2 Journey To Ragnarok Journey To Ragnarokis an Adventure and Setting inspired by Norse Mythology, compatible with the 5th Edition of the most famous role-playing game, designed by Michele Paroli Author: Andrea Back Art Director: Michele Paroli Cover Art: Andrea Guardino Interior Illustrations: Andrea Guardino, Roman Kuteynikov, Fabio Porfidia Graphic Designer: Susanna Grasselli, Michele Paroli Page Knotworks Design: Milivoj Ćeran English Translation and Editing: Andrea Back, Federico Gavioli Playtesters and error hunters: Nicola DeGobbis, Marco Munari, Matteo Pedroni, Enrico Romeo Journey To Ragnarok is © Michele Paroli 2019. All rights reserved The reproduction of any material inside this work without authorization from the Author is forbidden. Journey To Ragnarok is a product of fiction, any reference to people or events is accidental.
The Thief's Gambit 3 The Rune Thief is a campaign set in the world of “Journey to Ragnarok”, and i twill take the characters from 1st level up to 7th level, by exploring the heart of Midgard and trying to stop a mysterious threat. Albeit the adventures are designed to be played one after the other in order to produce the most enjoyable and consistent narrative, each adventure can be played as a one-shot, with minimum effort on part of the narrator to portray the events leading up to that point to the players. Introduction for the Narrator Alrekr Sigthollr (pp. 130, JTR corebook), Jarl of Uppsala, has always been somewhat suspicious of the Icy Crows, despite having to deal with them on daily basis. As a consequence, he has recently banished a diviner, called Ydreg Drufilsson, because he could not provide the Jarl with the divinations he craved. A resentful Ydreg was forced to leave Uppsala in a hurry. When he reached the shore, buffeted by icy winds, he met a lonely fisherman that offered to take him to the Fenmark where he would be safe. The journey went on for several days, due to the frequent stops along the shore, until they got to the island that sits in the middle of the channel between Svjtiod and the Fenmark. Chasing a myth that the old fisherman told him, Ydreg pushed into the heart of the island and rediscovered there a forbidden knowledge: a forgotten ritual aimed at stealing the runes from Midgard. The journey then resumed towards the Fenmark, without the Old fisherman who in the meantime seemed to have vanished like a snowflake in the sun. Previously, in this series of modules The characters had the opportunity to witness a divination ceremony that however displeased the jarl once more. They learned that the jarl was expecting a new diviner, a well known expert coming from Skjult Borg, but that he was late. Since the weather was getting worse, one of the Jarl’s servants recruited the adventurers so that they would go and check on the diviner, Thorgest, to make sure he didn’t find trouble along the way. The characters rescued him and took him to Uppsala, as expected. Unfortunately, Thorgest soon detected a disturbance in the energies of the cosmos, as if something interfered with the correct divination of the runes. Thorgest had to inform the Jarl that he needed time to perform a long, complex ritual, aimed at investigating the cosmic energies looking for tears, flaws or other problems. The heroes are therefore staying at Uppsala, waiting to hear the answers of the diviner, when suddenly grim news arrive from the Fenmark: smoke and fires were spotted along the shore, across the channel. The heroes hurry over there, and they discover that the attackers wielded strange and fomidable powers, granted by the runes that were branded on their skin. Once back in Uppsala with the survivors, the heroes are presented by the bad news that Thorgest’s ritual did not give the desired results: he failed to obtain anything but partial information regarding how the runes are supposedly vanishing from reality and from the minds of men. The Rune Master however suggests the heroes go to the nearby town of Varmrfors, where one of his old mentors resides, hoping that he will be able to explain what is happening. Along the way through the Great Forest, the heroes meet the ghosts of a group of Odhinn’s Eye soldiers and those of a Wolves of the Shadow patrol; in life, the two rival groups had forged an alliance to defeat a dangerous troll. To put the spirits to rest, the heroes ventured into the cavern of the very old and blind troll, to defeat it. After a few hours walking, they finally reach Varmrfors, where they realize the situation is tense between the Wolves of the Shadow clan and the Odhinn’s Eye clan. With remarkable diplomatic ability and a good dose of cunning, the heroes manage to solve the issue, obtaining the favor of old Starri. He reveals that someone is stealing the runes, obtaining a power that doesn’t belong to them. The heroes have barely come to grip with this revelation when Journey To Ragnarok: The Rune Thief Adventure #8: The Thief's Gambit For level 6th characters
4 Journey To Ragnarok a tawny owl, sent by the Bear Warriors clan, proclaims that the clan is coming down the mountains, straight towards the Great Forest. “Ready your weapons”, this is the message of the owl… is it a threat, or a warning? The heroes immediately move to intercept the Bear Warriors. The Great Forest once again proves to be a hostile and dangerous place, but eventually, they make it through to their encounter with the Bear Warriors. At first, the tension was high, and there was some misunderstanding, but soon the heroes discovered that the Bears were running from a terrible monster. One of their brothers, mutated by the powers of the Rune Thief. The Bears explain how the Rune Thief arrived at their mountain village one day, and forced many of their brothers into obedience, killing those who did not bend the knee. When the heroes learn that the Rune Thief is set to march on the capital, Heill Hofn, with his army, they have no doubt: the King must be warned, the city must not fall. Maybe with their help, the Rune Thief can be stopped. A brief but