Mere of Dead Men

Скрюченные деревья, лианы и густая растительность покрывают спрятанную за завесой тумана поверхность холодного соленого болота. Здесь воняет гнилью, а вода черная и непрозрачная. Видимость ввиду неровного рельефа и тумана, редко превышает полумилю.
Для нелетающих существ путешествие по Болоту медленное и опасное. Его темные воды достаточно глубоки, чтобы позволить проплыть ялику-плоскодонке, но из воды выступает много мелких, покрытых непонятными растениями островков и кочек. Повсюду валяются огромные кости разных давно умерших существ. Зыбучих песков тут мало, а вот трясины попадаются часто. Из-за густой растительности и частой необходимости спешиваться и идти по пояс в воде, путешественники в плоскодонке могут преодолевать примерно 8 миль за 10 часов пути.
Болото Мертвецов известно своими чудовищными обитателями. Путешествующие по Главному Тракту, идущему по восточной границе Болота, часто предпочитают продолжать путь три дня и ночи без остановок, чтобы избежать вероятности встречи с «темными, мокрыми, когтистыми ужасами, вылезающими из болота». С дороги часто можно увидеть блуждающие огни в болоте.
По Побережью Меча ходят рассказы о плавающих по Болоту островах, ящеролюдах под командованием личей, пенангаланах чудовищных размеров, затонувших кораблях, кишащих морскими зомбями, рабовладельцах юань-ти, гигантских щупальцах, вылезающих из-под воды, храмах нечеловеческим богам, гигантских пиявках и жаболюдах- налётчиках, гигантском блуждающем огне, пульсирующем темной энергией, и многих других ужасах.
И теперь вам предстоит узнать, правда ли всё это.

A vast salt swamp stretches along the Sword Coast shore over 100 miles, reaching a width of 30miles at its greatest extent. It?s a desolate, insect-ridden place seldom visited by civilized races and home to a variety of fell creatures. The Mere has grown in recent memory, swallowing several farms and holdings along the road, and it?s now avoided by all but crazed adventurers equipped with water-breathing magic and looking for battle practice.

Several rich castles and manor houses stand flooded in the Mere, with only spires and battlements showing above the dark waters. Sunken riches and powerful magic guarded by evil creatures await those mighty enough to take it. Khelben ?Blackstaff? Arunsun advises adventurers that some of these flooded places (Castle Naerytar, Holk House, Mornhaven Towers, and Wolfhill House) have their own wards. These allow certain spells to be cast at double strength, and otherspells are negated. These effects are discovered by trial, for all relevant records are lost.
The Mere gained its name when thousands of men were slain by orc hordes striking south from present-day Triboar and east across the Stone Bridge and Ironford. The orcs pursued the men westward between the coastal peaks and slaughtered the human army as it was forced back into the icy waves.
Travellers on the High Road skirting the Mere to the east often travel for three days and nights without stopping to avoid camping near here. Will-o'-wisps bobbing over the water are common night sights on this stretch of road. Legends speak of floating islands, eerie pools of magical origin, lizard men commanded by liches, a penanggalan of monstrous size, and other fantastic creatures often used to scare children and entice adventurers. More recent tales come from a brave few that ventured into the dark waters of the swamp that mention dark tentacles of gargantuan proportions, yuan-ti slavers, temples to inhuman gods, giant leeches with bullywug riders, and a will o? wisp of monstrous size that pulsed with black energy.A vast salt swamp stretches along the Sword Coast shore over 100 miles, reaching a width of 30miles at its greatest extent. It?s a desolate, insect-ridden place seldom visited by civilized races and home to a variety of fell creatures. The Mere has grown in recent memory, swallowing several farms and holdings along the road, and it?s now avoided by all but crazed adventurers equipped with water-breathing magic and looking for battle practice.
One madman.s ravings about a black wyrm have gone mostly ignored, save by his host, Blackrabbas Khuulthund, the Waterdhavian sage who now acts as the man.s guardian. Blackrabbas believes this .blackened wyrm that charmed the plants and darkened the air before him. could be the long-lost black dragon Chardansearavitriol. Two rare elven historical texts in Blackrabbas.s possession refer to the dragon.s legendary name of .Ebondeath,. a beast not seen on the Sword Coast since Ahghairon.s youth. Few folk are moved to investigate the dark, scum-coated waters of the Mere to learn the truth for themselves.
Self-styled bandit lords, such as Amalkyn the Black and the wizard Helduth Flamespell, have recently established holds in the hills. Dopplegangers dwell in some of the ruined villages and hamlets, taking the shapes of humans to lure weary caravans and traveling bands to their doom.
kingdom that stood here long ago was washed away when a lich named Iniarv caused the sea to flow inland. The swamp gets its name from the thousands who died in the flood. Travelers on the High Road, which skirts the Mere to the east, must resist the urge to be lured into the swamp by bobbing will-o’-wisps. Countless adven¬turers have perished in the Mere, drawn by true tales of ruined castles half-sunk in the mire. These once noble estates are now home to lizardfolk, undead, and worse. The greatest threats to would-be treasure hunters are the ancient black dragon twins Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor. While the former is considered the un¬disputed lord of the Mere, the latter is hardly known at all-and the two dragons like it that way.

The Mere of Dead Men has long been a blight on the Twilit Land, as the coastal territories between Waterdeep and Neverwinter and between the Sword Mountains and the Sea of Swords have long been known, but the area was once home to a thriving kingdom in the early days of human settlement before the land was blan­keted with the great saltwater marsh.
Beginning with the establishment of the free city of Tavaray in the Year of the Phandar (-50 dr), a great wave of settlement spread up the Sword Coast and the great river valleys of the Savage Frontier. As part of that tide of immigration, the rolling hills that led down from the central Sword Mountains to the Trackless Sea were slowly settled in the first century DR by fishermen, hunters, and loggers, for the region was rich in natural resources. The first settlement of any size in the region was a small town established in the Year of Gleaming Frost (64 dr) along the shores of a small bay protected from the sea’s worst storms by a natural breakwater. The settlement attracted immigrants seeking the promise of pristine lands.
The first human lord to claim power in the Twilit Land was Uth Myrmoran, an exiled lord of the free city of Tavaray who sought to build his own realm in the tradition of the ancient empires of the South. In the Year of the Risen Towers (146 DR), the ambitious lord erected the Uthtower atop a rocky pinnacle that overlooked the fledgling port and proclaimed himself king. There was little resistance from the local populace to the self-anointed monarch’s seizure of power, for the inhabitants of the setеlement had begun to see the need for some form of government. The presence of an elite company of Shoon mercenaries hired by King Uth I undoubtedly contributed to the lack of dissent among the region’s inhabitants, as did the new monarch’s wealth, much of which found its way into the purses of locally prominent individuals who might have otherwise opposed his rule.
From these modest beginnings, the Royal House of Myrmoran forged a small but thriving realm known by the same name as its traditional royal seat. Crown Prince Ornoth, the eldest son of Uthtower’s first king, succeeded his father in the Year of Scattered Stars (168 dr), although he had been exercising a great deal of authority for nearly a decade as the king’s faculties faded. After his coronation, King Ornoth I ennobled seven prominent allies who had long served as counselors. They formed the Council of Lords, a body whose membership was thereafter composed of the patriarchs and, occasionally, matriarchs of the seven noble houses.
Upon the sudden death of King Ornoth I in the Year of the Broken Lands (191 dr), the kingdom was briefly plunged into chaos as the late monarch’s twin sons and their camps each pressed their claim to the throne of Uthtower. To avert a civil war, the Council of Lords decreed that Prince Uth would succeed his father, as he had preceded the birth of his brother by a few minutes. To appease the backers of Prince Ornoth’s claim, however, the nobles decreed that the lightly settled lands to the north would form a new king­dom ruled by the younger twin, with the border between the two lands demarcated by the westernmost peak of the Maruutdin (as the northern Sword Mountains were known). Thus Prince Uth II was crowned the third king of Uthtower, and Prince Ornoth II was crowned the first king of Yarlith, and all was settled amicably between the brothers and the two realms.
To avert any argument over who would bear their late father’s somewhat plain coronet, the twin monarchs were enthroned with identical regalia commissioned for the occasion. The Twin Crowns of Myrmoran were fashioned by Iniarv, the oft- absent Mage Royal of Uthtower. Iniarv was a sorcerer who had established himself in an imposing tower in the foothills some 30 miles to the east after winning the confidence of Uthtower’s second sovereign shortly after his arrival in the region. It was widely rumored that Iniarv had woven a powerful enchantment into the brothers’ crowns, for they ruled the two realms ably for many years, well beyond the lifespans of most men. Furthermore, the twin monarchs never seemed to disagree in even the smallest matter, almost as if they were linked in mind.
Both sovereigns died peacefully in their sleep in the Year of the Weeping Kingdom (272 DR), and they were succeeded by younger heirs, several generations removed. Although the northern and southern branches of the Royal House of Myrmoran were never again so closely allied, the two realms maintained amicable relations for centuries thereafter, and their small armies often fought side-by- side against the orcs and other monstrous denizens of the North.

