The Kingdom of Perra is a small nation in the eastern part of its continent, bordered on the west by the Westwoods and on the east by an inland sea known as the Black Lake. Its capital is Atherton, a city of roughly 100,000. This article gives a basic overview of Atherton and its inhabitants, and also contains an adventure centered on the dark history of the local royalty.

The Verchiel Family

Perra is ruled by the Verchiel family, who claim to be directly descended from an angel of the same name. In truth, several generations ago, a man named Ather Ptolmus used dark rituals to summon and bind the angel Verchiel to the mortal plane, where he then slew it and used its blood to empower himself and his descendants.

This unusual lineage gives them some distinctive features: Their hair is pure white from birth, and their irises are a vivid yellow. They possess some magical powers as well, though these have waned substantially over the generations. They can heal small wounds or fly for a brief amount of time, and using either of these abilities causes a spectral yellow halo to appear above their head, and translucent wings to appear on their backs.

Atherton

Atherton is a city split roughly into three sections: The Castle District, the Market District, and the Slums. The Castle District is the northernmost area of the city, sitting slightly higher than the rest of the city, and behind sturdy stone walls. The Market District is just to the south of it, and a major project is underway to strengthen its wooden walls. To the south of the Market District is the Slums, hemmed in by the bend of the Minnemore River, which runs along the city’s eastern border.

The Castle District

The Castle District sits at the east end of the city. It is wide and spacious, with a wide boulevard running down its center. Several statues of past royalty and celestial beings sit on pedestals in the center of the boulevard, and the institutions of the kingdom line its sides.

The Royal Library

Perra’s Royal Library is a tall, stone building in the Castle District of Atherton. Its books are primarily about religious matters and cosmology, containing novel exegesis and extrapolations on the worlds beyond our own. The quality of this work varies wildly, ranging from the surprisingly accurate “A Record of 33 Entities of the Cosmic Realms and their Names and Domains,” to the impressively wrong “Souls and Stars: The Afterlife that Sustains Us.”

Several shelves are covered by folding gates locked in place with bulky mechanisms. These shelves are the Restricted Sections, and hold dangerous knowledge about spells, alchemy, gunpowder, and so on. If the party has come here seeking information on a mystery greater than the affairs of Perra, it’s probably in one of the Restricted Sections.. The keys to the Restricted Sections are all held in Emily Cartwright’s office, in the basement of the Library.

James Brentaal III, librarian. James is a bespectacled man with black hair and an uneven smile. He works at the front desk of the Royal Library, and dreams of being the Head Librarian. He knows the main part of the library quite well, but even he isn’t allowed in the Restricted Sections without being accompanied.

Emily Cartwright, head librarian. Emily is a short woman with red hair. She is the highest authority in the walls of the Royal Library, and she runs a tight ship. She keeps a key ring with the keys for the Restricted Sections in a safe in her office, and the key to that safe is on her belt at all times.

Gendarmerie Barracks

The Gendarmerie is Perra’s army and law enforcement organization, with troops fulfilling both roles throughout their career. Perra’s Gendarmerie is poorly paid, leading to a substantial corruption problem. The word for a member of the Gendarmerie is “Gendarme.”

The Gendarmerie’s barracks is a wooden building built up against the wall between the Castle District and the Market District. It houses all the gendarmes stationed in Atherton, along with the Gendarmerie’s leadership, such as it is.

A group of four gendarmes stand in front of the main door at all times, preventing any outsiders from entering.

Captain Mitchell Willis, career soldier. Captain Willis is the leader of the local gendarmerie. Willis finds the haughty nobles grating, but is dedicated to defending the people of the kingdom.

Isaac McKinley, gendarme. Isaac is a black-haired man who tends to slur his words. He is a member of the Gendarmerie and usually guards the front door of the barracks. He is not the brightest man in the kingdom.

Jimmy McGinnis, corrupt gendarme. Jimmy is a tall, broad-shouldered man with a deficit of ethics. He uses his bulk and his badge to get whatever he wants.

The Market District

The Market District is a wide plaza, situated in the center of town, between the Castle District and the Slums. The facilities here are strewn about apparently at random, with butchers and blacksmiths side by side. There are usually a few merchants from far-off nations here, near the main city gate.

Below are a few business owners and denizens of the area, but this is not an exhaustive listing. If the party is looking for something reasonable (rope, clothing, a large quantity of linen, and rabbit-skin glue…) and non-magical, they can find it somewhere in the District.

