Main Story 11: The End/ginning?

**Previous: Session 0.5**

Dust Caravan Lair

* arrive at dust caravan entrance
* cade pike stays out front, and signals to the silver tongues
* silver tongues arrive by portal
* party engages with locked door, either triggers or solves door
* silver tongues engage with party, and offer to protect them from ambush, as well as assist in fight against guards

**Entrance**

The entrance to the dust caravan lair, or the **Vault of Hunger,** is encased within the natural formation of the cave, formed out of a gap between ravines. The ancient surrounding walls are blasted by sand, and yet consume the sound of the whistling winds native to the red desert. Light from the burning sun extends a relatively short distance into the cavern, yet touches upon a massive stone door.

The Cave: Due to its natural formation rather than man-made creation, the Cave of the Caravan was untouched by the magics used to terraform the land around Redwyn, and houses the entirety of the Dust Caravan within its depths. Over time slaves taken by the Caravan have excavated more and more living space from within for the Gnolls, and deep within is the main chamber, the original only chamber of the Cave. The doors used to house this chamber, as well as the walls that encompass it are lined with a thin layer of lead.

Wall art of initial chamber: Here is depicted in assorted paints, most of congealed blood, the creation of the Red Desert that wiped out the grasslands that came before it.

Along the Left wall, from the back to the top of the entrance, then to the back of the Right wall:

1. Grotesquely ugly humanoids drawn in a thin and scrawny fashion, every one of the individuals seems to depict a common humanoid race: A human with rounded ears and obese form carrying loads of gold that scatter about their person, a half-elf crouched behind them loading their pockets with gold, a full elf of fair skin with ears twice the size of their head and nose held high, a halfling with a longsword on its hip drawn to be twice its height, and a half-orc with tusks that pierce into its own eyes.
2. A landscape of grass painted with blood, and scattered along the hills drawn along the horizon: corpses of various animals (bison, elk, hawks) and several muscular drawings of gnolls feasting on them. Blood splatters about the maws of the gnolls and their eyes are all drawn in a brown paint unique to this image (shit).
3. Along the top of the entrance: conglomeration of color, a small circle is drawn in the center, and a thin ring of blood surrounds it like a disk, with every possible color of brown and red the painter could manage forms a speckled canvas about it.
4. To the right along the entrance: the Red Desert is depicted, sand dunes drawn with expert familiarity and the most obvious reference, this image looks nearly real despite the unfamiliar paints and dyes.
5. Two gnolls, one lying on its back, its brown eyes dim as the second gnolls is tearing into its abdomen with its claws, and its snarling maws are covered in blood and bits of fur. Its eyes look outward into the cavern, and have the unsettling quality of following the viewer. Its eyes are bright red.

A Prismatic Wall guards the entrance to the cave: save is DC19 Constitution

* 1. Red. 10d6 fire damage, save or half. Nonmagical ranged attacks can’t pass through the wall.
	+ Destroyed by 25 cold damage.
* 2. Orange. 10d6 acid damage, save or half. Magical ranged attacks can’t pass through the wall.
	+ Destroyed by a strong wind.
* 3. Yellow. 10d6 lightning damage, save or half.
	+ Destroyed by dealing at least 60 force damage to it.
* 4. Green. 10d6 poison damage, save or half.
	+ Destroyed by a passwall spell, or another spell of equal or greater level (5th+) that can open a paortal on a solid surface.
* 5. Blue. 10d6 cold damage, save or half.
	+ Destroyed by 25 fire damage to it.
* 6. Indigo. Save or restrained, save at the end of each of its turns. 3 successes: effect ends. 3 fails: it permanently turns to stone and is subjected to the petrified condition. Spells can’t be cast through the wall.
	+ Destroyed by bright light shed by a daylight spell or similar spell of equal or higher level (3rd+).

