The Great Dolmenwood Treasure Hunt, part 1: Overview

 Jack Edward has pointed out that it would be cool to have more treasure hunt modules for existing hexcrawls, and one would be especially neat for Dolmenwood.

I happen to have recently gotten Dolmenwood, and wanted to take a crack at it. You'll want to reference your own copy of the hexmap to get a full picture, but you can get a good idea of how the piece fit together even without it.

I would like to break this up into a few posts.

• Campaign framing, timeline, and general details (this post)
• Minor tweaks to hex descriptions
• The Lost Wing, a dungeon
• The Dawnward Path, a fairy road. Would also contain a coda on the project

art by Honor C. Appleton

Framing the Hunt

To set things it motion, it would be neat to give the starting PCs a connection to the Summer Lodge. This should be pretty convenient, as its diverse membership might plausibly have drawn characters of any ancestry or class, so the PCs might be descendants or former accomplices of the lodge's latter-day followers, or they might have a fondness for tales of the lodge's exploits and a desire to restore its purpose.

To give the hunt its proper thrill of adventure, it would be a good idea to set up the Cold Prince as the main threat of the campaign, waxing in power as his spies seek tirelessly to aid his return to Dolmenwood. The Heavenseeker Key, which can cut off fairy roads into Dolmenwood, would serve as a potent check on the Prince's ambitions. See p. 91 of the DWC for suggested events to transpire during the Cold Prince's attempted return. The PCs will also have rivals, in the form of the imperial inspectors described later in this post.

Like many treasure hunts, there is a "most efficient" way for the adventure to go, but as the hunt is simply a framing to direct and enrich the enjoyment of the hexcrawl, the DM doesn't need to worry too much about the trail going cold or the party skipping a few steps. That said, the basic route is for PCs to

1. learn of a powerful artifact, the Heavenseeker Key, upon investigating the Summer Lodge in Blackeswell. This will lead them to seek
2. the original lodge headquarters by finding the Shrine of Saint Grace near Orbswallow, and from there
3. consulting a Summer Stone in the Ring of Chell. This will tell them to seek
4. the Derphan Gate in Brackenwold, which will lead them to
5. the original lodge headquarters. The information they find there will take them to
6. the very cusp of the Nag-Lord's Palace, where they will find the Heavenseeker Key.

Timeline

• 850 years ago, the Triple Compact between the king, the church, and the Drune was formed to throw off the Cold Prince's dominion over Dolmenwood. Using an artifact called the Heavenseeker Key to close off fairy roads into Dolmenwood which the Cold Prince would otherwise have used to reinforce his demesne, they eventually triumphed. After this incredible success, everyone wanted to keep the good times rolling, and agreed to form a group to further cooperate and keep a vigil against the Cold Prince. The kings of Brackenwold called this group the Summer Lodge. The church's contribution formed the Triclavian Order (as the compact was "three nails in the coffin of the Cold Prince"), and the Hooded Men who volunteered for this most un-Drunish task called it Sucha Geas (lit. "The Pitying Endeavor").
• 825 years ago, this project was already broadly disdained and irrelevant as members largely withheld aid and lore from each other and the lodge's patrons withheld funds and resources from it. For the rest of its long existence, the lodge would go through long periods of inactivity punctuated by the membership of some of the stranger renegades and wildcards of Dolmenwood's history, including…
• 700 years ago, the Aubrathon began his great project, a renegade Hooded Man who so offended the cabal's leadership that formal endorsement of the lodge was ended.
• 200 years ago, Dewidort of Smerne rose the infamy, a highwayman who so outraged the land that his records of his membership in the lodge were destroyed
• 100 years ago, the elfmaid Grace-Before-The-Unjust-Punishment, whose remarkable life of unheard-of fairy devotion to the One True God and whose many controversies eventually led to a schism that destroyed the lodge for good. After her fall, the Heavenseeker Key was lost for good.

Tweaks

Make sure historians and sages have appropriate knowledge of the Lodge. Anyone who knows the details of politics between 850 and 100 years ago would have heard of it under one name or another, though they may not know its real purpose.

