Untitled

THE SKALDWOOD BLIGHT
ADVENTURE PATH
Summary 3 Chapter 10: The Demon Lord’s Barrier 105

Northfells Overview 5 Chapter 11: The Prismatic Academy 120
Backgrounds 10 Chapter 12: The Jortoft Wedding 133
Chapter 1: Raiders of Fallinghollow 14 Chapter 13: The Thorn Prince’s Maze 148
Chapter 2: Descent into Wastingdeep 22 Chapter 14: In the Lake of Eyes 162
Chapter 3: The Cat’s-Paw Deception 30 Chapter 15: The Possibility Bargain 174
Chapter 4: Four Circles 39 Chapter 16: Monastery of Frozen Stone 188
Chapter 5: Red Crown Reckoning 48 Chapter 17: The Reaper’s Plague 201
Chapter 6: Devils of Velkendir 59 Chapter 18: The Rimefall Consequence 215
Chapter 7: The Direwood Regents 73 Chapter 19: Pillars of Corruption 230
Chapter 8: Forgepeak Fires 84 Chapter 20: Heart of the Skaldwood 245
Chapter 9: Death in the Trollgnarl 95 OGL 252
AUTHOR: RON LUNDEEN

CARTOGRAPHY: MARCO MORTE & DYSON LOGOS
ART: 3D RENDERINGS, AAD, ALIENCAT, ALGOL, JACOB E. BLACKMON, LIZ COURTS, MARCUM
CURLEE, DOMINICK, EFKS, CRYSTAL FRASIER, FROZENSTARRO, BOB GREYVENSTEIN, HIKOLAJ2,
IVAN D, QP JAEKS, JERRY KEYES, MOPIC, SATORI, SHAMAN STOCKART, STORM, USTAS,
XTRAVAGANT, YAROSLAVARTIST
SUMMARY
The Skaldwood Blight Adventure Path pits the arboreal and a wicked druid are engaged in
heroes against the machinations of a demon arson on the outskirts of town.
lord named Treereaver. This lord of blight and Chapter 2: Descent into Wastingdeep.
ruin plots to infest the forested Northfells and, While the heroes were occupied, duergar
from there, to take over the world. The kidnapped a knowledgeable scholar named
Northfells is a forbidding land, where danger Gendal from Fallinghollow. They must
awaits on every hill and trail, and its has confront the kidnappers in the Wastingdeep
rugged heroes to defend it against this Mine.
demonic incursion.
Chapter 3: The Cat’s-Paw Deception.
This adventure path is intended to take the Fallinghollow is in trouble again, this time
heroes from 1st level to 20th level. Each of the from a group of malicious fey who have
20 chapters is designed for a single level of tricked a tribe of proud catfolk into assaulting
play, and the chapter number matches the the town.
character level it’s designed for (so heroes are
11th level for the events of Chapter 11, and Chapter 4: Four Circles. The heroes learn
should advance to 12th level when they that Fallinghollow’s troubles originate in a
embark on the events of Chapter 12). distant forest called Wailing Grove. There, the
heroes find evidence of a broader fey plot and
Each encounter lists its difficulty (such as of a devil cult in the city of Velkendir.
Moderate or Severe) and the appropriate level,
so you can gauge how much of a challenge it is Chapter 5: Red Crown Reckoning. The
likely to provide your group. heroes travel to Velkendir to expose a diabolic
cult following a devil named Red Crown. The
A summary of each chapter in the heroes trace the clues left by the secretive cult
adventure path is as follows. to locate its lair.
Chapter 1: Raiders of Fallinghollow. The Chapter 6: Devils of Velkendir. After
heroes save the small town of Fallinghollow assaulting the devil cult’s lair in the upscale
from a band of kobolds. Worse, an evil Owlbear House, the heroes save the leaders of
Velkendir from death at the cult’s hands.
Chapter 7: The Direwood Regents. The
heroes learn that the arboreal regents of the
Direwood have fallen to corruption and must
cleanse the wood of their evil.
Chapter 8: Forgepeak Fires. The heroes
venture into an extinct volcano. Here, demons
seek a magical spark that an evil dragon is
using to reignite the volcano.
Chapter 12: The Jortoft Wedding.
Malevolent fey have kidnapped the retired
professor who can help re-create the magic
rune and taken over his sprawling manor for
their own bizarre ends.
Chapter 13: The Thorn Prince’s Maze. The
heroes must navigate a magical hedge maze to
rescue the professor from the evil and
whimsical Thorn Prince.
Chapter 14: In the Lake of Eyes. The
dangerous and deadly Lake of Eyes harbors
evil giants, aquatic monsters, and an albino
kraken whose ink is vital to scribe the magic
rune.
Chapter 15: The Possibility Bargain. The
professor needs a sigil from a lich rival to
complete the rune; the heroes must chase
down the lich to learn that the sigil is in the
hands of the devil known as Red Crown.
Chapter 16: Monastery of Frozen Stone.
The true identity of Red Crown lies in a remote
monastery amid icy peaks, and the heroes
must survive the monastery’s dangers to learn
it.
Chapter 17: The Reaper’s Plague. With the
name and location of Red Crown in hand, the
heroes travel to the city of Kolsvatni to slay the
fiend and drive the devil cult from the
Northfells.
Chapter 18: The Rimefall Consequence.
Chapter 9: Death in the Trollgnarl. The To use the breaching rune to enter the
heroes enter the twisted thicket at the heart of Skaldwood, the heroes must venture to the
the Direwood to eliminate the demons fallen town of Rimefall and traverse the
working to create a magical gate that will dangerous passages beneath the frigid
expand Treereaver’s influence. waterfall.
Chapter 10: The Demon Lord’s Barrier. As Chapter 19: Pillars of Corruption. The
they rescue the remains of a band of brave heroes must deactivate or destroy Treereaver’s
bard-rangers, the heroes learn that Treereaver pestilential pillars in the Skaldwood to reveal
has erected a magical barrier around the the way to the demon lord’s lair. Treereaver's
Skaldwood. most powerful agents defend them.
Chapter 11: The Prismatic Academy. To Chapter 20: Heart of the Skaldwood. In
recover a magic rune that will allow them to the desolate center of the Skaldwood, twisted
pierce the supernatural protections around the by Treereaver's influence, the heroes finally
Skaldwood, the heroes must visit an confront the demon lord and vanquish him,
abandoned university. freeing the Northfells from his blighted grasp.
NORTHFELLS
OVERVIEW
The Northfells is an untamed region to the far and hasn't been repaired. Few people in
north of the continent. Winters here are long Fallinghollow would even recognize the toll of
and many monsters roam wild. Civilization is the old bell anymore, as it's been so long since
clustered in small communities, and warriors the bell has rung. When the weather is nice, the
who can vanquish rampaging beasts to protect people of Fallinghollow eschew the
their communities are highly prized. The community hall and instead gather in Hilltop
Northfells haven’t united under a single Park, at the top of a small rise just north of the
authority in all of recorded history, and the town. A small shack near a sunken
most prosperous cities are independent city- amphitheater atop the hill serves as a
states that vie with each other for wealth and "backstage" when the people want to put on
influence. Fey creatures are common in the performances (usually exaggerated tales of the
Northfells. The following are the region's town's history or morality plays about
major locations and landmarks. watching over one's own community).
Several farms surround the village,
DIREWOOD although most belong to one of three farming
The Direwood is in the eastern part of the families who have held the land for
Northfells, along the Steinvik River. An old generations. The Botulfsons have a sprawling
road follows the river and runs through the farm in a low dell, in which they graze hardy
Direwood, used rarely by travelers making goats and fat pigs. The Gyrs have seen their
their way to the village of Rimefall or the farmland shrink to only some land around a
slightly larger town of Fallinghollow. The farmhouse and barn in recent years, both from
Direwood is known to harbor several tree-folk aggressive overgrowth and gradual sales to the
known as arboreals who keep the trolls at the more successful Orgrum family. The Orgrums
center of the Direwood—a tangled region are a family of hardworking dwarves,
called the Trollgnarl—from inflicting their although most of their farmhands are humans.
depredations on the rest of the Northfells. The Orgrum farmlands have swelled in the
past generation, due to aggressive clearing of
FALLINGHOLLOW the land and kindly treatment of their
farmhands, who work hard for good pay.
This community has about 1,000 people,
making it small for a town elsewhere in the Everyone in Fallinghollow mostly knows
world but a significant settlement in the one another by sight, but a few significant
sparsely populated and dangerous Northfells. figures are better known than anyone else in
The most signficant building in Fallinghollow town. Headman Raskir is the town’s efficient
is its old wooden bell tower in the middle of and no-nonsense mayor. He has a keen eye for
town. The bell tower rises above the talent, a nose for travelers who might cause
community hall, where locals congregate to trouble, and a habit of dispensing considerable
swap gossip, share recipes, and dare one rewards for service to the town. Sheriff Arskei
another to climb the rickety old bell tower to is both lazy and short-sighted, yet she feels
reattach the pull rope that fell down years ago entitled to the sheriff job her grandmother
held. Gendal Ink-Hand is a wise and friendly
scholar who retired to the community a decade
JANNASTHORPE
ago from the larger city of Kolsvatni; he's still Jannasthorpe is a small community of no more
seen as a newcomer to the town and quite than two dozen hunters, trappers, and their
worldly for having lived in a city. Anna families. The community is built up around a
Ninefingers is the town’s alchemist and healer, crossroads, but the well-maintained streets in
to whom most townspeople turn for help with town become mere trails or overgrown dells
their ails and injuries. The most prominent just outside of town. The townspeople proudly
non-human in town is Hap Frysten, the regale visitors with how Jannasthorpe was
halfling wainwright, whose large shop (and once a significant crossroads in the Northfells,
upstairs loft) are frequently the site of serious but that time is so long gone that few people
games of chance. can say where the roads even once led.
Sigrid Truebow is the town’s mayor and
FORGEPEAK best hunter, and she’s a force for good in the
An extinct volcano, Forgepeak was once the wild lands. Jannasthorpe's most well-known
home of a clan of industrious dwarves. A red inhabitant is a dwarf trapper named Dag, who
dragon named Zarvendishar slaughtered the gets himself into more trouble in any given day
dwarves generations ago, but a handful still than most people find in a month or more.
living in the Northfells today claim ancestors
in that lost clan. The dragon hasn't been seen JORTOFT
since, although plumes of smoke from the A sleepy community of foresters and
mountain hint that Forgepeak might not be herbalists, Jortoft is the southernmost town in
extinct after all.
the Northfells. It has fewer than a thousand swept through Kolsvatni, and Hjalmar seems
residents but is known to be a bit more powerless to do anything about it. These days,
cosmopolitan than other towns of the north an air of palpable desperation clings to the city.
due to the greater frequency of visitors from
the southern lands (most of whom LAKE OF EYES
nevertheless consider Jortoft to be
This mist-shrouded lake near Jortoft has a
unreasonably far north). The forest around the
malign reputation. It is rumored to harbor evil
town is known to be inhabited by fey who like
giants, cultists of dark gods, and even worse
to confound mortals or play pranks on them.
creatures. Few venture to the lake, and fewer
The melancholic and mysterious Thorn Prince
still are familiar with its secrets.
is whispered to be some kind of aristocrat
among the fey.
MONASTERY OF FROZEN STONE
Jortoft's most significant resident is the
retired professor Hansdirk Koladsfar, widely This ancient elven monastery dates from
considered the most brilliant and well-read before human settlement of the Northfells. The
person in the Northfells. He inhabits the vast swath of icy fens separating it from the
sprawling Koladsfar Manor northwest of rest of the Northfells makes traveling there
town. difficult, and it is widely believed to be
abandoned. The lore that the elven monks
KOLSVATNI might have left behind remains unknown,
however, as the inhospitable terrain around
Kolsvatni is the second-largest city in the the monastery and the pervasive rumors of ice-
Northfells, behind Velkendir, and is home to ghosts and dragons in the area keep would-be
nearly 5,000 people. Kolsvatni has been ruled explorers at bay.
by a faltering and foolish series of High Jarls
who have, over the last few generations, ceded PALE BARRENS
virtually all their power to the Church of the
Sun-Mother. The Sun-Mother is a benevolent Rolling hills extend across the southeast region
goddess, but her followers in Kolsvatni are all of the Northfells. These scrub-covered hills
too mortal and have steadily amassed personal have long resisted cultivation and contain
power in their tight fists. many ancient, dangerous ruins. Most of these
are scaled for human-sized occupants, but
People who openly venerate other gods are larger ruins that imply habitation by long-
now few; it’s not yet technically illegal to vanished giant civilizations aren't hard to find.
worship gods other than the Sun-Mother, but The dangers of the Pale Barrens force most
adherents of other faiths find themselves with travelers to take the Steinvik River road to the
few friends and fewer business relations in the east or the much better maintained Langebeck
increasingly theocratic city. The city's equinox River road to the west.
and summer solstice festivals are among the
most colorful and well-attended festivals in the
Northlands, if only because it's considered
RIMEFALL
poor form to work or remain indoors on the More than 200 feet tall, the thundering
Sun-Mother's holiest days. Rimefall produces a nearly constant freezing
mist where the Aurora River dumps into the
The city's current high priest of the Church
northern sea. At the top of the waterfall is a
of the Sun-Mother is Hjalmar the Stern, who
squalid town of fisherfolk who pluck fish from
has done more than any of his predecessors to
the river in nets before they’re cast over the
tighten the church's hold in the city. Despite
falls. Also called Rimefall, this remote
the church’s power, a plague has recently
settlement has little to recommend it to anyone A brave group called the Green Reach
other than ancient ruins of long-vanished Bards—made up of thrill-seeking bard-rangers
inhuman conquerors. who’ve escaped confining lives in the southern
lands—patrols the edges of the Skaldwood
SANDBY from the Bravado Bastion at the forest’s
southern edge. Yet even the Green Reach
Sandby was a small fishing town on an island
Bards, for all their bluster, admit that the
in the lake known as the Moon’s Tears, just
Skaldwood is wholly untamed.
north of Kolsvatni. Sandby’s hardworking
citizens supported the Prismatic Academy, a
remote university on the same island. A
SORENSHAL
mysterious extraplanar incident caused the This city of nearly 3,000 farmers and
disappearance of everyone on the island (in philosophers sits at the north end of several
the university and Sandby alike) about 20 fertile river valleys, all claimed by the High Jarl
years ago, and the island is now considered of Sorenshal, Farhelt Half-High. Sorenshal’s
haunted. population is comprised chiefly of humans and
halflings. Public debate is a favorite pastime of
SKALDWOOD the people of Sorenshal, when they aren’t
working to supply much of the food to their
This sprawling forest of evergreens is a
religious neighbors in Kolsvatni to the west
trackless expanse filled with powerful fey and
and their mercantile neighbors in Velkendir to
ancient magic. It is one of the wildest and most
the east. Sorenshal's buildings are low and
primal places on the planet, and no mortal has
long, except for its many tall granaries that
traveled very far within it without getting lost
loom over the sprawl.
or vanishing entirely.
VELKENDIR
Velkendir is, at nearly 10,000 people, the
largest city in the Northfells. It straddles the
Langebeck River and is an important hub for
commerce, both overland to cities like
Kolsvatni and Sorenshal and to smaller
communities along the river. High Jarl Arvid
the Golden rules Velkendir, but a close second
in power to him is the shrewd Coin-Thane
Torhild, head of the city’s mercantile guilds.
While High Jarl Arvid pushes for unity among
the factions of Velkendir, Coin-Thane Torhild
revels in friction that helps her maximize
prices. Velkendir is busy and grimy, with
buildings predominantly made of wood, slate,
and tar.
WAILING GROVE
This small forest is regarded as haunted,
unlucky, or both by the nearby residents of
Jannasthorpe. Few dare to dwell long beneath
its huge, gnarled trees that echo with eerie
noises when the wind blows. The forest's old
growth makes ground that is spongy and soft,
but local legends whisper that this is due to the
blood spilled in the forest by long-ago druids
performing evil rituals.
BACKGROUNDS
The following backgrounds are particularly

suitable to characters in the Skaldwood Blight
Adventure Path, although heroes can select
any background they choose. Among the
backgrounds presented in the Pathfinder Core
Rulebook, good choices are Animal Whisperer,
Bounty Hunter, Criminal, Herbalist, Hermit,
Hunter, Laborer, Martial Disciple, Merchant,
Nomad, Scout, Tinker, or Warrior.
FALLINGHOLLOW BACKGROUNDS
These backgrounds are closely tied with the
community of Fallinghollow, the setting of the
campaign’s first few adventures, and closely
align you with one of the town’s notable
citizens.
OTHER BACKGROUNDS
These backgrounds are particularly suitable for
the Skaldwood Blight Adventure Path, but
they don’t tie to the starting town of
Fallinghollow. Their connection to the
adventure path is therefore likely to come to
the fore later, as the campaign unfolds.
CHAPTER 1: RAIDERS OF
FALLINGHOLLOW
The heroes all begin in the town of

Fallinghollow, a small community in the
Northfells of about 1,000 people. It’s best if the
heroes have some connection to this town,
such as by being from there or having recently
moved there. They might be connected to a
prominent townsperson, such as Headman
Raskir, Sheriff Arskei, Gendal Ink-Hand, Anna
Ninefingers, or Hap Frysten.
In this adventure, the heroes confront
kobolds plotting some dramatic demolition.
The kobolds were hired by Briarbough, an evil 1
arboreal who wants cover so his agents can
kidnap the local scribe Gendal, whose
extensive knowledge of fey and forest
creatures could be a danger to Treereaver’s
plans.
PART 1: AN EXPLOSIVE BEGINNING

This adventure opens with a townsperson
shouting that Sheriff Arskei has been killed.
The sheriff’s body is at the edge of town, near a
wainwright’s shop, and the heroes are the
nearest at hand able to investigate the
unexpected death.
ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 1)
When the heroes arrive, they see that Sheriff
Arskei is dead in the street. Her body bears
strange wounds, which are the obvious cause
of her death. A successful DC 15 Arcana or
Medicine check shows she’s been killed by
magic missiles, a clue about the kobold dragon
mage leading the attack on the town. Before
the heroes can do much with this information,
four kobold warriors come out of the
wainwright’s shop to attack.
1 Heroes who investigate the door and succeed
at a DC 17 Perception check can notice the rope
1 trap. If they bypass it, the hungry dinosaurs
break free of the wagon they’re under anyway,
but take 2d6 damage in the process.
ENCOUNTER 1B (MODERATE 1)
Sounds in the wainwright’s large shop cause
the heroes to investigate, but opening the door
pulls a rope contraption lifting one of the
wagons under repair. Two velociraptors
trapped underneath it are free to attack. 1
1
1
1
ENCOUNTER 1C
Hap Frysten is in his storage room, tied up and
gagged. He says a group of kobolds came by to
take a wagon; their leader, a green-skinned
ENCOUNTER 1E (MODERATE 1)
female kobold sorcerer named Vevik, headed
On their way to Anna Ninefingers’ alchemy
with it and several other kobolds toward the
shop, the heroes see a badly injured horse in
shop of Anna Ninefingers, Fallinghollow's
the street near a wailing warrior named
alchemist. Before they go, Hap asks the heroes
Thorvir. If calmed, Thorvir says that several
to investigate the upper level of his shop; he’s
small, hooded figures were pushing a wagon
heard more clattering around and worries
as he was riding by. When he tried to get a
there might be more kobolds lurking up there.
better look at them, two of them revealed
He gives them his everburning torch and 10 gp
themselves to be kobolds and attacked,
in thanks.
injuring his horse before rushing away.
ENCOUNTER 1D (MODERATE 1) Thorvir was too distraught over the injury of
Upstairs in the wainwright’s shop, a kobold his beloved horse to see where they went, but
scout and two kobold warriors are ransacking he’s pretty sure it was to Anna’s shop. The
Hap’s things. They were supposed to have left kobold dragon mage Vevik realized too late
long before now, but they couldn’t resist that leaving Thorvir alive was a mistake, and
poking around. They fight ferociously when she sent two kobold scouts back here to kill
discovered. him off. The scouts arrive and see Thorvir
talking to the heroes, and so they attack the
heroes at the same time. If the heroes heal
Thorvir’s horse, he gratefully rewards them
with his half-plate armor, already packed in a
saddlebag.
ENCOUNTER 1F (MODERATE 1)
Vevik has already acquired the explosive
reagents she sought from Anna’s alchemy shop
and left; fortunately for Anna, she was out of
1 town when the kobolds raided her shop. Two
kobold warriors are still picking through
1 what’s left, and they have their loyal giant
gecko with them. These foes fight anyone away). The heroes must find a way to stop it
investigating the shop. A successful DC 15 (such as a DC 15 Athletics check to force it to
Crafting check realizes that the recently- stop or a DC 15 Thievery check to re-engage
plundered reagents would make a powerful the brake) or Fallinghollow’s bell tower goes
explosive. The kobolds, if questioned, know up in flames. If the heroes save the bell tower,
that Vevik’s plan is to fill the stolen wagon Headman Raskir rewards them with a +1 battle
with explosive components and roll it to the axe engraved with Fallinghollow’s symbol.
bell tower at the center of town to blow it up. Something like a “key to the city,” the axe
There’s only one hill in town and the road gives them a 10 percent discount on mundane
leading down it goes straight to the bell tower. items in town.
The gecko has saddlebags with the kobolds’
loot: infiltrator’s elixir, a minor elixir of life,
lesser bottled lightning, and various
knickknacks worth 9 gp.
1
ENCOUNTER 1G (SEVERE 1)
If the heroes didn’t learn that Vevik is at
Hilltop Park from the kobolds at the
alchemist’s shop, they soon hear townspeople
gossiping about “little hooded strangers”
there. No one’s sure what they’re doing with
their wagon there, situated at the top of the
road leading to the town’s bell tower. Racing
to Hilltop Park, the heroes encounter Vevik, a
kobold dragon mage, and three kobold
warriors. When wounded, Vevik releases the
wagon’s brake to roll it into town at a Speed of
60 feet per round (the bell tower is 300 feet
PART 2: ARBOREAL AGENTS
After the heroes have been lauded for their
quick action against the kobolds, and have had
a chance to rest, Headman Raskir comes to
them with news that Fallinghollow has more
troubles. Several surrounding farms have been
burned, which everyone is assuming is the
work of more kobolds (but it isn’t; as the
kobold distraction failed, the arboreal
Briarbough had to take matters into his own
hands). There are three farms to investigate:
the Botulfsons, the Gyrs, and the Orgrums. The
heroes can investigate them in any order.
The Botulfson farm is in a low dell. The
livestock has all been freed to wander, and the
farmhouse has been burned down. The barn
contains the only clue: a scattering of strange
On the Gyr farm, both the barn and farmhouse
black briars that aren’t native to the area (a
have sustained significant fire damage. The
successful DC 15 Nature check notices these).
livestock is being savaged by two wolves who
Unfortunately, the well in the barn has been
lash out at anyone who investigates. Large,
covered over with debris and serves as a
black briars are embedded in the wolves’
drowning pit trap that anyone investigating
flanks, which a hero who succeeds at a DC 15
the barn might fall into. An old gold ring
Nature check realizes has caused their
worth 12 gp lies amid the debris.
aggression.
ENCOUNTER 2C (MODERATE 1)
The Orgrum farm is the largest; it was owned
by a dwarven family with several human
R workers. The large manor house is now a
smoking ruin. This is the last of the farms
Briarbough and his minions attacked, and the
two fire mephits responsible for burning the
farms are still here. They’re tormenting the
human workers, whom they’ve imprisoned in
the barn, threatening to burn down the barn
around them. The humans explain that a
walking tree covered in black briars
imprisoned them in their own barn and
departed, although they don’t know why.
2
1
ENCOUNTER 2D
As the heroes are finishing their investigations
at whichever farm they examined last, a
survivor from that family comes crawling out
of the nearby woods. This survivor, a teenaged
girl named Heith, says the attackers were a
walking tree covered in black thorns, a female
druid with several snakes, and two fire
mephits. Heith points the way they went.
Heith’s directions lead to a cottage in a dense,
tangled part of the woods. A ball python and
two vipers roam the cottage exterior,
attempting to surprise trespassers.
R
1
1
1
1
The cottage is the home of an evil changeling
exile named Ingunn. Ingunn pretends to be
innocent and welcoming, but this is a ruse to
get intruders to lower their guard. If possible,
she attempts to separate visitors in different
rooms of her cottage (a living room, a kitchen,
or a bedroom/study; the cottage isn’t very big)
and kill them off as quickly as possible. She
attacks as soon as the heroes realize what she's
up to. A potency crystal, a holly bush feather
token, and herbs worth 15 gp are in her kitchen.
1
1
side gate, they overhear a booming voice in
Common saying, “I didn't want the scholar
hauled off and enslaved, you profit-seeking
fool, I wanted him interrogated for what he
knows and then killed!” This is followed by the
sound of a blow and a dying gasp. The evil
When the heroes approach the hedge-lined
arboreal warden Briarbough has just killed a
garden in the back of the cottage, whether
duergar slaver delivering bad news.
through the cottage’s back door or through a
Briarbough rages against anyone intruding on
hidden (DC 17 Nature or Perception to locate)
the garden he now inhabits, fighting to the
death. The duergar’s freshly-killed corpse
bears a brooch of shielding, a silver bracelet
worth 18 gp, and a heavy iron ingot stamped
with the word “Wastingdeep.” This is an
obvious clue that the duergar was from the
Wastingdeep Mine.
R
R
CONCLUSION
The heroes can return to Fallinghollow to
confirm that the scholar Gendal was
kidnapped while the heroes were away.
CHAPTER 2: DESCENT INTO
WASTINGDEEP
The heroes return to Fallinghollow to meet

with the scholar Gendal, but he’s been
kidnapped along with other residents. Tracks
of the kidnappers lead to the nearby
Wastingdeep Mine, which the heroes already
have a clue to investigate. In exploring it, the
heroes learn that the iron mine connects to a
1
larger dungeon occupied by duergar slavers.
The heroes must vanquish the duergars and
the barbazu devil who commands them.
2
PART 1: WASTINGDEEP MINE
The heroes confirm that Gendal has been
kidnapped, although no one saw any
kidnappers as duergar can become invisible.
His house has signs of a struggle and two
broken and discarded bola bolts; a successful
DC 16 Society check reveals they’re the kind
duergar sharpshooters use. Heroes asking
around can learn that Wastingdeep Mine was
an iron mine abandoned when some toxic gas
flooded parts of it. The gas is invisible and
odorless, and therefore the mine was deemed
too dangerous to keep using.
Recent tracks lead in and out of Wastingdeep
Mine. Two earth mephits and a sewer ooze
guard the narrow passage near the mine
entrance at the command of the duergars.
They’re near an alcove with dusty mine
equipment, including a forgotten +1 pick.
way to the bug yard in Part 2. They can return
to the surface at any time by retracing their
steps, but this reduces their earned successes to
zero and they must start again. Each failure
takes the heroes to a pocket of toxic gas,
making them enfeebled 1 for 24 hours (which
stacks, up to enfeebled 4). On a critical failure,
the heroes also inadvertently return to the
start, losing any progress made. On a critical
success, the heroes spot a side passage with a
boarded-up mine office. This office contains a
map of the mine, allowing the heroes to
1
traverse it automatically and gain direct access
to any of the three areas in Part 2: the bug yard,
1
the slagyard, or the fungus cliff.
PART 2: DUERGAR SUPPORT

