A high-end hippocampus dealer is known for the beautiful iridescent scales of the animals she sells—but lately many of her precious hippocampi seem to have come down with a nasty disease. They have been losing their scales, and while they otherwise seem mostly as healthy as ever, those exotic scales are their main selling point. She suspects that the disease wasn't natural, but is the work of a rival hippocampus dealer who's trying to steal her business. She's half right—if the PCs investigate, they'll find that the rival dealer is involved, but there's more to it than just business competition. He's partnered with a rogue alchemist who is collecting the shed scales for use in a sinister alchemical project that even the rival dealer doesn't know about.
