MAGICAL CHAOS TABLEEmploy the table below whenever magic or natural powers akin to magic are used in the Realms at any

point in this adventure.The spells of Midnight, avatars, and Elminster are affected feast by Magical Chaos. They roll on this table

normally. All other beings roll with a modifier of -15% (since the Fall, Chaos has been increasing throughoutthe Realms, so magic is less reliable than it was in Shadowdale). DMs should not feel bound by the results ofthis table, and should indeed decide on a case-by-case basis whether spells function or not, to best suit play asit unfolds (but don�t reveal this to the players).

The DM should further modify percentile dice rolls as followers: for every experience level of the spellcaster(magic items are considered 6th level, artifacts are 12th level), +1; if the spell or effect contributes to chaos ordrastic change of a given locale (e.g. fireball or polymorph spells), +12; and +4 if the spell (items and artifactscannot receive this bonus) is small and simple, such as a 1st or 2nd level spell or a cantrip. When the modifiedscore is determined, consult the table below:

Percenti leScore01-1920-23

Result

24-27

28-3132-35

36-39

40-33

44-47

48-51

52-5960-7172-98

99-00 +

Spell rebounds on caster, with full effects (if impossible due to nature of spell, reroll).Pit opens instantly beneath the caster (depth varies at DM�s option); there is no otherspell effect.Target of spell (or caster, if spell has no target) is instantly pelted with fiery, red flowerblossoms that materialize and vanish again 1 round later. Blossoms do no damage, butprohibit accurate aiming of wands or missile weapons, and prevent reading of books,scrolls, inscriptions, and the like.Spell affects random creature or area (DM�s option) rather than the intended target area.Spell functions normally, but any material components are not consumed, and spellknowledge is retained by the caster or the charge is retained by the item.Spell functions normally but magical energy is released around the caster, healing anyinjuries of any beings within 10 yards of the caster (includes fatigue, feeblemindeness,etc.).Total darkness and silence occur in a 30-yard radius about the caster, and last 2-8rounds.Reverse gravity (cf. spell) effect occurs in a 30-yard radius sphere about the caster, fast-ing 1 round; caster included in the effect.Shimmering colors dance and play in a nimbus around the caster, blinding caster and allcreatures within 20 yards for 1-4 rounds.Nothing happens; no spell effect occurs.Nothing occurs; no spell effect, but spell knowledge or charge is not lost.Spell functions normally.Spell functions with maximum possible effects, full damage, maximum duration.

Special Effects Subtable

With any result on the above table, the DM can add to play excitement by adding one or more of the following�special effects� (roll 1d12):

01: Earth tremor underfoot (minor, with rolling echoes).02: Sun dims and then brightens again or a star falls.03: Violent roaring or screaming sound.04: Intense wave of heat (no damage) felt in the vicinity.05: Non-harmful, oily green slime forms on everything within 120 yards.06: Maniacal, echoing laughter is heard. Flowers fall from the sky.07: Old, brittle bones (3d20) rain down for 2 rounds, in a 60 yards radius.08: Caster and everything within 60 yards lose all hair; plants grow hair.09: Harmless yellow-green and purple smoke rises from the ground.10: Boulders rise, swirling in mid-air like leaves (2d12 impact damage).11: Nearby tree is uprooted (indoors, rock or furniture moves by itself).12: Whispering voice is heard, murmuring a random character�s name�and�a prediction about that

character�s future (the DM can make it as specific as he wants; given the PCs� circumstances, por-tents of danger and doom would probably not be too far off...).

TantrasTable of Contents

Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Chapter 1: Trial and Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Chapter 2: Haste, Blood, and Moonlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Chapter 3: The Hand of Bane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Chapter 4: A Stormy Time in Scardale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Chapter 5: Gods and Assassins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Chapter 6: To Be Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Non-Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Avatars of the Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42New Magical Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5NewMonster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Map of Shadowdale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 8

Magical Chaos Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside front coverPhysical Chaos Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back coverRandom Encounter Tables and

Monster Summary Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside gatefold

Credits

Design: Ed GreenwoodEditing: Anne Brown, Kim MohanAvatar Trilogy Coordinator: Jim LowderCover Art: Clyde CaldwellInterior Art: Karl WallerCartography: Dave, Dennis & DieselTypography: Gaye O�KeefeKeylining: Stephanie Tabat and Paul Hanchette

©1989 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

TSR, Inc.POB 756Lake GenevaWI 53147 USA

TSR Ltd.120 Church End, Cherry Hinton

Cambridge CB1 3LBUnited Kingdom

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, FORGOTTEN REALMS; PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION, and the TSR logo are trademarksowned by TSR, Inc.Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy andhobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artworkcontained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc.

9 2 4 8 ISBN 0-88038-748-3

The One Who Is Hidden wil l ina n g e r c a s t t h e g o d s d o w n i n t o t h eR e a l m s . T h e g o d s w i l l w a l k a m o n gmen , a mid c hao s o f Ar t and na tur e ,and there will be stri fe in Faerun.

cal led �the Wise.�

F r o m t h e P r o p h e c i e sof Alaundo the Seer,

Notes for theDungeon Master

Tantras is the second of a trilogy of mod-ules that describe the strife, called by some�the Godswar,� in The Forgotten Realms.

These modules loosely parallel the actiondescribed in the Avatar Trilogy (Shadow-dale, Tantras, and Waterdeep) published byTSR, Inc. It is not necessary that you or yourplayers read the novels before play, nor arethe adventures outlined in the modulesidentical to action in the novels. Playersshould use their own characters, thoughseveral NPCs will prove to be valuable if notnecessary. (The NPC Midnight must accom-pany the party in order for the adventure tobe completed.)

The adventures in Tantras are perilous; aparty of lesser power may well not survivefor long. Keep the party to a size that youare comfortable with. If encounters are toodangerous, allow the PCs to escape or avoidthem; PCs should be challenged, but not ca-sually destroyed.

How the Module isLaid Out

The adventures in Tantras are outlined inchapters, with each chapter made up of sev-eral events that occur in the order they aregiven (sometimes one follows immediatelyafter the previous one). A few sections arelabeled �Offstage Events��informationmeant for the DM�s eyes only, about factsthat will enable the DM (and players, if theydiscover them) to understand more of the�big picture� about what is happening inthis adventure and in other places in theRealms outside the immediate vicinity ofwhere the player characters are located.

Any text that appears in a box is intendedto be read aloud to the players (or given di-rectly to them in summary form). The re-maining information is for the DM, andshould only be revealed in response to PCactions.

The chapters describe the intended flowof the story. PCs have plenty of freedom asto what they actually do in the chaos sur-

rounding the Godswar. Feel free to impro-vise to make the adventure exciting andenjoyable. If you read the entire module be-fore play to see what will occur, it will beeasy to see where there is ample room foryour own side adventures, and where andhow the adventure herein can be tailoredinto an existing campaign set in the Forgot-ten Realms.

Ability ChecksFrom time to time in this adventure an

Ability Check is called for. The DM shouldroll 1d20 and compare the result with theappropriate ability score (Strength, Dexter-ity, etc.) for the character in question. If theroll is equal to or less than the character�sability score, the action succeeds. If the rollis greater than the ability score, the actionfails.

The SettingThis adventure is set in the continent of

Faerun in the Forgotten Realms, specificallyin the Dalelands, the area on and aroundthe River Ashaba, and Scardale and Tantras,two cities on opposite shores of the DragonReach. These areas are described in theboxed FORGOTTEN REALMS�� CampaignSet. DMs who place this adventure in othersettings will have to modify the geography,NPC �power groups,� and gods used, butshould still be able to use this module.

The Story So FarThis section is directed toward DMs who

did not run Shadowdale, the previous mod-ule in this trilogy. This background informa-tion will bring DMs up to date on the state ofthe world and the events that have tran-spired prior to the beginning of Tantras.The DM should impart as much of this in-formation to players as he sees fit, butshould be careful not to overdo it; some ofthe facts described below (such as the fulleffect and significance of magical chaos) canbe left for player characters to discover forthemselves as this adventure unfolds. (Forinstance, it�s okay to tell players that magicis unreliable, but let priest PCs find out forthemselves that they can�t obtain anythingbut low-level spells.)

The chaos was triggered when Bane, theGod of Strife, and Myrkul, the God of theDead, teamed up to steal the Tablets of Fatefrom Lord Ao (the overlord of deities, usu-ally referred to as The One Who Is Hidden).In retribution for this act, Ao banished all ofthe deities from their otherworldly domains

(except for Helm, the god who guards theOther Planes) and forced them down intoFaerun, there to remain until the tablets arereturned to their rightful owner.

During this time of unrest, the gods arebattling among themselves for control ofthe world. Each deity takes the form of anavatar-a physical, usually humanlike formthrough which the deity can performactions and accomplish things on this planeof existence. Avatars are markedly weakerthan the deities they represent, but are stillfearsomely formidable-so much so that itmight be suicidal for even a powerful groupof PCs to try to combat one of them.

Of great importance, in general terms, arethe concepts of magical and physical chaos.During this time of trouble, magic spells andmagical items are liable to function improp-erly or simply fail to work as they wouldhave normally. Because deities are directlyinvolved with the goings-on in the Realmsand are disregarding their usual responsi-bilities, priest characters find that they areunable to gain or regain any spells of 3rdlevel or higher. And as if this magical up-heaval wasn�t bad enough, the very land it-s e l f i s i n c h a o s ; u n p r e d i c t a b l e a n dunnatural effects may occur at any time,causing everyone to be on their guard evenmore than usual. (See the tables on the in-side cover of this module for more informa-tion on magical and physical chaos.)

How can this situation be corrected andthe gods forced to go back whence theycame? T h e p l a y e r c h a r a c t e r s h a v ediscovered�through research or hearsay�`that, in some (as yet unexplained) way, thefinding of two artifacts known as the Tab-lets of Fate is the key to setting things rightagain. They further know that one of thesetablets can be found somewhere in the cityof Tantras�so traveling to that city shouldbe their first objective at the start of this ad-venture.

Unfortunately, before that journey canbegin, there is a serious problem to takecare of. Midnight, a spellcaster of no smallability and a pivotal figure in the quest forthe Tablets of Fate, has been imprisonedand charged with the murder of the greatold sage Elminster. The player characterswill fail in their mission if Midnight does notaccompany them to Tantras�so the firstthing they must do is rescue her (and anycohorts who may be imprisoned with her)from the dungeon beneath the Tower ofAshaba in Shadowdale.

Elminster disappeared at the climax of atitanic battle in the Temple of Lathander be-tween the avatars of Bane and Mystra, theGoddess of Magic. Midnight was blamed forhis demise because she was present when

2

. . . but no one saw him come out.

the battle took place, and no one else wasleft alive who could be held responsible orcould exonerate her. Many residents of Sha-dowdale saw Elminster go into the temple

In the Meantime . . .DMs who did run Shadowdale before be-

ginning this module should be aware thatTantras assumes that the forces of ZhentilKeep were beaten back by Shadowdale�s de-fenders (with the help of Harpers, the Mis-tledale Lancers, and the Knights of MythDrannor). If this seems an unlikely turn ofevents based on how the events of Shadow-dale actually transpired, then a further rea-son for the defeat of Zhentil Keep�s forceswill have to be �manufactured�: perhapswar parties of Hillsfar soldiers mounted anattack on the Zhentilar rear in the east, withCormyrean raiders striking the western at-tack. Storm Silverhand might also appear,leading Harper heroes to disrupt the orcsattacking Shadowdale from the north. ADM can pick and choose from these causesof Zhentish defeat, or invent others to bestsuit an individual campaign.

General AdvicePlayers can quickly become bored with

even the most exciting battles and dilemmasinvolved in saving the world if everything istense, serious, and non-stop, hard-drivingaction. The dramatic impact of the wide-spread conflict and chaos afflicting theRealms is heightened in play if the DM useshumor (and thus, pathos), and describes theeffects of war by concentrating on small de-tails and individual NPCs.

Guard against giving out too much infor-mation, or too much of the wrong kind ofinformation. It can be easy to overexplain,robbing the events of this trilogy of theirmystery-and worse, giving the players asense that everything is predetermined:that fate controls all, and that the actions ofthe PCs, no matter how well orchestrated,have no effect. Do not allow players to feelthat everything will turn out as the gods in-tended. A good DM will avoid this at allcosts; if saving the world becomes a bigyawn, what does one do for an encore?

A Note About 2ndEdition AD&D® Rules

This adventure is written using the termi-no logy and ru les o f the 2nd Edi t ion

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®

game, but is still easily playable by thosewho are using the original game materials.

Some of the more noticeable differencesare changes in name only. The term �magic-user� has been replaced by �mage� (or� in afew places, the more general designation of�wizard�). The �cleric� character class isnow the �priest� class, although members ofthat class are still usually referred to as�clerics.�

In the new edition of the game, the bene-fits of extraordinarily high ability scores arespecifically described. Much of that infor-mation (with respect to Intelligence andWisdom scores) is repeated in the section onavatars of the gods (pages 42-44).

Another significant change is in the pre-sentation of monsters. The description ofthe quelzarn (page 47), a new monster de-signed for this adventure, is identical in for-mat to the way monsters are presented inthe new Monstrous Compendium series. Al-though the information is organized differ-ently and has been somewhat expanded,nothing from the original format has beenomitted; everything that �1st Edition� DMsare accustomed to seeing is still provided inthe new descriptive format. The page onwhich the quelzarn description appears canbe photocopied and inserted in a MonstrousCompendium binder if the DM so desires.

3

The adventure opens with the trial of anycharacters who participated in the great bat-tle in the Temple of Lathander that occurredat the end of Shadowdale, the first module inthis trilogy. The accused group will includeMidnight, any PCs who were present for thebattle, and Adon (if he was with the party).Kelemvor and Cyric (if they were part of thegroup) will not be among the accused. If theplayers demand an explanation for this, theDM could hint that perhaps the two of themhave friends in high places, or simply gotlucky; no one can say for sure what hap-pened during the time the PCs were stunnedby the explosion at the end of the battle. Thetext for Events 1 through 3 assumes thatAdon was with the party in the Temple of La-thander; if this wasn�t the case, then ignoreall references to what Adon does during thetrial and have him join Cyric in the rescuemission (Event 3).

If this module is being used in campaignplay but Shadowdale was not used to pre-cede it, then Midnight and Adon are beingheld for the murder of Elminster. SkipEvents 1 and 2 and bring the player charac-ters into the adventure by meeting a verypersuasive Cyric, who hires them to aid himin rescuing the imprisoned NPCs. Begin theadventure with Event 3.

Regardless of whether they appeared inShadowdale or not, Adon, Cyric, and Kelem-vor should be involved in this adventure,and Midnight must be an NPC. These char-acters are described on pages 40 and 41.

Event 1: TrialAfter the villagers entered the temple at

the end of the battle, Adon, Midnight, andany PCs found there were promptly re-lieved of their weapons and equipment.They were taken to the Tower of Ashabaand thrown into the main guardchamber onthe ground floor. They are being watched atall times by at least five grim folk who areobviously high-level adventurers. (Mid-night�s pendant was destroyed when Mys-tra fell in the battle. The object plays nofurther part in this adventure.)

The DM should make it clear that escapeis impossible; locks can�t be picked, theguards can�t be overcome physically, andany spells the PCs might try to use will failbecause of Magical Chaos. In any event,Adon and Midnight will not try to escapewith the PCs, feeling that their chances ofcoming out of this alive are better if they goalong with what their captors want, at leastfor the time being.

PCs who try to escape or attack their cap-tors will be magically restrained, but other-wise not harmed in any way. Their captors

here� requires proof of guilt� not merelyangry condemnations. Think on that�f r i e n d s � g o v e r n y o u r s e l v e s a s y o uwould be governed!�

will not look or act all that kindly, however,and shortly, a guardcaptain will arrive. Hewill curtly order the PCs to accompany him.They will be led from the guardchamber,down corridors lined with guards, into thehigh-ceilinged audience chamber of theTower of Ashaba.

The chamber is crowded with people,who look upon you with hard eyes andangry faces. Weapons are visible every-where. You are led before an elevatedthrone. On it sits a tired, grim-lookingmiddle-aged man still clad in batteredand bloody plate armor. It is Mourn-grym, lord of Shadowdale. He is drinkingwine from a goblet; at your approach hewaves it away, wipes his moustache wea-rily, and looks upon you all with coldeyes.

�You live, outlanders, because I holdjustice above all else in this dale-andonly because of that. Elminster the sagewas a friend good and true to all of ushere, and his Art was a strong defenseagainst our enemies, always.

�Now he is dead�and you were foundin the temple where he met his end. Youstand accused of the murder of this goodman. What say you, that you may keepyour own lives? Speak, and speak well�or there will be more fallen in Shadow-dale before this day is out!�

Mourngrym is very angry, but determined that justice be done. Others presentare less patient. They want Adon, Midnightand any PCs who were taken with thenslain on the spot, and without delay. A mur-mured chant of �Kill them! Kill them!� be-g i n s f r o m t h e b a c k o f t h e c r o w d .Mourngrym waves the angry mutterings tosilence and calls upon Sharantyr to speak.

The lady ranger does so, calmly and simplystating the circumstances she observed whenshe led the residents of Shadowdale into theruined temple. Then she will fall silent, notmaking any accusations.

Florin Falconhand, a ranger and one of theKnights of Myth Drannor, towering abovemost in his hacked and spattered armor, willask to speak. He will look at all present, slowlyand grimly, as he says:

�If this is to be a home in which we feelloved and safe among our neighbors,and if it is to be a place where men lovethe rule over them and not go in fear ofit, then justice must be preserved at allcosts. And justice, I must remind all

The ranger�s dark glances at the PCs makeit clear that he does not think them inno-cent, by any means. He merely holds the be-lief that justice must prevail, no matterwhat the provocation. Mourngrym nods atFlorin�s words, and as the ranger with-draws with Sharantyr to guard the doors ofthe chamber, the lord of Shadowdale wavesanother murmur of angry comments andoaths to silence.

�We have heard wise counsel, fellow folkof the dale. It is justice that we allowthose we accuse to speak in their owndefense. I call upon them now to do so,one at a time, as I direct. Out of respect, Ipray you do not shout or make commentupon what they say. If you have ques-tions, stand and raise your hand; speakonly when I acknowledge you.

�Outlanders, you who stand charged�if you do not answer the questions put toyou, your very lives may fall forfeit. Hadwe priests enough on hand, and couldwe trust Art as we have always done,your every word would be tested bymagic. But since we cannot do that, wemust rely on our instincts�and we havelearned over the years to recognize afalsehood when we hear one. Bear thatin mind ere you bend the truth.�

The PCs will be allowed to speak freely. Asthey testify, the DM should play the role ofvarious angry villagers (spouting off in dis-obedience of Mourngrym�s orders) who ob-viouslv think the PCs are guilty.

Lhaeo, the mild-mannered scribe of Elmin-ster, will stand and be recognized at the end ofthe PCs� testimony. He will remind everyonethat Elminster has often vanished before,sometimes for long periods, and that his greatpowers make his death at the hands of thesefolk unlikely at best, if indeed he is dead.

This will not make the villagers any lessangry. Their comments will come thick andfast.

�Who�s to watch after my cattle, comebirthing-time?�

�Elminster�s power kept us safe �gainstZhentil Keep, it did! Who�s to protect usnow, eh?�

4

The lord of Shadowdale looks slowlyaround before turning to fix you with anangry stare. �You who stand accusedhave been found guilty by these goodfolk, here assembled. To them, I leaveyour sentencing.�

The lord of Shadowdale turns to thecrowd. �Before you assembled here de-cide the fate of these murderers,� he says

�Better friend I�ve never known, for allhis high talk and hurling magic all aboutthe place! He�d not go off and leave uswhen the Zhentish have brought war toour doors, and all! vanished, aye�at thehands of these butchers��

�Death to them!��DEATH!��Kill them! KILL THEM!��Aye, kill the murderers!�

The room will erupt with shouts for thePCs� blood. Adon and Midnight will stand si-lent, and will bid any PCs who try to speakor struggle free at this point to be quiet andstill. Mourngrym will stand grimly, andgradually the room will grow hushed.

heavily, �do any object to the verdict?Are these folk innocent?�

A warrior in battered plate mail stepsfrom the middle of the crowd and speaksout. Midnight�s eyes flicker in recogni-tion, but Adon remains stone-faced.None of you (the PCs) can recall havingseen this man before.

�Innocent, guilty�who can say?� hebegins. �Certainly not you, with not ashred of evidence either way! Yet youwould slay these folk without pause. IfElminster walks in here tomorrow,who�s to bring them to life again? I�vewalked these Realms a bit, and I tell you:they hold fairer trials in Zhentil Keep.�

The speaker is Cyric, who is in disguise tokeep from getting into trouble for speakinghis mind. (Midnight thinks she knows who itis, but will not reveal her suspicion.) Hiswords are initially met with silence. Vil-lagers look at him for a breath or two, andthen the chants of �Guilty!� and �Kill them!�begin again. People shake their heads atCyric, who angrily turns his back. Theshouts from the crowd get louder. Severalvillagers cry for the criminals to be burned,but a greater number demand that they be

room to silence again.

impaled on sharpened stakes. Mourngrymlets the outburst rage for a time, longenough for him to establish what sentencethe majority favors, and then waves the

When the lord of Shadowdale turns toyou again, his face is hard. �This court ofthe people finds you guilty of the deathof Elminster of Shadowdale and senten-ces you to death at highsun tomorrow,by impalement. My guards will carry outthe sentence in the Tower meadow. Yourlives can yet be spared in one way only: ifElminster is seen in the dale beforehighsun tomorrow. Whatever your fatemay be, I suggest you begin prayingnow.�

He instructs the guards to take youaway. As the guards move forward to ac-company you, the lord of Shadowdaleadds sternly to the crowd, �Let no onemove to insult or strike these prisoners.Do not leave until my guards signal thatthe way is clear. I want no escapes andno bloodshed.� He turns away wearily,and sits clown again as you are hustledout.

5

The townspeople obey Mourngrym. Intense silence the PCs are rushed across ahallway, with guards all around (at leasttwenty in number, all armed with spears,swords, and war hammers), through a mas-sive iron door, and down a dark, steep flightof stairs into the tower�s dungeons.

Event 2:Imprisonment

The DM should refer to the undergroundlevel of the Tower of Ashaba map. The PCswill be marched down the stairs to the largecavern (area #2), where a smith, two dozensoldiers, and two men in robes (a priest ofTempus, and a mage of minor power whoholds a wand ready in his hand) stand wait-ing. There, under the blaze of torches, thePCs will be manacled in steel collars, wrist-lets, and ankle bands that lock together;each requires two keys to open.

Midnight will be gagged, her handswrapped tightly in cloth to keep her fingersimmobile, and her wrists lashed to herwaist behind her back, to prevent her fromcalling forth any spells. Any PCs who havedemonstrated spellcasting ability, or whosegear, symbols, or speech has led anyone ofShadowdale to think them a spellcaster ofany sort, will be treated similarly. An un-guent of herbs on the gags will cause allgagged prisoners to feel drowsy and weak(make a Constitution Check or fall uncon-scious until the gag is removed).

The PCs will be dragged and half-carriedto separate cells and chained to ceiling-ringstherein. Then the guards will all depart,leaving the prisoners alone in the darkness.One guard will be posted in the darknearby, seated on a stool, to listen to what-ever the prisoners who can speak might sayto each other.

Event 3: Rescueby Night

Cyric leaves the audience chamber alongwith the other villagers. They spill out ontothe meadow, many of them heading for theOld Skull Inn and a much-desired drink ortwo, but Cyric quietly slips away and beginsformulating a plan to rescue the prisoners.If Adon is not in the dungeon with the PCs,Cyric will seek him out, and the two of them(with help from some anonymous and tem-porary hirelings) will carry off the rescue.

If the PCs are entering the adventure atthis point, Cyric will find and hire them, of-fering them up to 500 pieces of gold, train-

ing as a fighter, or a gem per person. (Cyrichas a row of 12 large, milky blue sapphires,value 1,000 gp each, stitched into the collarseam of his ragged cloak.)

If PCs accompany him, Cyric will wait un-til after midnight before assaulting thetower. It is a dark, cloudy night (the moonwill rise later, when the rescue party is inthe tower). Cyric will be dressed in darkleather, fully armed and with all his othergear tied into a waterproof bundle, whichhe carries with him.

To reach the tower, Cyric will swim downthe River Ashaba from just north of the OldSkull to the tower docks. There is a guard oftwenty soldiers at the bridge where themain road through the dale crosses theriver, and another watchpost atop the OldSkull itself.

If the PCs are with Cyric, this should be atense skulk through the dark. The battlewith Zhentil Keep�s forces is still recent, andShadowdale is alive with alert, patrollingsoldiers in the night.

Cyric will direct the PCs to silently over-power the guards at the boathouse (groundlevel, area #29). He will charge straight forthe alarm gong to see that no alarm israised.

There are twelve guards in the boat-house. All are 1st level fighters, wearingchain mail (AC 5) and armed with spears,long swords, hand axes, and daggers. Eachhas 9 hp; all are alert and work well as ateam. Two of them stand closest to thealarm gong on the east wall of the boat-house, just beside the door into the towerproper that they are guarding. If they man-age to ring it, the men at the two nearestguardposts inside the tower will hear, ringtheir own gongs, and charge into the dock-house to investigate.

Cyric will select a 12�-long, sturdy, plainopen wooden boat, flat-bottomed and wellused . Th is barge l ike c ra f t has threebenches, with oarlocks on the gunwales be-side each seat, so that as many as six peoplecan row it at the same time. He will orderthe PCs to provision it with oars, waterkegs, tarpaulins, and food from the stores inthe boathouse. Cyric instructs them to pad-dle it out into the stream if they are discov-ered, and then wait north of the bridge, asclose to the tower as possible, for his re-turn.

Regardless of how well the assault goes,Cyric will order at least two PCs (hirelingsor minor NPCs accompanying the PC partyshould be used, if such are along on this ad-venture) to seize one of the boats.

Cyric and any other PCs along on the ad-venture will then slip into the tower. Pairsof guards will be found at all the spots

markec �G� on the map. Cyric will curtly tellPCs not to go pillaging, reminding them thatthe only way to rescue the prisoners is toget in and out as quickly and as quietly aspossible. �Stay together,� he hisses fiercely,�and follow me!� Then he charges into thedarkness.

Cyric has no compunctions about slaugh-tering guards. He will put them out of hisway in any manner necessary, as long as it�squick, quiet, and will last until he expects tobe gone.

All guards inside the tower are 1st levelfighters with 9 hp each, wearing chain &shield (AC 4) and armed with spears, longswords, maces, and daggers. Each pairstands within 20� of a torch in a wallbracket; under each torch is an alarm gong.

If an alarm is raised, the entire guard con-tingent of the aboveground section of thetower (48 1st level soldiers in chain mail)will arrive in waves of six, one group everytwo rounds. The last two waves will bearmed with halberds, and will carry cockedand loaded crossbows. If an alarm is notsounded, each stairway in the tower willhave two guards posted at the top of it.

The upper stories of the Tower of Ashabaare home to many of the officials of Sha-dowdale and members of their staffs. How-ever, due to a general state of exhaustionand losses suffered in the recent battle, thecivilians who remain in the tower are asleepin their rooms and will not be roused by theguards (who consider themselves capable ofdealing with this intrusion). If the PCs enterone of the guardrooms, they will run into aforce of six soldiers who will sound analarm and then attack. If they raid thekitchen (area #6), they�ll meet two fat,middle-aged cooks (husband and wife) whowill fearfully give them food before duckingout the slop-chute (area #7) into the night, interror. (PCs must remove all their armor ifthey want to follow.)

The DM must create an atmosphere of ex-citement as the PCs stealthily cut their wayacross the tower�s ground floor and downinto the dungeons. If PCs take up the gear offallen guards and assume their posts, theimposture will not be discovered until thenext shift reports for duty, in three hours�time.

After the rescuers reach the dungeon,they will eventually have to encounter thesix guards sitting in the large cavern (be-cause these men have the keys to the cells).The guards are playing a dice game called�thabort�: 2d6 are rolled six times, with theroller trying to roll every number from 1through 6 to collect half the bets, and theonlookers betting on how many rolls will beneeded to do this after two rolls have been

6

made; those who guess right split the otherhalf of the pot. The guards are so deeply ab-sorbed in the game that surprising andovercoming them should not be difficult.

Each guard has as many as three keys (de-pending on how many prisoners are beingheld): a master door key (opens any cell) andtwo manacle keys (but never both for thesame set of manacles).

All the guards here are 3rd level fighterswith 20 hp, wearing chain mail (AC 5) andvariously armed with whips, clubs, staves,and daggers. Against the wall behind themlean six halberds, and on a stone shelfnearby are 12 dusty steel vials, all stopperedwith rocks and sealed with wax. One,marked with a purple triangle, is a sleepingdraught (for subduing stubborn prisoners).Anyone so much as sipping it must save vs.poison at -5 or fall asleep for 3d4 turns in adrugged slumber that won�t be broken byslapping, shouting, or attack. The effectswill be apparent 1d4 + 1 rounds after sam-pling the potion, and are instantaneouswhen they do occur.

The other vials are all potions of healingthat can restore 2d4+2 hp of damageapiece. One (determine randomly) willcause the imbiber to radiate a bright greenfaerie fire radiance for 2d4 turns.

The alarm gong in the dungeon is cracked.Even when it was fully functional, its noisenever reached beyond the top o f thedungeon stairs (to reach this point of thedungeon, Cyric or the PCs should have dis-posed of any guards there already). Oneround after any fight erupts in the cavern, aseventh guard will enter the cavern from hispost (sitting on a stool near the cells) with hisweapons ready and expecting trouble.

