As the adventurers enter town, read or paraphrase the following.

You pass run-down farmhouses and enter the rustic town square. The otherwise drab village is dotted with bright spots of color, which on closer inspection, are huge bouquets of vibrantly colored flowers packed along every windowsill. Fliers are posted every few feet bearing a winking gnomish face and the message, “Two-Lips’ Flowers, The Perfect Gift for Your Sweetheart!”

To the East, a building marked as the “Polished Plate” is a din of activity and sound. A building across the square is labeled the “Glossy Bedpost” by a large carved sign that also advertises nightly rates. Hastily scrawled beside the nightly rates, in a fresh coat of paint, is an added message that states, “Hourly – 2 coppers.”

The Polished Plate

You open the door and find a simple, rustic tavern that is filled almost to capacity. A lone barmaid hustles around serving drinks and food to her many patrons.

The people inside snuggle each other closely, lit by low-burning candles as a bard in the corner croons out ballads about mythic romances. A stand by the bar is filled with fresh-cut flowers and a friendly, winking gnome. The barmaid notices new customers and ushers you inside towards the bar.

Emilia Fulton is present, and begins speaking with the adventurers. Read or paraphrase the following if any of the PCs have attract Markus Dunwit's’ ire by returning Emilia's advances (see The People of Lanidor).

Markus Dunwit stands abruptly, his bar stool scraping noisily across the floor before falling to the ground. With the tavern brought to immediate silence and with every eye resting on him, Markus raises a call to the locals, “Men! These strangers think they can come in here and steal our women with their charms? Let’s teach them a lesson!”

Markus pulls a heavy mason’s hammer from his belt and charges at the party. Four townsmen jump to their feet to join him.

Markus Dunwit is a thug and his four friends are guards who abandoned their posts once the potion took hold. No one in the bar seems upset that their significant others are totally enamored of other people unless their current lover is disturbed. If confronted about this fact, a NPC will nonchalantly dismiss it with a statement akin to, “The heart wants what the heart wants,” or, “I’m just glad that everyone has been able to find true love.”

Through conversation it can be discovered that the new romances all began a few months ago. Hostility, either overt or through Intimidation, is met poorly. “Whoa there, that’s not a very loving attitude, is it? We’re all here to have a good time… Can I buy you a flower?”

If asked about Two-lips, Francine will openly provide:

• “He’s just a simple farmer like everyone else.”
• He lives up north along the River Trom—it’s a colorful place, can’t miss it!
• “He brought his whole family to grow flowers with him, bless his soul. And ain’t it lucky? People started buying his flowers left and right after he showed up!”

Because the brewery in town draws from the Trom, consuming a drink from the Polished Plate should count as a minor exposure as described in the Odds and Ends section.

The Glossy Bedpost

A heavy oak door swings open, revealing an interior as plainly decorated as the exterior. A simple desk sits across from the door, manned by an old, gloomy-looking dwarf.

Not looking up from shuffling a stack of receipts around, he greets you emotionlessly, “Welcome to the Glossy Bedpost, finest inn in Lanidor. How many hours do you need?”

If the adventurers request rooms:

“Ah well… you see, most rooms are, er, “occupied” at the moment… But 7 and 9 should  be, um, opening up…” he pauses to consult a stack of papers, “within the, er, hour. Shouldn’t be takin’ more than a few minutes to get the rooms tidied up and with fresh linens…”

Graben Turnbull is a private and tight-lipped sort of dwarf and is not quick to provide the PCs with information. Business has been very good recently, so he only relents under pressure.

If asked about Two-lips specifically, Graben complains about the fact that, “his face is all over the dern’d place!” He also figures that Two-lips could be making a pretty coin or two off of the amorous attitude in town.

Graben is reluctant to give more information on Two-lips, but will guide the party to him if forced by a successful DC 18 Charisma (Intimidation) check. If the intimidation fails, or the party attempts to persuade him, he requests a deed be done to “help me out some, ya see?” To provide more information, he requests that the party clear out room number 3, which should have been emptied 23 minutes ago.

You walk a short distance down the plain hallway and find a standard wooden door with a brass “3” nailed on its face. From inside you hear two voices making very content noises.

If the PCs knock, a muffled ruckus occurs inside and a voice meekly calls out, “Uh… what is it?”

