I 18
REST AND RESOURCES
Having explored the hermitage and taken on its varied
threats, the characters have had a busy day. Thanks to
the hags, rats, giant snakes, and the monstrous peryton,
their resources might be depleted. The challenge of the
drowned ones' attack is thus amplified by the fact that the
characters can take only a short rest before the assault
begins. Adjust the difficulty of the attack as you see fit,
depending on the party's available resources and the mea-
sure of your mercy.SCENARIO 2: WAVES OF UNDEAD
Use this scenario if the characters' preparations for the
attack are only minimal. or to create a tense and weary-
ing night of encounters.
The drowned ones arrive in three waves, each in-
creasing in difficulty. If the characters aren't sufficiently
challenged by a particular wave. add more monsters to
that part of the fight in the form of late reinforcements to
help make a wave into a greater threat.
Each new wave arrives approximately^30 minutes
after the previous wave. In any area where the undead
break through a door, the characters must reinforce that
door again when the currem fight is over, or subsequent
waves will move through it freely. Alternatively, you
might decide that a door is too damaged to be repaired.WAVE l
Six drowned blades rush to assault the door into area- If they cannot break down the door within 3 rounds,
any survivors of the characters' defensive efforts switch
their attention to the door that leads into area 21.
WAVE 2
Five drowned blades and two drowned ascetics as-
sault the hermitage. The drowned blades arrive at the
door that leads into area 11 and attempt to enter. The
drowned ascetics enter through any previously opened
door that hasn't been reinforced again. If no doors are
open, they try to batter down the door into area 12.WAVE 3
Three drowned blades, two drowned ascetics, and one
drowned assassin attack the fortress. The drowned
blades and ascetics enter through any previously open
door. or if none arc open. they attack the doors that lead
into areas 4 and 21. The drowned assassin arrives from
area 14 and climbs onto area 17. trying to enter the for-
tress through the door in that area.Safe by Day
Once the undead are dealt with. the coming of the
dawn's first light means that the characters can finally
rest with no fear of another assault. Raserhill's ferry re-
turns about an hour after sunrise, on its normal sched-
ule. but the craft carries no new passengers and departs
again quickly unless th e characters hail it. (lf Raserhill
stuck around the island and was driven off or killed by
the monstrous peryton. another boat from Uskarn will
set out eventually to investigate the characters' fate.)
At some time during the day, when a character is
awake and outside or near a window. read:<'llAl'rl:N^7 IA\l~HR \l T "fATf
The sultry day is silent except for the sounds of the sea. A
lone bird circles in lazy loops in the sky overhead. Even-
tually it descends and alights on a nearby rock. It 's a gull,
and an old one at that, with a chipped beak and patches
missing from its thinning feathers. It waddles closer, gaz-
ing intelligently at you with weak, rheumy eyes.This ancient gull is Virgil, formerly the familiar of Ar-
chais, Firewatch Island's wizard. Virgil s urvived the
s laughter of the garrison ten years before and has lived
on the island ever since, nesting in the wizard's tower
room. It has avoided the hermitage residents and was
largely ignored by them.
Virgil fled the island the previous night when the
drowned ones attacked, but now that the characters
have seemingly defeated them, the gull has returned
to its home. It continues to watch the party despite any
attempts to shoo it away. Having observed the charac-
ters' actions against the drowned ones, the ex-familiar
believes that they might be the sort of heroes who could
finish Archais's work and end the undead menace.VIRGIL'S MISSION
If a character is able to speak with animals, Virgil is
friendly. (The scroll found in area^9 will be useful in that
regard if none of the characters have this ability.) The
gull relates the events of the "Background" section to
the best of its knowledge. It does not know the specif-
ics about Tammeraut's crew. but it does know that the
drowned ones are victims of that fateful sinking.
Virgil knows the location of the Tammeraut and can
guide the characters there. Based on the attack tonight,
the gull correctly deduces that Tammeraut's crew is ac-
tive once more and must be stopped.The Wreck
If the characters decide to seek out the sunken Tam-
meraut, they must first find out where the rift is located.
The charts in Archais'sjournal give the exact location in
nautical coordinates. Alternatively, a character who suc-
ceeds on a DC^20 Intelligence (History) check discerns
the likely spot where the ship sunk.
Virgil also knows the location of the Pit of Hatred,
having accompanied Archais there several times while
the wizard was alive. If all else fails, he can guide the
characters to the proper location-Hying ahead and
circling the site. The Pit of Hatred is two miles south of
Firewatch Island and can be rowed or sailed to in about
half an hour.
The bay is 300 feet deep above the Pit of Hatred, and
characters won't be able to anchor a boat there unless
they brought along quite a lot of rope. Certain items
in that treasure arc invaluable to a party that plans to
investigate the wreck, but the characters might also
require and seek out additional resourC'es before they
do so. See "Unusual Environments" in chapter^5 of the
Dungeon Master's Guide for information on underwater
environments. and see "Underwater Combat" in chapter
9 of the Player's Handbook.