Cyric will leave the cavern as soon as hecan, with whatever keys the rescuers haveclaimed from the guards, and go to free theprisoners. (The DM, by deciding whichguards are carrying which keys, can makethis process as laborious or as easy as hewishes.) Cyric will be primarily interestedin freeing Midnight (his longtime friend)and Adon (if he is imprisoned). He will ex-hort Midnight to accompany him on a questfor the Tablets of Fate, and she will agree togo-but she will also insist (if Cyric seemsreluctant to do so) that he free all the PCsand allow them to come along.

cells� and releases everyone. �Out� now!�he says in a loud whisper. �Make for theboat� quick and quiet!�

Midnight, rubbing her wrists and shak-ing off her grogginess, gives Cyric anearnest look. �We�ll need all the help wecan get,� she says. �These others have en-dured much with me so far, and I will notgo on without them.�

Cyric nods curtly, moves to the other

Regardless of how cautious the assaultparty has been, they will be discovered byrestless, off-duty guards when they reachthe top of the dungeon stairs. An alarm israised!

Guards will begin to arrive (six every tworounds, as previously noted). Cyric, Adon,Midnight, and the PCs will be forced to fleed o w n t h e A s h a b a i n t h e d a r k n e s sforthwith-or perish.

Cyric will order the PCs to �sink all thoseboats,� indicating the other craft in thetower boathouse. This will cause a fight inthe moonlight as the PCs try to scuttle theboats and fight off the aroused guards ofthe tower. Guards will also come runningfrom the encampment atop the Old Skull,armed with crossbows, long swords, andspears to line the eastern bank of the riversouth of the tower as the PCs escape. If thePCs did not act quickly enough to scuttle theboats while Cyric, Adon, and Midnight ranfor the escape craft, they may be forced torun along the riverbank, zigzagging to avoidcrossbow-bolts and flying spears, and thenleap into the water and swim in order tocatch the stolen boat. The guards willspread out to cover both banks of the river,preventing the escape craft from comingashore until it is out of the dale.

As the boat moves past the bridge, theguards there will peer out uncertainly atthe shouting coming from the north, andthen will cast their spears down at the boatpassing beneath the bridge (A dozen will bethrown, at -2 to hit because of the dark-ness. Characters who take refuge under thebenches or beneath shields will be un-harmed.) Guards will rush from the towerto the bridge, shouting.

The water is running with surprisingspeed. As the boat slips away down thedark river, you hear a guard curse.

�They�re getting away, gods blast themall! This is what comes of wagging jawsand holding trials and all, and not simplysinking steel into the lot of them withoutdelay! Guilty? Kill �em then, I say�don�tput it off �til highsun tomorrow; it alwaysinvites all this slaughter and getting usout of bed in the middle of the night!�

The soldier beside the complainingguard replies softly, �And what if I calledevery man or maid found in suspicious

straits guilty, and put steel to them thereand then, as you suggest? I�d soon nothave anyone to wake up in the middle ofthe night, would I?� You recognize thequiet authority of this second voice; it isMourngrym�s.

Event 4: Well Metby Moonlight

The boat rushes down the Ashaba, rock-ing and pitching in the strangely wildwaves. The roiling waters carry youswiftly into the broad expanse of themillpond, and then something appearsfrom the dark trees on your left.

It is a man in a dark robe, standing inthe empty night air as though he is onsomething solid but invisible. He floatsquickly toward you, raising a hand.�Well met,� he says softly. It is Lhaeo,Elminster�s scribe. �I have some things ofinterest to you, and bring you the bless-ings of Mystra in addition.�

Lhaeo is protected by a wall of force, andfloats upon an invisible disc of the samematerial. He will be unharmed by all at-tacks, and will not retaliate. Regardless ofPC reactions, he will cast a small, seeminglylimp sack down into the boat with thewords, �May Art sustain thee,� and then sim-ply vanish.

The sack is a bag of holding. In it are Mid-night�s spell books (as well as any spellbooks or scrolls seized from PCs upon theirimprisonment); any essential weapons andgear that were confiscated from PCs whenthey were imprisoned; seven steel vials con-taining potions of extra-healing (3d8 + 3 hprestored per vial); a robe of useful items(DM�s choice of optional contents, althoughpatches signifying gems and gold pieces arerecommended); a rod of resurrection (only6 charges left); and a crystal sphere. Thissphere is wrapped in a piece of soft hide, onwhich has been written: �If this crystal shat-ters, it has come within an arm�s reach of anitem of Greater Art: an artifact, as the sagescall them, or one of the Tablets of Fate. Praynot for success, but make thine own.�

7

This chapter begins as the adventurers�boat leaves Shadowdale.

The River Ashaba tends to be shallow(about 8� deep) and rocky-bottomed. Nor-mally a placid, easily traveled waterway, theAshaba is currently feeling the effects ofphysical chaos. The river is fast-flowing (asmuch as 120 feet per round) and, because ofits shallowness and rough bottom, very tur-bulent. The DM should bear this in mindwhen determining the fates of characterswho enter the water.

Some guidelines: Characters who strikebottom will suffer 1d6 damage per occur-rence, due to the rocks, but if not judged tobe seriously hurt can readily kick againstthe bottom to propel themselves to the sur-face in order to breathe. The fast-flowingAshaba will rapidly carry characters in thewater downstream, but the boat, if deliber-ately propelled, can reach and outrun drift-ing or struggling characters in 1d4 + 1rounds. A character in the water who is hitby the boat suffers 1d4 damage and mustmake a Constitution Check to avoid beingknocked senseless; drowning may follow ifthe character is unaided.

Any character in the water may meetwith any sort of fresh-water aquatic mon-ster; the chaos has stirred up life in theAshaba as well as its waves. Any sort of trea-sure that floats (food, lightly loaded woodencrates, and the like) may be found in the wa-ter or on the banks nearby.

The turbulence of the Ashaba createsstrong eddies or back-currents in additionto the main flow: the DM can introducewhirlpools or undertows, or sweep acharacter�even a non-swimmer-up into asnag, or clear out of the water at a bend orislet. The DM should batter the PCs with theriver, but not force them onto dry land orslay them outright.

Current toFreedom

Event 1: Fast

The River Ashaba has a fast, vicious cur-rent that surprises everyone,

Cyric mutters, �Always placid, they said,all of them, and not everyone had reasonto lie . . . . This must be more of the doingsof the gods!�

The PCs will swiftly outdistance their pur-suers as the boat rushes on across the mill-pond and toward a bridge located south of

the pond.The area around this bridge is illuminated

by a circle of soft light. Amber faerie firespells have been cast on stones that arehung high in trees all around the guardpost,at least a hundred paces distant. The guardsthemselves are thus in gloom, looking out-ward at softly lit surroundings. They havelighted, hooded lanterns with them on thebridge. (If attacked by the PCs, they will castat least one of these down into the boat to il-luminate it, possibly burning PCs and set-ting afire flammable gear, such as scrollsand spell books.)

The guards at the bridge have not heardof the escape, and will do nothing unless at-tacked by those aboard the boat. Theywon�t know why a boat is traveling downthe treacherous river at night, but theywon�t be inclined to question what�s goingon. Then, by means of a magical message,they will learn that the boat is to bestopped-but their orders come just a bittoo late, when the boat is several dozenyards south of the bridge.

Crossbow bo l t s wi l l beg in r ippingthrough branches and leaves, hissing intothe water all around the boat as the riverwaters carry the craft into the deep woods.As the guards get off their first volley ofcrossbow fire, two of them will fire twobolts enchanted with light spells past theboat, aiming at the riverbanks as far downthe Ashaba as they can shoot, and by thelight of these the guards will be able to fireat the PCs for two more rounds.

Characters not under cover in the boatwill suffer damage from up to eight cross-bow bolts on the first round. Determinerandomly which characters have a chanceof being struck, then make attack rolls(THAC0 19) to see how many bolts causedamage. (The guards are +1 to hit fromshort range because of their skill.)

In the second round, as many as six boltswill have a chance to hit unprotected char-acters in the boat, but the guards� attackrolls are made with a -2 penalty for me-dium range (as the boat rushes on, gettingfarther away). In the third round, only fourbolts have a chance to hit (and will only doso on a roll of 20, regardless of the target�sArmor Class).

There are 10 male guards at the bridge, alllawful neutral 1st level human fighters ofAC 5 (chain mail), armed with crossbows (6bolts each), spears, daggers, maces, andshort swords. They all wear royal blue sur-coats adorned with the badge of Shadow-dale: a silver crescent moon, floating pointsuppermost, upon which is superimposedthe silver, spiral outline of the lower ofAshaba, which divides the crescent equally.

8

Their captain is a similarly equipped lawfulneutral half-elven female. She is a 3rd level fe-male fighter named Sieran, and is armed witha mace of spellwarding (a new magical item;see page 45). She will use it to dispel or reflectany magic cast at the guards.

If the PCs land to engage in combat, theguards will fight to the death to hold thebridge, and will try to slay the attackers,taking no prisoners. The fury of their attackshould drive the NPCs (Cyric, Midnight, andAdon) back to the boat; the PCs would bewise to follow.

The guards will not leave their post topursue the boat, and if the PCs do not actrashly, the boat should easily escape fromthe vicinity of Shadowdale.

OFFSTAGE EVENTIn Shadowdale, Mourngrym awakens a

sleeping Kelemvor (the battle companion ofAdon, Cyric, and Midnight) and convinceshim to lead the hunt for the missing pris-oners. Mourngrym gives him gems worth1000 gp per escaped prisoner to persuadehim to take the job, and promises an addi-tional 2000 gp per prisoner captured orproven killed when Kelemvor returns toShadowdale. Cursing to himself, Kelemvoragrees to lead the pursuit. The lord of Sha-dowdale organizes a pursuit force of adozen archers and a guide. With a hastilyeaten breakfast still warm in their stom-achs, they plunge into the woods, headingsouth along the river.

Event 2: Wreckand Runes

The moon sails through scudding cloudsas you race down the Ashaba. You needyour paddles to slow and steer the boat,not to propel it. The water is rushing sea-ward with frightening speed, rockingthe flat-bottomed boat from side to sideas though it were a cork floating in a rainbarrel during a storm. Several timesrocks grate and grind beneath you, mak-ing the boat shudder for a moment be-fore the current whirls you forward.

The physical chaos affecting the Realmsin this Time of Troubles has altered the nor-mally placid Ashaba in more ways than thespeed of its flow, Strange creatures, notknown to inhabit the river before now, lurkin its depths. Physical chaos should also beobvious in the surrounding lands (provideexamples from the table on the inside coveror of your own invention, to suit your cam-

paign) as the boat rushes ahead.For every turn that the boat is on the

Ashaba after getting past the southernbridge, the DM should roll for an encounter,referring to the Aquatic Encounter Table ifone is indicated. (The chance of an encoun-ter occurring is up to the DM, but it shouldbe relatively high�perhaps as great as 50%on every turn when a check is made.) Crea-tures will be aggressive and a little bewil-dered; most will fight to the death ratherthan fleeing if the battle goes against them.

As the boat rushes on through the night,PCs should be kept busy defending the boatfrom rocks and overhanging banks withpaddles, polearms, or weapons. During thisperilous voyage, the DM should initiate afrequently interrupted discussion of theparty�s future and goals, by playing theparts of the three NPCs (Midnight, Cyric,and Adon).

Any PCs present can take part in theheated discussion. All the NPCs agree thatthey must try to gain possession of the Tab-lets of Fate. Cyric is adamant that the tabletsbe used for personal gain, on the theorythat he trusts himself (and his companions)more than he trusts anyone else in Faerun.He would prefer that he and his compan-ions wield the powers of the tablets thananyone else. After all, everyone else wouldtry to use the tablets for personal gain, no

matter what visions or goals they might de-lude themselves into thinking they wouldaccomplish.

The other NPCs disagree. The chaos mustbe stopped, they say. The world seems to besliding into barbaric ruin, in which all lifewill ultimately perish. The heroes knowthat they must return the tablets to thePlanes. Then Lord Ao will remove the godsfrom the Realms.

Cyric sees that his companions are as ada-mant as he, and that if all of them persist indisagreeing, they will still be arguing whenthe gods themselves sweep down to destroythem. He makes one try to enlist Midnightas a partner in a grand scheme to use thetablets together to establish a new, stablekingdom. They can force a better order andnature upon the lands, not merely restorethe lifestyle. (Cyric really wants the tabletsin order to increase his personal power. Hecan then carve out a land of his own to rule,and whatever happens, he�ll be set for life.)

Midnight openly doubts his competenceto do this, reasoning that Cyric has nevermade a decision in his life, and has no skill atcommand nor experience with decision-making; he has no business consorting withgodlike powers.

PC involvement in the discussion shouldbe encouraged, but Cyric and Midnightshould be used to prevent any conclusion to

9

abandon the search for the tablets or evento leave the river. The NPCs should stressthat the river offers the fastest escape fromany pursuit from Shadowdale.

Whenever the council of war begins toflag, or the PCs involved are beginning todeduce some definite conclusions, the DMshould read the following:

Beneath you, there is a sudden, queasyshudder. The boat has struck somethingyielding-something alive?

An instant later, there is a powerfulsurge beneath your feet. The boat risessharply and tilts to one side. You hear adeep hissing from the water as the boatflips over. The creature sounds power-ful, fearless, and terribly, terribly angry.

a large, snakelike water monster, a quelzarn(a new monster; see page 47) having 8 HDand 52 hp. Driven up the Ashaba by thechaos in the waters of the Dragon Reachbrought on by the Fall of the Gods, it is baf-fled and irritated, and welcomes this oppor-tunity to feed and to lash out at something itcan fight. It will fight to the death, twistingand wriggling to pursue PCs up onto thebanks if necessary. All characters will be

In the darkness, the boat has collided with

dumped into the cold, rushing waters of theAshaba.

When the party is dunked, all PCs mustmake a Dexterity Check to avoid beingstruck by the boat, flying paddles, loosegear, or nearby drawn weapons, for 1d4 + 1points of damage.

The quelzarn has no treasure. In the fray,the boat will be turned over and completelysubmerged by the quelzarn�s weighty coils.The party�s food, spell books, and othergear will all be lost in the water. Midnightand Cyric, for all their impatience to getaway from Shadowdale, will refuse to leavethe site of the battle until dawn allows themto recover all they can from the river bot-tom. (Midnight will certainly recover herspell book; the fate of all other gear is up tothe DM.)

Midnight in particular will seem dazedfrom the effects of the battle, perhaps hav-ing been buffeted by flying paddles, theplunging boat, or the like. She will not beable to think of any magical aids to recovergear in the darkness (such as using lightspells cast on stones, etc.). If PCs do so, allowthem to benefit by gaining some time to eatand dry out, but delay them until dawn bypresenting them with a damaged boat to re-pair.

The DM should refer to the Known AreasEncounter Table (see inside cover) for nightencounters along the riverbank, and if ex-tensive swimming, wading, or diving oc-curs, the Aquatic Encounter Table shouldalso be consulted.

At dawn, PCs will need to cut fresh sap-lings or branches for replacement paddlesand poles (the originals having been eitherlost or splintered into uselessness in thewreck and battle). When they walk awayfrom the riverbank to find suitable pieces ofwood, they will come upon a nearby clear-ing in which the earth has been trampledhard by many feet, somewhat recently.

Two large boulders rise out of the tamped-down earth in the center of this clearing.The boulders are dark, and smooth withage. On one has been carved an open hu-man hand, fingers and thumb extended butheld close together. On the other is an etch-ing of a grinning human skull with a skeletalhand reaching from its mouth.

Small stones nearby have been set into theearth in a giant ring, connecting the twoboulders. On each stone is the twisted,blackened, waxy remnant of a burned-outcandle.

Alert PCs should recognize these runes asthe symbols of the gods Bane and Myrkul,which have apparently been linked to-gether by worshipers in some sort of cere-mony (the long-gone priests came to this

place by boat; there are no tracks leadingaway into the woods). If no PCs recognizethe runes, have Cyric or Adon do so, and re-veal their knowledge to all.

The PCs should be able to repair the boatquickly. Allow all spell books and valuablegear, such as magical items, to be recovered(unless you think the PCs are relying toomuch on a particular item); later, the adven-turers will need all the power they can mus-ter. If the PCs seem reluctant to resumetheir voyage down the river, a suddenshower (or two) of elven arrows out of thetrees should persuade them back into theboat in haste, and on down the Ashaba.

Event 3: Attackat Ashabenford

As the boat continues down the river, thewaters will become quick and turbulentagain, and Cyric will sarcastically needle thelargely silent, withdrawn Adon, calling him�a useless lump� and �a mouth to feed withno brain behind it.� Midnight will tell himsharply to �Hold thy tongue!� on two occa-sions. The second time this occurs, read thefollowing:

Cyric eyes Midnight thoughtfully, hisface expressionless. When he doesspeak, his voice is low and soft, almost agentle whisper. �And what of your Art,lady? What are you becoming, and whatwill you do with the power you�vegained?�

Midnight will say little, and appear to hon-estly not know just what powers she hasgained. The DM should allow frank PC dis-cussion of Mystra�s fate and the possibleuses of Midnight�s power if players desire.

Midnight will remind everyone thatElminster told them �the trail leads to Tan-tras,� and add thoughtfully, �I feel that we�llfind one of the tablets there, somehow.�

The day will pass with occasional monsterattacks from the skies (stirges and the like)or from the waters around the rushing boat(use the Aquatic Encounter Table), and withshouts and (always failing to hit) arrowsfrom unseen elves and men wandering inthe woods near the river.

As the sun sinks low and darkness gathersunder the trees, Cyric will insist on landingand making camp for the night, setting outguards and making as little noise and lightas possible.

10

�You all know what happened last night!�Cyric says, looking around at everyone.�I�m not going through that again, if wecan avoid it. Let�s land and make camp,while we can still see to do so! What if it�sa rock we hit next time-perhaps onewith a dragon sleeping on it, or an orcpatrol camped on it, eh?�

Whether the party lands or not, it will bethe next morning before the river carriesthem briefly out of the forest, into the openfarmland of Mistledale. The low, half-timbered buildings of Ashabenford loomahead as the churning river rolls down tomeet them. Read the players the followingpassage:

The boat slows, striking the bottom nowand then in a series of lurches and sud-den jolts. You can see the stones on thebottom around you: the water is veryshallow here. Ahead, you can see theford itself, where the overland roadcrosses the Ashaba in a muddy dip. Menof the village stand watching.

You hear a shout from somewhereahead, and men come running towardyou armed with long pikes, threshingflails, and boathooks. Somehow wordhas come from Shadowdale! Angryfarmers and villagers are hurrying to theford, to block your way.

�By all the gods,� Cyric mutters, �wasthat old man loved so much all aroundthese lands? What did he do, give awaygold to everyone?� He looks around. �Getready, all!� he says. �Be prepared to leapout and fight them off! We may have topush the boat through. Take down any-one right in our path; mayhap we canram our way past the ford!�

Three Mistledale Riders lead the attack.They are the only trained and equippedwarriors in Ashabenford at the moment:the others are on patrol at either end of thedale, or have not yet returned from the bat-tle in Shadowdale. The Riders are on foot,and are all 3rd level neutral good fighters:

Belmargh, a tall man with a jet-blackmoustache and scale mail, AC 6, 27 hp;

Belmira, a broad-shouldered woman withfierce eyes and short red hair, clad in stud-ded leather, AC 4 due to her Dex, 24 hp; and

Alasstan, a short, agile girl with longbrown hair, who wears no armor but is AC6 due to her 18 Dex, and has 21 hp.

All three Riders are armed with daggers(1d4), throwing axes (1d6), long swords

(1d8), and spetums (1d6+1). They will seekto force the boat toward the western bankat the ford, concentrating on disabling spell-casters (such as Midnight), while the mer-chants with them swarm into the boat to tryto halt its progress.

There are 12 merchants, 8 of whom willactually dare to fight. Most are stout andshort, all are without armor, and all arearmed with daggers (1d4), clubs (1d6), orstaves (1d6). Treat all as 1st level fighters forattack purposes, but attach penalties for be-ing unorganized (getting in each other�s wayand making other mistakes so as to uninten-tionally aid the PCs). They will not try totake any of the adventurers� gear, seekingonly to capture or kill. They will shout in-structions to one another, encouragementto the Riders, and cries for help. The mer-chants include Kaulvaerus (a horse trader),Lhuin (a leatherworker and saddlemaker),Braunstar (a cooper and wheelwright), andt h e f a r m e r s O s b r y n , M h a e r e k , a n dDarnym.

By dint of hard fighting (the DM can setthe pace for this with Cyric and Midnight),the adventurers should be able to win pastthe ford. Their attackers will run along thebanks for six rounds after the boat crossesthe ford, hurling clubs (a roll of 20 is re-quired for a hit that deals only 1d2 damage),and a hastily prepared �firebomb� (a flam-ing cloak wrapped around a fist-sized rockand hurled aboard). The DM should deter-mine the effects of this last token of affec-tion according to the presence and locationof flammables (oil pots, parchment, etc.), inthe boat, as the Ashaba picks up speed againand whisks the craft away.

The PCs should be allowed to leave theboat at the ford to engage in combat, but ifthey show intentions of stealing horses orotherwise trying to end the river voyagehere, the DM should do whatever is neces-sary to get them back in the boat. (For in-stance: physical chaos causes the ground toheave up and crack open, making overlandtravel hazardous if not impossible; horsespanic and run uncontrollably back towardthe river, calming down only after the PCshave dismounted. The NPCs will use verbalthreats or magical-but not physical-forceto get the PCs to see the error of their ways.)

Event 4: Magic inthe Mists

The boat rushes on, through the greatElvenwood, until night falls. Cyric will overseethe landing of the boat, and dragoon the PCsinto arranging armed watches for their nightcamp, if the PCs do not voluntarily do so.

This area is wilder than the woods be-tween Shadowdale and Mistledale. Thenight will be full of strange rustlings andcreakings, eerie hootings and callings in thewoods, and the adventurers will see far-offdancing lights (all harmless; either night-shine, a form of glowing moss, or witchfire,luminescent wisps of marsh gas). The DMshould roll for random monster encountersonce per turn, referring to the Wild AreasEncounter Table on the inside cover of thismodule, to see what hunting menaces do ap-pear.

The night is chilly; dawn brings mist onthe river. It persists as the adventurersclimb into the boat and are swept south-ward once more.

The current is strong, tugging the boatthis way and that, as you come out of thetrees into open country. A bit later in theday you round a bend in the river andcome upon a large area of water, per-haps a small lake, entirely shrouded inmist.

�The Pool of Yeven�� Cyric muttersgrimly, raising the pole he has been usingto guide the boat as if to ward off an un-seen attacker. �Look sharp, everyone!This place is . . . not well regarded.�

Before Cyric, Midnight, or anyone elsehas any opportunity to explain or impartany of the legends or reasons for the feyreputation of the pool, a figure will loom outof the mist.

Out of the roiling mist appears the darkfigure of a man in robes, trudging slowlytoward you-walking on the water! Hewears tattered black robes and cloak,and leans on a gnarled, bare, woodenstaff. He is old, white-haired and long-bearded; as he draws nearer, you dis-cover that you can see through him. Hiseyes are filled with tears.

�So much pain,� he gasps. �I had notthought it would hurt this much.� Hedraws himself up, in the empty air, andaddresses you. �Beware, heroes-to-be,�he says. �The Dark God, Bane, knowsyour quest and where the first tabletlies. Even now, he takes another avatar.�

Angrily, the old man continues. �Hisally, The Lord of Bones, seeks to destroyyou here, in my own pool! Beware thedead, for they are his to command . . . allsave Yeven.�

The old man gasps and seems to shiver.�For I am Yeven, and by my Art I . . . I

defy thee, damned Myrkul.� He gestures,and the mist rolls back, revealing the en-tire surface of the pool and the banks onall sides.

Then the staff in the man�s handshakes as he shudders, hunches over inapparent agony, and whispers fiercely, �Idefy thee-and to death return! Ye maycommand in the Realm of the Dead, buthere . . . here I can withstand thy power!Do thy own villainy! Yeven defies thee!�

The old man shakes, and his fleshcrumbles away, the weight of the beardpulling his jaw off as his clothing sagsand disintegrates to reveal a kneeling,shaking skeleton. Before your eyes itshatters, and crumbles, and is gone, leav-ing only the staff, floating upright in theair. An instant later the staff sinks fromsight into the water, and there is onlymist around you once more.

Yeven dwelt here long ago. A mage ofpower, he worked many magics here, creat-ing (among other things) many gates toother planes and �skyships� to sail the windsof Faerun. In some mysterious way, muchof his power became linked to, or investedin, the pool and its surroundings, and bythis means he is able to appear to the adven-turers, and defy the power of Myrkul tocontrol the dead.

Others who have drowned or been buriednear here were not so lucky. Myrkul�spower raises them from the earth and thewaters of the pool to attack the adventurersat this time. The god remains hidden, actingfrom afar to animate 20 skeletons (7 hpeach) and 10 zombies (8 hp each). They willrise, dripping, from the water, each assem-bling horribly from separate body parts be-fore the eyes of the PCs within 1 round tonefree attack for any adventurer who seizesthe opportunity).

The adventurers will see them on thebanks of the pool, ripping up out of theearth in a macabre dance of disembodiedskulls, bones and body parts, coming to-gether in eerie silence to attack. The undeadanimated by Myrkul are unique in only oneway: they can �walk� on water, air, or anysurface, to attack from whatever elevation(and from whatever angle) they choose.They will march out across the pool to en-velop the boat.

Six of the zombies and 14 of the skeletonswield rusting, crumbling blades. For everyround of combat, each adventurer in theboat must make a Dexterity Check to avoidbeing struck by a sword tip thrusting upthrough the bottom of the boat. A failed

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check means 1 hit point of damage suffered,and a Strength Check must be made. Afailed Strength Check means the struckcharacter suffers one of the following fates(DM�s choice: determine by situation or rollrandomly):

1. Character pinned in place for at leastthe next round (-4 penalty to AC, 1 addi-tional hp lost per round).

2. Character falls heavily (any characterattack or spell in that round is lost or ru-ined , -2 pena l ty to AC for fo l lowinground).

3. Character stumbles and drops weaponor spell component, delaying any intendedattack until next round.

4. Character falls into another character(if the second character is launching a spellor wielding a weapon or magical item, de-termine how this activity is affected, and ifthe falling character can be hit by theweapon he fell into, make a normal attackroll to see if this occurs).

5. Character falls out of the boat (possibledrowning, certain attack by undead, possi-ble loss of clothing, items, etc., as DM de-sires).

6. Character flails about wildly in pain(possibly hitting a companion, but certainlyruining any attack or personal activity re-quiring Dexterity, such as readying aweapon, tying a knot, casting a spell, sortingthrough a pack, etc.).

The undead will attack until destroyed;the leaking boat will begin to fill with wateras the Ashaba picks up speed again, pullingit toward the outflow at the lower end ofthe pool.

PCs who decide to land (Cyric, Midnight,and Adon will be too wounded, preoccu-pied, or dazed to argue or suggest anything;leave the decisions at this point to the PCs)to repair the boat will immediately face amonster attack, from a �thirst� (huntingflight, 4d6 in number) of stirges attracted bythe sounds of battle.

Luckily for the adventurers, none of thesestirges carry any infectious disease; unluck-ily for the adventurers, they are verythirsty, and cannot be driven away. The ad-venturers will be forced to kill them to berid of them.

Physical chaos will reign in the woodsaround the pool the entire time that the ad-venturers are present, but it will not affectthe pool itself, once Myrkul�s undead havebeen destroyed.

Any PCs looking around, examining thepool, or keeping watch will soon noticeYeven�s staff silently reappearing, floatingupright above the center of the pool. It willmake no sound or action, and is in fact

merely an apparition. If darkness has fallen,it will glow slightly with a green radiance. Itis a sign that the pool is under Yeven�s pro-tection, and a hint to the adventurers to ex-amine the pool�s depths.

Any adventurers doing so (employing wa-ter breathing and light and similar magics)will find that the pool is about 40 feet deepin most parts and has a hard rock bottom,strewn here and there with gravel carrieddown by the Ashaba. The racing current ofthe Ashaba does not affect the pool�s depths.Half buried in one gravel ridge is an ivory-colored marble statue of a long-haired,robed human.

If investigated, the statue will be identi-fied as a tall, slim woman, sculpted withhands outstretched. Where her face shouldbe is carved the sign of a many-pointed star.She is 6 feet tall.

Upon hearing this description, Midnightwill whisper, �Mystra!� in awed recognitionand demand that the statue be hauled to thesurface.

The DM should allow the PCs to do so,dragging it toward the nearest shore inshort dives if they lack ropes or othermeans of shifting the statue; it weighs onlyabout as much as five humans.

Midnight stretches out a hand to thestatue. Tentatively, almost reverently,she reaches out her fingers to touch itsstar �face.�

There is a sudden blaze of blue-whitefire about Midnight�s fingers. Her hairstirs about her shoulders, and she laughswith delight. �A kind gift indeed, Yeven!�she says to the empty air about. �Mythanks!�

Midnight seems invigorated and pos-sessed of new power. She has actually beenhealed of all current physical damage, andhas had spells magically restored to hermind, ready to cast anew. She has also in-stantly and permanently gained an experi-ence level, earning new spell ability and 4additional hit points. She will not speak ofthis to any of her companions.