The upper level of the duergar caverns, below
Wastingdeep Mine, contains three different
chambers that the duergar use: the bug yard,
where the duergar train centipedes; the
slagyard, where they seek useful slag; and the
fungus cliff. where they collect food. These
areas all connect to each other (and to the Iron
ENCOUNTER 1B (MODERATE 2) Stronghold in Part 3) through narrow passages
The duergar loosed a lumbering giant stag with a few dead-end tunnels off of them. The
beetle into the mine corridors; it isn’t affected heroes can use these dead-end tunnels to rest
by the toxic gas. This beast meets up with the safely, if they’d like, as the duergars rarely
heroes before they can explore much of the explore them. The duergar come and go
mines. through the bug yard, so this is where their
tracks from the mine lead.
The entrance to the bug yard has a gate made
of thick wire that the yard’s captive centipedes
1
1
3
ENCOUNTER 1C
Navigating the maze-like mine requires three
DC 16 Survival checks, each taking an hour.
After three successes, the party makes their
have just realized they can break open. Two
giant centipedes attack the heroes
immediately, with two more joining each
round until all six giant centipedes attack.
1 The fungus cliff is a deep crevasse where
tasteless but nourishing mushrooms grow in
surprising profusion. The mushrooms provide
cover. Here, a duergar taskmaster is training
two duergar sharpshooters in long-distance
targeting into the crevasse. They fight as soon
as they notice the heroes. The duergar
taskmaster has a heavy iron key (to the Iron
Gate in Part 3). A mushroom-gathering basket
ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 2) has dried, nasty mushrooms and a potency
Deeper in the bug yard—which connects to the crystal.
rest of the duergar caverns—two duergar
sharpshooters are training three giant
centipedes. They all attack the intruders from
the surface. A nearby chest with metal whips
and other training gear contains a lesser
antidote and a lesser healing potion.
1
This is a clue that the duergars (and their devil
masters) aren’t truly allied with the arboreals.
When this pair discovers the heroes, the
taskmaster fights while “Gendal” pretends to
be in trouble long enough to get close to the
heroes for a surprise attack. The duergar
taskmaster has a heavy iron key (to the Iron
Gate in Part 3). The faceless stalker has a large
vial of its blood (which functions as two doses
of infiltrator’s elixir) in a shoulder bag.
ENCOUNTER 2D (SEVERE 2)
The slagyard is where the lava plume broke
through the mine’s lower levels—and released
the toxic gas that still fills part of the
mine—melting the iron ore into slag. The 1
duergar sometimes pick through it for useful
bits of slag. There’s currently a duergar
taskmaster here talking with a faceless stalker
who’s masquerading as the scribe Gendal.
Unless the heroes are noisy when they
approach, they overhear the pair talking about
how the faceless stalker can best impersonate
Gendal, return to the surface, and collect F
information on fey and arboreal weaknesses.
PART 3: THE IRON STRONGHOLD ENCOUNTER 3B
The lowest level of caverns claimed by the The Iron Gate leading into the fortress requires
duergar are all one reinforced fortress. 3 keys: one held by each of the three duergar
taskmasters outside the fortress. The lock is
ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 2) treated as a good lock (DC 30, five successes) if
Two duergar sharpshooters and a duergar the heroes have no keys, an average lock (DC
taskmaster guard the Iron Stronghold's entry. 25, four successes) with one, a simple lock (DC
The taskmaster has one of three keys to the 20, three successes) with two, and it readily
Iron Gate. unlocks with all three.
ENCOUNTER 3C (MODERATE 2) ENCOUNTER 3D (MODERATE 2)
The large hall beyond the Iron Gate is set up The fortress’s armory is well stocked but
with several mushroom-stuffed leather sacks protected by a spinning blade pillar trap.
meant to resemble humans. Three duergar Once the heroes have dealt with the trap, they
bombardiers practice hurling bombs here. can recover three tower shields, six dwarven
Several halls lead deeper into the stronghold. waraxes, six mauls, four suits of splint mail,
A table bears a moderate alchemist’s fire and a and a retribution axe.
crafter’s eyepiece.
1 R
1
ENCOUNTER 3E (MODERATE 2) contains a skeleton with an onyx dog wondrous
The stronghold's claustrophobic forge is where figurine amid its bones; this unfortunate
all the duergar must labor in shifts. Currently, prisoner swallowed the figurine to use it later,
two duergar bombardiers and a duergar but died with it in his belly.
sharpshooter are here. The bombardiers are
bullying the sharpshooter into doing their
work, and she’s frustrated with that. If a fight
breaks out, the duergars all initially fight, but
the sharpshooter turns against the
bombardiers if given the opportunity. In
exchange for her freedom, she tells the heroes
the layout of the stronghold. A suit of full plate
and an ingot of silver worth 25 gp are near the
forge.
1
ENCOUNTER 3F
The barracks in the fortress aren’t regularly
1
inhabited, but duergar elsewhere retire here if
the heroes wait. The only trunk not filled with
1
mundane clothes and tools has an onyx worth
10 gp in it.
ENCOUNTER 3G (MODERATE 2)
Four duergar sharpshooters are planning a
raid on the surface for slaves. Their leader, the
barbazu Gresshix, wouldn’t approve of an
unsanctioned raid, so they’re being very covert
about it and attack anyone who disturbs them.
ENCOUNTER 3H (SEVERE 2)
The prison of the Iron Stronghold currently
contains only one living prisoner: the actual
Gendal. A barbazu devil named Gresshix is
keeping him here until he receives word from
his superiors (who are in a distant town).
Gresshix has the key to the cells; trying to open
Gendal’s cell door without it triggers an
electric latch rune trap. Another cell here
F
CONCLUSION
Gendal is pleased to be rescued and anxious to
get back to Fallinghollow. He listened
attentively to his jailer Gresshix, and even
though Gresshix was careful not to name
anyone specific, he got the impression that he’s
associated with devils who have infiltrated one
of the towns in the Northfells. Gendal plans to
do some research about the names that
Gresshix dropped to find out which town that
is, but he wants to go home first.
CHAPTER 3: THE CAT'S-PAW
DECEPTION
The heroes returned the missing scholar mill and the village stable, and can address
Gendal to his home in Fallinghollow, but these in either order.
Fallinghollow has more
troubles of its own. A gang
of redcaps is capitalizing on
the discontent spreading
among forest denizens to
compel a band of catfolk and
their feline companions to
assault the town. The
redcaps stole the sacred cat’s-
paw amulet (a choker of
eloquence granting the catfolk
language) from a large
catfolk tribe and pinned the 1
theft on Fallinghollow. A
catfolk war-leader named 1
Aslaim came with his
warband to recover it. The
heroes must uncover this
malicious deception and confront the redcaps
to save the town. 1
PART 1: ASSAULT ON THE VILLAGE

In this part, the heroes confront strange feline
attacks on Fallinghollow and defend the town
from the catfolk minions.
ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 3) Three leopards are menacing workers in a
While the heroes are in the bustling town grain mill. The workers have been keeping the
square, two lions leap from a nearby alley to cats at bay, but they can’t do so for much
attack, causing a panic. The heroes can stand longer. These leopards also wear the silver
up to the lions, but the rushing townspeople collars with the paw rune worth 15 gp.
make the square difficult terrain for the first 2
rounds of the fight. Each lion bears a silver
collar marked with a paw rune (worth 15 gp),
so they’ve plainly been trained by someone.
The heroes hear cries of other attacks at the
to slaughter them. The riding horses lash out
indiscriminately in their panic, and heroes
moving next to the horses might receive a hoof
attack. These cats also wear silver collars.
1 1
The whinnying of panicked horses fills the
stables as a tiger and a leopard work together
1
PART 2: THE CATFOLK THICKET

Aslaim’s catfolk are encamped in the thicket;
it's their headquarters to make forays into
ENCOUNTER 1D (MODERATE 3) town. The thicket is, in essence, a dungeon
After the heroes complete the prior two made of thorny walls; anyone forced to move
encounters, they are attacked by a tiger and a into one of the walls (such as by a successful
catfolk pouncer. The catfolk doesn’t parley, Shove) takes 1d6 piercing damage. The catfolk
but calls the heroes “killers” and “thieves” as it here are convinced the heroes are evil thieves
fights. The catfolk bears a simple map (or thugs in the employ of evil thieves) and,
presenting a path to a thicket in the forest except for Aslaim, fight eagerly and to the
about 30 minutes away. The catfolk’s defeat death. Talking down these catfolk should be
puts an end to the attacks for now. difficult but not impossible for exceptionally
Fallinghollow’s mayor, Headman Raskir, diplomatic heroes.
rewards the heroes with a staff of healing and
encourages the heroes to investigate the thicket ENCOUNTER 2A (MODERATE 3)
the following day. As the heroes travel to the thicket along a
forest trail, a lion and two catfolk pouncers on
their way to harry Fallinghollow set up an
ambush. Characters who aren't expert or better
in Perception are flat-footed during the first
round of this ambush.
2
1
Four catfolk pouncers guard the entrance to
the thicket. They aren’t expecting a
counterattack from the town, and so the heroes
might take them by surprise.
1
ENCOUNTER 2C
One empty room in the thicket fortification is a
storeroom with some supplies brought by the ENCOUNTER 2E
catfolk. These include several days of food, The catfolk war-leader Aslaim is in a planning
two more silver collars, a jade cat, an onyx room deep in the thicket. When the heroes
panther, and a barkskin potion. reach him, he realizes he’s probably outclassed
ENCOUNTER 2D (SEVERE 3) and unlikely to win a fight. He therefore
An intelligent smilodon named Crookfang parleys with the “thieves,” attempting to
stalks the thicket and fights the heroes as they shame them and insisting that a larger force of
travel through it. Crookfang is evil and pleased catfolk are coming to avenge the theft and
to have an unfettered opportunity to slate its destroy Fallinghollow. When the heroes
bloodlust. Crookfang knows the thicket well, express ignorance, Aslaim says someone
so might attack and retreat several times to wearing heavy boots stole the sacred cat's-paw
harry the heroes. It tries to take advantage of amulet from the catfolk tribe. The thief's trail
the heroes’ assumption that it’s only an animal led right to Fallinghollow. Aslaim believes the
by using tricks or distractions. The biggest clue heroes’ protestations of ignorance, but he
that Crookfang isn’t a mundane feline is that it knows that other catfolk won’t. He'll convince
doesn’t wear a silver collar, as all the other the other leaders of his tribe to hold off their
catfolk pets do. attack for 3 days, to allow the heroes time to
find and return the sacred amulet to him.
PART 3: THE REDCAP THIEVES

The heroes follow clues in Fallinghollow to the
Rusty Gorge outside of town and confront the
redcaps and their leader, Rinda Rustboots.
Rusty Gorge is a mountainous valley with
several caves leading off of it. A turbulent but
clear mountain stream runs thorugh the center
of the valley. The valley has only one above-
1 ground entrance.
ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 3) 1
When the heroes make their investigations
around Fallinghollow, they don't find anyone 1
with knowledge of a stolen amulet. But while
traveling an isolated street they come across a 1
redcap dragging the corpse of a catfolk it killed
hours earlier to help frame the townsfolk. The
redcap screeches once spotted and fights to the
death to silence the "witnesses." Afterward,
townspeople drawn to the sound of the fight R
share rumors that malevolent red-clad fey like
this one inhabit Rusty Gorge two hours
outside town.
The heroes make their way to Rusty Gorge.
Tracks of metal boots are common throughout
this area. At the gorge’s entrance stand two
animated statues of soldiers from a long-
vanished kingdom. Rinda has altered their
magic to not attack redcaps, so the fey rely on
the statues as guards. Any character adjacent
to a statue can attempt a DC 20 Arcana check
as a three-action Interact activity to force the
statues to stand down.
tempered redcap who attacks the heroes soon
after they enter the gorge. It shouts a warning
to other redcaps as it fights. This redcap wears
a mangy coyote cloak pinned in place with a
viper arrow.
1
ENCOUNTER 3D
Another of the caves is a corpse pit, with the
ENCOUNTER 3C (MODERATE 3) bodies of three dead adventurers: a fighter
The gorge has several caves leading off from with broken full plate that still bears a dragon
its rocky valley floor. One of the caves closest turtle scale, a bard with a lesser maestro's
to the gorge entrance is the home of an ill- instrument, and an alchemist with a satchel
1
containing a moderate alchemist's fire, a

moderate quicksilver elixir, and formulas for
both of these as well as for lesser bomber's eye
elixir and stone fist elixir.
ENCOUNTER 3E
Still another cave is blocked with a barred
wooden door; lifting the bar requires a
successful DC 18 Athletics check. Inside is a
lizardfolk stargazer named Lex; she's a
companion to the now-deceased adventurers ENCOUNTER 3G (SEVERE 3)
whom the redcaps captured several days ago. The gorge’s rearmost chamber is the lair of
The redcaps keep Lex captive as a healer, as Rinda Rustboots, a cunning redcap mage. A
they like that her magic is primal instead of filthy stream flows through her chamber,
hated divine magic. She’s overheard the which is part of a drowning pit trap at a
redcaps and their leader, Rinda Rustboots, talk chokepoint the heroes must cross. On her
about a “prank” they’re playing on the nearby worktable are the cat’s-paw amulet, a +1 striking
town to get all its inhabitants killed. Lex had longsword that formerly belonged to the fighter
just about given up hope, but she eagerly joins in the corpse pit, and notes from someone
the heroes if they free her. named Njoln Sharpleaf in a place called
Wailing Grove. These notes, written in Sylvan,
ENCOUNTER 3F (MODERATE 3) promise rewards to Rinda for eliminating
At some point during the heroes’ exploration Fallinghollow; clearly, the redcap was working
of the gorge, Rinda Rustboots releases two for someone else. Gendal in Fallinghollow can
cockatrices into the gorge. They soon find the translate these notes if the heroes can’t read
heroes and attack. Sylvan.
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1
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CONCLUSION
With the cat’s-paw amulet returned, Aslaim
calls off the pending catfolk assault. The heroes
can rest up for now, but their next clue leads
them south, to Wailing Grove.
CHAPTER 4: THREE
CIRCLES
The heroes learned that evil fey seeking to in the branches of a tree. Dag tries to warn
destroy the town of Fallinghollow were them away, but the evil awakened tree hurls
working for someone named Njoln Sharpleaf the dwarf to the ground and strides forward to
in Wailing Grove. The sage Gendal does some attack. Dag was coming to Jannasthorpe with
research and reveals that Wailing Grove is urgent news: ogres occupy a crumbling keep
several days south of Fallinghollow. nearby, and he spotted hooded, human-sized
Gendal doesn’t know that Wailing Grove is figures meeting with them. He wonders
a site sacred to ancient druids. It is contested whether the Circle of the Pruning Hook has
by three groups, all of them evil. The Circle of hired the ogres, which would be a marked
the Pruning Hook is a group of changeling increase in strength, and encourages the heroes
druids who have allied themselves with to scout out the fortress while he reports to
Treereaver’s forces. The Circle of Stumphome Mayor Truebow. If the heroes check out the
is a coven of three hags whose senior member, keep, go to Part 2. If they press on to Wailing
the night hag Kesenna, left on her own Grove, go to Part 3.
mysterious errand. Finally, the Plucked Eye is
a band of mercenary ogres who lair near the
grove. Their symbol is a circle with a tail on it,
like a disembodied eyeball. The heroes step
into the middle of these foes.
PART 1: JANNASTHORPE
The settlement closest to Wailing Grove is
Jannasthorpe. Mayor Sigrid Truebow warns
the heroes against approaching Wailing Grove;
it’s a place of old, hard magic and often the
focus of evil forces looking to control its
power. Chief among these is the Circle of the
Pruning Hook, a group of druids whose
leader, Njoln Sharpleaf, is responsible for
poisoning animals and trees around
Jannasthorpe. Mayor Truebow encourages the
heroes to go after Njoln, providing them with
two lesser healing potions to aid them.
As the heroes travel to Wailing Grove, they
encounter a dwarf trapper named Dag caught
biggest clue that the ogres and the changelings
aren’t allies. The ogres aren’t very attentive,
more interested in feasting on a herd of elk
they recently killed. Smoke from cooking fires
rises from the keep’s yard. Most surfaces the
ogres can reach bear crude graffiti of a circle
1 with a dangling tail.
1
Three ogre warriors hang out in the shadow of
the keep’s exterior, arguing. They’re supposed
PART 2: THE PLUCKED EYE to be keeping guard, but there’s a good chance
the heroes spot them first and might be able to
The ogres of the Plucked Eye occupy the trick or ambush them. They’re fighting over a
crumbling keep, as Dag said, but they’re no fear gem.
allies of the Circle of the Pruning Hook. In fact,
the corpses of two changelings hang from
gibbets just outside the keep, their broken
sickles embedded in their heads. This is the
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1
2
1
1
ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 4) The interior courtyard of the keep is the site of
The keep's main entries lies past a guardpost. a big bonfire, with two full-grown elks roasting
An ogre glutton and her two pet boars live on spits make of stripped tree trunks. Two
there; the ogre is force-feeding scraps to the ogre gluttons tend to the meat and rush to
boars to fatten them up for eating. attack anyone intruding on their feast. Arrow
slits from the lord’s chamber look into the
courtyard, and the ogres here shout up to
1
“Boss Gristle” a warning about an attack. If the
heroes scale the courtyard wall (Athletics DC
20), they can enter the staircase to the lord’s
chamber (Encounter 2F) to fight Boss Gristle. F
ENCOUNTER 2D (MODERATE 4)
Three lawful evil tiefling adepts from
Velkendir are staying in the keep’s barracks.
These are the hooded figures that the trapper
Dag saw. They have come to commission the ENCOUNTER 2E
ogres to attack their city. They know the attack The keep’s armory has a few weapons that the
is doomed to fail, but the tieflings’ cult, which ogres considered too small to be useful: a fine
follows a powerful devil called Red Crown, silver dagger worth 12 gp and a +1 striking
plans to use the distraction to tighten their rapier.
hold over Velkendir.
Although the tieflings fight to the death if ENCOUNTER 2F (MODERATE 4)
able, the heroes might capture and question The stairs leading up to the lord’s bedchamber
one, or they might find this information are painted with elaborate abstract designs. An
among the notes the tieflings have brought open window here looks out into the courtyard
with them from Velkendir. The tieflings also below. A circular pattern at the top of the
have a wand of manifold missiles (1st level) upper landing is a wheel of misery hazard
among their traveling gear. that is still dangerous despite its age.
1
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1
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The lord’s bedchamber is a squalid mess,
mostly due to the disgusting habits of Boss
Gristle, the ogre boss in charge of the Plucked PART 3: THE PRUNING HOOK
Eye ogres. He rouses himself to fight any The ominous Wailing Grove is surrounded by
intruders. His treasure includes a cask of fine standing stones that continually emit obscuring
wine worth 40 gp, a +1 striking battle axe, and a mist within 10 feet of them.
brass cage worth 35 gp containing a terrified
grig named Felvind. Boss Gristle kept Felvind ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 4)
for his musical skills, threatening to eat the The edge of Wailing Grove is packed tightly
grig if he ever played a sour note. Felvind with gnarled trees. As the heroes approach,
overheard the conversations between the two of these trees step forward to strike; they
tieflings and Boss Gristle. He knows the cult of are evil arboreal wardens allied with the Circle
Red Crown has infiltrated the city of Velkendir of the Pruning Hook, and they fight until
and is using devils in a ritual to overthrow the destroyed.
city somehow. Felvind doesn’t much care
about the city, but he’s very invested in being
set free. He tells the heroes everything he
knows and further agrees to whatever
conditions the heroes place on him, if any, but
almost certainly forgets about them once he’s
loose.
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1
When the heroes near Wailing Grove, they are
attacked by two changeling exiles and a sod
hound. These foes duck in and out of the mist
around the standing stones to obscure their
position and their numbers as they fight; the
sod hound's ability to burrow easily might fool ENCOUNTER 3C (SEVERE 4)
the heroes into thinking there's more than one As the heroes approach the center of Wailing
elemental. The changeling exiles each carry a Grove, the fog reflects strange, lean shadows
silver sickle with a partially straightened dozens of feet long and carries strange voices.
blade. These sickles are symbols of the Circle A deep, inhuman voice like bark grating on
of the Pruning Hook and are worth 20 gp each. bark, says, “Njoln, your redcaps have failed.
Our master doesn’t brook failure lightly, and
the cataclysmic blight we seek may soon be
visited upon you.” The responding
voice—pleading and near—responds with,
“Long are your boughs, my liege, may your
pity shelter me. Please, another chance.” The
inhuman voice chuckles gratingly and says,
“Your chance is nigh. Defeat the trespassers
who creep into your sacred grove like wood
lice.” The shadows vanish along with the fog,
and Njoln, an elite changeling exile, zealously
attacks. His first action in combat is to utter a
phrase in Druidic that causes one of the trees at
1 the edge of the grove to animate as an
1 awakened tree. Both of these foes fight to the
death. Njoln carries a verdant staff and a silver
sickle with a partially straightened blade worth
20 gp.
expected amenities and a pouch with 240 sp,
an emerald grasshopper, and a large folded leaf
with a strange rune of an axe covered with
diseased mushrooms. This is a symbol of the
demon lord Treereaver, although it's rare
enough that the heroes can’t learn this without
research.
1 PART 4: STUMPHOME
1 As the heroes return from Wailing Grove, they
hear shouts for help coming from over a
nearby hill. Investigating heroes see a hut built
in a truly enormous stump. This is the
residence of the Circle of Stumphome, a coven
of hags that have captured the hapless Dag
before he managed to return to Jannasthorpe.
As the heroes approach, the cries for help
coming from inside the hut cease and two old
crones hobble out. They attempt to convince
the heroes that nothing is wrong and to be on
ENCOUNTER 3D their way; if they fail, these two disguised
Njoln's campsite in Wailing Grove has the green hags attack.
1
1
Inside the hut, an annis hag is boiling water in
a cauldron with Dag inside. The hag attacks,
intending to capture more victims for her
stew-pot. Once freed, Dag is sheepish to have
to be rescued twice. He says the hags were
bemoaning the loss of one of their coven,
Kesenna. Kesenna told the other hags that she
had to leave because the arboreals had taken
over Wailing Grove and its sister site in the
Skaldwood, but this didn’t mean anything to
the other hags—or to Dag, for that matter.
When Kesenna left, she took much of the hags’
power with them, and the coven was broken.
The trappings in the hut include a scroll of
heroism, a bloodseeker beak, and a diamond
earring worth 45 gp.
1
CONCLUSION
At the end of this adventure, the heroes know
of the missing hag Kesenna, the evil arboreals
in the woods, and ogres receiving directions
from a powerful devil cult in the city of
Velkendir. The sage Gendal will look into the
arboreals associated with the Circle of the
Pruning Hook and the symbol among Njoln’s
belongings. For now, the clearest lead takes the
heroes to Velkendir to find out more about the
Cult of Red Crown.
CHAPTER 5: RED CROWN
RECKONING
The scholar Gendal has pored over some maps Brenna’s three best leads to find the cult are
and ledgers to learn that the barbazu devil that at an alchemical workshop, a salt mine just
captured him was referring outside the city, and a thieves
to superiors in the city of guild called the Silverblades
Velkendir. This aligns with operating out of a derelict
what the heroes found lumber mill. She asks them to
outside Jannasthorpe: a devil check them out and report
cult following a devil known back. The heroes can visit
as Red Crown has infiltrated them in any order (they are
the city of Velkendir on the Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4,
Langebeck River and is respectively). At each, the
plotting a ritual to overthrow heroes can recover a piece of
the city. The heroes are the information leading to the
only ones with these clues at cult headquarters: a flagon
the moment; the devils are stamped with the letters
subtle and their presence “OBH” on the bottom, a
isn’t yet known in the city, scrap of red cloth bearing an
other than to the canny high owl's head, and another
priest of the Church of the scrap with a bear's body.
Sun-Mother. The heroes must Pieced together, they form an
go to Velkendir and connect owlbear image; the Owlbear
the threads of several recent House is the upscale tavern
devil-driven crimes to locate secretly owned by the Cult of
the devils’ lair. Red Crown.
PART 1: ON THE TRAIL ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 5)

