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Spooky Adventure Contest (Submissions)
stormshade
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Post your entry to the Spooky Adventure Contest in this thread!
Please keep this thread to submissions only. You may discuss the contest in this thread.
Please keep this thread to submissions only. You may discuss the contest in this thread.
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It's midday all is fun and ok the world is flowers and sun
but there are ghosts all around.
city of neverwinter
your 1st gole find out who the ghosts are (you can talk too only 7 { 7 NPC ghosts} ) by asking them the right questions for thay can only answer with a " Yes / No " answer
2nd : what do they wont
3rd : who or what send them
after finding out who send them
find the ( NPC ) old man scarecrow he will now answer you with a lot more details , you can find him by the graveyard
go back to town inform the people they are safe and to try to communicate with there loved passed ones.. one problem ghosts all look alike , so by asking the right question of the living and the dead you might just help reunite some of them
example :
you-> ghost :
Q : do you know pick a name , list of names (7 names in total ) if the ghost knows that person it das not mean they are related so what would you next question be
you find out this is the day of the year the only day were the ghosts are permitted to visit the living , all thaws ghosts have decided to visit on this day their relatives and loved ones and to answer each one 1 questing ( remember a yes or no answer only )
2 ghosts are Not so friendly in fact they are after 1 person Gishi the miller they wont revenge.. but what did he do ? and is he worthy of saving ? or perhaps you should just let them finish the job
they have trapped him in hes mill and the mill the mill has 5 lvls go from one to another facing the ghosts magic and traps and illusions , Gishi might be in any one of thaws lvls so check every coroner.. even under beds watch out they can Bite.
you find him grate ! he tells you that he had to leave the former 2 man to there deaths by fire even thow he could have saved them Only because he was afraid some one will find out he set the fire himself for gold , he watch them burn alive
knowing they will hunt he's dreams every night and he will always see them at day , now thay are finally here he wont's to stop running and let them do with him what ever they wont
the quest splits in to 2 what ever you decide will happen you can try to explain Gishi's actions to the hunting ghosts and perhaps redeem him and save he's soul.
or perhaps hes crime is one you can not forgive and let the ghosts do what they wont to him ( you have 1 min to decide )
here you need to talk to the ghosts : explaining to them both the Millers day to day torment for what he has done , and maby if the ghosts will be vengefully to the end they will not be permitted to return to rest in peace for all eternity
on the other hand the Miller committed murder acting out of selflessness and cowardly and both man were burned alive can he be permitted to go on ?
and remember what gos around come around.
The outskirts of the city of neverwinter
As you aimlessly stroll around the outskirts of neverwinter you stumble upon a small path that leads into the woods, curiosity overtake you and you decide to follow and see where it leads.
(Quest: follow the path and see where it leads, auto complete upon arrival)
You arrive to a small hill in the mids of the woods, on top of which stands a small wooden hat, with an oddly colored straw roof, that shines strangely in the moonlight. Around the hut and all over the hill lays a field with various things growing in it.
(Quest complete)
It is seems that your arrival was not unnoticed as a relatively young girl in a country-side dress comes to greet you from the hut.
(Girl npc, name:unknown)
"Hello adventurer! What brings you to this side of the woods?" she says.
"..."
"Well since you're already here, why not help me out with a few simple tasks? Its hard on a young lady like me, to manage a farm this big , all alone in the woods!" she says
"All alone?"you say
*The girl ignores the question*
"Anyway since you already agreed to help why don't you go behind the hut and take care of those stray wolfs on the pumpkin patch, I don't know why are they there, I never thought wolfs would eat pumpkin, but they do, and you need to shoo them away!" - she says
(Quest: shoo away 10 wolfs from the pumpkin patch)
Stunned you head to the back of the hut to find a huge pumpkin patch that lays on the whole side of the hill, and it seems that the girl was right! There are wolfs eating the pumpkins in this patch! They look like normal wolfs, aside from that strange glow in they're eyes, you decide to help the strange young girl. For now.
After you finish of scaring the wolfs you head back to the girl to tell her that the coast is clear
(Quest complete)
The girl is delighted to hear that you've done her bidding and rewards you with the next "small" task she needs assistance with.
"Thank you for the wolf extermination, now i can go and collect enough pumpkin to make Halloween snacks without worrying about being attacked by those beasts!
I will want to make a pumpkin pie, a pumpkin candy and a sweet pumpkin corn!
For these I will need sugar, and i just run out! Would you kindly go and fetch some sugar canes that grow in the woods on the east side of the hill?
If you I will share some of my sweets with you!"
The girls makes less and less sense as the minuets go by, "Pumpkin corn"? "Sugar canes"?
And yet you still agree to help her.
(Quest: Cut down 13 canes)
As you head to the east side of the hut, and deeper into the woods you begin to notice an unnaturally sweet smell coming from ahead of you.
When the trees clear out of your way, you can no longer believe your eyes.
Right in front of you lays a whole patch of an oddly shaped, canes, the kind that elder people use for walking, only bigger, sweeter smelling, stickier, and worst of all! Every cane in the patch was colored in the most funky, bright, eye disturbing colors, that you could bring yourself to imagine!
After you recover from initial shock, you remember what you came here to do and start chopping down the canes, despite they're looks the canes are quite sturdy and hard to cut, but you don't give up, and after you finished getting 13 of them, you load them on your back (while praying that your back will not get stained by the odd colored sticky canes) and head back to the hut.
When you come back the girl greets you with another charming smile, while you were out she collected the pumpkins she needed and started a small bonfire on top of which stood a huge, round and black cauldron, bubbling with orange pumpkin juice.
"I thought you'll never make it!, Come on, hurry up! The sweets are almost ready! All i need now is the sugar!"
as she says that, the young girl, snatches all 13 oddly colored canes (as if they weight nothing) from your back, and throws them in into the cauldron.
The cauldron immidetly begins to hiss, shake, bubble (more then usual), and erupts in a huge splash of orange lava right at your direction.
(Quest complete)
When you awake you find yourself laying on a picnic cloth that is layed out on the wooden floor inside the hut, around you sweet smalls of pumpkin reveal mountains of hot corn shaped like pumpkin sweets, pumpkin pies, small pumpkin shaped warped candy, and everything is, of course colored in the fanciest, brightest, eye disturbing way possible.
"You're up!" Calls the girl
"Thanks for all the help! The candy production was a big success! Here this is your share!" The girl says as she hands you a bucketful of corn and candy, on top of which lies a big round pumpkin pie, in the pinkies color that pink could ever look.
(Received items: Bucket of colorful sweets (click to open), Disturbing pink pumpkin pie (DPPP for short))
"Ugh, thanks.." You manage to say
"Ow don't be shy!, the fun has only begun! now we have to EAT these" The girl announces with a proud look on her face.
As the hours go by, you and the girl stuff yourselves with the oddest shaped, and colored pumpkin sweets that taste remarkably good,and you cannot stop eating until you're completely full and cannot take another sweet thing into your mouth.
(Hp/SP/Every stat recovered to full, weapon unequiped)
Well, it is time you go back home to neverwinter, as you say your goodbyes and head back to the woods you remember that you forgot your weapon back in the hut.
(Quest: head back and retrieve your weapon)
As you make your way back to the hut, the moon is no longer shining, no light is seen in the windows of the hut, so you assume the little girl went back to sleep.
The door is unlocked so you head in, you remember where exactly you put your weapon so you don't bother turning the lights on, you manage to grab your weapon in the dark, and just as you were to turn around and head back...
A HUGE SCARY MEAT-PUMPKIN SMELLING LYCAN, 2 TIMES YOUR SIZE APPEARS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(would be cooler with sound effects don you think?
You wake up in your bed, in the inn of newervinter / or your house if you have one.
You calm down. Relieved that all of that was just a bad dream.
You swipe away the cold sweat on your face, and as you do so you notice... that the moon that shines brightly through your window...( IMPOSSIBLE!) Illuminates a small bucket filled with colorful candy and a DPPP (Disturbing Pink Pumpkin Pie) on top of it.... Located right in the middle of your room.
(Quest complete, weapon equipped back, achievement unlocked: "It was a dream.. right?")
THE END
Do tell me if i did something wrong coz im not accustomed to writing dragon and dungeons adventures, but i sure had fun writing this in teh middle of the night ;D
Background
All the PC go to a local tavern on their way to Neverwinter. (Depending on circumstances, each player has to go to the basement.)
Strikers
Rats in basement for money as your money is not in currency accepted by bartender. You propose to do a quest instead and she tells you to kill rats.
There is no trace of rats in basement.
Rats in basement for money as your money is not in currency accepted by bartender. You propose to do a quest instead and she tells you to kill rats.
There is no trace of rats in basement.
&Divine
However you find that implement is fake.
Ofcourse, no arcane trace here.
You can't find any spirits in basement.
Rats in basement for money as your money is not in currency accepted by bartender. You propose to do a quest instead and she tells you to kill rats.
There is no trace of rats in basement.
Door locks behind them.
Players meet each other and introduce each other.
Basement:
Objects of interest
- Barrels. Lid is tightly shut. May be opened with strength to see that they contain ashes.
- Vats.Lid is tightly shut. INT check to trace a way to get drops of what was last put in it and then Heal skill to find that it is diluted human blood. Otherwise it appears as red wine. If PC drink it, they will get cranky for rest of the day.
- Inscription. In draconic, "There was no tavern." Religion check - faint symbol of Bahamut.
- Above the vats. Needs acrobatics - unreachable otherwise. Hidden from view are a few bones. Elvish inscription, can be relayed vocally as "a straight line with a hanging chilly... etc." and reads (for those who know the language) "I was able to escape to this place and survive. But there is no escape. The place sucks your energy and there is no way out. I even found the keys! But I hope they never find my remains. Who knows what they do with them. There is also an inscription of a bird's head(can be described). Religion check (raven queen's symbol). You can search for the key if you know about it.
- Door: If you have the key you can open the door. In front of you is darkness. It seems you are trapped in a separate dimension. (p.s. Discourage players from jumping. However if they jump even after strong warnings, they will be lost in dimensions. So don't let them jump.)
Rest of the room is normal.Event 1
Trigger:
Or
They have tried to roll for all objects they can and have exhausted all options.
Or
They try to rest.
Any PC asks question, "Are they magical" or "Is there any magic in room" then DM may respond that ashes "smell" magical. After this DM may use arcana check passively. Otherwise no checking - let them suffer.
Arcana check success:
Its a trap. But the magic can easily be dispelled. Arcana success PC walks to the place and dispels it.
Arcana check failure:
The magic is not very strong in nature. Only enough to move a small metal object.
Once the ashes are touched, a spirit of a beautiful female cleric emerges from the floor. She cries, "Noooooo! Don't touch me!"
Naked female cleric spirit's head (and a little bit of outline of shoulders).
Skills of NPC:- Religion(high), Bluff(low), Diplomacy(low), Insight won't work on her as she is confused about her state after death
She thinks the ashes are her "body" and by touching them you have "offended" her. She constantly uses divine prayers of retribution but they are not working.
Calming her down:-
She clams down after appropriate dialogue, or immediately if
or
- religion check is high and deity is not an enemy of Raven Queen (otherwise it backfires and fight her to submission [mime fight as she can't actually do anything in material world])
or
- A charismatic bard makes her fall in love with him.
-Obvious info divulged willingly
If she helps you, it means she joins your party.
She can keep 1 spirit or 1 human (but not undead) busy and concentrated on her.
She is immaterial so all attacks won't affect her.
Undead won't sense her.
Add her wisdom bonus to the saves of the PC who diplomatic to her or the bard who she fell in love with. (bard first priority)
==== ==== ==== ====
Thuswise or Otherwise: Event 2
If there is no light, DM should hint that players can use their weapons to see and have a perception check. Otherwise probability of pushing the correct button is 1/16 (16+ on a d20 dice)
If they see - there are four buttons. Thus 2^4=16 combinations.
They search on the switches:-
Quality of light+perception check:
WIS check - automatically pass if npc is in party - "is helping" otherwise
FIGHT!!!
COMBAT As the PC skip through the space beneath Vats, they soon come across a crowd of people.
Event 3 and Encounter 4
"Oh! A party! Lets rock!"
Ain't you like... Dead?
I hate you the most
<Now I will shorten it to bare essentials to complete it>
Perception check:-
At this point, NPC may decide to attack vampires as it is her "duty" to do so. PC can persuade her to not by diplo or bard-love check.
Possible solutions:-
BOSS ROOM
The players are in the tavern again. The bartender is now very pretty elf and drinking the blood of another elf of opposite sex. "I will make you pretty my dear! You may hate me now but you will come to love me for I am beautiful like you!"
The tavern has black silk draperies and a silk bed in middle which is very odd.
NPC cleric is lost in the walls of room and does not comes in.
2 - When bartender is bloodied, she controls the new recruit to fight. Slay the new recruit.
"I am a noble eladrin elder of noble court. Do you think you stand a chance against me?"
3 - PAUSE
"You were trying to kill us!" say PC
B - "No you were already dead in the books of Raven Queen. I just protected your souls" says bartender.
A is lie, B is true. Extra goading and DM can tell that they still had one month.
THE END
p.s. Vampire can sense her but not skeletons or zombies. This is because vampires are sentient or something...
THE MONSTER'S BALL
A level agnostic adventure for 3-5 players with playing D&D 4th Edition. Loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death.
ADVENTURE BACKGROUND & SYNOPSIS
At least one noble villa in the Blacklake District houses its actual owner, but that fact is far from good news for the people of Neverwinter. The dashing Mordai Vell, leader of the local Ashmadai cult of Asmodeus worshipers, holds sway over a small, well-guarded compound known as Vellgard Manor.The product of an affair between a devil and a member of a human family from the south, Mordai was a scandalous embarrassment hushed up by his human relatives. When they perished in the cataclysm,he inherited the family estate. Mordai and his Ashmadai allies (who are scheming to take control of Neverwinter under the nose of Lord Neverember) moved back into the city before Neverember arrived. While he occupied the manor house, his Ashmadai cohorts hid in the cellars beneath the place. With the arrival of the Lord Protector, Mordai took a more visible role in the district.Charismatic, handsome, and wealthy, he has become a popular figure - a civic leader who, some whisper,might aspire to hold the throne of Neverwinter.The estate is an armed compound flanked by metal gates and hidden guards. An inner wall creates a killing field that could stop a small army. The Ashmadai covertly make use of arcane wards and summoned devils within the walls. They try hard to keep their power base in the district both secret and safe.
Vellgard Manor is well defended, and the characters will have substantial difficulty gaining entrance by stealth or force. However, Mordai Veil loves the games of nobility, and he entertains guests frequently and with relish. Characters with facility in Bluff or Diplomacy can waltz right in the front door and obtain an audience with Mordai, particularly if one of them is a genuine noble and (preferably) female. Mordai is far from stupid, however, and anyone who tries to beat him at his own game receives intense scrutiny.
This sect of the Ashmadai once served Thay, but now only gives lip service to the far off nation. Seeking to claim power for themselves, Mordai and his group have begun tenuous negotiations with the Neterese. The two groups have no reason to trust each other, but the Ashmadai have what the Netherese want: a foothold in the city. Likewise the Netherese have what the cultists want: independence.
Two weeks ago the Neverwinter gentry, as well as various influential movers and shakers in the city of lower station, received an invitation to a masquerade ball at the ever mysterious Vellgard Manor, a place for which there is much gossip about, that few have ever seen the inside of. More than just a curiosity, the manor is an outright mystery to most of upper society Neverwinter and its charming owner keeps his home private from all but the most influential members of society when he makes his frequent appearances.
Known to nobody outside Mordai's sect of the Ashmadai, the tiefling nobleman has come into possession of a ritual that he believes will finally cement his hold on the city of Neverwinter. The ritual allows the dark acolytes of the cult to capture the souls of dozens of people in one fell swoop and exchange these souls for devils that inhabit the bodies of the ritual's victims. In doing, Mordai hopes to supplant the important and influential people of Neverwinter with this ritual all at once and thereby take control of the city by proxy.
This kind of magic was previously available to the Ashmadai, but only on a much smaller scale. Having stolen this ritual from his Neterese "ally," Mordai expects to enact a coup d'etat that nobody will be any the wiser for. Unfortunately he's overestimated his understanding of Neterese magic and doesn't know that the ritual works by transferring a part of this world into the Shadowfell---a dark realm where the lines between life and death are paper thin...and where the Netherese are right at home.
If they're not careful, the PCs might become victims of this dark magic, and they may be the only people that can stop it.
GETTING THE PCs INVOLVED
It is unlikely that the PCs know that Mordai leads a set of the Ashmadai cultists, though it goes without saying that in the days before the cataclysm there were no tiefling noble families from the city. Mordai's heritage is certainly a mystery any noblemen in Neverwinter would like to know the truth of.
However, if your Neverwinter campaign has gone on at least a little while, especially if the PCs have made allies of anybody working for Neverember's government, the PCs are likely to have earned a nod or two of prestige among the movers and shakers of the city. As such, the easiest way to get the PCs involved is to give them invitations to the masquerade ball in recognition of their past accomplishments.
WHAT THE PCs KNOW
The PCs probably know Mordai Vell by reputation if they haven?t met him already. He's handsome, mysterious, and charming. Although normally a neighborhood plagued by near-lawlessness, the invitation to Vellgard Manor is an opportunity to relive the past when Blacklake was a posh neighborhood of stately manors and green thoroughfares. This masquerade ball is a prime opportunity for ambitious PCs to rub shoulders with the people that make the wheels of the city go round, including Neverember himself. It should be devastatingly obvious that this party is the best opportunity the PCs will have to advance their own agenda in the city or perhaps smooth over any previous gaffs with the authorities.
HISTORY (DC 10) Relate to the PCs the history of the Blacklake district and how most of its estates have become holdings to squatters and would be upstarts that don?t appreciate the order and law of the Protector's Enclave. This is also sufficient for the PC to know about some of Mordai Vell's civic or social generosities for the sake of the city.
ARCANA (DC 10) Many of the more powerful people in the Blacklake district have used magic to fortify their holdings and it's an open secret that much of the district's intactness is a result of the old nobility's possession of such magic. Some of this power is sure to be hidden throughout the district. This result is also enough to know that Vellgard Manor is likely no exception.
STREETWISE (DC 10) The Blacklake district is home to myriad low life criminal groups seeking to gain power in the city, including wererats and cultists of Asmodeus, the dark god of tyranny and devils.
RELIGION (DC 10) Share with the PCs common knowledge about Asmodeus and/or the Ashmadai if they find out about his cult from a previous Streetwise check or from previous experience adventuring in the city. Try to keep the air of mystery, however.
The invitation is clear that this is a formal ball, with a strict dress code required of its attendees, to include a mask. The events include dancing, dining, and music and will begin at nine in the evening and end with an unmasking at the stroke of midnight. Weapons are prohibited and all but ceremonial armor is frowned upon.
With a Slight of Hand check a clever PC should be able to conceal a small weapon or magic implement in their clothing. Since there's no rush allow the PCs to take 10 if they wish. The hidden items can be spotted with an opposed Perception check, though once past the coat check few people will be actively looking for arms. Female characters might be able to get away with slightly larger items if they come dressed in voluminous formal party gowns (many of the other noble women will certainly be dressed this way), but you should encourage the PCs to be creative.
Other PC equipment that has to be worn (like neck slot items and rings to name a few) may be allowed if it's appropriate for use with formal wear. If, for instance, a player's magical bracers don't appear to be anything more than worn leather bands then a DM should call them too informal for the ball, but if these same bracers were describable as ornate with intricate filigree and special oils, then a player could argue for keeping the bracers while at the masquerade.
PROFILE, REOLEPLAYING, & TIMEKEEPING
The events of the masquerade ball are a grand stage for the players to show off their roleplaying muscles. Despite the dancing and the music, the ball is primary a social function and just as the PCs are likely to jockey for attention, so too are the other attendees. A measure of a character's social influence at the ball is their Profile. Higher Profile characters are the center of the social scene, while lower Profile characters are gossiped about and shunned. The nobles of the ball are a fickle bunch, however, and one's Profile can change from moment to moment.
The point is to allow the players free reign (and a certain amount of editorial license) to write the scene while you constantly throw little events at them to react to in character. Take cues from the people and places described below and certainly feel free to make up any of your own. A tense social interaction with a rival from earlier in your Neverwinter campaign is a great example of this.
Whatever you do, allow the PCs to add their total Profile to any checks they make that might remotely affect their social situation. Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks are prime candidates. But so are Acrobatics checks to dance. A PC may step onto the bandstand and join the musicians in a waltz or stand up on a chair and call a line dance or impress a group of bored nobles with the story about the time he was neck deep in carrion crawlers with nothing but a penknife and a shoehorn (using an Endurance check to show off that impressive scar from the ordeal). The skill needed is whatever you and the player agree on with a Medium, or Hard DC set by you based on your assessment of the PC's ability to pull off whatever social stunt his player is describing. The PC's Profile bonus should allow your group to use untrained skills with increasingly more confidence as the night goes on.
Many uses of Profile might not even involve dice if your group is composed of a group of method actors. Compare the PC's Profile to the NPC's Profile when determining just how far a roleplay description really goes--and don't forget to give your player some credit if they come up with particularly clever things.
If things get stale, throw a monkey wrench (see below) into the social situation just to mix things up. Just allow the PCs an opportunity to build their Profile (and "play the (social) system" so to speak) high enough they can earn the attention of (or make fools of themselves in front of) whichever person they came to the masquerade seeking to do business with. Use that NPC's Profile as a minimum that a PC has to himself meet before socially engaging with that NPC.
Whatever you do, don't let a PC get away without describing in vivid detail that awesome thing they did during the half hour.
