The Scrivener's Tale

• An Adventure for 14th-level Characters

• Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray

• Developed by Christopher Perkins

• Written by Brandes Stoddard

An evil archfey is bound within the tome known as The Scrivener’s Tale. When the characters run afoul of the book’s magic, they must find a way to defeat the archfey before they succumb to her power.

Candlekeep received The Scrivener’s Tale ten years ago from Machil Rillyn, a noble and a former adventurer from the city of Baldur’s Gate. The terms of Machil’s gift stipulated that the book was to be locked away and never read. Alas, his stipulation fell on deaf ears. When the book falls by accident into the characters' hands, each of them is afflicted by a supernatural malediction known as the scrivener’s mark. The characters must travel to Baldur’s Gate to learn the origin of this potentially deadly mark, then retrace Machil Rillyn’s steps to a ruined library called the Haven of the Red Quill. All the while, the archfey bound to the book assails their minds, begging to be freed from her dark prison.

Beginning the Adventure

This adventure can be tied to any research undertaken by the characters in Candlekeep. The Scrivener’s Tale comes into their hands by accident, courtesy of an unwitting Avowed acolyte named Ramilir. In the course of delivering the characters an armload of requested texts, Ramilir inadvertently scooped up The Scrivener’s Tale from its shelf in Candlekeep’s vaults.

Book Description

The Scrivener’s Tale is bound in soft brown leather, its title embossed on the book’s cover and spine. It is seven inches tall and five inches wide. Its pages appear to be ancient, delicate parchment, but any attempt to damage the book fails, confirming that it is indestructible.

The writing, in Sylvan, on each of the book’s seventy-two pages is in a fine, spidery hand, using black ink flecked with silver. A detect magic spell reveals that the book gives off auras of illusion and transmutation magic, but an identify spell does not reveal the magical mark it bestows.

Tale of Revenge

The Scrivener’s Tale tells the story of a selfish and amoral archfey called the Princess of the Shadow Glass, who is locked in a blood feud with the Queen of Air and Darkness, the ruler of the Gloaming Court in the Feywild. The queen is described as an intelligent, gleaming black crystal that hovers above a throne of twisted, petrified wood. The princess is cast in the role of the protagonist, yet she views everyone else as a pawn in her struggle. The tale ends with a monologue promising bloody reprisals upon everyone the princess believes has wronged her.

Exiled to the mortal realm, the Princess of the Shadow Glass finds a home in the land of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. They show her true friendship, gifting her with treasures, lands, and titles. In the end, her companions (including the book’s narrator, known only as “the scrivener”) convince the princess to reclaim her rightful place as a high noble of the fey.

The details of The Scrivener’s Tale indicate that the Princess of the Shadow Glass began as a fey of indeterminate type, most likely an eladrin, and ultimately became an archfey possessing powerful magical abilities relating to shadow, glass, and illusion. The scrivener of the title is an elf named Zyrian, who wrote the book nine hundred years ago. The content of the book suggests that the scrivener was compelled to write the tale, which contains effusive praise for the princess.

The Scrivener’s Mark

Machil Rillyn ordered The Scrivener’s Tale hidden away by the scholars of Candlekeep because he understood the potency of its magic, having borne the scrivener’s mark until he paid to have a wish spell cast to end its effect on him.

When a character reads even a small part of The Scrivener’s Tale for the first time, all the characters feel the magic of the book wash over them. After finishing a short or long rest, each character discovers that 20 percent of their skin is covered in writing that matches portions of The Scrivener’s Tale. The text starts at the character’s fingertips and winds around one arm to the shoulder, chest, and back. The lettering in the Elvish script is tiny but precise and legible. Each character also gains the level 1 benefit and drawback of the mark, as noted in the Scrivener’s Mark Effects table. Any character marked in this way must make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw every third dawn thereafter. On a failed save, the level of that character’s mark increases by 1. Each additional level of the mark covers another 20 percent of the character’s skin with writing until 80 percent of the character’s body is covered; the character also gains a new benefit (up to level 4) and a new drawback, in addition to retaining the ones from lower levels. A character can choose to fail the saving throw, and a character instantly becomes aware of any new benefits and drawbacks.

This progression means that the adventure might end after 12 days as a character succumbs to the highest level of the mark’s effect, assuming that character fails every saving throw.

You can adjust the progression of the mark as you see fit. If you want to run lengthy side adventures while the characters travel overland to Baldur’s Gate, you might lower the DC of the Charisma saving throw or call for the save at longer intervals. Conversely, if the characters have access to enough magic that they’re likely to finish the adventure quickly, the effects of the mark might increase by one level every day at dawn with no saving throw allowed.

The mark can’t be removed from any character except by a wish spell or by destroying the Princess of the Shadow Glass, either of which ends the mark on all the characters. If a character dies and returns to life, the scrivener’s mark remains in place.

Scrivener’s Mark Effects

Assessing the Mark

Whether making use of their own experience and knowledge or seeking information from the sages of Candlekeep, the characters can assess the magic that has afflicted them to learn the following:

• Any character who has proficiency in the Arcana skill and inspects the writing confirms that spells such as dispel magic, greater restoration, and remove curse aren’t powerful enough to remove it.
• With a successful DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana) check, a character determines that the affliction is progressive but double-edged, granting benefits as well as negative effects. (The characters would be correct to assume that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits, but there’s no way to know until the benefits and drawbacks are bestowed.)

Inquiries in Candlekeep

Knowing that The Scrivener’s Tale came to them from Ramilir, the characters are likely to question him about the book’s origins. Horrified at having mistakenly given the characters the tome, the acolyte does what he can to make amends.