When the heroes leave their meeting with
Shortly after the heroes begin their Brenna, four lawful evil tiefling adepts from
investigations in Velkendir, they are contacted the cult ambush them on the street. These low-
by Brenna Eyisjr, high priestess of the Church level cultists don’t know about the Owlbear
of the Sun-Mother. This isn’t the largest church House, but can confirm (if interrogated) that
in Velkendir—temples to deities of commerce the cult has recently dispatched agents to all
are more influential and ornate—but Brenna three locations that the heroes are
seeks out anyone asking about devils in her investigating.
city. In her temple, she explains that she’s been
tracing a secretive cult of a devil lord known as
Red Crown. She knows the cultists are onto
her, so she needs unknown heroes for legwork.
1 PART 2: THE ALCHEMICAL SOLUTION
1 The heroes investigate an alchemical workshop
often hired by the Cult of Red Crown. The
1 alchemists there dabble in all manner of drugs
and other illicit chemicals, and they react
violently to interlopers.
The entrance to the workshop is latched from
the inside, so the heroes need to break in (DC
20 Thievery or Athletics checks to do so). Three
F ratfolk grenadiers attack in the open space of
the workshop. Here, any splash weapon that
misses its target also causes a random minor F
explosion dealing 2d8 damage (DC 20 basic
Reflex save) to three random creatures in the
room. This damage has equal chances of being
acid, cold, fire, or poison damage. The ratfolk
are brewing a moderate darkvision elixir and a
lesser elixir of life. Acquiring either from its
beaker requires a successful DC 18 Crafting or
ENCOUNTER 2B
Thievery check. On a failure, the elixir is
A storeroom contains some mundane reagents
spoiled; on a critical failure, the elixir also
worth 10 gp, a dose of hunting spider venom,
causes a minor explosion as above. On a
and a moderate antidote. The labels for the
critical success, the careful hero acquires two
spider venom and the antidote have been
elixirs of the type rather than one.
switched, but a successful DC 20 Crafting or
Perception check spots the mistake.
ENCOUNTER 2C (SEVERE 5)
The back room of the warehouse is where the
workshop’s owner and chief alchemist, the
scarred Halvard Ragnason, works. He has a
weak alchemical golem that he “tests” on
intruders while he immediately ducks out of
sight. When the heroes defeat Halvard’s
golem, he surrenders and admits that he’s
received funding from the Cult of Red Crown
to provide some mind-altering toxins. As a
side project, one of the cultists left him a flagon
with a secret compartment in the bottom,
which Halvard agreed to pack full of poison.
Halvard gives the flagon to the heroes; it’s
ordinary-looking but has the mark “OBH” or
“HEIO” (it’s unclear which way is up) on the
1 bottom. This clue is meaningless without the
other clues. Halvard’s back room also contains
1 a dose of giant scorpion venom and a dagger of
venom.
1
1
PART 3: THE MINE’S NEW OWNERS
The Cult of Red Crown had fully infiltrated a
lucrative salt mine just outside Velkendir and
have been mining it aggressively for
supplemental income. But their miners dug
deep enough to disturb a clan of deep gnomes
living far under the hills. A subterranean war
broke out, and the deep gnomes won, killing
off the miners, the cult members on site, and
even the reinforcements the cult sent in. Now,
the deep gnomes have made the salt mines
their own and defend it against all attackers,
assuming everyone invading their mine is an
agent of the guileful cult.
ENCOUNTER 3A
1 The salt mine outbuildings are destroyed, but
the rubble contains a climbing bolt useful for
emergency extractions of miners.
1
Just inside the mine are four deep gnome
warriors and two deep gnome scouts who
assume anyone else coming by must be more
cultists engaging in a trick or a raid. They fight
to the death.
1
1
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1
1
Deeper in the mine are elementals loyal to the
deep gnomes: two living landslides. They
knock over slabs of salt as they fight. This is an
Interact action that deals 2d8 bludgeoning
damage to a target adjacent to the salt slab and
knocks the target prone (DC 20 Reflex save to
avoid being knocked prone). A target who
critically fails the Reflex save is also pinned
until they Escape (DC 20) and takes 2d8
negative damage each round from the
dangerously desiccating salt while pinned.
1
1
R
Deeper in the mine are bodies of several slain
mine workers and two dead barbazus. The
apparent leader of this group is badly scarred
with acid (from acid arrow, as a successful DC
15 Arcana or Nature reveals) and has few clues
on his person other than a half-melted swatch
of fabric bearing a screaming owl’s head on a
red background (which is meaningless without
the other two clues). Before the heroes
conclude their examination, however, the
remaining deep gnomes attack: a deep gnome
rockwarden leads two deep gnome warriors
and a deep gnome scout. The rockwarden
surrenders if badly injured, but still petulantly
demands the heroes leave the mine, which the
gnomes feel they’ve earned by blood.
1
PART 4: SILVERBLADES SAWMILL

A lumber mill abandoned years ago is now the
heavily-fortified headquarters of a thieves’
guild called the Silverblades. The Silverblades 1
consist primarily of hobgoblins, but several of
its leaders are barghests who generally remain
in hobgoblin form until a fight breaks out. Led
by a greater barghest named Ulphrix, the guild
is prepared to repel intruders. All guild
members, both hobgoblins and barghests, have
a cross-shaped wound on their upper chest
filled with molten mithral that’s hardened into
a distinctive mark of membership—crossed
silver blades. These lumps of mithral can be
extracted from defeated foes and are each
worth 25 gp.
The lumber mill’s main entry is guarded by
two hobgoblin archers and two hobgoblin
soldiers. They are loyal to the guild and fight
to the death.
1
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1
The main mill floor is set up as a gauntlet to
test thieves in navigating crowds, picking
pockets, and stabbing mannequins’ pressure
points. There is both a scythe blades trap and
a hallucination powder trap here. Three
barghests train in this area and fight intruders,
attempting to lure them into the area of the
traps as they do. A standard skeleton key hangs
near the hallucination powder trap.
1
1
R 1
In the barracks of the lumber mill, a hobgoblin
In a long loading room filled with lumber
general and a hobgoblin archer are resting.
providing ample cover, three hobgoblin
They quickly mobilize to attack intruders. A
archers are practicing their archery and are
suit of +1 full plate is neatly packed away here;
glad for living targets.
it was recently delivered to the general with
thanks from the “followers of Red Crown,” but
the general doesn’t likely have time to don it
before a fight.
The former office of the mill owner is now the
domain of a greater barghest named Ulphrix.
Ulphrix surrenders if badly injured and is
willing to talk with the heroes in exchange for
his life. Ulphrix has had dealings with the Cult
of Red Crown; they’ve recently tasked the
guild with stealing valuables from the city’s
nobility (including even High Jarl Arvid the
Golden and Coin-Thane Torhild), but they
don’t know what the cult is doing with these
items. Ulphrix is a compulsive thief, however,
and he stole a swatch of cloth from one of the
cultists. The torn cloth contains the body of a
bear on a red background (which is
meaningless without the other two clues).
Even if the heroes kill Ulphrix, they can find
this cloth. Ulphrix wears a clandestine cloak.
1
R PART 5: ASSEMBLING THE CLUES
Once the heroes have all three clues, a
1
successful DC 20 Society check reveals that the
1
flagon and owl and bear symbols are from the
Owlbear House, an upscale establishment in
Velkendir’s wealthiest merchant district.
Whether or not the heroes make this
connection, they should return to Brenna at the
1
Sun-Mother’s church to let her know about
their investigations.
ENCOUNTER 5A (SEVERE 5)
An erinys has ambushed Brenna alone in the
church. Brenna is currently unconscious and
being constricted to death by the erinys’ rope.
If the heroes don’t free Brenna from the
infernal rope (DC 24 Athletics) and stanch her
infernal injuries (DC 22 Medicine check or any
healing spell of 3rd level or higher) in 3
rounds, she perishes. Meanwhile, the erinys
rains arrows down on the heroes from the
church’s rafters.
1
CONCLUSION
It’s now up to the heroes to exterminate the
cult in the Owlbear House. If Brenna survives,
she rewards the heroes with her ring of energy
resistance (fire), which she hopes they find
useful going against the cult.
3
CHAPTER 6: DEVILS OF
VELKENDIR
The heroes’ best lead to find the Cult of Red

Crown is the upscale Owlbear House. There,
they learn that the devils have joined forces
with a cabal of vampires to defend their den. 1
Coin-Thane Torhild has hunkered down in one
of her warehouses and is successfully repelling 1
the attackers with the aid of her amoral
mercenaries. High Jarl Arvid the Golden is 1
faring less well, having been imprisoned in his
own manor by a contract devil poised to force
him to hand over his city to Red Crown. The
heroes must free these two leaders to break the
devil cult’s hold upon the city.
ENCOUNTER 1B
The interior of the Owlbear House is tastefully
PART 1: AT THE OWLBEAR HOUSE
decorated, despite the taxidermied owlbears
No matter when the heroes arrive, the Owlbear that stand in the room’s four corners. The fussy
House is bustling with the wealthy elite of owner, a well-mannered noblewoman named
Velkendir. Agna Havilsdottir, offers to help the heroes
find food or drink, as they prefer. She says that
ENCOUNTER 1A the main room of the Owlbear House is open,
The first step is to gain admittance past the as is one of the two dining rooms. The other
two hulking, dimwitted bouncers. The heroes dining room is being renovated and is
must succeed at a DC 21 Deception or currently closed, and the upstairs has been
Diplomacy check (or a DC 23 Intimidation reserved for a private party called the Crimson
check), spend at least 30 gp each on Circlet. Agna is dominated by the vampire
appropriate attire, or use some other trickery mastermind Stolcht and works hard to keep
of their invention to gain admittance. The patrons entertained in the public areas of the
heroes only enrage these brutes into violence if Owlbear House. She can’t physically stop them
they critically fail a skill check to gain from insisting on entering the closed or
admittance. reserved areas, but her shouts of protest alert
everyone in the Owlbear House if the heroes
are rude or insistent. A successful DC 22
Deception or Diplomacy check keeps Agna
calm, and the heroes might simply get her to
bustle off without a check by requesting
drinks, food, or otherwise politely occupying
her and her staff. A successful DC 22
Perception check to Sense Motive is enough to
realize that Agna is under some kind of
compulsion effect; on a critical success, the
hero recognizes it as a dominate effect.
The closed dining room at the end of a
darkened hall isn’t being repaired at all; it’s
been corrupted by the vampires lairing here.
They’ve stacked their coffins here in pairs and
covered them with tablecloths to appear to be
tables (there are eight coffins in total). The
door to this room is locked with an average
lock (DC 25, four successes); alternatively, a
successful DC 24 Athletics check Forces it
Open. Four vampire spawn rogues protect this
room; if given warning that someone’s trying
to get in, they prepare an ambush behind the
coffin-tables. One of the tables has a sneaky key
in the centerpiece.
1
The stairs to the upper level lead to a series of
connected rooms. In the first of these rooms,
furnished as a sitting room, a vampire count
and two vampire spawn rogues react with
surprise to the intruders. The vampire count
attempts to keep the heroes calm, pretending
to answer any questions they have while he
surreptitiously tries to dominate whomever
seems to be in charge of the party. Whether he
succeeds or fails at this, he signals the vampire
spawn rogues to attack. The vampire count has
a staff of necromancy that he can’t use but likes it
for its aesthetic appeal.
2
F 1
ENCOUNTER 1E (SEVERE 6)
1
A short corridor connects the sitting room to a
gaming room, where the vampire mastermind
1
Stolcht sits, playing solitaire. He pretends
disaffection with the whole proceedings, and
1
openly admits that the Cult of Red Crown,
who meet in the adjacent map room, have
hired him and his minions to keep the Owlbear
House secure. Stolcht assures the heroes that
they won’t leave the Owlbear House alive, due
to several hidden dangers he doesn’t explain,
but he offers them a deal: if they’ll turn over
the hero with the highest Charisma to be
Stolcht’s newest vampire minion, the rest can
leave Owlbear House unharmed. Assuming
the heroes aren’t foolish enough to accept
Stolcht’s deal, he fights them. However, he’s
not entirely untruthful about the dangers, as
the heroes will discover in other areas of
Owlbear House they haven't yet explored.
Stolcht’s playing cards are particularly
valuable; the deck is worth 80 gp, and the
black lacquered case he keeps them in is a bag
of holding type II in the shape of a large card
case rather than a sack.
1
1
The passage from the gaming room leads ENCOUNTER 1G (MODERATE 6)
through a room lined with busts of notable The furthest room of the Owlbear House is its
historical figures of Velkendir. The cult map room, where travelers' maps from all over
recently installed a poisoned dart gallery trap the Northfells and beyond are displayed. The
here. The darts shoot from the busts’ stands, table in the middle holds a surveyor’s map of
and the control panel is hidden on the back of Velkendir. A barbazu devil and three lawful
the head of the bust furthest from the gaming evil tiefling adepts are poring over the map,
room (closest to the map room). preparing for their cult’s imminent takeover of
the city. They fight to keep their secret, cursing
Stolcht and his vampires from failing to do
their job of keeping intruders out. The map
clearly shows activity in two places: a
warehouse marked with “kill and replace
Torhild” and a manor at the edge of the city
marked with “bind Arvid.” The heroes
probably already know who these people are;
if not, a successful DC 12 Society check reveals
that they’re Coin-Thane Torhild and High Jarl
Arvid the Golden, the two most powerful
people in the city. The map room also contains
a tiger menuki, which the cultists brought with
them (that is, Agna lets the heroes keep it if
R they’re honest enough to attempt to return it to
her).
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1
1
1
1
1
1
ENCOUNTER 1H (MODERATE 6)
Although the heroes may consider their work
at the Owlbear House done, Stolcht has a
F surprise for them. He’s placed a complicated
arcane contingency that, should he be
destroyed, the taxidermied owlbears will come
to life when in the presence of his killers and
fight to the death. When the heroes go to leave
the Owlbear House, these four elite animated
1 statues attack.
PART 2: THE COIN-THANE’S DEFENSE
The nearest of the two locations being targeted
by the Cult of Red Crown is a warehouse
owned by Coin-Thane Torhild. The cult has
been stymied in their attempt to kill the
influential merchant and replace her with a
higher-ranked tiefling adept, as Torhild lives
most of her days in paranoid preparations that
1
her many enemies might try to eliminate her.
She’s retreated to a high, isolated balcony at
1
the top of her warehouse, although her
presence there isn’t obvious until the heroes
1
make it to the roof.
The warehouse rings with cries of combat as
the heroes approach. In the large warehouse
interior, a triceratops is stomping the last of a
group of tiefling adepts to red paste. The rare
beast was transported to Torhild in a large
wooden wagon, and she released the creature more cultists, Cassinda insists that they leave.
before she fled up the stairs to the roof. The She assumes that any denials are tricks and
tiefling adepts made the poor choice to attempt attacks, attempting to petrify as many heroes
to drive away the triceratops, which only as she can. Cassinda carries two pearls worth
enraged the beast into attacking them. The 25 gp each, a dust of appearance, and a grim
triceratops now attacks anyone in the trophy in a satchel at her side.
warehouse, including the heroes. A cultist
brought a moderate healing potion with him, and
it can be discovered intact in an otherwise
gruesome puddle on the floor.
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1
1 1
3 1
A staircase leading up at the far end of the
1
warehouse has several lifelike statues,
including one barbazu, two tieflings, and a
doppleganger. These cultists all fell victim to
Torhild’s merciless bodyguard, a medusa
named Cassinda. Cassinda is accompanied by
her closest friend, a shadow who masquerades
as Cassinda’s shadow when she isn’t in a fight.
A DC 24 Perception check is required to see
the shadow there. Believing the heroes to be
1
ENCOUNTER 2C
A storeroom door near the base of the stairs is
open; the cultists took a quick look here for
Torhild but didn’t yet get around to looting it.
Apart from mundane trade goods, it contains a
greater smokestick in a bin marked “Paid – To
Be Sent.”
The top of the stairs leads to the warehouse
roof. The roof has a high spire, extending 40
feet above the roof itself. In a balcony near the
top of this tower, the heroes spot Torhild
wielding a crossbow. Torhild uses the room in
the tower for meetings with privileged clients
that she wants to impress with a stunning view
of Velkendir, but it also serves her well as a
place to retreat in the event of an emergency.
Unfortunately for her, the cult thought to
attack the roof as well; an elite dandasuka
rakshasa is riding on a nightmare up here.
They’d intended to enter the warehouse from
the roof, but when Torhild came to them, they
seized the chance to attack her—wondering
idly why it’s taking the rest of the cultists so
long to get up here. They assume the heroes
stymied the cult attack inside the warehouse
and attack them right away. Torhild keeps up
her attacks with the crossbow during the fight,
targeting whichever fiend seems to be causing
the heroes the most trouble.
1 1
In gratitude for saving her, Torhild gives

the heroes her crossbow Ravensbane, a +1
striking crossbow with the wounding rune
(despite the fact that ranged weapons can’t 1
normally have this rune), as well as the jewelry
and loose change she has on her: 95 gp.
1
PART 3: THE JARL’S CONTRACT
It takes some time to navigate the streets of
Velkendir to reach the High Jarl’s manor 1
house, but the fact the cult has taken over the
manor won’t be discovered for a while. A
contract devil is insistently working on getting
Arvid to give up his leadership by technically
legal means, but Arvid has had long
experience with the city’s mercantile interests
and can keep the devil at bay for now. Even if
the heroes need to rest, the situation at the
manor doesn’t change.
3
The grounds of the manor are expansive, and
the surprisingly small manor house sits at the
center of it. The gates are all shut, but climbing
over the wall around the grounds is easy (DC
15 Athletics check to Climb). An erinys keeps
an eye on the grounds, sniping at anyone who
enters from a high tree. She’s disinclined to be
spotted by anyone who could blow the cult’s
secret presence, so she mixes her attacks with
attempts to Hide among the foliage. She fights
to the death.
ENCOUNTER 3B (MODERATE 6 AND

MODERATE 6)
Inside the manor house, four guards and a
small staff of four servants (including a
suspiciously helpful butler) keep an eye on the
rooms. These are all cultists; each of the eight
people is a lawful evil elite tiefling adept who
has cast the 2nd-level illusory disguise spell.
They first attempt to convince the heroes that
nothing is wrong, thanking the heroes for
defeating the devil lurking outside the house if
the heroes bring it up. They are unwilling to let Velkendir to earn her position back. It’s
the heroes see the High Jarl, insisting that he’s therefore important to her to have Arvid sign
busy in his study with some minor contractual the infernal agreement properly; although
arrangements. If the heroes persist, the cultists she’s unwilling to let him leave, she wants to
all attack, converging from the various rooms ensure the transfer of leadership to her is
of the manor in two waves of four cultists airtight. Arvid immediately calls for help when
each. The pantry contains the corpses of the he sees the heroes. Abbusis attacks, attempting
original staff, as well as a horn of fog the cultists to eliminate the distractions so she can get back
used to conceal their initial arrival. to work. Among the contracts on Abbusis’s
horns are an agreement with Red Crown (who
isn’t otherwise named) providing that Red
Crown will reverse Abbusis’s demotion if she’s
able to either secure the city of Velkendir in
Red Crown’s name or discover to which
demon lord the arboreals in the Direwood
have recently sworn their allegiance. It’s clear,
because Abbusis came here, that she was
pursing the former goal instead of the latter.
1
When the heroes make it to Arvid’s study, they
seem him there with a weak phistophilus
devil named Abbusis. Abbusis has suffered a
1
recent demotion at the decree of Red Crown
himself and seeks to acquire dominion over
CONCLUSION
The grateful Arvid bestows the title of Low
Jarls upon the heroes for saving his life and
rooting out the cult of the Red Crown from his
city. This title of minor nobility is mostly
honorary, although it comes with an annual
stipend of 100 gp, and Arvid pays this amount
to each of the heroes immediately as their
3 initial bequest. The titles and coin are
provided, if the heroes agree, during a public
ceremony in Velkendir’s central plaza. Coin-
Thane Torhild and Brenna Eyisjr also attend
this ceremony, adding their thanks as well.
CHAPTER 7: THE DIREWOOD
REGENTS
At the end of the last adventure, the heroes under the surface of the water, but this is a
learned that the arboreals of the Direwood ruse. She’s one of two evil naiad queens who
have sworn their allegiance to a demon lord; if want to lure travelers close to kill them. If the
they don’t intend to check this out on their heroes don’t fall for this ruse, both naiad
own, the scholar Gendal lets them know he’s queens attack anyway. Goods scattered around
heard that druids of the Circle of the Pruning the wagon include several bolts of fine cloth
Hook are the only ones who’ve been able to worth 90 gp in total, a moderate potion of
enter the Direwood freely. The arboreals there swimming, and a greater shrinking potion.
had always been peaceful, working to keep the
trolls of the deep forest contained, but they’ve
recently started attacking travelers. The
Direwood arboreals are plainly part of the
strange threat to the forests of the Northfells,
and stopping them may provide further clues.
All but one the arboreal monarchs of the
Direwood have been corrupted by demons in
service to Treereaver. The demons don’t
remain with the arboreals, however (with one
exception); they’ve either retreated to the deep,
inner forest called the Trollgnarl or left for a
nearby mountain to recover a magical cinder.
The heroes are likely to hear about demonic
activity in this adventure but not face any
demons other than a frustrated vrock.
PART 1: THE RIVER ROAD

The road along the meandering Steinvik River
has never been truly safe, but merchants and
travelers the heroes meet on this road tell them
that, nowadays, no one survives the trip
through the Direwood. Something has
definitely changed for the worse recently.
The heroes come across an overturned wagon
half-submerged in the Steinvik River. A
beautiful woman cries for help before going
1
1
3
1
Where the path through the Direwood starts to
bend away from the Steinvik River stands a
statue of a man nearly 20 feet tall. The statue
holds a large bowl of water in one hand and a
bowl filled with burning coals in the other. A
naiad queen named Aytessia reclining in the
bowl of water has awakened the statue with
her primal magic, making it a giant animated
statue. Aytessia directs the statue in a fight to 1
defeat anyone who would penetrate deeper
into the Direwood, but she retreats to the river
if badly wounded. The statue wears a large
crown worth 360 gp. ENCOUNTER 1C (MODERATE 7)
Where the road becomes more of a muddy
track, the heroes are attacked from beneath by
two ankravs and an ankrav hive mother who
tunnel up from an underground network
they’ve dug. One of the ankravs has an
ornamental short sword wedged in its spine;
it’s not useful as a weapon but is worth 200 gp.
1
2 admits to being a werebear who prefers to
hunt in isolated forests. Ulf heard that people
were staying away from the Direwood and
thought to capitalize on the fur-bearing
2 animals there, but it’s proved too dangerous
even for him. He tells the heroes that the
arboreals of the Direwood follow four regents:
the Spruce King, Lord Rowan, the Aspen
Queen, and the Birch Monarch. Three of
these—all but the aging Spruce King—have
been corrupted by demonic forces. The Birch
Monarch has gone one step further and
commissioned trolls to defend their domain.
ENCOUNTER 1D
After the ankravs are slain, a trapper named
Ulf Sevenskins pushes his way through the
dirt out of the ankrav lair where he’d been left
to die by the ankravs. Ulf thanks the heroes for
coming along at just the right time. He openly
1
1
Ulf gives direction to each of these
domains. The heroes can approach the
1
following four parts of the adventure in
whatever order they choose.
1
PART 2: THE SPRUCE KING’S HILL
The only arboreal regent who hasn’t
capitulated to demonic forces is the Spruce
King, an ancient spruce tree who inhabits a
high hill. Reaching the paranoid regent isn’t
easy, although he has good advice to offer.
Three awakened trees block the passage to the
Spruce King’s hill. As their leader isn’t
1 entertaining any visitors, these pugnacious
trees indiscriminately attack anyone
approaching, no matter how peaceful their
motives seem to be. If two trees are defeated,
the last one flees to warn the Spruce King but
falls victim to the vrock clearcutting around
the Spruce King’s hill and fails to reach the
regent.
1 give) if the heroes kill the Spruce King atop the
hill. The fact that the vrock isn’t being genuine
1 should be obvious, and the demon probably
ends up attacking the heroes out of frustration.
A vrock sent to corrupt the Spruce King has
wholly failed to win his allegiance and is
taking out their rage by destroying the trees
that encircle the Spruce King’s hill. The vrock’s
deadly spores weaken the trees and prevent
the Spruce King from awakening them, so the
Spruce King has little ability to fight back
without putting himself in jeopardy. Once the
vrock's evil work is done, the demon plans to
kill the Spruce King personally. The vrock
parlays with heroes who are willing to talk,
offering them riches (which they don’t have)
and information (which they don’t intend to
R
3
Northfells. Although he doesn't know much
more than this now, the Spruce King intends to
find out what he can about Treereaver's goals.
The Spruce King promises the heroes a
cache of treasure, including a greater animal
staff and a lesser sturdy shield crafted from his
own bark, if they kill the other three regents.
He knows they can't be saved, but he vows to
tend the shoots that grow from their fallen
bodies to ensure the next generation of regents
is free of Treereaver's corruption.
1
1
1
ENCOUNTER 2C
The arboral regent known as the Spruce King 2
atop the hill is grateful that the heroes killed
the vrock he recently rejected, and even more
grateful when he learns of the damage the
vrock was doing.
The Spruce King sadly expresses that his
fellow regents have all been corrupted by a
demon lord named Treereaver. Treereaver
isn’t in this forest, but his malign presence is
nevertheless felt here (primarily in the form of
servitor demons working Treereaver's will).
Treereaver's efforts here are part of a larger 1
plan to extend his influence across the
R
R
Lord Rowan, an arboreal regent, is always
accompanied by two arboreal wardens. They
are working to befoul the Steinvik River with
casks of toxins provided by a demon envoy
who is no longer present. Lord Rowan knows
PART 3: LORD ROWAN’S PROMONTORY that the toxins will poison river life and the
people who live downstream, but he’s
Lord Rowan controls the region of the convinced that doing so will allow the
Direwood along the Steinvik River. Direwood to grow healthier. Unwilling to be
confronted on this delusion, Lord Rowan
ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 7) attacks anyone who tries to stop him or change
Two awakened trees and an arboreal warden his mind. The casks are mostly empty but
stand at the spit of land leading to Lord contain a dose of nettleweed residue and a
Rowan’s promontory. They are diligent guards dose of malyass root paste.
and fight anyone who would approach Lord
Rowan without his express invitation. The
arboreal warden has a silver and jasper
necklace worth 180 gp in its branches.
PART 4: THE ASPEN QUEEN’S GROVE

The Aspen Queen controls the largest swath of
land in the south Direwood, where large
stands of aspen trees grow. The aspen are all
connected and mystically share information,
both with each other and with the Aspen
Queen in her sheltered grove.
When it’s clear the heroes have ventured into
this part of the forest, the Aspen Queen sends
five arboreal wardens to eliminate them. These
arboreal wardens resemble the aspen trees so undoing, as a troll king recently killed the
prevalent in the region and therefore use their Birch Monarch and seized the arboreal’s
Stealth skills to try to get the drop on the wooden throne as his own.
heroes.
The area around the Birch Monarch’s realm is
patrolled by an unfortunate troll who does her
best to keep two shamblers moving. The
ENCOUNTER 4B (SEVERE 7) shamblers merely want to stop and wait for
All aspen trees grow by germinating clones prey to come along, but the troll was
from shoots and suckers along their roots, and ordered—under threat of being eaten—to goad
the Aspen Queen is no different. She’s been the shamblers into patrolling the region. The
cultivating a successor in this grove for many heroes likely hear the troll barking orders at
years. Treereaver’s demons delivered primal the plants from a distance. All three of these
secrets from Treereaver himself to expedite foes fight any creatures they encounter. If the
this growth, which the Aspen Queen eagerly heroes defeat the shamblers first, the troll
accepted. But unbeknownst to her, these seizes her opportunity and flees the Direwood
primal secrets are corrupted and have infected entirely.
both the Aspen Queen and her clone. Now,
two arboreal regents—each a duplicate of the
Aspen Queen—occupy this grove, but they are
both visibly sickly and attack intruders in a
rage. The arboreal regents are connected by
pestilent strands of moss that prevent them
from traveling more than 20 feet from each
other. Cutting these strands doesn't hurt the
regents, and allows them a bit more mobility.
The Aspen Queen’s grove has a wand of heroism
hanging from an ordinary aspen tree, affixed R
by a murderer’s knot.
1
1
PART 5: THE BIRCH MONARCH’S DELL
The demons considered the Birch Monarch the
most important arboreal regent to corrupt, as
the Birch Monarch controlled the land around
the Trollgnarl, the central region of the
Direwood. It is here the demons intend to
create a mystical gate to allow Treereaver to
step directly into the Direwood. But the Birch
Monarch was already long ago corrupted by
proximity to the Trollgnarl, making deals with
troll witches and allowing voracious trolls free
passage. This has proven the arboreal’s
Near the dell where the Birch Monarch keeps
their court, four trolls are eagerly ripping
several dead arboreals apart. The tree-people
taste awful, however, so the trolls are eager for
fresh meat and attack the heroes as soon as
they spot them. The hungry trolls fight until
slain. One of the trolls has most of a gnome it’s
been snacking on; the gnome’s +1 resilient
breastplate is still functional.
A troll king lounges on an elaborate wooden
throne at the center of the dell, its warty feet
1 propped up on the dead body of the Birch
Monarch. The troll king makes a big show of
2 holding a court, and might even give polite
heroes some clues about how the Birch
Monarch got a little too comfortable with the
nearby troll clans and paid for this carelessness
with their life. Ultimately, though, the troll
king’s appetite wins out and the hungry troll
attacks the heroes. The throne has two tree
feather tokens hanging from it.
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1
1
3
CONCLUSION
When the three evil arboreal regents are dead,
the Spruce King provides the heroes with his
promised reward. He’s also been able to
question some of the nearby trees. The demons
who came to the Direwood are planning to
burn part of it with unholy fire and open a
magical gate for Treereaver to come through.
The Spruce King knows that many demons
went to capture the unholy fire from the
nearby mountain called Forgepeak, an extinct
volcano that rises from the plains west of the
Direwood. He suggests the heroes go there to
claim the magical fire—called the magma
spark—and keep it out of the demons’ claws.
There’s a chance the heroes want to explore
the Trollgnarl first, as it’s right here in the
Direwood. You can allow them to do so, but
they should be able to retreat if the dangers
prove too much for them—they’ll get to
investigate the Trollgnarl in Chapter 9.
CHAPTER 8: FORGEPEAK
FIRES
The extinct volcano of Forgepeak was once the Treereaver wants his demons to steal the
home of a clan of dwarves who were dragon's magma spark and use it to burn a gate
slaughtered generations ago by a red dragon into the Direwood, but the crafty dragon
named Zarvendishar, who now wants to already defeated the demon thieves.
awaken Forgepeak to new life and blanket the
land in ash and fire. To do this, she’s slowly PART 1: OUTER CHAMBERS
cultivated a link to the place where the Plane
of Fire and Plane of Earth meet to recover a Forgepeak is a labyrinth of chambers around
magical cinder suffused with primal power the volcano’s flanks. The outermost chambers
called the magma spark. These efforts have also are easy to spot from a distance at night, as
heated the interior of Forgepeak to a they glow with firelight. Finding the entrances
temperature that's comfortable for the dragon during the day requires a successful DC 24
and her minions, but is surprisingly hot for Perception or Survival check. These chambers
anyone expecting an extinct volcano. all connect to each other, but the inhabitants
are so territorial that the connecting passages
haven’t been used in years (or longer). The
heroes can approach any of the locations in the
first three encounters, but only the fire giant
caves lead to the dwarven hearths in Part 2.
The temperature throughout these chambers is
severe heat (1d6 fire damage every hour).
Heroes approaching the mountain draw the
attention of a chimera with a red dragon head
and three flame drakes that follow in its hunts,
fighting for scraps. Their cave contains the
remains of past victims and a jade bauble.
1
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1
1 One of the caverns that seems the least used is
1 actually one of the most dangerous: a patient
1 roper lurks among the stalagmites and attacks
2 anyone who ventures near. This volcano-
adapted roper has resistance to fire 10 and a
weakness to cold 10. The roper’s treasure
includes fifteen gems worth 15 gp each, a
greater comprehension elixir, and a javelin of
2 lightning.
1
1
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1
2
The largest cave is the home of a fire giant
named Graxim who, along with his brother
Arxim, was exiled from a distant fire giant clan
for unsuccessfully attempting to overthrow the
clan’s king. Graxim keeps an eye on the
mountainside for likely targets. He starts
combat by hurling rocks and then charges with
his greatsword. If reduced to fewer than 30 Hit
Points, he flees the mountain for good.
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2
The innermost of the three chambers claimed
by the fire giant brothers is a combination of
sleeping chamber and workshop; any hero
Investigating this chamber discovers old
1 dwarven ruins indicating this was once the
entrance to a dwarven outpost. The fire giant
ENCOUNTER 1D Arxim works here, unwilling to go outside
The fire giants have a cave set aside as a because of severe agoraphobia. Arxim
storeroom. It contains several banners from nevertheless is a brutal bully who attempts to
their ill-fated overthrow attempt as well as a kill anyone entering his chamber. The
coffer with funds they had intended to use to worktable contains a necklace of fireballs type II.
bribe supporters before they were driven The back of this room holds the old iron door
away. The coffer contains four emeralds worth to the dwarven hearth deeper in the mountain,
100 gp each and a silver earring worth 25 gp. which the fire giants haven’t used.
PART 2: THE DWARVEN HEARTHS
The dwarves who once occupied these
chambers are all dead, killed by Zarvendishar
long ago. The primal energies they used to
keep their forges at a consistent temperature
have run amok, creating several elemental
creatures. The temperature throughout this
area is extreme heat (1d6 fire damage every 10
minutes).
The large forge chamber is now a playground
for fire elementals. A firewyrm and two living
wildfires cavort in this area and are quick to
attack any intruders passing through the
domain they consider to be theirs. 1
2
ENCOUNTER 2B (SEVERE 8) ENCOUNTER 2C (MODERATE 8)
The largest forge is lit, but only because it now The stone-lined passage to the center of the
houses an elemental inferno that attacks the mountain seems open, but it is trapped with a
heroes. Upon defeating the elemental inferno, lava flume tube trap. When the heroes
the heroes can find a red dragonslayer’s shield approach this trap, the passageway in front of
(which the dwarves created but never got the them grinds shut. At the same time, the lava
chance to use) and the sole passage from the flume tube opens and becomes the only way
dwarven forges to chambers deeper into the further into the mountain (whether or not the
volcano. heroes were able to disable the lava flume
trap).
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2
PART 3: REALM OF THE STONE GIANTS
Zarvendishar thinks she has nothing to fear
from intruders blocked by the lava flume trap,
as she believes the only opening to the heart of
the mountain is closed. However, she's wrong.
The heroes who descend through the lava
flume trap reach the cooled stone near the base
of the extinct volcano, where a tribe of stone
giants labors to sculpt the rock and train their
loyal beasts. These stone giants are initially
hostile to intruders, but by strength of arms the
heroes can win the respect of the tribe.
At the borders of the subterranean lands
claimed by the stone giants, the heroes
encounter two bulettes on patrol. These
creatures are aggressive and fight to the death.
Both bear a knot of crystals protruding from
their flesh, like a brand made of quartz. Each ENCOUNTER 3B (MODERATE 8)
of these strange stones can be removed from A stone giant and a triceratops march down
the bulettes’ skin and is worth 100 gp. the passage that the heroes traverse and
command the heroes to turn around. As the
heroes can't do so without leaving the
mountain, they’re unlikely to comply. Once the
pugnacious stone giant realizes the heroes
aren't leaving, he attacks, directing his
triceratops to fight at his side. The triceratops
has a quartz “brand” worth 100 gp, just like the
bulettes.
1
1
2
R stone giant thane, Morovosh, insists that the
giants will overwhelm and drive off the heroes
1 with their numbers unless the heroes can
defeat the tribe’s champion: an elite stone
1 giant named Foshtran and his trained cave
bear. If the heroes win, they have proven their
1 honor, and the stone giants become welcoming
to them.
2
1
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1
1 1
In the larger chamber belonging to the stone
giants, the heroes see over a dozen stone giants
1
hunkering down in their small huts along with
1
a variety of subterranean animals they keep
(including giant lizards and cave bears). The
2
Morovosh, free to demonstrate his

inquisitive nature, asks the heroes what brings
them into the mountain. He knows that the red
1
dragon Zarvendishar commands a powerful
relic called the magma spark and that demons
recently came to steal it. Whether the demons
1
fought with Zarvendishar or allied with her,
the giants don’t know; they avoid the arrogant
and violent dragon. Morovosh knows where
Zarvendishar lairs and shows the heroes the
way through secret tunnels.
PART 4: ZARVENDISHAR’S LAIR

Forgepeak’s heart is exceptionally hot and will
be even hotter once Zarvendishar awakens the
volcano. This area rages with incredible heat
(4d6 fire damage every minute). 2
A magical laboratory created by Zarvendishar
long ago is where she keeps the magma spark
when she isn’t using it in the volcano’s core.
Here, an efreeti smith and his two jann 1
apprentices work on the magma spark when
Zarvendishar allows them, imbuing it with
increased elemental energy. The jann
surrender if the efreeti is killed, but they’re in a
rough spot: the efreeti extended his fire
immunity to them for as long as he lived, so
the jann aren’t likely to survive long once the
efreeti is slain. If the heroes arrange for the
jann’s survival, they explain that several
demons recently crept into these chambers
looking for the magma spark, but Zarvendishar
discovered and killed them. A wand of
smoldering fireballs (3rd level) is also here; the
efreeti has been tinkering with it.
ENCOUNTER 4B (SEVERE 8)
1 In the heart of the volcano lies a vast chamber
where the elite young red dragon
1 Zarvendishar works to stoke the lava to greater
fury with the magma spark and her own breath.
1 She spends her time on a vast ledge
overlooking the seething, fiery core of the
volcano. She is weeks from completion but
nevertheless labors with an intense focus. She
doesn’t suffer intrusion lightly and fights to
drive the heroes away so she can finish her
work. She gloats about what she’s doing and
2 how she recently slaughtered “the other
thieves” who came to take away her magma
spark to the Trollgnarl, and she arrogantly
insists she’ll kill the heroes as well. The magma
spark is here; it’s a shard of solidified fire 2 feet
long that functions like a greater staff of fire.
and a dead succubus, all that's left of
Treereaver’s forces who attempted to steal the
magma spark from the dragon. The succubus
has a scorched shoulder bag containing a
leather map of the Direwood with the
Trollgnarl at its center. An arrow drawn from
the symbol for Forgepeak to the Trollgnarl
shows where the demons planned to take the
magma spark once they retrieved it.
CONCLUSION
The heroes should realize the importance of
keeping the magma spark away from the
demons seeking to claim it. Since they don’t
know the extent of the demonic incursion, the
heroes might consider themselves the best
keeper of the magma spark, which is fine. They
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might also choose to destroy it, removing its
threat entirely.
1
ENCOUNTER 4C
A side chamber contains Zarvendishar’s
hoard: 3,612 sp, an obsidian statuette of a
dwarven woman worth 30 gp, a belt of the five
kings, a young red dragon’s breath potion, a
greater darkvision elixir, and a scroll of crushing
despair in a brass tube worth 20 gp. There are
also the charred remains of two dead vrocks
CHAPTER 9: DEATH IN THE
TROLLGNARL
The deepest, most central area of the Direwood 1

is a dangerous region called the Trollgnarl. The
name isn’t an accident—many powerful trolls 1
make their home here. This is also where
several of Treereaver’s demons intend to create
a magical gate, so recent demonic arrivals 1
occupy the region along with the allied trolls.
PART 1: THE MIASMIC MIRE Yxivar doesn’t waste time, immediately
The central area of the Trollgnarl is dispatching two of her pestilential minions to
surrounded by a swampy mire crawling with dispatch the heroes. These are two
fat flies and pestilential vapors. The master of leukodaemons who attempt to ambush the
the mire is a cunning black dragon named heroes. Each of them bears a black onyx gem
Yxivar. An ally of the trolls, Yxivar works to worth 500 gp, but these gems are cursed while
prevent intruders from crossing her mire; she within the mire, granting any hero who carries
sees it as her personal domain and is offended
when anyone other than her troll allies dares to
intrude.
The heroes’ first encounter is with two
deinosuchuses who are looking for an easy
meal. They attempt to swallow the heroes as
soon as possible and fight until slain. Yxivar
has a magical connection with all denizens of
her swamp, so as soon as a deinosuchus is
killed, Yxivar knows intruders are present.
1
one a -2 penalty on saving throws against
diseases (this curse is only apparent after the
hero attempts this saving throw for the first
time). The gems lose this effect 24 hours after
being removed from Yxivar’s mire.
ENCOUNTER 1C (LOW 9)
Yxivar needs to take direct action against the
heroes, so she magically causes a pool of tarry
sludge to animate and communicate with the
heroes, as a unique variation of the sending
spell. Yxivar’s sludge-form demands the
heroes turn back and leave the mire; Yxivar
threatens to awaken the very sludge of the
mire against them. As though to prove her
point, the tarry form swells and pops,
revealing an elite ofalth that attacks the
1 heroes.
2
Redbark offers to take the heroes to Yxivar’s
polluted lair, a dense tangle of swamp-trees
and sodden filth. The air in and around the lair
is so foul that the heroes take 3d6 poison
damage every 10 minutes they remain in it (DC
26 basic Fortitude save; on a critical failure, the
hero is also sickened 1 and can’t recover from
the sickened condition for 10 minutes). In
addition to this danger, a yellow mold hazard
rings the area leading into Yxivar’s lair. Yxivar
has been training a protege, a young black
dragon named Alchaxigruv who fights
alongside an ofalth he created based on
Yxivar’s teachings. Alchaxigruv at first
pretends to be Yxivar, assuming that the
heroes won’t be able to tell the difference
between dragons and that he’ll earn great
favor by defeating them. When it’s clear the
heroes outmatch him, Alchaxigruv admits who
1
he is, surrenders, and points the heroes toward
Yxivar’s treasure room. His ofalth, on the other
1
hand, fights until destroyed.
ENCOUNTER 1D
After the heroes defeat the ofalth, a mutated
arboreal approaches them. This arboreal R
warden, named Redbark, is a follower of the
Spruce King. Redbark got lost in Yxivar’s mire
a year ago. Because he carries the twisted taint
of the mire, he can’t leave without spreading
the pestilence; the Spruce King instead made
Redbark his agent in the mire to spy on Yxivar
and report back. Redbark already heard about
the heroes from the Spruce King, and he wants
to help. He gives them a scroll of breath of life
and tells them Yxivar indeed can make travel
treacherous unless they vanquish her first, as
she can create a limitless number of ofalths
(which he calls “wicked heaps of pestilence
and decaying plants”) to bedevil them.
ENCOUNTER 1F (SEVERE 9)
At the heart of the tangle is Yxivar’s treasure
room, where she broods and plots the
destruction of anyone who dares to cross her
mire. Yxivar is an adult black dragon who has
both the standard Draconic Frenzy and
Draconic Momentum abilities as well as
draconic spellcasting (although Yxivar knows
her variant of sending rather than mariner’s
curse). She has an
ofalth to fight at her
side. Yxivar has
already cast freedom of
movement from the
wand in her hoard if
R she knows the heroes
are coming (such as if
they have fought
Alchaxigruv). She
fights to the death
against heroes who
dare intrude upon
her. Yxivar’s hoard
consists of 3,123 sp,
five garnets worth 20 gp each, a silver anklet
worth 90 gp, a wand of freedom of movement, a
candle of truth, a storm arrow, and an explorer’s
yurt.
1
1
1
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around many dense copses of trees. The
1 ground is drier, but the pestilential stench is no
less severe.
1 Kankermaw likes training the other,
weaker trolls to fight, while Gammyscratch
1 likes to breed attack dinosaurs. They’ve
recently been talking with vrocks sent by
1 Treereaver, who want the troll brothers to help
prepare blood sacrifices to open a portal so
Treereaver can enter the Direwood. The trolls
have plenty of blood; they make their troll
minions give buckets of blood each day to the
vrocks. Kankermaw is found near the troll
barracks or training yard; Gammyscratch is
often found by the dinosaur pen or the
“hunting pit,” where the trolls keep forest
animals like deer and wolves.
2
The heroes won’t know any of this
information to start with, but they might get
this information by interrogating any trolls
they defeat, stealthily scouting the troll
1 encampment, or listening to overhear troll
conversations. Trolls reduced to 0 Hit Points
by the heroes sullenly surrender once their
regeneration brings them back around again,
only recovering their courage (and renewing
their attacks!) if the heroes let them regenerate
to their full Hit Points. A successful DC 26
Deception or Intimidation check against a
defeated troll gets the heroes a piece of the
above useful information; a critical success
2 gives two pieces of information, while a critical
failure earns only a believable-sounding lie
from the troll (which you should invent).
Although all these encounters are fairly close
to one another, trolls don’t generally
investigate nearby sounds of combat because
they all so frequently fight with each other,
allowing the heroes to tackle them at their own
pace.
PART 2: AGAINST THE TROLLS At some point during their exploration of the
troll encampment, the heroes are likely to
Once past the mire, the heroes enter the area of
encounter a band consisting of a vrock and
the Trollgnarl claimed by two mighty troll
four trolls. They might face this group upon
brothers, Kankermaw and Gammyscratch.
failed attempts to sneak around, after ill-
They occupy a large encampment that spreads
advised attempts to speak with the trolls
diplomatically, or just from poor luck. You can
be flexible with how you use this group.
1
ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 9) 1
The troll encampment has a central copse of 1
trees from which to easily spy upon (and sneak
around) the rest of the encampment. Although
identifying this copse is easy, the elite
dezullon it harbors has taken root to resemble
an ordinary pitcher plant. It’s eager to attack ENCOUNTER 2C (MODERATE 9)
anyone that comes close. The trolls know to Near the central copse, at the middle of the
stay clear of the dezullon, which is why they camp, is a building the trolls call their
haven’t yet done anything about these “planning house.” This pile of stones is, upon
overgrown trees right in the middle of their closer inspection, the collapsed foundation of
encampment, but a sly troll the heroes are some ancient stone tower. The trolls have
interrogating might try to convince them the placed a few large tree branches over the top of
trees make a good hiding spot, hoping the it to keep bad weather out, and here is where
dezullon eats them. A greater staff of abjuration Kankermaw and Gammyscratch make plans
is here, left behind by one of the dezullon’s and tell the other trolls what to do. Two vrocks
former victims. currently work around a recently-dug pit
containing hundreds of gallons of troll blood.
The vrocks keep stirring the blood with a long
dinosaur bone to prevent it from coagulating.
When the heroes Search or Investigate this
ruin, likely after defeating the vrocks, they see
several crude maps of the Northfells drawn on
the walls, with several arrows connecting a
region at the center of the Skaldwood to here
in the Trollgnarl. Heroes who can read Abyssal
learn more: scratched notes detail a
complicated magical process to bind this
portion of the Trollgnarl to the Skaldwood
with a prodigious number of sacrifices (which
the vrocks are lazily trying to circumvent by
using a whole lot of troll blood), so that a
demon lord named Treereaver, who is
currently corrupting the Skaldwood, can blight
the Direwood as well. It should be clear to the
heroes that Treereaver is looking to expand his
corruption of the Northfells.
1
The large and crude hut of logs that the trolls
use as a barracks is smelly and filthy.
Kankermaw’s best-trained minions, five elite
trolls, are currently resting here. Very stealthy
heroes might catch them by surprise, but
they’re quick to fight against intruders. The
barracks contains rhino hide with an iron
medallion affixed to it; both are crusted with
hardened troll saliva.
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1
The training ground near the barracks is where
Kankermaw, a troll king, is training two trolls. 1
These trolls have proven particularly 3
troublesome for Kankermaw, which is why
he’s giving them some extra training mixed
with savage beatings. If Kankermaw is
defeated, these other two trolls immediately
flee or surrender. Kankermaw carries a
tattered canvas satchel with bits of rotten meat
and a mummified bat.
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1
1
ENCOUNTER 2F
The “hungry pit” is a hole in the ground where
1
the trolls keep animals they catch but don’t
immediately eat, which is few. They later
3
snack on these animals, or feed them to their
dinosaurs. A fungus leshy is currently alive
here, trapped under the corpse of a partially
eaten owlbear. If it notices the heroes poking
around in the pit, it calls for help—but not so
loud that the trolls can hear. If freed, it wants
to return to its lovely, slimy mire (where it
spent its days trying to avoid Yxivar’s notice),
but it first informs the heroes that the vrocks
are performing an important ritual using troll
blood in the “planning house” near the center
of camp. It also carries a potion of quickness,
which it gives to the heroes in thanks. R
The dinosaur pens contain a few ill-tempered
dinosaurs that Gammyscratch has been
training. Two triceratopses and a stegosaurus
have been trained to trample any creatures
smaller than a troll, and when they spot the
heroes, they immediately attack. They easily 1
knock down the wooden fences
Gammyscratch built to keep them in, because 1
Gammyscratch is much better at training
dinosaurs to be aggressive than he is at 3
building fences. ENCOUNTER 2H (SEVERE 9)
Shortly after the heroes cause trouble at the
dinosaur pen, the troll king Gammyscratch
returns from a hunt with his loyal
tyrannosaurus at his side. They both attack the
heroes to make them pay for what they’ve
done to his prized dinosaurs. Both foes fight to
the death. Gammyscratch has a bit of loyalty to
his tyrannosaurus; he immediately breaks off
from whoever he’s currently attacking to single
R out whichever hero kills his dinosaur.
1
3
1
CONCLUSION
1
When the heroes have defeated the trolls and
1 vrocks in the Trollgnarl, they’ve stymied
Treereaver’s plans to expand his influence.
Even more importantly, the heroes know
where the source of the demons and
corruptions in the Northfells can be found:
deep in the Skaldwood.
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CHAPTER 10: THE DEMON
LORD'S BARRIER
In the previous adventure, the heroes learned ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 10)

that the demon lord Treereaver is lairing in the The easiest way to reach the Bravado Bastion is
Skaldwood, and they have prevented him to head through the hills due north of
from spreading his influence into the Fallinghollow (in fact, some of the Green Reach
Trollgnarl. In taking the fight to the demon Bards occasionally come to Fallinghollow for
lord, the heroes rescue several allies from supplies). When the heroes approach the
among the Green Reach Bards and learn that bastion, they learn that the flora along the path
the entire Skaldwood has been magically has grown wild and dangerous; a dezullon
sealed off. and a giant flytrap attack them. A dead
The Green Reach Bards, headquartered in trapper with a broken hatchet and an oil of keen
the Bravado Bastion, posed a problem for edges is among these plants’ most recent
Treereaver. The bard-rangers regularly patrol victims.
the southern Skaldwood and were surprisingly
mobile, able to make guerilla attacks against
invaders like Treereaver and his demons. He
made defeating the Green Reach Bards an
immediate priority, assigning a powerful
glabrezu demon named Norgox. Norgox
besieged the Bravado Bastion and took it over,
but was trapped outside the Skaldwood when
Treereaver magically sealed it. This doesn't
bother Norgox much; he instead remains in the
bastion to ambush and kill anyone who comes
seeking the Green Reach Bards’ help.
PART 1: SEEKING THE BARD-RANGERS

The heroes know (or are told by a friendly
NPC, like Gendal Ink-Hand) that the best
guides they can get into the wild tangle of the
Skaldwood are the Green Reach Bards, a loose
band of misfits and thrill seekers who patrol
the wood and thwart troublemakers. Many of 1
the Green Reach Bards are disgraced
entertainers or former criminals who’ve 1
escaped debts or justice by fleeing north, but
they are all determined foes of evil.
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1
1 1
2
1

It’s possible that the heroes simply bypass the
Bravado Bastion to try to penetrate deeper into
the Skaldwood.
The trees become twisted into unnatural
shapes the further north the heroes go. A
noxious green mist becomes denser, and
strange cries echo ominously. Two looming
pine trees split their bark wide as the heroes 1
approach, revealing mouths with bloody 1
fangs; use the statistics for two giant flytraps
for these monstrous trees. 1

