A Book of Books Candlekeep Mysteries is an anthology of adventures written by members of the Dungeons & Dragons community. Each adventure begins with a book that the characters find in Candlekeep, an enormous library located on the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms setting. If you're not running a Forgotten Realms campaign, you can adapt the adventures in this book for other settings, substituting any large library similar to Candlekeep. Examples from other published D&D settings include the following: On the world of Exandria, the Soltryce Academy in Rexxentrum (a large city on the continent of Wildemount) or the Cobalt Reserve in Westruun (a small city on the continent of Tal'dorei) On the world of Eberron, the Library of Korranberg in the nation of Zilargo, the University of Wynarn's library in the nation of Aundair, or Morgrave University's library in the city of Sharn On the world of Oerth, the Great Library in the Free City of Greyhawk Contains: The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces Mazfroth's Mighty Digressions Book of the Raven A Deep and Creeping Darkeness Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme The Price of Beauty Book of Cylinders Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor Lore of Lurue Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion Zikran's Zephyrean Tome The Curious Tale of Wisteria Vale The Book of Inner Alchemy The Canopic Being The Scrivener's Tale Alkazaar's Appendix Xanthoria

"Gnolls have captured the heroes! After stripping the characters of all equipment except their armor and clothing, the gnolls drag them to an expansive briar maze known as the Twisted Thickets and set them loose. Then, armed to the teeth, the gnolls hunt down their prey. The characters must survive the hunt and outwit their pursuers. Stripped of your armor and weapons, you are cast into the Twisted Thicket and hunted like rabbits. If you want revenge, you must first survive Yeenoghu's evil Hunters. After dealing with the gnoll hunters, the heroes can try to reclaim their lost equipment and exact revenge on the tribe, which lairs in the caves beneath Dead Gnoll’s Eye Socket." Pgs. 2-14

Into the Forsaken Temple's Crypt is a short adventure for four 10th-level characters. The adventure takes place in a buried temple crypt, which has been sealed for centuries. Dungeon Masters can adjust it for higher-level characters by expanding the dead magic areas and increasing the number and power of constructs and undead that inhabit the complex. Some things are best left untouched, and some secrets are best left untold. One such secret is the location of the resting place of the traitor Ellowyn Blacktree. Her body has lain undisturbed for centuries, undead but immobile, in the prison the elves created for her. The elven histories tell that Ellowyn was a powerful wizard back in a time beyond human reckoning. While others worked diligently to learn magic, Ellowyn's arcane powers came to her quickly. In her youth, she called this a blessing from Corellon Larethian, and she worked diligently to serve him for the good of all elvenkind. In time, she became one of seven female elves entrusted with the care of a mythal, or elven place of power, devoted to preserving the balance of magic and nature. But Ellowyn, it is said, kept a terrible secret of her own: She had fallen in love with a drow whom history knows as Orith To'rellen. One dark winter night she betrayed her sisters, Corellon, and all of elvenkind by allowing Orith and the followers of Lolth to overrun and defile the mythal. Ellowyn herself was then betrayed by the drow, who abandoned her on the surface near a vampire's lair as they returned to their home in the Underdark, leaving her to face certain death and elven justice alone. In the depths of their grief and anger, the elves sentenced Ellowyn, perhaps unwisely, to dwell forever in the darkness that she had chosen, thus ensuring that she never followed the normal path of life and death that most elves take. Many elves died at her hands before they could restrain her. With terrible spells rarely seen even in that ancient time, they bound her in an underground crypt far away from any living thing. There, the legends say, she waits, nursing a terrible hatred against elves, drow, Corellon, Lolth, and especially Orith To'rellen.

