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In my Age of Worms campaign the PCs have purchased and fixed up the abandoned mine office and are using it as their home. Finally, over the many weeks of adventuring through The Whispering Cairn and The Three Faces of Evil, the house is cleaned up, and mostly repaired. I made one important change to the cellar: the stairs that lead down to a collapsed area had been converted to a closet. The stairs were completed filled in, packed down, and resurfaced, so the area would look like a 5x20 storage area.
As the PCs were getting ready to meet with Alustan (with a job offer to lead into Encounter at Blackwall Keep), the PCs heard a scream from the basement, and they went to investigate. They found a young girl laying in the closet bleeding profusely from a large gash on her forearm. She appeared to have cut herself on a large ornamental door knocker that was hanging on the far end of the storage area.
The party druid used a heal check and bandaged the girl's arm, but the bleeding didn't slow. The druid did another heal check and determined that the wound wasn't responding to normal treatment and cast a cure light wounds, at which point the cut healed, and the bleeding stopped.
The PCs were alarmed at the strange wound, and did a thorough search of the area. They found two things: the door knocker radiated faint evocation and good magic, and they noticed that the girl's blood seeped into the cracks of the stones and created an arc of a larger circle.
The PCs pulled up one of the stones and determined (through an architecture and engineering knowledge check) that this closet had at one time been filled and resurfaced. They asked the general contractor to get to work on digging up the room to see is something was buried, and they headed off to meet with Alustan.
After their meeting, Alustan cast identify on the door knocker and said that it had a permanent consecrate spell cast on it. The PCs grew suspicious of the young girl, since she appeared to be severly injured by an item radiating good magic, but when they investigated her, she was actually good-aligned.
In the two days that followed, the PCs discovered that the storage area was actually a set of stairs, but were told by the workers that it would take about 10 days to dig up properly, less if they hurried, but that might cause some structural damage.
Since the PCs were on their way to Blackwall Keep anyways, they told them not to hurry the job, and they would see what was down there when they returned.
When the PCs return, they will discover that the blood of the *virgin* girl awoke an evil that haunts a sub-basement. I'm going to use the "Bad Place" template from "Not for the Living" (by James Jacobs, Dragon #336). The PCs will have to rescue the workers and find a way to stop the haunting.
Time-wise, this adventure will take place somewhere around Halloween, so it should be extra-spooky!
Hehe. Awesome idea! I may just have to steal that and use it on my party. The last group was TPKed but the new batch is fixing to "come into possession" and may just notice something that the other group didn't. :)
Great idea! I also really loved James's article, and am looking for the right place to spring it on my players (including James himself!).
--Erik
Hopefully James will do well against a design of his own. One of my friends at work had to create a minimum proficiency test for everyone in the office to take once a year... and he failed it. His name became a verb, or a descriptive term, for anyone who failed a test that they wrote themselves.
I ran the side trek on Friday night, and it went really well.
I'm cleaning up the adventure that I used, and I'm going to post it later today or tomorrow. Anyone looking for something different for a Halloween-themed adventure, make sure you check it out.
The Cellar Door, by Casey “Big Jake” Jacobson
“The Cellar Door” is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure for four 7th- or 8th-level characters, but can be scaled to almost any party level (see “Scaling the Adventure” below). It is based on “Not for the Living” (by James Jacobs, Dragon #336) and draws from Heroes of Horror (Wizards of the Coast) and several horror movies for inspiration. It is written as a side trek adventure for the Age of Worms Adventure Path, but can be inserted into any game by inserting the cellar under a previously abandoned building.
This adventure differs from the “standard” fantasy style of play by emphasizing descriptive elements commonly associated with a horror book or film. If you don’t normally run horror-style encounters in your game, you may want to let your players know in advance that the tone of the session will be darker than usual. You can go as far as telling them that you plan on running a “haunted house” encounter, which will allow the players a chance to be in the right mindset for the adventure.
History: Niniane Fant, the wife of the previous mine manager Ulgo Fant, despised leaving her life of luxury to live in Diamond Lake with her new husband. Her vanity precluded her from mingling with the citizens of Diamond Lake, and she urged her husband to live as far from the town as possible. They converted the mine office into the two story house that it became, and she very rarely left the estate. As she grew older, she began to fear losing her looks and began searching for any means to extend her life and increase her beauty.
She discovered an ancient text, in one of her few trips to Diamond Lake, in a second-hand store. The proprietor claimed that some adventurers discovered the book while adventuring in a cairn across the lake. The text was complete gibberish, nothing more than stylized writings in various languages accompanied by obscure sketches. The real power was the book itself. It was searching for a tainted soul to teach its evil, and the book called to Niniane as she passed outside the shop.
The book taught Niniane on how to create an altar, and instructed her to sacrifice a virgin girl every month on the new moon. Niniane carefully selected homeless girls that would not be missed over the next several months as she began the sacrifices, but with each sacrifice, the book became stronger and was able to call young virgin women and girls from a great distance. The girls would call upon Niniane, and she would invite them into her home, then down into the cellar where they would succumb to another evil that was growing in the cellar, becoming docile accepting their fate on the altar.
