jdnd/sections/10-The Castle with the Steel Door - The Deck-Touched NPCs.md

## The Deck-Touched NPCs


Throughout the town, the PCs will find deck-touched NPCs: people who
drew cards from the deck. Some of these will show up early in this
chapter, others are hard to find and will not be found until the PCs
search for them. We are putting this list here, early in the chapter
description, because these NPCs will make appearances throughout the
chapter. Finding and speaking to them will become an important goal for
the PCs.

When the PCs do start searching for the deck-touched NPCs, the most
reliable way to get a lead is to pay attention to Deck Dreams. Each
dream comes from a different deck-touched NPC. The dreams contain all
kinds of clues about who these people are and where to find them.

### Pig: The Ogre King

The Ogre King is an ogre named Pig.

Pig is not a standard Ogre: he is a Ysgard Ogre. The giantish races that
live in Ysgard tend to be much larger than the giants in other parts of
the multiverse, and Pig is no exception. He stands a full 10 feet tall.
A stat block for Pig will be given later.

Pig used to be the leader of his tribe, and for good reason. He was very
strong, even by the standards of a Ysgard Ogre, and among ogres, being
the strongest makes you the leader. A few years ago, Pig contracted a
wasting disease which left him physically weak (STR: 13). He became the
target of derision and mockery by the other ogres, his mate rejected
him, and he became the laughing stock of his tribe. Desperate, he left
his home.

Somebody suggested to Pig that he might find a cure if he drew from the
Deck. This was terrible advice. If any of the PCs asks a real medical
professional about Pig and his condition, the professional will
immediately be able to identify the disease that he suffered from,
*Wasting Rot*, and they will know the standard treatment: *Greater
Restoration*. Of course, *Greater Restoration* is very expensive, but
it’s the right treatment. Drawing cards from the Deck, on the other
hand, was extremely unlikely to result in a cure. Pig was not
intelligent enough to realize that. He drew these cards:

-   *Key*: Pig gained great skill as a musician.

-   *Jester*: Nobody takes Pig seriously.

-   *Throne*: Pig is going to become the king of a nation.

That an ogre should be a musician is quite odd. At some point, Pig
picked up a mandolin from a merchant booth and started playing it,
skillfully. The merchant, rather taken by this turn of events, decided
to give him the mandolin as a gift. Pig has learned to use this as a
source of income: he plays the mandolin (quite beautifully) in the
market square, and people give him food.

The Jester card is particularly humiliating for Pig. He used to be the
object of mockery among ogres. Now he can’t even scare humans.

The Throne card says that Pig will be the king of a nation. Nobody has
the first clue how that could possibly be the case. It just seems
utterly implausible that a feeble ogre, that nobody takes seriously,
could be a king. Pig certainly *isn’t* a king: he’s a homeless musician
who panhandles for food. If you ask Pig about the throne card, Pig says,
“Throne card say me king! That’s dumb. Pig not king, Pig weakling.
Weakling can’t be king.”

The monster manual says that Ogres are evil. But for the purpose of this
campaign, we’re taking the view that Ogres are actually too close to
animal intelligence to be really “evil.” Instead, we view them as
dangerous predatory animals. Ogres have simple desires: food and mates.
Like most apex predators, they respect the biggest, strongest
individual. Their approach to problem solving boils down to fight or
flight. Because Ogres are such apex predators, it’s usually fight.

If you encounter an apex predator like a lion, and it is well-fed and
has no reason to feel threatened by you, then it will often just ignore
you. Ogres are the same. Ogres form bonds with other Ogres, and they can
be protective of their mates. If you treat an Ogre well, they can learn
to trust you.

Pig is not that hard to get along with. Like most animals, he prefers an
easy meal, and he has lots of access to easy meals: the people of St
Parnas are providing him with food. Because of this, Pig has no urge to
eat the PCs. Also, Pig knows that he is physically very weak, because of
the *Wasting Rot,* so he instinctively knows he needs to be submissive,
even to humans.

Pig is very unhappy. He’s still physically weak - the deck didn’t change
that - and now everyone laughs at him. The only bright spot in his life
right now is that he enjoys playing the mandolin. When he speaks, it is
in a melancholy, depressed tone.

The PC have the following dream, as seen through Pig’s eyes:

> You sitting in the market square. You see that you are not human, you
> have enormous legs and arms, and huge clawed hands. You are playing
> the mandolin expertly, and you are telling a sad story about how you
> became sick, and your bride left you. You are surrounded by a crowd,
> they laugh at everything you say, even though your story is sad. They
> keep coming up to you and dropping coins at your feet, and fruit, and
> meat, and they tell you what a great comedian you are. You don’t
> understand, but you like the fruit and meat.

Because Pig hangs out in the market square, which is the hub of St
Parnas, Pig is probably the first other deck-touched individual the PCs
will meet. This will probably be the first time their *Deck Awareness*
power allows them to see three cards over an NPC’s head. Pig says “You
have cards on your head! Me too.” This confirms to them that they’re
members of a community who are all experiencing some of the same things.

Pig’s *jester* card warps the perceptions of the townsfolk, making them
think that Pig is funny. But because the PCs drew their own cards, they
have a special power: *Deck Immunity*, which means they are immune to
the effects of other people’s cards. So Pig’s *jester* card cannot warp
their perceptions. They see Pig as he as: a frustrated, sad,
stressed-out Ogre.

At some point, Pig notices that the PCs aren’t laughing at everything he
says. “Why you not laugh! Everyone laugh! Why no laugh?” Pig is
extremely grateful to have somebody, anybody, who isn’t laughing at him.
This immediately ingratiates him to the PCs.

Of course, Pig also has *Deck Awareness*. If Pig sees the *jester* card
above any of the PCs’ heads, Pig immediate commiserates: “You got bad
card! Everyone laugh at you! Pig got bad card!” This makes him feel even
more connected to the PCs. If he sees the *key* card, he asks, “You get
music too?”

If the PCs ask questions, Pig will willingly answer, but remember, Pig
has an INT of 6. He cannot answer any difficult or abstract questions.
Mentally, he’s the equivalent of a toddler. Pig doesn’t know how to use
his inside voice: he yells more or less all the time.

*Asking Pig about Key:*

If you ask Pig about the Key card, he says “Key teach me music! I can do
it now! Watch! (He plays). Now music is job, I work here, play music.”
So Pig has actually mentioned several concepts: teaching, skills,
careers. This is the essence of the key card, and it should be enough.
The PCs won’t be able to get much more out of him than that.

There’s one thing that’s confusing about Pig’s explanation: it might
sound as if the deck gave him a mandolin: it didn’t. Pig was given the
mandolin by a merchant named Brunna, who we will tell you about later.
What the deck did is give Pig the necessary skill.

*Asking Pig about Jester:*

Pig says, “Card make everyone laugh. Pig not like it. You not laugh. Pig
like you.” He really can’t say anymore. Fortunately, none of Omta’s
scrolls contain the jester card.

