d20 Alderac Entertainment Group Sundered Faith.pdf

how to Use This Product

This adventure is designed to be easily dropped into your existing 3rd edition D&D campaign. It can be run in

a single session, and makes for an excellent evening’s gaming. To prepare yourself to run it, you should read it

completely at least once to familiarize yourself with the material, and you may wish to photocopy the map in the center

of the book for ease of use as well. The text on the back of the book can be read to your players in order to introduce

them to the adventure. After that, you’re ready to begin. Good luck!

Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons ®

This module requires the use of the Dungeons and Dragons ® Player’s Handbook, Third Edition, published by

Wizards of the Coast ® . You won’t be able to run this adventure without it.

Adventure Boosters by AEG

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8304 Against the Barrow King by Steve Houg.

8305 Jerimond’s Orb by Ree Soesbee

8306 Out of Body, Out of Mind by Patrkk Kapera

8307 Crypt of St. Bethesda by James Macduff

8308 Kurishan’s Garden by Ken Carpenter

8309 The Last Gods by Kevin Wilson

8310 Bring him Back Alive! by Matt Forbeck

8311 The heart of Amun Khonshu by Marcelo & Kat Figueroa

8312 The Murder of the Seven Points by Erik Yaple

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Sundered Faith

by Kevin Wilson

DM Background

This adventure is intended for a party of four to six heroes of levels 6-8 and can be inserted into any existing

campaign. It takes place in a fairly large city, one large enough to have a complicated sewer system. Recently, some

sewer workers have been torn apart beneath the city, and the governor of the city is in a panic, desperate to find out

what’s stalking the depths of his fair town.

The grim reality of the situation is that a small earthquake that recently hit the town opened up a connection

between the sewers of the city and an old, abandoned temple. This temple, built deep beneath the earth, is dedicated to

Azrael, a god worshipped by the undead. (Alternatively, you can use any other god of the undead that you like.) Undead

are slowly but steadily pouring out of the temple and making their way into the sewers above. Unless something is

done, they could eventually threaten the city itself.

The governor, although unaware of the undead, has offered a reward of 2,500 gp (500 up front and the rest

upon delivery of proof that the problem has been handled) for each person willing to go into the sewers and deal with

this situation. Characters who successfully complete this mission earn the governor’s respect and may be hired to

handle other tasks as well.

The adventure begins with a brief interview between the characters and the governor’s aide, who simply

assures himself of the characters’ competence and advises them on how he feels they might best deal with the

difficulties of adventuring in the city’s sewers.

The next part of the adventure takes place in the sewers themselves. The cramped quarters of the sewers

complicate the characters’ progress as they fight off some undead before a collapsing floor dumps them into an

underground lake.

In the lake is a cave wyrm, an enormous undead snake that served as the guardian for the temple back when it

was still in use. The characters are most likely forced to retreat into the temple proper.

With many of their light sources broken in the fall, the characters learn that magical light doesn’t work in the

temple, and magical healing is only barely effective. Worse, the undead that haunt the temple can’t be turned or warded

away. In the meantime, the heroes’ few surviving sources of light are being used up at an alarming rate, and they must

hurry to defeat the undead before they’re left alone in the dark with them.

Eventually, the characters come to realize that the temple is creating more undead periodically, and they must

seek out and destroy the temple’s altar, which is the source of this plague. After doing so, they discover the way out, a

narrow shaft leading back up to the sewers and out of this nightmare.

Character hooks

Should the characters ignore the reward offered by the governor, have them witness firsthand the results of

their inaction. When they are walking down the street, a ghoul charges into a nearby group of playing children and

begins trying to carry off one of them: a little boy. If the characters do not act, the boy is pulled into the sewer, where he

is loudly and horribly killed by the ghoul.

If the characters still do nothing, simply continue the sporadic attacks by the undead from the underground

temple, possibly even having a wight accost one of the characters in her room at the inn. Eventually, they should take

the hint.

Scaling the Adventure

The easiest way to increase or decrease the difficulty of this adventure is to modify the effects of the Curse of

Azrael. Allow healing magics to have a greater effect or no effect at all. In addition, increasing or decreasing the area

affected by the curse can greatly alter the adventure. If even the entryway and the lake are affected by the curse, the

adventure becomes much more difficult, while if it only affects the center wing of the temple, things become much

easier.

To accommodate very low-level parties, send an NPC or two into the sewers with them, to provide needed

backup and targets for the really powerful undead to attack other than the heroes.

Part 1: The Interview and the Sewer

Wherever the players are in the city, a city official walks up nearby and posts a notice. When they examine it,

show them the back cover of this adventure.

If the heroes go to City Hall, they find a noticeable lack of other volunteers (unless you’ve added an NPC or

two to help them out). They don’t have to wait long until they are quickly taken before the governor’s right-hand man,

his aide, one Johann Gold. Read the following text to the players aloud:

“It’s a tragic thing, really. Some of those men who were killed were friends of my family. I helped one or two of

them get their positions. Worse, the whole city’s on alert until something’s done about this. What the governor

needs you to do is to go down into the sewers, find out what’s been killing our men, and put an end to it,

whatever it is. Just bring me back proof of your success, and I’ll pay you the balance of your fee.”

The players may be able to talk Gold into increasing their fee up to as much as 3,500 gp apiece, but he tries to

keep most of the payment on the tail end, after they’ve completed the mission. Gold doesn’t want them skipping town

with a substantial portion of the city’s treasury, after all. Once terms are agreed upon, and the characters are ready to go,

Gold gives them their advance and this last bit of advice before turning them over to a page named Jeremy who takes

them to the sewer entrance.

