Blue Moon Aurora

Written by Dakini

This adventure tackles the popular themes of war, peace, and arranged marriage. There is a lot of flexibility built into the adventure, which can be adapted for either a group campaign or a duet. Possible adaptations to the story are indicated in the notes, many of which depend on the particularities of your campaign setting. For instance, the adventure assumes the typical fantasy races of elves and humans. If the relationship between these races is different in your setting, feel free to change the elves to any race that is somewhat mysterious and isolationist and the humans to whatever the majority race is in your setting.

The border between the human Kingdom of the Lakes and the isolationist elven lands known as the Radiant Forest has long been fraught with tension. The relentless human desire to expand is in direct conflict with the elves, who value large areas of untouched natural space. Tensions recently reached a boiling point when an aggressive group of human settlers crossed a river that had been an unofficial boundary line to clear many acres of forest for homesteads. The elves responded by awakening forest guardians to destroy the homesteads. The two lands now stand on the brink of full-scale war.

Act I: The Summons
The PCs are summoned to the royal court where a tentative peace treaty is being completed between King Malithar and envoys of the elven council. Central to the treaty is a prophecy made by the high priest of the most respected religion of the Kingdom of the Lakes and confirmed by the elven envoys: Lasting peace between the two races can only come through blood, either blood of war or blood of marriage. The two sides have agreed to marriage in lieu of war and the second son of King Malithar is to be married to an elven princess. The PCs are asked on behalf of the King to travel to the elven lands and provide escort for the elven princess back to the Kingdom of the Lakes.

The PCs should have an opportunity to meet Prince Thaddeus at this point. He is an attractive young man who enjoys the arts, courtly society, and political intrigue. He hopes his new wife will be an asset to him at court and asks the PCs to send him a letter as soon as they reach the elven lands to apprise him honestly of the princess' beauty, talents, and interests. He has penned a love poem addressed To the Mysterious Companion of My Heart that he wants to be delivered to the princess.

Notes: Depending on the number and ability of your players, you can tweak this basic framework. For instance, if your group is primarily a fighting group, providing escort alone may be sufficient. However, if one or more of the PCs is a capable and proven negotiator, perhaps final details remain to be negotiated and the assignment includes ensuring that the treaty is ratified in its current form by the elven council. If you are running a duet campaign, the PC may be appointed to head up the princess' security or to protect or assist the lead negotiator.

Act II: The Arrival
The journey to the Radiant Forest can be as long as suits your setting's geography, as the PCs must travel from the royal court all the way to the border of the human lands and then into the elven lands. As they reach the border, they will face increasing hostility from human settlers who feel that King Malithar should be sending an army to support them against elven aggression, rather than a pretty convoy of gifts for the elven bride. There should be at least one overt attack on the convoy while they are camped one night, with the attackers attempting to disrupt and vandalize the convoy (such as by shooting flaming arrows at wagons full of gifts). Once the river is crossed and the convoy enters the elven lands, the PCs see few elves but feel that the forest itself it watching them and is not pleased with their presence.

Act III: The Princess
Once the elven tree city is reached, final negotiations take place and the PCs get to meet Princess Cuilwen, though one of her attendants, who is a "handler" assigned by the council to manage the situation, limits the PCs' time with her. Although Cuilwen is lovely, she is also clearly unhappy about the impending marriage. For instance, she is unwilling to speak in the human language and greets the prince's love poem with obvious disdain. If the PCs persist in spending time with her, they will discover that she loves the outdoors, is an accomplished archer and rider, and knows very little about human society. She shares the belief of many of her people that humans love to clear cut natural areas in the name of civilization and are obsessed with breeding and expanding in order to achieve dominance over the world. If the PCs do an exceptional job of finding out more about Cuilwen, they will discover that she is being met in secret by an elven warrior named Faelon; he has been in love with her for many years and is trying to convince Cuilwen to run away with him.

Notes: This Act could easily be expanded to cover more than one gaming session depending on the PCs' level of involvement with the negotiations and the amount of opposition within the elven lands over the treaty. There can be any number of formal events: ceremonies to welcome the envoys and receive the gifts, an occaison for Cuilwen to perform for the envoys, meeting of elven council, etc. All of these present possibilities for intrigue and subplots. Various family members could also be introduced to add more problems if desired.

