• for the village map, use https://dysonlogos.blog/2016/10/14/the-ruined-canal-city/
• For the temple/whatever at the head of the village, one of:
  • https://dysonlogos.blog/2009/07/03/map-a-week-dwarven-barracks-at-kuln/
  • https://dysonlogos.blog/2014/01/10/friday-map-the-temple-of-poor-parenting-decisions/
  • https://dysonlogos.blog/2013/05/07/tuesday-map-the-demon-hall/
• first cave : robrus beach cave, red descent, vrock cave, or lords of the aldeiron peaks

Rav'essec village

• Background: The village of Rav'essec was an ancient grey elven village dedicated to odd religious rituals. They survived largely by magic, assisted by hunting, gathering, and trade. The village eventually fell when, one year, cut off from the outside world by snow and ice, its cornucopia failed and the remaining food supplies were not enough to last through the winter. They didn't give in to cannibalism, but whether they starved, left and were lost, or fell to disease, none survived.
• Their temple complex later became of interest to followers of a cult of the god Nerull, and one of his demon lords, Ahazu the Seizer. Using a ritual learned by combining various sources of knowledge, they learned how to perform a ritual in the temple of a forgotten god (Tarsellis Meunniduin) to call up a 'shroud of night' which would cut off sunlight from a large and growing region. This shroud would allow creatures normally restrained by daylight to menace and depopulate an area, leaving everything inside to be plundered by members of the cult.
• After two months of the player's town developing, gemhunters from Blasingdell will notice an unnatural darkness to the northeast (emanating from the village). Mounted travel is no faster than foot, at 1 hex per day. Fully exploring a hex takes 6 days, with something found on the 1d6th day if it exists. 50% chance of encountering 1d6 shadows per day of exploration. [generate mountain weather chart., different from the surrounding hills]
• Description The village is huddled in the west end of a deep narrow stone valley on the north side of Mount Ire (in hex F151-169). The current shroud of night will prevent all of the village from being seen at once, only 1/4 or so of the town will likely be visible. Small waterfalls formerly fed streams that flowed through the center of town from cliffs to the north and south, but these are now dry, leaving the town overhung by cliffs to the west, where a columned stone facade is carved into the cliff.
• 1: Old Guard Post: Most of the tower is in ruins, with collapsed battlements. 1a was the barracks, 1b the captains quarters, 1d the old armory, with a dozen suits of ruined scale mail (1/10 value), and rusty longswords (1/4 value). The former guard captain Othorion regrets that he didn't have the opportunity to die gloriously in battle. Now existing as a Sword Wraith Commander (and wearing an elven chain shirt), he is eager to summon soldiers to fight and die at his side. However, it may be possible to flatter him by lying (DC 13) or truthfully knowing (DC 30 or nat 20 history, maybe somewhat easier if knowledge from the dragon cave is mentioned) about his reputation as a steadfast and valued commander.
• 2: Shrine to Corellon Larethion: This giant stone head and hand are a shrine to the most wellknown elven god. A secret door behind the right ear leads inside (DC 14). The specter Innechel who dwells here does not wish to fight. She knows much of the lore of the village, and is surprisingly peaceful for an undead, content to contemplate the passing of time.
• 3: Old Smithy: Largely collapsed. DC 14 perception can find 100gp of mithril and 100gp of fine elven steel ingots, and 50gp of magical quality anthracite coal.
• 4: Old Windmill: Its former function is obvious, as is the likelihood of it collapsing if disturbed. (6d6 dmg, dex 14 save for 1/2)
• 5: Stables: The collapsed wooden stall walls demonstrate the former use of this building. Glints of metal can be seen among the wreckage (dc 10). If disturbed, a pair of horselike shapes will rise through the ground and attack as nightmares. If ridden, a nightmare would happily take its rider to the ethereal plane, and then abandon them there. How they might get back is an interesting question. Perhaps Innechel would be able to cast banishment as a ritual. The glinting horseshoes would be worth 50gp as a crafting component.
