Abandoned Common Guild Headquarters

Where the Common Guild began, and met a quick retaliation

History

This used to be the home of several students of the Imperial Academy. Varala, Rosa, and 2 of her friends (Finn and Sirek) lived here and hosted various meetings of the Common Guild. There are pieces of parchment discussing the royal lineage, textbooks, and a bit about necromancy. There is a Diagram of the Guard Tower in Pondhelm. There is also a compass, and some dissection tools. The members were researching the undead and the beholder corpse. There is Necromantic Half-Burned Parchment in Undercommon recording data about the Zombie Beholder. They were researching if there were ways to utilize necromancy to turn the undead into soldiers to fight against the guards. They were experimenting with a beholder corpse, and it reanimated. After the wave of necromantic energy swept through Coldfront, the beholder became uncontrollable and attacked. Also, undead creatures flooded the home and attacked the Common Guild members.

ROOM GUIDE

Hall A

Rotten wooden pillars strain under the weight of the wooden ceiling. Fog seeps into the decrepit home from the cracks in the windows and walls. The old wooden floor groans under each step. The hall is dimly lit with torches that flicker weakly. There is a tattered rug at your feet, and besides the skittering of rats along the floor, you hear only the distant calls of foglets outside the home.
You note that there appears to be a few open doors, and a staircase about halfway down the hallway. There is a steady humming sound and a pale purple light emanating from the top of the stairs. Every few steps, the floor boards seem to have rotted away to dark hole.

They can sneak past the Zombie Beholder if they succeed a DC09 Stealth Check. However, if they start a fight with the ward, the beholder will be waiting below the stairs for them.
There are several dark holes in the ground. There are shades inside. If the players approach the holes and look in with a DC12 Perception Check, they will see the hands.
No items of note found here.

Room 1

This is the remains of a dusty old kitchen, with the front window shattered and pieces of glass inside of the room. There are various tables and stores, containing old food remains. Also, there is a wood burning oven completely caked with charcoal and ash, with pieces of flaky burned slips of parchment scattered in front of it. There is a partial skeleton next to the floor.

This is a kitchen. Curiously, on a successful DC14 Investigation or Perception Check, a few pieces of burned parchment can be found in the oven. There are two pieces that are still legible, and the rest are burned to flaky ashy pieces. There are also several torn book spines sitting on the floor. The window to the kitchen is smashed, and there are old dark stains on the broken glass. The skeleton is missing its skull and a hand. There are teeth marks at the connections to the missing bones.
While Sirek was burning the remaining notes revealing that the Common Guild was planning on dabbling in necromancy, he was attacked by foglets and torn to pieces, taking the skull and an arm. This skull would become a Flameskull.
The door to the kitchen is CLOSED and locked.
Items Found: Half-Burned Parchment (Handout)

Room 2

This appears to be a living room of sorts. Several large holes have appeared in the wooden planks that line the floor. Damp pieces of paper and books are scattered across the room, damaged from the humidity of the constant fog within Coldfront. The windows are lined with moth-eaten curtains, and a once-comfortable couch sits in the corner of the room. A large table with several chairs sits in the south of the room next to a dying lamp.
Most jarringly, a putrid creature floats a foot above the floor in the center of the room. It is a rotting ball of flesh, with chunks of its slimy skin covered in sores and reeking of decay. A set of ten eyes on long tentacle-like stalks protrude from the top of its body, but only four seem to actively move. The rest hang limply against the bulbous body. When the creature turns, you get a glance of its front, with a fogged-over large central eye above a jaw full of sharp teeth.

This is the living room. If the books are investigated, they show that they are mostly textbooks and military strategy. A Zombie Beholder constantly floats here, if it spots any creature at all, it will automatically fire off an eye ray (it's Passive Perception is 9).
All entrances are OPEN to this room, with several holes in the wall large enough to fit a zombie beholder. Several curtains and books have been chewed. With the beholder feral attacking anything that approaches.
The Beholder can be controlled by someone speaking Undercommon, but only after a DC13 Persuasion Check, or if the Coldfront ward is destroyed.
All the small holes in the floorboards contain shades, which can be dispelled with light. Their grasping hands attempt to grapple any player within 5 feet, and makes it difficult terrain.
The largest hole in the floor leads to the basement.

