WaterdeepTable of Contents

Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Chapter 1: Cold Welcome in Cormyr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 2: Danger, Danger Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Chapter 3: MagicAnd Murder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Chapter 4: Darkness and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Chapter 5: Interesting Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Chapter 6: To Save the Realms! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Non-Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Avatars of the Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43New Magical Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46New Monster: Denizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47New Monster: Night Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Magical Chaos Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside front coverPhysical Chaos Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back coverRandom Encounter Tables and

Monster Summary Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside gatefold

CreditsDesign: Ed GreenwoodEditing: Allen Varney, Kim MohanAvatar Trilogy Coordinator: Jim LowderCover Art: Clyde CaldwellInterior Art: Allen NunisCartography: DieselTypography: Angelika LokotzKeylining: Stephanie Tabat

Copyright '1989 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

TSR, Inc.POB 756Lake GenevaWI 53147 USA

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9249 ISBN 0-88038-757-2

Yell hear tales tonight, aye, and othernights besides, until ye know them well.And all of them tell of folk getting hurt,and enduring hardship and suffering,and spilling blood, too much of it theirown. And yell laugh and enjoy it andthink it grandas ye can be sure they didnot, during its unfolding. High adven-ture, tis called; mores the joke.

From an address given byElminster the Sageat GENCON 20; Milwaukee,1987

Notes for theDungeon Master

Waterdeep is the last in a trilogy of mod-ules that describe the Time of Troubles,called by some the Godswar, in theForgotten Realms.

These modules loosely parallel the actiondescribed in the Avatar trilogy of novels byRichard Awlinson, published by TSR, Inc.Neither you nor your players need to readthe novels before playing this adventure,nor is the action herein identical to that ofthe novels. Players should use their owncharacters, though several non-playercharacters (NPCs) will prove valuable if notnecessary.

This module is not a guidebook to thecity of Waterdeep itself. For this informa-tion, consult sourcebook FR1, Waterdeepand the North, and the boxed City Systemaccessory set.

The Timeof Troubles

The gods of the Forgotten Realms havefallen. Now vastly reduced in power, theywalk the earth as avatars, mortal incar-nations of their godly forms. Avatars aremarkedly weaker than the deities theyrepresent, but still far outstrip PC adven-turers in power. However, an avatar canbe killed, and this can mean true deathfor the god.

Because the gods no longer maintain or-der in this dimension, chaos has over-whelmed the land. During the Time ofTroubles, magic spells and magical itemswork abnormally or not at all. Because de-ities are disregarding their usual respon-sibilities, priest characters cannot gain orregain any spells of 3rd level or higher.And as if this magical upheaval wasnt bad

enough, the land itself is in chaos; unnatu-ral effects may occur at any time.

Unless the gods soon regain theirplaces, the Forgotten Realms must perish.

Lord AoThe gods are victims of an enigmatic be-

ing who calls himself Ao, the overlord ofthe gods who is also known as The OneWho Is Hidden. Aos power exceeds thatof the gods by as much as theirs exceedshumanitys.

Ao grew angry at the gods petty behav-ior, and finally had all he could standwhen two of the deities, Bane andMyrkul, made off with the Tablets ofFatetwo artifacts that Ao had speciallycrafted. By casting the gods down into theRealms as avatars, Ao is teaching themhumility . . . and also testing them. Ao hascommanded the gods to seek the Tabletsof Fate. Only when one entity possessesboth tablets and returns them to Ao canthe gods ascend again. Until then, the wayback to the celestial realm is blocked bythe guardian god Helm, the only one oftheir number who was not cast down.

MidnightAmong the gods cast down was Mystra,

Goddess of Magic. Always a wise and kinddeity, Mystra has of late grown tired ofher fellow gods endless scheming. Shewishes for dissolution, and so she has lo-cated a suitable successor.

This candidate is a young womannamed Ariel Manx, otherwise known asMidnight. Midnight has some inkling ofthe fate awaiting her, as do her friendsand allies. She has shown amazing magi-cal powers, and she is less prone to theeffects of magical chaos than other wiz-ards. Everyone realizes now that she isimportant.

That, unfortunately, includes the evilavatars Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal. Thesegods have hunted her ceaselessly as thetrail to the tablets grows warmer. Mid-night has faced danger bravely, and so farshe has survived. In fact, she grows greatin magical power, and by the time this ad-venture opens, she has played a majorpart in bringing about the death of Banesavatar.

But Midnight needs a lot of protectionagainst the dangers ahead. That missionfalls to the player characters.

AlliesIn the Avatar Trilogy of novels, Mid-

night travels with three companionsnamed Adon, Kelemvor, and Cyric. Adonis a good-hearted but rather prim 5thlevel priest of Sune Firehair. Kelemvor, a5th level fighter, is a warrior who is proneto impulsive actions. In these adventuresthe PCs fulfill their roles as guardians.Nevertheless, Adon and Kelemvor can ac-company the party as NPCs.

Cyric, a fighter and former thief, beganas Midnights ally and guard. However, inthe course of the story he has grown cor-rupt and turned to evil. Midnight has sofar refused to bel ieve that he haschanged. However, in the adventure thatfollows, Cyric becomes the PCs chief an-tagonist and rival for the tablets. At lasteven Midnight recognizes his evil. Cyricsfate is detailed at the climax of the adven-ture.

Descriptions of all three companions,along with Midnight, appear in an appen-dix at the end of this booklet.

Several other allies help the PCs ontheir quest. Most significant of these is thesage Elminster, a legendary figure in theForgotten Realms. Though immenselypowerful, Elminster can render onlyspotty aid to the party, for he is preoccu-pied with fighting chaos elsewhere in theRealms. Many cities owe their survival toElminsters courage. However, from thePCs point of view, the sage serves primar-ily as a source of clues and information.

For more about Elminster, consult FR7,Hall of Heroes.

Running theAdventure

In this adventure, Midnight must ac-company the party of player characters(PCs); the NPC Cyric must also appear as asometime ally, sometime foe of the party;and both of these characters must surviveto the end of the adventure.

Other NPCs are optional as party mem-bers, but in any case the PCs should havesome allies. The challenges they face inthis adventure are deadly. With both heal-ing and attack magic unreliable, theyneed all the help they can find.

Do not hesitate to provide NPC party re-inforcements from among the back-ground characters included herein, orfrom another source. The good DM willaim to entertain his players while pushing

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them to the utmost limits of their playingskillnot to slaughter their charactersout of hand. Allowing the party to occa-sionally escape from encounters mayhelp their survival, too!

How theAdventure isLaid Out

This module is divided into chapters.Each chapter contains events keyed to agiven time or part of the adventure; theseoccur regardless of what the PCs do.Some chapters also suggest encounters,which are keyed to a particular location;if the PCs enter that location, the encoun-ter takes place.

A few sections are labeled OffstageEvents information, meant for the DMseyes only, that explains more of the bigpicture about what is happening in theRealms.

Any text that appears in a box is in-tended to be read aloud to the players, orgiven directly to them in summary form.The remaining information is for the DM,and most of the time should only be re-vealed in response to PC actions.

Read the module through carefully be-fore play begins, and note what encoun-ters need preparation beforehand. Tailorthe adventure to your players and yourcampaign.

The SettingThis adventure is set in the continent of

Faerun, in the Forgotten Realms. Itsaction spans Cormyr, Tunland, the SunsetMountains, the High Moor country, andthe city of Waterdeep itself. These areasare described in detail in the boxedFORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Set;supplement FR1, Waterdeep and theNorth; and the boxed City System set.Consult these sources to add depth to thisadventure, and to include other adven-tures along the way.

DMs who place this adventure in othersettings can modify the gods, settings, andperhaps the rulers and other powerfulbeings to suit their own world. Much ofthe action described in these pages shouldbe easily adaptable to another campaign.

Priests andTurning

The increasing chaos of the Time of Trou-bles, coupled with the lessened power ofthe gods and their preoccupation with per-sonal troubles, has rapidly weakened thepower of priestly turning attempts.

Unless a priest is within two miles of thecurrent physical location of his deitys ava-tar, no undead-turning attempt will be suc-cessful. (If the priest is within two miles ofhis god, normal chances apply.) This state ofaffairs lasts until the morning after the lastday described in this adventure.

Grabbing: In this story the PCs carry avaluable item, one of the Tablets of Fate.Many evil beings will stop at nothing toget this tablet. At points, in fact, the storyrequires them to get it. But since thatwould usually result in the death of PCsguarding it, the DM should use an alterna-tive rule that gives villains the tablet butstill keeps PCs alive.

Use the overbearing rules offered inthe AD&D 2nd Edition Players Handbook(page 98). The enemy tries to pull downand pin a character holding a tablet. Ifsuccessful, the enemy has gotten the tab-let without injuring the character.

A Note AboutAD&D2nd Edition

This adventure is written for theAD&D 2nd Edition game rules. Termsand references new to AD&D 2nd Editionshould be self-explanatory to DMs whoare not familiar with this new edition.Some noticeable differences are changesin name only. The term magic-user hasbeen replaced by wizard and mage.The cleric character class is now thepriest class, although members of thatclass are still often referred to as clerics.

The new edition of the game specifi-cally describes benefits of extraordinaryability scores. Much of that information issummarized here in the appendix on ava-tars of the gods.

Another noticeable change involves thepresentation of monsters. The new mon-sters in this adventure are presented in aformat used in the new Monstrous Com-pendium series. Again, the changes arenot significant enough to cause any prob-lems for DMs and players who are contin-uing to use the original rules.

Ability Checks: From time to time theadventure calls for a character to makean ability check. Roll 1d20 and comparethe result with the characters appropri-ate ability score (Intelligence, for exam-ple). Players may roll their own abilitychecks, although it is usually better forthe DM to ask for the roll without identi-fying the particular ability being checked.

If the roll is equal to or less than thecharacters ability score, the action suc-ceeds. If the roll is greater than the abilityscore, the action fails.

