The heroes arrive at the eponymous Keep on the Borderlands, a fortress on the edge of civilization built to stave off the chaos and evil of the wilderness. Using it as a home base, a party can make forays into the surrounding wilderness, encountering monster and marauder alike. The centerpiece of the adventure is certainly the CAVES OF CHAOS, a network of tunnels and caverns found in the walls of a nearby but isolated ravine. It is here that hordes of evil humanoids have made their home. Through combat and negotiation, the players can try to explore and map out these caves, perhaps with the aim of accumulating valuable treasure or even cleansing the land of evil creatures. However, even the Caves are not all they seem. Beyond the goblins and kobolds lurk dark horrors: cults dedicated to fiendish chaos and a Minotaur's enchanted labyrinth await the unprepared adventurer. But for the hero who is brave, clever, and fortunate in equal and sufficient measure, great treasures and glory await in the Caves of Chaos that lie beyond the Keep on the Borderlands! TSR 9034
The characters are introduced to the coup occurring in Whitehorn and are tasked with warning a friend, whose family is involved, about it. (characters can choose one instrument as a reward)
A Ravaged Land... Villains that really are larger than life... A time for heroes... A decade ago, the land of Geoff was overrun by a horde of giants, ogres, and evil humanoids, its people either slain, enslaved, or driven into exile. Now at last the tide has turned. The time to free the people of Geoff from their servitude to the giantish tyrants has come! But don't forget to watch your step when you confront the true masters behind the giant Clans! Contains the full text of three classic adventures by Gary Gygax: G1, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief; G2, The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl; and G3, Hall of the Fire GIant King. Details Eighteen new encounter sites in the war-torn land of Geoff, linked together to form a grand campaign. Provides dozens of hours of gameplay as the heroes struggle to free an entire country from the grasp of giant overlords. TSR 11413
The PCs begin in the port city of Luskan, where they're hired on by a caravaning merchant to perform guard duty for the long, dangerous journey over the Spine of the World Mountains. If the heroes do well, they reach the small town of Targos, where they hear rumors of a dead mage's lost tower out on the tundra. In order to find it, the PCs must overcome numerous obstacles but may find allies in the peoples of the Ten-Towns region, including a barbarian prince, a sly halfling, and a unique ranger. Not all is as it seems, though, nor can all smiling faces be trusted. Can the PCs separate the truth from the lies, locate the Accursed Tower, determine all its secrets, and survive?
After escaping the oppressive rule of the hobgoblin empire, a tribe of goblins stumbles across a long-abandoned iron mine that would make the perfect home for them, if only it wasn’t already full of dangers. What lurks in the mine is however a secondary problem for the goblins, as they know that hobgoblin scouts will be hot on their heels. Looking to gain a valuable ally, they turn to the local town of Cathric for help. Under orders from the Marquess of Cathric, your band of adventurers is tasked with ensuring that the mine can provide a steady source of iron. Of course, this will mean helping the goblin tribe to get the mine working and defending them from their old masters. Your players will have to face off against the monsters in the mine, a hobgoblin scouting party and some over enthusiastic mining equipment, all while trying to put on a brave face in front of three trainee goblin fighters. Content warnings: spiders, enclosed spaces, displaced populations, authoritarian regimes. It is also implied that a monstrous creature is wounded by another monstrous creature.
Long ago, a small but mighty humanoid kingdom existed in what is now the local wilderness. Bugbear and ogre warriors fought brutal wars of expansion, earning great fame and amassing considerable fortunes from their predations. Those who died in battle were buried in large tomb complexes dug into hillsides and honored as patrons of the living. Among these tombs was the large tor known as Hightower. Though it was neither the largest nor the most famous of the kingdom's tombs, Hightower did represent a typical example of this kind of structure. As happens to all such nations, the cruel humanoid kingdom eventually fell to a more powerful foe that razed all its cities and outlying fortifications. Of the tombs, only Hightower escaped destruction -- largely because it was an unimportant monument in a remote location. A few tribes of humanoids that survived the devastation tried to use it as a fortress, but the humans with whom they clashed defeated them soundly and sealed the entrance with a huge, round stone to ensure that the tor could no longer be used as a base. Since then, Hightower has served as a landmark for travellers in the know, but it has otherwise been largely forgotten. But the electrical storms that have plagued the area in recent days have been quite severe, and a few weeks ago, a stray lightning bolt broke open the stone seal. Tonight, yet another terrible storm is sweeping through the wilderness, driving all creatures to take shelter where they can find it. Hightower looms on the horizon, and its door is no longer blocked. Will the PCs dare to enter its silent halls?