Act IV: The Return
Eventually, the last details are hammered out and the convoy is assembled for the return to the Kingdom of the Lakes with Princess Cuilwen, who is accompanied by numerous attendants and a retinue of bodyguards, who include Faelon. The return journey should be very stressful. The princess is increasingly distraught. Much of the elven retinue is also clearly unhappy. Once the convoy reaches the border, the wrath of the human settlers comes out in full force, with crowds lining the path to jeer and throw things. The first night after this happens, Faelon will decide that the situation is intolerable and that the princess must be rescued. If the PCs have managed to befriend the princess (a difficult task), she will resist the idea of escape and Faelon will have to kidnap her. If the PCs have not befriended the princess, she will go with him willingly and be that much more difficult to track and recover.

Act V: The Future
Things could go several ways at this point. Princess Cuilwen is generally miserable at the idea of marrying a human, but willing to obey the dictates of the elven council in order to preserve peace for her people. If the PCs get her to the royal court without incident, she will, albeit grudgingly, marry Prince Thaddeus and the PCs will be rewarded for their efforts and have a life-long friend in Prince Thaddeus.

However, if the human settlers near the border get close enough to harm or insult Cuilwen, or if the PCs worsen the situation in some way, she will do her best to escape with Faelon. If the PCs fail to recover her, the Kingdom of the Lakes will view her escape as a flagrant insult and breach of the treaty and will declare war. Even if the PCs do recover her, she may decide that the situation is intolerable and refuse to proceed. In that case, the PCs have to decide whether to forcibly take her to the royal court or to allow her to return to the Radiant Forest. Either way, Prince Thaddeus will blame the PCs for the failure of his potentially happy marriage, relations between the two lands will be strained even further, and war will become that much more inevitable.

Written by KJW 

Many years ago, Captain Kitanion, a famed sea captain, went on one last great voyage with a map that pointed to a great treasure, but during a storm was betrayed by Matthias, his first officer. In the struggle, Captain Kitanion and the map fell into the ocean and were lost. Matthias returned home with the ship and became a successful sea captain in his own right as his crime was never revealed by the crew for fear of him. Captain Kitanion’s widow Auraline has spent the years since searching for her husband and hoping that somehow he survived. Recently, an astrologer has told Auraline that she should seek her husband’s remains in the Drowning Caves of Ouna. She is now looking for a brave group of adventures to make the journey and return with her husband’s body. Unfortunately, Matthias has heard of this expedition and hopes that the map may be with Kitanion’s body and he plots to recover it to lead him to the great treasure.

Act I: Prelude
The PCs are eating a meal at an inn when a group of ruffians enters and announce they are looking for someone named Earlan. A young man who was eating at the table next to the PCs drops to the ground and crawls over to hide under the table of the PCs. If the PCs aid Earlan in escaping the ruffians, then he reveals he owes money to the local thieves’ guild, but he is indebted to the PCs and demands to take them to his mother so she can reward them. He will try to get them to split any reward from his mother so he can pay off his debt as his mother has cut him off from money, but he does genuinely intend on rewarding the PCs for their help. His mother is Auraline and she will move to hire the party for her quest and will offer a significant payment and also arrange for transport by ship to Ouna. She will also send Earlan with the PCs to keep him out of his local trouble and also asks the most noble of the PCs to help her son grown up and learn about responsibility.

Note: If the PCs don’t help Earlan or he dies, then he was just a deadbeat debtor and the GM can have Earlan come up to the PCs to bring them to his mother after seeing how they handled the brawl that likely broke out.

Act II: The Journey
The journey is a voyage of two weeks and the ship is an old sailing ship named the Merry Dolphin and is commanded by Captain Brehan, who is an old sailor and has many stories about Kitanion and is also secretly smitten with Auraline, but due to his loyalty to his old friend just helps her out and doesn’t declare his love. From Captain Brehan the crew will get more information about Captain Kitanion’s voyages and also rumors that he was seeking the fabled Island of Gold and had a map to it on his last voyage. Captain Brehan will also hint darkly about Kitanion’s death and Matthias, the first officer. Additionaly, Brehan knows about the Caves of Ouna as well and can explain them in poor detail than they probably have gotten so far.

Island of Gold: This is a fabled island where a god, or some other powerful being appropriate to the campaign, built a temple or fortress that was filled with gold. Depending on how this adventure plays out the Island of Gold could be your next adventure, but as the stories of it are vague and distorted it can be whatever you want as a follow-up adventure.

Drowning Caves of Ouna: These are sacred caves on the coast where those drowned at sea who were faithful to the gods are washed up. There are ghosts in the caves that tend and watch the dead and they are drowned priests of the gods who were washed up in the caves. The caves are partly submerged and above water and can be reached through either underwater entrances or caves accessibly by land.

