The Wells of Darkness is the seventy-third layer of the Infinite Planes of the Abyss, a prison used by demon lords and a graveyard for creatures the multiverse would rather forget. Imprisoned in one of these wells is Shami-Amourae, the Lady of Delights. This minor demon lord and former consort of Demogorgon is one of the few beings who knows the true secrets of Demogorgon's twin personalities and his plot to reconcile them, thereby growing immeasurably in power. "Wells of Darkness" is the tenth chapter in 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 "Savage Tidings" articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand on the campaign. Issue #357 of Dragon magazine features rules for three new binder vestiges connected to the imprisoned demons within the Wells of Darkness. The Prince of Demons hides a secret, one that could well be the key to stopping the savage tide. Yet the only one who knows this secret is imprisoned on one of the most notorious realms in the Abyss. Will the price for rescuing her be too high? Pgs. 52-84
From time out of mind, the standing stones known as the Circle of Cahervaniel have stood lonely vigil on a grassy hilltop. Sheepherders once moved their flocks over the hill and through the circle, sometimes resting in the cool shadows cast by the ancient stones. Everything changed when a stone finger fell, revealing a fissure in the earth. Now, dark shadows caress the circle after the sun sets. Creatures out of nightmare dance upon the hillside at night. Many swear that a unicorn of deepest ebony now hunts all upon two legs who draw near, while stunted creatures scurry in the shadows, abducting sheep from their sheds and drawing them down below ground for food. After the disappearance of a sheperd, fear grows stronger in neighboring villages. Who will brave the black hollow of the ancient Circle of Cahervaniel? Heroes of stern mettle must descend into the cavity and explore the ancient spaces existing there. Product History "The Shattered Circle" (1999), by Bruce R. Cordell, is a generic adventure for AD&D 2e. It was published in January 1999. Origins: Another Generic. After Wizards of the Coast began publishing D&D, their first year and a half of generic adventures were all classic revivals: returns to RPGA tournaments, to classic adventures, and to Dungeon scenarios. Even "A Paladin in Hell" (1998) was a return in its own way, to the demons and devils that TSR had become afraid of. Wizards was staking out new ground by reclaiming the past. "The Shattered Circle" (1999) was the first generic Wizards adventure that was simply a generic adventure, with no deeper origins and no hidden motives. Artifacts of Note. the foundingstone and the harp Euphonious are both one-off named magic items. However, it's sword Icerazor that's the most interesting. It's said to have grown from a shard of Frostrazor — a sword that would only appear ten months later in Return to White Plume Mountain (1999). There, it's listed as one of Keraptis' four implements of power, alongside Wave, Blackrazor, and Whelm — meaning that Icerazor (and this adventure) are just one step removed from White Plume Mountain itself. Monsters of Note: Chitine. It's somewhat curious, given the Greyhawk and Neverness connections, to note that the chitine debuted in MC11: "Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix" (1991). The spider-humanoids have generally been a Realms creature, featuring in bestiaries and histories for that setting. However, they also received a more generic "Ecology of the Chitine" in Dragon #223 (November 1995), which introduced the choldrith, or chitine priestess. This is their major adventure appearance. When asked about pronouncing their name Cordell says that he "can't be 100% sure of the original designer's pronunciation", but he prefers "KI-TEEN". About the Creators. By 1999, Cordell was one of D&D's most prolific writers. He'd previously authored many slightly related adventures, such as The Gates of Firestorm Peak(1996) and the sahuagin (1997) and illithid (1998) Monstrous Arcana adventure trilogies. This conversion guide allows DMs to run the original module with 5th Edition rules. To use this conversion guide you will need a copy of The Shattered Circle, originally available in hard-copy and now for sale in Digital format at the DMs Guild. This adventure is a generic adventure, not specifically based in any existing setting. Suggestions are given in the conversion guide to place the adventure in the Forgotten Realms.
A sunken ship...a lost relic...a race against evil! A seafaring adventure for charactes level 5-7! Years ago, the Salt of the Wavemother terrorized the seas, captained by the fearsome Cutter Blighe. Overnight it vanished along with all souls aboard. Now cultists are seeking Tarsik Bilgebreach, rumored to be the only surviving crew member. It's up to you to accompany Tarsik to the wreck of the Wavemother and prevent the cultists from acquiring an artifact that would give them control of the sea! Includes suggestions on how to place the adventure in your larger Ghost of Saltmarsh campaign, including faction opinions of the events!
