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 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.
Deep in the forest, something is stirring. An evil fey sorcerer, cast out of the First World millennia ago by her own kin, has found a way to break through the ancient walls of her prison, and carries with her a vengeance too deep to be sated. For the quiet Andoren town of Bellis, busy celebrating a long-awaited marriage, it's a time for joy and laughter. Yet the forest that's always sheltered it is growing dark, and things are moving in the heart of the woods...
The mountainous lands of the Last Kingdom have long been home to dangerous oni and their foul servitors and kin, but the unification of the Saigoto under the enlightened rulership of the Five Truths has sent them scurrying back into darkness. For years since, they have kept the land shielded from harm. Yet even the great soldiers garrisoned across the Kingdom’s shores and roads cannot stop dissent from boiling up in the shadows. Not everyone embraces the edicts of the land—and while patient teachers, even the Five Truths have their limits. As growing numbers of lastfolk begin to question the traditions of the Last Kingdom, forces far more sinister, preying on the curiosities of mortals, have begun to emerge into the light... Can the PCs discover and end a treacherous plot that threatens to destroy the relative peace of the Last Kingdom?
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!
The all-new Player's Guide for ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution! This Player's Guide is a whopping 60 pages of FREE material for players planning on delving into the ZEITGEIST adventure path for 5th Edition. The free Player’s Guide is designed for players of the ZEITGEIST adventure path, and contains background information and character options. This Player's Guide is divided into five separate sections for easy printing and disssemination at the gaming table. 1. Characters. Deva and Eladrin races; Docker, Eschatologist, Gunsmith, Martial Scientist, Skyseer, Spirit Medium, Technologist, Vekeshi Mystic, Yerasol Veteran character themes; salary and requisitions. 2. Equipment. Explosive alchemicals, firearms, ship of the RPHC, prestige rules, and stats for allied officers. 3. The City of Flint. City districts, the military, the Royal Homeland Constabulary. 4. Setting Overview. Languages and accents, details of the countries Risur, and Ber; fey and the mortal realms. 5. Setting Overview (contd). Details of the countries Crysillyir, Danor, Drakr, Elfaivar; plus the border states and Malice Lands, planets and planes, key religions. ZEITGEIST is a critically acclaimed adventure path from EN Publishing, brought to you by the same people who created the War of the Burning Sky campaign saga and featuring the same level of intriguing plot, memorable NPCs , and a strong, immersive storyline. In the ZEITGEIST campaign saga, your characters serve in the Homeland Constabulary of the nation of Risur, protecting the country and its citizens from foreign threats lurking within Risur's borders. During missions of espionage and assassination, your duty will be to root out hostile spies and pursue international conspiracies. As you learn more of your homeland's own secrets, however, your loyalties may be tested, may even be turned, and you may find that it is you whose hand controls the gears of the turning age. This FREE 60-page guide introduces players to the ZEITGEIST adventure path, with background information, character options, maps, and more. This Player's Guide is completely free. You are welcome to distribute it amongst your friends.
The Amulet of a Demon Prince In a few days, the rising blood moon will reveal the resting-place of the soul amulet of a forgotten demon prince. A dark lord seeks the amulet, and if he finds it ultimate power is within his grasp. Someone must stop him and his diabolical scheme before evil is unleashed! But for the heroes to beat the dark lord to his prize, they must travel through time and conquer demonic foes! A Battle Throughout Time Chaos Rising is a classic dungeon exploration adventure by Jim Collura, it details an ancient and abandoned dwarven citadel where the demon's amulet is hidden and provides unique encounters allowing the players to travel back in time to shape the very future itself! Chaos Rising supports monsters found in the Tome of Horrors. Also available for S&W and 5e.
