The adventurers are called to the village of Pinecrest where all but one of the children have gone missing. Can they find the lost babes in the wood before the children meet their grisly fate?
Stormy seas rock your vessel, tossing her about like a toy in the jaws of a hound. Thunder rolls in the distance. Then, an arc of lightning splits the sky, and the sound like an exploding fireball all but bursts your eardrums. Your mainmast, struck by lightning, burns, splinters, and topples onto the deck like a felled oak. The last thing you hear is the cracking of wood as the deck explodes into splinters, and the ship is torn asunder. All goes black. You awaken in shackles, half-submerged in water, and surrounded by salmon-pink coral. You survived, but what fate awaits you now? The sound of soggy footsteps echo down the hallway. A creature approaches with an answer. This week’s encounter is Coral Colosseum, a combat encounter in which the characters must prove themselves as worthy gladiators to escape the clutches of a ruthless sahuagin baron. This encounter can serve as a follow-up to Encounter of the Week: Sharkfin Shipwreck, or as a stand-alone mini-adventure. It could also serve as an introduction to Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which releases on May 21st, 2019.
Base of Operations is a short adventure intended for four 5th-level characters. DMs can easily modify the adventure to suit higher- or lower-level adventurers, or larger or smaller parties of adventurers. Simply adding a few monsters to every encounter area makes the adventure more challenging for larger parties, and adding levels to any of the humanoids can make them more of a threat to high-level groups. For low-level adventurers, make the relationship between the two factions within Brightstone Keep more strained, and take away a few monsters from each group. You can remove levels from some of the humanoids in the adventure to make it a lower-level challenge, but it is important that the orc cleric (described in encounter area 8) still have the ability to animate the dead. Still, he can have fewer minions around him when encountered, and that makes him less of a challenge for a lowlevel party.
The jungle has opened up and revealed her secrets—now is the time to act upon them. All signs point to a long-abandoned city as the source of the undead contagion, and so you have been called upon to venture within and put an end to it once and for all. Are you up to the task? Part Three of The Rot from Within Trilogy.
The heroes arrive at the eponymous Keep on the Borderlands, a fortress on the edge of civilization built to stave off the chaos and evil of the wilderness. Using it as a home base, a party can make forays into the surrounding wilderness, encountering monster and marauder alike. The centerpiece of the adventure is certainly the CAVES OF CHAOS, a network of tunnels and caverns found in the walls of a nearby but isolated ravine. It is here that hordes of evil humanoids have made their home. Through combat and negotiation, the players can try to explore and map out these caves, perhaps with the aim of accumulating valuable treasure or even cleansing the land of evil creatures. However, even the Caves are not all they seem. Beyond the goblins and kobolds lurk dark horrors: cults dedicated to fiendish chaos and a Minotaur's enchanted labyrinth await the unprepared adventurer. But for the hero who is brave, clever, and fortunate in equal and sufficient measure, great treasures and glory await in the Caves of Chaos that lie beyond the Keep on the Borderlands! TSR 9034
Troubles simply mushroom in the Underdark. The alchemist would like some fungus and spores, but no one wants to get them. Perhaps you could help. The adventure begins with the party finding a caravan. In addition to being able to trade with these NPCs, the party also can be hired by an alchemist to bring bag some red fungus and some Myconid spores from underground. Underground, the party will have a chance to interact with friendly Myconids and venture through a large labyrinth of passages (this labyrinth isn't mapped and is dealt with through storytelling, random encounters, and roleplay). The adventure culminates in a battle between the Myconids and Flinds, and the players can participate. Pgs. 4-12
"Orcs have returned to the once quiet border province of Blackmarch. The Bleak Tower and its meager garrison are all that stand against the tide. Their only hope lies in a ragtag band of adventurers willing to venture into the perilous maw of Ironwood Gorge..." "Ironwood Gorge is a fantasy role-playing adventure for 4-8 characters of levels 2-5, designed for older editions of the world's most popular fantasy role-playing game and its clones such as Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC. The material is also easily adaptable to any other class and level based fantasy role-playing game. Ironwood Gorge serves as part two in the Blackmarch sequence of adventures, but is built to function just as well as a one-off adventure, a drop-in-a-hex location for sandbox games, or as a kick start to a new campaign. The module includes keyed maps detailing both the Bleak Tower: a living, breathing refuge for adventurers; and Ironwood Gorge: a cave complex with over 100 keyed areas of traps, monsters and mayhem. The module is illustrated throughout with original artwork and includes appendices detailing new monsters, magic items, and spells. Whether you are looking for an out-sized adventure to usher the hardiest characters to the intermediate levels, or a fully-realized location to plunder for maps and ideas, Ironwood Gorge is a treasure from the old-school of gaming..." An alternative to B2 - Keep on the Borderlands
