Operating as secret agents for the Lords of Waterdeep, a promising lead takes you deep into the world of the Xanathar, but what will it take for you to return?
"The Dark Forest" is an elder shadow drake lair suitable for four 8th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in one session. A hidden grove within a dark forest has been home to a tribe of alseids for generations. The tribe's most recent leader and spiritual heart was an alseid shaman called Riatha the Raven. Within the grove lies an ancient ring of standing stones atop a burial mount. Here, Riatha conducted sacred nature rites to honor and bless the forest and the tribe. During one of these ceremonies, the ground rumbled and a column of dense black energy shot straight up from the burial mound and into the night sky. Thick darkness enveloped the area, and the suddenly blinded alseids heard terrible roars. An instant later, the darkness dissipated to reveal a mysterious pool ringed with skulls among the standing stones. Two large, dragon-like creatures with black scales and burning red eyes glared at the confused alseids. One the ground lay the body of Riatha, deathly still. Terror and chaos followed as the creatures brought swift and sudden death, killing most of the alseid tribe members with razor-sharp teeth and deadly, black breath. The alseids that survived the inital, bloody attack fled into the forest. They counterattacked a few hours later, desperate to reclaim their grove and recover the body of their beloved leader, but the attempt was a fiasco and they were quickly driven off. Now, the few remaining alseids hide in the forest, frightened and unsure of what to do next.
As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion. — Antisthenes The destruction of Cyre and creation of the Mournland marked the end of The Last War. Since then, a towering wall of mystic fog has covered what used to be the nation of Cyre. Those who have ventured inside and made it out have spoken of unusual beasts, wild warforged, and other strange occurences. Most stay away. Others dedicate their lives to plundering the mysteries beyond the veil. House Cannith is the House of Making and, despite being split over the destruction of their homeland, they are still very adamant about keeping their monopoly over arcane creations and are very suspicious of anything coming out of the Mournland. Recently, rumours reached the heads of the Cannith South enclave that some scavengers working for the Daask organisation actually captured living spells from inside the Mournland and brought them back to Sharn for study, taming, and who knows what else. Now Cannith employs independent contractors to enter the secret lab, and destroy the research and its future. Another group will hunt down the actual scavengers and eliminate the spells themselves. This adventure takes place in Sharn, the City of Towers, some time before the formation of the independent adventurers organisation by 'The Twelve'. It is an infiltration mission in hostile territory which includes some investigation, maybe a bit of socialising, and some quick dungeon-crawl elements. It is designed for multiple possible endings. In my mind, this adventure is E for Everyone and doesn't contain anything dark, NSFW, or triggering beyond any other standard D&D adventure.
Are long journeys through Wildspace getting you down? Too much time on your hands? Sick of catching the same old Scavvers? Why not pay a visit to Starfish Bay! Break out one of the five new lures and see what bites! With 25 new fish to catch you'll be busy for weeks! But watch out, not all of them are so easy to hold onto! This small sidequest has 8 new monster stat blocks along with 1 encounter with some 'hungry' Hadozee!
Giants have emerged from their strongholds to threaten civilization as never before. Hill giants are stealing all the grain and livestock they can, while stone giants have been scouring settlements that have been around forever. Fire giants are press-ganging the small folk into the desert, while frost giant longships have been pillaging along the Sword Coast. Even the elusive cloud giants have been witnessed, their wondrous floating cities appearing above Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate. Where is the storm giant King Hekaton, who is tasked with keeping order among the giants? The humans, dwarves, elves, and other small folk of the Sword Coast will be crushed underfoot from the onslaught of these giant foes. The only chance at survival is for the small folk to work together to investigate this invasion and harness the power of rune magic, the giants’ weapon against their ancient enemy the dragons. The only way the people of Faerun can restore order is to use the giants’ own power against them.
Beneath the crumbling walls of a keep lies an unexplored warren of caverns stretching into unknown darkness. Within the depths, an ancient evil stirs and grows hungry. Forgotten horrors, once relegated to legend, are on the move – with only your band of heroes between them and their goal. What begins as simple exploration rapidly becomes a struggle against denizens of the underworld, and the very environs of underworld itself. Through crumbling caverns and against long-trapped foes, the party is confronted with a threat that places the future of the surface world in jeopardy. Your heroes must act quickly to secure the world, or face the consequences of their failure to halt the advance of the denizens of The Forgotten Hive.
