TEXT: EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  The Holdenshire Chronicles
  Act Two
  Journey to 
  Skull Mountain
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Introduction
  The Holdenshire Chronicles takes EN Publishing’s 
  classic adventure To Slay a Dragon and revamps 
  it for a new generation of gamers. Using fifth 
  edition rules, we hearken back to the 1980s and 
  embark on an adventure which is sure to remind 
  you of RPG modules and boxed sets long past!
   This trilogy of adventures leads an adventuring 
  party from the town of Hengistbury on a journey 
  across the land to challenge a red dragon who 
  dwells in a volcano lair known as Skull Mountain.
   In this act, after leaving the bosom of their 
  hometown, the party will embark upon a journey 
  across the wilderness, seeking the other treasures 
  that will help them destroy the red dragon—a 
  dwarven hammer, a magic quiver, a secret map, 
  and the dragon’s true name itself.
   Like the previous act, this adventure’s structure 
  is very open-ended. The PCs are free to explore 
  in any direction they desire to find these artifacts, 
  and then to go toward the Desolation and the final 
  confrontation.
   Similar to the previous act, quests here arise 
  out of rumors and encounters with NPCs, rather 
  than being imposed on the PCs from above. The 
  party will have to uncover the nature of the 
  treasures and where they lie and how to get them 
  themselves.
   Fortunately for them, legends regarding how 
  to kill the dragon Cirothe have been around for 
  many generations, and retellings of them are not 
  especially rare. To get good, accurate information, 
  though, the PCs must dig deep.
  Gathering the Tools
  There are a few basic ways that the PCs can gain 
  information on the location of the dragonslaying 
  artifacts:
   
  ▶ Very accurate information is considered 
  treasure, and will appear when you gain 
  treasure for certain quests. This information 
  could come in the form of words from a 
  grateful survivor, or notes on a scrap of 
  paper, or even out of the mouths of some 
  cowering enemy.
   
  ▶ General information from neutral or friendly 
  NPCs can be gained by talking with them. 
  With the red dragon active in the area, most 
  are reluctant to talk out loud about ways to 
  destroy her, but a little persuasion, deception, 
  or intimidation might make them reveal 
  more. Generally, this information will direct 
  the PCs to the quests that can give them the 
  most accurate information.
  Open Game Content
  The game rule information in this article is designated Open Game Content. All of the other material in this article, 
  including maps and illustrations (including illustrations in the public domain), narrative and descriptive 
  text, character and place names, trade dress, “EN Publishing,” “EN World,” “EN5ider,” EN Publishing 
  product and article titles, and EN World and EN Publishing logos, are designated Product Identity.
  EN
  EN
  Publishing
  Publishing
  ™
  Adapted from Russ Morrissey’s To Slay a Dragon
   writing/design Russ Morrissey, Jacob Driscoll,
   
   Christopher J. Herbert; Brian Casey
   
  editing James J. Haeck (EN5ider version);
   
   Russell Morrissey, Ryan Nock
   
  cartography Sean Macdonald
   
  original art Claudio Pozas; Bruno Balixa,
   
   Nicole Cardiff, Storn Cook,
   
   Keith Curtis, Forest Imel,
   
   Malcolm McLinton, Eric Quigley,
   
   Ryan Sumo, Jeff Ward
   original layout Hal Mangold
   
  en5ider layout Eric Life-Putnam
   
  special thanks Joe Wetzell at Inkwell Ideas;
   
   Aaron Atwood, Darin Kerr,
   
   Matthew McKee, Chris Gath,
   
   Willaim Steffen, James P. Walker,
   
   Brian Suskind, and Our 247 To Slay 
   
    a Dragon Kickstarter Backers
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Act Structure
  The PCs’ progress on the adventure is measured 
  in terms of stars. These stars help measure how 
  close the party is to one of the four items required 
  to slay Cirothe once and for all: the Coward’s 
  Map, the Hammer of Vengeance, the Quiver of the 
  Dragon’s Bane, and Cirothe’s True Name. The party 
  gains stars by completing story-relevant tasks 
  (beginning with the bandit camp on the Southern 
  Downs), and each task relevant to one side of the 
  story awards the players one star toward that 
  goal. You can even use the number of stars the 
  PCs have earned to keep track of their level, rather 
  than keep track of XP, if you prefer; simply award 
  the PCs one level for every four stars they earn (a 
  total of 3 levels over the course of this act).
   The story-relevant adventures are as follows, 
  and are marked with the level the party ought to 
  be before undertaking the adventure:
  Get the Previous Parts! The “Holdenshire 
  Primer” document is at https://www.patreon.com/
  posts/4123536, and “Holdenshire Act One” is at 
  https://www.patreon.com/posts/4422056.
   
  ▶ False information is spread throughout the 
  NPCs as well, and many might not even 
  realize it’s false. This can lead the party 
  astray from their main goal, giving the 
  dragon more time to attack.
  The main risk in this act is that Cirothe attacks the 
  party. She is distant, slow to act, and generally not 
  afraid, but time is a concern: the longer it takes 
  to kill her, the more likely she is to notice what 
  the PCs are doing and come after them. The party 
  may well “lose” this act by dying at her hands if 
  they don’t acquire the artifacts in time.
  The Lands Around Holdenshire
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  The Hammer of Vengeance
  When Cirothe attacked the dwarven fortress 
  of Deephall Point, it is said she did not kill all 
  of them, but rather abandoned the great city 
  to giants, who then enslaved the remaining 
  population to make arms and armor for them. 
  Rumors say that the reason she didn’t simply 
  exterminate them had to do with a divine weapon 
  that the dwarves managed to construct—before 
  falling to the giants. If the population still 
  remains alive, they may know of this weapon. 
  Unfortunately, no dwarves have been seen out 
  of Deephall Point for generations…unless some 
  rumors in Last Chance about a strange one-eyed 
  dwarf are to be believed.
  Part One: Trollwood (Level 5)
  A dwarf refugee named Theobod in Last Chance 
  has an unusual story to tell to those seeking 
  Cirothe’s downfall, but he wants a display of trust, 
  first. If the party can slay the elder troll of the 
  Oldshade Woods and bring him its head, he’ll talk.
   In the Trollwood, it’s clear that the trolls are 
  amassing an army, under a giant’s leadership. 
  When the party returns to Theobod, he reveals 
  his last name: Troyeh, one of the last living 
  descendants of the dwarves still dwelling in 
  slavery in Deephall Point.
  The Coward’s Map
  This legendary map is said to lay with the 
  Cowards, the dwarves in Last Chance who fled 
  from Cirothe’s onslaught while their brethren 
  stood to fight. It is said to belong to the Fedap 
  clan, who lead the cowards in their flight. The 
  last living heir of the Fedap clan is a smuggler 
  named Vyswava, who is rarely in town, and 
  especially active sneaking illegal pipeweed from 
  the halflings of Halfpoint into Last Chance.
  Part One: The Bandits of Blackford 
  (Level 4)
  The bandits have been menacing Lanickshire 
  for too long—exterminate them. They have been 
  working with orcs from the North Riding, who 
  seem to be having a bit of trouble in Halfpoint.
  Part Two: Halfpints in Halfpoint 
  (Level 4)
  Halflings in the town of Halfpoint are under siege 
  from a tribe of orcs. They might get wiped off the 
  map if the party doesn’t help them out. They are 
  led by a courageous (if reckless) halfling knight.
   Captive with the orcs is a dwarven smuggler 
  named Vyswava Fidap, who is pursuing a 
  vendetta against an ogre who has taken a job 
  here. The ogre is from near Last Chance, and 
  Vyswava has followed him here to demand back 
  her family’s ancestral mace. It turns out that 
  he doesn’t have it anymore, having given it to 
  another group of ogres in Deepcrest Chasm.
  Part Three: Down the Hatch 
  (Levels 4–5)
  Vyswava wants to end the ogres, and get back 
  “what’s hers”—the item that lead her to smuggling 
  in the first place, an ancestral mace important 
  to her family, that the ogres took. She’s part of 
  the Cowards, the dwarves in Last Chance who 
  fled the onslaught of Cirothe. If the party helps 
  retrieve her family’s mace from the ogres, she’s 
  got the means to pay for its retrieval.
   When retrieved, the mace turns out to be 
  hollow—a receptacle for a map that shows the 
  secret exit many of the cowards took when fleeing 
  Cirothe (through Deephall Point). She gives it to 
  the party, believing Cirothe is the cause of her 
  family’s bad reputation to begin with, and that if 
  she plays a role in helping slay that dragon, the 
  Fidap name may be redeemed.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Part Three: Dig Deep (Level 6)
  Theobod Troyeh wants to shatter the demon 
  that serves as the conduit for Cirothe’s divine 
  magic, Azaziz. If coated in the demon’s blood, 
  the hammer can be used to suppress Cirothe’s 
  spells. To do that, the party must assault the rift 
  in the center of Deepcrest Chasm, where Azaziz is 
  located. They also have the capability to close the 
  rift, if they so choose.
   After the onslaught, Theobod entrusts the 
  hammer to the party, telling them to wield it 
  wisely, in honor of the dwarves of Deephall.
  Part Two: Of the Big and the Small 
  (Level 5)
  Theobod Troyeh can help any party that knows 
  how to get into Deephall Point (or any party bold 
  enough to try the direct route!) to get access to the 
  Sanctum, where his ancestors placed their greatest 
  work: a hammer designed as a secret weapon to 
  crush the source of Cirothe’s power.
   In Deephall Point, the party notices the demonic 
  overlords of the giants who dwell there, and can 
  smash their power there. The true source of the 
  power is also revealed by the liberated dwarves: 
  a demon named Azaziz who lives in Deepcrest 
  Chasm.
  The Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane
  The elves of Greendell Forest seek Cirothe’s 
  end, too, and are reportedly developing a 
  powerful weapon to use against her, but have 
  been repeatedly unsuccessful: every warrior who 
  has wielded an elven weapon against Cirothe 
  has failed. Their newest weapon is said to have 
  more promise, due to the influence of the sage 
  Sonina. Unfortunately, while visiting Northbeach 
  to research possible solutions to the problem of 
  failed weapons with the gnomes, she was lost—all 
  communication from the forest was suddenly 
  cut off, and rumors of a goblin war and a dead 
  unicorn king have kept potential rescuers at bay.
  Part One: The Bandits of Blackford 
  (Level 4)
  The bandits have been menacing Lanickshire 
  for too long—exterminate them. It turns out 
  they have a captive gnome from the Northbeach 
  Woods, who claims his home is overrun by 
  goblins.
  Part Two: The Goblin War (Level 4)
  Goblins have taken over Northbeach Woods, 
  using wolves and spiders from their nearby 
  home—Oldshade. It is clear that the spiders are 
  in charge, here. Help the gnomes here rescue their 
  patron and king, the unicorn Lorand.
   There is a guest of the unicorn present—an elf 
  from Greendell named Sonina. She wants to be 
  returned home, but before then, she wants to get 
  what she came here for in the first place: the fangs 
  of the ancient spider queen Sheeltielle, said to 
  produce the only poison in the world that dragons 
  fear.
  Part Three: A Great Poison 
  (Levels 6–7)
  Of the great spiders of Oldshade Forest, the oldest 
  and strongest is Sheeltielle, the Spider Queen. 
  She produces a venom strong enough to slay a 
  dragon—a venom the elves of Greendell want 
  to create a magical quiver of arrows capable of 
  hurting Cirothe.
   Upon returning with Sheeltielle’s venom to 
  Sonina, the party can leave for Greendell Forest, 
  where the elves will craft the Quiver of the Dragon’s 
  Bane.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Cirothe’s True Name
  It is said that the Mad Fairy Queen of Greyfell 
  Forest was one of Cirothe’s most powerful foes, 
  but shortly before Cirothe’s rise, she went mad. 
  It is possible she knows secrets related to the 
  destruction of the dragon, but Greyfell Forest 
  is famously impassible for those who were not 
  born there. The elder elves of Greendell may still 
  be able to walk its wooded pathways, but none 
  have set foot under those trees for aeons, fearful 
  of invoking the Fairy Queen’s wrath. Rumor has 
  it that one old man is willing to challenge this 
  tradition, in the twilight of his life: he wishes 
  to see his home at least one last time, and, if he 
  leads, the party may be able to find the Mad Fairy 
  Queen and wrest some knowledge from her.
  Part One: Quickwood (Level 6)
  In Greendell Forest, the party can encounter an 
  elf woodsman named Rajod who is working on 
  crafting the Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane (or who 
  has potentially already crafted it). He’s concerned 
  because a companion of his, Arotha, went missing 
  when they were harvesting wood in the Greyfell. 
  If the PCs could find a sign of him, Rajod would 
  be very appreciative.
   They find Arotha (and several other elves) 
  captive by treants at the edge of Greyfell—treants 
  lead by a force of drow. These drow seem to be 
  manipulating the normally-benevolent treants 
  with some sort of vile spellcraft, and Arotha (and 
  the elves of Greendell when he is returned) note 
  that this is similar to how the behavior of the 
  Fey Queen changed—evidence that the drow 
  are behind her corruption. Either way, the elves 
  cannot tolerate drow in their ancestral lands.
  Part Two: The Mad Queen’s Army 
  (Level 6–7)
  The party is asked by the elves of Greendell to 
  sneak into Greyfell and destroy the drow there. 
  They can do this via the tunnels beneath the forest, 
  infiltrating from the shore near Deepspell Lake. 
  They find that the drow are actually protected by 
  twisted fey creatures from the Fairy Queen.
   In infiltrating here, they find that none of 
  these creatures are truly in control of their own 
  actions—even the drow seem to be possessed by 
  something otherworldly, capable of overriding 
  their consciousness. The origins of this foul 
  spellcraft seem to be the idols the drow and the 
  fey creatures all possess—idols of a bat-winged 
  woman. Some drow seem to snap out of the spell 
  before they die, and speak the name of “The Devil 
  Shebnem.”
  Part Three: Unnature (Level 7)
  The party must infiltrate the Feycastle to discover 
  the origin of the illness that afflicts the Fairy 
  Queen. The direct route may be suicide, but 
  once within the walls of the Feycastle, the party 
  sees a palace crawling with devils from the Nine 
  Hells. It turns out that they Fairy Queen has 
  been controlled by a devil named Shebnem, who 
  serves as her right-hand advisor. Shebnem herself 
  is an Erinyes, seeking to create a hellscape in 
  the Greyfell Forest using the Fairy Queen as her 
  vessel.
   In the aftermath of the confrontation, the Fairy 
  Queen dies from her long corruption, but not 
  before sharing Cirothe’s True Name with the party.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Completing the Act
  So, you’ve slain devils and demons, overcome 
  giants and bandits, dealt with plants and trolls, 
  and you’ve assembled all that you need to slay 
  Cirothe?
   Perhaps.
   The function of this act is to allow the party 
  to gain the necessary minor artifacts for having 
  a fighting chance against Cirothe. At any point, 
  the party can simply go to Skull Mountain and 
  challenge her (see the third act for those details), 
  even lacking these useful tools. However, they are 
  likely to be handily obliterated—Cirothe is not 
  a “level-appropriate” challenge, and the tools the 
  party may acquire here will help even the odds.
   Of course, a party that is hasty, or that thinks 
  itself especially tough, can challenge Cirothe early, 
  even without a full complement of artifacts, and 
  it is possible (though unlikely) for even an ill-
  equipped party to win.
   Essentially, the end of this act is in the party’s 
  hands. When they wish to go confront Cirothe, 
  be that on Day 1 out of the farm, or after a 
  meticulous resolution of the plot threads of this 
  act, you’re encouraged to allow them. Of course, 
  a party who confronts Cirothe and finds her too 
  tough might wish to revisit this adventure, or the 
  parts they missed, and gather more strength. Your 
  players should be entirely aware that Cirothe is 
  actually a higher-level threat than the party is 
  likely able to handle—surprising them with a 
  swift death is hardly sporting, but if they walk 
  into that death with their eyes wide open, don’t 
  be afraid to hand it to them.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Cirothe’s Attacks
  Cirothe isn’t just sitting on her hoard waiting to 
  die while the party goes about collecting the items 
  required to slay her. Though she is quite removed 
  from most events, she does have a network of 
  kobold cultists that are involved in some minor 
  way in every story-relevant encounter (and in 
  some random encounters), and she knows, in a 
  broad way, the activities that go on in the lands 
  just outside the Desolation.
   As a way of harassing the PC party, Cirothe 
  launches from her redoubt every few days to 
  terrorize the populace. As the stakes rise and the 
  party gathers more items (and gets more total 
  stars), her attacks become more brutal, eventually 
  wiping entire towns off the map completely in an 
  effort to stamp out the runts who dare give those 
  cowering mortals hope.
   The chance that this happens is represented 
  by the Dragon Die, which should be a single d20. 
  This d20 is rolled every day, and on a result of 20 
  or greater, Cirothe flies out from Skull Mountain 
  and wreaks some havoc in the world. As the 
  party gathers stars, the group should add the total 
  number of stars the party has to the result of the 
  d20 roll (from +1 with one star, to +12 if they have 
  all the stars).
   When Cirothe destroys a location, it is reduced 
  to ruins and filled with kobolds. Refugees flood 
  into neighboring towns (if they’re intact), though 
  some stay and try to rebuild (and fight against 
  the kobolds who move in). Cirothe destroys about 
  half the people in a given town, so if the GM 
  would like to determine if a specific NPC is alive, 
  simply roll 1d20, and on an 11 or better, they are. 
  The GM can also pick and choose certain NPCs to 
  live or die, depending on their needs for the rest 
  of the adventure.
  Cirothe’s Rampage
  1d20
  Rampage
  20
  Cirothe appears overhead. The next day, in 
  addition to any other encounters the party 
  has, the party also has one Kobold Cultists 
  encounter.
  21
  Cirothe destroys Lintown
  22
  Cirothe destroys Wintercliff
  23
  Cirothe destroys Redcliff
  24
  Cirothe destroys Northminster
  25
  Cirothe destroys Whitehollow
  26
  Cirothe destroys Ringwood
  27
  Cirothe destroys Fairburn
  28
  Cirothe destroys Halfpoint
  29
  Cirothe destroys Blackford
  30
  Cirothe destroys Greendell Forest
  31
  Cirothe destroys Last Chance
  32
  Cirothe destroys Hengistbury and Thornbury
  If you roll a location that Cirothe has already destroyed, 
  then Cirothe instead sends kobold cultists to destroy the 
  party (as if a 20 was rolled).
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Overland Travel
  This adventure includes optional rules for each day 
  of overland travel. Follow these steps:
  1. At the beginning of the day, the GM makes a 
  check to see if the party gets lost and makes a 
  check to see if Cirothe attacks.
  2. After this check, the party enters the next hex 
  in the direction they are traveling. If the party 
  is lost, the actual hex will be random (roll 
  1d6, moving clockwise from the northwest 
  face of the hex). If they are slowed or moving 
  through difficult terrain, they will not reach 
  the next hex until the next day. If the party is 
  along the road, or mounted, they may enter 
  a second hex. Moving faster than usual and 
  slower than usual cancel each other out, 
  enabling the party to move the usual one hex.
  3. In each hex, the GM describes what the PCs 
  notice in general terms (including any major 
  features, such as terrain types, roads, rivers, 
  settlements, etc.).
  4. The GM also rolls each day, as the party 
  gets underway, for a random encounter. If a 
  random encounter is indicated, the GM runs 
  that. After the encounter, the rest of the day 
  or night continues normally.
  5. When the party rests for the night, each 
  character must consume one supply pouch 
  (see “Supplies”) or is considered to have gone 
  the day without food or water. A character 
  can go without food for a number of days 
  equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier 
  (minimum 1), but needs one gallon of water 
  per day (1 supply pouch’s worth). A character 
  who drinks only half that much water must 
  succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving 
  throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at 
  the end of the day. A character with access 
  to even less water automatically suffers one 
  level of exhaustion at the end of the day.
  6. When the party rests for the night, they must 
  possess a tool pack to gain the benefits of a 
  long rest.
  7. The day ends, and the procedure returns to 
  step 1 at the beginning of the following day.
  Getting Lost
  Each morning, the GM rolls a secret DC 12 
  Wisdom (Survival) check to see if the party 
  becomes lost. The GM makes one check for 
  each PC proficient in the Survival skill. In 
  difficult terrain, such as mountains or forest the 
  DC increases to 15. The GM should not reveal 
  the result of the check. On a failure, the party 
  becomes lost.
   The party members may make a passive 
  Wisdom (Survival) check instead of rolling, but 
  this halves their speed for the day.
  Being Lost
  If the party is lost, they travel in a random 
  direction. If they move onto another hex, roll 1d6 
  to randomly determine the hex they enter. The 
  next day, make the standard roll to avoid getting 
  lost, but decrease the DC by 1 for each day they’ve 
  been lost. On a success, the party is no longer lost, 
  but on a failure, they remain lost for another day.
  Random Encounters
  As the party travels during the day, they may 
  have a random encounter. Random encounters 
  serve to lead the party along one of the major 
  quest lines, giving them possible hints as to where 
  to go next and helping them gain knowledge, 
  treasure, and allies in their mission.
  Timing of the Encounter
  Roll 1d4 to determine if the encounter happens 
  during the day, or while the party is at rest 
  (1–3 during the day, 4 at night). Roll 1d12 to 
  determine at what point during the day or night 
  the encounter happens (1 representing dawn or 
  dusk, 6 representing noon or midnight, and 12 
  representing dusk or dawn).
  Friends, Foes, Events, or Sites
  Once you determine where and when the 
  encounter happens, roll on the Random 
  Encounters chart near the end of this document 
  to determine what kind of encounter it is. The 
  encounters are all described following the table. 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Additionally, some encounters have “Story Links.” 
  These links can be included in an encounter to 
  direct the PCs to some bit of the adventure.
  Rewards
  When the party does something to earn an award 
  from a random encounter, they receive a minor 
  reward. This comes in the form of consumable 
  objects, small amounts of coin, a minor boon, or 
  common knowledge—not incredibly valuable, 
  but a small distinguishing element that can 
  make it worthwhile for the PCs to engage these 
  encounters.
   Other than these rewards, the characters gain 
  little material benefit from random encounters. If 
  you are using milestone experience (see below), 
  do not award them XP from these encounters. A 
  party that gathers loot from the dead in random 
  encounters should generally not find much of use: 
  used weapons and armor, bits of meat and skin 
  and bone, or other harvested items should only 
  net them about 2d8 gp, total, for each encounter: 
  possibly enough to cover the day’s supplies, but 
  generally that’s it. Of course, they can also get one 
  of the random rewards, assuming there’s someone 
  to give it to them. Treasure for main adventures is 
  summarized at the end of each part.
   Milestone Experience. Character advancement 
  in this act is not balanced around an XP budget; 
  characters instead gain a level every time they 
  gain 4 stars (the party can gain 12 stars, growing 
  from 4th level at the beginning of this act to 
  7th level by its completion). You can award 
  standard XP for defeated monsters instead, but 
  the party may not be appropriately leveled for the 
  encounter with Cirothe in the next act.
  Illness & Injury
  Some encounters run the risk of causing lasting 
  injury to a character, a disability that simple 
  curative magic cannot remove. A character who 
  gains an illness or an injury suffers a loss of 
  maximum hit points and risks continuing to lose 
  maximum hit points as the disease or wound 
  worsens, possibly leading to death. The only 
  surefire way to completely heal illnesses and 
  injuries is to find a proper house of healing (found 
  in any town) and spend 7 downtime days there, 
  with no arduous task undertaken during the 
  healing process. Much like how one needs a forge 
  to create weapons, or a kitchen to make food, one 
  needs a house of healing to truly recover from 
  these dire wounds.
   A character can be exposed to illness or injury 
  as a feature of an encounter, or as a feature of 
  an area, or even (as an optional rule) by being 
  wounded. For example, a character reduced to 0 
  hit points may be dealt an injury, while a character 
  eating wild food may be exposed to an illness.
  Illness
  When you are exposed to an illness, you suffer the 
  following effects:
   
