So!

My party has made it to a floating earthmote that was once inhabited by Pirates, however it is now shrouded by a dark miasma. The were tasked by a local lord to clear the area of the curse, however they also have their own motives (the sky ship docked there)

The curse is related to a broken magical sword, The sword was symbolic of the crews loyalty to one another however, one of the crew was a traitor, resulting in the death of the crew, the shattering of the blade which resulted in the cursed miasma enveloping the island.

The curse causes anyone in it to be overtaken by paranoia and fear of their allies to the point of violence.

The solution to breaking the curse is to reform the sword and expose the traitor (upon retrieving a shard the players get a memory from someone on the crew exposing the traitor)

For the first puzzle, the players are in the meeting hall of the crew, as there are various objects that exude this same magical energy. These objects give the players visions, and in order to retrieve the first shard the players have to find the right objects with the right visions. upon recieving the shard, the players get a vision that alludes to the traitor

My struggle is with the second and third puzzles as I dont have any good ideas as to interesting puzzles or set pieces for my players.

Our game takes place on Roll20

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated :)

I have an idea, what if there is a real shard and a fake, and the fake could do many things like do necro damage, be a mimic, or even posses the holder. But the real thing is do whatever you like. I hope that I helped °u°

If it’s pirate related I feel there should be a map with x marks the spot somewhere involved. Maybe one of the crew being paranoid hit an artefact or part of the sword intending to gather the other parts but got killed before being able to? Maybe there’s a corpse somewhere with the map?

how are you intending to reforge the sword? Could a third puzzle involve finding and relighting a forge capable of remaking the sword?

or perhaps a coven of see hags has taken part of the sword as a trinket and the party have to barter/ fight them?

or perhaps another group of pirates come across the earthmote, recognise it’s cursed but decided to loot a few important items and the party has to track them down?

Have part of a sea shanty written on a wall and singing it makes a spirit of one of the crew members return, him helping (which reveals a piece of the sword) will make his spirit rest. The shanty can be the first couple of lines and get them to make up the rest, or have missing words they can fill in.

I'd do it just to hear my group sing a sea shanty, no right answers or correct words to fill in, the fun is just singing it. The puzzle is working out it's a sea shanty written and singing is the solution, so they can make up whatever they want, just tell them they got the words right for the purpose of the puzzle

Possibly a locked chest with a piece. The problem is there's no keyhole or key. They have to use checks to figure out different mechanisms on the chest and activate them at the same time to open it. Or, whatever puzzle you want to add to the chest.

Have a listen to just roll with it it is a. Dnd podcast about pirates 

Hi!

I wonder what caused the crew member to become a traitor? Greed? Power? An Aboleth? A Kraken? A pact to all become ever-living that went wrong?

 I agree there has to be a map. Even better a torn up map. And cliffs. Cliffs with caves that look a bit like skulls.

And one last member of the crew who isn't dead (or are they?) but is quite clearly mad and loads of fun for the DM to play.

As for puzzles. More helpfully, something using navigation skills, sextants etc? Proper locational geographic stuff.

And you need a parrot. That talks

And cannons

And sinking sand