Evil lurks beneath the ocean! For years it has slumbered, but now it rises once again, threatening to wash over the surface world like a monstrous wave. Only a handful of stalwarts stand between the nefarious schemes of the deep and a world drowned in sorrows, but first they must navigate a wizard’s sanctum, a magical prison, and the most unusual dungeon they’ve ever faced! Can they stem the tide in time or will they lose themselves forever to the Sea Change curse?
Murder! Ripples of shock pour through the wee hours of the sleepy fishing shanty of Port Scuttle. An innocent young fishmonger, beloved by the locals, has been brutally murdered in her own shop. Stunned by the grisly act, the typically hardened townsfolk turn to powerful heroes to investigate the gruesome deed. Could the fishmonger’s recent discovery of a massive black pearl be a possible motive? The heroes’ goal is to not only bring the perpetrator to justice, but determine the twisted purpose behind the ghastly act. Concerned townsfolk decry that the evildoer must hang for his or her despicable crime. Yet when the heroes finally track down the murderer, he is already dead by the noose, and the investigation has truly only begun. Clues hint at even darker designs, as an ancient evil stirs to reclaim a once lost malevolent relic. Tackle the challenge of solving the despicable murder of an innocent, and thwarting the diabolical schemes of a powerful brine vampire. Th e adventure is set in and around a small fishing port located on the windswept craggy cliffs of an ocean. The author draws on two inspirations for this adventure: The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, and an unnamed adventure plot by the author’s astonishing wife, Lisa.
Towering obelisks stab the sky. Monstrous knights with blazing lances prowl the night. Huts burn, and entire villages are taken as slaves to be fed darksome pits. The cries of terror and panic give the horrors a name: the Beakmen have come. But you are no mere peasant or serf, cowering the in the dark. You and your companions are reavers, with bloodied blades and spells wrenched from the dreams of demons. You stride through chaos while others flee, turning your steps towards the great stone obelisk, the source of the beakmen and their alien magics. Whether for the cause of justice or merely to acquire these strange blazing weapons for you own, tonight there shall be an accounting: a blazing brand thrust into The Shadow of the Beakmen.
Centuries past, Lady Ilse ascended to scion of House Liis by trading the archdevil Mammon what he wanted most: her immortal soul – and a diabolical betrothal. The triumph proved hollow, for every year on the eve of her fell covenant, she was beset by visions of Mammon and her foul promise. Seeking to save herself, she was buried alive, swaddled in the holy symbols of a dozen divergent faiths. This desperate ploy held Mammon at bay for centuries…but a devil can afford to wait a very long time. After hundreds of years, the last of the holy wards has fallen. The devil has come to collect his due. Tonight a storm crashes against the ancient manor house and forgotten spirits rise from the muck and mire. The fallen belfry tolls once more, announcing the hellish fete. As the adventurers arrive to explore the Black Manse, Mammon calls for his winsome bride. He will leave with a soul at the end of the night. The only question is: Whose?
In this all-new adventure, the characters acquire a treasure map tattooed on tanned human skin. It shows the location of famed pirate Bloody Jack’s last haul, where hundreds of thousands of gold coins lie waiting to be taken. But exploring his long-abandoned island hideaway isn’t as easy as it first seems. Bloody Jack didn’t leave his treasure unguarded — and the best way to keep the undead legions well-stocked is to lure treasure-hunters to their death…
The legendary city of Freeport is a seedy port town where former pirates settle down to become "businessmen" while street gangs fight over the slave trade. In the deepest warrens of this already dangerous place, mad cultists worship unspeakable gods - and sometimes these sinister deeds bubble to the surface. There's a dark shadow over Freeport today, as yet another innocent child has gone missing. The trail leads to the old Cresh Manor, boarded up but not forgotten. The city needs heroes to find these missing children. But are the heroes brave enough to conquer the dark shadows of Freeport?
In this adventure, the coastal village of Fair Haven needs the characters’ help. For decades, Fair Haven has relied upon its lighthouse to guide merchant vessels into port. But on a recent stormy night, the lighthouse suddenly failed. The trading ship Nymph’s Kiss was dashed on the rocks, and smugglers have already raided the wreck. Somebody has to restore the lighthouse, but the locals are afraid to go near because it shows all the signs of being haunted. Yet there might be more to the story, since there’s something living in the sea caves below…
Discovering a once-hidden passage in the Purple Planet’s Ancestor Peaks, the PCs enter the tomb of the Immortal Kahl. The party must survive deadly chambers fraught with alien life and technologies while unraveling the tomb’s mysteries. Ultimately, the party faces a choice unlike any encountered before, and a reward which will change them forever.
Your stalwart band treks through the trackless jungle seeking the Dragon's Maw Waterfall. At the base of the falls, behind a massive curtain of water, is rumored to be the cavern lair of a great wyrm. The local Xulmec tribesmen say the great dragon has not been seen in nearly 100 years, so perhaps its hoard lies unguarded and ready for plunder. But what role do the heroes play in a blind shaman's prophecy foretold a century ago?
Giants stalk the shifting sands as the lost city of Stylos awakens from its deathless slumber. The Fourth Age of Man is at hand! All that stands between the gigantic hordes of Stylos and their conquest of the world is your band of adventurers. Sinister traps, implacable foes, and the crushing tread of the dread Colossus all lurk within these pages, eager to test the courage and cunning of even the most accomplished adventurers.
The cries of battle echo in the rustic wilderness, as a pair of fey sisters defend the ancient Briarwood against invaders. When the town of Bur Hollow sends militia men to support their fey allies, they disappear without a trace. The adventurers must enter the Briarwood and save them!
