As the adventurers leave
Hupperdook to climb up the
Silberquel Ridge toward the top of the Silver Falls, read:
| You leave the smoky atmosphere of the city for cleaner mountain air as you begin your hike up the treacherous heights of the Silberquel Ridge. The steep climb grows more and more precarious as you go, with pathways becoming thin and hard to traverse among the cliff-side trees and gray rock of the mountainside. You keep the silver line of the tumbling waterfall always in your sights, a guide toward your hopeful destination. |
The mountain pass is rugged but its paths are easily navigable, requiring no ability checks to climb. Ascending to the peak of the Silver Falls at an average pace normally takes six hours. A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check locates recent kobold tracks leading up the mountain, cutting that travel time in half. For each hour of travel, roll a d8 and consult the Random Mountain Encounters table to see if any denizens of the mountain cross paths with the characters. If you roll the same encounter twice, reroll. You can alternatively select an encounter (or multiple encounters) to liven up the characters’ journey.
| d8 |
Encounter |
| 1-5 |
The characters have no encounter. |
| 6 |
Two wolves that have been stalking the party attack. |
| 7 |
A hungry hippogriff attacks from the air. |
| 8 |
Two Kobold Underlings on patrol accost the characters. |
Peak of Silver Falls
When the characters finally reach the peak of the Silver Falls, read:
| The sound of rushing water grows louder as you finally reach the top of the Silver Falls. The impressive flow of water cascades down the mountainside toward Hupperdook below. Around the crest of the falls, the rocky earth is a deep, rich red. |
With the information revealed in the note recovered in Nima’s house (
Area H6), the characters have no trouble spotting telltale shadows behind the waterfall that hint at a hidden cavern. Any investigation of the area reveals a 10-foot-wide rock shelf covered in red mud that leads behind the falls and into the cavern beyond.
Fool’s Entrance
Any character with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 17 or higher, or who succeeds on a DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check, spots a faint column of smoke rising above the waterfall. Characters who continue the mountainside climb discover a hidden, 3-foot-wide iron chimney rising from the rocky ground. The chimney is too smooth to be climbed except with a rope anchored to the rocks above. It descends 30 feet before it splits into three chimneys leading to the kitchen (area L6), the smithy (area L14), and the clockwork forge (area L19).
Any character who tries to descend the chimney without a rope or a climbing speed inevitably falls. Roll a d3 to determine which lower chimney the character tumbles down. At the end of the fall, the character must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage. In addition, the fire at the bottom deals damage to creatures that come in contact with it, as noted in each area’s description.
Silver Falls Cavern
When the adventurers enter the cavern behind the waterfall (shown on map 5.7), read:
| Beyond the rushing spray of water is a dry cavern. Multiple lanterns shed light across the rocky interior, revealing a floor thickly strewn with dried bat guano, a small tent and table, a steel door set into the far wall, and two wide workbenches. A female gnome is working at the farthest bench, shackled to a chain set into the rock wall. Four kobolds sit around the table near the tent, playing a dice game with a familiar-looking gray-skinned goliath. |
The bats that long dwelled in this cavern (the source of the guano from which
Nima Cinnarid extracts saltpeter for creating explosives) fled when the kobolds took up permanent occupation of the cave. Characters trying to sneak through the waterfall and into the cavern must succeed on a group DC 16 Dexterity (Stealth) check to enter unnoticed, allowing them to attack with surprise. If the group check fails,
Sken sees the intruders, complains about her card game being interrupted, and initiates combat.
Cavern Fight
Four
Kobold Underlings and
Sken Zabriss all attack the characters.
Sken loudly taunts them for how they’re all about to die, and shouts that the fall of the
Dwendalian Empire at the hands of
Xhorhas is imminent. If the characters were guided by a captive kobold from
Nima's House, it rushes to the other kobolds if it can, borrows a weapon, and joins the fray.
The shackled gnome is
Nima Cinnarid, a neutral good, female gnome commoner. She hides beneath her workbench when combat breaks out, but if a kobold or Sken moves within 30 feet of the bench, read:
From under the bench, the shackled gnome grabs a handful of small brass spheres piled nearby. “You wanted these made?” she shouts. “Well, here! You can have them!”
Nima throws an
Explosive Seed (see the “
Alchemical Items” sidebar) at whichever enemies are closest, then throws another seed on each of her turns until she runs out of seeds. She has a total of four
Explosive Seeds.
