The Twisting Fel Free 40×30 Battlemap & Adventure

An Old Man’s Hourglass

While staying at an inn during a stormy evening’s meal, the front doors swing wide open revealing a large haggard old half-devil man carrying a wooden chest in his arms. His cloak is besodden from the downpouring of rain and he appears to be bleeding from a sword wound on his arm.

The other patrons of the tavern look on in shock as the man collapses on the ground, barring the front door with his slumped back while pushing the wooden chest in front of himself. If you come to his aid he explains that the ones hunting him cannot get what lies within the chest and he begs for your aid.

Soon after the door behind him begins to thump as whoever was chasing him attempts to open it. From beneath his cloak, the old man produces a finely carved ebony hourglass, which he inverts, allowing its black sand to trickle into the other chamber, covering an image that closely resembles the very inn in which you presently find yourself.

A voice bellows over the storm outside. “In the name of lord Hadron, let us in. You harbor a thief and traitor to the crown”. The half-devil vehemently denies the accusation and implores your assistance in holding the door for just a few minutes longer after which he promises to explain everything.

If you assist him, the men outside in the storm become increasingly agitated but as the last grain of black sand falls, a hushed stillness descends. No rain, or gale can be heard and the thumping on the door is but a distant memory. As you peer into the hourglass, the building within its lower half is obscured by the black sand below, revealing an entirely new upside down structure bathed in a curious translucent green glow in its upper half.

Looking out the surrounding windows you can see you are now in an entirely different realm. The inn stands amidst an alien landscape, one of black stone and eerie fel magics. The inn’s other patrons, in states of distress, demand answers and an immediate return home.

Turning to the half-devil man, you finally notice the uncanny green hue of his eyes. He calmly explains that the hourglass has transported all within the inn to the Twisting Fel, a realm that exists between realms within the hells, a place once called home by his ancestors. He assures you that everyone will eventually return home, but first, he must flee this area before resetting the hourglass to return to the material plane.

The old man elaborates on the peculiar nature of the Twisting Fel which mirrors the material plane in many ways but not in others and that because of this it can be used for traversal, allowing access to places that otherwise might not be accessible when on the material plane. In this case the tavern you now stand is but a mirror of the one on the material plane, one of many locations which show up within the Twisting Fel which also appear on the material plane.

If you ask what is so precious within his wooden chest, the old man slowly opens the chest, revealing a small baby half-devil boy lying asleep on its cushioned interior. He explains that his daughter and a nobleman’s son fell in love and in secret had this child. When the nobleman’s family discovered the affair and the existence of the half-devil grandchild however, they sent men to have his grandson and his daughter killed. He barely escaped with his life and that of his grandson while his daughter perished.

The elderly man beseeches your assistance in accompanying him through the Twisting Fel for a few hours, as he seeks to reach another mirrored building—an old, abandoned stable situated along the King’s highway, far from the tavern’s location. Should you agree, he breathes a sigh of relief, pledging to the other patrons that they, too, will return home within a few hours.

If you ask what would happen if you invert the hourglass without being in a known mirrored location The old man cautions that this action could result in unfortunate outcomes, such as emerging within walls or underground. Hence, it is best to employ the hourglass solely in known places.

As you navigate the landscape of the Twisting Fel, you encounter endless caverns, carved stone staircases, and eerie devilish structures that mar the desolate expanse. During the journey, the old man shares stories, explaining that it has been a considerable time since he last ventured to this realm, for it teems with dangers. He expresses gratitude for your assistance and reveals that his ancestors once dwelled in a grand city at the heart of the Twisting Fel. Yet, it has crumbled over time, much like his ancestors, leaving the remnants of the Twisting Fel’s people to eke out a meager existence.

He explains long ago there were many of his kind who dwelled in a great city at the center of the Twisting Fel, but it, like many of his ancestors perished, and the city is now but a ruin where the remains of the Twisting Fel’s people huddle amongst what little they have left. It is here he continues that all the hour-glasses were made. One of many, it is what his devilish ancestors used to traverse to the material plane and evidently led to the interbreeding with mortals. The old man’s hour-glass in particular was handed down through the generations and he has used it sparingly as it was told to him as a child the dangers of the Twisting Fel.

After almost two hours of travel, you approach your destination—the abandoned stables, visible on the other side of a chasm, but before you can make your way across the chasm the ground starts to rumble and geysers of fel energy burst forth followed by dog sized wurms of glowing fel energy which set towards you.

After dealing with half the wurms the ground shakes again and a massive wurm bursts forth close to where the oldman was taking cover, crumbling much of the floor around him, which falls down into the endless void below, before the wurm knocks him aside into a stone wall and charges at you.

After all the wurms have been dealt with, you find the old man slumped on the stone wall he was knocked against. He is breathing but very weak. In his hands he holds the hourglass, shattered.

With a feeble voice, he expresses his regret, explaining that he can no longer return you to your home. Instead, he implores you to seek the ruined Fel city in pursuit of another hourglass, your sole hope of returning. Following the healing of his wounds, the old man informs you that he will guide you on a journey of several weeks, fraught with peril, through a realm of dangerous beasts and potent magics, as was foretold during his childhood.

GM’s Notes: Should the players choose not to return to the tavern to rescue the other patrons after the hourglass is broken, those left behind will likely run out of supplies and starve within a month or meet unfortunate ends at the hands of the Twisting Fel’s denizens.

The half-devil baby boy has a necklace of sustenance which will sustain him over the long trip to the ruined fel city, not needing to eat or drink.

You may instead choose to end the adventure by having the hour-glass survive the wurm encounter and have the old man use it to take you back to your plane at the mirrored abandoned stables.

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