• 6: Herbalist: The interior of this former shop is terribly decayed but strangely fragrant even after all these years, and a rotted cashbox can be found (DC12). 100 ancient olven gold coins are here (worth double), 120 silver (also double), and 380 copper (worth 1 sp each), all worth more than face value due to rarity.
• 7: General store: The east room (7a) has remains of counters and shelves, but of the former clothes, packs, food, etc. little remains. 20gp of empty glass vials and bottles (about 10 pounds), and 10 gp of clay pots and jugs (about 50 pounds). The west (7b) was living quarters, and hidden under the remains of the bed is a decayed leather pouch with the owner's collected wealth - 20gp, 80sp, and 400 cp, with larger coins worth double and coppers 1sp each.
• 8: Gemcutters: Among the rubble of this mostly collapsed building can be found 12 tiny citrine gems worth 20gp each, and 2 crysoberyl worth 60gp each, requiring a total of 2d10 minutes of searching.
• 9: City hall: This well-contructed, buttressed building has survived better than most. Even some blue,white, and lavender stained glass remains in the windows.
• 9a: Elegant columned walkway, mostly intact.
• 9b: carved stone doors have collapsed inwards. (They have stylized mountain scenes carved into them if examined.) At the far end of the room is a mostly intact desk and chair. A wraith, the former mayor, Maeralya, despaired over the plight of her town and has withered into a wraith, and will blame any outsider for not bringing assistance. If fought, the deathlock in 9c will shortly assist.
• 9c: Alabyran, the mayor's assistant will aid her in combat, but will otherwise remain as a withered corpse hidden behind the ruins of a desk (DC15 to notice)
• 9d: Meeting room with an intact stone table and four rotted dusty wooden chairs
• 9e: Study: two desks and chairs are all that remain here, with an empty piece of rotted parchment, silver inkwell (worth 5gp) and quill left here.
• 9f: former records room. Some books are intact, but all are quite boring and useless.
• 10: Tavern, everything here is in shambles. tables are knocked over, chairs are in the streets outside, smashed goblets, mugs, and jugs are everywhere. 3 poltergeists will trouble anyone disturbing the wreckage, but anyone searching can each find 1d6 each of gp, sp, cp, with usual increased value. In a winerack upstairs, there rest 1d6 intact bottles of old elven vintages. Each is worth 1d6x10 gp, with all 6s rerolled and added to the value.
• 11: Four families used to live in this rooming house. The building rambles with all sorts of roof heights and angles, and was clearly expanded more than once. It seems suspiciously well preserved, and if any entrances are disturbed obviously (stealth to avoid), 2 specters will attack immediately, with 2 more each round for a total of 8. 192 gp worth of coins can be found, and misc. elven personal posessions like plates, combs, cheap jewelry, silverware, etc worth a total of 150gp to a collector.
• 12: This building's walls are lined with piled blocks of stone, all dusty, with some neatly carved, and some rather rough. Tool racks with rusted useless tools stand near entrances.
• 13: Whatever this collapsed structure was, little remains of it now, and nothing gives away its purpose. The elf in building 2 knows that it used to be a weaver's hut. Chulm the weaver was a tall, strong elf, who was usually quiet and skilled, but also unstable and would sometimes violently lash out. He had left the village years before it fell.
• 14: These statues have been weathered and worn, and are now unrecognisable vaguely humanoid blobs. Searching around reveals a few more shaped stones, low to the ground. This once was a place for memorials to the dead, although the bodies were left exposed on a mountain peak for flying animals to consume.

Tarsellis Meunniduin Temple

• This temple bears a resemblance to Petra (familiar from indiana jones and the last crusade), but made of darker stone, and more gothic in style, with the columns joining in arched points at the top. Three porches lead to doors, all currently closed.
• 1a, b, c: A shadow mastiff together with a shadow mastiff alpha stand guard at 1a and at 1c. A pair of shadow mastiffs stand guard at 1b. All are invisible until they enter bright light or attack. The beasts will assist those at other doors, needing two rounds to move from one to the next. Also, see rooms 4 5, and 7.
