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  1. Odrun Fell
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Maskfall Ledge, The Captain's Face

GM guide for this adventure. The full guide is hidden below as a spoiler.

What is going on here (GM only)

Earlier this season Captain Orin Vellak led a patrol to Maskfall Ledge. A Hollowmask killed the oldest guard on it, a sergeant who had served with Captain Orin Vellak for years, and took his face. From him it learned the Captain's face and voice. Since then it has called up from the cave mouth in that voice, ordering patrols to come down. Nine Cudgel guards in all are dead.

The Hollowmask is not after more guards now. It wants the Captain himself. Captain Orin Vellak left the city alone tonight with no route plan, so nobody knows where he is. If he dies in the Spirals, the Hollowmask wears his face home. At the North Gate the night watch opens the gate for the Captain without a question. A Hollowmask inside the walls, with the face of the man every guard obeys, could open any door in Odrun Fell.

It has 3 more Hollowmask with it in the root chamber below the ledge, and 4 Ghost Mantis hunt the tunnel in between. The badges and gear of the nine lie in that chamber. Darra Fesk followed the Captain against standing orders. If she dies within 30 feet of a Hollowmask, it can take her face too.

The people and what they want

  • Captain Orin Vellak, the only playable character. He came to end this himself.

  • Darra Fesk, a young Cudgel scout of the North Gate night watch. She wants the Captain home alive and will not be sent back. She counts trail markers under her breath and remembers every one.

  • The Hollowmask wearing the Captain's face. It wants Captain Orin Vellak dead within 30 feet of it. It runs when hurt below half, as its Will Run trait says, and then heads for the North Gate.

How It Can Unfold

  1. The ledge. Maskfall Ledge, 1379-04-12, 23:40. The voice calls the Captain's name and then Darra Fesk's. A DC 13 Wisdom (Survival) check finds drag marks through the ring of warning stakes and down to the cave mouth. A DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a knotted counting cord snagged on a stake, one of the nine's. Darra Fesk knows the Shroud habit. Two people who tie the same secret knot in a cord can always tell each other from a Hollowmask. Climbing down the cliff to the cave mouth takes a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check. On a failure the climber falls 20 feet for 2d6 bludgeoning damage.

  2. The tunnel. The Spirals, the third entrance. The tunnel winds down between roots for half an hour. The voices of the dead guards call from side passages. Anyone who has seen the Hollowmask wearing a stolen face makes a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw each time it uses Shadow Lure. 4 Ghost Mantis stalk the pair and strike when they cross a sap pool. Encounter math. Captain Orin Vellak is level 13 (Low 2,600) and Darra Fesk is level 3 (Low 150). 4 Ghost Mantis are 400 XP, an easy fight meant to split the pair in the dark. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check hears them before they strike.

  3. The root chamber. The Spirals, 1379-04-13, about 01:00. The chamber is wide and lit by glowing sap. The nine's badges hang on the roots like trophies. The Hollowmask stands in the open wearing the Captain's face, and the other three wait invisible on the walls. Encounter math. Moderate is 4,200 for level 13 plus 225 for level 3, or 4,425. 4 Hollowmask (2,800) and 2 more Ghost Mantis (200) are 3,000 XP. That is past Low, but six foes against two plays a step harder, so it runs as Moderate. Each Hollowmask deals about 17 a turn, less than Darra Fesk's 22 hit points. The Hollowmasks aim for Darra Fesk first. Each one has Will Run. Two dead Hollowmasks send the rest running.

  4. The race. The Shroud trail to the North Gate, 02:00 to 05:00. If the face-wearer escapes, it turns invisible with Blurred Presence and heads for the North Gate. It moves fast and reaches the gate at 04:30. The climb back is half a night. Darra Fesk can lead the shortest line along her trail markers with a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check, and that gets them there at 04:15. On a failure they arrive at 05:00.

  5. Two Captains. North Gate, 04:30. The gate opens at night only for Cudgel patrols and crews coming home. Six night watch guards (Guard) stand on the wall. If the Hollowmask gets there first, it orders the gate opened and walks into the Hilt. If both arrive together, the guards see two Captains. The secret knot, Darra Fesk's word, or questions only Captain Orin Vellak can answer sort it out with a DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check. The guards then fight with him. The wounded Hollowmask alone is 700 XP, an easy fight. If it got in first, the watch saw the Captain walk toward Emberhook Hall. Finding it in the dark streets of the Hilt before dawn takes a DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check.

  6. The wall. Emberhook Hall, 1379-04-13, 08:00. Only Captain Orin Vellak may carve names on the Wall of Names. If the badges came home, he can carve the nine names today. Darra Fesk broke three rules tonight, and her sergeant asks the Captain what to do with her. The Captain also left the city with no route plan. The Barleys and the Promissory would like to see him fail. His report to the Council of Odrun is his to write.

If the Players Do Nothing

  • 1379-04-13, 01:00. The voice goes on calling. Darra Fesk goes down to the cave mouth alone to see who is there. She dies, and the Hollowmask takes her face.

  • 04:30. Wearing Darra Fesk's face, it is let in at the North Gate. The night watch thinks she has come back from patrol.

  • 1379-04-14. Two clerks at the North Gate are found dead.

  • 1379-04-16. The Hollowmask shows the Captain's face at Emberhook Hall while he is out, and orders a squad into the Spirals.

Endings

  • Good. The face-wearer dies before it reaches the city, Darra Fesk lives, and the nine badges come home to the Wall of Names.

  • Mixed. The Hollowmask dies at the gate, or Darra Fesk dies, or the Hollowmask gets away into the Shroud and will try again.

  • Bad. Captain Orin Vellak falls in the Spirals, or the Hollowmask gets into the city with his face or hers.

Rewards

  • The nine badges, for the families and the Wall of Names.

  • A dead Hollowmask's face mask. Scholars who study Hollowmask Roost pay 50 gp for one.

  • From the root chamber, a Potion of Healing and a Healer's Kit from the nine's packs, and 23 gp in loose coin.

  • Darra Fesk becomes a trusted contact on the North Gate.

  • A call for a crew to check the boundary flags goes up on the North Gate board the next day. Darra Fesk leads it if the Captain allows, and he can walk it to see how close the Shroud has come.

  • Heroic Inspiration if Darra Fesk comes home alive.

After the Adventure

  • The spores. Tassa Vrenn at The Dome asks the Captain for spores from the root chamber to keep a dying delver breathing.

  • The other entrances. The Hollowmasks that fled still hunt near The Blackmouth Grotto and The Lamenting Hollow, and the Shroud flags have moved closer to the wall.

  • The vote. The Barleys ask the Council of Odrun why the Captain was out alone with no route plan.