The white, snow-covered slopes of Kelvin’s Cairn loom large behind this quiet lakeside town. Caer-Konig started as a camp for a group of mountaineers from the northern Moonsea region. As the camp grew, a wooden palisade was added to discourage raiders. Later came the stone castle of Caer-Konig. Alas, neither the palisade nor the castle fared well; both fell to orcs before falling into ruin.
Caer-Konig as it is known today consists of terraced rows of houses that recede from the shore of Lac Dinneshere like the tiers of an amphitheater. The harbor is frozen, its docks skewed and broken by the shifting ice. Buried under the snow on the slopes above the last row of houses are the ruins of the Caer that gave the town its name—a reminder to the people of Caer-Konig that nothing lasts in this corner of the world.
Travel to and from this remote town was expedited by the ferry that ran out of Easthaven, but with the ferry shut down, Caer-Konig is completely cut off by mountains, lake, and snow. Forced to live on what they can haul out of the iced-over lake, the people of Caer-Konig are bitter and angry. They believe that the rest of Ten-Towns has abandoned them. The only thing that keeps the townsfolk from leaving is the beer at the local tavern, which never seems to run out.
As if things weren’t bad enough, the town has suffered several mysterious break-ins recently, with no evidence of the intruders except dwarven boot tracks in the snow leading north. Since there are no known settlements in that direction, the townsfolk assume that Auril’s everlasting winter has taken its toll on the dwarves of Kelvin’s Cairn, forcing them to come down from the mountain in search of food or beer. In truth, the town is beset by
The town speaker, a heavy-drinking dragonborn named Trovus, patrols at night to keep an eye out for trouble. In his inebriated state, however, Trovus is prone to wandering out onto the icy lake or passing out on the ramshackle docks, and he almost never remembers his nightly patrols once his head clears.
Caer-Konig in a Nutshell
Friendliness ❄❄Services ❄❄Comfort ❄❄❄
Available Quest
“area The Unseen”.
- Population 150.
Leader
Speaker Trovus (neutral good silver dragonborn veteran), a retired adventurer, represents the town. Trovus won over his fellow townsfolk with his brawn and good humor, though he’s too blunt to be a good politician and drinks too much.
Militia
Caer-Konig can muster up to 25 soldiers (use the tribal warrior stat block) and 2 Veteran.
- Heraldry A white fish silhouette rising from the center bottom of a dark blue field, which has a white border on all sides but its bottom. The fish signifies the local fishing trade, and the broken border represents the snow and the harbor surrounding the town.
Sacrifice to Auril
Food (see “area Sacrifices to Auril").
- Rivals Caer-Dineval, Easthaven.
Overland Travel
A three-mile-long, snow-covered path links Caer-Konig to the neighboring town of Caer-Dineval. Characters on foot can walk this path in 2 hours; mounts and dogsleds can shorten this time by as much as 50 percent.
Locations in Caer-Konig
The following locations are marked on map 1.5.
Hook, Line, and Sinker
Tavern
This tavern owes its popularity to the free half-pints of ale that the proprietor, Eglendar “Glen” Korr (neutral good half-elf commoner), keeps on the table by the front door. He presses one into the hand of every person who stops by (the hook), which compels most of them to stay to order seconds and thirds (the line). The “sinker” part of the tavern’s name refers both to the last drink call of the night and—when locals challenge visitors to a drinking contest—to the last drink that sends a losing contestant under the table.
Glen gets his ale from the dwarves who live in the valley at the foot of Kelvin’s Cairn, and he pays Jarthra the dwarf (see “Frozenfar Expeditions” below) to fetch it for him.
Frozenfar Expeditions
Adventuring outfitter
Run by a seasoned ranger named Atenas Swift (neutral good human scout), this shop sells adventuring gear. Attached to the shop is a locked wooden shed where Atenas stores a pair of dogsleds and a kennel where he keeps a dozen healthy sled dogs (use the wolf stat block to represent them). Six dogs are enough to pull each sled. Helping Atenas run the shop is an experienced mountain guide named Jarthra Farzassh (lawful good shield dwarf scout). The two have an excellent rapport, mixed with some competitive ribbing.
Age has caught up with Atenas. He can feel the cold in his joints and ventures out less frequently than he once did. Nowadays, he prefers to stay indoors while offering Jarthra’s services as a wilderness guide.
