Edgeworld Lighthouse Interlude

Edgeworld Lighthouse Interlude

Type	Dungeon
Status	Explored April 908 TA
Location	Teufeldorf
Hex	5211
Campaign	The Ranger's Gate
Adventure #	146

It is April 4, 908 TA.

Teufeldorf is under control of the Crown once more (since October 906 TA). The Second War of the Reaches has just ended with the signing of a peace treaty with the Old Kingdom on January 1, 908 TA. The citizens of Teufeldorf are celebrating the end of the war. Rebuilding is underway. Trade has resumed. Spirits are high.

But, Hylax is worried. Very worried. So worried that he has called a secret conference at Teufeldorf Castle and invited an unexpected guest.

"It has been 87 years (Summer 1982 - 37 mundane years) since Count Demoney III opened the Demon's Covenant in the Wraith City. It was before any of us even met, although several of us were united during the eight years of the Second Demon War. Four ravers we fought during those times. Three we killed or bound. And one escaped, the damned Foultooth, who later tormented us in the Brotherhood of the Seven. Aye, by the end of that campaign we were all together. We broke the Brotherhood, but again Foultooth escaped - hidden somewhere from our scrying and our best scouts.

To tell you the truth, I had almost forgotten our immortal foes. But I received a message from Morgan at Dragonsford on December 2, 907 TA that several weeks prior (November 22, 907 TA) the 11th covenant of Sineater had been discovered and opened at the White Chapel in Tegel Village in the northern wilds of the Dreadwood on the Inner Sea by an itinerant cleric, Chironomous. I, of course, rushed there only to find our guest here already on-site and investigating. He had heard the same rumor from a druid in his employ, Scylla, who reported the event at the Holly Berry Trading Post in Dragonsford. It's been twenty years since we last saw Falstaff in the Loftwood. But the situation is dire, and we need all the help we can get. We must protect Falstaff's anonymity at all costs. He is working undercover for a Realm-shaping purpose.

From Morgan's reports:

• Morgan has spoken directly with the perpetrators - the patrons of a sailing ship called the Wanton Wench - and believes the opening of the covenant was done by accident.
• The ship is interesting in its own right. The Wanton Wench is a Second Age flying vessel and a prized possession of the current Overlord Thoedric XIX. Well, until it was stolen by the current pirate crew.
• Morgan did report two suspicious characters on board - Nomed and Wrane - both of whom are tainted with demon blood. He deemed them harmless at first contact.

On Wednesday, December 11, 907 TA, I received a plea for help from a hedge wizard travelling in Portsmith. He reported that a gate had been opened and demons were streaming forth. Taking three companies of knights with me, I teleported to Portsmith and put down the attack although the Raver Sineater and his Loremaster Borak escaped. Subsequent investigation has shown that Sineater was summoned by either Nomed or Wrane - or both. They are thought to have summoned the demons to Portsmith to provide a diversion for other plots - including the assassination of Jana Blackfire (governor) and Jamie Singleshadow (head of the Family in Portsmith). Both of these were successful but of little concern of the Crown.

Rather than tip our hand, I had Morgan form an alliance with the crew of the Wanton Wench for several reasons:

• First, they have information about the lost Ranger's Gate in Teufeldorf.

Under my command, the Wanton Wench traveled from Dragonsford to Teufeldorf arriving on March 1, 908 TA. There they used information gained previously to find the Ranger's Gate - although they were unable to enter the gate (only 1st level initiates may do so). A second party has been dispatched into the Gate to bring back, among other things soil from Demondim - the home of the Demons of the Covenant.

About this time, Falstaff broke from his deep cover and contacted me directly. The Druids of the Tangles were reporting creatures described as urviles wandering the forests of eastern Sandal. A druid's circle nearby should provide a safe, sheltered place for teleport. Also, about this time, an urvile was found wandering the streets of Teufeldorf. It was quickly put down - luckily for us it was alone - and we suppressed rumors by saying that a black panther had escaped from a Tang trader. A few Mind Blanks, and the deception was complete.

