Battlemap
Splitjaw Cave
The cave floor trembles beneath a black stone pillar while a crown of broken masks watches from the dark.
Splitjaw Cave is a vast natural cavern reshaped into a prison, shrine, and feeding den for Karg, an ancient troll older than most kingdoms. Its upper chambers contain relics stolen from forgotten peoples, while the lower passages form a brutal ritual complex designed to keep intruders weak before they face him. The cave itself seems to heal around Karg, sealing wounds and shifting under his command.
Cold mineral air carries the stink of wet hide, old blood, and crushed herbs. Water ticks from black ceilings, distant stone groans like a sleeping beast, and pale lichen gives the tunnels a sickly blue light. Near the deepest chambers, the cave floor trembles whenever Karg shifts his weight.
☠ Threat
Karg is an ancient troll who has survived for thousands of years by feeding on magical creatures, sacred offerings, and the mineral heart beneath the cave. He is larger and more cunning than ordinary trolls, can command lesser cave predators, and uses the dungeon's old wards as weapons. If badly wounded, he retreats through hidden passages, forcing the party to fight him more than once unless they destroy the cave's healing veins.
History
The first builders called this place Splitjaw Cave after a slab of stone cracked down the center during the binding of Karg. Stone-priests from a vanished mountain kingdom carved the shrines and chained the troll below the earth because his body healed from every wound and his hunger never ended. Over centuries, the prison failed, the priests died, and Karg remade their work into a lair of trophies, rites, and carefully prepared killing grounds.
Encounter Table
CRA pack of pale, eyeless hounds follows the scent of blood and attacks weakened travelers.
A half-mineral trollkin patrols the passages with a hooked spear and a bell made from a priest's skull.
A swarm of fist-sized cave bats carries glowing spores that cling to armor and reveal movement to Karg.
A severed stone-priest spirit crawls along the ceiling, whispering directions that are almost helpful.
Rumours & Whispers
Splitroot says the troll in Splitjaw Cave is only a beast, but old hunters insist it speaks with the voices of dead kings.
A black tooth from the cave can make a person dream of every murder committed within its walls.
The stone-priests sealed a treasure below the troll, and every thief who found it came back missing a shadow.
Warm red water has begun rising in nearby wells, which means Karg is no longer sleeping between hunts.
Karg cannot die while the cave's black heart still beats, though no one agrees whether that heart is stone or flesh.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Splitroot, the speaking tree beside the old goat path
The ancient speaking tree Splitroot tells the party that Karg once tore one of its oldest roots from the earth and has been poisoning the forest ever since. It offers a reward if the party enters Splitjaw Cave and kills him.
A living amber seed that can grow into a tree capable of storing one spell of up to 5th level
Quest giver: Tesh Kalt, a scarred relic hunter
A group of relic hunters entered the cave seeking a crown buried with the stone-priests. Their leader returned alone, speaking only of a troll wearing the faces of the dead.
The recovered stone-priest crown and a rare obsidian focus worth 2,500 gp
Quest giver: Sister Suth of the hill shrine
The ground around nearby settlements has begun to shudder, and wells produce warm red water. The tremors are signs that Karg is breaking through the deepest containment seals.
A blessing that grants advantage on one death saving throw per character for the next month
Corridor Notes
Long grooves score the walls at shoulder height, as though something enormous dragged its claws through the stone. Fresh chips appear after every distant roar from Room 10.
A thread of warm water runs through a shallow channel, carrying tiny red worms toward the deeper chambers. Drinking it causes vivid dreams of a vast eye opening beneath the earth.
Old iron rings have been hammered into the walls at irregular heights. Several still hold scraps of chain, leather, or petrified sinew from ancient prisoners.
The passage floors become soft with gray fungal mats that release faint puffs of spores when stepped on. The growth is strongest near the concealed route from Room 5 to Room 14.
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