The Tomb of Argon Dragar has been lost for millenia and it is on the wish list for any serious treasure hunter in the know. Crowe has been researching this ancient resting place of the great mage Argon for some time and since the Reavers have somewhat settled in Shadowdale for the time being, he has been researching at Elminsters tower. Well...this is not to say that he has been researching WITH Elminster.... Rather he has found a sort of back door into the tower by befriending Lhaeo, Elminsters scribe.
Their suspicious researching eventually did catch the eye of Elminster and he just said matter of factly - this is where you can find the ancient tomb, he's known that secret for some time. So the Crimson Reavers were off once again on a glorious treasure hunting adventure to plunder an ancient mage's tomb! What could possibly go wrong!
Taking the River Ashaba downstream to Ashabenford in Mistledale for a brief stopover. From there the journey would be Northward into the heart of Cormanthor, the Elven Forest, following the Moonsea Ride. News of the troubles in the Moonsea reached their ears of increasing warring between Zhentil Keep, Hillsfar and the rest of the independant cities on the Moonsea. The Reavers saved a looted Caravan that had been sacked by a heavily armed Zhentish caravan.
The heroes got to stop a moment and pay their respects to the Standing Stone. Crowe was deeply moved by the sight of the ageless obelisk and there was short lived friction between him and Arcady over the importance of the monument. Traveling further brought the heroes to a strange signpost, written in Ancient Netherise, pointing towards a trail leading deeper into the forest. Flan obsconded the signpost and they eventually found an unusual animal trail they chose to follow.
Following this trail deep into the ancient forest they soon encountered an elven patrol led by Lord Earnwhil Corianthar. He is charged with watching the forest around Myth Drannor and he had been tracking a group of Zhentarim from Myth Drannor.
Their next encounter while following this deer trail was with a group of Giant Spiders whom they quickly dispatched, and the heroes saved the life of the poisoned Satyr, Glomdrul. Glomdrul was happy to invite the group to an acient forest celebration and they partied all night long with every manner of faerie and fey creature of the forest. The Dryad's were especially enamored with the menfolk in the group. Glomdrul was able to confirm that he knows of the area they seek, but it is cursed and no creature goes there.
They kept following the strange trail that seems to be leading them directly where they want to go, almost if someone had plunked the trail down there for them. It was noticed that the group was being followed by a lone raven which seems strangely interested in them. Eventually the trail led them to the area the were seeking - A mist shrouded valley.
The mist was hard to see through and the group tried several different ways to determine it's nature - even going so far as to circumnavigate the border region of the entire Misty Valley. Eventually there was nothing for it than to just enter the valley. Soon after entering the mist, the Raven revealed to them a hidden scroll in the eye socket of a skull on the ground which gave instructions on how to enter the Tomb. They also discovered the freshy killed husk of the body of a Zhentarim soldier and had to fight their way through throngs of flying apparitions which were trying to drain their strength.
They entered the Tomb, but realized that the tomb was not that of a human wizard, but rather an ancient Elven King and his Queen. They found more evidence that the Zhentarim had been here recently as they found a decapitated body. After searching the place and finding no other way out and no sign of the Zhentarim they rightly assumed that a secret door must lead somewhere else. Deciphering the wall murals opened a secret door in the floor which led to a magical portal to the real tomb of Argon.
The Tomb of Argon Dragar was one big Wizards trap. Every room or corridor had something dangerous to deal with - whether some terrible monster(s) or devious magical and mechanical traps. Some of the highlights were: 1) The Horribly repeating maze 2) The Gauntlet 3) The Mirror room 4)The wimpy Mimic 5) Rudy and his damned card game 6) The hot and cold Trap 7) The Neirid encounter 8) The Riddle Statue Room
Upon passing the tests of the ancient seer Wodan, the heroes were allowed into Argon's throne/treasure room. All manner of arcane, wierd, wild or strange artifact can be found in this chamber. The elusive Zhentarim seem to have been captured in some sort of stasis field on the far side of the room. Soon Argon himself appears as a rising corpse from the throne.
He interrogated the reavers and determines that they aren't that bad and are in fact heroes. Impressed by this he answers the questions brought to him (Elminster's questions in fact) and imparts some secret information to them. He is not in fact the real Argon Dragar, but he is a being known as 'The Watcher'. He works for the Overgod and catalogs and tracks all events of import across multiple primes and crystal spheres.
He felt that times of troubles were headed for Faerun again and the world would need heroes to deal with it, so he imparted upon each of the Crimson Reavers a potent artifact so that they might continue to protect their Realm. These artifacts are uniquely powerful and most are not even from this material plane, but they all seem linked in some way and they also uniquely bond themselves to their new wielders.
The Reavers head back to Shadowdale with their hard won treasures and give the somewhat manipulative Elminster the answers he wanted.
ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS
Elminster Aumar - The sage of Shadowdale. His involvment was one of slight manipulation in the hopes of gaining the information he sought regarding B'aalzemon. He knew that the nature of Argon's sanctuary would prohibit him from succeeding, but that they might just have a chance of accomplishing the task. For more info on Elminster click here.
Lhaeo the Scribe - Lhao has been secretly working with Crowe on digging into some lesser known tomes in search of lost, ancient treasures. This led to the two of them zeroing in on the Tomb of Argon Dragul. Very little is kept from Elminster however and he soon put the kibosh to rummaging about his library and somply gave them the information they needed to find the tomb.
Argon - The Watcher - Argon turned out to be a much more powerful entity than just a powerful wizard. He is a direct servant of the Overgod Ao, and it is his job to manifest in various prime material worlds to observe the goings on of important events throughout the history of these worlds and record this information for Ao. He typically does not become directly involved in any of these events but can become known to living humanoids during these times, as previously he did on Faerun as Argon Dragar, powerful wizard and sage of Netheril.
Lyle Maran of Hillsfar (TN hm F0) - Lyle is a Caravan Master from Hillsfar whose caravan was destroyed and sacked by a rival Zhentish Caravan. The Reavers helped him and his survivors out and Lyle was very grateful. Lyle could be a good contact for them in the Moonsea area.
Lord Earnwhil Corianthar (CG em F9) - Earnwhil is a young elven Lord out of Tangled Trees. Even though the Elven Court has mostly disbanded, brave elves still patrol some of the more dangerous parts of their forest and Earnwhil has been charged with patrolling the areas around Myth Drannor. He questioned the PC's about their knowledge of a Zhentarim band he had been tracking - They left north from Myth Drannor and had already had a violent encounter with another elven patrol.
Glomdrul the Satyr - Glomdrul was on his way to the celebration of Rhaulitrist when he was attacked by the Giant Spiders. He fled and they followed. The spiders were just about to finish him off when the PC's stumbled upon the scene and saved the day. Glomdrul was so grateful he invited them to the celebration.
Rudiar 'Rudy' Greengrass (CN half m T15)- is a halfling trapped into the service of Argon. You can call him Rudy. He lived a couple millenia or so ago and when Argon built this tomb he plucked Rudy from his eternal salvation of death and forced his spirit to help guard this tomb. You see, Rudy made the mistake of trying to swindle Argon at cards and got caught - this is his eternal penance.
