Everybody's a fool for a lost kid. He wanted power but settled for scraps - for now. The outcast wizard Lertol has adopted two leucrotta, and their team is ambushing passing travelers and robbing them with no-one the wiser. The players first fall into this trap when the leucrottas mimic a lost child and a search party in the middle of a night at camp. If the players leave to investigate the voices, the wizard loots the camp while they are gone. The players can then follow the wizard back to his lair and get their treasure back. Pgs. 48-49 & 28
The ravings of a mad prophet claim that a great evil has returned to Alik'bar and that this time, there shall be no salvation. Even those who previously vanquished the evil will be unable to stop it. Terror now grips the lower class populace while the guards and merchant class go about their days, ignoring the "Stories" of an unseen menace. "There is nothing wrong here," come the stern replies of the city guard. All the while the Mayor and his people retort, "the Evil in Alik'bar was banished long ago. This is nothing but vagrants and charlatans, begging for attention." The Church of Salvation has another opinion, but their words die down in a city griped with tension , apathy, and a demoralized poor class. The question remains: Why is there fear running in a city's slums? What does it have anything to do with the missing vagrants who disappeared so many years ago? Is there really a great threat, or is there a simpler answer? This is a sandboxy, mystery adventure in a city. There are secretly a green and a blue dragon leading factions in the city. In Cold Blood was updated to D&D 3.5 for the AEG adventure compilation 'Adventure II'
Red for love, white for purity, black for death. He was thoughtful, obedient, and trustworthy - the epitome of a traitor. All he needed were some heroes. A powerful undead knight, Agrovale, wants to be released from a necromancer named Talakara. He sets in motion an elaborate plan to get the players involved in overthrowing Talakara in her bid to become a goddess. He frames the necromancer for a kidnapping and murder and leaves a trail of clues to lead the players to her stronghold. The party travels through an extensive stronghold filled with many different monsters, finishing with a fight with the demigod Talakara and subsequently the freedom-seeking Agrovale. Pgs. 38-63
"Terror by night! The village of Orlane is dying. Once a small and thriving community, Orlane has become a maze of locked doors and frightened faces. Strangers are shunned, trade has withered. Rumors flourish, growing wilder with each retelling. Terrified peasants flee their homes, abandoning their farms with no explanation. Others simply disappear. . . No one seems to know the cause of the decay -- why are there no clues? Who skulks through the twisted shadows of the night? Who or what is behind the doom that has overtaken the village? It will take a brave and skillful band of adventurers to solve the dark riddle of Orlane!" TSR 9063
Abandon hope early and avoid the rush. A rebel leader is locked in a prison from which there is no escape. That's why the rebels called for you. The players are recruited to help rescue a prisoner of the Theocracy. The prison is very unique in that the cells are situated in a wheel formation. The prisoners are forced to push against their cell walls every day until after 1 full year (1 full rotation of the wheel), an opening appears in their cell and they are free to leave. There are many paths to success in this adventure, and it can play out more like a heist rather than a dungeon crawl. Pgs. 24-37
The whispered worries grow more fanciful and terrifying by the day... where has the loremistress gone?... what's wrong with the master smith?... who-or what-stalks the marketplace?... The questions need answers, and heroes are needed to do the asking! But the only thing worse than what hunts the mist-shrouded streets is what lies beneath them... Adventure in Dun Eamon: Demons roam the streets of the city of Dun Eamon, criminals rule the night and an important local power figure has gone missing. Can your heroes unravel the clues that lead through every social element of the city, into the hearts of its inhabitants and far below its streets in search of answers? Or are some mysteries better left unsolved? Uncover An Artifact: The Grey Citadel is a mini-campaign of urban detective work and dungeon exploration designed for four or more characters of 5th level. Set in a rain-soaked, rough-and-tumble frontier city, The Grey Citadel offers numerous colorful NPCs, a richly unique location, new monsters and magic items plus enough plot twists to provide hours of role-playing and door-kicking adventure where your wits must be as sharp as your swords!" This adventures mixes dungeon crawl with city investigation, keyed encounters and timed encounters.