• 2: Tables and a few chairs sit against the far west wall, benches sit against the eastern walls on either side of the door. There is a faint cold stink of burned cloth. Hangings used to decorate the north and south wall, but have recently been burned. The tables have a few dishes with the remains of meals on them.
• 3: This room has ancient stone fireplaces and ovens, and also has recent stores of food for maybe a dozen people for several weeks, as well as a full and a partly empty water barrel.
• 4: Four bedrolls are on the floor here, no older furnishings are present. This is the quarters for a thug, an evil mage, a spy, and a drow scout. They move around the temple, but will respond in 1d20 rounds to most disturbances. The drow scout has 7 tigereye gems worth 10gp each; the spy has 6gp, 18sp, and wears a Hat of Disguise; the mage has 3 citrines worth 20gp each and a scroll of unseen servant; the thug, who looks especially stupid, has a pouch with 30 polished quartz worth 5sp each, 60sp, and 120cp.
• 5: 5 bedrolls line the walls of this room. Each belongs to a cultist, who each have 13gp in addition to their usual gear (sack or backpack, mess kit, spare clothes, etc.) No lamps, but they can see in darkness due to an unholy boon. They will assist the people from room 4 or their allies in room 9 in 1d4+1 rounds if they hear combat.
• 6: 5 dead peasant bodies lie here, and there are signs that several more lay here previously. 2 might be recognised by Oli as people missing from Thornward. (They are used as fuel for creating the shroud of darkness).
• 7: A veteran lives here, surrounded by scavenged furniture from the rest of the complex. He has 30gp of fine alcohol, and a half-empty small keg of mediocre beer. The miscellaneous elven art and furnishings are in poor condition, and are worth 90gp, and he carries a pouch with 200gp. He will assist the people from room 4 or the mastiffs from 1c if he hears them in combat. However, he is merely a hired mercenary, and will not enter room 9 or deeper in the temple, although he will observe a combat there through a crack in the door if possible. If intruders are victorious, he will attempt to flee the valley, which he will also attempt if reduced to half hp in combat and thinks he has a reasonable chance at escape.
• 8: These two niches are occupied by polished black stone statues of blindfolded androgynous elves. On the wall between the two is etched a plaque in elven, reading "Reflect on the gift of light which shines from afar." A character who passes both statues without touching either must make a DC 13 wisdom save or be blinded for one minute. DC 13 perception notices the the blindfolds of the statues are somewhat dulled, as though they have frequently been touched, DC 18 notices tiny magic runes very faintly etched into the blindfolds (CR 4).
• 9: In the corners of this room, which is entirely unlit, lurk 6 shadows. Unfamiliar noise in the room attracts the attention of the fanatic in room 12 in 2 rounds (the sound of her clambering down the stairs is audible after 1 round), and after 1d4+1 rounds the attention of those in room 5. The pews of this ceremonial chamber are intact, but the walls and decorations have been defaced with charcoal, flame, and smoke. Skulls and bones have been hung in their place, and the altar now holds a black stone skull unholy symbol worth 100gp to an unscrupulous buyer, atop twisted, tarnished altar furnishing of the previous temple worth 20gp. (consider a second wave of shadows if the first are dispatched with ease)
• 10: This room has benches and hook for clothing along the walls, although nothing remains there now. The secret door is DC 15.
• 11: Steps rise to a pool of water a few feet deep, with a furnace set into the stone alongside the steps. Aside from benches and hooks along the walls, and pillars carved with swirling abstract shapes at the back, this room is empty.