Ramilir (a human commoner) is a hardworking, earnest man in his mid-forties. He takes great pride in his work—and is mortified by his mistake. He explains how The Scrivener’s Tale came to Candlekeep under the condition that no one ever open it, and that it has been shelved with other dangerous volumes for ten years. While collecting books for several scholars at the same time, Ramilir guesses that he must have accidentally taken The Scrivener’s Tale instead of a book intended for another scholar, then placed the unrecognized tome in with the characters' books. A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check confirms that the acolyte’s mistake was an honest one.

In response to any discussion of the mark that has appeared on the characters, Ramilir suggests that they speak with one of the Great Readers of Candlekeep: Teles Ahvoste, a scholar who specializes in curses. The acolyte arranges that meeting, then escorts the characters to Teles a few hours later.

Seeking Higher Knowledge

As they try to learn more about the affliction that has befallen them, the characters might use magic such as commune, divination, or legend lore spells. The Princess of the Shadow Glass has the ability to misdirect such inquiries.

The Scrivener’s Tale: Questions asked about the book with commune or divination spells yield only the information given earlier in the adventure. The legend lore spell returns only the following response: “The shackle that is the key, the prison built by a prisoner.” That cryptic clue refers to the manner in which the book binds the Princess of the Shadow Glass, even as it allows her to magically mark the book’s readers and others near and dear to them.

Princess of the Shadow Glass: Commune and divination spells reveal nothing about the Princess of the Shadow Glass, who has magically hidden her history under other names. If the characters learn the names “Nintra Siotta” or “Lady of Dread Omens” later in the adventure and use those names in their inquiries, such magic returns the hoped-for results.

The legend lore spell returns an especially cryptic result for the princess: “Glass omens, dread crowns, three princesses, shadow lady, deathless is the seeker.” The response alludes to each of Nintra Siotta’s known titles—Princess of the Shadow Glass, Lady of Dread Omens, and Seeker of the Three Crowns.

Haven of the Red Quill: When the characters learn the name of the ancient library beneath the fallen city of Delimbiyran, commune and divination return no information regarding the site, because it is warded against divination magic as a side effect of the scrivener’s binding ritual. Legend lore returns the following: “Where once was a dream of kinship and valor, disparate kin under three crowns, wisdom was preserved in deep places. In that depth was a great deed done, the quill named, and the scrivener showed his cunning.”

Great Reader Teles Ahvoste

Teles Ahvoste (a human archmage) is Candlekeep’s foremost expert on the subject of curses. Born and raised in the magocracy of Halruaa, Teles has always been comfortable around magic but also understands its inherent dangers.

If the characters are still seeking any of the information in the “area Assessing the Mark” section, Ahvoste can provide it. Teles can also reveal that The Scrivener’s Tale was brought to Candlekeep by Machil Rillyn, an adventurer from a noble family in Baldur’s Gate. Teles doesn’t know what became of Rillyn, but if the characters don’t automatically think about traveling to Baldur’s Gate to question the noble, Teles suggests they do so.

At your discretion, Teles might offer to stay in touch with the characters once they leave Candlekeep, providing support and answering their questions by way of sending spells.

Personality Trait

“I crave new experiences, perspectives, and ways of connecting ideas.”

Ideal

“The gods have hidden the great truths throughout the world and tasked us with finding them.”

Bond

“Halruaa will always be my home.”

Flaw

“It’s not that I want to tell stories out of order. It’s just important sometimes to circle back and explain things properly.”

A Mysterious Dream

After gaining the level 1 benefit and drawback of the scrivener’s mark, the characters experience a dream that comes to them during a time of rest, reverie, or quiet reflection. Even characters who don’t sleep have the dream. If the characters don’t rest at the same time, you might decide that only the first character who rests has the dream.

Read the following boxed text only to the players whose characters experience the dream (preferably out of earshot of those players whose characters didn’t have the dream). If all the characters have the dream, read the boxed text to everyone:

The dream is as vivid as anything you remember from your actual life. You feel the sweltering sun beating down as you take shelter in the shadow of a tumbledown tower. In the distance, a vast army is on the march across mud-churned farm fields. The need to hide from that force overwhelms you, and you quickly retreat inside the tower.

Inside the tower’s half-ruined walls, you discover a boar spear that is driven shaft-down into the ground, and whose head is adorned with three crowns. One limb of the spear’s crossguard bears a narrow silver circlet. On the other hangs a crown of adamantine, shaped to be worn over a helm. Around the spearhead is a golden crown adorned with emeralds. You feel the need to seize one of them—and then the dream ends.

The dream, which ends abruptly, is meant to be mysterious. The dream’s imagery will make more sense as the adventure progresses.

Any character who has proficiency in the History skill, or who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check, remembers that the silver circlet, the adamantine crown, and the golden crown were symbols of Phalorm, also known as the Realm of Three Crowns. This kingdom fell to an invasion of goblinoids nearly nine hundred years ago.

A Troubled Journey

Whether the characters travel overland or teleport to Baldur’s Gate, they come under attack by forces serving the Queen of Air and Darkness, who yearns to possess The Scrivener’s Tale in order to control the Princess of the Shadow Glass. Because the Queen of Air and Darkness banished the princess, the ritual of the scrivener that bound the princess established a connection between the queen and the book, as well as between her and creatures marked by the book. That connection was lost when Machil Rillyn used a wish spell to break the mark. When the characters became marked by the book, that connection activated once more. The Queen of Air and Darkness assumes the marked characters must have the book in their possession—and she wants it back.

