It is day 14 of month 4, 1042, in Trowel on Oldmark. A week ago Ewan Corley, a young digger from Crowbar, swam into a dry side hall of the Drowned Galleries and found two dead diggers from the lost Dominion crew, a brass signal whistle and a stone tablet carved with seven rings. A stone guardian rose from the water and he ran with both.
The tablet is real Old Maker work. Six rings are white and one is black, as on the floor of the Hall of Rings. Its symbols match the writing around the Great Door, so a scholar can read part of the door with it.
Edric Malone leads a cell of the Unbound in Deepcut Canyon, and in Crowbar his people pass as pilgrims in grey robes. Every week they buy rope from Sully Nettle, pay in black crystal and go down to the Great Door. Some stay at the door as husks. Edric offered Ewan 400 Crowns in black crystal and said he would go into the canyon if he sold elsewhere. Edric's people landed on Oldmark with forged dig licences from Accord Station.
At the noon sale his men will grab the tablet. Edric will take it to the Great Door for a rite at dawn on day 16.
Vika Stenn (about 25), the market appraiser. She wants the tablet studied and runs the noon sale.
Ewan Corley (24), the digger. He wants money and a way off Oldmark, and has told nobody about the bodies. He was Sigrun Haldane's apprentice in Crowbar until last spring.
Edric Malone (about 45), the man in the grey hood, never fights in public. In the market he has 4 zealots, 4 acolytes, 4 hired guns from Crowbar and a huge bruiser fed on Rush.
The Dominion buyer is a clerk for Rupert Hallam of Gilt Camp and offers 300 Crowns. The Union buyer was sent by Zora Mattock of Red Cut and offers 250 Crowns and a Union travel pass. Both are honest.
Emrys Thale (about 50), prior of Door Chapel. He believes the door opens when the seventh light is out.
The player characters are the Endurance crew, ruin diggers on the hauler Endurance. Alfred Merriweather is the Pellin pilot and captain, Yazga Holloway is a strong Gorr digger who fights bare-handed, Dorian Vasse is a scholar who reads Old Maker script and quietly studies the magic of the dead, and Sigrun Haldane is the old Grund prospector who trained Ewan. The player runs one and the GM runs the other three as companions.
Sully Nettle is the small Pellin captain of Crowbar who sells rope to Edric's pilgrims and knows the hired guns.
Hollis Reddy is the chief surveyor of Accord Station who checks dig licences.
Kagra Steen is a Gorr diver who rows crews into the Drowned Galleries from Crowbar.
Stat blocks. Edric Malone uses Unbound Speaker, his zealots Unbound Zealot, his acolytes Unbound Acolyte, his hired guns Compact Raider and his bruiser Rush Brute. Pilgrims who stayed at the door use Husk, and those who stayed longest use Crawling Husk and Hornback Husk.
The tablet stall, 07:30 to 12:00. In the Finds Market, the three buyers stay close to Ewan Corley.
A DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check shows Ewan fears the hooded man and hides something. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets him to tell of the bodies and the stone guardian, and he tells Sigrun Haldane without a check. The whistle on his belt bears the lost Dominion crew's mark, and Kagra Steen in Crowbar knows it on sight.
With Vika's help, a DC 16 Intelligence (History) check reads part of the tablet. Dorian Vasse can read three of its symbols and has advantage.
A DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check on the dig licence of one of Edric's men shows a forged seal with a press mark a hair off. Dorian, who grew up among Dominion clerks, has advantage. The licence was sold on Accord Station this season.
A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check spots Edric's people. Four men in grey robes stand by the north door, four more in the aisles, and four hired guns and a huge bruiser lean by the water barrels. Sully and Sigrun know the hired guns from Crowbar.
Edric softly offers any crew 20 Crowns in black crystal to stay out of a private sale. A DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check knows black crystal holds no power. Sigrun feels it at once with her crystal sense.
The noon sale, 12:00. Vika opens the bidding. When the Dominion clerk wins at 320 Crowns, Edric's men knock over a stall of crystal chips and pull knives. The acolytes grab the tablet and run for the north door. If nobody guards Ewan, a zealot stabs him to 0 hit points.
Fight. 4 Unbound Zealot, 4 Unbound Acolyte, 4 Compact Raider and 1 Rush Brute. Aisles are 10 feet wide and stalls give half cover. Yazga Holloway can pin the acolyte with the tablet before he reaches the door. The raiders and the Rush Brute run when two raiders drop, the zealots fight to the death and Edric leaves when his side starts losing.
Encounter math. Four level 8 characters, Low 4,000. Enemies are 1,800 + 200 + 800 + 1,100 = 3,900 XP, Low.
