The fair Yayosei were the children of an ancient tribe of benign river spirits, until they tried to preserve their paradise by trapping the power of the Void Dragon. Their home was indeed preserved, but at a terrible cost. Today, the descendants of the Yayosei have degenerated into beasts, but what remains trapped within the Palace of Plenty is much worse. An Oriental Adventures scenario for 10th-level characters.
Evil schemes are afoot in Cauldron, a metropolis of merchants built into the caldera of a long-dormant volcano. To foil the agenda of evil cultists, your band of adventurers must brave haunted jungle ruins, slay mighty dragons, and bind themselves to a layer of the infinite Abyss. Will their swords and spells be enough to save the Shackled City? Originally published as 11 linked adventures in the award-winning Dungeon magazine, the Shackled City Adventure Path is the most ambitious official Dungeons & Dragons campaign ever created. Now, for the first time ever, everything you need to play the campaign has been compiled into a deluxe 416-page full-color hardcover that also includes an 8-panel fully detailed map of the City of Cauldron, a 16-page full-color map and illustration booklet, and a brand new Shackled City adventure written by fan favorite author Christopher Perkins.
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
Side-Trek adventure When your PCs gain access to the teleport spell, their whole world changes. That simple spell opens up instantaneous, long-distance travel. No more long overland journeys or dangerous retreats through hostile territory. All it takes is clasped hands and a word from the wizard, and poof! The PCs are where they want to go. Except that it isn’t that simple, because teleport isn’t foolproof. The off-target teleports are a matter of scattering your PCs someplace else on the map and forcing them to get their bearings and make the long overland journey anyway. But this Side Trek focuses on the really intriguing column on the teleport chart: “similar area.”
The Cagewrights are defeated. The Tree of Shackled Sould is no more. Lord Vhalantru has been exposed and put down for the menace he truly was. The town of Cauldron has been saved from volcanic apocalypse. The heroes of Cauldron have earned their place in history, and more than deserve a time of rest, yet fate is not so kind. For the true menace behind the curtain still lives. As long as Adimarchus, the demon prince of madness, continues to dream his haunted dreams and writhe away the years in torment in the fiendish asylum of Skullrot, Cauldron can never be truly safe. "Asylum" concludes the Shackled City Adventure Path that began with "Life's Bazaar" (Dungeon #97) and continued with "Flood Season" (Dungeon #98), "Zenith Trajectory" (Dungeon #102), "The Demonskar Legacy" (Dungeon #104), "Test of the Smoking Eye" (Dungeon #107), "Secrets of the Soul Pillar" (Dungeon #109), "Lords of Oblivion" (Dungeon #111), "Foundation of Flame" (Dungeon #113), "Thirteen Cages" (Dungeon #114), and "Strike on Shatterhorn" (Dungeon #115). Pgs. 40-65
This new version of the classic adventure is completely updated to 3.5 edition. In The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho, a defenseless village asks the characters to slay an out-of-control ogre. Sounds easy enough. But the ogre, who used to be nothing more than a nuisance, has become crazed and psychotic. When the characters arrive at its cave, they find a subterranean portal has connected the cave to a much larger underground complex. Something in that complex has transformed the ogre and many other local creatures into fiendish marauders. In fact, it’s the lost vault of Tsathzar Rho, an ancient wizard and prophet of the Outer Gods, who are gathering their foul minions for battle.
The Characters come across an ancient wizard's tower. The nearby keep has been reduced to rubble over the ages, but the tower is in perfect condition. It is surrounded by an impenetrable force field that cannot be breached - not even by the ghost of the long-dead wizard, who has been trapped within for centuries. Surely there must be great treasure within this magical abode. But how to get to it?
A killer is stalking the warforged of Sharn. Some say the murderer is a vengeful spirit, while others blame human bigotry and fear. Can the adventurers expose the truth that lies hidden in the depths of Sharn? Steel Shadows is a D&D adventure suitable for four characters of 7th level. This adventure is set in the city of Sharn in the Eberron campaign setting. Since this is a mystery themed adventure, at least one of the characters should have the Investigate feat. The adventure includes a sidebar for scaling the adventure for lower and higher level characters.
