“The Temple Between” is an adventure for 9th level characters, and it is challenging enough to take them to 11th level by the time all is said and done. Although intended as the final chapter of the heroic tier portion of the Scales of War Adventure Path, it can be run as a standalone adventure, or as an adventure in a campaign of your own making, with a small degree of modification. It contains elements of urban investigation, dungeon delving, and even wartime conflict, making it a suitable adventure to players of many tastes and preferences. The western end of Elsir Vale has been greatly troubled in recent days. The threat of the orc hordes from beyond the Stonehome Mountains, though turned back at Bordrin’s Watch, still lingers in the people’s minds. Peculiar and hostile creatures of shadow lurk in the caverns and caves below. Political squabbling grows among the city’s powerful dwarf clans. All this makes the city particularly vulnerable to an enemy nobody saw coming - that nobody even imagined. This enemy has goals and objectives far beyond the ultimately unimportant Elsir Vale, but the first step is the utter subjugation of Overlook. An enemy who, at least in part, is already here. In this adventure the player characters start by investigating the strange behavior of the city's clergy. They swiftly discover hints of a conspiracy worming its way through the city hierarchy - some members are possessed while others have been replaced by dopplegangers. After trailing this conspiracy to its source they discover a portal that leads to an ancient temple in the mountains. Using the portal, the PCs go to the abandoned ancient temple where they must confront both a cadre of fey and a band of mercenaries, from whom they learn there is a plot for a full-scale invasion of the region! The PCs must them rush back to Overlook and cement their place as heroes as they face off against the invading forces. Pgs. 4-71

This deluxe adventure takes heroes into the ruins of Gardmore Abbey, a monastery that was once the base of a militant order of paladins devoted to Bahamut. According to legend, the paladins brought a dark artifact back from a far crusade and stored it in their abbey for safekeeping, and evil forces gathered to assault the abbey and take it back. What the legends don’t tell is that this artifact was actually the Deck of Many Things, a force of pure Chaos. This adventure brings characters into the extensive dungeons beneath the ruins - dungeons that are warped and twisted with the raw forces of Chaos surrounding the cards of the deck.

The goddess Erathis has never seemed the sort to demand the sacrifice of mortals in exchange for safe trade routes, but that’s exactly what her high priest has demanded. When a local ruler asks the characters to investigate the high priest, a chain of events is set in motion that could shake the city of Wyllea, and the church of Erathis, to its core. This adventure makes extensive use of roleplaying encounters and skill challenges, with fewer tactical combat encounters. There is a substantial focus on politics and intrigue. The Tariff of Relkingham is written for 3rd level PCs, but contains advice for lowering or raising the starting level from 2-4. It also contains a system for calculating an advantage or disadvantage in the final fight based on the players' actions during the adventure. Pgs. 83-103

“Den of the Destroyer” is the sequel to “The Lost Mines of Karak,” continuing the unfolding story of the Scales of War adventure path. In this adventure, the PCs are called back to Brindol by a surprising summons. There they learn that a platinum sword they had collected back in "Rescue at Rivenroar" is no mundane item - the blade is sentient! The blade charges the PCs to undertake a dangerous mission to an abandoned githzerai fortress in order to perform a ritual to awaken the blade's true form. Along the way, they must deal with bounty hunters hired by an old enemy (from "Shadow Rifts of Umbraforge"), and confront a vile gang of gnolls terrorizing Elsir Vale. Pgs. 14-54

From The Magazine: "Every summer, Duke Hightower holds a competition quite different from the traditional jousting and archery tournaments held by similar lords of his station. The rules of his tournament change from year to year, and, to oversee the games, the duke has appointed two wizard brothers who help choose the setting and create the rules and challenges of the competition. This year the competition is called the “Owlbear Run,” an overland race that requires each participating team to escort a live owlbear from the town of Telvorn to the town of Milvorn. The teams will face a variety of challenges; some are devised by the wizards, others by the competing teams or their sponsors, and some occur entirely at random. All of these tests are in addition to the challenges inherent in motivating a temperamental owlbear. Fortune and fame await the first team to cross the finish line, and the local lords sponsoring the race are eager to enlist skilled champions for their causes." Pgs. 2-27

The ruined manor now known as Kobold Hall was once a minor lord's proud holding, a walled keep overlooking the old King's Road. That was years ago, and the lord's name and glories he earned are long forgotten. Today, the place is called Kobold Hall after the malicious humanoids that invest the place. Pgs. 210-219

A vast Feywild swamp slowly seethes into the mortal world, conjured by a malevolent hag. The Murkendraw's unstoppable progress widens Rotten Ethel's dominion by a few steps each day, and with it, the hag's ambition. When Rotten Ethel kidnaps the fairest pixie of all, the swamp's advance suddenly quickens. The fairy folk need brave heroes to turn back the tide and venture forth to rescue Glitterdust.