Whoever is inside refuses to open the door and insists that they paid for 2 hours and they still have time left. This is a lie; Graben provides a receipt confirming that they only paid for an hour.

The players can force the tenants out through roleplaying or a DC 16 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check. On a failure, the occupants ignore the PCs unless force is used.

Should they fail, Graben will authorize forcefully evicting them. Brandishing weapons or knocking down the door grants advantage on their next Charisma check against the occupants.

The door is sturdy and locked tight. A DC 15 Strength check is required to knock it down, or a DC 15 Dexterity check to pick the lock. Graben will request that the PCs pay 10 gp to replace the door, should they knock it down.

Inside the room are two [priest|priests]], one of a good god and one of an evil god, who avoid the characters’ gaze and quickly vacate the inn, their forbidden romance revealed. If the PCs evict the priests, Graben reveals everything he knows about Two-lips, if he has not done so already, and offers to guide the party to the gnome’s farm.

<= The Business of Emotion | Two-Lips' Farm =>

As the adventure begins, read or paraphrase the following.

As you crest a small hill, the plains before you dip into a long, shallow valley. Two rivers slip down into this valley and converge on their way to the sea. Nestled between the rivers sits the sleepy village of Lanidor. Green and amber squares checker the valley, signaling the presence of the many farmsteads that supply the region’s agricultural trade. One in particular, far to the north and blurred by the haze of distance, shines in strips of vibrant color. As you descend into the valley, you find many of the farms in ill-repair, with rotting crops and wandering livestock.

The Heartbroken

The adventurers come across an encampment as they approach town. 

You walk along a wagon-rutted dirt path down the gentle slope into the valley. Between the path and the nearest field of grain rests a wagon and a handful of ragged tents. From behind the tents, you hear a frenzied shouting.

The encampment belongs to a small band of traveling merchants who recently returned home to find their spouses in the arms of new lovers. Enraged by the turn of events and scared by the Lanidor’s current state, they have set up outside of town as they plan their next move.

The men have recently butchered a sheep and the bleating of the animal and smell of blood has attracted four wolves . Following closely behind the wolves are two swarms of ravens who expect an easy meal of whatever leftovers the wolves leave. The ravens will arrive in the second full round of combat.

As the party approaches, the wolves are slowly circling the merchants.

A group of five men shout and wave their arms about, trying to scare off a pack of four snarling wolves. The men stand around the recently butchered remains of a sheep as the wolves circle them menacingly. As if on cue, the wolves begin to tighten their orbits, approaching the terrified men.

After the battle, the thankful merchants will invite the party to join them. They will openly discuss most things about the village but get dismissive when discussing current state of Lanidor, only warning the party to stay away. A successful DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) check prompts the merchant to reveal one of the rumors from the

There is a 50% chance one of the men in the group will fall madly in love with the character with the highest Charisma score, much to his fellows’ dismay. You can either play this for humour or more seriously, depending on the style and mood of your players.

<= The Business of Emotion | Lanidor =>

This is a short adventure by Paul Oklesh for 3-5 characters of levels 2-3. The village of Lanidor is suffering from an enchanted "summer of love". Can the PCs figure out what's going on?

• Overview
• The People of Lanidor
• Town Rumors
• Odds and Ends

• The Road Into Town
• Lanidor
• Two-lips' Farm
• The Tunnel of Love
• Resolving the Adventure

The Business of Emotion is designed to introduce new players to basic roleplaying concepts, and features opportunities for both storytelling and combat.

Lanidor has not been delivering trade goods—wheat, oats, wool, lumber—to market. This adventure takes place in the Holdenshire setting, but it could easily be used to fill in the “next village down the road” in a sandbox setting.

Narrator's Introduction

The quiet village of Lanidor is suffering from a case of the lovie-dovies. Merchants and those with other traveling professions have returned home to find everyone in town, including their own spouses, enjoying a summer of love. Within days, the travelers’ rage inexplicably passed, and they too threw caution to the wind and picked up new lovers. This debauchery has signaled a marked reduction in productivity for the city, which has failed to fulfill all of its trade contracts.

Upon investigation, the party will discover the source of this “love plague” is a gnome flower farmer. Upon the advice of a local witch , a potent love potion was brewed to drum more “emotion” to spark his otherwise lackluster sales. The pair began dripping the potion into Lanidor’s water supply a few months ago.