Backstory

When Benedict came from the Old Kingdom in 666 SA (bringing the covenants with him), he stopped in Teufeldorf and journeyed to the Void (via the Navigium Vectorium @ the Armitage Inn) where he retrieved enough soil from the demon's land to "bind them" to the devices. He then continued on to Mount Todd for the binding. Hylax knows that the ritual to use the soil and anchor the demons to the box took place in the legendary Ranger Vaults an early storehouse for artifacts deemed too dangerous for humankind. The vaults have since been moved to Vendredi Hall. During his research into the Void, Hylax learned that additional soil was left behind, and, perhaps, additional covenants in the Ranger Vaults.

The Ranger Vaults were also a legendary headquarters for the order in the early days (mid-seventh century SA) and lie behind the Ranger's Gate. The location and means of entrance through the gate have been lost to history.

• Second, and more importantly, we may be able to use Nemod and Wrane as bait, perhaps, to pull Sineater out into the open.

So, under my command, I sent the Wanton Wench south to the Druid Circle near the Tangles. That was a month ago. By my scrying, they arrived there yesterday. We need to meet them there. Investigate the situation and determine a plan of attack.

Edgeworld Lighthouse

The Edgeworld Lighthouse is a two-part magical token carried by Sineater (Quartermaster of Demons). When Sineater was released from the covenant on November 22, 907 TA by Chironomous, he sent scouts to all the major cities of the Realm looking for information on any of his surviving brethren. Finding Foultooth (General) in Sandal, Sineater made contact and combined their tokens to summon the Edgeworld Lighthouse, a troop movement vehicle for the army.

NOTE: The two-part mechanism ensured that no Raver could ever become corrupted and turn on the others. Each combination does a unique activity. Sineater's token when combined with a General's token summons the Edgeworld Lighthouse.

Sineater

The land of demons is called Demondim - a land scorched by relentless sun, devoid of water and plants. The demons seek to leave this land and find another to plunder - for once Demondim was a thriving world. The Realm is an ideal world - which is why the 13 came initially.

Sineater is the quartermaster of the demon army - carrying with him the Edgeworld Lighthouse. It allows him to find the other Ravers.

Foultooth and Sineater have found each other. And now, they have summoned the Lighthouse. In conjunction with Foultooth, Sineater can use the Lighthouse to move troops quickly around the Realm. The currently seek Godsbane - with whose amulet they can bring reinforcements from Demondim to the Realm and a start a Third Demon War.

Ur-viles

Ur-viles are creatures of jet black color and are constructions of an extinct race. They are highly magical, possessing a number of supernatural abilities, including shooting acid, creating bolts of pure energy and the like. They are blind, lacking any form of visual organ, but possess a preternatural sense of smell. One of their most distinctive features is that when assembled in a wedge formation, the leader (or loremaster) at the apex wields the combined power of the entire group, without weakening any of their kin in the rest of the wedge. Ride griffons - winged lions.

Cavewights

Cavewights are dimly intelligent subterranean creatures skilled in metal working and mining. They are weak willed, and are easily intimidated. They are described as having "long, scrawny limbs, hands as huge and heavy as shovels," plus "a thin, hunched torso, and a head shaped like a battering ram."

DM's Notes

There are several things to remember:

• The Lighthouse can regenerate troops who pour fourth from the openings at the bottom of the structure.
• The Lighthouse can teleport to the site of the next covenant.

Edgeworld Lighthouse Environs

A ruined castle structure oddly surrounds a lake which occupies the space normally taken by an interior bailey. It appears as if the castle was swallowed by the lake. The ruins of a village near the castle are also flooded with rooftops jutting from the water. There does not appear to be any activity in the castle or village ruins.

Floating in the sky, about sixty feet off the ground, near the edge of the lake is a squat, stone lighthouse. Its base is 100' in diameter and the structure is about 200' tall. The lighthouse appears to be made with three types of stone, each a different color - the lowest level is a dark brown, the middle is jet black, and the top is a grey-green flecked with gold. The different levels appear to be rotating - the middle one is moving counterclockwise, the upper and lower sections clockwise. The top 40' of the highest section appears to be made of glass. A slow-moving shaft of harsh, white light radiates from the glass providing a periodic flash of light when the beams passes by. The bottom section has a wide arches at the base - a portcullis of sorts - that leads into the tower, although they are currently sealed. The entire lighthouse is surrounded by a shimmering white globe about 400' in diameter.

