The Gate
The Gate
Read aloud
For three weeks, Kelpstrand’s current has grown colder, and every night a deep pulse shudders through the docks. The old gate below the settlement is straining, its chains groaning against a force no one can see. Mara Venn offers you a place on the descent team, and asks you to bring the warm flow back before the gate breaks.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Find what is destabilizing the old current gate.
- 2Detach the rime-grey fitting from the gate housing.
- 3Free the gate and relieve its pressure before it fails.
- 4Protect the cavern-dweller and leave its warm-shelf den undisturbed.Optional
The clock
Pressure begins at 2 on a 0–6 track. On initiative count 20 each round, it rises by 1 while the fitting remains attached, or by 1 every other round after removal. At 6, a surge deals 2d6 Fire damage, DC 13 Dexterity save for half, to creatures in the chamber except those on the ladder landing; Pressure drops to 2 and the gate gains one Crack. Three Cracks cause gate failure. Characters can lower Pressure through successful easing actions: free the chains, clear a weep-hole, or calm the water for one round. Reading the safe-flow marks grants advantage on the next two easing checks. The encounter ends successfully when the fitting is removed, all three holes are clear, the chains are free, and Pressure is 2 or lower.
Scenes
- 0:00The Current-keeper’s Request
- 0:35The Gate Below
- 1:00Pressure in the Chamber
- 2:30Warmth Returns
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver
- Halden RuskAlly
- Old KettleWild card
- Pell TarrowWitness
The hook
Set the scene
The ladder ends in a cavern broad as a harbor hall. Warm water rushes around your boots beneath the stone walkway, carrying a mineral tang and the hiss of steam. Across the channel, a black slab rises like a wall, held in place by heavy chains; beyond it, water boils white. A pulse rolls through the cavern, shaking grit from the ceiling as a rime-grey fitting hums above the gate.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara Venn approaches the party at the Kelpstrand channel-house, where the usually warm water feels unsettlingly cool against the stone steps.
She asks them to join a descent team and offers Halden’s old ledger and the station tools needed to work the gate. She speaks plainly about the danger: if the gate breaks, Kelpstrand may lose the current that keeps its channels usable.
Rumours
Scenes
about 3 hours0:00
35 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Current-keeper’s Request
Kelpstrand’s channel-house beside the cooling current.
Mara gives the party the descent task, while Halden lays out Station 4 tools and a worn ledger showing the gate’s safe-flow marks. Pell can describe the latest knocking and point out that the timing has changed. Let the party ask questions, gather food or supplies, and decide who carries which tools.
NextWith the ledger wrapped against spray and tools secured, the team follows the service passage down until the channel’s roar swallows the sounds of Kelpstrand above.
0:35
25 min
exploration
2. The Gate Below
A harbor-sized cavern beneath Kelpstrand, with warm water, a north-wall walkway, and the black slab in its channel.
The party descends to the dry ladder landing and surveys the five areas. Show the gate, the three clogged weep-holes, the fitting above the water, and Old Kettle’s broad shelf. Establish the pressure track at 2 and explain that the pulse advances it on initiative count 20. Characters may inspect the room before the first round begins.
The Gate ChamberNextA fresh pulse rattles the chains; the fitting answers with a thin hum, and the party must choose where to begin before the next beat arrives.
1:00
90 min
combat
3. Pressure in the Chamber
The gate, weep-holes, fitting, ladder landing, and Old Kettle’s Warm Shelf, with the pressure track as the scene’s central threat.
Run the pressure challenge using the stated order: pulse on initiative count 20, then character turns, then Old Kettle’s turn once awake. Pressure starts at 2, rises by 1 each round while the fitting remains attached, and rises by 1 every other round after it is removed. At 6, resolve a Dexterity save against Fire damage, half on a success; Pressure returns to 2 and the gate gains one Crack. Characters can free the chains, clear the three holes, read the marks, calm the water for one round, and remove the fitting as described in the objective requirements. A character on the ladder landing is safe from surges. Old Kettle wakes on the second round of the pulse. It does not leave the chamber and does not attack anyone who has not harmed it or its home. A Wisdom (Animal Handling) check calms it for one minute; a second check can extend that. Food or warmth grants advantage. After the fitting is removed, Kettle calms without a check two rounds later.
The Gate ChamberNextAs the last needed mechanism gives way, the cavern’s shudder either subsides into a steady flow or becomes a violent break that drives everyone toward the ladder.
2:30
30 min
social
4. Warmth Returns
The service passage and Kelpstrand’s channel-house, where residents wait for news of the current.
On success, describe the current settling and return to Kelpstrand with the fitting. Halden can examine the marks without identifying their maker. On failure, run the escape up the ladder, then show the immediate consequences for the settlement. In either outcome, give the group a moment to report what happened and decide what to do with the fitting.
NextAs the party lays the fitting on the channel-house table, its black ice remains cold to the touch, and an unfamiliar crossed spiral catches the lanternlight.
Behind it
What people believe
Kelpstrand’s centuries-old current gate is straining, and the warm water that sustains the settlement is faltering.
