A Deep and Creeping Darkness came to Candlekeep with another group of adventurers, given to them by a villager who found it among her grandfather’s old possessions. Her grandfather—a traveling bard in his youth—claimed to have written it. Though appearing to be nothing more than a combination of diary and penny dreadful, the book satisfied the requirement of a unique work to grant that party entrance to Candlekeep. It chronicles the death of a mountain village called Vermeillon by slow, unknown means. Following a terrible accident in the platinum mine, survivors and other villagers began disappearing. Eventually Vermeillon’s population all vanished or fled, leaving the village abandoned. (They never discovered the cause: a nest of meenlocks.)
Finding the Book
Characters receive a contract from a mining and exploration group to find out what happened to Vermeillon. Through divination magic, the speculators learned that a book in Candlekeep holds clues to the mystery. They give the characters another book to use as a means of entrance, which gets them in… barely.
The Avowed at the front gates are initially doubtful about the quality or desirability of the work. After enough debate to make the players nervous, they accept the book. Characters gain entrance to the Court of Air, where they are assigned rooms at the House of Rest, a study room at the Pillars of Pedagogy, and an adjutant guide. Their guide is surprised and thankful that the characters already know the name of the work they’re looking for.
Characters who aren’t specifically investigating the village can discover A Deep and Creeping Darkness while researching one of the following topics:
- Local history, legends, and lore
- The mining industry
- Unexplained disappearances of individuals and entire settlements
Book Description
The book, bound in black leather with “A Deep and Creeping Darkness” embossed on the thin spine, shows minimal signs of wear and tear other than a few pages creased through carelessness and a spot here and there. The work is neat though not flawless, containing notable spelling errors and ink blotches. (If asked, the Avowed confirm this is not the work of a professional scribe.)
Tale of Tragedy and Terror
A Deep and Creeping Darkness tells the tale of a mountain village whose residents went missing over the course of several months. The book presents a series of vignettes allegedly collected from “those who were there”: survivors, traveling merchants, and (in secondhand accounts) residents of nearby settlements. It is unclear whether it is a fictional tale, folklore, or history. The content seems factual, but the language is extravagantly dramatic.
Vermeillon, established after settlers discovered a platinum vein in the mountainside, did a booming business in both the raw ore and the refined metal for around a decade. Due to the rough terrain and the harshness of the climate, the village never grew large. It intermittently hosted a succession of traveling merchants who came to the village for a week or two, sold and traded their wares, then left again. The nearest civilized settlement was three days' ride on horseback down the mountainside. The inhabitants named in the book include Mayor Lei Duvezin, a kind and talented dwarf smith named Tormun, and his wife, Blenyss.
Seventy years ago, an explosion rocked the platinum mine, collapsing the tunnels and burying workers under tons of rubble. Sixty miners were underground that day. Over thirty of them died in the initial collapse, and the instability of the tunnels made rescue of the others slow and dangerous. The miners who survived the collapse were trapped for days or weeks before they were rescued—or perished in the deep, alone and terrified. Sixteen came out alive. Eleven were never found.
In the wake of the catastrophe, another horror plagued the village as people began to disappear, starting with the survivors—not all at once, however. One or two would vanish in a single night, then a tenday might pass before the next disappearance. These unexplained disappearances terrified the remaining miners. After all the survivors either disappeared or fled, other villagers began to vanish. The villagers tried to protect themselves by sleeping with weapons and taking shifts on watch, but nothing changed. Traveling in groups didn’t help, since a companion might vanish while even briefly out of sight.
With no one willing to keep the mine open and the disappearances leading to fears that Vermeillon might be cursed, merchants and other travelers stopped visiting the village. The end of the patchwork story claims that the village is still there, though whether anyone inhabits it is a mystery. The volume’s writer muses over the decline of the village, speculating about the fate of its inhabitants. They wonder whether it would be worth hiring adventurers to see if anything remains of the village—particularly the platinum ore. Sketched on the back of the last page is a rough map of the village’s location, with directions from the closest mountain town, called Maerin.