Prospera Viera, crystallier. Prospera is a woman with tan skin and black hair. She owns a wagon filled with various kinds of crystals that she cuts and sells to mages, royalty, and whoever else has uses for them. Currently, she is set up in the Market District, but she is planning to move on to another kingdom soon.

Benedicta Brookhill, baker. Benedicta owns a bakery in the Market District, where she and her employees bake pastries, bread, and so on, which they sell to the people wandering the markets. Their most popular item is a cinnamon apple tart, which costs a silver piece each.

Sarah Yarnald, blacksmith. Sarah is a short, muscular woman who runs a forge on the eastern side of the Market District. She is highly knowledgeable and can do a passable job of almost anything that involves hot metal and an anvil, from basic weapon-smithing to making and fitting horseshoes.

Benjamin “Benny” Webb, urchin. Benny is a homeless orphan boy who lives in the Market District, doing odd jobs for any stall owner who needs a hand.

The Bleating Goat

The Bleating Goat is a tavern and inn on the south side of Atherton’s Market District. Its sign depicts exactly what you would expect: A goat with its head upwards and mouth open, bleating about who knows what.

For a mere one gold piece per night, a weary traveler can rent a room with two beds and a small table. A meal (fried eggs and meat in the morning, stew the rest of the day) can be purchased for one silver piece.

Lyndon, owner. Lyndon is a square-headed man with brown eyes and blond hair. He can usually be found behind the bar, making drinks and tracking tabs. He claims that his hearing isn’t very good, but in reality it’s just fine. It just gives him a good excuse to pretend he doesn’t know about anything that happens in the tavern.

Landon, server. Landon is the twelve-year-old son of Lyndon, and does all of the usual waiter things. He’s cheerful but not particularly clever for his age.

The Slums

The Slums are a complex warren of wood, stone, and canvas, dotted with communal ovens that the locals use to bake. The area around each oven functions as a sort of community center, and locals can often be found chatting, playing dice games, and so on, even if they have no baking to do.

Marco Petteaux, food stall owner. Marco is a simple businessman who sells meat on a stick to locals. He makes just enough to feed himself and his family, but paying protection money to the guards is really hurting his business.

Miles Thatch, criminal. Thatch is a 16 year old petty thief who makes his living by stealing peoples’ coin purses. He always pays a cut to Jimmy McGinnis, the corrupt gendarme, and this seems to make him immune to arrest.

The Westwoods

The treeline of the woods form the border of the Kingdom of Perra, in theory. The woods are a no man’s land, but commercial operations (logging, mining, and so on) often set up temporary camps inside of it. Several clans of goblins live here, which can cause problems for the commercial operations. They generally have little interest in the affairs of humanity, but will fight back if something tries to push them out of their lands.

The Westwoods Outpost

The outpost is nothing to write home about. It consists of a few buildings behind wooden palisades, guarding the only bridge over the fast-flowing River Corm. It is the staging point for all journeys into the Westwoods, be they military, commercial, or merely travel to the lands beyond the wood.

The outpost guards against incursions by the goblins of the wood. Until recently, driving the goblins off was easy— wounding one of them or throwing a torch at a group of them would drive them away. Now, goblin attacks on the outpost’s gate are a weekly occurrence, and slowly growing larger in size.

The Westwoods Outpost is currently under the command of Prince Nathan, and Princess Wynefrede is currently here as well.

Captain Edward Haddock, gendarme. Captain Haddock is a thin man with blond hair and an elegant mustache. In theory, he is in command of the outpost, but the presence of Prince Nathan means he is only second in command. He resents Prince Nathan’s apparent lack of concern for the lives of the gendarmes.

Vigor Sadler, gendarme. Vigor is a gendarme from a religious family. He is strong and brave and finds the outpost to be an enjoyable and exciting posting. His left arm is in a sling, having been broken in a recent fight against the goblins.

Adventure: Weirdness in the Woods

This part of the article is written with 5E in mind, but should be broadly compatible with most games of a similar heritage. This adventure is written with a party of 3-5 and an average level of 4-5 in mind.

Act 1: Journey

The adventure begins on the road to Atherton, the capital of Perra. There are a number of possible reasons for this, and we’ve supplied one in the next paragraph. If this would be out of character for your party, or you just don’t find it that interesting, the adventure will require very minimal modification to work without it.