The once-dwarven wizard Hehranna knows that her previous race, for all its pride and skill, is hampered and distracted by lesser concerns—family, friendship, emotion. Once they join the Hive, they won’t begrudge a few moments of pain in exchange for the industrious awakening she has to offer them. Pgs. 16-32
Within an ancient necropolis a pool of alien slime grasps the minds and bodies of the people of Exag with wispy tendrils of madness. Those transformed by its power invariably seek the crypt, but what fell power draws them there? Part two of the Seeds of Sehan campaign arc. Pgs. 26-41
This adventure takes place in the Moonsea of Faerûn. The players have been brought to Melvaunt to search for the missing scions of the city's great families. To the north, in Thar the orc tribes converge on the ruined fortress of Xul-Jarak, flocking to the banner of a charismatic warlord. There, he intends to sacrifice the scions of the great families of Melvaunt in a bloodritual to Gruumsh. The players will escape Melvaunt, search along the wilderness of Thar for the Fortress of Xul-Jarak, and then explore the dungeons of the ruined fortress and hopefully rescue the scions before they are sacrificed. There also is a Web Enhancement by Eric Cagle on the archives of wizards of the coast's website designed to scale the adventure to level 8. For example, it replaces the Owlbear with a Tyrannosaurus. This is an easy to scale adventure with much of the player's difficulty coming from intelligently avoiding problems, choosing how to approach each floor in the most tactical way, and quickly adjusting when something goes wrong. The adventure has sidebars including common orc battle cries (In Orc!), ready to use orc names, weather and random encounter table in Thar, a description of what happens if the party fails or partially succeeds, and suggested minis for each of the encounters. There is even an extended description of the bloodspear ritual, an event the party is not meant to encounter in a normal run. The appendix is detailed for all the humanoid characters including the scions and their equipment, the named villains, and variety of unnamed orcs the party will encounter. The fortress also offers an opportunity to introduce the players to the Underdark and the Zhentil Keep. There is a passage to the Underdark the players can accidentally explore, and return to later. Emissaries from Zhentil Keep have come to watch the ritual and have their own motivations. These npcs provide an opportunity for exposition and role playing at a point which otherwise might be combat heavy, acting as a valve for the first floor - helping or hurting the party with subtle magic should the difficulty be off.
"A spiteful ghost haunts an abandoned courthouse in the metropolis of Absalom, and on the ten-year anniversary of a grave injustice it seeks its revenge. The heroes must unravel the mystery of the ghost’s demise before they too are given a guilty verdict and sent to the gallows." This adventure is different from many others in that it progress according to 1 hour increments, rather than according to the player's exploration. The party is trapped in an old courtroom, trying to solve a decade old murder. Though one of the villains is listed as a "revenant," this is primarily due to the thematic similarity. The actual undead antagonist is a unique type called a "croaker," which bears a similarity in that it is driven by vengeance.
Decades ago, an Osiriani Pathfinder named Bossell locked his transformed lover in the vaults beneath the Sothis Pathfinder Lodge. He then vowed that no one would ever discover his secret shame. The old and senile Bossell now relies on his assistant Fendel for everything, and the hapless assistant has disapeared into the vaults after reading his master's journal. You've been sent beneath the Lodge to destroy whatever it is that Bossell's lover has become—will you survive his secret or find yourself transformed as well?
When the priestess of Ehlonna was murdered by a werewolf, the townsfolk of Deepwood lost no time in meting out justice, even though the shapechanger turned out to be a trusted friend and neighbor. But his journal has the town worried. Written in an unknown tongue, it seems to contain important pieces of information. Is it a list of other werewolves? Is the threat to Deepwood over, or has it only just begun? Cries of "Murder!" brought the villagers of Deepwood running to the temple to witness a grisly sight. The priestess of the Temple of Ehlonna lay murdered on the floor, savaged by some vicious beast. Above her body stood a large wolf. Then, before their horrified eyes, the wolf turned into a man -- their friend and neighbor Trammil! The villagers lost no time in giving Trammil the justice he deserved at the end of a rope, even over the objections of those few who thought he deserved a trial. But Trammil's death has not made the villagers feel safe. No one suspected his dark secret until the day of the crime. Could there be others? Can anyone in town be trusted? Only someone who can translate Trammil's journal and fully investigate the murder can solve the mystery.