Truth Behind the Tale
In response to the swell of terror from the chaos and aftermath of the accident, a nest of meenlocks spontaneously manifested within the bedrock of the mountain. Their strange, twisting lair affixed itself to the tunnels of the mine like a leech. The creatures spent days psychically tormenting the trapped miners before taking them to their lair for further torture and, eventually, transformation. After all the trapped miners were captured or died—or were rescued—the meenlocks turned their attention to the village.
The lingering fear and trauma of the surviving miners called like a beacon to the meenlocks, who exploited the impaired mental states of the villagers and influenced their dreams to sow more terror. Slowly but surely, with ruthless patience and efficiency, the meenlocks tormented and kidnapped the remaining miners, and then started in on their friends and family. Most of the populace eventually fled. Those who remained behind were taken, one by one, and transformed into meenlocks.
A bard who heard about the catastrophe decided to chronicle the stories of the survivors. He traveled the area extensively, avoiding Vermeillon but seeking out its former residents in nearby towns.
His account failed to draw interest, and the book remained among the remnants of his bardic career until his granddaughter found it and sent it on its way to Candlekeep.
Maerin
The characters can use the hand-drawn sketch in the back on the book to determine their starting point. The town of Maerin is the most likely stopover before attempting the trip into the mountains. If you’re running a homebrew campaign, insert Maerin wherever it makes sense for you or substitute an already-existing town in your own world.
Nestled at the foot of a mountain range, the town is the last bastion of civilization before the inhospitable climate of the peaks. Not large enough to be called a city, Maerin is nonetheless bustling. Shops, taverns, and other establishments abound, as well as an open-air market at the center of town where vendors of all sorts hawk their wares.
Most of the citizens of Maerin have scant knowledge of the village hidden in the mountains above them. Two former residents of Vermeillon can share their experiences: Lukas Grosvenor, the owner of the Bored Weasel tavern and inn, and Astra Vorn, a flower vendor in the market.
A Stake in the Mine
For a long-term campaign, you have the option of reopening the mine once the party clears out the nest of meenlocks. Plenty of platinum lies in the ground near Vermeillon, and adventurers who make it accessible could be rewarded with a share of the mine’s profits once production starts up again. Vermeillon as a potential home base or means of additional income could be an irresistible temptation for forward-thinking groups. Either Lukas or Astra in Maerin mentions this possibility in passing, if needed, though neither claims any knowledge of where to find the rightful owners.
The Bored Weasel
A mid-range tavern and inn, the Bored Weasel features a dining area that seats forty people comfortably, small bedrooms that have surprisingly soft mattresses, and one tub that can be rented for baths by the hour. The menu of tavern fare is simple but satisfying; the establishment is best known for a flavorful, piping-hot stew called Salty Fish Surprise. (Where the fish comes from is a mystery best left unsolved.) A large bowl of the stew costs 3 cp, while a small cup of it costs 1 cp.
Lukas Grosvenor
Neutral good human tavernkeeper (age 95)
Lukas is patient, though he suffers no fools. He has a charming smile for anyone who gives him a kind word or a good tip. His hunched shoulders have only a hint of the strength they once had, and his hands are callused from years of work.
Lukas lived in Vermeillon and worked there as a miner. His young wife, Lorna, died in the disaster. He left after her death but before the disappearances started. If the characters announce that they’re heading to Vermeillon, he asks them to place flowers on his wife’s grave for him, and to find her old necklace in a hollow of the tree in the center of the village and return it to him. Lukas can give them a rough map of the village, though he notes a lot can change in seventy years.
Personality Trait
“Every since me wife died, my life has been a dreary march toward death. I look forward to death when it finally comes.”
Ideal
“Hard work won’t erase my losses, but it goes a long way toward easing them.”
Bond
“I’ve poured decades of hard work into the Bored Weasel. It’s all I have.”
Flaw
“I become surly and irritable when confronted with things beyond my control.”
The Central Market
Maerin has a lovely open-air market in the center of town. Semipermanent tables and tents throughout the circular area allow space for carts and wagons brought in by traveling merchants. Maerin sits at the junction of three main roads. The market surrounds the intersection, making it a welcome stop for travelers of all types. Jewelers, clothiers, bakers, farmers, and occasionally enchanters and alchemists, frequent the central market.
