The Noble Rot is a location-based adventure for characters of 5th to 8th level. This adventure can be played in one or two sessions of reasonable length. It is a straightforward, haunted house-style adventure. The story revolves around Le Chateau Gluant, a vineyard and winery of repute. Vintages of its famous white (chardonnay) and red blend (cabernet sauvignon) are sought throughout the land. Some vintages can bring up to 200 gp per bottle from the right buyer. A case (twelve bottles) of the wine in pristine condition can fetch up to 1,500 gp. Unfortunately, the winery fell upon dark days and the prized wine has not flowed from its cellars for a few years. Approximately five years ago, the head winemaker, Malcolm Roth, hired Tobias Suey as an apprentice. Unfortunately for Roth, Suey was a member of the Cultus Limus (Cult of the Ooze). The Cultus Limus makes sacrifices to its demonic master Lumaszu in her faceless form. Lumaszu or “she who erases” is an ancient demoness who preys upon travelers by drinking their blood. She is the cause of nightmares, pestilence, infestation of pure water, and a bringer of disease, sickness, and death. Her worshipped form in Cultus Limus is that of a gigantic ooze. Suey turned the field hands who tended the vines against the winemaker. Then the new cult turned its attention to the Gluant family. Eventually the cult members started preying on each other. With each sacrifice to the ooze, Suey’s power grew—until there was no one left but Suey. The whim of demons is fickle. Suey was blighted and corrupted for his work. Now he deep in the cellars under the chateau as a minor ooze demon. His handiwork, however, remains. The chateau is now the abode of its former residents and workers, in undead form. Also slimes, molds, fungi, and other foulness fester in the fields, buildings, and cellars. The riches of the Gluant family remain undisturbed; would-be thieves and robbers quickly fall prey to the current residents. Besides normal valuables, cases of wine remain undisturbed and waiting to be plundered. The title The Noble Rot refers to a few factors in this adventure. The first is the rot that befell the Gluant family in the form of the Cultus Limus. Another is actual noble rot disease that may aid the PCs in overcoming the challenges posed. The phrase also refers to a real-world gray fungus, Botrytis cinerea, which in the right conditions creates world-class dessert wines such as French sauternes. In the wrong conditions, it destroys grapes and is known as gray rot.
What Makes Heroes into Villains? Damien Anthilas has fallen from ally to adversary, but something desperate in him has struck a chord with you. Why would he risk everything to steal the memories of the citizens of Anduria? Left with only a cryptic clue, the characters seek answers from the burned out remnants of his former home. Anthilas Manor is a place of dark magic and even darker history, where the ghosts of the past hold sway and the influence of the mad god is still felt to this day
If you're looking for a light-hearted adventure, you've come to the right place. Can a wizard and her beloved chef live a quiet life of baking and brewing, or is trouble destined to enter their innocent kitchen? It's up to the player characters to see what these two have cooked up before things get too hot to handle (without potholders, anyhow). Game designer Andy Collins offers the latest in our series of monthly free adventures. This original Dungeons & Dragons scenario, including full description and stats for a crusty new culinary creature, is suitable for a party of four characters of 2nd level. Adventure Preview When Andolyn met Gendrew, it seemed a match made in heaven. Andolyn was a skilled wizard with a love of a good meal, looking for an excuse to settle down from adventuring, while Gendrew was a master chef looking to create new methods of cooking. Together, they took up a quiet life of baking and brewing, content to live in a small cottage on the outskirts of town. But now one of their experiments has gone horribly wrong, and the characters must save poor Gendrew from his own delicious concoction, while defending themselves from the inhabitants of the cottage, and one unwelcome invader.
Something is amiss in the town of Rhiannon. Recently raided by a band of vile creatures, the citizens of Rhiannon were shocked to find their lord at the root of the incident. And now Lord Kent is holding a competition for “all walks of life with a propensity for the gambling arts.” Will the PC aid the citizens of Rhiannon and uncover the truth about the mysterious Lord Kent? Or will the PC take this opportunity to line her own pockets? Either way, the answers lie inside the walls of Lord Kent’s keep and the gamblers within.
Bring the haunting themes of Edgar Allan Poe to your table! Baronness Elenore Rennet has yet to return home from a masque at Moldavia Manor two nights ago. Can the players find her and uncover the hideous secrets brooding inside the grim estate of Count Moldavia? Masque of the Worms is a 1st-level one-shot originally written for a live playthrough by the Castle Mac crew in the courtyard of the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, VA. Check out their fantastic performance on the Castle Mac YouTube channel. This adventure is optimized for the live-streaming, one-shot format, but makes for a spooky and thrilling session at any table. It is sure to make even the bravest hearts shudder!
