```col-mdflexGrow=2.5===# Outline# Introduction > [!read-aloud] **Read Aloud** > > > > Following the revelation that Count Jasper is the chief villain behind the recent assassination attempt and the rise in organised crime, Captain Lyza has enlisted you in her plan to bring him to justice. She has sent you on a mission to visit her old friend Marcus the Mage, a wizard who lives in a white tower on the edge of a forest half a day's ride north of the city. Although there are known to be a number of apprentices living at the tower, it is Marcus himself who greets you at the door, looking concerned. He says that he has been expecting you, then ushers you inside and offers you tea. > # Act I Marcus **will** impart the following information:- Long ago, Marcus, Lyza and Lord Tograf, along with a formidable warrior named Henk, were friends. Actually, they were a party of adventurers...until some of them got too old. Marcus, especially, is now very old and frail.- He has been in communication with “young Lyza ” and he wants to help her (and the PCs) defeat this young upstart Count Jasper that she has been telling him about.- The PCs must go on a quest to acquire The Sceptre of Exilium that is hidden in the tunnels inside Mount Malice.- He has drawn them a map to where the sceptre has been hidden.Marcus is unaware that since retiring from adventuring (and gaining a few pounds) Henk has been going by the nickname Porky, or that the tavern he bought was The Giggling Gargoyle.He **might** impart the following, if the players ask, or if it comes up naturally:- Henk was a h alf orc who fought with a giant battle axe. Marcus is no longer in touch with him, and the last he heard, Henk had bought a tavern in the city.- Marcus and Lyza have recently been communicating using magic and a crystal ball.- Marcus has also been using magic to find out what Jasper has been up to, and how he can be stopped.- Jasper has not always been evil his experimentation with summoning and demonic forces has shifted his alignment.- Jasper made a deal with a demonic entity to become more powerful.- The Sceptre of Exilium is a powerful holy artifact that was crafted centuries ago by ancient priests to banish the demon that Jasper is allied with. It originally housed a huge emerald.- Count Jasper acquired this artifact several years ago, and dismantled it, placing the sceptre in Mount Malice and the emerald in a dungeon on the far side of the kingdom. Lyza is currently on her way to retrieve the emerald.- If it could be reunited with the emerald, the sceptre would be Jasper's weakness.- The sceptre is protected by magic and by a powerful monster that Jasper has summoned, but Marcus does not know what it is.Finally, Marcus will gift the PCs with some magic items he thinks will be useful for them, then he insists they get some sleep they can talk more in the morning.- A ![[1237335]]|Gem of Seeing (DMG p172)- An ![[1237337]]|Immovable Rod (DMG p175)- A ![[1237338]]|Chime of Opening (DMG p158) with two charges left- A quiver of 10, +1 Arrows, and a bow if required- A copper ringHowever, when Marcus wakes the PCs at dawn, he seems agitated. He says events have moved on faster than he thought they would, and they must hurry up and leave at once. He urges them to find the Sceptre of Exilium, return to Port Perro, and hope that young Lyza is successful in obtaining the emerald. # Act II > [!read-aloud] **Read Aloud** > > > > Marcus's map leads you to a small cave entrance on the side of the mountain. At the back of the cave is an opening to a narrow tunnel which leads deeper into the mountain. In single file, you follow the tunnel until it ends at a large oak door. On the door is carved the head of a white dragon, and below that is a riddle: > **<center> * > I come before cube, age, and rink. > Warm me up if you want a drink. > * </center>** > This is a trap. When someone says the word “ice”, anyone standing in front of the dragon's head will be blasted with 20hp of cold damage (halved on a successful DC10 dexterity save). The door will still not open. It is magically locked and needs to be opened with a chime of opening.# Act III > [!read-aloud] **Read Aloud** > > > Beyond the door is a cavern with a narrow exit tunnel at the far side. Two skeletons wearing armour and carrying weapons appear to stand guard on either side of the tunnel entrance. There is a dark redish-brown line drawn across the middle of the roomThe line is drawn with blood, now dried, and must be crossed to get to the door. The skeletons are harmless and the armour/weapons are ragged and useless. As soon as a PC enters the tunnel, a magical trap is activated, and a huge scythe begins to swing in the tunnel, doing 1d10 damage to the character in the front (halved if they pass a DC10 dexterity save). It swings erratically and unpredictably, and to get past it each player must pass a DC15 dexterity check or take 1d10hp 1d10 damage. Alternatively, the scythe can easily be disabled using an Immovable Rod.# Act IV > [!read-aloud] **Read Aloud** > > > > The tunnel opens out into a huge cavern with stone walls and a high ceiling. In the middle of the cavern the Sceptre of Exilium is visible on a stone plinth. It is guarded by a creature that resembles a giant eyeball with dangling tentacles like a jellyfish. > The ![[1237331]]|Floating Eye Guardian levitates above the sceptre, always just out of reach of melee attacks, and it will fight to the death and never abandon the sceptre. Each turn it will attack with one of the following spells:- ![[557471]]|Magic Missile (PHB p257)- ![[361124]]|Fire Bolt (PHB p242)- ![[379166]]|Poison Spray (PHB p266)It is immune to slashing, bludgeoning and piercing from non-magical weapons, as well as conditions such as charmed, paralyzed, petrified.If a PC misses their shot with a magical arrow, they can spend a turn recovering the arrow from where it went after it bounced off the stone wall.# Epilogue This session ends with the PCs back on the road again, approaching Port Perro, which they can see on the horizon. They are pleased with the success of their mission, but there is a tension in the air as the PCs know that the biggest test is yet to come.``````col-md![[plots/the-city-watch/table-of-contents|Table of Contents]]```