They say the legendary Ashes of Evensong have been found! In the year 689 DR, the song dragon Evensong was incinerated by Kallurous, a red dragon. In the wake of her death, Evensong’s ashes were gathered into a hundred urns by members of the Harpers. Originally intended as mere relics, the urns fell out of the Harpers’ possession when the caravan transporting them was ambushed. They were thereafter lost to history. Three months ago, stories began to circulate that at least one of the urns has been found. An artificer from the city of Elskar claims to have acquired some of Evensong’s ashes. According to his story the ashes are more potently magical than even residuum, created as they were from the mortal remains of a powerful magical creature burned to ash in the fires of an even more powerful dragon’s breath. This tale is dismissed by most, but certain factions and private interests aren’t willing to reject the possibility without investigation. If true, the artificer may be in possession of a highly dangerous and unfathomably valuable substance. More importantly, he may be in possession of the knowledge of where it came from, and the secret of what happened to the Ashes of Evensong all those centuries ago. In search of the truth behind a rumour that some of the Ashes of Evensong have been found, the player characters find that the Ashes are ultimately incidental to a far more worrying development. The trail of the Ashes leads them to the discovery of a fiend pact warlock operating among the ruling class of the city, a vault of forbidden magics the secrets of which have been breached, and a diabolic artefact about to be reclaimed in the name of a Duchess of Hell. With a focus on investigation, puzzles, and dangerous traps, Ashes of Evensong rewards players for caution and cleverness. Published by Spilled Ale Studios
Snakes! Why does it have to be snakes? They never forgot the theft. They proved it, too. Yuan-ti are looking to reclaim a symbol of their leadership, and it's up to the players to stop them from harming a small desert town. The adventure starts with roleplay and investigation in the town, followed by a trek through the desert and a delve into the Yuan-ti lair. Pgs. 6-18
Never try to catch a falling star. A bad seed has been planted in the dark soil of Ravenloft, and now it's time to harvest the crops. A comet has fallen from the sky outside of the town of Delmunster, and the people of this sleepy little village are changing in ways their families cannot explain. The players are on the clock to find the comet and stop its influence on the town. For every day the players take to solve the mystery, another townsperson falls under the sway of the comet. A story heavy influenced by a certain horror movie about pod people. Pgs. 48-68
"More than five hundred years ago, clans of dwarves and gnomes made an agreement known as the Phandelver’s Pact, by which they would share a rich mine in a wondrous cavern known as Wave Echo Cave. In addition to its mineral wealth, the mine contained great magical power. Human spellcasters allied themselves with the dwarves and gnomes to channel and bind that energy into a great forge (called the Forge of Spells), where magic items could be crafted. Times were good, and the nearby human town of Phandalin (pronounced fan-duh-lin) prospered as well. But then disaster struck when orcs swept through the North and laid waste to all in their path. A powerful force of orcs reinforced by evil mercenary wizards attacked wave echo cave to seize its riches and magic treasures. Human wizards fought alongside their dwarf and gnome allies to defend the Forge of Spells, and the ensuing spell battle destroyed much of the cavern. Few survived the cave-ins and tremors, and the location of Wave Echo Cave was lost. For centuries, rumours of buried riches have attracted treasure seekers and opportunists to the area around Phandalin, but no one has ever succeeded in locating the lost mine. In recent years, people have resettled the area. Phandalin is now a rough-and-tumble frontier town. More important, the Rockseeker brothers - a trio of dwarves - have discovered the entrance to Wave Echo Cave, and they intend to reopen the mines. Unfortunately for the Rockseekers, they are not the only ones interested in Wave Echo Cave. A mysterious villain known as the Black Spider controls a network of bandit gangs and goblin tribes in the area, and his agents have followed the Rockseekers to their prize. Now the Black Spider wants Wave Echo Cave for himself, and he is taking steps to make sure no one else knows where it is." Extra Info from AL.com users: by @marcellarius. "There are a variety of locations in this adventure: the town of Phandalin, a gang hideout, a ruined keep in the forest, a destroyed village, and Wave Echo Cave (a dungeon crawl). The adventure is written in a sandbox style and relies on the players to choose their path. Phandalin offers several side-quests which could serve as hooks for continuing adventures. The premade characters have ties in their backgrounds to NPCs and locations. If you're not using these you'll need to consider other ways to introduce key NPCs."
Dungeon Masters Kit - Number 1 Palace of the Vampire Queen For three centuries the peasants of the Dwarvish island of Baylor have feared the raids of the Vampire Queen and her minions. Sweeping down at night from the palace in the shrowded peaks of the island, they range even further in their search for blood. And not only blood - the children of dwarf peasants often disappear if they are so unfortunate as to be out at night. Even the cities are no longer safe. The most recent victim was the Princess of Baylor, daughter of King Arman, who was taken in a midnight raid on the capitol city of At Toe within past weeks. King Arman has offered fabulous riches and land holdings with titles to the person or persons who can brave the stronghold of the Vampire Queen and return his daughter to him alive and well. But, in truth, he holds little hope. For even King Arman, Ruler of Baylor, Defeater of the Ten Orc Tribes, is afraid in his heart to face the Vampire Queen. Published by Wee Warriors, Distributed by TSR
The trouble began several weeks ago when a duergar excavation team went to work in a long-abandoned temple. Drawn to the temple by stories of riches and artifacts, the duergar hired several giants as laborers before cracking the temple’s sealed doors. The largest of the giants, a loathsome Thursir mutant named Huppo, used his acidic vomit to expedite tunneling into the temple’s collapsed hall of worship. Then, Huppo found the horn—an unusual instrument made from a single piece of stone, with a mouthpiece so intricate only a master carver could have made it. The horn became the giant’s obsession. Seeing only the horn’s potential sale value, the dwarves demanded Huppo turn it over to them, but Huppo refused. To force compliance, the dwarves stopped feeding the gluttonous brute, but Huppo had already found his own source of food; in deep areas of the temple, worms were chewing out of the rocks, and Huppo ate them by the fistful. He also played the horn. Then, after several days of blowing the horn and devouring the strange worms, Huppo released a belch so noxious the dwarves had no choice but to lock him in a sealed chamber and carefully consider their next move. The horn’s call, however, had caught the attention of passing nomadic orcs. They set up camp outside the temple entrance in the hope of finding the horn and its player. That’s the current situation at the temple: the giant refuses to stop blowing the horn and belching out deadly clouds of stomach gas; the dwarves are frightened and edgy while their leader is obsessed with malevolent whispers; orcs are threatening to overrun the place; and the population of worms grows steadily as something awakens deep in the stone beneath the sanctuary of belches.
