6th day of Corellon's time in the 22nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Day 2)

6^th day of Corellon’s time in the 22^nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Day 2):  The party awakes to a hearty breakfast and is then taken before Baron Silverkin, who tells them that about 20 years ago, his son went off to war carrying the Silverkin family sword, shield, and amulet.  He never reached the battle and was never heard of again.  Recently, he heard that there was a man in Highbush who had a map that showed the location of the sword and he dispatched soldiers to get it.  It was these soldiers who were apparently ambushed by the goblins.  The case which the party returned to the Baron contained the map.
He believes the map shows that the sword is located at “the statue,” an ancient and worn statue in the forest the antiquity of which has long been forgotten.  He offers his captain of his guard, a dwarf named Xanros Tarmikos to escort them to the statue along with an elf servant named Thoeak Silentread and he asks them to retrieve the sword.

They ride about half a day’s journey into the forest to the northwest and find the statue in a clearing in the forest.  Captain Tarmikos leaves them and Thoeak absolutely refuses to go into the clearing with them, due to stories that the area is haunted.  So, they go alone.

At the base of the statue they find a door in the stone, but it is trapped.  They succeed in disarming the trap, but when they open the door, they are immediately attacked by “bushes” which encircle the clearing.  After a brief fight, they defeat the bushes and enter beneath the statue.

Stairs lead down to a room which appears to have been an ancient altar room.  The top of the altar is broken open and there is dirt beneath.  As soon as they enter the room, they are approached by a ragged man who appears from the shadows in the corner.  He turns out to be a wererat who immediately changes form and attacks them.  The sound of the battle disturbs giant ants who live beneath the altar who emerge and join the battle.  Once again, the heroes are successful and they kill both the wererat and the ants.

A search of the room reveals a trapdoor on the other side of the altar.   Beneath it is a shaft which turns out to be about 60 feet deep.  They descend by means of ancient, rusted bars set in the stone wall of the shaft to form a ladder.  At the bottom is a hallway at the end of which is a door.  Inside the door is a room with a ceiling so tall it rises away to darkness.  There is a narrow walkway on the wall with the door, but the rest of the room is a pool of muddy, stinky, stagnant water.  In the center of the pool is another statue which bears in its outstretched arms a old, rusted sword.

One of the party enters the water to get to the statue, but as soon as the surface is disturbed, three huge snakes appear out of the darkness above, slithering down the stone walls.  When they reach the bottom, the crawl and swim over to the heroes and attack.  Though they fought with valor, it is quickly clear that they are overpowered by the snakes, which soon render all three of the adventurers unconscious.  At that point they slither back up into the darkness.

Worry for his new masters having overcome his fear of the clearing and the statue, Thoeak came looking for the adventurers and discovers them all three unconscious.  He manages to pull their bodies out of the room and get the door closed, but in the meantime, Tyrion died.

Safely outside, the party loads the drow’s body on his horse, mounts up, and rides back to Linden.  There, they report to the Baron that they found the sword, but they couldn’t retrieve it.  However, they promise they will go back, if only they can get their comrade returned to life.  The Baron and, frankly, everyone else, is surprised that they would care about bringing a drow back to life, but the Baron finally agrees to pay for the ritual if the adventurers promise to pay him back in service, which they do.

Unfortunately, the nearest cleric who can perform such a ritual is a good five days’ journey away, so it will take about ten days to get a message to him and expect his return.  In the meantime, the Baron offers to let Sjolander and Keira stay in his keep.  They secure Tyrion’s body at the small village temple and settle down to wait.

5th Day of Corellon's Time in the 22nd Year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift

5^th day of Corellon’s time in the 22^nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift:  The adventure begins.  The party rides from Highbush to Linden in the Barony of Woodlea Forest.  At around noon they encounter a party of goblins and their dogs searching the bodies of a party of Baron Silverkin’s soldiers that the goblins have ambushed.  They engage the goblins.  Most of the goblins run off, but they defeat the two who remain, together with their dogs.
On the body of one of the soldiers they find a cylindrical case which they do not open.  They load the bodies of the soldiers on their horses and continue to Linden, where the villagers are surprised and frightened to see a party of adventurers, one of whom is a drow, leading horses loaded with the Baron’s dead soldiers.

