TEXT: EN5ider Presents Zeitgeist:
  The Dying 
  Skyseer
  Adventure Two, Part 2
  A 5E-Compatible Adventure for 4th-Level Characters
  
  2 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Introduction
  From the Pen of
  Ryan Nock
  Evocative Cover Illustration by
  ShenFei
  Stunning Cartographic Displays by
  Brian Patterson and Jonathan Roberts
  Masterful Interior Illustrations by
  Brian Lindahl, Claudio Pozas, and ShenFei
  Includes art in the public domain
  with Unparalleled Layout and Graphic Design by
  Eric Life-Putnam
  Playtested for Maximum Enjoyment by
  Jason Boss, David Braught, Josh Brzinski, Ted Brzinski, 
  Sam Coman, Neil D’Cruze, Francis Dickinson, 
  Robert M. Everson, Michael Gallogly, Matthew J. Hanson, 
  Michael Hart, Michael Iachini, Tom Jones, Laura Kertz, 
  Gene McDonald, James Robert Parks IV, Cathy Perez, Romana 
  Perez, Hamid Raoof, Bryan Rennekamp, Tyrone Shekelberg, 
  Judson Stowe, and Eugene Zaretskiy
  Seamlessly Updated to Fifth Edition by
  James J. Haeck
  Ably Produced and Facilitated by
  Russell Morrissey
  Special Thanks to
  Gabi, for teaching me about faeries; to you know who, for 
  teaching me about crazy, soul-devouring banshees; and 
  to the hundreds of gamers who backed the original release 
  of Zeitgeist on Kickstarter, and to the over one thousand 
  generous patrons of EN World EN5ider whose support has 
  made this Fifth Edition update possible.
  Open Game Content
  The game rule information in this article is designated Open 
  Game Content. All other material in this article, including maps, 
  graphic elements, and illustrations (including graphic elements 
  and illustrations in the public domain), narrative and descriptive 
  text, character and place names, trade dress, “EN Publishing,” 
  “EN World,” “EN5ider,” “Zeitgeist,” all EN Publishing product 
  and article titles, and Zeitgeist, EN World, and EN Publishing 
  logos, are designated Product Identity.
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  i
  n the first Zeitgeist adventure, the PCs 
  thwarted a coup attempt and helped prevent a 
  war, but did so by aiding their homeland’s traditional 
  enemy. Such are the duties required by agents of the 
  Risuri Homeland Constabulary, for protecting the 
  nation is often at odds with simple black-and-white 
  concepts of friend and foe.
  In The Dying Skyseer, as the party investigates a 
  murder they will cross paths with enemies they can 
  recruit as temporary allies, and work with supposed 
  friends who seek to mislead and betray them. This is a 
  complex world, and it will take canny and dogged in-
  vestigators to sift truth from amid layers of deception.
  Of course, this is a heroic adventure game, and while different 
  groups might turn the Grimdark dial up or down a few notches for 
  their own campaigns, what players generally want is to find bad 
  guys, take them down, and be rewarded for it. There are plenty of 
  villains lurking under the smoggy skies of Flint, and it doesn’t take 
  a prophet to know the PCs are going to thwart their foul plans.
  This adventure is broken into several parts: an introduction, a 
  prologue, four possible investigation threads, a climax, and a 
  conclusion. This first installment of The Dying Skyseer included 
  the prologue and the first investigation thread. This installment 
  includes the second and third investigation threads, and the final 
  installment will be comprised of the fourth investigation thread, 
  the climax, and the conclusion of this adventure.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 3
  t
  his act details what the PCs can discover 
  as they investigate Nilasa’s lodgings at Heward 
  Sechim’s alkahest factory and her connection to the 
  fey terrorist Gale.
  Heward’s Alkahest Factory
  Social. Real-Time.
  The party questions the owner of a factory where Nilasa lived and 
  worked.
  By searching Nilasa’s body or investigating her associates, the 
  party should learn about Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings, a factory 
  in Parity Lake that produces powerful acid. (Alkahest is supposedly 
  “universal solvent,” but this is just an exaggeration.) After nearly 
  landing in prison five years ago, Nilasa tried to reform and found 
  work at the factory just as it was starting up. Ever since, she has 
  been a sort of mascot for the workers; her sense of humor made it 
  much easier to cope with the stress of constantly being in danger 
  of getting dissolved.
  Factory Details.
  Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings employs a few hundred industrious 
  folk who work in shifts throughout the day. Most of the employees 
  live in tenements in Parity Lake; a few make a longer journey from 
  slums in The Nettles. Like most buildings on its street, the factory 
  is roughly 40 feet tall, on a lot 50 feet wide and 80 feet long, with 
  street-side doors for workers on the front and a small pier facing the 
  lake itself at the back. There are no windows below the third floor.
  The mostly wide open factory floor is busy and crowded with 
  workers and equipment. Raw materials enter from the pier, and 
  different teams handle the purifying and refining procedures. Then 
  specialists combine reagents to create acids and corrosive pastes of 
  various strengths. A portion of the factory floor is separated from 
  the rest by a low wall; this is Heward’s personal laboratory. Twenty 
  feet up, catwalks ring the walls and criscross the factory, and chains 
  and pulleys hang from the ceiling ten feet above the catwalks.
  The second floor of Sechim’s consists of a common lounge area, 
  Heward’s personal residence, storage rooms, and a room with a few 
  cots for workers who are pulling double shifts and want a nap. (Few 
  factories have such a luxury.)
  Heward lives and works at the factory, so he should be there 
  whenever the party comes by, either experimenting in his personal 
  laboratory (he’s trying to create a magic urn that will, without 
  supervision, make acid from raw materials dumped into it), over-
  seeing the factory floor from the catwalks, or taking his ease in his 
  upstairs residence.
  The Neighborhood.
  As the party arrives, it’s obvious that something’s different about 
  Heward’s factory. This whole section of lakeside factories all con-
  tribute to Risuri military and naval resources, but Nevard’s factory 
  is the only one where there are no protesters on the street.
  The factory to the left of Sechim’s, which uses various drills and 
  bores to precisely machine cannons, guns, and steamworks, is sur-
  rounded by a small mob of women singing traditional Risuri folk 
  songs. Thick metal chains are wrapped around the double doors 
  leading into the bore factory, and the entrance is guarded by burly 
  men that the party might recognize as off-duty police officers if they 
  succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence check.
  An identical scene fronts the factory to the right, which employs 
  hundreds of people who manually sift firedust into different grades 
  and package it into charges with bullets for firearms. Across the 
  street, three smaller factories all have comparable crowds. The 
  women are the wives, mothers, and daughters of factory workers, 
  and their protest is the second stage of a months-long conflict with 
  the factory owners.
  Previously, small groups of dockers had been coming to argue for 
  better working conditions for the workers. Momentum built, and 
  there was talk of a workers’ walk-out. The owners retaliated by lock-
  ing their factories in the middle of a shift, and they refused to let 
  Thread Two: Gale
  Heward Sechim. Using wealth he received from his prestigious sky-
  seer uncle Nevard, Heward Sechim spent the past two decades developing 
  a reputation as a crafter of pure and potent acids, a critical component for 
  devices that combine magic and technology. Five years ago he was challenged 
  by his uncle to open a large factory that would treat its workers with respect; 
  most such operations are wretched and dangerous.
  One of his first hires was Nilasa, whose upbeat personality had a positive 
  effect on the rest of the workers. Heward thinks of her as a daughter, and he’s 
  grown worried of her flirtations with terrorist activities. He lets her sleep in 
  one of the top floor storage rooms of the factory.
  Heward has to rein in his natural exuberance for experimentation in order 
  to keep his promise to his uncle. His main business just mass produces liquid 
  acids and corrosive glazes, and he keeps separate his arcanotechnical work-
  room separate from the main floor, to cut down on the chance of a kid getting 
  incinerated in an incomplete enchanted forge. Indeed, he tends to only have 
  child workers handle cleaning and 
  maintenance, and not work with actual 
  acid. A few times each week, Heward 
  takes the hardest workers out for 
  drinks at the Thinking Man’s Tavern, 
  and he makes a point of keeping the 
  windows open to let out noxious fumes. 
  By Flint standards, the factory is an 
  almost pleasant workplace.
  
  4 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  anyone leave unless they produced their quota, and even then only 
  if a new worker came in to replace them. Also, they’re not paying 
  any workers until the protests end. Now the women are protesting 
  to try to get their loved ones free. Similar protests dot the district, 
  since many factory owners coordinated their actions.
  Heward has a trio of guards in front of his business, but they’re 
  present to keep the adjacent factories from trying to sabotage the 
  alkahest factory.
  Breaking the Bad News.
  When the party tells Heward about Nilasa’s death, he grimaces, 
  then nods and says his uncle warned him about this. He explains 
  that his uncle, a skyseer, is getting on in years and doesn’t have 
  many visions anymore, but just a week ago he told him that “an 
  adopted daughter will blindly ride the wind to her demise.”
  Heward says he knows Nilasa had been trying for years to be-
  friend Gale and the fey terrorists. He blames himself, because she 
  listened to him a bit too much when he would talk about how horri-
  bly other factory owners treated their workers. Heward just wanted 
  to instill a sense of pride and allegiance in his people, but he thinks 
  Nilasa wanted to punish harsher owners. He says he cared for her 
  too much to try reporting her.
  Nilasa’s Room.
  Heward will gladly let the PCs check out Nilasa’s small room up-
  stairs, but there’s not much to find: just some clothes, incidental 
  money, and a lesson book for her to learn elvish.
  A Favor.
  Heward makes a point to say that he understands both sides of the 
  debate about Risur’s tradition versus its future. He’s been on both 
  sides, gotten into his fair share of trouble both times. He’s not the 
  kind of person who can fight, because he doesn’t think either side 
  is wrong.
  He asks the party if they can get in touch with his uncle Nevard. 
  He says that Nevard has the respect of radicals like Gale, but that 
  he’s not violent, and could be able to arrange a peaceful meeting 
  between Gale and the authorities. Heward hopes that could prevent 
  any other misguided kids from getting themselves killed. Any PC 
  with the Skyseer theme knows a great deal about Nevard’s life and 
  history, and any PC proficient in the Arcana or Nature skill at least 
  recognizes his name as being some respected Skyseer.
  He can give the party directions through the rough roads and 
  trails in Cloudwood to the henge where Nevard and his followers 
  live. He hopes the party hurries, though, because Nevard’s an old 
  man, and if he dies one of the best chances for reconciliation dies 
  with him.
  Other Concerns.
  In the course of the discussion, Heward dolefully mentions that 
  he’s got an awful lot on his plate already. There are the protests on 
  either side, the government pushing for him to lower his price so 
  they can get the arcane etchings they need for the next ship like 
  the Coaltongue, and then some strange men who he’s afraid will 
  damage his factory.
  The men, who smelled odd, sort of like burnt engine grease, 
  wanted to buy a few cases of alkahest, but insisted he not report 
  the sale. Since he sells to the government and his product is haz-
  ardous, he has to account for all his materials; so he refused. The 
  men got angry, made some heavy allusions to the fires that have 
  been striking around the district, and then left, saying they’d be 
  back. The second time, two different men came. Heward stalled, 
  said he needed time to arrange something, then had the men fol-
  lowed. They went to a seedy part of the district, away from the lake 
  and nearer to the Nettles, but that’s as far as they could be tracked.
  Unbeknownst to Heward, these were agents of crime boss Lor-
  can Kell, who is trying to discreetly assemble the many various 
  components needed to construct the colossus in the Bleak Gate. In-
  tensely strong acid is needed to etch runes into the adamantine skin 
  of the titan, and since Heward isn’t cooperating Lorcan is making 
  plans to have the dragonborn arsonist brothers set fire to the fac-
  tory so one of his affiliates can buy it cheaply.
  Want to Buy Some Acid?
  Heward is willing to sell many types of acid and alchemicals, and 
  is willing to fill custom orders or offer some basic vials of acid as 
  gifts if the party can get him some answers to what led Nilasa to 
  be killed.
  Fog of War
  Action. Tactical.
  En route to meet with skyseer Nevard, the party finds a carriage 
  imperiled by Cloudwood brigands.
  In the steep, tangled terrain of the Cloudwood only a few roads 
  are well-maintained enough for carriages to travel, and most traf-
  fic is on foot or horseback. Four miles from Parity Lake, Nevard’s 
  henge lies near the end of one of the roads, as does a community of 
  musicians who act as the main contact this region has with outsid-
  ers. Bands of brigands roam the forest, and they get their supplies 
  from this outpost in exchange for providing protection.
  As the PCs near Nevard’s henge, they’re nearly two thousand feet 
  above sea level, and the humid, sweltering air is thick with low clouds 
  and patchy fog. The road ascends on switchbacks toward a forested 
  plateau, and when the PCs reach this area they hear the panicked 
  neigh of a horse galloping toward them. The animal streaks past, 
  an arrow in its shoulder and a snapped carriage harness trailing 
  behind it. Then they hear a woman’s cries and intermittent sounds 
  of gunshots and arrows streaking through the air.
  It takes a few rounds to get within view of the scuffle. A carriage 
  leans precariously at the corner of a switchback, its wheels stuck in 
  undergrowth. The door to the carriage hangs open and three men 
  huddle near it, reloading pistols and looking around as if trying to 
  spot their enemies. A fourth man, the driver, sits dead atop the car-
  riage with an arrow in his chest. Just as the party arrives, an arrow 
  streaks in from the south hill and hits one of the pistoleers, killing 
  him, and the remaining two scramble to the opposite side of the 
  carriage. The woman’s screams continue from within the carriage, 
  which seems to slowly be sliding toward a thirty-foot plunge.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 5
  Thread Two: Gale
  At first glance, it appears that a group of travelers have been set 
  upon by Cloudwood brigands. The situation’s a bit more complex, 
  though. The driver and the men defending the carriage are mem-
  bers of Lorcan Kell’s thieves’ guild. For the past several months the 
  Family has been making inroads in the city by playing different 
  criminal groups against each other; in this situation, the Family 
  has convinced a gang of Kell’s thieves that they deserve a cut of the 
  banditry going on in the Cloudwood. The dispute got out of control, 
  and members of Kell’s gang decided to kidnap Morena, the lover of 
  the brigands’ leader, Renard Woodsman.
  After the kidnapping, Renard scrambled his fastest men, headed 
  off the carriage at these switchbacks, and managed to pin down the 
  kidnappers. More of his men are on their way, and the brigands will 
  assume the PCs, being outsiders, are hostile. Renard’s attention is 
  too closely focused on killing the kidnappers for him to realize at 
  first that Morena’s carriage is about to fall and kill her.