Meanwhile, the witch has secretly been using the magic on the local wildlife to breed cross-species monstrosities. Whether more monstrosities now roam the countryside is up to you.

How the party deals with the threat can create many further plot hooks for an ongoing campaign or serve to show new players how their actions have consequences on the world. One such plot hook could be the corpse of Hermia’s owlbear itself. Finding a buyer could be a quest of its own. A sportsman may want its pelt for his lodge, or its organs might be sought-after magical reagents.

Lanidor

Lanidor, a village a couple of days to the west of Holdenshire, sits in a fertile valley at the confluence of two branches of the Moor-run River. Lanidor is a peaceful place full of even-keeled and conservative people. The river is the primary water source for the village.

Plain in style and proud of their dependability, the people of Lanidor maintain trade contracts with many other towns within the region, exchanging their abundant agricultural production for military protection.

Background

A few years ago, a gnome named Two-lips Thistlestrip and a small group of his kin arrived in Lanidor. They established a farm north of town, along the River Trom, and began to grow exotic flowers. At first, the people of Lanidor were intrigued by the new crop, but they quickly lost interest; their plain tastes valued function over form.

Two-lips became increasingly desperate as his sales plunged. Barely able to keep his business afloat, he was approached in the field one day by Hermia, a witch who promised to help him save his foundering farm. She offered to brew an extremely potent love potion, suggesting that Two-lips might see an increase in sales if he could influence the emotions of the village.

Together they devised a plan to slowly drip the potion into the River Trom, at its source in a cave far to the north. For her part, Hermia requested no compensation from Two-lips. She used the potion’s powerful magic to corrupt the local beasts of the forest, creating cross-species monstrosities like the owlbear that guards her lair at the river’s source.

Their plan worked. Love filled the air in Lanidor and flowers sold like never before. Weeks later, though, the village devolved into debauchery. Realizing his mistake, Two-lips searched far and wide for Hermia, but to no avail. He ventured towards the mouth of the River Trom, but Hermia’s intoxicating magic had caused the animals near Lanidor to grow savage and restless. Unable to do anything on his own, Two-lips decided to ride the wave of profits and hope that no one caught on.

<= The Business of Emotion | The Road Into Town =>

Starting off a game with everyone forgetting who they are may not be an attractive prospect for all groups. Alternatively, the party may begin as burgeoning adventurers that seek out Annika Crestveil in search of advice or guidance, learning from her brother Tariq that she was last seen entering the catacombs under the city— but he warns not to delve under Northminster and that it is a matter for the guard.

The PCs arrive to find the dazed cultists, but spotters working for the local thieves' guild see them descending below and use the opportunity to frame them (so the adventure proceeds mostly normally).

As soon as the adventurers are topside again they hear that they're wanted for conspiracy with the cult as well as tampering with criminal evidence and several other charges that numerous (bribed and lying) witnesses corroborate. Left with few other options the party returns to the cult's hideout where they discover that everything of value has been taken away, but there are several obscure markings that were not there before (which any rogue recognizes as thieves' cant with the clear message to "leave it be").

Conveniently there's also a message of gratitude intended for the decoys that helped the thieves' guild pilfer the area, urging them to contact Belton Freedew for help (if none of the PCs know thieves' cant, this can instead be communicated with a simple paper note written in Common which disintegrates when touched). Once they've traveled to a safe place with Belton (the Weirwood in Holdenshire) and earned his trust, he promises to clear their names back in Northminster—though he never makes it back.

<= Memories of Holdenshire

Orfrain Cassar is a highwayman turned unwitting vassal of a psychic extraplanar insect called a khalkos .

Orfrain was the one responsible for obtaining "initiates" for the cult in Northminster and has come out to the Crawley Hills to start his own branch. He's heard of the original cult's fall and has since been "recruiting".

Orfrain kidnaps and delivers prisoners to the khalkos deep in the catacombs underneath the city of Northminster where it psionically enslaves them into its own private "cult", forcing them to abduct others from the settlement above and making them infamous "cultists" in the eyes of Northminster. Orfrain is a cult fanatic .

<= Memories of Holdenshire

Annika Crestveil is an adventurer based out of Northminster. Her brother is Tariq Crestveil. Annika uses the statistics of a knight .