Creation of the Mere

In the end, first Yarlith and then Uthtower fell to the same forces that later swept aside Phalorm, the Realm of Three Crowns, more commonly known as the Fallen Kingdom. In the century that followed Phalorm’s founding in the Year of Trials Arcane (523 DR), wave after wave of orcs poured from the mountains and wastelands to assault the human and demihuman realms located along the Sword Coast and the Dessarin and Delimbiyr river valleys. The fall of all three realms began with the gathering of a great orc horde from the teaming caverns of the Spine of the World mountain range in the Year of the Normiir (611 dr). The Everhorde, as the illithid-led army of orcs was named, smashed Yarlith and its small army, then besieged the independent trading city of Neverwinter, formally known as Eigersstor. The armies of Phalorm, Uthtower, and other allied realms rushed north in response, but they were too late to avert the catastrophe in Yarlith.
The allied armies’ arrival lifted the siege of Neverwinter, thanks in part to the efforts of Palarandusk the Sun Dragon (see Dragon’- Magazine issue #252). For the next year, in battle after battle, the warriors of Phalorm, Uthtower, and other communities of the North strove desperately to defeat this huge army of orcs. The Everhorde was finally shattered in the Year of the Jester’s Smile (612 dr) in the Battle of Firetears south of the site of present-day Triboar—but at great cost to the allied armies.
While Uthtower’s much shrunken army returned to the seacoast realm immediately, the army of Phalorm remained in the region for two more years, mopping up the smaller orc bands into which the Everhorde had fragmented.
In the Year of the Shattered Scepter (614 dr), with the bulk of Phalorm’s armies still in the far north, orc hordes arose in the High Moor, the southern Greypeak Mountains, and in the Fields of the Dead. They marched on the Realm of Three Crowns. Phalorm’s army rushed south to help defend against the orc horde, and the two armies met in the Battle of Shrouded Stars. What remained of the Army of the North eventually regrouped in the Year of the Lamia’s Kiss (615 dr) at Iniarv’s Tower, named for its long- vanished owner and garrisoned by a company of Uthtower’s soldiers. Although the defenders held out valiantly against the resultant siege, the magics they unleashed against the orcs disturbed Iniarv, who had since become a lich. Unbeknownst to the people of Uthtower, the archmage had passed into undeath and contin­ued to dwell in the depths of the tower’s crypts. Wroth with anger, Iniarv unleashed devastating spells against both armies. Once again, Phalorm’s remaining warriors were driven back, this time in the company of Uthtower’s small army, and a sea of orcs poured into the long-sheltered lands of Uthtower.
As his kingdom crumbled about his throne, King Uth VII dispatched an emissary to Iniarv, beseeching the lich to honor his alliance with the people of Uthtower and dispatch the invading orcs. With cruel humor, Iniarv honored the request by unleashing spells that caused the ocean to rise up and inundate the land. Countless humans, demihumans, and orcs were drowned in the resultant flood. When the waters receded, they left behind a sprawling saltwater mere that smothered the once-verdant land, transforming its topography and spelling the doom of the centuries-old kingdom of Uth. Those humans and demihumans who survived the deluge quickly fled to other realms, while the orcs retreated to the Sword Mountains.

Ebondeath’s Reign

In the centuries that ensued, the Mere of Dead Men grew ever larger, slowly inundating the land between the Trackless Sea and the High Road no matter how far back the High Road was moved toward the foothills of the Sword Mountains. Attempts to reestablish settlements in the inland regions of what were once the uplands of Uthtower failed time and time again, sunk beneath the creep­ing waters of the Mere.
In the wake of its creation, the Mere of Dead Men quickly became home to all manner of monsters, both living and undead, and was largely avoided by the civilized races as a result. The first black wyrm to establish himself in the Mere of Dead Men was Chardansearavitriol, or Ebondeath, an old dragon who seized the crumbling ruins of the Uthtower and the catacombs beneath it as his lair in the Year of the Lone Lark (631 dr). Chardansearavitriol reigned supreme and unchallenged over his demesne for centuries. Although the dragon preyed regularly on travelers seeking to skirt the Mere of Dead Men, his attacks more frequently targeted the orcs of the Sword Mountains, keeping their numbers low as a result.
In the Year of the Spouting Fish (922 dr), Chardansearavitriol vanished without a trace, giving rise to speculations that the wyrm had been slain, had relocated elsewhere, or had chosen to withdraw into the heart of the saltwater swamp and never emerge. In truth, the very old black dragon had heeded the entreaties of Strongor Bonebag, a charismatic Priest of Myrkul with ties to the burgeoning Cult of the Dragon, and had been transformed into a dracolich. The Cult cell headed by Strongor was unique in its interpretations of the teachings of both Myrkul and Sammaster. Strongor preached that there would come a day when Myrkul would absorb all of the mortal world into his realm. When that process occurred, claimed Strongor, the gods of the living would be discarded and replaced by a pantheon of ascended dracolich powers. In anticipation of the many years that would unfold hence, Chardansearavitriol’s lair, the ancient Uthtower, was transformed into a great temple of stone and scoured bone known as the Mausoleum of the Ebondeath. In it the Ebondeath Sect, as the cultist called themselves, could dwell while attending to and venerating their preascendant god.
Strongor’s sudden death less than a decade later effectively aborted his efforts to extend the sect’s reach across the North. Nevertheless, Chardansearavitriol, who cared more for the acquisition of personal power than for the late Strongor’s divinely inspired vision, continued to be slavishly attended by those Dragon Cultists who remained in his service, some of whom were transformed into undead servitors. Ebondeath’s isola­tion from the outside world was reinforced by the emergence of the orcish realm of Uruth Ukrypt in the northern Sword Mountains circa 930 DR and the subsequent collapse of trade along the High Road, for the abatement of the dragon’s depredations had allowed the orcish population in the region to skyrocket. Over time, Ebondeath passed into the realm of legend. By the fall of Uruth Ukrypt in the Year of Crimson Magics (1026 dr), his acts had been largely forgot­ten among the civilized races. For nearly two centuries, Chardanseara- vitriol slumbered undisturbed in the heart of the Mere of Dead Men, venerated by his dwindling cult. He roused himself only to defend his demesne against draconic intruders and those unlucky enough to stumble across his lair.
The draconic ruler’s long tenure as Suzerain of the Mere came to an effective end rather suddenly in the Year of the Dragon Altar (1202 dr). Ere his death at the end of the Time of Troubles in the Year of Shadows (1358 dr), the power of Myrkul always waxed when an infrequent and relatively unknown astronomical phenomenon known as the Eye of Myrkul appeared in the night sky. This event involving the passage of a new moon through a certain ring of seven stars associated with an old symbol of Mystra. Under the baleful Eye of Myrkul, Chardansearavitriol’s physical form crumbled into dust and bones atop the altar of Myrkul. Instead of abandoning their sect’s centuries-old vigil, those few Dragon Cultists who remained in the dracol- ich’s service hailed his transforma­tion as the physical manifestation of the long-heralded second stage of the divine ascension that Strongor had preached long ago.

