This is for a homebrew world, Xioria, but much of the theology and culture is lifted from the Forgotten Realms (one of the official settings of the late 80s). All figures (with the exception of the Obsidian Fisticators and the names of places on the material plane) existed at least in second edition, if not first. As I run a variety of editions in this world, I had to make sure what I write would work as canon in the game I run. I will be running this adventure in the future, otherwise it will remain as an existing plot hook should my parties ever venture into the area in the future. Also, because none of my players speak anything other than English, names are often descriptions put through google translate to make my jobs (making and remembering names) easier.
Within the slopes which form the Brinkslind mountain ranges there exist many caves. Among these caves, there are more than a few shafts which stretch all the way to depths of the underdark, from whence drow, duergar, and beholder sprout. Alike to these treacherous shafts are those caves and cliffs which have been connected through planar tears caused by the sundering, entrapping, releasing, and banishing of Tiamat the Scaled Tyrant at the hands first of the sons of Annam (Skoraeus Stonebones, Stronmaus, Thrym, Memnor, Grolantor, and Surtr) and later of the Obsidian Fisticators. Of particular interest to this story is Anchor, Servant of Primus, and Aligner of Chaoticians. Anchor, before meeting his grisly end and binding himself to his weapon to continue his mission, was inspired to collate his power after meeting with a being of pure order, a Modron, aligning the rocks at a cave atop what is now known as Mount Marut. Mount Marut, since the Banishment of the Scaled Tyrant, expiration of the Modron, and sequestering of the Axe of Lawful Retribution has become a holy site to many who were inspired by the long dormant Anchor to take to the ideals of order. Many have flocked to Mount Marut for meditation and alchemical practices, as were known to have been practiced by Anchor.
Meditation within the ordered stones of Mount Marut is more effective than outsiders may think. Drifting along with the smoke from the Emberwood to the North are the leaching energies of the Feywild, making spontaneous action, wu wei, easier. The chaotic smokes from the North intermingle with the energies spilling forth from the planar tears which connect Mount Marut with The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, the plane of Primus, absolute law, and distilled order. This comingling of absolute order from Nirvana and the incomprehensible chaos of the Feywild have caused many of the practitioners atop Mount Marut to take up unorthodox approaches to their varied quests for immortality and enlightenment.
The party, on an expedition through the territory of Mount Marut on a survey of newly reclaimed Xantonian land, is asked by an Elven man (Shībài), whose wall gazing they interrupt, to check up on his friend Chénggōng De Nǚrén, a human alchemist near the center of the Modron’s Maze atop the mountain. Chénggōng De Nǚrén has not visited Shībài for a number of years now and Shībài is beginning to worry about his human friend, a feeling which has lately been making his concentration difficult. In return, Shībài claims the party might "learn a thing or three about who they ought to be" . The trek from Shībài to Chénggōng De Nǚrén is about 80 miles by the most direct terrestrial route, but the Modron’s Maze is difficult to navigate for those of chaotic alignment. Each morning the party must roll a d20, adding 1 for each Chaotic party member and subtracting one for each Ordered party member to determine the number of miles that are added to the trip wandering throughout the maze. In addition to ordinary mountain encounters, meditating mages, wandering parties, and travelling merchants may be encountered and interact with the party as the DM determines. Upon arriving at the destination, the cave of Chénggōng De Nǚrén seems to hold only a handful of pine needles, smooth stones, and a humanoid statue of rough rock around the neck of which is a locket. Inspection of the locket reveals a depiction of two women in their mid-thirties. As the party examines the locket, what seems to be an ethereal specter of one of the women exudes from the locket, taking ghostly form above it before streaming into the nostrils of the humanoid statue. Using the stat block of a ghost automatically possessing a stone golem, the spectral woman attacks the party in an attempt to escape the cave. The ghost, using the golem’s "slow" ability and immense strength likely escapes the party and runs amok throughout the nearby settlement. Upon being defeated, the golem crumbles and the ghost re-enters the locket. Any attempt short of a wish spell or attack from an artifact fails to damage the locket. Speaking with the practitioners in the town can trigger some (determined by a d8 or the DM) or all of the following events:
1. An elderly gentleman who witnessed the destruction of the golem recognized the spectral woman as Sǐ Nǚrén, wife of Chénggōng De Nǚrén who drowned tragically many years ago, sparking Chénggōng De Nǚrén to take up Inner Alchemy in an attempt to avoid rejoining her wife. Rumor has it that Chénggōng De Nǚrén had been ashamed of being unable to save her wife and now was too afraid to face her in death.
2. The golem is revealed to be a botched attempt at the construction of an immortal celestial body. According to a telepathic halfling who is revered as an expert on inner alchemy, this can occur if the pursuit of the celestial body is marred with impurities or undertaken for tainted reasons. In successful generations of celestial bodies, the body will not directly take the place of the original body, but will merely siphon the qi of the original body.
3. A child in the town recognizes that many of the joints of the stone golem are like those found in a river a mile or so down the Eastern side of the mountain.
4. An exorcist offers to bring down the power of the gods on the locket for the cost of 4000 gold pieces (approx. $800,000), banishing the locket to Limbo, the plain of Slaad, where it is unlikely to return for centuries.
5. A sage questioned about ghosts will explain that a ghost can be placated by fulfilling that which they desire or are being denied in death, whether that be reverence, vengeance, or particular sacrifices.
6. An old eccentric man in a cart hitched backwards to a donkey can use a fish drum to foretell a possible future of the golem, that it will be reunited with the ghost in due course, but not without the party will the lovers be reunited for many centuries at least.
7. Nigel, a childhood friend of Chénggōng De Nǚrén will recognize the locket as having been worn by Chénggōng De Nǚrén throughout her life, and one of the two women within the locket is Chénggōng De Nǚrén, with the other being Sǐ Nǚrén. He has not seen either in many years, though has seen a neglected shrine to Sǐ Nǚrén near the river East of the settlement.
8. An official carrying a Jade Tablet offers to cleanse the golem, but not the locket. Doing so causes the body to transform into a humanoid shape that appears to be affected by the stoneskin spell. The body is Chénggōng De Nǚrén who thanks the party, gifting them the locket, before joining the official and vanishing a flash of green light. Across the town, 7 other individuals vanish in similar ways.
Regardless of which (if any) of the above events take place, the spirit of Sǐ Nǚrén reappears every 1d4 days at dawn so long as the spirit is not placated by either proper worship at her shrine or the cleansing of the golem body in the river to the east of the town, which she drowned in. Placating the spirit with proper worship over the course of centuries causes her to become deified as a patron to scorned wives and disrespected women, acting as an avenging goddess on their behalf. Placating the ghost through the washing of the golem causes the stone to chip and flake away, revealing the body of Chénggōng De Nǚrén which reanimates with an understanding that she had become so engrossed in herself and her practice that she has hurt the spirit of her wife and must atone. Of course, the party can elect to do any number of other things with the locket. Banishment and hiding work for a number of years determined by the DM, delivering the locket to powerful clerics or Shībài changes the locus of torment wrought by the ghost, which may take on the form of a poltergeist in many scenarios, and carrying the locket with them will cause the party to be regularly possessed and haunted by the ghost of Sǐ Nǚrén.