Notes for the Game Master

This quest is designed for four to six players at level 13. Multiclassing characters is permited, neigh encouraged, but at least 50% of their levels must be in Rogue. It is recommended, but optional, that the players take two feats in addition to all their stats bonuses and that the DM rolls for each player a wondrous item from the table in Appendix A. This quest is set on the outskirts of the city of Kronandor in the central region homebrewed world of Lorem. The goal of this quest is to win the parlay and be recognized as the best theives in existance.

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Your band of rapscallions will already know each other, having pulled a number of jobs together, and now seek to prove their skills against the best in the business.

About Con-Con XXVI

The quinquennial Thieves Parlay (commonly known as "Con-Con") is held at a different location within the world of Lorem every occurance. Cities actively campaign to not be chosen as the hosts as there is an uptick in crime and violence associated with the parlay. The host location is announced via a series of secret communications and dead drops.

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Nobody is really sure who puts together the Parlay, but many are confident that it is a collaberation between various leaders of the underworld and/or the ultra elite and wealthy. What is known is that there are great rewards to be had for the winning team who historically has seen their bounties drop, or be removed entirely, Police agencies suddenly stop searching for them, and they get commisions from many sources to assist in the "procurement" of high end items.

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The parlay is generally broken out into four sections. The first section is identifying when and where the parlay will be held and arriving safely. In the second section there are a series of individual events such as lock picking, stealth walking, code breaking, and trap disarming. The top 10 scoring teams from these events move onto the next section. The third section is almost always different, based on the local area where the parlay is occuring. The third event is used to create a seeding for the final event. The final event is a team heist event with teams starting about two days appart from eachother based on seeding from the third event.

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The team seeded first entering the final event has only won 4% of the time, ususally dying when they go first on the heist. The second place team has a slightly higher success rate of 24% The third place seed is considered the best seed to have, with a success rate of 56%. No team seeded lower than 4th (12% success) going into the final event has ever won. Only once in the history of the parlay have the 5th-10th place team been permitted to start the heist, that year there was no winner as all teams participating in final round of the Thieves Parlay at Kalos (Con-Con II) died.

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Item of note for the metagamers, no city or region starting with a 'K' has hosted since Kalos.

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It is not uncommon for competators in Con-Con to attempt to use the authorities to eliminate their competition for them.

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The party discovered the location of this year's parlay after finding a cryptex inside a rotten treestump. Solving the cryptex revealed a piece of parchment with a coded message that directed the group to search for a mural that contained a map of Lorem from which they deduced the location of the parlay was to be to the north of Kronandor hidden in the canyon of Somala Sol. Between the cryptography and the phyical distance, the party has been journeying towards the parlay for about a month now.

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As is traditional, the hosts of the Thieves' Parlay publicly warned the host city of the parlay the night before the parlay began by fatally imbedding a flaming daggar engraved with 'Parlay Begins at Daybreak' in the city gaurd commander.

About Kronandor

The City of Kronandor was founded by Elves who have a particular anti-dwarf sentiment dating back to the conflict between Norkas the Founder and Fithan Grimforge over who had killed the most orcs in battle. As such, if your players choose to play as a dwarf they will have to find creative ways to hide their dwarven heritage. Some examples are: two dwarves in a trench coat pretending to be a goliath, a minor illusion spell, or sneaking everywhere and attempting to stealth so hard that the party appears to have one fewer members.

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This year's parlay is set to be held on the outskirts of the city of Kronandor in the central region of Lorem. This is the first time that Kronandor has the dishonor of hosting and the city watch is on high alert for any illicit activity. As such, those caught by the guards suspected of wrong doing will be given the harshest of punishments, upto and including the death penalty, likely without a trial. Due to the anti-dwarf sentaments of the residents of Kronandor, any dwarf seen by the residents of the area will be reported to the city guard as 'suspicious' and assumed guilty immediately.

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The modern residents of the city are a fiarly homogenious blend of all the races found all over the world of Lorem, with the exception of Dwarves, who have never felt welcome here. The current magistrate is a tortle and the now decesead city guard commander was an elf.

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The city of Kronandor has some fairly haphazardly built walls. The residents believe this is because of a curse applied to the city's borders by Fithan Grimforge, when in actuality it is as a result of their legal system making it unlikely dwarven stone masons would ever agree to design or build their walls.

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Unbeknownst to everyone, there is a large series of caves under Kronandor that contians much riches of gold, silver, platinum, and mithril, if only there was a dwarf around to mine these riches.

Arriving at the Parlay

Planning diligently to participate in the parlay, the party arrives at the chosen cave in the wee hours of the morning having spent the night before inside the city of Kronandor, hoping to see the ceremonial murder of the city guard commander. The party did not see the murder first hand, but did hear about it, which only servered to confirm in their minds that they were on the right track. They took a quick rest before setting out to parlay.

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As they arrive, making their way through various traps, which seem almost trivial to thieves as skilled as they are. Convienetly there is one trap per member of the party. A perception check of DC 16 will confirm that these are mostly to keep the riff raff out and allow for safe passage to the parlay, a perception between 10 and 15 will result in the party feeling slightly uneasy before just barely catching a trap and one member taking 1d4 damage appropriate to the trap. A perception roll below 10 will result in missing the trap and taking 1d10 damage appropriate to that trap.

