The Situation
At the Old Tollhouse outside Stahlburg, Konrad Falkenrath, brother of the executed scholar Elias, intends to murder Provost Emeric Seld, a surviving official of the secret Order of the Sacred Vigil. The characters have tracked Konrad here to prevent another killing and secure evidence. Unknown to both sides, the Order has sent armed enforcers to erase the scandal, including the investigators. This is the adventure’s climactic encounter. The immediate danger is the intended murder of Seld and the Order’s effort to silence witnesses.
1. What Everyone Wants
| Faction | Goal | What they will not easily accept |
|---|---|---|
| Konrad Falkenrath | Kill Seld, avenge Elias, expose the Order, and escape. | Being surrendered to the Order or losing all evidence of Elias’s fate. |
| Provost Emeric Seld | Survive and flee with his correspondence. | Publicly admitting his role in Elias’s execution. |
| Marshal Ysabet Vorn and Vigil enforcers | Kill or capture Konrad, silence investigators, seize or destroy records. | Witnesses leaving with evidence that exposes the Order. |
| The player characters | Prevent murder, survive the attack, decide who faces justice, preserve proof. | No single prescribed answer; the players choose their priorities. |
2. The Tollhouse Layout
Use a compact site with four linked spaces: A. Yard and carriage (road approach, stable, low stone wall); B. Common room (tables, hearth, front and rear doors); C. Upper chamber (Seld’s locked trunk, correspondence, narrow balcony); D. Back passage and orchard (Konrad’s likely approach and a possible escape route). A rider can reach the main road from the yard. The upstairs papers are vulnerable to fire or seizure, but other evidence exists elsewhere.
3. Opening the Encounter
Read aloud: Through a shutter you see a man hastily packing papers into a leather case. Another figure moves beside the rear wall, keeping to the shadows. A blade catches the moonlight for an instant. Then the figure raises his head and calls toward the upstairs window: “Emeric Seld. You remember Elias. Come down and answer for him.”
Konrad has positioned himself to kill Seld, but the players arrive in time to interrupt. They may confront him, warn Seld, enter through the common room, or establish their own positions. If approached, Konrad says Kessler gave him Seld’s name under torture. He admits responsibility for the poisoned wells if presented with the evidence, but argues the Order left him no lawful path. He is wrong about the innocent victims being acceptable casualties; let the players challenge him.
Seld may deny knowing Elias until shown the detention order. If cornered, he can acknowledge participating in the suppression while claiming he never ordered the execution. His statements are self-serving; let the evidence determine how much is true.
4. The Order Springs Its Ambush
Once the confrontation has developed—or when the players choose to move decisively—Marshal Ysabet Vorn arrives with trained Vigil agents from the road and orchard. Alert characters notice approaching horses, a signal whistle, or shadows at the windows before the assault begins. Vorn demands the papers and the surrender of Konrad. Her real mission is to prevent surviving witnesses from revealing the Order’s actions. If Seld might testify, she may order him killed as well.
Read aloud: Hooves scrape to a halt beyond the gate. Armed figures step through the mist, one already moving toward the rear door. A woman wearing a plain dark cloak calls, “By order of the Sacred Vigil, stand aside. The prisoner and his papers are ours.” Her gaze moves across all of you. “No one leaves until this matter is settled.”
5. Running a Three-Sided Fight
Default opposing force: Marshal Vorn, two disciplined enforcers, and one agent whose priority is the evidence. Adjust numbers and capabilities to party level and rules. Konrad is capable of fighting or fleeing; Seld is primarily trying to survive. Do not force an alliance or predetermine who dies.
| Beat | What changes | Player opportunities |
|---|---|---|
| Initial standoff | Konrad threatens Seld; the party can intervene before blood is shed. | Persuade, disarm, restrain, protect Seld, or expose the evidence. |
| Vigil arrival | Vorn blocks the road while agents move toward the back and upstairs papers. | Warn everyone, change alliances, use cover, secure escape routes. |
| Evidence under threat | An enforcer heads for Seld’s case or tries to burn correspondence. | Intercept, retrieve the case, evacuate a witness, or preserve copies. |
| Breaking point | Konrad may strike at Seld or turn to fight the Order; Seld may flee. | Choose arrest, rescue, pursuit, temporary alliance, or negotiated surrender. |
- Konrad may cooperate: If the party credibly promises to protect him from extrajudicial killing, he may help resist Vorn. He still faces accountability for the poisonings.
- Seld may testify: If protected and confronted with records, he can become a reluctant witness against the Order. He is not automatically innocent.
- Vorn can retreat: A defeated strike team need not fight to the last person; surviving members may flee with or without documents.
- Evidence is redundant: Archive copies, apothecary records, witnesses, and correspondence mean a single burned case cannot erase the truth.
6. Prelate Rott’s Place in the Finale
Prelate Anselm Rott is honorable, altruistic, and outside the Order. He commissioned the investigation to save lives. If the characters warned him, he can send trustworthy guards toward the tollhouse or arrange secure custody afterward. Their arrival depends on the party’s preparations and distance, not an automatic rescue. When he learns of the Order’s crime and its attack on the party, he supports a genuine inquiry and protection of witnesses.
7. Outcomes
| Outcome | Immediate consequence | What follows |
|---|---|---|
| Konrad captured alive | The murders and poisonings can be prosecuted; he can testify about Kessler and the Order. | Rott must protect him from Vigil retaliation while still pursuing justice for victims. |
| Konrad killed | The immediate revenge threat ends. | The documents and surviving witnesses can still expose the Order. |
| Konrad escapes | He remains a fugitive and potential future threat. | The party can still save Seld and secure the conspiracy evidence. |
| Seld survives | He may be arrested, questioned, or compelled to testify. | His fate and guilt can be addressed in a lawful proceeding. |
| Seld dies | The party may lose a living witness. | The Order’s records and other testimony still support the investigation. |
| Vorn defeated or driven away | The immediate silencing attempt fails. | Surviving Vigil leaders remain an optional later campaign thread. |
8. Resolution of the Dancing Plague
With Konrad’s poisoning network exposed and interrupted, the contaminated wells closed, and no further cover operation underway, new outbreaks decline. Those already afflicted still need care, and families mourn the dead. Prelate Rott honors the original commission: 25% paid in advance, 25% upon establishing the cause, and 50% once the crisis is ended with evidence.
Rott begins a lawful investigation into the Order’s crimes. The players may argue that Elias’s murder must be made public even while Konrad answers for the civilians killed by his revenge. Both injustices matter. The wider faith is not uniformly corrupt; the Sacred Vigil is a clandestine faction within it.
9. Epilogue
Read aloud: The roads into Stahlburg grow quiet again. No new crowds gather to dance beside the wells. Yet in the houses of the dead, there is little celebration. The evidence you carried back has named the man behind the poison—and opened a far older wound within the faith. What happens next will depend, in part, on what you choose to tell the world.
The Ashen Rector and the necromancer’s separate laboratory subplot remain optional future adventures, not hidden causes of the Dancing Plague. The campaign can end here even if some members of the Sacred Vigil remain at large.