Any PCs touching or closely examiningthe statue (Adon and Cyric will be reluctantto do so) will find it to be without seams,markings, latches, cavities, or any hiddenopenings.

Merely touching either of the statue�s out-stretched, open hands will activate theirpowers, however. Note that there are no in-structions or indications that one should doso; PCs will have to discover this.

The left hand functions seven times, andits powers will then cease. The first seven

characters to touch it will be instantly andpainlessly cured of all physical damage (hplosses), diseases, poison effects, insanity,mental control or compulsion of any sort(including existing geas or quest spells), con-fusion, weariness, or feeblemindedness.Missing limbs or digits will be regenerated,scars and bruises will vanish, and so forth.

If Kelemvor is later brought to this statue,the hand�s touch will cause him to brieflybecome a panther, and will cure all of the illslisted above that he may suffer at the time,but will not remove the curse. The statuewill not in fact remove curse for anyone.

The right hand will instantly, silently, andsafely recharge (restoring 2d6 charges) thefirst nine rechargeable magical i temstouched to it. All items bearing a dweomer,including potions and scrolls, and artifactseven if they do not emit a dweomer, willglow with a faint blue-white radiance whentouched to this hand, even after its recharg-ing powers are exhausted.

If the powers of both hands of the statueare exhausted, the statue will slowly and si-lently rise into the air by itself, levitate outover the surface of the pool to the center,and then sink back under the waters. Theimage of Yeven�s staff will briefly reappearover the spot where it disappears fromview.

An additional unadvertised power of thestatue: magic cast or activated within 30� ofthe statue receives a +30% bonus on theMagical Chaos Table. Magic cast or activated31 to 60 feet distant from the statue gets a15% bonus.

If the party tries to move the statue awayfrom the pool to hide it, or tries to put it onthe boat (which will immediately begin tosink under its weight) or otherwise removeit from the pool, read the following passage:

A gentle, weary-sounding male voicespeaks to you, from empty air:

�Upon pain of Mystra�s doom, do notmove this, her image, from this place.Loyal Yeven guards it, beyond death, andwise Ashaba will rise up to aid him, ifyou escape the pool. Other mages standbehind them, gone from fair Faerunwith the passing years, but still sworn toserve Mystra.

�I stand with them; Azuth is my name.I wish you well, if you mean well in thisplace. Know you that no magic mayharm or affect this statue, and no mortalmay move it except the Magister andthose Mystra herself gives leave to do so.All others who do will find that all magicthey work, from this moment forth, is

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twisted and awry� and works againsttheir desires in the end.

�That is Mystra�s doom� decreed byThe One Who is Hidden to outlast evenher passing.�

Azuth (see page 42) will appear, floating inthe air above the pool, if any of the adven-turers persist. (Cyric, for one, is tempted tobuild a raft and take the statue away, butcan readily be talked out of this; he will real-ize all too soon that the pool is a saferhiding-place for the statue than anywhereelse.)

Yeven, Ashaba (an expert at water magics,who ultimately polymorphed himself into awater elemental and merged with the wa-ters of the river that bears his name, neverto be seen again), and the �other mages� thatAzuth mentions will not appear.

Azuth himself will not attack the party. IfPCs attack, he will avoid their attacks pas-

sively and effortlessly, and then will calmlyand sadly proclaim the following: �I pro-nounce Mystra�s Doom upon thee, Adon,son of Phylicia and Abrasax, follower ofSune Firehair�� and so on for each memberof the party trying to remove the statue ornot actively speaking or working against theremoval of the statue. (He will thus revealthe deities and parentage of each partymember involved to the rest of the party,whether they want him to or not.) When heis done, he will stare steadily at the party,and the statue will rise by itself and vanishinto the pool, as described earlier.

If the PCs persist or return to the pool inreinforced strength later to seize the statue,Azuth will appear in order to prevent its re-moval with all of his power.

Mystra�s Doom is simply the �twistedmagic� that Azuth referred to. All magic (ei-ther spell or item) ever wielded by a cursedcharacter will be affected by magical chaos,even after the Time of Troubles is past(probably forcing a change of profession on

spellcasters). It can be removed, for serviceto Mystra or her causes, by Azuth, any cur-rent Magister, or any who hold the power todo so from Mystra (e.g. Elminster, Khelben�Blackstaff� Arunsun, Alustriel of Silvery-moon, The Simbul, Mystra�s successor, andothers as yet unrevealed).

Midnight will be adamantly against the re-moval of the statue, and will not be cursed.

The statue itself turns (as a ring of spellturning) all magic worked upon it 100%back upon the caster/wielder (this includesspell-like natural abilities).

PCs will readily be able to find saplings,bark, clay, and tree-gum near the pool to re-pair their boat. Myrkul will not mount a sec-ond attack upon them, but the DM shouldroll on the Known Areas Encounter Tableonce every three turns (once every twoturns at night) if the adventurers tarryhere, and increase monster attacks steadilyif the adventurers try to leave the river totravel overland.

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This chapter begins as the adventurersleave the Pool of Yeven, heading eastwarddown the roaring River Ashaba.

OFFSTAGE EVENTS1. The posse from Shadowdale that is pur-

suing the escaped prisoners, led by the NPCKelemvor, makes very slow travel throughthe woods. Upon reaching Ashabenford,hearing of the battle, and that the boatpassed through (Event 3 in Chapter 21, Ke-lemvor realizes that they�ll never catch upwith the fleeing boat while traveling alongthe riverbanks, nor by taking to the waterthemselves. His former companions havebuilt up too much of a lead.

Their only hope of catching the fleeing ex-prisoners is by riding hard on the roads (viaThe Standing Stone) to reach BlackfeatherBridge, to wait for the boat there before theboat passes it.

Even as he gives the orders and they startoff on the long, pounding ride, Kelemvorbegins to have misgivings about catching hisfriends. Wrongly imprisoned, perhaps; andif so, what did they do wrong in fightingtheir way to freedom?

2. Myrkul, God of the Dead, has aided his

Before the Fall, Bane hid the tablet he had

ally Bane. Helping Bane to reassemble hisscattered energies into a ghostlike �anima�

stolen in the treasure chambers of the tem-

form, he has guided Bane�s anima to the

ple of Torm in Tantras: a perfect place, he

nearest powerful gathering of Bane�s priest-hood, at Zhentil Keep.

thought at the time, but one that is now im-

There, Bane chooses to possess FzoulChembryl as his next avatar (in part due to

periled by Torm�s arrival in the city and

Fzoul�s Zhentarim links and knowledge, andpartly to control, punish, and if necessaryeradicate him: Fzoul has been the least loyal

growing power.

of Bane�s powerful priests in the Realms).Bane wants to capture Midnight. He fears

and does not understand her growingpowers and her link with Mystra. He is sus-picious about her knowledge of the where-abouts of the Tablet of Fate that he hid, andwonders if Midnight is an unwitting agentof The One Who Is Hidden, perhaps Ao�sway of testing Bane to see if he is still fit tobe the Lord of Tyranny.

Bane learns from Zhentarim spies thatMidnight has escaped from Shadowdale byboat down the Ashaba, and resolves to takecustody of her personally when his forcescapture her and bring her to Scardale.

Bane�s agents (the Zhentarim, in particu-lar) have been ordered to seize control ofScardale, giving Bane a naval base fromwhich to attack Tantras.

Magical chaos makes Bane mistrustful ofhis own still-weak magic (and that of theZhentarim and his loyal priests). He resolvesto sail to Scardale, taking a fleet of six small,fast ships so as not to alarm Hillsfar,Mulmaster, or Sembia into viewing this asan invasion and trying to stop his fleet. Mes-sengers are sent to Scardale to advise thegarrison of Bane�s intended arrival, and toorder Midnight captured and brought toScardale as a prisoner, to await Bane.

Event 1: AnUnexpectedVisitor

This event can occur whenever the partylands on the shore to make camp. (If the PCsare resolved to sail right down the riverwithout stopping, the boat will spring leaks,forcing a landing near dusk for repairs.)

Suddenly, a robed, bearded figure ap-pears in midair, seemingly from no-where. He smiles at you, and nods. Yourecognize . . . Elminster!

Looking none the worse for wear, hesays, �Ah, there ye are! Fled fast enough,didn�t ye? Quite a game I�ve had, findingye.�

Elminster will step down from the air,striding straight toward Midnight.

�Good lady!� Elminster says airily. �Timehas run on like a river, as they say, until ithas come upon a certain rock. A rockwhere ye and I must sit down for abreath or two and have a little privatetalk.�

If the PCs say, �But you�re dead! They ac-cused us!� or �What happened at the tem-ple?� or anything of the sort, he�ll merelywave one hand and say calmly, �Ah, yes.Nasty business, that.� (If no PC says any-thing, the astonished Midnight will!)

A minute or so later, she�ll scream. If thePCs don�t try to rescue her, there�ll be somefireballs and similar magic, and she will

Elminster will draw Midnight aside intothe trees, out of sight. She will go with him

come running, frightened and bleeding,

willingly, waving away any PCs who try to

back to the party, panting that �He attacked

accompany them, or to follow and eaves-drop.

me . . . his hands . . . like claws! He . . . got

away!�If PCs investigate, they�ll find her strug-

gling to fight something that is shifting forminto a likeness of . . . her! It is a dopple-ganger, with 30 hp, and it will escape whenthe party approaches. Its treasure is a foot-long , taper ing s t i ck o f wood (a now-exhausted wand of illusion, which it used tomake its semblance as Elminster appear tofloat in midair), a potion of healing, and twopurses, torn from previous victims, contain-ing a total of 10 gp.

Event 2: ThelnRoaringhorn

Soon after the doppleganger attack, asnight falls (and preferably when the party ison the riverbank, not sailing down theAshaba), read the following passage:

A man steps out of the trees and hailsyou. �Travelers!� he calls in a deep voiceof grace and dignity. �Well met! I amTheln Roaringhorn, Servant of Lathan-der. I come in peace, but being alone inthese dangerous times, I fear for my hideevery night. Might I share your fire? Iwill work healing on any one amongstyou who most needs it, if you will let meshare your company until the morrow.�

T h e m a n i s s h o r t b u t b r o a d -shouldered. He wears the rose-pinkrobes of a priest of Lathander, and overthem rose-colored padded armor. Fromhis belt swings an iron mace. His handsare empty. He wears a metal helm, and athis throat dangles the rose-colored discof Lathander.

Theln Roaringhorn speaks the truth. He isa wandering 6th level cleric of Lathander:AC 8; MV 12; hp 38; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6+1(mace); Str 14, Int 15, Wis 18, Dex 13, Con17, Cha 15; AL NG; THAC0 18. Theln is atalkative, kindly, cultured man. For dona-tions to Lathander, he will cast cure lightwounds spells on additional party membersother than the one promised in return forthe party�s protective company overnight.

He is truly who he claims to be, and willprove honest and trustworthy. His only pos-sessions are a cure light wounds (x4) scrollslid down one boot and a purse in the toe ofthe other, which contains 1 pp, 4 gp, 12 sp,and 1 cp (both of Theln�s boots are much toolarge; the toe of the other is stuffed withclean, unused bandages).

Theln will heal a party member as prom-ised, suggest tutors in Scardale if asked (see

14

Event 5 in Chapter 4 for a list of possible tu-tors), and chat a lot.

Them was born in Waterdeep (of a noblefamily), and has spent many years travelingacross Faerun in the service of Lathander,God of the Morning. He has only recentlyarrived in the Dragon Reach area, and al-though he is both a curious and observantman, he has not yet become familiar withthe area.

Theln will recount rumors of the Zhen-tarim taking power in Scardale (the place isfull of mercenaries and Zhentilar soldiers;the garrisons left by Hillsfar, Sembia, andCormyr after the fall of Lashan seem tohave disappeared). Them also has rumors ofBane himself ruling Zhentil Keep, the godTorm ruling Tantras in person from hisgreat temple there, thousands of ships de-stroyed in a great storm to the south cre-a t e d b y t h e g o d d e s s U m b e r l e e , a n dLathander himself walking the Realms inTethyr or thereabouts.

If the PCs are polite and seem attentive,Theln will lean forward after passing on theabovementioned gossip, and whisper:

�There�s something more, too. Last win-ter Lathander himself appeared to thefaithful�in Soubar, it was, at a littleshrine there�and imparted a prophecy.

Told us it was prophecy himself, wordsthat came from �The Hidden One.�

�Ever since, all of the most high andpowerful of the followers of Lathanderhave been trying to learn who or whatthis Hidden One is. They�ve got nothingsure, for all their looking; even inCandlekeep. Oh, they found one or twowhispers of the name, but no more;nothing to tell us anything about whothis Hidden One might be, or was.

�Exist he must, for it came from thelips of Lathander himself. He�s never ledus false, and never will; and though evena priest might speak falsehood on occa-sion, I doubt that they reported thiswrongly to us lesser of the faithful; theywere too puzzled for that. If they�d liedto us, they�d have said something grandabout their divining the true meaning ofLathander, or about him imparting themeaning of his words only to them.

�For good or ill, in the end they re-vealed all to us, and ordered all the faith-ful to seek far and wide across Faerunfor news o f th i s Hidden One . Youwouldn�t, perhaps . . . ?�

Whether the PCs tell Theln anythingabout The One Who Is Hidden or not, Thelnwill be eager to pass on the prophecy:

�I believe all should hear this prophecy,for times have turned dark indeed, andall of good heart must work together orperish together in this twisting of magic,and whelming of beasts and stormfuryover all the lands. Hearken then, to thewords of Lathander:

� �Pride will in time cause a terribletheft. Because of this sin, all the gods willbe cast down into Faerun. What wastaken must then be found, ere they canre turn whence they came, and theRealms return to peace.

� �What will be stolen is twofold. Onelieth hidden in a holy place in Faerun,and one lieth near Faerun, in a placewhere the dead reign.

� �What was stolen must be recoveredby mortal hands. If this recovery comesto pass, the fallen shall rise, the land shallbe restored, and two mortals shall be ex-alted.� �

The DM should use Theln to answer anyPC questions about Realms background in-formation and current events for whichthey need to know the answers.

Even if not asked about Scardale, Thelnwill assume that the adventurers are travel-ing there (after all, that�s where the rivergoes, and the lands around are filled with

15

small bands of armed men heading for Scar-dale: gathering Zhentilar troops, althoughTheln does not know this). He will suggestthat the party �keep heads low and voicessoft� if they visit Scardale. If the PCs askwhat he means, or for more information orsuggestions, read the following:

�Soldiers are all over the place in thescar right now, and the prudent�even,ahem, prudent adventurers, if suchexist�keep themselves out of harm�sway. You�d best find a place to lie low, oryou�ll soon find yourselves wearingZhentilar darkhelms and marchingaccursed-Bane-alone-knows-where, orjust bleeding in a gutter.

�Seek out the Spouting Fish. It�s a placeFriendly to travelers, even now, and theysay little about who comes and goes, andwhere they�re from or who they bow to.You�ve little enough choice, anyway; theGreen Griffon�s a barracks, now, withthe town full of Zhentilar soldiers, andthe Ashabenmouth Arms burned downa few rides back. There�s a tavern, too,the Singing Siren, if you don�t mindsleeping in the cellar or on the roof witha lot of snoring drunks, but no doubt thesoldiers will be crammed into it everynight, if it�s still standing. No, it�s the Fishor nothing.

�You�ll find it on the north side of SuthStreet, about halfway up from the docks,between Sarkh Street and the Flameway.It has a signboard out over the street,and looks like it�s about to fall down.Green-tiled roof, porch with rottingboards, and pillars carved into mermaidand sea-serpent shapes, round windowin the front door, of a-no, it�s probablybroken by now. Anywhether, you�ll findSuth Street by bearing north from theWestmoot, just inside the gate. Go upShawl Street-that�s the one with all theawnings-and look for where it splits, bya fountain of four dolphins. Take the left-hand street, and that�s Suth Street.

�If you come at it the other way, fromthe docks, Suth Street comes out be-tween two dirty old warehouses. Rightby it, a loading-boom stands; a littlecrane. It�s the northernmost boom in theharbor, the one closest to HarborwatchKeep. Oh, yes: the Keep�s a round tower,the biggest one in Scardale, and the onlyone that overlooks the harbor.�

The incredibly helpful Theln is in a hurryto go westward, to Highmoon to an agreed-upon meeting with his �good friend� There-men. He will refuse to accompany the party,

or even tarry with them for a day.If the PCs rob, delay, or harm Theln,

Theremen (a half-elven 4th level fighter)will arrive in the morning looking for him,with a mounted force of 14 men-at-armsand 10 elven archers. Theremen Ulath isthe lord of Deepingdale, and is armed with along sword, a long bow, and (among hisother shafts) six arrows +3.

Event 3:Bloodshed atBlackfeatherBridge

This event occurs as the party, travelingdown the river toward Feather Falls, ap-proaches Blackfeather Bridge

In the distance you see the low grey linesof a massive stone bridge spanning theriver: Blackfeather Bridge. As the rush-ing Ashaba sweeps you closer, you alsosee men standing on the bridge-men inarmor. They have bows drawn andaimed at you, arrows ready to fire!

�Turn the boat!� Cyric roars. �We�rebut waiting corpses if we float rightdown into those shafts! We�ll all be slain,sure!�

Cyric orders everyone to try to pole andpaddle the boat, rushing on in the wild cur-rent, toward shore. All of the NPCs will tryto do so (and so should the PCs; the DMshould make it clear that it is obvious fromthe twelve waiting, gleaming arrowheadsthat Cyric is right). Anyone trying to castspells will be promptly thrown to theirknees by the pitching of the boat (ruiningthe casting).

The Ashaba is especially shallow here (6�deep) and rocky-bottomed. The notes thatopened Chapter 2 regarding the river applyhere. Characters who abandon themselvesto the water or are disabled will be sweptunder the br idge in two rounds , and

In the confusion (regardless of PC hero-ics), Adon accidentally tips the boat over,spilling everyone into the dangerously

whirled downstream for at least another

rough waters. Valuable gear may well belost, and all of the PCs face the possibility of

four rounds before fetching up against a

drowning (all of the NPCs will survive, al-though the DM should not make this appar-

snag or being able to fight the current to

ent immediately).

reach shore. During that time, they will facethe threat of damage from at least one ar-row per round, all of them fired at +2 dueto good visibility and the high level of thearchers, who are all skilled huntsmen, anddue to the lowered maneuverability of theadventurers struggling in the water. (Swim-ming characters have a base movement rateof 40 feet per round, modified by encum-brance and the current.) The archers are all1st level fighters, AC 7 (studded leather ar-mor) and 8 hp, and have a normal THAC0 of20.

The archers will begin to fire shafts fromtheir long bows as the boat overturns, care-fully aiming at individual targets in the wa-ter They fire two sheaf arrows each perround (1d8 damage per arrow), short rangeto 50 yards, medium range to 100, and longrange to 170.

Standing on the bridge beside them, Ke-lemvor does nothing. He shudders andtwists, his mind in turmoil as he watches hisfriends in the water, and looks sidelong atthe archers calmly peppering them withshafts. Then something inside him breaks.

With a sudden roar, Kelemvor turns into apanther and attacks the men from Shadow-dale. His transformation begins on the thirdround of archery, and he attacks an archer,in panther-form, during the fourth round.

To determine the number of arrows thearchers fire from then on, the DM shoulduse this guideline: any archer attacked byKelemvor directly in a round will fire no ar-rows at the adventurers (he may strike atKelemvor with one arrow or a dagger, ormay stab with an arrow as if it were a dag-ger). In addition, one of three other eventswill occur: (1) One or two additional archerswill be distracted and automatically misswith their shafts; (2) One or two otherarchers will fail to get off one of their twoshots; or (3) the archer(s) attacked by Ke-lemvor will manage to fire only once in theround at the panther troll 1d3 to determinewhich result, or decide according to the sit-uation).

Each archer has two quivers of 21 shaftseach. One, filled with the lighter flight ar-rows (1d6 damage, range 7/14/21), is slungon each archer�s back, and the other, con-taining the sheaf arrows currently in use, isleaning on the bridge parapet in front ofeach archer, supported by poles cut for thispurpose, which the archers can snatch upto use as quarterstaves when fighting Ke-

Kelemvor strikes the archers at +1 to hitfor the first three rounds. Archers are slowto react, and hampered in their movementsby the narrow confines of the bridge, whilestanding with their fellows and holding longbows, with quivers in the way.

16

lemvor. Each archer also has two daggers,one at his belt and one in a sheath in hisright boot; a short sword; and his bow(which does 1d3 damage when used as aclub).

If a PC decides to engage an archer, he orshe must swim to the bank near the bridgeand then charge the archers. This will re-quire at least five rounds. By that time,some of the archers will have fled back upthe road to their winded horses, and Kelem-vor�s raging attacks will have thrown the en-tire bridge into confusion.

At this point�unnoticed by any of thecombatants�Cyric swims to the northernbank and vanishes straight into the woods.The other NPCs, when they notice Cyric�sabsence after the end of the hostilities, willassume that he has drowned and beenswept downstream (and the PCs, having noreason to think otherwise, should agreewith this conclusion).

When the bridge is clear of archers, orwhen PCs have reached the bridge and en-gaged the remaining archers, the pantherwill waver and stagger, and Kelemvor willbecome human again, amid the spatteredgore, and promptly faint.

If the PCs try to pursue the archers whofled up the road, they will find men andmounts alike gone. If they consider leavingthe river at this time, distract them with animmediate attack from the trees:

�Seems that way� does it not?� Kelem-vor�s rough� somewhat weak voice re-plies. �Let me up� will you?�

Out of the trees comes a flock of dark�

heavily flapping things� rusty red in hue�with long� needle-pointed beaks or stingsbetween their glittering yellow eyes.

�Mystra save us!� Midnight snarls. �Athirst of stirges! To arms!�

The flock of stirges is 16 in number. Aswith the group encountered earlier, thesecreatures are ravenously hungry and can-not be driven off; they must be killed.

After the PCs defeat the stirges, the boatand what gear can be found must be res-cued. The boat has lodged against thebridge pilings, which Adon will point out iswidely known to be the fate of all barges notpoled so as to prevent this, in normal times,and everyone will be thoroughly soaked.Midnight and Adon will revive Kelemvor.When this is accomplished, read the follow-ing passage:

�Are you traveling with us, then?� Mid-night asks softly, as she and Adon bendover the wan, blood-spattered warrior.

It is at this point when everyone will no-tice (if they haven�t already) that Cyric is no-where to be found. Adon, more pessimisticthan Midnight, will immediately assume theworst. Midnight will be obviously saddened,but successfully struggle to retain her com-posure (�We have to expect this sort ofthing; it�s a miracle none of us have gonedown before now.�). Kelemvor, when hecomes to realize that the posse he led wasresponsible for Cyric�s demise, will vent hisfury by hammering his fist against thebridge, but will as quickly recompose him-self. The PCs should be allowed to formtheir own conclusions, but under no cir-cumstances will the NPCs allow any attemptto locate Cyric�s body. (�Whether we find hisbody or not, we�re no better off than we arealready. There are better ways to use ourtime,� Midnight will say.)

When discussion of this topic is closed,Kelemvor will struggle up, look at the be-draggled PCs and snort, and then say:

�Best to get on with it. If you lot of he-roes�ll get the boat righted and gathersome firewood, I�ll take Adon here andfind us some food. Come on, dextrousone!�

Midnight chuckles. �Now, now-atleast it�s always the same boat that getstipped over; you ought to be getting ac-customed to fixing it by now. Haul away,the lot of you, if you want to eat!�

As Kelemvor and Adon vanish into a smallgrove of trees nearby, Midnight will crisplydirect the PCs in standing watch, spreadingout wet things on rocks and bushes to dry,gathering wood, and so on.

Eventually, Kelemvor and Adon will re-turn, Adon staggering as he drags a smallboar while Kelemvor struts alongside himcarrying a couple of freshly killed rabbits.

The DM should force the PCs to camp,due to damage of the boat, approachingdark, and universal agreement againstpressing on among the NPCs (�Knowingwhat we know of Scardale, what need isthere for haste now?�) if necessary.

Event 4:DarknessPounces

This event occurs when the PCs arecamped after Event 3, just as darkness isfalling.

A sudden snorting and flapping soundcomes from the gathering darknessoverhead. Something small and gleam-ing hurtles down from the sky and shat-ters on the ground beside the fire. It wasa small glass sphere; now broken, it givesoff a greenish, coiling smoke.

You hear the flapping of wings justabove you; then three dark shapesplunge down out of the night sky!

The assailants are three men in black,spiked armor which covers their faces.They are riding pegasi (which have beencharmed or otherwise pressed into serviceas steeds for these evildoers).

The foremost Pegasus will dive toward aPC, attacking with both of its hooves (1d8damage each) at +2 to hit. If either of thehoof attacks does damage, the PC will beknocked to the ground and unable to re-cover before the Pegasus�s rider dismountsand attacks.

This black-armored man will strike at thedowned PC, or at any character who seemsto pose the greatest immediate threat�except Midnight. He fights with a daggerand a black-bladed longsword simultane-ously. The blade of the sword is paintedwith red runes, but neither weapon is magi-cal. The first strike of each weapon will de-liver normal damage plus require the struckvictim to save vs. poison or be slowed for 1round, and then fall into a deep, druggedsleep (attacks, slapping, etc. , will notawaken) for 1-4 turns, due to a sleep-inducing venom smeared on the blades.

This attacker is Jhembryn Durrock, 7thlevel assassin: AC 4 (7); MV 12; hp 41; #AT 1;Dmg by weapon type (+1 Str bonus); Str 17,Int 15, Wis 11, Dex 17, Con 16, Cha 4; AL LE;THAC0 17 (including Str bonus). His blackleather armor covers him completely ex-cept for his spike-booted feet, eyeslits, andbreathing vents. On his breast is painted acrimson skull within a circle of red flames:the mark of Bane. The armor is studdedwith spikes. If Jhembryn smashes into acharacter (normal chance to hit), his armordeals 1d4 damage, and if he embraces orpins a character (which he can choose to do,

17

On the round after the attack of the firstPegasus, two more pegasi (with their riders)will land, targeting any obvious spellcasters(except Midnight) in an attempt to ruin anycastings in progress.

The second Pegasus is ridden by UlnarVarro, a 6th level assassin: AC 4 (7); MV 12;hp 33; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon type (+1 Strbonus); Str 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Dex 17, Con14, Cha 7; AL LE; THAC0 18. He is armedwith a scythe and a dagger. Treat Varro�sspecial scythe as a khopesh sword with a 9foot reach. It does 2d4 damage, and cansnag opponents. Snagged opponents can bepulled to the ground (Strength Check toavoid), which ruins attacks or spellcastingfor that round, and enables Varro to strikeat +2 to hit on the next round.

If snagged victims successfully resist be-ing pulled down, the snagging still preventsthem from attacking for 1 round. If Varro�sattack roll is a 19 or 20, he can disarm thestruck opponent, if desired, instead of snag-ging, or stab with the scythe�s point for max-imum damage of 8 points.

on an �armor attack roll� of 18 or higher),the armor does double damage.

The glass sphere contained a gas that theassassins are immune to, due to long expo-sure and training. It expands to a 10�-radiusglobe on the round after it breaks, and a 20�-radius globe on the following two rounds,and then dissipates harmlessly, but anyonewithin its effect for any of those threerounds will be slowed (as the spell) for1d4+1 rounds and will thereafter fallasleep. PCs are allowed a saving throw vs.poison to avoid the effects. Kelemvor will gostraight to sleep, automatically failing hissave if he is within the area of effect, andMidnight and Adon will have to save toavoid also falling victim to the gas. The sub-stance will work through the skin; it neednot be inhaled.

The third attacker is Brel Sejanus, a 5thlevel assassin of Bane: AC 5 (7); MV 12; hp30; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon type; Str 15, Int15, Wis 12, Dex 16, Con 17, Cha 7; AL LE;THAC0 18. He is armed with bolos (threeiron balls joined to an iron center-ball bythree-foot lengths of thick, �roped� wire)and a dagger.

The bolos deal 1d6 impact damage to all Sor M-sized creatures (1d4 to larger crea-tures), and can entangle a struck creatureor character, preventing movement or at-tacks for 1-3 rounds, until the victim freeshimself. The chance of entanglement is 80%for S-sized creatures, 60% for M-sized crea-tures, and 40% for L-sized creatures (largercreatures cannot be entangled, and in allcases entanglement percentages are modi-fied by -5% per point of Dex above 15). En-tangled creatures must make a StrengthCheck to avoid falling.

Both of the other assassins wear armoridentical to Durrock�s�armor that cannotbe worn by someone it was not specificallyfitted to, or the spikes will catch on eachother and soon tear the armor apart.

The three assassins will strike at the PCswith practiced speed and skill, commandingtheir pegasi to strike from the air and dis-able anyone trying to escape.

The assailants will swiftly overcome theparty. The adventurers will be captured,knocked unconscious, and tightly bound. AtDurrock�s call, a number of other pegasi(equal to the number of adventurers, plusone or two others to carry the adventurers�gear) will descend from the sky to transportthe captives. (These creatures may be sum-moned earlier, if they are needed to helpprevent any adventurers from escaping.)The PCs� gear will be thoroughly searchedand loaded aboard one or two of the extrapegasi. All the captives will be allowed tokeep is the clothing they are wearing.

Event 5: TheFlight

The assassins are skilled at kidnapping.When PCs revive, they will find themselvestoo tightly bound and strapped to do morethan breathe. Spellcasters will be gaggedand stripped as well (to remove materialcomponents).