  •	 2 Kell-Guild pistoleers
  •	 4 Cloudwood brigands (see Tactics, below)
  •	 1 Cloudwood falconer
  •	 Renard Woodsman
  Kell-Guild Pistoleer
  Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
  Armor Class 14 (studded leather)
  Hit Points 15 (3d8 + 2)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   11 (+0) 
  14 (+2) 
  12 (+1) 
  10 (+0) 
  10 (+0) 
  10 (+0)
  Senses passive Perception 10
  Languages Common
  Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
  Actions
  Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 
  4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage.
  Low-Quality Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 20 ft./60 
  ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage
  Cloudwood Brigand
  Medium humanoid (human), chaotic neutral
  Armor Class 12 (leather)
  Hit Points 11 (2d8 + 2)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   11 (+0) 
  12 (+1) 
  12 (+1) 
  10 (+0) 
  10 (+0) 
  10 (+0)
  Senses passive Perception 10
  Languages Common
  Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
  Actions
  Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 
  (1d8 + 1) slashing damage, or 6 (1d10 + 1) if used with both hands.
  Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80 ft./320 ft., 
  one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage.
  Cloudwood Falconer
  Medium humanoid (human), chaotic neutral
  Armor Class 11 (16 with barkskin)
  Hit Points 27 (5d8 + 5)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   10 (+0) 
  12 (+1) 
  13 (+1) 
  12 (+1) 
  15 (+2) 
  11 (+0)
  Skills Medicine +4, Nature +3, Perception +4
  Senses passive Perception 14
  Languages Common, Druidic
  Challenge 2 (450 XP)
  Spellcasting. The falconer is a 3rd-level spellcaster. His spellcasting 
  ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). He 
  has the following druid spells prepared:
  Cantrips (at will): druidcraft, produce flame, shillelagh
  1st level (4 slots): cure wounds, entangle, speak with animals, 
  thunderwave
  2nd level (2 slots): barkskin
  Actions
  Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit (+4 to hit with shillelagh), reach 
  5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage, or 6 (1d8 + 2) 
  bludgeoning damage with shillelagh.
  Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one 
  target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage, or 9 (1d8 + 1d6 + 2) piercing 
  damage against humanoids.
  Renard Woodsman
  Medium humanoid (human), chaotic neutral
  Armor Class 13 (leather armor)
  Hit Points 16 (3d8 + 3)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   15 (+2) 
  14 (+2) 
  12 (+1) 
  11 (+0) 
  13 (+1) 
  11 (+0)
  Skills Nature +4, Perception +5, Stealth +6, Survival +5
  Senses passive Perception 15
  Languages Common
  Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)
  Aeriad Bracers. Woodsman wears aeriad bracers, granting him +2 to 
  damage rolls with a longbow or shortbow (included). If he falls, the 
  bracers cast featherfall on him, and he can glide 5 feet horizontally for 
  every 10 feet he descends.
  Keen Hearing and Sight. Woodsman has advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
  Actions
  Multiattack. Woodsman makes two melee attacks or two ranged 
  attacks.
  Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 
  6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage, or 7 (1d10 + 2) slashing damage if used 
  with both hands.
  Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one 
  target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage.
  
  6 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  Tactics.
  Renard and one Cloudwood brigand are perched on the south rise, 
  content to wait for reinforcements to arrive. On the northeast rise 
  a Cloudwood falconer has just used a spell scroll of conjure animals 
  castings to summon a swarms of ruby-red blood-drinking hum-
  mingbirds, monsters from the Dreaming that are simultaneously 
  beautiful, weird, and mean (use swarm of bats statistics). Another 
  brigand guards the falconer’s flank as he sends forth his minions to 
  drive the kidnappers from cover.
  The other two Cloudwood brigands are approaching from the 
  north, and will reach the map on the start of the 3rd round. They 
  move around the northwest rise, approaching the two surviving 
  kidnappers. When the kidnappers spot the PCs, they call out for 
  help, but stay in the cover of the wagon, only occasionally popping 
  out to shoot at enemies. Morena is tightly tied up on the floor of 
  the wagon, but she has managed to get her gag loose and cries out 
  in fear.
  Timeline.
  At the start of the 2nd, 5th, and 8th round of combat the wagon 
  slides 5 feet west. On the 8th turn this movement takes it over the 
  edge, and it plummets 30 feet, dealing 10 (3d6) damage to any-
  one inside. This mortally wounds Morena, but magical healing or 
  a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) Heal check can save her if 
  administered before she fails her third death saving throw.
  As noted above, two of the four Cloudwood brigands reach the 
  combat area at the start of the 3rd round. Unless interrupted, the 
  pair proceed around the northwest rise with the intent of reaching 
  the kidnappers on their turn in the 5th round.
  Terrain.
  The steep granite cliffs of this area have plenty of small trees grow-
  ing out of them, a PC can climb the cliffs by making a successful 
  DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
  The carriage is 10 feet by 10 feet in size, and it starts 5 feet from 
  the edge of the 30-foot-high cliff at the corner of the switchback. It 
  only falls off the cliff if all it is completely over the edge. A character 
  can make a Strength check as an action to move it 5 feet. (DC 14) 
  or tip it over (DC 16) or sabotage all four of its wheels (DC 18) so 
  it stops rolling toward the edge.
  At the start of the encounter, place three small cloud banks on 
  the map. Each cloud bank is 25 feet in diameter. Creatures inside 
  a cloud bank have concealment from adjacent enemies and total 
  concealment from non-adjacent enemies. Each round the cloud 
  banks drift 10 feet to the southeast. If one leaves the edge of the 
  map, place a new one somewhere on the opposite side of the map. 
  Perhaps use a token to mark the center of these clouds, and move 
  them each round.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 7
  Thread Two: Gale
  One Big Misunderstanding.
  Only after the kidnappers are killed or subdued will Renard listen 
  to the PCs. At that point, it might be possible with a successful 
  DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) check to get him to stop shooting 
  and call off his men to talk. This becomes much easier (DC 12) if 
  the PCs point out that there’s a woman in the carriage in mortal 
  peril and that they can help save her.
  Aftermath.
  Renard and his men are criminals — they’ve robbed dozens and 
  killed more than a few in the past year — but they’re not specifically 
  hostile to the party. Indeed, killing them will earn the enmity of 
  dozens of other brigands in these woods, and might sabotage efforts 
  to speak with Nevard and Gale.
  If the party saves Morena, Renard is willing to escort them to 
  Nevard. If Morena dies, Renard’s men have to hold him back from 
  attacking whichever PC he thinks is most to blame. He orders them 
  to leave the forest or suffer his ire, and then he recovers her body 
  and departs. He can be convinced with a successful DC 12 Cha-
  risma (Persuasion) check to let the party through to talk to Nevard, 
  and he’ll automatically allow in a party with a Skyseer.
  In either case, though, Renard wants to kill the kidnappers. He 
  can be talked out of it by a successful DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) 
  check, but convincing him not to becomes much harder (DC 20) if 
  Morena is dead. If the party can’t get him to back down, he’ll fight 
  them if necessary for the right to kill those who took his love. If the 
  party fails to get his permission to continue on, they’ll need to either 
  make a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) or Wisdom (Survival) 
  check or attract the attention of eight Cloudwood brigands.
  Treasure.
  If the party arrests Renard, they can recover his aeriad bracers.
  Nevard’s Henge
  Social. Real-Time.
  The party seeks an elderly prophet’s aid to arrange contact with the 
  fey terrorist Gale.
  Uphill from the nearest cluster of homes, a ring of stone plinths 
  stand in a grassy clearing. Normally empty during the day, now a 
  tent sits at the edge of the clearing, and a half dozen caretakers sit 
  outside, waiting for their leader to pass.
  Nevard’s closest family and followers have brought the old man 
  to live out his declining years near the henge where for most of 
  his life he watched the stars every night. No single ailment is kill-
  ing him; his heart is weak, his kidneys failing, his bones brittle, 
  his blood thin. But he has more strength than he lets on, having 
  foreseen he would need to test himself one last time before he dies.
  Occasionally Nevard receives visitors who wish to pay their re-
  spects, and often his younger skyseer peers come to ask his advice 
  for keeping their order alive. The summer nights are warm enough 
  to sit out and stargaze, but the mountains here are low, and thick 
  clouds, streaked with soot blown out from Flint’s factories, obscure 
  accurate views of the night sky. Still, each night Nevard invites his 
  guests to sit with him, hoping to see something of the future.
  Nevard’s tenders are wary of the PCs unless they come with Re-
  nard’s recommendation, or include a character with the Skyseer 
  theme. Otherwise they are stopped at the edge of the clearing. 
  The party might persuade the guards that Nevard would want to 
  see them with a DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) check; alternately 
  they might offer medical service with a DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) 
  check, or show familiarity enough with skyseer traditions to earn 
  entry with a DC 13 Intelligence (Nature) check.
  Failing that, Nevard himself is always interested in talking, and 
  while his tenders try to keep visitors away, if the party makes a com-
  motion Nevard will hear them and invite them into his tent.
  A Dying Man’s Wish.
  Inside the tent, the light from smoldering incense sticks is dim, to 
  spare the old man’s eyes. A faint stench of withering cloys the air, 
  not quite masked by fragrant scents of cinnamon and cloves.
  Nevard knows that Gale has been causing mayhem in Flint. In-
  deed, she has come to him several times asking his guidance. She 
  hasn’t listened to him much, which makes him chuckle. But the last 
  time she visited she said she had followed his advice and had found 
  a mutual threat that even the people of Flint would take seriously.
  Nevard might not agree with Gale’s tactics, but he likes her 
  because she’s one of the few beautiful women who’ll give an old 
  man like him more than polite conversation, and she always is ac-
  companied by the sweet music of birds. He hopes she’ll be able to 
  get people to listen to her warnings, and he would like if the party 
  could help her, but he is wary of betraying her trust. He says he 
  can easily arrange for Gale to meet with them — she owes him that 
  much — but he’ll only do it if the party can grant him his dying wish.
  He wants to go to the peak of Cauldron Hill, the highest point 
  in the city, with the clearest skies and the strongest font of magical 
  power. There he thinks he might be able to pierce the strange veil 
  that seems to have fallen over the vision of the skyseers. He wants 
  to find a path that can let people like Gale and those pushing for 
  industry walk together in harmony.
  Skyseer Nevard Sechim. For decades Nevard was one of the most 
  prescient and respected skyseers in Risur. Then with the rise of industry and 
  the fading power of the skyseer’s visions, his star waned, and he withdrew into 
  the Cloudwood east of Flint to focus on keeping his order alive. Now nearing 
  one hundred and twenty years old, Nevard cannot see the path forward—for 
  the world or for his order.
  The old man walks feebly and leans on a plain staff which carries the banner 
  of his family line. His deep voice warbles frailly, but somehow when he speaks 
  the wind hushes so everyone nearby can 
  hear him. He possesses no overt magical 
  power, certainly nothing of use in a fight, 
  but the land and sky respect him and make 
  his passage easy.
  He has foreseen that he’ll die within the 
  year, but he is conserving his strength, 
  hoping to make one last journey to the 
  peak of Cauldron Hill before he dies.
  
  8 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  But Cauldron Hill is firstly restricted, and only Reed Macbannin, 
  the mayor of the Nettles district and a mage skilled in defending 
  against the dark arts, can grant anyone access. Secondly, the rea-
  son it’s restricted is because it is probably the most dangerous and 
  cursed place in the country, so even if Nevard can go there, he’ll 
  need protection.
  Nevard wants the PCs to arrange for him and them to climb to 
  the peak of Cauldron Hill and spend an evening. It’s not unprec-
  edented; Macbannin and some of his apprentices go there to keep 
  eyes out for threats before they get out of hand, and occasionally the 
  military trains elite warriors atop the mountain. With the right 
  wards from Macbannin, it could even be safe.
  The PCs can easily arrange an appointment to meet with 
  Macbannin, if they’re willing to help Nevard.
  A Witch’s Brew.
  One of Nevard’s allies — an orc shaman from Ber named Paza-
  mu — possesses a scroll of a forbidden spell, bond of forced faith, 
  originally used by the witches of Cauldron Hill to make themselves 
  nigh invincible in battle. It binds the life forces of one or more 
  people to the spell’s target, so that one person can share the health 
  and vigor of the others.
  If the PCs approve, the day of the climb Pazamu will perform 
  the ritual to cast the spell. Each willing PC sheds a drop of blood 
  into a cup of milk, and Nevard drinks. Then, for the next 24 hours, 
  Nevard will be able to climb and move with the health of a normal 
  adult person, and damage that would be dealt to him is instead 
  divided evenly (rounded down, minimum 1 apiece) among those 
  bonded to him.
  The ritual is written on a scroll of human flesh with invisible 
  ink made from the blood of an infant sacrifice and the milk of its 
  also-sacrificed mother. Neither Pazamu nor Nevard mention these 
  unpleasant details, but a PC observing the ritual might recognize 
  the abhorrent history of the magic with a successful DC 18 Intel-
  ligence (Arcana) check. The scroll is a centuries-old relic, and will 
  be consumed with the casting; Nevard prefers it be used for good 
  rather than the horrors it was originally intended for.
  Refusal.
  If the PCs decline, Nevard eventually manages to arrange for 
  Gale and some of her allies to sneak him to the top of Cauldron 
  Hill. He still uses the bond of forced faith, and without the PCs to 
  draw Macbannin’s attention, he is not set upon by Cillian Creed’s 
  sabotage. He schedules his rally to reveal his vision, as detailed in 
  Thread Four: The Conspiracy (in the next part of this adventure).
  Nestled Atop the Nettles
  Social. Real-Time.
  Nettles district mayor Reed Macbannin holds the key to fulfilling 
  Nevard’s wishes.
  The one quality road in The Nettles curves around Cauldron 
  Hill, heading up to the manor of Mayor Reed Macbannin, located 
  a thousand feet up the twenty-three hundred foot high mountain. 
  Here the gentle slope of the lower mountain turns to a steeper 
  and rockier rise of stone, making Macbannin’s rich manor the 
  gatekeeper between the slum homes of thousands and the cursed 
  mountaintop.
  The compound’s high iron fence surrounds a manor house, ser-
  vant houses, a stable and a track for horses, a carriage house, a 
  red-brick gardener’s building, and overall beautiful landscaping 
  with myriad flowers. Macbannin employs fifty regular staff, and all 
  of them have received at least rudimentary training to understand 
  the dangers of the eldritch magic further up the mountain.
  While it’s possible to bypass the manor and attempt a more peril-
  ous climb, stories of people coming back down changed and evil 
  are enough to keep most fools from trying. Also, throughout the 
  day Macbannin’s guards patrol a ring around the mountain with 
  hunting dogs to check for signs of people who have snuck through.
  Secrets and Sorcery.
  Any person who sits as mayor of The Nettles must have the approval 
  of the previous mayor and the city governor. He is not elected to 
  his position. A lattice of wards, assembled over centuries, protects 
  the rest of the city from the dangers of old witchcraft, and who-
  ever oversees these wards must be skilled in defensive magic and 
  be trusted not to be corrupted by undead spirits of the witches who 
  once ruled there.
