Possessions: bracers of armor +6, headband of intellect +6, ring of 1. Entrance protection +4, amulet of proof against detection and location, lesser This building is fairly unassuming. Its wooden walls and wood shingle roof are spotted with lichens and filaments of fungus, and rod of metamagic (quicken). the solid stone foundation is thick with moss.
THE GOD IN THE LAKE
CHAPTER 2
THE DEEP MASTERS
Worn paths around the exterior of the house lead to the back The sleepy village of Raven’s Lake has a secret: A terrible god door (area 7) as well as to the nearby lakeshore. lives in the depths of the settlement’s namesake. The citizens of Raven’s Lake know that something lives in 2. Storeroom the lake. People who go out on the lake after dark go missing far This room is completely cluttered with a fantastic amount of too often and frequently turn up weeks later with no memory junk. Coils of rope, old bows, barrels, crates, boxes, fishing poles, of where they’ve been. The local church of St. Cuthbert has broken bear traps, and more assault the eye. been abandoned no fewer than seven times in the last two None of the equipment here has seen any use since Huck was years, each time its lone cleric packing hastily and fleeing enslaved; his hunting days are over. town without a word. Adventurers who come to Raven’s Lake have a habit of vanishing forever. The truth is that something does indeed live in Raven’s Lake, 3. Washroom but it is far from a deity. It’s an exiled aboleth by the name of This dirty, foul-smelling room could serve as a washroom only Zlorthishen. for the bravest soul.
Adventure Hooks Huck’s personal hygiene has always been a topic in town, and The PCs could be drawn to Raven’s Lake for a number of his habits have not improved as a result of his enslavement. reasons. An associate might have visited the town and disappeared. A PC cleric might be asked by a superior to investigate 4. Antler Storage why clerics of St. Cuthbert never stay in the town longer than a This room seems to have once been a bedroom, but before it can month. The PCs could just be passing through town and catch serve as such again, someone needs to clean out the hundreds of antlers stacked in tangled piles. wind that something’s wrong by the way the locals regard them with such sadness. Huck had a liking for antlers: deer, elk, moose, peryton (see Raven’s Lake could also serve as the genesis of a new camMonsters of Faerûn)—anything he could knock off and keep, paign. The PCs could all be locals who slowly uncover the sinister secret that festers in the lake and the tunnels below he tossed in here. He planned to sort them and keep only the best, but he never got around to it. The antler collection has town. taken over this room completely; Huck now sleeps on a pile No map of Raven’s Lake is provided, so you can more easily place the village in your campaign world. Detailed below is the of rugs next to the stove in his living room (area 5). home of Huck One-Eye, an old hunter who lives in a simple one-story house with a solid foundation. 5. Living Room (EL 3) Huck One-Eye’s House Huck One-Eye is an old human ranger who was the first person the aboleth Zlorthishen enslaved after arriving in Raven’s Lake five years ago via an underground river. The aboleth knew that its survival depended on its quickly establishing a secret stronghold under the unknowing eyes of the locals, and it enslaved Huck as he wandered alone by the lake edge. Over the last five years, the aboleth has managed to secretly enslave nearly half the town, including all of its leaders and prominent members. Its slaves created a set of underground tunnels that connected the lake to Huck’s basement, and recently the aboleth has started to breed skum in these tunnels. After some investigations in town, the PCs should eventually be led to Huck’s home. No one talks, but careful observation allows the PCs to note that despite the amount of traffic that goes in and out of Huck’s home, there never seems to be much noise or clamor coming from inside the building.
This room is warm but cloying; the air is thick with the scents of unwashed flesh and smoke. Pieces of old, worn furniture sit in the corners of the room, including chairs, a desk, shelves, and an empty bookcase. A cast-iron stove sits to the north, and a filthy pile of rugs and blankets lies heaped in front of it.
This is where Huck sleeps, eats, and whiles away the hours as he waits for his master below to contact him with a new task. Huck’s hearing isn’t as good as it used to be, so chances are he won’t hear anyone who knocks on a door, or even anyone who breaks into his home. If startled here, his initial attitude is hostile. He yells and curses, hoping to drive the intruders off, unless his attitude is adjusted at least to friendly, in which case he calms down and engages in idle chatter. If made helpful, he invites his visitors to dinner (water from rusty bowls and rabbit stew that’s a bit off). He won’t reveal the presence of the skum or the aboleth downstairs, but anyone who speaks to him and makes a DC 15 Sense Motive check
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