RECOMMENDED LEVEL

As an investigation-style quest, in theory this could be run at any level, but level 3 is my
recommendation. You may alter the difficulty by altering the numbers of the foreman's inner
circle and thus altering the number of hostile creatures within the mine, or by lowering the
hitpoints of the creatures within, as they are mere fledglings.

THE SECRET

As Ythryn fell, centuries ago, a pod growing a clone of High Necromancer Cadavix came loose
and plummeted into the Dale. It cracked on impact, killing the clone before maturity, and
embedded itself deep into a hill between what is now known as Termalaine and Kelvin’s Cairn.
As years passed, and the ground shifted, the pod found itself buried within a small cavern.

Centuries later, the miners in Termalaine were digging new shafts to try and find new gem veins.
A pair of miners broke through a cave wall and were struck by what they saw: a natural cavern
dominated by a glittering egg made of crystal, inside a strange translucent humanoid figure.

They rang the evacuation bell and summoned the foreman. While the miners evacuated, unsure
what the danger was, a small group, led by the foreman, intended to break up the gorgeous
luminescent crystal into gems and sell for a profit, in the meantime evacuating everyone else
and closing the mine under the guise of it being unsafe.

Unfortunately, as they worked they began to notice changes. After centuries, the High
Necromancer's clone had begun the decay which would release the arcane blight. Before long,
the miners turned on each other, and those who weren't murdered in a paranoid spiral began to
succumb to the disease, making the agonising transformation into insane nothics.

BACKGROUND

Termalaine, though beautiful and industrious, an aspiring rival to the other Big Three of the Ten
Towns, is a town divided. Dozens of miners are out of work, as the main mine shaft is closed.
Only an old mine nearer the town, almost entirely exhausted of gems, still runs, and there's not
enough work or money for everyone. The Speaker is nowhere to be seen, and some of the
miners are beginning to talk about how they need a change in leadership around here.

This quest is not one to just be handed to the players, it's something they should have to dig
out. In Termalaine, right now, there is very little trust.

INFORMATION

This is what the people of Ten Towns know about the situation in the mine. Bribes, charisma and
insight checks can be used to gather this information as appropriate, but indiscreet characters
may find themselves in compromising situations. The players shouldn’t receive all this
information at once, eke it out as they ask questions.
 ● Termalaine has two mine shafts - an older shaft, which served the town well for decades
before finally being exhausted of gems, and a newer shaft, cut just before the Rime hit,
which is much richer and fresher.
● Both mines have the unfortunate feature of being linked to the Underdark, so have a
tendency to close from time to time due to danger (use this as an opportunity to create
fear and tension: have a miner tell a story of a Grell paralysing a whole cavern of
miners). What’s unusual this time is that the reason for the shutdown isn’t clear, and the
foreman and some miners have stayed on-site and not left. Usually, when the mine shuts
down due to dangerous creatures, if it's something small like kobolds, brave miners will
receive a stipend for arming up and venturing in to clear them out, but for bigger
problems like Grells, adventurers and sellswords are hired. This time however, the
political sentiment in Termalaine has turned against Speaker Oarus Masthew, and he is
unable to muster up the manpower necessary to investigate the mine.
● Foreman Forda Harraway is a respected human woman who serves as the primary
foreman for Termalaine’s new mine shaft. She has lived in Termalaine and mined her
whole life. She has a group of seven friends among the miners who act as her de facto
lieutenants. It’s not a publicised or official thing, so it’s unlikely a single person will know
everyone on this list, but they are: half-elf Menkel Bladeless, half-elf Ovul Chon, human
Brin Ruknatsk, gnome Bezeuth von Deeb, dwarf Mari Flatsteam, earth genasi Sod
Sascagan, and half orc Grorgersk. Miners may suggest one or two of these names as
people being known to be close with her. None have been seen in days.
● Forda has a son, Arno. He is mute, usually rambunctious, and Forda is very fond of him.
She adopted him. He is an orphan from the Wolf tribe of Reghed barbarians, though this
last fact is not well-publicised.
● Forda and Arno are the only permanent residents who live just outside the mine, though
there is a barracks for miners to stay short-term. Forda’s residence has a large living
space she uses to entertain her friends and visitors.
● Jillia Feldspar is a dwarven jewelry-crafter who runs a store simply called Feldspar,
which specialises in turning the tourmalines from the mines into art pieces and jewelry.
Her prices are very high, but so is her quality. Jillia has no family in Termalaine, and
originally came from the Dwarven Valley. She is a respected artisan and is generally
well-liked, if thought to be intimidatingly up-market for the humble Termalainers. Her
shop has been closed for 8 days, and she hasn’t been seen. Secretly, on behalf of
Foreman Harraway, Oarus sent her up to the mine.
● Foreman Harraway has sent the speaker two letters via her son Arno, operating as
messenger. The Speaker is currently in possession of these. All that’s generally known
about the contents is that the foreman is still working on the problem.
● The Speaker was talking to the common folk at the Blue Clam 3 days ago, trying to calm
the panic - after drinking heavily he came down very unwell - his enemies have accused
him of being a drunk, but his supporters insist that something suspicious was going on.
He has not been seen since then.

