The wizard Allustan requests the party's company on a trip to Blackwall Keep, a militia outpost on the border of a treacherous swamp. But what of the green worms and unkillable zombies plaguing the region, and what fell secret is locked in the keep's forlorn basement? "Encounter at Blackwall Keep" is the third 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. Check out issue #335 of Dragon for three sample cohorts that they might want to take on. Pgs. 16-40

Stuffed animals. The Vast Swamp is a most unnatural habitat. A crocodile has been attacking a poor druid and its up to the party to help the druid retake his swamp. Pgs. 34-37

Hidden deep within The Reaching Woods is a swamp grotto known to the locals of Hardbuckler as Whiskaway Wood. The townsfolk know to keep their distance from this place as few make it back. If they do, they come bearing toxic diseases that place the entire town in jeopardy. This is the situation the town is dealing with when the adventurers come knocking on the outer gates of Hardbuckler. In this adventure, the party must go forth into the swamp in search of Rotwood Maggie, a hag priestess of Talona who calls Whiskaway Wood her home. She possesses information on how the adventurers may go about saving the town, but her secrets don’t come cheap. In addition, some of the information she possesses may leave the adventurers questioning whether the town deserves to be saved at all. Features a disorienting swamp dungeon bolstered by several new magic items, creatures and diseases! Be sure to check out the full preview of the adventure when you visit the page!

In the kingdom of Minoxia, the dragon Oxitorus rules the people with a disease his breath causes. A rebel approaches you and implores you to investigate a lead he has on a cure. The travel through Minoxia's swamp will be difficult, and you can't trust anyone, as the tyrant's spy network has roots everywhere. What will become of you, even if you succeed?

"The Spectre of Sanguine Isle" is an adventure included in the product "Calpurnia's Guide to Practical Traps". It's an adventure that features traps from the document. The isolated town of Cupidinum has been shaken by a senseless murder. The culprit has fled to Sanguine Isle, and it's up to the heroes to find him and bring him to justice. But the fugitive doesn't want to be caught, and he knows a thing or two about guerilla warfare. Can the heroes catch their elusive prey? And was his crime quite as straight-forward as it was made out to be?

A cloud of dust forms over the horizon as a titanic army of evil threatens the entire civilized world! The Master of the Desert Nomads and his legions are back, and they form the greatest threat that you have ever faced. You must persuade powerful rulers to join you cause, stave off threats to the alliance, and lead your armies to victory! This adventure contains a full-color map of the D&D Expert Set game world, 200 counters, and a special expansion of the War Machine mass combat rules that allows you to fight the entire war as a strategic wargame! Major battles and engagements can be fought using the BATTLESYSTEM Fantasy Combat Supplement for incredible tabletop action. Never-before-published information on all the nations of the Expert Set game world provides background and detail that will enrich your campaign. This adventure includes large-scale battles and uses an expansion of Douglas Niles and Gary Spiegel's warfare system, "The War Machine", developed as part of the D&D Companion Set (BECMI Ed.) from 1984. "Red Arrow, Black Shield" is more than just a follow-up to X4/X5; it's a lynchpin for the entire B/X/CM adventure sequence. The players travel through many lands that were home to past adventures, and their past interactions with those places could affect diplomacy in this new adventure. TSR 9160

A vast Feywild swamp slowly seethes into the mortal world, conjured by a malevolent hag. The Murkendraw's unstoppable progress widens Rotten Ethel's dominion by a few steps each day, and with it, the hag's ambition. When Rotten Ethel kidnaps the fairest pixie of all, the swamp's advance suddenly quickens. The fairy folk need brave heroes to turn back the tide and venture forth to rescue Glitterdust.

Several days ago, a colony of myconids were born from the gloom and rot of a swamp near a small fishing town. They found a place to form their new colony, and settled on a crumbling mausoleum in a long-forgotten graveyard. Their rapport spores have been spreading unchecked, and have begun to infect the dead buried underneath the marsh. These dead have risen as spore servants, which the myconids are using as watchdogs to protect their new home from unwelcome intruders—like the adventurers. In this encounter, the characters stumble upon an old country graveyard in the middle of a swamp. When they investigate, they fall under attack by the living dead! Once they fend off their undead assailants, an investigation of the mausoleum reveals the true villain behind the attack: a group of mycanoids that infested the corpses with their spores, turning them into telepathically controlled puppets. From here, the characters can either negotiate with the mycanoids or kill them. This encounter’s three acts are: The Discovery: the characters find an abandoned graveyard. The Trial: the characters are attacked by undead. The Revelation: the characters learn that the zombies are really mycanoid spore servants, and can try to reason with the mushroom-people or destroy them. Either way, there’s treasure!

