Location: Crestwold is a barony in the Earldom of Bar-Innis, part of the Duchy of Dunstrand in the Steel Realms.
This is about Cerstwhile Family.
Before any of the activities in the adventure, the GM can introduce a few of the rumors. Do so innocuously – through rumors in a tavern,in an argument or discussion on the street, or from a source the PCs know in passing. “Have you heard the latest!?”; “There are always rumors of the local rulers, and this place is no exception.”
This is not the first time the health of the Baron’s family has come up. In fact, it’s finally reached a point where you know there must be either someone planting rumors, or there is a hint of truth buried in it all. The thing that is most hard to discount is that someone is said to be offering a reward for a cure of some sort. And that someone is not just anyone, but the Baron’s herald himself. Wasting the herald’s time would surely bring down the law on those who spread such rumors, so there must finally be something to it. Each week, the herald holds court near the Briarwood, for any petitioners seeking legal redress that is minor, and that the Herald can handle. Odd for the nobles to hold court outside the keep, but the whole Cerstwhile family has been reclusive and secretive for a few years now.
Rumors:
The last person who brought a cure was killed because it was fake (true; not provable)
His daughter Esmilelda is dead, he pines insanely over her corpse and wont let others see it
The family has leprosy
His daughter is cursed (true – kind of)
The family is prone to madness (melancholy anyway)
Esmilelda is wasting away (true)
Esmilelda has gotten worse lately (true)