SOURCES

These are places in Termalaine where players may be led in their quest for information.
TOWN HALL

A small office, only a few rooms. The only person here is an elderly human clerk, named Elka
Verryt.

She has been instructed by Speaker Masthew to keep dangerous people away from him, but a
successful DC14 Charisma check (Persuasion or Deception) can be used to convince her that
the party mean well and only want to help. Advantage can be gained on the check if the
speakers make clear they are NOT from Targos or Lonelywood, or otherwise have a good
reputation around Ten Towns.

If the check is passed, she directs the characters to go to the bathhouse known as Sune's
Comfort and ask for the 'Executive Special'. Otherwise, she regretfully informs that party that
Speaker Masthew is very busy, and the best she can do is deliver him a message.

THE OLD MINE

The Old Mine is a short walk from town, 10 minutes up the road and 5 minutes into the forest.

A small group of miners are consigned to work the old mine to keep the town afloat, but
emphasise how tiny and worthless the geodes they are pulling from the walls are.

Gnome foreman Chermani Goldgreem is running a tight ship despite terrible conditions. She is
young but has the eye of Foreman Harraway, and sees this as an opportunity to prove herself.
She was not working on the day the mine closed, but figures someone working today probably
was, and if the party is quick they can ask questions.

She’s right: Gerg Holmdun is a blue dragonborn - he was the last person to leave the mine on
the day it closed. He explains the mine has three levels, an entry level, a level below, and a
level above, connected by a series of rope bucket lifts. He was alone, prospecting for new veins
on the lower level, when he heard the alarm bell ringing from above - he ran to the bucket lift but
it was all the way at the top - emphasise his fear and panic - anything could have come up from
the Underdark, and he was afraid to shout out lest he be killed. Eventually he worked up the
courage and the bucket was lowered to him: He saw Foreman Harraway, Menkel Bladeless
lowering the bucket, and Mari Flatsteam ringing the alarm bell. Seeing they were still there, he
offered to stay and help, but Foreman Harraway told him to leave.

THE BLUE CLAM

The large tavern known as the Blue Clam (specialising in spiced chowder) is almost full, and
seating a party of any larger than 3 will be impossible without some awkward arrangements.

The disgruntled proprietor, Vernon Braig, will explain: The miners, out of work and fed up, are
coming in and buying the cheapest thing they can (a weak knucklehead broth for 2 copper
pieces a bowl) and taking up space for hours, even days, putting off other customers.
Among the miners, discontent can be heard - the Speaker is to blame, he’s alcoholic, he’s a
coward, he’s shirking his duty, why hasn’t the mine been sorted out, how dare he ask the miners
to go in and sort it out when it’s so dangerous, why is he hiding, etc. Verisimilitude is a Tiefling
miner and rabble-rouser, and is at the centre of most of these denouncements, proclaiming that
something should be done. In the event of a special election for the Speakership of Termalaine,
he’s a strong candidate and has a lot of local support.

There are two Targosian spies placed among the miners - Holvan and Fleem - their job is to
report back to Targos and encourage strong-willed people like Verisimilitude to speak out
against the inaction of the Speaker, stirring up political agitation. Holvan undertook an
assassination attempt on Oarus via poisoning three days ago, but Oarus survived - the aim was
that the death of the Speaker would trigger an election and someone more receptive to the
influence of Targos could be elected in his place.

SUNE'S COMFORT

Ellienne Silverbalm, the proprietor, is a tall moon elf with a curly mass of red hair - she reads
novels in Elvish to pass the time. Sune’s Comfort is a sauna, hotspring, and bathhouse - there is
a public area which costs 5sp an hour and private rooms which go for 2GP an hour minimum,
as well as a lengthy list of extras (massages, balms, exfoliating scrubs, etc.)

In happier times, when tourism to Termalaine is booming, Sune’s Comfort is a luxury treat for
wealthy travellers. Since the Rime, unlike other tourist attractions in Termalaine, the bathhouse
still keeps afloat as the geothermal vents provide respite from the cold - a short rest within the
bathhouse can remove 1 level of exhaustion caused by extreme cold per day.

If she is asked for the ‘executive special’, she hands them woolen robes and takes them through
a room with locked chests - the party is to strip and put their goods in a chest, which she will
then lock and hand them a key for on a leather string. She then takes them through to see
Oarus.

