Maps/Visuals/Clues

[SlyFox]

Locations marked on maps are "known" by your characters. This doesn't mean there aren't many more unexplored places in existence.

[SlyFox]

Myrell Forest and South (and West)

[SlyFox]

Evander was a clever Magic-User/Thief, who lived a few hundred years ago, stole and hoarded powerful and valuable holy relics and historical artifacts. He used to live in Snake River City, but was said to have made his new lair with his hoard in a cave near Farmtown Village, now home to demons.

Relics & Artifacts To Find (said to be in Evander's Lair, a cave near Farmtown Village): Reward - 500gp per person/per item.

1) The Dagger of Helios – This is a holy relic belonging to the Amazon Tribes of the Lithican Rainforest. An Amazon Shamaness, Alti, is the visiting dignitary from Darna Village. She describes this item as a silver dagger, more like a kris. It will be known from other weapons of its class as it glows with a soft blue hue. It is rumored to be the key to the ambrosia (food of the gods) that the Amazons of the Lithican guard fiercely. It is said that several mortals have become gods once obtaining the ambrosia and eating of its forbidden essence. The dagger is said to be an extremely powerful weapon of the gods that cannot be touched by anyone other than an Amazon Shamaness. Druids have the gods' blessing to touch this artifact to retrieve it. Legend says that anyone else handling the Dagger of Helios will die a grim and instant death.

2) The Thieves' Pride – This item is a historical artifact that belonged to the Thieves Guild here in Snake River City a few hundred years ago. It is described as a stone key that will fit into the palm of the hand, but acts as a powerful weapon since it was instilled with an enchantment by a wizard. Legend has it that the key can only be handled by a thief belonging to the Snake River City guild without dying an instant death. The gods have granted any thief or assassin the permission to touch this item.

3) The Mighty Shield of Verrax the Virile – This item is a holy relic described by Duke Kalvar as a fine yellow gold kite shield with an amethyst encrusted coat of arms, forming the design of a mighty sword with a crown on top, a lion to the left and a unicorn to the right. The shield belonged to the Duke himself. It is said to give its bearer the ability to fend off any attack, and will attack back if provoked, even if the bearer is dead. There is nothing in any legend that specifies who can or cannot touch this relic.

4) The Spellbook of Renterus the Raucous – This item is a historical artifact that was owned by the Magic-Users Guild and belonged to the founder hundreds of years ago. It contains some of the old wizards first spells, but it is described as being bound completely in gold and fairly heavy. There is nothing in legends that say anything about who can or cannot touch it.

5) The Stone of Brugendorn – The Dwarves of Forevermore Valley once owned this holy relic. It is described as a solid gold amulet set with a very large red ruby. More importantly, it is said to give its wearer the ability to withstand any attack, no matter how powerful the opponent. Legend does specify that only those of Dwarven blood can touch this relic without being stricken down instantly. The Dwarven lord Ragencline is the dignitary from Forevermore that has asked for the retrieval of this item.

6) The Mace of Meresen – This is a holy relic that belonged to the main temple here in Snake River City. The priests have asked for help in retrieving this relic, which is said to be a golden mace with a glowing red hue. It is said to cleanse the enemies of righteousness with fire and can only be handled by a cleric of lawful good alignment. The penalty of handling this mace without the proper class and alignment will result in instant death. For this mission, the gods have granted any cleric the blessing to retrieve this relic.

7) The Bow of Belrain – This is a historical artifact that was said to have been owned by the greatest of Elven warriors. Several dignitaries from the Elven lands to the south have requested help in the retrieval of this item. It is said that Belrain was so loved by his people and his god that his bow was bestowed with a powerful enchantment, able to shoot fire without the need for any arrows. Legend also says that anyone not of Elven blood handling this bow will find himself turned to dust.

