Frozen Things

Some high-up's been murdered in Sigil, and his friends want someone to pay for it. However, they don't know the high-up was exploring some dangerous darks. The PCs are sent to investigate, and as they look for signs in the high-up's home, they find the entrance to a secret cellar, in which a strange portal can be found. The portal is defended by a lethal guardian but if the PCs wish to retreat they find out that the cellar's not been built with the intention to let anyone out again. The secret entrance is one-way only.

As they explore their options and surroundings they find a way around the guardian, which also provides the first hint at the potential murderer. And as they follow these clues, they find a secret that might freeze their souls with fear.

-Adventure Outline-

1. The PCs are hired by a powerful basher in Sigil, who wants them to investigate the murder of a friend. He promises them 1,000 gold pieces each if they find the killer. He leads them to the poor sod's home, which is quite large and impressive. Their employer explains that his friend had been dealing with rilmani quite often, though he's never found out what exactly he's been trading with them.

2. As they explore the home, the PCs accidentally activate a trapdoor through which they fall into a secret cellar. Whatever they do, it seems to be impossible to leave the cellar again. They find a stairway there, which leads for about half a mile down. In the end they reach a large room with a large creature inside it: A vaporighu. It attacks instantly and if the PCs try to flee they discover that the stairway behind them has disappeared and they're trapped - and probably doomed.

3. Before anyone gets killed, something happens. A previously invisible stone tablet appears and the large, complex rune engraved on it start glowing. So does the vaporighu, who suddenly doesn't move anymore and becomes translucent. Actually, if the PCs try to attack it now, they notice the creature seems to have left this reality somehow. It's impossible to affect it by any means. The rune glows up again, and they hear a genderless, emotionless voice say:"One charge left. Aim is trapped for one hour. Activation key still set as fear of death."The PCs can take the tablet with them and identify it later. As can be guessed already, the rune casts a unique spell on a pre-defined target, trapping it in a kind of semi-reality. While the PCs see no way of changing the target (the vaporighu), they are able to change the activation key to whatever they like (this they can discover by indentifying the rune). This could help them later, when they return through the portal.

4. The PCs no choice now but to enter the portal that was guarded by the vaporighu. It's a door-frame made from ice crystals, and the portal key is a frozen piece of flesh. Even if the PCs don't have magical means of finding this, they can activate the portal: Touching the door-frame freezes flesh, inflicting one point of damage. Thus, by just touching the door-frame, the PCs can accidentally activate it.

5. After stepping through the portal, the PCs end up in a truly strange place. Above them there is ice, as well as below and to all sides. They're in a gargantuan cave in Cania (though they don't know that they are in Baator, of course), and it's really, really cold here. In the near distance, they see frozen shapes; actually, this seems to be a walled city, completely covered in ice. Perhaps far more disturbing is the fact that, right besides Cania's side of the icy portal, the PCs find the still-warm body of a dead rilmani cuprilach.

6. Heading into the frozen city, the PCs quickly find the next obstacle. The walls are crafted from a dark silvery metal and are covered with ice which can freeze a cutter to death if he's barmy enough to touch it (fortunately, the agonizing temperatures warn a body soon enough). Further exploration uncovers one entrance, though: Someone's dug a tunnel under the walls, which leads into the city.

7. Coming into the city, the PCs see impressive, frozen buildings of a strange, alien architecture. They also notice instantly that the city's been involved in a war: Everything has been magically frozen. Thousands of frozen shapes of archons and aasimon are seen here, battling baatezu as well as... other creatures. Some of them look like nupperibo, but sprout tentacles from their bellies. Other bloated, even more horrific, tentacle-creatures who make a pit fiend look harmless, can be seen as well. It could be quite confusing for the PCs when they notice that the baatezu seem to be battling both the horrid nightmare-creatures as well as the celestials. The fiendishly alien race seems to have been outnumbered, but then again, one of these creatures usually engages a host of baatezu and celestials in battle. What the PCs see here is one of the final battles of the Ancient Baatorians against the baatezu. It's hard to say in what way exactly the celestials are involved here, but the whole scenery is enough to give the characters nightmares for the next few decades. It's impossible to enter any of the frozen buildings, but if the DM is willing, he could let the PCs find a dark secret or two of truly ancient times.

8. Before the PCs can decide whether to engage in a long-term exploration or to leave again, they hear a voice behind them. In an overly polite manner, the PCs are asked if they came here through the portal. As they turn round, they can see six Keepers staring at them in silence. However the PCs react, there are only two ways of how this situation can end. The Keepers want to keep this city, as well as the portal to it, a secret. They give the characters the option to drink potions of memory cleansing and then be brought back to Sigil. If the PCs choose this the adventure's over for them and they won't remember anything (not even their assignment). If they disagree to this, the Keepers will choose the next option of having these darks stay dark: They attack! If they lose... the adventure's over as well, naturally. If they win, the Keepers dissolve, and the PCs can explore further. Eventually, they find a way to return: An ancient stone tablet, seemingly written in every conceivable language, describes the portal they entered through, and explains that 'the way re-opens once it is entered again'.

9. If the PCs return through the portal, and if more than one hour has passed, the vaporighu is free again and will attack them again. Of course, the stone tablet might help the PCs again. If they activate it again to defeat the vaporighu, it crumbles to dust afterwards. As soon as someone returns from the portal to Cania, the staircase leading away from this cellar room appears again and the PCs can get up. Even the trapdoor can be seen again, and they're able to open it without problems. Of course, the high-up who assigned this task to them is waiting curiously. The DM should consider the high-up's background when deciding what he'll do. He might want to keep this whole thing a secret, maybe giving the PCs more rewards than he promised to keep them quiet - or even try to get rid of all witnesses (i.e. the PC's). The PCs could also be sent to investigate how the rilmani are related to all this, though this'll probably become quite a hard riddle to solve. If the PCs or their employer spill the darks, the baatezu (as well as many, many other groups) would become highly interested, of course... and the PCs' lives could turn into nothing but hiding and running from their enemies.