The Northern Light
Inn
The inn gets its name from a magic lantern that once hung above the front door. An
The inn is kept by the Shorard sisters (neutral good human Commoner). The younger, Allie, is lithe and charming; she greets guests and does all the cleaning. The older, Cori, is stout and scowling; she sees to the inn’s provisioning and handles all the cooking. The sisters cast baleful glances at one another and bicker behind closed doors, but nothing ever comes of their feuds, as evidenced by the fact that they’ve been running the inn together for more than a decade.
The Unseen
The characters can pick up this quest if they start the adventure in Caer-Konig or when they arrive in town. It begins as the characters enter the quiet village, which is being tormented by
Led by Xardorok Sunblight’s younger son, Nildar,
Getting the Quest
The town sits quietly at the foot of Kelvin’s Cairn. A few bundled-up people shuffle between snow-battered houses, keeping their heads down, barely bothering to give you a look as you walk past them.
A pile of snow stirs as you pass it, and someone hidden beneath it suddenly stands. The figure looks around and yells, “Who goes there? Is it thieves? Have I found those creeping bastards?”
When he pulls down the scarf covering his face, you see it is a silver dragonborn holding onto an empty wine bottle as if it was a weapon. He belches, grins at you, and says, “Pardon my manners. Bit jittery with all the thieving going on. I’m Trovus, the town speaker.”
Trovus (neutral good silver dragonborn veteran) spends most of his days drinking and reminiscing about his bygone adventuring days. He’s been patrolling at night looking for thieves, but after yet another night of heavy drinking, he passed out in the snow after a few hours. He has no recollection of how he ended up in the snow pile or why he was outside drinking in the first place.
If he’s asked about the thieves, Trovus takes a deep breath, trying to suppress his hiccups, before explaining the situation:
“The town has had some thievery troubles. No one’s seen anything, really. Just the other night, the lantern over at the Northern Light was stolen. Cori won’t let me hear the end of it because I haven’t been able to find those responsible. Not yet, anyway. But I have a knack for this stuff.”
If he’s not stopped, Trovus starts a long speech about the adventures he went on in his younger days. His stories include one where he kicked a half-ogre into a river and watched it float away while it yelled profanities at him. Another tells of the time he tricked a group of kobolds into believing he was a dragon in humanoid form.
If the characters ask about the missing lantern, he offers to take them to the local inn so they can talk to the Shorard sisters, who run the establishment. He seems less bothered by the cold than anyone else in the settlement, due to his silver dragon heritage. As they walk, Trovus talks about what has been taken from Caer-Konig over the past three nights:
- A color-switching magic lantern, taken from the local inn
- A pair of goats, stolen from the local tavern
- A small sack of pearls carved into decorative beads, gone missing from the stores of Frozenfar Expeditions
If the characters inquire about a reward for dealing with the thieves, Trovus explains that the town doesn’t have the coin to pay someone to investigate the matter. Most of the valuables in the village have disappeared already, so there’s little left to use as compensation.
Helpful Sisters
Trovus leads the characters through Caer-Konig to the Northern Light on the eastern edge of town. An empty hook, meant to carry a lantern, hangs above the inn’s entrance.
The inn appears to be mostly empty. A young woman looks up as you enter, gives Trovus a chastising smile, and says, “Did you fall asleep outside again? I’m telling you, Trovus, one day you’re going to have to stop relying on the kindness of strangers.”
The woman then opens a door into what looks like a kitchen and calls out, “Heat up something for Trovus. He’s been out ‘patrolling’ again.”
The woman, Allie, is one of the Shorard sisters (neutral good human Commoner), who own the inn. The other owner, Cori, is working in the kitchen. Allie settles Trovus into a chair before approaching the characters.
She confirms that the town has been experiencing break-ins and robberies lately, but no one has witnessed a potential culprit. The only clue is a set of tracks leading in the direction of Kelvin’s Cairn. Allie thinks the tracks were made by dwarves who live in the valley at the base of Kelvin’s Cairn. She suspects that the endless winter has made the dwarves desperate for food and ale, though she can’t explain why the dwarves would steal the inn’s lantern and other valuables. Allie is also surprised that no one in Caer-Konig has seen or heard the dwarves, remarking that “A quiet dwarf is an oxymoron.”
