The House of Hidden Darkness

Just before the beginning of the current iteration of my campaign, I had a group of guys over at the house and we were running through the aftermath of a pirate-hunting adventure on the Sea of Fallen Stars.  They did not realize it at the time but their actions had drawn the ire of the local Thieves’ Guild of Tsurlagol.  I had wanted to set up the Church of Shar as the Big Bad for the campaign and this was as good of an excuse as any to get the ball rolling in that direction.  I took what cannon material I could find and expanded on it.  This is what I came up with.   If you like it, cool.  If you don't, also cool - at least you get a ready made thieves' guild and mini-dungeon just for reading this.

The House of Hidden Darkness began with a lone adventuring priest of Shar.  She arrived in Tsurlagol and established herself as a spy for hire, ferreting out the secrets of those in power for their rivals.  As her reputation grew, she attracted a loyal cadre of women who accepted Shar as their divine patron.  As the Shar worshippers grew in strength and number they came into conflict with the male-dominated thieves’ guild.

After several skirmishes, the leader of Shar’s worshippers finally confronted and slew the thieves’ guildmaster with a combination of spells and stealth.  Their power broken, the surviving men scattered into the city and now operate as independent agents.  The priestess then established the Night’s Respite as a cover for her criminal operations with a temple dedicated to Shar hidden beneath the cellar.

(The Original Hand-Drawn Map of the Inn and the Temple hidden beneath)

House of Hidden Darkness/Sharwomen’s Thieves’ Guild (a.k.a. Cult of Shadows)

Standard Criminal/Religious; NE; 25,000-gp limit

Membership: 54 Isolated (52 human, 1 halfling, 1 other); Dues: 45 gp/month
Authority Figures: Darklady Katerina “the Eclipse” Ustunov (Damaran female Cleric of Shar 10/Fighter 4/Rogue 4)
Important Characters: Hand of Shar Diagla Bauer (Mulan female Cleric of Shar 7/Blackguard 2); Vostryl deVermaeda (Chondathan female Bard 7/Shadowdancer 5)
Associated Classes: Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, Expert
Associated Skills: Concentration, Hide, Knowledge (Religion), Move Silently, Spellcraft

Requirements: You must tithe 10% of all money earned from criminal activities to the House of Hidden Darkness; if a spellcaster, you must be available to provide healing to fellow guildmembers.

Favored in Guild Fringe Benefit: Once per character level you can call upon Shar’s command of darkness to grant yourself darkvision out to 60’ for a period of 10 minutes.  If you already have darkvision, you instead gain blindsight out to 30’ for 1 minute.

Special: The Church of Shar requires members to be true adherents of the Lady of Loss with a demonstrable understanding of the church’s teaching (2 ranks in Knowledge – Religion). 

The members of the House of Hidden Darkness, also known as the Sharwomen’s Thieves’ Guild or the Cult of Shadows, are based in the city of Tsurlagol.  They venerate Shar, Mistress of the Night; its high priestess also serves as head of the local thieves’ guild.  The city once had two such guilds for thieves, segregated by gender but the males’ guild was wiped out years ago.  Today, the females dominate, with the few remaining males occupying lesser positions or operating as small-time independent thieves.

The guild engages primarily in extortion and espionage although the junior members, especially the handful of males, resort to burglary and mugging.  The organization is divided into cells, with members concealing their identities behind masks when the entire guild is assembled.  Individual cell members know only the identities of each other and their clerical overseer.  One of the cells was wiped out by the party before their pirate-hunting adventure and its members have yet to be replenished.

Description of the Night’s Respite/House of Hidden Darkness

1. Stables: This wooden building is detached from the Night’s Respite.  A large double-door is set into the center of the north wall.  Stalls for eight large mounts, each with its own small gate, run along the southern half of the building. Each stall has grooming supplies for horses and similar mounts located on a small shelf just inside the door.  A narrow stairway in the northeast corner of the room leads up the hayloft above.  A wooden barrel holds pitchforks, shovels and other long-handled tools used for mucking out the stables.  A 15’ long trough is located just outside the double doors.

1 a. Hayloft: A low railing runs the length of the loft, with the exception of an open span of about 10’ located in the center.  Bales of hay, bags of grain and assorted tack are stored in the loft.  Katerina’s personal mount (Light Horse, hp 19) is kept here with its +2 Studded Leather Barding.

2. Covered Front Porch: Two hitching posts flank the short stairway that leads up to the long covered wooden walkway that runs the length of the inn.  Two benches and a handful of rocking chairs are located on the porch for guests to use. Two large picture windows on either side of the double front doors provide a view into the taproom.

