps. In the room was a dresser, bed, and desk all made from beautiful dark wood. As they awoke, a distant scream echoed from somewhere in the house. Yvanna took inventory of her surroundings before delivering a swift kick to the locked door.

Zale begins searching the room methodically, starting with the bed and dresser. Levina, meanwhile, runs her hands along the top frame of the door and searches the drawers of the dresser. Aurelius, also, searches the dresser and bed.

Cordala, finding that she’s trapped in the room, immediately begins trying to break out by force.

Zale, Levina, Cordala, and Aurelius all eventually search the desk, finding a letter and key. The letter reads the following:

*Brave adventurer,*

*You have taken the first step of the challenge; dare you continue? Five in total you are tasked to find, though do not underestimate the power of your mind. Each one is placed at a fork in the road, though the seeds of which you choose are yet to be sowed. Do be careful, yet be quick, for one never knows what may make them sick.*

*Good luck,*

The bottom, where a signature may have been, is torn off.

Yvanna does not find the letter, instead breaking through the door. As her leg goes through the door, she begins to feel dizzy.

Zale, Levina, Cordala, and Aurelius all unlock the door. But as they step through, they, too, begin to feel dizzy. The four of them pass out.

Yvanna is not as afflicted by whatever was causing the others such trouble, and is paralyzed but conscious. In the hall, she hears the sound of someone dragging five bodies down some stairs. She feigns unconsciousness when they come for her, and finds herself taken downstairs and tied to an ornate chair at a dining table.

As the others awake, they all see the same thing: the five of them plus one stranger are tied to chairs around an extravagantly laid table. In one corner is a beverage cart with a pitcher of water, and in the other corner is a tarp with five weapons sitting on it. There are two doors out of the room: one with a handle, and one swinging door. The sound of clanging pots and pans emanates from behind the swinging door. They hear a second scream, closer this time.

The stranger is a young, slender half-elf man with black hair and pale green eyes. No one recognizes him, and he doesn’t appear to know any of the party.

Zale, as a pirate raised by pirates, is used to being in sticky situations, and manages to work his way out of his bonds quite quickly. He unties everyone except for the stranger, asking his name and why he’s here.

The half-elf stranger introduces himself as Andrew, and explains (angrily) that he’s here to get the prize, mainly so he can ask Featherkin why his family’s farm is failing on the other side of the island while the ruler does nothing to help.

Satisfied with his answer, Zale unties Andrew.

Levina spots her quarterstaff in the pile of weapons and retrieves it, using it to push down the handle of one of the doors. Beyond it, she finds a hallway with three doors on the other wall. She goes to the swinging door and pushes it open. On the other side of a small hallway is another swinging door, which she assumes leads to the kitchen.

While Levina does that, Yvanna investigates the pitcher of what appears to be water. It smells like water, behaves like water, and looks like water. To experiment, she drops a sausage from the table into the pitcher. Nothing happens. Cordala picks up a glass and asks Andrew if he’s thirsty. Reluctantly, Andrew accepts the glass and downs its contents. Despite the sausage-y taste, the rope burn on his wrists heals.

Aurelius searches the room for magic, and finds that the crystal glasses have a faint shimmer of healing magic around them. He also finds a unique knife with a gold handle and an opal blade, useless for anything except decoration. He pockets it, and decides not to share this information with the party.

The party decides that the room has been sufficiently investigated, and chooses to go through the swinging doors towards the kitchen. In the small hallway, to the right is a rusted spiral staircase going downwards. To the left is a perpendicular hallway. Yvanna, tugging the reluctant Andrew along by his wrist, barges straight into the kitchen, but as she opens the door, the rest of the party hears the sound of two voices arguing. The other four hide around the corner to eavesdrop.

In the kitchen, Yvanna finds two goblins arguing over a large soup pot. The older one, a man, is wearing a tall white chef’s hat, and appears to be reprimanding the younger woman. From his words, Yvanna gleans that the younger cook has messed up the stew somehow. Zale slips in to listen, and Yvanna calls the other three into the room to help.

From the party, the young cook asks Aurelius to taste her stew. She pleads with him, saying that if he can finish one bowl, surely it will be good enough for ‘the Lord,’ and she’ll give the party a prize. She mentions that she’s accidentally added an allergen, but won’t disclose what it is. Aurelius is reluctant, but when she says he looks like he has noble blood, the flattery is enough to convince him to start eating.

As Aurelius eats the rancid stew, his vision begins to tunnel. He doesn’t feel dizzy, and is determined to finish the bowl, but by the time the stew is gone, he’s completely blind. He begins to panic.

The young cook explains that there is a type of wild mushroom in the stew that the Lord loves. It causes temporary blindness, allowing other senses to become heightened. Zale asks her what the allergen she’d mentioned was, to which she finally answers ‘cilantro.’ Having done what she’d asked, the party earns a key with a sapphire set into its handle.

The party leaves the kitchen and turns left towards a hall that goes in two directions. On the other side of the hallway they came from is a door marked with the number 3. To the left are doors 1 and 2, and at the very end of the long hallway is a much larger door with stained glass set into it. To the right is an elegant ivory staircase.

