Visiting Lord Wraithmore
Abstract
Adventurers are asked to retrieve an amulet for their sponsor, the mage Yanrish. Following the death of the Duchess of Wraithmore, Anya, her uncle now occupies is, self-styled as the Lord Wraithmore. The deserted castle seems home only to the Lord and a single kitchen maid, though he surrounds himself with animated armour to do his bidding. Once the party encounter the Lord, they will notice that he seems weak or tired, quite frail. The lord listens to the party and depending on their persuasion will agree to part with the necklace, but the party must retrieve it for themselves from the vault. He opens the vault and allows them in. The group are then transported to a trap room, where they see bones around them, a gaping hole in the floor emanating with magical energy, and 5 tables – one of which has instructions. These instructions explain how to escape the trap, but also explain that monsters will attack them as they progress. As the group are hit by the monsters, every point of damage is transferred to the Lord as healing. Once the tables are activated, the group can either return through a portal and retrieve the amulet, leading to a fight with Lord Wraithmore and his enchanted guard, or they can escape via the caverns, and instead fight a chimera.Opening
The group are summoned by their sponsor, the mage Yanrish for their quest. Yanrish informs them that the Duchess Anya of Wraithmore, recently passed. There is a particular amulet that the mage requires, that was under loan to the duchess and stored within her castle. Her uncle has taken up residence there, self styling himself as the Lord Wraithmore, but has ignored any attempts the mage has made to contact him. Yanrish can transport the group to the outskirts of the castle grounds, where they are faced with a bridge across a moat, looking in through an open drawbridge. Note, that if this quest picks up directly after 'The Test', then the mage will give the party a refreshing drink that will perform the equivalent of a long rest. If the party are arriving at the beginning of a new day, then refer to the introduction of 'The Test' to see how Yanrish's butler, Gibbons, might greet them and escort them to the top of the tower. INSERT MAP 1 HERE As the party look out, it can be noticed that the moat contains a curious mixture of both healthy plantlife, but also ice patches. On closer inspection, it can be seen that purple crystals line the bottom of the moat. A successful Arcana check will sense that these crystals are sapping energy in some way. A good Arcana check will reveal that these are Chillblane crystals, that can sap both heat, and magic. Finally, there’s an abandoned caravan beside the moat, with no sign of the owner. Looking around the outside, the party can determine that this is clearly emblazened Exotic Goods from Across the Realm, brought to you by Sigmund Snook. Investigating inside may yield some gold and/or magical items based on the success level of the DC, plus a note inside that says 'Gone to the castle, back soon'. It's up to the party as to whether they choose to steal from the caravan or not. Crossing the bridge, the party will feel a sense of cold and on reaching the midpoint they must roll a constitution save, else suffer 1d8 of cold damage. Any attempt to touch the water, will result in an Arcana/intelligence saving throw – a fail results in a spell slot of the lowest available to be sapped. Crossing the bridge, the party may notice a grate to the left. Removing via a successful strength check or other means, allows access to the cavern underneath the castle (Map 4). Alternatively, the party can enter the castle, where they will find a fully stocked gatehouse, with stairs leading up. They can investigate to find almost any routine weapon imaginable and plenty of arrows, with no bonuses. A ballista is also present, which can be operated with a successful Dexterity/Sleight of Hand check. A failure may cause the arrow to fire, damaging anyone in front for 2d10 piercing damage (with an opportunity for a dexterity saving throw to halve the damage). A suit of armour at the base of the stairs will not react to any actions, and appears to be a normal suit of armour, until the party go upstairs. On the last party member taking the stairs, have them roll a perception check, if successful they turn around to see that the armour's head is now staring straight at them. The armour makes no other moves regardless of the party's actions, even if they attack it. See the Deck of Many Things reference for the statistics for the animated armour. The abundance of weapons, and a potential threat from the armour, that leads to no confrontation, should serve to unnerve the party as they head up to the second floor. Map 2 – Upper Level The party enter a sparse room with minimal decoration, and doors leading in each direction. To