A mad plot to unleash the greatest necromancer the world has ever known draws to its sinister end. As the murderous cultists of the Whispering Way retreat to their profane sanctuary, the powers of death align to resurrect their fallen champion. Bold adventurers pursue these villains, but can their bravery survive the haunted wasteland of Virlych, the accursed cathedral of Renchurch, and ultimately the towering crypt of Gallowspire? And will their boldness be enough to stop the Whispering Tyrant, the infamous lich-king locked away beneath Ustalav’s deadliest ruin, from being reborn upon a defenseless world? The heroes must test their courage against the servants of death itself in this, the climactic final chapter of the Carrion Crown Adventure Path. This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes: “Shadows of Gallowspire,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 13th-level characters, by Brandon Hodge Nefarious plots and macabre menaces to prolong the terrors of your Carrion Crown campaign, by F. Wesley Schneider An investigation into the most infamous liches plotting dooms across the Inner Sea region, by Adam Daigle Laurel Cylphra’s attempt to save a soul in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by F. Wesley Schneider Five new monsters by Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, and F. Wesley Schneider
Founded by a famous dragonslayer, the small town of Belhaim has become a sleepy rural community just off the beaten path, a settlement where everyone knows everyone and strangers are the talk of the town. But when Belhaim’s peace and quiet is shattered by the sudden collapse of the last standing tower of its founder’s castle, things quickly bloom out of control. Why were there bodies of kobolds amid the rubble? What’s the sinister secret behind the strange sounds of flapping wings in the night? And what’s happened to local wizard Balthus Hunclay, who’s not answering knocks on his door? The collapsed tower had long been an eyesore to the cantankerous old man—could he have had something to do with its destruction? And what of the rumors of strange stirrings in nearby Dragonfen? Has Belhaim’s ancient draconic nemesis returned?
The slave markets of Katapesh may be an unsavory sort of business, but the trade metropolis’s enigmatic law enforcers have few qualms with the legal act of selling and buying flesh. Other factions, including the abolitionist Eagle Knights of Andoran, have their own opinions on the matter, however, and frequently send undercover agents into dangerous territory to break up slave rings. When one such Eagle Knight goes missing while investigating an underground slave operation beneath the dilapidated Twilight Gate district, it’s up to the PCs to delve an abandoned (but hardly uninhabited) qanat beneath Katapesh and discover her dire fate. Yet not everything is as it seems in the dank slave caverns under Twilight Gate, and clues hint that the slavers may have even more loathsome connections than initially suspected.
Doomguard factioneers steal an ancient relic from the church of Fharlanghan as part of an apocalyptic plot involving the Harbinger House, and a group of Clueless adventurers chase them into Sigil on their quest to recover it. Celestian's Compass is a free one-shot adventure that was released for Free RPG Day 2017.
Up here in the mountains, the sun sets fast. The path has narrowed yet again as it diverts into this small slot valley. A gentle stream parallels the path; it’s pretty, but the smell of rotting vegetation dissuades from lingering long. In the lengthening shadows, birdsong seems oddly muted. As the forest clears a bit up ahead, a small manor upon a little pond comes into view. The birds have gone completely still. K1: Night at Fausen’s Manor is an investigative adventure designed for player characters around 3rd level. The players have been invited by the reclusive Lord Fausen to dine with him and discuss a job; Fausen is troubled by odd bumps and sounds in the night, something has been interfering with his mail, and recently his butler, Grimly, has disappeared. The players investigate during a night at the manor, where dark secrets lurk around every corner. Published by Coldlight Press
60 years ago, a wizard's tower was encased in a magical glacier. Now a crack has appeared, exposing the tower for adventures. Inside, a magic artifact turns any who did in the tower to undead, including the PCs.
The black clouds of war are gathering, and evil flocks to their thundering call! While seeking the legendary expertise of a cloud giant skymage, the PCs interrupt an attack on his lair by well-armed and magically augmented hill giants. To obtain the cloud giant's arcane knowledge, the PCs must seek out and eliminate the source of the hill giant threat, yet the brutes have little information other than the name of their employer—a mysterious giant calling herself the Storm Queen, whose anger and hatred have transformed over the course of years into a murderous plan that could cost hundreds of innocent lives.
Deep below the anarchic city of Kaer Maga, someone—or something—has begun stealing corpses from the city’s most prestigious tomb, the Godsmouth Ossuary. Fearing the worst, the clerics of Pharasma in charge of maintaining the crypts quietly call for aid, not wanting to risk their own members in combating whatever horrors may have crept in from the tunnels and hidden chambers of the legendary Undercity. Beneath the infamous crypt lies a temple from an ancient empire devoted to sin, and a former Pharasmin cleric whose weathered his goddess’s wrath to create an army of undead minions, their dead flesh standing ready to support his heretical plans.
