Pool_of_Radiance_-_Attack_on_Myth_Drannor.pdf

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Pool of Radiance, Attack on Myth Drannor
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Table of Contents
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Chapter 1:
Cultists in Action
“And naught would be left save shattered thrones with no rulers. But the dead dragons shall rule the
world entire, and . . .”
—from the Chronicle of Years to Come , a book of prophecy by the oracle Maglas,
as translated by Sammaster the Mad, founder of the Cult of the Dragon
P
ool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor is a D UNGEONS & D RAGONS ®
adventure suitable for a party of four average D&D ® characters who begin
the adventure at or near 6th level. It is recommended that at least one of
the player characters have some clerical ability and at least one have
access to arcane spells. The adventure can be adjusted for play with very
large, very small, higher level, or lower-level groups.
D UNGEON M ASTER ’s Guide, and the Monster Manual to use this adventure. Famil-
iarity with the F ORGOTTEN R EALMS ® campaign setting is recommended but not essential.
The F ORGOTTEN R EALMS sourcebook Cult of the Dragon (#9547) provides additional back-
ground information and motivation for the main villains in this adventure but is not nec-
essary, as details on the Cult are summarized in the sidebar at the end of this chapter.
Text that appears in shaded boxes is player information, which you can read aloud or
paraphrase to players when appropriate. Unshaded boxes contain important background
information for the DM. Monster and NPC statistics are provided with each encounter in
abbreviated form, and full statistics appear in Appendix 5: Creature Statistics. Write-ups
for new monsters (those not listed in the Monster Manual ) are provided in Appendix 4:
New Monsters .
Individual encounters possess an overall rating called the encounter level (EL). The
encounter level is a a tool for the DM to calculate total experience points for each encounter
and as a point of information to the DM, allowing him or her to gauge the strength of any
particular encounter at a glance.
city of Myth Drannor. The Cultists’ knowledge of dark arts allowed them to corrupt
the pool, and it now reaches out to other pools across Toril, draining their life to feed
itself. The Cult plans to immerse Pelendralaar, one of its allied dracoliches, in the cor-
rupted pool, giving it incredible powers to be used on the Cult’s behalf. Through explo-
rations of nearby parts of Myth Drannor, the heroes discover tools and clues about the
Cult’s purposes here and have the opportunity to thwart the Cult’s grand plans for the cor-
rupted pool.
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Preparation
Y ou, the Dungeon Master (DM), should have a copy of the Player’s Handbook , the
Adventure Background
T he Cult of the Dragon found a pool of radiance that recently formed in the fallen
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Adventure Synopsis
The heroes become involved when they track several dis-
appearances to a small cell of Cult of the Dragon members
that has apparently taken to capturing villagers as slaves.
The Cult hideout contains an old gate, which the Cultists
use to escape the heroes if they are outmatched. The gate
leads to a location near a cemetery outside of Myth Dran-
nor, which the Cult has secured and is using as a base of
operations.
The Cult is digging extensively in that area, searching
for magic items to feed to the corrupted pool in the hope
of transferring those powers to the dragon, as well as keys
to unlock other parts of the ruins. The heroes attack the
Cult stronghold in that area and discover the Cult’s real
reason behind the recent slaving—they need workers to
help them ransack the crypts in the cemetery. Once the
heroes have learned more about the Cult’s plans, they
investigate some crypts of their own to prevent the Cult
from acquiring key items. One of these items will allow
them to strike at the center of the Cult’s power under
Castle Cormanthor, severely crippling the Cult’s plans for
its dracolich ally.
Note that there are a number of encounters in which
Cultists could escape the PCs and regroup. They might
then return to the scene and descend in force if the PCs are
still present. Larger groups mean higher Encounter
Levels—perhaps more than a 6th-level party can handle.
The characters should be aware that they are in enemy ter-
ritory, and tread carefully.
townsfolk decide to solicit the help of people who might
have more experience dealing with this sort of thing—a
band of adventurers. While the town doesn’t have much
money to offer the PCs (50 gp, 75 sp, and a 100 gp
amethyst), the local temple of Chauntea is willing to add
two potions of cure moderate wounds to the reward. If this
is not sufficient, an old retired adventurer named Fitsyll
is willing to throw in her +2 shortspear for the safe return
of the missing townsfolk (or proof that the source of the
disappearances has been neutralized).
Should the heroes accept this quest, the town leaders
explain that they believe it is nothing more than a group
of bandits and they expect to receive a ransom note very
soon, but pressure from one of the vanished people’s rel-
atives convinced them to try a more active course. They
direct the heroes to the north of town, as that was the
last place that most of the missing people were headed or
seen. If the heroes question the town officials about pos-
sible hiding places for the bandits, they mention an old
ruin a few miles northwest of town. However, the ruin
has been leveled for over two generations, and most of its
stones have been taken for use in other buildings, leav-
ing only a few spots where the original walls were
located. The officials guess that the bandits have set up
a camp somewhere in a grove of trees or a depression to
the north.
The missing commoners include Tren (the homely but
strong son of a farmer), Wenta (the large but friendly
daughter of the local brewer), Jorsh (the charismatic elder
son of a cattle rancher), and Ristim (the nephew, carrying
mail).
If the heroes explore north of the town, Search checks
(roll once per hour) may reveal some clues: several sets of
heavy bootprints intermixed with some common shoes
(DC 15), a well-made but broken arrow (DC 15), and some
three-day old bloodstains (DC 20). All three clues are
within 100 yards of each other. Anyone who can track can
try to follow the bootprints back to their source (DC 15).