Eventually, the heart called a young half-elf name Leilani, who was studying the worship of nature among the druids of the Bronzewood Lodge. Her disappearance caught the attention a small band of adventurers who decided to investigate, and they discovered the evil practices being performed under the mine office. They prepared a special magic item to destroy the evil taint in the cellar, but ultimately failed, though they managed to rescue young Leilani before the sacrifice on the new moon. Unable to defeat the heart, and unwilling to face the horrors again, the band buried the entrance to the cellar with Niniane and Ulgo still alive inside.
The remaining adventurers returned Leilani to the Bronzewood Lodge, and never spoke of the evil under the basement, or of the evil that they committed when they buried Niniane and her husband alive under their home. They circulated stories that the Ulgo and his wife left Diamond Lake on their own, a story that the people of Diamond Lake welcomed, having no love for the mine manager and his wife, and never investigated it further.
Without a sacrifice on the next new moon, the book quickly lost power, and went dormant once again. Leilani went on to live a long life, forgetting her experiences in the cellar, but was never fully cured of the book’s influence. When the cellar door was reopened, she again felt its call. She has started the sacrifices again, and has sacrificed one girl each night for the past three nights. She will sacrifice one more each night until the next new moon, which is just happens to be tonight.
Now: The cellar complex under the mine office is under the influence of two hauntings, a “bad place” and an “eidolon.” (See Dragon #336, Not for the Living, by James Jacobs.) The book is both an eidolon and the heart of the bad place. Destroying the book and casting dispel evil (or by using the specially created magic spike) will rid the cellar of both evil effects. The reach of the bad place extends to the basement of the mine office, but not beyond. The bad place haunting has a magnitude of 8, and the saving throws for the effects from the haunting are set at a DC 18. The eidolon haunting also has a magnitude of 8, with saving throw DC 18 for its effects. Female characters are particularly vulnerable to this haunting, and must make a Will Save each 30 feet they travel closer to the heart, or suffer 1d2 Wisdom drain. If a female character has her Wisdom score reduced to 0, she becomes docile, and simply begins to walk to Room 6 to await the call to be sacrificed.
Sacrifice Effects: Only a female humanoid can gain any benefits from sacrifices made on the altar (see Room 8), and only when the sacrifice is a virgin female humanoid. The sacrifice grants a bonus to Charisma equal to the magnitude of the eidolon. The Charisma bonus lasts until the next new moon. Multiple sacrifices during one lunar cycle do not increase the bonus to Charisma. However, each sacrifice made on a new moon raises the magnitude of both hauntings by 1, so the Charisma bonus increases to the new magnitude of the eidolon.
The woman performing the sacrifice also becomes younger with each sacrifice. She rejuvenates a number of years equal to the magnitude of the eidolon, until she appears as she did when she was 22. Multiple sacrifices in one lunar cycle increases the rate of rejuvenation, but multiple sacrifices in one night do not.
If a new sacrifice is not made on the next new moon, the woman ages 1d8 years each day (no saving throw allowed) until she reaches an age equal to her true age plus the magnitude of the eidolon. She also suffers 1d4 Charisma drain each day (no saving throw allowed) for a number of days equal to the number of sacrifices performed. A woman that is reduced to 0 Charisma dies and rises as a mohrg in 1d4 rounds.
Destroying the eidolon has different effects on the woman. She immediately ages 8 years per sacrifice performed and suffers 1d8 Charisma drain per sacrifice performed. A successful Fortitude save (against a DC of 10 plus the magnitude of the eidolon) changes the damage to 1d4 Charisma drain per sacrifice and she immediately ages 1d8 years beyond her actual age per sacrifice performed. A woman who dies as a result of the destruction of the eidolon does not rise as a mohrg.
Beginning the Adventure: This adventure begins as the PCs return to their house one evening after being away for at least a week. As they approach their house, they spot a man wearing green robes, face down in the center of the road. He is unconscious by loss of blood from what appears to be axe wounds, but is currently stable at -1 hp. The man is Gaithan, a young devotee to the Green Lady from across Diamond Lake.
Gaithan, Human male cleric 2: hp 16 (currently -1).
If revived, Gaithan tells the PCs that an evil has taken root in their cellar. He says that he came at the request of one of the carpenters that was working on the reconstruction of the mine office. The carpenter said that the other workers, along with some women that also work there, started acting strangely, and they all stopped what they were doing and went down into the cellar, which they just discovered earlier this week. The worker also told Gaithan about an elderly woman who came to the estate and went down into the basement as well. All of this happened three days ago.
Gaithan can relate the description of an elderly female half-elf dressed in dragonskin armor and a deer’s hoof around her neck on a leather necklace. Any PC that has been to the Bronzewood Lodge can recognize the description of Leilani, and know her to be a good-aligned cleric that venerates nature.
Gaithan also tells the PCs that the cultists had records that an evil site was once in the area, but its location was lost along with other valuable records in a cave-in nearly 40 years ago. He was sent to investigate the cellar to see if this could be the site. Gaithan entered the basement with the carpenter, but was attacked by him shortly after they made their way down into the basement, and he just barely escaped with his life. He describes that the worker’s eyes turned to “dead eyes” just before he attacked, but doesn’t know how it happened, and why he wasn’t affected the same way.
