Cavere

Cavere enjoys trade with nearby Karstock and Mareotis via maritime travel up the Snowmelt and through Severen Sound. It is a bustling city overseen by the Magocracy of Mareotis, though no figurehead of government rules in Cavere itself, leaving most power in the city to the wealthiest business owners. The city has a few districts; the Harbor, the Dunes, the Curio district, the Citadel, and the Quarters.

The Harbor

The east side of the city sits on Severen Sound and is primarily dock yards and warehouses for in and outgoing trade. Most trade in and out of Cavere is with Mareotis, the sea being a better means of transport than attempting to cross the desert along the coastline. However, a select few ships do head north for trade with Karstock up the Snowmelt river, typically not in the spring or winter's end as the thaw flooding can make the Snowmelt a dangerous river to sail. Even fewer ships, only one in fact, sail to the Ivory Isles in the frigid north. Captain Vargo (Vargok), a blue-nosed hobgoblin leads the Blue-Nose Breaker and its crew on voyages for treasure out into the Eldathan ocean and to the north, to the Ivory Isles. Vargok has earned his rank and position, and is proud of his accomplishments and independence. He is generally an open person and accepting of all backgrounds. His first mate is a human woman named Odessa, who was born to a pair of sailors in Cavere. She knows Severen Sound as well as anyone and is an excellent navigator of the stars. They haven't sailed to the Ivory Isles in a few years, as the trip was difficult and treacherous, but with Vargo's skillset it is feasible.

The Dunes

To the south of the city lies the desert sands. The dead from Cavere are buried here in the sands, and stretching out to the west where it becomes less sandy. Some of the most prominent figures from Cavere's ruling class of the past are buried in great pyramids here underground. They were typically buried with a handful of items that were most important to them, while the rest of their wealth was left to the next in line. Additionally, high ranking servants, friends, and aristocrats could be afforded burial in royal tombs as well for a price that would be buried with them. Tomb raiding is looked down upon, so that is the social deterrent, but there are also no publicly known entrances to the pyramids, they are strictly underground, secret tunnels that lead into them.

One of these underground entrances is guarded over by the Death by Daylight casino in the heart of the Dunes. The Daylight is owned by an elven vampire named Rickard, who is very outgoing and loves to talk to his patrons - loves cards as well. He's rather lawful neutral, and has recently allowed access to the tomb of Queen Prashad, first queen of Cavere, to an individual (human male named Godfrey) claiming to be a wealthy historian hoping to learn more of the first Caverene queen. Connected to her tomb is that of Queen Kamaria, second queen, hidden away underground. Rickard could tell something was suspicious about Godfrey, but wasn't terribly concerned by it because he paid well and wore a ruby skull ring, the symbol of Bhaal. Rickard is more partial to Bhaal than most, because he in fact employs some undertakers in town who bring him bodies prior to burial so he can feed without killing, often feeding off of murder victims. He's not an evil man, just a practical one who doesn't want to do harm, but needs to live himself. He's been a vampire for centuries now, and has grown accustomed to the lifestyle. He doesn't like to talk about his turning event. It was actually an act of love, wanting to stay with his paramour that he agreed to the change, but it turns out their love was not immortal, and it was not a pretty breakup. His name was Strahd Von Zarovich, and Rickard has not seen him since.

The Tombs

The original tombs were not built with grave robbery in mind, so they are really rather simple, usually just featuring one main chamber and maybe a side room or two for those not quite worthy to share a chamber with the queens. Godfrey, however, has left some traps behind his trail, just in case. In the tomb of Queen Pradesh, he spent some time performing necromantic arts, enchanting the mummified corpses there to carry out his will and guard the tunnel leading to the tomb of Queen Kamaria. Should anyone get past the mummies, he left a glyph of warding. His cover story is that he is a servant of Deneir.

Queen Pradesh's tomb holds many mysteries of ancient Cavere, as well as hidden treasures, although stealing them may have some unwanted consequences. Anyone who steals from the tombs suffers disadvantage on all saving throws while in the tomb, and until a remove curse spell is cast outside of the region of the mummy's lair. A remove curse cast in the lair will not remove the curse, unless the item is returned to where it was taken, which will also serve to remove the curse at any time.

• Nebamun, Honored Servant in a servant burial room
• General Merit, Protector of the People in a hall near the entry
• Lucario, Favored Griffin near the exit, furthest from the queen
• Respected Mystic, Rai, in the center of the tomb near the shrine to Sahirishi
• Guardian Sahirishi, Benevolent Lord of the Sands
• A lounge area for the queen's comfort, with a fountain which has gone foul
• Another room paying homage to the strange slightly inhuman creatures. No tombs, just statues and respects. These were an ancient race of stone giants, celestial in nature and believed to come from Mount Celestia where they served the gods and came down as guardians after the Second Beginning and before the Dividing Barrier rose, giving up their immortality. This race was known as the Ymir (celestial giant race).
• Statues of some slightly inhuman creatures with wider faces and horns, similar to a bull, but not a minotaur
• Library room

Treasure

• Drowner's Pearl - common, let's you survive underwater for 1 additional minute when you would choke/suffocate. These are in the queen's lounge.
• Wildfire Ammunition - rare, ammunition, super cool fire arrow, in the Ymir chamber near the burial tomb - a weapon bestowed by the gods craftsmen.
• Staff of the Python
• Staff of the Guide
• Historical records of ancient Cavere, after the Second Beginning

