The freight travels as far north as possible, following the Trade Way past Waterdeep to where the great road was swallowed up by the ever-expanding Mere of Dead Men. A fortified roadhouse that once served merchants and teamsters now feeds laborers and safeguards road-building supplies, and it also aids the Cult of the Dragon in smuggling its treasure.
Waterdeep
When the caravan rolls into Waterdeep after two months on the road, most of the merchants disperse to the city’s markets, warehouses, and stables. They’ve reached their destination and the characters are paid off in silver and thanked for their service. If they performed well, they’re told they can find work with these shippers any time in the future. Characters can’t waste much time closing accounts with their own employers or sightseeing in Waterdeep, however, or they lose the treasure wagons in the crowded metropolis.
The cult wagons don’t follow the same pattern as the others from the caravan. Instead, they head for the north side of the city before looking for a place to spend the night. Everyone who the characters know to be associated with the cult gathers at the same spot by nightfall. Azbara Jos remains with the cultists during this time, and Jamna expresses her desire to stick with them until they uncover the treasure’s destination.
The cultists spend a day resting their horses at a stable on the north side of Waterdeep. Other wagons are already there, covertly carrying treasure from all over the Sword Coast to the collection point. During the day, some of the cultists visit a large warehouse just inside the northern city gate, where construction supplies are stockpiled for shipment north and where wagons are gathered and loaded for the trip.
If characters ask around Waterdeep’s northern gate about anyone matching Rezmir’s description, they hear rumors of a half-dragon being sighted in the area at least a tenday ago. Everyone remembers the incident; chromatic half-dragons are almost never seen, and they tend to cause alarm when they are. If the rumor is true, then the half-dragon was traveling with a strong escort of mounted guards, headed north. The rumor is true, of course, but it can’t be confirmed 100 percent.
By asking around, characters learn that the road to the north, called the High Road, used to connect Waterdeep to the city of Neverwinter. A cold, coastal marsh called the Mere of Dead Men lay between the road and the coast. Over the years, the mere continually expanded. Each time it grew, it flooded the road, which had to be relocated farther inland. That was the situation until a century ago, when Neverwinter was nearly destroyed by the eruption of Mount Hotenow. With the city in ruins, efforts to keep the road open simply stopped. It no longer served a purpose.
But now, Lord Neverember is rebuilding Neverwinter and the road is needed again. The warehouse visited by the cultists is where shipments of supplies to the road-building camps are coordinated. If freight haulers went there, it must have been to see if they could haul supplies to the road-head for pay. Are they hiring guards for supply caravans? Sure, you bet they are. The Mere of Dead Men is wild and dangerous. Lord Neverember’s agents in this endeavor are perpetually looking for laborers to build the road and fighters to protect the laborers. Turnover in those jobs is pretty high.
Northbound, Again
The characters have no trouble getting hired as wagon escorts at the supply warehouse. Unlike in the caravan, guards are not hired by individual wagon masters but by the High Road Charter Company, a consortium of guilds and noble houses partnered with Lord Neverember. A human veteran named Ardred Briferhew commands the entire convoy. It consists of six supply wagons, twelve escorts (including the characters and Jamna), and two dozen laborers marching out to relieve a group that is coming back to Waterdeep for some time off. Those cultists who weren’t hired as teamsters for their three wagons are coming along as laborers.
The cultists are not happy to see the characters again, so the characters are the target of dirty looks.
The work camp the convoy is headed toward lies 200 miles up the coast. For most of that distance, the road winds through rough coastal hills nestled between the Sword Mountains and the sea. On the seventh night, the convoy camps on a hilltop from which characters have their first sight of the Mere of Dead Men. It is a chill tangle of trees, brush, boggy ground, standing water, reeds, and cat-tails stretching farther than the eye can see. The rest of the trip is within sight of the mere. The destination is reached sometime on the tenth day.
