Demon God's Fane.pdf - ZVDK

Lytaros Fel wields his power with an iron hand. He commands
the others not to leave the Fane and not to draw
attention to themselves until the ritual ends. Instead, the
demons and vile creatures must remain vigilant to defend the
structure against attack.
The Awful Truth
Enchelious made a terrible mistake. When he called upon
Gaen’s power to bring down the rain of heaven to submerge the
Demon God’s Fane, the forces of evil had already been routed.
The demons were preparing to leave, taking the few remaining
cultists with them (to give them someone to torment in the
Abyss). They were about to give up Ochremeshk’s hold on this
prime material world forever. By sealing the demons in the
Fane, Enchelious ensured that they would remain to wreak
their havoc in his future (the present).
But not all is lost. Enchelious’ mistake can be undone—in
fact, with the power in the Fane’s Heart, it can be unmade.
Adventure Synopsis
The player characters (PCs) come to Golden Lake and learn of
a series of mysterious murders. Helping to investigate, they
learn that the murderer is a fisherman named Drabat Finch.
When they confront him, however, they inadvertently loose
from him the Umbral Taint, which begins to spread through
the village.
Investigating the infestation, the PCs hear of a cabal of
graven ones, powerful runic spellcasters who live in an old
fortress not far from the village. The Umbral Taint has infected
even some of the graven ones, and the PCs must stop the
spread before all the spellcasters become diseased and
possessed. As a reward for helping them, the graven ones tell
the PCs important information and show them old documents
that discuss the Demon God’s Fane true center of power—the
Fane’s Heart. Perhaps if the Heart is destroyed, the plague of
the Umbral Taint will come to an end. The graven ones offer
the PCs additional aid as well, and promise to keep things in
the village under control while the characters go to the Fane.
The PCs learn of strange things seen recently around the
lake, and they soon discover the location of the Demon God’s
Fane. Armed with the knowledge of the graven ones, they must
enter the temple and find its very heart to stop the Umbral
Taint from spreading throughout the land.
To get there, the characters must overcome many obstacles,
as well as activate the proper ritual keys to gain access to the
Fane’s Heart. They also encounter an old ally of Enchelious—a
ghost who tells them the awful truth: The Fane should never
have been sealed and submerged so long ago. The real way to
stop the virus is to stop Enchelious from calling on Gaen’s miracle
to bring about the Golden Lake.
Once finally in the Fane’s Heart, the PCs have one chance
to undo the past. Lytaros Fel is attempting to use the Heart’s
power to kill Enchelious before he can destroy Charmachnar
the balor. If the PCs make sure that doesn’t happen, and then
either convince Enchelious of the truth or physically stop him
from casting the final miracle spell, they will find themselves in
a different—but ultimately better—present.
Using this book
GMs should place this adventure within any secluded, temperate
area in their campaign world. The deities involved can be
easily replaced with others, although Ochremeshk is easy to add
into an existing campaign, and may even be a valuable addition.
Throughout this adventure, shaded boxes offer special information
and guidelines for the Game Master. Unshaded boxes
provide descriptive text that GMs may read aloud or paraphrase
for players. This book uses the following new class abbreviations
in stat blocks: Gra = graven one, Emb = embermage.
Many spells, items, feats, and classes in this adventure were
introduced in The Book of Eldritch Might (see sidebar, below). For a
list of these elements, see the Product Identity section on page 36.
This adventure is protected content except for items specifically
called out as Open Gaming Content at the end of this
book. For full details, please turn to pages 35 and 36. Open
content is not otherwise marked in the text of the adventure.
Conversion Ideas
Demon God’s Fane utilizes
and references The
Book of Eldritch Might, a
sourcebook of arcane
spells, magic items, prestige
classes, and more. In
fact, it references it heavily—the
adventure was
made to be a companion
piece to that sourcebook.
You can download The
Book of Eldritch Might
from Malhavoc Press at
. If you’d prefer not to buy it,
here is a short list of possible replacements for some of
The Book of Eldritch Might-specific references:
• Change the graven ones to loremasters.
• Change spells with unfamiliar names to other
spells of the same level.
• In place of the Lace Spell feats, use a metamagic
feat such as Empower Spell or Maximize Spell to
approximate the same results.
• Change the embermage to a single-classed
sorcerer.
• Change the iron chimera in Area 5 to a halffiendish
chimera.
Adventure Hooks
If the PCs are good aligned and seem generally helpful, get
them into this adventure simply by having them arrive in the
secluded area around Golden Lake. Although happenstance is a
fine way to start an adventure, below are a few ways to get the
PCs into the area or motivate them to go to the Fane.
1. The characters have some connection to Golden Lake.
Perhaps one of them is originally from the area, or has
friends or relatives here. If the group contains clerics or pal-
Malhavoc Press Demon God’s Fane
2