![[Saint Selina's Monastery.png]] # Introduction This cloistered refuge lies on a small hill overlooking the Drann River in the [[South Ward]] of the city. Originally built when Drakkenheim only occupied the north bank, the city streets were built up around the monastery grounds over time. It served as the primary residence for the clergy of the Sacred Flame who tended the cathedrals and chapels throughout Drakkenheim. A few hundred acolytes and priests dwelt in humble comfort within its austere walls and living cells. [[Lucretia Mathias]] and her close followers began gathering here shortly after they completed the first pilgrimages of the Falling Fire. The area is completely covered by the [[Deep Haze]] and the nearby waters are contaminated, but those who complete the sacrament are immune to such hazards and can rest in Drakkenheim normally. As such, the otherwise lightly defended abbey is an ideal sanctuary for the most devoted adherents of the Falling Fire. Roughly a hundred sanctified members of the Falling Fire dwell within the monastery proper now, but hundreds more occupy the squalid campsite that has sprung up immediately outside the monastery. # Interactions Followers of the Falling Fire live in a tight community and know each other quite well. Everyone here has taken the sacrament. ## Visiting the Monastery The Followers of the Falling Fire do not permit anyone who has not completed the Sacrament of the Falling Fire to enter the monastery for any reason. Those who wish to meet with Lucretia Mathias may meet her outside the gates or in the surrounding campsite. % ## Defenses The [[Followers of the Falling Fire]] are largely disorganized and live casually within the monastery, safe with the knowledge that few dare approach their sanctuary within the [[The Haze|Deep Haze]]. Nevertheless, a group of six [[cult fanatic]]s and [[berserker]]s are stationed at each of the front gates and passages into the cloisters. **Blessings of Protection**. [[Lucretia Mathias]] has permanently warded the monastery cloisters, tower, and chapel with [[hallow]] and [[forbiddance]] spells. As such, when a creature who is not a Follower of the Falling Fire enters the area, it must succeed on a DC 20 Charisma saving throw or become frightened while it remains within. On a success, the creature ignores this effect until it leaves the monastery. These effects cannot be dispelled while the Brazier of the Falling Fire remains lit in the chapel. # Area Details Saint Selina’s Monastery is a broad building composed of two abutting square cloisters with a sixty-foot-tall fortified tower rising between them, and an adjoining chapel of the Sacred Flame. Most of the plastered sandstone building is only twenty feet high with a sloping terracotta roof. ## Monastery Garden **Monastery Walls.** Rings of tiered lawns and a ten-foot-high fieldstone wall surrounds the grounds. Two wrought-iron gates allow access up a gravel path towards the monastery entrances. - 4 cult fanatics and a berserker are posted at each gate. **Gardens**. These were once lush and peaceful gardens, but the plans have now withered and turned to dust. The trees are dead and plants petrified. **Follower’s Tents**. A makeshift encampment of dozens of simple canvas tents fills the garden surrounding Saint Selina’s Monastery. - During the day, 10d10 sanctified cultists gather around meager campfires set up amongst the dingy tents and stinking hovels here, but at night hundreds huddle close to sleep in truly squalid conditions. ## Cloisters Each cloister consists of a ten-foot-wide pillared aisle surrounding a square courtyard. Stone benches and long-faded frescoes decorate the tiled path underneath the awning roof. **Entrance Passages**. A ten-foot-wide covered passageway barred with heavy oaken doors allows entry into each cloister. They are kept open during the day, and barred at night. - 4 berserkers led by a converted chaplain keep watch at each entrance at all times. **Courtyard.** The centre of each cloister is a broad lawn criss-crossed with gravel paths. Tall long-dead petrified trees stretch up above the monastery rooftops, and the grass is now merely dead scrub. At the centre of the north courtyard is a covered well that draws water from the city aqueducts, which is surprisingly still functional. The centre of the other is a circular fountain decorated with an angelic statue. - 10d6 cultists are praying or meditating in each courtyard. **Monk’s Cells**. Along three sides of each cloister is a row of a dozen cells. Accessed via small rickety wooden doors that are seldom locked, these practical stone chambers are tidy and unadorned. Each is no more than ten feet in width and fifteen feet long, and contains two straw mattresses with roughspun sheets, a writing table, a bucket, a satchel with an extra set of clothing for each occupant, and a few candlesticks. Two small square windows look out from each. One row of cells each have a backdoor that leads to individual small disused vegetable gardens ringed by a four-foot-high wall. **Scriptorium**. The Followers of the Falling Fire have set up two printing presses salvaged from the wreckage of the South Ward in this chamber, which was once the monastery library and scriptorium. They have disposed of the ruined books which once filled the shelves to make space for print moulds, sheets of parchment, bottles of ink, and other printmaking and bookbinding supplies. - 12 cult fanatics work around the clock producing printed copies of the Testament of the Falling Fire or pamphlets describing the proclamations of Lucretia Mathias. The finished copies are neatly placed in nearby crates and wagons for transport into the wider world. **Common Hall**. Inside this large hall are three rows of long tables set with wooden benches. Disciples of the Falling Fire prepare simple meals of broth and gruel in the kitchen. ## Abess' Tower This sixty-foot-tall tower has four creaking wooden floors. One is now used as accommodations for Lucretia Mathias herself, the others are used for meditation or meetings. Much like her followers, she keeps austere living conditions with a simple straw bed and a writing desk. The rest of the floors contain the scrolls and theological texts moved out of the scriptorium. %% - When she is not personally leading a pilgrimage to the Crater’s Edge or delivering sermons in the courtyards, Lucretia Mathias spends her time in the tower composing new writ- ing. She rests here each night. - 1d4 very rare spell scrolls from the cleric spell list are kept here. h 6 cavaliers, paladins of the Sacred Flame who converted to the Falling Fire, keep watch over the tower as the personal protectors for Lucretia Mathias. At any given time two are sleeping whilst the others are on patrol, and the other two are posted here. %% ## Chapel of Saint Selina This chapel abuts the main cloister and is accessed from the courtyard. It is a round building with a domed roof. **Chapel**. The brass brazier at the heart is alight with continual flame. So long as this brazier remains lit, the hallow and forbiddance effects warding the abbey cannot be dispelled. **Crypts**. When a sanctified member of the Followers of the Falling Fire dies, the disciples collect their delerium soulstones and store them in this crypt with the remains of Saint Selina. - Lucretia Mathias has summoned two planetars to act as crypt guardians here. - The Followers of the Falling Fire keep the Helm of Patron Saints here.