Nobility, audrunes, and high-ranking members of the Pluritine Church have a 1-in-6 chance of knowing about the lodge and putting some stock by it. Their reaction roll with the party might determine whether they respect the lodge's mission or consider them interlopers and trouble-makers.

When humans encountered on the road roll a reaction roll of exactly 5, they are informants for the Imperial Inspectors, and will turn them onto the PCs' track when appropriate. The Imperial Inspectors are essentially a rival adventuring party, agents sent from outside Dolmenwood by the kingdom Brackenwold is only a duchy of, questing for the Heavenseeker Key on behalf of their masters. They are respectable and strong, but bad at actual dungeoneering in a way that will surely make the players feel like genius underdogs.

• Fritz Nemrot, knight 6. (Vert, six pizzles paly argent) Ring of Vanishing (DWC p. 411). Ring of Facility (cursed to be unremovable, -3 Intelligence) Single-minded and dogged, Fritz leads the party and deals with any hirelings they pick up.
• Kezimira Drupaski, hunter 7. Refused by Hell after offending its strictures, if slain Kezimiria has a 3-in-6 chance of coming back from the dead next Colly. Otherwise, she rises as a wraith (as banshee without wail, DWM p. 13) bound to the Ring of Facility. Somber, distant, laughs at small things.
• Greta Kindergraber, magician 5. (Book of Received Insights: Firelight, Vapours of Dream, Invisibility. Rites: Knock, Lightning Bolt) Many blackbird tattoos, and the Internecine Amulet (resembles a bird ouroboros. When you eat a blackbird raw, gain it as a tattoo. Spend the tattoo to turn into a blackbird until you touch the ground.) Most disdainful of Dolmenwood's whimsical character.

Whenever a random adventuring party is encountered on the road, strongly consider having it be the Imperial Inspectors, 1d6-1 hirelings, and any NPC the players know that they might have managed to recruit.

Details

Lodge Signs

These shibboleths and symbols are found in many surprising places where the lodge once had business.

• Three nails in a row, sometimes taken as three T's, or even three signs of Cwrnus
• A snowflake with four major points to form an X
• A three-fingered salute that starts at the middle of the forehead
• A lockhole with five lines coming off of it
• A blue cravat
• A fan in warm colors

d20 members

Use this reference when you need to source old letters, mention historical names in passing, ex chetera. Doubles as a chronological list. Feel free to change names as needed to implicate PCs' ancestors.

1. Euthraid Polyp, Hooded Bride and first lodge grandmistress. Active 850 years ago.
2. Lord Medigord Helmwit. Cousin of the King of Brackenwold and founding member. Active 850 years ago.
3. Father Chade, a friar and friend of the High Abbot of Wellskeep. Founding member active 850 years ago.
4. Saudreth Owlhame. Hooded Man active 800 years ago. Spy for the Cold Prince, eventually found out and executed.
5. Sir Ulva Monocleese. Active 800 years ago, won the rare affection of the witches of Dolmenwood. Remembered fondly by them even now.
6. Ormyr Aumyr, the Aubrathon. Active 750 years ago. Difficult to summarize, but among other things advocated extreme intellectual openness, war against the mosslings' gods, and the punishment of malicious thoughts. His conduct led to the end of the Hooded Men's formal involvement in the lodge.
7. Haldrime Elderscorn. Hooded Man active around 750 years ago. Lover to and supporter of the Aubrathon.
8. Ghrend the Player. Breggle minstrel and recorder of tales active 700 years ago.
9. Margerie the Wanderer. Cleric of Saint Sedge most well-known by church scholars as a recorder of herblore. Active 600 years ago.
10. Brother Shankius. Holy man and sage active 500 years ago who dedicated himself to the study of fairy roads.
11. Just-War-Nourish, an elf engaged with the lodge 450-500 years ago. Agitated for more active measures against the Cold Prince, aggravating the Hooded Men with pointed study of the Summerstones
12. Lord Neville Brackenwold, the third son of Duke Brackenwold. Active 400 years ago, he was a reliable patron to the perenially-uncoffered group.
13. Modesty Coole, a magician active 350 years ago. Interested in the society of snow elves, she compiled many of the scattered accounts of their court and the lands of Frigia.
14. Mother Mere, a former abbess from outside Dolmenwood whose extensive pilgrimage within the confines of the wood made her a remarkable authority on its shrines, byways, and hidden places. Active 250 years ago.
15. Dewidort of Smerne. Highwayman. Joined 210 years ago, but shamed the lodge. 4-in-6 chance his name is crossed out of any record
16. Dame Theatrice Woldeleigh. Active 150 years ago.
17. Grace-Before-The-Unjust-Decree. A pious elf, joined ~150 years ago, became the Flayed Queen 45-50 years ago.
18. Gremlith Speldare. Braithmaid exile, lover of secrets. During the Saint Grace schism, led the members who wanted to bury the legacy of Grace. Active around 100 years ago
19. Dame Lythe Albrime. During the Saint Grace schism, led the faction who wanted to recover Grace's remains and secure her canonization. Active around 100 years ago.
20. Sweamy Tweede. Last lodge grandmaster. Neutral on the point of Saint Grace, but unable to unite the lodge behind their founding mission, and declared the group dissolved. Active around 100 years ago.

