3rd Edition - Adventure - Demon Gods Fane, Rpg, D&D 3ed

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™
DEMON GOD’S
FANE
An E
LDRITCH
M
IGHT
™
Adventure for 14th-Level Characters
By Monte Cook
Requires the use of the
Dungeons & Dragons
®
Player's Handbook
,
Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast®
Additional Credits
Editing and Production:
Sue Weinlein Cook
Cover Illustration and Design:
Luis Corte Real
Interior Illustrations:
Stephen Shepherd and The Unseelie Court
Graphic Design and Cartography:
The Unseelie Court
Playtesting:
Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Perkins, Jeff Quick, and Sean K Reynolds
Distribution:
Monte Cook’s Website
<www.montecook.com>
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Part One:
Darkness Comes to Golden Lake . . . . . . . . . . .3
Part Two:
Into the Fane of Ochremeshk . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Map:
Demon God’s Fane Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Map:
Demon God’s Fane Top-Down Views . . . . . . . . . .15
Map:
More Top-Down Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Part Three:
Concluding the Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Open Game License (Notice of Open Game Content) . .35
Recommended for mature readers.
"d20 System" and the "d20 System" logo are Trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 1.0a. A copy of
this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
Dungeons & Dragons
®,
Dungeon Master
®
, and Wizards of the Coast
®
are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast,
and are used with Permission. Artwork and maps on pp. 2, 8, 11, 14-16, and 29
©
2001 The Unseelie Court. Artwork on pp. 6, 10, 17, 19, 28, and 31
©
2001 Stephen Shepherd.
Used with permission. All other content is
©
2001 Monte J. Cook. All rights reserved. Eldritch Might and the Malhavoc Press logo are trademarks owned by Monte J. Cook.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction, retransmission, or unauthorized use of the artwork or non-Open Game Content herein
is prohibited without Monte Cook
'
s express written permission. The original purchaser may print copies for his or her own personal use only.
This document is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental.
INTRODUCTION
S
o, why is the very first Malhavoc Press adventure for such
high-level characters? Wouldn’t it make more sense to start
with 1st level and work our way up?
I don’t think so. The d20 System has been out for more than
a year now, and the characters in your game are probably not 1st
level any more. In fact, if things are going the way we planned,
a lot of you probably have games with 10th- to 14th-level char-
acters in them now. But even if you don’t have PCs available to
use this adventure immediately, I’m still glad that I chose to
write something for high-level characters. There are already a
lot of low-level adventures out there and, frankly, they’re not
that hard for Game Masters to whip up on their own. High-
level adventures are harder, however, and not as easy to find.
A lot of people used to say that the d20 System breaks down
after about 10th level. Some still do. I scoff at them. High-level
play is just different, and, yes, it’s harder. The GM and players
really have to know the characters’ (and NPCs’) capabilities.
Demon God ’s Fane
exists to show that high-level play using the
d20 System is not only possible, but challenging and fun. In the
playtests of this adventure, the players started out thinking they
could do anything, that they had seen it all. By the end of the
first session, they realized they were up against a challenge that
required all their great powers: a challenge befitting heroes of
the highest caliber. I hope you find the same to be true.
It seemed that evil had triumphed in this land, and that
darkness would rule eternal. Until, that is, a single man of great
power and faith resisted the power of Ochremeshk and the
depraved hordes that cavorted in his name. Enchelious (Ahnk-
el-ee-us) was a cleric of Gaen, the Goddess of Light. Tales told
of this man today in the Church of Gaen say that his heart was
so full of her love, her power, and her glory, that you could see it
glowing within his chest like a bit of the sun. Enchelious led a
small band of stalwart soldiers and mages against the cult of
Ochremeshk, and by no fewer than three miracles (whose
details are lost) in one day, they overcame the forces of
darkness. Enchelious called upon the might of Gaen to destroy
the Fane utterly, including all the cultists and demons still
within.
But even Gaen’s power had its limits. Instead of destruction,
Gaen brought forth mighty rains and diverted a major river,
filling the Vale of Fears forever with water. The Demon God’s
Fane became submerged in a very deep lake. What’s more, the
water possessed a divine magic that acted as a ward, trapping
those within the Fane in an eternal tomb.
Years, decades, and centuries passed. The Church of Gaen
remembers the hero Enchelious, but few remember the cult of
Ochremeshk. No one remembers the Demon God’s Fane.
Such is folly.
