The heroes and the crew of the Reclamation of Lhazaar find themselves in a strange new timeline. To fulfill the words of the Draconic Prophecy and save the world, they must first help a warforged survivor of the Metal Purge by redeeming his employer, a Karrnathi corpse lender fearful of his own mortality.
A Crimson Carol is an adventure inspired by A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Some changes were made from the published adventure to fit this campaign.
The heroes returned to the Reclamation of Lhazaar but found that their erstwhile companion, the ogre mage dream merchant named Aku, had vanished. Whether he had accomplished his desire and no longer needed them, or a temporal paradox had pulled him out of time and space, they did not know. They wondered what else had changed about this new timeline where they had arrived.
In Aku’s place, the heroes found a new ally that had joined the crew of the Reclamation. It was a steam mephit calling himself Steaming Sulfur, whom they had met once before at the Seaside Hot Springs. They remembered his name from the lines of the Draconic Prophecy in the Sudoka book that Lanfear had received from Wolfgang. Speaking in an airy, wheezing voice, Steaming Sulfur began to tell the heroes about the major changes that had taken place in the timeline since their trial in the distant future on Argonnessen.
Vvaraak the black dragon had gone back in time to teach the first Gatekeeper druids. However, they were no longer the orcs from the original timeline, but night hags from the lands southwest of the Eldeen Reaches that would later be called Droamm. Meanwhile, the strength of the dragonmarked houses was undermined by a subsequent alien invasion during the Last War, also predicted by the prophetic Sudoku book. These new alien invaders were giths from the Astral Plane and Kythri the Churning Chaos. Their arrival caused bound elementals to break free from their bonds, wreaking havoc across the lands as lightning rail engines spontaneously exploded, airships plummeted from the sky, and elemental galleons sank beneath the waves. Most startlingly, the warforged began to break free from their conditioning and turned against their masters. However, one nation was bolstered by the chaos caused by the elementals’ newfound freedom. Karrnath relied less on elemental magic than the other nations and even developed its own alternative forms of transportation and power by binding spirits with necromantic “soul magic.” As a result, Karrnath defeated the other nations and emerged as the victor of the Last War.
When Karrnath unleashed its most devastating weapon and caused the Mourning in its neighbor Cyre, the remaining nations of Aundair, Breland, and Zilargo quickly surrendered their sovereignty and were annexed into the Kingdom of Karrnath. Karrnathi armies crossed Scion’s Sound and laid waste to the lands of Thrane. Karrnathi forces continued to sweep across the east and west, crushing the resistance that was offered by the stalwart dwarves of the Mror Holds, conquering the rebel forces of the Eldeen Reaches, subduing the barbarian tribes and untold horrors in the Demon Wastes, and laying claim to the vast fields of dragonshards across the Shadow Marches. Even the hobgoblins of Darguun, emboldened as they were by their victories against their former oppressors, were forced to bow before Karrnath’s might. Finally, the King of Karrnath brokered a deal with the Sisters of Dora Kell and the night hag gatekeepers, acknowledging their status as an independent state and protectorate so long as they swore fealty to the Karrnathi crown.
The newly forged Karrnathi empire quickly consolidated its power, replacing the ruined lightning rail with a new network of soul trains powered by Karrnathi soul magic. The Twelve, having traditionally been located in the Karrnathi capital of Korth, became the premier arcane academy on the continent, eclipsing the once prestigious University of Arcanix which quickly fell to the level of lesser institutions such as Morgrave University. Having achieved dominion over the mainland, Karrnath began to turn its sights east to the Lhazaar Principalities, which remained the only force in Khorvaire that remained outside the Karrnathi sphere of influence.
The heroes were horrified to learn of all these changes that had come to pass. But they were not daunted. They were bent on fulfilling the prophecy and saving the world from the new alien invasion, no matter the cost.
Steaming Sulfur was dimly aware that he had some important role to play in the prophecy, and that it involved a group of warforged. When Karrnath won the Last War, House Cannith’s creation forges and all the warforged were outlawed. The remaining warforged were rounded up and destroyed. The survivors of the Metal Purge had taken refuge in a secret redoubt that the Karrns could not yet find, though a few of warforged were also rumored to be hiding in plain sight, disguised as zombie servitors of Karrnathi nobles.
Steaming Sulfur knew one of these warforged who went by the name Ratchet and was posing as an undead servant of a corpse lender in the city of Rekkenmark. He asked the heroes to seek out Ratchet, who was the only one that could tell them the location of the secret base of the warforged survivors.
Rekkenmark, 998 YK
On the first night of the Long Shadows, the Reclamation of Lhazaar arrived in the port of the great city of Rekkenmark, which had become a hub of trade and commerce in the burgeoning post-war “necronomy.” The heroes located the business where they were told Ratchet could be found. The sign upon the door read Scrüge & Mrarley. Inside, the corpse lender’s shop smells of death and decay. The heroes were confronted by a warforged covered in cured zombie flesh, moaning unconvincingly in zombie-like fashion.