Oarus Masthew fears another assassination attempt, either via the troublemakers in Targos or a
hired one from any of the former assassins living in Lonelywood. To this end, he now conducts
business from a sauna within Sune's Comfort (to see that no one is carrying hidden weapons) -
he pays Ellienne well to keep this secret, and pays her extra on the occasions he needs to use
her bedroom as an office. He originally came to the bathhouse to recover from his poisoned ale,
and has not left since. He is constantly light-headed and sweaty. He avoids talking about the
political situation as much as possible so as not to appear paranoid and maintain some dignity.

If he determines the party to be helpful and well-meaning he will ask them to investigate the
mine. If the mine is open again, he will be able to rest easy, as much of the tension in
Termalaine will dissipate, and he will be able to hire some bodyguards from Lonelywood.

In his locked chest outside, he has a mass of papers, including two letters from the Foreman.

LETTER 1 (received 9 days ago)

 Speaker Masthew,

I regret to inform you that the mine continues to be unsafe, but we are in the process of
restoring full operational capacity. I must urge you to let no miner return to work at the
current site.

Instead, use the old mine - I know the pickings there have been slim for years, but I
understand that the town requires work to continue existing. In my stead I appoint
Chermani Goldgreem as temporary foreman for the old site.

However I must request that you, with the utmost secrecy, send Jillia Feldspar up to
meet with me. Tomorrow if possible. She may be the key to cracking this thing wide
open.

Foreman Harraway.

LETTER 2 (received 4 days ago)

Speaker.
Still no safety yet. We're a long way off.
Keep digging at the old shafts.
You'll hit a new vein soon. I feel it in my bones.

Foreman Harraway.

The handwriting in Letter 2 has deteriorated considerably. A DC 12 Insight check can determine
that the writer is the same person, but under severe mental or physical distress.

Ellienne is hiding not one, but two people in the steamy backrooms of Sune’s Comfort. Ovul
Chon, a half-elf, is one of the two miners who broached the cavern first. Within 24 hours, she
began feeling sick and paranoid, and returned to town on the promise to the others that she’d
keep hidden. Ovul, an occasional lover of Ellienne, knows her to be tight-lipped and discreet,
and she is. Oarus has seen Ovul in the halls once or twice, but doesn’t know who she is, other
than she has been here more than one day, and he has seen her and Ellienne whispering
together.

Ellienne knows nothing about the situation in the mine, other than the fact that Ovul came out
looking unwell but has since recovered.

Ovul, if interrogated, remains tight lipped but is privately concerned for the safety of her fellow
miners and friends. She is torn - she doesn’t want the gem plan exposed but she doesn’t want
harm to come to them either. She knows of the discovery of the egg and the plan to sell the
parts as gems, but not of the subsequent transformations and deaths. She hopes her sickness
was nothing more than a regular bout of illness, but is beginning to have doubts. She, thanks to
the healing properties of the water here, has managed to overcome her disease.
THE NEW CAMP

If players decide to investigate the mine, it’s a well-signposted 30 minute walk from Termalaine,
and a 5 minute walk off-road into forest, where they can see four buildings in a diamond shape
outside the dark mine shaft. Reference the map in Appendix 1.

A Survival check attempting to track the movements of people here can reveal the following, on
DC thresholds of 10, 12, 14 and 16.

● A mass evacuation occurred around 10 days ago, and no more than 10 people have
been in the area since then.
● 8 days ago, furniture was dragged out of THE BARRACKS (N3) into the mine shaft.
● The footsteps of a small humanoid linger around at the edges of the site, leading off into
the woods - these can be followed to ARNO (N5).
● The most recent footsteps, 3 days ago, lead out of the mine shaft into the FOREMAN’S
HOUSE (N4). The small footsteps entered here one day ago, then exited again.

N1 - OUTPOST

Diagonally opposite the shaft entrance, to the South, cart tracks lead from the entrance to this
free-standing roof structure. It is used to store minecarts and gems for hauling back to
Termalaine.

There appear to be leather harnesses for some kind of pack animal attached to small road
carts.

Chalk scratchings on a wooden board seem to record shipments of gems coming and going, but
it hasn’t been used in nearly a month and the chalk has faded. The carts are in decent
condition, but there is not a gem in sight.

N2 - MESS HALL

To the East, a raised building. Inside, a hall with long tables, and a window and door through to
an adjoining kitchen.

The kitchen pantry is bare of supplies, but there are facilities for cooking for a medium sized
group. In the kitchen, there is a back door leading outside. Out the back, near a frozen
water-trough, there are the butchered remains of two large creatures.

