The adventure starts in Red Larch, with the characters investigating the disappearance of a delegation from Mirabar. Characters are free to go wherever their information, as provided by you, takes them. Clues lead them to Haunted Keeps in the Sumber Hills. These old fortresses have become secret outposts for the cults of Elemental Evil.
The Missing Delegation
For months now, the cults of Elemental Evil have been establishing themselves in the Dessarin Valley without attracting much attention. Two tendays ago, that changed when an important delegation from the city of Mirabar disappeared in the Sumber Hills.
The delegation traveled overland from Westbridge to Beliard, crossing the Stone Bridge. From Beliard it headed south into the Sumber Hills, bound for Summit Hall. Earth cultists attacked the group a few miles from Summit Hall. The cultists took prisoners back to the Sacred Stone Monastery, paying water cultists for the use of their riverboats to cross the Dessarin River, which is how the delegations valuables end up in Womford (see “Rumors in Red Larch”). On their way back to their base, the earth cultists skirmished with air cultists, which accounts for the “Shallow Graves” section later in this chapter.
After their arrival at the Sacred Stone Monastery, some of the delegation members were put to work in the mines. Others were sent down to the Temple of the Black Earth (see chapter 4).
Other troubles have also surfaced recently, including some that might directly affect the characters. Tailor the introduction to work with the factions, backgrounds, and motivations in play among the characters.
The Priests Purse
If you began this campaign with the introductory adventures in chapter 6, remind the players about the trade bars, minted in Mirabar, that the party found in the possession of Larrakh in the Tomb of Moving Stones.
Adventure Start
Red Larch is a little town on the Long Road, a few days travel north of Waterdeep and south of Yartar. Its a way station for caravans coming to or from the cities of the North, with only one inn, the Swinging Sword.
An important delegation from the city of Mirabar disappeared in the nearby Sumber Hills. The whole town is also abuzz with news and rumors of fierce raiders, roaming monsters, suspicious strangers, and unseasonable weather.
The five factions know about the overdue delegation and are concerned enough to send agents to investigate. Characters affiliated with these factions are contacted and asked to help out. Tell each player in private why his or her faction is concerned about the missing delegation. The exact reasons for each faction are described as follows:
Harpers
The delegation included a renowned shield dwarf historian named Bruldenthar, who was transporting his collection of manuscripts to Waterdeep. The Harpers don’t want the sage or his books to fall into the wrong hands.
Lords' Alliance
Three important diplomats from cities in the alliance were leading the delegation: a moon elf from Silverymoon named Teresiel, a shield dwarf from Mirabar named Rhundorth, and a human noble from Waterdeep named Deseyna Majarra. The diplomats are important, but each also carries one part of a secret, coded document that must be recovered at all costs.
Emerald Enclave
The moon elf Teresiel had in her possession a pouch of magical seeds she was taking to the abbey of Goldenfields, not far from Red Larch. When planted, these seeds are supposed to grow into a magical grove.
Order of the Gauntlet
The delegation was also transporting the body of a knight who was killed fighting orcs in the Spine of the World. The knight was to be interred with honor at Summit Hall, the chapter house of an order called the Knights of Samular. It lies in the southeast Sumber Hills.
The Zhentarim
The Zhentarim aren’t particularly concerned about the delegation for its own sake, but they see an interesting opportunity here to rescue the missing delegates and win the gratitude of the leaders of Mirabar. Accordingly, a Zhentarim character wants to prove the good faith of the Black Network by lending a helping hand.
Nonfaction Start
Characters who aren’t attached to the five factions can search for the missing delegation on their own initiative or might be motivated by their personal calls to action. The mystery of a missing delegation might not seem to be directly connected to whatever personal goal the character brings to the adventure, but then again, it just could be the lead.
Character Advancement
This adventure assumes that the characters begin this chapter at 3rd level. Some of the Haunted Keeps are tougher than others. Feathergale Spire is designed for a 3rd-level party, Rivergard Keep works best for a 4th-level party, Sacred Stone is designed for a 5th-level party, and Scarlet Moon Hall should challenge a 6th-level party. Each outpost the characters overcome should advance them at least one level.
Rumors in Red Larch
Red Larch is described in detail in chapter 2. Characters who take the time to talk to locals might gain a lead or learn something useful. The best places to hear the latest rumors about the missing delegation are the town tavern (the Helm at Highsun), the common room of the town inn (the Swinging Sword), or the store (Gaelkurs).
Rumors
An evening of asking questions in and around Red Larch reveals the following rumors.
- The Mirabar delegation was last seen in the town of Beliard. This information comes from a caravan guard in the Helm at Highsun and an itinerant priest of Lathander in the Swinging Sword who just came from Beliard.
- A dozen beautiful old books written in Dwarvish showed up in the cargo of a shady keelboat skipper in Womford. Characters hear this fact from Endrith Vallivoe, a local shopkeeper drinking in the Swinging Sword, who bought one of the books from a merchant recently arrived from Womford.
- Four new graves-simple rock cairns, really-have appeared on a windswept hilltop in the Sumber Hills, a few miles outside of town. The shepherd Larmon Greenboot found them, and he has no idea who would have been buried out there in the last few days. Larmon hangs around Gaelkurs. He can guide the characters to the site where he found the graves, but he insists on waiting until morning.
- An Amnian merchant heading north on the Long Road stopped in Thorsk Thelorns workshop for a wagon repair. His goods were marked by a strange symbol, like a bowl. He paid Thorsk well and talked about a big gathering of druids he was heading to, hoping to sell kegs of beer and various trinkets. If the characters mention the Amnian merchant to Thorsk, they can get directions to Scarlet Moon Hall.
Early Investigations
Armed with a lead or two from their inquiries in Red Larch (and perhaps with clues from their personal calls to action), the characters can begin their search. Ask the players where they want their characters to go and continue with “Beliard,” “Shallow Graves,” or “Womford Rats,” as appropriate.
Controlling Information
To find a Haunted Keep, the party must develop a lead by following events in the adventure, employing scrying magic, or methodically searching the Sumber Hills.
Some or all of the player characters might begin the adventure already in possession of useful information because of the adventure hooks in chapter 1. Key clues from these hooks include the following:
- Best Served Cold: The character hears from tavern patrons in Red Larch that a band of minstrels called the Windwyrds performs at Feathergale Spire. The character knows the spires location.
- Dangerous Information: The character knows where the Reaver Ambush encounter takes place (see “Cult Reprisals” later in this chapter) and can go there to intervene.
- Feathergale Rebel: The character knows the location of Feathergale Spire.
- Madman at Haunted Keep: The character knows the location of Rivergard Keep.
- Standing Offer or Strange Map: The character knows the location of the Sacred Stone Monastery.
- Suspicious Fellow: The character knows the location of Feathergale Spire and heard that Thurl Merosska can be found there.
- Undercover: The character knows the location of Rivergard Keep and that Jolliver Grimjaw is in charge.
Anyone in Red Larch can provide good directions to Feathergale Spire if the characters ask about the place. Its a well-known site. Its fine if the characters decide to follow up on one of these leads instead of investigating the missing delegation.
Beliard
Check for random encounters during the journey to Beliard (see chapter 2).
Orchards and large cattle ranches surround the little town of Beliard. Large stockyards lie on the east side of town, and stone warehouses along the Dessarin Road indicate the regular caravan traffic that passes through.
Everyone is talking about the travelers from Mirabar and wondering what happened. A dozen theories make the rounds, but most make no sense. If the characters sort through the gossip look for those who spoke with the Mirabarrans, they unearth the following leads:
- Neshor Fleurdin, proprietor of the Watchful Knight inn, spoke with the delegation leaders and learned they planned to head south on the Dessarin Road. They intended to visit Summit Hall next, returning the body of a knight slain in the North.
- Senya, a server at the Watchful Knight, noticed a strange monk who wore a golden mask observing the Mirabarrans closely while they stayed at the Watchful Knight. The monk left a few hours before the delegation set out and hasnt been seen since.
- A cattle drover met the delegation on the Dessarin Road about ten miles south of town, a few hours after they left. Later that day he saw a group of five warriors in sky-blue armor and white cloaks, flying on giant vultures. The aerial riders flew overhead and turned south, heading in the same direction as the delegation. Eann, a cattle drover drinking at the Watchful Knight, tells this tale to anyone who listens.
If the characters ask about warriors on flying monsters or giant vultures, they gain an additional rumor:
- Halrud Ponden, the townmaster and chief lawkeeper of Beliard, looks nervous as he tells the characters about warriors in blue armor and white cloaks flying on monsters or giant vultures have been seen near Feathergale Spire, not far from Red Larch.
Nothing more comes to light about the strange monk in Beliard. The characters have to keep looking.
The Dessarin Road
If the party follows the trail south from Beliard toward Summit Hall and Womford, they come across the spot where the delegation from Mirabar was attacked. No one else found it because its off the road. Only in the last day or two have natural scavengers returned to the area, since the lingering aura of elemental magic kept them away until now.
The Dessarin Road leads south through the barren Sumber Hills. You don’t meet any other travelers this day, but you find evidence that the trail supports traffic-wagon ruts and mule droppings prove that people come this way on a regular basis. You find nothing else until you are about fifteen miles south of Beliard, when you spot a cloud of ravens and vultures circling a mile or so west of the trail.
If the characters investigate, they find the remains of a pitched battle between the earth cult and the delegation from Mirabar.
In a small dell a mile off the road, you find the remains of a battle. A dozen dead soldiers lie on the ground, dressed in black surcoats bearing the emblem of a red axe. Most appear to have died from battle injuries, although some lie in small craters or jumbles of broken rock. Abandoned and looted wagons lie nearby. A couple of broken trunks sit on the ground by the wagons. Two rock cairns-one large and one small-stand atop a hillside nearby.
Characters native to the North recognize the red axe design as the emblem of Mirabar. Non-native characters recognize it with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (History) check. A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check identifies the craters and rock jumbles as the effects of powerful earth-based magic. None of the Mirabar delegates are here, but almost all of their escorts were killed.
The large cairn contains the bodies of five dead bugbears. They are dressed in black leather armor with a strange triangular symbol on it (the earth cult symbol). The small cairn contains the body of a human woman in monks robes, with a strange golden mask shaped like a snarling gargoyle face (a Sacred Stone monk killed in the fight). The mask is made of gilded tin and not particularly valuable.
Tracks
A character studying the tracks in the area who makes a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check learns that a large group of about thirty bugbears and Medium humanoids wearing boots headed west into the hills. The trail leads several miles to the banks of the Dessarin River in the middle of nowhere, but gouges in the bank show where several keelboats landed.
Shallow Graves
The shepherd Larmon Greenboot in Red Larch leads the characters to this site if they ask. The characters might also stumble across the site while traveling in the Sumber Hills near Red Larch.
On a barren hilltop a few miles from Red Larch, you find four freshly dug shallow graves. The earth scraped out for the holes is piled nearby, although hastily gathered stones cover the graves. The faint smell of death hangs in the air, and several vultures circle overhead.
If Larmon is with the party, he explains that he grazes his sheep in a nearby vale, and he passed by this spot less than a month ago. There were no graves present on his previous visit. He found them just a couple of days ago and has no idea who might be buried here-none of the folk of Red Larch are missing, and he doesn’t know of anyone else out this way. The hills are mostly uninhabited.
Grave Occupants
If the characters excavate the graves, they find one male dwarf dressed in artisan robes (a smith from Mirabar), one female human warrior dressed in a black surcoat with a red axe (the symbol of Mirabars army), one male human warrior dressed in a black cloak with strange stony armor (an earth cultist), and one male human in a white robe with black feathers at the shoulders (an air cultist). All died from arrow wounds or crushing blows, and the earth cultists who won the battle buried the fallen on both sides because they believe everything should ultimately be consumed by the earth.
Whats Around?
If any of the characters make a serious effort to study the surrounding area, they find a confused collection of tracks, a few broken arrows, a discarded javelin, and a tattered gray cloak.
You have a good view of the surrounding hills from this vantage point. Several miles to the west you can make out the tiny outline of Red Larch, and the thin dark line marking the Long Road. Several miles to the north, you see a slender old tower circled by large birds. Nothing else is around here.
If asked, Larmon identifies the tower in the distance as Feathergale Spire. All he knows about the place is that “knights out of Waterdeep come up here sometimes, riding on flying monsters.” He adds, “They keep to themselves.”
Summit Hall
The party might discover that the delegation for Mirabar was headed for Summit Hall and travel there directly, without following the Dessarin Road from Beliard. (This is most likely if a character belonging to the Order of the Gauntlet insists on going directly to Summit Hall.)
This small stronghold stands on a hilltop in the southern region of the Sumber Hills. It consists of a stone hall surrounded by a fifteen-foot wall with a sturdy wooden gate. Stables, a tower, barracks, and storage buildings are enclosed within the protective wall. A banner flying an emblem of a crossed torch and sword flutters overhead.
Summit Hall is home to about a dozen Knights of Samular, an order of long-suffering Tyr worshipers who have been reenergized by their gods return. They host another dozen young aspirants-in-training, and about fifteen servants and artisans to help maintain the place.
The most senior knight is a human woman of sixty years named Ushien Stormbanner, an ally of the Order of the Gauntlet. Ushien is happy to meet with any adventurers that turn up on her doorstep. She tells the characters that the delegates from Mirabar never showed up at Summit Hall, and that her warriors searched the area and didnt find them (both true).
The Golden Mask
If any of the characters mention monks in golden masks or show Lady Ushien the mask of the monk from the cairn in the Dessarin Road site, Ushien recognizes it. She can tell the characters that the masks are worn by the monks of the Sacred Stone order. She doesn’t know much about them, but she can tell the characters that the monks have taken over one of the old Haunted Keeps. She provides directions to the Sacred Stone Monastery.
Womford Rats
Womford is a tiny settlement on the banks of the Dessarin River, south of the Ironford Bridge. A dilapidated dock juts out into the river, and three keelboats are tied there. A large mill sits on the riverbank, with several big granaries nearby and a handful of small, run-down cottages.
Most of the townsfolk are intimidated by the thugs who run their criminal trade from their keelboats. Questions about, “Is anybody selling books around here?” or “Where do we find the river boats?” quickly lead the party to the docks.