AREAS OF INTEREST (people in those areas)
Vellgard Manor
MONKEY WRENCHES
(rumors and events)
MIDNIGHT AND BEYOND
The Haunted House
The adventuring party (and likely many other parties) was tasked with hunting down a fugitive who has stolen a valuable item (a jeweled royal crown or insert your adventure hook item here) and is fleeing through the countryside. The party has caught his trail and has nearly caught up with the fugitive, who is a mere hundred yards ahead of the party who may be chasing him on foot or on horseback, when he ducks inside a small door in an odd building in a field just off the road. The building is round and steeply sloped with a pointed top. It is entirely covered dirt-covered reddish wooden shingles all the way to the ground. Fresh dirt is piled around the building, as if it had just recently pushed its way to the surface. The small door that the fugitive escaped through remains open.
If the party backtracks to ask the local population about this odd building they may find that it is a legend in these parts that this building rises from its grave on harvest full moon nights to lure in the unwary. Some say that a vampire controls it and collects people to feed on. Other people think that the building itself is the hunter. One person suggests that the building is actually just a mimic that looks like a building and going through that small door is like climbing into its belly. Nobody is sure why it exists; though people have reported seeing it, nobody alive today who has ever gone inside has ever come out. Corril, the village baker claims that their great grandfather came out alive and came back to tell him about it once when he was a child, but was never seen again after that. The baker's claims are met with disbelief by the other townsfolk. Some people deny its existence altogether or claim that the building is a mirage or a ghost.
Tower room:
"Looking through the trap door you can see that this door looks down from the roof of a very tall round room. It is 20 feet from this door to the floor below. Moonlight spills in through the window and silky curtains wave in a gentle breeze. The room is finely furnished and appears to be a child's room; it is painted in pastels. There is an open toy box and a well kept few toys scattered around the floor. The sharp smell of cloves wafts up from the room. A little girl sleeps soundly in her bed and a single candlestick still burns on the bedside table. Directly below the door there is a trail of fresh blood that leads from the center of the room to the one door from the room which remains ajar."
The PCs may lower a rope and climb down into the room. Upon touching the floor of the room the illusion that the room is finely furnished is broken. This is revealed to anyone touching the floor: "The room may have been once finely furnished, but it now lies in ruins. The toys on the floor are broken and tattered. The window coverings are in tatters and reveal that the dirt outside the window is tightly packed against the glass. With no moonlight, the room is much darker, yet the single candlestick still burns on the bedside table. The smell of cloves is replaced by the smell of flesh rotting in stagnant air. There are splatters of blood on the wall all the way around. The girl who slept soundly on her bed is actually a fairly well decomposed corpse who is missing eyes or eyelids, but still wears the very tattered and dirty bedclothes. Her fingernails have grown into long sharp claws."
The zombie girl rises and attacks the first adventurer who touches the floor. Anyone who still hasn't touched the floor may (or may not, at the DM's discretion) see the reaction of their party members and may see the little girl stand up, but they will still see the rest of the room as being finely furnished and will not see the little girl attack. The candlestick here is an ever burning flame.
The little girl zombie is a medium difficulty solo encounter. She can take much more damage than a normal zombie and attacks with claws but doesn't hit much harder than normal. She may have the ability to trip an adventurer who she hits with a melee attack. If a tripped opponent remains down during her next round she will attempt to bite the opponent's face or neck.
Any attempt to climb up and out of this room is met with an illusion of the room stretching longer and longer. A PC who is affected by this illusion will climb the rope think he is climbing but his hands will slip down the rope. A PC looking down on an affected climbing character will see them climbing the rope without making progress and never getting more than 10 feet above the floor. If a PC uses levitation or flight or disbelieves the illusion then the doorway will animate and snap shut with a growl, severing any rope or chain that passes through it. The door will not re-open (as if magically locked), but is otherwise a simple wooden door and may be broken from either side. Climbing the walls is similarly impossible while affected by the illusion. If all player characters are inside the room then the door will automatically close.
The doorway out of the tower room leads to a spiral staircase leading down to the east side of the main entryway. The trail of fresh blood continues down the stairs.
If you like this adventure so far and want to play this as a PC with your own gaming group, now would be a great time to stop reading and suggest the adventure to your DM.
Main Entryway:
"The main hall is fairly large, about 30 by 30 feet and the 10-foot vaulted ceiling is crisscrossed with heavy wooden arches. The Iron-bound front door here is exceptionally large in every way, making you feel oddly small. The front door is flanked by two large windows which look out on a grassy field. There is a dark hallway leading to the West, a spiral stairway to the East leading up to the little girl's room, and a heavy looking ornate wooden door to the North. There are two couches here facing each other. The trail of fresh blood that continues down the stairs runs under the door to the North. You think you can barely make out some scratching noise behind the door. Before you can even figure out whether any of your friends have heard the noise, the heavy ornate door swings silently open. Beyond the door is magically dark and you can make out wisps of dark fog that flow out of the unknown space beyond. Almost at once the sound of tiny scratching footsteps is clearly audible. They accelerate to a run and a tiny skeletal humanoid comes running out of the darkness."
As with every window in this house, if the glass in the main room is broken then anything that appeared in the window is revealed to be an illusion and there was actually just dirt packed against the glass. If the characters attempt to break through a wall they will hear a loud growling sound coming from all around. If the characters are inside the house and manage to break through a wall or what appears to be an exterior door they will find that they are now underground and the dirt is packed hard just beyond the wall or door. The doorway or opening they created sprouts sharp teeth and bites at the adventurers. If they attempt to leave and dig their way out or continue to damage the house then the house comes to life (see below).
The tiny skeleton quickly attacks whoever is closest to the door. This encounter is actually just a single, tiny skeleton with 1 or 2 hit points and should be ridiculously simple to defeat. A character could stomp on it or kick it and it will die. If the characters flee this room then the skeletons will continue to come out of the closet as described and will pursue them throughout the house.
As soon as the tiny skeleton is slain, small skeleton footsteps are heard running and a small skeleton comes out of the closet and attacks the party. Again, this is just a small skeleton and should be a very easy encounter.
As soon as the small skeleton is slain, medium skeleton footsteps are heard running and a medium skeleton comes out of the closet and attacks the party. This is just a normal medium skeleton and should be an easy encounter.
As soon as the medium skeleton is slain, large footsteps are heard, more slowly making their way through the darkness. A skeletal ogre emerges from the darkness and attacks the party. This will be an average or easier encounter since it is still just a single unarmed skeleton.
As soon as the large skeleton is slain, there are a few heavy skeletal footsteps that vibrate the windows of the house. A moment later a huge unarmed skeleton crawls out of the doorway on its hands and knees. Since the huge skeleton is cramped in this space it should be at somewhat of a disadvantage, and may accidentally end up doing some damage to the walls or ceiling of this room. This may be a somewhat difficult encounter.
As soon as the huge skeleton is slain, there is a pause followed by two giant crashing footsteps which shake the foundation of the house. A window or two might break. An easy level appropriate dexterity check should be made in order to keep from falling down. A second later a Gargantuan skeletal arm emerges from the doorway almost up to about the shoulder. It is long enough to reach almost every part of this room. Since the party doesn't need to do enough damage to kill this gargantuan skeleton, and the skeleton can't see the party, this encounter may be even easier than the huge skeleton fight, or it could be harder, depending on how mean the DM wants to be. It will very likely do a lot of damage to this room. Once the bones in the skeletal arm are sufficiently broken it retreats back into the darkness.
There is a pause of several rounds. The door remains ominously open and all is silent. "There comes one more footstep. At first, you think that the house has exploded. The sound is deafening and leaves your ears ringing. The room is sprayed with tiny shards of glass from the large front windows as they are shattered. The foundation is rocked so violently that you're not sure if the ground beneath your feet heaved up and tossed you or just dropped away beneath you, but you land hard and it is difficult to remain standing." The players should make a hard difficulty level-appropriate dex check to remain standing. "A colossal skeletal finger thrusts its way slowly through the door, taking most of the door frame and part of the surrounding wall with it. It extends all the way across the room, tearing up every floorboard along the way. The colossal fingertip barely touches the front door and stops. It stays there, unmoving, but blocking passage between the East and West sides of this room."
This not really an encounter; the players need only do 1 point of damage to the skeletal finger. If they do not do any damage to the skeletal finger, it will simply remain there through the end of the adventure. It is somewhat difficult to climb over the finger unassisted, as it is about 8 feet tall, smooth and round.
If at least one point of damage is dealt to the finger: "The finger descends back into the darkness, taking even more of the doorway with it. It doesn't take a well trained eye to tell that the magical darkness is quickly dissipating. You can barely make out through the fading black fog the image of a colossal skeleton about 200 feet away. The doorway is at his eye level, the pinpoints of red lighting its eyes shine like blazing furnaces. It hauls back its fist and punches at the doorway. In the same instant that you're sure that the fist is going to demolish what is left of this room, the last of the dark fog dissipates with a soft "pop". The hallway beyond the door to the North is untouched."
Northern Hallway:
"This 15-foot wide, 50-foot long hallway is lined with large paintings of richly dressed people. There is a doorway on the West side which opens into the dining room and a second doorway further to the North on the West side which is closed. There is one large wooden door on the East side across from the dining room which is ajar and a smaller closed door further North on the East side across from the other door. There is also an ornate looking door at the Northern end of the hallway. You get the distinct impression that the paintings of the people are watching you somehow, but each time you look them in the eyes you see only a still painting. A lit chandelier near the end of the hallway squeaks as it swings back and forth very noticeably. The trail of fresh blood leads under the North West door."
The North West door leads into the kitchen. The South East door leads into the Torture room. The paintings are non-magical; it is just the party's paranoia. There is no sign at all of what makes the chandelier swing. The Northern door leads to the Master Bedroom. The North East door is a stairway down into the cellar and is locked but can be opened with a very difficult pick lock check or by using the fugitive's steel key.
If the party is entering from the kitchen or dining room and the colossal skeleton has not yet destroyed the dimensional pocket that is linked to the Southern door from here to the Main hall, then also describe that door as an Ornate heavy looking wooden door. If the current skeleton is killed in this hallway then the southern door here will open itself and release the next skeleton in the series. See the description of this encounter under the Main Entryway.
West Hallway:
"The South side of this narrow dark hallway is made up almost entirely of glass, as there are several large windows but they are covered by heavy curtains which only let in slivers of moonlight. Along the North side of the hallway there are two wide doors which lead into what appears to be the dining room. The East end of the hallway opens into the entry hall. At the west end of the hallway is a smaller door." The smaller door leads to the servants' quarters.
As the players make their way down the hall they can hear a tapping on the windows. If they ignore the tapping then it becomes a pounding. If they pull back the curtains then they see a sea of fresh zombies across rolling hills; dead people as far as the eye can see. The front row of zombies is pounding on the glass. The pounding is clearly audible, but the zombies make no other noises.
If a character touches any window then all of the windows in the hall will shatter and the zombies will reach their hands through. As with every window in the house, if the window is broken then the illusion of whatever was seen through the window is gone and there is actually a hard wall of dirt on the other side of the glass. In this case, however, the dirt is there but the zombies' hands and arms are protruding from the wall of dirt. In the 30 foot hallway there are about 200 hands and arms. If the arms are cut off of the wall (damaged) then they will become minion-level monsters and continue to crawl along the floor with their fingertips (move 5-ft/round) and grab at the adventurers. For a smart party this may be an incredibly easy encounter.
If the party has chosen to ignore the zombies and attempt to continue down the hallway either way then the zombies will wait until the first character reaches the destination before all of the windows shatter and the zombie arms will reach out and grab the rest of the party. Thus, if they were coming in from the dining room then they will be grabbed when one person reaches the main entry hall or the door at the end. If they're coming in from the main entry hall then they will wait until the first character reaches the doorway to the dining room. Anyone in the hallway when this happens will be grabbed by many arms (very high escape DC check) and squeezed against the wall (moderate crushing damage). If other characters can come to the rescue then it will be simple to escape. This encounter will still likely be quite easy. After this encounter the hallway and some of the adjoining rooms will likely be littered with humanoid limbs.
Servants Quarters:
"This small room houses a bunk bed and a broken armoire. Two skeletons lie in the two beds. They still remain dressed as they were in life, in simple servants' uniforms and tucked into their bed as if they'd died in their sleep." These are not undead. There is nothing of interest in the armoire.
Dining room:
"This large dining room is richly furnished. Large woven tapestries adorn the walls. There are large windows on the West wall and are covered by silky curtains, but no moonlight shines in from this side of the house. A giant table takes up most of the room, leaving only a narrow aisle around the edge of the room. It is surrounded by numerous intricately carved chairs. Each of the thirty or so place settings is set with fine silverware adorned with star rubies, pearlescent plates. A line of ten silver 3-candle candelabras runs down the center of the table. A thick plush carpet covers almost the entire floor. There is a closed door to the North, and a doorway leading into a hallway on the East wall. On the South side two doorways lead to a hallway that passes by the dining room and large windows with heavy curtains are visible through the doorways. The hundreds of candles on the giant chandelier and each of the candelabras light themselves as you step into the room."
Literally everything in this room is animated and it will all come to life. The timing of each is up to the DM; maybe the table will only come to life after the characters are already in the room fighting candelabras and chairs. The table will slam against the walls and likely crush the tops of the chairs. The chairs will walk to the party and kick them and slam into them. The plates and silverware throw themselves at the party. The silverware will twist to stab at anyone who picks it up. The curtains will twist into fingers and hands and grab at the characters to lift them off the ground. The rug will kick up to throw the characters off balance. The chandelier's hundreds of burning candles explode from it, showering the room with fire. The candelabras will bounce or crawl off the table and attempt to set the characters on fire.
Navigating through this room may be a challenge, especially with the huge table trying to injure anyone. If someone gets on top of the table it will attempt to buck them off but is not terribly good at it. If someone gets underneath the table then the table will attempt to stomp on them, which will hurt a lot, but there are large areas that the table cannot reach with its legs. The plates and silverware will each only throw themselves once, but they will not throw themselves all at once. The chairs and candelabras that are not crushed by the table will follow the party out of the room.
The table has hardness of wood and is also even more resistant to piercing damage. It may be as difficult to kill as the DM chooses; even continuing to attack the adventurers after being set on fire and/or cut in half, but it should not be able to exit the dining room.
Kitchen:
"What you can see of the 20-by-20-foot kitchen is very clean aside from a trail of fresh blood that leads from the western door to the lifeless body of the fugitive that the party was chasing. He grasps an intricate steel key in his hand. There is a single knife stuck in a large round table and the only light in this room comes from a single candle lit in a chandelier above the table which seems to only cast light on the table below. There is a double-wide door on the Northern wall of this room, a single door on the Southern wall and another door on the Western wall. There are windows on the Eastern wall but the moonlight doesn?t shine through them on this side of the house. You hear some pots rattling quietly on the shelves on the other side of the room."
A closer inspection of the fugitive's body indicates that he was bitten on the neck. His leg was broken in his fall in the tower room. The body is cold; it looks like he has been here for some time. Pots rattle occasionally from an unknown force but become still when any character approaches. There is nothing that can be found that is doing this. The kitchen knife is ordinary. The single candle is an ever-burning flame and it just so happens that the shape of the chandelier allows the light to be cast so specifically on the table. The door to the North leads to the Zombie room. The door to the East leads to the Northern Hallway and the door to the South leads to the dining room.
Torture room:
"The door to this room lies slightly ajar. The room is 20 feet square. Four-pairs of manacles on 15-foot-long chains are attached to the Southern wall. Scratches up to an inch deep crisscross the entire floor which is stained dark brown by an untold amount of dried blood. There are also scratch marks on some of the walls. Broken arrows litter the corners of the room. Everything here is covered in some amount of long-dried blood including sprays and splatters on the ceiling. Along the far wall is a vast array of hundreds of implements of torture: knives, thumb screws, and dozens more you can't even name. They are spread out on what you first assumed was a shelf, but after a mere moment you realize that no shelf exists here and the implements are simply levitating."
When the first adventurer steps foot in the room the implements form a swarm and attack the character. Also the door slams itself shut behind the first adventurer. The door can be caught by a level-appropriate high dexterity check by anyone nearby, or unlocked by an easy lock picking check, forced open by a level-appropriate high strength check or beaten down; it is made of partially rotted wood and should not take the party more than two rounds to destroy it. Treat this medium difficulty solo encounter as a swarm, except that it has a hardness rating and is an evil-aligned construct. Add level-appropriate damage reduction as appropriate, bypassed only by Good-aligned or adamantine weapons. Good-aligned AND adamantine weapons will have their crit range doubled against this otherwise un-crittable monster. It is immune to non-magical fire. The monster will not attempt to pursue the party more than 30 feet from the doorway of this room.
Zombie room:
"Behind the heavy steel door lies a room that is packed with dead bodies standing shoulder to shoulder. The stench of rotting flesh is of a power that few of you have ever experienced. As the door swings open several bodies tumble out only to be buried in a wave of more bodies that fall over on top of them. Almost at once the bodies begin to stir and attempt to stand from the pile."
Upon opening this door any characters who can smell must make a fortitude check or be sickened until they leave the vicinity of this doorway (50 feet). This room can release up to 100 zombies. It should be enough that the players know that they need to flee, but can be tapered off if the players are having problems. The rate the zombies emerge should initially be large, but is at the DM's discretion. The encounter will likely be difficult, but can be stopped if the closet is successfully closed with a DC20 strength check.
Master Bedroom:
"The master bedroom, a 20 by 40 foot room, is illuminated by a silent fire in a hearth in the far corner and by the moonlight that slips past the purple silk curtains that cover three high windows. The rest of the room is richly furnished with deep purple drapes and sheets on a high four-posted bed. Even the floor is covered in a thick, plush carpet. A man sits in a high backed chair near the fire. His skin is an ashen grey and his eyes are unnaturally dark. His friendly smile allows fangs to slip past his lips. He speaks to you in a very calming voice at once when you enter the room: 'Please come in friends and have a seat. I very much want to talk to you, but you would do well to stay away from me. I can smell your blood from here.'"
This human vampire is named Cadema the Baker. He has not fed in some time and he's sure that the mere smell of their blood would send him into a frenzy. He says that he used to be a baker by trade until he became a vampire a few years ago and recently discovered this house and decided that it would be a good place to hide out, being that it is underground and only surfaces at night. He found out that if you spend more than the evening in the house then you will exit an entire year later. About a thirty nights ago he went to visit his great grandson, Corril, who also aspired to be a baker like him and his son and his grandson. He wishes that he could give the boy a cookbook of recipes that had belonged to their family for four generations before him, and claims that there are such secrets in it that would bring the mouths of kings from across the mountains to his father's door. He has no more use for the book, as even the sweetest of delights taste as ash in his mouth. After giving the book to the players he says that he is without his one true love of sweet food, and no will to feed on people and cause them any more pain. He asks that they do him the favor of killing him. He warns that others have tried, but every time he loses control at the smell of their blood and goes into a blood rage and kills those who would end his suffering. If the party agrees to try to kill him then he asks the party's forgiveness for any pain that he will cause them and then signals that he is ready. The party may take as long as they wish to prepare for this fight, and Cadema will even assist them in vampiric lore checks, though he knows little about other vampires. Even if the party chooses to pass on this encounter they may also choose to take or leave the cookbook.
The vampire will not attack back or dodge or defend himself for the first round. On the second round he loses his self control and begins to fight back. Even with the head start this should be a fairly hard solo encounter. When defeated he likely reverts to gaseous form and escapes through cracks in the floorboard and is not seen again. There is no sign of his coffin within the house. A detect undead spell may reveal the vampire resting in his coffin which is about 10 feet behind one of the walls. As with all walls in the house, if the characters attempt to break through the wall and dig through the dirt then they will hear a loud growling from all around. If they attempt to dig toward the vampire then the hole in the wall will animate, grow sharp teeth and bite at the adventurers. If they continue to damage the house then the house comes to life (see below).
Cellar:
"At the bottom of the stairs is a very large unlit room with a dirt floor and cobblestone walls. Old gravestones are packed closely together in narrow rows. Despite being sheltered underground the gravestones appear to have a great deal of weathering, making the ancient letters almost unreadable, and they are in a language that you've never seen before. In the center of the graveyard is a pedestal with a large red crystal; its dull glow is the only light here and it casts just enough light to see that there are five [or insert party size] empty graves around the pedestal."
Characters who get close can hear the faint but incessant screams of hundreds of beings from within the crystal and feel a pulse of sickening dark energy like a heartbeat. The crystal is fastened securely in place. If the party makes sufficient attempts to remove or damage the crystal then a loud, low growling is heard from all around. If they continue to attempt to remove or damage the crystal then the house comes to life. No bodies will be found if the players attempt to dig up graves. Digging in the floor here is permissible.
The House Comes to Life:
"The house shudders and dirt and dust falls from rafters as the walls themselves twist around and loud cracks can be heard as the beams and studs in the walls break themselves. Splinters of wood break through the plaster of the walls and twist themselves around to stab at you. Somewhere in the house you hear a crashing sound as an entire room caves in. The dirt leaking from the ceiling above you is quickly becoming worse."
Any player character within 5 feet of any wall will be attacked. These splinters are minion-level monsters and can each be killed with a single hit but there are many of them and they are pretty much everywhere.
If the players never approach the crystal or damage the house, the DM should use his discretion to trigger this event whenever he feels the players have completed the adventure; no part of the adventure is mandatory except for this event.
After a moderate amount of damage is done to the house the house stops attacking and begins to collapse more quickly. At the DM's discretion, any room may be already caved in.
One way or another every character will be buried.
(Option 1): If the players have been running from one room to the next, the rooms should collapse one at a time, possibly burying the party members one or more at a time. There might even be a short pause before the last adventurer is buried; leaving him to believe that he alone will survive. Then the room he is in also collapses.
(Option 2): The floor gives way beneath the party and each falls neatly into one of the graves in the basement (assuming the players have exited the basement).