12 Clues

Sprinkle these into situations where you think it would make sense for there to be some material clue relating to the mystery. Use your DM's instincts.

1. Dewidort's Paper Accomplices. 2d6 pieces of rough paper in a lacquered box painted with a shushing face and the phrase "Thou Shalt Not Get Found Out," Touching a pen to a page and uttering the phrase makes a map of everything within 100' of the user on the same level of elevation as them, burning ink all the way through to the other side. Treasure appears 4-in-6 and traps 2-in-6 on the map. At the bottom of the pile are two used pages— one shows part of Castle Brackenwold's lost wing, and one shows a trio of buildings in Smerne (0301), including a secret entrance into a safehouse built into one of the buildings.
2. Adventures in Fairyland, a collaborative work detailing information about the various fairy roads found in Dolmenwood, with multiple authors (including Ormyr, Ghrend, Brother Shankius, and Grace-Before-The-Unjust-Decree) denoting, adding to, and contradicting each other. Study reveals information about one door of each road, plus two or three locations to be found within.
3. Dame Theatrice's Journal, describing her attempts to find Dewidort's stolen treasure and turn it over to the authorities. Describes her suspicion of the shifty townsfolk of Smerne, maps of the region west of Lake Longmere, and notes about wolves, since Dewidort seemed to identify with them (with drawings of eyerolls). A couple latter entries describe Grace-Before-The-Unjust-Decree, an elf with surprising devotion to the One True God.
4. Memorandum from Dame Lythe Albrime, curtly reporting that the body of "Saint Grace" was not found, though her skin was recovered from a crookhorn patrol. Mentions rumors that the body has been taken north to the Table Downs for some unknown purpose. Tear-stained.
5. Receipt from Boroth the Smith. Sets out the material and labor cost for gilding decorations for "a statue of an elfin lady", as well as "right-exacte" bronze sheets with "holes which wilt suit the words they are surely set to". Says that it will be available for pick-up and transport from his smithy in Blackeswell in two months, and notes that it should look "passing beauteous in the green glow".
6. Letter from Grace-Before-The-Unjust-Decree. In flowing elfin script (with the occasional abortive attempt at Mulch writing), thanks "Chief Mulcher Bosoltob" for hosting her, memorializes several pastoral memories. Notes that she has always felt at peace among bracken, fungus, lichens, and mushrooms of all kinds, as her friends have often heard her remark. Promises to visit after her ministry to the crookhorns of the Nagwood to help calm tensions between the chief's village and the nutcaps.
7. Memorandum from Gremlith Speldare. Warns against further attempts to recover the remains of Grace, as she has learned of a new power in the Table Downs, a grotesque and powerful undead queen
8. Locket, containing a cameo a severe hooded man with a single eye, as well as a note. "Though to be far from you is arduous, it is a balm to my heart that in protecting the Ring, I am protecting also the message concealing your order and the Key, and thus a part of your Sucha Geas."
9. Account of Key, assistant-scribe. Mentions all he has managed to learn about the construction of Brackenwold Keep, including that it encircles an old well, as well as the Tened, Sko, Alasay, and Derphan gates. Some musings about the correct translation of what these words might mean follows.
10. Lythe's booklet. Stuffed with several paper screens intended to cover different passages of text to reveal humorous messages. All-clear reports regarding the Cold Prince's agents, save for concerning rumors about a Snow Elf embassy near some waterfall.
11. Proposal regarding Fort Vulgar Lodge, suggesting that the order re-establish a base there in light of concerning rumors about a "Nag Lord" operating in the northern woods. "After all, it may transpire that news will be pursued and halted before it gets all the way back to to Derphan and headquarters."
12. Exhortation of Just-War-Nourish. Epistle to all other members of the lodge, pointedly asking why we rest on our laurels. Why does the grandmaster not constantly badger the duke for funding? Why do our magicians not demand the hooded men forget the errors of the Aubrathon and remember their duty? Why does the Heavenseeker Key linger in our headquarters when it could be plugging some byway into Dolmenwood? And so on. 

