The first part of the Dreams of Red Wizards adventure path originally published for the D&D NEXT Playtest. Following the events Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, a new set of adventurer's will see some of the repercussions of that adventure. This adventure is intended to be continued in the Dead in Thay adventure (Note that they Dead in Thay 5e adventure featured in Tales from the Yawning Portal is missing a significant portion of interlude that links Scourge of the Sword Coast to the events within the Doomvault). The adventurers arrive when Daggerford is crowded with refugees from outlying lands. Goblins, gnolls, and orcs have been raiding the countryside. Now, food is scarce and tension is high. Blame for a theft has fallen on the refugees, and the Duke of Daggerford has forbidden more of the displaced from coming into town. After overcoming difficulties to enter Daggerford, the characters learn more about the raids. As they fight against the humanoids and delve deeper in the darkness that encircles Daggerford, the characters learn of Bloodgate Keep. After a final fiendish ambush, they’re ready to confront the real threat to the area. DM Note: This adventure points the adventurers strongly towards Bloodgate Keep but that location does not appear until the Dead in Thay adventure; at several points the party may feel drawn to explore that location rather than continue their investigations around Daggerford. However, since Bloodgate Keep is only eluded to as a source of great evil power, it can serve to easily segue to an entirely different adventure path. As a NEXT Playtest adventure, Scourge of the Sword Coast uses milestone leveling and the included stat blocks for creatures do not necessarily match or even appear in the 5e Monster Manual, nor do they have XP values or challenge ratings. In some places it will reference rules used in the Playtest but dropped or changed in the 5e release, these are unlikely to substantially impact gampley with 5e rules.
"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 Necropolis of Nuromen is a modular quest designed to let the referee introduce a group of 1st level characters to the thrills of Underworld exploration as they attempt to unravel they secrets of the evil necromancer’s lair and deal with some bandits, too. The Necropolis of Nuromen is set in a fantasy realm, beginning near the small town of Camlann Castle and leading adventurers to explore the sinister Necropolis of Nuromen. The narrative unfolds around Nuromen the Necromancer, who fell to ruin by dabbling in forbidden magic, leading to the downfall of his tower and the town known as Law's End. The adventure includes exploration of a haunted forest, encounters with various creatures, and a quest for lost treasures and magical artifacts hidden within the depths of the necropolis. To play this adventure you also require the BLUEHOLME™ Prentice Rules or the BLUEHOLME™ Journeymanne Rules. This is an updated Version of "Maze of Nuromen" from 2013.
The Knights of Sum have guarded the western frontier of the Duchy of Starryshade for nearly two centuries. Wingfield Fortress has been the focal point of their power and a safe haven for travelers willing to cross the Plains of Aegoth. As you venture west to further your careers you have received word that the mighty keep has fallen! Are you and your compatriots ready to help the legendary knights?
Part of a Numerian relic once thought scattered to the winds has found its way back to the savage land of super-science, and the Pathfinder Society must track down the component if they are to unlock the device’s secrets. Clues point to the economic hub Chesed, where only the descendants of a shattered clan can share where their revered ancestor buried the strange artifact. Can the PCs brave the troubled city, evade the vigilant agents of the Technic League, and survive a trip into the Numerian wastes? Content in “Returned to Sky” contributes directly to the Year of the Sky Key metaplot as well as the ongoing storyline of the Exchange, Liberty’s Edge, and Silver Crusade factions.