During the sea voyage, the ship should have a few encounters. You could introduce a new PC or NPC to augment the party by having a castaway on a crude raft be discovered by the ship. You should probably toss in a sea monster and maybe an encounter with pirates, but make sure these encounters don’t distract from the later parts of the adventure. In fact, if time is going slow make it an uneventful trip and save the encounters for the follow-up adventure.

Act III: The Caves
You can use any map of caves for the Drowning Caves as long as there are submerged caves. There are probably some monsters, but there shouldn’t be any traps as getting to the caves is something the ghost priests want, so people can take the dead back home for proper burial. However, the ghost priests can sense lies easily and cannot be deceived and while they are fairly weak they can animate all the dead in the caves to protect the caves. It is important that when the PCs reach the Drowning Caves you properly described the bodies strewn about and play up the eeriness of the caves, the hardships of sea travel, and the sacredness of the place. This is holy ground and the last resting place of those who brave the sea for whatever reason and this should be first and foremost as the PCs explore the caves.

For added complexity, you can have the ghost priests ask the PCs to do a favor for them in exchange for taking the body from the caverns. They want the PCs to clear out some monster that has been eating bodies in the caves, but the ghost priests can’t leave the sacred grounds and need the PCs to help. If the PCs do this with respect and reverence to the priests, then have the ghosts do two things: reward them with some items from the dead and warn them that death hovers over the ship which brought them here. If appropriate to the campaign, the priests may also give some clue about some issue concerning the campaign as a further reward.

The body of Captain Kitanion is in poor shape, but the ghost priests know the names of all the dead in the caves so they can find him easily enough for the PCs, but without their help the descriptions given by Auraline won’t be much use. He is clutching a small crystal, this is the map. At dawn when the morning light hits the crystal a map that leads to the Island of Gold will be project as well as directions from the current location to the island. The ghost priests don’t know how the map works and it may take the PCs a little time to figure it out. There is nothing else of value on the Captain except his mostly disintegrated clothes and a wedding band.

Act IV: Confrontation
Matthias has arrived and captured the PCs’ ship and its crew including Captain Brehan who was injured during the fighting and is gravely ill as well as others of the crew. Matthias has hidden his ship down the coast, but has a strong retinue of men hidden on the ship waiting for the PCs return. When the PCs return he will demand the ‘map’ and will signal for his ship to approach and will tie up the PCs. When his ship arrives he will leave, but set their ship on fire. This is his plan, and there are many, many ways for the PCs to thwart it. Remember that Matthias will have his best warriors on the PCs ship and it might be possible for the PCs to take his ship quite easily, but they will have to look for it. However, if they are suspicious they might well discover that the crew of their ship has been replaced and avoid boarding her directly. Just run with it, but make Matthias dangerous and his men a real threat to the PCs – this is the climactic fight of the adventure. This is also justice to Matthias and it could be that the gods set all of this in motion for him to have his final reckoning, if he ironically falls into the sea – it is save to assume that he drowns and ends up in the Drowning Caves of Ouna.

Act V: Return
You can move quickly to the return home if the PCs have bested Matthias, but if they lost the map then the adventure might go in many different directions. Regardless, Auraline will pay the PCs what she promised and is also a good source for further adventures as she owns a small, but active, trading house. If the PCs have the ‘map’ and offer it to Auraline she will give it to the PCs in exchange for 15% of the treasure they find from the Island of Gold and she will be most impressed with their honesty and character. If they just claim the map as their own then Auraline will be less than impressed, because she knows about the map as she was the one who bought it for her husband. Though not till the end will she reveal what she knows about the Island of Gold, including how the map works if she has given it to the PCs.

Written by Crazy_Monkey@1956

For many generations, the simple folk of the village have offered their daughters up to the dragon in the mountain as tribute. In return, the dragon gives them protection from the other roving beasts and monsters that plague the land.

The village elders see this as a fair arrangement, as the dragon doesn't kill or eat the girls, he marries them. The dragon has a keen interest in humanoid and draconic physiology and has attempted to study just how and why it is possible for a dragon and a human to have offspring. To that end, he has produced quite a few offspring of his own.

His wives and children are well cared for and the wives are even allowed to return to the village once any children they bear are fully mature or they fail to produce offspring after a year.

The dragon is quite fond of the village and his wives, though he doesn't love them in the traditional humanoid sense.

