CHAPTER -1: ORIGINS.

This is a series of adventures that establish the origin stories of various party members. Each section will target a
different player character and can be repurposed for other characters of similar archetypes.

-1.1: THE DEATH FACED BOY

This prelude follows Clement “Uno” Gewelle, a fledgling of the Cult of the Dead Three. It occurs in the city of
Luskan, a port city in the far North. It can be used as the origin story of any Cultist turned Adventurer.

ENCOUNTER SUMMARY
Clement, a dark prodigy of murder, has recently discovered a ritual that allows one to receive the blessings of
Bhaal. While trying to learn more about the ritual, he is shut down by the Death Heads, the paragons of Bhaal’s
sect of the Cult. They move to silence him without outright killing the prodigy by selling him into the services of
Marshall, Carter & Dark, Ltd. (MC&D, Ltd.). In this encounter, Clement learns of his excommunication, and meets
Larlay, who leverages the steps of the dark ritual in exchange for compliance. Upon completing the initial task set
before him, he is set out to join the rest of Mobile Task Force 676, the “Pallbearers”, with the promise that the
path he takes will allow him to fill rivers with blood.

EXPLORATION ENCOUNTER: LATE TO CHURCH

This encounter takes place in the morning streets of Luskan, as the PC crosses from the residential areas of the
city to the warehouse section. Their destination is the Church of Bhaal, which is just a subbasement of a derelict
warehouse. It, along with a few adjacent buildings were set for demolition, but the project managers kept turning
up with daggers in their chests, so the projects have been indefinitely postponed.

You received the summons two days ago. It has been less than a tenday since you overheard the Death
Head’s speaking of “becoming Deathstalkers” and out of curiosity, you investigated the term. They did
not take kindly to that, and after a few lashings, you were released with orders to never speak the words
you heard again. You kept your orders, and yet, the summons still came.
What would they want from you? You have never received a personal summons before, as most
instruction doled out was done in large assemblies or through secret messages, so this was strange. Did
they intend to kill you? If so, you know more than many that they are capable. The Death Heads are
geniuses in the field of killing, and instead of giving you two whole days to run, they could have had your
head rolling. Nonetheless, there was no instruction to come unarmed, so, you prepare your things. What
do you do?

Give the player a chance to decide what they will do and how they will equip themselves to go out in the day.
When they are done, narrate the following:

As you finish packing, you notice the time. There is about an hour until sunrise, and you are expected at
the church before first light. The streets won't be busy at this hour, populated only by vagrants and
vendors, but this is Luskan, and if you aren't careful, a mugging could easily become a murder, and you
don't really have the time to kill anyone before sunrise. Bhaal would not observe a death so early in the
day.

As the player makes their way across town, have them encounter up to 3 situations, and allow them to dictate
how their character responds. Have the player roll a d6 for each situation, rerolling duplicate results, or just pick
the situations yourself.

D6 ENCOUNTER

1 A small apparently orphaned girl is wandering around. Her clothes are not suited for the snow,
 and she is carrying a teddy bear that is ripped and torn open. She looks lost. If questioned, she
is looking for an animal, though each time she mentions the animal, it is of a different species.
She wastes 20 minutes of the Character's time. If confronted about this, she tries to distract
the PC, and when they turn back towards her, a wolf is seen running away.

2 A rugged man is tentatively following footprints that are barely visible in the snow. He bumps
into the Character but is so focused that he himself doesn't notice. He is a Zhentarim Bounty
Hunter, looking for his target. Talking to him reveals that his target is a Changeling, and that
he has a method of unmasking Changelings. He doesn't particularly care if he gets the exact
Changeling he needs, he just needs a Changeling to turn in.

3 Coming from the direction of the docks, a monstrous horse-beast with legs as thick as tree
trunks and gnarled teeth and horns lumbers through the town. It is ridden by a gnome overly
dressed in furs. If approached, the gnome will demand to be escorted somewhere. This takes
up 40 minutes of the Character's time.

4 A poster is stabbed into a light post. It details that a nobleman of some renown, though not
much, will marry his daughter to a suitor that brings him an enchanted golden apple. If the PC
takes the poster, they are cursed with a desire to attain a golden apple.

5 You see a Shadow. It is standing at the end of the block, and though it has no features, it
appears to be staring at you.

6 In a vendor stall, you notice something strange in the vendor's eggs. One is a cockatrice egg.

After the PC has encountered 3 situations, they arrive at the church, which is just an abandoned warehouse with
boarded up windows and a broken down door.