  ▶ Your maximum hit points are reduced by 
  1d10;
   
  ▶ Your daily travel speed is halved (your 
  combat speed is unaffected);
   
  ▶ You consume double the normal amount of 
  supplies; and
   
  ▶ You are subjected to a specific problem 
  relative to the illness (roll 2d6 and consult 
  the Common Illnesses table).
  Recovery and Death
  At the end of each day in which you are ill, make 
  a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. If you fail 
  this saving throw, your maximum hit points are 
  reduced by another 1d10. If you succeed on this 
  saving throw, you begin to recover. After three 
  successful saves, you recover entirely. Another 
  character can substitute a Wisdom (Medicine) 
  check for this saving throw, as long as that 
  character performs no other actions for the night 
  aside from rest.
   If your maximum hit points are reduced to 0, 
  you die, unable to regain consciousness.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Injury
  When you are dealt an injury, you suffer the 
  following effects:
   
  ▶ Your maximum hit points are reduced by 
  1d10;
   
  ▶ Your daily travel speed is halved;
   
  ▶ Your combat speed is halved; and
   
  ▶ You are subjected to a specific problem 
  relative to the injury (roll 2d6 and consult the 
  Common Injuries table).
  Recovery and Death
  At the end of each day in which you are wounded, 
  make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. If you 
  fail this saving throw, your maximum hit points 
  are reduced by another 1d10. If you succeed on 
  this saving throw, you begin to recover. After 
  three successful saves, you recover entirely. 
  Another character can substitute a Wisdom 
  (Medicine) check for this Constitution check, as 
  long as that character performs no other actions 
  for the night aside from rest.
   If your maximum hit points are reduced to 0, 
  you die, unable to regain consciousness.
  Supplies
  While you can record encumbrance by items and 
  weight if you’d like, this adventure introduces a 
  simplified system for keeping track of supplies 
  that makes accounting slightly easier. This 
  adventure includes references to these rules, but 
  if you’re not using these special rules, you can 
  feel free to ignore the specific references or handle 
  them with a GM judgment call.
  Common Illnesses
  2d6
  Illness
  2
  Madness: Gain a form of Long-Term Madness 
  that lasts until the illness is cured
  3
  Dehydration: Gain a level of exhaustion at the 
  beginning of each day until cured unless you 
  spend an extra supply kit or are near a body of 
  fresh water
  4
  Dizziness: Disadvantage on Dexterity-based 
  skill checks and attack rolls made with ranged 
  or finesse weapons
  5
  Aches: Disadvantage on Strength saving 
  throws
  6
  Chills: Disadvantage on Dexterity saving 
  throws
  7
  Fever: Disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws
  8
  Nausea: Disadvantage on Constitution saving 
  throws
  9
  Spasms: Creatures have advantage on saving 
  throws made against your spells
  10
  Weakness: Disadvantage on Strength-based 
  skill checks and melee weapon attack rolls
  11
  Boils: Disadvantage on Charisma checks and 
  saving throws
  12
  Pain: Reduce maximum hit points by an 
  additional 1d8
  Common Injuries
  2d6
  Injury
  2
  Head Wound: Disadvantage on Intelligence 
  checks and saving throws
  3
  Facial Lacerations: Disadvantage on Charisma 
  checks and saving throws
  4
  Fractured Rib: Disadvantage on Constitution 
  saving throws
  5
  Shattered Shoulder: You do not add your 
  Strength modifier to damage rolls
  6
  Broken Arm: Disadvantage on melee and 
  ranged weapon attack rolls
  7
  Infected Wound: Roll again on the injuries 
  table. You also gain an illness (see the 
  Common Illnesses table)
  8
  Broken Leg: Disadvantage on Dexterity saving 
  throws
  9
  Shattered Hip: Creatures have advantage on 
  melee weapon attacks against you
  10
  Spinal Injury: Disadvantage on Dexterity-based 
  skill checks and attack rolls made with ranged 
  or finesse weapons
  11
  Numbness: Disadvantage on Wisdom checks 
  and saving throws
  12
  Organ Injury: Maximum HP is reduced by an 
  additional 1d8
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Supply Capacity
  Each creature has a default supply capacity equal 
  to 1, plus their Strength bonus, modified thus:
   
  ▶ If the creature is quadrupedal or otherwise 
  exceptionally sturdy (like dwarves), add 2 to 
  the creature’s supply capacity.
   
  ▶ If the creature is Small, decrease their supply 
  capacity by 1.
   
  ▶ If the creature is Large, increase their supply 
  capacity by 1.
  The final result cannot be less than 1. Using this 
  method, a human with a Strength score of 16 (+3) 
  has a carrying capacity of 4. A warhorse has a 
  carrying capacity of 8 (1, +2 for quadrupedal, +1 
  for being Large, +4 for Strength). A halfling with a 
  Strength of 8 has a carrying capacity of 1 (1, –1 for 
  Small, no modification for Strength penalty).
   Each supply pouch (see below) takes up one 
  capacity “slot.” So the warhorse can carry 8 
  supply pouches, the human could carry 4, and the 
  halfling could carry 1.
   Vehicles also have a supply capacity based 
  solely on their size. For every unoccupied 5-foot 
  square in a vehicle, it has a supply capacity of 2. 
  Thus a 10×10-foot cart has a supply capacity of 8; 
  if it’s carrying an elf, it has a capacity of only 6.
   Supply capacity measures only your capacity to 
  hold supply pouches. Heavy armor, big weapons, 
  extra backpacks, etc., are not taken into account, 
  and you can default to your normal encumbrance 
  rules for those, be they the standard rules or 
  more of a rule-of-thumb, or whatever you’re 
  comfortable with.
   Off-Roading. Wheeled vehicles like carts and 
  wagons are designed to run on roads, and cannot 
  travel through hexes that do not contain a road. 
  They can carry large amounts, but they are very 
  limited in where they can go. Pack animals are 
  slightly more versatile, but do introduce extra 
  creatures that may be targeted in battle, exposed 
  to the elements, or otherwise harassed by the 
  dangers of adventuring life, which means dozens 
  of days’ worth of supplies might be at risk every 
  time the animals cross a river or the party faces off 
  against a group of bandits.
  Supply Pouch
  Each supply pouch costs 10 gp and can be 
  purchased in any major town. A supply pouch 
  contains everything that you will consume on a 
  daily trip, including food, water, torches, tinder, 
  lamp oil, and even common repair tools like 
  yarn, thread, needles, etc. While you are assumed 
  to be eating and drinking and repairing your 
  equipment while on the road, a supply pouch is 
  only consumed at the end of the day. Once you’ve 
  used a supply pouch, it is gone—the yarn used 
  up, the food eaten, the water drank. If you do not 
  have a supply pouch to consume at the end of the 
  day, you begin suffering from hunger and thirst as 
  per the normal rules.
   Each supply pouch takes up one slot of supply 
  capacity (see above). So for long journeys into 
  trackless wilderness or along country roads, pack 
  animals, vehicles, and high-Strength individuals 
  may be necessary.
  Tool Pack
  A tool pack costs 40 gp and contains various 
  implements and resources for getting along in 
  the wild. This can include saws, shovels, hatchets, 
  crowbars, tents, sleeping bags, changes of 
  clothing, rope, whetstones, etc. As long as you 
  have a tool pack, you can benefit from resting, 
  even in the wilds: you can easily make camp and 
  build a fire and clear the ground and dry out your 
  boots. A tool pack doesn’t get used up: as long as 
  you have it, you can make camp. If you lose it or 
  it becomes damaged, you may have to resort to 
  “roughing it” a little bit more.
   A tool pack doesn’t take up your supply 
  capacity, but you can’t wear any other packs or 
  bags with a tool pack, so getting pack animals, 
  porters, and vehicles to carry yours might sound 
  like a better idea, if you want to hold much 
  treasure yourself. This exclusion applies to those 
  methods of conveyance, too, however: a wagon 
  with a tool pack still has room for supplies, but 
  not room for anything else. A horse with a tool 
  pack can’t also have saddlebags or carry other 
  encumbering items.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  The Bandits of Blackford
  The Coward’s Map 1 
  The Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane 1
  The bandits of the Southern Downs own the 
  town of Blackford. While the town has a nominal 
  mayor and town guard, everyone is truly under 
  the thumb of the bandits, who seek to expand 
  their little empire to include neighboring towns, if 
  possible. In pursuit of that goal, the bandits have 
  reached out to the orcs who live in the Crawley 
  Hills, and have begun terrorizing the Halfling 
  village of Halfpoint. They’ve also received 
  overtures from the goblins in Oldshade, who 
  have been working on destroying the gnomes of 
  Northbeach.
   All this alliance-making is about to pay off for 
  the bandits, who are finalizing some of their deals 
  from an abandoned fortress they’ve taken shelter 
  within on the Southern Downs in Southmorland.
  Goal: Destroy the Alliance
  The party’s main mission is to crush that alliance. 
  This weakens the orc assault on Halfpoint, and the 
  goblin assault on the Northbeach Woods, offering 
  the NPCs currently confined there an opportunity 
  to leave.
   How they crush the alliance is largely up to 
  them, with your judgment determining what is 
  likely to work, but three strategies are presented 
  as possible default options.
  Plan: Kill the Leaders
  If the party can execute the leaders of the bandits, 
  the alliance will crumble as the bandits begin to 
  crumble from within. The leaders spend much of 
  their time in Camp Rotelle, giving orders to their 
  underlings. They aren’t overly reckless, but they 
  are comfortable and confident in their power and 
  authority over the entire Blackford region—they 
  are minor celebrities, and they are in control of an 
  entire town, so they don’t fear guards coming to 
  capture them. They also don’t fear each other—
  times are good, and in such a time of plenty, it’s 
  easy to overlook interpersonal problems.
   The leaders are Vaclav, Ceres, Bartl, and Yahret. 
  They bandits are robust enough to survive if even 
  one of these characters remains alive, so killing 
  them all is the main approach.
   That is made difficult because Camp Rotelle 
  is quite well-defended, just in terms of numbers. 
  The party may have to rely on stealth, subterfuge, 
  bluffing, and skullduggery if they wish to 
  infiltrate the camp without alerting the dozens 
  of bandits that are garrisoned there. One solid 
  approach might be to pose as potential new 
  hires; the bandits are looking to make alliances, 
  and hearing that the party might be able to 
  help destabilize Holdenshire (the only region of 
  organized, lawful resistance nearby) could be 
  appealing. The party may have to do some work 
  for the bandits, such as killing guards, putting 
  down a rebellion, etc. but if they can stomach 
  or cheat their way out of that, the bandits are 
  certainly eager to have powerful allies. You can 
  roll on the table below for ideas, and once the 
  party as accomplished 3 deeds, the bandits will 
  generally trust them, and welcome them into the 
  band in a big festival. This might allow them to 
  get close to the leaders.
  Nefarious Deeds
  1d6
  Deed
  1
  Kill a troop of guards (use the Guard Patrol 
  random encounter)
  2
  Murder an innkeeper who has failed to pay (use 
  the Roadside Inn random encounter)
  3
  Rob a merchant caravan (use the Merchant 
  Caravan random encounter) and turn in the 
  spoils
  4
  Burn down an orphanage run by priests and 
  priestesses who resist the bandits (use the 
  Roadside Inn random encounter)
  5
  Bring a group of orcs some filthy lucre 
  as an offering (use the Orc Band random 
  encounter—a Guard Patrol attacks to prevent it)
  6
  Help a group of goblins sacrifice a toddler 
  they’ve kidnapped (use the Goblin Band 
  random encounter—a Guard Patrol attacks to 
  prevent it)
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Spreading Rumors in Blackford
  It’s not exactly hard to plant a lie in the minds of the 
  bandit rank-and-file, once the party has earned their 
  trust. If a PC simply makes a Charisma (Deception) 
  check against a given member of the bandit camp’s 
  Wisdom (Insight) check, they can get that bandit 
  to believe any fairly credible falsehood. The rumor 
  spreads through the camp fairly quickly—10% of the 
  bandits begin to believe the story, each day, as long 
  as nothing has contradicted it. After 5 days, the rumor 
  is forgotten unless something actively happens to 
  confirm it. If the rumor is contradicted, none of the 
  bandits believe it after 1 day, but during that 1 day, the 
  rumor can be salvaged by making another Charisma 
  (Deception) check against another bandit, this time 
  with disadvantage. If any evidence confirms the rumor 
  before its expiration, an additional 10% of the bandits 
  believe the story on that day. Evidence also stops 
  the rumor from being forgotten for another 5 days, 
  convincing 10% of the force each day.
   For instance, if the party bard makes a Charisma 
  (Deception) check against a standard bandit, begin-
  ning the rumor that the guards are gearing up for a 
  big attack in 3 days, and the bandit fails their Wisdom 
  (Insight) check, the bandit will begin to spread the 
  rumor. Camp Rotelle has 71 rank-and-file bandits, so 
  each day, 7 bandits begin to talk about the rumor. 
  After 3 days, 21 bandits believe they are going to be 
  imminently attacked…but if no guards show up, the 
  rumor disappears after 1 day, since they have contra-
  dictory evidence. Likewise, the rumor might disappear 
  after 1 day if a guard captain is brought in as a prisoner 
  and claims no knowledge of it. The party bard might 
  make another Charisma (Deception) check with 
  disadvantage to another bandit to argue that “the 
  guards have just put it off,” or “he’s obviously lying to 
  save his own hide,” and if successful, the rumor is not 
  quashed. However, if, on day 3, some guards show up 
  (either by chance, or because the party has dressed 
  up as guards and pretended to be the front line of 
  an assault force, or whatever), they have confirming 
  evidence, and the next day an additional 20% of the 
  bandit force (total of 35) will believe that the attack is 
  imminent. After 5 days, the rumor has run its normal 
  course, and will be forgotten unless the party can 
  confirm it again. If they do (such as arranging for some 
  soldiers to attack a supply chain), the rumor persists 
  for another 5 days.
   For every 25% of the rank-and-file that believe the 
  rumor, one of the leaders may be convinced. First, the 
  leaders require one piece of supporting evidence each 
  to convince. Once the supporting evidence exists, the 
  creator of the rumor can make a Charisma (Deception) 
  check against the leaders’ Wisdom (Insight) check 
  “by proxy,” and if they succeed, the leader becomes 
  convinced. One leader can be convinced on each day 
  that 25% of the rank-and-file hold to the belief.
   For instance, if the belief that the goblins are 
  planning a betrayal can be spread to 25% of the rank-
  and-file bandits by the party illusionist, and the next 
  day Ceres hears of a band of bandits being attacked 
  by goblins on worgback (actually orchestrated by 
  the party), the party illusionist can make a Charisma 
  (Deception) check against Ceres’s Wisdom (Insight) 
  check. If successful, Ceres believes the goblins are 
  planning a betrayal.
   Bartl has advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks 
  against anything impugning the orcs, and Yahret has 
  advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks against any-
  thing impugning the goblins. Vaclav has both of these 
  bonuses as long as Bartl and Yahret remain uncon-
  vinced as well. If Bartl is made to believe something 
  about the orcs, or Yahret is made to believe something 
  about the goblins, the next Charisma (Deception) 
  check made to persuade a leader of the same thing is 
  made with advantage.
   Once all the leaders believe the rumor, they act on 
  it. Before all of them believe it, individual leaders may 
  act erratically, but the alliance will remain intact until 
  all the leaders believe it—Vaclav wants an alliance, 
  and is suspect of any attempts to disrupt it.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
   Of course, more direct violence is always 
  an option, but it is difficult to raid all of Camp 
  Rotelle in one sitting—and once the party begins 
  the assault, like a bee’s nest, the camp will search 
  for them and show no mercy in destroying them. 
  The party may find themselves on the run after 
  that. A war of attrition may work, or at least 
  lure out the leaders, but the bandits do not fight 
  fair, and are not above using the innocents in 
  Blackford as bargaining chips.
  Plan: Spread Mistrust
  If the party can sabotage any possible alliance 
  between the orcs, goblins, and bandits, this has 
  the potential to create enough chaos within the 
  bandits that they will have difficulty regrouping, 
  creating in-fighting and other difficulties.
   The alliance hinges on the spellcasting leaders 
  of the bandits, Bartl and Yahret. Bartl has formed a 
  close friendship with many orcs and has adopted 
  their gods, while Yahret is learning magic from 
  the goblins. As long as these two characters have 
  the ear of Vaclav, the alliance is solid, so the only 
  way to disrupt the alliance is to take out Bartl and 
  Yahret in some way.
   Violence is the obvious way, but that has many 
  of the difficulties of killing the leaders (see above).
   Another way would be to infiltrate and spread 
  rumors. That does require gaining the bandits 
  trust (see above), and then successfully misleading 
  the bandits (see “Spreading Rumors,” below). 
  If the bandits become suspicious of the orcs or 
  the goblins, they will kill the representatives of 
  these people in Camp Rotelle, which will begin a 
  protracted period of violence between the three 
  factions, negating the alliance.
  Plan: Liberate Blackford
  The town of Blackford, owned and operated by 
  the bandits, is their center of power and control 
  in the region. While Camp Rotelle is where they 
  live, Blackford is where they earn much of their 
  profit and where their hold is on something more 
  valuable than their own land. It is also why the 
  orcs and goblins are interested in an alliance—
  they each have towns they’re trying to take over. 
  Thus, if the party can give Blackford the power to 
  overthrow the bandits, the alliance will fall apart.
   The people of Blackford are hypothetically 
  already on board with any liberation plan, but 
  they are well-subjugated, and see release from 
  their fate as nigh-impossible. The powerful people 
  in Blackford are all in bed with the bandits, from 
  the ineffectual mayor Larcenor to the head of 
  the town guard (and Ceres’s loyal goon) Nessi, 
  and most of the members of the local militia. 
  Ceres sees Blackford as vital to the ambitions of 
  the bandits, so she is an occasional and active 
  presence in the town as well, and sort of the 
  power behind the throne. She is likely to respond 
  personally to any attempt to cause havoc in the 
  town.
   In order to liberate Blackford, the party is 
  going to have to build the town’s optimism, take 
  out Ceres and Nessi, either take out or convince 
  Larcenor and the rest of the town guard to 
  surrender, and find someone else to take charge. 
  They will have to accomplish all three tasks to 
  secure Blackford’s liberation: skipping any of 
  them will cause Blackford to slide back into chaos 
  within one week, erasing all the progress.
  Brightening Blackford
  To improve the mood of the town, the party will 
  have to tackle several of the problems facing them. 
  Roll 1d6 and consult the table below to find a 
  problem the townsfolk need solved. After solving 
  4 problems, the town begins to show signs of 
  improvement, as the people believe there may be 
  a life after the bandits.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Problems in Blackford
  1d8
  Problem
  1
  A group of bandits has been living in the town 
  inn—treating the staff like servants, and never 
  paying. They need to be run out. (Use the Bandit 
  Attack random encounter.)
  2
  A church has had its houses of healing 
  destroyed—burned to the ground—by bandits 
  demanding that they stop advocating for the 
  gods, and start worshipping the orcs. The party 
  needs to protect the central church in town 
  from a group of bandits. (Use the Bandit Attack 
  random encounter.)
  3
  A merchant hasn’t had a delivery from a 
  caravan in a good long time. The party needs to 
  get to Ringwood, and protect a caravan going 
  from there to Blackford. (Use normal random 
  encounters for the journey.)
  4
  A lair of kobolds has sprung up on the 
  banks of the river nearby. People want them 
  exterminated. (Use the Kobold Cultists 
  encounter.)
  5
  A group of orcs has taken over a nearby farm, 
  forcing farmers to feed them, but eating too 
  much. The party can kick them out. (Use the Orc 
  Band encounter.)
  6
  A group of goblins has started kidnapping 
  children form people in the town, and nothing 
  can be done to stop them. They announce 
  their raids in advance to heighten the sense of 
  hopelessness, but the party can stop them. (Use 
  the Goblin Band encounter.)
  Finding a Leader
  There are precious few people willing to stand 
  up and fight the bandits, but the party can help 
  select a possible champion for them. Once the 
  spirits of the town are brightened, this leader 
  will lead some of the disaffected militia toward 
  restoring law and order and trust in authority, and 
  is important if Blackford isn’t just going to get 
  conquered all over again next week.
   The party may have an NPC in mind they wish 
  to nominate, or you may have a particular NPC 
  that you think would be a good fit. If there is no 
  obvious candidate, you can have the party can 
  find possible candidates for leadership by making 
  Intelligence checks, with the following results:
   
  ▶ DC 8: The current mayor, Larcenor, is 
  probably the only person in town with the 
  knowledge required for the position of 
  leadership. He’s a spineless coward, though, 
  and responds mostly to threats on his life 
  or property, so the only way to ensure his 
  half-competent leadership is to ensure he’s 
  well-protected. In order to do that, the party 
  must travel to Holdenshire to convince the 
  soldiers there to ally with Larcenor. Such a 
  thing is difficult—it requires three successful 
  DC 15 Diplomacy checks (one each from 
  three separate characters) to break down 
  the Captain of Holdenshire’s resistance. A 
  character who fails this check cannot make 
  another attempt.
   
