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.
This collection of eleven 1 on 1 Adventures is now available in 1 tome-now powered by Pathfinder Roleplaying Game! 1 on 1 Adventures #1: Gambler's Quest 1 on 1 Adventures #2: The Star of Olindor 1 on 1 Adventures #3: The Forbidden Hills 1 on 1 Adventures #4: The Sixth Cavalier 1 on 1 Adventures #5: Vale of the Sepulcher 1 on 1 Adventures #6: The Shroud of Olindor 1 on 1 Adventures #6.66: The Pleasure Prison of the B'thuvian Demon Whore 1 on 1 Adventures #7: Eyes of the Dragon 1 on 1 Adventures #8: Blood Brothers 1 on 1 Adventures #9: Legacy of Darkness 1 on 1 Adventures #10: Vengeance of Olindor
Beneath the fetid roots of a noisome swamp linger the pathetic remnants of a once proud and noble tribe. Laid low by a powerful narcotic administered by their ambitious (but wildly paranoid) mistress, the lizardfolk of the Dark Oak are but a shadow of their former greatness. Now, in the fetid caverns below the slumbering body of a diseased treant she plots to bring bloody slaughter to the folk of the nearby villages before her followers forget their proud heritage and sink into a lethargy from which there is no escape.
The strange city of Carrion Hill has long loomed over the surrounding swamps in eastern Ustalav, yet its rulers have shifted many times through the centuries. Often enough that only a few sinister scholars and curious minds know the true nature of the hill’s original inhabitants—vile and depraved cultists of the Old Gods. Yet this morning, a dreadful recrudescence rises from the depths of buried nightmare in the vaults below Carrion Hill. A monster stalks the twisted alleys of the city, spreading panic before it and leaving destruction in its wake. Can the Carrion Hill Horror be stopped?
Bleak days have come to the Taldan city of Cassomir and nearby settlements, with a wave of depression and rage sparking horrific acts of violence. When retired adventurer Taergan Flinn doesn’t show up to meet with his old companions, the PCs are called upon to investigate, leading them into a swirling maelstrom of horror and tragedy.
After being singled out by a mad prophet as the ones who must defeat the Brine Witch, the PCs are hired to uncover the secret of the plague of curses. This is the first of a series of connected adventures contained within Return to Freeport. All six adventures together should take characters from 1st to 12th level. Adds a new creature template: Sand-blighted
A ruined monument to folly and ego, the Shadowed Keep stands atop an isolated bluff deep in a mist-wreathed forest. Sacked by marauding goblins decades ago the place was thought abandoned, but shadows now creep among the forest's great boles and footprints have appeared on the single, overgrown track leading to the keep. Travellers have begun to disappear with alarming regularity from the nearby road and the local folk fear some slumbering evil has claimed the ruin as its own. Dare you brave the terrors of the Shadowed Keep to crush that which lurks within or will darkness shroud the surrounding lands? Designed to be easily inserted into a GM's home campaign, Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is an excellent starting locale to test the mettle of neophyte adventurers. Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is designed for the medium advancement track. 1st-level PCs completing all the challenges of the place can expect to reach 3rd-level by the time they have exhausted all the keep has to offer.
The coastal city of Magnimar is no stranger to crime, yet recently, a series of murders has sent a chill through the early morning streets. Someone—or something—is stalking and killing worshipers of Sarenrae, the goddess of the sun. The city guard is prepared to ambush the murderer, but they need help—help of the kind that adventurers are so good at providing. What is the sinister truth behind these violent acts?
More than a hundred years ago, Delbera Axebringer—a mighty warrior and dwarven leader—slew the necromancer Audalot Karexin, but spared his young apprentice Zohir. In the ensuing decades, the bitter survivor brooded and plotted her revenge. Now, descendants of the Axebringer clan are vanishing, dragged screaming into the darkness by the animated bodies of their fallen kin. The Axebringers and their hometown of Davarn need heroes to break this family curse. What mysteries lie sealed within Delbera Axebringer’s ancient abandoned fortress? And what challenges lurk along the Blighted Path winding through the Darklands beneath Golarion’s surface? Down the Blighted Path is a deluxe adventure for 5th-level characters, and includes 64 action-packed pages of exciting battles, supernatural mysteries, and monstrous foes, plus a gorgeous double-sided poster map featuring an overview of the dwarven trading post of Davarn and a miniatures-scale battlemap! The author of this adventure, Monica Marlowe, was the winner of the 2015 RPG Superstar contest, in which hundreds of unpublished authors competed or the chance to write a Pathfinder Module. In addition to her adventure, this book contains a host of new monsters and magic items designed by the contest’s runners-up. Players can expect to reach 7th level upon completion of this adventure—if they can survive its deadly haunts, Darklands horrors, and furious villains both living and undead!
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 autumn wind whistles and blows through the branches of now barren trees. In the light of the harvest moon, orange and red leaves can be seen dancing through the streets; a tell-tale sign of winter’s approach and summer’s end. As the party leaves the local tavern to make their way to the inn of this small village, they have chosen to stop at for the night, they hear strange chants originating beyond some thick bushes to the south of the village. Jet black clouds begin to form and swirl above what appears to be firelight in the distance, and a woman’s scream echoes out, pleading for mercy…
The Wormwood Mutiny is the first in the Skull and Shackles Adventure Path by Paizo. The adventurers wake to find themselves press-ganged into the crew of the pirate ship Wormwood, the vessel of the nefarious Captain Barnabus Harrigan. They'll have to learn how to survive as pirates if they're to have any hope of weathering rough waves, brutal crew members, enemy pirates, ravenous beasts, and worse. But when fortune turns to their favor, it's up to the new crew to decide whether they'll remain the pirate's swabs or seize control and set sail for adventures all their own.