Once again, worshipers of the Lord of Bones flocked to the secret temple at the heart of the Mere, and the Ebondeath Sect grew strong under a new generation of leaders, awaiting the night when once again the Eye of Myrkul graced the sky. A kernel of truth must have resided in Strongor’s teachings, for Chardansearavitriol survived the collapse of his physical form as a spirit tethered to his physical remains, a state in which he remains today. Given the resemblance of Strongor’s teachings to a debased pursuit of Ossavitor’s Way — a path to near-immortality open to those few dragons with the wherewithal to achieve it—Chardanseara vitriol may indeed have undergone a transformation to a higher state.
In the decades that followed, the members of the Ebondeath Sect labored to prepare for the next stage of Chardansearavitriol’s ascension, in accordance with a series of visions unveiled to the cult’s highest-ranking priests by the Lord of Bones. In particular, the Dragon Cultists worked to create the rings of Myrkul, unholy items of great power that Myrkul indicated would be needed in the years to come. Despite the Ebondeath Sect’s preparations for the long-anticipated reappearance of the Eye of Myrkul, however, the ancient Dragon Cult cell collapsed upon the death of Myrkul at the end of the Avatar Crisis and the subsequent sinking of the Mausoleum of the Ebondeath into the dark waters of the Mere of Dead Men. A number of fleeing Myrkulytes died before they escaped the swamp, giving up their lives—and their magical rings of Myrkul—to the monstrous denizens of the Mere.

Locations in Mere of Dead men

1. Leilon, small city
2. Carnath Roadhouse, inn
3. Castle Naerytar, ruins of castle
4. Holk House, ruins of estate
5. Inlarv's Tower, ruins of fort
6. Uthtower
7. Mournhaven Towers
8. Wolfhill House, ruins of estate
9. Mak’kar’s Fort, ruins of fort
10. Kheldell, small town
11. Thornhold, dwarfhold
12. The Warts, a grouping of 3 hills jutting out from the flat swampland
13. West Harbor, ruins of village
14. Highcliff, ruins of town
15. Highcliff Castle, ruins of castle
16. Hag's Cave, lair of hag coven
17. Crossroads Keep
18. Dragon Caves, lair of black dragon
19. Port Llocke, ruins
20. Illefarn Outpost, ruins
Mount Ardabad
Mount Galardrym
Mount Pheldaer Mount Stemheim
Place of the Unicorn
Crypt
Cave in the marshes
Cult in the Marshes
Shadow cult
Leilon point (10 miles to west from Leilon), small farming community

Visions

Two beautiful young women in gauzy black gowns lie sleeping upon a tattered pallet in an austere room of stone, dimly lit by a single flicker­ing candle. Their skin is a sallow, pale white, and their breathing appears very shallow.
An underwater scene of skeletal, rotting corpses clutching rusted weapons. The water is murky, but hundreds of corpses can be seen lying intertwined on the muck-covered bot­tom.
An underwater scene of skeletal, rotting corpses clutching rusted weapons. The water is murky, but hundreds of corpses can be seen lying intertwined on the muck-covered bot­tom.
A shadowy chamber filled with foully polluted water which slowly drains away to reveal the skull of a monstrous dragon piled atop a heap of bones intermixed with coins, gems, jewelry, pieces of armor, and weapons
The dark shadow of a new moon which slowly moves across the night sky until it comes to rest in the center of a circle of seven stars. This is a vision of a rare astronomical event known in Faerun as the Eye of Myrkul that will soon occur,

Castle Naerytar

One monster-infested area in this cursed swamp was Castle Naerytar. Little is known about it. A half-elven wizard is rumored to have built the castle long ago, and when he vanished, various sordid swamp creatures moved in.

The Warts

In the middle of the three hills is a small valley, where six stone monoliths stand in an ominous circle. They are chipped and scratched, and covered with small patches of moss and lichen. From the high ground you can see in every direction miles and miles of uninterrupted vegetation. There is nothing but bushes, trees and swamp grasses as far as the eye can see. Yet, to the west you see three conical spires rising above the tree line.
This would be a logical place for the PCs to make camp, since they probably cannot reach the towers before dark. Lighting fires atop the hills attracts the attention of the lizard men. (See “Ambush” below.) PCs lighting small campfires in the valley between the hillocks do not attract undue attention.
Each stone monolith is inscribed with a rare wizard spell written in ancient Elvish. Mages with the ancient languages proficiency or a comprehend languages spell can decipher the symbols and add the spells to their repertoires. The available spells include vocalize, scatterspray, ghost armor, hold vapor, ironguard, and cloak from undead.

Mornhaven Towers

As they near the towers, they hear the sounds of crashing in the underbrush behind them.
In the clearing ahead are the waterlogged Momhaven Towers. They stand partly submerged in a small lake, so that only the top sixty feet or so are visible above the level of the water. The slick black slate of each pointed spire is lathered in mold and moss.
On the shore of the lake nearest the towers is a wooden fort. It seems sturdy, though quite old. It looks like someone has completed extensive repairs. It also looks like the trees and brush around the fort have been cleared out to two hundred yards. Surrounding the fort is a wicked ring of sharpened stakes, buried in the ground and pointing outward at various angles like a bristling briar patch. Someone has obviously spent a lot of time and effort fortifying this place.
Lying in the mud around the fort are more than a dozen dead lizard men, their corpses speared with arrows.

