This adventure is one that concerns stealth, intuition, and cunning. The players are tasked to infiltrate the dwarven city of Heimglah, or Glaston, in order to acquire a rare kind of crystal that forms in the caverns beneath the mountains.

However, the inhabitants of the city see guarding the crystals as their divine task, and will repel any intruders with extreme prejudice. Being found not only means violence and possibly death, but being marked as a target by the dwarven cities.

Heimglah, which the humans call Glaston, was founded within a massive subterranean geode. The walls of the geode are made of a particular glowing crystal, which gives the Glass Halls their light. The crystals have a number of impressive qualities, but they also have incredible healing qualities.

Using them for such, though, corrupts the crystal and renders it useless, which the dwarves regard as sacrilege.

Adventure Synopsis

The Crystal Light adventure concerns the dwarven city of Heimglah – known to outsiders as Glaston – or, more specifically, the old goods exchange on the uppermost level of the subterranean city, the tunnels long since abandoned. The players will need to slip in and out, and will have the opportunity to deal with problems by stealth, force, or cunning.

There are several leads to the quest that you may use to entice your players:

• the first is the compassionate route, in which the players are approached by an elderly woman who pleads for them to retrieve for her the magical crystal hidden in Glaston as the only hope of healing her dying husband;

• the second is the wealth route, in which the players are offered a substantial reward by a local scholar who wants one for his research;

• and the third is the common-need route, in which the players discover that the crystals are capable of bringing someone back from the brink, or even past the point, of death.

Glaston, or Heimglah, is built inside a naturally-occuring chasm deep within the mountain, and – it is rumoured – they found there a titanic geode, filled with a most wondrous crystal. The crystal is inherently magical, and has a number of uses, most useful of which are its healing properties. However, the dwarves of Glaston have decided that it is their divine purpose to guard the crystals and keep them safe from those that which to misuse them, and so they are very difficult to come by.

The players will discover that while infiltrating the city itself is nigh-on impossible, there may be a source of crystals much more easily to hand: the old goods exchange was blocked off several decades ago in favour of a more streamlined lift system, and there is a rumour that a small cache of crystals was left in the abandoned tunnels, forgotten. The players will need to sneak into the abandoned tunnels without rousing suspicion, evade the creatures that have made the tunnels their home, and acquire the crystals without raising suspicion.

In their adventure, they will encounter dwarven locals, guards, thugs, veterans, and nobles, as well as the swarms of bats and rats, the dogs, and the giant vermin that now plague the darkened tunnels. The adventure consists of three parts:

• Glaston. The small trading village outside the gates to the city proper, this is an ideal place to stock up and gather information before heading into the mines.

• Dwarven Goods Exchange. In order to access the abandoned tunnels, the players will need to find a way of sneaking in without attracting attention. This can be achieved by several methods, and once successful, the players will reach:

• Abandoned Goods Exchange. The warren of old rooms and tunnels, in which the players will encounter the local beasts – or patrols, if foolish enough to rouse suspicion.