St. Arkham's Feast: A Role-Playing Adventure

By Michael Kellington and Larissa Ezell

Our ship has made an emergency landing in the harbor of St. Arkham, a quaint fishing village on the coast of the Northern Reaches. We are pleased to discover that our landing coincides with St. Arkham's Feast, a three-day revelry to honor the dead, with dancing, drinking, and cavorting. By chance, there is enough room at the inn to squeeze in fo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Kellington
• Release date: Jul 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781733591249

Michael Kellington

Michael Kellington has written adventures for role-playing for most of his life. From early childhood, he has been passionate about the story and devoted to his friends' enjoyment and success. A trial attorney practicing in Southern Oregon for over twenty-five years, he has twin daughters who occupy his heart and time. Michael considers himself a student of history and a purveyor of fun.

Book preview

Arkham_9781733591232_Cover.jpgSt. Arkham’s Feast: A Role-Playing Adventure Game for 5th to 8th Level Players; By Michael Kellington; Illustrated by Larissa Ezell

ST. ARKHAM’S FEAST

COPYRIGHT © 2020 ASTRAL MOON CREATIONS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

HARDCOVER ISBN: 978-1-7335912-3-2

E-BOOK ISBN: 978-1-7335912-4-9

PUBLISHED BY ASTRAL MOON CREATIONS.

MEDFORD, OREGON, USA

COVER DESIGN BY LARISSA EZELL

INTERIOR DESIGN & EDITING BY PLUMB CREATIVE

ADAPTED FOR EBOOK BY KELLY BRENNAN

WWW.ASTRALMOONCREATIONS.COM

This content is intended as a role-playing adventure, and any reference to actual persons, alive or deceased, is unintentional. St. Arkham’s Feast and the other adventures in St. Arkham’s Feast are compatible with all versions of the Dungeons & Dragons® universe, including the most recent (5.0). This adventure and other modules may be found at www.AstralMoonCreations.com.

This dungeon is dedicated to the boys (and Audrey).

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

ST. ARKHAM’S FEAST

AMETHYST OF UNDEATH

RITUAL OF THE AMETHYST

TIMELINE OF THE RITUAL

TIME LOG

OBSERVATIONS AND ENCOUNTERS

CLUES AND ADVICE

ST. ARKHAM (MAP)

WAYPOINT TOWERS (MAP)

ENCOUNTER 1: LANDING

ENCOUNTER 2: BA’ATH RIPA’S GOLEM

ENCOUNTER 3: LA FETE

ENCOUNTER 4: GREY MOON INN

ENCOUNTER 5: GRAND HOTEL

ENCOUNTER 6: THE MAGNOLIA

ENCOUNTER 7: CASKET MAKER

ENCOUNTER 8: YOGI’S HUT

ENCOUNTER 9: CARMELITA’S TINY HUT

ENCOUNTER 10: THE MANOR

ENCOUNTER 11: THE FIVE FINGERED LADY

ENCOUNTER 12: TOWN HALL

ENCOUNTER 13: GOTHIC CATHEDRAL

ENCOUNTER 14: THE CARRIAGE HOUSE

ENCOUNTER 15: MARGA T. NEP’S DRIED GOODS

ENCOUNTER 16: THEATRE HAUS

ENCOUNTER 16: THEATRE HAUS (BACK STAGE)

