The night air is chilly, but the crackling fire you've started warms your bones comfortably. Crickets chirp, and you smile up at the stars, glad for the quiet evening. There is a loud roar, and you are blinded momentarily as the campfire suddenly surges up into the air. The flames split down the middle, revealing an abyss that leeches the warmth from your soul. Out of this hellish place stumbles a black-cloaked figure clutching a scythe. Quickly, you reach for your weapons. The strange apparition staggers for a moment. Then, gathering its strength, it pulls back the hood on its cloak. Beneath is a bleached skull with stars for eyes. "I am Azrael, Lord of the Undead," it hisses. "Or rather, I will be Azrael, after time itself has died." Even as Azrael speaks, decay begins to eat away at its body, and the god shudders. Holding one arm up to watch as tiny fissures form in its bones, the deity sighs, "Ah, sweet Entropy, come to claim me at last." It's gaze sweeps back to you. "But no, not just yet. First, I must set events in motion." Weakness begins to overcome Azrael, and it sinks to one knee. "Long ago, I became the most powerful of all the gods, in spite of my enemies' efforts to stop me. Delirious with power, I destroyed the other gods and eventually fell to feasting upon the souls of their worshipers. After devouring every living creature, I consume the planets and, eventually, the stars themselves, until I was left alone, in darkness." The god struggles to finish its message as its bones turn to dust and blow away, "Unexpectedly, I felt remorse for what I had done. I grieved for the universe I had destroyed, but I lack the power to recreate it. So, I have come to you, to beg you to do what I cannot." Azrael reaches into its cloak and produces a leather sack. "Take these items and use them." As Azrael dissolves, it gasps out, "Kill me tonight, or tomorrow will never dawn." All that remains is a pile of dust and a leather bag.

Can the city of Redshore be saved from utter destruction? "The Razing of Redshore" is a D&D adventure that confronts the party with the destructive force of an awakened sperm whale druid and the sinister machinations of a secret cabal of powerful assassins. It is designed to provide such a group with an opportunity to continue their adventuring careers into the realms detailed in the "Epic Level Handbook". This book is not required to make full use of this adventure, though; any pertinent information from the supplement is reproduced here. Pgs. 72-106

Many centuries ago, a band of paladins fell from grace. These blackguards were defeated after a great battle and their grim fortress, the Iron Tower, was razed. A small abbey was established near the ruins, where generations of monks mixed ancient eldritch wards, mighty clockwork traps, and multiple fail safes to build the Iron Crypt of the Heretics. Three mighty vaults ensured that its evils would be sealed for all eternity. But unbeknownst to the brotherhood, their impregnable crypt had a single weakness: the very monks that had built it, for they knew its secrets. When a devourer stole into their abbey, the profane beast forced the monks to help it inside the Iron Crypt. It successfully broke into the first of three vaults, releasing an army of wights. The story of the devourer and his wight army is told in Dungeon Crawl Classics #12: The Blackguard’s Revenge. Now, in the Iron Crypt of the Heretics, the heroes must venture into a crypt designed by the world’s greatest thieves, magicians, and seers, solve its puzzles and deadly traps, and seal it once more from the outside world.

In The Standing Stone, a tiefling sorcerer named Dyson discovers a circle of standing stones constructed centuries ago by druids to hold their annual rituals; the druid community was later destroyed by the great dragon Ashardalon. Dyson uses the magic of the stones to replace people with animals transformed into humanoid form, loyal to him. Dyson encounters the player characters in the village of Ossington and tries to manipulate them into eliminating the remaining enemies standing in his way.

Into the Forsaken Temple's Crypt is a short adventure for four 10th-level characters. The adventure takes place in a buried temple crypt, which has been sealed for centuries. Dungeon Masters can adjust it for higher-level characters by widening the dead magic areas and increasing the number and power of constructs and undead that inhabit the complex. The PCs have entered the Forsaken Temple's crypt and started exploring a bit. They may have tangled with a pudding, and further warnings of danger greeted them. Do they dare continue on?

The Temple of Draxion is an adventure with 2-3 encounters that uses clever tactics, trickery, and good defensive positions to make low-level monsters challenging. The defenders in the encounter try to deceive the PCs; groups willing to accept anything the DM says at face value will horribly misjudge the actual level of danger they are in. The adventure is set in a partially-collapsed dungeon that was once a temple to Erythnul, but is now the headquarters of a pair of aspiring bandits, and their kobold employees. Pgs. 12-15

An ancient secret is discovered in an overrun border town, long ago forgotten by the elves of the east. It is a magical key—so obscure that history does not remember its form or even what it unlocks. But an unseen evil searches tirelessly, even as the lost knowledge finds its way into the most unlikely hands. The adventure contained within these pages will take a group of heroes from city to ruins, from wasteland to dungeon, and from despair to hope. It presents new creatures, spells and magic items. Published by Sovereign Press.