Finale:
"The rest of the house shatters and quickly gives way to a flood of soft dirt which falls and fills all spaces, burying everything and everyone. You feel the dirt pressing on you, the weight growing to what feels like you're being crushed. There is no air here; you cannot breathe. You cannot move. You are enveloped in complete darkness and after a moment when the when the house has finished collapsing, everything is still and silent. You have just been buried alive. You feel yourself start to lose consciousness but instead you suddenly snap awake. You are freed from your earthly cocoon and find yourself lying on your back looking up at a moonlit sky full of stars. You are covered in loose, moist dirt. You're in a field, just off of the road and around you lie your party and the fugitive; his eyes wide but devoid of life and his illicit package lies on the ground, still clutched tightly in his grasp. Fifty feet away there is an odd pointy building in the field just off the road with a small door in the side. The dark shingles glisten in the moonlight as if coated by a layer of fresh and flowing blood. You take a moment to wipe some dirt from your eyelashes and when you open your eyes again the building is gone; replaced by a simple outhouse made of reddish wood. Come to think of it, you really have to go..."
If any or all party members have died during this adventure other than being buried alive, they will also awaken here in the field covered in dirt at the same time as the rest of the party. Attempted resurrections do not work while inside this house, as the character isn't actually dead.
The party can rest anywhere in the house without being harassed by wandering encounters, but if they spend more than 8 hours in this house then when they emerge it will be on a harvest full moon one year later.
Epilogue:
The party may take the vampire's cookbook back to Corril the baker at the nearby village and he may offer to reward them with some magical food if they'll come back when he has mastered the recipes in the book. (Magical bonuses are at the discretion of your DM.) Corril may become a worthwhile contact in this tiny town. As he will gain great wealth over time by using the recipes in this book, he will always be glad to help out the party. Additional adventures may follow while attempting to gather rare ingredients for Corril.
The party may have also retrieved the fugitive's stolen item and turn it in. The reward should be an appropriate treasure for all encounters defeated. Optionally, no treasure can actually be removed from the house.
The story starts of a headstrong young drow named Arcanous (pronounced Are-K-Noose), gifted in the ways of necromancy. He wanted but two things in life: power and wealth. As he would gain one, the other would follow, no sacrifice would be too big or too small to achieve his goals. Finally after years of work he'd gained the notice of Lolth herself. It was said that she gave him a task and sent him forth with the promise of knowledge of a ritual to increase his power one hundred fold upon his success. To this day know one knows of his fate, whether he'd failed or succeeded but what was known was before he'd taken to his task he'd hidden all of his riches, a vast wealth even today, and hidden it deep in a cave with in a dark forest to be protected by the bodies of those he crushed on his rise to power. A cave which the rogue had recently discovered.
Before he was able to hire a party from nearby Neverwinter though he was ambushed by a group of bandits who had taken all he had, including the journal which contained the path to the cave. Possibly the only reason he'd been alive still was a passing bard had brought him to this lodge where he was able to recover. Whether it be justice, the call of adventure or the search of fortune, your party steps forward to assist.
The terrain is dense forest with hard wind and rainmaking visibility difficult. At one point you're attacked by a pack of wolves. A standard encounter as you probably just wandered into their territory on your journey. The size of the pack is dependent of the size of the group to add difficulty as they are just standard wolves. A second encounter is of a small group of bandits, no doubt part of the clan that ambushed your guide. Dressed head to toe in dark greens and browns they can easily hide in the forest day or night making it easy to ambush weary travelers. Two archers that attack from a far as cover a thief with daggers, a fighter with an ax, one with sword, and a monk.
It's through this encounter that you learn the where about of the bandit camp. Entering it seems to be shut down for the night, so stealth is an option instead of combat. Set up as a shanty town of sorts it's mostly wagons instead of tents, all shut tight to wait out the storm. There are a few traps hidden through out the camp, any of which could alert the bandits if triggered. The Loot is stored in the bigger wagon along with the Bandit leader, depending on the route taken he's either awake from the alarm, or asleep from the stealth. Stealth how ever fails as the rogue botches his revenge leading to an early ?boss fight?.
Having dispatched the Bandit leader (and gained some loot in the process) you're soon at the mouth of the cave, almost a welcomed site as it's free of the poor weather outside. Occasionally your party stumbles across a random wolf or bandit enemy (no doubt hiding from the storm) as you venture into the cave, though the deeper you go the less you see of normal enemies and more spiders and their webs, both becoming larger the further in you go. The webs eventually encompassing all but a narrow path on the floor riddled with web traps, some holding you in place, others calling in a small group of spiders to attack along with the irregular appearance of a corpse or two which also become more common as you traverse the cave. Some are bandits that ventured too deep while others look like they might have been towns people from Neverwinter that got lost on the woods. The more powerful of the undead are much older and do far gone to see what they once might have been.
Fighting your way through you come a cross a large chamber in the cave with three pathways. The middle leading to another chamber blocked by a large ornate door, almost as if someone had built a castle out of the cave itself. Another leads to the hatchery, a room full of dozens of eggs, large and pulsing ready to hatch eggs, the other is full of the bodies, possibly a feeding chamber as many are still trapped in the webs and look quite fresh. Both of which need to be searched as a means of opening the great door. The eggs act as traps, unleashing small spiders when triggered, some of which will try to attach to the back of your neck digging into the skin causing random effects like poison or confusion, some even causing party members to attack others for a short time. Defeating or evading the traps here you find a large key matching the decorations of the door, clearly designed in tribute to Lolth. The other room acts as a loot chamber letting you find small items to heal or rearm yourself from the items once owned by the trapped. On one of the skeletons you find in the room is a large handle which could be attached to the door. Upon picking it up the room shakes slightly as the small spiders (like from the hatchery) begin swarming the room attaching to the bodies, seemingly reanimating them to attack.
Fending off both the spiders and the undead you finally reach the last room and open the great doors. You're nearly blinded as all the treasure glistens in the light of the room. The room is silent except for the sound of dripping water as well as the shuffling sound of some small animals, likely a few rats or spiders afraid to come out. Your party as well as the guide revels in the victory and riches blindly as you fail to realize the doors have closed behind you. Around the walls of the room there are large piles here and there, some gold, some jewels, things woven beautifully of 'unknown' silk, some ancient and arcane scrolls of untold knowledge. There are even several suits of full armor shining as if freshly polished, some having an almost mystic aura to them. In the center of the room there is a large platform surrounded by a large pit of unknown depth. At the center of this platform is a large chest adorned in a similar fashion of the key and doors, clearly the centerpiece of this collected wealth. As your party approaches the small bridge to reach it you hear a disembodied voice echoing ominously from the very walls of the cavern. ?While my pets keep me well fed, it's been ever so long since I've been able to hunt for myself......?
Following the voice is a maniacal laughter as a large Drider drops from the cave ceiling standing over the chest. The former Drow turned monster has long white, almost web like hair, a neatly kept goatee and looks as if he'd once been a wise and knowledgeable elder, with slight bags under his normal red eyes although forehead held several smaller eyes. His body turning from normal Drow skin to a chitinous armor plating as it furthered down his torso leading into a monstrous spider frame. Two arms and eight legs he begins attacking switching between arcane blasts from his hands to slashing strikes with his forelegs to even trying to trap your party with webbing. At every quarter of his life taken he will retreat to the caverns ceiling hiding among the stalactites and darkness. He summons a group of undead and small hatchery spiders to attack as he drops web traps on the floor to avoid. Once each wave is defeated he will drop back down attacking the group. Once he is down three quarters of his life he will shift forms from a drider to a giant spider, losing his magic attacks for more feral spider like moves. In his final summon of the spiders/undead instead of hiding in the ceiling he climbs into the pit, periodically reaching out and swiping at adventurers or spitting poison but leaving him vulnerable to attacks. Once the party has taken the last of his health the Giant Spider staggers from on side to the other then back again, the last few steps end over the pit causing him to fall into it's unknown depths leaving the Ornate chest in the center ready for the taking. Congratulations to you and your party as they collect their loot and rewards and defeating the Drider Arcanous.
As you exit the cave, the storm has passed and it is safe for your company to travel on. The rogue asks if you're sure you don't want to return to the inn, but you decline and head your separate ways. It's a shame that with all your celebrating no one noticed the rogue's bags were full of eggs and not gold, or that the breeze blowing through his long dark hair revealed something dug into the back of his neck as he walked back to the inn whistling an eerie tune.
A creation by the mind of the Insane Mad Dungeon Master Aaron.
Maps and Drawings made by Aaron Andersen.
All quotes are either direct quotes or plays upon Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Background:
The Village of Debin's Edge lies just outside the northern boundaries of Neverwinter Forest and is a reclusive home for the families that have lived there for many generations since its founding by the pioneer Debin Rompenstein. Rumors have begun to spread of missing persons and strange lightning storms coming from the Rompenstein estate which can be picked up at any inn of any of the surrounding villages or even the village or Debin's Edge itself. If the players chose to follow the lead they can find the whereabouts of the village by,
A) Getting directions from a friendly NPC that would know the surrounding area.
C) Following the lightning storms that should start appearing in the distance if they leave their current town in a different direction than they came.
If your players don't bite you can try enticing them with the fact that the current lord of the Rompenstein estate is a very talented construct/magical item creator and an entrepreneur of adventure's who wish to pawn off artifacts and other extraordinary goods.
In any case whenever they arrive at the village advance to
Part 1. Arrival at Diben's Edge.
The players arrive at the outskirts of Dibin's Edge. The village has no walls and from the looks of it no guards patrolling the entrances to and from the village. When the players get close enough to hear have them make a DC 15 Perception Check to hear the crowd gathered in the village center. (If the PC's advance at night have the mob carrying a variety of lit torches.)
From somewhere within the crowd you hear the shout of a desperate young man.
"They've gone too far this time governor!"
Cries of agreement stagger with greater frequency into an inane rabble. Silence follows and a high pitched voice echoes forth.
"The children are of my utmost concern! However, with the violence of this storm can you justify me asking you to risk your lives looking for the children at the manner?"
The silence continues and a general air of reluctance stagnates in the crowd.
"Can't professor Rompenstein help us?" Shouts an older woman from within the crowd.
"Jona we have already sent some of the militia to get help from Professor Rompenstein and none of them have returned. How can I send more of my people forward if I can't understand the situation surrounding the manner?"
If the players haven't intervened by now the crowd disperses into unhappy weeping and hopeless regret. With only the mayor and his advisers standing present.
Mayor Elfort Conny is a middle aged male Halfing with a plump build and un-groomed features. He cannot pay any gold for the investigation of the missing children but he does possess a heirloom that can lead to (the next player adventure insert mcguffin here). All he knows is that the kids went to explore the Rompenstein Estate, a large manor that sits atop an eerie outcrop overlooking the city. Yesterday Professor Rompenstein's assistant Megor made his weekly carriage ride to the city to stock on supplies for the manor. The mayor notes that Megor pays far above average prices on Rompensteins behalf with well-wishing's for the village with every departure. The village itself has not seen Professor Rompenstein for some time however.
Whether they decide to help the village or investigate the manor on their own the manor itself is very easy to find. All the players have to do is follow the road leading out of the village, information that any NPC living in Diben's Edge can provide. No matter how they get to the manor they advance to Part 2.
Part 2. The Rompenstein Estate.
A heavy darkness surrounds the Rompenstein Estate as rain pours and lightning roars white slashes across the sky. At the end of the rising road towards the estate an Iron gate bars the way. As you get closer you see what appears to be a face forged across the thick iron bars. A deep creaky voice rattles across the bars.
"WHO GOES THERE?"
As you assume the role of Rusty the old gatekeeper of the Rompenstein estate it is important to note that his eyesight and hearing aren't as barring as they used to be. It would be easy for a PC of at least decent ability to bluff his way past the gate especially if he plays along with the Rusty's painfully droning stories. Also make sure that the players remember that they are in the middle of a rain and lightning storm.
If the players try to force their way past Rusty or bypass him through means like flight he gets very angry and draws lightning towards himself. Once per a turn he can shoot a lightning bolt that deals 4d6 electric damage and arcs to 2 additional targets dropping 1d6 damage each time for a total of (4d6+3d6+2d6 damage) the bolt has a range of 120ft and arcs 40ft each time.
Rusty has 120hp and a hardness of 10 (equivalent to 4 bars breaking)
No matter how they get passed, Rusty is a CR8 encounter.
As they advance towards the manor they are greeted by an Owlbear with a top-hat and an umbrella which a DC15 Knowledge Local reveals to be Mr. Megor.
"Welllrlrrlrlrlecome thoo the Rllrlrlrrlompenstein estate. I trllrluhst Ywho will want to see my master?"
#1 Rompensteins Bedroom
Rompensteins bedroom is a luxurious room filled with ornate furnature and plenty of silk sheets and silverworks strewn about. All of the pictures that litter the dressers and the mirror in the corner have the glass broken, the pictures are missing. If the PC's decide to loot the room there is about 500gp worth of silver throughout it.
#2-5 Guest Rooms
These are all well decorated rooms that appear to have not been used in some time. Though they are well kept as Megor has kept the cobwebs off the ceiling and the dust off the dressers so to speak. Feel free to change the colors of the sheets and such, though I prefer them uniform as it suits professor rompenstein better.
#6 The Washroom
Like Rompensteins room the mirrors have been shattered but everything else remains immaculate.
#7 The Study
This room is locked with a steel masterwork lock DC35. If the room is forced open the PC's can find notes and schematics thrown around the room and pinned to every section of the walls detailing the creation of some type of machine codenamed
Project T.W.R.E.C.K.S.
(Don't show them the stat block obviously)
They can also find the notes detailing an entrance to the laboratory behind a shelf in the dining room with a plaque above it.
#8 The Dining Room
A DC 25 sense motive reveals that Megor knows the whereabouts of the children but will never disclose the answer. If the PC's don't chose to discern his sincerity continue to the next encounter which is Megor inviting them in for dinner.
The dinner table is a vast expanse of expertly cooked pork, salad and fresh produce and drinks with rufflings of owlbear feathers mixed here and there.
If the players inquire about Professor Rompenstein you can drop these quotes throughout the conversation. (Remember to stay in character with the voice that sounds like the tootsy pop owl).
"He has love in him unlike any person I have ever met and rage unlike any other as well. If he does not satisfy one he tends to satisfy the other."
"He had an accident a while ago and lost the majority of his flesh to this accursed storm. It was not the burns that brought sorrow upon him but the loss of his nature. He told me. "Nothing is so painful to the human mind as great and sudden change"."
"When falsehood can look so like the truth how can a human assure himself of greater happiness?"
There is also a plaque upon the wall that bears in chiseled script
"Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity and ruin."
And so advances the third and final part of the adventure.
Part 3. Things that go Romp in the Night.
Later into the night if they are either invited to sleep over to pass the storm or the dinner takes more time than expected (longer than 20 minutes) the players are shook by a massive rumbling from the other side of the house. Professor Rompenstein has completed the T-WRECKS a massive Iron Golem that he has bound his soul to as his phylactery. If the players head to the source of the sound they find his laboratory filled with high level potions and scrolls with the drained bodies of the children and adults sent to find them. Written in blood on the wall is "IF I CAN NO LONGER INSPIRE LOVE I WILL INSPIRE FEAR!". Below the writing is a horribly burned man with a face covered in agony holding a journal and the body of a young boy from the village.
The Journal is mostly filled with pages that have been covered over with ink except for one which is dated with the sessions current date (fill-able if you print out the handout)
The players can easily track the Professor as he heads towards the town. If you feel like you can roleplay the professor well enough for a diplomacy conclusion then do so if the players want to. Otherwise he only seeks to rampage towards the village and enact revenge on the citizens that live there. Regardless of how they stop Professor Rompenstein they are successful if the village survives and fail in tragedy if he gets to the village and ruins it by destroying the buildings and slaughtering the inhabitants.
The distance is as long as you need it to be to ensure they have several rounds to try and stop Rompenstein bound to the T-Wrecks.
Edit: for some reason adding the images using the image command posted them as links I hope they still count even though they aren't technically in the post. All of the images were made by me personally and not used for anything else other than this contest.
[ooc/ I do not claim any ownership of the pictures included in the story. They are merely added to enhance the enjoyment of readers of the story and can be taken out if need be save the riddle scroll which is essential to the story and my creation /ooc]
Moriera leaned her head and back up against the massive tree trunk as she sat in a dark hollow of exposed roots flowing out of an ancient oak tree. The outside world bathed in the mid-day sun was no place for a shade but Moriera felt an iota of comfort under the thick and daunting canopy of intertwined leaves and branches that made up the Neverwinter Woods where there were shadows a plenty. She clutched her beloved shortbow close to her chest and closed her eyes as she tried to get even the smallest bit of rest but the maelstrom of images whirling in her mind prevented this.
[...]
After waking up from the drow sleep poison, she could have immediately returned to Mordekai who was probably still licking his wounds well after the sounds of battle had long since died down. However, try as she did, she could not find the will to return to the dark and brutal lifestyle she had been living for the last 30+ years. Not to mention, she would probably be taking the brunt of Mordekai's rage and frustration for her catastrophic failure as a "sentry" for the camp. No, she was done with all that which left the unanswered question floating in her head. [What to do now going foward?] she asked herself the following night as she conducted a quick survey of the clearing where she and her shade contingent had made their camp. A careful scrutiny of the southwest tree line of the clearing joyfully reunited her with her beloved cherry wood shortbow but also revealed that the "would be assasin" that had stolen her talisman of comfort was truly a force to reckon with judging by the level of devastation she saw in the aftermath of what was undoubtedly a large battle. She could not believe a single person could have possibly routed Mordekai's shade contingent especially with the presence of the war-devils and the giant-sized footprints she spotted in the dirt near where she found her shortbow confirmed this as she slipped back into the dark forest.
The following night as she was skulking for news around the camp of a caravan fresh out Neverwinter, Moriera heard snippets of conversation between merchants regarding a new and extremely accurate seer that just moved into the River District of the city. This Madame Zazu apparently had accurately predicted a future business transaction for one of the merchants who ended up making quite a handsome profit. Moriera was intrigued by what she heard and made up her mind then and there to seek this Madame Zazu out to find a direction in her "life."
[...]
As night fell across the land, Moriera easily made her way to the northern outer wall of Neverwinter. She did not bother going to an entrance for fear of the type of reception she would receive being a shade and all. Moriera approached the darkest shadowed portion of the wall and wrapped the shadows around her like a blanket and vanished only to reappear on the other side in another shadowy recess of the wall. As much as she hated to admit it, being a shade did have its advantages such as shadow-stepping. Having never been in Neverwinter, Moriera had absolutely no idea where she was much less where the River District lay, so she did the only thing she could. She covered her head with the hood of her Netherese robes, picked a direction to walk in and hoped that Tymora would smile on the renegade shade.
Many hours later Moriera stood before a rather nondescript storefront in the River District of Neverwinter. A few torches were lit nearby and she was able to read, "Madame Zazu, Advisor and Seer" freshly painted on a wooden sign above the door. Moriera opened the softly creaking door and stepped inside. She was immediately assaulted with the heavy smell of burning incense and dust which made her wrinkle her nose. She looked around at the drab but comfortable looking furnishings in the room. "Hello?" she timidly called out clutching her shortbow in front of her.
"Why yes...." a disembodied female voice floating in from across the room.
Moriera looked across the room as a human female brushed apart the beaded curtain that hung in the doorway and stepped into the room.
"I am Madame Zazu, " the woman smiled as she crossed over to Moriera. "I see all and I know all. Please have a seat, " she added as she indicated to a large pile of pillows on the floor surrounding a low round table.
Moriera slowly sat down on the pillows but kept the hood on her robes on in an effort to hide her true nature from the fortune teller.
Madame Zazu kneeled down on a pillow and lit a large candle on the low round table and turned her attention to Moriera as the candle sputtered to life. "You need not be afraid, " she stated in a very reassuring tone, "no one will hurt you here, little shadow..." She moved a little closer to Moriera. "Now, let's have a look at you, " she stated as she reached for the folds of the hood of the robe. "May I? " she asked with her hands in the air. The hood seemed to nod and Madame Zazu folded back the hood and gently pushed the robes off of Moriera's shoulders and on to the floor. Moriera was instantly bathed in the candlelight. "Now, isn't that better, little shadow?" Madame Zazu ask the elven shade who slightly nodded her agreement. "Now, how can I help you?" she added with a smile.
Moriera started off slowly, unsteadily and unsure of herself, but like the breaking of a great dam that starts with the smallest of trickles, she eventually relayed all of her frustrations, all of her fears, and all of the darkness in her heart since she became a shade and the dark times even before that. She started crying halfway through her account of her life in the last 100 years or so and finished her tale in between sobs. Madame Zazu patiently listened throughout the entire heart wrenching account and offered her a handkerchief to dry the tears on her little grey face.
"You seek direction, a path to follow, " Madame Zazu asked to which Moriera nodded. "How about redemption or salvation?" she added with a look of seriousness.
Moriera hesitated. "What do you mean?" she asked Madame Zazu.
"What price would you be willing to pay for the return of your elven soul?" Madame Zazu clarified.
"No price would be too high, " Moriera answered emphatically with hope in her eyes for the first time in a very long time.
"Where are you staying tonight?" Madame Zazu asked suddenly changing the subject.
"I have no place to stay, " a confused Moriera replied. "What do I need to do to..." she started ask when Madam Zazu hushed her.
"I will consult the spirits tonight and get an answer for you and it usually works best when I am alone, " she answered as she took out a small piece of parchment, a quill and an inkwell from beneath the round table. She made a few scribbles and handed over the piece of parchment. "Go to that address and enter from the side door, " she instructed Moriera, "ask for Madame Rosene and tell her Madame Zazu sent you and that you need a place to stay and she will take care of you. Rest up and wait for me there and I will send you all that I learn from the spirit world as soon as I am done with my divinations."
Madam Zazu stood back up gathered the Netherese robes back up off the floor and looked at the sigil stitched into the fabric. A slight look of scorn flashed in her face but was gone in a blink of an eye. "These will simply not do, " she called back to Moriera as she reached into a small dark alcove and retrieved a folded pile of dark fabric. Madame Zazu shook out the fine black woolen cloak, wrapped it around Moriera's shoulders and covered her little grey head with the hood.
