[Star Performer][Ring Master]Adventure in the Innistrad - The panacea flower (Patreon)

This is a quick adventure set in the plane of Innistrad. you can make it a standalone one-shot adventure, or combine it with others to create a more extended campaign.

Adventure hook:

In the small town of Nephalia, a scrawny man find the players and plea for help. he looks anxious and nervous and told players that the horrible plague has infected his family, and killed his wife and son. Now his little daughter is seriously ill. There is not enough doctor or medicine in the town, but rumors said that a magic flower growing nearby the graveyard can cure any disease. The man understands the flower could just be a fiery tale, but he does not want to give up the last hope to save his daughter. He is begging players to find the magical flower for his daughter.

Now players can ask around the town to gather information about the flowers. Most of the townspeople would admit that they also heard similar rumors before, but no one has ever found the flower. If players spend at least 6 hours, they will get the correct clue: a scholar from Havengul has claimed that he knows where to find the magical flower, and he was in the local inn a week ago.

Rumor Table： D8

1. The flower is called "Echinacea Purpurea", I have heard about a lad from Rivstalt who regenerated a new leg from an old wound after a little bite of it.

2. I have seen that magical flower before, is called "Goldenrod", it can make good tea, but I am not sure if it can cure any disease

3. The magical flowers? it did exist, it's called "Lycoris". it tasted sweet, but you can only find it blooming near cemeteries.

4. Yes! It's the Evening Primrose, also called"the King's cure-all", but I do not have it.

5.  My grandfather just had another son, how is that possible? he had a mystical flower called "camomile". amazing right? I may have to buy some myself.

6. I have heard about it, A purple flower that can revive the dead! How incredible!

7. (Require Thieves' Cant) 5000 gold and I will get it for you.

8. A merchant from Nearheath is selling it, but I can not afford it.

The innkeeper will not give any useful information for free unless the player passes a social ability check(DC13). He will then tell the group that the scholar has recruited a small team to gather the flower. the team left 3 days ago and he is heading to the west.

If the player rolled an 18 or higher on the persuasion or intimidation check during the conversation, the innkeeper will also tell the players that the scholar is quite obese and has a strange smell.

Finally, after 1-2 days of tracing, players will find an large graveyard. It seems like the team abandoned their wagon, but all the members all disappeared. The plants at the graveyard are particularly twisted and players are unable to find any living creatures nearby.

Now You can manage some quick random combat at this location, a couple of zombified animals could be enough.

If the player passed a DC16 arcane check, he will find the trace of the necromancy. somebody performed a large-scale necromancy ritual at this place not too long ago.

If no one has proficiency in Arcane, you can ask them to do a survival or investigation check on the dead bodies. players will find more clues about the Ghoulcallers or necro-alchemist. this will all lead them to the chapels in the scene.

To explore the chapel, the route is very linear. players will find that the Chapel B and C entrances are blocked and require a unique mechanism to open. and Chapel A is the only enterable place.

The combats in Chapel A are rather easy. Zombies and skeletons are the main enemies. In the final chamber, players will find a mystical orb inside that red cauldron(The key to open Chapel B). and a mysterious book at the right corner of the room. The book belongs to the Planeswalker Tamiyo.

And it is part of Tamiyo's journal. This book will be a critical item for the later adventure, but if you only run a one-shot, you can use any scrolls instead.

Enemy creatures in this area:

In the second chapel, the difficulty of combat is raised. zombies and monsters at this zoom are tougher, and only radiant damage can completely kill the dead. after an intense battle, the player will find a runestone in the final chamber of the chapel. (Which is the key to opening up the final chapel)

Each time players step outside the chapel, they will realize that the landscape of the graveyard is gradually changing, a large hole appeared from nowhere and something horrible was growing beneath it. If players decide to take a short/long rest during the adventure, the progress of growth could be even faster, you can adjust the details to fit your tempo.

Now players should know that the so-called "flower" is actually a gigantic monster. It will suck energy from all living creatures nearby. If player do nothing and escape the scene, the monster will finally growing bigger and bigger and destroy the entire town eventually. To avoid the worst result, players will need to get into Chapel C as soon as possible. Finally the BBEG, The ghoulcaller is performing the ultimate ritual at the final chamber. He accumulated hundreds and thousands of dead bodies to feed the flower. As long as the ritual is not interrupted, the monster flower will keep growing.

Final battle:

Once players get into the final chamber, they will notice there 8 glowing cauldrons, all exude strong necro-magic. The ghoulcaller is invincible as long as the cauldrons exist. players need to destroy all the cauldrons and interrupt the ghoulcaller's concentration. Each turn, the ghoulcaller will summon new zombies to join the battle, so this is the hardest fight.

Ending

If your player successfully defeated the ghoulcaller, the huge monster in the graveyard will disappear. it turns out the entire flower thing is a total fraud. Ghoulcaller deliberately spreads those rumors to lore the despaired people to the graveyard. Those poor people will then be fed to the flower. The group can head back to the town now, but the sad thing is there is no panacea that can cure the little girl :(

the end