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!
The colony of Farshore has survived on its own for years, a secluded and struggling hamlet perched on the western shore of the tiny island of Temute. An island dwarfed by the savage landscape across the narrow channel to the north, a landscape of rugged mountains, tangled jungles, and trackless swamps. This is the Isle of Dread, and its resources and hidden treasures are matched only by its peril. Yet for all these dangers, what may bring doom to Farshore is not an invasion of inhuman monsters from the mainland, but an invasion of all-too-human monsters from across the sea. "Tides of Dread" is the fifth 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 #352 of Dragon magazine features rumors of Farshore, a helpful list of improvements the PCs can make to the colony, and other features to help get PCs oriented in their new home on the Isle of Dread. The destruction of a pirate ship signals the beginning of a Crimson Fleet invasion. The PCs must race against time to prepare for the onslaught before an old enemy can release another savage tide. Pgs. 28-59 Also see Pgs. 60-71 Backdrop: Farshore City of Hope.
Temple of the Gleaming Sands is a short adventure for four 5th-level characters that features monsters, spells, and items from the newly released Sandstorm book. You can use this scenario to introduce the new material on deserts and arid wastelands into your campaign, or you can just use it as a site-based adventure in a desert area. The scenario is set in a remote area of the desert that very few humanoid travelers visit. The temple from which the adventure takes its name has lain forgotten for centuries and is now inhabited only by monsters who use it as a base. The area around the temple should be inhospitable enough to discourage humanoid settlement.
Famed Pathfinder Bodriggan Wuthers disappeared from his dig site beneath the House of the Immortal Son in Taldor's gilded capital of Oppara. Once a grand temple to Aroden, the Immortal Son is now Oppara's most opulent theater. Sent to locate Wuthers, the Pathfinders must attend an opera with members of the Oppara elite in order to gain access to the secretive theater's dig site. When a cult crashes the performance and the nobility change into hideous walking dead, the Pathfinders are forced to choose between finding Wuthers or saving themselves.
A terrible thunderstorm batters a seaside port, yet thunder and lightning are nothing compared to what is about to be unleashed by the diabolic crew of the Rabid Dawn. Casters with access to control water, control weather, or control winds will prove especially valuable, as will characters with strong Swim skills. The adventure is best suited to a predominantly good or neutral aligned party of PC's. Strike on the Rabid Dawn takes place in the port city of Hardby (Dungeon #109). As most of the action takes place within a lighthouse and on a ship at sea, however, any suitable port from your campaign makes an appropriate substitution for Hardby. Pgs. 12-32
Sekarvu is a typical beholder. It spent much of its youth exploring underground realms and killing everything it found. One day, it came upon a large cavern filled with violet fungi. At the edge of the cavern, it found a small band of adventurers who had all but succumbed to the toxins of the fungi's tendrils. They offered little resistance to Sekarvu as it approached and began to feed on their still-writhing bodies. With its first bite, the beholder's life changed forever. Pgs. 52-55
A strange map discovered in the belly of an ancient ruin has all of Katapesh intrigued. Yet none can decipher the strange markings, nor confirm much about the scroll’s purpose. In order to learn more, a trip to the sprawling market city of Katapesh itself must be mounted. Yet others want the map for themselves—scheming merchants, enraged gnolls, and even a murderous society that seeks the treasure as their own. What could be hidden within that could drive so many to such desperate acts of violence and mayhem? Is this artifact truly the one and only Scroll of Kakishon, and does the one who controls it control an entire world? This volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path includes: ◆ “The Jackal’s Price,” an adventure for 7th-level characters, by Darrin Drader. ◆ An exploration of the markets of the city of Katapesh, including a journey into the dangerous Nightstalls, by Richard Pett. ◆ An investigation into the world of genies, from their goals and desires to their secret shames and sins, by Wolfgang Baur. ◆ Pathfinder Channa Ti’s adventures lead her into an underground realm filled with betrayal in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by New York Times bestselling author Elaine Cunningham. ◆ Five new monsters by Jacob Burgess, Adam Daigle, and Darrin Drader.
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.
The crown of the kobold king will be anointed in blood. Five children from the town of Falcon’s Hollow have gone missing, dragged off into ruins underneath a cursed dwarven monastery. Soon they will be sacrificed to the crown, all to the glory of the twisted King of the Kobolds. If they are to be saved from this gruesome fate, brave heroes must follow their trail to the monastery and plumb the depths of its trap-laden and monster-infested halls.
Magical soul gems have been stolen from the secret vault of the goddess of death and scattered across the planes. Some want these gems to unlock the secrets of the multiverse. Others want them for personal power. Still others want them to resurrect a fallen deity. As the god of oblivion looms near, can the PCs retrieve the gems from their new owners in time to save their world? Beyond the Vault of Souls is a planar adventure for 9th-level characters, compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest roleplaying game. Within you’ll visit the Eternal City of Axis, brave the dangers of the Abyss, and match wits with the torturer daemons of Abaddon. This adventure is set in the Outer Sphere of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but can easily be placed in the strange planes and dimensions of any game world. It can be used on its own or enhanced with information from The Great Beyond, A Guide to the Multiverse.
