Siege of Pox Vale

Adapted From Pathfinderwiki- The Fall of Plaguestone

A group of new adventurers traveling through the Village of Qosx—also known as Pox Vale—must come together to solve the murder of a friend. What starts as a simple investigation quickly turns sinister with the discovery of forbidden alchemy , mutant animal, and a nearby forest rotting away due to a mysterious blight. It becomes clear that if these heroes don't intervene to stop whatever evil is brewing, the fall of Qosx is all but certain!

Plot points/Scenes

Murder by Turnip

The adventure begins with the PCs traveling to Qosx in the caravan of Herwig Garbith, a Dwarf merchant who agreed to take them on as passengers. Just outside town, the caravan is attacked by a Pack of Wolves, the vicious leader of which spews acid.
Arriving in town after helping to save the caravan, the characters are invited to dinner by Herwig, who wishes to reward them for their valor. While enjoying dinner with the PCs, Herwig is poisoned, dying within moments from a virulent toxin hidden in his food. The local sheriff, Golth Harley, is out of his depth and insists on holding the caravan in town until the scheduled arrival of a circuit judge a month in the future. But the heroes have a chance to investigate the murder and they explore the town, talking to everyone who was present for the poisoning. Eventually, it becomes clear that Gnalter, the goblin kitchen assistant, poisoned the food. He quickly confesses once apprehended but insists he thought he was only putting a special spice in the food, not poison. Further questioning reveals that Dhallo Bhadim, the town bully, coerced him.
Dhallo’s hideout reveals that he is more than he seems. The town bully is in fact an agent of Allisa, who pays him with gold and doses of an addictive mutagen. Defeating Dhallo may help the town and clear the names of everyone involved with the merchant’s death, but it leads the heroes no closer to Allisa, who ordered the murder. In fact, Dhallo hasn’t seen Allisa in over a year. The goods and supplies he acquired for her were always delivered to a prearranged drop spot in a hollow stump.

The Tears of the Wild

About this time, Ratha Sirrik, an elven ranger that patrols the lands around town, contacts the characters. She found the Wolves slain earlier by the PCs and noticed the taint affecting the corpses is similar to a number of blighted areas that have appeared in the woods near town. She seeks out the characters, hoping they might help her investigate these blighted areas. This leads them to the Pen, where Allisa had been experimenting on animals and plants.
Shutting down this testing ground is dangerous, but in doing so the PCs find a map that leads to Allisa's Lair, a place known only as the Vat of Malice. Only one of the landmarks on the map is familiar, though: the hollow stump where Dhallo left supplies for Allisa.

Into Allisa's Lair

Using the map and information from Dhallo Bhadim, the group can make their way to the Vat of Malice in the hills nearby. There, they learn of Allisa’s plot to infect the town with a terrifying plague. Worse still, the plague is already in town— hidden inside the Rock of Mercies — and she has already sent a servant to trigger the explosion that will release the disease! After defeating the alchemist, the heroes must race back to town in time to save everyone from Allisa’s final revenge

Structure

Exposition

The town of Qosx has never had it easy. Located far from popular trade routes, it has never been more than a stopover point for merchants making their way from Augustia to Savar. Worse still, after the Goblinhorde Wars, the town suffered terribly from a plague outbreak that killed almost half the population. Qosx never truly recovered. This fact led many to refer to the town as “Rock of Mercies”—a reference to a stone marker in town once used to safely give food to the sick and dying. Villagers left food at the stone and, in return, the sick placed coins in a hole in the stone, filling the hole with vinegar to cleanse the copper and silver of any trace of the plague. Now, many of the town’s homes and businesses are empty, their residents long-dead save for a few orphans taken in by neighbors or left to fend for themselves on the fringes of the community.
When the plague came to Qosx, Vaeri Venneiros did all she could with herbalism and alchemy to find a cure. Alas, the pox was too virulent, and in the panic, the townsfolk blamed Vaeri for not coming to their aid. When the aging elf caught the plague herself, the townsfolk refused her succor, leaving no food for her at the Rock of Mercies. She died soon after, cursing survivors to a life of misery, leaving her daughter, Allisa Venneiros, all alone. The young half-elf Allisa never forgave the people of Qosx for their treatment of her mother.
Over the years, Allisa lived in the shadow of Qosx; stained by her mother’s reputation, she never found acceptance in town. Seven years ago, she left and took up residence in a nearby ancient cave complex. Bitterness grew in her heart, motivating her to learn alchemical arts her mother had once used to heal. She gained even greater skill than Vaeri had, but she used her talents to harm animals, plants, and people around her. What began with simple concoctions quickly turned into experiments on animals and then hapless travelers. Now she is planning to get her revenge on the town, using the very stone where they denied her mother aid. It is the eve of her triumph, one that will kill every last person in Qosx.

Plot type

Adventure

Subplots

• Into Allisa's Lair
• Murder by Turnip
• Tears of the Wild

Related Locations

• Qosx