Motherhorn Locations
The following locations are keyed to the map of Motherhorn.
M1. Main Entrance
Recessed into the inner wall of the balcony is a 12-foot-high, stone double door with fancy scrollwork along its edges but no visible handles, hinges, or seams. If someone touches the door, read:
The surface of the door assumes the likeness of a skull-faced hag. “The moon-twin is not welcome here,” it says in a raspy voice. “All others may step forward and pass through the black curtain at the end of the entrance hall.”
The visage splits down the middle as the double door swings open, revealing a decorated hallway in which discordant chamber music plays.
The visage can see and hear whatever’s on the balcony, and it waits expectantly for creatures to pass through the open doorway. When no authorized creatures are left on the balcony in front of it, the door closes until its outer surface is touched again. Creatures that want to leave Motherhorn by this route need only touch the inside of the double door, which causes it to swing open; it remains open until 10 seconds pass without a creature passing through it. The door can’t be opened otherwise—not by using magic, thieves’ tools, or brute force.
If Gleam (the “moon-twin” mentioned by the door) tries to enter without having a convincing disguise, an invisible force pushes her back onto the balcony. Any disguise of a magical nature is sufficient to fool the door. A conventional disguise works as well, provided whoever created the disguise fools the door by succeeding on DC 12 Charisma (Deception) check. If she is unable to enter Motherhorn, Gleam waits outside for the characters and urges them to find her sister as quickly as possible. Amidor, Pollenella, and any other guides accompanying the party stay with Gleam, keeping her company while she waits.
Entrance Hall. The discordant music that fills the hallway beyond the stone door is magical. At the north end of the corridor hangs a thick, black curtain. No sound passes through this curtain while it is closed.
M2. Amphitheater
An open-air amphitheater is carved from the slope of the mountaintop. Short, cloaked figures sit on tiered stone benches, facing the stage. Enclosing the stage are ten-foot-high stone walls, above which you can see the stormy sky. A team of masked goblins is preparing the stage for a play while costumed actors huddle in the wings and recite lines. Lighting is provided by an intricate overhead contraption upon which several more masked goblins are perched. The sounds of chains clanking and gears turning can be heard coming from somewhere under the mountaintop.
Plays and rehearsals take place here during the sixteen hours of every day when Endelyn is awake. A play is usually rehearsed for 6 hours and then performed for 2 hours. The first time the characters arrive here, a rehearsal is underway; roll on the Motherhorn Tragedies table to determine which play is being rehearsed.
Motherhorn Tragedies
d8
Summary
1
A Tragedy at Twilight. A bright light appears in the evening sky during a royal wedding. The light grows bigger and causes lively discussion between the revelers. It turns out to be a comet that crashes into the wedding, killing everyone.
2
Lament of a Suckling Boar. A young boar with silvered tusks vows to slay the werewolf who murdered his parents. He carries his parents’ remains (a string of sausages) around in a basket.
3
Only Fools Knock Twice. In this dark comedy, three sailors, shipwrecked in the ocean, cling to a coffin.
4
The Lich King’s Revel. A lich king cannot decide which of his three living sons should rule his kingdom, so he throws a party during which his sons are grafted into a single flesh golem.
5
Love Unsoiled. A maiden, unable to find the perfect suitor, chooses a beau from beyond the grave, much to her father’s consternation.
6
A Village No More. A long-brokered peace between a green dragon and a nearby village is shattered when the village idiot steals a handful of coins from the dragon’s hoard.
7
Blightstraw’s Fall. Goblins dressed as bullywugs cavort around a wicker effigy of Bavlorna Blightstraw. Adventurers stumble upon the scene and trick the “bullywugs” into betraying and killing the toadish hag.
8
An Island of Death in an Ocean of Tears. Explorers arrive on an island littered with bones. It takes them years to realize they’re all dead.