The adventurers make their way to the Baron’s keep, succeed in convincing the guards to let them in, and appear before Baron Grayward Silverkin, his wife, Baroness Xithira Silverkin, his seneschal Otigretor Shipsail, the dwarven captain of his guard, Xanros Tarmikos, and a beautiful young woman named Brekain, who seems to be a special favorite of the Baron.

They present the case they found on the guard to the Baron.  After some discussion, he seems satisfied with their bona fides, though he is still somewhat concerned about the drow.  He is at least satisfied enough to feed them and “let” them stay as his “guests” in his keep for the night.

Encounter 5: The Statue in the Water

The True and Rightful King

Encounter 5:  The Statue in the Water

Level 1:  Hard Level 5

1 Deathrattle Viper, Level 5 Brute, 200 xp (1 player)
1 Deathrattle Viper, Level 5 Brute, 200 xp (2 players)
1 Deathrattle Viper, Level 5 Brute, 200 xp (3 players)
1 Young Black Dragon, Level 4 Solo Lurker, 875 xp (4 players, delete 3 Deathrattle Vipers)
1 Deathrattle Viper, Level 5 Brute, 200 xp (5 players)
1 Deathrattle Viper, Level 5 Brute, 200 xp (6 players)

Setup

Beneath the trap door there is a shaft, square, and lined with worked stone, seeping water and moist to the touch.  Set in the stone is a ladder of rusty iron bars.  Perhaps they are still strong enough to support your weight.  The glowing moss only gives you enough light to see a few feet down.  Below that it is dark.

You climb down the ladder for what you judge to be about 60 feet.  When you step off the ladder onto the floor of the shaft you can feel a thin film of mud beneath your feet and stone beneath the mud.  Directly ahead is a set of steep, narrow stone stairs leading down with a ceiling so low it almost touches your head as you descend the stairs.

The stairs go down for about ten feet then level out into a long stone-walled passage, a tunnel just high enough to stand.  A human’s head would almost brush the stone ceiling.  Like the stairs before it, this passage is seeping water.

At the end of the passage is a rusty metal door.  It is smooth, unworked.  There are massive hinges and a knob which feels sticky to your touch.  It will not turn.  You feel beneath the knob and find a keyhole.  The door is apparently locked.

A Strength check DC 25 will break the door down.  A Theivery check DC 15 will pick the lock.  The door has AC/Ref 5, Fort 10, and HP 20.

When the door opens you see before you a modest-sized chamber, about 25 feet wide and about 30 feet long.  But, the ceiling is somewhere above, so high it is in darkness.  The five feet of the room closest to the door has a stone floor, but beyond that the entire room is a pool of dark, stagnant, stinking water.

In the center of the pool rises a ten-foot statue of a human man, set on a square base about five feet high.  The man is obviously noble.  He is crowned and is wearing magnificent robes that drape off his shoulders down to his feet.  His eyes seem to be looking straight at you.  One arm is extended toward you, palm up, while his other arm is lifted, finger pointed, as if he is giving a speech.  Cradled across his arms, real, not a part of the statue, is a sword in a scabbard.  Though the sword looks old and decrepit, useless for any actual combat, this is obviously the sword of House Silverkin.

Tactics and Development

If there are 4 players or more, the water is deep and players entering it have to swim.  If there are 3 players or less, then the water is about 18 inches deep.  If the players have to swim, then as soon as one of them gets into the water, the dragon suddenly emerges (on that turn), looks at them with evil in his eyes, and says, “So, you’ve come!  Dinner is served, it would seem!”  If there are vipers involved, they come slithering down the walls from the darkness above on the turn when any player first enters the water.

The vipers fight to the death.  The dragon is smarter, and when it reaches 50 HP or less, it submerges and disappears into the depths.

Features of the Area

Illumination:  If there is only the dragon, the room is dark.  If there are vipers, then there is some moss growing in the corners and on the walls that gives low-light.

Water:  If shallow, the water is difficult terrain for the adventurers, but not for the vipers.  If it is deep, then the adventurers must swim, while the vipers move freely through the water.

Statue:  Climb DC 15.  It would be easier, but it’s wet.  Any adventurer fighting from the statue must make an Acrobatics check DC 15 as an immediate interrupt of his or her attack or fall into the water.

