Chapter 12 - Asylum

The adventure begins as the PCs travel to Orthrys, the first layer of Carceri. To prevent the Cagewright menace from returning, the characters must destroy Adimarchus, the inspiring force behind the organisation. Traveling to Carceri, the PCs confront Adimarchus in the howling halls of Skullrot, hoping to rid the multiverse of his deranged designs forever.

Chapter 11 - Strike on Shatterhorn

The heroes have thwarted the Cagewright's machinations, and all seems well again in the Cauldron region. Even if Cauldron was partially destroyed by a volcanic explosion, the characters helped save the lives of most of its citizens. Until the town can be rebuilt, the Cauldronite refugees are able to find food, water, and temporary shelter near the villages of Redgorge and Kingfisher Hollow. Various churches and organizations join forces to help the refugees, including the churches of Kord and St. Cuthbert, the Striders of Fharlanghn, and the Chisel (a secret alliance of wealthy merchants). Agents from the neighboring city of Sasserine have started to arrive to ascertain the damage, gather information, and distribute additional provisions as needed. The characters may choose to help with the relief efforts, but before long they are approached by Jenya Urikas, the high priestess of the Churh of St. Cuthbert.

 Justice must be served to those responsible for the chaos in Cauldron. Using divination spells, Jenya determines that the surviving Cagewrights have withdrawn to their hidden stronghold under the ruins of Shatterhorn. She asks the heroes to serve Cauldron once more by disposing of the remaining Cagewrights before they can do more harm. The characters should have no trouble reaching Shatterhorn, where they find the ruins overrun with half-mad creatures and Cagewrights. By the time the heroes find Embril Aloustinai, she has abandoned her faith in Wee Jas and pledged her eternal devotion to Nerull. Consumed by a mad desire to free Adimarchus, the converted cleric hopes that an appropriate sacrifice can persuade Nerull to permit Adimarchus's escape from Carceri (for Nerull, it seems, has the power to come and go from Carceri as he pleases).

Chapter 10 - Thirteen Cages

After having evacuated the town, the PCS meet with Jenya on the outskirts of Cauldron. She tells them how to reach the Cagewrights (her divinations proved moderately successful), and that they have mere hours before a terrible event is completed that endangers them all.

The characters then travel into the heart of the volcano beneath Cauldron. They battle demands and eight members of the Thirteen before meeting the mastermind behind the Cagewright's plot, a sinister, malformed demodand named Dyr'ryd. After defeating him, they must deactivate or destroy the Tree of Shackled Souls, which could have dire consequences of its own if not handled delicately.

Chapter 9 - Foundation of Flame

After recovering from previous adventures, the PCs receive a message from Jenya Urikas, the high priestess of St. Cuthbert. The message is an invitation to meet with the most influential nobles of Cauldron to determine the fate of the city and set a new course for its leadership.

During this meeting, a raving derro sorcerer and his berserker minions attack, seeking to further strike a blow against the city's leadership. After defeating the ferro, the PCs conclude their bussiness and see to the wounded.

Shortly thereafter, the earthquakes begin. More tremors follow, growing worse and worse as time passes. The PCs must assist in the evacuation of all of Cauldron's citizens. This harrowing process must proceed despite the PCs' knowledge that the Cagewrights are likely behind the earthquakes. As they nearly complete their task, a terrible visitor arrives in Cauldron to add to the chaos... the fearsome red dragon Hookface, angry after being awakened from a 50-year sleep!

Chapter 8 - Lords of Oblivion

Dark clouds fill the sky, reflecting the somber mood of the troubled townsfolk. Severen Navalant, the lord mayor, is missing and presumed dead. Contingents of mercenaries help the local militia patrol the streets, quelling riots and keeping order in the name of Navalant's self-appointed successor, Lord Orbius Vhalanthru. However, not everyone is pleased with the change in leadership. Raised taxes and a sharp increase in criminal activity have fueled rumors that Cauldron's leaders are corrupt or simply incompetent.

Cauldron's woes notwithstanding, the heroes might have good cause to suspect Lord Vhalanthru of evildoing. He has so far remained an enigma, sequestering himself within his estate and rarely venturing into the public eye. The Striders of Fharlanghn, who seek to locate and eradicate the Cagewrights, suspect that Vhalanthru knows something about the Cagewrights' activities. The Striders have been spying on Vhalanthru ever since the lord mayor disappeared, but they have learned precious little.

