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The Scourge of

RaftportCCrreeddiittss

Written by: C. A. JohnsonEditors: Kle Hall & David K. Hurd

Cover Art: Alan Pollack, Back Cover: Sean DuredenInterior Art: Sean Dureden (9, 16, 18, 21, and 26)

John Moniz (2, 7, 10, 12, 23, 28, 29, and 33)Cartography: Lawrence Whalen Jr.

Graphic Design: Lawrence Whalen Jr.Preproduction: Peter Woods Jr.

Playtesters: James Sparling, Shannon Sparling, Michelle Braun, Jimi Braun, Jason Thornton Production: David K. Hurd & Lawrence Whalen Jr.

© 2001 MonkeyGod Enterprises LP. For information concerning what constitutes Product Identity and Open Gaming Content refer to the License page 36.

Contact Information36 The Arcade

65 Weybosset StreetProvidence, RI 02903

WWW.MonkeyGodEnterprises.com

Introduction 2Historical Background 2Plot Synopsis 3Hooks 5Raftport 6Signs and Portents 8

Devil�s Forge 11Into the Dark 15

Appendix 29NPCs 29Creatures 31The Dark Lady 34

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HistoricalBackground

Raftport is a river town, situated convenientlyalong a minor trade route at the outskirts of the

kingdom of Kalmúk. This position has made it a pros-perous place. Mountains to the west, and plains to theeast, goods arrive overland by way of the caravans andleave by means of the river to the larger cities down-stream. Its value to the Lord of the realm assured it isprotected from raiders and marauding humanoids.Over the years, Raftport has experienced a steadygrowth in both wealth and population. The land is fer-tile, His Lordship just and fair, and trade brisk.

If the old stories are to be believed, centuries ago it wasa different land. A dark spectre hovered over the region,tainting all that it touched. Murder ran rampant, and fre-quent fires scourged the landscape. It took the combinedeffort of several armies to rout the darkness from theland. Today the battles are the stuff of legend, spoken of,but not truly remembered. Some say it was the veryforces of Darkness boiling up from the earth. Othersscoff, and say that humanity, as ever, was its own enemy,blaming the series of catastrophes on a sect of evilhumans founded somewhere in the mountains. Still oth-ers claim that powerful undead had marshaled theirforces in the area, and were only put down by chance. Itseems that each bard that passes has a different explana-tion for the woes that shaped the history of Raftport, buton one thing they were all agreed. The evils had passed.

Until now.

The Scourge of Raftport

Introduction

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The PresentIn the past months, there have been a series of disap-pearances in and around Raftport. It all began when thesnows first melted. The first to go were hunters thatfailed to return from their expeditions. At first, every-one assumed it was just a run of bad luck, but sooneven the best hunters went missing. Weeks later, theoutlying farms began to suffer as farmhands, or some-times whole families, disappeared in the night.Attempts to track the Takers, as the townsfolk callwhomever is responsible for these crimes, have onlylead to more disappearances. Now that the crops arewell established and the hunting is good, things havebeen growing steadily worse. The Takers are strikingcloser to town, and more and more frequently. Evenworse, someone has been destroying the rafts thatbring needed goods back from the cities downstream.

The ruling council of Raftport has raised the Militia,and sent for help from His Lordship. But while hisLordship is just and fair, he is no wizard. Once he hearsof the woes of his people, it could be another monthbefore any meaningful help arrives, especially if theriver traffic gets cut off.

Now Raftport is a town living in fear. The Militiapatrols the streets at night, keeping watches where bestthey can. They are hampered by the fact that Raftporthas no walls, and what towers they have built weremade to help guide in the river traffic, and spot raftsthat may have foundered in the ever shifting mud flatsthat all river men face. In the years since its founding,Raftport has never needed defenses. The worst conflictin town memory is a family feud that lasted for twogenerations and took thirty lives before it ended.

Now, the townsfolk say, the Scourge of Raftport iscome, and the town will never again be the same.Perhaps with the help of a party of brave adventurers,the toll will be small.

Plot Synopsis

After arriving in Raftport, the party learns about thetown and its troubles, gathering information and

sorting rumor from fact. If the characters stay overlong,say, more than two days, another disappearance willrock the town, and things will heat up in earnest.