  ▶ DC 13: A wealthy merchant, Hayato, is 
  interested in leading the town. He’s got the 
  best interests of the town at heart, but can 
  be a bit ignorant. He has little patience for 
  politics, and is certainly no warrior, either. 
  To install Hayato is going to require the 
  party to set things up nicely for him in the 
  mayor’s office, arranging everything so that 
  he can hit the ground running. This requires 
  the party, after expelling Larcenor, to make 
  three successful DC 10 Intelligence (History) 
  checks (one each from three separate 
  characters) to assemble and organize the 
  place properly. A character who fails this 
  check cannot make another attempt.
   
  ▶ DC 18: The local church has protected 
  a youth named Ismail, who is a paladin 
  interested in “cleaning up Blackford.” A 
  smart, sociable individual, Ismail is well-
  suited to leadership. However, he is a bit of 
  a firebrand, and so his presence and rhetoric 
  of change provokes a group of bandits to 
  attack—the party must fight off an attempted 
  assassination by a group of bandits while 
  Ismail is looking at his farmlands (use the 
  Bandit Attack encounter).
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Expelling the Old Guard
  The party must get rid of the corrupt leaders of 
  the town before the revolution is complete, even if 
  the spirits are bright and a good leader is in place. 
  Doing this is going to require some dirty work, 
  and at least a little bit of person-stabbing. Each 
  member of the old guard must be “expelled” in 
  order to truly liberate the town.
   Larcenor, the town’s cowardly, petty mayor, has 
  spent much of his time cloistered in his manor. 
  He does what is required of him by the town, but 
  he’s abdicated much of his responsibility to Nessi, 
  who terrifies him. He’s not strong, but he can call 
  on 10 loyal guards to protect him. He’s also not 
  hard to convince to the PCs’ side—he is interested 
  in self-preservation above all, and is actually 
  fairly knowledgeable about how to run a city. 
  The party needs only to make a DC 12 Charisma 
  (Persuasion) check to get him to trust them over 
  Nessi and the bandits.
   Nessi. The town’s violent and corrupt captain, 
  Nessi has benefitted from having mostly the run 
  of the town. She spends much of her time in the 
  garrison near the center of town, and uses her 
  network of 10 town guards and 10 bandits to 
  keep her informed and to keep the proper order 
  in place. She usually hangs around with a bandit 
  and a guard herself, and will likely be avenged 
  by all her soldiers if slain. She is a very competent 
  fighter on her own, and is not hesitant about 
  taking down any who threaten her.
   Ceres. One of the leaders of the Bandits of 
  Blackford, Ceres has taken the reigns in running 
  Blackford, and what happens there is of great 
  interest to her. While she spends most of her time 
  in Camp Rotelle, any threat to Nessi is reported 
  to her as well (assuming at least one observer 
  manages to escape), and 4 days after such an 
  event, she arrives in Blackford looking for blood 
  (especially if anything has happened to her 
  friend). As long as Ceres remains, she is able to 
  reinstate a new corrupt captain (likely one of her 
  many bandits) on a regular basis.
   The Town Guard. Even without their leaders, 
  the well-bribed guards remain fairly corrupt. 
  Once Nessi and Ceres are out of the picture, the 20 
  total town guards and 20 total bandits that infest 
  the city must be either converted or disposed of. 
  Finding them is mostly a matter of investigation: a 
  DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check turns up 
  1d4 of the bandits or town guard, who can then be 
  dealt with. Town guards are open to negotiation 
  (and bribery), responding well to promises of 
  power and authority, requiring a DC 10 Charisma 
  (Persuasion) check, but the bandits hold out a bit 
  to such an offer, instead requiring a DC 14 check. 
  The camps are both less open to threats—they’re 
  used to being in power, and they will fight to 
  remain so, until about half their number (10 
  each) is dead. The rest will then be more willing 
  to negotiate at that point, requiring a DC 15 
  Charisma (Intimidation) check.
  If Blackford Is Destroyed
  It is unusual, but possible, for the town of 
  Blackford to be destroyed by Cirothe before the 
  party gets a chance to solve the problems there. If 
  Blackford is destroyed, the party cannot use the 
  “Liberate Blackford” option to complete this quest. 
  The alliance will still be active, however, so they 
  party can still use the other two options or create 
  their own plan.
  Rewards
  If the party successfully undermines the alliance, 
  they gain the rewards for the adventure. They 
  gain two stars for this adventure—one each for 
  the Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane and the Coward’s 
  Map—and treasure. The treasure may take the 
  form of loot from the bandits, or gifts from a 
  grateful Blackford township.
   
  ▶ Coins: 505 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: a smoky quartz worth 50 gp
   
  ▶ Magic Items: oil of slipperiness, spell scrolls of 
  speak with animals and zone of truth
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  The Next Adventure
  After completing this quest, the alliance between 
  orcs, goblins, and bandits is weakened, enabling 
  the party to actually destroy the orc alliance or the 
  goblin network, which are now isolated enclaves 
  rather than great alliances of evil. This can lead 
  to the next adventure in the Coward’s Map series, 
  “Half-Pints of Halfpoint,” and can also lead to the 
  next adventure in the Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane 
  series, “The Goblin War.”
  Location: Blackford
  The town of Blackford is a hub, between the 
  towns of Ringwood, Halfpoint, Hengistbury, 
  and the lands to the south. While it was once a 
  bustling merchant city, it has fallen on dark times 
  since the Bandits of Blackford took over. Now 
  a den of iniquity and a place of ill-repute, few 
  merchants or traders from outside have stopped 
  by. The town is a haven for black market goods, 
  smugglers, and less-than-ethical products, such as 
  drugs, slaves, necromancy, and prostitution.
  The Leaders of Blackford
   
  ▶ Larcenor, Mayor of Blackford (noble)
   
  ▶ Nessi, Captain of the Guard (knight)
   
  ▶ 10 town guards
  Location: Camp Rotelle
  Located somewhere in the Southern Downs, 
  Camp Rotelle is the staging ground for the 
  Bandits of Blackford. It is a well-defended wooden 
  fortress that makes use of ditches, bristling spikes, 
  and thick wooden walls to deter any assault, but it 
  has not seen a true assault in some time.
  Residents of Camp Rotelle
   
  ▶ Vaclav (gladiator)
   
  ▶ Ceres the Cruel (bandit captain with AC 18 
  (plate))
  Ceres grew up in the Blackford region, and 
  was a promising member of the town guard, 
  until she tried to put down a young Vaclav 
  with a group of town guard, after he was 
  caught for murder. She betrayed the guards 
  she was with, helping Vaclav to slay them 
  and escape, and escaped with him. She was 
  lured by the promise of power and authority 
  over the town, which she wanted to rule. 
  She has gained this—Blackford’s mayor now 
  cowers in fear of her and her close ally, Nessi. 
  Her minions have the run of the town, which 
  is exactly what she wanted—to be in control. 
  As second-in-command of the bandits, she 
  is methodical and dispassionate in pursuing 
  her need for utter domination.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
   
  ▶ Bartl the Bloody (bandit captain with 
  spellcasting as an acolyte; this change does 
  not affect his Challenge Rating)
   
  ▶ Goblinspeaker Yahret (cult fanatic with 
  wizard spells prepared and Intelligence 
  13 (+1); this change does not affect his 
  Challenge Rating)
   
  ▶ Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, message, 
  prestidigitation
   
  ▶ 1st level (4 slots): burning hands, mage 
  armor, shield
   
  ▶ 2nd level (3 slots): misty step, scorching 
  ray
  Yahret is being trained in arcane magic by the 
  goblins. He was a fake healer—a simple con 
  artist—in Blackford until the bandits needed 
  a healer, and he eagerly joined them as a safe 
  place to practice real magic away from the 
  prying suspicious eyes of the common folk 
  in Blackford. His spellbook was a gift from 
  a goblin worg-rider who looted it in turn 
  from a caravan of apprentice mages she was 
  involved in killing, and certain elite goblins 
  have continued to educate him on the finer 
  points of wizardly spellcasting, and have 
  relied on him to break gnomish and elven 
  codes on various magical items. He is quite 
  paranoid, and uses magic mostly to protect 
  himself from harm. He generally wants to 
  use his arts for his own research, but knows 
  that the goblin alliance is important to the 
  bandits who have protected him, and so 
  earns his keep by keeping contact with them.
   
  ▶ 40 bandits
   
  ▶ 10 thugs
   
  ▶ 6 orc bodyguards
   
  ▶ Olegka, orc emissary
   
  ▶ Gelik, goblin diplomat
  Half-Pints of Halfpoint
  The Coward’s Map 2
  The orcs in the Crawley Hills have mostly lived a 
  life of inter-tribal violence and intermittent raids 
  on the towns on the outskirts of their territory. 
  However, things have been changing in the last 
  five years or so. A champion has arisen among 
  the orcs, a great one-eyed warrior that the other 
  orcs follow willingly into battle, rather than trying 
  to fight. The great orc, called “Basyak,” has lead 
  several disparate tribes in assault after assault 
  on small towns, leveling them and leaving few 
  people alive in their wake. She is said to be a 
  force of nature, a wrath like a winter storm, or an 
  earthquake. Her attention turned, a few months 
  ago, to the town of Halfpoint, a bustling halfling 
  trade village famous for its great fertility.
   As spring warmed the earth, halfling blood 
  was spattered on the soil, and instead of sowing 
  seeds, the people in Halfpoint have been digging 
  graves. They have put up a stout defense, and 
  have maintained their borders, but many in 
  Halfpoint believe it is only a matter of time before 
  Basyak and her great orcish horde will destroy 
  them. Many are leaving, as fast as they can, but 
  a few stay, to help defend the town, as the orcs 
  themselves seek an alliance with the Bandits of 
  Blackford, which would choke off Halfpoint’s 
  resources, enabling them to succumb to the axe.
  Goal: Break the Hoard
  The party’s main mission here is to destroy the 
  orc horde. In order to accomplish this, they must 
  first have broken the Bandits of Blackford, and, if 
  so, the orc horde is vulnerable. As long as Basyak 
  lives and has the approval of the orc leaders, the 
  horde is going to continue. As long as the horde 
  continues, Vyswava remains imprisoned, and her 
  target Junog remains at large.
   Try to entertain any reasonable plan the party 
  comes up with to break the horde. Three options 
  are presented here: kill Basyak, turn the sub-chiefs 
  and shamans against her, or gather reinforcements 
  for Flip and his brigade.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
   There is a time limit on this. Flip, a 
  halfling in Halfpoint who is leading a “final 
  charge,” is waiting for reinforcements from 
  Wintercliff. From when the party first visits 
  Halfpoint, they have 2 months (60 days) 
  until Flip attacks. If he does so without 
  reinforcements, the orcs finally crush Flip 
  and his allies, and then go on to destroy the 
  town once and for all.
  Prerequisite: The Bandits of 
  Blackford
  If the Bandits of Blackford are still forging 
  their alliance, the orcs are in a position of 
  great strength, and cannot be broken: they 
  believe the alliance will help them over this 
  first difficulty in Halfpoint, and lead to their 
  domination of the West. There are thousands 
  upon thousands of orcs living in these hills, 
  and even a raid on Keldur Fortress (the 
  headquarters of the orc militia) won’t stop 
  them from replenishing those lost to the PCs 
  within a day or two.
   Once the alliance has been crushed and the 
  bandits beaten back, the orcs in the Crawley 
  Hills become much more nervous—it is a 
  sign of weakness in Basyak’s leadership, and 
  certain of the orc sub-chiefs will be ready 
  and willing to try and take her position, or to 
  abandon the rallying cry at this point.
  Plan: Kill Basyak
  This is probably the most straightforward 
  plan, and it has a good chance to work. If the 
  orcs see Basyak killed on the field of battle, 
  they will begin a slow process of in-fighting 
  and rivalry, succumbing to their rage like 
  they had for the last few years.
   Basyak isn’t a pushover, however. She 
  lives in Keldur Fortress, and rarely ventures 
  out for simple attacks. What can lure her out 
  is a significant threat, especially one which 
  harms her pride or leads to questions of 
  her power. Flip, the paladin of Halfpoint, is 
  probably the most able bait, and if the party 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  waits (or encourages them to attack early), he will 
  provide a great lure—Basyak herself will emerge 
  to try and kill him. She will probably be successful, 
  though certainly if the party takes the opportunity 
  to challenge her she may be vulnerable. If Flip 
  goes to fight, however, this serves as a trigger to 
  the destruction of Halfpoint, regardless of the 
  status of Basyak’s life: the orcs know that Flip is 
  waiting for reinforcements, and will strike when 
  Halfpoint is undefended, crushing the city once 
  and for all, regardless of the outcome of Flip vs. 
  Basyak. Still, if Basyak meets her fate, their victory 
  will be a short-lived one, and they will dissolve 
  into warring factions as below.
   Basyak may also be lured out to fight the PCs, if 
  the party becomes a thorn in her side. In order to 
  lure her out, the party must do three things:
   
  ▶ Have assaulted Keldur Fortress itself at least 
  once.
   
  ▶ Have improved the morale of Halfpoint. 
  This can be accomplished with one DC 15 
  Charisma (Deception or Performance) 
  check from at least three different characters 
  (failures cannot be re-tried), representing 
  trying to convince the halflings that there is a 
  chance to win.
   
  ▶ Have killed at least one Sub-Chief or Shaman, 
  or at least 5 other orcs.
  Under those circumstances, Basyak will emerge 
  to fight the PCs, seeing them as a threat that has 
  replaced Flip in her mind. Here, the party may be 
  able to kill her, and before the orcs raid Halfpoint, 
  saving the village as well.
   Basyak could be killed by subterfuge and 
  skullduggery, though this is a bit more difficult to 
  pull off: the assassin must penetrate the fortress 
  and bypass Basyak’s 5 personal bodyguards, 
  perhaps as others engage in a distraction.
   In any case, once she is killed, the orcs begin 
  in-fighting and fracturing. While they remain 
  dangerous for 7 days as they fight and try to re-
  structure, after 7 days, the orcs entirely abandon 
  Keldur Fortress, and move back into the hills, 
  fighting each other again instead of trying to 
  assault Halfpoint.
  Plan: Cause Civil War
  Though Basyak is a great leader, the orcs of the 
  Crawley Hills have a long and rich tradition of 
  hating each other with an incandescent apoplexy. 
  The alliance of tribes is a powder-keg, and the PCs 
  can be the spark that ignites it.
   The plan to cause civil war amongst the orcs 
  hinges on Basyak’s eagerness to destroy Halfpoint 
  as the clan’s first assault. The halflings have 
  been surprisingly doughty in their resistance, 
  and several of the shamans and sub-chiefs think 
  that a better target would be the villages of 
  Hengistbury, Thornbury, Ringwood, Northminster, 
  or Wintercliff. The PCs, with some adept rumor-
  spreading, can perhaps turn the orcs against each 
  other.
   While Basyak wants to eliminate Halfpoint, 
  the rest of the leaders of the orcs have their own 
  favorites:
   
  ▶ Makmig would like to eliminate Wintercliff—
  he’s convinced the lightly-armored 
  Wintercliff rangers wouldn’t be able to pierce 
  the orc’s steely defenses.
   
  ▶ Dakam would like to destroy Northminster, 
  as he believes the town will be weak from 
  repelling goblin attacks from the Northbeach 
  Woods.
   
  ▶ Koreva would like to attack Ringwood, 
  based on rumors that suggest drow are 
  beneath the city—she’d like to take it before 
  the drow can.
   
  ▶ Ritva would love to strike Hengistbury off 
  the map. She believes the people there are 
  weak and ripe for slaughter.
   
  ▶ Kwenneg would like to destroy Thornbury, 
  as a man from there once dared to attack one 
  of her husbands.
  In order to cause chaos in the orc camp, all of 
  the orc leaders except Basyak need to agree on 
  one course of action. This can be difficult, as it 
  involves sustaining four rumors, or disqualifying 
  the towns in other ways:
   
  ▶ If Makmig is presented with evidence of the 
  power of Wintercliff’s rangers (for instance, 
  if they slaughter an orc band), he may re-
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  think his position. He is likely to side with 
  whatever Ritva wants.
   
  ▶ If Dakam receives word that Northminster is 
  fine or that the goblins are weak (for instance, 
  a dead goblin band observed by the orcs), he 
  may re-think his position. He is likely to be 
  cowed boy whatever Koreva wants.
   
  ▶ If Koreva is convinced Ringwood is intact 
  (for instance, if dead drow begin appearing 
  near the town), she may doubt her position. 
  She’s likely to side with Makmig.
   
  ▶ If Ritva is given an easier target than 
  Hengistbury, she’ll call off her call for 
  attack. She’s likely to appreciate Kwenneg’s 
  position.
   