“Just so you know, the sewers are rather narrow, so I wouldn’t take any weapons that need a great deal of room

to be used. I would also stock up on torches and lanterns before you go. It’s a terrible thing to be lost in the dark

down in the sewers.”

Jeremy then takes the heroes to a sewer opening just on the outskirts of town. Read the players the following

text:

The page leads you to a foul-smelling opening on the edge of town. A 5-foot-diameter clay pipe leads into the

side of a hill. The interior of the pipe is pitch black, and a stream of some unknown foulness trickles out of its

mouth. The page bids you good luck and turns to leave.

The characters may stop Jeremy and chat with him, but he doesn’t know much about what’s going on.

However, he’s useful should they want someone to run errands for them before they go in, or if they need someone to

meet them here at a prearranged time. Other than that, the heroes are now on their own.

Dungeon Features

Adventurers who go into the sewers unprepared are in for a rude awakening. The sewers are narrow and

circular, only 5 feet in diameter. This means that not only does the party have to travel in single file, but any tall

members of the party must stoop over to walk too. Any character who has to fight while stooped over is at -1 to all

attack rolls.

Because of the tight quarters, blunt or slashing weapons larger than Small size must be used as piercing

weapons. When used in this manner, they only inflict half damage.

Lastly, there is no map provided for the sewers. Wandering through a maze can be particularly unexciting for

players, so just allow them to make a few turns between each encounter — just enough to give them the feel of a maze

without actually forcing them to navigate one. Proceed through the following three encounters in order, and after “The

Temple Guards” (#3), the characters are dumped into the next segment of the adventure.

Small Chamber

As you squeeze through the narrow confines of the sewer tunnel, you hear splashing noises from around the

corner up ahead to your right.

A group of four ghouls are feeding on an old rotting corpse in a small (10’ by 10’ square) chamber. They

attack the players once they see them, and they position themselves to take advantage of the wider area the chamber

provides them to fight in while they keep the characters penned in the narrow tunnel.

The corpse the ghouls were feeding on has two torches wrapped in oilcloth in its backpack. If left wrapped,

these torches stay dry even if immersed in water. Up to three more torches can be added to the oilcloth bundle.

Pursuit

As you approach another small chamber, you hear loud splashing noises approaching you from behind.

As the characters reach another 10’ by 10’ square chamber, they are accosted by a gang of ghouls led (from the

rear) by a ghast. The creatures have tracked the heroes from their previous encounter. They try to force their way into

the chamber by brute force, the ghasts single out any elves in the party for its attacks.

One of the ghasts has a 60 gp black pearl in a rotting pouch dangling from its side.

Ghouls (4): CR 1; SZ M (undead); HD 2d12; hp 18, 16 (x3); Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30; AC 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural);

Atk: bite +3 (1d6+1, paralysis), 2 claws +0 (1d3, paralysis); SA paralysis (DC 14, 1d6+2 minutes, elves are

immune), create spawn; SQ undead, +2 turn resistance; SV Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +5; Str 13, Dex 15, Con —, Int

13, Wis 14, Cha 16; AL CE. Skills: Climb +6, Escape Artist +7, Hide +7, Intuit Direction +3, Jump +6, Listen

+7, Move Silently +7, Search +6, Spot +7. Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite).

Ghast (2): CR 3, SZ M (undead), HD 4d12; hp 28, 26; Init +2 (Dex); Spd 30; AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural); Atk:

Bite +4 (1d8+1, paralysis), 2 claws +1 (1d4, paralysis); SA stench (within 10’, Fort save, DC 15, or -2 to attacks,

saves, and skills for 1d6+4 minutes), paralysis (DC 15, 1d6+4 minutes, elves are not immune), create spawn; SQ

undead, +2 turn resistance; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +6; St 13, Dex 15, Con —, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16; AL CE.

Skills: Climb +6, Escape Artist +8, Hide +8, Intuit Direction +3, Jump +6, Listen +8, Move Silently +7, Search

+6, Spot +8. Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite).

The Temple Guards

The corridor opens up ahead into a room with a wooden floor, revealing the scene of a slaughter. The corpses of

several sewer workers are laying around the room, next to an overturned table and several broken chairs.

The room is 20’ by 30’, with an overturned table, some broken chairs, and 10 corpses. This area is relatively

clean, and it probably served as a headquarters for the sewer workers. If the characters enter the room, the corpses of the

sewer workers animate and attack them, the rickety wooden floor creaking under their feet. There is no treasure here.

Sometime during this encounter, when it seems the party has won, the floor pops ominously and then gives

way (Dexterity check, DC 30, to leap clear), dumping everyone in the room into a tight tunnel filled with roaring water.

They are shot along and dumped into the lake (see #4).

Should the heroes escape the temple without destroying the altar, the next time they pass this way the zombies

have been replaced.

Zombies (10): CR 1/2, SZ M (undead), HD 2d12+3, hp 16 (all); Init 1 (Dex); Spd 30; AC 11 (-1 Dex, +2

natural); Atk: Slam +2 (1d6+1); Face 5 ft. x 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft; SQ undead, partial actions only; SV Fort +0, Ref

-1, Will +3; Str 13, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1; AL CE. Feats: Toughness.

Part 2: The Lake & the Temple of Azrael

The heroes find themselves unceremoniously dumped into an underground lake. If only a few of the heroes fell

into the watery chute, the rest have to determine how much they value their lives of their friends. There is no chance of

the heroes following their friends by any other way than leaping into the chute, which is several hundred feet long.

Dungeon Features

The Temple of Azrael has been specially corrupted to be more attractive to undead. This has several effects on

magic used within its confines (locations #6-17, and #5, past the seal), particularly priest magic.

All healing spells, potions, items, and so on used here automatically have the least possible effect. For

example, a spell that heals 1d8+1 hp only heals 2 hp.

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