perilous journey by sea takes them to Heill Hofn, where they meet King Asbjorn the Red, Queen Sknath and the trusted Father Ekgjar, the priest of the Only Flame, the new religion brought here by the Queen from the distant lands of the Englar. As it turns out, the King is already dealing with the army of the Rune Thief, but he is now short on soldiers: he therefore sends the heroes to defend a nearby shipyard, because those ships are of dire importance, should the King have to evacuate the city if the Rune Thief proves to be too powerful to be stopped. At the shipyard, the heroes face the empowered troops of the Rune Thief, and a Phantom Echo of the Thief itself. On one of the corpses, they discover a crude map pointing to a place not too far away that could very well be the enemy headquarters from whence the Rune Thief coordinates his troops. The heroes go there to hopefully cut the snake’s head before it can bite again. The Rune Theft To steal a rune, Ydreg has to sacrifice an individual who happens to personify its essence (see Runic Divination, pp.306 JTR corebook), through a dark and evil ritual. When that happens, that rune disappears, leaving no trace of its existence in Midgard and in the mind of its people: any representation of that rune vanishes; inside rune satchels like the ones runemasters use for their divinations, the runestone crumbles, leaving behind only a pinch of fine, flour-like dust (if a PC is a runemaster or for some reason owns a satchel of runes, they can notice the missing rune only if they check that all 24 of them are there). No one remembers the name of the stolen runes, all that’s left is a blurred memory, the feeling that something’s missing and there’s a void where there shouldn’t be, nothing more. This feeling is much stronger for those individuals that used to embody that rune and its meaning. As far as Runemaster PCs, their features and abilities are not affected by this from a mechanics point-of-view (ie. All their features work normally); however, Futhark circles that they summon appear incomplete, their features with visual effects like light, auras or energy bursts now become flickering, unstable or weakened from a visual point-of-view (again, their mechanics are unaffected). If someone performs a divination and the result happened to be one of the runes that have been already stolen, you should just ignore that result and look at the next available rune. This method is very useful if you are using a runic die; if you are using an actual bag of runes, just have the Narrator take away the stolen runes without showing the players how many and which ones are being removed. Who was the Old Fisherman? The Old Fisherman was no other than a manifestation of Loki, who conceived a complex plan against Midgard and its people. He manipulated Ydreg into stealing the runes, and in so doing blinding all divinations, smothering all knowledge and in turn undermining the faith of the norse in their old traditions. Runes Stolen So Far The Aett of Freya, 01 to 08, and the Aett of Heimdall, 09 to 16, and the runes Teiwaz (17),Berkana (18), Ehwaz (19), Mannaz (20) and Laguz (21).
The Thief's Gambit 5 Part 1: Towards the fortress The characters should reach the Rune Thief ’s headquarters, marked with a Y on the map, in about 8 hours walking the mountain trails and taking the mountain passes that are not blocked by snow. “After you’ve been walking for about an hour through the thick forest that follows the coastline, you realize you can’t see the sea anymore and you can’t hear the waves either. Soon, the ground starts feeling more rocky, vegetation becomes more sparse and your trail begins sloping gradually, as you make your way through the steep mountain gorges and you move towards the unknown. The ground is rough, hard and dangerous; the stony gorges look like huge rocky jaws ready to crush you with snowcapped fangs at your very first misstep. The weather could be worse, for now, but you can see dark clouds going over the mountains in front of you, like a menacing tide carrying cold and lightning.” After four hours on the trail, the GM can roll 1d8 on the following table, or pick what will the threat on the path of the group. D8 Event 1 See paragraph Squad of Sons of Hrimgrimnir. 2 See paragraph Earth Elemental. 3 See paragraph Crazed Bear Warrior. Introduction Read or paraphrase what follows: “At dawn, the noise of the men beginning to repair the shipyard wakes you up. You are granted but a moment of respite before the thought of what you set out to accomplish today comes back to you, suffocating you under its weight. You must reach the fortress of the Rune Thief, following the map taken from the bloodstained hands of its henchmen, and hopefully put an end to his machinations and his conquest once and for all. You come out of the wooden hut where you spent the night, and the sound of the waves coupled with the fresh smell of the salty seabreeze instantly lift your spirit, washing away your sorrows and worries. With a farewell gesture to the workers, you walk out of the shipyard and are on your way.” With a successful Intelligence (Survival) check with DC 12, the characters can study the map to the fortress and realize it is but a day’s travel, on foot. The characters can obtain some rations from the people at the shipyard, and anything else they need for the trip: the workers will happily hand down any tool, rope or any other item they are asked, as a token of gratitude. The characters may however feel like helping the workers rebuild their homes, the walls and the ships. The workers are grateful for any help, and provide the characters with any tool they need to work, should they not have them (like carpenter’s tools, smith’s tools, etc). If the characters decide to help the people at the shipyard, they will delay their mission by 4 hours, and they will have to make a Constitution saving throw with DC 10 to avoid taking a level of exhaustion. However, they are rewarded for their kindness with Inspiration (and this could prove very useful later on!).