TODAY
A terrible drought has come to Golden Lake, lowering the
waterline more than ever before. The receding water level has
exposed the topmost portion of the Demon God’s Fane, and
some demons have escaped.
But a strange thing has happened to many of the demons
trapped within the temple for so long. Their demonic physical
forms degraded and eventually eroded away with the passage of
time into mere shadows of themselves—literally shadows. Left
as only demonic essence, these demons took the form of a
malady, a disease: a virus. Given the chance to leave the Fane,
this intelligent and diabolic virus, calling itself the Umbral Taint,
flew up and out. It found its way into the secluded fishing village
called Golden Lake, after the body of water upon whose shores
it lay. It gripped its first unwilling victim, a fisherman named
Drabat Finch. The viral essence possessed him like a demon, but
it also waited within him, dormant for a time, festering until it
could spread like a contagion to everyone he contacted.
Meanwhile, the remaining demons, creatures, and cultists
(who survived the centuries by accepting the curse of undeath)
sought to determine their next move. Sussinst-ir, the cult’s high
priestess—now a lich—communed with Ochremeshk and
learned of a ritual that would restore power to the temple. Jeal-
ous of the prestige this would bring Sussinst-ir, the half-demon
Lytaros Fel stole the secrets of the ritual from the lich and
destroyed her. Now the rest of the Fane’s inhabitants have sworn
allegiance to Lytaros Fel out of fear, but also because of his great
potential to achieve what he sets out to accomplish. Lytaros Fel
will, if successful, use the ritual to travel back in time and help
the forces of evil against Enchelious as the cleric fights the
Fane’s old master, the balor Charmachnar. With Enchelious
dead, the Demon God’s Fane will once again be a place of
power—in fact, it will never have fallen in the first place.
~Monte
YESTERDAY
Golden Lake has always been known as a wonderful place. The
people who live along its shores are happy and healthy, the fish
from its waters are abundant, and outsiders even claim that a drink
from the lake is rejuvenating and restorative of lost health. If the
area were not so remote, it probably would be more populated.
However, unbeknownst to most, not every statement in the
above description is true. The first sentence is a lie. Golden
Lake—or rather, the area that is now Golden Lake—was not
always a wonderful place. In fact, it was once the center of a
dark religion that offered up living sacrifices and unspeakable
rites to the demon prince known as Ochremeshk (Oh-cray-
mesh-ik). Once, his blasphemous name terrorized local folk to
their very souls. Now, it is almost entirely forgotten.
The followers of Ochremeshk, who simply referred to their
master as “the Demon God,” built a huge temple that was also a
strangely stylized statue of their patron. They called forth demons
from the pits until they were almost without number. With this
infernal might on their side, they pillaged and raped the surround-
ing lands until the earth itself bled. The Demon God’s Fane stood
within a place called the Vale of Fears, for the bloody sacrifices of
innocent captives went on night after night. And when there were
too many sacrifices to make at night, they extended into the day as
well. The sun soon ceased to shine upon the Vale of Fears, for it is
said that the gods could no longer tolerate to look upon the
bloodshed, the debauchery, and the soul-churning, abominable
acts perpetrated by the cultists of Ochremeshk.
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DEMON GOD’S FANE
Lytaros Fel wields his power with an iron hand. He com-
mands the others not to leave the Fane and not to draw
attention to themselves until the ritual ends. Instead, the
demons and vile creatures must remain vigilant to defend the
structure against attack.
USING THIS BOOK
GMs should place this adventure within any secluded, temper-
ate area in their campaign world. The deities involved can be
easily replaced with others, although Ochremeshk is easy to add
into an existing campaign, and may even be a valuable addition.
Throughout this adventure, shaded boxes offer special infor-
mation and guidelines for the Game Master. Unshaded boxes
provide descriptive text that GMs may read aloud or paraphrase
for players. This book uses the following new class abbreviations
in stat blocks: Gra = graven one, Emb = embermage.
Many spells, items, feats, and classes in this adventure were
introduced in
The Book of Eldritch Might
(see sidebar, below). For a
list of these elements, see the Product Identity section on page 36.
This adventure is protected content except for items specifi-
cally called out as Open Gaming Content at the end of this
book. For full details, please turn to pages 35 and 36. Open
content is not otherwise marked in the text of the adventure.
The Awful Truth
Enchelious made a terrible mistake. When he called upon
Gaen’s power to bring down the rain of heaven to submerge the
Demon God’s Fane, the forces of evil had already been routed.