Encounters North of Waterdeep
Nothing much needs to happen on the trip north of Waterdeep. You can narrate through it quickly. At your option, use the random encounters below to spice up the journey. Roll a
Remember that the characters are just part of the convoy escort. The monsters listed on the Encounters North of Waterdeep table are those the characters must fight. At the same time, NPC members of the escort are dealing with additional monsters not listed here. Assume that monsters and the travelers are being alert before these encounters. After each encounter, roll
Encounters North of Waterdeep
| Encounter | |
|---|---|
| 1–14 | No encounter |
| 15 | 12 human Bandit |
| 16 | 1 troll |
| 17 | 4 Orc and 1 ogre |
| 18 | 2 Ogre |
| 19 | 3 lizardfolk and 3 Giant Lizard |
| 20 | 6 lizardfolk |
| 21 | 8 Giant Frog |
| 22 | 12 Bullywug |
Carnath Roadhouse
The convoy’s destination is the Carnath Roadhouse, a compound that served as a hostelry on the trade road between Waterdeep and Neverwinter in the days when trade flourished. It fell into disuse when trade stopped, but now that the road is being rebuilt, the roadhouse has been repaired and put to use as a supply depot and wagon park. This part of the adventure plays like a spy story. Stealthy characters should find plenty to do here.
Essential Ingredients
The work camp is exactly what it appears to be: a supply depot for the road builders. It is also something more, however: a transit point for the cult’s contraband coming up from the south.
When wagons arrive from the south, they are brought into the compound one or two at a time for unloading, then moved back outside for parking. The compound is crowded with food, lumber, and myriad other supplies in crates and barrels. Material that can’t be left exposed to the cold, wet weather or is especially valuable is stored in the warehouse (area 3), and anything valuable is kept in the locked strong room attached to the warehouse (area 4). Only the camp superintendent, a burly half-orc known only as Bog Luck (use veteran statistics), has a key to that inner room.
Bog Luck was recruited to the Cult of the Dragon years ago. The only outward sign of this is the scabbard of his ever-present shortsword, which is decorated with a dragon resembling the designs on the scabbards characters saw in the dragon hatchery (and possibly have with them still; see area area 12 in that section). When cult wagons arrive, their road-building cargo is unloaded into the compound normally, but Bog Luck ensures that the contraband is stored in the strong room. Afterward, he goes into the strong room alone and paints a symbol onto each carton belonging to the cult.
In the floor of the strong room is a camouflaged trapdoor. It can be found with a DC 10 Wisdom (
1. Courtyard
Most of the time, this open courtyard is crowded with crates, barrels, and stacks of supplies. The damp climate means that the ground is muddy, except when the temperature is below freezing. Then the mud hardens into uneven, frost-covered ruts. A path is kept clear from the gate to the stables so animals can be moved, but during busy times, that path often runs under the balcony in front of the doors to the rooms.
2. Stables
In some ways, the stables are the most comfortable area of the compound. When the stables are crowded, the horses' and mules' body heat keeps the building warm. Four stable boys take care of the animals and sleep here. Only the youngest, a quick-witted boy called Wump, has any suspicion that something mysterious is going on. He knows nothing about the Cult of the Dragon, but he’s sharp enough to wonder why anything used by the road builders needs to be locked up.
3. Warehouse
The warehouse door is latched but unlocked. Supplies that shouldn’t be left exposed to the weather are stored here: food for the people and fodder for animals.
4. Strong Room
Unusually valuable cargoes and personal items are kept in the strong room under lock and key. None of the workers know or care what sorts of road-building supplies are considered so valuable they must be locked up for protection. They just follow Bog Luck’s instructions and stack things where they’re told to stack them.
Since the sleeping rooms can’t be locked, workers and teamsters often have Bog Luck lock their cash and other valuables into the strong room for safekeeping. He keeps a record in a ledger book of all the personal items stored there and has a reputation for being meticulous about making sure everyone gets their belongings back—all of their belongings and only their belongings.
The key for this room is always on Bog Luck’s belt, but the lock can be opened with a successful DC 10 Dexterity check and a set of
The trapdoor is located in the southeast corner of the room. An empty crate nailed onto the door covers it; when the door is opened, the whole crate tips toward the north. Being nailed to the floor, the crate feels solid and full to a casual bump or shove. Only when it’s tipped does the trick become obvious. It can be discovered with a thorough 20-minute search of the room or with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
If characters search the strong room during the night, lizardfolk show up to cart away contraband. There are three lizardfolk for every two characters.
5. Rooms
The wagon drivers, escorts, and laborers who stay at the compound share the rooms. None are private rooms; all have bunks for at least four people, and the larger rooms sleep six. They contain bunks, trunks for belongings, and wooden floors covered with rushes.