Having learned about the disappearances the charac-ters leave town, on the trail of the Takers. If they askedthe right questions in town, they should head towards

Devil�s Forge, an extinct volcano to thewest. Along the way they find various signsindicating they are on the right track, and asmall group of ogres venting their hatred ofhumanity on the local river traffic. The ogre campwill have evidence that will further point to Devil�sForge as the home of the Takers.

Arriving at Devil�s Forge, the party finds the ruins ofan old temple dedicated to Shazartza, a nearly forgot-ten goddess of fire and destruction. The temple isabandoned, and has not been used as a site of worshipfor decades, at least. Yet when it is explored, signs ofthe Takers are unmistakable.

Finally the heroes discover the true villains of the tale,the evil duergar. The Grey Ones have entered into a dealwith a fire giant king to create for him a weapon of greatpower. To complete the enchantments the blade requires,the evil dwarves needed the life�s blood of humans.Raftport was the nearest source. However, blood was theleast of what the needed. While their smith-craft was suf-ficient to the task, their sorcery was not, forcing them tomake an unsavory alliance with a clan of Drow. Thistwisted triumvirate is the source of the woes of the peo-ple of Raftport. If this evil bargain can be broken, and thework destroyed, the town will know peace again.

SubplotsThe events in Raftport are the result of a complex tap-estry of politics, intrigue, and in some cases, low cun-ning. Every major creature or encounter has a goal itstrives to complete, or at the very least a motive for itsactions. This section goes over the major power blocsand outlines what each hopes to accomplish in andaround Raftport.

DervishThe first hurdle the characters are likely to run into isDervish and his band of ogres. Dervish has a smolder-ing hatred for humanity burning within his breast. Theflames first fanned to life in his youth, when a raidingparty of humans destroyed his tribe and took him as aslave. Unsuited for domestic labor, and too wild anduncontrolled for the mines or the fields, Dervish wasrelegated to the chore most likely to kill him. He wassold to the arena. It was here that he earned his nameand found his true calling. Dervish lives to kill. Hemanaged to escape the arena with the help of a child-hood friend, the thief that accompanies him to this day.Now he lives to get revenge on the humans thatdestroyed his life. Unfortunately, while he is bright foran ogre, Dervish is not sophisticated enough to sepa-

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rate good humans from indifferent or evilhumans (Evil relative to Dervish, that is.).Instead, he has declared war on the wholespecies. Dervish is well on his way to becom-

ing a major ogrish leader. He has already gathereda sizable band. In fact, about half of his makeshift tribeis several miles upstream, scouting for more targets fortheir leader to vent his rage upon.

Dervish has two motives. First, he wants to get rich,the better to buy weapons and armor for his followers.Second, he wants to disrupt the flow of river traffic toattract more soldiers to the area for him to kill. Hebarters his stolen cargoes to the Duergar that livebeneath Devil�s Forge, in return for the weapons hecraves. Dervish knows a great deal about the river andits problems, because he is at the root of most of them.He knows the Duergar have some plan in store forRaftport, but knows nothing of the specifics.

The AbolethThe next serious threat is the aboleth that guards theentrance to the Gray Domains. It has no name worthtrying to spell, let alone say. This revolting creaturewants access to the river. The subterranean springs andtunnels it has spent its life in are vast, but confined.The aboleth wants fresh hunting grounds and newslaves. With river access, it and its brood can eventu-ally expand down into the great cities that wait down-stream of Raftport. The creature has offered its servic-es as a guard to the upper levels of the Domains. Inreturn, the Duergar have agreed to extend at least onetunnel to the river. Both sides are currently abiding bytheir pacts.

The DuergarPerhaps the greatest major power of the region is theDuergar. The Grey Ones have inhabited this region forcenturies, driven here by their dwarvish cousins in thegreat clan war that severed their ties. In all that time theyhave laid low, only making meaningful contact with thesurface world once, when a sect of humans who wor-shipped an evil fire deity built their temple on Devil�sForge. The Grey Ones offered them support andweaponry but misjudged the motives of their allies. Thesect was unstable, and far too dedicated to the destruc-tive aspect of their goddess. They moved too quicklyand unwisely, and were quickly destroyed. Ever patient,the Duergar have bided their time for the past two cen-turies. Their motives are to destabilize the area, anddraw the human kingdom above into overextending itsresources. They hope this will draw their more sociablecousins into providing resources, and perhaps eventual-

ly troops. If successful, this plan should give theDuergar the foothold they need in the underworld as thedwarves allocate their resources aboveground. It is along-term strategy, but a viable one.

