Ardent Vault (D&D)

The Ardent Vault
The Vault was designed by Shaolei Timekeepers to be impervious to magical infiltration. It is a "one-way" vault -- objects go in, but they can never come out.

The Vault is a vast chamber enclosed on all sides by six-foot thick layered steel and iron walls. The walls create an airtight seal and block all forms of teleportation and scrying. They also block telepathic communication. The chamber is several hundred feet across, with numerous maze-like interior walls forming smaller sub-chambers inside.

The Vault is deep underground, situated directly above a stationary, permanent volcanic mantle plume. A layer of obsidian atop the plume disperses the heat evenly across the metal bottom of the Vault. The metal walls conduct the heat all around and through the Vault, making every surface scalding hot to touch.

The Vault is flooded with pressurized water, with no air whatsoever. The water is kept at its boiling point, but it does not boil away due to the pressure. If any living thing tried to swim through that water, they would painfully burn/boil to death, unless they had a way to mitigate the heat.

Objects to be stored inside the Vault are first sealed inside steel crates, like shipping containers, about 10'x5'x5'. A single crate might hold many artifacts. The Ardent keep a written inventory of what's inside every crate. The steel crates are welded and riveted shut, so they are airtight and watertight. There is no "lock," "lid," or "door" on the crate. Once sealed, it is meant to never be opened again. There are hundreds of crates inside the Vault. They are unlabeled and all look the same. Each crate is extremely heavy -- heavy enough to sink in water, even with nothing but air inside it.

The Underground Crane
Crates are loaded and sealed outside the Vault. Then, they are lowered into the Vault using a massive crane that sits on top of the Vault, in a large underground chamber. The crane is an engineering marvel in its own right. It is a large building, built entirely underground, integrated into the rock above the Vault, with rooms for a permanent staff of about 20 Ardent engineers and guards. It has a lava-fueled metal workshop for welding the crates shut and manually-powered belt conveyors for moving crates into position to then be hoisted down to the Vault.

The crates are lowered through a fitted opening in the Vault's ceiling. The opening is designed to allow objects to be dropped into the Vault, but also to prevent anything from coming back out. A pair of heavy iron doors in the ceiling form a sort of airlock (intermediate chamber) between the exterior and interior of the Vault. The doors are hinged to only swing inward (downward) in response to extremely heavy weight placed on them from above. Thus, when the crane lowers a crate onto the outer door, the outer door swings open under the crate's weight, and the crate sinks down into the airlock (which is actually not an "air" lock, because it's filled with boiling hot water). The outer door closes and seals behind the crate, which then sinks down to the inner door. The crate's weight then causes the inner door to swing open, and the crate sinks down into the Vault. The inner door then closes and seals behind the crate.

The Mithril Golem
Without more, crates would sink and pile up haphazardly at the bottom of the Vault. But the Vault contains another unique feature -- an enormous mechanical mithril golem who swims through the boiling hot water, patrols the interior chambers, and organizes the crates. The golem is an ante axum machine that was repurposed and reprogrammed by Shaolei Timekeepers by special order when the Vault was first designed, about 400 years ago. The golem is powered by absorbing heat from the boiling hot water, and it plugs into a socket on one wall of the Vault to receive periodic programming instructions. It is programmed to know when a crate is scheduled to arrive and where to put it. It is also programmed to patrol for and intercept intruders or any other anomalies that might compromise the Vault's security.

The golem has been locked in the impenetrable Vault for 400 years, so there is no firsthand account of its appearance. It is rumored, however, to resemble a giant mithril lobster.

Throughout the Vault's interior chambers are Ardent dreamcatchers -- nonmagical nodes that automatically counterspell any spells cast within their radius. Every inch of the Vault's interior is protected by overlapping dreamcatchers. The mithril golem is likewise fitted with a dreamcatcher. The golem's dreamcatcher is believed to be much more powerful than the stationary dreamcatchers.

The Water Supply
The water is periodically recirculated and replaced, once every nine days. Fresh water is piped down from an intake located in an Ardent outpost atop Dauntless Falls. The intake pipe is three feet in diameter, entirely submerged in water, and leads straight down through rock for several thousand feet -- from the top of the waterfall all the way down to the depth of the underground volcanic plume, where it then turns and feeds into the side of the Vault. A steel grate at the entrance of the pipe prevents anything larger than a finger from slipping through. A second similar grate is also located at the bottom, along with a sealed, locked metal door/hatch that can only be unlocked and opened by a mechanism outside the pipe (located on the same crane that lowers crates into the Vault). A small contingent of Ardent Shadowhunters trains at the outpost atop the waterfall and guards the intake pipe 24 hours a day. It is considered boring, unglamorous duty, often assigned as a form of punishment.