Treasure

1 amber stone (100 gp)
20 gold pieces

Perception DC 10:  The hilt of the sword is wrapped in leather.  When you uncurl the leather, you find on it this inscription:

EAST

WEST

DIRT

LEFT

Give the players the inscription with the letters on it.

At the edge of the clearing, Baron Silverkin’s captain, the dwarf Xanros Tarmikos, is waiting for you.  He escorts you back through the forest and down the road, back to Linden Keep.  He says little, but he keeps glancing at you, cutting his eyes over to study you when he thinks you aren’t looking.

As you ride through the village of Linden, the villagers seem to look at you differently than the day before, when you first rode in.  Apparently, some word has leaked out about the quest on which you embarked, and there is a sense of surprise and a little awe to see you return.

When you reach Linden Keep, Baron Silverkin is waiting for you in his solar.  He is with a red-bearded, grim looking dwarf you haven’t seen before, who stands in the corner, his arms folded over a tunic with Baron Silverkin’s colors and crest.  He watches you carefully out of deep blue eyes.  No one introduces him.

When you present Baron Silverkin with the sword, he takes it tenderly, carefully draws it from its scabbard, and caresses it almost lovingly, running his hand slowly and softly up its rusted length and then back down.

Then he turns to you, smiles, and says, “Thank you.  House Silverkin is in your debt.  More than we can repay you.  I promised you gold if you returned this sword.  You will have it, though I must tell you, it is little reward compared to the service you have done my house.”

He walks over to a chest, uses a key from a pouch at his belt to unlock it, and removes several small, leather bags.  These he brings to the table and sets them there, one for each of you.

The bags contain the promised 100 gp each for completion of the quest.  Each character gains 100 xp each for completion of the quest.

If Baron Silverkin sees the leather with the word search, he asks you if you know what it means.  If you don’t, then he turns around to Marril Onyxarm and hands him the leather.

“So, Dauntless, does this make any sense to you?” he asks.  The red-haired dwarf seems reluctant to take his eyes off you, but he takes the leather and looks down at it.  He studies it for a moment, then says, “This is a puzzle form that the goblins seem to like.  Apparently it keeps their secrets well because so few goblins can actually read.  They put together random words, whatever fit, but the words don’t matter or make any sense.  The point is to hide the real message, usually just one word, in the jumble of letters in the puzzle.”

The dwarf hands it back to Baron Silverkin, steps back to his place in the corner, recrosses his arms, and resumes his careful watching of you.  The Baron slides the leather across to you.  “Well.  It seems there’s something here to be discovered.  What do you make of it?”

If the adventurers do not pick out the word “tree,” then Marril Onyxarm finally volunteers the word.

“Tree?  Tree!  What in Avandra’s name could that possibly mean?  Tree?” the Baron huffs.  Then he chuckles softly.  “Well, someone here will know.  He turns to the red-haired dwarf.  “Marril, what good are you if you can’t tell me what these infernal goblins mean by ‘tree’?”

Without taking his eyes off you, the dwarf, whom you have now heard called “Dauntless” and “Marril,” says quietly, “No doubt it means the ancient cypress that grows on the banks of the Wildepond.”

Baron Silverkin bangs his fist on the table and, his eyes now sparkling, exclaims, “By Pelor, you must be right, you foxy old dwarf!  Of a certainty, that must be it!”  Then his face slowly takes on a puzzled expression.  He turns back to Marril.  “But, so?  Why put a puzzle on my son’s sword that tells us of that old tree?”

The dwarf slowly moves his eyes from watching you to the Baron.  “They hid the sword there on that statue.  Mayhap they’ve hid the shield or the amulet there at the tree.”

The Baron thinks about this for a moment, then looks at you.  “Will you go to the old cypress and bring back whatever you find?  If you can fetch our shield or our amulet, there’ll be another 100 gold coins in it for each of you.”

Lightholt

The Kingdom of Lightholt extends from the Rayland Mountains on the east to the Vertcoast Sea on the west, from the Wildebarrow River in the north and the Flowerbarrow River in the northeast to Dracmead in the south.

