The Kingdom of Sachrinor was once a peaceful place, home to a moderately prosperous populace, a burgeoning religion focused on helping the less fortunate, and a noble family that favored diplomacy over war. Beneath it lay the Dwarven Underkingdom, a loose coalition of subterranean fortresses that existed in parallel with the human kingdom above, each working to make life both above and below better for all.

This all changed when a dragon who calls himself Ta’rai was forced out of his old broodlands. In his journey to find a new home, he found Sachrinor, and determined it to be ripe for conquest and too weak to resist.

On a hot, dry afternoon, Ta’rai landed on the main gate of Greenhaven and breathed scorching dragonfire on the wooden buildings of the town. As it burned, he turned to a group of guards readying themselves to fight him.

“You are brave. It would be a shame to kill you. Join me, be my enforcers in the outer provinces, and you will live lives of luxury without fear.” he said.

After a moment’s hesitation, the guards dropped their weapons and swore themselves to Ta’rai’s service.

By the next morning, Greenhaven was nothing but ash and scorched stone. Ta’rai slept peacefully in the scorched remains of Greenhaven Castle, warmed by the embers of the smoldering wood beneath him.

His new minions, his Claws, set out across the countryside to bring the remaining guardsmen under their control.

That was twenty years ago.

Now, the lands of Sachrinor live in fear of Ta’rai and his claws. Their crops and livestock are seized to feed their rulers, and more and more people whisper discontentedly in the taverns and at the wells. Beneath the soil, the dwarves have consolidated their fortresses and, though they are powerless to fight such a powerful dragon, their curiosity and inventive nature has provided so many solutions to other problems in the past…

Greenhaven

Greenhaven is a city with a long history. It was initially a riverside clearing where the local human tribes occasionally met to trade goods or engage in diplomacy. Soon, enterprising members of the tribes began to stay long-term, and the settled population slowly grew, right up until a foreign power invaded Sachrinor, razed most of Greenhaven, and rebuilt it to their own standards under the name Viridium.

Eventually, that empire fell, and the local humans retook the city. The part of the city constructed by the invaders, with its grid layout and stone buildings, is sometimes still referred to as “Viridium,” but it is usually just called the Old City.

The city continued to expand, and new walled districts were built, meant to keep any future invaders at bay. This worked for a long while, leaving only the farmers and peasants outside the walls vulnerable to attack, but this proved somewhat less effective against the dragon Ta’rai, who burnt the city to the ground and now uses the ashes of the Old City as his lair.

The ruins of Greenhaven are said to hold unimaginable riches, but Ta’rai and his Claws protect the area fiercely. This doesn’t stop people from sneaking through the overgrown wheat fields and over (or under, or through) the walls in search of treasure.

Infiltrating Greenhaven

Infiltration: Sneaking into Greenhaven is a risky proposition. First, pick the District you want to infiltrate: Garrison, Merchant Quarter, Temple Complex, or Castle District. Then, whoever is leading the party into Greenhaven rolls Stealth to see if they get in without being seen. DC varies by district, as below:

Merchant Quarter: DC 12

Temple Complex: DC 12

Garrison: DC 15

Castle District: DC 17

Failing this roll does not prevent you from infiltrating the District, but it does increase the Alarm Level by one point. More on that in a bit.

Infiltration Clues can make infiltration easier. They come in three qualities, and only work for the specified district. Failing a check while using an Infiltration Clue destroys that Infiltration Clue.

When you find an Infiltration Clue, roll 1d6 and 1d4, 1-3 for Common, 4-5 for Uncommon, 6 for Rare, and 1 for Garrison, 2 for Castle District, 3 for Temple Complex, and 4 for Merchant Quarter.

Common Infiltration Clues provide a +2 bonus to the Infiltration Check and represent routes that are relatively easy to find: Breaks in the walls, hastily dug tunnels, conveniently located vines, and so on.

Uncommon Infiltration Clues provide a +4 bonus to the Infiltration Check and represent more unusual routes: A ledge you can shuffle along to reach a roof you can jump off of, a hole in the wall covered by shrubs, a good place to attach a grappling hook.

Rare Infiltration Clues provide a +6 bonus to the Infiltration Check and represent well-concealed and obscure routes: An old secret evacuation tunnel, a tunnel dug between two basements, an old servants’ entrance broken open by the heat of Ta’rai’s attack.

Loot

There are four areas within the walls worth looting: The Castle District, which has the most valuable treasure and the greatest treasure. The Temple District, whose treasures are important to the people of Sachrinor but not strictly valuable. The Garrison, filled with old weapons, and finally the Merchant Quarter, where entire stores’ worth of goods lay buried under the ash.