Astra Vorn
Lawful good half-elf florist (age 78)
Astra has pale skin, shoulder-length red hair streaked through with white, and cloudy blue eyes. They run a flower stall in the market. Friendly and a bit wistful, Astra chats with anyone who stops at their stall, as happy to hear the recent news as to make a sale.
Astra was a child when their family left Vermeillon, so their knowledge of the forgotten village is clouded by time and the hazy memories of the very young. They remember the disaster at the mine, bits of conversation overheard from adults talking in hushed whispers, and the gossip of the other children. Astra’s family fled the village when Astra’s mother began to experience nightmares.
Personality Trait
“Gossip nourishes me like a spring rain, but I hate to hear or pass on bad news.”
Ideal
“People are like flowers: Some grow best when left alone, others must be carefully cultivated—and some need to be pruned back, lest they overtake the garden.”
Bond
“I am my own person, and I fiercely cherish my independence. I don’t want to owe anyone anything.”
Flaw
“I love to talk, which means I don’t always listen to what’s really being said.”
The Road to Vermeillon
Vermeillon lies nestled in the snowy mountain peaks north of Maerin, three days' ride by horse. The road from Maerin technically still exists, though it has fallen into disrepair and lacks guards or patrols. Place whatever obstacles or threats you feel necessary to engage the characters: they might face rampaging wildlife, marauding bandits, and weather and terrain challenges on the road to Vermeillon.
Vermeillon
When the characters enter Vermeillon, read the following boxed text to the players:
The village is eerily quiet. Plants and wildlife have overtaken the crumbling houses. Leafless vines climb rotting walls, birds and other small creatures nest in the exposed rafters, and gnarled trees protrude from the fallen roofs of a few buildings. The overcast sky adds an air of oppression to the scene, seeming to envelop the village.
Lurking Danger
A nest of meenlocks lives in the mine outside the village. Though most of the creatures returned to the Feywild once the village was empty, six Meenlock (see area the end of the adventure for their stat block) remained to prey on lost travelers. When the characters arrive in the village, these meenlocks become aware of their presence and stalk them from a distance, staying hidden in the shadows.
The meenlocks of Vermeillon include three that spawned after the disaster in the mine, two that were once villagers, and one that was a traveling merchant who thought he’d found a shortcut through the peaks. The three original meenlocks stay within the nest, while the other three venture into the village to torment the characters, either individually or as a group. You can change the number of meenlocks in in the village, depending on the number of characters and their abilities.
As the party makes its way through the village, the meenlocks try to remain unseen as they begin to psychically haunt the characters, causing hallucinations. Pick one character to target, or spread the hallucinations between multiple party members. A few suggestions:
- Characters see movement out of the corner of their eyes, but when they turn to look, nothing is there.
- A voice whispers indistinct words in their ears.
- A terrified shriek splits the air.
- Shadows follow the characters, stretching out abnormally across the floor to reach for them.
- Characters who view themselves in a reflection momentarily see the face of a lost loved one or a hated enemy instead of their own.
- The hair on their arms and neck stands up, and the space between their shoulder blades itches. They can’t shake the feeling of being watched.
Running the Meenlocks
The Meenlock haunting Vermeillon avoid bright light. They prefer to stay in their nest until nightfall, though they sometimes hunt on overcast days.
The meenlocks avoid combat with a well-armed group of foes. If the characters don’t split up on their own, the meenlocks try to divide the party using their ability to create hallucinations. Their aim is to isolate and paralyze one character, then drag that character back to their nest to be tortured and transformed into a meenlock. If given the opportunity, meenlocks psychically torment their prey for hours or days, breaking down their mental and emotional state to make the eventual transformation easier.
Be devious and tricksy with these foes—they’re intelligent creatures, not mindless monsters driven by bloodlust. Hide them from the characters for as long as possible to heighten the mystery and suspense.
Nightmares
If the characters sleep in the village, the meenlocks inflict nightmares on them. The characters dream of being trapped in the suffocating darkness beneath piles of rock and rubble, unable to scream or move. After finishing a long rest, each character must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the character gains 1 level of
Places of Interest
Most of Vermeillon’s buildings contain nothing but decaying furniture and whatever belongings were left behind when the inhabitants fled, but a few locations hold treasure or hints to the village’s demise.