VtM 5e: Twenty Obtenebration Rituals

 By now you're hopefully used to my eclectic gaming interests. This is hardly one of the OSR topics that serve as my blog's bread and butter, but I'm running a Vampire the Masquerade duet game for my husband and wanted to share some of that prep here, especially given my unaccountable lack of blogposts in the last month or so.

(Finally getting a lot of use out of my VtM PC generator)

Johann Heinrich Fussli

Clan LaSombra and their study of Obtenebration is an interesting part of the World of Darkness. They study shadows, but it's more freaked up than that because these shadows somehow relate to the place that death is. It really seems like LaSombra isn't that interested in the spirits who inhabit this land, or in the state of their own (presumably destroyed?) souls, but in the power that contact with the death-place can afford them. There is some implication that connection to the Abyss drains you of emotion, of connection to life that is already tenuous for the undead Cainites, and so it's something I want to dive into a bit for my duet game, which features a LaSombra protagonist.

The following rituals can be learned by anyone with sufficient dots in Oblivion, just like normal rituals. They take a bit of vitae and a few minutes of work, as well as a Resolve + Oblivion vs difficulty 1 + ritual level. As this is for a duet game, I'm not bending over backwards to balance them against everything else, but hopefully they're close enough to baseline assumptions to be useful or at least interesting to you.

Because I came up in older editions of the game, I'll use "Obtenebration" to refer to Oblivion abilities specific to LaSombra, but Oblivion to refer to the game ability and the more general study shared with other clans like the Hecata.

The Rituals of Shadow

Draining

• Level 1
• The caster performs a simple ritual, filling a jug and emptying it in solitude while reciting an incantation of babel they themselves wrote in a trance of automatic writing. If observed, the ritual has no effect.
• Gives a penalty equal to dots in Oblivion to nonmagical invective, seduction, or other attempts to incite emotion from or about the caster for the rest of the night. 

Spear Against Crocodiles

• Level 1
• The caster recites a spell they have copied out themselves from a scroll, which they must carry with them.
• Places a ward against the abyss on the caster, giving a 2-dice penalty to all attacks against them by ghosts and other creatures of the abyss, as well as attacks using obtenebration. While carrying this scroll, their own obtenebrations are at a 1-die penalty.

Secret Combination

• Level 1
• The caster wets a thread with their own vitae, then wraps it intricately around the left hand of a willing "ordinate"-- from right side of wrist to the left side of the ring finger to right side of wrist to left side of wrist to left side of thumb to right side of ring finger. A promise is made.
• Binds the willing target to a vow of secrecy. The first time they reveal a secret so bound (without having this ritual reversed by the same caster), they take aggravated willpower damage equal to the ritual's margin of success, plus 1. However, they get a bonus to resist supernatural attempts to probe the secret (e.g. telepathy) equal to the margin of success.

Sacrament of Life

• Level 1
• A cup or cauldron is brought to the caster, who stirs it with a metal wand. The liquid bubbles and rises to the lid of the vessel.
• Nourish mortals with blood as though it were a steak dinner, OR multiply volume of blood (though not nourishment) for greater enjoyment, increasing its volume by 2 + margins of success times.