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Looting in Greenhaven is supposed to evoke the experience of an extraction shooter: Pushing your luck until your nerves break, or you bite off more than you can chew.

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The Alert Chart

The longer you spend in Greenhaven, the more likely you are to run into trouble.

Any 1-10 roll on a loot attempt raises the Alert Level by 1. Alert Level starts at 0 and goes up to 6. At Alert Level 0, nothing happens on a 1-5 on the loot roll. At Alert Level 1, a 1 becomes a Claw Patrol encounter; at Alert Level 2, a 2 becomes a Claw Patrol encounter, etc., up to Alert Level 5. At Alert Level 6, any 1-5 roll triggers a hostile encounter with Ta’rai.

Castle District

The Castle District consists of the old castle and its outbuildings, kept separate from the rest of the city by walls and an ornate iron gate, which is now heavily warped due to the heat of Ta’rai’s flames. Ta’rai lives here, sleeping among the ash and debris as he waits for the next shipment of food and gold from his followers. The most valuable treasures of Greenhaven can be found here, though it is also the riskiest place to search.

Roll 1d20
1-5: Check Alert Level.
6-10: Claw Patrol
11-13: Heavily Armed Adventurers
16: Infiltration Clue
15: Heraldic banner
16: +1 Longbow
17: Cache of Coins, 150 GP.
18: Arrow-Catching Shield
19: Carpet of Flying
20: Ring of Constructs. Starts with three charges, can be recharged by sacrificing 1d6 health per charge each morning. When you activate the Ring, pick a mode: Melee, ranged, or shield. In melee mode, the Ring creates a magical light construct version of a mundane weapon you are proficient with, statistically identical to it aside from being magical. In ranged mode, the Ring can fire a bolt of energy that does 1d8 Force damage on a hit. In Shield mode, the Ring can manifest a wall of light that adds 2 to your AC as a reaction.

Garrison

The old military garrison is a warren of tunnels and bridges, made even more confusing by the fact that half of it has collapsed.

Roll 1d20
1-5: Check Alert Level.
6-10: Fellow Looters (roll 1d6 to determine their attitude: 1-2 Hostile, 3-4 Neutral, 5-6 Friendly)
11: 2 Longswords, melted together by the heat of Ta’rai’s breath. If used in combat, treat it as a greatsword that does bludgeoning damage.
12: 1d6 Daggers
13: A severely dented helmet, repairable with a few good whacks
14: Infiltration Clue
15: 1d3 Shortswords
16: 1d3 Heavy Crossbows
17: 1d3 Glaives
18: 1 Shield, bearing the royal crest of the old royal family.
19: 1d3 Longbows
20: Magic Item, roll 1d4 on chart below

Magic items:

Roll 1d4
1: +2 Shortsword, a sword of ancient elven design. It has a leaf-shaped blade, widening near the center and coming to a sharp point at the tip. Elven sorcery is woven into the very metal of the blade, allowing it to cut through materials that would stop a mundane blade.
2: Flame-Resistant Shield: A red kite shield with golden edges. This is a magical item, and it reduces Fire damage taken by the wielder by 1d6.
3: Ice Gauntlet: An ornate, light blue gauntlet that allows the wielder to cast Ice Storm once per day.
4: Lightning Rod: A shield which can be planted into the ground as an action. While planted, any Lightning attack passing within 10 feet of the Lightning Rod has a 2-in-6 chance of being redirected to the Lightning Rod and dissipating harmlessly into the ground.

Merchant Quarter

This area of Greenhaven was once a bustling marketplace surrounded by permanent storefronts and warehouses full of valuable items. The things here are worth a decent amount of money, if you can find a buyer, but are not always of practical use

Roll 1d20
1-5: Check Alert Level.
6-10: Fellow Looters
11: Box of Dyed Silks, roll 1d6 for color. (1: White, 2: Red, 3: Blue, 4: Yellow, 5: Black, 6: Purple)
12: Crate of Dwarven Alcohol, worth 50GP
13: Chest containing 300GP and a +1 Shortsword
14: Crate of Spices, worth 400 GP.
15: 1d6 Crowbars and 1d6 Sledgehammers
16: 1d6 Flasks of Oil
17: 1d4 Potions of Healing
18: 10 Lengths of Chain, 10 feet each.
19: Infiltration Clue
20: A sturdy wooden box containing an intact spyglass.