Whether they were rendered uncon-scious by the sleep poison or by a knockoutblow, each adventurer will awaken 3d4rounds after the pegasi head into the sky.Midnight and Adon (grateful to still be alive)will not struggle or protest. Kelemvor willremain unconscious throughout the jour-ney that has just gotten under way. If anyPCs insist on trying to get away, the DMshould make it obvious that escape is, for allpractical purposes, impossible. The pegasiare at least half a mile up in the air by thetime anyone awakens. The assassins willwarn any PC who might attempt an escapeto cease such foolishness or be killed.

To reinforce this advice, Durrock has awand of viscid globs (a new magical item;see page 45) in a sheath within easy reach ofhis saddle. He will use it to refasten any PCwhom he notices struggling or movingabout suspiciously. (Normally, targets are al-lowed a saving throw to dodge the globs,but the trussed adventurers will not havethis option.)

If any PCs express an intention to struggleagainst the bond of the globs, the DMshould forewarn them that their efforts willbe useless. If they persist in trying, assess-ing 1 or 2 hp of damage per round (frommuscle tears, strains, and so forth) shouldget the point across shortly.

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This chapter begins as the pegasi, afterflying all night, get to Scardale at dawn, car-rying the adventurers.

Event 1: Arrival

further incident. From the sky, many en-campments can be seen on the banks of theScar. The town itself is a hive of military ac-tivity.

Armored warriors on griffons patrol theskies. They give the group of pegasi a wideberth, and the assassins take the PCs downto the Harborwatch Keep. There, the adven-turers are separated, chained, bound (Mid-n i g h t a n d a l l s p e l l c a s t e r s t r e a t e d a sdescribed in Chapter 11, and imprisoned.

After arrival at the keep, the assassins willremain fully armored and armed until theMidnight and the PCs are secured (with theaid of no less than six Zhentarim wizardsarmed with wands of paralyzation).

The PCs will find themselves in adjacentcells, with barred fronts, no windows, andwalls, floors, and ceilings of thick stonesealed long ago by molten glass poured overthem, which fused hard as it cooled.

The captured PCs reach Scardale without

One assassin will remain on guard outsidethese cells, out of the view of most of the im-prisoned PCs, but in front of the cells con-ta in ing Midnight and any known orsuspected PC spellcasters, where he will fo-cus most of his attention. At the time ofEvent 2, that assassin will be Varro.

Beside each guardpost and group of cellshangs an alarm gong, with a striking bardangling beneath it on a chain. (The bar isnot really necessary; the gong will sound ifstruck by anything.)

The other assassins go elsewhere, to im-prison Adon alone (they judge him theweakest character, most susceptible to tor-ture). The Zhentarim wizards will take Ke-lemvor out of the keep (to imprison him in aspecial way so as to prevent his panther-form from aiding his escape).

The assassins are fully described in thepreceding chapter (some of their specificsare reproduced here for convenience).They will remove their helms when theprisoners are safely secured, but otherwiseremain fully armed and armored (thecharge or blow of an armored assassin does1d4 damage; an embrace or pin deals dou-ble).

Jhembryn Durrock will be revealed as ahuge, dark-skinned man whose flesh isseared almost black. Burns have so disfig-ured his face that he has grown a thickblack beard and moustache. Jhembryn isthe 7th level assassin: AC 4 (7); hp 41; #AT 1;THAC0 17. He is armed with a dagger and a

black-bladed long sword carved with red-painted runes. It is nonmagical. The runesread, �I serve no master but the one whoholds me,� on one side, and, �My point is al-ways the most telling one in any dispute� onthe reverse.

Ulnar Varro is the 6th level assassin: AC 4(7); hp 33; #AT 1; THAC0 18. He is armedwith a scythe and a dagger. Varro�s 9-footscythe does 2d4 damage, and can snag op-ponents (as described previously).

Brel Sejanus is the 5th level assassin: AC 5(7); hp 30; #AT 1; THAC0 18. He is armedwith bolos (described previously) and a dag-ger.

Another character who will be assignedto guard duty is Sar Mornil, a 5th level assas-sin identical to Sejanus in all respects, ex-cept that he is armed with a club (1d6) and adagger (1d4). Lower in stature than theother three assassins, he will always work anight shift (so that one of the others can getsome rest).

One assassin will be near most of the PCsat all times, and will always be awake and al-ert, possessed of cell door keys, and inclinedto use a ruthless method of dealing withnoisy, disobedient, or menacing prisoners:knocking them cold. Chained prisoners areautomatically hit for full weapon damageeach round (count as subdual; if a victim isreduced to 0 hp, he falls unconscious for1d4 turns). The assassins are well practicedin knocking humans senseless without per-manently damaging them, but do not partic-u lar ly care i f they do harm the PCs .(However, they have instructions that theNPCs must be kept safe, especially Mid-night.)

The second assassin will be down anothercorridor on the same level of the keep, atthe cell containing Adon. The third one willbe near another group of cells elsewhere inthe complex, where Midnight and otherspellcasters are kept. The fourth assassin,off duty and lightly asleep (he cannot be ap-proached without waking him), will be in aroom which contains the only route up ordown out of this level of the keep.

Event 2: YetAnother WildEscape

This event begins during the first night af-ter the adventurers arrive as captives inScardale.

If the PCs devise plans of escape fromtheir imprisonment, let them try to enactthese (but make sure they don�t succeed be-fore nightfall). If one or more of them man-

age to get free of their cells and confront theassassin guarding them (at night this will beMornil), no alarm will be raised-thanks toAdon. The gentle, fumbling cleric knockedhis guard (Sejanus) cold with his chamberpot a bit earlier and escaped from his cell.He will show up at the alarm gong just be-fore Mornil gets there to ring it, and willknock the assassin cold with the hilt of thedagger he stole from Sejanus.

If Adon does not appear under those cir-cumstances, the escaping PCs will meet himsoon after they subdue Mornil themselves,and then all of the escapees will move tofree Midnight and the other imprisoned ad-venturers. (Kelemvor cannot be located atthis time.)

If the PCs cannot get free, or do not try,Adon will show up just after dusk outsidetheir cells, to knock Mornil cold and thenfree them with the keys he has seized fromSejanus.

�Here we go again!� Adon will say with asmile. If the adventurers search their levelof the keep, they will find many empty cells,and all of their comrades except Kelemvor.There are no other prisoners in the keep.

They will also find the assassin Varro, sit-ting guard beside Midnight�s cell. He willleap to his feet and run for the alarm gong(which the PCs should guard with theirlives), and then try to slay as many of the ad-venturers as he can.

If the PCs overcome him and search fur-ther, they will find the only room on thelevel that allows them to escape (all the win-dows are too narrow to slip out of): a guard-room commanding both the upward anddownward stairways.

In it are stored all of the adventurers�weapons, armor, and gear; a few loaves ofbread; and ice-buckets containing earthenjugs of milk. No guards are present, and ifthe PCs do not make an undue amount ofnoise, they will be able to reclaim their pos-sessions and make their way out of thekeep.

If any of the assassins are overpoweredand asked about Kelemvor, they will saythat he�s where the PCs �will never findhim,� taken elsewhere by Zhentarim wiz-ards of power for special imprisonment, toprevent his escape in panther-form.

The levels of the keep above and belowthe adventurers� former cells are swarmingwith Zhentilar soldiers, far too many tofight. The PCs, Midnight, and Adon areforced to slip out of the keep amid the manyexcited comings and goings of the Zhentilar.

As they escape, the PCs will hear the fol-lowing exchange between two Zhentilarsoldiers in a passageway of the keep:

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�Lord Bane himself is coming!��aye; he�s landed in the harbor already�

and on his way here! �Tis said he�s goingto take personal custody of a prisoner inthe town� a she-mage!�

Many similar mutterings will be heard,but even if they tarry to listen, the adven-turers will hear nothing useful about Ke-lemvor�s whereabouts and fate.

When the adventurers reach the streetoutside the keep, read the following pas-sage:

�Assassins and Zhentarim wizards allover the place,� Midnight hisses. �Godsabove and gods below, is there no end tothis?�

You hear the clatter of booted feet hurry-ing on the cobbles. �Hulass! Make allready! Lord Bane is in town and on hisway here, to see the prisoners within!Rouse the lads! Hurry!�

Overhead, there is a dim flash of radi-ance. Looking up, you see a black pega-sus turning in midair. On its back, a manin black robes leans down, wand spark-ing in his hand.

Another black horse turns in the airnearby, ready to confront the other fly-ing mount. �All right,� you hear the sec-ond rider say. �It�s only one of ours,making ready for Lord Bane.�

�Right,� the rider of the first mount re-plies, and they move on. Beyond them,you see many other dark, flying shapes:the night sky is full of patrolling crea-tures.

Obviously, the adventurers are in greatdanger of being spotted and recaptured,and would be foolish to take to the roofs ofthe city or employ any means of flight.

�Let�s get well away from our jail, any-way!� Adon says heatedly. The adventurersshould skulk through the dark streets, as heand Midnight set a brisk pace across thetown. If the PCs are alert, they will soon no-tice that they are being watched and fol-lowed (openly, but at a distance) by soldiers.If the PCs do not watch behind them, Adonwill do so, and point out the soldiers.

�That settles it! We must find a place to hide, and soon!� Midnight says. �I�ve no wish to find myself tastefully attired inwhip-scars and chains, greeting Bane be-fore dawn! What was that inn the priest

told us about? The Spouting Fish? Let�sget to it. Everyone�speak, now, what-ever you remember of his directions�

Whatever the PCs remember of ThelnRoaringhorn�s directions (given in the pre-vious chapter), allow them to find the Spout-ing Fish, even as Zhentilar patrols close in.The DM should build an atmosphere of ten-sion as a nighttime chase begins.

If they pass the Singing Siren on the way,they will find it a roaring, shouting tumultof tankard-clashing, off-duty soldiers. Thesignboard overhead crudely proclaims theinn�s rechristening as the Happy Harpy, andit certainly sounds like there�s a happyharpy or two singing inside. The celebrat-ing soldiers, who have overflowed into thestreet, will eye the adventurers suspi-ciously. If the PCs are careful, however, theycan use the large number of soldiers to tem-porarily hide, to elude pursuing patrols.

Event 3: At theSign of theSpouting Fish

This event directly follows Event 2, whenthe adventurers arrive at the Spouting Fish.

The Fish looks just as Theln Roaringhorndescribed it (in the preceding chapter).There are no soldiers in sight as the adven-turers pick their way through the soddengarbage littering the street and go inside,

It is a dim, dingy place. The taproom is ofdark , o i l ed wood, l i t on ly by thehearthfire and by small candle-lamps. Itis crowded, too, but everyone hunchedin the dark room seems to be mutteringto his neighbor. It is the quietest taproomyou�ve ever been in. Eyes look up as youenter, and then flick away again, quickly.

The bald innkeeper, Hlund, will chargethe adventurers a silver piece per night,each, for their rooms and all meals (drinksextra). He is fat, moustachioed, soft-spoken,and polite, but he will not be bargainedaway from his flat rate, and if asked aboutpossible tutors, or Harpers, or for news, orabout any other sort of information, he willgrin and nod and point to the crowded ta-bles. �Listen, and learn,� he�ll say, and wink.

At the tables, the PCs will hear lots of an-gry talk: the Zhentarim are starting to en-slave non-soldiers who happen to be in

Scardale; anyone who tries to leave, too!The darkhelms are also actively searchingfor spies from Cormyr and the northernDales, have cut off all contact with Sembia,have asked merchants to �volunteer� cashpayments to support the creation of thefleet, and so on-and �everywhere honestfolk go, there are soldiers spying on them aswell, like that idiot we threw out earlier.�

If the PCs keep listening, or provide somerecent news from �outside,� they�ll also hearseveral local rumors. The DM may devisehis own, or choose entries from the follow-ing list (all of which are essentially true):

Scardale Rumors1. The elves are returning to the Elven

Court, bringing a great army of magical fly-ing ships and awesome lightning spells!

2. Cormyr is preparing to invade theDales. Troops are gathering in Tilver�s Gapright now, and Mistledale will be the first tofall. Whatever happens, Cormyr is deter-mined to seize and hold The High Dale andArchendale, which will mean eventual warwith Sembia!

3. A huge flaming man, a hundred feet tallor more, walked through Westgate last ride,setting many shops afire! It took eightmages to destroy it. Their spells kept goingawry. . . . No one knows where it came from.

4. Mages are disappearing from all overthe Dragon Reach lands, answering somesort of secret summons and traveling west.Some say they are being lured to their doomby demons, or by undead Calishite sorcer-ers.

5. A lady who wept tears of fire wrestledin the sky with a giant in armor, somewhereover Wyvernwater.

6. The Zhentilar war-captain Helbronsaris in town, looking for The Lost Sword ofthe Lion, a magical, kingly sword whichLashan the Dreamer searched for, butnever found.

7. The Zhentarim are mustering a fleet ofships, and have 2,000-3,000 soldiers in thedale already! It is said they plan to cross theDragon Reach and attack the city of Tantras.Why? Not for us mere mortals to know!

8. Myrkul, Lord of the Dead, has beenseen in Zhentil Keep. His priests are gather-ing there, to �work a great Death,� as one ofthem screamed triumphantly while in hiscups, at an inn in Ordulin.

Someone approaches your table. It�s adwarf� hairy and unkempt. One eye ishidden beneath a ragged black eyepatch;his left arm is enfolded in a dirty sling.

You noticed him drinking at a nearby

2 0

table earlier, He staggers a little, as ifdrunk. But when he fetches up againstthe end of your table, his remaining eyeis keen, and his low, husky voice issteady.

�Well met, travelers. What news ofShadowdale?�

Adon bristles, but says nothing. Thedwarf, watching him, winks. �I mean nomisch ie f . But ye know how b luntdwarves can be, so I�ll ask ye right out:be ye friends or foes of Bane and theZhentarim?�

In the brief silence that follows, thedwarf puts his free hand to his throatand draws up something on a fine chain,until you see the gleam of a tiny pendantin his hairy hand: a silver harp.

If the PCs indicate that they are notfriends of Bane, or seem reluctant to admitanything, the dwarf will tell them that he isa foe of Bane, and offer to give them a hid-ing place in the dale.

If the PCs say they support Bane, thedwarf will shake his head sorrowfully andgo away. Before the adventurers retire forthe night or move on, however, he�ll returnto try again, obviously not believing them.

The dwarf will give his name as �Sunrun.�Anyone who speaks dwarvish will knowthat there is a famous dwarven drinkingsong, in which dwarves are blamed for oneill after another and caught red-handedeach time, whereupon they always claimthat �Sunrun� (which means �Nobody�) isthe culprit.

A few of the peace-garrisons installed inScardale upon the Fall of Lashan are stillholding out, Sunrun tells the adventurers,but they are unable to leave their wall tow-ers, around which thousands of Zhentilarhave camped.

The Sembians and the men from Hillsfarare truly trapped, he says, but the towerthat those from Cormyr hold is linked by anancient crawl-tunnel to an old warehouse inthe dingier streets.

If the PCs will help the few remaining Cor-myreans disrupt the Zhentilar with a fewattacks on the harbor, the barracks, and theassassins (those the PCs escaped from ear-lier), Sunrun will hide the PCs, help themwith disguises, and help them get out ofScardale when they want to leave.

The DM should strongly persuade the PCsto go along with this way of getting out ofScardale, reminding them of the Zhentishaggressions they heard about earlier. If theyagree to follow the dwarf, he�ll nod and say,�Time to go, then. The Zhents followed you

here they�ll be back to raid, later.� He�ll leadthem out into the night, and on to Event 4.

If the PCs refuse to have anything to dowith Sunrun, he�ll melt away into the dark-ness. Later that night, the raid will begin,with over a hundred armed Zhentilarstorming the inn. In the midst of all theshouting and torch-waving, Sunrun willpop up through a trap-door, and hiss to theadventurers, �This way! Come, now! Thetime for foolishness is past!� He�ll then leadthem through a short, twisting crawl-tunnel, out through many back streets, andon to Event 4.

Event 4: ARevelation OrTwo

This event begins after Sunrun has led theadventurers down many a dark and stink-ing alley of Scardale. The town seems alivewith marching Zhentilar patrols. Severaltimes Sunrun hastens the PCs inside a dooror swings open the shutters of a darkenedwindow to leap inside, to hide from thedarkhelms.

Eventually, the PCs follow the dwarf intothe depths of one of these darkened build-ings.

You are in a damp, empty, echoing place.The faint scratchings of rats, scuttlingout of your way, can be heard all about.�Show no light!� Sunrun says warningly,from the darkness ahead. �See my harp?Follow it!�

Straining your eyes, you can barely seea tiny, dull glow bobbing ahead. It mustbe the dwarfs harp pendant. �Mind yourheads!� comes the dwarfs voice again,and you feel worn stone steps, descend-ing into black nothingness.

The dwarf leads the adventurers along adripping tunnel with an uneven floor, warn-ing them twice about not scratching theirfaces on overhanging portculli, up and intoa crumbling keep, lit by a few flickeringtorches.

A yowl sounds from up ahead, and ascrawny, smoky-grey cat trots forwardto greet Sunrun. He scratches its headwithout slowing; it turns to keep up withhim, as he leads you up a few old, slopingsteps into a room that smells of sickness.

Two unshaven men lie on cots on thefar side of the room, battered armorleaning against the legs of their beds.Both are bandaged; the bandages aredark with old blood. One is asleep. Theother smiles weakly at you, but saysnothing. Sitting on a stool beside onebed, stitching up a boot with nimble fin-gers, is a handsome, mischievous-l o o k i n g b l o n d y o u t h . H e n o d s a neyebrow at you. �Varden, at your serv-ice,� he says wryly. �Well met; all we havehere��he waves around at the emptyroom��is yours.�

Varden is a 4th level thief: AC 6 (10); MV12; hp 22; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon (throwingdaggers, longsword, sap); Str 14, Int 16, Wis12, Dex 18, Con 16, Cha 16; AL CN; THAC019. He is a reckless, kindhearted rogue withan appetite for pranks and for lifting gemsfrom rich ladies� dresses. He, the twowounded soldiers (Orbraun and Thalar,both 4th level fighters), an aging con mannamed Gratus (who knows Scardale like theback of his hand), the cat, and �Sunrun� areall that is left of the Cormyrean garrison.When Sunrun admits this, read the follow-ing:

�Why haven�t the Zhentilar slaughteredyou all long ago?� Midnight asks curi-ously, looking at them.

�Oh, well�� replies the dwarf. �I ratherexpect that�s not happened because ofme.�

Before your eyes, the dwarf�s squat,hairy form twists and flows, colors scat-tering across its moving surface like abrief rainbow, and becomes taller ands l immer , unt i l a young , dark-eyedwoman in robes stands before you. Shesmiles. �I am Sharoon, of the Harpers.Some time ago Elminster asked me tolook out for you, if ever you came thisway.�

�Sunrun� is actually the human female4th level illusionist Sharoon Themistyl: AC 6(10); MV 12; hp 17; Str 14, Int 17, Wis 13,Dex 18, Con 16, Cha 17; AL CG; THAC0 19;age 19. Among the Harpers, she is known as�Stormweather.� She does not believe Elmin-ster is dead, and does not think the PCs areguilty of anything except defeating Bane (agreat feat in her book!).

In return for helping her with a fewstrikes against the Zhentilar, she will cast il-lusory disguises on the PCs if they want togo about the town, and can offer them tu-

23

tors (the thief, herself for illusionists, andthe soldiers for fighters). Midnight can trainlesser PC wizards, and Sharoon knows (andcan quietly contact) priests of Tempus, Ty-mora, Lathander, and Selune in the areawho will be willing to serve as tutors.

Event 5: Sojournin Scardale

After Event 4, the DM may allow the partysome time in Scardale, perhaps to allowthem training for level advancement, to bet-ter face the perils ahead, or else can rushthem on to Event 6. If the first option istaken, some additional work will be neces-sary before play resumes, to flesh out thesuggestions given here. If the second optionis taken, the DM should use only the last ofthe adventures suggested below (the at-tempt to rescue Kelemvor).

Potential TutorsThis list is only a beginning; DMs are en-

couraged to alter the potential tutors listedhere, and to introduce tutors of their ownto fit the player characters in their owncampaign.

Ammethrine Nathyl, 6th level priest ofTymora: AL CG; impish, mercurial, agile,and smooth-tongued, famous for her daresand her enjoyment of all-night dancing.Found in the Lap of Luck, a small temple onDawnstar Street.

Belintar Sharnraven, 7th level ranger:AL CG; tall, gaunt, and close-mouthed,handsome, kind, and possessed of a long,long memory. Found in a shambl ingwooden house leaning against the townwall. Belintar, the owner of the house, isalso the �proprietor� of a secret tunnel run-ning from the woods under the wall into hiscellar. Harpers and other friends of Belintarused this tunnel to get in and out of Scardaleduring Lashan�s iron reign, and can use itagain now. Belintar will use it to take rang-ers he�s tutoring out into the woods fortraining. The tunnel comes up into the sideof a cesspit, which is largely covered by amanure pile in which Belintar grows mush-rooms (which he sells to shops and restau-rants around the town).

Brorin Hundegarl, 7th level priest ofTempus: AL CN; battle-scarred, gruff,brawling, and slow to fear. Found in theHouse of Swords (a shop-sized shrine toTempus) in Laddath Street, where he livesabove the sanctuary. He expects payment inthe form of gold captured in battle, and a

promise (to Tempus, under oath) to bringabout the defeat of a single, stated foe,within a certain time (which the PC can set).

Halath Mhaerim, 7th level wizard: ALNG; sleek, middle-aged, dignified but testy;highly skilled. Found in his second-floor gar-ret above a grocer�s shop on Soulall Street.Expects payment (at least in part) in theform of magical items.

Sordrim Nund, 6th level thief: AL CN; asmooth-talking seller of footware whoseshop is on the corner of The Anvil Run andWhelgar�s Way. Young, good-featured butfairly ordinary in appearance; known to thesailors (from whom he never steals) as afence and a contact for �shady business.�

Adventures inScardale

Following are some suggestions for ad-ventures that the party may have while in

Scardale. Some of these may be promptedby the demands of tutors for the perform-ance of specific services, and others by Sha-roon.

1. Slaying the key Zhentilar officer, thecorrupt but wily Chelbeth Thund (8th levelfighter, 66 hp), who has poisoned weapons,and lots of treasure well hidden in thehouse in which he entertains his mistress.

2. Creating dissension in the Zhentilarranks by killing mercenaries and Zhentilarsoldiers and leaving the bodies fallen asthough locked in combat with each other.

3. Slaying a spy of Bane, or making the spyappear to be a double-dealing traitor (thereare almost two dozen trained spies of theZhentarim in the city, mostly among the sail-ors and mercenary warriors, but a fewamong the merchants).

4. Looking for Lashan�s lost treasury inthe sewers beneath his old keep (still in thehands of the Sembians, who have crossbow-armed guards and pit-and-portcullis trapsguarding this area. Observant explorers

22

will find handholds cut into the rock of thecesspit wall beneath the keep. Climbingthem up the slimy �glory-hole� (privy) pas-sages into the upper levels of the keep, theywill make a discovery just beneath Lashan�sold room, now the bedchamber of the Sem-bian commander, an 11th level LN fighternamed Kadarach. It is a niche in the wallcontaining a stone coffer. Within it are sixpotions of healing and a short sword +3.

5. Appropriating a pay-chest or two froma ship in the harbor while at the same timesetting fire to as many more ships as possi-ble, to hamper Bane�s plans to take Tantras.The DM should refer to Event 6 in this chap-ter for details of the Zhentilar harborguards.

6. Trying to rescue Kelemvor. Sharoon�scontacts find that he is being held in the cel-lars of the house of Paerus, a grand struc-ture on Shindal Street, kept helplesslyentangled in viscid globs (see the new magicsection) except for his head, and guarded byclerics and wizards of the Zhentarim. TheDM should make these guardians too nu-merous for the adventurers to handle.

The attempt to rescue Kelemvor will fail,and the PCs will f ind themselves sur-rounded as the guards summon aid fromthe other Zhentilar and Zhentarim forces inthe town. While the adventurers are fight-ing their way out, Sharoon and Gratus willappear and show them a handy routethrough the sewers. In the running fight,Sharoon and Gratus are badly wounded.

�First Cyric, now you,� Midnight tells Sha-roon grimly, as the adventurers drag theirwounded rescuers away. �I�m not losinganyone else I care for in all this, if I can helpit!�

Bane bargains with the captured Kelem-vor, and cures him of the panther-curse, inreturn for Kelemvor�s agreement to helpBane capture Midnight and get the Tablet ofFate.

OFFSTAGE EVENTS

Kelemvor has no intention of keeping hisend of the bargain. He flatly refuses to evenconsider Bane�s plans for him unless Banecures him first and frees him. �Willing ser-vants should be valuable, even to you,� Ke-lemvor tells him. �Slaves who hate and fearyou will turn on you the moment they spotyour weakness, and from what I�ve seenand heard so far, you already have plenty ofthose.� Bane grins coldly, and cures him.

M e a n w h i l e , C y r i c h a s b e c o m e aturncoat-joining the side of the Zhentilar-and has made rapid progress through theranks. His cold-blooded strategic skill andadroit fighting have earned him a promo-tion to the command of Zhentilar armies

Event 6: To Leave

moving overland to Scardale, mustering forthe invasion.

at LastSharoon is too badly wounded to keep the

Zhentilar attackers at bay any longer. (Gra-tus must be put to bed in the house of afriendly goodwife and temporarily retiredfrom all adventuring.) She recommendsthat the PCs try to escape from Scardalenow, by ship:

�It�s impossible, overland. The country-side is crawling with gathering Zhentilar,and half the folk of the Dragon Reachskulking about trying to dagger a few ofthem here and a few of them there. TheZhents even rule the sky: their griffonsoutmatch any Sembia can send almostfour to one.

�No, take a ship, and try to hide amongall the Zhent ships bustling about outthere in the Reach right now.�

The sooner the PCs try to take a ship, Sha-roon advises, the better: the harbor willsoon grow far more crowded and far betterguarded. She has a friend who captains asmall, battered galley, and wants to get outof Scardale. He needs help in seizing his shipback from the Zhentilar.

The captain, Mnester (a LN 3rd levelfighter with 25 hp, who fights with a battleaxe), and his 12-man crew (1st level typeswho fight with cutlasses and belaying pins)are to be used to transport the Zhentarim intheir planned invasion of Tantras, puttingthe ship at risk for no profit, and kicking ahuge hole in the captain�s expected shipping(and smuggling) trade. The captain wantsout, but lacks the muscle to seize his ship.Perhaps the PCs . . . ?

Midnight will accept the mission of re-claiming Mnester�s ship and drag the PCsalong. All of the NPCs will stress that to splitup now is to court certain death. The Cor-myreans come along (�We�re coming too:�Sharoon says grimly), and the reinforcedband of adventurers sets off through thestreets. They use clothes, crutches, and agarbage cart to look like something otherthan armed-to-the-teeth troublemakers.

Although the DM should make the gaunt-let of Zhentilar patrols a tense passage, theadventurers should, in the end, reach an oldwarehouse on the docks, and wait inside fornightfall. On the way, they will see Kelem-vor (who�s been searching the streets for

them), and Midnight will hesitate. He willpromptly see her and saunter over to jointhe group.

Midnight and Adon are suspicious that hemay be a spy for Bane, but Kelemvorquickly explains himself, and Sharoonseems to support his story.

�The same suspicions could be aimed atall of us here� and besides� what does itmatter if he is? We've no time left nowfor arguing� or for him to d anything tostop us. The sailors can watch him.�

All head for the warehouse, emptying thegarbage cart into the spot in the harbor thatthe Zhentilar have been using these pastmonths (�For that alone, the fisherman herewould cheerfully slit their throats,� Vardensays). This gives them a look at the harborlayout for that night. The sailors and Cap-tain Mnester are there; everyone waits fornightfall.

The Queen of the Night is a sagging, sway-hulled, battered old craft which has obvi-ously seen better days. It is a merchantgalley with twelve oars, a common type ofship in these parts. It has two tattered, fan-shaped sails, lateen-rigged on two masts.

The Zhentilar are, in fact, a little unsureof its seaworthiness, and therefore haven�tcharged ahead with plans to refit it or evenget aboard before necessary.

As the PCs stealthily approach the ship bynight, read the following passage:

Two guards stop on the dock beside theramp that leads down to the Queen. Onemurmurs something and waves his handdown at the listing boat.

The other laughs, and replies, �Thatthing? Look at her. . . if Talos so much assneezes she�ll be on the bottom, still tiedto the dock! I�ll just make stone-troll-coldsure I�m somewhere far away when itcomes time to load troops aboard her. . . .I�d rather take my chances with a row-boat, if you�d know truth!�

The two guards are part of the night pa-trol of harbor guards. This patrol consists ofa 5th level fighter (officer) in field plate, a6th level Zhentarim wizard, a 5th levelcleric of Bane, 12 crossbowmen, and 15spearmen. All are alert, stationed in groupsof two and three, keeping a close watch onall of the ships tied up at the docks. All willinstantly be aware if one group of theircomrades is attacked.

The officer or �Black Sword� is Albaer

23

Morndragon, who is armed with a bastardsword +2.

The wizard, Selcheth Yundael, has the fol-lowing spells: 1st level: magic missile (x4;each spell creates 3 missiles); 2nd level: glit-terdust, Melf�s acid arrow; 3rd level: fire-ball, lightning bolt. Selcheth also carries adagger and two scrolls, each bearing onedispel magic spell.

