M11. Stage Workshop
This workshop is accessible from area M2 by a staircase and from area M3 by an elevator. The curtain to area M2 is drawn. A pair of sliding wooden doors opens to reveal the undercarriages of the cranes that hang below the amphitheater.
The cavernous underbelly of the stage is noisy and hot. Goblins work a forge, saw wood, and daub paint onto wooden backdrops. A woman in a tight-fitting dress barks orders at the workers while a goblin frantically makes adjustments to her costume using needles, pins, and thread. A tiny creature chained to a hooded lantern on a tabletop is using a stick of charcoal to sketch something on a piece of parchment at unbelievable speed. A wispy bulb of light flutters next to him.
Stage props and backdrops are crafted here. Oversized items are moved through the double doors in the eastern wall, affixed to the cranes, and hoisted to the stage above. Smaller items are ferried up using the elevator to area M3, which is operated by using a lever on the adjacent wall.
Eighteen unarmed goblin noncombatants (twelve neutral adults and six unaligned children) work here, overseen by an evil warlock named Skylla. The creature chained to the hooded lantern is Golmo, an unarmed brigganock, accompanied by the ball of light that contains his soul. Endelyn forces Golmo to draw diagrams for various contraptions, and his sketches can be found on scores of loose sheets of parchment. He uses his Time Lapse action as often as possible to produce his designs quickly.
Skylla. Skylla was treated to a puppet show during which Endelyn revealed a “likely future” in which Skylla is fatally betrayed by the other members of the League of Malevolence. This revelation prompted Skylla to defect from the group and take refuge at Motherhorn. Skylla carries the key to Golmo’s chains and willingly parts with it only if doing so might save her life.
Even though she is costumed, Skylla is instantly recognizable to any member of Valor’s Call. She is looking forward to making her onstage debut as her alter ego, Charmay, in a one-woman play she wrote herself titled Lamentations of a Warlock. Skylla is currently being outfitted for her role by a flustered goblin tailor, who keeps accidentally sticking her with dressmaking pins as they both move around the room.
Skylla becomes enraged whenever the goblins forget to address her as “Charmay,” and she keeps a close eye on Golmo, locking him in the lantern when he’s not working.
If she meets intruders in the workshop, Skylla utters a command word taught to her by Endelyn (“nocturli”), which bestows a semblance of life upon eight inanimate props scattered throughout the workshop. Each of these props uses the animated armor stat block (with Armor Class modifications as noted below) and tries to repel intruders while the goblins cower behind backdrops. The animated props are as follows:
A 4-foot-long, crooked stove pipe (AC 19)
A wrought-iron gate (AC 19)
A plain, empty wooden coffin (AC 15)
A plaster statue of an elf king clutching a scepter (AC 13)
A plaster wedding cake stuck to a small table (AC 13)
A stuffed boar mannequin (AC 11)
A 6-foot-tall, stuffed canvas flesh golem (AC 11)
A 7-foot-tall, painted wooden statue of an owlbear on its hind legs (AC 15)
While the animated props serve as a distraction, Skylla stuffs Golmo in the lantern and makes her way upstairs to area M2, where she can trust the darklings to defend her, with the hapless goblin tailor dogging Skylla’s heels. If Skylla is pinned down and forced to surrender to avoid certain death, she can cause the animated props to revert to their inanimate forms by uttering the word “alfarian.”
Skylla feels no loyalty to the League of Malevolence. If characters mention the league, she boastfully reveals the following information about her former crew:
The leader of the League of Malevolence is Kelek, whose driving ambition is to steal the magic staff from his archenemy, Ringlerun.
Kelek came to Prismeer to blackmail Zybilna into taking Ringlerun’s staff. Skylla doesn’t know what leverage Kelek has over Zybilna, but it must be considerable.
Skylla betrayed the League of Malevolence by leaking Kelek’s plans to the Hourglass Coven. When the league’s members arrived at the palace, the hags used them to create a diversion while the sisters rebelled against Zybilna. The League of Malevolence now works for the hags, albeit unwillingly. Skylla is proud of the trouble she has caused her former comrades.
The following information must be pried from Skylla using magic or force:
Zybilna is an alias used by the archmage Iggwilv, who hails from a world called Oerth.