Varying levels of success (DC 10,12,15,and 20) on a check in Medicine, Investigation, Survival,
or Perception can reveal any combination of the following facts:

● The creatures are axe beaks.

● Axe beaks are far more valued for their transport use than their meat - to eat them must
be an act of desperation.
 ● The pantry inside is surprisingly small: at full stock, could only contain enough food for
15 people over 3 days.
● The axe beaks had their skulls crushed by a heavy blow. They were then stripped of
flesh at the same time. This was 3 or 4 days ago.
● Two bloody hammers have been buried in the snow nearby.
● Some of the blood on the ground is not the dark red, almost purple of an axe beak, but
looks like bright red humanoid or animal blood.
● The first axe beak was butchered quite cleanly - the entrails were removed and buried
nearby in the snow, and the meat was competently taken from bone. The second was
more frantic and desperate. It looks like a Medium-sized creature gnawed on the bones,
and all the entrails are gone, and the meat has been ripped off in chunks.

What happened here: two miners, as the stolen supplies dwindled low, came out to slaughter
the axe beaks for food, figuring that once they’re rich they could just buy more. As one took their
time butchering cleanly, the other, paranoid of being watched, urged them to hurry. A fight broke
out, and one miner fled after receiving a nasty scratch. The other miner savagely tore apart the
axe beak and also fled into the mine. Arno witnessed this confrontation from a hiding spot.

N3 - BARRACKS

To the West - a single-roomed long building, with hearths at either end. There are sleeping cots
with heavy blankets, and unlocked chests at the end of each bed.

At the West end of the room, there is space for about 7 more cots, but they are not there. A DC
15 investigation check reveals recent scratch marks in the wooden floor, like furniture was
moved in the past 10 days.

Cursory investigation of the room may turn up personal items of miners who left and didn’t quite
grab everything - clothing, small tools, d100 copper and d20 silver pieces, trinkets, love letters,
etc.

By the door there is an inkwell, a quill, and a logbook - the kind used for signing in and out. A
DC 12 investigation check will reveal that the last signout was GERG HOLMDUN, 9 days ago. 7
miners have not signed out:

MENKEL BLADELESS
OVUL CHON
BRIN RUKNATSK
BEZEUTH VON DEEB
MARI FLATSTEAM
SOD SASCAGAN
GRORGERSK

N4 - FOREMAN'S HOUSE
This is a quaint two-storey cottage, made of wood, at the North side of the site near the mine
entrance.

One door leads in on the ground floor: inside, a central living space, three doors leading off, and
a set of stairs leading up.

The living space has a hearth, comfortable armchairs, and a large table with seating for 8. The
table has some dice and 3d12 silver pieces scattered over it. One of the dice is a Charlatan’s
Die, attuned to Menkel Bladeless.

The door nearest the front leads to a spare bedroom: A double bed, a hearth, and some chests
with some spare mining clothes tucked inside. There is a fine layer of dust - this room does not
see a lot of use.

The second door leads to a child’s bedroom - Arno Harraway’s. It’s seen use, recently, in the
last 5 days or so. Among his things are child-sized clothes, a stuffed bugbear with buttons for
eyes, and a necklace made of wolf teeth (a memento from his Reghed heritage).

The third room, under the stairs, is a washroom.

The stairs lead up to a cramped landing with two doors facing each other, North and South. It is
dark. Light, or darkvision, reveals on the Northern door, scratched into the wood:

ARNO, GO AWAY.
GO SOMEWHERE SAFE.
DON’T COME IN.
MUM IS SORRY.

This door has been blocked from the other side: a combined strength of 20 is necessary to open
it. Once in, they are confronted with a horrifying sight:

A body, the corpse of a human, dangles from a noose strung over the rafters, bloated and
contorted. Varying levels of success on Medicine, Perception, Investigation, or Arcana checks
reveal the following:

● Her left eye is puckered shut, her face twisted to one side.
● Inspection of the left eye reveals the eyeball has atrophied to the size of a small pebble.
● The other eye is engorged, bulbous, with an iris of bright green, perhaps double the size
of what an eyeball should be.
● Her fingernails are long, hard, and have blood and splinters of wood beneath them.
● Her hands look unnaturally elongated, and twisted into an uncomfortable resting position
- it’s unclear if this is rigor mortis or something else.
● Her hair is bedraggled and falling out of her scalp. Clumps of it lie on the floor scattered
around the room, suggesting it was happening before death.
 ● In her clasped hand is a tiny scrimshaw figurine of a small boy: the letter ‘A’ is carved
into his boot.
● This occurred no more than 3 days ago, but it’s hard to tell with this level of cold.
● There doesn’t appear to be signs of any struggle - a stool is kicked beneath her feet and
the rope is securely tied to the rafters.
● This kind of deformation doesn’t seem like any known disease.
● The byproducts of magical accidents, or deliberate arcane attempts to mould the flesh of
living beings are the only cause of these kinds of deformities that come to mind.