*Asking Pig about Throne:*

Pig says: “I was big, strong, king of my tribe! Now not king, weak. Card
say I be king again. I don’t understand. Biggest strongest ogre is king!
Pig not biggest, not strongest, so not king.”

There’s a subtle distinction embedded in this explanation. When Omta
uses the throne card as symbolism, it doesn’t mean a king who rules by
authority, or by respect. It means someone who rules by raw power, by
being the biggest and toughest. Pig accurately captures that intention
when he says “Biggest strongest is king!” Pig, with his INT of 6, is not
great at explanations, but he really does grasp the meaning of the
throne card.

*Helping Pig:*

Pig suffered from *Wasting Rot*, which caused his muscles to atrophy. He
now has STR 13, which is pathetic for an Ogre. Before the disease, he
was by far the strongest, toughest Ogre in his tribe - he was the King
of his tribe. The disease has already run its course, there is no need
to get rid of the bacterium. What’s needed is to undo the damage: what
Pig needs now is *greater restoration*. That spell will cause his
muscles to return, gradually, over a few weeks. There is nobody in town
who can cast Greater Restoration. The medics in town say, “you will need
to go to a large city.” If the PCs want to cure Pig, this is something
they can do in Chapter 3, which takes place in a larger city.

Making an ally of Pig can be a big boon for the party. Pig is a heck of
a tank, if he is healed, then he can help the PCs in some big combats
later in the campaign.

However, there is a downside to restoring Pig: if the PCs do this, they
will have an oversized Ogre who is capable of killing a person with a
single blow, who has a short attention span and the intelligence of a
toddler. Disaster could result. If the PCs are going to restore Pig,
they need to have a plan to make sure that Pig is properly supervised.
If they don’t think of this, Lada mentions it.

Healing Pig’s muscles goes a long way toward making him happy. But
fixing the jester card would really make things complete. Fixing that
will take a Wish or the intervention of a god.

### Borghan: The Caged Beast

The caged beast was once a human man named Borghan. He drew cards from
the deck because of his debts. He drew these cards:

-   *Gem*: Borghan received a shower of gems. His debts are paid.

-   *Beast*: Borghan has been transformed into an oversized Grizzly bear
    > with a few humanoid characteristics.

-   *Bricklayer*: The deck has built a labyrinth for Borghan to inhabit,
    > under Castle Green.

Borghan looks like a werebear, but he does not have the curse of
lycanthropy, and he is not a shapechanger. He is permanently in half-man
half-bear form. He has animal intelligence and operates mostly on animal
instinct.

Green wasn’t sure what to do with Borghan, so he temporarily put Borghan
in a holding cell. A few hours later, Borghan bashed open the cell by
sheer strength, and quickly found his way to the labyrinth to which he
was attracted by the compulsion of the Bricklayer card.

There is no food in the labyrinth, Borghan hasn’t eaten in days. But he
can’t overcome the bricklayer card’s magical compulsion to stay in the
labyrinth. He is the “Caged Beast” because he is imprisoned in the
Labyrinth by his own compulsion. With animal intelligence, he is not
smart enough to reason his way out of the situation. If something
doesn’t change soon, he will starve to death in the labyrinth.

The PCs experience the following dream, as seen through Borghan’s eyes:

> You are ravenously hungry, but you’re in an empty corridor, there’s
> nothing to eat. You run down the corridor, turn, run some more, turn
> again, and run some more, but there’s nothing but corridors. You see a
> door, already smashed - you feel like you’ve been here before. You
> pass through the broken door, and on the other side, there’s more
> corridors. You’re so hungry, and there’s no food.

When the PCs are exploring under Castle Green, they will stumble into
Borghan’s labyrinth. They should immediately recognize the labyrinth
from Borghan’s deck dream. If they think back on the deck dream, they
will remember that in the dream, they were ravenously hungry.

Wandering through the labyrinth will eventually cause the PCs to
encounter Borghan. Borghan is ravenously hungry. When he sees the PCs,
he sees food. He will attack with the intention of eating a PC.

The PCs, for their part, will see a werebear-like creature, with three
cards hovering over its head, one of which is “Beast.” They should be
able to figure out that this is a person who has been transformed into a
beast by the Deck.

Very likely, the PCs will have to fight Borghan, unless they are very
clever and prepared. If the PCs reduce Borghan to 0 HP, he doesn’t
immediately die. Instead, like a PC, he gets death saves. If Borghan is
down, and the PCs cast *cure wounds* or the like, then Borghan’s life is
spared. In that case, Borghan will become submissive, even though he is
intensely hungry: he knows he has been beaten.

But even though he’s submissive, he’s still starving to death, and he
can’t think about anything other than food. To enable Borghan to think
about anything other than food, the PCs must sate his hunger. Borghan
will not think of anything else other than eating until he is fed. To
feed him requires a *lot* of food. A few rations from the PCs’s backpack
isn’t even going to make a dent. A whole pig or sheep would do it. If
the PCs manage to sate his appetite, he actually becomes reasonably
cooperative.

Once Borghan has eaten, the next step is to cast *Speak with Animals,*
or something else along those lines. Telepathy might work. If there’s a
druid in the party, they can probably do it. If the PCs don’t have any
way to speak to animals, remember this: the marketplace in St Parnas is
experiencing a glut of magic items because of the Deck. If the PCs look
for a useful magic item, make sure they find one - maybe even let them
rent it. Alternately, the PCs may be able to recruit an NPC helper who
can cast *Speak with Animals*. There are lots of helpful people in St
Parnas.

Once the PCs have some sort of communication channel opened up, the PCs
can try to learn about the cards that Borghan drew.

*Asking Borghan about Gem:*

It isn’t that hard to guess the meanings of the Gem card, so it probably
isn’t necessary to ask Borghan. If the PCs want to ask Borghan, then
coaxing this information out of him can be tricky. Probably the best way
is just to show him some gems. His first reaction, “Gems Beautiful!
Sparkly,” covers the concept of beauty. His second reaction relates to
the fact that he drew cards because of his debts. He says, “I wanted
gems before. I don’t remember why.” The PCs can probably figure out that
he needed money, and that gems represent money.

*Asking Borghan about Bricklayer:*

The PCs can easily guess that the Bricklayer card means “building
things.” They don’t need Borghan’s help to figure that out. What they
won’t be able to easily guess is that the bricklayer card also instills
a compulsion to be possessive and territorial about the structure that
was built. So therefore, bricklayer can also mean “possessive” and
“territorial.”

Borghan cannot explain abstract concepts, with his animal intelligence.
If the PCs ask him an abstract question like “what are the non-obvious
meanings of the bricklayer card,” Borghan will just stare blankly. But
if they ask a simpler, more concrete question like, “what did the deck
build you,” he says “Labyrinth is for me. My territory!” If the PCs ask
any other question about the labyrinth, Borghan gets agitated: “My
territory! My territory! You only allowed because you feed me! My
territory! Mine! Not yours! Mine!”

