Short Adventures - Hindsight.pdf - Adventures - R5700

Cliffhangers Presents: Hindsight

By Owen K.C. Stephens

Hindsight

Episode One: The Worms Turn

By Owen K.C. Stephens

"Hindsight" is a short adventure for four

15th-level characters that takes place in a

lightly inhabited, mountainous region. The

adventure has connections to the drow and

an underground network of caves, making it

particularly appropriate for the Forgotten

Realms campaign setting, but is easily

placed on almost any D&D world.

discovered what they wanted and left the

cave, never to return. The beholder was a

particularly territorial creature and was so

enraged by the invasion that its ghostly spirit

refused to leave this world, staying behind to

guard what had been the monster's home in

life. However, as long as the cave has been

undisturbed and sealed from the outside, the

ghost inside has made no effort to travel

beyond it.

It should go without saying that the following

information is intended for Dungeon Masters

-- if you'll be playing "Hindsight," read no

further!

This changed when local prospectors,

seeking access to the rich

gold veins found sporadically

throughout the mountain,

broke into the beholder's

chamber from the outside.

This shocked and angered the

spirit of the beholder, which

killed many of the miners.

This led directly to Zareph's

employment of the

adventurers who claimed they

destroyed the creature.

Based on the original Dungeons &

Dragons® game by E. Gary Gygax and

Dave Arneson and on the new edition of

the Dungeons & Dragons game

Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and

Peter Adkison.

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Adventure Background: The Horror of

Havenfast

The mountain town of Havenfast has

suffered a great deal recently. A few months

ago a monster killed a number of local

miners. The sorcerer Zareph, self-

proclaimed "sorcerer of Havenfast," hired a

band of adventurers to deal with whatever

had slaughtered the men, and the group

reported the successful defeat of some sort

of mage beholder, the likely culprit. A few

weeks later, after the adventurers were long

gone, new problems arose: The dire bears

and dire wolves native to the mountains

began feeding in the more populated hills

near Havenfast. A pair of purple worms

appeared, eating livestock and attacking

caravans. The townsfolk near panic, and

though everyone turns to him, Zareph

doesn't know what to do about it.

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In truth the ghost beholder

threat cannot be ended until

its cave is once again closed

to the outside world. A few

weeks after the adventures

left town, the ghost recovered

from their attack. Still enraged

over the invasion of its home,

the ghost ventured out from

its lair, killing or driving away

nearly every living thing on, in

or around the mountain. This drove the dire

animals that dwelt there down into the

lowland hills, where they began to make

trouble for people near Havenfast. The lack

of prey forced subterranean purple worms

away from their natural environment in the

caves below the mountain, causing them to

attack any large group of living creatures in

search of food -- especially herds of animals

and large caravans. In time, the ghost

beholder itself will reach the town, which it

will no doubt feel compelled to destroy.

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What no one realizes is that the mage

beholder the adventuring band claims to

have destroyed was (and still is) in fact a

beholder ghost.

If the horror ever had a name, it has

forgotten it. The beholder had been

destroyed in its home, a cavern in the

mountainside, decades earlier while fighting

a party of drow. The dark elves broke into

the creature's home from tunnels below,

seeking some magic item the beholder had

taken. After killing the beholder, the drow

Cliffhangers Presents: Hindsight

By Owen K.C. Stephens

When the heroes enter the lands near

Havenfast, they find a community in

desperate straits.

Two rounds after the first horse balks, a

purple worm bursts out of the ground and

attacks one of the lead wagon's mules. A

round later, a second worm shoots from the

earth and attacks another caravan animal

attached to the second wagon (roll 1d4 to

determine which mule is attacked on the first

wagon, and 1d6 to determine which animal

is targeted on the second wagon). These

creatures have been driven from their

natural habitat, and the lack of their natural

food sources has left them in a ravenous

frenzy. They are easily capable of

swallowing all the mules whole, and remain

even after that to eat chunks of whatever

creatures are left. If any characters attack

them, the worms fight to the death rather

than leave their newfound food supply.

Hooking the Characters

The easiest way to get player characters

involved in the adventure is for them to

simply pass through the area and witness a

pair of purple worms attack a small caravan.

For a little more personal motivation with

PCs who are well-known heroes, members

of an arcane society, or clerics of a

prominent local god, send them a message

from Zareph asking for their help. If the

characters have connections with other

bands of adventurers, the party that thought

they had destroyed the ghost beholder could

be allies of the PCs -- this gives Zareph or

the earlier party themselves the chance to

ask the heroes to look into claims of the

monster's reappearance.

Assuming the characters manage to save

the caravan, its owner, the merchant Aielle

Dell, thanks them and offers what little

money she has as a reward. She tells the

characters of the terrible troubles plaguing

the lands around Havenfast, and confesses

that she left before selling most of her wares

out of fear of losing her goods to dire wolves

or some other creature prowling the lowland

hills.