The Reign of Winter Adventure Path begins with an exciting new adventure from RPG Superstar winner Neil Spicer! Every 100 years, the Witch Queen Baba Yaga returns to the nation of Irrisen to place a new daughter on the throne, but this time, something has gone wrong. Far to the south, winter cloaks the forest near the village of Heldren with summer snows. The heroes venture into the wood and discover a magical portal to the frozen land of Irrisen, whose supernatural winter will soon engulf all of Golarion unless they can discover the fate of the otherworldy witch Baba Yaga- a quest that will take them through snowbound Irrisen to even stranger lands beyond. Reign of Winter part one of six.
In Old Korvosa, nightmare-spawned horrors begin stalking the district's shiver addicts, sparking a manhunt to bring those responsible to justice. What role does the strange cult known as the Brotherhood of the Spider play in the mysterious deaths, and why is the veil between the dreaming and waking worlds so thin? To solve these mysteries and others, the heroes must walk the unseen paths of Bridgefront's occult underworld, and even enter the Dimension of Dreams itself to unravel the web of intrigue concealing the cult's deadly machinations. But what will happen when the heroes' own dreams turn against them, and what becomes of those who uncover esoteric secrets too terrible to know? Beset by dangers from their own minds, the heroes must race against time to save Korvosa—and their sanity.
To banish the monstrous shadows that stalk Westcrown by night, the PCs go undercover, joining the city’s chaotic theatrical community in an elaborate plot to infiltrate the estate of the decadent lord-mayor. Yet theater life turns deadly when they become players in a spectacle no actor has ever survived. Can the PCs endure their debut performance in a city where an actor’s first big hit is often his last? This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path continues the Council of Thieves Adventure Path, and includes: "The Sixfold Trial," a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 3rd-level characters, by Richard Pett The Six Trials of Larazod, the complete and unabridged text of that infamously deadly play, by Nicolas Logue An exploration of the faith of Iomedae the Inheritor, goddess of valor, by Sean K Reynolds Pathfinder Varian Jeggare investigating death among the aristocracy in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Dave Gross Six new monsters by Darrin Drader, David Eitelbach, Sean K Reynolds, and F. Wesley Schneider
Deep in the heart of a forsaken and filthy mire, a great amphibious foe awaits. Led by an ancient evil from the world's history, can you stop thesummoning of the Demon Frog- God? If not, you may face the Devourer of Life! Also available as 5E and Swords & Wizardry.
Thail Donnodol, an eleven scholar, has been imprisoned for crimes he did not commit. The law is no refuge. Only by breaking into the fortress prison of Granite’s End can the player character save Thail from a lifetime of misery. There’s only one problem: Thail Donnodol does not want to be saved. At least not until he finds the Vengeance of Olindor. Part 3 of the Olindor Trilogy.
Hubrimort is a small, respectable town whose only claim to fame is a local governmental position bestowed by five of the king’s chosen officials, known as the Cavaliers. The position is given to the head of one of four noble families once each decade. While competition for the mysterious position is always fierce, this year there are rumors of underhanded deals with criminals, rigged tournaments, and a nasty case of blackmail. Which of the ancient families deserves ten years of power and privilege? Only the Sixth Cavalier can help the five officials make the right choice!
A Runelord Rises! The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path concludes! The Runelord of Greed, Karzoug the Claimer, stirs in the legendary city of Xin-Shalast. There are more forces than an ancient evil wizard at work in this remote corner of Golarion, a place where the boundaries between reality and nightmare are unnaturally thin. Karzoug's minions have awakened as well, among them giants and dragons and devils and worse. Could there be an even deeper evil poised to emerge from the darkness at the dawn of time? Can the Rise of the Runelords be stopped?
