The interrogation of the rogue wizard, Askalan, by the magocracy of Bemmea exposed his creation of unstable magical artifacts built in a ruined ley-line conduit. This Leystone, built by the mages of Vael Turog, had been dormant for centuries until Askalan discovered a way to power it. Now, after his untimely death, the Leystone's unstable power continues to grow at the edge of the Western Wastes. The magocracy hires the characters to find the awakened Leystone, uncover the mystery of this growing power, and return the source of the power to Bemmea for study.
The players and the DM compete in a race against time to see if all humanity can be saved, or if the fiendish servants of the Hells can corrupt the world for their own nefarious purposes. Special time-keeping and resurrection mechanics are included to keep the pace exciting and the plot moving. Prepare to delve into the long-forgotten Tomb of Mercy!
Fane of Serpents is a titanoboa lair suitable for three to five 10th-level characters. A rocky butte covered with soaring ruins looms over the landscape. Legend describes it as a monument raised by an inhuman race that was wiped out centuries ago as retribution over foul practices. Locally, the spot is known as Titan’s Height. It rises starkly above the surrounding area, with four terraced plateaus. Each level is covered with the ruins of many-columned halls in an architectural style unlike anything else in the area. Their age and strangeness alone are enough to generate fearful legends. The stories grow worse when travelers or livestock disappear near Titan’s Height, which they sometimes do.
Bodies are turning up in a city (or large town). The organs of the victims appear to have been turned to solid crystal; in a gruesome twist, the hearts of the victims have been carefully removed. The mayor and the guard captain have hit an impasse in their investigation. Agreeing to assist in finding the murderer, the party find themselves under attack by infernal assassins as they follow the clues to a gemcutter's workshop. In this rich and devilish adventure, the party must find and face a murderer and a charming devil.
In the thriving city of Zobeck, a breakdown of the vital Puffing Bridge is throwing a wrench into the entire city. Workers can’t reach their jobs, merchants and goods can’t reach markets. In short, if this problem isn’t fixed quickly, there’ll be chaos in the Free City. Of course, this isn’t a simple mechanical breakdown but an act of sabotage, and the saboteurs are still at work when characters arrive to investigate.
Who Do You Trust? In the cool streets and blazing bazaars, the word is out: a great treasure has gone missing in the Everlasting City of the Cat, and some very ambitious people have set their sights on it. Many paws and claws are out, and everyone is sniffing around for something rich and strange. It’s an odd time for a catfolk thief and a gnoll merchant to make very tempting offers to strangers in town. Or, perhaps it’s not odd at all. Get caught up in the hunt with Cat and Mouse by Richard Pett and Greg Marks! A perfect introduction to the Southlands campaign setting, and it fits neatly into any desert city where cats are sacred and rats are cautious and sly.
Suitable for four PCs. Adventure can be finished in one session. Several months back, Dip Halfling-Chewer and his cronies were ejected from a nearby goblin clan for indiscriminate wrestling. Their antics, although hilariously entertaining to themselves, were destructive and dangerous to the rest of the clan. The goblins spent several nights in the wilderness before discovering an abandoned wagon by the side of a trade road. There, the homeless cadre transformed the wagon into distinctly goblinoid fortress. They have had some success in assaulting and looting travelers on the road.
A shadow goblin lair suitable for four or five 4th-level characters. A growing band of goblins led by a powerful shadow goblin named Hurkl are demanding a toll to travelers on the Dancing Shadow Path. When the heroes are chasing a fugitive through the area and come across the toll...what will they do?
Hada the Black, a necromancer who was apprehended during an investigation of five missing orphans perished last night in the custody of city officials. The inquisitor who questioned Hada is certain that the children are still alive. After the characters hear of a contract offered by the city guard, they discuss the situation with the inquisitor. The tired and disheveled man smooths his crimson robes as he speaks.
Nightmare of Blood! The village of Karvolia has paid its annual tribute of blood to the Red Goddess—but this year, none of the donors returned. Now the priestess commands the village elders to send another dozen young men and women to the edifice of stone that looms on the cliffs overlooking the village: the dreaded Blood Vaults. The terrified elders are willing to pay adventurers handsomely to find a way to make this second tribute pass them by. Unfortunately, the latest set of donors has already entered the Blood Vaults, and are being prepared for the donation process…
"Den of the Rotten Kings" is a wererat lair suitable for four 3rd-level characters. This adventure can be completed in one session.
