Sickness in Springdale - Part 1

Sarah Darkmagic - Posted on 10 October 2014

Things on the internet are making me sad today, so I'm doing the only thing I can think of. I'm releasing the text of my adventure, Sickness in Springdale, and making it free for everyone. This post will have the story, the next will have the encounters, and the last will have the pregenerated characters. This was originally written to be used with 4e but I think you'll notice that it will fit the 5e structure quite well even though it was written years before 5e was announced.

Sickness in Springdale

In this adventure, the PCs attempt to save the town from a deadly illness by finding a source of Lady’s Staff, a plant that cures the affliction. To do so, they need to travel through the Lady’s Woods where they will meet a series of challenges to gain her favor. During the course of their travels, they find that their town is not the only one with the disease, the local goblins and elves are sick as well. If they gain her favor, she provides a ritual that multiplies the plant, providing enough to heal the town as well as the elves and goblins. If they fail, they will find their trip difficult and arduous.

Background

“Feel the warmth and safety of the Lady’s Blessing.”

When Springdale was founded 100 years ago, after the last great war, those words enticed scores of people
to settle in the small town on the border of the Lady’s Woods. With her blessing, it seemed like anything was possible, even abundance and peace.

However, over the last decade, that feeling has been changing. Small bands of goblins raid Springdale and other nearby towns every year. The crops are less abundant. It feels as though the Lady’s power fades with each season.

To help with the goblin problem and to investigate the larger issue of the waning protection of the woods, the local baron sent a small force, the PCs Reed and Willow Appleberry, Desmona Thaneborn, and Ewen Banister. They are tasked with fortifying the town, training the locals how to fight, and finding out what they can. They are joined by a number of locals including the PCs Meadow Greene and Garleth Strongbow.

The winter started off normally, but things quickly take a turn for the worse. Most of the town spends their days in bed, sick from a terrifying cough and fever. If they have any hope of surviving the winter, the characters must cure the townspeople. The herb most effective against the malady, Lady’s Staff, is in short supply. The heroes must find an additional source. Fortunately, the midwinter thaw opened some of the roads and paths in the area.

Consuming Cough
The townspeople are sick with the consuming cough, similar to our tuberculosis. While consuming cough is a common ailment, the number of cases this winter is overwhelming. It causes frequent coughs, difficulty breathing, night sweats and weight loss. Without treatment, it kills more than 50% of its victims.

At the beginning of the session have each player make a saving throw against the disease. If they fail the saving throw, they have the initial effect.

Consuming Cough – Level 2 Disease
Endurance:
Improve DC 12
Maintain DC 8-11
Worsen: 7 or lower

Stages of the Cough:
0: Target is cured.
1: Initial Effect: Target develops a chronic cough. Gains a -2 penalty to stealth checks.
2: Target loses weight and develops night sweats. Needs an additional 2 hours of rest to achieve an extended rest. The target takes a -2 to Fortitude.
3. The target is weakened. In addition, the effort of combat further fatigues the target. At the end of a combat encounter, roll a d4. On a 1, the target loses a healing surge that cannot be regained until he or she is cured.
4. Final Stage: The target dies.

Scene One: Springdale

Silvanus Greene, the mayor of Springdale and Meadow’s father, calls the PCs to his office.

When the PCs enter the mayor’s office read:

The mayor sits behind an ornately carved wooden desk and motions to you to sit. To his right stands Woodsman Strongbow, Garleth’s father and leader of the Lady’s Thorns, the town’s militia. To his left is Handmaiden Aurora, the town’s herbalist and connection to the Handmaidens.

Mayor Greene: “Our town is in serious peril. Those most ill will last a week at the most. We need you to find a source of Lady’s Staff so we can cure our people. Aurora here believes the Handmaidens may have some or know where you can obtain it. Do you have any questions before you prepare for your journey?”

What the leaders know:

The disease, the consuming cough, seems to be natural in cause but it seems strange that so many are sickened by it. They know the stages of the disease.
The Lady's Handmaidens live in a small cluster of houses about a day’s journey from Springdale.
The Lady of the Woods presents those who venture into her woods to seek her aid with tests to deem if they are worthy of her favor. She protects the natural beasts of the area and often gives her favor to those who show them kindness and compassion. She gives her bounty to those who are particularly careful of their actions while in her woods, especially when it puts them in harms way.
- One tale states that she made whole a man who refused to kill a hunting wolf sent to attack him by a goblin. For those who ignore her wishes, she shows her fury.
- Another tale tells of a group of adventures who went in seeking an old ruin and the treasure within. They killed everything in sight and soon found themselves beset on by wolves, tangled in vines and swarmed by bees.
- Yet another tale tells of a small group of children who were lost in the woods with only a few apples and rations of jerky amongst them. They claimed that a voice whispered in their ears a ritual. Each time they performed the ritual, the amount of food tripled. This allowed them to live for a week off the rations of one day.

Quest: Find and bring back 10 Lady’s Staff plants to treat the townspeople.

Scene Two: Ambush at the Well

The townspeople point the PCs towards the Lady’s Handmaidens, a small group of women who live
by themselves in the woods. On their way there, a group of goblins with pet wolves accost the PCs. The encounter provided presents the well as one of the Lady’s challenges, but feel free to mix things up by including one of the other challenges instead. Perhaps the goblins and wolves are chasing down the white stag or are cutting down the wishing tree.