The following locations are keyed to the map of Vermeillon.
V1. The Wand and Hammer
Tormun and Blenyss’s shop displays a sign featuring a wand crossed with a blacksmith’s hammer. The sign hangs crookedly from one hook and falls as the characters enter through the front door.
A thick layer of dust covers the interior of this building. A forge sits dormant in the far corner, a blacksmith’s anvil and an empty quenching trough beside it. On the opposite side of the room are two workbenches with stools.
Tormun and Blenyss left with the second wave of villagers. With their livelihood drying up before their eyes and the hidden danger lurking in the village, the couple made the regretful decision to abandon their shop, buying space on one of the last merchant carts out. They took what they could fit on their backs, and they left their other possessions behind and hid their valuables in order to return and claim them later, which they never did.
Treasure
A successful DC 13 Intelligence (
A successful DC 18 Intelligence (
V2. Stonemason’s Workshop
The front door of the stonemason’s home and workshop gapes open, with the remains of the door lying several feet away and covered in long brown grass. The roof has caved in, and remnants of rotting furniture are visible through the open doorway. Blank headstones stand in front of the house, and one beside the doorway is engraved with the words “Tiris Frosthair, Stonemason. Inquire at Back.”
At the back of the house, a covered work area holds more blank headstones and slabs of granite and marble. Rusted carving tools hang from the wall. A hammer and chisel lie on the ground beside a half-finished headstone that reads:
Adalyn Creen
May you alw
V3. Mayor’s House
This grand, two-story brick house has fallen prey to time and the elements like the rest of the village, but it remains in better shape than the smaller houses. Heavy wooden double doors are flanked by dark windows, and chimneys anchor the building at each corner, their masonry crumbling. In front of the house looms a wide, leafless tree. Its gnarled branches reach toward the clouds like twisted fingers, and its rough bark is pockmarked with large knots and beetle holes.
This house belonged to Mayor Lei Duvezin and her family. When the villagers continued to disappear, and the others fled, Mayor Duvezin sent her wife, Tifra, and their two small children to Maerin to wait until it was safe. Tifra fell ill not long after their arrival in Maerin and passed away three weeks later. The children remained there for a time before being sent off to the care of distant relatives. Mayor Duvezin was determined to find the source of the disappearances, stop them, and rescue anyone she could. As it happened, she was the last villager taken by the meenlocks.
If the characters decide to explore the house, see “area Mayor Duvezin’s House” later in the adventure for more information about this location.
V4. Tree
A bare tree stands on the lawn in front of the mayor’s mansion. On the west side of the tree is a hollow knot, about 5 feet above the ground, filled with dead leaves and empty nut shells.
Treasure
Within the hollow rests a delicate necklace: a thumb-sized platinum oval pendant threaded on a thin chain (20 gp), inscribed with “For Lorna, Forever” in a careful script. A character who spoke with Lukas Grosvenor and knows the necklace is hidden in the tree can locate it with minimal searching. Someone unaware of the necklace must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (
V5. Graveyard
A crooked, wrought iron archway stands at the entrance to the graveyard, which is overgrown like the rest of the village. Headstones sit at odd angles, some toppled completely. Small cairns, rather than inscribed headstones, mark the graves toward the back.
Characters who take time to read the inscriptions notice that the headstones near the cairns bear the same death date, which is also the date of the mine collapse. The cairns were intended to be temporary, but with so many stones needing to be carved at the same time, the stonemason was unable to complete all the work before she was taken by the meenlocks.
Characters who look for Lorna Grosvenor’s grave can find it in the section at the back, a few headstones away from the cairns. Her stone stands a bit tilted but stable, and reads:
Lorna Grosvenor
Beloved of Lukas. Forever, My Heart.
If the characters place flowers on the grave as requested by Lukas, they hear a soft, contented sigh on the wind.
V6. Merchant’s Cart
The road heading northwest out of the village is soon overcome by overgrowth and disuse. Not too far past the graveyard, a cart stands abandoned in the middle of the road, covered with a heavy tarp.
The cart belonged to a traveling merchant who was taken by the meenlocks a little less than a year ago.
Upon closer inspection, the party finds the remains of a horse in the tall grass, still tethered to the front of the cart. Under the tarp are boxes, barrels, and trunks. Many of these containers are broken and empty; the few that remain carry salted dried meats (still edible but not tasty), three bolts of common fabric (10 gp each), and two small casks of wine (25 gp each). A successful Wisdom (
DC 15 Wisdom (
DC 18 Wisdom (
DC 15 Intelligence (
Tragic Transformation
Mayor Lei Duvezin was taken in the night and transformed into a meenlock. The meenlock that was once Mayor Duvezin now lurks around the mayor’s mansion, drawn there by lingering memories, and it takes any opportunity to attack characters in the house.
The meenlock shed its clothing and other trappings of its former life once the transformation was complete, but it still wears the mayor’s ring of office: an ornate platinum signet ring embossed with a snowdrop blossom (75 gp). The characters can recover the ring upon the meenlock’s death or notice it during combat with a successful DC 18 Wisdom (
Perception ) check. The ring offers a hint to the fate of the mayor, and also serves as a potential plot hook if the characters decide to track down the mayor’s children to return the item and give them closure on their mother’s fate.
Mayor Duvezin’s House
The furniture and belongings in the house remain in their customary places, the beds made and the desks arranged neatly under a thick layer of dust. The house served as both the home of the mayor and the center of government. Meals were prepared in the village and brought to the manor, and the servants slept in nearby cottages.
The house hides clues to the death of the village, for characters who take the time to look. If any characters are left behind in a room on their own, or if the party splits up to search the house, that’s an ideal time for a meenlock encounter.
H1. Entryway
Dust covers everything in this wide hallway. Moth-eaten cloaks hang from hooks on the left-hand wall. To the left and the right, hallways branch off into the gloom. Ahead, a stairway leads up to the second floor, and a door stands beneath the stairs, seemingly leading to the back yard.
Dim light filters in through the dust-covered windows, the only light within the house. The cloaks are too decayed to be of any use.
H2. Assembly Room
Chairs are arranged in staggered rows with their backs to the door, facing a podium in the southeast corner. A sideboard sits on the left side of the room, and a bookcase stands to the right of the doorway, filled with tomes and knickknacks. A cold brick fireplace occupies the southwest corner.
The mayor addressed the village’s council here. The sideboard, once used to provide drinks and other refreshments during the meetings, is bare. The shelves in it hold glass tumblers, wine glasses, and small china plates, all covered with dust and rodent droppings.
Treasure
The bookshelf holds old and worn books, a small framed watercolor painting of a mountain range (2 gp), and a chunk of raw platinum ore from the mine (25 gp).
H3. Meeting Room
A round table with four chairs stands in the center of this room. Windows look out into the back yard. The fireplace in the corner is filled with broken masonry. A framed portrait hangs on the right-hand wall.
This room is bare except for the furniture and a faded oil painting that depicts Mayor Lei Duvezin, a dark-skinned woman dressed in a cream-colored frock coat with a pale green cravat at her throat. Her dark hair is pulled up in an intricate twist, and she wears delicate platinum and diamond earrings. Her hands are folded in her lap. One finger bears a heavy platinum signet ring, inscribed with a snowdrop blossom.
H4. Dining Room
This room holds a rectangular table with eight chairs. A sideboard sits against the far wall, with dusty ceramic serving dishes and bowls atop it. A fireplace is in the far corner.
This room was used mainly for dinner parties and family meals. A search reveals ceramic plates, bowls, and teacups with saucers in the sideboard cabinets, as well as flatware and serving utensils in the drawers. The ceramics are well made but simple; the flatware is made of a silver-plated steel alloy.
H5. Parlor
The parlor is empty except for four wingback chairs situated along the left-hand wall and a desk in the right-hand corner beside the window. A fireplace dominates the southeast corner.
Once a waiting area for villagers hoping to see the mayor, this room holds little of interest. The chairs are infested with rodents; mouse holes and droppings are obvious with a simple glance. The desk on the front wall was available for public use and did not hold any personal papers. A few crumbling sheets of blank parchment, a quill, and a dried-up inkwell remain here.
