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?
A 1st-level dungeon crawl heavy on exploration, factions, and sorcerous wonder for Shadowdark RPG! Go below the dripping ruins of Bittermold Keep to hunt for legendary treasures and face off against three competing factions that want to claim the Hideous Halls: the degenerate Bittermold family, the wild halfling Howlers, and the disgruntled mutant catfish. The characters might even encounter the abominable god-ooze, Mugdulblub! Winner of "The Best" rating from tenfootpole.org! View the adventure walkthrough video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJ-t7qMjPo This adventure is part of Cursed Scroll Zine 1: Diablerie! Inside the zine, you'll find cursed knights channeling demonic power, mist-addled forests where witches and warlocks stalk the trees, and crumbling castles housing ancient, eldritch creatures. Shadowdark RPG is what classic, old-school fantasy gaming would look like after being redesigned with 50 years of innovation. It's the world's greatest roleplaying game in a whole new light! Learn more and download the free rules here: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark
Sometimes sneaking into the dungeon, avoiding traps and slaying monsters is the easy part. The hard part is getting back out alive. This is a dungeon crawl adventure with a twist, the adventure starts at the end of the dungeon with the party trying to find their way back to safety.
The Heroes are relaxing in an inn when they hear a scream, rushing outside they find that a local merchant has been kidnapped! The merchant's wife saw the assailants drag him into an alley, where the heroes give chase. Following the villains through a maze of natural fissures, tunnels, and ancient ruins they encounter a number of monsters, traps, and puzzles. Eventually they make their way to the kidnappers hideout, where they confront the kidnappers in a final climatic battle to rescue the merchant and uncover a criminal gang.
The Wizard’s Amulet is a short, introductory adventure for six newly created good-aligned 1st-level characters. The adventure revolves around Corian, a fledgling Sorcerer. While an apprentice, Corian discovered a letter written by a wizard named Eralion, who it is said some years ago attempted to become a lich—and failed. Accompanying the letter was a mysterious amulet with strange markings. Joined by newfound companions, Corian set off in search of Eralion’s keep and his supposedly unguarded treasure. But Corian is not alone in desiring to unlock the mystery of Eralion’s fate. Darker, more evil forces have designs on the secrets reputedly hidden with Eralion—forces willing to stop at nothing to obtain… The Wizard’s Amulet.
A generic tomb exploration. Usable for a quick one off or random exploration discovery. Sometimes a DM needs a fill-in adventure for when their PC’s go off script. This is a single location low role play adventure that can be inserted anywhere needed.
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.
Randal Morn certainly has his hands full! The temple of Lathander, which burned to the ground eight years ago, seems to be the source of a curse affecting the entire town. People are taking ill, animals are dying overnight, crops are failing. All this seems to have started after Eragyn, priestess of Cyric, disappeared from Daggerdale. Shortly before that, a forgotten mage-lord's crypt was discovered and opened, and things just haven't been the same since. Constable Tren is displeased with the situation, what with suspicion being cast in the Zhentarim's direction as well as toward Cyric's priesthood. He's undoubtedly making the Dalesfolk's lives more difficult than usual because of this upheaval. Randal has sent out the call for aid to all who are interested and able to help; his freedom riders have their hands full already. A missing evil priestess, a mage-lord's crypt-curse, a plague, and possible Zhentarim involvement: all the elements of a rousing adventure in one place! Where do your characters sign up? Step right this way, won't you? TSR 9391
Tall tales of hidden riches are common in the pirate-infested taverns of the Shackles, but when Captain Varossa Lanteri claims to know the location of the secret treasure hoard of legendary Captain Jemma Redclaw, it seems she may be telling the truth. Captain Lanteri hires the PCs on as crew to help her assemble the magic key that will open the door to Redclaw’s treasure... and the ancient cyclops stronghold in which it’s hidden! Can the PCs survive long enough to claim their share of the lost loot, or will their enemies—or their allies—send them to a watery grave?
The Last Point is a prison and outpost of the Corrive Empire, a realm ruled by a cruel green dragon named Lady Corrive. The Corrivians are well known for their hatred of magic users, and their extensive slave trade industry. A forest realm with coasts on three sides and mountains running through the center, Corrive is rich with a variety of resources. However, the rocky northern coast is out of the way of their navy and relies heavily on hired ships to help transport various goods including prisoners and slaves to isolated outposts, training centers, and slave colonies. The northwest coast of Corrive is rocky and many parts of it are elevated, making it isolated from much of the mainland. The Last Point is a recycling center where captives meant for death row who are either deemed “not important enough” to execute publicly or “too disgraceful” to execute publicly are sent to be tortured and then killed. The place seems to operate on sort of a “well, we have too many so some have to go now” policy. The Last Point has no official deadlines for killing.