Descend with the current-keepers, find the cause, and relieve the pressure before the gate fails. The cavern is home to a powerful creature that may be frightened by the disturbance, but the crisis can be addressed without defeating it.
Background
For generations, Kelpstrand’s warm current has passed through a black-stone gate beneath the settlement.
Its chains and channels regulate the flow, keeping the docks usable and the nearby homes warm. In recent weeks the current has faltered, and a strange rime-grey fitting has begun to hum with each deep pulse. The fitting bears an unfamiliar mark; its maker and purpose are unknown.
The stakes
If the gate fails, Kelpstrand may lose the steady warm current that supports its channels and daily life.
The party faces a dangerous environmental countdown, while an unsettled cavern-dweller adds risk without being the cause of the crisis.
Encounters
1The Gate Chamber
Hazard and creature encounter
An approximately 80-foot-wide cavern. Warm water is 4 feet deep across the lower chamber, with a stone walkway along the north wall. Area A, the ladder landing, is dry and safe from surges. Area B, the gate housing, is 30 feet from the landing; the winch and wrist-thick chains hold the house-high slab in its frame. Area C has three clogged weep-holes along the south wall. Area D is a fitting clamped 15 feet above the water. Area E is a broad warm shelf where Old Kettle nests.
Foes
Old Kettle, using its published Chapter 4 stat block
ComplicationThe pressure track advances on initiative count 20. Each surge deals 2d6 Fire damage, DC 13 Dexterity save for half, to creatures in the chamber other than those on the ladder landing, then reduces Pressure to 2 and adds one Crack to the gate. Three Cracks cause the gate to fail. Old Kettle wakes at the start of the second round, acts on its own initiative, and attacks the closest creature unless calmed or its den is no longer being chilled.
ScalingFor four 3rd-level characters, use Old Kettle as written. The provided design rates it at 1,100 XP, a moderate-to-high threat when combined with the surge hazard. For a smaller or less capable party, have Kettle remain on the Warm Shelf unless attacked, and allow a DC 12 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check with advantage when the party offers food or warmth. For a larger or stronger party, increase environmental pressure through the listed complications, not by changing Kettle into the villain.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver, Kelpstrand current-keeper
WantsKeep Kelpstrand’s current flowing and make sure the party has what it needs to reach the chamber.
““The water has carried us through winters I can’t count. Please, don’t let our own gate become the thing that takes it from us.””
Halden Rusk
Ally, retired channel engineer
WantsHelp the party read the gate’s safe-flow marks and prove that the local records still matter.
““These marks tell you where the pressure wants to go. The ledger is old, but water keeps its habits.””
Old Kettle
Wild card, territorial cavern-dweller
WantsProtect its warm-shelf den and drive away the intruders who have disturbed it. Old Kettle is hungry and distressed, not malicious.
““That cold bite is in my den. You came in loud, and now you expect me to be gentle?””
Pell Tarrow
Witness, dockworker who heard the gate’s recent changes
WantsWarn the settlement and see that the gate is repaired before the current fails.
““I heard the chains strike three times, then the whole house shivered. Something is wrong below the waterline.””
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Halden’s safe-flow ledger, a practical reference for future work on the gate.
Any Station 4 tools the party used may be kept or returned to the current-keepers.
On a win
When the fitting is removed, the chains freed, all three weep-holes cleared, and Pressure reduced to 2 or lower, the gate settles into its frame.
Its knocking stops. The water’s roar smooths into an even rush, and warmth creeps back into the cavern. If Old Kettle was calmed or the fitting has been removed for two rounds, it withdraws to the Warm Shelf and watches the party depart. The party can carry the fitting and its unexplained mark back to Kelpstrand.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party withdraws without resolving the gate.
- The settlement’s current weakens or diverts. Kelpstrand begins rationing heat, dock access becomes unreliable, and the party must find another way to stabilize the flow before the next cold spell.
- The gate accumulates three Cracks.
- The slab shifts and the chamber floods. Characters must flee up the ladder; anyone still in the chamber when the gate gives way faces the consequences of the flood and falling debris at the GM’s discretion.
- The party kills or badly injures Old Kettle.
- Old Kettle retreats to its shelf, injured and more fearful of intruders. Kelpstrand’s residents may regard the party as reckless, and the creature remains a future complication rather than a defeated enemy.
Complications (d6)
- 1A floating crate breaks loose in the channel and jams against the walkway. A creature crossing that section must spend 10 feet of movement to clamber over it, or be pushed into the water if it moves through at full speed.
- 2A pulse makes the safe-flow marks briefly shimmer beneath mineral film. Until someone wipes the marks clean, the next attempt to read them is made without the benefit of Halden’s ledger.
- 3Steam veils the fitting and the upper gate housing. A character working there must use an action to clear the view before making a check to remove the fitting.
- 4A cracked stone lip shifts above one weep-hole. The next creature that clears that hole must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 bludgeoning damage from falling grit.
- 5Old Kettle snorts and churns the water, sloshing it across the walkway. Until the end of the round, creatures moving along the walkway treat it as difficult terrain.
- 6A surge of cold from the fitting chills a nearby tool. The next character to use Station 4 tools or thieves’ tools must spend a bonus action warming their hands or make the check with disadvantage.
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