WH9.2 – Ashes of Trust

The air in Highmere hangs heavy with smoke, not only from the mountains but from smoldering tempers. After the riot between Flan farmers and the miners, fear has twisted into suspicion. At dawn, Mara Tannell pulls you aside, her hands shaking as she clutches a piece of charred parchment.

“This was on my door this morning,” she whispers. Scrawled in soot and dried blood, a symbol has been carved into the wood — it looks like a dwarven rune, but wrong somehow, stretched into something jagged and cruel. “They say the dwarves are marking us. If that’s true… none of us are safe.”

But as the mark is studied, it bears more resemblance to an occult glyph than any dwarven rune — a sign meant to stir hatred, not truth. Someone is framing the miners, and if the culprit isn’t stopped, the village will tear itself apart before winter.

After a pause, he eye well with tears and she begs you to act. “If this keeps up, someone will get hurt. Please — find who is behind this before the whole village turns on itself.”

Later, as you step outside the tavern, a broad-shouldered dwarf in soot-streaked leathers approaches you quietly. He strokes his beard, lowering his voice: “Name’s Brokkar Stonevein, foreman o’ the quarry. We’re no rune-daubers. That scrawl looks dwarfish at a glance, aye, but it ain’t. Any beard worth his salt can tell. The tallfolk don’t see it — to them, dwarf, gnome, it’s all the same.”

He glances around, then adds: “Do me a favor. Make like you’re leavin’ town, headin’ for Reedwatch or Hodnet. That’ll put the bastards at ease. Then, double back and keep watch at the homes they’ve marked. Catch ‘em in the act, clear our names, and I’ll see you get thanked proper. Quiet-like.”

Quest Givers

• Mara Tannell (Flan farmer): publicly asks the PCs to stop the nightly marking.
• Brokkar Stonevein (dwarf foreman): privately approaches the PCs, stressing the marks are not dwarvish and offering a strategy to catch the culprits.

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Objective & Obstacles

• Patrol at night: Pretend to leave town, then double back and stake out marked homes.
• Investigate the marks: DC 12 Arcana/Religion shows they are cult glyphs, not dwarven runes. DC 14 Investigation finds faint bootprints → lighter, smaller than a dwarf’s.
• Confront the culprits: A Tenha merchant’s hired hands + cult allies planting runes to frame the miners.

Scaling Encounters (APL 2–4)

• Level 2: 2 Cultists.
• Level 3: 2 Cultists + 1 Thug (merchant’s hired enforcer).
• Level 4: 2 Cult Fanatics + 1 Thug.

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Condensed Stat Blocks

• Cultist (CR 1/8): AC 12, HP 9, Scimitar +3 (1d6+1).
• Thug (CR 1/2): AC 11, HP 32, Multiattack (Mace +4, 1d6+2).
• Cult Fanatic (CR 2): AC 13, HP 33, Dagger +4 (1d4+2), Spellcasting (Command, Hold Person, Spiritual Weapon).

Rewards & Arc Impact

• Reward (basic): Farmers pool supplies worth up to 25 gp (grain, cider, smoked meat). PCs gain gratitude and advantage on Persuasion checks with Flan villagers for 1 week.
• Reward (if Brokkar’s name cleared): A pair of Gnomish Darklens — spectacles that:
  • Grant 20 ft. darkvision to a wearer without it.
  • Extend existing darkvision from 60 ft. to 90 ft.
• Breadcrumb: Merchant’s letters reference “the ever watchful Eye looks for progress; with many distractions the land will not know where to look – V,” tying unrest back to the Caverns of Chaos.

Arc Impact

• If the PCs catch the culprits, dwarves and gnomes regain some trust locally, though suspicion lingers among hardliners.
• If the PCs fail or ignore the matter, tensions worsen — the baron may order troops to “keep the peace,” deepening Flan resentment as they will suspect ‘the dwarves’ had something to do with it..
• PCs who take Brokkar’s counsel and succeed gain a potential dwarven ally for later threads of the arc.