  Macbannin is not corrupted, simply deceived. He believes his ac-
  tions are sanctioned by the king, and so he acts with patriotic zeal to 
  protect the king’s secrets. By the time the PCs come to him, he has 
  already learned from Cillian Creed about the theft of documents 
  from the Danoran consulate, and that the PCs are investigating the 
  crime. Knowing their reputation after the events in Adventure One, 
  Island at the Axis of the World, Macbannin can’t take the chance 
  that the PCs will simply fail to solve the mystery.
  Macbannin sees their coming to his own doorstep as a great 
  fortune. He sees a chance to kill the party without suspicion, thus 
  ending the investigation. While he laments having to kill loyal sub-
  jects of the king, he believes he acts for the greater good.
  The Courier.
  When word of the consulate theft reached Governor Roland 
  Stanfield, head of the Colossus Cell in Flint, he wasted no time 
  contacting the leader of the Obscurati, Nicodemus the Gnostic. 
  Governor Stanfield has used needlewire, a magic serum, to transfer 
  Nicodemus’s consciousness remotely into a middle-aged human va-
  grant. A quick shave and a bath later, Nicodemus assumed the role 
  of a simple courier named Doro, ferrying messages between Reed 
  Macbannin on Cauldron Hill and Leone Quital beneath Cauldron 
  Hill in the Bleak Gate.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 9
  Thread Two: Gale
  Nicodemus uses a secret system of arches along the Stanfield 
  Canal to pass between the two worlds, and in the past few days he’s 
  gotten on top of the threat to their project’s secrecy. Even Macban-
  nin and Quital don’t realize he’s anything more than a trusted 
  courier of Governor Stanfield, and indeed in a matter of hours Ni-
  codemus plans to kill this body and return to the Obscurati palace 
  on the island of Mutravir in Crisillyir.
  When the PCs arrive to speak with Macbannin, Cillian 
  Creed — in his role as the manor’s butler — asks the party to take 
  a seat in the garden in front of the house. A few minutes later Ni-
  codemus finishes delivering a message to Macbannin about how 
  Quital is sending over some of his soldiers to help recover the miss-
  ing Dr. Wolfgang von Recklinghausen. (If the Thread Three event 
  “A Weight of Crumbling Stone” has already occurred, the meeting 
  instead is to discuss whether to recruit the doctor or execute him.)
  Creed goes to inform Macbannin of the party’s arrival, and 
  Nicodemus stops in the garden for a moment. He lights a ciga-
  rette — known as leaf of Nicodemus — and nods to the party. His 
  gaze is drawn to the slums stretching out across the nearby hill-
  sides, and he shakes his head as he exhales a huff of smoke.
  “Can you imagine what it’s like to live down there?” he asks, almost rhe-
  torically. “Chaos, that’s what it is. The mayor,” he nods his head back 
  toward the house, “he could come up with the most brilliant plan to help 
  those people. He could get all the money in the city’s coffers. He could 
  do everything right, but he’s just one man. Not a cog in a machine, but a 
  pebble on a beach. Chaos.”
  He takes another draw on the cigarette, then smiles. “It’s beautiful, 
  what people can create out of chaos. But I’d gladly give it up to stop 
  their suffering.”
  At that point a groom comes up, guiding Nicodemus’s horse. If any 
  PC makes an effort to engage him in a discussion of morals or ide-
  ology, the mastermind can spare a few minutes, long enough to 
  finish his cigarette. Soon Cillian Creed comes to the garden to say 
  the mayor is ready to meet them, and Nicodemus mounts up, lights 
  another cigarette, and departs.
  The Meeting.
  Macbannin invites the party into his office, its rear window facing 
  the higher slope of Cauldron Hill. As the party says their piece, the 
  butler serves whatever the PCs desire from the mayor’s supplies of 
  tea, wine, coffee, and sweets. Macbannin listens to their request 
  with a grim expression, ponders the possibilities, then grins and 
  says that he’ll be glad to help.
  He speaks with a convincing enthusiasm about how he hopes 
  Nevard is actually able to avert further attacks by Gale, and that 
  he thinks it will help his district if people know that he helped 
  make it happen. If any of the PCs seem particularly interested in 
  the history of Cauldron Hill and in defense against dark magic, he 
  intimates that after this is all over, he’d be interested in taking the 
  PC under his wing to teach them more; he says he expects the PC 
  will go far, and he wants to leave a good legacy through his students.
  Unless the PCs go to extra lengths to observe Macbannin in 
  other situations, they shouldn’t get any hint that he’s up to anything 
  nefarious. He’s quite experienced at telling just enough lies to keep 
  up his façade, so seeing through it is wildly unlikely. If the party 
  gets the impression that he’s not being completely sincere, you can 
  remind them that as a politician, he’s surely just trying to find an 
  angle that will benefit his public standing.
  Defense Against the Dark Arts.
  Macbannin is willing to permit the PCs to spend one night on the 
  mountain, and he insists that they come through his manor on the 
  way up and the way down. He recommends they ascend during the 
  day and make camp at the peak before nightfall.
  He will provide each PC with a slightly rusted iron amulet, which 
  they must wear to protect from possession by evil spirits. (See the 
  “Amulet Mechanics” sidebar.) He’ll also give them four kegs of 
  goat’s blood, which they must use to paint a ring of red around 
  wherever they make camp. Spirits are distracted by blood, and the 
  color red in general. They will likely smell the party, but when they 
  spot the blood they’ll believe they’ve found the trail of a wounded 
  animal, after which they’ll mindlessly walk in circles since they’ll 
  never find the end of the ring.
  It’s not a flawless plan, to be sure. If the PCs don’t stay out of 
  sight, the denizens of the Hill will pay more heed to a moving 
  creature than a trail of blood. Also, while a dim fire will be useful 
  because of the supernatural chill on the mountaintop, he suggests 
  the party surround the fire with stones to hide its light.
  Amulet Mechanics.
  The amulets have no real mechanical effect, and they simply keep 
  the PCs from being possessed by the barrage of supernatural en-
  ergy on the mountaintop. They’re no use against being charmed or 
  the other attacks from the monsters that await them. Also, their 
  enchantment only works in conjunction with the lattice of wards on 
  the hill, and so they’re useless elsewhere.
  A PC that takes off the amulet at night atop the mountain is af-
  flicted with the Curse of Cauldron Hill.
  Curse of Cauldron Hill.
  You must make a Wisdom saving throw every round you are on Caul-
  dron Hill while not wearing an amulet. These effects are permanent 
  until removed by a remove curse spell.
  After the first failed save, you instinctively lash out against all 
  creatures that move away from you, including your so-called “allies.” 
  You must use your reaction to make an opportunity attack whenever 
  a creature moves away from you, if possible.
  After the second failed save, you gain darkvision out to 60 feet. 
  You cannot rest during the day and any rest at night forces you to 
  sleepwalk for 5 minutes, during which time you are controlled by a 
  malevolent spirit. Any hostile action you take during this possession 
  wakes you up; another creature can shake you awake as an action.
  After three failed saves, in addition to the previous effect, if you 
  try to rest at night, you become fully controlled by the malevolent 
  spirit until sunrise. It begins to rampage, seeking to spill as much 
  blood as possible, and you do not wake. However, it cannot move 
  more than 5 miles from Cauldron Hill, and must return as quickly as 
  possible if it is already farther away.
  
  10 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  The weather should be clear for the next few days, so they don’t 
  have to worry about rain washing the blood away, but they should 
  be careful not to mess up the ring themselves.
  These recommendations are all legitimately useful. Macbannin 
  plans to arrange the party’s deaths, but he doesn’t want it to be 
  obvious that he was tricking them if somehow they survive.
  He adds that on the way down, the party should come back 
  through his manor. He’ll have a purification ritual prepared so he 
  can clear away any dark energy that might be clinging to them. 
  Macbannin plans this as a fallback way to kill the PCs, but events 
  will conspire to keep him from following through on that plan.
  Night on Bald Mountain
  Puzzle. Montage.
  The perils of Cauldron Hill will emerge at sundown, but will the 
  party’s wards be sufficient?
  When the PCs ascend Cauldron Hill with Nevard, Mayor 
  Macbannin offers them amulets of protection and kegs of goat’s 
  blood, then sends them on their way. The RHC can provide climb-
  er’s kits, and in general the ascent is not particularly challenging. 
  After an hour or two of climbing, the PCs reach the summit, a mix 
  of rocky patches and dense tree cover, with only scattered grasses 
  and undergrowth.
  The view is majestic, but from this height it’s easy to see how 
  thick the smog is over Parity Lake. A gray smear covers most of 
  that district, while the upscale Central district on the other side of 
  the Nettles is clearer and brighter. Nevard, though, looks upward. 
  He smiles as a warm breeze blows his robes and beard, and he nods 
  happily at the clear view of the sky.
  The peak is long, narrow, and relatively flat, with a traversable 
  slope to the east, but perilously steep drops of a thousand feet or 
  more on the other three sides. If the PCs explore, in addition to 
  scattered old bones of what look like human fingers, they can find 
  a small black cauldron caught in a tangle of brush, down fifty feet 
  on a rocky lip on the north face. It must have fallen a century ago, 
  but it has resisted rust. The climb down is difficult without rope, 
  requiring a successful DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check, and the 
  cauldron weighs about 40 pounds, but it can be hoisted fairly easily.
  Before Sunset.
  The PCs should pick an area up to 50 feet in diameter to surround 
  with their ring of blood. An ideal place is amid the toppled henges-
  tones of the western rise, now grown over with grass, which would 
  let the party make a fire for warmth without revealing themselves. 
  It also provides an excellent view of the surrounding terrain, and 
  has the least obstructed view of the sky, which Nevard appreciates.
  There are several ways the party can better prepare for the trial 
  ahead of them:
  •	 Camouflage. The clever arrangement of stones, branches, 
  and leaves can create a screen for the party to hide behind, 
  granting advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks against 
  monsters outside the ring.
  •	 Hear our Prayers. Whoever puts out the blood might want 
  to reinforce it with defensive spells and prayers, requiring a 
  successful DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) check, 
  which can grant the same benefit as camouflage.
  •	 Traps. A PC might try to set a few basic traps by making a 
  successful a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check. Within reason, 
  a PC probably doesn’t have supplies for more than three or 
  four traps unless they made a point of stocking up earlier. 
  Each trap is one-use and is essentially a hunting trap (see 
  “Equipment” in the Player’s Handbook).
  •	 Magic. Spells like silence can help the PCs remain stealthy, 
  and later in the evening simple spells like mage hand or 
  prestidigitation can help keep the ring of blood pristine, and 
  light can distract monsters.
  •	 Fake Camp. Alternately, the PCs could bring up a few live 
  goats, stake them to the ground on the eastern rise, and lure 
  off a few monsters with a free meal.
  Nightfall.
  The sun descends brilliantly, gleaming off the waters of Flint Har-
  bor, though the light is dulled by a haze across the city. Buildings 
  far below cast long shadows in the streets. The darkness grows, con-
  sumes the city, and for a moment the mountain top is the only thing 
  still illuminated. Then the night claims it as well.
  City lights smear out below the party, but overhead the stars are 
  brilliant and clear. Nevard says that he must study the stars for as 
  long as possible, and that in the morning he will sleep.
  Within an hour the air drops from the warmth of a tropical 
  summer to a soul-chilling winter freeze. The wind fluctuates wildly, 
  sometimes eerily still, then bursting with gusts that shake every 
  tree on the mountaintop. Moans slide across the peak like waves, 
  and when the wailing wind quiets, the party can hear suddenly-dry 
  leaves cracking underfoot, and erratic bursts of malevolent laugh-
  ter further down the slope.
  Characters with the Spirit Medium theme can hear voices all 
  around, but the sound is muted as long as the character wears his 
  amulet, like a party down the street. If anyone without the Spirit 
  Medium theme takes off the amulet, that person hears the wild 
  music of spirits wailing in chorus while horns and strings cross 
  dissonantly. If a Spirit Medium takes off the amulet, that character 
  is stunned for a round as the whole mountain screams insanely and 
  imprints flashing images of bonfires and silhouettes of humans be-
  ing sacrificed atop the mountain.
  The PCs start to see shadows moving in the trees, creeping up-
  ward toward the peak. Wispy white spirits circle and swoop lazily 
  to the silent music, and though they do not seem to see the PCs, 
  slowly more and more float by them, as if attracted by a scent.
  Seeking a Vision.
  Skyseers normally watch the stars, then sleep so that the subtle-
  ties of what they saw will be translated into dream visions. Those of 
  great skill such as Nevard can sometimes foretell the future while 
  awake, just by tracking the interaction of the stars, planets, and 
  other influences most people are blind to.
  Any PC who is protecting Nevard through the bond of forced faith 
  will also see glimpses of a vision later in the night.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 11
  Thread Two: Gale
  Then the actual monsters show up. First something that looks 
  like a semi-transparent legless man, its head just a bare skull, 
  crawls hand over hand toward the PCs’ camp. It’s hard to make out 
  details in the dark, but it stops when it reaches the ring of blood, 
  and then it turns to follow it. Eager, maddened chuckling comes 
  from the thing, like it’s excited about an imminent meal.
  Then a crowd of 1-foot-tall goblin-like specters approach from 
  the other direction, cavorting and jumping in wild circles like it’s 
  a celebration. They suddenly stop when they spot the ring of blood, 
  and they too start to follow it, gibbering to each other in Abyssal. In 
  the following minutes they’re joined by horned vestiges of tiefling-
  like demons, a growling lion whose head is framed by a cluster of 
  writhing snakes, bat-winged rats whose screeching rattles listeners’ 
  ears, and more  — all of them barely visible, like they’re pressing up 
  against a veil trying to reach into this world.
  None of them cross the ring, but within an hour the party is sur-
  rounded on all sides by crowds of monsters, all of them mindlessly 
  tracing endless circles in search of something to devour.
  Vigilance.
  The party must overcome several threats to make it through the 
  night. For each of these, describe the threat, then let the players 
  describe how they address the threat. If they have a solid plan, they 
  can avoid a skill check, but otherwise they must make checks to 
  avoid negative consequences.
  The first threat is the cold. Have each PC make a DC 15 Constitu-
  tion saving throw (DC 5 if they have a proper fire). On a failure, a 
  PC gains 1 level of exhaustion.
  The next challenge is staying hidden. Have each PC make a DC 
  8 Dexterity (Stealth) check (with disadvantage if they have a fire). 
  If any PC fails, one of the monsters perks its head up and looks into 
  the circle as if it can’t quite see the party. Only if half the party or 
  more fails will the monster decide to break off from chasing the 
  ring of blood in order to enter the circle.
  Third is the hours-long, mind-eroding cacophony of wails on the 
  wind. Those who take no precautions are disturbed the sounds, but 
  it’s possible to mitigate the danger with rudimentary magic, re-
  quiring a successful DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check, traditional 
  chants requiring a successful DC 13 Intelligence (Religion) check, 
  crafting earplugs (makes the PC deafened), or singing a more up-
  beat tune. Singing automatically helps the whole party, and the 
  monsters are too obsessed with tracking the blood ring to tell a 
  human song from an insane demon mountain song.