Stagwick’s long-standing peace with giant-kind is threatened as a patrol of Blood Riders spark a feud with a local tribe of giants. With word of strange activity coming from the Ice Spires, Good King Hartwick can’t be too careful. Can you quench the giants’ thirst for revenge?
Atop a distant mountain peak, a monstrous entity plots dark deeds. The final chapter of the Seeds of Sehan campaign arc. "To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." Chuang-Tzu. Pgs. 30-47
A horrific drug has seized the population of the strange city of Exag, yet confronting its source only reveals the true extent of a dire new threat. Part one of the Seeds of Sehan campaign arc, this is a D&D adventure for 8th-level characters.
A top the crown of the Isle of Dread, a hateful monster broods. Spawned by the Price of Demons, the architect of the shadow pearls dwells deep under the ruins of ancient Thanaclan. As long as this vile monster lives, the threat of the savage tide remains, looming dark on the horizon. "City of Broken Idols" is the seventh chapter of the Savage Tides Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures appearing in Dungeon magazine. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon magazine's monthly "Savage Tidings" articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand upon the campaign. Issue #354 of Dragon magazine features the totemic demonslayer, a new prestige class that focuses on fighting and defeating demons, be they at the heart of the Isle of Dread or encountered in the depths of the Abyss itself. The central mesa of the Isle of Dread is taboo to the locals, a place shrouded in mystery and cloaked in rumor. The time has come to confront the evil that dwells atop the island’s savage crown. Pgs. 54-84
"The creatures are just too intelligent, too crafty, and too strategy-minded to "rampage." Rampaging brings the wrath of oath-bound knights, powerful mages, and divinely-protected priests. Why would a dragon want such attention, unless it had some special secret, or unless it was insane? Or both. The northern reaches of the Derideth Swamp were once plagued by a rampaging dragon. This black dragon, named Storamere, took a mad glee in attacking human villages, wiping out orc camps, driving off the lizardfolk, and decimating farmland. He met his untimely end, though, in an ambush devised by the monks of the Order of St. Chausle. Storamere died with a curse upon his draconic tongue: "you could not have defeated me in my lair," he told his slayers. "I am forever invincible in my lair." Now Storamere is back, with a horde of his misshapen half-dragon offspring, to have his vengeance. All that remains of the once-heroic monks are two old men driven mad by their last encounter with the black dragon, so it falls to a band of adventurers to again defeat the mighty dragon -- this time in his palace, where the boastful Storamere claims he is at his strongest." Includes maps and damage rules for navigating Storamere's lair, a semi-solid palace made of a dangerous, corrosive liquid five feet thick and located on the ethereal plane. Most of the monsters in the lair have the Half-Dragon template applied. Published by Atlas Games
The Cagewrights continue their manipulations of the city of Cauldron, making the PCs their latest pawns in a gambit that leads all the way to the Abyss. The heroes must complete the test of a deposed demon lord to ensure the safety of Cauldron and all its citizens. The 5th adventure in The Shackled City Adventure Path. Pgs. 38-71
The adventure takes players from a town devastated by an unexpected flood, through a drowned land where nature is turned upside down and desperate families cling to the roofs of their ruined homes, hiding from the monstrous products of a disordered world, through the strange tomb of an ancient race, to a profundal zone, hidden for millennia and now exposed, and finally to the Observatory itself, an eerie abandoned treasure palace, where they will encounter a pale and unexpected terror which will seek to claim their lives. The adventure is suitable for a lucky mid-range party, a stupid high-level party or an exceedingly clever low level party. It is difficult, with a meaningful possibility of character death. Should you find them, and defeat their guardians, the treasures of an ancient culture will be yours. At the final point of the Observatory is a glimpse of another world. Published by False Machine Publishing
The coastal village of Caer Garrion has mysteriously depopulated, and the only survivior, a lone prisoner in the local jail, has gone mad. What does this village's sinister fate portend for the Moonshae Isles?