This little arrangment could be about to end...

The princess of the land has found herself about to be married off to the neighboring kingdom's prince for political gain. Being spoiled, pampered and altogether selfish, she will have none of that and has fled, seeking refuge in the village.

Not understanding the village's arrangment with the dragon, she allows herself to be offered up as the annual tribute, believing that her father will send knights to rescue her and she can seduce one of the knights into keeping her for himself, thus avoiding marriage to the foreign prince.

Act I: Prelude
The PCs are hired be the king himself to find and bring back his daughter. The king believes his flawless, perfect princess has been kidnapped and demands the heads of those responsible, all for a sizeable reward.

Note: Alternately, the PCs could be simply wandering through the area and arrive in the village in time to see the annual tribute. They might recognize the princess from an earlier adventure. Or, the PCs are from the neighboring kingdom and have been asked by the prince to find his future bride.

Act II: The Village
When the PCs start asking questions around the village, they will find that the village has no fear of the dragon and, if the PCs mention that they intend to harm it, will fervently ask them to spare their dragon.

Eventually, the PCs can get the full story from the village elders. Killing the dragon would have dire consequences for the village and perhaps the entire kingdom as the dragon is the only thing standing in the way of the foul monsters to the north.

With this knowledge in hand, the PCs can venture out to find the dragon.

Act III: The Dragon's Lair
Finding the lair should be a bit of a challenge as the dragon takes great pains to conceal itself. Even the village elders don't know where it is, precisely. An encounter or two with the "foul monsters of the north" may also be appropriate here to emphasize the dangers they pose.

Regardless, the PCs will eventually find the lair and enter. There they will find the dragon's numerous offspring, some fully grown who continue to serve their father as guardians and scouts. If the PCs negotiate, they should be able to convince the guards to allow them to parlay with the dragon. If the PCs simply attack the guards, they will have a difficult time with the dragon, and his wives, later on.

Act IV: The Inner Sanctum
Here the PCs will find the dragon, his younger children, and his wives. The children and their mothers live communally and are well provided for by the dragon. If the PCs are convinced that they must rescue the women, they will be in for a shock as the women don't wish to leave.

Except one...

The princess will immediately descend on the PCs, crying and screaming for them to rescue her. She will first try to convince the PCs that the other women are being controlled through the dragon's magic and if that doesn't work she will say that they are demons in league with the dragon. Anything to get them to attack the dragon. If the PCs offer to take her out of the lair first and then return to deal with the dragon, she will flee from them, in to the dragon's sanctum and attack the dragon herself, ineffectually, in an effort to get the PCs involved in the fight.

If the PCs can find a way to talk to the dragon, they will find him to be quite agreeable, albeit quite flustered and irritated with the princess. He would like nothing more than for the PCs to take her as he wants nothing more to do with her.

Unfortunately, the princess fully intends to convince her father to send his knights to deal with "the horrific beast." The PCs will need to find a way to convince her to leave the dragon alone.

Act V: Resolution
The PCs will find themselves in a bind at this point. Allow them to brainstorm different ways of keeping the dragon's existence a secret or otherwise allowing him to stay (perhaps a formal alliance with the king, if they can convince the king of such a thing).

When the foreign prince arrives, the PCs may be asked to escort the princess to her wedding, but that is another adventure in and of itself.

Variations
Perhaps the princess is truly evil, not just pampered and spoiled, and has a means of slaying the dragon outright to claim its power for herself. She may be in league with the monsters of the north and has set out to destroy the dragon so that the monsters can make their move.

Perhaps the dragon is not as benevolent as he appears and is using magic to control his wives. Perhaps he has made up the stories of the monsters of the north to keep the villagers believing they need him.

You can add an element of urgency to the adventure by having the foreign prince and his knights arrive in the village, intent on slaying the dragon. Or the king and his knights. The two groups might even arrive at the same time and start a conflict with eachother.

Written by Dakini

This adventure has a flexible plot that could easily be adapted for a variety of genres. I have placed it in a generic fantasy setting, but I can easily envision science fiction and contemporary/historical versions. The adventure can also be adapted for either a group campaign or a duet. Possible adaptations to the story are indicated in the notes, many of which depend on the particularities of your campaign setting.