  The Vision.
  Occasionally unnatural drowsiness will slide across one PC, or an-
  other will hear eerie horns playing in the night, while a third PC 
  spots an impossible oddity, like a mirror image of the party sitting 
  on the opposite rise.
  Then an apparition manifests in the center of the circle of blood: 
  a velvet red curtain hovers in the air, looking completely solid, 
  glowing as if hit by a spotlight that doesn’t exist. The curtain sways, 
  and there seem to be figures on the other side.
  After a moment, or if anyone goes toward the curtain, Nilasa 
  steps out before they can go in.
  Nilasa puts a hushing finger to her lips, then points out into the night 
  and says, “The man who killed me is coming. His face is scarred, so he 
  hides behind many faces.” Then she raises a featureless black mask to 
  her face. When she puts it on she fades away, as does the curtain. The 
  air is suddenly thick with the stench of burnt engine grease.
  
  12 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  The following vision appears to everyone who bound their blood.
  The stars overhead seem to streak in lines as time stretches out, and 
  then to the north, down by Parity Lake, all those who bound their blood 
  to Nevard see a building catch fire with dreamlike swiftness. Suddenly 
  they find themselves standing between two factories, watching two 
  tongues of flame leap from one to the the next, like a pair of burning 
  dragons. Screams erupt from the people trapped inside, the conflagra-
  tion consumes the factories, and the charred buildings collapse to reveal 
  tomorrow morning’s sunrise. A blackened sign sits in the ash, saying 
  “Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings.”
  Then the vision ends with a snap, and they’re again standing on the 
  black peak of Cauldron Hill. Nevard, still looking to the stars, gives 
  a knowing hum. He points up at a red star.
  “Jiese, the plane of fire, is brighter tonight than usual. Its light reflects off 
  the lake. You saw it, didn’t you?”
  It’s still unclear whether they’re awake or dreaming when a man 
  cries out for help from the dark beyond the ring. It sounds like he’s 
  been set upon by monsters, but Nevard shakes his head and warns 
  the PCs not to step out of the ring. The screams last for hours.
  A Ring of Blood
  Action. Tactical.
  A sinister figure sabotages the party’s defenses and unleashes the 
  spectral horrors of Cauldron Hill.
  Slightly after midnight, during a lull in the mad dance of the 
  spooks and monsters, any PC with a passive Perception of 15 or 
  higher notices something moving through the crowd of monsters 
  perhaps a hundred feet away, on the other rise. Somehow less feral 
  and wild, more deliberate in its movements, one would almost think 
  it’s a man, but the monsters aren’t accosting it. They lose sight of it 
  a moment later, and a minute passes. If any PC is so bold to venture 
  forth, they can possibly thwart a disaster about to happen.
  Almost imperceptible above the cacophony of spirits, the party 
  hears the crack of a metal rod against stone. A brilliant glow lights 
  up the mountaintop, shedding bright light in a 100-foot radius. All 
  the monsters surrounding the ring of blood turn to look. The light 
  source is a sunrod, an alchemical creation that glows far brighter 
  than a torch but only for a few minutes.
  A humanoid figure holds the sunrod, its body inhumanly angu-
  lar, its skin featureless and black like a silhouette. It sprints to the 
  near edge of the other rise and then hurls the sunrod. The glowing 
  beacon arcs and then hits right in the center of the PCs’ camp. As 
  one, the monsters surrounding the blood ring lock eyes on the party 
  and attack.
  The Shadow Man.
  The hostile figure is Cillian Creed in his normal form, without his 
  illusory disguise. Macbannin gave him several stronger wards than 
  those the PCs have available, and having been infused with the 
  essence of the Bleak Gate, he incurs no attacks from the shadow 
  monsters on the hill.
  He has three other sunrods, and will throw them at the party’s 
  camp to keep the PCs from simply throwing the light away before 
  the monsters attack. He doesn’t feel safe enough alone on the moun-
  tain to actually attack the PCs, and if the PCs hit him, especially 
  with positive energy attacks, he’ll flee into the darkness. His statis-
  tics are unimportant; there’s no chance the PCs will fight him in 
  this scene.
  Shadow Mites.
  The main threats are three powerful monsters, but the mountain 
  is filled with countless other creatures. While you could unfairly 
  slaughter your party here, our assumption is that most of the dan-
  gerous creatures are far enough away that they won’t make it to the 
  party during the course of the fight. Either during or after the fight, 
  the PCs should throw the sunrod(s) elsewhere on the mountaintop, 
  which creates enough of a disturbance that they can escape.
  To keep up the tension, you should liberally scatter Cauldron 
  Hill spooks across the mountaintop. These feeble minions act more 
  like hazardous terrain than creatures. Start with twice as many as 
  there are PCs in the party, but add two more every round the par-
  ty’s camp is brightly illuminated, creating a tension of whether to 
  throw away the light, or to keep it so you can see what you’re fight-
  ing. They move slowly, but in huge numbers they can’t be ignored.
  •	 1 cackling crawler
  •	 1 vestige of death
  •	 1 serpent-maned lion
  •	 10 Cauldron Hill spooks
  •	 Nevard Sechim, Dying Skyseer
  Where’s the Arson?
  The Arson & Alkahest encounter is detailed in Thread Four, in the 
  next part of this adventure.
  A Vision for Skyseers.
  If a PC in your group has the Skyseer theme, they have the following 
  vision the next time they sleep after Cauldron Hill.
  You sit in a field of grass, the night sky overhead, the planets hang-
  ing huge and low. Breeze whips the grass across your skin, and a 
  tiger stalks you, somewhere out in the dark.
  A light flares overhead, an old blue star called Mishados, and it 
  begins to drift downward. Not to the horizon, but toward the earth. 
  Then other stars rattle, like grains of sand shaken loose from a wet 
  glass, and their descent turns to a plummet, turns to a streaking 
  rain of light. They fall in all directions, but you know where Misha-
  dos will fall, and you know you must catch it.
  This foretells events that occur in Adventure Nine, The Last 
  Starry Sky. If the PC is curious about Mishados and researches 
  its history, he learns it is named after an incarnation of the dead 
  goddess Srasama. Said to have been a healer, the blue-skinned 
  dog-faced Mishados waits in the heavens for when she’ll be called to 
  restore Srasama to life.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 13
  Thread Two: Gale
  Cackling Crawler
  Medium undead, neutral
  Armor Class 15 (natural)
  Hit Points 49 (9d8 + 9)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   16 (+3) 
  17 (+3) 
  12 (+1) 
  3 (–4) 
  11 (+0) 
  3 (–4)
  Damage Resistances piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
  Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning
  Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, poisoned
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
  Languages Abyssal
  Challenge 2 (450 XP)
  Legless Laughter. The crawler is always prone and cannot stand. Melee 
  attacks against the crawler do not have advantage because of its 
  erratic movement.
  Actions
  Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 
  + 3) piercing damage and the target must make a DC 13 Constitution 
  saving throw. On a failure, it is paralyzed for 1 minute. It can make 
  another saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If the target fails 
  its saving throw, the crawler can grapple a paralyzed target as a bonus 
  action.
  Dance of Death. The crawler can entrance opponents by swaying back 
  and forth. All creatures within 30 feet who can see the crawler when it 
  uses its dance of death must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On 
  a failure, the creature is poisoned for 1 minute. It can make another 
  saving throw at the end of each of its turns.
  Vestige of Death
  Medium undead, chaotic evil
  Armor Class 13
  Hit Points 32 (5d8 + 10)
  Speed 0 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   4 (–3) 
  16 (+3) 
  15 (+2) 
  6 (–2) 
  12 (+1) 
  15 (+2)
  Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, 
  piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered
  Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
  Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petri-
  fied, poisoned, prone, restrained
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
  Languages Abyssal
  Challenge 2 (450 XP)
  Call of the Reaper. Any creature that has lost over half their Strength 
  score to attacks from the Reaper’s Scythe attack becomes shad-
  owy and translucent. A creature in this state ignores all damage 
  resistances and immunities of incorporeal undead, but takes 3 (1d6) 
  necrotic damage at the start of each of its turns. This state ends once 
  the creature’s Strength score increases to at least half its maximum.
  Actions
  Reaper’s Scythe. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one 
  creature. Hit: 13 (3d6 + 3) necrotic damage, and the target’s Strength 
  score is reduced by 1d6. This cannot reduce the target’s Strength 
  Serpent-Maned Lion
  Large undead, neutral
  Armor Class 12
  Hit Points 26 (4d10 + 4)
  Speed 40 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   17 (+3) 
  15 (+2) 
  13 (+1) 
  3 (–4) 
  12 (+1) 
  8 (–1)
  Skills Perception +3, Stealtlh +6
  Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, 
  piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered
  Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
  Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petri-
  fied, poisoned, prone, restrained
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
  Languages Abyssal
  Challenge 2 (450 XP)
  Keen Smell. The lion has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks 
  that rely on smell.
  Pack Tactics. The lion has advantage on an attack roll against a crea-
  ture if at least one of the lion’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature 
  and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
  Pounce. If the lion moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature 
  and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must 
  succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the 
  target is prone, the lion can make one bite attack against it as a bonus 
  action.
  Running Leap. With a 10-foot running start, the lion can long jump up 
  to 25 feet.
  Actions
  Multiattack. The lion makes two attacks: one bite or claw attack and 
  one serpent attack.
  Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 
  + 3) piercing damage.
  Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 
  + 3) slashing damage.
  Serpent. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 
  (1d4 + 3) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage.
  below 1. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest.
  
  14 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  Nevard Sechim, the Dying Skyseer
  Medium humanoid (human), chaotic neutral
  Armor Class 11 (16 with barkskin)
  Hit Points 17 (5d8—5)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   4 (–3) 
  6 (–2) 
  8 (–1) 
  13 (+1) 
  19 (+4) 
  16 (+3)
  Skills Medicine +6, Nature +3, Perception +6
  Senses passive Perception 16
  Languages Common, Druidic, Elven
  Challenge 1 (200 XP)
  Improved Skyseer. In his final days, Nevard Sechim is one of the 
  most potent Skyseers in the world. Nevard is not limited to using his 
  insightful touch ability once per combat. Instead, Nevard may use 
  the insightful touch granted by his Skyseer feat (see the Zeitgeist 
  Player’s Guide) an unlimited number of times per combat. Only one 
  target may be affected by Nevard’s touch at a time. This improved 
  ability replaces Nevard’s Wild Shape trait, as the old man has not been 
  able to change his form in years.
  Spellcasting. Nevard Sechim is a 5th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting 
  ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). He 
  has the following druid spells prepared:
  Cantrips (at will): druidcraft, guidance, produce flame
  1st level (4 slots): cure wounds, entangle, speak with animals, 
  thunderwave
  2nd level (3 slots): barkskin, pass without trace
  3rd level (2 slots): daylight, conjure animals
  Actions
  Walking Stick. Melee Weapon Attack: –1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. 
  Hit: 1 (1d6–3) bludgeoning damage.
  Cauldron Hill Spook
  Tiny undead, chaotic evil
  Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 4 (1d8)
  Speed 10 ft., climb 10 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   3 (–4) 
  13 (+1) 
  10 (+0) 
  1 (–5) 
  7 (–2) 
  1 (–5)
  Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing 
  from nonmagical attacks
  Senses blindsight 10 ft., passive Perception 8
  Languages —
  Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
  Spooky. Spectral goblins, swooping bats, tiny horned men, baying 
  hounds, and disembodied heads scamper and dance in a slow, endless 
  horde, ascending to the peak of Cauldron Hill. When one of these 
  spooks spots a mortal creature it drags the poor soul into the throng 
  of cavorting horrors.
  Actions
  Pandaemonic Dance. Each enemy adjacent to the spook takes 1 
  damage. The spook treats any creature that is brightly illuminated as 
  an enemy, even if it’s another monster.
  Tactics.
  Nevard offers his skyseer guidance early and then just tries to stay 
  out of harm’s way.
  The cackling crawler goes after someone who looks easy to grab, 
  while the serpent-maned lion tries to get into the center of as many 
  enemies as possible. The vestige of death tries to go after targets 
  that aren’t in melee. If the whole party is in melee, it strikes for 
  Nevard, creating a second front. The spooks just swarm toward the 
  sound of battle, or toward light.
  The monsters are all designed to make standing still in the 
  “safety” of the ring of blood actually be a bad idea, so Nevard might 
  suggest that they move.
  Terrain.
  Whenever a PC becomes damaged, mark the square he was in. 
  Those squares, as well as any square of the original ring of blood, 
  counts as difficult terrain for the monsters, since they struggle to 
  resist the temptation of food.
  Aftermath.
  Once the major monsters are defeated and the sunrod removed, 
  there are no more attacks, though the PCs do get a feeling like 
  something huge and invisible is standing over them, watching their 
  every movement. Then a shooting star streaks across the sky, and 
  the ominous sensation passes.
  Nevard suggests, as casually as if he were recommending a coat 
  for cold weather, that it might be a good time to leave. He believes 
  he has seen enough, and he needs to rest to understand what it 
  all means. Also, he asks the PCs pay heed to the vision of the fire 
  dragon at the factory, and see if they can help his nephew Heward. 
  With a bright light source like the sunrods drawing attention else-
  where, the hour climb back down is safe.
  Cillian Creed. Creed served as an overseas operative of the RHC, but 
  took an early retirement after suffering a disfiguring facial wound in the last 
  war. A master of disguise and illusions, Creed chooses to wear his former face 
  in most occasions, now more necessary than before due to a recent change 
  in his “condition.”
  Willing to follow any orders to defend his homeland no matter how heinous, 
  Creed was recruited by Reed Macbannin to help keep a weapons research pro-
  gram secret. One experiment in refining the essence of the Bleak Gate into 
  an oil form went awry, and Creed was infused 
  with shadow magic. Now he can shift into an 
  incorporeal form of living darkness, or reach 
  out and attack others through their shad-
  ows. Several layers of illusions and wards 
  allow him to appear to be a normal human 
  with his original, uninjured face.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 15
  Thread Two: Gale
  Down the Mountain
  Social. Real-Time.
  Bedlam grips the Macbannin manor as you make your way down 
  the mountain.
  The PCs might rush past this scene on their way to the arson 
  at the alkahest factory. If so, make note of which PCs don’t get 
  Macbannin’s purification ritual; Gale will detect the stench of the 
  Bleak Gate on those characters.
  Military Response.
  Guards at the rear gate to the manor let the PCs in, but before they 
  get far they’re intercepted by Mayor Macbannin and a squad of 
  heavily armed soldiers in green and black night operation uniforms. 