For New PlayersIf Waterdeep is being played alone, in-

dependent of the rest of the modules inthis series, use this section to bring thePCs into the story. If they have alreadyplayed the previous adventures, skip tothe next section.

Terrible times have befallen the Realms.During their past adventures, the PCshave seen bizarre weather, felt frequentearthquakes, and noticed omens in thetrees and sky. (Improvise suitably weirdphenomena here.) Wizards can no longercontrol their spells. At times their magicdoes not work; at other times it works toowell, with disastrous effects.

Describe to the players the situationoutlined in the above section entitledThe Time of Troubles, presenting it inthe form of rumors or news from distantlands. Stress the turbulence and dangerof the times, and make it clear that theForgotten Realms themselves are injeopardy.

For the PCs, the breaking point camewhen they stopped at a tavern outsideMarsember, in the land of Cormyr. Dur-ing a heavy storm, the entire tavernfloated into the air! It hovered 40 feet offthe ground for perhaps half a minute,then settled back to its foundations. Noone was hurt, but the PCs decided to takerefuge in the nearby forest of HermitsWood.

While searching for a campsite, theystumbled on the unconscious body ofMidnight, along with other (also uncon-scious) NPCs that the DM wishes to in-clude in the adventure.

Rousing the victims, the PCs learned ofMidnights quest for the Tablets of Fate.She has already gained one (at the end ofthe previous module in this series, Tan-

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tras). She believes the other is in Water-deep, far to the north. But en route, sheand her party were attacked while sheslept. Many died, and she (along with theother surviving NPCs) barely escaped.Now she needs the PCs help to guard herand the tablet on the way to Waterdeep.

The party camps in Hermits Wood. Af-ter they learn more about Midnight, heradventures, her quest, and its goal, turnto Chapter 1 to begin the adventure.

Myrkuls PlanIn Waterdeep the PCs seek the second

Tablet of Fate, and fight Cyrics attemptsto steal the one they already have. In addi-tion, they fight the forces of Bhaal (God ofMurder) and Myrkul (Lord of the Dead).These two avatars seek the partys tabletas well . . . or so the adventurers think.

Actually, the two evil gods are usingMidnight and the PCs in a subtle scheme.True, they want the tablets. But evenmore, they plot to gain the power to over-throw Lord Ao himself!

Myrkul already possesses one of thetablets. He stole it himself and now holdsit in his home dimension of Hades. How-ever, since he has been thrown down tothe Realms as an avatar, he cannot goback to Hades. And as an avatar, he can-not draw on the power of all the soulstrapped there. So Myrkul wants to bringthose souls here, where they can increasehis power. How?

Humans can still travel the Planes,though the gods cannot. Myrkul, aided byBhaal, plans to lure Midnight to Hades,

have her steal the tablet there, and bringit back to the Realms. Through many sub-tle spells that Myrkul wove into that tab-let, its theft lets all the denizens of Hadesfollow it across the dimensions. Unwit-tingly, Midnight will fetch not only thetablet, but the souls that will strengthenMyrkuls avatar enormously.

Then, aided by Bhaal, Myrkul will takeboth tablets from Midnight, ascend theCelestial Stairway atop Mount Water-deep, and overthrow Lord Ao.

To fool Midnight into visiting Hades,Myrkul pretends he doesnt want her togo therereverse psychology! He sendsundead minions to (fail to) seize Mid-nights tablet. And he sends Bhaal to kid-nap Midnight.

The PCs think Bhaal wants Midnight sohe can gain the tablet. Actually, this is aruse. Bhaal accidentally tells Midnightthe location of a gate to Hades, and letsslip that Myrkuls tablet is there. Then heallows Midnight to escape, knowing shewill head straight for the gate. And therest of Myrkuls plan proceeds fromthereif all goes well for him.

From Tantrasto Here

This section briefly describes the eventslinking this module with its predecessor,FRE2, Tantras. Use this section if this ad-venture is played as part of its trilogy.

At the end of Tantras, the party hired aship to take them down the Dragon Reachand across the Sea of Fallen Stars to Ilipur,

on the Lake of Dragons. There they in-tended to join a caravan for the overlandjourney to Waterdeep.

The ship set sail through capriciousseas, passing lots of floating wreckage onthe Reach. Running west through theNeck, the ships lookouts several timessaw a galley with the black-and-red sailsof Zhentil Keep far behind, followingthem. Midnight believed it to be Cyricsship.

In the Lake of Dragons a fierce squall,with howling winds and dangerous wa-terspouts, arose from a calm sea to drivethe adventurers ship north toward theport of Marsember.

The harried captain, fearing for his lifeand openly suspecting hostile magic ofcausing the storm, wanted to be rid of theband of heroes. He battled the wild wavesto turn back east, whereupon the stormslackened immediately. This increased hiscertainty that magic was involved.

The party was put ashore in Cormyr, onthe wrong side of the lake from Ilipur.They came in by open boat amid the dan-gerous rocks and sand shoals near themouth of the Wyvernflow (the lower Im-merflow), south of Wheloon, within pa-trol distance of Marsember. Horses andheavy gear could not be landed; as it was,it took everyones strength poling the boatto hold it off the rocks amid the surgingwaves.

The PCs and Midnight gathered wearilyon the beach. The first order of businesswas to get supplies, which were readilyavailable in well-to-do Cormyr. Theywouldnt face attack from the locals ifthey kept quiet and moved quickly, butthey dared not visit the nearby city of Su-zail or make more of a public appearancethan they had to. Cormyreans are suspi-cious of travelers right now, given Zhenti-lar activities, the general unrest of natureand magic, and the schemes of avatarsand worshipers alike.

The party, facing evening and exhaus-tion, and wishing to avoid undue atten-tion, camped in a wooded hollow near theedge of Hermits Wood. Chapter 1 of thisadventure begins in the middle of thenight, in that encampment.

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This chapter begins on the evening ofthe day the adventurers land in Cormyr.If this adventure continues from FRE2,Tantras, the heroes are footsore and thor-oughly weary after facing the storms fullfury.

Without supplies, the party cannotreach Waterdeep. Nearby supply townsinclude Marsember, to the west, andWheloon, to the north. Beyond Marsem-ber lies Cormyrs royal capital, Suzail,where Midnight hopes to charter a ship toIlipur. First, though, its time to camp forthe night.

The party finds a wooded hollow at theedge of Hermits Wood, well east of Mar-sember, where they can hide from brig-ands, Zhentilar agents, and Cormyreanpatrols alike. (If Adon is along as an NPC,he remembers the name of the forestfrom his temple teachings. The long-dead hermit for whom the wood isnamed was a devotee of Sune Firehair,Adons deity.)

The party settles down to sleep.

OFFSTAGE EVENTTwo rival factions seek the party.Unknown to Midnight or the PCs, the

NPC Cyric is trying to prevent the partyfrom reaching Marsember or Suzail. Tothis end he has enlisted the evil Zhentilar;he also plays informant to the standingarmy of Cormyr, the Purple Dragons, tell-ing them that one or more of the PCs arefugitive criminals.

Cyric has learned that servants of thedeceased god Bane are swarming acrossthe south, seeking revenge on the womanwho caused Banes death: Midnight.Cyric does not want the party (and theTablet of Fate in the groups possession) tofall into anyone elses hands but his own.Therefore he intends to drive the adven-turers northward to Wheloon, then to thesmall village of Eveningstar.

Unfortunately for both Cyric and thePCs, Myrkul has also located the adven-turers. In Event 1, agents of the God of theDead try to kidnap Midnight.

Event 1:Happening inHermits Wood

In the third watch of the night, a fewhours before morning, have the charac-ter(s) on watch (if any) make an Intelli-gence check.

If the check succeeds, the watchmansees much vigorous movement in thedarkness beyond the firelight, but doesnot hear anything; the character can raisethe alarm. If the check fails, the charactersees nothing, and the attack that followscomes completely by surprise.

Myrkul has animated 13 night riders (aspecial, intelligent sort of zombie) to at-tack the encamped PCs by night. Theyand their undead mounts, called gaunts,are fully described in the New Monstersappendix at the end of this adventure.

Their orders are to kidnap Midnightand any other human females in the party(to avoid cases of mistaken identity) andlocate a stone tablet to be found some-where in the partys saddlebags. Thenight riders must then kill all the othersand take the hostages and tablet to theLord of the Dead.

(If the kidnapping attempt succeeds,Myrkul intends to connive so as to getMidnight to do his dirty work for him.He will let slip the whereabouts of thetablet he possesses and the location of thegate to his realm in Hades. Then the deitywill allow Midnight to escape. At thisearly point in this adventure, Myrkul re-gards the PCs as expendable. Later hesees their importance in protecting Mid-night, so he treats them less ruthlessly.)

Night Rider TacticsIn life, these riders were a Purple

Dragon patrol, and accordingly wearchain mail with the Cormyrean insigniaemblazoned on their surcoats. Theirshields bounce unused at their saddles.Each is armed with a light horse lance(1d6 damage), long sword, mace, anddagger.

The undead are all mounted on gaunts:skeletal, bloated horses covered withblackened, twisted strips of rotting skinand flesh. These mounts have 12 hp each.

The mounted undead charge down intothe wooded hollow where the PCs aresleeping. Two are in the lead, and six moreride fast behind them, spread out. A sin-gle rider follows slowly to tackle any es-caping or especially powerful adventurer,and four of the undead remain fartherback, in reserve.

The two lead night riders and the outer-most two of the six that follow have 15 hpeach and attack as 2nd level fighters. Theothers have 7 hp each and attack as 1stlevel fighters, except for the very lastnight rider.

In life, this last rider was Ogden theHardrider, sergeant of the patrol. He has24 hp and attacks as a 4th level fighter. Hehangs back, committing his four-man re-serve force to spoil any spellcasting.Then, if he can, he tries to snatch up Mid-night across his saddle and ride backnorth toward Myrkul.