Hoik House

Hoik House was once a sanctuary for a coven of priests and druids of Eldath, goddess of peace, pools, springs, and druid groves. It was named in honor of the archdruid Tarken Hoik, who once roamed the Mere keeping watch over the land. As his power grew, Tarken attracted many priestly followers willing to protect the wilderness from humanoid incursions. Long after Tarken passed away, his followers and their descendants continued his time-honored traditions and watched over the land. Eventually, the coven constructed the large, fortified house to provide shelter and hold councils. A secret vault was also built within it to protect several holy artifacts of the faith. These artifacts were rumored to possess healing powers and insight into Eldath’s plane of existence. The priests and druids also kept many valuable books of lore and provided enlightenment to any who made the pilgrimage to the sanctuary with peace in their hearts.
When the mere slowly crept up on the grounds, horrible beasts began to haunt the wilderness. Attacks upon pilgrims by monstrosities from the swamp became frequent until Hoik House was seldom visited and the priests alone kept residence there.
Worshipers of Myrkul, the Lord of Bones, had their own temple hidden deep in the Mere and resented the presence of the Eldath priests. One night, many years ago, a pack of evil spirits called revilers rose from the swamp, commanded to unlife by the dark will of Myrkul, slipped into the sanctuary and corrupted the priests with their alignment-altering power. When they awoke, the priests set upon each other. The few survivors, saved by the grace of their goddess, fled into the mere, eluding its many monsters. The revilers remained in Hoik House to drive away visitors, even after Myrkul’s demise during the Time of Troubles. No records tell what fate befell Myrkul’s temple, but the revilers of Hoik House remain to this day—ghostly vestiges of Myrkul’s lingering power.

---

The Mere of Dead Men is an expansive marsh that has been a bane to travelers along the High Road for centuries. All attempts to tame the wild swamp have failed, as countless threats call the area home: young dragons, trolls, lizardfolk tribes, swamp beasts, and even more aberrant monsters. At best, the forces of civilization hope to keep the High Road safely passable to facilitate trade and travel between Waterdeep and the lands of the north.
Recently, a relatively peaceful lizardfolk tribe living in the vicinity of the High Road was forced to relocate when a group of rot trolls attacked their home. This attack pushed the lizardfolk to move closer to the High Road, putting them into conflict with travelers who assumed that their appearance was an attack. The lizardfolk defended themselves, taking human prisoners, including the four soldiers from Leilon.
The lizardfolk use most of the prisoners as a means to keep the rot trolls away from their traveling village. Prisoners are left tied up in cages, then the lizardfolk move in the opposite direction, hoping the trolls leave them alone in favor of the offering.

Lizardfolk Forces

The leader is a lizardfolk subchief called Hissain. The large lizardfolk with him is a lizardfolk render whom the others call Slosh. The warriors who follow Hissain's orders are normal lizardfolk, and there is one per character, including sidekicks. The sleds and cages are pulled by flail snails, but only one of those creatures' attacks (the one next to Hissain), unless they are attacked first. The rest of the lizardfolk in the tribe are young, elderly, and other noncombatants.

Расположение

Eblis Blind.

The silence is broken by a whis­pered message: “The hollow tree to your right is where the evil one now rests unguarded.” Looking to your right, you indeed see an old tree with a 2' wide opening about three feet up, and the tree is surrounded by tall marsh grass. A 3' wide path leads to the tree, and the tree’s upper branches have fallen off.
Hiding in the marsh grass is a community of evil, hungry eblis, happily following Datou’s orders to ambush anyone who comes looking for him. The eblis’ coloration blends nicely with the marsh grass. The coinmunity leader uses its whispering wind spell to lure intruders onto the path. Once the PCs are on the path, the eblis burst out of the grass (-3 to surprise rolls) and attack.
Eblis (12): INT very (12 AL NE; AC 3; MV 12, fly 12 (C HD 4+4; hp 36, 30 (x4), 27 (x3), 26, 24 (x3 THACO 15; #AT 4; Dmg 1-4 (x4 SA 36-hp eblis can cast blur, whispering wind, and hypnotic pattern each once/day; SD +1 to saves and -1 dam­age per die vs. fire-based attacks; SZ M; ML 16 (due to living in Datou’s domain XP 1,400 (spell user), 650 (xll MM/27. Unlike other eblis, these creatures may not be bribed with gems or anything else. Once the evil birds are dealt with, a ranger or PC who makes a success­ful animal lore proficiency check spots another island a short distance away. On it are the eblis huts and piles of bones, and in one hut are 15 gems (worth 3,000 gp total)—prizes taken from other victims.

Ruins of Iniarv’s Tower

In the aftermath of the destruction of Uthtower, Iniarv retreated to his cat­acombs and spell libraries, where leg­end holds he continued his arcane studies until such time as he trans­formed himself into a demilich. The ruins of Iniarv’s Tower have since been explored by many bands of brave adventurers, most of whom never returned from the catacombs of the undead archmage. In the Year of the Storms (1310 dr), the Company of the Howling Wolf emerged from the dungeons beneath the site claiming to have destroyed the demilich, an assertion that remains unproven. Even after the demilich’s supposed destruction, efforts to rebuild the ruined tower have always ended in failure, which legend holds is due to the unseen hand of Iniarv.

Wolfhill House

Although Wolfhill House has long had a reputation as being haunted, the fact is that no undead stalks its corridors. Rather, the scrambled tales told by erstwhile robbers of polter¬geists and animated suits of armor are to be blamed on the tribe of jermlaine infesting the spaces between Wolfhill’s walls. Descendants of a few individuals brought back by Hezekiel Wolf on one of his journeys, the jermlaine—who are immune to the hill’s eugenic enlarging aura due to their magic resistance—like to spice up their regular diet of giant¬insect meat. To this end, they have strung numerous traps and pitfalls throughout the manor in the hopes of picking off any wandering adventur¬ers. They refuse to show themselves in any direct confrontation except for the ambush detailed in area 7—and it is for that reason that the PCs might believe they are up against an invisible or otherwise supernatural opponent. In fact, failing to slay them in the ambush, the PCs must either force a confrontation with the jinxkin (by shrinking themselves and pursu¬ing the creatures into the walls, for example) or bum Wolfhill House to its foundation if they wish to destroy the pests once and for all.

Unholy Ground

When Myrkul’s position as a greater power of the Faerûnian pantheon was unchallenged, the temple was warded with powerful magical manifestations of his divinity. The death of the Lord of Bones has significantly weakened his power on the unholy grounds of his temple, but a measure of necromantic influence still remains.
Until such time as Myrkul’s vestigial power in the Uthtower and the Mausoleum is broken, the entire above and below ground structure should be considered to be permeated with a mystical field that prevents the turning of undead and cloaks all devout living and undead followers of Myrkul with the benefits of a protection from good spell.