  Led by one Lieutenant Dale, the soldiers were ordered up Cauldron 
  Hill an hour ago when a sudden bright light appeared on the top of 
  the mountain. The soldiers have swords drawn and defensive totems 
  strapped to their shields, and they watch the party warily.
  Macbannin tries to explain it all as a silly mix-up on his part. 
  He didn’t think to notify the military that people would be on the 
  mountain, and he was as surprised as anyone when suddenly a 
  bright light appeared. He asks the PCs to explain everything that 
  happened, and — after checking the party’s amulets and convincing 
  Lieutenant Dale that the PCs aren’t possessed — he asks them into 
  his manor, where he can purify them of ill energy.
  Originally Macbannin planned to have the PCs disarm and dis-
  robe, and then he would “purify” one PC at a time with a soporific 
  poison. Once they were all asleep he’d take them down to his labora-
  tory, slit their throats, and wait for a convenient time to dispose of 
  the bodies. That plan isn’t an option now, so to keep up appearances 
  Macbannin performs a ritual — it takes just 10 minutes — to clear 
  away energies of the Bleak Gate. If any PC did take off his amu-
  let and mentions it, Macbannin can also cast a remove curse spell. 
  Macbannin’s too busy to do the normal full suite of precautionary 
  divinations, so a PC who doesn’t mention taking off his amulet can 
  slip through and keep the curse active.
  Reinforcements.
  Lieutenant Dale and his squad are all dressed up with nowhere to 
  go. If the party asks nicely, they can get Dale to send along one man 
  with the PCs to check out the arson vision. If they’re very convinc-
  ing (Charisma (Persuasion) DC 20), all five of them will go along. 
  Treat them as allied soldiers (see Player’s Guide, Part 2).
  If any PC has the Martial Scientist theme, they know of Dale and 
  vice versa. He attended the Battalion academy, and his thesis was 
  Meditation, Coffee, and Cherry Pie: Unorthodox Salves Against the 
  Supernatural.
  Audience with the Wind
  Exposition. Real-Time.
  Gale, leader of an organization of fey terrorists, agrees to meet with 
  the party, and can offer critical clues to the real threat to the city.
  Sometime during the day after Nevard and the party ascend 
  Cauldron Hill, a sudden breeze gusts over them, and a yellow ca-
  nary flies a circle around them. The breeze speaks with a woman’s 
  voice, elegant and tinged with a Danoran accent.
  “Your character comes recommended by a dear friend of mine. At his 
  suggestion, I would like to arrange a meeting so you and I may discuss 
  a mutual enemy. Speak to the wind a time that is convenient for you, 
  preferably within the next two days, and my canary will guide you when 
  you are ready. The meeting will occur in my territory, because while I 
  trust my dear friend, I confess I find him a poor judge of character. Af-
  ter all, he associates with me.”
  The wind lingers for a minute or two, then swirls away and flies off 
  invisibly. The canary stays near the PCs, but isn’t a nuisance, and 
  can be stuck in a cage fairly easily. Keen arcane observation, re-
  quiring a successful DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana) check can reveal 
  that it is a magical effect, and that it’s probably remembering what 
  the party is doing, but it will have to return to Gale to deliver the 
  information.
  A Convenient Time.
  An hour before the time the PCs stated, the canary starts singing 
  and trying to get the party’s attention to head out. It guides them 
  to the Cloudwood, down wild trails and up lush hills, before finally 
  stopping at the top of a three hundred-foot high waterfall with a 
  clear view of the eastern horizon. Natives of Flint will recognize 
  the cascade as the Bridal Veil, a romantic icon of folk poetry and 
  the site of several famous weddings.
  Fighting Gale?
  If at any point she comes under attack, Gale leaps off the cliff and 
  down the waterfall. After falling two hundred feet she soars away. 
  She doesn’t fight back.
  Gale has a larger role and may engage in combat in Adventure 
  Five, Cauldron-Born. Until then, treat her as able to overcome any 
  saving throws and withstand any attacks until she escapes.
  Hana “Gale” Soliogn. An eladrin woman just over 100 years old, 
  Hana spent most of her life as the property of House Soliogn, a family of 
  Danoran mine owners. Having always felt an affinity to the fey history of 
  Risur, Hana fled Danor a year ago and found her way to Flint, where her in-
  nate magical powers awakened. Initially sheltered by druids in the Cloudwood, 
  once she learned to control her gifts she turned them toward revenge upon 
  the Danorans. Gale can fly at will, control winds, and speak with birds, but has 
  no directly offensive magic, so her tactics have relied on stealth and mobility 
  to disrupt industrial endeavors that have backing from Danorans.
  Gale has a huge chip on her shoulder and 
  is highly distrustful of strangers. She has 
  increased her attacks lately, ever since the 
  defeat of Duchess Ethelyn of Shale proved 
  to her that Risur’s rulers are just minions of 
  Danor. With the aid of fey servants of the 
  Unseen Court she can slip into the Dream-
  ing when threatened, but so far the Unseen 
  Court refuses to grant her an audience.
  
  16 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Two: Gale
  The river that feeds the waterfall rolls over a eighty-foot wide cliff, 
  spreading the cascade into a thin sheet that at dawn can illuminate 
  the whole valley with the sun’s reflection. Wildflowers wreathe the 
  cliffs and dot the few boulders that hang near the falls’ edge. Hum-
  mingbirds flit about, and they seem to pay close attention to the 
  party’s presence.
  Gale emerges from the tree line on the opposite shore of the wa-
  terfall, and she holds out a hand. The canary that guided the party 
  flies to her, and when it touches her hand it disappears. If the party 
  hasn’t made any hostile moves, Gale then steps off a high rock and 
  glides a few feet above the surface of the water, stepping on three 
  boulders over the 80-foot-wide river as easily as if hopping a nar-
  row stream. She lands on the shore by the party, nods to them, and 
  thanks them for coming.
  Gale is wary but willing to risk talking. She assumes the party 
  knows her politics, and she respects them enough not to try to per-
  suade them unless they ask. Instead she devotes her attention to 
  explaining a mutual threat she has discovered.
   “I have a contact, a courier to the Unseen Court who lets me call him 
  Ellik. He’s an eerie creature, dwells in shadows, but is loyal to the court 
  and has a fondness for this nation which treated his people well for so 
  many years.
  “Just over a month ago, when the last new moon was aligned with the 
  planet Nem, Ellik arranged for me to walk with him into the Bleak Gate. I 
  will spare you the details of that journey’s emotional toll, but during the 
  few hours that night when I could see into the dark side of the world, I 
  discovered something.
  “There is activity in that mirror image of Flint. Not much. I never saw 
  anyone other than my guide. Most of the buildings are hollow, like aban-
  doned shells of dead sea creatures. But there are no echoes, and no wind 
  blows, so you can hear footsteps from miles away. And in the distant 
  gloom I saw torches and lanterns, lights that the denizens of that world 
  would never need. Their path ran along the canal, to the still analogue of 
  Parity Lake, and then up toward the Nettles. I did not have the time to 
  get close, but I heard churning there, and saw smoke and steam drifting 
  into the starless sky.
  “They are working, assembling something, hidden right where we can’t 
  see it, on the other side of our shadow. My Nilasa found a clue. I sent 
  her on a mission, and she found the truth, and they killed her for it. I 
  am furious at her murderers, but Nevard has made me realize that this 
  conflict is larger than my selfish desire for revenge.
  “Unfortunately, I can’t return to the Bleak Gate, nor show you what 
  I saw. The same alignment with Nem will not repeat for decades, and I 
  have not yet found another way into that world. But I do have proof of 
  my own.”
  She produces a tiny vellum book from her belt and offers it.
  “This is a copy of a ritual that will detect various energies, though you 
  have to have been exposed to what you’re seeking. Worthless to most 
  people, but I have been to the Bleak Gate, and I believe that when you 
  were with Nevard so did you, or at least you touched the veil.
  “I’ve flown across this city, trying to find sources. In some place the 
  stink of it bleeds through naturally, especially on Cauldron Hill, but I’ve 
  followed trails. The night after Nilasa was murdered, I found a strong 
  source at the consulate, and I tracked it across three districts before I 
  lost it. And too often I’ve found it clinging to factories, or in the foyers 
  of rich businessmen.
  “There is a conspiracy afoot. The Danorans are involved, and industri-
  alists in this city, and some third force in the Bleak Gate. They’ve already 
  killed to protect their secrets. We need to find out what their goal is.”
  The party now has access to the spell detect planar energy. Origi-
  nally printed in Part 1 of this adventure, it has been reprinted here 
  for convenience.
  What’s Next?
  Gale believes this conspiracy is a mutual enemy, and she wants to 
  make an alliance with the party. If they can help her find out who 
  killed Nilasa and why, she’ll do her best to calm her people and 
  stop the attacks on industrial targets. Eventually she hopes to be 
  of service to the city, and perhaps earn an audience with Governor 
  Stanfield to press for formal negotiations.
  Gale knows that she likely won’t be able to convince the nation 
  to abandon technology altogether, but she wants to do anything she 
  can to protect some people and places from its effects.
  She wants to build trust, but she doesn’t intend to meet face to 
  face any time soon. To help the PCs in their investigation, and to 
  let them share information with her, she gives them a messenger 
  wind (see below). She keeps one feather for herself so she can call 
  and receive messages.
  In the meanwhile, she asks that the party look out for Nevard. He 
  will be hosting his rally soon, and she worries that his revelations 
  might threaten those who killed Nilasa.
  Making Nice with Criminals.
  If the PCs don’t try to arrest Gale, when they file their report with 
  the RHC, their boss Stover Delft is less than thrilled to hear about 
  it. While he ultimately trusts his constables, that won’t spare them 
  from some exasperated shouting.
  If they don’t mention the meeting, eventually Delft will want to 
  know what they’ve been up to. The next adventure involves an audit 
  of their activities by the Constabulary, and it could be interesting to 
  see how the party manages lying to their superiors and co-workers.
  New Magic Item.
  Messenger Wind
  Wondrous item, rare
  The wind orb can be carried, or it can be left to float at any lo-
  cation, fairly invisible except to those who know to look for it. Five 
  small golden feathers are attuned to the orb, and any person who 
  has a feather can call upon the wind’s power as long as they are 
  within thirty miles of the orb.
  As a bonus action, you can call upon the wind of the orb. It flies 
  10 mph (100 feet per round) until it reaches you; it will deliver (at 10 
  mph) a message you give it to the bearer of any other feather. Each 
  feather can be used once per day. If multiple creatures activate 
  feathers, the first resolves before the second begins.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 17
  Thread Two: Gale
  New Spell.
  Detect Planar Energy
  The energy drifts to you like a fragrance on a breeze. You spin and 
  locate the strongest source of the smell, then set out.
  1st-level divination (ritual)
  Casting Time 1 action
  Range: 1 mile
  Components: V,S
  Duration: 1 hour
  Choose a plane you have visited or have otherwise had contact 
  with. For the spell’s duration, you can sense the direction to and 
  intensity of energies from that plane, to a maximum range of one 
  mile. These energies tend to fade after a few hours or days, but it 
  is possible to track creatures native to other planes by following the 
  trails of planar energy they leave in their wake.
  The spell can be foiled by strong sources of energy from the same 
  or other planes. For instance, Cauldron Hill in Flint is a powerful bea-
  con of shadow energy, so you would be unable to pinpoint any sort of 
  foreign energy there, not even fey or elemental energy.
  Vekesh Mission.
  If any PC has the Vekeshi Mystic character theme, now is an oppor-
  tunity to fulfill the mission (see the Introduction of this adventure 
  in Part 1), though a wise would be discreet when delivering a gift to a 
  so-called terrorist from a so-called murder cult.
  Gale accepts the gift cautiously, and if she has a chance to speak 
  with the PC she asks for more information. She wants to know if 
  she’s expected to be an assassin, or just to remove threats. So far 
  she has tried not to kill people except in self-defense, and she won’t 
  promise to obey orders from a faceless court.
  Give the PC a chance to sway Gale one way or the other. If the PC 
  does nothing, at the end of the adventure news will break of Gale ab-
  ducting wealthy industrialist Guy Goodson in the middle of his own 
  wedding, carrying him off to the Cloudwood after sabotaging and 
  sinking the steamship the man uses to get to and from his island villa.
  If the PC’s position is in favor of violence, instead the news 
  mentions the abduction, and then Gale trapping Goodson inside his 
  steamship before sinking it.
  If the PC’s position is against violence, the news is about how 
  Gale snuck into the wedding as a guest, then after congratulating 
  the couple and delivering a gift flew away, leading to speculation 
  that Goodson is in cahoots with the terrorist.
  
  18 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  t
  his act details what the PCs can discover 
  as they track and investigate the foreign doctor, 
  Wolfgang von Recklinghausen.
  Person of Interest
  Puzzle. Montage.
  The party pursues a foreign fugitive through the chaotic streets of 
  Flint.
  The details of this scene vary depending on if the party sets out 
  after Wolfgang immediately, or if they follow the lead later. In ei-
  ther case the doctor has a several-hour lead on the party, but whom 
  the party comes across and what they know depends on the time.
  There’s not much of a ticking clock, and several paths can all 
  eventually lead to their quarry, so give the party plenty of leeway on 
  how they want to track Dr. von Recklinghausen.
  Case File.
  If the party acquired the doctor’s case file from the Danoran con-
  sulate, they learn he was staying as a guest at a hostel called The 
  House of Blue Birds in North Shore. His two references was a local 
  surgeon named Dr. Barnaby Camp, and he listed as his secondary 
  contact Lynn Kindleton, a professor of human biology at Pard-
  wight University.
  They can also have a record of his address in the Malice state 
  of Arrovia, a brief bio that lists his educational background across 
  three different countries and his practice as a surgeon.
  House of Blue Birds.
  The staff here recalls “the doctor with the foreign accent,” and 
  remember him rushing in, claiming he was coming back from a 
  surgery, and asking for water and a towel to wipe blood from his 
  hands. Then he hurried to his room and a few minutes later exited 
  through a back door.
  An hour afterward (and so possibly just a short while before the 
  PCs show up), a man with a pencil thin mustache came to the hos-
  tel and asked about the doctor. He showed a police badge with the 
  name Officer Roger Porter, so they let him into the doctor’s room. 
  After five minutes of flipping over mattresses and pulling any stray 
  personal item into a small bag, the officer handed over a few gold 
  coins as a bribe and left.
  (The hostel staff do not mention the bribe unless the party press-
  es them hard for information.)
  One of the cleaning staff noticed Officer Porter wince in pain a 
  few times, and thought she noticed a bandage and dressing on his 
  chest. She didn’t see any blood, but when he left his shirt did have 
  an odd black stain there, and he smelled oddly like scorched engine 
  grease. The same cleaning woman took a blackened rag from the 
  doctor’s room after he left, before the officer showed up. Examina-
  tion reveals small quantities of oil used to maintain a sword, plus 
  a large amount of black fluid that possesses shadow energy. With a 
  few hours and access to alchemical tools, it’s possible to identify the 
  black fluid as a strange mix of burnt oil and human blood.