The Raiders’ Hideout is a series of underground chambers (or perhaps the interior of a pyramid) that serves as a base of operations for a band of gnoll desert raiders. The PCs have come to exact a measure of justice for recent brutal caravan raids. They’ve tracked the gnolls to their lair, where they intend to end the threat to desert trade once and for all. Pgs. 30-35

The search for a missing paladin takes the PCs deep into the heart of a frontier torn apart by cult wars—and face to face with an ancient evil. The paladin Jaryd set out to find and destroy the Hand of Naarash. He was never heard from again. Now the PCs must retrace Jaryn’s steps across the harsh wilderness and determine what has become of the noble warrior. Pgs. 29-59

A band of evil fey, led by a corrupt bralani, has raided an eladrin city and kidnapped several respected elders. The fomorian king claims the rogues don’t act on his behalf, but the eladrin city threatens the fomorians all the same. To prevent war, the PCs travel through the Underdark of the Feywild—a wondrous place filled with the beautiful and the horrifying—in search of the evil fey and their captives. Pgs. 96-101

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

Reavers of Harkenwold pits the heroes against the Iron Circle, a company of cruel mercenaries that has seized control of the small land of Harkenwold. In this adventure, the heroes become daring rebels and lead the folk of Harkenwold against their oppressors.

Death slithers across the Dunes. Nightmares of desert horrors trouble the dreams of the innocent while raiders grow ever bolder beyond the walls of the great city-state of Tyr. Bandits and merchants chase rumors of a temple hidden in the desert, an ancient shrine to the primordial Ul-Artha said to safeguard a fragment of the artifact known as the Crown of Dust. Can the heroes recover a caravan lost in the wastes, repel the threat of vicious raiders, and win the relic form the perilous temple? Now that Tyr is free of Kalak the Sorcerer-King, opportunity abounds in the city and the surrounding wastes. But some see Kalak's fall as the beginning of Tyr's end, and the unpatrolled deserts nearby are rife with danger. Outlaws openly defy the city's Revolutionary Council and threaten outlying holdings. If Tyr is to thrive, heroes must arise to tame the lawlessness and evil that threatens the free city.

A group of mysterious, sea raiders— capable of appearing from out of nowhere, striking, and disappearing— has terrorized a group of coastal states for some time. Now the leader of the states has asked the characters to infiltrate the raiders, find out how they operate, and put a stop to their activities. But once the heroes join the raiders, things aren’t as clear as they were led to believe. Will they succeed at their mission? Or join the raiders themselves? Pgs. 54-82

The outpost of Fort Dolor has experienced an unprecedented stretch of peace in recent times. Then nearly the entire garrison disappears on a supposed routine patrol, and the town— still on the frontier— is left nearly defenseless. Can the adventurers dig to the bottom of the mystery at Fort Dolor before they, too, disappear? Pgs. 82-103

The party has been tasked with bringing the head of the fire giant king Snurre Ironbelly to the storm giant lord Krombaalt, as well as capturing the dwarven traitor Obmi Ironwhisper. Delving into Snurre's stronghold, they will also discover the sinister drow manipulating the giants. The adventure is part of the "Against the Giants" series originally by Gary Gygax, hence the writing credit.

Kravenghast Necropolis is hidden in a valley that was formerly part of a now dead city. It consists of a small cemetery that sits atop an abandoned necromancer's laboratory. The necropolis has been refitted as a temple to Vecna, the undead God of secrets. The mausoleum in the cemetery contains a secret spiral staircase that leads to the underground laboratory. The temple is populated by a twisted cult of Vecna, led by the lich-priest Mauthereign. Pgs. 96-103

A cadre of githyanki has come to the world in search of rich plunder and soft targets. It has set up a base in the lower levels of an abandoned fortress ruin. A caravan of travelers spotted a githyanki while it hunted for food. Rumors of an invading army from the Astral Sea quickly spread through nearby towns, and the PCs have arrived to investigate. Pgs. 84-89

The entity known as Oreiax is a gruesome, stunted monstrosity born of ancient death. Rescued from an eternity of petrification by Doresain the Ghoul King, Oreiax immediately pledged itself to the Ghoul King's service, and thus indirectly, into Orcus's service. Oreiax, born of stone and death, seeks to glorify Doresain by petrifying the world. Pgs. 112-119

What begins as a simple expedition to settle a new village in the ruins of the mysterious Castle Inverness sets off a chain of events that could threaten every living being from Winterhaven to Hammerfast. Not everyone in the Nentir Vale is happy to see civilization brought to Inverness, particularly the ghost of Salazar Vladistone, who commands the spectral legion called the Phantom Brigade. "March of the Phantom Brigade" is an adventure designed for season 4 of the Dungeons & Dragons Encounters official play program. It includes the information the Dungeon Master needs to run the adventure, thirteen ready-to-play encounters (each intended for one session of play), and full-color foldout battle maps depicting the various encounter locations.