D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Greystone Mountain Deception

# Wilderness# Dungeon# Intrigue

The ancient Greystone Pass, once a vital trade artery between the Sunken Kingdoms and the Amber Coast, is now choked by a brutal troll blockade. Caravans rot in ditches, their goods plundered. The trolls claim the mountain itself is poisoned, that a creeping blight emanating from the old dwarven mines has driven them from their ancestral tunnels to this desperate, territorial defense. Behind the troll wall, however, the cunning Kobold Bandits of the Cackling Fang tribe have erected a labyrinth of fake signposts and treacherous dead-ends, extorting desperate travelers for 'safe passage' that leads only to ambush. Two desperate peoples, two incompatible truths, both fighting for survival on the slopes of a dying mountain. You are not a hero. You are an obstacle remover.

Chronicle Prelude

The fortified refugee camp of Millhaven, built in the shadow of the Greystone foothills. It reeks of despair and rotting supplies. Merchant guild representatives argue with local constables over dwindling patrols, while gaunt miners from the mountain's lower shafts whisper of glowing veins and madness in the deep. The only road forward is blocked.

Environmental Traits

The mountain itself is the crisis. The rumored 'blight' is a magical resonance leak from a collapsed, ancient dwarven geothermal forge, destabilizing the local ecology and driving trolls from their deep homes. The Kobolds are parasites exploiting the chaos, but their own tunnels are destabilizing too. Reaching the source and deciding its fate is the only path to unblocking the pass and determining the mountain's future.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Troll Warchief Gorath
A massive, ancient troll with mottled grey-green skin crisscrossed with ritual scars and one milky, blind eye. He leans on a gnarled club of petrified wood, his posture weary but unyielding. He wears a mantle of woven moss and rusted chainmail fragments.
Kobold Leader 'Snickers'
A sleek, rust-red kobold with an unusually large grin and quick, darting eyes. He wears a collection of stolen baubles—a broken monocle, a tarnished silver bell—around his neck and constantly fidgets with a set of carved bone dice.
Dwarven Geologist Ervin
A thin, nervous dwarf with ink-stained fingers and a constantly twitching nose. His beard is unkempt, and he wears stained, practical work clothes. He constantly glances towards the distant mountains.
Caravan Master Lila
A hard-eyed human woman with sun-darkened skin and a practical leather jerkin. She stands with her arms crossed, surveying her stalled caravan with barely concealed frustration. A jeweled dagger hilt is visible at her belt.
Kobold Scout Fidget
A young, scrawny kobold with large, frightened eyes and a chipped horn. He is constantly looking over his shoulder and flinches at loud noises. He clutches a small, dirty satchel.
Troll Shaman Morgra
An elderly troll draped in furs and necklaces of bone, feather, and geode shards. Her face is painted with white clay symbols, and she carries a staff topped with a softly glowing crystal.
Kobold Trapmaster 'Click-Clack'
A hunched kobold covered in soot and tool-belts, with multiple sets of goggles pushed up on his forehead. His hands are a blur of motion as he tinkers with a small, clicking mechanism. He is surrounded by half-built pressure plates and coiled springs.
Enslaved Miner Gorn
A gaunt, filthy human man with a heavy iron shackle on one ankle. His eyes are hollow with exhaustion, and he flinches at the sound of kobold voices. He picks listlessly at a wall with a broken pick.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Goblin Plight of Rivervale and the Cryptic Mine

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core