Wednesday's child... It's a blessed event only if you can end the curse in time. People have been disappearing form the town of Monetenapoleone and a swamp has appeared blocking the towns trade route. It is up to the players to find what is causing all of these strange events and to stop it. Pgs. 32-49

Green Death... That's what old hands call the Great Dismal Swamp. For centuries, this tangled maze of sluggish watercourses, stagnant ponds, and festering marshes has defended Blackmoor's southwestern frontier. Large armies and smaller parties have disappeared altogether inside its vast, dripping, claustrophobic corridors. Among those who have dropped from sigh in this arboral hell is young Rissa Aleford, one of Blackmoor's most important leaders. Carried off to the sinister City of the Fron, she is now being held by the eccentric Monks of the Swamp. By making the baroness captive, the deranged monks have serioulsy weakened Blackmoor at a time when enemies already threaten it from all sides. Yet, even as the Froggies gloat, the king of Blackmoor dispatches a small band of bold adventures to the rescue. Deep into the Great Dismal Swamp they must go - far from sunlight and sanity - there to seek and save the swamp, there to find the Temple of the Frog. TSR 9175

As fledgling adventurers, your group is looking for anything to increase their fame and line their pockets with gold. Upon crossing the countryside your group comes to Creedo’s Trail a small thorp in the Duchy of Starryshade. Upon arrival in town you find an inn to stay indoors finally and a job opportunity hanging at the Bagel Inn purporting an “easy job” for a “big reward”. The poster is reputedly a crone or witch who has need for some components for an experiment she is currently working on. Easy job AND big reward…what’s not to like!

The Dysmal Swamp is a coastal wetland that stretches over 100 square miles. Devoid of any urbanization, the ecosystem enjoyed its dank sanctuary. A community of bullywugs called the swamp home for generations, hunting and maintaining the balance of the land. The land also appealed to the Belange Company, a wicked fey-run enterprise making cheap magic items, who needed a secluded location far from both thieves and oversight. When the Belange Company established their magical workshop in the swamp, the bullywugs attempted to drive them off. However, the Belange Company’s supply of magical items provided enough firepower to protect their endeavor, and many bullywugs fell in the initial conflicts. The Belange Company began crafting scores of magical items to be sold across the region, using a cheap alchemical process that produced a nasty liquid byproduct glowing with chaotic magical energies. Rather than devise a new process, the Director decided to discharge the waste into the swamp. As production increased, so did the pollution, and the sludge began to warp the wetland. The region’s typically reclusive bungisngis population became aggressive. It is only a matter of time before these mutated swamp giants lay waste to bullywugs.

Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind fills the midnight air. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner—and you are invited. Spans levels 1-10.

After leaving a successful venture on Xodus Island you find yourselves being pursued by Captain Gabriel Angel and his pirates! Your escape sends both ships into a hurricane causing you to become lost at sea with waves threatening your ship. Choking on water the next morning you and your fellow adventurers find yourselves at Shipwreck Cove!

Long unoccupied, the pyramid on Sorcerer’s Isle now flows with strange magical energy, warping creatures and the landscape around it. The Cult of the Dragon and Red Wizards of Thay have taken notice, and it’s up to you to keep whatever power dwells there out of their hands. An adventure for 5th-10th level characters.

