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Credits About the Author Lead Designer & Layout: Noah Grand Noah D. Grand is a social scientist, statistician, and Editing: Noah Grand veteran Dungeon Master in the Los Angeles area. His work has been published in Baseball Prospectus and Cartography: Noah Grand top academic specialty journals before turning to adventure design. Art: All art as provided by Wizards of the Coast for DMs Guild use with permission. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2019 by Noah Grand and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. Sample file Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. Dealer’s Choice 2 Introduction: Using This Adventure Stand Alone or Larger Campaign? Adventure Background Hillsfar, the City of Trade, seems to be a much more Dealer’s Choice is a one-hour adventure set in peaceful and welcoming place in the last year. The Hillsfar, the Forgotten Realms’ City of Trade. This Demon Lord Graz’zt has been banished back to the adventure was designed to challenge a party of five Abyss. First Lord Torin Nomerthal is dead. New First 8th-level adventurers with a combination of roleplay Lord Vuhm Yestral immediately repealed the Great encounters, combat, and moral quandaries. DMs can Law of Humanity. Today there are still xenophobic easily modify this adventure for parties ranging humans in Hillsfar, but many residents are from 5th to 10th level and four to six characters, optimistic about welcoming nonhumans and their using the suggestions I provide for party strength. goods to the City of Trade. Any Dungeon Master purchasing this adventure Faustus Rosevalor served in the Red Plumes under should feel empowered to adapt it as part of a Torin Nomerthal. He immediately flocked to Vuhm broader campaign! Family secrets and estranged Yestral’s banner, speaking lovingly of his half-elf relatives are classic themes throughout fiction. As sister Merlele and the need for reconciliation. long as your campaign world has devils, most of this Faustus portrayed himself as a reluctant enforcer of encounter should be relatively easy to adapt. the Great Law of Humanity. However, imps working This adventure is set in Hillsfar, one of the most for the archdevil Dispater have learned that Faustus xenophobic areas of the Forgotten Realms. It takes was not always so reluctant to enforce the place after the most xenophobic regime has been xenophobic laws of old Hillsfar. overthrown, and some humans are eager for Dispater dispatched Migar, a chain devil, to reconciliation with the formerly oppressed threaten Faustus. How did the Red Plumes nonhuman population. If you or your players would withstand the Demon Lord Graz’zt’s attempted feel uncomfortable using the lingering racial tension takeover? If the new Red Plume commander won’t of Hillsfar as a setting, feel free to add other sources share state secrets, Migar would share Faustus’ of family strife. secret. Faustus refused to be blackmailed. He admitted to condemning a group of halfling farmers to death in the arena under the Great Law of Humanity. Migar was ordered to change tactics, looking for ways to get the Rosevalors to commit evil acts instead of immediately bargaining for their souls. He offered Merlele a chance to assassinate a “corrupt Red Plume who oppressed non-humans but is suddenly claiming to be the honorable face of the more tolerant regime.” Merlele discovered her brother’s treachery but refused to kill him. Meanwhile, Migar stole a copy of a contract between Lykos Rosevalor, the family patriarch, and smugglers selling to non-humans throughout Torin Nomerthal’s reign. Migar approached both Lykos and Faustus. Each Rosevalor had one day to decide whether they would be willing to put an innocent merchant’s name on the contract instead of Lykos’ name. Faustus hired adventures to kill the devil before the deadline, but Lykos has not been heard from since getting Migar’s deal… Sample file Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. Dealer’s Choice 3 Adventure Hooks Adventure Overview If player characters have been to Hillsfar before, This one-hour adventure is divided into three they should be familiar with the militaristic Red scenes: Plume government. The Red Plumes have been Chapter 1 (10-15 mins): What Are You Doing? known to hire adventurers for difficult work that Faustus and Merlele Rosevalor make separate offers soldiers are poorly equipped to handle. Faustus to the adventurers, asking them to kill the devil and Rosevalor offers to pay handsomely for what could save Lykos. The siblings refuse to talk to each other, be a relatively