In Search of the Sunblade is an adventure that's designed to allow a group of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game characters to jump directly into the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. While this adventure is written using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game ruleset, it makes mention of certain rules that are exclusive to the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. In the wake of a dark Necromancer’s assault, wherein all life was destroyed or corrupted in the lands under his control, the guardian Diviners have become desperate and seek the PCs help in a final ploy to defeat the Necromancer. When a bright ball of fire streaked a flame across the sky, directly into the Necromancer’s domain not three days past, the Diviners saw just one phrase: “Otherworldiness binds the iron that embraces the light of stars, resting where majestic Life-to-Death did go.” The Diviners sense an energy deep within the blasted forest, an energy that may be the legendary sun blade, a weapon capable of defeating the Necromancer. What the Diviners sense is the downed aeon starship Tähtihohde. Warred over by the ship’s inhabitants and assaulted by the Necromancer’s minions, the ship is controlled now by a clan of svartálfar who are attempting to repair the ship. Following the Diviner’s instructions, the PCs discover a curved metal trapdoor in the middle of the dark forest. Opening it reveals stairs, 30 feet wide, leading down into a metal-lined corridor dimly lit from glowing floor runners.
On the trail of Baba Yaga, the heroes find themselves transported to the barbaric land of lobaria on the far-off continent of Casmaron. They must explore three ancient, mystically linked dungeons in search of more clues to the fate of the Queen of Witches, while contending with savage centaurs and demon-worshiping frost giants who seek to claim Baba Yaga's secrets for themselves.
The Giantslayer Adventure Path begins! In the human town of Trunau, a beleaguered settlement surrounded by the brutal orcs of the Hold of Belkzen, the heroes must investigate a mysterious death. Before they uncover the truth, however, Trunau comes under attack by an orc army, and the heroes must help defend it—only to discover that the situation is worse than anyone realizes. For even the fearsome orc raid is just a distraction allowing a giant chieftain to recover the relics of an ancient giant hero from a tomb long forgotten beneath the town.
Part of a Numerian relic once thought scattered to the winds has found its way back to the savage land of super-science, and the Pathfinder Society must track down the component if they are to unlock the device’s secrets. Clues point to the economic hub Chesed, where only the descendants of a shattered clan can share where their revered ancestor buried the strange artifact. Can the PCs brave the troubled city, evade the vigilant agents of the Technic League, and survive a trip into the Numerian wastes? Content in “Returned to Sky” contributes directly to the Year of the Sky Key metaplot as well as the ongoing storyline of the Exchange, Liberty’s Edge, and Silver Crusade factions.
Trouble in Paradise The Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path begins with the adventurers standing on the deck of a ship ready to make landfall at their new home. However, dread settles in as they notice that the colony is empty and abandoned. Tasked with uncovering the whereabouts of the prior group of colonists, the adventurers go ashore and explore the deserted settlement. Uncovering strange evidence leads the adventurers across the island, where they encounter two survivors who can give them clues as to the fate of the rest of the first wave of settlers. Can the adventurers survive long enough to discover what truly befell the fledgling colony?
For years, the knights of Mendev have held back the evil locked inside the Worldwound, a vast, demon-tainted landscape. Every few years, they anoint a new protector, a sacred guardian charged with pitting his will against the teeming hordes bent on devouring the very souls of the living. This year, something has gone horribly wrong, and now a bloodthirsty demonic army has overrun the ancient fortress, and threatens to pour into the surrounding countryside.
While the lives of most Pathfinder Society field agents is brutal and short, some rise to prominence, drawing the attention of the Decemvirate. These lucky agents are invited to a little known siege castle outside Absalom where they are asked to test their mettle. Those who succeed get their choice of prestigious missions, whereas those who fail are rarely heard from again. The players are run through an arena-style dungeon, faced with monsters, traps, and puzzles.