Scene Three: The Lady’s Handmaidens and Traveling the Woods

A small group of women who worship the Lady of the Woods live here. Handmaiden Pearson is the leader of the group and she can provide the PCs with the following information:

On the way to her office, there is a small fountain where the PCs may wash their hands and face. Next to it is an offering box. If they make an offering, Haindmaiden Pearson provides them with a recipe for an effective poutice to use against the disease.
The Handmaidens are out of Lady’s Staff. The most likely place to find some is at the Lady’s Pool, a heated pool of water that provides a microclimate, allowing certain plants to grow year round.
Handmaiden Pearson asks them if they had any trouble between there and the town. If the PCs mention the encounter with the wolves, she will ask what happened to the wolves. If the players helped the wolves, she will thank them. If they harmed the wolves, her face turns grave and she will remind them about the Lady.

Traveling the Woods

Under normal conditions, the trip from the Handmaidens’ home to the Lady’s pool should take 3 days. However, it’s winter and things sometimes take longer than expected. Have the players make 2 checks using nature or endurance, players’ choice. If each of the highest 3 checks are all:

19 or greater: By interpreting the terrain and working together against the elements, characters make great progress towards their destination. This segment of travel takes half a day.
12-18: The heroes make average progress. This segment of travel takes 1 day.
6-11: The path is hard to see through the snow and drifts make it hard to keep up the expected rate of travel. This segment of travel takes 1 1⁄2 days.
1-5: Everywhere they turn, characters run into snow drifts and their bodies are worse for the wear. The exertion and weather conditions threaten their well-being. This segment of travel takes 1 1⁄2 days. After the first day, if they don’t currently have the consuming cough, the characters need to make a saving throw to determine if they come down with it.

Note: Increase the DC for these checks by 2 each time the PCs fail in one of the Lady’s challenges to a maximum of +6. These checks are also a great time to integrate in the additional challenges.

Additional Challenges

Feel free to use these additional scenes to provide role- playing and/or storytelling opportunities in your game. If you choose not to use these additional challenges, it may be more difficult for your group to earn the Lady’s favor.

The Wishing Tree

Locals often leave small notes written on tree leaves in the deep cracks in the bark of this tree. Legend has it that the Lady of the Woods grants some of these small wishes, if she finds those who leave them worthy. Village children leave many of the wishes, asking for simple items such as a pair of new shoes or perhaps a cloak. Adults often visit the tree to read the children’s notes and give them the things they need.

If a character uses the wishing tree to ask for something to aid the current cause, such as help finding the lady’s pool or evading animal attacks, or if he decides to fulfill the request of a village child, provide the character with a one-time boon, such as a +2 to nature or endurance, to represent a Lady’s blessing. It also earns the characters 1 success towards the Lady’s Favor; limit 1 success per session.

The Lady’s Stag

A white stag appears to the characters, its right leg darkened with blood. If the characters take the time to bandage and/or heal it (Heal DC 8 or 12), the creature will aid them in finding the Lady’s Pool, providing them with a +2 to all travel checks for one round. It also earns the characters 1 success towards earning the Lady’s Favor. Refusing to help counts as 1 failure.

Scene Four: The Lady’s Pool

When they arrive at the pool, they first run into the elves. The elves don’t want a fight, but they are in the same situation as the PCs. Their town is sick and the Lady’s Staff is the only known cure. The players decide whether or not they fight the elves. When the rest of the creatures enter the scenario, the elves see that they have a common foe and join forces with the PCs, dealing with some off camera threat.

Winning the Lady’s Blessing and Bounty

Use this list to keep track of the party’s progress towards earning the Lady’s blessings.

Successes

They don’t kill the wolves (Ambush at the Well)
They heal the wolves (Ambush at the Well)
They leave an offering at the well (Ambush at the Well)
They give an offering to the Lady’s Handmaidens (The Lady’s Handmaidens)
They ask for aid or promise to fulfill the request of a village child (The Wishing Tree)
They bandage or heal the white stag (The Lady’s Stag)

Failures

They kill the wolves (Ambush at the Well)
They take offerings from the well (Ambush at the Well)
They refuse to help the white stag (The Lady’s Stag)

Count up the number of success they have towards earning the Lady’s blessings. If they achieved 4 successes before 3 failures, they earned her blessing and her bounty. If they achieved at least 2 successes, they earned her blessing.

If the characters earned the Lady’s Bounty, she will whisper in the ear of the druid:
Collect 10 Lady’s Staffs and place them on the altar. Say a prayer and share in my bounty.”
The plants triple in number, enough to treat both the town and the elves.

If the characters earned the Lady’s blessing, the Lady whispers to them:
Perform the following ritual and receive my blessing. Take a handful of water and offer it to the north, for the frigid winds that bring forth winter and the death that brings life. Take another and offer it to the west, for the miracle of night and the rest it brings. Offer another to the south and the warm rains it brings. Finally, offer a handful of the water to the east for the life-giving sun. After you have done these things, say a small prayer, enter the water and be healed.

If the characters did not earn the Lady’s Bounty:
There’s only enough Lady’s Staff to help one town. With a heal check of DC 8, they think they could create a weak tea that will keep those sick alive for a month. If the elves are still alive and the PCs try to take all of the plant, the elves engage them in combat and will fight to the death.

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Sickness in Springdale - Part 1