An escaped duergar slave stumbles into the village of Elventree. With her she brings a malady that grips the small settlement in a bout of madness that seems unshakable. Can you find the source of the madness and save yourself and the village’s inhabitants? A four-hour adventure for 5th-10th level characters.
Tieflings are raiding a dwarven expedition under a shield of magical darkness, but if the PCs can supply the dwarves with giant scarab beetles capable of generating potent bursts of magical light, they might just survive. Unfortunately, they'll need to escort the herd of giant beetles through the Underdark first. A D&D adventure for 3rd-level characters.
This material was originally published as two separate adventures, D1: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" and D2: "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa." Contained herein are referee notes, background information, maps, and exploration keys intended for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The adventure can be used alone or as part of an extended adventure that begins with G1-3: "Against the Giants" and continues with D3: "The Vault of the Drow" and Q1: "Queen of the Demonweb Pits." TSR 9059
Chase a choldrith trying to incite a war! Detour through an abandoned dwarven mine when your path is blocked by a cave in! Fight through dangerous beasts to get back on the choldrith's tail. In this 6-8 hour adventure for 4-5 characters of 3rd level, explore an old dwarven mine and fight through a hive of dangerous beasts to get back on the trail of the choldrith your group has been pursing. Includes: A 6-8 hour adventure for 3rd level characters 2 DM maps Copies of the maps suitable for use in your favorite virtual tabletop Stat blocks for all monsters the players might encounter. 4 new undead versions of NPCs Be sure to check out the first two installments in this series: Into the Underdark - Part 1 A Family Affair Into the Underdark - Part 2 The Spider's Den
Written by the setting’s creator, incomparable RPG author Monte Cook, Ptolus: Queen of Lies is an action-packed fantasy adventure painstakingly re-designed for Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire. Involving numerous challenging scenarios for characters of 11th level, Queen of Lies is filled with dozens of dark elf personalities, cunningly showcasing their alien culture—a world of merciless betrayal and sinister lusts. Deep below the surface, in the sunless lands of the Netherdeep, creatures of darkness build weapons and amass armies, dreaming of invasion. An attack on a peaceful elven shrine in Emerald Hill sends the heroes on a quest to retrieve stolen artifacts and kidnapped friends. All signs point to the actions of the dark elves of Ul-Drakkan, far below the city of Ptolus. However, even within that ancient fortress, there exists a deeper darkness.... Underground enemies lurk beyond every twisting passage, and strange creatures abound. The foul culture of the dark elves is both decadent and cruel, and the heroes may discover that they’ve stumbled into a web of deceit and treachery spun by the self-styled queen of the dark elves. Can the player characters complete their mission without being discovered, or will they find out, perhaps too late, that their actions been orchestrated all along by the wicked Queen of Lies? Published by Fiery Dragon Productions
The Ghost Tribe of Orcs were driven from their home under Wyvern Tor by some terrible evil. They marched to Phandalin and attacked, only to be defeated. Now the heroes will go beneath Wyvern Tor to discover the terror that chased out the orcs and perhaps find the source of the orc’ssardonyx. Journey to Beneath Wyvern Tor is the third of four parts in the After Lost Mine series. It will play out the journey to the orc’s former cave settlement and then into the darkness beneath. Part IV will have the party deal with the terror from the Underdark that drove out the orcs.
Of all the inhospitable domains in the RAVENLOFT@ campaign world, Bluetspur is the cruelest and most gruesome. Nothing grows in the endless night, and lightning periodically falls like rain. The only place to escape those storms is inside the mind flayers' complex under Mt. Makab, but that is the last place where any sane person would want to go. The High Master Illithid has been hatching black plots by hatching vampiric mind flayers in his laboratories! His prodigies are horribly insane, but if he can complete his plans, he will achieve a new level of dark immortality. A pair of heroes has stolen the key to his success, but they have paid a heavy price for their bravery and are in desperate need of aid unlooked for. Meanwhile, the Lord of the Realm watches over the proceedings and plays havoc with the wits of both sides, sapping strength and will with all-powerful thoughts of darkness. A party of adventurers will need all of their skills to escape this black domain without the loss of life, power, or sanity! Enter now the perpetual twilight realm of Bluetspur, home to mind flayers, a land of relentless nightmares. There's no rest for the wicked or the good in this domain. Once caught within the borders of this desolate land, the characters must complete their mission without delay or lose their minds and become slaves of the Lord of Bluetspur. TSR 9264, from 1992
Part megadungeon, part underground expedition, Operation Unfathomable serves as both a one-shot adventure and a campaign framework. PCs are (optionally) drafted at swordpoint to recover the Nul Rod, a priceless artifact that was recently lost in a local prince's foolhardy attempt to destroy the Chaos Gods of the Underworld. The PCs have been drafted as an expendable set of pawns to venture into the vast and bewildering Underworld and retrieve the Nul Rod. With the Underworld's innumerable beasties being on high alert after the prince's expedition, the PCs must sneak through the incredibly dangerous Underworld. Fighting is not as important as stealth, fast-talking, and running away rapidly. This is the expansion from Sholtis's original Operation Unfathomable, released in Knockspell #5 (2011).