Guilds Town is in the middle of Dravens, a province of the realm of Shrave. 50 years ago, the neighboring dwarven province of Kiernard rebelled and tried to overthrow the green dragon Shrave who rules the realm. They failed and their province was dissolved. Dwarves who left the province mostly fled to Dravens, and are called Nards as both a racial slur and a stigma of their people’s dishonor. Guilds Town are the ones really in control of the province and are the current opposition of the Dravens nobility. In recent times, corruption and crime in the city have risen to new heights as 4 cults compete for control of the city and their citizens. Published by NaturalCrit
This adventure sees the party tumbling between two mad goblin inventors. This is the first time the characters will meet Professor Passifou and his inventions. Also available in French
Lo! The corpse of poor, departed Scholar Zubayr, washed up on the shores of the River of Sand, lies in the charnel house…destined to become dinner for a cult of cannibals. Though distasteful in the extreme, this isn’t your concern—except that Princess Karima Gamila, the most beautiful gnoll in Per-Bastet, has begged you to rescue her friend’s body and help discover his fate. Still unmoved to action? Know then, adventurer, that the Scholar was hot on the trail of lost treasure! If you can claim his body from the cult and decipher the clues he left behind, long-buried riches and powerful magic might be yours. But nothing is simple in this city of dark wonders: others converge on the charnel house in pursuit of wealth, vengeance, or both. Can you out-fight and outwit vile cultists, undead catfolk, a cunning werecrocodile gnoll, and the deadly secrets that lie buried beneath the River of Sand? Set in the city of Per-Bastet in the Southlands Campaign Setting, it is meant for play either as the thrilling sequel to Cat and Mouse, or as a standalone treasure hunt! Also available in Pathfinder format.
"A well-written adventure through a mansion filled with dark secrets." The party is recruited by an innkeeper to recover a flower from a nearby mansion. He is an alchemist and he is running short on his supply of the Midnight Violet. Town rumors warn the party to stay away. But, that's unlikely given that your heros are mighty and brave. While exploring the mansion, the adventurers will learn the story of the family that once lived there and what caused their demise. That is...if they live that long. Two new creatures and one new magic item are introduced in this adventure.
Katha is a fully built city with nearly a hundred NPCs, dozens of shops, and many different factions all vying for power over this growing city. Katha is a growing city-state that can expand (or regress) in any direction depending on the choices of your group. It can easily suit any party of any size or level but is designed for mid-level parties with money to spend. The city will grow (or shrink) and change at the party's every move, making it a city full of potential. The document also includes a map and key for the city, four stat blocks for two major NPCs, a new monster, a boss fight, and a dungeon map. Katha is designed to be placed into any setting with only minor alterations. Advice for how to fit Katha into your setting is provided throughout the document. Included is also a plotline that can span anywhere between four and ten sessions. The Cult of the Storm, a mysterious and millenarian cult, hopes to bring about the end of the world so that it may be reborn. Several of the groups and NPCs in Katha are secretly working for the Cult. Will your party realize that they are accidentally helping them in time to stop the Cult from assembling the four parts of the weather control artifact and starting The Storm? The plot will also develop the city and reward your party not with wealth, but with property and the ability to build what they want and invest their time and energy into growing Katha.
The Premature Burial is the first in a series of four interconnected stories that recall the themes and atmosphere of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Terror. Baldur's Gate, year 1492 DR, a dark and terrifying sect works secretly in the slums with the aim of punishing all those who have long oppressed, marginalized and killed the city's poorest and weakest citizens. The patriars, unaware of anything, are the cult's main targets, and a magical plague is about to fall on them that can cause a veritable slaughter. The characters will find themselves caught up in these dangerous events and will be drawn into a spiral of horror, blood and madness that will strain their bodies and souls. The Prior who leads the mysterious cult has "a special plan" in mind for them and will do anything to achieve his goal. Players will be forced more than once to question their morals and make difficult choices in a scenario of complex social conflicts, personal revenge stories and tremendous machinations. What repercussions would the cult's plan have if it were carried out? And what would happen instead if it were averted and the patriars continued to run the city as they always have? Shadows as black as night once again loom over Baldur's Gate, and this time they may change its face forever. - Adventure: story lasting 4 to 8 hours for characters ranging in level from 4 to 6 - Setting: adventure set in the famous city of Baldur's Gate but easily adaptable to any setting - Narrative: detailed descriptions and an emphasis on story immersiveness - Roleplay: in-depth characterization of NPCs with biographies, descriptions of their personalities and their physical appearance - Bestiary: 3 new customizable opponents with the mechanics "Affixes," which can add an extra degree of complexity to confrontations, and " Weak spots," which grant a strategic advantage to characters who manage to discover them - Magic: obscure and unknown spells used by cultists to carry out their plans - Layout: designed to make it easier for DMs to browse information, featuring special attention to color coding and visual immediacy of text boxes - Maps: 3 maps available in high resolution, VTT and printer-friendly versions - PDF: available in high-quality, interactive, printer-friendly print versions - Playlist: a collection of songs selected by the authors to create the right atmosphere during game sessions
Lair of the Frog King is a short adventure for five 1st-level characters that takes place in an ancient castle. The river—which used to flow around the castle and fill its moat—has diverted over the centuries, and now what used to be fertile farmland is marshy bog. What’s more, the swamp has claimed the castle itself. A tribe of bullywugs settled in the muddy former fortress, and use it as a base to raid nearby farms. Can the newly-minted heroes stop the bullywug menace? Find out in Lair of the Frog King!