Arthame

• Level 1
• The caster runs their nails along a knife, giving a prayer of encouragement. Soon enough, their shadow hands them a knife, weightless and thin.
• The knife, made of shadows, ignores all armor. Superficial damage it inflicts is not halved. If the blade is discarded or dropped, it disappears. If it disappears before tasting blood, the caster takes 1 aggravated willpower damage.

Lucifuge

• Level 2
• The caster performs a threefold incantation over a metal candle douter, then takes it up and carries it with them. At any point that night, they can set the douter down firmly while staring into a light source to extinguish it for as long as the douter is not lifted or overturned.
• Captures a single source of light for as long as the vessel is undisturbed.

Raiment of the Temenites

• Level 2
• Requires Shadow Cloak power
• The caster undertakes a focused pantomine, taking up an embroidered bag or sack and feigning the creation of it. After several minutes of "work", they then produce a silken, vantablack gown from the sack.
• It exists until the next sunrise, and anyone wearing the gown gets +1 dot and +1 die to all obtenebration powers, but must make an additional rouse check upon every use. If they would suffer a compulsion, the wearer instead dissociates, and is controlled by the DM for the rest of the scene.

Reprieve

• Level 3
• Requires Oblivion's Sight power
• A skull is cleaned and dried, then the caster incants over it while placing a key (any key) in its mouth.
• Interrogate a skull for information it had in life. It is oddly frantic, and only answers 1 + margin of success questions gainfully. Can advise on skills it possessed when alive, giving +1 die to a relevant skill attempt.

Maleficium

• Level 3
• The vitae of a number of kindred equal to double the current blood bond score of the affected thrall is mixed into a chalice, and the thrall then drinks the blood.
• Break a blood bond, replace it with one-point penalty to act against the wishes of any contributing Cainite. This is one of several similar rituals called Vaulderie, and is commonly found among the Sabbat.

Inanis Res

• Level 3
• The caster fills a glove with decaying organic matter and buries it. Rumors call it a spell of clear conscience, but it is closer to a numb delusion.
• The ritual can cut off a willing participant's emotional concern, negate remorse, destroy a touchstone's hold, or give a bonus to resist blood bond equal to margin of success.

Lampad

• Level 3
• The caster writes a question on a piece of paper and burns it with the flame of a single lantern, then studies the movement of the flames
• Though the flame is small, meditating upon it conjures rotshreck-- the caster must save vs terror at difficulty 3. On a success, the DM intimates some cryptic clue about the answer to their question, and if there is some decisive moment later in the night when the clue would aid in a die roll, the caster gets a bonus equal to the ritual's margin of victory.

Heqau

• Level 3
• The caster squeezes some of their own blood into a bowl, whispers into it, then empties the bowl into a body of water. At their discretion, the bowl may be prepared earlier than night and brought to the water, but if a drop is spilled in transit the spell fails.
• Transforms the water feature into an opaque, heavy expanse. The caster can seense any acute resonances through it, and treats the affected water as their shadow for any powers or abilities that depent on what their shadow touches. The maximum size of the water feature can be quite large, but falls short of, say, an entire lake.

Confession

• Level 4
• The caster reads from a spellbook and dons an intricate black shroud.
• While they wear the veil, the caster gets a bonus equal to their Oblivian score to dice rolls made to gain insight into someone's guilts or shames by talking with them, and to persuasion rolls to convince them to speak to those things when the caster has them alone. If the caster directly announces a secret they learned through this ritual, it loses its potency permanently for them.

Lamen

• Level 4
• A character wears a pendant or amulet for at least 24 full hours, keeping it hidden from sight. They bring it to the caster, who works a small amount of vitae into it and returns it to the recipient.
• Imbues the pendant with the power of the caster's blood. Wearing a pendant made for you gifts half the Obtenebration level of the donor, and non-amalgam powers of up to that level, for 1 night.