The sleepy village of Raven's Lake has a secret: A terrible god lives in the depths of the settlement's namesake. The citizens of Raven's Lake know that something lives in the lake. People who go out on the lake after dark go missing far too often and frequently turn up weeks later with no memory of where they've been. The local church of St. Cuthbert has been abandoned no fewer than seven times in the last two years, each time its lone cleric packing hastily and fleeing town without a word. Adventurers who come to Raven's Lake have a habit of vanishing forever. The truth is that something does indeed live in Raven's Lake but it is far from a deity. It's an exiled aboleth by the name of Zlorthishen. Pgs. 33-36
Barrow of the Culder is the initial adventure in the dangerous land of Provincia. Carrying on from this month’s free adventure, this scenario brings the adventuring party together in the small community of Merrydale. Two PCs will be meeting on the hill outside of town and then move forward to find additional members of the group as well as their first challenge. One PC will have received a job to find a missing minor artifact and have orders to gather any assistance…hence the party forms and has a common goal! After gathering their equipment they will follow a hidden trail to the final resting place of the feared warlord named the Culder.
"Men and women walk the streets of Stonefoot, but the laughter of playing children is nowhere to be heard. Over the past year, the village's children have gone missing in the middle of the night. Who will uncover the mystery of these disapearances and stop the curse before it leaves Stonefoot without a future?" From the DMsguild description. The party is tasked with saving the last child in the village and eventually retrieving the kidnapped children. The villains first appear to be goblins, but after a hunt and a fun teleportation maze, they find out a human mage is behind it. The mage has been transmuting the children into human-goblin hybrids.
Thail Donnodol, an eleven scholar, has been imprisoned for crimes he did not commit. The law is no refuge. Only by breaking into the fortress prison of Granite’s End can the player character save Thail from a lifetime of misery. There’s only one problem: Thail Donnodol does not want to be saved. At least not until he finds the Vengeance of Olindor. Part 3 of the Olindor Trilogy.
Thunder and quake have come to the old town. Towers crumble, homes tumble, the quick become the dead. What omen could be more obvious? The Pharaoh Fish under the mountain is displeased. This God must be propitiated. Brave heroes must venture to buy the city's salvation. At the very least, the Town Council needs to appear in control and send some 'expert adventurers' into the depths. A fantasy pointcrawl adventure for characters of 5th to 6th level. Local town, 17 pointcrawl regions, dungeon inside the Pharaoh Fish. Pointcrawl mechanics for Old-School Essentials. Keyed in a quick-reference, bullet point format. Unlabelled map included for VTT use.
A 1st-level dungeon crawl for Shadowdark RPG where the characters delve into a ruined citadel hunting for legendary treasures while avoiding the wrath of the infamous scarlet minotaur! Inside the citadel are secrets about the downfall of the warrior-cultists who once ruled it, three legendary weapons they wielded, and several factions of intelligent creatures to turn into allies or enemies. This adventure is part of the free, digital Shadowdark RPG Quickstart Set, which comes with two 68-page booklets (Player and Game Master guides), 8 pre-made characters with gorgeous art, and a form-fillable character sheet. Shadowdark RPG is what classic, old-school fantasy gaming would look like after being redesigned with 50 years of innovation. It's the world's greatest roleplaying game in a whole new light! Download the free Quickstart set here: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark
A tenday ago, the human settlers of Olostin’s Hold started hearing strange noises coming from the distant White Stag Hills. Noises of battle. Incessant sounds of thundering hooves, clashing steel, flying arrows, and screams of agony heard from miles away. Could those be the awakened spirits of the past? And if so, what could be done to lay them to rest? The answers are found in Cairn of the Centaur Conqueror, a Feywild dungeon that only appears once every 777 years...
“The Lost Mines of Karak” is the sequel to “The Shadow Rift of Umbraforge” and the fourth part of the Scales of War adventure path. After the player characters' success in "Siege of Bordrin's Watch" and "The Shadow Rift of Umbraforge", they have garnered something of a reputation in the city of Overlook. They are introduced to a wealthy patron that believes there is a connection between a shadar-kai arms dealer (from the previous two adventures) and a long lost dwarven mine. The patron wishes the PCs to find and secure the mine in order to use its wealth and resources to defend the city. The party then must travel through a wasteland and desert to find this mine. Once they have, they must fight through the hordes of monstrous creatures that inhabit it and defeat the Queen of the Drylands - a powerful naga. Pgs. 56-93
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!
Dromar is a figure of power all over the realm. He is known as a legendary fighter from centuries ago. He was buried in a tomb along with an artifact of great power. Those who built his tomb were afraid of grave robbers, and so his tomb was created in the frigid, ice-coated lands at the base of a a mountain. The secret of this tomb's location has been passed among a select few people as the years have gone on. Most of the general public do not even believe it exists, but now the ancient relic buried alongside Dromar is needed once again.