Act 1: The Investigation Begins
Objective: The players are hired by a business rivial to gather evidence against
Ed Whitaker and
Elara Shadowleaf , potentially uncovering shady dealings or manipulation involving Silvershade Estate.
Introduction: a Leonin named Marcus Virlla, approaches the players explaining his desire to investigate the Silvershade Holdings and business. He beleives that the estate owner, a tortle named Ed Whittaker, who Marcus describes as an irresponsible businessman who is underutalizing his resources, and has sevreal times refused to copoerate with the other busninesses in the city.
- Ed is the lord of Silvershade Estate, a small farm with a mechanical tinkering workshop operation on the side. Ed Whitaker inherited it around 10 years ago and is the last surviving member of his family.
- Marcus belives that Ed is a threat to the city, possibly a agent working for the Dwarven Imperius Expeditionary Force- IEF , and is sabotagoing the business ventures of others in the city.
- More importantly, Ed has reportadly aquired a dangerous artifact from the Wildheart Blight, with strange lights and sounds eminating form Silvershade Estate in the late hours of the night.
- Also warns against Ed's particularly nasty body guard Elra, who is with him at all times.
- Willing to pay the party 300 gold for any information they can get on Ed that could prove these dangerous rumors true, so that Marcus can present a case against him before the city council.
- What the party does not know is that Marcus doesnt care about the city, simply using it as an esxcuse to try and make a play to seize Silvershade Estate and associated business for himself and regain his own reputation.
Initial Leads and Rumors About Ed Whitcker:
- Ed is secretly hoarding a vast fortune acquired through illicit means during his time in service.
- Ed is rumored to be involved in smuggling contraband goods into the city, using his connections to evade detection by the authorities.
- Ed has connections to the darkclaw gang, and is smuggling advanced weapons and machines out of the city
- Ed is a traitor and spy, working for the Vecnian Dynasty
- There are whispers of a secret underground network controlled by Ed, used to gather information and manipulate events in the city to his advantage.
Exploring Silvershade Estate:
The players can visit the estate and workplace to gather additional informaion and clues
- asking workers at the workshop shows that Ed is a well liked boss, who lets them run mostly independent and entrusts his workers to do their job, which they are greatful for even if he is a bit odd.
- He has a wide veriaty of visitors, many colorful or mysterious, but none seem to be outright threatening and none of his workers take issue with his odd company beyond gossip.
- Also warn that Ed can be a parinoid individual; a couple of workers got hurt by a booby trap he set up in the workshop; Ed was profoundly apoligetic and promised to restrict only alrms to the workshop and grounds after the incident.
- They have also witnessed a lot of strange sounds and lights coming from the residence, particularly late at night. Suspect that Ed is up to something, but when is he not?
- Workers are not a fan of Marcus. He has been seen many times at the estate, trying to buy various aspects of the land or involve himself as some kind of busniess partner in the workshop. None of the workers trust him, and suspect he may have been behind a workhouse incident a few weeks ago when one of the machine blew up.
Info that can be learned about Marcus Virlla
- He is a popus Leonin, often has extravagent displays of welath, lives in a luxery apartment in the heritage Quarter.
- Throws lavish parties and is seen cozying up to the wealthy and well respected.
- Is in deep debt to the Darkclaw gang, desperatly needs acsess to Silverstates wealth and busnieess to supliment his own financial follies and to pay off his debts
Encounter with Ed:
There are a few ways that the party could interact with Ed.
- Ed is reportadly attending the Singing Swords Festival, one of the rare times when he comes out in public.
- If teh party claims, or aquires, a rare or strange artifact that might atract Ed's attention and allow for a meeting
- They could attempt to simply ask for a meeting, but Ed is not one who makes himslef readily Avalible
- Local Quest Goatshire; Singing Swords Festival is a possibility to happen during this time, and could attract Eds attention.
If they meet with Ed he will be suspicious, as always. Very curious about who they are, and what malicious power they are serving to get to him
- If it is reveiled that they work for marcus, he will become easy going and dismisive, marcus is the least of his worries, though admitadly has become an increasing nusince.
- If asked about the artifact, he will say that it is a minor trinket that is very unlikely to present a real danger.
- However He will say very cheerily that if they prefer to keep thier heads and bodies conected, he would recomend that they cease investigating him
Find some way to encourage the players to make a move to steal the Amulet from Ed
Act 2: Unraveling the Web
Objective: Obtain the "trinket" and determin whether it is truely as inocent and harmless as Ed claims.
Breaking into SilverShade estate
if the players break into the Estate, the following items can be found
- The house is booby trapped, will need to avoid the alarms and traps.