Within a few miles north of the Bravado
Bastion, the noxious mist becomes
supernaturally dense. The mist clearly extends
through the woods to the east and west; in fact,
it doesn’t take the heroes much exploration to
guess that it encircles the entire perimeter of
the Skaldwood, extending hundreds of miles.
It’s impossible to push through this mist, and
even magical travel (such as teleport) is foiled,
returning anyone who would penetrate the
misty barrier to just outside it. The mist forms
strange shapes of a fungus-encrusted axe,
Treereaver’s symbol (which the heroes may
have seen before). Only creatures in service to
Treereaver can walk through this magical
barrier, for now.
When the heroes have experimented with
this mist a bit, a dangerous guardian rushes
out of it to attack: a weak uthul imbued with
poisonous energies. This evil creature doesn’t
pursues foes that flee, shouting after them in
Abyssal to never return.
2
If the heroes haven’t already been to the

Bravado Bastion, they should wonder whether
the brave people there have any further
information.
PART 2: THE RUINED BASTION 1
The Bravado Bastion is plainly in bad shape, 1

with many of its walls recently knocked over.
Norgox found taking over the bastion to
require more effort—and involve more
destruction—than he wished. 2
At the outer walls, the heroes encounter a
chaotic evil arboreal regent commanding a
stone golem and two enslaved stone giants in
reconstruction efforts. They’re doing some
heavy lifting to try to repair the bastion so it
doesn’t alert newcomers to the fact that the
Green Reach Bards have fallen. It’s possible the
heroes don’t yet realize the bards are in trouble
and approach the arboreal regent as an ally;
1
she plays along with the ruse just long enough
to get the heroes close and attack them. The
stone golem fights at the arboreal regent’s
command. The two stone giants, however,
don’t fight; they only want to flee back into the
hills to the south. If questioned, they know that
a glabrezu named Norgox recently enslaved
their tribe to help take over the bastion.
Norgox had many wicked allies and
imprisoned the few Green Reach Bards that
survived, but the giants don’t have any details
about creatures in the bastion or the layout
within it.
1 1
1
R
1
The outer bailey contains a large nest where a
cauthooj roosts; the bird is more of a hanger-
on than a true ally of Norgox, but the glabrezu
finds the beast’s singing delightful and has
ordered his other troops to leave it alone. One
of the sticks in its nest is an unstrung oathbow.
R
1 A food storage room off of the outer bailey is
currently the domain of a nilith who’s present
1 with its gug companion (which is also, when
traveling, its mount). The two emerged from
caverns deep under the forest long ago and
threw their lot in with Treereaver. When
Norgox left on his mission to topple the
Bravado Bastion, they tagged along, hoping for
good opportunities for food and loot. They’ve
filled a satchel with 490 sp, a moderate elixir of
life, and a tattered scroll of vibrant pattern here,
2 but they've eaten through almost all the pickles
and salted pork once stored in this room.
1
R
R
1
A fallen tower at one end of the outer bailey
has been claimed by an irate and antisocial
gimmerling who has bypassed the hammer of
forbiddance trap that once protected the
tower. Now, the malevolent fey lairs on the
other side of the trap, making occasional
hooting calls or cries of alarm to attempt to
lure someone into the trap's area. The
gimmerling attacks with gleeful cackles as
soon as anyone triggers the trap. The rubble in
the tower contains a runestone bearing an
anarchic weapon rune.
R
Viundun’s suite contains silks worth 850 gp, a
greater mistform elixir, and a whip feather token.
1
One of Norgox’s allies is a raja rakshasa
named Viundun, and the guest suite in the
Bravado Bastion has been given over to him.
Viundun plays the part of a human scientist to
conceal his fiendish abilities. He’s recently
managed to reanimate the corpses of stone
giants that Norgox worked to death as two
flesh golems. Due to their giant origins, these
golems have AC 27 and the Catch Rocks
reaction. Viundun claims to be a helpless
prisoner of the glabrezu forced to create
1
monstrous abominations; if the heroes don’t
see through this ruse, Viundun hopes to
escape without having to fight them at all.
1
R
R
1 ENCOUNTER 2G (SEVERE 10)
ENCOUNTER 2F (MODERATE 10) The glabrezu Norgox can be found in the great
The inner bailey has a great deal of churned hall of the main keep. He spends most of his
earth and a tall gibbet where the corpse of a time directing an enslaved stone giant to fix a
peacock hangs. The Green Reach Bards kept fallen tower on one side of the keep. The stone
this peacock as a sort of mascot, but Norgox giant doesn’t fight, but if Norgox is defeated
slaughtered it as a demonstration of his desire and the stone giant is released, she says a back
to obliterate everything the bard-rangers room behind the great hall and a tower room
cherish. The dead bird has lured an unusual accessed from the side of the hall both contain
scavenger: when the heroes arrive, a shuln prisoners. Norgox wears a platinum torc worth
erupts from the ground. The shuln finds the 1,000 gp marked with Treereaver’s symbol, a
thought of more substantial meat to be more rune resembling an axe covered with diseased
compelling and fights until slain. The peacock mushrooms.
corpse still wears a gold collar bearing the
name “Porvo the Proud,” worth 400 gp.
1
ENCOUNTER 2H
The back room of the great hall was an
impromptu prison for two Green Reach Bards,
but they’ve both died from their injuries. One
1
still wears the distinctive green-and-gold cape
of the wily ranger that is the badge of the Green
Reach Bards. This is a cape of the mountebank
that allows its wearer to cast tree stride rather
than dimension door.
ENCOUNTER 2I (MODERATE 10)

The base of the tower is guarded by a vrock
and a greater nightmare. Allies of Norgox,
they’re determined to let no one pass by them.
1
1
1
1
3
ENCOUNTER 2J (MODERATE 10)
Some of the fiercest fighting in the Bravado
Bastion took place here, and the psychic
residue of those who died have infused three
ornate medals that have been on display since
the fortress was founded. This is now a
telekinetic swarm trap that attacks anyone
who isn’t a Green Reach Bard—including the 1
heroes. A fallen bard’s corpse bears a pair of
daredevil boots and a moderate bravo’s brew.
ENCOUNTER 2K
Four prisoners are locked away in a cramped,
windowless room at the top of the tower. The
key hangs just outside the door. Three of the
prisoners are Green Reach Bards (Larmidren,
Moshinto, and Shuldran), escaped criminals
from the kingdom to the south (convicted of
forgery, inciting a riot, and “crimes against
decency,” respectively) and among the
toughest of the bard-rangers.
The fourth prisoner is the night hag
Kesenna, who came here after leaving her
R coven, the Stumphome Circle (which the
heroes likely encountered in Chapter 4).
Kesenna currently resembles a middle-aged
human woman, and the three Green Reach
Bards believe she’s merely a harmless trader
caught up in the attack.
CONCLUSION legendary symbol called the breaching rune.
Acquiring this should be the heroes’ next step,
By the end of this adventure, the heroes may and Kesenna can put them on the right path.
have learned they can’t enter the Skaldwood
and should have rescued the prisoners in the
Bravado Bastion. The Green Reach Bards can
only confirm that the Skaldwood is rumored to
be magically sealed
somehow, and no one’s been
able to pass through the
strange mists just north of
Bravado Bastion. They’re
willing to check out these
rumors, but they’re wary of
recent demon sightings and
ask the heroes to accompany
them (if necessary, the
statistics for a duskwalker
ghost hunter work fine for
them). This might point the
heroes back to encounters in
Part 1.
Kesenna is more open
with information; although
she’s evil, she knows that
Treereaver poses a clear
danger to the Northfells that
she calls home. Like the
Green Reach Rangers, she’s
heard that the Skaldwood is
closed. If the heroes seem reluctant to believe
the word of a mundane trader with a
suspicious amount of knowledge, Kesenna
may drop her disguise and reveal who she
really is as a show of trust.
Kesenna reveals that the demon lord
Treereaver has made the Skaldwood his home
away from the Abyss and is gradually and
carefully collecting powerful allies within its
borders. Treereaver’s demons have been seen
across the Northfells, trying to establish
footholds for their evil master to expand his
influence (the heroes have seen this in action in
Wailing Grove and the Direwood; Kesenna can
help them connect these events, if necessary).
The magical border around the Skaldwood is
mighty, but it can be overcome with a
CHAPTER 11: THE PRISMATIC
ACADEMY
At the end of the last adventure, the night hag PART 1: THE JOURNEY TO SANDBY
Kesenna explained to the heroes that the
demon lord Treereaver has magically closed There’s really just one way to Sandby: take the
the border of the Skaldwood. Treereaver's well-traveled road to the city of Kolsvatni, then
objective is obvious to her; he plans to marshal take the mostly abandoned Lake Road north to
his forces and prepare for an invasion of all the the shores of Moon’s Tears and take a boat
Northfells. Breaking the magical seal from one of the small fishing villages.
surrounding the Skaldwood requires the
breaching rune, a powerful and complex
This adventure begins in an inn called Fandel’s
magical rune that requires a magical ritual to
Rest, just east of Kolsvatni. The plague that has
properly assemble. If the heroes aren’t willing
been afflicting Kolsvatni has gotten worse, and
to deal with an evil night hag—despite the fact
Fandel—the owner of the inn—is warning
that her current aims align with theirs—the
people to turn back or take the trails around
heroes can get much the same information
Kolsvatni instead of going through the city.
from the scholar Gendal, who has been
This conversation is interrupted by four
researching just this matter since the heroes
leukodaemons, seeking to spread more
last spoke with him.
disease (although they aren’t the cause of the
The breaching rune was constructed at the plague; see Chapter 17). Fandel rewards the
Prismatic Academy, a remote university that heroes with a bag of holding type III and
was one of the best on the continent for mentions his cousin Vidar’s old boathouse on
studying extraplanar phenomena. The Moon’s Tears, at the end of the Lake Road.
Prismatic Academy was situated on an island
in a lake called Moon’s Tears, and was
supported by the small town of Sandby. A
mysterious extraplanar incident caused the
disappearance of everyone on the island (in
the university and Sandby alike) about 20
years ago. Not coincidentally, several
dangerous creatures from the Plane of Water
now swim in the Moon’s Tears.
Knowing the breaching rune could
jeopardize his plans, Treereaver sent one of his
best agents to the Prismatic Academy.
Tanalissa is a dryad queen who doesn’t like to
be away from the Skaldwood for long, but she
understands the need to find and destroy all
information about the rune. She’s brought
several vrock minions with her.
1
1
1

The heroes likely skirt around Kolsvatni, but
2 this puts them in the path of a deadly mantis
and a goliath spider. The two titans have been
fighting, but each has gained a wary respect
for the other. When the heroes show up, they
turn on the new, smaller meals.
1
1
ENCOUNTER 1C
While on the Lake Road headed north, the
heroes meet an academic and extraplanar
researcher named Zarthu. Zarthu claims to be
seeking any lore left behind at the Prismatic
Academy. In truth, Zarthu is a veiled master.
Its interest in the academy is genuine—it seeks
some admittance records in the head
librarian’s office—but it intends to betray the
heroes whether or not they accept its company.
PART 2: DEADLY WATERS

The shores and waters of Moon’s Tears are
filled with dangers.
R
The boat house Fandel indicated is there,
although nothing but churned earth and
spatters of blood remain of poor Vidar. The
large rowboat is still intact, but a purple worm
is swimming nearby, hungry for more victims.
The boat contains a small chest with a week of
rations, a composite shortbow, and a
penetrating arrow.

The open lake contains a large patch of
1 bioluminescent algae. A successful DC 28
Nature check identifies this algae as native to
1 the Plane of Water. On a critical success, the
hero realizes it’s similar to a dangerous
psychotropic form of algae and knows how to
1 steel their mind against its effects; this hero
gains a +4 circumstance bonus to saving
1 throws against sea serpent algae for the rest of
the adventure. On a critical failure, the hero
R inadvertently inhales some of the weakening
fumes emitted by the algae and is enfeebled 1
for 1 minute. This area is where two serpents
made of elemental water lurk; these elemental
sea serpents were pulled from the Plane of
Water long ago. There are seven strange blue
crystals in the algae which can be easily larger elemental sea serpent lurks near the
recovered; they are buoyant extraplanar gems docks it damaged, ready to attack anyone who
worth 300 gp each. comes close. This greater elemental sea serpent
hasn't yet encountered a creature that can best
it in combat, so it arrogantly fights to the
death, hissing insults in Aquan all the while.
1
1
1
1
1 1

1
The Sandby docks have all been badly
damaged by sea creature attacks. A much
PART 3: THE STORM IN SANDBY the heroes about the numerous vrocks present.
The giants keep a storage chest—once a
The buildings of Sandby are long abandoned, massive shipping crate—with several nice sets
but a few territorial giants occupy the ruins. of clothing worth 125 gp in total and an eye of
These giants aren’t Tanalissa’s allies, and, in apprehension.
fact, are fed up with recent intrusions on their
island.

Two evil cloud giants, a husband and wife,
live in a large warehouse near the Sandby
docks. They know that a recently-arrived fey
creature is up to something, as are her vrock
minions they’ve seen wheeling about in the
skies. They’re therefore quite nervous about
even more intruders and fight the heroes; if
badly injured, they give up and, with a
successful DC 28 Deception, Diplomacy, or R
Intimidation check, can be convinced to alert
R
1
2

Shortly after the heroes vanquish the cloud
giants, a terrible thunderstorm shakes the
entire island and persists for several days. This
is the work of the storm giant seer Oetekinos,
who, like the cloud giants, has finally had
enough of the intruders and just finished her
control weather ritual to make the
thunderstorm. In the thunderstorm, visibility
is reduced to only a 100 feet or so, normal fires
are extinguished, and sound-based Perception
checks and ranged attack rolls have a -1
circumstance penalty. The most immediate
threat is that the magical storm brings in two
elemental tsunamis who prowl the town. The
low visibility and chaos of the thunderstorm
might be a good time for Zarthu to decide
she’s been with the heroes long enough, leave
them, and make her way to the head librarian’s
office alone.
2

The forest on the other side of the island is the
hunting ground of an elite cauthooj. The
rainstorm drives it from its forest, and it
stampedes about the town, giving its warbling
cry and attacking anyone it comes across.

The approach to the Prismatic Academy
contains a large glass factory that
manufactured precisions lenses and telescopes
for the university. It’s been taken over by the
evil storm giant Oetekinos, who crafts crystal
balls to aid her oracular powers. She intercepts
the heroes and imperiously demands they
leave Sandby or face their deaths. Heroes who
reduce her to fewer than 50 Hit Points and
convince her to surrender may gain her as an
R ally; she may fight alongside them to eliminate
the demons and fey from her island home. Her
factory includes four artistic but non-magical
glass globes worth 200 gp each, a formula for
the control weather ritual, and a clear quartz
crystal ball, which the heroes can plunder from
her if they defeat her, or which she gives to
them in thanks if she allies with them.
R
2
1
1
1
1 1
3
PART 4: AT THE ACADEMY
The Prismatic Academy is high on the hill
overlooking Sandby. Most of the academy is in
ruins, but the squat stone library building is
still intact.
The entrance to the library is guarded by four
vrocks atop the building, doing their best to
stand guard despite the pounding rain (which
gives them a -2 penalty on Perception checks,
including Perception checks for initiative).
They join each other in a dance of ruin if
possible, and they fight to the death.
1 ENCOUNTER 4B (SEVERE 11)

The central office of the head librarian contains
the information the veiled master Zarthu is
seeking, but it’s poorly indexed and Zarthu is
having trouble locating it all. Zarthu fights the
3 heroes here, intending to eliminate them as
troublesome meddlers who might interfere
with the veiled master’s plans at a later time.
This office also contains a ring of wizardry type
III and a scroll of summon entity (6th level).
1
F
undestroyed materials in the archive is a scroll
tube with a scroll of summon elemental (6th level).
The scroll tube is capped with a gem that is a
transparent elemental gem.
ENCOUNTER 4C
Some of the reading rooms still contain the
empty clothes of students and professors who
vanished suddenly during the extraplanar
incident. One of these is a cassock of devotion
that attunes itself to the deity of the first divine
spellcaster to wear it.

The central archive is where the evil dryad
queen Tanalissa and two vrocks are working,
finding and destroying every mention of the 1
breaching rune. When the heroes arrive, they
work hard to eliminate them quickly and fight 1
to the death. Tanalissa has a traveling bag
containing some diseased soil and poisoned
seeds from the Skaldwood, which she keeps to
remind her of her home. This bag also contains
a moderate potion of acid resistance. Among the
1
CONCLUSION
When the heroes defeat the foes and try to
recover the remaining information about the
1 breaching rune, they realize Tanalissa has
destroyed all intact versions of it here.
However, it can be reproduced with some
diligent work; notes indicate that recreating the
breaching rune requires special paper procured
from a merchant house in the small town of
Jortoft and ink from an albino kraken that
lurks in the Lake of Eyes. Crafting the rune
itself can only be performed by Hansdirk
Koladsfar, a former professor who retired to
3 Jortoft before the Prismatic Academy’s
extraplanar accident.
2
CHAPTER 12: THE JORTOFT
WEDDING
To get in contact with Hansdirk Koladsfar, the than mere children. He’s heard more noises
heroes must venture south to the town of there, and thinks some of the “children” have
Jortoft. Jortoft is a sleepy community that has remained behind. Two female gimmerlings
thus far avoided Treereaver’s machinations, indeed remain; stealthy heroes can overhear
but it has trouble of an entirely different them talking loudly about having recovered
nature: a whimsical and evil group of fey have enough for the “wedding dress” but lamenting
decided to prey upon the town. Unfortunately that they can’t find “fitting material for
for the heroes, the fey's focus is on the bridesmaid dresses” for themselves. They
sprawling, stately Koladsfar Manor northeast attack viciously if disturbed.
of town and deep in the forest—and where the
elderly Hansdirk is known to reside. A band of
gimmerlings has chosen the site for their
leader to marry a unique fey creature called
the Illuminant Groom. Fey and other evil
creatures have come from all over to witness
the wedding of the strange Illuminant Groom
and his wicked Gimmerbride.
PART 1: WEDDING PLANNERS

When the heroes arrive in Jortoft, they hear of
a series of strange thefts. The town’s chief
constable, a dour half-elf named Grenta
Harrung, is grateful for any help investigating
and offers a letter of introduction to the
reclusive professor, who lives just outside of
Jortoft. The thieves appear to have stolen a
large amount of cloth from a warehouse at one R
end of town and a shipment of glassware from
the other end of town. Constable Harrung asks
the heroes to investigate these (in either order)
while she questions witnesses.

The warehouse manager hasn’t left his office
since yesterday; he witnessed several children
stealing crates of expensive cloth and went to
shoo them away, only to be attacked and
almost killed when they turned out to be more
1

Everyone at the glassworks has been killed
and several large crates of fine glass goblets
have been taken (according to a precise
inventory the heroes can easily find). The
gimmerling thieves left behind a dangerous
surprise for anyone investigating their theft: a
darkside mirror in the middle of the R
glassworks.
ENCOUNTER 1C
After the heroes meet back up with Constable
Harrung, she says that several malicious
creatures masquerading as children stole a few
items in preparation for a wedding to
Koladsfar Manor. She encourages the heroes to
be careful there and loans them a pink rhomboid
aeon stone; if they can get to the bottom of the
troubles there, she invites them to keep it.
PART 2: THE LOWER MANOR

The road to Koladsfar Manor is empty,
although heroes who succeed on a DC 30
Perception check or Survival check to Track
can see several recent tracks, all leading
toward the manor. Most of these tracks are
small, as of children. On a critical success, the
hero can also spot other strange tracks, such as
the booted feet of armored warriors and the
strange dragging marks of some large, stony
creature. The following encounters are on the
main floor of the manor, although the bearing a winged sun, to hide among the
characters aren’t limited to these encounters; room’s stone decor and attack intruders. Its
they can ascend the sweeping stairs to the label reads, “Grikkitog. Wedding Guest.” Gold
upper level (Part 3) from the manor’s front ornaments throughout this room are worth a
entry or simply climb to an upper window total of 2,000 gp.
(Athletics DC 25).

The front entry of the manor is unlocked, but a
gimmerling butler disguised as a tuxedo-clad
halfling waits in the entry hall to receive
visitors. The entry has a checkerboard tile
pattern and the gimmerling boasts about the
difficulty in crossing it; indeed, five of the tiles
are polymorph traps the gimmerling attempts 3
to goad the heroes into triggering before he
fights them as “unwelcome wedding
crashers.”

This sitting room is decorated with
ornamentation from a southern kingdom akin
to ancient Egypt. It contains a large statue of a
sphinx and several stones recovered from
ancient tombs and painstakingly restored here.
Small labels identify each such structure, as
would befit a museum. One large stone isn’t an
ancient artifact at all but rather a grikkitog
that's come for the wedding. It implants its
core in this room, resembling an archway
particularly significant now, but her
ransacking of the library exposed her to an
important component of the breaching rune, and
1 she has a role to play in Chapter 15.
The library desk contains a drawer with
several sheets of particularly fine paper which
will be useful to scribe the
breaching rune that must be
transferred to the heroes,
although a successful DC 32
Arcana or Occultism check is
required to identify the paper
as useful for this purpose (if
the heroes don’t realize it,
Professor Koladsfar does
when they finally rescue him
at the end of Chapter 13). The
library shelves hold four
exquisite ivory busts of
ancient scholars, worth 950
gp each, and a scroll of project
image.

One end of the manor is the professor’s large
and exceptionally well-stocked library, with a
large writing desk. A long-dead academic rival
who recently arose as a lich has broken into
the library through a window to steal from the
professor; this lich is Mokillan Vetch. Vetch is
hardly even aware of the fey who have
occupied the rest of the house; she is single-
mindedly focused on finding Professor
Koladsfar’s possibility tome, which she’s certain
is here in the library someplace. The lich is
accompanied by her best pupil, now a ghost
mage bound to her, and three graveknight
bodyguards. Assuming that anyone they see
wants to stop their theft, these undead fight
until destroyed (the lich hardly cares, as her
soul cage is miles away). The heroes’
encounter with Vetch may not seem
R
F
1
1

The small greenhouse connected to the manor
(which provides another entrance if the heroes
don’t want to use the front entry) is occupied
by a glabrezu and an elite vrock. These
demons were sent by Treereaver to demand
the fey fall in line with the demon lord’s plans,
but the demons only recently arrived and
aren’t sure what’s going on in the manor yet.
This doesn’t stop them from identifying the
heroes as troublemakers and working to stop
them. A potted plant in the greenhouse
contains a plant whose sap functions as a dose
of blightburn resin; the demons brought it with
them in the hopes they could get it to take root
and spread in the surrounding forest while
R they were here. A successful DC 25 Nature
check identifies this plant’s sap as a poison.
1
1
1
1
R
3
spell). A gimmerling riding on the back of a
cauthooj races around and around the table,
trying with each lap to beat his best time. Both
of these foes fight unwelcome guests (such as
the heroes) when interrupted. This gimmerling
is immune to the cauthooj’s warbling cry.
1 1

The grand dining room is set with an
elaborate, if unusual, buffet of foods drawn
from the fey realm, such as warm squash filled 2
with mulled wine, peach-like fruits with a
strangely tart flavor, a small custard tart that
functions as a greater potion of swimming
when eaten, and a plate of 13 grapes that each
function as a goodberry (as from the druid order
The manor’s functional and large kitchen has
three separate brick ovens to prepare meals for
the large parties the professor hosted when he
was younger. The kitchen is now in more use
than it’s ever been by a gimmerling chef. The
gimmerling has rigged the three baking ovens
as a single telekinetic swarm trap that hurls
broken bricks at the gimmerling’s enemies
(and doesn't harm the gimmerling). The
gimmerling has a pastry bag made from a
scroll of mask of terror, which is still useful
despite being marred with dollops of icing.
PART 3: THE UPPER MANOR

The rooms on the manor’s upper floor are all
built around an enormous ballroom. The
entrance to the ballroom is at the far end,
beyond several rooms which the heroes must
traverse. The occupants of these rooms all
insist on the heroes’ silence and respect, as
they all know the Illuminant Groom is
marrying the Gimmerbride very nearby and
don’t want to disturb the ceremony.
R ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 12)

The top of the sweeping stairs leading up from
the entry hall is a balcony beneath an elegant
chandelier that crackles with lightning. This
lightning coalesces into an uthul that attacks
intruders. A statue of an angel near the top of
the stairs wears celestial armor; the intruders in
the house haven’t yet realized its value.
1 ENCOUNTER 3B (MODERATE 12)

A long hall has several bedrooms opening off
1 of it; in one, an elite gimmerling is preparing a
wedding bedchamber along with a loyal clay
1 golem. The gimmerling is hanging from the
bedroom’s ornate chandelier, stringing up
letters that read “PLEASANT DREAMS.”
Incensed that intruders might interrupt the
ceremony, the gimmerling commands the clay
golem to fight and joins in as soon as the golem
seems outclassed.
2
R
1
F
2
R
1