8) The Freedom of Finandoa – This historical artifact was once owned by a long ago Chief of the Tanaka Plains. A group of barbarians from the plains have come to Snake River City to plea for its return. The item is described as being an eagle feather dipped in gold and encrusted with tiny jewels. It is said to hold the power to cut through lies, deceptions and illusions, to see through to the truth of any matter. Nothing says it cannot be touched by anyone in particular.

Corun Felcar - Ranger NPC (Guide) - Specialty as a trapper/furrier. He says kobold tracks are all over the place, maybe 40 at the least, possibly a lot more. He says the tracks of livestock, along with kobolds, lead west in the direction the hopeful farmer pointed, but that the tracks have been covered up after 10 yards.

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Dead livestock litter the farms of Farmtown Village

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The wasteland Farmtown Village has become

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A hopeful farmer who says that demons raid the village nightly as of five years ago, stealing and killing livestock and stealing and destroying crops. He points in a vaguely westerly direction when speaking of the cave where their children used to play and the demons come from.

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The people of Farmtown Village can only find happiness in the Red Heifer Tavern these days.

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Jerome, owner of the Red Heifer Tavern, says that Evander (who lived a few hundred years ago) was said to keep old relics and artifacts in a cave nearby, but wandered into town one day and dropped dead from a heart attack. He says that the children used to play around the nearby cave that was known as Evander's Lair, but was taken over by demons five years ago. Two weeks ago, the demons changed in appearance, but still raid the village nightly. The children have an early curfew now and no longer play down by Evander's old lair. His nephew, Joshua, knows the way to the cave and can guide the party. Jerome says that many men have been lost in that cave, never to be seen again, and also that there must be lots of clever traps riddling the cave, knowing Evander.

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[SlyFox]

Joshua, Jerome the tavern owner's nephew, played by the caves as a boy five years ago. He knows the way to the cave, says there is only one, and has a hand drawn map marking the major land marks to get to the cave. He will guide the party there, but will not go inside. He lost a friend as a boy to a spider 2' in diameter in the cave.

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Jenn the belly dancer. She works at the Red Heifer Tavern and has fallen completely in love with Freddie the Fop.

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Joshua's hand drawn map to the cave.

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Joshua describes the demons raiding the village. “They're about three feet tall with dog snouts and horns on their heads, but those just started showing up two weeks ago – in place of the ones that were raiding the village before that. The ones that started this five years ago were about four feet tall and had sharp teeth, but no horns, flatter faces more like people, but you could tell, you know – that they weren't people, I mean. Those taller ones had the spears while the shorter ones just have small blades.”

Joshua informs the party of the size of the cave. “The cave goes into the side of a small hill, so the entrance is actually hidden pretty well. It's big though. I'd say the entrance is twenty feet across and it slopes way down, which is why you can't tell there's a cave there at all until you get right up on it. Two people can walk side by side with no problem in there and it tunnels off to the left, right and straight ahead. My friends and I played down there, but only found two rooms that seemed to be a dead end. The ones that went straight ahead and to the left. The cave started out as something made by nature, but when you go in, you can tell someone lived there and carved out some of the rooms to be more square-ish in shape. Other rooms were more rounded and natural, but those went off to the right. It goes in pretty deep off to the right, but that's where we lost a friend of ours five years ago, just before the demons took up residence in there. He was killed by a giant spider. I mean... HUGE! The whole place is really dark and no sunlight gets in. Even the entrance slopes down so much that you have to take a light source because the sun can only shine in so much, and that's only if it's in the east at the time. That cave's only about a forty-five minute walk west from here. I can take you there, but I won't go inside.”

Joshua recalls how many demons raid the village at night. “We've seen at least forty or more of those things at night. I'm thinking there are probably more down there that stay while these others come and raid us.”

Corun Felcar the Ranger and Guide introduces two of his friends, both clerics, who will help the party:

Dakara Dezera

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And Rubesca Lightbringer

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Joshua says he only knows of one entrance as of five years ago that can be overlooked by the large hill above. Dakara says she and Rubesca have stayed two nights in the village and have seen the kobold raids - 40 kobolds the first night, 20 the second night.