6 Journey To Ragnarok 4 See paragraph Heavy Rain. 5 See paragraph Hail Storm. 6 See paragraph Crossing a stream. 7 See paragraph Mountain goats. 8 See paragraph Skormagandr. 1. Squad of Sons of Hrimgrimnir: In a part of the forest with tall conifer trees on a steep slope, a squad of the Rune Thief ’s troops is moving stealthily, heading down to the valley. They were separated from the rest of the other troops by a sudden landslide and they started descending towards the coast, hoping to find a settlement and spread death and destruction there in the name of Ydreg, the Rune Thief. They are six Sons of Hrimgrimnir (using the Gnoll stats), ready to assault whoever they meet. Three of them will charge their enemies, while the other three stand back and take advantage of the higher ground with their longbows. They will be aiming first at archers and spellcasters. The fight is on a slope: the Sons of Hrimgrimnir are about 30ft from the characters, above them on the slope. In practice, those who move down the slope and attack in melee on the same turn have Advantage (and the Sons of Hrimgrimnir will take advantage of this tactics); conversely, moving up the slope costs twice as much movement, so the archers will be harder to reach. 2. Earth Elemental: The characters venture in a gorge full of shattered bones. It looks like a graveyard but there are no traces of who or what may have caused the demise of all those creatures. Upon closer examination by a character proficient in either Medicine or Nature, or who has an Intelligence of 14 or higher, the older bones can be dated back to more than 80 years ago. One Earth Elemental inhabits this rocky gorge. If disturbed, it emerges from the stone and fights with rage any intruder. It is however possible to silently cross the gorge with a successful Dexterity (Stealth) group check with DC 10. However, the bones on the ground mean the characters have Disadvantage on this check. The Elemental uses its Tremor Sense to locate intruders: if the characters can fly, teleport, levitate or maybe create an ingenious system of ropes to cross the gorge without alerting the monster, so they automatically get one success in the Stealth group check. Note that if only a few heroes can elude the Tremor Sense, the fact that they gain an automatic success on their check helps the group to determine if the group check is successful. 3. Crazed Bear Warrior: While moving through a patch of woods, the characters can clearly hear something getting closer, with heavy and erratic steps and breathing heavily. A soldier of the Rune Thief ’s army, a Bear Warrior, has received one mark too many from its master and it got crazy: he now roams the woods like a wild animal, without a speck of its humanity. His body is covered with runes pulsating with energy, some carved across others, and the most prominent is on its face, so deep that it distorts its facial features. He fights like a wild beast, using the claws and fangs that he developed thanks to the runic power. The Crazed Bear Warrior uses the statistics of a Black Bear, with the following modifications: it has 28 HP, AC 14 and when reduced to 0 HP, it will explode dealing 5d6 force damage to creatures within 20ft (creatures can halve this damage with a successful DC 13 Dexterity saving throw).
The Thief's Gambit 7 4. Heavy Rain: A sudden change of wind shakes the leaves over your heads. Large clouds gather, covering up the sky and soon a torrential rain starts falling, followed by lightning, thunder and howlind winds. Each character has to make a Constitution saving throw with DC 11: on a failure, they get a level of exhaustion due to the cold and the difficulty of marching in such bad weather. 5. Hail Storm: When the hail starts tapping on the rocks, the characters don’t realize immediately what is happening. They interpret the sound as some pebble falling from above, maybe dislodged by some animal or by a natural occurred subsidence. Only when the ice balls become as large as walnuts and they start crashing down all over the gorge, do the characters realize they are in danger. The characters must IMMEDIATELY find shelter: to do so they need to succeed at a DC 11 Wisdom (Survival) check. Every failed attempt deals 2d4 bludgeoning damage from the hail. 6. Crossing a stream: Along the way, the characters encounter a stream of clear mountain water, as cold as the ice from which it came some hundred feets higher up. Crossing the stream doesn’t seem too hard, as it is not too wide and quite shallow, but the heroes that are uncapable to simply jumping to the other side will have to carefully walk on some very slippery rocks. Any character with Strength 15 or higher manages, with just a short running start, to jump the stream. Any other character will have to succeed at a Dexterity (Acrobatics) DC 12 check. A failure means the character slips on the rocks (taking 1d6+3 bludgeoning damage). If a character takes 6 or more damage, they have sprained their ankle: their speed is reduced by 5 feet until they receive magical healing worth at least 6HP or until they complete a long rest. 7. Mountain goats: The characters are alerted to the presence of some mountain goats nearby by the shuffling noise of their hooves on the rock and by their echoing cries of baa baa baa. These animals are busy feeding on a patch of grass in this gorge otherwise quite barren. If startled, the goats try to get away jumping up the steep sides of the gorge with incredible agility. They are six female goats and one ram (using the stats of a Giant Goat). The ram will defend the females charging an enemy once. If the enemy does not stand back, the ram will keep its position blowing air through its nose and threatening another charge with its horns low to the ground. This will give the females the time to flee. Once the females have fled the gorge, the ram will run away too, climbing up the mountain. Goat meat is very nutritious, and each goat can yield the equivalent of 12 food rations. The ram instead can yield as much as 40 rations. The ram’s horns can be sold for 15 gp each. 8. Skormagandr: As they enter a patch of woods, the characters overhear someone whistling ahead. As they make their way through the thorny undergrowth, the characters spot a man dressed in deer hides badly sewn together. The man is busy gathering wooden sticks and twigs. To his side dangles a crooked handaxe, and it is impossible to miss the mark on his cheek identifying him as a Skormagandr, a man of the woods, exiled from civilizationfor who knows what crime. If left alone, the man will climb a tree thanks to a crude ladder that was placed against its trunk, and he will disappear inside a little hut some 30 ft up. If attacked, the man will try to defend itself (he uses the stats of a tribal warrior) and he will try to convince the characters to spare his life in exchange of his treasure. This treasure is a magic wand that the man keeps in his hut, up on the tree; the man isn’t quite sure about how to activate it, but he is positive it is magical, as he has “a knack for these things”. The Wand of the Vines (requires Attunement – Allows the user to cast Entangle once per day) looks like a simple pine twig, more or less straight, with a simple grip made of intertwined leather strips.