An output pipe, similar to the input pipe, is located on the opposite side of the Vault. It, too, is entirely submerged, has a remotely-operated locked metal door/hatch, and a pair of grates. The output pipe feeds back up, thousands of feet, to the top of the waterfall, where it then outflows horizontally directly into (behind) the drop of the waterfall itself.

When it is time to recirculate the water, an Ardent operator on the underground crane pulls separate levers to open the hatches on the intake and output pipes. The super-heated water rushes out through the outflow pipe under extreme pressure. Any loose object or (daresay) creature inside the Vault will get powerfully sucked toward the outflow pipe and up the pipe toward the waterfall -- but would immediately get caught and waterboarded on the first and/or second grate. Meanwhile, cold water from the inflow pipe rushes into the Vault, likewise under extreme pressure. Any loose object or (daresay) creature inside the inflow pipe will get powerfully sucked down the pipe and toward the Vault interior -- but would immediately get caught and waterboarded on the first and/or second grate. The mithril golem parks, sockets itself to the wall, and goes offline during this procedure. But once the procedure is complete, the golem takes about three minutes to power back up, then it performs a full patrol of the Vault to see if anything went wrong, came loose, or got caught on the grates. It also takes about five minutes for the new (cold) water temperature to rise back to lethal, boiling levels. During this entire time, the Vault interior remains entirely submerged -- air is never allowed to flow into the Vault.

If you look closely, you can see when the Ardent are recirculating the Vault's water supply, because you can see the surge of steam and boiling water suddenly gush out near the top of Dauntless Falls. The process takes about a minute.

The Clockwork Owl and Ardent HQ
The golem follows whatever program was most recently transmitted to it. The job of programming the golem is highly technical and requires knowledge of long-lost forbidden engineering secrets from the ante axum age. It is therefore a unique, esteemed position in the Ardent, held by only one person at a time. This person is given the rank "Clockwork Owl," and there is only one Clockwork Owl in the entire Ardent. The process of programming the golem is performed at a console in the Clockwork Owl's laboratory, inside the heavily-fortified Ardent Headquarters, which straddles Dauntless Falls. The laboratory is guarded by Ardent Shadowhunters and restricted exclusively to the Clockwork Owl -- no one else is allowed inside. Even the Owl herself must give the guards a password to enter, and the password changes every day.

Inside the lab, at the golem's programming console, a cryptic alphanumeric code is specified using nine dials. There are millions of possible combinations, and only the Clockwork Owl knows which combinations work and what they do. How these instructions are transmitted from the console to the golem is a mystery of ante axum engineering, also known only to the Clockwork Owl.

The current Clockwork Owl is Essara Steamweaver, a high elf Ardent researcher renowned for her life's work in collecting and categorizing ante axum relics. She is an unabashed introvert and recluse who lives alone in the Ardent Headquarters. She almost never leaves her laboratory, except for mandatory official functions. She has, however, recently RSVP'd (along with a contingent of other high-ranking Ardent and their guards) to attend a black-tie gala being hosted by Lord and Lady Rosewright, influencial high elf nobles, in celebration of their 300th anniversary. This will be the first time all year that Essara has been seen outside the Ardent compound. The time of the gala also, coincidentally, happens to be the same time as a regularly-scheduled water recirculation procedure, back at the Vault. Presumably, Essara will have programmed the golem in advance, before she leaves for the gala.

Ardent Headquarters, where Essara's lab is located, is called the Arch. It is a beautiful bridge-shaped building spanning the gap between two towering stone spires, hundreds of feet in the air. The spires rise from opposite banks of the river, at the base of Dauntless Falls. Ardent enter the Arch through guard posts at the base of each spire. Once inside, many different passageways and stairs lead up (both inside and outside the spires) to the Arch itself. Hundreds of Ardent live and work every day inside this labyrinthine compound, which towers over the city below. Magic is strictly forbidden, and dreamcatchers are deployed at every key security checkpoint.

The highest-ranking officers of the Ardent are given special living chambers in the Arch itself. They have colonnaded high balconies with beautiful views of the waterfall and the city below. As Clockwork Owl, Essara has one of these chambers, but you don't know which one is hers.

Essara also happens to be Aemon's ex-wife. The way Aemon tells it, although Essara is incredibly brilliant, she is incapable of loving anything but her work. Coincidentally, Aemon is unwelcome at the Rosewright manor, due to his rumored affiliation with the Medallion. He is not invited to the gala. For that matter, neither are you -- although you're not expressly barred (like Aemon) either.

