JAGGER ROCKS

Few places in Mare Luna can be considered peaceful and serene, but the ancient village of Jagger Rocks is one of them. Jagger Rocks is a farming community that supplements its income with a little fishing and woodcarving. Its location near the Dales and the former Elven Court has resulted in quite a bit of Valar blood in the villagers, who have fond relationships with both of those communities. The old Kuveran saying "like a Jagger Rocks watch" means a task so simple that it practically performs itself. This bit of lore bears testament to the reality that very little happens here.

History

The village of Jagger Rocks was established in the year of 12 BC, as a small waystation for ship traffic to and from the River Faun. Even back then it was a place of tranquility, where humans and elves could meet and interact on even terms.

Jagger Rocks managed to miss its share of dragon attacks and sacking armies, but it never grew into a town or city. The main reason for this was its lack of the natural resources most cities were founded to exploit: iron, gold, marble, granite, silver, and copper.

Today, Jagger Rocks does much of what it has always done: farming, fishing, and ferrying. Gods die, cities rise and fall, and Jagger Rocks remains an oasis of calm in the midst of turmoil.

Jagger Rocks Today

This village is very quiet. Its inhabitants go about their business, for the most part, in friendly isolation, and an air of civility permeates the place. Thalia Jaggerborne serves as the village's ruler and only constable. This calm, pipe-smoking gnomekin woman tolerates no troublemakers in her village. She normally wanders the town clad in no armor but with a pistol and a short sword both tucked in her belt.

When she's not minding the affairs of the town, Thalia can be found at the Still Waters, a two-story inn with a stable in the back for travelers' mounts. Thalia is an ex-adventurer who retired to Jagger Rocks 24 years ago when she contracted a respiratory disease through contact with some subterranean fungi. Thanks to this, Thalia hates mushrooms with a passion. The best way to insult her is to offer her one.

Trade

The Docks is a series of wooden docks and piers, where numerous fishing boats and small craft moor. Thalia frequents this place, and she openly eyes - even questions - each stranger who disembarks. This makes some people uncomfortable, but Thalia does not care and the villagers don't mind; the strong swordswoman has kept the peace her way for over two decades, and they have no intention of changing it now.

There are always a few souls here, repairing nets, maintaining boats, and exchanging gossip. If an adventurer wants the local scuttlebutt, the Docks is the place to find it.

Near the center of Jagger Rocks is the town's merchant area: the Grange, run by Talus Onetry. It stocks every nonweapon, nonarmor item anyone could want. If Talus does not have the item in question, he will special order it.

Talus is called Onetry because 11 years ago, at age 22, he hooked up with a band of explorers and made his way to the Kuv City. On the way a band of kobolds beat the travelers senseless and robbed them blind - all except Talus. He took one look at the little homed dog-men and ran screaming back to the safety of Jagger Rocks. It was his first and last attempt at adventuring. Talus enjoys relating the tale, though he makes a point to mention that he slew several of the beasts before he ran. Thalia and others, however, notice that the number of kobolds he slew gets larger and larger with each telling.
Temples

The only sign of the gods in Jagger Rocks is the Temple of the Half-moon, dedicated to Luna.

The Village

The Docks The Docks is definitely the busiest part of Jagger Rocks. A few merchant ships occasionally stop here to trade for the exquisite woodcarvings that Jagger Rocks is known for.

A ferry travels down the River Faun from Jagger Rocks to the Mare. Boats leave at dawn, noon, and dusk. Sailing ships anchor here as well. In fact, larger ships that cannot navigate the Faun stop here, offload their cargo and passengers, and pick up freight for the return trip. Crews transfer the debarked cargo onto the ferries that regularly traverse the Faun.

A set of three warehouses rounds out the dock area. They are sturdy structures, built of oak and brick, and their only doors (all easily wide enough to accommodate two large wagons side by side) face toward the village where Thalia "can keep an eye on em!"

1. Home of Thalia Jaggerborne This squat stone tower is home to Thalia Jaggerborne (NG hin F8). If Thalia needs to get rough, she has chainmail +4, Dragon Pistol, gauntlets of ogre power, and a helm of brilliance (three diamonds, seven rubies, 14 fire opals, and 24 opals remaining). Thalia keeps these items in a small chest here in her house. Adjacent to her house is a constabulary with two cells (usually empty). It can be entered from a side door.

