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sections/summaries/11-The Castle with the Steel Door - Life in St Parnas.md

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+# Summary: Life in St Parnas
+
+## Overview
+
+St. Parnas is a small, good-aligned town in the Outlands, about a day's journey spireward of Tradegate. It has a strong civic virtue culture influenced by Bytopian values (hard work, diligence, community). The town is quiet and law-abiding with small-town amenities. Overt evil is not tolerated.
+
+## Key Locations
+
+**The Unnamed Inn** — Primary lodging. 2 gp/night for party of 4 (includes two rooms and meals). Has a common room for relaxing and occasional music. Eight bedrooms upstairs.
+
+**The Named Inn** — A fancier inn in the nicer part of town. May not welcome scruffy parties.
+
+**The Orchard** — Encircles the entire town, containing every type of fruit and nut tree. Marks the boundary beyond which the town cannot expand (part of the peace treaty with druids 200 years ago). Free picking for townsfolk and druids. **Contains Asatya's spirit** (near apple trees) — she drew the "void" card and her spirit now wanders here. She appears as three hovering cards over an invisible person.
+
+**Old Watchtowers** — Five abandoned stone cylinders just inside the orchard, built 90 years ago, abandoned 60 years ago. Used by homeless and drifters. Contents:
+- Tower 1: Abandoned campsite with carved wooden statue of Ilmater (message for Rackle)
+- Tower 2: Aggressive bat swarm on upper landing (100 bats, requires tactical combat)
+- Tower 3: Collapsed by fallen tree
+- Tower 4: Contains Rackle and Clarissa (see separate section)
+- Tower 5: Empty except graffiti and garbage
+
+**The White Ward** — Hospital run by priests of good-aligned gods and non-magical doctors. Named for white stucco building and white-clad doctors. Contains Asatya's unconscious body. Will likely need to bring Rackle here. [INCOMPLETE IN SOURCE]
+
+**Mayor's Manor** — Contains residential quarter and offices, but the mayor doesn't fit. Mayor lives in a pagoda in the back yard instead.
+
+**Collapsed Lizardman Temple** — In poor quarter. Ramshackle two-story wooden building that collapsed post-chaos storm, releasing dangerous reptiles.
+
+## Key NPCs
+
+**Mayor Elar Mossbrow** — Firbolg mayor who doesn't fit in the manor. Free-thinking firbolg who believes "commerce binds people together" (unusual for his kind). Unhappy with Green for disrupting the quiet town. Plans to kick Green out once he's free from the castle basement. Will help PCs with town records if they assist the guards. Often does orchard maintenance to clear his mind.
+
+**Zell Parnas (historical)** — Negotiated peace between settlers and druids 200 years ago. Financed the orchard boundary with his own money. Declared a saint 100 years after death. Town named after him.
+
+**Town Guards** — Complacent and undertrained due to town's safety. Not very skilled in actual combat.
+
+## Magic Items for Sale
+
+Due to the Deck conjuring items, St. Parnas has random magic items available despite being a small town:
+
+- Envenomed Shortsword (3,500 gp) — 3x/day +1d8 poison damage
+- Javelin of Lightning (3,000 gp) — 1x/day 4d6 lightning in line
+- Headband of Warning (3,500 gp) — Advantage on initiative, can't be surprised
+- Cloak of Protection (4,000 gp) — +1 AC and saves
+- Decanter of Endless Water (2,200 gp)
+- Key of Curious Locks (3,000 gp) — Knock 1x/day, detects door problems/traps
+- Navigator's Compass (2,800 gp) — Points to any established landmark
+- Lens of Far Seeing (3,000 gp) — 1 mile vision, Clairvoyance 1x/long rest
+- Pouch of the Burrowing Familiar (3,000 gp) — Summon badger 1 hour, burrows, doesn't fight
+- Ring of Hopping (3,500 gp) — Jump 3x/long rest, Misty Step 1x/long rest
+- Lantern of the Firefly (3,000 gp) — Endless dim light 100ft, Faerie Fire 1x/long rest
+- Staff of the Potent Caster (7,500 gp) — Quarterstaff, focus, +1 spell save DC
+- Wand of Silent Casting (5,500 gp) — Cast verbal spells with only somatic components
+
+## Events & Encounters
+
+**The Collapsed Temple Encounter** — Optional combat event for when PCs want action. Occurs a few days post-chaos storm.
+
+Setup: Two reptiles escaped the collapsed lizardman temple — a mirage serpent and a basilisk. PCs can follow running guards to find petrified people and engage.
+
+**Mirage Serpent** (CR 4, 1,100 XP)
+- AC 14, HP 68
+- Fights with two illusory duplicates that appear real
+- PCs must identify which is real through trial and error
+- Actions: Psychic Lash (+5, 15ft, 1d10+1 psychic) or Shuffle (all three serpents teleport 15ft, real one reassigned secretly)
+- Tactically uses shuffle when PCs focus on real serpent
+
+**Basilisk (Modified)** (CR 4, 1,100 XP)
+- AC 16, HP 65
+- Eight-legged lizard appearance
+- Bite: +5, 2d6+10 piercing
+- Lock On (reaction, one per eye): Two independently-pivoting eyes can paralyze creatures
+  - Target makes DC 15 CON save when attempting action
+  - Fail = paralyzed, locked gaze, lose action
+  - Takes minimum 3 turns to petrify (lock → resist fail → resist fail → stone)
+  - Breaking line of sight frees victim immediately
+  - Motion-sensitive: can't lock on to motionless creatures
+- Petrified creatures remain stone for 48 hours then revert
+
+**Sam Link Connection** — After reptile attacks, Sam Link arrives to help. One petrified commoner lost a hand and will bleed out when they revert to flesh in 48 hours. Sam waits with the statue for 48 hours to heal them immediately upon reversion. This gives PCs multiple opportunities to find Sam, as mayor and guards know his location.
+
+## DM Notes
+
+- Don't introduce Mayor Mossbrow until PCs have gained some notoriety
+- Bat swarm encounter uses special mechanics: DEX DC 13 and CON DC 13 saves each round for 10% remaining bats as damage. AOE spells kill approximately 1/3 as many bats as damage dealt. Swarm disperses at 30 bats.
+- Finding Asatya requires searching orchard for apple trees, then brute-force search for three hovering cards
+- The Legend of St Parnas can be told by any local if asked
+- Camping on outskirts is an option if PCs prefer
+- White Ward section is incomplete in source material
+
+## Connections to Broader Campaign
+
+- Mayor Mossbrow wants Green gone but can't reach him while he's trapped in castle basement
+- Asatya (void card victim) is in the orchard — deck dream will show her among apple trees
+- Rackle (punching bag) is in Tower 4 with the Ilmater statue in Tower 1 as a clue
+- Sam Link can be tracked down via the petrification aftermath