A salon decorated like a forest glade with ENCOUNTER 3D (SEVERE 12)
several statues of dancing elves is currently the When the heroes finally reach the ballroom,
domain of two shining children. These they interrupt the lengthy wedding in process.
creatures serve the Illuminant Groom as In attendance are a dozen redcaps, although
groomsmen, but have been sent out of the they’re unlikely to pose a problem for 12th
ballroom because of their unpleasantly level heroes and therefore don’t participate
blinding light. They now sulk here, anxious to much in the combat. More dangerous are the
take out their frustration on anyone coming officiant and the maid of honor (both are lamia
by. One of the statues has a cord with an eye of matriarchs disguised as beautiful women), the
fortune worn around its head as a crown. Gimmerbride (a gimmerling), and the
Illuminant Groom. The Illuminant Groom has
the statistics of a neutral evil variant ghaele
azata who is a fey rather than a celestial. The
Gimmerbride rushes into combat with heroes
who would disrupt her wedding, while the
Illuminant Groom uses his actions to heal the
Gimmerbride. The Illuminant Groom also tries
to heal the lamia matriarchs, if convenient, but
his primary focus is his bride-to-be. The gifts
table contains several valueless clay figurines
of river mammals, a greater tanglefoot bag, a
bottle of slumber wine, an oil of animation, and
a berserker’s cloak—but no sign of Hansdirk
Koladsfar.
F 1
1
1
CONCLUSION
When the combat in the ballroom is complete,
any of the redcaps who’ve been avoiding
combat can tell the heroes what happened. A
powerful fey called the Thorn Prince, spurned
by the Gimmerbride, insisted on his right to
take away a single treasure from among the
gifts. He chose the professor, and spirited him
away into the hedge maze behind the manor.
The redcaps overheard the Thorn Prince say
he’d been told to kill the professor but planned
to keep him for a while instead, so it sounds
like the heroes have time to rest and prepare if
they wish. Eventually, however, the heroes
must enter the hedge maze for a rescue!
CHAPTER 13: THE THORN
PRINCE'S MAZE
The heroes have left Koladsfar Manor seeking other heroes may Aid this check. On a success,
the retired professor Hansdirk Koladsfar, the heroes arrive at a landmark they choose
stolen away by a fey figure known as the (or, if they so desire, to some safe place within
Thorn Prince. The professor's ancestors have the twisting passages or even back to the
always maintained a huge hedge maze that maze’s start). On a critical success, a hero
winds in and out of the forest behind the catches some sight or sign of the occupants of
manor, but under the influence of the Thorn the landmark the heroes are about to reach. On
Prince, this hedge maze has become a failure, the heroes instead arrive at a random
interwoven with the magic of the fey realm landmark; roll 1d8 to determine which one. On
and phases in and out of reality. The heroes a critical failure, the heroes reach a random
must overcome its dangers to face the Thorn landmark and, if the occupants of that
Prince and rescue the professor. landmark have already been defeated, they
have been restored with no knowledge of
PART 1: NAVIGATING THE MAZE meeting the heroes before (although they don’t
have duplicated treasures or rose fragments).
When the heroes leave the rear of the manor,
they see an enormous sprawling hedge maze The creatures in each landmark possess a
before them. Its opening is a break in the fragment of an exquisite rose made of ruby
hedge with a 10-foot gate. Through the gate, and mithral. Each of the eight fragments is
the first part of the maze leads directly to a low worth 750 gp on its own. Although
rise. From this rise, the heroes can see eight nonmagical, the fragments bear faint
landmarks within the maze that all seem engravings like the paths of the hedge maze;
unusually distant. Descriptions of the each fragment grants a cumulative +1
landmarks precede the encounter headers circumstance bonus to skill checks to navigate
below. The paths between them are obscured the maze. When the heroes have acquired all
by haze or the tops of verdant trees, making eight fragments, proceed to Part 2.
tracing the paths by sight impossible. So long
1. A RIDGE OF STONE: ENCOUNTER 1A
as the Thorn Prince lives, the maze is partly in
(MODERATE 13)
and out of the real world and the fey realm,
The maze leads the heroes along a narrow
and mundane means to try to move from
ridge; the maze resumes at the ridge’s other
location to location (such as flying) only lead to
end. Heroes hoping for a better vantage point
a different part of the maze. The heroes must
here discover only the same thing they saw at
navigate its twisting passages to solve it.
the rise near the start of the maze: several
Rather than map each twist and turn of the landmarks connected by intricate paths
maze, the heroes must navigate using their obscured by haze or vegetation. A crag
skills. One hero leading the way attempts a DC linnorm lurks in a crevasse along the ridge
35 Nature, Perception, or Survival check as an along with an elemental avalanche it has
exploration activity that takes 1 hour. The befriended; the two attack aggressively while
bantering back and forth with each other in
Draconic (which the elemental speaks) about
which of them is making the most effective 1
attacks or racking up the most impressive kills.
1
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1
1 3
2. A HUGE OAK TREE WITH LOWER
BRANCHES FORMING A NEST: ENCOUNTER 1B
(MODERATE 13)
This oak tree is the nesting place of three
cauthoojs who are immune to each other’s
songs. Two hop out from behind the tree to
attack, while one remains in the nest 15 feet
above the ground and relies upon its warbling
songs. It only leaps down to attack if the other
two cauthoojs are killed. The nest contains a
major staff of conjuration.
1
2
3. AN OMINOUS TOWER: ENCOUNTER 1C 1

(MODERATE 13 AND MODERATE 13)
This old, crumbling tower protrudes from the 1
hedge maze like a gnarled finger. A rusted
metal sign jutting from above the old iron door 1
reads, “Doctor Quietus, Physician for Hire.”
The tower’s lower floor is a blood-stained
surgical laboratory, including the components 1
for a bleeding spines snare and a viper’s fang.
Before the heroes can do much looking
around, the doctor’s assistants, two elite
gimmerlings who resembled hunchbacked old
men, demand the heroes “leave the doctor to
his work” and become violent if the heroes
don’t depart quickly. The doctor is on the
tower's upper level and doesn't join this fight.
2
In the tower’s upper level (as a separate
encounter), a quelaunt wearing a three-armed
F
lab coat makes notes in its study. After
defeating the quelaunt, the heroes can find a
scroll of true target among its neat but cryptic
notes about humanoid brains.
4. A HUMANOID STATUE BEARING A

BURNING LANTERN: ENCOUNTER 1D
(MODERATE 13)
A large clearing in the hedge maze bears a
statue of some long-forgotten Koladsfar
ancestor standing some 50 feet high. Standing
on a platform in the middle of a shallow pool
1 40 feet across, the glowering statue holds out a
lantern that burns brightly. When the heroes
approach, a gust of wind ripples the water and
makes the flame roar forth. These energies
produce two firewyrms, two stone maulers,
two storm lords, and two tidal masters. These
elementals fight until destroyed.
2
1
1
1
to be its horn). The fey riders offer to race the
1 heroes down the 800-foot track in exchange for
a favor. Although they’re genuine about the
1 race (during which the nightmares fly low to
the ground rather than walk), but their offered
reward is a ruse; win or lose, they attack when
the race is over and fight to the death. They
hope to attack while some heroes are at the
finish line and others are back at the starting
5. A LONG, STRAIGHT PATH COVERED BY AN
line. Talissian carries a marble elephant wondrous
ARCHWAY OF GREENERY: ENCOUNTER 1E
figurine as a back-up mount if something
(SEVERE 13) happens to their nightmare.
This long, straight bower is shadowy because
of the branches that arch overhead, but its
ground is painted in lanes like a racetrack.
Two beautiful and androgynous fey creatures
named Talissian and Orinni, each a chaotic evil
dryad queen, ride atop enormous, regal
unicorns that are actually greater nightmares
(each wears a greater hat of disguise that appears
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
7. A CLOCKTOWER WITH EIGHT NUMBERS

3
RATHER THAN TWELVE: ENCOUNTER 1G
(MODERATE 13)
6. AN ENORMOUS BANYAN WITH BLOOD RED This tall clocktower stands in a shady dell. The
LEAVES: ENCOUNTER 1F (MODERATE 13) complex mechanics all along its sides turn
The intertwining roots of this tree provide gears that cause the hands 30 feet above to turn
good spots to hide, but a few of what appear to with mechanical precision. The wardens of the
be branches are the limbs of four deadly clocktower are three kolyaruts; although not
mantises with crimson coloration that blend in evil, they consider the functioning of the
with the leaves. The massive insects fight to clocktower to be of extreme importance and
the death. A halfling corpse wearing a mail of won’t give up the rose fragment (which forms
luck is stashed in the crook of the tree.
a vital piece of its workings) without a fight. A
mending lattice is also part of the clocktower’s F
intricate machinery.
1 1
1
1
1
8. A YAWNING CAVE MOUTH: ENCOUNTER

1H (MODERATE 13)
This cave mouth is carved to resemble a
lolling, open mouth, complete with a “tongue”
of soft lichen. Deep in the mouth is the lair of a
single mukradi, hiding among huge
stalagmites and stalactites that resemble teeth.
The creature fights until slain. An undamaged
ghost bolt is lodged in the creature’s flank.
2
2
3
PART 2: HEART OF THE MAZE

Once the heroes have acquired and assembled
all eight rose fragments, the haze parts enough
to allow a view of a glass palace that seems just 2
a few twists and turns away; the heroes can
reach this palace without making any skill
checks, as the etchings on the assembled rose
lead right there.

The wide entry hall of the palace is buffeted by
winds and illuminated by lightning dancing
between great pillars. An uthul and an
elemental hurricane manifest to face heroes
who linger here. Elegant stairs of glass and
crystal lead upward.
1
R
wemmuth lurks in this garden, woven around

chunks of crystal rather than boulders. Paths
leading through the garden twist and turn; the
heroes might notice these garden paths mimic
the paths of the hedge maze, although no skill
checks are required to navigate these paths. A
vaulted gazebo decorated with images of roses
stands at the garden’s center, and creeping
rosebushes growing up its sides block the view
of its interior.

The upper level of the palace is a beautiful,
overgrown garden bursting with vibrant colors
and plants of every kind. Crystal walls reflect
bright, dazzling light throughout the area. A
1
1 1
2

Within the gazebo is the brooding Thorn
Prince, an elite dryad queen who looks every
inch the faerie prince he styles himself to be. A
thorny mass of rosebushes and crystal, a weak
wemmuth that is Large in size fights alongside
him. The Thorn Prince carries a storm flash, but
rarely remembers to use it in combat. The
gazebo contains nine bottles of wine worth 150
gp each, an iron equalizer in the shape of an
elaborate iron wedding ring, and, in a large
1
chest, the bound and gagged professor
Hansdirk Koladsfar.
1
2
paper (which the heroes may have acquired in
Chapter 12; otherwise, he returns to his manor
to get it), and he agrees to create the rune if the
heroes acquire the necessary ink from the Lake
of Eyes. The professor is happy to let the
heroes keep any treasure they recovered from
his manor, as he owes them his life.
1
2
CONCLUSION
The elderly Hansdirk Koladsfar is grateful to
be rescued. He overheard that Treereaver had
commanded the Thorn Prince to capture and
kill him—which was why the Thorn Prince
selected the professor from the wedding gifts
in the previous chapter—but the sly fey
instead decided to keep the man as a
bargaining chip against the demon lord.
Professor Koladsfar is quick to understand the
need for the breaching rune, particularly if the
heroes talk about how the Skaldwood has been
magically sealed. He can provide the necessary
CHAPTER 14: IN THE LAKE OF
EYES
The heroes are on the hunt for the albino and kill the demon currently in the cave;
kraken that lurks in the Lake of Eyes. Its ink is however, the mukradis are easily distracted
a vital component to create the breaching rune, and fight the heroes instead.
which they need to penetrate the Skaldwood.
Although the Lake of Eyes is fairly near the
town of Jortoft, locals shun it. The lake is
known to be a haunted and dangerous place,
filled with giants and huge monsters. There are
no villages, or even any docks, along the Lake
of Eyes. Travelers and hunters avoid it, and no
one fishes in its depths. Locals tell the heroes
that, luckily, a deep fog normally conceals the
lake and its dangers from view. But if the F
heroes persist in going to the lake, the locals
explain there’s a cave by a pier at the lake’s
southernmost end.
Professor Koladsfar realizes that the kraken
is likely to be deep in the lake and so arranges
to give the heroes four scrolls of water breathing
(4th level) (or potions, if none of them can cast
the spell). He also offers a large waterskin in
which to capture the kraken’s ink.
R
PART 1: SHORES OF THE LAKE
The faded wooden dock juts into the south end
of the Lake of Eyes from beneath a large cave.
Smoke issues from the cave, so it seems to be
occupied. The area is otherwise still.
1
A battered wooden rowboat is tied to the dock. 1
As the heroes approach the dock, two
amphibious mukradis attack. One skitters out 1
as soon as the heroes are within reach, while
the other emerges at the start of the third 1
round. These creatures were sent by the
kraken to secure its secrecy from Treereaver 1
the heroes, Orlub provides them with a major
2 antiplague, his rowboat for as long as they
need it, and all the rotten fish they can eat.
3
R
In the cave, a shemhazian is gleefully torturing
a boggard who is paralyzed by the demon’s
aura. The shemhazian is enraged at being
disrupted and attacks, fighting to the death.
The victim is Orlub, a neutral boggard
swampseer who owns the cave and the boat.
Orlub is one of the few who dare to ply the
waters of the Lake of Eyes and so knows a lot 1
about it. Orlub knows the albino kraken lairs
in an underwater cave complex, but doesn’t
know where it is. Certainly, however, the 1
storm giants who live at the center of the
island do; unfortunately, they are all evil 1
worshippers of Dagon, a wicked fish-god, and
aren’t likely to be friendly. The chapel at the
center of their island is rumored to hold great 1
knowledge of the lake, and should reveal
where the kraken’s caves are. To further thank
bearing a stone chapel to the Great Old One,
Dagon. A wall with a gatehouse rings the old
chapel and only the most powerful and faithful
giants are permitted inside. The giant's faith is
incredibly old: millennia ago, the Lake of Eyes
was connected to the great northern sea, but as
the land shifted, the giants’ ancestors were
stranded in this lake.
The deep fog over the lake restricts vision
to about 100 feet.
1 ENCOUNTER 2A (MODERATE 14)
The lake isn’t safe, and four sea serpents
assault the heroes as they make their way to
the stone giants’ island.
PART 2: ISLE OF GIANTS

The storm giants on the Lake of Eyes are all
evil cultists who have fishlike heads and
enormous, milky eyes. It is their presence that
gave the Lake of Eyes its strange name long
ago, although humanoids living along the 1
shores don’t remember this. The giants live in
a cluster of wooden huts on an island near the 1
center of the lake: the huts surround a low hill
1
1
1
The island is raised 15 to 20 feet above the
water line, which doesn’t pose much of an
impediment to the giants but might give the
1
heroes pause. Only one part of the island has a
beach, and that part is watched by a storm
giant training an azure worm. The storm giant
considers this a good test and sends her azure
worm to attack while she throws rocks and
uses chain lightning to drive the heroes away.
The azure worm wears a collar of seaweed and
platinum worth 500 gp.
3
1
1
R

The heroes might be able to sneak through the
storm giant huts (which requires a successful
DC 34 Stealth check from the heroes or a
magical solution to remain undetected), but
any disturbance causes three storm giants to
R come investigate. There are enough huts for 20
or so storm giants to live here, but about half
are out at any time catching fish or engaging in
skirmishes against the alghollthus of the lake,
with whom the storm giants are at war. Some
of the stone giant huts contain valuables, and a
search of the huts uncovers three other
seaweed-and-platinum collars worth 500 gp
each, an iron cudgel, a greater potion of flying,
1 and plate armor of the deep.
1
1
ENCOUNTER 2D
One of the storm giant huts isn’t inhabited;
instead, it is used as a gruesome war room.
Two dead alghollthu masters are on display
here, their skin flayed open to reveal inner
organs. The bodies both have several
markings, in Jotun, detailing the most effective
place to strike against these creatures in
2
combat. This is the heroes’ first clue that the
storm giants and alghollthus war against one
another.
The high wall around the center of the island
has a single gatehouse. The wall looks
imposing, but it’s actually hollow, like a
circular trough, and filled with water. The ENCOUNTER 2G (MODERATE 14)
gatehouse is watched by two storm giants, and The chapel’s entry is guarded by a storm giant
a trained sea serpent swims in the trough. The named Casthiarn and a morrigna. Casthiarn
sea serpent initially makes attacks with its was once the community’s spiritual leader, but
water spout at range, but when one of the failures against the alghollthus and the arrival
storm giants falls, the sea serpent is so agitated of the rune giant demagogue have caused his
that it leaps out of the trough to fight on the personal fortunes to wane. The morrigna is
ground against the heroes. The sea serpent here because she’s seeking religious lore; a cult
fights to the death, but once a storm giant falls, of Dagon elsewhere in the multiverse is
the survivor flees to the chapel if reduced to siphoning away souls, and she’s bargaining for
fewer than 50 Hit Points. The trough contains information kept here in the chapel. She has
salty lake water and some discarded bones more loyalty to Casthiarn than to the heroes,
from past sea serpent meals (including a and she therefore fights alongside the giant;
greater explosive sling bullet). Additionally, the however, if reduced to fewer than 60 Hit
sea serpent wears another seaweed-and- Points, she decides that the information isn’t
platinum collar worth 500 gp. worth the personal risk and flees. The
antechamber has a few valuable ornaments:
four fine platinum icons of large-eyed fish
worth 250 gp each and six heavy platinum
statuettes of various disturbing humanoid-fish
hybrids worth 500 gp each.
ENCOUNTER 2F
The enormous stone doors leading into the
chapel are marked with the religious symbol of
Dagon and imagery of his horrendous, storm-
wracked home plane. The doors contain a
planar rift hazard that sends unbelievers to
Dagon’s distant plane.
R
R

The main chapel has been recently taken over
by an indolent rune giant named Effithes who
promised to turn the tide of the storm giant
1 war against the alghollthus. Effithes decided
she liked being in charge of the unusual,
insular giant community and hasn’t done
much about the ongoing war. Effithes knows
to keep an eye on Casthiarn, who might push
to recover his old position as head of the
chapel, but she keeps Casthiarn busy
negotiating with the psychopomp.
The floor of the chapel is an elaborate,
ancient map of platinum inset into stone. The
map shows the Lake of Eyes extending far
north, between the mountains where the fens
currently stand, and connecting to the northern
sea; it’s clear from the map that this region
used to be part of the ocean. The current size of
the lake is marked on the map in charcoal, as is
the giants’ island, sites of skirmishes against
1
the alghollthus (marked, “Alghollthu
Sighting!” in Jotun), and a cave system
(marked, “Danger! Kraken!” in Jotun).
Effithes has surrounded herself with riches
she likes, including five huge tapestries
showing storm giants embracing fish or
fighting squid-like monsters. Each tapestry is
worth 400 gp but weighs 8 Bulk. Effithes also
keeps a censer burning; the platinum censer is
3 worth 900 gp and the six blocks of incense are
each worth 150 gp. A greater primeval mistletoe
hangs from one of the censers.
R
1
1
1
1
1
PART 3: THE KRAKEN CAVES

The heroes now know the site of the flooded
kraken caves—hundreds of feet below the
surface of the lake’s salty water—and might
F also know to expect alghollthus as well. These
caves are all interconnected, with passages
large enough for the kraken that inhabits them
F to move about, but are unlit.

Just outside the caves are several storm giant
corpses, lashed together and tied to rocks to
keep them from floating away. No mere
warning, these lashed corpses animate as a
single aquatic warsworn when the heroes
approach. The creature fights until destroyed,
1 when it collapses back into its constituent
corpses.
Two veiled masters are currently occupying
R one of the caves in the complex. They have
taken the guise of storm giants and are floating
over a third giant that is recently dead. The
veiled masters were aggressively questioning
1 the giant about the layout of the storm giant
island and chapel, but the prisoner expired
1 before the veiled masters could get much of
use. The veiled masters originally think the
heroes must be on the storm giants’ side and
try to get information from them (which may
1 seem suspicious, in their current disguise).
When they realize their mistake, they attack.
One of the veiled masters has a rod of negation.
F
3
1

Four elite elemental tsunamis, conjured long
ago by the kraken’s powerful primal magic,
stand ready to defend the kraken’s caves from
intruders. They attack intruders from multiple
directions if possible and fight until destroyed.
handle any intruders. When it realizes
intruders have made it this far, it fights to the
death. If the heroes simply ask it for ink, it
seems initially agreeable but tries to trick and
eat the heroes instead; the kraken has no
intention of giving away its ink for what might
be a surface-dweller ritual to weaken or control
it. The kraken’s hoarded treasure consists of
1,410 sp, 150 pp, a gold torc worth 750 gp, a
disintegration bolt, a scroll of monstrosity form on
a thin sheet of eel hide, and a greater corrosive
rune on a runestone that resembles a seashell.
1
ENCOUNTER 3D
One open chamber was previously used by the
aquatic mukradis that the heroes faced at the 1
start of this adventure. Several molted bits of
exoskeleton identify the creatures who used to
live here.
ENCOUNTER 3E (SEVERE 14) 1

The master of these caves is an albino weak
kraken who is currently stoking the war
between the alghollthus and storm giants from 1
the safety of its cave. The kraken knows that
Treereaver’s agents are active in the area and
recently dispatched its mukradi minions to
1
CONCLUSION
Once the kraken is subdued or
slain, the heroes have no
trouble gaining as much ink as
they need from it. They can
then return to Professor
Koladsfar with the ink.
CHAPTER 15: THE
POSSIBILITY BARGAIN
Professor Koladsfar explains that the process but that he doesn’t know much more about the
of creating the breaching rune is simple, even oracle than this.
though the lore behind it is incredibly
complex. The sigil is painstakingly drawn on PART 1: THE DRAGON’S TRAP
special paper, then transferred as a tattoo to a
recipient using the white ink of the albino The heroes likely have many ways to cross the
kraken. The process is time-consuming but Pale Barrens, including magical travel. They
ultimately painless, and it invests the recipient enter a magic-scarred region where active spell
of the tattoo with special power. As a mortal effects might suddenly fail (counteract
mind can’t retain knowledge of the sigil in its modifier +27, applied only when entering the
entirety, the professor must access his books to area). Any magical travel the heroes are using,
re-create it for the heroes. After a short time of such as wind walk or shadow walk, is
research, he discovers that one piece of the automatically dispelled to land the heroes here.
rune isn’t in his library. He quickly deduces
that Mokillan Vetch, the lich who invaded his
The heroes’ failing magic deposits them in a
library in Chapter 12, must have seen the sigil
scrub-dotted valley (if they are walking, they
and destroyed the record. The only hope of
simply come across it). A corpse-field of
completing the breaching rune is to track down
innumerable travelers who have died here
Vetch, wherever her soul cage reconstituted
contains two gogiteths picking through the
her, and force her to divulge this knowledge.
bodies. Many of the corpses rise up together as
As much as Professor Koladsfar doesn’t a warsworn to join the gogiteths in attacking
like dealing with a lich and rival, he the heroes. The corpses still contain several
understands that negotiation is probably the treasures, including a suit of silver dragonplate,
best answer when the fate of the Northfells a greater salamander elixir, and a broken
hangs in the balance. He recovers his possibility scythe with a dazing coil.
tome from its secret location beneath the library
and gives it to the heroes. He asks them to seek
out the lich and trade the possibility tome for the
sigil. Learning where Vetch can be found is a
difficult endeavor; the professor suggests the
heroes start with an oracle named Tarsiel the
Dead-Seer, who is rumored to have divinatory
insights into undead across the Northfells.
Tarsiel lives in a ruined temple of the Judge of
Souls situated in the Pale Barrens, the rolling
hills many days east of Jortoft, beyond the
Lake of Eyes. The professor warns that R
Tarsiel’s aid is unlikely to come without a cost,
1
1
2
3
A deep roaring sound comes from a cave at the
R side of the valley, followed by an echoing cry
for help. The cry is from a blue dragon named
Qurvinnar who lairs in this magic-scarred
region, idly luring passersby to their doom and
1 taking their treasure to add to his hoard. The
cry is particularly realistic, as Qurvinnar is
1 using his Sound Imitation ability to reproduce
the desperate wails of his last victim.
The entry to the cave contains four rusted
statues of dragon-headed humanoids; these are
1
four iron golems who serve as the dragon’s
mindless guardians. Each has a gemstone
worth 500 gp embedded in its forehead. These
F
golems don’t attack unless disturbed or unless
heroes return this way bearing any of
Qurvinnar’s treasure.
The cries lead deeper into the cave, to the lazy
Qurvinnar’s lair. Qurvinnar is an ancient blue
dragon whose first action is to use hallucinatory
terrain to make it seem as though a massive
block of stone rolls into place, sealing the exit.
1 He then ducks behind several thick columns in
his cave, using project image and other illusions
2 to conceal his true location. The dragon’s
hoard includes 3,805 gp, 130 pp, six rubies
worth 200 gp each, a runestone with a greater
thundering rune, a vial of obfuscation oil, major
eagle-eye elixir, and a jug with a dose of
Qurvinnar’s own concentrated dragon bile.
After defeating the dragon, the heroes can
leave the magic-scarred region and resume
1 their trip to the oracle without further magical
pitfalls.
R
1
PART 2: ORACLE UNDER SIEGE
1 When the heroes reach the oracle’s temple,
they find him under attack by a strike force of
daemons (and their minions) who want to steal
his knowledge to better prey upon souls.

The empty portico outside the temple has a
large heap of sand and stone drifted to one
2 side. They are a zaramuun and a grikkitog in
disguise, placed here as guardians by the
astradaemons.
1
1
2
1
1
3

The ruined temple’s foyer contains many
images of the deity known as the Judge of
Souls, weighing the deeds of mortals. Four
elite great cyclopes are here; they were once
Tarsiel’s allies, but the rune giant Kanasi who
came with the astradaemons charmed them all,
and they now fight against all other intruders.
If freed of their charms, they make eager, if
unreliable, allies for the heroes and strive to
save Tarsiel. Each great cyclops has a heavy
bracelet of gold worth 1,000 gp.
R
R
F
1 1
1
1
1
ENCOUNTER 2C (MODERATE 15) 1
An astradaemon has just set up a frozen
moment trap in a side chapel. The daemon is
immune to the trap’s effects, but during its 1
inevitable fight with the heroes, it attempts to
maneuver them into the warded area so the
trap snatches them up in a repeating slice of 1
time. The chapel contains a long-forgotten
greater potion of fire resistance in a silver vial;
the vial alone is worth 40 gp.
1
A rune giant named Kanasi is plundering the
ruined temple’s vault, looking for valuables
she can steal. She’s accompanied by another
charmed elite great cyclops. If reduced to
fewer than 80 Hit Points, Kanasi’s self-
preservation instinct takes over, and she offers
information about the other members of the
strike force in exchange for her release. The
vault’s remaining items are either broken or
valueless, but this cyclops has a gold bracelet
worth 1,000 gp.
1
R
1
F
F ENCOUNTER 2F (MODERATE 15)
An astradaemon is busy pulling a cloud of
disembodied souls from a large font in a crypt.
In fact, the “cloud of souls” is just an uthul
who has been bound here since before the
temple fell into ruin. It’s pretending to be a
cloud of souls to appease the astradaemon
(who is smarter than the uthul gives it credit
for), as it’s happy to be free.
1
1
1
1
ENCOUNTER 2E
The barracks used by the five cyclopes is an
untidy mess of furs and oversized hammocks
that fills this room and the two adjacent
alcoves. 2
sigil for the professor’s possibility tome. The lich
suspects treachery, though—as do the heroes,
if they’re wise—and wants to meet at a neutral
location. She can teleport anywhere in the
Northfells the heroes prefer, she suggests a
valley in the Pale Barrens to reduce the chance
of magical trickery (on both sides).
ENCOUNTER 2G (SEVERE 15) PART 3: THE LICH’S BETRAYAL

Two astradaemons are attempting to coerce
the oracle Tarsiel into giving up his powers. This part details the heroes’ meeting with the
Tarsiel is an elderly cyclops who is immune to lich, Mokillan Vetch. It can occur at any
mental effects and has thus far resisted the location, though Vetch suggests the Pale
astradaemons’ whispered promises and Barrens. As Vetch no longer has the sigil but
physical tortures. If the heroes save Tarsiel, the really wants the possibility tome, she leads the
oracle offers to aid them at no cost. heroes into a trap. As before, active magic
effects entering the magic-scarred region might
be counteracted.

