Back to main page
The purpose of this subencounter is to fill in some of the blanks of the Night Below campaign. It is designed for adventurers who have been through areas 13, 14, and/or 15 and suspect an elvish presence, but have not yet seen any Rockseers (II.21). It will also pose questions, like: where was the drow homeland? what made it "sink"? and, with Night Below area 15, are there two kinds of deep elf at war with each other? There are some questions posed elsewhere this encounter doesn't answer: why would Rockseers and drow quarrel? what's with the curse of area 15? where are the drow now?
It is a voluntary encounter that PC's may know about in advance, like the aforementioned areas 13, 14, and 15, as opposed to area 16, which is not voluntary. The emphasis is away from hacking and linearity, and more on traps and atmosphere. In the spirit of my suggestion pages, I also took the liberty of moving the scroll-case from the Patriarch Grell's hoard (II.14) to here, both the money and the magic; and I'm decentralising some of the hints given out in the speeches and handouts (Sunkenhome, the Sunless Sea, the Rockseers).
I hope you find it helpful to your campaign.
Long ago, deep below the surface, the dark elves carved themselves an empire to replace that which they had lost in the realms above. Only centuries ago, the dark elves suffered a new defeat and have since abandoned the regions below what is now Haranshire. They left behind their quaggoth servants, their sunken city, and a vile curse on the homes of the Rockseers - despite that the Rockseers had not opposed the drow in the past. This much is current DM knowledge; what follows is my interpretation therefrom.
Before Haranshire was formally settled, the drow ruled the land's Underdark from the ancient city now called "Sunkenhome", with the aid of the kuo-toa and (as always) quaggoths. The lands above were the demesne of bandits and humanoids who also served drow interests; their rivers and wells belonged to the kuo-toa.
About 400 years ago a boy grew up in the Thornwood, by name of Pajarifan. Pajarifan's people disobeyed the kuo-toa and were slaughtered. Pajarifan became a wandering woodsman; helping the peaceful loggers and hunters, and attacking the kuo-toa. One day a powerful wizard discovered the young ranger with the unusual species enemy, and granted him Finslayer.
Unbeknownst to everyone, there was an even older city below the drow ... Great Shaboath. Finslayer's swordsmith had received the idea - indirectly - from the aboleth. The smith may have had the best of intentions, but everyone knows the saying about the road to Baator...
At any rate Pajarifan got himself a motley band of adventurers and launched attacks below ground against the kuo-toa. They proved so successful that the drow were eventually forced to bail out their allies (in the tradition of Hall of the Fire Giant King). But while the mushroom-flower of dark elven might was directed at Pajarifan's forces, the aboleth made their move; the drow city sank and the kuo-toa were dominated. Pajarifan handily defeated the stranded drow and permitted the survivors to retreat across the Sunless Sea (over Finslayer's objections). The quaggoths were given freedom; some opted to continue serving the drow, but the remainder survive here to this day.
Pajarifan shifted his ire to the aboleth, and presumably died with his sword in his hand. The sword moved into various treasure troves; eventually the free quaggoths rediscovered it and adopted it as an historical emblem. As for the surface, with the kuo-toa under control and the drow gone, the bandits' strength withered away; Haranshire could now be settled.
This is not the place where the ranger fell. It is, however, the site of one of the drows' defeats.
Long ago, the drow city annexed this system of caves as a way-station and a listening post, keeping tabs on the upper reaches of the Underdark. A few centuries ago it was sacked by the legendary ranger Pajarifan and his small army of high-level adventurers.
No monsters are currently lairing here; it is too accessible to adventurers and illithids, and there are additional rumours that it is haunted (which it once was). Each race of Underdark dwellers has its own reasons for not giving out information beyond the usual rumours. For example, the gnomes know how rumours of hidden elves broke up and destroyed Hazakian's party and the quaggoths are afraid of re-attracting the attention of their former masters.
All this means the system is known to almost everybody down here but discussed by none. To start with, the outpost will not appear on the player's map. Even if the party mentions elves directly to an Underdark resident, the resident will try to plead ignorance. A cursory ESP scan won't be enough to ascertain details - like location.
