Monument of the Ancients.pdf

Monument of the Ancients
Monument of the Ancients is a 4th-Edition Dungeons &
Dragons ® adventure for five characters of 13th-level.
This adventure is set in the Forgotten Realms ® campaign
setting. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide
and the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide contain material
that can enhance the play experience, but neither
of those books is essential to this adventure.
In 1988, Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) published
the first computer adaptation of the Dungeons &
Dragons ® roleplaying game, entitled Pool of Radiance.
Like the adventure you’re reading right now, Pool of
Radiance was set in Phlan and its environs.
More personally, Pool of Radiance was my first
exposure to the fantastic world of the Forgotten
Realms ® campaign setting. Enjoying the rich setting
and its detailed history, I picked up a copy of the
module Ruins of Adventure from my local hobby shop
and started a new D&D ® campaign set in the ruined
city of Phlan. I was hooked, and twenty-one years
later I remain just as passionate about the Realms as
that 14-year-old boy firing up Pool of Radiance on his
family’s Commodore 128.
It’s with great pride that I present to you an adventure
set in the great city of Phlan; and doubly so, since
I’ve had the pleasure of designing this adventure with
my not-so-little brother Matthew. Enjoy.
Brian R. James
Background
As it has countless times since its founding, the city of
Phlan once again stands unknowingly at the precipice
of utter ruin. Hundreds of miles to the northwest, in
an overgrown hollow of the Frozen Forest, stands a
towering edifice of stone and iron constructed during
the First Flowering by a lost civilization of man: the
Monument of the Ancients.
If myth and legend are to be believed, the antediluvian
monument defends a region of Faerûn where
the boundary between the world of Toril and the
Elemental Chaos is weakest. At the monument’s heart
lies the Anchor of Chaos, an arcane bulwark sealing a
cosmic fissure between the planes. Were the enchantment
powering the Anchor to fail, the Moonsea North
would stand defenseless against a full-scale invasion
by forces of elemental evil. Unbeknownst to the citizens
of Phlan, that day is nearly upon them.
Seven Sigils War
Scholars knowledgeable in the study of civilizations
past have a saying: “Those who do not learn from history
are doomed to repeat it.” Those are wise words
indeed, for the calamity about to befall the Moonsea
North has occurred at least once before.
In the centuries leading up to the raising of the
Standing Stone and the signing of the Dales Compact,
the Moonsea Reaches were veritably unsettled
by “civilized man.” The fabled precursor civilization,
architects of the Citadel of the Raven and Monument
of the Ancients among others, had long before
descended into barbarism, intermarrying with the
indigenous tribes of the region.
In the fifth century before Dalereckoning, the
arrogant Empire of Netheril constructed a massive
gate in the Gods’ Legion Mountains (modern-day Desertsmouth
Mountains), foolishly seeking to conquer
settlements in the outer planes beyond Toril. Unfortunately
for the archwizards, immortal beings more
powerful than themselves poured through the gate
into Netheril.
High in intelligence though lacking in wisdom,
the Netherese archwizards of Rdiuz sought to counteract
the immortal invaders by pitting them against
their longtime nemesis, elementals. Knowing of the
legend of the Monument of the Ancients, the foolish
archwizards intentionally sabotaged the Anchor of
Chaos, releasing a primordial and his minions into
the Realms.
After raging for more than a century, the horrendous
conflict known to historians as the Seven Sigils
War ended with the Netherese finally imprisoning
or banishing the great majority of planar beings, both
elemental and immortal. One primordial, however,
escaped.
Maram of the Great Spear
Fleeing northeast toward the lands where his connection
to the Elemental Chaos was strongest, the ancient
primordial Maram of the Great Spear carved a swath
of destruction through the heart of the great Rystall
Wood. On the far side of the elvish forest, Maram
easily subjugated the primitive human tribes, who
soon worshiped the elemental prince as a god.
Maram’s designs on the region were cut short,
however, when in the Year of Sycophants (–357 DR)
an unlikely coalition joined forces to confront the
ancient primordial. Marching north alongside Horreb
artificers came the war wizards of Barze, the horse
nomads of Varm, the gnoll warriors of Flindyke,
the goliath hunters of Mount Akoro, and the gnome
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