This sequel to issue #87’s ”Raiders of Galath’s Roost” takes the PCs back to the Dales region, where they must uncover a plot to destabilize the region. Zhentarim agents from Zhentil keep are disrupting trade along the Moonsea Ride, while drow from the forests are slaughtering merchants and taking their goods to sow discord between the humans of Misteldale and the elves of Cormanthor. The PCs must embark on a convoluted investigation to uncover the mystery behind the attacks. Pgs. 48-68
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
A world of fire and wonder awaits! The path of the planes is fickle, and the PCs’ road home proves far more difficult than any had anticipated. Emerging from the pleasure plane of Kakishon reveals all the wealth and terror of a vast efreeti palace, tightly sealed by ancient magics and situated at the heart of the incredible City of Brass. In this lavish citadel of sculpted flame, the PCs gain a glimpse into the burning obsession of their hidden foe. But will their discoveries be of any help to their imperiled world, hidden away in some distant reality? And can they ever hope to escape a prison that has for untold centuries caged some of the most powerful creatures of a realm of endless flame? This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes: ◆ “The Impossible Eye,” an adventure for 11th-level characters, by Greg A. Vaughan. ◆ A tour of the City of Brass, the ancient capital of the efreet and most legendary city in all the planes, by Wolfgang Baur. ◆ A fearful look into the savage cult of Rovagug, the imprisoned god of wrath, disaster, and destruction, by Sean K Reynolds. ◆ The adventures of Pathfinder Channa Ti as she discovers wonders and dangers under the sea in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by New York Times bestselling author Elaine Cunningham. ◆ Four new monsters by Adam Daigle and Greg A. Vaughan.
Panic grips Absalom when a huge crystalline sailing vessel appears suddenly in the harbor. Identified as the King Xeros of Old Azlant, the ship presents a great opportunity for the Pathfinder Society. You and your fellow adventurers are summoned by Venture-Captain Adril Hestram and dropped aboard the King Xeros to explore it and report back. Only, what you find isn't an empty vessel, but a sinister ship with a vile intent. Difficult and unforgiving scenario, typical of Greg A. Vaughan. Contains lots of monsters from the Ethereal Plane and a mysterious setting. If playing under Pathfinder Society rules, a six-player party is recommended, rather than the standard four for early PFS seasons. Using Pathfinder RPG versions of monsters reduces the lethality, as the constructs are no longer immune to critical hits and sneak attack damage, and the Xill no longer automatically bite for paralysis on a maintained grapple.
A powerful artifact lies deep in the vaults of a House Kundarak bank. Can the PCs steal it without getting captured in the process? "You'd be mad to even try it. Assuming you could get inside the compound, somehow avoid the guards and traps, and open one of the best vaults in Khorvaire, you'd still need to get back out. And then, even if you succeeded, the dwarves would still hun you down!" Tergil, commissioned salesman of exotic pre-owned goods. Bank heist adventure with lots of guards. Pgs. 16-29
The isolated tower of the wizard Deros Frist is an example of a typical tsochari incursion into the human world. This short adventure site describes the lair of a tsochar noble that has successfully replaced Frist, a local wizard of some renown. The tsochar Yikk Tasst now pores through the wizard's libraries and spell books, eagerly absorbing all the arcane lore it can. Pgs. 130-134
Despite the bitter cold that reigns here nine months of the year, the Timberway Forest has long been a source of prosperity for civilized folk who live nearby. Many trappers and hunters spend the better part of the year within its borders, stockpiling furs and meat to trade in the frontier towns to the south, where they spend their winters. Most feel that the value of these commodities makes braving the Timberway Forest worth the risk. Recently, though, a small group of trappers and hunters has awakened a terrible new menace in the forest. Based in a remote hunter's abode called the Bluerock Lodge, they hunted the animals of the woods more out of a deep-seated desire to be cruel than a need to feed themselves. In particular, they focused their hateful attention on the local Timberway lion population. Timberway lions are rather small (more like leopards), but they are known for being lithe and wary. Still, the trappers had the advantage of intelligence and tools, and before long they had slaughtered the entire pride save for its leader. As the winter worsened and game grew ever more scarce, this last surviving lion began to starve. At that point, the darker forces of nature took notice, and the Timberway Forest gained a predator like no other. Frozen Whispers is a short D&D adventure for four 3rd-level player characters (PCs). The scenario is set mostly in and near a remote hunter’s lodge in a snowy forest. The scenario can be placed in any cold area of your campaign world that features a remote tract of woodland—a copse of trees near the arctic circle, a swath of taiga near the treeline on a high mountainside, or even a normally temperate forest caught in the grip of an unnaturally snowy winter. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.
Clues discovered in Diamond Lake lead to the Dark Cathedral, a forlorn chamber hidden below a local mine. There the PCs battle the machinations of the Ebon Triad, a cult dedicated to the three vile gods. What does the Ebon Triad know about the Age of Worms, and why are they so desperate to get it started? "The Three Faces of Evil" is the second installment of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures, several "Backdrop" articles to help Dungeon masters run the series, and a handful of poster maps of key locations. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon's monthly "Worm Food" articles, a series that provides additional materials to help players survive this campaign. Issue #334 of Dragon provides comprehensive lists of all the things you can find for sale in Diamond Lake's (often) dubious shops. Pgs. 16-47
The characters have escaped the maze only to find themselves in strange dimensions of fire, stone and ice, and a strange idyllic hunting ground where all is not as it appears.
Who Disturbs the Slumber of the Forgotten King? Wolves prowl the graveyard of sleepy Kingsholm, and death lurks behind shadowed tombstones. Something has disturbed the sleepers in the mausoleum, and brave adventurers are needed to explore the catacombs beneath the graves and discover what evil stirs in the darkling depths. Part 1 of the Barrow of the Forgotten King series. Followed by the Sinister Spire.