* 7. Violet. Con save: blinded on a fail. Start of next turn: Wis save to end blindness, on a fail: creature is transported to the Ethereal plane (is there any way to bring them back? Can’t find anything online) is no longer blinded. This layer is destroyed by dispel magic spell or a similar spell of equal or higher level (3rd+) that can end spells and magical effects.

Arcana:    DC16: the barrier’s first few layers can be broken by dealing damage to it

       DC19: discerns the type of damage required to break a given layer

Perception: DC 13: there is a small seal in the center of the vault door, seemingly out of place on the solid slab of stone. If it's better, they may notice the seal in the above mural.

Beneath the third mural, directly above the stone door, is etched underneath the layers of paint:

"We are forsaken, we are unforgiven, we wont be forgotten" -- in Abyssal script, written in Gnoll.

Within the word unforgiven is a thin, red, circular seal, identical to a seal within the center of the Vault door.

The gnolls enter by saying the word unforgiven, and the prismatic wall is suppressed and the door opens.

If the party attempts to break through the wall for a minute or two: The party hears a sudden crash of stone come from the door, and then it flashes [each of the colors of the layers they haven’t broken through yet in order]. After a moment, the door then splits down the middle and opens outwards, revealing a horde of gnolls behind it.

Encounter: 2 Gnoll Deathknights, 2 Gnoll Berserkers, 5 Gnolls. [**built**]

* Balanced as deadly encounter, but we can adjust based on how the first fight went. Deathknights are CR6, Berserkers CR3, Gnolls insignificant. Should be fine because:
* Shortly into encounter, a squad of Redwyn troops show up:
	+ 2 Guards (assassins) <Mistle: human male old, Snuff: dwarf male middle aged>, 2 Captains (bandit captains) <Ell: wood elf female young, Brody: human middle aged>, 6 Soldiers (bandits) <Mudd halfing, Josh human, Virlar half elf, Farkas half elf, Milly dwarf f, Yolan elf>
	+ Yes, these are Silver Tongues disguised as Redwyn soldiers. One of the Assassins will be the face, claiming to be the captain of this squad.
	+ Redwyn Captain Ell Kava (\*kaa-vuh\*Wood elf female, deep red hair): “We’ve been tracking you from Torvas. Captain Onir said you would need help out here. We were originally tasked with your arrest, but if you help us destroy the Dust Caravan, I’m sure the Wise Fool will be happy to pardon you.” Active/passive insight DC 18.
	+ "We'll take care of these gnolls, you need to get inside and find their leader before they seal off the cave"
	+ Pike will stay outside the cave.

**Dungeon**

After entering the Dust Caravan Cavern, the Redwyn soldiers will attack multiple small groups of Gnolls throughout the halls. Most of the Gnolls throughout the base are unarmed and easily cut down by the soldiers or a member of the party.

The halls are dimly lit, made of roughly hewn sandstone

1st floor:

   Armory: Behind large stone door. Many basic weapons, bows, arrows, shields.

loot: bone coffer with iron hinges, contains a spell scroll of shatter ; potion of force resistance ; potion of hill giant strength ; cloth sash trimmed with lynx fur (50 gp) ; blue brocade gloves threaded with white silk (25 gp) ; loose gold: 800gp

+1 Maul on weapon racks ; +1 rapier on hip of armor dummy ; +1 straight shortsword (Sword of Vengeance) on weapon racks ; +1 quiver of 20 arrows underneath table ;

   Left room: some seating areas, small fire with chairs around it and a chimney shaft above the fire. Connects to another small room with a table and a few chairs, and a stairway going down.