- Inside a glass case protected by magical runes on a shelf in his office, is an amulet with a gem that glows with a faint blue hue.
- In a locked drawer in his desk, is a notebook written in code. INT check of 20 during a short rest to decipher. It his the 22nd addition of his notes, this one focusing on an amulet brought to him by a member of Wyatts Riders named Tidecaller from an encursion into the Wildheart Blight. It has a mystical engergy to it, beleives it is linked directly to the Blight itself, but he is unsure exactly how or what kind of powers it contains. Also specifies that the runes on the glass case are protective glyms, to contain the magical energies and prevent any potential contamination, and not to remove it from the case for any length of time.
- A small chest containing 78g on his desk.
- Pulling a book from the bookshelf in his downstairs library (called The Natural Order of Life and Death), open to reveil a passage below the estate. Following this passage leads to a tunnel that does to a sewer grate on the coastline near the harbor, and a connected store room filled with food, weapons and armor.
- Ed Sleeps on the 3rd story, Elara sleeps at the end of the hall on the second story.
If the party is caught by Ed or Elara, he will confront the party in a fight
- will be impressed by their tenacity and fighting skills. On the condition that they stop investigating him, and tell marcus to call off the investigation or face consequences, he would like to eploy them.
- He is always in need of indipendent and inteligent help in his line of work, and would be willing to sponser them.
If the party is not caught, they can make off with the Amulet.
- Marcus will be very pleaseed if they give it to him, and promise to bring the evidence they have gahtered to make a case against Ed at the next council meeting
- If they keep it for themselves, they might become th center of the odd effects that take place in Act 3.
If the party does not steal the amulet, Marcus will hire someone else to do so. Continue on with this knowledge into act 3
Act 3: Allies and Adversaries
Objective: deal with the consequences of removing the Amulet from the glass case.
The Whisper's Release:
After breaking into Ed's residence and obtaining the amulet, the party either keeps it for themselves or delivers it to Marcus. Unbeknownst to them, the amulet contains a trapped Whisper, a malevolent spirit from the Wildheart Blight.
- When removed from Ed's containment runes, the Whisper breaks free six hours later, regardless of whether it's in the possession of the party or Marcus.
- Whisper
- The Whisper will priorotise escape if it is near the party.
Consequences
- If the party defeats the whisper before it can escape, skip to end of quest line
Whether the party was aware of the Whispers release or not, the next day the town is abuzz with fear and speculation;
- A Whisper statue was discovered early this morning, in an ally just behind Adventurers Respite
- Alternativly, Marcus is the first Whisper victim, found in his apartment by a maid.
- Such a thing has never happened this far awy from the Blight, and a general panic is slowly setting in
Ed tracks down the party, revealing his knowledge of the Whisper and offering his assistance in dealing with the threat. He explains the Whisper's weaknesses, including its vulnerability to light, and provides guidance on how to contain or destroy it.
- During the day it is at its weakest, and must find dark places to hide, the darker the better.
- Suspects that it may be hinding in the Sewer Systems under the city. Can acsess it without arousing suspicion through the secret tunnles under his home.
Final Confrontation:
The party confronts the Whisper, engaging in a climactic battle to put an end to its reign of terror. They utilize Ed's knowledge and assistance, employing tactics to expose the Whisper to sunlight and weaken its powers.
- Battle takes place in a cistern.
- When making the map, include slick surfaced (Dexsave to keep footing when traveing through), A rotted or crumbling section of walkway, fighting on narrow walkways and ledgeds suspending over a large cisctern (danger of falling down, take damage and need to find a way back up)
Impressive Deed:
After the Whisper is defeated, Ed is impressed by the party's actions. He acknowledges their bravery and resourcefulness in handling the situation, recognizing their potential as allies in his ongoing efforts to combat the threats of the Wildheart Blight and sees potential in solving some of his other problems.
- Ed extends an offer to the party to work alongside him as partners in the fight against the Blight and other supernatural dangers. He explains the importance of cooperation and teamwork in confronting such threats, and expresses his belief that the party's skills and abilities would be valuable assets in their shared endeavors.
At end of mission, level up to 5
- Ed has an upcoming job, a contact in Tiberius Trail named Teddy has an item of intrest that has been brough to his attention, another artifact they said they found in the Wildheart Blight.and he wants the party to take the Iron Snake to meet up with his contact.
- next Iron Snake heading that direction is not for anothe few days, so they have some time to explore the city, down time, or find other local quests
- The 3 day celabration of "Singing Swords" is upcoming on the 17 of Second Seed, and happening during the interum time if it hasnt happened already.
