TEXT: EN World EN5IDER
  T
  he hamlet of Velsburg sprang up seemingly
  overnight as a group of two dozen settlers
  swept in to build their homes. The out of the
  way backwater lies close to a trade route but other-
  wise offers little in the form of strategic value—so
  why would anybody want to live there? Velsburg
  has a secret, one that could potentially undo the
  new settlement if revealed. Unfortunately for the
  residents a dangerous woman named Bethara has
  uncovered that enigma and now wages war
  against the hamlet. In desperation the locals must
  turn to outsiders for aid, but will these strangers
  become the heroes of Velsburg, or will they too
  stumble across the communityʼs secret?
  WRITING Charlie Brooks
  COLOR ART Savage Mojo
  MAPS Dyson Logos
  EDITING Mike Myler
  LAYOUT Eric Life-Putnam
  Secret Faces
  of Velsburg
  A 5E-COMPATIBLE MINI-ADVENTURE FOR 4–5 PCS OF 5TH LEVEL
  
  Secret Faces of Velsburg | EN World EN5IDER
  BACKGROUND
  Like many other creatures, doppelgangers run the
  moral gamut between good and evil. While most en-
  joy solitary lives of hedonism and deception, some
  grow to crave the company of their own kind. Sev-
  eral of these shapeshifters created the community of
  Velsburg, joined by their kin one by one, each as-
  suming their favorite humanoid form and settling
  down.
  Unfortunately, not all shapechangers are cut out for
  a quiet life. One resident of Velsburg robbed and mur-
  dered a merchant named Mischa, not realizing the
  consequences that would follow. Mischaʼs sister, a
  skilled warrior named Bethara, tracked down the
  doppelganger murderer and claimed her reven-
  ge—only to discover that he was one of many such
  monsters in the area. Convinced that all them have
  the same evil nature as her sisterʼs killer, Bethara now
  wages a one-woman war against Velsburg. The locals
  find themselves in a serious predicament: can they
  turn to adventurers for aid without giving away the
  dangerous secret of their community?
  OVERVIEW
  The residents of Velsburg recruit the adventurers to
  defend them against Bethara—a woman most of the
  doppelgangers refer to as “The Ghost” for her ability
  to strike quickly and then disappear into the wilder-
  ness. During their time in the hamlet, the PCs may
  deduce that not all is as it seems in Velsburg. The
  party eventually tracks down Bethara and may either
  kill her or get her side of the story. Through either her
  NOTE
  This adventure features the potential for combat but
  adventurers with diplomacy or investigation skills
  have a chance to solve many problems without vio-
  lence (if they so choose).
  Open Game Content | The game rule information
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  trations (including illustrations in the public domain),
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  testimony or their own investigations, the adventur-
  ers likely discover Velsburgʼs true nature. What they 
  do with that knowledge is up to them.
  CHARACTER HOOKS
  The PCs find themselves in Velsburg for one of two 
  reasons. If in the midst of travel they pass through 
  Velsburg and hear about “The Ghost” that has vio-
  lently harassed the hamlet in recent weeks. If they 
  show interest in solving the problem, they discover 
  that Yorik (the communityʼs leader) can offer a 
  bounty to those who end the killerʼs threat. If the 
  party have a reputation for delivering results, they re-
  ceive a written request for aid from the small 
  community. As with the former scenario, the citizens 
  of Velsburg offer a reward for Betharaʼs capture or 
  death. Regardless of how the adventurers find them-
  selves drawn into the conflict, Yorik serves as their 
  primary point of contact. The adventure begins when 
  Yorik meets with the PCs.
  SCENE 1: ANSWERING THE CALL
  The adventurers meet Yorik in a small schoolhouse 
  that doubles as a town hall. There are few stu-
  dents—only three children and one teacher are 
  present today—and little in the way of amenities. 
  After e scorting t hem i nto a  s itting room, Yorik gets 
  down to business.