There are six Duchies in the Kingdom of Lightholt:  Bushdell, Clearwynne Downs, Ostmill, Redlea, Snowspring Moor, and Springmill.

Bushdell is in the center of the Kingdom.  The Bright Barrow River forms part of its southern border and the Crystalwald River forms its eastern border.  It is surrounded by the Duchy of Snowspring Moor to the northwest, the Duchy of Ostmill in the northeast, the Duchy of Redlea to the southeast, the Duchy of Clearwynne Downs to the southwest, and the Duchy of Springmill to the east.

The easternmost part of Bushdell is forested with oaks and elms, but the forest rapidly gives way to rolling hills with scattered motts of trees and well-established farms in the mid-section and the west.

King Wolfswift has his primary keep in Bushdell.

The Vertcoast Sea forms the southwestern border of Clearwynne Downs, while the Bright Barrow River, which flows into the Vertcoast Sea, forms the northwestern border.  On the other side of the Bright Barrow are Springmill and, farther to the east, Bushdell.  The Duchy of Redlea is to the east of Clearwynne Downs, while Dracmead is to the south.

The eastern part of Clearwynne Downs is forested by oaks and elms, which thin out toward the middle of the Duchy and give way to rolling grassy hills with trees mostly along the streams and creeks of the shallow valleys.  Near the Vertcoast Sea the hills flatten into a sandy coastal plain.

Ostmill is the far northeastern Duchy of Lightholt.  It is bordered by the Ryland Mountains on the east, the Wildebarrow River, which flows out of the Ryland Mountains, on the north, and the Crystalwald River, which flows out of the Ryland Mountains in a northwest direction to empty into the Wildebarrow River, on the southwest.  North, across the Wildebarrow, is the Kingdom of Goldrock.  Across the Crystalwald is Bushdell and, farther to the south, Redlea.

In the southeast, near the Ryland Mountains, Ostmill is thickly forested with pine, but the forest thins to the north and west.  The upper Crystalwald River runs through a forest of oaks and elms, but in the north, near the Wildebarrow River, the land becomes rocky, with only scattered scrubs of trees and populated mostly by goat and sheep farmers.

Redlea is the southeasternmost Duchy of Lighholt.  It is bordered by the Ryland Mountains on the east and the Crystalwald River, separating it from Ostmill, on the northeast.  To the north is Bushdell, to the west is Clearwynne Downs, and to the south is Dracmead.

Redlea is mostly forested, with pines predominating in the south and east, but gradually giving way to oaks and elms to the north and west.  The forest is broken by clearings for villages and a few scattered farms.

Snowspring Moor is north of Bushdell and south of the Wildebarrow and the Flowerbarrow Rivers.  Over the Wildebarrow is the Kingdom of Goldrock, and over the Flowerbarrow is the Kingdom of Dorland.  To the west is Springmill.

Snowspring Moor is mostly rolling plains with small patches of trees.  It is fertile farming country.

Springmill is bordered by the Vertcoast Sea on the southwest, the Flowerbarrow River on the northeast, and Bright Barrow River on the southeast, and, to the northeast, Snowspring Moor and, farther south, Bushdell.

Like Snowspring Moor, Springmill is mostly rolling plains, but near the Vertcoast Sea the land flattens into a sandy coastal plain.  Near the mouth of the Flowerbarrow the river forms a delta and the land becomes marshy and wet all the time.

The Kingdoms

There are three principal kingdoms in the known world.  No doubt, in the full expanse of the unexplored and unknown world there are many more, but in the known world there are three:  Lightholt, Goldrock, and Dorland.
The Kingdom of Lightholt is ruled by King Ulodannan Wolfswift and his younger queen, Victaemita.  It is bordered on the north by the Kingdom of Goldrock.  The Wildebarrow River forms the border between the two.  To the northwest is the Kingdom of Dorland, separated from Lightholt by the Flowerbarrow River.  To the southwest lies the Vertcoast Sea, into which the Flowerbarrow flows.  To the south is Dracmead, badlands populated mostly by bugbears, hobgoblins, and goblins.  And to the east are the Ryland Mountains, said to be the land of a strange and violent race known in legend as orcs.

