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An adventure jigsaw is the pieces you need for an adventure . . . but unassembled. It’s not a full adventure, but it’s got a lot of pieces that you can put together for your own game. We provide an inciting event, a friend, an enemy, a treasure, and some parameters. You provide the players and the action to finish the adventure!
This adventure jigsaw invovles saving the light . . . before the sun sets!
Inciting Event
Khorsburg, the City of Light, is a beacon to the faithful, famed for its tall towers of white marble. But the many holy places rising into the sky cast dark shadows over the lower wards.
Damien sneaked into the Great Cathedral in the night and stole the Chalice of St. Khorsdana. The Church of Khors uses the Chalice daily in their sacraments. When the priest, Tislyn, discovered its storage container destroyed, the Chalice gone, and the surroundings befouled with the Blood of Marena, he knew exactly who took it. Tislyn hires the party to find the Chalice and return it before sunrise services tomorrow.
The PCs are contacted early one morning after the theft by Tislyn or an associate of the Church. They may owe Khors a service, seek a future favor from the Church, wish to inflict damage upon the Emporium, Rox, and Damien, or simply seek a reward (which would be gladly offered upon return of the Chalice).
Friend
Tislyn is a 96-year-old dwarf and a worshiper of Khors. He is in charge of magic items and artifacts as part of the Undying Order of the Great Cathedral in the Great Cathedral Of Khors. He is of average height and has short black hair with a ponytail down the back. His wife, Solri, is part of the security team that keeps the artifacts safe. They are both ardent worshipers, and Solri claims she has visions from Khors.
Enemy
Damien Wyrm is a middle-aged human cleric of the Blood Maiden. He wants to bring glory to Marena’s name. He is very tall, has hazel eyes, and a grim smile. He has a tattoo of Marena on his back and goes shirtless as often as possible so people can see it. He also has twin tattoos of a dagger dripping blood on each arm. Damien has made it his life’s mission to obliterate as many items of Khors as he can. Furthermore, Rox has hired Damien to get the chalice and return it to The Emporium.
Treasure
The Shady Mask Emporium, an almost unnoticeable shop along one of the narrow lesser streets of Khorsburg, deals in religious artifacts, books, potions, and icons of dubious vintage and efficacy. The Emporium is owned by Rox, a fervent worshiper of the Blood Maiden who sponsors many dark rites in the basement chambers hidden underneath. The Chalice is kept in a vault at the Shady Mask Emporium.
Chalice of St. Khorsdana
Wondrous Item, Legendary
Once per day, when you drink from the Chalice, you gain 2d10 + 5 temporary hit points which last until you finsh a long rest. While you have temporary hit points from this effect, as a bonus action, you may cast daylight once. The effect cancels darkness-generating effects of 9th level or less.
In addition, while you have these temporary hit points, and are attacked by a creature with the Dragon type or a creature with a feature that is harmed by sunlight, the attacker takes 2d4 + 2 radiant damage.
If a cleric of Khors invests one of their turning attempts or a paladin uses 15 hit points of their Lay on Hands class feature on the Chalice before drinking from it, a number of people equal to their level may share in benefits. Each drinker gains temporary hit points and damage dealing properties when attacked, but only the first drinker gains the ability to cast daylight.
Simply carrying the Chalice permits you to cast protection from evil and good from it as an action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. All uses of this ability recharge at dawn.
Background: Devourer’s Folly
A particularly foul linnorm, Rǫðulldrapr (“Row-duh-llh-draw-per”) sought to ascend as an avatar of Veles, an equal of chained Fenris. As part of an initiation ritual, the wyrm attacked the sacred herd of aurochs kept in the easternmost temple of Khors in Lodezig, trying to consume the albino bull said to represent the sun.
Saint Khorsdana was just a temple acolyte, newly assigned from her home in Magyar. Without a thought of her safety, she grabbed a lance and impaled the monster through the eye as it rampaged. The bull shed its horns in gratitude, and Khorsdana was inducted as a paladin of the Undying Order of the Sun before Rǫðulldrapr’s body had even cooled.
Her Chalice was fashioned from one of the auroch’s horns, end-capped by a linnorm fang, and reinforced with the hammered, blackened steel of the spear she used. The resulting drinking vessel has been trimmed in gold. It is kept in a satchel of prepared linnorm hide, which is always pleasantly warm to the touch.
In Khorsdana’s old age, she retired to her childhood home in Khorsburg. There, she helped train temple guardians and paladins until her death in her sleep. She gifted the Chalice to the Undying Order of the Great Cathedral in her twilight years, often used in ceremonies inducting new paladins.
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