This is Foreman Harraway - she had succumbed to the Arcane Blight and was partway through
her transformation into a nothic.

A note on the side table says (in atrocious handwriting, matching the last letter sent to Oarus):

They’ve gone. I’m next. I dare not even draw my knife lest I catch glimpse of my
reflection in the blade. Frostmaiden, my boy will be all alone. I pray he has the
endurance to resist your cruelty. Preserve him, please.

An investigation of the room reveals clothing, modest and humble, and a few personal trinkets.
Heavy chests had been pushed in place to block the door.

The Southern door leads to an office - there are shelves and stationery items in here, but on the
desk and up the wall is a large scorch mark, and in the corner a search reveals a badly burned
blanket. A DC 12 Investigation check concludes that someone tried and succeeded, rather
recklessly, in burning all the documents in here, then crudely smothering the flame with a
blanket. (It was Foreman Harraway, in her paranoid state.)

N5 - ARNO

In a small makeshift shelter in the woods, not far from the mining camp, dwells Arno Harraway.

Thirteen years old (but looks nine or ten) he is the mute adopted son of Foreman Harraway, of
former Reghed ancestry. Harraway found him as a baby, frail, abandoned in a snow drift to die,
and raised him as her own. His health recovered, his frostbitten tongue did not.

He is chilled to the bone - he currently has two levels of exhaustion, but he is too scared to stay
in any of the buildings. His mother would often say, in her last days, that they could ‘trust no
one. I wager everyone in Termalaine has turned, not just them’ and hence he hasn’t returned to
Termalaine - A DC 10 Persuasion check will allow him to trust the party - he gets the sense his
time is running out. He hasn’t tried to light a fire, lest he draw attention to himself. Mercifully, he
was unable to get into the room containing his mother’s body.

He is extremely disturbed by the whole situation, but Arno is no fool. He understands Common
perfectly well and will do his best to mime his answers. His writing is basic, but given stationery
he can communicate. (Most of his communication was with his mother - she understood his
gestures perfectly, almost like sign language.)

Among his things, he has one remaining day of stolen rations and a scrimshaw figure of a
female miner with “MUM” written on the boot. If the players give him the scrimshaw boy clutched
in his dead mother’s hand he will be inconsolably upset.

If you like, you can have Arno spy on the party as they come, as either a further opportunity for
intrigue, or use him as a backup plan to save them in case they get in over their heads in the
mine.

THE NEW MINE

Find the map for the new mine shafts in Appendix 2.

The entrance to the mine is on the Ground Level. There is a bucket lift that goes up one level to
the Upper Level or down one level to the Lower Level. This is the only accessway between
levels.

Inside the mine, there are ruts for mine carts following the caverns. There are oil lamps
sporadically fixed to sconces in the wall - they have all burned dry. Some have been smashed.
On every level, always within 50 feet, there is a rope bell attached to a wall - if rung, this can be
heard throughout the whole mining complex. The cavern ceilings vary between 5 and 15 feet
high. There are abandoned mining tools, geode veins, and carts almost everywhere. Players
can use the gem mining table located in the Rime of the Frostmaiden sourcebook if they so
choose, but mining in here is bound to attract attention.

If you want an extra random encounter, use a swarm of rats, a swarm of bats, or two clueless
kobolds who have wandered in looking for gems to steal.

A note: try to avoid calling the creatures nothics until it’s absolutely certain - play up the
weirdness and the horror and the disfigurements and the uncertainty as long as possible, to
draw it out. The first time they see one clearly, highlight the similarities to the Foreman’s body (if
they saw it) and describe the horrible creatures in detail. Hopefully by the time you’re through,
players will never see nothics the same ever again. Also, if drawn into combat, run them cleverly
- destroying light sources, staying out of range of darkvision, pelting the players with rocks,
causing distractions, trying to lead them into traps.

BLIGHT

Unlike Ythryn, which has a whole city to spread the blight to, the arcane blight released from the
clone pod has been brewing, concentrated, for centuries and is very strong inside the mine.
Players don't need to make constitution saves until staying inside for 12 hours, but have them
make DC 12 Wisdom saving throws upon entering the mine, as they are plagued by whispers
and hallucinations. On a failed save, the hallucinations threaten to distract and overwhelm them:
while inside the mine that character has disadvantage on Wisdom checks and saves,
Intelligence checks and saves, and Constitution saving throws to concentrate on a spell. They
may repeat this save every hour. On a pass, they are immune to the effect.