The cleric, a Black Hand, has 17 wisdomand is named Thorn Nuldue. He is armedwith a flail, a mace, and the following spells:1 s t l e v e l : command , cur e l i gh t wounds(x4); 2nd level: aid (x2), charm person ormammal, flame blade, heat metal; 3rd level:cause blindness, pyrotechnics.

The (light) crossbowmen are all 2nd levelNE fighters of 16 hp each. The spearmenare all 1st level fighters of 9 hp each. Bothtypes of guards are also armed with daggersand short swords.

Midnight will lead the attack if no PC is ea-ger to do so; otherwise, the DM should haveher defer to the decisions and tactics of thePCS.

When battle is launched, there will be in-s tant mayhem, with 1d4 + 1 griffon-mounted Zhentarim joining the fray in 4rounds. Shouting Zhentilar soldiers, flam-ing crossbow bolts, light spells, patrollingboats in the harbor converging on the com-motion . . . PCs will face a lot of opposition.

In the battle, the thief Varden must bekilled, Sharoon must vanish (so the DM canuse her later, if desired, but take her out ofthe adventure now), and most of the captainand crew perish or are captured as well.The DM can retain what reinforcements hethinks the PCs need. Midnight, Adon, andKelemvor must survive and get the ship un-der way, rowing like madmen. Midnight�smagic can be used to clear a path out of theharbor.

It is deep night as the PCs slip past the pa-trolling Zhentarim ships and get out into theReach.

Event 7: BattleAfloat

As dawn comes, the breeze coming downfrom the northwest dies. The Queen of theNight becomes a rather large target wallow-ing in the light swell in the center of theReach, all too exposed to the eyes of Zhen-tarim on griffonback. Sure enough, a Zhen-tilar patrol galley bristling with archerssoon appears, rowing steadily toward thedrifting slave galley. Battle erupts.

The Zhentilar ship is a dromond (de-scribed in the 2nd Edition Player�s Hand-book, page 70), with 60 rowers. It has 40longbowmen aboard, all 2nd level fighterswith 18 hp each, leather armor (AC 8), anddaggers. There are also twelve 3rd level,leather-armored (AC 8) fighters armed withhammers and short swords, and a 5th levelZhentarim wizard (with 17 hp, the samespells as Selcheth in Event 6, above, minusthe lightning bolt, and the title of �captain�)named Whaul Zormm. The ship also boastsa battering ram.

The PCs will be forced to use their magicand battle skills to fight off the galley or sinkit (they lack the numbers to crew it safely)and escape.

If defeated, they will be held captive onthe galley, and it will turn back toward Scar-dale, towing the Queen. Halfway back, aseabird will fly past the ship, circle, andthen land in the rigging. The bird will turninto its true form�Sharoon. She will castspells on the crew to aid the PCs in escaping,and then fly raggedly off again, westwardback to land.

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This chapter begins as the party reachesTantras. They, will find the city bustling withactivity: but will not be attacked as they en-ter the harbor. Everyone is too busy prepar-ing for war to bother with a lone ship thatharbor guards judge not to be a hostile ves-sel.

OFFSTAGE EVENTCyric arrives in Scardale, leading a Zhen-

tilar force. To test this rising star in hisranks, Bane has sent him (along with Dur-rock, the assassin who led the assault on thePCs) to Tantras, to kill Kelemvor for histreachery and to capture Midnight. Bane isworried that the PCs are getting close to theTablet of Fate.

larger boats. Turn in� I say!�Around the officer� as he speaks� a

dozen archers come to look down at you�and ready shafts to their bows.

Obviously, disobeying the order to turn inwould be quick suicide; Adon and Midnightwill already be struggling to lift one of thelong oars on the deck, to fend off. As theboat approaches the spires, the seagullsshriek and flutter up into the air in a cloudof dirty white feathers, wheeling andscreeching in alarm.

When docked, the boat will be met byTantran guardsmen: 30 men-at-arms (1stlevel warriors of 7 hp each) in blued, oiledfield plate (AC 2) decorated with the silverwave and three stars of Tantras, and armedwith spears, short swords, and daggers.Leading them will be an officer in full plate(AC 1) armed with a morningstar (2d4 dam-age), flanked by two crossbowmen (lightquarrels, 1d4 damage, range 6/12/18). Theofficer will politely ask the adventurers todisembark and identify themselves. Ten ofthe guards will then search the ship. The of-ficer will ask the adventurers how long theyare staying, warn them that if war shouldcome to the walls, they might not be able toleave, and their vessel might be seized for

Tantras rises above the eastern shore ofthe Reach on two hills. The higher of thetwo, to the north, is thickly covered withbuildings, and an arm of land extendsdown from it to partially enclose andshelter the city�s fine harbor. High stonewalls protect the city from barbarianand orc-horde raids; from within them,wisps of smoke rise here and there. Thecity is preparing for war.

The harbor is crammed with vessels.As you slip in, you pass under a gigantic

boom, hung with chains, which can beused to close off the harbor mouth in theevent of an attack. Hard-eyed, watchfulmen in armor regard you from behindrows of crossbow-guns, set into walledemplacements on either side of the har-bor mouth. The points of the quarrelsteach of which is as long as a man is high)turn slowly and silently as you pass, to al-ways point at you. The rocking swell ofthe Reach subsides into the more tran-quil chop of busy harbor water.

Inside, ships are made fast to eachother, sometimes six and seven vesselsdeep, while shouting, sweating men onthe docks struggle with bollard-pulleysand swaying, rickety boom-cranes to un-load the ships. The place is a tumult ofloading and unloading, and everywhereone looks there are half-naked men glis-tening with sweat; and unmoving,watchful men in full armor: the Tantranguardsmen.

�Ho, the ship!� bellows one, from araised stone deck ahead of you. �Loseway-you�re too fast in, by far! Fend youoff from these��he waves at three gi-gantic, seagull-covered spires, risingdark and glistening from the water��and turn in here. That beyond�s for

25

�defensive purposes.� However, he invitesthem to enjoy their stay in Tantras, and (in alowered voice) says that the god Torm him-self is within the walls: in his temple, to be

The guards will find nothing suspicious,

precise, �at the highest point on the hillthere, hard by the north wall.�

and will allow the adventurers and all theirgear to pass into the city without commentor restriction.

The city is busy, but most of the activity isindoors. The ringing clangor of smithywork, hammerings, and the like are every-where, and squads of soldiers in half-armortrot up and down the streets, led by shout-ing �Longswords� (sergeants), to keep fit.There are no guides to be found on thedocks, and the PCs are free to wander.

Chaos and strife have come to the city.Some shops are closed, and a few buildingshave burned down. Where this has hap-pened, donkeys and sheep are tetheredamid the rubble, each watched over bysmall, bored children. This livestock wouldnormally be outside the walls, except onmarket days; war has indeed come to theeastern Reach.

Whether the PCs explore the streets bythemselves, or whether they ask for recom-mendations, the result will be the same: thebest inn in town is the Lazy Moon, on Shen-dle Street.

Any other inns that the PCs find will ei-ther be full or taken over as barracks, withgrizzled door wardens in Tantran liverywho exhort the PCs to �Join up! Wear theblue and silver with pride! These days, it�sthe duty of every jack and lass to defendTantras against the marauding beasts andworse! Torm himself watches over us!.�

Event 1: AllThrough Life WeSeek . . .

The PCs find lodging in the Lazy Moon(innkeeper: Faress, human male: grouprate: 2 gp per day, all meals included butdrinkables extra). Kelemvor crisply directseveryone to get a bath and sleep, and thenmeet in the taproom for �a jaw wagging�and a full meal after he awakens them.

The other NPCs should agree. Any PCswho are not tired will be curtly told to studyspells or ready their gear, but not to go any-where on their own.

When the party reassembles, Midnightwill remind everyone that Elminster toldthem to seek one of the Tablets of Fate here.She advocates everyone splitting up intosmaller groups and wandering the city for

at least a day, without asking prying ques-tions or snooping overeagerly into discus-sions or inviting cellars. This way, they can

The DM should consult the map of Tan-

get to know Tantras before meeting back at

tras provided in this adventure as the PCsconduct their search, bearing in mind thatnative Tantrans will be both very busy andunusually suspicious of strangers. An

the inn at the end of the day to compare im-

atmosphere of impending war hangs over

pressions.

the city, as Tantras musters for an expectedattack from Zhentil Keep. Note that al-though priests of many religions are repre-sented (Torm being paramount), there areno wizards of any sort to be found any-where in Tantras above �journeyman� (2ndlevel), except for Midnight and any PCmages. If PCs ask anyone about this, the re-ply will be a stare, a slow shrug, and a brief,�Nobody knows. Just gone, all of them, andnot a word spoken. These be not safe timesin the Realms, now.�

As the PCs search, the DM can rewardtheir queries and eavesdropping by impart-ing entries from the Tantras Talk Table (be-low), the statements in which are allessentially true. DMs are encouraged to addto this list to adapt it to the color and actionof their own campaign, hinting at adven-tures they have arranged for future play.

Tantras Talk Table1. Mages have disappeared-not just from

Tantras, but from all across the Reach-andare said to be gathering in Waterdeep.

2. The goddesses Beshaba (The LaughingLady of Ill Luck) and Tymora (The SmilingLady of Good Fortune), who some sagesclaim to have once been one entity, Tyche,are battl ing each other the length andbreadth of the North. Mountains have beentoppled, castles laid waste, and forests flat-tened, the trees split asunder like so muchkindling: and still the two fight on, shriekinglike harpies and spitting lightning at eachother!

3. Giant frogs have swarmed up out of theharbor in Calimport and overrun the docks,slaughtering thousands of sailors and slavesand gorging themselves on the bodies, whilethe satraps of the city have simply shut thedoors of their tall, turban-topped towersand stayed inside, ignoring the carnage be-low. The whole city is said to stink of car-rion in the heat of the sun, except for therichest quarters, where the slaves havebeen ordered to drench the trees, walls,and streets with the finest perfume to coverup the odors.

4. The Cult of the Dragon claims that theWyrm-Rule is nigh, and there is open war-

fare in the streets of Westgate betweenmerchant-house guards and cultists, whoare trying to seize all the goods they canfrom the warehouses of the city, to be usedas offerings to the Dead Dragons when theycome flying into the city to proclaim theirrule.

5. The seer Shuldo of Tharsult has told acouncil of merchants that old prophecies ofthe Shining South tell of a t ime whenDragon-Kings will rule many lands, anddark sorcery will prevail. That time, Shuldofears, is nigh: for has not all the Art of menbegun to cast awry?

6. Sailors on the Shining Sea report seeinga great light in the west, a tongue of whiteflame leaping from the sea to the night skyabove. Judging by its location, it must haveoriginated on the island realm of Lantan,but no one has come from there recently totell what it was, nor do natives of that landnow trading in Calimshan and the Tashalarknow what the light might be, or what itcould mean.

7. A mad seer in Iriaebor, Chathalos Ord-grimmer, has spoken in a trance about �aprecious thing, near lost . . . a Tablet of Fatein the hands of death.� He has not regainedhis senses since, and is near death. Iriaeboris plagued by giant centipedes and carrioncrawlers, who have swarmed up fromcracks and tombs to choke the streets, bat-tling each other and all the folk of the citymindlessly.

8. The waters of the Unicorn Run brieflyflowed black with blood, and then ran clearagain. The sorceress Laeral, once leader ofthe famous adventuring group known asThe Nine, has since appeared in Scornubeland Waterdeep.

9. In Goldenfields, at the walled temple-farm of Chauntea, �granary of the North,�High Priest Tolgar Anuvien lies near death,after personally battling Myrkul, God of theDead, who appeared in Goldenfields onenight surrounded by a skeletal host. Tolgardrove Myrkul out of the walls of his greatfarm, but �dealt him no great harm,� as hislongtime companion (in The Company ofCrazed Venturers), Malchor Harpell, hasstated. Malchor arrived in time to rescueTolgar f rom death , and make cer ta inMyrkul�s defeat.

10. The ice-locked realm of Sossal, north-east of the Bloodstone lands, has beenrocked by great explosions that have shat-tered the very glacier ice around it. Thecause of these blasts is unknown, but suspi-cions are that the Fall of the Gods has some-thing to do with the matter; who knowswhich gods may be battling each otherthere?

2 6

and alleys, etc.), they will run into a cordonof soldiers charged with keeping people outof the southern end of the city (and awayfrom the hill at the south end of town); allstreets beyond the Fountain of the Mermaid(map location #6) are off limits to civilians,since many of the buildings in this area havebeen commandeered for use as armoriesand barracks for the newly reinforced Tan-tran army.

After a day of searching, the party will re-assemble at the Lazy Moon. Searching thecity for some clue to the location of the tab-let seems like it�s going to be a slow, dustyprocess.

Guards will prohibit entry into the Templeof Torm to all who are not true believers ofTorm (and able to prove it, by making offer-ings, carrying Torm�s holy symbol, and hav-ing knowledge of the liturgy and teachingsof his priesthood). If the PCs try to travelopenly (without sneaking along side streets

�In all the tales, the dragon just standswaiting to be fought, the treasure at itsfeet,� Kelemvor grumbles. �You�d thinkthat if these tablets were so important,we�d only have to find a cluster of bat-tling gods or an unearthly glow or thelike to find one of them, wouldn�t younow? But no . . that�d be too easy. . . .�

The DM should allow the discussion tocontinue, using the NPCs to direct the flowof conversation, until the PCs agree to orare persuaded to make another effort to-morrow. Again, Kelemvor warns PCsagainst independent action, and any PCswho try to set off on their own will find himwaiting for them, watchful and unsur-prised.

On the morrow, Adon insists on going offon his own. (If any PCs protest or questionthis-since they haven�t been allowed to dothe same thing�Kelemvor will growl some-thing like, �Let him go. He�s too sullen to suitme anyway. Maybe being by himself for atime will put him in a better mood.�)

The PCs, Kelemvor, and Midnight will goout as a group, orders Kelemvor, sayingsomething about �strength in numbers, incase we do discover something.� For aslightly different reason, this decision suitsMidnight just fine.

�I need all of you as bodyguards, ofsorts,� Midnight tells you softly. �If . . .when . . . we do come across it, I expectthe tablet to be well guarded. After all,

you wouldn�t leave such a thing lyingabout for anyone to take, would you?�

Midnight suspects she�ll need help toclaim anything with the degree of magicalpower that the tablet surely must have.Midnight will announce that she wishes toexplore the streets of the wealthy folk thatcloak the slopes of the hill which is crownedby the Temple of Torm. Read the followingpassage:

Someone is singing nearby. �My nose maybe old/My nose may be cold/But it cansmell right well/Still, sir! And it do smell/Adventurers bold, laden with gold/ Adven-turers bought, adventurers sold . . .�

The singer is an enigmatic, smilingyoung man in homespuns, with a lute onhis back. He grins at you merrily, blue-grey eyes dancing. �And here you are!�he cries. �Adventurers, just as my nosethought! All swords and grim missions,and out-of-my-way-boy, I�m-saving-the-world-today-boy! Well met!�

Kelemvor challenges the man suspi-ciously. He merely grins and says:

The young man bows and winks. �Butof course, my lady! Many times! You�vepromised to marry me twice or thrice�or no, was that the other one with longdark hair and divine beauty? Yes, Irather think it might have been. . . . Well,in that case, I�m the one who stabledyour horse once or twice , and gotwalked on by you as you strode throughthe streets of Arabel, shining all overwith blue-white light!�

�I�m but a minstrel, big strong fighting-man! Surely you can defeat the likes ofme-with your agile tongue, perhaps?�

Midnight laughs. �You seem familiar.Have we met?�

(This strange story does make somesense to Midnight, who has begun to sus-pect the true identity of the minstrel.However, she is not sure enough of hersuspicions to reveal them to anyone else,and will feign ignorance if she is askedabout what the minstrel has said.)

Midnight stares hard at him. �And justwhat might your name be?� she askssoftly.

The young man bows again. �Minstrel,�he says innocently. �Minstrel by name,

2 7

minstrel by nature.��Your real name,� Kelemvor snarls, ad-

vancing on him. The young man hangshis head and coughs.

�Ah. Well. Yes. I did leave a little bitout,� he admits, eyeing Kelemvor�s handas it tightens on his sword hilt. �I�m . . .Wandering Minstrel! But you can call meMinstrel, for short. All my friends do.�

Midnight huffs in exasperation, butKelemvor is more vocal. �All right then,young snaketongue,� he says levelly.�What brought you to Tantras? If youcan answer that one without clever eva-sions, that is.�

Minstrel seems suddenly serious. �I�mhere because I�ve always wanted to seethe Great Bell. This is, after all, the Cityof the Bell.�

�What? Why?� Midnight asks suspi-ciously.

Minstrel stares at her. �What, your-self? You haven�t seen the Bell of AylenAttricus yet? And you a mage, too!�

Minstrel will insist on showing the adven-turers around the city.

�I can see someone�s going to have to dothis properly!� he says. �You lot can�teven find the landmarks without help, itseems!�

Kelemvor, highly insulted at the wayhe has been talked to, stalks off, mutter-ing that he is quite capable of finding hisown way around.

�Leave him be,� says Midnight. �Heknows where to find us later-and in themeantime, I think we should take advan-tage of what this minstrel can tell us andshow us.� She smiles at the young man,and he returns her friendliness with asweeping bow.

Event 2: TheTemple of Town

This event follows directly after Event 1.Minstrel smiles at the PCs, waves his lute atthe buildings all around, and says:

�To understand Tantras these days, youmust see the Temple of Torm first. �Tis agrand thing to see, and I�ll be proud totake you there!�

Minstrel will insist on guiding the PCs upthrough rising streets of grand houses andrich shops to the Temple of Torm. There, hegets them through a guarded, high-archediron gate, easily answering the queries ofthe guards as to the tenets of Torm�s faith(�Never sleep without a watchful eye. Neverleave a fault or gap in your armor or affairsfor another day; fix it today, and you�llnever be unready for danger. Guard theweak, watch closely the stronger. A goodlock makes for honest guests.�) and produc-ing a silver gauntlet of Torm when asked ifhe bears Torm�s sign.

If any PCs are watching Minstrel, theywill see him draw up a neck chain, uponwhich are several holy symbols: the blood-red sword of Tempus, the silver disc of Ty-mora, the wheat-sheaf of Chauntea, and soon. Minstrel�s nimble hands slide themdown out of view until the gauntlet appears,whereupon he sweeps the other symbols upthe chain (and over his shoulder out ofview, under his shirt) as he presents thegauntlet of Torm for the guards� inspection.

Minstrel smoothly introduces the PCs andMidnight as �visitors, supplicants if you will, tothe temple of Torm the Mighty.� He then handssomething to the guards (a thumb-sized ruby,if any PCs are looking) with the words, �Asmall, humble offering to further Torm�s greatwork.� The guards allow them to pass.

Within, the PCs find a hive of activity. Menscurry this way and that with barrows andhods of stone, rubble, and mortar. Dust isthick in the air. Tapping noises can be heardfrom several places. The temple is evidentlybeing rebuilt.

A priest nearby, who is consulting a draw-ing of this proposed side of the temple (allobelisks and thrusting towers crownedwith minarets), turns to look inquiringly atthe visitors.

He is Zaharen, a Lesser Eye (5th levelcleric) of Torm: AC 7 (10); MV 12; hp 37; #AT1; Dmg by weapon (he carries a mace); Str14, Int 12, Wis 18, Dex 17, Con 16, Cha 14;AL LG; THAC0 18. Spells: cure light wounds(x2), detect evil , l ight, sanctuary; f lameblade (x2), hear metal, hold person, spirir-ual hammer; dispel magic, meld into stone.

Note that while Torm is within the temple,all of Torm�s priests will have their magicwork for full duration and effects.

If attacked, Zaharen can shout a warningthat will bring 20 or more lay worshipersand 15 or more priests on the spot within 5rounds. (If magical silence prevails, Zaharencan summon half that aid in the same timeby hurling his mace through a great rosewindow which i s und e r co ns t r uc t io nnearby.)

Zaharen is eager for new converts andglad to answer queries. He knows little of

the layout, inner security, and true wealthor military strength of the temple, but he iseager to (and the DM should use him to)pass on the following information.

The god Torm is here! His fall destroyedmuch of the temple in Tantras, but it is be-ing rebuilt. He has proclaimed a new age ofstability and law for his followers, begin-ning with his incarnation among them. Allthrough the mounting chaos in the Realms,the faithful of Torm have worked on build-ing a new temple around their god and thegolden, lion-headed statue that stood guardwithin the door of the old temple. And theunenlightened have flocked to worship theLord of Loyalty! Torm is the foundation oflaw, order, and justice in these troubledtimes. His people must withstand those whowould tear asunder this rule of order fortheir own gain and delight in destructionand suffering. These wreakers of havoc in-clude the darkhelms and cruel mages ofZhentil Keep, of course, but there will beothers as well.

Midnight can sense powerful magicwithin the inner temple: magic which she,as a nonbeliever, is not allowed to approach.The price of her entry is to fully, and for-ever, embrace the worship of Torm. Accord-ing to Zaharen and other priests of thetemple, worshiping Torm involves the re-nunciation of her magic and the surrender

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of all her worldly goods, (especially magicalitems, books, and components) to the tem-ple, a price Midnight will refuse to pay.

In the distance, the adventurers see thatAdon has found his own way here, and is smil-ing while he talks earnestly to a cleric of thetemple. If any PCs hail or try to approach him,Minstrel will subtly bar their way:

�A man must find himself. Would youstand in his way� and have him be for-ever half a man?�

OFFSTAGE EVENTOn a deserted street in Tantras, Cyric and

the assassin Durrock find Kelemvor. Cyrichangs back to watch as the assassin pre-pares to attack Kelemvor.

Durrock is fast, but overconfident. Ke-lemvor appears unaware of his presence ashe creeps closer�and then Kelemvorcalmly turns and runs him through whenhe is within steps of striking. An astonishedCyric runs away, but not before Kelemvorrecognizes him.

Event 3: The Bellon the Hill

This event follows Event 2 directly. Aftertheir conversation with the priests, Min-strel will softly advise the PCs, �We couldcome back another time, if you�re especiallyinterested. They�re rather busy now, andwe�ve attracted the attention of the templeguards.� Minstrel will point over his shoul-der; beyond, the PCs can see unsmilingfaces watching them steadily from small,arched windows set around the base of theouter wall of the temple.

Minstrel will then guide Midnight (withthe PCs, but without Adon, who has wan-dered off deep into the temple, whereguards and priests alike will forbid the PCsto follow) all the way across Tantras, to theshrine of Mystra atop the hill at the south-ern edge of-the city.

On the way, Minstrel warns the party:

fades away. She turns toward you� smil-ing� seems to exhale her held breath� andlooks around.

Suddenly she frowns. �Where�s Min-s t r e l ? �

So other being will be able to feel thepower pass into Midnight, nor will they beable to touch her, drain the power, or pullher away from the bell as she touches it:they will simply discover themselves heldimmobile by an invisible wall of force. Nei-ther Midnight nor anyone else will be ableto make the bell ring or emit the slightestsound at this time, no matter what they doto it; pulling on the rope or striking the bellwill simply have no effect.

The reason for Midnight�s question is thatin the excitement, as the blue glow sur-rounded her, Minstrel (standing on theground outside the low stone wall) abruptlyvanished into thin air. (If any players statedthat their PCs were specifically watchingMinstrel, that�s exactly what the PCs see:one moment he�s there, and the next�blink!�he�s gone.)

An almightily puzzled Midnight comesback down the stairway and out of thetower and walks slowly all around the hill.

�One thing, friends: the soldiers havetheir barracks hereabouts. Common folkare not supposed to venture south of thefountain without approved business,these days. But I�ve noticed that if oneavo ids t he fo u nt a i n i t se l f , a roundhighnoon, few folk seem to be around towatch. So, come you down this alley, andaround here, and . . .�

Minstrel will sneak the party toward thehill by back streets. They are not seen bysoldiers, and soon reach the slope.

�Ahead� lady� is something of interest toyou� indeed: the local shrine of Mystra�Lady of Magic�� Minstrel says softly� andleads the way up an old� smooth-cobbledstreet that dissolves into grass ahead.

A smiling Minstrel kneels on the grass, in-dicating the shrine with a graceful wave ofhis hand. It is simply the grassy crest of thehill, surrounded by an old, crumbling, knee-high stone wall. At its center stands a cylin-drical tower, made of stone blocks, risingsome 50 feet into the air. At the top, visiblebetween the stone pillars holding up thetower roof, hangs an apparently ancientbell.

Anyone who ducks through the small,open entrance at the base of the tower willsee that a thick rope dangles down from thebell, ending about four feet off the ground.A narrow stone staircase spirals up the in-side of the tower wall, ending at a smalllanding about five feet below the bottom ofthe bell-close enough for someone stand-ing on this platform to reach up and touchthe bell.

Midnight seems quietly awed by the sightof the tower and the bell. Without askingpermission or waiting to see if anyone willfollow her, she enters the tower and beginsto ascend the stairway. (Walking is the onlyway to approach the bell, since-as will beapparent if anyone tries-no magic of anysort will function within the confines of thelow stone wall. If any PCs follow her, theywill find that the stairway is too narrow fortwo people to walk abreast, and the landingat the top is only large enough to comfort-ably and safely hold two people at one time.)

Midnight climbs the stairs resolutely,pauses briefly on the landing, and thenreaches out and touches the bell. It willseem like an old, cold, metal bell to any PCwho touches it-but for Midnight, the expe-rience is quite unforgettable.

She suddenly feels power surging into heras she touches the bell, increasing her mas-tery of magic. The DM should add a level toMidnight immediately (she gains 4 hit pointsand new spell use, with no training neces-sary) and read the following passage:

Midnight touches the bell and gasps. Afaint blue glow arises around her hands�and then seems to flicker around her.She stands taller and straighter as it

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�Friends,� Midnight says deliberately,frowning in her uncertainty, �I wish Iknew who or what Minstrel was. Heseems so damnably familiar.� She sighsand looks around at you.

�I�m beginning to be able to feel magic.It comes and goes: sometimes I knowwhen magic is near. Its intensity, too, Ihave some inkling of. And I cannot feelany more magic here.

�Mystra left me a great gift, in this bell.She�s given me power, power I can stillfeel burning within me. It is great,friends, but it is not enough to be fromthe tablet, even if a Tablet of Fate can beso transformed.

�And yet the bell is the only thing I�veyet found in the city that is at all magi-cally powerful-except the magic I felt inthe Temple of Torm.

�And if Torm is within the temple, andthe tablet is, too�then why hasn�t he re-vealed this, or used the tablet to force hisway out of the Realms, as Mystra tried toforce her way out while we watched?�(This occurred in Shadowdale, the pred-ecessor to this adventure.) �Can�t thegods feel the presence of tablets, orknow them when they see them? What

can Torm be doing?�Or, where else in Tantras is the tablet

hidden? Beneath the waters of the har-bor, perhaps? Or in one of these thou-sands of homes and shops? Mystra aid usall!�

Midnight will discuss things freely withthe PCs for a short time at this point, butthen abruptly wince, and announce, �I�m. . .I�m suddenly starving! I must eat! Let us goback to the Lazy Moon. But there�s just onething I must do first!�

Midnight strides down the hill and knockson the door of the nearest shop. A curious,bewhiskered face, with pipe attached, looksout and blinks at her.

�Eh . . . how�d ye get past the soldiers, allof ye? Huh! Shields and swords and all;they�ll be half screaming mad if they seeye!�

Midnight smiles. �Yes, yes, I fear so.We�ll be going back in a moment, but Imust know one thing, first: this bell,here . . . how old is it? Who brought ithere, and why?�

�Eh, lady, lady . . . there�s some �at goesthrough life learning the answers tofewer questions than that! Hold hard amoment, there! Well. . . hem, hem . . . thebell. The Bell of Aylen, folk call that. Whoput it there I couldn�t tell ye. It�s stoodthere these hundred years past, beforethere was a wall, I know that from thecity records, when I worked down-and-along. My father used to play around itwhen he was a youngling. And that�s . . .a long time ago.

�Aye, �tis an old thing. There�s a tale ortwo about it, if I can just. . . ah, yes: onlya mage of great power can get it to ring,they say. Bit of a problem right now, ifwe needed it rung an� all: there be nomages in the city. They�ve all vanished,belike, taken themselves off before thefighting gets here, I don�t doubt! That�sthe problem with mages, y�see . . . theynever stand and fight with a sword, like,but are always dancing around to burnthy rear . . . uh, hem, begging thy par-don, lady.

�Anyways, lady, that there bell, �tissaid, will protect the entire city from allharm for a whole day. It makes a sort ofbarrier. The mage Alaskhon the Oldknew all about it, when he was still alive;that�s how they knew where to build the

And with that the pipe returns to theold man�s mouth, and the door closes.

city walls, y�see. And . . . hem, that�s all Iknow. Good day.�

Midnight will not try to ask anyone elseabout the bell, nor go in after the old man,and will forbid the PCs to do so. She will setoff toward the inn, frowning thoughtfully.

When the PCs arrive at the Lazy Moon, agrim Kelemvor will be waiting for them. Hewill tell them all about Cyric and the assas-sin:

�And when I stuck him, he was just open-ing his mouth to deliver his usual littlehomily . . . the words assassins whisperin the ears of their victims, so that theydie knowing who�s responsible . . . andhe said, �For Ba�!� and then I got him. Iknow he was going to say, �For Bane.� I�mafraid Cyric�s a friend no longer, if it�sthat master he serves.