None of the rooms have locks on their doors except Bog Luck’s. If asked about locks, Bog Luck explains that they kept freezing in cold weather so people couldn’t get into or out of their rooms. This excuse is credible; the upper room doors, in particular, often are coated with ice in the morning. In fact, Bog Luck removed the locks to strengthen his excuse for locking the strong room.
6. Bog Luck’s Room
Bog Luck has this room to himself, so it’s more spacious and comfortable than the others. He’s seldom here except when sleeping, and he keeps the door locked. A successful DC 10 Dexterity check with
7. Ardred Briferhew’s Room
The commander of the hired guards has this small room to himself. There is nothing remarkable about it.
8. Kitchen
This upper room is used for preparing food on a large stove. In the evenings, this doubles as a common room where people gather to smoke, drink, swap stories, and keep warm. Eventually the cook, a grumpy human called Gristle Pete, kicks everyone out so he can unroll his mattress and blankets and get some sleep.
If characters listen carefully to Gristle Pete’s mutterings as he works around his kitchen, they’ll hear him talking in circles to himself about how he “… don’t get no sleep from all the critters in the floors banging and knocking and hissing and whispering at all hours” and so on. The noises he hears and mistakes for rats are the lizardfolk retrieving contraband from the strong room below. If questioned, he hears the noises every now and then, not every night. If pressed, he realizes that the sounds happen a few nights after a new load gets dropped off. Now ain’t that some oddball rat behavior?
Tracking the Load
Characters have a few ways to collect clues about what’s happening at the work camp. Jamna can help out with these tasks if none of the characters are up to it.
- If they watch the wagons being unloaded, they’ll notice Bog Luck directing laborers to carry the crates brought from the Greenfields into the warehouse. If they have a chance to see what’s going on in the warehouse, they see that all the crates go into the strong room. If they don’t look inside the warehouse while the wagons are unloaded but inspect the warehouse later, they won’t find any of the crates; the only other place they could have gone is into the strong room.
- Gristle Pete, who sleeps above the strong room, hears strange noises on certain nights. He mistakes those noises for rats, but they come from lizardfolk carrying contraband into the tunnel beneath the strong room.
- They can take the direct approach and inspect the strong room surreptitiously. This leads to a fight with lizardfolk if characters search the room in the dead of night. Getting in by picking the lock is the safest approach. Trying to lift the key from Bog Luck’s belt can work, but it’s risky. If he catches someone in the attempt, a beating is the best they can hope for. A smart character submits to this humiliation, because fighting back means that Bog Luck calls everyone else to help him punish the thief, and all the characters are ostracized from then on. Taking the beating means Bog Luck keeps the incident between the two of them.
- Characters can arrange to have a room next to the Cult of the Dragon teamsters and listen through the walls to the cultists' conversation. They can’t make out entire conversations, but they do pick out the words “strong room,” “tunnel,” “lizardfolk,” and “Bog Luck.”
- Talking to other escorts and wagon drivers yields some interesting observations but no concrete leads. Most of the others who came along on the haul north of Waterdeep agree that there’s something standoffish about the cultists (they don’t use that word).
- Searching the cultists' two rooms turns up something a personal bag containing six polished gems and small, easily concealed items of jewelry, all together worth about 1,400 gp. The cultists have a thief among them: a half-elf named Larion Keenblade. If he can be identified and accosted away from the others, he might agree to help the characters in exchange for their help getting away.
Grudge Match
A friend of the cultist murdered by Jamna has nurtured a grudge against a character since that incident. Now that their load is safely delivered and the mission is complete, this cultist can seek vengeance for her slain friend.
At an opportune time, the cultist tries to goad the character into a fight. She’ll use any incident she can from their time together, including the murder, to question the character’s courage and fighting ability in front of everyone. If the character refuses to bite, the cultist doesn’t back down. The NPC wants blood and won’t settle for anything less. She draws her sword and attacks. The cultist uses the stats of a veteran.
As far as the other cultists, teamsters, and hired guards are concerned, this is a personal issue between these two. If the character backs down, everyone assumes the character is a coward and treats this character with disrespect for the rest of his or her time at the camp. If other characters jump into the fight at their companion’s side, more cultists do the same (treat them as twelve Guard. Bog Luck and Ardred Briferhew prevent anyone else from joining in, but they don’t mind watching some limited bloodshed to break the boredom.
The cultist means to kill the character, and she will if she wins the duel (continuing to stab the body after the character is at 0 hit points) and no one stops her.