Marked for Death

Agents of the Queen of Air and Darkness dispatch four Fomorian to intercept the party. Riding in howdahs strapped to the fomorians' backs are four Wood Elf Wizard (use the drow mage stat block but omit the Sunlight Sensitivity trait). This attack can take place at any location. The queen’s servants are just as likely to assault the characters in a crowded street as they are to set up an ambush in a remote location. All are fanatically loyal to the queen and fight to the end.

If the characters capture and subdue one or more of these assailants, threats and intimidation do nothing to break their loyalty to the Queen of Air and Darkness. Effective roleplaying, magic, or a successful DC 18 Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check enables the characters to convince the elves and fomorians that they are not a threat to the Gloaming Court.

If they believe the characters, and particularly if the characters agree (truthfully or otherwise) to help the queen destroy the Princess of the Shadow Glass, the elves and fomorians can reveal that the Queen of Air and Darkness sent them from the Feywild to slay the marked characters and steal back The Scrivener’s Tale. The queen is set on ending the threat of the princess by destroying the book and all those connected to it.

If the characters ask about the Princess of the Shadow Glass, the elves say that she was exiled from the Gloaming Court for treason against the Queen of Air and Darkness. They know that The Scrivener’s Tale is linked to a ritual that trapped the Princess of the Shadow Glass in an extradimensional prison after her exile, but they do not know that her prison is the book.

The characters might also use the speak with dead spell to learn some of the above information from fallen enemies.

Treasure

Each wizard wears a ring of gleaming black glass (worth 10 gp) on the third finger of their left hand.

Other Foes

If the characters dispatch the fomorians and the elves, you can have other creatures loyal to the Queen of Air and Darkness home in on them. Level-appropriate creatures that might serve the queen include an archmage with a death slaad bodyguard, a pair of elf Vampire, a team of four Assassin, or an adult green dragon. After the failure of the first group to deliver the characters, subsequent foes might follow the party for a time, watching the characters' movements and trying to determine their plans. Being shadowed by the queen’s agents for days on end can be unsettling for the characters and the players alike.

While being shadowed, the characters can try to treat with the queen’s fey agents. With suitable roleplaying or a successful DC 20 Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check, they can convince the agents that they’re attempting to destroy the book on the queen’s behalf, buying them time to continue their investigations.

Voice of the Princess

When the characters became imbued with the scrivener’s mark, the magic of The Scrivener’s Tale tied them to the Princess of the Shadow Glass. After the first assault by agents of the Queen of Air and Darkness, the Nintra Siotta communicates telepathically with a character of your choice. See area the end of the adventure for her stat block and guidance on how to portray her.

The princess, who does not reveal her true name, claims to be the only one who can destroy the Queen of Air and Darkness and free the Gloaming Court from that tyrannical ruler. It’s clear that the speaker’s hatred of the queen runs deep, as she’s unable to keep her scorn out of her voice.

The princess insists that the characters free her, in exchange for which she will end “the scrivener’s curse” placed upon them. The characters can’t tell whether she’s lying or not, since she’s nothing more than a voice in their heads. She claims she’s being held in the ruins where Machil Rillyn found The Scrivener’s Tale and tells the characters (truthfully)that she doesn’t know where those ruins are. (She knows that the ghost of the scrivener, whose name was Zyrian, still lingers where the book was found. She wants the characters to destroy Zyrian’s ghost so that she can free herself from The Scrivener’s Tale, but she doesn’t share that information yet.)

If the characters require further enticement, the princess offers to immediately bestow upon each of them the following supernatural charm (see the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more information on supernatural charms), which she can do even while imprisoned.

Charm of the Shadow Glass

This charm allows you to cast the shatter spell (save DC 16) as an action, no components required. The next time you finish a short or long rest after casting the spell, you gain temporary hit points equal to double your proficiency bonus. Once it is used three times, this charm goes away.

Baldur’s Gate

The city of Baldur’s Gate lies some 150 miles north of Candlekeep. Overlooking the River Chionthar, it is one of the dominant trading hubs on the Sword Coast and home to much wealth, greed, and corruption.

A number of separate agencies keep a semblance of order in Baldur’s Gate. The most widely known among them is the Flaming Fist, a mercenary company that deals out violence freely to keep the middle and lower classes in line. The wealthy elite of Baldur’s Gate, known as patriars, generally keep to the Upper City, which is built on high ground. The Lower City, closer to the river, holds the middle classes and is the site of much of Baldur’s Gate’s long-simmering class conflict. The city’s poorest folk live in the Outer City, a series of squalid neighborhoods located outside the city walls.

Rillyn House

After arriving in Baldur’s Gate, the characters can make general inquiries about the retired adventurer and patriar Machil Rillyn. They learn that Rillyn House, his noble estate, is in the Upper City. Their inquiries also inform the characters that Machil died ten years ago (not long after gifting The Scrivener’s Tale to Candlekeep), having built up a fortune as an adventurer but squandering most of it before his death. His family is now led by his niece, Yvandre, who has only recently begun to regain her family’s former standing.

The characters' status as seasoned adventurers means they have no difficulty entering the Upper City, finding Rillyn House, and arranging an audience with Yvandre Rillyn. Taresson the butler (a human commoner) meets them at the gate and takes their message to Yvandre. If he can see the writing on their skin resulting from the scrivener’s mark, Taresson recognizes the mark from having seen it on Machil Rillyn and promptly brings the characters to see Yvandre.