She lay down her sword and wept; her tears are the water. She lay down her body and slept; her bones are the fountain. Atop the mountain, at the war’s end, a place for gods to wonder.
A serpentine lamia lair suitable for four or five 4th-level characters. A matriarch lamia leads a large consortium of merchants from a distance and through intermediaries. However, she has recently descended into the common madness of her kind and set up a 'celebration' at an abandoned mine for her consortium and their guards. Will you survive the party?
"The Hive" is a spawn of Arbeyach lair, also featuring giant termites and termite swarms, for five 6th-level characters. This adventure can be finished in one session. Several mounds in the Forsaken Hills are the dens of voracious termites that have added flesh to their diet to supplement dwindling wood supplies. At night, swarms of termites hunt and devour prey. They swarm over victims in wooden carts and wagons, and bring the dismantled wood back to their mounds. Three spawn of Arbeyach, searching for a location to summon Ia'Affrat, Arbeyach's herald, discovered a mound filled with particularity nasty termites and used their vermin empathy to gain acceptance. They dug out a cavern beneath the mound, and now use the termites to protect themselves and gather food while they complete a difficult ritual involving dozens of sacrifices. The final sacrifice is prepared and the spawn are finishing their ritual when the party arrives.
Navigate court intrigue in the Shadow Fey realm to save the city of Zobeck. Earn status in the court through duels, quests, and negotiation to survive the machinations of factions and nobles to gain freedom for the city of Zobeck from the King and Queen of the Shadow Fey. Also available in 5e format.
"Lost Halls of Everforge" is a flame dragon wyrmling lair suitable for four or five 3rd level characters. This adventure can be completed in one session.
Throughout the land, legends of the Dusk Queen persist. They speak of a sometimes kind, other times cruel, yet always mysterious fey queen who ruled from her Dusk Tower—a tall spire of smooth, dark stone in the heart of a great, shadowy forest. Perhaps the most gripping legends, however, whisper of the Dusk Queen’s sudden and mysterious disappearance. Also available in 5e format.
"The Dark Forest" is an elder shadow drake lair suitable for four 8th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in one session. A hidden grove within a dark forest has been home to a tribe of alseids for generations. The tribe's most recent leader and spiritual heart was an alseid shaman called Riatha the Raven. Within the grove lies an ancient ring of standing stones atop a burial mount. Here, Riatha conducted sacred nature rites to honor and bless the forest and the tribe. During one of these ceremonies, the ground rumbled and a column of dense black energy shot straight up from the burial mound and into the night sky. Thick darkness enveloped the area, and the suddenly blinded alseids heard terrible roars. An instant later, the darkness dissipated to reveal a mysterious pool ringed with skulls among the standing stones. Two large, dragon-like creatures with black scales and burning red eyes glared at the confused alseids. One the ground lay the body of Riatha, deathly still. Terror and chaos followed as the creatures brought swift and sudden death, killing most of the alseid tribe members with razor-sharp teeth and deadly, black breath. The alseids that survived the inital, bloody attack fled into the forest. They counterattacked a few hours later, desperate to reclaim their grove and recover the body of their beloved leader, but the attempt was a fiasco and they were quickly driven off. Now, the few remaining alseids hide in the forest, frightened and unsure of what to do next.
An ancient palace constructed by the mighty Wind Lord Boreas has a new master: the gnoll sorcerous matriarch Odjanbago and her clan—the Archthieves. With the flying Sky Palace at her command, Odjanbago’s legendary clan of thieves and killers have cast a shadow of fear over the Southlands’ northwestern desert. All tremble in fear of the Archthieves, from the jinnborn tribes of the Dominion of the Wind Lords to the priests of Bastet in Nuria Natal. Even lords of Midgard’s Seven Cities grow uneasy at their mention. Whether they hail from the Southlands or elsewhere in Midgard, the PCs must shoulder the responsibility of ending Odjanbago’s reign of terror.
"Ruins of the Umbral Tower" is a shadow fey hunter lair suitable for four or five 8th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in a single session. The ruined Umbral Tower rests deep in the forest, in a marshy region avoided by all but songbirds. Long abandoned by its original occupant, the tower features a malfunctioning gate that connects this place and the Plane of Shadow. The site serves as a base for a group of shadow fey hunters and their entourage of hounds and guardians. The hunters used the gate to travel from their home plane, and they now attempt to bag as many trophies and as much loot as possible before returning home when the gate reactivates.