Otherwise, a Search check (DC 20) lets a character realize
that the tracks lead vaguely northwest before quickly
becoming too obscure to follow. The tracks lead to the
ruin, which is 3 miles away. Following them requires two
more tracking checks (DC 15 and DC 13), as other trails
start to converge with the one being followed, all leading
in the direction of the ruin.
There is a 25% chance that the heroes pass near (within
200 feet) some of the Cultists responsible for the disap-
pearances. This group is trying to move without being spot-
ted, but it is not attempting to avoid making undue
Character Hooks
The heroes can become involved in the beginning of this
adventure in one of the ways described below. Each hook is
an easy way to bring the characters to the Cult hideout and
through the gate to the outskirts of Myth Drannor. Of
course, you can always use a hook that is more appropriate
for your campaign or your group’s player characters. These
adventure hooks can take place in any part of Faerûn, since
the heroes will be magically transported to their next des-
tination.
Investigators
Disappearances of four townsfolk over the past five days
have convinced the authorities that something strange is
afoot. The villagers went out to hunt, or collect roots, or
catch stray animals, or to carry news to another town, but
none of them returned. As one of the missing people is the
nephew of someone important to the community (a promi-
nent merchant, official, priest, or retired adventurer), the
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amounts of noise (the Cultists are not talking, but they are
not trying to Move Silently). As they are moving at normal
speed, they have a –4 penalty to their Hide checks. Once
their Hide result is rolled, use that number as the DC for
the heroes’ Spot checks (or have them make a Listen roll
at DC 20). Have the Cultists make Spot checks (DC 15
unless the heroes are hiding) or Listen checks (DC 20
unless the heroes are moving silently).
Depending upon the appearance, armament, and appar-
ent competence of the characters, the Cultists try to
remain unobserved, flee, or pretend to be a group of mer-
cenaries from anothe r nearby town looking for some miss-
ing people. Depending upon the reactions of the PCs, this
encounter may turn into an ambush by the Cultists (see the
“Bushwhacked” hook below) or they may express a willing-
ness to join up in order to capture the heroes when they
aren’t expecting it (see the “Deceptive Employer” hook
below). Regardless of the outcome of a possible encounter
with the roving Cultists, the heroes probably proceed to
the ruin, as the missing commoners aren’t with the rovers.
If the heroes defeat the Cultists, they can easily follow the
fresh trail (DC 10) back to the ruin.
When the heroes reach the ruin, go to the “Cult Hide-
out” section below.
wizard, who appears strangely gaunt and old for his youth-
ful voice (which he attributes to the results of a witch’s
curse), asserts that the ruin is the site of a wizard’s tower
that was destroyed in a dragon’s attack nearly fifty years
ago. Handragath has a claim on the contents of the tower,
as the wizard who built it was his father’s uncle, who pur-
chased the land from a local lord in need of currency. The
wizard is unconcerned with most of the treasures of the
ruined tower (his great-uncle, Darnarest the Bladesmith,
concerned himself with creating magic weapons, in which
Handragath has no interest) but would like to reclaim his
relative’s spellbook if possible.
He pays the heroes one 100-gp pearl each in advance
and promises ten times that amount when they return
with his great-uncle’s spellbook; they can also keep any-
thing else they want from the ruin, which ought to
include several fine blades (some of which may be magi-
cal). He would consider searching for it himself but in his
current condition he lacks the energy to do so, preferring
a quiet life of study. He describes the book as being about
a foot square, 3 inches thick, and bound in steel plates
with gold inlay on the cover. He does not know what sort
of traps or guardians his great-uncle may have placed in
the bowels of the tower, but they probably involve magi-
cal or animated weapons. Darnarest was fond of such
things. If they agree to the task, he presents them with a
detailed map leading to the ruin.
Most of the story is hogwash. Handragath works for
the Cult of the Dragon. His appearance is due to an alter
self spell, and he is setting up the heroes to be attacked
by the other Cultists residing in the ruin, which has been
partially excavated and is now being used as a base of
operations by the Cult. (The tower was once the home of
Darnarest the Bladesmith, that much is true.) There are
many potential reasons why the Cult has singled out the
heroes—to avenge an old slight, to acquire an item the
PCs own, or because they looked gullible and were in the
right place at the right time. The map indicates that the
ruin is about three days away, nestled in a flat space in a
nearby set of hills or mountains. Should the heroes
pursue this enterprise, the Cultists are prepared for their
eventual arrival and somewhat familiar with their equip-
ment and abilities (based on what Handragath can
observe during their meeting). If he feels especially cau-
tious, the wizard may try to soften up the heroes (or cap-
ture them outright) with the scouting group described in
the “Bushwhacked” hook. Otherwise, proceed to the
“Cult Hideout” section.
Absent Friends
Similar to the “Investigators” hook, in this scenario the
heroes need to speak with an NPC known to them, prefer-
ably one with whom they have a friendly rapport. Unfortu-
nately, the NPC has gone missing and nobody knows
where he or she is. Inquiries reveal that the PC’s friend had
planned to be out of town for a few days and failed to return
on the expected date.
The characters can look into the matter and find that
the NPC needed to take care of a few business dealings in
a nearby city or town, but never showed up. Searching the
road on the way to the destination city reveals the same
sort of clues on the sides of the road (although the boot-
prints and the broken arrow aren’t entirely out of the ordi-
nary along a roadway). They can attempt to track the trail
of bootprints away from the road (DC 15). If they get stuck
or lost, having them ambushed (as in the “Bushwhacked”
scenario) can help realign them or give them some prod-
ding in the right direction, allowing them to eventually
reach the Cult hideout.
Deceptive Employer
In this scenario, the wizard Handragath commissions the
heroes to investigate an old, nearly flattened ruin. The
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