Directly below the lighthouse several hundred creatures shuffle about along the shores of the lake. They have long, scrawny limbs, hands as huge and heavy as shovels, and thin hunched torsos. Their heads are shaped like a battering ram. You recognize them as cavewights.

Circling in the air around the lighthouse are dozens of small black dots which resolve to be hunched human-like creatures with jet-black skin. Each appears to be hovering in the air with their backs to the lighthouse. Ur-viles!

NOTE: The light radiates a powerful magical energy as it passes over you. You feel momentarily disconnected from the Realm as the light moves past you.

Level 1: Transport

NOTE: The "portcullis" opening can be rotated quickly to disgorge ur-viles and cave wights as needed.

This enormous room is clearly extra-dimensional. Although circular in shape, it is several hundred feet across. Slightly convex, sloping upwards to a high spot in the center, the room has dark brown stone walls.

Two vertical bulges run up the side of the room's walls and into the ceiling. One of these has an archway at ground level leading to large giant-sized spiral stairway. The other has a smaller human-sized arch and stairway. Both lead up.

In the center of the room, near the apex, a ring of ten stone tables - each proportioned for an ogre - surround a central dais. Upon the dais, a hunched figure - similar in features to the ur-viles, but with large protruding horns and a well-developed musculature, is dressed a black robe with a red sigil, a gnarled iron staff in his hands.

NOTE: As ur-viles and cave wights die, they appear on the table. The loremaster Sezzon points the iron staff at the body. It shakes and twitches, jumping up from the table. Running to a nearby rack of weapons and grabbing one, the newly-revived heads towards the nearest exit. Periodically, the body appears in a state too dilapidated to be revived. It is pushed from the edge of the table forming an ever-growing pile of bones and body parts.

This lower level is filled with ur-viles and cave wights.

Level 2: Stores

This enormous room is clearly extra-dimensional. Although circular in shape, it is several hundred feet across. The space appears to be a warehouse with wedge-shaped shelves radiating from a central open space. Most of the shelves are piled with crates and boxes marked in a strange runic script. Several long racks of weapons - mostly pikes and polearms stand at mute attention. The area is orderly with the feel of a well-oiled military operation.

A number of cave wights shamble slowly about the area carrying large crates or boxes. Periodically, a new load of weapons is taken down the small stairs to the transport.

Two hallways, wider than their counterparts, lead to two vertical bulges running up the side of the room's walls and into the ceiling.

Loremaster Borak will be here tending the stores. Since the Lighthouse has only been active for a short while, he is relishing being in the "right place" not aimlessly wandering the Realm looking for Sineater.

Stairway Trap

Halfway along the stairway (between levels 2 & 3 and 4 & 5, the bulges must align to allow characters to pass. Otherwise it is blocked with unteleportable stone. When open, teleport is useable. However, the passageways can only be used when the room above is aligned. A cage trap attempts to hold a character as they move through the stairway - success meaning the character is cut in half !!!

It takes about 15 minutes for the lighthouse to rotate 360 degrees. NOTE: the smaller and larger staircases are offset and never align with each other.

Level 3: Lore Masters

A single hallway leads to a circular central room. The floors, ceilings and walls here are jet black. Around the edge of the room are 13 rooms - each with an imposing black door. Each door has a large black rune carved in its surface. Two of the symbols flicker with a red light.

NOTE: These are Borak's chamber (Sineater's lore master) and Sezzon's chamber (Foultooth's lore master).

This chamber contains several blocks of black stone - crude stools surrounding a central table of the same material. The room is exceptionally sparse, although it is lines with bookshelves that appear empty.

On the table is a iron graphite pencil and a large tome bound in a strange black leather. The book has the same mark as was found on the door.

Opening the book reveals a single entry on the first page.

I write this for you, my brethren, to cover the unfortunate possibility that my Master fails in his mission. Sineater and Foultooth have used their combined strength to forge a bond to Demondim through the Crossroads Cave. It is a much weaker connection than that in Teufeldorf, but that path is much too guarded to be attempted yet. If you read this, we have failed, but our goal is to retrieve an item of Godsbane that will allow us to find the dimensional walker here in the Realm. If he can be freed to our cause, we will use the Edgeworld Lighthouse to bring reinforcements from home. It has been a long millennium waiting to save our people. The Realm remains ripe for conquest. This time we will be successful. Loremaster Borak, Faithful of Sineater.