There is a steep slope down into the entrance, which makes it appear extremely low from where the party stops to look at it. It is 20' wide and the ceiling is 10' high.

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Malachi, Gwennethel's hawk, has scouted out the cave entrance and surrounding area. He reports to the Wood Elves that there is indeed only one entrance and it is currently left unguarded.

At the cave entrance, Malachi is found waiting.

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Nineteen skunks line up in a fanned out position around the cave entrance, ready to spray anything that comes out.

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Papa Skunk comes out of the cave and makes a report to the Wood Elves: The skunk says that going down the hall to the right has a fork in the hall, going left and right. The large room to the right is large and round and there is a lot of sticky spider webbing from ceiling to floor, but the hall to the left leads to another room where there are still more kobolds and that there is a wooden door in that room that is closed. Still further down the hall is another room off to the right with more spider webbing and then the hall leads to a bunch of natural caverns going off to the left and a bunch of rooms straight ahead that have been carved out by humanoids. One room has statues and then leads to a hall with a door at the end. The natural caverns seem to go on and on forever where there are many bats and spider webs. There is even a room filled something slippery and green and plantlike. These caverns continue on very deep and west into the cave, but the skunk says that he didn't go that far back, fearing that he would be pounced on by a spider at any moment. He says he sees more bats in the cave than any other type of creature, but that the spiders must have been hidden and he supposes more kobolds could be behind those closed doors that he couldn't get into. He mentions a stone wall sliding open and a kobold walking through it, then closing again only to disappear and look like a normal stone wall once again, but this was in a room he can't seem to remember. Papa skunk only mentions seeing 12 kobolds awake and active, and not hidden behind doors, but he mentions having seen a LOT of shiny objects in his trek through these rooms, and even through a couple of the natural caverns where there is spider webbing.

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A map of the cave interior drawn up by Biblo, Arcanist - based on Papa Skunk's description:

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The sound of faint jingling was heard behind the party, some distance down the path.

The party gets into formation around the mouth of the cave to set a fiery ambush.

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Kobolds attack the party at the entrance to the cave!

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The party has decided to leave the loot from the supply room stacked against the wall in the hallway, just inside the entrance of the cave.

Kobold figurines found on a wooden table in one of the western rooms, just off of the main hall.

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One kobold has been taken prisoner!
Before being killed, the kobold tells the party that the last of the kobold guard rooms lies to the south beyond the secret door and past a moss room that curves to the west. There is a barred door with two statues leaning against it in the west wall of that guard room where they have locked up the goblins to starve them out. They have been at ward with the goblins for the past two weeks and have had problems keeping them locked up, which is why they used the statues. He says that the remaining kobold rooms are guard rooms and barracks that head west into the cave, just north of the room where he was interrogated (the west room directly across from the cave entrance with the secret door that leads to the room with the trap door in the floor). Half of the party has already chased a kobold up in there where they found an elven ranger, Fanxyl, in an iron cage. The party has blocked the door with the iron cage and has tied old clothing to the doorknob and wall sconce. The kobold prisoner also says further north from that are natural caverns where there are big spiders and further north beyond the caverns are a bunch of bare rooms with strange things.

Two more kobolds are taken prisoner and show hatred for their own kind!

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Kobold description of the caves taking place in the 'moss room': "We had a chief, but the goblins sneaked out and killed him. We only have two leaders and four main guards now." He points back to the dark room behind him. "We killed their chiefs too and have them locked up behind door in there. There are secret doors. You came through one." He points to the secret door that the party has just entered through. "There is a secret door in the room beside our supply room and another further north past big spider lairs. You go north and keep going past lairs and you find a room with statues of our gods. Keep going past that room and you find the last hallway to north with a door in the west side. Go through door and keep going west. There is a another door to left side of hall going west that leads nowhere, so keep to right. All rooms are empty, but way west, far, is secret door when it looks like you reach a dead end. Lever behind torch on stone wall. Used to be great wizard's room. This is what we learned from the goblins. They kill great wizard long, long ago with poisons. He worshiped same gods we do. Statue gods were his."

