Crypt's of the Dark Ones is intended for five to eight characters of combined mercenary and adventurer level.

The adventure proper will take from 20 - 30 hours of gaming time and the characters will have to ply problem solving skills. This is not a "hold the party's hand as we go through the dungeon" adventure. It will take all the skills that the characters have and all the intelligence also to complete it.

All statistics for the encounters will be listed in the pages of the module. If any other statistic is needed the GM shall generate it appropriately for the strength of the characters participating in the adventure.

A short time after your previous outing a group of armed guards quietly asks you to accompany them to an unknown location. This location turns out to be the home of a noble of the city of Arabel.

At the home you meet the lord sitting in his study. He looks as if he had been shedding tears recently but his voice is strong as he speaks to you.

"Brave mercenaries." he intones, " I have word of your deeds from my cousin in your own hometown and your resourcefulness in rescuing your captured loved ones."

He continues in a lower, much sadder tone. "Alas for myself, one of mine did not survive." He almost chokes on his emotions at this last statement.

"A week ago, to the night, a creature entered my home and stole my daughter." He pauses, the lines of worry etch his face.

He continues, "but my wife was slain."

A man standing next to the noble places his hand on his shoulder, comforting him. The noble looks up, his eyes glaring with hate. "I need you to go find her, my daughter Yeshmela. I will pay well, 500 silver each." He waits for your response.

"As a gesture of good faith I will pay 250 silver now and the rest when you return, even if she is slain and my brother will accompany you, his name is Bry'th Rhynar."

He continues, "This is the only clue we have." He produces a vial of green ichor that has the stench of death about it. "This was gathered at the site of my wife's death. She put up a valiant fight to save out daughter and she slid this into the foul creature." He then produces a silvered dagger.

"I don't know where you are to start but I know you are a resourceful group, I wish you god's speed." With that his guards usher you out of the house. Bry'th tells you to meet him at the Buxom Wench Inn in an hour.

An evil mage discovered the location of a lost crypt of the dark elves that was constructed before they were forced underground. Guarding this ancient burial site is a magical key that whoever touches it who does not have the royal blood of the dark elven royal family will wither and die.

This key is an altar/shrine at the entrance of the Crypt, the person of royal heritage has to recite the incantation to open the door to the inner chambers.

All traces of the royal dark elven family were thought to have perished during the wars that drove the dark people to the gloomy darkness.

The dark lord had many concubines and other conquests but they were the lovely women of his court. Once, he went out in disguise into the elven city of Myth Drannor and met a human female and he seduced her. He left her without a second thought and returned to his realm.

Unknown to him the woman conceived and had a child. She hid his true heritage from him and he lived amongst the elves of Myth Drannor.

Many ages have passed and the evil adept discovered the secret to the key of the crypt. Through his dark allies from the abyss he located a noble family in the city of Arabel whose wife and daughter through his wife have the blood, however small, of the dark lord of the elves of long ago. The mage immediately sent a winged creature of darkness to fetch one of the women, it slew the wife and swept away the daughter to help him uncover the secrets of the crypt.

The mage charmed the damsel and she now will not betray him. He plans to sacrifice her to his dark servants after his quest is ended.

As the characters finish their training in Arabel they are summoned by the noble to his estate. He proposes a rescue mission to retrieve his daughter. He has no clues except a sample of blood taken from his bed chambers where is wife was slain. It is a ghastly green ichor that has the stench of death about it. He will pay the adventurers well for this, half now and half later.

The nobles brother Bry'th Rhynar will accompany they characters on the quest. He is a healer of some repute and will help the party during the adventure.

The adventurers have to deduce that fact that the thing was summoned from another plane and find out who could do this. A trip the mage's guild will help them with this point. Then from the suggestions of the mages from the guild they should visit the various mages and find out who could have done this.

One of the adepts will turn out to be the evil magic user's old apprentice. He will not willingly divulge the location of his former master's lair, but may be persuaded with money or force. It is more likely that he will tell the characters the way to the tower but give wrong directions in the forest. Taking the characters to the haunted cairn that lies a few miles from his former master's tower.