This adventure is about fighting monsters and being heroic. It’s also about discovering hidden and forgotten secrets, and then using those secrets later to the heroes’ advantage. The heroes will fight lizardfolk and hawklords, undead and basilisks, and some strange and malevolent creatures from a plane beyond Orden. The heroes will have the opportunity for a handful of negotiations which can be hugely influenced by piecing together secret information uncovered earlier in the adventure. Combat encounters in the adventure are built to generally take at least 3 rounds, sometimes more - they can be complex! The heroes will be expected to spin multiple plates at the same time! The adventure reward an average of 12, but as many as 20 Victories. Depending on your experience running and your table’s experience playing Draw Steel, how many side objectives the heroes follow, as well as a bunch of other factors, it could run around 20 to 32 hours of playtime. In the Tullow Vale of Vasloria, a centuries old town is built around a weathered statue said to seal away an ancient evil. Ajax's Hawklords bombard and lay waste to the town, stealing the statue, and in the chaos, the pitiless Deatheye Yslansh and her lizardfolk minions abduct the citizens! Can you save the people of Ivywatch before they are put to the Deatheye's fell purpose? And what or who exactly have the Hawklords unsealed? This adventure is about fighting monsters and being heroic. It’s also about discovering hidden and forgotten secrets, and then using those secrets later to the heroes’ advantage. The heroes will fight lizardfolk and hawklords, ogres and basilisks, and some strange and malevolent creatures from a plane beyond Orden. The heroes will have the opportunity for a handful of negotiations which can be hugely influenced by piecing together secret information uncovered earlier in the adventure. Combat encounters in the adventure are built to generally take at least 3 rounds, sometimes more - they can be complex! The heroes will be expected to spin multiple plates at the same time! The adventure will reward an average of 8 to 18 Victories. Depending on your experience running and your table’s experience playing Draw Steel, how many side objectives the heroes follow, as well as a bunch of other factors, it could run around 20 to 32 hours of playtime. The adventure contains: - 12+ combat scenes, including a boss battle. Most combats have objectives beyond just “kill everything” - 2-3 montage tests - 1 small, safe location to take respites in, full of NPCs with opinions - 1 big, complex, puzzle-y negotiation - 10 new custom treasures and titles, and other player rewards - A brief setting primer to Tullow Vale

The Brightness of Mornstead This challenging, three-hour, one-shot adventure is intended for parties between levels 5-8. Five years ago, a dragon destroyed the peaceful town of Mornstead. Now, a man named Wiles Killinger has rediscovered a mysterious artifact from the ruins and seeks revenge against the dragon that destroyed his life. However, not all is as it seems in this tale of lore, mystery, and betrayal. Will the dragon be slain by mighty heros or will the horrors of the living dead return to cover the land? Adventure Features Flavor text and pre-written quotes let the DM jump right in with minimal prep time. A level-scaling table for on-the-fly-customization of the final battle. NPC information and backgrounds. Multiple plot points that can be expanded into a full-fledged campaign.

Surrounded by miles of hostile swampland, Feypool isn’t a place too many adventurers seek out. But a group of travelers discover that this small duchy is under siege by a strange threat: Marietta Truelight. Otherworldly beautiful and abnormally charming, all but a handful of Feypoolers have fallen under her spell, becoming a fanatical hive mind willing to do anything for her. But Marietta is planning something sinister, the answer buried within Feypool’s superstitions and bleak history. The Feypool Beauty features a number of horror elements including body horror, suspense, intrigue, and some classic tropes similar to body snatchers. What secrets will you uncover? What atrocities of devotion will you witness? And will you be able to resist the influence of the Feypool Beauty?

Millennia ago, aberrations from Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, were driven from Eberron. The Gatekeeper druids–mostly orcs–placed powerful dimensional seals throughout Khorvaire to prevent the creatures of Xoriat from returning. To repair a breach in one of the seals at a settlement called Tjorda, a Sealguard Complex was built. An immortal guardian ws tasked with attending to the repaired crack in the seal. Thousands of years later, the Gatekeeper druids rediscovered the sealed complex. Even without knowing its precise history, they ascertained its sacred nature and have guarded it from then on. Being sealed in to protect the site and commune with the inner guardian is considered a great honor. Much of this history has long-since been forgotten. But 10 years prior to the adventure’s start, Vilda Karrte–a relic hunter with her own agenda–tracks a Xoriat artifact called the Spiral Well to the complex. Turned away by the Gatekeeper, she forces her way inside, grievously injuring them. Having discovered Vilda’s journals, Provost Nigel Faurious, through the Clifftop Adventurers’ Guild Handler Lhara, tasks the adventurers with recovering the Spiral Well.

The Borderlands. An untamed wild region far flung from the comforts and protection of civilization. A lone fortified Keep is the only bastion of Good desperately striving to maintain the forces of Chaos at bay. But Evil is everywhere, lurking in dark caves, fetid swamps, forlorn forests. Bands of cutthroat brigands and ruthless tribes of humanoids eager to clash with the forces of Food rove the region. The Borderlands hold many secret wondrous locations, and opportunities for fame, prestige, and fortune are plentiful. But equally abundant are the perils, risks, and challenges to those brave enough to explore the wilds. Sharpen your swords and axes. Purchase your iron rations and tinderboxes. And Don't forget at least one 10-foot pole. Adventure awaits those with the mettle to confront Chaos in the Borderlands!