The night riders raid and harry, repeat-edly turning their mounts to ride past PCsand strike, rather than staying to face theparty in melee. The darkness and thicklyclustered trees should make this a con-fused, disorganized fray.

Cyric IntervenesCyric, observing the battle from a dis-

tance, is too far from his Zhentilar to offera great deal of help to the party againstMyrkuls riders. But he does aid the ad-venturers with sniper fire.

Whenever a member of the partyseems hard pressed by a night rider, anarrow comes out of the night to strike themonster. Note that night riders feel nopain, but can in a fight be distracted byunexpected attacks and sights, even as liv-ing beings are.

PCs do not see the mysterious archer;he slips away into the night at the end ofthe battle. PCs who pursue can identifythe archer as Cyric, but they should notcatch him.

AftermathThe battle should end with the defeat of

the undead. Magical chaos permitting,Midnight hurls a fireball to dispose of sev-eral of them. The spell sets the hollowaflame. Characters are in no immediatedanger from the fire, but unless they putit out or flee, the light will attract Cormy-rean patrols or further attacks.

If the PCs have had an easy time of thefight, provide additional challenges whilethe party is putting out the fire or stum-bling through the darkened wood.

Event 2: Well Metin WheIoon

The rest of the night passes unevent-fully. In the morning the party heads to-ward Wheloon. There they hope to rest,buy horses and supplies, and, if neces-sary, seek healing at the local shrines.

Should the party head toward Marsem-ber, try to discourage them with numer-

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ous Zhentilar or Purple Dragon patrols.Dragon patrols are described in Event 3of this chapter, the Zhentilar in Event 4. Ifyou allow the party to bypass the patrolsand reach Marsember, the following de-scription of Wheloon can be adapted foruse with the other city. No map of Mar-sember is provided; in a pinch, the map ofSuzail in the FORGOTTEN REALMSCampaign Set can be used.

Travelers whom PCs meet on the roadto Wheloon warn the characters to con-ceal their weapons as much as possible;citizens must have a charter, or license, tobear arms in Cormyr.

A hot day of walking follows, throughrising, rolling farm country. Walls madeof stone rubble and stumps separatemany small fields. Deep, muddy lanes zig-zag everywhere, sometimes sheltered byhedges. When the travelers reach a forkor an intersection of two paths, they mustproceed north or northwest to remain onthe route toward Wheloon. Small, fadedwhite symbols of wyverns painted onrocks at crossroads indicate the directionto Wheloon. Symbols in the shape of acrown show the way to Suzail; anchorsymbols represent Marsember. The ad-venturers see more birds and cows thanthey do people.

Near sunset, the road rises, broadens,and enters the prosperous town of Whe-loon. The buildings are stone; some have

stucco and timbered upper stories. Thevisitors see an occasional thatched roof,but most roofs are dark green slate shin-gles. Road-lamps glimmer here and therein the gathering dusk. Despite the latehour, characters hear clanging, chatterand the hubbub of work from manyshops. Carts rumble through the muddy,patch-cobbled streets. This is a way-townof busy trade and skilled craftsmen.

The best-looking inn the party sees isthe Wyvern Watch Inn, operated byBuldegas Mhaerkoon (F4, hp 42, Str 17,Dex 13, Con 17). He is ruddy-faced andoverweight, with a cynical way of speak-ing but a kindly demeanor overall.

The inn is cozy and not overly busy.Buldegas charges a silver piece a head perday (all meals, drinks, and a bath in-cluded; a stable stall and horse care, twocoppers extra). He readily agrees to hidethe party away for a few days.

If he sees their weapons, the stout inn-keeper adds, You need not trouble aboutthose. Amid the chaos that has grippedCormyr, King Azoun has relaxed the pro-hibition against citizens carrying arms.Plain folk must defend themselves againstincreasingly numerous monsters and des-perate brigands; the Purple Dragons can-not be everywhere at once.

In the taproom of the Wyvern Watch, orelsewhere in Wheloon, PCs may engagein, and overhear, conversation. Reveal ru-

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mors from the the following table (roll d12 orsimply select), or devise others that maylead to offshoot adventures.

Wheloon RumorTable

1. All ships on the waves of the openDragon Reach a tenday or so ago weresunk by the shock waves of a terrific explo-sion. Wreckage enough to make men richhas been washing up on Sembian beachesthis last ride. The blast was heard as farwest as Ordulin. Some say that it camefrom Tantras. (DM Note: The blast markedthe death of the god Banes avatar.)

2. A fleet set sail from Scardale over atenday agoa Zhentilar fleet led by amysterious warrior named Cyric. Itheaded east to land troops north of Tan-tras, and the soldiers attacked that city.Cormyr is mustered to arms, expectingwar, and Sembia is offering a gold piece aweek to anyone who can hold a sword tobolster its border levies.

3. Strange tales have come out of thesouth of gods walking the lands, spells go-ing wild, and the like. A high priestess ofLoviatar died when her own blade bar-rier spell went awry.

4. All mages of power seem to have van-ished from Cormyr. Even Vangerdahast,the Court Wizard, has not been seen for atenday now.

5. Daggerdale is one vast, smoking pit.The goddesses Tymora and Beshaba aresaid to have fought each other there.(False rumor.)

6. A great black statue as tall as the low-est clouds is said to have marched east intothe sea at Scardale, walking steadily untilthe deepening waves swallowed it up.

7. Dragons have been seen dancing inthe air over the Thunder Peaks. Somesages have held that these are the nineblack doves referred to in the propheciesof the ancient seer Alaundo. Others saythat the war among wizards that heforetold long ago has begun.

8. Elminster the Sage, the Old Mage ofShadowdale, has been killed in a battlethere, in the temple of Lathander. Wander-ing brigands were captured and foundguilty, but some say the god Bane appearedand killed the sage himself. Others say thatElminster still lives, and that the Harpersare seeking his whereabouts. (DM note:This refers to events in FRE1, Shadowdale.As Midnight and her companions found inFRE2, Elminster is not dead.)

9. Sylune the Witch, the Lady ofShadowdale, was slain a few seasons agowhile defending Shadowdale against thegreat attacking flight of dragons thatswept down over the Dragon Reach. Nowher glowing white phantom has beenseen walking the corridors of the RoyalCourt in Suzail. She smiled at several no-ble ladies, who fainted dead away. Sylunewalked through guards and doors alike,into Azouns throne room, and moved herhands in a series of silent signs. Vangerda-hast, the Court Wizard, turned pale andwhispered something urgent to Azoun,then left the chamber and has not beenseen since. Sylunes form then fadedaway.

10. Alusair Nacacia, younger princessof Cormyr, has been seen several times inthe Dalelands, riding hard with a swordon her back. Merchants have seen herstriding through the ruins of Myth Dran-nor with a bloody blade. Some say thatshe rode down a man in the streets of Sel-gaunt.

11. The forces of the Citadel of theRaven have grown larger and more activethan ever before. They patrol the areaceaselessly, putting all trespassers todeath.

12. A patch of darkness that nevermoves has apparently settled in beyondthe Sunset Mountains. No one who hasgone into it has emerged alive.

Outfitting andTraining

The trip from Cormyr to Waterdeep islengthy and dangerous under the bestconditions, let alone in the Time of Trou-bles. While they are in Wheloon, PCs cankeep busy outfitting themselves for theirupcoming long overland trip.

They must buy provisions, particularlysafe drinking water, and pack them forrugged travel. They must replenish, re-pair, or replace cooking gear, tents, and thelike. Above all, they must buy horses, in-cluding spare mounts, and buy and modifytack to fit them. You can either detail in fullthe mounts used by the party throughoutthis adventure, or simply give them aver-age values of AC 7, MV 22, and 16 hp.

If the optional training rules are beingused, those characters who arent busyoutfitting themselves can take the oppor-tunity to train. Midnight agrees to pro-vide training, free of charge, for any PCmage who agrees to accompany her toWaterdeep. PCs of other classes can scoutaround Wheloon for tutors.

To determine how long training takes,decide which tutors hired by PCs have17+ Wisdom. Midnight accepts a maxi-mum delay of twenty daystwo weeks,in the Realms. After that, she willthreaten to take off for Waterdeep by her-self. The threat should be sufficient topersuade any procrastinating PCs tobreak off what theyre doing and makeready to accompany her. If it isnt, thenthe tutors themselves will break off anyongoing training sessions, saying some-thing like, I hear that its time for you tobe on your waynot much point in train-ing anymore, when the fate of the worldis at stake!

Priests may have difficulty gaining levelsat this time. Most deities are too weak ortoo busy to answer the prayers of theirfaithful. And besides, most priests are tooshocked and frantically busy seeking newsof their deities to do any training.

The nature-oriented deities, such asSilvanus, Eldath, and Mielikki, have takento avatar form well and remain diligent intheir responsibilities. Their priests cancomplete training normally. But of theother deities, only clerics of Lathander, Ty-mora, Tempus, Gond, and Chauntea cancomplete trainingand such trainingtakes twice as long as usual.

Tutors available in Wheloon includethese individuals:

Chalannos the Masked Firehawk,8th level fighter, retired adventurer. Hiscottage lies on a lane at the northeasternfringe of town. As a training fee he de-mands a permanent (not one-shot) magicalitem he can use, or 2,000 gp/level (countingthe level to be attained), or some combina-tion of these. He is very good; if the PC de-sires to acquire proficiency in a particularweapon, allow Chalannos to provide it.

Haerldoun Hawkmaster, 6th levelfighter (Wis 17), a mercenary warrior bytrade. Haerldoun, a veteran man of battle,knows the Dragon Reach lands well. He isespecially skilled at the art of command,organization, tactics, and scouting tech-niques.