• 12: Steep stairs lead up to this shrine to Araleth Letheranil, an elven god of the starry sky. Darkness swirls in the room, preventing vision beyond 5 feet, even with magical light. Standing in the room inflicts 1d6 cold damage per round, DC 14 Constitution save negates. A large bronze brazier sits on the floor, which contains the corpse of a peasant human man, burning with some sort of cold black flame. Frost has formed on the brazier. The room is also occupied by a Cultist Fanatic, Carimab, who wears an amulet in the shape of an hourglass, which can be used once per day as a focus to extend the duration of a spell from 1 or more hours to 24 hours or until the caster next takes a long rest. This has been used to grant the fanatic a 24 hour protection from energy (cold) spell. (Change fanatic to a 5th level cleric caster if writing this up) She will assist the shadows in room 9, but at 1/2 hp will try to flee and alert Lachedis.
  • The ceiling and bracing around the room support what used to be some sort of star-viewing device. Now however, it seems to have been reversed, collecting the darkness and projecting it skyward. This is the source of the shroud of darkness afflicting the land. The brazier can be moved; there are any number of ways to disrupt the process, it seems to be rather easily disrupted at the moment. However, disrupting the process is likely to backlash on those nearby, dealing 8d6 cold damage (DC 16 Constitution save for half).
  • Paintings on the wall are faded, but on close examination (DC10) depict a short-haired elf with sparkling eyes, wearing flowing white leathers. In various pictures, he springs from a starry sky, fights with and is bitten in the shoulder by a gigantic spider, stabs her with his sword, and raises an army of small folk of all races to force the giant spider into the underworld. See here and here for more details.
• 13: This room contains bookshelves, and a table with piles of scribbled notes and mystical components (mostly powders and oils worth 200gp). The notes describe a method of using the components to kindle a dark flame that radiates cold. The books on the shelves are mostly decayed and worthless, although (DC 15 to find) an elven holy text of Araleth is mostly intact and worth 20gp, and also contains a scroll of Elemental Weapon, whose magical aura is concealed by lead foil in the cover of the book.
• 14: The grey stone statues in this room are sculpted as wearing furs, and their hair and clothed carved as though blown by a strong wind. An inscription on the wall reads "Move swiftly, or the winds of fate may carry you away." If a character spends more than one round in the room, all within have a 50% chance of needing to make a DC 12 strength save or be blown 30' down the stairs to the east taking 3d6 points of damage (DC 15 dexterity save for half) A person holding their breath does not trigger, and is not affected by the trap. (CR 2).
• 15: The two desks in this room are rather sturdy, although the shelves have collapsed, and the former contents have clearly been ransacked, leaving them crumbled and valueless. Any disturbance here will quickly be noted by anyone in 12,14, 16, or 17. The desks include several journals which describe a plot to use sacrifices from Thornward to power a ritual which will allow shadows and other creatures bound to the night to spread, and allow the cult, dedicated to Ahazu the Seizer, a demon lord who serves Nerull, to plunder places depopulated by the spreading menace. This room is hung with many strips of black cloth which flutter in any breeze, and cause shifting shadows.
• 16: This is the bedroom of Caramab, who spends most of her time in room 12. It is spartan, containing a bedroll, black skull prayer mat, and traveling pack with a few simple supplies.
• 17: The warlock Lachedis has taken over this room, which is hung with black cloth like room 15. The furnishings are mostly simple - most things of value are elsewhere or on Lachedis' person. He will prepare for combat by casting Armor of Agathys, will attempt to recover by casting Vampiric touch as soon as he's damaged, and at 30hp (or 45 if his demon is defeated) will try to flee via dimension door. Otherwise, he'll use eldritch blast at range and chill touch or shocking grasp in melee. He is usually accompanied by a shadow demon and an animated scythe. (Additionally, a shadow mastiff alpha due to adventure events) He will probably allow foes to melee, attacking with shocking grasp and aura of whispers, but might levitate. Lachedis has a coin pouch with 48gp, two small garnets worth 60gp each, and 20 sp. In a scroll case on his belt are scrolls of shadow blade, hypnotic pattern, and invisibility.
• 18: A skull on an altar and two black, hideous candles on large candlesticks in the corners take up most of this room. Also on the altar are two smaller black candles, and an incense burner. Nearby is a box with two remaining uses of incense of clairvoyance, which works as the spell, but with a range of 100 miles.