Two of the three keelboats are crewed by commoner (ordinary river sailors). The third belongs to a gang of water cultists: the genasi Shoalar Quanderil (see chapter 7), his servant Pike (a halfling thug), and two bandit loyal to the genasi. The cultists keelboat is 30 feet long. The middle 10 feet feature a small deck house, with a forecastle at one end and an open stern at the other. The holds are crammed with ordinary provisions, marked with the water cult symbol.
Roleplaying Shoalar
Shoalar appears jovial, but he has a biting sense of humor and tends to laugh at people rather than with them. If questioned, he denies any knowledge of books or delegates from Mirabar, but he is lying. Characters who present themselves as fellow rogues or potential recruits might be able to persuade him to admit that he “ferried unsavory passengers across the river a couple of tendays ago, and how they paid was no worry of mine.” Characters who threaten or act suspiciously trigger an attack from Shoalar and his crew.
Treasure
Shoalar wears a leather belt pouch containing 10 gp, three small malachites (10 gp each), and a potion of healing. A trunk in the deckhouse contains five tomes written in Dwarvish (historical accounts of the old kingdom of Delzoun), each worth 30 gp. A large chart on a table in the deckhouse marks the location of Rivergard Keep with a hand-drawn water cult symbol.
Cult Reprisals
The cults of Elemental Evil don’t wait passively for a band of heroes to systematically eliminate each cults surface outpost. Even if the characters destroy one of the Haunted Keep outposts completely and eliminate all possible witnesses, the elemental prophets gain glimpses of the threat facing them through dreams, visions, and portents. The Elder Elemental Eye warns the prophets of danger and impels them to respond.
You have four reprisals to choose from: “Tremors,” “Skyriders,” “Reaver Ambush,” and “Fiery Fangs.” Let player interest and your own sense of pacing dictate which reprisal to use.
- If a character has the Dangerous Information adventure hook (see chapter 1), run “Reaver Ambush” when the character resolves to travel to the attack site and stop it.
- Choose one reprisal to run after the characters visit the first locale (Beliard, Dessarin Road, Shallow Graves, Summit Hall, or Womford Rats). “Skyriders” and “Reaver Ambush” are good choices because they point to lower-level Haunted Keeps (Feathergale Spire and Rivergard Keep, respectively).
- Choose a second reprisal to run after the characters visit the first of the Haunted Keeps. This is a good opportunity to point the characters toward the air or water keeps-whichever one the characters havent explored yet.
- Choose a third reprisal to run after the characters visit the third of the Haunted Keeps.
Tremors
While the characters explore the Sumber Hills, they experience first-hand the strange phenomena and dangerous monsters plaguing the area. Use this reprisal any time the characters travel between towns or search the hills for sites of interest.
You are trudging along through the barren countryside when you hear a low, distant rumbling. A moment later, the ground beneath your feet begins shaking. The tremor is strong enough to start small slides of pebbles from the hillsides and cause shrubs and brush to wave from side to side, but then it subsides. A moment later, horrible insect-like creatures as big as horses begin to burrow out of the ground!
The insect-like monsters are two ankheg, hungry for flesh. The creatures havent specifically been sent by the earth cult to attack the characters, but the local evil influence of the cult makes events such as the tremor and the ankheg attack almost commonplace in the Dessarin Valley.
Skyriders
Nosy heroes asking awkward questions in the towns nearby gain the attention of the Howling Hatred cult. The air cultists send a group of aerial raiders to eliminate the characters, or at least to give them a good scare. This encounter can occur any time the characters are away from a settlement.
A strange, croaking cry from somewhere above catches your attention. You spot a trio of huge, winged shapes gliding toward you-giant vultures! Each bird carries on its back a warrior in dull blue armor with a dirty white cloak.
The attackers include one Feathergale knight and two howling hatred initiate (see chapter 7 for both), each mounted on a giant vulture. The riders prefer to keep their distance and make ranged attacks. They are also protective of their mounts. If a vulture is reduced to half its hit points or less, its rider disengages and retreats. If any two riders are killed or retreat, the third flees.
Treasure
None of the riders carry treasure, but one of them has a map tucked into his boot. (Whichever villain the characters defeat has the map-the characters should find it.) The map shows a crude sketch of the Dessarin Valley and marks a place called “the Spire” a few miles east of Red Larch. It also depicts a strange arrow-like symbol by the site (the air cult symbol).
Reaver Ambush
If the characters learned about this attack from the Dangerous Background adventure hook, they know that a band of raiders intends to ambush a caravan on the trail between Red Larch and the Ironford Bridge, a few miles from Bargewright Inn. They can find the villains camped just out of sight from the trail. Otherwise, the characters can encounter this camp any time they travel along one of the roads or trails in the area.
A small, carefully banked cooking fire smolders in the middle of this haphazard encampment. Half a dozen battered old tents and crates of provisions are scattered around, along with racks on which pieces of smoked fish are curing. Several fierce-looking human warriors are hunkered down in front of their tents, tending to their gear or quietly conversing.
The camp is occupied by one Crushing Wave priest, two crushing wave reaver, and five bandit (statistics for the priest and the reavers appear in chapter 7). If the characters have the advantage of foreknowledge and successfully sneak up on the villains, they can surprise the water cultists. Otherwise, the cultists assume that any strangers are enemies and attack. If all the Crushing Wave members are killed, surviving bandits try to flee or surrender.
Development
Captured Crushing Wave cultists refuse to talk, but captured bandits aren’t as fanatically close-mouthed. The bandits reveal that they signed on with the “mercenaries” at Rivergard Keep and now work for Jolliver Grimjaw. They can tell the characters how to find the keep.
Fiery Fangs
The fire cult is less concerned with maintaining appearances than the other elemental cults. When Vanifer or her lieutenants receive word that a band of adventurers is trying to ferret out the cult, they send a pack of three hell hound after the party. The hounds need only get the scent of the characters through spilled blood or discarded items. This encounter can take place wherever the characters are at the time, whether traveling between sites or ostensibly safe at an inn.
If the characters encounter the hell hounds in the wilderness, the hounds appear a short distance behind the characters, following their tracks and baying with eagerness. If the characters are resting at an inn, they’re interrupted by screaming and barking coming from the inns common room, where the pack breaks through windows and terrifies the staff. (Its all the better if the characters are eating a meal there themselves).
The monsters single-mindedly pursue the characters and fight until one is killed and a second is reduced to fewer than half its hit points, whereupon the surviving hounds flee. A mysterious bowl-like symbol (the symbol of the fire cult) marks the iron collars of the hell hounds. Thorsk Thelorn in Red Larch can connect the symbol to a mysterious gathering of druids in the Sumber Hills he heard about from a passing merchant and provide directions to Scarlet Moon Hall.
Feathergale Spire
In the Sighing Valley stands Feathergale Spire, the Haunted Keep inhabited by the Feathergale Society, Waterdhavian aerial-mount enthusiasts who have pretensions of nobility. They call themselves Feathergale Knights.
Secretly, the knights are dedicated to Yan-C-Bin. They occupied the keep when the air cult established itself in the dwarven ruins beneath the Sumber Hills. The knights serve the cult as lookouts, messengers, spies, and a first line of defense.
Spire Approach
When the characters visit the area, use the unique environment and its weather to add atmosphere. During the day, azure sky encompasses the tower and gusty winds buffet it from all sides. The wind sighs through rock formations in the canyon. At night, the wind calms to a breeze, and light fog settles over the canyon. The spire then appears to float among the stars on a sea of clouds. The summits of the hills rise above the fog like islands in that sea.
You can initially describe the keep as follows:
Feathergale Spire rises from a pillar of rock high into the air, the tallest point for miles. Built from white limestone and embellished in marble, the spire resembles a gleaming sword that pierces the sky.
The gatehouse faces the opposite cliff, its drawbridge the only apparent point of entry. Tall, wide windows encompass the bottom level of the tower, absent only upon the gatehouse side.
A circle of open stalls rings the towers foundation where it meets the rock. Above each stall, the sculpture of a hippogriff in flight leaps from the towers base.
Beneath Feathergale Spire to the east, a wide gusty canyon yawns through the hills.
Two feathergale knight (see chapter 7) patrol the pinnacle (area S11) at all times, taking flight on giant vulture to meet attackers. One knight is stationed in the front hall (area S2) with two Howling Hatred initiates (see chapter 7). In daylight, the pinnacle knights have an excellent vantage point. They are likely to know of the characters approach long before the party arrives.
The knights reaction depends on how the party chooses to enter the spire. Peaceful visitors who approach openly are welcome. Those who sneak in or assault the spire meet the full defenses of the keep.
Spire Features
The refurbished spire has the following features. Any exceptions are noted in areas to which they apply.
Ceilings
Ceilings are 18 feet high.
Defenders
The spire is described as it is when the characters arrive. At that time, four Feathergale Knights and their giant vulture mounts are away until that evenings feast (see the “Knights Quest” section).
Doors
Interior doors are made of wood banded with iron. Most have no locks but can be barred. It takes a successful DC 20 Strength check to break open a barred door.
Floors. All floors are made of white stone.
Light
Due to its many windows, Feathergale Spire is brightly lit during the day and dimly lit at night. With the reinforced shutters closed, the light becomes dim during the day and dark at night.
Locks
Any locks require thieves tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check to open.
Treasure
Feathergale Knights keep their wealth locked in chests in their cells. Each knight also has
Windows
Oversized windows on the ground level allow light and air to pass easily into the tower. They stand 3 feet from the ground and are 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide. Smaller windows, about half the size of the larger ones, are on levels 2 and 3. Shutters reinforced with iron bands permit the windows to be shut and barred. A barred window is like a barred door.
Feathergale Moat
A gap of twenty feet separates the ledge where the path ends from the closed drawbridge on Feathergale Spire. The space between the cliffs edge and the gatehouse drops several hundred feet to the bottom of the canyon. Near the ledge, a brass bell hangs from a wooden post.
At the bells ring, a female human Feathergale knight (see chapter 7) named Savra Belabranta opens a small window near the gate, welcomes the characters, and courteously asks what brings them here. Savra lowers the drawbridge to allow friendly visitors entry. If the characters accompany her, go to the “Knights Quest” section.
S1. Stable Level
A circular landing surrounds the central shaft of a spiral staircase. The landing is piled with supplies and bales of straw. Radiating from the landing are twelve stalls with straw-covered floors. A harness, riding crop, and saddle hang in each stall. Swinging wooden doors cap either end of each stall, one leading from the tower to the stall and the other from the stall to the open air.
The round room in the center of the spire serves as a storeroom. It is filled with supplies. Any gear from the Players Handbook you want the characters to have can be found here. The knights are willing to sell items at a ten percent markup.
When the characters arrive, four hippogriffs and two giant vultures occupy the stables, each in its own stall, and one Feathergale knight (see chapter 7) stands watch and tends the creatures. The hippogriffs and vultures are aggressive toward strangers that enter their stalls unless a knight introduces the newcomers. Knight disguises can fool the creatures, but only at a distance.
The latches on the stall doors are fastened at multiple points on each door, so it takes two actions to open each door.
S2. Front Hall
The entrance is a thirty-foot-long hall of white stone. At the opposite end of the hall are two twelve-foot-tall doors like those of the entry gate.
An eagle carved from a massive timber hangs from the far side of the ceiling, suspended on strong chains. Slender wings of steel sweep close to its sides. Its head is also fashioned of steel.
One Feathergale knight (Savra when the characters first arrive) and two howling hatred initiate keep watch in the entry hall. See chapter 7 for their statistics.
Friendly Entry
If Savra has allowed the characters in, she tells the characters that they have excellent timing. She invites them to join the knights feast this evening, commemorating the tenth year of the Feathergale Society. Savra leads the party through the tower to meet her captain, Thurl Merosska, in area S11.
The Eagle
The eagle is a battering ram. If released using a lever near the doors to area S4, the ram attacks an area that starts at the doors to area S4, extending 30 feet along a 5-foot-wide path in the center of the hall.
Each creature in this area must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or take
S3. Weapons Locker
The Feathergale knights stow weapons and armor here under lock and key. The weapon racks currently hold four longswords, four suits of scale mail, four shields, four helmets, four longbows, and four quivers of twenty arrows each.
S4. Central Stairs
A single spiral stair runs through the towers center, with landings at each floor. The stairs have a handrail along the outer edge.
S5. Initiate Dormitory
Howling Hatred initiates, priests, hurricanes, and skyweavers sleep in this room on four double bunks. Most cultists spend their days in other parts of the spire.
S6. Kitchen
In this kitchen, sacks are heaped along the walls, and a small pile of vegetables is spread on a table. A huge, steaming cauldron stands at the center. Two wooden paddles and two knives hang on a rack next to a brick oven. Four wall shelves hold a dozen loaves of bread.
Four howling hatred initiate (see chapter 7) stand around the cauldron inhaling the steam wafting from it. The initiates are trying to “inhale-and become-the steam.” These cultists also serve as kitchen staff.
S7. Solarium
A bright room occupies the east quarter of this floor. Flowers and shrubs of many varieties grow in a labyrinth of planters. Spidery red and purple plants grow suspended in baskets in mid-air. Robed humans water the plants.
Three howling hatred initiate and one hurricane (see chapter 7 for both) tend to the plants, contemplate philosophy, or train in this room.
Several barrels of fresh water are located around the perimeter of the room.
S8. Great Hall
This great hall spans half the diameter of the tower. Between the overlarge windows, tapestries depict scenes of gallant knights on flying hippogriffs, fighting dragons and jousting with one another among the clouds. High on the walls are the mounted heads of griffons, wyverns, owlbears, and manticores. A long, curved table set for a feast stretches between the halls twin hearths.
When the characters first arrive, two feathergale knight (see chapter 7) who aren’t occupied with other duties or rest are found here. At night, the towers servants sleep here after the knights have retired for the evening.
S9. Knights Cells
This chamber contains two beds, a fireplace, a closet, two chests, and a small tapestry on the wall.
