Candlekeep Mysteries
Candlekeep Mysteries is an anthology of adventures. Each adventure begins with a book that the characters find in Candlekeep, an enormous library located on the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms setting.
Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme
Early February 8009
The adventure takes place in the Firefly Cellar, Phandalin, a windowless basement beneath the Stonehill Inn, so named because its only light comes from lamps lit by swarms of fireflies. After spending the night here, adventurers woke up in the morning with the same tune in their heads, and each one hummed it under their breath. They soon discovered that the tune had "spread" to the Firefly Cellar's other occupants, and the citizens of Phandalin instituted a quarantine to contain what was actually a curse. A series of unfortunate events unfolded while the adventurers were quarantined in the Firefly Cellar with a handful of the library's attendants, in an attempt to keep Shemshime's curse from spreading throughout the entire library. The events described Shemshime's growing supernatural influence and how people dealt with the mounting pressure of confinement under dangerous circumstances.Background
Centuries ago, a family living in a remote water mill endured a string of unfortunate events. A malevolent spirit called Shemshime attached itself to the family and caused the "accidents." The daughter finally destroyed Shemshime by crushing it under a millstone that had been blessed by a travelling halfling cleric of Zudris. The story became a local legend, a cautionary tale meant to warn people to keep their attention on their chores. When a travelling gnome bard heard the tale, he was so intrigued that he set the story down in the book, Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme. By doing so, he inadvertently created a conduit through which Shemshime could return. Yowen Pilt procured the book from an adventurer who discovered it among the debris of a shipwreck. He brought the mechanical book to Candlekeep, and prior to the adventure, it had just been sent to Firefly Cellar for safekeeping, to be repaired and kept safe. The kenku, Crinkle, loves to collect all kinds of curios and baubles. Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme, with its intricate mechanical workings and charming music box, was too tempting to resist. After years as an Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep, she discovered the book when it was selected to have its spine repaired as part of a restoration project. Before the adventurers arrived at the Firefly Cellar at the beginning of the adventure, Crinkle brought the book to her room and opened it. The music box started to play, and she became the subject of Shemshime's curse.Firefly Cellar
Looking for someplace to rest in Phandalin, adventurers Tira, Euanthe, Thimdul, Edmond Dantes, Felicity and Tabitha settled upon the Firefly Cellar, beneath Stonehill Inn. The characters descended into the Firefly Cellar through the hatch in the ceiling. When they arrived, they found the elderly elf Varnyr precariously balanced on a ladder while arranging a few of the flowerpots on top of one of the bookcases. She was engrossed in her work. Before the characters said anything, she started speaking without looking at them. "Ebder, are you back?" "I never left!" grumbled a voice from below. "Oh?" The elf looks down and seems surprised at your presence. Then she says, indicating the room around her, "Ah. Visitors. I'm Scribe Varnyr. Sorry for the state of things. As you see, the restoration project is a work in progress. I'll be with you shortly." She returned to her work. A moment later, she said, "Actually, would you mind bringing that stack of books downstairs to Ebder? I'll meet you there." She pointed to a small pile of books on a stool. "Thanks so much." Tabitha brought the pile of books down to Ebder, who was vaguely thankful. After receiving the pile of books, he pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh and explained that the books were not for him but for the other guest, K'Tulah, who was staying in one of the rooms below. He gave the characters directions to her room and asked them to deliver the books.The Curse
After their first night in the Firefly Cellar, the residents gathered around a table in the centre of the collection's main floor. It was quiet until they noticed that their companions were humming a melody under their breath—the same tune that had been stuck in all of their heads since they woke up. After a moment, they realised that they too were humming along. They were humming Shemshime's bedtime rhyme. They didn't know it by name, and though they all hummed it perfectly, they were not entirely certain they knew it before that day. Unknown to the characters, the cursed tune spread to them when Gailby Smallstone sang it in the hall outside their rooms after she heard it from Crinkle. The cellar was locked to put the residents into quarantine and prevent the curse from spreading. After a series of misadventures and escape attempts, the adventurers realised they had to repair the book. After being repaired, the book trembled, and its mechanical inner workings squeal to a halt for a moment before whirring back to life. The adventurers heard clicks, and shadows bursted forth from the book like steam from a kettle, collecting along the ceiling until wisps of darkness outlined a vaguely humanoid figure. Meanwhile, the scenes inside the book transformed, creating an entirely new picture that included tiny cutout figures of the adventurers. Repairing the book summoned the demon Shemshime. To defeat Shemshime, it had to be crushed by an object weighing at least 1,000 pounds, which the adventurers did by using simultaneous castings of Earth Tremor to knock a bookshelf on him. Saving Firefly Cellar of the curse earned the adventurers the title of Hero of Phandalin.Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor
Mid-February 8009
The characters were caught up in an unsolved mass killing in the city of Ballay—after the ghost of one of the victims sought them out. The victim in question was the sister-in-law of Lir (sister of Malakos Margaster) who had been killed while working for the Yellowcrest Manor. The mystery began when Lir was visiting a book shop. The air around them grew suddenly chilly. A cloud of vapor began to shimmer along the nearby shelves, growing thicker around a nondescript leather-bound book. The mist suddenly coalesced into the vague form of a young woman—a translucent spirit wearing a servant's uniform and bearing the symbol of a tree outlined by a rising sun at her shoulder. The figure wept aloud, tears running down her cheeks. She opened her mouth as if to speak—which revealed that her tongue was gone. Moaning in anguish, she reached toward them. Then the mist shredded away to nothing, and the spirit faded. Lir looked down at the book in their hands, and flipped through the first few pages, seeing that it was the diary of Sarah. Where the diary begins, the book became a firsthand account (written in Common) of the life of Sarah, who described herself as a servant in the Ballayan manor of Lord Viallis Yellowcrest and Lady Maria Yellowcrest. The diary entries were not on consecutive pages, and most were undated. In addition to writing about her daily obligations and life in the manor, Sarah also wrote about Lady Maria, who came from a poor family and empathised with Sarah's own lack of education. Lady Maria's genuine affection for Sarah led her to teach the young servant to write, and to give her the leather-bound book that became the diary. The last entries of the diary, dated just over five years earlier, changed in tone as Sarah worried about the strange conduct of Lord Yellowcrest, and his habit of spending too much time with ancient books in his study. In her diary, Sarah tried to draw the image of the cover of an old tome Lord Viallis was reading. The sketch showed a monstrous creature with a bulbous head, long arms, tentacles for legs, and multifaceted eyes.What really happened
Five years ago, Lord Viallis murdered his family, Sarah, and three other servants as part of a ritual to contact an otherworldly entity. The ritual was successful, and with the magic circle he had scribed, Viallis established contact with a kraken called Slarkrethel. This aberrant patron offered to grant Lord Viallis arcane powers in exchange for establishing a cult dedicated to him, which meant inducting Burnt Tongue Initiates. Lord Viallis, empowered by Slarkrethel's otherworldly magic and wanting to get away from talk of his family's death, moved to the village of Greenfast, a day's travel southwest of Ballay and the home of his business partner, Faerl. Claiming that he wanted to have his family interred close to him, he took the remains of his wife and children along, with evil intent. For the last five years, Viallis had been building a cult to Gaernoo around himself, calling it the Burnt Tongue Cult for the sacrifice that new members had to make before being accepted. After accepting Sarah's mission, the adventurers investigated into Yellowcrest Manor and the secrets of Lord Viallis, eventually picking up on the trail and finding Greenfast. They tracked Viallis down to the Temple of the Burnt Tongue Cult and went deep underground to face Viallis and his aberrant creation, Marth.Development
The heroes got justice for Sarah by enacting vengeance on Viallis and by releasing the souls of the Yellowcrest family. Learning about the actions of the Burnt Tongue Cult shocks the folk of Greenfast and neighbouring communities. They undertake the process of clearing out the cult site, making what restitution they can to Viallis's victims, and collapsing the tower to seal off the entrance to the temple. The attacks along the trade routes drop off immediately. The farm folk are grateful to the heroes for their actions and vow to become more watchful for unseen threats. The cult was no more. Because Viallis shared none of his magical knowledge with his followers, any cultists who might have escaped have no connection to Slarkrethel or the entity's power. The ashes of Lady Maria and her three children were spread in hallowed ground to grant them eternal rest. As the ashes were interred, the spectral forms of Lady Maria, Malik, Janus, and Tianna materialised before the characters. In silence, Lady Maria hugged her three children close to her as she met each character's gaze. Sarah's ghost appeared, her connection to the diary broken as her quest was fulfilled. The five spirits then vanished, their forms scattering like flower petals on the wind.
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