TEXT:  
  1 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  TWA6 
  
   
  2 
   
  CREDITS: 
   
  Designer:  Jon Hild 
   
  Cover Art:  Wagnerf 
   
  https://wagnerf.deviantart.com/ 
   
  Watermark:  Zeezee Canning 
   
  http://zeezeeazc123.deviantart.com/gallery/ 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Cartography:  Derek Ruiz 
   
  “Maztica Alive!” Logo:  Cliff Wolter  
   
  http://yardarkwood.deviantart.com/gallery/ 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, 
  Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other 
  Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the 
  Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of 
  Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of 
  America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is 
  prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. 
   
  ©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by 
  Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The 
  Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK. 
   
  THE RELIC 
   
  
   
  3 
   
  MAZTICA ALIVE! 
   
  The Maztica Alive Community continues to 
  produce supplements and adventures for the 
  “True World” continents of Maztica, Lopango, 
  Anchorome and Katashaka. 
    Well over a dozen books by a number of 
  authors create a consistent story collectively 
  known as the Maztica Alive Campaign.  All 
  Maztica Alive products can be found in the 
  DMsGuild at: 
   
   
  http://www.dmsguild.com/product/171534/TWC
  1-The-Maztica-Campaign-Guide 
   
  INTRODUCTION 
   
  TWA6 The Relic is a short, site based adventure 
  that gained its inspiration from the 1997 movie 
  also known as The Relic.  It is a supernatural 
  horror film directed by Peter Hyams and it stars 
  Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore and Linda 
  Hunt. The movie itself is based on the novel of 
  the same name by Douglas Preston and Lincoln 
  Child. 
    The adventure utilizes the creature featured in 
  the movie (known there as a kothoga but here 
  altered to kothoggo) and tries to recreate events 
  and the sense of horror that occurred in the 
  movie.  The setup is different however, and the 
  ordeal that the players will have to go through is 
  only designed to last for one session of 
  adventuring. 
    The adventure is ideally designed for four 
  players who should be around 5th level.  The 
  main battle is a CR7 encounter. 
    The creature in this adventure is exclusively 
  Maztican and can be found in TWC7 True 
  World Bestiary III, but is provided for easy 
  reference.     
    The adventure could also be used as a sequel to 
  the 2016 adventure TWA1 The Ruins, also 
  based on a horror movie and set in the same 
  region of Maztica.  
   
   
   
  BACKGROUND 
   
  Of all the nations and peoples of the True 
  World, the Green Folk still remain the most 
  distrustful and outwardly hostile towards 
  outsiders, particularly the light skinned folk of 
  mainland Faerun. Most are content to remain 
  hidden in the southern jungles as long as they 
  are left alone, but others would actively seek to 
  bring harm to the outside would.   
    A century ago, one of the tribes ignored 
  cultural taboos and entered ruins once forbidden. 
  In those ruins they found a way to defeat the 
  light-skinned invaders and return to their lives. 
    This new weapon was a ritual of unknown 
  origin, coupled with a mushroom-like spore that 
  grows only in the forbidden ruins.  With the 
  ritual and red spores, they have learned to 
  transform a man or woman into the dreaded 
  kothoggo. 
    The kothoggo is a creature whose lifespan is 
  remarkably short – but in that short time it can 
  decimate entire villages.  
    When a human consumes the spores from the 
  ruins and the ritual is performed he or she slowly 
  begins to change and in five days becomes the 
  kothoggo.  The creature loses almost all 
  semblance of its humanity but does not need to 
  kill as long as it is fed with the rare mushroom 
  that spawned it. When the tribe stopped feeding 
  the creature it sought out the closest source of 
  the compounds found in the mushroom – which 
  can only be found elsewhere in part of the 
  human brain.  
    Knowing this, the Green Folk tribe eradicated a 
  settlement of Cordell’s men who set themselves 
  up to plunder the region of its resources.  Now, 
  over a century later, the settlement has remained 
  as ruins, but the Green Folk returned to occupy 
  the surrounding area.  Unfortunately, an exile, 
  shunned because of his experimentation with 
  dark forces has performed the ritual on an 
  unwitting simpleton, and the kothoggo has come 
  again. 
    This is the scenario that the PCs stumble upon 
  when they find the Green Folk village, its 
  multitude of headless corpses, and notice an 
  entrance in the nearby rock face.   
   
  
   
  4 
   
  The village itself is small and poor.  It perhaps 
  could have been occupied by a half dozen 
  families of hunters and gatherers.  The most 
  notable feature is the sheer rock wall behind the 
  village.  A door leading into the wall lies to the 
  side, crushed by some tremendous pressure. 
   