If warned before noon, Vika moves the sale into the back room with two guards, and the grab fails at the door.
A captured acolyte talks on a DC 16 Charisma (Intimidation) check. He gives Edric's name, the 15:00 skiff to Crowbar and the rite at the Great Door at dawn on day 16.
The Broken Helm, afternoon. If the hired guns escaped, they are here. A DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets them to say Edric paid them 5 Crowns each to bring rope for the long climb down.
Crowbar, day 15. The skiff trip from Trowel takes about 4 hours, or 3 by the back route Alfred Merriweather knows. At dusk, Edric and 9 pilgrims buy rope and lamps at Sully's shop and pay in black crystal. Anyone counting knows 12 pilgrims went down last week and only 7 came back. A DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check follows them to their sleeping hut. Taking the tablet back at night takes a DC 16 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. On a failure 4 Unbound Zealot and 3 Husk wake and fight (2,100 XP, below Low).
Door Chapel, day 15. Prior Emrys Thale and 6 knights watch the Great Door from a ledge. If shown the tablet, he reads a second line, which says the door listens to the gates. He tells them his first reading, that the door opens when the seventh light is out. He asks them to stop the rite and sends his knights along.
The Drowned Galleries (side trip). Kagra can row the crew to the third hall. A DC 14 Strength (Athletics) check swims the flooded passage to Ewan's side hall. Yazga's climbing gloves make it easy for her. The two bodies Ewan saw lie there. A third lies further in, beside a helm core on its stone stand. Lifting it wakes 2 Flood Keeper, which do not follow past the flooded passage. Encounter math. 3,600 XP, Low for four level 8 characters (budget 4,000). The crew's patron on Accord Station can have the helm core.
The Great Door, dawn on day 16. At 06:00 Edric reads the carvings aloud at the foot of the door, with the tablet on a stone. With him are the zealots and husks below, all former pilgrims. Dorian can follow the carvings and knows when the rite nears its end. Cold air blows from under the door and frost forms on the rocks. The door's foot is a Weak Vhal site (DC 10, see Vhal Exposure). If the rite runs until 07:00, the cold air becomes a steady wind and the tablet cracks.
Fight. 1 Unbound Speaker (Edric Malone), 4 Unbound Zealot, 1 Hornback Husk, 2 Crawling Husk and 6 Husk. The ground is wet rock. Zealots guard Edric and husks walk at the nearest living person.
Encounter math. Four level 8 characters, High 8,400. 2,300 + 1,800 + 2,300 + 900 + 600 make 7,900 XP, High. If Emrys's knights come, they hold off the husks, and the fight plays as Moderate. If it goes badly, the crew can climb back up the ledge path, where the husks are slow.
Edric gives up below a quarter of his hit points. Captured, he names one other Unbound speaker on another world. His satchel holds 180 Crowns in black crystal and a list of forged licence numbers.
Day 14, 12:00. The grab works. Ewan is stabbed and dies before the doctor arrives.
Day 14, 15:00. Edric leaves for Crowbar with the tablet.
Day 15, dusk. Edric's pilgrims buy rope in Crowbar and ten go down.
Day 16, 06:00 to 07:00. The rite at the Great Door runs to the end. The cold wind grows and the tablet cracks.
Day 17. Three husks attack a salvage crew on the canyon floor. Hollis finds more forged licences in his book.
Good. The tablet is safe with Vika Stenn or Emrys Thale, Ewan lives and Edric is caught or dead.
Mixed. The tablet is saved but Edric escapes, or Edric is stopped but the tablet is broken or sold to a faction.
Bad. The rite runs to the end. The tablet is gone, the wind from under the door grows, and Edric's cell keeps recruiting in Crowbar.
The Finds Market pays each player character who saved the sale 150 Crowns.
Ewan sells the tablet to the buyer the players back and gives them 150 Crowns of the price.
Hollis's office pays 300 Crowns for proof of the forged licences.
The lost crew's patron pays 1,500 Crowns for the helm core.
Emrys becomes a friend and contact and gives each rescuer a Lantern Pendant.
Hollis can offer the Crystal Claim Run gig with the claim fee waived.
Heroic Inspiration for saving Ewan or stopping the rite at real risk.
The forger. The forged licences came from inside Accord Station, and Edric's list of numbers points to one clerk in Hollis's own office.
The other speaker. Edric named one Unbound speaker on another world, and the Order wants that person found before the cult moves them.
The bodies. The Dominion patron wants the lost crew brought home, but the Flood Keeper still guards their hall.