The Legend of the Black Monastery Two centuries have passed since the terrible events associated with the hideous cult known as the Black Brotherhood. Only scholars and story-tellers remember now how the kingdom was nearly laid to waste and the Black Monastery rose to grandeur and fell into haunted ruins. The Brothers first appeared as an order of benevolent priests and humble monks in black robes who followed a creed of kindness to the poor and service to the kingdom. Their rules called for humility and self denial. Other religious orders had no quarrel with their theology or their behavior. Their ranks grew as many commoners and nobles were drawn to the order by its good reputation. The first headquarters for the order was a campsite, located in a forest near the edge of the realm. The Brothers said that their poverty and dedication to service allowed them no resources for more grand accommodations. Members of the Black Brotherhood built chapels in caves or constructed small temples on common land near villages. They said that these rustic shrines allowed them to be near the people they served. Services held by the Brothers at these locations attracted large numbers of common people, who supported the Black Brotherhood with alms. Within 50 years of their first appearance, the Black Brotherhood had a number of larger temples and abbeys around the kingdom. Wealthy patrons endowed them with lands and buildings in order to buy favor and further the work of the Brothers. The lands they gained were slowly expanded as the order’s influence grew. Many merchants willed part of their fortunes to the Black Brotherhood, allowing the order to expand their work even further. The Brothers became bankers, loaning money and becoming partners in trade throughout the kingdom. Within 200 years of their founding, the order was wealthy and influential, with chapters throughout the kingdom and spreading into nearby realms. With their order well-established, the Black Brotherhood received royal permission to build a grand monastery in the hill country north of the kingdom’s center. Their abbot, a cousin of the king, asked for the royal grant of a specific hilltop called the Hill of Mornay. This hill was already crowned by ancient ruins that the monks proposed to clear away. Because it was land not wanted for agriculture, the king was happy to grant the request. He even donated money to build the monastery and encouraged others to contribute. With funds from around the realm, the Brothers completed their new monastery within a decade. It was a grand, sprawling edifice built of black stone and called the Black Monastery. From the very beginning, there were some who said that the Black Brotherhood was not what it seemed. There were always hints of corruption and moral lapses among the Brothers, but no more than any other religious order. There were some who told stories of greed, gluttony and depravity among the monks, but these tales did not weaken the order’s reputation during their early years. All of that changed with the construction of the Black Monastery. Within two decades of the Black Monastery’s completion, locals began to speak of troubling events there. Sometimes, Brothers made strange demands. They began to cheat farmers of their crops. They loaned money at ruinous rates, taking the property of anyone who could not pay. They pressured or even threatened wealthy patrons, extorting money in larger and larger amounts. Everywhere, the Black Brotherhood grew stronger, prouder and more aggressive. And there was more… People began to disappear. The farmers who worked the monastery lands reported that some people who went out at night, or who went off by themselves, did not return. It started with individuals…people without influential families…but soon the terror and loss spread to even to noble households. Some said that the people who disappeared had been taken into the Black Monastery, and the place slowly gained an evil reputation. Tenant farmers began moving away from the region, seeking safety at the loss of their fields. Slowly, even the king began to sense that the night was full of new terrors. Across the kingdom, reports began to come in telling of hauntings and the depredations of monsters. Flocks of dead birds fell from clear skies, onto villages and city streets. Fish died by thousands in their streams. Citizens reported stillborn babies and monstrous births. Crops failed. Fields were full of stunted plants. Crimes of all types grew common as incidents of madness spread everywhere. Word spread that the center of these dark portents was the Black Monastery, where many said the brothers practiced necromancy and human sacrifice. It was feared that the Black Brotherhood no longer worshipped gods of light and had turned to the service of the Dark God. These terrors came to a head when the Black Brotherhood dared to threaten the king himself. Realizing his peril, the king moved to dispossess and disband the Black Brother hood. He ordered their shrines, abbeys and lands seized. He had Brothers arrested for real and imagined crimes. He also ordered investigations into the Black Monastery and the order’s highest ranking members. The Black Brotherhood did not go quietly. Conflict between the order and the crown broke into violence when the Brothers incited their followers to riot across the kingdom. There were disturbances everywhere, including several attempts to assassinate the king by blades and by dark sorcery. It became clear to everyone that the Black Brotherhood was far more than just another religious order. Once knives were drawn, the conflict grew into open war between the crown and the Brothers. The Black Brotherhood had exceeded their grasp. Their followers were crushed in the streets by mounted knights. Brothers were rounded up and arrested. Many of them were executed. Armed supporters of the Black Brotherhood, backed by arcane and divine magic, were defeated and slaughtered. The Brothers were driven back to their final hilltop fortress – the Black Monastery. They were besieged by the king’s army, trapped and waiting for the king’s forces to break in and end the war. The final assault on the Black Monastery ended in victory and disaster. The king’s army took the hilltop, driving the last of the black-robed monks into the monastery itself. The soldiers were met by more than just men. There were monsters and fiends defending the monastery. There was a terrible slaughter on both sides. In many places the dead rose up to fight again. The battle continued from afternoon into night, lit by flames and magical energy. The Black Monastery was never actually taken. The king’s forces drove the last of their foul enemies back inside the monastery gates. Battering rams and war machines were hauled up the hill to crush their way inside. But before the king’s men could take the final stronghold, the Black Brotherhood immolated themselves in magical fire. Green flames roared up from the monastery, engulfing many of the king’s men as well. As survivors watched, the Black Monastery burned away, stones, gates, towers and all. There was a lurid green flare that lit the countryside. There was a scream of torment from a thousand human voices. There was a roar of falling masonry and splitting wood. Smoke and dust obscured the hilltop. The Black Monastery collapsed in upon itself and disappeared. Only ashes drifted down where the great structure had stood. All that was left of the Black Monastery was its foundations and debris-choked dungeons cut into the stones beneath. The war was over. The Black Brotherhood was destroyed. But the Black Monastery was not gone forever. Over nearly two centuries since its destruction, the Black Monastery has returned from time to time to haunt the Hill of Mornay. Impossible as it seems, there have been at least five incidents in which witnesses have reported finding the Hill of Mornay once again crowned with black walls and slate-roofed towers. In every case, the manifestation of this revenant of the Black Monastery has been accompanied by widespread reports of madness, crime and social unrest in the kingdom. Sometimes, the monastery has appeared only for a night. The last two times, the monastery reappeared atop the hill for as long as three months…each appearance longer than the first. There are tales of adventurers daring to enter the Black Monastery. Some went to look for treasure. Others went to battle whatever evil still lived inside. There are stories of lucky and brave explorers who have survived the horrors, returning with riches from the fabled hordes of the Black Brotherhood. It is enough to drive men mad with greed – enough to lure more each time to dare to enter the Black Monastery.