Right room: large room with carvings of Yeenoghu on the walls, many candles throughout the room. Room contains more murals:

first mural: depicts Yeenoghu's layer of the abyss, landscape of barren hills, ravines, and wide savannas, with a centered lake with black speckles scattered within the deep red waters. small hunched beings can be seen in stalking poses, either with bare hands or crude arrows, tracking humanoids of various shape and form, many resembling the humanoids illustrated in the cavern entrance murals

second mural: a wonderously detailed yet still crude depiction of Yeenoghu's lair halls, strewn with iron spikes jutting from the floor, impaling corpses and fresh bodies alike, and the room scattered with remains and feasting gnolls and hyenas. Yeenoghu himself is present in the center of the frame: described as "a gnoll-like creature, 12‒14 ft (3.7‒4.3 m) tall with a grinning skull-like face and a leering pair of burning emerald or amber eyes atop his seemingly emaciated form. A mangy, yellow crest of fur reached from his head to mid-back, with the only hair on his body being small scabby patches. The rest of his body is pale and gray, his leathery hide contrasting with his taut mane and a crest of blackened spines within it. His canine chest was armored with a patchwork of discarded shields and breastplates held together with weighty chains, and decorated with the flayed skin of his enemies. He wielded a three-headed flail in his paws"

third mural: incomplete: resembles an underground cavern, staggeringly resembling the stone color of this one, yet the cavern is expansive and filled with humanoids seemingly chained together, in despair. some work with picks in their hands on mining away at the chamber walls, while some drag carts in drove like pack animals, and one or two, still chained, are being devoured by the gnolls. Something is unpainted in the center of the mural when many of the humanoids seem to be chiseling away at a wall, but recognizable is the form of a three-headed flail embedded into the wall.

Top Right room: just a stairway going down.

Store room: Many barrels of completely dried meat (human and other humanoids), barrels of water, a butchering area (very clean, no blood around), many containers of salt, and many empty barrels.

2nd floor:

   Large hallway: long carved hallway that curves slightly as it goes. All the gnolls are running up the way.

[If the party tries to go that way, some of the gnolls running away activate a trap that a pile of rocks fall onto the path in front of them, blocking the way, as they’re trying to protect most of their population in the living area] **Within the Slave pens:** Falk’s wife and Naran’s mother - Guenevere: Her joint operation with the invasion of Torvas led her to attempt to intercept the piece of the staff of power within the Red Desert and fake her own death to do so.

   Meal Room: reminiscent of a cafeteria. Many stone tables, 2 open doorways opposite the large hallway, one to the large hallway. a corner of the room serves a kitchen, with cutting utensils well scored and poorly cleaned. The kitchen has a large stovetop, a massive slab of sanded stone caked in burnt food. Huge scrapers stand near, with a drain and cart to transport gunk. It is fired by massive bellows, scrap wood and clothes, and is used to cook the ceremonial meals fed to slaves and sacrifices.

   Tunnels on the left side: tight, 5 ft wide/tall tunnels.

   Stair Room: An arc-shaped staircase that goes back up to the first floor, into what looks like a large room, brightly lit with a flickering red light

**Boss Fight:**

   Upon entering, the scene of the center of the circular chamber is foreign, the order of an intricate candle-lit demonic ceremony clashes with the shit-stained decoration of the rest of the cave. Lining the walls are bound men and women, backs against the dark stone walls; the light cast on their figures by the candles highlights their desperation. The candles themselves encircle 3 key figures in the room: a wooden washbasin, stained an eerie red color, a sarcophagus, closed and wooden, with similar stains running down the outside faces, and a hunched figure uncomfortably deformed atop a stool next to the ominous sarcophagus. This creature is not alone, as more of its kind are kneeling in some morbid contemplation about the outside of the circle of candles.

The gnoll crouched by the sarcophagus seems to hold some standing among the gnolls, as it wears an unfamiliar set of brown robes, stained with clumps of fur and blood. It is chanting The Hunter's Chant in Gnoll, while the Flind (massive armored beast) flails itself in self-mutilation.

