Dark Fugitive was the seventh adventure released for the Covenant of Light Faction Adventure to be run as part of the Xen'drik Expeditions campaign.
Synopsis[]
This is where the PCs come in; acting as couriers of Seera's askins price and contacts for the exchange. They have been contacted through a letter and given a small box containing Seera's asking price (5,000 gold pieces, offered in this case as give matched blood rubies. Taking this with them, they enter the adventure at the Hungry Hearts Hall—a drinking establishment in Stormreach with a very seedy reputaton. For the more pious and chaste of the Covenant PCs, just getting to Seera might be an adventure in and of itself.
Speaking with the beguiler can reveal quite a bit about the initial nature of the mission, including Mote's carried message and the seal at the bottom of the parchment it carried that indicates who the note was from. For an additional fee (a favor that the PCs may or may not wish to perform), she will allow them to take the expeditious messenger and use it to track the message back to its source.
Seera's service is to "lean on" one of her competitors, a rival beguiler working to usurp her network of businesses. She does not necessarily want him hurt or killed, not that she would object to either course of action, but he needs to understand his place on the ladder of Stormreach society, namely below her. How the PCs choose to accomplish this is up to them.
If the PCs do not take Seera up on her offer, there are two alternatives that make themselves available to them. First, the next group to speak with Seera will purchase the messenger from her outright and track it themselves. This gives the PCs the chance to follow them to the site of Vastyn's capture. Second, one of the messenger's feathers has stuck to the clothing of a PC; the Covenant's High Priest of the Sovereign Host back at Radiant Hold can use this to cast a special, persistent find the path to the location where the expeditious messenger was dispatched.
Alternatively, they can simply follow the instructions in the message but as Seera warns them, this would be the "long way" and will take the most time. As there was a sense of urgency to the missive, taking a long time to reach Vastyn might be a poor choice if they have any other options (and they do).
(Instructions are given in the scenario to modify the order of play depending on which method the PCs take. All roads lead to the end scene of the adventure but each road has different or altered encounters.)
Once the PCs have received their instructions and dispatched on their mission to retrieve the war criminal for trial, the adventure really begins. The trail leads through three major areas, culiminating with arrival at a drow camp around the object of their obsession—the Claw of Vulkoor. Each area is its own encounter with the PCs having to deal with one or more of them before they reach the camp itself.
The first is an abandoned harbor once used by Vastyn d'Cannith as his private base. The first place he came to when he arrived in Xen'drik, Vastyn used this small cove harbor until his experiments angered the elemental spirits of the place and forced him to retreat inland away from them. His message mentions this harbor and gives directions to find it; this is part of his "bribe". If the PCs find the workbook he left behind, they can use it to trace his dragonmark and find him directly.
The second is a culvert along the straight route between Stormreach and the drow encampment. Because Mote flew over it, the messenger familiar is not aware of the hazard it poses to creatures (or PCs) on foot. Two tendriculos have made a low valley in the jungle their private hunting ground. Observant PCs might notice a leafy trouble before they step in it but they are more likely to just find themselves in a vine-load of pain. (This encounter is also where the PCs may become aware of other hunters on Vastyn's trail. In the bellies of the plant creatures, the corpses of some of the PCs' competition can be uncovered along with an enigmatic message from the slain stalkers' employer.)
The third encounter might be found by the PCs regardless of the route they travel, assuming they notice the brief flashes of fire in the sky that will lead them to it. A Suletar drow is harvesting blood grass from a small fissure in one of the jungle hills and may pose either a dangerous combat hazard or a temporary ally depending on ho the PCs approach him.
Once the PCs reach the drow camp around the Claw of Vulkoor, they will have to deal with the situation they find there. Vastyn is literally tied to one half of the giant jade claw, suffering from its slow slaying effect and kept alive by the efforts of the high priest presiding over the sacrifice. There are several dozen drow here, many of whom would be a definite threat to the PCs if attacked directly. How the PCs deal with this encampment is up to them but stealth and subterfuge will significantly reduce their risk of a very brutal and untimely demise.
Rescuing Vastyn is the climax of the adventure but it need not be the end of it. If the PCs have not yet rescued his tome from the harbor, he will offer to help them do so as a reward for his life. He is truly repentant of his past actions, a theme that should resonate with most of the PCs. He will accept any judgement they offer, coming back with them to stand trial or seek absolution depending on how the PCs react to his change of heart.
In any case, the PCs and the dark fugitive will face on final challenge before getting back to Stormreach. A band of Karrnathi soldiers, displaced from their homeland because of their ruler's purge of the Emerald Claw, have tracked down the artificer with the intention of bartering him to the Breland government for sanctuary. They are driven, evil and determined to have the Lord-Maker at any cost. Alive is best but dead is acceptable and the PCs are nothing but obstacles in their way.
Dealing with these foes is the last challenge of the scenario. Once it is over, the PCs can return home with the knowledge of a job well done and one more ghost of the Last War laid to rest.