The task seems easy enough: accompany a mysterious traveler and her equally mysterious package from Waterdeep to Neverwinter. In the Jewel of the North, tasks are seldom easy, though. News travels fast and the Red Wizards of Thay have learned of the traveler and the object she carries. Now a Necromancer readies an ambush for the adventurers and their ward, intent on stealing the item for his own sinister purpose. A prelude to the Lost Crown of Neverwinter Encounters season and connected to the release of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting.
A City on the Brink of War Missing for decades, the Crown of Neverwinter, symbol of the former ruling family, has emerged at last. Yet not all are pleased with the crown's reappearance. Beset by rebels and plaguechanged, Lord Dagult Neverember must hire a group of adventurers to track down the so-called Lost Heir and discover his intentions for the city. The stakes are no less than the lives of the citizens of Neverwinter, for if the heroes fail, Neverwinter seems doomed to descend into civil war.
Long rumored to be haunted by eerie specters, Kincep Mansion has stood for years, mostly untouched by nearby townsfolk. Now something is preying on the local villagers—something that comes from the house. Pgs. 46-69
The adventurers have delved into the Abyss to strike at the Demon Lord of Undeath, Orcus. On the layer of Thanatos, the Blood Lord has many outposts from which he spreads his corruption. One of his primary lieutenants is Doresain, the Ghoul King. If the PCs kill Doresain in his lair, they will strike a real blow against the foul demon lord. Pgs. 174-179
Every priest in the city dreamed last night of a forgotten temple carved into the side of a nearby mountain. In the dream, a storm raged deep within the temple, and the dreamers knew instinctively that evil forces sought to unleash that storm upon the surrounding lands. Pgs. 120-125
Centuries ago, a green dragon terrorized the civilized lands near its lair. As the beast grew in power, countless cult followers gathered. With the help of its worshipers, the dragon transformed into a runescribed dracolich. The dragon and its cult grew larger and more powerful over the centuries. This, of course, led to war with the surrounding nations. After terrible battles and much loss, the cultists were slaughtered and the dragon destroyed, but its phylactery could not be found. The beast reformed, gathered cultists anew, and again was defeated. The phylactery still could not be found. This time, the powers of civilization decided not to destroy the beast, but to trap it, locking it away and setting various guards. Recently, a divination ritual performed by someone the PCs respect revealed that great peril will arise if a creature lairing in Mount Sorrowspire (the dracolich) is not destroyed. Pgs. 180-185
In times ancient, an infamous paladin-artificer named Khaldun unearthed a cursed tome bound in the flesh of the first medusa. Driven to madness by its secrets, he used the necromantic magic contained within to call forth an army of dread warriors from the Netherworld. Though his assault was devastating, he was ultimately unsuccessful, and the mightiest crusaders of the realm banished Khaldun to the Netherworld, where he would rot for eternity at the bottom of the River Dis. Unfortunately, rather than perishing in that bleak plane, Khaldun escaped his silt grave and thrived, amassing a legion of undead followers and erecting a Tomb in which he could perfect his mechanical craft without interruption. It was not long before he shed his body and became a demilich. After several centuries of scheming, the undead warriors under the command of the ‘Iron Lich’ have burst free of the Netherworld, laying waste to not only the mortal kingdoms that exiled him, but also the exalted domains of the gods themselves. The crusaders’ quest is simple – stead the Tomb and destroy the Iron Lich. Published by Defy Danger and Save Versus Death
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
Protect the Future! At the height of Netheril's power, the fortress of Spellgard held many great secrets of the Empire of Magic. Now, only ruins remain... and one last guardian, the near-mythical Lady Saharel, whose prophetic visions draw the desperate and the doomed from across Faerun. But a dark presence in one of Spellgard's intact towers wants to control the power of prophecy for itself and remake the future in its own image.