The Ryland Mountains also form the eastern border of the Kingdom of Goldrock, and, of course, on the southern border of Goldrock is the Wildebarrow River with Lightholt on the other side.  To the northeast Goldrock blends into an unknown and unexplored desert called only “the wastes.”  To the north of Goldrock are the Dorhall Mountains, the home of the dwarves.  And, finally, to the west is the Kingdom of Dorland, separated from Goldrock by the Flowerbarrow, which flows out of the Dorhall Mountains.

King Mor-ech Ackche rules over Goldrock with his queen, a half-elf named Marnys.

The Dorhall Mountains form the northern boundary of the Kingdom of Dorland.  To the west lies the vast, seemingly impenetrable Wildespell Forest, said to be the home of the elves.  To the southwest Dorland has coast on the Vertcoast Sea.  The Flowerbarrow forms the southeastern and eastern borders of Dorland, with Lightholt to the southeast and Goldrock to the east.

Dorland is ruled by King Grafalcon Droverson, a  young half-elf, and his wife, Queen Oolakain, an elf.

Time and the Calendar

Unlike earth, there is no moon orbiting “the world,” so there are no tides, each night is lit only by starlight, and there is no concept of “months.”

People in the world are much more general about time than people on modern-day earth.  A very few of the very richest scholars have time keeping devices, similar to hour glasses, though they do not measure our “hours.”  But, most people do not have such devices and many do not even know of their existence.  It would seem strange to the average person that anyone wanted to be very precise about time.  The world simply does not move at that sort of pace.

It takes 364 days for the world to orbit the sun.  Thus, there are 91 days in each season:  spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  Each season is named for the patron god of that season:  Corellon for spring, Pelor for summer, Sehanine for autumn, and The Raven Queen for winter.  Each season begins on the day after either the solstice or the equinox.  Thus, summer begins on the day after the longest day of the year, winter begins on the day after the shortest day of the year, and spring and autumn each begin on the day after the two days that have exactly the same amount of day and night.

People refer to the seasons as “times.”  Thus, something that occurs in summer is said to occur in “Pelor’s time.”  Because of the length of The Raven Queen’s name, people often shorten it and refer to winter as “the Queen’s time,” or, sometimes, “the Raven’s time,” but this last reference is considered crude and can also mean a time of death, so it isn’t often used.

There are ninety days in each “time.”  The ninety days are divided into groups of ten, called “tendays.”  So, in each “time,” there are nine “tendays.”  The “tendays” are grouped into threes, referred to merely as “early, mid or middle, or late.”  So, if something happened in the first thirty days of Pelor’s time, it would be said to have occurred in “early Pelor’s time.”  If you want or need to be more specific, it becomes more elaborate and complicated.  To specify that something occurred in the first ten days of summer, one would have to say it happened “in the first tenday of early Pelor’s time.”  To specify the exact day, one could either specify the day of a tenday (“the fifth day of the first tenday of early Pelor’s time) or the day of the time (the 74^th day of Pelor’s time).

Each solstice and equinox is a festival day, devoted to one of the other gods.  Thus, the spring equinox is the Festival of Avandra, the summer solstice is the Festival of Moradin, the autumnal equinox is the Festival of Melora, and the winter solstice is the Festival of Ioun.  Bahamut, Erathis, and Kord have neither seasons nor festivals.

The Raven Queen’s Time

(Winter)

                        Festival of Avandra                                     Festival of Ioun

                        (Spring equinox)                                                      (Winter solstice)

Corellan’s Time                                                                                            Sehanine’s Time

(Spring)                                                                                                         (Autumn)

                        Festival of Moradin                                                Festival of Melora

                        (Summer solstice)                                                   (Autumnal equinox)

Pelor’s Time

(Summer)

Daytime is divided into seven parts:  dawn (the time right before and after sunrise, when it is just barely light enough to see), morning (the first half of the time between sunrise and noon), forenoon (the second half of the time between sunrise and noon), noon (when the sun is at its highest), afternoon (the first half of the time between noon and sunset), evening (the second half of the time between noon and sunset), and dusk (the time right before and after sunset, when it is just barely light enough to see).