If you decide to give the PCs previous

knowledge of the ghost beholder, it could

spoil some of the surprise factor, so choose

carefully how to bring the party into the

action and how much information to give

them beforehand.

Hunger Strike

The Cliffhanger

On a cool autumn morning, as the

characters travel the road either towards

Havenfast or past it, they see a caravan

coming towards them. This is small group of

three wagons, each pulled by two horses

and four mules. The town of Havenfast itself

is visible in the distance, a collection of small

wooden buildings and a single tall stone

tower in the center of town. Beyond that a

majestic mountain rises from the morning

mist, looming over everything within miles.

While the characters are speaking to Aielle a

voice appears in one of the character's

heads (via a sending spell). The voice

intones, "I am Zareph, sorcerer of

Havenfast. Great danger surrounds you all.

Come to my tower, and we shall speak of

tremendous troubles and risky rewards."

The first sign of trouble is the snort of the

lead caravan horse, followed quickly by

other animals balking and refusing to move

any further. A Listen check (DC 20) allows a

character to realize the ground is rumbling

very slightly, as if an extremely light

earthquake were occurring. A truly

remarkable Listen check (DC 35) allows a

character to realize the sound is coming

from deep beneath the earth and is moving

quickly toward the caravan.

Cliffhangers Presents: Hindsight

By Owen K.C. Stephens

Hindsight

Episode Two: Havenfast

By Owen K.C. Stephens

"Hindsight" is a short adventure for four

15th-level characters that takes place in a

lightly inhabited, mountainous region. The

adventure has connections to the drow and

an underground network of caves, making it

particularly appropriate for the Forgotten

Realms campaign setting, but is easily

placed on almost any D&D world.

seems to want to send another group into

the mountains, rather than deal with the

problem himself -- the town pays the

sorcerer a reasonable stipend to protect

them, and he doesn't seem to be holding up

his end of things. The locals are not

talkative, on this subject, but PCs that make

a Gather Information or Intimidate check

(either at DC 35) can learn the reasons for

the locals' disdain.

Adventure Background: The Sorcerer's

Call

Zareph's tower is the largest building in

Havenfast, located in the center of the town

square. None of the townsfolk come within

twenty feet of it as the characters approach,

but a small crowd gathers at the edges of

the town square, watching as the characters

enter the tower.

In the first episode, the characters witnessed

an attack by two purple worms on a small

caravan, and were told by Aielle Dell, the

caravan's leader, that the local area is rife

with dire beasts and other monsters. As they

spoke with Aielle, one of the characters was

contacted by the sorcerer Zareph by a

sending spell, and told to come to his tower.

Within the tower Zareph awaits the

characters. He is an elderly man, and has

become quite rotund over the years. Once

an adventurer in his own right, Zareph

reached 9th level before settling in

Havenfast to retire. Although he is most

interested in divination and communication

magic and lacks many offensive spells,

Zareph has acted as a guardian of the town

many times over the years. Recently,

however, he has felt it wiser to reserve his

resources to defend the town against direct

threats and contract others for more

dangerous problems.

The Sorcerer

Zareph spends most of his time these days

watching the lands around Havenfast with a

spyglass, trying to spot threats to the town

before they arrive and, hopefully, discover

the source of the recent problems. He

spotted the characters fighting the purple

worms through the spyglass, and decided to

enlist their aid. Since he could see the

characters, he was able to use a sending to

contact them. Zareph conforms to the 9th-

level human sorcerer in Chapter 2:

Characters of the Dungeon Master 's Guide.

Zareph explains the recent problems to the

characters, beginning with the death of the

miners some months ago. He doesn't realize

that the horror that killed the prospectors

and was later "destroyed" by his hired band

of adventurers is the same one that is

driving beasts and monsters away from the

mountain, but he's sure that something is

causing trouble up on the mountainside. He

tells the PCs that the previous adventurers

claimed to have killed a mage beholder --

but that some woodsmen have claimed to

have seen a glowing "Evil Eye" floating on

the mountainside at night.

When the characters approach Havenfast

the locals seem agitated. A Sense Motive

check (DC 15) made against any commoner

tells the characters that most of the locals

are scared, and their fear is beginning to

blend with anger. The townsfolk don't seem

to trust the PCs. Since the last band of

adventurers to come through town only

made matters worse by angering the ghost

beholder, the townsfolk are afraid the

characters will only make further trouble.

Similarly, they're not happy that Zareph

Cliffhangers Presents: Hindsight

By Owen K.C. Stephens

If at all possible, he hires the characters to

go find whatever is driving away the other

creatures and destroy it. If the characters

aren't willing to undertake that, he asks them

to at least try to find out what is on the

mountain, so he can arrange for other

adventurers to deal with it.

