An investigation into a wizard's disappearance leads to tangles with an unusual mermaid soothsayer and her obedient servitors, a tattoo-covered magical ghoul, and the deadliest necromancer the city of Marsember has ever known. Pgs. 34-53
Under raging stormclouds, a lone figure stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of castle Ravenloft. Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down a sheer cliff at the village below. A cold, bitter wind spins dead leaves around him, billowing his cape in the darkness. Lightning splits the clouds overhead, casting stark white light across him. Strahd turns to the sky, revealing the angular muscles of his face and hands. He has a look of power - and of madness. His once-handsome face is contorted by a tragedy darker than the night itself. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind's howling increases as Strahd turns his gaze back to the village. Fas below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd's face forms a twisted smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came, all according to his plan. He, the master of Ravenloft, will attend to them. Another lightning flash rips through the darkness, its thunder echoing through the castle's towers. But Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind - or perhaps a lone wolf - fills the midnight air. The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited. TSR 9075
The strange city of Carrion Hill has long loomed over the surrounding swamps in eastern Ustalav, yet its rulers have shifted many times through the centuries. Often enough that only a few sinister scholars and curious minds know the true nature of the hill’s original inhabitants—vile and depraved cultists of the Old Gods. Yet this morning, a dreadful recrudescence rises from the depths of buried nightmare in the vaults below Carrion Hill. A monster stalks the twisted alleys of the city, spreading panic before it and leaving destruction in its wake. Can the Carrion Hill Horror be stopped?
The chapel, once populated by the priests and priestesses of Eldath has now been desecrated by cult of necromancers who sought its secrets to prolonged life. They soon discovered the bodies of the chapel’s clerics they slew, and those interred in the catacombs below, were unnaturally strengthened and preserved by the chapel’s white waters. Their bodies were soon used to create powerful undead. Seeing this desecration of her followers, Eldath stemmed the flow of her life-giving waters. The cultists remain in her chapel, seeking to corrupt the well and harness its powers for their vile plans. Published by Arcana Games.
It is time to put a stop to the marauders! For years the coastal towns have been burned and looted by the forces of evil. You and your fellow adventurers have been recruited to root out and destroy the source of these raids. But beware, hundreds of good men and women have been taken by the slavers and have never been seen or heard from again! First part of Scourge of the Slave Lords (A1–4) TSR 9039
The Pathfinder Society seeks the ancient ruby ring of the salamander and it falls to a team of Pathfinders to find it. Last seen in the Tri-Towers Yard, a once elite academy for the youth of Absalom, the ruby ring is now lost in the Drownyard, all that remains of Tri-Towers after it was destroyed a decade ago in the great quake. The Pathfinders must risk the strange black ichors and salty brine to find their prize—will they risk their very souls as well?
The insurgent agent Adan, a spy in Alvedara, came across plans for an upcoming assault on Bodrun, the largest remaining dwarven clanhold in the South. Though the dwarves were unknown to him, this Sarcosan rebel decided that he must do his best to get word to these allies in the mountains. He stole the plans and abandoned his cover identity, fleeing east along the Eren and hoping to find succor in the Forest of the Sahi before his trek into the Kaladruns. He didn’t make it that far. A legate spyhunter was on his tail within hours of his departure, and with his stronger mount and divinatory magic, was sure to run him to ground on the Horse Plains of Erenhead. Adan hoped to throw off the scent of his tracker in the town of Malima, where he had contacts and might be able to wait out the legate in a safehouse. Unfortunately, the situation in Malima had worsened since Adan had last been there, and it had become a place of exile for Alvedarans with the plague. It was a question of choosing the lesser of two evils: plague and possible death in Malima, or torture, betrayal, and certain death at the hands of the legate. Adan chose to hide in Malima, but contracted the plague while hiding from his pursuers. Though unable to contact the outside world, Adan sent his familiar, a raven, eastward in the hopes that it would reach a dwarven settlement that could send agents to aid him. The raven made it to the Hagaran Observatory in the Forest of the Sahi, where the PCs have been assisting the sages of the observatory. Midnight Runner Up - Gen Con 2005
A dark and grievous peril has befallen the peaceful free-village of Peppermint as the forces of undeath raised by Senerith Wildblossom, ravage the land. An eon ago he was a proud elven healer of great renown in Duskwood Dell, that has been reduced to a mere husk of his former self, becoming a manifestation of pure evil, intent on wreaking havoc and mayhem to all the living – a Zombie Lord. The players are called to assist Peppermint village and investigate the nearby woodcutting hamlet of Snakewood. The hamlet has been destroyed by the despicable zombie lord, and his forces are now underway to attacking Peppermint too! The players will have to travel to Snakewood hamlet as well as what used to be Duskwood Dell, and then make a mad rush against time while also carrying an injured Halfling, to warn and defend the unsuspecting villagers.