Few are the wizards that seek to prolong their lives with dark rituals and foul magic to become the powerful undead beings called liches. But far fewer are those that seek to undo what necromancy what done and take back their lives after initiation to lichdom. Balipur is one of those few. Turned to a vassalich by the darklord Azalin against his will for impersonating him, Balipur, after Azalin's departure at the destruction of Il Aluk, seeks to imitate his former master's Grim Harvest project, inverted, in a smaller scale to forge a soul from the lives of other men.
Long ago, a local priest created a warded graveyard on a remote hillside. As the years passed, it gained a reputation as a spot whose defenses were powerful enough to keep undead in and tomb robbers out. Adventurers began to bring the remains of any creatures they suspected might become restless in death to the Tomb Steppe for interment, and in time they also sought aid against such creatures from the friendly priest. After his death, a brief spate of undead activity commenced, then died away once again. As the years passed, the tales of undead activity in the Tomb Steppe faded into legend, and colonists began to move into the lands nearby. The town of Night Falls was founded a short distance from the graveyard, and it grew quickly into a thriving trade center and farming community. Realizing that the Tomb Steppe was safe enough during the day, the citizens began burying their dead there rather than building new crypts on pristine farmland. Because this method of interment was cheap and easy, people from many surrounding communities brought their dead to the town as well. The business of burial brought new prosperity to Night Falls, and a guild called the Funerary House sprang up to control the trade. But it seems that the threat from the Tomb Steppe has not entirely been laid to rest. The Great Mausoleum -- the largest and finest tomb in the steppe, has been unsealed, and an apparition has been seen within. Who will go to the Tomb Steppe by night and reseal the tomb? Lest Darkness Rise is a short adventure for four 7th-level characters. In keeping with the season, it has a stronger horror theme than most D&D adventures. This scenario can be used as the climax of a series of adventures featuring its secondary characters, or it can simply be a site-based adventure that the PCs stumble across at the right moment. The scenario is set in a semi-civilized area in the far north, far from cities and churches, where winters are harsh and summers never get very hot. These inhospitable conditions have resulted in a low humanoid population. The scenario need not be set in such a wilderness; a rural farming community far from cities works just as well. The only real requirement is that the area have few settlements. The action takes place in the small town of Night Falls and a nearby necropolis of tombs, mausoleums, and graves known as the Tomb Steppe. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.
The Assassin's Knot is a sequel to The Secret of Bone Hill, picking up on themes from that module and shifts them to a new locale. The player characters must solve the mystery of who killed the Baron of Restenford, with evidence pointing to somebody from the town of Garrotten. The scenario describes the town and its castle. The Assassin's Knot module is different from most of its contemporaries in that it contained no dungeon or dungeon-like area. The longer the players take to find the murderer, the more unfortunate events occur in the village. The village, Garrotten, is reputed to be the place to go to have someone killed. The entire village shuts down when the Baron of Restenford is found dead, mutilated beyond the possibility of magical restoration. Three small clues are all the player characters have to unravel the mystery. TSR 9057
Where shadows reign, darkness follows. You'll be lucky if you live to see the dawn's early light. The player characters are charged with entering a portal the demiplane of shadows to retrieve a magical staff that can close the portal. Roleplaying and betrayal. This adventure features many creatures native to and associated with the demiplane of shadow, often as random encounters. Pgs. 8-25
Our heroes are approached by Tristan Harpell, an entitled young mage and heir to a suite of rooms in Ivy Mansion, the ancestral home of the Harpell wizard dynasty. His inheritance is “infested” with the wacky experiments of his dead great-uncle, Siegfried Harpell, and Tristan needs the party to clean things up. The party will have many wild and bizarre encounters while digging through Siegfried Harpell’s derelict magical concoctions - and along the way they might even discover the astonishing truth behind Siegfried's disappearance! Into Ivy Mansion is a Dungeons and Dragons one-shot adventure for a 3rd-4th level party. It features exploration, role-playing and thrilling combat encounters...
A Maze of Tragedy and Mystery. While investigating a mysteriously abandoned mansion, the adventurers stumble into a tangled web of kidnapping, theft and murder. From a mansion with a deadly secret to the blood-stained waves of the high seas and an ancient, cursed citadel, the adventurers face a succession of deadlier and deadlier foes, with the rescue of innocents and the recovery of fabulous treasure as their ultimate rewards. A Family Affair includes a fully-developed town setting, numerous unique NPCs and a wide range of challenging opponents.