Come on up for a bite. Sometimes the adventure comes to you. The local inhabitants of a large town have been disappearing and its up to find what is causing and bring back the people that have disappeared. Pgs. 48-59
Someone in the misty, wooded Moonshae isles needs hundreds of brand new swords taken under guard from Sword Coast smiths to a certain place on the Isles. The swords are needed so badly, and their safe arrival is considered so unlikely, that someone is willing to pay adventurers a lot of gold - someone fairly important. Adventures foolish enough to take assignments too good to be true (or merely desperate for coins) will soon find themselves embroiled in a dark and mysterious struggle against evil that will take them into sacred groves, crumbling castles, and through ancient magical gates to the halls of the High King - and beyond -- An adventure that takes place on the Moonshae Isles, in which a mid-to-high level party fights against the encroaching darkness of The Cult of Bane. Although helped by the Harpers, players will have to uncover the plans of the cult, and thwart them where possible. Preventing the summoning of the "Godson", a manifestation of Bane's evil. Part of the "Forgotten Realms Adventure" series, this is FA1 - Halls of the High King. FA2 is "Nightmare Keep" TSR 9301
The Lamenting Lighthouse is a four-hour adventure for 5th-10th level characters, designed for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, with a nautical theme, heavy undead and horror elements, and mysteries to solve! One lonely lighthouse shines the way through the rocks and shoals that deny entry to the northern Moonshae Isles. But when the party’s transport approaches, a horrific gale at their backs - no light is in sight... The party must venture ahead of their vessel in a race against the storm to the restore the beacon before their ship is lost. What has befallen the keepers, and what dark secret does the lighthouse hold? Will the heroes prevail, or will they join the lighthouse's lament? This adventure can easily be inserted into a run-through of Ghosts of Saltmarsh. This one-shot can also serve as a nautical interlude in any on-going campaign where the characters have to take to the sea. Included with this adventure are: + 6 original custom creatures, the dread wraith, the dread wight, the swarm of seagulls, the captain, the rating, and the sailor + 12 player hand-outs with notes that shed light on the mystery of the lamenting lighthouse, with a randomization mechanic that ensures a degree of replayability + 9 original fleshed out NPCs, including personality traits and roleplaying tips + 2 original magical artifacts + 7 hand-drawn maps of important locations + a story reward and 2 story hooks for continuing the adventure (depending on how the adventure resolves)
The rough ground on the outskirts of the village of Col Fen once served as a graveyard for an evil temple destroyed long ago. A recent disturbance released some of the ancient evil buried here, and now the dead in this graveyard are beginning to walk. Several villagers have already vanished and more will die if the undead are not put to rest. Pgs. 56-63
Following the opening of its necropolis, the city of Wati is overrun by hordes of the unquiet dead. The heroes must once more brave the abandoned streets and dusty tombs of Wati’s necropolis in search of the powerful artifact called the Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh, as well as the necromancer who is using it to create the undead uprising. But mysterious masked cultists also seek the artifact so they can bring a pharaoh from the ancient past back to life. Can the heroes defeat the evil necromancer and return the deceased to their graves, or will Wati truly become a city of the dead?
A chance encounter on the road marks the heroes as targets for an evil cult attempting to cause the rebirth of the lich god Vecna in the domain of his arch-foe, Kas. This act will free their master from his misty prison and allow him to gain vengeance upon his enemy at the same time. To learn more of the cult’s mysterious plans, the characters explore a cache of ancient lore in Tor Gorak, the major city in Tovag. Clues lead them right to the heart of Cavitius, Vecna’s own domain. There, they must discover the secret way into the Shadowed Room, an ancient library that no longer exists in time or space yet can still be reached by using an arcane ritual. Learning this secret brings the heroes into conflict with Vecna’s priesthood and their powerful servants. TSR 9582
The town of Proskur has been cut off from the rest of the kingdom of Cormyr by a terrible storm, just as its people begins to suffer from a feinting sickness. Now the crops are failing. Are these the acts of a vengeful god? Or something more sinister? While aiding the good peoples of Cormyr in their plight against goblin hordes, the restless dead, a band of cut-throat pirates and the wilds of the Gritstone Moorland, the adventurers must investigate the true cause behind these calamities while uncovering a century old past, following in the footsteps of a legendary band of knights. Will they bring the fight to the evil hag, Bad Blood Hattie in her accursed Bloodtower lair? Or doom Proskur to become a blighted ruin?