All of the Treasure, None of the Traps is an adventure that includes a single gauntlet of traps that contains twelve traps; meaning that it has either one or twelve encounters. The adventure consists of a long, twisting corridor with all of the traps set off, but these traps are reset by the PCs when they reach the center of the area. Pgs. 32-34

The Approaching Swarm is a short adventure for four 9th-level characters. The party can consist of any mix of classes, but it should include at least one character that is good in wilderness settings, such as a druid, ranger, or barbarian, and at least one cleric. This scenario should prove a reasonable challenge for characters from 8th to 10th level. The adventure takes place in a swampland that is near a small settlement. The adventurers have located the secret lair of Aleretheral, an insane half-orc druid with mastery over vermin. He has been breeding and training monstrous vermin to defend his territory. With the adventurers invading his home, he will do anything he can to protect it.

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 Heart of Nightfang Spire, the player characters are drawn to investigate Nightfang Spire, a lonely stone tower in a barren land. The vampire lord Gulthias, servant of the great dragon Ashardalon, has returned to the tower which was once the main cult temple of Ashardalon. The vampire prepares for the dragon's return by awakening the other cultists who had preserved themselves as undead creatures. Gulthias is a vampire and a level 13 wizard.

"Deeptown lies in the shadow of mountains, a town where anything is for sale if you can only meet the price. But in the wild surrounding valleys of the Deeps, it's the bandits who make the darkest deals - and their ambition comes at a cost far greater than the contents of any wayward caravan. You and your team have just been handed a new job: disrupt a meeting between a bandit lord and his mysterious new allies. At a remote mountain villa, you will strike hard and fast and leave terror in your wake. They give you the tools. You provide the talent. Survive, and you'll be well rewarded. Fail, and you'll pay the price. You've got three days to raise some hell." This was one of the first third party adventures under the OGL for 3rd edition published by Atlas Games under the Penumbra line. The attack on the mansion is not a dungeon crawl, but feels like a commando raid aided by some unique magic items.

For over a thousand years the things that lurk beneath the waters, skulk in the darkness and lie hungrily in dank crypts have been patient, while all around them men and monsters bicker amongst themselves, bold enough to traverse the dark caverns' depths but afraid or perhaps wise enough to leave the forgotten vaults and hidden passages alone. Beneath the lost ruins of ancient Thracia lie the vast caverns of a once great civilization. While a death cult rules the surface, the Minotaur King and his beast men lurk fall below. Descend even deeper into the darkness and discover a lost and arcane world that waits for those brave enough to enter! Necromancer Games and Judges Guild have teamed up to expand and update the classic module Coverns of Thracia for 3.5. Designed for characters of 3rd to 8th level and higher, the Caverns of Thracia is a mini-campaign setting that presents intricate plots and exciting adventures.

The peaks of a nearby mountain range have been home to Krikk, an old white dragon, for as long as anyone can remember. Aside from claiming ownership of a few villages and settlements near her range, she hasn’t posed much of a threat or even taken much notice of political events around her. Last week, a king’s prophet had a vision of golems made of ice that wouldn’t melt smashing through the royal castle walls, and of crops frozen under sheets of ice formed by the white dragon’s breath. Alarmed, the king has sent word that he desires someone brave enough to go to the dragon and find out whether she’s about to attack. If she is, the party must stop her before it’s too late. But, another prophet warns that the white dragon has an entirely different plot afoot, and that an icy grave awaits anyone who goes up the mountain. The player characters (PCs) have to figure out what’s going on—then decide on their own what they should do about it, while the fate of a king and his castle hangs in the balance.

The small town of Welwyn has been beset by a string of robberies. The heroes are led to the natural cave system located at the bottom of the town well, which they must explore to find the burglars. But once they’re in the cave system, things get much more difficult! The “burglars” turn out to be mere pawns in a much darker game. To get to the source of the crimes, the heroes must shrink themselves with potions of improved reduce person and explore a series of dangerous rat warrens where their prey is larger than they are!

Years ago, brave heroes put the denizens of the Temple of Elemental Evil to the sword. Now, dark forces whisper again in the shadows of the once-deserted temple - forces far more insidious and dangerous than any sane person could dream. Evil has risen again to threaten the village of Hommlet. A continuation of the original AD&D Temple of Elemental Evil, made for a party of 4th-level adventurers, taking them up to 14th level.