This adventure is intended for 2 to 3 3rd-level PCs originally from Lankhmar, but can easily be adjusted to accommodate adventurers from other locales. Guidelines are also provided for scaling the adventure for up to six PCs. The events of this adventure lure the party from their home in the City of the Black Toga to an abandoned watch tower on the coast of the Inner Sea, not far from Ool Hrusp. After completing this scenario, they may find reason to further adventure in the Forest Land.
On the Purple Planet, amid the frosted Ancestor Peaks, the adventurers have encountered a small pyramid thrusting skyward from the bottom of a ravine. This is the Tomb of Dust, one of the ancient cairns found throughout the area. Here, the PCs find deadly puzzles, encounter the Moth Mother and her hungry brood, and face the tests of Anh-Tho the Learned, a forgotten scholar of a bygone age. If they manage to thwart these dangers they gain access to Anh-Tho’s Archive, a perilous repository of potent lore!
At the end of a forgotten back alley, in the weird and otherworldly marketplace of faiths known as the Bazaar of the Gods, stands the ruins of a forgotten chapel. Once the cult of the Carnifex was celebrated throughout the City of a Thousand Gates. But a band of holy warriors rose against the cult of executioners and torturers, casting down her signs and scattering her devotees to the winds. The fate of the cthonic goddess, and – more importantly – her fabled jewels remains a mystery…until this night. Set amid the sprawling decadence of Punjar, Jewels of the Carnifex offers low-level adventurers a chance to plumb the mysteries beneath the city’s soiled streets, explore forgotten crypts lavished with weird artifacts, and – for the quick and daring – claim the lost Jewels of the Carnifex!
Captured! While trekking across a trackless wasteland, your stalwart band has fallen into the clutches of a nefarious gang of desert raiders. Imprisoned in a subterranean chamber, you are bereft of all of your equipment and magic items, save for a few tattered loincloths. But as chance would have it, an opportunity to escape the cell presents itself. To escape, you must head deeper into an ancient sealed tomb, armed with nothing but your wits and anything you can find along the way. Getting to the surface is just one of many challenges, as you still need to recover your precious equipment, and flee the Lost Oasis, which is surrounded by an inhospitable sea of solid glass!
The Bunker transports the party from their starting hex to a destination 2 hexes away. It can be placed anywhere on the Purple Planet map that does not already contain a numbered encounter. It could be hidden beneath the fecund growth of the mushroom forests, lost in the broken lands, amid the Ancestor Peaks, or uncovered by a sand storm in the wastes.
Centuries ago, the glitterdoom came to the dwarves of Steelhand Clan! This divine curse transformed the dwarves into hellish forms with an insatiable greed for gold. Now, a chance encounter breaks open long-sealed gates to unleash the glitterdoom again. Can your adventurers delve into the forgotten halls to confront the subterranean menace? Work together to clear the abandoned mine of it's undead hosts and retrieve what gold and treasures you can.
Legend tells of a long-dead empire of sphinxes, ruled over for millennia by a great queen named Ankharet. She fell into darkness and her empire was shattered, as her subjects rebelled and cast her down. Unable to kill her, it is said that they bound her with great magic and buried her in a tomb, to wait for the foretold heroes who would be able to slay her and end her evil forever. Their empire in ashes, the sphinxes scattered to roam the world in bitter freedom, save a single great androsphinx. On the edge of the mysterious Barren Hills, between the mountains and the Great Desert, there is a gigantic statue of a crowned gynosphinx, ancient beyond reckoning. At its feet, a great androsphinx known as Khubsheth the Prophet has dispensed counsel and prophecy to all who come to him for longer than mortal records can tell. The heroes have come to visit Khubsheth, whether for counsel, prophecy or out of curiosity, but as soon as he lays eyes on them, he attacks! Upon his defeat, he tells them that they are the heroes foretold by the legend of Ankharet. Ankharet ruled over a long-dead empire of sphinxes, but she fell into darkness. Her subjects rebelled and cast her down, but were unable to kill her. It is said that they bound her with great magic and buried her in a tomb, to wait for the foretold heroes who would be able to slay her and end her evil forever. Kubsheth the Prophet tells the heroes that they must enter the tomb of the long-dead sphinx queen, kill her, and destroy her cursed crown, an artifact of tremendously evil power. As his blood seeps into the sands, a doorway opens at the base of the statue, leading down into darkness…
For centuries, the Great Swamp has hidden hints of an ancient culture of barbarian kings. While passing through this miserable bog, the PCs encounter Stygoth the Damned, a half-dead black dragon driven mad by a mysterious disease. Delving further, the heroes discover that the disease is tied to the very swamp itself. A great corruption once infested this place, destroying the savage barbarian kings and leaving only mighty statues as their legacy. Now this corruption has returned, and a terrible Witch Queen is mining the corrupted swamp-earth to produce evil, blighted artifacts. In order to stop the spread of these evil weapons, the heroes must enter the ancient caves of the savage kings, put to rest the corrupt legacy of their downfall, end the disease that scars the land, and then face off against the Witch Queen herself.
Originally designed as a convention module, this adventure sends the heroes into the underdark to do battle against the mysterious denizens of the deep! A drow housemistress commissions the characters to acquire a mysterious weapon known to be in the hands of her dark elf enemies. Locating, identifying, and acquiring the magical weapon leads the heroes on a great trek across the underdeep, where they must battle svirfneblin, a powerful lich, and enemy drow. This adventure us specifically designed for play by drow characters, but can be used with any adventuring party. Pregenerated drow characters are included.