  ▶ If Kwenneg is given evidence that the man 
  from Thornbury has been dealt with, she 
  won’t be as out for blood. She’s likely to 
  agree to Dakam’s position.
  If the party can choose one of the alternate 
  positions, and begins to present evidence to each 
  of the orc leaders in turn, it’s possible to change 
  the opinion of all the leaders. For instance, if 
  the party thinks the target should be Ringwood 
  (Koreva’s position), they can persuade Dakam, 
  then Kwenneg, then Ritva, then Makmig. Once all 
  the orcs are in opposition to Basyak, the process 
  of splintering begins and, about 7 days later, the 
  alliance falls to pieces. The new target is in no 
  danger—the splintering is too violent to actually 
  persuade the orcs to fight anyone other than 
  themselves.
   This process is complicated by the fact that 
  the orcs will not trust a character who is not a 
  full-blooded orc. In order to spread this rumor, 
  they’re going to have to find an orc willing to 
  work for them. Such an orc might be found as 
  a hostage or turncoat from any of the Orc Band 
  random encounters, or can be found with a 
  DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check in the 
  region. The turncoat-orc isn’t exactly reliable, 
  and has a 50% chance to fail to spread the rumor, 
  possibly requiring the party to assemble multiple 
  co-conspirators.
   Once the co-conspirator is secured, a rumor can 
  be started (see “Rumors,” above), and once it is 
  believed by each of the leaders, they act on it. To 
  persuade each of the leaders though will require 
  as many as four different rumors, all pointing 
  in one direction (chosen by the party). That one 
  direction becomes strong enough to cause internal 
  strife in the orc camp and delegitimize Basyak’s 
  rule, causing the collapse of the orc alliance 
  within 7 days from the day that the last leader is 
  converted.
  Plan: Give Flip a Hand
  Flip is an idealistic young halfling paladin who 
  stands almost no chance of actually realizing his 
  ideal of liberating Halfpoint. Many of the people 
  in Halfpoint have already realized this, leading to 
  a great exodus, but some stay behind, unwilling 
  or unable to leave, and prepared to accept 
  whatever the results of Flip’s Crusade is going 
  to be. The party can give Flip’s crusade slightly 
  better odds of survival, but they need to work fast, 
  given the time limit.
   That time limit is created because Flip is 
  expecting a regiment of rangers from Wintercliff 
  to arrive, and, if they do or not, he is taking the 
  fight to the orcs. They are not due to arrive—their 
  remnants have been captured by an orc band 
  near Wintercliff, but the party can shore up Flip’s 
  resources by saving them, or by visiting at least 
  one town and getting reinforcements.
   Getting reinforcements from any of the nearby 
  towns is going to require some quick leg-work on 
  behalf of the PCs. Each town is going to need the 
  party to pass a Charisma (Persuasion) check, and 
  to accomplish some task from the Securing Allies 
  table before they send reinforcements.
   Successfully completing any of the above will 
  grant the PCs a group of troopers (use the Town 
  Guard random encounter) who will then trek 
  toward Halfpoint on their own.
   To successfully complete this requirement 
  means that the party gets no fewer than two 
  groups of allies to Halfpoint by the time Flip’s 
  ill-considered crusade begins. If that happens, the 
  NPCs will effectively complete the “Kill Basyak” 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  portion of the quest on their own, without any 
  assistance from the party, resolving this quest 
  without the PCs’ direct involvement.
  Securing Allies
  City
  Requirements to Help Halfpoint
  Wintercliff
  Charisma (Persuasion) DC 11; Rescue 
  the rangers held captive by the orcs 
  (use the Orc Band random encounter)
  Northminster
  Charisma (Persuasion) DC 14; Help 
  the town guard root some goblins 
  from the sewers (use the Goblin Band 
  random encounter)
  Ringwood
  Charisma (Persuasion) DC 16; 
  Help the party investigate some 
  assassinations in the village (3 
  successful DC 12 Intelligence 
  (Investigation) checks from at least 3 
  different characters, characters who 
  fail cannot try again).
  Hengistbury
  Charisma (Persuasion) DC 11; stop 
  the kobolds from returning (use the 
  Kobold Cultists random encounter)
  Thornbury
  Charisma (Persuasion) DC 13; help 
  the town guard drive off some of the 
  remnants of the bandits (use the 
  Bandit Attack random encounter)
  If Halfpoint or Its Allies Are 
  Destroyed
  It is unusual, but possible, for the town of 
  Halfpoint (or any/all of the cities that might 
  help it out) to be destroyed by Cirothe before the 
  party gets a chance to solve the problems there. 
  If Halfpoint itself is destroyed, the orcs remain 
  powerful and will lay siege to another city near 
  the hills (you can determine this randomly, or 
  select from amongst Halfpoint’s remaining allies 
  for the next target). Vyswava remains imprisoned 
  with them, so the party must still break the horde, 
  but there is no more Flip to help out.
   Other potential allies being destroyed simply 
  indicate that the party cannot use them to secure 
  allies for Flip. If fewer than two potential allies 
  remain, helping out Flip via recruiting NPC allies 
  is no longer a viable course of action, and that 
  plan will not work.
  Rewards
  If the party successfully undoes the horde, they 
  gain the rewards for the adventure. They gain 
  a second star towards the Coward’s Map, and 
  treasure from the list below. The treasure can 
  come from booty from the orcs’ camp, or lavish 
  gifts from thankful halflings:
   
  ▶ Coins: 830 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: a violet garnet worth 200 gp
   
  ▶ Mundane Items: plate armor, alchemist’s 
  fire (3 flasks), acid (3 vials), magnifying glass 
  (worth 100 gp)
   
  ▶ Magic Items: potion of enhance ability (cat’s 
  grace)
  The Next Adventure
  Vyswava Fidap is one of the captives in Keldur 
  Fortress. A dwarven mercenary originally from 
  Last Chance, she came here seeking revenge on 
  the ogre Junog, who “took something that doesn’t 
  belong to him.” It turns out that in a deal gone 
  sour, Junog and some cronies double-crossed 
  Vyswava and her crew, taking a lot of loot, and 
  especially a mace that belonged to the Vyswava’s 
  father and her grandmother, a legacy of their time 
  before the coming of Cirothe. She is unwilling to 
  leave without getting it back from Junog, and will 
  follow the ogre to the ends of the earth to reclaim 
  it. She claims that she doesn’t want to be known 
  as the kind of person who runs away from things.
   Junog, it turns out, does not have the mace 
  anymore—he lost it to some ogres who double-
  crossed him, including an ogre with horns and 
  bright red skin. If Vyswava is able to confront 
  Junog about it here, she’ll beat a hasty path 
  toward Deepcrest Chasm, where those ogres fled 
  to. If Junog can flee without confronting Vyswava, 
  that is what he’ll do, mostly to lick his wounds 
  and report what happened to the orc alliance.
   If the PCs chase the mace or the ogre to 
  Deepcrest Chasm, it’ll lead to the next adventure 
  in the Coward’s Map series, “Down the Hatch.”
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Location: Keldur Fortress
  A massive fortified orc town in the heart of the 
  Crawley Hills, Keldur is a bulwark of stone and 
  wood, surrounded by camps of brave orc warriors 
  and presided over by tall watchtowers that see for 
  miles around. Not only is Keldur occupied by the 
  forces below, but if the alliance with the Bandits 
  of Blackford is still active, they will have an 
  additional contingent of 40 standard bandits.
  Residents of Keldur Fortress
   
  ▶ Chief Basyak (orc warchief with AC 18 
  (plate) and 119 hit points; this change 
  increases her Challenge Rating to 5 
  (1,800 XP))
   
  ▶ 2 orc subchiefs (berserkers)
   
  ▶ Makmig the Undying
   
  ▶ Dakam the Inevitable
   
  ▶ 3 orc shamans (druids)
   
  ▶ Koreva, Shaman of Strength
   
  ▶ Ritva, Shaman of Slaughter
   
  ▶ Kwenneg, Shaman of Vengeance
   
  ▶ 10 orogs
   
  ▶ 50 orcs
   
  ▶ 4 ogre mercenaries
   
  ▶ Junog, ogre
   
  ▶ Vyswava, dwarf guard
  Location: Halfpoint
  The town of Halfpoint was used by halflings 
  as a central market for their assorted farms 
  and gardens. As such, it represented a valuable 
  target for the orcs of the Crawley Hills. For many 
  generations, the orcs largely fought each other; 
  their occasional excursions to nearby towns 
  were easily repelled. However, now that Basyak 
  has whipped the orcs into an organized frenzy, 
  Halfpoint has been targeted—and it hasn’t fared 
  well. Guards from Holdenshire and the North 
  Riding have been helpful, but Halfpoint is slowly 
  losing the war and getting increasingly desperate. 
  The current plan for liberation involves a daring 
  dawn raid led by a halfling paladin named Flip, 
  who wants to take the last of the halfling guard 
  force into the main orc camp. This is destined to 
  fail, if they try it alone.
  Notable Residents of Halfpoint
   
  ▶ Flip, halfling paladin (knight with AC 19 
  (+1 plate) and 7th-level paladin features, 
  including a mastiff steed named Roger, and 
  the following spells.)
   
  ▶ 1st level (4 slots): compelled duel, cure 
  wounds, searing smite
   
  ▶ 2nd level (3 slots): branding smite, find 
  steed
   
  ▶ Mara, mayor of Halfpoint (noble)
   
  ▶ Jola, halfling warrior (scout)
   
  ▶ Halfpoint Town Guard (guards)
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  The Goblin War
  The Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane 2
  The Northbeach Woods was once a place of peace 
  and tranquility, with benevolent fey creatures 
  standing watch over a place of astonishing natural 
  beauty. The source of this idyllic peace was said 
  to be the unicorn that presided over Northbeach, 
  a wise and fatherly creature named Lorand, who 
  nurtured the joy in his abode, and defended it 
  nobly from outsiders. He was served most ably 
  by a robust community of gnomes, able tenders of 
  the fragile forest.
   However, a dark shadow has fallen across the 
  Northbeach Woods in recent years. Lorand has 
  gone missing, and from the East come monsters: 
  wolves, spiders, and goblins invading from 
  the Oldshade Woods, twisting the forest, and 
  destroying the communities of the gnomes.
  Goal: Rescue the Unicorn King
  As any gnome will tell any who listen, Lorand’s 
  absence is what is causing the forest to turn 
  from gleeful paradise to warped hellscape. The 
  goblins, the spiders, the wolves—these factions 
  aren’t allied, and are quite disparate. There is no 
  unified front. However, with Lorand missing, the 
  protective magic of the forest has lost its power, 
  calling to these creatures, beckoning them like the 
  stench of a corpse beckons to flies.
   The cause of the missing unicorn lies with a 
  visitor to the Northbeach Woods: an elf fletcher 
  named Sonina. She has come to the Northbeach 
  Woods to seek aid in a quest to harvest the venom 
  of the Spider Queen Sheeltielle, and was seeking 
  what knowledge the well-learned gnomes may 
  have on her when goblin spies overheard, and 
  abducted the Unicorn King, and then began a 
  slow invasion of the forest itself.
   Sonina seeks to mend what she has done wrong 
  before she proceeds with her plan—and she does 
  still plan on proceeding. She believes that if she 
  can find the Unicorn King and restore him to his 
  crown, that she can then pursue her own goals 
  freely. She currently lives in the gnomish town 
  of Friedswyld, located in a random hex in the 
  Northbeach Woods.
   For their part, the goblins have not slain Lorand 
  because of his value as a bargaining chip with the 
  spiders. The plan is for a contingent of spiders 
  to retrieve Lorand, and take him as an offering 
  to Queen Sheeltielle. The spiders, however, have 
  been slow to respond, so the goblins are largely 
  in a fragile holding pattern at the moment, with a 
  valuable sacrifice that is not entirely secured.
   You are encouraged to allow any reasonable 
  plan some chance of success, but there are three 
  options provided as default: performing a daring 
  raid on the prison, sneaking Lorand out, or 
  negotiating his release.
  Prerequisite: The Bandits of 
  Blackford
  If the Bandits of Blackford are still forging their 
  alliance, the goblins who have abducted Lorand 
  are in a position of great strength. Their alliance 
  with the bandits is helping them destroy the 
  legacy of the Unicorn King faster than they 
  ever thought possible, giving them muscle 
  and cleverness that they otherwise lack when 
  attacking fey settlements and gnome villages. 
  Without isolating the goblins, it’ll be impossible to 
  actually rescue Lorand—if the party raids one of 
  his suspected locations, he’ll simply be moved to 
  another.
   Without the bandit allies, the goblins are much 
  less coordinated and effective, meaning Lorand 
  can be located and rescued.
  Prerequisite: Finding Lorand’s Prison
  Lorand’s prison is in no set location. It lies 
  somewhere within the Northbeach Woods. As the 
  GM, you can either select a hex in those woods for 
  its location, or determine its location randomly: 
  for each hex the party explores in the Northbeach 
  Woods, there is a cumulative 10% chance that the 
  hex contains Lorand’s prison.
   Once the party is in the hex of Lorand’s prison, 
  they must still find the specific location of the 
  prison within the hex, and it is well-hidden, 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  requiring three successful DC 12 Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks from three different characters. 
  A failure of one of these checks means that the 
  character cannot try again. If the party fails to find 
  the prison, leaving the hex and re-entering it will 
  enable them to make another check, though they 
  must start the process of Wisdom (Perception) 
  checks over again. If you wish to make things 
  especially difficult, the prison could move after 
  each failed attempt, requiring the party to begin 
  the process of searching each hex all over again as 
  above.
  Plan: Breaking Lorand Out
  The prison is fairly well-defended, but certainly 
  not as robust as the orc or bandit camps that the 
  party is familiar with thus far. Given that the 
  party need only fight their way to the prison and 
  free Lorand, this may be a viable course of action 
  for them. See below to account for the creatures 
  present in Lorand’s Prison. If you have a suitable 
  map, you can run this simply as a series of fights 
  on a map. If not, you can be more abstract in the 
  liberation: to find Lorand’s cell, the party must 
  succeed on two DC 12 Intelligence checks. Failure 
  on one of those checks means that the party is 
  attacked by a group of the goblins that defend 
  the prison, and failure on both of those checks 
  means the prison is alerted to the party’s presence, 
  requiring them to retreat at least for one day while 
  the heat dies down.
   If the party is successful in finding the prison, 
  they can free Lorand with a successful DC 15 
  Dexterity (thieves’ tools) check—failing the check 
  again draws attention.
   Once the unicorn is freed from the webbing 
  binding him, Lorand will assist the party in his 
  own escape. He has one level of exhaustion from 
  the outset, however, due to his treatment at the 
  hands of the goblins.
  Plan: Sneaking Lorand Out
  If the party is more the “subterfuge and trickery” 
  type, they can infiltrate the goblin prison either 
  unseen, or posing as potential allies (bugbears, 
  hobgoblins, fellow goblins, or even possibly drow 
  representatives from the great spider Sheeltielle), 
  using the appropriate skills. One a goblin’s 
  Wisdom (Insight or Perception) is beat, you can 
  assume that goblin is deceived by that character 
  until it takes a full night’s sleep, or until the player 
  does something to violate that deception (e.g., a 
  sneaking character steps out into broad daylight 
  in front of the goblins). Similar to the above plan, 
  you can either use a map, or roll Intelligence 
  checks to find and navigate Lorand’s prison, 
  and then Dexterity checks to free him. Once 
  free, Lorand is a much better fighter than he is a 
  sneaker, but a clever PCs may be able to disguise 
  him sufficiently.
  Plan: Negotiating Lorand’s Release
  The Unicorn King is quite the prize for the goblins, 
  but they can be persuaded to give him up for a 
  greater prize…or under greater threat. They are 
  in a position of power and authority now, and 
  won’t be easily talked into a deal without being 
  persuaded. They can be persuaded by persuading 
  the jailer that their life is at stake, and by offering 
  them a better option than staying and dying to 
  protect their cargo.
   Convincing them that their lives are at stake 
  involves whittling away the defenses of Lorand’s 
  Prison, and perhaps some subtle deception by 
  the party. As long as at least 50% of the force of 
  the prison is alive and present, the Jailer will not 
  entertain other options. The Jailer also will not 
  consider options as long as any of the spiders in 
  the prison remain alive. Once these requirements 
  are met, the Jailer will begin to fear for his hide 
  and the success of defending their prisoner, and is 
  willing to make a deal. He will be willing to part 
  with Lorand for 5,000 gp (or the equivalent value 
  in items). If the prison population is reduced 
  to 25%, he’ll reduce that demand to 2,500 gp 
  (or the equivalent value in items). The prison is 
  abandoned the day after he receives his payment, 
  except for Lorand, who is still in a cage within the 
  prison.
   It’s important to note that despite the fact 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  that Sonina is the cause of Lorand’s capture, the 
  goblins don’t particularly want to capture her. The 
  creatures have used her venom-gathering as an 
  excuse, but were truly just looking for a reason to 
  grab Lorand and offer him to their spider-lords.
  Rewards
  If the party successfully rescues Lorand, they gain 
  a second star towards the Quiver of the Dragon’s 
  Bane and treasure according to the list below. 
  The treasure can come from booty from Lorand’s 
  prison, or lavish gifts from thankful gnomes:
   
  ▶ Coins: 679 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: a lapis lazuli worth 9 gp
   
  ▶ Magic Items: +1 greatclub, spell scrolls of 
  remove fear, enhance ability (bull’s strength), 
  and scorching ray
  The Next Adventure
  Once Lorand is free and in power again, Sonina 
  feels safe enough to embark on her own journey 
  to the Oldshade Woods to finally harvest 
  Sheeltielle’s venom. She offers to pay the PCs to 
  accompany her, and to help her secure it. If she 
  can, she believes that even the spiders will be 
  safe—Cirothe’s dominance cannot be trusted. 
  If the PCs accompany her, move on to the next 
  adventure in the Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane 
  series, “A Great Poison.”
  Location: Lorand’s Prison
  Lorand’s prison is a structure of wood built into 
  a cave in the forest. It is well-protected and well-
  guarded, with several goblins, bugbears, and 
  hobgoblins joining forces with wolves and spiders 
  to ensure that the Unicorn King cannot escape 
  while the spiders assemble for transport.
  Residents of Lorand’s Prison
   
  ▶ 3 hobgoblin mercenaries
   
  ▶ 6 bugbear mercenaries
   
  ▶ 1 goblin jailer (goblin boss)
   
  ▶ 30 goblins
   
  ▶ 5 goblins with worgs
   
  ▶ 5 giant wolf spiders
  Down the Hatch
  The Coward’s Map 3
  Vyswava Fidap has been a smuggler for many 
  years now, dealing in less-savory goods from 
  less-savory characters, including the ogres that 
  live in and around Deepcrest Chasm. Like many 
  who work with criminals, Vyswava fell prey to 
  a double-cross when the ogre mercenary Junog 
  proposed an alliance—then promptly killed most 
  of her crew and robbed her blind.
   Vyswava lost an item very important to her—a 
  mace she carried that was passed down to her 
  from her father and her grandmother, a mace said 
  to have protected the dwarves as they fled from 
  the mountains that Cirothe assaulted. Vyswava is 
  part of a group of dwarves known as the Cowards, 
  who now live in Last Chance, and who fled before 
  the onslaught of Cirothe while others stayed and 
  fought. Her clan besmirched, her people poverty-
  stricken, she has lived life taking what she can 
  from who she can, with little regard to charity 
  toward people who would give her none.
   Of course, as the events of “Halfpints in 
  Halfpoint” should make clear, Junog himself lost 
  the mace to other, meaner ogres out of Deepcrest 
  Chasm. Vyswava is not willing to abandon the 
  mace, and so her only choice is to try and wrest it 
  from their grasp—possibly with the PCs’ help.
  Goal: Retrieve Vyswava’s Mace
  The ogres that Junog lost his mace to live in 
  Deepcrest Chasm and are rumored to be the 
  spawn of demons. The party must accompany 
  Vyswava as she locates and retrieves it.
   While the GM is encouraged to allow any solid 
  plan a chance at working in retrieving the mace, 
  there are three main scenarios presented as default 
  options: by force, by stealth, and by diplomacy.
  Prerequisite: Free Vyswava and Talk 
  to Junog
  Without knowing the story of Vyswava, the mace, 
  and Junog, the party isn’t likely to just stumble 
  into this mission. During the previous adventure, 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  the party has an opportunity to talk to both of 
  them—Vyswava assuming Junog still has her 
  mace, and Junog ready to admit that he doesn’t 
  if it’ll save his hide. If the party has managed to 
  destroy the orcs and yet hasn’t talked to Vyswava 
  and Junog, they can still be contacted by Vyswava 
  independently when they are in Last Chance, 
  where she will appear and ask them, as the people 
  who destroyed the orc alliance, to help her recover 
  her mace.
  Prerequisite: Find Out Who Has the 
  Mace (and Where They Are)
  Once the party is on the hunt for the mace and the 
  ogre that Junog lost it to. Junog is able to provide 
  some hints, and will readily do so if threatened—
  the mace was taken along with much of the rest of 
  his booty by a red-skinned, curly-horned ogre and 
  his buddies.
   If the party still needs to discover who has the 
  mace, they can try to persuade other ogres to 
  talk to them—a DC 17 Charisma (Intimidation 
  or Persuasion) check will get any particular ogre 
  to confess that an ogre named Yoog fits Junog’s 
  description. The party can also attempt a DC 15 
  Intelligence (Investigation) check in Last Chance 
  to learn this info.
   Yoog’s house can be in any hex that overlaps 
  with Deepcrest Chasm (you can either decide, 
  or roll randomly). The party can find it if they 
  are directed to it, or if they succeed in a DC 14 
  Wisdom (Survival) check in the hex where it is 
  located.
  Plan: Beat Them Up and Take It
  The ogre band is less numerous (though more 
  powerful) than the orc and bandit bands the 
  party has encountered thus far. It shouldn’t be 
  entirely beyond their capabilities to whittle the 
  inhabitants of Yoog’s House down via violence, 
  though they may have to be careful not to bring 
  down the entire ogre band on them at once. Once 
  the ogre band is eliminated, they’re free to take 
  the treasure from the basement of Yoog’s house, 
  including the mace.
  Plan: Sneak In and Grab It
  Ogres are not necessarily known for their keen 
  senses, and it is entirely possible to sneak 
  into Yoog’s house and grab the mace without 
  anyone being the wiser. A character might 
  sneak in directly making Dexterity (Stealth) 
  checks opposed by the ogres’ passive Wisdom 
  (Perception), or they may try to use trickery, 
  deceit, and disguise to infiltrate the house using 
  Charisma (Deception) checks opposed by the 
  ogres’ Wisdom (Insight). Regardless, once a check 
  is successful against a given inhabitant, there’s 
  no need to check that particular inhabitant again 
  during that day, unless the deception is revealed 
  or the burglar is found.
  Plan: Trade for It
  Ogres are also not necessarily known for being 
  savvy customers or equitable traders, but it is 
  possible to give Yoog something he values far 
  more than yet another rusty old mace. Specifically, 
  he had given some demons a powerful giantkin 
  sword that he regrets giving to them, and would 
  gladly exchange the mace for that blade. The party 
  must face three different Demon Band encounters, 
  but once the blade is wrested from their control 
  and given to Yoog, he’ll gladly give up the old 
  mace in exchange for his greater ability to wreak 
  havoc on travelers near Deepcrest (including 
  the party if they stay too long). He can also be 
  persuaded to part with it for up to 6,000 gp (or 
  the equivalent in items), or half that (3,000 gp) 
  if the party manages to kill off at least half of 
  the residents of Yoog’s House before opening 
  negotiations.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Rewards
  Once the party has reunited Vyswava with her 
  family’s mace, they gain the third star towards 
  the Coward’s Map, and treasure according to the 
  list below. The treasure can come from booty from 
  Yoog’s house, or as a gift from Vyswava’s private 
  stash of goods:
   
  ▶ Coins: 901 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: an iolite worth 30 gp, amber worth 
  100 gp, moss agate worth 8 gp, and a violet 
  garnet worth 400 gp
   
  ▶ Mundane Items: hand-crafted silver bells 
  (100 gp for the set), fine lock (150 gp, requires 
  a DC 20 Dexterity (thieves’ tools) check to 
  pick), bullseye lantern,
   
  ▶ Magic Items: +1 longbow, arrow-catching 
  shield, bag of holding filled with 500 gp worth 
  of small emeralds
  In addition to the treasure, Vyswava takes the 
  mace when it is returned to her, and inspects it to 
  ensure that it’s the real thing. In the inspection, 
  she manages to flip a catch she hadn’t noticed 
  before on the base of the thing, opening the 
  bottom of the mace on steel hinges, and revealing 
  an old map inside. Vyswava is shocked, but 
  knows what this must be: this was the map that 
  her family used to lead the Cowards out of the 
  Desolation when Cirothe attacked, and shows 
  a secret path through Deephall Point into the 
  Desolation. She gives the map to the party as a 
  token of her appreciation, and in the hopes that 
  they can smash Cirothe once and for all. She 
  hopes that aiding in the dragon’s downfall will 
  help her family and the rest of the Cowards be 
  redeemed for their initial display of cowardice.
  The Next Adventure
  This adventure does not lead directly into another, 
  but the party may be in a good place to start 
  earning stars toward another key item. They 
  should already have one star toward the Quiver 
  of the Dragon’s Bane, so they may wish to see what 
  happened to the gnomes of Northbeach. They’re 
  also located near Last Chance, and familiar 
  with the Cowards, so they may be able to find 
  Theobod and start working toward the Hammer of 
  Vengeance.
  Location: Yoog’s House
  Yoog, the ogre that has come to possess the mace, 
  is a powerful half-demon ogre who lives in a set 
  of ruins just on the edge of Deepcrest Chasm. The 
  ruins are actually the ruins of a temple dedicated 
  to the demon that is Yoog’s mother, but she has 
  long since been destroyed and forgotten about, 
  leaving only Yoog and his band of ogres.
  Residents of Yoog’s House
   
  ▶ 10 ogres
   
  ▶ Aavarg, friendly troll
   
  ▶ Yoog, half-demon ogre (the ogre gains 
  resistance to fire damage and bludgeoning, 
  piercing, and slashing damage from 
  nonmagical attacks, as well as a breath 
  weapon he can use as an action.
   