H6. Upstairs Landing
An open landing waits at the top of the stairs. Four closed doors lie before you, and a large entryway gapes from across the hall to the south.
The doors to the bedrooms are shut but unlocked. In the middle of the south wall is a open doorway to the library (area area H9).
H7. Daughter’s Bedroom
This dim room holds nothing but a bed, partially coated in debris from the collapsed chimney. Cold air gusts in through the gaps.
This room belonged to the mayor’s daughter, Nia. It contains nothing of interest.
H8. Master Bedroom
A double bed sits beneath the windows along the far wall. A fireplace occupies one corner, and a window looks out onto the front yard.
This room belonged to Mayor Duvezin and her wife, Tifra. A search of the room yields a pile of crumpled, half-written letters on the fireplace mantelpiece, beseeching other nearby settlements for aid; among them is a completed letter addressed to the mayor of Maerin. This letter is stuffed in an envelope and sealed shut with a bright red wax seal embossed with an ornate snowdrop blossom; sticks of sealing wax in various colors as well as quills, ink, and paper; and the journal of Mayor Lei Duvezin.
The journal chronicles the disaster at the mine and the village’s anguish at so many victims. The mayor recounts the rescue efforts in the following days, and how they had to stop the search due to fears of more cave-ins if they attempted to remove any more of the rubble, even with miners still missing. She writes of villagers going missing in the night, of her helplessness, and of stubbornly staying on, determined to find the missing villagers while Tifra and their two children, Tavin and Nia, evacuated to Maerin. The last few pages speak of the mayor’s nightmares, of her creeping fear and waking in the night, soaked in sweat, with lingering screams echoing in her ears.
H9. Library
Shelves filled with books line the walls of this library, and four wingback chairs sit around a low table in the center of the room. The wide bank of windows in the south wall affords a panoramic view of the dilapidated houses beyond the twisting branches of the tree in the front yard.
Since the village’s business was conducted on the first floor of the mansion, the mayor and her wife spent their personal time in this room. The shelves hold books of all sorts, from tomes on history and treatises on business to thin volumes of folktales and grand, sweeping novels. An entire section on arcane theory includes books about the other planes of existence. If you so desire, the library can include books relevant to other plots in your campaign.
Several open books lie on the table, with notes scribbled on bits of paper stuck between their pages. The topics include the effects of physical and emotional trauma, nightmares, and mysterious disappearances. Seemingly out of place in comparison to the other topics, a book about the Feywild and its sundry creatures holds a single note, written in a shaky hand. It reads: Could this be the answer?
{@i }The note marks a page with an entry on meenlocks, which includes the following information:
- Meenlocks are corrupted fey creatures that spontaneously manifest in response to fear in places where the border with the Feywild is thin.
- Meenlocks create more of their kind by transforming humanoids through a process of psychic torment that takes hours or days.
- Meenlocks live in subterranean nests.
- Meenlocks are sensitive to bright light and can sense shadows and darkness.
By the time Mayor Duvezin discovered this book, she was already being harried by the meenlocks. They took her shortly afterward.
H10. Guest Bedroom
Empty except for a bed and a fireplace, this room is cold and has an air of loneliness about it.
Intended as a guest bedroom, this chamber rarely saw much use.
H11. Son’s Bedroom
This bedroom has a tall chest of drawers made of dark wood in the corner across from the door. Farther into the room, a small desk sits between two windows, with a large bed to the left of it. The sheets and blankets on the bed are rumpled. One moth-eaten pillow lies on the floor beside it, the other on the mattress where it belongs.
Under the bed is a small stuffed toy bugbear, full of holes and with its stuffing removed by the resident rodents. It belonged to the mayor’s son, Tavin.
Platinum Mine
A gaping hole in the mountainside northeast of the village marks the entrance to the platinum mine. Several carts sit outside the cavern. One is filled with rock and dirt pulled from the mine, the others piled with large beams of wood—new supports that were never installed after the collapse.
If the characters explore during the day, the first 30 feet inside the mine are dimly lit, and anything beyond 30 feet is in darkness. Cart wheels have carved shallow ruts in the dirt floor leading to the back of the mine, where the cave-in was never fully excavated. Smaller tunnels branch off from the main shaft. The entrance to the meenlock tunnel opens near the site of the accident.
