Ebrishar Mines

Ebrishar Mines

 

Introduction

The party begins once more in Yanrish' chambers, with the mage describing how one of his parties of adventurers found evidence that the dragon had moved to Ebrishar. He's since spent hours deciphering cryptic maps of Ebrishar to determine where the dragon might have been referring to. Though there's no telling how a dragon's mind works, a good place to start would be the dwarvern mines located in the frigid mountain range. Though bitterly cold on the outside, this dwarvern stronghold delves deep into the mountain's heart, where heat from the earth fuels the dwarven forges and lets them craft their legendary weaponry.
Yanrish is able to transport the party to a path near the entrance, and activates the portal to reveal an icy mountain range, just as described. As they're about to set off, Gibbons will remind the mage that he was supposed to offer the party aid, and as usual he will offer them the loan of an item from the Deck of Many Things, and as with the last adventure, the party member who volunteers and/or rolls the best animal handling check will be asked to take the dragon foundling with them. Any that do not already have a potion of healing, will be invited to take one with them. The mage will explain that the dragon's training is going well, and that the word irlym (ear-lim) can be used to cause it to breathe fire, with a gentle tone leading to gentle flame, and a harsher one unleashes a more destructive blast.
 

Arriving at Ebrishar

On travelling through the portal, the team will be confronted with an icy blast of air. A dexterity check of <12 will cause them to slip and fall on the path, though fortunately with no ill side effects. The party can see a towering door in the distance, easily walkable within a few minutes.
As they make their way along the path, they will come across an elven woman coming the other way. She is slight of nature, age difficult to determine, but not old. She seems startled by their arrival, her eyes widening momentarily. Her attire, though plain, shows signs of wear and tear. You notice a faint smudge of dirt and blood across her cheek and a hint of purple around her wrist, as if from a recent brush with something rough. She is adorned with trinkets that look to be crafted from various materials.
If the party choose to interact with the woman, she will introduce herself as Yalena, an acolyte of Helm. An insight check against Yalena’s deception (+7 to the die roll) will show that she is hiding something, as she is actually a disciple of Myrkr. The encounter will likely go one of two ways, either party will disbelieve and be antagonistic towards Yalena, or they will look to adopt her as guide and companion.
If antagonised, Yalena can cast thunderbolt to damage multiple members of the party, and then will attempt to escape using Misty Step and Dimension Door. Note that as a sorceress, she also has Counterspell, allowing her to attempt to cancel out any counterspells used against her.
If engaged in conversation, she will explain that has an Acolyte of Helm, she had been despatched with some sisters to investigate rumours of undead within the dwarvern mines.
Her sisters and her entered the mines to find them deserted, and pushed through, to attempt to find either the dwarves, or the undead. They were successful on the second count, but not the first, as they found themselves beset on all sides. The destructive wrath of the group despatched dozens of undead, and caved in much of the mines, but not before many of them fell. Yalena is the only survivor, and must return to report the outcome of their expedition.
The party may attempt to get Yalena to join them, and she will be amenable to persuasion if so. If Yalena joins the party, she may offer helpful commentary as shown below. Without Yalena, the party will not receive the additional information.
 