The Lotus Blossom Steppes have long been a land of disjointed tribes, squabbling with one another for central rulership. In the past, great rulers laid claim to the Steppes, bringing the tribes under a single banner for a great purpose—be it under the terrible dictatorship of a half-rakshasa khan or an enlightened visionary khan that leads the tribes beyond the borders of the Steppes. Yet there is great power tucked away behind the tribes’ individual banners. All it takes is an individual with enough ambition and enough power to change the destiny of the Lotus Blossom Steppes... and one ambitious man is on the hunt for the fragmented powers of the NewGod war. Can the PCs put an end to a rising warlord's ambitions, or will the Lotus Blossom Steppes fall again into tribal conflict?
The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path begins here, in the small coastal town of Sandpoint. 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.
What is the Lost Lands? The Lost Lands is the home campaign world of Necromancer Game's and Frog God Game's own Bill Webb. This campaign has been continuously running since 1977. Many of the adventures published by Necromancer Games and Frog God Games are directly inspired by this campaign. They have evolved over the decades, and more material continues to flow from it as the dice keep rolling. Sages and wizards of legend speak of the Lost Lands—many of the players who have lived and died in Bill's campaign over the years now have a place in history (in the books). Frac Cher the dwarf, Flail the Great, Bannor the Paladin, Speigle the Mage, and Helman the Halfling are well known to the fans of Bill's work. This is the game world, and these are the adventures in which the players of these famous characters lived and died. Hundreds of players over the past 35 years have experienced the thrills and terrors of this world. The Sword of Air is the centerpiece of the Lost Lands. Currently, this epic tome consists of several parts: 1. The Hel’s Temple Dungeon—kind of like Tomb of Horrors on crack. This six-level, trap-and-puzzle infested dungeon formed the basis of Bill's game through his high school and college years. Clark Peterson’s very own Bannor the Paladin spent several real life months in the place, and, sadly, finished the objective. This is where the fragments of the fabled Sword of Air can be found…perhaps. 2. The Wilderness of the Lost Lands extending to the humanoid-infested Deepfells Mountains and providing detail about the nearby Wizard’s Wall. This so-called “wall” was raised by the archmages Margon and Alycthron harnessing the Spirit of the Stoneheart Mountains to raise the land itself, creating a massive escarpment to block invaders from the Haunted Steppes. These archmages are actual player characters from the early 1980s who live on in the legends of the Lost Lands. Over 70 unique encounter areas are detailed, and each one is a mini-adventure in itself. New wilderness areas may be added based on bonus goals described below! 3. The Ruined City of Tsen. Legend has it the city was destroyed by a falling meteor. This place forms an aboveground dungeon area the size of a city, with over 100 detailed encounter areas. It’s a very dark place…even at noon. 4. The Wizard’s Feud—This campaign-style adventure pits the players in a long-running series of intrigues and battles between two archmages. Which side will they take? Their actions all play into the overall quest, and could well determine which side wins. Law and Chaos are not always what they seem, and if the wrong decisions are made, the entire ordeal could fail. Remember, one of the wizards WANTS Tsathogga to win. 5. New monsters, new demons, new spells, and new rules for various aspects of play. 6. The Tower of Bells. This dungeon is the result of the workshop Bill ran at PaizoCon 2013, where the participants assisted him in building an old-school dungeon. Visit the tower and discover the secrets of the “artist” within. Beware: those entering may never come out!
For millennia, a complex plot has brewed in a demonic jungle on the surface of the moon—a plan by the patient and sinister succubi of the Moonscar to kidnap and brainwash the people of Golarion. Now a long-dormant portal linking the moon to Golarion has returned to life, accelerating the demon queen’s designs. Only the brave PCs can venture to the surface of the moon, navigate the treacherous Abyssal jungle called the Moonscar, and delve into the depths of the Insatiable Queen’s subterranean palace of torture, seduction, and depravity.
Sometimes its better not to know... Citizens are turning up in the city in catatonic states, alive but devoid of personality. Are they the victims of an illness or disease, or is there something more sinister at work? Encountering one of these poor souls, the characters are drawn into an investigation of politics and treachery, seedy underworld dealings and rooftop chases, culminating in a fiery conclusion. Can they discover the cause of this epidemic before it’s too late?
Varisian fortune-tellers from across Golarion use the mystic harrow deck to read fate and predict the future, but few have ever mastered the mysterious harrow to such a degree as Sonnorae, a long-dead bard from the Age of Darkness. Fearing her collection of stories would be lost when she died, she created a demiplane within her own harrow deck to contain them. Over time, these stories took on lives of their own, and melded with the images on the cards themselves. But not all stories have happy endings, and the storykin who inhabit the Harrowed Realm have their own motivations and plots for power or even escape into the real world.
The adventurer awakens buried in a coffin only to be inadvertently rescued by a goblin grave-robber. With no recollection of how they came to be buried alive, the adventurer is thrust into an encounter with the goblin and his party who have stolen a precious heirloom off their unconscious body. Before starting this adventure the GM and player should discuss what heirloom item the adventurer possesses. Though having immense sentimental value, the heirloom shouldn’t be magical, and it should be of minor monetary value. It should be a worn item that can easily be removed such as a ring, bracer or necklace.
The deserts of Osirion—land of pharaohs and ancient tombs—hide not just untold wonders, but also unspeakable dangers. When the vast sand dunes part to reveal the ancient pyramid of the legendary Pharaoh of Sphinxes, glory seekers from across many nations race toward it, each fighting to be the first to claim its wonders. But the storied pharaoh doesn't rest quietly within this monument, and his tomb was designed to slaughter any who would dare trespass.