Men always seek the blood of monsters. Some spill it to avenge their massacred families. Others swim through an ocean of gore to find treasures worth the envy of kings. A few know blood can be a priceless treasure in and of itself. Alchemy has long used the lifeblood of monstrosities as arcane fuel, and of all the legendary beasts, the blood of the gorgon holds the most secrets. Few know the blood's darkest lore, its ability to draw out the monster within every soul. Those who drink gorgon's blood are forever changed, and the darkest horrors of their mind unleashed. The heroes hunt a deadly murderer who stalks the streets of the Free City of Zobeck after nightfall, and cross blades with a guild of monsters who rule the city from below. Lucky heroes might risk no more than their lives. Unlucky heroes must wager their souls in a game where monsters and men dance close enough to share their blood and their fate.
Unknown to even the mightiest of the great sorcerer-kings, a fire is stirring deep beneath the barren soil of Athas. Sheltered by the titanic bulk of the Black Spine Mountains, a terrible force has ripped open the very fabric of time and space. Now a shimmering portal stands open and a long-forgotten enemy assembles its sinister forces to invade the kingdoms under the dark sun. The only thing that stands in the way of this terrible fate is a band of heroes. Assembled from the four corners of this tortured world and bound together by the tangled cords of fate, they must face an enemy the likes of which they have never seen before. The odds are against them, but they dare not fail. The fate of the world is in their hands. The previous flip-book modules (Black Flames, Merchant House of Amketch, and Marauders of Nibenay) precede this adventure, but they are not necessary to enjoy Black Spine. Contains 3 - 96 page adventure books and 2 fold-out maps TSR 2428
A midwinter adventure for Draw Steel. Battle dangerous ice monsters, explore a strange fey realm, and negotiate with a powerful archfey to save a village from endless winter! This one-shot takes about 3 to 4 hours to complete and is balanced for three to six 1st-level heroes. Includes notes on how to adjust for a shorter session length or for higher-level heroes (up to level 8). Heroes can earn up to 3 victories. The Snow Queen's Fury is designed to introduce players to the core mechanics of Draw Steel—basic power rolls, combat, negotiation, and montages—in an easily digestible order. It's a great beginner one-shot, but would also work well as a seasonal interlude for an ongoing campaign. The adventure includes: - a charming midwinter festival with plenty of roleplay opportunities - one combat - one negotiation - one montage And your files will include: - battlemaps for all combat encounters (including a Christmas variant) - a reference map for the director - custom statblocks (including malice abilities!) for new ice-themed monsters - a PDF version and an Obsidian vault version of the adventure, for easy reference mid-session - a bonus level 10 solo statblock for the Snow Queen herself, just in case your heroes decide to do something really foolish
Arcane Moon is an introductory adventure inspired by 90s Magical Girl anime: drawing on Magic Knight Rayearth, Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon it's a story of love, friendship, treason and big villains. Arcane Moon is Magical Girl on Fantasy Land. It has been three months since the Arcane Scouts came together as a team. In that time they have managed to stay one step ahead of The Major Arcana, the personal guard of The Empress. However, unknown to them, one of her generals, The Hermit has infiltrated the city of Shealin and, posing as a merchant, has located two of the five shards needed to forge the Ioun Crystal. Jealous of his success The Priestess and The Hierophant are plotting against him, expecting to prove themselves to the dark mistress. The adventure takes place across two or three in-game days going from the latest fashion show on town to a mysterious tower hidden south of the city. Expect to fight several bad guys just to find out there was a bigger badder guy behind them.
A band of shipwrecked adventurers awake to twilight on an uncharted jungle island to the Northwest of the Nalanthars with amnesia, little do they know the amnesia is recurrent at the completion of each long rest until an ancient curse powered by an incomplete Mythallar is lifted.
The ruins of Castle Hermitage are shrouded in mystery after the disappearance of Lord Soulis Hermitage some 50 years ago. In the time since, the thriving village of Bellshall has grown a reputation for its market and specifically for the gemstones that can be bought there. Unfortunately for the people of Bellshall that supply of gemstones is at risk. Something is watching the Deep Gnomes who live and work in the mine. Soon it will need to feed. Are there any heroes who can help defeat this horrible menace, save the Deep Gnomes, and the village’s prosperity? Contains: A 4 to 6-hour adventure for four 4th level characters. With scaling information for other levels. A new CR3 monster, the Ettercap Host. Print friendly version. Accessible version. Separate GM & player map images for VTT use (Gridded and Gridless).