8 Journey To Ragnarok Part 2: Lookouts After 8 hours through dense vegetation and thorny bushes, across rocky gorges and steep slopes, the characters finally spot what has to be fortress. It is a building about 20ft tall but quite wide, nestled between the rocks on top of a cliff that oversees the whole valley and the woods. While the base of the structure looks ancient and made out of stone, other parts have been repaired or even added with wooden planks. However, in some spots it looks like the wooden walls are holding up portions of stone walls that should be too heavy for them to hold. There seems to be no one guarding the area, as if the place was abandoned. With a Wisdom (Perception) DC 15 check the characters can spot the sentinels ready to ambush them: two trees not too far away from the entrance have been marked with runes. When someone moves within 30ft of the entrance, these arboreal monsters reveal their presence, taking by surprise anyone with a Passive Perception of 15 or less. However, a Detect Magic spell can reveal the magic of the runes permeating these trees, and a Dispel Magic is enough to force them out of hiding, stunning them for one round. Upon attacking, the Arboreal Sentinels quickly get rid of their canopies, revealing their wooden body, twisted and apparently frail, but strong enough to shake the ground with every step. The branches that make up the upper limbs look like the vicious pincers of a praying mantis. They don’t have eyes, but the rune carved in the bark lights up just above the hole in the trunk, about 7 ft from the groung, from which they emit terrible growls and exhale sickly yellow vapour. These mosnters use the stats of Ankhegs, with the following modifications: They are Plants, instead of Monstrosities; they have 79 HP but are vulnerable to fire; they don’t have a burrowing speed.
The Thief's Gambit 9 Part 3: The fortress The fortress that supposedly serves as the headquarters of the Rune Thief is a large, low building with an asymmetric shape if seen from above. The fortress is built upon the ruins of an ancient stronghold, rebuilding and expanding its plan with wood and mud, giving it a composite, bizzare but sturdy feel. All the fortress is magically reinforced, making the materials uniformly tough as stone. A large double door painted in dark red looks like it is the main entrance. Rooms 1) Entrance: This large room is decorated with crude, irregular tapestries hanging from the walls; they are of a light brownish color with burnt edges. The pavement is covered in snow and mud, likely carried inside by guards on a shift change. Two metal armor holding unlit torches are placed on the corners of the room, to the sides of the large double door to the North that you entered through. The room has two other doors: a smaller one to the West and a larger and thicker one to the South. • Tapestries: a successful Wisdom (Perception) check with DC 13 allows characters that inspect the tapestries to realize that they are in fact human skins, still bloody on the side that faces the wall. Some runes are engraved on the skin, like old scars. A character who is proficient in Medicine automatically succeeds at this check. • Pavement: there are no tracks other than the mud and snow leading to both doors. • Armor: upon closer examination, it can be noticed how the armors are bruised, bent and scratched; they were taken from two Gjallarhorn soldiers that were defeated in battle. They are two breast plates that can still be used, although their condition is fairly bad: until they are repaired, they impose disadvantage on Stealth checks (making them mechanically identical to scale mail). A mending spell can be enough to repair the damage to both suits of armor, if it is cast 1d6+1 times per armor, removing the disadvantage to Stealth. • West Door: This wooden door is reinforced by a metallic band placed horizontally near the door knob. The door is closed but not locked. With a successful Wisdom (Perception) DC 14 check, one can hear strange noises from the other side. • South Door: this wooden double door is reinforced by metal studs. It looks tough and it is locked. To open it, a successful Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) check with DC 18 is needed; alternatively, the door can be broken through with a successful DC 16 Strength check. No noise comes from the other side of the door. 2) Common Room: This room is very large and lit up by some iron-cast chandeliers dangling some 10ft from the ground. Along the North-South portion of the room, more or less in the centre, there is a long wooden table covered with mugs, horns, jugs and dirty dishes. There are two doors, to the North West and the South West. You can clearly hear some disgusting noises, like animals feeding, that seem to come from behind the table. • Monsters: behind the table there are two wolves, turned huge and horrible by the Rune Thief ’s magic: their fur is almost completely gone, leaving their bluish, rune-covered skin naked. Their bodies are slim but muscular and sinewy. The most scary feature is the two barbed tentacles coming out of their jaws. When the characters enter the room, the two wolves are busy feasting on leftovers. The stats for these Hideous Wolves are at the end of the module. • Chandeliers: a daring character could decide to hang from a chandelier to make a diving attack, or to seek refuge 10 ft up. A chandelier can hold up to 200 lbs of weight; any character attacking from a chandelier, leaping from it, dangling from it or using a ranged attack could be granted Advantage by the GM thanks to the higher ground and the daring action. • Table: this table was created from a single tree trunk cut in half. This makes it really heavy, hard to move or flip. It grants cover worth a +2 AC bonus to creatures behind it, and this bonus increases to +5 AC if the table is flipped on it side: to do so, characters need a successful DC 21 Strength. • Nort West Door: This wooden door is closed but not locked, and it is protected by a trap: a simple mechanism that pushes a poisoned
