I’m working on a number of different adventure-writing projects for publication right now, so maybe it’s weird that working on yet another one feels like my easy go-to here. I’ve been struggling with a few different ideas lately. Brains are weird.

Map | Locations 1 | Treasures | Locations 2 | Locations 3

Hall of Masques

These colonnaded halls tell stories with every inch of available space: the mosaic floor, the intricately painted ceiling, and the bas-relief columns and walls. Hanging from those walls are hundreds of masks, made from steel, porcelain, wood, papier-mâché, crystal, silk, or leather.

The stories told in the art of this hall can provide answers to many lore questions of the Ruby Talon Deeps, and possibly the wider setting as well. One hour of searching the hall grants a +5 bonus to any Intelligence (History) or Intelligence (Religion) check you make, but failing that roll means you get distracted with some other question and spend an additional 1d4 hours interpreting tales without learning anything of note.

At the end of that search, you encounter a group of spectral undead (could be wraiths, banshees, or something stranger), all wearing masks taken down from the walls. If you have donned a mask, or do so quickly, they talk to you as if you are whatever the mask represents; if not, they attack with great hunger and ferocity (advantage on their first attack roll each turn).

Sometimes it’s clear what you’re getting with a mask, and sometimes it very much isn’t. Possibilities include: skeleton, bandit, automaton with insectoid eyes, elf queen, raven priest, machinist, jeweled elemental, goblin merchant, spider, half-orc knight, and ocular aberration.

Lair of the Midnight Wyrm

A bridge spanning a vast chasm has been shattered with colossal force. Above the bridge, a chimney through the stone leads to the distant surface, hundreds of feet above. Climbing it would be possible, but incredibly punishing, as the stone threatens to flake away under your hands.

Eighty feet beneath the bridge, a cave mouth opens the way to a gently descending passage. The acrid air makes one’s eyes water. This is the lair of Azdaja, the Midnight Wyrm. She is a black dragon of exceptional size and cunning, with the unusual trait of red flecks dappling some of her scales. People, especially stone giants, interest her greatly, as she long ago realized that she could accomplish much with force but more with patience and knowledge. There is little more dangerous than coming to the end of what you know, when speaking with Azdaja, but as long as you have a few more convincing secrets to share, you stand a good chance of surviving to see another day.

She possesses many extraordinary treasures, including the staff of amethyst stars, Ram-Govog’s bracers, and the sacred silver mask. Beyond this, of course, is a vast hoard of coin, gems, and rare art objects.

Other creatures live in this lair as well, from black dragonborn to shadow-loving fey.

Staff of Amethyst Stars

Staff, rare (requires attunement by a cleric or druid)

This staff is carved of clear crystal, and one end is set with a large, rough-cut amethyst. The staff can be wielded as a quarterstaff, and when it hits it deals an additional 1d6 radiant damage.

This staff doesn’t cast spells on its own, but gains charges when you cast certain spells. When you cast guiding bolt, the staff gains 1 charge; moonbeam, 2 charges; beacon of hope or daylight, 3 charges. When the staff gains its 6^th charge, you can use a bonus action and spend 6 charges to make a ranged spell attack against a creature within 150 feet. On a hit, the creature takes 4d6 radiant damage, as a lance of amethyst energy blazes out of the gemstone. If the target is an aberration, it deals 8d6 damage instead.

Each day at dawn, as the stars fade, the staff loses 1d6+1 charges.

Ram-Govog’s Bracers

Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

These bracers are made of stone plates, which stay together around the wearer’s forearms through threads of magical force. The bracers have 3 charges. When a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and spend 1 charge. Roll 2d6 and reduce the damage you take by the total. If either or both dice roll a 5 or 6, the attacker takes 2d6 piercing damage, as shards of stone explode out from the bracers.

The bracers regain all expended charges each day at dawn.