Your party has just spent the better part of the day travelling in dismal weather and you've just located an appropriate place to camp when, out of the drizzle filled sunset, the terrifying screams of a woman can be heard through the patter of rain through the trees. Great! You're cold, miserable, and now you have the moralistic compulsion to investigate and render assistance to a damsel in distress. What you don't realize is that morals and damsels always means more trouble than what you may be willing to pay. Will your party survive long enough to see the dawn through the Screams at Sunset?
For months, the dreams of the people of Emystrell have become dark and terrible. It seems their nightmares have come to life as in recent weeks, people have mysteriously gone missing, vanishing in the night without a trace! Everyone is too paralyzed by their own despair to do anything or venture far from the safety of their homes. Emystrell is on the brink of collapse. The baron is offering a handsome reward to anyone who can show proof of the end of whatever evil curse that has taken hold of their town. This adventure is designed for a party of 3-5 heroic characters from the 2nd to 3rd level. It has elements of mystery and investigation in the first section which can be detailed and highly involved for groups that enjoy the process of searching for clues and solving mysteries or just as easily glossed over for groups that are more tactics focused. The second section of the adventure features the dungeon: a labyrinthine complex of an ancient elven crypt which the thieves guild has used as a base of operations for a decade...until the serpent worshipping cult arrived. The third section of this book is the detailed map and notes on the town and surrounding area of Emystrell. Roleplaying notes are kept light to allow for room for your own interpretations and details to NPCs remain as free to do with as you choose unless I felt inspired and hoped to give you a cool idea. This adventure has hooks for Dungeon Masters interested in a larger campaign involving the sinister plots of the Yuan-Ti (snake people) as well as other interesting adventure hooks (such as the giants in the nearby mountains or the stolen gem: The Eye of the Dragon). These plot points are intentionally left vague for you to fill in the gaps based on what your players seem interested in. You are invited to use this as a launch point adventure to lead your heroes on a larger adventure that might someday set them against an Anathema Serpent demigod, or it may simply be the adventure that begins their journeys and the evil of Yargoth stops here at Emystrell. If your campaign is set in a pre-published setting, this town of Emystrell can be replaced or fit into any campaign with a few tweaks to local gods and names. If you are playing in Dragonlance, you could replace Yargoth the Dread Serpent with Tiamat, or Dendar in Fearun. The local goddess, Tyr, could be the Tyr from the Forgotten Realms or even Norse myth if that is your campaign setting.
Characters are inducted into the Clifftop Adventurers’ Guild with a literal leap of faith, playing the notorious freefall game Sharn Chicken—who will be the last to activate their feather fall talisman? As new members of the guild, they are then tasked with collecting an artifact, tied to the fires of Fernia, from an artificer in the deep forge districts of Sharn. Within the Cogs, the characters find the item has not even been finished—the warforged employees of the forge are on strike! In order to resolve the strike, characters might join the protest, seek allies among the warforged locals, or earn the crew some street cred by taking part in an underground wrestling match. Once the warforged have returned to work, the party must help an artificer stabilize the magical forge while being attacked by emerging fire elementals. Finally, once the prize artifact has been constructed, the characters fight their way past an ettin enforcer for the monstrous Daask crime syndicate.
"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."
God of Ore is a 3rd-level adventure that takes the characters from the quiet, mountainside town of Miners’ Refuge into the heart of the Stoneheart Mountains in pursuit of a failed pilgrimage to discover a phony religious relic deep inside legendary Mithral Mountain. The dark, twisting tunnels that bore into the fabled mountain soon reveal that some mysteries are not what they first appear to be.