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After making their way into the main competition area the team will register with Kriminal, a cloaked hooded figure who only wants a team name. Kriminal will refuse to listen to anything else, and will not answer any questions or really say anything but his name and ask for their team name. Kriminal will then appear on the center stage and announce that there are 10d4 teams participating in this years parlay and the solo events are about to begin.

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Have your party individually participate in "events" For ideas on what type events to use see the table in Appendix B, The Early Rounds In each case, have them make an appropriate ability check for event and use the table "Event Scoring" (below) to tell them how they did.

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After everyone has participated in at least one event and the team has ammassed at least 50 points, tell them that the final event has concluded and they have qualified for the third round, using approriate relative order (top of the pack vs middle of the pack, vs just barely qualified) based on their scores.

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Pride Damage

When a player takes Pride damage they also gain a special inspiration in the form of "seeking redemption" that enables them to on an ability check or saving throw of the same general type of check that caused the damage to throw an extra 1d12, but they are at disadvantage.

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Failing the Seeking Redemption check results in additional pride damage, but successful redemption checks grant a bonus 1d4 HP.

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Kriminal will show all of the teams a mockup of the gates of Kronandor and explain that each day the city guard changes randomly where the guards are and where the city alert bell is stored. Each of the ten finalists will be randomly assigned one of the known layouts with the goal of kidnapping a captain of the city watch. They will be observed by a panel of judges who will score them for speed and effectiveness of the kidnap. Points will be deducted if the players kill the captain of the watch, if they create an undue ruckus that would attract outside attention, or if the city alert bell is rung. There is no penalty for destroying the clockwork watchmen.

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After the map as a whole has been shown to the players, hide all the areas behind the walls and place the bell, captian, and clockwork watchmen in the places indicated by your roll and the table below. Numbers in parenthisies are only used to bring the number of Clockwork watchmen up to the number of players on your party.

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If the players are successful in kidnapping the city watch captain without the bell ringing, they come out in second place . If the players kidnapped the city captain, but the bell was rung first, or they took too long or cause a commotion, they are going in third, if they failed to kidnap the captain, or if they killed the captain, they are going in fourth...assuming the progression goes that far.

The Final Round

Kriminal will announce the standings of the final ten teams and then announce that the final event is to acquire a pair of large blue diamonds, about 9.5 inches in diameter, internally flawless, each will weigh about 57lbs (~130,725 carats). There is reason to believe that they are hidden inside a cave located a half mile down the canyon. The team that brings back the diamonds will be declaired the victors and will recieve (500 times number in your party) platinum as a reward for their first commission as victors and they are free to keep anything else that they find in the cave.

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Kriminal takes all of the teams to the mouth of the cave and sends the first team through the mouth, with the notice that until a team comes back with the diamonds every two days at noon. The teams sent ahead of the party meet a quick and decisive defeat, and will disengage one trap per team, at the cost of that team's lives.

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When the party enters the cave the find themselves in what appears, even to dwarven eyes to be an all natural cave. The first place team lays dead just inside the mouth of the cave crushed under a fallen rock that appears to have been a trap. The next trap is a pit of spikes, if the party was not in second place this trap is uncovered and at the bottom of the pit are the bodies of the fallen team. If the party was in second place the pit can be discovered with a passive perception DC 15. The team can simply jump to the other side of this trap. With an athletics or acrobatics check DC 10.

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Just after the pit trap is a large opening with a chest in it, if the party was insecond place this chest contains a rusty dagger (see Rusty Dagger in Appendix C, The Cave Entrance) , if the party was in third place or worse, the chest is empty.

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At the next choke point there is another trap. If the party was not in at least third place, this trap is disarmed, being a harmless pentagram in blood on the floor. An arcana check DC 12 would reveal that there once had been arcane energies here, but they disapated, the blood appears to be all that remains of the formerly third place party. If the party was in 3rd place or better, a passive perception DC 18 is enough to discover the slightly darker coloration of stone forming a ten foot in diameter pentagram.

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Anyone who steps into or attempts to jump or fly over the pentagram is transfixed and begins to float about two feet above the ground. The recieve 1d4 necrotic damage. Every 50 seconds (real world time) that they remain in the circle they recieve an additional 1d6 necrotic damage. While transfixed the player is unable to move, speak, or really do anything but float. If any team members enter the circle while that first party member is floating there they to are transfixed and recieve damage at the same cadence.

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Should a player die while caught in the trap, they and all their possessions disintigrate into nothing but blood and fall onto the pentagram. To defuse the trap one of two things needs to happen, either all creatures caught in it need to die and disentigrate or all creatures caught in it need to be removed somehow (such as poking them out using a long stick or pulling them out with a piece of rope. Once a player is removed from the boundery of the pentagram they return to normal abilities. Once there are no longer any living creatures in the circle, its magic is used up and it returns to being a simple circle on the ground.