Sacred Silver Mask

Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)

This hammered silver mask covers the whole face with a skull-like aspect, and while you wear it, your eyes are solid black. It is sacred to the Raven Queen and unmistakably recognizable to her followers.

The mask reshapes to fit the face and head of a wearer attuned to it. While you are wearing the mask and attuned to it, you gain the following benefits.

Corvid Empathy. Corvids of all kinds are drawn to you. You can communicate with them telepathically within 60 feet, they are friendly to you as long as you and your companions don’t harm them, and they carry out simple instructions in exchange for bits of meat or shiny treasures.

Ethereal Sight. You can see invisible creatures and creatures in the Ethereal Plane within 120 feet.

Lady’s Benediction. You can cast calm emotions without expending a spell slot. You can channel divinity directly from the Raven Queen, using that energy to fuel magical effects. You gain one use of Channel Divinity, or one additional use if you already have the ability to Channel Divinity, and you gain the ability to Turn Undead (as the cleric class feature) if you don’t already have it.

Shadow of Her Wings. You have advantage on death saving throws. When your current hit points are less than half your maximum hit points, you gain resistance to all damage.

Vigil Keeper. If you are keeping a vigil over creatures that are sleeping or dead, you don’t need to sleep to gain the benefits of a long rest.

Amethyst Sky

The vast ceiling of this cavern is an amethyst geode 500 feet long and 300 feet wide. Some of the amethysts glow or sparkle like stars, when viewed from the ground 300 feet below. The Amethyst Sky provides mystical insights to the stone giants, while also protecting them from the influence of the malevolent stars that afflicts so many star-gazing seers.

With 8 hours of contemplation (one day of downtime activity), you can cast contact other plane without expending a spell slot, and you only become insane from this spell if you fail the saving throw by 5 or more. With the assistance of a stone giant trained in the use of the Dream-Tower, you roll this saving throw with advantage.

Dream-Tower of the Stone Giants

Beneath the Amethyst Sky sits a mighty tower, built at a cyclopean scale that is comfortable to Ram-Govog’s stone giant descendants. A small number of humanoids have found their way here as well, taking up residence among the giants. The center of the building is open all the way to the floor of the chamber, allowing each level of the tower a position to look up and see amethyst.

The stone giant Ashavar leads the people of the Dream-Tower, though she also withdraws into lengthy slumbers in which she draws on astral powers to guide and bless them. The stone giants pay adventurous visitors to investigate the Hall of Masques and the Eye of Desolation, while the other humanoids seek news of the surface and trade goods such as cloth, leather, and wine. The food available in the Dream-Tower leaves a lot to be desired in terms of flavor. In exchange, they offer precious gemstones (especially amethyst, much of it glowing on its own), bits and pieces of improbable machinery, and the like.

The characters can learn much about Ram-Govog and Oghus the Machinist here – information that may prove useful if they venture into the deepest tunnels.

If the heroes have rivals from the surface or from previous encounters, the Dream-Tower is an ideal place for them to show up again. The stone giants protect them against unprovoked violence, but do nothing to prevent honor duels or brawls they themselves provoke.

After the PCs have visited, and ideally while the PCs are taking a long rest, a group of mechanically-enhanced humanoids attempt to infiltrate the Dream-Tower and slay Ashavar. These are remaining minions of Oghus the Machinist, who invested in them the impulse to propagate their transformation and seek revenge against the stone giants and all surface folk.

Design Notes

I’ve hit a point where a deeper look into lore consistency is badly needed, but I’m trying to save that for after a first draft is done. That’s what I get for working on this once every several months to a year, though! On the other hand, about one more post of Locations should get me to the end of this first pass, so that’s exciting.

One of the biggest changes I’d need to make to bring this to the table – for my own use or for publication – is to flesh out each region with more side-rooms and inhabitants, hostile and otherwise. That would lead to a substantial rethinking of some areas, so that they support any biological needs of those inhabitants, as well as the tone of the adventure.

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