�We must watch sharp; he�s lurkingsomewhere in the city. Bane no doubtwants me dead, for my treachery; ah,yes, I cheated Bane before he could cheatme, and no doubt he�ll have my death ofit, before long, but he also wants this tab-let we�re all after, and he wants a ladycalled Midnight. And I, for one, aim togive him neither?

Kelemvor snarls silently at the tankardin his hand for a moment, and then liftsstill-blazing eyes to look around at you.�So tell me,� he prompts gruffly, �the bur-den of your day�s doings.�

Midnight will wave at the PCs to tell thetale, breaking in only to say:

�The tablet must be in the Temple ofTorm. Or so I think, anyway. But I don�tknow how to be sure of that, or how toget it. Any ideas?�

However, she will shake her head to anyplans the PCs come up with:

�We�re not snatching some bauble or ob-vious treasure,� Midnight says, exasper-ated, �but only looking for somethingthat might not even be there, somethingwe are unsure of the protections uponor the properties it might hold. An as-sault on the temple would mark us for

sure death in this city, and might well domore harm than all the might of theZhentarim. We cannot proceed by raid-ing the Temple of Torm.�

At that moment, Minstrel comes intothe taproom, arm in arm with Adon. Thecleric is laughing. �You had us fooled in-deed, old friend,� he says, and Minstrelgrins at him in reply before turning hishead to wink at all of you.

Midnight�s eyes narrow and then sud-denly become very bright. �Elminster!�she breathes. �Elminster!�

Minstrel grins. �Aye, lady. Well met, asthey say. Now thy journey really begins.�

Event 4: Reunionand Disunion

This event follows directly after Event 3.Still in his minstrel garb, but letting fall hisillusory youthful looks, Elminster playsupon a small hand-harp as he sits downwith the PCs, puts his feet up on an adjacentempty chair, and talks. As he plays on, oth-ers in the taproom slowly drift away, shuf-fling home or up to bed or off to do othertasks about the place, until Elminster andthe adventurers are quite alone (due to thesubtle magic of his harping).

The DM can use Elminster to explain any-thing the PCs don�t understand about theevents that have befallen them, except thathe will not talk about the recent events in-volving Cyric.

If PCs avoid asking Elminster things, havethe NPCs put questions to him. When theold sage is asked about the bell (if the PCsdon�t do so, Midnight will), read the follow-ing passage:

�It is of the power of Mystra,� Elminstersays softly. �A great spell worked withthe magic that slumbered here . . . untilyou, lady, came to claim it. I have beenasked to say no more about it, by agreater one than I.�

If asked about Shadowdale, Elminster willreply:

�Mourngrym and all are well, and re-building. The eyes and hands of ZhentilKeep are turned elsewhere; relativepeace reigns. If it makes thee all any the

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happier� neither he nor Lhaeo nor theHarpers hold thee guilty for my death; Ihave taken care of that. Ye must still an-swer� if ye return� for what ye did to theguards . . . . I would steer clear of the dalea few years yet� if I were ye.�

If asked about the Tablet of Fate, Elmin-ster will say:

�It is very near. If I knew preciselywhere, I�d not be sitting here talkingcalmly to all of ye now. The other tabletlies very far away, but its finding islinked to the Sword Coast, near or in Wa-terdeep, as far as I can learn.�

If a PC asks Elminster how he learned this(or anything, for that matter):

�By agreeing not to reveal my sources,�Elminster says dryly, �and keeping thatsort of promise these five hundred yearsand more, youngling. Conduct thyselfaccordingly, and learn wisdom in thyturn.�

In answer to any queries about Bane�spresent actions, read the following boxedtext. The DM should introduce this even ifthe adventurers seek to break off discus-sions without bringing up this subject.

Elminster speaks with sudden urgency.�Hold! There is something of importancethat ye must witness! Hush, all, and staystill as death . . . and watch!�

He gestures, and then harps loud andfast, casting a hand-sized crystal sphereinto the air. It floats before you, growinglarger and brighter, as he plays on . . .and then, suddenly, you see images mov-ing within it:

A cruel-faced, moustachioed man sitson a throne in a vast chamber with a pol-ished black marble floor. His eyes burnlike black flames, and you somehowknow that this is more than a man: Banehimself looks out of those eyes.

Bane is softly explaining something toa gathering of fearful men in the robes ofhigh clerics of Bane.

� . . . This, my will, must be done. Yourdiligent service alone can accomplishthis, and you shall be rewarded for it.

You all know of the Black Brother. It hasstood in hiding for as long as any of youcan remember, for longer than the yearseven your oldest records recall. Know,brethren, that I put it there. Long, longago I knew it would be needed.�

Bane leans forward, eyes burning.�The Brother is made of black glass,crafted by devils under my command. Itbears a special and very old spell, thegreatest of my working. . . the most per-ilous a god can ever undertake. It canswallow souls. They will give it life andenergy and power. The souls must all beloyal to me, or at least my thinking, forthey must align under my command. Youmust get those souls for me.�

Faint moans can be heard in the cham-ber. More than one of the black-robedmen is shaking. �U-us, Dread Lord?� one,braver than most, asks with white, trem-bling lips.

Bane smiles coldly. �I am touched byyour eager loyalty, all of you,� he saysthinly. �No, you are too few to serve, al-though you were my first choice. I shallneed you to perform the necessary cere-mony, the Stealing of the Souls.�

There is an instant of heavy silence.One of the priests faints, toppling silentlyto the floor. His head strikes it with a hol-low thud, and he lies motionless, a thinribbon of blood streaming slowly out-ward from his body. Bane smiles again.

�The clerics of Myrkul,� he explains,�are even now working a great DeathSpell, one that requires knowledge of thereal names of all the assassins in Faerun.They will slay all the �dark brothers� in allof Faerun for us, my brethren. We mustnot. . . cannot . . . do less. You must stealthose souls for me, and focus them here.�

At his gesture, a huge black statuewearing spiked armor (like the assassinsencountered earlier) descends slowlyfrom the darkness overhead , sur -rounded by four floating, spherical mon-sters with eyestalks like coiling snakesaround their uppermost curves, andgreat single eyes and saliva-drippingmouths below. They begin a rhythmic,deep-voiced chanting.

�Our friends of the many eyes will leadthe chant. Join in, all of you, my breth-ren. The time to serve me is now! Now!Now!�

The priests fearfully join their voicesto that of Bane�s avatar, and swiftly, inex-orably, the chanting rises into a fist-shaking crescendo. A weird yellow-green glow surrounds the statue.

(At th i s prec i se moment�unbe-knownst to the PCs at this time, butwhich they will surely discover later�every assassin in the Realms drops dead.All of their souls now fill the great blackavatar of Bane.)

Suddenly, the statue moves its handsand turns. Bane�s avatar falls silent inmid-chant, mouth hanging limply open,and sags back upon the throne, drooling.The beholders glide out of the way, andthe black glass juggernaut strides slowlyand ponderously from the cavern, heed-less of the clerics it steps on.

Elminster whistles a jaunty little tuneand waves his hand. The crystal fades todarkness, spins in midair, and then dwin-dles, still spinning, until it is gone. �Hecomes here,� the old sage says. �Yourturn to be heroes.�

Midnight is furious. �This is all somesort of game to you, isn�t it?� she spits athim, eyes blazing. �All across the Realms,folk are dying, while you watch and flithere and there, humming and notingthings and enjoying the festival! All foryour benefit, is it not? You�re no betterthan these swaggering gods, hurlingpower right and left with not a care forany other creature! Your little vanishingact in Shadowdale nearly bought ourdeaths, on the spot! You hinted that if wesought the tablets, we�d best come toTantras, and when we do, fighting andrisking death all the way, you tell us thatthere is something important we mustsee, and show us a deity talking aboutslaying thousands! That statue is on itsway here, and no doubt you expect us tostop it, don�t you? You grinning oldsnake!�

Elminster smiles. �Ah, spirit at last.Perhaps even enough. Well, Midnight,what is the burden of thy wailing, truly?Entertainment I�ve given ye all, and tospare. A little excitement, a few mo-ments of suspense to liven thy days, andye spit at me like a kitten. No gratitude,no delight in seeing me . . . ye wound medeep, ye do indeed. This day finds ye allalive and well, does it not? Ye�ve traveled,and seen sights and breathed the air offar places, have ye not? What then irks,so?�

Midnight shakes her fist at him. �Beingtreated like trained dogs, gods frown onyou! Being sent hither and yon like igno-rant, unfeeling puppets, for no reason!�

Elminster�s eyes are steady upon hers.�Was it really for no reason I directed ye

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here? Are ye that unseeing, indeed? Is itfor mere amusement that I battle godsand race the lands over, burning whatunreliable Art I have left aiding this oneand that, great and small? Is it for mereamusement that I sit listening to thyinsults-I, who have shielded thee socarefully as thy power grows? Learn tolook, girl: learn to see! It is that under-standing ye must nurture, even morethan knowledge and raw power of Art!Ye must learn to see the true natures ofbeings, before it is too late!�

Elminster sighs. �Still, ye think only ofthyself, looking not to the needs andwants and plans of others. Look and lis-ten, lady mage, and learn. Answers yehear but do not heed, sweeping on toother things without thinking . . . so an-swers I will not yet give. Look and learn,for thyself. And learn wisdom, as quicklyas ye can. So much depends on thee.�

Midnight stares at him, her face paling.�What do you mean?� she whispers.�Shielded me? Why?�

At that moment there is a thunderousknocking upon the taproom door. A breath-less messenger bursts into the room. He isclad in nondescript hose and jerkin, but agleaming gauntlet bounces from a chainupon his chest.

�I seek the faithful of Torm!� he cries, whenhe has breath enough to speak. �All in thisplace who worship Torm, Lord of Loyalty,Master of Duty, hearken! Torm himselfcommands you to come in haste to his tem-ple! Come to us, now, without delay! Tormhas need of you!�

Midnight turns on Elminster. �I sup-pose this is another of the things youhave foreseen, or brought about? Well?If you want me to follow your hints andpleas any longer, you�d better tell memore about this game you�re playing . . .now! Why does so much depend on me?What is all this about? Why are we here,and why is Torm calling all his wor-shipers together?�

He gasps for breath again, looksaround, and adds in lower tones ,�Spread the word,� and rushes out.

If any PCs are worshipers of Torm, Mid-night will forbid them to leave, as well assome of the inn staff who feel compelled toheed the call, at least until the sage has ex-plained what is going on.

�When people follow the bidding ofmages and gods without asking ques-tions,� Midnight says grimly, �they tendto get killed. If I�m to learn wisdom, I�dlike to stay alive to do it. That will re-quire all of us together and healthy, so norunning off anywhere, anyone, unlesswe all go, from now on.�

Elminster nods approvingly. �Well said,lady. Ye see the difference, when yethink before rushing about doing things?Splendid! As to thy questions, know ye Iam not all-seeing, nor infallible. I knownot why Torm is calling on his faithful. Ifear, however, that he will use their gath-ered life-force in some way, perhaps tobattle the statue ye saw, that Bane com-mands. I shall try to learn what I can.�

The old sage closes his eyes, murmurssomething, and gestures gently. For longmoments thereafter, he seems to sit listen-ing to something no one else can hear.When he opens his eyes at last, he looksagain at Midnight.

�I cannot be sure, though I seem to seeanother giant, a golden colossus. . . but Ido sense great danger. When ye haveused the Art as long as I have, ye will beable to feel its ebb and flow, as thosewho wield it draw it in, hurl it forth, ortwist it to their ends. A great tide isdrawing in about us, now. I fear a greatrelease of Art will come; something sogreat as to destroy much that is near.

�This city, for example. All the folk init, including thyselves, for another. Allthe trees and birds and growing thingsfor a long ride about; little things, as yesay. Mere details in this game I play, asyou would have it.�

Elminster�s lips twist sarcastically as helooks at Midnight. �I do know why Banecomes hither: he seeks to regain the tab-let he hid here earlier-ah, yes, it washe-and he seeks to force thee into openbattle, for it is Midnight now who in-trigues him, one mortal whose powersand place in this chaos he does not un-derstand.

�The tablet must be in the Temple ofTorm. I, too, have been searching the citythese last few days; I have come to theconclusion that there is no other place itcould be. They will be busy there now,scurrying to obey Torm. I can get ye in-side, and then, �tis time to earn thy glory.�

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This chapter begins as Elminster tells theadventurers it is time for them to act. TheDM should allow time for PC discussionsand preparation, and then run Event 1.

Event 1: Into theTemple

When the PCs have prepared themselvesfor battle, read the following passage:

Event 2: Torm�Tantras� and theTablet

This event directly follows Event 1, afterElminster has left the adventurers in theTemple of Torm. The DM should be thor-oughly familiar with this entire event be-fore running it: there are many things toremember. Note that the magical defensesof the Temple of Torm are not subject tomagical chaos at this time, with Torm in res-idence.

The adventurers will have to spend atleast some time exploring the interior of thetemple, and they should begin by headingnorth along the corridor that Elminster re-vealed to them. Nowhere within the templewill they encounter residents or guards (ev-eryone has gathered in area #6 for theceremony)�except at the four entrances toarea #43. The fact that this place is stillguarded should be a tipoff that what theyseek is within this chamber. When the PCsfirst pass by one of the entrances, read thefollowing passage:

Elminster looks up from his harp, an in-stant before any of you can interrupt totell him you�re ready to leave. �All pre-pared to be off bloodletting, then?Swords sharp? Let�s be on our way!�

Briskly he leads the way into the streets,seeking the Temple of Torm by the straight-est route, ignoring the curious stares of Tan-tran guards and scurrying townsfolk alike.Along the way he explains to the group thatgetting into the temple will be much easiernow than it was before-the followers ofTorm are being called together for some ur-gent purpose, and the guards at the templearen�t likely to be too particular about refus-ing entrance to anyone who wants to get in.

Elminster leads you into an alleyway atthe base of the hill where the temple islocated. Safe from prying eyes, he pulls abit of fleece and a pinch of sand from thepockets of his robe. He mutters a few syl-lables, waves his hands, and a minutelater the sage�s body and face are tran-formed into those of a strong youngfighter, complete with a symbol ofTorm�s gauntlet dangling from a chainaround his neck. �Am I not devastating?�he asks Midnight, flexing his biceps. �Re-member now, everyone: when we ap-proach the front gates of the temple, letme do the talking.�

The sage strides on, with the adventurersin tow, and the group soon arrives at thegates of the Temple of Torm.

The guard on duty smiles and holds up ahand in greeting. �Welcome, faithful!� hesays, noticing the gauntlet symbolaround Elminster�s neck. �Not a momenttoo soon�the Ceremony of Power isabout to begin. But hold�thy compan-ions bear no tokens of Torm. What be

The guard hesitates only for a mo-ment, looking back over his shoulder to-ward the interior of the temple. �Yourword is good,� he says to Elminster.�Pass, and go directly forward to thelarge chamber, where Torm awaits.�

Elminster smiles, nods, and strides intothe temple. You follow, leaving the guardbehind.

their motives for entering here?��Recent converts,� Elminster answers

smoothly, �who have come to see thatloyalty to Torm offers the only hope forall of us. I have tested them and foundthem worthy. If you would also examinethem, I pray you do it quickly, so that wemay lend our strength to the ceremony.�

Elminster will lead the adventurersstraight into the temple, through areas #3and #4 (see the map of the Temple of Torm).Despite the fact that the place appears allbut deserted, he will urge his companions tomove quietly and carefully. The doors lead-ing from area #4 to #5 are slightly ajar, andfrom within #5 the sounds of prayerfulmuttering can be heard. Elminster halts infront of the secret door along the north wallof area #4, opens it, and then turns to theparty, speaking in a whisper:

�Beyond those doors to the east lies thegreat chamber-if ye go there, ye willsurely get caught up in the ritual. So westop here; explore beyond this hiddendoor, and let thy good sense be thy guide.Now all stand still, for just a moment . . .�

The old sage moves among you, touch-ing each of you briefly, and one by oneyou wink out of sight. �Invisibility will letye go where ye will,� he says, �but besure to stay together-and move as qui-etly as ye can; guards can hear even ifthey can�t see. When ye wish to be seenagain, say my name and the spell will bebroken.�

He reaches out and hands Midnight ascrap of paper, adding these instruc-tions: �Open this, and read the wordthereon only when you are ready toleave, and be sure all of ye are touchingeach other, linked flesh to flesh. It willbring ye back to the inn. There is moreto do, for both ye and I, so rest assured Ishall be waiting for ye, when ye comeback. Mind ye, curb thy greed when ri-fling the temple riches: this spell will al-low ye to carry only one thing of magic,each, above what ye already hold, or ye

will be lost amid the Ethereal Plane for-ever.�

And with that, Elminster is gone, van-ished in an instant. You are alone in thedepths of the Temple of Torm.

The space between the guard and thenearby walls is several feet wide, sufficientfor the adventurers to silently shuffle pastthe guard in single file. The guard will notbe aware of their presence unless theymake noise or (of course) if they attack. If aguard is attacked or alerted, he wilt moveaway from the flagstone upon which he isstanding, and this action will set off analarm that will bring the other three guardsrunning to his aid.

The guards are 6th level priests of Torm.All are AC 1 (full plate), and bear maces ofspellwarding (see New Magical Items, page45) as their only weapons. While they arewithin this chamber, all priests of Torm able

The inside of this diamond-shaped cham-ber is dimly lit. Just inside the entranceyou see a stern, motionless guard facingaway from the center of the room. Youcan make out the shapes of guards sta-tioned at the other points of the diamondas well.

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of Torm.Suddenly, off to the south, you can

hear a rising, rolling chanting comingfrom many throats. It grows louder,more insistent, and more exultant as youlisten.

�Hurry!� Midnight hisses suddenly.�They may be coming in here, for all weknow! Hurry, and keep quiet!�in darkness overhead. The bare stone

floor has been polished smooth by manyfeet, and swept clean of all dust recently.

The ceiling of this huge chamber is lost

to use the spell can call lightning as though astorm were overhead. Each of these fourpriests has one call lightning spell, two dis-pel magic, two flame blade, one withdraw,and two cure light wounds spells.

When the party advances into the cham-ber, read the following passage:

ritual will come to a rousing climax.There is nothing invisible or hidden in the

room. If the PCs investigate the mosaic, theywill find two hand-holds hidden in its de-sign, disguised as joints of the gauntlet-covered hand.

The entire palm of the gauntlet lifts noise-lessly (one character with Str 16 or highercan pull it out) to reveal a shaft descendingdownward for thirty feet (2d6 falling dam-age to anyone pitching down; it has awooden ladder down one side) into a very

The chanting is coming from the High dimly lit opening below.The room seems to be empty except for a Holy Hall (area #6), where hundreds of wor- The shaft ends in a low, square, stonemosaic in the center of the floor worked shipers of Torm (clerics and nonclerics chamber. Three large chests, the size ofin the image of the open-handed gauntlet alike) are gathered to hear the words of wagon-trunks that merchants use (four of

their deity. In a short time (see below), this them together fi l l the floor of a large

3 4

wagon), sit in a row upon the floor. A circlehas been chalked around them, and thefaint radiance in the small chamber (causedby a dim white faerie fire) emanates fromthis.

In the air above each chest float three dag-gers, points downward, hanging unmovingin emptiness. Nothing else is visible in theroom.

DM�s Note:From the moment the first PC sees this

room, the DM should secretly keep track ofreal time, using a watch. After twenty-fiveminutes have elapsed, the chanting will riseto a definite climax, then suddenly end. Oneround later, a great crashing noise will be

heard from above, and the sound of omi-nous rumbling from outside this chamberwill begin. Two rounds thereafter, the ceil-ing of this chamber will collapse.

The Ceremony of Power was more than aritual. The avatar of Torm that was presentin the temple (in the image of a handsomeman) drew upon the support of his wor-shipers, whose chants and supplicationsgave the avatar the power to �possess� agreat, lion-headed statue that stood withinthe High Holy Hall. As soon as the avatartook this new form, it rose up and burstthrough the ceiling of the temple (headingoff to join battle with the avatar of Bane).Shock waves from this damage are quicklyspreading throughout the eastern part of

the temple, causing many walls and ceilingsto crack and collapse.

Everyone in the small chamber when theceiling caves in must make a DexterityCheck or suffer 4d6 damage from fallingrock (if the check is failed, save vs. petrifica-tion for half damage). Characters who takefull damage are buried or pinned beneaththe debris, and must be freed by their com-panions or perish.

Nothing will occur in the small room untilan adventurer touches or passes into the fa-erie fire circle, which acts as a sort of �elec-tric eye.� At that time, the white radiancewill instantly flare into brilliant light andchange into the image of a huge spectral

Ground FloorNote: The descriptions given here

apply to the state of the temple innormal circumstances. Refer to thetext of the module for particularsthat are true at the time this adven-ture is taking place.

I. Guardpost. Three guards onduty at each post, all clerics of 4th-6th level in full plate (AC 1) andarmed with maces of Spellwarding,and iron staves (+1 on damage).main (public) entrance is on westwall.2. Guardroom. Sleeping quarters,

occupied by 1d4 + 1 off-duty guardsat all times.

3. Entry Hall.4. Offeratorium. Lay worshipers

of Torm are barred entrance be-yond this area, where they can giveOfferings and receive blessings.

5. Sanctum. Always staffed by asingle priest kneeling in prayer.6. High Holy Hall. Gathering place

for clergy only.7. Sacristy. Vestments and every-

day items (chains, tables, etc.) storedhere; staffed by two junior priests.8. Guest Apartments.9. Spy Chamber. Whenever #8 is oc-

cupied, a priest is stationed here toeavesdrop ON visitors.IO. Chapel. FOR use by lay wor-shipers.11. Confessional.12. Gates. Bars run from floor toceiling; locks difficult to pick (-14%).1st level priests stationed insideeach gate to report on and who ap-proach.

13. Chancel. Closet containing holysymbols, sacred relics, and prayer-scrolls. Off limits to all but clerics ofTorm.14. Storeroom. Cutlery, dinner-ware, candles, often materialsneeded to feed large numbers ofpeople.15. Vestry. Where clergy store theirrobes and bless for ceremonies.16. Cook�s Quarters.17. Refectory (dining hall).18. Guest Apartments.19. Spy Chamber (See #9).20. Nave. Staffed by six guards.21. Service Entrance; locked doorguarded by six teeth of Torm.22. Herbarium.23. Kitchen; visitors are not wel-come.24. Pantry (Meat and cheese).25. Pantry (bread and vegetables).26. Wine Cellar.27. Food Storage (dry goods).28. Food Storage (Seldom-used non-perishables).29. Workshop. Broken and tornitems repaired here.30. Sanctuary. Prayer room, oftenused as extra guest quarters.31. High Priest�s receiving room;locked and (usually) empty.32. High Priest�s Apartments; alwaysvery well guarded by magic.33. Punishment Cell.34. Proctor�s Quarters; second incommand lives here.35. Upperpriests� Quarters; sharedby three powerful priests� with atleast one of them herein at and time36 . guardroom and weaponsroom. Six guards watch over weap-ons crafted by temple workers

(which are sold for a source of in-come).37. Weapons Workshop.38. Armory; the temple�s arsenal.39. Smithy; two forges, worked byfive strong priests.40. Hall Of Instruction. Classroomfor lessons and meetings.41. Novitiate Quarters for all pos-tulants accepted for instruction inthe clergy, and novice priests whowatch over them; 12-16 personspresent at and time.42. Priests Dormer. Similar to #4I,used by full priests (3rd to 5th level).43. The Overtomb. Chamber of soli-tude used for meditat ion andprayer; always guarded by four vig-ilant clerics (see text).44. Reliquary. The resting place ofthe temple�s most revered relic, abattered mace said to have oncebeen wielded by Torm himself.Guarded by a band of Torm spell, itfloats mysteriously in midair fivefeet above the floor.45. Secret Side Entrance.

The UndercellarThis area and the means of enter-

ing it are detailed in the text. Thesmall circle on the map shows wherethe vertical shaft comes out into thechamber; the large circle around thechests is the area from where the fa-erie fire radiance emanates. Theceiling in the room is 10� high. If anyof the chests are dragged aside,shallow graves will be found under-neath, containing nothing but thebones of some very old priests ofTorm.

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hand, enveloping the area. It is a Hand ofTorm (a new priest spell, described in theNew Magic appendix beginning on page 45),and it will constrict any adventurers withinthe area of effect who do not have a holysymbol of Torm in their possession.

Through the band, unaffected by itsmagic, will flash the daggers, attacking anybeings within the circle. They are teeth ofTorm (also described in the New Magic ap-pendix). Each tooth strikes once per round,at one being, until that being leaves theguarded area (the chalk circle). It cannot beprevented from reaching a target, and dis-pel magic will not cause it to cease in thiscase. A dispel magic cast on a tooth in thissituation will cause it to become a +1weapon, a second dispel magic will cause itto become nonmagical for attack purposes,and a third dispel magic will slow the blade�sattacks to one per two rounds. Subsequentattempts to dispel magic will decrease theblade�s attacks to one every four rounds,one every eight rounds, and so forth.

The three chests are outwardly identicaland unlocked. They are too heavy to lift(empty weight more than 500 pounds) andtoo large to be hauled out of the chamberwithout destroying the ladder. The centerand southernmost ones contain some itemsof value (see below), but their latches aretrapped with sleep poison (save vs. poisonor fall unconscious for 4d4 rounds).

The northernmost chest contains 36 clothbags, each one cylindrical, about two feethigh and six inches in diameter. Thirty-fiveof them contain 100 gold pieces each. Thethirty-sixth contains the Tablet of Fate.

The Tablet of Fate is of plain, weatheredstone, two feet high, with rounded ends andedges. On its sides are engraved the namesand symbols of the gods, and their divineportfolios. It radiates no dweomer, but ifMidnight is still carrying the shatter-crystalgiven to the adventurers by Lhaeo in Chap-ter 1, that crystal will shatter as soon as thelid of the northernmost chest is raised.

The southernmost chest contains looseswords, maces, orbs, and scepters. All arerichly chased and ornamented, and studdedwith jewels. None are magical, although sev-eral items in the chest have been imbuedwith a Nystul�s magic aura made everlastingby the application of a permanency spell. (Ifa PC detects for magic among the items inthis chest and then takes a �magical� objectaway with him, he will discover later thathis assumption was wrong.)

The center chest contains a similar collec-tion of objects, among them eight items thatactually are magical: a staff of curing (21charges), a rod of resurrection (14 charges),a wand of wonder (50 charges), a short

sword +3, a dagger +2, longtooth, abrooch of shielding, a rod of cancellation (8charges) in a special protective case, and agem of brightness.

The spell triggered by Midnight�s readingof the word on the piece of paper will bringeven dead characters back to the inn, aslong as they are being touched by a livingcharacter when Midnight reads the word.

The NPCs will strictly adhere to Elmin-ster�s warning about taking only one addi-tional magical item per person out of thetemple. Any PC who disobeys the restric-tion, even unwittingly, will wind up fullyclad and with all gear, including the �extra�magic item(s), lost somewhere in the Ethe-real Plane.

If a DM wants to be merciful, Adon canexplain what he thinks happened to thePC(s) upon the group�s return to the inn, de-scribed in the next event. Elminster willsigh, shake his head, and mutter somethinglong and complicated indeed as he staresinto a fist-sized crystal sphere plucked frommidair. The character(s) will reappear sec-onds later in the taproom, devoid of allclothing and possessions (the magic worksonly on living objects).

Event 3: Ringingthe Bell

This event begins as the adventurers re-turn from the temple. Elminster�s magic willtake them straight into the taproom of theLazy Moon, empty except for Elminster (sit-ting patiently at a table, with a tankard be-side him) and the astonished innkeeper.

If Midnight is injured and the party has nomeans to deal with the problem, Elminsterwill speedily produce potions to see to herhealing. After the PCs have related their sto-ries and dealt with any necessary healing orredistribution of gear, read the following

passage:

Elminster coughs loudly. �Are ye done,then? Finished plundering temples, andall that? There�s more important thingsto be about, ye know. . . .� The old sagelooks off into the distance casually.

Midnight turns on him furiously. �As ifwe haven�t dared enough, while you sathere tossing back ale! More importantthings to do? What else is it you want ofus, then?�

Elminster sighs. �There is one thing yecould do, all of you. Get to the great bellupon the hill. Midnight, ring it as soon asye can, and save all this city and those in

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it. Go! And I shall do what I must. . . . For,�he adds with a crooked smile, �I haveplayed this game long enough that I be-gin to understand my part in it.� He riseswith a gesture, and the harp and hisrobes vanish away, leaving him clad inwhat appear to be silver flames, flowingand rippling. �Go, now!� he says sternly.�Tantras depends on thee! Fame awaits,and the chance of living to eat a hot din-ner tonight, and other nights besides!Ring the bell!�

�The bell!� gasps another voice. Theinnkeeper, Faress, white and shaking,stares at you open-mouthed from behindthe bar. �The bell must be rung? Hurry,then�hurry!�

Midnight nods, frowning. �Right, then,old sage. Your precious bell shall berung. Why me, though? You are morethe master of Art than me, by far! Whyentrust this to me, if it is so important?Why can�t you simply do it, and save us alittle excitement, this once?�

Elminster grins. �And let thee go to thygraves never knowing the feel of savingthe Realms? Nay; I be not that cruel. . . .�Tis the greatest feeling in the world,lady! I cannot bring myself to rob thee ofit! As to why ye must, and not I . . . all willbe made clear in Waterdeep.� He smilesand waves. �Don�t be long in gettingthere, or ye�ll miss all the fun!� he says�and then he vanishes in a sudden flare ofblue light.

