Introduction
Backgroud
Milaf’s Port is an old fishing and mining port. Once a large city, over the last 200 years it has slowly degraded and shrunk as the slowly mines dried up and the fishing waned. Many of the buildings are crumbling, old and some hold dark secrets.
Before the fall of Milaf’s Port a secret cult had its grip on the town,The Cult of the Obsidian Maw. The cult worshiped the fallen necromancer Warlord Torias Maw. Their belief was that he would return from the grave and bestow upon them eternal life. The cult died out over 100 years ago, but recently a new sect of the cult has been forming and has begun efforts to restore Torias Maw back to this realm.
Files
The below link contains a zip file with the following files:
- Colour map
- Black and white map
- Journal files
Milaf’s Port
Entering Town
As they exit the ship the players notice the old decaying stench and building barely standing, some collapsed. The closer to the centre of town the buildings look to be in better condition, however it is clear that this place has seen better days.
Notable People
Gila: A human cultist and leader of the the cultists in this town. The other cultists are Granz and Alkahn.
E’lar Elmswood: A half elf woman whose husband, Tobar, has gone missing. Unbeknownst to her he has been sacrificed in one of the cults experiments
Hallet Waneside: The owner of the local inn, The Masthead. A dwarf who originally came here in hopes of running a mine before realising they are all barren. Hallet stays out of the west side of town, though tough he has heard strange noises when walking through there.
Timud Feldgrain: The owner of the small shop, Felds Gainary. An old gnome that has lived in Milaf’s Port all his life. He remembers odd rituals performed at night by some members of the town back when he was a child. May remember seeing people enter the old church undercroft wearing strange robes 300 years ago.
Metus: The human Mayor. Overly concerned with restoring Milaf’s Port, Metus is attempting to hide evidence of murders and missing people.
Scenes
Below are some scenes the players may stumble upon
E’lar’s Wail
Player’s entering the town hall encounter E’lar pleading with Metus to have the town guards search for her husband. Players who talk to E’lar are told about her missing husband and asked to help. E’lar will tell them that Tobar was wearing a necklace with a silver circle pendant bearing her name.
Read aloud:
The town hall appears to be in the best condition off all the building you have seen. As you walk through the ornate wooden doors you notice alot of effort has been put into restoring the old building. you can see evidence of work being done though ther are no tradesman working at them moment.
You hear a woman in distress in an office in the back, as you get closer you hear her pleading with someone to help her.“Please Metus, Tobar has been gone for 2 days. He never disappears like this, you must have the guards search for him” The woman pleads.
“E’lar i’m sure Tobar is safe, he has probably gone hunting. Milaf’s Port is a safe town, I’m sure he will return” The man responds
Deformed Body
While searching the west side of town the players can find a deformed creature. Players who linger too long may be noticed by the guards who will try to cover the incident up.
Read aloud:
You stumble across a large dead creature. It has some green rotting skin, though it is mostly showing bare muscle. Its back legs are twisted, and it has overly long arms with claws.
A successful DC15 investigation check shows a trail of blood leading to nearby sewer drain. (If players enter the sewer, have them walk for a while before finding an exit near the old church).
A successful DC15 medicine check shoes that this creature was once human, and though the body is warm, it looks and smells to be long dead.
A pool of blood
Not far from the Masthead, leading towards the west side of town is an alleyway. Players walking through the alleyway find evidence of a struggle, blood, some cloth, and a necklace with the name E’lar engraved on a silver circle.
The old church
The culmination of this adventure is the dungeon in the undercroft of the old church.
Undercroft:
- Entrance
- Storage
- Embalming Room
- Main Hallway
- Side Hallways
- Tomb 1
- Tomb 2
- Tomb 3 (Royal Tomb)
Cultist Temple:
- Tunnel 1
- Disposal Room
- Preparation Room
- Sleeping Quarters
- Temple
- Storage room 2
- Tunnel to sewers
The Undercroft
1 - Entrance: A small room with torches lining the 4 stone walls. There is a door on each wall leading to another room, West: Storage Room, North: Hallways, East: Embalming room. 2 bench seats on the north wall. Etched in the north wall is a small symbol depicting the moon on fire. This symbol is the symbol for the Obsidian Maw. Players who pass a 13 history check believe that Lord Torias Maw was a local warlord around 500 years ago.
2 - Storage: Small room filled with boxes, and linens. Nothing of worth in boxes.
3 - Embalming Room: Wooden table in middle of room covered in old dried blood and cut marks. Cabinet on north wall full of chemicals. Several broken phials of liquid on the floor.