Nightime is divided into eight parts, starting just after dusk and ending just before dawn.  The times are set by the movement of the stars, not by the sun.  There are eight major constellations, each named for one of the malign deities.  Each constellation appears on the horizon each night as the world turns on its axis in approximately equal intervals.  The times of the night are determined by which constellation is rising at that time.  So, the first constellation to rise at night is Asmodeus.  Thus, the time from dusk until the second constellation appears is called “the time of Asmodeus.”  In this usage, “time” has a meaning much closer to our hour, while in “the time of Corellan,” for example, the word “time” means an entire season.  Thus, the eight “times” of the night are Asmodeus, Bane, Gruumsh, Lolth, Tiamat, Torog, Vecna, and Zehir, each representing approximately one-eighth of the time between dusk and dawn.  (Yes, they are listed alphabetically, a small concession to the need of the players to have some order that is at least possible to remember.)

There is no constellation named after Tharizdun, because the fact of his existence is not widely known.  Thus, there is no “time of Tharizdun” during the nighttime.

Years are numbered by reign of the king, so to know how far back something happened, one must know the kings and how long each reigned.  For instance, Udolannan Wolfswift is the king of Lightholt.  In Lightholt, something that happened in the spring of the first year of his reign would be said to have occurred “in Corellon’s time during the first year of King Wolfswift.”

The Altar Room

The True and Rightful King

Encounter 4:  The Altar Room

Level 1:  Hard Level 3

1 Wererat, Level 3 Skirmisher, 150 xp (1 player)
1 Hive Soldier, Level 3 Soldier, 150 xp (2 players)
1 Hive Warrior, Level 2 Skirmisher, 125 xp (3 players)
1 Hive Worker, Level 1 Minion Skirmisher, 25 xp (3 players)
6 Hive Workers, Level 1 Minion Skirmishers, 25 xp ea. (4 players)
1 Wererat, Level 3 Skirmisher, 150 xp (5 players)
1 Hive Soldier, Level 3 Soldier, 150 xp (6 players)

Setup

You creep down dark, narrow, steep, winding stairs until you finally reach the bottom and the stone walls open up to a hallway about 15 feet wide.  The ceiling seems to rise up into darkness.  The stone seems to seep water and everything is moist to the touch.  Somewhere you can hear the drip, drip, drip of water, but you can’t tell where it’s coming from.

At the end of the hallway there are three tall iron doors on massive hinges with what seem like oversized knobs.  When you turn one of the knobs, the door swings open easily, as if of its own accord.  The hinges squeal as if some animal were crying out in terrible pain.  Then all is silent, save for the distant drip, drip, drip of water.

Before you is a large room with a ceiling so tall you can barely see it.  The ceiling is supported by four massive columns set symmetrically in the room.  In the center of the room, centered in the middle of the four columns, is what looks like an altar, but it is obviously ancient and long unused.  Made of stone, there seems to be a massive crack on the top which has created an opening which could lead down into the altar large enough for a medium creature to pass through easily.  Around the base of the altar some sort of moss is growing which glows softly.

Out of the darkness at the far side of the room steps a man wearing ragged, dirty clothes and a long cap that is tattered and frayed at the edges.  At his waist he is carrying a short sword.  He is thin, perhaps emaciated from hunger, and his features seem incredibly sharp.  He shambles toward you, seeming to stagger as he walks, and reaches out to you imploringly with long, thin fingers.

“Oh!  Gods be blessed!  I thought I was trapped here forever.  Thanks be that you’ve come!”

Tactics and Development

If the Wererat reaches one of the adventurers without being attacked (he has a Bluff of +6), he immediately polymorphs into dire rat form on the surprise round.

As soon as battle is joined, the second Wererat (if any) appears from the darkness in dire rat form and attacks.  Also, the ants (if any) are alarmed by the sounds of battle and begin to swarm up out of the broken altar, one group per round, and attack the adventurers.  They are used to the presence of the Wererats and do not attack them.

The ants fight to the death, but the Wererats are venal creatures and as soon as one falls or they are both bloodied, they retreat to the darkness of the ceiling by climbing the walls or the columns.  If any of the adventurers climb the walls or the columns, the ants pursue them.

Features of the Area

Illumination:  Low light from the glowing moss.
Floor:  Stone.
Walls:  Worked stone, Climb DC 20.
Ceiling:  Slightly arched rising to 40 feet.
Columns:  Stone carved with circling vines, Climb DC 15.
Altar:  Filled with dirt.  There is a hole which obviously leads to an ant nest.
Secret Trap Door:  Perception DC 10.

