Chapter 15: Adventures example

The shrine of the forgotten flame

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Summary: The players are tasked with investigating an ancient, overgrown shrine hidden deep within the forest. Legends say it was once a holy place dedicated to a powerful elemental spirit, the Flame of Etrigan. However, the shrine has been overtaken by strange creatures, and the Flame itself is rumored to be corrupted.

Player’s hook

1. The Distressed Messenger: A weary messenger stumbles into town, badly injured and babbling about a missing royal heir, captured by unknown assailants. The messenger claims only adventurers of great skill can find and rescue them before the throne falls into chaos.
2. The Haunted Dream: Each player experiences the same vivid dream of a mysterious figure pleading for help from within a forgotten tomb. They awaken with a map sketched in charcoal on their hands, leading to the tomb’s location.
3. Missing Caravan: A caravan of valuable goods bound for a local festival has gone missing. The merchant guild offers a reward for any information or help in recovering the goods, and the people, who vanished with it.
4. The Mysterious Letter: Each player receives a letter sealed with the insignia of a famous, long-dead adventurer. The letter warns of a great evil awakening nearby and pleads for the adventurers to stop it, urging them to “come where the mountains meet the mist.”
5. The Blighted Crop: Villagers have come to the players’ town asking for help with their mysteriously blighted crops. Rumors of a powerful witch or spirit lurking in the woods near their farm have been spreading. The harvest is approaching, and if they fail, the whole village will suffer.

Room 0: Forest path

The dense forest canopy above blocks out most sunlight, casting the path in dim, green-tinted shadows. Twisting roots and thick vines cover the trail, making every step a cautious one. The air is unnaturally warm, carrying a faint scent of smoke and sulfur. Ahead, the faint crackle of fire can be heard, and flickers of orange light occasionally pierce through the trees. As the players push through the underbrush, they catch their first glimpse of a worn stone archway, half-buried in tangled vines, the hidden entrance to the ancient shrine.

Room 1: Entrance and guardian

The party arrives at a hidden stone path leading through dense forest. At the path’s end, a large stone arch overgrown with vines marks the entrance to the shrine. As they approach, the area grows unnaturally warm, and the faint sound of crackling fire fills the air.

Guardian: Just past the arch, two fire-infused treants stand guard, animated by the corrupt Flame. The treants are hostile to anyone who attempts to enter the shrine.

With a DC 14 Perceotion check can spot an ancient symbol on the treant’s chests that can be deactivated by touching the symbol with a successful DC 12 Religion or Arcana check. If deactivated, the treants become dormant, allowing safe passage.

Clue for Room 2: The treants bear carvings in an old common language that hint at a trial by flame, a phrase which may help in the next room’s challenge.

Room 2: Puzzle

The players enter a chamber with walls lined with ancient murals depicting scenes of fire and water locked in a perpetual battle. At the center of the room stands a large brass basin filled with clear water. Above the basin, an inscription reads: “Only when the flame is quenched shall the path be revealed.” Along the walls are four torches, each lit with an eerie, pale blue flame.

Puzzle: The players must extinguish the flames in the correct order to open the door leading to the next room. Examining the murals with a successful Perception check (DC 12) or Investigation check (DC 10) reveals faint symbols above each torch, a raindrop, a wave, a whirlpool, and a flood. These symbols represent the progression of water in quenching fire.

Solution: The players must extinguish the flames in the order indicated by the symbols: Raindrop, Wave, Whirlpool, Flood. This sequence suggests increasing levels of water intensity.

• If the players extinguish a torch out of order, a hidden mechanism releases a burst of steam, dealing minor heat damage (1d4 fire damage) to anyone in the room.
• Successfully extinguishing the flames in the correct order causes the basin to drain, revealing a hidden lever at its base. Pulling the lever opens the door to the next room.

Room 3: Combat encounter

The room with walls are lined in faded murals depicting ancient fire spirits. Torches burn fiercely in sconces around the room, casting intense, flickering shadows. In the center of the chamber stands a stone altar adorned with symbols of flame. As the players step closer, the symbols glow red-hot, and a surge of fiery energy fills the room.

Combat Encounter: Three Flame Warden (fire-infused suits of armor) rise from the altar, wreathed in flames. These ancient guardians were created to protect the shrine and its secrets. They attack any who approach with fiery wrath, moving with an eerie, unnatural fluidity. A large Corrupted Flame Imp (an fiend that is part of the corruption of this shrine) emerges from the altar, crackling with intense heat.

Loot: Once the guardians are defeated, the altar cools and reveals a small compartment holding:

• Flame Talisman: grants resistance to fire damage for an hour, after usage the talisma became mundane.
• Fragment of the Ancient Flame: While holding this item you can activate to make melee attacks deals +1d6 points of fire damage for the next minute. This effect recharges at dawn.