The hallucinations play on guilt and paranoia - now is a good time to hand notes to players that
reference their secrets: a pirate cannibal might feel the flesh of other party members raw,
pulsing in their hand, or a slaad host might feel the tadpole burst forth, spraying viscera over
their companions.

These hallucinations are compounded by the nothics stalking them through the dark: while
within the blight-affected mine, a nothic may communicate telepathically with anyone it can see
in a broken hybrid of Common and Loross (which sounds like ancient Draconic or Elvish to
players who speak those languages, enough to recognise key words referencing the secrets the
nothic has learned.)

M1. GROUND LEVEL

The cart runs lead into a surprisingly long, straight corridor - 150 feet. (Note that they will only
see blackness at the very end, even with darkvision, for quite some time)

After this, a small room to the left contains pristine mining equipment - picks, axes, lamps,
buckets, hammers, climbing gear, etc. This is all locked in chests - the keys to which have been
thrown into the Underdark by a paranoid miner. DC 12 Strength or Lockpicking to open.

The straight corridor carries on for 30 more feet before it widens out into a large room, 80 feet
across. Geode veins are visible in the walls and uneven floor.

Near a wall, there is a body of a half-orc - Grogersk. He has been crushed under a pile of rocks.
DC 12 Medicine or Investigation reveals that it seems likely an accidental cave-in, perhaps 7
days ago.

At the back is another 50 ft corridor leading to the shaft for the Rope Lift (M2)

A nothic (formerly Brin Ruknatsk) stalks the party, remaining out of sight in the shadows, trying
to read their secrets and ascertain what they’re up to. Its ultimate goal is to influence them to kill
the other nothics before finishing the party off itself, to claim the treasure as its own. He will
follow them the whole way, fleeing if spotted only to try to catch up with them again. He has
studied all of the loose rocks in the mines and knows the best ones to dislodge to cause minor
cave-ins (DC 13 Dex save, taking 3d6 bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a fail).

M2. LIFT

Upon arriving at the rope lift, the party discovers that the lift has fallen to the bottom of the shaft
in M3 - the Lower Level - 40 ft below at the bottom of the shaft, is the wreckage of the cart with
a body inside.
To climb the rocky walls requires a DC 12 Athletics check (advantage may be gained with the
use of climbing gear or a rope secured to a higher level.) The climb between each level is 40ft
and requires a separate check.

At the bottom of the lift shaft, the wreckage can be examined more closely:

A DC 15 investigation check reveals that the rope was cut with a blade, it didn’t snap. The
bucket has been destroyed by the fall. A few uncut tourmalines (d4+1 tourmalines, of d8GP
value each) are scattered around.

The corpse is a dwarf, well-dressed in fine clothes (unusually fine for a miner), with tourmaline
rings on her fingers. This is the corpse of Jillia Feldspar. Medicine checks can reveal (DC
10,12,14,16)

● She died from the fall.

● Parts of her flesh, from the stomach and arms, appear to have been cut away with a
blade.
● This happened 5-7 days ago.
● The flesh-cutting occurred after death.

M3. LOWER LEVEL

A confusing maze of corridors - apart from the lift shaft, there are three other points of interest:

The body of a nothic crushed by rocks. This appears to be a smaller than usual nothic (it was
formerly the gnome, Bezeuth von Deeb) and a DC 12 Investigation check reveals that it looks
like it was pelted with rocks from afar and then finished off with a heavy rock directly to his head.

Following the way the rocks came from, finds the cavern which is the hiding place of Menkel
Bladeless - Menkel is one failed save away from turning into a nothic, one green eye glowing,
shrunken in size, teeth bared, and claws extended. He is raving, paranoid, and unstable, barely
clinging on to his old memories. He has hoarded a huge pile of tourmalines which he will defend
with his life (total value 145GP). Players can mine him for information but the more he talks the
more liable he is to snap (make a DC 12 Charisma save for him every minute of conversation).
If a fight occurs, use the nothic stat block without the Weird Insight or Rotting Gaze abilities.

Menkel knows:

● Mari and Ovul broke through a wall and found a cavern with a beautiful glistening crystal
egg inside.
● They showed Menkel, who made the decision to evacuate the mine and inform the
Foreman.
● That night, the seven of them made a plan to break up the egg with the help of a master
jeweler to make a fortune.
● The next day, Jillia arrived and agreed to the plan.
● Ovul left, feeling sick - they swore her to secrecy.
 ● As they gathered supplies to stay and finish the job, Grogersk died in a cave-in.
● Grogersk’s death triggered a wave of paranoia - the group split up and hid.
● Menkel fled to the lower level, as the hallucinations grew worse.
● A nothic came down to him but he frantically killed it with rocks.
● Menkel didn’t cut the rope and kill Jillia, and he doesn’t know who did.
● He will admit, however, to eating Jillia’s flesh to stay alive. (Strips of dried dwarf flesh
and a knife can be found in the corner of Menkel's hideout.)