3. Tavern: Four large round tables with eight chairs each dominate the floor of this room.  A large fireplace provides heat during the winter.  The furniture is sturdy and polished daily but nicked or gouged from long years of use.  All tables have anywhere from four to seven candles sitting in their center.  A door in the south wall leads into the servants’ entrance from the stables and a stairway to the north leads up to the second floor.  A second door at the south end of the bartender’s walk leads into the kitchen.  Both the southwest corner and the wall beneath the stairway have hooks for hanging cloaks and hats.

Menus with a listing of the inn’s ales (Bitter Black, Old One Eye, Shadowdark Ale, Tangyr’s Stout), ciders (Kneecracker and Spiced Apple) and wines (Arabellan Dry, Blood Wine, Clarry. Fire Wine, Mead, Westgate Ruby and locally produced red and white table wines) have been carved into the tables.

4. Bartender’s Walk: The bar is roughly 15’ long and made of red oak, topped with marble.  Seven barstools are positioned in front and a walkway runs behind it.  There is a trap door down to root cellar (area 11).  A shelf placed in front of a mirror holds bottles of wine and small casks of ale and cider.  Shelves under the bar hold wooden trays and mugs, wineglasses and a stout club for use against rowdy patrons.

5. Jake: This privy is located under the stairs and is fairly standard as far as these rooms go.  Waste escapes through a drain in the floor through piping that eventually leads to the city’s sewer system.

6. Kitchen: The kitchen’s fireplace is located in the west wall and usually has a cauldron of stew or an animal roasting on a spit cooking within.  A washbasin for dishes and cooking implements is found in the northeast corner.  An iron stove complete with cooking griddle on top and oven beneath sits in the southeast corner.  Shelves and cupboards abound to provide additional storage space for dry food and other cookware.  Most foodstuffs kept in the kitchen are non-perishable.  Cast-iron pots and pans hang above an island and butcher block in middle of the kitchen.  A door in the east wall leads out the back of the inn

7. Servants’ Quarters: One family shares this room.  It has two large beds, a small rectangular table with 4 chairs and two small chests-of-drawers.  Large trunks at located at the end of both beds contain heavy blankets, winter coats and boots and childhood mementos.

Johann Fieldberry (LN old Chondathan Commoner 2) is the family’s patriarch as well as the inn’s groom, bartender and handy man.  His wife, Gilda (NG middle-aged Chondathan Commoner 2) is the inn’s cook and helps tend the bar.  Both are actively seeking suitors for their daughters (Hetta and Margetta; both NG female Chondathan Commoner 1) who are the tavern’s serving wenches and inn’s maids.  None of the servants know anything about the secret temple to Shar or the thieves’ guild located beneath the Night’s Respite.

8. Guest Rooms: Each guest room has a bed, storage chest, and sideboard with chair, an ewer of water, a washbasin, clothes rack and chamber pot.  All rooms have one window, except for the southeast corner room, which has two.  Vostryl deVermaeda has permanently rented that room.  Her adventuring gear is stored in the chest but she normally carries her combat gear and instrument wherever she goes.

9. Office: A desk and chair, and bookshelf with ledgers and inventories dominate this room.  It serves as Katerina’s office in matters that concern the day-to-day management of the inn.  She keeps track of the tavern’s provisions, counts the receipts and pays the bills.

10. Storage: The shelves of this room hold linens, cleaning gear and a washbasin for guest laundry.  A trapdoor in the ceiling with a pull down ladder leads to attic where spare furniture (mostly barstools and front porch furniture during winter and shutters in summer) is kept.

11. Root Cellar: The root cellar is old and damp and lined with stone.  It is filled with casks of ale and crates of wine bottles.  Baskets filled with potatoes and onions hang from the rafters.  A secret door (DC30) is located in the south wall and is protected by a Glyph of Warding (5d8 sonic, Ref ½ DC 17; Search DC28, Disable Device DC28) cast by Katerina.  The Glyph is triggered if anyone not wearing a Sharwoman mask touches the secret door.

12. Guard Post: Narrow arrow slits in this room provide a view of the root cellar.  Two guards are stationed here at all times, watching for intruders.  There is a small table with two chairs is located in this room.  Playing cards are scattered all over one side of the table.  A small basket with a ball of yarn and a pair of knitting needles is located under the opposite end of the table.  A darkly colored scarf is taking shape in the bottom of the basket.

Two guards are stationed here at all times.  They gain improved cover against opponents in the root cellar when attacking through the arrow slits (+8 AC, +4 Ref saves and Improved Evasion).  The door in the south wall leads into the kitchen.  It is locked with a Good quality lock (Open Lock DC30) and physically trapped.

• Hail of Needles Trap (CR3); mechanical trap; location trigger, manual reset, Attack +20 darts: 2d4, Search DC22; Disable Device DC22 – the trap can by bypassed by inserting a thin metal rod carried by one of the guards through a slot close to the upper hinge of the door.