easy job. Here are other potential but players can say yes to both. hooks, most of which are setting-agnostic: Chapter 2 (10-15 mins): Deal With The Devil. • Favors: Faustus Rosevalor is politically connected, The adventurers must negotiate with an imp named and his star is rising. If the adventurers help him, Tyop to be able to fight his boss Migar. Tyop will he will owe them a favor, which could be more make offers to tempt both good-aligned characters valuable than gold. (ensuring Lykos’ safety) and more greedy characters (offering additional rewards as distractions). The • Zealotry: A religious order, rival cult, or any other group that hates devils could ask characters to adventurers have 10 minutes (of real time at the deal with a fiend problem, introducing the party to table) to negotiate conditions for the upcoming boss Faustus. battle. Chapter 3 (30 mins): Duel With the Devil. • Reconciliation: Elves and halflings may ask friendly characters to check up on Faustus and Adventurers fight Migar and his minions. This fight report back to his half-sister Merlele. will occur in the back of Lykos’ shop, or possibly the Shadowfell, adding environmental hazards to the encounter. Adventurers can negotiate for Merlele to assist them. Location and NPC Summary Conclusion (5 mins): Merlele asks the The following NPCs and locations feature adventurers whether or not she should reconcile prominently in this adventure. with Faustus and Lykos. Regardless of what they say, • Faustus Rosevalor (FOWWS-tus ROWS-valur). the adventurers get rewards from both Merlele and LN. Male human, newly promoted Red Plume Faustus. commander. Trying to resolve remaining racial conflict in Hillsfar. • Merlele Rosevalor (mer-el ROWS-valur). CG. Female half elf adventurer. Fled the Great Law of Humanity and hasn’t spoken to her human family in a decade. • Migar (MY-gar). LE. Chain devil tasked by Dispater to recruit the Rosevalors. Better at intimidation than treachery. • Tyop (TIE-op). LE. Imp negotiating on Migar’s behalf. Hopes to rise in the ranks once the heroes defeat Migar. • Hillsfar (hills-FAR). The City of Trade had an economic boom under an exclusionary regime. Now locals are trying to recover from numerous attacks and keep the economy growing. Many humans have grown more welcoming of non- humans, but some xenophobia lingers. Sample file Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. Dealer’s Choice 4 Chapter 1: What Are You Doing? Here’s a sigh to those who love me, Roleplaying Faustus Rosevalor (LN human And a smile to those who hate; male) And whatever sky’s above me, Faustus Rosevalor believes Helm has guided his path from Here’s a heart for every fate. nondescript soldier in Torin Nomerthal’s army to a —Lord Byron, commander keeping the peace of a new Hillsfar. He stands over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a Red Plume To Thomas Moore helmet on at all times. Faustus speaks softly, trying to Expected Duration: 10-15 minutes empathize with non-humans by mentioning how his half-elf sister Merlele had to flee Hillsfar. Five days ago, Faustus The adventurers have been summoned to the confessed to blindly following the old regime, leading a group Hydra’s Den, a popular tavern in Hillsfar. Faustus of innocent halfling farmers to death for breaking old Rosevalor, a fast-rising Red Plume commander, asks xenophobic laws. Now Faustus is thinking of putting his them to drive a devil from the city. However, his family before the Red Plumes for the first time in his life. half-elf sister Merlele makes her own appeal to the As Faustus tries to hire the party, he can relay the adventurers, claiming that Faustus cannot be trusted. following information in conversation: General Features • Faustus leads investigations of racially motivated The general features of the Hydra’s Den are as crimes, trying to bring professionalism instead of follows: vigilante justice. Light and Visibility: Most of the tavern has light • While Faustus is devout, he is not a paladin, nor is pouring in from the windows. but the adventurers he a particularly skilled warrior of any kind. There are ushered to a private room with all the curtains is no way he or his followers can defeat the devil. drawn and oil lamps providing light. • Migar the chain devil threatened Faustus a tenday Smells and Sounds: The aroma of stale beer is ago. Faustus tries to hide this behind a combination distinctly weaker in the private meeting room. of honor and religious bravado, quickly changing Surrounding Activity: The tavern is relatively the subject.

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