He knows little about what happened here 50 years ago, only that there was once an altar where virgin girls were sacrificed, and that the evil became stronger after each new moon. He now believes that the altar is in their cellar… and the new moon is tonight. He will not go back in the house, but instead says he is going back to warn the others of his order. There is no chance that he will be able to return before midnight, when he fears the next sacrifice will be made.
Map: The basement is from the map of the mine office detailed in the Wormfood article in Dragon #333. The stairwell and the eight rooms that follow are from the Undercrypt map, from the Map-a-Week 2003 (09/18) archives on Wizards.com. The rooms are numbered sequentially in order as they connect to the main hall.
Basement: Waiting for Mommy
As the PCs enter the basement of their house, they come into the range of the bad place. They can feel that something is difference here… something’s not right. The bad place is starting to intrude on the PCs being, and each suffers 1d4 Wisdom drain (Will save negates, DC 18).
The PCs notice trails of insects that make their way through the room down the stairs and into the cellar. They also see a little girl, maybe six years old, sitting lonely and scared near one of the comers. When they enter, she bravely stands up and curtsies to the masters of the house.
Major Image 1: The young girl is an illusion of Niniane when she was young, the first of eight major image spells that can be cast by the bad place. The primary goal of this illusion is to get people to enter the cellar. She attempts to do this by mixing truth with misinformation. When the PCs approach her, she shies away from them, saying that her mother doesn’t want men touching her “again”. She describes how the grown-ups all got vacant expressions and each of them made their way down into the cellar. She tells the PCs that her mother went down the stairs a couple of days ago and hasn’t come back, and that she was told to wait here. She says that she is afraid to go downstairs, but she’s afraid to disobey her mother by leaving the basement to look for help. If she the PCs ask her the girl her name, or the name of her mother, she says both of their names are Niniane. A successful knowledge local check or bardic knowledge DC 25 will reveal that the wife of the previous mine manager’s name was Niniane, and that the family left the area after the mine failed as a business. If any of the PCs discover that she is an illusion, she stands firmly and says “It doesn’t matter. You can’t help them… you can’t even help yourselves.” The image of the girl doesn’t disappear, and will continue to give omens of ill fate as long as the PCs are in the basement.
Stairwell: Descent into Darkness (EL 3)
A long, poorly constructed staircase leads down into the dark cellar below. The stairs sway slightly left and right at odd intervals, giving the appearance of a snake winding down a dark hole. The groan of wood against wood accents the poor condition of the stairs, generally causing shivers to go down the spines of those contemplating going down into the cellar.
Major Image 2: The swaying staircase is an illusion that covers the actual staircase. The false steps do not match the location of the real steps, creating an effective trap that may send the unwary tumbling down the 30 ft. stairwell.
Illusionary Stair Trap: CR 3; magic device; proximity trigger (detect thoughts); manual reset; DC 18 Reflex or Will save avoids; 30 ft. deep (3d6 fall); multiple targets (all targets on the staircase); Search DC 18; Disable Device DC 18.
Room 1: Left Overs (EL 5)
This large 30x40 foot storage room is filled with the stench of decay mingled with fresh blood. There are flies everywhere, enough to distract spell casters, who must succeed on a DC 18 concentration, check in order to cast any spells in this room.
Creatures: A pair of dire rats entered the cellar shortly after it was opened, and quickly grew in size. They occupy this room, gnawing on the very real remains of various body parts, as well of what may have been one of the PC’s pet animal. They seem content to chew on the various limbs that lie about, but they don’t hesitate to attack any creature that enters the room.
Advanced Dire Rats: CR 4; Large animal; HD 9d8+36; hp 76; Init +1; Spd 40 ft., climb 20 ft.; AC 14 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +6; Grap +16; Atk +11 melee (2d6+9 plus disease, bite); Full Atk +11 melee (1d8+6 plus disease, bite); Space/Reach 10 ft./5 ft.; SA disease; SQ darkvision 60 ft., scent; AL N; SV Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +7; Str 22, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 4, Monster Manual 64.
Skills: Climb +18, Hide +5, Move Silently +4, Swim +15.
Feats: Alertness, Improved Natural Armor, Improved Natural Attack, Endurance, Diehard.
Disease (Ex): Filth fever—bite, Fortitude DC 14, incubation period 1d3 days, damage 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con. The save DC is Constitution based.
Treasure: One of the casks is sealed and filled with scotch whiskey that’s been aging for over 50 years. The cask could fetch up to 5,000 gp if sold to a serious collector.
Room 2: Mirror Madness (EL 5)
A flicker of light shines from behind a large set of double doors near the bend of the tunnel. When the PCs open the doors, they see a woman pacing around the room, pausing to gaze at her reflection every time she passes a large mirror on the wall. The flicker of light comes from a glowing medallion that swings slightly from one of her bloody hands as she walks around the room. The woman must have been beautiful once, but she now looks quite horrific, with blood dripping off her fingers and down her dress. As she paces the room, she gives only minimal signs that she notices the PCs as they enter the room, and only gives brief side glances when the attempt to talk to her. She constantly runs her bloody fingers through her hair, leaving streaks of blood while pulling strands of hair from her head and absently putting it in her mouth. All the while, she sings quietly to herself, and though she appears to be in her late 30’s, her voice sounds like a little girl.