The following locations are keyed to the map of the platinum mine.
M1. Main Tunnel
The mine is dark and damp, and you hear the sound of dripping water echoing from deep within. The light fades faster than it should as you move deeper, until you’re wrapped in oppressive gloom and shadow.
The main tunnel heads into the mountain, ending at a pile of rubble left over from the cave-in. Secondary hallways branch off to the left and the right. The meenlocks, having watched the characters in the village, escalate their psychic torment when the characters enter the mine.
Each character who enters the mine must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks from being distracted by whispers, shifting movement, and other hallucinations while inside the mine.
M2. Southern Wing
This tunnel ends at a small chamber that holds worn picks, rusty shovels, and two hand carts filled with debris and rags.
The tools were left behind by the workers in the wake of the disaster.
Characters who look up see scores of bats hanging from the 20-foot-high ceiling. If bright light is shone at them or if someone makes a noise louder than a whisper, the bats coalesce into three hostile Swarm of Bats. These swarms were drawn to the mine by the meenlocks' unwholesome presence and attack all creatures except the meenlocks.
M3. Northern Wing
This tunnel winds back toward the entrance, and the south wall of the chamber at the end has odd divots and alcoves within the rock at various heights.
This tunnel ends abruptly. The miners intended to keep digging here, but it was abandoned after the collapse occurred.
M4. Cave-In
As the characters approach the rubble of the cave-in, they see large rocks in the pathway that they can easily move past. The tunnel gets tighter and tighter until they come to the main body of the cave-in.
Mounds of broken rock block the tunnel, piled from ceiling to floor. The other parts of the cave-in were passable after the collapse, but this seems an impenetrable wall of earth.
Traveling farther down the tunnel is impossible here. A character who attempts to move any of the rocks must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (
M5. Entrance to the Meenlock Lair
The opening of this tunnel is nearly circular. Black moss covers the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel as far as you can see. Within this tunnel are several branches, all of them covered in the same black moss.
The notable aspect of this tunnel is the uniform layer of black moss over everything. Characters who scrape the moss away from the rock see that the walls are smooth, not rough-carved by pick and shovel like the rest of the mine. Because the meenlock tunnels spontaneously manifested rather than being dug out, there are no scratch marks or signs of excavation on the walls, floor, or ceiling here. The moss muffles all sound, causing a lack of echoes and creating a sense of claustrophobia.
A successful DC 14 Intelligence (
M6. Chamber of Weeping
Thick, velvety black moss covers every surface of this eight-foot-high chamber. Set into the far wall is a deep alcove.
Whenever a creature that isn’t a meenlock enters the alcove or starts its turn there, tentacles of black moss sprout from the alcove’s walls, forcing the creature to succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw to avoid being
Development
A character who wanders into this cave alone and is
M7. Mossy Maze
The meenlocks like to pick off interlopers in this moss-covered maze of tunnels, luring them into dead-end caves using hallucinations (such as the sound of someone calling for help).
M8. Pools
This dead-end cavern opens wide, and the lingering dampness of the tunnels is pronounced in here. Moisture leaches through the moss ceiling above, forming fat droplets that fall into pools of dark water around the chamber. A sharp scent of minerals fills the air and mixes with the earthy smell of the moss. The sound of dripping doesn’t echo, but is immediately dulled by the moss-carpeted surfaces.
The pools here vary in depth: the smaller ones are a few inches deep, and the larger pools measure 2 feet at their deepest. In the subterranean darkness, the pools look black. Light sources reflect off the water as if it were a dark mirror, and the characters are unable to see below the surface.
This is another ideal ambush location for the meenlocks or, if you want to shake things up a bit, for a black pudding or other ooze to lurk on the surface of one of the pools like an oil slick.
M9. Transformation Chamber
New scents greet you here: the musty funk of decaying fabric and old furs, and the smell of rot lingering in the stagnant air. Thick pillars of moss-covered stone support the twenty-foot-high ceiling, and waist-high stone slabs dot the cavern.