"Thank you... " the elven shade gratefully stated, "How much do I owe you for this, " she indicated to the cloak, "and for your services?" Moriera started to reach into her beltpouch.
"No, no, no... " Madame Zazu insisted as she placed a cold but gentle hand upon Moriera and stopped her from opening her belt pouch. "We will discuss the small matter of my payment, later..." she added vaguely.
Madame Zazu gently ushered confused Moriera out of her shop and into the cold night air, "go to that address and await my answer..."
Honestly, Moriera wasn't sure quite about her decision to seek out the rather strange woman. However, as she stood outside of the shop in her brand new cloak, she decided to have a little faith and walked off into the night to do as she was instructed.
[...]
A few hours later, there was a gentle knocking at the door to Moriera's room at the Driftwood Tavern. Moriera got off the bed, unsheathed a dagger and slowly approached the door. "Who is it, " she tentatively asked through the door.
"I bear your answer from Madame Zazu, " a low voice answered through the door.
Moriera cautiously unlocked the door with her left hand, held the dagger behind the door with her right and looked out to see a smartly dressed halfling carrying a rolled up scroll. She took the scroll from the halfing, tossed it on the bed and thanked him with a gold piece with which he promptly left. Moriera then closed and relocked the door. She sat down on the bed and opened the scroll.
After reading the scroll, a confused Moriera flopped herself on to the bed, folded her arms behind her head, and stared at the ceiling. "Who hates me the most?" she mused out loud, "I'm a shade... basically everyone... but that doesn't help." She grabbed the scroll again. "Green hair and gold eyes... a female rogue... fleeting ghost... hates the most..." Moriera sat up on the bed with a start. "The 'would-be assassin!' " she blurted out remembering the gold-flecked green eyes. "She has something that will help me get my soul back!" Moriera stated as she flopped back down on the bed as the first light of dawn started peeking in around the shade covered window of her room. She gave off a huge yawn and before long she was dreaming about shadowy crowns, lands of the dead, evil keys, and her soul to set free...
The next evening, a determined Moriera set out to find her emerald haired and golden eyed rogue. Many hours and even more bags of silver later, she crouched in the shadows across the street from the Source Stone Tavern. "Jade Korianthil..." she whispered into the night as she rubbed the back of her little grey right hand. Moriera steeled up her courage and was about to walk towards the tavern when the sound of booted feet and horse hooves made her retreat deeper into the shadows. She watched as a dwarf and an elflord approached the inn leading their asperii mounts behind them. Moriera almost gasped in wonderment at the sight of the amazing wind steeds, but quickly controlled herself. The elflord and dwarf intoned a few arcane phrases and both of their mounts shifted into a tiny figurine form which the pair picked up and stashed on their respective bodies. There was something extremely familiar about the elflord. An extremely old and faded memory that was just out of Moriera's reach...
[...]
"I told you we'd make good time with our new magical steeds, " Kyrin Korianthil jovially stated as he slapped the back of Debeers Diamondhammer, his dwarven brother-in-arms.
As they walked towards the tavern door, Kyrin hesitated as Debeers opened the door. "You go ahead first, " the elflord responded to the questioning look the dwarf shot his way. "I want to make myself presentable after all I've not seen her for what, nearly 50 years, " the elflord added as he began to brush the dust off of his studded black leather traveling tunic.
"Suit yourself! " Debeers answered and stepped in. "I need a drink or ten, you'll find me by the bar..." the dwarf's voice stated as it floated through the rapidly closing door.
"Make sure you have that anti-hang-over spell ready, you crazy cleric!" Kyrin retorted as he began to brush the dust off of his black leather breeches.
<Lord Korianthil...> the shadows called out to the elflord in elvish.
Kyrin immediately dropped into a crouch as an ebony bladed longsword suddenly appeared in his right hand along with 5 glowing balls of crimson energy that orbited his left.
<Identify yourself!> the elflord called backed dangerously while scanning all around him.
A diminutive cloaked figure holding a cherry wood shortbow in her left hand emerged from the shadows and removed the hood of her cloak to reveal an angular, ashen gray face flanked by delicately pointed elven ears.
<It has been many centuries, my lord, but on Evermeet you knew me as Ar'elandi Starym,> the elven shade revealed and hesitated for a second realizing she had not spoken her real name in over 30 years. <And, I need your and more specifically, your niece's help...> she added with miniscule glimmer of hope in her ashen grey eyes.
(Continued in the Source Stone Tavern)
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
"You're staying here?" Jade asked her uncle as they walked up to the Driftwood Tavern in the Blacklake District of Neverwinter.
"Sort of..." Kyrin replied rather cryptically as he opened the door for her and Debeers. As they passed through the main tavern room, Jade was quite shocked at to just how different this "tavern" was compared to the Source Stone. First of all, the entire tavern was chock full of what other people would call "antiques" or "relics" but it was basically all old junk to Jade. The second thing that was so shocking about the place was the quiet atmosphere. [This was more a library than a tavern, ] Jade thought. [A good place for talking I suppose, ] she also thought as they walked up the stairs to the second floor. The three of them walked down a hallway and stopped at one of the the non-descript doors. Kyrin softly knocked on the door and called out, "It's us, we're all here." Jade was extremely curious to just what was going on when the door opened up revealing a moderate sized room decorated with a simple bed, a round table with a few chairs, a dresser and a full length mirror on the wall. A bit nicer than her room back at the Source Stone Tavern but not by much. Kyrin quickly ushered Jade into the room without another word and a confused Debeers followed in after them. As soon as the door closed, Jade turned around to see who had opened the door for them and immediately drew her blades!
"YOU!!!" she vehemently exclaimed as she saw the elven shade close the door and rushed straight at her. But Jade never reached Ar'elandi as her uncle Kyrin suddenly jumped in between them and stopped Jade's mad rush.
"Uncle!" she screamed out loud, "do you know what she is? What she's done?" Jade tried to flailingly force her way around her uncle only to be further restrained by Debeers as well. "How did you erase that marking spell I placed on your sorry hide?" she shouted. The dwarf had absolutely no clue what was going on but, as usual, he supported whatever crazy, elf-brained plan Kyrin was obviously trying to hatch. "I told you what I would do to you if you came seeking revenge on me, " Jade continued to shout as Debeers dragged her off to the other side of the room. Suddenly, there was a more forceful knocking at the door. Moriera pulled on the hood of her cloak and opened the door a crack. It was a pair of house guards led by Madame Rosene herself who asked if everything was all right. Ar'elandi quietly assured them all was well, perhaps a little over-spirited but well and closed the door.
Kyrin slightly nodded to Ar'elandi who quietly sat down on the bed and walked towards the other side of the room to Debeers and a livid Jade who was still brandishing her blades and staring daggers at Ar'elandi. He looked into those blazing eyes of gold-flecked green on the face he had know for well over a hundred years, but looked so chillingly foreign now that it was twisted with sheer rage. Kyrin sighed. [This is not going to be easy] he thought.
"I do believe I owe the two of you an explanation..." he began.
[...]
"No disrespect, uncle" Jade began a short while later, "but, ARE YOU CRAZY?!" "You removed my marking spell?" "And why should we... I... help her... it?" she stammered with her arms folded across her chest.
Kyrin was beside himself trying to figure out a way to make this situation work but was extremely glad to see that his fiery niece, at the very least, had sheathed her blades. "Everyone deserves a chance at redemption, niece" he replied. "Ar'elandi has obviously made some bad choices and some really bad choices in her dark past but she is genuinely seeking our help to climb back into the light."
"Your altruistic bladesinger philosophy of trying to save the entire elven world is going to get you killed, uncle" she retorted but instantly regretted saying it when she saw the deeply hurt look that flashed across her uncle's face.
"We have to at least try, " he quietly replied, "given that there are so few of us left."
Images of blue gold-flecked eyes and blonde hair flashed through Jade's mind. She shook her head in disbelief as to what she was about to say. "Fine, " she stated simply. Jade immediately then pointed an accusatory finger at Ar'elandi, "At the first sign of treachery, I will happily and..."
"... mercilessly send me screaming to whatever pit of despair we shades call an afterlife, yes?" Ar'elandi finished for her with a tiny wry smile. "I sincerely come seeking your help and not revenge."
"Fine, " Jade answered flippantly, "let's see that riddle scroll of your's then."
The group gathered by the table in the room.
"We've been able to decipher some of the lines, " Kyrin spoke up as he brought another rolled piece of parchment to the table as Jade started reading the riddle scroll. He unfolded a map of Neverwinter and pointed to the Neverdeath Graveyard. "That has to be the place of the dead where people of Neverwinter have shed their tears for, " he deduced.
"The green haired and gold eyed ghost obviously refers to Jade, " Debeers piped up as he read from behind her. "You definitely don't like Ar'elandi, " he jokingly added but immediately stopped smiling and cleared his throat when he received the iciest of stares from the still irate elf maiden. "What about this evil key?" he asked trying to change the subject.
"That's got to be the Mhaorkiira you were sent to retrieve, " Kyrin stated looking at Jade, "where is it?"
Jade reached into her belt pouch and pulled out a significantly smaller magically shielded bag and tossed it to her uncle Kyrin. "Happy to be rid of that cursed trinket, " she stated and went back to reading the scroll.
Kyrin caught the bag in his right hand, took the pulsing blood red gem out, briefly inspected it and returned it to the containment pouch. "Evil key indeed, " he muttered. "Now this shadow crown, " he stated as he turned to Ar'elandi. "What can you tell us about this as you are our resident expert on shadow magic?"
Ar'elandi thought for a second. "As the stories go, centuries ago and long before the rise of the shadowy empire of the Netherese, a family of mages residing near Neverwinter tried to tap into the shadow plane to fuel their ambitions for power. After many failed experiments, they finally succeeded in enslaving a foul denizen from the shadow plane and bound it to a crown of black iron. Through the crown, they were able to draw upon the foul creature's shadow essence and greatly increase their already impressive arcane powers. But as things go with evil beings, sharing one crown was pretty much impossible and the mages ended up killing one another to be the sole possessor of the crown. After the Spellplague hit, the shadowmage as he came to be called, was never seen again and the crown was assumed lost or nonfunctional in the days that followed when magic greatly faultered. Nowadays with magic stabilizing, it's safe to assume the crown is working again, assuming that it did ever stop functioning. One of the goals of the advancing Netherese forces is to seek out and recover the crown as it is believed to be hidden in or somewhere near Neverwinter. The graveyard?" Ar'elandi looked over to Kyrin who nodded in agreement.
"What is this crown supposed to do?" Debeers asked looking at the map of Neverwinter.
"In the hands of a normal person, it is rumored to bestow the powers of a shade upon them without the painful conversion process, " Ar'elandi involutarily shuddered and continued, "and even more amazing is the rumor that it grants them the ability to cast shadow magic even if they aren't a mage. In the hand of a shade or a shade who is a mage, their powers would be increased to unfathomable heights."
Jade looked straight at Ar'elandi. "and you would give all that power up just to become a normal elf again?" she asked suspiciously.
"I hate what I have become possibly more than the amount of hate you feel towards me, " Ar'elandi replied without hesitation and matched Jade's intense stare, "I would give anything to feel the warm of the sun and the magic of being one of the Tel'Quessir again. The two angrily and silently locked eyes.
"Okay then, unless there are any objections, " Kyrin stated trying break the tension in the room and bring focus back to the group, "I suggest we break for tonight, get some rest and fully gear up for tomorrow. Main entrance to the graveyard at dawn, everyone agreed?" he looked around the table.
"Agreed, " two voices stated and everyone looked at Jade who had put the scroll back on the table, folded her arms again, pursed her lips and shut her eyes.
"Fine, fine, fine, AGREED!" she exasperatedly stated as she waved her arms in annoyance and headed straight for the door. She pretended not to hear the sincere "thank you" that Ar'elandi called out to her as she left the room.
[...]
"This is such a huge waste of time!" Jade complained to herself and to whatever god or goddess happened to be listening to her whine as she looked out over the graveyard which was incredibly spooky even in the late morning light. She saw hundreds if not thousands of cracked headstones interspersed with dozens of dilapidated mausoleums and hundreds of crumbling statues, often overgrown with withered grasses and weeds. Consisting of two, roughly square city sections of Neverwinter, the Neverdeath Graveyard was far larger than any in the group had imagined. To find a crown in this crumbling expanse was like trying to locate the proverbial sewing implement in the dried grass pile. "Are we to dig up ever grave in sight to find this piece of tin?" she continued to loudly complain as she passed between a cracked and crumbling statue of an angel and a tall white marble head stone. Jade heard something crashing through the bushes to her right and drew her shortswords just an animated skeleton rushed up at her through the brush! She dodge back behind the angel statue as the skeleton slashed at her with its rusty broadsword which got lodged in the crumbling marble. Jade smooth whipped around the broken statue and cleanly slashed off the skeleten's skull with a sweeping cut of Hyarya. She kick frustrating kicked the detached skull for good measure but felt little comfort as she watched it sail away. This was the fifth undead creature she had personally encountered in the last few hours that the group had spent searching this evil place. The fact that the restless dead were walking during daylight hours did not bode well.
The group reunited at mid-day hours later at the midpoint between the two sections of the graveyard. Jade wasn't the only one to encounter the living dead as everyone recounted their individual fruitless searches and more than frequent bouts with the living dead. "This is getting us nowhere, " Jade stated and was met with grumbling agreement, "where is that riddle scroll? There's got to be something else there. Something we missed." Kyrin unbuckled the black scroll case at his hip, pulled out the rolled parchment and handed it Jade. She unrolled it and started pouring over the black writing again as everyone else sat down and broke out some rations except for Ar'elandi who elected to stand guard.
"Eat, niece" Kyrin called out as he threw an apple into the air next to the elven maiden who had laid out the scroll on a nearby sarcophagus. She caught it with her left hand without apparently looking, bit into the fruit and chewed noisily as she softly mumbled the lines of the riddle. "Hm..." Jade suddenly intoned and everyone quickly gathered around the sarcophagus. She pointed towards the scroll near the end of the eighth line of the riddle and looked up at everyone around her. "Why is the 'B' capitalized here?" she asked barely able to stem the excitement in her voice.
Ar'elandi looked at Kyrin, shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders.
"Because it's important?" Debeers offered with a look of puzzlement.
"Because it's a name..." Jade replied with an sly grin.
[...]
Several hours later, Ar'elandi and the rest of the group were gathered in front of a mausoleum in the waning light of the late afternoon sun. The old brown stone structure before them was not unlike the dozens they had previously and quite laboriously investigated except...
"Ebonfeuer..." She heard Kyrin read out loud off of a carving over the archway of the darkened entrance to the mausoleum. "Which in Thorass or Archaic Common means..."
"Black-fire, " he and Jade said together as they smiled at each other. "Well done, niece" he added hugging her shoulders with his arm wrapped around her, "well done indeed."
Ar'elandi watched the interaction between the two elves intently. She was genuinely grateful for their offer of assistance but could not help but be incredibly jealous of the loving familial bond that Jade and Kyrin shared. It was something she had not felt in a very, very long time.
Ar'elandi suddenly felt a cold, heavy hand upon her left shoulder! She drew her dagger with her right hand, spun in place to her left and... nearly cut off the right hand of Debeers. Ar'elandi's dagger skipped off Debeers armored gauntlet with a spark. She started deeply apologizing to the dwarf who waved it off. "Just checking to make sure you are okay, " he replied with a wary smile. Ar'elandi felt incredibly sheepish that she had allowed her loneliness to dullen her sense of martial vigilance to "mind her surroundings" to the point that a dwarf in full plate armor was able to sneak up on her.
Ar'elandi impatiently crossed in front of the two elves, walked silently up the entrance of mausoleum and noticed there was a heavy iron gate covered in rust just inside the entrance. She pushed on it hard and found it to be tightly locked. Ar'elandi turned back to Jade. "Well, do your thing, rogue..." she stated with a challenging edge in her voice and waited impatiently.
Jade narrowed her eyes dangerously. [Who was she to be ordering me around?] the elven rogue thought to herself. Jade knew she could easily pick the lock but she didn't want to give the elven shade the sense of satisfaction of bossing her around. She reached into a pouch, retrieved a stopped bottle and defiantly threw it into the air in front of the elven shade who caught it in her right hand. "Do it yourself, shade, " she retorted, "black dragon acid." "Be careful or it might just melt off those pretty liitle grey hands of yours, " Jade added, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ar'elandi dropped a few drops of acid onto the lock of the gate which instantly gave off a loud hiss as the acid easily ate threw the old rusted metal. She restoppered the bottle and gave the gate another hard push and it swung inward with a loud grating creak. "That was easy, " she turned back to Jade and locked her ashen grey eyes with the elven rogue's eyes of gold-flecked green, "makes me wonder why we really need you on this quest."
Kyrin, the self-appointed diplomat of the group, once again stepped in between the two extremely dangerous elven maidens. "Okay, ladies... ladies... let's do this!" he exclaimed trying to refocus the group again and started to step forward to enter the dark entrance to the mausoleum when Jade grabbed him from behind by the elbow.
"Best to let the rogue take point, or have you forgotten basic dungeon delving protocol?" Jade teased him, her anger momentarily forgotten, as she passed him by, ignored Ar'elandi completely, and slowly entered the dark archway...
(To be continued...)
[ooc/ In the interest of time and to avoid being repetitive, we will assume that our four protagonists through great skill, perserverance, and sheer dumb luck have made it (mostly unscathed) through all but the last encounter in the module. Details of the module to follow in another post as it contains spoilers in the background details. We catch up with our heros and heroines at the final encounter...
[...]
"Master! Master!" Allia screamed as the female vampire burst through the gilded double doors leading to the inner sanctum of the Ebonfeuer mausoleum, "intruders have breached the crypt!" She ran up to the withered and decayed mage dressed in dusty and shredded black robes and knelt before him. "They are incredibly powerful and right behind me!" she continued out of breath.
"Right you are!" a melodic voice shouted from just outside of the double doors.
Allia turned turned on her knees just in time to catch two jet black arrows that embedded themselves straight into her unbeating heart. She fell to the floor writhing in pain, instantly burst into flames, and left behind a humanoid-like shaped pile of smoking, smoldering ash.
The shadowlich's malevolent red eyes blazed in anger as he watched his favorite thrall disappear in a puff of smoke. He looked out across the room as Ar'elandi, Jade, Kyrin and Debeers rushed into the room and gathered just inside of the door with their weapons drawn and spells at the ready. The room was once lavishly decorated with rich red pillows, drapery, wonderful works of art on the walls with piles of shiny money and gems laying around, but, like its main occupant, the room and all within it had decayed over the centuries to reveal drab blood color shredded cloth decor, spiderwebs as far as the eye can see, dusty piles of tanished silver and lack luster gems. In the center sat the withered form of a mage with wisps of black shadowy magic swirling from his body. He appeared like a macabre decayed statue of a man sitting on a throne of black marble save for the tell-tale red points of light that served as his eyes signifying his lichdom. On his head sat the Crown of Shadows which seemed to absorb the meager ambient light in the room thrown off by the few lit torches on the sconces in the corners of the room.
"You've come seeking the Crown of Shadows?" the shadowlich hissed with a sepulchral echo in his voice as he rose from his black throne. "All you will find is death here, "he added as black and grey motes of eldritch energy coalesced around him. "And then will you serve me as I destroy the world that gave birth to you...."
Ar'elandi gasped when her eyes fell upon the crown. As a being a shadow, she was intune with the magic that emanated from the cold iron object of power and intoxicating waves of invisible shadow magic washed over her, calling to her, seducing her with promises of eternal glory, limitless riches, cold revenge against those who have wronged her and power beyond her imagination. She felt like she was falling, falling, falling uncontrollably through an immense abyss with no bottom in sight.
And then she was falling as she was knocked 10 feet across the room when the shadowlich's concussive fireball ignited right next to her and the rest of the party. She picked herself painfully off of the floor and whipped off the remains of the cloak she had received from Madame Zazu which had taken the brunt of the damage from the miniature fireball. Ar'elandi saw Kyrin and Debeers pick themselves up as well and were slowly maneuvering themselves to flank the shadowlich from the right. She also spotted Jade slinking from shadow to shadow on the left side of the room trying to get a better angle of attack on the shadowlich as well. "Not bad for a non-shade, " she mused with a wry smile as only a living shadow could have spotted the stealthy rogue's progress from across the room. The elven shade nocked another jet black arrow to her beloved shortbow and proceeded to shoot as many arrows as she could at the shadowlich. She wasn't surprise when all of them were deflected by the shadowlich's stoneskin spell, but knew the spell could only repell just so much as she continued the stream of jet black streaks of death towards the shadowlich.
Debeers position himself in front of the shadowlich and raised his holy symbol. "I smite thee with Moradin's mighty lance of light!" he shouted as a burning white beam of light erupted from the hammer and anvil medallion and stuck the shadowlich in the chest. The shadowlich fell back a few steps with his chest still smoldering, pointed his left hand at Debeers and hissed, "marfedelom civip!" (death frost!) The cone of cold slammed into the dwarf and he fell like a rock on to the stone floor with a huge clank and his frost covered body no longer moved.
"NO!" Kyrin screamed as he rushed straight towards the shadowlich. <Quarlani nikyme!> (soul daggers!) he shouted thrusting his clench left fist at the shadowlich. Five glowing crimson balls of magic appear around Kyrin's fist and streaked towards the shadowlich only to vanish a few inches from his body.
The shadowlich laughed and exclaimed, "kluchud di sjachi!" (spawn of shadows!) A large translucent humanoid form coalesced behind the shadowlich, sprouted huge bat like wings and flew straight at Kyrin! It slammed him fully in the chest and knocked him clear across the room where he hit the wall with a loud sickening "thud" and slid out of sight behind a mountain of broken earthen pottery.
Jade saw both her uncle Kyrin and Debeers easily taken out of the fight by the shadowlich and a cold rage filled her as she positioned herself behind the foul undead creature. She saw one of Ar'elandi's arrows clip the left shoulder of the shadowlich and knew that his stoneskin spell had finally ended. She was about to draw her shortswords and strike when the shadowlich suddenly turned around and looked at her with red blazing eyes full of evil contempt. The shadowlich was also a being of living shadows and had easily spotted the mortal elven rogue as she tried to move stealthily across the room.