Myrkul’s Ebbing Aura

The reappearance of the Uthtower amidst the gloomy fens of the Mere expended a great deal of Myrkul’s lingering power.
The tenuous nature of Myrkul’s position is most evident in the importance of his remaining symbols of power. Each time one of these symbols is defaced or destroyed, Myrkul’s influence in the Mere is weakened, and the entire temple quakes as if shaken by a minor tremor. In game terms, destruction of the most potent relics of Myrkul’s faith weakens the magic that maintains the reemergence of the Uthtower and the Mausoleum of the Ebondeath. Some individual items are noted as having deific support points. If a net of seven or more points of deific support are lost by desecrating such items, Myrkul’s power quickly ebbs. In such a scenario, the Uthtower slowly crumbles into a pile of rubble as the rocky pinnacle on which it stands sinks back into the Mere. The catacombs below do not immediately collapse, but a slow process of decay sets in, ensuring the structure’s eventual destruction. And finally, from the perspective of observers in the Mere, the new moon passes outside the circle of seven stars, and the power of the Lord of Bones is forever broken in the Mere of Dead Men.
Employing a ring of Myrkul within the temple’s confines has the opposite effect. Every ten levels of spell energy employed by one or more rings of Myrkul within the confines of the Uthtower or the Mausoleum increases the deific support of the temple by 1 point (and incidentally weakens the ring bearer by 1 hp permanently upon the passing of the Eye of Myrkul). The benefits and risks of such powers also apply to Amalkyn the Black and Helduth Flamespell.
If by the end of the adventure and through the actions the PCs the net change in deific support points is positive, the PCs suffer a 5,000 XP penalty to their story award, for the Lord of Bones has been strengthened, not weakened, by their actions.

Флора и фауна

VISIBILITY

Погода в Болотах Мертвецов плохая для приключений. В случае если не идет сильный дождь, то стоит густой туман. Видимость днем: около 100 футов.

ДВИЖЕНИЕ

Обычные болота - труднопроходимая местность.


Deep swamp - very difficult terrain (1/3 of speed, no places for camping)

WEATHER

1 Fog
2 Rain
3 Heavy Rain
4
5
Temperature: in Marpenoth from +2 to +8 Celsius

Random encounters

Random encounters can occur every hour. In normal swamp - probability 5%, in specific swamp - 10%, in deep swamp 15%.

Random Encounters type I

1. The corpse of an adventurer tangled in the weeds. Looting the body turns up an explorer’s pack and perhaps (50% chance) a random common magic item.


2. A high-pitched shriek that lasts for 1d4 minutes


3. A foul stench bubbling up from brackish waters


4. Tainted water that exposes creatures that move through it to sight rot


5. A bloated humanoid corpse floating facedown in the water


6. An altar partially sunk into the mud, devoted to a god that is part human and part frog


7. A torrential rain that lasts 1d6 minutes and puts out all unprotected flames within 1 mile


8. A large, spreading tree from which 2d6 armored knights hang by the neck


9. Fog that rolls across the terrain, making the area within 1d3 miles heavily obscured for 1d4 hours


10. An eerie, bat-headed idol almost completely covered by vines


11. The sound of drums beating several miles away


12. 1d4 + 1 mud huts partially sunken in murky water

Random encounters type 2

1-2 Bullywugs (Reaction Roll) 3-4 Lizardfolk (Reaction Roll)
5-6 Yuan-ti hunting party (Reaction Roll with -5 ability)
7 Allip
8 Bodak
9 Catoblepas
10 Crocodiles
11 Cult of Myrkul
12 floating island
13 Froghemoth
14 ghasts and ghouls
15 Giant frogs
16 Giant lizards
17 Giant spiders
18 Green hags coven (Reaction roll)
19 hydra
20 lair of lich
21 penanggalan
22 Quicksand
23 Revenants
24 Shambling mound
25 Sword Wraith Commander
26 The Lost
27 Trolls
28 Undead cavalry of Myrkul
29 Vampiric mist
30 water elementals (Reaction roll -3)
31 Wights
32 Will-o’-wisps
33 Winged Kobolds
34 Wreck of the Seawyrm
35 wyverns
36 Flail snail
37 Giant wasps
38 Black dragon

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Yuan-ti Scouts

A yuan-ti expedition from the serpent kingdom of Najara has been exploring the Mere of Dead Men, assessing it as a location for colonization — and then to serve as a launch point for attacks in the north.
A yuan-ti abomination acts as an advance scout for these expeditions. The party comes upon him as he devours a large elk. The abomination does not wish anyone to know of the yuan-ti’s plans in this area, so he attempts to kill anyone who sees him. If there are five or more characters (including sidekicks), add a second abomination.

Pit of Snakes

The characters lose the trail and wander into an area where swamp gas has built up beneath the surface of the Mere. Characters who succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check realize the gas is present and understand its danger.
A pit of snakes opens to the right of the characters as they pass, and one giant constrictor snake, plus an additional snake for every character, including sidekicks, emerges from the pit looking for a meal.
Any magical or normal fire larger than a torch could ignite the swamp gas. Whenever a fire-based spell or effect is used, roll a d6. On a 1-2, the gas ignites. If the fire effect has an area, the area of the effect doubles. Also, treat all creatures in the area as being vulnerable to fire to approximate the extra damage done by the swamp gas.

Quicksand and Alligators

As the party loses the trail for a moment, they stumble into a dangerous part of the marsh with a 10-foot square, 20-foot deep pit of quicksand. Unless the character doing the tracking succeeds on a DC 18 Intelligence (Nature) check, they lead the party into it. When a creature enters the area, it sinks 1d4 + 1 feet into the quicksand and becomes restrained. At the start of each of the creature’s turns, it sinks another 1d4 feet.
If the creature isn’t completely submerged in quicksand, it can escape by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check, DC 10 plus the number of feet the creature has sunk already. A creature that is completely submerged in quicksand can’t breathe (see the suffocation rules in the Player’s Handbook).
A creature not sunk in the quicksand can pull another creature within its reach out of a quicksand pit by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check, DC 5 plus the number of feet the target creature has sunk into the quicksand.
While the party deals with the quicksand, a giant crocodile and its young (one crocodile per 2 characters) emerge from the swamp and attack.

Troll Brawl

While following the trail of the lizardfolk, the party comes across three trolls fighting over the remains of a lizardfolk who died at the hands of one of the rot trolls. The trolls claw and bite each other, trying to take possession of the tasty lizardfolk remains.
When the characters find the trolls, they are each at half their starting hit points. If the characters can remain quiet, the trolls beat each other up even more, until they are all down to a quarter of their starting hit points.
The first troll to die carries a sack, and in it there are three vials of acid (see the Player’s Handbook for details).

Hydra Wranglers

After hearing rumors of a hydra lairing in the Mere of Dead Men, a Waterdhavian circus owner hired a band of mercenaries to go into the swamp, locate the hydra, capture it, and bring it back to Waterdeep to be the main attraction in the circus. Little did the mercenaries realize that one does not simply capture a hydra.
The adventurers lose the correct trail and pick up on the trail of the mercenaries. When they arrive on the scene, several mercenaries are dead, and the remaining three are preparing to flee.
The hydra has a number of active heads equal to the number of characters and 30 hit points per character, excluding sidekicks. The mercenaries are of little use in the battle. They do, however, carry five vials of alchemist’s fire (see the Player’s Handbook for details) in order to deal with any extra heads that might spring up. At the end of the battle, the mercenaries offer the characters any vials left over, along with 50 gp for saving their lives.

