L ong ago, a sinister drider imbued a magical rod with his essence and intelligence—and his hatred of the drow. This dangerous item, called Dark Fate, was responsible for starting a drow civil war that decimated an entire city in centuries past. With the recent return of a visiting comet, an old, near-forgotten prophecy Self- about the rod has resurfaced. Now both a party of holy adventurers and a drow faction journey to the ruins of fulfilling the destroyed drow city to get their hands on the rod. But which group has interpreted the prophecy cor- rectly? And what about the driders who now live in the Prophecy? dark elf ruins…? BACKGROUND A short adventure for four Near the western edge of a large desert sits the large 11th-level player characters city of Gryth. It has little to recommend it, aside from its role as a trade caravan center and its proximity to an easy entrance to the Underdark. CREDITS Centuries ago, a drow settlement lay about three days’ journey from Gryth in the Underdark. All that Design: Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel remains of that city now are some abandoned crypts Editing and Typesetting: Sue Weinlein Cook taken over by driders. Travel between Gryth and the Editorial Assistance: Penny Williams crypts is about as dangerous as any other travel in the Cartography: Rob Lazzaretti Underdark. No other settlements lie between the two locations. Illustrations: Todd Harris Web Production: Julia MartinSampleSix Hundred file Years Ago… Web Development: Mark A. Jindra In the Underdark, a drider who called himself “The Graphic Design: Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege Forsaken” crafted the rod known as Dark Fate, imbuing it with all his hatred of drow. When it was complete, he Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® performed an unholy ritual and sealed himself into the game by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on rod, imbuing it with intelligence as well. Before his the new edition of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS death, the Forsaken arranged for the rod to be delivered game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, as a gift to a cleric named Alantria, the leader of one of Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison. the more powerful drow houses. The power and ego of the rod overwhelmed Alantria; D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, MONSTER MANUAL, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN

REALMS, and GREYHAWK are registered trademarks owned by Wizards of it utterly controlled her, started a civil war among the the Coast, Inc. The d20 logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the drow, and caused countless deaths. In what would be Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive the last battle of the ’Tween Wars, Alantria was slain, likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and the rod passed into history, likely buried with the This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or art- fallen champion in her ornate crypt within the war-rav- work contained herein is prohibited without the express written aged drow city. permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. ©2002 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the U.S.A. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, The Last Few Centuries… organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. Drow moved away from this area of the Underdark. This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form Driders moved into the abandoned crypts. without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20. 1 ster and NPC statistics are provided with each Last Month… encounter in abbreviated form or, where appropriate, A comet known as the Harbinger appeared in the night the proper page in the MONSTER MANUAL is referenced. sky. As many view such celestial events as important To get started, print out this module (including the signs, the comet’s appearance sparked interest in map and the prophecy handout, found at the end of researching its history. Scholars among the surface this file), and Morning Glory Blade at CR 11. You also dwellers and the drow, endeavoring to discern its may want to print out the drider template, found in the meaning, unearthed a prophecy written about the time Monster Mayhem section of the D&D website at of its last appearance. The prophecy seems to concern and the Morning Glory Blade writeup from the Character Closeup section at Last Week… . questions about the Underdark, and left the next day. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? uses a modified version of the (They didn’t tell locals of their mission: to discover the Precious Ore map from the Map-a-Week feature on the rod called Dark Fate on behalf of their church.) Things D&D® website. The original is available for download at went poorly for the group, though, as they were . The modified map is and driders. The spiders’ poison affected more than one reprinted in this adventure for your convenience. party member, including their guide—a bard named The city of Gryth, which features in this module, also Morning Glory—and the Holy’s leader called for a appeared in Desert Sands, a free adventure available at retreat. Unable to carry off all the wounded, one group . and left it, planning to resurrect her once they got back to town. The Prophecy However, the bard was not dead, only dying. The when twice times thrice the mighty wheel has turned driders stabilized her and went to work transforming and once again the harbinger lights the night her into one of them. heed all that the world has learned danger threatens drow seal our plight Two Days Ago… Sample filethe rod of dark fate’s close at hand The transformation complete, Morning Glory Blade is now an angry drider, filled with loathing for the mortal war and war shall tear the land world—especially her former friends, the members of by the rod’s fierce demand the Holy. She plots to find Dark Fate on her own and make all mortals understand use it to wreak her vengeance. The lack of punctuation in this prophecy is critical to Yesterday… the misunderstandings and misinterpretations that The Holy returned to Gryth and sought to resurrect have arisen within the two different factions seeking their bard, but the spell failed. the rod. This prophecy is reprinted as a player handout on the last page of this adventure. Today… The PCs arrive in Gryth. The drow wizards Alakara and The Factions Pharn arrive in the Northern Caverns of the crypts (see Both interpretations agree that “when twice times Area 3, below) and begin their own search for the magi- thrice the mighty wheel has turned” means 600 years cal rod. past. That assumption seems further confirmed by the phrase, “and once again the harbinger lights the PREPARATION night”—the Harbinger is a comet last seen in the night sky six centuries ago. Through exacting research, the You, the Dungeon Master (DM), need a copy of the surface-dwellers and the drow have also determined Player’s Handbook, the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide, and the that “dark fate” refers to a rod wielded in a drow civil MONSTER MANUAL® to use this adventure. Text that war that coincided with the comet’s last appearance. appears in unshaded boxes is important information 2 and special instructions for you, not for players. Mon- The Good The Bad Church scholars put in many years of painstaking labor The drow, too, have learned of the prophecy. to translate this verse from a very delicate, fragmenting scroll written by one of the faithful 600 years ago: When twice times thrice the mighty wheel has turned and once again the Harbinger lights the night. When twice times thrice the mighty wheel has turned, Heed all that the world has learned. and once again the Harbinger lights the night. Danger threatens drow. Seal our plight. Heed all that the world has learned. The rod of Dark Fate’s close at hand. Danger threatens. Drow seal our plight. War, and war shall tear the land. The rod of Dark Fate’s close at hand; By the rod’s fierce demand: war and war shall tear the land. Make all mortals understand. By the rod’s fierce demand: Make all mortals understand. The dark elves Alakara (NE drow In this interpretation, drow are the evil force threaten- elf Wiz 11) and Pharn ing peace, and the rod is a force of goodness that can (NE drow elf Evo 12) con- help surface dwellers understand the impending sider the prophecy a danger from the Underdark. warning to them: Because of this interpretation of the prophecy, a “danger threatens drow.” lawful good church (that of Tyr in the FORGOTTEN Their interpretation REALMS® setting or Heironeous in Greyhawk make leads them to believe good choices) sent a good-aligned party called the Holy they need the rod; with- on a mission to retrieve the rod. Lord Defender Dagon out it, they fear, another (LG human Wiz 11) leads the group, which consists of civil war might pit drow against drow again. These Mecurial (LG human Ftr 7), Calalinda the Wise (LG two want to find the rod to prevent civil war—or at human Clr 7), Muxx “Mighty Fists” Murge (LG human least to help them wind up on the winning side when Mnk 7), and Dlern Praiseworthy (LG human Sor 7). For it’s all over. statistics, see Chapter 2: Characters in the DUNGEON For statistics, see Chapter 2: Characters in the DUN- MASTER’s Guide and use the NPC entries. SampleGEON MASTER’s Guidefileand use the NPC Wizard entries, The Holy had employed Morning Glory Blade (NG elf adjusted for female drow. See Area 3: Northern Caverns Brd 9) as a guide and bardic lore advisor. She is detailed below for their spells. in this month’s Character Closeup on the D&D website. The Holy have invested much time and effort into The Ugly securing the rod, and they’ll quickly rebuff any interfer- The