Wounded in Daggerdale while fightingorcs, bugbears, and trolls allied to theZhentilar, Haerldoun has rented a househere in Wheloon while recovering. Herehe keeps an eye on his sideline, a helm andshield importing business run by his niece,Albhaera (F2, Dex 18, Cha 16). Haerldounwill train a PC for a flat fee of 4,000 gp, or amagical item and 2,000 gp.

If the party is weak or a PC has perished,the DM could allow Albhaera to join theparty as a replacement PC or NPC. She isyoung, soft-spoken, and demure but rest-less. Albhaera knows the value, repair, andproper fashioning of helms, bracers,shields, belts, and baldrics. She is fit, lithe,and well trained as a warrior.

Haerldoun dotes on her. If word reacheshim that a PC has mistreated her, that PChas acquired a tireless and wary foe whowill track him across the entire Realms totake revenge.

Mhezenter Mirilar, 5th level thief (Wis16), a thin, beak-nosed man who pretendsto be deaf. By day he loads crates of goodsfor a hardware merchant, Zendaros Rallo-gar, whose old, rambling shop is locatednear the center of town.

Mhezenter sleeps in an attic of the shop,and plies his other trade by night. He robsmainly warehouse goods or wagonloadspassing through town.

He does not advertise his profession; PCswishing to train must find and catch upwith him by night, then survive theencounterMhezenter is very quick withthrowing darts and a slim, rapierlike shortsword. The best way to persuade Mhezen-ter to train a PC is with payment of a magi-cal item, but Mhezenter settles for 3,000gp/level (counting the level to be attained),preferably in the form of gems.

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He cannot be blackmailed. Threats to ex-pose him just make him shrug; then he tar-gets the threatening character with a 3d6fireball the last missile of a necklace ofmissiles before making his escape.

Mhezenter has a ring of the ram hiddenaway somewhere in Wheloon. If he is at-tacked by PCs, he takes to wearing it, andto tipping his weapons with a sleep-inducing drug. Give his victims +2 onsaves against this venom; it has beenstored for a long time, and has lost some ofits efficacy.

Orlenstar Thirlthorn, 4th level druid(Wis 18), who keeps a shrine to Silvanuseast of Wheloon, north of the road in agrove of duskwood trees.

Everyone in town knows where thegrove is. Citizens take injured animals toOrlenstar; town children are always wel-come in the grove; and Orlenstar keepsgoodberries and home-brewed sprucebeer on hand at all times. He is a gentle, sat-urnine young man, willing to train anyonewho makes an offering to Silvanus of atleast 1,000 gp/level, counting the level to beattained.

Devise other NPC tutors as desired. Al-low PCs time to spread their wings in solooperations if they are not being trained.They can seek out Zhentilar spies, for ex-ample. Or, if they figured in the events ofFRE1 and FRE2, they might have to explaintheir actions to agents of the Harpers whoidentify them and accuse them again ofslaying Elminster.

The party should be at maximumstrength before journeying onward.

OFFSTAGE EVENTNot far from Starwater Bridge near the

village of Hilp, Cyric and his band of Zhen-tilar attack the small halfling village ofBlack Oaks. While his men destroy the vil-lage, Cyric assaults a young halfling calledSneakabout, whom the PCs will meet inEvent 5 of this chapter. Cyric steals Sneak-abouts magic sword, a cursed blade thatgradually enslaves its owners will (see theNew Magic appendix). Sneakabout, still af-fected by the swords curse after it isstolen, will not rest until he retrieves theweapon. The curse does not affect Cyric,whose will is so strong that he masters thesword, bending the weapons will to thestrength of his own.

In his adventuring, Cyric has gained alevel, so that he is now a 4th level fighter.Being dual-classed and unable to advance

in his former profession, he remains a 5thlevel thief and retains the combat abilities(HD 5, hp 24) he gained while a member ofthat class.

Event 3:Arrests,Alarums, andAmbushes

This optional event takes place at thetime when the PCs gather as they prepareto leave Wheloon. This event can beskipped to speed up play.

When the party has outfitted, healed,trained, and is ready to travel onward, theWheloon Watch arrives to arrest a PC on acharge of murder.

A local merchant (the one the PC boughthorses from) has been found murdered,his goods missing. Someone testified to thelocal lord, Sarp Redbeard, that they sawthe PC leaving the merchants house withbloody sword in hand. This false witnesswas one of Cyrics men, seeking to drivethe PCs from the safety of Wheloon.

The dour captain of the watch warns allthe PCs to bide peace until Lord Sarp ar-rives. Expected within the hour, he willquickly pronounce a sentence of execu-tion. Theres not much doubt, ye see, thecaptain adds fiercely through his bristlingmoustache.

The PCs have three options: cooperate,fight, or flee.

Cooperate: They can wait for LordSarp, then tell him their story. Judge theevidence as Wheloons lord wouldwith astrong bias toward declaring guilt and get-ting the whole matter over with. If he pro-nounces the PC guilty, the partys onlychance is to break and run; see below.

If the evidence for innocence is compel-ling, Lord Sarp apologizes to the PCs. Buthe doesnt want them staying in Wheloonand drawing further trouble, so he politelyoffers them an armed escortthe Watchand its captainto the village of Hilp (or tothe next village or city on the PCs journey).The PCs shouldnt refuse this offer, or thewatch will make their lives hard duringtheir remaining time in Wheloon.

Fight : The watch consis ts of 16constablesvolunteer militia, all mer-chants by daily tradein leather armor,bearing maces, short swords, daggers, andcrossbows. Each constable is F1, THAC020, 6 hp, AC 8.

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Four rounds after combat begins, 46Purple Dragon soldiers rush up the streeton the double. Since their presence virtu-ally ensures that the PCs must flee, the sol-diers are described in the next subsection.

Attacking the constabulary guaranteesthat the PCs and their companions will behunted fugitives for the remainder of theirstay in Cormyr. If they are caught, the lordof the city imprisons them and sentencesthem to public execution. Then the PCsmust stage a jailbreak, or Cyric and hisZhentilar can do so. Improvise details ofthe jail, or consult the jail (and jailbreak)description on pp. 6-7 of FRE2, Tantras.

Flee: If the PCs want to make a breakfor it, Midnight and other NPCs leap totheir aid, attacking the nearest constablesin an attempt to screen the player charac-ters escape and then joining the flightthemselves. (If Kelemvor is along as anNPC, he may try this tactic, taking thechoice away from the PCs.) Battle ensues.

The party can grab their horses and fleejust before the 46 hurrying Purple Dragonsoldiers arrive. Make this departure ur-gent, with armed townsfolk gathering towatch. Lord Sarp Redbeard (F9, 77 hp, Str17, neutral good with CN tendencies), hisjeweled blade drawn, can be seen shoutingangrily and pointing his sword, as he or-ders the Purple Dragons to pursue theadventurers.

Fourteen of the Purple Dragons, a localroad patrol, are mounted. These menchase the PCs, brandishing lances andmaces. All are F2, 16 hp each, wearingchain mail, armed with light lances, longswords, maces, and daggers. The leader ofthis patrol, Roadcaptain Thondar (F4, 37hp), wields a battle axe and a wand ofmagic missiles with 14 charges.

All of this should cause the PCs to fleealong the nearest road out of town, head-ing west and north toward the village ofHilp. (If they dont run away, conduct com-bat normally; if the PCs havent attackedthe constabulary, the Purple Dragons willfight to subdue and capture them.)

Assuming that they do flee, the chasecontinues for quite some time; the PurpleDragons are hot on the heels of the party,so no map of Wheloons surroundings isprovided.

Guardsmen and terrified citizens alikescramble to get out of the way. The PCs gainopportunities to jump their horses overabandoned crates and stumbling people,watch their pursuers crash into a cart, spill-ing potatoes all over the street, and so on.

If the PCs outdistance the guards tooeasily, have a heavily loaded stonecutterscart block the road. The PCs must turn(slowing down) or ride right into it. Any-one who tries to jump the cart or cutaround it must make a Proficiency checkfor land-based riding (if the proficiencyrules are used). Unless the check is suc-cessful, the rider cannot pass the cart,and must make a Dexterity check orcrash into it, suffering 3d4 impact dam-age and killing the horse. Such unfortu-nates must abandon horse and gear andflee quickly, or be captured.

The PCs should think of employingmagic or clever strategies to elude theirpursuers. If they try and their efforts fail,Midnight turns to confront their pursu-ers. She asks the PCs to shield her whileshe tries to cast sleep spells. (Let PC wiz-ards try to cast magic as well, if theywish.)

Assuming magical chaos does not alterthe spells, the onrushing Purple Dragonriders slump in their saddles. They tum-ble off to be trampled underfoot, or theyride into each other, and everyone hitsthe ground with a crash and a cloud ofdust.

AftermathRegardless of the outcome of this event,

the party must by now have left Wheloonbehind. After traveling through Hilpwhich doesnt take longthe PCs shouldbe encouraged to take the road leadingsouthwest toward Suzail. (Midnight hasher own reasons for wanting to go thisway, as explained in the beginning of

Event 4 below.) In any case, whether ornot they were pursued, they are tiredfrom their journey.

Night begins to fall as the party mem-bers wind their way south, walking theirexhausted horses. (If the PCs are cap-tured and must escape jail, assume the es-cape takes place as evening falls, whetheron the day of Event 3 or the next.)

As the shadows lengthen, the partyheads southwest along the fringe of theKings Forest, which cloaks the heart ofCormyr. As they proceed cautiously in thedusk, the lane the party is following endsin a secluded woodcutters glade. Thislooks as good a place as any to camp.

Well, perhaps. Refer to the High ForestEncounter Table on the inside of the fold-out cover of this adventure. Four timesduring the night, roll for encounters.Most monsters turn away if they encoun-ter alert, determined opposition; let thevigilance of the PCs determine what hap-pens. The exhausted NPCs cannot standwatch all night, but do not point this outto the PCs unless the PCs raise the subjectof posting a watch.

