Strixhaven Mysteries #3:

Key of the Raven

The third installment of Strixhaven Mysteries is not only the first to deviate significantly from its Candlekeep counterpart (so much so as to facilitate a name change), but also has a major effect on the "Campus Daredevils" adventure found in Strixhaven's first-year campaign. However, the end result is that the conversion of this 3rd-level module fits in with Strixhaven despite its gothic tone.

Sources of Inspiration

"Book of the Raven". Christopher Perkins
Volo's Guide to Monsters. Wizards RPG Team

Finding the Key

The revised backstory for this adventure revolves around Grayson Wildemere (see Strixhaven's "Fellow Student" section). A young man hungry for secrets, Grayson comes to learn of a mysterious portal on Silverquill's campus that only faculty and top students are allowed to use. Any information about the portal or where it leads is not meant to be known to first-years, but Grayson has surmised that the portal is connected in some way with shadow magic.

The amateur sleuth has also ascertained that the key to activate the portal — which features an ornate bow depicting raven wings — is usually stored with other portal keys at Captain Dapplewing's Manor. Although Grayson is no stranger to breaking into restricted areas, he nearly got caught in his previous attempt at sneaking into the Manor. Therefore, Grayson turns to the characters for their help in acquiring the Raven Key.

If asked why he wants the Raven Key, Grayson admits he wants it to open the aforementioned shadow portal. He'll also advise the group to carry out their heist at the end of the school week, giving them ample time to obtain the key, investigate the portal, and then return the key before anyone notices its disappearance.

Extra Incentive

Should the characters show reluctance to accept Grayson's request, he will first attempt to offer a driftglobe in exchange for the key. If that fails to motivate the characters, then in an act of desperation, Grayson will also offer to pay each party member 400 gp — half of a student's annual tuition costs — for their services, but only on the condition that they keep quiet about his generosity.

What About Sassy Sally Jane?

As part of converting "Book of the Raven" for Strixhaven, the Raven Key becomes the characters' new reason for breaking into Captain Dapplewing's Manor. However, this doesn't mean that recovering Sassy Sally Jane can't be a side objective for the party.

At your discretion, an associate of Grayson's — ideally a Fellow Student the characters already know — accompanies him to the Manor at the night of the heist to ask or dare the characters into recovering Sassy Sally Jane.

Captain Dapplewing's Manor

Aside from the revised inciting incident, Captain's Dapplewing's Manor itself is almost exactly the same as is from Strixhaven. Just make sure to make the following additions to the treasure found in area C15:

If you have substituted Serafina Onyx for Verelda Lang (see Strixhaven Mysteries #1), the ring of mind shielding bears the inscription "S. Onyx". While it isn't in Professor Onyx's nature to be effusive with her gratitude, she will be impressed with the characters nonetheless.
A box labeled "Portal Keys" can be found with any search of the area. Inside contains the Raven Key which Grayson is looking for.

In addition, the encounter with the two ink-like gray oozes which originally took place in area C19 now occurs inside the primary storeroom within this area.

Shadow Crossing

Once the characters return to Grayson with the Raven Key, he'll ask for it and then request to meet him again tomorrow outside the Rose Stage at Silverquill Campus, one hour before sundown. As with Captain Dapplewing's Manor, the path to the Rose Stage is well-lit at nighttime.

After the characters rendezvous with Grayson, he takes them to a field on the eastern edge of the campus, where the characters will see an imposing white obelisk. Next to it is a large, black trapdoor which superficially resembles a coffin. Having spied on this location before, Grayson explains that the portal only seems to open in the dead of the night.

Grayson does not know however that this portal is a shadow crossing to the Shadowfell. This crossing operates as per the "Book of the Raven" module from Candlekeep except that the coffin-like trapdoor must first be unlocked. Before the characters cross over, Grayson warns them that to avoid arousing suspicion from campus security, he'll have to keep the trapdoor shut while the others investigate the other side, but that he'll back in an hour to open the portal (Grayson doesn't know that people can only return to the Material Plane at dawn).

The Shadowfell side of the crossing is laid out the same as the original adventure, but the encounters play out much differently:

The characters are not immediately attacked upon arrival. They can explore the necropolis at their leisure unless they approach within 30 feet of the Harrn Mausoleum (which is now relocated 60 feet away from the crossing), triggering waves of creatures to attack.