The adventure begins when members of the Last Laugh thieves' guild capture one of the Striders of Fharlanghn, a half-elf named Skiriol Slyblade, who was watching the estates of Lord Vhalanthru and Lady Rhiavadi. Unknown to the Last Laugh, Skiriol is linked telepathically by a Rary's telepathic bond spell to Meerthan Eliothlorn, leader of the Striders in Cauldron. Meerthan asks the heroes to rescue Skiriol from the Last Laugh safe house, where he is being interrogated. The heroes must overcome the safe house's traps and rogues to reach Skiriol. They must also contend with a villain from their past - a rogue named Jil. In exchange for her freedom, Jil provides the heroes with information about a secret gathering at Lady Rhiavadi's estate - a meeting where the Cagewrights' plans for Cauldron will be fully revealed.

The heroes might infiltrate House Rhiavadi or find some other means of entry. Once inside the estate, they must contend with Lady Thifirane Rhiavadi and her guests, including the Last Laugh guildmaster, a notorious tiefling slaver, a cleric of Nerull from the nearby city of Sasserine, an unscrupulous  dwarven merchant, and a vampire from the Unerdark. If things go horribly awry, Thifirane flees to Oblivion, a subterranean sanctuary where Vhalanthru is making final preparations for the ritual that will transform him into a Tarterian beholder.

Chapter 7 - Secrets of the Soul Pillars

The PCs arrive in Cauldron to find it greatly changed. Powerful contingents of mercenaries patrol the streets, keeping order in the name of Lord Orbius Vhalanthru, the acting ruler of the city since the mayor's sudden absence. These mercenaries have succeeded at keeping order, but fear and suspicion grows with each passing week as the citizens gain no relief from the increased taxes. Rumor and speculation run wild through the city even as the mercenaries crack down viciously on any signs of trouble, ostensibly to prevent further riots.

Before the characters have a chance to react to these changes, they find themselves beset by the growing malignancy within the city. Three well-trained and well)equipped assassins, enhanced by powerful magic, strike at the PCs. Should the heroes survive, some quick detective work and divinatory magic leads them to the Cathedral of Wee Jas. After dealing with its defenders, the characters discover a strange artefact. This is a soulcage, built by the Cathedral's leaders in alliance with the Cagewrights, and it yields clear clues that some dangerous and powerful conspiracy is at work within the city. Further research leads the group deep beneath the city to an ancient ruin made by spell weavers, an ancient race that made this region their home before disappearing forever several centuries ago. The enigmatic creatures built a horrific underground complex dedicated to researching a strange combination of necromancy and cold magic.

The complex is a great repository of powerful lore, but it is filled with horrors of its own. A powerful Cagewright loremaster still resides in the complex along with his undead servants, continuing the research that first led the Cagewrights to the soulcages and the gate ritual that their construction enables. Worse, the final chamber is guarded by a dracolich named Vittriss Bale. Once the characters have defeated these deadly guardians, they can study the strange lore preserved by the spell weaver's magic and learn of the Cagewrights' terrible plans.

Chapter 6 - Test of the Smoking Eye

The dying paladin Alek Tercival demands that the players "seek the sign of the Smoking Eye". Kaurophon arrives on the scene within moments and takes the PCs to Occipitus, promising answers that may save Cauldron's residents from foretold doom.

Kaurophon convinces the characters to undertake the Test of the Smoking Eye, which takes them first to the ruins of a celestial cathedral. From there the test takes them to strange, organic tubes that lead inside the half-skull that is Occipitus's most prominent feature. There they meet Saureya, who tells them more about the nature of the test Kaurophon has urged them to undertake. Finally, the characters confront the final test at the center of Occipitus, deal with Kaurophon's hidden agenda, and decide the future fate of the layer.