Major Image 3: The woman in this room is another illusion, that of Niniane as she was losing her beauty after she was buried in the cellar. The instant any of the PCs attempts to touch her, she fades away as if she had been made of mist, but the singing lingers on until the PCs leave the room.
Creature: A mimic resides in this room. It was originally brought here to lure interlopers away from the heart and as a convenient way to get rid of the bodies of the girls after they were sacrificed. It was sealed in the cellar along with Ulgo and Niniane, and it now serves the heart by attempting to lure away male characters. The mimic assumes the shape of a large, crude mirror and has attached itself to a wall directly over a pit trap.
Mimic: hp 52; Monster Manual 186.
Tactics: The mimic creates false reflections in the mirror, such as a reflection of a burning torch on the opposite wall that has no torch on it, or the image of treasure seemingly just on the other side of the mirror, in attempts to lure creatures over the pit trap. When a creature falls into the trap, the mimic crawls down the wall and attacks the weakened prey.
However, the mimic has recently fed and will not attack the PCs under any condition. Instead, after decades of no human company, it intends to enjoy the opportunity to “play” with living creatures again. As the PCs look into the mirror, the mimic creates the image of a small worm that drops from the ceiling onto the shoulder of one of the party members, preferably one that isn’t looking at the mirror. The worm immediately jumps off the character’s shoulder and into the character’s ear. At any time that everyone except the target PC are looking into the mirror, the PCs will notice things such as “evil tints” in the target PC’s eyes, or the worm momentarily emerging from his ear.
Development: Allow the target PC a DC 18 Will save a few rounds after the rest of the party expresses their concern. A failure results in the target PC becoming worried that something’s wrong, while a success results with the target PC becoming angry that the rest of the party is obviously wrong. A successful DC 18 heal check will show that nothing’s wrong with the target PC, but a failed check will also reveal that nothing appears to be wrong with him.
Ad Hoc XP Adjustment: Award each player 50 XP for roleplaying the scenario with the mimic. You might want to award more if the party comes to blows over it.
Wide-Mouth Spiked Pit Trap: CR 4; mechanical; location trigger; manual reset; DC 18 Reflex save avoids; 30 ft. deep (3d6, fall); multiple targets (first target in each of two adjacent 5-ft. squares); pit spikes (Atk +10 melee, 1d4 spikes per target for 1d4+2 each); Search DC 18; Disable Device DC 25.
Treasure: The mimic’s treasure (per the Monster Manual) lies in the bottom of the trap.
Room 3: Bloody Memoirs
This small study contains a nice wooden desk and a matching bookcase. There is an inkpen on the desk, next to a diary and an empty inkwell that is coated in dry blood. There is a tapestry decorating the wall over the bookcase, and a large picture over the desk. The picture seems to resemble one of the party members.
Major Image 4: The painting above the desk is an illusion covering an actual painting. The subject of the illusionary painting resembles one of the female PCs, or if there are no female PCs in the party, the subject could resemble a sister or mother of one of the PCs, or a female NPC that the party members are familiar with. The image of the subject gradually grows older, more beautiful, but resoundingly evil. Eventually the subject appears to experience pain, her face twisting from one grimace of pain to another, and the canvas itself begins to writhe and bubble, enhancing the sensation of pain. This continues for several seconds, at which point the subject in the painting screams and the canvas bursts, spewing blood across the entire room, coating the PCs with blood and gore. The warmth of the blood combined with the intense smell is overwhelming. Each PC must make a Fortitude save DC 18 or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds, at which time a second Fortitude save (DC 18) must be made or the PC is sickened for 4d6 hours. The blood disappears after 4 rounds, revealing another picture on the wall, a picture of Niniane when she was a young girl, sitting on a garden swing.
Treasure: The tapestry depicts a young maiden amidst a field in harvest (400 gp value). The painting of Niniane is of fine quality (80 gp). Niniane used the desk to store the jewelry she took from the girls that she sacrificed. The jewelry consists of a set of silver earrings (20 gp) and a matching necklace (45 gp), and a child-sized charm bracelet made out of a soft steel alloy (5 sp). Niniane’s diaries are also here. The early ones describe her own history, then how she found the book and started the sacrifices. The last book, the one on the desk, contains writings she continued after death, and shows her descent into madness. It appears to be written in blood. After Niniane was buried in the cellar, she felt betrayed by the book, and says so in her diary. If the PCs spend time to flip through the diary, they learn how she found the book and how it spoke to her as it taught her to make the altar. The diaries aren’t worth much, but the final book is worth up to 200 gp.