* Gnoll Shaman [custom statblock, import as digital statblock/KFC], Mummy Lord (MM), Flind (VG),  8 Gnolls (MM), 2 Gnoll Pack Lords (MM), 1 Gnoll Fang of Yeenoghu, 2 Gnoll Deathknights (MaD, statblock at bottom), 1 Gnoll Deathmage (MaD).
	+ I kinda of just want to force the party to have to go all out and use everything they have.
	+ Battle Strategy: The Shaman maims itself with an ornate dagger, and casts Prismatic Wall on its first turn separating the party from the sarcophagus and himself. Enemies attack in waves (not all at once ffs) with one or two rounds of dead time between them. The Mummy Lord watches as the party fights, assuming his powerful minions will defeat them, and only stands to fight them once they’ve all been defeated.
	+ Room Traps: Wisdom (Perception) DC 15 to spot the hidden pressure plate, crushing pillars lie underneath the plates. Save DC 13, 4d10 bludgeoning damage on fail.
		- **Wave 1** (Medium): 4 Gnolls (MM), 2 Gnoll Pack Lords (MM), 2 Gnoll Fang of Yeenoghu
			* Strategy: don’t all die in 2 rounds, try to draw out the fight as long as possible to make the party exhaust spell slots or abilities.
		- **Wave 2** begins turn 3, intiative 20.(Hard): 2 Gnoll Deathknights (MaD), 1 Gnoll Deathmage (MaD)
			* Strategy: Deathmage will stay back as the Deathknights fight, the mage will use saving throw spells on the party members near the knights since they’ll have disadvantage on them. Maybe don’t let the Deathmage use Conjure Fiends cuz adding 1-4 CR2’s with up to 8d8 additional damage could really be a problem.
		- **Wave 3** (Deadly): Mummy Lord (MM), Flind (VG), Gnoll Shaman (homebrew?), possibly more normal gnolls as fodder for the chaos
			* Strategy: Shaman heals and buffs the Mummy Lord while staying as far away from the party as possible (TF2 medic/heavy style).
				+ If gnoll\_shaman about to die
					- Kill self and drop anti-magic field
			* Mummy lord, or **Iss'logaihn Meridi** is a great wood elven commander: was killed by the Dust Caravan, then known as the cult of Yeenoghu. Was backstabbed by a friend, and their soul was bound in servitude of Yeenoghu. They are extremely prideful, not truly believing their soul to possibly be freed, and speak in Old Elvish.
* Hunter's chant: The first gift is hunger. It is His blessing. It is our call to bring death. The second gift is death. Death proves our strength. Death purges our fear. The third gift is fear. We fear that we will fail him. We fear the onset of hunger.

**Post-Boss Fight**

[Loot and magic items found on the bodies and in the room, along with the box with the staff piece]

The party finds a small, long metal box, locked both mundanely (DC 18) and arcanely. Once opened, they see a long piece of wood that’s intricately carved. Any casters in the party can immediately feel the arcane energy emanating from it, even non-casters can feel a powerful energy from its presence. This is the bottom half of the Staff of Power’s shaft. After a moment, they all black out and have a vision (emotionaltrauma.txt, Read to each player individually in private rooms? I think reading them out loud can help get them back into the setting and the threat, and we can help them to get back into RPing their characters by encouraging them to describe the dreams to each other). They wake up a moment later, all lying disoriented on the floor. The box with the Staff Piece is in the hands of Pike, standing over the person who was holding it. There are also many of the other Redwyn soldiers, some with fresh wounds. A few of them will be checking the party members' vitals as they awaken and ask if they're alright. **If they try to do anything (us an action, get up) they will have to pass a con check (or save?) or they will be unable to. If they pass, they will be able to take actions but as if affected by the Slow spell.**

While a few of the soldiers are asking the party what happened, Pike will be casually carrying the box to the Redwyn captain. and says to another soldier (the warlock of the fiend from the Torvas sewers encounter) “This is it.”

Another soldier, a young woman with black hair, walks over to Pike and the Captain with a scroll of parchment in one hand. “Good” she says, and takes the box from her with her free hand, turning to the party. "Thank you for what you've done for Redwyn. We have to get this to the Wise Fool immediately." If any party member rolls a perception or insight (DC 15? idk. Also I include insight just because it's much more likely that they will try to roll insight and I want to give them a possible path to noticing this) they will see Pike's eyes are deep black with a green glint. He says "thanks for all your help" (with a smirk if the party did that previous check). If any of them (Kristy) tries to counterspell, they gotta pass a DC 17 spellcasting check. If successful, the spell fizzles as Pike counter-counterspells it.

