Escape from Thunder Rift is one of my favorite adventures from the Basic D&D era. It originally appeared with the Basic D&D DM’s Screen, and it was one of the first full modules I played through when I was getting into D&D (and roleplaying as a whole).
As part of a continuing campaign running my friends through old Basic and AD&D adventure modules, Escape from Thunder Rift comes on the heels of two prior adventures: The Quest for the Silver Sword (Basic D&D), and A Light in the Belfry (Ravenloft, 2nd Edition). Returning from these adventures are the group’s Paladin, Cleric, and Rogue, with the new addition of a Bard and a Sorcerer/Fighter/Bard.
Spoiler Warning
This post will contain spoilers for the first adventure in Escape From Thunder Rift, Part 1: The Escape. Some character and place names have been changed, and some dungeon rooms have been altered, but if you plan to play through this adventure as a PC (that isn’t in my gaming group), stop reading here!
The Galivan Coast on the World of Coreth
Coreth is the custom world my friends and I created back in middle and high school, although it was not named that at the time. Like many, we started with Forgotten Realms as a canvas, painting with locations drawn from modules set in Greyhawk, Mystara, or crafted from our own imaginations. We even drew locations from Magic: The Gathering to craft our hodge-podge game world.
Over time the world refined as I used it in other campaigns, building a history and legendary. For this current campaign, I scrounged up my old hand drawn maps and gave them an overhaul.
I set the adventure west of Gallep Bay, in the foothills of the Mountains of Suspire, in the North-West of the region map.
Preamble
Orestes (Human Paladin), Laurana (Half-Elven Tempest Cleric), and Frankmeier Wedgeby (Halfling Paper Merchant, a.k.a Rogue Thief) accompanied their new ally, Aurora Shadowborne, to the town of Hearth Home in the Farolas Foothills, where they found a shrine to St. Eric Shadowborne, Patron Saint of those who kill (or die) swiftly, which intrigued Aurora as she is newly arrived in the world of Coreth: to have found her surname preceding her was quite unexpected.
Alma Dara (a half-drow Monk devoted to St. Eric) explained that St. Eric guards the souls of the dead from the moment of passing until they find their path on the Endless Road which leads to Sanctuary of Souls in the afterlife. After speaking with Alma by the banks of the River Tidean, the party returned to Hearth Home, where Aurora (formerly a high priestess in the land of Avonleigh in another world) decided she would stay for a time to learn more about the Gods of this world, and of St. Eric especially.
The Beginning
The Party is awakened in the dead of night by a pounding on their inn-room door. Wedgeby opens the door to the sight of two dwarves: Borren Son of Jorren (because of course dwarven patrilineal names need to rhyme), and Quartz (a shoplifting dwarven Bard). With them is a “human” named Marigold (in actuality, a Half-Dwarf multiclass Fighter/Sorcerer).
Borren explains that the Dwarves of Thunder Rift have need of professional Mage-killers, and word had come to the Lord-Lady of Thunder Rift that the Party responsible for ending the curse of Alwreath (in the Quest for the Silver Sword adventure) had arrived in Hearth Home. Quartz and Marigold are there to aid the Dwarves of Thunder Rift, but the Lord-Lady believes the task is too dangerous for two young adventurers to face alone.
Borren asks the Party, now including the Bard and Sorcerer, to return with him to nearby Thunder Rift. Wedgeby declines, but surreptitiously follows the others on foot. (Off-screen, he comes upon a dwarven scouting party and intentionally allows himself to be caught by the dwarves to speed up his travel time).
The Mission
Arriving at Thunder Rift, the party is escorted through the Tomb of Farolas, which guards the entryway to Thunder Rift, a mountain fortress of the Dwarves. Borren explains that among the mountain dwarves it is a great honor to be buried at the entrance of a great settlement, as they believe that their souls return to deep earth to rest in the underworld upon death. Those who are buried at or near the surface have the longest journey, and act as protectors for the souls of other dwarves.
The Party is greeted by Otara Highpeak, Lord-Lady of the settlement. She explains that four days prior, rangers hailing from Thunder Rift captured a hated enemy, a Mage named Chambrin.
This evil mage had hunted and killed dwarves, and was conspiring with the orcs who prowl the Farolas foothills. Otara believes that he intended to attack Thunder Rift with a fighting force comprised of several local orc tribes. His capture was celebrated as a great victory for the settlement.
The dwarves now suspect Chambrin knew of the forbidden doors and allowed himself to be captured in order to gain access to the doors, and whatever lays beyond.
After Wedgeby is reunited with the others (roughly), Otara offers everyone a gem worth A LOT OF GOLD (Coreth is in a Dark Age, and silver is the standard coin). Wedgeby gets two gems because he successfully pickpocketed the guard who was distributing them. Otara offers ANOTHER gem as final payment on receipt of Chambrin’s wand as proof of his demise. Chambrin is described as a young man with long blond hair, wearing a red cape and fine clothing.
The Forbidden Doors
Otara leads the Party to the forbidden doors. These doors were originally discovered by the dwarves who built Thunder Rift several centuries prior. Farolas the Hero and first lord of Thunder Rift, forayed beyond the doors but barely survived. He forbade any dwarf of Hearth Home from venturing beyond the doors again. He would break his own edict years later, crossing beyond the doors to end the danger once and for all… but he was never heard from again.