The third location of interest is a huge chasm, water trickling in from underground springs,
leading thousands of feet down to the Underdark. In the corridor leading to the chasm, a DC 15
Investigation check reveals traces that this way was once boarded up for safety, but recently
someone ripped out the wood and discarded it somewhere (it can’t be found since it was thrown
down to the Underdark.)

M4. UPPER LEVEL

There are three points of interest up here:

At the top of the lift shaft, the rope has been neatly cut and a knife has been discarded nearby.

A trail of stone, gems, blood, and eventually snapped-off claws, and the sounds of gibbering and
frantic scratching lead to a nothic (formerly earth genasi Sod Sascagan) drilling his claws and
teeth into stone, trying to rip raw geodes out of the wall. Sascagan’s plan, in his delusion, is to
use the tourmalines to raise an army to flush out ‘the enemy’ - he may try to hire the players with
a handful of blood-soaked uncut tourmalines, using his Weird Insight to gain leverage if
necessary - he wants the nothic in M5 (formerly Mari Flatsteam) dead. This nothic is on half
hitpoints from breaking his claws on the stone walls.

The other is a freshly-broken through fissure in rock, surrounded by picks, hammers, mining
tools, rocks, and debris. A faint glow beckons from within the fissure. This leads through to M5
THE HIDDEN CAVERN.

M5. THE HIDDEN CAVERN

The cavern is dominated by a spectacular sight - a translucent crystalline egg-shaped capsule,

at least 8 foot tall and 4 feet wide. A small fissure in the roof of the cavern clearly leads to the
sky - starlight, sunlight, moonlight, or the light from Auril’s Aurora creeps in and hits the egg,
refracting and causing the whole room to glow white with dim light. Cave lichen crawls up the
bottom third of it. The egg has been cracked and chipped with mining tools. Scattered across
nearby tables are large pieces of it laid out for inspection. A second table nearby contains a set
of Jeweler’s Tools and four brilliantly cut and polished crystals - an extreme curiosity; a jeweler
may pay 400 gp for the set.

Closer inspection reveals that inside the egg can be seen the silhouette of a bone-white
humanoid figure. The egg itself is made of a substance unknown. In truth, it is a Netherese
synthetic magical substance used in the creation of delicate or sensitive devices for use in
magic - the secret to create it is lost to time, and even the concept of its existence is missing
from historical accounts of Netherese. It is very strong. Seven miners have attacked it for days
and only cracked it enough to reach a hand inside to touch the figure.

Using mining tools, three DC 20 Strength checks are required to pry open the egg enough to
fully extract the figure. One character trying this more than three times in the space of an hour
gives one level of exhaustion.

The rest of the cavern contains the seven missing cots from the barracks (moved here out of
distrust because no one wanted to be away from it for too long), the remains of a fire, empty
barrels of provisions, many bones, the personal items of the seven miners, and a small pile of
rotting axe beak meat.

A nothic (formerly Mari Flatsteam) dwells here - she considers this her prize, as she found it
(she doesn’t remember this fact, but feels it deeply within her bones). She will do anything in her
power to get the players to kill the other two nothics and Menkel, but will not part with the egg or
any fragments of it. She will encourage curiosity and exploration of the egg, as she wants time
to study it and learn more about it.

A proper examination of the translucent figure inside can, with Medicine, Investigation, or
Arcana checks, reveal some of the following information - give advantage or bonuses on checks
if players are willing to take time to extract him and perform a full autopsy:

● The figure appears to be a male human, perhaps a teenager of around 15, but with
bone-white flesh.
● The body has seemingly everything you’d expect to find from a human: bones, hair,
teeth, and (if inspected) organs, all pure white.
● Cause of death, if any, is unspecified - there are no injuries.
● Perhaps it was never alive at all.
● The white flesh is bone dry but hasn’t desiccated like living flesh ought to, but solidified
into a kind of plastic.
● This suggests that it is not human flesh but a simulacrum of some kind - possibly
magical.
● Closer inspection reveals that there are fine veins of red marbling the white flesh.
● If the body is cut into, a discovery is made: at the centre of the white humanoid is a
perfect cube of red, ordinary, humanoid flesh. Red tendrils of flesh and veins spiral out
from this cube into the white flesh, like the seed of a tree growing shoots.
● The figure is covered in a fine shimmering dust, which a DC 12 investigation check
reveals to be diamond dust. A total of 300GP worth of diamond dust clings to the figure,
which can be carefully harvested with a sleight of hand check (award 10GP worth of dust
multiplied by the number rolled for the check - the rest is lost into crevices)
● The bone structure is very distinctive and unusual, and unlike any race currently walking
the Realms.
● The cube of flesh, the crystal pod, and the diamond dust, point to this perhaps being an
inert clone of a wizard.
A circular slab of marble rests on the figure’s chest - runes are carved in it. A DC 14 intelligence
check may be made by a character who speaks Draconic or Elvish - give advantage if they
speak both, have the Sage background, or the Linguist feat. The runes are in Loross, and read:

