The Trench
The team travel down into the crack into the Underdark. There they find some scary little critters and a couple of questions & answers.
Plot points/Scenes
The team get down in to the crack leading to the Underdark. They need to use their skills to get past the dangerous set up of the first area. They need to make a Nature proficiency or Dexterity roll to get past the initial hazards (DC of 13). Failure can lead to at least falling and if not fixed to others by rope, they fall 10 to 30 feet 3d10 , and take at least 3 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet and lands Prone on the ground. They can try to use other skills such as Atcrobatics with a DC 15 to see if the avoid damage and/or ending Prone.
At the end of the clliff edge, the team need to do the same Dex or Nature DC of 13. They can be knocked a level or more down as above or be trapped below some heavy rocks & noulders causing 10 2d10 bludgeoning damage.
If successful, they get to the entrance to an old lava tube. Also, if the team take a look at the bottom of the cliffs, they will find it heavily dusty, and seems to sparkle with a yellowish sheen as if amber had been ground up in with the other rocks. The depths seems to go on & on into a bottomless pit at the centre. Any character with magical abilities can make an Arcane DC 15 roll to notice this is what is drawing in & throwing out some primordial magical energy but otherwise useless for magic use due to it being too unstable. At this stage onwards there is the risk of running into Carrion Crawlers or a Gelatious Cube.
When they stand at the lava tube entrance they can examine the ruined camp. Ther is 43 copper, and 12 silver pieces. Little remains of any organic material which has fossilized. A fwe ancient Black Elf tools are present, as well as the remains of a couple of ancient tents (also fossilised) that was made out of some type of animal skin. No tracks are visible but htere does seem to be some fossilised excement here & there leading into & out of the tunnel.
Examining the lava tube it appears that it runs at a slight angle upwards before turning downwards. It runs for about a mile and ends with another drop of about 50 feet deep into a cavern. Falling down this would result in being knocked Prone, and up to 16 5d6 bludgeoning damage. What the team may not notice is that there is large cracks in the walls of the tunnel. There is a risk that a few Grimlocks, cariion crawlers, piercers or ropers attack out of them 2d4 . It is pretty much under the eastern edge of the Massif Central deeper than any of the mines of the de Rais.
What the team can see out in the cavern is an elongated chamber with a dip in the middle. A huge mushroom forest with some of them bioluminescent stretches the length & width of it. It stretches about 10 miles long, 2.5 miles wide at the ends & over 5 miles at the widest in the middle. It is at least up to 240 feet tall at the hihjtest, and 180 feet at the lowest. The centre is the deepest. The mushrooms are usually tall enough to almost block the view of the floor from above, and the roof from the top.
At hte centre is a depresion from a long extinct volcano. Sitting at the centre is a trapped piece of amber about 5 foot high, and about 1.5wide. A strange smoky form floats in the centre. Magic can be used but may result in the release of a new dark god. It has 65 HP.
Also, the forest blocks the view of characters up to 60 feet away, is thick enough to block seeing any further especially with the spores that are released. The caps block the worst of it but still hard to see further than 90 feet away at this level. The whole cavern is moist and slightly warm.
The team has a chance of encountering Grimlocks on a 10% chance 1d100 , a cahance of meeting a Black Elf war party on a 25% chance, and a 50% chance of running into Troglodytes. A few ropers & piercers may make an appearance.
All the time they will find that around the Amber Sarcophagus, there is primitive totems and any Black Elves that are met are on their way to destroy them. Around the sarcophagus is a sticky tar like substance that looks like as if it was once far more liquid bt near used up & drying out. It sems to have leaked out of a small outside crack in the sarcophagus. The totems (or maybe the amber) are causing the mushrooms within a half mile from it to send out toxic spores. Anyone who fets to the centre has to make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or suffer the Poisoned condition. At the same time they are most likely to be attacked by Trogoldytes and they will find remaims of other creatures the layyrt had hunted down, killed and ate. The Troglodyes appear to be Grimlocks & other Underdark creatures that have mutated from the black tarry goo, and black blood appears when injured or killed.
Hidden on the far wall is a cavern leading up to the following:
The team can see that a huge cavern with bioluminescent fungi & mould growing in places is at the end a few yards down. A statue of a humanoid figure stands a number of yards away from the base of the slope. It seems to be an edge marker to someones territory, and there is a rough carved road goes far off into the distance to the east from it. This disappears into the distance. The statue is about 8 feet tall, and is of a humanoid creaure with ribbed clothing carved out of stone. The head & face is elongated with five tentacles carved. No eyes are visible as if it is wearing a visor. A ribbed helmet-like design is carved into the head, and the whole thing looks as if the 'clothing' & 'body' are one. A stretched out hand is holding a carved dagger with blade down, and it has a ribbed handle & spikes appear on the blade.
Around the base, set into the pedestal, is small thumb-sided bits of amber that glow if approached. This is hte same amber used to make amber sarcophagi.
Any further exploration will show passages into the Underdark, and the odd body of Gnomes, Dwarves, Druegar, and Black Elkves are present here & there. A few are fresh kills. At the same time, if the statue is approached, this may have attracted Primordial Kin, dressed in similar gear to the statue.
If the area is examined they see near the statue & road that similar resin is present and more leading down to the east along the road.
Beyond that is:
(remember this is in reverse and lead up to a de Rais mine)
If the team try the front it is easy to get to the goblins as they have access now directly into the mine proper. It is a number of meters into the mine proper and is a long open mine in the mountain base. It has a few smaller tunnels here & there where they followed seams of metals (primarily iron and a bit of silver). the largest tunnel is at the back, and the goblins that escaped had found the strange cavern at the end of this.
If they try & make it down the other way, they will find themselves in the tunnel at the entrance of the strange cavern. It looks as if they were joined at one stage but has shifted since.
The actual strange cavern has grayish white pillars here & there against the walls, along with growths of some type of organic resin as if exceted by some type of hive creature. The pillars will have strange designs, and a distinct Elvish script on them in places. It tells of the first Elves to this region and they were very advanced.
Their society contained all manner of Elvish tribes but soon found themselves in a civil war, and a race of mercenary creatures were employed here to wipe out this tribe. They were backed up by Black Elves who were notorious for their cruelty, bot on themselves & others. The mercenaries were creatures of primordial essence and tentacled in some way. They started to modify the cavern to sui their own needs and seal it off from the surface.
The remains of the Elves are found scattered around the floor, with wicked blades made to cause excessive pain & others made to perfection. Old rusted & damaged weapons & armour are there, as well as the same made out of a similar substance to the pillars. Both sets are too heavily damaged over the aeons to be of any use or worh anything but the invaders had spiked dark armour including on the inside to cause pain to the wearer.
There is an exit at the end of the cavern with pillars saying it is where the last stand took place. It is where the body of the Elves greatest hero of the battle fell and his body can't be recovered.
If the team goes down, they will find a corridor covered in slimy resin until they reach a circular room at the end in a similar condition. Sitting, partially cocooned on the wall is an ancient Elf. His helm is lying to one side of his broken armour and sword. The ornate helm is the only part that seems intact.
Any skeleton or armour throughout are in terribly bad condition, and the former will crubble to dust if touched or handled.
Beyond the room is a large fissure in the wall at a 34 degree angle.
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