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 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
Stonefang Pass wends its way through the mountains of the Stonemarch, home to brutal tribes of orcs. The time has come to clear the pass and gain a foothold, so that it can be used for trade between the town of Winterhaven and the lands beyond the mountains. Brave adventurers are needed to rid the pass of monsters and liberate Stonefang Keep from the orcs. Who’s up for the challenge?
"Gnolls have captured the heroes! After stripping the characters of all equipment except their armor and clothing, the gnolls drag them to an expansive briar maze known as the Twisted Thickets and set them loose. Then, armed to the teeth, the gnolls hunt down their prey. The characters must survive the hunt and outwit their pursuers. Stripped of your armor and weapons, you are cast into the Twisted Thicket and hunted like rabbits. If you want revenge, you must first survive Yeenoghu's evil Hunters. After dealing with the gnoll hunters, the heroes can try to reclaim their lost equipment and exact revenge on the tribe, which lairs in the caves beneath Dead Gnoll’s Eye Socket." Pgs. 2-14
To stop a devastating rampage of giants across the land, the party must venture into the lair of the stone giant thane Arnak to uncover the truth about why he has broken his peace with the neighboring dwarves. In the process, they will have the opportunity to retrieve important symbols of the fight against the giants and uncover a dangerous excavation. The adventure is part of the "Against the Giants" series originally by Gary Gygax, hence the writing credit.
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
At the behest of Orcus, Demon Prince of Undeath, a mighty deathpriest hierophant has begun assembling a powerful strike force. He intends to launch the first of many assaults on the world, readying it for his master’s arrival. With the help of potent allies and grand rituals, the PCs have discovered a route to the Abyssal headquarters of this hierophant. This delve begins as the PCs teleport from the world to the first of a complex of interconnected chambers deep in the Abyss, linked only by portals. Pgs. 126-131
As the story goes, worshipers of Bahamut and worshipers of Gruumsh spent years warring. As the dead piled up, a Bahamut faithful crafted a weapon of devastating power. Most of the inventor’s peers balked at its use, but some felt it was justified. Those few who used the weapon were twisted into mad, dark beings by its corrupting power. The rest of Bahamut’s flock locked them and the weapon away in a dungeon prison. The dungeon and its terrible secret were long forgotten—until a group of rakshasas happened across the ancient tale. Now they seek the weapon for their own designs. Pgs. 132-137
A half-marilith, half-medusa druidess lich known as the Hate Blossom lairs in this dungeon, having been run out of mortal society and shunned by demonkind. She possesses the petrified-yet-still-living body of Melenkir, the first human arch-mage and the single creature to remember a ritual that may save the realm from an extraplanar threat. Only slaying Hate Blossom or convincing her to lift the curse will revive Melenkir. Published by Defy Danger and Save Verses Death
A deathpriest hierophant of Orcus has turned the lower catacombs of a cemetery into a base for the undead and demonic horde it is gathering. The deathpriest loses control, however, with the arrival of a balor, and its carefully orchestrated forays to snatch victims have turned into wholesale slaughters. The PCs arrive in a nearby town to meet with a merchant who promised to sell them a long-coveted magic item. They are not altogether pleased to arrive to find the aftermath of a brutal attack—and no sign of their item. Pgs. 150-155
A nest of vampires has claimed a dark forest and the surrounding human towns as its domain. Some of the local residents revere the vampires and serve as daylight guardians and spies. However, most of the townsfolk live in a state of dread. Those townsfolk have finally scavenged enough valuables to hire a band of adventurers to destroy the nest. Pgs. 66-71
When Monsters threaten the village of Crystalbrook, it's up to adventurers to track down where they're coming from. The investigation leads them on a journey across planes. In the Feywild, the heroes must explore an enchanted island garden and unravel the plot of a foul hag, before she and her fiendish companion can perform a ritual to seize control of the island. "Beyond the Crystal Cave" is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure designed for the winter 2011 season of the D&D Encounters official play program. This season incorporates character options from Player's Option: Heroes of the Feywild, and it comes with three full-color maps, thirteen ready-to-play encounters, and information on the D&D Encounters program. Originally found in Dungeon Magazine #211 now available as a stand-alone adventure. Pgs. 63-122
"Blood Money" is a caper adventure in which the adventurers work outside the law to pull off a major robbery. Good planning is essential, and the characters need to stay cool under pressure.