10 Journey To Ragnarok needle out of the door knob when it is grabbed. A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check is needed to spot this trap, and a DC 12 Dexterity (Thieves’ tools) check is needed to deactivate it. If the trap isn’t deactivated, it deals 1 piercing damage to whoever opens the door; in addition, the character needs to make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, being Poisoned for 2 hours on a failure. • South East Door: this door is ajar. 3) Room with beds: this medium sized room has six bunk beds placed along the walls. At the centre there is a small round table with four stools. The room has a pungent smell of stagnant air and sweat, and it is fairly cold. • Beds: these are simple cloth bedrolls with crude fur covers. With a successful Wisdom (Perception) check, the characters can find hidden items: DC 10 – a handful (2d6) of silver coins under a mattress; DC 13 – a small wooden chest, with 1d6 gp and a Diluted Healing potion, with a pink tint (1d4+1 HP); DC 16 – a golden earring stuck to a fur cover (worth 10 gp); DC 20 – a Bone dagger that inflicts necrotic damage instead of piercing damage for 1 minute after the first time it hits and is drenched in blood (the dagger’s magic is too weak to count as Magical for the purpose of beating a monster’s resistance or immunity). • Table: the table is damaged, covered in scratches and marks probably made with a knife without any other purpose than to leave a memento of one’s presence in this room. With a successful Intelligence (Investigation) DC 14 check it is possible to notice that one set of marking seems to have a meaning: after a door covered in runes, a flaming corridor leads to an altar. This clue will alert the characters against the trap in the corridor (5) that leads to the temple (6). 4) Central Room: This large room is at the center of the fortress. The pavement is covered in wooden tiles, colorful and rectangular, about 1 foot long, forming an elaborate mosaic. Three wooden pillars, reinforced with metal bands, support the 15ft high ceiling through which run horizontal wooden beams. The walls are covered in round metal shields, like those hanging from the sides of the longships. The room is damp, dark and completely silent. Three doors are located North, South West and North East. • Monsters: the room is guarded by a troll of Midgard blessed with the powers of the Rune Thief: it can hide in the ethereal plane for brief moments, enacting dangerous guerrilla tactics that exploit the pillars to block lines of sight and avoid readied actions. The troll strikes from the ethereal plane when the characters spread around the seemingly empty room. This troll of Midgard is permanently under the effects of blink, taking the group by surprise at the beginning of the combat. The troll can also take advantage of the shields on the walls: everytime it comes back from the ethereal plane, the troll grabs a shield. As a Reaction, in response to a ranged attack, the troll can defend with the shield to gain +2 AC against that attack, and then throw the shield at a target within 60ft (+7 to hit, 1d6+4 bludgeoning damage on a hit). • Shields: the shields on the walls are in good condition and they can be removed and used by the characters. The Troll can use the shields as explained above. There are 20 shields; once the troll uses a shield it becomes bent and unusable. • Pavement: there are scratch marks here and there, forming no cohesive pattern. A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check identifies them as troll footprints. • Pillars: like the walls, these pillars are covered in runes that make them tougher than stone. On each of them there are six unlit torches placed in sconces. By pulling down the torch facing east on the central pillar, the secret door on the South wall will open. • South Wall (secret door): if this wall is examined with detect magic, several runes will light up, indicating a secret door. This door has no locks nor visible hinges. To open it, one must find the opening mechanism on the central pillar; otherwise, the only way though is brute force, with a successful DC 22 Strength check, or by dealing 30 damage to the door: the door is protected by magic runes dealing 1d6+4 lightning damage to anyone who hits it, and it has a damage threshold of 10. • North Door: this wooden double door is reinforced by metal studs. It looks tough and it is locked. To open it, a successful Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) check with DC 18 is needed; alternatively, the door can be broken through