A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for 15th-level characters, this volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path is part 6 of 6 of the Kingmaker Adventure Path, in which the heroes win and defend a small kingdom from threats foreign and domestic. PCs should advance to 17th level by the end of this adventure. This adventure begins after the War of the River Kings has ended—the PCs, be they the war’s victors or losers, are faced with the task of rebuilding their kingdom or perhaps helping to rebuild Pitax. Yet soon after the war is over, a new peril strikes the region as strange monsters and violent bursts of rapid vegetation growth and bizarre weather plagues the Stolen Lands. At the same time, the PCs learn that one of the treasures discovered in Pitax’s House is a nascent vorpal sword, a weapon of immense power, and as the strange weather and blooms of life and monstrous incursions increase, so does this sword’s intelligence and power. The PCs soon learn that their kingdom faces an invasion, but this time not from the physical world. Some fell force from the legendary First World is attempting to expand into this world, and when the PCs begin to fight back against these verdant blooms, they discover that it’s possible to step from this world into the First World realm of Thousandbreaths. There, the PCs face powerful new threats unlike anything they’ve seen before, and learn that the dangers facing their kingdom are even greater than they feared, for the fey ruler of Thousandbreaths is about to absorb the Stolen Lands into a bauble for her own purposes, an act that would scour clean the region and leave behind nothing but a wasteland.If the PCs hope to save their new kingdom from this threat, they must combat the nymph queen Nyrissa both by stopping the various blooms in their kingdom and by traveling into Thousandbreaths itself to confront the dangerously insane nymph.
The Stolen Lands consume many wanderers—the perils of its rugged wildernesses and hidden mysteries prey upon even the wariest of travelers. Founded upon one of the most savage frontiers, the colony of Varnhold defied the many dangers of this harsh region. At least, it did until all the residents of the fledgling community completely disappeared. Now it falls to the PCs to discover what became of their eastern neighbor, a secret steeped in generations-old hatreds and the mysteries of an empire long crumbled to dust. Can they uncover the terrible secret behind this shocking disappearance before the same calamity befalls their own land?
Something is amiss in the town of Rhiannon. Recently raided by a band of vile creatures, the citizens of Rhiannon were shocked to find their lord at the root of the incident. And now Lord Kent is holding a competition for “all walks of life with a propensity for the gambling arts.” Will the PC aid the citizens of Rhiannon and uncover the truth about the mysterious Lord Kent? Or will the PC take this opportunity to line her own pockets? Either way, the answers lie inside the walls of Lord Kent’s keep and the gamblers within.
Uncover a world of adventure and claim your fortune in Pathfinder Online: Thornkeep! This detailed sourcebook contains everything a GM needs to run adventures in and around the dastardly town of Thornkeep, as well as several deadly dungeon levels and a sneak peek at the upcoming massively multiplayer online game Pathfinder Online.
Now bound to Queen Abrogail by infernal contracts, the villainous adventurers are tasked with destroying the Glorious Reclamation's headquarters in the former citadel of the Hellknight Order of the Godclaw, where they face a gold dragon ally of Iomedae herself! Only if they can survive the terrible onslaught of this fearsome foe and secure the citadel from the revolutionaries can the vile characters succeed at their quest—to perform an evil ritual, using the dragon's head to craft a legendary weapon capable of defeating the Glorious Reclamation's army of valorous knights once and for all.
Fangwood Keep has changed hands innumerable times since its founding decades ago on the border between the warring nations of Molthune and Nirmathas. Over the years, both countries have sacrificed money and soldiers in an effort to control the fortress along the Marideth River valley, both for its tactical location and for its secure defenses. Recently, however, the battles around Fangwood Keep have dwindled to a trickle as Nirmathas has firmly rooted itself in the surrounding valley, allowing the tide of war to shift elsewhere and peace to settle at last over Fangwood Keep. This respite was shattered by the arrival of a renegade Molthuni commander named Pavo Vos. Obsessed with capturing Fangwood Keep and unraveling the fortress’s mysteries, the defecting lieutenant unlawfully used his platoon to secure the castle, much to the ire of both the Molthuni and Nirmathi governments. Now the task of bringing Vos to justice and reclaiming Fangwood Keep for Nirmathas lies solely in the PCs’ able hands.