Room 4: Big Doll, Little Doll (EL 8)
A shimmer of light emanates from a tunnel 10 ft. above the ground. A ladder goes up the side wall to a short set of steps that lead into a small storage room. A trail of blood goes up one side of the ladder, as if someone dragged a bloody carcass up the wall, continuing into the storage room. As the PCs near the door-less storage room, they are met by a horrible sight… a skeleton, wearing human flesh. The figure wears the hair of a small girl, the curly brown hair barely covering the skull. The flicker of light comes from a glowing medallion that hangs around the skeleton’s neck, falling between two breasts of a young woman, which cling to the skeleton’s ribs. There is a long snake-like organ inside the skeleton, which writhes up through the skeleton’s mouth, flailing about like a claw-tipped tongue. There is a body of a dead woman on the floor, and the skeleton has pulled out the eyes from the dead body and places them in her own skull. She then pulls off some hair off the corpse and uses it to replace the missing hair of a porcelain doll that she has in her hands.
Major Image: None. All of the horrible things in this room are all too real. Niniane’s condition is so disturbing, that anyone that attempts to disbelieve that the mohrg is real and fails a Will Save DC 18 suffers an additional 1d4 Wisdom drain.
Creature: After the miners sealed Niniane in the cellar, she eventually succumbed to the heart’s taint and became the last servant of the evil that she created. Her desire to kill and remain beautiful did not stop at her death, and she rose as a mohrg within moments of dying. She assists Leilani with the rituals, and is rewarded with the bodies of the dead women, which she takes to this room to remove the skin off the bodies. She then attempts to wear the victims’ eyes, hair, and skin in a macabre attempt to be beautiful again. She uses parts of the other sacrifice victims to decorate a porcelain doll. The extra meat from the bodies is fed to the mimic in Room 2, and the dire rats in Room 1.
Niniane, “Female” mohrg: hp 91; Monster Manual 189.
Treasure: Niniane is wearing a silver necklace with a small platinum pendant holding a small glowing crystal (500 gp). The small pendant has a continual flame spell cast on it.
Room 5: A Fungus Among Us
This vast cavern is partially submerged under two feet of water that seeps through the earth from a nearby spring. A large island juts up in the rear of the cavern, completely covered with slime, fungus, and mushrooms of varying sizes, the largest of which are as big as a dwarf. The water is fresh, and all of the slime, fungus, and mushrooms, which seem to grow in an increased rate, are edible and nutritious. It has been the main source of food for the mimic over the decades that it has been sealed in the cellar. A DC 18 Search check reveals the bones of a human male (Ulgo Fant). The remains appear to be nearly 50 years-old. A DC 18 Heal check reveals that the bones are brittle, possibly due to malnutrition.
Room 6: Ladies in Waiting (EL 3)
Major Image 5: There is an illusionary wall the hides the entrance to this chamber.
This chamber is the home of the workers currently under the influence of the bad place. A small lantern in the center of the room provides a small source of light, revealing two women sitting on a pile of rugs, furs, and old clothing in the far corner. Five men, whom the PCs recognize as the laborers they hired to fix up the house, advance to attack the PCs with axes in their hands, and dead glowing eyes in their sockets.
Creatures: Seven of the workers are still alive, but are now under the influence of the bad place. There are two women, who remain docile, awaiting their turn to be sacrificed, and the other five are the remaining men that were working in the basement. The men move to attack the PCs as soon as they enter the room through the illusionary wall.
Brian, Corey, John, Jyoji and Ryan, Male human experts 2: CR 1; Medium humanoid; HD 2d6; hp 6; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +1; Grap +2; Atk +2 melee (1d6+1, handaxe); Full Atk +2 melee (1d6+1/x3, handaxe); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +2; Str 13, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 0, Cha 8.
Skills: Climb +6, Craft (carpentry) +9, Craft (stonemasonry) +9, Handle Animal +5, Jump +6, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +6, Profession (woodcutter) +5, Profession (gambler) +5.
Feats: Skill Focus (carpentry), Skill Focus (stonemasonry)
Languages: Common, dwarven.
Possessions: Studded leather, handaxe.
Rachael and Amy, Female human experts 2: hp 6.
Ad Hoc XP Adjustment: Award the PCs and additional 25% XP if they manage to subdue the workers without killing any of them.
Room 7: Evil to the Roots (EL 7)
As the party rounds the corner at the end of the rising tunnel, they come upon a large cavern. Tree roots have penetrated the roof of the cavern, most of them nearly reaching the floor. In the center of the room, a man’s body is suspended from a large root that appears to have penetrated his spine just below the neck. The roots seem to have thoroughly integrated with his body, with small roots poking out of his skin at his elbows, fingers, knees and toes, as if the roots have replaced his skeleton altogether. The body twitches from time to time, and the man’s face is a mix of pain and despair. As the PCs get near, the man starts saying “Kill me, kill me, please, kill me, kill, kill me, please, kill me…” over and over.
Major Image 6: The body in the center of the room is also a major image. The man continues his plea for help, softly at first, then louder and louder until he is screaming, his body convulsing wildly. The sheer volume of the man’s screams causes a 20% fail chance of any bardic music attempted in this room.
