“Heart of Darkness”
Difficulty: This adventure is for 4 to 6 level 4 characters with a run time of 2 to 3 hours.
Special Notes:
Summary
The party is sent to investigate the disappearance of a missionary cleric in a vast and dark jungle. Investigation reveals that the cleric has instead been converted by the demon-worshiping jungle people and now mobilizes them against his former mission.
Setup: Rescue Wayne
Wayne Temple(Acolyte mm342) runs past the party and is hotly pursued by a weretiger(mm210) in tiger form. He begs the party for help. If the party defends him, the weretiger changes to it's hybrid form and demands they surrender the trespasser to him. Wayne claims that he is innocent and that the weretiger's clan has captured his master. The weretriger, named Redrorr, claims that Wayne is guilty of trespassing on sacred ground. The weretiger attacks the party after three failed DC20 persuasion/intimidation checks. On a success, he will retreat back to the jungle. If the party fights the weretiger, he attacks in hybrid form with it's longbow at Wayne unless Wayne has full cover. Wayne will attempt to find full cover every round on initiative 10. If Wayne has full cover, then Redrorr attempts to push PCs away from him to move to get a clear shot on Wayne. If Redrorr has less than 60hp he will shapeshift into a tiger and attempt to escape. (Redrorr's equipment does shift with him, unlike a normal weretiger, and he has 30ft climb speed in tiger form.)
Investigation: Lost Cleric
If the player rescue Wayne, then he will tell them the following information, otherwise another Acolyte, Calista Cromdor, arrives and has the following information.
Their master, John Holland, is a Cleric who had been investigating the disappearance of children in the town of DeepWood near the Blacksand jungle.
He entered the jungle three weeks ago and never returned.
Calista and Wayne found his holy symbol and vestements when they were searching in the jungle.
The weretiger saw them in the jungle and attacked them. They were able to escape at first using a spell scroll of entangle, but then Redrorr caught up with them. They thought they were done for, until they saw the party and ran for their help. Calista saw the tiger going after Wayne and hid during the battle in terror.
Calista shows the party a bag of bones, small bones, from children, that she and Wayne collected from in the jungle before the tiger attacked them.
Counter Attack: The Jungle
The Jungle is so thick the party must cut their way through. The Acolytes were able to crawl through, but the party, with their equipment, can't. The PC at the front of the party must make a DC18 attack roll with a slashing weapon. For each failure, reduce the time until sundown during the climax battle by 2 rounds. After three successful slashing attacks, the party enters a clearing and an Ankylosaurus(mm79) and 4 swarms of insects(mm338) attack them relentlessly.
Climax: Fallen Cleric
After defeating the Ankylosaurus and the insects, the party hears a scream in the distance along with the steady beating of drums. The sun is beginning to set. Wayne(if he is alive) and Calista arrive to tell the party to hurry and that they have discovered information that a jungle cult is planning a ritual tonight and that they have to rescue John before the sun goes down. The party arrives at the jungle temple 20 rounds before sundown. Reduce this ammount by 2 for each attack roll failed against the jungle foliage. At the temple, John Holland(priest 348) is performing a dark ritual at the top of a step pyramid temple. (He has been charmed by a Yuani-Ti Mind Whisperer, VGtM p.204) Two Cult Fanatics(MM345) and 10 Cultists(MM345) attack the party to keep them from stopping the ritual. Each round John uses his turn to continue the ritual. At sundown the ritual is completed unless John has been incapacitate or prevented from completing the ritual. If John is prevented from completing the ritual, then the Mind Whisperer attacks the party. If John completes the ritual, then he turns into a Yuan-Ti Malison(MM309) and attacks the party. If the party seems capable of handling the challenge, you can have the mind whisperer attack them as well, or wait until he is defeated to attack, or it can retreat to the jungle after the ritual, depending on your needs to keep the encounter balanced at this point in the game. If the party is able to break the charm on John he can join them in the fight, or choose to join the Yuan-ti, depending on how you need to balance the fight at well. It is likely that the cultists will panic and run away if both fanatics and half of the cultists are killed. The fanatics will fight to the death. The Malison will fight to the death, but the mind whisperer will retreat or negotiate if reduced to below 20hp. The jungle around the temple area is difficult terrain for the party, but not for the cultists and yuan-ti who are used to the thick vegetation. The temple is not difficult terrain, but has 5 stepped levels. There are not stairs to each level, and require a DC15 athletics check to climb from one level to the next as an action. John is at the top level sacrificing either a giant snake or a human or other animal depending on the acceptable theme of your gaming group. The cultists know secret handholds and don't need to make checks to climb the step pyramid. All the cultists are different animal hybrids, but that doesn't affect their stat blocks. The two fanatics are a gorilla and a zebra. The 10 cultists are a gazelle, panther, crocodile, koala, panda, wasp, leech, boar, spider, and wolf. You can reskin the Yuan-ti to be different animal hybrids other than snake if you prefer.
Wrap-Up:
After stopping the ritual and (hopefully) rescuing John, the party can search the temple pyramid for treasure. They can also discover the following information from talking to John(if he is alive) or investigating the temple. This strange jungle cult was using magic in this pyramid to transform themselves into animal hybrids. If you offer a sacrifice at sundown on the temple summit with the right preparation, then you can gain powers of jungle animals. The mind whisperer was charming people and forcing them to do the ritual and having them worship her as a goddess.
Treasure: Roll Twice on the Treasure Hoard: Challenge 0-4 table on DMG p.137
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