Event 4:StarwaterBridge

In the morning the party hastens onsouth toward Suzail, hoping to outdis-tance any word from Wheloon (the NPCsknow that in the absence of mages fromthe kingdom, messages must travel byriders on the roads). In Suzail, Midnight

plans to buy passage for the party on a lo-cal merchant ship that will take themacross Dragonmere to Ilipur, where theparty can join an overland caravan toWaterdeep.

When the party reaches StarwaterBridge, read the following:

The River Starwater glimmers beforeyou, sparkling in the morning sun. Itlies in an old, broad valley, mirroringthe blue sky overhead, and your roadcrosses over it by means of a broadstone span: Starwater Bridge.

There are men on the bridge withspears in their hands. As you drawnearer, you see that they are hard-faced fighting men, clad in a variety ofarmor. Some even wear black fieldplate. All wear scarves or surcoatsbearing badges of a red circle on ablack field.

Theyre Zhentilar! Here in the heartof Cormyr!

These Zhentilar are loyal to Cyric.There are 24 warriors on the bridge, and16 more mounted troops hiding in thenearby trees to the west. Cyric is watch-ing from within the trees, along with 10other men who guard the tethered horsesof the entire troop.

Stress to the players that the presenceof Zhentilar troops here is highly unu-sual. Midnight believes, correctly, thatCyric is using them to warn the partyaway from the south. But she doesnt yetbelieve he has evil motives.

If the PCs show themselves, the fighterswaiting on the bridge lower their spearsto menace their horses, bracing them-selves to face any charge the PCs mightmount. If the PCs attack the 24 fightingmen on the bridge, the 16 warriors in thetrees ride to the attack.

The party can fight, though the oddsare overwhelming. If the PCs win, theycan travel unmolested for a time. ButCyric escapes and eventually forms an-other band. Skip to the next event.

More likely, however, the party fleesnorthward again, while those PCs whofeel inclined can fight a rear-guard action.However, Cyric has ordered the Zhentilarnot to kill the party, and in fact the fight-ers pursue the PCs only a short distancenorthward.

The Zhentilars purpose is to force theadventurers to go north. They dare notremain assembled in strength for long, or

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chase the adventurers along the roads.They know that if they try, theyll soonfind Purple Dragons moving againstthem, several hundred strong.

Cyrics ZhentilarAll these men have chain mail and

shield (AC 4) or better. All have access to alight crossbow and two cases of 21 quar-rels each, and to a spear or a pike. Allcarry a long sword or a mace, a hand axe,and two daggers. Optionally, some mayalso wield war hammers, battle axes, orbastard swords.

They are all experienced fighters.Dalzhel, Cyrics second in command, is a4th level fighter with 36 hp. The others inthe troop include 10 3rd level fighters (25hp), 20 2nd level (18 hp), and 19 1st level(10 hp). If desired, you can give Cyricsmen individual names and hit point totals. . . but some of them may not live longenough to be worth the work.

However, you should prepare a simpleroster list of Cyrics band. They reappearthroughout this module as foes of the PCs,and it may prove easier to keep track oftheir declining strength and numbers inthis manner.

Another approach is to assign Cyricscommand a variable strength. Simply fol-low the encounter descriptions giventhroughout the adventure, suitably ad-justing the bands numbers according tothe effects of physical chaos, desertions,reinforcements, sickness, offstage fight-ing or scouting, and so on. Though not asrealistic as the first approach, thismethod guarantees that the band alwayspresents a threat to the PCs.

Events 5: Ashes atBlack Oaks

The Zhentilar do not pursue the partyout of sight of the bridge. But if the PCstry going east or west and then turningsouth again, they meet the whole band ofZhentilar, moving to intercept them andforce them back. If they evade or some-how defeat this band, let them proceedto their destination. Most of the follow-ing encounters can easily be adapted totheir new surroundings, but you mustimprovise many details of a southern ad-venture.

The rest of this chapter presumes thatthe adventurers are warily heading north

again. Midnight and other NPCs argueabout the Zhentilar: whether they are ac-tually Cyrics men, and whether he ishelping or hindering them. The PCs cantake part or try to guide this argument asthey wish, but Midnight refuses to believeCyric is really an enemy.

Suddenly PCs smell smoke in the woodsto the west of the road. If they investigate,they find a narrow trail. Tree branchesmeet above it at about chest height (for ahuman), forming a very low roof. Thesebranches can be cut away to clear thetrail.

The trail winds down and then upthrough thick stands of sumac, until itreaches a stand of black oaks. Fromthe center of the stand, in a smallglade, wisps of smoke are drifting. Thesmells of burnt wood and flesh arestrong in the air.

Midnight points at a ring of stones.A well, she says quietly.

This was a halfling village known asBlack Oaks. The Zhentilar, impatient toloot something, chose this village bychance. Cyric, their leader, merelyshrugged and allowed them to sack it. Forhimself he took only one item, but what atreasure: a magical sword of incrediblepower, formerly owned by a halflingnamed Sneakabout.

Amid the RuinsPCs may want to scout around, to

make sure there are no lurking brig-ands or other menaces. Most of the ad-venturers will probably want to searchthe tumbled piles of stone rubble andsmoking burrow-holes, all that remainsof the village.

Amid the wreckage they discover theashes of much wickerware and cloth, thetrampled remnants of many plants, andforty-five halfling bodies. Ten are males,the others women and children. Manywere crushed under their collapsed huts.The searchers find no valuables, not evenstray arrows or broken weapons. Lawfulgood PCs should consider gathering theslain halflings for burial.

While the PCs are busy searching theruined village, halfling thieves from thesurrounding woods go silently to work.They try to steal most or all of the partysfood and bedrolls, Midnights spell book,and a flint-and-steel pouch.

You can decree that the halfling thievessimply will not be caught in the act, re-gardless of PC precautions. This movesthe story along smoothly. But if the PCsposted an alert guard or took clever pre-cautions, they can catch the thieves red-handed.

In this case, alert PCs notice the half-lings just as one thief is heading into theforest with Midnights spell book. Theothers are looting the partys saddlebags.Try to focus attention on the ones still inthe camp, and not on the thief who liftedthe spell book.

The halflings, once discovered, run likebunnies. PCs can attack, trap, or pursuethem. But in the forest the halflings prob-ably outdistance their pursuit. By thetime the PCs follow the trail to the halflinglair, the thieves have already destroyedMidnights spell book.

Assuming the party fails to discover thethefts at once, they find out about theirmissing gear by dusk. PCs can track thethieves, aided by crumbs from some cornbiscuits that were in the saddlebags.Aghast at the loss of her spell book, Mid-night insists they search, or she desertsthe party to search by herself.

The Thieves LairThe trail leads some distance northwest

through deep forest to a tiny campfire.There PCs discover two dozen halflings,

obviously survivors from the village. ThePCs see that the halflings are using theirown stolen possessions. An old, matronlyhalfling woman is slicing up the missingcorn biscuits with a PCs dagger. An oldhalfling man drinks wine from the fingersof a glove that another PC recognizes. Ifthe PCs carried spears, the broken spearsare propped over the campfire, and threerabbits are roasting on them.

Because Midnight has lost her spellbook (this must occur, regardless of howthe rest of the thievery turns out), stealthand surprise are impossible. With ashriek of horror, Midnight recognizesamid the flames the blackening, crum-bling ashes of her spell book.

Alarmed, the halflings scramble to grabweapons. They have slings, spears andatlatls (also called woomeras), and a fewdaggers.

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The old halfling mother faces youfiercely, raising a stolen dagger with ahiss. So! What you want? she says inbroken Common. Come back to finishjob? Tall ones all the same. Come to lootrich halfling cities. She steps forward,waving the dagger. Not take Berenga-ria without fight!

Midnight, ignoring Berengarias dag-ger, rushes to the fire and scrabbles init for her spell book. She is too late.Nothing is left. Gone, she says softly,staring into the flames. A single tearruns down her cheek.

PCs can fight the halflings or call atruce. NPCs, even Midnight, recommenda truce. They do not take part in attackson the halflings.

Fight: The able-bodied halflings of thevillage were away hunting when theZhentilar raided. Now they are back, sothe PCs dont have an easy time of it.

There are 16 able-bodied halflings, allLN, all equipped with with short swords(1d6 damage) but no armor (AC 7). Four2nd level fighters have 14 hp each. Four2nd level thieves have 10 hp. Four fighter/thieves are 1st level in each class, withonly 6 hp each. Finally, four 1st levelthieves have 6 hp.

Eight 0-level halflings, old people orchildren, have no weapons and do not at-tack. However, they bravely rush in thepath of the PCs attacks to protect theirloved ones. Throwing themselves at thePCs feet, they scream for mercy. PCs whomurder these halflings are showing evilalignment tendencies.

Try to show bloodthirsty PCs that thesehalflings represent no threat. Their vil-lage and families have been destroyed;they have nothing left and nowhere to go.They stole the supplies just to survive.

Truce: These pathetic halflings evokethe NPCs sympathy. To avoid a fight andprove their friendship, the NPCs suggestletting the halflings keep what they havetaken. This is for the PCs to decide ulti-mately, of course. The halflings sadly sur-render their stolen goods if asked.

Though Midnight laments her lost spellbook, she does not blame the thieves. Itsall right, she tells them. You didnt un-derstand.

She might not have understood thespell book, says a new voice. Butthatd be all she didnt understand. Agaunt halfling male steps out of thedarkness. A bandage is bound aroundhis forehead. His eyes are red, and hisskin an unhealthy gray.

The other halflings back away, whis-pering among themselves. The new-comer steps to the fire and picks upthe rabbits. Have these, he says toyou. There are plenty more wherethey came from, and its less than a fairtrade for what youve lost.

The names Atherton Cooper, saysthe newcomer. But most call meSneakabout.

