Read the quick overview first, to get an idea of the ghost story. Read (or re-read) the main inspirational media and a few of the secondary ones if you have them just to get a feel for the tone.
Then read about Fork. That’s where the adventure starts, and there can be a whole lot of adventure there completely unrelated to the House of Lisport. If you want them to spend a lot of time in the city, you can even have them hang out with both Meril and Eldred before Eldred disappears. There’s no need to rush them through the adventure.
Read about Lisport Manor. Look carefully at the description of Erisu. Erisu is the antagonist in this story, and you’ll need to understand what that demon wants and what it’s willing to do to get it.
Print out the supplementary material for hand-outs to your players. Don’t forget to check at the Gods & Monsters web site for all of the resources listed in the resources section. Don’t underestimate the power of player swag.
Someone must be friends with Meril Alegar III. Without a long-term relationship with Meril (or Eldred) the adventure doesn’t work.
If there are any nobles in the group, they will certainly know of the Earl of Lisport and Lisport House. Any noble in Fork will prefer to stay in Lisport House if they can afford it.
Meril can offer payment to his friends, but he cannot offer a percentage of the treasure. First, that would be dishonorable, as the treasure is almost certainly myth. But second, if such a treasure exists it belongs to the family and not to any one member. There are other members of the House of Lisport well removed from him who will inherit from him if he dies childless. These are the descendants of Philip and Elena Agew in Newhorse. If they do find the treasure, however, he will give them a significant finder’s fee.
This adventure is designed for characters of fourth to sixth level. At least one sorceror or prophet is expected, and at least one warrior. While there are few creatures in this adventure, Erisu the Demon can call on some undead and has some demons in the vault. Some of the creatures can only be attacked with magic or magical weapons. Poison figures prominently in any fight with Erisu.
Those characters who know the Alegars will remember both Meril and Eldred, their mother Lady Miriam, and their crotchety old grandfather, Meril Alegar II.
Meril Alegar III was always fun, and always overshadowed by his more driven elder brother.
Characters from the river towns are likely to know the children’s poem about the murders, “Melly Lisport took an axe...”. If you have the time you might introduce the poem during an earlier game session.
Coins in this adventure are given as coins in Highland. A shilling is one monetary unit, a penny is a twelfth monetary unit, a half-penny is half that, and a farthing is a forty-eighth monetary unit. If you use the generic system, just make a shilling one unit, a penny a tenth unit, and a farthing a fiftieth unit.
Most of the money here will be from the Black Stag mint, because of the Stag River agreement between Fork and Black Stag. Fork does not have its own mint. However, people in Fork will use whatever coinage they brought in with them or stole.
They’re not technically “mints”, but each casino strikes its own chips out of clay, wood, or stone. Casino chips may also be used as money in Fork.
If they find the vault and allow Meril to keep the treasure, the House of Lisport will be restored to a semblance of its former glory. Meril will pay off his debts and Lisport House will be safe. He may even attempt to rebuild the Lisport docks and the town, perhaps making a safe place for carousers outside of Fork. The latter course will definitely bring him into conflict with the gambling guilds, resulting in further opportunities for urban adventure.
There’s a lot of information about the gambling town of Fork in this book. It provides useful background for why it’s important to help Meril. But it also provides a place for Erisu to go if it escapes. If Erisu can make it to Fork and hang out in casinos, it can gain 1-4 demonic power per evening, up to its maximum.
Fork is a great place for a demon to base itself.
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado and The Fall of the House of Usher influenced this adventure, as has, of course, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. John Irvin’s movie Ghost Story and Leonard Wilson’s Dungeons & Dragons adventure The Ghost of Mistmoor (from Dungeon #35) are more modern influences.
The Fork portion of the adventure is inspired by such movies as The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford; the latest Casino Royale; and of course Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers.
Other inspirational material includes Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A.S. Byatt’s Possession, Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott, Michelle Shocked’s Ghost Town, and the Eagles’ Hotel California. And while I can’t remember a specific episode I’d guess that watching way too much Scooby Doo in the seventies helped. I’d have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those darn kids! If you let one of the characters accidentally fall through the wall in Elizabeth Mardel’s room, it will definitely resemble the Mystery, Inc. kids.
The cover image--and the manor that the maps herein are based on--is Montacute House in England.