Yvandre Rillyn

The driving force behind the Rillyn family’s revival, Yvandre (a human veteran) is an iron-willed and accomplished swordfighter as well as a rising political figure in Baldur’s Gate. Her manner is brusque but professional. She is happy to deal with anyone who appears likely to further her family’s goals, but she can be ruthless toward those who cross her. A former member of the Flaming Fist, she has many friends in that mercenary company who would be only too happy to make trouble for the characters on her behalf.

If Yvandre is attacked, 1d4 Guard arrive at the end of each of her turns until twenty have appeared.

Personality Trait

“Complicated problems are defeated in the same manner as overwhelming forces: divide and conquer.”

Ideal

“The Rillyn clan must put aside its past scandals and return to our values of honorable behavior and hard work.”

Bond

“My family comes first, in every word and action.”

Flaw

“I can’t hide my scorn for laziness, or the arrogance of other patriars.”

What Yvandre Knows

Yvandre works to conceal her anger as she talks about how her uncle, Machil, squandered the Rillyn fortune. Instead of establishing a legacy and serving the needs of Baldur’s Gate with the riches earned during his adventuring career, he continued his mercenary explorations, seeking glory and plunder across the Sword Coast. Machil found less glory over time, though, and even less wealth.

Yvandre knows that Machil discovered The Scrivener’s Tale in a vault deep beneath the ruins of Delimbiyran. That capital city of the lost kingdom of the same name once stood near where the town of Daggerford is now. Yvandre knows also that her uncle suffered briefly from a magical malady that produced strange writing on his skin, and which he finally overcame only by spending the last of the family fortune on a wish spell.

Deep in debt and clearly shaken by his experience, Machil was killed by unknown assailants a month later—no doubt someone calling in a debt, Yvandre assumes. (In truth, Machil was murdered by agents of the Queen of Air and Darkness, who were looking for the book.) Those who accompanied Machil on his final expedition were mercenaries, and Yvandre doesn’t know who they were or where they might be found.

With suitable roleplaying or a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, Yvandre informs the characters that Machil’s possessions have been stored away since his death. Anything of value was sold off years ago, but a few “worthless journals and letters” remain. She offers to let the characters look through her uncle’s possessions in return for an equal share of the wealth they might earn as a result of information found in his old notes.

Characters who want to take a stealthier approach to gaining information at the estate (or who anger Yvandre) can try to approach Taresson or other servants. With a bribe of at least 100 gp in addition to suitable roleplaying or a successful DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check, Taresson can be convinced to grant the characters access to Machil’s possessions.

Machil’s Remaining Possessions

The office that Machil once kept in the east wing of Rillyn House has long since been turned over to storage for items the family has no use for but doesn’t want to throw out.

This dusty chamber is crammed with stacks of old books, barrels of broken tools and weapons, unmarked crates, and shelves of bric-a-brac. The grimy windows barely allow a view of the city beyond.

Machil’s notes and journals are packed haphazardly into three boxes in this storeroom. Taresson stays with the characters and watches while they search the boxes. They contain the following pieces of information relevant to The Scrivener’s Tale and Machil’s expedition to the ruins of Delimbiyran:

• A vellum map labeled “Delimbiyran and Environs” shows a few locations in the aboveground ruins of the city. A note written on the map in Elvish identifies one site as “Haven of the Red Quill.” The handwriting matches that seen in The Scriven__er’s Tale.
• A folio torn from an unknown tome details the history of Delimbiyran and Phalorm. Also called the Realm of Three Crowns, Phalorm was one of the many kingdoms of old in the North. When the Realm of Three Crowns fell, the kingdom of Delimbiyran rose after it.
• Tucked into the folio is a sheaf of notes written by Machil. The notes talk of the adventurer seeking “the shadow glass,” which he expected to be a great treasure.
• Within a stack of old bills marked “Past Due,” the characters find an unsigned and apparently unsent letter from Machil, which reads: “To my family. Forgive me the vanity that took me from you, and must soon claim my life or soul. You know how ambition corrupted my love for you. I pray that someone avenges the evils done by Nintra Siotta, Princess of the Shadow Glass, Lady of Dread Omens, Seeker of the Three Crowns. But spend not your own lives against it. The scrivener bound her in his haven, and only there can I be free of her. But it is too late for me.” (Machil wrote the letter when he knew he was being pursued by agents of the Gloaming Court but was killed before he could send it.)
• A piece of parchment is shot through with dry rot and crumbles when handled. What remains of the parchment afterward displays writing in Machil’s hand, which reads: “… stairs among the surface ruins of Delimbiyran and descended deep to the Haven of the Red Quill. The guardians almost finished us before the door was opened. Gods, how I wish…”

The characters are welcome to take or copy any of the documents, but Taresson makes a record of any items removed from the room.

Any character who rifles through the other objects in the room can make a DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. On a success, the character pockets a random trinket (determined by rolling on the trinket in the Player’s Handbook). On a failed check, the character sends a pile of dusty items spilling to the floor and earns a stern look from Taresson.

Crimes against House Rillyn

If the characters commit murder or other crimes in House Rillyn, they are tracked down 4d12 hours later by one of Yvandre’s allies, an adult copper dragon named Hastarglyrr, who demands gold from them to pay for damages and for raise dead spells.

Haven of the Red Quill

With Machil’s notes and map in hand, the characters are ready to retrace the late adventurer’s steps to the place where The Scrivener’s Tale was found: the library called the Haven of the Red Quill, hidden beneath the ruins of Delimbiyran. An overland journey from Baldur’s Gate or Candlekeep would take a month, so the characters' best course of action is to teleport to Delimbiyran or the nearby town of Daggerford. If the characters lack the means to teleport themselves, Teles Ahvoste can cast the teleport spell for them, or he might know a suitable spellcaster in Baldur’s Gate who owes him a favor, or whom the characters can hire for the job.