Welcoming you at the door are two Night Blades, who wave you in. You can see under their cloaks, their
signature daggers, and machetes. It would alarm you more if they weren't equipped. You are lead
through the Church, and underneath a floorboard is a subterranean entrance. Going through, and taking
too many turns to count, you are led to a location you have never been before. The jagged and cold
cave walls that were poorly illuminated by candles errantly staked into them give way to smooth cut
hewn stone. The chamber you enter now has four support pillars, each with fire-lit scones attached, and
5 cloaked figures, 4 of which are sitting on a raised platform, draped in silhoette by candles that burn
behind them. The fifth figure is standing in the center of the room, facing away from you, towards the 4
seated figures. It is hard to look at, as each time you scan over the figures in the room, when you get to
the one in the center, your eyes instinctively pass over it. After two or three attempts, your eyes finally
notice the most important detail: At the feet of the standing figure are three corpses.
You jump back and reach for your dagger all in the same motion. Before you can even hit the
ground, two hands push into your back from underneath your shoulder blades and give you a hefty
shove - one powerful enough to send you flying towards the center of the room. Before you can land,
your mind goes into overdrive, thinking of the best route to escape this death trap.
As soon as your feet can touch the ground, you'll throw your dagger. Regardless of if it meets
its mark, you’re going to dash behind one of the pillars. Of everyone in the room, one of the Night Blades
at the entrance is your best bet of survival. You can take the one to the right, he had a slight limp you
can exploit.
You set the trigger for your actions to be the moment your foot can touch the ground, and as
soon as it does- none of that happens.
You pull on your dagger, and turn to prepare to face the standing figure, and as you do, a blade
swings down, cutting through your neck like butter. Your blood sprays, and everything goes instantly
cold. The weight of your body impacts your knees as they hit the floor, and you finish the first breath
you've taken since you entered the chamber.
"Calm yourself, boy." A voice commands, and you snap to your senses. You check your neck
and find no wound. No blood. You're alive. You're whole. You're kneeling in the blood of one of the three
 corpses, and you look up to the four seated silhouettes, not even bothering to try to look to the figure to
your left. "They died not because we ordered their deaths, but because they were weak of will. Is your
will weak?"

"Exactly. The dagger in your hands tells me as much." You can suddenly feel that your grip on the
dagger was extremely tight, and if you could see your knuckles right now, they'd be white with tension.
"You were called here today not to die, but because we see a certain talent in you. We saw this same
talent in the three that lay at your feet, but we were wrong about them, apparently. After they heard
what we asked of them, they forfeited their lives. Will you do the same?"

"As of this moment, you are ex-communicated from the church. Its members, and all its resources are
unavailable to you, and it will not recognize you for your service. As a last act of separation, you are
being placed into the service of a different organization. One that can better make use of your talents
than we. Your handler will be the man standing next to you, and he will take the explanation from here."
"Hello, Clement. Or would you rather I call you by your alias? I'd rather we not involve lies in our
new relationship." You look up to the man, and a rush of memories overtake you. He was there when
you were born. He was there when your mother was taken. He was there when your captors were slain -
he slew them. He was there, in town today? His name…You know it. It's on the tip of your tongue…Lar…

After the PC and Larlay have an exchange, he moves on.

Larlay holds his hand out over the corpse of one of the cultists around you. With a twitch, a small object
perforates the abdomen and shoots up to his hands. It was a blood-soaked marble, made of a color
unknown to you. The blood is seemingly absorbed into the shape, and he extends his hand to you.
"Clement, if your loyalty to your god is true, take this. If your loyalty to the mission of this…
church, is true, take this. If your loyalty to me," and then the man kneels so that he is at your level. "If
your loyalty to a man you've known your entire life is true, take this. A caution, though. If any lie is in
your heart, if you would ever betray your god, this church, and me…you will die. Like them." He doesn't
gesture to the bodies at all, but you know what he means. He waits for you.

