Plum Tree
Standing near an evergreen tree is a fruit-bearing tree with spiny branches and reddish-purple, apple-shaped plums. A few plums have fallen to the ground to spoil in the heat and birds have pecked at others. Nevertheless, there are still many fruits still fit to pick and eat.
The tree is completely ordinary and the fruit is safe to eat, which a PC can confirm with a successful DC 12 Knowledge (nature) check. It is the only plum tree in the vicinity of the colony, which makes it a worthwhile landmark.
Any PC who succeeds at a DC 17 Perception or Survival check notices a spot on the ground, next to a fist sized stone, where the earth has been disturbed. Digging a few inches beneath the soil yields a small, flat, leather pouch like a wallet. A PC can tell that the pouch has been buried for a few weeks with a successful DC 14 Survival check, but it is not significantly deteriorated. Inside is a note (see the handout on page 21). If the PCs found the clue in area A10 and suspect there is something interesting about the plum tree, they gain a +2 bonus on their checks to find the pouch.
There are not enough clues in this adventure for the PCs to form a complete picture of what occurred in the colony before the Peregrine arrived. Powerful NPCs, some of whom are revealed in the next adventure, have been careful to leave little evidence of their involvement. Clues like this note should convey that something mysterious happened to the 100 original colonists and imply that they were betrayed from within their own group, but without a sense of how or why. Some colonists started to sense the wrongness of the situation and planned to escape, but if the PCs found the sabotaged canoe in area A1, they may guess that these colonists weren’t successful.
The tree is completely ordinary and the fruit is safe to eat, which a PC can confirm with a successful DC 12 Knowledge (nature) check. It is the only plum tree in the vicinity of the colony, which makes it a worthwhile landmark.
Any PC who succeeds at a DC 17 Perception or Survival check notices a spot on the ground, next to a fist sized stone, where the earth has been disturbed. Digging a few inches beneath the soil yields a small, flat, leather pouch like a wallet. A PC can tell that the pouch has been buried for a few weeks with a successful DC 14 Survival check, but it is not significantly deteriorated. Inside is a note (see the handout on page 21). If the PCs found the clue in area A10 and suspect there is something interesting about the plum tree, they gain a +2 bonus on their checks to find the pouch.
There are not enough clues in this adventure for the PCs to form a complete picture of what occurred in the colony before the Peregrine arrived. Powerful NPCs, some of whom are revealed in the next adventure, have been careful to leave little evidence of their involvement. Clues like this note should convey that something mysterious happened to the 100 original colonists and imply that they were betrayed from within their own group, but without a sense of how or why. Some colonists started to sense the wrongness of the situation and planned to escape, but if the PCs found the sabotaged canoe in area A1, they may guess that these colonists weren’t successful.
