Knocks Beneath the Scree
Knocks Beneath the Scree
Read aloud
At dawn, the wall opens onto a passage that should not be there. Three knocks sound from its cold darkness, then two more, and the object you carry grows warm in your pack. The stonewright has given you a rope and permission to enter, but no one will follow you in.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Inspect the hidden structure and follow the knocking to the sealed niche.
- 2Reach the roost beyond the failing catwalk.
- 3Choose what to do with the object and the route into the Under-Roots.
- 4Recover the courier’s message case and identify who it was meant for.Optional
The clock
The catwalk accumulates strain as the party crosses, with the warm updraft adding 1 Strain per beat. The knocking also disturbs the wyrmling and has driven scree-prowlers from their shelter. There is no deadline to descend: the danger is the party’s choice to hurry across a failing span or pursue the fissure beyond the roost.
Scenes
- 0:00The Dawn Inspection
- 0:25The Hidden Opening
- 0:45The Marked Passage
- 1:20The Seal-Niche
- 1:50The Drainage Gallery
- 2:25The Roost
- 3:15The Fissure
- 3:50The Record at the Wall
Cast
- KusiAlly and Oread surveyor of unstable slopes and…
- Ulric FaneQuestgiver and stern stonewright of the High…
- Omiya VelaWatchful witness representing Syndicate…
- Jorun Gravel-GripOffstage ally and mountain guide
The hook
Set the scene
Dawn has not warmed the Scree. A damp crowd presses around the newly exposed wall, breath fogging in the chill as drops tick from stone to stone. Ulric Fane checks the rope, writes down each name, then gives Kusi the lantern. Kusi’s fingers tremble with impatience. Omiya Vela watches from the crowd, and Havel waits with a second coil of rope and Jorun’s warning: the guides will not go in until they know what is inside. Kusi whistles three notes once. Then the party ties off the line and slips through the gap.
How Ulric Fane asks
Ulric Fane grants the party permission to inspect the site after explaining that his stonewright crew will not enter an unrecorded structure.
He takes down each name and provides a rope. Kusi asks to accompany the party with a lantern. Omiya Vela observes on behalf of the Syndicate, while Havel delivers Jorun Gravel-Grip’s rope and warning.
Rumours
Scenes
about 4.5 hours0:00
25 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Dawn Inspection
A damp, crowded wall in the Scree at dawn. Ulric Fane records names; Omiya Vela watches; Havel waits with rope.
The party receives permission to enter, ties off the rope, and meets the competing expectations of the Masons, Syndicate, and local guides. Kusi joins with the lantern. The knocking is audible at the wall, three taps, a pause, two.
NextAfter the last name is recorded, Kusi gives one short whistle and leads the party down to the narrow opening at the wall’s base.
0:25
20 min
exploration
2. The Hidden Opening
The narrow hidden opening and the first stretch of dark passage.
The opening is two and a half feet wide at its narrowest. Each Medium creature must make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to squeeze through. On a failure, it is stuck for one round, takes bludgeoning damage, and tries again. Beyond the gap, daylight ends about 15 feet in. The air is cool, damp, and still; the knocking grows louder. A torch or lantern burns normally, but its light radius is halved in the passage.
NextThe party’s line feeds through the gap. Their light stops short against the dressed stone ahead, where the passage runs straight into the bluff.
0:45
35 min
exploration
3. The Marked Passage
A forty-foot dressed-stone passage with inward-facing marks, fine grey seams, and a concealed drainage cut.
Read aloud: The passage runs straight into the bluff for forty feet, wide enough for two people and too regular for a cave. The walls are dressed stone, sealed at every joint with a thin line of grey metal, and carved with a spiral of small marks that repeat every pace, all of them facing inward. As you walk, the object in your pack grows warm, and the marks nearest it begin to glow a faint, cold blue, one pace at a time, as though they were being read. A Intelligence (Arcana or Investigation) check identifies the marks as a single repeating figure, neither writing nor ornament; they cannot be translated. The glow follows the object and fades when it is carried out of range. Kusi has never seen the grey metal and notes that the stones were laid without mortar. A Wisdom (Perception) check spots a sunken flag concealing a drainage cut 10 feet from the opening. On a miss, the character makes a Dexterity saving throw or falls 10 feet, taking bludgeoning damage.