This reaction is very similar to what Alyssa Varn says about “her”
castle. Perhaps the PCs will put two and two together - both the people
who drew the bricklayer card are being very territorial and possessive.
If the card instills possessiveness and territoriality in everyone who
draws it, then perhaps the symbolic meanings of the card include
possessiveness and territoriality.

*Helping Borghan:*

Borghan is trapped in a maze with no food. He will starve to death.
There are quite a few ways that the PCs could theoretically help him.

The simplest thing they can do is hire somebody to feed him for a month
or two. Over time, the compulsion of the bricklayer card will start to
wear off, and Borghan will be able to go out into the woods and hunt for
himself. Turning Borghan back to a human is probably not feasible: it
would take a Wish or an act of a god. Another temporary solution for
Borghan is to capture him into the Museum of Orethys. This will
effectively put him on ice until later, which will keep him from
starving for now. It may also be possible to find magic items that make
Borghan a little more capable of coping with his situation. For example,
a *headband of intellect* would bring back his intelligence, which would
make it possible for him to figure out that he needs to leave the
labyrinth temporarily in order to hunt.

> Borghan
>
> *Large Monstrosity, Unaligned*
>
> Armor Class 12 (natural armor)\
> Hit Points 200 (16d10 + 112)\
> Speed 40 ft.
>
> STR 21 (+5)  DEX 10 (+0)  CON 24 (+7) INT 7 (–2)  WIS 16 (+3)  CHA 9
> (–1)
>
> Saving Throws Con +10, Wis +6\
> Skills Perception +6\
> Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16\
> Languages understands Common and Sylvan, but cannot speak\
> Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)\
> Proficiency Bonus +3
>
> Keen Smell.\
> Borghan has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on
> smell.
>
> Multiattack: Borghan makes two claw attacks and one bite attack.
>
> Claw. *Melee Weapon Attack:* +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
> *Hit:* 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.
>
> Bite. *Melee Weapon Attack:* +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
> *Hit:* 12 (2d8 + 3) piercing damage.
>
> Rage and Hunger (3/Day). Borghan lets out a blood-curdling roar and
> enters a state of primal fury. It immediately ends any of the
> following conditions on itself: charmed, frightened, paralyzed,
> stunned, and any effect causing it to be incapacitated or unconscious
> without reducing it to 0 HP. Until the end of its next turn, it has
> advantage on all attack rolls and cannot be charmed or frightened.

### Sam Link: The Chosen One

The chosen one is a elven man named Sam Link. One day, he felt compelled
to take a few hours off work. He wandered until he arrived at castle
Green. When he got there, he drew cards from the deck. He would not be
able to tell you exactly why he did this. He drew these cards:

-   *Star*: Sam has been given a ring of feather falling.

-   *Cripple*: Sam has developed serious lower-back pain.

-   *Sun*: Sam has been granted a divine spark. He is now on the path to
    > godhood.

Sam knows he now has a divine spark, and Sam is the sort of person who
believes that there’s a reason for everything that happens in the
universe. Therefore, he believes he was chosen for some purpose.
However, he has no idea what that purpose might be. He does know that
his new power can be used for healing, though he suspects there’s more
to it than that. He’s not sure what to do now that he is “chosen,” but
he figures if he was given the gift of healing, he should use it, so now
he’s out on the streets healing people.

He also doesn’t know what to do with his ring of feather falling. He
considered pawning it, but once again, he thinks there’s a reason for
everything, so he decided he better keep the ring. He is wearing it
around town, fully expecting to be thrown off a tower or something.

The PCs experience the following dream, as seen through Sam’s eyes:

> You are walking through the streets of St Parnas. You see several
> buildings with broken windows and minor damage. You see a woman on the
> ground. You run up to her and ask, “are you hurt?” She says, “my leg.”
> Looking more closely at her leg, you can see that it’s bent at a weird
> angle, and there is severe bruising. You put a hand on her leg, and
> you allow energy to flow. The leg straightens, and the bruising fades.
> She says, “thank you, cleric.” You say, “I’m not a cleric, but you’re
> welcome.”

The town of St. Parnas, where this chapter takes place, has experienced
a “chaos storm” (we’ll explain that later). There are broken windows and
injured people everywhere. In the immediate aftermath, Sam was walking
around, healing everybody he could. He does not randomly encounter the
PCs.

By the time the PCs learn about Sam’s existence, the worst of the chaos
storm is already over. At this point, Sam is searching around town
looking for anyone who still needs help. Nobody knows where Sam is,
because he’s moving around too much. The best way to find Sam is to go
somewhere where there are injured people.

One place where you can find injured people is after the basilisk fight,
later in this chapter. When the PCs arrive, several civilians have
already been petrified by the basilisk. The civilians will remain
petrified for 24 hours while the effect wears off. The PCs will fight
and probably kill the basilisk, then they’ll have to figure out what to
do with the petrified civilians. One of those civilians is severely
injured: her hand broke off at the wrist after she turned to stone. When
she turns back to flesh, she will bleed out rapidly.

Sam hears about this injured petrified person, and he goes to help. He
will sit with her for a long time while he waits for her to turn back to
flesh, so that he can heal her as soon as she does. This effectively
locks Sam in one location for quite some time (you, as DM, can decide
how long).

The PCs can learn about Sam’s location in any one of several ways: by
talking to the mayor, by talking to the guards, or by having a deck
dream. If they go to the location right away, Sam is still there with
the petrified woman.

While they sit there, Sam is willing to have a conversation with them,
on one condition: Sam will answer the PC’s questions, but only if the
PCs agree to answer Sam’s questions. He will trade question for
question: Sam asks one, then the PCs ask one, then Sam, then the PCs,
back and forth like that. That’s his condition. If the PC’s question is
about one of the cards, Sam will do his honest best to provide detailed
information about that one card - but only that one card. Before we get
to Sam’s questions, here is what Sam has to say about the cards:

*Asking Sam about Star:*

Sam tells the PCs that the star card is what gave him the ring of
feather falling. He says it always conjures a wondrous magic item. He
then explains that therefore, the card can mean *wondrous magic item*.
He also says it can just mean wonderful non-magical item, or even a
wonderful place, or the emotion of wonderment.

*Asking Sam about Cripple:*

Sam will tell them: “The cripple card gave me serious lower-back pain.”
Sam explains that it can mean any kind of infirmity: lack of strength,
lack of dexterity, lack of health, or the like. It can mean just a
physical flaw in general. If you wanted to say that a teapot is broken,
you would again use the cripple card to represent the state of being
physically broken.

*Asking Sam about Sun:*

Sam tells the PCs that the Sun card is the one that gave him a divine
spark. He explains that therefore, the Sun card can mean divine
ascension, or the state of being a god or goddess, or any variant of
that - it can mean divinity, divine, godlike, etc.

*Helping Sam:\
\
*Sam agrees to answer the PCs questions, if in exchange the PCs agree to
answer Sam’s questions. As it turns out, all of Sam’s questions are
existential questions about the purpose and meaning of life. He
absolutely insists that he won’t accept brief, thoughtless answers. He
wants insights!