Each room will have an identical book - with an identical set of pages.

Level 4: Ravers - Map Room

This room is circular although extra-dimensional and larger than it appears from the outside. The room is flooded by a harsh white light.

The center of the room is dominated by a large 30' long table on which is carved a map of the Realm. Around the table are 13 giant-sized stone chairs, each ornately carved from a black stone. Two of the chairs appear to have been melted - their forms lumpy and distorted.

Behind the 13 giant chairs, 13 blocks of black stone are perched - a small set of stairs leading up to the top of each.

The map is currently empty except for two small black cubes positioned over your current position in Sandal.

Level 5: Sunroom

This room is bathed is a harsh white light. It is very hot in the room and blindingly bright.

Suspended mid-air, a large clear bowl about 10 feet in diameter is the only discernible feature of the room. Movement can be seen in the bowl - brownish shapes or shadows slowly coalescing and dispersing. The bowl catches the light and the shadows project images on the floor.

Two figures - both large and muscled, appearing as stone giants, are walking across a desert landscape. A pale white sun - much larger than the sun on the Realm - beats relentlessly down upon the two. There are no trees, no discernible water, only crumbling rock cliffs - made of a pale pink stone - several hundred feet on either side of the pair. Caves in the stone show movement of figures - human-like but covered in robes and rag of strange geometric design. Nobody approaches the figures as they make their way purposefully towards their goal.

Loremaster Sezzon is in this room.

NOTE: The figures in the bowl can see into this room. It will take a great reason why they would return without Godsbane's item, but they will come back for Nemod. Borak will flee if cornered. If slain, they will appear on the first level to be resurrected.

NOTE: Both the small and large hallways end at this level.

Level 6: Lighthouse Keeper

"Wickie" is a small demon who is in charge of the lighthouse. He is small and misshapen, his overly-large green head is fringed with long grey hair. He is dressed in shiny black armor - sized more for a goblin than a man. In his hand, the creature carries a 6' tall staff carved with 5 intricate runes.

Armor of spell and damage reflection. Cannot cause damage while wearing the armor. Rune staff carved to work the machine. The runes will fade if Wickie is killed.

The center of this room is dominated by a large machine consisting of a metal barrel with a number of 20' vertical slits running from 10' feet above the floor to 10' below the 40' high ceiling. The metal is a dull black and radiates a cool temperature - wisps of cold white mist swirl about the machine when in use.

There are number of holes in the base of the machine which flares out slightly from the barrel shaft. The base is 3' in height and covered with hundreds of holes about 2" in diameter. The holes are unevenly spaced both vertically and horizontally.

Environs: Crossroads Cave

The ruins of the old castle and town are difficult to traverse as centuries of rain has eaten away the soil and roads leaving behind large but swimmable canals of water. Of the buildings, only the main gatehouse of the keep appears to be dry inside.

An exterior staircase leads up to a door, now long rotted and fallen away - just a few rusted hinges on cling to the stone. The floor of the room, some 20 feet above the original ground appears to dry. A partial roof hides about 2/3 of the interior space - which was clearly a guardhouse in earlier days.

In the corner of the room, a spiral staircase leads down. A rusted portcullis over the top of the shaft has been opened and shows signs of recent entry.

There are two ur-viles here.

Moving down the stairs, the passageway winds towards the castle's center - always leading down with only short respites of straight segments. 20' feet down, the walls begin to weep water in slow trickles. At the bottom of the stairway, the passageway opens up into a small chapel-like room. There is an altar at the far end, but there are no pews or other signs of traditional religion. Standing at this point, holding a small glass bowl between them, Foultooth and Sineater are motionless. Statues transfixed by the glowing glass bowl.

These are just the bodies of the ravers - which can be replaced as needed. Killing the bodies will keep them in Demondim until a circle can be drawn in the castle to bring them back.

The bowl allows for scrying across the Void and into Demondim - among other powers.