It is possible the party will stumble upon this place in the course of mapping the Lower Caverns, depending on how complex (or arbitrary) the DM's map is. It is more likely that the PC's will report to the quaggoths or gnomes the elvish work at area 15 (II.21) or show Handout(s) 13, 14, and/or 16. The quaggoths can't read and certainly don't know how to use maps, but they can give directions. They will then warn about the groaning spirit and the weird magicks. The gnomes give out more background but ultimately less detail:
|
Carmeneren speaks: "Elves... I apologise that we did not tell you this before, but we do know of them. Some of our forefathers used to tell tales of days even worse than when the damned Diregund came, when the demon elves massacred and enslaved entire species. These fiends had void-black skin, leaf-pointed ears, and crystal-white hair. Our relations from the east tell us a hunter from your country came and emptied the tunnels of all the demon elves and all their spider pets. "We gnomes have been plumbing the depths for millennia, but our community has worked this vein only for the past few centuries. We do not know the history of this batch of tunnels and, to be short, what little we have seen has not made us eager to learn more. Curiosity kills, and it kills outsiders quicker, especially when they stir up the dead. We have been informed that the earlier band asked the same questions you have asked. Let the sleeping ones lie if you do not wish to disappear as they disappeared. "But if you must disturb - hmpf - 'our' elves, we will not stop you. Here -" [here the DM should take the PC's map and mark the location] "- now go there, if you must, and learn for yourself how the dark elves were thrown back to the outer blackness. Let this be the final end of all this prattle of elves in the caverns." With that she looks around the gathering sternly. |
Now the PC's can go there directly. In the tradition of Bruce Cordell's "Beneath the Tomb of Horrors" article, here follow an encounter and some important chambers. It is up to the DM to place the encounter and to draw maps for the chambers. I suggest making the "ambush" chamber a corridor.
|
A disquieting not-noise cuts insidiously into your brain, just under your hearing. |
If the party listens, they'll be reminded of a wounded panther or a mourning woman. Those who've met banshees will recognise it instantly. Every turn the party stays here outside a Protection from Evil, there is a 5% noncumulative chance that the echoes build to a pitch that causes 1d4 hp damage to everyone in the room (no saving throw). It is also impossible to sleep normally; and unconscious and magical sleepers will remember spidery, demoniac nightmares should they wake after visiting this place. Most monsters avoid it, and no-one's bothered to try a Dispel Evil or Exorcism yet.
HISTORY: The outpost's commander-priestess faced off against Pajarifan here. In a violent struggle the priestess fell, although she did manage to energy drain her foe and to delay him for some rounds. Unfortunately her mistress Lolth viewed it as failure and banned her spirit from her realm. (Lolth is an infamous believer in pour encourager les autres.) The illithids tired of the banshee and, after throwing away the lives of numerous thralls, eventually succeeded in destroying that as well. For "failing" twice, the hapless priestess is now damned for a silent eternity as a pavestone in the Demonweb; here, her dying scream still echoes from the walls.
|
The limestone floor takes on the consistency of polished marble. Further ahead the floor breaks into chaotic churns and whorls, as if a sorceror had frozen and petrified a raging river. Pits and bones break up the surface in its centre. |
PC's who look will see that the bones look uncannily as if they were skeletons trying to climb out of the holes; and that the holes themselves were shaped like molds of life-sized humanoid statuettes, all oriented to the southeast exit. Elves will instantly recognise a good number of the skeletons as elvish. All (or almost all) the others are quaggoths, but unless a quaggoth has joined the party (and dared to enter here!) the DM should stick with showing, not telling.
In one of the holes - concealed from casual eyes by bones and dirt - is a platinum brooch in the shape of a gondola clutched in the spidery arms of a sapphire sun (500 gp); the insignia of the city now called Sunkenhome.
The floor is glassrock, itself a clue when associated with area 15. But not a benign clue: if a PC falls and isn't wearing full plate leggings, there's a 1 in 1-6 chance s/he dropped a leg into a pit and broke it (hit points drop to half; Dexterity score and base movement rate drop to a third until the bone is set and at least a Cure Serious Wounds is cast).