Apotrope

• Level 4
• Requires Shadow Perspective power
• Using dull inks and needles, the caster makes a crude tattoo of a staring eye somewhere on their person.
• When the caster is targeted by powers of the dominate discipline, their eyes instead shunt the effect into the abyss, effectively protecting them from the attempted hypnotism. There is a chance that this angers the denizens of the abyss (1-in-10 in unremarkable places, 6-in-10 in sites of horrors), and clever zhivagos can intentionally stir the abyss with their commands on a successful manipulation + occult test vs difficulty 4. This tattoo fades the next time the caster rouses the blood to knit their wounds, but its power persists until the next time the ritual is performed or until it resists 1+margin of success dominate attempts.

Fama Fraternitatis

• Level 4
• The caster spins a needle in a glass vial or inkwell, then slowly works it through the subject-- the earlobe or the webbing of the hand are sufficient.
• Carrying the needle like a dowsing rod, the caster can follow an unseen tether between the subject and someone close to them-- a domitor, thrall, ghoul, sire, childe, or touchstone. For each margin of success, an additional tether can be discerned, if any exist. When distinguishing between tethers, the caster cannot easily tell which leads to whom, but auspex powers like Scry the Soul can provide information as though staring at the person themselves.

Kladenets

• Level 4
• The caster recites a passage of gratitude (traditionally facetious), and leaves a shallow wooden dish containing their vitae on the floor of the space they seek to protect.
• The caster's shadow splits off from them and sups from the bowl. It lingers in the area, guarding it against intrusion. The caster can instruct the shadow regarding objects or people it must prioritize in protection, authorized entrants, and other details. Upon the sunrise, or if the bowl is spilled, the shade dissipates. Some might notice that the caster lacks a shadow on a wits + awareness roll vs 3, but they can grow a new one if they possess the Shadow Cast discipline which increases the difficulty to 6 when the caster is not distracted.

A Well

• Level 5
• Requires Stygian Shroud power
• The caster brings on their Stygian Shroud power, then spends the next few minutes pouring void off of themselves into a well or shaft. They must chant and at least two assistants must drum and stamp.
• The very abyss fills this well, and rituals of Oblivion are performed at +2 dice and +1 hunger. Anything entering into the abyss is presumably destroyed, though LaSombra myth is full of tenebral voyagers who have braved its expanse. The well persists until 24 hours have passed since one rouse check's worth of blood has been poured into it.

Viaticum

• Level 5
• Requires Touch of Oblivion power
• The caster places two coins that the subject has touched in a censor of honey, myrrh, rush, an sorrel, then burns the incense until the coins are hot to the touch and lay them on their palms.
• The subject must be someone with the caster's blood in them or whom the caster has fed on within the past month. The ritual claims the mortal's shadow, allowing the caster to use Obtenebration abilities through it was their own. This grave intrusion causes the mortal to sicken and die over the course of 2d10 days.

Prayer of Temens

• Level 5
• The caster anoints sea foam and mixes it into a balm that they spread over their forehead, palm, breast, and where the neck meets the back of the head.
• For the rest of the night, anyone who would only be able to perceive the caster using powers that pierce darkness or supernatural concealment (such as Oblivion's Sight or Sense the Unseen) must make a resolve + occult test vs difficulty 5 to see the caster.

Teeth of Ahriman

• Level 5
• Requires Forgetful Mind power (Dominate discipline)
• The caster meditates on an incantation.
• While in the abyss or other extents, the caster may feed on mortals who their "shadow passes over" in the living world, whatever that means. As they suffer damage, they start to lose memory and connection-- someone drained enough to sate 1 hunger simply forget a few scattered memories and set aside only potential relationships, while someone drained to sate 4 hunger ignores all but their closest friends and forgets much of their past.

Compline

• Level 5
• Requires Tenebrous Avatar power
• The caster empties their mind and stills their heart as they stopper a vessel specially prepared for this ritual.
• When the ritual is performed, succeed or fail, the caster goes into a deep sleep, only awaking at the start of the next night. During this time, if the spell succeeded, they exist only as a pool of shadow, per Tenebrous Avatar, with all the protections that implies. If awakened before dusk this ability immediately ends. All dreams are nightmares.

Rita Eberle-Wessner