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The Crystal Cavern

The Crystal Cavern lies at the end of a dry, rocky canyon where a sluggish river threads between jagged cliffs. The cave mouth is hard to miss from the canyon floor. Inside, the first hall still bears the scars of an old skirmish: two waist-high rubble heaps and a collapsed eastern tunnel coated in lingering dust. Faded lantern hooks and soot marks show where the orcs once tried to keep the place lit.

A clear passage runs south into a broader chamber. Here, a carved stone chest sits flush with the floor, its heavy lid propped against the wall. The runes that once shrank intruders now glimmer only faintly, their magic spent. A permanent crack—the Crystal Rift—splits the stone nearby, its rim studded with multicoloured quartz that catches any stray light.

Seventy feet down that rift, a rough-hewn hallway ends in a broken pillar. The gargantuan rune-etched guardian that once rose from the pillar has vanished, leaving only gouged footprints and a toppled chunk of obsidian where its charge was kept.

DM Notes - Current

This area was explored and developed by Airion; likely before the Great War there as more developed structures around the entrance but all sign of these are gone. Possibly Airion’s laboratory can be found by clearing the cave-in in the eastern tunnel (hours or more of hard labor).

The glyphs around the stone chest are inert but can be re-awakened by careful tinkering. They are an old curse placed on the chest by Airion that permanently shrinks anyone who touches them by two sizes (Huge -> Small, Large -> Tiny, Medium -> a very small Tiny, and Small/Tiny -> dead). The chest is carved out the stone of the cave, and once held treasure, long since gone.

Two enormous stone footprints jut from the entrance rubble. A curious player can spot chisel marks that prove the collapse was a deliberate trap.

Should anyone replace the missing obsidian tube, the broken plinth is capable of knitting itself into a new rocky guardian after a day’s rest. This once held the Stonemaster Scroll until it was recovered by the Silver Tempests.

The Crystal Chasm - Original

Across the Grasslands

The Crystal Chasm is hidden in a small cave complex at the far end of a canyon beyond open grasslands.
Orc presence: Orc bands roam the plains; hiding is difficult.
 Travel pace:
* Fast pace – avoids notice.
* Slow pace – likely encounter with one or two orc scouts.

Canyon Approach

Once in the canyon, cover is better but the terrain is rough. A trail of giant-sized tracks suggests a hill-giant scouting party passed through. Parties should be thinking stealth at this stage.

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The river here flows sluggishly after weeks without rain. Jumbled rocks and ragged cliffs force you to pick your way toward a yawning cave mouth in the canyon wall.

  • Passive Perception 12+ – Characters spot many humanoid tracks, a pair of immense footprints, and bear-like paw marks.

Cave Mouth & Entrance Cavern

At the Cave Opening

Signs of recent disturbance are everywhere—tracks lead directly inside.
Skill check: DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation or Survival)* identifies the tracks as orc.

First Chamber

  • Rubble piles rise 3 ft high.
  • Exits:
  • South tunnel – clear.
  • East tunnel – choked with fresh debris; dust still hangs in the air.
  • Illumination: dim sunlight plus a few lanterns.

As you enter the first large cavern, you see rubble piled up three feet high in several places throughout the cavern, and two tunnels lead out. The tunnel on the south wall is clear, but the tunnel to the east is chocked with debris. Dust still rides the zephyrs circulating through the cavern, leading you to believe the cave-in to the east was recent. In the dim light provided by the sunlight reaching from the entrance and several lanterns hung on the walls.

Two large orcs stand 40 ft away. The bigger one, scarred across one eye and carrying a greataxe, growls:

“You have no business here. This is orc land. Leave now, or die!”

Combat – 2 Orcs (should not be too hard)

  • They charge if the party refuses to leave.
  • Tactics: hit the front line, then rush casters if possible.

Aftermath

  • Searching the area – A pair of giant feet jut from rubble in the east tunnel: a hill giant triggered a trap.
  • DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) – The tunnel was deliberately weakened to collapse.
  • Loot on each orc:
  • 1 vial alchemist’s fire (unused—fear of further cave-ins)
  • 1d12 cp and 1d6 sp

Interrogation: If coerced into talking, the orcs admit they’re holding the cave for reinforcements to “sort out the exploration disaster.”

South Tunnel – Swarm of Cursed Orcs

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High-pitched squeaks echo from the darkness. You expect rats—but an angry swarm of orcs, no larger than mice, floods toward you. Their tiny axes gleam. Then every lantern sputters out at once.

  • Swarm created by shrinking-magic trap triggered in the next chamber.
  • Lanterns are doused by tiny orcs, hoping to confuse intruders.
  • Swarm locks onto the nearest target and attacks.
  • Darkvision gives the swarm 1 round of advantage against foes without special sight.
  • Death effect: Each slain mini-orc pops back to full size, littering the floor and creating difficult terrain (the swarm ignores this).
  • DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) – The shrinking magic is a strong curse that ends on death.

Southern Cavern – Slayermighty & Blooddrinker

The cavern is lantern-lit. Eastward, a vast chasm (the Crystal Rift) splits the floor, sparkling in the lamplight.

Northward, a goblin-sized figure in shabby furs stands before a stone chest. A low rumble escapes him—too faint to make out—until a growl to the party’s left alerts him. Though tiny, his features are unmistakably hill-giant.