Faress bellows up the stairs, address-ing unseen tenants. �The bell! The bell isto be rung! Doom is upon us!� He seesyou, still gathered in the room an instantafter Elminster�s departure, and says,�Tarry not, if you would be heroes! Ringthe bell! Hurry! Hurry!�

Outside, residents of Tantras are rushingdown the streets headlong, sprinting as iftheir lives depended upon getting to theTemple of Torm before their next breath.They will run over, around, or through any-thing and everything in their way. PCs willhave to battle a path through them for thefirst 3 turns after Elminster�s disappear-ance, after which the city will be strangelyquiet except for a rising humming soundcoming from the general direction of thepartially ruined Temple of Torm.

If PCs wish to investigate this noise, readthe following:

She sets a punishing pace, running hardthrough the streets of the city. The DMshould describe time-wasting obstaclessuch as abandoned carts blocking the way,lost travelers asking directions, suspiciousTantran guardsmen, persistent peddlersselling worthless amulets to �save thy souls,goodfolk, now that the end of all worlds is athand!� A panting Midnight, hair streamingbehind her, remains at the head of the rac-ing group.

Any attempt to use magic to shorten thejourney through the city, should fail: flyspells will have only the effects of jumpmagic, teleport spells will function only asblink magic, in random (not always desir-able) directions, and so on.

The noise to the north rises to a cre-scendo, and then suddenly ends. There is aflash of light in the air above the temple. Atthis point, the characters� magic should notwork reliably at all, and an electric tensionwill grow in the air. Short, blue bolts oflightning can be seen arcing from buildingto building. Some sort of charge is buildingup. . .

When the adventurers get within sight ofthe bell tower, read the following passage:

Suddenly, just ahead, you see Tantranguards with drawn weapons. �Go no far-ther,� one says grimly as they approachyou, swords held menacingly. �This areais restricted to Tantran soldiers only.�

In the next instant Elminster appearsin a shimmer of light and waves hishand. The guards fall senseless to theground.

�Why don�t you just ring the bell?� Mid-night screams at him, exasperated.

�I cannot,� he answers, in a voice that isstarting to fade away at the same timethat his form becomes blurred and in-substantial. �My power is akin to it; if Itouched it, the bell and I would destroyeach other. Something some folk wouldwelcome, I admit; but all of this citywould be riven with us. . .� At that, hisbody and voice both disappear.

Midnight says fiercely, �Not now! What-ever is going on, we shall seek to learn af-ter we ring this bell! Irritating as that oldman may be, I�ll grant he�s learned some-thing to stay alive five hundred years. Itthe bell must be rung, we ring it, andthen I want some answers, by all thegods, and if need be, from all the gods.Come!�

Midnight screams� �Mystra preserveus all!� more in anger than in prayer� andcharges toward the hill.

Before anyone can reach the base of thehill, vibrations will begin to move throughthe ground, coming from the north. withinseconds, the shocks increase in intensity, tothe point where loose stone blocks are top-pled from walls. Trees are heaved up andleft canted at odd angles: buildings, woodand stone alike, are twisted and broken; it isas if the very ground has gone mad and isbent on destruction.

The tremors and upthrusts are especiallypowerful in the area right around the belltower (but if anyone were on top of the hill,they would see that the area inside the lowstone wall is calm and unharmed). Any PCswho try to accompany Midnight in herclimb up the hill must make a DexterityCheck or be thrown to the ground (1d6damage; 1d3 rounds needed to regain one�sfeet).

While Midnight struggles to make herway up the hill, Adon will glance back overhis shoulder. �Look!� he shouts to attract thePCs� attention, and points toward the north:

lightinglike energy glows around theirfists� flaring as punches land. With eachblow the ground shakes even more andbuildings all around you shudder.

At this point, some buildings will fall witha roar burying terrified people runningdown adjacent streets.

�Come on!� Midnight will shout grimly asshe continues heading up the hill. Eachround there will be another tremor, requir-ing additional Dexterity Checks for any PC�swho manage to remain standing.

The juggernauts battle on, the destruc-tion growing wilder: chain lightning leapsfrom them to rain down on tall buildingsand the ground, and wailing winds gust andbuffet the city and the PCs. Cracks open inthe earth, swallowing horses and cityfolk inthe streets below (the DM should threatenthe PCs with these fissures, but not harmany PCs). Everything rises to a shrieking cli-max, and then . . .

Midnight makes it to the top of the hill,throws herself over the low stone wall, andstaggers inside the bell tower. A momentlater she pulls on the rope�and it works!The bell swings bath and forth� its pealscausing a deafening noise. Any character onthe hill when the bell is rung must save vs.spell or be stunned for 1d6 rounds. (Mid-night will automatically fail her save). If any-one except for Midnight tugs on the rope,nothing will happen.

Immediately after the bell sounds, readthe following passage (for the benefit of anyPCs who were not stunned):

Two juggernauts tower above the cityskyline, two glowing giants grapplingand punching each other like two hugebullies brawling in a tavern. One is black,wearing the spiked armor of Bane�s as-sassins; the other golden and lion-headed. As they smash each other,

37

There is a great flash of white light, andan earth-shaking rumbling. Everyone isthrown off their feet as the very earthcracks open. Something silver and spar-kling is rising into the air all around asbuildings leap into the air and begin tofall, the world rocks, all people withinsight are thrown down, and birds tum-ble helplessly past you, hurled out of theair.

Through the rising, silvery radiance(which begins to shimmer with rainbowcolors), you see the two juggernautsslowly topple.

Slowly, ever so slowly, they fall fromview behind the glowing radiance. An in-stant later, there is a shattering explo-sion.

Bright light will temporarily blind anyconscious PCs. Then they will be overcome,knocked senseless by the discharge of en-ergy as the two colossi disintegrate. The av-atars of Bane and Torm seem to havevanished, probably consumed by the awe-come explosion.

A sphere of force created by the bell (thatwill resist dispel magic and similar attemptsto breach it) will prevent anyone from leav-ing Tantras for one day after the ringing ofthe bell. The bell actually creates a shim-mering, mist-veiled prismatic sphere of gi-gantic proportions, enclosing a sphericalwall of force and an anti-magic shell, theseconcentric spheres being protected both in-side and out by spheres of spell reflectionand spell turning.

Event 4:Aftermath

When the PCs regain their senses, theywill be lying on the hilltop. Above them, thebell�s supports stand empty. The bell hasvanished.

Below the PCs lies a partially shatteredcity. Some buildings have fallen. Manystreets are blocked with rubble. Dazed citi-zens are picking their way through thewreckage trying to salvage what they can.All is hushed. The air and ground are still.

Midnight will be dazed for a round ortwo. Kelemvor and Adon will see to her, de-cide that she will be all right, examine thePCs to make sure they did not sustain mor-tal injuries (rendering what aid is neces-sary), and then crisply direct the PCs to seeto Midnight�s safety, while they go to helptend the wounded.

If the PCs explore, they will discover sev-

eral things. Within the city, in the sphericalarea of effect of the bell, all magic will func-tion normally (i.e., not subject to magicalchaos) for one day (24 hours to the minutefrom the ringing of the bell).

Although the city is damaged, the sur-rounding land is blasted down to bare,twisted, still-cooling rock, which has meltedand flowed in many places. Utter devasta-tion reigns in this area, and magic of anysort simply will not work. The minds ofspellcasting characters will feel numbedand dazed while they are within this area,which extends for a radius of several miles,from a focal point just north of the city wallswhere the two juggernauts struggled. Thisseared area will be magic-dead for 1d4 + 1years. Inside and outside the city, there is nosign of the avatars of Bane and Torm.

In the city, there is a great breach in thenorth wall where the golden avatar of Tormmade its way out of the city toward the ap-proaching juggernaut of Bane, crushing ani-mals and people underfoot as it went. Thesurviving Tantran soldiers are busily fillingthis gap with rubble.

Soldiers are everywhere, working withrenewed vigor now that the doom theyforesaw has been averted. They know wellthat this Time of Troubles is not over, andthey are preparing for other attacks.

The Temple of Torm lies in ruin, shatteredand fallen. The golden avatar had burstcarelessly out of it, weakening the struc-ture, and in the great blast that ended thebattle of the two juggernauts, the magicwhich held up the temple failed, and it col-lapsed entirely.

If the PCs explore the ruins of the temple,allow them to find four potions of healing, amace + 1, seven cloth bags containing 100

pieces of gold each, and a rod of beguilingwith 29 charges. No priests of Torm seem tobe left alive to explain things or offer resist-ance to the party.

If the PCs examine the gap in the wall orspecifically go seeking Elminster (where-upon they will be directed to the gap by anawed housewife), read the following pas-sage:

Elminster is standing atop the tumbledblocks of a collapsed section of the citywall, looking grimly out over the devas-tation. He smiles at you and says, �Ah,well done indeed. A little cataclysmic,perhaps, but it could not be helped.Other matters press now, so I must beoff. See ye all in Waterdeep! Mind yearen�t late!� With a last smile and a wave,he vanishes into thin air.

Midnight looks wearily around at you.�Well,� she says in wry disgust, �youheard the Great One. Let�s get our gearand get going.�

Kelemvor and Adon arrive at that mo-ment. �Did he say what I thought hedid?� Adon asks wearily. His hands androbes are stained with blood that is nothis own. Kelemvor just shakes his head.

�Perhaps we could save time by sailingto Suzail, or Westgate,� says Midnightgrimly, �but I�ve no wish to ride thewaves an instant longer than I must,when Umberlee and who knows whatother fallen gods or leviathans are lurk-ing just below. It seems that the old sagewants us to see every hill and dale be-tween here and the Sword Coast, so wemay as well get started.�

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Kelemvor agrees. �I always wanted tosee Waterdeep,� he says sardonically.�How about you?�

Ending theAdventure

If this module is being played singly, or ifthe DM wishes to take play in a different di-rection at this time and not continue on toFRE3, Waterdeep, then Midnight, Adon, andKelemvor should leave the PCs and headstraight for Waterdeep. With them will gothe attention of Myrkul and Cyric, leavingthe PCs to contend only with the risen Zhen-tilar, the ambitious Zhentarim, the wide-spread chaos o f Ar t and na ture , andrampant bandits and looting.

In the Dragon Reach area, Sembia willmove quickly to seize Scardale from theZhentilar, and both Hillsfar and Mulmasterwill try to exploit the lack of Zhentish navalsuperiority in the Moonsea by attacking hershipping, blockading her harbor, and mus-tering warriors for attacks upon her.Mulmaster will firmly block the northernend of the River Lis by sinking old bargesand rotting cogs and stationing six shipsc r a m m e d w i t h c a t a p u l t s a n d a r c h e r snearby. Passage from the Dragon Reachinto the Moonsea will be temporarily impos-sible.

The trapped Zhentilar will try to breakback through to the Moonsea, and the entireregion will rise in arms, from Cormyr in the

west to the Bloodstone lands to the north.At the same time, renegade cults and

priesthoods such as The Cult of the Dragonand the followers of Moander, as well asthieves� guilds and other clandestine organi-zations made suddenly desperate by the dis-appearance of their assassins, will mountconfused, inept terrorist raids, sabotage at-tempts, and vendettas everywhere in thearea, trying to further their own mysteri-ous ends in the general confusion.

The DM can guide the PCs as desired orlet them choose their own course of action,probably beginning with a voyage on TheSea of Fallen Stars to Sembia, Cormyr, orWestgate. An interesting campaign couldarise out of the chaos that grips the land atthis time.

If play will continue with FRE3, Water-deep, the PCs will set forth with Midnight,Kelemvor, and Adon on their voyage west-ward. Be advised that Cyric, fourth of theNPC companions, is still alive, and will befollowing the PCs with his own plans inmind.

The events of Waterdeep will follow di-rectly after this module. If you do not yethave FRE3, delay the PCs and the threeNPCs by handing them a temporary lack oftransportation (i.e., no boats remain intactin the harbor after the great explosion).This creates a chance to rest and recuperate(and perhaps find tutors to advance inlevels), and a chance to allow Midnight todevelop her newly found powers. Adon andKelemvor can help in tending the injuredand rebuilding the city, to keep Tantras anoasis of order and safety amid the strife andchaos now widespread in Faerun (some-

thing the PCs may find satisfying, too). A re-fusal of the three NPCs to leave Tantras for atime may force the PCs to stay, too, as raid-ing brigands, monsters, and Zhentarim be-come suddenly too strong for the PCs tohandle by themselves.

Perhaps a Harper agent could also surfaceto spy on the PCs, as a minstrel (who lookssuspiciously like Elminster�s disguise, per-haps because Elminster hastily copied hisappearance when searching for the PCs)who follows the PCs around, asking themabout their adventures so as to make up bal-lads about their valor.

This Harper agent could be a helpful liai-son, leading PCs to potential tutors in thecity, or a Zhentarim who leads them intoambushes, or merely a bard full of local lorethat may lead the way to side adventures(finding a lost dragon lair and hoard, recov-ering a smuggler�s cargo hidden in thesewers of Tantras and guarded by now-hungry lizard men, uncovering a drow-ledplot to seize control of Tantras or at leastmost of its merchant fleet).

An entire campaign can be set up in Tan-tras, with the DM shaping and detailing thecity to his own ends as play develops (andthe shattered city rebuilds itself). If a DMdesires to later continue on to the Water-deep module, of course the Zhentarim havealways wanted to control a port on theDragon Reach itself . They might wellchoose to invade in force at this time, tryingto take the city by stealth (and slay or driveout all adventurers who might thwart theirplans) where the force of Bane�s frontal at-tack, or the abortive invasion by their Zhen-tilar soldiery, have failed.

3 9

This section describes four major non-player characters, one of whom (at least) be-came involved with the PCs in the previousmodule in this series, Shadowdale. They arethe four main characters of The Avatar Tril-ogy novels, and are described more fully inaccessory FR7, Hall of Heroes.

It is recommended that all four of theseNPCs be used to accompany the PCs at vari-ous points in the adventure�introducingthem into the story as described in Chapters1 and 3�although technically, Midnight isthe only NPC who must be in the adventur-ing party for the story of Tantras to unfoldin proper fashion.

�MIDNIGHT� ARIELMANXHuman Mage, Level 7 (at beginning of ad-venture; becomes Level 8 in Chapter 2,Event 4, and rises to Level 9 in Chapter 5,Event 3, gaining 4 hp and increased spell ca-pacity each time)

Str 6Int 16Wis 10Dex 11Con 10Cha 17HP 9 (rising to 23, then to 27)Alignment: Lawful NeutralWorships: Mystra, Goddess of MagicArmor Class: 10Equipment: Spellbook containing armor,c h a r m p e r s o n , c o m p r e h e n d l a n g u a g e s ,feather fal l , magic missile , run, Tenser�sfloating disc, identify, read magic, shockinggrasp, sleep; continual light, darkness 15�radius, deeppockets, detect evil, ESP� invisi-

bility, levitate, locate object, scare, shatter,wizard lock; clairaudience, clairvoyance,feign death, fireball, fly� haste, hold person,in f r av i s i on , ma t e r i a l , sugge s t i on , wa t e rb r e a t h i n g ; d i m e n s i o n d o o r , e n c h a n t e dweapon, fire charm, fire shield, ice storm,Leomund � s s e cur e sh e l t e r , mas smorph ,polymorph other, polymorph self; 2 daggers(one at belt, one hidden in boot), staff, twoflasks of oil, one potion of healing in a steelvial, and a pearl of power (allowing Mid-night to �recall� two 1st level spells), sewninto a garter worn beneath her robes.

Midnight is a thin woman in her late 20s,with a slim, catlike body. She has jet blackhair, deep ebon or scarlet (depending on hermood) eyes, and darkly tanned skin. Herhair reaches down to her waist, but Mid-night usually keeps it in braids.

Midnight was in her youth unruly, rest-less, argumentative, and bored. Her mer-chant pa r e nt s lacked , i t seems , anyimagination or dreams. Midnight soughtboth, earning her nickname from her ex-cursions into the local night life, and it wasafter a tryst with a conjurer named Tar thatshe then set her sights on magic.

She began to feel a presence observingher from time to time. When Sunlar, a highpriest in the Deepingdale temple of Mystra,singled her out for special attention, he fu-eled her suspicions that she had been se-lected for some great destiny.

Midnight is outwardly scrappy and tough,close-mouthed about her past and herpowers. She enjoys being mysterious, and afocus of male attentions-and she knowsthat some important destiny lies just aheadof her.

KELEMVOR LYONSBANEHuman Fighter, Level 5

Str 17Int 15Wis 13Dex 16Con 18Cha 14HP 44Alignment: Lawful NeutralArmor Class: 4Equipment: Chain mail & shield, shortsword, bastard sword, lance, bow, dagger,three potions of healing in steel flasks.

Kelemvor is a fierce fighter whose naturalfighting skills are more than a match formost foes. He does not shy away from at-tacking foes who outnumber him tenfold.He is a werepanther, and his lycanthropic

abilities, such as immunity to normal weap-ons, apparently extend in a weakened formto his human shape. While he takes damagefrom normal weapons, he regenerates fromtheir effects at the rate of 2 hit points perround.

Due to a twisted permutation in the �fam-ily curse,� Kelemvor must be paid to per-form any deed not in his own best interest.(The original lycanthrope could not takemoney for any such altruism.) Otherwise,he becomes a panther until he drakes blood.

Since Kelemvor cannot control his trans-formation into a panther, his lycanthropyrarely works to his advantage. In battle,however, Kelemvor�s panther form is terri-fyingly vicious. The werepanther attacks asa 5 HD monster, striking with the claws onits two front paws for 1d4 each, and bitingfor 1d8 damage. Moreover, the werepan-ther is considered to have 18/94 Strengthfor the purposes of attack and damage bo-nuses (+2, +5).

The werepanther can only be harmed bysilver or magical weapons of at least +1 bo-nus. It possesses keen night vision that en-ables it to see in near-lightless conditions,acute hearing, and a precise sense of smell.

In appearance, Kelemvor is a muscularand ruggedly attractive man in his early 30swith long black hair.

Kelemvor is a mercenary who grew rest-less and came to Arabel (prior to the start ofFRE1, Shadowdale) in search of some-thing-what, he�s not sure, but somethingmore than senseless killing. Born into a mili-tary family, Kelemvor grew to hate his fa-t h e r , a n d u l t i m a t e l y s l e w K e n d r e lLyonsbane when he first became a were-panther in a moment of extreme rage.

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joyed idle luxury all too much. Seen asweak-willed and overly concerned for hisappearance, but not enough concernedwith spending money wisely, Adon did littlein his youth.

His father, increasingly angered, tried toeducate his son in the ways of the world bysending him to far-off cities. On the night ofhis 15th birthday, Adon had a sudden reve-lation. He revealed to his parents his incred-ible belief that Sune Firehair would raisehim to divine power to be her consort uponhis attaining manhood. On the spot, heprimly resolved to become a cleric.

Adon sees himself as a crusader, fightinginjustice and indecency wherever he goes.He always has a cause, and reveres womento the point of quickly exasperating most hemeets. Adon would like everyone in theRealms to care more for others, and came toArabel to see if he could begin to make a dif-ference in this cruel, confusing world.

After the events of Shadowdale, the firstmodule in this series, Adon experiences asort of breakdown, and will often numblysit and do nothing unless goaded into actionby his companions. He will slowly come outof this, noticeably improving in Chapter 4 ofthis adventure, and coming fully to life inChapter 5.

the end. He stole to support himself as heevent, journeying about the Dragon Reachand the ports of the Inner Sea. He returnedto Zhentil Keep to learn about his family. Hemay have found his father, but that manwas killed before Cyric had a chance tolearn more about him. It was then thatCyric decided he must abandon his life ofthievery. He became a fighter and workedfor causes he thought were just. He met andbefriended Adon and Kelemvor whilevvorking as a guard in Arabel, desperatelyafraid that someday his past might resur-face.

ADONHuman Cleric, Level 5

Str 11Int 9Wis 15Dex 12Con 12Cha 13HP 25Alignment: Neutral GoodWorships: Sune FirehairArmor Class: 2Equipment: Plate mail, large shield, mace,war hammer, 2 vials of holy water, 3 flasksof oil, a pack containing a wooden rack inwhich are six glass vials-tall potions of heal-ing), a scroll containing the spells command,detect evil , detect magic, protection fromevil and purify food & drink, and a note-book of mediocre love poems.

An only child, Adon was born to wealthyand beautiful parents, Abrasax and Phyli-cia, both devout worshipers of Sune. Vainbut plain, Adon lacked ambition-but en-

Born in the back alleys of Zhentil Keep,Cyric never knew the names of his parents(although he suspects his father was some-one of influence in the Zhentarim). Onemorning his mother was found in the streetwith her throat slit, and his father was no-where to be found�so Cyric, still a babe,was sold to slavers.

He ended up with a wealthy family inSembia, but always felt out of place. Cyricwas always curious about far-off lands andcustoms. After causing his Sembian fosterparents a great deal of grief, he ran away,and nearly starved in the wilderness.Forced to steal to survive, Cyric reached acity and eventually fell into membership inits thieves guild, where he remained forfour winters.

His love of traveling took him onward in

CYRICHuman Fighter/Thief: Character with TwoClasses; 3rd level Fighter, formerly 5th levelThief

Str 17 (+1 on attacks, +1 on damage)Int 11Wis 10Dex 15Con 15Cha 15HP 14Alignment: Lawful EvilArmor Class: 1(9)Equipment: Plate mail, small shield, longsword, short sword, dagger, hand axe, coilof 100� of black waxed rope, grapnel, 1 setof thieves� picks and tools hidden in ahollowed-out wooden crutch, 16 empty can-vas sacks with leather thong drawstrings, 3flasks of oil, 6 iron spikes, mallet, dark-lantern, 12,000 gp in gems.

This section details the avatars of the godsthat play a part (directly or indirectly) in theevents of Tantras. These are but four of themany avatars that have been cast down toFaerun during the Time of doubles. Farless powerful than �usual� avatars assumedby divine beings, they are the result of pos-

display it.HD: Hit Dice. The number of hit dice the

avatar has.THAC0: Acronym for �To Hit Armor

Class 0�: the score needed on a 20-sided dieto hit an opponent who has an Armor Classof 0. The score needed to hit other ArmorClasses is easily calculated from this num-ber. Note that THAC0 does not take into ac-count adjustments to the attack roll due tostrength, skills, or magic.

SpA: Spell Ability. The class and level atwhich the avatar casts spells (M=mage;CL=cleric) .

MV: Movement. How fast, in distance perround, the avatar moves (F1=flying speed).

AC: Armor Class. This is the avatar�s fron-tal Armor Class, including dexterity, magi-cal protections, and innate durability. TheAC may be worse if the avatar is attackedfrom behind or from the flank.

hp: The avatar�s hit points (always lessthan those of the deity at full powers).

#AT: Number of Attacks. The number ofattacks the avatar can make in a singleround.

sessing human or humanlike bodies. Theseare the gods: no god has multiple avatars ora simultaneous existence on other planesduring the time covered by this series ofmodules.

The DM can freely modify the minorpowers of avatars used in play to explainspectacular magical effects, physical feats,powers, and so on. Magic may have (tempo-rarily, at least) ceased to be reliable, butmost deities are still the equivalent of atleast a 12th level mage, able to unleash fullmagic.

Avatars can be slain, but unless energydrain, wish spells, or similar magics are em-ployed to drain the avatars of their divineenergy, magical safeguards prepared be-forehand by most deities will enable themto survive a �death� that destroys theirphysical form. However, the scattering oftheir energies may prevent them from tak-ing another avatar for 1d6 weeks or longer.

The DM should note that no glyph or sym-bol magics have any effect on avatars (ex-cept to attract their attention). All avatarscan hear their names spoken anywhere inFaerun, along with the next nine words ofthe same speaker. Avatars also detect thespeaker�s voice-likeness, distance, and di-rection (although they usually ignore theceaseless babble this creates in their minds).Many weapons can affect these weakenedavatars.

Destroying an avatar may or may not de-stroy the being; some deities will survive ap-parent death in avatar form, existing asentities akin to ghosts. Such ghostlike �an-ima� forms cannot be turned, and can be-come invisible at will. They can performmagic, have a ghost�s attacks, and have halfthe avatar�s hit points.

Dmg: Damage. The hit points of damageinflicted by a single avatar attack.

MR: Magic Resistance. The chance of aspell failing when used against the avatar. Inthis adventure, this factor should be appliedin addition to magical chaos. The deity�snormal MR is usually about twice as high asthat of its weakened avatar.

SZ: Size. An avatar can cause the pos-sessed body to grow larger (or shrinksmaller) by 50% of its normal size.

High Ability Scores: The 2nd EditionPlayer�s Handbook gives details of the in-creased powers and abilities conferred byability scores higher than 18.

For purposes of the avatar descriptionsbelow, note that high Intelligence confersimmunity to believing illusion/phantasmspells, as follows: 19 Int results in automaticdisbelief of 1st level spells; 20 Int results indisbelief of 1st and 2nd level spells, and soon, up to 24 Int, which allows automatic dis-belief of all illusion/phantasm spells of 6thlevel and lower.

Also, high Wisdom confers the ability tothrow off the effects of certain charm-likemagics and magical effects, as follows:

19 Wis: cause fear, charm person, com-mand, friends, hypnotism

20 Wis: forget, hold person, ray of enfee-blement, scare

21 Wis: fear22 Wis: charm monster, confusion, emo-

tion, fumble, suggestion23 Wis: chaos, feeblemind, hold monster,

magic jar, questNote that the above list assumes immunity

It is recommended that the DM use directappearances in play by avatars sparingly; itis hard to excite or awe players whose char-acters are battling the thirteenth or four-teenth avatar of the day.

AbbreviationsAL: Alignment. Indicates the deity�s be-

havior. A second listing in parentheses afterthe alignment indicates a deity�s tendency tostray from the primary alignment.

Symbol: The sign by which the deity isknown; an avatar may or may not choose to

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to less powerful versions of similar spells.

The avatars likely to be encountered bythe PCs are these:

AZUTH (Demipower)AL: LN (NG); Symbol: A human hand, fore-

finger pointing upward, outlined in a nim-bus of blue fire.

Azuth, the High One, is a mage of legend-ary power (the Elminster of his day) whosekindly and loyal aid to a succession of Magis-ters led Mystra to offer him service. As hertrusty �right arm,� Azuth has served herwell.

Appearing as a kindly but powerful oldman, with an imposing bearing, beard, andagile physique, Azuth traveled aboutFaerun serving Mystra�s ends with unshake-able loyalty.

Azuth�s unambitious nature and relativefamiliarity with the Realms have allowedhim to weather the Fall with more serenitythan most deities, although the chaos affect-ing all magic has made his mighty Art lessreliable than usual. His actual magicalstrength has been reduced only slightly byThe One Who Is Hidden, but Azuth is notthe sort to take advantage of this by wan-tonly attacking other beings. Azuth is elu-sive and mysterious, and will seek to avoidmost confrontations.

HD 10; THAC0 14; SpA M 22; MV 14, Fl 16;AC -5; hp 77; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6; MR 50%; SZM; Str 15, Int 23, Wis 19, Dex 18, Con 15,Cha 16, regenerates 1 hp/turn.

Symbol of Azuth

Symbol of Bane

BANE (GreaterPower)

AL: LE; Symbol: A black human hand,open but with thumb and fingers aligned to-gether, sometimes on a red field or sur-rounded by a nimbus of red flames.

Bane, The Black Lord, is a thoroughly eviland malicious being who revels in strife andtyranny. His actions were a major cause ofthe Fall (although he does not realize thatThe One Who Is Hidden knows the full ex-tent of his deeds), and he sees the Fall as arare opportunity to enforce his will uponhumans and gods alike, slaying those he canand enslaving or duping the rest.

Bane often appears as a handsome, black-haired man of oily looks and a derisive, evencruel manner. He can change his appear-ance at will to any other human form, butwill always favor black garments, hair oradornment. When angry, his eyes flicker asred as fire. He is familiar with the Realmsbecause of his love of meddling with affairsthere, and will use this knowledge to full ad-vantage as he seeks a military ascension toseize power from The One Who Is Hidden.After all, who better than Bane should ruleall? And who stands to stop him?

HD 19; THAC0 10; SpA M 21; MV 16, Fl 24;AC -3; hp 96; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6 (plus Str bo-nus) + 2d6 tissue burn MR 40%; SZ M; Str17 (+ 1, + 1), Int 24, Wis 21, Dex 17, Con 19,Cha 16, regenerates 2 hp/round.

MYRKUL (GreaterPower)

AL: NE; Symbol: A skull or skeletal hand(sometimes combined, with the hand issu-ing from the mouth of the skull).

Myrkul, Old Lord Skull, often appears as aflying, burning-eyed skull trailing a shad-owy teardrop of ectoplasm. This is an un-limited range projected image; his avatar is�full form�-a cloaked, animated corpse.The corpses used by Myrkul disintegraterapidly, and so tend to be more skeletal thanzombielike. The head of The Lord of Bones,however, will always be a bare skull.

Myrkul is in an uneasy alliance with Bane.Both know they cannot trust the other, butboth hope to emerge triumphant from thefinal confrontation, after they have de-stroyed the other gods. Both believe that ifthey wrest the divine power from the ava-tars they destroy, and wield the Tablets ofFate together, they can destroy or at leastdefy The One Who Is Hidden, and emergeas Rulers Of All. (Interestingly, this parallelsthe prophecies of The Cult of The Dragon,which believes that dead dragons will even-tually rule all of Faerun, and later, all otherplanes as well.)