Meet SneakaboutSneakabout is a 4th level halfling thief:

AC 4 (leather plus Dex bonus); hp 22;THAC0 19 (17 with missiles); #AT 1; Dmgby weapon (short sword, 2 daggers, slingwith 16 stones); Str 14, Dex 18, Con 15, Int16, Wis 12, Cha 16; AL CG (CN tendencies,due to his recent ownership of the magi-cal sword now in Cyrics possession). Anempty sword scabbard swings at his belt.If asked about it, he simply shrugs andsay, I lost it. Ill get it back.

Sneakabout asks the party if theyverun into any Zhentilar in Cormyr.

I have unfinished business with thosebutchers, he says grimly. As do all themenfolk of Black Oaks! It might havebeen different if all the fathers had notbeen out hunting!

To think mend come with swordsand all, here in Cormyr! King Azounllhear of this, see if he doesnt! And thoseZhentilartheyll hear of it too, beforelong! A dagger flashes up into the airfrom his boot, twinkles in the firelight,and falls back into his waiting hand.

He looks at you all in the gatheringtwilight. It seems to me, he sayssoftly, that you might be in need of aguideand protection, too, just in caseyou run into any more Zhentilar here-abouts. Well?

The PCs can accept or reject Sneak-about as a guide. Establish him as a sym-pathetic character with goals much likethose of the PCs. The adventure proceedsmore smoothly if Sneakabout is along, buthis presence is not vital.

In any case, the party can camp for thenight with the halflings. Berengariasfaulty Common proves to be a deception.She can and will answer any PCs ques-tions about conditions in Cormyr, thewhereabouts of possible supplies and tu-tors, and the like. She can furnish the PCswith water and many fresh berries andcarrots for their journey.

Allow the heroes, especially lawfulgood PCs, to help the halflings. Theycould donate money or supplies; a priestPC could send a message to his templesseeking aid for the demihumans; theycould even take the halflings with themon a search for a new home. However, therest of the adventure makes no provisionfor the continued presence of any of thehalflings except for Sneakabout.

Setting OutSneakabout tells the party he knows the

deep forest trails, and he asks their routeof travel. If the PCs dont have a route inmind, he suggests that they go to Evening-star, and from there find their way west-ward out of Cormyr.

The next morning the party sets off. Ifthey have accepted Sneakabout as theirguide, he promises to take them throughthe very heart of the Kings Forest, wheremen seldom go, in hopes of avoidingZhentilar and zealous Purple Dragon offi-cers alike.

Event 6:Walking Treesand Wildwood

The party travels on through old, deepwoods of shady gloom and ancient, tower-ing trees. Consult the Kings ForestEncounter Table, checking for encountersonce every 1d10 turns (or 1d6 turns when-ever the party makes a lot of noise). Brig-ands encountered have meager treasure;prepare such booty before play begins.

Whenever an encounter is called for,roll 1d6. If the result is a 6, do not checkthe table; instead, the encounter is an at-tempted ambush by one of Cyrics Zhenti-lar patrols.

The patrol consists of seven men: six 1stlevel fighters, all AC 4 and having 10 hp,led by a 2nd level fighter. The leaderwears plate mail (AC 3), has 18 hp, andwields a battle axe or bastard sword as hisprimary weapon.

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The men of the patrol wear chain mailand bear shields. All except the leaderhave a spear and a light crossbow with 21quarrels. Everyone carries a long swordor a mace, a hand axe, and two daggers.

If the party runs into three Zhentilarpatrols, the third should be larger thanthe others11 men, including two 2ndlevel fighters.

If the PCs question captive Zhentilar,the prisoners say they sailed from Scar-dale to Tantras and then to CormyrwithCyric, who promised them much loot. Sofar Cyric hasnt led them to this loot; somediscontented Zhentilar sacked Sneak-abouts village, though Cyric gave no or-der to do this.

(Midnight uses this statement as proofthat Cyric is not truly evil. In fact, Cyricdidnt care that the village was destroyed;he simply saw no purpose in doing so.)

The prisoners say Cyric has ordered theZhentilar to drive the PCs north toEveningstar, arranging ambushes and tip-ping off the Purple Dragons if the PCs gosouth. Suzail is already closed to you . . .and Marsember, too.

EncountersDuring this event, introduce the

encounters that follow when the partyreaches appropriate locations in thewoods.

1. Watching the WatchmenIf Sneakabout is guiding the party, he

offers to lead them along the banks of theStarwater, under the bridge that carriesthe Dhedluk/Immersea road across it, toavoid patrols.

Unknown to Sneakabout, seven Zhenti-lar watchmen hold the bridge. These areidentical in strength to the seven-manZhentilar patrol described above, exceptthat two horses are tethered nearby. Ifthe watchmen spot the PCs, two menmount the horses and ride off to report toCyric. The other watchmen engage theparty and try to hold them at the spot un-til Cyric and the other warriors arrivefour rounds later.

The party should easily win though,especially if they dispose of the messen-gers before they can get away. But add ex-citement by pursuing them for a whilewith crossbow quarrels through thetrees.

2. Starwater FordEventually the party should reach

Starwater Ford, along the river about

midway between Eveningstar and theDhedluk/Immersea bridge, where gravelbars allow the party to cross over theStarwater River to the western side. If anencounter occurs here, it should be withan aquatic monster such as a giant gar.

The western bank of the Starwater atthis spot is thickly grown, an old and darkwoods (some say haunted). Here onlyelves, rangers, halflings, and the bravestof hunters go. The Zhentilar do not knowtheir way around this area.

3. Trees on the MarchThe lead character scouts ahead along

an unfamiliar trailand comes runningback to the party screaming in terror.

Off the trail! the scout cries. Now!Behind the onrushing scout you hear adeep rumbling, crashing noise.

Leaves stir and dance, and a huge syc-amore tree suddenly lurches forwardinto view, swinging its branches like adozen flailing arms. Its roots creak asthey crawl along the ground like therushing feet of a centipede. The groundtrembles as the trunk of the tree twistsalong the ground. Then the trunk risesagain as the tree strides on.

Another tree follows right behindthe first. Mud rises in showers as manysycamores march in its wake. Thenoise is awesome, the ground shakes,and trees topple or are smashed asideby the marching sycamores.

The sycamores are part of the chaos ofthe Realms, perhaps directed by an avataror a spell gone wrong. They march to a vil-lage or city of the DMs choice and attackits walls, not ceasing until the end of thisadventure. They do not attack PCs or ap-pear to notice PC activities, but any charac-ter who gets in the way is simply trampled,hurled aside, or torn limb from limb.

Allow Dexterity checks to avoid any orall of these misfortunes. Suggested dam-age is 1d6 per misfortune if a check is suc-cessful, and 2d8 if a check fails. Horsessuffer the same damage.

A resourceful party could ride thetrees, or tag along in their wake to avoidenemy encounters. This can be challeng-ing, for the trees move quickly, withoutstopping. But if the PCs have too easy atime of their journey, physical chaos even-tually subsides, and the trees collapse intoso many logs.

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Event 7: TheGlowing Glade

When at last the exhausted party de-cides to camp for the night, they comeupon a glade in the deep forest. It is in ahollow atop a wooded hill, amid rollingground deep in the forest, not far fromthe Starwater. It is of natural origin, and issafe and uninhabited.

The party eats as dusk falls. Read thefollowing:

An orange glow steals silently into ex-istence above the fire. As you notice itcurling gently in midair, it splits intonine little spheres of radiance. Thesedarken and start to spin, turning blueand then silver. They drift outward ina widening ring.

The ring silently expands until it en-closes the entire glade. The sphereschange shape in the air. Each forms theimage of a moutha human mouth,surrounded by a moustache andbeard! No faces appear; all of thesebearded mouths hang disembodied inthe air in a huge ring around the glade.

One mouth moves. You hear a famil-iar dry, fussy, accented voice. Wellmet, friends! We are still friends, arewe not? We both, I trust, wish theRealms to survive. It is the voice ofElminster the Sage.

Though currently far away acrossFaerun, Elminster has clairvoyantly lo-cated the heroes. He wants to remindthem of their mission and answer theirquestions, and he has chosen a typicallyflashy method of doing so.

The mouths are unaffected by physicalattacks or any magicincluding, for themoment at least, dispel magic.

The initial glow above the fire is equiva-lent to an amber faerie fire, and thebearded magic mouths speak even ifcharacters flee out of the ring as it forms.

Talking WithNine Mouths

Allow the characters to talk withElminster as long as they like. He can an-swer most of their questions, particu-larly those that let them go forward withthe adventure.

Here are some typical questions and

samples of Elminsters answers. If theplayers dont ask all these questions, dontgo out of the way to work in the extra an-swers; just let them pass. Dont tell theplayers more than they want to know.

What is happening to the Realms?One mouth along the ring speaks:

Whats going on? Well you might ask. Itsall rather confusing, really. The mouthclears its throat and says, This bitsrather important. So bend thy ears.

A second mouth takes up the tale. Eachgod of Faerun has a portfolio, a professionor natural force which that beingdominatesand know ye, that good andevil, law and chaos and neutrality all arebalanced evenly, greater gods and lesser,demigods and all. All hangs in theBalancean ever-shifting Balance, to betrue, but a Balance nonetheless.

Another mouth speaks. Or, as ye mightguess, is supposed to. The Balance is nomore, for the gods have fallen down intoFaerun. Now every great power anddemigod strives among mortals, hardlymore than mortals themselves. They ne-glect the Balance, and chaos has strickenthe lands.

How did the gods fall?Know ye that there is one god above all

the gods of Faerun, a being known as Ao,the One Who Is Hidden.

Ao it was, so we are told, who createdthe gods, to bring order out of chaos, sothat our world could exist, each beast inits place and each plant in its niche, all inharmony.

The mouth falls silent, and anothermouth takes up the tale. Standard talk, Iknow, but evidently true. Two of thegods, Bane and Myrkul, dared to goagainst the Balance created by Ao. Theystole the two Tablets of Fate. Their theftso angered Ao that he cast the gods down,supposedly to teach them weakness andhumility. But the gods are willful, andusurp each others powers and influence,and strive one with the other.