The meenlocks bring their victims here to be tormented and transformed. The stone slabs are coated with blood and filth—the result of mortals being laid out for days of torture. Any party members taken by the meenlocks are here,
Dynamite Trap
The miners-turned-meenlocks used remnants of their knowledge to rig explosives on the four pillars in this room. Attached to each pillar is a stick of dynamite with a long fuse leading to a plunger trigger. Any character who has a passive Wisdom (
The meenlocks trigger the explosives as a last resort. If a meenlock starts its turn with 10 hit points or fewer, it moves to the nearest trigger, uses its action to set off the explosion, and then uses its Shadow Teleport bonus action to escape. The pillar is destroyed in the explosion. The last meenlock detonates any remaining pillars before it flees. Any creature within 5 feet of an exploding dynamite stick must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (
Old Remains
The remnants of other victims lie on the south side of the room, decades of belongings shed by transformed meenlocks and left to rot. Heaped piles of bones, clothing, boots, rusted blades, and splintered bows and arrows rest within the recessed portions of the walls.
Treasure
Most of the items in the refuse piles are worthless after rotting in the damp and dark for years. A thorough search reveals 50 gp, an ivory drinking horn with platinum filigree (120 gp), and a set of
Passage into the Feywild
Meenlocks manifest where the Feywild’s influence is strong. A shallow lake on the mountainside above the meenlock lair (directly above area area M8) is fed by a stream that becomes a river when summer melts the snow. When the full moon hangs in the night sky, the lake becomes a fey crossing. Anyone who completely submerges in the icy waters during this time surfaces in the Feywild.
Fate of Vermeillon
If the party clears out the nest of meenlocks and informs the citizens of Maerin, settlers restore the village of Vermeillon and the mine eventually begins production again. The new villagers treat the characters as local heroes. As news travels, Tormun and Blenyss eventually hear of the village’s resurrection and return to restart their shop, unable to pass up the opportunity of being so close to a platinum mine.
If the meenlocks survive, travelers continue to go missing if they attempt to take the road through Vermeillon. The number of meenlocks in the nest grows to eventually threaten the town of Maerin.
Meenlock
Meenlocks are cruel fey that invoke terror and seek to destroy all that is good, innocent, and beautiful. They primarily live in forests, although they adapt well to urban and subterranean settings.
Fear Incarnate
Meenlocks are spawned by fear. Whenever fear overwhelms a creature in the Feywild, or in any other location where the Feywild’s influence is strong, one or more meenlocks might spontaneously arise in the shadows or darkness nearby. If more than one meenlock is born, a lair also magically forms. The earth creaks and moans as narrow, twisting tunnels open up within it. One of these newly formed passageways serves as the lair’s only entrance and exit. Inside the warren, black moss covers every surface, muffling sound. A large central chamber serves as the meenlocks' den, where they torment captives.
Dark Dwellers
A meenlock shuns bright light. It can supernaturally sense areas of darkness and shadow in its vicinity and thus is able to teleport from one darkened space to another—enabling it to sneak up on its prey and run away when outmatched.
Telepathic Tormentors
Meenlocks have no form of communication other than telepathy. They can use it to project unsettling hallucinations into the minds of their prey. These hallucinations take the form of terrible whispers or fleeting movements just at the edges of one’s peripheral vision.
During the day, meenlocks confine themselves to their dark warrens. At night, they crawl out of their tunnels to torment sleeping prey (see the “Telepathic Torment” sidebar).
Telepathic Torment
Up to four meenlocks can telepathically torment one
incapacitated creature, filling its mind with disturbing sounds and dreadful imagery. Participating meenlocks can’t use their telepathy for any other purpose during this time, though they can move about and take actions and reactions as normal. This torment has no effect on a creature that is immune to thefrightened condition. If the creature is susceptible and remainsincapacitated for 1 hour, the creature must make a Wisdom saving throw, taking 10 (3d6 ) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The save DC is equal to 10 + the number of meenlocks participating in the torment, considering only those that remain within sight of the victim for the entire hour and aren’tincapacitated during it. The process can be repeated. A humanoid that drops to 0 hit points as a result of this damage instantly transforms into a meenlock at full health and under the DM’s control. Only awish spell or divine intervention can restore a transformed creature to its former state.