Nestled on the coast of the Azure Sea is Saltmarsh, a sleepy fishing village that sits on the precipice of destruction. Smugglers guide their ships to hidden coves, willing to slit the throat of anyone foolhardy enough to cross their path. Cruel sahuagin gather beneath the waves, plotting to sweep away coastal cities. Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in search of revenge. The cult of a forbidden god extends its reach outward from a decaying port, hungry for fresh victims and willing recruits. While Saltmarsh slumbers, the evils that seek to plunder it grow stronger. Heroes must arise to keep the waves safe! Ghosts of Saltmarsh combines some of the most popular classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons including the classic ‘U’ series and some of the best nautical adventures from Dungeon magazine: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Danger at Dunwater The Final Enemy Salvage Operation Isle of the Abbey Tammeraut’s Fate The Styes All adventures have been faithfully adapted to the fifth edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Furthermore, this book includes details on the port town of Saltmarsh, as well as plenty of hooks to kick-off each adventure. Play through each story in a seafaring campaign leading characters from level 1 through level 12, or pull out sections to place in ongoing campaigns in any setting. The appendices also cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters, and more! “The Saltmarsh series consistently ranks as one of the most popular classic D&D adventures,” said Mike Mearls, franchise creative director of D&D. “With its ties to ocean-based adventuring, it was an obvious step to augment it with additional sea-based adventures and a robust set of rules for managing a nautical campaign.” Hoist your sails, pull up anchor, and set a course for adventure!

Kingdom of the Blind is a short adventure for four 8th-level characters. The adventure is set in a minor duchy that is fairly removed from the ruler of the land. As a result, trouble can brew in the land and the king would not know immediately. The PCs have just learned that Dephyl is alive and well and ordering blocks of granite. Meanwhile, Zhanna and Dephyl are on the third floor. If the PCs encountered the animated staircases on the first floor, the shriekers on the second floor, or triggered the trap outside Dephyl's study, the couple knows someone unwelcome is downstairs and moving up. They begin to prepare for their arrival.

Light of Xaryxis is a thrilling space adventure set in the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space campaign. Heroes sail through the vast expanse of wildspace, encountering cosmic threats and unraveling mysteries. The Xaryxian menace, fueled by the star Xaryxis, seeks to annihilate the multiverse. As brave spacefarers, your characters must navigate intrigue, battle alien foes, and ultimately decide the fate of worlds. Will they save the realms or face oblivion in the cosmic glow of Xaryxis?

Within the jungles of Chult is a vast expanse of ash. While a red dragon is known to reside deep within the Land of Ash and Smoke, it is far from the deadliest of its denizens. Deeper still is a pit filled to the brim with pure evil. None who have sought out its secrets have survived to tell its tale. Will you be more successful than they?

A four-hour adventure for 5th-10th level characters. The enemy is revealed, but time short and if you are not successful in your mission to Mount Baratok, love will never die. Part fourteen and the finale of Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts. In an effort to locate the evil witch Esmae Amarantha, the party must work to enable a tarot card reading by Jeny Greenteeth, a quixotic hag. However, finding casters to aid Jeny in her ritual is its own ordeal, and even if they succeed, there is still the task of venturing to Esmae's ritual site and putting a stop to her plans.

The Temple of Draxion is an adventure with 2-3 encounters that uses clever tactics, trickery, and good defensive positions to make low-level monsters challenging. The defenders in the encounter try to deceive the PCs; groups willing to accept anything the DM says at face value will horribly misjudge the actual level of danger they are in. The adventure is set in a partially-collapsed dungeon that was once a temple to Erythnul, but is now the headquarters of a pair of aspiring bandits, and their kobold employees. Pgs. 12-15

The task seems easy enough: accompany a mysterious traveler and her equally mysterious package from Waterdeep to Neverwinter. In the Jewel of the North, tasks are seldom easy, though. News travels fast and the Red Wizards of Thay have learned of the traveler and the object she carries. Now a Necromancer readies an ambush for the adventurers and their ward, intent on stealing the item for his own sinister purpose. A prelude to the Lost Crown of Neverwinter Encounters season and connected to the release of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting.

HSING bears foul news: SEER has been captured. While exploring the ruins of Ulcaster in search of knowledge pertaining to runes (or perhaps even how to create them), they were separated and now the pseudodragon fears the worst. Without SEER's guidance, the efforts of the assembled factions in these recent events may all be for naught.