Each knights chest contains valuables worth
S10. Merosskas Apartment
This chamber contains a bed, a fireplace, a closet, a writing desk, a chest, and a small tapestry on the wall.
On the desk, in a cylindrical leather case, is a letter to Thurl Merosska from Aerisi Kalinoth, written by her minstrel Windharrow. It reads as follows:
Merosska,
We are pleased to hear about the outcome of your altercation with the Black Earth cult, and we praise you for the capture of one of their prisoners. This noblewoman from Waterdeep has an interesting tale to tell, and we shall enjoy interrogating her further. Keep a close watch on the Sacred Stone Monastery. I want to know what our enemy is planning next.
Your beloved queen,
Aerisi Kalinoth
Treasure
In addition to clothing and personal effects, the chest contains 320 gp in a sack, a potion of heroism, a scroll of beast bond, and a scroll of skywrite (see appendix B for descriptions of both spells).
S11. Pinnacle
At the apex of the tower, the stairs terminate at a round stone gazebo that continues upward in a needle-like minaret. Beyond this enclosure, a small lawn grows upon the top of the tower. Four paths paved with white stones point the directions of the compass, each path ending in a pointed stone crenellation. At the pinnacles edge is a spyglass on a tripod, pointed downward.
From this vantage point, the Feathergale Knights possess a supreme view of all that transpires in the nearby canyon and the Sumber Hills beyond.
Two feathergale knight (see chapter 7) and their giant vulture are stationed here. Every hour, one of them patrols the air around the spire. The other patrols the tower. They watch for danger and fellow knights sent on errands. When the characters first arrive at the spire, Thurl Merosska (see chapter 7) is here as well, gazing west toward Red Larch.
Shrine to Elemental Evil
Here in the high open air, the cultists gather to worship Yan-C-Bin. They sacrifice their enemies, first marking them with the sign of Yan-C-Bin and then throwing them off the pinnacle. In the Sighing Valley, area C2, scavengers swiftly remove evidence of the knights dark deeds.
Spyglass
Those who gaze through the spyglass without moving it first see a hooded figure enter the concealed door in Knifepoint Gully (area V3).
Knights' Quest
Knights Quest
Savra Belabranta escorts the characters through the spire and up to the pinnacle where Thurl Merosska surveys the territory. Briefly describe any other rooms or inhabitants of the tower the characters observe on their ascent. When the characters reach the pinnacle, read the following text:
The commander of the Feathergale Knights is a well-built male human in his early fifties. Embossed feather patterns ornament the plates of his armor, and his kingly cloak boasts a feathered mantle. He smooths his white-blond hair into place, then bows low before you as if he were only a lowly courtier.
Thurl Merosska
“Welcome to Feathergale Spire, retreat of the Feathergale Society. I am Thurl Merosska, the lord commander.”
Thurl Merosska offers the hospitality of the tower, inviting the characters to a feast in honor of the society’s tenth year. Merosska especially shows favor to nobles, knights, members of the Lords' Alliance, and members of the Order of the Gauntlet.
If the characters wish to interview Merosska now, they can do so. He might answer questions on the following topics:
- The Feathergale Society, an “elite” group of aerial-mount enthusiasts from Waterdeep
- The origins of Feathergale Spire (see chapter 2)
- Doing ones duty for the realm
- Hunting and hawking
- Hippogriffs, giant vultures, and other aerial mounts
If the characters mention elemental cults, read the following text:
Thurl
Thurls face darkens. “Great evil lurks among these hills,” he says. “Depraved cultists led by wretched monsters. But let us speak of such matters after the feast has warmed our blood.”
Thurl allows the characters to rest in the tower until it is time to begin the feast. If the characters join the feast, read the following text:
Clad in the finest garments of velvet brocade, the knights feast at a curved table in the great hall, where twin hearths blaze. Thurl Merosska sits at the head of the table.
Thurl Merosska
“Honored guests,” he says. “Tell us of your adventures in the Sumber Hills. Let us aid you in any way we can.”
The knights use the feast to learn about the characters and how much they know about the elemental cults. Applauding bravery and offering toasts, the knights listen to the characters stories and share anecdotes. When you decide its time, read the following:
The doors to the great hall fly open and a sentry from the pinnacle shouts, “Manticore! Its on the move!”
At this announcement the Feathergale Knights rise as one, the feast before them unfinished.
Thurl
“We should take this opportunity to slay the monster,” Thurl says. From his finger he removes a feather-patterned golden ring set with a garnet and holds it aloft, saying, “A prize for the one who brings me the beasts head!”
Merosska asks the characters to join four of his knights in the manticore hunt. He offers to lend them hippogriffs for the task. If the characters agree, go to the “Manticore Hunt” section. Those who decline the invitation can stay at Feathergale Spire and rest, or explore the tower.
Treasure
Thurls ring is worth 250 gp. Thurl also carries
Manticore Hunt
Four feathergale knight join the characters on the hunt. To start, read the following text:
Four Feathergale Knights assemble at the pinnacle, each mounted upon a giant vulture. The moon illuminates the misty canyon below Feathergale Spire. In the far distance, a single shard of darkness moves, flitting in and out of the mist. Then the shadow sinks beneath the bank of clouds, lost again from sight.
The manticore hunt takes place in the skies above the Sighing Valley (see the accompanying map).
Quest: Manticore Hunt
Merosska invites the characters to join four of his knights in the hunt for a manticore seen wandering the locale.
Visibility
Vision is limited to 100 feet within the canyon because of the fog and night sky. The manticore, hippogriffs, and giant vultures know the canyon well enough to avoid running into the cliffs.
Hunting the Manticore
The knights ride giant vultures and stay together as a group. Characters can join the knights group, form their own group, or split up into multiple groups. A character or knight who moves more than 100 feet away from the rest of his or her group becomes a separate group.
Finding the Manticore
At the end of each minute spent searching for the manticore, have each group of hunters in the canyon roll a
If the knights find the manticore first, they blow their horns so that other groups can pinpoint the knights location and join the battle in
Battling the Manticore
The giant vultures and hippogriffs are faster fliers than the manticore, and the manticore knows it. Once it is found, the manticore fights until it has no targets to attack, using its action every round to make three Tail Spike attacks. If there are no characters present, assume that one knight is injured and the manticores hit points are reduced by 8 at the end of each round of battle. A knight that is injured leaves the hunt. When no more knights remain, the knights are out of the hunt. If the manticore has nothing to attack, the battle ends and it flies off. Remaining groups can try to search for it again.
The manticore has twenty-four tail spikes. When it runs out of spikes, it does nothing other than fly away from its pursuers on its turn. At the end of each of these turns, have all characters and knights in the battle make a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check. If all of their checks fail, the manticore gets away, though groups can try to search for it again.
Manticore Lost
If 10 consecutive minutes pass and neither the knights nor the characters find the manticore, it returns to its lair (area V9).
Conclusion
After the manticore hunt, a few courses are open for furthering the story.
The Partys Fate
Thurl decides what to do with the characters. If they’ve been polite, Thurl tells the characters the location of the Sacred Stone Monastery. He suspects the reclusive monks could be harboring evil and wants them investigated. If the characters have been rude or proven themselves to be enemies of all the elemental cults, the knights try to kill the characters later that night. Fighting all of the knights and cultists at once is a deadly encounter, but the villains aim to capture the characters first, and then hurl them from the top of the spire (area S11). The aarakocra in area V8 come to the characters aid in that event.
If the characters defeat their attackers, surviving knights flee on hippogriffs and giant vultures. They lead pursuers past the griffon roost at area V7. Surviving cultists retreat to the Temple of Howling Hatred via Knifepoint Gully (area V3).
Savras Revelation
If a character makes a strong impression on Savra and the party is on good terms with the knights, Savra looks for an opportunity to pull that character aside. Delighted with the characters deeds, Savra confides that the Feathergale Knights have a secret mission to master elemental air to annihilate Waterdeeps enemies. Savra offers to meet with Thurl to request he recruit the character into the Feathergale Knights. In doing so, she unwittingly reveals part of the knights secret.
Indoctrinated by the air cult, Savras heart and mind belong to Yan-C-Bin. If the characters defeat the cult and destroy Windvane, Savra is freed from princes influence and returns to her senses.
Sighing Valley
Sighing Valley is actually a wide canyon consisting of a deep gorge through which a small river flows. Rock spires rise from the canyon floor, and when the wind blows past these natural structures it makes a sighing-and sometimes a howling-sound.
Features
Fauna
Wild goats are common in the canyon.
Fog
At night, fog fills the canyon, limiting visibility to 100 feet. Beyond that range, creatures and objects are heavily obscured.
Light
The canyon is brightly lit during the day, and light varies at night from dim to dark.
Walls
The canyon walls are 200 to 400 feet high.
V1. Feathergale Spire
See the “Feathergale Spire” section.
V2. Dead Rocks
A giant vulture picks at the gruesome remains on the rocks. The giant vulture attacks the characters only if provoked. Six blood hawk circle overhead, attacking any other creature that comes near the kill. After half an hour, the vulture flies away and the blood hawks swoop in.
Among the dry, days-old gore lie shattered bones. A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals the bones belong to a humanoid creature. If the check succeeds by 5 or more, the character discovers rusty stains among the rocks and bone fragments indicating that many more humanoids have died here.
V3. Knifepoint Gully
A narrow fissure in the canyon wall leads through a gully choked with pale brush and shrubs. A swift breeze passes through the fissure. At the end, a dark, jagged crevice awaits.
Carved into the crevice at the end of the gully is a stairway that leads down to the Temple of Howling Hatred (see chapter 4). Three hurricane (see chapter 7) watch the entrance for intruders.
V4. The Lost River
A river courses through the canyon, winding around tall spires and through the base of a plateau. Coarse green shrubs huddle along its banks.
A gnoll pack lord and three gnoll forage among large rocks west of the river. During the day, when the sky is clear, they use their longbows to take shots at characters. At night, they huddle behind the rocks, gnawing on fish from the river.
Treasure
The gnoll pack lord carries a severed human finger with a gold ring (worth 25 gp) worn on it.
V5. Howling Plateau
This high rocky plateau rises from the center of the canyon. A river cuts through the canyon bottom, passing through it to the other side. The wind on the plateau keens and moans, alternating its pitch with the force and direction of the wind.
A creature standing atop Howling Plateau can see the whole canyon, but not the surrounding lands.
V6. The Lost River
The river that runs through the canyon sweeps close to the canyons eastern wall. To the west, the ground is covered with rocky spires and wild brush.
Four gnoll and four hyena forage here. During the day, when the sky is clear, the gnolls use their longbows to take down distant targets.
V7. Griffon Roost
A mated pair of griffon occupies a cliff cave about 150 feet from the canyon floor. The griffons attack any horse or hippogriff that nears the lair. They slay the mount and escape with the carcass.
This cave stinks of animal musk and damp straw. A nest of straw and twigs follows the curvature of the cave walls.
The nest holds two griffon eggs, worth up to 2,000 gp each. For each day without sixteen hours of incubation, each egg has a ten percent chance of spoiling.
V8. Aarakocra Camp
In a depression on a ridge near the canyon floor, five aarakocra have set up a watch post hidden with brush. They have seen grim pilgrims proceeding into and out of Knifepoint Gully (area V3), and they witnessed the recent sacrifice from Feathergale Spire. Certain that the forces of Elemental Evil has taken hold in the canyon, they are now debating what action to take. They are willing to help characters who show an interest in confronting the evil in the canyon, and they might interfere with any attempt the Feathergale Knights make to sacrifice captured characters.
V9. Manticore Lair
A pool fills the center of this deep cave, born from a natural spring beneath the rock and flowing outward into the river. Long stalactites hang above the pool, surrounding a natural central pillar. Water drips from the stalactites into the pool, echoing throughout the cave. Some of the debris here looks like leftovers from an old camp, including four old crates.
Two manticore lair here. Only one manticore is present at a given time, with the other one out hunting. If a manticore died in the “Manticore Hunt” event, the other is here.
Treasure
The bones of six orcs litter the cave, along with signs the orcs camped here for many days. Coins scattered in the pool and around the lair total 60 cp, 26 sp, and 14 gp. The orcs also accumulated four crates of plunder that include plates, candlesticks, and silks worth 50 gp total.
Rivergard Keep
A small but strongly built castle on the banks of the Dessarin River, Rivergard Keep is one of the Haunted Keeps of the Sumber Hills. A taciturn mercenary lord named Jolliver Grimjaw and his band of sellswords occupy the keep. They are repairing the old castle and protecting trade along the river from the depredations of monsters and bandits, or so they claim. In fact, Rivergard Keep is the secret stronghold of the Cult of the Crushing Wave. Grimjaw and his followers are the very outlaws from whom they claim to be defending trade.
Investigating Rivergard
Grimjaw and his gang work with smugglers to move stolen goods on the river. They stage attacks against river boats that refuse to pay protection money, and they actively recruit thugs and monsters to join the Cult of the Crushing Wave.
When the characters arrive at Rivergard, read the following text:
A small castle overlooks the mighty Dessarin River, which is a good half-mile wide at this point. A gatehouse and keep stand atop a low bluff, but the walls are built to the waters edge. On the river bank, another low tower guards a boat basin where keelboats are moored.
The keep seems old and worn, but new timbers and shingles suggest that repairs are underway. A white banner with a blue gauntlet flies over the keep.
The front gate is closed.
What happens next depends on why the characters are here and how they approach.
Peaceful Approach
If the characters approach openly and politely ask for admittance for almost any plausible reason, the cultists welcome them. Characters who make use of inside knowledge (asking to see Gar Shatterkeel or Reash, or to sign on with Grimjaw) are considered to be either important guests or spies who know too much. If the characters use no such knowledge and are rude or provide no reasonable excuse for entrance, they are turned away.
Four bandit escort characters who enter peacefully through the gate (area K1). If the characters entered through the water gate (area K11), three crushing wave reaver (chapter 7) provide escort instead. The escort takes the party to the great hall (area K16), where Grimjaw interviews the characters to find out who they really are.
Aggressive Approach
Grimjaw and his cutthroats aren’t expecting an attack. Characters who sneak in are challenged by anyone they meet inside. Its up to you whether fast-talking characters can stave off conflict at such a meeting.
