Written By Adrian Bott

Editor RPG Manager Richard Ford Ian Belcher Production Manager Layout Alexander Fennell Matt Sharp Proofreading Cover Artwork Ron Bedison Anne Stokes Sample file Playtesters Interior Artwork Tanya Bergen, Mark Gedak, Andrew Caputo, Vitor Ishimura, Ryan Kelln, Patrick Kossmann, Celso Mathias, Chad Sergesketter Kent Little and Murray Perry and Carlos Silva

Open Game Content & Copyright Information The War Book Three: The Darkest Hour ©2006 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of non-Open Game Content of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. The Drow War Book Three: The Darkest Hour is presented under the Open Game and d20 Licences. See page 256 for the text of the Open Game Licence. All text paragraphs and tables containing game mechanics and statistics derivative of Open Game Content and the System Reference Document are considered to be Open Game Content. All other significant characters, names, places, items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. If you have questions about the Open Game Content status of any material herein, please contact Mongoose Publishing for clarification. ‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks owned by , Inc. and are used according to the terms of the d20 System Licence version 5.0. A copy of this Licence can be found at www.wizards. com/d20. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. Dungeons & Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with permission. Printed in China. Mongoose Publishing Mongoose Publishing, PO Box 1018, Swindon, SN3 1DG, United Kingdom [email protected] 1 Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 3 Chapter 2: The Beasts of Jasmal 4 Chapter 3: Planequake 23 Chapter 4: The Crumbling Skull of Space 42 Chapter 5: Vanguard 77 Chapter 6: Seeds of Destruction, Part I: The Ring 103 Chapter 7: Seeds of Destruction, Part II: The Staff 145 Chapter 8: Seeds of Destruction, Part III: The Eye 158 Chapter 9: Steel Never Sleeps 171 Sample file Chapter 10: What Dread Hand 193 Chapter 11: Until the Sun Cries Morning 210 Appendix 1: The Eschatonic Scripts 215 Appendix 2: Constellations 218 Appendix 3: New Monsters 220 Appendix 4: The World of Ashfar 238 Designer’s Notes 252 License 256 2 Introduction elcome to the final part of the Drow War a place where everyone has an agenda, nobody wants campaign, The Drow War, Book Three: The to trust anyone if they can help it. Can this motley WDarkest Hour. band possibly act together and prevent the coming catastrophe or will the Player Characters have to go it This adventure is epic in both senses of the word alone? Will the wiles of schemers entrap them, turning familiar to d20 enthusiasts. It takes the action out into one against another until good seems bad and bad seems the manifold planes of existence, pitting the Player good, or will they see through the manipulations and Characters against no less a threat than the extinction deceptions? of all life and the final triumph of darkness – stakes far beyond anything faced before. The adventuring takes With the debris of shattered worlds serving as place on a cosmic scale, with allies and adversaries to incontestable proof that whole planes have already been match. destroyed, the race is on to find the powers behind it. The dust is blown off old books and legends are The Player Characters move beyond the standard 20 ransacked for information. There are at least three items levels of regular d20 and enter the realms of the epic that can work this kind of magic, but which – if any rules. They come into possession of astounding new – is the artefact responsible? There is only one way to magical items, learn feats and spells that outshine the find out. heroes of legend and face down foes that cause entire civilisations to tremble. Naturally there is all manner of trouble on the way. One cannot unearth an artefact without digging up a The action begins on the world of Ashfar, where the few guilty secrets too and even if the Player Characters peace forged in the aftermath of the Player Characters’ act for the good of the whole universe, there are always apparent victory at the end of the last book has now those with their own selfish goals to pursue. been broken. Something is causing the barriers between worlds to collapse, smashing plane into plane, openingSample With persistence, file luck and daring, the truth will finally rifts through which atrocious fiends can step into the begin to take shape. The quest leads through worlds of ordinary world and cause chaos. No hero can let this ocean and forest into fortresses where forbidden things happen without acting against it, and on this world and creep in the dark and a half-insane princess breeds an others, armour is donned and swords are drawn. army of the damned, through storms of chaos and under skies of impossible colours, and ultimately into Even former enemies recognise the threat. The the bowels of a machine the size of a nation, where the Player Characters must deal with shocking revelations final secrets are revealed. concerning an old foe who may well prove to be new friend. Is it written in the heavens that the Starborn and The Player Characters have saved one world; now they the drow must always be opposed or can the dark ones must save a million others. The fate of the cosmos rests truly change? Can the olive branch be accepted or is in the hands of the Starborn and those they choose this just another trick? There is no easy way to decide. to ally with. Now more than ever, there is no certain outcome and defeat is always a possibility. In the haven of a dead god’s skull, the most secure and yet the most isolated place in the many planes, the Assembly Only one thing is certain… meets to investigate the fate of the worlds. Faced with a gathering of strange and sinister individuals from across Whichever path the future takes, whichever side is the planes, the Player Characters must choose their allies victorious, this is the final battle of the Drow War. well. First impressions may well be misleading and in