“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
Jelendra, a tulani of summer, has gathered a small following of dark fey creatures to help her get revenge against the Highridge Arcane eladrin elders. When they had the nerve to question her interest (they called it “obsession”) in the destructive power of the Wild Hunt, Jelendra flew into a rage and stormed out of the Highridge Arcane. Now, she controls a fane to an ancient spirit of the Wild Hunt. Not knowing what became of her, the elders ask the adventurers to find Jelendra. “Let her know that she is missed, and we want her to return home,” one elder says. Pgs. 114-119
Darkness looms near Winterhaven! Kobold brigands have grown ever bolder in their attacks, marauding the once peaceful town, and a known explorer has been missing ever since their departure to the excavation site of a dragon burial site. When the party investigates, they will discover that the kobold's leader, Irontooth, bears a tattoo of a ram-headed demon. This is a troubling portent, for the townsfolk will report that this can only mean the dread god Orcus, master of death, has an active cult in that ruined keep! It is up to the party to enter the Keep on the Shadowfell and put a stop to the cult's fell machinations before it threatens all the realm. There they will fight the evil priest Kalarel, Scion of Orcus and seal off the vile portal to the dark realms he is master of. Should the heroes seize victory, glory and treasure are sure to be theirs. But first they must endure the challenges of that dreaded KEEP ON THE SHADOWFELL!
The city has been plagued by mysterious nighttime assassinations that leave behind no clues about who might have perpetrated them. Divinations from temple of Ioun adherents suggest the guilty parties can be found under a nearby curio shop. The PCs set off. Beneath the shop waits the Poisoned Shadows Assassins Guild, as well as a greater danger than the party expected. Pgs. 54-59
The hobgoblins were not the only forces that remained after Kalarel was slain. Before the Keep’s portal was fully sealed, evil spirits from the Shadowfell escaped into the Nentir Vale. They were drawn to Kalarel’s own dark soul, which remained in the mortal world thanks to a spirit-orb the priest had created to prevent him from moving on after death. The presence of these malignant spirits caught the attention of a frost witch called the Rime Mistress and her followers—unaligned territorial beasts—who rose up to defend their domain. The Rime Mistress knows that the spirits present a greater threat than the hobgoblins do, so she and Prang, the Iron Gauntlet leader, have agreed to an uneasy truce. Thus, the hobgoblins and the creatures of the Cairngorm Peaks are united in their struggle against Kalarel’s spirit army.
There was no greater scholar, explorer, or collector of antiquities in the area than Hallomak Stromm. The enigmatic Stromm recently passed away, and the PCs have received personal invitations to appear at the public reading of his will. Pgs. 72-77
In ages past, the wizard Karavakos made a deal with devils, which resulted in him being trapped in an extradimensional pyramid, unable to escape. His only hope for escape is to lure adventurers into the Pyramid, in hopes that they will destroy his splinters and return his power to him. But his wife Vyrellis, whom he slew in a rage when the Pyramid formed, still lingers in spirit and wants nothing more than to see him laid low... Although set to allow PCs to just fight through each encounter, tips are included for PCs negotiating with the factions trapped in the pyramid.
“Siege of Bordrin’s Watch” is the sequel to “Rescue at Rivenroar,” continuing the unfolding story of the Scales of War campaign. This adventure features exploration, roleplaying opportunities, and combats in dynamic environments. In this adventure, a new threat looms to the west: A vast horde of orcs and their despicable kin emerge from the barren lands bent on plunder and conquest. While the Elsir Vale and other lands mobilize their meager forces to respond to the danger, a call has gone out to those heroes of the Vale to join forces and help to push back this new evil before it’s too late. Pgs. 4-55
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
While camping in the wilderness, the characters find a tracker surrounded by wolves. Once the heroes dispatch the beasts, the tracker reveals that she is seeking aid in the fight against the darkness enfolding her community, Silver Lake. Should the characters help, they find the village terrorized by lycanthropes that hail from a tiny island rising from the mist-shrouded lake.The island is a fey crossing, and heroes who set foot on it find themselves in the Feywild, where a war is brewing; the lycanthrope clans are at each other’s throats, and many are turning their feral eyes outward to the rich lands beyond their secluded valley. To avert an unimaginably savage war, the heroes must rescue a werewolf lord from his captors and expose the conspiracy that threatens to drench the Feywild in blood...
Recent earthquakes have unearthed a small section of a lost dwarven fortress. The dwarves are long gone, but rumors suggest they might have left treasure or weapons behind. After a journey into the Underdark, the characters find a barred iron door bearing the names of several ancient dwarven clans. Pgs. 90-95