This adventure is a prequel to the first ever stand-alone module published Palace of the Vampire Queen by Wee Warriors She is simply called the Vampire Queen. A being so powerful and evil that the mere mention of her title, raises shrieks of horror and anguish. Her reach is seemingly infinite and her machinations sinister beyond the un-derstanding of mortal men. But those very same mortals must stop her. The path to victory leads to only one place. A place of legend and mystery; the Palace of the Vampire Queen! For the first time the ruined Palace Keep is detailed and ready for exploration! The adventure includes one new monster and two new magic items. This module is designed for the First Edition game using six to eight characters of first level.
A vast, sprawling mega-dungeon beneath the ruins of a nearby castle. Reports have surfaced of stockpiles of wealth within the passages. Regions previously devoid of monsters are reported to teem with renewed activity. Magical and mundane traps have brought foolhardy explorers to their doom. Changes within the passages and chambers have rendered old maps and knowledge dangerously unreliable if not outright useless. To the bold and daring, only one message needs to be heard: the castle and its dungeons are once more ripe for exploration, and new legends are ready to be made. Note: This adventure requires three books for it to be complete (sold as a package): Adventure Book, Map Book, and Illustration Book. Published by BRW Games
The Brotherhood is a league of paladins dedicated to truth, justice, and the defense of the kingdom. The guard the borders. Recently, one of the more remote Brotherhood outposts has reported that one of their patrols did not return. The PC must investigate, and determine what has become of the missing paladins.
The last of his line, Baron Paytro NeMoren has left his dark secret sealed for decades in the family's underground vault. Now, years after his death, a group of stalwart heroes has gathered according to the baron's final wishes. At last, the seal will be broken and the secrets of the vault revealed. Can all sins be forgiven? The adventure is designed to kick-off a campaign, as it provides for an interesting way to get the party together. Instead of meeting at a tavern or being recruited by the local militia, each party member starts with a key to the NeMoren's vault, a key that was handed down by a friend or given as a gift for some good deed peformed in the past. The executor of the estate has gathered together all of the key-holders so that they could claim the contents of the vault. The vault can only be opened with all of the keys in unison. The vault is protected by a number of minor traps and tricks, but it also became the final resting place for the Baron's ex-lover, Lisette, and her brothers--all three of whom had attempted to blackmail the Baron. They were buried alive and are now undead. To complicate matters, a young umber hulk made its way to the vault, leaving some crude tunnels that were later exploited by hobgoblins coming from another surface entrance. The party will need to deal with the hobgoblins, the undead, the traps, and possibly the young umber hulk. There is a side-plot of poisoned groundwater in the nearby town that the party can also resolve by clearing out the undead and properly disposing of the putrid corpses leaking into the groundwater from the vault. Produced by Fiery Dragon Productions
In “Rescue at Rivenroar,” the player characters must brave the depths of ancient catacombs in search of prisoners taken from the town of Brindol in a midnight raid. The hobgoblins, bandits that style themselves after an invading horde from long ago, have taken refuge in a dungeon under a ruined mountain fortress, and the PCs must clear them out to find the captive townsfolk and the treasures taken from Brindol. “Rescue at Rivenroar” also marks the first step in a great journey - the Scales of War Adventure Path, which spans 30 levels and put the PCs at the crux of events that shapes the world for centuries to come. While the scope of this adventure isn’t as grand, it represents the seed from which an epic tale will surely grow. Pgs. 4-45
Are you ready for some HACK 'N' SLASH action? Do you yearn to unveil the hidden mysteries of the DWARVES? Are you thirsty for some UNEXPECTED encounters? The long lost Dwarven Kindgom of Gleodemar holds a relic of the past, Svarogs's Anvil, a magical artifact that can boost weapon production. The Heroes are sent to reclaim it, but the ancient fort is not empty and the new denizens have settled for good and do not seem keen on sharing any treasures. Will the Heroes manage to overtake them in a direct (and bloody) confrontation, or will the try to slip through the shadows to reach their goal? Maybe they will be captured and the "cavalry" will have to save them? In this adventure anything goes and it takes only one mistake to unravel the Heroes' careful plans and make them prisoners of the Keep. In this slightly challenging 5e hack 'n' slash adventure for 4th level PCs you will find: - a detailed story behind the Dwarven Kingdom of Gleodemar - a powerful dwarven artifact - a back-up NPC party, in case the heroes require a "deus ex machina" intervention - an optional ethical dilemma, to spice things up - both DM and player-safe maps - 3 boss monsters that can be used as future antagonists - non-stop action and suspense until the last minute of this 3-act mad rash and if all of that still does not sound fun, there's ALSO a race against time before the curtain falls. Download away! (and don't forget to share your feedback, we'd love to hear it!)