Keep Features
The water cultists are busy repairing Rivergard, but parts of the complex remain inaccessible. For example, the upper floors of the north tower and the water tower are filled with debris. The following features are common to the keep. Any exceptions are noted in areas to which they apply.
Arrow Slits
In the castle walls, arrow slits are 9 feet above the ground level, 8 inches wide, and 4 feet high.
Ceilings
Most ceilings are 12 feet high.
Defenders
Jolliver Grimjaw is known as “Jolly” to his followers, as a shortening of his first name and an sarcastic comment on his demeanor. He leads bandits, who work for money rather than ideology, and water cultists. Only some of the commoner servants lack loyalty to Grimjaw and the cult.
Doors
Interior doors are made of wood. It takes a successful DC 10 Strength check to force open a locked door. Exterior doors are reinforced with iron bands and can be barred. Such a barred door requires a successful DC 20 Strength check to force open.
Light
During the day, the castles windows and arrow slits provide bright light for all interior spaces. At night, interior spaces are brightly lit with small oil lamps.
Locks
A lock requires thieves tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check to open.
Treasure
Each warrior in the keep carries
Walls
The walls are 15 feet above outside ground level and 10 feet above inside ground level. A crenellated parapet faces the outside. One bandit stands watch on each of the four wall sections, pacing back and forth.
Raising the Alarm
If the characters are caught doing something suspicious, cultists nearby attempt to raise the alarm. When the alarm is raised, the following countermeasures happen:
- Castle denizens bar all exterior doors.
- Bandits in area K8 move to the tops of the walls, adding two more bandits to each wall section.
- The Crushing Wave reavers in area K8 head straight for the source of the trouble, arriving 1 minute after the alarm is raised.
- After 10 minutes, Grimjaw and the reavers from area K20 leave the keep and search for intruders in the castle.
K1. Front Gate
The keeps main entrance features a two-story gatehouse attached to a round tower. Arrow slits look out onto the ground outside the gate. The gate itself is a double door of thick timbers reinforced by iron bands.
The gate is barred from the inside. It cant be forced open by any means short of a siege engine. The bar can be raised from inside the gatehouse passage (area K2) or lifted by an iron chain from the upper floor of the gatehouse (area K3).
One bandit stands watch on the wall section just north of the gatehouse. If he spots the party approaching, he warns the cultists in areas K2 and K3. If the characters openly approach the gate and call out, read the following text:
Clattering sounds and muffled voices come from inside the gatehouse. Then a human warrior appears at the second-story arrow slit directly over the gate. You cant see much of him, but he wears a leather jerkin and has a black beard. “Who are you? What do you want?”
The person at the arrow slit is Holger, a thug who commands the gatehouse. Holger is a high-strung martinet, and no one in the gatehouse likes him. Holger decides whether to open the gate, tell the characters to go away, or order his bandits to open fire. If Holger admits the characters, he orders four bandits (two from area K2, two from area K3) to meet them at the gate and escort them inside.
If fighting breaks out here, characters standing in front of the gate are exposed to fire from the arrow slit in area K3 and the parapet on the wall. If the bandits in area K2 cant line up shots at the intruders, they climb the stairs to area K3 and then move out onto the parapet to join the battle.
Development
If the characters kill some or all the gatehouse guards (areas K2 and K3) and then leave Rivergard, the dead guards are replaced by troops from areas K8 or K20. If those guards are killed too, it takes Grimjaw
K2. Gatehouse
The gates open to a thirty-foot passage leading east. A portcullis blocks the far end of the passage, but you can see the castle yard on the other side. An arrow slit in the southern wall of the passage provides defenders a way to fire on intruders who get this far.
Characters who specifically examine the ceiling notice the murder holes (see area K3). Otherwise, it takes a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check to discern the murder holes overhead.
Gatehouse Interior
If the characters find a way into the round tower south of the gatehouse passage, read the following text:
This is the ground floor of the gatehouse tower. A door leads to the east, and stairs climb to the floor above. Arrow slits in this room offer a view of the ground outside the castle and the gate passage to the north. Two double-bunks stand against the walls.
The tower interior serves as the barracks for four bandit. If the gatehouse comes under attack, three move to the arrow slits, while the fourth steps into area K4 and heads toward area K8 to raise the alarm.
The stairs lead to area K3.
K3. Gatehouse Upper Floor
This room above the castle gatehouse features doors that lead out to the tops of the walls to the north and to the east. Stairs lead down to the floor below. A chain mechanism in the northern half of the room positioned over the main gate raises or lowers the gate bars. Another controls the portcullis. Three holes in the floor, each about a foot square, look down on the passage below.
This area serves as a barracks and a defensive post. Holger, a thug, commands the gatehouse. Three more bandit have bunks here.
The chain mechanisms are easy to operate. A character has to use three actions to bar or unbar the gate, or to raise or lower the portcullis. The bandits posted in this area operate the mechanisms to let people into or out of the castle.
The stairs in this room descend to area K2. The doors lead out onto the wall sections on the south and west side of the castle.
Treasure
Holger has accumulated a tidy little hoard, mostly through “fining” the warriors under his command for minor infractions. He stores a locked wooden coffer under his bunk (he keeps the key on a string around his neck). The coffer contains 150 sp, 40 gp, a potion of healing, and a potion of diminution.
K4. Castle Yard
The area just inside the castle gatehouse consists of a small courtyard of bare dirt and tufts of wiry grass. A stable stands to the east, the gatehouse to the west, and the main yard of the castle lies to the north. The keep occupies the northern corner of the castle yard. Stone stairs near the keep lead up to the top of the wall.
As the characters move around the castle yard, its easy to see (and be seen by) any or all of the four bandit standing on the wall. They pay no attention to people inside the walls who act like they’re supposed to be there.
Bluff
A steep bluff of earth and loose rock on the eastern edge of the castle yard leads down to the boat basin and landing. Carved into the bluff is a 20-foot-long staircase.
Random Encounters
Characters lingering in the castle yard are likely to encounter various denizens of Rivergard going about their business. Check for random encounters once per 5 minutes during the day or once per 15 minutes at night. Roll a
K4. Castle Yard Random Encounters
| d6 | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | Drosnin and her guards (see area K15) |
| 6 | Reash and his guards (see area K9) |
The commoners are helpful, especially if they realize the characters plan to take on the Crushing Wave cultists. If they think the characters are cultists, the commoners hurry past with their eyes averted. All other groups challenge the characters if the party looks like it might not belong here.
K5. Ruined Stable
This old stable is in bad shape. Most of the roof has caved in, and rotting debris fills the interior. Six horse stalls line the back wall.
The cultists havent bothered to repair the stables yet, since they have little need for mounts here.
K6. Armory
Weapon racks along the walls of this armory hold spears. Barrels full of crossbow bolts and arrows stand near the doors. Open chests in the middle of the room contain suits of leather armor. The most unusual items in this armory are the shields-they are made of beaten copper and fashioned into the shape of horseshoe crab shells.
The room contains twenty spears, ten shortswords, five scimitars, five light crossbows, four hundred crossbow bolts, two hundred arrows, fifteen suits of leather armor, and eight shields shaped like horseshoe crab shells.
K7. Bathhouse
Two big wooden washtubs occupy the middle of this room, and a row of curtains along the west wall provides privacy for several privies.
K8. Barracks
Nine double bunks fill this barracks, each with a pair of footlockers tucked underneath. Doors exit to the north, west, and east.
This area is home to twelve bandit and four crushing wave reaver (see chapter 7). At any given time, four of the bandits stand watch as sentries on the outer wall, and two of the Crushing Wave reavers are on duty in area K16. The remaining eight bandit and two reavers linger here. They spend most of their time gambling, dozing in their bunks, tending to their gear, practicing in the yard just outside, or starting pointless quarrels with each other.
At night, most of these warriors are asleep in their bunks, but the cultists post a watch in this room throughout the night. At least two bandits remain awake and armed at all times. Sleeping cultists sleep through their first turn of any combat that takes place here, then awaken and arm themselves during their second turn.
Development
If the characters convince Grimjaw that they are here to join up, they are assigned bunks in this room (only two of the bunks are empty, so the characters might need to share). Little camaraderie exists in the barracks-most of these cultists are sullen, boastful, or ill-tempered, and they bully new recruits.
K9. Water Tower
The upper floor of this tower looks deserted, but the ground floor is still in use. Curtains hanging across the eastern half of the room wall off someones private quarters, and several straw pallets lie on the floor near the door. A capstan stands against the north wall, with a heavy chain disappearing through a pipe to the northeast. The river laps just beneath the arrow slits of the tower.
Three crushing wave reaver and a fathomer named Reash (see chapter 7 for both) occupy this tower. Reash is in command and does most of the talking. He’s a sour-faced fellow with a drooping mustache and an arrogant manner. Reash is instantly suspicious of strangers.
Reash uses the curtained area as his private quarters, while the reavers make do with the straw pallets. The fathomers private quarters hold a folding wooden cot and a saddlebag on a table (see “Treasure” below).
Capstan and Chain. The capstan raises or lowers the chain that blocks the castles water gate (area K11). It only takes one person to operate the capstan, but lowering the chain to allow a boat to pass requires a character to use three actions cranking.
Treasure
Reash carries a key to the grate in area K13. His leather saddlebag holds 70 gp, 12 pp, and six agates (worth 10 gp each).
K10. Landing
The keeps eastern wall juts out into the river, forming a good-sized basin in which a couple of keelboats float. A wide gap in the southeast wall provides access to the river, although it is blocked by a heavy chain. A twenty-foot tall bluff of rock and earth separates the landing and a nearby tower from the rest of the castle grounds. To the north, a wide stream flows out of a cave mouth into the boat basin. An iron grate blocks access to the stream.
Keelboats full of loot and stolen goods off-load their cargo here. The boat tied up right next to the landing is currently empty. The water in the boat basin is about 15 feet deep, although it naturally shallows near the shore.
K11. Water Gate
The keeps eastern wall is built into the river, forming a long pier that encloses a boat basin. A heavy chain that emerges from the tower to the south stretches across the entrance.
The heavy chain raised and lowered by the winch in area K9 provides Rivergards defenders with the ability to block boats from entering or leaving. A swimming character can easily go over or under the chain-it impedes only boat traffic.
The sentry-a bandit posted on the wall section jutting out into the river-hails characters approaching by boat. He then shouts for Reash in area K9, who moves to the arrow slit in his tower to see whats happening.
A male human with lank black hair looks out of the arrow slit in the tower by the river. He has a drooping mustache and a sour expression. “What do you want?” he asks.
Reash decides whether to admit the party. If he does, he has the reavers in area K9 lower the chain and tells the characters to tie up their boat in area K10. He then sends the reavers to escort the characters.
K12. Moored Keelboat
A large keelboat is moored to the inner side of the keeps east wall, floating in the boat basin. A rope ladder leads from the top of the wall to the deck of the boat, about six feet below. Hatchways lead into the boats cabin from the bow and the stern.
This is the Rivermaid. The ships water genasi captain, Shoalar Quanderil (see chapter 7) and a halfling servant named Pike (a thug) occupy the boats cabin. Two bandit serve as the rest of the crew. They remain in a cramped bunkroom below the deck on the bow, which is accessed by a hatch and a short ladder.
Shoalar is a high-ranking Crushing Wave cultist, and he is well informed about events in the towns throughout the area. Unless the characters come to Rivergard early in the campaign, he is likely to recognize them from accounts of their deeds. Use your best judgment.
If Shoalar recognizes the characters, he chooses one of the following options:
- He plays dumb, invites the characters to drink and gamble, then signals his crew to launch a surprise attack.
- He plays dumb, deflects the characters to the Hall of the Scarlet Moon, and sends a bandit to warn Jolliver Grimjaw.
- He attacks immediately.
- If the fight goes badly, Shoalar flees by leaping into the river.
- If Shoalar Is Already Dead. If the characters already defeated Shoalar (see the “Womford Rats” section, earlier in this chapter), the genasi and his halfling servant aren’t here. Instead, the master of the keelboat is a bandit captain.
Treasure
A locked chest in the deckhouse holds 190 sp and 95 gp. Shoalar wears a leather belt pouch containing 10 gp, three small malachites worth 10 gp each, and a potion of healing. In addition, the cargo hold (below the stern) is currently full of stolen goods: casks of ale, salted fish, and twelve large bundles of cured pelts (beaver and sable) worth 40 gp each.
K13. Dark Stream
The north side of the boat basin laps against a steep, rocky bluff. From the base of the bluff, a subterranean river empties into the boat basin. The river is close to thirty feet wide, and the cave ceiling is about six feet above the water level in the middle. An iron grate blocks the stream mouth.
The iron grate has a swinging gate section secured by a simple lock. Reash (area K9) and Jolliver Grimjaw (area K16) carry keys. The stream is 10 feet deep and leads to a hidden boat landing under the keep (area K22).
K14. North Tower
This tower stands on top of the bluff, overlooking the Dessarin River and the castle harbor below.
Filthy furs and discarded bones litter the interior of this tower. A rank animal stench hangs in the air.
Most nonhumans recruited by the cult are sent down to the Temple of the Crushing Wave (see chapter 4). However, Jolliver Grimjaw felt that he didnt have sufficient numbers to hold Rivergard against a determined attack, so he employs three bugbear to augment the garrison. The bugbears are bored and spoiling for a fight. They attack anyone they don’t recognize, not caring if they injure or kill new recruits.
K15. Chapel
The keeps chapel contains plain wooden pews facing a large altar at the west end of the room. No idol hints at what deity is venerated here. A crude symbol is painted on the wall above the altar, resembling an X with a horizontal bar linking the bottom limbs. Several straw pallets lie near the chapel door.
The intendant of the chapel is Drosnin, a Crushing Wave priest. Two crushing wave reaver serve as her bodyguards and somewhat unwilling acolytes. (See chapter 7 for the cultists statistics.) They are enthusiastic converts to the cult, but they would rather be out raiding or fighting instead of stuck in the chapel listening to Drosnin rant about the unstoppable power of the Crushing Wave. The symbol painted above the altar is the symbol of the Crushing Wave cult.