An ancient gate to the abyss lies undisturbed in the Valley of Obelisks. Sinister forces seek to reactivate the gate for their own ends, can the heroes stop them in time?
Written by the setting’s creator, incomparable RPG author Monte Cook, Ptolus: Queen of Lies is an action-packed fantasy adventure painstakingly re-designed for Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire. Involving numerous challenging scenarios for characters of 11th level, Queen of Lies is filled with dozens of dark elf personalities, cunningly showcasing their alien culture—a world of merciless betrayal and sinister lusts. Deep below the surface, in the sunless lands of the Netherdeep, creatures of darkness build weapons and amass armies, dreaming of invasion. An attack on a peaceful elven shrine in Emerald Hill sends the heroes on a quest to retrieve stolen artifacts and kidnapped friends. All signs point to the actions of the dark elves of Ul-Drakkan, far below the city of Ptolus. However, even within that ancient fortress, there exists a deeper darkness.... Underground enemies lurk beyond every twisting passage, and strange creatures abound. The foul culture of the dark elves is both decadent and cruel, and the heroes may discover that they’ve stumbled into a web of deceit and treachery spun by the self-styled queen of the dark elves. Can the player characters complete their mission without being discovered, or will they find out, perhaps too late, that their actions been orchestrated all along by the wicked Queen of Lies? Published by Fiery Dragon Productions
Shadows in the forest deepen as an Oracle among the Yuirwood's half-elf inhabitants fire tells the reemergence of the Duskwalker, an ancient and corrupt star elf wizard. Missing travelers and lost goods all point to a circle of standing stones within the forest. Perhaps, like it's counterparts elsewhere in the Yuirwood, this stone henge allows for travel to travel to another place - but where? And what growing darkness awaits those bold enough to find out?
This was supposed to be a simple job! In the small town of Haanex on Reanaaria Bay, the wizard Veoden assembles the PCs to do a simple job: find the remnants of a meteor said to be made of the rare substance mithral. First they must find a map that local rumor tells is guarded by the spirits of the dead. Upon recovering the map and locating the crater, they uncover a plot to create a powerful magical item called the Coin of Power. This artifact is a tool for wickedness and the players soon find themselves on a quest to learn the means to destroy this evil item and its insidious master before she destroys them. Complicating matters is the fact that the one man who can help them was lost during an expedition to the Reelio Jungle months ago and is yet to return. Will the PCs be able to survive the rigors of the jungle and solve the riddle of the tribesmen who live there? The lives of innocents might depend on it! This accessory provides characters with an elaborate storyline and a chance for many varied types of adventure. You will take your PCs from the quiet village of Haanex in northern Reanaaria Bay to the Vry Naasu Headlands, the City-State of Zoa and finally the forlorn Reelio Jungle. The Root of All Evil fantasy game supplement is set in the popular Kingdoms of Kalamar Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting but can be adapated for use in any setting! This module can be used by itself, or as Part One of the Coin of Power trilogy (see also Forging Darkness and Coin’s End).
Demonheart is a D20 adventure campaign for 4-5 characters. As it is a long and fairly involved story, characters should be level 6-8 when they begin and will earn enough experience to rise to levels 10-12. Demonheart includes many opportunities for both combat and roleplaying. At least one fighter-type is required, and given the wild, frontier nature of the campaign, a ranger’s skills would be especially useful. Stealth and intrigue also favor rogue characters, while a cleric, particularly from a martial order who can fight well would find plenty of opportunity to use his or her powers against the undead and evil outsiders. Demonheart also takes place in a wilderness setting where ancient magic abounds, and the special nature skills of a druid will help the party to make friends with some of the land’s fey or wild elvish inhabitants. Sorcerers and wizards will likewise find use for their talents, but those who understand divine or druidic magic may be more important than arcanists. As this adventure involves the struggle against evil, both ancient and resurgent, the party’s overall alignment should be good, though individuals of other alignments may be tempted to use the ancient magic of the forest for their own ends, or even join with the forces of evil!
A bad of settlers awaits certain death upon the vicious blades of massing gnoll hordes. Can the PCs distract the ravenous army of savage humanoids long enough for reinforcements to arrive? A D&D adventure for 3rd-level characters.