The evil worker of black arts lairs in a decrepit wood near the kingdom of Cormyr. The wood is dangerous, with many creatures of shadow living there. Near his tower is also a cairn which contains the remains of an ancient group of humans who used to populate this area. This area is very dangerous.

After the characters find out who did it they will have to go to his tower. It is a dark and evil place in the middle of a forest. The characters will not find the mage here, only clues to where the crypt of the dark ones is. The characters will have to defeat the guards of the tower.

The Crypt's of the Dark Ones is located in the area north of Waterdeep deep in one of the many gloomy woodlands that exist there. It is here where the characters will meet the mage.

At the crypt the mage will have entered the chambers of sleeping horrors (area 5) and the characters will find him in one of them (there are three). The inner chambers of reeking doom await the characters beyond the secret doors. It is these chambers that the mage is looking for. This chamber contains the remains of the most powerful of the ancient elven lords.

The dark adept will use his power to animate the remains in the area he is in to defend himself as he searches for the secret door to the chamber of reeking doom.

The mage will find the secret door but will meet his doom in one of the traps along the hall. The noble's daughter will be unharmed and the charm will dissipate as soon as the mage is dead.

After the characters defeat the mage they may enter the chambers of reeking doom or return the nobles daughter right away. Bry'th will suggest the latter course of action.

Following is the description of each encounter area. Also included is a description of each NPC the character will meet.

Bry'th is a noble by birth but he does not flaunt it amongst the lower classes of society. He has a pleasant demeanor and will help the quest to his death if necessary. He is of adventurer level and has long experience at adventuring.

He has a horse and mule with 4 weeks food and other adventuring gear. He is also a member of ensorcelments and enchantment's, he has rank 4 with his general knowledge but no special knowledge spells.

This man is exceedingly evil and will not hesitate to kill for pleasure. He is a member of the college of necromantic conjurations and also has the services of the tome of dark summoning, a magical device with the ability to cast a summoning spell to summon a creature of shadow from the neither regions. The adept supplies the fatigue to power the spell. This tome resides in his tower and the characters should try to destroy it. The mages statistics are:

He has rank 8 in all General Knowledge spells and Rank 6 in all Special Knowledge spells.

The mage wears robes of power that will give +15% to defense and stop 4 DP as leather armor they also store 10 fatigue points for the adept to use at will. He also carries a truesilver dagger that is +5% due to special construction.

This man is a miniature version of the master. Physical stats the same and the mental stats reduced by 3. His perception is only 15. He has no magical items on him and his spells are reduced by 4 ranks (i.e. rank 4 general and rank 2 special). He does not know S11 - S14 and any of the special knowledge rituals.

This creature is summoned via the magical tome in the cellar of the evil mage. Currently there are two creatures about. One is on the roof of the mages tower awaiting his return or summons and another is in a cell in the cellar of the mages tower. This one did not like being summoned and the mage imprisoned it there.

The creatures are man sized, with wings and talons. If looked at it appears to be all shadow, no light will show it's true form, even magical light. All that can be seen from it are it's eyes.

The creature is intelligent and will not attack without cause (and a certainty of winning). It will use it's wiles to get out of trouble and usually will kill the persons responsible if given the chance ( and the probability of success ). It's stats are as follows:

The shadow demon can attack with it's claws (base chance 60%) twice in a pulse DM +6. It will sometimes use large two handed weapons at maximum rank. It will never wear armor.

The creature will sometimes be a member of the college of necromantic conjurations (40%). If so the shadow demon will have rank 10 in all spells.

The adventure starts as soon as the characters leave the noble's estate with the vial of green ichor. The characters should meet Bry'th at the inn at the specified time, if they do not, he will inform the authorities of the breach of verbal contract and have them incarcerated. He will drop the charges after although, Bry'th just wants the show the characters that this is a serious issue.

The preferred path to the completion of the adventure is as thus:

1) A trip to the Guild Magus

The adventure will follow the headings listed. It is possible that the characters do not take this path. As long as they trek towards the final goal of the rescue it is OK. Just go along and have Bry'th nudge the characters along if need be.

The characters will discuss what to do and a trip to the local mage's guild should be the clear choice to find a mage or a sage to tell them what the green ichor is.