Drosnin assumes that any strangers who wander into her chapel have been assigned to her for indoctrination. Drosnins favored technique is enthusiastic, relentless oratory. As long as the characters don’t attack, she launches into an exhaustive sermon about the “truth of the deep waters” and the “great revelations” to come. The two reavers with her roll their eyes and look bored, but Drosnin keeps going and going, brooking no interruptions. Once Drosnin begins, she drones on for two hours before dismissing the party. If they attempt to leave before she finishes her sermon, or if they interrupt her frequently, she orders the reavers to keep them from leaving. She attacks if the characters ignore her commands.
If a fight breaks out here, Drosnin defends the chapel to the death. Once she falls, any surviving reavers retreat to area K14 or K16 to raise the alarm.
K16. Great Hall
The great hall becomes a banquet hall, a practice hall, or a throne room as the occasion requires.
This room is the great hall of the keep. It is two stories high, with stone stairs on both sides of the room leading up to a stone balcony at the west end of the chamber. Heavy double doors lead east to the castle yard, while two interior doors open to the west. Arrow slits look out to the north and the south.
At the west end of the room, below the balcony, a large wooden chair sits behind a wide table littered with papers and discarded plates. A second table, this one long and furnished with benches, runs down the middle of the hall. The walls are painted in green and blue, decorated with tattered banners showing nautical designs.
Jolliver Grimjaw conducts most of his business here. He is a wereboar, although he remains in his human form during any audience with strangers to Rivergard. Grimjaw usually remains in the hall until late in the evening, when he slips down to the riverside to hunt in boar form. He returns before dawn and sleeps in his quarters (area K21). In the Great Hall, he is attended by a fathomer named Urshnora and two crushing wave reaver (see chapter 7 for both). If a battle breaks out, Grimjaw prefers to fight in his hybrid form. If the battle goes poorly, he flees through the secret door (see “Secret Door” below).
Reports
Grimjaw has little patience for administration. Various reports from gangs of bandits and smugglers throughout the area are buried in the piles of paper on the table, along with routine notes about Rivergards supplies, boat sailings on the river, and logbooks and manifests taken from plundered ships. The bandits report exactly what loot they take, but location descriptions are imprecise: for example, “wagonload of flour, near B.,” or “40 silver pieces, traveler near W.” The abbreviations stand for towns in the area, Beliard and Womford.
One of these reports details caravan traffic in Red Larch. It makes note of the arrival of “a band of troublemakers” with the racial mix of the party. The letter is unsigned, but the unusual handwriting mixes block letters and script. See “The Spys Letter” in chapter 4 if the characters investigate further.
Secret Door
A secret door behind Grimjaws seat can be found with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check. The door hides a spiral staircase that descends to area K22.
Audience With Grimjaw
Jolliver Grimjaw is sullen, suspicious, and humorless. He asks very direct questions, such as “Who are you?” and “Why are you here?” If a character tries to flatter him or concoct any kind of fanciful story, Grimjaw tells the talkative character to shut up and points at someone else to answer.
After listening to the characters, Grimjaw decides among the following options:
- If the party seems unaware of the cult and annoys him, he has the characters thrown out of Rivergard.
- If the party seems unaware of the cult but offers a good reason to remain in Rivergard, Grimjaw permits the characters to stay only as long as needed, giving them bunks in area K8.
- If the party seems to know something but appears weak or dangerous, Grimjaw orders the cultists to attack.
- If the party seems to know something and appears to be important (or useful as recruits), Grimjaw allows them to stay, giving them bunks in area K8.
- If the characters were escorted to Grimjaws hall from one of the gates, their escorts are also present for during the talk with Grimjaw.
Development
If the characters leave Rivergard after killing Grimjaw or forcing him to flee, any remaining cultists abandon the keep over the next day or two. Most disperse to bandit and smuggler camps throughout the Dessarin Valley. Initiates of the cult retreat to the Temple of the Crushing Wave (see chapter 4).
Grimjaw carries a key to the iron grate in area K13.
K17. Servants Quarters
This plain dormitory features six bunk beds and a small wooden table and chairs, as well as two large laundry tubs and several baskets full of dirty clothes and linens.
This room houses the servants who work in the kitchens and tend to menial chores throughout the castle. Three human commoner (Anya, Berd, and Nayreen) currently work in here. They are natives of Womford who were kidnapped by the Crushing Wave cult and brought here to take care of cleaning, cooking, laundry, and waiting on the cult warriors. All three are anxious to escape and head home, but they don’t dare try. Grimjaw has already had two others flogged to death for attempting to flee.
The servants know about the secret door in area K16, but they don’t know where it leads.
K18. Kitchens
Two large hearths on the north wall of this room hold kettles full of simmering stew. Washbasins and worktables with old, battered crockery stand in the middle of the room. Sacks, casks, and barrels are piled along the southern wall, and cheeses and smoked fish hang from the ceiling.
Five human commoner labor here. Two (Lathna and Oric) are captives who don’t want to be here, but the other three (Gorm, Herek, and Shadnil) are neer-do-wells from Womford. These three aren’t tough enough to be Crushing Wave warriors, so they’ve been pressed into service in the kitchens. If intruders enter in the kitchen, the would-be bandits try to slip away to warn the cultists.
Treasure
The sacks contain flour, the dozen casks hold ale (worth 10 gp per cask), and the barrels hold salted meat.
K19. Old Library
Old bookshelves line the walls of this room, but most are empty. One old shelf has been cleared and restocked with a selection of tomes. A single bunk sits under the narrow window at the far end of the room, near a small desk, a wooden chair, and a chest. The floor looks wet.
This room was once the library and parlor of the keeps lord, but Grimjaw has no particular interest in reading or entertaining. It now serves as the personal quarters of Urshnora, who is normally found in area K16. Urshnora is a fathomer (see chapter 7). She hates Reash (area K9), who heartily reciprocates Urshnors ill will.
Secret Door
One of the bookshelves hides a secret door. A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the door, which connects to area K21.
Treasure
Urshnora keeps a small wooden chest by her bed. The chest contains 80 sp, 30 gp, a silk pouch that holds four excellent jaspers worth 70 gp each, a scroll of haste, and a scroll of wall of water.
The books-a dozen in all-are worth 25 gp each. Most cover nautical topics and include charts, excerpts from ships logs, and the like.
K20. Keep Guardroom
Four bunk beds line the walls of this guardroom. To the south, an arrow slit looks out over the castle yard, and a door exits to the castle parapet. Another door exits to the north.
This guardroom serves as a barracks for six crushing wave reaver (see chapter 7). At any given time, two are on duty in area K16, while the other four rest here. At night, at least one reaver remains awake at all times.
If the reavers in this room hear fighting in areas K19 or K21, they quickly move to investigate and deal with any threat.
K21. Lords' Chambers
A large semicircular room occupies the western half of this floor of the keep. Three narrow windows look out over the countryside outside the castle walls. The rooms furnishings are very plain, including a hard-looking bunk, a small wooden table, and a couple of simple chairs. Several large chests occupy the rooms southern corner.
Jolliver Grimjaw has no use for creature comforts, but he is very fond of his riches. The best pickings from his gangs raids and robberies end up here, where he can see and touch them whenever he wants. Grimjaw is a wereboar, and he only sleeps a few hours each morning in this room.
If confronted here, Grimjaw fights furiously to defend his hoard, roaring in anger and calling for help. Any nearby cultists (see areas K19 and K20) answer his call. If the characters are discovered in this room when Grimjaw isn’t here, they are immediately attacked, since the room is off limits to everyone except Grimjaw.
Secret Door
A secret door leading to the library (area K19) is hidden in the northeast corner of the room. A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the door.
Treasure
Grimjaws loot consists of 600 sp, 450 ep, and a pouch containing fifteen blue azurites (worth 10 gp each).
K22. Secret Landing
The secret stairway in area K16 descends 20 feet to this landing, which abuts an underground stream that flows east to area K13.
At the bottom of the stairs, you find a torchlit chamber where two boats bob in an underground stream. The stream flows toward daylight to the east and leads upstream into darkness toward the west.
Six ghouls lurk in the waters just beyond the boat landing. They have orders to make sure that only cultists proceed to the Temple of the Crushing Wave, which lies more than two miles upstream. The ghouls attack anyone who begins rowing upstream without first standing in the bow of the boat and making the hand sign of the Crushing Wave. Spotting the ghouls in the inky water requires a successful DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check.
All six ghouls spend their first action of any combat combining their efforts to overturn a boat and dump its passengers into the river. Doing so allows three of the ghouls to use their actions to attempt Strength checks, while three others use their actions to take the Help action. If any ghoul succeeds on a DC 20 Strength check, the boat capsizes. Some might continue to try to tip the boat later in the battle.
Conclusion
The underground stream winds for more than two miles through lightless grottos, leading to an underground lake on the outskirts of the lost dwarven city of Tyar-Besil. The characters can easily row a small boat from the Secret Landing (area K22) to the Lakeshore Landing in the Temple of the Crushing Wave (see chapter 4).
Sacred Stone Monastery
The third of the Haunted Keeps of the Sumber Hills, the Sacred Stone Monastery is where the lich Renwick Caradoon chose to make his home, discouraging other monsters from settling nearby. The former keep has been reborn as the Sacred Stone Monastery, now home to a reclusive order of mysterious monks (actually earth cultists in disguise) who spend their days in meditation and rigorous exercises of self-discipline.
Few people in the area have heard of the Sacred Stone order. No one in the region knows the truth: the monastery now serves as the surface headquarters of the Black Earth cult and guards access to the unholy vaults of the Temple of Black Earth below.
Investigating the Monastery
Unlike the flamboyant Feathergale Knights or the aggressive raiders of Rivergard Keep, the monks of the Sacred Stone Order keep a low profile. They quietly recruit monsters and kidnap travelers and isolated miners to work as slaves in their mines, but they’re careful to eliminate witnesses. So far no one suspects that “those reclusive monks” are behind the troubles. In fact, so little attention comes this way that the sacred stone monk hardly bother to keep their monstrous allies out of sight or to misdirect nosy intruders.
Visitors Not Welcome
Whatever story the characters are selling, the sacred stone monk don’t want any of it. A group of strangers that knocks on the door is turned away. Insistent visitors are told, “The abbess doesn’t allow visitors to disturb our meditations,” and are attacked if they refuse to leave.
If the characters ask about the Mirabar delegation, the monks at the door say, “They aren’t here,” and turn the party away. Suspicious characters might sense that the monks are exchanging furtive glances with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) skill check.
Recruits or Members?
The sacred stone monk might be persuaded to let the characters in if the characters claim that they are here to join up or are already working for the Black Earth cult. Asking for Hellenrae, Marlos Urnrayle, or Miraj Vizann by name suffices as proof, as does producing something that would pique the Black Earth cultists interest. If admitted, the characters are escorted to Qarbo so that he can decide what to do with them (see “Audience with Qarbo” in area M9).
Disguises
The sacred stone monk normally wear hooded robes and gargoyle masks made of gilded tin that cover their faces. If the characters acquire these articles, they can don the monks clothing and disguise themselves. Characters disguised as sacred stone monk can move about the monastery without being challenged, as long as they avoid talking too much. The gargoyles in areas M8 and M14 don’t attack characters dressed in Sacred Stone robes and masks. Other villains and monsters ignore the disguised characters unless they act suspiciously.
Infiltration and Combat
The denizens of the monastery know exactly who is supposed to be here and who isn’t. Undisguised adventurers roaming around the halls without an escort are immediately identified as intruders and attacked.
The cultists don’t have an organized response to an attack. Most of the monastery denizens are fatalistic, inclined to stand their ground and fight it out with intruders instead of trying to escape and raise the alarm. However, the cultists do respond aggressively to the sounds of fighting. When a fight begins in an area, check adjacent areas to see if any other monsters or villains are nearby. Then decide if and when such foes join an ongoing battle. This might lead to deadly combat encounters for the characters, since new opponents can rush in to join a fight that is still in progress, or arrive while the characters try to rest after a tough battle.
Monastery Features
Most of the Sacred Stone Monastery appears to be in good shape except for the eastern end of the building (areas M16 and M17), with its crumbling walls and heaps of rubble. The following features are common to the monastery. Any exceptions are noted in areas to which they apply.
Ceilings
Ceilings in the monastery are 12 feet high. The mines have 8-foot-high ceilings in most places.
Defenders
Most of the inhabitants of the monastery are cultists. Others, such as the orogs, are mercenaries. The lich Renwick (area M16) has nothing to do with the cult.
Doors
Interior doors are made of wood. It takes a successful DC 10 Strength check to force open a locked door. Exterior doors are reinforced with iron bands and usually locked. Such a door requires a successful DC 15 Strength check to force open.
Light
During the day, the windows provide bright light for most interior spaces. At night, no lights are lit. The mines are unlit as well.
Locks
A lock requires thieves tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check to open.
Treasure
sacred stone monk are ascetics and don’t collect individual treasure. Their gilded tin masks are worthless. For the more worldly denizens of the monastery (such as the duergar), each carries
Walls
The roof of the monastery is about 25 feet above the ground, but the walls have patches of crumbling masonry or poorly fitted fieldstone, so they’re relatively easy to climb. The wall surrounding the garden (area M14) is 10 feet high.
Windows
The monastery windows are narrow and tall, almost like arrow slits. The sill of each window is about 10 feet above the ground outside.
M1. Passage of Stone
When the characters arrive at the Sacred Stone Monastery, read the following text:
A trail leads into an ever-narrowing defile between bluffs of wind-sculpted sandstone. Eventually the walls draw in so closely that you can reach out and touch either side, but then the narrow space opens into a hidden canyon in the heart of the hills. A sprawling monastery with dark, narrow windows and red tile rooftops stands in the middle of this natural amphitheater, ringed by sandstone cliffs all around.
Ahead, a weathered flight of stone steps leads up to the closed monastery doors. The plain doors are made of heavy timber with iron studs. A dusty footpath circles the building.
If the characters scout around the other sides of the building, add the following:
A small door, perhaps a servants entrance, is on the northwest side of the monastery. On the northeast side, a low wall encloses a good-sized garden with a locked gate. The eastern portion of the monastery is in very poor repair-the walls there are crumbling, and the windows have been bricked up with old masonry. A small side door is near that section, in the southeast portion of the building.
