Rumors of a haunted mine have drawn the adventurers to the area around the town of Delano. The vegetable harvest is already underway, and it proceeds under the looming shadow of the Old Lagrange Mine and whatever evil is stirring up inside. Chandry Flagstone is a farmhand who's seen a little too much for his liking.
Greetings to ya, Adventurers.
Each year during harvest season, the ghost stories my grandfather passed down from his grandfather take a step closer to being true. Stories about the Old Lagrange Mining Company and the explosion that happened there after the monstrous birds attacked. Now I'm not a superstitious type, but I gotta tell you what I saw a little less than a week ago made me wonder if those are more than old ghost stories passed down through the generations.
Flying birds made of dirt and bone. Don't believe me if you want, mock me if you must, but I know what I saw. They were as clear to me as the cloudless sky they soared across, giving off a screech like nothing I've ever heard! If you're truly brave and stupid enough to go wandering out there to the old mine, I'll give you the directions. Just don't get yourself killed out there. Stories say if you die close enough to the Old Lagrange Mine, your death will not be the end of you. They say that you'll join the giant dead birds and keep whatever evil spirits are in that mine sustained for generations to come.
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"What's this explosion you mentioned?"
Back in 4652 something deep inside the mine exploded. What it was no one these days knows for sure, but that's when the annual haunting began. Attracted a whole bunch of folk who studied the phenomenon, sent a bunch of 'em to the Boneyard too.
"What can you tell us about these monster birds?"
After the explosion, monstrous creatures called Harpies took up roost on the wreckage of the old mine. They sorta got wound into the stories over the years, but these days they ain't got no flesh anymore. Now they're flying dead birds that must've had something awful happen to them that made them that way.
"What's inside the mine?"
No one still living knows. What's worse, the birds come out of the mine and claim a little bit more territory each year, so it's gonna be harder and harder to find the answer to that question the longer they remain.
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When the PC's are ready, they can follow Chandry's directions to the mine.
What once was a mine has been repurposed and rebuilt many times over. The lion monument that once denoted the mine entrance has been defiled, its face chiseled away to give a skull-like appearance. The pillars are of more recent construction, but still easily decades old, and look quite unstable. Some walls and ruined foundations indicate where buildings once stood. The entire area is littered with rubble and bones.
The walls are 10 feet tall, and the pillars rise to 30 feet. The pillars very badly weathered, and can be toppled with a DC22 Athletics check, collapsing them into a 3x3 square of difficult terrain. The stone rubble in the area is the remains of creatures petrified by the Basilisk. A DC22 Crafting or Society can identify details in the stones that are too well made to be any mundane creation, revealing the grizzly origins of the debris.
The Harpy Skeletons crouch on top of each of the pillars, attacking when a creature enters the circle of pillars or attacks the Basilisk. The Basilisk is chained to a rock and cannot move more than 20 feet away from the mine entrance.
The Harpy Skeletons will fight to the death once provoked. The Basilisk will retreat inside the mine if reduced to less than half hit points, but it can only run 10 feet inside due to the chains. It will fight to the death if cornered in this fashion. If the Basilisk is freed from it's chains, it will retreat deeper into the mine and find it's own exit. The chain has 20 hit points and Hardness 5.
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Harpy Skeletons stat block (Bestiary 3, pg 236)
Basilisk stat block (Bestiary, pg 38)
If the PCs defeat the Harpy Skeletons and Basilisk, or if they free the Basilisk, read or paraphrase the following.
With the last of the enemies defeated, there is a moment of silence long enough only to let the adrenaline wear off and the stinging of your wounds set in. A gust of hot wind accompanies the terrifying roar that comes from the mine entrance. An indication that something knows what you've done, and they disapprove of your actions.
What's inside the mine? Who roars like that? Do you really want to go inside? Then come back next Friday! See you then.
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