A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for 1st-level characters, this volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path kicks off the highly anticipated Kingmaker Adventure Path, in which the heroes win and defend a small kingdom from threats foreign and domestic. PCs should advance to 4th level by the end of this adventure. This volume also includes a gazetteer of Brevoy and extensive rules for exploring, taming, and holding wildlands in preparation for founding a new nation. The Pathfinder Bestiary section introduces five all-new monsters perfect for Kingmaker adventuring. James L. Sutter brings a lighter side to the Pathfinder Adventure Path with the first installment of a new fiction arc for the Pathfinder's Journal. The adventure begins with the PCs, each bearing a charter from the Lord Mayor of Restov granting license to explore and map the section of the Stolen Lands known as the Greenbelt, arriving at a small, remote trading post at the southern edge of rural Rostland. There, the PCs help defend the post from bandits before setting out to survey the wilderness.The rate at which the PCs explore the Greenbelt, and the paths they take, are up to them—many wonders and dangers await discovery, and as their explorations take them deeper into the Narlmarches and the Kamelands, the PCs begin to learn that the bandits in the region are far more organized than anyone thought—and find that they even have a leader, a mysterious figure called the “Stag Lord.” If allowed to continue building his army of bandits, the Stag Lord could well become a great danger to Rostland—that, and the reward on his head for his capture or death, should be all the new adventurers need to spur them onward.
From the idyllically peaceful coastal town of Sandpoint to an ancient lost city at the top of the world, Rise of the Runelords takes a party of adventurers from 1st to over 15th level and delves into the mysteries of Varisia's ancient past. Millennia ago, the powerful empire of Thassilon ruled the land, dominated by despotic runelords who maintained their power through harnessing the power of rune magic. Thought gone forever, the working of Thassilon are not so far beneath the surface and one of the runelords plans a return to power. Only the brave adventurers stand in his way. ” Burnt Offerings Five years after a tragic fire and spate of brutal murders, the people of Sandpoint eagerly anticipate the Swallowtail Festival to commemorate the consecration of the town’s new temple. At the height of the ceremony, disaster strikes! In the days that follow, a sinister shadow settles over Sandpoint. Rumors of goblin armies and wrathful monsters in forgotten ruins have set the populace on edge. As Sandpoint’s newest heroes, the PCs must deal with treachery, goblins, and the rising threat of a forgotten empire whose cruel and despotic rulers might not be as dead as history records.
Lurking in the watery depths of a fallen orc tribe's sacred burial cairn amid the bleached, broken bones of savage warriors, honored champions and mighty warlords the forest drakes Arduthal and Ingeirmaugh have made themselves a comfortable, safe home. Periodically emerging to ravage the surrounding countryside their depredations have reached such a level that Baron Liofa Othen begs the PC's to slay the foul beasts. The cairn's remote location, inundated, bone‐choked passageways and the vengeful, possessive ghost of the orc champion Gork Shattershield, not to mention the drakes' mistaken identity as green dragons, all stand in the way of the PCs' victory. A short Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 5th‐level characters by Creighton Broadhurst.
Sacred relics of the monastery, the eyes of the dragon, have been stolen from their rightful place in the eyes of the Ascendant Dragon statue. The elders have chosen one from among their ranks to go and retrieve these two fist-sized emeralds and bring them home.