d20 Devil's Workshop Cold Visitor.pdf

Cold Visitor

Written by

Lee Hammock

Additional Development

Louis Porter Jr.

Editing

Chris Negelein

Graphic Design, Layout & Logo:

Louis Porter, Jr Design

Cover

Jason Walton & Louis Porter, Jr Design

Interior Art

Jason Walton

Devil’s Workshop D20 gaming line created by

Louis Porter, Jr.

Louis Porter, Jr Design, Inc.

350 NW 87th Terrace

Plantation, FL 33324

HavenGod@lpjdesign.com

www.lpjdesign.com

Devil’s Workshop, Cold Visitor, Devil’s Workshop

Logo, Cold Visitor and Louis Porter, Jr. Design

Logo are Trademarks of Louis Porter, Jr. Design.

Rights Reserved.

All text material starting from Appendix A on

Page 24 to the end of the book is consider to be

“Open Content” and usable under the the Open

gaming License.

PAGE 3

DEVIL’S WORKSHOP

Cold Visitor is a D&D adventure for a party of 4-6 PCs of levels

6-8. All character classes will be useful in the adventure but

wizards, sorcerers, clerics and druids will be especially useful.

Someone who can read Draconic or has a high Decipher Script

skill is essential to this adventure. A Masterwork sword and a

moderate level magic item is also needed to guarantee success.

This adventure can be used any time the characters undertake

any type of dimensional travel, such as portals or teleport spells.

The assumed introduction is that the characters are traveling

through a portal from Arcanis, a campaign setting by Paradigm

Concepts, where things are very much in the gray, intrigue is

more common than oxygen, the world is always on the brink of

world-shattering events and heroes are truly heroes. The PCs trip

is sidetracked onto the planar bubble called Praegelidus.

snow on which no mortal creature could survive for long. In

preparation for the trap, the wizards surrounded Praegelidus with

wards and binding spells that prevented the interference of

divine, celestial or infernal creatures and blocked all dimensional

travel once Pah’tharsus was trapped, sealing the wizards in with

the beast they sought to contain. The wizards gave their lives

luring Pah’tharsus onto Praegelidus where he could not escape

and Pah’tharsus was forced into a hibernating state by the

intense cold after he had driven them all mad. The eternal

swirling storms patterns that patrol the plane eventually buried

the demon into deep layers of snow and ancient ice.

Pah’tharsus remained trapped for an unknown amount of time on

Praegelidus and all records of the existence of Pah’tharsus and

his prison were wiped from the annuals of history.

Unfortunately eventually the wards on Praegelidus began to

break down as Pah’tharsus struggled against them, weakly trying

to escape his frozen prison. A hole appeared in the wards,

allowing dimensional travelers to enter Praegelidus once every

five days but only for a half hour span beginning at noon, a

period of time that has come to be called the entry cycle. As a

signal to indicate the failing wards, Praegelidus began pulling in

planar travelers if any were nearby when the entry cycle was

allowing visitors. The intent was that anyone yanked into

Praegelidus would repair the wards. So far, the few unlucky

souls trapped there were clueless as to their purpose on the plane

as well as unprepared for the harsh conditions. They all froze to

death.

The module is divided into several sections. The GM

Preparation section contains a summary of the adventure back-

ground, synopsis, character hooks, suggested atmosphere and the

players’ introduction to the adventure. Lay Of The Land is the

collection of descriptions for the environmental conditions of

Praegelidus and adventure locations. Death Marches On is the

tense and dangerous timeline of how the encampment will

slowly lose its members to murder, insanity and a death never

ending. The Appendixes at the end of the module have statistics

for the featured monster, the NPC cast, and new magic items,

spells and equipment. Since various actions are based on either

location, time or the motivation of NPC’s, it is vitally important

that so the DM should read the entire adventure carefully before

running it. Much of this adventure happens on a schedule so

DM also keep track of what time it is in the game. An abbrevi-

ated list all the scheduled events can be found at the end of the

Death Marches On section.

By sheer happenstance, one party was carrying enough supplies

to survive the conditions on Praegelidus until the next entry

cycle and managed to escape, but not before their wizard, Silas

Fedders learned of the unusual properties of Praegelidus and

discovered the trove of magical lore left there by the magicians

who built the wards. Free from the interference of divine or

infernal beings, divination magic and most dimensional trav-

elers, Praegelidus seemed an excellent spot for those looking for

some privacy, even if it was inhospitable. Seeing an excellent

place to build a research library and a chance to make some

money by helping criminals hide on Praegelidus, Silas arranged

a return trip to Praegelidus on the next entry cycle to set up an

encampment and begin surveying the area.

GM PREPARATION

Background:

Long ago there was a horrible creature of immense power

named Pah’tharsus that was cast out of a forgotten infernal

realm by his demonic fellows for trying to overthrow the power

structure of their plane. Pah’tharsus began his exile upon a

human world and began subjugating the local human population

almost immediately in a bid to create an army with which to

conquer his home realm and get revenge on his enemies. The

humans soldiers could not defeat Pah’tharsus in battle for he

could not be truly slain, so instead they worked to trap him.

Unfortunately for Pah’tharsus, the human magicians proved both

powerful and crafty. Using the lure of a vast trove of magical

lore, the wizards lured Pah’tharsus through a magical portal to a

small planar bubble they called Praegelidus.

Silas’s actions caused Pah’tharsus to stir in his frozen grave and

using the scraps of his power still available he sent messages to

Silas through Silas’s dreams, leading the wizard to where

Pah’tharsus was buried. Curious to a fault, Silas followed these

amazing dreams and dug part of Pah’tharsus up. He dragged the

ice-encased fragment of the great beast back to the encampment.

As the ancient evil prepares to reawaken, the players enter the

scene unaware that all hell is about to break loose.

Adventure Synopsis:

The PCs arrive on Praegelidus in the midst of the storm that

coincides with each entry cycle. The PCs appear at the portal

stone, the epicenter of the wards encasing Praegelidus, and are

This dimension was nothing but a frigid wasteland that had frag-

mented off the elemental plane of water during some immense

prehistoric cataclysm. Lost in multivese, Praegelidus rapidly

froze into nothing but mindless stretches of hostile wind, ice and

COLD VISITOR

PAGE 4

soon discovered by Silas’s men. As long as the PCs are polite,

they are shown about most of the camp and treated well since

the settlement doesn’t get much in the way of visitors. They are

not allowed to inspect the portal stone too closely or wander into

the wizard’s section of the camp. The PCs will be told the

basics of the situation on Praegelidus, including:

camp, or even each other at times. Between the frail sanity of

some of the people on Praegelidus and the possibility they may

be part of Pah’tharsus, the PCs should be wary of trusting

anyone who leaves their line of sight for more than few minutes.

This is an excellent opportunity to play mind tricks on the PCs;

roll dice at random and then look disapprovingly at the result or

pass lots of notes to the PCs to make them unsure as to who has

turned and who hasn’t. If the PCs split up try to get the players

into different rooms, heightening the feeling that anyone who

goes off alone will surely be turned into some type of

monstrosity.

•

They cannot leave for five days

•

Divine spells cannot be regained on Praegelidus

•

Divination spells do not function on Praegelidus

After the PCs have had some time to explore the camp, one of

the camp’s guards is murdered and another goes missing. The

portion of Pah’tharsus removed from the ice disappears as well

but Silas keeps this secret. Soon the Captain is killed as the

Pah’tharsus Shard begins attacking the camp and creating soul

shells. Silas tries to avoid telling the PCs the truth but soon

factions begin to form in the camp as the Green Griffon merce-

nary company turns against the wizard and his apprentices.

While they begin to blame each other for the slowly mounting

death toll, the PCs must try to avoid falling victim themselves

and find out what is going on. Unfortunately Pah’tharsus has

the ability to create a replica of any soul he consumes, causing

confusion as to who is still alive and who is a pawn of the

monster.

In addition to the threat of Pah’tharsus, most of the other people

on Praegelidus will probably be of little assistance to the PCs.

Most are not mentally prepared for what befalls them and these

poor souls will soon be seeing threats behind every random

noise or strange shadow and since all this trouble started with

the arrival of the PCs that means the PCs will probably receive a

sizeable dose of suspicion.

It is suggested the DM use the encumbrance rules on this adven-

ture. This is a survival horror style game where what the charac-

ters can carry becomes very important. There is also a lot of

possible loot in the encampment, but its unlikely the PCs will be

able to transport all of it off Praegelidus and still manage to

survive.

Pah’tharsus also gets stronger as he gains more souls and the

rest of his body begins breaking free of its icy prison. The PCs

learn the true history of Praegelidus from the tomes left by the

original wizards who trapped Pah’tharsus as well as find out

what must be done to restore the wards. If the wards are not

restored before the next entry cycle, Pah’tharsus may be strong

enough to break free and renter the material plane.

Introduction:

The adventure begins when the PCs are pulled into Praegelidus

from any dimensional jaunt they happen to be on. The default

assumption is that the PCs are heading from a portal located in

the lands of Arcanis.

To succeed, the PCs must find and destroy the fragments of

Pah’tharsus, save as many lives as possible and perform the

rituals to restore the binding magics on Praegelidus all while

dodging paranoid wizards and soldiers who are scared out of

their wits.

Girding yourself for another trip through the wondrous path-

ways of the planes you step into the portal, feeling an odd

feeling of non-existence as you teeter for a split second

between worlds. Normally this would be followed by a

sudden jolt, a loud popping noise and the pungent odors of

your target destination, but not this time.

Character Hooks:

Cold Visitor is a very easy adventure to introduce to the

characters because they are essentially hijacked onto

Praegelidus while undertaking some form of dimensional

travel. This can be anything from teleport to using estab-

lished portals. The default situation is that of entering a

portal in a city in the lands of Arcanis.

You sense a sudden pull on your side. This pull quickly

becomes an insistent yank, followed a blast of cold so

strong you blood freezes in your veins. Then the wind hits

you; a cold gale filled with ice chips that strike you like a

hail of needles. Wherever your destination was, this isnt it.

Suggested Atmosphere:

The theme for Cold Visitor is one of extreme paranoia. The PCs

are stuck in a frozen wasteland with a bunch of people they do

not know, a horrible monster that can assume any humanoid

shape, and they cannot leave for five days to boot. Soon after

arriving the PCs should feel like they cannot trust anyone in the

As the PCs travel to Praegelidus each must make a Fortitude

check, DC 20, or pass out for one minute for each point they fail

the check by. The shock of traveling to Praegelidus is not

pleasant. For those who remain conscious read the following.

PAGE 5

DEVIL’S WORKSHOP

and night each last thirteen hours. There is no sun or moon to be

seen on Praegelidus, making daylight more like twilight and

nighttime pitch black. The only weather types present are over-

cast clouds or snow storms. Snowstorms occur regularly every

few days and are very intense. The most powerful snowstorms

occur with each entry cycle.

All your companions seem to have traveled with you to this

unknown, frigid place. The ongoing snowstorm limits your

vision to only a few paces before you and the lonely howl of

the wind makes it difficult to hear. The only landmark you

can see is a pair of stone pedestals right next to you. The

two pillars, each fifteen feet tall and at least five feet wide

at the base, curve slightly toward each other at the top of

their height, creating an arch-like structure with a space in

the middle. Both pillars are covered with carvings of some

type, but inspecting them is difficult at best under these

hostile conditions.

When outside on Praegelidus, characters must make a Fortitude

save every ten minutes of exposure, DC 15, with a +1 for each

previous save, or take 1d6 subdual damage. Characters in cold

weather gear need only check once an hour and those with the

heavy cold weather gear Silas’s people use gain a +2 bonus to

their Fortitude saves. Unfortunately, heavy cold weather gear

inflicts a -1 armor penalty on the wearer, has a Maximum Dex

Bonus of +3 and weighs 20 lbs.

While still trying to get your bearings you barely hear the

sound of trudging footsteps breaking through the snow and

coming slowly closer to you. Soon, a light accompanies the

noise and three heavily clothed figures step out from the

storm illuminated by a blue-green torch that burns without

paying heed to the whipping winds all around. The first

figure pulls a thick scarf down from his face, revealing a

thick black beard beneath a red nose. Welcome to

Praegelidus, the man says. I hope you can cope with

boredom.

If a character is carrying a hot stone they receive a +5 bonus to

their Fortitude saves. Characters who take subdual damage from

the cold have hypothermia or frostbite and are considered

fatigued. The presence of snow everywhere on Praegelidus cuts

all movement rates in half unless the character is wearing snow-

shoes.

If caught out in a snowstorm characters suffer a -4 penalty to all

ranged attack rolls, Spot checks, Search checks and Listen

checks. Also the high winds associated with the storms will

blow out most ordinary flames.

These three men are Lieutenant Orgun and two of his men.

They just escorted one of Silas’s apprentices to the portal and

watched him travel to another plane using a Coldshift scroll in

Appendix C. With visitors being so rare on Praegelidus the

soldiers are happy to the see the PCs, hoping they can provide

something different from the monotonous life they have found

on Praegelidus. Lieutenant Orgun will introduce himself to the

PCs, tell them of the nearby encampment and invite them to

visit; noting that staying at the portal stone is suicide.

Lieutenant Orgun will avoid questions about why the encamp-

ment is here at all, instead saying Captain Penser and Silas

should answer such questions. Lieutenant Orgun knows that

some discussions are best left to your superior officer. Despite

this, he will be polite to the PCs and will be very concerned

about their well being considering it is unlikely they have suffi-

cient cold weather gear to be comfortable on Praegelidus.

If a PC stays out in the snow during daylight for more than an

hour without eye protection, such as snow blinders, the PC must

make a Fortitude save, DC 15, or fall victim to snow blindness.

The character will suffer a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, Spot and

Search checks until their vision recovers. Another roll must be

made for each hour of exposure and the penalties are cumulative.

If the character reaches a -10 penalty they go completely blind.

One hour indoors will remove 2 points of the penalty and the

remove blindness spell will remove the penalty completely.

Snow blindness is not a factor at night. While wearing snow

blinders characters suffer a -2 penalty to Spot checks.

While on Praegelidus, the PCs cannot use and spells, magic

items or abilities that involves travel to another plane or

summoning. This includes all the summon monster and summon

nature’s ally spells in addition to spells such as ethereal jaunt.

This also means bags of holding and portable holes cannot be

accessed on Praegelidus. Also all divination spells, magic items

or abilities provide no information when cast on Praegelidus.

Lastly divine spells and turning attempts may not be regained

while on Praegelidus, meaning characters will have to conserve

their resources.

The encampment is only half a mile from the portal stone so it

will not take long for the PCs to reach it. The path is marked

every 100 ft. by a continual flame torch making it possible to

navigate the path even during a snowstorm. The Lieutenant will

allow the PCs a few minutes to investigate the portal stone but

he will want to report back to camp soon. He knows the portal

stone is important so he won’t let the PCs damage it or cast

spells on it, saying they need Silas’s permission to do something

like that.

The Portal Stone:

The Portal Stone is the center of the wards and spells cast on

Praegelidus to keep Pah’tharsus trapped. It is a powerful artifact

but has no effect other than to keep the wards on Praegelidus

active. It is slightly warm to the touch and is completely

covered in runes. Anyone who succeeds at a Decipher Script

check, DC 30 can make out the following text:

LAY OF THE LAND

Conditions on Praegelidus:

The average temperature on Praegelidus is approximately thirty

degrees below zero and there are no seasons to speak of. Day

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