"Marfedelom cha'sid!" (Death hand!) the shadowlich shouted and the elven rogue found herself up in the air and being choked to death again by glowing blue eldritch tendrils of magic. [Does every evil being know this spell?...] was the last thought passing through Jade's mind before she blacked out.
Ar'elandi stopped firing her arrows as soon as she saw the Jade had been captured by the shadowlich, who turned towards her as the elven rogue's body floated lifelessly in the air between them.
"Why do you fight me? " the shadowlich asked as he approached the elven shade, "I know what you are and felt you long before you entered this place. Your 'friends' will be dead soon if they are not already. What is the point of continually defying me? I know what powers you possess, the potential you have. Join with me, serve me as my new thrall and lead my new armies to destroy the world that would condemn those like you and me."
The waves of shadow magic emanating from the crown were incredibly intoxicating to Ar'elandi now that she was in such close proximity to the shadowlich and his words dripped like honey off of his decayed dried lips. Ar'elandi fell to her knees in a trance, dropped her shortbow with a clatter to the floor, and looked up as the foul undead creature towered over her. "Swear allegiance to me, serve me faithfully, and I will show you how to wield true shadow magic..." the shadowlich promised extending his hand towards the kneeling elven shade.
"Yes master..." Ar'elandi started to say when a glass stoppered bottle fell into her hand from the long sleeve of her tunic. "But I'd rather serve you THIS!" she shouted as she unstopped the bottle of black dragon acid and emptied the contents of the bottle into the shadowlich's face and chest! The foul undead creature shrieked in pain and fell backwards as Ar'elandi dodged to the right to avoid any splashed back drops of acid.
With the shadowlich's concentration broken, Jade was suddenly let go from the spell and fell to the floor in a heap. As she hit the cold stone floor, she was instantly jarred awake and chokingly took in huge gulps of air. She saw the writhing, smoking pile of the shadowlich on the ground, smelled the heavy scent of acid in the air and realized what Ar'elandi had did with her bottle of black dragon acid. "Brilliant!" she muttered with genuine appreciation and woozily got on her feet and headed towards Ar'elandi and the shadowlich. Jade drew Hyarya and Forya and shouted, "catch!" as she threw Hyarya spinning into the air in front of Ar'elandi who caught it in both of her little grey hands as elven shade was getting up off of the floor. They both then charged the shadowlich, who had gotten back on to his knees, and stabbed him through the chest with both enchanted shortswords from both flanks of the foul undead creature. The shadowlich screamed one final scream and completely crumbled to dust; bones, clothing, and everything else except for the black iron Crown of Shadows which fell to the ground in a loud clanking noise.
Both elven maidens sat on the ground thoroughly exhausted and did not speak a word for several heartbeats as each maiden was contemplating the newly found respect that each had developed for the other.
"Uncle Kyrin! " Jade suddenly called out as Ar'elandi simultaneously called out, "Debeers!" Each ran to different areas of the room and gently dragged their respective prone bodies back to the center of the room. Kyrin had suffered a broken arm but was breathing steadily as Jade checked him over. Ar'elandi could not listen for a heartbeat through all of the dwarf's massive armor, so she held the blade of a dagger under Debeer's nose and was overjoyed when she saw the condensation and knew the dwarf still lived. Jade passed Ar'elandi a metal vial from her belt pouch and the both of them forced the contents down the respective gullets of their unconscious patients.
It wasn't long before Debeers woke up with a loud snort. He satup, gave the room a bleary-eyed look and saw Jade and Ar'elandi working on making a splint on one of Kyrin's arms who was also sitting on the ground and looked highly comfortable being the center of attention of two attractive elven maidens.
"Well!" Kyrin exclaimed, "look who decided to join the ranks of the living."
Debeers rubbed the back of his head. "I feel like I just went through a bad cask of ale, possibly two" he sheepishly answered, "what did I miss?"
Ar'elandi and Jade looked impishly at each other and laughed. They alternated between phrases as they said together, "Oh we just; killed a shadowlich; probably save Neverwinter if not all of Faerun; and saved the skins of you two brave adventurers; that's all... " and laughed some more as Debeers scratched his head and Kyrin shook his in disbelief.
[...]
The group gathered around the big pile of dust in the center of the room and peered at the black iron crown that sat in the middle of it.
"Well, " Jade said, breaking the silence, "it must be pretty powerful as it survived the black dragon acid. She pulled a water flask from her magical bag of holding and was about to dump it on the crown just in case to wash away an remnants of the acid when Debeers shouted, "Wait!" and started rummaging throught his own backpack and produced a few empty vials. He bent over and started scooping up the dusty remains off of the floor. "Lich dust is a very rare and valuable magical component, " he explained to all the confused stares. "And dust from a shadowlich is incredibly rare as I have never even heard of such a foul beast!" he added with great excitement. After he was done collecting his "samples." Jade kept her disgust in check and poured water from her flask all over the crown. She then motioned Ar'elandi to pick it up and washed the remaining traces of shadowlich dust off of the metal crown.
Ar'elandi felt like she was holding onto the business end of a lightning bolt when she picked up the Crown of Shadows. The waves of intoxicating magic were at their highest level now that she was in physical contact with the object. She was sorely tempted to just place the crown on her head and fully embrace its shadowy power but deep inside she knew what she really wanted.
Jade looked at Ar'elandi as the elven shade stood back up. "You okay," she tentatively asked.
The elven shade nodded. "How do we mate this thing with your evil elven gem?" she asked Kyrin who produced the small black containment bag.
"How about just touching the two together?" Debeers suggested pointing to the large black gem that was the center stone in the crown and roughly the same size as the Mhaorkiira.
"Might as well give it a go, " Kyrin added as he up ended the bag into Ar'elandi's outstretched hand. The pulsing red gem dropped into her little grey hand.
Ar'elandi held her breath, as did everyone else in the room. She clutched the Crown of Shadows in her left hand and held the Mhaorkiira in between her thumb and index finger on her right. Ar'elandi touched the two gems and felt an instant surge of power as a negative energy burst flashed before her eyes.
To Jade it felt like witnessing the polar opposite of being flashed with a brilliant white light. That was the only way she could explain what just happened.
Ar'elandi watched as it seem like the two gems where trading places as the red pulsating coloration was slowly emptying out of the Mhaorkiira in her right hand and filling the jewel in the Crown of Shadows.
"Amazing..." the elven shade barely heard someone whisper, but she could not tell who because of her level of focus upon the two gems.
When all of the pulsing red energy had left the Mhaorkiira, Ar'elandi did not know what to do with the loose gem and reflexively put the "empty" gem into the pouch at her belt. She held the now red pulsating crown with both hands and instantly realized it felt greatly different than before. No longer was shadow magic emananting from it. No, it seemed like it was drawing shadow magic into itself as if the addition of the power of the Mhaorkiira had somehow reversed the polarity of the object. Ar'elandi looked back up fearfully at the group not sure of herself.
Kyrin encouragingly mimed the placing of a object on his head and gestured to Ar'elandi to indicate it was her turn.
The elven shade closed her eyes and placed the altered crown on the top of her and released her hands. The cold shivers that have wracked her body since the day she was converted to a shade began to slowly decrease in intensity. Ar'elandi opened her eyes and looked down on to the backs of her hands. At first, she thought it was only a trick of her eyes in the meager torchlight of the room, but subtly the ashen grey coloration began to drain out of her fingertips and slowly went past the back of her nail and then the first knuckle on her middle fingers of both hands leaving behind the bronze skin of a gold elf. Ar'elandi was absolutely overjoyed as were her companions as they followed the progress of the line of coloration. Soon it was past the middle of the backs of her hands, then her wrists, and eventually went into the longsleeves of her tunic. Debeers clanked up and presented Ar'elandi with the inside surface of his shield which was mirror polished. Ar'elandi fearfully looked down into a mirror for the first time in over 30 years and saw the awestruck face of a gold elf maiden staring back at her. The coloration line was well past her fine delicate cheekbones and had reached her ear and rapidly blonding hair.
The entire transformation took about 5 minutes and everyone was grinning ear to ear at its completion, especially Ar'elandi who profusely thanked everyone for their help. She joyfully did a pirouette but suddenly doubled over in excruciting pain and fell to her hands and knees. Something was going terribly wrong and she desperately tried to remove the crown which refused to budge from her head. Everyone rushed to her side and Ar'elandi happened to glance into the mirrored surface of the inside of Debeer's shield again and saw a small wrinkle appear next to her right eye and then another and then another. Her golden hair started silvering where it was in contact with the now rapidly pulsing crown. She quickly realized it was now draining her lifeforce away!
Everyone took a turn to desperately pull at the red glowing pulsating crown but it severely burned each and everyone of them then as they touched it. When they looked down at their finger tips, the found them to be intensely wrinkled as the lifeforce was drained from their digits.
The group suddenly heard clapping emanating from the direction of the shadowlich's throne. They turned to see Madame Zazu seductively laying across the throne and evilly smiling. She got up off of the throne still smiling and clapping and approached the party.
"Thank you for ridding me of that "irritation, " she purred as she casually waved a hand at the waterlogged pile of wet dust. "I could have done the job myself, "she stated looking at the finely manicured nails on her right hand. "But it was so much more fun to watch the four of you do the dirty work for me, " she smiled at the shocked group.
"Madame Zazu?" Ar'elandi weakly called up from the floor.
"Oh, poor little shadow..." she called out in mocking tone of false concern. "I did ask you what price you would be willing to pay for the return of your elven soul? To which you answered, 'No price would be too high.' " Madame Zazu answered in a perfect copy of Ar'elandi's melodic voice. "The price of a soul is a life..." she hissed and laughed in mockery of the poor suffering elf.
"Who are you?!" Kyrin asked brandishing his ebony longsword and getting up off of the floor. "And stop what you are doing to her!" he indicated back to Ar'elandi who was writhing on the floor in pain.
"I'm not doing anything to her, " Madame Zazu innocently replied, "she did it to herself." "And as to who I am, " she started to say as her image began to shift. What was once beautiful creamy skin began to rot and peel away. What once was a fine silken gown shredded to coarse flowing rags before the very eyes of the gather group. Madame Zazu's warm brown eyes began take on a menacing red glow as her ears elongated into sharp points. "I am Valindra Shadowmantle and soon I will be the Scourge of Neverwinter!" she shouted when her frightening transformation was complete. "Thank you so much for helping me on my way to utterly destroying this wretched city!"
Debeers had just about heard enough and ran straight at the lich to bash at her with his massive hammer. He skidded just short of Valindra and mightily swung his hammer at her... and promptly fell right through her onto the floor behind the lich.
"Stupid dwarf, " Valindra condescendingly muttered, "this is only a projection as I can hardly be bothered to actually be there to watch your buffoonery."
"Enough!" Kyrin screamed as he leaped beside Ar'elandi's body and wrapped his fingers around the crown. He pulled on the menacing rapidly pulsating crown with more strength than he though was physically possible and pain strickenly wrenched the crown off of Ar'elandi's head! There was a suddenly flash of red that filled the room and Kyrin fell to the floor as the iron crown crumbled to dust. His face was completely withered and sallow. His previously luxurious thick black hair had turned wispy and bleached bone white. And he stared out of dullened blue gold-flecked eyes that would never sparkle again.
Jade heart wrenchingly screamed, dropped straight to the floor and cradled her dead uncle's head in her lap and started crying profusely.
Valindra appeared shocked for a second and then started laughing. "A life sacrificed for another life. How noble..." she said mockingly. "The price for a soul is a life, " she repeated as Ar'elandi wearily raised her head off of the ground, "But I never said it had to be your life..." she added with her voice rising into manical laughter as her image faded away.
Ar'elandi crawled over to the Jade who was still cradling the head of her dead uncle and tried to voice her sympathies for her loss when Jade suddenly and viciously backhanded her! She fell to the floor as Jade hovered over her.
"MY UNCLE IS DEAD AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" Jade shouted
"Get up!!!" the elven rogue shouted assuming an unarmed fighting stance.
"Get up!!"
"Get up!"
[...]
"Get up!"
"Get up!!"
"Get up!!!
Moriera woke up in a cold sweat and stared into the sneering ashen grey face of Mordekai surrounded by darkness.
"We leave at dawn for Neverwinter, grey elf" he growled at the elven shade as he turned his back on her and walked out of her tiny room in the Shade Enclave. "Be ready!" Mordekai's voice floated in through the open door, "This is going to be fun..."
"Magelord, you have no idea..." the elven shade muttered matter-of-factly as she quickly put on her leather armor, grabbed her beloved cherry wood shortbow and a quiver of jet black arrows off of a hook on the wall, and hurriedly walked out the door after the magelord. "You have no idea..."
The End...
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
This was not the life Garion thought he was going to have in the watch. Instead of preserving the the glory of Neverwinter he spent most of his time guarding empty wear-houses by the docks and throwing drunken vagrants and sailors in to the hold.
Today started like any other day, Garion awoke from in his cot in the barracks. Time to report to LT. Parvil, and start my daily rounds; Garion thought to himself. Therefore, he geared up and made his way to the LT. Office. As he approached the room he could see the Shield Crest of Lord Neverember, who was the ?Open Lord of Watersdeep.
Some people say, that the Lord had linage dating back to Lord Nasher Alagondar himself. It was lord Neverember who had brought the watch to Neverwinter when he took the city back from the vile Thay. Bringing back order and safety to the good people of Neverwinter; or at least that?s the garbage that was being spouted in the streets.
As a member of the watch Garion knew better, and he knew it wasn?t his place to question such thing he had a duty to perform, and a vow to keep the protection Neverwinter and its people.
When he entered the room he found the Lt. Speaking with a woman in her early twenties; she was soaked to the bone and appeared to be pleading for help. Garion listened in to conversation. Lt. Parvil said to the lady.
-My lady I would like to help but we are under manned as it is right now.
The woman burst out crying and screaming.
Lord please ! We are good honest people and loyal to Lord Neverember, we pay our taxes. People are going missing; my brother who is dear to my heart is one of the missing people. The Gods help me if something horrible has happened to him.
She just began to sob and whimper.
The Lt. was a hard stern man, but for a brief moment his eyes soften as he looked in to the corner where Corporal Drogan sat; Drogan was a bear of a man with grizzled hair an dark sunken eyes.
-What do you think Drogan?.
The LT asked.
-People go missing all the time .
Was Drogans reply. The Lt. gave Drogan a hard stern look, Drogan snorted, and reply
-Sounds like wolves or highway men could be the guilty party. That would be my guess LT.
To what the Lt with a serious look said
-Yes very well then, you Corporal shall assemble a squad find the villains and slay them.
You there Watchmen!
Garion stood at attention
-Yes Sir.
-You will go with Drogan.
The Lt shouted in a laud voice.
-Me sir ?
-Are your ears full mud boy?
-No sir I stand ready to serve Neverwinter.
Drogan stood up and his imposing figure hovered above Garion. At Drogans side there was a massive two handed barbed battle axe with a spike at the end of the shaft. Drogan looked down at Garion and scowled.
-Whats your name Boy?
-Garion Sir, my name is Garion, Sir. You know how to use that sword on your belt? That was my father's sword .I don?t care if your grandmother gave it to you -Drogan retorted- Can you use it ?
-Yes my father taught me Sir.
Have you ever killed a man Son??
No sir I mostly break up fights and throw drunks in the hold.
Drogan looked over at the LT. ; his expression did not changed, and once more, he looked back at Garion saying
-All right greenhorn saddle my horse and grab your gear. We leave within the hour. I want to be there by nightfall.
Garion saluted him and with a quick about face bounded out of the door. Last thing he heard, as he walked out, was the woman crying.
-Thank you Lord thank you Torm bless you.
The woman shouted.
Garion Ran to his locker grabbed the supplies he would need for the trip. They were headed North and it was raining; so he would need his cloak, a lot good that would do him with the rain coming down as hard as it was. He thought to himself. He threw his pack on his back and wrapped the cloak around him.
Garion arrived at the stable saying
-You there, stable-boy, get Corporal Drogans gelding ready?.
-Yes Sir.
The boy answered.
He brought the horse out of the stable. The horse was unique, it had a beautiful tan color with long white mane running down its neck. The boy bridled and saddled the horse an gave me the reins. Then he stuck his hand out. I threw him coin and headed for the front gate. This better be good Garion thought I hate to put my life in danger for no apparent reason. When Garion got to the front gate, Drogan was hailing at him
-Come on greenhorn, we don't have all day; lets get moving.
The men were waiting around, some of them he noticed from the Garrison there was
Thackeray Longsdale a tall lanky man with lean muscles and leathery skin; a fighting man who carried a long boar spear With a kryss dagger at his side.
Varth Hogarth, a short stalky man, to him the weapon of choice was the crossbow and a short sword. Additionally, there was Baldric Alagonder he was of medium build and height; the man had hands like clubs, and he was carrying a mace and buckler.
I carried a long sword that my father gave me. It looked like any other long sword except for the pommel which was silver and rounded with the symbol of a balance sitting on a hammer.
The woman from the Lt. Office was also at the gate. We all marched out the front gate with Drogan taking front and Varth taking the rear. The rain was coming down hard; it was going to be a long trip to New Oak Village. After hours of walking ours clothes and armor were soaked to the skin; some areas of the ground were flooded, so we were up to our boot's heels in mud. There wasn?t much conversation going on; every one was mostly concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.
I managed to talk to the young lady from the village her name was Sheala Green-Oak. She lived with her nan; they were the town's seamstress. She never knew her mother and her father had died in the war. Sad story really for such beautiful young lady with a sweet pure voice. I asked her about her brother. He had just come back from Watersdeep. He was studying with the mages at that city. He came back to check on her, to see if she was OK
-What happened the night he disappeared?
I asked her.
-Apparently he went for a walk he said that he would be right back an never returned.
Baldric yelled out
-Look! over there wolves to the East of us.
We saw a small pack of wolves.
-Do you think those could be our quarry? Baldric Asked
-NO!
Drogan replied.
-Look there, heading South they wouldn?t leave a food supply.
-What does that mean? I asked .
The men all looked at each other knowing the wolves were not the one stealing people, and kept marching as the Sun was setting we finally reached New Oak an found the local Inn.
-Finally!
Said one of the men
-Some warm ale and hot fire?.
-Get your belly?s full and a good night sleep men. Drogan shouted out .
Sheala said she was going to head home and check in on her nans; she would see us in the morning.
We entered the Tavern-Inn. The place was dimly lit; the local villagers were all chattering amongst themselves. When they saw us enter every one went quite. Drogan walked up to the man standing behind the bar threw a bag of coins down, and with a stern voice told the man to get us rooms,food and drink. The man pointed to a couple of women an they ran off, to fulfill Drogan's orders. Me and the me and the troops found a place close to the fire place and sat down; some people sitting near by got up and left .
Varth shouted out
-By the Gods!, can we get a drink over here?.
-Coming sir
Some one answered from the back kitchen.
A voice came from the other end of the room saying
-So are you the blokes from Neverwinter that are going to help us fight off these goblins? Another man said
-There is no Goblins; it be daemons they come in the night steal people and devour there souls. Gods help us all!
Then an older man retorted
-Fools I told you, it was the witch that lives in the woods...
-The witch the Inn's patrons murmured.
Drogan Abruptly cut in
-What can you tell me about this Witch.?
An older man chimed
-She lives out in the forest three hours from here, and there have been plenty of story?s about animal sacrifices to her dark God and apparently now she needs human sacrifices to please the evil ones thirst.
I could hear the sound of people in the back ground pleading,
-Gods protect us!
Drogan asked the elderly gentleman.
-What might your name be good man?
-William Waverly he replied.
He was ad thin tall person with wiry hair and a ornate cloak, that made him look like a well to do aristocrat.
-We will check that evil witch out.
Drogan shouted; while the men started to cheer. Some one at the Inn yelled out
-Send that evil witch back to the nine hells.
Well after all the excitement was over, we all turned in to sleep. Everyone one passed out; it had been a long day and just needed to sleep. Next morning. We awoke to the sound of Drogan booming voice
-Come on you laggards out of bed!
Thackeray wasn't in the room; he must of already gotten up, we all geared up and got ready for what the day had to throw at us. Every one reached the front room where Drogan was sitting down eating breakfast Varth asked'
-We going to get breakfast?
-If you had gotten up early...
Just then Thackeray walked in yelling
-Found one peasant that can lead us to the witch. He said
The peasant who was poorly dress followed behind him .
-He says he knows the way to the witches cabin in the woods.
We all shuffled out the front door; Drogans horse was there waiting for him he jumped up on the horse -All right lads lets move out. He dictated.
We headed deep in to the forest; at least it wasn't raining. The sky was over cast. All the trees had the colors of autumn, the reds and yellows were everywhere, there was a thick fog in the air, the leaves on the ground were damp, and wet the ferns were covered by the morning dew. There were parts where the sun was breaking thru giving the area a golden hew. We walked on for Couple hours; when we came upon a cabin with a giant oak tree behind it, an a stream flowing several yards from it. The cabin itself was quaint in appearance and ran down; their were huge vines that looked as if they had grown into the cabin. The front door opened. Drogan halted the troops. An old crone with long white hair and raged clothes appeared from the opening of the door, and with a low creaky voice she utter
-Who comes to my home be he friend? or be he foe ? Let his presence be Known...
A white film glazed over the woman?s eyes she appeared to be blind.
-I?m Corporal Drogan of Neverwinter Watch and wish to speak to you.
-Along way to travel for conversation soldier but I will hear your words two may enter but the rest can stay. The raspy voice replied
Drogan gestured to Thackeray as to come over
-Not that one The Crone exclaimed!' Him she pointed to me.
-He may be a guest in my home
Drogan got off his horse an walked over to me whispering in my ear.
-If she offers you food or drink refuse, be ready to strike at any moment. Understand?