  This was actually Cillian Creed, magically disguised in the 
  aftermath of his fight with the doctor, and the rag was from the 
  doctor wiping his sword clean. Because Creed already cleaned out 
  all of Wolfgang’s personal possessions, there are no clues in his 
  room. However, the hostel does still have the forms the doctor filled 
  out when he arrived, and the letter of recommendation from Dr. 
  Barnaby Camp, who vouched for the doctor to stay for a few weeks.
  Rundown.
  It’s difficult but possible to track Wolfgang’s movements from the 
  hostel. By spending an hour checking the streets a PC can attempt 
  to make a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check to find 
  people who recall seeing a man matching Wolfgang’s description. 
  If the party can succeed on this check three times (or if they call in a 
  favor to get cops to help for a few hours), they can recreate his trail.
  The doctor fled south route from North Shore to Parity Lake. He 
  started to head toward Bosum Strand, then went deeper into the 
  industrial district. The last anyone saw of him was in a very bad 
  part of town, near the turf of local crime lord Lorcan Kell.
  He Is Altering the Deal.
  Wolfgang made contact with a representative of Kell’s thieves’ guild, 
  and paid for bodyguards and a safe haven, with a promise to pay 
  more if they could get him travel papers into Ber. By nightfall the 
  doctor was holed up in an abandoned Clergy church in The Nettles.
  The next few days Wolfgang writes letters to Dr. Camp and Pro-
  fessor Kindleton, trying to find other solutions to his problem. By 
  the 5th of Summer he realizes that Kell’s men are trying to extort 
  him for more money, and are ready to sell him out if he can’t pay 
  extra for a Beran visa. On the 7th day Kell’s people sell him out and 
  Cillian Creed takes him into custody, unless the party intervenes.
  Doctor Camp.
  The party can find Dr. von Recklinghausen’s sponsor, Dr. Barnaby 
  Camp, either at his residence, or teaching at a surgical theater, 
  both of which are in North Shore. Camp is a portly, curly-haired 
  man who had Wolfgang as a student many years ago. They had kept 
  in touch with occasional letters, and a few months ago Wolfgang 
  referenced some marital troubles and a desire to travel alone to Ber, 
  so Camp arranged for his residence in Flint.
  Camp has already been contacted by Cillian Creed posing as “Of-
  ficer Porter” by the time the PCs find him. Camp says he offered to 
  let one of his students treat the man’s injury for free, in exchange 
  for letting the class watch, but the officer rudely refused.
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 19
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  Camp is a bit of a dead end until the 3rd of Summer, when he 
  receives a new letter from the doctor, who is in hiding. The letter 
  asks Camp to try to arrange safe passage out of the city for him, 
  and alludes that he has made deals with criminals in order to avoid 
  a monster that he thinks is chasing him. Wolfgang directs Camp 
  to contact Lynn Kindleton at Pardwight University, who will know 
  how to get in touch with him.
  Camp normally would just want to stay out of trouble, but he was 
  unsettled by “Officer Porter,” and so he hands the letter over to the 
  PCs and asks them to take care of the problem.
  Professor Kindleton.
  The “campus” of Pardwight University weaves through many 
  streets and occasionally shares buildings with other offices in Cen-
  tral District, and Professor Lynn Kindleton meets with students 
  every morning in her office above a butcher shop, then teaches class 
  in a hospital morgue a few streets over. Unlike Camp, Lynn is much 
  more loyal to Wolfgang. They studied and worked together, and 
  years ago he tried to get her to move to Arrovia with him.
  Creed, in the guise of Officer Porter, visits Lynn the night of 
  the 1st of Summer, right after she finishes her class. She claimed 
  she knew nothing, but she’s a terrible, nervous liar, so Creed has 
  her under surveillance. She receives her first letter from him the 
  morning of the 2nd, delivered by a boy from the Nettles. Thereafter 
  every day she leaves a letter at the downstairs butcher shop, and a 
  messenger comes from the Nettles, delivers a letter from Wolfgang, 
  then takes Lynn’s letter and a supply of meat and other foods back 
  to the doctor. The messages do not go directly, though, and instead 
  transit through Lorcan Kell’s men, who read and reseal them.
  On the 6th of Summer, a letter comes asking Lynn to help Wolf-
  gang flee, since he no longer trusts his bodyguards. On the 7th, she 
  is captured with him unless the PCs intervene.
  In the meanwhile, Lynn will lie and claim she hasn’t heard 
  from Wolfgang since before he went missing. She’s already been 
  visited by another officer, and Wolfgang warned her that he’s being 
  followed, so she won’t trust the PCs unless they prove to her that 
  they’re legitimate. Even then, she’ll want to arrange a private meet-
  ing with Wolfgang (the party could follow her). When she tries 
  to go to The Nettles, though, her guide takes her to Parity Lake, 
  where Kell takes her captive as additional leverage over the doctor.
  The Hard Way.
  By spending eight hours scouring The Nettles, hiking up and down 
  hills and through narrow streets filled with petty thieves and 
  swarms of beggars, a PC can make a DC 18 Charisma (Persua-
  sion) check. A failure yields only rumors about another group of 
  people also looking for the doctor, which has the locals on edge 
  and nervous about talking. A success produces a few leads of spots 
  where criminals might be hiding out, based on where messengers 
  are going in and out of the district.
  It then takes another eight hours and a successful DC 18 check 
  to find a group of burglars who have heard about Kell’s thieves pro-
  tecting a foreign on the run from the Danorans. They can point to 
  the right hill, but it takes another eight hours and another DC 18 
  check to find the actual church where he’s hiding.
  Theater of Scoundrels
  Social. Real-Time.
  A powerful crime boss, Lorcan Kell, might provide the party with the 
  doctor’s location, but only if they can entertain him.
  Most likely the party will have to go through Lorcan Kell to 
  track down Wolfgang. Cillian Creed already has a long-standing 
  relationship with Kell, because Kell’s men handle the smuggling of 
  industrial goods. Kell knows Creed is looking for Wolfgang, but in 
  his opinion the existing business arrangement doesn’t include shar-
  ing all his secrets. When he gets word the PCs are asking questions 
  too, he decides to solve both problems at once.
  Kell’s goal is to bring the PCs to him, have a little cruel fun 
  at their expense, then have them do him a favor in exchange for 
  the location of the doctor. Then when they’re on the way, Kell will 
  notify Creed so he can catch the PCs in an enclosed environment.
  How Does the Plot Work?
  Reed Macbannin used his knowledge of the paths to the Bleak Gate 
  to craft a series of partial portals under the bridges of the Stanfield 
  Canal, which runs from Bosum Strand to Parity Lake. Subtly em-
  bedded in the steel beneath the bridges are rusted iron bars etched 
  with spells.
  Whenever an object passes under these bridges, if it has the 
  proper sigil stenciled on it, the magic pulls the object closer to the 
  Bleak Gate. There are six of these bridges, and after passing be-
  neath the sixth bridge, the item vanishes and plunges into the water 
  in the Bleak Gate analogue of the canal. If it doesn’t go through all 
  six within an hour, the magic fades and soon it’s impossible to notice 
  anything amiss.
  Cillian Creed delivers lists of items needed to Kell, who has his 
  people either directly steal it and pack in crates, or arranges to trade 
  it for protection. The crates are then stenciled and sent down the 
  canal. None of Kell’s people ever travel with the crates, so they as-
  sume someone else picks them up at the other end, which is close to 
  true. When the crates splash down in the Bleak Gate, Leone Quital’s 
  people recover them and take them to Cauldron Hill. In the real 
  world, people just assume some items were stolen in transit.
  
  20 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  The Lure.
  Starting the afternoon of the 2nd, one of Kell’s agents watches the 
  RHC headquarters, and when he sees one of the PCs coming or 
  going he approaches and says that Lorcan Kell knows where the 
  doctor they’re looking for is, and that he invites them to negotiate 
  at a neutral location: Lammers Theater in Parity Lake. Kell will be 
  there tonight, and the curtain goes up at 8:00 pm.
  Constables that succeed on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) check 
  recall rumors that Kell runs his guild out of a theater, which means 
  it’s probably anything but neutral territory. But Kell won’t budge, 
  and unless the party comes to him, he doesn’t care to talk to them.
  If the party asks around and does some research, they can hear 
  tales of Kell’s operations, and how he likes to treat outsiders. A 
  group that brings a gift to the crime boss gets a much more pleasant 
  reception. But if the party just breezes in expecting to be in charge, 
  Kell will make their visit painful.
  The Bait.
  Kell’s center of power is in eastern Parity Lake, where some slightly 
  better-off factory workers live, paying protection money to Kell’s 
  thieves’ guild. It’s a seedy neighborhood; if the PCs come here, it’s 
  obvious they’re being watched. Their guide leads them to the heart 
  of the area, which PCs with the right background might recognize.
  Then just before they turn onto a new street they hear angry 
  threats, a man’s grunt of pain, and a woman scream. A hundred 
  feet down the side road sits a stopped carriage, its driver reeling on 
  the ground from an apparent blow to the head, its single horse ner-
  vous. A woman kneels over the driver, screaming “Someone stop 
  them!” and pointing down the street. Two thugs wearing bright red 
  scarves look over their shoulder as they sprint away.
  Everyone in this staged scene, as well as most of the onlookers 
  on the street, are Kell’s people. The plan is that the PCs give chase 
  to the thieves, who run down a street and then duck into an alley at 
  just the right pace to keep the PCs able to follow. Then in the alley 
  they open a door into the back stage of Kell’s Theater of Scoundrels, 
  luring the PCs onto the stage, where the curtain will come up, re-
  vealing an audience all leveling guns and crossbows at them while 
  Kell applauds from a high box seat.
  If the PCs seem hesitant, the woman improvises and adds, “They 
  kidnapped my baby! Stop them!” If that doesn’t work, she tries run-
  ning after the men herself, hoping the PCs follow. There’s enough 
  amiss about the scene — the perfect timing, how unsurprised some 
  of the people peering out street windows appear, how the bright 
  scarves make it easy to follow the thieves — that PCs can reasonably 
  see through the trap.
  In that case, the thief-actors fess up, and a moment later one 
  of Kell’s lieutenants — an athlete named Rufus Hammerton who 
  bounces a leather football on the ground as he talks — invites the 
  party to join his boss inside the theater to talk business while tak-
  ing in a show. To emphasize the “politeness” of the request, a dozen 
  men come out of the buildings and form a loose wall behind the 
  party.
  By the time the PCs have gotten into this neighborhood they’re 
  horribly outnumbered, so any attempt at starting a fight would 
  quickly result in an overwhelming force of thieves and scum 
  surrounding them. If they insist on fighting, they’ll end up over-
  whelmed, beaten to within an inch of their lives, then dumped 
  naked in the lake near a sewer drain. Rufus insists that talking to 
  his boss is much less pleasant than declining his invitation.
  Star Attraction.
  Kell invites the party to his box, and though he is supremely con-
  fident they won’t try to touch him, his guards do search the party 
  and take away any obvious weapons before the meeting. They’ll be 
  returned when the party leaves.
  He tells his people to “put on a comedy,” then eats a sandwich 
  without offering any food to the party. There aren’t even chairs in 
  the box for them to sit down.
  Kell says that he knows they’re looking for “that northerner doc-
  tor,” and that his men are sitting on the man, waiting for a way 
  to make a profit on him. He’s willing to have his men take them 
  to Wolfgang. In return, he wants them to stop a smuggling deal 
  he’s gotten wind of. He hears it’s going down the evening of the 
  4th, bringing in magic weapons that will be bought by some of his 
  competitors. Kell is content if the constables just do their job and 
  arrest the smugglers, since it will harm one of his rivals. But he 
  suggests it might be more worth their while to deliver whatever is 
  being brought in to him.
  Should the PCs decline, Kell insists they stay for the show and 
  make a counter proposal.
  When the “comedy” Kell requested starts, a drunk and confused 
  docker is pushed out on stage, and a scandalously dressed seduc-
  tress flirts with him and makes a show of picking his pocket while 
  he’s distracted by her advances. Then another thief pretending to 
  be a jealous boyfriend makes an appearance, and after chasing the 
  Lorcan Kell. Now in his fifties, the grizzled Kell grew up an enforcer for 
  local gangs, then eventually murdered his way into a position of leadership. 
  He does, however, possess a great knack for instilling loyalty in intelligent 
  minions who can run operations for him. Now he feigns gentility, dressing in 
  elegant clothing that conceals no fewer than eight blades at any time.
  Kell is unpredictable and hot-headed, confident he can kill anyone who’s 
  a threat, and when people try to stand up against him he takes it as an op-
  portunity for entertainment. For him, nothing’s better for him than taking 
  self-righteous do-gooders down a few pegs by showing off his power.
  His seat of power is a theater in Parity Lake where scum is welcome and 
  decent people are turned away. Kell’s guild of thieves practice their lies and 
  legerdemain in the form of stage plays, often improvisational and with life-
  or-death stakes. Actors practice disguises and assuming unique personas, all 
  the sorts of subtle techniques Kell personally never bothered with. He enjoys 
  the shows, but his favorite game is to drag in a pair 
  of random townspeople, and give one of them the 
  choice of who of the two will receive a beating.
  Kell is aware of the encroaching Family presence 
  in his city, but he expects his “intelligent minions” 
  to come up with a plan against them, not realizing 
  that most of those minions are being wooed by 
  Morgan Cippiano.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 21
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  docker with various humorous objects — eliciting guffaws from the 
  crowd — the seductress and her “boyfriend” take turns beating him.
  Kell considers the PCs reactions, and says he’ll let the man go if 
  they agree to his offer. If the PCs still refuse, be as vicious and cruel 
  as you think your players are comfortable with. Lorcan Kell will 
  get his come-uppance later, but for now he’s in a position of power 
  that he loves to abuse.
  Aftermath.
  If the party agrees, he tells them that once some of his cop friends 
  let him know the smuggling operation is thwarted, he’ll send a 
  guide to take them to Wolfgang.
  If the party declines, or avoids this encounter, they have other 
  ways to find Wolfgang, but he’ll be better defended.
  If the party attacks Kell, his stats appear in Adventure Five. In 
  the very likely event the party loses that fight, Kell kills most of 
  them, but leaves the person who first attacked him alive. He’ll dis-
  figure that person and keep him chained up long enough to parade 
  all his friends and loved ones through the theater and kill them.
  Old Faith
  Action/Social. Tactical.
  The doctor has turned an abandoned church’s catacombs into a trap-
  filled lair.
  Dr. Wolfgang von Recklinghausen has taken refuge within an 
  abandoned Clergy church built into a rocky cliff face in The Nettles. 
  The church’s keepers left decades ago when the swell of poor factory 
  workers moved in; their adherence to the Old Faith overwhelmed 
  the Clericists who had lived on this hill.