Kind words and a scrap of paper are enough to lead you off on an adventure into the hills. You and your party have opted to follow the clues leading to a fabled Talisman of Otek lost years ago in an old dungeon. Your benefactor has warned you that some cultists are actively seeking the item and hope that the “heroes in the making” will obtain the item before the nasty fanatics get ahold of it and use it for nefarious purposes!
This adventure was not meant to be a serious campaign addition but could with some tweaking. Instead, we present this as more of a seasonal classic based on a popular movie. The scenario is a solo PC attempting to locate a runaway during the holidays. With a gypsy, a runaway, and an old “abandoned” house what could possibly go wrong?
Are your player's moving out of Velkenvelve? Enjoying a stroll along the shores of the Darklake? On a day trip from Gracklstugh to Neverlight Grove? Sightseeing near Blingdenstone? Then Journey Through the Center of the Underdark is for you. Journey Through the Center of the Underdark contains several detailed encounters ideal for fleshing out traveling days between locations in Out of the Abyss. Furthermore, these encounters could be readily inserted into any 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Underdark oriented Forgotten Realms or home campaign setting. Designed for a party of 4-6 fourth through sixth level characters, with easy notes for adjusting encounter difficulties for lower or higher level groups, Journey Through the Center of the Underdark should provide 8-10 hours of exciting in game adventure. Written for your Rage of Demons Out of the Abyss campaign, Journey Through the Center of the Underdark is ideal for any descent into the depths your characters might take. Enjoy!
The greatness of a dwarven citadel is measured by its greatness of wealth. The dwarves steadily work mines and forges to fuel the wealth needed to make their presence known throughout the realms. Unfortunately, this also makes them known to those that would seek the opportunity to steal their glory and riches. This story occurs in a place that has experienced this struggle for millennia. New threats emerge as old threats become rivals through the tides of time. This story... your story... is another chapter of this ancient struggle.
Launching the Unlock the Vault-series, this first installment sees the party search the royal crypt in the ruins of Wellsing for the fabled Shield of Ralfour - An artifact that, initially unknown to the party, also acts as one of the eight keys to break the seal on Aizendore's Vault of Tragic Treasure.
A cry for help by a small village in the Howling Valley. An abandoned monastery on top of the mountain. Hordes of undead pouring into the realms. A mad mage with bad intentions. Will you be able to put an end to the unfortunate events in the valley?
A gnomish settlement is plagued by inexplicable earthquakes, the wrath of an Earth Elemental. Can the heroes save the gnomes? Do the greedy gnomes deserve to be saved? "Valanche's Eye" was inspired by a desire to write an adventure which blurs the line of who the bad guy actually is, or indeed whether or not there's a really tangible villain. It takes the "patron hires adventurers to clear dungeon" trope and twists it – the patron turns out to be a pretty rotten bastard, and the monsters in the dungeon are just trying to live their lives. It starts when gnome gem-miners strike the mother lode of emeralds and sapphires, only to find themselves run off their claim. First they accidentally broke through to the Elemental Planes of Earth and Fire, and mephits burst out to annoy them. When they were just about done dealing with the mephits, they disturbed an earth elemental who just wants to be left alone, and emeralds are its favorite snack. The mine boss hires the adventurers to come kill all the elementals. But should they?