Creature: Leilani, a half-elf cleric of nature from the Bronzewood Lodge fell prey to the haunting of the cellar shortly after she answered it’s call, having never truly been cured of its influence over her as a child. Her shift in alignment has not stopped her from gaining her spells each day, as she continues to her duties by tending to the caves and plant life. (Note that she now uses her Charisma score instead of her Wisdom score for any cleric abilities that rely on Wisdom.) She has started the sacrifices again, aided by the mohrg Niniane, and has become nearly 30 years younger in the process. Although she is now in her 60’s she appears as a beautiful woman in her late 30’s. If any of the PCs frequent the Bronzewood Lodge, they may recognize Leilani (spot check DC 20) or perhaps assume that she is Leilani’s daughter (on a failed spot check).
Leilani, Female half-elf cleric 7: CR 7; Medium humanoid; HD 7d8+14; hp 49; Init -1; Spd 20 ft.; AC 19, touch 9, flat-footed 19; Base Atk +5; Grap +6; Atk +8 melee (1d8+1, masterwork morningstar) or +4 ranged (1d8/19-20, light crossbow); Full Atk +7 melee (1d8+1, masterwork morningstar) or +4 ranged (1d8/19-20, light crossbow); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA rebuke undead 8/day; AL CE; SV Fort +7, Ref +1, Will +10; Str 13, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 0, Cha 20.
Skills: Concentration +10, Knowledge (nature) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Spellcraft +5.
Feats: Scribe Scroll, Combat Casting, Weapon Focus (morningstar)
Cleric Spells Prepared (6/7/5/4/3; save DC 15 + spell level): 0—Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Purify Food and Drink (3), Read Magic; 1—Command, Comprehend Languages, Divine Favor, Doom, Entangle*, Magic Weapon, Shield of Faith; 2—Barkskin*, Bull’s Strength, Cure Moderate Wounds (2), Eagle’s Splendor; 3—Bestow Curse, Cure Serious Wounds, Dominate Animal*, Dispel Magic; 4—Freedom of Movement, Poison, Summon Monster IV*.
*Domain spell. Domains: Animal (can use speak with animals once per day as a spell-like ability), Plant (rebuke or command plant creatures 8/day).
Languages: Common, elven.
Possessions: +1 light fortification dragonhide half-plate, +1 darkwood buckler, masterwork morningstar, light crossbow, 10 bolts, 2 scrolls of cure light wounds, continual flame wooden holy symbol (shaped like a deer hoof), sacrificial dagger.
Tactics: Leilani casts entangle on the roots. She then casts Eagle’s Splendor, Bull’s Strength, Magic Weapon, Divine Favor, Barkskin, Shield of Faith and Freedom of Movement on herself before moving into melee. If none of the PCs can reach her through the entangle spell, she casts Eagle’s Splendor to increase the save DC of her spells, then casts offensive spells at the PCs.
Ad Hoc XP Adjustment: Award the PCs and additional 25% XP if they manage to subdue Leilani without killing her.
Room 8: Heart of Evil (EL 8)
After climbing a short incline, the PCs enter into a partially collapsed chamber, what is obviously a sacrificial chamber… the heart of the bad place. Skeletal remains of previous victims lie strewn about the chamber. In the center of the room stands an altar of stone, still dripping with fresh blood. A large crystal slab is perfectly set into the center of the top slab, and you can see an open book set under the crystal, inside the slab. There must be some holes in the crystal, for the PCs can see blood winding its way down to the book, which has started to turn red from the blood.
Major Image 7: The far wall, opposite the entryway, appears to be collapsed, but the debris is yet another major image. The illusionary debris covers the corpse of the previous cleric who attempted to destroy the altar with a special magic item: an adamantine spike imbued with dispel evil. The cleric has a holy symbol of Obad Hai as well as a wooden ring that bears the symbol of the Bronzewood Lodge. She fell victim to the heart’s phantasmal killer when it realized what was about to happen. If the PCs find the spike, they can drive it into the altar to release the divine energy. The heart must make a Will save DC 23 (the heart has a +8 to all saves) or be utterly destroyed. The heart fears the spike, and hides its existence even to the undead and creatures under its control.
New Magic Item: Rod of Exorcism: These rods are usually 14-inch spikes made out of strong metal, such as cold iron or adamantine, but are occasionally made out of darkwood as well. The rod activates when it pierces its target, and the target must succeed at a DC 23 Will save or suffer the effects of a dispel evil spell. Undead creatures struck by the rod suffer 10d6 holy damage (no saving throw allowed) in addition to the above affects.
Strong abjuration [good]; CL 17th; Craft Rod, Dispel Evil; Price 11,000 gp.
Creature: The eidolon can manifest the ghost of Ulgo Fant to protect itself. It gains the benefits of the Undead Effects of the bad place and the eidolon.
Ulgo Fant, Male human ghost expert 6: CR 7; Medium undead (augmented humanoid, incorporeal); HD 6d12; hp 39; Init +0; Spd 30 ft, fly 30 ft. (perfect).; AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +4; Grap +4; Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA aura of curses* (DC 18, duration 6 days), malevolence 1/round (as magic jar; CL 10th, DC 18), manifestation, shape of terror* 3/day (DC 18); SQ rejuvenation, turn resistance +8*; AL CE; SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +4; Str 15, Dex 10, Con -, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 16.