Staff of the Guide Staff, legendary (requires attunement by a cleric, druid, warlock, or wizard)
This staff once belonged to Rai, the Mystic of Cavere. She was seen as a spiritual guide who could read omens in all things, and could speak with all peoples. She was a critical piece of the first Queen's advisory council, and a large part of the divinity revered in the Queens of Cavere was instituted by Rai. She left the Queen's council when rule shifted to Kamaria, and went into the desert, where it is believed Sahirishi granted her additional wisdom, and she became an oracle to Cavere. Eventually she passed, and was laid to rest in a high place of honor within Queen Pradesh's tomb, and the staff that she was always seen with was laid with her.
This staff of dark stained wood looks as if it were pried from a tree branch, and still has a natural look, standing 5ft tall. There are small holes punch through the top of the staff, letting light pass through it, and spiraling carvings down the length of the staff. While attuned to and holding this staff, you can understand any spoken language, and others can understand you regardless of your spoken language, as if affected by the tongues spell. Once per long rest it can be used to cast the divination spell, requiring no material components nor spell slot. It can also be used to cast the sacred flame cantrip at will.

Among the many bookshelves in the tomb, many of them are so old and crumbled they are hardly recognizable. Near the queen's lounge are many books of her favorite poetry and stories. Towards the far back of the pyramid lies a larger collection of important writings by the queen and other records of her accomplishments. With a DC 20 Investigation/History check one can learn about the cooperation between the Ymir and Queen Pradesh. She writes of these celestial helpers from the gods, who are greater in size, highly skilled craftsmen, and teach the people of Cavere many things of animal husbandry, gathering resources, building, writing, and many other things. Queen Pradesh is also credited with defending the city with the help of the Ymir, who together rained fire down upon an attacking army of devils. (The Infernal Siege on Cavere)

Queen Kamaria's Tomb

The second queen's tomb is structured quite differently from Pradesh's. There are no winding halls, but instead one large communal burial chamber. During her reign, those of the Ymir that were left passed away from old age, as their immortality ran out when they decided to live in the material plane. As a sign of respect to their sacrifice, Kamaria afforded all of them burial within her tomb, along with those who were special to her in life. For her peaceful rule, and respect towards the Ymir, Deneir entrusted Kamaria with two of his scripts, detailing that there are Portals to the Parallel Planes, and The Dispersion, providing Kamaria with sensitive information about the planes. Unknown to them, Godfrey has planted a script in the tomb already, of Larvae Heist Attempted. There is also a Mask of the Sacred Beasts (Hawk) within Kamaria's tomb, as she was known to favor archery and hawking. In combat with Kamaria's mummy, a spectral hawk archer will join the battle as well as a guardian of faith.


Godfrey's Story
A middle aged human man, in service to the BBEG, and a member of the cult of Bhaal. His cover is as a historian servant of Deneir. His mission is to travel the world to collect and scribe all historical writings that he can get his hands on, which brought him to the pyramids in Cavere. He hoped to learn as much as he could about the first queens of Cavere. He claims he was able to review some of the material in Pradesh's tomb, and will have some of it collected at his camp outside of Kamaria's tomb, with papers and ancient books spread all around. He will express an honest interest in the gods and the Ymir. His true goal was to plant the script for the Legion to find in Kamaria's tomb, and then of course also try and kill them, but self-preservation is critically important to him. Even if he doesn't kill them, the script is still a good part of the plan. He will of course have raised Kamaria as a mummy lord to combat the party when they take the scripts. If the party wants to know more about Kamaria, they will learn that she was responsible for brokering a peace with the devils that Pradesh warred with, and for relaxing the city's citizenship rules, opening up Cavere to become a haven for those society side eyed with fear and contempt - an act that earned her the name "Kamaria the Kind" from her supporters, and "Kamaria the Meek" from those who looked at that decision as a weakness in time of war, allowing mixed blood tieflings and other contemptible peoples inside the city. What only those who've studied her tomb would know though, is that this kind heartedness and open mind also earned her attention from the gods, particularly Deneir, who entrusted her with knowledge he desperately wanted to preserve, believing she would be shrewd enough to keep it from those who would do ill with the knowledge.

He will need to have some historical knowledge for the party to take interest in and believe him. As a "chosen of Deneir" he will claim to have had vivid dreams from the god, where he recounts these histories to Godfrey, otherwise Godfrey "seeks out history" in old places, claiming that he's been to the Underdark beneath the desert in Mareotis, scoured the catalogs at Valaritas in Salthis, and studied with the Sphynx from the Vernal Pools. He will know about the Second Beginning, and have a bit of information about the larva from his master, believing that humanity was specially chosen by the gods to bear their ideals and wills (though Godfrey of course feels resentment towards the gods , and that they don't really care about humanity). He will know that the gods are being kept at bay from the Material Plane by some construction of the gods themselves - and he will muse, was this to protect us from the Umbrals, or to protect themselves from humanity, who had grown powerful and wiser than the gods expected? He will know of bargains that the gods made with great creatures like the dragons and giants when they were the more populous denizens of the plane, and will wonder if the gods' treatment of these groups was truly just.

Type

City