  The single window in the sitting room looks out over
  the dusty main road that leads through Velsburg and a
  community green that the locals have yet to fully re-
  claim from the surrounding wilderness. A few simple
  wooden houses and a couple market carts complete
  the image of a hamlet in its infancy.
  “It’s not much yet, but Velsburg has the potential to
  grow,” Yorik says after glancing outside. “With some
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Secret Faces of Velsburg
  safety—and some help—we can prosper here. Unfortu-
  nately somebody seems to have it in for us. If you ask
  around you might hear people talking about “The
  Ghost.” I can tell you that she’s not undead, but a mor-
  tal woman who has it in for us.”
  Yorik nervously wrings his hands before continuing.
  “She strikes at dawn or dusk, and has already claimed
  three of our neighbors. Their bodies were so burned
  with acid that we could barely identify them. I can offer
  you a 100 gp reward to stop these attacks—by any
  means necessary.”
  A PC who succeeds on a DC 20 Charisma (Persuasion)
  check convinces Yorik to increase his reward to 125
  gp, but the community doesnʼt have the resources to
  offer anything more. Like the other citizens of Vels-
  burg, Yorik is secretly a doppelganger disguised as a
  human. He can give the party a tour of the community
  and answer questions but does his very best to hide
  the true nature of the hamletʼs residents.
  SCENE 2: SECRETS IN VELSBURG
  If the PCs spend any significant time in the hamlet ei-
  ther before or after they track down Bethara, they
  begin to feel that thereʼs something not quite right
  about Velsburg. As the adventure progresses, allow
  the party to make DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) checks
  from time to time. Those who succeed notice some of
  the following:
  > Residences in Velsburg seem devoid of personal
  features. No home has family portraits or pic-
  tures of loved ones, nobody wears lockets or
  keepsakes, and there seems to be no effort made
  to remember deceased relatives.
  > A PC who belongs to an unusual race (such as
  dragonborn or tiefling) notices somebody watch-
  ing from afar and sketching on some paper with
  charcoal. If pressed, the stranger reveals that
  they were drawing a picture of the adventurer. A
  look at the sketch confirms this, but the sketch
  has notes written in shorthand emphasizing the
  unusual elements of the subjectʼs anatomy.
  > A teenager playing a game with a friend rushes
  behind some trees. A moment later, a different
  young woman emerges—and the teenager seems
  to have disappeared entirely.
  > A well-traveled PC notices somebody that they
  know to be dead, but on a second look the per-
  son they thought they saw looks completely
  different.
  In addition to these potential hints, an investigation of
  the dead bodies reveals a more significant clue. At
  first it seems that the killer mutilated each victim be-
  yond recognition with fire and acid—however PCs
  that make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check note that
  somebody seems to have burned the bodies with al-
  chemical acids after the victims died. In truth Yorik
  was the one to mutilate the bodies after he realized
  that the doppelgangers needed to call for outside
  help. He hopes that this is enough to disguise the fact
  that the victims are not humanoid.
  If the PCs press a resident for answers the individ-
  ual they ask dismisses the observations as simply
  strange coincidences and make a flimsy excuse to
  leave the area when pressed further. Should the party
  question multiple residents they draw the attention
  of Metar, a paranoid doppelganger who believes no
  outsiders can be trusted to keep Velsburgʼs secrets.
  Each time they question a resident after the first the
  adventurers notice somebody watching them from
  afar before breaking away suddenly and going about
  other business.
  SCENE 3: HUNTING THE GHOST
  Bethara is a neutral human gladiator (with Stealth
  +10 instead of Athletics +10) wearing a wide-brimmed
  hat and a scarf that covers her face in an attempt to
  keep the doppelgangers from copying her appear-
  ance. She also has a trained ankheg that aids her in
  combat when a fight turns against her. When she uses
  a bonus action to signal the creature it rushes to help
  her, joining the battle at the start of her next turn. De-
  spite her skill in battle, Bethara remains painfully
  aware that she canʼt defeat all the residents of Vels-
  burg at once. Instead she relies on ambushes, striking
  in the early morning or late evening when shadows
  provide her with cover but not when it is so dark that
  the doppelgangersʼ darkvision gives them an edge.