<= Memories of Holdenshire

Having seen the true nature of the cult he has been so ardently tracking, Captain Crestveil concedes to the adventurers that he believes their previous claims of innocence regarding his sister's death. He plans to return to Northminster, calling off the search as he goes and having all wanted posters of the PCs removed. While he doesn't have it on him, he does offer each member of the party half of the reward posted for their capture—namely 50 gold—as reward for having put down Ofrain Cassar and ending the threat he posed. The adventurers are welcome to this reward on their next visit to Northminster, where the captain offers to treat them to dinner as an additional show of his appreciation.

Belton of course is ecstatic to see the party again, saying:

"I knew you were a good lot. And more than that now, aren't ya? Heroes is more like it by my thinking!"

He is also begrudgingly offered a pardon by Tariq for his part in their escape from Northminster weeks ago, albeit with the resigned air of someone who knows the halfling is going to go right back to smuggling.

Finally, any mind control victims that survive regain consciousness, bewildered and horrified by their surroundings. Much like the PCs, they've lost all memories from the past month and plead with the party for answers and advice.

What Comes Next?

The adventure intended to pick up where Memories of Holdenshire leaves off is To Slay A Dragon, which returns to Hengistbury and involves the kobolds acting on their true plan of kidnapping Ariadne Torek. There are a few different hooks that can bring the PCs back to Hengistbury, including escorting Belton (after back-to-back excitement he's decided to take a load off for a few weeks and is keen to hire someone to track down Rummynose), helping the surviving cultists regain their own memories, the bonds they've formed with the town's various NPCs, and of course the Autumn Festival, depending on how the adventurers want to spend their downtime. If there's another adventure that the party would like to pursue, consider using the memory recovery mechanic as a way to have them investigate elsewhere.

In either case, thank you for experiencing this introduction to Level Up and its mechanics! If this has piqued your interest, there's a whole line of adventures in Hengistbury (in the To Save A Kingdom adventure path) and still more to discover in Level Up!

<= Memories of Holdenshire

At the end of the trail is a sizable mound. Read or paraphrase the following.

The trail has led you to a stone barrow, crouching at the foot of a forested hill. It once had a stacked-stone walled courtyard, but most of it has crumbled or been harvested for building material and now the area is choked with stinging nettles, thistle, and other vegetation. There is however a worn wagon path leading up to the entrance, with a very familiar covered wagon parked in front.

The barrow is literally straightforward—a path with no diverging passages starts with the small antechamber and leads straight to first the minor and then the main burial chamber, now the inner sanctum of the cult (Area #4). Several sets of stairs lead downwards that divide it up into the following sections.

#1: Antechamber

Cultists aren't the only creatures who see the utility in tunnels: there is also an ankheg  from a nearby colony looking for a good spot for a new queen to lay her spawn. It's hungry from its underground journey and is laying low here waiting for a meal to walk by. The monstrous insect waits 5 feet inside and 10 feet underground, waiting to explode upwards as soon as it senses a creature directly above it.

#2: Minor Burial Chamber

There are 5 cultists  clearing out a partial collapse here (caused by the ankheg in Area #1), directed by 1 cult fanatic . These people have been so single-minded in their devotion (on account of mind control) that they haven't taken proper care of themselves—they've been in this state longer than the adventurers and are suffering from 2 levels of fatigue because of it. Anyone that makes a DC 12 Medicine or Survival check confirms this.

Adventurers can make DC 13 Insight checks to realize that these people have been mind controlled, likely in the same fashion as the party themselves were. Now is a good time for the Narrator to remind the PCs that an attacker who reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack may choose to knock their target out instead of kill them. Otherwise, the cultists and cult fanatics zealously fight to the death.

The adventurers can also make a DC 13 Nature check to deduce that this damage was indeed caused by the ankheg . On a result of 15 or more they realize that this means that an ankheg colony is soon going to be on the move.

#3: The Landing

There are no cultists here but there are clear signs of their work, poor as it is. In fact they may have even done more harm than good. Best walk carefully or the whole place might come down!

Upon seeing the damage, any adventurer who wishes to reroll the Nature check from Area #2 may do so.

