“Plague Rats”
Difficulty: This adventure is for 4 to 6 level 2 players.
Run Time: 1 to 2 hours
Summary:
A strange disease is spreading in town. The party discovers that a sect of cultists are intentionally spreading the disease. The party must get a special medical tome to learn how to cure the disease. The cultists are planning on infecting the town's water supply with the disease and must be stopped.
Setup
Option 1: Sickness
After the party defeats a boss of a previous mission, the boss can be revealed to be a servant of Talona and one of the party members comes down with a strange disease after the fight, and they find a symbol of Talona(A ruby shaped like a drop of blood with a skull carved into it).
Option 2: Beggar
The party meets a man covered in rags begging outside of the city gates. The beggar stumbles towards them pleading for their help and falls in front of one of them grabbing at them. Any player he touches contracts the strange disease. The man dies at their feet and disintigrates into maggots leaving behind a symbol of Talona.
Investigation: Cult of the Talontar.
Samm Mercier (Priest MM348) who works at the temple hospital caring for the sick can tell them that The Talontar are a death cult which seek to spread the disease.
Kaurith (Lizardfold MM204) is in charge of corpse disposal at the hospital. He can tell them that the goddess Talona is the goddess of plague and was banished from the heavens to the material plane as a sentient disease.
With a DC20 Medecine Check, the players can learn that the Talontar are immune to the effects of the disease but can spread it. The disease can't be cured by magic.
With a DC25 Arcana Check, the players can learn that Talona can control or influence the infected.
Elora Elassidir (Elf Noble MM348) is the mayor of the town. She has heard of a book than contains knowledge about how to cure the disease that might be in the old abandoned mansion outside of town.
Pinker Vandek(Gnome Acolyte mm342) the merchant, has a Pariapt of Health(DMG 184) that can stop the disease from affecting one person until a cure can be found. He will loan it to the players if they pass a persuasion check DC 15 or intimidation check DC20, or he will sell it to them for 500 gold. A persuasion or intimidation check DC10 reduces this price to 250 gold.
Counter Attack: Mansion on the Hill.
Enemies: 6x Cultist(MM345), Quasit(MM63)
XP Reward: 350xp (Divided among all PCs and NPCs) The Book is in a locked chest in the study(DC15 thieves tools or DC20 strength to open). If the party can't open the chest, a locksmith in town will open it for 100gp. The enemies attack the party when they try to leave the room. The Quasit uses it's invisibility and tries to steal the chest while the cultists try to infect infect the PCs. The chandelier can be dropped by cutting the rope for 2d6 piercing damage in a 15ft cube in the center of the room.
Reveal: Poisoning the Well
When the party defeats the cultists, one of them reveals that they are too late to stop their plan, and the Talontar are going to infect the city's water supply with the plague. There is a map to the catacombs under the city on the body of one of the cultists with a red X on it. Elora Elassidir and Samm Mercier can confirm that if the cultists infect that water, then the entire village and surrounding area will be affected by the plague. A Persuasion check DC20 can convince Samm to join the party to investigate the catacombs. Kaurith agrees to lead them into the catacombs because he knows the way.
Climax: Betrayed!
Enemies: Kaurith(Lizardfolk MM204), Nudruk(Wererat MM209), 6x Cultists(MM345)
XP Reward: 700xp (Divided among all PCs and NPCs)
Kaurith leads them into the catacombs and directly into an ambush. Any player with a passive perception lower than 14 is surprised at the start of combat. Play Kaurith as an ally until his turn in the initiative, then have him savagely attack the weakest party member on his turn. Have the cultists each attack a different party member, while Nudruk(in hybrid form) and any remaining cultists attack the strongest member of the party. If the Quasit escaped with the book from the mansion, then it is in this battle and attacks whoever Kaurith attacks and Nudruk the wererat has the book. If the battle goes poorly, one of the NPCs can come in to help.
Wrap-Up: Health and Wealth
If Pinker loaned them the Pariapt of Health, he asks for it back when they return with the Book. If the party refuses to return it, he complains to Elora and she gives him the 300gp reward instead of giving it to the party, otherwise she gives the party the 300gp. If Samm is alive then he takes the books and uses it to start curing the sick. If he died in battle, Elora says that she will send for another priest to use the book to heal the sick. One party member can gain the benefits of the book. And the party gets the treasure horded by the cult.
Treasure: 300gp, Manual of Bodily Health(DMG180), Periapt of Health(DMG 184) and Roll once on the Treasure Hoard: Challenge 0-4 table on DMG p.137
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