“Are you Ratchet? Steaming Sulfur sent us to find you” they asked.
Ratchet was alarmed that he had been identified, but his fears were allayed when the heroes explained their purpose. Ratchet agreed to help the heroes, but he asked for the heroes help first. Or rather, he asked them to save his boss, the Karrnathi corpse lender Ebenezer ir’Scrüge.
Ever since his business partner had died recently, Ebenezer had grown more fearful of his own mortality. Finally, he had decided to take the leap and shed the last of his humanity by undergoing the transformation into an immortal lich in the Crimson Monastery of Atur. Although the elderly corpse lender had not been kind to him, and did not even realize Ratchet’s deception, Ratchet felt an affection for the old man and did not want to see him give up his mortal soul to the devils of necromancy and materialism.
The heroes boarded the soul train bound for Atur and found the private compartment that Ebenezer had reserved for his three-day journey. Inside, they found Ebenezer sound asleep, holding a pipe with the ashes of dreamlily still warm inside its bowl. Gerkin knew that Ebenezer had fallen into a magical slumber and could not be roused. He offered to perform a special ritual, possible only on the nights of the Long Shadows, that could transport the heroes into Ebenezer’s dreams. Gerkin completed the ritual and a magical mist engulfed the heroes as they passed the castle of Tanar Rath.
Tanar Rath, 26 Vult
Tanar Rath had been the place where Ebenezer had spent his youth decades ago. The heroes witnessed a party from Ebenezer’s memories of the ancestral keep of the ir’Scrüge family. The castellan invited the heroes to join in the festivities. Everyone in Ebenezer’s family was there, even his young fiancé, but Ebenezer himself was nowhere to be seen. He had gone into the Rekkenwood, convinced that it held a hidden treasure that would make him even more wealthy. The heroes followed his tracks and found him in a clearing in the woods, surrounded by evil-looking children and a devilish figure that called himself the Grumbler. The Grumbler offered Ebenezer a bag full of trinkets and presents, secretly stolen from his own household, if only he would sign his name on the Naughty List. The heroes convinced Ebenezer to turn away from the Grumbler, who promptly fled through a fiery portal.
Korth, 27 Vult
On the second night of the long shadows, the soul train passed the Karrnathi capital of Korth. They saw scenes from the present day alongside Ebenezer, who found himself standing in an almshouse, converted from an old warehouse next to a Cannith toy factory. The almshouse was crowded with wounded veterans from the Last War. Ebenezer had never before witnessed such abject poverty, and the sight humbled him. Suddenly, a malfunctioning toy construct of a man-sized nutcracker, a gargantuan white elephant, and elemental snowmen-at-arms from the toy factory burst into the almshouse. They began to attack the veterans and caused mayhem in the almshouse. As they drew near and threatened Ebenezer, the heroes sprang into action. They defeated the malfunctioning toys with their swords and spells, and all the veterans cheered. Then the mist arose once more as the heroes and Ebenezer were transported to another dream.
Karrn River, 28 Vult
On the third night of the Long Shadows, the train to Atur passed along the banks of the Karrn River. Inside Ebenezer’s dream, the heroes found themselves upon the riverbank. The saw Ebenezer gazing at a stream of wreckage floating down the river toward the city of Atur. The heroes realized to their horror that they were pieces of the Reclamation of Lhazaar. And they knew in their hearts that the vessel which had borne them across time and space had been truly destroyed in the real world. But Ebenezer was heedless of their agony, for he was staring at a coffin bearing the mark of Scrüge & Mrarley. And Ebenezer knew that he was witnessing a vision of the future, and the coffin drifting down the river carried his own corpse.
In that moment, a fiery gate appeared beside Ebenezer, and the Grumbler stepped before him. But now, the Grumbler cast off his disguise which went up in flames, and he revealed his true form as the Krampus, a fiend from Khyber. The Krampus once again offered the Naughty List to Ebenezer, but now the heroes could see that it was no mere list but an infernal contract, and the terms did not bode well for Ebenezer.
Ebenezer seemed torn. He still feared his own mortality, but all that he had seen in the previous dreams had opened his eyes to a new world. The heroes saw their chance and reached out to him, telling him of all the things that he could yet achieve to redeem himself in the years remaining to him. Ebenezer hearkened to their words. After a long silence he refused to sign the contract and turned back from the road to the Crimson Monastery.
When the heroes awoke and Ebenezer awoke from Ebenezer’s dream, they returned together to Rekkenmark, where Ebenezer began to turn a new leaf, giving away free food to the poor and free corpses to struggling necromancers.
Ratchet was pleased with the change that had come over Ebenezer, and as he had promised, he revealed the location of the warforged redoubt to the heroes.