Room 4: Red herring

The party enters an ornately decorated chamber with high, arching ceilings. The walls are covered in faded murals of ancient fire rituals, and in the center of the room stands a large stone pedestal. Atop the pedestal lies an ornate chest, gleaming with brass fittings and adorned with ruby-like stones. The chest appears untouched, as though it’s been preserved by the fire magic that permeates the shrine.

Trap: The chest is rigged with a Flameburst Trap connected to the shrine’s corrupted energy. If the players attempt to open it without disarming the trap first, a fiery blast will erupt, filling the room with intense heat and flame. The players must succeed on a Perception check (DC 12) to notice faint scorch marks and melted metal near the chest, hinting at the trap. Disarming the trap requires a successful Thieves’ Tools check (DC 14) or Arcana check (DC 15) to carefully disconnect the fire magic source.

If the trap is triggered, all players within a 3 sqr. (4.5m)-foot radius must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 13) or take significant fire damage (2d8).

Treasure: If the players successfully disarm the trap, they open the chest to find several valuable items:

• Flame Talisman: grants resistance to fire damage for an hour, after usage the talisma became mundane.
• Ancient Fire Rune: A small rune tablet that glows faintly. When pressed, it reveals an inscription describing the final steps of a purification ritual, which may assist the players when confronting the Flame of Etrigan.

Room 5: Climax

The players enter a grand, dimly lit chamber with walls covered in intricate carvings of ancient fire spirits and the history of the shrine. At the center of the room, a large brazier burns with an ominous, flickering dark flame. The heat here is intense, and the air is thick with the scent of sulfur. Standing before the brazier, shrouded in a twisted aura of flame, is the corrupted Flame of Etrigan, a powerful fire elemental warped by dark magic. Its form flickers between fire and shadow, as though struggling against its own nature.

As the players enter, Etrigan’s gaze turns toward them, its voice resonating with both rage and sorrow.

Why have you come to disturb the Flame of Etrigan? Speak, or be reduced to ash.

Encounter Mechanics

The players have a brief opportunity to attempt to reason with Etrigan before it attacks.

Persuasion Check (DC 15): If the players attempt to speak with Etrigan, they can make a Persuasion check to calm it and buy more time to gain information. Success means Etrigan hesitates, allowing them to ask questions or seek insights. Failure means Etrigan, driven by rage and corruption, attacks immediately. If the player start the ritual Etrigan enrages.

• The Origin of the Shrine: I was once the protector of this shrine, a place of pure flame, a symbol of balance. The Flame of Etrigan was revered, sought by pilgrims and worshipers who respected the fire’s power. (This can give players context about the shrine’s original purpose.)
• The Corruption: But a dark presence entered these hallowed grounds, a necromancer seeking dominion over death and flame. He bound me, twisted my power into something monstrous, something wrong. I am no longer myself. (This provides insight into how the shrine and Etrigan became corrupted.)
• The Purification Ritual: The fire can yet be purified, but it is bound by a twisted ritual. Only those who possess the sacred Emberstone and the knowledge of the Flame’s true purpose can unbind it. (If the players found the Ancient Fire Rune in the previous room, they now have the knowledge needed to complete the ritual.)
• The Cost of Freedom: But be warned, freeing me from this corruption will demand a sacrifice. One must face the brazier’s flame, offering part of their own life force to break the necromancer’s dark hold. (This foreshadows a final challenge, requiring a player to sacrifice hit points or a temporary reduction in their health.)

If the players have the Fragment of the Ancient Flame and have deciphered the Ancient Fire Rune, they can perform the ritual to purify Etrigan. Doing so will weaken him, allowing them to confront him in his uncorrupted form, making the battle easier or possibly avoiding it altogether. If they lack the necessary items or fail to complete the ritual, Etrigan transforms fully into a dark fire wraith, launching into a fierce battle against the party.

Peforming the ritual is a extended check religion check (100 points, one check per turn, no cost per check, but completing the extended consumes the Fragment of the Ancient Flame).

Room 6: Plot twist

After defeating Etrigan, the players discover a hidden passage behind the brazier. This passage leads to a quiet chamber where the true essence of the Flame is contained within a glowing crystal.

Twist: The Flame reveals itself in its pure form within the crystal, pleading for the players help to lift the corruption that still lingers in the shrine. The Flame offers the players a choice: they can break the crystal to release the true Flame, cleansing the shrine permanently, or they can take the crystal with them as a powerful magical artifact. However, removing the crystal leaves the shrine vulnerable to future corruption.

• Blessing of the True Fire: once for the next month, each player can touch a weapon and imbue fire on the weapon, the weapon can deal +1d6 fire damage for the next hour.
• Crystal of Pure Fire: The crystal holds 7 chages that recharges 1d6+1 at dawn. Using a charge it can create a single Schoring Ray (can use more chages for it, up to 5 rays) with a spell ranged attack of +5. Alternatively can use 3 chages to cast Fireball (as 3rd level) with spell DC or 12.