Room 3

This is an old bedroom in complete disarray. Bedsheets and clothes are scattered across the floor, as if someone was digging around in a rush. There is a large pile of fine gray dust on the ground directly in front of the open door. Looking into the room, there is a dark scorch mark on the wall facing the door.

This is Finn's bedroom.
If the dust is investigated, they find a Small Key within the pile made out of steel. The Small Key unlocks the trapdoor to the basement. The scorch mark on the wall is from a Disintegration ray, and vaguely outlines the shape of a humanoid. If the clothes are investigated, they find signs that this room used to belong to Finn.
The door is OPEN to this room.

Room 4

This is another messy old room, with a shattered window. Pieces of glass litter the unmade bed. Random items are strewn across the old floor, and a heavy layer of dust shows that it has been undisturbed for a while. A decorative dagger is stabbed into the bedside table and a skeleton without its head lies on the floor next to it.

This is Rosa, Varala's girlfriend's, old bedroom. Rosa was attacked by a vampire spawn while sleeping. There are signs of a struggle and she tried to fend off the vampire with her dagger.
If investigated, the Engraved Dagger has the following written on its hilt. “Yours, V.” If this is returned to Varala, she will be a bit emotional, and now trust the players more.

Room 5

This bedroom has two beds, similarly scattered and messy. There is a propped open side door on the left. Two wardrobes are sitting in the corner of the room.

Nothing in this bedroom, Varala used to live here with Sirek. Sirek darted off to destroy the evidence of necromancy. Varala had time to grab her stuff and leave, so one wardrobe has much more stuff than the other.

Room 6

This is a small dusty storage room, full with cluttered crates, clothes, as well as a trapdoor on the floor.

Locked trapdoor can be unlocked with the Small Key. This grants access to the basement. Can also be unlocked with a DC15 successful Thieve's Tools Check.

Basement

The old trapdoor creaks open loudly as you swing it open. It leads to a small cramped basement.
Climbing down the rickety ladder attached to the trapdoor, you enter the dark dank basement. You see a sort of large cage in one corner, with a stained table in the middle. There is a ten-foot diameter hole in one of the walls of the cage. This hole extends into a perfectly circular tunnel.
A wall shelf contains various dissection tools, and sharp implements. Tools are scattered across the surface.
A table in the center of the room is littered with various pieces of paper, diagrams, and a compass.

The Common Guild was experimenting on the idea of using necromancy to command the Undead Hoard. They had found a Zombie Beholder and trying to figure out how to use it to do their bidding. The Zombie Beholder however, was invigorated by the necromantic energy during the Raid on Coldfront, reanimated and burrowed its way out of the basement into the living room. It blasted Finn with a disintegration ray.
With a successful DC10 Investigation or Perception Check, the players will find a Diagram of the Guard Tower. They can also obtain a Compass.
Diagram of the Guard Tower - This is a heavier piece of parchment that survived the conditions of this place, if not still a bit delicate. It shows a diagram of the various floors of the guard tower. It also notes several guard concentrated shifts, and posts.
Compass - They will never get lost in Coldfront.

Second Floor

This floor contains the Coldfront Ward. It glows purple and radiates necromantic energy. When it is at half its hit points, it is vulnerable to radiant damage, and hole are created in the floor. It also has an Aura of Annihilation, where creatures within a 20 feet radius take 5 damage at the start of its turn. On the start of combat, it summons 2 Flame Skulls. Every other turn it will summon an undead creature of 4 or lower level. (Ghoul, ghast, shadow, will o'wisp, zombies). When the crystal is destroyed, it releases a burst of energy that also destroys the summoned undead creatures.

Treasure

In the chest in the room, there is a +2 Moon Sickle.

Alternative Names

Coldfront Ward, Old Common Guild HQ

Type

House

Parent Location

Coldfront

Owner

Varala of Binton

Owning Organization

The Common Guild