Oneshot - Shadows Beneath the Vine

A Companion Piece to “Death at the Council” – Rise of Tiamat

🧭 Overview

Snezze was given a warning: someone will die before the next Council of Waterdeep meets. Through Snezze Dream , the players witness a succubus manipulating a terrified man—one who serves a key figure in the council. Now, he is marked for death. The party must uncover the truth, identify the man, and stop the infernal agent before another servant is silenced.

☕ City Gossip Leads

If Snezze fails to inform the party, they can gain hints to the activity through Waterdeep’s ever-buzzing taverns and market squares:

A bard in the Yawning Portal sings of a “diplomatic knife in the dark.”
A tired Harper agent confesses over wine, “Too many staffers are dying. It’s not natural. And the Lords Pretend it’s all stress.”
Servants from Castle Waterdeep whisper that Lady Silverhand’s aide hasn’t been sleeping and keeps watching the courtyards.

A DC 15 Investigation or Charisma (Gather Information) check leads to:

Confirmation that a dwarf aide from Mithral Hall was murdered.
A Neverwinter scribe killed himself the next day—both within the same tenday.
Rumours that Serela Thorne has been operating outside her usual circles, asking pointed questions.

📜 The Vision (Recap)

A man speaks to a succubus in a hidden garden, terrified. He says:
“I will die before the next council meets. My time’s running out. Serela’s onto me… and if she finds out—we’re both dead. She’ll get us. She always does.”

The woman, wings hidden, walks away in silence.

👤 NPC Alignments

Serela Thorne – Aide to Lady Laeral Silverhand, known for her tenacity and sharp instincts. She is not acting under Silverhand’s direct orders—but she is loyal to the Open Lord. Serela has been tracking a pattern of unusual aide deaths and believes someone is trying to weaken or manipulate the council. She is willing to do anything to protect her lady and will jump to rash decisions if it might help.
Vaeril Duskmoor – The man in the vision. Liaison to Connerad Brawnanvil, King of Mithral Hall. Vaeril is currently under the thrall of Maelthra and knows that if Serela uncovers the truth, he will be compelled to murder her—and then himself. Torn between fear and guilt, he has become unstable, aware of his lack of agency and desperate to find a way out.
The Succubus (Maelthra) – Disguised as a noblewoman or foreign diplomat. Her true goal is to infiltrate and destabilise the alliance through fear and misdirection. She has already manipulated an aide from Neverwinter into killing one from Mithral Hall before taking his own life. Now she’s ensnared Vaeril Duskmoor. She will not be seen within this Interlude. There is a potential for her to come up within the next one.

🛤️ Guiding the Party to Belabranta Courtyard

From the Vision:
The vision shown to the party features certain clues that hint toward Belabranta Courtyard without naming it directly:

Visuals: The garden in the vision is covered in flowering vines with marble benches and reflecting pools, but no sky above—details that closely match the secluded design of House Belabranta’s private courtyard.
Architecture Cues: The columns in the background are distinctively Waterdhavian—but the mosaic pattern on the stone paths shows a winged horse motif, a symbol linked to House Belabranta’s ancient lineage.
Sensory Details: Players may recall the scent of lilac and ash—a known feature, as House Belabranta’s family gardens are famed for cultivating rare lilac varieties, mixed with the unique residue left by magical wards.

A DC 15 Intelligence (History) or Intelligence (Investigation) check allows a character familiar with noble houses or Waterdeep’s architecture to recognise the winged horse sigil or the lilac gardens.

Success leads them to:

“That pattern—Belabranta’s emblem is the winged horse. Their estate’s courtyard has those exact mosaics.”

If the check fails, clues can be uncovered via:

Talking to scholars or city guides (DC 12 Charisma [Investigation])
Visiting the Font of Knowledge or City Archive

From the Rumours:

Some gossiping servants in the Yawning Portal, or a few discreet inquiries, can turn up the detail:

“Some say old House Belabranta’s gardens have been… quiet lately. Unsettlingly so. No gala invitations, no open luncheons. Strange for them.”

A Harper contact can add:

“You didn’t hear this from me, but a few people high up have been cleaning up messes on Belabranta grounds. They’re saying nothing, but there’s been blood… not a hunting accident.”