Many years ago, the young Prince Oliver was riding through one of the royal forests when he met a girl named Priya who gathered berries and mushrooms for sale in the market. Priya came from rustic stock and had little education, but her pure heart and graceful beauty captivated the young prince. After wooing the maiden with song and gifts, the Prince convinced her to become his lover in a little forest cottage that he built himself. They spent many a happy day together, until Priya found herself with child. The news, which was a joy to the young woman, came as a harsh awakening to the Prince, who knew that his father would never accept Priya or the child. Unwilling to give up the throne for his love, Prince Oliver gave Priya some precious jewels and his signet ring, and then told her that they must be parted. He took her on his horse and rode with her to the boundary of the royal lands, where he left her, telling her that she must never seek him out again. Years passed and eventually Prince Oliver ascended the throne, married a noblewoman, and tried not to think of his first love, whom he had so cruelly abandoned. King Oliver is a good man at heart, however, and the guilt has weighed heavily on him. He wishes now to atone for his past mistakes, which means finding Priya and the child they conceived nearly 2 decades ago.

Act I: The Hook
The PCs are contacted by a man who introduces himself as Raiken and says that he represents an influential and wealthy nobleman who wishes to remain anonymous, but who has heard of the PCs' exploits and wants to hire them to discretely find a missing person. Raiken refuses to answer any questions about the identity of the employer. PCs who poke around a bit can learn several more things about Raiken: his sword looks more functional than decorative, all of his gear is of high quality, and his horse is magnificent and well-trained. Those who roll well on observation checks see that the brooch that fastens Raiken's cloak looks like an expensive piece of jewelry but is also inscribed with certain sigils that, with a successful knowledge check (local, nobility and royalty, or history), can be identified as the royal seal of a nearby kingdom, the throne of which is currently held by King Oliver, who has a reputation as a devout man and just ruler. In actuality, Raiken is Sir Raiken, one of King Oliver's most trusted knights. Raiken is unaccustomed to negotiation and can easily be browbeat by the PCs into giving them even more than the generous sum of gold he initially offers them to accept the job.

Notes: Obviously, there is no adventure unless the PCs agree to accept the job. Hopefully a combination of greed, curiosity, and vanity will be enough to convince them. It works best for story purposes if the PCs have neverworked in King Oliver's kingdom before; he is intentionally hiring outside of the kingdom in order to keep the search as secretive as possible.

Act II: The Search
Once the PCs accept the job, Raiken gives them the information he has: the missing person is a woman named Priya who was last seen 17 years ago at the border of the royal forest of Amikar. At the time, she was in her late teens, pregnant, and on foot. She was in possession of several valuable jewels and a signet ring, which Raiken shows them a sketch of (a successful knowledge: nobility and royalty check will reveal that this was the signet ring of Oliver when he was Crown Prince). The mission is for them to find Priya and report back to Raiken on where she is, how she is doing, and what has become of the child. The PCs are specifically instructed not to reveal any details of their mission to Priya or the child, though if they discover that she is in desperate circumstances, they are to do whatever they can for her (and all such expenses will be reimbursed after the fact by Raiken).

The PCs will most likely begin their search where Priya was last seen, at the border of the royal forest of Amikar. Considering her condition when she was last seen, they will probably begin by exploring towns that are within walking distance of the forest. You can adjust the number of nearby villages in order to make the search longer and more complicated, but at a minimum there are the following two communities for them to explore:

Witchar: this small community is the closest to the forest. Its people are taciturn and suspicious of outsiders; the PCs will notice that everyone they encounter has badly burned hands. The leader of the village is a healer by the name of Rothin, who claims to have seen in a prophetic vision the coming apocalypse when the gods will test the worthiness of all people with a fiery rain. Those who follow Rothin submit to having their faith tested by placing their hands in a fire for the duration of a particular prayer. Rothin says that when the end of the world comes, the people of Witchar will only need to cover their faces with their hands and the gods will see that they have already been judged and found worthy and the fiery rain will pass them by. Rothin will string along the PCs for a while in an attempt to convert them, but in reality, he has no memory of Priya because she never came here.

Casert: the tiny town of Casert, next closest to the forest, seems to have a much smaller population than would be expected given the number of abandoned buildings that the PCs encounter on the way into town. A local woman, Alia, who is out in her garden when the PCs pass by will explain that about 10 years ago a sickness came through Casert and many people died. Those who survived had their faces marked with a pox. Considering the town to be cursed, many of the survivors packed up and left. Within the last few years, however, homesteaders from Fort Hope (like Alia and her husband) have come to settle in Casert. Alia assures the PCs that the entire area has been blessed by a local priest and that the sickness no longer lingers. She only knows of a few people who remain from the previous community, including an old herbalist named Beryl.