Chapter 5 - The Demonskar Legacy

The merchants of Cauldron organize a demonstration before the City Hall to protest against the recent abuses of the authorities, who have raised taxes and strengthened the city wall with half-orc mercenaries. During the demonstration, Maavu speaks out against the city government, revealing that the protector of the Temple of St. Cuthbert, Alek Tercival, has challenged the captain of the town guard, who is in part responsible for the recent abuse, to a legal duel. When a patrol of the town guard comes to arrest Maavu, a riot erupts. During the riot, a breathdrinker summoned by the Cagewrights attempts to kill Maavu, and the PCs must save him to gain useful information about the Chisel.

Following Maavu's directions, the PCs travel to Redgorge and meet the high handcrafters of the Chisel. Alek Tercival was also invited to the meeting, but the paladin fails to show up. The chief of the Chisel believes that the paladin knows something of decisive importance and wants the PCs to find him. To find Alek Tercival, the heroes must use the information gathered thus far, and follow a very old map found in an antique shop. When they finally track Alek to Vaprak's Voice, they encounter the covey of half-fey hags who have been manipulating the paladin. After defeating the hags, the PCs navigate through the Starry Mirror to free Alek Tercival from a deadly trap. At the end, the PCs must battle the terrible creature that has schemed to turn the paladin into a pawn of chaos, Nabthatoron the glabrezu himself.

Chapter 4 - Zenith Trajectory

Vhalanthru wants to test the characters, and the Lord Mayor has had difficulty lately collecting taxes from a merchant named Maavu. When and errand takes the PCs to northwest Magma Avenue, Vhalanthru's agents release a fiendish umber hulk to rampage through the city - conveniently near many of Maavu's shops, offices, and warehouses. When the character vanquish the marauding umber hulk, they get an invitation to Cusp of Sunrise, an invitation)only club for nobles.

After dinner at the Cusp, an alluring noblewoman named Celeste leads them into a private meeting room where they meet a dwarf so decrepit that he looks dead. The dwarf, Ironlord Davdek Splintershield, explains that he has been cursed by a terrible wasting disease because he disowned his three sons. The only way for the curse to be lifted, Davdek relates, is to make peace with each of his three sons. He's done so with two sons, but he can't find the third son, Zenith Splintershield.

Celeste offers the PCs 5,000 gp each if they can find Zenith and return him to Cauldron. The characters head north from Cauldron into the mountains, eventually reaching an entrance to the Underdark near the hut of an old hermit named Crazy Jared. They climb down into the Underdark and reach the kuo-toan temple of Bhal-Hamatugn. The the PCs learn that Zenith is the leader of the kuo)toad, not a prisoner. They must contend with Zenith and the kuo-toas before returning to Cauldron to claim their reward.

Chapter 3 - Flood Season

The party, after spending some time recovering from their latest adventures, is contacted by a distraught Jenya Urikas, the acting high priestess of the Church of St. Cuthbert. She has just received a disturbing sending spell from Sarcem Delasharn. He'd been ambushed at the Lucky Monkey, and he and a few survivors had managed to hole up in the tavern's basement. It was apparent that the aggressors would soon get in and finish the job. The Lucky Monkey is an inn just a day's travel outside Cauldron, and Jenya begs the party to ride to the roadhouse to try to save Sarcem and the other survivors.

The party hurries out to the roadhouse at the base of the volcano, only to find the site terribly quiet. After they begin to explore, they quickly learn that the ambushers are still looting the inn. They must drive off the bandits, who are led by a were-baboon named Tongueater. If they're quick, they can rescue the one survivor of the attack on the Lucky Monkey: a female half-drow named Shensen. She is a member of the Striders of Fharlanghn, a neutrally aligned organisation with several agents in the area.

Unfortunately, they are too late for the inn patrons, including Sarcem Delasharn. They can recover his body and return with Shensen to Cauldron, whereupon they can piece together the events at the inn and find out what might have happened to the wands of control water, which are desperately needed as the rains begin to fall in earnest. After a bit of investigation, the group learns that Tongueater was merely the cohort of a more powerful villain named Triel Eldurast, an ex-member of the Cauldron city guard who fled into the catacombs below the city many years ago after she murdered several of ther fellow guards. Triel led the attack on the Lucky Monkey and left her cohort Tongueater behind to finish the job as she fled back to Cauldron with the stolen wands of control water. After more investigation (set against the backdrop of increasing rain and rapidly rising floodwaters), the group finds clues that her base of operation seems to be in a large hidden cavern below town.

