The Price of Beauty (Patron)

“If rest, relaxation, or transformation is what you need, then follow the lilies, dearest one. I am sure Sylvarie will see to your needs.”

An acolyte of Candlekeep has gone missing, and the only clue to their location is a day spa for the rich and elite of Faerun. In Sune, God of beauty, you can get a massage, beauty treatments, and have any flaw fixed. Is this just the case of an acolyte tired of the scholarly life, or does something sinister exist underneath a beautiful surface?

This adventure is a really fun one, but there are a few issues that you might want to be aware of.

The biggest issue is the players. The adventure primes them to be suspicious and any player with experience will begin to suspect hags when they see three beautiful elven women offering wondrous items.

Two potential options for this one are to either run it as a vacation session with no mention of a missing acolyte, or to be ready to answer questions.

A vacation is a pretty easy one, and a great way to insert into a campaign. Let your players hear about the spa, then go and enjoy the activities for awhile. Eventually have the players hear about the special treatments from a guest who will direct them to talk to Lady Greensong. At that point have Lady Greensong offer to let them donate an unreasonable sum of gold to have a treatment or, given their obvious combat skill, perform a service for the temple by ridding the pool of pests that have infested it.  

At some point after the treatment is performed, have Glitter let them know the truth while begging them for help. Ideally, at least one player will act suspicious enough for Glitter to choose to try to break into that room. From there it is just a matter of whatever your players will do to break the curse before it comes back on them times 3. 

If run as a missing person, then there are a few responses to have ready.

The official cover story for Falthrax, which the hags and Saeth will fall back on if pressed, is that the acolyte grew bored of the life of a scholar and decided that he would leave to travel the world as an adventurer and hedonist. It was spur of the moment, and he didn't return to Candlekeep because he didn't want to risk being convinced to stay.

Saeth, the cambion and front desk person, should state it is against policy to provide the names of guests who are at or have visited the spa. This is due to the high class clientele who visit the spa for treatments. That said, they are open to being bribed to reveal the acolyte was there. He can also be tricked if players can lie to him that they were told about this place and how wonderful it was from their friend Falthrax.

The pool is the only feature not available right now. It has been shut down for cleaning and repairs.

The acolyte's folio (receipt) will show that he had a massage, wax, went to the exercise class every day, and had a VIP treatment performed by Lady Greensong. If asked about it, have Saeth explain every treatment is unique to the individual and they would need to talk to Greensong about having their own done.

Greensong will discuss the treatments as a wonderous form of magic gifted to her by Sune to help create beauty. She requires a donation of 10k gp to be given for a treatment, the equivalent in magical items, or a great service to be performed. If the players are rude or seem overly suspicious, then she will send them to kill the monster in the abandoned temple. Otherwise she will request the kill the monster in the pool if she thinks the characters are easily manipulated.

During the battle you might drop hints that these beings are actually good. Sylvaire is likely to directly call the sisters hags, but will be fighting to kill those she thinks are agents of the hags. The Naiad is less talkative but a purer spirit. She will harm the players if forced to defend herself, but she will take any means possible not to kill them. She will make use of hypnotic pattern and phantasmal force to try to force the players to run away while taking advantage of her invisiblity and acidic water.

Glitter is your wildcard. They will provide any information that the party doesn't figure out on their own. That could be slipping Falthrax's folio under their door at night or even directly begging them for help. 

Lastly, if your players do get cursed, consider not setting off the curse if they got their main combat ability increased. A sudden drop from +2 to -4 could easily make them useless throughout the final fight. It won't be fun for them.

I hope your players enjoy!