A hunt for a missing key leads the heroes from the streets of the city of Greyhawk to the Tomb of Blood Everflowing in the treacherous Cairn Hills. Pgs. 18-20, 22 & 24-39
Atop a distant mountain peak, a monstrous entity plots dark deeds. The final chapter of the Seeds of Sehan campaign arc. "To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." Chuang-Tzu. Pgs. 30-47
This adventure takes place in the Moonsea of Faerûn. The players have been brought to Melvaunt to search for the missing scions of the city's great families. To the north, in Thar the orc tribes converge on the ruined fortress of Xul-Jarak, flocking to the banner of a charismatic warlord. There, he intends to sacrifice the scions of the great families of Melvaunt in a bloodritual to Gruumsh. The players will escape Melvaunt, search along the wilderness of Thar for the Fortress of Xul-Jarak, and then explore the dungeons of the ruined fortress and hopefully rescue the scions before they are sacrificed. There also is a Web Enhancement by Eric Cagle on the archives of wizards of the coast's website designed to scale the adventure to level 8. For example, it replaces the Owlbear with a Tyrannosaurus. This is an easy to scale adventure with much of the player's difficulty coming from intelligently avoiding problems, choosing how to approach each floor in the most tactical way, and quickly adjusting when something goes wrong. The adventure has sidebars including common orc battle cries (In Orc!), ready to use orc names, weather and random encounter table in Thar, a description of what happens if the party fails or partially succeeds, and suggested minis for each of the encounters. There is even an extended description of the bloodspear ritual, an event the party is not meant to encounter in a normal run. The appendix is detailed for all the humanoid characters including the scions and their equipment, the named villains, and variety of unnamed orcs the party will encounter. The fortress also offers an opportunity to introduce the players to the Underdark and the Zhentil Keep. There is a passage to the Underdark the players can accidentally explore, and return to later. Emissaries from Zhentil Keep have come to watch the ritual and have their own motivations. These npcs provide an opportunity for exposition and role playing at a point which otherwise might be combat heavy, acting as a valve for the first floor - helping or hurting the party with subtle magic should the difficulty be off.
Silent crawlers with a venomous bite. Web spinners, creating sticky, beautiful homes that double as deadly traps. Nature’s most artistic killers. What fools would grow these tiny killing machines into the size of ponies or even larger? Gnomes! Opportunistic dark gnomes, looking for profit, who stumbled upon an inter-dimensional substance—experimental, yet undoubtedly powerful. Then something came creeping down the strand that connected the spiders to the inter-dimensional world, a shadow—the Shadow of the Spider Goddess! This adventure is designed for 5e for 4-6 characters of 6th level. The adventure is designed to link to the Lands of Lunacy setting from Fail Squad Games, but has been adapted to be run in any setting with no additional GM or player effort. The hold of Nevnooblin contains steam technology and creatures.
The infamous Sword of the Dales has always held a certain fascination in the eyes and hearts of the citizens of the Dalelands. Thus, it was no surprise when Randal Morn, rebel leader of Daggerdale, led an expedition into the crypt of a long-dead wizard to recover the weapon. Shaevyn the weapons-mage had created the Sword long ago, and it stood to reason that the blade would be waiting within his tomb. Perhaps the Sword of the Dales woulld allow Randal Morn to rule Daggerdale once again. But Randal Morn never returned from that fated party. Only tales of terror told by a lone survivor held any clues as to Randal's fate. A brave hand of heroes accomplished what Randal Morn's group failed to do in part one of this adventure trilogy, "The Sword of the Dales." Battling through the tomb's undead inhabitants, those heroes reached the burial crypt of Shraevyn. There, resting in the center of the coffin, was the Sword of the Dales, its azure glow filling the chamber. However, there was no sign of Randal Morn. Only a note signed by his hand held any clue as to his fate. "Seek me in Spiderhaunt," it proclaimed. "The fate of Daggerdale is in your hands." This is the second part of a trilogy of modules that began with "The Sword of the Dales." The saga concludes with "The Return of Randal Morn." TSR 9485
Two common elements mixed together create deadly peril. The last dungeon that many heroes will ever see. This dungeon crawl was based on the original S1 Tomb of Horrors. This is not an adventure for neophyte adventurers. Many traps, puzzles, and monsters exist to kill the party. However, the treasure of the mud sorcerers may be too tempting to pass by! Pgs. 50-70
A handful of would-be adventurers gathers to explore an ancient tomb, eager to trade their discoveries for a ticket to a better life. What they find within presages the advent of the Age of Worms, an era of darkness, decay, and writhing doom. "The Whispering Cairn" is the first installment of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures, several "Backdrop" articles to help Dungeon masters run the series, and a handful of poster maps of key locations. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon's monthly "Worm Food" articles, a series that provides additional materials to help players survive this campaign. Pgs. 14-47
A dwarven laboratory forgotten for many centuries has finally been rediscovered, but there is sure to be danger lurking within. It turns out some of the other machines within are still active, as are some of the traps and puzzles. Prepare your party for a blend of challenging puzzles and diverse fights in the dungeon that was home to my first player kill.
