So you've read part 1 and want to play A Court of Debts and Bad Decisions? Here is your official invitation.
The invitation
Your invitation arrives folded around a black stone. Inside, a silver hand has written:
Three envoys have vanished. Their promises have not. Come to the river terrace at moonrise. Bring discretion.
Sera Vey, an NPC, hires the party to recover a stolen relic called the Bell of Unspoken Vows. It can capture a freely spoken promise and use it to hold its speaker within an enchanted boundary. Three envoys disappeared after a private peace meeting. One of them has the Bell. Sera offers 500 gp for rescuing the envoys and recovering the bell. She suspects a faction hoping to wreck negotiations and exploit the spreading fear of Koschei is behind their intiail capture. Whether that faction actually serves him is a question for a longer campaign.
Scene one: a reception with weaponized etiquette
Start at the abandoned meeting terrace. The clues are available without a roll: wet footprints lead away from the river, one invitation bears a thorn-shaped seal, and an enchanted chair repeats an envoy’s promise to “remain until peace is secured.”
Checks add useful detail. A DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check identifies binding magic. A DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check reveals that Sera recognizes the seal: it belongs to a disgraced negotiator, Lord Vaelis. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check convinces her to provide his original treaty draft, granting advantage on one contract-related check in the finale.
Failure costs an advantage or a confidence, never the route forward. The footprints lead to a disused lakeside pavilion. If the party stalls, the chair begins loudly requesting legal representation.
Scene two: the garden that remembers
The pavilion’s approach is tangled with enchanted roses. To reach it quietly, earn three successes before two failures, using DC 13 checks. Let players describe their approach: Survival to follow safe ground, Nature to recognize dormant vines, Performance to answer the garden’s remembered song. A clever spell or concrete solution can earn a success without a roll.
On success, they arrive unnoticed and overhear Vaelis explain the bell’s limitation: a vow ends when its speaker is sincerely released by the person to whom it was made.
On failure, the vines sound an alarm and deal 2d6 piercing damage to each character; a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw halves it. The party still reaches the pavilion, but Vaelis is expecting them. The overheard information remains discoverable in an inscription on the bell’s stand.
Scene three: please read the fine print
Three envoys stand inside a silver circle. Vaelis insists he hasn’t kidnapped anyone. They promised to stay until peace was secured. Peace remains unsecured. Really, this is a scheduling issue.
Run him as a proud opportunist who wants public credit for achieving a treaty. His leverage is the prisoners; his fear is becoming irrelevant. The party can offer him a face-saving role in new negotiations, persuade him to release the envoys, steal the bell, or break its hold.
Negotiate: A credible offer plus a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion or Deception) check gets Vaelis to release them. Failure reveals what he wants more clearly; the party can change its offer or try another solution.
Exploit the wording: A DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check on the vows reveals they were made to the assembled delegation, not to Vaelis alone. Each envoy can release the other two. They need the party to stop arguing long enough to explain this. The treaty draft grants the advantage noted earlier.
Break the enchantment: The circle has three exposed silver anchors. Each has AC 13, 10 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Destroying all three releases the prisoners. After an anchor breaks, its attacker takes 1d6 psychic damage from the backlash. An action and a successful DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) check disables an anchor safely instead.
If fighting starts, use one spy and two scouts from your table’s 5e monster rules as Vaelis and his attendants, describing them as fae retainers without adding new powers. They defend the anchors and accept surrender. This is deliberately a light fight for four level-5 adventurers; the prisoners and the choice are the focus. The envoys flee once free.
The bell itself cannot compel affection or alter memories. Once removed from its pavilion, it becomes an inert silver bell: a valuable piece of evidence rather than a campaign-breaking hostage machine.
The reward—and the problem for next week
On returning the envoys, the party receives its payment. If they also prevent bloodshed, each rescued delegate promises an introduction in their home court: the beginning of contacts, favors, and future trouble.
Inside the bell’s hollow handle, someone discovers a second invitation.
Thank you for demonstrating the weaknesses in our first design.
No signature. No address. Just a tiny drawing of a mountain lake. And now, now you truly have a campaign.
Your court. Your chaos. Your initiative roll.
For me personally, the fun of an ACOTAR-inspired D&D game is letting the party make its own mess: save a village, embarrass an immortal, and generally being a bit whitty and flirty. I'm grabbing my dice, assembling my Inner Circle, and hoping for a natural 20. It might save the realm. It definitely won't make everyone free on the same Saturday.
Game on, darling.
*** Unofficial fan-inspired content. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury, or Wizards of the Coast. ***
1 comment
Dory
OMG – got to try as a one off before B6 comes out!!! Why have I not thought of this?