Into the Forsaken Temple's Crypt is a short adventure for four 10th-level characters. The adventure takes place in a buried temple crypt, which has been sealed for centuries. Dungeon Masters can adjust it for higher-level characters by expanding the dead magic areas and increasing the number and power of constructs and undead that inhabit the complex. Some things are best left untouched, and some secrets are best left untold. One such secret is the location of the resting place of the traitor Ellowyn Blacktree. Her body has lain undisturbed for centuries, undead but immobile, in the prison the elves created for her. The elven histories tell that Ellowyn was a powerful wizard back in a time beyond human reckoning. While others worked diligently to learn magic, Ellowyn's arcane powers came to her quickly. In her youth, she called this a blessing from Corellon Larethian, and she worked diligently to serve him for the good of all elvenkind. In time, she became one of seven female elves entrusted with the care of a mythal, or elven place of power, devoted to preserving the balance of magic and nature. But Ellowyn, it is said, kept a terrible secret of her own: She had fallen in love with a drow whom history knows as Orith To'rellen. One dark winter night she betrayed her sisters, Corellon, and all of elvenkind by allowing Orith and the followers of Lolth to overrun and defile the mythal. Ellowyn herself was then betrayed by the drow, who abandoned her on the surface near a vampire's lair as they returned to their home in the Underdark, leaving her to face certain death and elven justice alone. In the depths of their grief and anger, the elves sentenced Ellowyn, perhaps unwisely, to dwell forever in the darkness that she had chosen, thus ensuring that she never followed the normal path of life and death that most elves take. Many elves died at her hands before they could restrain her. With terrible spells rarely seen even in that ancient time, they bound her in an underground crypt far away from any living thing. There, the legends say, she waits, nursing a terrible hatred against elves, drow, Corellon, Lolth, and especially Orith To'rellen.

Ten days ride north of the great city, there is a small town named Treefall. Up until recently, this town was well known for its rich harvests, happy villagers, and prosperous weather. These days, however, the once-proud details from Treefall have turned darker. Instead of tales of unending prosperity, you hear hushed whispers of a great curse that has struck the once-happy village. Word has it that, where once roamed contented cattle, now strange beasts hunt by the moon's cold light and terrorize the hapless region. You have scoffed with the others at these stories. Despite the things you've seen in you adventures with your friends, the thought that such ill might befall such a sleepy town strikes you as terribly unlikely. There is plenty of evil in the world, true, but there are also much bigger and better targets. But, tonight despite the firmness of your disbelief, the stories come to find you. You have been traveling north along the roads on your own business, enjoying the rich fall colors and warm afternoons. Your camp os small and secure, with a roaring fire and meat cooking over the flame. It's one of those crisp autumn days that makes you long for a warm hearth after a long ride in the cool air. Still, the fire is good enough for now and you and your friends have a wonderful meal, talking and singing and laughing, anticipating a restful sleep beneath the blanket of stars. Until the beast attacks.

Tears for Twilight Hollow is about mystery, danger and deceit- the players seek a missing Paladin in an increasingly-troubled town, chasing clues around a village and through a valley only to discover that the Paladin's old friend long ago began worship of an evil S&M goddess. Betraying her friend and trapping her soul in a Devourer, a powerful extraplanar undead creature, the evil priestess continually parades the soul-bereft corpse of their fallen Paladin in front of the villagers in a show of 'sorrow', all the while gaining immense pleasure from the village's pain. Pgs. 62-110

Welcome to the youngest and most turbulent of the Realms, a mountainous expanse known as Tirna'Cel. This place was once well known for its power mongering warlords, magic wielding Sorcerers, and archfiends from the deepest pits of the Abyss. But in the last six hundred years, this has changed. Tirna'Cel is a peaceful and welcoming land now, doing no small part to the efforts of the warlord Tirna'Gael, a member of the lands founding nobility. Tirna'Gael turned against the other rulers without warning, attacking and overwhelming them without remorse. He is said to have suddenly grown stronger and more powerful. The reasons for his remarkable gain in power unknown, so they are routinely connected to items believed to have been entombed with him by the then newly-formed paladin's Order of Garadon. After his death, Tirna'Gael body was interred in his central citadel, a large stone fortress suspended over an immense lava pit. There he is rested for nearly six hundred years, protected by the surrounding hostile environment and a small cadre of supernatural guardians summoned and permanently bound by the Order of Garadon. But recently, rumors have reached the corridors of Tirna'Cel's capital city that invaders have struck the fallen heroes burial place, in search of one or more of his legendary magic items. So far, all that is known of these foul creatures is that they are native to the environment, being resistant to the fiery dangers of the area. Your party has been summoned by the Lord of the realm, who has charged you with ending the threat to Tirna'Gael's tomb and the potential destruction of the lands long enduring peace. If the sources of Tirna'Gael's power were to fall into the wrong hands, it could mean the end of the nation as you know it.