The Rosewright Manor Gala
Rosewright Manor sits along the river, far downriver from Dauntless Falls, near the base of a smaller waterfall called Rainbow Falls. The back side of the Manor grounds includes the rocky riverside. The river flows rapidly over dangerous rocks behind the Manor, churning up a low, cooling mist that refracts beautiful rainbows in the evening. The falls and rapids also create a distant, soothing white noise for guests in the gardens outside. Rosewright Manor is a peaceful two-hour carriage ride overland from Dauntless Falls and Ardent Headquarters. The river is too choppy, rocky, fast, and dangerous for boats.

Security at the gala will be a mix of Rosewright manor guards, provincial soldiers escorting various dignitaries, and Ardent Shadowhunters escorting guests like Essara. At least a dozen high-ranking Ardent (like Essara) are invited, and each of them will likely bring anywhere from three to twelve Shadowhunters as personal guards. The Rosewrights are prominent patrons of the Ardent and will be making a large donation, so security will be on high alert. There will be a silent art auction during the gala, with all proceeds going to the Ardent.

The theme of the gala is "Love At First Sight." Unmarried singles are required to wear at least one article of red clothing, even if it's something small like a bow-tie or scarf, and everyone is strongly encouraged to dance. At sunset, there will be a fireworks display above the misty rainbows behind the manor. This will celebrate and mark the conclusion of the silent auction. Sunset also, coincidentally, happens to be the exact time of the water recirculation procedure, back at the Vault.

The gala is being catered by Dwarven celebrity chef, Brock Beardsley. He will be arriving by boat the day before the event, and the Rosewrights have already chartered a carriage to pick him up at the docks. The carriage will bring Beardsley back to the Rosewright manor, where he will then stay and coordinate a team of Elven cooks and waiters for the entire day before the banquet. He is famous for his hearty, traditional Dwarven soul food, showmanship, and rambunctious personality.

Up-and-coming local band, The Enchanters, will be providing music for the gala. They specialize in formal occasions and dignified waltzes, but have also been known to play that newfangled Feldhaslen swing from time to time. They are scheduled to arrive, with their instruments, about an hour before the event.

All this intel about the gala was gathered by Medallion agents and contacts. Originally, the Medallion was planning to heist the art from the auction, but they abandoned that plan because it was too dangerous, too high profile, and they couldn't find a good way to fence the art. In total, the art is estimated to be worth at least 50,000 gold, but much of it is large, incredibly heavy marble statues. The cheapest art piece is a set of peculiar, steam-powered toys of unknown origin. The most valuable piece for auction will be an enormous pink diamond called the Pink Hog, worth about 20,000 gold.

The Heist
This heist scenario is specifically designed to present numerous problems for the players, with no predefined "correct" solutions. In fact, in-character, the Vault is specifically designed to be impenetrable - it is touted as "the most secure vault in the world" - and its designers specifically anticipated that a skilled party might try trickery and powerful magic to get in (and get out). So it makes sense that the "usual" tricks of muscle and magic won't work, and the party will need to get creative.

The scenario is also designed to evoke the sleek, cool aesthetic of modern heist thrillers - Ocean's Eleven, Mission: Impossible, and James Bond. The characters should feel "cool," smart, and sophisticated as they pull this off. Encourage creativity and the invention of "high-tech toys" to solve problems. Brazen, wildly outlandish scams are welcome - like the fake casino in The Sting, the fake vault in Ocean's Eleven, or the tuxedo under the scuba suit in True Lies. With the Medallion's resources, give the party a nearly unlimited budget for any idea that sounds like it will be fun and "cool."

The problems presented are also specifically designed to split the party. The idea here is not to weaken the party and "pick them off" one by one. Rather, the exact opposite: The idea is to give each partymember a unique task for them to excel at (a chance to shine), and the job of deciding who-does-what should be part of the fun of planning. Drawing inspiration from Ocean's Eleven and Mission: Impossible, the roles are separate but interdependent. The timeline is deliberately tight and the distances involved are deliberately long for maximum tension. No one can do this alone, nor can one character do the majority of the work. Success depends on the characters trusting each other and doing their jobs in the right order, with minimum margin for error. That is the intent behind the scenario design, at least.

A few roadblocks and potential solutions are reasonably foreseeable, however:

Infiltrating the Arch
The party will foreseeably need to determine which crate contains the treasure. The crates in the Vault are unmarked, so this is probably a problem that needs to be solved before the night of the heist. Records are kept in the Arch (Ardent HQ), which is heavily guarded. The party might need to run a "pre-heist" to infiltrate the Arch, just to get those records. Or they might save that task for the night of the heist, if they already plan to infiltrate the Arch and the Clockwork Owl's lab on the night of the heist.

