Background
Antonio di Vacchi was a spiteful and covetous man who had nothing but jealousy for his neighbor, Bertoldo Fonte. Bertoldo was handsome, a successful merchant, and beloved by women, while Antonio was plagued by misfortune, unable to secure a business, and scorned by all he met (in no small part due to his unpleasant attitude, though he would never admit as much). To make matters worse, Antonio was born with a club foot that left him lame, preventing him from doing menial work or joining a militia company. All he could hope for was his family's trading business, and with Bertoldo managing to outcompete him, his funds dwindled and dwindled until he was left penniless. Desperate, Antonio attempted to murder his rival by inviting him to his house in celebration of a journey he was about to embark upon and getting him drunk until he fell asleep. There, Antonio prepared to stab him with a dagger, right when his plan was foiled by Bertoldo's wife, Miriam, and he was apprehended by the town guard and hanged from the gallows.
However, like many who died with unfinished business, Antonio's soul lingered. Even if his aims were born of malice, they still tethered him to the Mortal Realm. And he vowed that he would not be able to rest until the business of Bertoldo's murder was completed!
The Encounter
When alone at a crossroads, or in a town square, the PCs come across a gallows, its rope still dangling in the wind. If they investigate it closer, the spectral form of a man dangling from the rope manifests before them, calling out to them (alternatively, you can have them hear a voice calling from the distance, which leads them to the gallows before the spirit manifests).
This is the ghost of Antonio di Vacchi - who feels the PCs, as hopefully gullible strangers, will be all he needs to implement his scheme. He claims that he cannot pass on to the Land of the Dead as long as his business on this world goes unfinished, and implores the party for aid. This part is true - but Antonio will not speak the truth about the nature of his business.
Instead, he will claim that he was falsely accused and condemned for a crime he didn't commit. Taking a turn for the dramatic (peppered liberally with his own wishful thinking), Antonio will spin a story about how Miriam was actually in love with him, but Bertoldo wickedly coerced her into marrying him by threatening to buy her family home and forcing her parents to be evicted if she did not comply. In Antonio's story, it was Bertoldo who attempted to poison Antonio's wine during the party, but Antonio could taste that something was off. When Antonio confronted him about the poison, Bertoldo tried to stab him, with Antonio knocking him out and stealing the dagger from him in the resulting brawl, only to be caught by Miriam. Alas, Miriam believed Antonio was the culprit and called for the guards, leading to Antonio's arrest and execution.
There are a few factors that will lend some credence to Antonio's story. While Miriam never loved Antonio, she also had no affection for Bertoldo, and only married him so that she could support her family with his money, which she will confess if approached privately. Unlike in Antonio's story, however, she was never coerced to do so. If confronted, she will insist that she always felt Antonio to be an unpleasant man, but she knows of the rivalry between him and Bertoldo and will not doubt that Bertoldo could have wanted to kill him.
Furthermore, in life Antonio wore heavy boots to conceal his club foot. Although he limped at the walk, his deformity was all but invisible while he was standing still - and with his ghost bound to the gallows he died on, he remains still and dangling from the rope at all times, making it impossible to determine his lameness.
Antonio knows that he needs to build the trust of the PCs. Rather than tasking them with killing Bertoldo right away, he first asks them to return a goblet Bertoldo has in his possession, which he (falsely) claims was in fact stolen from his family, claiming that he believes this will lay him to rest. The ghost will manifest again at midnight each night for four hours at a time so that the PCs can consult with him (he should tell the party this).
Bertoldo keeps the goblet displayed in a locked glass case (a DC 12 DEX check using theives' tools is necessary to pick the lock) in the living room of his townhouse in the wealthier part of his hometown (the same town as the gallows if using this encounter in town, or the town to the west if using this encounter at a crossroads). The goblet is covered in gold leaf and is inset with rubies, and is worth 250 GP. In truth, it was a masterpiece that Bertoldo's great-grandfather, a jeweler, made for the local guild. Bertoldo insists it is a priceless family heirloom and refuses to part with it - which Antonio insists is a lie to cover his tracks.
If the PCs approach the jewelers' guild about the goblet, they will need to consult their records in order to determine if they have any record of the goblet being made under their governance. They are, unfortunately, busy at the time, and it will take 1d4+1 days for them to look through their records and come back with an answer. If they are presented with the goblet, they will recognize it as their own by a makers' mark on the inside of the cup - and immediately suspect that the PCs have stolen it, reporting them to the guards.
If the PCs manage to obtain the goblet and return it to the gallows in the night, Antonio's ghost will tell them that it must be buried with him, and that he is buried beneath the gallows. There are indeed skeletons buried under the gallows, but Antonio's bones are actually housed in the temple of Morthanos (or another god of death, if using this encounter in a different setting) in town. Antonio actually believes that if the goblet is buried beneath the gallows, he may be able to take it into the Land of the Dead when he passes on.
Digging underneath the gallows requires 4 man-hours. If multiple PCs work together, they will complete this goal in a fraction of the time accordingly. For each hour the PCs spend digging, make a Perception check against the lowest Stealth check of all PCs involved in digging to determine if the town guards are alerted to the noise. This process will reveal the skeleton of a criminal hanged at the gallows long ago. Notably, unlike Antonio's actual skeleton at the temple of Morthanos (should the PCs convince the priests there to let them see it), the skeleton under the gallows does not have a club foot, contradicting any descriptions of Antonio they may receive from those who knew him in life.
Of course, when "returning" the goblet inevitably fails to put Antonio's spirit at rest, he will tell the PCs that something else must be done - and that he must have them kill Bertoldo to "avenge" his death, or else have them convince the authorities of his guilt. He warns, of course, that the guards are in his pocket and will claim Bertoldo was innocent. But he hopes by this point, the PCs will be convinced of his honesty. If they need convincing, he will claim he knows where a hoard of treasure is buried and will disclose it if laid to rest (a lie).
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