This cavern, like the last, is lit with lanterns throughout. To the east, the cavern opens up to a large room, with a giant chasm like a massive crack in the ground running north to south, glinting and sparkling with reflected light from the lanterns. To the north, at the far end of the corridor, you can see a small creature dressed in ratty furs, wielding a club. He stands in front of a stone chest, with his back is to you, and you catch the sound of angry rumbling coming from his direction, but it is too faint to hear clearly. Then a yappy growl to your left alerts the creature, and it turns. It has the countenance of a terrible hill giant, but the stature of a goblin. It shrieks with fury: “Slayermighty the Giant will tear you apart and feed you to the Blooddrinker!” He charges towards you.

The hill giant’s pet black bear, now about half the size of a bear cub, waits in the niche to the west of the entryway, and it smells the adventurers once they enter. She growls a warning to its master, but she is too small to pose a threat to the adventurers in her current condition, so she hides. She wears a small collar that says “Blooddrinker” in Giant.

The cursed hill giant, a brute calling himself Slayermighty, charges the adventurers as soon as he knows they are present. His war cries about tearing the heads of the adventurers and drinking their blood might seem slightly ironic in his current condition, but his club still packs a wallop. Slayermighty, livid at his current predicament, fights to the death. His bear, Blooddrinker, is cursed as well and is currently too small to pose a significant threat to the adventurers. Slayermighty screams as he attacks about ruling all of giant-kind as soon as he slays the adventurers and regains his stature.

Slayermighter carries a necklace of copper charms worth 200 gp, and two potions of healing, which he is too angry and confused to use.

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“Slayermighty the Giant will tear you apart and feed you to the Blooddrinker!”

Creatures

  • Slayermighty – A hill giant reduced to goblin stature, wielding a full-sized club. He charges immediately, fighting to the death.
  • Blooddrinker – A cursed black bear cub (half normal cub size) hiding in a western niche. Collar reads “Blooddrinker” in Giant.

Loot: Slayermighty wears a copper-charm necklace worth 200 gp and carries 2 potions of healing (too enraged to use).

The Stone Chest

Carved into the floor; heavy lid rests nearby. Runes are etched on chest, lid, and the stones before it. The chest is empty.

  • DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) – Runes cause a shrinking curse; Slayermighty and Blooddrinker are victims.

Blooddrinker’s Fate

When Slayermighty falls, the bear calms. When the curse expires, she convulses and will die in 2 rounds unless saved.
* Save: DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) or DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana). Healing magic alone is insufficient.
Taming: DC 10 Wisdom (Handle Animal) (one try per character). Success earns the Blooddrinker the Bear* story award; she becomes a house-cat-sized, non-combat companion.

The Crystal Rift

As you approach the chasm in the floor, you can see that the edge is lined with glimmering crystals of quartz in different colors, reflecting the light. The chasm descends into darkness below, stretching beyond the reach of your light or darkvision.

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Crystals of many hues rim a yawning crack that plunges into darkness beyond the reach of your light—or your darkvision.

  • Depth: 70 ft. Two tied ropes will reach.
  • Climb DC and other details as normal.

Lower Hallway

As you descend into the crystal chasm, you enter a wide hallway leading about forty feet to a large stone pillar covered in runes. The hallway is rough-hewn, but clearly intentionally caved. Several piles of rubble dot the path.

Assuming they walk towards the stone pillar, three stone mephits (reskinned mud mephits) animate and attack when they are within 20’ of the first one (about half way down corridor). They are drawn by the earth elemental and looking for victims, but won’t fight to death if they are seriously outmatched. Ceilings are not high enough for easy use of flight in melee, but if they need to escape will fly up the chasm.

At the bottom, a rough passage stretches 40 ft to a rune-covered stone pillar. Several rubble piles lie along the way.

  • Encounter: Three stone mephits (reskinned mud mephits) animate when characters close to 20 ft of the first pile.
  • Drawn by the elemental beyond.
  • Will flee up the rift if badly outmatched—the ceiling here limits sustained flight in melee.

The Rune Pillar & Stone Guardian

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As you approach the pillar, the hallway opens up into a circular room, with a ceiling extending into darkness above. A loud rumbling sound echos through the cavern, a noise of gears grinding and stone being crushed. The pillar begins to move, and grow, and a huge stone humanoid emerges, towering above you, made of granite. It is all hard edges and hard stone, with fists the bigger than your head. You see runes dancing along its body as it moves, occasionally flashing black. Behind the creature, on a remanent of the pillar, sits a black obsidian tube with the edge of a scroll peaking out. 

The creature booms in a loud, echoing voice, “What is your business here, travelers?”

  • The guardian exists solely to keep the scroll from falling into the wrong hands.

Ways to Proceed

  • Deception: Convince the guardian the party represents Arion.
  • Persuasion: Argue (Int or Cha) for rightful custody or safe-keeping.
  • Intimidation: Extremely difficult.
  • Trade: Offer something valuable; suggesting the guardian may step down if the scroll is secured can be persuasive.

Combat warning: The elemental is vastly stronger. Provide clues—size, rumbling footsteps, etc.—to deter a direct fight.

If negotiations fail, the party may simply leave and report back to Lyra—she will be disappointed but not surprised.