HISTORY: While the elves and quaggoths were escaping down this corridor, some Rockseers slipped through the walls and took the opportunity to mete out vengeance. They liquified the floor magically and then allowed it to solidify. The Rockseers then cut their victims' throats and melted back into the rock before Pajarifan's crusaders arrived. Those who were not caught in the trap only fled all the faster; they did not stop to help.
|
This room is littered with heaps of decayed trash and rubble. A corroded iron strongbox leans against the west wall. |
If the PC's sift through the junk, they will find the following fragment in dark elvish:
...now! How can you pursue this ridiculous vendetta against that sunbaked bandit while our home is sinking!! Call back your troops this instant; with all due respect we have much bigger f...
The lock was picked long ago, but the whole box has since rusted shut; one will have to oil the hinges and then pry it open with a dagger. It contains documents likewise decayed, but at least in a semblance of chronological order. They all feature more spider-and-boat insigniae: letterhead, wax seals, you name it. They intermittently refer to "fish-men" who are usually "subjects" but in unguarded moments are "allies"; they also refer to "bear-men" (or "apes") who are always viewed in servile terms: "loyal", "slaves", and so on. The later documents feature somewhat bemused communications about "that so-called 'ranger'" who at first "wreaks so much havoc amongst our fishy friends" and later "ought to be reeled in to our nets". Towards the end, there is a list of proposed troop movements (kuo-toa, quaggoth, and drow), suddenly recalled due to undisclosed "issues at home".
In addition, the crusaders and subsequent visitors missed a secret compartment at the bottom of the strongbox. This is locked; a successful Detect Traps will reveal a nonfunctioning flaming gas trap (the gas leaked out long ago). Stashed away are two 12th-level priest(ess) scrolls. One has prayer, cure critical wounds, and heroes' feast; and the other, flame strike, blade barrier, and negative plane protection.
HISTORY: This was the outpost's conference room and main study. It has been stripped of valuables over the centuries, but the archives in the strongbox remain. The crusaders planned to go back and retrieve it for an overworld museum, but this didn't transpire.
|
The room is, or was, accessed through a membranous, thick portcullis. Now the gate is broken, or perhaps "torn" is the better word. Its remnants lean against thick silken webs like tombstones in a thick fog. |
There is nothing here but tangles of spider-silk. The gate is silk too, woven more tightly than is possible by humans.
HISTORY: This was the kennel in which the drow housed their spider "hounds". The gate was designed such that a large person could not kick it open and a small spider could not pass through it. One would either have to lift it (via a now-broken mechanism) or slash through it. After the ranger came, the portcullis fell on its own, and over the centuries other visitors have torn through it to get at any treasures beyond. They didn't find anything either.
|
This moderate-sized cavern shows extensive signs of vandalism. Opposite the entrance you see a smashed-up slab of stone. The walls are covered in shield-like patterns with sigils inscribed within them; some of them you instantly recognise as holy symbols of good-aligned deities. These patterns fail to conceal the foul reliefs behind them: vast webs which bind dozens of struggling overworld elves and, behind the slab, an enormous spider with a woman's head, hair and face of opposite colours. There is a large pile of ash in one corner. |
If the PC's examine the slab - that is, the altar - more closely, they'll note that it has been scoured clean and that there were other symbols on it which have been methodically scratched out. The ash heap is empty and there is nothing to be found here.
HISTORY: Obviously this was a chapel to the Queen of the Spiders, deliberately desecrated. The coats of arms belong to Pajarifan's paladins and warrior-clerics. Yes, Lolth did attempt to level a curse upon them, but it had no lasting effect, at least, not in this room.
Other areas include a latrine, barracks, storerooms. Do what you want with the encounters; temporary lairs for some of the wandering monsters will work if the party wants to slug something.
I just noticed that there aren't any derro, illithids, or svirfneblin in this scenario. There is no record that Pajarifan ever fought against derro. In their case it is possible that they had not yet arrived to this region. The mind flayers, duergar, and what have you doubtless elected to leave all the sides alone ("the drow and kuo-toa are getting thrashed... oh boo hoo"). As for the gnomes, they probably did ally with Pajarifan, but they may or may not have been the gnomes of area 10.