Sam is the kind of person who believes strongly that the gods have a
plan, and that there must be a reason for his divine ascension. But he
is utterly baffled as to what the reason might be, or what he’s supposed
to do about it. Here are his four questions, in the order he asks them:

-   Q1: Why do you think I was chosen for divine ascension? Why me?

-   Q2: What is the proper way I should be using the gift I’ve been
    > given?

-   Q3: How can I ascend further up the ladder toward godhood? What
    > should I do?

-   Q4: What the heck is this ring of feather falling for?

In response to Sam’s questions, the PCs are likely to have a
philosophical discussion. The PCs can tell Sam their theories for why
Sam was given a spark, and they may have their own philosophies about
what Sam ought to be doing with his gift. Sam will take these theories
into serious consideration, but he won’t make any hard-and-fast
decisions just yet.\
\
There are no “right” answers to Sam’s questions, but there are wrong
answers: any answer that is glib, or that doesn’t seriously grapple with
the difficult issues, is a wrong answer. If he gets a glib answer, Sam
will refuse to move on to his turn until the PCs really tackle the
question.

In truth, the best way to help Sam is to get him to stop obsessing so
much. He is so fixated on trying to solve the puzzle of why he was
chosen, what he’s supposed to do, and the like, that he’s making himself
crazy. He needs to slow down and just let things unfold naturally.

In my version of this campaign, the PCs put Sam in a situation where he
met a fun and playful woman. That gave him something else to do other
than obsess about his role in the universe.

### Alyssa Varn: The Squatter

The squatter is a tiefling woman named Alyssa Varn. She is a gambler,
and she was deeply in debt. She was one of the first people that drew
cards from the Deck. She drew these cards:

-   *Tiger*: She gained a lot of limberness, she is now basically a
    > contortionist.

-   *Knight*: She received a staff of withering.

-   *Bricklayer*: The Deck built her a castle.

Alyssa quickly sold the staff, she is not a combatant and has no use for
a weapon. That paid off half her gambling debts. However, she did not
want to sell the castle: the bricklayer card instilled a strong
compulsion to live in the castle. Her husband told her that if she
didn’t sell the castle and pay off her debts, he would divorce her.
Under pressure, she sold the castle to Green, and it became Castle
Green.

Alyssa resents being forced to sell, her compulsion to live in the
castle is overwhelming. She has convinced herself that a contract “made
under duress” (the threat of divorce) is invalid, and so therefore, the
sale is invalid, and the castle is still hers. So she keeps sneaking
back in.

The PCs have the following dream, as seen through Alyssa’s eyes:

> It’s nighttime. You’re standing next to a sturdy stone building, which
> has a narrow vertical window, like a castle window. You try to squeeze
> yourself through the window, and you almost make it - you’re an
> unusually thin woman, and you’re really flexible, a contortionist. A
> male voice behind you says, “stop it, you’re being absolutely crazy.”
> You say, “This is my castle!” He says: “It’s not yours, you sold it!”
> You cram yourself into the window again, and this time, you actually
> succeed in getting through. The male voice says, “You’re nuts, and I’m
> done. Goodbye.”

Alyssa is currently living in the basement of castle Green. The castle
came furnished with lots of furniture. Green moved a lot of that
furniture into a storage room in the basement. Alyssa took some of the
bookcases in the storage room and improvised a small hidden “room” (with
bookcase walls) hidden behind a giant pile of furniture.

Green has a lawsuit pending against Alyssa in the courts of St Parnas,
he’s trying to have her committed to a mental institution. However, the
Mayor is slow-rolling it, mainly as retaliation for the fact that Green
and the Deck are upsetting the calm of what was once a safe little small
town. So, for now at least, Green is on his own. From time to time,
Green’s guards catch Alyssa. But Green isn’t cruel: he knows that Alyssa
is just a sad crazy woman, and that her craziness is in part Green’s
fault, so he can’t bring himself to physically harm her. So he just
kicks her out of the castle for the umpteenth time, and he hopes the
courts will take action soon.

Unfortunately for Green, that means that for now, Alyssa can pretty much
harass Green with impunity. Alyssa is a zero-level NPC, so she cannot
take on Green and his guards directly. She knows that if she gets too
close to the guards, she’s going to get kicked out again. So instead,
she harasses Green mainly using traps.

None of Alyssa’s traps are deadly - at least, not intentionally. She is
annoying and even dangerous, but not a murderer. She often will lurk in
the shadows, watching her own traps. The PCs encounter the following
traps set by Alyssa:

-   In the Armory, a tripwire. See the subsequent section on the Armory
    > for more information.

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-   In any room, she puts a bucket of yellow liquid on top of an open
    > door. Dexterity save DC 12 to dodge it. You can determine the
    > in-game effects, if any.

-   In the event that one or two characters separate from the party, and
    > end up in a room, Alyssa jams a triangular wedge into the door,
    > then she nails the door shut. It’s not specified what is required
    > to get the door back open, but make it a not-too-difficult project
    > that takes up 15 minutes of game time. Do not do this if all the
    > party members are in the room, and don’t do it if the party
    > members in the room are strong enough to simply force their way
    > out. Make it interesting, wait until a few party members who don’t
    > have the strength to break out can be trapped.

Her traps usually come with a written note: “Get out of my castle,” or
“Serves you right, trespassing in my castle!”

While the PCs are exploring the castle, they never find Alyssa: she’s
too good at hiding after months of experience. But they may find her
sleeping quarters. If they look in the storage room with the furniture,
they may notice that most of the room is covered in thick dust, but
there’s a path through the dust (perception DC 13). To follow the path
you have to be very small, or a contortionist, or ideally both. It leads
to Alyssa’s hidden room, which contains a matress and some personal
effects. There’s nothing interesting in the personal effects, but the
size of the garments reveals that Alyssa is very small. Inside the
hidden room is a stone wall with one of the stones carved out. If you’re
small, you can squeeze through.

The tiny passage through the wall emerges in Mikhail’s bedroom, into the
back of his wardrobe. She has loosened part of the back of the wardrobe,
she can take it off quickly, pass through the passage and into the
wardrobe, then out the doors of the wardrobe.

Alyssa wants her castle back. However, she has been trying for months,
and now the upper half of the castle is gone. She is losing hope. When
the PCs finally rescue all of Green’s employees from the labyrinth - not
counting Green and his entourage - they will have achieved Alyssa’s goal
for her: get rid of Green and his employees. However, by this time, the
castle is being invaded by giant ants. This causes her to lose even more
hope.

The next time the PCs visit the labyrinth after rescuing all of Green’s
employees, they find Alyssa just sitting on a sofa in the lounge,
watching the ants glumly. The PCs can see her cards using *deck
awareness*. She looks up and says:

> “Hey, you guys drew cards, didn’t you. I’ve seen that effect on
> Borghan and Balanestra (pointing at the cards over everyone’s heads).
> Wait, are you the ones I wedged in such-and-such room?”