Temple Complex

The Temple District was once the center of worship for Cylus, God of the Harvest. Grain tributed by the local farmers was used to cook meals for the poor. Most of the things you can find in the Temple Complex aren’t valuable in the traditional sense of the word, but they provide a substantial morale boost to the Resistance.

Roll 1d20
1-5: Check Alert Level.
6-10: Fellow Looters
11: Holy Symbol
12: Infiltration Clue
13: Sack of Flour, worth 1 GP. Heavy
14: Sacred tapestry.
15: Sealed wooden case containing a consecrated +1 Sword.
16: 1d4 Potions of Healing.
17: Divination tools.
18: Cache of Rare Spices worth 100 GP.
19: Holy Recipe Book.
20: The Staff of Cylus. A simple staff made out of an old pitchfork, with its tines twisted around a blue gem. It has three charges and contains the spells Control Plants and Purify Food and Drink.

Enemy Patrol Compositions

I’ve decided to put these here so they don’t clutter up the tables.

Claw Patrol: 5 standard Guards, plus one Acolyte if the loot roll was even.

Fellow Looters: 6 Bandits. Roll 1d6 to determine their attitude: 1-2 Hostile, 3-4 Neutral, 5-6 Friendly.

Heavily Armed Adventurers: 4 Bandit Captains and one Mage. Roll 1d4 to determine their attitude: 1-2 Hostile, 3-4 Neutral. “Friendly” is not an option for them.

Factions

The State

The main regional power is the government led by Ta’rai. They keep the rest of the region in line with threats of violence and dragonfire.

Regions of the kingdom are governed by Claw commanders, aside from the Swamplands, which are under the control of the Priesthood.

The Claws are the royal guard of the Kingdom of Ta’rai. Aside from the draconic motifs of their outfits, they are much like the royal guard of any other kingdom: Protecting merchants’ storehouses, hunting bandits, taking bribes, and so on and so forth.

The Claws’ uniform consists of a red and black tabard and metal claw-like pauldrons denoting the guard’s rank. Silver for troops, gold for sergeants, and black and red (opposite of the tabard) for the commanders

Most settlements have a Director, a mayor-equivalent appointed by the Claws to handle civil matters.

The Priesthood

The only permitted religion in the Kingdom of Ta’rai is the worship of Ta’rai himself.

This is done primarily through taxation and the creation of artistic idols: Statues, murals, etc. And, of course, destroying any evidence of other religions.

Priests of Ta’rai fulfill the usual religious roles: Comforting their flock, guiding them on matters of morality, and so on. Many of the finer points of religious doctrine, like taboos related to marriage and edicts about theft have been carried over from the pre-Ta’rai years with a new coat of dragon-worshipping paint, but the Priesthood emphasizes “knowing one’s place in the hierarchy of life” much more than the old priests of Cylus did. Ta’rai is at the top of the hierarchy, of course.

The Dwarves

The Dwarves of this region have no affinity for magic. This has left them vulnerable to attacks by the other factions. To defend themselves, they have tunneled under the mountains and plains, building their homes behind barricades both natural and constructed.

In recent years, dwarven mining efforts have been aided by a new invention: Dynamite. They have yet to weaponize this invention, but the finest dwarven engineers have begun to realize that all that force being concentrated in a single direction could do some serious damage.

The dwarven capital’s location is secret, but many of the settlements have tunnels leading to it.

The Rebellion

The rebellion is a loose network of people who resent the tyranny of the Claws and their draconic overlord. Open resistance is rare, but the struggle manifests in other ways: Trees block the road just before the tax collectors are due to pass through, soldiers who eat at the local tavern get food poisoning, so on and so forth.

Afterword

As I’m sure you’ve guessed, this article is a different take on the core idea of my earlier article, Scalecrown.

Generally, when I’m making NPCs, I write up a description first and then either find or kitbash a token for them, but sometimes, when I’m digging through our extensive collection of tokens, I find something that’s too good not to use. Jean Taber is one of those. Look at him. He’s a master of stealth. No guard will notice a bale that has suddenly moved from one side of the room to the other, even if that bale is wearing a hat.

Greenhaven itself was inspired by the many hours I’ve spent playing ARC Raiders, CoD Warzone, and other extraction shooters. I wanted to capture the push-your-luck feeling, and specifically the CoD Warzone “find keys to unlock new areas on subsequent infiltration” mechanic. Of course, in this case, those Infiltration Clues just make it easier to get into difficult areas, instead of making you spend three hours trying to get to a specific burger joint, then find the manager’s office, then open the door and find that the reward for your efforts is two grenades and a pistol magazine.

Happy infiltrating!

-Garm

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