The colony of Farshore has survived on its own for years, a secluded and struggling hamlet perched on the western shore of the tiny island of Temute. An island dwarfed by the savage landscape across the narrow channel to the north, a landscape of rugged mountains, tangled jungles, and trackless swamps. This is the Isle of Dread, and its resources and hidden treasures are matched only by its peril. Yet for all these dangers, what may bring doom to Farshore is not an invasion of inhuman monsters from the mainland, but an invasion of all-too-human monsters from across the sea. "Tides of Dread" is the fifth chapter of the Savage Tides Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures appearing in Dungeon magazine. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon magazine's monthly "Savage Tidings" articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand upon the campaign. Issue #352 of Dragon magazine features rumors of Farshore, a helpful list of improvements the PCs can make to the colony, and other features to help get PCs oriented in their new home on the Isle of Dread. The destruction of a pirate ship signals the beginning of a Crimson Fleet invasion. The PCs must race against time to prepare for the onslaught before an old enemy can release another savage tide. Pgs. 28-59 Also see Pgs. 60-71 Backdrop: Farshore City of Hope.
The party approaches the Dwarven Kingdom of Narol'Duun, where things are far different than in your typical dwarven empire. The first major difference is that Narol'Duun is split into three distinct categories of dwarven tribes based on the main type of ore that they mine and refine. The dwarves take on characteristics of these ores - the Cobalt Dwarves having a tinge of blue to their hair, the Copper Dwarves having tough skin and beards of shining reddish-brown, and the skin of the Iron Dwarves is a deep grey in color. These dwarves engage in trade and drink, but the one thing that they are sure to never do is breed outside of their respective tribes. To be found in a relationship with a dwarf of another tribe is to be exiled to the surface - a punishment worse than death for most of these dwarves. On this particular adventure, the party finds themselves caught up in a case of forbidden love between a royal member of the Cobalt Dwarf family - Nadom Glintstone - and a simple merchant woman from the Copper Dwarf tribe by the name of Lajeera Copperfist. They have been doing their best to keep their love a secret for they both know the risks, but the Cobalt King, Norgith Glintstone, has suspicions and is deeply afraid of the damage such a scandal could have on his family's reputation. He doesn't want to draw any attention to the situation, so it is difficult to find a dwarf of his own tribe that could look into it further, so when the party comes along he sees it as a perfect opportunity. He will hire the party to look into the situation with Nadom, offering grand rewards in exchange for the truth if they can provide proof. The party will be torn between multiple threads of possibility in this adventure – telling Norgith the truth about his son's affair with Lajeera, helping Lajeera to permanently change her form to that of a Cobalt Dwarf so they can be together, or perhaps even trying to end the tribalistic ways of the dwarven kingdoms all together. This is a heavily role-playing based adventure, perfect for those who would rather talk their way through a difficult situation than cut their way through it, but there is still some combat along the way depending on the party’s choices. This story will decide if love can win out against all odds or if the temptation of coin is greater than the happiness of others.
Greger’s Grotto is a community of pirates and other criminals, hidden away on a desolate coastline. The players are slaves sold to the Grotto’s owning family and used for manual labour and bloodsport in the arena. In this adventure, the players will need to: * survive harsh prison conditions, including the rivalry between prisoner factions: human, orc, goblin and hobgoblin * fight in arena battles against prisoners and beasts, often with strange twists to entertain the crowd * explore small mini-dungeons attached to the prisoners’ caverns * ultimately escape; whether by force, alliance with fellow prisoners, stealth, cunning or any combination of these Features of this adventure: * Pay-what-you-want (even nothing). * Illustrated with art by Setvasai. * Designed to fit into most campaign worlds. * Simulationist or story-driven: includes information for both. Use random rolls to determine what happens when, or take inspiration from various story hooks. (Or do both.) * 11 unique NPCs, including members of the Grotto’s owning family and leader of the prisoner factions. * Full maps of the Grotto, its arena and prisoner caverns, totalling over 40 rooms.