What happened to Mystra?Ah, Mystra! Her power was within

everything, and gathered stronger withina few in these lands, including one amongye. Yet even Mystra fought and arguedand connived, as if she were . . . human.The mouth chuckles.

Another mouth speaks. Mystra is nomore, although her power will pass on.She will never entirely perish, so long asthere is magic in the world.

What happened to Bane and Torm?The God of Strife battled the God of

Duty in mortal combator perhaps Imean immortal combat. They destroyedone another. As ye have seen, when a goddies, his energies scatter in an instant,with the power of ten thousand bolts oflightning.

Those forces have wrought strangenew forms in the lands around Tantras,though not, fortunately, in the city itself.

When Midnight rang the Bell of AylenAttricus in that tower in Tantras, she acti-vated an age-old power. The bell protectedthe city from destruction when the godsexploded. Only a wizard of great powerand caring heart could ring the bell. It isonly because her friends got her there toring the bell that Tantras survives today.

Ye need not fear Bane, nor his well-meaning brother Tormone so blind withpride that he knew not that Banes tabletlay hidden in his own temple cellar!How can the problem be solved?

The gods planes are shut against them,the ways there guarded by Helm. To getback, the gods must find the Tablets ofFate and present them to Helm. We musthope that, once they resume their sta-tions, the gods can restore order.

Why should we look for the tablets?This test Ao has set for the gods. And

for men, too, aye, and all the mortal races.

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For anyone may win the tablets and re-deem the Balance. Ao has hinted at god-hood for any being who gives him thetablets.

Ao would see that which sets us allapart from the beasts: the magnificenceof deed and achievement, love and friend-ship and aiding one anotherthat whichsoars above mere survival. And so, ofcourse, ye come into the picture. Themouth chuckles.

What should we do?All ye need do is find the second tablet,

and take both to the highest point in thecity of Waterdeep.

The next mouth over gives a warning.Ye need not worry about Bane. But thesecond thief, Myrkul, is still your foeandit is his tablet that ye now seek. Im afraid Iknow not where it is, but the old seerAlaundo mentions that in the Time ofTroubles, all roads will end in Waterdeep.So perhaps youd best head up that way.

As you search, take care. Other godsare just as dangerous as MyrkulBhaal,h i s s e r v a n t , f o r o n e . T h e G o d o fMurder. . . .

Concluding the TalkPCs can ask other questions of Elmin-

ster; improvise the answers at will, butnote the following: Elminster knows noth-ing, yet, of Myrkul and Bhaals plan to herdMidnight toward the gate to Hades. Elmin-ster knows nothing about Cyric. Elminstercannot warn the PCs regarding any sur-prises still to come in this adventure.

After the PCs have finished asking ques-tions of Elminster, conclude the scenewith this passage:

Forget not this: Whatever befalls ye,all roads end in Waterdeep. Go on withmy good wishes, all of you, and savethe Realms. The gods know its hightime someone else should do so!

The mouths fade into silver motes ofradiance, and then drift to join eachother in a shimmering, silvery ring ofradiance. It encircles the entire gladein midair.

The ring remains until morning, unlessit is dispelled. It poses no barrier or harmto any party member, but turns aside allwandering woodland creatures.

This chapter opens as the charactersawaken in the deep woods of Cormyr.The ring of light caused by Elminstersspell has faded. Midnight can think ofnothing but her lost spell book. She needsa spell book to cast spells, and the partycertainly needs her magic! Everyoneshould agree at this point that one of thefirst things they must do is find a way toreplace the lost book.

Event 1:The Kings Forest

As the party travels, consult the KingsForest Encounter Table, checking forencounters every 1d10 turns (or 1d6turns whenever the party makes a lot ofnoise).

Twice during the day the adventurersmeet Zhentilar patrols, who harry themwith crossbow quarrels from behind,hurrying them northward. Introducethese patrols whenever the PCs turn theparty toward any destination other thanEveningstar.

Zhentilar patrols are identical withthose described in the previous chapter:six 1st level fighters, all with 10 hp and AC4 (chain mail and shield), led by a 2nd levelfighter with 18 hp and AC 3 (plate mail, noshield). The leader is armed with a battleaxe or a bastard sword. The warriorscarry spears and light crossbows with 21quarrels. Everyone also has a long sword,a mace, a hand axe, and two daggers.

The adventurers spend a wary, wearyday of tramping through seeminglyendless damp, dark forest, approachingEveningstar only at dusk.

Event 2:An Evening inEveningstar

As purple twilight settles over the for-est, you see twinkling lights far ahead,glimmering through the trees: thelights of Eveningstar, the prettiest vil-lage in Cormyr.

If Sneakabout is guiding the party, hesays there is a lone guard standing watch,under one of those road-lanterns, at eachbridge. The halfling recommends theycross over the road and come in to the vil-

lage from the west to avoid the guardedbridges.

If Sneakabout is not guiding the party,PCs may run into a guard at a bridge.Each guard has the same abilities andequipment as the constables in Event 3 ofthe last chapter.

The guard may or may not be expectingtrouble, depending on details of the PCsdeparture from Wheloon. If the PurpleDragons are hunting the party, Evening-stars guards will recognize the adventur-ers and try to sound the alarm. Otherwisethe guard greets them peaceably, askstheir destination and business, and allowsthem to pass unmolested. He recom-mends lodging at the Lonesome TankardInn (see below).

EveningstarThis is a pretty market town set among

prosperous farms. Windowboxes arecrowded with many flowers. Trees growin plenty among the small, pretty woodenhouses and stone-and-timber shops.

Unfortunately, like those of many otherfarm villages, the folk of Eveningstar areup before dawn but go to bed early. Asthe PCs travel the streets in the gatheringnight, the shops are shuttered and dark.The streets are empty.

Midnight knocks hopefully at severalshop doors in hopes of finding someonewilling to trade gold for a bottle of ink, aquill or two, and a ledger or chapbook. Noone answers her rappings.

At a crossroads stands a large, three-story stone building, lamps lit and a faintmurmur of speech audible from within.Above the broad, rolling roof of the frontporch hangs a signboard proclaiming thisto be The Lonesome Tankard: Inn and Sta-bles. Fine Ale and Finer Meals. This lookslike the most suitable place for lodgings.

The LonesomeTankard

A map of The Lonesome Tankard Inn isprovided. Two smiling stableboys comeforward to take the partys horses; theywave away any coins offered them. En-tering by the sets of double doors openingin from the porch, the adventurers findthemselves in a happily noisy diningroom. Here they can locate the innkeeperand arrange rooms for the party. The costis 2 sp per room per night, stabling and anevening and morning meal included, with

unlimited food and drink.The innkeeper is Dunman Kiriag,

known for his kindness and soft-spokenhonesty. Dunman is a burly, black-haired,affable man (F5, hp 42, Str 17, AL NG). Heunderstands at least the basics of mostlanguages spoken by humans and demi-humans in these parts, and is never with-out a dagger +4 that is strapped to oneforearm under his sleeve.

Dunman ushers you all through a cur-tain into a dim, quiet room in the back.A small fire in a fireplace throws re-flections off polished shields on thewalls. If youd spend the night here,well have wine and roast boar beforeyou in but a breath or two. Khair willserve you. Would you like to see therooms?

A young serving girl, her long hair tiedback with a scarf, hurries in with a smileand a decanter of chilled wine.

Any PC who wants to see the rooms ac-companies Dunman up a broad woodenstair that rises out of the dining room.Opening off a hallway, the rooms all over-look the stables. Behind them, a curve ofthe Starwater glimmers in the growingmoonlight. A light rain has begun to fall.

The party should be quite tired. NPCswill retire; PCs can stay up late if theywish. In the dining room they can pick uprumors; draw them from the WheloonRumor Table in the previous chapter, ormake up new ones.

Everyone seems especially sure that theDarkhold fortress is making passagethrough the Far Hills impossible. This istrue, and the PCs should reconsider if theyhad planned that route to Waterdeep. Asafer way to travel is through StormhornPass, which takes the party past the for-tress of High Horn, and then through theSunset Mountains north of Darkhold, em-erging due east of Corm Orp.

If PCs engage Dunman in conversation,he proves to be a garrulous veteran ofmany campaigns. Assuming they saynothing to offend the honor of the PurpleDragons, Dunman takes a liking to them.

A little travelers tip, he says. Whenyou need a Dragons help, just say, Aid,in Azouns name! Then theyll knowits an emergency . . . because if you in-voke the kings name in vain, youre introuble!

14

PCs can also slip away to exploreEveningstar. However, nothing of interestis happening in this quiet village so late atnight. Eventually the characters shouldgo to bed.

A Meeting With CyricMuch later that night, one or more of

the PCs (make Intelligence checks to de-termine who) is disturbed by the scrapeof a boot in the hall outside, followed al-most immediately by the faint sound ofone of the room doors opening.

Then they hear Midnight whisper, Imso happy to see you!

Inquisitive PCs find that their roomdoors can be opened in silence. If theywatch, they see Midnight standing in thehall. At the head of the stairs is a hawk-nosed manCyric. Observers note a red-dish glow briefly from within his cloak, ashe sheathes a half-drawn blade. You . . .er, Im happy to see you as well, he replies.

PCs may or may not be happy to seeCyric. They can attack, eavesdrop on theconversation, or join it.

Attack: If they attack immediately, Mid-night tries to cast a wall of force or othermagic to prevent their impulsive actions.(Although her spell book is gone, she stillhas some spells in memory . . . or so itwould appear; see Event 5 in this chapterfor a full explanation of what is happeningto Midnight.) After using her magic, or try-ing to, she steps aside in smooth haste. Donot force me to choose between friends,she says to Cyric warningly.

If her magic fails, Cyric fights defen-sively with his new magical sword. Youwill have to make that decision soonerthan you think, he spits out. Then he flees,if possible; the sword can teleport him out-side the inn, if necessary. From there hesignals his troops to attack (see below).