The Riverlands Kingdom is a peaceful place. Generations ago it was a thriving and rich trading empire. Now it is a sleepy region of farms and a few craftsmen. Dotted with villages and a few towns along the numerous rivers, protected by a wall of rugged mountains, a wild forest and a vast steppe, little of note occurs here from generation to generation. All that is about to be shattered, an ancient evil has arisen and undertakes to bring wrath and destruction to the Riverlands in a pledge to conquer the rivers and kill those who reside between them. The peace is about to be shattered, the harmony destroyed, the balance disturbed.
The PCs are looking to gain entry to the Glantri School of Magic, after the initial admission tests they are drawn into a commotion where one of the other students is being attacked by an evil sorceress. He tries to flee but but is killed, and the PCs are framed for the murder. The authorities are called and bribed to just kill the PCs, they flee and are chased and taunted by the evil sorceress. Eventually, during one of her attacks, she opens a weak spot in the ground and the heroes are dropped into the warrens under the school. They must navigate the warrens, which are shrouded in magical darkness, defend against further attacks, and find escape where they can prove their innocence.
The isolated tower of the wizard Deros Frist is an example of a typical tsochari incursion into the human world. This short adventure site describes the lair of a tsochar noble that has successfully replaced Frist, a local wizard of some renown. The tsochar Yikk Tasst now pores through the wizard's libraries and spell books, eagerly absorbing all the arcane lore it can. Pgs. 130-134
Part 1 of the "The Devil We Know" campaign arc. Shipyard Rats is a Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 7th level characters (Tiers: 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7). When simultaneous kidnappings of Pathfinder and Aspis Consortium agents rock Cassomir's Imperial Naval Shipyards, the Society orders you to join forces with hated Aspis agents to solve the mystery. Can you work together with the enemies of the Society to uncover the source of the kidnappings, or will you perish in the shipyards of Cassomir?
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 eastern desert stands the ancient tomb of Solomon III. Like all tombs, it is full of magical treasure and crawling with deadly creatures. But unlike other tombs, this one is screaming. Years ago, soldiers and wizards went in to silence the screams, and they succeeded, but they never returned. Now Solomon’s tomb is once again screaming out across the dunes, and no one knows why. Solomon’s treasure is still down there, but then, so is whatever is screaming. ADVENTURE TYPE: Small Linear Dungeon DESIGN NOTES: This adventure is intended for characters levels 5 to 7. It includes a desert wilderness area, an oasis, the tomb exterior, the tomb interior, and a cave system below the tomb to explore. Each area contains various NPCs, new monsters, old traps, shiny treasures, and strange magical items. There are many opportunities for (deadly) combat, and a few of them may be inescapable, but it is possible for players to have complex interactions and to experience very different consequences, depending on their choices. INCLUDES: Story hooks, dialogue prompts, creature stat blocks, dungeon overview map, and full-sized battle maps of each dungeon room that can be printed and used right on the table. KEYWORDS: Tomb, ghuul, ghoul, skeleton, ooze, demon, devil, thief, wizard, desert, sabercat, oasis, spider, viper
A nest of vampires has claimed a dark forest and the surrounding human towns as its domain. Some of the local residents revere the vampires and serve as daylight guardians and spies. However, most of the townsfolk live in a state of dread. Those townsfolk have finally scavenged enough valuables to hire a band of adventurers to destroy the nest. Pgs. 66-71
Did you know there’s a skeleton inside each of us? The players will find themselves in a community of scared anthropomorphic rabbits and exploring the lair of undead wizards looking for flesh to wear. There are opportunities for combat, roll play, puzzle-solving and exploration. This was written as a submission for the Summer Adventure Design Contest over at Bryce's Adventure Design Forum.