#4: Inner Sanctum

Orfrain Cassar was the one responsible for obtaining "initiates" for the cult in Northminster and has come out to the Crawley Hills to start his own branch. He's heard of the original cult's fall and has since been "recruiting", with the plan to infest or mind control his captives once the khalkos he's been paracitized with is fully grown (though of course he personally will be quite dead by then). When the adventurers reach this room, read or paraphrase the following.

The main burial chamber has been converted to an inner sanctum, set up with makeshift pews and an altar that make it look like a cruder version of the complex you all woke up in not so long ago. Standing behind the altar is a dark-robed figure who turns slowly, gradually revealing the golden-wing sigil emblazoned across its front.

"Well if it isn't our little lost lambs, come back to the fold. How lovely," he says with a beatific smile. "Don't worry, our master left me a gift so that I could start my own family. Stay, let me share it with you and we'll be one again."

Distantly, from a smaller burial chamber to the figure's right, comes a clamor of voices—among them is Belton's. "Get me out of this hellhole!"—and is that Captain Crestveil yelling that this is a trap?

Orfrain will not initiate combat, but he does expect the PCs to join his cult and wait patiently to be infected. If this offer is flatly refused or if the party attacks, he flies into a rage. He's not alone here, either—5 cultists  are in the smaller burial chamber to his left and join the fray as soon as the fight begins. At the beginning of his first round of combat Orfrain perishes in spectacular fashion, allowing a khalkos spawn  to emerge from the gore (he otherwise uses the statistics of a  cult fanatic ) and take its own turn as though it had just used half its movement to stand up from being prone.

Suddenly Ofrain begins to scream, clutching his head and crying ecstatically "It's come! Finally it can come forth and spread its—" but he's cut off as his skull cracks with a sickening sound. His body falls to the floor with a lifeless thump, a humanoid wasp-like creature pulling itself out of what remains and chittering hungrily.

#5: Holding Cells

This area has been crudely converted from a set of small tombs to a set of holding cells. Five unfortunate victims ( commoners ) as well as Belton and Captain Crestveil are being held here.

#6: Sleeping Chambers

This is where the cultists have been getting sleep (what little they've been able to, anyhow.) Even Ofrain himself has been staying here amongst the same ratty bedrolls as his "followers".

Treasure

Between the grateful captives and the treasures of the cult, the PCs find a  bag of holding , a citrine statue of a khalkos (worth 50 gold), a gold necklace with the cult's wing symbol (worth 75 gold), and 100 gold coins.

<= Memories of Holdenshire | The Truth Will Set You Free =>

Unfortunately the blows don't stop coming for the party. Brand Torek comes back the day after the kobold raid with news about Belton's wagon: it's been found with a broken axle alongside the road to Blackford, and there's no sign of the halfling having left on foot. Brand hasn't seen it himself, but he's heard from a fellow ranger about its discovery, recognized the wagon from the description, and wanted to pass the news to Myco and the PCs, as they clearly knew him best. Myco offers the adventurers a reward of 100 gold to investigate if they don't decide to on their own.

The party should be well-used to the demands of travel by now and can purchase supplies, mounts, and the like in town. Since the kobold raids however, the people of Hengeistbury consider them heroes and will give them a discount of 15% for the occasion.

At the Wagon

Read the following when the adventurers come upon their halfling companion's wagon.

Finally you've reached it: Belton's wagon. Deep gouges in the ground show that it's been run off the road, and the front axle is in splinters. Rummynose is long gone, as are whatever supplies Belton had stashed away. A halfling-sized knife is embedded in the driver's seat, pinning a fluttering piece of gray-purple cloth with it. Wait, is that...?

All the former cultists recognize the cloth with certainty as matching that of the cloaked figure who bundled them into the covered wagon and away to mind-controlled servitude. What isn't as clear is why he's taken Belton and, most importantly, where. Any PC who hasn't recovered their memory of having been abducted does so now (though they gain no mechanical bonus from it).

Anyone that makes a DC 13 Engineering check realizes that there's no indication that Rummynose broke loose on her own. As mentioned by Brand, there's also no sign of halfling footprints anywhere about. However, a DC 10 Perception or Survival check spots the tracks of a second wagon making its way off of the road and towards the Crawley Hills. This check also reveals that Rummynose must have bolted, as her tracks run along the road as opposed to following the wagon.

<= Memories of Holdenshire | Into the Barrowdeep =>