Reaching the Mines

On reaching the doors, the party find them slightly ajar, with darkness beckoning them inside. As the party enters the mines, they find themselves in a large entrance hall, with four obvious exits. All but one of these is caved in. Yalena will point out that Elara fell at one cave in, Anya at another, and Eladrin the paladin, a grizzled veteran at the final. Attempts to find out more about them lead to a single comment ‘They were my friends, and that’s all you need to know at this juncture – should you also prove yourself as friends, I may speak more of them’.
Taking the only available path, the party move on through the tunnel.
Heat builds, and becomes oppressive, as the path opens out into a wide area with a rope bridge crossing a river of lava. Small rocks drift slowly down the river, potentially tempting those of a more acrobatic nature to try their luck at crossing without the aid of the bridge. The bridge itself, appears sound and sturdy. Across from the river, the party will see a checkerboard marble floor leading to a grand door. Yalena will explain that this door is the entrance to the king’s reception room. The party may also notice a pile of flesh-like material near a gap in the right hand wall of the room that leads to this reception room.
As the party stand and discuss, investigate or otherwise spend time before attempting to cross the river, an undead dwarf will exit from this gap. It will stumble towards the party but receive 2d6 radiant damage from an unseen source. Regardless of score, this will destroy this first undead, who falls and contributes to the pile of flesh on the floor.
For the DM’s benefit, the source of this is a linear beam that emits horizontally from each of the torches that line the side of the room. The beam extends 6 squares, or 30 feet – just over halfway. Once successfully across the bridge, the party will need to zigzag through the beams, or take the same 2d6 of radiant damage. Each time that the beam damages an entity, either player character or NPC, the corresponding torch will flare brighter to provide some guidance as to the source of the damage.
As the party must cross one by one, or engage in a difficult acrobatic attempt, the DM should request initiative rolls to raise the tension, and to allow each player to describe their attempt to cross, individually – although assisting is of course allowed.
At every second turn, a new undead will emerge, and it is likely that not all will be destroyed. The will each shuffle towards the party at 15ft per round, and engage in battle if they get within range.
The party may evade the undead and continue on, or they may attempt to seal the opening, preventing more from coming through. A use of Turn Undead or Destroy Undead, will also successfully end the encounter. At the DM’s discretion, the encounter might also end after a set number of undead have emerged, although it is advisable to make it feel as though the source is limitless, to encourage experimentation and initiative from the group.
 

The King’s Reception

As the party enter the reception room, Yalena will deliberately hang back, and try to remain in the previous room. Once everyone is in the reception room, she will grin and slam the door, trapping them. The party can determine no way to open the door.
If Yalena isn’t with the party, then the door still slams shut once the party are all in.
On looking around, the focal points are the three large pillars within the room, each of which holds a life size statue of the king dwarf. The party may attempt to start moving around the room, and they are given agency to do so. As they split, two of the statues come to life as dwarvern king simulacrums, and attack the party. On successfully defeating the simulacrums, the third statue comes to life but quickly throws his hands up and begs for the party to wait and hear him out. He will explain his story.
A young woman came to the mines some days ago. As the dwarven king describes the woman, the party may recognise Yalena. She came dishevelled and exhausted, liable to freeze to death in the mountains without the dwarves’ aid. They took her in, fed and clothed her, and allowed her to recuperate. Three days in, I came to my reception room, only to find that our central source of energy, a great diamond known as the Kharn-Azgar had been replaced with a dire corruption.
The diamond focusses magical energies left behind by the great dragon they know as Drakmul, allowing their fires to keep burning, and allowing the forges to continue forging. Athelgar, the king, caught Yalena replacing the Kharn Azgar with a stone of deep black, for some unknown purpose.
He immediately rushed the girl, but with a single raised hand and pointed finger he found himself stopped in his tracks until brought back to his senses by the party. He asks what brought the party to his aid.
As they respond, and approach the end of their tale, Athelgar turns around to see the dark stone still in place and despairs. He asks the party if his subjects are OK, and despairs further on hearing about the undead dwarves – clearly all that remain of his kingdom. He turns to approach the stone, only to notice – and at this point it is also revealed to the party, a series of swirling, concentric rings of magical arcana.
The party can be offered an arcana check, and anything above a ten will reveal the nature of this setup. Anything below a ten, and Athelgar will reveal that he understands what this is, before taking a giant swing with his greathammer, and smashing the first ring.
The DM now explains that this challenge allows each person to attempt to unravel a ring, using whatever method they can think of. The DM will choose an appropriate skill to use as a check, with the originality or creativity of the method, leading to a DC score to beat. The dwarf has used sheer force via a straight attack, so subsequent similar attempts would have a high DC against strength. An attempt to understand the nature of the weave and unravel it with magical understanding however, as one example, might give a lower DC against Arcana.
On successfully reaching the stone, any attempt to touch it will cause necrotic damage. Athelgar begs the party to take the stone with them – he has heard tales of the great mage Yanrish, and is sure that he can work with this stone to either trace the Kharn-Azgar or Yalena. In return, Athelgar will share the message that Drakmul left behind for any of his kind that want to follow him.
The party must find a way to pick it up, without touching it directly. Something as simple as a cloak or blanket will suffice. Alternatively, they may choose to leave the stone where it is, in which case the message is not shared.
If Athelgar is persuaded to share the message, he points to a large mural at the back of the room. Some of the words are clear, but he points out that some are obscured. If the party chooses to use the ability, then the magical flame of the dragon hatchling will reveal the hidden words.
The final message is: