The armor stand is empty, but the weapon rack contains a maul and a halberd.
AReA 7: commonS
This is a common area used by the soldiers. Large stone tables with wooden benches run the length of the chamber, and there is a fireplace in the north end of the room with cabinets on either side of it. A metal cauldron hangs simmering above the flames. There are d3 large knives on the tables that can be used as throwing knives, and the iron fire poker is equivalent to a banded club.
At one end of the room is a large circular stone carved with a ring of leering faces on its outer perimeter. Characters in the room can hear soft whispering emanating from the stone, distorted and unintelligible. If a non-Orgoth character touches the stone, it begins to wail in multiple voices, shrieking and bringing a patrol of Orgoth guards (see “Wandering Patrols,” p. XXX).
While in this room, non-Orgoth characters suffer –4 Willpower.
Scene 3
As the PCs leave the Commons and continue further down the hall, they come to an intersection leading in two directions: south to the main entrance door and west, into a separate part of the fortress. The southern route straight ahead is better lit by torches, suggesting a higher traffic area, and from the west echo the sounds of helpless screams and periodic clangs of metal on metal. The battle outside continues, but even without seeing the fight, the PCs can hear things are not going well for the Immorese rebels.
The sound of alchemical explosives going off is frequent during this stage of the battle, and can cover the noise of the PCs’ actions.
A PC can choose to make an INT roll against a target of 10 and spend a quick action during his turn to wait for the sound of an explosion before acting. If he does, do not roll for a wandering patrol for that PCs action.
AReA 8: enTRy hAll
This area begins where the rough, natural cavern passage gives way to a 10-foot-wide carved stone hallway. A heavy iron portcullis blocks the way, though this can be opened using a winch set into the wall alongside it.
As the PCs approach the intersection of halls leading to the Barracks (Area 9), the front door to the complex swings open to admit a pair of Orgoth soldiers. When the doors open, read or paraphrase the following:
The front doors swing wide to let in a pair of armored Orgoth. During the short time the door stands open, you see more than a dozen soldiers
accompanied by a warwitch locked in heated battle with a ragtag force of armed Immorese just outside the fortress. The forest floor beyond is slick with blood, and the air is thick with the smoke of alchemical explosives.
Walking out through the unguarded front door brings the PCs into the heart of a losing battle. If the PCs venture this way, they cannot avoid being engaged.
The soldiers who just entered the fortress rush deeper inside, toward the PCs, though if the PCs are wearing Orgoth armor, the soldiers do not immediately notice anything amiss. This subterfuge does not last if the soldier passes the PCs and interacts with them. If the PCs quickly enter either Guard Room (Area 9) they avoid confrontation with the soldiers, who do not follow.
If the soldiers do discover the PCs, they attack immediately without seeking reinforcements
among the Orgoth fighting out front, believing themselves more than a match for a small band of escaped prisoners.
If the PCs join the battle, they quickly find themselves facing off against the Orgoth alone, as the Immorese rebels die just a few minutes after the PCs arrive. In those few minutes, if a PC speaks the first part of the passphrase Galiz recorded, one of the Immorese combatants responds with the counter-phrase,
“Give us light against the conquerors’ darkness,” and then immediately asks, “Did you recover the secrets of
synthesis?”
As the PCs respond to this, one way or another, a trio of Orgoth soldiers interrupts the exchange to attack the rebels. If the PCs immediately retreat back into the fort, the soldiers focus on the rebels instead of pursuing the PCs. If the PCs stand their ground, the soldiers attack them, effectively ending the exchange either way. The
Immorese combatants die beneath Orgoth blades within moments, and the soldiers deal with the PCs immediately
after.
AReA 9: bARRAckS
Each of these rough-carved chambers has a large fire pit in the center, surrounded by soldiers’ cots, and there
is a torch sconce in each corner of the room. As in the Main Barracks, each cot is accompanied by a chest. PCs who take the time to search these chests can find any number of small items, as detailed in the Main Barracks. Additionally, one of the chests in the Barracks to the west contains a heavy golden chain, its links designed to look like human arms grasping and clawing at one another. A character wearing the chain gains +2 to WIL rolls and may reroll failed rolls to resist Fear.
AReA 10: lieuTenAnT’S QuARTeRS
Directly across from the entryway to this room stands a black stone slab carved with a leering Orgoth face over a field of stars.
The chamber also contains a bed, a locked chest, a small table, and an empty weapons stand and armor rack. The chest can be opened with a Lock Picking roll against a target of 15 or with the screaming black stone key from area 1. If that key is used, its scream then triggers a scream from the leering Orgoth face across from the entryway, which serves as a sentry. After two rounds the scream from the face destroys the black stone key, shattering it like glass. The scream from the face also brings a random patrol (see “Wandering Patrol,” p. 89). If a PC uses the whistle (see below) to stop the face before it screams or during the first round, the patrol doesn’t respond to the sound.
Within the chest, PCs find a small shaft of bone carved into a whistle. Flesh yet remains clinging to the holes, flapping like grotesque tongues if a PC blows into it. A character can spend a quick action to play the whistle. Rather than emit any sound it produces a sphere of complete silence for 18 feet (3˝) in all directions, which quiets the Orgoth face before a patrol can hear the scream, and this also protects the black stone key from destruction. Characters within this radius of silence gain and additional die to Sneak rolls, have their command range reduced to 0, cannot hear, and automatically fail all Detection rolls based on sound.
AReA 11: kiTchen
A huge fireplace fills the width of an alcove on the east end of the rear wall. Across from the alcove and alongside the door is a well. Large wooden tables occupy much of the center of the room, while rows of shelves filled with cooking pots and other kitchen implements take up the entirety of the western wall.
As the PCs leave this room, the first two characters to enter the hallway should immediately make Detection rolls against a target of 12. Those who succeed hear footsteps coming from down the darkened west corridor. This marks the approach of a single warwitch accompanied by a pair of Orgoth soldiers.
If no PC succeeds on the Detection roll, the Orgoth gain a surprise round.
If the PCs immediately retreat back into the kitchen, stand clear of the open doorway, and do not make noise, the Orgoth proceed past them and turn to exit the fortress and join the battle out front. If the PCs are observed retreating to the kitchen, however, the Orgoth enter to investigate. The warwitch automatically succeeds on rolls to see through a PC’s disguise. She and her companions attack immediately.
TERRAIN
Fireplace: A large fire has been built up, and anyone forced into the fireplace immediately suffers 1 point of fire damage and the Fire continuous effect.
Tables: These large, solid wooden tables provide cover.
Well: The top of the well is 3 feet above the floor and 7 feet above the surface of the water below. Anyone falling or climbing into the well can climb out with a Climbing roll against a target of 17.
A character in the well must make a successful Swimming roll against a target of 8 at the beginning of each turn or suffer d3 damage points.
AFTERmATH
Once the Orgoth are defeated, if the PCs do not conceal the bodies a patrol of d3 Orgoth soldiers soon discovers their dead comrades and begins to search for the killers. These soldiers begin searching Areas 12–15 in numerical order and respond quickly to any clues as to the PCs’ location—such as the sound of combat. If alerted to the PCs’ presence, the patrolling guards arrive 1 round after any such disturbance occurs.
Scene 4
The battle beyond the entry hall rages on, but unless the PCs have been careful to cover their tracks up to this point the Orgoth within the fortress may be suspicious (or even alerted) to their presence. During this scene the PCs can hear patrols moving more quickly and searching more thoroughly. From this point forward, add +1 to all d6 rolls made to determine the composition of a Wandering Patrol.
AReA 12: wARwiTch lAiR
A narrow tunnel runs southwest for nearly 60 feet through total darkness before widening into this large cavern. The flagstone flooring runs up to a large pool of water taking up most of the cavern.
Though there are no interior walls within this cavern, the floored section is clearly divided into two distinct living spaces.
Nearest to the entry, five beds are arranged in a semicircle around the northwest corner. Each is accompanied by an empty armor stand and by a locked chest that can be opened with a Lock Picking roll against a target of 15. These chests contain minor valuables similar to those found elsewhere in the fort. Deeper into the room at the southeast end is a living area similar to the first, though with only a single bed. Separating these two sections is a common area furnished with a fire pit and a large table.
If the PCs do not make any loud noises as they advance down the tunnel into this cavern, as they enter the cavern Kalisti and a pair of subordinate warwitches are standing at the water’s edge, with their backs to the entrance, pouring blood from a bronze bowl into the water as part of a dark rite of divination. When the blood strikes the water the room begins to glow. Faces rise from the water, screaming and hissing secrets to the coven. If all characters who enter the room succeed in a Sneak roll against a target of 13, the warwitches do not notice their arrival and continue their work. Utterly focused on their magic, a light
source such as a torch being brought into the room is not be as immediately evident to the warwitches as it would be to most others. PCs in the room can make an INT roll against a target of 12 to identify key words whispered by the faces in the water.
Spies Grenaldt Synthesis Genocide