Access to this cavern is possible via a lengthy underwater swim (a lake in the cavern is connected underwater to the central lake of Cauldron), or via a lava tube that connects the cavern with a secret opening on the northern slope of the volcano. Arriving at the hidden cave, the party finds that it contains the crumbling ruins of several stone buildings... the last few remnants of an ancient city of a sinister race of creatures known as the kopru. Worse, it seems that Triel Eldurast has become a cleric of Hextor and allied herself with two other religious zealots. One is a halfling Vecna cultist named Skaven Umbermead, and the other is an undead gnoll cultist of Erythnul. They intend to ransom offthe stolen wands to the city above, and even intended to use some of them to worsen the flooding as necessary to provoke a more urgent need for them. The party must retrieve the wands and put a stop to the cultists (who work for even more powerful and mysterious masters) before Cauldron suffers extensive flood damage.

Chapter 2 - Drakhtar's Way

The party is contacted by Terseon Skellerang, Captain of the Town Guard, to help in location the lair of goblins causing trouble in Cauldron. Investigation leads to a cave entrance in a wooded area on the base of the volcano crater. Goblins have been spotted, assisting armored half orcs with halberds in unloading wooden crates from a wagon on the road, and carrying them through the woods into the cave.

The group investigates the cave system and dispatches a tribe of goblin-song-singing, vampire-worshipping goblins and their pet shocker lizards. After escaping one encounter, Drakthar is finally destroyed and his coffin area desecrated. Some non-goblins are also encountered in the complex- a tiefling fighter, a dwarf and a human sorcerer.

The group learns that they are working for the Blue Duke, an ogre mage warlord who has a sizable private army of half-orcs and evil adventurers. Using information gained from the captives, the group plots an ambush of the Blue Duke when he returns to the cave entrance with a few half-orcs. The Blue Duke manages to escape the fight but leaves behind the contents of the wagon he was in. The crates contain strange metallic ribs covered with etchings. Further research reveals that the etchings are related to one of the outer planes- the Tarterian Depths of Carceri.

Chapter 1 - Life's Bazaar

Jenya Urikas, a cleric of the Church of St. Cuthbert, hires the untested PCs to find four children kidnapped from the Lantern Street Orphanage and learn what they can about the abductors. The party's clerical benefactor offers one potion of cure moderate wounds per PC up front and promises a monetary reward once the heroes complete the mission. Further, if the heroes succeed, Jenya promises to arrange a meeting with the Lord Mayor, for it seems the Lord Mayor enjoys meeting local heroes and offering them future work.

The divination spell cast by Jenya suggests a connection between the unknown abductors, and abandoned gnome enclave below Cauldron, and a gnome locksmith named Keygan Ghelve. The heroes' investigation quickly leads them to the locksmith's shop, beneath which lies the not-quite-abandoned gnome community of Jzadirune.

The creatures responsible for the recent rash of kidnappings include a coterie of skulks and a small band of dark creepers led by a dark stalker. The skulks have pressed the locksmith into service by snatching and imprisoning his familiar. Since Keygan Ghelve created most of the town's locks, he has "skeleton keys" for nearly every building in Cauldron. The skulks and dark creepers have used these skeleton keys to break into houses and make off with their contents.

Inside Keygan's shop, the heroes find a secret staircase leading down in Jzadirune, which Cauldron's gnome community abandoned years ago after a strange magical disease ravaged the enclave. Heroes who survive the perils of Jzadirune discover a crude elevator that leads down to Kazmojen's stronghold, called the Malachite Fortress. There, they find the half-troll busily selling slaves to a durzagon (half-fiend duergar) client. The sudden appearance of Lord Valanthru interrupts the bazaar. The beholder wants one of the four abducted children - a dour and sadistic boy named Terrem - returned safely to Cauldron. The boy, who bears a strange invisible birthmark, is important to Lord Valanthru's future designs for Cauldron. Terrem's abduction was a mistake, and Lord Valanthru has decided to correct the error personally. Although the heroes view the beholder briefly, they are not encouraged to fight it. Before they can worry about the greater threats that lie ahead, they must free the captive townsfolk from the half-troll slaver and his hobgoblin henchmen.