Treasure

The Wererat(s) kept their things in the back corner of the room.  Most of it is junk and trinkets.  There are scraps of leftover food, partially rotten.  It is probably better not to imagine what it might have been when it was alive.  But, there is also a set of Skald's Armor +1 (chainmail) (level 3 item) which seems to be in good condition.  Someone of some stature obviously fought the Wererat(s) sometime in the past and lost.

Getting In

The True and Rightful King

Encounter 3:  Getting In

Level 1 Medium

False Floor Pit, Level 1 Warder Trap, DMG pg. 87, xp 100 (1 player)False Floor Pit, Level 1 Warder Trap Elite, DMG pg. 87, xp 200 (2 players, substitute for False Floor Pit, Level 1 Warder Trap)
4 Twig Blight Seedlings, Level 1 Minion Skirmishers, xp 25 ea. (3 players)
1 Lesser Silt Elemental, Level 1 Skirmisher, 100 xp (4 players)
1 Lesser Silt Elemental, Level 1 Skirmisher, 100 xp (5 players)
1 Lesser Silt Elemental, Level 1 Skirmisher, 100 xp (6 players)

Setup

You ride out of the keep and through the small village and take the road heading west.  The countryside is much as it was on the ride into Linden.  However, after a few miles, you must turn off the track and head to the northwest, into the forest.  There are no roads here, and the sun is obscured by the trees, and there seem to be no landmarks.  After a while, every tree looks like every other tree.  So it is not easy finding your way or keeping your course.

Have the character with the best Nature mod make a nature check (DC 10).  If he passes, all the characters get a +2 bonus to their Endurance checks (DC 10).  Anyone who fails his Endurance check suffers the equivalent of one Healing Surge damage.

Nonetheless, after several hours of riding, you come upon a small clearing.  The pine trees circle the open area as if they are keeping watch, and several smaller bushes line the edges of the clearing (Nature DC of 20 to identify the bushes as Twig Blight Seedlings).  Just inside the circle of watching trees there are several patches of wet, silty ground (Nature DC of 20 to identify the patches as Lesser Silt Elementals).

In the center of the clearing, standing nearly as tall as the surrounding pines, is a statue ancient and worn with age.  It is so weathered that the features are so indistinct it is impossible to tell who it might have been, but it seems to be some magnificent warrior or king.

The statue itself stands upon a base which seems to be solid stone, but it is surrounded by weeds and bushes which have grown up over the years.

Thoeak, the elf given to you as your servant, says quietly, almost under his breath, as if the statue might hear, “The villagers in Linden tell tales of this place, but I had no idea it actually existed.  No one knows who he is, but they all say this place is haunted.  Those who come here never come back, they say.  Parents threaten their children that if they don’t behave, they’ll be taken to the ‘statue in the forest’ and left.”

Tactics and Development

If the adventurers search the base of the statue, they may discover the secret door into the base of the statue (Perception DC 14). 

Each failed Perception check adds one Twig Blight Seedling to the upcoming battle.  Upon each failed check, explain that it may be their imaginations, but it seems that there are more bushes around the edge of the clearing than there were before.

When the adventurers discover the secret door, they may search it for traps.  The trap is set to open when the door is opened.  The Perception DC to see the trap is 20.  If the adventurers say they are searching the door for traps, not the ground near it, the Perception DC rises to 22.

Either way, as soon as the door is opened, the monsters attack in a surprise round.

Features of the Area

Illumination:  Bright sun light.

Statue:  The base is 20 feet by 20 feet and is ten feet tall.  The statue itself stands another 15 feet above that.  It can be scaled with an Athletics or an Acrobatics check of DC 15.

Trees:  The average pine stands about 35 feet tall and can be climbed with an Athletics check DC 10.

Treasure

If the adventurers have fought one or more Lesser Silt Elementals, then they find Bracers of the Perfect Shot (Level 3 magic item) in one of the elementals, apparently absorbed, but not digested, in some previous battle.  If they have not fought any elementals, then they find these bracers mixed in with the bones of a human scattered on the stairs that lead down from the door into the statue.