Biblo's Map - Based on kobold descriptions:

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[SlyFox]

Year 1000, January 2. Time: 1:50pm

Battle with the kobolds!

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The battle with the kobolds in the cave is finished and two kobolds have defected and taken the party's side.

Four Strange Gems:
The party has found four palm-sized gemstone, not nearly worth what they should be for their size - a topaz, a ruby, an emerald, and a sapphire. Each gem seems to have some sort of crystalline growth inside of the gem going from the surface of the gem down to the deeper end of them. They seem to have been put there by someone, or grown there somehow... for some unknown purpose.


In the room of the kobolds' "statue gods":
There is an alter in front of each statue, below which the stone bowls are held in the women's hands. One each of their foreheads is a symbol and there is a stone plaque above the head of each statue with writing in the common tongue.

There is a stone slab with writing that is larger than all of the rest, very eye-catching, on the north wall (western side). This stone slab reads:

A sacrifice must be made in order to achieve the prize.
Do you have the bravery?
Do you have the skill?
Do you have the intelligence?
What are you willing to give to attain what you seek?
As my sacrifice to each of the women in my life was great,
so too must your sacrifice be of value equal to that which I had to give.
The ladies of stone are demanding, cold and ungiving,
but they have a lesson to teach.

The two statues along the west wall each bear the symbols of fire and water; the two along the east wall bear the symbols of blood and nature.

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The plaque above the statue with the symbol of fire reads:
Warm my cold hands. I am always cold, but I can warm thy heart.

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The plaque above the statue with the symbol of water reads:
Always thirsty and ever drinking, but I can quench the drought of thy heart.

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The plaque above the statue with the symbol of blood reads:
Give of yourself. I am unsatisfied with all that you give and I want more! Only your life essence will do!

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The plaque above the statue with the symbol of life reads:
I am of nature and I disdain all else. I grow tired of living amongst the stones and I crave the green of the land.

Rillifane Rallathil and Enki, patron deities of Fanxyl Sassparion and Adel Cloncurry, give their followers a brief vision as they both cut themselves and offer their blood.

Vision:

The two see themselves walking beyond this room, further north, then turning west into the hallway and going through a door. There, they find the clues needed to help them through this puzzle. They see tapestries on walls in several different rooms and the voices of their deities are heard in their minds, "My child, I will not allow this sacrifice to harm you, but know that you are not condemned for it. The wizard, Evander, made this sanctuary in memory of the four women he once loved and slowly came to despise. His words that you read on the stone are cynical at best, describing his disdain for the very minor things he had to actually give to the women he professed to care for. He could not meet their needs, therefore made this sanctuary to blemish and sully their history. Hate not the women for what Evander has asked, for he is the one that hides the artifacts from you. Follow your vision and you will find what you need to fulfill this blasphemous deed of his. It is merely trickery on his part, but you are closer than you think to finding what you seek."

The vision given to both is very clear that the materials put into the bowls are not the right ones, but that they can be found by going on - that tapestries will be found to help them along the path. They see that doing so will open a door that cannot otherwise be opened by any other means. This door leads to dangers, but also to several of the items that they have been hired to find for their deities and those in authority in Snake River City.

The second part of the vision warns them to keep hold of the four gems they have found, for they will unlock yet a different place within the cave.

Silver dagger found by party alongside a wooden bowl.

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The tapestry above the alter where the silver dagger rests depicts three scenes. In the first, there is a man slitting his wrist with a silver dagger and letting his blood fall into the large bowl. The next scene depicts the same man carrying this bowl to a woman who holds yet another bowl. The third scene shows the man pouring his blood from the bowl he carries into the the bowl held by the woman.

Cave Map

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