Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme - Candlekeep Mysteries

Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme. Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme An Adventure for 4th-level Characters Developed & Edited by Michele Carter Written by Ari Levitch Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme has been gathering dust on its shelf in Candlekeep for over six hundred years. The children's book arrived at the library in unceremonious fashion, though the same could not be said of its courier. Yowen Pilt, a procurer of rare books who did business with Candlekeep, was utterly insane when he arrived with his latest bundle. The records of the episode are sparse, but they report that he was placed in isolation for weeks after a "singing madness" began to spread among the library's Avowed. The records contain no further mention of the book dealer. The Avowed cataloged and shelved his final delivery, which included Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme. Adventure Overview The adventure takes place in the Firefly Cellar, a windowless basement beneath the House of Rest, so named because its only light comes from lamps lit by swarms of fireflies. After spending the night here, all the characters wake up in the morning with the same tune in their heads, and each one hums it under their breath. They soon discover that the tune has "spread" to the Firefly Cellar's other occupants, and the Avowed institute a quarantine to contain what is actually a curse. The adventure is built around a sequence of events that unfold when the characters are quarantined in Candlekeep's 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 describe Shemshime's growing supernatural influence and how people deal with the mounting pressure of confinement under dangerous circumstances. The characters must identify the curse's source. Their search eventually leads them to Crinkle, the Firefly Cellar's kenku caretaker, who has the book. Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme contains the malevolent spirit called Shemshime, and the book holds the...