Zale leads the way to Door 1, and they enter to find an ornate study. Three walls are lined with bookshelves numbered 1–12. On the wall without any shelves are two paintings, a man and a woman, looking at each other. Between the paintings is a large desk with a chair pushed into it, and in the upper right corner is a circular table with six chairs around it.

Andrew promptly sits in one of the chairs to wait for everyone else to solve the puzzle.

Yvanna looks at the books. In each bookcase are a few books with colored symbols on them: a flower, a star, a circle, and a triangle. Every symbol has one of each color (red, blue, green, and yellow).

On the table is a vase filled with seven dead yellow roses. On the desk is a calendar turned to December of the previous year. On one of the undated squares is a green star. As they search the room, another scream tears through the house, this time more panicked.

After investigating the rest of the room to see if there are any more clues, Yvanna goes to bookcase 12 and pulls out the book with the green star on it. The bookcase slides away to reveal a shadowy alcove. The figure inside groans as the light falls across it.

It’s a medium humanoid figure with hands and feet that are too large for its body. Around its neck is a key with a ruby set into the handle. Yvanna reaches for the key, but the creature backs away. In a gravelly voice, it says, “Give me a magic item…and I will give you what you seek.”

Aurelius, still blind, reaches into his pocket and produces the opal knife, which Yvanna gives to the creature. As the creature goes to give her the key, it touches her forearm. Visions race through her head: a musty room at the bottom of the rusted spiral staircase, a closet full of elegant clothes, a bathroom full of steam. Finally, she sees the creature reaching out to touch Aurelius in the center of the forehead.

Yvanna conveys this to the rest of the party, and Aurelius decides (despite his misgivings) to trust the creature even though he can’t see it. Again, the creature touches his forearm, and Aurelius sees the same visions as Yvanna. Then, it touches him in the center of the forehead with one finger, and Aurelius breathes a sigh of relief as his vision is restored.

Its job done, the creature steps back into its alcove and the bookshelf slides back into place.

Zale goes to bookcase 7 and finds the book marked with the yellow flower. When he pulls it out, a small window in the bookcase is revealed. Inside are six vials of water with the same healing shimmer as the crystal glasses. Each member of the party (and Andrew) receives a vial.

When Door 2 was opened, steam curls out. The room is a bathroom with a tile floor, moss-green walls, and a small window high on the wall. A large clawfoot tub occupies one corner with a toilet opposite it. To the right of the door is a sink with a large mirror over it. To the left is a cart with bathing items like towels in it. A yellow circular rug sits in the middle of the room. The disembodied sound of humming and water fills the room, though the tub is empty.

Cordala and Levina both feel a tug towards the tub. Cordala is able to resist, but Levina’s compelled to walk directly to the tub. Concerned, the rest of the party follows until all six of them are gathered around it.

To the four unaffected, the steam is just that—steam. But to Cordala, it feels almost oppressively heavy. And to Levina, it’s like a comforting caress against her skin.

A scream rings through the house. It snaps Levina out of her trance, and she takes a step away from the tub. Now, instead of a background sound to a haunted house, the screams feel more solid. Everyone is certain they’re coming from whatever’s at the bottom of the rusted spiral staircase.

The bathroom seems to contain no puzzle or key, so the party continues on to Door 3. Inside is a smaller room with two couches making an ‘L’ in the lower left corner, three levers pointing downwards on the far wall, and a fireplace on the right wall.

Yvanna immediately goes to rummage through the couch, but as she sticks her hand behind the cushion, something wet slithers around her hand and grabs her. A mimic!

The party fights the mimic, Zale and Aurelius stabbing it while Cordala and Levina use magic. Aurelius is also grabbed by the mimic’s pseudopod, rendering him unable to fight. Levina uses her spiritual weapon to break the couch in half, killing the mimic.

With the fight over, Yvanna goes to mess with the levers on the wall while Levina checks to see if anything is in the fireplace. A metal plate in the floor under the flaming logs seems to be able to move, but the party has no way of putting the fire out unless they want to waste the pitcher of water.

With very little trial and error, Yvanna solves the lever puzzle on her first try, and the plate pops up and spits out a red-hot key with an emerald set in its handle. Levina attempts to slide it out with her staff, but it goes right through the key, as if it’s an illusion.

Zale, being a tiefling, has fire resistance, and reaches into the fireplace to grab the key. His sleeve catches, and the fire spreads all over him and to the floor, rapidly igniting the couches and the rest of the room. He begins to panic, pouring the pitcher of water over himself to no avail. To Yvanna and Levina, there’s no fire, but Andrew, Cordala, and Aurelius can see faint shadows of flame.

As Zale realizes the flame isn’t hurting him, he begins to calm down. He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths, then opens them and, determined, reaches back into the fireplace. This time, he does grab the key. He drops it into Yvanna’s hand and promptly runs back to room 2, where he fills the bathtub and plunges into it fully clothed.

As the rest of the party joins him to make sure he’s okay, they all finally introduce themselves.