2. The Temple of the Half-moon This comfortable, silvery temple is run by Alissa Moonray (CG valar FS/P5), a gypsy woman of valar stock. Alissa is a beauty, but she does not flaunt this. She has a mischievous streak and a clear, pure laugh, like liquid moonlight. Alissa has become good friends with Thalia, and the two meet once a week at the Still Waters for dinner, conversation, and a game of chess.

3. Still Waters This inn is run by master brewer Enron Blackburn (his grandfather, he points out, came from Blackwater), a friendly, honest hin of plain looks. His ale is much sought after in the area and a favorite of river ferry crews. The serving girl, Elenawen, aspires to become an acolyte of Luna. She is a serious-minded woman with a merry heart; until she enters Luna's service, she will enjoy flirting with the handsome human and gypsy men who wander in.

4. Swansong...

5. The Grange This wood and stone building is Jagger Rocks's trading emporium. It is overseen by Talus Onetry (CG Kuveran F1). Talus stocks everything in the Equipment section of the Player's Handbook except arms and armor. In 3d6 days he can have anything delivered directly to the buyer.

6. The Grove Hidden amidst a large copse to the south of Jagger Rocks is a druid's grove dedicated to the Spirit of the Wood, and tended by Ezril Treetender (N valar D5 ).

Ezril is a bald man in his late 40's, with piercing eyes and a strong love of nature. He does not hold ser vices, but he is a strong spiritual force in the community. In return for his giving advice and helping raise animals and tend crops, all Ezril asks is that the farmers respect the land by not overfarming, overhunting, or overfishing the area. The villagers repay him with food, drink, and material comforts for his small stone house near the grove.

Ezril rarely comes into the village, preferring the company of the trees and the wildlife. He is often seen in the company of a wolf and a brown bear, and has no compunctions about bringing them into Jagger Rocks - even into the Still Waters - when the mood for human company strikes him.

7. The Old Well This is an old stone ring with several boards nailed across it as a lid. The well has long since dried out. Anyone who inspects the inside of this well closely (which means rappelling down into it) will see that one of the walls of the well has collapsed, revealing a passageway.

Under Jagger Rocks

The following is a small dungeon-crawl that can serve either as a launch for a full-fledged dungeon adventure or to whet the adventurers' appetites for further exploration of Mare Luna. The arrows point to the three places where the DM's own dungeon may start.

1. The Well The well shaft drops down 80 feet onto a muddy bottom that is half-covered in debris. The debris comes from a collapsed portion of the shaft's eastern wall, leaving a hole five feet in diameter.

2. Primary Chamber The ten-foot-diameter stone shaft of the well drops from the ceiling and touches the floor of this room. The air is clammy and musty, and the floor is covered with a faded tile mosaic of elf cavalry and archers routing orcs and goblins. Around the shaft are some faded, arcane symbols. A spellcraft proficiency check at a -2 penalty shows that the symbols were some manner of gate to the Elemental Plane of Water. Four slightly warped cedar doors stand at the cardinal compass points, held together with verdigrised bronze bands. The eastern door is stuck, and can be released only with a successful open doors roll.

3. Scribes' Chamber This abandoned chamber is littered with the remains of quills, shattered ink pots long since dried out, and reams of parchment crumpled into a very large oval wad. Loose pages are scattered everywhere, but few written works remain. The room stinks of waste. On the north wall is a symbol of Oghma carved in relief.

The stench's source is the room's occupants, two owlbears. They wandered in from the surface via a subterranean tunnel and decided to use the room as a nesting area. The mated pair has a clutch of six eggs in the nest. They have no treasure, though the eggs are worth 2,000 sp each to the right buyer. Pressing the stone symbol of Oghma opens a secret door. The door scrapes and shrieks as it opens, and a blast of stale cold air assaults the PCs.

Owlbears (2): INT Low; AL N; AC 5; MV 12; HD 5+2; hp 40; THAC0 15; #AT 3; Dmg 1-6/1-6/2-12; SA Hug (2d8 points of damage); SD nil; SZ L; ML Steady; XP 420.