Nobody inside the monastery pays much attention to people skulking around outside, although characters who make a commotion might attract the attention of cultists whose windows look out in the right direction.
All outside doors are locked after nightfall.
M2. Basalt Hall
At night, no one is here, but during the day, two sacred stone monk (see chapter 7) are stationed here. If the monks are present and the party knocks, tries the door, or converses loudly, read the following:
A small panel in the monastery’s front door slides open, and someone wearing a golden mask peers out. The mask is fashioned in the shape of a scowling gargoyle, but the hand that opened the panel seems human enough. From beneath the mask comes a female voice: “Yes? What do you want?”
The monks listen to their visitors story, then turn the party away unless the characters make convincing arguments about their importance. If the doors are unlocked, the characters can walk in without announcing themselves. In this case, they find two monks dressed in dun-colored robes waiting impassively in the hall. The monks ask what they want and the conversation proceeds in much the same way.
Once the characters pass the front door, read:
This austere hall is finished in irregular blocks of dark basalt that form natural columns along the walls. The doors of the monasterys front entrance face south, while interior doors lead east and west. An interior courtyard lies just to the north of this room, visible through a pair of narrow windows.
The monks attack without warning if anyone attempts to leave through the east or west doors without an escort. If the monks are convinced that the characters are potential recruits or engaged in important cult business, one of the monks guides the party to area M9 to meet Qarbo.
Development
If the characters attack the monastery and then leave, when they return the guards here are replaced by two minotaur sent here from the Temple of Black Earth, supervised by one Sacred Stone monk (see chapter 7).
M3. South Dormitory
This room is arranged as a very uncomfortable-looking barracks. Ten thin pallets are rolled up along the walls, beside neatly folded piles of clothing-plain, dun-colored robes and sandals. Two of the clothing piles also include golden masks in the shape of scowling gargoyle faces. There are no other furnishings. A single window looks toward the canyon wall to the south.
This room houses ten sacred stone monk (see chapter 7). During the day, the room is empty as the monks attend to their duties elsewhere. At night, six monks sleep in this room, two remain awake, and two work in area M7. The two monks who remain awake watch to make sure no one sneaks out to raid the kitchen or the distillery, or otherwise behaves inappropriately for a monk. If combat occurs, sleeping monks wake up and stand up during their first turn. They can each take a normal second turn.
By day, four monks (the ones who drew night shift) sleep here.
M4. Guest Quarters
The door to this room is usually locked. Qarbo carries the key. He is either in area M9 during the day or sleeping here at night.
Eight simple bunks line the walls of this room, each with a small trunk at the foot of the bed. A small table and several wooden chairs stand in the middle of the room near an iron stove. Five of the bunks are bare, but three are comfortably made up with sheets, pillows, and blankets.
Back in the days when the inhabitants of the monastery offered shelter to travelers, this room served as the monastery’s guest room. Few people come this way now, so the Black Earth priest Qarbo uses this space as his personal quarters. Qarbo keeps two black earth guard at his beck and call to serve as bodyguards. See chapter 7 for the cultists statistics.
Qarbo rests here from midnight to shortly after dawn. He spends the rest of his time in area M9, the Shrine of Stone. When Qarbo and his guards are here, they lock the door and sleep.
Treasure
A locked iron coffer beneath Qarbos bunk contains 120 gp, 90 ep, cloth-of-gold priestly vestments worth 40 gp, a leather pouch containing 2 gold bracelets worth 30 gp each, a scroll of earthbind, a scroll of Maximilians earthen grasp, and a scroll of transmute rock (see appendix B for a description of these spells). Qarbo carries the coffer key, as well as the key to the locked doors in area M21.
M5. West Dormitory
A heavy wooden shutter covers the window of this room, making it quite dark inside. It is also very warm due to a large iron stove with a well-stoked fire. Ten uncomfortable-looking pallets lie on the floor amid tidy piles of iron arms and armor.
This room houses six duergar and four Sacred Stone monks (see chapter 7). During the day, the monks work in the dojo (area M15) and the kitchen (area M7), while the duergar rest in here. At any given time while the duergar are present, three are awake and three are dozing. At night, the duergar patrol the area around the monastery and venture into the mines while the monks rest.
These duergar mercenaries see the Cult of Black Earth as a good bet. They tolerate the monks because the monks don’t say much and generally leave them alone.
M6. Refectory
Four old wooden tables with bench seats stand in the middle of this room, and shelves full of plain clay crockery and wooden platters line the walls. To the west, two windows look out into the canyon beyond the monastery walls. Two doors lead from this room to the north, and one to the south.
The cultists spend little time in this common room. They spend most of their waking hours working or training in other parts of the monastery. When they aren’t working, they’re resting in their quarters.
At dawn and dusk, the Sacred Stone cultists (except the two door wardens in area M2) gather in this room for half an hour to dine together in silence. At mealtimes, twelve sacred stone monk eat here, along with Hellenrae, the Black Earth priest Qarbo, and the two Black Earth guards who protect Qarbo. The other denizens of the monastery (the duergar in area M5 and the orogs in area M18) prefer not to eat with the rest of the inhabitants. See chapter 7 for the cultists statistics.
M7. Kitchen
The door leading outside is locked after nightfall. During the day, monks working in the kitchen frequently go in and out, gathering herbs or dumping refuse.
Hot coals smolder in two big brick hearths in the middle of this room, and the smell of baking bread fills the air. Sacks of flour, casks of salted fish, crates of dried vegetables, and wheels of cheese clutter the walls, along with well-worn work tables and a collection of mismatched cutlery. A doorway to the west leads to a washroom where three large wooden tubs stand. A door to the north leads to the monastery exterior, while another door leads south.
The sacred stone monk take turns working in the kitchen. Regardless of the time of day, four sacred stone monk (see chapter 7) work here. If the hour is late (or early), they are engaged in baking bread, scrubbing kettles, or making preserves. The food isn’t very good, but it is plentiful and filling. Basic provisions are stockpiled along the walls.
The room immediately to the west is a bathhouse and laundry area with three large wooden tubs.
M8. Sandstone Court
This area is open to the sky. Characters on the monastery roof can enter the building here.
This long, narrow court is paved in red sandstone. To the north stands the main temple or shrine of the monastery, its copper-sheathed doors emblazoned with a triangular symbol. Doors also exit the court at its east and west ends, and several narrow windows pierce the south wall. Gargoyle statues guard the door, each facing the court with a ferocious leer.
The two statues nearest the temple door are actually two gargoyles, hiding in plain sight. They don’t react unless characters who don’t belong to the cult attempt to enter the shrine to the north (area M9). The gargoyles don’t interfere with anyone wearing a Sacred Stone robe and mask, or anyone escorted by individuals dressed in such a manner.
The symbol on the north door is the symbol of elemental earth.
M9. Shrine of Stone
The stairway in the middle of this room descends to area M21 in the mines below the monastery.
Four large columns of natural rock dominate this shrine. A wide set of steps descends into darkness in the center of the room, in front of a slab-like stone altar. Large, copper-sheathed doors stand in the middle of the south wall, and smaller doors exit to the east and west. Two narrow windows in the north wall admit thin fingers of light from outside. Above the altar, a triangular symbol has been chiseled into the heavy stone blocks of the wall.
Anyone who looks in the northwest corner notices a small bronze lever (see that section).
The Black Earth cultists claimed the old temples main hall as their own, and now this shrine serves as a holy place for the cult members who garrison this outpost-and a proving ground for those who wish to join. When not in area M4, the Black Earth priest Qarbo presides here, protected by two Black Earth guards (see chapter 7 for both). They attack intruders who appear without an escort.
Altar
Close inspection of the altar reveals that old runes and emblems in its surface have been recently chiseled out. A character who examines the marks can attempt a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check to identify the erased marks (a dwarf succeeds automatically). The runes show that the temple was once dedicated to Moradin.
Bronze Lever
The lever triggers the collapsing stair trap described in area M21 and also releases the umber hulk in that room.
Audience With Qarbo
Qarbo is the second-in-command at the monastery, but the abbess Hellenrae doesn’t like to deal with visitors. It therefore falls to Qarbo to interrogate any guests or recruits. If the characters are presented to him (perhaps because they claim they want to join), Qarbo questions them to determine how committed they are to the cult.
Qarbo is cruel and more than a little manic in his demeanor. He grins slyly the entire time he questions the characters, as if enjoying an inside joke. He asks questions such as, “What is your greatest failing?” and “Why do you think you are worthy to be a servant of eternal earth?” There are no right or wrong answers; the priest just wants to see how the newcomers react.
After hearing out the characters, Qarbo chooses one of the following options:
- If the party seems ready to join the cult, Qarbo explains that they must start with a period of self-denial and reflection. He sends for a pair of sacred stone monk from area M7, who take all the characters equipment and clothing and provide them with Sacred Stone monk robes. If the characters accede to this, they are split up and assigned pallets in areas M3 and M5. Over the next few days, they are assigned routine chores in the kitchens and watched carefully.
- If the party seems committed to speaking with higher-ups in the cult (for example, Miraj Vizann), Qarbo reluctantly assigns them space in the guest quarters (area M4) and sends word down to the Temple of Black Earth. Within a day or two, the characters are summoned to the temple (see chapter 4). The sacred stone monk provide a guide to show them the way.
- If the party is antagonistic or doesn’t seem to be of potential value to the cult, Qarbo feigns acceptance and tells them that they may “proceed below,” indicating the stairs leading to area M21. When the majority of the party is on the steps, he pulls the lever and dumps the party into area M21, also releasing the angry umber hulk in that area.
Qarbo is eager to let the umber hulk in area M21 have its fun, so he prefers the third option. If the characters survive the experience, he is quite surprised but hurriedly explains that “they passed the test” and accepts them into the cult or forwards their offer to the leaders in the temple.
The austere shrine offers no treasure, but Qarbo carries the keys to the chest in area M4 and the doors leading into area M21.
M10. Scriptorium
Writing desks stand beneath the windows of this large workroom. Dusty tomes, stacks of parchment, and pots of ink clutter each desk.
During the day, four Sacred Stone monks (see chapter 7) work in this room. At night, they return to their quarters.
The books and scrolls the monks are copying from a small collection that Marlos Urnrayle assembled during his life as a human aristocrat. The tomes include academic texts on the elemental planes, holy texts that refer to earth deities or elemental powers (most quite obscure), and philosophical treatises on self-denial and nihilism as the response to a flawed and illogical world.
Marloss Testament
Characters who wade through the banal “insights” and “secrets” that make up most of the texts here find Marlos Urnrayles personal testament. From this text, they can learn the following:
- Marlos Urnrayle is the Prophet of Earth;
- He was drawn to a place called “the Fane of the Eye” by powerful visions. There he found “Ironfang, the Holy Implement of Earth Power,” and took it for his own;
- Marlos established the Temple of Black Earth in the ruins of a long-abandoned dwarven stronghold that exists below the Sacred Stone Monastery;
- He nurtures something called the Black Geode, and when all is ready, “the Evergrowing Mountain shall come and remake these lands in his own image.”
Treasure
Among the books and parchments are a scroll of dust devil and a scroll of erupting earth (see appendix B for descriptions of both spells). The monks set them aside, realizing that they are magical and cant be copied.
Characters who take the time to sort through the books find that twenty have value to noncultists. They’re worth 25 gp each.
M11. Stairs
Stone stairs descend ten feet to a landing, turn, and continue to descend beyond your sight. Several large buckets are stacked unevenly on the landing. To the north, a staircase descends ten feet to a door.
The western stairs lead to area M18 in the mines below the monastery. The northern stairs descend to a doorway that opens into the garden (area M14).
The buckets are for fetching water from the well in area M18, a daily chore for the monks.
M12. Abbess’s Chambers
The door to this room is locked at night. Hellenrae doesn’t wish to be disturbed.
This large room contains a wooden table with four chairs, a small working desk, several macrame wall hangings, and a single pallet on a low stone shelf set against the west wall. To the north, a barred window looks out over a walled garden.
Hellenrae (see chapter 7), the Abbess of Stone, resides here. She spends little time in her room during the day, preferring to exercise and mediate in the dojo (area M15). At night she retires to this room, but she sleeps only in brief catnaps-even in the middle of the night there is a fifty percent chance that she is wide awake.
If confronted here by intruders, Hellenrae immediately attacks. If she is disturbed by individuals who appear to be new recruits or guests of the cult, she curtly informs them that Qarbo can attend to their needs and dismisses them from her presence.
Barred Window
The window looking over the garden appears to be solidly barred to prevent egress. However, a catch below the sill releases the bars and lets them swing open, so that a person with a slight build can easily wriggle out of the window and drop to the garden below (area M14). Hellenrae flees by this route if she is cornered and doesn’t believe she can defeat her enemies.
Treasure
Hellenrae has little interest in material possessions, but she understands that others do. The monastery also needs funds from time to time. A large wooden chest by the desk contains 800 sp, 65 pp, and 12 turquoise stones worth 10 gp each, wrapped in a swatch of cowhide.
The key to area M13 hangs from a hook on the wall by the rooms door. Hellenrae wears the key to the padlock in area M24 on a leather cord around her neck.
M13. Distilling Room
The door to this room is locked at night.
Piles of firewood are stacked neatly against one wall of this room, and four large copper kettles stand in iron frames above iron fireboxes. Copper tubing in long coils leads from one kettle to the next. Several large wooden casks stand at the south end of the room, and shelves on the eastern wall hold scores of brown bottles sealed with red wax.
The Sacred Stone monks have little use for brandy, but Hellenrae recognizes that innocuous activities like producing liquor for visitors might help to conceal the true nature of the Black Earth cults studies and philosophy. It is also a useful chore to occupy her monks. During the day, two sacred stone monk (see chapter 7) work here, tending the fires.
Sacred Stone Brandy
There are sixty-five bottles of recently bottled brandy on the shelves. It is strong, but not very good-the liquor has not been properly flavored or aged. It burns fiercely if ignited.