  Room 1.  Fifteen headless bodies are strewn 
  about the main entrance.  Despite the heat 
  outside the room feels uncomfortably cold.  This 
  is because one of the dead has become an 
  undead wraith and inhabits the room, desperate 
  to snuff out whatever life it can find. In life, he 
  was a cruel torturer who made pacts with dark 
  forces that have no place in the True World, and 
  his current condition is the end result of those 
  pacts. The wraith rises from among the bodies, 
  dark and wispy. Similar to the corpses, the 
  wraith is missing its head.   
   
  Room 2.  The door to this room is locked but 
  easily forced open with a DC 12 Strength 
  (Athletics) check as the lock is badly rusted.  
  The kothoggo ignored the door to move further 
  into the complex and has not since returned.   
    Inside the PCs will find what was once a small 
  barracks for guards that would have defended 
  the complex for Cordell’s missionaries from 
  rebelling natives. A few rusted weapons can be 
  found that have not held up well in the humid 
  jungle climate.  One longsword gleams brightly 
  amidst the rot, however.  That is because it is a 
  +2 longsword, a true rarity in these lands.  
   
  Room 3.  This door is unlocked but warded with 
  a magical trap that blasts cold in a 10 foot cone 
  and does 11 (2d10) cold damage to any that 
  open the door. Along with the blast of cold, an 
  audible “whoosh” can be heard as the room’s 
  vacuum seal is broken. A DC 15 Intelligence 
  (Investigation) check discovers the trap and a 
  DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check can 
  remove it (a failure sets it off and opens the 
  door.  
    Inside, there appears to be a small library. Its 
  old books and scrolls have held up remarkably 
  well due to the room’s vacuum seal.  The books 
  tell the history of Amn, up to and including 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6a 
  6b 
  6c 
  7 
  
   
  5 
   
  Cordell’s subjugation of Nexal and the True 
  World. In addition, there is a manual of stone 
  golems. The resident wizard was going to use it 
  to construct a powerful guardian before the 
  Amnians were all slain by the first kothoggo. 
   
  Room 4.  A 15 ft. ladder leads to a hallway 
  whose walls are gouged by the kothoggo’s 
  claws. The marks are on both the walls and the 
  ceiling - it doesn’t seem that the creature stayed 
  on the ground at any point.  
    About 30 feet into the hallway, there is a large 
  spiked pit trap. If a PC walks across it and fails a 
  Dexterity saving throw, the floor drops out 
  beneath them resulting in 5 (1d10) bludgeoning 
  damage from the fall in addition to 13 (3d8) 
  piercing damage from the spiked floor. The 
  spikes used to be poisoned as well, but the 
  poison has since worn off.  
   
  Room 5.  The door to this room is locked and 
  rusted, but it is not as fragile as the one found 
  leading into Room 2.  A Strength (Athletics) 
  check of 20 can break it, but it is better picked 
  with a DC 14 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check.  
    This room was once the abode of a high priest 
  of Helm. Candles and holy symbols of Helm 
  still remain in the room from over a century ago. 
  One of the candles is a lawful neutral candle of 
  invocation in a golden holder worth 50 gp. There 
  is also a loose stone (DC 15 Wisdom 
  (Perception) to notice, where the past resident 
  hid 25 gold quills (125 gp) he stole from the 
  natives.   
   
  Room 6.  These are the bedrooms of other 
  former residents of the structure.  Not much 
  remains as they fled and took their belongings 
  when the first kothoggo attacked a century ago, 
  but it is obvious that 6a and 6b were the 
  residences of wizards and 6c was of some type 
  of warrior.  The walls are covered in once 
  beautiful tapestries that are now moldy and 
  worm eaten.  Some sort of leak in the ceiling has 
  put 6a in the worst condition, and 5 violet 
  fungus have sprung up from the rot. 
   
  Room 7.  This is where the kothoggo has chosen 
  to lair.   A statue of helm stands at the northern 
  end of the hallway and has had its head 
  removed, likely by the bite of the kothoggo.  If 
  the kothoggo is caught unaware, the PCs catch it 
  with its long prehensile tongue deep in the eye 
  socket of a severed head. 
    There is a gold offering plate (75 gp) in front of 
  the headless statue that has a variety of small 
  gemstones (one small ruby, two topazes, an 
  emerald and three sapphires each worth 50 gp).  
  If the PCs replace the head on the statue, it 
  magically fuses to its original position and the 
  PCs each gain inspiration.  If they simply take 
  the loot and don’t replace the statue head, Helm 
  curses them to suffer disadvantage on their next 
  saving throw or skill check. 
   
  FURTHER ADVENTURES 
   
  The Relic could easily be expanded.  The Green 
  Folk exile could still be at large inhabiting the 
  ruins where the spores were first found.  Also, 
  the village did not consist of only the 15 
  (headless) humans found at the entrance.  Where 
  are the survivors? 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/Maztica 5e/TWA6 - The Relic [5e].pdf