Myrkul’s Night Riders

As the PCs are making their way through the swamp, they enter an area where the water is rarely more than six inches deep, forcing them to get out of their skiffs and drag them along, but where the soft ground beneath the water causes the PCs to sink up to a foot deep into the slimy muck. After 30 minutes of torturous progress through the shallow waters (movement is reduced to one-third normal), the ground beneath the PCs’ feet begins to firm up, and a low, fog- shrouded hillock with a few trees can be seen up ahead. As the PCs reach the edge of the island, from out of the gloom charges a company of utterly silent, armored warriors on horseback. The dark knights bear down on the PCs. Both the horsemen and their steeds are little more than skeletal corpses with tatters of withered flesh still attached who move as swiftly and surely as living beings.
The undead warriors of Myrkul’s cavalry are clad only in scraps of rusted mail, and the deadmounts, as gaunts are often known, each wear small pieces of barding. Each rider bears a medium lance of recent construction. Two of the night riders wield rusted longswords, one night rider wields a dwarven broadsword that never rusts, one night rider wields a blackened silver scimitar, one night rider wields a chill blade dagger, and one night rider wields a scythe of wounding +1 (treat as a sword of wounding with a base damage of 2d6+l hp against creatures of all sizes). Both magical weapons are inscribed with the skull symbol of Myrkul and radiate a faint aura of evil.
The night riders and their steeds fight fiercely until destroyed, with the partially skeletal warriors remaining astride their mounts for as long as possible. They do not, however, attack any PC wearing a ring of Myrkul unless attacked by the PC first. The night riders are well aware of the terrain surrounding the hillock and do not allow ringless PCs to leave the muck or otherwise make their way to the top of the low rise. If the PCs retreat away from the hill or attempt to circumnavigate it, the night riders dismount and pursue, with the gaunts following as close as they can along the water’s edge without actually entering the stagnant swamp waters. Neither the night riders nor the gaunts can be turned within 50 feet of the hilltop—a radius that reaches a good 10 feet into the Mere. If successfully turned while outside the radius of Myrkul’s power, the undead warriors and horses retreat back to the hill they are commanded to guard.
A small cairn is located atop the hillock. Atop the pile of stones is a rock carved and chalked with a white human skull. If a living creature disturbs the barrow in any fashion without speaking the name “Chardansearavitriol,” a glyph of warding unleashes the effects of a cause disease spell. Beneath the pile of stones is the skeleton of a human male clad in a rotted black robe with a hooded cloak and bound about the waist with a single sash of bonewhite hue. The corpse’s feet and face are bare. A small, black lizard’s skull is clutched in the skeleton’s right hand (a typical holy symbol employed by priests of the Ebondeath Sect). A gold band painted black and adorned with a white skull—another ring of Myrkul—is worn on the corpse’s left hand. A successful Intelligence (Religion) check reveals the that the cairn belongs to a Priest of Myrkul who was interred before or at the time of the death of the Lord of Bones during the Time of Troubles. Shortly before his death, the Priest animated the night riders (who were 4th-level Fighters in Phalorm’s armies centuries ago) and gaunts (formerly medium warhorses) from among the many bodies sunk beneath the Mere, commanding them to inter him within the barrow and then guard his grave for all eternity.
Night riders (6): use statistics of wights.
Gaunts (6): use statistics of skeletal warhorse.

Wreck of the Seawyrm

The Seawyrm is a Luskanite long ship that foundered off the coast of the Mere of Dead Men several decades past on its way to the Mausoleum of the Ebondeath. In the years since the ship’s sinking, currents and subsequent storms have driven the wreck deep into the Mere to its current location, where it rests some ten feet below the surface. The ship’s entire crew drowned when the ship sank, and they were subsequently animated as sea zombies by the fell power of Myrkul in the years prior to the Time of Troubles. (The fact that the ship’s captain was a priest of the Lord of Bones no doubt attracted the god’s attention.) The sea zombies continue to dwell in the waters of the Mere amid the wreckage of their long ship, attacking all who disturb their watery grave save those wearing the rings of Myrkul.
The PCs first catch sight of the wreck when they realize that the small island up ahead is actually the overgrown remains of a seagoing vessel. Moments later, members of the ship’s undead crew surface and attack the PCs and their skiffs from all sides, first with two rounds of hurled bone bite jaws (see below), then with rusted or rotten shortswords, daggers, hooks, clubs, and belaying pins.
The sea zombies are dressed in the rotted garb of Northmen raiders, and they look like human corpses that have been underwater for some time: bloated and discolored flesh dripping with foul water, with empty eye sockets, and tongues protruding between blackened lips.
The sea zombie with 36 hp is actually the animated corpse of the ship’s captain, formerly a 4th-level Priest of Myrkul. His current roster of spells includes darkness (reverse of light), curse (reverse of bless), putrefy food & drink (reverse of purify food & drink), chant, and silence 15' radius. He first casts putrefy food & drink to destroy any holy water or supplies, then silence 15' radius on one of the skiffs, followed by curse and then chant. If a foe is pitched into the Mere, the Priest casts darkness (breaking off his chant, if necessary) so as to hinder any rescue efforts. In addition, the undead Myrkulyte Priest has prepared eight bone bite spells (as the 2nd-level spell detailed in Faiths & Avatars, page 127). Each zombie clutches a pair of bone jaws created by means of this spell. The bone bite jaws must be thrown (use the zombies’ THACO) and bite once for ld6+4 points of damage and remain attached, bony fangs clinging, as they transform into a second, arching pair of jaws on the next round that automatically strike for a­n addi­tional ld4+2 points of damage. Bone bite teeth can puncture armor, cara­paces, bony plates, dragon hide, and all known nonmagical barriers and substances. Undead creatures are unaffected by this spell, and bone bite jaws do not bite them.
The zombies are not the only threat posed in this encounter. An opportunistic meazel lurks among the overhanging branches of the sur­rounding trees, seeking a likely vic­tim during the confusion of the sea zombies’ attack. After selecting a tar­get who is otherwise distracted and whose throat is not protected by any type of armor, the meazel attempts to drop down on its intended victim’s shoulders and strangle him with a short leather cord. If it succeeds in killing its target, the meazel attempts to flee with its newly acquired food. The meazel defends itself, fleeing in the face of overwhelming odds. Note that the sea zombies attack the meazel as readily as the PCs if the opportunity presents itself.
The wreck of the Seawyrm lost much of its cargo long ago. Nonethe­less, a few tantalizing treasures remain amid the muck along the ship’s rotten keel. Scattered across the bottom of the hull are twelve gold doubloons from ancient Illusk (the human fortress that fell to an orc horde over a century ago and is now the site of the city of Luskan). Twice the size of a normal gold piece, each ancient coin is worth as much as 5 gp to a numismatist. A battered, moss- covered shield affixed to the long ship’s gunwale still bears the heraldic device of a white human skull, face- on and upside down, encircled by the sinuous form of a skeletal wyrm.
Finally, a small piece—approximately a cubic foot—of the shell of a golden ammonite covered with weeds and muck lies beneath the ship, directly beneath the hole in the rotted hulk through which it fell. The shell and rare mollusk’s meat were intended to be given in tribute to Chardanseara- vitriol; as the Seawyrm foundered, however, its crew attempted to break off small pieces before diving over­board. This sole remaining piece, worth at least 1,000 gp, was broken off from the rest of the shell, but its would-be owner

Sinkhole

A sinkhole opens up under one randomly determined character. That character must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw (with advantage if he or she was keeping watch or searching during the exploration turn in which this encounter occurs). On a failed save, the character falls 40 feet, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage from the fall (damaged is reduced because of the mud and water at the bottom). The fallen character lands in a 20-foot-diameter grotto with no other exits. If the save succeeds, the character manages to avoid the fall.
If the falling character is tied to other characters by rope or vines, all characters who are tied together must make the saving throw. If at least one character succeeds, no one hits the bottom of the sinkhole; however, if all the characters fail the save, they all fall into the sinkhole. A creature that succeeds at a DC 12 Strength check can climb out of the sinkhole by grab bing hold of tree roots.