Clerical or Magical Leads:
Casting Divination or Augury asking where the vision’s garden is located could result in:

“Where flowers remember and marble forgets, seek the winged steed’s blessing.”

Breadcrumb Strategy:

Players investigating Waterdeep’s gardens or secluded noble courtyards will naturally be steered by NPCs toward Belabranta as the only house with that specific combination of horticulture, architecture, and seclusion.
If they attempt Speak with Dead on any of the recently fallen aides, and ask about “where they met” or “where it happened,” they can cryptically answer:

“The garden… the vines… the wings above.”

🏛️ House Belabranta’s Involvement

House Belabranta is not directly complicit in the meetings—but they are negligent, proud, and increasingly disconnected from the day-to-day oversight of their estate.

How the Succubus Gained Access:

Old Wards: The magical wards protecting the courtyard are ancient, intended for decorum and privacy rather than security. They prevent scrying and teleportation—but they do not detect or repel enchantment magic, allowing Maelthra to manipulate others into entry.
Social Engineering: Maelthra, disguised as an important noblewoman or diplomat, charms minor retainers and junior staff of the house—none of whom wish to disturb the influential guests she impersonates. Staff look the other way or are subtly enthralled.

How the Thralls Got In:

Belabranta hosts informal gatherings and quiet diplomatic luncheons. It’s common for staff and junior aides to come and go with messages or guests.
Vaeril and previous thralls were given plausible reasons to enter: “House Belabranta is offering a quiet place for political envoys to speak privately.”
Their names were smuggled onto guest lists by charmed retainers, and none of the upper staff wanted to question the paperwork.

Why the Meetings Went Unnoticed:

Discretion: Belabranta prides itself on offering discretion—they don’t ask questions about guests’ activities.
Compulsion: Maelthra used subtle enchantments to nudge servants into avoiding the courtyard during meetings.
Crisis Apathy: With political tensions rising, many attributed missing aides to burnout or clandestine affairs, not suspecting darker causes.

Ultimately, House Belabranta’s reputation for elegant privacy and their complacent noble arrogance created the perfect haven for Maelthra to conduct her meetings without fear of discovery.

If exposed, the scandal could ruin the Belabranta name—even if they were only guilty of negligence, not conspiracy.

🧩 Structure

Act I – Echoes of the Garden

Scene: House Belabranta Courtyard
Dusky, perfumed, and veiled in illusion. The garden is private, ornate, and rarely used. Magical traces linger—illusion and enchantment both. Questioning staff yields evasions. No one will admit to hearing voices, but a groundskeeper admits the same bench has been scrubbed of blood “more than once.”

Key Clues:

Arcane residue of illusion magic along vine arches.
A hidden ledger stone tucked under the marble bench shows repeated midnight meetings marked with a single name: “V. D.”
A burned note found in a cold firepit reads: “Korith, Belmara… gone before their time. I’m next.”
Rumours from Waterdeep’s servants’ network about the recent murder-suicide of two aides—Neverwinter and Mithral Hall.

Magic used here (Arcana or Detect Magic) confirms the garden is laced with carefully disguised memory spells, designed to trigger visions.

🐴 Transit Scene: Following the Thread

An ex-Harper informant named Dolm Tallbar, nursing wounds from a failed scrying attempt, reveals:

“He called himself Rellan. Paid in coin from Mithral Hall. Always asked about guards and bells. Told me once he’d slit his own throat before he’d let her win.”

Dolm hands the party a small, cracked spyglass and a map scratched into parchment with wax-sealed corners. It points to a location in the Dock Ward near Candle Lane.

As the players travel across the city:

Describe the shift from the white stone and grandeur of Castle Ward to the crumbling gutters and hanging laundry of Dock Ward.
Let them hear snippets of conversation in taverns and fish markets: mentions of screams from cellars, of red-lit windows with shadows that don’t match their owners.
A street urchin tries to warn them: “People go in tha’ place an’ don’t come out. You gonna be them too?”

A successful DC 15 Insight or Inteligence (Streetwise) check confirms that “Rellan” is Vaeril—and that someone else has been asking about him.