When huge stones fall out of the night sky, A deadly curse settles over Gravencross. Help the village exorcise the Demon Stones. “The sun had set an hour ago, and the rain lashed down and the wind howled on the dark moor. A storm this late in the season was unusual, but this one seemed different. The clouds were more menacing, tinged with anger, the rain colder and more biting than usual. Skerrill had to find the lost calf and get him back to the farm before his father came back from the city on business. He’d been looking for two hours now, and he was right in the middle of the moor when the storm hit. He knew he should have turned back as soon as darkness fell, but then he was never the brightest boy in the valley. If only he had remembered to lock the farm gate. The calf was now likely dead anyway having stumbled among the boulders and rocks, panicking in the dark, and then fallen in a floodwater stream and drowned. Either way, he was in more trouble than he could imagine. Suddenly, a bright flash of white light and a roaring peal of thunder were preceded by an explosion as a huge object fell from the sky and impacted the ground of the moor no more than a stone’s throw from him. Dirt, mud, water, and debris erupted from the impact site, flying high into the air and then covering the moor for hundreds of feet all around. Skerrill was knocked to the ground instantly and covered in the fallout from the blast. His ears rang and his head spun, but he staggered to his feet in a daze. He stumbled to where the blast had happened only moments before, and in a depression in the ground lay a huge stone glowing orange as if hot. Skerrill passed out. Two more thunderous explosions crashed in the distance.”
A curse is upon the land. In the old barrow long forgotten a forgotten general awaits trying to confront death, and until heroes can guide his way, the land suffers. Grave of the Heartless takes the adventurers to an unusual dungeon bordering the realm of the dead, and here a heart beats. Dare our heroes step into the darkness, where one step too far can lead them to face Death. Grave of the Heartless is a low-level OSR adventure suited for Labyrinth Lord and other oldschool retro clones. The adventure was originally written for the Danish Living Campaign The Hinterlands, and it is for the first time presented in English. The adventure introduces the players to a different tradition of adventures, and it one with a focus on exploration and encountering the unknown. The adventure includes new magical items and new monsters to challenge your players. Grave of the Heartless can be played as a sequel to Tomb of the Dragon's Heart and The Flooded Temple.
The first part of the Dreams of Red Wizards adventure path originally published for the D&D NEXT Playtest. Following the events Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, a new set of adventurer's will see some of the repercussions of that adventure. This adventure is intended to be continued in the Dead in Thay adventure (Note that they Dead in Thay 5e adventure featured in Tales from the Yawning Portal is missing a significant portion of interlude that links Scourge of the Sword Coast to the events within the Doomvault). The adventurers arrive when Daggerford is crowded with refugees from outlying lands. Goblins, gnolls, and orcs have been raiding the countryside. Now, food is scarce and tension is high. Blame for a theft has fallen on the refugees, and the Duke of Daggerford has forbidden more of the displaced from coming into town. After overcoming difficulties to enter Daggerford, the characters learn more about the raids. As they fight against the humanoids and delve deeper in the darkness that encircles Daggerford, the characters learn of Bloodgate Keep. After a final fiendish ambush, they’re ready to confront the real threat to the area. DM Note: This adventure points the adventurers strongly towards Bloodgate Keep but that location does not appear until the Dead in Thay adventure; at several points the party may feel drawn to explore that location rather than continue their investigations around Daggerford. However, since Bloodgate Keep is only eluded to as a source of great evil power, it can serve to easily segue to an entirely different adventure path. As a NEXT Playtest adventure, Scourge of the Sword Coast uses milestone leveling and the included stat blocks for creatures do not necessarily match or even appear in the 5e Monster Manual, nor do they have XP values or challenge ratings. In some places it will reference rules used in the Playtest but dropped or changed in the 5e release, these are unlikely to substantially impact gampley with 5e rules.