Exploring Delimbiyran

The city of Delimbiyran, located a day’s march north of Daggerford, was once part of Phalorm, the dwarven, elven, and human Realm of Three Crowns. Repeated attacks by powerful neighboring clans eventually laid Phalorm low. The smaller kingdom of Delimbiyran rose in Phalorm’s place with the city as its capital, only to fall in turn. The passage of nearly nine centuries since then have left little more than a few partially collapsed walls and archways to mark the fallen city aboveground, though its underground ruins are better preserved.

If you have not yet staged a follow-up encounter with agents of the Queen of Air and Darkness, an appropriate time to do so would be shortly after the characters enter Delimbiyran. The surface ruins are otherwise bereft of dangerous inhabitants.

Using Machil’s map, the characters can easily find the entrance to the Haven of the Red Quill.

At your discretion, there might be other dungeon complexes of your own design hidden amid the ruins of Delimbiyran. Previously undiscovered trapdoors might conceal staircases leading down to long-forgotten cellars, crypts, armories, workshops, shrines dedicated to dwarven deities, prisons, and tunnels to the Underdark. Terrifying creatures such as arcanaloths, beholders, and vampires would find themselves at home in such places.

Entering the Haven

The entrance to the library is a vertical shaft that plunges deep into the bedrock, with a crumbling stone staircase clinging to its stark gray walls. A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check indicates that no one has passed this way in years.

Dark Manipulation

As the characters prepare to explore the Haven of the Red Quill, the Nintra Siotta telepathically urges them to follow Machil’s route into the haven and destroy the ghost of Zyrian the scrivener, whom she describes as the queen’s evil pawn—the same pawn who cursed the party with his scrivener’s mark.

If the characters refuse to aid her, the princess continually makes telepathic contact with random characters, urging them to reconsider before it’s too late. She tries to convince the characters that if they don’t vanquish the ghost quickly, the scrivener’s mark will destroy them. At the same time, she uses the link binding her to the characters to gain an instinctive sense of their actions, though she is not aware of the details of what they’re doing. “Destroy the scrivener,” she says, “and I will rid you of his evil mark!” She also says, “The only way this ends well is with us saving each other!”

Haven Features

The library ruins have the following features:

• Floors, Walls, and Ceilings. All areas of the ruins except the cavern (area area H7) are worked stone. Ceilings are 30 feet high, except in area area H8, which has a domed ceiling 50 feet high.
• Light. Unless otherwise noted, all areas are unlit.
• Golems and Mummies. Each section of wall marked “G” or “M” on the map indicates the location of a hidden stone golem (G) or mummy (M) in stasis. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of conjuration magic emanating from that section of wall. When called for in the text, the golems and mummies phase out of the walls and materialize in the dungeon. Until then, they are hidden and can’t be harmed.

Haven Locations

The following locations are keyed to the map of the Haven of the Red Quill.

H1. Deep Stairwell

The wall near the top of the stairs has the word “HAVEN” and a crude picture of a quill scratched into it, left by Machil before he made his descent.

A narrow spiral staircase descends fifty feet from the ruins on the surface. A weathered mosaic decorates the stairwell, depicting dwarves, elves, and humans working together to forge the Realm of Three Crowns. The area reeks of decay, and a few birds fly out of the shaft.

The birds are harmless. Images of the silver circlet, the adamantine crown, and the golden crown from the characters' dream are still recognizable in the mosaic.

Descending the crumbling stairs on foot is perilous, and each creature doing so must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature either tumbles down the stairs before being able to stop itself or pitches over the edge and falls to the ground below, taking 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage in either event.

When the characters reach the bottom, they see an open archway at the base of the stairs. Beyond this archway lies area H2.

H2. Collapsing Room

The walls of this chamber show cracks and other signs of stress from the weight of fifty feet of earth and stone above, but have so far remained standing. The floor is covered in a thick layer of rot and debris, within which can be seen scraps of leather, the husks of countless dead insects, and bits of rusted metal. A doorway in the far wall has collapsed and is fully blocked by a pile of rubble.

Though this area appears dangerous at first glance, a dwarf or any character who has a background or a proficiency related to stonework can tell that it’s stable.

Ten years earlier, Machil and his companions collapsed the archway in the north wall as they left, leaving it blocked. A Small character can squeeze through gaps in the rock with a successful DC 20 Dexterity check, but unless the characters pass the barrier by magical means, it needs to be cleared. For each hour of work, one character can make a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check or Intelligence check using mason’s tools. On a failed check, a character triggers a short rockfall and takes 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage. After three successful checks, the archway is cleared.

H3. Central Chamber

Though a layer of debris and dead insects coats the floor of this area, its contents remain largely intact. Four trestle tables, a side table set with what looks like cups, and two dozen chairs stand covered in dust.

Clearing the dust from the furniture shows that all the pieces are constructed of heavily lacquered wood. Half are afflicted with dry rot, but the other pieces are in good condition. The side table holds a tea urn and two dozen teacups, all coated in a vermilion glaze.

Three other 10-foot-wide open archways lead out of this area, which was once a meeting and dining hall. The archway to the west has the word “CANDESCA” inscribed above it (see area H4).

Treasure

The tea service is fragile but can be sold for 150 gp if it is safely transported out of the ruins.

H4. Reading Room

Decaying desks, chairs, and lecterns fill this chamber. Three smooth, one-foot-diameter crystal hemispheres protrude from the ceiling, evenly spaced along the center of the room from east to west.