STRIXHAVEN MYSTERIES #3

The gargoyles are replaced by two ochre jellies made out of ink.
Eighteen gray oozes (identical to the ones encountered in Captain Dapplewing's Manor) and nine inkling mascots take the place of the ghouls. These creatures attack in three groups, each consisting of six gray oozes and three inklings, and they approach from any direction aside from where the shadow crossing is situated.
Drovath Harrn himself is now a slithering tracker (see Volo's Guide to Monsters) formed from an oily substance. Within his innards is a stone of good luck, which Drovath benefits from as long as his body remains intact.

Despite his transformation, Drovath can assert some modicum of control over the oozes. As long as Drovath remains alive, the ooze guardians will not attack characters who withdraw from battle, but they will follow from a distance and form a loose perimeter to besiege and torment the party if given the opportunity. Characters who are surrounded by the oozes cannot take a short rest, and must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw to avoid giving into Shadowfell despair (see the "Shadowfell" section in the Dungeon Master's Guide).

If Drovath is reduced to 0 HP, any remaining oozes will mindlessly attack the characters. Additionally, once the sun starts to faintly rise in the Shadowfall (and at Strixhaven back on the Material Plane), any besieging oozes will also proceed to make a final assault on the party. No ooze will attempt to pursue the characters through the crossing.

Harrn Mausoleum

Instead of warhorse skeletons, three shadows attack any character who takes the treasure from the mausoleum. The treasure itself is now a figurine depicting a daemogoth (see Strixhaven chapter 7), and it has the following magical properties:

Fiends and undead within 30 feet of the figurine can't be turned.
Injured creatures within 30 feet of the figurine can't regain hit points.
A creature that holds the figurine while praying to the daemogoth titan for at least 1 hour has a 10 percent chance of summoning a smoky avatar of the demon. Once this avatar is summoned, it can't be summoned again for 30 days. The daemogoth's avatar has the statistics of a wraith which also has the daemogoth's Pact of Pain trait.

Aside from the magical properties, it shares the rest of its attributes with the Orcus Figurine from "Book of the Raven".

Back to the Material Plane

As Grayson was ignorant of how the shadow crossing worked, he is perplexed as to why the characters are taking so long, and he eventually falls asleep while secretly keeping watch. When the characters are finally allowed to return to the Material Plane at dawn, they will find the coffin door covering the shadow crossing shut on them and locked. The door can be forced open with a DC 13 Strength (Athletics), but any property destruction results in the same consequences as in the "Campus Daredevils" adventure. Loudly knocking on the coffin door is enough to rouse Grayson from slumber, and he'll promptly unlock the door.

Grayson is profusely apologetic to learn what the characters went through in the Shadowfell, and he insists on making things right by giving himself the responsibility of returning the Raven Key. He will express regret that his curiosity almost brought the characters to a bad end.

Potential Investigations

Although information regarding what the characters encounter in the Shadowfell exists in Strixhaven's libraries, such knowledge is typically restricted to students until fourth-year. If the characters decide to engage in further unauthorized research, they will learn the nature of the Shadowfell and the shadow crossing, and may also potentially unearth one or more of these additional fragments of information:

Drovath Harrn — a contemporary and bitter rival of Captain Raymous Dapplewing — was a vampire who held faculty appointments at both Silverquill and Witherbloom.
While Drovath's advocacy was instrumental in ensuring the acceptance of virtually all races at Strixhaven and all but the most taboo of magic, he still believed the nascent Strixhaven didn't go far enough in unlocking the full potential of magic. Ironically, one of Drovath's unsanctioned experiments into enhanced immortality backfired and caused him to be reduced to ooze form.
To this day, the Shadowfell region around Drovath's final resting place is used as a proving ground for Silverquill faculty and elite students, as well as a secure location for safeguarding an artifact confiscated from an evil mage.
Although no conclusive evidence of this conspiracy theory exists, some scholars suspect that Drovath founded the Oriq cult to secretly oppose Captain Dapplewing's agenda.

Image Credits

D&D Watercolor Stains. Jared Ondricek (watercolors.giantsoup.com)
Blot Out the Sky. Olena Richards (lenarichards.com)