For more than a hundred years, the demon-infested Worldwound has warred against humanity, its Abyssal armies clashing with crusaders, barbarians, mercenaries, and heroes along the border of lost Sarkoris. But when one of the magical wardstones that helps hedge the demons into their savage realm is sabotaged, the crusader city of Kenabres is attacked and devastated by the demonic hordes. Can a small band of heroes destined for mythic greatness survive long enough to hold back the forces of chaos and evil until help arrives, or will they become the latest in a long line of victims slaughtered by Deskari, the demon lord of the Locust Host?
At Death’s Door is a dungeon crawl that takes place almost entirely in the upper chambers of the Lair of the Keeper. This lair belongs to an ancient dracolich that perhaps styles themselves after the legends of the Keeper, or perhaps even inspired them. Stormhome. The player characters are called to the home city of House Lyrandar to meet with Guild Handler Lhara regarding their quest for an artifact tethered to Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead. The Descent. Traveling by airship over the horrors of the Demon Wastes, the party descends into a vast canyon to find the Lair of the Keeper. After agreeing on a pickup point, the party skydives into the hellish landscape and hides to avoid the notice of a would-be god, then explores the surrounding area. The Lair of the Keeper. The bulk of the adventure takes place in the upper chambers of a dracolich’s lair in a manifest zone tied to Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead. Surviving the horrors of this place is the main challenge of the adventure. The Ghaash’kala. There is one last challenge standing between the players and their escape to the airship. The orc tribes called the Ghaash’kala consider it their holy duty to protect the rest of the world from the horrors of the Demon Wastes. They will attempt to stop anything from escaping the Wastes, unfortunately including our heroes.
The lands that lie west, across the great sea, are uncharted. The West March Company has spent a fortune on an expedition to loot and tame it. You are part of that expedition. You are the desperate, the outcast, the destitute. This new world is weird and dangerous. Rumours abound of a city of tombs. A cursed dwarven fortress in the mountain. Mist-covered swamps that howl in the night. Pass that treasure map around the table. Drink deeply from your cups and imagine what awaits in the wilderness: gold, glory, death. Inside West Marches Company: A Grim Promise you'll find: Twelve new monsters to surprise and terrify your players. A cult of worms, a city of tombs, centaur khans and a twenty-page dwarven fortress dungeon crawl with over forty rooms. Loaded with art, evocative descriptions, weird NPC's and 2 new magic items. High resolution maps of both dungeons: Kazad Mor The Cursed Dwarfhome and Tunnels Beneath Fort Bramble This module can be run as a standalone adventure or as a west marches style game.
Ages of Buried Evil The Bonegarden is a small nation ruled by the dead, a circular cemetery 1 mile in diameter, surrounded by a magical containment field that keeps its denizens from spilling into the innocent world beyond. Within the gate lies one of the true blights of the Domain of Hawkmoon, an immense graveyard that serves as the prison for the doomed spirits of thousands of history's most awful criminals. Those inside are determined to escape, and one of them may have found a way... An Endless Forum of Adventure The cemetery is a self-contained battlefield that abounds with undead of types the heroes have never seen, each with its own special plan for escaping its eternal confinement. The Bonegarden contains dozens of new spells, feats, monsters, and magic items. All the action takes place inside a mile-wide arena where the dead are the majority and the living are hunted like wild game. The heroes have come to the cemetery in search of adventure. The only question is... can they get out?