Beryl definitely remembers Priya; in fact, she served as the midwife for the delivery of Priya's healthy baby girl, whom Priya named Olivia. When the pox came, Priya was taken sick but the girl was unaffected. Priya recovered, though she was marked with the pox, and when the town was largely abandoned, she and Olivia joined those traveling to the shrine of the god of the healing springs in Fort Hope. Beryl asks the PCs if they are also relations of Priya like the ones she told the same account to just a few days before. Beryl finds it very strange that after years of not thinking about Priya there would be 2 groups of people looking for her in such a short space of time.

Act III: The Complication
Unbeknown to Raiken and King Oliver, one night the King's wife, Leanna, overheard the King at prayer making a tearful account of his treatment of Priya and his resolve to find her and her child. Queen Leanna, the mother of King Oliver's two legitimate children (Oliver, 9 years old, and Alexia, 5) confided this information in her uncle, Exchequer Mestrar. He assured his niece that he would handle things. To that end, Exchequer Mestrar did some investigations of his own and learned the details of the situation from old servants in the palace who remembered the Crown Prince's early infatuation and suspected the reason for her banishment. He then arranged for three loyal retainers of his to track down Priya and "take care of" the situation. Those three retainers are the ones who recently talked to Beryl.

Notes: You can feel free to adjust the skill level and number of retainers in order to make them better adversaries for the party. They should not be that large of a group, however, lest they attract undue attention. If pressed, Beryl should be able to give some details about the retainers, such as details that are clues to their skill set and perhaps a general impression she had that they were somehow "unsavory" types.

Beryl told the retainers the same information that she told the PCs, and people in town can confirm that the three departed on the road that leads to Fort Hope. At this point, the PCs should be trying to move as quickly as possible to Fort Hope to reach Priya before the retainers do.

Act IV: The Climax
Fort Hood is a bustling city that sprawls into the surrounding plains. There are more people in the city than the infrastructure can support, which has led to the popularity of homesteading like that done by the families who have traveled out to Casert. It shouldn't take the PCs too long to find the temple of the god of healing springs, which is a large new structure that was only completed a few years ago.

If the PCs have been moving steadily to follow leads, they will encounter the retainers of Exchequer Mestrar here at the temple, frustrated with having reached an apparent dead end. If the retainers discover that the PCs are also asking around about Priya, they will recognize the PCs as agents of King Oliver and will make a hostile move on them.Any attack will be done stealthily, as the retainers do not want to attract the attention of the local constabulary.

If the PCs have been moving slowly or gotten distracted along the way, they will arrive at the temple after the retainers have already been there and realized that this temple would not have been in place when Priya and Olivia first arrived in Fort Hood. As will be revealed to the PCs if they ask similar questions, they have learned of an old shrine to the god of healing springs that is in the southern slums of the city, which is where Priya and Olivia settled along with many of the refugees from Casert. In this scenario, the PCs may arrive at the shrine around the same time as the retainers do, leading to the climax taking place there. There is less likelihood of the local authorities becoming involved in this situation, since the southern slums are a more lawless place.

Once the PCs reach the small shrine, it is easy enough to gain information about a woman named Priya and her daughter Olivia, and to track both of them down. Priya is in her mid 30s now, and her once-lovely face has been marked by both pox and years of hardship. She rises early each morning for the long trek out to the river, where she gather reeds that she plaits into baskets to sell. Her hands are cut and calloused from the work. Olivia is a pretty girl of 17, who works long hours in a weaving shop to supplement the small income that her mother makes. They live together in a small shack not far from the shrine. The jewels that King Oliver gave Priya are long gone, but she still wears his signet ring on a chain around her neck.

Act V: The Future
Provided that the PCs have successfully survived their encounter with the retainers and have in fact located Priya and Olivia, things could go several ways at this point. If the PCs are enjoying the adventure and you want to make things a bit more complicated, you might have Olivia being subjected to unwanted advances from the head of the weaving shop, necessitating the PCs to make hard decisions about how much to intervene. Eventually, the PCs will return to Raiken and share their news. If they tell about the attack by the retainers, Raiken will bring them back to meet with King Oliver personally. The King will want to hear their account and get their advice on what to do with Priya and Olivia; he cannot legitimize the girl without great political and personal risk and loss, but in the same sense he cannot abide to have her and her mother remain in shambles. What happens next may depend largely on how good a job the PCs do in advocating for the King's lost love.