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The final choke point of the map has a very simple trap, a pressure plate that shoots a dart at whoever steps on it. The pressure plate can be spotted with a passive perception of 16 and jumped over with an acrobatics check DC 15. Stepping on the pressure plate launches a dart which makes a ranged attack with a +8 bonus against the creature on the pressure plate (vision is irrelevant to this attack roll). A target that is hit takes 1d4 piercing damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 2d10 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

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The team then enters a large area with a chest at the northern end and a hidden stone portal. The floors in this section are a dark brown stone, the stone portal is made of the same stone, but has a think ring of black stone. Written on the stone portal in the same black stones are the words:

The portal (called a door initally) can be seen with a successful Investigation DC 21. The chest is a mimic. If the party investigates the mimic it bites the first person to stick their hand inside the chest, resulting in a spray of blood that arcs out. A single drop lands on the concealed portal. In response to this drop of blood the portal does not change in apperance, but the stone is now made of smoke and if anyone stands on it they fall through and down the slide to the Salamander's den. The portal reverts to stone as soon as they drop through. Additional drops of blood are needed for the remaining party members to pass, which they may do before, during or after the mimic fight.

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The Den of Salamanders

After jumping through the door in the cave entrance the party slides down a long icy path until they land in a new cave system. This cave again appears to be natural, perhaps "dug" by creatures to be a burrow. There are large crystals of ice jutting out from the walls at various points. In the South eastern corner there is a giant 20ft diameter column of ice. To the south west, there is a door, standing in front of the door is the Salamander of Eternal Flame. When the Salamander of Eternal flame first sees the party it will use its fire chant to melt the column of ice revealing an ice salamander and four chryogenic orcs.

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After defeating the Orcs and Salamanders the party will discover that at the far end of the cavern one of Hamnor Greatstone's doors. This door is short, about 4.5 feet tall and has a four by five grid with door knobs of different metals

Above the door the following lines are written in an arch shape.

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If a dwarf touches the door or its knobs, their hands will light on fire and the dwarf will take 1d8 fire damage per minute until they put their hands out. Attempts to force the door open result in the attack backfiring (use AC and damage of person launching the attack, redirected onto them 1/2 strength). Attempts to pick the lock on the door fail because there is no decernable place to pick said lock.

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A hint that can be given to the party, if their characters would have knowledge of it, is the traditional Dwarven folk song "Diggy Diggy Hole" which includes the lyric

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The solution to this riddle is to cut the claw off of one of the frost Salamander and one of the fire Salamander and place the cold one on the gold knob, and the hot one on the iron knob. When this action is done all of the knobs slowly disolve and then from the holes where they used to be the door starts to disolve outward to its borders, forming an archway about 4.5 feet tall and about 5 feet wide. This leads to a small room with a trap door, the door is unlocked and leads to a slide that will take the party down further into the lair of the beast.

The Lair of the Beast

The party finds finally arrives at a cliff edge that looks out over a sunken basin. The cliff is about 30 feet above the basin. The basin is covered in gold coins and rubies and gems that are mostly gathered into two piles, one about 15 feet tall and 20 feet in radius, the other about 6 feet tall and 8 feet in radius. Around the smaller pile the basin floor can be seen as it looks as though the coins around it were swept together. Atop the largest pile is a sleeping Adolescent Flame Dragon. The about three quarters of the way up the smaller pile sit the two blue diamonds that the party has been tasked with claiming. The cliff completely surrounds the basin, but there is a large bolder that has fallen on the southeast side of the cliff making it impassable, but providing a convient tieoff point for a rope. In the north east corner of the basin wall there is a doorway, roughly the size of an adolescent flame dragon with the faintest hint of daylight creeping through. In the northwest corner there is a stairwell leading down to the floor of the basin, right next to the pile of riches the dragon sleeps on.

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With a stealth score DC 8, the party is able to safely sneak their way up down onto the platform using any method of their choosing. Once on the cavern floor a stealth score DC 21, at disadvantage due to the large amounts of coins on the floor, is required to avoid waking the dragon. Waking the dragon results in it performing an Frightful Roar attack targeting the person with the lowest score.

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If the team all made the required stealth score they are able to go upto the smaller pile and attempt to claim the diamonds. Touching the diamond results in a cry of pain and the Hoard Golem who was actually the pile of gold attacks the person who touched the diamond with a Slam attack.

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The third option is that the team could attack the flame dragon first, which would result in the dragon screaming in agony and then standard combat beginning.

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Regardless of who attacks first, the noise causes the both bosses to awaken and join in the frey, but the existance of the Hoard Golem is kept secret until it first attacks.

If Successful

If the party is successful at defeating the dragon and the hoard golem, come up with a fitting epilogue about how they claimed the diamonds and returned to the entrance in time to be crowned the victors of this year's Parlay. The party claims rewards of approximately 15000 gold each (harvested from the cave), 500 platinum each (payment for the diamonds), have their names and images removed from any records that any various law enforcement orgainzations might have and recieves a series of job offers...future modules might focus on the nature of those job offers.