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.
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, it's true, but some music truly is the devil's music. This dark fantasy adventure is designed for characters beginning a gothic-themed Adventure Path campaign. An orphan raised by gypsies, now full-grown but still lost and alone, must face once more the tragic curse that destroyed her past. Will her darkling music bring ruin to the village she now calls her home? The adventure can help PCs gain additional experience and much-needed trust with the townsfolk even as they unravel the mystery of the haunted prison overlooking the town.
The PCs are singled out by happenstance as prophesied heroes who will find and return a great wizard to his family. Once brought back to the the family chateau, they are brought on as paid companions and free to explore the location as they wish. This is a large sandbox style adventure with several plots going on, including assassination, a wedding, false accusations of murder, and many machinations of the nobles to solidify or gain power. Whole this is going on the PCs are dropped into dream sequences where they learn more about the missing wizard and learn how and where to find and free him
You don't know where - or what - you are. You wake up in a dungeon. But how did you get there, and why? This adventure is for a solo paladin character, on a quest to gain a war horse. The character is suffering from amnesia and believes him/herself to be a normal fighter to begin. The quest begins with the character in the middle of an adventure in a dungeon, but not remembering how they got there. After defeating several undead including an intelligent zombie leader, the paladin gains a magic stone to summon a paladin mount. Pgs. 28-35
The logging town of Falcon’s Hollow has been through rough times—first a kobold tribe abducted the town’s children for an evil ritual, then an unknown force reanimated the defeated kobolds to attack the town. Now a horde of zombies approaches and a mysterious evil gathers power in the north, tainting wildlife and the buried dead, its presence hinting at ancient evils better left undisturbed.
The city of Stonewood has seen a number of strange disturbances of late: grave robbings, disappearances, and recently a spate of murders. Adair Wyatt, a local merchant, has asked you to help him find his missing brother Dayton. His last known whereabouts? Stonewood's necropolis, where he works as a gravedigger... The Graveyard Shift is the first in the Adventure on Tap series. The adventure centers on the city of Stonewood but can easily be transferred to any medium or large settlement as long as there is a graveyard nearby and access to a local forest. The adventure was designed to have an equal balance of combat, exploration, puzzle, and role-playing encounters.
Your foe seeks to unlock the Iron Door beneath the Peaks of Flame and open the way for the Eater of the World. You must find your way through the maze of tunnels and stop them, or it will be the end of all things. Part Four of the Broken Chains Series.
Continue your duet campaign or add something new! Wake up in a druid colony and embark on a quest for trust and truth with plenty of political intrigue, hidden plots, and exciting combat along the way! Second Glance picks up where our first adventure, First Blush, left off and invites the PC to explore their world, test their growing abilities, and get to know their mysterious crystalline companion. However, this adventure can be inserted into any campaign setting and scaled accordingly. Second Glance is part of D&D Duet’s mission to bring you high-quality, ready-to-play material that supports adventuring parties of 1 Player and 1 DM. This adventure is written for a second-level character in a one-on-one 5th edition D&D campaign. It lets the PC explore a druid grove and observe its mysterious residents before traveling to a too-perfect town with twisted secrets. They’ll take on a calculating magistrate, addled cleric, and dark forest creatures but find that other, more ancient mysteries lie in wait just beneath the surface. Everything you need for your own two-person game is inside! This product includes: -A 2nd or 3rd-level adventure adaptable to any setting -Stat blocks for FOUR new creatures and three NPCs -A region map, two settlement maps, and two site maps to aid the PC’s investigations -A fully realized town complete with shops, fleshed out NPCs, and places to explore -Side-quests for curious adventurers or those fond of gold and magical items -Detailed backstory for the ancient warrior sheltered inside the PC’s treasured amulet -A custom magical item And helpful tips for DMing a one-on-one game This adventure is perfect for those looking to begin or continue their duet campaign. It could also serve as a story hook, session zero, or multiclassing narrative for a PC who wants to become a druid. Published by D&D Duet.