NextThe marks continue to glow toward the end of the passage, drawing the party to a round chamber where the knocking seems to come from just beyond the wall.
1:20
30 min
exploration
4. The Seal-Niche
A small chamber beyond the dressed passage, with the sealed niche set into its far wall.
The passage ends in a small round chamber. A recess in the far wall has a slot about a hand’s width wide and as tall as a prayer book, lined with smooth, dark stone that is slightly warm. Grey metal outlines the slot. The air beyond is Stale. After an hour of strenuous activity, a creature must make a Constitution saving throw or gain the Poisoned condition from headache until it breathes clean air. A breathing bladder or Rune of Clean Air prevents this. A Intelligence (Investigation) check works out the object’s orientation. If returned to the niche, the hum fades and the marks go dark. The knocking pauses for a full minute, then resumes more softly from beyond the niche. The Cairn-Ring bowls will stay cold from then on.
NextThe party hears the knocking return from farther away. A narrow opening beyond the chamber leads into a natural gallery, where a warm draft carries the smell of wet moss and rust.
1:50
35 min
skill
5. The Drainage Gallery
A sea-damp drainage gallery crossed by an abandoned catwalk over a fissure.
A 60-foot fissure, about 30 feet deep, splits the gallery floor. A rotten timber catwalk with rusted chains is the only crossing. Treat it as a span in Strained condition, with Check and Strain Limit 4. The warm updraft counts as Strong Wind and adds 1 Strain per beat; the party’s total weight with gear is at the span’s Capacity. The crossing takes one beat. At the start of the beat, a Span Reader makes a Wisdom (Survival) or Intelligence check using mason’s tools or carpenter’s tools. If the span fails, each creature on it makes a Dexterity saving throw to catch a chain or falls 30 feet for bludgeoning damage, landing on a ledge where a rope can pull it up. If the party has not noticed the wyrmling, the fight begins in the middle of the catwalk, and every three combat rounds count as one beat.
The Rotten CatwalkNextAs the party reaches the far lip, gray daylight and sharp wind spill through a crack overhead. A nest shifts on a ledge above them.
2:25
50 min
combat
6. The Roost
A high fissure open to sea wind and gray light, with a nest jammed into a ledge about 20 feet above the gallery.
Read aloud: Something lunges from the ledge: a serpent-slick shape with no forelimbs and forward-swept horns, swinging wide on wet wings. It screams once as it dives, and then, from somewhere beneath the stone, the knocking comes again. Three, a pause, two. The creature flinches in midair, loses its line, and comes in crooked. Run the Cliff-Gloom Wyrmling as written, with one change: at the start of each round, roll a d6; on a 1, the knocking sounds and the wyrmling has Disadvantage on its first attack roll that round. It dives on its first turn; its extra dive damage applies if it descends at least 20 feet. At 13 hit points or fewer, it retreats through the crack and does not return. On round three, two scree-prowlers emerge from behind the nest and attack the nearest creature on the ledge side. They retreat down the slope when one falls. The nest holds 45 gp, a courier’s sealed message case, and a cloudy scale worth 25 gp to a collector.
The Shaken RoostNextWhen the immediate danger passes, the party can hear the knocks clearly again. They lead to a narrow slot beyond the nest, where the stone slopes steeply into darkness.
3:15
35 min
exploration
7. The Fissure
A fractured slope descending through a narrow fissure beyond the roost.
The gallery narrows to a slot and opens onto a steep slope of fractured stone descending into the dark. The knocking is loudest here. The party can place the object on the lip of the slope if it has not been returned to the niche; the hum fades and the knocking stops for a minute, then resumes from below. With Kusi and mason’s tools, the party can make a Intelligence check to stack and mortar the slot closed; the Masons will be pleased, but the knocking continues from the far side. A character can tap back the pattern; it changes to a pattern one tap longer and then stops. The party can also leave the object and passage untouched. Make clear through the steep, unstable descent and the party’s level that the Under-Roots are not a safe expedition at this time.
NextOnce the party makes its choice, Kusi gathers the map and leads the retreat. The climb back toward the daylight begins as the knocking continues behind them.