If Unsuccessful

If the party falls to the dragon and golem, create a fitting epilogue. If the party did minimal damage to the two bosses, tell of how every party fell to the might of the dragon and golem. If the party did sufficeint dammage to the bosses tell of how the next party walked in and found that one of the two bosses was dead, either killed by your team or by the other boss, and then the next team quickly finished off the remaining boss and claimed the title of best theives and claimed the reward.

Appendix A, Wondrous Items

Wonderous Items Table

Roll	Item
1	Bottomless Moneybag (empty)
2	Bag of Holding (empty)
3	Akimoto's Timepiece
4	Portable Hole (empty)
5	Bag of Infinite Rope
6	Goggles of Night
7	Grimforge Axe
8	Sword of Duality
9	Heimdall's Spyglass
10	Backpack of Time Dilation
11	Hand of Glory
12	Bow of Norkas the Founder

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Bottomless Moneybag

adventuring gear (wondrous item)
Category: Item
Item Rarity: Rare
Weight: 2

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This bag has an interior space considerably larger than its outside dimensions. The bag weighs 2 pounds, regardless of its contents. Only coins and gems/gem dust are able to be placed inside the bag. Retrieving items from the bag requires an action.

If the bag is pierced, torn, or if prohibited items are placed inside, it ruptures and is destroyed, and its contents are scattered in the Astral Plane. If the bag is turned inside out, its contents spill forth, unharmed, but the bag must be put right before it can be used again. If the holder knows eactly how many of each item they area attempting to pull out of the money bag, and the bag has the inventory, the coins will appear in the palm of their hand as soon as it enters the bag.

Placing a bottomless moneybag inside an extradimensional space created by a Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack, Portable Hole, or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it to a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can't be reopened.

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Bag Of Holding

adventuring gear (wondrous item)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: 15

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This bag has an interior space considerably larger than its outside dimensions, roughly 2 feet in diameter at the mouth and 4 feet deep. The bag can hold up to 500 pounds, not exceeding a volume of 64 cubic feet. The bag weighs 15 pounds, regardless of its contents. Retrieving an item from the bag requires an action.

If the bag is overloaded, pierced, or torn, it ruptures and is destroyed, and its contents are scattered in the Astral Plane. If the bag is turned inside out, its contents spill forth, unharmed, but the bag must be put right before it can be used again. Breathing creatures inside the bag can survive up to a number of minutes equal to 10 divided by the number of creatures (minimum 1 minute), after which time they begin to suffocate.

Placing a bag of holding inside an extradimensional space created by a Handy Haversack, Portable Hole, or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it to a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can't be reopened.

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Akimoto's Timepiece

adventuring gear (wondrous item)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Rare
Weight: 1

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The timepiece can be activiated to create a bubble with a radius of 35 feet around the timepiece of anti-time where the controller of the watch can determine how time reacts (slower, faster, backwards, on a loop, etc.) within the bubble. The effect lasts for five minutes of time outside the bubble. The effect ends immediately if any creature penetrates the bubble, or the timepiece leaves the bubble. Once the effect ends the timepiece will not be activateable for seven days, but will still function as a standard timepiece.

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Portable Hole

adventuring gear (wondrous item)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Rare

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This fine black cloth, soft as silk, is folded up to the dimensions of a handkerchief. It unfolds into a circular sheet 6 feet in diameter.

You can use an action to unfold a portable hole and place it on or against a solid surface, whereupon the portable hole creates an extradimensional hole 10 feet deep. The cylindrical space within the hole exists on a different plane, so it can't be used to create open passages. Any creature inside an open portable hole can exit the hole by climbing out of it.

You can use an action to close a portable hole by taking hold of the edges of the cloth and folding it up. Folding the cloth closes the hole, and any creatures or Objects within remain in the extradimensional space. No matter what's in it, the hole weighs next to nothing.

If the hole is folded up, a creature within the hole's extradimensional space can use an action to make a DC 10 Strength check. On a successful check, the creature forces its way out and appears within 5 feet of the portable hole or the creature carrying it. A breathing creature within a closed portable hole can survive for up to 10 minutes, after which time it begins to suffocate.

Placing a portable hole inside an extradimensional space created by a Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack, or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it and deposited in a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can't be reopened.

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Bag of Infinite Rope

adventuring gear, (wondrus item)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: 5

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A small bag with a short length of rope sticking out. When pulled the rope continues to come out with no apparent end. The rope is hempen and has 2 Hit Points and can be burst with a DC 17 Strength check. If the rope is cut, burst, burned, torn or in other ways broken the length outside the bag becomes standard hempen rope and the bag is forever empty. If the rope is damaged but not broken and the damaged section returned to the bag the rope is immediately returned to full health.

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Goggles Of Night

adventuring gear (wondrous item, eyes)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Uncommon

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While wearing these dark lenses, you have Darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have Darkvision. wearing the goggles increases its range by 60 feet.

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Grimforge Axe

melee weapon, (wondrus item)
Category: Items
Damage: 1d12
Damage Type: Slashing
Modifiers: Melee Attacks +2, Melee Damage +2
Properties: Heavy, Two-Handed
Item Rarity: Very Rare
Weight: 7

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You have a +2 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls made with this weapon.

