Carrion Hill – Carrion Hill

Adventure Background

Carrion Hill crowns a lonely rise above the Wrythe swamps in eastern Ustalav. Varisians, Kellids, Taldans, and worse have built and rebuilt cities atop the same cursed summit—each layer burying the last. Beneath it all lie the Old Cults, libraries of carved stone, and the Sunless Grove where a spawn of Yog-Sothoth was banished two millennia ago.

Recently, the Keepers of the Oldest—Waldur Crove, Arlend Hyve, Rupman Myre, Sulm Marshan, and Glem Baskerwhel—used the Pnakotic Manuscripts to reopen the portal. The spawn returned, slew two Keepers, and now hunts the survivors while ravaging the Tangle and Filth from below. Only by understanding the ritual link between cultist souls and the horror can the city be saved.

Adaptation note: Faithful to Richard Pett's module; mechanics updated for Pathfinder 2e. See PathfinderWiki and EN World discussion.

Summary & Introduction

Adventure Summary

Mayor Heggry hires the PCs to investigate the first attack in Slipper Market. The trail leads down through Marshan's ruined house into ancient crypts and the Sunless Grove, where the Pnakotic Manuscripts reveal the truth: kill the surviving Keepers before the spawn devours them, or face a CR 10 nightmare in the streets above.

The PCs race through Rupman's Vat, the Elm Way Church, and Crove's Asylum—the order of visits sets the stage for the final confrontation. Constant rain, cockroaches, black slime, and madness define the tone.

Introduction

Read aloud: The strange city of Carrion Hill has long loomed over the surrounding swamps in eastern Ustalav, yet its rulers have shifted many times through the centuries. Often enough that only a few sinister scholars and curious minds know the true nature of the hill's original inhabitants—vile and depraved cultists of the Old Gods. Yet this morning, a dreadful recrudescence rises from the depths of buried nightmare in the vaults below Carrion Hill. A monster stalks the twisted alleys of the city, spreading panic before it and leaving destruction in its wake. Can the Carrion Hill Horror be stopped?

Carrion Hill is an adventure for 5th-level characters. The adventure features a mix of urban and dungeon sites, and draws its inspiration from the popular writings of H.P. Lovecraft.

Hooks

Pathfinder Society scouts a new lodge site in Versex.
Middenstone engineers hire the party to study Rupman's Vat.
Town criers summon adventurers to Crown Manor—reward 1,500 gp (3,000 gp more if the horror is slain).

| d6 | Event |
|----|-------|
| 1 | Building collapse rumour — crowd scatters |
| 2 | Crows demand papers; riot near coach house |
| 3 | Cockroaches swarm a gutter |
| 4 | Invisible stench — Fort DC 18 or sickened 1 |
| 5 | Refugee family asks for escort |
| 6 | Fresh slime trail toward last Keeper site |

1,500 gp intel reward + 3,000 gp victory bonus. After Sunless Grove: 10 moderate healing potions, 5 lesser restoration, scroll of see the unseen, scroll of dispel magic, dust of appearance.

SPAWN OF YOG-SOTHOTH  CREATURE 10  (weakened)
PF2e adaptation — starts with 6 permanent drained conditions (original negative levels).
Source: Lovecraftian / aberration — use AoN Gug or custom stat block.

Large Aberration
Perception +20; blindsight 30, darkvision
AC 28; Fort +18, Ref +16, Will +20
HP 133 (reduced by weakening); Immunities cold, fire
Resistances sonic 10; Weaknesses see Keeper-slaying mechanic
Speed 30 feet, climb 30 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +17, Damage 2d10+8 piercing
Melee [one-action] tentacle +16 (reach 10), Damage 2d6+8 plus Grab
Constant invisibility — ends when glitterdust, see the unseen, etc.
Devastation [two-actions] — 4d6+16 damage to structure

WEAKENING — Each Keeper killed before spawn feeds removes 1 drained condition
  and restores ~15 HP. Baskerwhel & Marshan already consumed at adventure start.

"Carrion Hill needs heroes! Men of stout heart and bravery are asked to come to Crown Manor with all haste..."