They sure don't make lawful allies like they used to. A question of morality versus ethics - made lethal. Pgs. 17-34
When you read the posting for this job, you knew what you were getting yourself into. "Lady of means requires the assistance of a stalwart group of adventurers willing to undertake a mission of the utmost importance. Discretion is required." Words like that never mean that the woman in question is looking for someone to weed her Garden - unless, of course, it's full of man-eating plants. Those are the kinds of words you only post if you are really in a bind. If it's a matter of life and death. If you're desperate for help and willing to pay for it through the nose. It just so happens that you've made yourself quite a reputation lending just that kind of aid to people in just that kind of need. And the money hasn't hurt you any either. So when Lady Elena Zadrian tells you that her father - the near legendary alchemist Sir Timoth Zadrian - has gone missing, well, you're not all that surprised. Lady Elena looks upon you once again, brushing the long blonde hair from her bright blue, tears soaked eyes. "My father lives outside of a village only four days ride from here, a sleepy, little place called Cuthder," she says. "He comes to see me every 4 months. He's a forgetful, old man, but I could set my clock by his visits." She chokes back a sob. "It's been eight months since I last saw him. I fear something has gone horribly awry. Either brigands have robbed his tiny castle, or one of his experiments may have left him dead - or worse." The lady stares you straight in the eye, and you can almost taste her desperation." My father is a good man, wise and Noble, but if word of this disappearance were to get out, it would hurl my household into a shambles. I need you to travel to his castle and learn for me what has happened to him, quickly and quietly." "Please," she begs of you, her Ruby painted lower lip beginning to quiver. "I need your help. And I'm willing to pay - handsomely." She has your attention.
In this scenario, the adventurers pass through magical portals into a series of interlinked chambers. The characters are encouraged by a young scholarly mage to voyage into the Sea of Pastures, to explore a mysterious island connected with a number of recent shipwrecks and disappearances. The island is grassy and windblasted, but eventually the characters discover a stone door leading into a subterranean complex. There, they discover 18 rooms linked by secret passages and magical portals. Most of these rooms have been ransacked by a variety of other survivors, human and monstrous. These survivors are likewise trapped within the labyrinth and are either eking out a miserable existence there or else desperately searching for a means of escape. Also within the building are a number of extraplanar creatures, collectively known as gingwatzim, who can shift between various forms: an energy form (glowing ball of light), an inanimate form (usually a magical weapon), and an animate form (an animal or monster). Eventually the characters may find the exit, and are once again deposited on the dreary islands to await rescue. TSR 9110
Trapped in the mysterious Castle Amber, you find yourselves cut off from the world you know. The castle is fraught with peril. Members of the strange Amber family, some insane, some merely deadly, lurk around every corner. Somewhere in the castle is the key to your escape, but can you survive long enough to find it? TSR 9051
"A temple destroyed by divine wrath... An ancient, imprisoned evil and a powerful idol. Mysteries abound in the tombs below the temple of the Iron God, protector of the dead. Discover the dreadful fate of the Iron God's priesthood and the reasons behind their downfall in this intriguing adventure designed for low-level characters. Tomb of the Iron God covers a large catacomb area on two levels, with 58 keyed locations and six new monsters. This is a Swords & Wizardry (0e) dungeon crawl for four to five characters of 1st or 2nd level, by ENNIE-award winning author Matt Finch. The vengeance of an angry god, and treasures untold. The corruption and greed of the monks of the Iron God has brought divine vengeance upon their heads - the ancient monastery was recently destroyed in a cataclysm of fire and lightning, and only the tombs beneath remain intact. Somewhere in the catacombs lies the treasure the monks accumulated before they met their doom. An intrepid band of adventurers, willing to brave the perils of the unknown tombs, could gain riches beyond their wildest dreams. Do you dare to enter the burial catacombs and discover the chilling secrets of ... The Tomb of the Iron God?" Also available for 5E
An army has appeared from the desert wastes led by a sorcerer said to be immortal. Fearing imminent attack, the Border Kingdoms have sent assassins to slay this so called Ravager and find this terrible rumor is true. You are tasked with discovering the secret to the sorcerer's immortality, hidden amidst an ancient crypt.