4. Sunset Chamber Once-beautiful murals decorate the walls of this chamber, but they have been defaced. The west wall is filled with a huge painting of a redorange setting sun. Lying on the floor is a large white stone disk. If the white disk is placed over the sun painting, a secret door on the west wall opens.

The room contains a group of ghasts, which are the animated bodies of the elves who lived here a millennium ago. The ghasts, anxious for more food but unwilling to cross the owlbears, tore the hole in the well shaft but have yet to exploit it. Their hoard consists of 53 gp from the heyday of Myth Drannor, a cloak of elvenkind, boots of elvenkind, long sword + 1 flametongue, and a crystal vial containing three doses of elixir of health.

Ghasts (12): INT Very; AL CE; AC 4; MV 15; HD 4; hp 32; THAC0 17; #AT 3; Dmg 1-4/1-4/1-8; SA paralysis, carrion stench; SD immune to sleep and charm spells. SZ M; ML Elite; XP 650.

5. Ruined Chamber Cold, bare stone walls and floors are all that's left here, and clues to the purpose of this room have long since been eradicated by time and predators. The owlbears entered this complex from a tunnel east of this room. It is now completely empty.

6. Chamber of the Dawn The walls of this square chamber are painted with sunrise scenes, but they have been badly vandalized. The entire eastern wall is rubble, and behind the pile seems to be a hole or doorway. It will take one PC 90 minutes to clear a passageway, which gives access to an eastern tunnel.

7. Atrium This spacious room has a cool, white marble floor and a metal latticework ceiling. If the PCs look up, they can see rocks, soil, tree roots, and sunlight (or stars, depending on the time of day).

This entire complex was once on the surface; PCs who roll a successful Intelligence or Wisdom check figure this out. A dwarf, gnome, or halfling realizes that it would take such a structure about 1,200 years to sink into the ground.

The room contains several long marble troughs, apparently some kind of huge planters, once filled with exotic plants. All that remain in the planters are massive amounts of withered, brown weeds and scrub. Toward the northwest comer of the room a tangled mass of vines droops over the side of one planter. They seem to have miraculously survived and thrived in this room.

This is the parent vine of a choke creeper. It will attempt to grab a PC when his compatriots are not looking. The plant will drag the PC into the trough and attempt to strangle him or her. The 32 vines on the creeper have 10 hit points each, not counting the 100 points of the parent plant. Four vines will attack one PC.

Searching the parent's trough reveals several scattered human and elven bones, plus a wand of lightning, ring of regeneration, ring of water walking, a short sword +3 frostbrand, and a shield +1.

Choke Creeper (1): INT Non; AL N; AC 6 (vine) 5 (stalk); MV 1/2; HD 25; hp 100; THAC0 7; #AT 32; Dmg 1-4; SA strangulation; SD immune to torch fire; SZ G; ML Elite; XP 18,000.

8. Library The shelves in this low-ceiling, dark room are full of books, scrolls, and loose pages. Several long, rickety tables with rotten wooden chairs run down the center of the room.

The books here are written in Thorass and Espruar (valar alphabet), and cover a wide range of topics regarding relations between Thorak and the Valarí tribes prior to the Ogre Wars. Reading four or more of these books for a month of game time gives the PC +4 for Valar Lore checks. There are no spells written in any of the books.

Each PC has a cumulative 5% chance per turn of noticing a book titled What Lies Beyond. Removing the book from the shelf causes a portion of shelving to swing toward the PC, revealing the northwest tunnel. Just inside the doorway of the secret chamber is an old spell book with only one spell still legible.

Eyefire

Evocation
Range: 20 yards +5 yards per level
Components: V, S
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: ½

This dramatic fifth-level spell causes the caster's eyes to glow a fearsome, bright emerald green. The caster's entire countenance takes on such a frightening aspect that every PC must make an immediate Morale check or run away in terror.

One round after the spell is cast, the wizard can discharge bolts of crackling green energy at opponents, causing 1d8 points of damage per level of the caster. The area of effect is wherever the caster can see, with a 90 degree field of vision. Spell duration is one round per three levels of the caster. Magical items on victims who fail their save must save versus magical fire or be destroyed.

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