  ▶ Fire Breath. The ogre exhales fire in a 
  15-foot cone. Each creature in that area 
  must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving 
  throw, taking 24 (7d6) fire damage on a 
  failed save, or half as much damage on a 
  successful one.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  A Great Poison
  The Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane 3
  The spiders of the Oldshade Woods have long 
  lived on the fringes of society, and have not 
  suffered an incursion by civilization, or by 
  Cirothe, in all their existence. Intelligent workers 
  of dark magic, the spiders have remained secure 
  in their holdings, led by their queen Sheeltielle.
   In seeking a weapon that can kill Cirothe, the 
  elves of Greendell have discovered why Cirothe 
  has never bothered to attack the Oldshade. It 
  seems that Sheeltielle’s poison could kill even 
  Cirothe, if it could be injected into her blood. 
  Always cautious, Cirothe had decided not to 
  dominate the Oldshade Woods quite at this point.
   The elf fletcher Sonina has come seeking allies 
  in her attempt to harvest Sheeltielle’s venom. 
  After failing to recruit the gnomes in Northbeach, 
  she has found the PCs, and has asked for their 
  help, for the sake of all the people of the land.
  Goal: Get Sheeltielle’s Venom
  To complete the weapon that may help bring 
  down Cirothe, Sonina needs the raw ingredient, 
  accept no substitutes: the Spider Queen’s venom.
   While the GM is advised to give any reasonable 
  plan a decent shot at working, three strategies that 
  might result in the party getting their hands on 
  the venom are detailed herein: slaying Sheeltielle, 
  getting her to bite something that can preserve 
  her venom, or getting her to give up her venom 
  willingly to the elves.
  Prerequisite: Enable Sonina to Help
  Without Sonina, the party won’t be able to put the 
  venom into the eventual weapon. She has trained 
  her life for this, much as the party has trained 
  to kill goblins and bandits. Her methods of 
  preservation and skill with enchanting are going 
  to be key, and without recovering her from her 
  encamped locale in Northbeach, there’s going to 
  be no way to preserve or use the venom that the 
  party may harvest here.
  Prerequisite: Finding the Spider’s Lair
  In order to get Sheeltielle’s Venom, the party 
  must first locate her lair. It may exist in any hex 
  that includes or is adjacent to both forest and 
  mountains. You can determine which one it is, or 
  roll randomly to determine it.
   When the party is in the hex with the Spider’s 
  Lair, at least two different characters must succeed 
  on a DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check to uncover 
  the entrance to the web-covered woodlands. A 
  character can only retry this check by leaving the 
  hex and re-entering it.
  Plan: Slaying Sheeltielle
  Sheeltielle is clever, but she is also old and brittle; 
  perhaps at this point her bark is worse than her 
  bite. She can be slain, though to do so may mean 
  cutting a bloody swath through most of her court, 
  surely requiring some handy defenses against 
  poisons at the least.
   If Sheeltielle can be slain, the venom can be 
  harvested easily by Sonina during a night’s rest 
  spent with the corpse.
  Plan: Bait for the Bite
  Sheeltielle doesn’t need to be slain in order to 
  harvest her venom. Indeed, she hands it out 
  fairly generously to prey animals and those who 
  challenge her on a fairly regular basis. In order 
  to get enough of her venom for Sonina, the party 
  is going to need to take a creature she has killed 
  that is size Large or larger. She hunts once a week 
  (you can roll randomly for the day), and during 
  her hunt, she kills two Large creatures, and brings 
  them back to her lair for later eating. She usually 
  keeps multiple living Large creatures bound in 
  her lair to eat at some later date as well. The party 
  may be able to grab one of her previous victims’ 
  corpses from the web, though doing so will surely 
  alert several of the black widows, if not Sheeltielle 
  herself—doing so stealthily will require at least 
  three different characters to succeed in a DC 16 
  Dexterity (Stealth) check—no character can retry 
  a failed check for this purpose—and hefting the 
  Large creature requires at least two different 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  characters to succeed on a DC 13 Strength check 
  (again, no retries).
   Once the party makes it out of immediate 
  danger with the creatures’ corpse, Sonina can 
  extract the poison from it during a long rest.
   As a side-note, though it is grisly, Sonina can 
  make use of a living creature who is actively 
  poisoned as well. As the venom thus remains 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  more pure, a Medium-sized creature is sufficient, 
  but the creature must be under the effects of 
  a feign death or protection from poison spell or 
  a similar effect for the entire duration of the 
  trip, lest the poison kill them and its potency be 
  spent. If the spell can be kept up indefinitely 
  or consistently recast until the party comes to 
  Greendell, it is a valid approach.
  Plan: Enemy of My Enemy
  Sheeltielle is not an irrational being, and she well 
  knows the danger that Cirothe poses to her own 
  family and her own people. While she is primarily 
  self-interested and quite cruel and hungry, her 
  goals are not necessarily divergent from the goals 
  of the elves on this matter, and a diplomatic 
  approach can bear fruit.
   In order to convince Sheeltielle to donate some 
  venom, the party must first get an audience with 
  her, and that will require subduing (but not 
  killing) at least one member of her Court, and 
  getting that spider to deliver a message. This 
  requires a DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) check 
  followed by a DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check 
  once the spider stops trying to kill the party.
   In the audience with Sheeltielle, three different 
  characters must succeed on a total of three DC 16 
  Charisma (Persuasion) checks to convince her of 
  the offer. If the party fails here, Sheeltielle and her 
  entire court will likely attack the party at once. If 
  the party succeeds, she kills a Large animal with 
  her venom, and give it to the party, demanding 
  that they remember her generosity when she 
  comes to devour their children as they lie in their 
  beds.
  Rewards
  Once the party has given Sonina what she needs, 
  and has accompanied her back to the Greendell, 
  they complete the quest. They gain the third star 
  towards the Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane, and 
  treasure according to the list below. The treasure 
  can come from booty from Sheeltielle’s lair, or 
  as a gift from the elves of Greendell for finally 
  enabling a weapon to be built:
   
  ▶ Coins: 303 gp
   
  ▶ Mundane Items: 3 flasks of alchemist’s fire, 
  a suit of plate armor, and 10 days worth of 
  rations
   
  ▶ Magic Items: 10 +1 arrows (or +1 bolts), and a 
  periapt of proof against poison
  In addition to the treasure, the elves become 
  convinced that the PCs’ party is the land’s best 
  hope against the assault of Cirothe, and offer them 
  the Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane, as representatives 
  of the elves’ hope.
  The Next Adventure
  This adventure does not lead directly into another, 
  but the party may be in a good place to start 
  earning stars toward another key item. They 
  should already have at least one star toward the 
  Coward’s Map, so they may wish to see what 
  happened to the halflings of Halfpoint. They’re 
  also located near Greendell Forest, and familiar 
  with the elves of Greendell, giving them cause to 
  take up the mission to learn Cirothe’s True Name.
  Location: The Spider’s Lair
  This area of Oldshade is not readily accessible 
  from most areas, given to thickly wooded hillsides 
  that are draped in webbing. It is the location of 
  Sheeltielle, the Spider Queen, and she keeps it 
  well-hidden. She lives there with her court of 
  giant black widow spiders that serve her as their 
  royal queen.
  Residents of the Spider’s Lair
   
  ▶ 8 awakened giant wolf spiders
   
  ▶ 2 awakened black widow giant spiders
   
  ▶ 2 awakened black widow priests (give the 
  giant spider spellcasting as a priest)
   
  ▶ Sheeltielle, awakened black widow sorcerer 
  (give the giant spider the spellcasting 
  abilities of a mage, using Charisma as her 
  spellcasting ability. Increase her Charisma 
  score to 17 (+3). This increases her Challenge 
  Rating to 7 (2,900 XP))
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Trollwood
  The Hammer of Vengeance 1
  The trolls in Oldshade have lived there as long 
  as the goblins and the spiders, and have been 
  considered among the most dangerous residents 
  there. They are savage brutes, and mostly keep to 
  themselves, hunting nearly as wild animals in the 
  tangled thickness. Rumors have circulated in Last 
  Chance about a new force in the Oldshade Forest, 
  organizing the trolls into an elite fighting unit, 
  outfitting them with high-quality weapons and 
  armor, and the people of Last Chance are scared of 
  what may come thundering out of the woods.
   One dwarf among the Cowards in Last Chance 
  is especially concerned about the trolls and their 
  recent activities. He enjoys an unusual level of 
  respect in the town—the other dwarf refugees 
  speak of his name in hushed tones, and keep him 
  quite secret from the non-dwarves in Last Chance. 
  His name is Theobod, and rumor has it he knows 
  some secret about the slaying of Cirothe that he’d 
  be willing to share…with the right heroes.
   The PCs may be those right heroes, but they 
  must prove themselves to him. Theobod is 
  willing to tell them his secrets, if they can earn his 
  trust…by killing the troll elder in Oldshade, and 
  returning with his head.
  Goal: Get the Troll Elder’s Head
  The goal here is clear and explicit, and involves 
  at least one direct murder—which the rest of the 
  trolls and their allies are not going to like.
   The GM is encouraged to permit most any 
  reasonable plan a chance at working, but there are 
  at least three ways of getting the head: killing the 
  troll elder, getting the troll elder killed by the rest 
  of the camp, or somehow fabricating a false head 
  and presenting that to Theobod.
  Prerequisite: Get Theobod to 
  Consider a Meeting
  The party must get Theobod to propose to them 
  this mission before it has any meaning—without 
  having him specifically request the troll elder’s 
  head, there’s no value in acquiring it. This 
  requires that the party have acquired at least three 
  stars from storyline-related quests. Once the party 
  is known fairly widely, Theobod begins to believe 
  they may have a chance to challenge Cirothe—his 
  people will seek them out, and will inform the 
  party of the deal.
  Prerequisite: Find Camp Zesu
  Camp Zesu can be located in any hex in the 
  Oldshade Woods. You can choose a hex, or roll 
  randomly. Once the characters find the hex it is 
  located in, Camp Zesu is not difficult to find—the 
  snarls and roars from the trolls and giants are 
  easily audible.
  Plan: Kill the Troll Elder
  Camp Zesu is a formidable challenge for a small 
  party, given the savagery of the creatures that 
  live there, but a canny party can whittle the force 
  down over many days with guerilla assaults. The 
  troll elder is rarely found without the company of 
  the two troll fighters that are his choice students, 
  and at least one of the cave giants, but it is 
  possible to isolate him and end him quickly. The 
  party will need a few extra minutes to sever the 
  head, but once that is done, the party may retreat 
  without having to engage more than the bare 
  minimum number of adversaries.
  Plan: Turn the Camp on Itself
  The trolls in Camp Zesu don’t take kindly to being 
  bossed around, even by the elder, and they seem 
  to understand that their leader is being cowed 
  by a hill giant. If the giant can be taken out, the 
  camp will naturally fall apart, but that won’t give 
  the party the head they need. To ensure that the 
  party’s dirty work is done by the other trolls, they 
  need to actually persuade these hungry, savage 
  beasts that their elder is weak. The first step 
  would be to weaken the leader: If the PCs can 
  kill the cave trolls, and challenge the elder and 
  then escape, this gives the rest of the trolls some 
  evidence as to their leader’s vulnerability. If the 
  party wants the head of the elder, they must invite 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  the other trolls to participate, which requires 
  a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check against 
  each troll. Getting to a circumstance where one 
  can make a Charisma check against a troll is an 
  interesting challenge in and of itself, and may 
  include taking a hostage, or even talking to the 
  trolls while battling them. Once the party has 
  convinced 4 of them to participate in the rebellion, 
  the others will fall into line fairly readily. The 
  party can either arrange for the delivery of the 
  head by offering the trolls a bribe (a few thousand 
  “flat shinies” should do it!), or they can retrieve 
  the head themselves. In order to do that, they’re 
  going to have to fight one of the trolls for it: they 
  want to claim it as their own prize.
  Plan: Trick Theobod
  Theobod is smart and cautious, but if the PCs are 
  especially crafty or duplicitous, they may be able 
  to get the better of him. They can manufacture 
  a fake head in many ways (including possibly 
  illusion magic), and in order to pass it off they 
  just need to beat three opposed Wisdom (Insight 
  or Perception) checks against their Charisma 
  (Deception) from the dwarves that examine the 
  item. They can also attempt to bluff their way into 
  success by lying to Theobod in the same way. For 
  his part, Theobod and the rest of the dwarves are 
  eager to find someone who can give them hope, 
  and are inclined to believe the party after some 
  initial prodding. It’s even hypothetically possible 
  to admit that they could not grab the head and 
  use Charisma (Persuasion) checks to convince 
  Theobod to help the party anyway, though in that 
  case the dwarf may not be quite so generous or 
  friendly after this adventure.
  Rewards
  Once the party has given Theobod an item he 
  accepts, they complete the quest. They gain the 
  first star towards the Hammer of Vengeance and 
  treasure according to the list below. The treasure 
  can come from booty from the troll camp, or as a 
  gift from the dwarves of Last Chance, given in the 
  hopes it can be put to good use:
   
  ▶ Coins: 481 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: golden pearl (60 gp), azurite (15 gp)
   
  ▶ Magic Items: spell scroll of hypnotic pattern, 
  potion of jump, potion of shield of faith
  The Next Adventure
  This adventure leads directly to the next 
  adventure in the Hammer of Vengeance line, Of 
  the Big and the Small. Theobod, having begun to 
  trust the PCs, speaks of how he is an escapee from 
  Deephall Point, where many of his people still live 
  in slavery. The reason the dwarves of Last Chance 
  have been so respectful is due to his lineage as 
  a Troyeh—one of the priest families of the old 
  dwarven kingdom. He knows of the last weapon 
  developed by the dwarves, but never employed: 
  the Hammer of Vengeance, which sits in the Shrine 
  of the Forge-God in Deephall Point, a place that 
  has never been invaded by the giants that have 
  otherwise taken it over and turned into a weapon-
  production facility using dwarf slave labor.
  Location: Camp Zesu
  A training camp for trolls run by the troll elder 
  and supervised by a hill giant from Deephall 
  Point, Camp Zesu is dedicated to transforming 
  wild, savage trolls into an organized fighting force. 
  The camp consists mostly of a cleared area of 
  trees, scored deeply by claws, and a few makeshift 
  branch huts. The ground is stained red-black with 
  the ichor of trolls for several dozen feet around 
  the camp.
  Residents of Camp Zesu
   
  ▶ 4 trolls
   
  ▶ 6 puny trolls (grown from recently-severed 
  limbs and still weak; use the troll stat 
  block, but reduce its hp to 45 and remove 
  its Multiattack action; this decreases its 
  Challenge Rating to 3 (700 XP))
   
  ▶ 1 troll elder (a troll with four arms, allowing 
  it to make five attacks with its Multiattack 
  action; this increases its Challenge Rating to 
  6 (2,300 XP))
   
  ▶ 1 hill giant supervisor
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Of the Big and the Small
  The Hammer of Vengeance 2
  In the wake of Cirothe’s ravaging of the area 
  now known as the Desolation, the dwarven 
  communities in the mountains began a long, 
  protracted war against her. The war was hard-
  fought by the dwarves, but slowly, over many 
  months, with heavy attrition, the dwarves lost. 
  They could hold up in their towns for many 
  months against Cirothe’s external assaults, but 
  Cirothe made an early alliance that the dwarves 
  had more trouble defending against: the hill 
  giants, which cut them off from escape, and from 
  outside help.
   The final dwarven town to fall was also the 
  most magnificent. Deephall Point stood as a 
  bastion for the dwarves and a temple to their god, 
  the Forge Lord, but as Cirothe watched from the 
  outside, the hill giants invaded from the tunnels 
  in the mountains below. Deephall’s fall came as 
  a whimper amidst the raging war of Cirothe’s 
  arrival, the final sign that her rule would not be 
  easily contested. When it fell, there was no great 
  earthquake, no tremendous magic. The people 
  of the plains merely heard from the dwarves one 
  week, and the next week…silence. And silence for 
  every week thereafter.
   Until a dwarf arose amongst the Cowards of 
  Last Chance, a dwarf bearing the last name of 
  the priests of old: Troyeh. He came as an escapee, 
  fleeing Deephall Point, and telling of what had 
  happened since the end of the war.
   Now, Deephall Point is ruled by hill giants 
  who have yoked the dwarves there into making 
  weapons and armor for them. The hill giants 
  marshal their forces for an assault on the lowlands, 
  empowered by a demonic advisor who has the 
  chief’s ear.
   The Troyeh also speaks of a magic that would 
  have saved Deephall, but that had never been 
  used: a hammer said to be able to destroy 
  Cirothe’s source of power, called the Hammer of 
  Vengeance. He says that it lies within Deephall 
  Point still, in a cloistered region where the hill 
  giants could never go. And the party may be just 
  the kind of people to help the priest recover it, 
  and finally liberate the dwarves that remained in 
  Deephall.
  Goal: Retrieve the Hammer of 
  Vengeance
  The stories that Theobod Troyeh tells about the 
  fate of Deephall Point are true, and there is a 
  weapon there built to destroy Cirothe that has 
  never been used. Cirothe knew about it, and 
  struck before the dwarves could use it against 
  her. She knew that the source of her spellcasting 
  power, a demon named Azaziz, would be very 
  vulnerable to attack and that, if he were slain, 
  she would become significantly disempowered. 
  She destroyed Deephall Point with the help of 
  some demons in Azaziz’s employ, who in turn 
  employed a great amount of cave giants in the 
  endeavor.
   In the end, there is a room where the demons 
  fear to tread, and where the giants have not 
  bothered to explore (being largely happy with 
  accumulating wealth and power), and that room 
  holds the weapon that was going to be used 
  against Azaziz: a magical hammer capable of 
  silencing his patronage and severing Cirothe’s 
  ties with magic, if it slays him. This room is long 
  forgotten, even by the dwarf slaves—Theobod 
  only learned of it amongst the Cowards in Last 
  Chance. He hopes that by returning with some 
  mercenaries, he’ll be able to reclaim it.
   Theobod knows a route into Deephall Point 
  through the mountains. It is dangerous and risky, 
  but it will lead back to Deephall, where the party 
  can reclaim the Hammer. Once at Deephall, the 
  GM is encouraged to let any reasonable plan work 
  to retrieve the Hammer. There are three likely-
  to-work plans presented here: taking it by force, 
  taking it by stealth, or taking it by manipulating 
  the cave giants.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Prerequisite: Get Theobod on Board
  Without Theobod, the party cannot open the 
  door to the room where the Hammer of Vengeance 
  lies—he alone knows the old prayer that will 
  open it, passed down in song from his mother and 
  grandmother. Without him, there is no hope of 
  retrieving the hammer, even if the party makes it 
  into Deephall Point.
  Prerequisite: Getting To Deephall 
  Point and Finding the Forgotten 
  Shrine
  The party can go to Deephall via any of their 
  available routes (which may, at this point, include 
  the directions in the Coward’s Map). If they 
  follow Theobod, he directs them to pass through 
  the mountains south of Deephall Point to gain 
  entrance to the place.
   Once the party is in the Deephall Point hex, 
  they can go about exploring Deephall Point itself. 
  For each day the party spends exploring Deephall 
  Point, itself, they can roll a Wisdom (Perception), 
  Intelligence (Religion), or Wisdom (Survival) 
  check to find the location of the forgotten shrine 
  where the Hammer of Vengeance lies.
  Plan: Take It by Force
  The cave giants will put up a reasonable defense 
  of their home, along with their monitor lizards, 
  but the real dangers in taking it by force are the 
  shadow demon and the 3 specters, none of which 
  are easily noticed before the assault. If the party 
  can manage to dispel the specters and destroy the 
  shadow demon, the hill giants won’t be especially 
  interested in sticking around, and the party can 
  access the Forgotten Shrine itself, as long as they 
  have Theobod with them.
  Plan: Sneak It Out
  The specters and the shadow demon are the major 
  obstacles to sneaking the Hammer out. The hill 
  giants aren’t the cleverest, and their guard isn’t 
  robust, but the unseen threats that lie before the 
  Forgotten Shrine are eternally watchful, and are 
  much more likely to notice characters trying to 
  sneak in. Once one enemy is successfully avoided 
  with by making a Dexterity (Stealth) against their 
  passive Wisdom (Perception), no extra checks 
  need to take place on that same day unless the 
  characters do something to negate their stealth.
   Still, it is possible. The biggest hiccup in this 
  plan is opening the Forgotten Shrine, which 
  requires that Theobod sing. Once the shrine is 
  opened, the party can run in and grab the Hammer 
  of Vengeance—thus empowered, they may be able 
  to fight their way out.
  Plan: Get It Delivered
  The party can manipulate the hill giants into 
  getting the item for them, but this will require 
  some elaborate lies and some persuasive words. 
  The giants are potentially interested in wealth 
  and authority, but they are effectively cowed by 
  the shadow demon and terrified of the wailing 
  dwarven specters. They are willing to sing a song 
  in front of the door to open it, and they don’t 
  really need to understand the context—a DC 15 
  Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check will 
  convince a single giant to perform the deed for 
  about 2,000 gp.
   It’s important to note that the giants will not 
  deal with dwarves—they see all dwarves as 
  possible candidates for slavery, and refuse to look 
  at them as potentially persuasive individuals. 
  Thus, Theobod will also need to be convinced 
  to teach a non-dwarf PCs the song, so that they 
  can teach the giants in turn. Theobod is reluctant 
  himself—two DC 17 Charisma (Persuasion) 
  checks from different characters are required to 
  convince him—viewing his mother’s lullaby as 
  something very sacred to him that he would 
  rather not entrust to the giants who have enslaved 
  his people.
   Getting a giant to open the door is only half the 
  battle, of course. Once the door is open, the enemy 
  party is going to be interested in what lies beyond, 
  and isn’t likely to give up something as pretty 
  and interesting as the Hammer—especially once 
  the shadow demon lays eyes on it, as the demon 
  knows the nature of the thing.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
   The specters attack any creature that opens the 
  door, including the giants and the shadow demon, 
  perhaps enabling the party to make off with the 
  Hammer in the ensuing melee, or to take out the 
  surviving party more efficiently after all is said 
  and done. The party might even be able to get 
  its initial investment back, if the cave giant they 
  persuaded to sing is destroyed.
  Rewards
  Once the party has escaped Deephall Point 
  with the Hammer of Vengeance, the adventure is 
  complete. They gain the second star towards the 
  Hammer of Vengeance, and treasure according to 
  the list below. The treasure can come from booty 
  from the giant lair, or as a gift from Theobod when 
  the party gets back to Last Chance, in appreciation 
  for their help:
   