HIGH NECROMANCER CADAVIX

(III)
3516 NY

Award this information based on a History check, with DC thresholds of 10, 12 ,15, and 18.

● 3516 NY is possibly a date of some kind.

● Loross is an ancient language, a root of Draconic and Elvish, that was used by the fallen
Netherese empire.
● ‘NY’ is the Netherese year system, and 3516 is the equivalent of -343 DR in the current
calendar, over 1500 years ago.
● Netherese city-states often operated as magocracies, appointing a senior wizard from
each school of magic to the high council.

This pod contains the third of three clones made by High Necromancer Cadavix of Ythryn - this
one was only 100 days old at the time of the fall, so was not fully developed yet, and the other
two clones were disrupted by the Spindle (players could, at the DM’s discretion, find these much
later in the Tower of Necromancy in Ythryn).

Inspecting the walls of the cavern with a DC 15 Nature or Survival check concludes that over
the 1000+ years the land has shifted slightly - this cavern was once much more open to the sky.
Perhaps the egg fell from above?

The solution to stop the arcane blight is simple: as it’s emanating from the clone’s body, simply
seal up the fissure to the cavern containing the pod, perhaps via a cave-in, wait for the blight to
dissipate, and make sure that no one mines into it ever again - a DC 15 Arcana or Medicine
check should confirm this could work.

The goal of each nothic is to get closer to the egg and eliminate the other nothics, which are
threats, but if a group of adventurers come in threatening to seal the cavern up, they are smart
enough that they might band together and fight all the players at once.

LEAVING

After leaving the mine, if the players were even slightly indiscreet in their investigations, they are
met on the road back to Termalaine by two bundled figures - two human spies from Targos
taking the role of local miners, Holvan (SPY) and Fleem (THUG).

This encounter should be tense and neither side should want to give too much away. If the
players are hauling out gems or anything suspicious, they’ll ask if they’re returning them or just
taking them for themselves.
Truly, they suspect the players to be working for Oarus, and what they’re looking for is Oarus’s
location. They’ll offer up to 15GP for the information. They claim to be working for the miners of
this town, saying they’re seeking answers. It’s not right that the people are starving because of
the speaker’s cowardice. If the players claim to have solved the problem with the mine, they
thank them, and make the point that now it is of utmost importance that they find Oarus to get
Termalaine back on track. They won’t attack the players unprovoked, for they don’t want to
make unnecessary enemies for Targos.

If his location is given, or the players offer to accompany them to Oarus’s location, they make an
attempt on his life in the bathhouse. Without player intervention, Oarus will be strangled in the
steam room, they will flee to Targos, and a snap election will be held the next day. (They’re
cunning. Rather than attack him then and there, they’ll keep watch on the place, and return
when the players are gone to finish the job.)

OUTCOME

The next day, Oarus (or the new speaker) mounts an expedition with volunteers, based on
information given by the players. If they are happy that the mine is safe to be re-opened (after
precautions have been taken) they figure that since Jillia Feldspar had no next of kin, the town
treasury should repurpose her stock to pay off debts and compensate the families of the lost
miners, but not before offering each party member a 150 GP piece of jewelry from her stock as
reward. (Which certain cunning merchants, once hearing of Jillia Feldspar’s death, may offer up
to 200 GP for, as the value for her famous one-of-a-kind creations is only going to go up.)

The store, Feldspar, can also become an investment opportunity for your players if they’re into
that sort of thing - or at the very least, a source of free lodgings when staying in Termalaine.

Ovul Chon will be horrified to learn the fates of her fellow miners and will tell as much of the
story as she knows, provided she won’t be punished for her part in the scheme.

(NOTE: I don’t know why arcane blight would engulf the city of Ythryn but not also spread to the
Lost Spire of Netheril - seems like an oversight to me. Either remove the skeletons of the
Netherese wizards from the spire, or imply that as a simulacrum and a wight, Dzaan and
Krintaas are immune to the blight.)
APPENDIX 1

a map for The New Camp courtesy of Shummed & family on Reddit!
APPENDIX 2

A map of the mines, courtesy of Gsnipes on Reddit.