Devils In Stilben Simple intrigue and mystery in Tal'dorei Sample file 1 Devils in Stilben ithin the Muck Quarter grows a Warlock fueled With seemingly nobody to back him up and no way out of by anger and sadness who will do anything for the fine, Rurik decided to persist and fight the jewellers guild. revenge. Aiming to bring down the Jewellers The guild sent missives to tell Rurik to pay up or they will Guild of Stilben, Rurik Hammerstone has revoke his license and take his property up to the payment of begun summoning Devils and commanding the fines. Each time Rurik didn't pay in protest. The guild then them to bring death to his enemies. In this decided to follow through and revoke his license to trade in Wadventure players will investigate and bring gems in the Polished Plateu. This forces him to close shop down Rurik Hammerstone before he can enact his plan upon and give his jewellery as payment to the guild for his fines. those who have wronged him. This adventure is for 4-5 players of 1st level. Players will end up at 3rd level after this That fateful night - Unndilar 20th adventure Rurik was out making contact with his smuggler of Kraghammer gems. As he enters his home and calls after his The story so far... wife Helgret, he enters the backroom of his shop/home to find his wife and children slain in the middle of the floor. Escaping Stilben Gem Imports - Dualahei 16th through the window is a human male. “You should have paid The Jewellers Guild have instituted tariffs and bans on the fines” he says as he leaves into the alley. Rurik goes to the imports of gems from Kraghammer . This was due to mines in aid of his wife and children, but they die in his arms. Wildemount drying up in large diamonds and quartz (25gp and over). The Houses of Kraghammer knew their fiercest Red Gate - Unndilar 30th competition was out of the picture, the houses decided to After the burial of his family and closure of his store he goes gouge the price on larger diamonds and quartz they mine and to drink his sorrows in the Murky Tankard. He is approached export to the rest of Taldorei. The Jeweller's Guild in Stilben by a female tiefling, Rohala, while he is in his cups. Filled with have instituted a ban on all Kraghammer imported diamond rage and sadness Rurik is an easy target for her. She tells him and quartz above 25gp and high tariffs on all other gems. With to follow the teachings in this tome and he can get his the power of Artisan Guilds in Stilben, the Jewellers Guild is revenge. Rohala is actually part of the Red Gate. An able to enforce this policy on shopkeepers and traders that organization spreading the word and influence of The Lord of have a license from the Jewellers Guild to sell jewellery in the the Nine Hells in an attempt to gain power over Taldorei. With Polished Plateu of Stilben. this book Rurik leaves the Murky Tankard and makes a contract with the Lord of the Nine Hells for power. He leaves Rurik and his plight - Unndilar to the Muck Quarter and finds an abandoned chapel. He pays 18th off people in the Muck Quarter and hires thugs to keep a lookout. Rurik uses his new found magical powers to charm Rurik Hammerstone, a male dwarf artisan jeweller, owned a some people of the Muck Quarter into the chapel to use as jewellery store in the Central District, also known as the sacrifices for the ritual. After finally getting the ritual correct Polished Plateu. Rurik decided to circumvent the ban on he is able to summon spined devils. Kraghammer gems and paid off a merchant ship to smuggle them in, claiming them to be from a new supplier in the south when asked. When the Jewellers Guild decided to investigate the whereabouts of the gems they brought in a cleric of the Lawbearer to cast Zone of Truth on Rurik. Should he fail to submit he would immediately be closed down until the truth was extracted. He submitted and had to confess they were from Kraghammer. The Jewellers Guild fined Rurik 100gp per gem. This would easily be enough to put Rurik out of business. He then tried to bring together the jewellers of Stilben together and demand the Guild lift the ban. However not all jewellers were wanting the ban lifted, as the costs of the gems would still be far too hefty. And saw the ban as a way to force Kraghammers greedy elite to reduce their outrageous costs. They also saw Rurik as a dwarf of Kraghammer helping his greedy bretheren back in Kraghammer by getting the money flowinSampleg. file Part 2 | Your Introduction 2 This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Flow of the adventure his adventure starts on Brussendar 12th, just three days before the Artisan’s Faire. The You hear a patron near the door scream and yell players are in the Murky Tankard drinking after “What the hell is tha-” the tavern is silent in an a day of work. A spined devil rushes into the instant. As you all look on to see in the dim light at tavern, killing two patrons at the entrance. the entrance an elf drop to the ground blood Once inside it immediately finds and attacks spilling out of the wound in their chest, the tiefling TRimple, a middle-aged male gnome. After it has who yelled immediately is run through the neck by killed him it flies out the door and up into the night. The a spear. In the doorway is a grotesque sight. An players will not be able to chase the spined devil as they can’t entity with wings, a sharp face with beady yellow see it once it takes to the sky. A Sergeant of Waterwatch and eyes. Sharp spines protrude out of every inch of its some guards will come and ask the players to investigate what body. It’s open maw shows razor sharp teeth. Blood drips from its mouth. It cackles and rushes into the was behind the attack and kill it before the Artisan’s Faire in 3 tavern. days. If players don’t realize that the spined devil seemed to be pinpointing a specific target (Rimple) help them realize by reminding them through the sergeant thinking that the The Spined Devil rushes forward towards Rimple Oomtrowl halfling seemed to be a target when the players recant the and uses its action to kill him, making sure he is dead. After story. that it will try to escape using its Flyby feature through the After this they will need to find out who Rimple is and why open door or crashing through one of the windows. Once someone may have wanted him killed by going to his house, outside the building it flies into the night sky and is lost to the his favourite bookstore, and his place of work, the jewellers group. guild hall. Once they find that a dwarf named Rurik was The guard soon arrives with Seargant Nadarr kicked from the guild and that Rimple signed the papers, they Grrrmmballhyst [Silver Dragonborn Knight] who demands have a motive. They will need to go into Rurik’s life and figure answers as to what happened, who is dead, and what killed out where he may be. They can do this by going to his them. After which he asks the players to investigate what that store/house Jewellery by Rurik, the bookstore A Likely Story, was, where it is and kill it before it can strike again. He is and in the Muck Quarter. When they figure out where he is unable to allocate guards of the Waterwatch as he is stretched they can confront him. They can convince him the jewellers thin making sure the wards are as safe as can be for the Faire. guild wasn’t behind the attack and join forces to find out who He is able to give 10gp now and another 40 upon completion, did, or attack him, killing him or turning him into the the compensation is variable. After terms are agreed upon he Waterwatch. stations 3 guards at the tavern to keep it safe and to help clean Depending on how this ends they will find out that an up. unknown party is responsible, either by collecting the right If characters are unsure of how to proceed Nadarr can clues, reading Rurik’s diary, or the sergeant telling them after suggest that based on their retelling of what happened that it he reads the diary. But this is where the adventure ends, on seems that the halfling was targeted and they can follow that the cliffhanger that this unknown party is working to seduce lead. The party can then talk to the tavern keeper Halnin people with promises of revenge and bring devils into Stilben Govaril to learn about who Rimple Oomtrowl was and what through nefarious rituals for unknown reasons. he did for a living. More information on what Halnin knows is in the section on the Murky Tankard. That’s a Devil! At this point there is really no wrong place to start. Players can go anywhere to find out more information on Rimple and Set the scene why he was murdered.