M14. Garden of Stone
The garden gate leading to the monastery exterior is normally locked. Hellenrae and Qarbo carry keys to the gate.
A walled garden shelters beneath the northern wall of the monastery. The garden is poorly kept, although some effort has been made to clear footpaths through the overgrowth. A garden gate to the northeast leads outside. Three doors open into the monastery at the southeast, south, and western side of the garden. The statues in the garden are particularly lifelike.
The statues are the handiwork of Marlos Urnrayle. He rarely visits the monastery now, but he lived here when he was first establishing the earth cult in the area.
Two of the statues in this garden are actually gargoyle. The monsters ignore cultists but freely attack intruders who wander into the area.
M15. Dojo
Straw mats cover the floor of this large exercise room, and wooden racks along the walls hold quarterstaffs, polearms, and various weapons commonly associated with martial arts. Doors exit to the north and the east. A triangular symbol is carved into the center of the rooms western wall.
Hellenrae (see chapter 7), the Abbess of Stone, spends much of her daytime here, sparring with her monks or leading them in various meditations. At any given time, four sacred stone monk (see chapter 7) practice with her. Hellenraes instruction consists of beating her followers senseless, so the two monks are at half their normal hit points.
If confronted by individuals she believes to be new recruits, Hellenrae calls them out and tests them personally in hand-to-hand combat. She chooses one character at a time to challenge. If her intended sparring partner declines, Hellenrae attacks anyway. She ends the bout when the victim is down to half hit points or less, or when she is. If multiple characters attack her at once, she realizes at once that this is no longer a practice session and tries her best to kill or incapacitate as many of her foes as possible. Her battered sacred stone monk join in as well.
If the characters somehow get Hellenrae into a talkative mood (a difficult prospect), she explains that she sees the Sacred Stone Monastery as a stepping-stone to service in the Black Earth temple. Its her job to use discipline and drudgery to make newcomers worthy servants of elemental earth. She speaks of Marlos Urnrayle with glowing praise and relates the story of his visions and his efforts (see “Marloss Testament” in area M10).
Ordinary clubs and staffs fill the wooden weapons racks. The sign on the wall is the symbol of the earth cult. Hellenrae wears the key to the lock in area M24 on a leather cord around her neck.
M16. Renwicks Tower
The door from area M14 to M16 is protected by an arcane lock spell (cast by the lich Renwick), as is the door leading to the passage to the southwest. Stairs to the north lead down to area M20.
This older part of the monastery has been fitted out as a laboratory, with work tables covered in alchemical apparatuses and shelves full of strange curios and dusty clay jars. The windows have been bricked up, and cobwebs hang thick in the ceiling corners. An ancient figure peruses a heavy tome that lies open on a small desk, making notes on sheets of parchment covered in arcane writing.
This portion of the monastery serves as the demesne of a long-term tenant of the Sacred Stone Monastery, a lich named Renwick Caradoon. The lich isn’t a member of the Black Earth cult, and he doesn’t care about the other residents of the monastery as long as they don’t interrupt his studies.
Hundreds of years ago, Renwick was a hero of some renown and the brother of Samular Caradoon, the founder of the Knights of Samular. The two of them fought bravely in the second Troll War. Renwicks hunger for arcane knowledge eventually led him to prepare for lichdom, but he became a lich only because his brother fed him a lichdom potion on the battlefield rather than let him die. The Black Earth cult naturally tried to make an ally of Renwick, but he ignored them. Hellenrae and her monks make a point of leaving him to his own devices.
Roleplaying Renwick
Renwick doesn’t attack intruders. If he believes the characters are Black Earth cultists, he says, “I have already told you no. Depart.” If confronted by characters he believes aren’t cultists, he says, “I am not your enemy. Now go.” If the characters provoke him, he provides fair warning: “In a moment I will fill this room with deadly poisonous gas. You should leave now.” If attacked without warning, Renwick uses time stop, then casts cloudkill before taking his leave. (The lich has time stop prepared instead of power word kill. His list of prepared spells is otherwise the same as the lich presented in the Monster Manual.)
If the characters recognize Renwick (perhaps from the stories told at Summit Hall) and remind him of his heroic days, Renwick might be moved to help them. He doesn’t want to fight the cultists since he no longer has any wish to kill, but if persuaded to help, he bestows a gift on any paladin or good-aligned fighter in the party: an amulet of health. He also promises to keep more cultists from reoccupying the monastery after the characters drive them out, and he might part with some of the potions and scrolls described in the next section.
Treasure
Renwicks curios and esoteric tomes aren’t valuable and hold little magical power. For centuries he has been interested in the philosophy of magic, not bigger and more powerful spells or artifacts. However, scattered among the curios are a potion of greater healing, a potion of hill giant strength, a scroll of invisibility, and a scroll of Snillocs snowball swarm.
M17. Lichs Quarters
A magnificent canopy bed covered in dusty tattered sheets and several moth-eaten couches suggest that this room was once the bedchamber of someone important.
Renwicks Phylactery
Renwick left his phylactery in a place even he cant easily reach: a tomb beneath Summit Hall. If he should be defeated in combat, hell re-form there-and see whether he can abscond with his brothers body for reburial in the empty sarcophagus in area M20.
M18. Mine Guardroom
The stairs near this room lead up to area M11 on the monasterys ground floor.
A large well sits in one corner of this room, equipped with a winch-and-bucket mechanism for fetching water. Doors enter from the north, west, and south. Several dirty straw pallets lie tucked into the corners of the room-including one very large and stinking pallet.
This chamber serves as the barracks for the Sacred Stones subterranean guards: three orog and one ogre. The leader of the orogs is a battle-scarred old veteran named Jurth, who claims the title of “commander.” The ogre, a flabby simpleton called Drool, pathetically tries to please Jurth by brutalizing the hapless slaves this band of guards oversees.
When strangers appear, Jurth and his gang don’t immediately attack. Instead, the orog growls, “The pass sign!” He waits for one of the characters to make the hand sign of the earth cult: a simple triangle formed by touching thumbs and forefingers together. If the characters cant guess the pass sign or bluff their way through without one, Jurth and his followers attack.
Treasure
Jurth has accumulated a good store of loot stolen from the hapless captives who wind up in the clutches of the cult. He conceals this loot in a leather pouch hidden beneath a loose flagstone under his sleeping pallet. The pouch contains 90 gp, and 40 ep. Jurth also carries the keys to the doors in areas M19 and M21.
Development
If the characters kill this group of monsters and leave the dungeon without defeating Hellenrae, within
M19. Slave Pens
At the end of this tunnel, three cell-like rooms have been excavated from the rock. Iron bars wall off each one, with a chain and padlock securing a swinging gate. Inside, a number of prisoners huddle on miserable straw pallets.
The cage door leading into each of these pens is locked. Jurth (in area M18) holds the key. Forcing open a cage door requires a successful DC 20 Strength check.
The cells hold a total of seventeen commoner. Most are human peasants, caravan drivers, merchants, or tribesfolk. However, one is the dwarven sage Bruldenthar, one of the missing members of the delegation from Mirabar.
The cults prisoners, who have been working in the mines, beg for the characters to free them from their pens and lead them out of the monastery. They know that Jurth carries the keys to the pens, and that he can be found in the guardroom to the north (area M18). If questioned, they tell stories of raiders wearing brown cowls or hoods sweeping into town and carrying them back to servitude in the mines. Strangely, the mine contains no valuable ores.
Bruldenthars Tale
Bruldenthar confirms that earth cultists ambushed the Mirabar delegation south of Beliard, slaying most of their guards. Earth cultists and their captives were ferried across the Dessarin River by pirates who received the sages beloved books as payment. Bandits flying on giant vultures ambushed the earth cultists somewhere in the Sumber Hills. The bandits captured the delegate Deseyna Norvael. Bruldenthar and the rest were brought to the Sacred Stone Monastery. The sage was put to work, but delegates Rhundorth and Teresiel were taken below to an unknown fate.
M20. The Haunted Crypt
The doors leading into this area are made of old bronze plate. They aren’t locked, but they are stuck (DC 10 Strength check to force open). The stairs to the southeast lead up to area M16, and the door here is locked with an arcane lock.
This barrel-vaulted chamber is obviously an ancient crypt. Niches along the walls hold dozens of old skeletons, some with scraps of burial cloth still clinging to their bones.
Not all the monsters beneath the monastery belong to the Black Earth cult. The crypt is part of the dungeon claimed by the lich Renwick, who normally can be found in his workshop (area M16). The lich retreats here to avoid confronting determined attackers. Six zombie guard this place, lying among the remains of the long-dead priests and monks who first built it. The creatures obey Renwick, who ordered them to defend the crypt against all living intruders.
Samulars Tomb
At the east end of the crypt stands a magnificent but empty stone sarcophagus, carved in the image of a noble human knight with a long white beard. An inscription carved across the front of the sarcophagus reads: “Here Lies Samular Caradoon, Defender of the North.” The lich prepared the tomb long ago, foreseeing the day when he could abscond with his brothers body (currently interred with the Knights of Samular in Summit Hall).
Stashed inside the sarcophagus is the body of a dead human knight that the Mirabar delegation was transporting to Summit Hall. The knight wears a breastplate emblazoned with the symbol of Tyr. A speak with dead spell cast on the corpse can reveal the knight’s name (Narl Elrok) and how he died (killed by orcs).
Treasure
Most of the old clerics and monks were buried quite modestly, but one skeleton in the north wall wears a silver ring set with small rubies (600 gp) and a ring of fire resistance.
M21. Hall of Thirsting Stone
The doors leading into this room are made of iron plate and secured with strong but simple locks (DC 20 Strength check to force open, or a DC 10 Dexterity check to pick with thieves tools).
If the characters listen at the western door, they hear something large moving around restlessly just on the other side. Knocking or making a commotion outside the door provokes the creature in the room to bellow and throw itself against the door, which booms and rattles but otherwise holds.
The wide stairway at the south end leads up to the Shrine of Stone (area M9) in the upper monastery.
The floor of this large chamber consists of loose red earth. A column of natural stone stands near the middle of the room, and a row of sturdy iron bars with a sliding cage door (currently shut) walls off the western portion of the room. A door of iron plate stands in the western wall behind the iron bars, while a similar door exits to the east. To the south, a wide set of stairs leads up.
If the characters enter the room from the stairs or the eastern door, add the following:
Behind the iron bars stands a monstrous creature that resembles a cross between a huge ape and a beetle. It has wicked mandibles, powerful claws, and four eye sockets-but two of its eyes have been put out, and its claws are bronze blades. The creature bellows and thrashes in rage, constantly testing the bars and clawing at the walls.
The monster in the western portion of the chamber is an umber hulk. The cultists partially blinded the creature and removed its natural claws, so the hulk no longer has its Confusing Gaze power or the ability to burrow. However, the artificial blades increase its claw damage to 14 (
The natural stone column and the floor of loose earth are harmless. The earth is about 5 feet deep with hard rock underneath; its not any harder to walk across than firmly packed sand.
Cage
The lever in area M9 opens the cage door. It can also be opened by unlocking it (Jurth in area M18 has the key), although the caged umber hulk immediately attacks whoever opens the cage.
Trapped Stairs
The lever in area M9 also causes the stairs leading into this room to collapse, creating a steep slide. A character actively searching the stairs for traps notices the collapsing mechanism with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Anyone on the stairs when the lever is activated slides to the foot of the stairs and must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. While the stairs are collapsed, climbing back up requires a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
Typically, the Black Earth cultists shove victims down the stairs and pull the lever, simultaneously releasing the caged umber hulk and making sure the victims (and the monster) cant escape back up the stairs.
M22. Mines
Most of this level consists of mine tunnels. Any location that isn’t a keyed room is part of the mines.
Several rough-hewn mine tunnels converge near this spot, shored up by old timbers. Patches of weird fungus or lichen cling to the walls in places. A soft breeze moans through the passageways.
The timber shoring isn’t really needed, since the tunnels are sturdy. A breeze enters the mines at area M23, circulates a bit, and then exits at area M24.
Random Encounters
The mines aren’t heavily trafficked, but the cultists send their captives to work here and sometimes strange creatures wander in. Check for random encounters once per hour. Roll a
M22. Mines (Day) Random Encounters
| d6 | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | As per result 1, and 1 orog (see area M18) |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | 1 grick |
| 6 | Jurth and |
M22. Mines (Night) Random Encounters
| d8 | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | As per result 1, and 1 orog (see area M18) |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | 1 grick |
| 6 | Jurth and |
| 7-8 |
The commoners labor at new excavations, digging with picks and shovels. They are desperate to escape but are thoroughly intimidated. If they mistake the characters for Black Earth cultists, they cringe and work harder. If they realize that the characters are here to fight the cultists, they eagerly relate everything they know about the layout of the mines and the guards in area M18. The commoners also know where the crypt (area M20) and the Hall of Thirsting Stone (area M21) are located, but they havent been in those rooms. They beg the characters to free the rest of the captives in area M19 and help them all escape.
M23. Hidden Tunnel
A localized cave-in partially obstructs this disused mine tunnel. A heap of rubble stands six feet high and blocks a ten-foot long section of the passage, but the tunnel definitely continues past the collapsed section.
This tunnel continues for a quarter-mile, opening into a well-hidden spot in the surrounding hills. The rubble makes for a tough scramble, but anyone can manage it given a little time.
M24. The Ancient Stair
This stairway leads to the ruins of Tyar-Besil, exiting the Sacred Stone mines.
The passage leads to a gate made of iron bars that blocks the way north, secured with a chain and padlock. Just beyond the gate, worn stone steps descend and turn left. This is no mine tunnel-the stonework is near-perfect despite its evident age. To the right, a short passage leads to a big door of iron plate, dented in from the other side.
Hellenrae and Jurth have keys to this gate. The stairs descend about 250 feet before reaching the Temple of Black Earth (see chapter 4). Any dwarf recognizes the steps as dwarven stonework, most likely thousands of years old.
The door to the east is locked and leads to area M21; Jurth and Qarbo hold the keys.