When you roll a 20 with this Magic Weapon, the target takes an extra 2d6 slashing damage.

When you use this Magic Weapon against an orc or half-orc, the target takes an additional 2d10 slashing damage.

When you use this Magic Weapon against an elf or half-elf, the target takes an additional 2d8 slashing damage.

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Sword of Duality

melee weapon, (wondrus item)
Category: Items
Damage: 2d6
Damage Type: Slashing
Modifiers: Melee Attacks +2, Melee Damage +2
Properties: Heavy, Two-Handed, Duality
Item Rarity: Rare
Weight: 6

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You have a +2 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls made with this weapon.

When you roll a 20 with this Magic Weapon, the target takes an extra 1d6 of slashing damage.

When you roll a 1 with this Magic Weapon, you take 2d6 slashing damage.

Duality. Whenever a dice roll is needed for this item, double the dice are rolled and a coin is flipped. If the coin lands heads up, the higher value(s) are taken, if the coin lands tails up, the lower value(s) are taken. This effect resolves before resolving advantage/disadvantage.

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Heimdall's Spyglass

adventuring gear, (wondrus item)
Caregory: Items
Item Rarity: Rare
Weight: 5

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Objects viewed through the spyglass are magnified to 2-8 times thier normal size (adjustable).

Once per day the spyglass can be targeted to remotely view an area, item or creature up to 20 miles away. Once the target for remote viewing has been set, the user may view the target a total of three times that day. Each viewing lasts for about 30 seconds. When targeting the spyglass the user must be able to specifically state what they wish to view or the spyglass might show the wrong thing. If the target is not within 20 miles at the time of the viewing, or does not exisit, the user will see static. When the target is being viewed the spyglass will automatically move to point in the direction of the target.

Example: Saying "Show me Mr. Baggins." might show Frodo, or Bilbo, or one of the Sackville Baggins. But "Show me Mr. Frodo Baggins of Bag End, wherever he may be" would show Mr. Frodo Baggins, wherever he happened to be at that moment, provided he was within 20 miles. If Mr. Frodo Baggins were recently dead and within range, the spyglass would show his corpse, but if he were long dead it would show static.

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Backpack of Time Dilation

adventuring gear (container), (wondrus item)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Rare
Weight: 5

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Like a standard backpack it can hold one cubic foot or 30 pounds of gear. You can also strap items, such as a Bedroll or a coil of rope, to the outside of the backpack. When the backpack is sealed shut, time passes 30 times slower on the inside than it does on the outside. If the bag is overloaded, pierced, or torn, it ruptures and is destroyed.

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Hand of Glory

adventuring gear, (wondrus item)
Category: Items
Item Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: 5

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A lit torch or candle placed inside the hand of glory produces light that is only visible to the holder of the hand and those in direct contact with them.

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Bow of Norkas the Founder

ranged weapon (wondrus item)
Category: Items
Damage: 1d8
Damage Type: Piercing
Modifiers: Ranged Attacks +2, Ranged Damage +2
Properties: Heavy, Range, Two-Handed
Range: 150/600
Item Rarity: Very Rare
Weight: 2

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You have a +2 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls made with this weapon.

When you roll a 20 with this Magic Weapon, the target takes an extra 1d6 piercing damage.

When you use this Magic Weapon against an orc or half-orc, the target takes an additional 1d10 piercing damage.

When you use this Magic Weapon against an dwarf, the target takes an additional 1d8 piercing damage.

Ammunition: You can use a weapon that has the Ammunition property to make a ranged Attack only if you have Ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you Attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of Ammunition. Drawing the Ammunition from a Quiver, case, or other container is part of the Attack. At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended Ammunition by taking a minute to Search the battlefield.

If you use a weapon that has the Ammunition property to make a melee Attack, you treat the weapon as an Improvised Weapon. A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.

Appendix B, The Early Rounds

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Events Options

Roll	Event	Skill
1	Hide and Seek (Two competitors/Team)	Stealth (Hide)/Perception (Seek)
2	Lock Picking	Sleight of Hand
3	Poison Drinking	Con Saving
4	Dagger Throwing	Attack Roll
5	Alibi Making	Deception
6	Code Breaking	Insight
7	Bomb Defusing	Sleight of Hand
8	Trap Disarming	Sleight of Hand
9	Goblin Scaring	Intimidation
10	Blade Dodge	Acrobatics
11	Wound Healing	Medicine and/or Use Healing Spell
12	Find the Shiny	Investigation
13	Create a Distraction	Performance
14	Bypass the Guard Dog	Animal Handling
15	Poison Making	Medicine or Survival
16	The Cieling Cling	Athletics
17	Ancient Artifact Identification	History
18	Asking for First Place	Persuasion
19	Pick Pocketing the Orc	Sleight of Hand
20	Camoflauge	Stealth

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City Guard Captain

Medium Half-Elf, lawful neutral

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• Armor Class 17 (scale mail)
• Hit Points 91(14d8 + 28)
• Speed 30 ft.
• Initiative +2

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	11 (+0)	15 (+2)

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• Skills Perception +2
• Senses Passive Perception 12; Darkvision 60ft
• Condition Immunities Charmed
• Languages Common, Elvish
• Challenge 4 (450 XP)

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Tactical Insight. The city watch captain has advantage on initative rolls. Clockwork Guardians under the captain's command take their turns on the same initative count as the captain.