Myrkul has possession of one of the Tab-lets of Fate-being kept in the Realm of theDead (a region in Hades), where his own

Symbol of MyrkulCastle of Bones is located. Myrkul is deniedaccess to the Realm of the Dead at this time,robbing him of much of his power (whichhe has tended to invest in items), but he be-lieves that The One Who Is Hidden does notknow that the tablet is hidden there.Myrkul has also concealed the precisewhereabouts of the tablet from Bane, just asBane has kept the precise hiding-place ofthe tablet in Tantras from him; thus the twogods feel that they have protected them-selves enough to work together.

Myrkul is somewhat haughty. He thinksnothing of lesser gods as well as �no-accountcattle� (mortal creatures). He will prefer tofrighten or awe such personages (the PCs,for example) by taunting them with his im-

age, rather than engaging in face-to-facecombat. (In �normal� times, it is Myrkul�sway to quickly retreat to Hades if seriouslythreatened, by using one of his gates. Theseare permanent portals, set up long ago andusable by anyone; Myrkul cannot quickly�turn off� a gate, but all are guarded by min-ions loyal to Myrkul at the Hades end. Dur-ing the Godswar, The One Who Is Hiddenhas turned all such gates into disruptivetraps for avatars; contact with them causeswrenching pain, and if the avatar persists intrying to pass through, through, dispersalof the avatar�s form.)

HD 18; THAC0 14; SpA M 23; MV 12, Fl 18;AC -4; hp 136; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6 (+ 1 Str bo-nus) plus 1d4 chilling damage (see below);MR 45%; SZ M; Str 16, Int 18, Wis 23, Dex15, Con 25, Cha 9, regenerates 2 hp/round.

Myrkul�s chilling damage-which can beconferred by a bare-handed attack or aweapon blow-is identical in effects to achilling touch spell: 1d4 damage (no save),plus save vs. spell to avoid a l-pointStrength loss; lost Str returns at 1 point perhour.

By touch Myrkul can also exercise addi-tional powers (usable in combination withphysical and chilling damage, if he desires).He can animate undead indefinitely. If skele-tons or zombies, they obey him absolutely;if of greater power, they must perform oneservice for him (treat as a command spell)and are then free-willed. He can also disruptundead (destroying them instantly and for-ever, to dust that not even he can reani-mate), as he wills. Myrkul cannot by touchseize control or command existing undeadabove the power of skeletons and zombies;he can influence only those undead he him-self animates.

On living creatures, Myrkul can at willconfer flesh rot, �the mummy disease.� It isf a t a l i n 1 d 6 m o n t h s , n e g a t e s a l l curewounds spells, causes infected creatures tonaturally heal at only 10% of the normalrate, and causes a permanent Charisma lossof 1 point at the end of two weeks, and 1point per two weeks elapsed thereafter.Touched creatures are allowed a save vs.poison to avoid, but must save again foreach touch that Myrkul makes.

A side effect of Myrkul�s touch (make anIntelligence Check to end this, checkingonce per turn) is that living creatures see allthose around them as moving, talking,clothed skeletons, and cannot see flesh (in-cluding expressions, moving lips, etc.). Thisdoes not mean that an adventurer will auto-matically assume that his or her comradeshave become undead; the DM should simplydescribe the effect to the player, and let theplayer decide how the PC will react.

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Symbol of Torm

TORM (Demipower)AL: LG (LN); Symbol: A metal gauntlet

(that of a human right hand, fingers andthumb together and pointing upwards,palm open), sometimes enclosed within atriangle of bare-bladed swords.

The God of Duty, Loyalty, and Obedienceis a great fighter the faithful �war-arm� ofTyr, Lord of Justice. Unfortunately, Tormwas separated both from Tyr and from hisown weapons and armor of power duringthe Fall, left to his own devices. He decidedthat only through strict adhesion to law andauthority�his own�could the Realms befreed of the chaos brought on by The Fall ofthe Gods, and he set about establishing or-der from his temple in Tantras. In othertimes, his dispassionate (some would sayruthless) rule might seem irksome in the ex-treme but amid the chaos of Art and na-ture, with half of Faerun risen in arms andstrife, it was welcomed by many. People allaround the Dragon Reach began coming toTantras, to join the faithful of Torm.

Torm�s present avatar (when he first(comes to Tantras) is a fine-featured, fair-haired man of firm speech, piercing greyeyes, and a ready sword. Sear the climax ofthis adventure, Torm draws additionalpower from the fervor of his worshipersand thereby takes a new form for his ava-tar: that of a lion-headed warrior, in the im-age of a statue that has been located in theworship hall of his temple. (Statistics givenbelow are for this form, which has a betterarmor class and more hit points than his hu-manoid avatar.)

Able to see magical auras, upon his arrivalin Tantras he immediately appropriated thefinest weapon in his temple, a sun blade.This is a bastard sword of +2 power, +4against evil creatures (including avatars),

which does double damage against someundead and other creatures which arefrom, or draw power from, the NegativeMaterial plane. It can, upon command, shedlight equivalent to full sunlight. This sunraypower may be used only once per day, andbegins as a 10� radius globe centeredaround the sword wielder, expanding 5 feetper round to a 60� radius globe. Thereafterit fades to a dim glow (suitable for illumina-tion only) which lasts another 10 rounds.

Torm expects his faithful to obey him in-stantly and without argument, because that�swhat loyalty is all about (questions and sugges-tions are acceptable, as long as they don�t in-volve direct challenge or delay). He believes hemust enlighten nonbelievers, but will not co-erce them into following his fill. If theyrefuse, they are nothing, and may be treatedas such by all thinking creatures.

H e a l s o c a r r i e s a s h o r t s w o r d o fquickness, a +2 magical weapon whichstrikes first in every combat round.

Torm�s avatar lacks many of the god�spowers but retains the abilities to, at will,feather fall, know alignment (60� radius),detect invisibility, and use true sight, holdportal, and without restriction pass or partall locks and wards (not, however, escapingtrap effects). He acts at all times with per-sonal free action (as the wearer of a ring offree action does, free from hold, slow, andsimilar magics, and natural or magical websor bonds). Torm is never surprised, andneed nearer sleep. For all his talents, he isnot all-knowing or a great strategist; hisstrengths lie in diligence and attention, andhe is unaware that a Tablet of Fate is hiddenin his own temple. i(Do not, of course, revealthis to the players!)

HD 14; THAC0 13 (+3 Str bonus); SpA M12, CL 18; MV 17, Fl 24; AC0; hp 112; #AT 1;Dmg 1d6 (+ 7 Str bonus); MR 30%; SZ M; Str19 (+ 3, + 7), Int 18, Wis 19, Dex 18, Con 18,Cha 15, regenerates 1 hp/turn.

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Elminster does what he does. The spell isElminster�s own invention, and one of themagics he is most proud of devising.

The Effulgent Epuration enables a wizardto negate even the most powerful offensivemagical effects. When it is cast, silver)spheres about the size of the caster�s headcome into being, issuing from the caster�shand and growing rapidly as they leave it.One sphere per level of the caster is pro-duced by this spell.

The caster can, at will, direct the spheresto drift (at a maximum movement rate of 60feet per round) and move up to the limit ofthe spell range. The caster cannot make thespheres invisible, or retain any for later for-mation; all of them come into being at thetime of casting, although they may be re-tained indefinitely for future use, floatingsilently overhead.

Any sphere contacting an offensive magi-cal effect (including area-effect magics, butnot passive barriers) will automatically ab-sorb the effect. Thus, when a sphere ab-sorbs a fireball, the fireball does not blast ordeal damage, but merely turns silver in hueand dwindles away to nothingness, robbedof its magical energy.

A sphere positioned so as to envelop anitem (such as a wand) will prevent the objectfrom functioning. The item will �fire� (ex-pend charges) if so commanded, but itsmagical effect will not occur.

Note that anti-magic shell and similarspells are not harmed by the spheres of anepuration, but in turn can neither stop nordestroy such spheres. Prismatic spells of allsorts, whether barriers or not, are de-stroyed on contact with silver spheres (re-gardless of the wishes of the caster of theepuration).

Silvery spheres cannot be directly at-tacked or moved. They have no solid, physi-cal presence, and can pass through magicaland physical barriers alike as though suchbarriers did not exist. The only way to af-fect a sphere is to cast dispel magic or an of-fensive spell directly at it; both tactics willcause a sphere to exhaust itself dealing withthe magic.

Neither the caster nor anyone else canharness the spell energies dissipated by thespheres. Even the magic of deities or theiravatars can be affected by the si lveryspheres of an epuration.

ItemsMace of SpellwardingXP value: 2,000

This +1 magical weapon appears as afinely made mace wrought of one piece ofblued, oiled steel. In battle, it functions nor-

Spells

Hand of Torm (Evocation)

Sphere: GuardianRange: 40 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 hour/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: 12-foot-radius sphereSaving Throw: Neg.

This 4th level priest spell is an improvedform of the wyvern watch magic. It was de-veloped long ago by priests of Torm, and isoften used to defend sacred areas (such asthe treasure chambers in the temple in Tan-tras). It may be used by worshipers of Tormanywhere in the Realms.A successful casting of the spell causes ashimmering, translucent image of a giganticgauntleted human hand to appear, cuppedso as to define a spherical area. It is typicallyused to guard that area against intrusion.Any sighted creature approaching the im-age will readily see it. By careful prepara-tion and combination with other magics,the spell can be cast and kept in stasis untilit is triggered by some other action (such aswhat occurs in this adventure).

The material component of the spell is thepriest�s holy symbol. Any creature bearing asymbol sacred to Torm will be able to passthrough the hand (and the sphere it defines)without effect. Any other creature who ap-proaches the guarded area will feel a warn-ing prickling in the air, an almost electrictension.

If the guarded area is entered, the intrud-ing creature will feel a solid force resistingits forward movement. The creature mustmake a successful Strength Check to con-tinue forward into the protected area, and a

second Strength Check to pass out of theguarded area at any other point except atthe one entered. Failure will cause the crea-ture to be paralyzed for 1 turn per level ofthe caster (or until freed by the caster,whichever occurs first).

Any creature without a holy symbol ofTorm who attempts to pass an area guardedby a hand of Torm will be slowed so as to re-quire 2 rounds to enter or exit. Regardlessof the Strength Check results, the intrudermust also make a saving throw vs. spell foreach round. A successful save means nodamage; failure indicates that a crushing,constricting force squeezes the intruder for1d6 points of damage in that round. Notethat although observers will see the imageof the hand closing about the intruder, ahand of Torm can constrict and hamper theprogress of more than one creature withinits confines at any one time.

Any number of creatures can be affectedby a hand of Torm without dissipating or ex-hausting it. Dispel magic will destroy it in-stantly.

Elminster�s EffulgentEpuration(Abjuration)

Range: 10 feet/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Time: 1Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: None

This is the 9th level wizard spell used byElminster in the battle with Bane at the endof Shadowdale (FRE1), presented here forthe information of DMs and players whoare interested in knowing more about how

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mally. If it touches any item or solid, nonliv-ing surface that bears a dweomer, the macewill glow with a magenta-hued radiance,the intensity of the light increasing with thestrength of dweomers contacted.

The force of any spell, magical item, or ar-tifact discharge directed at the bearer of amace of spellwarding, or activated so thatits area of effect includes the mace or itsbearer, will be sucked into the mace, in-stantly and harmlessly. This effect is audibleand visible, and entirely protects the bearer(even from such specifically aimed magicsas magic missile, charm magics, and thelike). Absorption is involuntary, not selec-tively controllable.

For each level of spell absorbed (treat itemfunctions as the level of the lowest equiva-lent spell), a mace of spellwarding gains anadditional +1 bonus, lasting 6 turns. Bo-nuses apply to both damage and attack rolls,and are cumulative.

Upon exceeding a maximum of bonuses(which varies from mace to mace; mostwere designed to handle no more than 12spell levels), a mace of spellwarding ex-pends its excess energy in a random tele-port. It always travels to a safe place (i.e.,neither high nor low for human-sizedwielders) somewhere on the same plane,but its destination cannot be foreseen or in-fluenced in any way.

If no one is holding or carrying the macewhen it overloads, it will simply vanish in aburst of magenta-and-white radiance. Any-one holding (or touching a holder of) a maceof spellwarding will be taken along on theteleport (to a maximum of one creature per�plus� held by the mace at the time of over-load, including the �extra� pluses theweapon could not handle).

A mace of spellwarding functions as anormal weapon only (exhibiting no magicalpowers whatsoever) for one day after tele-porting, and thereafter regains its +1 sta-tus and ability to spellward again.

Tooth of TormXP value: 1,000

This special sort of magical dagger, devel-oped by priests and wizards loyal to Torm inages past, is customarily borne only by high-ranking servants of the Lord of Loyalty.

It is a silver-bladed, +2 weapon that willnever tarnish, break, or lose its sharpness.When grasped and commanded, it em-powers the wielder to see invisible crea-tures and objects within a 60-foot range.This sight also shows the alignment aurasand dweomers of beings and items viewed.

A tooth of Torm is not wielded in battle,but if released while under a command to

strike, it will blink away to attack any se-lected target creature up to 30 feet away,striking and returning within a round. Itcannot be grasped while attacking or re-turning, and will come to float beside itscommander�s shoulder. No living creaturecan travel with it, but hand-sized or smallernonliving items strapped or tied to the bladewill be carried along with it.

It will obey only lawful good beings, andwill burn (for 1d2 points of damage pertouch, or per round of continual contact)chaotic evil creatures upon contact.

A tooth of Torm can also be commandedto guard. The commander holds the daggerwith its point toward the object or area tobe guarded (such as a door, altar, or arch-way), positions it as desired, and then re-leases it. The commander then repeats theword �guard� continually until the daggerhas reached or is touching the area or ob-ject to be guarded.

The dagger will then hover in place indefi-nitely, until it is affected by dispel magic orthe guarded area is violated, whereupon itwill blink to the attack. The dagger willstrike repeatedly, once per round, until theguarded object or area is no longer touchedor disturbed, or until the dagger itself is de-stroyed. (An intruder who flees empty-handed will thus suffer only a single attackfrom the dagger.)

Note that the commander of the dagger,or any lawful good creature, will not causethe dagger to activate even if such a crea-ture does disturb or enter the guarded itemor area. An avatar or high servant (beingfrom another plane) of Torm will also notcause a tooth of Torm to strike. The pres-ence of all other worshipers of Torm whoare not lawful good will cause the dagger tostrike.

Any number of teeth can be combined toguard a single object; it was common prac-tice of old to place a ring of teeth in the airabove a coffer containing temple treasureseach night, as an inner guard on the valu-ables.

Wand of Viscid GlobsXP value: 750 gp

Thought to be of drow manufacture, thewand of viscid globs is used as a deterrentor as a way to keep prisoners inescapablybound. When it is activated, a sphere ofmagical energy�appearing as a �glob� ofsome unknown substance�is projected to-ward an intended target within 60 feet. Atarget that is able to move is allowed a sav-ing throw vs. wands to dodge the glob, butsomeone or something that is bound or oth-erwise immobile cannot prevent the glob

4 6

from striking. The wand can be used onceper round.

Solid items within the 5-foot-diameterglob when it strikes its target are perma-nently bound to one another�hands toweapons, armor to bodies, and so on. Thespecific effect on any character or creaturestruck depends on the position and orienta-tion of the character�s body at the instantwhen the glob makes contact. A standingcharacter will be rooted to the spot, but ifhe was holding his weapon away from hisbody (and if the attachment of armor orclothing to skin does not completely hindermovement) he may still be able to use hisweapon to defend himself. Globs are mostoften used (as in this adventure) to firmlybind victims who have already been trussedup by ropes or chains, making escape virtu-ally impossible.

No amount of struggling will enable atrapped character or creature to be free ofa glob; all that will happen, if the victim trieshard enough, is minor damage (1 to 3 hp perattempt) from strained or torn muscles. Themagic of a glob negates any contrary magicthat might have been available to or in ef-fect upon a targeted character or creature(such as a ring of free action). A characterstruck while flying or swimming will sinkslowly to the ground (taking no damagefrom the fall) and will not be glued to thesolid surface he comes in contact with, butmay be frozen in position and unable tomove-which could be a serious problemfor someone whose water breathing spell isabout to expire.

Dispel magic will cause a glob to vanish,and ordinary alcohol will dissolve a glob; aflask of wine contains enough liquid to undothe effects of two globs. The effect of theglobs is not cumulative; a character alreadycontained within one cannot be further af-fected by repeated applications of themagic.

Quelzarn

CLIMATE/TERRAIN:

FREQUENCY:ORGANIZATION:ACTIVE TIME:DIET:INTELLIGENCE:TREASURE:ALIGNMENT:

Tropical, subtropical, and temper-ate fresh and salt waterUncommonSolitary

AnyCarnivoreLow (5-7)J, K, L, N, QNeutral

NO. APPEARING:ARMOR CLASS:MOVEMENT:HIT DICE:THAC0:

NO. OF ATTACKS:DAMAGE/ATTACK:SPECIAL ATTACKS:SPECIAL DEFENSES:MAGIC RESISTANCE:SIZE:MORALE:XP VALUE:

5 HD

156, Sw 205-1015 (5-6 HD),13 (7-8 HD),11 (9-10 HD)13-12Hold monster abilityImmune to electrical attacks40%G (up to 60� long)Very steady (13-14)

1,2506 HD 1,5007 HD 1,7508 HD 2,0009 HD 2,250

10 HD 2,500

Quelzarn are giant, solitary water snakes found in both fresh andsalt water. They are agile and swift hunters, and may be of magi-cal origin.

Quelzarn are eel-like in appearance, with mottled brown orgreen slimy skin that is extremely slippery. The slime enablesthem to breathe air through skin membranes, and is often hometo mosses and weed. Quelzarn are usually 30-40 feet in length,and have a spinelike fin running the length of their backs. Broad,leaf-shaped fins cover their gills just behind their wide, toothedjaws, and a quelzarn�s head sports a bony, fin-shaped crest.

Combat: Quelzarn will eat anything living (and carrion if des-perate). They spend their days cruising for meals, or driftingwhile they digest one. Quelzarn can cast a 60-foot-range holdmonster spell once every turn. They use this in battle and to im-mobilize prey. Quelzarn are highly resistant to the polluted wa-ters of busy harbors and vast swamps alike. They have beenknown to hold a sailor standing on a dock, and then rear out ofthe water to drag him down.

Quelzarn bite for 3-12 damage, and are capable of swallowingwhole any creature of 4½ feet in height or less. (The victim, evenif held, is allowed a Dexterity Check to avoid this fate.) Swallowedvictims will drown in 6 rounds; they will find that the interior of aquelzarn is AC 9, and inflicting 20 points of damage to one willcause the creature to spit its victim(s) out. Swallowed victims suf-fer only 1d2 points of damage from the creature�s teeth. Angryquelzarn are capable of vomiting a swallowed creature out in or-der to bite it.

Habitat/Society: Quelzarn are thought to have a magical ori-gin, perhaps the result of long-ago experimentation by mages ofUnther (certainly, the creatures were once hunted there forsport). They have a natural magic resistance, and are entirely im-mune to all electrical attacks, both magical and natural. Quelzarnare attracted by magical attempts to control their wills, but re-

ceive a saving throw every second round against such magics (orspell-like natural or item powers) to break free of control. The in-terest of quelzarn in magic use, plus their shape and humanlikeeyes, sometimes causes them to be mistaken for nagas.

Quelzarn roam great distances in their lives, and are thought tomate (they do so only seldomly) in deep undersea caves. Theymay cooperate with other creatures (in return for food), and willnever attack another of their kind. If one quelzarn encountersanother while attacking prey, they tend to ignore each other andattack independently rather than fighting or closely cooperating.

Ecology: Quelzarn have no distinct lairs. Any treasure foundwithin a quelzarn will be inorganic matter that has been swal-lowed (such as coins and gems). The digestive juices of quelzarnslowly break down flesh, tissue, and even bone. The brain andcranial fluids of quelzarn have been found useful in the makingof spell inks for slow and hold magics, and as a distillate in themanufacture of rings of free action. Quelzarn tissue is a useful al-ternative ingredient in the seasoning of wood to be used in thefashioning of wands of lightning. Quelzarn skin is leathery andsnakelike, but death or severing causes it to cease producing itsslimy coating. It soon shrivels into uselessness.

Greater Quelzarn

These creatures are thought to be very rare or even extinct, butare often referred to in Untherian hunting accounts of long ago.Larger than most quelzarn, they had an additional magical abil-ity; that of spell turning (as a ring of spell turning). They werecunning and highly intelligent, often luring hunting ships intotraps, and were known to ally with other marine creatures on oc-casion.

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for personal use only.

RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLESThe tables below are provided for the convenience of the DM to determine the nature of random encoun-

ters in the area where this adventure takes place. The schedule for making checks is generally left to theDM�s discretion, with some advice given in the text of the adventure. Other types of creatures may beencountered, at the DM�s discretion; these tables are meant only as a guideline and a time-saver. Use theKnown Areas table in the area between Shadowdale and Mistledale, and around the Pool of Yeven; the WildAreas table in any other non-sea location, and the Aquatic table whenever the characters are traveling onthe River Ashaba or across the Dragon Reach.

Known Areas Wild Areas Aquatic1d20 Encounter ld20 Encounter 1d20 Encounter

1-3 Trolls (2d4) 1-2 Wild dogs (4d4) 1-2 Throat leeches (1d2)4-5 Giant snakes (1d4) 3-4 Brown bears (1d6) 3-6 Giant crayfish (1d4)6 Lyc., werebears (1d4) 5-6 Ores (4d12) 7-8 Giant gars (1d6)

7-9 Large spiders (2d10) 7-8 Giant toads (2d4) 9-10 Giant eels (1d4)10-11 Giant centipedes (2d12) 9-11 Large spiders (2d19) 11-13 Sea lampreys (1d4)12-13 Bandits (5d4) 12-14 Stirges (4d6) 14-15 Giant catfish (1)14-16 Stirges (4d6) 15 Giant hornet (1) 16-17 *Quelzarn (1)

17 Wild boars (1d6) 16 Goblins (5d8) 18-19 Giant water18 Gnolls (4d6) 17 Bugbears (2d6) spiders (1d6)19 Owlbears (1d4 + 1) 18-19 Wolves (2d19) 20 Kelpie (1)20 Zombies (4d4) 20 Owlbears (1d4 + 1)

*New monster

MONSTER SUMMARY TABLESome of the vital statistics of monsters featured in this adventure are presented in this table for handy

DM reference during play. The DM should refer to the original AD&D@ game monster books or the 2ndEdition Monstrous Compendium for more detailed information.

Name AC HD #AT Dmg MV RemarksBear, brown 6 5 + 5 3 1-6/1-6/1-8 12 hugs: 2-12Boar, wild 7 3 + 3 1 3-12 (3d4) 15 fights 2-5 rds. at 0 hpBugbear 5(10) 3+1 1 2-8 or weapon 9 attack as teamCatfish, giant 7 7-10 1 3-12 Sw 18 poison, swallows wholeC e n t i p e d e , g i a n t 9 2 hp 1 poison 15 poison ( + 4 on save)Crayfish, giant 4 4+4 2 2-12/2-12 6, SW 12 surprises on l-3Doppleganger 5 4 1 1-12 9 ESP� change formDog, wild 7 1 + 1 1 1-4 15 hungry; will attackGar, giant 3 8 1 5-20 (5d4) SW30 swallows wholeGnoll 5(10) 2 1 2-8 or weapon 9 many weapons carriedGoblin 6(10) 1 - 1 1 1-6 or weapon 6 may have slavesHornet, giant 2(4) 5 1 1-4 6, Fl 24 poison, paralysisKelpie 3 5 1/day 2-20/rnd or drown 9, SW 12 charm (females immune)Lamprey, sea 6 5 1 1-6 SW 9 blood drainLeech, throat 10 l hp 1 1-3 1, SW 1 choke (3 in row slays)Lyc., werebear 2 7 + 3 3 1-3/1-3/2-8 9 silver or + 1 wpn to hitOrc 6(10) 1 1 1-8 or weapon 9 (12) - 1 to hit in full daylightOwlbear 5 5+2 3 1-6/1-6/2-12 12 hug for 2-16Pegasus 6 4 3 1-8/1-8/1-3 24, Fl 48 dive, rear kick*Quelzarn 5 5-10 1 3-12 6, SW 20 hold monster abilitySkeleton 7 1 1 1-6 12 edged wpns do half dmgSnake, gnt, pois. 5 4 + 2 1 1-3 + poison 15 poison slays or 3-18 dmgSpider, gnt. water 5 3 + 3 1 1-4 15 poisonSpider, large 8 1 + 1 1 1 6, Wb 15 save at +2 vs. poisonStirge 8 1 + 1 1 1-3 3, Fl 18 blood drain, hits as 4 HDToad, giant 6 2 + 4 1 2-8 6 hop, 6 rangeTroll 4 6 + 6 3 5-8/5-8/5-12 12 regenerates 3 hp per rndWolf 7 2+2 1 2-5 18 hunt in packsZombie 8 2 1 1-8 6 strike last; spell immunities

The effects described on this table are suggestions only; the DM should feel free to make up alternatives andsubstitute freely. Bear in mind� however� that play will have to go on in the �new� environment afterwards;consider the impact of widespread changes to the landscape beforehand. Roll percentile dice�and consult the table below; the frequency with the DM consults the table is a matter of choice (gener-

ally� the presence of avatars or large-scale magic activity increases chaos and the presence of large popula-tions or mountains decreases chaos). The use of this table should make travel strange� exciting� andoccasionally dangerous; not an exhausting� neverending obstacle course. DMs who also used the preceding

adventure, Shadowdale� should roll on this table more often than they did in the previous adventure� sincechaos is generally increasing throughout the realms.

PercentileScore

01 - 10

11-24

25-30

31-44

45-52

53-62

63-70

71-88

89-96

97-00

ResultNatural fireworks effect (as in the pyrotechnics spell) occurs. The air is filled with a ringing,chiming sound that dies away (with the fireworks) after 1-4 rounds.Undergrowth sprouts into sudden, frenzied life (if no foliage underfoot, it will grow, evenfrom bare rock or atop water), equal to an entangle spell, which lasts 7 rounds in a 60-yarddiameter area (save equals slowed, not held; held creatures can fight and cast spells, but notchange location). Musk-like plant scents and floral bouquets will waft (harmlessly) in the air.Insects appear with a menacing buzzing sound, a swarm equal in effects to an insect plague,(priest spell), lasting for 1-4 turns.The air turns violet and luminous (lasting 1-12 rounds). During this time, all within the area (a400-yard diameter sphere extending into any buildings, the ground beneath, etc.) are slowed,affected by feather fall and neutralize poison, and are cured of 1-4 points of damage ifinjured. All invisible creatures and objects, and all dweomers (but not alignment auras) can beclearly seen in the violet field.There is a menacing crackle, and a strong smell of ozone. Lighting bolts (damage 1d6 through4d6; determine randomly) form spontaneously from rocks or exposed wood of any sort, leapingin a straight line to the nearest bit of rock or exposed wood (rock to rock or wood to wood, neverone to the other). Save vs. breath weapon to avoid if possible (contact with any part of a bolt�sdestination (such as climbing elsewhere on the same cliff,) makes a saving throw impossible). Boltsand discharges will steer away from and avoid large concentrations of pure metal; fully armoredcharacters will automatically make their saving throws, if allowed any.Lashing rain begins, though the air grows warm. This precipitation lasts 1-10 rounds, affectsa small (80-yard-diameter cylinder from ground to upper air) area, and within it, all creaturescan understand the speech of all other creatures, as if a tongues spell were in operation.All small, light (roughly 10 lbs) objects within a 10 yard radius that are not held or securedwill animate (as the priest spell animate object). They will fly about aimlessly; make Dexterity,Checks each round to avoid being hit. Any hit does 1-2 points of damage. Any being concen-trating on a moving object for at least 1 round will discover that he can influence its course,perhaps employing it as a weapon. A maximum of 1 object at a time can be so controlled by abeing; if two beings try to control the same object, the creature with the higher Intelligencewill ultimately prevail. This effect will last for 1-2 turns.The ground begins to rise and fall as if it were waves on the open sea. Charging or springingaccurately becomes impossible, as does riding other creatures. Writing and spellcasting taketwice as long (but are not ruined). There is a 1 in 6 chance each round that this conditionexists that a rift will open in the earth and swallow a rock, tree, or being up, spitting them outunharmed (unreachable by magic or physical means during their entombment) 2-5 roundslater. There is also a 2 in 6 chance that a shooting star (as in the missile released by a ring ofshooting stars will appear overhead, and burst. All creatures must save vs. spell to avoid suf-fering damage. These conditions last for 1-3 turns, moving with any traveling creatures.All creatures within a 90-yard radius, from earthworms to dragons, are enshrouded in a faeriefire radiance for 1-6 turns thereafter. The radiance will shift color slowly but constantly; it willalso act as a ring of spell turning, and as a regeneration field: all damage, however caused, suf-fered by a creature within a radiant field, is not suffered but gained as healing. Creatures at fullhp can increase their hp by this means, such increased hp being lost at the rate of 1 per day (24hour period), or through injury. Creatures augmented substantially in this way save at their �new�Hit Dice total, but still attack and function at their original level or Hit Dice.A reverse gravity effect occurs. All creatures take damage as per the spell, but upon landingfind that they have permanently gained 1-4 hp, and 2-vard-range infravision (if they already,possess infravision, its range is extended by 2 yards). A strange, flickering golden radianceflashes here and there; arrows of direction and similar devices will not function. Tracking isimpossible. These latter effects fade away in 1-2 turns.

PHYSICAL CHAOS TABLE