  ▶ Coins: 407 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: an amethyst worth 90 gp, a black star 
  sapphire worth 400 gp, a chrysoprase worth 
  40 gp, a citrine worth 30 gp, an emerald 
  worth 1,100 gp, an obsidian gem worth 8 gp, 
  and one rich purple corundum worth 900 gp
   
  ▶ Magic Items: spell scroll of arcane lock
  The Next Adventure
  This adventure leads directly to the next 
  adventure in the Hammer of Vengeance line, 
  Dig Deep. With the recovery of the Hammer of 
  Vengeance, Theobod knows precisely how to use 
  it: the source of Cirothe’s divine magic, a rift deep 
  within Deepcrest Chasm linked to a particular 
  item known as the Rift Crystal. The Hammer was 
  made specifically to destroy that crystal, and seal 
  Cirothe’s divine magic forever. Theobod is eager 
  to go himself, but will also trust the party with the 
  deed.
  Location: The Forgotten Shrine
  This place has been largely overlooked by the hill 
  giants who have taken over Deephall Point, but a 
  group of them—lead by a demon who knows that 
  something is hiding within the shrine—dwells 
  around the entrance. Undead spirits also dwell 
  around the shrine. The demon keeps an eye on the 
  area, and keeps the giants penned in to serve as 
  the first line of defense.
  Residents of the Forgotten Shrine
   
  ▶ 9 hill giants
   
  ▶ 4 giant lizards
   
  ▶ 1 shadow demon
   
  ▶ 3 specters
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Dig Deep
  The Hammer of Vengeance 3
  When Cirothe was a mewling little dragonling, 
  hundreds of years ago, she was involved in 
  an incident in the area that is now known as 
  Deepcrest Chasm: the very creation of that 
  chasm by opening a dark portal far beneath the 
  earth. The forces involved in that creation rent 
  the ground asunder, and opened a portal into 
  another universe, rife with demons. As a thanks 
  for bringing them into this world, the demons 
  imparted great power onto Cirothe, gifting her 
  with demonic magic harvested from the seed 
  of the demons’ presence in this world: a crystal 
  sphere known as the Rift Crystal.
   In Cirothe’s ascent to power, the dwarves she 
  fought against learned of this source of power 
  and built a weapon specifically to destroy it: the 
  Hammer of Vengeance. They never got to use the 
  hammer, however—Cirothe crushed the great 
  stronghold of Deephall Point before they got 
  a chance to do so. The creators of the hammer 
  became slaves to the giants that followed in 
  Cirothe’s wake, and so the hammer was lost to 
  the ages…until an ancestor of those dwarves 
  managed to escape and get outside help.
   Now, the party has the Hammer of Vengeance, 
  and they can use it for its intended purpose: to 
  crush the source of Cirothe’s evil magic, in the 
  heart of Deepcrest Chasm.
  Goal: Destroy the Rift Crystal
  Theobod knows of the origins of Cirothe’s power. 
  It is whispered in the lyrics of the song his mother 
  passed down to him: in the depths of the earth, 
  a cracked crystal lies in the hands of a demonic 
  assassin named Azaziz, who dwells at the spot 
  where that pact was made all those years ago: in 
  the remains of the cave where Cirothe laired as a 
  young dragon.
   Once the party finds and gets into the cave, they 
  will meet Azaziz and his minions, all of whom 
  are quite invested in keeping Cirothe at full 
  power. As usual, the GM is encouraged to allow 
  any reasonable plan a chance at effectiveness, 
  and we present here three possible approaches to 
  destroying that crystal: direct assault, sneaking in, 
  or fostering rebellion in Azaziz’s troops.
  Prerequisite: Getting the Hammer of 
  Vengeance
  Only the hammer from Deephall Point can 
  destroy the Rift Crystal. Though it can be found, 
  and Azaziz dealt with, Cirothe cannot be stripped 
  of spells until the crystal is shattered with the 
  hammer.
  Prerequisite: Finding the Cave of the 
  Rift
  Azaziz’s home is known to the shadow demon 
  of Deephall Point, who, being a demon, has few 
  loyalties to Azaziz, and would be more than 
  willing to tell the party where he lives in exchange 
  for clemency. Without this knowledge, the party 
  will be searching: there is a 20% chance that any 
  given hex within or adjacent to Deepcrest Chasm 
  contains the entrance to the Cave of the Rift. If the 
  party is in that hex, a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) 
  check reveals the entrance to the cave.
  Plan: Sneaking In
  Stealth is less effective here, due to the protections 
  Azaziz has in place—he has had several traps and 
  wards prepared to prevent himself from being 
  caught unaware by his rivals. He is a demon after 
  all, and is quite comfortable in the darkness and 
  shadow.
   Any character attempting the stealthy route 
  must not only succeed on Dexterity (Stealth) 
  checks against the passive Wisdom (Perception) of 
  each demon in the cave, but must also succeed in 
  a secret DC 19 Wisdom (Perception) check, rolled 
  privately by the GM, or blunder into a trap. You 
  can use the table below to determine what kind 
  of trap the party member who fails this check 
  blunders into.
   If a character blunders into a trap, or is noticed 
  by one of the demons, 4 dretches attack the 
  intruder, each hoping to be the one to kill them.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Plan: The Direct Assault
  This plan is fairly viable. Azaziz has a few lackeys 
  and sympathizers, but demons are loners at heart, 
  and Azaziz is no different. A well-armed party 
  could take him out, smash the crystal, and get 
  home fairly easily.
  Plan: Forming Revolts
  Demons are not exactly known for their 
  cooperation skills; the group here is no different. 
  The 2 barlgura and 16 dretches under Azaziz’s 
  leadership are duplicitous and untrustworthy, 
  especially when he isn’t directly present. In order 
  to convince one to turn on Azaziz, it takes about 
  2,000 gp (or items worth that much) and a DC 16 
  Charisma (Persuasion) check.
   The barlgura aren’t exactly interested in 
  incurring Cirothe’s wrath or in allowing the 
  Rift Crystal to be obliterated, either, however. 
  They will take up defense of the items if need be. 
  They also are not reliable even once bought: one 
  barlgura will not revolt alone, but if both can be 
  persuaded—or a single barlgura and at least half 
  the dretches are convinced—they gang up on 
  Azaziz and kill him. The PCs may wish to descend 
  and wipe up the remains of the demon’s own 
  strife afterwards.
  Rewards
  Once the party destroyed the Rift Crystal in 
  Azaziz’s possession with the Hammer of Vengeance, 
  the adventure is complete. They gain the third star 
  towards the Hammer of Vengeance, and treasure 
  according to the list below. The treasure can come 
  from booty from the demon lair, or as a gift from 
  Theobod when the party gets back to Last Chance, 
  in appreciation for their help:
   
  ▶ Coins: 31 pp, 265 gp
   
  ▶ Art Objects: a bronze flagon with warrior 
  images worth 50 gp, a silver brazier with 
  religious markings worth 130 gp, elaborate 
  copper wind chimes worth 50 gp, a gold 
  and ivory decanter worth 400 gp, a gold 
  mask of a dwarf worth 450 gp, an ivory 
  drinking horn with copper ends worth 60 gp, 
  Deadly Traps
  1d6
  Trap
  1
  The cave entrance closes and the room slowly 
  fills with poisonous gas. Characters have 
  time to escape as long as they hold their 
  breath (a number of minutes equal to 1 + their 
  Constitution modifier, minimum 30 seconds). In 
  order to escape, at least three characters must 
  succeed on a DC 17 ability check to escape. 
  Examples include using Strength to force open 
  the cave, Dexterity to try and disable the trap, or 
  Intelligence (Investigation) to find an alternate 
  route out. Once the party achieves success, the 
  trap is no longer harmful.
  2
  A cave-in is triggered in the region. The party 
  has 1 round to move at least 40 feet to escape 
  the cave-in before the rocks crush them. Each 
  PC must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw. 
  On a failure, that PC takes 2d10 damage from 
  the falling rocks and sustains one random injury 
  (see “Injury” in the introduction).
  3
  A spiked pit opens up beneath the party. Each 
  character must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving 
  throw or fall 20 feet to the bottom, taking 2d6 
  damage and sustaining one random injury 
  (see “Injury” in the introduction). To climb out, 
  a PC must make a DC 17 Strength (Athletics) 
  check; failing this check causes the PC to suffer 
  another 1d6 damage and another injury.
  4
  A large, spike-filled rack falls from the ceiling. 
  Each party member can make a DC 17 Dexterity 
  saving throw to avoid the spikes. On a failure, 
  they take 2d10 damage and sustain one random 
  injury.
  5
  A solid log swings down and crashes into the 
  character who failed the check. That character 
  can make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw to 
  avoid it. If they fail, they take 2d8 damage and 
  sustain one random injury.
  6
  Jets of flame shoot at the character who failed 
  the check. That character can make a DC 15 
  Dexterity saving throw to avoid the jet of flame. 
  On a failure, they take 2d6 damage and their 
  equipment catches fire, destroying 1d4 of their 
  equipped supply days.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  a painted paper fan with silver slats worth 
  20 gp, a set of six silver dice worth 75 gp, a 
  silver comb with an ornate handle worth 
  75 gp, a silver holy symbol worth 25 gp, a 
  silver statue of Cirothe worth 500 gp, a silver 
  flagon with religious markings worth 80 gp
   
  ▶ Magic Items: belt of dwarvenkind, gauntlets of 
  ogre strength
  The Next Adventure
  After this adventure, the party has gained the 
  ability to use the Hammer of Vengeance to destroy 
  Cirothe’s ability to cast spells. She still has this 
  capacity once the Rift Crystal is smashed, but the 
  Hammer, after closing the rift, has the ability to 
  then blunt her magic as well. That will require a 
  direct confrontation.
   The party may have a few more adventures 
  started that they can finish up before that 
  confrontation. If they haven’t followed up on the 
  goblins that were allying with the bandits, for 
  instance, they may wish to follow up on that now.
  Location: The Cave of the Rift
  The Cave of the Rift is Cirothe’s original home, 
  the place she grew up in. Originally on a chain 
  of mountains, the cave was warm and smelled of 
  brimstone, which is part of why Cirothe’s mother 
  chose it as the place to hide an egg. Cirothe’s 
  mother met her end at the hands of some dragon-
  slayers soon after laying the egg, leaving it to 
  hatch alone, warmed by the unearthly heat from 
  deep within the mountains. As Cirothe grew 
  up eating roaches and spiders in the cave, her 
  curiosity lead her to explore the source of the heat, 
  and she found Azaziz, long-buried in the wars 
  against the gods long ago.
   Azaziz persuaded Cirothe to open the Rift to 
  the Abyss in exchange for protection and magical 
  power…and for a promise, never to leave her 
  alone. Azaziz and Cirothe have remained on fairly 
  friendly terms, and she has trusted him with 
  the defense of what he gave her, as he tended 
  his rising demon army in the remains of those 
  mountains.
   After the creation of the gate, Azaziz’s lack of 
  planning and general laziness was not conducive 
  to forming that demon army that he initially 
  intended. The gate is also weak, unable to bear 
  much of a load. Yet Azaziz struggles to build 
  his forces still, in the cave that once birthed 
  Cirothe, and where the Crystal of the Rift exists: 
  the remains of her eggshell, crystalized from the 
  transformation into a nexus of the planes.
  Inhabitants of the Cave of the Rift
   
  ▶ Azaziz, chasme
   
  ▶ 2 barlgura
   
  ▶ 4 dretches
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Quickwood
  Cirothe’s True Name 1
  In the time in which Cirothe was rising to power, 
  the elves of Greyfell Forest believed that they 
  should assist the dwarves, and put an end to her 
  rise before she became too dangerous for them to 
  handle. However, they never got the chance—just 
  as they were preparing to send a contingent 
  of soldiers to Deephall Point, Greyfell Forest 
  grew dark. Overnight, trees went from majestic 
  and beautiful to twisted and dark. Friendly 
  pixies disappeared and biting bramble-sprites 
  manifested. Where there were once unicorns and 
  nymphs, now hags and nightmares roamed. The 
  elven cities came under attack, and the Fairy 
  Queen, leader of the elves and all the fey in the 
  region, locked herself away in her ivory tower, the 
  Feycastle.
   The attacks came quickly—the elven cities 
  were assaulted by the dark fey, and fell quickly, 
  overtaken with woodland in a matter of days. The 
  drow, dark elves, were known to be the leaders 
  of the assault, and they overwhelmed the elves 
  of Greyfell. Without their queen, and with their 
  forest dark, they undertook a great journey to the 
  nearby Greendell forest, under cover of sunlight, 
  with the fires of their homes burning behind them.
   Of course, they could not afford in that chaos 
  to help the dwarves. The dwarves have been 
  carrying a grudge about that for some time. Today 
  in Greendell, the elves have moved on from their 
  home. Concentrating their attentions on Cirothe, 
  they have begun to develop a weapon that can kill 
  her. However, there are elven elders who cling to 
  the old war, and who are unwilling to entirely let 
  it go.
   Rajod is such an elf. Assured that the wood 
  of the Greyfell is far superior to the wood of 
  Greendell, and thus essential for any capable bow 
  or arrow, he has sent his assistant, Arotha, into the 
  Greyfell to harvest some wood. However, Arotha 
  has not returned, and Rajod has begun to feel 
  deeply guilty, fearing he has cosigned the young 
  wood-worker to an early death in that tangled 
  place of forgotten nightmares. He’d be much 
  appreciative if someone would be willing to go 
  into Greyfell and recover the young elf, or at least 
  a sign of his death.
  Goal: Recover or Confirm the 
  Death of Arotha
  Arotha is being held captive by some plant-
  creatures deep within the forest, waiting for the 
  arrival of a drow priestess: one is called whenever 
  an elf is caught, to ritually perform the sacrifice 
  that will ensure that the forest continues its slow 
  decline into darkness. Once the party begins the 
  search, they have 7 days before Arotha is killed 
  by the priestess. Arotha is being held in a location 
  called the Bloodgrove, and once the PCs find it, 
  they must get Arotha back, or at least a token of 
  his presence. Arotha wears a leather necklace with 
  a brown-and-white owl feather that will serve as 
  evidence (other items may as well).
   Once the party finds where Arotha is being held, 
  getting him or this token back from the plant-
  creatures is open-ended: the GM is encouraged 
  to allow any reasonable approach some chance of 
  success. Plans described below include fighting 
  the plant creatures for him, negotiating with them 
  for a return of his token, or sneaking him out 
  under the cover of darkness.
  Prerequisite: Finding the Bloodgrove
  When the party is in Greyfell Forest, they can 
  actively search for the location of Arotha by 
  making DC 17 Wisdom (Survival) checks. At least 
  three characters must succeed on this check, and 
  only one check can be made during the day’s 
  travel.
   Once the successes are met, the characters 
  stumble on the Grove of Gloom in the hex they 
  currently occupy.
  Plan: Fight the Forest
  The inhabitants of the Bloodgrove want to hold 
  Arotha for sacrifice, and he’s valuable for that 
  purpose—his blood as an elf descended from 
  Greyfell elves will help hasten the process of 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  corruption the forest is going through. In order to 
  save his life, the PCs will have to attack, and they 
  will be facing the forest itself in this fight. It is 
  difficult to win this battle by simple attrition: the 
  scythe trees (see below) and awakened shrubs 
  aren’t particularly interested in leaving the grove, 
  and are more than content to protect their live 
  sacrifice, which means that luring the creatures 
  away from each other is difficult. The party may 
  do well by making regular raids, whittling down 
  the defenses gradually, but each day that passes is 
  another day closer to Arotha’s untimely demise.
  Plan: Stealing the Captive
  It is difficult to sneak the captive out. For one, the 
  party may not be aware of all the creatures here 
  in the grove: the plants have remarkable stealth 
  modifiers in the forest, and so even knowing 
  which tree is a scythe tree and which tree is a 
  harmless oak can be difficult. If the party does 
  manage to use stealth to avoid detection, they 
  must also contend with the fact that the lightning 
  treant (see below) itself serves as the holding 
  place for Arotha—and it will be impossible to 
  sneak past it while climbing on its own body. 
  Once the party is aware that the tree Arotha is in 
  is alive (and hostile), it may become easier: the 
  party can use the other trees nearby to scuttle 
  through the canopy and down onto the branch 
  where Arotha is held, but they still run the risk of 
  scurrying over trees that are actively alive.
   To model this abstractly, you can have any party 
  member attempting to sneak in make a DC 18 
  Intelligence (Nature) check—failure indicates they 
  awaken one of the trees by sneaking upon it. Once 
  a tree has been awakened, the party doesn’t risk 
  awakening it again on a second day: they know 
  which ones to stay away from. Still, a process of 
  trial-and-error might take longer than Arotha has.
  Plan: Return the Proof
  While the creatures in the grove have no desire to 
  turn Arotha over alive, it is possible to convince 
  them to return the proof of Arotha’s presence 
  (which will at least give Rajod confirmation of his 
  worst fears). The drow priestess who appears on 
  Day 7 is the one with the authority to do this, and 
  she is willing to “give the old elf something to dry 
  his tears over,” and will return the personal effects 
  of Arotha, for a 3,000 gp bribe. The party must 
  also vow never to return to Greyfell Forest: if 
  they do, the drow will look at Greendell possible 
  expansion territory.
  Option: Buying Time
  The sacrifice cannot be conducted in the absence 
  of a drow priestess. To buy time, all the party 
  needs to do is kill the drow priestess (or make 
  sure she doesn’t show up). After the initial 
  priestess arrives, another one will be sent every 
  3 days, with an increasing contingent of 2 extra 
  drow each time a new one is sent (the first one 
  will be sent in three days with 2 drow; the second 
  one will be sent in six days with 4 drow, etc.).
  Rewards
  Once the party gets Arotha (or evidence of his 
  death) back to Rajod, the adventure is complete. If 
  the party is able to return him intact, there will be 
  a great festival the next day; otherwise, Rajod will 
  host a funeral for him. Eitiher way, the party gains 
  the first star towards Cirothe’s True Name, and 
  treasure according to the list below. The treasure 
  can come from booty from the grove, or as a 
  gift from Rajod when the party gets back to the 
  Greendell Woods, in appreciation for their help:
   
  ▶ Coins: 35 pp, 210 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: an aquamarine worth 1,000 gp), a 
  citrine worth 100 gp, five onyx stones 
  each worth 50 gp, a peridot worth 40 gp, a 
  sardonyx worth 50 gp, a tourmaline worth 
  100 gp
   
  ▶ Magic Items: four potions of greater healing, 
  potion of protection from evil and good
  The Next Adventure
  During the celebration (or funeral), Rajod gets 
  a little drunk, and begins to talk about his time 
  as one of the Fairy Queen’s guards, back in his 
  “reckless youth.” He claims that as long as she 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  watched over the elves, they would have nothing 
  to fear— the Fairy Queen knew Cirothe’s 
  true name, and the dragon would not dare 
  attack her or her people lest it become well 
  known. He hopes that someday, the drow 
  control over her and the forest could be 
  stopped, and he claims to know of a way 
  into the palace, a secret way known only 
  to the Guards…a way beneath the forest 
  that emerges near Deepspell Lake.
   If the party is interested in obliterating 
  Cirothe once and for all, that true name 
  will be invaluable, and Rajod’s secret 
  entrance certainly will be useful for 
  getting to the queen….
  Location: The Bloodgrove
  This region of the forest is eerily quiet, 
  without the buzzing of insects or the chirping 
  of birds. A tangle of vines and roots entwines 
  the tall, almost leafless trees here, in a chaos of 
  twisting, serpentine shapes. In the center of the 
  grove sits a large barren tree with black bark, 
  covered in moss. Arotha is draped in that tree’s 
  branches, unconscious and wrapped in vines.
  Inhabitants of the Bloodgrove
  Awakened shrubs dwell in the tangle of vines and 
  roots. The grove itself is made up of several scythe 
  trees, and a lightning treant occupies the center. 
  There are also a handful of drow present for the 
  ceremony, and more fill the grove as time goes on.
   