The Shattered Circle is an AD&D® adventure for four to six player characters of 1st to 3rd level. For many ages, the standing stones known as the Circle of Cahervaniel have stood on a grassy hilltop, unremarkable and unmenacing, but something has changed. A powerful artifact deep within the earth has been uncovered, and its evil power has corrupted the recent inhabitants of a dungeon complex. The chitine live within, a cross between humans and spiders created by the drow, but trying to live a quiet existence. The evil Foundingstone has corrupted some of the chitine, and split their society in two, bringing them to conflict. Adventurers who navigate the chitine factions and dangerous dungeon will need to end the threat of the Foundingstone and the solve the mystery of the strange dark unicorn Mizar that has appeared recently around the stones. Interestingly, one of the unique magic items in this adventure, Icerazor - is said to have grown from a shard of Frostrazor, a sword that appears in a famous later adventure - Return to White Plume Mountain. There is a brief mention of Suloise, so it can be considered a Greyhawk adventure, but clearly states it can be placed anywhere.
The Haunted Hamlet and other hexes details four unique modular locations for your game. Made for old school essentials, but can easily be used with other old-school systems or even 5E. The four locations detailed in the zine focus on gameable content and being easy to use at the table. The locations are not connected to one another and can be sprinkled onto your campaign map however you like, or run as one shots. The PDF is graphic and art heavy and utilizes random tables and other tools to make it easier for GMs to run in a pinch. Details: 40 pages Single column text 8.5 x 5.5 aspect Black & White Bookmarks Four hex locations Random tables A rival NPC party A sky merchant A one page town Two hirelings
On a nameless, featureless demi-plane the Tarrasque rages across an all-encompassing nothingness. Last seen on Faerun a century ago during the cataclysm of Odobaz, the battle mage order of the Eldritch Storm sacrificed itself to banish the mighty titan to its demi-plane prison. Now a foul power emerges in the High Ice and nightmare visions of the Tarrasque trampling cities wrack the minds of the living—can your adventurers defeat the Horror Under the Mountain?
The Baronies of Erlkazar, once a prosperous region of pastoral tranquility, is now a land of nightmares and dread. Bandit armies plague the region, terrorizing the populace and surrounding countries of Calimshan, Tethyr, Amn, and Turmish. Though these threats are terrifying enough, it is nothing compared to what awaits the people of Erlkazar at night. In caves, tombs, and subterranean communities beneath the seemingly pastoral villages of Erlkazar live the secretive Night Barony. Ruled by the vampire Saestra and her legions of darkness, these monstrous denizens of the Five Baronies are the real power in the region. The country’s only hope of liberation is you.
As a member of a bold party of adventurers, you and your associates have trekked far into what seems to be a whole underworld of subterranean tunnels -- arteries connecting endless caves and caverns which honeycomb the foundations of the lands beneath the sun. Your expedition has dogged the heels of the Dark Elves who caused great woe and then fled underground. This module can be played alone, as the conclusion to module D1 & D2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth," or as the third module in a series that forms a special extended adventure (G1-G3: "Against the Giants"; D1-D2: "Descent into the Depths"; and Q1: "Queen of the Demonweb Pits"). TSR 9021
If absolute power corrupts absolutely, Matron Maelora best beware; her plans for total domination of the Underworld are already close to satisfactory completion, while attacks on the Upperworld have become increasingly successful. The other power-hungry drow families of Holoth may despise her but they know a true leader when they see one, and House Gullion has been revealed as the family to lead them all on the path to glory. With the entire Underworld in chaos and the Spider Goddess regularly communing with her chosen Matron, far greater dreams than mere regional conquest are within the grasp of the drow, as Maelora prepares her grand dark elf army for victory! With other mystical allies standing firm with the Matron, other Underworld races beneath her heel or cowering behind fortified walls, and every drow ready to play their part when she gives the word, what could possibly stop her from achieving her final triumph and fulfilling her destiny? But even the greatest of plans has a flaw if you look hard enough, and a party of stout heart and strong resolve can make a difference. At first, such a party may well believe it is on a smaller adventure, perhaps to win a few baubles or some small acclaim by rescuing a few kidnapped villagers. Soon, however, those adventurers will realise that much more is at stake, and that they are the ones who will need to make moves against the evil Matron Maelora and her increasing dominance if both the entire Underworld and Upperworld are to be saved. But how will they go about it? Can they ensure their own success when an entire city is standing against them? Only they have the chance to halt the Rise of the Drow! Published by AAW Games.