The Thief's Gambit 11 with a successful DC 16 Strength check. No noise comes from the other side of the door. • South West Door: this door is ajar. • North East Door: this wooden door is reinforced with large metallic studs. It is locked (pick the lock DC 18). A successful Wisdom (Perception) check with DC 15 is enough to hear distant cries and moans. 5) Flaming Corridor: this corridor is 20ft wide and 50ft long; the pavement is made of yellow and blue tiles, of a material that looks like glass or crystal, forming a checkers pattern. The room is lit up by some amber colored continual flames placed along the West wall, inside the eyes of the figures in the imposing complex engraved bas-relief engraved in the wall that looks like stone. A small wooden door is placed in the northern part of the East wall; to the South the corridor ends in an archway beyond which there is an altar. • Trap: this corridor hides a vicious trap that can burn the intruders alive. The trap is ready to activate if the secret door in the central room (4) that led to this corridor was opened or broken through without having revealed the runes with detect magic and then using the correct method to open it (the mechanism on the central pillar). Since it iss a magical trap, it is impossible to locate it with Wisdom (Perception) checks, but only with detect magic or similar effects, that will reveal some auras of evocation placed along the bas-relief on the West wall; it is easy for the characters to think they are just noticing the continual flames, if they fail on a DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check. On top of that, an enchantment aura is detected as coming off the pavement. Roll initiative: the trap acts on initiative 0, and has one reaction per round as usual. Action: the mouths of the figures of the bas-relief spew flames against everyone in the corridor. All the targets have to make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 6d6 fire damage on a failure and half on a success. Acting on the bas-relief, every successful Intelligence (Thieves’ Tools) check with DC 13 reduces the 1 2 3 5 4 7 8 6 9 10a 12 11a 11b 10b
12 Journey To Ragnarok damage inflicted by the trap by 2d6. If the result of the check is lower than 8, the character takes 3d6 fire damage (as usual, a successful Dexterity saving throw with DC 13 halves this damage). After three successful checks in three different spots along the corridor (more or less at one quarter of the way, halfaway through the corridor and at three quarters of the way), the trap cannot use its Action anymore. Reaction: if a character moves more than 20ft, the pavement emits a magical paralyzing radiation, forcing everyone in contact with it to make a Wisdom DC 13 saving throw, being affected by a hold person spell cast at 5th level. The trap mantains concentration on this spell, and casts it anew every time it uses its reaction. It is possible to force the trap to lose concentration by attacking the pavement as usual. The pavement has an AC of 15, a damage threshold of 10 and a total of 50 hp. Once it is reduced to 0 HP, the pavement is destroyed, and the trap cannot use its reaction anymore. • North East Door: this door is locked (pick the lock DC 18). • South archway: This archway has nothing special about it, but when someone comes through it, it makes the chandelier in the temple shine with a weird green light on the altar to the other end of the room. 6) Temple: This medium sized room is lit up by a macabre chandelier that consists in skulls of various creatures tied together with spiked chains and inside which a magical green flame burns without heat. Along the East and West walls there are two runic stones, covered in symbols and bloody handprints. A stone altar is placed in a nook along the South wall. • Chandelier: with a successful Intelligence (Medicine or Nature) DC 12 check, one can identify the skulls as three human skulls, one of a bear, another that belonged to a wolf and finally the larger one, of a troll. The magic light is a continual flame. • Runic stones: touching either of the stones, the characters can experience a vision.“You move forward with determination. Your eyes look around the village, trying to spot something or someone. You ignore the monsters mauling the soldiers and the people struggling to save themselves. A fool tries to hurt you, throwing a javelin at your face: you raise your right hand, a rune tattooed on the back of your hand lights up, and with a disdainful flick of the wrist you incinerate both the javelin and the one who threw it with a lightning bolt worthy of the Odinnson. You look around, when your eyes, magically enhanced, locate the heartbeat of someone hiding in a wooden hut; you see it as a purple aura pulsating at the crazed rhythm of fear. With a nod and a silent command, you telepathically order one of the trolls you’ve dominated to tear down the hut. The monster digs its claws in the wood, and with a single powerful attack it tears down the whole wall and a portion of the hay roof. The man looks at you in terror, he is old and he won’t be able to run nor to defend himself.” The vision stops, unless the character successfully makes a Wisdom (Asatru) check with DC 12. The vision in that case continues: “You loom over the trembling man. Your eyes scan his beating heart and spot a rune. With a swift movement of your dagger, you plunge it into the man’s heart and from the wound, besides the blood, gushes forth a boundless and invisible power, that you manage to capture and absorb thanks to the ancient words of the ritual that allows you to steal the runes. You smile. Your power will soon be limitless. Just a couple more sacrifices.” At this point, the character who witnessed the entire vision can pull a rune from his satchel to divine his destiny. • Altar: carefully inspecting the altar, it is possible to find a thin layer of stone that slides to reveal four iron keys on a ring. These will open the doors between corridor 5 and corridor 7, between the central room (4) and corridor 9, and between the torture chamber (12) and room 13. The fourth key does not open any door in this fortress. Moreover, if the altar is checked through detect magic, three runes will light up on it and a voice will echo in the temple: “The old candle is flickering in his cell, while I burn of a different flame under someone else’s roof. In the heart of the kingdom I move in the shadows, reaping the last victims hiding behind a mask that doesn’t belong to me. How much sorrow will grasp your heart, when you’ll realize your efforts were in vain?”