Ancient Gazebo

This encounter can occur only once; if you reroll this result, there is no random encounter. The characters stumble upon a crumbling stone gazebo covered in vines and draped with moss. The structure is a relic of the fallen elf kingdom of Illefarn (not to be confused with the mountain of the same name), and it provides adequate shelter from the rain. In the middle of the gazebo stands a moss-covered, white marble statue of a robed female elf pointing north (toward Waterdeep, which is where the capital of Illefarn used to be). Neither the statue nor the ruin is magical, yet for whatever reason, reptiles and insects shun the place, making it an ideal location for camping.

The Sea Robber

This encounter can occur only once; if you reroll this result, there is no random encounter. The characters find some shattered barrels sunk in the mire and spot a dark mound in the distance. The “mound” turns out to be the overturned hull of a galleon called the Sea Robber. A great wave recently carried the ship inland and dropped it upsidedown in the marsh. Its shattered masts and keel are nowhere to be found. Characters can crawl through the overturned wreck and find a handful of dead pirates dangling from ropes (they had tied themselves to the deck to keep from being swept overboard). Characters might also find some odd bits of treasure, at your discretion. The wreck attracts curious and hungry monsters. If the characters choose to explore the wreck, feel free to roll again on the random encounter table and either place the monsters in the wreck or have time arrive shortly after the party.

Bandit Hideout

Love is In the Air

A pair of hydra splash across the swamp in an elaborate courtship dance. They may not notice the characters if they try to sneak away and suffer disadvantage on their perception due to their focus on one another, but if they notice the characters, both hydras attack.

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RANDOM ENCOUNTERS TYPE 3

1  Deadly Monster Encounter
2  The party finds a series of trenches and tunnels that span over a large area. This is the location of a battleground from centuries ago, but these defenses persist. Some of them have become flooded with water, some half-filled with thick mud, and others open up into entire chambers. If the party spends time thoroughly exploring these tunnels they can stumble upon old texts or a lost weapon, though they may have to slay a soldier who refused to pass on from this life to claim it as their own.
3  The party comes across a quarter-mile wide cloud of fog that obscures their path. Creatures that move within the fog are considered blinded and lose their sense of direction almost immediately. This fog has acidic properties and staying in it for more than one minute causes pain to start to set in. Creatures take 1d4 acid damage for every additional minute they remain in the fog.
4      The party finds a strange wooden building in the woods. Going inside, it appears to be completely ordinary, like something you would expect to find in the city. Everything is in pristine condition and appears unused and is without dust. A DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals a secret passageway that leads to a laboratory below ground. This lab contains over a dozen exotic creatures that are being held and experimented upon.
5  Hard Monster Encounter
6      The party finds the remnants of a fort that has sunk down deep into the muck. About 50% of this structure is now submerged, but that still leaves the top twenty feet exposed. Exploring this reveals that one of the towers of this fort leads down with no windows, so the lower level and all of its secrets can still be accessed.
7      The party finds a disgusting bog. There are small huts constructed on stilts out in the middle of this muck. As the party moves past these houses, they spot a beak and black eyes staring out at them from inside one of these. This is a Kenku village.
8      The party finds an incredibly large, dead tree. It is nearly fifteen feet in diameter and has a makeshift doorway rotted into the side of it, but beyond this doorway is total darkness. Within this tree are runes scrawled along the wall as part of a ritual. It also contains the skeletal remains of three humanoids. A successful Intelligence (History I Arcana) check reveals this to be the work of a hag or coven of hags.
9  Hard Monster Encounter
10    The party encounters an area covered in large bulbous plants. If anyone gets near these plants, they explode and shoot a tar-like substance in a 10- foot radius. This makes anyone affected incredibly sticky and is nearly impossible to remove. Coming in contact with something solid such as a tree or a boulder (or even a monster) requires a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to pull free.
11    The party comes across the Fin, Fur, and Fungus Trading Post out in the swamp. It is owned by a strange man named Barnulbus Figley who has few teeth left and smells awful. He has many jars filled with mysterious “curative” sludges that he will attempt to sell to the party.
12    A tangled mass of thick, black thorns block the path. It is 30-feet thick and spans for nearly a mile in each direction. The party can either take the extra time to go around or cut their way through, incurring damage from the thorns if they are not careful. Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks may be required.
13    Hard Monster Encounter
14 Party starts to find lanterns crafted from bones of swamp creatures hanging from the trees. They seem to converge towards a singular location - an altar sitting up on a mound of mud. Black candles still burn at this altar. This altar is run by a group of swamp-dwelling acolytes who worship a demon of filth.
15    The party finds a large lake with black water. A small wooden boat is tied up at the shore but can carry no more than two medium sized creatures at a time. At the center of the lake is an island with a graveyard. Killing the undead that guard the graves allows the party to access a decorated tomb that contains a magic item belonging to the deceased. Consider making this item sentient or cursed.
16    The party is assaulted by a seemingly endless number of gnats and mosquitos for 2d6 hours. Leaving skin exposed during this time will result in 1d4 necrotic damage per hour. Wisdom (Survival) or Intelligence (Nature) checks can help find ways to prevent these bites.
17    Hard Monster Encounter
18    There is a glowing light emanating from the center of a medium sized pool of water. It is twenty feet deep at the center and fifty feet wide. Resting on the bottom is a magical item that was once locked away in a chest, but that chest has withered away. This water serves as an antimagic field. When someone takes the item, they are immediately blinded and deafened until they leave the water. Give this magic item some historical significance.
19    The party finds a shack just off the path. The sounds of frogs fills the air and is almost deafening. This building is Randy "Ribbit" Gorhalt's Frog Farm. Quite a strange fellow. He breeds thousands of frogs and sells them off to make frog legs or various stews. He has been having trouble with strange creatures coming out at night and gouging out the eyes of his frog.
20 The party comes across a gigantic crocodile skull - six feet feet tall and over twenty feet long. This is now the home of a maverick lizardfolk shaman who calls himself Zalzanazek. He speaks Common quite well and is excited to see the party. He will invite them in so he can read his Bones of Foretelling and predict their future. Use this to drop new plot threads into your world and give your players an advantage in a later encounter.
Overzealous. An adventuring party consisting of an abjurer, a champion, an assassin, and a war priest spots the characters, certain that they are trying to beat them to the dungeon they are seeking, and tries to elimi- nate the potential competition.

Diplomatic Envoy. Sharptooth scouts noticed your arrival in their territory and dispatched an envoy to meet you and ascertain your motives. The diplomatic entourage from the Sharptooth tribe consists of a lizardfolk hunt leader, a lizardfolk shaman, and 2 blackscale lizardfolk.
Bullywug Ambush . A pair of bullywugs led by a bullywug bushwhacker lies in waiting immersed in the muck and weeds along the trail. When the characters approach, the bullywugs spring forward and attack while the bushwhacker peppers them with sling bullets. the group consists of a bullywug shaman, a bullywug chieftain, 4 bullywug bushwhackers, and 6 bullywugs.