the south is a stocked armory that may at the DM’s discretion contain useful weapons. Beside that are two dungeon cells. On close inspection and a reasonable survival check, one of the cells looks to have been in use recently. To the west is a door leading to a balcony, and to the north is a door leading to a kitchen, which in turn has a doorway leading to servants’ quarters. If the party investigate they will find a very friendly, small, gnomish, kitchen maid called Griana. She will regale them of how the new Lord has come to the castle with ambitions of restoring it to its previous grandeur. If the party offer help, she will invite them to help bring food through to the Lord as it's lunch time. The door to the north is flanked by two suits of armour, that on inspection are not of note. Approaching them (unless accompanied by Griana) or the door however, will trigger a voice to be boomed into the room.“You are not invited. Instead, you are invited to leave.”On pressing on, one of the two suits of armour will reveal itself to be a Helmed Horror and block the party from proceeding, but not attack. If the party attacks, then start initiative as the helmed horror retaliates. After 2-3 rounds however (DM discretion on how well each side is doing, this is a warm-up battle), the voice will again boom:
“Stop! The Lord of the castle will see you now.”The armour will drop any fighting stance, about turn, and lead the party through the door, revealing an ornate hallway with golden double doors that are also opened to reveal the throne room. Note that if instead, the party are helping Griana, then as the Helmed Horror attempts to block the party from proceeding, she will bat the arm away saying "Away wi' ye! These be nay but helping me, the blessed lady knows that I could with it, and then some I tell ye. It's not like you be much in the way of helpin' now!" Lord Wraithmore will greet the party from his throne. He is dressed lavishly, but appears in ill health. Old, frail and to all appearances helpless, he addresses the group warmly and asks how he can help. As he does so, and as the party talk, he will occasionally cough into a handkerchief. A successful perception check, will reveal that the handkerchief comes away from his hand, bloody. A relatively low persuasion check on any attempts to request the heirloom, will be responded to positively. Low rolls will cause him to ask what the party might exchange, creativity will be rewarded here! Any attempts to attack will be counterspelled or met with the Shield spell, and if they continue to press, the party will immediately be teleported to Map 3. Ideally the party will convince Wraithmore to part with the amulet, and he reveals it’s in the vault, and they’re welcome to it. The vault door is to the right of the party, and with a wave of Wraithmore’s hand, it opens. He mentions that it’s in a silver sphere that he will need to unlock, but that he asks them to bring it out for him. It’s quite heavy so will need at least 2 or 3 of them to do so. Any that do enter the vault will find many riches they can help themselves to, and a silver sphere crackling with energy. Once three characters are touching it, the characters are teleported away to Map 3. Any characters that try to move the sphere before being teleported away, find it immoveable, regardless of strength check. If any characters remain, Wraithmore indicates to them that their friends really need their help using Minor Illusion to sell the deceit, and hopefully the party will all end up touching the sphere and teleporting. If any remain, Wraithmore will with furious effort, teleport them himself. Map 3 – The Trap Room The party find themselves inside a solid room with one heavy steel door with a lever beside it, 5 tables, and a stone tablet in the centre that has a hold pulsing with magical energy. There are also a scattering of humanoid and non humanoid bones around the hole, with some damaged weapons and at DM’s discretion, magical items or scrolls. A figure seemingly wakes up at their arrival, “You fools!” it yells, “Did you really let him send you down here?” On questioning, or upon the party taking damage, the prisoner will reveal himself to be Sigmund Snook from the travelling caravan outside, then explain how the mage uses this room to ensure the party are damaged, and all damage is converted to healing for him – and no, Sigmund has no idea how that works. 4 of the tables are aligned to the corners of the room, and each have 11 symbols and a dial that allows selection of a symbol. The same 11 symbols are carved repeatedly around the room, on the walls. These symbols (based on a successful arcana check) represent the 8 schools of magic:
- Abjuration
- Conjuration
- Divination
- Enchantment
- Evocation
- Illusion
- Necromancy
- Transmutation
- Hammer
- Sword
- Coin
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