In what became known as the Age of Madness, an astral lich calling himself the Crimson Hand descended from the sea of stars, setting his fell gaze upon Gaea. Her red moon he made both his temple and his phylactery, and from there he sought to enslave those who would be ruled and devour those who would not. The Ancients of the four corners of Gaea united their knowledge against this threat, constructing a colossal golem, and inscribing the four POWER WORDS upon four scrolls. These scrolls they fed to the colossus, who ascended to the crimson moon in an instant. The sages of the realm watched as the flashes of battle signaled in the night sky, ending as the crimson moon itself split in half. The lich and the colossus were destroyed, and the Age of Madness was ended. Millennia have passed, and now a new threat rises from the netherworld. The four POWER WORDS have been forgotten, lost among the shattered remnants of the moon. The sages have once again united what remains of their power, this time to teleport a paltry handful of crusaders to retrieve the lost scrolls before the world is doomed.
In this adventure the heroes must brave the perils of the Innenotdar, whose trees and other vegetation has burned with an undying flame for 40 years. They do this to throw off the dogged pursuit of the Ragesian Empire, who seek to stop them from delivering information crucial to the war effort. Along the way the heroes will face monsters that have been afflicted with this undying flame, a demon that has made a contract with the Ragesian Empire, and potentially solve the mystery surrounding this burning forest. This is the second adventure of the War of the Burning Sky adventure path from E.N. Publishing.
Many Cannith creation forges were lost on the Day of Mourning, but a rogue artificer has uncovered one of those that pursued some of the most experimental and dangerous research during the Last War. But while seeking the forbidden knowledge in the forge, this explorer awakened a dark power that was more than she could handle, and that now threatens the region. Pgs. 4-34
A group of snaketongue cultists has occupied an abandoned, partially sunken temple near a swamp. They grow impatient waiting for their yuan-ti master to join them, unaware that he has been slain by a rival faction of yuan-ti. Frustrated, the cult strikes against nearby villages in the hope of drawing the favor of Zehir. Investigating rumors of a serpent cult harassing a nearby town, the PCs have explored the swamp and discovered the overgrown temple. Its once-ornate stone door now hangs off its hinges, providing a narrow space for one character at a time to squeeze through. Pgs. 42-47
"And they bade their slaves, 'Build unto us tombs to rival the palaces of the gods, for there shall we live or lives and sleep our deaths in splendor.' And the people of Maru-Qet wore their fingers down, broke their backs, burst their hearts to obey. Indeed they raised up great tombs to rival the palaces of the gods. And their masters were well pleased, for it was as gods they saw themselves." The brown dragon Urum-Shar lurks in a strange tomb, plotting schemes only a wyrm of incredible power could understand. Expanding on content from Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons, this adventure takes the heroes into Urum-Shar’s dark and trap-filled lair, where they will eventually face the powerful dragon herself. The dungeon heavily employs the use of traps, with fewer monsters. The upper tomb consists of a great puzzle of twelve rooms, and the lower tomb contains the dreaded Urum-Shar, an ancient brown dragon and heir to the lost draconic empire of Maru-Qet. The dungeon has special protections against scrying and other divinations, as well as teleportation. Pgs. 55-90
The Adventurers arrive at a drow outpost in the Underdark. They must either dispose of the drow or ally with them against the invading legions of Orcus!
Stormcrow Company—an unsavory band of adventurers—haven’t been seen or heard from in years. Rumors of their accumulated wealth have spread far and wide, and if they have truly been slain, that treasure is just waiting for adventurers to come and collect it. But is anything ever as easy as it seems? Pgs. 10-28