3 The Beasts of Jasmal How the Adventure Sections Work more importance than just one encounter, it is described here; For the Games Master’s convenience, the various different otherwise it is given an ‘Event’ entry. sections of the adventure are divided into types. These are Summary, Location, Plot Event, Event, Non-Player Character, Information: This entry type gives information that the Information and Aftermath. Games Master needs to know and the Player Characters can find out. It is most commonly used for rumours and legends, Summary: This is a brief summary of the adventure chapter. such as can be found out by the use of the Gather Information skill or Bardic Knowledge checks. Location: Entries of this type describe locations that the Player Characters may visit, whether or not there is anything Aftermath: This kind of entry details the various different happening there at the time. These can be resources such as ways the plot can unfold after a key decision has been made taverns, or features of tactical importance, such as marshes or a critical encounter passed. Aftermath entries include or defensive walls. Note that a group’s headquarters and its information on experience point bonuses, character rewards, personnel are listed separately, as the group is not bound victory points and the fates of the Non-Player Characters to one place. For example, a Rogues’ Guild meetinghouse involved. is a Location, while the guild itself is a Non-Player Character Group.

Plot Event: These entries describe occurrences that drive the main story forward. They happen irrespective of the Player Characters’ actions. They are rare, because the Player Characters themselves advance the story for the most part. A plot event usually happens when the Player Characters reach an area for the first time or when they achieve some decisive objective. The Player Characters cannot avoid plot events, though they can always choose to delay reacting to them or to ignore them altogether. Sample file

Event: These events can be included at the Games Master’s discretion as and when appropriate. They are not destined to happen but may do as a result of the Player Characters’ actions. For example, an event may involve the imprisonment of the Player Characters after they decide to break into a building and are caught. Events frequently involve combat and are recommended for livening up a session when the Player Characters want something to fight or when they are running behind on experience.

Non-Player Character: Both individuals and groups are covered by this type of entry. Non-Player Characters have lives of their own, which they get on with whether the Player Characters are there to see it or not. If a character or monster is of 4 A Note on Awarding Experience decisions or be forced into blind compliance with the alien The chapters in this book are structured so that each should authority of the Dark. The primary representatives of the give the Player Characters approximately one level of Dark, and the most likely creatures to become members of experience by the time they finish it. However, epic levels the Host, are the drow – or were until recently. The drow are notoriously difficult to calibrate. The variety of available championing of the Dark has led to the battles fought at the options means that the Player Characters may at times achieve Equinoxes being termed the Drow War, so historians tend to their goals without engaging with, much less ‘defeating’, any refer to the uprisings as the First, Second or Third Drow War. of the opponents in their path. Since the First Drow War there has been an anchor point for the Dark on the Material Plane, a mass of black stone called The most important aim of each adventure is to provide an the Abyssal Altar. While it remains here, the Dark can infuse enjoyable and challenging story. If the Player Characters reach itself into its minions, strengthening them and their magic the end of an adventure that has seriously challenged them and guiding them subtly against the foe. but have not earned enough experience to advance, then we recommend that the Games Master simply give them a story The Last Drow War award sufficient to top up their experience to the next level. If the Player Characters have already adventured through the first two books in this series, they are resting in the aftermath Signature Items of the most recent of the Drow Wars, namely the Third. The The Player Characters will most likely have the signature events described below may have taken place differently in the items they gained in Book One. The following table details Games Master’s own campaign; this is the version most likely signature item progression for epic levels. to have played out.

The archmage Rannirak, the twisted genius chosen to lead Character Maximum Item Bonus Points the drow against the upper world, came close to clinching Level Enhancement Bonus victory. His massive Darkspears – metal spires filled with 21 +11 +6 drow warriors and emanating domes of darkness that veiled 22 +11 +6 whole cities – smashed upwards into the main cities of the strongest nation on Ashfar, the human-dominated land of 23 +12 +6 Jehannum. 24 +12 +6 Rannirak’s overconfidence proved his downfall, for he brought 25 +13 +7 the Abyssal Altar to the chambers below the capital city in order to commune with the Dark more easily. He had no 26 +13 +7 Sampleidea that this file would allow the Starborn to reach the Abyssal 27 +14 +7 Altar, destroy it and sever the Dark’s only conduit into Ashfar. Without their tenebrous patron guiding them, the drow were 28 +14 +7 left desolate and abandoned. The allied forces were able to 29 +15 +8 overcome the demoralised enemy and win back Jehannum, bringing an end to the war. 30 +15 +8