Gazing down from the pinnacle of Hardway Mountain, who would not be drawn by the far-off glint of the Serpent's Eye? The descent will be hard, the mountains know neither mercy nor compassion. Many are the lessons to be learned, but fate has left you little choice - are you equal to the challenge? "Eye of the Serpent" is a one-on-one wilderness adventure module for one player and one Dungeon Master, and has been designed to develop the specialist skills of a 1st-level druid, ranger, or monk character. It can also be used for a normal party of four to six 1st-level player characters. The perils of Hardway Mountain are unchanging, but the routes between them are not. This module includes a unique route planning system with different of routes linking the encounters to challenge the abilities of druids, rangers, or monks. TSR 9125
Forlorn is a dreary yet dangerous place, a land of secrets and whispers. Visitors can expect to find no safe rest, no respite from the terrible creatures that plague this land. The skies are perpetually overcast and the land is damp with rain. By night, sheet lightning illuminates the sky in ghastly colors. Even if the intrepid adventurers who come to explore Forlorn know that the lord of this domain is forever trapped within his strange castle, they should take small comfort from it. Servants of Tristen ApBlanc roam freely, and the land itself is horribly twisted. The encounters in this book are designed to offer an introduction to Forlorn and provide clues about both its lord and his home. Melancholy Meetings is intended to be used before the castle adventure book, Eve of Sorrows, but it's not necessary for the PCs to experience all of the encounters in this book before embarking upon the next. Included in Castles Forlorn - https://www.adventurelookup.com/adventures/castles-forlorn TSR 1088, from 1993
Time Is Meaningless in Castle Tristenoira Forlorn has long remained hidden in the shadows of notorious Barovia and Kartakass, yet the tiniest domain in the lands of the core is nearly as old as Ravenloft itself. This land is sick with evil, a twisted mockery of the place it once was. It is filled with creatures of despair who were drawn into the demiplane of dread.... Within Castle Tristenoira lies oblivion. The crumbling keep slips in and out of time, carrying its unwary explorers across the centuries, where they may be abandoned to the cold winds of eternity - and to the ghosts in the castle! Spirits both innocent and guilty haunt the timeless passages, whispering tales of murder and vengeance. Escape is for the lucky...or the hopelessly mad. The Castles Forlorn adventure set provides the DUNGEON MASTER with a rich and complex domain in which to set a campaign of any size and duration. It includes a 96-page sourcebook, The Weeping Land, which reveals the complete history of the domain and the strange and terrible lord who rules over it. Descriptions of the living and dead who call this lonely land home abound, as do details of the forbidding Tristenoira castle, where adventures may spend an evening or an age. After learning Forlorn's history of sorrow, the DM can lead player characters into Melancholy Meetings, a 32-page collection of encounters that provide adventure in every corner of the domain. Finally, only Eve of Sorrows remains, which is a 32-page assortment of mysteries and nightmares within the castle itself. This deluxe boxed adventure set completes the portrait of Forlorn with a highly detailed, double-sided poster map of the castle, a poster map of the domain, and a special wall poster created by award-winning artist Robh Ruppel - all in full color. Includes 2 adventures: Eve of Sorrows Melancholy Meetings TSR 1088
A strange journey through a living cavern. A request for help to rescue a mining crew leads a group of adventurers into a cave that has seemingly come to life, gripped by a melancholy wave of sadness and memory. In dark caverns where mushrooms walk, vines dance, walls watch, and stones speak, will your band of adventurers become heroes? Or will they be lost within the Mines of Memory? Mines of Memory is a short, 2-3 hour adventure for characters of levels 1-3. It is a delve into a cavern system that has become a Psychic Resonance environment, awakening the caves themselves. PCs will enter to rescue the miners, find the source of the mine’s awakening, and bring peace to a noble creature trapped in its own nightmare.