Speaking of which, the party will probably want to reprogram the mithril golem on the evening of the heist, and to do that, they will probably need to infiltrate the Arch and gain entry to the Clockwork Owl's lab. There is no obvious "solution" for infiltrating the Arch via bluffing, deceiving, sneaking past, or incapacitating the guards. That is left to player creativity.

Alternatively, players might consider bypassing the guards by flying directly to the Clockwork Owl's balcony (or someone else's balcony), overlooking the waterfall. It might also be possible, with a wing-suit, to cliff-dive from the top of Dauntless Falls and glide to the Arch. The Ardent definitely thought of this, so they would have lookouts watching for flying infiltrators, and balcony doors and windows would be locked. A flying approach would probably need to be invisible, wild shaped, or polymorphed - or something creative. (Remember: polymorph gives the target the mental stats of the animal)

The Clockwork Owl
Although it's probably possible to pull off the heist without attending the Rosewright Gala and extracting information from the Clockwork Owl, the set-up practically begs the party to interact with her. To reprogram the golem, the party needs access to the Owl's lab, and they need to know what code to input into the golem's console. The Owl knows the password to her lab, and she knows how to reprogram the golem. But she will be miles away, at the gala, at the time of the heist - which is a problem with no preset solution.

It is foreseeable that the party may try to kidnap her, on her way to the gala. But she will be in a heavily-guarded carriage train along with a dozen other high ranking Ardent and their guards. Such a bold idea would need a very creative plan.

Alternatively, it is foreseeable that the party may try to kidnap or interrogate her at the gala itself. The Rosewright manor is big enough for the kidnapper to find a secure and private room, but getting her there without raising suspicion is a challenge without a preset solution.

But the Owl is famously anti-social and unlikely to separate from her guards. There are a few possibilities here, however. Even once the party has the Owl alone, she will be unwilling to give away her secrets. She is intelligent and will lie if she thinks it will work. She might call for help or try to escape - although she is not physically strong, she can be very clever and manipulative. There is no preset solution for how to get the necessary information from her. The party will have to be creative.
 * She dislikes her ex-husband, Aemon, and would probably react emotionally if she saw him at the gala. (But he's not invited, so the party would have to sneak him in.)
 * To her extreme chagrin, she must wear something red, identifying her as single and unmarried, and the theme of the night is "Love At First Sight." A charismatic character might be able to guilt, cajole, tease, manipulate, persuade, charm, magically compel, poison, or even seduce her into dancing - taking her away from her guards. A charismatic character might be able to enlist the Rosewrights, the chef (Beardsley), or the band (the Enchanters) to help with this.
 * She would not be attracted to typical seduction. But, being a historian and technophile, she might engage with someone who pretends to share her interests. A highly intelligent character might be able to draw her out by expressing interest in history or in the steam-powered trinket in the auction. At one point in the evening, she will pause to admire the trinket and record a bid on it - apart from her guards.
 * If the party can infiltrate the kitchen or the catering staff, they might be able to poison her food or drink - perhaps making her suggestible to influence, sending her to the lavatory alone, or causing her to leave the gala early.

Infiltrating the Gala
The party is not invited to the gala, and securing a last-minute invitation should be a struggle - an entire mini-caper in itself. Alternatively, the party can sneak into the gala. Any plan can work, but the scenario suggests several possibilities. The entire party does not need to infiltrate the gala - only a few selected members. The scenario is constructed to encourage the party to split up, with only a few characters infiltrating the gala, while others infiltrate the Arch, while others infiltrate the Vault.
 * The party could kidnap and replace the Dwarven celebrity chef, Brock Beardsley, when he arrives at the dock. To pull that off, someone will have to impersonate Beardsley for an entire day, as well as manage the kitchen and prepare a banquet.
 * The party could kidnap and replace the band, the Enchanters, or get a partymember added to the band at the last minute. To pull that off, the replacements will actually have to perform at the banquet, though.
 * The party could kidnap and replace any other guest. The DM should be ready to improvise and play along, here.
 * The party could forge credentials -- such as by forging an invitation or replacing the guest list.
 * The party could sneak onto the manor grounds via the dangerous misty river rapids at the base of Rainbow Falls -- reenacting the tuxedo-under-a-scuba-suit gag from True Lies.
 * Or the party could use less subtle methods, such as invisibility, dimension door, or an old-fashioned grappling hook over the wall. Such a solution should not be outright impossible, but the party should be warned that the Rosewrights and the Ardent likely have defenses against such obvious tactics.