  Using scrounged items and some tools from his surgical kit he 
  has assembled traps to defend himself, though if the party has made 
  a deal with Lorcan Kell, the doctor’s bodyguards will disable the 
  traps before the party arrives.
  Hallowed Halls.
  Within the church, creatures that are dying but not dead, imme-
  diately stabilize. Creatures can still die from hit point loss, but a 
  latent blessing protects the mortally wounded.
  Layout.
  Unless noted, rooms inside the church are in total darkness.
  1. Plateau Façade
  The front of the church shows years of neglect, and you could walk 
  by without noticing the place through the tangle of brush, vines, and 
  tumbled stones. Out of some sense of respect, the locals have given 
  the church some space. The nearest homes are a hundred feet from the 
  entrance, though if you ascend a cliffside staircase, the next tier of the 
  hill is clustered with slum housing.
  2. Latrine Cliff
  Effluent once flowed from the church’s latrine to this concealed cliff. 
  The passage into the back of the privy is a tight squeeze, but disuse has 
  left the place relatively clean.
  3. Chapel
  Broken and tattered pews lie around this room. The 20-foot-high 
  arched ceiling once reverberated the sound of singers, but now just 
  echoes eerily. Whisper holes to the Song Galleys along the sides of the 
  room let people hear activity through the walls.
  The doorway to area 5 no longer has a door, and the hallway is clut-
  tered with debris. When the party arrives, six slum-dwellers sit in 
  the tunnel, paid by Kell’s men to discourage curious visitors.
  If the party arrives early in the week, a woman is waiting outside 
  with her husband, who is holding his severed thumb in a bloody 
  cloth. The man lost his thumb earlier in the day in an industrial 
  accident, and the woman has heard there’s a doctor here, so she’s 
  trying to get the slum-dwellers to let her in so she can have the doc-
  tor to reattach the thumb. This is well within Wolfgang’s talents, 
  but his bodyguards are keeping him from helping hard luck cases 
  to keep news of him from spreading.
  If the party comes closer to the end of the week, there’s actually a 
  line outside of people with sick children or injured family members, 
  shouting for the doctor to come out and help them. All the people, 
  including the slum-dweller look-outs, scatter quickly at the first 
  sign that a fight might be coming.
  4. Song Galleys
  Monks would once stand in these two hallways and sing during 
  services.
  5. Common Area
  Once the center of activity for the church’s monks, this room was 
  shaken in the recent tremors, creating a broad flooded sump. Of 
  the four pillars that held up the roof, one crumbled and one toppled.
  Wolfgang hid the documents he took from Nilasa in this room. 
  Above the crumbled pillar there’s a hollow in the ceiling. Wolfgang 
  placed the documents in his water-resistant surgeon’s bag, then 
  tucked it in that hollow. His bodyguards on loan from Lorcan Kell 
  didn’t see him hide the bag, and aren’t aware of where the docu-
  ments are.
  Alarm: An alarm trap, marked A on the map, triggers if anyone 
  enters this area. A trip wire, requiring a successful DC 20 Wisdom 
  (Perception) check to spot, yanks a weight that rings a cluster of 
  small bells, alerting everyone in the church to intruders.
  Traps: Additionally, two blade traps, marked T on the map, pro-
  tect the approach to Wolfgang’s hiding spot. Anyone who steps in 
  the trapped squares is attacked.
  
  22 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  Trap: Bonesaw Blade
  Mechanical trap
  Challenge ½ (100 XP)
  Trap: When activated (see above), the trap makes a melee weapon 
  attack (+10 to hit) against all targets in a 10-foot line. On a hit, the 
  creature takes 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage. A creature can notice this 
  trap with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check, and the 
  trap can be disarmed with a successful DC 18 Dexterity check made 
  with thieves’ tools.
  Gates: Spaces marked G on the map have iron gates that hang 
  from the ceiling, hinged so that when released they swing down. 
  They are easy to spot, and aren’t hard to disable, requiring only a 
  successful DC 12 Dexterity check made with thieves’ tools. Levers, 
  marked L on the map, can be pulled as a move action to trigger the 
  nearby gate. Any creature in the gate square is attacked with a +10 
  bonus to hit. A hit deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage and pushes the 
  creature 5 feet in the direction away from the associated lever.
  Thereafter, the heavy gate blocks its square, though it can be 
  lifted with a DC 15 Strength check. A creature holding up a gate 
  clears the square, but all attacks against it have advantage.
  Secret Doors: Two secret doors lead to Area 4. A creature that 
  searches the room and makes a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Percep-
  tion) check discovers them.
  6. Sleeping Quarters
  Only scattered bits of furniture remain from what was once the monks’ 
  sleeping quarters.
  7. Privy
  A wooden seat over a bucket was the best available in The Nettles, 
  which has no plumbing. The door leading to Area 2 is hidden be-
  hind a tattered old curtain displaying a pleasant pastoral scene, and 
  requires a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice. 
  Wolfgang and his bodyguards still haven’t noticed it.
  8. Cloister
  This small room was used for private prayers. Rows of bookshelves 
  line the walls, empty from old looting.
  9. Storage
  A recently erected curtain blocks out light so the fire in Area 10 
  isn’t visible in Area 5. Kell’s men brought a few bags of supplies 
  with them, and regular deliveries provide food and lantern oil.
  A small well in one corner of the room is fed by rainwater. If the 
  stones behind the well were knocked loose, it is possible to climb 
  the chimney up 30 feet to the next tier of the hill with a successful 
  DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 23
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  10. Kitchen
  Wolfgang and his bodyguards usually stay here, relying on either 
  the fireplace or a lantern for bright light. As in area 9, a curtain 
  blocks light, and a secret chimney behind the fireplace leads up 
  and out.
  Fighting Wolfgang.
  Kell can arrange for Wolfgang’s bodyguards to disable the traps, 
  then leave and let the PCs in to take the doctor, who doesn’t resist 
  if he sees how outnumbered he is. Alternately, very persuasive PCs 
  might get Professor Kindleton to convince Wolfgang to meet and 
  talk. If the party just comes unannounced, though, Wolfgang and 
  his guards put up a fight.
  •	 Dr. Wolfgang von Recklinghausen
  •	 3 Kell-Guild thugs
  •	 2 bonesaw blade traps (page 22)
  Dr. Wolfgang von Recklinghausen
  Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
  Armor Class 13 (leather)
  Hit Points 45 (8d8 + 8)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   8 (–1) 
  14 (+2) 
  12 (+1) 
  16 (+3) 
  10 (+0) 
  13 (+1)
  Skills Arcana +5, Medicine +9, Nature +5
  Damage Resistances poison
  Condition Immunities poisoned
  Senses passive Perception 10
  Languages Abyssal, Common, Dwarven, Primordial
  Challenge 2 (450 XP)
  Experimental Surgeon. If Wolfgang treats a creature’s wounds during 
  a short or long rest, the creature’s first hit die restores an additional 5 
  hit points. Additionally, he can reattach limbs that have been severed 
  no more than 24 hours ago.
  Alchemical Spellcasting. Wolfgang can cast the following spells. His 
  spellcasting ability is Intelligence:
  At will: disguise self, expeditious retreat, true strike
  3/day: shield
  Canary in a Coal Mine (1/Day). Wolfgang possesses a canary in a coal 
  mine (see below), allowing him to cast fly on himself as a bonus action, 
  with a duration of 1 round.
  Actions
  Multiattack. Wolfgang makes two malice-wrought rapier attacks.
  Malice-Wrought Rapier. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., 
  one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage. If he scores a critical hit 
  against an Unnatural creature (creatures with the aberration, celes-
  tial, fiend, or undead type), the creature cannot see him, as though he 
  were under the effects of an invisibility spell, until he attacks again or 
  10 minutes pass.
  Bomb (3/Day). Wolfgang chooses a point within 30 feet. All creatures 
  within a 15-foot radius of that point must make a DC 13 Dexterity 
  saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 10 (2d6 + 3) fire damage.
  Kell-Guild Thug
  Medium humanoid (half-elf), neutral evil
  Armor Class 14 (studded leather)
  Hit Points 55 (7d8 + 14)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   15 (+2) 
  14 (+2) 
  14 (+2) 
  10 (+0) 
  10 (+0) 
  11 (+0)
  Skills Intimidation +2
  Senses passive Perception 10
  Languages Common, Elven
  Challenge 1 (200 XP)
  Pack Tactics. The Kell-Guild thug has advantage on an attack roll 
  against a creature if at least one of the thug’s allies is within 5 feet of 
  the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
  Actions
  Multiattack. The Kell-Guild thug makes two melee attacks.
  Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. 
  Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
  Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 100/400 ft., 
  one target. Hit: 7 (1d10 + 2) piercing damage.
  Tactics.
  If the alarm triggers, one thug grabs a burning brand from the 
  fireplace to use as a torch, then runs from area 10 to area 6. He 
  splashes through the water to avoid the bonesaw trap, which pro-
  duces enough noise to hopefully draw attention after him. He plans 
  to wait by the lever in area 6, and drop the gate to stymie pursuit. If 
  he thinks people are focused on him, he’ll run for the exit. Other-
  wise he’ll come back and aid Wolfgang and the other thugs.
  New Magic Items.
  Canary in a Coal Mine
  Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
  From a gold chain dangles a tiny pendant in the shape of a ca-
  nary, but it turns black as coal in the presence of danger. If you are 
  surprised, attacks against you during the first round of combat are 
  made with disadvantage.
  As a bonus action, you can cast fly on yourself with a duration of 
  1 round. Once used, you cannot cast it in this way again until next 
  dawn.
  Malice-Wrought Weapon
  Weapon, rare
  Though deadly-sharp, this weapon has no adornments, radiates 
  no magic, and its steel is tarnished and lifeless. A Malice-Wrought 
  Weapon does not radiate magic and the enhancement bonus associ-
  ated with it does not fade in anti-magic zones or specialized areas of 
  null-magic, such as Danor.
  If you score a critical hit against an Unnatural creature (creatures 
  with the aberration, celestial, fiend, or undead type), the creature 
  cannot see you, as though they were under the affects of an invis-
  ibility spell, until you attack again or 10 minutes pass.
  
  24 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  Meanwhile, the other two thugs wait by the curtains in areas 9 
  and 10, each with torches of their own. Wolfgang hides in area 10, 
  ready to move if his guards say there’s a clear path. If a fight breaks 
  out, the thugs fall back into area 10, hoping to draw the PCs into 
  a spot where Wolfgang can surprise them and aid the guards in 
  flanking their opponents.
  Wolfgang won’t believe PCs who claim to be law enforcement, so 
  he fights until knocked out. The doctor does not believe in wasting 
  his bombs and prefers to fight opponents with his rapier whenever 
  possible. If reduced below 7 hp, Wolfgang becomes desperate and 
  uses his canary in a coal mine necklace to re-position himself to 
  throw bombs in a final desperate act of survival.
  Aftermath.
  A combat encounter immediately follows this scene, but the en-
  emies won’t attack until the party tries to leave. The easiest way to 
  keep the party from leaving right away, before they get a chance to 
  heal, is to knock out at least one PC. That forces a short rest to get 
  everyone on their feet, so when the party leaves they’ll be ready for 
  another combat.
  Failing that, you might have Wolfgang say that the documents 
  he was given are hidden nearby, and that they shouldn’t leave with-
  out them, but that he won’t reveal where they’re hidden until he 
  knows he can trust them. Don’t try to make the stalling too obvious, 
  lest the players feel rail-roaded.
  The PCs must work to earn Wolfgang’s trust. Initially, rather 
  than handing over the documents he’ll tell his story from his per-
  spective, then explain what he found in them, trying to suss out 
  from the party’s reactions whether they’re sympathetic or hostile.
  Treasure.
  Wolfgang wields a malice-wrought rapier and wears Nilasa’s canary 
  in a coal mine. The PCs can recover these items if they defeat him, 
  and if he is taken captive in the Hiding in Plain Sight encounter, 
  Wolfgang drops his sword. If the party hands him over to Leone in 
  the A Weight of Crumbling Stone encounter, Wolfgang gives the 
  party these items before leaving.
  Hiding in Plain Sight
  Action. Tactical.
  Lurking enemies emerge from the shadows of the Bleak Gate to am-
  bush the party, retrieve the documents, and abduct the doctor.
  The steelshaper Leone Quital has brought allies from the Bleak 
  Gate to help Cillian Creed recover Wolfgang and the documents. 
  They wait nearby in a trio of carriages pulled by wraith horses, par-
  tially in the Bleak Gate and invisible to normal eyes. After the PCs 
  enter the church they set their trap in motion.
  What’s in the Documents?
  First, there are numerous reports and notes written by Secu-
  rity Chief Julian LeBrix, which reference financial irregularities 
  of Danoran-owned factories. He posits that there’s a campaign of 
  smuggling that explicitly targets Danoran enterprises, though the 
  huge number of reports—covering hundreds of witnesses from doz-
  ens of factories—makes it hard to synthesize an accurate narrative 
  from all the data.
  If the party get their hands on the documents, with a cursory 
  read-through it’s possible to determine that all the smuggled items 
  might be going to a single construction project, probably something 
  like a large warship.
  If they manage to hold onto the documents, with a few days of 
  work and the aid of some RHC staff with more financial know-how, 
  they can determine that many of the factories that have lost items 
  to this smuggling operation were recently acquired by a variety of 
  buyers. The buyers have no history of entrepreneurship, but a few 
  actually have criminal records. If the party looks into their finances, 
  they see that they were all paid shortly before they purchased the 
  factories.
  Should the party put the right effort in, this can be one way for 
  them to discover that Reed Macbannin is behind the whole op-
  eration. By cross-checking different accounts and perhaps bribing 
  some bank officials to share their books, they can find proof that the 
  payments to acquire the factories were funded by Macbannin.
  Second, there is a detailed report of LeBrix visiting factories and 
  discovering flasks of strange black oil with floating motes of white 
  light in them. It was soon after finding these that his investigation 
  was shut down.
  When telling his story, Wolfgang says that he recognizes the 
  substance. It is called witchoil, and a substance produced when the 
  energy of the Bleak Gate that bleeds into this world. It’s rare to find 
  even a few ounces, and he can’t imagine where someone would have 
  gotten the pints LeBrix discovered. The oil, if burned, can stand in 
  for costly spell components, but no moral man would use it, since it 
  consumes souls that were awaiting their final rest.
  If asked how he knows about it, Wolfgang looks a bit haunted 
  and says that in his homeland, magic normally cannot be used, but 
  witchoil is a reliable power source, so power-hungry men find it easy 
  to overcome their qualms.
  Wolfgang as an Ally?