Trapped in the dungeons of the Slave Lords! The hardy adventurers must find a way out, with only their wits and courage to help them. But can they do it before everything is destroyed by the dreaded Earth Dragon? This module contains a challenging scenario for experienced players, the tournament scoring system, and nine fully-equipped playtested characters. Also included are large-scale referee maps, playing aids, notes, and background information. A4 is a complete adventure in itself, but can also be used in conjunction with A1 (SLAVE PITS OF THE UNDERCITY), A2 (SECRET OF THE SLAVERS' STOCKADE), and A3 (ASSAULT ON THE AERIE OF THE SLAVE LORDS). TSR 9042
The party is enlisted to assist the Righteous Host, an army formed as a last resort to defend the world against the monsters of Elemental Evil. The host is greatly outnumbered. Its leaders send the party on a series of missions, each of which will give the Righteous Host an edge in the great battle to come. This epic adventure ends with the final push against the forces of Elemental Evil in the Meadows, and the outcome is informed by how effective the party is in their missions... and whether they are willing to risk putting themselves in the front lines. If the Righteous Host loses, players may decide to travel to Hommlet or other nearby towns to defend them. Whether the host is successful or not, players can decide to follow many different plot threads: exploring the Temple of Elemental Evil, finding the lich Kell the Eldest's lair and destroying his phylactory, or following the will of Bitbaern's Shield and discovering historical sites that were previously lost. Pgs. 44-69
The Raven Queen’s servants often seek out mighty allies. One of these is the black dragon Quetzallus, who resides in a deep cavern on the Shadowfell guarding a stream of souls flowing into the Raven Queen’s realm. But a death knight named Raxikarthus, betrayed by the Raven Queen in life, now seeks to enslave this dragon for his own purposes. He madly believes that he can stand against the Raven Queen, and seeks allies of all stripes—even her own servants—to do so. The death knight has found a pathway into the Shadowfell thought closed by mortals. Beneath a decayed keep, the undead dragonborn has reopened this portal and led his forces into the Shadowfell itself. The PCs are called in to beard the death knight in his lair. They find it abandoned, but discover a strange passage in the lower reaches. Pgs. 162-167
A search for the ghostly dragon of the Deadwaters. The sage's deal is simple: The more you learn about the dragon, the richer you get. In this adventure, the bard Rondelle offers players rewards for learning all they can about a mysterious dragon that has been sighted in the area. Pgs. 22-38
Aerdane d'Lyrandar, dragonmarked member of House Lyrandar, has uneventfully and successfully piloted his airship from Stormhome to Fairhaven dozens of times. His lucky streak just ended. A barrage of missiles downed Aerdane's vessel as it navigated along the egde of the Starpeaks less than a mile east of the hamlet Dig's End. While House Lyrandar regrets the loss of its costly ship, it is more concerned with the fate of certain documents within Aerdane's cargo. If these apers become public knowledge, it could result in an embarrassing and potentially volatile political situation. "Tensions Rising" is an Eberron adventure designed for four 4th-level characters. While the adventure takes place near the Starpeaks of Aundair, you could easily place this adventure anywhere Lyrandar's airships traverse. For non-Eberron campaigns, Aerdane's airship could represent a dangerous but potentially lucrative prototype for a new form of travel that must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.
"The Hive" is a spawn of Arbeyach lair, also featuring giant termites and termite swarms, for five 6th-level characters. This adventure can be finished in one session. Several mounds in the Forsaken Hills are the dens of voracious termites that have added flesh to their diet to supplement dwindling wood supplies. At night, swarms of termites hunt and devour prey. They swarm over victims in wooden carts and wagons, and bring the dismantled wood back to their mounds. Three spawn of Arbeyach, searching for a location to summon Ia'Affrat, Arbeyach's herald, discovered a mound filled with particularity nasty termites and used their vermin empathy to gain acceptance. They dug out a cavern beneath the mound, and now use the termites to protect themselves and gather food while they complete a difficult ritual involving dozens of sacrifices. The final sacrifice is prepared and the spawn are finishing their ritual when the party arrives.