Vetch appears to be alone in the meeting place,
Tarsiel takes the heroes to a magical pool, but the robe-clad figure is only a skeletal
over which he intones the name of Mokillan champion bearing a staff of major necromancy
Vetch. The lich swims into view in the pool’s (which Vetch hopes will fool heroes detecting
waters, surrounded by an opulent study. Vetch magic or the like). A banshee lurks in the
looks up suddenly, clearly aware she’s being ground beneath the skeletal champion, and it
scried upon, and demands to know who’s lunges out to wail when the heroes try to
watching her and why. The heroes can speak negotiate with “Vetch.” Both undead fight
to Vetch through the pool, and the lich is until slain.
happy to exchange the silver ingot with the
The genuine Vetch is a lich who lurks
invisibly behind a nearby outcropping of
stones watching the battle. She knows the
heroes outclass her, but she’s genuinely
surprised if they defeat the banshee, too. Vetch
decides she’d better come clean and emerges
with her hands raised. She waits patiently
while the heroes recover from the banshee R
fight. Vetch admits to setting the trap because
she wants the possibility tome but doesn't have
the sigil any longer; she sold the ingot that
contains it and sold it to Red Crown, the pit
fiend orchestrating all the devils in the
Northfells. Before Vetch can say more about
Red Crown, begin the next encounter.
1 2
R

A gigantic conflagration devil with wings of
fire soars into the meeting place, accompanied
by two gelugons. The conflagration devil
displays a small iron box to Vetch and intones,
“You can’t be saved any longer without your
soul cage” while crushing it in a fiery fist. The
fiends then attack. Vetch, having used her
scroll of teleport to get here, can’t easily leave
and therefore fights desperately by the heroes’ 1
side. As she does so, she explains that she
doesn’t know where to find Red Crown (or
even what Red Crown’s true name is), but 1
urges the heroes to find out in the Monastery
of Frozen Stone. The heroes want the sigil, and
Vetch wants them to get revenge. It’s possible 1
that Vetch dies during this fight, but she
should share this information first.
1
1
When the conflagration devil is finally

slain, its remains collapse into several
smoldering orbs on a chain of embers. This
treasure functions as a necklace of fireballs type
VI.
CONCLUSION
By the end of this adventure, the heroes know
they need to address the threat of Red Crown.
They probably also still have the possibility
tome, which Professor Koladsfar encourages
them to keep.
CHAPTER 16: MONASTERY OF
FROZEN STONE
The heroes have learned that the infestation of

devils in the Northfells is orchestrated by a pit
fiend known as Red Crown, who also has the
missing sigil from the breaching rune. The
heroes have dealt with cultists of Red Crown
before, but they now know it’s a specific devil
who is located somewhere in the Northfells,
presumably in hiding. Learning Red Crown's
true name allows the heroes to find him and
permanently defeat him, but Red Crown's true
name is as well-hidden as the devil himself.
The scholarly elves of the Monastery of Frozen
Stone, high in the ice-covered northern
mountains, were likely to have had this lore,
but the elves' order died out long ago. The
1
heroes must travel to the monastery in the
hopes that this lore remains behind.
1
PART 1: THE MOUNTAIN TREK 1
The heroes must make the long trek to the
northern mountains. The environment is
extreme cold, but 16th-level heroes likely have
several options to deal with the temperature or
to make the trip very quickly (such as with
spells like shadow walk). The path to the
monastery is old and has crumbled away in
parts, but the heroes can still follow it.

A few hours before they reach the monastery,
the heroes find a dead storm giant in the path
in front of them. Before they can examine the
giant, they are beset by four uthuls. After these
threats are dispatched, the heroes can see that 2
the storm giant was killed by the uthuls. The
giant wears a heavy iron collar and broken
manacles, and has a stone bullet tucked in a
pocket.
R
1
ENCOUNTER 1B
A rune giant named Harlasho arrives on the 1
scene moments later, but Harlasho doesn't
want to fight. He’s looking for an escaped
storm giant. Harlasho has three elite storm
giant minions with him. While the giants
defend themselves if attacked, Harlasho would
rather parley. He openly offers that he
represents Chravaxun, a dragon who lives in
the area and is the mortal enemy of an ice
linnorm named Wintercurse; he then asks
what the heroes are doing here. This question
is mostly rhetorical, as Harlasho knows that
the only thing likely to bring lowlanders here
is the abandoned monastery, but he knows its
entrance is trapped and heavily guarded.
Harlasho contacts Chravaxun with sending
and happily reports that Chravaxun knows a
secret way in. Chravaxun will share this
knowledge if the heroes defeat Chravaxun’s
enemy, Wintercurse. Harlasho isn't lying, but
Chravaxun has lied to him: the dragon has no
intention of providing any help to the heroes
(and, in fact, knows of no secret way into the
monastery).
F
1
1
1
1
1
1 From here, the heroes can venture to the

1 linnorm's crevasse in Part 2, or they can simply
ignore Harlasho's offer and press on to the
monastery in Part 3.
PART 2: THE LINNORM'S CREVASSE
Wintercurse dwells in an icy mountain pass.
The ground throughout is incredibly slick; it is
difficult terrain and uneven ground, with an
Acrobatics DC to Balance of 35. Fierce winds
howling across the mountains above the pass
prevent flying creatures from entering it.
Wintercurse lives deep in this pass with her
long-suffering younger sister, whom
Wintercurse calls Icewhelp.

A keketar and an uthul wait at the entrance to
the pass and attack intruders. The keketar has
come seeking Wintercurse’s aid in a distant
war, and has been frustrated by being left at
the linnorm’s doorstep for many days awaiting
an audience. One of Wintercurse’s uthuls has
been assigned to see how long the keketar will
wait. When the heroes arrive, the keketar
seizes upon an opportunity to prove their
usefulness to Wintercurse and finally gain an
audience.
R
1
sister. If the heroes succeed at a DC 37
Diplomacy or Intimidation check, Icewhelp
also says that their dragon enemy, Chravaxun,
has claimed the area near the monastery's
1 entrance. Icewhelp knows Chravaxun can't get
into the monastery himself, but he keeps
everyone else from trying out of spite. This is a
clue that the dragon was lying to the heroes.
2
The open area of the pass is the realm of the
ice linnorm Icewhelp and Wintercurse’s noisy
uthuls; only a single uthul is here with her
now. Icewhelp fights intruders ferociously, but
surrenders and offers information in exchange
for her life if reduced to fewer than 80 Hit
Points. Her most direct information is the way
to Wintercurse’s lair in the pass; Icewhelp
hopes the heroes can defeat her bullying older
1
2
1
ENCOUNTER 2C (MODERATE 16) PART 3: THE DUPLICITOUS DRAGON

An ice-encrusted passage off the pass leads to In this part, the heroes come to the area near
the lair of Wintercurse, an elite ice linnorm. the monastery’s only entrance. The elite
She is enraged at having intruders in her home ancient white dragon Chravaxun lairs in a
and immediately attacks, fighting to the death. series of three connected icy caves overlooking
Wintercurse’s lair also includes her hoard, the monastery’s imposing stone entrance. If the
which contains a high-grade adamantine maul, heroes come here right after meeting Harlasho,
ghost dust, a major cognitive mutagen, and Chravaxun and his giants are hostile. If they
8,988 gp in coins and gems. come after defeating Wintercurse, the giants
escort the heroes directly to Chravaxun, who
explains there must have been some
misunderstanding because the monastery
entrance is entirely safe. This is a lie:
Chravaxun knows the entrance is trapped and
doesn’t want to risk himself or his giants in
triggering it. Chravaxun is a terrible liar, but
heroes who believe him might try the door in
Encounter 4A. If caught in his lie, Chravaxun
attacks.

The lowest cave is where Chravaxun’s warden
and advisor, the rune giant Harlasho, lairs.
(The heroes have already met Harlasho and his
entourage, three elite storm giants.) Harlasho
opines that treating his charges well ensures
R better work from them, but he secretly pits
them against each other so that they vie for his
favor. Harlasho is plotting how to acquire
more storm giants, as Wintercurse’s uthuls
recently killed one. Harlasho lets the heroes
pass if they’re falling for Chravaxun’s ruse;
otherwise, he attacks, urging the storm giants
into melee while he attacks from a distance.

The central cave is where Chravaxun’s two
rune giant hunters live. Surly and bossy, they
plainly dislike the heroes’ presence and only
restrain themselves if Chravaxun is working to
dupe the heroes. If not, these giants attack.
They neither ask for nor accept quarter.

The highest cave, the one with a view of the
monastery, is the lair of the elite ancient white
dragon Chravaxun and his rune giant
bodyguard. If he doesn’t think the heroes will
be useful to him in fighting Wintercurse or in R
triggering the trap on the monastery door,
Chravaxun attacks them. His hoard includes a
belt of giant strength, +3 greater striking
handwraps of mighty blows, a truesight potion, a
greater bravo's brew, and 8,105 gp in gold and
gems.
1
2
2
PART 4: MONASTERY OF THE DEAD

1 The stone monastery is now old and ice-
covered, but its former elegance is evident. The
carvings indicate that the inhabitants studied
all manner of outer planar creatures, from
angels and azatas to demons and devils. The
elves who once lived here have been dead for
centuries, and the only ones remaining are
banshees tethered to this world.

The monastery’s front door is locked with a
superior lock (DC 40, six successes) whose key
2 is long lost. Worse, a banshee's symphony
hazard is on the monastery door. If the heroes
trigger this trap and Chravaxun still lives, the
dragon swoops down from his lair to
immediately attack. His rune giants also rush
to fight, but it takes them 6 rounds to arrive.
R
The entry to the monastery is guarded by two
banshees. They warn the heroes out of the
R
monastery, and wail if their orders aren’t
immediately followed.

The monastery’s infirmary has several corpses
preserved by the cold, a testament to some
great disaster that sickened many of the monks
in its final days. A skulltaker lurks here,
slowly chipping away at the bones and adding 1
them to its form. A true staff of healing still
stands in the infirmary’s supply cabinet, but its
magic wasn’t sufficient to stem the disaster
that befell the monks.

The chapel of the monastery is a lofty space
ornamented with several stone statues of
celestials and fiends. Among these are two
elite stone golems, which attack alongside a
banshee who was once the monastery’s head
1 priestess. The altar contains a scroll of foresight
carved on a thin stone slab and 3,050 gp in
fancy adornments and jewelry.
1
serenely. Locating the information about Red
Crown takes three successful DC 35 Arcana,
Religion, or relevant Lore checks taken as
exploration activities of six hours per check.
The heroes learn that Red Crown’s true name
is Balzzevarian, and that uttering his name
reveals knowledge of his current location.
Doing so also alerts Balzzevarian that someone
now knows his true name unless the speaker
also succeeds at a DC 37 Arcana or Religion
check when uttering it. Attaining this
knowledge activates the library’s guardian.
The elf’s head rises from the floor, shattering
stone, and revealing itself to be a guthallath.
ENCOUNTER 4E (SEVERE 16)

The library is a huge room, and at its center is
an enormous statue of an elf’s head gazing 2
1
CONCLUSION
When the heroes speak Balzzevarian’s name
aloud, they learn he is in the city of Kolsvatni,
in the guise of a high priest named Hjalmar.
They must move quickly to prevent
Balzzevarian from fleeing to hide his diabolic
presence somewhere else.
CHAPTER 17: THE REAPER'S
PLAGUE
The heroes now know the true name of the PART 1: THE ICY ALMSHOUSE
devil known as Red Crown: they know him to
be masquerading as the high priest Hjalmar The heroes are warned away from entering the
the Stern in the city of Kolsvatni. The heroes city of Kolsvatni, perhaps by Fandel, the owner
further know that, among his carefully of the inn called Fandel’s Rest that the heroes
amassed lore, Balzzevarian has collected the visited in Chapter 11. Fandel—or anyone the
final part of the breaching rune. They may have heroes may meet on the road—can confirm
also heard that Kolsvatni is in the grip of a that the death toll from the plague has been
plague that even the Church of the Sun-Mother particularly high, and the Church of the Sun-
can’t cure; in truth, the pit fiend Balzzevarian Mother hasn’t been able to do much more than
is, as Hjalmar, encouraging the spread of the collect the sick in the Luminous Cathedral so
plague to stoke desperation and reap souls in they can die in comfort. Worse, a lethal cold
preparation for an apotheosis into a more snap has hit the city.
powerful type of devil. Known as the reaper’s
ENCOUNTER 1A
plague, this disease is similar to Abyssal
Brenna Eyisjr, high priestess of the Church of
plague. It causes painful and debilitating boils
the Sun-Mother in Velkendir, sees the heroes
around the head in the shape of a halo (or a
soon after they enter the city. She is both
red crown). It has the following statistics.
surprised and pleased to see them, explaining
that the plague has drawn all ranking
adherents of the Sun-Mother to Kolsvatni to
help. Brenna has been tasked by Hjalmar the
Stern to recover the sick from the Underbridge
Almshouse and bring them to the Luminous
Cathedral. If the heroes insist that Hjalmar is a
devil in disguise, a successful DC 36
Diplomacy check is required to get Brenna to
believe such a claim about the head of her
To make matters worse, the weather in religion. In truth, she’s had her suspicions
Kolsvatni is far colder than in the surrounding about the ominous armored knights she’s seen
area. This cold snap is the work of wendigos lurking in the Luminous Cathedral, and she
using their control weather ritual to more easily noticed the feeling of benevolent sanctity she
prey on the hungry and weak. Balzzevarian felt on visits to the Luminous Cathedral years
despises the wendigos’ ritual, as the cold is ago had gone (although she ascribed to their
killing the suffering townspeople much too being so many ill people there). Regardless of
fast and risks exposing his devils’ carefully whether the heroes convince her, Brenna is
orchestrated culling of the populace. However, sure the people at the almshouse are in danger;
he can’t overtly war against the icy monsters she asks the heroes to help her save them.
with exposing his devils.
The heroes must make a saving throw against
a wendigo’s Howl as they approach the
Underbridge Almshouse. The almshouse is
bitterly cold, and the front door has been
smashed open. In the entry, two wendigos are
tormenting a handful of well-wishers who
brought warm food and blankets. A third
wendigo flees out a window with an old
halfling man just as the heroes arrive, but the
1
two wendigos quickly move to intervene and
fight until slain. Brenna casts air walk to pursue
1
the fleeing wendigo and calls to the heroes to
defeat the two that remain.
3
R

The great hall of the almshouse is a large room
with a huge fireplace. Normally quite toasty,
the room is now bitterly cold, as the wendigos
recently stuffed the fireplace with snow. The
thick, icy snow spilling across the room makes
this room uneven ground (DC 25 Acrobatics
check to Balance). Dozens of people here have
frozen to death, with dozens more near death
from the cold.
Five elite gelugons are moving among the
people here, heedless of the cold, but they
attack the heroes immediately and fight to the
death. Afterwards, heroes who succeed on a
DC 25 Medicine check realize that many
survivors are still alive because they’ve been
recently bundled up very carefully; a hero who
critically succeeds at this check realizes that the
devils were the ones carefully bundling the
people, although it isn’t immediately clear why
the devils would care whether people froze to
death.
1
1
fallen piece of the bridge under which the
almshouse was built blocks the door; a
successful DC 36 Athletics check is required to
budge it. Inside are the half-dozen or so
volunteers and patients who fled from the
terrifying howls of the attacking wendigos,
only to be trapped by falling debris. They
provide the heroes with a greater winter wolf
1 elixir as gratitude for their assistance. The
presence of the devils is a mystery to them.

Having rescued the old halfling man, Brenna
returns with a strange story. She says the
wendigo seemed particularly amused by her
battle-cries to the Sun-Mother during their
fight. The wendigo taunted Brenna about
ENCOUNTER 1D foolishly following a disguised devil and told
The almshouse storeroom is barricaded, but her the church is spreading the reaper’s plague
pounding and shouts from the other side alert to claim souls, rather than curing it. The
the heroes that people are stuck in there. A wendigos have come to prey on the
population, but they upset the devil’s carefully
concealed plans in doing so. If the heroes
hadn’t previously convinced Brenna about
Hjalmar’s true nature, she now realizes they’re
correct and apologies for her blindness.
Further proof is soon at hand: because the
gelugons didn’t return, the cult has sent one of
their dread executioners, a red reaper, to finish
the job. This armored figure strides into the
almshouse, intones, “No survivors,” and utters
a litany in Infernal that causes the dead in here
to rise as a warsworn. Both the executioner and
the warsworn fight until destroyed.
1
PART 2: CORRUPTED CATHEDRAL

R The heroes should realize that the cult of the
Red Crown is strongest in the Luminous
Cathedral. However, the public areas of the
cathedral are also where hundreds of suffering
1 townspeople are housed while they waste
away from the plague, so the heroes can’t be
indiscriminate in their attacks if they want to F
avoid harming innocents. Brenna wants to
come with them but realizes that alerting all
the other genuine worshippers about
Hjalmar’s duplicity is more important. She
gives them two major healing potions and plans
to rejoin the heroes as soon as soon as she can.

The Luminous Cathedral is a lofty, impressive
building carved with huge sun symbols that ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 17)
radiate a golden light. Wails and cries of Two enormous metal statues of the angelic
suffering people echo from the building. The Sun-Mother grace the temple entrance, but
wide, cold yard around the Luminous these statues are now two iron golems co-
Cathedral has been converted into an opted to serve Red Crown. A red reaper
impromptu cemetery, where shallow pits hold stationed here joins them in attempting to repel
hundreds of recently deceased. These dead do the heroes.
not rest easily; two elite warsworns rise up
when the heroes enter the temple grounds,
sensing that the heroes oppose Red Crown.
Some of the bodies wear tabards of the Sun-
Mother—these are former guards who were
replaced when Balzzevarian took over as
Hjalmar.
1
1
1
2
1
and a vulture. Efzendar shushes the heroes
when they arrive, giving them a sly wink and
whispering, “Mustn’t reveal our secret!” before
1 attacking. Hanging over the altar is a greater
thurible of revelation.

The main temple area has been converted into
a grim hospital. Two red reapers walk up and
down the rows of the sick, anointing them
with foul-smelling herbs and making prayers R
to Red Crown. These executioners then
murder the sick victims just before they die of 1
disease, to claim their souls with the greatest
suffering and despair. They attack as soon as 1
they realize the heroes are present. There are
so many injured people here that the room is 1
difficult terrain. This room has an access to the
nave (which is blocked off by a heavy wooden 1
screen), the crypts below, and the solarium
level above.

The vaulted chancel is screened off because the
altar at is end has been wholly converted to
diabolic worship. Symbols of diabolism and
red crowns adorn the chancel. The keeper of
this unholy place is Efzendar, a rare beast
resembling a cross between a massive wolf
2

1
In the cathedral's crypt, the cult unearths the
skulls of saints and infuses them with souls of
evil wizards consigned long ago to Hell. A red ENCOUNTER 2F (MODERATE 17)
reaper and two gelugons are here, working The cult keeps prepared skulls in this chamber
over the defiled grave of a long-dead paladin until they can be assigned to a red reaper. Four
of the Sun-Mother. The paladin’s impenetrable demiliches here are currently in torpor. Each
scale is heaped in a corner of the crypt. has a ring bolted into the top of its skull, as
though to hold a chain or rope. In addition to
their demilich eye gems, they have a vial of
king’s sleep as treasure.
1
R
1
The long upper hall outside the solarium is
lined with statues of saints chipped and
broken to give them fangs, stubby crowns, and
other fiendish embellishments. A red reaper is
here, holding a demilich at the end of a 15-foot
chain by a socket at the top of its skull. The
two fight together well, the demilich
supporting the reaper as best it can with its
spells. The reaper doesn’t willingly let go of
the chain; while she holds it, the demilich can’t
go more than 15 feet from her.

The antechamber before the solarium looks
like an orrery, with grooves on the ceiling
where rods bearing miniature planets move
about a central metal globe burning orange-
hot. The globe is an adamantine golem and the
1
grooves contain a vorpal executioner trap.
Both are designed to keep intruders out of the
solarium.
The vorpal executioner trap activates as
soon as the adamantine golem is reduced to 0
Hit Points, and it doesn't attack the
adamantine golem as it scythes throughout the
room. 1
One of the planets is a flame navette.
ENCOUNTER 2I (SEVERE 17)
The solarium is a sun-drenched patio shielded
from the weather by horizontal walls of force
across the top of the vaulted, 40-foot high
space. Several mundane telescopes with
smoked glass, used for observing the sun,
stand around the room. Balzzevarian, a pit
fiend, is here in the form of Hjalmar the Stern.
When the heroes approach, he uses his
impressive Deception to insist there has been
1 some sort of misunderstanding, although the
heroes aren’t likely fooled—particularly
1 because “Hjalmar” wears a large red crown on
his head. If confronted with the truth,
Balzzevarian realizes that the heroes were the
ones who uncovered his true name. He reverts
to his natural form to eradicate them and
neither offers nor asks for mercy. The heavy
red crown is a diadem of intellect that must grant
Religion as its first skill and Infernal as its first
language (if the investing user doesn’t already
have them). Several chests around the room
contain the devil’s other treasures: a major
juggernaut mutagen, a scroll of weapon of
judgment, and a wand of slaying (8th). Most
significant is a steel strongbox containing a
silver ingot with an intricate shape: the missing
sigil of the breaching rune.
R
R 1
1
CONCLUSION
With the false Hjalmar exposed, Brenna Eyisjr
becomes the head of the Church of the Sun-
Mother in all the Northfells—an honor she
publicly credits to the heroes as she gifts them
1 each a 17th-level (or lower) item of their choice.
Brenna arranges to deliver the cure to the
reaper’s plague across Kolsvatni, and any
remaining members of the Cult of Red Crown
are captured.
The heroes now have all the elements of
the breaching rune and can return to Jortoft so
Hansdirk Koladsfar can complete it. He scribes
the rune onto each hero’s skin in a place they
choose; it functions as a permanently invested
magic item but doesn’t count towards a hero’s
number of invested items. A hero bearing a
breaching rune can enter any area warded solely
by magic, including the Skaldwood.
F
CHAPTER 18: THE RIMEFALL
CONSEQUENCE
The heroes can attempt to use their breaching ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 18)
runes to enter the Skaldwood anywhere The heroes arrive at Rimefall to see the town in
(although just north of the Bravado Bastion, ruins. Although the destruction looks recent,
from Chapter 10, is most likely), yet they still thorny vines have grown over the entire town.
cannot pass through the misty border. The These are four elite wemmuths, fertilized by
night hag Kesenna and the scholar Gendal Ink- the blood of the murdered townspeople.
Hand have since met up with each other,
possessing the common cause of aiding the
heroes’ efforts to save the Northfells. Their
work has become, to both their surprise, a
romantic attachment.
Kesenna and Gendal approach the heroes
together to let them know that Treereaver has
strengthened the magical ward around the
Skaldwood, traveling around its perimeter and
reinforcing it with his deific power. The only
way to pierce it is to enter via a passage
Treereaver doesn’t know, and Gendal and
Kesenna have discovered one. An
underground passage leads beneath the 1
Rimefall at the Skaldwood’s western border
and opens into the Skaldwood.
1
PART 1: TOWN IN RUINS
R
The Aurora River empties into the northern
sea at a truly titanic waterfall called Rimefall.
Rimefall is 220 feet high and has carved its
channel over exceptionally durable stone. The 1
fishing town at the top of the falls, also called 2
Rimefall, is on the east bank. The town was
unknowingly established on the ruins of a
prison built by inhuman wardens to keep truly
dangerous creatures locked away. Learning of
these ruins, a linnorm came to Rimefall, easily
slaughtered the town’s inhabitants, and now
seeks entrance to get the treasures it is certain ENCOUNTER 1B
are in the prison. The heroes meet the town’s only survivor, an
elderly, blind poet named Tafris. Tafris hid in
his basement, but he heard the attack clearly,
including the monstrous bellowing of two
creatures (not realizing it was a single two-
headed creature). They were shouting in
Draconic, a language Tafris knows, demanding
to know where the treasures in the ruins were
kept. Tafris knows this must be the ruins the
town was built over, which he believes are a
prison built by inhuman creatures long ago.
For finding him and listening to him, Tafris
presents the heroes with a valuable treasure he
has long kept safe: a dispelling sliver.