The Thief's Gambit 13 (This is a clue that tells how the Rune Thief kidnapped and imprisoned Father Ekgjar of the Only Flame, taking his place as advisor to the king). 7) Terror Corridor: This corridor is 20ft wide and 50ft long. It has a barrel shaped ceiling as tall as 15ft at the summit; the walls are made of black stone, damp and stained by mold and musk. The whole corridor is enshrouded in darkness. You can hear movements in the shadows, invisible and threatening, that creep along the walls, crawl on the ground and climb up to the ceiling. • Darkness: the darkness in itself is quite harmless. The characters can go through the corridor unharmed until they don’t light up a light. However, should they bring in a torch or another source of light, they will see horrifying visions before the light is immediately snuffed. The character who was holding the light is affected by phantasmal killer cast at 4th level, with DC 13. The GM is advised to increase tension and the terror of the characters walking in darkness, describing harmless but scary illusory sensations. Examples are insects crawling under the hands of the characters that touch the walls, clawed hands that grab them by the clothes and try to snatch them up; menacing moans and whispers, tiny red eyes in the darkness that appear and disappear. Detect Magic reveal a strong illusion aura in the corridor. • The end of the corridor: the corridor ends with a stone archway and opens up in a room of medium size. 8) Treasure Room: This room is dominated by a huge treasure hoard placed against the south wall: a pile of coins with jewels, precious art objects, weapons and refined instruments. The ceiling is dome shaped, painted dark blu like a starry sky. On the pavement, right in front of the treasure, there is a skull as large as a shield, in shiny black stone, embedded in the brighter stone of the pavement. • Treasure: it is a treasure weighing 2400 lbs, worth 4800 gp in total. The greatest part is made of copper coins, unfortunately. In an hour of time, a character can sieve through the treasure and gather jewels, gems, gold coins worth 2d4x100 gp, weighing twice as much as the result of the 2d4. • Magic Items: using detect magic or making a Wisdom (Arcana) with DC 15, the characters can find two magic items buried under the coins: a stone with a runic symbol (Stone of Expertise, granting a +1 bonus to all skill checks); and a necklace with a large ruby as a pendant (Fire Crystal, requires attunement: as an Action, the owner can cast Fireball at 3rd level. The gem breaks and it can’t be used again) • Black skull: the skull is detected as an undead by spells and special features and emits an aura of necromancy and abjuration if examined with detect magic. When someone gets within 5ft, the skull opens its mouth. Unless someone drops a few coins into its mouth, the skull lets out a terrifying scream: every creature must make a Wisdom saving throw with DC 13, taking 1d12 psychic damage. On a failure, the target’s maximum hit points are reduced by an amount equal to the psychic damage taken for 24 hours. The skull then deactivates for 24 hours. 9) Corridor: this corridor is 10ft wide and 50ft long. Torches are placed on the walls, near four wooden doors, two on the south wall and two on the north wall. A fifth door, reinforced with steel bars is at the end of the corridor, on the North wall. Moans and crying weakly echo in this corridor. • North Doors: they are ajar. Each has a small grate to see inside: they are clearly cells. • South Doors: they are locked. Opening them requires a Dexterity (Thieves’ tools) with DC 14, while to break through them a character needs to beat a DC 16 Strength check. • Torches: they have nothing weird, they are simple torches that can be removed and lit up. • Door at the end of the corridor: without any check, the characters can hear the moans coming from beyond this door, that is locked. Opening it requires a Dexterity (Thieves’ tools) with DC 18, while to break through them a character needs to beat a DC 21 Strength check. 10) Prison cells: these rooms are small, ugly and foul smelling. The pavement is covered with damp and rotting hay.