Eavesdrop: Read players as much ofthe following conversation as they careto hear. Let them interrupt at any time,and when they do, go to the Join sec-tion (below).

Midnight takes Cyrics arm and drawshim away from the stairs. She asks in alow voice, Were those your arrowsaiding us against those warriors inHermits Wood?

Cyric nods. I trust the tablet is safe?Of course, Midnight replies. And

the Zhentilar whove been forcing us

north? Theyre yours as well?Right again, says Cyric. I wanted

you in Eveningstar.Why? What hazards lie to the

south?Why, the forces of Banes allies, of

course. The Black Lord may have per-ished, but he has many friendsanddead men are the least of them. That iswhy I came.

To rejoin us? she asks quietly.That is not what I mean. Ive come

for youand the tablet. Your friendscannot protect you. I can. Leave withme.

Midnight shakes her head. I cant,she says. I wont.

Cyric says, Think! Do you not real-ize the power we can possess? Withthe Tablets of Fate, we can be gods!His voice trembles with excitement. Helooks wild-eyed and dangerous.

Midnight says sharply, Thats blas-phemy!

Blasphemy? Cyric laughs. Againstwhom? The gods are here, tearing theRealms apart trying to recover the tab-lets. Our destiny is now ours to make!

Let me warn you, he continues.The gods are trailing you. Not twonights past, Bhaal butchered three ofmy best men. The Lord of Murder!Had Bhaal wished to stay for a few mo-ments, he could have killed us all. Buthe did not. Do you know why?

Midnight remains silent.Cyric hisses, Because Bhaal wants

you. You and the tablet! He lets go ofMidnight and steps back, their gazesstill locked. You will never live to de-liver the tablet, he adds calmly. Nomatter where you go, Bhaal will findyou and he will kill your friendskillthem in ways more painful than youcan imagine.

Midnight shudders. No, she says. Iwont permit it."

At this point, the conversation ends. Ifthe PCs dont interfere, Cyric leaves tosignal his Zhentilar to attack the inn (seebelow).

Join: Any watching PCs can join in atany time. Cyric treats them contemptu-ously. In talking with them, Cyric tries toget across the following points:

1. The southern route is too dangerousto travel. The only safe route lies past the

great mountain fortress of High Horn,several hours journey to the west.

2. The avatar of Bhaal is seeking Mid-night and the tablet.

3. Cyric can defend Midnight betterthan the PCs can. With the Tablets of Fate,the two of them can command immensepower.

Midnight never agrees to desert herfriends and join Cyricand Cyric will notjoin the PCs.

If the PCs try to capture or kill Cyric, hismagical sword protects him; go to the At-tack section (above). If they permit himto leave freely, Cyric goes outside and sig-nals his Zhentilar warriors to attack.

The Zhentilar AttackCyric sends 50 Zhentilar soldiers to

drive the party westward toward HighHorn. They approach the inn with maxi-mum noise and no great speed, sinceCyric wants the adventurers to flee, notfight. Anyone looking outside can seehuge numbers of soldiers, clearly toomany to battle.

The party should be caught up in a wildfrenzy of scurrying, snatching up thingsand packing, and getting half-dressed. IfSneakabout is along, he has dangled arope out the open window of his room,scurried down it, and saddled the partyshorses for a quick getaway. Otherwise,PCs can choose their own escape routeand either saddle their own horses orsteal others.

If the PCs disagree on whether to fightor flee, read the following section aloud:

The rain has stopped. You hear thefront door of the inn crash open, andthe thunder of booted feet. A chair ov-erturns with a crash. Thumps fromheavy boots sound on the stairs, andthen you hear the quiet, steely voice ofDunman, the innkeeper.

Just a moment, gentlemen. Roomsare two silver falcons a night youhear the clash of steel upon steel andI let them only to those folk I choose tohave under my roof. Steel rings andclashes again, and you hear a curse.And I must admit, the innkeepersvoice resumes, that Im beginning toentertain negative thoughts as to ad-mitting yourselves!

There is a short scream, a grunt, theclatter of a dropped blade, and Dun-man chuckles. You can hear no more.

15

If any PCs try to stay and fight, they areshoved aside by Khair (the girl whoserved them dinner earlier), who hisses atthem, Get you gone! Youll be in the way!Go! She has a heavy double crossbow inher hand. She fires over Dunmans shoul-der into the faces of oncoming Zhentilar,as the innkeeper holds the stairs with agreat two-handed sword.

The snorting of horses and the creak ofleather as everyone mounts and ties onpacks drowns out further sounds of com-bat. A moment later, the PCs are ridinghard across the crossroads.

There is one surprised Zhentilar soldierhere. The PCs should have no trouble dis-patching him. Then the adventurers rideinto the night. They soon find that Cyricsmen block all avenues out of Eveningstarexcept the road to the west, towardStormhorn Pass.

Event 3: Meetingin the Peaks

Fleeing with Cyrics men hot on theirheels, the adventurers ride desperatelywest toward the far-off safety of HighHorn. Streaming clouds cloak the moon pe-riodically, plunging the road into darkness.

Dodging the occasional crossbow bolt,they charge through Tyrluk. No map ofthe village is provided, as the night is darkand the chase very close, offering PCs notime to turn aside, take cover, call for aid,or snatch up anything.

The four rearmost adventurers areeach attacked twice during their wildride. The hard-riding Zhentilar are slowlyovertaking the party, but the pace is fran-tic and the night dark: only rolls of 20 suc-ceed in striking PCs. The Zhentilar lightcrossbow bolts do 1d4 damage.

The pursuing soldiers are too numer-ous for the adventurers to safely turn andfight them. The NPCs will certainly notstopand if the PCs know whats good forthem, they will keep on riding as well.Eventually, while riding up the rising roadinto the mountains, the adventurerscome upon a troop of 36 Cormyrean sol-diers riding hardy mountain ponies.These Purple Dragons are returning toHigh Horn from extended patrol in theStonelands. The Purple Dragons turn atthe partys approach, spear points swing-ing around.

PCs can flee in another direction or tryto enlist the soldiers aid.

Flee: The PCs must ride off the road,going either north or south into the foot-hills west of Tyrluk. Suspicious at the ad-venturers behavior, the Cormyreanspursue. The soldiers break off the chase,however, when a rear guard shoutsZhentilar! The Purple Dragons chaseCyrics band back toward Eveningstar,leaving the PCs to continue their journey.(However, the Zhentilar escape.)

The only safe route lies toward HighHorn in the west, but let the PCs takewhatever path they like. Run encounterswith monsters or Zhentilar patrols, andtranslate later events into the PCs newsurroundings.

Enlist Aid: The PCs can tell a convinc-ing story; offer the code phrase Aid, inAzouns name! if they learned it from theinnkeeper Dunman; or just stall until theZhentilar appear. When the Purple Drag-ons see the Zhentilar, the Cormyreanspart to pass by the adventurers without aword, and promptly charge at the oncom-ing Zhentilar.

The Cormyrean soldiers are 2nd levelfighters with 17 hp each. All wear chainmail and carry shields (AC 4), and arearmed with light horse lances (1d6 dam-age), crossbows, long swords, darts, anddaggers.

The PCs hear barked orders. Cyricsmen wheel about and flee back east onthe road, soon outdistancing the ponies ofthe Purple Dragons with their larger,stronger chargers.

The trailcaptain of the Cormyrean pa-trol is Tharsar Immerlund (F5, AC 1, Int17, Dex 17). He is armed with a longsword + 1. Tharsar sends 12 soldiers tofollow and scout the Zhentilar, then con-tinues toward High Horn. If the PCs ha-vent fled out of easy earshot, he offersthe adventurers an escort.

If the PCs accept the offer, they andtheir new escort reach High Horn in thedark of night without further incident. Goto the next event.

If any PCs want to go elsewhere, chasethe Zhentilar, or split up, let them. Cyricsband continues to harry them until theyevade or defeat it. If they dont go to HighHorn, skip the next event. When the PCssettle down for the night, translate Event5 to their new surroundings.

Event 4: Dinnerat High Horn

High Horn is a mighty, many-toweredcastle perched atop a crag overlookingthe narrowest point in Stormhorn Pass.Frowning gatehouses guard the threewindswept paths that bend and twist upto it.

Alert guardsmen sound long horns asthe party comes within sight of High Horncastle. Over 60 mounted, plate-mailedPurple Dragons emerge from the nearestgatehouse to block the road.

Tharsar rides forward alone to report.He confers with the Swordcaptain ofthe Pass for quite some time. Then hereturns, smiling.

You are to be guests of the LordCommander of High Horn, KaeDeverell, he says. Follow us on up.But draw no weapons, I warn you.Some of the lads tend to loose shafts inhaste, and think on it later.

As the PCs pass through the thick cur-tain wall into the castle proper, the cloud-strewn night skies open up, and a gentlebut chilly autumn rain begins to fall.

Tharsar points across a vast courtyardto an inner tower, a keep surroundedby a moat, which in turn is sur-rounded by a low ring-wall. Leaveyour mounts with the gate guard, hesays, and walk across the drawbridgeto the portal within. The Lord Com-mander awaits your attendance at ta-ble. He grins. I hope you like ale.

Tharsars patrol turns aside to a bar-racks. The party rides straight across thecourtyard to the drawbridge, where sen-tinels armed with pikes await them.

Guards escort the advrenturers into thekeep, guiding them to a high-ceilinged,shield-hung feast hall. There the Lord KaeDeverell, a stout, bearded man, rises fromhis seat, tankard in hand.

Well met, travelers! Im told you wereset upon by Zhentilar this night! Inatonement, I offer the safety of thekeep, and a ready, hot meal! What sayyou?

16

As Lord Deverell speaks, servants carryfresh platters in from the kitchen on theirshoulders: steaming roast goat on rice, inmushroom sauc