Always living in the shadows is hard when you're a clever and regal creature like a kobold. Now it's time to make a name for yourself and bring honor and prestige to your clan. In Little Trouble in Big Absalom, you take on the role of one of five kobolds from the Hookclaw clan tasked with exploring a treasure-laden vault discovered by a team of Hookclaw diggers. Enticed by the potential wealth, the kobolds brave terrible dangers in what turns out to be a grandmother's basement before being asked by the kind old lady to retrieve her magical hedge trimmer from a neighbor's garden. Little Trouble in Big Absalom includes two mini adventures that can be played back to back or alone—filling as much or as little time as you have for madcap adventure. In addition, the five pregenerated kobold characters provide a preview of the upcoming Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide in this exciting offering for Free RPG Day! Grab some dice and some friends and play the role of determined kobolds!
Everyone starts out their career with big dreams ready to take on the world. As you head out towards your fame you discover an abandoned manor house. With hope your in your heart you wonder if anything of value is left in the ruined building. Cautiously you enter...
The General who commanded the successful and profitable Crossroads Mercenary Company turns up murdered in his home, on the very eve of his scheduled announcement of which of his ambitious captains he’s chosen to succeed him as commander-in-chief. Every one of those commanders was in the house when the murder occurred, so they’re all suspects. If that’s not enough to keep things exciting, the clock is ticking down to zero. The General made a pact with devils years ago, and unless the murder is solved quickly, an infernal gate will open, allowing devils to flood through the General’s mansion into the world at large.
Sorrowwraiths is an adventure path about hunting monsters, helping allies through hard times, and saving communities in a city that is almost beyond saving. Dive into an industrial dystopia of poverty, pollution and exploitation, where laws and morality apply only to the poor, where technological progress overtakes ethical concerns, and where myriad monsters and curses prey upon the population. The city has lost its last group of protectors and someone new needs to pick up the torch... Allies in the Dark is Part One (of Five) and takes characters from 1st to 6th level. The heroes are introduced to the city and its issues. They get to investigate the disappearance of the Lochtengren's previous defenders, rescue and recruit some of them as allies, and expose the schemes of those who have turned villainous.
"You sneak into a museum filled with all sorts of strange displays, from fierce weaponry and intricate jewelry through to demonic statues and a strange obsidian monolith. You begin to take a couple of steps towards the monolith when darkness swirls around you as the museum's protections jump to life..." This is a one-shot heist adventure in which the players must infiltrate a high society event and steal a powerful magical item from right under the nose of an accomplished wizard. They will encounter mind-bending illusory defenses and compete with a secondary heist party, all while avoiding the gaze of the guards. This adventure is for four level 5 players (though adjusting for 3-6 players would be minimal effort) and is expected to take around five hours. It includes: * An exciting heist with several twists * Two new heist-based mechanics: Flashbacks and Guard Alert Level * Two optional objectives for the players to complete * A new monster to fight: the shadow duplicate * Two new items: the rod of illusia and the jade figurine of the deinonychus * Simple rules for running a skill challenge * Detailed maps of the manor as well as schematics for planning
Long before the rise of Waterdeep... Biblius ruled the sword coast with an open hand full of love and knowledge, but even the purest of men can fall when they hear greed's sultry call. Explore Biblius' forgotten library and discover if his mystical history of the universe is more than just a tragic myth. 13 Monsters mutated by arcane radiation 21 Unique and powerful magic items 16 Ancient tomes filled with forgotten knowledge 4 Bizarre NPCs that have managed to make the library their home 11 Lost spells from a time before humanity 9 Full color maps A 4-10 hour adventure for 8th level characters.
Faced with an unusual alliance of giants raiding the countryside, the party must venture into the steading of hill giant chief Nosnra and uncover maps to the locations of the other giant strongholds. “Steading of the Hill Giant Chief ” can be run as a stand-alone adventure, or you can play it as the first part of a four-part series that continues with “Warrens of the Stone Giant Thane” (Dungeon 198), “Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl” (Dungeon 199), and “Hall of the Fire Giant King” (Dungeon 200). The adventure is part of the Against the Giants series originally by Gary Gygax, hence the writing credit.
Death and taxes. Only two things in life are certain. The PCs must deal with a corrupt tax collector and his band of thugs in order to save a small village. Pgs. 48-61 & 66
The Nerastrim Manor on the hill once belonged to a wealthy family with great influence in the region; that is until Nathaniel Nerastrim's wife, Helen, decided she was through with the oppression of her rich husband, made a deal with a demon, and took a butcher's cleaver to everyone in the house. In the years since the massacre, the house has remained untouched. The spirit of Helen is still trapped within the house and repels the attempts of any who would cast her out. In this horror-themed adventure, your players have but a single candle to safeguard them against Helen's persisting wrath . . . will it burn long enough for the party to explore the manor and finally send the malevolent spirit of Helen on her way?