As you reach to accept, he moves past your hand and is at your chest. You feel the marble enter, but
there was no puncture. No wound. Like the sword. There was no sword. Your body feels heavy, and then
it settles. You notice the red of his outfit intensifies slowly before it begins to bleed into the scenery
around you both. Then you are cold again, and its bright, and the wind- you both are outside. In the
middle of the city of Luskan. The man stands up and pulls you along with him through sheer gravitas.
"So, you want to be a Deathstalker, I heard."
"I can show you the way. I can guide you to being closer to your god, than any of your former
church members. In exchange, and along the way, you will perform a service for me. My employers, your
employers, will need a very precious item delivered to a very important man, in a few weeks’ time. But
we'll talk about that after I show you how you will be paid. Excuse me!" He suddenly calls out, while
removing the head dress he was wearing. One person sees him, and you see the flames of recognition
blaze over them as they approach. You've never seen anyone in Luskan with their guard down like this
before. The man walks up as though he's about to give Larlay a hug, and with an almost imperceptivity
fast motion, you see Larlay pass a blade across the man's neck. The stranger looks down in awe and
watches their top change color as it adopts the blood streaming down into it. The stranger wobbles as he
loses his balance, and Larlay steps in to catch him, to embrace him. You hear him whisper something
into the man's ear, as he gently lays him onto the cold cobblestone. When he pulls away, you see
something that wasn't there before: An ornate dagger protrudes from the man's chest, and is twisted in,
creating a knot in his top. Larlay dons his head dress and walks past you, pulling you along, before a
crowd flocks in around the body.
"That is how you properly offer a soul to the god of murder. Before he can begin to accept your
offerings though, you must complete a minor ritual, that will open you to a larger one." You both walk
briskly through the city as he talks, and the direction you're headed is towards the southern edge of
town. "You must perform 16 murders, 16 different ways, on 16 different creatures, all of which who can
experience and express fear. The only tool you are allowed to use to deal death with for the duration of
the minor ritual is a dagger, and you must never clean it during this time. Once you have completed this
minor ritual, you will feel death with you, as you devote yourself to it, it will imbue itself into you. Serve
 it clerically, serve it clinically, and serve it stealthily. Today, we will get you started, and then, at least
once every tenday, you must continue."
You arrive at the edge of town, and he stops walking. "Stay outside of town for the next three
days. I will set up the city so that at night, when you enter, He will be watching you. Each night, 3 past
midnight, enter the city. I want you to try to find someone and follow the path I showed you. Take the
first of 16 lives. Allow me to caution you though, Clement. You can change what you look like, but you
cannot change who you are. You must impress him. You must be unseen by all but He and I. Consider
your night a failure if you are detected and leave. Try again the next night. Do you understand?"
"This is both a rite of passage, and a test to see if you will be able to step up to a calling. I will
be watching, but you will never find me. I will find you when it's done." And then, he's just not there
anymore.
Now, you apparently have three nights to complete a totally random act of brutal, and very
public murder. Unlike what you're used to, your ability to be more than just yourself cannot help you
here, and you don't have the advantage of stalking a target throughout the day either. You must wait
with nothing, and then approach with nothing, acting entirely on instincts. As you sit outside the
imaginary boundary of Luskan, the sun sets, and it's harsh yet low light begins to end over the
mountains north. What do you want to do?

EXPLORATION ENCOUNTER: BREACH THE WALLS

Each night that the PC enters the city, he must do so, strategically. Luskan is walled off to the South and divided
by the River Mirar almost directly through its center. There are encampments that border the walls, and they are
filled with working silver, which can disorient shapechangers who get within 100 feet of them.

While within 100 feet of the encampments, shapechangers cannot properly "mask" and are under the effects of
the Poisoned Condition.

The PC must find a way to enter the South Gates without being detected. There are three ways that they can go
about this.

1. Scale the Wall

2. Hitch a Ride
3. Walk the Bank

SCALE THE WALL

The PC can scale the wall. The most challenging option can be made easier by whatever tools the PC brought
with them when they left the room at the start of this scenario. The DC for this challenge starts at 15 and is
reduced by 1 for each of the following: daggers, rope, pitons. The wall is 75 feet tall, and is covered in rotted
corpses, which are fastened to the wall but not secured. The PC can scale the wall as difficult terrain making
either Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) checks. Each successful check allows the PC to advance. Each
failure also allows the PC to advance, but it triggers the attention of surrounding people, which triggers a
Dexterity (Stealth) check. Each failed check triggers another, while a successful one allows the challenge to
continue. This challenge is over when the PC either fails three Stealth Checks, or successfully scales the wall on
both sides.
While scaling up the wall is an arduous task, once the PC gets up there, a potential obstacle awaits. Have
the PC roll a stealth check. If the result is 8 or lower, a guard spots them and confronts them. This causes the PC
to fail for the night, but they can choose to continue how they like. If the result is 9 or higher, they manage to slip
over the crossing and over the other side of the wall unseen.