Prejudice. If the city watch captain sees a dwarf during combat he will focus all of his rage and efforts on apprehending the dwarf, ignoring other non-dwarf combatents to do so if necessary.

Actions

Multiattack. The city watch captian makes two rapier attacks and one daggar attack. The captain can subsitute a disarming attack for one rapier attack.

Rapier. Melee Weapon Attack +6 to hit (reach 5 ft; one creature). Hit: 1d6+3 piercing damage.

Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit (reach 5ft or range 20/60 ft. one target) Hit: 1d4+3 piercing damage.

Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 1d8+3 piercing damage.

Disarming Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft. one target. Hit: the target must make a successful DC 13 Strength saving throw or drop one item its holding of the city watch captain's choice. The item lands up to 10 feet from the target ina spot selected by the captain.

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Clockwork Kronandor Guardian

Medium consruct, unaligned

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• Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 55(10d8 + 10)
• Speed 30 ft.
• Initiative +1

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)	5 (-3)	10 (+0)	1 (-5)

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• Saving Throws Con+3
• Skills Athletics +4, Perception +4
• Senses Passive Perception 14; Darkvision 60ft
• Damage Immunities poison, psychic
• Condition Immunities Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
• Languages Common
• Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

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Immutable Form. The machine is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.

Magic Resistance. The machine has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Programmed Intolerance. The Clockwork Guardian is programed to be distrustful of Dwarves and will follow and harrass them even when they are not breaking any laws. The Guardian will continue this harassment even to the point of neglecting its other duties.

Actions

Halberd. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 1d10+2 slashing damage.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target Hit: 1d6+2 bludgeoning damage.

Net Cannon. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 5/15ft., one target, size Large or smaller. Hit: the target is restrained. A mechanism within the clockwrok Guardian's chest can fire a net with a 20foot trailing cabled anchored within the guardian's chest. A creature can free itself (or another creature) from the net by using its action to make a successful DC10 Strenth check or by dealing 5 slashing damage to the net at AC10. The guardian can fire up to four nets before it must be reloaded.

Appendix C, The Cave Entrance

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Rusty Dagger

melee weapon (simple, dagger)
Category: Items
Damage: 1d4
Damage Type: Piercing
Modifiers: Melee Attacks -2, Damage +2
Properties: Light, Finesse, Range
Item Rarity: Standard
Weight: 1

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You have a -2 penalty to Attack Rolls and a +2 bonus to Damage Rolls made with this weapon.

When you roll a 1 with this Weapon, or attempt to throw it, the weapon shatters.

When hit with this weapon the target must succeed on a DC 15 Con saving throw or be petrified and take 1d10 poison damage, or half damage on successful save (petrification only applied on failed save).

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Mimic

Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral

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• Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 58(9d8 + 18)
• Speed 15 ft.
• Initiative +1

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	12 (+1)	15 (+2)	5 (-3)	13 (+1)	8 (-1)

---

• Skills Steath +5
• Senses Passive Perception 11; Darkvision 60ft
• Damage Immunities acid
• Condition Immunities prone
• Languages -
• Challenge 2 (450 XP)

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Shapechanger. The mimic can use its action to polymorph into an object or back into its true, amorphous form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn 't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Adhesive (Object Form Only). The mimic adheres to anything that touches it. A Huge or smaller creature adhered to the mimic is also grappled by it (escape DC 13). Ability checks made to escape this grapple have disadvantage.

False Appearance (Object Form Only). While the mimic remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary object.

Grappler. The mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it.

Actions

Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage. If the mimic is in object form, the target is subjected to its Adhesive trait.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) acid damage.

Appendix D, The Salamanders Den

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Salamander of the Eternal Flame

Large elemental, neutral evil

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• Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 90(12d10 + 24)
• Speed 30 ft.
• Initiative +2

---

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	11 (+0)	11 (+0)	12 (+1)

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• Damage Vulnerabilities When not at full health: cold
• Damage Immunities fire, when at full health: cold
• Damage Resistances blugeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
• Senses Passive Perception 10; Darkvision 60ft
• Languages Ignan, Understands Primoridal, Aqquan, Auran, Cryogon, and Terran
• Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

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Heated Body. A creature that touches the salamander or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.

Heated Weapons. Any metal melee weapon the salamander wields deals an extra 3 (1d6) fire damage on a hit (included in the attack).

Actions

Multiattack. The salamander either makes one attack with its fire chant or two attacks: one with its spear and one with its tail.

Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20 ft./60ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage, or 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack, plus 3 (1d6) fire damage.

Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. , one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, the salamander can automatically hit the target with its tail, and the salamander can't make tail attacks against other targets.

Fire Chant (Recharge 6). Ranged Spell Attack: DC 15 Dex, range 150ft, 10ft radius sphere Hit: The Salamander chants "Fire Fire Fire" in Ignan and a bright streak flashes to a point within range and erupts into a sphere of flame. Each creature within the sphere must make a Dex saving throw. A target takes 5d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. The fire spreads around corners. It ignites flammable objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried and melts ice on contact.

