A Frog in the Throat
The village of Anvil huddles in the cold shadow of the Iron Mountains; it is the last stop on the trade road from the mighty capital city of Deinby, as it winds up into Farrier's Pass. The ore that once made the town famous for the plentifulness and quality of its metalwork has become rarer, but items made by the smiths of Anvil are still prized, and the town makes a small living catering to travellers going through Farrier's Pass.
Oddly for a human town, the villagers' patron deity is Moradin, god of dwarves. (Some say that this is because the people of Anvil have dwarven blood in them, but that's impossible. Isn't it?) They celebrate the usual festivals, such as the King's Birthday, but also those that honor Moradin. Every winter equinox, the villagers travel to a nearby cave known as the Mouth of Moradin. Within the cave is a sacred pool, surrounded by ancient, huge statues carved by the dwarves centuries ago, before they left this part of the Iron Mountains--no one knows why. Anvil's priest, who is literate, writes the villager's prayers and praise to Moradin on scraps of parchment. Then the people tie the prayers to small stones and throw them into the pool. These prayers are followed by offerings of gold, jewels, valuable stone carvings, and finely-made ornaments and weapons, to honor Moradin.
Word of this ceremony reached a mediocre Deinby wizard named Misigrem. Never one to make an honest copper when a dishonest gold would do, Misigrem conceived the idea of cleaning out the pool after the midwinter ritual. Obtaining a spell of
water breathing, he crept into the caves, removed gold and the lighter items from the pool, and took them back to Deinby to sell.
After several years of this, rumors of black-market (and low-price) Anvil goods made its way back to the village. The townsfolk appealed to their most capable native son: Whistling Jemmy, the notorious highwayman, scourge of the trade road, whose name comes from the noise his deadly sling stones make as they hail down upon his victims. From the villager's point of view, though, Whistling Jemmy is a folk hero. He never bothers the townsfolk, or lone travellers, preferring to prey on tax collectors and wealthy caravans. He tracked the rumors down and examined the disturbances at the cave. This year, the villagers left the cave after the offering, and lay in wait to catch their thief.
Misigrem would have been caught except that his toad familiar Wart, scouting ahead, alerted him to trap. Desperate, he used his most precious magic item--a charm that, when crushed, summoned a creature that could be set to do a single task (a modified Summon Monster III). He told the Fiendish Condor that appeared to "guard the cave and don't let anyone but me pass." It flew out and drove off the watchers, and has been lurking around the entrance to the sacred cave ever since.
Misigrem spent the battle concealing himself inside one of the old dwarven statutes, which arehollow; unfortunately, the lid that was so easy to tip open from the outside is nearly impossible to open from within. He was able to push out one of the teeth mortared into the rest of the statute, so perched in a dead spruce near the cave mouth. It watches the approaching group with unnaturally bright eyes. When they are within 30' it will open its ragged, stinking wings and swoop down to attack. Whistling Jemmy will assist the group, but they should be doing most of the work; he is more accustomed to attacking with surprise and from above.
Once the guardian is defeated, Whistling Jemmy will lead the group into the cave. He doesn't know where the thief is, but he guesses that the thief is either hiding among the old statutes, or has gone past them somewhere into the tunnels and gotten lost, in which case they will be looking for bones. Privately, this is what he believes happened, but he wants to at least find the body so that he can let the villagers know the cave is safe.
Getting to the statutes requires
punting along a shallow natural river in the caves. There are punts beached along the entrance, with poles. Since Whistling Jemmy can't see in the dark, he'll either light a lantern or rely on magical light produced by a PC. The river feeds into a large underground pool, pure and startlingly blue. The water tastes wonderful, if anyone tastes it. However, it's a good 100' to the bottom, so jumping in is not suggested.
As soon as they get in line of sight, Misigrem will spot the light, guess that he has rescuers, and figure that he'd better talk fast or he's not going to make it out of the caves in one piece. He will quickly cast Water Breating on himself, cast Ventriloquism on Wart and speak in his deepest, boomingest voice. "I AM THE THE ENVOY OF MORADIN, GOD OF DWARVES!" (Wart will croak menacingly.) "I ORDER YOU TO SEIZE THIS HUMAN WHO HAS DEFILED MY CAVE AND THROW HIM INTO THIS POOL AS A SACRIFICE!" His plan is that they will get him out of the statue, fling him into the pool, and he will stay underwater until they leave. Then he and Wart will sneak out of the village and escape to Deinby.
Whether the PCs fall for this or not is up in the air. Misigrem naturally thinks everyone else is stupider than he, so he is confident that the unlettered, superstitious yokels will be awed and obedient. Of course, your players may be a little cleverer than that. The statue's lid is carefully balanced and counterweighted so that it can be opened from the outside by anyone with STR 10, but from the inside it must be forced open with STR 16 or better, or a Knock spell, which the wizard lacks. (Misigrem is not the first thief whom the original Dwarf sculptors had encountered.)
If the PCs show any signs of killing Misigrem or taking him captive, he will fight desperately to escape. He doesn't want to kill anyone, just to get past them and get out of the caves; he is a mediocre punter but can certainly manage to make his way to the cave mouth. Wart will hop into people's faces and attempt to disrupt spells and attacks, but Misigrem will call him off if it seems he is in any danger. If the fight goes badly or he is told to surender or die, he will surrender immediately.
Dead or alive, Whistling Jemmy will insist that the group take Misigrem back to the village, to be put in the stocks or buried, depending on his condition. In gratitude, the stout villagers will offer the PCs a reward: dwarf-made masterwork weapons or rings of protection +1, depending on the classes and inclinations of your party.
And, as promised, Whistling Jemmy will lead them through the passageways to the other side of the Iron Mountains. Whether they pass through the rocky underground without incident is another matter...
Misigrem
NE, Half-elf, Wizard (6), STR 8 INT 16 WIS 10 DEX 13 CON 15 CHA 9
Spells: Resistance (0), Light (0), Mage Hand (0), Mage Armor (1), Spider Climb (1), Tenser's Floating Disk (1), Feather Fall (1), Ventriloquism (1),Protection from Arrows (2), Continual Flame (2), Nondetection (3), Suggestion (3), Fly (3), Water Breathing (3)
Whistling Jemmy
CG, Human, Ranger (3)/Rogue (1), STR 12 INT 11 WIS 10 DEX 15 CON 12 CHA 15
Fiendish Condor
NE, Fiendish, 10' wingspan
AC 10, Attacks: Peck, d6, HD 2-4, Cold and fire resistance 5/10, damage reduction -/5, Smite Good once per day