Desperate Remedy (2012): Buy or sell now

From the Introduction: I keep a well-stocked cellar of ready-to-run fantasy adventures, and Desperate Remedy is a particularly reliable example: ready in minutes, a perfect chameleon in terms of morality and tone, and built on a nonlinear foundation which gels perfectly, every time, into a structure of the players' own devising. This is sort of a micro-module, and also sort of a deconstructed adventure seed. In the interest of providing a concrete, immediately-useful adventure, I've reigned myself in when it comes to exploring the (thousands?) of variations at every design-juncture. Veteran GMs will spot them immediately; novices can look forward to learning them as they go, everytime this adventure meets a band of PCs. The premise is dirt-simple: someone has fallen strangely ill, leaving a loved one desperate with worry. A wise soothsayer has declared that he knows the magic cure, but that it requires some unusual ingredients. The PCs are entrusted to gather these items. The clock ticks, and the hunt is on! There are a small handful of "blanks" to be filled in before the adventure is ready to run. They are the Beastie, the Victim, the Bereaved, the Soothsayer, the Ingredients, the Obstacles, and the Final Challenge. Many are optional (the Final Challenge in particular), or may be combined. For each, I've provided examples from games I've run using Risus/Uresia (Uresius) and Encounter Critical. Since each world is a reflection of the other, you'll find (as I have) that each element swaps neatly across the conceptual membrane. Mix, match, replace and mutate... and run!