The demons were preparing to leave, taking the few remaining
cultists with them (to give them someone to torment in the
Abyss). They were about to give up Ochremeshk’s hold on this
prime material world forever. By sealing the demons in the
Fane, Enchelious ensured that they would remain to wreak
their havoc in his future (the present).
But not all is lost. Enchelious’ mistake can be undone—in
fact, with the power in the Fane’s Heart, it can be unmade.
ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS
The player characters (PCs) come to Golden Lake and learn of
a series of mysterious murders. Helping to investigate, they
learn that the murderer is a fisherman named Drabat Finch.
When they confront him, however, they inadvertently loose
from him the Umbral Taint, which begins to spread through
the village.
Investigating the infestation, the PCs hear of a cabal of
graven ones, powerful runic spellcasters who live in an old
fortress not far from the village. The Umbral Taint has infected
even some of the graven ones, and the PCs must stop the
spread before all the spellcasters become diseased and
possessed. As a reward for helping them, the graven ones tell
the PCs important information and show them old documents
that discuss the Demon God’s Fane true center of power—the
Fane’s Heart. Perhaps if the Heart is destroyed, the plague of
the Umbral Taint will come to an end. The graven ones offer
the PCs additional aid as well, and promise to keep things in
the village under control while the characters go to the Fane.
The PCs learn of strange things seen recently around the
lake, and they soon discover the location of the Demon God’s
Fane. Armed with the knowledge of the graven ones, they must
enter the temple and find its very heart to stop the Umbral
Taint from spreading throughout the land.
To get there, the characters must overcome many obstacles,
as well as activate the proper ritual keys to gain access to the
Fane’s Heart. They also encounter an old ally of Enchelious—a
ghost who tells them the awful truth: The Fane should never
have been sealed and submerged so long ago. The real way to
stop the virus is to stop Enchelious from calling on Gaen’s mir-
acle to bring about the Golden Lake.
Once finally in the Fane’s Heart, the PCs have one chance
to undo the past. Lytaros Fel is attempting to use the Heart’s
power to kill Enchelious before he can destroy Charmachnar
the balor. If the PCs make sure that doesn’t happen, and then
either convince Enchelious of the truth or physically stop him
from casting the final
miracle
spell, they will find themselves in
a different—but ultimately better—present.
Conversion Ideas
Demon God’s Fane uti-
lizes and references The
Book of Eldritch Might, a
sourcebook of arcane
spells, magic items, pres-
tige classes, and more. In
fact, it references it heav-
ily—the adventure was
made to be a companion
piece to that sourcebook.
You can download The
Book of Eldritch Might
from Malhavoc Press at
<www.montecook.com>. If you’d prefer not to buy it,
here is a short list of possible replacements for some of
The Book of Eldritch Might-specific references:
•
Change the graven ones to loremasters.
•
Change spells with unfamiliar names to other
spells of the same level.
•
In place of the Lace Spell feats, use a metamagic
feat such as Empower Spell or Maximize Spell to
approximate the same results.
•
Change the embermage to a single-classed
sorcerer.
•
Change the iron chimera in Area 5 to a half-
fiendish chimera.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
If the PCs are good aligned and seem generally helpful, get
them into this adventure simply by having them arrive in the
secluded area around Golden Lake. Although happenstance is a
fine way to start an adventure, below are a few ways to get the
PCs into the area or motivate them to go to the Fane.
1. The characters have some connection to Golden Lake.
Perhaps one of them is originally from the area, or has
friends or relatives here. If the group contains clerics or pal-
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DEMON GOD’S FANE
adins, substitute their patron deity for Gaen and let them
learn of the lake’s holy aspects—or at least catch some hint
of them. Help them conclude that a pilgrimage is in order.
2. Play up the rejuvenating powers of the lake’s waters, or the
generally peaceful, secluded nature of the area, to encourage
the PCs to come of their own accord.
3. As a reward, a local noble grants one or more of the PCs a
small, uncleared tract of land on the shores of the lake, near
the village of Golden Lake.
4. Place something that the characters need in or near Golden
Lake (either the village or the lake itself ). For example, if
the PCs are questing for some ancient artifact as a part of a
completely different adventure, a clue to its whereabouts
may be found only in the extensive library of the graven ones
(see p. 9). Or, information learned in that library may force
the PCs to believe that they must find some object of
importance—such as the
spellstealer
(in Area 28; see
The
Book of Eldritch Might
)—within the Fane itself.