I just nodded.
Varth came over
-I don't like this one bit!
He exclaimed
-If there any sings of trouble you know what to do. Drogan whispered
-Let us be on with it.
-Drogan said to Garion. We entered the cabin, the floor creaked under the pressure of our feet; the smell of damp rotten wood filled the air and something else which we never smelled before. Vines indeed had grown in to the house; they were every where running thru the rafter and floor boards -Come in come in The Crone beckon.
So we came further in to the shack; then an awful heat hit us. It was hot in here, and it made the place feel humid as if a steam was floating all over. There was no fire burning that I could see, only a strange warmth that filled me. There was a chair and a table set against a wall near the end of the house The crone sat down the door was still open. Drogan looked around alert ready, I felt uneasy my stomach tingling.
-People say you are a witch I muttered.
Drogan gave me a sharp look.
-Is that what they say about me.
The crone responded, with an evil smile on her face.
-Are you a witch? I asked trying to be polite about it.
-Not as such but I?m of the forest Garion Naysayer.
My mind swirled and my stomach sank with fear. How did she know my name? I wondered.
Drogan interrupted
-We are here. ..
-I know why your here, Drogan Wolfsbane You are of the Shadow Wolfs' clan the man who would have been chief.
Drogans Axe leaped off his back and into his hands; At the same time the front door to the cabin slammed shut. The cabin began to groan as the vines twisted convulsing the ground, which shook with a deep tremor I froze, as a deep fear overwhelmed me. Drogan moved forward to strike the crone, as he did two vines came from underneath the floorboards and grabed his legs another from the rafters snatched the axe right out of his hands.
-Now look-said The Crone- I do not like rude guests who come disturb my home. If you have questions I have answers. I could hear the men screaming outside .
-So if you are willing to be good boys, I will give you what you seek for a price. The crone stated
By this time Drogan and I had both gone pale.
-Yes mam!
Drogan responded. As every thing went silent and calm, the vines let their grip on Drogan go.
-What do you want? Drogan asked.
-Three gold pieces there is a pretty dress in town that I want to buy.
-Yes Mam
Drogan aforesaid throwing three gold pieces on the table.
-What about my men? He continued.
-They are unharmed, I assure you; there just a little tangled up at the moment she cackled to her self. You are here looking for the missing people who's lives have been taken from them. There is a great evil North of here in the mountains; a shadow.
-How will we know where to find it? I asked.
-It will find you, and you will follow it . Now leave! She demanded
Drogans axe fell to the ground, as she spoke
-All you'll need is Wolfsbane. She whispered
Drogan and I turned around and headed for the door. The Crone noticed the pommel of Garions Sword
-You there boy...
The crone grabbed his arm spinning him around with unnatural strength. Garion just gazed as she pulled the two amulets which hanged from her neck. One with the symbol of a gauntlet and the other a dragon's head. She took the one with the symbol of the gauntlet and placed it around my neck
-You will need this in the days to come. She told me looking straight onto my eyes.
Drogan was Standing by the door Garion followed behind; a sense of relief fell over me as the door shut behind us. I looked over to Drogan.
-I?m sorry I froze in there.
Drogan just looked back at me saying
-Lad I almost soiled my breaches. Lets just get back to town and away from this place.
-What happen in there?
Varth shouted.
-That tree behind the house came to life and vines had held of us? then they just let go.
-Did you kill the witch? He continued saying.
-Were done here lets head back to town! Drogan ordered without answering the question. All the men nodded in agreement.
I asked
-Drogan do you think she was telling the truth?
-I don?t know. Drogan replied
-But shes not the one were looking for.
-How can ya say that? I asked
-We wouldn't be having this conversation greenhorn Drogan replied. He jumped up on his horse -Lets ride out! He shouted
We hurriedly left the area and headed for the town. It was later in the day when we got back . Sheala's nan, rushed out of the Inn.
-Shes been taken! Shes been taken!
Garion rushed to her side
-Calm down fair lady, calm down and tell us what has happened.
-It was her brother, he came back but it wasn't him, some thing was wrong with him. He cast some spell on Sheala and she passed out and fell . Then I saw her raise from the floor held their in mid air by some magic spell. I went to stop him but some force threw me back and knocked me out last thing I herd was tonight every thing would change.
Garion looked back at the men, shouting
-Varth! look lad fighting warlocks is above our pay grade that sort thing is for wizards and such?. We took an oath preserve and protect the people Garion retorted.
-Heroes get killed soldiers live to fight another day and I?m Soldier!
Varth replied Garion looked up at Drogan his eyes pleading. Drogan mind was lost in thought then steady him self : Today, men we are Heroes?!
-Thackeray, find me the tracks they should be heading north. Thackeray nodded his head
-Yes sir!
We'll need torches Baldric said not many hours of Sun light left; lets get what we need and head after the HAMSTER Drogan growled.
-Gods help us.
Varth whisper to him self. Found the trail!
-Thackeray cried out like you said it's heading North.
We marched forward not knowing what doom awaited us. Several hours later dusk began to set in and a unnatural mist followed us with it making visibility next to impossible.
-Lost it Thackeray. let out.
-Lost what? Drogan asked
-The trail can't find the trail its gone this Myst is making every thing hard to see.
-Look over there!
Drogan pointed. Thackeray looked towards where he was pointing
-Good spotting Sir there headed North East.
-How can you tell? I asked
-See that bush over there see how it branches have been broken recently Garion nods yes I see it; good greenhorn you might just learn some thing.
Just in time Baldric said' look pointing towards the horizon , the sun set behind the mountains. What happened next sent chills down all the men's spines a bones, chilling blood curdling howl let lose onto the air echoing through out the valley.
-By the Gods! What in the Nine hells! was what Varth fearfully screamed
-Torches Light The Torches! Everyone at once said.
-Weapons to be ready! The orders were shouted out
-Lets move forward. Keep your nerves men or lose your lives.
The area around us became dark and gloomy the torch light flicker our shadows in the mist.
Then we saw it there in the shadows two dimly lite yellow eyes looking back at us the beast stood as tall as a man an long as a horse it curled back it's lips revealing long dagger sharp teeth. And a deep guttural growl the beast lunged forward towards Drogans gelding the horse recoiled back throwing Drogan off its back knocking the air out of his lungs. Thackeray rushed forward thrusting his spear at the beast it gracefully avoided the attack leaping on to Thackeray throwing him to the ground. As he did Baldric ran and slammed his shield in to the side of the beasts head stunning the creature for a second then Baldric raised his mace to strike. The beast Whirled around and lunged quickly graving Baldrics hand all that was heard is the sound of bone snapping an flesh tearing his hand fell off like butter in the creatures jaws and once where a hand had been was shredded gore and broken bone he let loses a death shrieking Scream.
-Haaaaa...!
I watched in horror at the whole scene
Varth let loose a bolt that flew inches from the creature missing it. I shouted and rushed forward swinging my sword wildly just hoping to hit something. The beast jumped back and forth easily avoiding each attack. That gave Varth enough time to reload another bolt he took aim, this time he wasn't going to miss and he didn't the bolt struck home dead center. The beast gave out loud yelp! and turned to run as it did, Drogan axe cleaved half of the animals face off. The creature fell dead to the ground. Varth ran over to Baldric who by this time has crumpled to the ground
-He lost a lot of blood?! Varth yelled out.
Thackeray threw Varth some bandages
-Tie off that wound and wrap it up! Take him back to the village Drogan told him.
-Like hell I will. I?m going with you.
-That's an order watchman here take this its the report of whats happened here make sure the LT. Gets it if we don't return.
Varth just nodded his head
-Yes sir. I would of gone all the way.
-I know
Drogan answered. As the three men walked off to face what evil might lie ahead. Varth yells!
-Out for Neverwinter for the watch.
We walked on for about an hour when I saw a strange glow in the distance.
-Look!
I pointed
-Do you see it?
-I see it.
Drogan whispered to me. It seems to be coming from that cave over there. We quietly moved closer an unnatural stillness grasped the air when we reached thee mouth of the cave; the smell of death followed. The torches we carried began to take on a green hew. At the same time misshapen and contorted figures began to emerge form the Cave. They looked like men but they were not men. They had rotting flesh and hollowed eyes.
-They know we are here!
Drogan cried out.
-What do we do?
I panicky asked. Drogan Griped his battle axe hard, a rage an anger washed over his face, as if he was about to go berserk; and then he did. Drogan rushed forward the first creature was split in half by the fall of Drogans axe his axe came up another one of the creatures was split in two . I never saw some one move so fast all I could see was the hacking an slashing of gray steel gore and body?s dropping to the ground. Thackery followed behind, decapitating and impaling. I finally found my courage and joined them I slashed at one of the monsters cutting a deep gash in its chest, but creature kept coming latching on me. Cold dead fleshy hands hungering for life I could see out of the corner of my eye more of them coming. They wanted to consume my living flesh, more hands grabbed at me as I struggled to break free. I kept feeling pinches and pressure from them. They were chewing at the leather tunic I was wearing I felt myself being dragged down. Panic and disparity over whelmed my mind and soul. It hit me like the burning of the Sun on a hot Summers day. An eruption from deep within exploded from my body like a flash of white luminescent light filling the night sky. All the creatures fell to the ground lifeless as they should of being. Drogan and Thackeray both looked over stunned at me.
-What just happened? You lite up like the Sun its self!
A liquid warmth settled over me. I could not hear my comrades. A voice sounded inside my head
-Be my Champion!
The voice cry out
-Who are you?
I asked.
-I am the Hope and Courage of man the light in the Darkness. You do not know me, but you will come know me, as I know you. For all that is just and good, fight with me.
-I swear my allegiance I uttered.
-Say the Oath the voice reverberated.
-Forgive me Lord for I do not know thee oath.'
-You do champion it's in your heart.
I began to speak aloud:
?Salvation may be found through service. Every failure of duty diminishes Torm and every success adds to his Splendor. Strive to maintain law and order. Stand ever alert against corruption. Strike quickly and forcefully against darkness in the hearts of mortals. Bring ,quick death to traitors. Question unjust laws b y suggesting improvement or alternatives, not additional laws. Your Threefold duties are to faith, f amily,and all good beings of Faer?n. The voice said to him my light will be with you in the darkest of places.?
My eyes slammed open.
-You all right lad?
Drogan asked
-You have been sitting there mumbling to your self for awhile.
I looked up at Drogan still like in a daze.
-We have to get to the cave before its to late. I noticed that the symbol on the pommel of my sword was now the same as the amulet that the witch gave me. The name Torm whispered like floating in the wind and only I could hear it and feel it in my heart. My companions entered the cave. Torches with green flame lit the way. They followed the trail until we came upon the main chamber where
Sheala Greenoak laid unconscious, upon a stone altar; a young man with a smooth face an slick black hair wearing a long flowing black robe; stood near by with a dagger in his hand.
-Step away from her I shouted at the man. He looked towards us, exclaiming
-Ahh!!! Guests...
The three of us advanced with our weapons drawn ready to strike. The warlock intoned an evocation and made hand gesture towards the three of us. We froze right where we stood.
-You see, now you shall witness the return of the great Shadow. You will have the honor of being the first ones he feeds upon. With all my strength I was unable to move but I could talk.
-That's your sister in the name of Torm stop this.
-Do not speak that name in this unholy place The warlock responded
-Sister, sister, yes this is the meat suits sister, yes all is as planned. In the Name of Torm I command you to Stop!
The warlock looked back over at me furious and chanted another invocation and I could no longer speak. While this was going on Sheala had awoken she watched in disbelief at her brothers actions and words.
-Why?
She screamed out. Her brother turned around to face his eyes were as two void-less orbs. He walked towards her with a dagger in his hand
-It's all right sister he will be here soon he said excitedly. As he raised the dagger above his head.
-NO!
She threw her right hand out in front of her; as she did three, amethyst colored missiles shot out of her hand striking her brother in the chest. That broke the hold he had on us. The warlock quickly arose as he did a giant metal Kryss plunged in to his chest. The mans body fell to the floor. It was them that Drogan smiled and said.
-Good job! Friends our job is done. Lets all go home.
The Crown of Shadows...
Author's Notes: This module will be written with mostly 2nd ed. AD&D knowledge as this is the system I am most familiar. I am only vaguely familiar with 4th ed. D&D and will not embarass myself by trying to write about it. DM's feel free to modify based on your needs and understanding of the game.
Background:
The days are growing longer in Faerun as Eleint (September) is almost gone and Marpenoth (October). Highharvestide is soon approaching which is heralded by many a tree along the Sword Coast with the shocking changing of colors from the most lush of greens to blazing shades of red, orange and yellow that would make a fire elemental jealous. The trumpeting call of Lord Neverember ten years ago, for heroes and adventurers to come and help take back and rebuild the fabulous city of Neverwinter, the Jewel of the North, has gone far and wide. Many heroes have come to the city of Neverwinter dreaming of vanquishing enemies for Lord and city or for the glory of the god or goddess they worship. Many adventurers have come seeking to unearth lost legendary dweomers to bolster arcane repertoires to levels unimaginable and many have come to simply find fame, self-glory and get stinking filthy rich in the process.
Player Character Motivation:
On the road to Neverwinter, our player characters hear rumors from passing caravans to and from the Jewel of the North about a lost artifact called the Crown of Shadows created hundreds of years ago. The stories tell of an extremely powerful magic item that gives the wearer arcane powers over darkness and shadow. This should particularly interest either a mage or rogue of the party.
Entering Neverwinter:
As our heroes enter Neverwinter, they see a beautiful and vibrant city, still in the process of healing from the eruption of Mt. Hotenow, but great strides have been made in the last 30 years. The walls of the city stand strong and tall, the shops are bustling with activity as the city's economy steadily grows, and the Hall of Justice, Tyr's former temple and the current seat of power for Lord Neverember, rises above the city as a beacon of hope, law, and order.
Researching the Crown of Shadows:
After settling in, our heroes must do some research about the Crown of Shadows. They have two choices either talk to people and do reseach at the local archives (guilds, temples, Hall of Justice...) or travel to Candlekeep 1000 miles to the south to do their research. The chance of learning something in Neverwinter is greatly reduced as most of the populance is relatively new to the city themselves and most of the records were destroyed in the eruption 30 years ago. The chance of learning something about the Crown of Shadows in Neverwinter is 25% to be checked once per day of investigating. The chances are much improved in the archives of Candlekeep (50% chance to be checked twice a day spent in the archive) but the trip there and back could take months. A mage with teleport capabilities and a familiarity with Candlekeep's location would solve this but short of that the party will have to do their research in town. Each day spent is a drain on their finances.
Information about the Crown of Shadows that can be found:
1) It was created by a family of mages who wanted to tap into the Plane of Shadows to bolster their own arcane powers
2) The mages eventually killed one another when sharing the Crown was no longer an option
3) It bestows a shade's ability to control darkness and shadow, i.e. hide in shadows, shadow stepping into the Shadowfell...
4) It is hidden either in or somewhere near Neverwinter
5) If worn by a shade or other being from the Shadowfell, it greatly enchances their current shadow powers
6) It bestows the ability upon non-mages to cast shadow magic or greatly increases the potency of shadow magic cast if worn by a mage
7) The final owner of the Crown called himself the shadowmage
8) The shadowmage died during the Spellplague and the Crown was assumed to be lost and possibly non-functional
9) The family of mages bound the spirit of a powerful shadow demon to the item to establish a connection between the Prime Material Plane and the Plane of Shadow. It is through this connect that they can draw power directly from the Plane of Shadows or the Shadowfell as it is now called.
10) Whatever else the DM deems appropriate knowledge; could possibly include some false information as not all research yields accurate truths
Madame Zazu:
After two weeks or the party gives up doing any more research, the party will either a) hear about a fortune teller or seer that has recently come to the city and she apparently has extremely powerful and accurate powers of divination. Perhaps she might be able to guide their quest, as at this point the PCs may know a little to a lot about the Crown but not where to find it. Alternatively b), an agent of Madame Zazu's might seek the PCs out and say that Madame Zazu has heard about their inquiries about the Crown of Shadows and has some info that may be of use to them.
Irregardless of why they go there, the PCs will soon be entering the shop of Madame Zazu, Advisor and Seer. The decor of her lounge is quite drab in color and filled with the heavy scent of incense and dust.
Madame Zazu, who is really Valindra Shadowmantle the Lich in illusionary disguise, will greet the PCs, try to make them comfortable and, depending on how they got there, a) will either ask them how she can be of assistance to them or b) mention she had heard about their inquiries about the Crown of Shadows and has some information she thought they might want. If a) and the PCs ask for her help, she can either verify or deny the validity of a few of the items of information they have dug up, but promises to do a full divination for the PCs, a divination she will have to do alone. She will ask where the PCs are staying, usher them out of her shop and says she will send them the results of her divination. In a few hours, a well dressed halfing courier will drop off the riddle scroll at their inn or tavern room. If b) then she will say she has already done a full divination on their behalf and gives them the riddle scroll. She will then immediately usher them out as the hour is late and but invites them back if they need help with the riddle.
In both scenarios, Madame Zazu will offer one of the members of the party a new cloak, this is how she will keep track of the parties progress as she will be able to spy upon the party by scrying in her crystal ball by using the cloak as a focus.
In both scenarios, Madame Zazu will refuse any payment for her services or the cloak, explaining that she will take her payment, later... hinting that they will run into her again in the future.
In both scenarios, should the PCs return to the shop after the first encounter with Madame Zazu, they will find the shop locked and closed. Should they break in, they will find it empty save for the drab decor, a few spiders and dust bunnies.
Madame Zazu / Valindra Shadowmantle's motivation:
As it turns out the powerful Crown of Shadows is becoming an annoying thorn in the lich's side. The shadowmage has arise as a shadowlich due to the influence of the Crown and the Shadowfell and is vying for control of the graveyard with Valindra and ultimately also plans on attacking Neverwinter and the world at large. Valindra could wage an all out mage / undead war with the shadowlich but would rather manipulate a group of adventures to do her bidding and rid her of the pesky shadowlich who is steadily growing in power and soon will be a bonafide threat if not dealt with sooner rather than later.
The Riddle Scroll:
It is now the PCs job in solving the riddle scroll Madame Zazu has given them.
The first two lines are just restating the obvious, they're on a quest and seeking where the shadowmage is buried most likely with the Crown of Shadows
It should be relatively easy to figure out the final resting place of the shadowmage and the hidden Crown is hidden in the Neverdeath Graveyard from the next two lines of the riddle scroll. The PCs can obtain a map of Neverwinter from city officials to find their way or they can just ask directions to the graveyard.
The next two lines give the important clue as to which mausoleum the PCs must enter and search for the Crown of Shadows. I like to use the german name "Ebonfeuer" and pass it off as Thorass or Archaic Common in reference to the "Blackest-fire" phrase in the riddle scroll. A smart member of the party might notice that the word is capitalized and that it could signify a name. Alternatively the party members could take down a list of names they read off of the mausoleums and upon seeing "Ebonfeuer" draw the conclusion or perhaps they could get a list of names from a caretaker of the graveyard.
The last two lines of the riddle scroll refer to the crown itself as not being inherently evil but the "revenge" of the bound spirit manifests itself as a "tainting or corrupting" of the wearer with shadow essence over time and the wear will eventually become a shade but at a very slow pace left for the DM to decide. However, the treachery could have two meanings: 1) the PCs could fight over who will own the crown and kill each other for it or 2) if they decide to just destroy it when they vanquish the shadowmage/shadowlich, Valinda will appear to them and thank them for being her dupes and for essentially helping her gain more of a foothold in Neverwinter. Valindra will also appear to them if they decide to leave with the Crown and once again thank them for their help in getting her closer to destroying the city.
By whatever means they arrive at the "Ebonfeuer" mausoleum, it's time for the dungeon delve!
The Neverdeath Graveyard:
Description: "A cracked stone wall, patched in places with thick wood, surrounds the graveyard called Neverdeath. Consisting of two, roughly square sections of the city (the Graveyard proper & the pauper?s section), Neverdeath is filled with rows of headstones interspersed with mausoleums and crumbling statues, often overgrown with withered grasses. Time & the Spellplague & the cataclysm all took their toll on the graveyard, thrusting some sections higher than others, collapsing buildings and revealing graves. Coffins now jut from small cliffs, and tumbeled bones litter the ground. "
Upon their arrival, the PCs can pretty much waste as much time as the DM likes until they can figure out the riddle scroll clue about the "Ebonfeuer" mausoleum.
For every half hour spent in the graveyard, 30% chance encounter with a zombie or skeleton which attacks them on sight.
The Ebonfeuer mausoleum:
Description: "You walk up to a old and dilapidated greyish-brown stone structure not until the dozens of other mausoleums in this graveyard. Cracked and crumbling headstones and statues surround the structure making the passage to the dark entrance difficult but possible with care. The occasional caw of crow or the rustle of its wings can be heard around the structure but little else in the otherwise dead silent graveyard."
Mausoleum top level: A typical mausoleum, stone pillars, stone or metal plates on the walls with the names of deceased Ebonfeuers carved into them. An alter at the back of the structure with a vase full of flowers that have long since decayed after decades of sitting there. There is a layer of dust and dirt over pretty much everything inside the structure.
There are symbols of a black flame all over the inside of the structure. One particular one on one of the walls is slightly loose that a rogue in the part might notice and open to reveal a key hole. Upon picking the lock a section of the floor of mausoleum will slide open and reveal a dark staircase descending into the ground.
The stair case is trapped, anyone walking along the left side of the 6 foot wide staircase will cause all the stairs to flatten into a slide and end in a pit trap at the bottom of the staircase causing quite a bit of damage from the spikes in the pit. The triggers are the left side of the third and fourth steps from the top.
At the bottom of the stairs lies a grand double door which bears a huge black flame symbol. A half of the symbol on each door. The door is lock but not trapped. Passing through the door place you at #1 on the mausoleum map. All monsters encounter are found in 2nd ed. AD&D monster manual. Please consult for specific stats.
#1) Dusty, rusty suits of armor line both sides of the corridor.