Iggwilv is the adopted daughter of Baba Yaga, unlike the hags of the Hourglass Coven, who are true daughters of the Mother of Witches.
The hags used Iggwilv’s Cauldron, a powerful artifact crafted with help from Baba Yaga, to trap Iggwilv in time. The cauldron can be destroyed by a flame tongue sword, just like the one wielded by Kelek’s evil bodyguard, Warduke.
Golmo the Architect. Golmo is timid and weary, and his workload is relentless. When he gets a moment’s rest, he slumps down inside the lantern and quickly falls asleep. He would like very much to be allowed to return to Brigganock Mine.
As an action, a character using thieves’ tools can try to pick the lock on Golmo’s chain, doing so with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. A character can instead use an action to try to break the chain by making a successful DC 12 Strength check. If freed, Golmo takes refuge in the pocket or pouch of one of the characters. Given a chance, he throws his diagrams in the fire, ensuring that Endelyn can never use them.
Treasure. Skylla has an eldritch staff, which she keeps within easy reach.
A search of the workshop uncovers the following treasures:
A hammer with a gold handle (25 gp)
A two-person saw made from a wyvern’s jaw (75 gp)
A set of mason’s tools embossed with the seal of Moradin’s own forge (250 gp)
Unicorn Horn. If the Story Tracker indicates that the unicorn horn is here, it is in Skylla’s possession. The warlock either stole it from the Hourglass Coven or acquired it from the darkling merchants in area M16; regardless, she keeps it on her person at all times. She doesn’t want it falling into Kelek’s hands but willingly parts with it to save her own skin.
M12. Parts Storage
The secret tunnel from Brigganock Mine leads here. If the characters enter Motherhorn this way, read:
The tunnel ends at a wall of loose-fitting stones. Red light shines through the cracks, and you hear the sounds of shouting and hammering coming from somewhere beyond the wall.
The stones blocking the end of the tunnel can be easily moved to create a 3-foot-square opening.
When the characters peer into this room, either from the workshop (area M11) or the brigganock tunnel, read:
Crates of props are stacked in this chamber alongside wooden backdrops draped in cobwebs. An eight-foot-diameter, circular wooden disk painted to look like a smiling moon leans against one wall.
From a cluttered corner, a raspy voice says, “Psst! Over here!” Glancing in that direction, you see a wooden marionette carved and painted to look like a human skeleton. It appears to be tangled in its own strings. “I seem to have gotten myself in a wee fix.”
The wooden marionette is Break-a-leg (use the living doll stat block). It lies in a heap, its strings in disarray and its limbs jumbled. Until its strings are untangled and its limbs properly oriented, Break-a-leg is restrained and can’t use its Grabby Hands action or take reactions. A character who spends 1 minute trying to untangle its strings can make a DC 14 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, freeing the marionette on a successful check. If freed, Break-a-leg springs to its feet and shakes each character by the finger. Its jaw moves up and down as it talks, and its head can rotate 360 degrees. The skeleton marionette always turns its head to face whomever it is speaking to.
Break-a-leg was Endelyn’s first experiment with living puppetry. A flaw in its creation process kept it from having the sadistic streak that the hag wanted, so she discarded it. It knows Motherhorn’s layout and the nature of its inhabitants, though not their exact whereabouts. It doesn’t like Endelyn and willingly shares the following secrets:
Endelyn is terrified of eclipses (this is Motherhorn’s worst kept secret, Break-a-leg admits).
Endelyn wrote a secret about her sister, Skabatha, on a piece of invisible parchment that she keeps in the oracular library (area M7).
If the lightning rods atop Motherhorn are destroyed or stolen, Endelyn can’t operate her arcane contraptions.
Break-a-leg wants to escape Motherhorn. If the characters entered from Brigganock Mine, the marionette strikes off that way on its own; otherwise, it asks the characters to let it tag along with them.
Fake Moon. The wooden disk painted to look like a moon weighs 50 pounds. It has a small iron ring screwed into its top so that it can be hung from a hook above the stage. If Glister (see area M17) hides behind the moon while wearing her sun mask, the two images create a symbolic eclipse that can help seal Endelyn’s fate.