The squalid shacks built over the prison ruins
are all flattened, and the elite tarn linnorm is
still here. It’s unearthed a collapsed entrance a
dozen feet across, but even this wide entrance
is still much too narrow to admit the frustrated
R
linnorm. It attacks the heroes as soon as it
knows they’re there, starting with its twin
breath weapons. It fights to the death.
1
1
3
1
PART 2: WARDEN LEVEL

The entrance descends 100 feet into the rock
beneath the town of Rimefall and then west,
under the Aurora River itself. The stone
rumbles constantly with the weight of water
passing overhead. The ancient prison is made
of cleverly fitted stones that have survived
millennia and kept dry, even here beneath the
1 river. Carvings show the enormous rhinoceros-
1 headed, four-armed humanoids that must have
built this place. All the corridors and rooms are
at least 40 feet wide and tall.
Two adamantine golems, each carved to look
like the rhinoceros-headed, four-armed
builders, grind into action for the first time in
millennia to stop the heroes. Near their alcoves
is a plaque showing the layout of the upper 1
prison level (all encounters in Part 2).
ENCOUNTER 2B
An armory has a vorpal executioner trap on
the room outside it. Inside the armory are
strange three-bladed greatswords of ancient
workmanship that are unusable except by
massive, four-armed creatures. As antiques,
the nine swords are worth 1,000 gp each. The
room also contains a +3 major striking starknife
and two spellstrike bolts (9th).
1
R

An open arena looks to be a place where
prisoners were processed, but several large
1
tunnels pierce the floor. Two crimson worms
made these tunnels, and they burst up to
attack anyone moving across this large room.
1
Their tunnels lead to the flooded levels below.
2
1

This ominous and cavernous chapel is
dedicated to the Outer Gods that the prison
builders revered. It’s clear from wall carvings
that they made sacrifices here—but sacrifices
of indolent or inattentive guards, rather than
prisoners (who didn’t deserve the honor of
sacrifice and were instead annihilated in the
liquidation pits on the next lower level). A R
shoggoth that has laired here since the time of
the original builders remains, along with two
warsworns made of the bodies of the sacrificed
prison guards. A third eye is inset into the wall
on the back of this room, beneath abhorrent 1
symbols of reverence.
1
1
1
F
3
F
This prison guard room has a few old stone
benches and tables, all big enough for the four
rune giants currently lairing here. They came
with the blue dragon Alphempiar and are here
keeping out of his way; they attack the heroes
immediately to prove themselves valuable to
their employer. Each wears a heavy jeweled
armband worth 4,000 gp. Their bundled
equipment indicates they haven’t been here
1
very long, and contains a major quicksilver
mutagen, a major healing potion, and a major
alchemist’s fire.
1 1
1 Alphempiar sighs, motions for his rune giants
to attack, and fights with his spells while
hanging back. Alphempiar teleports away if
reduced to fewer than 100 Hit Points. He then
warns Treereaver out of spite, which has
consequences in Part 4.
The warden’s office contains the door to the
prison vault. The dragon Alphempiar learned
through divinations that the vault holds great
treasure, so it teleported here with several rune
giant mercenaries (teleporting into the vault
isn’t possible). The ancient blue dragon is a
spellcasting dragon who knows teleport rather
than feeblemind, and he is accompanied by two
rune giants. Each giant wears a heavy jeweled
armband worth 4,000 gp. The giants are
currently carving away at the stone around the
vault door to get inside, as the vault door has
proven too tough to get through. Alphempiar
has no interest in dying at the heroes’ hands
and is quick to strike a deal. If the heroes let
him get the vault open, which will take
another hour or so of work, he’ll take a single
item of his choice from anything behind the
door and depart peacefully. Alphempiar
doesn’t know what’s in the vault, and if there’s R
only one thing, he reasons, that’s his good
fortune. If the heroes don’t want the deal,
1
1
ENCOUNTER 2G
The vault is warded against teleportation
magic, and it has a superior lock (DC 40, six
successes) that can only be manipulated by a
creature legendary with Thievery (it resists all
other attempts). The vault contains an
enormous diamond worth 6,500 gp, a greater
breastplate of command, a greater ring of maniacal
devices, and a wishing luck blade that is a scythe
rather than a shortsword. If the heroes made a
deal with Alphempiar, the dragon takes the
2 luck blade.
PART 3: THE FLOODED PRISON

The prisoner level is another 100 feet below the
upper prison level. A crack in the walls here
has opened these levels to Rimefall and, over
time, the falling water has wholly submerged
the former prisoners’ levels. The heroes need to
breathe water and swim to navigate these
rooms and corridors. In addition, the rooms
count as severe cold (2d6 cold damage every
hour) due to the chill in the water, but they
aren’t frozen over.

A collection of cells used for solitary
confinement all have their metal doors
wrenched off. Six azure worms lair here, and
each comes out of its own confinement cell to R
feed on intruding heroes. They fight to the
death. 1

This mess hall is cavernous and lit by magical
globes in the ceiling that still provide light,
despite being crusted with bits of ice. A
baomal swims in this open area between the
cells, feeding from the enchanted food
R
generation nozzles that still function, even
though they are both ancient and submerged
in icy water. The baomal found its way here
when it was smaller and is now too large to
leave. It aggressively fights any creature
entering its domain.
2
creatures (mostly the rhinoceros-headed
creatures, but other strange creatures as well)
still float in the water here. A massive statue of
one of the builders is here; it is a guthallath
programmed to kill any sapient creature
entering the liquidation pits. It uses its
annihilation beams as often as possible. A
single azure worm swims around, nibbling on
1 the corpse pieces; the guthallath doesn’t
consider it a target, and it fights intruders to
1 protect its feeding ground.

The liquidation pits were used to dispose of
the worst prisoners, along with prisoners who
died. The room contains a necromantic effect
that preserves the dead until they can be
annihilated utterly; as a result, chunks of dead
The west end of the prison level has collapsed,
leading to a series of natural underground
chambers in the rock. Two krakens lair in the
largest of these chambers and aggressively
defend their lair against intruders. Their
treasure includes a scattering of 11,346 gp in
gems, a pearl-encrusted crown worth 1,500 gp,
and a potion of undetectability.
1
1
3
end your lives.” If the heroes defeat the grim
reaper, they can keep the luck blade for
themselves—although the reaper might return
1 in a different incarnation to try to claim it from
them in the future.
PART 4: CONSEQUENCES
After navigating the flooded levels, the heroes
can exit the ancient passages only 20 feet above
the northern sea; more importantly, they’re
now inside Treereaver’s magical ward and can
ascend back up the 200 feet to the west side of
the falls and enter the forest. Alternatively,
they can drop into the frigid sea and swim a
mile or so west and step out into the forest
where the ground is lower.

The heroes have one final encounter before R
they can rest and regroup in Treereaver’s
domain. If the heroes fought the dragon
Alphempiar and he escaped to warn
Treereaver, they face a strike team consisting
of an elite marilith and four shemhazians.
This group fights to the death to stop the
heroes. Otherwise, Alphempiar took the luck
blade and tried to bargain it back to its rightful
owner, a grim reaper. But once the reaper had 1
its weapon in hand, it slew Alphempiar and is
working its way back to anyone Alphempiar
knew. When it appears in front of the heroes, it 1
utters, “None shall know that I suffered the
indignity of losing my blade, and it shall now
2
1
1
1
CONCLUSION
Now within the Skaldwood, the heroes’ next
step is to find and defeat Treereaver.
R
CHAPTER 19: PILLARS OF
CORRUPTION
In the Skaldwood, the heroes must locate anchor Treereaver’s domain to the Northfells.
Treereaver and determine how best to confront It attempts to consume any creatures that come
him. The Skaldwood spans hundreds of miles near.
of untamed forest, so finding Treereaver’s seat
of power seems a daunting task. Spells such as
stone tell and rituals like commune with nature
can identify loci of corruption, as can a
successful DC 37 Nature or relevant Lore
check (such as Forest Lore).
The corruption in the Skaldwood is
pervasive but not absolute. The heroes can
generally find safe places to rest and food to
eat, but any intruder in the Skaldwood is
subject to the effects of the Abyssal plague spell
each time they eat food from the Skaldwood or
take a serious injury (20 or more points of
damage from a single attack). The DC of this
save is normally 36, but you should feel free to
increase or decrease this DC based on
circumstances. The DC reduces by 2 for each
pillar the heroes purify, and dissipates entirely
shortly after they purify the last of the six
corrupted pillars.
PART 1: THE FIRST PILLAR F

It doesn’t take the heroes much searching
around before they come upon a twisting spire
of blackened, rotted vegetation thrusting from
the ground like an infected tooth. This pillar
rises above the treetops in the northeastern
section of the Skaldwood, only a few miles
from Rimefall. It is about 150 feet high and 20 1
feet in diameter.
2
A mu spore hovers near the ground at the base
of the pillar, keeping it intact so it can serve to
purified, it melts away to be replaced by a
healthy sapling bearing a single fruit that
functions as a true elixir of life. If the heroes
2 don’t know this ritual, Jargiggen tells them that
elder spirits collected rituals in the House of
Lore, many miles away; this is Part 7, and the
heroes could approach this location any time
they need a ritual they don’t currently possess.
At your discretion, spells such as wish or primal
phenomenon might allow characters who lack
appropriate skill training for a ritual to
R perform the ritual as though they possessed
the requisite skill training.
1 PART 2: THE PILLAR OF BONES

The northernmost pillar is nearest to the great
northern sea. It resembles a stack of bleached
1 bones from thousands of animals and fey slain
in this region.
ENCOUNTER 1B ENCOUNTER 2A (MODERATE 19)

When the heroes defeat the mu spore, a The region around this pillar is devoid of life,
desperate sprite named Jargiggen flits down as the skulltaker and three lesser deaths that
from the top of the pillar, wiping his hands on guard it regularly kill any creatures in the area
his ragged tunic. Jargiggen explains that he to add their bones to the pillar. They discover
was “treed” by the mu spore and has spent the and attack the heroes as well.
last several weeks at the top of the gross pillar,
afraid the monster would spot him if he tried
to get away. He knows that nearly all the fey of
the Skaldwood have sworn allegiance to a
corrupting demon creature called Treereaver;
canny Jargiggen is one of the rare holdouts,
mostly because he’s beneath the notice of other
creatures in the wood. From his position at the
top of the pillar and the few clear days during
that time, he saw that there are six such pillars
around the Skaldwood.
The heroes can address the other five
pillars (which are Parts 2 through 6) in
whichever order they choose. The pillars are
dozens of miles apart. Jargiggen only saw
them from a distance but can give a basic
description of each to help the heroes decide.
ENCOUNTER 1C
Destroying this pillar requires purifying it with
a plant growth ritual. When the pillar is
1
1
R
1 R
ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 19) 1

Several of the creatures whose bones make up
the pillar are seafaring elves who lived their
reclusive lives far away from others in the
Northfells. When the heroes begin the process
of purifying this pillar, four banshees issue
forth to stop them, believing (incorrectly) that
their souls will be destroyed if their bones are
purified. Any hero who successfully identifies
the abilities of these banshees also learns that
the banshees are bound by this lie. A hero who
then succeeds at a DC 41 Diplomacy check or
DC 39 Religion check (each made as a 3-action
activity) can convince a banshee of the truth
and drive it away. On a critical success, the
hero convinces two banshees; on a critical
failure, the remaining banshees all focus their 2
ire on that hero, whom they deem a liar.
1
ENCOUNTER 2C
Purifying this pillar not only requires the plant
growth ritual, but also consecrate (in either
order). When purified, its sapling produces a
fruit that functions as a major healing potion.

The skulltaker guarding the pillar is one of a
cabal of these wise yet wicked creatures.
Within a day after the heroes leave this pillar, 1
two elite skulltakers catch up with them,
opening with Splintered Ground before
moving in for the kill.
PART 3: THE SCORCHED PILLAR
The northwestern pillar looks like a charred
mass of dead fungal matter looming over the
forest. The area around it for several hundred
feet is burned away and bears open fissures of
lava.

A tor linnorm claims the area around this
pillar and attacks all who approach (even
Treereaver’s demons, as it detests and only
grudgingly serves the demon lord). The
linnorm has a small hoard piled near the pillar:
six carved obsidian wedges worth 1,500 gp
each, gold and silver coins fused together in a
mass weighing 9 Bulk and worth 3,000 gp, and
wand of smoldering fireballs (9th level).
ENCOUNTER 3B
Purifying this pillar requires both the plant
growth ritual and the control weather ritual to
bring in unseasonably cold weather across the
blackened land. When purified, its sapling
produces a long thorn that functions as a
R
spellstrike arrow (9th).
PART 4: THE PILLAR OF ROT

1
The southwestern pillar is a fungus-encrusted
mass rising above the pine trees.
1
1 The land around this pillar is a profusion of
sickly fungal growths; before they reach the
pillar itself, the heroes pass through an area
where a terotricus and four wemmuths lurk,
waiting to ambush any creatures passing by.
2
1
1
1 1
1
2
2

The pillar itself is obscured by the cloud of
poisonous spores it exudes. The area within a
hundred feet of the pillar exudes a toxic aura
identical to a terotricus’s Spore Cloud that also
acts as obscuring mist. Two terotricuses lurk
amid the spores and hungrily attack intruders.
ENCOUNTER 4C
Purifying this pillar requires first the blight
ritual to extinguish the fungus, then the plant
growth ritual to restore healthy life to the area.
When purified, its sapling produces a fruit that
functions as an elixir of rejuvenation.
PART 5: THE PILLAR OF FLESH

The southernmost pillar is made of fungus-
encrusted flesh speared on a towering pole.
Many of the corpses in this pillar are Green
Reach Bards or other allies of the forest: thus,
the pillar stands as a grotesque testament to
Treereaver’s cruelty and power.

The obvious guardian of this pillar is an
adamantine golem. When this guardian begins
combat, great sheets of corpses peel away from
the pillar to fight as three warsworns. The
1 golem avoids catching the warsworns in its
vented steam. These foes fight intruders until
destroyed.
1
1
1 1
3
ENCOUNTER 5B
growth and atone rituals (in either order),
sending the lost souls that constitute the
warsworns on to their final rewards. When
purified, its sapling produces a gourd
containing a potion of undetectability.
PART 6: THE DRAGON PILLAR
The southeastern pillar is a spire of rotted
vegetation, similar to the first pillar the heroes
encountered. Jargiggen has occasionally seen a
massive winged reptile soaring around it.
ENCOUNTER 6A (SEVERE 19) R

Treereaver entrusted one of the pillars to the
R
care of two ancient red dragons, greedy and
powerful siblings named Kurzaxishall and
Venshishax. Kurzaxishall was happy to do so
in exchange for a small hoard of treasure, but
Venshishax is a fundamentally treacherous
creature and has been examining the pillar for
secrets of how to co-opt Treereaver’s power.
All Venshishax has been able to do is put the
pillar into temporal stasis with a ritual akin to 1
imprisonment; Treereaver can’t draw power
from the pillar, but neither can Venshishax. 1
When the heroes arrive, Kurzaxishall plainly
wants to fight, but Venshishax first engages in 1
conversation to learn more about the pillars.
When it’s clear the heroes don’t have any 1
useful information (or, worse, that they want
to destroy the pillars), the dragons insist that
the heroes turn over all their treasure in
exchange for their lives. If the heroes don’t
comply, the dragons attack. Their hoard 2
consists of 45,100 sp, 16,809 gp, 1,130 pp, a
diamond-studded bracelet worth 3,000 gp,
four icons of demons worth 9,500 gp each, a
frost brand, and a ring of spell turning.
2
1
ENCOUNTER 6B
growth and freedom rituals (in either order).
When purified, its sapling produces sap that
functions as antimagic oil.
PART 7: THE HOUSE OF LORE

Made from the boughs of a single great pine
tree that shroud this part of the forest like a
massive hall, the House of Lore has long been
a repository for natural wisdom. It has been
tended by fey lorekeepers, nearly all of whom
were slaughtered by Treereaver shortly after
he arrived. The heroes might need to come
here to seek rituals to purify the pillars of
corruption around the Skaldwood.

The House of Lore is now occupied by some of
Treereaver’s most powerful forces. Two
mariliths and three shemhazians lurk in the
building’s entry, ready to ambush visitors.
2
2
R
2
1
1
1
R
1
1
An elite pleroma looks over some of the
ancient scrolls in a reading room. The creature
is looking for clues to solve mysteries in the
cycle of creation and destruction. Trawling
sources of mortal lore is shameful for the aeon,
but Treereaver’s offer to share the House of
Lore’s archives was too good to pass up. To
maintain the aeons’ reputation among mortals,
the pleroma first attempts to deceive the
heroes as to its purpose, then attacks if its
deception doesn’t work.
2
(including how to access the rituals in the
library). Sarpo and Jargiggen are old friends,
and happy to be reunited.

The library at the heart of the House of Lore
doesn’t possess shelves of books, but rather
ancient trees whose leaves are scribed with
2 secret lore. A balor named Haskizok is
carefully reviewing these for information that
might aid Treereaver; the three mariliths who
accompany him would rather just burn the
place to the ground and be done with it. They
are bored and spoiling for a fight, which
Haskizok joins as well. This library contains
information about all the rituals in the
Pathfinder Core Rulebook, but finding each amid
the esoteric filing system requires 1 hour and a
successful DC 40 Society check to Decipher
Writing. Characters can instead use Nature to
Decipher Writing for this purpose, although
Sarpo can point the heroes to each ritual
without a check. One of the leaves that
Haskizok already carries is a scroll of primal
phenomenon.
ENCOUNTER 7C
One of the branches of the House of Lore is
hollow, and a pixie named Sarpo Pollen-
Chaser is currently hiding in it. Sent as an
acolyte to the venerable fey lorekeepers in the
hope of developing her appallingly short
attention span, Sarpo is the only survivor of
the demon attack. Having to hide from the
demons has forced her to develop patience and
focus in ways her acolyteship never did, but
she’s not yet discovered a way to escape the
House of Lore undetected. She immediately
puts herself in the heroes’ care, trusting them
to rescue her. In exchange, she provides a
lavender and green ellipsoid aeon stone and all the
information about the House of Lore she has R
F
1
CONCLUSION
1 Eliminating the final pillar gives the heroes a
psychic flash identifying the location of the
Blighted Grove, the locus of Treereaver’s
power in the Skaldwood. Although they
should rest and prepare for their ultimate
confrontation, they know where Treereaver
lairs.
F
CHAPTER 20: HEART OF THE
SKALDWOOD
The heroes have destroyed the six Pillars of move. Two corrupted tarn linnorms slither
Corruption in the Skaldwood and weakened from the pool at the waterfall’s base to attack
Treereaver. They have also learned the location anyone who dares to disturb Treereaver. They
of the blighted grove from which the demon fiercely defend the ancient entrance at the base
lord extends his corruption across the of the waterfall. The corpse of a dead Green
Northfells. In the chapter, the heroes confront Reach Bard that made it this far still wears
Treereaver and conclude the Skaldwood Blight bracers of armor type III and has a +3 major
Adventure Path. striking rapier belted at its side.
PART 1: ASCENT TO THE BLIGHTED

GROVE
The sprite Jargiggen points the way to
Treereaver's Blighted Grove; it’s at the head of
a polluted river called the Rotsump. A noxious
waterfall pours the poisonous waters of the
Rotsump off a tall cliff, drifting its fetid air
across the Skaldwood. Although the heroes
probably have the means to simply fly up the
cliff and fight Treereaver directly, Jargiggen
warns the heroes that Treereaver will certainly
detect that approach and call his nearby allies
to defend him. Jargiggen instead suggests they
instead traverse the ancient passages built into
the cliff to defeat Treereaver’s closest allies
ahead of time and to take the demon lord by
surprise. Jargiggen knows only that the R
passages were constructed by long-dead
humans who were stalwart champions of life,
which is probably why the malevolent 1
Treereaver chose the site for his corruptive
influence. 1
The cliffs at the base of the Blighted Grove are
filled with the miasmic spray from the
Rotsump waterfall. This acts as a permanent
9th-level cloudkill spell (DC 40) that doesn't
2 3

The chambers in the cliff are enormous, ancient
passages 30 to 60 feet wide with massive doors
1
made of greasy stone that are stuck with
1
crusted grime and open only with difficulty
(Hardness 30, Hit Points 120, Athletics DC 40
to Force Open). The first hall contains portals
that lead to other worlds Treereaver has
befouled and destroyed before coming to the
Northfells. The slain guardians of these
worlds—now four elite banshees—linger near
the portals and attack anyone who examines
them, wailing in rage for their fallen worlds. 2
ENCOUNTER 1C
A forgotten chamber along one wall has been
overlooked by Treereaver’s forces. A successful
DC 40 Perception check is required to locate it,
although characters Investigating the carvings
along the walls need only succeed at a DC 30
Perception check instead. The chamber
contains the mummified bodies of several
ancient human warriors, interred with their
R
regalia. This includes a suit of +3 major resilient
greater fortification high-grade orichalcum full
plate, a weapon known as the stormhammer (a
skyhammer that deals electricity damage rather
than fire damage on a critical hit and allows
the struck creature no save), and a supreme
sturdy shield with a hardness of 30 rather than
20 against slashing attacks.
1 ENCOUNTER 1D (MODERATE 20)

A massive spiral stair surrounds a sump of
filthy water leaking from a ball of congealed
pestilence hanging in the air. This functions as
an armageddon orb trap that deals poison
damage rather than fire damage; it triggers if
Treereaver is slain (which heroes Investigating
the orb discover with a successful DC 40
Nature or Religion check). Further, disabling
the trap eliminates the swamp of sloth effect in
Part 2. Two titanic guardians made of pitted
obsidian and filth-crusted stone—two
guthallaths carved to resemble 40-foot tall
demons—guard this spiral stair and attack
from above and below when the heroes enter.
When the trap is disabled, its scattered 1
droplets can be collected into two doses of
tears of death poison.
1
R 1
3
As the heroes ascend to the Blighted Grove, the
stone of the ancient chambers becomes more
and more crusted with noxious fungus. At the
highest chamber, just before the entrance to the
clifftop grove, three terotricuses break free
from the walls and attack. After they’ve been
defeated, the heroes can identify an ancient
sunburst symbol of life and hope, which the
terotricuses were concealing. Manipulating the
symbol requires a successful DC 40 Nature or
Religion check or a DC 45 Thievery check.
Inside are two elixirs of rejuvenation in vials
marked with the same symbol.
1
PART 2: AGAINST TREEREAVER

2 Atop the Rotsump waterfall is the Blighted
Grove, Treereaver’s home in the Northfells.
The grove is surrounded by
twisted trees on all sides and
shadowed by an enormous rocky
hill made of the pitted, blackened
stone from which he crafted his
potent axe. The trees are all marked
with Treereaver’s symbol, a rune
resembling a fungus-covered axe.
The churning and roiling soil of
this area is affected by a permanent
swamp of sloth effect, though the
heroes might have deactivated this
by disarming the trap in the
passages below.
ENCOUNTER 2A (EXTREME 20)

Even if the heroes come through
the passages within the hill to face
him, Treereaver stands ready for
them. He raves about how none
shall stop his corruption of the
Northfells and the rest of the world
beyond, and he chides the heroes for their
foolishness and impertinence in facing him 1
here, in the seat of his new domain. Villainous
monologuing aside, Treereaver attacks with
the best of his ability, spreading out his attacks
and using his Defoliation ability once at least
half of the heroes are afflicted by his Aura of
Corruption.
1
1
CONCLUSION
With Treereaver’s defeat, the heroes have
stopped the most dangerous force in the
Northfells. The allies they’ve made along the
way, such as Brenna Eyisjr, Gendal Ink-Hand,
and High Jarl Arvid, shower them with
accolades and titles. The heroes can retire in
comfort in the Northfells they have worked so
hard to save.

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THE SKALDWOOD BLIGHT

Summary 3 Chapter 10: The Demon Lord’s Barrier 105

AUTHOR: RON LUNDEEN

The following backgrounds are particularly

The heroes all begin in the town of

PART 1: AN EXPLOSIVE BEGINNING

The heroes return to Fallinghollow to meet

PART 2: DUERGAR SUPPORT

PART 1: ASSAULT ON THE VILLAGE

PART 2: THE CATFOLK THICKET

PART 3: THE REDCAP THIEVES

containing a moderate alchemist's fire, a

PART 1: ON THE TRAIL ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 5)

PART 4: SILVERBLADES SAWMILL

The heroes’ best lead to find the Cult of Red

In gratitude for saving her, Torhild gives

ENCOUNTER 3B (MODERATE 6 AND

PART 1: THE RIVER ROAD

PART 4: THE ASPEN QUEEN’S GROVE

Morovosh, free to demonstrate his

PART 4: ZARVENDISHAR’S LAIR

The deepest, most central area of the Direwood 1

In the previous adventure, the heroes learned ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 10)

PART 1: SEEKING THE BARD-RANGERS

ENCOUNTER 1B (MODERATE 10)

ENCOUNTER 1C (SEVERE 10)

If the heroes haven’t already been to the

The Bravado Bastion is plainly in bad shape, 1

ENCOUNTER 2I (MODERATE 10)

ENCOUNTER 1B (MODERATE 11)

PART 2: DEADLY WATERS

ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 11)

ENCOUNTER 2C (MODERATE 11)

ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 11)

ENCOUNTER 3B (MODERATE 11)

ENCOUNTER 3C (MODERATE 11)

ENCOUNTER 3D (MODERATE 11)

1 ENCOUNTER 4B (SEVERE 11)

ENCOUNTER 4D (SEVERE 11)

PART 1: WEDDING PLANNERS

ENCOUNTER 1A (MODERATE 12)

ENCOUNTER 1B (MODERATE 12)

PART 2: THE LOWER MANOR

ENCOUNTER 2A (MODERATE 12)

ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 12)

ENCOUNTER 2C (SEVERE 12)

ENCOUNTER 2D (MODERATE 12)

ENCOUNTER 2E (MODERATE 12)

PART 3: THE UPPER MANOR

R ENCOUNTER 3A (MODERATE 12)

1 ENCOUNTER 3B (MODERATE 12)

ENCOUNTER 3C (MODERATE 12)

3. AN OMINOUS TOWER: ENCOUNTER 1C 1

4. A HUMANOID STATUE BEARING A

7. A CLOCKTOWER WITH EIGHT NUMBERS

8. A YAWNING CAVE MOUTH: ENCOUNTER

PART 2: HEART OF THE MAZE

ENCOUNTER 2A (MODERATE 13)

wemmuth lurks in this garden, woven around

ENCOUNTER 2B (MODERATE 13)