There will be a fee and Bry'th will pay it. The characters will be ushered into the guild and placed in a pleasant room with books and plush chairs, a hearth and other things of comfort.

A sage named Obereth will enter the room and when told the story and shown the ichor he will tell the characters that is comes from a creature from the neither realms and only a few in the land can summon them.

He will tell you that he does not know of who can summon the dark creature but will give three names of adepts in the city who may know. The three are Ghorbex, Hyrocalar and Xanderes.

Ghorbex lives in a manor in the wealthy quarter. He will grudgingly see the characters but will be abrupt and rude saying that the characters are interrupting valuable research time.

Hyrocalar has a tower in the merchant quarter. He will accept the characters openly but will skirt around any subject the characters bring up.

Xanderes is a mage in the court of the governor of Arabel. He will let his apprentice make the characters an appointment which he will break and make the characters return the next day. He will tell the characters about the risks of summoning and calling up creatures from the neither realms.

All of the mages will tell little but they will all say that a decrepit adept called Zorgath who lairs out on the outskirts of the city may know of someone who may be able to summon the dark entity.

Zorgath is the evil adept's old apprentice.

Zorgath is a small man, sharp of wit but low of morals. He speaks with a quiet, hiss speech.

He will welcome the characters and will listen quietly to the story. Slowly he will speak.

"I know of one who may be the dark and evil mage of whom you suspect. He is a man of twisted values and great ambition. He lairs out in the wood to the east of Arabel, some 200 leagues away."

The man stops and with a slight grin says, "if you take the east way, it will run through the wood. When you pass the wood there will be a seldom travel path to the north, skirting the border of the forest. Take this road."

A gleam is in his eye as he speaks, "About 10 leagues later there is an overgrown path into the wood. The one that I speak of does not use the walking ways of men. This road is overgrown with trees and underbrush, take this way for a couple of miles. Then you should see his tower on a hillock in the distance. Continue down the path and after a mile or so there is a branch in the road. Take the left way for the other leads to certain death. In a few more miles you will find the tower. Now you must go from me, I have studies to conclude."

With that he opens his door for the characters to leave.

Zorgath is still loyal to his former master and has told the characters the wrong way to the tower. He has lead them into an area of burial cairns of an ancient mannish race so evil that they were exterminated by the powers of light.

This journey will not be dangerous until the characters enter the wood on the overgrown path. Movement will be slowed down to 5 miles a day maximum. Slower if horses and mules are brought along because they are larger and the trees and brush have grown onto the path.

Danger level is high, with a 50 % chance every 3 hours of an encounter, mainly with wolves although there is a chance for dire wolves also.

About half way into the wood the characters will crest on a hillock and they will see the tower in the distance. It is a stark and gloomy looking land.

The characters should travel down the path to the fork in the road. It is almost not noticeable in the overgrowth. The characters should take the left path as Zorgath said but if they don't it is OK. To the left are the cairns.

After the encounter at the cairns the characters should backtrack to the fork in the path and take it. There will be no other encounters until the tower after this.

At the end of the left path are the cairns of chaos. They are a burial area of an ancient evil race and they who are buried here seek the blood of the living.

The dense foliage along the path takes one minute (12 pulses) to hack through.

After the characters enter the area for 5 minutes, the characters will hear the sound of rocks falling to the ground. These are the rocks of the cairns falling as the undead dig their way out to kill the characters.

It will take 5 pulses for the undead to escape their graves. The undead are skeletons but they are stronger than the regular skeletons (2 x stats).

There are 10 of them and they are wearing armor (chain) and carry weapons (whatever is on the miniature used). They have rank with their weapons (rank 5).

Weapons: They also have daggers. Two of the weapons are special, one is silvered and the other is magical, +1 to damage. One has armor that is +5% to defense and one has a ring that is +5% to defense.

The skeletons will attack without stopping. In the cairns there is treasure, about d5 x 100 silver pennies worth in each. This takes the form of money, gems and jewelry.

The mage is not in his tower and he does not expect anyone to brave the woods to rob him. The only creatures in the tower are the two shadow demons.

The characters will find clues to the location of the Crypts of the Dark Ones in the mages lower lab and in his study.