Skills: Climb +11, Craft (stonemasonry) +14, Hide +8, Jump +11, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +14, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +11, Knowledge (geography) +11, Listen +8, Move Silently +8, Profession (miner) +12, Search +19, Spot +18.
Feats: Skill Focus Profession (miner), Skill Focus Craft (stonemasonry), Skill Focus Knowledge (architecture and engineering), Leadership
Languages: Common, dwarven, orc
Possessions: None.
*The ghost receives bonuses from the bad place and the eidolon, as described in “Not for the Living”, Dragon #336.
Aura of Curses (Su): Any creature that comes within 30 feet of the ghost must make a will save or become cursed, as if by the bestow curse spell. Unlike the standard bestow curse, this effect has a duration of 1 day per Hit Die of the ghost. A single creature can only be targeted by this ability once per day, whether or not the save succeeds.
Shape of Terror (Su): Up to 3 times per day, a manifested ghost may change its shape as a free action, momentarily transforming into the most feared object or creature of any one target within 30 feet. If the ghost makes a successful touch attack against that creature during this round, the creature must make a Fortitude save or drop dead from fright. Success indicates the victim merely takes 3d6 points of damage. This is a mind-affecting necromantic fear effect.
Tactics: The book attempts no actions against the PCs until they show that they are able to harm it. First it will attempt to use the bad place’s phantasmal killer spell (DC 18) against any PC that picks up the Rod of Exorcism. If that fails, the eidolon will manifest the ghost as its last defense. Finally, after the PCs defeat the ghost, the bad place uses its final Major Image in an attempt to fool the party into destroying a false heart.
Major Image 8: As the party defeats the ghost, a single point light appears on the floor directly in front of the altar. The light grows brighter and larger, encompassing a 5 ft area. The light soon fades, revealing a beating heart set in smooth crystal, perfectly flush with the stone floor.
Ad Hoc XP Adjustment: If the PCs destroy the book award them XP for a CR 8 encounter.
Concluding the Adventure:
If the PCs use the spike on the illusionary heart, the image of the heart changes to show the correct damage the crystal and heart would take. The heart stops beating, and the bad place releases its control over its captives, as well as dismissing any other remaining illusions. If the PCs leave without investigating the illusionary heart, the bad place will go dormant for 2d4 days before attempting to call another woman to start they cycle over. If they do examine the heart, they will realize that they’ve been fooled, and will have to find another means to exorcise the bad place.
If the PCs destroy the book, Leilani must succeed on Fortitude save DC 18 or age 24 years (8 years for each sacrifice) beyond her actual age of 62, and suffers 3d8 Charisma drain from her normal Charisma score of 12. On a successful save, she ages 3d8 years and suffers 3d4 Charisma drain. The haunting of the cellar and the book cease, and everything returns to normal within a week.
If the PCs return Leilani or her remains to the Bronzewood Lodge, the elder elves react with signs of remorse. They never told Leilani of the horrors she experienced as a child and realize that they didn’t take the proper actions to ensure she was cured. They relate the actions of the adventurers from 50 years earlier and what they know of the sacrifices that Niniane performed. They regret that they never told anyone of the evil in the cellar, and offer to reincarnate any of the PCs that have died.
The PCs may have saved Diamond Lake from a resurgence of evil, but this victory very likely came at the price of one or more of their friends and workers.
Continuing the Adventure:
There are several ways to continue this adventure. First, an eidolon may haunt a number of items equal to its magnitude. Although this adventure presents a single item that is possessed, you can make other items possessed as well. The porcelain doll, Niniane’s locket and the sacrificial dagger are all good candidates for other possessed items. After the destruction of the altar, these items go dormant and await their next chance to find a woman to influence to build another altar and begin the sacrifices in a new location.
If the PCs destroy the book without killing its ghost, the ghost can possess a different item. The ghost must manifest to inhabit a different object, but it may wait a number of days equal to the magnitude of the eidolon before it finds a new item to inhabit. If the ghost does not find a new home after this time, it is destroyed. The ghost will attempt to find an item that the PCs won’t automatically suspect or destroy, such as the rod of exorcism (if its one use has been discharged). The eidolon will be able to wait for its next opportunity to find a new woman to influence.
If Leilani dies because of the destruction of the eidolon and is brought back to life via a reincarnate or resurrection spell, her body comes back to life, but with Niniane’s soul. (This is contrary to the nature of these spells, but is common fare in many horror stories.) Niniane waits a few days, but eventually tells everyone at the Bronzewood Lodge that she no longer wishes to live there because of the years of deception she endured while living there. She goes away, intent on finding a new place to start her evil practice, but she must first find an existing eidolon from the cellar.
Scaling the Adventure:
“The Cellar Door” is designed for a group of four 7th-8th-level characters, but can be adapted for use at almost any level of characters by changing the magnitudes of the bad place and the eidolon to within 1 of the party level. All saving throw DCs are set at 10 + the magnitude level of the appropriate haunting, including trap save DCs and Ulgo Fant’s ghost abilities, but not Leilani’s spell DCs.
