The Hole Divers
The players revisit the cave where they found the 3 strange vials, and the grey metal ore. They given a hint that a larger deposit may exist somewhere in the mountain and deep inside.
Plot points/Scenes
The players examine the grey metal they found and either one of the Dwarves in the party or one of the Ludger clan mentions something. The metal is adamantine, and has been chipped of another piece, maybe larger in size. At the same time, they notice slight abrasions on it that something strong & potentially large has made. Little weathering shows it has been recently brought to the surface.
When back there, they will need to go down into the tunnels made by the Ankheg, and find one of the chambers it hollowed out to eat it's prey. One will have a downward corridor leading to a larger wider corridor burrowed out by something far larger. They need to work out which direction to go, and when they decide it will either lead to a hatchery containing a few eggs of some unknown animal about the size of a human head, bluish purple in colour. These have an average of 3 HP each, and a random amount 2d4 .
This is determined randomly on a 50% chance 1d100 , leaving the other direction as the mine, which may appear first in another large chamber. In both there are other hollowed out tunnels running in random directions including upwards and downwards.
This other chamber has a 4.5 lb lump of raw adamantine.
Noises here and there make it sound as if there is something moving or burrowing through rock nearby. At the same time there is a 50% chance 1d100 that one has a small chamber where they find access to the Underdark and a group of Primordial Kin may be present 1d100 . They may attack and the chamber contains passageways leading off and a small finger sized piece of the Amber on a shrine dedicated to something the Primordial Kin refer to the Burrower Beneath or "Chthonian". No other sentient creatures are found living in or near the region except to the Northwest for a few miles northwest and they are Black Elves, primarily the inhabitants of the Valley of the Black Ones.
If the players flee in that direction they will be captured, blindfolded either way and marched out of the northern end of the Valley.
If they hang around long enough they attract the Chthonian, a massive Purple Worm that call lives in these larger passages and rooms. It will attack on sight and may even follow them in particular to the surface bursting from the ground to try to eat them. There they may fight and better than in the tunnels.
If in the tunnels when fighting there is a risk of three things,
- Running out of breathable air. If they hit a pocket of other gasses, they are at disadvantage on any physical rolls taking 1 HP damage per round until it passes or they move out. It is a 15 by 15 by 15 foot area that they are in.
- AoE effects and spells can be amplified causing potential trouble. In this confined space these can cause problems and any effects may cause disadvantage to the roll. Also, certain damage such as from Fireball spells, cause an extra Die Roll of damage per level.
- Falling. There is a risk of falling and any that do so down a tunnel will fall between 10 to 60 feet easily if not careful randomly being 6d6*10 . They take random damage if not careful, helped or roll a successful DC 14 Athletics to grab some outcrop or similar. If they hit the bottom, they take a d6 damage per 10 feet fallen and knocked prone.
If they live, they can find their way back out and go back to Eschbach and do whatever they want with the adamantine. They also hear that some of the old stories of the plateau that involve a creature attacking those that use the region refer to being attacked either by an large nasty insectile creature, and in the odd tale they speak of a huge purple worm instead.
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