5. Taking Hook #4 a step further, the PCs learn that an impor-
tant object or bit of ancient lore that they seek lies within
something called the Demon God’s Fane. After hinting
about it and letting them search for it for a long time, allow
the PCs to learn (perhaps through a potent divination) that
the structure has just become accessible. Or better yet, per-
haps the characters themselves put into motion powerful
forces that caused the drought, making the once unattainable
location accessible once more. They travel to the isolated
region, believing this to be a lucky break, but instead finding
it to be a horrible calamity for the region—and perhaps
beyond. (This option is the author’s favorite.)
6. Evil parties, or those simply motivated by base greed, may
hear that great treasures (again, perhaps specifically the
spell-
stealer
) await them within a place called the Demon God’s
Fane. When they happen to stumble into Golden Lake, they
learn of the place and find themselves tempted by the lure of
its bounty.
PART ONE:
DARKNESS COMES TO GOLDEN LAKE
T
he foul and twisted demonic virus, the Umbral Taint, has
infected Drabat Finch, a previously well-liked, quiet fisherman
in the village of Golden Lake. It forced him to murder and
mutilate four people in horrible and cruel ways, and will con-
tinue to force him to kill until he is stopped. Drabat is a former
mercenary and well trained with a sword, allowing him to kill
villagers wantonly.
Victims of the disease have no evil aura discernible by
detect
evil
or other alignment-sensing divinations.
See invisibility,
invisibility purge,
and similar spells also register nothing strange
about a victim (the disease consists of beings of ephemeral
shadow, not of the real world).
True seeing
however, reveals an
insectoid creature made of shadow riding the victim’s upper
back. Shadowy, tattered wings flutter, and the creature seems at
least partially burrowed into the victim. (See p. 6.)
Remove disease
and other effects that deal with disease are
insufficient to rid the victim of the otherdimensional aspects of
the Umbral Taint, although an immunity to disease (such as
that enjoyed by a paladin) does protect a character. Only a
ban-
ishment
or a spell with a similar effect and level (or higher) can
free a victim from the throes of the malady (
dismissal,
for exam-
ple, is not powerful enough).
Remaining within 10 feet of the contagion (including some-
one already infected) for at least a minute potentially infects
you. The Umbral Taint can also be propagated through evil
magic. Touch or even ranged spells with the evil descriptor
transmit the malady directly, and area spells (like
unholy blight
)
scatter the disease throughout a 200-foot radius, potentially
infecting 1d6 random targets.
Those exposed to infection must make a Fortitude saving
throw and Will saving throw, both with a DC of 15. If either
saving throw fails, the victim becomes infected.
THE UMBRAL TAINT
Spread like a contagious disease (by prolonged contact), the
Umbral Taint allows a demonic entity, completely without physi-
cal form, to quickly grow upon and take over a victim. The host
falls completely under the control of the Taint, which operates
with the twisted, chaotic evil thought processes of a demon. The
Taint adds one special capability to the host: It can set up a
condi-
tional spell
(from
The Book of Eldritch Might
) and store up to any
3rd-level arcane or divine spell as if it had all of the Lace Spell
feats (also in
The Book of Eldritch Might
). The demonic virus also
carries with it some very special information. The first victim (in
this case Drabat Finch) has a fairly good working knowledge of
the Umbral Taint’s origins, the Demon God’s Fane, and its
inhabitants. Each successive “generation” of the infection carries
less and less information, until the victims retain only a vague
awareness of an evil temple somewhere where the disease was
“born.” If the Taint is destroyed or banished, victims remember
nothing of what occurred while they were infected.
While infected, victims retain all their knowledge, skills, and
abilities. The Taint does not hesitate to make use of this infor-
mation and these capabilities to carry out its evil agenda: Vic-
tims of the Taint desire to commit evil acts and atrocities how-
ever they can—murder, pain, mutilation, and destruction are
their only goals. Their alignment becomes chaotic evil.
THE SURROUNDINGS
The area around Golden Lake has long been verdant and prosper-
ous, a temperate forest in a mountainous region far from any major
cities or trade routes. There are no local orc tribes, marauding
giants, dragon lairs, or anything of the sort. Even the lake, for all its
fabled depth, harbors few aquatic predators of any real threat. (As a
side effect of the warding nature of the water, the lake has subtly
driven away monsters and dangerous creatures.)
MALHAVOC PRESS
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DEMON GOD’S FANE
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