  After the last encounter, Wolfgang should be revived with some hit 
  points. He’ll fight alongside the party as long as possible, but he’s 
  Creed’s first target. If the party bargained with Lorcan Kell to get 
  Wolfgang without a fight, he’ll be at full health, and a much stronger 
  ally.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 25
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  Leone uses his steelshaping powers to embed a dozen steel bars 
  (which he brought on the carriages) into the church’s outer door-
  way. They can be pried free, requiring a successful DC 16 Strength 
  check each, but at least three must be removed before it’s possible 
  for a Small creature to squeeze out, or at least six for a Medium 
  creature to squeeze through. Of course, Leone and his allies won’t 
  stand by and let the party free themselves without a fight.
  Creed and a small strike force all wear temporary magical amu-
  lets that let them phase through the bars. Creed has a spare amulet 
  that he intends to put on Wolfgang so they can abduct him.
  The strike force enters the church and waits in area 3. Creed 
  eavesdrops, wanting to get as much information as possible from 
  Wolfgang before striking. When it sounds like the party is about 
  to leave, Creed and his squad sneak in. They disable the alarm and 
  other traps in their way, if they are still active, and get as close as 
  possible to the party. Characters with a Perception 16 or higher are 
  not surprised.
  •	 Cillian Creed, Shadow Operative
  •	 2 Bleak Gate dark creepers
  Bleak Gate Dark Creeper
  Small humanoid (dark folk), chaotic netural
  Armor Class 11 (leather armor)
  Hit Points 27 (5d6 + 10)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   11 (+0) 
  17 (+3) 
  14 (+2) 
  9 (–1) 
  10 (+0) 
  12 (+1)
  Skills Intimidation +3, Stealth +5
  Senses truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 10
  Languages any one language (usually Common)
  Challenge 1 (200 XP)
  Pack Tactics. The dark creeper has advantage on an attack roll against 
  a creature if at least one of its allies is within 5 feet of the creature 
  and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
  Innate Spellcasting. The dark creeper’s innate spellcasting ability 
  is Charisma. It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no 
  material components:
  At-will: darkness, detect magic
  Actions
  Multiattack. The dark creeper makes two melee attacks.
  Poisoned Knife. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) 
  piercing damage and the target must make a DC 13 Costitution saving 
  throw, becoming poisoned for 1 minute on a failure. While poisoned in 
  this way, the target takes 3 (1d6) poison damage at the start of each 
  of its turns. The target can repeat this save at the end of each of its 
  turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
  Snuff Light. A dark creeper can snuff any one nonmagical light within 
  50 feet. Magical lights affected by this ability are extinguished for 2d6 
  rounds.
  Cillian Creed
  Medium humanoid (human, undead), lawful evil
  Armor Class 15 (studded leather)
  Hit Points 81 (14d8 + 28)
  Speed 30 ft.
   STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   13 (+1) 
  16 (+3) 
  14 (+2) 
  13 (+1) 
  10 (+0) 
  12 (+1)
  Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from 
  nonmagical attacks while not in bright light
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., truesight 30 ft., passive Perception 10
  Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish
  Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
  Eclipse Claw. During his accident, one of Cillian Creed’s arms was 
  transformed into the nightmarish eclipse claw. Once per round, Creed 
  may inhumanly extend the appendage to give a single attack with the 
  claw 10 feet of reach.
  Deceptive Veil. Creed can maintain a convincing façade over his 
  shadow form when necessary. At will as an action, Creed can cast 
  conjure up a suitable disguise as though casting disguise self (duration 
  is extended to permanent until dispelled).
  Shadow Man. Creed’s physical body can melt into shadows as a bonus 
  action. While in areas of shadows or adjacent to a creature that casts 
  a shadow, he can become invisible as a bonus action, as the spell 
  greater invisibility. If a creature moves while he is hiding in its shadow, 
  he can move with it up to 30 feet as a reaction.
  Hideous Reveal. Whenever Creed takes radiant damage, his shadowy 
  flesh burns away, revealing raw muscle and sinew before his cloak 
  of shadow reforms. He loses the benefits of his Shadow Man trait 
  and loses all damage resistances until the end of the next turn of the 
  creature that dealt that damage.
  Actions
  Multiattack. Creed makes one eclipse claw attack and one pistol 
  attack, or two eclipse claw attacks.
  Eclipse Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. 
  Hit: 16 (2d12 + 3) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage and 
  the target must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be blinded for 
  1 minute. The target can repeat this save at the end of each of its 
  turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
  Chrome Syringe. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one 
  target. Hit: 11 (2d10) poison damage and the target must make a 
  DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. While 
  poisoned, the target takes 3 (1d6) poison damage at the end of each 
  of its turns. The target can repeat this save at the end of each of its 
  turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If this damage reduces 
  the character to 0 hit points, it falls unconscious and is stable.
  Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. 
  Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) piercing damage.
  Immobilizing Shadows (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). 
  Shadowy arms emerge from the ground around Creed in a 30-foot 
  radius. All creatures in this area must make a DC 13 Strength saving 
  throw, becoming restrained on a failed save. Creatures not in bright 
  light have disadvantage on this save. A creature can repeat this save 
  at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. 
  The shadowy restraints disappear after 1 minute.
  
  26 | EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  Tactics.
  The dark creepers strike first, trying to negate the party’s light 
  sources by strategically using their darkness spells and following 
  up with their snuff light ability. Creed slips in through the dark and 
  chaos, steps beside Wolfgang, and tries to sneak attack him with an 
  intent to knock out. If possible, Creed wants to drag an unconscious 
  Wolfgang out while avoiding a fight, using his spare amulet to pull 
  him through Leone’s barrier of bars.
  If the fight goes long, the strike team assumes they can take the 
  party, but Creed is cautious. When he is reduced below half-health 
  he flees to Leone.
  Leone is accompanied by eight additional dark creepers, three 
  non-combatant carriage drivers, and three horse-shaped wraiths 
  that pull the carriages. They dramatically outnumber the party, 
  and if any PC tries to get through the barred entrance, the dark 
  creepers outside take up a combat position and advance, one per 
  turn. It should be obvious to the PCs that they’re pinned down.
  Aftermath.
  The strike team works docks security in the Bleak Gate, so they 
  know that there is activity in the shadow plane, but they know noth-
  ing about the construction facility or the colossus. They’re sternly 
  secretive, and they know about Leone’s back-up plan, so if captured, 
  they expect to be handed over as hostages.
  If the strike force fails to drag out Wolfgang, or if Creed gets the 
  doctor but not the documents, Leone prefers not to waste any more 
  men. He switches to his back-up plan, detailed below.
  If Creed and company manage to defeat the party, they leave 
  them for dead and scour the church until they find the documents. 
  The church’s hallowed aura keeps the PCs from dying, and several 
  hours later they awaken when a slum-dweller tries to loot one of 
  their bodies.
  A Weight of Crumbling 
  Stone
  Social. Real-Time.
  Should the ambush fail, a foe with daunting power bars the party’s 
  escape and poses escalating threats until they cave, or are caved-in.
  If the strike force is defeated or driven off and Leone does not 
  have both the doctor and the documents in his possession, he orders 
  two of the carriages away, keeping the third in case he needs to 
  make a quick escape. One goes to fetch a hostage, the other to re-
  trieve enough firedust to collapse the cliff face. If either the doctor 
  or the documents have been retrieved, Creed stashes them in the 
  remaining carriage.
  He directs his remaining men — six dark creepers and two dark 
  stalkers– to cover the entrance. He then telekinetically pulls a 
  metal folding chair from his carriage, as well as a metal case that 
  contains his favorite bromago cheese and a bottle of wine from his 
  own vineyard in Crisillyir (marked with a wax seal that a wine ex-
  pert could recognize as matching Quital wine). He sits down to 
  relax, using his telekinetic control of metal to hover a platter of 
  cheese and cut slices as he enjoys his bottle, all while keeping an 
  eye on the exit.
  If the PCs are careful they can overhear him talking with Creed, 
  who wears his disguise as Officer Porter, but still drips a bit of black 
  blood. Creed says that “according to Kell,” there’s only one way in 
  or out of the church, and that the air vents are too small to climb 
  out through. (This is not accurate.) Leone nods and tells him to “go 
  tell his boss that the situation is under control.”
  Leone wants to talk to the party, and if no PC comes to the exit, 
  after he finishes his first cup of wine he’ll call out that he wants to 
  parlay.
  From the barred exit, the party can see Leone sitting out in the 
  open. His allies wait by the cover of the carriage, or stand out of 
  direct line of sight, but can be heard moving about and occasionally 
  yelling at the locals that they should keep away if they know what’s 
  good for them.
  Stage One: The Easy Way.
  Leone Quital introduces himself and explains that he doesn’t see 
  any reason to shed more blood. He says that he just came to get the 
  doctor and the documents in his possession. Once he has both of 
  those, he’ll depart, and the PCs can take their time prying loose 
  the steel bars.
  If the party tries to offer other terms, Leone explains that this 
  isn’t a negotiation. If they try to stall, he says that in an hour the 
  easy option goes away, and things get much less pleasant. He then 
  pulls out a pocket watch, checks the time, and smiles.
  If the PCs claim they don’t have the documents, Leone says he’s 
  confident they’re in the church somewhere. He suggests they look 
  quickly before their hour is up. Wolfgang personally does not want 
  to be handed over, and he thinks they should prepare a defense for 
  when the enemy tries to dig them out, or possibly send smoke sig-
  nals through the kitchen fireplace.
  If the party agrees, Leone does not keep his word. He’ll bend the 
  bars to let Wolfgang or the documents out, then close them to keep 
  Wolfgang von Recklinghausen. A distinguished, intelligent, 
  and poised gentleman in his late 30s, Dr. von Recklinghausen speaks elegantly 
  with a hard-to-place accent. He appears fairly innocuous, though his sharply-
  groomed goatee and the rapier at his hip give him a hint of menace.
  Born into wealth in Arrovia, a minor nation in the Malice Lands, Wolfgang 
  pursued medicine and magic, learning surgery in Danor and spellcraft in Risur. 
  But as the dwarven writings of Heid Eschatol became popular in his home-
  land, Wolfgang became convinced this focus on death was short-sighted in 
  a world where resurrection was a known—if exceedingly rare—occurrence.
  After years of intense study and experimentation, his marriage in tatters 
  and his fortune nearly depleted, Wolfgang finally achieved his goal of com-
  bining medical knowledge with sorcery 
  in order to restore a corpse to life. The 
  party might learn more in Adventure 
  Four, Always on Time, but suffice it to 
  say that six months ago Wolfgang fled 
  his estate and made for Risur. Travel-
  ing on a Danoran visa, the doctor hopes 
  to reach Ber, and keep traveling as long 
  as possible.
  
  EN5ider Presents: The Dying Skyseer, Part Two | 27
  Thread Three: The Doctor
  the PCs from getting any ideas. Once he has what he wants, he tells 
  the party to wait. Skip stage two, and move to stage three.
  Stage Two: Hostage.
  If the party waits for an hour, a carriage arrives, and an additional 
  dark stalker is inside, along with a hostage. This might be Lynn 
  Kindleton, Heward Sechim, or a friend or contact of the PCs’. The 
  person had been shadowed in preparation of this scenario, and was 
  caught unaware by a magical sleep effect, then tossed into a car-
  riage, bound, and blind-folded.
  Leone walks the hostage to within view of the entrance and lets 
  the party talk with them to prove that it’s not an illusion. Then he 
  revises his offer. Hand over what he wants within an hour, or he 
  kills the hostage. He holds up his pocket watch, smiles, and then 
  pours a cup of wine for himself and his hostage.
  Wolfgang doesn’t trust Leone, and would need to be convinced 
  to trade himself for the life of someone else. If the party agrees, it 
  goes much as above, except he puts the hostage inside the church 
  with the party.
  If the party refuses, Leone makes a show of counting down, hav-
  ing his men hold the hostage as he prepares to slit the hostage’s 
  throat. When the countdown reaches zero, Leone slashes open 
  the person’s jugular and tosses them to the ground in front of the 
  entrance.
  Move to stage three.
  Stage Three: Death.
  Eventually the other carriage arrives, bearing the materials neces-
  sary to set off an explosion and collapse the cliff face. Leone assumes 
  this will either crush the party directly, or seal them in until they 
  suffocate or starve. The hill is sturdy enough, though, that only the 
  chapel will collapse, giving the party a chance to survive and find 
  a way out.
  If Leone is still pretending to be negotiating, he explains as his 
  people set up casks of firedust and custom alchemicals that will 
  crack the stone. He says he’ll give the party five minutes to turn 
  over what he wants, or they’ll be crushed. As above, if the party 
  concedes, Leone plans to kill them anyway.
  Once it’s clear he has no intention of letting them go, Leone 
  enjoys his villainous monologue and assures them that the local 
  slum-dwellers will definitely remember their heroism. The charges 
  are all set in locations the PCs can’t see from inside the church, and 
  after only a few minutes Leone and his force withdraw, unspooling 
  30-foot fuses. They load into the carriages, and Leone triggers the 
  fuses at range. The carriages pull away, and thirty seconds later the 
  charges detonate.
  Anyone in area 1 or 3 when the explosion goes off is killed in-
  stantly. Otherwise, the party is unharmed, just assumed dead.
  Sneaking Out.
  The party might try to sneak away, either out the chimney or latrine 
  tunnel during negotiations, or perhaps tearing open the exit at the 
  last second after the fuses are lit and getting out of range before 
  detonation.
  If the PCs go out the latrine tunnel, they must make a successful 
  DC 10 Dexterity (Stealth) check to avoid being noticed by one of 
  Leone’s men, which would set off a chase through The Nettles. The 
  PCs have an advantage here, since the locals have a strange fond-
  ness for the doctor, and will interfere with the pursuers.
  Sneaking out the chimney easily avoids detection. If the party 
  runs out the front entrance, one of the carriage drivers spots them 
  fleeing, but Leone decides getting away before people investigate 
  the explosion is more important.
  Aftermath.
  If nothing else, the party can survive the collapse, then be rescued 
  by police who dig them out. Stubborn or suicidal parties can pre-
  vent the villains from getting Wolfgang or the documents, which 
  gives them a slight leg-up on figuring out that Macbannin’s their 
  target. If the party loses both the doctor and the documents, it’s a 
  set-back, but should motivate them to finish the case.
  When they finally do return to Macbannin’s manor and explore 
  his underground laboratory, they will find the doctor, if he was 
  taken captive. +
  Fighting Leone.
  Leone plays a larger role in Adventure Five, Cauldron-Born, before 
  finally meeting his end in Adventure Seven, Schism. His stats are 
  described there. Until then, he is an undefeatable foe.
  Leone Quital. Leone plays a limited role in 
  this adventure, and the key traits he should dem-
  onstrate are his fondness for fine bromago cheese, 
  his mastery of steelshaping, his telekinetic control 
  of metal, and his airy, romantic notion of honor, 
  which the PCs should easily deduce is false when 
  he tries to bury them alive. Leone has a larger 
  presence in Adventures Five and Seven.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 186 - Zeitgeist 2.2 The Dying Skyseer.pdf