Act II – The Trail of Smoke

Scene: Dock Ward – Candle-Maker’s Shop
Choked with wax and smoke, the shop is barely a front. A friendly gnome tenant hints that “Rellan” rents the cellar, but hasn’t left for days. Scratches on the floor and recently barricaded windows suggest someone inside fears for their life.

Streetwise checks and Harper informants point to Rellan—an alias of Vaeril—who vanished shortly after discovering infernal language embedded in coded documents. He’s paranoid, shaking, and magically warded the cellar from scrying.

Scene: Serela’s Arrival
Serela arrives cloaked, armed, and furious. She’s had enough of subtlety. She storms into the candle-shop and demands to see Vaeril. She suspects he’s hiding something and is prepared to use force. She warns the party:

“You don’t know what he’s capable of. If I’m wrong, fine. But if I’m right and we hesitate—My lady dies. Maybe all of us do.”

Act III – The Silencing

Scene: The Cellar
The cellar is cramped, damp, and dimly lit. Vaeril crouches against the far wall—eyes bloodshot, trembling, chained to a beam by his own hand. He flinches at Serela’s voice and pleads with the party not to let her speak another word.

“She’ll make me do it. If she finds out what Serela knows, it’s over. I’ll kill her. I’ll hang myself. Just like the others.”

The air is thick with tension. Serela raises her blade. Vaeril lifts a hidden dagger. The players must act fast.

Options:

Support Serela – Assist in subduing Vaeril. They may later extract his knowledge through magic or careful interrogation.
Intervene for Vaeril – Calm him, neutralise the domination, uncover his memories.
Reveal the Truth – Succeed on high-stakes Insight or Persuasion (DC 18–20) to convince Serela to stand down and Vaeril to resist.

If Vaeril is saved, he reveals:

Two noble houses involved in clandestine meetings with Maelthra.
Evidence buried beneath the garden—literal infernal correspondence carved onto stone and covered with lead.
Maelthra’s pattern: infiltration through aides, forcing them to kill each other to obscure her tracks.

“Four aides. Six tendays. All staged to look like grief or madness. But the grief was real. The madness wasn’t theirs.”

🏁 Aftermath Options

Vaeril Survives – Brawnanvil backs player decisions at the council.
Vaeril Dies – Maelthra grows bolder; council paranoia rises.
Serela Gains Evidence – Silverhand moves against compromised nobles discreetly.
Serela Fails – Leads to further council deaths and disarray.

🔍 Final Hook – Maelthra’s Trail

Maelthra has not been captured. Her web of deception remains largely intact, and she may already be grooming her next pawn. The party now faces the deeper mystery:

Where is she hiding?
Who has she enthralled next?
And can they expose her without causing a scandal that tears the council apart?

Possible Leads:

A sealed missive bearing her sigil hidden among Vaeril’s documents.
A coded diary entry naming “M. of Field Ward.”
An Order of the Gauntlet knight missing for three days—last seen in the slums.

Tracking her may require:

Divination magic (Commune, Scrying, Legend Lore)
Political manoeuvring—convincing nobles to cooperate without tipping her off
Underworld connections to trace her movements through Field Ward

The hunt has only begun.

🏛️ The Noble Houses

House Phylund – Ostensibly a house of hunters and exotic collectors. Their estate has had strange visitors in the night, and their latest gala was rumoured to honour a foreign patron with “unusual tastes.”
House Cassalanter – Already whispered to have dark connections, the Cassalanters are hosting smaller and more exclusive meetings than ever before. Their charity arms have expanded operations in Field Ward—where Maelthra is believed to be hiding.

🧾 Statblocks

Serela Thorne – Use Veteran statblock with +2 to Insight and a once-per-day casting of Detect Thoughts. Replace longsword with a silvered rapier. Motivated, strategic, and defensive of her allies.

Vaeril Duskmoor – Use Cult Fanatic statblock, but replace spells with:

Shield, Suggestion, Detect Magic, Dispel Magic
Is always under the effect of Compelled Duel reflavoured as infernal domination.

Maelthra – Succubus with the additional trait:

Eyes of the Council. While in disguise, Maelthra can mimic any noble’s mannerisms with perfect accuracy and gain advantage on Deception and Insight checks against political figures.

🎲 The Mercenaries

Explorer