There are barrels of water and a good amount of food in the store room and cafeteria area. A lot of the meat seems to be humanoid, but there is some meat from livestock and various vegetables, but they taste really bad because it was meant for slaves and sacrifices.

**Leaving the Dust Caravan**

When they exit the cave, they can see a large force of Redwyn troops a long ways down the canyon path on the right. They can choose to meet the troops or flee.

* Meet: Captain of the squad says "halt, who goes there" yadda yadda. They say they were one of a few Redwyn squads who were tracking a group of Silvertongues who they believed to be searching for the Dust Caravan hideout, and figured it was a good opportunity to try and end the threat for themselves. They also pretty easily recognize the party as the group of wanted criminals who attacked a scouting party near Torvas.
	+ After hearing that the party killed the Mummy Lord and seeing the hostages that they saved, they tell the party that they would tell the Wise Fool of their deeds and that it would be best for them to see him in person because he would probably be willing to pardon them if they told him the story themselves.
* Flee: The Redwyn troops will send a group of their fastest warriors (magically enhanced with haste or some such) to give chase. Depending on the party's speed, they will almost certainly be caught and a similar situation to above will happen.

If the party goes with them to Redwyn, we can basically skip a week or so of uneventful desert travel straight to a talk with the Wise Fool. If they decide to not do that, they can just go wherever they want I guess. About a week after this, they will no longer be wanted in Redwyn territories, but will get dirty looks from the citizens and guards in Torvas.

Misc Encounters/ Places

**Happensdale:**

A small hamlet of humans, vehemently superstitious people and staunch worshippers of Pelor. The plead the adventurers for help and wisdom for their poor folk, as one has come down with a horrible curse sent by demons.

The place is a self-sufficient hovel that farms to trade for their safety from the “demons” (the gnolls of the dust caravan) and why they won’t leave is:

“‘ell see if we knew that the demons owned this land, we’d have left long ago. And we did try! Some of our young packed up ‘n left in the night, we sent em packin’ see.. But the demons ‘ey.. They found em.. Quick. Brought em back, at least ‘er bones to bury. They respect our rites well’nuff. Demons they are.

Patient Zero is an elderly man known as Therub: The village’s doctor/pharmacist. He is not cursed, he is diseased. His muscles spasm to the touch and his skin is tightly wound around buboes along his spine. He speaks very rarely and often in a faltering tone. If he is treated with a spell that cures the condition Stunned, then he will be able to speak for about an hour before the pressure on his spine builds once more. If treated with a healing potion boiled from hyacinth, then his disease will be cured (a cure disease spell will not work); both him and most pharmacists know the recipe to this potion if the condition is explained well enough: swelling or buboes around the back (spine), twitching of muscles. This disease is known as Nerve-Rot, and can be contracted by consumption of certain creatures’ blood: flinds and gnolls.

If prodded and given sufficient reason to tell the party:

“Well yes.. That would make sense. I found a body you see, one of the.. Ehm.. Demons. I did some tests on the blood of the corpse, tried to find an allergy, or even a toxin that I could put in their foods without harming us, as they take the food from our stockpiles directly.. I don’t know how closely they watch us either, so I didn’t want to take any risks in involving others. That backfired pretty badly when I went to pull a bit of blood and I uh.. Some got in my mouth.”

If the party saves the man, he will teach the party the recipe to create healing potions (Without need for proficiency in a herbalism kit) for their cost in Xanathars: a day and 25 golds {Maybe something like a base of oil, crushed hyacinth nectar and shavings of troll skin or wild sageroot (yeah i have no clue what it is either)

Bro super good idea uhh someone simulacrum voltuun and he fight himself