Special Basic/Expert Transition Module Barely one day's march from Kelven, the uncharted tracts of the Dymrak forest conceal horrors enough to freeze the blood of civilized folk. Those who have ventured there tell how death comes quick to the unwary - for the woods at night are far worse than any dungeon. But you are adventurers, veterans of many battles, and the call of the wild is strong. Will you answer the call, or are you afraid of the dark terrors of the night? The campaign adventure is for characters just beginning Expert play (levels 2-4) and hurls them into the exciting outdoor world which awaits in the Expert rulebook. With a 64 page booklet, 2 double-panel covers, a double-sided, fold-out mapsheet and 120 die-cut counters, this super module provides all you need for epic wilderness and dungeon adventuring. Journey across the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in a desperate race against time and the forces of evil. This adventure is for use with the Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set, which continues and expands the D&D Basic Rules. This adventure cannot be played without the D&D Basic and Expert rules produced by TSR inc. TSR 9149
A beloved priest has gone missing, and sinister trouble stirs beneath the Church of St. Terragnis. Can the heroes rescue the victims of an age-old evil before it claims more innocent lives?
Synopsis: Goblin Bathwater, a magical drug, has taken hold in a sleepy coastal town at the edge of the Empire. As the characters investigate the origin of the drug, they uncover an international criminal conspiracy, wild and ancient magic, and a threat to reality itself. Contents: This beautifully made, 54-page adventure offers: A fully fleshed out, setting-agnostic starter area, brimming with colourful NPCs and hooks for adventure. Balanced encounters to bring characters to level 2; then some more devious encounters on their way to level 3. Three mini-dungeons built on the design philosophy of the "5 room dungeon method" Multiple big, cinematic set-piece boss encounters what will make your players feel epic. A facetted intrigue, which does not immediately suggest a simple, ready-made solution but invites the players to come up with their own, personal approach. Why pick this adventure? Hey, my name is Marius. This is my first time publishing on the DMs Guild but I wouldn't call myself a newcomer. I started playing Pathfinder 1e back in 2014. When I took over as our group's DM in 2019, we swapped over to 5e. We have run many, many modules and adventures since. Currently I play three games a week. In short: You could say I'm hooked. I created The Goblin Bathwater Incident as the ideal adventure for in-between your big modules, but it isn't a simple little adventure. With a playtime of about 30 hours, it still manages to hit that sweet-spot, where it establishes context, makes you grow fond of NPCs, and makes those big bossfight wins so much sweeter, all without taking more than a few sessions. The Goblin Bathwater Incident is different from many of the 1st tier adventures in that it pits the characters against traps and monsters, but also asks difficult, open-ended ethical questions, where a simple strategy of "apply sword to head of bad guy" will not cut it.
Pridon's Hearth is Sargava’s newest colony, pushing the country’s borders further south than ever before and attracting treasure-hunters, fortune-seekers, and troubled souls hoping for a fresh start. But unnaturally powerful storms rock the tiny settlement just as the local lizardfolk tribe declares war on the colonists within. Are these threats somehow related? What became of the heretical cult of Gozreh that journeyed to the region a century ago, and do its corrupt teachings hold the key to calming the growing hurricane? Can the heroes protect the growing community from raging tempests and hostile monsters alike? And what role does the shadowy Aspis Consortium play in these recent dangers? These challenges and more await heroes willing to face down the Ire of the Storm! Designed for use with Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this adventure is packed with excitement and unique personalities! Written by rising star Thurston Hillman, Ire of the Storm is a deluxe adventure for 1st-level characters, and includes 64 action-packed pages of tropical dangers, jungle ruins, and two new monstrous foes, plus a gorgeous double-sided poster map featuring the Sargavan colony of Pridon's Hearth and an exploration map providing an overview of the entire surrounding region. Players can expect to reach 6th level upon completion of this adventure—or wind up food for all manner of scaly menaces!