ENCOUNTER 17: COASTAL DACHAS

ENCOUNTER 18: THE DOCKS

ENCOUNTER 19: YACHT CLUB

ENCOUNTER 20: THE FORTUNE TELLER

ENCOUNTER 21: FISHERMEN’S CEMETERY

ENCOUNTER 22: RUINED CHAPEL

ENCOUNTER 23: WEEPING STATUE

ENCOUNTER 24: CORNFIELD

ENCOUNTER 25: FARMHOUSE

ENCOUNTER 26: FOREST OBELISK

ENCOUNTER 27: SCARECROWS

ENCOUNTER 28: MUDDY BAG

ENCOUNTER 29: THALIN FALSTAFF

ENCOUNTER 30: INSANE ASYLUM

ENCOUNTER 31: DOOMSAYER’S CRYPT

ENCOUNTER 32: CATACOMBS

ENCOUNTER 33: ASYLUM HOSPITAL

ENCOUNTER 34: SAFE HOUSE

ENCOUNTER 35: FOREST IN FALL

ENCOUNTER 36: THE SENTINEL

ENCOUNTER 37: RIDDLE OF THE ROCK

ENCOUNTER 38: OLDE CEMETERY

ENCOUNTER 39: CARRIAGE MASTER’S GIRLFRIEND’S HOUSE

ENCOUNTER 40: MARBLE CRYPTS

ENCOUNTER 41: SANDY BEACH

ENCOUNTER 42: ROSETTA STONE

ENCOUNTER 43: DARK ROSE

ENCOUNTER 44: KIRKYARD

ENCOUNTER 45: SPOOKY CHURCH

ENCOUNTER 46: BURIAL MOUNDS

ENCOUNTER 47: BLUE TOWERS

ENCOUNTER 48: DEADLY TRAP

ENCOUNTER 49: SECRET STASH

ENCOUNTER 50: SACRED SPOT

SCORING

Introduction

Our tale begins in the dark of night, on the storm-tossed waters off the coast. Our captain has protected our vessel by steering into an inland river, to escape the pounding of the tempest on the open ocean. We are soon lost, as the winding coastal river and deepening darkness befuddle all calculus and navigation. Worse still, a snapped madrone by the cliffs on shore has cracked our mast and snarled the rigging.

Out of options, our captain docks our small ship in a tiny harbor in this maze of snaking rivers and channels. We arrive at the sleepy village of St. Arkham, where we drop anchor and lash down tarps. Lightning pops across the indigo horizon, highlighting elegant facades and broad streets lit with ornately wrought gas lamps.

We are pleased and surprised to see villagers approaching the docks, umbrellas and lanterns in hand. They escort us to the broad steps of the Grand Hotel. Smiling men in soaking leather slickers assure us that the dockyard will attend to our ship in the morning, and that we should get to our rooms for the first toast. The port for our ship also harbors three other fancy yachts, which illuminate briefly in the bright lightning flashes. Anchored out in the bay, there is a huge, three-masted dreadnaught of magnificent size.

Our party is ushered into the Grand Hotel (Encounter 5) and out of the storm. The hotel is crowded with guests, all dressed in wonderful robes, gowns, vests and cloaks, some wearing elaborate masks. Soft violin and cello music add a pleasant background to the clinking of crystal and murmured talk.

Despite the terrible weather, the villagers are very engaging, for this is the season of St. Arkham’s Feast, and our captain explains that the village hosts a great party in the fall. Almost every decade people travel to St. Arkham from miles around, in a whole-town fete. He seems pleased with his fate, for he is no longer in the tempest and safe ashore.

Now is a great time to be beached from a storm. Our ship’s repairs require three days, but with a city-wide party, what better time for leisure? Because of the severe storm, the road up the coast is closed—clogged with mud and downed trees. Passage by sea is ill-advised. The captain grins as he accepts his forced landing, and uncorks a grim green bottle of vintage port, slamming it on the large oaken table before him. A heavy-bosomed wench sits straddling him, with a mug in her hand, poking at his bottle with a wide gap-toothed grin.

The hotel appears full of the revelers—light and laughter spill out from every doorway. There is just enough room at the inn for us, and everyone seems happy to see us. Shortly after we dock, there arrives one last carriage exactly at midnight. The hansom’s single set of oversized wheels are caked in mud. The group in the oversized car spill out into the muddy street, heading west for the Hotels and Bed & Breakfasts.

A lightning flash gives a snapshot of the new group, as they pass our hotel front. Through elaborately detailed stained-glass windows, we see an extremely tall, gaunt man dressed in glittering black vests, and his huge grinning-idiot porter carrying heavy trunks. They walk beside a woman of unearthly beauty, and her retinue of handsome men. Finally, there walks the carriage master, with his jangling keys and terrible breath.

Another lightning strike, and the group is gone.

A Note to the Referee

The information that follows up to Encounter 1 is secret

and for the referee’s eyes only.

the shared portion of the adventure begins on encounter 1.

The text that appears in the boxes with those encounters

is designed to provide the Referee with inside information,

timelines and other pertinent details.

It is intended to be for the DM’s eyes only,

with the text outside the border for sharing with the party.

St. Arkham’s Feast

Every Year of the Goat, an exclusive group of undead meets at St. Arkham, and for three days the monsters make the place into an unholy playground, where horrible ceremonies of sacrifice, debasement and deviant sexuality are practiced. This is all done at night, and during the day all possible pretenses are taken to steer any would-be observers from the truth. Native human victims who are not undead themselves are under the powerful charms of various vampires, liches, or other abominations that roam these roads. Once the core cabal arrives, dozens and then hundreds of undead monsters come from all directions to St. Arkham.

St. Arkham’s Feast culminates in a horrific ritual where nubile humans are impregnated with the spirits of undead, and the resultant unholy children are carried off to the Nine Hells to be raised by Baalzebul’s Fiends. The Feast is to be us—the living—when the gruesome ritual has come to its climax, and the graveyards empty, literally crawling with thousands of undead, hungry after their malignant resurrection. The Priest of these unspeakable rituals is the tall