LOOT: 2x unlabeled phials in the cabinet. Roll d6 to determine effect if drunk.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing | Blinded 10 mins | Potion of Hill Giant Strength | 1d4 poison damage | Nothing | Health potion |
4 - Main Hallway: 15 foot wide stone hallway lined with extinguished candles and torches.
5 - Side Hallways (left): Murals on walls. Inscriptions say “The lone conqueror bathed in
blood.” and “3 jealous lords bow to their master”. Enemies = 2x Zombies.
5 - Side Hallways (right): Murals on walls. Inscriptions say “3 golden crowns melted into 1”
and “Two white priests bless the new king”. Enemies = 1x Skeleton, 1x unarmoured, armed Skeleton.
6 - Tomb 1 (left): Crescent shaped room, walls lined with coffins of dead priests and other members of the church. 6 bodies / coffins per wall. Enemies = 2x unarmed, unarmoured skeletons, 1x zombie.
LOOT: Nothing of value found in coffins, 1 skeleton has key to Tomb 3, zombie has a religious symbol (5gp).
7 - Tomb 2 (right): Crescent shaped room, walls lined with coffins of warriors and notable people of the community (Politicians, Businessmen, etc). Enemies =2x Skeleton, 1x Zombie.
LOOT = 20gp, 150sp, 100cp, 4x gems (10gp), 3x art (25gp).
8 - Tomb 3 (Royal Tomb): Hexagonal room reserved for minor royalty, small puddle of blood fresh and a small piece of black fabric. Enemies = 1x Skeleton, 2x unarmoured, armed Skeleton.
LOOT = 150gp, 200sp, 10x gems (15gp), 5x art (25gp). If players loot this room the church will find out and guards will be sent to reclaim goods. No legitimate merchant will buy these.
Puzzle: one old rusty coffin has 5x gems (emerald, amethyst, ruby, topaz, diamond) set in top (correct order = ruby, diamond, emerald, topaz. opens secret door).
Cultist Temple
9 - Tunnel 1: Dark, ornate stone hallway, old torches adorn the walls leading toward 2 large stone walls with religious iconography
10 - Disposal room: freshly dug crawl-way blood, flesh, and bone cover the walls. In the room is a mound of pulsating flesh, bone and bodies.
11 - Preparation room: old wooden table in middle of room covered in blood and arcane implements. a dead cultist wearing damaged black robe is lying on the floor looks to have been gravely wounded by undead.
12 - Sleeping quarters: Makeshift sleeping quarters for 4. On a makeshift desk players find a journal.
Day 8: Another day, another failure
Day 12: Success, we have managed to resurrect a skeleton, it has no brain but it is a start.
Day 14: Progress has been swift, we can now grow flesh on these skeletons using fresh bodies. I can only hope that Seral’s team has managed to solve the soul bonding issue.
Day 17: Granz has gone to Burthan Hole with a copy of our notes, they should help Seral in her endeavors. In a stroke of luck Alkahn has donated his flesh for our tests. We will not need to hunt for flesh for a few days.
13 - Temple: Ancient well lit temple hall with a stone alter on the north end. 2 cultists performing an unknown ritual. Enemies = 2x Cultists, 1x Failed Experiment (Use Ghoul Statblock)
If players watch and do not inturrupt the cultists ritual, after 2d10 seconds the cultists awaken another failed experiment.
If players are finding this battle to easy, the writing flesh creature from the Disposal room slowly crawls into the Temple. Use Ogre Zombie
14 - Storage room 2: Old tattered robes and vestments, books and scrolls that turn to dust when picked up.
LOOT - DC 15 perception check finds a Scroll of Lightning still intact.
15 - Tunnel to Sewers: recently dug tunnel leading to the sewers, If you have set this in a small town then the tunnel can simply lead outside town or to an old house.
Enemies
Skeleton (Unarmored)
MONSTER STATS
| AC | HP | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 13 | 20 |
| Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Cha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 14 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
STATUS EFFECTS
| DMG Vulnerability: Bludgeon | DMG Immunity: Poison |
|---|---|
| Con Immunity: Exhaustion, Poison | Sense: Darkvision |
ACTIONS
| Monster Type | Action Details |
|---|---|
| (All) | Bash - d20+4 , reach 5ft. DMG: 2 (1d4) bludgeoning. |
| (Armed) | Dagger - d20+4, reach 5 ft. DMG: 2 (1d4) slashing. |