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Ice Salamander

Large elemental, neutral evil

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• Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 78(12d8 + 24)
• Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
• Initiative +2

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
11 (+0)	15 (+2)	14 (+2)	7 (-2)	12 (+1)	8 (-1)

---

• Skills Perception +2, Stealth +5
• Senses Passive Perception 14; Darkvision 60ft
• Damage Immunities Cold, when at full health: fire
• Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
• Damage Vulnerabilities when not at full health: fire
• Languages Cryogon, Understands Primordial, Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran
• Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

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Cold Aura. A creature that starts its turn within 20 feet of the frost salamander, must make a DC 13 Consitution saving throw, taking 9 (2d8) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Ice Walker. A frost salamander’s feet have perfect grip on icy surfaces. It ignores and penalties or disadvantage to Strength and Dexterity checks or saving throws for being on a slippery surface when it is on ice. It can climb ice surfaces, such as a glacier wall or even ceiling without needing to make an ability check.

Actions

Multiattack. The salamander makes one ice wall attack or three melee attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage plus 2 (1d4) cold damage.

Ice Wall (Recharge 6). Ranged Spell Attack: range 150ft, 20ft line. Hit: The Salamander chants "Ice, Ice, Ice" in Cryogon and a white cloud moves to the target area and creates a wall 25 feet tall of ice. Cannot target living creatures.

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Cryogenic Orc

Medium Humanoid (Orc), chaotic evil

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• Armor Class 16 (chain mail)
• Hit Points 66(8d8 + 30)
• Speed 30 ft.
• Initiative +1

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	12 (+1)	18 (+4)	11 (+0)	11 (+0)	16 (+3)

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• Saving Throws Str +6, Con +6, Wis +2
• Skills Intimidation +5
• Senses Passive Perception 10; Darkvision 60ft
• Damage Resistances Cold, Fire
• Languages Common, Orc, Understands Primoridal, Aquan, Auran, Cryogon, Ignan, and Terran
• Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

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Aggressive. As a bonus action, the ore can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.

Frozen Fury. The orc deals an extra 4 (ld8) cold damage when it hits with a weapon attack (not included in the attacks listed below).

Actions

Greataxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (1d12 + 4) slashing damage.

Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage, or 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Cryogon

Cryogon is the ancient language of Ice. Much like Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran it is a dialect of Primoridal that can be understood by a speaker of the other primordial languages. Crygon is noted for its short hard rigid sounds and cold tone when spoken. (Somewhere between tlhIngan Hol and Goa'uld)

Appendix E, The Lair of the Beast

Far to large to be a young dragon, but not big enough to be an adult the Adolescent Flame Dragon is a young hip and innovative dragon. While his ancestors were content to try and kill those who would steal their treasure themselves, the adolescent flame dragon instead opted to automate the job of guarding his hoard. Working tirelessly on nights and weekends in his parents lair he completed his prized possesion, the Hoard Golem. Now his treasure would gaurd itself, leaving him free to pursue such delights as avocado toast.

Equiped with this tool he set out and ammassed a small fortune of his own. As the dragon's hoard grew, so grew the size and power of the golem. Fortunately for the adolescent flame dragon, the dragon was wise as well as smart and designed a fatal flaw into the golem should it ever try to turn against its master. The golem would forever fear the breath of the flame dragon.

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Adolescent Flame Dragon

Large Dragon, chaotic evil

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• Armor Class 18 (natural armour)
• Hit Points 161(17d10 + 68)
• Speed 40 ft., climb 40ft., fly 80ft.
• Initiative +2

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	14 (+2)	21 (+5)	16 (+3)	13 (+1)	19 (+4)

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• Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +10, Wis +6, Cha +9
• Skills Deception +9, Insight +6, Perception +10, Persuasion +9, Stealth +5
• Senses Passive Perception 20; Darkvision 120ft; Blindsight 45ft
• Damage Immunities Fire
• Languages Common, Draconic, Ignan, Giant, Infernal, Orc
• Challenge 10 (7000 XP)

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Legendary Resistance (1/Day). If the dragon fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Fire Incarnate. All fire damage dealt by the dragon ignores fire resistance, but not fire immunity.

Actions

Multiattack. The dragon can use its Frightful Roar. It then makes one bite attack and two claw attacks.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 3) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.

Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage.

Frightful Roar. One creature of the dragon’s choice that is within 120 feet of the dragon and aware of it must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A frightened creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the dragon’s Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.

Fire Breath (Recharge 5–6). The dragon exhales fire in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area takes 59 (17d6) fire damage, or half damage with a successful DC 17 Dexterity saving throw.

Legendary Actions

The dragon can take 2 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The dragon regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Tail Attack. The dragon makes a tail attack.

Wing Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon beats its wings. Each creature within 15 feet of the dragon must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. The dragon can then fly up to half its flying speed.

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Hoard Golem

Huge Construct, unaligned

---

• Armor Class 18 (natural armour)
• Hit Points 161(14d12 + 70)
• Speed 40 ft.
• Initiative +2

---

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
22 (+6)	15 (+2)	20 (+5)	3 (-4)	11 (+0)	1 (-5)

---

• Saving Throws Con +9
• Skills Athletics +10, Perception +4
• Senses Passive Perception 14; Darkvision 120ft
• Damage Immunitites poison, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine
• Condition Immunities Charmed, exhausted, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
• Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
• Languages Understands Draconic and Ignan, but cannot speak
• Challenge 11 (7500 XP)

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Strike with Awe. Creatures within 120 feet of an immobile hoard golem suffer disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks. A creature’s sheer glee on discovering a vast hoard of treasure distracts it from its surroundings.

Immutable Form. The golem is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.

Magic Resistance. The golem has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The golem’s weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

Multiattack. The golem makes two slam attacks.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 39 (6d10 + 6) bludgeoning damage.

Thieving Whirlwind (Recharge 5–6). The hoard golem transforms into a 20-foot radius whirlwind of the treasures of which it is composed. In this form, it has immunity to all slashing and piercing damage. As a whirlwind, it can enter other creatures’ spaces and stop there. Every creature in a space the whirlwind occupies must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, a target takes 40 (6d10 + 7) bludgeoning damage and the whirlwind removes the most valuable visible item on the target, excluding worn armor. If the saving throw is successful, the target takes half the bludgeoning damage and retains all possessions. The golem can remain in whirlwind form for up to 3 rounds, until five targets suceed on saving throws or it can transform back to its normal form on any of its turns as a bonus action.

Appendix F, Special Thanks

The author wishes to extend his thanks to his loyal group of play testers, The No Fail Gang. Without them bringing him into the world of D&D this guide would not exist. A specific call out goes to Dzungan, who inspired both the author's and this work's absolute distaste for everything dwarven. The author also wishes to thank his many nerdy friends who read over this quest before he let the No Fail Gang play it.

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The author further wishes to thank www.Roll20.net, the site he built all of the maps on, www.DNDBeyond.com, where he created playtested various character atributes, www.naturalcrit.com, the site where this guide was written, and www.kobold.club, who provided the research on appropriate encounter difficulties.

Attributions

In this section are attributions that I for one reason or another did not put on the page where the item was first used. My failure to include an attribuition here is not intended to discredit the people who's work I used as a jumping point, it merely shows how forgetful I am sometimes. In places where for the sake of this document I have copied verbatum someone elses work, it is only included here with the intent of making it easier to reference. I have made no money off of this work.

Title Page

The image from the title page is titled "PA Waterfalls in Fall, Ricketts Glen State Park, PA" and is taken from www.colbybrownphotography.com This site has a bunch of amazing photographs. I highly recommend seeing his work.

Maps

The City Walls and The Lair of the Beast

These maps were original creations created using the tool suite at Roll20.

The Cave Entrance and Salamander's Den

The basic outline for the cave entrance map and the Salamnder's Den map was taken from Saving Thrower's deviant art page: https://www.deviantart.com/savingthrower/art/ using the suite of tools at Roll20, I added the various traps, doors and items that were called out on their map pages.

Items

The vast majority of items in this document are original creations based loosely on items found in the Player's and Dungeon Master's handbook. The following items were directly taken from existing D&D Lore and as such belong to Wizards of the Coast:

• Goggles of Night
• Portable Hole
• Bag of Holding

  Encounters

  The City Guard

  The City Guard Captain and Clockwork Kronandor Guardian are based on the City Watch Captian and Clockwork Watchman found on pages 419 and 65 respectively of the Tome of Beasts written by Dan Dillon, Chris Harris, Rodrigo Garcia Carmona, and Wolfgang Baur and published by Kobold Press. On the page describing the stats of the Clockwork Kronandor Guardian I also used the image of the Clockwork Watchman from The Tome Of Beasts.

  Mimic

  The Micic was taken in its entirety from page 220 of the Monster Manual published by Wizards of the Coast.

  The Salamanders Den

  The Salamander of the Eternal Flame and Cryogenic Orc are based on the Salamander and Orc War Chief found on pages 266 and 246 of the Monster Manual published by Wizards of the Coast. The Frost Salamader is based on the Frost Salamander found on page 100 of the Critter Compendium, written by Tobias Beis and published by DM Guild.

  Adolescent Flame Dragon

  The adolescent flame dragon is based on both the adult flame dragon, found on page 129 and the young flame dragon found on page 130 of the Tome of Beasts written by Dan Dillon, Chris Harris, Rodrigo Garcia Carmona, and Wolfgang Baur and published by Kobold Press.

  Hoard Golem

  The hoard golem is based on the Hoard Golem found on page 234 of the Tome of Beasts written by Dan Dillon, Chris Harris, Rodrigo Garcia Carmona, and Wolfgang Baur and published by Kobold Press.

Farewell

This is my second time writing a one shot, it is my goal to improve with each one that I make. I hope that this quest will bring someone else as much joy as the task of writing it has brought me. Thank you.

The custom creations within this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

PS, F!ck Dwarves.