The tower itself is a dark and brooding structure. There are windows every 10 feet along the circumference of the tower on each level. The windows are shuttered from the inside and they are barred with magical energy. They cannot be dispelled by a counter spell. The only way into the tower is through the roof which is about 50' above the ground and also one of the shadow demons is there or through the front door.

Following is an area key for the tower. The scale for the tower is 1 square = 5'.

The cellar of the tower is one of the mages laboratories and also the main summoning area.

The landing of the stairway is warded with a Fire and Brimstone Spell of permanent duration. Only the mage or his minions may pass without harm. The trap may be dispelled with a counter spell of Necromantic Conjurations. The level of the ward and spell is 12.

If the bottom step is examined will show to have runes upon it and if detected for it will show up magical.

This cell is built from alloys from the plane of the abyss and it will hold all creatures from the neither realms powerless. There is currently a rebellious Shadow Demon here.

The demon will try to convince the characters to let it go using a soothing voice and claiming to be a helpless traveler captured by the mage for black experiments.

The demon, if released will tell the characters that their time is near and will fly up the stairs and out of the tower to search out the mage and kill him.

If the characters release the demon, this will be the way that the mage meets his doom.

It is here where the mage summons his demon allies via the Tome of Dark Summons. There is a pentacle drawn in blood upon the floor and also a protection circle. The tome rests in the circle upon a stand.

The tome has a permanent summoning ritual upon it and whosoever studies the tome will be able to use it to summon Shadow Demons and to bind them. Base chance is 20% + 1 for each point of MA above 15 and +1 to bind for each point of WP above 15.

The adept may learn the tome as a ritual, but may only cast it from the tome. The XP modifier is 500.

This door is locked with a rank 4 lock. It is not trapped but upon the door is runic writing, predominately displayed. This is to give the effect of being magically trapped.

The door is of iron bound oak.

This area has several shelves along the walls. Upon these shelves there are jars vials of magical preparations. If sold to the right person the contents of this room would be worth 5000 silver pennies.

Upon one of the shelves there is a scroll tube. In the scroll tube there is a map of the area around Lurkwood, which is located north and east of Neverwinter. This map was accidentally left here by the mage and was part of his search for the crypts. (The crypts are actually located near there, but in the Spine of the World Mountains.)

This level contains the guest chambers, the servant quarters and some closets. In the closets there is nothing of real value, just some cloaks, riding clothing and some other household items.

This door is of iron bound oak and it is locked with a rank 6 lock. It is a 5' wide double door and there are mystical runes upon the door posts. These will glow when the party passes but they really do nothing. (They prime the trap at 2.)

The runes may be dispelled by a Ritual of Disapation for Necromatic Conjurations..

This room, if the ward at 1 is not dispelled will cast (via the ward from 1) a spell of agony (S-13). Also, the ward will cast a wall of force spell (S-2) in front of the doorway into the tower. Again, the only way to dispel these effects is to cast a successful counter spell at 1.

This room is the central hall of the tower. in the SE corner there is a circular stairway going up. There is also a secret door which leads to the secret stair to the mages private chambers and to the labs.

The doors here are all unlocked and there are macabre paintings upon the walls between the doors. They may be sold for 100 - 500 silver pennies each to the right person.

There are currently no humanoid servants of the mage but this room is kept clean and ready. There is nothing of real value here.

There is a bed against the south wall, a circular table with three chairs in the center of the room and a dresser with 4 drawers ( which are empty ) against the curved wall. Also there is an empty armoire.

This larger room is also kept clean but it is empty. There is a larger bed here but the furnishings are basically the same as the servants quarters.

This stair leads into the mage's private chambers and also to the labs. It is a bare affair and it is not lit with any torches or lamps although there are torch holders upon the walls at 10 ' intervals.

Level 2 contains provision storage and food preparation areas. Also the mess area is here.

A large table dominates this room. The table is 10' long and 5' wide with chairs all around it. Upon the table there is a silver candelabra worth 1000 silver pennies. More pleasant paintings line the walls of this room and may be sold for 100 - 500 silver pennies each (there are 6 paintings).

A large fireplace dominates the northern wall.