Endelyn Moongrave is not usually present during rehearsals, but on this occasion she has foreseen the characters’ arrival and is watching them through a pair of opera glasses from a 40-foot-high balcony (area M21). The characters are welcomed to Motherhorn by Stagefright, the theater’s goblin master of ceremonies. After introductions are made, Stagefright invites the characters to join him on the stage, whereupon he bows before Endelyn and says to her, “Your guests have arrived.” The hag doesn’t waste time with pleasantries (see “Bargaining with Endelyn” earlier in the chapter) and prefers to remain on her balcony. If attacked without provocation, she withdraws into her stronghold and makes her way to area M22, leaving her darkling minions (see below) to deal with the threat.
Actors. Three actors are huddled together on stage, nervously rehearsing their lines from pages of a script. All three are commoners (neutral) with proficiency in the Performance skill and darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. In a pinch, they can fight with prop weapons that function as clubs. The actors are working off debts to Endelyn and aren’t looking for trouble. They are as follows:
Elanys, a female Silvanesti (high elf) from a world called Krynn
Granam, a male goblin from the world of Eberron
Helgelar Sunlost, a nonbinary mountain dwarf from a world called Oerth
Audience. Seated on the stone benches and facing the stage are twenty-five darklings wearing cloaks and hoods. Endelyn forces them to watch rehearsals as well as performances, not only to torment the darklings but also to make sure the actors and the goblin stagehands behave themselves. Despite the poor treatment they receive from her, the darklings defend Endelyn and obey her commands without question.
Stage. The stage is hewn from solid rock, with patches of moss or lichen growing here and there. It’s a 10,000-foot drop from the top of the outer walls that surround the stage to the base of the mountain.
Two wooden cranes that extend from the rear of the stage are used to hoist large props and backdrops from the workshop (area M11) to the stage. One unarmed goblin (neutral noncombatant) operates each crane. These crane operators, named Specklenose and Zolt, are also Feenia’s parents (see the “Evil Kite” random encounter). After Feenia was caught stealing props, her parents were forced to surrender their shadows to Endelyn as punishment for being “bad parents.” Ever since then, they have been shunned by their peers (see the “Shadowless” section earlier in the chapter). The characters might have encountered the goblins’ detached shadows in the “Goblin Shadows” random encounter; if those shadows were destroyed, Specklenose and Zolt have their normal shadows back and are no longer being shunned.
The lighting rig built over the stage is an intricate wooden device operated by four unarmed goblins (neutral noncombatants) in theater masks. Mounted to the rig are a dozen shuttered cylinders, each one with a continual flame spell cast inside it. The flames come in different colors, but they give off no heat. The goblins can swivel these cylinders to focus the lights on different parts of the stage, and they use the shutters on the cylinders to adjust the lights’ brightness.
The cranes and the lighting rig were constructed by brigganocks and are manipulated by iron ropes made of korred hair. Any character who knows the korreds’ special jig (see “Korred Dance” earlier in the chapter) can command the hair to operate these contraptions; otherwise, a device can be manually operated by a character who makes a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check.
M3. Stage Left
A wooden platform is embedded in the stone floor at the end of this corridor. An iron lever is fixed to the wall nearby.
Stagehands use this elevator to carry smaller props from the workshop (area M11) to the stage. The elevator can carry up to 750 pounds and is raised or lowered using the iron lever.
M4. Prop Storage
When the characters first explore either of these two storerooms (area M4a or M4b), read:
This room is choked with a variety of props and costumes. There seems to be no order to the place.
Endelyn has amassed a great hoard of props and costumes, which are piled haphazardly in these rooms by goblin stagehands. Each storeroom has a few oddities as well, as decribed below.
M4a. This room’s contents include the following oddities:
A chest full of powdered wigs, each one crawling with harmless spiders
A mousetrap 3 feet wide and 8 feet long
A parasol topped with a copper weather vane
M4b. This room’s contents include the following oddities:
A 3-foot-high plaster pedestal on which perches a small, leering gargoyle
A gilded throne with a small iron key hidden under its velvet seat cushion (the key, which can be felt by anyone who sits on the throne and can be found by anyone who lifts the cushion, unlocks the wooden chest in area M22)
A small wooden cradle with a baby goblin doll in it (the doll cries for 1 minute when a key sticking out of its neck is turned)