I often write boxed text for new in-game locations. I find it easier to think through the sights, smells, and other sensations during GM prep and write them out, rather than improv’ing when I’m trying to write a game. Here’s one such location.
Deep in a forested hollow lies the firbolg village of Snowglen. There, adventurers might seek the help of Shepherd Wynfiel, a wise and well-educated firbolg who returned to this small secluded village to serve as its spiritual leader.
She can tell them about Auldir, a sacred cave her village uses for various rituals, rich in natural magical aether. And this cave system just so happens to run under the forge city of Rissimo, currently under imperial lockdown. It may connect to tunnels, sewers, or basements within the city.
The mouth of Auldir is set into one of the ridges above the firbolg village of Snowglen, just atop a set of cascades in a creek that runs through the hollow.
As you climb the trail to the top of the falls, you see that the cave itself is the source of the creek–a trickling stream works its way out of the entrance, forms a pool with a couple of other water sources from the hills, before feeding the cascades.
The pool sparkles oddly in the scant (sun/moon)light that filters through the thick pine forest canopy. There is something otherworldy about this place; the babbling of the water, the scent of the evergreens, a faint smell of petrichor even though it has not rained in a while. You begin to feel goosebumps on your skin, an almost electric tension as if your reflexes are preparing for something to happen, feeling a charge in the air.
Aether Poisoning (Hazard/Condition)
Aether Poisoning was intended for a level 10 party. Adjust damage and save DCs as necessary.
Because Auldir is filled with magically-charged natural aether, spending too much time there can have odd effects. Players can take up to 3 levels of Aether Poisoning (a condition based on mental stress rules in the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
After a certain amount of exposure to Auldir, make a Constitution save for the next level of Aether Poisoning. If you fail, gain that level and suffer its effects.
| Level | CON Save DC | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Take 1d6 Psychic damage. Gain the Incapacitated condition for 1d10 x 10 minutes. |
| 2 | 17 | Take 3d6 Psychic damage. You have Disadvantage on all ability checks and attacks for 1d10 x 10 hours. |
| 3 | 20 | Take 5d6 Psychic damage. You are unconscious for 1d10 x 10 hours. |
Aether Poisoning’s effects can be treated with a Wisdom (Medicine) check and a First Aid Kit at the same DC as the level of poisoning. A Lesser/Greater Restoration spell will also end the effects.
When you are treated, you still retain your levels of poisoning, you just don’t suffer those effects. (This means the CON save DC–and the effect a failure will have–will still be more intense.) You lose 1 level of Aether Poisoning when you take a long rest.
Entering Auldir
Auldir is meant to be described as a disorienting, unsettling experience. Make sure you’ve clearly explained safety tools you’re using to your players, just in case they feel uncomfortable with that sort of environment.
You step into Auldir, and you feel a sense of calm envelop you, drowning out that strange feeling of electric tension. It is something of a religious experience. Depending on your predilections, it is either an intense sense of presence; or it is an intense sense of void, of releasing your attachments. In either case, you feel intertwined with everything around you, as the lines that your mind draws between them begin to fade away.
Ask the players: “What do you feel as you make your way through the cave? How do you react?”
You move deeper, and the sense of calm begins to distort. The world around you feels hazy and dim. There are moments you think you might be losing consciousness, just for the blink of an eye, and yet you have no trouble keeping your footing and sticking to the main tunnel.
Roll for Aether Poisoning.
You reach another pool, fed by several small waterfalls from branching tunnels you can’t quite make out, a blurring on the edge of your vision stopping you from focusing enough to see them. The water from the pool sloshes rhythmically, making it feel all the more like you are in a trance. A soft, golden glow sparkles through the water as it ripples and flows, such that you no longer really need a torch or lantern in this dark, dank cave. The smell of petrichor in warm, humid air grows more intense.
The way through is to wade into the water, which seems to be about ankle- or calf- high on a human.
Roll for Aether Poisoning at the bank of the pool, and again as you head deeper into the cave.
As the cave continues, it connects up to a grating that looks like a sewer system, running under the city of Rissimo.
Describing Aether Poisoning
Level 1:
The calm and the tension give way, and now you feel ill. Dizziness hits you, and while it eases as you regain a sense of balance, it does not go away.
“What do you feel? How do you react?”
Level 2:
You begin losing touch with reality. Your traveling companions begin to look like strangers one minute, and then take on odd familiar faces from your past the next. Waves of emotions hit you, feelings that once roiled deep beneath the surface, now returning stronger than before. Your muscles become weak, and you struggle to make them do what you want.
“What do you feel? How do you react?”
Level 3:
You feel a soft splash and a thud on rock as you collapse. The rest of you see (PC) go limp and tumble into the water, mid-step. And as you sleep, you dream a dream…