The Fire GiantAnother major power is the fire giant king EngarCharbrow. Engar has contacted the Grey Ones to takeadvantage of their skill with forges. He has bargainedfor a Sword of Human Slaying, which he intends to useto expand his embattled holdings some leagues away.Charbrow�s kingdom and the Grey Ones have had along, prosperous relationship for many decades, andthe two power blocs trust each other as much as beingsof their ilk can. Engar�s kingdom has lost considerableground before the relentless expansion of human soci-ety into their lands. Their resources are too low to takeback what is theirs and demand the tribute they consid-er their due. The humans around them are too numer-ous, and their spellcasters too potent to be easily over-come. However, Engar believes he can turn the tide ofthe human expansion if he can just get a little edge. Thesword he has contracted for has all the edge he believeshe needs.

The DrowThe last players in this power play are the Drow. TheDuergar are master smiths. They are more than capa-ble of creating the sword Engar wants of them.However, their skill at dweomercraft is considerablyless advanced. The enchantments the fire giant kingwants are far beyond the abilities of the greatest sor-cerer the Duergar have among them. In their dealingswith the Lower Regions, the Duergar have made con-tact with a faction of Drow. These dark elves havemore then enough mastery of the Arts Arcane toenchant Engar�s blade, and have agreed to do it inreturn for certain trade considerations. However, thetwisted elves have a more sinister purpose. Theenchantments they are weaving are considerably morecomplex then the simple weaving of a spell of slayingonto the steel. They have instead given this blade asemblance of life, and a purpose of its own. The sword,if completed, will exist solely to feed a Lord of theTanar�ri, who will in turn extend his dark blessingupon the faction that so sates his ravenous hunger. Itwill be a blade of great power indeed, and Engar islikely to find it all the advantage he needs . . .for theshort time he retains control of it. In very short order,however, the King of the Fire Giants may find himselfbowing to his own weapon as it demands greater andgreater mayhem to feed its dark hunger.

The Scourge of Raftport

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All of these subplots can easily be spun off to createother adventures, or perhaps even a mini campaign.The DM is invited, nay encouraged, to do so. Furtherdevelopments are available if the regional politics aretaken into account. For example:

� The dwarves will not accept the existence of theduergar kingdom happily.

� There is a blood feud between their peoples. � Whole clans of dwarves may go to war, brining the

humans of Raftport into the center of a great battle,and changing their lives forever.

Hooks

Anumber of possible ways to involve the playershave been provided. The DM may use whichev-

er of these methods best fits the tone of the campaignto get the characters interested in the adventure thatawaits them in Raftport.

� Modest though it may be, Raftport is a significanttrading port, and a gateway to the cities that laydownstream from it. Anyone traveling toward thecoast has an excellent chance of stopping inRaftport at least overnight. The townspeople are notshy about their problems, and will tell anyone whosits still long enough anything they want to knowabout the pall of fear that lies over the town.

� The River Merchants, a benevolent association ofriver pilots and raft owners (the local trade guild.)

will offer a substantial reward for infor-mation or action leading to the end of theattacks on local shipping. They ask onlyfor the return of their cargoes, as intact aspossible. They are offering 500 pieces of goldand free passage on the river for a year.

� The ruling council also has a reward offered,although they lack the resources of the RiverMerchants. They ask for nothing other than proofthat the disappearances will stop. They offer 200gold pieces and the run of the town.

� The Lord of Kalmúk is no wizard. This much istrue. But he does know one or two, and they owehim a few favors. Raftport is important enough tocall some of them in. The heroes could have beensent from somewhere nearby, alerted to the troublesby arcane or divine messages. Perhaps they havebeen offered some sort of reward, or perhaps theyserve out of duty.

� Any one of a number of cargoes coming through thetown could have had items of personal interest to pow-erful people in almost any walk of life. Who knows?Perhaps one or more members of the party sent some-thing important downstream and it was lost to thetroubles the town is having. Or possibly a patron oftheirs has a vested interest in solving the problem andrecovering something. Churches do send tithes alongto their Motherhouse. Diplomatic exchanges have totravel somehow. Noble families have been known toship the occasional heirloom. Tribute to one�s liegelord can take many forms, after all.

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Introduction

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