If any of the characters speak to
Nima and offer her help,
Sken rushes over to take the gnome hostage, threatening to kill her unless the characters drop their weapons. If the characters don’t comply and can’t stop
Sken in time, the goliath attacks
Nima.
If
Sken is reduced to 11 hit points or fewer, she attempts to use her ring of obscuring and flees to the steel door. She spends her action pulling out a lead key she carries and opening the door, and it takes another action to close and lock it behind her. If
Sken escapes, the characters need to pursue her into
Stahlmast's lair to complete their contract with
Bram Gulchswattle.
Development
If the battle is won and
Nima survives, the characters can free her from her shackles and learn a number of details regarding what’s going on. The gnome can offer up the following information in response to the characters’ questions:
- Nima nim has long been a munitions expert, developing refined explosives and weapons for the war effort against the Kryn Dynasty.
- The cave is a secret source of potent explosive materials, and she has harvested guano from it for years. She normally comes here once every four to six months to stock up.
- Nima’s last trip three weeks ago ended with her capture by the kobolds and their master, Huron Stahlmast. A former engineer for the Dwendalian Empire, Stahlmast was shamed for his imperfect designs and immoral experimentation. He left Hupperdook years before and was assumed to have found his fortune elsewhere. Instead, he’s been building a lair beyond the waterfall cavern, sealed off behind the steel door.
- Stahlmast imprisoned Nima in the cavern and has been forcing her to produce explosive devices. One of those devices was used to help Sken break out of Gearhole Prison. She has also been working on plans for larger explosive devices whose purpose she doesn’t yet know.
- Stahlmast is bent on vengeance against the Empire—and against the city of Hupperdook and its people.
If
Nima was killed, the characters can seek this information from
Sken or a captured kobold. If the fight in the cavern left no enemies or allies alive, you can move these revelations to an NPC in
Hupperdook who recognizes the explosive seeds as
Stahlmast's work.
Steel Door
If any character investigates the steel door, read:
| The eight-foot-tall steel door has layered crossbars and supports are embedded deep into the rock of the mountain, creating an impassible entrance to whatever lies beyond. |
If the characters want to try to open the door right away, see the next section of the adventure (“Stahlmast’s Lair”) for more information.
Treasure
After defeating
Sken, the characters can claim her ring of obscuring. The workbench
Nima was working at holds 1d4 + 1
Explosive Seeds (see the “
Alchemical Items” sidebar).
Character Advancement
At the end of this part of the adventure, the characters all reach 2nd level. The setup for the next part of the adventure assumes that the characters return to the city before seeing what lies beyond the steel door. If
Nima survived the fight, she is anxious to flee the cavern and begs the characters to escort her back to
Hupperdook.
If the players want to press on immediately—especially if both
Nima and
Sken were killed—that’s fine. Just make sure all the characters have leveled up, and let them take a long rest in the cave before moving on to the next part of the adventure (“Stahlmast’s Lair”). You can then rework the events below when the characters return to
Hupperdook after having bested
Stahlmast in his lair.
Next Moves
If
Sken was left alive after combat, the characters can use the chains that once shackled
Nima to bind the goliath. Taking her or her corpse back to
Watchmaster Bram Gulchswattle at
Ironside Barracks (
Area H10 in the first part of the adventure) completes their contract and allows them to collect their reward. The characters can then take some time to rest and handle any business they might wish to conduct in
Hupperdook.
You can read or paraphrase the following text to complete this part of the adventure:
| With a successful mission behind you and your hard-earned reward paid out, you have a chance to give more thought to the steel door you saw behind the waterfall—and the nefarious plots that Stahlmast is hatching to punish the fair people of Hupperdook. |
With the completion of this first part of the adventure, the players are free to decide what’s next for the characters. They can leave the threat of
Huron Stahlmast to the authorities as they move on to another adventure elsewhere, or they can talk to
Bram Gulchswattle about extending their contract to include a bounty for
Stahlmast stah.
Gulchswattle is prepared to pay the group an additional 1,500 gp for the capture or elimination of
Stahlmast, along with evidence of his wrongdoing.
Whatever drives the characters’ decision to go after
Stahlmast, the next part of the adventure begins at the steel door that leads into Stahlmast’s lair.
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