  
  Secret Faces of Velsburg | EN World EN5IDER
  The PCs can potentially force “The Ghost” into an
  encounter in one of three ways.
  > Wilderness Tracking: Bethara carefully covers
  her tracks but a PC that makes a DC 20 Wisdom
  (Survival) check can pick up the trail. On a fail-
  ure by 5 no tracks at all can be found. An
  adventurer that fails by 4 or less does find the
  trail, but not before Bethara has realized that
  somebody is following her—in which case she
  sets up an ambush, gaining a surprise round
  when she attacks the party.
  > Bait and Switch: If the PCs send a lone individual
  out near the edge of the hamlet around dawn or
  dusk, Bethara assumes the person is a doppel-
  ganger and targets them. This may allow the
  adventurers to set up an ambush of their own.
  > Magic: The use of certain spells might give in-
  sight to Betharaʼs location. Using speak with dead
  on one of the corpses allows the party to gain in-
  sight to the habits of “The Ghost.” If they glean
  useful information from Betharaʼs victims, the
  PCs have advantage on any attempts to track her
  and on ability checks made to set up an ambush.
  When reduced to 20 hit points or fewer, Bethara
  throws down her weapons and shouts, “Go ahead and
  finish me, you shapeshifting scum!” If the PCs stay
  their hands she provides her side of the story. Al-
  though she believes the doppelgangers to be evil, she
  can be convinced to try a peaceful solution if the party
  is able to demonstrate that most people in Velsburg
  are peaceful.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Secret Faces of Velsburg
  SCENE 4: BETRAYAL OF THE 
  DOPPELGANGERS
  If the PCs capture or kill Bethara and return her to 
  Velsburg, Yorik provides them with the promised re-
  ward and considers the matter closed. However, if the 
  party have figured out that something is amiss in the 
  settlement (either with the hunterʼs aid or through 
  their own deductions), things may be far from over. 
  Believing that anybody who knows the secret of Vels-
  burg is a threat, Metar makes sure that he and his 
  allies shadow the adventurers as closely as possible, 
  including observing their meetings with Yorik.
  Should the party directly confront Yorik with evi-
  dence of Velsburgʼs secret, Metar and a pair of 
  compatriots attack. This leads to a battle against three 
  doppelgangers—potentially more if the fight spills 
  out into the streets. Honoring the adventurersʼ hon-
  esty, Yorik sides against Metar and seeks to prove that 
  most members of the community are trustworthy.
  If the PCs do not confront Yorik but did arouse sus-
  picion during their investigation, the trio of 
  aggressive doppelgangers ambush the adventurers 
  shortly after t hey leave Velsburg. A ny shapeshifters 
  slain during the ambush revert to their true forms.
  Finally, the adventurers may act as mediators be-
  tween Bethara and Velsburg. In this case they need to
  arrange a meeting between the hunter and Yorik out-
  side of the community (because the doppelgangers
  attack Bethara on sight if they recognize that the
  ʻGhostʼ is in Velsburg proper). Metarʼs gang attempts to
  interfere in these talks, attacking everybody present
  and hoping to frame the outsiders for Yorikʼs death.
  Parties that arrange a negotiation between Bethara
  and Yorik can convince each individual to cease hos-
  tilities
  with
  two
  DC
  15
  Charisma
  (Persuasion)
  checks—one for each side. With successes on both
  checks neither side forgives the other for the deaths
  that occurred but both agree that nobody else needs
  to die.
  CONCLUSION
  The final fate of Velsburg lies in the PCsʼ hands. They
  can choose sides or they can attempt to bring peace to
  the area—treating the doppelgangers as monsters or
  negotiating with them as people. Velsburgʼs future de-
  pends on the PCs, giving them the power to shape the
  settlementʼs fate as they see fit.e
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 276 - Mini-Adventure Secret-Faces-of-Velsburg.pdf