This is a standard medieval kitchen with a large hearth and preparation table. Hanging above the table are pots and pans and upon it are various tools such a spoons, forks and knives.

The hearth is not lit.

Stored here are casks of wine and mead, crates of food (dried meats and such), barrels of water, barrels of flour and other things such a plates, etc.

There is a stone box in the southern corner of the room about 4 ' cubes with a door on the top. This contains some eggs and cheeses. It is cooler in the box.

Same as 6 on level 1.

The only way into these chambers from the inside of the tower is through the secret stair. This level is the personal chambers of the mage.

This is not secret on this level. The only way to the stair from the other levels is through the secret doors. This is the only way into the mages personal chambers.

Here is the personal chamber of the mage. There is a large bed against the northern wall. The sheets are of silk and the blanket on the bed is well made. These are worth 300 silver pennies. There are two dressers with 4 drawers each. There is clothing in all of them and in one there is a box with jewelry (worth a total of 1000 silver pennies in 4 items of jewelry).

In the southeastern corner of the room there is a desk and another dresser. This is the mage's private working area. In the desk there are various arcane scrolls dealing with the history of the dark elves and one of them describes the crypts and its trap. In the desk drawer there is a truesilvered dagger.

The dresser contains various maps of the realms and notes on the maps speculating on the location of the crypts.

This room has a chair with a hole in it. Enough said.

This area contains the mages clothing and some personal storage. There are 5 chests here and pegs upon the walls for clothing.

In he chests there is more clothing and other personal stuff, (silver mirrors, combs, powders for personal use, etc.). There is no money in the chests. Folded in one though is a cloak that will keep a character warm in cold weather ( not freezing weather though, a side effect is +5% to resist cold spells though).

This is the mages main laboratory. There is a large table in the center of the room that has various experimenting equipment upon it. On the table there is also an unrolled map. This map is of the area where the crypt is located and it has a pin set in a certain valley along the Spine of the World Mountains. It is archaic in nature and the names are in another forgotten tounge. Next to it there is some vellum and an ink pot with a quill. There is also an empty scroll case there.

Upon the walls there are extensive bookshelves. Upon the shelves there are 79 books. 29 of them are spell books for the college of Necromantic Conjurations, one spell per book. The general knowledge spell books are smaller and special knowledge ritual books are the largest. 43 of the books are for the college of black magics and the 7 remaining are various arcane texts dealing from basic magical preparations to the descriptions of the various pacts with darkness that the practitioner of the black arts must make.

The atlas and the vellum are clues to where the mage has gone for it is in this valley that the crypts is located.

Here is the observatory of the mage, complete with an observing glass (telescope) and other celestial charting instruments. Also here is a loyal Shadow Demon. The demon will attack the characters on sight.

The mage will leave a trail for the characters to find from village to town to the cities that he goes through. The most prevalent clue will be of an old man and his granddaughter staying at the local inns.

Also along the way the characters will come upon a group of slain brigands on the road. The group will be human and half-orcish and the bodies will not be looted.

In another area there will be a burnt out section of grassland 50' in diameter and in the center will be the carcasses of 6 wolves. The mage crisped them with multiple fire and brimstone spells.

The characters will find along the road in another place a brooch that has fallen from the nobles daughter. Bry'th will recognize it immediately.

The characters should end up at Mirabar, near the Spine of the World and the valley where the Crypts lie. If they did not take any maps with them from the wizards tower then the locals will know of the valley and tell them, but they will warn of it's dangers also.

The crypt lies in a desolate valley along the Spine of the World Mountains. The entrance is hidden amongst a pile of rocks but the characters should find it if they search. It would be a good place to place the daughters brooch here as a clue as described in the previous section.

It is here that the characters will meet the wizard.

The crypts are a simple affair, only having five chambers. The entrance chamber has the key to open the door to the inner chambers. The mage will have made it here first and the door will be open but the characters will have to cross the chasm of death.

The three first inner chambers have the remains of the dark elven court. The chamber of reeking doom contains the royal remains of the last dark elven lords dynasty. The characters will meet the wizard in one of the first three chambers. The mage will be at the far end of the chamber when the characters enter. He will cast an animate dead upon the remains of the elves. If he can he will cast it twice.