driders who inhabit the old crypts are ignorant of ence in their plans, even from well-meaning, good- the prophecy, except for what Morning Glory Blade has aligned PCs. told them. Their motivation is self-preservation and ter- Using Table 5-3: Initial NPC Attitude in the DUNGEON ritoriality: They’ve been exiled from drow communi- MASTER’s Guide, treat the Holy as indifferent toward the ties. Here in the caverns, at least, is a space they can call PCs, unless the player characters have indicated they are their own. interested in the rod, in which case the Holy turn hostile. Until recently, four driders lived here with two The group recently returned from the Underdark Colossal monstrous spiders. Then the Holy killed the caverns, where they encountered and killed two Colos- spiders and left behind their hired bard. The driders sal monstrous spiders, but at a very high cost: Several wasted no time in transforming Morning Glory into members of the group were poisoned or badly one of them. Now five angry driders await the next wounded. Morning Glory Blade lay dead (or so they incursion into their territory. thought) when four driders attacked. In the unlikely event of attempted negotiations with Holy and devoted, they may be, but they’re also slow to the driders, treat them as hostile (see Table 5-3: Initial create or change their plans. It will be several more weeks NPC Attitude in the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide). until they feel prepared to venture into the caverns again. 3 DC 10 A group on pilgrimage from the church of INVOLVING THE PCS Heironeous (or Tyr) came through here about You know your player characters best and how to most a week ago, asking about the history of drow effectively involve them in this adventure. Here are a in the area. few ideas for you to work with: DC 10 Drow seem almost perpetually feuding ¥ A church or wizard’s guild found a copy of the among themselves, house against house. The prophecy and wants the PCs to investigate. multitudes of small disputes rarely amount to ¥ If the party has a bard or loremaster, she may much. have stumbled upon the prophecy. DC 10 Yesterday, the local church tried to resurrect ¥ A collector of ancient items offers a reward for someone, but the spell failed. the retrieval of the rod mentioned in an old DC 15 The pilgrims tried to have their dead bard res- poem. urrected yesterday, but the spell failed. ¥ A scholar researching the ’Tween Wars, drow DC 15 The PCs receive directions to old drow civil wars that took place 600 years ago, wants crypts, three days’ journey away. A long to retrieve the rod. time ago, drow converted this area of the ¥ The PCs, passing through Gryth, hear that a Underdark into a complex of tombs and resurrection spell has failed. crypts. DC 15 The last major drow civil war in this area was Depending upon which hook you use to lure the PCs about 600 years ago. It had a tremendously into the adventure, you might share appropriate selec- high death count, which is why there aren’t tions of the information below without making anyone many drow in the area anymore. roll a check. DC 18 Driders inhabit the old drow crypts now. DC 20 A fierce cleric named Alantria led an uprising INVESTIGATING during the last drow civil war. Likely, the PCs start someplace other than Gryth and DC 25 Alantria wielded a fancy rod or mace with travel there to get more information. many magical powers. DC 25 The rod went by many names, including Anywhere Dark Fate. This list provides information availableSample using Knowl- fileDC 28 Powers attributed to the rod make it sound edge (history) or bardic lore. like a rod of lordly might. DC 30 The rod is intelligent and has more powers Result Information Obtained than a standard rod of lordly might. DC 20 The Harbinger last appeared 600 years ago. DC 35 A scrap of what’s believed to be one of the DC 25 A prophecy linked the Harbinger with a pow- earliest copies of the prophecy had “Dark erful rod. Fate by the hand of Alantria” written on the DC 30 The rod, called Dark Fate, was wielded by back. Alantria in a drow civil war 600 years ago known as the ’Tween Wars. It has not been Divination seen since. If the PCs use a divination spell to ask about finding the DC 30 Alantria is buried in drow crypts not far from rod, you might use the following rhyme: the surface city of Gryth. You seek it and it wants to be found. It lies in a tomb deep underground. Gryth Ignorant guards of legs eight This list provides general information that the PCs can Shield the world from darker fate. glean from using general Gather Information efforts in Gryth. Knowledge (Arcana) Result Information Obtained If the PCs are from the Underdark near here or specifi- DC 5 There’s an entrance to the Underdark nearby. cally inquire about magic and spellcasting in the DC 10 The PCs learn the exact location of the Underdark, they may learn about faerzress. 4 entrance to the Underdark.