14 Journey To Ragnarok a. Cell 10a – This cell contains a cadaver that will rise as a zombie if disturbed. b. Cell 10b – this cell hides, under the hay, some engravings that can be found with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) checks with DC 12. The incisions are prayers to the Gods left by a prisoner: reading them aloud, a character can cast Bless once, then the words lose their magic. 11) Jailkeepers Rooms: a. Room 11a – This room is wide and tight and has two very crude wooden beds, covered in rags and rough furs. • Beneath one bed: with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check, one can find a crumpled scroll. It is a map of the fortress. b. Room 11b – This room is larger and has only one bed. It’s decorated with tribal motifs, animal skulls and skins hanging from vicious hooks on the walls. A very large bed is placed along the East wall. A small wooden table is covered with food leftovers, that are also on the ground, while a large chest is placed near the bed. • Table: with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival), a character can notice that the food is still relatively fresh, not yet rotten. • Chest: the chest is cold to the touch. It contains an Ice mephit, chained and with an iron muzzle, forced to keep the temperature down inside the chest, to keep fresh the food contained therein. The Mephit is furious and attacks whoever opens the door, but chained as it is, it poses no threat. With a successful DC 11 Charisma (Persuasion or Intimidation) check it is possible to calm him down, and convince him to cooperate. If the muzzle is removed, the Mephit will tell that the chief jailkeeper is in the torture chamber, ahead, enjoying torturing his victim. The Mephit refuses to say anything more if it is not freed; with a successful DC 11 Wisdom (Intuition) check, the characters will realize it is lying and if freed it will immediately try to escape using its fog cloud. If it cannot escape, either menacing to leave it inside the chest with cheese and meat, either catching it when it tries to run away, then the Mephit will tell that the Jailkeeper has runic powers bestowed by its master, and that he has been torturing an old man for little less than a week. The mephit knows nothing more. 12) Torture Chamber: This room curves to the right, and is faintly lit by some candles. Hooks, pincers, chains, blades and torture scalpels are hanging from the walls, above some blood-spattered tables. A door is closed at the end of the room, and moans and cries can clearly be heard from the other side. • Door: This wooden door can be picked with a DC 16 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) check, or it can be broken through with a DC 18 Strength check. • Torture tools: it seems they have seen recent use; the blood isn’t dry yet and still drips from the blades and the hooks. In this large cell you can see a wide table on which a man is nailed down. It is clear that man is the source of the moans and cries echoing through the fortress. In front of him, against the light of a torch placed on a sconce on the other side of the room, there stands a menacing figure, large and covered in a thick fur, armed with vicious hook. The figure is inflicting unbearable pain on its victim and you see the blood flow to the ground accompanied by sighs and weak cries. • Monsters: the jailkeeper is a Bear Warrior enchanted by the Runes magic. His body is covered in spiked chains, hooks and bands of the sharpest barbed wire. The fur of a black bear is nailed to his flesh with rusty pieces of metal, but they don’t seem to bother him, not even where the nails dig deep into his skull, fusing the bear’s head with his own. It uses the stats of a Chain Devil.
The Thief's Gambit 15 • Prisoner: the prisoner is at 0 HP, barely conscious, and is profusely bleeding. However, with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Medicine) check, one can notice that the wounds were inflicted with expertise, to prevent an untimely death of the victim. When the characters look at the victim’s face, they can make an Intelligence check: the character who scores the highest recognizes him. It is Father Ekgjar, priest of the Only Flame, whom they’ve met just a few days ago at the King’s palace! Conclusion Father Ekgjar will tell that he was kidnapped at night, near Heill Hofn, about 5 days before. He was gathering small luminescent healing mushrooms that can be clearly seen only at night, when a hooded figure, with bright blue eyes, took him by force and released a magical jolt of electricity, paralyzing his body but not his senses. He managed to see the face of that frightening man morph into his own likeness. And then, just the darkness, as a black hood was pulled over his head, almost suffocating him. Father Ekgjar woke up in a cell in this fortress, where he would suffer under the tools of the jailkeeper. What worries Father Ekgjar the most is the certainty that the mysterious enemy has infiltrated the capital taking advantage of his face and his position as royal advisor. By now, it is clear that the Rune Thief ’s gambit has paid off: he exploited his troops as a decoy to attract the crown’s soldiers away from the city, while he has had all the time he needed to plot in the heart of the capital, scheming behind the King and the Queen’s back. Maybe it’s too late, or maybe there is still one chance to save the city, the King and Midgard. In the next module, the last in the Rune Thief series, the characters will finally have the chance to face their dreadful enemy! Rewards The characters gain 3500 XP for saving Father Ekgjar and for exploring the fortress of the Rune Thief, discovering his scheme. The Adventure Continues! Something terrible is about to subvert the order of things in Midgardr, threatening the true foundations of reality and knowledge. The Rune Thief is a series of 9 adventures set in the world of Journey To Ragnarok, which will be published monthly starting from the 1st of November. Where to find it: English Edition: DrivethruRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12301/ Mana-Project-Studio Italian Edition: NeedGames! https://www.needgames.it/categoria-prodotto/ journey-to-ragnarok/ Dare you face the Rune Thief?
Appendix Hideous Wolf Hideous Wolf Large monstrosity, chaotic dishonorable STR 18 (+4) DEX 15 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 6 (-2) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 8 (-1) Armor class 13 Hit points 85 (10d10 + 30) Speed 40 ft Saving throws: Dexterity +5 Senses Darkvision 60ft Languages Common Challenge 3 Supernatural Speed. the Hideous Wolf can use Dash or Disengage as a Bonus Action. In addition, it has Advantage on Dexterity saving throws. ACTIONS Multiattack. The Hideous Wolf makes one Tentacle attack and one Bite attack. Tentacles. Melee weapon attack: +6 to hit, reach 10ft, one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage. The target is Grappled (escape DC 14) and pulled up to 10ft to a space adjacent to the Hideous Wolf. Bite. Melee weapon attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft, one target. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing damage; this attack deals 7 (2d6) extra damage if the target is Grappled. REACTIONS Lightning Reflexes. When the Hideous Wolf takes damage, it can use its reaction to reduce that damage to the minimum: every dice of damage is considered as having rolled a 1 (ignoring any other effect that allows to reroll damage or substitute the result).
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, LLC. System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. END OF LICENSE