Aros’ Caravan
Every merchant traveling long distances needs some form of armed guard, and the cheaper ones will hire anyone with a sword and some scars. Kjell Aros is no different, and has hired the party to accompany him and his wagon full of exotic cheeses.
Kjell Aros, merchant. Kjell is a thin man with sharp features. He has blond hair and blue eyes, and carries a two-handed axe on his back. He is cheery, and optimistic, and firmly believes that his wagon-load of cheeses will command a high price in Perra.

Regardless, the main road to Perra winds through the plains, between farm fields and lakes. Small groups of travelers are passing in the opposite direction, looking disheveled and fearful.

Once you crest the final hill on the road, you can see Atherton in the distance. The city is walled, but small camps have been built outside of each gate.

The Market District, which is Kjell’s destination, is in the center of the city. While the party helps Kjell set up his stall (or while they are in the area for their own reasons) a guard, Isaac McKinley, approaches them and says something like

“Greetings, travelers! You look like a tough, well-traveled bunch, and the kingdom is in need of your aid. We need someone to run some supplies to our outpost at the bridge over the River Crom, just before the Westwoods. We can pay you 10 gold pieces if you can accomplish this task within the next day.”

If pressed, he can pay the party up to 20 gold. Otherwise, he’ll keep 10 gold for himself. If the party accepts, he hands over two items:

The first item is a wooden case, about four feet long, with the emblem of the Royal Family of Perra (a crown with wings) on its front. The case has two obvious hinges on its left side, and on the right side there is an odd gadget where the lock would be. The gadget consists of a complex assemblage of gears covered by a metal mesh. This is a lock that can only be unlocked by the blood of a member of the Royal Family, in theory.

The case contains an old sword with a cross-guard in the shape of angel wings. The sword is mechanically a standard long sword, save for the fact that it does an extra 1d6 damage against any creature of celestial lineage.

The letter, sealed with the same emblem that is on the case, is addressed to Princess Wynefrede, and explains that the King has experienced a terrifying vision and has sent this case and its contents to aid her in “the coming unpleasantness.” It does not elaborate further.

There is one unfortunate complication: The Verchiel bloodline present in Nathan and Wynefrede is too diluted to unlock the case. This can be bypassed in a number of ways (Knock the pins out of the hinges, smash the case open, pray really hard at it, etc.) but the intended solution here is to open it with the blood of one of the Verchiel-related creatures later in this adventure. Again, if they have an idea like the above, let them get away with it and feel like they’ve outsmarted you and/or me.

To The Outpost

The road to the Westwoods Outpost is uneventful, but the party will have to push hard to reach the outpost in the time they promised. Farmers are on the road traveling in either direction in their wagons, and wagons with injured gendarmes occasionally pass by, heading for Atherton.

If the party reaches the Westwoods Outpost in under 24 hours, they find it under attack by a horde of goblins. Otherwise, they encounter the retreating gendarmes, plus Prince Nathan and Princess Wynefrede, about two miles before the Outpost, pursued by goblins.

The goblins outnumber the combined forces of the gendarmerie and the party by about five to one. Most of them use the standard 5E goblin stats, and if you use tokens, you can find a wide variety of lovely goblin tokens in our Token Editor. There are, however, two of note:

The goblins’ ultimate goal is to break into the outpost and cross the River Crom. They are being chased by the Bonespawn (see below) and have decided to abandon the woods.

Bonespawn

Following the goblins’ trail leads back to a tall, lanky creature with bones jutting out of its skin and long, black claws. A crackling halo of white light hangs above its head, and its eyes glow yellow. The creature moves slowly, and attacks with broad sweeps of its claws. If Princess Wynefrede is with the party, it will focus exclusively on trying to kill her.

A successful DC15 Arcana check reveals that the Bonespawn is not a natural creature, and appears to be of a celestial nature. That is to say, it is not a demon, devil, or fiend, but it appears to be related to the powers of Good instead.

A successful DC15 Survival check allows the party to track the Bonespawn’s trail back to a cave.

Otherwise, Princess Wynefrede will eventually reveal why she is out here: Her ancestor, Ather, apparently mentioned a cave in the area in his memoirs, stating that he spent a lot of time meditating there to discover his true purpose. Both of these options lead to the same cave.

Act 2: Crawl

The Living Depths

The Living Depths is the dungeon of this adventure, filled with goblins and hostile “architecture.” I’ve supplied readout text for most sections, and it should be clear what’s what. This place smells foul and is uncomfortably humid. Ideally, your players are moderately creeped out by it.

The cave’s entrance is a wide rocky hole in roughly the shape of an M. Dead grass around it indicates that this entrance is regularly used.