13. Guild Kitchen: This kitchen shares a chimney with the fireplace in the kitchen upstairs. A barrel of salted fish stands in the corner and smoked sausages hang from the rafters.  Flatware and silverware are stored in cabinets above the food preparation areas and there is a stove similar to the one found in the kitchen above. 

Katerina arranges for the inn’s servants to be away on errands when food is delivered to the guildhouse and has duskhands move everything below before the servants can return.

14. Guild Storage: This room serves as the guild pantry.  Sacks of flour, rice and sugar line the shelves of this room.  Casks of wine and ale stand together in the corner.  Spare chairs, flatware and serving trays are also stored in this room.

15. Mess Hall: There are six long tables with benches lined up in rows of three.  A small window to pass soiled dishes through to the kitchen is located in the east wall.  A secret door (Search DC30) built into the north wall of the stairwell leading down to the Rogue Training Area (area 16) leads into Tsurlagol’s sewers.

16. Rogue Training Area: Dummies filled with powder and bells hang from ropes and pulleys attached to the exposed rafters above.  Several freestanding doors, all locked (DCs vary but none are lower than 20) and trapped (Search and Disable Device DCs vary but all of the traps are harmless) stand off to one side of a short archery range.

17. Library: This room is very comfortably appointed and boasts long wooden tables, a wide variety of chairs and thick, colorful rugs.  Four hooked ladders with wheels at the bottom of each can be slid along to provide access to books on the higher shelves.  A brass chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the center of the room directly above the center of a table made of polished cherry wood.  Six matching chairs surround the table. 

The books contained in the library cover a variety of topics, providing a +2 circumstance bonus to Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (History) and Knowledge (Religion) checks.

18. Armory: A cache of weapons is stored here to include shortswords, shortbows, daggers, saps, crossbows and literally hundreds of crossbow bolts.  Spare suits of leather armor and small wooden shields are kept here as well.  Additionally, thieves’ tools, housebreaker’s harnesses, bags of caltrops and marbles are available for the guild’s members to borrow for certain jobs.  A Superior Quality (Open Lock DC40) and iron door protect this room.

19. Chapel to Shar: Flickering purple faerie fire torches rest in sconces along the sidewalls of this large chamber.  Ten pews flank the center aisle, which has a pair of basins, filled with unholy water at each end.  The pulpit stands atop a raised dais with a stairway leading up to it on either side.  A door in the east end of the south wall leads into Katerina’s private chambers.  It is protected with a Glyph of Warding (5d8 sonic, Ref ½ DC 17; Search DC28, Disable Device DC28) spell that is activated if anyone other than one of her junior priests or Vostryl deVermaeda attempts to open the door.

This area is a desecrated shrine and unholy hall and grants certain bonuses to evil characters within so this is where Katerina and her minions will make their stand against intruders into their hideout. 

• Desecrated Shrine: All Cha checks to turn undead suffer a –6 penalty, undead in the chapel gain a +2 profane bonus to hit and damage, undead summoned or created here gain +2 hp/HD

• Unholy Hall: evil characters gain a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws, gain SR25 against good spells and spells cast by good creatures, also protected from possession and mental control as per Protection from Good, if a good character hits a protected character in melee, the attacker suffers 1d6 Str damage (Fort DC22 negates).

20. High Priestess/Guildmaster’s Private Quarters: This room contains a bed, writing desk and chair.  A throw rug has been placed directly in front of the door.  This room has a chest-of-drawers for the mage’s clothing and a standing closet contains spare vestments and Katerina’s adventuring gear

20b. Private Bath: A bathtub large enough for two people to share stands against the center of the west wall.  A large cabinet located to the side of the bathtub contains soap, clean towels and washcloths.  A mirrored cabinet has been placed on the wall and contains hygiene items.  The jake itself stands in a curtain-enclosed area in the northeast corner of the room.

21. Guard Post: An iron door with a good lock (Open Lock DC30) blocks entrance to the to prison cells beyond.  Two guards are stationed here whenever there are prisoners being held in the cells.  Prisoners are usually kidnap victims the guild is holding for ransom.

22. Prison Cells: There are five cells with irons bars in the prison block.  The cells themselves are unfurnished and quite uncomfortable.  A sliding panel at the bottom of each door can be used to deliver food and water to prisoners or remove used trays.  A small 6” drain in the floor is provided for use as a chamber pot and garbage disposal.

23. Torture Chamber: Several pairs of masterwork manacles are bolted to the west wall in this room.  A variety of torture implements including a rack, a brazier filled with hot coals and branding irons and a worktable covered with bloody tools fill the room.  Dried blood covers the floor and room gives it a sharp coppery odor.