Infiltrating the Vault
It is theoretically possible to program the golem to open the target crate, extract the item, and feed it to the outflow pipe during the water recirculation procedure. The golem is strong enough to pry open any crate and also strong enough to pry open the metal grate blocking the outflow pipe. But, no matter how preprogrammed, it might be impossible for the golem to handle small objects and discern one item from another. The scenario is constructed to encourage a character to undertake the dangerous Mission: Impossible task of personally entering the Vault to retrieve the item. This is a chance for a high-Constitution martial character (or a water-breathing character) to shine. How long can you hold your breath?

The only obvious entrances and exits from the Vault are: Thus, it is foreseeable that a character(s) might attempt to: Once inside, the next obstacle will be opening the target crate and retrieving the McGuffin. This task must be performed underwater, with limited time, and without magic. There is no preset solution, but it is foreseeable that the characters might try reprogramming the golem to slice open the crate. The golem, indeed, resembles a giant mithril lobster, and its giant pincers are strong enough to crack open a crate.
 * The inflow pipe, which starts at a lightly-guarded Ardent outpost atop Dauntless Falls.
 * The outflow pipe, which exits directly behind Dauntless Falls. A character getting shot out of the outflow pipe would be recreating the famous, deadly waterfall jump stunt from many movies (such as The Fugitive).
 * The one-way "airlock" at the top of the Vault, where crates are lowered-in.
 * Get himself sucked into the inflow pipe during the water recirculation procedure. This would involve somehow infiltrating or subduing the Ardent outpost, then overcoming the metal grates at each end of the pipe. There is no preset solution for these problems. Also, the characters should be reminded that the inflow and outflow are opened simultaneously and the water flow is powerful and violent. A character sucked in is likely to get violently pulled all the way across the Vault to get sucked right back out the outflow on the opposite side. To give the character time to retrieve an item, someone else might need to infiltrate the underground crane complex, subdue or replace the valve operator, and operate the valves themselves.
 * Get himself sealed inside a crate, then lowered into the Vault via the underground crane. This would probably involve infiltrating the underground crane complex, or some other grand caper just to get the character into the crate. Then there's the issue of oxygen supply, and the fact that the crate will quickly get deadly hot after it is submerged in boiling water. Timing could be critical, and there is no preset solution for these problems.

Lastly, the thief will need an exit plan. Although any creative plan could work, the most obvious plan is to use the outflow pipe. Here, again, the thief would have to overcome the metal grates at each end of the pipe, and (this time) survive a violent tumble down a towering waterfall at the end. There is no preset solution for these problems.

Communication
The scenario deliberately presents several obstacles to communication, which the characters will probably want to plan to overcome. These obstacles are intended to force the characters to blindly depend on each other, while also putting the spotlight on individual characters, one at a time. The idea is to allow everyone to plan collectively, as a team, but then allow individuals to shine, as individuals, when executing the plan. The scenario is intentionally designed for a group of players where some players tend to eagerly seize the spotlight, while other players are shy, quiet, and don't take any chances to speak up.

First, the Vault itself blocks telepathy and similar magic. Whoever goes inside will be completely cut off from the rest of the party. That character might also be at the mercy of characters outside the Vault, because he might be forced to hold his breath while others control the water flow valves. Planning and coordinated timing (perhaps even rehearsed timing) might be critical. There is a similar, narrow-margin, high-tension underwater scene in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.

Second, if the password and golem programming instructions are extracted from the Clockwork Owl at the Rosewright Gala, there will be little or no time to communicate that information all the way back to whoever is infiltrating the Arch before the swimmer infiltrates the Vault - assuming the party times the heist to coincide with the water recirculation procedure. There is no predefined correct solution to this problem, but it is foreseeable that the party might use Sending or some form of teleportation magic. "Cool" or dramatic solutions, such as Skywrite, should be encouraged.

Bonus Objectives
It is foreseeable that the party might pursue certain bonus objectives, such as: These are incredibly difficult, yet tempting, tasks. As always, there is no preset solution for these tasks, but player creativity and DM improvisation is encouraged.
 * Steal the Pink Hog diamond.
 * Steal the entire art collection at the gala or the proceeds from the auction.
 * Convince Essara Steamweaver to leave the Ardent and/or reunite with Aemon.
 * Permanently break or disable the Vault, so the Ardent can never use it again.
 * Steal other legendary artifacts from the Vault.