Provost Nigel Faurious’s research has revealed the location of an icy spire near the eastern side of Icewhite Island. The Provost needs the Hoarfrost Flower, an artifact found inside this spire, to make his Convergence Manifesto a reality. Eager to complete his work as quickly as possible, the Provost previously paid for an expedition from the Deathsgate Guild to explore the icy spire at the same time the Clifftop Guild surveyed the Shining Valley in the last adventure. The Deathsgate expedition’s ship, the Nightwood Cask, was destroyed by the cold of the Risia manifest zone. They made it to the island on lifeboats and headed to the spire, hoping to use it as shelter until someone from the Deathsgate Guild comes to rescue them. The spire’s builders are long gone and forgotten, but their traps and magic remain. Mror archeologists once found this place while in search of their ancestors that many believe hailed from the Frostfell. Only their camp remains in the foyer of the spire, where the party from Deathsgate waits. While the Deathsgaters’ supplies dwindle, they argue among themselves on their next steps. Should they try and make it to shore and hope their ship somehow survived, continue to wait, or delve deeper into the spire to complete the task they were hired for?
We get it. Factions are an integral part of D&D, but it's not always clear how to use them in your campaigns. Luckily, Factions of Sigil has you covered for each of the twelve main factions found across Sigil and the Outlands! This supplement goes over the various rules and lore around the primary factions found in Sigil and the Outlands, making it easy for any new or veteran DMs to integrate the factions more into the core stories being told, and making them feel more useful for the players that choose to join. In this adventure, the characters ally themselves with the Doomguard of Sigil and are sent to the Tomb of Bardarock in the Outlands, a former member turned lich who must be stopped.
5e Solo Gamebooks presents The Tortured Land, the fourth in our series of solo adventures set in the Forgotten Realms. With this adventure, we take off the gloves and throw your PC into the thick of some serious danger in the frigid north of Faerun. Only the most hardened adventurers will make it through this adventure in one piece, and with several different paths available, replayability is assured. The Tortured Land will provide you with hours of enjoyable, challenging play time. Arriving in a lonely village in the middle of the northern plain known as The Ride, your hero is soon drawn into a quest to retrieve a precious artifact. From there they will journey even further north, towards the barren waste known as the Tortured Land, in search of an unknown enemy. There are items to collect, codewords to activate and perils to avoid. And of course, many combat encounters! As always, hyperlinks are included in the text to facilitate easy navigation, removing the need for scrolling between entries.
Shrouded in whispered rumors, Crow’s Rest Island has been avoided as long as any can remember. Nothing but death, and the memories of those long gone, greet any who take to land upon the isle’s shores. It is to this island that the PCs will find themselves driven as a storm threatens to drive their ship below the waves. Awaiting the PCs are far more than ghost stories upon this island, for there lives a very real threat, hiding here among the legends that keep sailors at bay. A classic ghost story that casts the PCs not as adversaries to the specters, but rather as their benefactors, Crow’s Rest Island challenges the PCs with a tribe of foul kobolds, a haunted village, and the forgotten servant of a long departed ice devil. An excellent introduction to the Aventyr Campaign Setting, this adventure gives the PCs their first glimpse into Vikmordere culture. A0 may also be easily ported to any setting containing a northern wilderness near a large body of water.
Deep within the blasted desert wastes a mysterious black tower has been sighted. The structure is not marked on any known map and has not been seen in this location by travellers in the region, yet there it stands. The adventurers set out to explore this ancient, isolated tower that appears ripe for the plundering. Within they face a gauntlet of insidious traps and supernatural horrors. The deeper the adventurers delve, the more secrets of the tower’s origins they uncover. The tower’s sinister creator does not rest easy in his arid grave – the adventurers must face him if they are to survive the Tower of Screaming Sands. Also included in “Tower of Screaming Sands”: Five deadly new traps: The Chamber of Ten Thousand Teeth, The God’s Grasp, Chamber of Flooding Sand, Hall of Arcing Blades and Descending Stone Block. A new monster – the scorpion swarm. Rules for whirlwinds, a new magical hazard GM tips for running overland travel.
Bandits have been preying on the caravan trade of late, and the number of burglaries and kidnappings is on the rise. Such events might not seem all that unusual, except for the bandits' calling card -- webbing! Can the PCs penetrate the bandit lair and slay the leader before any more locals vanish?