Chapter 1: Return from Neverdeath Graveyard - Vecna: Eve of Ruin

Chapter 1: Return from Neverdeath Graveyard. A bizarre ritual reveals the cult of Vecna's terrifying activities As the adventure begins, the characters are established heroes currently in the city of Neverwinter on the Sword Coast. Several calamities have battered Neverwinter in the recent past. The greatest was the eruption of nearby Mount Hotenow, which nearly destroyed the city forty years ago, though most of the damage has since been repaired. Neverwinter is ruled by its Lord Protector, Dagult Neverember. Rising to power through a tenuous claim of descendance from one of Neverwinter's past heroes, Lord Neverember has nevertheless provided stable leadership. Unknown to the authorities, a cult of Vecna operates in the catacombs beneath Neverwinter's sprawling Neverdeath Graveyard. Cult members have been kidnapping city residents who carry significant secrets, draining their knowledge and their souls in a fell ritual and passing the collected secrets to Vecna as he gathers power for his Ritual of Remaking. (See the introduction for more information about Vecna's plot.) In the process, the kidnap victims become creatures robbed of their knowledge and volition. Running This Chapter In this chapter, the characters discover a cult of Vecna preparing four kidnap victims for a ritual in the catacombs beneath Hallix Mausoleum. Disrupting this ritual hurls the characters and an elf scholar named Eldon Keyward into Evernight, Neverwinter's sinister reflection in the Shadowfell. To return home, the characters must confront the lonely legacy of the Dolindar family and find a rift that leads back to Neverwinter. Character Advancement The characters should be 10th level when this chapter begins; see the "Lower-Level and Higher-Level Characters" sidebar for accommodating characters of other levels. If the characters are 10th level or below, they gain a level after returning to Neverwinter from Evernight. Power of Secrets The characters can learn three secrets in this chapter...