3:50
25 min
social
8. The Record at the Wall
The exposed wall at the Scree, now brightening with the morning and crowded by waiting witnesses.
Kusi emerges with a map and a long face. Ulric asks for the party’s account, Omiya presses for a Syndicate copy, and Havel waits with the rope while Jorun’s warning hangs over the site. The Masons and Syndicate argue over who owns or controls the opening. The party’s choice and the care of its report shape who trusts them.
NextAs the factions begin to bargain over access, the party has time to compare Kusi’s map with the sounds that followed them back to daylight.
Behind it
What people believe
A newly exposed opening in the Scree leads to a short, dangerous structure behind a stone wall.
The party has permission to inspect it, accompanied by Kusi and equipped with a rope and lantern. They must map the passage, cross a failing drainage gallery, and decide whether to close or leave open a fissure leading downward. The local Masons and Syndicate are both waiting for an account of what the party finds.
Background
In 1397 TF, the party’s investigation of the false Anchor Count led to a knocking stone casket and the Unaltered Ledger.
A hidden opening has now been exposed beneath a wall in the Scree, and the knocking can be heard beyond it. The party enters at dawn with Kusi, a surveyor who knows unstable stone, while local authorities wait outside to record what is found. The way inward is short, but its dressed stone, strange metal seams, failing catwalk, and drop toward the Under-Roots make every step consequential.
The stakes
The party is exploring a structure that appears to lead toward the Under-Roots, where the knocking is loudest.
A failed crossing can injure or strand characters, while the wyrmling is a frightened animal defending a disturbed nest. Returning the object, sealing the slot, answering the knocks, or leaving the site open each has different practical and political consequences, but none reveals what waits below.
Encounters
2The Rotten Catwalk
Exploration hazard
A natural drainage gallery with sea-damp moss, a 60-foot fissure about 30 feet deep, a rotten timber catwalk, rusted chains, and a warm updraft.
ComplicationThe party must cross a 60-foot span in Strained condition, with a Check DC of 15 and a Strain Limit of 4. The warm updraft counts as Strong Wind and adds 1 Strain per beat. The span is at capacity for the party’s approximate combined weight with gear. A Span Reader makes a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) or Intelligence check using mason’s tools or carpenter’s tools at the start of the beat. The crossing takes one beat. If the span fails, each creature on it makes a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw to catch a chain; on a failure, it falls 30 feet, takes 3d6 bludgeoning damage, and lands on a ledge where a rope can pull it up. If combat occurs on the span, every three rounds count as one beat.
ScalingThis is an environmental challenge, not a combat encounter. Let characters reduce strain through deliberate movement, load management, or securing the structure with rope and tools. Do not raise the DC merely because a player proposes a plausible precaution.
The Shaken Roost
Combat or social encounter
A high fissure opening to gray daylight and sea wind. The nest is on a ledge about 20 feet up; the approach is narrow, and the drop toward the Under-Roots lies beyond the gallery.
Foes
Cliff-Gloom Wyrmling
Two scree-prowlers
ComplicationAt the start of each round, roll a d6. On a 1, the knocking sounds and the wyrmling has Disadvantage on its first attack roll that round. It dives from its ledge on its first turn; its extra dive damage applies if it descends at least 20 feet. At 13 hit points or fewer, it retreats through the crack and does not return. On the third round, two scree-prowlers come over the lip and attack the nearest creature on the ledge side. They retreat down the slope when one of them falls. The party can calm the wyrmling with a DC 13 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check if it offers food and leaves the creature an escape route. Calming it does not stop the prowlers; thrown food can lure the prowlers away.
ScalingFor a party smaller than four, consider having only one scree-prowler arrive, or have neither arrive unless the fight is already going well for the party. For a party of five, use the encounter as written and let the party exploit the ledge, food, and escape route. The wyrmling alone is CR 3, 700 XP; with the two scree-prowlers, the encounter totals 1,100 XP as provided in the adventure parameters. Use the referenced Chapter 4 creature entries for their statistics.
Cast
4Kusi
Ally and Oread surveyor of unstable slopes and buried structures. Kusi carries a lantern, studies joints and floor levels, and accompanies the party through the opening.