When the heroes come into town, word arrives that a nearby cloister of the god of valor is under siege by an army of undead. The adventurers travel to help defend the bastion of paladins, only to discover that these undead are actually ancient enemies of the paladins’ order. They have discovered a way to exact vengeance for slights committed centuries ago, but to finish their plan they must breach the cloister’s catacombs! Can the heroes battle them to the catacombs and defeat their horrific blackguard champion?
"The Warlock's Crypt" is a fext and noctiny lair suitable for four 9th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in a single session. An ancient warlock king known as the King in Silver, whose patron was Death itself, knew he was growing old and would soon die. The aging king pledged the souls of his two sons, the Black Prince and the Red Prince, to Death in exchange for his own eternal life. As the final worlds of the pledge pass his lips, the old king collapsed to the ground, dead. Elsewhere in the castle, the two young princes died suddenly in their sleep. All three were interred in the royal crypt within a nearby burial mound. ultimately, the king got what he asked for - he and his suns were returned to life as fext in the service of Death itself. When the fext awoke and climbed out of their coffins, they were confused because it seemed they were trapped within the small royal crypt. Then, the King in Silver discovered a secret door leading to a hidden stone stair that descended into a complex of ancient tunnels and chambers. At the far end of the complex, the fext discovered a second set of ancient stone stairs leading up through a shaft to a hidden exit on the surface. The three fext now lurk within the lower chambers, doing their patron's dark bidding. When commanded, they creep forth from the crypt to spread death during the dark of night.
When Harrowstone Prison burned to the ground, prisoners, guards, and a host of vicious madmen met a terrifying end. In the years since, the nearby town of Ravengro has shunned the fire-scarred ruins, telling tales of unquiet spirits that wander abandoned cellblocks. But when a mysterious evil disturbs Harrowstone’s tenuous spiritual balance, a ghostly prison riot commences that threatens to consume the nearby village in madness and flames. Can the adventurers discover the secrets of Harrowstone and quell a rebellion of the dead? Or will they be the spirit-prison’s next inmates?
What began as a subtle sickness has now spread into a full-blown contagion of magical origins around Roslof Keep! Although protected from the outbreak by their Mithel Standard, the Company of the Ivory Scimitar is now challenged with not only continuing their quest to defeat the Dungeon but also saving the town that they have grown to love. With unlikely allies forming from the other Mithel Companies, as well as unforeseen help within the labyrinth itself, the Ivory Scimitar must now take on the perilous task of curing the Violet Corruption while trying to discern the nature of its cause from somewhere deep within Mithelvanr's mad dungeon of self-propagating monstrosities! This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules. Also available in PDF.
The Well of Souls. . . That's what Zugzul babe the Afridhi call the evil artifact that he had taught them to make. They must call it the Well of Souls, and they must carry it before them into every battle? and they would be mighty. Thus said the god of the Afridhi, Zugzul the One. So the Afridhi did as they were bade. Seeking the volcano called the Hill of the Hammer in the far Barrens of Karsh, they built in its heart a great forge. There, as Zugzul had promised, efreet came to help them make the mighty artifact. There, amid vile, unholy rites, they bound the souls of men into its very substance, and, for the red-handed work that must surely follow hard upon its completion. Many were the men who guarded the Hill of the Hammer during the days of making? for their foes in hated Blackmoor would try to unmake that which they had wrought. Yet, it was not men that would keep the Well of Souls from destruction, but a prophecy? that the artifact would be unmade only by the hand of one as yet unborn! TSR 9205
Decades ago, witnesses reported a fearsome cryptid outside of the quiet River Kingdoms town of Shimmerford. Dubbed the Mosquito Witch, it was rarely seen since and quickly became a beloved local legend that the town celebrates and promotes to attract visitors. But when recent attacks began savaging livestock and townsfolk alike, many have started believing the Mosquito Witch was real all along. The PCs travel to Shimmerford to unravel the cryptid mystery, but might they just become the witch's next victim?
Expand your game with this collection of 56 NPCs of various Challenge Ratings, thirteen of which include maps and details of their lairs. Add these NPCs as a side-quest, a main villain, a one-shot, a bounty for easy money, or however else you wish. Written by some of the best-selling authors on the Dungeon Masters Guild and outstanding podcasters, each NPC includes an image, a backstory, motives, flaws, and a stat block. Some even include new magic items!