If the PCs ask why she’s not in hiding any more, she says:

> “For a long time, I was fighting to get Green out of my castle, my
> home. Well, Green and his employees are finally leaving, but the top
> half of the castle is gone, and now the ants are moving in. It’s just
> getting more and more clear that I’m never getting my castle back. I’m
> on the brink of giving up. That’s why I’m sitting here just taking one
> last look at what remains of my home.”

If the PCs complain about the shit that Alyssa has been doing to them,
she says:

> “Sorry about the traps. I was just getting more and more angry that
> more and more people were in my castle, and I sort of overreacted. I
> guess everything I did was pointless. Sorry I took it out on you
> guys.”

If the PCs say anything to suggest that maybe Alyssa is being irrational
trying to live in a castle that she doesn’t need, when she has a
perfectly good house in town, especially given that she sold the castle,
she completely transforms into a crazed person:

> “This is my home! My territory! It’s mine, the deck built it for ME!
> Don’t be telling me it’s not mine, this is my territory, and I’m going
> to protect it! Get the fuck out of my house!”

Then, she starts screaming at the PCs and kicking and hitting (no
damage). She won’t calm down for about a half hour. This transformation
is magical: it’s the effect of the *bricklayer* card. The card instills
a powerful compulsion to live in the space, to make it your own. Notice
that Alyssa used the word “territory” twice. That’s a word that people
mostly use in reference to animals who mark their territory - that’s
intentional. The bricklayer card is strongly tied in to the concept of
animalistic territorial possession.

If the PCs leave and come back, Alyssa says:

> “Sorry about that tantrum. I don’t know what got into me. Every time
> somebody tells me to leave, I just turn into that crazy woman. I can’t
> control it.”

People who draw the bricklayer card have to make a Wisdom saving throw,
DC 15 in order to escape from the compulsion to live in the building. If
they fail, they get to try again once per month. Alyssa’s wisdom is only
8. She has failed the saving throw multiple times.

To help Alyssa, what the PCs really need to do is:

> 1\. They need to figure out that Alyssa is under a magical compulsion.
>
> 2\. They must help her to escape from that compulsion.

Once they figure out that that’s their goal, interrupt and say, “As your
DM, this is how we’re going to roleplay this. Alyssa gets one wisdom
saving throw to escape from the compulsion. Do what you can to prepare
her, then roll the saving throw for her. You get one and only one
chance.”

There are actually lots of things the PCs can do to prepare Alyssa:

-   Any spell that helps with wisdom saving throws is a good idea,
    > including *bless*, *beacon of hope*, or *resistance*. However, it
    > will be very difficult talking Alyssa into letting some strangers
    > cast spells on her.

-   If the PCs can very delicately help Alyssa to understand that she’s
    > under a magical compulsion, that will help a lot. Nobody likes to
    > be magically controlled. +4 to save.

-   If the PCs (somehow) offer Alyssa a really nice alternative home, +4
    > to save.

-   I said that they get only once chance, but I lied: if they offer
    > Alyssa an inspiration point, they can get a second roll.

-   PCs are inventive. Let them be creative here.

Regardless of whether they succeed at helping her, she will talk to the
PCs and answer their questions willingly, when she’s in a calm mood.

When it comes to answering questions about the cards, Alyssa (being a
low-wisdom individual) is not that insightful. She tells the PCs the
basics, but she may leave out details:\
\
*Asking Alyssa about Tiger:*

FILL ME IN

### Balanestra: The Wish-Keeper

The wish-keeper is an aasimar woman named Balanestra. She is a wealthy
woman who drew cards because she was profoundly dissatisfied with her
life, feeling that it was mundane and boring. She was desperate to have
a more exciting life, even if that meant great risk. She drew these
cards:

-   *Gem*: She received gems, which she didn’t need at all, being quite
    > wealthy.

-   *Skull:* She had to fight an avatar of death. The bodyguards mostly
    > did it for her.

-   *Moon*: She was granted three wishes.

She wished for the following:

-   Wish 1: To be highly skilled at plotting, manipulation, and
    > intrigue: Wish Fully Granted.

-   Wish 2: To gain the ability to magically scry on anyone: Wish Mostly
    > Granted.

The second wish gave Balanestra the ability to look into mirrors and see
the people she’s thinking about. She can do this three times per day,
for 15 minutes. However, her target gets a saving throw, WIS DC 20. All
gods can resist, as can a few powerful people.

Having made two wishes, Balanestra was supposed to make her third wish
on Green’s behalf. Instead, she said to Green, “There are powerful
people all over the multiverse who are scheming to take that Deck away
from you. Now that I have these new talents, you should hire me to be
your advisor. I can keep you one step ahead of those guys.” Green
agreed, but then Balanestra named her conditions: “My price for working
for you is this: I get to keep my third wish.” Green hesitated, but
decided to accept the offer.

Balanestra didn’t make a third wish. Instead, she decided to hold onto
her third wish for a rainy day. She thinks of it as the ultimate
emergency get-out-of-jail-free card.

There is an old trope that says that if you get three wishes, you’ll
somehow end up miserable. Balanestra is the proof that that’s just
moralizing nonsense. She’s loving her new life, she’s ecstatic.

The PC has the following dream, as seen through Balanestra’s eyes:

> Green, at his desk: “I can’t fight a goddess. What do we do if she
> attacks?”\
> Balanestra: “We teleport away, of course.”\
> Green: “Sure, but she’s a goddess. She can follow us anywhere.”\
> Balanestra: “She can follow us *almost* anywhere.”
>
> Green: “Where could I go that she can’t follow… oh, shit. No, no no no
> no!”
>
> Balanestra: “Trust me.”

Balanestra is with Green, in the basement of the castle, on the other
side of Omta’s steel door. Therefore, it is not possible to get help
from Balanestra. Fortunately, for every card that Balanestra drew, there
is no need to seek help from her:

-   *Gem*: The gem card has many complicated meanings. If none of the
    > PCs drew the gem card, they are likely to need help. Fortunately,
    > they can ask Borghan (the Caged Beast) instead.

-   *Skull:* In Omta’s scrolls, he uses the skull card several times. In
    > one case, it means “wants to kill me,” in another case it means
    > “would kill me.” If none of the PCs drew the skull card, they will
    > have to guess the meaning, but *skull=killing* is a pretty easy
    > guess.

-   *Moon*: Lada tells you that the card grants three wishes, and that
    > hasn’t changed. The symbolic meaning of the card is wishes,
    > granted wishes, desires, or fulfilled desires. The PCs will have
    > to guess that, based on what the card does.

The PCs will meet Balanestra, very briefly, at the end of Chapter 2,
after they get through the steel door. She will become an important
figure later in the campaign.

### Brunna: The Antiquarian

The Antiquarian is a Dwarven woman named Brunna. She used to make a
living selling musical instruments. She was quite successful, and lived
a comfortable life. But she wasn’t happy - he was bored and full of
malaise. However, the comfort of her life made it hard to change. She
knew she needed a push, and she thought the deck might give her that
push. She drew these cards:

-   *Vizier*: she can now ask the fates a question, once a month.

-   *Comet*: she can hold an item in her hands and know its past.

