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The blacksmith is looking to hire someone to steal a valuable amulet from a local temple.

• Story Goal: {{{1
  • The goal is to obtain the Amulet from the temple of Yendor and bring it to the blacksmith. Once done, however, the community will be weakened and the cult will gain additional powers. The blacksmith himself, if not detected first, will simply disappear. If the party comes to question him later, they will find the smithy abandoned, and possibly discover the corpse of the real blacksmith inside the house.
• The Prize:
  • The Amulet of Yendor, an ornate gold artefact, clearly worth more than its raw materials as a religious relic.
• The Location:
  • Located on the top pavillion of the Temple of Yendor, patron deity of the city, around the neck of the statue of the goddess.
• The Security:
  • Personnel: Priests, acolytes, guards.
  • Physical: Locked doors, traps & alarms nearer to top floor.
  • Magical: A password-protected forcefield protects the stairwell to the top floor. Players may learn the password via successful eavesdropping, interrogation of a priest (not an acolyte), or by speaking to Grimblegrum, the drunken wizard at the Thirsty Satyr.
• The Escape:
  • Across rooftops
  • Jump into river beneath temple pavillion
  • (depending on sneakiness success) front door

• The Payoff:
  • Upon returning the Amulet to the blacksmith, he pays the party 500 gp. Each member also receives 100 ap. BUT... Without it, magic will be more difficult in Summershore (no WIZ cost reduction for wizards, +1 WIZ cost per level for rogues), and the cult will gain extra proficiency in casting spells (-1 WIZ cost per level) TODO fix this, implement MR-based magic attack bonus -- this simply won't apply to most non-statted monsters. When worn by a character, it will double their current WIZ score.
• Obstacles: Easiest: To gain entry into the temple undetected, and gain possession of the amulet. Option 1: Sewers as entrance The most challenging part of this will be figuring out how a fire demon and a centaur can participate in being all sneaky.
• Antagonist: The fake antagonist is the Temple priesthood, from whom the party steals the item. But the true antagonist proves to be the blacksmith himself, who is actually an agent of the cult seeking to rule the land.
• Further Developments: {{{1

The party wishes to trail Otto in order to discover his connections and motives. Otto will enter the sewers via an alleyway entrance in the marketplace, and the party then spends time searching for him there. But because he knows the route and they don't, they quickly lose track of him.

The party will find Otto, or at least what remains of him, in the Lair of the White Worm. Players who inspect Otto's body (L1SR vs. INT) that he was not killed by the worm, but rather by a knife wound to the heart. A search reveals a triangular copper pendant under his shirt engraved with various runes in an arcane and completely incomprehensible script. One in the center, larger than the others, is a word you can read: Shazora."

Possible things party may do:

• Tavern rumors:
  • Troldan, dwarven rogue: "Hmph! Shazora, indeed! What kind of game are you playing at?" Tells party that 'Shazora' is a fairy tale, a boogeyman, who commanded the unburied dead to kidnap stray children.
  • Ship, Captain, Crew for 2 gp a round
• Temple:
  • Priests recognize pendant runes: The priest is visibly shaken. "Where did you find this, my children?" This is the emblem of a very old, very evil society. They call themselves the Order of Endless Night. Their goal is to undo all the good that our Lady Yendor has accomplished, to embody the opposite of all that she is. Everyone knows the legends, but to see a physical artifact such as this... here, in Summershore, the center of Her worship, of all places! This is most troubling, indeed. Shazora: A witch or ogress who was supposed to have led the OEN. The remaining details escape me at the moment. The Library may have more on the subject, though.
  • Library: With the aid of the librarians, the party easily finds a book dealing with Shazora and the OEN. Shazora was once a beautiful maiden from the village of Galfindor... loved a knight... prayed to Yendor for his affections... was seduced, then abandoned by the knight... in her rage, she desecrated the local temple... was cursed by the priest... suffered a miscarriage... lost her mind... became obsessed with looking after her dead infant... eventually preying on unwary travelers, using their bodies in necromantic rituals... her body became twisted and misshapen... retreated into the nearby swamps...

• Job board: Temple is looking to hire someone to retrieve the Amulet
• Random Encounter

If the party decides to leave town and keep the Amulet, they are waylaid by a group of OEN members, defeated, and robbed of the Amulet. They are saved from death, however, by Bob the innkeeper. It turns out that Bob is quite handy with healing spells.

• Map countryside
• Map nearest towns

Party may try to find connections by asking around in the Tavern or Marketplace. After speaking with Maketsi, their prospective buyer, roll 2d6-5: Negative: Maketsti reacts with horror, refuses to buy, and threatens to report them to the authorities. Zero or Positive: Maketsi turns out to be a member of the Order of Endless Night. He readily purchases the Amulet from the party after some nominal haggling, then (unbeknownst to them) turns it over to the OEN.

• As players emerge from Sewers, they encounter

cemetery & necromancers An inspection of their bodies reveals a tattoo of the same design as the triangular pendant found on Otto in the Sewers.