  ▶ 1 lightning treant (a treant that is healed by 
  lightning damage instead of hurt by it)
   
  ▶ 5 scythe trees (an awakened tree whose slam 
  attacks deal slashing damage)
   
  ▶ 20 awakened shrubs
   
  ▶ 2 drow
   
  ▶ Add 2 drow for each day spent searching for 
  the Bloodgrove
   
  ▶ Add 1 drow priestess on day 7; this character 
  is a mage with a Wisdom score of 17 (+3) and 
  its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save 
  DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). It has the 
  following cleric spells prepared:
   
  ▶ Cantrips (at will): guidance, poison spray, 
  resistance, spare the dying, thaumaturgy
   
  ▶ 1st level (4 slots): animal friendship, cure 
  wounds, detect poison and disease, ray of 
  sickness
   
  ▶ 2nd level (3 slots): lesser restoration, 
  protection from poison, web
   
  ▶ 3rd level (3 slots): conjure animals (2 giant 
  spiders), dispel magic
   
  ▶ 4th level (3 slots): divination, freedom of 
  movement
   
  ▶ 5th level (1 slot): insect plague
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  The Mad Queen’s Army
  Cirothe’s True Name 2
  The Fairy Queen once protected the elves against 
  Cirothe’s wrath—she knew a secret about the 
  dragon that made it reluctant to attack the elves. 
  However, it has been nearly an elvish generation 
  since she could protect them, corrupted by the 
  drow into a creature dark and terrifying. Some of 
  the elders who remember her reign still speak of 
  a way to enter the castle, a way now undoubtedly 
  filled with drow, but possible to negotiate. A 
  system of tunnels, stretching from Deepspell Lake 
  to just beneath the Feycastle itself, provides access, 
  and a brave party may be able to use it to get to 
  the heart of Greyfell, without having to cut down 
  every tree therein.
   Only a person who knows of the entrance 
  knows where to find it, and Rajod, an elf from 
  Greendell, knows where it lies.
  Goal: Find the Secret Entrance to 
  the Feycastle
  This goal is largely achievable simply by moving. 
  All the party must do is reach the end of the 
  network of tunnels beneath the Greyfell. Of 
  course, down there they will meet many possible 
  monsters and hazards: the tunnels have their 
  own encounter chart, and also contain the 
  headquarters of the drow in the region, the 
  Drowhold.
   Exploring the tunnels is done similarly to 
  exploring the world above, and is also done with 
  hexes, using the same hexes as the Greyfell Forest 
  (the party is under the Greyfell Forest, though, 
  not in it). The Wisdom (Survival) check to avoid 
  getting lost is DC 18 while the party is in the 
  tunnels, however, and whenever the party enters 
  a hex, roll 1d6 to randomly determine which sides 
  of the hex they can leave as they wander in the 
  caverns.
   Additionally, the party may come across the 
  Drowhold at any point: there is a 1-in-6 chance 
  that when entering any particular hex the 
  party encounters the Drowhold. The Drowhold 
  contains the secret entrance to the Feycastle. 
  Once the party finds the Drowhold, they must 
  find the entrance to the Feycastle, which can 
  be done in a multitude of ways: the ultimate 
  location is behind the altar to Shebnem in the 
  center of the Hold. To gain access, the party must 
  employ one of the drow—the Drow Rebel from 
  the random encounters would suffice, but any 
  drow speaking the keyword (“submission,” in 
  Undercommon) in front of the statue will open the 
  secret passageway. The party can convince other 
  members of the Drowhold to trigger the opening, 
  with three DC 18 Charisma (Intimidation or 
  Persuasion) checks from at least three different 
  characters. A single DC 18 Charisma (Intimidation 
  or Persuasion) check on any spiderguard or the 
  priestess will reveal the method to opening the 
  passage.
   When moving through the tunnels, use the 
  Greyfell Caverns Encounters table to determine 
  what the party encounters.
  Greyfell Caverns Encounters
  1d12+1d8
  Encounter Type
  2
  Lurking Shadows
  3
  Sudden Flood
  4
  Barbazu Squad
  5
  Kyton’s Chamber
  6
  Drow Warband
  7
  Echoing Chants
  8
  Caged Deva
  9
  Devil’s Altar
  10
  Predatory Forlarren
  11
  No Encounter
  12
  Curious Beetle
  13
  Distant Screams
  14
  Drow Guard Station
  15
  Sudden Cliff
  16
  Enslaved Svirfneblin
  17
  Cave Collapse
  18
  Rodent of Unusual Hunger
  19
  Damp Tunnel
  20
  Rebellious Drow
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Kyton’s Chamber
  An chain devil runs this torture chamber. The 
  corpses of a dozen prisoners—wood elves, drow, 
  sfirvneblin, and others—are littered about him. 
  The prisoner revolt has weakened the devil, 
  reducing his current hit points to 40.
  Lurking Shadows
  A group of 1d6 + 3 shadows try to ambush the 
  party slide along the walls, following the party 
  until they reach an appropriate location for an 
  ambush. They have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made in the darkness.
  Barbazu Squad
  A group of 4 bearded devils are feasting on the 
  remains of a fey creature, and are not happy to be 
  interrupted. A DC 18 Intelligence (Nature) check 
  reveals the creature was once a nymph.
  Caged Deva
  A deva is caged in a cell that radiates with intense 
  evil magic. It slumps against the wall, almost 
  unconscious, and horrible burns can be seen up 
  and down its arms. It doesn’t seem entirely aware 
  of its surroundings. If the deva can be healed with 
  a DC 17 Wisdom (Medicine) check, and the cage 
  can be dis-empowered with a DC 20 Intelligence 
  (Arcana) check, the deva can be freed. Once freed, 
  the deva will accompany the party until their next 
  battle, or until their next rest, helping in any way 
  it can.
  Cave Collapse
  As the party is moving through the tunnels, the 
  cave above them begins to collapse. Each party 
  member must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving 
  throw or suffer a random injury.
  Curious Beetle
  A giant fire beetle investigates the party. It isn’t 
  hostile, but it is quite bold, feeling out characters 
  with mandibles and antennae. If given something 
  sugary, it departs with it.
  Damp Tunnel
  The party passes through a tunnel dripping with 
  moisture, with pools of mud and slime along 
  the way. Each party member must make a DC 13 
  Constitution saving throw or contract a random 
  illness.
  Devil’s Altar
  This tunnel contains an infrequently-active altar 
  to Shebnem, depicting the devil as a beautiful 
  woman emerging from the wall and looming over 
  the sacrificial table, which is stained with blood. 
  It is currently abandoned, and radiates powerful 
  evil. If the party takes a long rest here, they are 
  haunted by dreams of sacrifices made here in the 
  past, and cannot recover hit points or spells.
  Distant Screams
  The party hears distant cries of terror and pain 
  echoing through the caves. A DC 15 Wisdom 
  (Perception) check allows a party member to 
  follow the sound to a small torture chamber, 
  where one dryad is tied to a rack. The chamber is 
  otherwise empty of creatures. If the party can free 
  the dryad with a DC 18 Dexterity (thieves’ tools) 
  check, mend her wounds with a DC 20 Wisdom 
  (Medicine) check, and escort her to the surface 
  with a DC 20 Wisdom (Survival) check, she will 
  bestow on them food equal to one day’s supplies 
  that, when eaten, also removes diseases the 
  character is suffering from. She then fades back 
  into the forest.
  Drow Guard Station
  This cavern contains 4d6 drow and 1d3 black 
  widow giant spiders.
  Drow Warband
  A group of 3d4 drow wander through the region, 
  patrolling the tunnels.
  Echoing Chants
  The party hears distant, echoing chanting 
  reverberating through the tunnels. A DC 15 
  Intelligence check identifies the language as 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Infernal. A character who knows Infernal can 
  notice it as a prayer to “The Queen Behind the 
  Throne,” an exaltation of her corruption, and a 
  hope that one day the whole land shall be remade 
  in her image.
  Enslaved Svirfneblin
  A gang of 4 deep gnomes, chained to the floor 
  with cold iron, work mining the walls in this 
  tunnel. Friendly, but skittish, the gnomes can 
  provide guidance in the tunnels, giving the party 
  one extra side from the hex that they may leave 
  from. One drow veteran supervises them.
  Rodent of Unusual Hunger
  A single, emaciated giant rat appears, and 
  attempts to flee from the party, frightened and 
  alone. If made friendly, the creature will stay with 
  the party as long as they remain in the same hex.
  Predatory Forlarren
  A forlarren lives in this tunnel, seeking to lure 
  victims to their doom. She lives here with a gang 
  of 5 lemures that help her murder her victims.
   A forlarren uses succubus statistics with the 
  following changes; these changes reduce its 
  Challenge Rating to 2 (450 XP):
   
  ▶ Its hit points are reduced to 50.
   
  ▶ Its Armor Class is reduced to 13.
   
  ▶ It gains the following trait: Remorse. 
  Whenever the forlarren kills a living creature, 
  it must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving 
  throw to avoid becoming overwhelmed 
  with remorse. On a failure, the forlarren 
  has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability 
  checks for 1d6 rounds.
  A nymph’s charm and beauty are such that she 
  attracts the gaze of creature who looks upon 
  her—and often, unfortunately, creatures she 
  would rather not consort with. When a demon or 
  devil takes advantage of a nymph, the resulting 
  offspring is born as twisted and perverse as the 
  rape that created it. It is a forlarren—a tragic 
  fiend that possesses its own unusual abilities and 
  qualities.
   The forlarren attacks with its clawed hands, 
  typically focusing on a single opponent at a time 
  and attacking until it or its opponent is slain. Yet 
  curiously, when a forlarren succeeds in killing 
  an opponent, the kindly traits of its fey mother 
  sometimes surface, and it shows profound 
  remorse for its cruelty. With such a pendulum of 
  erratic behavior, it is no wonder that forlarrens are 
  all but incapable of forming lasting friendships—
  even with others of their own kind. The majority 
  of forlarrens inherit little in the way of the magical 
  abilities possessed by their fey mothers, but they 
  do gain a Small measure of the powers of their 
  fiendish fathers.
   A forlarren stands 6 feet tall and weighs about 
  160 pounds. In theory, these creatures can live 
  for hundreds of years, but most perish through 
  violence before they turn 10.
  Rebellious Drow
  The party encounters one drow veteran, hungry, 
  scared, and stripped of its equipment. If the 
  party speaks Undercommon, a DC 17 Charisma 
  (Persuasion) check convinces the creature to talk 
  with the party, perhaps offering directions (giving 
  the party advantage to the next day’s roll to avoid 
  becoming lost), or even offering to join while the 
  party is down below, if she can be equipped.
  Sudden Cliff
  The party’s path is halted by a sudden drop-off, 
  with no other end in sight. They must leave this 
  hex back through the hex they entered it from.
  Sudden Flood
  The cavern the party walks through is suddenly 
  flooded with water. Each party member must 
  make a DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check to swim 
  across or sustain a random injury.
  Rewards
  The adventure is complete when the party goes 
  through the passageway beneath the Drowhold 
  toward the secret entrance of the Feycastle. At 
  this point, the party gains the second star towards 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Cirothe’s True Name, and treasure according to 
  the list below. The most appropriate place for 
  the reward is as treasure stored in the secret 
  passageway:
   
  ▶ Coins: 84 pp, 757 gp
   
  ▶ Gems: a rhodochrosite worth 10 gp, a 
  sardonyx worth 60 gp, a fossilized shell 
  worth 8 gp, an amethyst worth 80 gp, an 
  aquamarine worth 500 gp
   
  ▶ Magic Items: mace of terror, potion of heroism, 
  potion of fire resistance
  The Next Adventure
  Once the party is through the Drowhold, and 
  beneath the Feycastle, the final attempt to free 
  the Fairy Queen from her devils’ enslavement can 
  begin. The party should have learned from their 
  encounters already that there are forces other than 
  the drow at work, and their exploration of the 
  Feycastle should confirm that.
  Location: The Drowhold
  This expansive cavern is something of a small 
  town, with homes carved out of the cave rocks. 
  Luminous blue-green lichen grows rampantly 
  and sheds a cold light on the surroundings. The 
  drowhold is, as its name implies, filled with drow 
  and spiders, with a handful of devils along for the 
  ride. The secret entrance to the Feycastle is found 
  beneath a statue of a woman with raven’s wings 
  that sits in the center of the cavern.
  Inhabitants of the Drowhold
   
  ▶ 25 drow
   
  ▶ 5 black widow giant spiders
   
  ▶ 5 drow veterans
   
  ▶ 1 drow priestess (see the inhabitants list of 
  “Quickwood,” the first Cirothe’s True Name 
  adventure)
  Unnature
  Cirothe’s True Name 3
  In her reckless youth, the future Fairy Queen of 
  Greyfell once made a promise over the dead and 
  broken body of a demon that had invaded from 
  Deepcrest Chasm: if the demons could be driven 
  back to the chasm, and could never again come 
  forth, she would pay any price.
   Her wish, empowered by the blood on her 
  blades, was overheard deep in Hell, and an 
  erinyes named Shebnem approached the Queen 
  with an offer: they could cripple the demonic 
  forces menacing the Greyfell, in exchange for only 
  one small trade: that the erinyes became consulted 
  on any future military action. The Queen did not 
  need to listen to the devil, but she must at least 
  hear the devil’s advice. The Queen, seeing little 
  risk in a consultant she never expected to listen 
  to, acquiesced, and in exchange, learned the true 
  names of many of the demon leaders…and of 
  Cirothe herself.
   In the years since the demon wars triggered by 
  Cirothe, the Greyfell Forest flourished. The Fairy 
  Queen consulted the erinyes, who lay in a secret 
  chamber, on any military action, and the erinyes 
  reliably advised her. Sometimes, this advice was 
  disregarded. Sometimes, this advice was the 
  same—or better than—the advice from her own 
  generals. Slowly, over the course of many years, 
  the Shebnem bent the military might of Greyfell 
  to look away from the underground tunnels 
  where their ancient enemies, the drow, had been 
  banished. There were demons and goblins and 
  orcs and humans to deal with…the drow were not 
  urgent, the drow were not attacking. So the drow 
  were ignored.
   This played into Shebnem’s plan. Working with 
  her agents in the deep caverns, she encouraged 
  the drow to marshal their forces, and launch a 
  tremendous attack on the Feycastle itself. The 
  royal family was caught off guard, and the 
  princess, the Fairy Queen’s daughter, was 
  kidnapped. In a panic, the Fairy Queen marshaled 
  her response, and, once again, consulted with 
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Shebnem, who told her simply: do nothing. If you 
  attack, your daughter will die.
   The Fairy Queen listened to Shebnem, unable 
  to bear the thought of killing her own daughter in 
  military action. This was the beginning of the end: 
  the drow remained in the tunnels, the military 
  might of Greyfell was never marshaled against 
  them, and the queen, over time, grew selfish, 
  petty, and paranoid. The forest began to reflect 
  her madness, as the drow began capturing and 
  tormenting fey spirits, warping them into twisted 
  reflections of their previous selves.
   To this day, even as the elven downs of Greyfell 
  have been abandoned, and her daughter long 
  since deceased in captivity, the Fairy Queen 
  is already broken and mad, and she still takes 
  advice from the erinyes, living like a puppet at the 
  erinyes’s command.
   As the party enters the castle, their job is to 
  learn the name Shebnem taught to the Fairy 
  Queen, in an effort to weaken Cirothe themselves. 
  In order to do that, they must break Shebnem’s 
  hold on the queen, and on the forest, and help the 
  queen to see a moment of clarity.
  Goal: Free the Fairy Queen
  In order to wrest Cirothe’s True Name from the 
  Fairy Queen, the party needs to break Shebnem’s 
  hold on her. There are two basic ways to do this: 
  to kill Shebnem (a task almost as difficult as 
  killing Cirothe herself!), or to convince the Mad 
  Queen to finally abandon her pact with the devil.
   Once the party has located the queen, restoring 
  her sanity requires a total of five DC 20 ability 
  checks, no more than two coming from any one 
  character. The GM is encouraged to give any 
  reasonable skill at least a chance of success, but 
  useful skills in restoring the Queen to her old self 
  may include:
   
  ▶ Intelligence (History) to recall legends of 
  undoing diabolic contracts.
   
  ▶ Charisma (Persuasion) to convince the 
  Queen that she’s better off without the devil.
   
  ▶ Wisdom (Insight) to pierce the Queen’s 
  anxieties, fears, and paranoias, putting her in 
  touch with reality again.
   
  ▶ Charisma (Deception) to convince the Queen 
  that Shebnem has no real hold on her.
   
  ▶ Charisma (Intimidation) to cow the Queen 
  into obeying the party instead of Shebnem.
  If any party member fails a check, that party 
  member cannot contribute to successes anymore 
  that day. If the party cannot win her over in one 
  day, they are subject to another encounter the next 
  day, and can try again.
  Prerequisite: Get to the Queen
  The Feycastle can, in the absence of a map, be 
  treated like an abstract exploration. The party 
  has 1d4 + 2 encounters with the residents of 
  the Feycastle on their way through. In each 
  encounter, the party can attempt to avoid it 
  (using ability checks or spells to circumvent the 
  event), or simply engage it (normally, cutting 
  a bloody swath through the enemy, but also 
  using Charisma checks or spells to end it early). 
  In general, for the party to avoid an encounter, 
  at least three different characters must make a 
  successful check of some sort against the enemy—
  for instance, a successful Dexterity (Stealth) check 
  to avoid detection—and if any character fails, that 
  character at least is drawn into the encounter. 
  When there is no obvious opposed check to make, 
  the GM is encouraged to use a DC 20 check.
   The default of most of the creatures here is 
  hostility—the party is invading, and the devils 
  wish to expel them. Unlike with the more chaotic 
  forces, it is difficult to turn the devils against each 
  other, but the devils do have another weakness: 
  if the most powerful devil in the encounter is 
  dealt with somehow, the rest become disposed to 
  peaceful negotiation.
   The devils follow their leaders devotedly, but 
  without a leader, they become much more open 
  to interpretation. In addition, if the leader is 
  convinced of something, the other devils can be 
  made to agree, so opposed ability checks only 
  have to beat the most powerful devil’s opposed 
  check. If the other devils become aware of a 
  deception or a sneak, they may raise the alert, but 
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  they won’t act without direction (the leader may 
  direct them to attack if there’s no reason not to 
  attack, however). A DC 20 Wisdom (Insight) check 
  reveals this particular information.
   Examples of ways the party may bypass the 
  encounter are below, but the GM is encouraged to 
  give any half-decent idea a chance work, at least 
  once.
   
  ▶ Wisdom (Survival) to take a path that 
  bypasses an encounter.
   
  ▶ Intelligence (Religion) to move through a 
  region when the devils there are sleeping, 
  worshipping, or otherwise distracted.
   
  ▶ Strength (Athletics) to climb the vines on the 
  outside walls of the Feycastle, bypassing an 
  encounter by moving past the room.
   