-   *Idiot:* she lost 2 points from charisma. She now looks down her
    > nose at people, purses her lips, and speaks in a know-it-all
    > manner.

She has gained two abilities that both allow her to learn about the
past. The *comet* ability lets her hold an item in her hands and know
something about its past. If that isn’t enough, she can ask the fates a
question once a month, because of the *vizier* card.

Meanwhile, her musical instrument business went bad. The charisma loss
made it much harder to land a sale. In the week after she drew cards,
she sold half as many musical instruments as normal. She realized that a
salesperson needs charisma, and she just didn’t have it any more.

She sold the music business, and went into a new line of work:
antiquarian. She figured that coming across as a know-it-all was
expected from an antiquarian, and the *comet* card made it pretty easy
to learn the history of the items she handled. So antiquarian was a
natural choice. She’s actually enjoying the new job, it’s different, a
real change of pace.

The PCs have the following dream about Brunna:

> You are holding a rusty saber, which is resting across your two palms.
> You say, “This saber was made by a dwarven man named Jorrell. It was
> one of a set of three, one of which was sold to your grandfather.”

Brunna is now running a consulting firm in the building that used to be
her music shop. The building is not far from the St. Parnas market
square. The front of the building has the faded outline of a lute on the
brickwork, where the previous sign used to be. In its place is in a new
sign that says “historical research: antique objects investigated.”
Brunna sits in a comfortable chair, with a little coffee table in front,
and a few other chairs across.

As Brunna has settled into her new job, she is starting to really like
it. She thinks it’s kind of fun explaining various facts about history
to people - she enjoys storytelling. Also, since she doesn’t actually
*know* history until she handles an item in her hands, when she tells a
story, she’s learning it herself at the same time as she tells it to her
customer. So she’s enjoying the feeling that her knowledge is expanding
all the time.

The idiot card caused her to act like a know-it-all and look down her
nose at people. She knows that people now perceive her as a know-it-all,
but she can’t understand why: this is the negative effect of the *idiot*
card, she can’t understand her own lack of charisma. Still, she feels
that it’s an acceptable sacrifice for the new job, which she thinks is a
great new direction for her life.

She has not used the *Vizier* power yet. She is excited to try it for
the first time, but she knows she can only use it once a month, so she’s
saving it for a special occasion. Maybe something the PCs ask her will
inspire her to ask her first question of the gods.

If the PCs want to ask Brunna about the cards, they will have to pay her
5 gp consulting fee.

*Asking Brunna about Vizier:*

Brunna explains that the Vizier card gave her the ability to ask one
question per month, and have it answered by the gods. She says the card
can mean, literally, a vizier or seer, or a scholar, or researcher, or
scientist. It can also mean the act of asking questions, or any other
form of investigation. It can also just mean “knowledge,” especially
secret knowledge or hidden knowledge.

*Asking Brunna about Comet:*

Brunna explains that the comet card allows her to hold an object in her
hands and learn its history. The meaning of the card is generally just
“time,” but it also encompasses all kinds of things related to time,
like “the past,” “the future,” or “waiting.” It can also be a reference
to knowledge of the past or the future, ie, history and prophecy.

*Asking Brunna about Idiot:*

Brunna explains that the idiot card somehow made her less charismatic.
She says the card can refer to lack of intelligence, lack of social
skill, lack of wisdom, or any other sort of mental incapacity. It can
also mean “making a mistake” or “a bad decision.” The card can also
mean, literally, an idiot. It can also mean somebody who is intelligent
but with some kind of mental handicap - for example, a smart person with
an alcohol addiction.

*Handing a Scroll to Brunna:*

If the PCs hand Brunna one of Omta’s scrolls, she holds it in her hand,
and she says she knows something important about its history. But she
says: “I’m willing to tell you what I know, but in exchange, you have to
help me with something. I help you with a difficult puzzle, you help me
with a difficult puzzle.” If the PCs agree, then this is what she has to
say about the scroll:

> Well, this scroll itself doesn’t have much history, it’s only a few
> days old. But the communication method that is being used in this
> scroll is very, very old. This goes back before written history.
>
> Language as we know it was invented by mortals. So how did the gods
> communicate before the gods created mortals, and mortals invented
> language? Well, gods can easily conjure little illusions, little
> images. So that’s what they did. They showed each other little
> pictures. There was no standard set of symbols. Each god would make up
> whatever images made sense to them. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of
> miscommunication. That’s why this form of communication died out when
> language as we know it was invented. The gods learned how to speak
> from mortals, and they stopped using these images.

*Helping Brunna:*

Brunna has a problem: she doesn’t have enough customers. She’s not
making enough money, the business isn’t profitable. Apparently, there
just aren’t enough people who need their family heirlooms read. She asks
the PCs for ways to improve her business.

Brunna’s core problem is that she is suffering from a failure of
imagination. Her *comet* power can be used for so much more than just
investigating heirlooms. What the PCs really need to do is work with
Brunna to brainstorm alternative ways to use her power. Here are some
options:

-   *Crime Investigation*: She can hold a murder weapon in her hands,
    > and tell you who used it.

-   *Private Investigation*: She can hold some underwear in her hands,
    > and she can tell you who slept with your spouse.

-   *Industrial Espionage*: She can hold your competitor’s product in
    > her hands, and tell you how it was manufactured.

-   *Art Authentication*: She can hold a piece of art in her hands, and
    > tell you if it is the original or a forgery.

-   *Archaeology*: She can hold a relic of a past civilization, and tell
    > you something about that civilization.

-   *General Espionage*: She can hold objects stolen from diplomats or
    > politicians, and possibly learn their secrets.

If Brunna branches out and advertises all of these services, she will
have much more business than before.

If the PCs help her brainstorm at least four new ideas for how to use
her power, then she will be grateful and she will perceive the PCs as
friends. She still charges 5 gp per item investigated, though. A
consultant has to eat, you know.

*Using Brunna as a Resource:*

Brunna is a valuable investigative resource. Once the players figure out
that Brunna can do all kinds of useful research, they will probably
visit her fairly frequently. That’s actually a good thing.

Do not let Brunna short-circuit major questlines. If there’s some
information that you don’t want her to reveal, then don’t reveal it.
Instead, reveal something else, like this:

> PC: Can this sword kill the bad guy?\
> Brunna: Here, give it to me. Hmmm. I can see that this sword was made
> by a Dwarven man named Jorell, who works in Moradin’s keep.
>
> PC: Yeah, but can it kill the bad guy?
>
> Brunna: No idea.

As the DM, you decide what Brunna knows, and what she doesn’t. If you
don’t want her to have the answer to a question, then she doesn’t have
the answer to that question. She always knows *something* about an item,
but not necessarily what the PCs want her to know.

The real value of Brunna is that you can use her to feed the PCs exactly
the clues that *you* want to feed them. Try to encourage the PCs to
visit Brunna regularly, by letting Brunna reveal little tidbits of
useful information here and there (without major spoilers.) Then, if the
players ever seem like they’re stuck, and they’re not making progress
solving the major puzzles of this chapter, then you can feed them a big
clue through Brunna.