A concave wall on the far side of the room has a steel-banded stone door in the middle of it. Three sharp-edged glyphs are cut into the surface of the door.

Scholars and guests of the library once worked and taught in this area. The furniture here is of similar construction to that seen in area H3, surviving for centuries in the relatively dry environment of the haven but eventually succumbing to rot.

The room is dark when the characters enter. Any creature in the room that speaks the command word “candesca” causes the three crystal hemispheres in the ceiling to glow, filling the room with bright light. The hemipsheres go dark again as soon as there are no longer any creatures in the room.

Warded Door

The door in the center of the concave wall opens by sliding into the wall, but it’s sealed by powerful magic. The door is airtight and imbued with a dimensional lock that prevents characters from teleporting through it. It is impervious to damage, and its magic cannot be dispelled or dismissed by anything short of a wish spell. Opening the door requires fitting the three key runes carried by the haven’s stone golems (see below) into the three indentations on the door. Any character who has proficiency in the Arcana skill recognizes that the indentations have the shape of arcane glyphs. Any inspection of the indentations suggests that each is meant to have an object of the same shape pressed into it.

The first time a character tries to damage the sealed door or open it with an ability check or magic, or if a character touches any of the indentations, the ghostly figure of an elf steps through the door. (If the characters try to break through the door by dealing damage to it with a spell, go to “Opening the Door” below. The fight that immediately ensues will have the characters taking on the haven’s guardians without knowing what’s going on, but the ghost of Zyrian the scrivener can fill them in during the battle.)

The spectral elf initially ignores the characters and wanders around the room, nodding and moving his mouth as if speaking to unseen people. If the characters interact with the ghost, or after a few minutes of this one-sided silent conversation, it finally takes notice of them.

Zyrian the Scrivener

The ghostly figure is Zyrian the scrivener, the archmage who created the Haven of the Red Quill to preserve the lore of Phalorm. Zyrian (use the ghost stat block) doesn’t attack the characters unless attacked first. He disappears if reduced to 0 hit points, but the magic that binds him to this place causes him to re-form at full health after 1 minute with no knowledge of any previous interaction with the characters. Zyrian can be permanently destroyed by reducing his ghost to 0 hit points after the haven’s guardian creatures have been dispatched and the door sealing off area area H8 has been opened. (See “Opening the Door” and “Guardian Battle” below for more information.) If this is done, Zyrian screams as he passes on from the world.

If the characters attack Zyrian at once, he fights back and begins to speak, saying, “You shall not free her! I will protect the free peoples of the world against the Princess of the Shadow Glass until the end of time!” If the characters show Zyrian the writing of the scrivener’s mark on them, the ghost immediately understands what has happened to them and becomes kindly and coherent.

Zyrian can fill in any details of the story of the Princess of the Shadow Glass that the characters haven’t sussed out. He then relates how, shortly before the fall of Phalorm, the Princess of the Shadow Glass attempted to subvert and destroy that kingdom and was bound into The Scrivener’s Tale by a powerful ritual created by Zyrian. The ghost can’t open the sealed door into the great library (area area H8), but Zyrian can explain how the characters can do so (see below) and how they can end the threat posed by Nintra Siotta (as described in area H8).

Throughout any of the characters' interactions with Zyrian, the Princess of the Shadow Glass is a continual presence in their minds, moving telepathically from character to character to frantically warn them that the ghost is lying, and that it and its guardian creatures must be destroyed.

Opening the Door

Generations of the haven’s scholars bound themselves to defend the site beyond death. Three stone golems and a number of undead scholars (now mummies) protect the site, held in magical stasis until a threat is detected. The masters of the haven once knew the rituals that would summon the keys held by the golems, allowing easy passage through the door to the great library. With those masters long gone, the characters must now defeat the combined forces of the library’s guardians to claim the keys.

Zyrian knows that the guardians are summoned when any damage-dealing spell is directed at the door to area H8. When the characters are ready, the ghost wishes them luck. As soon as a damage-dealing spell targets the door, the ground trembles and a cold wind gusts through the haven as its guardians are released.

Guardian Battle

Three Stone Golem (carved to resemble an 8-foot-tall crowned dwarf, a 10-foot-tall crowned elf, and a 12-foot-tall crowned human, respectively) guard the haven. Each golem has a key rune set into its chest that fits one of the indentations on the door to area area H8. The golems are joined by an effectively unlimited number of undead scholars, all of which use the mummy stat block but are lawful neutral. The scholar mummies are wrapped in funeral robes set with purple-glowing runes of oath-binding, recognized as such by any character who has proficiency in the Arcana or History skill.

When the fight starts, two mummies per character emerge from stasis at each of the locations marked “M” on the map. When half of those mummies are destroyed, the first stone golem and one more mummy per character emerge from stasis. When the first stone golem is reduced to 0 hit points, its key rune pops out of its crumbling form and the second stone golem appears—along with one more mummy per character to sustain the pressure. The third stone golem emerges 1 round later, along with two more mummies per character. Reducing each golem to 0 hit points allows the characters to claim its key rune.

The guardians pursue characters who move from area to area, but they move no farther than area area H2 if the characters ascend the stairs and flee out of sight.

You can adjust the number of mummies depending on whether the characters are having too easy or too hard a time, with more mummies appearing intermittently until all three key runes are touched to the sealed door. At that point, any remaining mummies disappear as they fall back into stasis, and the sealed door opens.

Treasure

A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check made while searching this area finds a spell scroll of conjure fey jammed into a compartment in one of the lecterns.