In addition to changing the magnitude level of the hauntings, you can consider the following options as well:
For 1st-3rd-level parties: Reduce the fall damage for each trap to 2d6 and remove the spikes in the trap in Room 2. Change the dire rats in Room 1 to normal size and Hit Die. Change Niniane into a skeleton. Change the workers to 1st-level commoners. Remove levels of cleric from Leilani. Remove levels of expert and the Shape of Terror special attack from Ulgo Fant.
For 4th-6th-level parties: Change the dire rats to 4 Hit Die each. Change Niniane to a Ghast. Remove levels of cleric from Leilani, and remove levels of expert from Ulgo Fant.
For higher-level parties: Give the dire rats extra abilities or apply templates to increase their effectiveness. Add Hit Die to Niniane as appropriate, and add special abilities to her attacks. Add levels of cleric to Leilani. Add levels of expert and ghost special attacks to Ulgo Fant.
The last changes to apply to the adventure are the number of major image spells that the bad place can cast. A bad place can cast a number of major image spells equal to its magnitude. For this reason, the magnitude of the hauntings should not be below 3, and you should keep the illusions in the basement, Room 2, and the cave-in in Room 8. Of course, feel free to remove, change or add any major image to create what you like best in horror movie effects.
Despite his nickname “Big Jake,” Casey Jacobson is only 5’4” (and a half!), and only a few of his co-workers actually call him Jake. All attempts to make his wife call him “Big Jake” have resulted in strange signs of demonic possession, such as the rolling of the eyes or bouts of girlish giggling.
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WOW! WOW! WOW!
I just stumbled on this thread! Great work, BJ!!!
As I haven't started the AoW yet, I will definiately use your adventure (if you don't mind). I am presently searching material about the AoW and this is by far the best I've found yet!
You should post it over at AoW Material by DMs
Great job and a 1000 thanx for sharing it!!!
Nice writing Big Jake - I enjoyed the subtle creepiness of the "Mirror Madness" encounter.
Mwk
Thanks!
I'm really excited about this adventure. I haven't actually written down an entire adventure since 1993. Since then I've only kept notes on monsters I was going to use and reminders for key things. I was hoping this adventure would generate more interest than it has, but I'm still excited about writing it and putting on the boards (I asked James Jacobs if it would be okay before I did).
And speaking of James, his article was really really good. I've found inspiration in the pages of Dragon before, but "Not for the Living" was more than inspirational because it handed us the mechanics to run a haunting, not just some abstract ideas on how you can make the mechanics yourself.
When I started the idea, I first thought of the Bad Place, but as I developed a history it seemed natural to have the book be an Eidolon as well. Next, I started to think how far you can stretch the use of the major image spell to create spooky encounters. Then I realized that a haunted house full of nothing but illusions didn't mean anything, so I tried to find a way to mix in creatures, traps and game mechanics to blur the lines between what's an illusion and what's real.
When I ran the adventure for my group, I couldn't have been more happy on how it went. As they went in, the half-orc druid and kender rogue both took 4 points of wisdom drain. That alone put the players into shock. Then imagine a Kender with a 6 Wisdom. All night there were shouts of "No!!! Don't touch that!!!"
The mirror madness encounter left them unsure of what was going on, which is what is should do. The druid didn't trust the mirror from the get go, and said that he wouldn't look in it at all. The others saw the worm drop down and into the druid's ear. Several minutes of great role playing later, a worried party and an angry druid continued on down the hall.
I've thought of a few things I could have included, and I'll post those later.
Thanks for reading!
That adventure has to be one of the greatest slices of spooky D&D I've read for a long time. Good work Big J!
The #336 Dragon article was a very enjoyable read for me also, that, heroes of horror, and now your own adventure have all made me want to inject my games with some creepy goings-on!
I'm sure I will use this in my game, maybe even on halloween!
Did you do anything special at the game table when you ran this adventure, to scare the players?
Like playing with the lights turned down low or using ghostly sound effects? I would like to do something like this, maybe going as far as having the game table and room atmosphere resemble a séance?
Did you do anything special at the game table when you ran this adventure, to scare the players?
Like playing with the lights turned down low or using ghostly sound effects? I would like to do something like this, maybe going as far as having the game table and room atmosphere resemble a séance?
I didn't do anything special with lights or music. I don't usually listen to music while we play anymore. Add that I have a 4 year old daughter that likes to hang around the table, I didn't do anything with the lights or candles. With a different setting (other than my kitchen, that is) I might have tried some music and candles.
My players picked up on the scenarios that I used and made movie references. When I said that they heard a "childish voice singing" in the mirror madness room, one player started singing "One, two, Freddy's coming for you...", and their little inputs made things spooky as well. So I imagine that the "right" kind of ambience will add to the effect.
I also found out that one of the other players really didn't like the "doll takes the human eyes" stories when he was younger, so that description worked well. Personally, the stories that scared me the most were the ones about dolls, so I worked hard on making that scenario seem the most gruesome of the lot.
I hope the adventure goes as well for your group as it did for mine. Please let me know how it goes, if you get the chance to use it.