The newly released Races of Destiny offers players and DMs many new options for their games. One of the most exciting of these is the new race known as the illumians. Devoted to knowledge and intrigue, the illu- mians organize themselves into cabals with secret motives and hidden agendas. This short scenario pits the adventurers against a group of illumians who have THE FINALVEIL devoted themselves to the dark arts of necromancy. CABAL The Finalveil Cabal is a short D&D adventure for four 7th-level player characters (PCs). It takes place in and A Races of Destiny Web Enhancement around a small crypt complex protected by an illumian cabal known as the Finalveil. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make A Short D&D Adventure for it work with your campaign. Four 7th-Level Characters PREPARATION CREDITS You (the DM) need the D&D core rulebooks—the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Design: Jesse Decker Monster Manual—as well as Races of Destiny—to use this Editing: Penny Williams adventure. The information presented here utilizes the Typesetting: Nancy Walker D&D v.3.5 rules. Cartography: Rob Lazzaretti, Todd Gamble To get started, print out the adventure, including the Web Production Julia Martin map. Read through the scenario at least once to famil- Web Development: Mark A. Jindra iarize yourself with the situation, threats, and major NPCs (particularly their motivations). Then review the Graphic Design: Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege information on the illumians in Races of Destiny. Text Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game by E. that appears in shaded boxes is player information that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the you can read aloud or paraphrase for the players at the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet, proper times. Monster and NPC statistics are provided Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison. with each encounter in abbreviated form or, where appropriate, the proper page in the Monster Manual is D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and DUNGEON MASTER are registered trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The d20 logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the referenced. Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. BACKGROUND This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the Illumian cabals are hidden organizations that pursue material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of their individual agendas in secret. These cabals are Wizards of the Coast, Inc. grouped into broad categories according to their goals ©2004 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and methods. Those that use undeath as a means of All rights reserved. preserving knowledge are known as gravewhisper Made in the U.S.A. cabals. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, One gravewhisper cabal, known as the Finalveil or events is purely coincidental. Cabal, has long held a tome of great power called the This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. Veiled Codex in one of its crypts. The members of this No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without group have been using the lore from this ancient written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, volume to turn the eldest and most powerful members please visit www.wizards.com/d20. of the cabal into undead creatures, thus ensuring that For more DUNGEONS & DRAGONS articles, adventures, and information, death cannot rob the organization of talents and visit www.wizards.com/dnd wisdom. The illumians of the Finalveil Cabal regard their use of necromantic magic and their association with undead creatures as pragmatic rather than evil— 1 nothing more than a tool for the preservation of impor- with darker motives contact the PCs. This tactic tant knowledge. They devote themselves to gathering makes the characters unwitting pawns in a struggle the necessary materials for these transformations and to between two evil organizations. ensuring that the organization’s existence remains a secret. • Not all of the Finalveil’s enemies are illumians. Despite Despite their efforts to keep their activities hidden, their efforts at secrecy, the members of the Finalveil however, the members of the Finalveil have attracted a have also attracted the enmity of several good-aligned number of powerful enemies over the centuries. churches, any one of which might commission the PCs Several good-aligned churches, having learned about to recover and/or destroy the Veiled Codex. Clerics the growing number of undead creatures the cabal is proposing such a mission might serve a nature god creating, have mounted efforts to destroy them. such as Obad-Hai who abhors the unnatural presence Furthermore, at least two other cabals of illumians of the undead that the cabal creates, or a fierce god of oppose the use of necromancy as a tool, despite the honorable confrontation such as St. Cuthbert. They convenience it provides in the preservation of impor- might even be servants of Boccob (or some other god tant illumian scholars. Other groups too, whether of learning) who simply want to add the lore of the knowingly or not, have worked to destroy the undead Veiled Codex to their own stores of knowledge. creatures within the Finalveil. Unbeknownst to the members of the cabal, these enemies have gathered • The Veiled Codex is an ancient tome. Of those few important information about the group and the source scholars who have actually heard of it, even fewer of its knowledge. know that it is currently in the possession of the Finalveil Cabal. Through other adventures or research, the characters might find references to the ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS manuscript in other ancient tomes and unearth The characters must penetrate the catacombs of the descriptions of the powerful lore that it contains. Finalveil Cabal and retrieve the powerful tome known Once aware of its existence, the PCs might decide to as the Veiled Codex. Along the way, they must overcome seek it out on their own initiative. Depending on both the living and the undead servants of the cabal. their nature and priorities, they might undertake Whatever their reasons for acquiring the Veiled Codex, such a mission for any number of reasons—perhaps the characters earn themselves a powerful and subtle to destroy the book, perhaps to claim its knowledge enemy when they interfere with the cabal’s activities, for their own use, or possibly to turn it over to a well- and the adventure opens up the possibility of a long- meaning organization or powerful individual. term campaign against the secretive illumians. ADVENTURE HOOKS BEGINNING THE As DM, you know best how to involve your PCs in an ADVENTURE adventure. You can use the following hooks to spur The Finalveil Cabal is a site-based scenario in which the your imagination, modifying them as necessary to fit action occurs in and around the hidden catacomb your campaign or the characters. complex that houses the Veiled Codex and its protectors. The adventure begins when the characters enter the • The Finalveil Cabal has many enemies, none of catacombs (see Entry Points, below). whom are more vehement or violent than the other illumian cabals. Most of these latter groups have more noble purposes and more humane methods than the THE FINALVEIL ENCLAVE sinister Finalveil, but a few are just as ruthless. The catacombs occupy a small underground complex Because the player characters have already achieved a beneath a pedestrian graveyard in a city of your choos- small amount of fame for their exploits, one of these ing. On the surface above the catacombs is a mortuary illumian cabals seeks them out and openly asks for that is open to the public and a small, nondescript their help in dealing with the Finalveil. This adven- building that serves as the cabal’s safehouse. The ture hook is an excellent way to introduce the secre- surrounding community could be large or small, tive illumians into your campaign. For a more depending on the needs of your campaign and the 2 intrigue-filled variant, you can have another cabal ability of the characters to travel from place to place. Although the Veiled Codex is often stored in these staircases. Thus, they can use either entrance for any catacombs, few of the cabal’s powerful undead masters subsequent forays they make against the cabal. ever come here. This minor enclave depends more on Mortuary Entrance (EL 4) secrecy than the outright power of its guardians to A few of the cabal’s enemies have already located this protect the valuable tome. entrance, so it is the easier of the two for PCs to find. INTERIOR FEATURES The cabal trusts to the careful construction of the secret The noteworthy features and conditions within the door at the back of the curator’s office to prevent discov- catacombs are described below. ery of the catacombs beneath. Ceilings: The ceilings of the corridors and Creature: The curator is within the mortuary rooms within the catacombs are about 12 feet high. during daylight hours. The ceiling in the grand room with the coffin-shaped Curator: Male illumian sorcerer 4; hp 10. dais is 20 feet high. Development: Anyone searching the curator’s Floors: The floors throughout the complex are office may make a DC 30 Search check to locate the made of fairly even bedrock covered by worked stone.