Under the Flooded Forest grows a toxic maze of magical fungi called the Nidus. From this horrid realm a cult has struck a terrible blow against the wood elves struggling to regrow the trees in the forsaken swamp of the Flooded Forest. The elves, on the brink of extinction, need the adventurers to navigate this deadly labyrinth and recover a precious object. But the tunnels here crawl with spore-laden beasts and demons, and the very air itself is poisonous.
In this adventure, the Lord Commander of the Sharn Watch hires the heroes to investigate the murder of an actress. The investigation quickly spirals into a bloody dispute involving a dead wizard’s spell-book, political rivalries, and secrets that might foment war among the Five Nations. Pgs. 1-37
Part 3 of the Shackled City Adventure Path "Wherein a tribe of the Sea Mother's children suffer for sparing the life of a mad prisoner they probably should have eaten." Synopsis: The adventure begins with an Umber Hulk attack in the middle of the city. The fame gained by assisting during the attack allows them to gain the notice of a representative of Davked Splintershield. The group is asked to rescue Zenith Splintershield from a Kuo-Toan temple in the Underdark. But to find it, they have to visit Crazy Jared to locate an entrance to it. Upon journeying to Crazy Jared's, they fight Hookface's offspring. After more travelling, they are able to descend into the Underdark. Once they find the Kuo-Toan temple, they must fight through many hard challenges, only to realize that Zenith is not a prisoner, but instead is a prophet. Zenith does not go willingly, and so must be captured. Pgs. 28-61
The Zhentarim ask the party to investigate what happened in one their most important underdark outposts. If the party accepts, they'll have to deal with maddening darkness, grimlocks, an insane kenku assassin and unpredictable mixtures of potions. A short, fun dungeon romp that is easily adapted to other settings and other patrons. The combination of utter darkness and a villain based on sound makes for fun shenanigans on the side of the DM. Feasible as a one shot for an efficient party. Two tendays ago, Zhentarim agents were to transport a shipment of rare potions between their Underdark outpost and the surface world. The shipment has yet to arrive, and the outpost is not responding to any sending spells. Growing worried, the outpost’s overseer sends a group of hireswords to investigate and return it to Zhentarim hands. This particular adventure deals with the delusions of madness of Fraz Urb'luu. It also features Muurmic, the mad kenku first described in the December 2015 issue of Dragon+.
Undermountain: The Caverns of the Many-Legged is an adventure detailing a hidden mini-level for Dungeon of the Mad Mage for characters of levels 12-13. It uses some of the story and lore of that book, but it can be incorporated or dropped into any setting or homebrew campaign. In a hidden part of Undermountain, former slaves feed their fat, monstrous queen who is fixated on revenge. A broken drow house has finally found a place to call home – only to become abominations. And a massive beast slithers, hunting for anything to satiate its hunger and quell its madness. Welcome to the Caverns of the Many-Legged. Which side, if any, will adventurers choose as they explore this hidden mini-level for Dungeon of the Mad Mage? In this adventure, you will find: a mini-level that can be easily incorporated into Dungeon of the Mad Mage a vivid cast of unique monsters and NPCs, including chitine warriors, a choldrith queen, a spellcasting draegloth, a mad yuan-ti anathema, and others (stat blocks provided for all creatures not in the Monster Manual) locations that could be used or adapted elsewhere, such as a chitine colony and a drider-controlled drow fortress a combination of roleplay, exploration, and combat encounters
Peren, a guildless Devkarin collector of obscure relics has gone missing. The elf of shadow is in deep debt to the Orzhov as well as to the Rakdos performer, Ophyira. To discover Peren’s fate the party must descend into the Undercity of District Four, within the territory of the Golgari Swarm. Continuing the story which began with Off to a Weird Start, and picking up where The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures left off, this adventure is designed to be part of an ongoing campaign. For Dungeon Masters who wish to incorporate The Felicity Triskelion independently from the ongoing story, 10 Adventure Hooks (one for each guild) are included, giving The Felicity Triskelion flexibility for one-shot play or for inclusion in your own campaign!