4 of the suits will come to life and attack anyone in sight unless they are a member of the Ebonheuer family.
Treasure: none
#2) Another grand double door very similar to the one first encountered when entering the lower level of the mausoleum, except the black fire symbol is outlined in gold and the door is not locked. It leads to the inner sanctum of the mausoleum and to the final encounter with the shadowlich who wears the Crown of Shadows.
#3) 6 skeletons are milling about in this area, they attack on sight
Treasure: one of the skeletons is wielding a magical weapon (reward as level appropriate)
#4) The angry ghost of a fallen adventurer resides in this section of the mausoleum. He doesn't believe anyone deserves the Crown of Shadow more than he does and will attack the PCs to prevent them from acquiring the item that he will never get the chance to own.
Treasure: money and a misc magic item found on the adventurer's decaying corpse in the corner of the room (reward as level appropriate)
#5) 3 wights are huddled in a group in the center of this corridor. The sound of ripping flesh and crunching bone can be heard as they are apparently eating something they must have just killed. They attack on sight for the interruption of their meal.
Treasure: money and a potion found on the dead body that the wights were just eating (reward as level appropriate)
#6) Another pit trap lies in the middle of this corridor leading to a dead end, but this one opens into a pit full of poisonous snakes. A rope or means to levitate or fly is needed to leave the pit.
Treasure: none
#7) A wraith lives in this section of the mausoleum. He will hide in shadows until the party passes and attack the last person of the party from stealth.
Treasure: none
#8) There is a pack of 6 shadows roaming this hallway. They hate all living things and will attack on sight.
Treasure: none
#9) A skeleton armed with a rusty broadsword is strangely and slowly floating towards the party in this corridor. It is actually an animated skeleton that has been "swallowed" by a gelatinous cube that is the "cleaning crew" for most of the corridors of the mausoleum and will attack the PCs should they get too close or decide to lunging strike the skeleton that is floating towards them.
Treasure: money and a few magic items that have survived being in the digestive juices of the cube (reward as level appropriate)
#10) 5 zombies are walking aimlessly around this section of the mausoleum. They attack the party on sight (probably wanting to eat their brains...)
Treasure: one of the zombies is wearing a magic pendant (reward as level appropriate)
#11) This is the staging ground for the shadowlich's army. Currently there are 30 piles of bones on the group in chaotic heaps. They will animate if the party stays in the area for more than a minute.
Treasure: none
#12) A vampire has made this section of mausoleum her lair. She came to serve the shadowlich and help build his army of undead to try and take over the world... She will try to stall by negotiating with a powerful party while she silently summons the skeletons from #3 and attacks once they have arrived. If the PCs have already taken care of encounter #3, she will either attack if party is weak or wounded or flee to #2 if party is strong to warn her master
Treasure: money, works of art, a few magic items (reward as level appropriate)
The Inner Sanctum:
Through the unlocked and gilded grand double doors, the PCs will find the final resting place of the shadowmage who has recently risen as a shadowlich. The room was once lavishly decorated with rich red pillows, drapery, wonderful works of art on the walls with piles of shiny money and gems laying around, but, like its main occupant, the room and all within it has decayed over the centuries to reveal drab blood color shredded cloth decor, spiderwebs as far as the eye can see, dusty piles of tanished silver and lack luster gems. In the center sits the withered form of a mage with wisps of black magic swirling from his body. He appeared like a macabre decayed statue of a man sitting on a throne of black marble save for the tell-tale red points of light that served as his eyes signified his lichdom. On his head sits the Crown of Shadows which seemed to absorb the meager ambient light in the room thrown off by the few lit torches on the sconces in the corners of the room.
"You've come seeking the Crown of Shadows?" the shadowlich hissed with a sepulchral echo in his voice as he rose from his black throne. "All you will find is death here, "he added as black and grey motes of eldritch energy coalesced around him. "And then will you serve me as I destroy the world that gave birth to you...."
If they party did not vanquish the female vampire in #12 she will be here as well or entering very soon as soon as the fighting starts. This is the final encounter and the battle should be difficult, not impossible, but overall very epic and satisfying for the survivors.
As the shadowlich is vanquished, he will leave behind a pile of dust and the Crown of Shadows on spot of his demise. The PCs now have a choice of destroying the Crown (DM determines method, but Mt. Hotenow happens to be close by) or keeping it and possibly fighting each other over it sometime soon. There is also ample amount of treasure, albeit dusty and dirty, in the room to be split.
Epilogue:
After the PCs are done with the room and turn to leave, they hear clapping emanating from the direction of the shadowlich's throne. They turn to see Madame Zazu seductively laying across the throne and evilly smiling. She gets up off of the throne still smiling, clapping and approaches the party. She explains how the shadowlich was becoming an annoying thorn in her side and although she could have taken care of him herself, she greatly enjoyed manipulating and watching the PCs deal with him. When the PCs ask who she truly is, she dramatically reveals she is Valindra Shadowmantle a lich herself (flesh and clothes decaying and shredding before their eyes), and "I will be the Scourge of Neverwinter" (or something equally dark and grandious) and "I thank you for helping me on my way to destroying this wretched city."
If the PCs foolishy try to attack her, the attacks will pass right through her as this is only a projected magical image while Valindra is actually elsewhere working on her evil plans to destroy Neverwinter.
Valindra's voice rises into maniacal laughter as her image fades away leaving the PCs wondering what harm have they truly brought upon the wonderful city that they came to help....
The End.
(Back to The Price for a Soul...)
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
The back story of this adventure is based upon a merchant who adopted a child whose soul was tainted with a form of wild magic. The taint on her soul enables her to exact her revenge after death, which the players are thrust into. The merchant's rivals, upset at his business practices, bribed his bodyguards to kidnap his daughter in an attempt to humble him by forcing him to sell his mist prized possession - his mine. When the kidnapping took place north of Neverwinter on an overnight outing, an unexpected witness - a hunter who was trapping nearby - unknowingly threw a wrench in the works. The bodyguards panicked and planted evidence against the hunter, which raised the merchant's suspicions and inspired him to murder the hunter. The bodyguards, shocked at their employer's actions, confessed to the double-crossing and were promptly hanged outside the mine as punishment. The girl, meanwhile, had escaped her captor - the bodyguard who kidnapped her and staged his own death on the night of her kidnapping. After catching him asleep at the mine, she doused him with lantern oil and set him on fire as payback for the treatment that she received. She fled into the mine, where she slipped and fell to her death. In a strange twist of fate, her father and mother perished at the jaws of wolves in the same mine searching for her a few days later.
This adventure is a one-night in-game adventure that starts at (or after) nightfall and ends at daybreak. The DM will have to carefully monitor the time - this is a once-per-year-ingame event. Here is the outline, sanitized for this forum - our game group's games are usually for adults ages 23+ and contain some graphic content. I've edited most of what I wrote for our group out or sanitized it for a more PG-13 presentation. I can say that the graphic elements have added more horror immersion for our group's players. YMMV of course. Please note that this adventure is designed for levels 2-4, adjusting for party size and level.
This encounter lasts a total of 8-10 game hours, during which the haunting of this place takes the players back 53 years. Remember to keep track of the time - at the end of 8-10 hours, dawn breaks and the adventure ends. The players must wait another game year to investigate again. It should be noted that the NPCs in this adventure are telling their version of the truth - their consciousness is summoned back to a pocket universe to relive one person's imagination of the events that took place - as such, they are frozen in time and are, although dead in modern times, very much alive while the players are dealing with them.
I strongly encourage ad-libbing and possibly adding monsters as needed. A dry test run of this adventure with just the skeleton of the encounters intact was very well-received among my gaming group - and I ad-libbed more than a few responses and encounters.
Overview Map
Introduction:
The crisp chill of the fall evening surrounds you as you travel the surprisingly busy High Road south toward Neverwinter. Tonight the High Road is bustling with mercenaries, artisans, inventors and merchants looking to make their living off of the efforts to rebuild the once-great city. The sun has begun its quick descent tonight and dusk settles in as you and your fellow travelers quicken your paces to arrive in the great city before nightfall.
Ahead you see a small crowd forming around a man who pleads for help from travelers. The man pleads with the adventurers and their surrounding travelers, "My name is Walter Thornwood and I need your help. Please. My daughter - she's been taken from me. My wife and I were but simple merchants traveling to Neverwinter a fortnight ago. Now we are but poor peasants begging for kindness from strangers. My wife has been bitten by a ravenous wolf that hides in the mines to the east, and can no longer walk. Yet she refuses to travel to town for fear that our daughter will be lost to us forever. I cannot leave her here alone on this busy road - can you help us, please?" His face is haggard, his eyes dark and sunken from lack of sleep and nourishment. (Sense Motive or other truth-telling checks will tell the players that his motives are sincere - he really wishes to find his daughter.)
Should the players decide to interrogate further, they gain the following pieces of information:
1) They had bodyguards, but one disappeared with their daughter and the rest soon after while searching for her. If truth is detected on this statement in specific, the players should know that he is lying about part of his statement. Pressing him further will only yield the comment that he "gave some liars their due, and that may be a contributing factor to their disappearance". He will not answer any questions beyond that, but will offer the players a small chest brimming with gold (5,000) if they will help him find his daughter successfully. Attempts to steal from him will render the PCs unconscious as they are forcibly kicked from the barrier of the pocket dimension. They will wake up the next morning on the side if the High Road minus whatever possessions the good travelers of the High Road deemed fit to leave them. (The adventure ends at this point - there's really no tolerance for more than one double-crossing entity in this adventure)
2) The girl is eight years old, adopted, with blonde hair, blue eyes and nothing but her nightgown to keep her warm.
3) The remaining bodyguards left to search for her days ago but have not been seen since.
4) The hunter in the cabin knows something.
5) Her name is Ariela.
The man instructs the players to head east toward his family's camp and use whatever they can find there to help them.
The Camp:
The players find a camp whose fire is all but out, very few rations left, and three tents left in shambles. Sifting through the items here produces a few clues (Perception checks for each, but I allow higher checks to find multiple items - so a Perception of 17 would find the DC 15 and 14 items, or a Perception of 13 might find the 10, 12 and 12):
1) DC14 - A ledger detailing the sale of a nearby mine to a Walter Thornwood, with a Thornwood family crest drawn on the cover.
2) DC12 - Various scribbled parchments with childlike drawings in charcoal
3) DC15 - A small broken porcelain doll arm
4) DC10 - A child's travel bag with two changes of clothes - thick woolen nightclothes and a well-crafted travel dress and cloak.
5) DC12 - Signs of a struggle and dragging of an object to the north.
The undergrowth around the camp is rather thick, so the trail is broken in places. If the players spoke at length with the father, they will undoubtedly guess that the marks lead to the general direction of the dilapidated cabin that sits upon the slight rise to the north. This is a 15-minute walk to the cabin. On the way they will see a roadway that leads to the east, making the northward trek to the Cabin an optional part of the adventure (but it fills in gaps in the story).
The cabin:
Hunter's House
Hunter's Basement
Make a DC 14 will save for each player and NPC as they approach within 20 feet of the cabin. Players will feel a bit uneasy, as if something is amiss if the save successful. Players who fail the roll notice nothing out of the ordinary about the cabin. A roll of 1 leaves the player shaken(per the combat rules) as long as they remain within 20' of the cabin.
If the players knock before entering, they will not receive an answer. Inside there are a few clues that are obvious. This is a cabin comprising of one large room. A cot lies along the far wall, a large pile of skins ready for tanning lie to the right of the door, and are recognizable (survival or knowledge nature DC 12 check) as deer, badger, elk and cow hides. Across the room from the hides there is a large bloodstained table. On the table are a number of rusty, bloodstained tools that are common in the skinning, tanning and leatherworking trades (knives, hooks, blades, hammers, punches, needles). A perception check DC12 immediately reveals a trapdoor that leads to a basement, or 10 minutes of searching will find it beneath the sleeping cot.
Key items of interest here:
1) An un-tarnished dagger with gold etching in the blade lies in the corner of the room and is discovered with either a full sweep of the room or a DC 14 perception check. A close inspection reveals the presence of blood stains in the gold etchings.
2) A full sweep or DC15 perception check will reveal the broken head of a porcelain doll, a scrap of cloth from the doll's dress, and a tuft of blond hair (some still with roots attached) on the far corner of the table behind three jars of tanning fluid.
3) A note scribbled in a child's handwriting magically appears in the hunter's pocket if he is killed or subdued and searched (see below). He has no knowledge of its presence and all attempts to divine the truth (Sense Motive, Zone of Truth, etc. will reveal this). It simply says "You should have helped, silly man. Daddy killed you because he thought you were the one. I brought you back because you wouldn't save me."
After the discoveries are made, or an hour of game time has passed, the hunter will return. He is a human man, powerfully built in his late 40's. His unkept appearance shows that he has probably been out here trapping for weeks. He has a crossbow drawn and loaded as he approaches cautiously. A handaxe is slung by his side.
Human Ranger, lvl 6
STR 14/DEX 16/CON 12/INT 10/WIS 12/CHA 7/Fort 7/Ref 9/Will 3 HP 41
Crossbow 1d6, Handaxe 1d6+2, AB 6/1, 2 atks, AC 17 (Hide Armor)
A Diplomacy check at DC13 will stop him from attacking, as will an Intimidate DC15. Failed Intimidate prompts an attack.
Sense Motive DC13 reveals that the man is genuine in his responses.
Critical pieces of evidence gained from him:
1) "I saw the girl get dragged off. One of the guards did it, and I've already told her father that."
2) "They headed toward the mines to the east of here, probably about an hour's walk."
3) If confronted about the doll parts, etc: He will insist he knows nothing about them, that they weren't there and nobody else has been here. If pressed or intimidated, he will insist that he has been set up and to look for the man in chainmail the dragged the girl from camp. If asked why he didn't stop them, he will simply shrug and say "It's Neverwinter Wood - sometimes you just don't question what you see and let the Wood sort it out." Pressing him further will result in him attacking the players. He will not stop attacking until killed or subdued.
While the players are searching the room, noises can be heard from beneath the trap door, and if it is not found with a Perception check, let them find it with a full sweep of the room (dock them 30 minutes). Should the players open the trap door, they will discover an earthen basement beneath the cabin. Should the players enter the basement, they find zombies in various adventure garb hanging from meat hooks in the ceiling along with the carcasses of deer, elk and the like. It is fairly easy to kill them, as they are considered prone targets. A long tunnel to the southwest leads to the side of the hill that this cabin rests on. It is approximately 3 feet in height and the entrance is obscured by bushes. The hunter uses this tunnel to bring in his kills, skin them and smoke the meat in the basement while he tans the leather upstairs. If the players discover the basement first, the hunter admits to its purpose but does not have any knowledge of the zombies. If he is somehow subdued and taken to the basement to see for himself, he reacts with genuine horror and cannot speak to their presence or purpose. He will immediately accuse the players of necromancy and attack if this is the case - at which point the players will find the note detailed above.
***If a rogue picks the note from the hunter's pocket, the gilded knife will disappear from its finder's possession and appear immediately in the back of the hunter, in which case he dies instantly.***
***If at any time the hunter is forced to leave his cabin once he arrives, the same result as the pickpocket note above will happen - the knife will automatically appear in the hunter's back and he will fall over dead.***
The road to the Mine and Quarry
On the way to the quarry, the players will encounter the body of a man in ornate chainmail whose breast emblem matches the family crest on the ledger book found at the camp. His hands have been removed and his tongue cut out, but he is otherwise perfectly intact. He has no pulse (if checked and appears to be dead for all intents and purposes. He will never move, as this is his punishment, doled out by Ariela. A perception check (DC15, DC12 while examining the body) reveals that the eyes of this corpse follow the closest player's every move. Examining the body reveals another charcoal note that reads "Liars rarely have to use their tongues. This one took things from one place and put them where they didn't belong, costing a man his life." While the players are examining this scene, between three and six zombies in random adventurer garb come shambling out of the woods toward the party. They all have the same stats as a standard zombie, but with one addition. Each one explodes into a gory mess upon death, covering PCs in all adjacent squares in a 360 degree radius. If any characters are in the affected squares when it explodes, a player must make a reflex save (DC 14-16) as the bodies burst into a shower of small glowing maggots. If the reflex save is failed, then a Fortitude save must be made (DC 12-15). Failure to pass this save results in the maggots burrowing themselves into the skin of their victim, at which point they dissolve - cutting them out is impossible. From that point on to the end of the adventure, the players affected by this will radiate a faint necromantic aura, and no cleansing will remove it. The DM should make note of each one, as this will affect the final fight with Ariela.
The Mine & Quarry
Mine Shaft
When the players approach the quarry, they arrive at the main gate - a large wooden gate with the words "Thornwood Mines" painted across the top. Hanging from the sign are the bodies of seven men dressed in ornate chainmail adorned with the Thornwood family crest. The corpses emanate an eerie, disembodied moan that forces a horror check of DC10-12. Failure results in the player being unable to move for 1d4 rounds as they try to compose themselves. Tacked to the door is another note scrawled in charcoal: "Three by three minus one minus one, Father slew these one by one. Their lies cost me my life." The gate is wide enough for three to four horse-drawn carts to travel side by side. It is unlocked, and opens with just one player pushing the gates open. Upon entering, each player must make a reflex save (DC 14-16) as the bodies burst into a shower of small glowing maggots. If the reflex save is failed, then a Fortitude save must be made (DC 12-15). Failure to pass this save results in the maggots burrowing themselves into the skin of their victim, at which point they dissolve - cutting them out is impossible. From that point on to the end of the adventure, the players affected by this will radiate a faint necromantic aura, and no cleansing will remove it. The DM should make note of each one, as this will affect the final fight with Ariela.
Following the road past the gate leads the players to a massive (300 feet across) open-faced rock quarry. The northern wall of the quarry has an entrance that leads into the lower mines. The quarry itself has been mined in steppes, and there is a gradual and manageable way to step down into the quarry. At the center of the quarry is a single decomposing body also dressed in chainmail adorned with the Thornwood family crest. Staked to the chest is another note. "He took my doll, my freedom and my innocence. I took his life as well as his afterlife. While I miss what I lost, I think he misses his more."
Clutched in the body's right hand is a porcelain doll that is missing an arm and its head. Matching the corresponding parts found at the campsite and the cabin confirm that this is the same doll.
The sky should be getting lighter by now as the players have spent a considerable amount of time traveling to and investigating various areas. Give the characters a few minutes to absorb what has gone on.
Let them brainstorm on what they have discovered. After a few moments, five or six large wolves should come running out of the mine entrance, surrounding and attacking the players. I used the standard wolves in Pathfinder (since that is what we were playing), but any will do that can provide a moderate challenge to the players. This is primarly an encounter that I threw in to shake up the Cleric, since he had fun turning everything thrown at him thus far.
As soon as the fight with the wolves ends, a youthful giggle echoes across the quarry. The players should turn to find a young girl dressed in a simple gray woolen nightgown standing at the top of the northern face of the quarry, almost directly above the entrance to the mine itself. Her hair is somewhat disheveled, and she has a slight bruise on one cheek. In spite of her mistreated appearance, she is beaming from ear to ear. "Let me guess...father sent you find his wittle guwl, correct?"
The ground shakes violently as corpses begin to erupt from the ground, starting at the gate to the quarry and closing in on the players' location near the mine entrance.
"He sent these people, too you know." An evil sneer decorates her smile as she motions toward the ever-growing crowd of hundreds of zombies. "They all jumped at the chance to help the poor old man... but I got the last laugh. Father failed to help me - his bodyguards double-crossed him, took me here, and this is where I died. They lied to father, made him think the hunter killed me, and my dear parents gave up their search while the bodyguards kept me here. But then daddy found out and I thought he came for me - but he didn't. He came for revenge. He killed them all and died trying to find me here."
A giggle escapes her lips as she continues to smile. "I was already dead, lost in a dark place, and now I tell them all what to do! So every year, as a little prank, I make them all relive these moments. And every year father brings me more toys to play with until my next playtime."
She assumes a doe-eyed look as her voice changes to a mocked innocent tone.
"I used to think he was such a bad daddy for not saving me. Now I think he's quite fun to keep around. And you - nobody has ever put my dolly back together for me! I think I'll keep you, too!"
The players can try to fight their way out, but there are literally hundreds of fallen heroes' zombies and skeletons that now block their path. They will be forced to retreat into the mine shaft (entrance 5' wide, or one block). The mine shaft is literally a stone-cut spiral staircase cut into the stone wall with a large, open central area. In the ceiling is an old block and tackle that was used to haul stone up from the pit below. The players can see that the bottom of this staircase is bathed in an unearthly purple glow. All zombies retain the same maggot effect as the ones encountered on the road to the Quarry. Any attempts to attack the girl above the players will be rendered ineffective. This pocket dimension is in her head, and her visible presence here is nothing more than an illusion that cannot be dispelled. Her corpse is the anchor for the dimension - if consecrated, the dimension will cease to exist as her spirit will be put to rest and the ability to maintain the dimension will be nullified.
The players have 15 rounds before sunlight come up. If they do not complete this within 15 rounds, any living players are teleported to the edge of the Neverwinter Wood, where they entered to search for the camp. Any dead players are lost (adjust as you see fit, but it fuels the reason that there are hundreds of zombies in that pocket dimension, so explain it away with a plausible explanation). Any spirits stuck outside of their bodies are teleported with the living players, but they respawn at 0 HP and are assumed to have lost their first stabilization check.
All players affected by the maggot traps earlier should roll a DC 13-15 (adjust as necessary) Fort save. Failure results in a horrific experience - the player's soul is forcibly eject from their body and their body becomes a zombie controlled by Ariela's will. The spirit form is sentient and retains all memories, and is aware of its surroundings. It can fly (30 move, maneuverability class
Continued in my second post on this thread...