H5. Dragon Fresco

The floor of this room is covered with filth and moldering debris, and reeks of untold generations of rats. A faded fresco on the back wall depicts several human, elf, and dwarf wizards battling a black dragon.

The floor of this room is so covered with detritus that the whole room is difficult terrain. Any inspection of the debris spots fragments of well-gnawed bone, which can be recognized as humanoid with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check. These are the decades-old bones of unknown adventurers who were killed by the guardians of the haven.

A detect magic spell reveals three magical auras in this room. Two of these auras—one of divination magic and one of conjuration magic—emanate from a pair of magic items hidden beneath a loose flagstone in the middle of the floor (see “Treasure” below). The third aura is one of transmutation magic, and it comes from an iron wand embedded in the north wall (see “Fresco” below).

Fresco

Characters who examine the fresco that spans the north wall notice the following:

• The dragon is as big as one would expect an adult black dragon to be, and it clutches a small chest in one of its foreclaws. This chest, like the dragon, is a flat image rendered as part of the fresco, but it has a deep, half-inch-diameter hole bored into it.
• The wizards, like the dragon, are life-sized. One of them appears to hold a 1-foot-long black wand. This wand is not part of the fresco; it’s an actual iron wand embedded in the wall, and it looks like it can be removed.

The first creature that touches the wand triggers a chain lightning spell (save DC 17) that springs from it, targeting that creature. The bolts that spring from that creature then target other creatures randomly. Once the spell goes off, the wand is safe to handle and can be removed from its indentation.

The half-inch hole in the fresco is as deep as the wand is long. If the wand is inserted fully into this hole, there’s an audible “click” as the wand locks into place and the dragon vanishes from the fresco. At the same time, an adult black dragon materializes in the middle of the room. The dragon, whose name is Caustilancer, has been trapped in the fresco for hundreds of years. It has no quarrel with the characters but attacks them if they harm it or stand in its way. If it’s given a clear path to the exit, the dragon stomps through areas H3 and H2 before escaping the dungeon by flying up the shaft in area area H1.

Treasure

A loose flagstone near the center of the room (at the location shown on the map) can be lifted, but it must first be spotted beneath the filth and debris by conducting a thorough search of the room and making a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check. Beneath the loose flagstone is a 3-foot-deep, 4-foot-wide cubbyhole that holds three rotted crates (empty), several empty glass vials, a Potion of Fire Giant Strength, and a bundled-up robe of eyes.

H6. Bunkroom

This chamber is filled with moldering wooden furniture. Only three bunk beds remain recognizable as what they are, and all are close to collapse from rot.

A door in the north wall has been smashed open, and a damp draft comes from beyond it.

The haven’s scholars and mages once slept here. The floor is covered with slippery mold. If a fight occurs here, each creature that moves more than half its speed on its turn must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. The stone golems automatically succeed on this save.

H7. Deep Spring

This natural cavern has been worn smooth by water erosion and is made cool and damp by the spray of a four-foot-high waterfall, which feeds a small stream that disappears into a hole at the opposite end of the cavern. A skeletal figure lies sprawled across the floor, its head pointed toward the narrow stream.

This underground spring supplied the haven with fresh water. The body is that of an adventurer killed by the haven’s guardians. The body’s clothing and leather armor have rotted away to scraps.

Treasure

Any character who searches the stream finds an ivory drinking horn (500 gp) with a gilded rim, which belonged to the fallen adventurer.

H8. Great Library

A large, circular chamber heavy with the scents of dust and stale air opens up beyond the door. A fifty-foot-high dome of crystal panels forms the ceiling, and tall bookshelves stand perpendicular to the curved wall in six places. The space between each pair of shelves is set with a table, a scribe’s desk, and several chairs, with six tall panes of smoky gray glass hanging on the walls, one in each compartment. At the center of the space, a ritual circle thirty feet across is inscribed into the stone floor.

This was once the library and scriptorium of the Haven of the Red Quill. It has been kept in pristine condition even over nine hundred years by the same magic that wards the door. The panels set into the ceiling are magicked to match the sunlight on the surface directly above the haven, ignoring weather.

The panes of smoked shadow glass on the walls are each 5 feet wide and 8 feet tall. The panes can’t be moved and are impervious to damage until the ritual to destroy the Princess of the Shadow Glass is completed.

Closer examination of the ritual circle reveals that it contains a semicircle of candle stubs, a stack of unused parchment, an inkwell filled with silver-flecked black ink, and a crimson quill.

Summoning Nintra

The process for destroying the Nintra Siotta can be learned from Zyrian the scrivener in area area H4. The first part of the ritual summons Nintra, who must be reduced to 0 hit points. The second part of the ritual then destroys the Princess of the Shadow Glass for all time (see “Nintra’s End” below). If the characters do not speak with Zyrian for some reason, spending an hour searching the books of the library turns up references to the ritual that created The Scrivener’s Tale and bound Nintra, and to the second part that can destroy the evil archfey.

To begin, a character imbued with the scrivener’s mark must stand in the ritual circle, light six candles, and invoke all of the princess’s names: Nintra Siotta, the Princess of the Shadow Glass, Lady of Dread Omens, and Seeker of the Three Crowns. The marked character must use the parchment and ink found in the circle to express in writing their intent to free Nintra—whereupon the Princess of the Shadow Glass appears in the circle and the fight begins.