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Dragons

Notes: Both dragons employ all the standard draconic attack forms, including claws, bite, breath weapon, snatch, plum­met, kick, wing buffet, tail slap, stall, and spells. They prefer not to enter into com­bat unless they can first study the tactics of their foe or foes. Voaraghamanthar’s preferred strategy is to cast shield before commencing battle and taunt when drawing forth a foe from a defensive fortification. When battling in outdoor settings, Voaraghamanthar is quick to employ enlarge to amplify his threatening appearance and the effective­ness of his physical attacks. He resorts to reduce only when he must enter a struc­ture or cavern complex not large enough to accommodate his bulk, a tactic of last resort given its reduction of his combat effectiveness. Waervaerendor’s preferred strategy is to cast acidosis before entering battle. He prefers aquatic combat to other settings and is well versed in employing his wings and body to drown a foe. He is also com­fortable when perched on a stone structure or rocky outcropping strong enough to bear his weight, but close enough to allow him to engage opponents with his claws, tail, and breath weapons. (In such situa­tions he employs spider climb whenever convenient.) Waervaerendor is less versed in aerial and dry land combat and avoids engagements on those types of terrain if at all possible. In shallow water, the wyrms employ wing buffets to drive huge sprays of water at group of opponents. When done on a body of water they have previously cor­rupted, this tactic is extremely effective in inducing nausea in living opponents who cannot avoid ingesting some of the water. Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor immediately flee if brought to less than half of their total hit points. If one is close enough to come to the other’s defense, the one dragon endeavors to position his oppo­nents so they are particularly susceptible to his twin’s breath weapon. The dragons speak the tongue of black dragons and the tongue common to all evil dragons. They also have the ability to communicate with any intelligent creature. By working together but maintaining a single “public” identity, Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor have acquired the reputation of a single wyrm who can be in two places at once and who can disappear while heading in one direction and reap­pear moments later from another. While their empathic bond does not allow them unfettered mental communication except when in sight of each other, it does enable them to sense the emotional state of their kin at any time. Both wyrms have acquired a small measure of control over their emotional states sufficient to convey very simple prearranged messages. The brothers’ breath weapon inflicts 14d4+7 points of damage and can be used once every three rounds. Creatures caught by the stream can save vs. breath weapon for half damage from the acid. Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor cast spells and use magical abilities at 11th level. Like all dragons, they cannot attack, use their breath weapon, use their magical abilities, or fly (except to glide) while casting a spell. The wyrms cast all spells with a casting time of 1. They have the following additional powers: darkness in a 60' radius 3/day and corrupt water 1/day. (Corrupt water stagnates 60 cubic feet of water, making it become still, foul, inert, and unable to support animal life.) Black dragons are born with an innate water breathing ability and an immunity to acid. Both dragons save as a 14th-level Fighter. Both dragons can inspire panic or fear. Consult the Monstrous Manual" tome, page 64, for details. Voaraghamanthar’s Spells: enlarge or reduce (x2), shield (x2), taunt (x2). Voaraghamanthar’s Items: On the rightmost talon of his left rear claw, he wears a ring of wizardry that doubles 1st- level Wizard spells. On the leftmost talon of his right rear claw, he wears a ring of fire resistance. On the rightmost talon of his left rear claw, he wears the Twinned Crown ofYarlith (see “New Magical Items” sidebar). Waervaerendor’s Spells: acidosis*, sleep, spider climb. (The acidosis spell is described in the “New Spells” sidebar. I Waervaerendor’s Items: On the rightmost talon of his left rear claw, he wears a ring of invisibility. On the left­most talon of his right rear claw, he wears a ring of mind shielding. In a small pouch strapped to his rear left leg, he carries six doses of air spores (detailed in the Tome of Magic) and a folded portable hole. The dragon uses the portable hole to ferry both treasure and prisoners. Currently Sir Justin Melenikus is imprisoned within the portable hole, breathing by means of a colony of air spores Waervaerendor forced him to ingest. Personality: Like most black dragons, Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor are quick to anger and resent intrusions into their affairs or their domain. They are cunning and amoral, but never needlessly cruel or destructive. They have little inter­est in base displays of power or in the acquisition of territory, holding discretion to be the better part of valor and their own lives to be more important than any short-term victory. The dragons are skilled actors, willing and able to adopt any per­sona that advances their long-term aims. Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor can read and reason as intelligently, patiently, and humbly as a timid human scholar, and they thirst for knowledge in any form, par­ticularly if it relates to the Art. They seek to ensure their long-term survival through the acquisition of magical items and a ceaseless pursuit of immortality, yet (pri­vately) disdain the thought of undeatb. If any difference were to be noted, it would be that Waervaerendor is somewhat more outgoing, preferring to acquire infor­mation from others face-to-face, whereas Voaraghamanthar would rather acquire lore from dusty tomes and ancient ruins. Waervaerendor also relishes the hunt more than his twin and is apt to tackle difficult quarry just for the challenge of it. History: Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor were born in a large clutch of black dragons far to the south. Draconic twins hatched from the same egg are incredibly rare, for typically they kill each other before hatching, but these dragons share an empathic link that bonds them together as an unshakable team. Allied together, the twins slew the rest of their siblings within days of their hatching and fled before their parents could destroy them in turn. After many years of lurking among the swamps and moors of Faerun, Weszlum and Welzour, as they are known to each other, adopted the Mere of Dead Men as their personal demesne. The twins were attracted both by the isolated setting, far from the traditional haunts of most black dragons and thus reducing the risk of challengers, as well as the legendary horde of Chardansearavitriol, the lost treasury of the flooded realm of Uthtower, and the treasures lost with the destruction of the Fallen Kingdom’s army. Of particular interest, their studies had indicated that the Twin Crowns of Myrmoran, two of the many lost treasures of the Twilit Land, were reputed to have enhanced the empathic bond between the fraternal mon­archs of Uthtower and Yarlith and thus might serve the brother wyrms in a simi­lar fashion. The draconic twin’s alliance with the Cult of the Dragon cell in Leilon is relatively recent and insincere. The twin wyrms seek the missing Twinned Crown of Uthtower and wish to increase their understanding of Sammaster’s teachings to aid their quest for immortality. perspicacious adventurers have left the immediate area, the dragon then ferries both the bodies and his prison­ers deep into the Mere, far from the prying eyes of the PCs.

Природные ресурсы

Places for camping

Chances to find place to Type of Swamp DC
Normal 15
Specific 20
Deep 30

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No fuel

Resting in Mere of Dead Men

Diseases

Base chance of getting open to diseases - 15%
Main diseases:

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Maps

• 

  Mere of Dead Men

Вид

Wetland / Swamp

Включает в себя

• Castle Naerytar
• Datou's Lair
• Fort Locke
• Hag's Cave
• Highcliff
• Holk House
• Illefarn Outpost
• LEILON
• Leilon Point
• Mak'kar's Fort
• Mornhaven towers
• The Lizardfolk Camp
• Uthtower
• West Harbor
• Wolfhill House

Включает в себя

• Cult of Myrkul (Mere of Dead Men)
• Three Towers Tribe

Contested By

• Cult of Myrkul (Mere of Dead Men)
• Three Towers Tribe
• Waterdavian cell of Cult of the Dragon

Персонажи в локации

• Voaraghamanthar