All ocean voyages are fraught with peril, yet a voyage to the infamous Isle of Dread might seem to some old salts to be a deliberate goading of the gods of the sea. Many of those who have attempted the voyage before managed to return to civilization often choose not to speak of the trials they experienced on that dangerous route, yet those whose lips can be loosened by a draught of grog whisper amazing stories... tales of pirates, sea monsters, terrifying storms, and perhaps most harrowing of all, of a strange and sinister land without land, a floating graveyard of dead ships mired in a sargasso the size of an island. This place has many names, but its most well-known may be it's most apt - Journey's End. "The Sea Wyvern's Wake" is the third chapter of the Savage Tide Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures appearing in Dungeon magazine. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon magazine's monthly "Savage Tidings" articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand upon the campaign. Issue #350 of Dragon magazine features a regional guide to the seafaring environs the PCs can expect on the journey to the Isle of Dread. It’s time to bid farewell to the city of Sasserine as the PCs board the Sea Wyvern for a 3,000-mile voyage south into the uncharted waters of the Vohoun Ocean. Their destination: the Isle of Dread. Pgs. 16-48

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.

Every priest in the city dreamed last night of a forgotten temple carved into the side of a nearby mountain. In the dream, a storm raged deep within the temple, and the dreamers knew instinctively that evil forces sought to unleash that storm upon the surrounding lands. Pgs. 120-125

At Restwell Keep, you've heard that fortune and glory await those bold enough to brave the dangers of the Chaos Scar, a valley carved ages ago by a fallen star. The same tales warn that this Chaos Scar draws wickedness to it. Perhaps you can help stem this tide... and gain treasure along the way. While the location is a different keep, this adventure is an homage to B2 Keep on the Borderlands(https://adventurelookup.com/adventures/b2-keep-on-the-borderlands)

A group of snaketongue cultists has occupied an abandoned, partially sunken temple near a swamp. They grow impatient waiting for their yuan-ti master to join them, unaware that he has been slain by a rival faction of yuan-ti. Frustrated, the cult strikes against nearby villages in the hope of drawing the favor of Zehir. Investigating rumors of a serpent cult harassing a nearby town, the PCs have explored the swamp and discovered the overgrown temple. Its once-ornate stone door now hangs off its hinges, providing a narrow space for one character at a time to squeeze through. Pgs. 42-47

Base of Operations is a short adventure intended for four 5th-level characters. DMs can easily modify the adventure to suit higher- or lower-level adventurers, or larger or smaller parties of adventurers. Simply adding a few monsters to every encounter area makes the adventure more challenging for larger parties, and adding levels to any of the humanoids can make them more of a threat to high-level groups. For low-level adventurers, make the relationship between the two factions within Brightstone Keep more strained, and take away a few monsters from each group. You can remove levels from some of the humanoids in the adventure to make it a lower-level challenge, but it is important that the orc cleric (described in encounter area 8) still have the ability to animate the dead. Still, he can have fewer minions around him when encountered, and that makes him less of a challenge for a lowlevel party.

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.

Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh In this version of the adventure, the characters find navigational charts and logs aboard the Sea Ghost that implicate its crew as slavers. Ned Shakeshaft is a Scarlet Brotherhood agent. He makes an attempt to foil the characters, but his true intent is to surrender and implicate Gellan Primewater as a key villain. The distraction afforded by the lizardfolk and the looming sahuagin threat gives the Scarlet Brotherhood the opportunity to bring more agents into town. posing as mercenaries brought in by Anders to protect the town. If Gellan can be removed from the council, Solmor might ask one of the characters to take his place.

The Cult of the Dragon leads the charge in an unholy crusade to bring Tiamat back to the Realms, and the situation grows more perilous for good people with each passing moment. The battle becomes increasingly political as opportunities to gather allies and gain advantage present themselves, all centered in Waterdeep. Continuation of Hoard of the Dragon Queen.