Gardmore Abbey

=Location= About a half day journey north of the King's Road
 * 2.5 days journey from Winterhaven
 * 3.5 days journey from Fallcrest

=Description= Accessing the ruins is not difficult, but they are infested by small spiders to such an extent it would be impossible to walk near or within the ruins without squishing spiders with each step. In fact, the carpet of spiders is so unnerving that everyone suffers a -1 penalty to their Will defense. Additionally, there will be times (25% chance each round) when an additional swarm will pour out of a crack and make an attack +10 vs Will resulting in a -1 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).


 * See also Gardmore Abbey Encounters

The accessible ruins consist of three primary chambers and a few small rooms at ground level, and an extensive catacombs below. Access to the catacombs is through a secret entrance which Tal Lorvas trapped after last entering.

Miranda Moongem and Kellin Clovergaze recently began exploring the ruins as they studied the affected plant and animal life. Miranda also unwittingly released some undead to roam the ruins and subsequently locked herself safely within a small chamber containing the treasure she discovered. If the PCs encounter her, they find a catatonic elf who is near death due to a lack of hydration.

=Background= The Gardbury Downs take their name from this striking ruin, a large monastery that has lain in ruins for almost one hundred fifty years. The abbey was dedicated to Bahamut and served as the base of a militant order of paladins who won great fame fighting in Nerath’s distant crusades. As the story goes, the paladins brought a dark artifact back from a far crusade for safekeeping, and evil forces gathered to assault the abbey and take it back. Extensive dungeons lie beneath the ruins, which might still conceal the hoarded wealth of the old crusading paladins.

Sergeant Murgeddin, a dwarf veteran who fought in the Bloodspear War and was present at the Battle of Gardbury, where Fallcrest’s army was defeated.

During the battle, Murgeddin saw the old Lord Markelhay flee into the catacombs under the Gardmore Abbey and never come out. The dwarf suspects that the ancestral sword of the Markelhays—Aranda Markelhay’s magic longsword Moonbane—lies somewhere below the abbey.