If the PCs get in the habit of visiting Brunna frequently, and it starts
to get repetitive, then just start abbreviating the interaction:

> PC: We go ask Brunna about whether the sword can kill the bad guy.
>
> DM: OK, you go visit Brunna. She reveals that the sword was made by a
> man named Jorell at Moradin’s keep. You learn nothing else. She
> charges you 5 gp.

That way, it only eats up a few seconds of table-time.

### Asatya: The Sleepwalker

The Sleepwalker is a woman named Asatya, who used to be a gardener in
the orchards. She’s getting older and her hands are getting arthritic.
She didn’t think she could do her job much longer, and she felt she
needed a new direction in life. She drew these cards:

-   *Owl*: She gained a great deal of intelligence, she is much smarter
    > than before.

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-   *Fool*: She no longer knows how to cook, which turns out not to
    > matter very much.

-   *Void*: She fell into a deep sleep, from which she cannot awaken.

Asatya is now a patient at the local hospice. Her body is being
well-tended by the nurses there. She is completely unable to sense any
stimuli or react in any way.

While she sleeps, her spirit is sleepwalking around the city gardens.
Like a sleepwalker, she can see the real physical world - the garden
she’s walking around in. Like a sleepwalker, her thought processes are
delirious and confused. But unlike a normal sleepwalker, she has left
her body behind, and she sleepwalks through the world in the form of a
spirit.

Asatya’s strange state is a reflection of Omta’s own experience. Omta is
also asleep, and Omta also sleepwalks through the multiverse.

The PCs have the following dream about Asatya:

> You are wandering through a manicured garden. There are a few other
> people walking along the paths of the garden. You feel confused, your
> mind is foggy. You notice a weed that needs pulling. You bend over to
> pull it, but you don’t seem to be able to. In your confusion, you
> don’t know why you can’t pull the weed.

If the PCs visit Asatya’s body at the hospice, they will find that she
is breathing deeply, as if in a restful sleep. She is completely
unresponsive to any stimuli. Any attempt to contact her magically or
telepathically will yield the impression that there’s nobody in there.

One of the most surprising things about Asatya’s body is: *Deck
Awareness* doesn’t work on her, there are *not* three cards hovering
over her head! The reason is that the cards aren’t hovering over
Asatya’s body. They’re hovering over her *spirit*, and her spirit is
somewhere else: in the orchard.

If the PCs ask the nurses, the nurses can tell the PCs a little bit
about Asatya’s background, including, crucially, that she was a gardener
in the orchard. This may trigger the PCs to remember the deck dream
about a woman wandering the orchard, and trying to pick weeds.

The PCs may contact Johann, the dreaming ghost from the Museum of
Orethys, and ask him to enter Asatya’s dreams. When Johann reports back,
he says:

> Are you sure she’s in bed? Because as far as I can tell, she’s
> sleepwalking. She’s walking around in an orchard. I can tell that it’s
> a real, physical orchard in the real world, not a garden she’s
> imagining in her head. Dreams are always fuzzy and mutable, but this
> garden is real-looking. That’s why I’m very sure she’s sleepwalking.
>
> I tried to talk to her, but I have a problem with sleepwalkers. When a
> sleepwalker opens her eyes, she gains the ability to see the physical
> world, but she loses the ability to see her imaginary dream world.
> Unfortunately, her imaginary dream world includes me, Johann. So
> whereas a normal dreamer can see me and hear me, a sleepwalker can’t,
> because they’re seeing and hearing the physical world instead. So I
> couldn’t talk to her. I can never talk to sleepwalkers.

If the PCs search the orchard, they eventually find three cards just
moving around, apparently hovering over an invisible ghost. The PCs
cannot see or hear Asatya, but because the PCs can see the cards, they
can tell where Asatya’s ghost is standing, and which direction she is
facing. Using *see invisible* will reveal Asatya’s vague outline, which
can be used to confirm that, yep, it’s the same woman from the hospice.

Here is one way that it is possible to ask Asatya a question: Tell
Johann to enter Asatya’s dreams, and tell him to listen to anything she
says. Then, go to the gardens and stand directly in front of Asatya.
Face her, and ask her a question. Asatya will see and hear the PC, so
she will answer the question. The PC won’t hear the answer, because
Asatya is invisible and inaudible to the PC. But Johann can hear the
answer, and pass it to the PCs.

If the PCs ask Asatya a question in this manner, she gives answers that
are dreamy and drifty, but still basically correct.

*Asking Asatya about Owl:*

She says, “I remember his eyes, the wisdom in his eyes. He is so smart.”
The essential concepts here are intelligence and wisdom.

*Asking Asatya about Fool:*

She says, “He forgot his job… he forgot his name… then he disappeared.”
The essential concepts here are forgetting and disappearance.

*Asking Asatya about Void:*

She says, “An empty place… empty mind… so dark, so quiet.” The essential
concepts here are emptiness, darkness, and silence.

*Helping Asatya:*

After Johann helps get information from Asatya, he tells the PCs that
Asatya is the only other person he knows who is permanently asleep. He
*desperately* wants to meet her, but he can’t talk to her, because she
can’t see him. He is very frustrated.

Up until this point, Johann has been super-helpful and has done
basically anything the PCs asked of him, at no charge. Johann points
this out, and says, “I’ve been helping you. Now you help me. You’re a
resourceful bunch. Figure it out, I want to talk to this woman.”

Making this happen is shockingly easy: just tell Asatya to close her
eyes. If you do that, she stops seeing the physical world, which makes
her able to see her own internal dreamworld - which means she can see
Johann. The minute you do this, the three cards disappear: her spirit is
no longer in the orchard, it’s somewhere else, with Johann.

Another way to get Asatya’s ghost to focus inward is to cast “sleep” on
her. This will cause her to enter a more normal dream-sleep, in which
Johann can talk to her. You can cast sleep on her spirit or on her body,
either way works.

This is a difficult puzzle. If the players come up with another way to
get Asatya to focus inward, allow it, even if it only makes partial
sense. You need this to work, because the PCs will need Johann’s help
later.

Johann knows a trick: he can make you have a lucid dream. As soon as
Asatya starts talking to Johann, he uses his method to help her clear
the cobwebs. She is still asleep, but she can now focus her mind and get
a better grasp on her situation. Plus, she has a knowledgeable soul
there who knows all about being trapped in dreams. She is no longer
alone, she is no longer foggy-headed, and she has somebody who can show
her the ropes.

### Rackle: The Punching Bag

The punching bag is a man named Rackle. He developed a medical condition
that caused him constant pain. Healers were unable to improve the
situation. In desperation, he decided to draw cards:

-   *Euryale*: He is now terrified of monsters.

-   *Ruin*: Items he touches are likely to crumble to dust.

-   *Rogue*: People think he’s a fraudster and a con man, without
    > evidence.

It’s very unlikely to draw three terrible cards from the deck, but
Rackle managed to do it. His life was bad, and now it’s exponentially
worse.