The Cliffhanger

After the commotion, one of the characters

discovers a small note slipped into one of

his pockets. It reads: "I know where to find

the "Evil Eye." Come to the North gate, after

midnight, and I shall meet you." It is

unsigned.

The Mob

After Zareph has explained the situation to

the characters, a loud commotion is heard

from outside. Townsfolk are yelling and

shouting and a Listen check (DC 20) allows

characters to hear cries of "Zareph, send

them home!" and "Adventure somewhere

else!" mixed in with far fewer cries of "Stay

calm!" and "Don't start trouble!"

As it happens, several of the town folk have

decided that what Havenfast needs Zareph

to take care of this problem himself -- the

PCs had better keep out of it, in their

opinion. The mob of around 40 individuals

begins to throw clods of dirt and rotten food

at a smaller group of 15 townsfolk who trust

Zareph's judgment and have surrounded his

tower to protect it. Zareph insists on going

out to speak to the mob, but is greeted with

catcalls and more rotten fruit by the angry

mob.

If the player characters attempt to calm the

crowd, it can be considered unfriendly to

them. A Diplomacy or Charisma check might

allow the PCs to convince the mob to let

them investigate (see NPC Attitudes in

Chapter 5: Campaigns of the Dungeon

Master 's Guide), or a bard might be able to

calm the fearful crowd.

Of course the characters could easily attack

and defeat the mob -- most of them are just

commoners -- but doing so in a violent way

earns the distrust of Zareph and all the

people of Havenfast. If the characters use

sleep or similar nonviolent means to

disperse the crowd, the townsfolk can

eventually forgive them and Zareph will be

grateful.

Cliffhangers Presents: Hindsight

By Owen K.C. Stephens

Hindsight

Episode Three: Pack Attack

By Owen K.C. Stephens

"Hindsight" is a short adventure for four

15th-level characters that takes place in a

lightly inhabited, mountainous region. The

adventure has connections to the drow and

an underground network of caves, making it

particularly appropriate for the Forgotten

Realms campaign setting, but is easily

placed on almost any D&D world.

Seirenn hides by the north gate one hour

before midnight (Hide skill +15) and waits for

the characters to show up. She takes 10 on

the check, so a Spot check (DC 25) must be

succeeded to locate the rogue if she doesn't

want to be seen. Seirenn is a punctual

woman, and will hide from any PCs that try

to scout the rendezvous point ahead of time.

Adventure Background: Looking into the

"Evil Eye"

Once the PCs arrive, she reveals herself

and explains her association with the earlier

band of adventurers. When asking around

for them, she has discovered that many

decades ago a beholder was spotted on the

mountain, though some local heroes went to

confront it and couldn't find it. She told this

to the adventurers that went up more

recently, and they were convinced that the

creature was a beholder mage of some sort.

After they came back from "defeating" it they

were even more convinced, and claimed the

monster was capable of becoming invisible

and traveling to other planes.

In the first two episodes, the characters

witnessed an attack by two purple worms on

a small caravan, and learned that the local

area around the town of Havenfast is rife

with dire beasts and other monsters. The

PCs then spoke with the sorcerer Zareph,

who asked them to look into rumors of a

creature locals call the "Evil Eye." This

monster, whatever it is, seems to be driving

every living creature off the nearby

mountain. The characters had to deal with a

mob of townsfolk who didn't appreciate their

presence, and someone slipped one of the

PCs a note claiming to know where the "Evil

Eye" can be found. The note instructs the

heroes to be at the north gate of Havenfast

at midnight to learn more.

Two weeks after they left, Seirenn began

hearing the rumors surrounding the creature

the locals called the "evil eye," a vaguely

described creature that was occasionally

visible up on the mountainside at night.

The Informant

Seirenn knows where the earlier party faced

their "beholder mage," and it is very near

where the "Evil Eye" has been spotted.

Seirenn doesn't know if the "Evil Eye" is a

second beholder come to see what

happened to the first, or if the first creature

somehow survived, but she can direct them

to a path that leads to the cave where the

first beholder mage faced Seirenn's former

employers.

The note was slipped to one of the

characters by Seirenn, a 10th-level half-elf

rogue (use the generic NPC from Chapter 2:

Characters of the Dungeon Master 's Guide)

who the previous band of adventurers had

hired to gather information on the local

situation for them. Seirenn dwells in

Havenfast, and has found the current

problems bad for business -- she only steals

from merchants who come through town,

never locals, and with the troubles fewer

outsiders are coming through. She

considers it to be in her own best interest to

help the characters put a stop to whatever is

happening on the mountain.

The Pack

On the way up the mountain path to the

cave of the "Evil Eye," the characters are

jumped by a group of 5 dire wolves in hiding

(Hide +11, Move Silently +11). These are

the last dire wolves left on the mountain, and

Short Adventures - Hindsight.pdf

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