  ▶ Dexterity (Stealth) to sneak past the devils.
   
  ▶ Charisma (Intimidation) to cow the lead 
  devil into letting the party pass.
   
  ▶ Charisma (Deception) to convince the lead 
  devil that they’re new mercenaries that 
  Shebnem hired.
   
  ▶ Charisma (Persuasion) to get the devils to 
  agree that it is in their best interest for the 
  party to destroy Shebnem and free them to 
  pursue other goals.
  Optional Goal: Find Shebnem
  While the party needs to get to the queen to learn 
  Cirothe’s True Name, this part of the adventure can 
  be won without ever actually finding the erinyes. 
  Still, a party looking to destroy her will need 
  to find her. This can be done much like finding 
  the queen, above, but there is an additional 1d3 
  encounters that the party must go through to 
  also find Shebnem (the party finds the queen 
  after 1d4 + 2 encounters, and finds Shebnem’s 
  lair after an additional 1d3). Additionally, after 
  these encounters, at least one party member must 
  succeed at a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check 
  to find the secret entrance to her lair. If the party 
  finds and slays Shebnem and returns to the Queen, 
  they discover that the Queen’s madness was 
  instantly broken after the erinyes’ death.
  Rewards
  Once the Queen is brought to her senses, she 
  will thank the party, tell them Cirothe’s True 
  Name, and die at last, happily. If Shebnem is 
  still around, the Greyfell in general is still at 
  risk of never recovering, but at least Cirothe can 
  be slain. At this point, the party gains the third 
  and final star towards Cirothe’s True Name, and 
  treasure according to the list below. The most 
  appropriate place for the reward is as treasure in 
  the Feycastle’s vault:
   
  ▶ Coins: 46 pp, 458 gp
   
  ▶ Mundane Items: access to the Feycastle’s 
  armory, containing one of every martial 
  weapon.
   
  ▶ Magic Items: potions of diminution, fire 
  resistance, heroism; wand of magic missile
  The Next Adventure
  Once the party is in possession of Cirothe’s 
  True Name, this particular chain of adventures 
  is finished. The party may still have other 
  adventures to undertake, from the threat to the 
  halflings of Halfpoint to issues with the dwarves 
  in Last Chance, and should be encouraged to 
  follow up on one of those quests.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Location: The Feycastle
  The Feycastle, unlike other sites, is divided into 
  encounters, given the way the party may explore 
  it. If you wish for a higher-level view of the 
  inhabitants, you can simply assume that there 
  are enough creatures in the Feycastle for the 
  maximum number of encounters to occur (9). 
  Each time the party has an encounter, roll 1d100 
  and use the relevant group.
  Inhabitants of the Feycastle
  1d100
  Inhabitants
  01–10
  Spiders!: The party encounters 2d4 black 
  widow giant spiders with 1 drow veteran.
  11–20
  Drow!: The party encounters 1d4 drow, led by 
  1 drow priestess.
  21–45
  Diabolic Troopers: The party encounters 1d2 
  bearded devils.
  46–65
  Diabolic Tormentors: The party encounters 
  1d2 bearded devils and 2d4 lemures.
  66–80
  Diabolic Sychophants: The party encounters 
  2d4 drow, 1d2 bearded devils, and 1 
  forlarren.
  81–00
  Diabolic Revel: The party encounters 2d4 
  drow, 1d2 bearded devils, 1d6 lemures, and 
  1 drow priestess.
  The Four Artifacts
  The following section describes the four artifacts 
  the acquisition of which is the main focus of Act 
  II. Combined with the sword Dragonbane (and 
  its scabbard) acquired in Act I, these four items 
  maximize the party’s chances of surviving the 
  final confrontation with the dragon Cirothe that 
  (hopefully) takes place in Act III.
  The Coward’s Map
  Wondrous item, artifact
   The Coward’s Map is the map used by the 
  dwarves of Deephall Point to flee Cirothe’s assault 
  on their homeland. The map is not simply a 
  drawing of a secret route (though it is that, too), it 
  is a powerful artifact that helps any fleeing danger 
  to find their refuge.
   The map works as follows. A potential user 
  gazes at the map and envisions a place they want 
  to go. The map then lays out a path that is as free 
  of danger as possible to that goal. The terrain, 
  features, and path all appear as if some unseen 
  hand is drawing it as the user looks on.
   Functionally, what this means is that someone 
  using the Coward’s Map cannot become lost. 
  Additionally, the user skips the next random 
  hostile creature encounter rolled (treat the random 
  roll as if it had rolled “no encounter.”)
   The Coward’s Map has a special use against 
  Cirothe: the party using it will never encounter 
  Cirothe or her minions unless they choose to (treat 
  any random encounter with them as if it was a 
  “no encounter” roll).
  Destruction
  The Coward’s Map can only be destroyed by a red 
  dragon’s fire breath. If the wielder of the map is 
  caught in the area of a red dragon’s breath attack, 
  they automatically fail their saving throw, and the 
  map is destroyed. After the map is destroyed, the 
  character can save normally.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  The Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane
  Wondrous item, artifact
   This quiver, made by the elves of Greenfell, 
  containing the poison of the spider queen 
  Sheeltiel, turns any arrow placed into it into a 
  special dragonvenom arrow until that arrow is taken 
  out. After about 1 minute, the properties of the 
  quiver fade on the arrow, making it essential to 
  use the arrow quickly after being removed.
   A dragonvenom arrow that hits a dragon 
  automatically scores a critical hit. The dragon 
  must also make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. 
  On a failure, all attacks made against the dragon 
  have advantage until the start of its next turn.
  Destruction
  The Quiver of the Dragon’s Bane is susceptible to 
  a red dragon’s fire breath. If the wielder of the 
  quiver is is caught in the area of a red dragon’s 
  breath attack, they automatically fail their 
  saving throw, and the quiver is destroyed. After 
  the quiver is destroyed, the character can save 
  normally.
  The Hammer of Vengeance
  Weapon (warhammer), artifact
   This ancient stone hammer, encrusted with 
  dwarven runes and veined with glittering blue 
  metal, is capable of crippling a dragon that it 
  hits. Made by the dwarves of Deephall Point as a 
  weapon against Cirothe, it simply awaited being 
  bathed in a particular demon’s blood to activate. 
  Unfortunately, Cirothe managed to destroy the 
  dwarves before the dwarves were able to finish 
  the project.
   The Hammer of Vengeance is a normal 
  warhammer until it is bathed in the blood of the 
  demon Azaziz, and used to crush the Rift Crystal. 
  Once that event occurs, the hammer is fully 
  engaged.
   If the fully-awakened Hammer of Vengeance 
  hits a dragon, the dragon immediately loses 1d8 
  spell levels, as if it had cast those spells. The 
  dragon additionally has any active spells on it 
  immediately dispelled, loses concentration, and 
  cannot cast spells. At the end of each of its turns, 
  Cirothe can make a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw 
  to regain the ability to cast spells.
  Destruction
  The Hammer of Vengeance can be destroyed by a 
  dwarf that attempts to sunder it. The sundering 
  is automatically successful, and the hammer 
  is destroyed. In the third act of this adventure, 
  during the party’s attempt to enter Skull 
  Mountain, they will encounter a dwarf who has 
  been tasked specifically to eliminate this threat to 
  the dragon.
  Cirothe’s True Name
  Word of power, artifact
   Rather than a physical item, this artifact is a 
  word, the magic of which is activated when the 
  word itself is spoken aloud (requiring no action). 
  When activated against Cirothe, the name controls 
  her: for the next round, the speaker of the name 
  can dictate the actions she takes.
   After being used, the name fades from the 
  memory of the speaker, forever. A creature that 
  speaks Cirothe’s True Name can never relearn it.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Random Encounters
  While questing about for the four artifacts in the 
  lands around Holdenshire, it’s quite likely that 
  the PCs will run across a few random encounters. 
  These encounters are referenced throughout Act II.
  Holdenshire Encounters
  1d12+1d8 Encounter Type
  2
  Bandit Attack
  3
  Bridge Out
  4
  Bandit Attack
  5
  Rain
  6
  Roadside Inn
  7
  Merchant Caravan
  8
  Cattle Herder
  9
  Halfling Refugees
  10
  No Encounter
  11
  No Encounter
  12
  No Encounter
  13
  Gnomish Refugees
  14
  Bandit Victims
  15
  Merchant Caravan
  16
  Guard Patrol
  17
  Guard Fortress
  18
  Bandit Attack
  19
  Storm
  20
  Bandit Attack
  Bandit Attack
  The party is confronted by a band of 2d4 
  warhorse-mounted bandits and their leader, a 
  bandit captain. The bandits want gold, and will 
  be happy to part if given 50 gp each. If not given 
  this ransom, they attack, but they flee if the leader 
  is killed.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: Any bandits who 
  flee are reporting to Vaclav, the Boss of Blackford.
  Bandit Victims
  2d4 commoners are found shortly after being 
  mugged by bandits. Bruised and damaged, they 
  are all still a live, though their mounts, their packs, 
  their supplies, and their gold is gone.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: One of them saw 
  which way the bandits were running: toward the 
  town of Blackford.
  Bridge Out
  The party is about to ford a broad brook, but the 
  bridge over it is out. The party cannot exit the hex 
  in this direction unless at least 3 party members 
  succeed in a DC 15 ability check to get to the other 
  side. This check may be a Strength (Athletics) 
  check to leap the gap, an Intelligence check to 
  direct the repairs, a Wisdom (Animal Handling) 
  check to spur a horse over it, or any other 
  check the GM deems appropriate. Once those 3 
  characters succeed in their checks, the rest of the 
  party can be brought over without difficulty.
  Cattle Herder
  A herd of cattle, along with the herder 
  (commoner) and her mastiff, cross the path of the 
  party. The herder carries news of the lands nearby 
  and can offer some common knowledge.
  Gnomish Refugees
  A band of 2d3 gnome commoners and their 
  1d6–2 kids are coming to the region from the 
  Northbeach Woods, hoping to take refuge in 
  Hengistbury or Thornbury.
   Link—The Goblin War: The gnomes are fleeing 
  the carnage caused by the goblins in Northbeach, 
  and bemoaning the loss of Lorand the Unicorn.
  Guard Fortress
  A small fort staffed by 3d4 guards and 1 knight, 
  set back a little ways from the path. The party is 
  welcome to buy and sell items there, and to gather 
  what knowledge they desire.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: This particular 
  guard fortress has had a problem with some 
  bandits. 2d4 bandits live in a camp only a few 
  miles away, and if the PCs could drive them off, 
  the guards would be much obliged. The bandits 
  are driven off when half of their number have 
  been reduced to 0 hit points, and the guards give 
  the PCs a reward.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Guard Patrol
  A patrol of the queen’s guards, consisting of 1d4 
  guards, and one veteran, each mounted on a 
  warhorse. The guards can carry news of recent 
  attacks on others, and may offer the party some 
  Common knowledge.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: The guards are 
  spread thin trying to defend people from the 
  bandits, so they’re not very able to defend the 
  roads these days.
  Halfling Refugees
  A band of 2d3 halfling commoners and their 
  1d6–2 kids are coming to the region from 
  Halfpoint, hoping to take refuge in Hengistbury 
  or Thornbury.
   Link—Halfpints in Halfpoint: The halflings are 
  less-than-confident that the crusade in Halfpoint 
  lead by the hero Shaila against the orcs and 
  bandits can be successful.
  Merchant Caravan
  Each caravan consists of 1d4 carts. Each 
  merchant’s cart contains one merchant 
  (commoner), one drover (commoner), 1 riding 
  horse, and 5 guards. Each cart carries 1d4×100 gp, 
  and can buy and sell items with a gp limit equal 
  to the gp carried in the cart.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: This merchant 
  caravan has a dwarf merchant who is very 
  concerned about the Bandits of Blackford and the 
  rumor that they’re working with orcs.
  No Encounter
  The day passes uneventfully.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: The cattle herder 
  is nervous that the bandits will take over the 
  region, and has heard of rumors of orc attacks to 
  the north.
  Rain
  Rain impedes the party’s progress. Mud and 
  muck mire the party, halving their speed if they 
  travel over the period. In addition, each creature 
  carrying supplies must make a DC 10 Wisdom 
  (Survival) check at the end of the day or have 1d4 
  of their supply days ruined by the rain.
  Roadside Inn
  An inn staffed by 2d4 commoners (maids, cooks, 
  etc.) and 1 mercenary thug, lies beside the road.
   The party can stay here overnight by spending 
  10 gp, rather than consuming their own supplies.
   Link—The Bandits of Blackford: This particular 
  inn also hosts 1d4 bandits, who don’t hesitate to 
  cause a scene if given any hassle. The mercenaries 
  stay out of their way, and the staff bends to their 
  boorish whim. The bandits don’t stay long if 
  challenged—once one of them is reduced to half 
  his or her maximum hp, the lot of them run off. If 
  the party drives them off, they can stay at the inn 
  for free, and they get a reward.
  Storm
  The party confronts a hazardous squall. In 
  addition to mud and muck, the party must deal 
  with violent winds, lightning, and other hazards. 
  At the end of the day, each creature must make a 
  DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check or have their tool 
  pack and 2d4 of their supply days ruined by the 
  rain, making them unusable.
  Reward Tables
  Roll for treasure on the following tables when the 
  party earns some reward for a random encounter. 
  This treasure is in small quantities, is common 
  items, and is common knowledge.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Random Encounter Rewards
  1d12+1d8 Reward Type
  Details
  2
  Wishes of Peace
  The NPC hopes the party has peace, and their next day is free of any hostile 
  random encounters (re-roll if a hostile encounter is indicated).
  3
  Visiting Gift
  The NPC offers a true treasure, if they can but return home to get it. If the party 
  winds up in the same town as the NPC, they can gain one random wondrous item 
  that functions once before breaking.
  4
  Rare Rumor
  An NPC shares a rare rumor with the party. Roll on the table below.
  5
  Mount
  An NPC offers their mount or vehicle to the party for the party’s use.
  6
  Special Trinket
  The NPC gives the party a special trinket. This trinket contains a spell that any 
  character can cast with a DC 11 Charisma check and by expending the trinket and 
  taking a standard action. Failure on this check results in a backfire. See the table 
  below for spells.
  7
  Discount
  An NPC offers to put in a good word for the party at the next town. The next time 
  they visit that town, they get a 10% discount on their purchases.
  8 
  Special Scroll
  An NPC gives the party a special scroll. This scroll contains a spell that any 
  character can cast with a DC 11 Intelligence check and by taking 10 minutes and 
  expending the scroll. Failure on this check results in a scroll mishap. See the table 
  below for spells.
  9
  Common Rumors
  An NPC shares a common rumor with the party. Roll on the table below.
  10
  Help
  An NPC offers their aid on a skill they are trained in. The next check the player 
  makes with that skill has advantage.
  11
  Hospitality 
  An NPC offers to provide food and shelter for the party at their home for as long as 
  they need.
  12
  Free Item
  NPCs related to the encounter each offer one PC an item in their possession.
  13
  Coin
  NPCs related to the encounter each offer one PC 2d8 gp.
  14
  Special Potion
  An NPC gives the party a special potion. The potion grants the effects of a spell, 
  and any character can drink it (as a swift action). The potion has a 5-in-20 (5 or less 
  on 1d20) chance to have a curse. See the table below for potions.
  15
  Uncommon Rumor
  An NPC shares an uncommon rumor with the party. Roll on the table below.
  16
  Special Salve
  The NPC gives the party a special salve. This salve contains a spell that takes effect 
  on whatever the party member rubs it on (as a swift action with touch range). The 
  salve has a 25% chance to be volatile. See the table below for spells.
  17
  Assistance
  The NPC offers to travel with the party for the next day, helping out where they 
  can.
  18
  Blessing of the Gods The NPC prays for the PC party. Each character gains Inspiration.
  19
  Very Rare Rumor
  The NPC shares a very rare rumor with the party. Roll on the table below.
  20
  Wishes of Wealth
  The NPC hopes the party has great success. The next time the party gains a coinage 
  award, increase it by 10%.
  
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain | EN World EN5IDER
  Common Rumors
  1d6
  Rumor
  1
  “The merfolk of the Northern Ocean are said to know the secret of extinguishing Cirothe’s fire.” (False)
  2
  “The Necromancer of the North lives in the ruins near Dellgate Pass. Though a close ally of Cirothe, he has 
  recently had a falling-out with her, as she has not destroyed as much as he wants.” (False)
  3
  “The Bandits of Blackford may be working with some goblins—eerie howls can be heard from the towns they 
  have taken.” (True)
  4
  “When Cirothe was creating the Desolation, she warred with the dwarves and elves, smashing them and 
  scattering them to the winds. They say that artifacts from that war still lay in some areas of the world.” (True)
  5
  “It looks like the Bandits of Blackford are making a fort in the Southern Downs.” (True)
  6
  “The Bandits of Blackford have been rumored to have orcs amongst their number—savage brutes with a hatred 
  for humanity.” (True)
  Uncommon Rumors
  1d6
  Rumor
  1
  “Hobgoblin slavers are kidnapping folk from near the Oldshade Woods and taking them to Cirothe.” (False)
  2
  “A strange star has fallen near Deepspell Lake, and some say it contains an ore not of this world.” (False)
  3
  “The orcs of the Crawley Hills have been seen with ogres from the northern mountains in their ranks.” (True)
  4
  “The spiders of the Oldshade woods are more than they seem— some say they’ve heard them speak.” (True)
  5
  “The elves of the Greendale Forest are the remnants of a group that once dwelled in the Greyfell Forest.” (True)
  6
  “There is a small community of dwarves in Last Chance, known as the Cowards, who fled from Cirothe’s 
  assault.” (True)
  Rare Rumors
  1d6
  Rumor
  1
  “At the bottom of Deepspell lake lays a sword made of magical wood.” (False, but… who knows?)
  2
  “The dwarves of Deephall Point were said to have a vast underground transit network.” (False)
  3
  “The savage trolls in Oldshade have been wielding dwarf-made items of giant size!” (True)
  4
  “The ancient trees of the Greyfell Forest have been twisted by fey magic into horrid, knotted things.” (True)
  5
  “The fey queen in Greyfell Forest has become insane and worships a dark god.” (True)
  6
  “The dwarves in exile in Redcliff worship a forge-god in secret, as the main shrine is within Cirothe’s lands.” 
  (True)
  Very Rare Rumors
  1d6
  Rumor
  1
  “The plains tribes know an ancient secret related to Cirothe’s true weakness.” (False)
  2
  “Sleeping beneath Fogmoor is a dragon that once contested Cirothe’s rule.” (False)
  3
  “Giants now rule what was once the ancient dwarven lair of Deephall Point.”
  4
  “The drow are reportedly involved somehow in the madness of the Fey Queen.” (True)
  5
  “The true name of the dragon is held in the mind of the mad Fey Queen.” (True)
  6
  “The dwarves had an item that would shatter Cirothe’s power, but lost it when they lost their homeland.” (True)
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  EN World EN5IDER | Holdenshire Act Two: Journey to Skull Mountain
  Special Scrolls
  1d6 Spell 
  1
  Identify (Mishap: the item you are identifying fails to work for 24 hours)
  2
  Find steed (Mishap: you can speak only in horse noises for the duration of the spell)
  3
  Alarm (Mishap: the spell’s area is filled with a loud siren for the duration of the spell)
  4
  Comprehend languages (Mishap: you cannot understand spoken or written words of any language for the 
  duration of the spell)
  5
  Shield (Mishap: you take 2d6 damage.)
  6
  Magic weapon (Mishap: you take 2d6 damage and also suffer disadvantage on attack rolls for the duration of 
  the spell)
  Special Potions
  1d6
  Spell 
  1
  Feather fall (Curse: you rise 20 feet straight up, and then fall down)
  2
  Divine favor (Curse: your weapon attacks instead deal 1d4 less damage during the spell’s duration)
  3
  Mage armor (Curse: your Armor Class is set to 10 for the duration)
  4
  True strike (Curse: you have disadvantage on all weapon attack rolls until you hit)
  5
  Enlarge person (Curse: you takes 2d6 damage and your movement is halved for the duration of the spell)
  6
  Blur (Curse: creatures have advantage on attack rolls against you for the duration)
  Special Trinkets
  1d6
  Spell 
  1
  Burning hands (Backfire: you take 1d6 fire damage each round until you use your action to make a DC 11 
  Dexterity saving throw, ending the effect on a success)
  2
  Sleep (Backfire: only you are affected by this spell)
  3
  Magic missile (Backfire: you fly 10 feet backwards and take 1d6 force damage)
  4
  Shocking grasp (Backfire: the spell affects a creature adjacent to the target, rather than the target)
  5
  Color spray (Backfire: only you are affected by the spell)
  6
  Chill touch (Backfire: you gain one level of exhaustion)
  Special Salves
  1d6
  Spell 
  1
  Cure wounds (Volatile: the target takes 2d8 damage)
  2
  Lesser restoration (Volatile: the target’s condition strengthens, and cannot be cured until the target completes 
  a long rest)
  3
  Bless (Volatile: as bane instead)
  4
  Protection from energy (Volatile: causes the user’s clothing and armor to dissolve)
  5
  Magic stone (Volatile: the stones explode, dealing 2d6 damage to the user and dazzling them for the duration 
  of the spell)
  6
  Heroism (Volatile: the target becomes frightened of the user)
  e
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 069 - Journey to Skull Mountain.pdf