Any interaction with Allie is interrupted when Cori exits the kitchen:
The door to the kitchen swings open as a stern-looking woman enters holding a steaming bowl of soup. She places the bowl down in front of Trovus and says, “No dwarf did this. Someone would have spotted ‘em. Caught ‘em. No, there’s something more going on. Besides, what use do hungry dwarves have for a lantern?”
If the characters ask Cori for details, she explains that the magic lantern that used to decorate the outside of their inn doesn’t do anything useful other than light up the area with different colors.
If asked about a reward for dealing with the thieves, the sisters say they have little coin, but they can provide food and comfortable beds in exchange for the party’s help. They’ll even throw in a few flagons of beer if the characters can bring their magic lantern back to the inn.
If the characters accept the quest, Allie takes them to the back of the inn, where faint footprints lead toward Kelvin’s Cairn. If they refuse the quest, Caer-Konig continues to be tormented by
Getting a Dogsled
If the characters are interested in following the suspicious tracks, the Shorard sisters suggest they visit Frozenfar Expeditions and secure a dogsled before setting out on their adventure. If the characters do so, they discover that Jarthra, the mountain guide at Frozenfar Expeditions, is willing to accompany the characters for a small fee of 10 gp per day of travel. Jarthra has advantage on Wisdom (
Following the Tracks
The tracks leading away from the inn have been partly filled with blowing snow, making them appear as small depressions. Once the characters get about 50 feet away from the inn and its outbuildings, they discover that the tracks have been completely obscured.
If the characters wait until morning to set out, they find a set of fresh footprints left behind by a lone duergar scout. This duergar didn’t enter any buildings, but simply looked around the village before leaving close to morning. Following the footprints leads to a different set of tracks, which were made by an ogre zombie pulling a dogsled. These new tracks begin where the duergar tracks end, a quarter-mile outside of town. (The ogre zombie waited all night for the duergar to return. The duergar hopped onto the dogsled before ordering the ogre zombie to march.) Any character who examines these tracks and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (
Once the characters get within a mile of the outpost, they discover that the wind has erased the tracks they’ve been following, making it difficult for them to find the exact destination. For every hour the characters spend searching the foothills, have them make a DC 15 Wisdom (
Approaching the Outpost
The duergar outpost, a recent addition to the foothills north of Kelvin’s Cairn, was carved out of a hillside. Although the duergar are based mainly in Xardorok’s mountain fortress (described in chapter 3), they come to this outpost to resupply and rest before searching nearby settlements for chardalyn.
When the characters find the duergar outpost, read:
A blocky stronghold bereft of warmth or charm juts out of a hillside in a rough crescent shape. Only part of its construction is visible; the rest is buried in the stone.
A large double door of stone serves as the main entrance. The terrain leading to it is a gently upward-sloping plain covered with fresh snow. A stream used to flow out of a barred culvert northeast of the main entrance, but the waterway has frozen. Two other barred openings can be seen along the stronghold’s northern wall. Anyone positioned behind these openings would have an unobstructed view of the hillside.
Closer to you, separated from the rest of the stronghold, is a snow-covered stone bunker perforated by arrow slits.
Two duergar watch for approaching intruders. One is stationed in the bunker (area area O1), the other in the overlook (area area O3). These duergar are tired and bored, but they notice characters who are so incautious as to carry light sources or otherwise announce their presence.
If the overlook duergar sees what she perceives to be a threat, she sounds the alarm as she runs down to the main entrance (area area O2) to pull up the drawbridge, taking 2 rounds to do so. The duergar in the bunker is armed with a heavy crossbow (
Characters who succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (
Roleplaying the Duergar
When the characters arrive, the outpost contains five duergar (including Nildar), who behave as described here.
Before entering combat, these duergar use their Enlarge trait to increase their size. If a duergar is caught alone by a group of foes, it calls out for help before turning
invisible . When backup arrives, it uses its Enlarge and rejoins the fight.These duergar won’t negotiate, and they refuse to surrender. If the characters capture and interrogate a duergar, a successful DC 14 Charisma (
Intimidation ) check can convince the prisoner to divulge the following information:
Nildar Sunblight commands the outpost.
Nildar is searching Ten-Towns for chardalyn on behalf of his father, Xardorok Sunblight, who commands a much larger fortress in the mountains. Xardorok is obsessed with chardalyn and is forging a dragon out of it.
The outpost was built close to Kelvin’s Cairn for a reason. Once Ten-Towns is destroyed, the duergar plan to use this outpost as a staging area for a raid against the mines in the Dwarven Valley.
Outpost Locations
The duergar outpost was not built with the intention of being aesthetically pleasing or welcoming to strangers. There is no interior lighting, since the duergar rely on
The following locations are keyed to map 1.6.
O1. Bunker
This stone bunker stands fifteen feet tall. The rough edges of its construction indicate that it was cut from a single piece of stone.
A duergar named Brojk stands guard in the bunker and shoots his heavy crossbow through the arrow slits at any creatures he sees. He carries this crossbow in addition to his regular weapons.
Underground Tunnel
This 5-foot-high tunnel is 20 feet underground and has a 20-foot-long ladder at each end. The ladder at the north end leads up to area area O4.
O2. Main Keep
The outer doors aren’t locked, but they are heavy. As an action, a character can pull the doors open by succeeding on a DC 12 Strength (
This hall is devoid of decoration. A frozen well stands hear a hallway to the east, and three iron cages are pushed against one wall. One contains a malodorous ogre with rotting, half-frozen skin and an empty right eye socket. It howls in despair at the sight of you. Another cage holds a pair of nervous goats. The third cage is empty. Leaning against a wall near the cages is a wooden dogsled with ice clinging to it.
The two Goat were stolen from Caer-Konig, and the duergar plan to eat them. The duergar use the ogre zombie to pull their dogsled. The zombie has been enslaved and browbeaten by the duergar and does as they command. Inside its cage, it can do no harm to anyone.
If they haven’t already done so, the duergar from the bunker (area O1) and the overlook (area O3) run down to release the ogre zombie from its cage and attack intruders who breach this hall. The zombie sides with the duergar in any fight. Duergar that fall below half their hit points move behind the chokepoint (area area O5), leaving the ogre zombie to cover their retreat if it comes to that.
Well
The well descends 10 feet to an underground cistern. The sides of the well are icy and require climbing gear or magic to scale.
O3. Overlook
The door opens into a large, nearly empty room. Snow has drifted into the corners, and frost covers the stone walls. Three barred openings overlook the snow-covered grounds outside the stronghold.
Unless she has cause to leave the overlook and raise the drawbridge in area O2, a duergar named Urthhild stands guard here, stamping her feet to fight off the cold.
Barred Openings
Vertical iron bars spaced 6 inches apart are embedded in the stone frames of three 5-foot-tall rectangular openings. As an action, a character can try to bend the bars to create an opening big enough for a Small creature to squeeze through, doing so with a successful DC 20 Strength (
O4. Armory
Piles of equipment are pushed against the walls of this room. In the southern end of the chamber, an open hatch reveals a route leading underground.
The armory holds equipment used by the duergar, including two suits of scale mail sized for dwarves, two steel shields, three war picks, nine javelins, two climber’s kits, and four mess kits.
Underground Tunnel
This 5-foot-high tunnel is 20 feet underground and has a 20-foot-long ladder at each end. The ladder at the south end climbs to area area O1.
O5. Chokepoint
A long room, divided in the middle by two open doorways, stands empty. In the far southwest corner, an iron lever sticks out of the wall.
Nildar (see area O6) investigates any loud noises in this area. Once summoned, he stands next to the lever and waits for one or more intruders to move into the chokepoint, whereupon he moves the lever to trigger a trap.
Trap
When the lever is pulled, iron spikes spring out from the floor and ceiling to form barriers across each doorway. A creature in either opening must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (
This trap is designed to isolate a single enemy in the western part of the room, blocking it from its allies with the spikes. Creatures can see through the gaps between the spikes, but the gaps aren’t big enough for a character to slip through. The barriers of spikes grant three-quarters cover to creatures behind them. Each barrier has AC 15, 18 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.
O6. Commander’s Quarters
A stone-carved bed and desk occupy this drab room. Atop the desk are several shards of dark crystal, as well as a crumpled-up piece of paper and a burlap sack draped over a glowing object that emits colored light that shifts from blue to green to red.
If the characters made it through area O5 without getting into a fight, they catch Nildar Sunblight, a duergar, seated at the desk, studying his collection of glassy shards. He attacks the characters when they enter.
The glowing object on the desk is a magic lantern, which Nildar has covered with a burlap sack to dull its light. The lantern is the one that was stolen from the Northern Light in Caer-Konig. It shifts in color from blue to green to red but has no other magical properties.
The crumpled-up piece of paper on the desk bears a message from Nildar’s older brother, Durth, written in charcoal and in Dwarvish. The letter reads as follows:
Brother,
You will find me on the frozen ferry in Easthaven. From this new base, the search for chardalyn continues. Long may our father reign over this dark land!
Durth
The characters can visit the ferry or give Durth’s letter to the authorities in Easthaven and let them deal with him (see “Easthaven,” for more information).
Roleplaying Nildar
Nildar’s main goal is to please his father, whose obsession with chardalyn he shares. When he’s not leading raids, Nildar spends most of his time examining goods stolen from Caer-Konig and elsewhere. The shards on the table include several pieces of ordinary tinted glass and three dagger-sized pieces of chardalyn (see “Chardalyn”). With a successful DC 16 Intelligence (
Defeating Nildar
If the characters capture Nildar and try to talk to him, he snarls and threatens the characters in Dwarvish:
“My father is more powerful than any of you filthy creatures could imagine. You don’t understand the glory of it, the power found in the ice. None of you do. But you will learn soon enough when my father unleashes his terror upon Ten-Towns! Your doom soars on dragon’s wings!”
If the characters let Nildar go or if he escapes, he leaves the outpost using the ogre zombie and dogsled in area area O2; if that’s no longer an option, he flees on foot. He returns to his father’s fortress in the mountains (see chapter 3), swearing revenge on the characters and vowing to inflict great pain on them if their paths cross again.
Treasure
Characters who toss the room find a small coin purse stuffed into Nildar’s bedroll. The purse contains 24 gp and 17 sp.
O7. Spore Servants
This chamber appears to be a cellblock lined with stone doors that have small, barred windows set into them at dwarf’s-eye height. Snow and wind enter the room through a barred window in the northeast corner that looks out toward the snow-covered bunker that guards the main entrance.
The barred opening in the northeast corner is similar to the ones in area area O3.
The three cells along the west wall are empty at present. Each of the five cells along the south wall holds one prisoner, formerly a Ten-Towner or a Reghed nomad who was abducted and killed by the duergar. Using the animating spores of a myconid sovereign, the duergar have turned these dead humans into five spore servants (as described in the “Myconids” entry in the Monster Manual) covered with fungal growths. The spore servants emerge from their cells to attack intruders who enter the room. They use the Tribal Warrior Spore Servants stat block, with these changes:
- The spore servants are unaligned plants with a walking speed of 20 feet. They have
blindsight out to a range of 30 feet and are blind beyond this radius. They can’t beblinded ,charmed ,frightened , orparalyzed . - They have an Intelligence of 2 (–4), a Wisdom of 6 (–2), and a Charisma of 1 (–5).
- They lose the Pack Tactics trait and all languages they once knew.
O8. Duergar Quarters
Small rooms flank a central common area where crates and sacks are stashed against the west wall. The doors of the two southern rooms are open, and each room is empty except for a tattered bedroll and a chair. From behind the closed doors of the northern rooms, you hear the faint sound of snoring.
Each of the northern rooms has one duergar sleeping in it. The two duergar are brothers named Ruvik and Skorn. If the characters move around without making any loud noises, the duergar stay asleep. If awakened, they attack the intruders. The duergar sleep in their armor, keeping their shields and weapons within reach.
Treasure
The crates and most of the sacks contain basic supplies, including blankets, rations, hempen rope, and other equipment. One small sack holds the stolen valuables from Caer-Konig: twenty-five pearls carved into decorative beads (5 gp each). Another sack contains three
Concluding the Quest
When the characters return to the Northern Light, they find Trovus passed out in a padded armchair while Allie and Cori go about their work. If the characters tell Allie about the duergar outpost, she admits to knowing nothing about duergar and is disturbed to learn that they can turn
If the characters retrieved the inn’s lantern, Allie offers them a few flagons of ale as a reward. She has prepared rooms for them, even if they didn’t bring back the lantern. Allie can also help the characters return other stolen goods to their proper owners in Caer-Konig.