HITCH A RIDE
A shipment of freshly worked silver is being transported from one of the encampments through the Twin Fangs
and into the city. It is headed to the Northern Bank, and its total round trip time is estimated to be (DC 13 Insight)
3 hours. The PC that chooses to go this route must board the transport without being detected, using a total of 3
successes on various checks before receiving 3 failures. These checks are made at Disadvantage due to the
Silver. The PC that succeeds this challenge can ride the transport as it travels, departing when they like.
 After successfully infiltrating the gates via the silver transport, the PC can disembark from it at any time.
Depending on how and where they do it, they may have to complete a stealth check to make sure they are
unseen.

WALK THE BANK

Walk to one of the banks and swim into the city. The easiest, but most time-consuming option. This challenge
requires no checks, but the PC will only have about 1 hour before sunrise by the time they enter the city. This
route has no chance of failure during infiltration, but once on the inside, they will have little to no time to find a
target.

EXPLORATION ENCOUNTER: EXECUTE THE TARGET

There are 5 possible targets for the PC to acquire, each coming with various incentives and consequences for
taking them out.
 Ea Grief
 Beast Peak
 Naivara Withrethin
 Mormo Abstract
 Ekk Astley
After the player gets into the city, have them determine which side of the city they are on, give them a rough
description of where they are and let them describe what they are doing and how they are getting around. Once
they are done, introduce one of the eligible encounters to them.

COMBAT ENCOUNTER: THE SAPPHIRE OF HIS EYE I

The first target is Ea Grief, a 19-year-old Tiefling prostitute. She wears a cropped shirt and a short and loose skirt
underneath a black coat that is at least 3 sizes too large for her and meant for a man. Her clothes are a bit ratty.
Her dark red hair is braided into rings and her singular horn juts out the left side of her face, following the crest of
her cheek bones. Her smile is extraordinarily sincere when it shows up, but it is not often. Her blue skin seems to
attract the moonlight, and when she meets with potential clients, she is observable eccentric and domineering,
driving the conversations before abruptly coming to her point. She has a marking along the right side of her face
that looks like a very strange tattoo. She has a Russian accent.
History. She is a slave, magically bound by the tattoo on her face. She committed a crime in the past that got
her caught up in this life, and now she tries to buy her freedom with her body, or, if things go south, the bodies of
her clients. She has a regular client who is in love with her that is trying to buy her slave contract from her
handler, and he's just informed her that he can free her within the week. Happy to hear, but never the type to
depend on others, she is excitedly working tonight, which has slightly lowered her guard.

C OMBAT
If selected as a target, Ea is just finishing up with a client behind an inn, in which he quickly heads back inside
after paying her. She finishes cleaning herself up, and if the player fails against her Passive Perception, she
simply calls them out.
“Don’t be shy. If its your first time, I don’t bite. Come sweetie, I’ll take care of you.”
When attacked, she quickly pulls out a dagger to protect herself. She fights with intent to kill but will attempt to
flee when she gets below half health. Her statistics are as follows:
EA GRIEF
Medium humanoid (Tiefling), neutral

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 13 (3d8)
Speed 30 ft.

STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 10 (+0) INT 12 (+1) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 12 (+1)

Skills Deception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand

Senses passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Infernal
Challenge ¼
Prof. Bonus +2

ACTIONS
Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5(1d6+2)
piercing damage.

CONCLUSION
She has about 120 sp and a Sapphire worth 20 gp as a jewel on an anklet. When she is discovered, the man that
loved her will be the one to find her body and will take a few weeks investigating before discerning the identity of
her killer. He will become a requiring antagonist for the PC as he attempts to avenge “his sapphire”.

The Sapphire of His Eye II

COMBAT ENCOUNTER: PRIMAL POLITICIAN

The second potential target is Beast Peak, a male Tabaxi diplomat. He wears a pastel clothing of aristocratic
fashion, with a country or kingdom's emblem embroidered on to it, though the emblem is not easily identified. He
has a moderate pudge and is not very fit. He wears round tiny glasses that are practically rammed into his tiger-
like face. He is exiting an office meeting with a few companions, all of which are at least tipsy and
uncharacteristically jovial for Luskan natives. He walks each of them to their domiciles, as he strikes the most
threatening figure if only in silhouette, and constantly boasts and reassures his companions of his own safety.
History. A diplomat, Beast Peak trained at both a bardic collage and a monk monastery years ago, though he
has gotten lax in his travels. His nation is an obscure beast nation, and he is of offshoot nobility negotiating a
trade route in Luskan with the Captains and other guild leaders. Though not from the Sword Coast at all, he
frequently finds himself in the company of a Coven of Witches that he has allied with his nation’s interest.

C OMBAT
If selected as a target, Beast Peak -