SUBPLT - Revenge At Hollow Crypt

Summary

• Caesar Plight is injured from an encounter with Davison Theros and waiting at The Hollow Crypt to recuperate
• Kezark is under mind control; set to attack either The Fated Eight or Varg’s Valiants should they follow.

Scenes

Outside The Hollow Crypt

A puzzle is required to enter; there is a stone table with 4 unfamiliar runes on them and a message in common “Dwarves are at rest here”.

Ask each person for their known languages - if they know Dwarvish; they can read them CAN BE SURE COS CARDINAL DIRECTIONS

Air == North Fire == East Earth == South Water == West

Each rune correlates to each of the elements. Pressing the rune for “Earth” opens the door. Pressing any of the other runes will begin charging some unseen device before a shockwave is emitted that (DC17 STR save) pushes them back 20 feet & spawning elementals of the corresponding rune - starting a combat encounter. An Arcane contraption now protrudes through the stone table and is crackling with energy.

Combat with 3x ?? Elementals After two rounds of combat - the device will spawn another elemental with a slim chance (19, 20) to be a Myrmidon.

Destroying the device (16 AC, 70 HP) will cause the elementals to fizzle and open the door, killing the elementals will allow them to select from the remaining elements.

1st Room

Play creepy music The first room is largely an exploration chamber whilst avoiding traps - there are countless hallways with Dwarven corpses lining the walls. Every few steps, hollow noises echo throughout the chamber - sending shivers up each of their spines.

Traps/Obstacles:

1. A narrow walkway; barely wide enough for Aurevald and Graxious, with a pressure sensor that activates spike to thrust out of the wall (DEX 16 to avoid, 2d8 damage below 16, 3d8 below 6).
   • If they ask for details, give them eventual clues that whilst the hallway is tall and narrow - the trap was would be most effective against creatures of Dwarvish height. SPIKES ARE LOCATED ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE WALL - chance to fly or pass over it if they can find the right spell/angle etc.
2. A poorly lit & winding staircase mind of crumbling stone. It is going to be precarious to descend - let them get creative
   • DEX 14(++) to avoid falling down a 1d4 flights of stairs. For each flight fallen - 2d4 force damage taken and DC gets harder for everyone else.
   • Disadvantage if no darkvision or light
   • Checking for traps (DC15 Inv) shows remnants of traps that seem to have been set off previously - it’s unclear if that’s true for the entire staircase.

2nd Room

The second room starts at the bottom of the decrepit staircase - it is dusty and there are large piles of crumbled stone and debris. Directly opposite the stairs is a tunnel that protrudes a 1-2 feet on either side of the wall before opening up into another chamber on the other side. On either side of the wall stand foreboding statues on either side of tunnel; each holding a sword in one hand and an unlit torch in the other pointed towards the top of the tunnel. There are more symbols engraved on the lip of the tunnel (“Those who step unobservantly will be charred.” in Dwarvish)

1. There is a Rune Of Fireball (just outside the tunnel) that will cast Fireball centred on the rune (upcast to 4th level, 9d6 @ DC16 Dex Save, half dmg success)
   • If they are not careful/have not learnt their lesson and charge forwards; they will trigger the rune. The fire will bend around the wall/into the tunnel
   • DC15 Investigation to discover, DC17 Arcana to understand.
   • To dodge requires creativity OR a DC14 Athletics or Acrobatics check to avoid.
2. The tunnel leads to another set of burial rooms with more ornately preserved/displayed Dwarvish bodies. Some are still clutching weapons in the decayed hands whilst others have odd bracelets attached to their wrists. One of the corpses is loosely holding onto a tattered coin purse - and a closer look reveals (5D12) gold pieces.
   • Failing to take the gold will mean the door way is closed.
   • Searching the room further will reveal a Scroll of Scrying (DC15 Investigation).
   • At the end of the room they doorway with a glowing mark inside it, and next to the doorway a large stone bowl. The bowl is resting on an ornate stand with an message engraved on it in common - but the first word has been damaged to the point of illegibility; ”????? wakes all Dwarves, even those in the deepest of sleep…”
   • Trying to leave the room without putting the coin purse in the bowl will cause the glowing mark to turn red as a bell chimes and the door way shuts closed (DC12 DEX save or 3d6 bludgeoning damage)
   • Combat with 4 Dwarven Corpses - 36 HP (undead) (-1, +5 or -1, 0, -1, -1, -1 or +5)
     • They each attack on the same turn and can make two attacks with either the axe +7 (melee) OR bracelet (ranged) +7 to hit
   • Killing the Zombies allows them to leave with the gold. The tunnel leads directly into another chamber via a poorly lit staircase. If they are observant they will notice two pressure plates either side of a doorway (DC15 Perception/Investigation/Survival - DISADVANTAGE if dark)

If they don’t look they will just walk over both pressure sensors and only realize when the doorway shuts closed.

3rd Room

Interlude with Varg’s Valiants and inform them that they managed to repel two mobsters from Gerward before getting stuck in this room for a number of days now - living off of rations and the flowing water through the channel. The two doors opposite the entrance they’d come in will not open no matter what they do.

The Fated Eight will arrive in a wide open chamber that is carved out of the surrounding stone. The floor is polished smooth and the sound of running water can be heard from inside.

You notice there are people here; 4 to be precise. There’s a Half-Orc male wielding a large axe, an Aasimar woman with a hood covering her face, an oddly tall Halfling male wearing leather armour & polishing a sword, and an older Human male with a rifle by his side. Some of them are sleeping/resting on the ground before the sound of your arrival startles them.

• If any chars have checked or do check for traps, they’ll potentially be able to disable the trap (DC14 Dex save for the person who is last in marching order.)

WING THIS PART - let them RP with their other chars and encourage conversation cross party

PUZZLE:

• The room is a test of courage, they have to block the water supply (the only means of survival) in order for one of the two doors to open.
  • If they start faffing around - give them hints about the water stream, and how it flows through the room and between the doors.
  • As the water flows, a careful ear can hear a mechanical tick as the flow waxes and wanes.
  • There are almost imperceptible scratch marks at the top of the channel where the water flows. A careful eye however will notice that these marks are intentional and are from a stone or something blocking the channel.

Once the water has stayed stopped flowing, a ticking can be heard each second the water isn’t flowing. After 30 seconds, the doors will begin to whir to life as the door on the right rolls outwards along the outer wall of the chamber, whilst the one of the left fails to roll and is visibly seized. Nonetheless a path out has been acquired as the 12 of you stare down the pitch black hallway revealed behind it.

Boss Fight

The hallway is long and windy as it snakes back on itself - you realize early on that you have crossed over from a hallway into a natural cave system as the metallic and musty smells of a run down mine overrun your senses.

The narrow tunnel comes to an end and opens into an expansive cavern with stalactites littering the ceiling above you - the only path forward is a narrow pathway to a central stone platform that 70-80 feet on each side and affixed to a central, large stalagmite. There is a sheer drop-off to pit of smaller stalagmites

The room has some natural lighting glowing minerals in the walls but otherwise it is dark and gloomy. Those without dark vision can’t see anything unassisted, and those with can only make out the faintest signs of a Humanoid figure resting on the stone platform - specifically the wide brim of a leather hat.