1. The Entrance Hall
The party enters the doors and finds themselves in what looks like the entry hall to a keep or manor. The doors of the entrance are of a strange design none in the party has ever seen, and the walls are of different construction then those of Thunder Rift – possibly constructed by magic.
They find a skeleton on the ground in rotted armor, a rusty but usable Broadsword still in its grasp. Marigold relieves the poor bastard of his weapon, and the party travels south beyond a frayed curtain into a cloakroom where it would appear guests had once divested themselves of their travelling over-clothes before settling in… but if so, where would these visitors have come from?
2. The Cloakroom
In the cloakroom, Laurana finds a few silver pieces and a horseshoe with magical properties, which Quartz discovers with a ritual casting of detect magic. Orestes uses his divine sense to detect the presence of two undead creatures nearby (to the southeast), which he calls out to the Party.
3. The Stables
The party continues on to the south through a pair of double doors, with Wedgeby peeking in to see a stables. Orestes enters and sets his spear to receive a chart. As if in answer, a trio of Skeletal horses erupt from the stalls around the corner to the left, and charge Orestes!
The Battle of the Skull-Ponies!
Orestes, Quartz, and Laurana are all surprised, but Marigold and Wedgeby are quick to act. Marigold casts chill touch but misses one of the skeletal steeds. Wedgeby likewise misses with an attempted (violent) Business Opportunity (sneak attack).
Orestes snaps out of his shock quickly enough to skewer the charging horse-bones and adds some radiant smiting action to the mix, nearly destroying the the first skele-horse outright.
With the impact of the hoplite’s spear, a cloud of yellow dust flies off of the bones. Orestes and Wedgeby are caught in the dust cloud but make their Constitution saves.
The second horse rushes past Wedgeby to come into striking distance of the others. Both horses miss their targets (and I am so caught up in describing the scene that I forget to narrate the misses). Laurana casts sanctuary on herself. Quartz makes an arcana check to learn about the weaknesses of these undead creatures.
Marigold tries to chill touch the horse again but misses. Wedegby connects with both daggers (magic and silver) and crushes the damaged equine revenant, sending it to the floor in a pile. Orestes skewers and defeats one, both he and Wedgeby again making their saves to avoid the yellow dust. Then he attacks the other undead, smiting it soundly.
All make saves, Marigold using the Shield spell creatively to block the incoming dust. Laurana takes 19 damage, becoming poisoned. Quartz is likewise poisoned, but suffers only 6 damage as a result of being a dwarf and having more hit points than Betty White.
Orestes lays on hands to heal Laurana’s poison, and Laurana in turn fires off a protection from poison spell to end the effect on Quartz.
Marigold checks the stalls and the tack room but finds only more Yellow Mold.
4. The Barracks
The party finds what looks like a guards’ barracks. In a footlocker, Orestes finds a copy of Martial Weapon II: Sanctuary Revoked translated into a strange language he can’t read. Marigold searches the room for secret passages and finds one just outside the room in the next hallway with an amazing hunch (21 on the Investigate check).
The Secret Passage
The party files into the 15 foot secret passage, and they find peepholes bored into the stone of the wall, looking into a pleasant looking bedroom. Paintings line the walls, including a landscape depicting a glimmering pond with the form of what looks like a sleeping child by its edge, a forest and gently rolling hills, with a road that disappears in the direction of what looks like a town.
On the wall of the secret passage hangs a wickedly curved silver dagger, and a pouch with deerskin gloves (very comfey, possibly valuable), and a bottle of poison – possibly deadly contact poison as Quartz deduces. Quartz also identifies a scroll of Invisibility in the pouch, which she hangs on to.
11. The Murder Room
Everyone enters the bedroom through the secret panel in the back of the wardrobe to find a lovely scent of lilac and rose, a comfy looking empty bed, and the dawning realization that this room is set up to easily murder whoever might have slept in the bed.
The Party Splits!
Unsettled, the Party backtracks to the hallway outside the Barracks and splits off. Wedgeby and Marigold head into the first door on the East side of the hallway and find another corridor heading East, terminating in a steel door.
Wedgeby, Quartz, and Orestes head through the steel door after Wedgeby clears the door for traps and picks it open. With paperclips of course…
Laurana and Marigold back track, splitting off to head to the second door on the right from the hallway.
12. The Prison
Quartz, Orestes and Wedgeby discover a prison with three cells. The keys to the cells (and possibly to the door leading to the west) hang on a ring by the wall next to the doorway toward the east.
The first cell (A) has walls wet with condensation, and moldy straw on the floor. The straw does not respond to Orestes tossing a coin into it.
Similarly, the second cell (B) has wet walls with dry straw, but also nothing happens when Wedgeby tosses his magical returning dagger into it.
(C) houses a large humanoid skeleton that twitches when Orestes tosses a coin at it.
Then they hear a terrifying screeching sound from the room to the north!
14. The Hot Springs
Marigold finds a steel door just to the north. Opening it, she and Laurana discover a natural cavern with hot springs.
Pools of steaming water feed vapor into the air in this room. A dark figure laid slumped in the middle of the room, blocking the walkway between the entrance and the doors to the north at the far end of the room.
Laurana waits by the door while Marigold goes to check the figure laying in the walkway. It’s a giant leech, but thankfully a dead one. Marigold investigates and deduces it was killed by a torrent of magic missiles…
…and then a hulking, centipede-like monster with writhing tentacles and far too many teeth lunges at her from the fog!
To be continued…