Adventure Background
In an obscure corner of a small street someplace in the City there is a tiny shop that smells of foreign spices and strange incense, but for those with supernaturally keen senses there is also a distant aroma hinting of black mold and death. While many have a vague memory of such a place, most will be hard-pressed to recall exactly where it is, or exactly when it was last they passed by it. They may remember it is run by a mysterious shopkeeper known as Yaga Darrow. But her description will vary widely: she is a voluptuous swarthy siren with a quick tongue; no wait..she is a slight waif of a girl, quiet with big eyes; or is she a crone hunched with the years, cantankerous and cruel. None can agree, but for some reason the disagreement never gets heated and the topic of conversation moves on to other more pressing matters...
Adventure Synopsis
The PC receives psychic flashes of a little girl crying for help out of Yaga Darrow's Cauldron. The PC must locate Yaga Darrow's shop, find her Cauldron, enter the Cauldron (which is really a large extra-dimensional space), navigate it's perils, locate and free and the little girl, and escape the confines of the Cauldron.
Adventure Hooks
The adventure can begin many ways as long as the messages received by the little girl are short psychic images flashed in the PC's mind:
*The PC finds a blank note hidden on the jobs board in the tavern. Upon touching it, the PC receives the psychic message.
* A messenger hands the PC a blank note in an envelope and scurries off. Upon opening the note, the PC receives the psychic message.
* The PC has recurring dreams every night of the little girl's psychic message, each night becoming stronger until action is taken.
The psychic message itself is of a little human girl in a flowery dress crying out "Help me. Please Help me! I'm stuck inside the cauldron in Yaga Darrow's Emporium! Please get me out of here!", she looks over her shoulder and the vision fades.
Beginning the Adventure
The first step to be taken is to locate Yaga Darrow's Shop. Yaga Darrows Emporium will not normally be perceived. While it does have a specific address in the city, nobody will normally notice it except with the help of special true-sight spells. The party may ask townspeople, but as described in Adventure Background, they will not be able to pinpoint the location of Yaga Darrow's shop.
In fact, the best way to find Yaga Darrow's shop is to send a message to Yaga Darrow via messenger, and follow the messenger.
This idea may be suggested by one of the towns sages, or impinged upon their mind by psychic images of "Find Messenger Mycroft!" or "Send her a letter!"
Yaga Darrow's Emporium
Upon locating a messenger (perhaps a young boy named Mycroft who runs messages around the city for a penny), it is a simple matter to pay him a penny to deliver a note to Yaga Darrow and follow him to the correct address.
Once the PC witnesses the messenger insert the note into a tiny mailbox in front of the shop, the shop will shimmer into the PC's awareness even though it had actually been there all along.
The 'Emporium' itself appears as a small shack with a crooked wooden sign burned with the words "YAGA DARROW'S EMPORIUM" above the door that stands upon a small porch hidden under a thatch awning. The porch is covered with dry leaves and the corners are filled with cobwebs.
The flimsy door is not locked, and it creaks noisily when opened. Once inside, the PC will see many old shelves with strange knick-knacks on them: snow-globes, wooden daggers, and other useless junk. Everything is covered in dust and cobwebs. It smells of old spices, incense and dust.
In the corner is a little desk with a drawer. When the PC gets close to investigate, a large rat will leap out and require dispatching.
Behind the desk is a little fireplace, and placed on a rack in the fireplace there will be seen a large cauldron. Upon setting eyes on the cauldron, a psychic image of the little girl will appear, "Help me! Hurry!"
Yaga Darrow's Cauldron
Upon touching the cauldron, the PC will apparently be transported to the lip of a gigantic cauldron shaped pit, covered with mist. A stairway leading down into the mists can be perceived. There is no escaping the lip of the cauldron except the stairs downward: the PC can travel along the rim,but will see nothing but myst inside the cauldron, and only a blur outside. If they choose to jump off the ledge formed by the lip of the cauldron they will..have a bad day.
Once the PC steps onto the stairs, they will be instantly levitated down to the floor of the cauldron. The inside of the cauldron is pitch black.
A slight glow can be seen within arms reach: upon inspection it appears to be a small silk bag with something glowing inside.
If the PC attempts to use any sort of flame or light source, they will find that it will not work. It is always difficult to see inside the cauldron, and if the PC cannot see in the dark, the only form a light is the little glowing stone that can be found inside the silk bag. In any event, the sight-distance will only be a matter of feet.
Layout
The inside of Yagga Darrow's Cauldron is made of an iron-like substance that reaches up into the mists that is formed into a series of concentric circles. It cannot be scaled or pierced. The PC is transported to the south outer ring which appears to be a wide (30') curving passage going east and west. All noises by the PC make an eerie metallic echoing sound.
There are four concentric inner ring walls: the first has a door at the north end, the second at the south, the third at the north again, and the fourth at the south. Thus, to reach the center room of the cauldron the PC must traverse around each ring to the door to the inner rings. Each door is made of the same impenetrable iron, and requires a special key to open. The inner chamber inside the inner ring has a dais with a coffin on it, and includes the final encounter.
Encounters
There is an encounter at east and west sides of each of the rings. Successful completion of each encounter will give 1/2 of a key which fits the door to that ring.
Ring one
Ring one is a circular hallway, dark, enshrouded in mist. The floor is indistinct and mist covered. It is empty except for mist and the encounters.
Ring One West
A man-sized glass fortune telling box is centered in mists of the ringway. The glass is dark and unbreakable. The edges of the box are covered with indecipherable runes. There is a small slot and a lever that appears to accept some type of token.
In fact, the token required is the lightstone from the silk bag; the PC should be allowed to experiment with this, but if the lightstone doesn't occur to them, eventually a psychic message "Use the stone!" can be given.
Once the lightstone is inserted into the slot and the lever pulled, the PC is enveloped by the dark mists, but the inside of the glass box lights up as bright as noontime. Inside we see what is clearly a pale skinned Vampire. Glued to his forhead is a curious waxy medallion.
Waxy Medallion
The waxy medallions are power inhibitors that limit the powers of a creature inside the cauldron to that of the PC's. If the coin was to be removed by some magic negating means, the true power of the creature would realize itself and the PC might..have a bad day.
The Vampire Deluth
The vampire begins a speech:
"I am the Vampire Deluth, give me a coin and I'll tell you the..!" he begins. But then he enrages, clearly angry about being held inside the box and starts kicking at the glass. Then, he turns into a mist and starts darting around the inside of the box, bouncing off the glass. Soon he returns to his humanoid form, and just hangs there, dejected.
At this point, the PC may notice that he has a necklace with the top half of a key attached to it.
Now the party may attempt to parley with the vampire. He can be convinced to give the lightstone back, but will not give up the key half. He will also suggest that the PC has the power to break the glass while the lightstone is inside the case, which, in the end is the only way to proceed with this encounter.
The PC will be able to break the glass with some effort while the Vampire has the lightstone, and once this is done, the vampire will turn into a bat (with a waxy coin on its forehead) and attack. Once the vampire/bat is dispatched, the PC may acquire the key half. [If the waxy medallion is removed from the vampire, it's corpse will turn into a mist and fly away, returning as a full fledged vampire...someday.]
Ring One East
At the east side of the first ring the PC will find what looks like a giant cotton ball with strings attached to it. A small distance away from it can be seen the body of a small boy..perhaps a messenger..wrapped in silk and desicated. Upon further ado, several gigantic spiders the size of dwarves will leap out and attack. They too have Waxy Coins on their heads. Dispatching these and searching the 'cotton ball' nest will reveal the a small rod-like piece of metal, the second part of a key.
Ring One North Door
The north door is made of the same irony substance, only it is covered with irony skulls, screaming out silently into the mists. Upon inserting the key into the lock, a psychic image intrudes "Yes! Keep going! Hurry! There's not much time!"
Ring Two
Ring two is similar to ring one, only there are large patches of moss on the ground making a difficult path, between which there is a murky water.
Stepping into the water will weaken the PC, subtracting 1 from his primary stat for the remainder of the encounter (or the curse if removed).
Immersion or drinking the water will render the PC helpless, and if untreated, he will...have a very bad day.
Ring Two West
Here the PC will see an odd stack of boxes towering up into the mists. Some of the boxes have holes in them. The air here has the pungent odor of ..fur. Upon approaching the tower, a growling sound will echo throughout the chamber. The growl of a panther. After some poking about and a pregnant pause, the PC will find a black cat leaping at him from above. It will grow to a size appropriate to the PC, and attempt to shred the PC.
Upon dispatch, it will be noted that the cat has a collar with half a key hanging from its neck.
Ring Two East
Here there is a large raised patch that has stones spaced across it. In fact, this is a graveyard. Nothing much will happen until the name of one of the headstones is read aloud, "Thadius Stone!", at which point, skeletons will claw their way out of the grave and attempt to feast upon the PC's innards.
Upon dispatch, half of a key can be found in Thadius's grave.
Ring Two South Door
This door appears to be made of stone. Upon using the key, a psychic image of the little girl appears "It hurts! Hurry!"
Ring Three
The floor of ring three is sand. It is slow going, and there are various spots where it quickens into pits. Walking down the middle will lead to many dexterity checks, and failure to cope with the quicksand can lead to death by suffocation. The insightful PC may notice that the edges of the ringway are firmer and safe to travel.
Ring Three West
In the middle of the sand, the party will see a small pyramid made of sandstone. On the top they will find a small gold colored capstone, that if turned, will cause the pyramid to crumble. Out of the rubble and sand will come a large mummy with a waxy medallion on its forehead. Dispatching the mummy, the PC will find it wears an amulet that is actually half a key.
Ring Three East
Here there is a giant stone slab. Strapped to it, the PC will find a gruesome flesh golem with a waxy medallion on its forehead. Upon perceiving the PC, the golem will attempt to break its bonds. If the PC is perceptive enough, he may notice that one of the creatures finger bones is actually half a key, and he has a few rounds to attempt to retrieve the key before the monster escapes its bonds. If any sort of damage besides removing the key finger is done to the golem, it will immediately break its bonds, and the battle will ensue. This should be treated as a hard encounter.
Ring Three North Door
This door is round with a round bar to open. Upon inserting the key, the PC hears only a little girl crying.
Ring Four
Upon opening the door, the PC will notice that the floor of this ring is water. They must swim this portion; any gear will get wet and anything they will not or cannot swim with will have to be left behind.
Ring Four West
Here the PC will encounter a giant shark in the darkness. It has a waxy medallion on its forhead. Dispatching the shark the PC will find half a key in its belly.
Ring Four East
Here the PC will encounter a submersed Gelatinous Cube, with a waxy medallion inside it. Also, there may be found half a key.
Ring Four South Door
Another porthole above the waterline, difficult to reach. When the key is place within the keyhole, the PC hears a soft psychic sigh, like the wind blowing.
Cauldron Inner Chamber
The inner chamber has a very dull glow of its own, and a few ever-lit candles burning in sconces. The walls are lined with what appear to be coffins of every shape and size, some plain stone, others with elaborate runes, some black as ebony, others gilded and shining. In the center of the room is what appears to be a large stone altar with a small pine coffin centered on it. Surrounding the altar are small desks covered with strange alchemical materials, jars of unknown substances (what a which might have!), candles, and braziers, and chalk lines willy-nilly.
Suddenly, a psychic image of one of the tables will flash through the PC's mind. Amongst the clutter is long wooden wand with cryptic glyphs carved into it. "The wand! Use the wand!"
At this point, the PC has only one choice which is to find the wand on the table, and try to use it. Not only do they feel compelled to do so, they have no recourse as the coffins cannot be opened and there is no way out anyway.
Upon touching the wand, the PC is forced psychically to use it...on one of the coffins lining he wall. As this happens, a creature bursts the coffin open.
The first time, a boss-mode (level appropriate) Drow will attempt to dismember the PC.
After defeating the Drow, again, the PC is compelled to use the wand.
The second time, a boss-mode mage will try to burn the PC.
After deafeating the mage, the PC is compelled to use the wand.
Dr Tects
The third time, it is a (unique) 7 foot tall humanoid the PC will instantly know is named 'Dr Tects' and the PC will also be aware that he is the true source of the psychic images. He has a tentacle mustache and webbing under his arms and between his long spindly fingers. His eyes are bloodshot and he is angry.
The PC is bludgeoned with psychic images and an overwhelming sense of disgust and loathing. The creature points at the tiny coffin in the room and the lid goes flying off. Inside is a pile of..pulp..wrapped in a familiar flowery dress.
Psychic images flash through the PC's mind: an old hag with a long steely knife, plungin its point into the heart of the catatonic body, ripping out the still pumping organ and squeezing its lifeblood into a little pot. Almost as if the creature equates the PC with the horrible hag, his last psychic words are "Irredeemable!".
The PC blacks out.
The PC is in a tavern, with further recollection of having left the Cauldron or how they got to the tavern.
Thus ends module one.
Questgiver: Rosalyn Colye, an orphaned little girl begging on the streets of Neverwinter.
Rosalyn will approach any nearby PCs, asking them to save her brother, Cormac, who was forcibly dragged out of Neverwinter by a robed man. She followed them out to Neverwinter Wood, and witnessed them entering a manor. The PCs can choose to help out for free, refuse, or demand payment for their services, but Rosalyn can only offer a few pieces of copper as that's all she has. If the PCs accept the quest, they are to make their way to Neverwinter Wood and look for the manor.
Journey to Werewolf Manor
PCs may face a random encounter in Neverwinter Wood while heading to the manor. The manor itself is easy to find.
[Nature Check - Tracking] : You spot two sets of footprints on the ground - one belonging to a man, and the other, a child's. However, near the manor, a pair of paw prints continues off where the man's footprints end. Judging by the spacing between the pawprints, it looks as though the creature walked on two legs instead of four.
Gardens
The manor appears decrepit, but not abandoned. It is surrounded by a surprisingly well-kept garden with herbs of many varieties. The PCs can choose to collect the herbs.
There are also several small makeshift graves, and some of them appear to be recent.
The sound of children crying can be heard from the manor, only to be drowned out by terrifying howls every now and then.
A partially decayed werewolf's head is impaled on a pike in the garden. Below that is a signboard with the message - "Trespassers will suffer a slow, painful death".
The heavy front door to the manor is locked. It can be picked or bashed down, but an easier way to enter is by smashing the windows at the sides.
1st Level
Main Hall
The place is in shambles. Broken pieces of furniture lie everywhere as if a giant had laid waste to the area. The curtains are faded with age and torn. If the PCs inspect the area, they'll notice deep running claw marks everywhere. The walls are both bloodied and riddled with scratches, with the most prominent scratches forming the words "I WON'T LET THE BEAST WIN".
Dining Room
The long dining table takes up most of the space in the room. It probably looked grand in its prime, but the wood is now faded and filled with cracks. Several animal bones litter the surface of the table.
The scratches on this wall form the words "MUST FIND CURE".
A small and severely deformed werewolf is crouched onto the table. Its left eye is freakishly bigger than the right, its right foot is a stump and its left arm is a tentacle. On its neck is a collar with serial numbers. The werewolf notices the PCs and immediately attacks. This is a medium difficulty encounter, as the werewolf is considerably strong for its size but suffers dexterity penalties for its unusual form.
[Arcana Check]: The collar around its neck is enchanted. It seems to be influencing the werewolf's actions.
Once the PCs get its health to 20%, the werewolf curls up into a ball and stops attacking. A ghostly figure of a boy also materializes and shouts, "Stop! It's innocent!"
The PCs can choose to hear the ghost boy out or ignore him and kill the werewolf. If they talk to ghost boy, they'll learn that his name is Davian, and that the werewolf they were attacking was once a child. Both of them were kidnapped by the wizard, Thoril Serpenthelm, along with many other children. He had infected them with the werewolf curse and performed terrible experiments on them. Some of them died in the process, like Davian, but those who survived usually ended up mutated in some way. If asked why Thoril is doing this to them, Davian would reply that he doesn't know, but that Thoril keeps a journal detailing the experiments in the study. If the PCs perform an insight check on Davian, they'll sense that he's telling the truth.
Davian pleads with the PCs to not only spare their lives, but also to help them find a cure or perhaps someone who could take care of them as they are. The PCs can choose to spare their lives and help them, or at least try, bluff, or kill them anyway.
If they decide to kill now or any of the other werewolf pups they encounter during the adventure, Davian will yell, "YOU MONSTER!" and start draining the PCs' health. He must either be turned or killed. Either way, this encounter is easy.
If they agree to spare the werewolf pups, the PCs will have to find ways to avoid killing them and honour their word. Some ways they can go about it would be to use crowd-control abilities, kite them to an empty room and lock it temporarily, use the sleeping potions found in the kitchen, or attack them until they're at 20% health as that's when they're too injured to continue attacking. The more creative the solution, the more XP the PCs will be awarded.
Kitchen
There are three werewolf pups here - all of them are mutated. This is a medium difficulty encounter.
The stench in this room is unbearable. Slabs of raw meat hang off metal hooks, dripping with blood and attracting flies like bees to honey. The cabinet contains several sleeping potions.
Study
There are two werewolf pups here - one of them appears to be normal (for a werewolf), while the other is mutated. Again, this is a medium difficulty encounter.
The study itself is surprisingly well-maintained compared to the rest of the house as there are fewer claw marks and the furniture appears to be mostly intact. Several books of magic line the shelves. If there are any spell-casters in the party, they could learn 1d6 spells from those books.
A thick leather book rests on the table. The first page contains a neatly written phrase - "Taffy apples". The rest of the pages contain Thoril's story about how he was infected by a werewolf (whose head is now impaled in the gardens), and is desperate for a cure. He'd taken upon himself to try and discover one, and so kidnapped several orphaned children to turn into werewolves so that he'd have the perfect test subjects for his cure. The fact that they were orphans also meant no one would miss them, which made it all the more perfect for Thoril. He mused that these orphans were now contributing far more to society than they ever did by begging in the streets, and felt that he's getting close to creating his cure. The journal also contains detailed notes about which potion was used on which child and their results. The PCs can choose to take the journal with them.
2nd Level
Makeshift Dungeon
This was once a guest room, but it now houses several steel cages. There are twenty werewolf pups and five children inside these cages, with Cormac Colye being among them. All of them are wearing collars.
The locks can either be picked or the PCs will have to get the key from Thoril himself. If the PCs free Cormac and the unaffected children, they will thank the PCs. If the collars have been dealt with, the children will head back to Neverwinter on their own. If the collars are still on their necks, the children will explain that they cannot leave the house as the collars will shock them.
If the werewolf pups are freed but the collars have not been dealt with, they will attack the PCs. If the collars have been dealt with, the werewolf pups will be friendly.
Strange room
There is an eerie purple aura around the door. This door cannot be opened through normal means. An arcana check reveals that the door is magically locked and requires a password to enter. A highly successful arcana check will reveal that the password is "Taffy apples". The PCs can also try to figure out the password themselves, or ask Davian (if he hasn't been killed), or any of the children in the makeshift dungeon about the door. They all know about the magical door and the password to enter. Award the PCs more XP if they figure out the password on their own.
Once the PCs have made their way in, they'll encounter Thoril Serpenthelm, who was about to force a werewolf pup to drink a potion. Thoril remarks that their heads will be joining the impaled werewolf's head in the garden. Thoril is a hard encounter, as he not only possesses all the adult werewolf abilities, but is also able to do some magic. The werewolf pup will also join him in attacking the PCs.
There's a glowing orb on a stand at a corner of the room. An arcane check reveals that the orb is what's powering all the collars. If the PCs destroy the orb, all the collars fall off, which results in every single werewolf pup that's still alive and not in a cage to run to Thoril and attack him. The werewolf pups will no longer attack the PCs.
On the other side of the room lies a table with many unusual potions.
Once the PCs get Thoril to 10%, he stops attacking and begs for mercy, promising that he'll restore the werewolf pups once he finds a cure. An insight check reveals it to be a bluff. The PCs can choose any of the following:
- Kill him themselves
- Tell the werewolf pups to finish him off
- Spare him. They can demand payment for leaving him alone. They can also demand that he release all the prisoners. If they spare him but don't force him to release the prisoners, Davian will attack the PCs for siding with the enemy.
- Intimidate him into keeping his word.
- Force-feed him with any one of his potions (bad idea)
If they force-feed him a potion, Thoril will mutate, regenerate his health and become more powerful. His limbs will become massive, and tentacles will sprout all over his body. He gains increased strength with only a slight penalty to dexterity. This is a challenging encounter. However, if the PCs decide to throw the rest of the potions at him, he'll mutate so much that he'll eventually explode.
If Thoril dies, the PCs can loot the key around his neck (for the cages in the makeshift dungeon), his gold and any magical weapons that he's carrying.
At this point, the PCs have to decide what to do with the werewolf pups if there are any still alive. They could
- Take them to an apothecary along with the journal in hopes that he can use that knowledge to treat them
- Take them to Selune's temple to adopt them
- Take them to Malar's temple to adopt them
- Kill them
- Leave them behind.
The PCs are free to come up with other solutions for this problem. Award them the appropriate amount of XP accordingly.
HD 7
Large Construct
AC 16
DR 1/-
HP 42
Attacks: 2 Special
AB:+6/+1
Damage per attack: 1d4 + knockback
Each time the doll makes an attack, it thrusts itself into a player and knocks them backward 10' in the opposite direction. A missed attack does no damage, but the player must accept a free shift of 5' to the right, left or backward to avoid the hit.
If the doll is reduced to 0 hit points, it explodes in a cloud of ceramic shrapnel, peppering the players for 2d4 damage unless a successful saving throw is made for half damage (evasion applies). The doll stays centered on the girl's corpse and can move 15 feet to make an attack. It immediately returns to hover over her body after each attack.
If the players manage to pour the clear liquid (Holy Water) on the remains, the mine collapses around the players and everything goes dark. The players open their eyes to find themselves standing in the decades-old remains of a long-abandoned quarry in the middle of the Neverwinter Wood, with a small chest at their feet (see encounter with old man on road). All disembodied spirits as well as dead players are returned to life along with their companions in the quarry with 1 HP.
Had to add this - apparently adding my map links cut it off - thanks to my friend who alerted me to this.
This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced in the following days.
Good luck to all of our awesome entrants!
@Effreet in game
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