If the demon from the cellar is released then it will come flying into the chamber and grab the mage. It will then fly off to kill him. The charm will wear off the daughter then. If the demon was not released then the wizard will cast a wall of bones in front of them, hiding the wizard from the characters seeing him operate the secret door.

The wizard will then perish at the wiles the traps that the elves put into the corridor to the chamber of reeking doom.

The scale is one square = 10'.

The entrance is hidden amongst a pile of boulders and debris along the canyon wall. It is not hard to find and there are several carcasses of adventurers who thought this would be an easy tomb robbery.

The corridor goes down rather steeply for 40 feet then ends in a bronze door. The door is locked and trapped. If the characters do not disarm the trap then the grates will open as soon as the door is opened. If the trap is disarmed then the grates will stay closed. The rank of both is 3.

This chamber is dominated by a large chasm along the northern wall. Flames leap up from the depths of the crevice. Upon the other side of the crevice there is a landing with a door. Upon the landing is an altar with runic writings upon it.

There are two columns supporting the 30 foot high ceiling and there are two grates upon the floor.

If the characters examine the grates a wailing can be heard from the depths of the pits that the grates protect. If the characters are so foolish as to open or move a grate (if the trap did not open them) then the creatures of the pit will come forth. They are ghouls and there are 4 of them in each pit, they will climb up in 5 pulses. (The pit is 50' deep with a 20' room at the bottom. The elven lords thought putting them in here and having the grates open if the door is not opened with a proper key would be a good thing to have guard the crypt.)

The door is open, having been activated by the nobles daughter. If the characters are so stupid as to touch the altar, they must resist at - 20 or wither and die in 5 pulses.

At this junction there is a ward. If a character who is not an elf crosses this place a rank 10 firebolt will be cast at the offender.

The floor is runed and glows with a faint red light. The ward may be dispelled with a counter spell of the college of fire magics, special knowledge.

The evil adept was hit by the spell but the daughter was not, being that she has elven blood.

(It is in one of these three rooms that the characters will meet the wizard)

It is here that the dead of the dark elven court are buried. There are 30 biers along the wall and each has a body upon it. The bodies are not undead and there is little here except rusty armor and weapons, rotting clothing and the stench of death.

6 - 9) The Traps

These traps were set here to guard the chamber of sleeping horrors from intruders. All traps are rank 8 and will always go off if not disarmed.

Hidden in the wall is a device that looks like a lattice of iron with 3' spikes spaced every foot. The lattice work is 7' tall and is as wide as the corridor. There is a switch upon the wall to disable the trap, it is hidden with a difficulty factor of 3.

The characters standing first in formation will be subject to 3 - 7 pike attacks.

This door is different than the rest. It is of solid brass. If a character turns the door latch he will be subjected to a rank 15 lightning bolt attack. The door does NOT have runes or any other markings upon it and only turning the door latch will set the trap off.

The real door handle is on the opposite side of the door and it is hidden with a difficult factor of 3. It is a stud that if pressed will open the door. ( In other words the door opens on the opposite side of the conventional ).

Here is a basic 15' pit trap with spikes, except that when opened the bottom will start to fill with water and will reach the top in 24 pulses.

There is a flagstone on the floor that will disarm the trap, difficulty 3.

Floating here is a pair of disembodied eyes. Flesh hangs off them. When the characters approach the eyes will flash with a magenta light. The front row of characters must resist or take D-5 damage. The eyes have a defense of 50 and will be killed with one hit. They will flash every pulse and every character in the front must resist.

This large chamber contains 10 biers. In this room is a barrow wight. He will wait for the characters then kill them. He will stay as far as possible from them to use his magic. He is a former dark elven lord who wears truesilvered plate and carries a magical truesilvered two hand sword. He cast spells at the 10th level and will use them first against the characters then he will go into melee.

The two handed sword is magical also, +10% +2 damage. This weapon counts as one special item, as does the truesilver plate armor.

In this room, upon the bodies is the following:

It was these last two tomes that the evil adept was searching.

After the daughter is rescued the daughter and returned her to her father he will pay them the remaining silver.

After each section (1 - 7) each character gets 500 XP. They should get a total of 3500 extra XP.

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