The first chamber has a few claw marks on the walls, presumably from the Large Bonespawn from earlier. If the party moves quietly, they can hear a few noises coming from the next chamber: A periodic hissing noise, and goblin speech spoken with an unusually musical structure, like a hymnal choir’s interpretation of a Death Grips song.

The second chamber, the one with the sphincter at the north end, holds the sources of both these noises. The hiss is the sound of the sphincter opening slightly and then closing again, and the unworldly chatter comes from a group of white-skinned goblins chatting amongst themselves.

These white-skinned goblins are what the stat block calls Verchielized goblins, goblins that have been infected by the remains of Verchiel, and now serve its cause. They are not as strong as the Bonespawn from earlier, but they are equal in number to the party, and the Scream Laser ability should give the party a surprise.

Once those goblins are dealt with:

You reach what appears to be a fleshy membrane sealing off the cave. It twitches occasionally, and every time it does you get a whiff of that foul scent.

and then, once they’re brave enough to touch the door-membrane:

The membrane shudders and retracts as you touch it. Beyond it, you can see veins and bones on the ground. The sight reminds you of field-stripping a game animal.

You can make a horrible slurping noise to imitate the sound of the sphincter-door opening, if you like.

Once they take the path to the east, they end up in a somewhat complicated section of branching and sloping passages. The southern passage leads to a pit of viscera and general grossness which has no plot significance beyond giving the party an opportunity to look closely at some of the large piles of grossness without being in mortal peril.

The first northern passage, the one that slopes downwards, leads to what I lovingly call the North Central Small Chamber:

A kind of altar has been carved into the stone here, of unclear purpose. It appears to be older than the other carvings in the area.

The second northern passage, the one that slopes upwards, leads to the NW Pool Room:

A foul liquid seeps into this room through a crack in the wall, drowning the bottoms of some rock pillars. On the central pillar, you can see a white-skinned goblin sprawled out on its back, apparently asleep, using what appears to be a spellbook as a pillow.

The foul liquid is stomach acid. The stomach acid does 1d4 acid damage to any creature in contact with the acid, and 2d4 acid damage to any creature fully submerged in the acid. If the party decides to put some acid in a vial or a bucket and throw it at something, it does 1d4 acid damage to whatever it hits.

The last southern passage leads to the Room of Giant Heads, where the ritual to summon and bind Verchiel was performed long ago.

This room appears to be some kind of ritual chamber, with statues of humanoid creatures of indeterminate race. Veins trace the cracks in the floor, pulsing occasionally. Fragments of bone litter the floor, and it appears that this area was used to prepare some kind of ritual components. Now, however, it is occupied by a group of three white-skinned goblins, who appear to be asleep.

Act 3: Boss Fight

And finally, we have what should be the final passage they check, the big fleshy goopy part in the southeast: The Boss Chamber.

You come upon a final large chamber with filled with knee-high fluid. At the far end is a pulsating mass of flesh. Parts of it expand and contract, perhaps breathing, perhaps pumping blood. At this distance, it is impossible to say. Suddenly, an eye opens on the largest pile of organs, and looks at you. Three tentacles rise from the fluid. It knows you’re here and that you mean it ill.

This fluid isn’t stomach acid, thankfully, it’s just gross fluid. The Boss Chamber’s horrible piles of organs attempt to kill the party via tentacles and the other things in the stat block, however, there is one more complication. If Princess Wyinfrede falls unconscious in the knee-high gross fluid, she is assimilated into Verchiel’s control, like the goblins have been. See the stat block below.

If Verchiel is slain— hopefully permanently, this time— and Wynefrede survives, the kingdom will be in the party’s debt, offering to knight them and give them some land. This is an excellent lead into the 2024 PHB’s Bastion system, if your players are interested in that kind of thing. If they’re not, well, give them a large sum of money and a number of magical items equal to half the party’s size. Everybody likes a fancy magic breastplate or a new sword.

Their rewards are less substantial if Wynefrede dies during the adventure, regardless of cause. Once the party returns to Atherton and informs the authorities, they are given a sack containing 100 gold pieces and “the gratitude of the king,” which may be cashed in for a favor later.

Afterword

I hope you’ve enjoyed this adventure! I really adore Rooty’s Living Depths maps, and I hope I’ve done Pt. 1 justice here!

If people are interested, I do have some ideas for expanding the dungeon section to include all three parts of the Living Depths series, as a sort of Extended Edition article. Let me know if you’d be interested in such a thing below!

-Garm

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