One Year On What Has Gone Before At the start of this campaign, one year has passed since the The Player Characters are no ordinary heroes. They are the apparent ending of the last Drow War. The Player Characters Starborn, a group of legendary warriors who arise in new have had plenty of downtime, which they can spend as they minds and bodies once every thousand years to face the threat choose. of the rising Dark and its minions, the Host. Whether they are personally inclined towards good or evil or towards law or It is recommended that the Player Characters not start this chaos, the Starborn stand for one thing above all: existence. campaign in the same place. With the end of the war, they The preservation of life itself comes before any personal no longer have a single common cause for which to fight. moral outlook and the Dark is equally hostile to all save its They can remain banded together if they choose but there champions. is no real incentive for this, as there are no challenges that require a party structure. 20th level characters are far more At intervals of one thousand years, the forces of the Stars likely to pursue their own agendas. It is a better opening to and the Dark come into conflict during a period called the the campaign to begin with each character individually and Equinox of the Heroes. The outcome of this battle determines give each his own introduction based on what he has been the fate of the world in the times to come, deciding whether doing over the last year. the ordinary folk will live with the freedom to make their own 5 The choice of downtime activity determines how the A Player Character can take many roles as a politician. adventure starts, so it is important to find out what each Characters may act as chairmen, keeping nations from going Player Character has been doing with his time. Some suitable to war against each other and smoothing out diplomatic options are given below. incidents. They might be the chosen representatives of a nation they have helped in the past. They could even be spies Establishing a School: This is a very popular option, especially listening in on the private discussions that the heads of state for monks and wizards. The Player Characters are 20th level have with one another. and adventuring opportunities are few. There is simply nothing left on Ashfar that provides much of a challenge In the previous volume of the Drow War series the countries of anymore, so raising a new generation of heroes is the natural Kandang and Visk declared themselves for the drow while the thing to do. With the reputations they have earned, the Topaz Dominions and Svarth supported Jehannum. Even if Player Characters have no trouble attracting pupils. Any city the Player Characters were able to draw other nations into the that supported the allies would be honoured to have such an fray, those initial decisions still reverberate in the aftermath institution within its precincts – with the possible exception of the war. Kandang and Visk are both strong nations greedy of a rogues’ academy, unless it was of the kind that teaches the for more land. They have never been allied before but it secrets of stealth and subterfuge to agents of the government. is whispered that they are now working together towards a common goal. As representatives of nations, the Player Cleaning Up and Rebuilding: The Drow War caused untold Characters can keep a watchful eye on the debates in the Halls damage to the cities of Ashfar’s eastern continent, both the of Concord. above-ground structures and the subterranean dominions of the dwarves. A dedicated craftsman could occupy his Hunting Down War Criminals: The drow had many time by helping to raise the cities up again, rebuilding the sadistic, vile officers in their army who committed atrocities fortifications and repairing collapsed houses. Gnomes and while Jehannum was occupied. Tales are told of torture, dwarves are well qualified to help here, as are spellcasting experimentation and sacrifice to the grim drow gods. Given characters who can use such methods as telekinesis, stone shape the confusion and sudden shock that followed the destruction and transmute rock to mud to help with the construction. If of the Abyssal Altar, many of the drow troops routed when the Player Characters want to build themselves strongholds in the cities were recaptured. Not all of the officers escaped any of the cities they have passed through, now is the time to back underground and many went on the run, using magic do it, while old damaged buildings are being pulled down and to disguise themselves and entering new lives as mercenary new ones erected. commanders, professional assassins or magicians for hire.

The damage to the cities’ occupants has to be taken into Some Player Characters may wish to spend their time tracking account. The dead must be identified and given decent these fugitives down and bringing them to justice. ‘Justice’ burials according to their faiths. WarriorsSample missing in action filehere may mean a formal trial or the more arbitrary justice of and civilians who disappeared during the occupation may a summary execution. This is a good option for rangers, who turn up alive, wounded or (most commonly) dead. Druids, can literally track fugitives who have fled into the wilderness. clerics and paladins have their hands full caring for the people, It is also suitable for rogues, as they can use their skills to helping them cope in the aftermath of war and ensuring that infiltrate groups that drow war criminals might have joined they do not lose their faith. and tap their underworld contacts to find out if there have been any sightings. Ruling a Dominion: The Player Characters may have been awarded land in recognition of their deeds. Ruling over a Private Study: Wizards and sorcerers who have built up piece of Chillhame, Caldraza, Jehannum or even the Topaz personal fortunes (and enough of a reputation to be left well Dominions is no picnic. A governor faces challenges that alone) often retreat to private strongholds to pursue their range from monsters on the land to peasants demanding arcane research. They set aside time to develop new spells, cheaper grain. It is one thing to be a hero on the battlefield craft magic items for their own use or for sale and even make but quite another to face the day-to-day challenge of living constructs if they have acquired the necessary prerequisites. up to a title and a rank. Player Characters often aspire to rule A legendary magician can become a figure of great terror in a their own domains but quickly find that it is not the life of community, even if he is good-aligned. privileged luxury they expect. Going Back to Normal Life: A hero can always try to hang Entering Politics: The end of the Drow War does not mean up his sword and return to the life he used to know. It is sudden and enduring peace throughout all of Ashfar. The not easy, especially when the whole world is in one’s debt; Halls of Concord on Xoth Sarandi have seen more use in the but some characters want nothing more than to be ordinary last month than in the previous seventy years. The times to again. By raising a family, opening an inn or taking up a come will need cool heads and persuasive voices. simple trade, characters can appreciate the home comforts 6