Conclusion
When the characters defeat Hellenrae and her followers or convince them to guide them deeper into the temple, they are done with the monastery portion of the adventure. The Ancient Stair (area M24) descends about 250 feet, leading to a quarter-mile passage in a natural cavern. This passage in turn leads to area B1 in the Temple of Black Earth (see chapter 4).
Scarlet Moon Hall
Elizar Dryflagon, a fire cultist who was once a druid, has sent word throughout the Dessarin Valley that an obscure (and fictitious) druid circle called the Circle of the Scarlet Moon knows the Rite of the Wicker Giant, a ritual that can restore natures balance in the troubled region. Several groups have set up camps on the slopes below Scarlet Moon Hall, waiting for Elizar to invite them up to partake in the rite. He has convinced those gathered here that he’s a druid of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon and promises to teach others the rite as its performed. The atmosphere is one of festive anticipation. Real druids here are excited to meet their fellows and learn from the mysterious but powerful Elizar.
Area Features
Scarlet Moon Hall was once a central tower with outer protective walls. The walls are now tumbled ruins, and the tower is under repair. The following features are common to the site. Any exceptions are noted in areas to which they apply.
Haze
The influence of elemental fire creates a smoky haze that renders the area lightly obscured. A bright spot in the haze indicates where the sun or moon is.
Defenders
The potential foes in this area are varied. The fire cultists pretend to be servants of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. Among them, only Elizar has druid capabilities.
Fires
A number of bonfires burn on the hillside. A bonfire deals
Slope
Within the keep walls, within about 20 feet of each campfire, and along the trails, the ground is level enough to pose no hindrance. Other areas are difficult terrain for those moving uphill on the ground.
Tents
The canvas tents are tall enough for humans to crouch in. Bedrolls and clothing are scattered on most tents floors. Most also have lanterns hanging inside or from the frame supporting the tent entrance.
Treasure
Most of the visitors here carry
Ascending the Slope
Visible through the haze that covers the hill is a square tower ringed by ruined walls. In front of the tower burns a bonfire shaped like a fiery giant. Scattered on the slope below the tower are seven bonfires with tents clustered around them. Humanoid figures huddle near these closer fires. A trail leads up to these hillside encampments.
Due to the haze, characters can sneak past or overcome a camp without arousing the attention of the others. Whether or not they attract the attention of nearby camps depends on how quiet they are. Keep in mind that the brown bear (camp Hc2), werewolves (camp Hc3), and worgs (camp Hc7) all have keen senses that don’t depend on sight.
The denizens of a camp cry out an alarm only if they’re clearly losing a fight. Absent extenuating circumstances, though, they don’t repeat the alarm round after round.
Once a battle starts, reinforcements arrive in waves. Its conceivable that, once a few camps empty out, the rest hunker down and hope that whatever is attacking the other camps doesn’t come their way.
Characters can avoid the camps entirely by circling the hill and climbing its north side. The north side of the hill is steep but navigable, and can be climbed without having to make ability checks.
Hc1. Druid Camp
Four robed humans-two male, two female-chant as they stand around a bonfire. On the periphery of the firelight are two massive elk, placidly chewing.
The four druid (Varigo, Mahoon, Iniri, and Fariya) are looking forward to the Rite of the Wicker Giant and hope it leads to greater cooperation among the druids of the Dessarin Valley. These druids are already celebrating in hopes of a successful rite. They offer the characters food and drink, including a few sips from a small cask of brandy, and encourage the group to spend the night and witness the rite, which should occur tomorrow.
The fire cultists have decided that these druids are unsuitable for induction into the cult. Elizar plans to feed them to the wicker giant during the rite.
These druids fight only if attacked, spurring their two elk companions into battle. They beg for mercy once half of them (including the elk) are down.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc2 arrives the first time a disturbance is detected. Camp Hc3 arrives if the disturbance persists.
Treasure
The druids have a scroll of elemental bane and a scroll of warding wind (see appendix B for descriptions of both spells) in a wooden case in one of their tents.
Hc2. Cult Camp
Two human men in robes stand before the bonfire. On the other side of it, leashed to a peg pounded into the ground, is a brown bear.
The humans are two eternal flame priest (see chapter 7) claiming to be Aylbrith and Ingulf, posing as druids of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. They have a captured brown bear with them to improve their disguise. They warmly greet visitors who aren’t obviously hostile, asking questions to determine the characters reason for visiting Scarlet Moon Hall.
If the characters aren’t mollified by their claims, the cultists attack. If it cant reach someone within 10 feet of it, the bear uses its action to make a DC 20 Strength check, breaking its leash on a success. Once free, it attacks the fire cultists if it cant reach a character.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc1 arrives first, though the druids of that camp try to talk it out rather than fight. If the disturbance is large or extended, camp Hc6 arrives.
Hc3. Werewolf Camp
Two rugged humans sit near a large bonfire. They are sparsely dressed and very hairy.
The humans, Storol and Wiglaf, are werewolf. They are here because they want to know what the druids are up to. They think the Rite of the Wicker Giant is real.
The werewolves don’t know it, but they passed the initial test when fire cultists visited this camp. The fire cult has no idea Storol and Wiglaf are lycanthropes, but they noticed the pairs killer instinct.
The werewolves pretend to be interested in the rite, but prolonged conversation with strangers frustrates them. Any conversational hostility causes them to snap, assume hybrid forms, and attack.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc4 arrives first, then camp Hc6 if the disturbance persists. These reinforcements attack characters and werewolves alike.
Hc4. Cult Camp
A half-elf woman here is dressed in robes, while her three companions-a human woman and two human men-are dressed in rugged clothing and breastplates. The three in armor cook food on kebabs at their bonfire.
These people are an Eternal Flame priest and three eternal flame guardian (see chapter 7 for both). The priest-a half-elf named Lytin-looks like a druid and tries to do all the talking. Her guardians-Biart, Orm, and Malin-look like rangers, and they become more nervous the longer any conversation lasts.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc3 arrives first, but camp Hc5 might respond to prolonged disturbances.
Hc5. Fiddlers Camp
This bonfire is a little smaller than the others. An elf woman in robes plays a fiddle as two sprites dance around the smoke above the fire.
This camp has a real druid, Gariena, and two sprite named Flix and Afid. They are here to contribute to the rite. Gariena has a sense of anticipation, but she wonders why she never heard of the Rite of the Wicker Giant. She also wonders why the preparations are taking so long.
Gariena fights only if attacked and happily shares her campfire with friendly characters. No one can camp here, though. The sprites cant be trusted to refrain from pranks, and Gariena wants no trouble.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc4 arrives, attacking intruders first, then trying to finish off Gariena and the sprites. The fire cult doesn’t think Gariena has what it takes to be a cultist.
Treasure
Gariena has a coinpurse with 40 sp and 18 gp in it, plus she wears a silver ring worth 25 gp and carries a scroll of lesser restoration and a scroll of skywrite. If the characters earn her favor, she gives them her scrolls as gifts to help them in their struggle against the cults of Elemental Evil.
Hc6. Druid Camp
Three people doze near the bonfire as a fourth leans on a staff, clearly bored out of his mind.
The three sleeping druids-Comnall, Murcadh, and Ragnad-wake if the characters approach openly. The fourth person is Sauruki, a Crushing Wave priest (see chapter 7) sent by the water cult to figure out what the fire cult is up to here. They’re suspicious about strangers, but Sauruki is curious about who the characters are.
The fire cultists haven’t made up their minds about this group, although Sauruki has concluded that the fire cultists are seeking recruits.
If the characters seem likely to disrupt the ritual, the druids attack. Sauruki tries to hang back and fight cautiously. He repeatedly makes the sign of the water cult, crossing his forefingers and touching his thumbs, hoping that the characters are affiliated with the water cult.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc7 arrives. Camp Hc3 arrives if the disturbance persists.
Hc7. Bugbear Camp
This fringe camp has three bulky figures standing near the fire, their robes hoods pulled up. Two worgs rest at edge of the firelight.
The hooded figures are three bugbear, accompanied by two worg. Until recently, this camp was occupied by druids who didnt pass muster with the fire cult and were fed to the wicker giant. The bugbears are trying to look like druids from a distance until the other camps are cleared out. Knowing they aren’t going to fool anyone at close range, they attack immediately.
Reinforcements
Camp Hc6 arrives first. The druids aren’t sure who to fight at first, though the characters can sway them with a successful DC 10 Charisma (Persuasion) check.
Treasure
The bugbears carry a total of 68 cp, 42 sp, and 55 gp.
H1. Courtyard
Beyond the ruins of walls ringing the keeps central tower is a courtyard cluttered with tents. A humanoid-shaped wicker giant, two stories tall, burns brightly here. Two figures in robes stand near the wicker giant, their heads lowered in prayer.
The tower is under repair, with wooden scaffolding some thirty feet high stretching across the east and west sides. Lanterns hang from struts and poles attached to the woodworks. Three guards with crossbows watch the courtyard from the scaffolding to the west. Rubble chokes a wide doorway, likely once the main entrance, on the towers south side.
The two praying figures are eternal flame priest (see chapter 7). They’re disguised as druids, but no one is supposed to be in the courtyard, so they attack intruders. For her first action, one priest stands before the wicker giant and cries, “Arise, and cleanse this place of the unworthy!” She uses her next two actions to repeat this call. If she dies, the other priest uses his actions to do the same. If the priests succeed at calling on the wicker giant three times, see area H2.
Reinforcements
The defenders in the kennel (area H3) join the battle. The guards on the scaffolding (area H4) react slowly to disturbances in the courtyard, because some such occurrences are the fire cult feeding the wicker giant. They join any battle here during its second round, making ranged attacks from the scaffolding unless they have a reason to descend. If the fight is prolonged, the creatures in area H5 join in. Denizens of the hillside camps might, at your option, also come as reinforcements, starting with camp Hc6 and then camp Hc3. Some campers might be influenced to help the characters.
H2. Wicker Giant
Waves of heat come from the burning wicker giant, but the wooden structure contains the flames without being consumed by them.
Bound in the wicker giant is a fire elemental. It remains quiescent until the tower scaffolding starts to collapse, the priests beckon it forth (see area H1), or the characters damage the wicker giant.
Once it emerges, the elemental attacks any creature that couldnt reasonably be mistaken for a fire cultist. It also burns anything nearby thats flammable. Once the elemental emerges, the wicker giant itself starts to burn, much like the scaffolding in area H4.
H3. Kennel
Ruined walls surround this shallow pit, which was probably a basement once.
Two hell hound and one Eternal Flame guardian (see chapter 7) stand guard here.
H4. Scaffolding
The tower scaffolding is 30 feet high and equally as long. It is easy to climb and has a walkway about every 7 feet up. Two Eternal Flame guardians (see chapter 7) cover the courtyard from their perches on the scaffolding, preferring not to get drawn into melee combat.
At your option, perhaps due to a falling lantern or stray fire spell, a portion of the scaffolding can catch fire. Such a fire spreads 5 feet in every direction at the start of each round until the structure is fully engulfed. Starting 1 minute after the scaffolding first catches fire, randomly choose
H5. Upper Entry Chamber
The door to this chamber is reachable only from the top of the scaffolding. The tower wall is rough fieldstone, so it can be climbed with successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) checks.
This warmly lit room has a large in the wooden floor and stone stairs leading up the northern wall.
Unless they joined the battle in area H2, two eternal flame guardian (see chapter 7) are here, accompanied by an azer whos acting as an envoy between Vanifer and Elizar. They’re eager to lure enemies near the hole in the floor, then push them to drop 20 feet into area H6.
Wooden stairs lead up to area H7.
Reinforcements
If a battle here lasts more than 3 rounds, the cultists in area H7 awaken. They warn Elizar in area H8, giving time for Elizar and his cultists to prepare an ambush in area H7.
H6. The Downward Path
A massive pile of rubble-the furniture and flooring from the level above-sits in the middle of this chamber. A cluster of small fire-creatures burns the wooden beams along the north wall, where a tunnel leads downward.
Rubble covers what was once the main entrance to the tower, but five magmin are burning away the debris to make the tunnel in the northern floor larger. They attack anyone who doesn’t look like a fire cultist.
Tunnel
The tunnel winds downward and eventually connects to area E1 of the Temple of Eternal Flame (see chapter 4).
H7. Cultist Barracks
This room has a dozen bedrolls scattered across the floor. Stone stairs continue upward along the inside of the towers north wall.
If they havent been disturbed, one Eternal Flame priest and two eternal flame guardian (see chapter 7 for both) are asleep when the characters arrive.
Reinforcements
If Elizar Dryflagon is in area H8 and hears a disturbance in this room, he joins the battle as soon as he can.
Weak Floor
The area marked with lines creaks loudly whenever someone steps on it. At the start of every round, roll
H8. Elizars Chamber
The room contains a bedroll, a desk, and a bookcase. On the northern wall, a tall ladder leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Elizar Dryflagon (see chapter 7), an older man in robes and carrying a pipe, is here if he didnt join a battle in area H7. Behind a veneer of good humor is the heart of a pyromaniac. He doesn’t parley for long, preferring to burn the characters out of existence.
Treasure
In Elizars desk are 250 gp, two fire opals (worth 50 gp each), and a scroll of flame arrows.
H9. Bats in the Attic
This chamber is under the towers angled upper roof. Holes in the ceiling lead to the open air. A short ladder to the west leads through one such opening. The room smells strongly of the droppings that cover the floor.
Four giant bats roost here. Fire cultists periodically burn them out, but others return within a tenday. The bats are hungry and aggressive, so they attack anyone who comes through the trapdoor.
Roof Opening
The ladder leads about 5 feet up to a circular opening about 3 feet wide. A small platform has been built outside this opening, and on it are supplies for repairing the roof, including 200 feet of hempen rope and a climbing kit.
Weak Floor
This area has a weak floor like the one in area H5. Creatures that fall drop 15 feet into area H8.
Conclusion
When the characters defeat Elizar and his followers, this scenario is largely over. The party can still deal with any campers still on the slope.
The tunnel in area H6 leads to area E1 in the Temple of Eternal Flame. If you aren’t ready for the characters to explore that temple, a force from the temple could emerge to drive the characters away. Or, you can allow the characters to descend to the Temple of Eternal Flame and discover how dangerous it is for themselves.