After drawing cards, Rackle tried to find someplace to stay, but
everywhere he went, he was ostracised as a fraud and a con man, because
of the *rogue* card. Lacking any place to stay, he wandered around
outside the city and eventually came across an old abandoned watchtower.

The watchtower is one of a set of five posts that were built around St
Parnas 150 years ago, and abandoned about 80 years ago. They are three
stories tall, and consist of little more than a tall staircase with
landings and a platform on top. The stone parts of the building are in
good condition, but the wood parts are suffering from water damage from
lack of maintenance.

Rackle is living on the middle floor, which is basically just a landing
between the stairs that lead up, and the stairs that lead down. There’s
just enough space to lie down.

Everywhere Rackle goes, he is sure that he is surrounded by demons
lurking in the shadows. This is the effect of the *euryale* card. He has
stolen a bag of salt and he makes salt protection circles on the ground
wherever he goes, to prevent the demons from getting to him. Of course,
there are no demons. But that doesn’t stop Rackle being terrified, all
the time.

Because of his Rogue card, he can’t get an honest job - nobody trusts
him. Rackle tried stealing to make a living, but he discovered that
anything valuable he stole would often crumble to dust, the effect of
the *Ruin* card. So now he survives by stealing low-value items - bits
of food, mostly.

His medical condition persists: he is still in pain, an aching pain all
over his body, with no obvious source or cause.

Rackle’s absurd levels of misfortune have attracted the attention of
Beshaba, goddess of misfortune. She didn’t cause his bad luck: it just
happened on its own. But now that it has, Beshaba considers Rackle to be
a “saint of misfortune.” Beshaba is therefore protecting Rackle - she
has assigned a priestess named Clarissa to watch over him.

Clarissa is a strange woman. She is a human in her mid-fifties. She used
to be a sadist, that is what drew her to Beshaba. But in Beshaba’s
service, she witnessed such vast and terrible misfortunes that her own
efforts began to feel insignificant. No matter how hard she tried to
make people suffer, life did worse — arbitrarily, effortlessly. She kept
upping her game, but the universe always outdid her.

Eventually, she gave up on torturing people and turned instead to
studying the torments life produced without her help. At first, her goal
was to learn more about how to inflict pain. But over time, her study
grew more abstract, and more philosophical. Age crept in. She suffered
some things herself. She still studies suffering, but she’s not sure why
any more. Some days she feels tired. And though she’d never admit it,
she’s begun to care for a few individuals, against her better judgement.

Because of this, Beshaba has given Clarissa the responsibility of
keeping Rackle alive. Clarissa camps near the ruined watchtower where
Rackle lives, and watches from a distance. She does not interfere with
his suffering — that would defeat the purpose — but she steps in if
something threatens his life.

That turns out to be harder than expected. After a month of isolation,
pain, and fear, Rackle tried to take his own life. Clarissa found him
bleeding out and cast *Cure Wounds* just in time. It wasn't the last
time. Eventually, Rackle realized he couldn’t die by the blade — so he
stopped eating. Clarissa tried to force-feed him and nearly choked him
to death in the process. She hasn’t tried again.

Desperate, she turned to the druids of Silvanus, buying *goodberries*,
which are small enough not to cause choking. But the druids have been
growing suspicious, and they keep asking what she’s doing. She lies,
because “I’m keeping a man alive so he can suffer” isn’t a truth that
sells well. The druids are beginning to see through the lies.

The PCs have the following dream, seen through Rackle’s eyes:

> You are lying on a wooden floor, in a round stone room about 10 feet
> across. You are motionless, staring straight up at the ceiling, which
> contains some holes where the wood has rotted. In your peripheral
> vision, you can see a set of stairs leading upward. You can also see a
> woman in her fifties, in purple robes, kneeling beside you. You feel
> weak, lightheaded, and your vision is blurry. You fade out of
> consciousness.

Finding Rackle is a challenge: all you really have to go on is the
dream, which tells you that he’s in a round stone room, about 10 feet
across, with a staircase in it. A fairly easy insight roll (DC10)
reveals that he’s inside a round stone tower. If you ask the Mayor, he
has the insight that it’s probably one of the watchtowers: he says
“Homeless people camp in those all the time.” There’s no easy way to
know which one is the right one, so the PCs will probably have to make
the rounds searching them one by one.

Information about the contents of the five watchtowers can be found in
the upcoming section, “Life in St Parnas: The Old Watchtowers.”

When the PCs finally find Rackle, he is in pretty much the same
condition described in the dream above: passed out on the floor of his
tower, with Clarissa ministering to him. Clarissa has recently given him
her last *goodberry*, the druids won’t sell her any more.

When the PCs come near Rackle, the *rogue* card will attempt to warp
their perceptions to make them think that Rackle is a con-man, but the
PCs have *deck immunity*: they cannot be affected by Rackle’s *rogue*
card. So they see Rackle as he is. Clarissa is also immune, Beshaba
needs her to be clear-eyed in order to do her job properly.

Clarissa knows who the PCs are, because she has been told by Beshaba.
However, she does not reveal this. She will speak to the PCs and will
present herself as a friendly cleric who’s just trying to help. She
says, truthfully, “Hi, I’m Clarissa. This man is starving to death. I’ve
tried using cure spells, but they don’t help against starvation. I don’t
have any way to feed him, it’s not safe to just cram food in his mouth,
he would almost certainly choke. Can you guys do anything to help?”

If the PCs interrogate Clarissa, she decides that there is not much
point in lying to the PCs. She admits that she is a priestess of
Beshaba, and that she has been sent to protect Rackle because Rackle is
a saint of misfortune. She omits the part about keeping him alive to
keep him suffering, though. If the PCs don’t ask Clarissa who she is,
Lada figures it out anyway - as a priestess of Tymora, Lada can sense
the influence of Beshaba.

While talking to Clarissa, Lada gets a grim, tense look on her face and
keeps her mouth shut. Later, when out of Clarissa’s earshot, Lada says,
“That was a priestess of Beshaba. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I
guarantee she’s up to no good. I don’t care what she says, priests of
Beshaba are *never* here to help.”

If the PCs attack Clarissa, have everybody roll initiative. On her first
turn, Clarissa casts hypnotic pattern, spell save DC 16. But then, on
her second turn, she says, “You know what, I can’t do it. I don’t do
this any more.” She puts her hands in the air, and stops fighting. If
the PCs keep attacking, they kill her easily.

The PCs have two strong incentives to help Rackle: one, it would be
morally evil to let him die, and two, they need to ask Rackle questions.
There are several good-aligned temples in town that provide medical
care, for 100 gp per day. If Rackle gets proper medical care, he will
regain consciousness in two days. Clarissa doesn’t interfere, she’s out
of options for keeping Rackle alive and she’s willing to accept help,
even if doing so could reduce Rackle’s suffering.

When Rackle wakes up, he is utterly terrified: there’s no ring of salt
on the ground! The demons are going to take his soul! He won’t do
anything but freak out until somebody puts down a protective ring of
salt. The PCs can get salt inexpensively at a nearby shop.