WantsKusi wants to map the structure accurately and understand how it was built, while keeping the party from mistaking a dangerous route for a safe one.
“The stone is not settled. It is only pretending to be.”
Ulric Fane
QuestgiverQuestgiver and stern stonewright of the High Council of Masons. He grants the party permission to enter, provides a rope, and writes down each entrant’s name.
WantsUlric wants the site documented and the High Council of Masons’ safety authority recognized before anyone begins excavation or claims ownership.
“I will record what you see. I will not send a crew into a hole that has no record and no known exit.”
Omiya Vela
Watchful witness representing Syndicate interests outside the wall. Omiya asks pointed questions but does not accompany the party.
WantsOmiya Vela wants to learn what the opening contains and ensure the Scree-Trade Syndicate is not excluded from decisions about a newly exposed route or structure.
“The Syndicate will want a clean account of this. I would rather hear what you find before anyone cleans it up.”
Jorun Gravel-Grip
Offstage ally and mountain guide. Havel carries Jorun’s warning and waits at the entrance.
WantsJorun wants to protect his guides from being ordered into an unexamined hazard. He has sent Havel with a rope and will wait for the party’s report.
“Take the rope. If the stone gives you a reason to turn back, do not argue with it.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A cloudy scale from the wyrmling, worth 25 gp to a collector.
A sealed message case belonging to a courier who vanished on the switchbacks two months ago. It is addressed to a Syndicate baron; the GM may choose or create the message’s contents.
The party retains the carried object unless they choose to return it to the niche.
On a win
The party returns to daylight with a map, a report of the strange passage, and a decision about the object and the fissure.
The object can be returned to the niche, the opening can be sealed with Kusi and mason’s tools, the knocking can be answered, or the party can leave everything as it is. Whatever they choose, the descent is not pursued. Kusi emerges with a long face and a careful map. The Masons and Syndicate begin disputing ownership while Jorun and Havel wait by the wall. The characters reach 4th level regardless of their choice.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- A Medium creature fails the DC 12 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to squeeze through the hidden opening.
- The character takes 1d4 bludgeoning damage and is stuck for a round. They can try again; the delay may leave the last character outside as the crowd and officials become more anxious.
- A character fails to notice the sunken flag concealing the drainage cut, then fails the DC 12 Dexterity saving throw.
- The character falls 10 feet into the cut and takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage. They can climb back out with help or a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check.
- The catwalk fails while a character is crossing, and that character fails the DC 15 Dexterity saving throw to catch a chain.
- A creature that falls takes 3d6 bludgeoning damage and lands on a ledge below. It can be pulled up with the party’s rope, but recovering it costs time and may expose others to the failing span.
- The party fails to calm the wyrmling or chooses to retreat from the roost.
- If the party kills or drives off the wyrmling without calming it, the nest and its contents can still be searched. The animal is gone, but its disturbance and the knocking remain. If the party retreats without securing the entrance, local factions dispute control of the site and may bar entry until a new inspection is negotiated.
- The characters leave without settling what to do at the niche or the fissure.
- If the party cannot return the object, seal the passage, answer the knocking, or agree on another course, the entrance remains open and the knocking continues. Kusi records the unresolved state, while the Masons and Syndicate argue over custody and access.
Complications (d6)
- 1A stone chip drops from the opening and strikes the party’s tied-off rope. The first creature to use it must secure the line again with a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check or the rope slips loose, though it remains within reach.
- 2The lantern sputters as cold moisture runs down its casing. Its light is reduced to half its already limited passage radius until someone spends an action adjusting the wick and shielding it.
- 3A wash of stale air carries a mineral taste and a faint headache. One character of the GM’s choice must make the DC 10 Constitution saving throw described for the Stale air if an hour of strenuous activity has elapsed.
- 4The three-tap, two-tap knocking shifts to a single slow strike. Kusi stops walking to listen, costing the group a beat if they are on the catwalk.
- 5A loose chain link at the catwalk’s edge snaps under a handhold. Add 1 Strain to the span; a creature holding that link must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone on the catwalk.
- 6A small object from the wyrmling’s nest, a buckle, bone chip, or torn harness tag, clatters down the gallery. The sound draws the wyrmling’s attention, but also gives the party a moment to hear movement above.
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