Fighting Nintra

Nintra Siotta screams in ecstasy when she is finally released from The Scrivener’s Tale, then attacks at once. (During the fight, you can have Teles use sending to contact the characters in a panic, telling them that The Scrivener’s Tale flared with light just moments before, releasing a shadowy form within.) Even if the characters have played the part of Nintra’s helpers thus far, her link to them through the book makes her aware of any intention to destroy her, and she tells the characters that their betrayal will be their undoing.

As a bonus action in the first round of combat, Nintra summons six shadow glass warriors. Each one steps out of one of the wall-mounted panes of glass around the room and resembles an elf made of smoky gray glass. Use the gladiator stat block to represent the glass warriors. When one is reduced to 0 hit points, it shatters like glass, and the scattered shards melt away to vapor in 1 round.

Nintra Siotta treats the library as her lair for the purpose of using her lair actions, but she cannot use those actions elsewhere in the Haven of the Red Quill.

Scrivener’s Marks

Nintra Siotta is aware of what type of scrivener’s mark each character bears when the fight begins. If any character has a level 4 mark, or if Nintra is having too hard a time in the fight and needs an additional edge, she can use an action to force a character to make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the character’s mark becomes one of the next higher level.

Nintra’s End

When Nintra Siotta is reduced to 0 hit points, she falls to the ground, unconscious. To complete the process, a character with one or more levels of the scrivener’s mark must extinguish the candles, whereupon Nintra turns to ash, as does The Scrivener’s Tale in Candlekeep. The panes of shadow glass lose their magic when Nintra is destroyed and shatter harmlessly, and the scrivener’s mark fades from all the characters.

If the ritual is not completed, Nintra regains all her hit points and expended spells in 1 hour. During that time, she is immune to damage. If she returns to life, Nintra summons six more shadow glass warriors and sets them on the characters, then tries to flee.

Treasure

Any character who succeeds on a DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check while searching through or collecting shards of shadow glass, or who checks the shards with a detect magic spell, notes an aura of abjuration magic around one small piece of shadow glass. That shard functions as an Ioun Stone, Awareness.

The books in the library amount to nearly ten thousand volumes and cover a host of subjects including arcana, history, and nature. If the characters want to sell the collection, you can decide what it might be worth, but the characters should earn at least 50,000 gp for the lot (see also “A Little Light Reading” below). Such a reward might take the form of one or two very rare magic items, a small keep, a large parcel of land, or a seaworthy galley with a full crew.

Conclusion

After Nintra is defeated and the characters are freed from the threat of the scrivener’s mark, the adventure might wrap up in several different ways.

Zyrian’s Legacy

Nintra’s demise frees Zyrian from his pledge to guard against her return, but his ghost lingers in the world long enough to thank the characters before fading away.

The characters might decide to seal the site away or take it over as a home base or stronghold. If the latter occurs, news of a group of powerful adventurers setting up shop in the ruins of Delimbiyran travels quickly. Other groups might become interested in restoring the greatness of the fallen city or searching for other dungeon complexes buried under the ruins—and might inadvertently stumble upon dangerous secrets and magic.

Favor of the Gloaming Court

Ending the threat of the Princess of the Shadow Glass brings the characters to the attention of the Queen of Air and Darkness—whether they want that attention or not. Though the queen does not deign to consider herself in the debt of mortals, she might bestow favors on them if asked, or she could become a powerful but unpredictable ally or patron.

A Little Light Reading

The wealth of knowledge in the great library of the Haven of the Red Quill represents an amazing find for the scholars of Candlekeep. If the characters offer up some or all of the collection for donation, they earn the favor of the First Reader and all the Avowed, and might develop close, permanent ties to the library-fortress.

Dragon Matters

If the characters harmed or killed Hastarglyrr the copper dragon, other good-aligned dragons might track them down and try to settle accounts.

If the characters allowed Caustilancer the black dragon to escape into the wild, it returns to its old lair in the Lizard Marsh, not far from the town of Daggerford. If the characters spend time in Daggerford before setting out on their next adventure, they might encounter the black dragon once more as it swoops over the town’s walls, settles on a rooftop, and demands tribute from the townsfolk.

Nintra Siotta, Princess of the Shadow Glass

Nintra Siotta, a chaotic evil archfey who was exiled from the Gloaming Court by the Queen of Air and Darkness long ago, is known in Faerûn by three titles: Princess of the Shadow Glass, Lady of Dread Omens, and Seeker of the Three Crowns. She appears as a 9-foot-tall humanoid made of smoky gray glass, wrapped in a cloak-like darkness that appears to devour the light.

Nintra’s eyes burn with green fire, and she speaks in a high, musical voice. Deception comes naturally to her, but imprisonment in _The Scrivener’s Tale_has made her impatient and prone to telepathic outbursts that betray her cruel nature.

Personality Trait

“I have no patience for those who are less than me—and all are less than me.”

Ideal

“After I destroy the Queen of Air and Darkness for her weakness and insolence, I will take my rightful place at the head of the Gloaming Court.”

Bond

“I have many supporters in the Gloaming Court who worship the ground I walk on. They deserve a sovereign who is worthy of their love.”

Flaw

“Why should I worry about the schemes of others? No one is my equal in cunning.”

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Nintra can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; she can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• Nintra targets one pane of shadow glass in her lair, causing it to explode into shards. Each creature within 20 feet of the exploding pane must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, taking 13 (3d8) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The shards fade away to vapor and the pane is restored to normal at the next initiative count 20.
• Nintra targets one pane of shadow glass in her lair, briefly transforming it into a swirling vortex. One creature of her choice within 20 feet of the pane must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be drawn into the vortex, taking 11 (2d10) necrotic damage. The creature is then teleported to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of another pane of shadow glass in Nintra’s lair (determined randomly).